This is hard with not some damn valley without my fantabulous co host this time
to he called out sick at the last minute, not feeling too well,
mister Adam prommell, we hope you feel better. Have a ton of mail
bag questions to get too, though, and we also have just I mean,
there's a ton of I want to talk about Damian Lillard. We also
have just a ton of final stuff to get to as well, So we'll
just hop on right in here. We'll start. I'll begin with the questions
that and if anyone in the room has any questions or speaker question, you
could throw those in live as per usual. But we'll begin with all the
NBA Finals questions. I think is probably just the best place to start.
The Suns have lost three consecutive games after grabbing a two oh lead and you
know, being within reach of winning games four and five. Certainly game three
was a nightmare for them. They've lost three straight. They have not lost
four straight all season, which is, you know, that's fine, but
Milwaukee's only also lost once in the postseason at home. That is, you
know, that's just gonna be a tall task when you look at the way
that they're that they're really playing right now. So I'm gonna go through the
gamut here on the questions we have with finals before getting to some big picture
stuff. Frank Valoria asked, what defensive adjustments does coach Monty Williams need to
make for the Suns to push the series to seven. There's another question here,
and it was an excellent one that's related to this from Jake Weiss to
Holpe. I'm pronouncing that, pronouncing that correctly. He asked, do you
think the Sun should stop doubling in the pain and just give up two points
instead of the Bucks pushing it out for a wide open three, because last
night they were knocking down the push out threes. So those questions are obviously
kind of tailored together. I would not stop double teaming if I'm Phoenix.
Milwaukee still sub thirty five percent for the series, and we've seen them struggle
to hit threes up for a lot of time during these playoffs. I think
you can't let one game or even less, say one point five games,
whatever it was, because it did seem like they caught fire a little bit
towards the end of Game four. Dictate the law of averages necessarily at the
same time, you might be worried that, hey, they were kind of
below their mean to begin with, they could be progressing towards it. I
would like to point out that Game five, insofar as I can remember,
during the playoffs, was the first time that the Bucks just had like fantastic
shot making and offensive performances from all three of their stars in Middleton, Drew,
Holiday and Yannis at the same time. It's always been two of them
or one of them, and Drew has been a big part of that in
the sense that he hasn't been able to finish the rim. We talked about
that last week, and his jumper wasn't falling too high eclip, So I
wouldn't stop doubling. I mean, there are instances where you probably just you
don't need to. I think two of the things that I noticed that I
think they could try is when yannest is catching the ball in open space.
I know you don't want to bring DeAndre Ayton too far out, but I
actually might be more aggressive in covering him there and sending another body at him,
because worst case scenario, you're just gonna found him. He's doing such
a great job and specifically in Game five if he was just able to go
through DeAndre eight and in those situations, it might even be also something to
consider when he's when he's off the ball too and just getting ready to move
inside. I don't necessarily know how viable that is. You're going to put
then your own defense into rocations a lot of time, and Jannest has done
a fantastic job of you know, this season, I feel like he's really
improved as a pastor, and he's kind of always making or most of the
time, I should say, making the right decisions in those situations. But
I'm just going to be more aggressive going after your honest and I had thought
and talked about this with a colleague of mine. I was wondering if if
they should give Jay Crowder more reps against him. But as my colleague then
pointed out, then you're in a situation where you could pull DeAndre and outside
the paint. You're putting yourself in an even more larger disadvantage on the defensive
glass and allowing the Bucks to get even more second chance points opportunities. You've
actually won in the last game the second point second chance points battle, which
is a good sign that leaves me the next point, you need to get
your defense back. And there's probably more scientific things than that than a better
way to say that than I just did. But when you watched game five,
it really felt like it could be just as simple to Phoenix as hey,
get your ass back in transition. There just a lot of plays where
it felt like Eighten and even Michale Bridges just weren't back as quickly as they
should have been or where they should have been. And when you look at
this three game stretch, you know you were never gonna win the fast break
battle here like that's it's not a matter of stopping Milwaukee or slowing them down
completely, but you need to make life difficult on them. They outscored the
Sun's fifty two to eighteen in transition in the in these past three games all
losses for Phoenix. Obviously, they've also outscored them fifty seven to thirty two
in points off turnovers, and so, yeah, turnovers weren't a problem in
game five, but you need to win some of those battles because you're almost
guaranteed you're not going to normally win the battles inside the pain. I know
people like to harp at the lack of three throws on the Sun's part,
their game has never been prided on getting to rim, Like, yeah,
you'd like to see DeAndre and be more physical when he's going up. Of
course, still, those are the battles on the margins you need to win
wearing a game, like when you're when both teams are making shots, they're
both playing pretty well, that to me would make a huge difference. And
so I don't know specifically what you can necessarily change defensively. I feel like
a lot of this you do have to credit Milwaukee for making tough shots,
seeing Drew Holiday come alive, and then also just looking at their defense.
But there are mistakes that I think you can limit on the offensive side,
like again making sure that you're getting back not going for risky offensive rebounds.
If you're Tory Craig, that can help you on the defensive end to specifically
at least be in a better position to defend the Bucks in transition or keep
them out of transition altogether and force them to go through those half court motions
a little bit more, because they're still not a great half court offense even
when they're at their peak, and even if they're doing well and half court,
and again they did have their moments in Game five, they're just they're
going to be more dangerous if you're just just not set. So those are
the things that I'm looking at if if I'm Phoenix defensively, specifically, Noah
said in the chat, it's Drew Aliday has been excellent defensively, makes me
forget about his offensive inconsistencies. It's also very apparent that Phoenix has a lot
of good wings but ultimately inexperience with transition, transition defensive situations. The Drew
Holiday point is great because I think and Pelicans fans have talked about this.
He's always been sort of an uneven offensive player, but he's also just been
billed as this great two way force because he is so good on defense,
and there are not many players in the league he could probably maybe you need
two hands to count them, if that who can have the game that he
did in Game five even once, and that was, you know, given
the stakes, just the setting, that was clearly the best game or Drew
Holiday's career. Because you're defending either Devin Booker or Chris Paul for most of
the game, you go twelve or twenty from the floor three or six from
three thirteen to sis you accounted for, like I think when I looked at
it was fifty seven or fifty eight of the points that Milwaukee score just by
virtue of your own points, and then the points generated office is just a
monstrous game from him helping them navigate minutes when jannat attent to Kupo wasn't off
the or or excuse me, when Jannis Attena Koopa was was off the floor.
He is, He's a great He's a great player, and even if
he's not, even if he's been as uneven as he is offensively. You
know, people will talk about his contract in different terms now, but you
need him on the floor just because of the defensive body of work he has.
It does seem like Chris Paul's left wrist might be bothering him, but
he has for long stretches at a time. Put Chris Paul in a closet,
locked it and thrown away the key, and they're not. There are
very few players on this planet that can do that. Another thing for Phoenix
is they need it, and we don't have a question about this. So
that's why I'm just leading right into it. Well, actually we do kind
of have This is tangentially related to this. Kim asked, how can the
Suns get back in a series they are shooting so well? Historically, it
seems that teams that shoot this well don't lose games in the playoffs. And
Noah's final note Onrew Holidays, he had the highest offensive rating in Game five,
which was crazy. Yeah, I mean, when you look at the
way he played, it sounds so crazy. But when you look at the
way he played in all these other games, that absolutely is mind blowing because
he hasn't had that offensive consistency there. But yeah, so Kim basically asked,
how can the Suns get back in this series? And they have been
shooting so well, they gotta find a way to start being more even against
the Bucks during their one star minutes and over the last three games specifically,
and let's even look at the last two, because Game three was a nightmare
for them on just so many levels. But in games four and five in
the and it's not a long stretch, by the way, but in the
sixteen minutes that Chris Paul has played without Devin Booker on the floor, without
and this is sixteen minutes, the Suns have been on scored by twenty two
points. They've been okay during the Devin Booker on his own stretches in twenty
four minutes through these two games, there are plus six that is Look,
it's not like statistically smacking you in the face. That's big time when you
only have one of your stars on the court. And there have been in
some of those minutes where Milwaukee's gonna always have one star on the court,
and there have been stretches where some of those have been two maybe part of
the game four returns where Milwaukee was or where Milwaukee did outscore Phoenix by six
points in ten minutes when Chris Paul played on his own let's call him a
solo time had to do with well, you didn't need to pull Devin Booker
to begin with. You know, being worried about him picking up his last
foul is a little bit jumping the gun there. You're not really in foul
trouble until you're fouled out like That's there's a school of thought that goes that
way, and I think it's you know, it's a fairly valid one.
So I don't know what necessarily if the answer is, I definitely think that
they're concerned about who's on the floor during those minutes. They have worked DeAndre
Ayton to the bone. When you look at the minutes that he's playing,
basically probably be sure that he's spread out across their best lineups where they have
all their best players in, but also during the minutes where there's only one
star there, you're also in some of those minutes, you might be more
inclined to give Devin Booker more of the starters alongside him than a Thane with
Chris Paul where you might be leaning on him to carry more of the bench.
I think a big part of it, too, is that just Chris
Paul has clearly not been himself this series. He's been you know, the
past three games specifically too, he just hasn't been fantastic. Even when his
numbers look okay, he's there. Look, there are moments like Game five
where it felt like the Bucks were targeting him on defense, which is just
I know, Chris Paul is thirty six years old, but that's just not
something that you expect to happen. Because CP three has been a good defenders
entire careers, a good defender this year. It was an especially great help
defender for Phoenix this year. So to see that, it's just like,
holy crap, how far have we fallen? The minutes without Booker though?
Is I don't know is the answer to you just play Devin Booker all the
time. And I'm not saying Devin Booker isn't an issue, and that will
bring me my next thing is that, you know, I don't want to
see Phoenix only have eighteen transition points over a three game span. I know
that they like to be a little bit more methodical, and I actually don't
think they've relied too much on Devin Booker isolation specifically, but they have reverted
into watching him try to do things or even Chris Paul try to do things
too much. Credit the Bucks. There a lot of that has been when
they've gone to Folk court pressure, which has been quite often like that's been
able to throw Phoenix's offense sort of out of key. You can also look
around at the rest of Phoenix and yeah, they have all these in theory,
and I've counted their depth as anyone. So this is not me,
you know, I'm being a hippocright here a little bit but they have a
lot of talent up and down the roster. It's just not these guys that
are necessarily bankable to put the ball on the floor. Your third best option
to do that is Cameron Payne. His minutes are going to be forever limited
because you're not playing three guards at the same time, and he hasn't really
had like this incendiary finals anyway. Then McHale Bridges, I guess is number
four there. Maybe you trust Jay Crowd or a little No. I wouldn't,
but he's just not in mcal bridges never been a player getting off the
dribble three in game five, but that's just never been his game. And
like thirteen points on six shots is like very much in mcaal bridge's offensive game.
I would say that's sort of the median for him. And so it's
not you know where he's only taking four shots like he did in game four
once I believe like that, Yeah, you could probably, but he's also
not going to have all these game twos where he's dropping twenty seven and taking
a bunch of different looks. So I think you need to play with more
I don't want to say pace overall, but at least be a little bit
more varied in your offense, and I think they were during the first two
games. I thought that's been things that they've done well during the playoffs.
A lot of this time is Yeah, when Chris Paul first came back from
his injury, maybe that's still lingering effects he kind of slowed down or came
back from COVID. Excuse me, he did sort of slow down the offense.
But I thought they've done a good job overall, not recently, of
varying up their paces and at least getting into semi transition putting some extra pressure
on the Bucks defense there. You need to do more of that, because
part of the way you're gonna not beat Milwaukee in transition but hang with them
is yes, get back on defense and don't again, don't chance these offensive
rebounds if you're DeAndre and nor Tory Craig looking at the wings specifically, but
also get out and transition yourself to sort of bridge that gap. And I
don't know if how capable and necessarily they are doing that for a full forty
eight minutes. I'm not telling them to play faster overall. I guess be
more opportunistic is what I'm saying, and there are going to be chances there
if you forced the Bucks into a turnover, even though it's not something that
Feast is gonna do a ton. But more specifically, if they're miss shots,
if Milwaukee's missing shots, like try get get up and go. This
isn't often in bounds where I would still be a big proponent of if try
and catch them off guard and bound the ball quickly, you get up the
court. That's just not something that Phoenix is necessarily going to do. So
off these live ball misses, really try and get after it then, and
that will give your offense is just a different feel to it at points.
So and look we go back to Phoenix's defense before, like they did a
good job. I thought of keeping the Bucks, like limiting their pain opportunities.
I think a lot of that Jake said in his question, doubling them,
that's certainly a big part of it. And the Bucks only had in
five game five, I think they only had six free throw attempts. Know,
they only had seventeen free throw attemps, which is just like for and
maybe it was six and the second half or something whatever ridiculous it was,
and eleven those went to Jannis and he's four of eleven at the line on
the road, so like you live with that, they're going to win the
paint battle. But I feel like the Sun's defense is like made sure in
Game five specifically they didn't get like torched in all those situations. So there's
a lot going on here. But I do think varying the offensive pace is
a bigger way to one just help overall, and two also make sure that
just your offense is less predictable and you're not relying on Hey, Devin Booker,
go do stuff, Chris Paul, go do stuff that is just going
to be inherently easier to defend. And I do think they've leaned a lot
more on Devin Booker in this series, even though he hasn't spent a ton
of time in isolation, but they've just you know, you look at this
back to back forty point games, they really needed every single point from him
in those situations. You could talk about he needs to do more as a
passer, but let's go back to Game five, Like, all right,
you need your teammates to hit shots and also just play better in play better
overall on defense. I feel like that's where you know, if you're Devin
Booker, you're scoring all these points. The defense is not your EMMO,
even though I think he's been solid on the ball this year down the stretcher
for that not really so much in the fourth quarter, I guess because the
Suns that was, you know, they had to buy in large good fourth
quarter, but after the first quarter, like seeing so many people on Phoenix
go cold outside of Devin Booker. That's and look, Devin Booker took thirty
three shots to get the forty points, like he was high volume himself if
he's not going to get to the foul line of Ton. So there's a
lot of trade off going here. But I think at least varying up the
pace helps you overall. And then this brings me back to my initial point.
In those Chris Paul alone minutes, I think it really helps you out
there, and those have been problem minutes for Phoenix the past the past three
games because they were outscored by ten points when Paul played without Booker in Game
three. But there was some noise there where Booker didn't played all the fourth
I believe Chris Paul loggs sometime there and the game got out of control by
the end of it. So I don't know how much to read into the
game pre stuff, but the past two certainly that's been among the issues there.
Jake also asked did the Sun sell out in the second quarter by taking
bad threes after leading by sixteen damn points. I don't know if they sold
out so much, as you know, we were just discussing their offense is
too predictable right now where it's taking. It's it's just churning through too much
time without doing much off the clock where you can watch an offensive possession and
kind of feel like, well, how did we while away the past seventeen
eighteen nineteen seconds where previously in the first two games and through the playoffs overall,
the Suns can just really kill you with their passing and guys who are
cutting and the secondary cutters and the guys making the second passes. It almost
feels like in some of these games and Game five they did have a big
lead, but it feels like you're settling down and playing to protect a lead
rather than to win. And that's an issue overall. But I think probably
the bigger issue with that is they haven't always had the lead situations and so
if you're trying to come back, specifically, you need to have that flow
to your offense that they have had for all of this season and not just
reverting into either one on one stuff or whether there's not a ton of ball
movement or just movement whatsoever. And you're taking time off the clock without really
going through all these actions to put Milwaukee's defense in rotation or to do anything
at all, like off the ball or even whether it's on the ball.
So I guess they I guess you could say they sold out. I don't
know if it's just them settling so much. Is okay, did they go
through their their offense properly enough or did they run it efficiently enough? But
no, in that situation when you're up by sixteen, it did feel like
some of those mis threes created some of those transition opportunities for the Bucks.
And I know, I think Seth Partner the athletic is disproven that these you
know, these long missus leader long rebounds would would lead more transition opportunities.
I don't know that. I don't think that that's factually correct. But still
in those situations, you're looking at it like, Okay, they settled through
this jump shot. There was a long rebound that they didn't have a chance
at. They had two or three guys around the basket. Milwaukee collects the
rebound, is able to go off and running, so you're you're by attacking
a little bit more going for you know, get going through your pick and
rolls if Milwaukee's in't drop and then taking those midrange jumpers like those are just
more structured part of your offense. You're probably able to get back a little
bit better because you're you're used to it. But this what's really really frustrating
for me as someone who covers the league is that it's so tough for me
to get a feel on this series to say, Okay, what can Phoenix
do better? And then will that actually make them win? Because I don't
know if those adjustments. I think the Bucks made adjustments during the first two
games, Mad Game in Game one and then over to Game two, and
they still just lost. It's been that type of series where I don't know
if it's weird, but it's been definitely fun. But it's also left me
with sort of a zero feel for yeah, you could have is it weird
to me that Milwaukee shot fairly poorly for most of the game four and still
won. No, you could have told me that they shot as well as
they did in Game five, and I still would have needed to ask the
outcome of the game, because I'm not sure that, Yeah, you know
what, it's awesome that they shot made fourteen three, shot fifty percent from
three over sixty percent on twos. But that's just been this type of series.
And also you counter it with the Suns going thirteen of nineteen from beyond
the ark. My god, that's just absolutely wild. And that's when you're
talking about like some of those threes in the second quarter nineteen three point ten.
There's just not a lot in today's NBA. And so that's comes back
to it wasn't so much an issue in this game. They each team took
eighty seven shots. But you're kind of looking at the field goal attempt discrepancy
between some of these other games, and I think the athletics John Hollinger I
mentioned to this this too. That's going to be a problem. It doesn't
matter, or I should say that, let's not be hyperbolic there. It
absolutely matters how efficient your offense is. But if you're going to just give
up more shot attempts. And so let's let's go to game four where Phoenix
takes seventy eight shots to Milwaukee's ninety seven. That's a nineteen field goal attempt
discrepancy. There are going to be more opportunities. And it's even like,
look at the three point battle. The Bucks only seven of twenty nine,
twenty four point one percent, Phoenix is only seven or twenty three, that's
thirty point four percent. But you're taking six leg shots there, and it
still opens the door for a way from Milwaukee to sort of even you out
from the three point line, you could say. And they have those,
oh those six misses whatever, because one they're winning this s can chance point
the second chance points battle in that game specifically, and then two we're taking
so many other shots and more of them were coming from INSIDBRCA. The lower
that the law of volume there is going to work out in their favor,
and they're on most nights. The fact that to me, the field goal
attempt discrepancy is such a big deal, and again it wasn't in game five,
but just game four is within Phoenix's reach and that feels like a missed
opportunity. They did have a fourth quarter lead. There is that they're going
to lose the free throw battle on most nights here, and they did in
game four. Your minus seven or minus ten at the free throw line overall
on attempts, and then you lose the free throw battle by eight points.
So that's something you know, that's a battle you're probably going to lose even
when you Yes, it's cool that they won the rebounding battle in game five,
I guess, but that's not a battle you're going to win consistently because
you're not built to do it. Milwaukee's just so big, they're long.
They have that explosion that's headed at the rim. I mean, there's a
play in game five I don't I don't know that. I wouldn't call it
necessarily a smart play, but it was late in the game. Yeah,
Johannest miss is a free throw and Drew comes just blitzing in from the three
point line to get the offensive rebound, keeps the possession alive. That ultimately
helps out Milwaukee. They can take those risks and they still kind of have
the personnel to get back in transition. I don't know if Phoenix has and
I'm not advocating for those risks. It seems necessarily, especially in as late
in the game as it was at the time. I think it was inside
fifteen seconds or something ridiculous, But Drew was having the kind of game,
that kind of game, so why not just roll the dice on yourself in
that situation. But that this series just feels like it's going to be you
can I don't even know if to determ it on the margin that's going to
be the right term. But I actually might look more so at role players
that come up huge at this point than any other big picture factors or looking
at star performances specifically, because it does feel like that type of series where
yeah, you can identify what teams could do better in certain games, but
it doesn't even necessarily mean that they're going to win it. And that's sort
of what I've meant, and that's what I've the feel I've gotten from this
series so far. Carson asked, and again, if anyone has a question
in the chat, you are free to get it off. But Jake Carson,
excuse me, asked, do you consider Chris Paul to be a dirty
player? That's an interesting question. I'm a very big Chris Paul advocate,
So I dirty always feels strong. He feels more so opportunistic, bordering on
at times reckless. And I see your speaker request, DeAndre, we'll get
to you right after this this question. I'm hesitant to call players dirty.
He probably toes the line with it and crosses it at times. I have
you more than just the Kyle Lowry terms where he's going to make all of
these questionable positions. And maybe I'm too close to it to where I've liked
him too much and I've followed his career for so long and I think he's
just one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And I also get
kick out of the stuff like you know, telling the rest that someone doesn't
have their jersey tucked in, or sort of goating players just trying to get
inside their head. I love that, you know needliness, So I'm take
it would take a lot for me to call a player dirty. Would do
you think Patrick Beverley's a dirty player? I would argue that he's more extreme
than Chris Paul when you're looking at the you know, the physical ramifications of
what he's done, like he is far more reckless than a than a CP.
Three, I would argue, but we do have a speaker request from
DeAndre, so I'm gonna give you the talking stick. How are you doing,
DeAndre? Oh man, I'm pretty good, pretty good things for having
me, yep, I'm sure. Do you have a you have a question
for me? Uh? Yeah? About I was I saw last night's game
and that that boy, that was a good game. That was a good
game. But do you think do you really think the game was really lost
in the second quarter or do you contribute other do you contribute that that's finely
on the sun side to going towards like the other things other than the second
quarter. That's a great question. I mean, I think everyone can kind
of point to the stretch in the second quarter where and thank you for asking
the question, DeAndre. That that was a great question. When Milwaukee had
erased the sixteen point leader or whatever was less than halfway through the second it
felt like and they were just big bang boom on the offensive end. That's
definitely the stretch of the game where it feels like things got out of control.
But it took a lot longer than just that stretch for the Suns to
kind of settle down on offense. Even play smarter on defense. I think
when you look at what they did defensively throughout that game, it felt it
felt like, and this is I don't want to be the yells at Clouds
person here, but it just felt like they were not fully engaged on defense
for a huge chunk of Game five, and then they kind of got to
it in the fourth quarter they were getting stops, but it seems like every
time that's a little too little, too late situation where they were hitting big
shots, they were playing fantastic defense, and sometimes Milwaukee would still even just
hit shots after the Suns had played good defense. So I it just feels
like a situation where they're going to need to be more consistent with their defensive
and engagement for the length of the game. Especially again I said this to
the top of the pod, but want to reiterated, Milwaukee's lost once at
home all postseason. That's a tough place to go in there and win right
now. So the other thing would be with offense that we've already talked about,
is it shouldn't take together. They're going to be deviations, they're going
to be dry spells. But just felt like Phoenix's shopmaking wasn't incredible, but
they they're capable of getting back into it more quickly than they actually did after
looking at how fast that second quarterly just evaporated for them. I also do
wonder, when you're just looking at this personnel that they have available to them,
do they miss the Dariel Shars element of their team at all. I
will not say he will be the reason that they lose this series, for
anyone who's forgotten, he tours ACL so he is not available for the rest
of the series, and I'm curious to see how much time he's gonna wind
up missing next season as well. But they don't have a backup five like
Dario Charge was their backup five and he was not great during the postseason this
year, but at least gave you a backup five to turn too. And
so now, unless you want to play Frank Kamiski, which they do not.
Frank kimisk did not play in Game five, you're going with you're going
without a center where it's a Jay Crowder, Cameron Johnson, mcal Bridges lineup
or Tory Craig is somehow involved in there, but also Tory Craig. He's
been so good offensively for the Sun since he came over, But they're going
to be Knights like he had in Game five where he plays under nine minutes
because he went after a couple of ill advised offensive rebounds. He's shooting only
you know, one of three from three and one of four from the floor
overall, and so you're gonna be more inclined to go with the offense heavy
lineups. But your rotation is just so finite now, and I think a
big part of what the Suns have done this year had it's been a testament
to their depth, and you're always going to shrink your rotations at this stage.
But to not have that clear backup center where DeAndre is playing forty five
minutes in Game five, which is leave all your cards on the table,
I totally get it. But when you're like the primary line of defense against
Yannis attent to Kupo, you would ideally like to get a few more blows
than you know, just take a beat than you did. It comes with
the trade off of Yannis played forty one minutes himself. That's still if you
wanted to mirror DeAndre Eton's minutes alongside Janice's, you still would have found a
way to get him another four extra minutes of rest. I'm not even saying
that that's the difference. I don't know that DeAndre Eaton is perfectly built to
go up against Yannis. They've consciously made the decision that, yeah, he's
gonna put pressure on him on the basket, and if Yannis is the primary
defender, you can leave that much space off him when he catches the ball
on the perimeter because he's not a great shooter, and that allows deandreton to
stay close to the basket, where despite his switchability on the perimeter, he's
still just most effective around there. Because as a defensive anchor, it does
seem like he's still I talked about engagement before. It feels like he was,
you know, not existent. But there were stretches in Game five where
it was just sort of like, like, what does DeAndre in doing?
And then you look and it's, oh, he had twenty and ten and
two blocks and you just didn't really feel him. Those games are weird from
him. And now, by the way, twenty ten and two blocks in
the finals is great, so I don't want to take that away from him,
but he still also sort of needs to learn like when to abandon the
plays where it's if he has to move off of y honest, or if
he has to, you know, help a little bit more. He might
be too concerned with his own assignment, you know, in this case,
if it's a Yannis or just being around the basket. So there, and
look, he's forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know about basketball.
They're they're saddling him with a lot to not even have that different type of
look where if he went with Sarich, that was a way for the Suns,
and this is we're it's moving on to the offensive side of the ball,
and now that was away all season. They really up to their pace
and so I talked about playing with more of a very pace. Dario charts
line up to the five. For the most part, we're able to do
that. And I don't know he helps you. He I shouldn't say I
don't know. You know, he's not gonna help you defensively in this series.
But like the minutes where Yannis is off the court and you have to
worry about like a Bobby Portis or a brook Lopez who's had some brook Lopis
has some really good moments in this series, and Bobby Porters had some really
good moments in Game five is playing time. He's been all over the place,
but like you can figure out somewhere to put stars if you're that worried
about his defense. And he's also more of a more physical as a player.
Excuse me, then I think people credit him for so just to have
that different look, I think might have went a long way. But I
don't know what else Monty Williams is necessarily supposed to do with his rotations at
this point. It's and he really narrowed it down in Game five. There
were only six dudes that played twenty or more minutes in that We saw Karen
Payne he didn't even play fifteen minutes. Craig played under nine, and then
Frank Miskey didn't see the floor, and then other players who have not played
all So he had pretty much been working with a nine man rotation and he
has shortened it to what feels like seven and a half players right now.
And I just don't know what his other other options are when you look at
the rest of this series, and I think some people will question the call
of going back to Game four when Booker was in foul strouble. Should you
have actually pulled him there? I don't know. That's I wouldn't do that
as the reason they lost this series. There's been so many other opportunities for
them, so I would not pinpoint it down to that. Next question here
comes from Rome Nasa asked why does Booker get away with so many fouls?
I don't know if he's referring to Game four where Booker had like eight personals
and only ended up with five. I've never thought that Devin Booker has gotten
this improper whistle, that there's been any impropriety there. Game four, Yeah,
there was probably two miss fouls on him, but there was also a
call. I don't even think he should have gotten the fifth foul called on
him. That was very ticky tack. I think it was PJ. Tucker
who he fouled in that moment. So yeah, that's just I don't know
why. I don't think he gets away with so many fouls. If you
have evidence to the contrary, Rome, please feel free to get at me
there. I think we're moving off the finals with the rest of the questions
that we have, so if anyone we do have another finals related question,
but it's not related to Sun's bucks. So if anyone has more of those
questions, you can ask her a speaker question. You could throw those in
the chat Ricardo Alvarez asked what's the most points scored in a finals game for
a player and team and total score and then also the lowest including the eventual
MVP. I didn't have time to look up all six of these numbers what
it was, but I do have three of them. So the most points
scored in the finals game on record for a player is Elgin Baylor in nineteen
sixty two. He was with the Lakers. He dropped sixty one points.
It is, as of right now, the only sixty point game ever in
the finals. He played all forty eight minutes twenty two to forty six from
the floor. All two is obviously in that era that was before the three
point line. If you're just looking at what I found interesting, and I'm
like surprised that this hasn't that there aren't more of these. They're only six.
This is including Baylor, six fifty point games in the finals. They're
all different players. Bob Pettitt had one in nineteen fifty eight, fifty points
exactly Lebron in twenty eighteen dropped fifty one. Jerry West in nineteen sixty nine
dropped fifty three. Mj in nineteen ninety three dropped fifty five. Rick Barry
also had fifty five in nineteen sixty seven. And then, of course we
just mentioned Elgin Baylor. The most points on record score in the finals game
for a team came in nineteen eighty five by the Lakers. They dropped one
hundred and forty eight points. That is, that's a lot of points there,
you know, I don't really know what else to say there, one
hundred and forty eight points. Day. I'm looking at the box score right
now, and it was in regulation. I just want to make sure that
there weren't like eight overtimes in that so that yeah, they brutalized. Boston
won one forty eight to one fourteen. There have been five games in the
finals where they've been one hundred and forty and four points scored. They all
took place, by the way before the nineties. And then the final aspect
of this is the fewest points ever scored by a team in the finals came
in nineteen ninety eight. The Utah Jazz dropped fifty four points against the Bulls
and lost nine six to fifty four. That's who that's rough. That's gross.
Fifty four points in the finals game in nineteen ninety eight. A lot
of the other ones that even cracked this list from the forties and the fifties.
That's disgusting. That fifty four points in nineteen ninety eight is gross.
Thank you for that question, though, Ricardo, I found it to be
fascinating. Let's see whop informatics ask what's the most underrated skill a modern day
NBA player needs to have? That is so interesting of a question, and
I gave it a lot of thought, and I think I land on being
able to put the ball on the floor independent of being an initiator or facilitator.
And kind of what I mean by this might be the Mkaal Bridges role.
Is someone who has viewed as this three in D guy, but he
does so much more and the cutting aspect of it for sure, but he
is able to hat close outs, he is able to dribble into these pull
up mid range jumpers. Now he is able to just put the ball on
the floor and drive. I think that opens up more avenues one to score
puts more pressure on defenses than by extension makes that player and the team overall
tougher to defend. And I actually do think it elevates the value of a
player's game. And so two other examples I'll give, and so McAll Bridge
is part of this. But it feels like his growth there has been I
don't want to say more again, more gradual. Let's say, where has
been butting for like the past, you know, over the past two or
three years. Look at Doug McDermott. This season was was an absolute lightning
rod for Indiana's offense. Someone's always been a pretty good cutter, but mostly
just known as a shooter. He could do it in motion, but he
really was able. He by far and away averaged more drives per game than
he did in any other season for his career, and it opened up things
for him. His offensive value just a great deal. He shot over sixty
percent on two It's just one of the most efficient scores in the league from
beyond the arc. And no, he wasn't taking these pull up jumpers.
But the ability to attack those open spaces to where you're either a gonna get
looks at the basket or you could drop it off to a teammate and maybe
they're scoring, maybe they're making a second pass, or it could be a
third pass in that situation, depending on how McDermott is attacking. And then
even looking in Oganna Nobi in Toronto the past two seasons, specifically, someone
who could really attack closeouts, someone who can and you don't want to say
generate his own offense from scratch, because that's just never going to be his
game, but so much more valuable because you can't just expect him to shoot
only three pointers. It's just not something that that you're going to get away
with. And still being an elite offensive player, you're gonna be a lade
shoot or you could be a highly valuable player. But being able to put
the ball on the floor, attack closeouts, even if your role on offense
is more niche more of a specialty role. I think that is one of
the single most underrated skills that don't get talked about enough. Everyone wants to
look at off the dribble, shop making. They want a pure point guard
or someone who initiate pick and roll. They want a big who can space
the floor, or they just want a shop blocking floor spacer. In general,
they want you to be switchable on defense, and obviously all that stuff
matters, but more of something understated like that, where against an NBA defense.
By the way, because we've seen in open gyms what guys can do,
You've really call he stein just like draining threes in these open gym runs.
So being able to put the ball on the floor against a set NBA
defense, attack close outs, not even just open spaces, but if they're
coming at you aggressively, just be able to get them off kilter by attacking.
Let's get to two more questions. One is about Damian Lillard. Has
Dame requested a trade, So we'll hit that last. But Doctor Ramblings asked
where should the Denver Nuggets spend their limited resources this offseason, particularly in regard
to scoring. Since Barton declined his option, Murray will be out at least
half of next season. Yeah, I would expect Denver to try and retain
Will Barton. He is uber important to their secondary playmaking now without Jamal Murray,
who I think everyone does expect him to play next year, But how
much time is he actually going to see and what will he look like he'll
probably miss I would think like at least up until the All Star break.
And yeah, you do have Fakuno Compazzo, you have Michael Porter Junior or
Monte Morris. Just none of those guys come close to replacing both the combination
of shotmaking and table setting. I'd probably argue that Will Barton might come closest.
Michael Porter Jr. Is definitely a fac simile. Close I shouldn't say
that, but he can be a fac simile as a shot maker if you
want him to hit off the dribble jumpers, But just as an initiator,
as someone who's going to facilitate for others, that's not something you could do.
And I'm not saying Will Barton is close to Jamal Murray on that level,
but just the gap is smaller than it is when you look at what
he can do as a shot maker or someone who attacks off drives. I
think it's going to be really important that they bring him back. He had
a fourteen point seven million dollars player options that he declined. I don't know
if he'll get the same average annual value on the open market. But when
you look at NBA free agency, where I think you have to consider this
proposal is Dunstan Robins had a top five free agent or top seven free agent
right now. When that's the free agency class you're dealing with, there's going
to be more money available to him over the long term, even with you
know him having all these like you know, injury scares over the past few
years. I'll be curiously what he gets and where he lands. I could
name teams that are should be inclined to go after him with bigger money or
throw him the full four years at the mid level? Would Memphis Grizzlies do
that where they don't want to go star chasing, but they're willing to give
there they can get cash based if they want. I'm just assuming that they
don't decline Justice Winslow's team option. But if you're willing to give him like
the four and forty eight I think is what the mid level comes out to
now or four and forty four whatever it is with the raises kicked in,
maybe Denver doesn't want to give that many years. Can you get him that
that would be a team that that might need him. So if you don't
have him, I don't know what your answer is, because my point down
would be I think ja Michael green opts in, in which case you have
some wiggle room below the apron. But and you you do even if you
you know, depends on will Barton in here like you have some wiggle beneath
the tax, it will be close. There's a chance there's a chance that
Denver can use the full mid level exception and not pay the tax. And
I'm just assuming I pay the tax. That would be my advice the team
governor's billionaires. But that's just a concern of a team that's in a market
like that. It's why people are wondering if you tell even if you're paying
the tax this year, will be afraid to resign Mike Conley because of how
far into the tax they will be. But if they can stay or even
if they're willing to dip into it a little bit and still stay below the
apron, because they have almost twenty million dollars in room below the apron.
That's if you pencil in a fourteen point seven million dollars salary for Wilbarton,
you have more wiggle room if he leaves out right, but you're not replacing
him functionally with just the non taxpayers mid level, which this year, by
the ways that I did at nine point eight million. Even if you do,
you haven't really added to your team then, because it's you've used the
Emily to replace them. So ideally the Nuggets would figure out a way or
work up the gall or at least maintain the flexibility to resign Wilbarton and use
their full non taxpayers mid level. And in that case, if I'm them,
I'm still skewing towards defense wing defense for them. I get that they
need another creator, but just with the spending power that they have, they're
not going to get that. I mean, if Gore and Drags team option
is declined in Miami, is he coming for the non tax players been level?
I mean maybe, but he's kind of a health question mark himself,
and he's going to give you next to nothing on defense. You're gonna get
way more on defense from Compozzo and Monte Morris. Yes, Drags gives you
more of that downhill element. Can hit some shots off the dribble, but
I just don't like what does that do for you? A Reggie Jackson would
be interesting, but you also have to weigh the fact of Okay, let's
say the Clippers they can pay him a little bit over ten million dollars to
start. Let's say they're not willing to go long term, and that's where
your advantage is as a mid level exception team in theory is that you could
say, hey, we'll pay you for three or four years, and maybe
lac doesn't want to. I just now you have Reggie Jackson there for three
or four years, with Jamal Murray coming back with Monte Moore, Sinacuna Compozo.
Maybe there are trades you make. Monte Morris on a very reasonable three
year, twenty seven million dollars extension beginning next season, so maybe you move
him. But I just don't you know, if there was a shop making
wing or playmaking wing, then yes, that you can get with a nontax
players mly, but spoiler alert, every single team in the league is looking
for that type of player. I'd rather see you just go. If I'm
the Nuggets, go after someone who is going to beef up your defense in
some form or just a competent wing defender. And I'm not even saying that.
If some of the names either're out here, I don't think that they,
in a nutshell, are all worth the full non text players. Emily
and again this is all that's assuming the Nuggets can access it, which gets
more difficult if you bring Barton back, if you Michael Green stays, and
if you want to resign Paul millsapp who is also a free agent. But
some names that's bring to mind. If you're on the lower end, let's
just say your bargain bin shopping, you're using the mini mL E, or
you don't even want to use it because you're already in the tax because you
kept Millsapper and Barton or whatever. You could look at it. A b
tomb In Otto Porter, Tony Snell like those are all options that can help
you. I've long been an advocate of Josh Richardson on the Nuggets. I
don't know if he's going to decline his player option. People have been all
over the place with that, and I don't think he has already declined it
to the best of my knowledge. If he declines it, I wonder what
his market is. I'm sure there might be teams that are willing to pay
him more in the short term. But if you're the Nuggets and you're willing
to go like four years, three years at the full mL E has his
stock phone that much that you might get a shot at him. He would
be fantastic. You don't need a ton for him on offense, and if
he does revert back to the offensive player. He was in Miami where he
hinted at some off the driggle shot making and he was making his threes while
defending effectively positions one through four. You've hit the jackpot there. Aside from
him, Reggie Bullock feels like he could help this team. I don't know
if having the full mid level is going to be enough to get him out
of New York. They have his early bird rights and then just all the
Caps based in the world. Should he cost that much. I thought a
little bit about Bruce Brown for this team, but he just seems better suited
to play a big man's type role and his fit is just so specific to
Brooklyn when you looked at what he did do there. Does Avery Bradley's team
option get declined, I honestly don't know. On Houston's part, He's sort
of a lower end option at this point. I wouldn't use the full non
tax payers emially on him, but if you're working with the mini MLI,
another thing that has to go into this. By the ways, if you
want Austin Rivers back and you're Denver, that's going to cost you MLI money
unless he's just willing to come back for nothing at this point, but that
might be a route to go. But Avery Bradley at least give you some
more backcourt defense and then in theory, will hit enough threes off the catch.
I don't know necessary is he giving you. Is he a defensive upgrade
enough over Morris and vercrue de Compozzo. I don't know. It feels like
he could play bigger, but he is what is he six two? I
think he is six three, Like he's not guarding all these small forwards or
true wings or power wings. And yeah, he's six two. So that
would be a name that they could look at. Sterling Brown would be another
one. It feels like someone who's just been long underrated had a great season
in Houston this year, so you could take a look at him. It
is a lot of lower round options. That's the price range within which Denver's
working. And then also just there aren't a ton of options there. I
mean, do you look at it? You know it? Does Jeff Green
help you as you want to leave Brooklyn, Like the names just aren't so
sexy. If you're Denver and so your best addition might come via the trade
market. If you're willing to trade one of your other point guards and Composito
or Morris, you could trade this year's first round pick after the draft.
You have other stuff that might be intriguing. Two teams. I'll tell you
what I really love for this team, but I just don't think that.
Again, assuming Denver can have the full mid level exception, I don't think
that type of an offer she gets him away from his current team. I
would love Alex Caruso in Denver. That feels like the type of player that
would be a fantastic fit for them. But yeah, so that's that's that's
where't at on Denver. I don't think that they're I would skew towards defense
though, and the wing spots. If I'm Denver and using whatever my best
spending tool winds up being, I'm not trying to replace more creation, uh
you know with that tool, just like even like DeVante Graham, like,
yeah, that's a great stop gap, but he's probably gonna cost more in
my opinion. And then what happens when Jamal Murray comes back, I would
be curious to see is there a way that they could work out a sign
and trade for Spencer Dinwoody. That's someone who could definitely play with Jamal Murray
and well, I wouldn't say beef up, but gives you some optionality defensively
against you know, some ones and twos, can play against some stand still
threes. He's never been a great shooter, but just the downhill pressure he
provides that would be huge. And Murray's absence, that's probably the highest end
option. I can envision them like brokering because Dinwoody is so eminently expendable to
Brooklyn that if they can get any compensation for him, is it a late
first round pick? Is it? You know? Do they want Jamichael Green
if he opts in and stuff for Spencer didn't? You do have to match
the money, of course, and that could get fairly complicated, complicated if
you're Denver, because now you don't have Barton salary. So that's where it
gets tough. You would need you Mike Green to opt in, and that's
seven point six million dollars. You also have to view him as expendable unless
Brooklyn's interested in the double sign and trade of Paul millsap But then Brooklyn,
I don't even envision that there's a feasible way for them to stay out of
the under the apron next year, So sign and trade it's probably out for
them. But if there is, if they can figure out a way to
make it work, where I think you at minimum, you probably need like
twelve to fourteen million to go out to Brooklyn in such a scenario to cover
what did what he's going to earn in his next contract. If Green opts
in, it would be tight. Maybe you're willing to give up Aaron Gordon
in that situation, but I still think he means a lot to this team
defensively, even if you're not happy with the way his offense panned out.
Let's talk about this Damian Lillard stuff. Though he there was a report from
True Hoop that they expect him to request the trade in the coming days.
Chris Han's of Yaku Sports released an interview where Damian Lillard said everything but an
actual trade request it sounded like. And then he did come on the record
after a Team USA practiced and demanded a trade to Nigeria because he didn't want
to play with Javal McGee and Kelton Johnson. That obviously not true, but
he said he did not request a trade. He basically said that his will
to retire and when in Portland is still there, but he wants to see
that they're doing making moves, making strides in that direction. And so I
think a lot of people feel like he's gone. If you're asking me to
fast forward a year and a half, I might lean towards he's not in
Portland anymore this season specifically, though it is harder to say that he'll asks
here out. Maybe he will agitate that if Portland does nothing substantial over the
off season, but this feels like we're a year away from anything substantial.
Now that being said, I think a lot of the school of thought is,
if Damian Lillard requests out, why are you trading him? If you're
Portland for him to well not force him to stay. But he's under contract,
you don't have to trade him. His deal spans another four years.
Player option on that fourth year, but it's a forty eight point eight million
dollar player option. He might exercises or want to extend off it, depending
on where he's at in his career. So you couldn't theory just keep Damian
Lillard even if he asked for a train and try and work it out this
season. The problem with that is NBA teams are don't want to anger players
or their representatives. They know other players around the league are watching, and
you want to develop a player friendly reputation. Should you be going after certain
free agents trying to broker deals for guys who might hit free agency soon,
and when it's Damian Lillard specifically, someone who has given thus far his entire
career to the franchise, the city of Portland in general, been such a
staple, so embedded into not even embedded into the culture, but one of
the forefathers of this culture, the author of the Blazers, let's say encore
culture, because the front office culture culture is clearly shit dawshit there. It's
the optics of not moving him. Y'all still be the more maligned party in
that situation, even though he signed a contract, And yeah, Dame's image
will take somewhat of a hit from people who like to boil down basketball legacies
and value to this of Oh, he said he always wanted to stay in
Portland. Here he is requesting a trade with four years left on his deal.
The Blazers haven't exactually given him many reasons to stay at the moment,
especially this offseason, when you look at how everything was handled, the Blazers
are still the team that's gonna the party that's gonna come out smelling worse from
all that, if Damian Lillie requests a trade and they don't move him,
you could try and play the card of well, hey, we'll try and
salvage it for a year and if it doesn't, that's when we'll move him.
You don't want to deal with an unhappy start in the locker room for
a year. That's gonna dissuay to other players from wanting to go there in
general, like why do you want to go somewhere where Damian lords not happy?
It would be like a free agent, a bigger name free agent having
you know, if Houston had the flexibility to sign someone in Porton and they
did in Christian would but he's younger, was probably more interested in being the
face of the franchise. But like a veteran impact free agent looking to contend,
signing with the Rockets last summer when the writing was on the wall there
so you're gonna put yourself at a disadvantage. I'm not saying it's necessarily right
on Damian Lillard's part there. I think he has every right to be frustrated
because the Blazers when you look at teams like the Suns having made this swing
on at Chris Paul trade, when you look at a team like the Raptors
having gambled on Kawhi Leonard for that one year, when you look at a
team like the Bucks going on and under drew Holiday trade, the Blazers have
never done that for him. They've been willing to spend, including in two
thousand and sixteen free agency where they signed just an absolute shit ton of terrible
contracts, but never they weren't signing stars in those situations. Yeah, they
offered Chandler Parsons a ton of money that would have turned out awful for them,
as it did for the Grizzlies. And then when you look at trades
like they've never made these big moves. It's getting use of Nurkice, it's
getting you know, it's getting Norman Powell. It's probably Norman Powell, Robert
coming to him. Of the two biggest trades that they've made during the Neil
O'Shea era. And while I liked the Robert coming to move a lot,
and I was skeptical of the Norman Powell trade, and it turns out that
he was a better fit than I thought, So I'll cop to being wrong
for the most part on that. How does that look when you're paying another
player under six four? I think he's sixty three two or under, definitely
under six five. If you have to pay him fifteen or sixty million dollars
a year on top of paying Game thirty nine point four and CJ thirty point
nine next year, you are awfully small in that scenario. Even if your
offense is a firecracker. Still, those were the biggest moves that you've made.
You've fallen short of going all in. And did they have the opportunity
to get involved in the James Harden sweep stakes? I don't know. I
don't know that they could have gotten a package together if it was CJ.
McCullum, Anthony Simons and all the first shound picks that they could have offered.
Is that more attractive to Houston than what the Nets are offering? I
don't know. Maybe if they think that they can around CJ and get more
assets off of him potentially, But they haven't made that type of a move.
They haven't even been involved when those players become available. And there's some
like lingering sense of when the Blazers trying to get Carmelo Anthony to come to
Portland in his prime when he was a free agent trade target and he didn't
want to go there as preference was the okay, see, yeah, that
stuff is outside of your control, and he eventually did go to Portland obviously
spent the past two seasons there. They still haven't made the all in move,
and I don't know if that looks like Shoure they've traded teacher McCollum already.
I've been a big proponent of them not busting up this backcourt for the
longest time. There were built in excuses of I mean, one, they
did make their Western Conference finals not too long ago, so I'll forget that.
You could say that they've read too much into that success. That is
a very that's factual, and if that happens, that's always the president.
That's the ingrained danger of that scenario is then acting like you are a conference
finals worthy team when were they. I don't know, but it's probably dictated
and informed their thinking since then, and that arguably could have set them back
based off some of the other decisions they've made. They still haven't made the
all in play. And if you as the front office, it is your
job to make those difficult decisions. If you didn't want to trade CJ before
now again, I would understand it as someone who said that they shouldn't,
and I will reiterate that his trade value is so complicated. He's about to
be on a three year, one hundred million dollars extension. That's expensive for
someone who is I think he's on the wrong side of thirty. Now he
might be age twenty nine, I'll double check. I'm going to this point.
He's also a non star. You're not trading CJ McCollum on his own
and getting an upgrade or not. This isn't like a star for star swap.
He's twenty nine or thirty in September. By the way, for people
who care he you need to attach stuff to him, and then what stuff
and then what are you getting? Because teams in a rebuilding aren't going to
be interested in a thirty year old on one hundred million dollars contract, so
it's almost like you need a third team involved. The closest you can come
to building a swap type scenario where it might satisfy the needs of both teams
is Ben Simmons for CJ McCollum. It still feels like Philly would be selling
lower there. And even if you include Robert Covington, should you be Portland's
There are so few situations that you can spot out there. Yeah, maybe
you could trade TJ McCollum to a team, let's hit a NIX where we
want to take him into almost cap space or some very minimal salary out there
and send you all the first round picks, maybe some of their young players
in IQ and topping. That does nothing for you because you have Damian Lillard
and unless this is a post Damian Lillard trade, you're not going to be
waiting picks, prospects, caps relief, cap relief, and that's where it
gets difficult with TJ McCollum. Now that being said, you've made all these
other let's say singles and doubles types move you've still shied away. It seems
like from going after the all in one I don't know specifically what that was,
because they have gotten in on the initial Paul George sweepstakes and this he
already gone. If that happens, it's like you have to go years back
down the line. Here. They would be gambling on a player that didn't
want to go to Portland if you're making that trade. That's always the case
with these teams. Could they have gotten involved in the Drew Holiday sweepstakes like
Milwaukee did, cause they've gotten now, they shouldn't have gotten involved into Chris
Paul stuff. Him and Dame on a team would have been fun, But
that's just that's a lot of overlap, even if you're getting rid of CJ.
McCollum there and that that's a small backcourt as well. So that's what
I think he's looking for the from the organization in Dame. I feel like
that's what this was, was him sort of letting off that warning shot by
saying, I'm not requesting at trade right now, but I will if stuff
isn't done, whether that trade request comes this summer, mid season or something
he's willing to reevaluate after coming off of next season, where it can really
feel like he if you're a Damian Lawrd. I want to spin it that
you gave everything this franchise, you gave him at a quit time. I
if I'm the Blazers, I don't know what the move is, but you
have to explore at this point, and I would say the best way to
explore is you're dangling CJ McCollum around the NBA, attaching whatever sweeteners you need.
And are there different types of players that become available. There's you know,
Chris Middleton's not going to be available off Milwaukee at this point, but
if Bradley bial becomes available, do you make that swing? Are you even
willing to make a deal where it's you're mortgaging more of your future with first
round picks just to bring in a name, And maybe you are keeping CJ
McCollum in that instance, because you look at the trade landscape around the NBA
right now, there's always a next star that's gonna want to be moved.
There's no like present one you stare at right now and say, oh,
it's gonna be him. I think everyone believes it's gonna be Bradley Beale or
to be Ben Simmons. As a result of excuse me, the fit in
Milwaukee deteriorating maybe as zac lavine is there zac lavine and upgrade over CJ.
McCollum though he's younger, Yes, but if you're trading CJ. Mccollumb and
that deal and giving him stuff, I don't know how much you've actually upgraded
your roster. Bradley Beale is definitely better than CJ. McCollum when you look
at him as a facilitator. So maybe that's something that you could look at.
But you're at the point now where you need to show Dame that you're
committed to the degree of we're going to make the al In move that we
have not and that will take some patience because I think the trademarket still needs
to develop. You need to see if Ben Simmons is even gettable. And
you know we've talked about this in past episodes. I don't know the Ben
Simmons is the queen Ist fit. I really like him importantly, and that's
one of the spots that I think he would be be great in. Aside
from that though in the obvious names, Yeah, there's the there's the element
of we need to wait and let the trademarket develop. But I'm fascinated to
see where this all leads over the off season. I don't think that Dame
has is necessarily headed towards that trade request, but I also want to reiterate
that if it comes and you're the Blazers, you almost have to acquiesce because
I don't know that anything good can I'm not saying settled for the crappiest offer.
You could do what the Spurs did too and send him somewhere he doesn't
want to go. That is your right as the team. But this situation
is more tenuous than some people might have you believe. Where they think that
Blazers have all the control Dame is a lot of good will built up within
that franchise, within that fan base, even after the Chauncey Billup Jason Kid
debacle. So it's it's on them to either give him a reason to stay,
which I don't think that they've done to this point. I think his
point about them having not made the all in play yet is fair, and
we've just seen it in the level of trades that they have made that's going
to do it for us this week. If you have not subscribed to Hardwoodknox
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guys next week. Every Sunday four pm until next time. As always,
leave you with the shout out to the one, the Only Frank Nie o'keina