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This is hard with not some damn
valley without my fantabulous co host this time

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to he called out sick at the
last minute, not feeling too well,

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mister Adam prommell, we hope you
feel better. Have a ton of mail

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bag questions to get too, though, and we also have just I mean,

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there's a ton of I want to
talk about Damian Lillard. We also

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have just a ton of final stuff
to get to as well, So we'll

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just hop on right in here.
We'll start. I'll begin with the questions

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that and if anyone in the room
has any questions or speaker question, you

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could throw those in live as per
usual. But we'll begin with all the

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NBA Finals questions. I think is
probably just the best place to start.

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The Suns have lost three consecutive games
after grabbing a two oh lead and you

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know, being within reach of winning
games four and five. Certainly game three

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was a nightmare for them. They've
lost three straight. They have not lost

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four straight all season, which is, you know, that's fine, but

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Milwaukee's only also lost once in the
postseason at home. That is, you

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know, that's just gonna be a
tall task when you look at the way

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that they're that they're really playing right
now. So I'm gonna go through the

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gamut here on the questions we have
with finals before getting to some big picture

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stuff. Frank Valoria asked, what
defensive adjustments does coach Monty Williams need to

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make for the Suns to push the
series to seven. There's another question here,

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and it was an excellent one that's
related to this from Jake Weiss to

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Holpe. I'm pronouncing that, pronouncing
that correctly. He asked, do you

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think the Sun should stop doubling in
the pain and just give up two points

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instead of the Bucks pushing it out
for a wide open three, because last

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night they were knocking down the push
out threes. So those questions are obviously

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kind of tailored together. I would
not stop double teaming if I'm Phoenix.

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Milwaukee still sub thirty five percent for
the series, and we've seen them struggle

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to hit threes up for a lot
of time during these playoffs. I think

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you can't let one game or even
less, say one point five games,

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whatever it was, because it did
seem like they caught fire a little bit

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towards the end of Game four.
Dictate the law of averages necessarily at the

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same time, you might be worried
that, hey, they were kind of

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below their mean to begin with,
they could be progressing towards it. I

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would like to point out that Game
five, insofar as I can remember,

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during the playoffs, was the first
time that the Bucks just had like fantastic

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shot making and offensive performances from all
three of their stars in Middleton, Drew,

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Holiday and Yannis at the same time. It's always been two of them

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or one of them, and Drew
has been a big part of that in

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the sense that he hasn't been able
to finish the rim. We talked about

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that last week, and his jumper
wasn't falling too high eclip, So I

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wouldn't stop doubling. I mean,
there are instances where you probably just you

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don't need to. I think two
of the things that I noticed that I

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think they could try is when yannest
is catching the ball in open space.

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I know you don't want to bring
DeAndre Ayton too far out, but I

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actually might be more aggressive in covering
him there and sending another body at him,

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because worst case scenario, you're just
gonna found him. He's doing such

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a great job and specifically in Game
five if he was just able to go

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through DeAndre eight and in those situations, it might even be also something to

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consider when he's when he's off the
ball too and just getting ready to move

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inside. I don't necessarily know how
viable that is. You're going to put

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then your own defense into rocations a
lot of time, and Jannest has done

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a fantastic job of you know,
this season, I feel like he's really

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improved as a pastor, and he's
kind of always making or most of the

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time, I should say, making
the right decisions in those situations. But

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I'm just going to be more aggressive
going after your honest and I had thought

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and talked about this with a colleague
of mine. I was wondering if if

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they should give Jay Crowder more reps
against him. But as my colleague then

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pointed out, then you're in a
situation where you could pull DeAndre and outside

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the paint. You're putting yourself in
an even more larger disadvantage on the defensive

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glass and allowing the Bucks to get
even more second chance points opportunities. You've

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actually won in the last game the
second point second chance points battle, which

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is a good sign that leaves me
the next point, you need to get

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your defense back. And there's probably
more scientific things than that than a better

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way to say that than I just
did. But when you watched game five,

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it really felt like it could be
just as simple to Phoenix as hey,

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get your ass back in transition.
There just a lot of plays where

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it felt like Eighten and even Michale
Bridges just weren't back as quickly as they

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should have been or where they should
have been. And when you look at

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this three game stretch, you know
you were never gonna win the fast break

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battle here like that's it's not a
matter of stopping Milwaukee or slowing them down

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completely, but you need to make
life difficult on them. They outscored the

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Sun's fifty two to eighteen in transition
in the in these past three games all

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losses for Phoenix. Obviously, they've
also outscored them fifty seven to thirty two

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in points off turnovers, and so, yeah, turnovers weren't a problem in

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game five, but you need to
win some of those battles because you're almost

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guaranteed you're not going to normally win
the battles inside the pain. I know

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people like to harp at the lack
of three throws on the Sun's part,

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their game has never been prided on
getting to rim, Like, yeah,

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you'd like to see DeAndre and be
more physical when he's going up. Of

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course, still, those are the
battles on the margins you need to win

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wearing a game, like when you're
when both teams are making shots, they're

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both playing pretty well, that to
me would make a huge difference. And

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so I don't know specifically what you
can necessarily change defensively. I feel like

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a lot of this you do have
to credit Milwaukee for making tough shots,

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seeing Drew Holiday come alive, and
then also just looking at their defense.

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But there are mistakes that I think
you can limit on the offensive side,

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like again making sure that you're getting
back not going for risky offensive rebounds.

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If you're Tory Craig, that can
help you on the defensive end to specifically

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at least be in a better position
to defend the Bucks in transition or keep

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them out of transition altogether and force
them to go through those half court motions

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a little bit more, because they're
still not a great half court offense even

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when they're at their peak, and
even if they're doing well and half court,

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and again they did have their moments
in Game five, they're just they're

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going to be more dangerous if you're
just just not set. So those are

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the things that I'm looking at if
if I'm Phoenix defensively, specifically, Noah

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said in the chat, it's Drew
Aliday has been excellent defensively, makes me

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forget about his offensive inconsistencies. It's
also very apparent that Phoenix has a lot

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of good wings but ultimately inexperience with
transition, transition defensive situations. The Drew

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Holiday point is great because I think
and Pelicans fans have talked about this.

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He's always been sort of an uneven
offensive player, but he's also just been

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billed as this great two way force
because he is so good on defense,

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and there are not many players in
the league he could probably maybe you need

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two hands to count them, if
that who can have the game that he

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did in Game five even once,
and that was, you know, given

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the stakes, just the setting,
that was clearly the best game or Drew

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Holiday's career. Because you're defending either
Devin Booker or Chris Paul for most of

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the game, you go twelve or
twenty from the floor three or six from

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three thirteen to sis you accounted for, like I think when I looked at

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it was fifty seven or fifty eight
of the points that Milwaukee score just by

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virtue of your own points, and
then the points generated office is just a

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monstrous game from him helping them navigate
minutes when jannat attent to Kupo wasn't off

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the or or excuse me, when
Jannis Attena Koopa was was off the floor.

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He is, He's a great He's
a great player, and even if

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he's not, even if he's been
as uneven as he is offensively. You

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know, people will talk about his
contract in different terms now, but you

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need him on the floor just because
of the defensive body of work he has.

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It does seem like Chris Paul's left
wrist might be bothering him, but

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he has for long stretches at a
time. Put Chris Paul in a closet,

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locked it and thrown away the key, and they're not. There are

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very few players on this planet that
can do that. Another thing for Phoenix

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is they need it, and we
don't have a question about this. So

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that's why I'm just leading right into
it. Well, actually we do kind

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of have This is tangentially related to
this. Kim asked, how can the

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Suns get back in a series they
are shooting so well? Historically, it

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seems that teams that shoot this well
don't lose games in the playoffs. And

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Noah's final note Onrew Holidays, he
had the highest offensive rating in Game five,

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which was crazy. Yeah, I
mean, when you look at the

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way he played, it sounds so
crazy. But when you look at the

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way he played in all these other
games, that absolutely is mind blowing because

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he hasn't had that offensive consistency there. But yeah, so Kim basically asked,

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how can the Suns get back in
this series? And they have been

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shooting so well, they gotta find
a way to start being more even against

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the Bucks during their one star minutes
and over the last three games specifically,

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and let's even look at the last
two, because Game three was a nightmare

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for them on just so many levels. But in games four and five in

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the and it's not a long stretch, by the way, but in the

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sixteen minutes that Chris Paul has played
without Devin Booker on the floor, without

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and this is sixteen minutes, the
Suns have been on scored by twenty two

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points. They've been okay during the
Devin Booker on his own stretches in twenty

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four minutes through these two games,
there are plus six that is Look,

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it's not like statistically smacking you in
the face. That's big time when you

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only have one of your stars on
the court. And there have been in

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some of those minutes where Milwaukee's gonna
always have one star on the court,

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and there have been stretches where some
of those have been two maybe part of

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the game four returns where Milwaukee was
or where Milwaukee did outscore Phoenix by six

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points in ten minutes when Chris Paul
played on his own let's call him a

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solo time had to do with well, you didn't need to pull Devin Booker

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to begin with. You know,
being worried about him picking up his last

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foul is a little bit jumping the
gun there. You're not really in foul

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trouble until you're fouled out like That's
there's a school of thought that goes that

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way, and I think it's you
know, it's a fairly valid one.

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So I don't know what necessarily if
the answer is, I definitely think that

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they're concerned about who's on the floor
during those minutes. They have worked DeAndre

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Ayton to the bone. When you
look at the minutes that he's playing,

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basically probably be sure that he's spread
out across their best lineups where they have

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all their best players in, but
also during the minutes where there's only one

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star there, you're also in some
of those minutes, you might be more

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inclined to give Devin Booker more of
the starters alongside him than a Thane with

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Chris Paul where you might be leaning
on him to carry more of the bench.

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I think a big part of it, too, is that just Chris

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Paul has clearly not been himself this
series. He's been you know, the

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past three games specifically too, he
just hasn't been fantastic. Even when his

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numbers look okay, he's there.
Look, there are moments like Game five

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where it felt like the Bucks were
targeting him on defense, which is just

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I know, Chris Paul is thirty
six years old, but that's just not

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something that you expect to happen.
Because CP three has been a good defenders

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entire careers, a good defender this
year. It was an especially great help

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defender for Phoenix this year. So
to see that, it's just like,

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holy crap, how far have we
fallen? The minutes without Booker though?

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Is I don't know is the answer
to you just play Devin Booker all the

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time. And I'm not saying Devin
Booker isn't an issue, and that will

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bring me my next thing is that, you know, I don't want to

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see Phoenix only have eighteen transition points
over a three game span. I know

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that they like to be a little
bit more methodical, and I actually don't

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think they've relied too much on Devin
Booker isolation specifically, but they have reverted

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into watching him try to do things
or even Chris Paul try to do things

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too much. Credit the Bucks.
There a lot of that has been when

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they've gone to Folk court pressure,
which has been quite often like that's been

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able to throw Phoenix's offense sort of
out of key. You can also look

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around at the rest of Phoenix and
yeah, they have all these in theory,

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and I've counted their depth as anyone. So this is not me,

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you know, I'm being a hippocright
here a little bit but they have a

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lot of talent up and down the
roster. It's just not these guys that

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are necessarily bankable to put the ball
on the floor. Your third best option

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to do that is Cameron Payne.
His minutes are going to be forever limited

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because you're not playing three guards at
the same time, and he hasn't really

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had like this incendiary finals anyway.
Then McHale Bridges, I guess is number

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four there. Maybe you trust Jay
Crowd or a little No. I wouldn't,

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but he's just not in mcal bridges
never been a player getting off the

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dribble three in game five, but
that's just never been his game. And

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like thirteen points on six shots is
like very much in mcaal bridge's offensive game.

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I would say that's sort of the
median for him. And so it's

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not you know where he's only taking
four shots like he did in game four

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once I believe like that, Yeah, you could probably, but he's also

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not going to have all these game
twos where he's dropping twenty seven and taking

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a bunch of different looks. So
I think you need to play with more

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I don't want to say pace overall, but at least be a little bit

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more varied in your offense, and
I think they were during the first two

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games. I thought that's been things
that they've done well during the playoffs.

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A lot of this time is Yeah, when Chris Paul first came back from

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his injury, maybe that's still lingering
effects he kind of slowed down or came

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back from COVID. Excuse me,
he did sort of slow down the offense.

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But I thought they've done a good
job overall, not recently, of

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varying up their paces and at least
getting into semi transition putting some extra pressure

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on the Bucks defense there. You
need to do more of that, because

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part of the way you're gonna not
beat Milwaukee in transition but hang with them

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is yes, get back on defense
and don't again, don't chance these offensive

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rebounds if you're DeAndre and nor Tory
Craig looking at the wings specifically, but

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also get out and transition yourself to
sort of bridge that gap. And I

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don't know if how capable and necessarily
they are doing that for a full forty

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eight minutes. I'm not telling them
to play faster overall. I guess be

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more opportunistic is what I'm saying,
and there are going to be chances there

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if you forced the Bucks into a
turnover, even though it's not something that

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Feast is gonna do a ton.
But more specifically, if they're miss shots,

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if Milwaukee's missing shots, like try
get get up and go. This

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isn't often in bounds where I would
still be a big proponent of if try

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and catch them off guard and bound
the ball quickly, you get up the

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court. That's just not something that
Phoenix is necessarily going to do. So

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off these live ball misses, really
try and get after it then, and

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that will give your offense is just
a different feel to it at points.

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So and look we go back to
Phoenix's defense before, like they did a

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good job. I thought of keeping
the Bucks, like limiting their pain opportunities.

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I think a lot of that Jake
said in his question, doubling them,

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that's certainly a big part of it. And the Bucks only had in

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five game five, I think they
only had six free throw attempts. Know,

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they only had seventeen free throw attemps, which is just like for and

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maybe it was six and the second
half or something whatever ridiculous it was,

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and eleven those went to Jannis and
he's four of eleven at the line on

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the road, so like you live
with that, they're going to win the

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paint battle. But I feel like
the Sun's defense is like made sure in

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Game five specifically they didn't get like
torched in all those situations. So there's

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a lot going on here. But
I do think varying the offensive pace is

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a bigger way to one just help
overall, and two also make sure that

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just your offense is less predictable and
you're not relying on Hey, Devin Booker,

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go do stuff, Chris Paul,
go do stuff that is just going

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to be inherently easier to defend.
And I do think they've leaned a lot

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more on Devin Booker in this series, even though he hasn't spent a ton

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of time in isolation, but they've
just you know, you look at this

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back to back forty point games,
they really needed every single point from him

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in those situations. You could talk
about he needs to do more as a

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passer, but let's go back to
Game five, Like, all right,

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you need your teammates to hit shots
and also just play better in play better

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overall on defense. I feel like
that's where you know, if you're Devin

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Booker, you're scoring all these points. The defense is not your EMMO,

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even though I think he's been solid
on the ball this year down the stretcher

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for that not really so much in
the fourth quarter, I guess because the

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Suns that was, you know,
they had to buy in large good fourth

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quarter, but after the first quarter, like seeing so many people on Phoenix

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go cold outside of Devin Booker.
That's and look, Devin Booker took thirty

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three shots to get the forty points, like he was high volume himself if

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he's not going to get to the
foul line of Ton. So there's a

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lot of trade off going here.
But I think at least varying up the

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pace helps you overall. And then
this brings me back to my initial point.

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In those Chris Paul alone minutes,
I think it really helps you out

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there, and those have been problem
minutes for Phoenix the past the past three

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games because they were outscored by ten
points when Paul played without Booker in Game

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three. But there was some noise
there where Booker didn't played all the fourth

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I believe Chris Paul loggs sometime there
and the game got out of control by

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the end of it. So I
don't know how much to read into the

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game pre stuff, but the past
two certainly that's been among the issues there.

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Jake also asked did the Sun sell
out in the second quarter by taking

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bad threes after leading by sixteen damn
points. I don't know if they sold

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out so much, as you know, we were just discussing their offense is

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too predictable right now where it's taking. It's it's just churning through too much

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time without doing much off the clock
where you can watch an offensive possession and

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kind of feel like, well,
how did we while away the past seventeen

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eighteen nineteen seconds where previously in the
first two games and through the playoffs overall,

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the Suns can just really kill you
with their passing and guys who are

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cutting and the secondary cutters and the
guys making the second passes. It almost

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feels like in some of these games
and Game five they did have a big

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lead, but it feels like you're
settling down and playing to protect a lead

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rather than to win. And that's
an issue overall. But I think probably

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the bigger issue with that is they
haven't always had the lead situations and so

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if you're trying to come back,
specifically, you need to have that flow

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to your offense that they have had
for all of this season and not just

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reverting into either one on one stuff
or whether there's not a ton of ball

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movement or just movement whatsoever. And
you're taking time off the clock without really

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going through all these actions to put
Milwaukee's defense in rotation or to do anything

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at all, like off the ball
or even whether it's on the ball.

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So I guess they I guess you
could say they sold out. I don't

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know if it's just them settling so
much. Is okay, did they go

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through their their offense properly enough or
did they run it efficiently enough? But

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no, in that situation when you're
up by sixteen, it did feel like

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some of those mis threes created some
of those transition opportunities for the Bucks.

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And I know, I think Seth
Partner the athletic is disproven that these you

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know, these long missus leader long
rebounds would would lead more transition opportunities.

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I don't know that. I don't
think that that's factually correct. But still

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in those situations, you're looking at
it like, Okay, they settled through

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00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,160
this jump shot. There was a
long rebound that they didn't have a chance

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at. They had two or three
guys around the basket. Milwaukee collects the

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rebound, is able to go off
and running, so you're you're by attacking

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a little bit more going for you
know, get going through your pick and

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rolls if Milwaukee's in't drop and then
taking those midrange jumpers like those are just

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more structured part of your offense.
You're probably able to get back a little

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00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,640
bit better because you're you're used to
it. But this what's really really frustrating

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for me as someone who covers the
league is that it's so tough for me

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to get a feel on this series
to say, Okay, what can Phoenix

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do better? And then will that
actually make them win? Because I don't

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know if those adjustments. I think
the Bucks made adjustments during the first two

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games, Mad Game in Game one
and then over to Game two, and

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they still just lost. It's been
that type of series where I don't know

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if it's weird, but it's been
definitely fun. But it's also left me

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with sort of a zero feel for
yeah, you could have is it weird

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to me that Milwaukee shot fairly poorly
for most of the game four and still

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won. No, you could have
told me that they shot as well as

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they did in Game five, and
I still would have needed to ask the

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outcome of the game, because I'm
not sure that, Yeah, you know

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what, it's awesome that they shot
made fourteen three, shot fifty percent from

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three over sixty percent on twos.
But that's just been this type of series.

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And also you counter it with the
Suns going thirteen of nineteen from beyond

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the ark. My god, that's
just absolutely wild. And that's when you're

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talking about like some of those threes
in the second quarter nineteen three point ten.

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There's just not a lot in today's
NBA. And so that's comes back

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to it wasn't so much an issue
in this game. They each team took

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00:19:07,039 --> 00:19:11,319
eighty seven shots. But you're kind
of looking at the field goal attempt discrepancy

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between some of these other games,
and I think the athletics John Hollinger I

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mentioned to this this too. That's
going to be a problem. It doesn't

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matter, or I should say that, let's not be hyperbolic there. It

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00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:27,960
absolutely matters how efficient your offense is. But if you're going to just give

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00:19:29,039 --> 00:19:33,119
up more shot attempts. And so
let's let's go to game four where Phoenix

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00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,160
takes seventy eight shots to Milwaukee's ninety
seven. That's a nineteen field goal attempt

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00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,640
discrepancy. There are going to be
more opportunities. And it's even like,

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00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,440
look at the three point battle.
The Bucks only seven of twenty nine,

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00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,279
twenty four point one percent, Phoenix
is only seven or twenty three, that's

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00:19:47,319 --> 00:19:51,079
thirty point four percent. But you're
taking six leg shots there, and it

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still opens the door for a way
from Milwaukee to sort of even you out

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00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:56,559
from the three point line, you
could say. And they have those,

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oh those six misses whatever, because
one they're winning this s can chance point

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the second chance points battle in that
game specifically, and then two we're taking

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00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,440
so many other shots and more of
them were coming from INSIDBRCA. The lower

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that the law of volume there is
going to work out in their favor,

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and they're on most nights. The
fact that to me, the field goal

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00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:19,039
attempt discrepancy is such a big deal, and again it wasn't in game five,

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but just game four is within Phoenix's
reach and that feels like a missed

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00:20:22,759 --> 00:20:27,640
opportunity. They did have a fourth
quarter lead. There is that they're going

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00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:32,119
to lose the free throw battle on
most nights here, and they did in

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00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,720
game four. Your minus seven or
minus ten at the free throw line overall

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00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,440
on attempts, and then you lose
the free throw battle by eight points.

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So that's something you know, that's
a battle you're probably going to lose even

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00:20:41,799 --> 00:20:45,799
when you Yes, it's cool that
they won the rebounding battle in game five,

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00:20:45,839 --> 00:20:48,799
I guess, but that's not a
battle you're going to win consistently because

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00:20:48,799 --> 00:20:51,119
you're not built to do it.
Milwaukee's just so big, they're long.

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They have that explosion that's headed at
the rim. I mean, there's a

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00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,279
play in game five I don't I
don't know that. I wouldn't call it

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necessarily a smart play, but it
was late in the game. Yeah,

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00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:03,000
Johannest miss is a free throw and
Drew comes just blitzing in from the three

347
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,440
point line to get the offensive rebound, keeps the possession alive. That ultimately

348
00:21:07,559 --> 00:21:10,759
helps out Milwaukee. They can take
those risks and they still kind of have

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00:21:10,799 --> 00:21:12,839
the personnel to get back in transition. I don't know if Phoenix has and

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00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,119
I'm not advocating for those risks.
It seems necessarily, especially in as late

351
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:18,039
in the game as it was at
the time. I think it was inside

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00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:22,319
fifteen seconds or something ridiculous, But
Drew was having the kind of game,

353
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,519
that kind of game, so why
not just roll the dice on yourself in

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00:21:25,559 --> 00:21:29,680
that situation. But that this series
just feels like it's going to be you

355
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:30,960
can I don't even know if to
determ it on the margin that's going to

356
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,880
be the right term. But I
actually might look more so at role players

357
00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,160
that come up huge at this point
than any other big picture factors or looking

358
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,759
at star performances specifically, because it
does feel like that type of series where

359
00:21:41,839 --> 00:21:45,400
yeah, you can identify what teams
could do better in certain games, but

360
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,000
it doesn't even necessarily mean that they're
going to win it. And that's sort

361
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,799
of what I've meant, and that's
what I've the feel I've gotten from this

362
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,599
series so far. Carson asked,
and again, if anyone has a question

363
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,839
in the chat, you are free
to get it off. But Jake Carson,

364
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,799
excuse me, asked, do you
consider Chris Paul to be a dirty

365
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:10,039
player? That's an interesting question.
I'm a very big Chris Paul advocate,

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00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:17,440
So I dirty always feels strong.
He feels more so opportunistic, bordering on

367
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at times reckless. And I see
your speaker request, DeAndre, we'll get

368
00:22:21,599 --> 00:22:26,480
to you right after this this question. I'm hesitant to call players dirty.

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He probably toes the line with it
and crosses it at times. I have

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00:22:30,759 --> 00:22:33,039
you more than just the Kyle Lowry
terms where he's going to make all of

371
00:22:33,039 --> 00:22:37,279
these questionable positions. And maybe I'm
too close to it to where I've liked

372
00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:41,279
him too much and I've followed his
career for so long and I think he's

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just one of the greatest basketball players
of all time. And I also get

374
00:22:44,839 --> 00:22:47,920
kick out of the stuff like you
know, telling the rest that someone doesn't

375
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,440
have their jersey tucked in, or
sort of goating players just trying to get

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00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,480
inside their head. I love that, you know needliness, So I'm take

377
00:22:56,519 --> 00:23:00,480
it would take a lot for me
to call a player dirty. Would do

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00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,920
you think Patrick Beverley's a dirty player? I would argue that he's more extreme

379
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than Chris Paul when you're looking at
the you know, the physical ramifications of

380
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,839
what he's done, like he is
far more reckless than a than a CP.

381
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,920
Three, I would argue, but
we do have a speaker request from

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00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,680
DeAndre, so I'm gonna give you
the talking stick. How are you doing,

383
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:23,759
DeAndre? Oh man, I'm pretty
good, pretty good things for having

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00:23:23,759 --> 00:23:29,279
me, yep, I'm sure.
Do you have a you have a question

385
00:23:29,319 --> 00:23:34,400
for me? Uh? Yeah?
About I was I saw last night's game

386
00:23:34,519 --> 00:23:38,079
and that that boy, that was
a good game. That was a good

387
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:44,599
game. But do you think do
you really think the game was really lost

388
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:51,559
in the second quarter or do you
contribute other do you contribute that that's finely

389
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:57,160
on the sun side to going towards
like the other things other than the second

390
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:03,160
quarter. That's a great question.
I mean, I think everyone can kind

391
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,960
of point to the stretch in the
second quarter where and thank you for asking

392
00:24:08,039 --> 00:24:11,759
the question, DeAndre. That that
was a great question. When Milwaukee had

393
00:24:11,759 --> 00:24:15,480
erased the sixteen point leader or whatever
was less than halfway through the second it

394
00:24:15,519 --> 00:24:18,200
felt like and they were just big
bang boom on the offensive end. That's

395
00:24:18,279 --> 00:24:22,680
definitely the stretch of the game where
it feels like things got out of control.

396
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,279
But it took a lot longer than
just that stretch for the Suns to

397
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,759
kind of settle down on offense.
Even play smarter on defense. I think

398
00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:33,359
when you look at what they did
defensively throughout that game, it felt it

399
00:24:33,519 --> 00:24:37,039
felt like, and this is I
don't want to be the yells at Clouds

400
00:24:37,039 --> 00:24:40,720
person here, but it just felt
like they were not fully engaged on defense

401
00:24:40,799 --> 00:24:44,079
for a huge chunk of Game five, and then they kind of got to

402
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,200
it in the fourth quarter they were
getting stops, but it seems like every

403
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,319
time that's a little too little,
too late situation where they were hitting big

404
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,440
shots, they were playing fantastic defense, and sometimes Milwaukee would still even just

405
00:24:55,519 --> 00:25:00,359
hit shots after the Suns had played
good defense. So I it just feels

406
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,359
like a situation where they're going to
need to be more consistent with their defensive

407
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,559
and engagement for the length of the
game. Especially again I said this to

408
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,400
the top of the pod, but
want to reiterated, Milwaukee's lost once at

409
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,640
home all postseason. That's a tough
place to go in there and win right

410
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,519
now. So the other thing would
be with offense that we've already talked about,

411
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,319
is it shouldn't take together. They're
going to be deviations, they're going

412
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:25,200
to be dry spells. But just
felt like Phoenix's shopmaking wasn't incredible, but

413
00:25:25,279 --> 00:25:32,400
they they're capable of getting back into
it more quickly than they actually did after

414
00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:37,960
looking at how fast that second quarterly
just evaporated for them. I also do

415
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,559
wonder, when you're just looking at
this personnel that they have available to them,

416
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,960
do they miss the Dariel Shars element
of their team at all. I

417
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,319
will not say he will be the
reason that they lose this series, for

418
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,920
anyone who's forgotten, he tours ACL
so he is not available for the rest

419
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,519
of the series, and I'm curious
to see how much time he's gonna wind

420
00:25:56,599 --> 00:26:00,200
up missing next season as well.
But they don't have a backup five like

421
00:26:00,279 --> 00:26:03,839
Dario Charge was their backup five and
he was not great during the postseason this

422
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,880
year, but at least gave you
a backup five to turn too. And

423
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,799
so now, unless you want to
play Frank Kamiski, which they do not.

424
00:26:11,039 --> 00:26:15,960
Frank kimisk did not play in Game
five, you're going with you're going

425
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,839
without a center where it's a Jay
Crowder, Cameron Johnson, mcal Bridges lineup

426
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,920
or Tory Craig is somehow involved in
there, but also Tory Craig. He's

427
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,640
been so good offensively for the Sun
since he came over, But they're going

428
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:32,319
to be Knights like he had in
Game five where he plays under nine minutes

429
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:34,640
because he went after a couple of
ill advised offensive rebounds. He's shooting only

430
00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:38,000
you know, one of three from
three and one of four from the floor

431
00:26:38,519 --> 00:26:42,160
overall, and so you're gonna be
more inclined to go with the offense heavy

432
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,160
lineups. But your rotation is just
so finite now, and I think a

433
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,640
big part of what the Suns have
done this year had it's been a testament

434
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,319
to their depth, and you're always
going to shrink your rotations at this stage.

435
00:26:52,319 --> 00:26:56,359
But to not have that clear backup
center where DeAndre is playing forty five

436
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,240
minutes in Game five, which is
leave all your cards on the table,

437
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,759
I totally get it. But when
you're like the primary line of defense against

438
00:27:02,839 --> 00:27:06,880
Yannis attent to Kupo, you would
ideally like to get a few more blows

439
00:27:07,039 --> 00:27:10,599
than you know, just take a
beat than you did. It comes with

440
00:27:10,799 --> 00:27:14,160
the trade off of Yannis played forty
one minutes himself. That's still if you

441
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:18,319
wanted to mirror DeAndre Eton's minutes alongside
Janice's, you still would have found a

442
00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:19,680
way to get him another four extra
minutes of rest. I'm not even saying

443
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,680
that that's the difference. I don't
know that DeAndre Eaton is perfectly built to

444
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,160
go up against Yannis. They've consciously
made the decision that, yeah, he's

445
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,680
gonna put pressure on him on the
basket, and if Yannis is the primary

446
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,359
defender, you can leave that much
space off him when he catches the ball

447
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,079
on the perimeter because he's not a
great shooter, and that allows deandreton to

448
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:40,960
stay close to the basket, where
despite his switchability on the perimeter, he's

449
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,200
still just most effective around there.
Because as a defensive anchor, it does

450
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:48,079
seem like he's still I talked about
engagement before. It feels like he was,

451
00:27:48,319 --> 00:27:51,400
you know, not existent. But
there were stretches in Game five where

452
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,119
it was just sort of like,
like, what does DeAndre in doing?

453
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,640
And then you look and it's,
oh, he had twenty and ten and

454
00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,920
two blocks and you just didn't really
feel him. Those games are weird from

455
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,720
him. And now, by the
way, twenty ten and two blocks in

456
00:28:02,759 --> 00:28:04,359
the finals is great, so I
don't want to take that away from him,

457
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:08,680
but he still also sort of needs
to learn like when to abandon the

458
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,759
plays where it's if he has to
move off of y honest, or if

459
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:15,160
he has to, you know,
help a little bit more. He might

460
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,480
be too concerned with his own assignment, you know, in this case,

461
00:28:17,599 --> 00:28:19,720
if it's a Yannis or just being
around the basket. So there, and

462
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,359
look, he's forgotten more about basketball
than I will ever know about basketball.

463
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,119
They're they're saddling him with a lot
to not even have that different type of

464
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,680
look where if he went with Sarich, that was a way for the Suns,

465
00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:37,519
and this is we're it's moving on
to the offensive side of the ball,

466
00:28:37,519 --> 00:28:40,319
and now that was away all season. They really up to their pace

467
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,599
and so I talked about playing with
more of a very pace. Dario charts

468
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,880
line up to the five. For
the most part, we're able to do

469
00:28:45,079 --> 00:28:49,000
that. And I don't know he
helps you. He I shouldn't say I

470
00:28:49,039 --> 00:28:52,359
don't know. You know, he's
not gonna help you defensively in this series.

471
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,079
But like the minutes where Yannis is
off the court and you have to

472
00:28:55,119 --> 00:28:59,559
worry about like a Bobby Portis or
a brook Lopez who's had some brook Lopis

473
00:28:59,599 --> 00:29:02,240
has some really good moments in this
series, and Bobby Porters had some really

474
00:29:02,279 --> 00:29:03,960
good moments in Game five is playing
time. He's been all over the place,

475
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,880
but like you can figure out somewhere
to put stars if you're that worried

476
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,200
about his defense. And he's also
more of a more physical as a player.

477
00:29:11,359 --> 00:29:15,680
Excuse me, then I think people
credit him for so just to have

478
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,200
that different look, I think might
have went a long way. But I

479
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,000
don't know what else Monty Williams is
necessarily supposed to do with his rotations at

480
00:29:22,079 --> 00:29:26,279
this point. It's and he really
narrowed it down in Game five. There

481
00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:30,119
were only six dudes that played twenty
or more minutes in that We saw Karen

482
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,480
Payne he didn't even play fifteen minutes. Craig played under nine, and then

483
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,599
Frank Miskey didn't see the floor,
and then other players who have not played

484
00:29:37,599 --> 00:29:41,680
all So he had pretty much been
working with a nine man rotation and he

485
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,440
has shortened it to what feels like
seven and a half players right now.

486
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,920
And I just don't know what his
other other options are when you look at

487
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,400
the rest of this series, and
I think some people will question the call

488
00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:55,240
of going back to Game four when
Booker was in foul strouble. Should you

489
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,640
have actually pulled him there? I
don't know. That's I wouldn't do that

490
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:02,039
as the reason they lost this series. There's been so many other opportunities for

491
00:30:02,079 --> 00:30:07,079
them, so I would not pinpoint
it down to that. Next question here

492
00:30:07,359 --> 00:30:12,920
comes from Rome Nasa asked why does
Booker get away with so many fouls?

493
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,079
I don't know if he's referring to
Game four where Booker had like eight personals

494
00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:21,279
and only ended up with five.
I've never thought that Devin Booker has gotten

495
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:26,240
this improper whistle, that there's been
any impropriety there. Game four, Yeah,

496
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,799
there was probably two miss fouls on
him, but there was also a

497
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,599
call. I don't even think he
should have gotten the fifth foul called on

498
00:30:32,759 --> 00:30:34,559
him. That was very ticky tack. I think it was PJ. Tucker

499
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,640
who he fouled in that moment.
So yeah, that's just I don't know

500
00:30:40,759 --> 00:30:41,559
why. I don't think he gets
away with so many fouls. If you

501
00:30:41,599 --> 00:30:47,279
have evidence to the contrary, Rome, please feel free to get at me

502
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,880
there. I think we're moving off
the finals with the rest of the questions

503
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:53,240
that we have, so if anyone
we do have another finals related question,

504
00:30:53,359 --> 00:30:56,960
but it's not related to Sun's bucks. So if anyone has more of those

505
00:30:56,039 --> 00:30:59,519
questions, you can ask her a
speaker question. You could throw those in

506
00:30:59,599 --> 00:31:04,960
the chat Ricardo Alvarez asked what's the
most points scored in a finals game for

507
00:31:06,039 --> 00:31:10,799
a player and team and total score
and then also the lowest including the eventual

508
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,039
MVP. I didn't have time to
look up all six of these numbers what

509
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,599
it was, but I do have
three of them. So the most points

510
00:31:17,599 --> 00:31:22,839
scored in the finals game on record
for a player is Elgin Baylor in nineteen

511
00:31:23,119 --> 00:31:26,759
sixty two. He was with the
Lakers. He dropped sixty one points.

512
00:31:26,839 --> 00:31:30,240
It is, as of right now, the only sixty point game ever in

513
00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:34,200
the finals. He played all forty
eight minutes twenty two to forty six from

514
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,759
the floor. All two is obviously
in that era that was before the three

515
00:31:38,839 --> 00:31:44,319
point line. If you're just looking
at what I found interesting, and I'm

516
00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:47,799
like surprised that this hasn't that there
aren't more of these. They're only six.

517
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,240
This is including Baylor, six fifty
point games in the finals. They're

518
00:31:52,279 --> 00:31:56,400
all different players. Bob Pettitt had
one in nineteen fifty eight, fifty points

519
00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,680
exactly Lebron in twenty eighteen dropped fifty
one. Jerry West in nineteen sixty nine

520
00:32:00,759 --> 00:32:06,400
dropped fifty three. Mj in nineteen
ninety three dropped fifty five. Rick Barry

521
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,079
also had fifty five in nineteen sixty
seven. And then, of course we

522
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:14,000
just mentioned Elgin Baylor. The most
points on record score in the finals game

523
00:32:14,039 --> 00:32:17,400
for a team came in nineteen eighty
five by the Lakers. They dropped one

524
00:32:17,559 --> 00:32:23,440
hundred and forty eight points. That
is, that's a lot of points there,

525
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,079
you know, I don't really know
what else to say there, one

526
00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:30,200
hundred and forty eight points. Day. I'm looking at the box score right

527
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,079
now, and it was in regulation. I just want to make sure that

528
00:32:32,119 --> 00:32:37,319
there weren't like eight overtimes in that
so that yeah, they brutalized. Boston

529
00:32:37,359 --> 00:32:40,920
won one forty eight to one fourteen. There have been five games in the

530
00:32:42,039 --> 00:32:45,200
finals where they've been one hundred and
forty and four points scored. They all

531
00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:49,960
took place, by the way before
the nineties. And then the final aspect

532
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,720
of this is the fewest points ever
scored by a team in the finals came

533
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:59,359
in nineteen ninety eight. The Utah
Jazz dropped fifty four points against the Bulls

534
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:05,839
and lost nine six to fifty four. That's who that's rough. That's gross.

535
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,720
Fifty four points in the finals game
in nineteen ninety eight. A lot

536
00:33:07,759 --> 00:33:10,400
of the other ones that even cracked
this list from the forties and the fifties.

537
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,480
That's disgusting. That fifty four points
in nineteen ninety eight is gross.

538
00:33:16,759 --> 00:33:21,319
Thank you for that question, though, Ricardo, I found it to be

539
00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:30,319
fascinating. Let's see whop informatics ask
what's the most underrated skill a modern day

540
00:33:30,599 --> 00:33:35,759
NBA player needs to have? That
is so interesting of a question, and

541
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,759
I gave it a lot of thought, and I think I land on being

542
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:47,799
able to put the ball on the
floor independent of being an initiator or facilitator.

543
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,759
And kind of what I mean by
this might be the Mkaal Bridges role.

544
00:33:52,359 --> 00:33:54,599
Is someone who has viewed as this
three in D guy, but he

545
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:59,119
does so much more and the cutting
aspect of it for sure, but he

546
00:33:59,279 --> 00:34:01,480
is able to hat close outs,
he is able to dribble into these pull

547
00:34:01,559 --> 00:34:05,160
up mid range jumpers. Now he
is able to just put the ball on

548
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:09,039
the floor and drive. I think
that opens up more avenues one to score

549
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:14,320
puts more pressure on defenses than by
extension makes that player and the team overall

550
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,159
tougher to defend. And I actually
do think it elevates the value of a

551
00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:21,800
player's game. And so two other
examples I'll give, and so McAll Bridge

552
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:23,599
is part of this. But it
feels like his growth there has been I

553
00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:28,119
don't want to say more again,
more gradual. Let's say, where has

554
00:34:28,119 --> 00:34:30,360
been butting for like the past,
you know, over the past two or

555
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:36,079
three years. Look at Doug McDermott. This season was was an absolute lightning

556
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:39,599
rod for Indiana's offense. Someone's always
been a pretty good cutter, but mostly

557
00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:42,599
just known as a shooter. He
could do it in motion, but he

558
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,559
really was able. He by far
and away averaged more drives per game than

559
00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:51,440
he did in any other season for
his career, and it opened up things

560
00:34:51,519 --> 00:34:54,800
for him. His offensive value just
a great deal. He shot over sixty

561
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,920
percent on two It's just one of
the most efficient scores in the league from

562
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:00,199
beyond the arc. And no,
he wasn't taking these pull up jumpers.

563
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:05,320
But the ability to attack those open
spaces to where you're either a gonna get

564
00:35:05,559 --> 00:35:07,480
looks at the basket or you could
drop it off to a teammate and maybe

565
00:35:07,519 --> 00:35:12,199
they're scoring, maybe they're making a
second pass, or it could be a

566
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,840
third pass in that situation, depending
on how McDermott is attacking. And then

567
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,280
even looking in Oganna Nobi in Toronto
the past two seasons, specifically, someone

568
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,039
who could really attack closeouts, someone
who can and you don't want to say

569
00:35:24,079 --> 00:35:28,280
generate his own offense from scratch,
because that's just never going to be his

570
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,360
game, but so much more valuable
because you can't just expect him to shoot

571
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,880
only three pointers. It's just not
something that that you're going to get away

572
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:39,960
with. And still being an elite
offensive player, you're gonna be a lade

573
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,639
shoot or you could be a highly
valuable player. But being able to put

574
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:45,840
the ball on the floor, attack
closeouts, even if your role on offense

575
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:51,480
is more niche more of a specialty
role. I think that is one of

576
00:35:51,519 --> 00:35:53,880
the single most underrated skills that don't
get talked about enough. Everyone wants to

577
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:58,599
look at off the dribble, shop
making. They want a pure point guard

578
00:35:58,639 --> 00:36:00,760
or someone who initiate pick and roll. They want a big who can space

579
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,280
the floor, or they just want
a shop blocking floor spacer. In general,

580
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,320
they want you to be switchable on
defense, and obviously all that stuff

581
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:14,280
matters, but more of something understated
like that, where against an NBA defense.

582
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,000
By the way, because we've seen
in open gyms what guys can do,

583
00:36:16,079 --> 00:36:21,159
You've really call he stein just like
draining threes in these open gym runs.

584
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:22,920
So being able to put the ball
on the floor against a set NBA

585
00:36:23,039 --> 00:36:25,760
defense, attack close outs, not
even just open spaces, but if they're

586
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:30,280
coming at you aggressively, just be
able to get them off kilter by attacking.

587
00:36:32,119 --> 00:36:36,559
Let's get to two more questions.
One is about Damian Lillard. Has

588
00:36:36,639 --> 00:36:39,599
Dame requested a trade, So we'll
hit that last. But Doctor Ramblings asked

589
00:36:40,079 --> 00:36:45,360
where should the Denver Nuggets spend their
limited resources this offseason, particularly in regard

590
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,599
to scoring. Since Barton declined his
option, Murray will be out at least

591
00:36:47,599 --> 00:36:52,320
half of next season. Yeah,
I would expect Denver to try and retain

592
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:57,280
Will Barton. He is uber important
to their secondary playmaking now without Jamal Murray,

593
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,880
who I think everyone does expect him
to play next year, But how

594
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,679
much time is he actually going to
see and what will he look like he'll

595
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:07,559
probably miss I would think like at
least up until the All Star break.

596
00:37:08,159 --> 00:37:12,280
And yeah, you do have Fakuno
Compazzo, you have Michael Porter Junior or

597
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,239
Monte Morris. Just none of those
guys come close to replacing both the combination

598
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:20,440
of shotmaking and table setting. I'd
probably argue that Will Barton might come closest.

599
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,960
Michael Porter Jr. Is definitely a
fac simile. Close I shouldn't say

600
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,519
that, but he can be a
fac simile as a shot maker if you

601
00:37:25,559 --> 00:37:29,079
want him to hit off the dribble
jumpers, But just as an initiator,

602
00:37:29,599 --> 00:37:31,719
as someone who's going to facilitate for
others, that's not something you could do.

603
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,880
And I'm not saying Will Barton is
close to Jamal Murray on that level,

604
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,400
but just the gap is smaller than
it is when you look at what

605
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,880
he can do as a shot maker
or someone who attacks off drives. I

606
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,519
think it's going to be really important
that they bring him back. He had

607
00:37:45,519 --> 00:37:47,679
a fourteen point seven million dollars player
options that he declined. I don't know

608
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,920
if he'll get the same average annual
value on the open market. But when

609
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,719
you look at NBA free agency,
where I think you have to consider this

610
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,760
proposal is Dunstan Robins had a top
five free agent or top seven free agent

611
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,119
right now. When that's the free
agency class you're dealing with, there's going

612
00:38:02,199 --> 00:38:06,000
to be more money available to him
over the long term, even with you

613
00:38:06,039 --> 00:38:08,960
know him having all these like you
know, injury scares over the past few

614
00:38:09,079 --> 00:38:13,920
years. I'll be curiously what he
gets and where he lands. I could

615
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:19,159
name teams that are should be inclined
to go after him with bigger money or

616
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,880
throw him the full four years at
the mid level? Would Memphis Grizzlies do

617
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:24,199
that where they don't want to go
star chasing, but they're willing to give

618
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:27,840
there they can get cash based if
they want. I'm just assuming that they

619
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,559
don't decline Justice Winslow's team option.
But if you're willing to give him like

620
00:38:30,639 --> 00:38:34,079
the four and forty eight I think
is what the mid level comes out to

621
00:38:34,119 --> 00:38:36,400
now or four and forty four whatever
it is with the raises kicked in,

622
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:39,960
maybe Denver doesn't want to give that
many years. Can you get him that

623
00:38:40,159 --> 00:38:45,880
that would be a team that that
might need him. So if you don't

624
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:47,320
have him, I don't know what
your answer is, because my point down

625
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:52,079
would be I think ja Michael green
opts in, in which case you have

626
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:57,199
some wiggle room below the apron.
But and you you do even if you

627
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:00,400
you know, depends on will Barton
in here like you have some wiggle beneath

628
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,079
the tax, it will be close. There's a chance there's a chance that

629
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:07,440
Denver can use the full mid level
exception and not pay the tax. And

630
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:12,079
I'm just assuming I pay the tax. That would be my advice the team

631
00:39:12,119 --> 00:39:15,280
governor's billionaires. But that's just a
concern of a team that's in a market

632
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,199
like that. It's why people are
wondering if you tell even if you're paying

633
00:39:19,199 --> 00:39:21,800
the tax this year, will be
afraid to resign Mike Conley because of how

634
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,559
far into the tax they will be. But if they can stay or even

635
00:39:24,599 --> 00:39:28,000
if they're willing to dip into it
a little bit and still stay below the

636
00:39:28,039 --> 00:39:30,000
apron, because they have almost twenty
million dollars in room below the apron.

637
00:39:30,159 --> 00:39:35,199
That's if you pencil in a fourteen
point seven million dollars salary for Wilbarton,

638
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,199
you have more wiggle room if he
leaves out right, but you're not replacing

639
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:43,400
him functionally with just the non taxpayers
mid level, which this year, by

640
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,280
the ways that I did at nine
point eight million. Even if you do,

641
00:39:45,519 --> 00:39:47,320
you haven't really added to your team
then, because it's you've used the

642
00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:51,880
Emily to replace them. So ideally
the Nuggets would figure out a way or

643
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:58,199
work up the gall or at least
maintain the flexibility to resign Wilbarton and use

644
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:00,880
their full non taxpayers mid level.
And in that case, if I'm them,

645
00:40:01,159 --> 00:40:07,840
I'm still skewing towards defense wing defense
for them. I get that they

646
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:10,599
need another creator, but just with
the spending power that they have, they're

647
00:40:10,679 --> 00:40:15,679
not going to get that. I
mean, if Gore and Drags team option

648
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,360
is declined in Miami, is he
coming for the non tax players been level?

649
00:40:19,679 --> 00:40:22,239
I mean maybe, but he's kind
of a health question mark himself,

650
00:40:22,079 --> 00:40:24,559
and he's going to give you next
to nothing on defense. You're gonna get

651
00:40:24,599 --> 00:40:30,760
way more on defense from Compozzo and
Monte Morris. Yes, Drags gives you

652
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:32,440
more of that downhill element. Can
hit some shots off the dribble, but

653
00:40:32,519 --> 00:40:37,199
I just don't like what does that
do for you? A Reggie Jackson would

654
00:40:37,199 --> 00:40:40,039
be interesting, but you also have
to weigh the fact of Okay, let's

655
00:40:40,079 --> 00:40:44,280
say the Clippers they can pay him
a little bit over ten million dollars to

656
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:45,920
start. Let's say they're not willing
to go long term, and that's where

657
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,400
your advantage is as a mid level
exception team in theory is that you could

658
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,840
say, hey, we'll pay you
for three or four years, and maybe

659
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:57,280
lac doesn't want to. I just
now you have Reggie Jackson there for three

660
00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,039
or four years, with Jamal Murray
coming back with Monte Moore, Sinacuna Compozo.

661
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:05,000
Maybe there are trades you make.
Monte Morris on a very reasonable three

662
00:41:05,079 --> 00:41:07,320
year, twenty seven million dollars extension
beginning next season, so maybe you move

663
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,599
him. But I just don't you
know, if there was a shop making

664
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:15,599
wing or playmaking wing, then yes, that you can get with a nontax

665
00:41:15,639 --> 00:41:17,719
players mly, but spoiler alert,
every single team in the league is looking

666
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:22,440
for that type of player. I'd
rather see you just go. If I'm

667
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,119
the Nuggets, go after someone who
is going to beef up your defense in

668
00:41:27,199 --> 00:41:30,400
some form or just a competent wing
defender. And I'm not even saying that.

669
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:32,199
If some of the names either're out
here, I don't think that they,

670
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:37,000
in a nutshell, are all worth
the full non text players. Emily

671
00:41:37,119 --> 00:41:39,199
and again this is all that's assuming
the Nuggets can access it, which gets

672
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:43,360
more difficult if you bring Barton back, if you Michael Green stays, and

673
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:45,719
if you want to resign Paul millsapp
who is also a free agent. But

674
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,039
some names that's bring to mind.
If you're on the lower end, let's

675
00:41:49,079 --> 00:41:52,880
just say your bargain bin shopping,
you're using the mini mL E, or

676
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:54,159
you don't even want to use it
because you're already in the tax because you

677
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:58,400
kept Millsapper and Barton or whatever.
You could look at it. A b

678
00:41:58,519 --> 00:42:04,599
tomb In Otto Porter, Tony Snell
like those are all options that can help

679
00:42:04,679 --> 00:42:08,039
you. I've long been an advocate
of Josh Richardson on the Nuggets. I

680
00:42:08,199 --> 00:42:10,840
don't know if he's going to decline
his player option. People have been all

681
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,880
over the place with that, and
I don't think he has already declined it

682
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,639
to the best of my knowledge.
If he declines it, I wonder what

683
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,920
his market is. I'm sure there
might be teams that are willing to pay

684
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,039
him more in the short term.
But if you're the Nuggets and you're willing

685
00:42:23,079 --> 00:42:25,960
to go like four years, three
years at the full mL E has his

686
00:42:27,079 --> 00:42:30,920
stock phone that much that you might
get a shot at him. He would

687
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,000
be fantastic. You don't need a
ton for him on offense, and if

688
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,199
he does revert back to the offensive
player. He was in Miami where he

689
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,119
hinted at some off the driggle shot
making and he was making his threes while

690
00:42:39,199 --> 00:42:45,639
defending effectively positions one through four.
You've hit the jackpot there. Aside from

691
00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:49,360
him, Reggie Bullock feels like he
could help this team. I don't know

692
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,519
if having the full mid level is
going to be enough to get him out

693
00:42:52,559 --> 00:42:55,239
of New York. They have his
early bird rights and then just all the

694
00:42:55,320 --> 00:43:00,079
Caps based in the world. Should
he cost that much. I thought a

695
00:43:00,159 --> 00:43:04,840
little bit about Bruce Brown for this
team, but he just seems better suited

696
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:08,079
to play a big man's type role
and his fit is just so specific to

697
00:43:08,159 --> 00:43:13,440
Brooklyn when you looked at what he
did do there. Does Avery Bradley's team

698
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,440
option get declined, I honestly don't
know. On Houston's part, He's sort

699
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:21,280
of a lower end option at this
point. I wouldn't use the full non

700
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:22,920
tax payers emially on him, but
if you're working with the mini MLI,

701
00:43:23,679 --> 00:43:25,360
another thing that has to go into
this. By the ways, if you

702
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,400
want Austin Rivers back and you're Denver, that's going to cost you MLI money

703
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,960
unless he's just willing to come back
for nothing at this point, but that

704
00:43:34,119 --> 00:43:37,599
might be a route to go.
But Avery Bradley at least give you some

705
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,800
more backcourt defense and then in theory, will hit enough threes off the catch.

706
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,760
I don't know necessary is he giving
you. Is he a defensive upgrade

707
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:49,679
enough over Morris and vercrue de Compozzo. I don't know. It feels like

708
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,880
he could play bigger, but he
is what is he six two? I

709
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:58,480
think he is six three, Like
he's not guarding all these small forwards or

710
00:43:58,599 --> 00:44:01,079
true wings or power wings. And
yeah, he's six two. So that

711
00:44:01,119 --> 00:44:06,119
would be a name that they could
look at. Sterling Brown would be another

712
00:44:06,199 --> 00:44:09,320
one. It feels like someone who's
just been long underrated had a great season

713
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,440
in Houston this year, so you
could take a look at him. It

714
00:44:13,599 --> 00:44:15,960
is a lot of lower round options. That's the price range within which Denver's

715
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,760
working. And then also just there
aren't a ton of options there. I

716
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,519
mean, do you look at it? You know it? Does Jeff Green

717
00:44:21,599 --> 00:44:24,679
help you as you want to leave
Brooklyn, Like the names just aren't so

718
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:30,039
sexy. If you're Denver and so
your best addition might come via the trade

719
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:32,599
market. If you're willing to trade
one of your other point guards and Composito

720
00:44:32,639 --> 00:44:36,599
or Morris, you could trade this
year's first round pick after the draft.

721
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:40,000
You have other stuff that might be
intriguing. Two teams. I'll tell you

722
00:44:40,079 --> 00:44:44,000
what I really love for this team, but I just don't think that.

723
00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:46,559
Again, assuming Denver can have the
full mid level exception, I don't think

724
00:44:46,599 --> 00:44:50,119
that type of an offer she gets
him away from his current team. I

725
00:44:50,119 --> 00:44:52,840
would love Alex Caruso in Denver.
That feels like the type of player that

726
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:59,599
would be a fantastic fit for them. But yeah, so that's that's that's

727
00:44:59,599 --> 00:45:01,719
where't at on Denver. I don't
think that they're I would skew towards defense

728
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:06,000
though, and the wing spots.
If I'm Denver and using whatever my best

729
00:45:06,039 --> 00:45:09,800
spending tool winds up being, I'm
not trying to replace more creation, uh

730
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:14,880
you know with that tool, just
like even like DeVante Graham, like,

731
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:16,679
yeah, that's a great stop gap, but he's probably gonna cost more in

732
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:21,519
my opinion. And then what happens
when Jamal Murray comes back, I would

733
00:45:21,599 --> 00:45:22,800
be curious to see is there a
way that they could work out a sign

734
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:27,559
and trade for Spencer Dinwoody. That's
someone who could definitely play with Jamal Murray

735
00:45:28,039 --> 00:45:30,880
and well, I wouldn't say beef
up, but gives you some optionality defensively

736
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:35,039
against you know, some ones and
twos, can play against some stand still

737
00:45:35,079 --> 00:45:37,239
threes. He's never been a great
shooter, but just the downhill pressure he

738
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:42,880
provides that would be huge. And
Murray's absence, that's probably the highest end

739
00:45:43,039 --> 00:45:49,159
option. I can envision them like
brokering because Dinwoody is so eminently expendable to

740
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:52,320
Brooklyn that if they can get any
compensation for him, is it a late

741
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:55,559
first round pick? Is it?
You know? Do they want Jamichael Green

742
00:45:55,800 --> 00:46:00,199
if he opts in and stuff for
Spencer didn't? You do have to match

743
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:04,679
the money, of course, and
that could get fairly complicated, complicated if

744
00:46:04,679 --> 00:46:07,800
you're Denver, because now you don't
have Barton salary. So that's where it

745
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:09,760
gets tough. You would need you
Mike Green to opt in, and that's

746
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,440
seven point six million dollars. You
also have to view him as expendable unless

747
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,559
Brooklyn's interested in the double sign and
trade of Paul millsap But then Brooklyn,

748
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:21,000
I don't even envision that there's a
feasible way for them to stay out of

749
00:46:21,039 --> 00:46:22,840
the under the apron next year,
So sign and trade it's probably out for

750
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:24,880
them. But if there is,
if they can figure out a way to

751
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:29,239
make it work, where I think
you at minimum, you probably need like

752
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,800
twelve to fourteen million to go out
to Brooklyn in such a scenario to cover

753
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,159
what did what he's going to earn
in his next contract. If Green opts

754
00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:37,800
in, it would be tight.
Maybe you're willing to give up Aaron Gordon

755
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,239
in that situation, but I still
think he means a lot to this team

756
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:45,079
defensively, even if you're not happy
with the way his offense panned out.

757
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:52,800
Let's talk about this Damian Lillard stuff. Though he there was a report from

758
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:57,159
True Hoop that they expect him to
request the trade in the coming days.

759
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,639
Chris Han's of Yaku Sports released an
interview where Damian Lillard said everything but an

760
00:47:01,679 --> 00:47:06,199
actual trade request it sounded like.
And then he did come on the record

761
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:10,400
after a Team USA practiced and demanded
a trade to Nigeria because he didn't want

762
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:15,199
to play with Javal McGee and Kelton
Johnson. That obviously not true, but

763
00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:20,480
he said he did not request a
trade. He basically said that his will

764
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,760
to retire and when in Portland is
still there, but he wants to see

765
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:30,320
that they're doing making moves, making
strides in that direction. And so I

766
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:34,880
think a lot of people feel like
he's gone. If you're asking me to

767
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,119
fast forward a year and a half, I might lean towards he's not in

768
00:47:37,199 --> 00:47:42,119
Portland anymore this season specifically, though
it is harder to say that he'll asks

769
00:47:42,159 --> 00:47:45,920
here out. Maybe he will agitate
that if Portland does nothing substantial over the

770
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:51,239
off season, but this feels like
we're a year away from anything substantial.

771
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:53,840
Now that being said, I think
a lot of the school of thought is,

772
00:47:54,559 --> 00:47:59,039
if Damian Lillard requests out, why
are you trading him? If you're

773
00:47:59,079 --> 00:48:01,760
Portland for him to well not force
him to stay. But he's under contract,

774
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:06,039
you don't have to trade him.
His deal spans another four years.

775
00:48:06,119 --> 00:48:07,679
Player option on that fourth year,
but it's a forty eight point eight million

776
00:48:07,679 --> 00:48:13,239
dollar player option. He might exercises
or want to extend off it, depending

777
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:17,440
on where he's at in his career. So you couldn't theory just keep Damian

778
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:20,519
Lillard even if he asked for a
train and try and work it out this

779
00:48:20,559 --> 00:48:28,360
season. The problem with that is
NBA teams are don't want to anger players

780
00:48:28,599 --> 00:48:32,239
or their representatives. They know other
players around the league are watching, and

781
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:37,280
you want to develop a player friendly
reputation. Should you be going after certain

782
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:39,800
free agents trying to broker deals for
guys who might hit free agency soon,

783
00:48:40,119 --> 00:48:44,960
and when it's Damian Lillard specifically,
someone who has given thus far his entire

784
00:48:45,039 --> 00:48:49,519
career to the franchise, the city
of Portland in general, been such a

785
00:48:49,639 --> 00:48:53,280
staple, so embedded into not even
embedded into the culture, but one of

786
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:59,400
the forefathers of this culture, the
author of the Blazers, let's say encore

787
00:48:59,519 --> 00:49:04,760
culture, because the front office culture
culture is clearly shit dawshit there. It's

788
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:09,440
the optics of not moving him.
Y'all still be the more maligned party in

789
00:49:09,519 --> 00:49:13,079
that situation, even though he signed
a contract, And yeah, Dame's image

790
00:49:13,119 --> 00:49:16,800
will take somewhat of a hit from
people who like to boil down basketball legacies

791
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,000
and value to this of Oh,
he said he always wanted to stay in

792
00:49:20,079 --> 00:49:22,039
Portland. Here he is requesting a
trade with four years left on his deal.

793
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:27,280
The Blazers haven't exactually given him many
reasons to stay at the moment,

794
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,000
especially this offseason, when you look
at how everything was handled, the Blazers

795
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,559
are still the team that's gonna the
party that's gonna come out smelling worse from

796
00:49:34,599 --> 00:49:37,719
all that, if Damian Lillie requests
a trade and they don't move him,

797
00:49:37,599 --> 00:49:39,920
you could try and play the card
of well, hey, we'll try and

798
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:43,840
salvage it for a year and if
it doesn't, that's when we'll move him.

799
00:49:44,079 --> 00:49:45,159
You don't want to deal with an
unhappy start in the locker room for

800
00:49:45,159 --> 00:49:47,880
a year. That's gonna dissuay to
other players from wanting to go there in

801
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:52,199
general, like why do you want
to go somewhere where Damian lords not happy?

802
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:55,119
It would be like a free agent, a bigger name free agent having

803
00:49:55,440 --> 00:50:00,519
you know, if Houston had the
flexibility to sign someone in Porton and they

804
00:50:00,559 --> 00:50:02,920
did in Christian would but he's younger, was probably more interested in being the

805
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:07,800
face of the franchise. But like
a veteran impact free agent looking to contend,

806
00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:12,519
signing with the Rockets last summer when
the writing was on the wall there

807
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:16,679
so you're gonna put yourself at a
disadvantage. I'm not saying it's necessarily right

808
00:50:17,199 --> 00:50:21,480
on Damian Lillard's part there. I
think he has every right to be frustrated

809
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:23,960
because the Blazers when you look at
teams like the Suns having made this swing

810
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:27,760
on at Chris Paul trade, when
you look at a team like the Raptors

811
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,360
having gambled on Kawhi Leonard for that
one year, when you look at a

812
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,480
team like the Bucks going on and
under drew Holiday trade, the Blazers have

813
00:50:32,679 --> 00:50:37,760
never done that for him. They've
been willing to spend, including in two

814
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:40,719
thousand and sixteen free agency where they
signed just an absolute shit ton of terrible

815
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:45,960
contracts, but never they weren't signing
stars in those situations. Yeah, they

816
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:52,000
offered Chandler Parsons a ton of money
that would have turned out awful for them,

817
00:50:52,119 --> 00:50:53,559
as it did for the Grizzlies.
And then when you look at trades

818
00:50:54,039 --> 00:50:59,320
like they've never made these big moves. It's getting use of Nurkice, it's

819
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:04,159
getting you know, it's getting Norman
Powell. It's probably Norman Powell, Robert

820
00:51:04,199 --> 00:51:07,480
coming to him. Of the two
biggest trades that they've made during the Neil

821
00:51:07,559 --> 00:51:12,639
O'Shea era. And while I liked
the Robert coming to move a lot,

822
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:15,199
and I was skeptical of the Norman
Powell trade, and it turns out that

823
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,800
he was a better fit than I
thought, So I'll cop to being wrong

824
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,840
for the most part on that.
How does that look when you're paying another

825
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:25,159
player under six four? I think
he's sixty three two or under, definitely

826
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:29,119
under six five. If you have
to pay him fifteen or sixty million dollars

827
00:51:29,159 --> 00:51:32,599
a year on top of paying Game
thirty nine point four and CJ thirty point

828
00:51:32,719 --> 00:51:37,519
nine next year, you are awfully
small in that scenario. Even if your

829
00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:40,639
offense is a firecracker. Still,
those were the biggest moves that you've made.

830
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,119
You've fallen short of going all in. And did they have the opportunity

831
00:51:45,159 --> 00:51:46,800
to get involved in the James Harden
sweep stakes? I don't know. I

832
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:51,559
don't know that they could have gotten
a package together if it was CJ.

833
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:54,599
McCullum, Anthony Simons and all the
first shound picks that they could have offered.

834
00:51:54,719 --> 00:51:58,519
Is that more attractive to Houston than
what the Nets are offering? I

835
00:51:58,559 --> 00:52:00,039
don't know. Maybe if they think
that they can around CJ and get more

836
00:52:00,079 --> 00:52:05,440
assets off of him potentially, But
they haven't made that type of a move.

837
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:09,440
They haven't even been involved when those
players become available. And there's some

838
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:15,119
like lingering sense of when the Blazers
trying to get Carmelo Anthony to come to

839
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:19,360
Portland in his prime when he was
a free agent trade target and he didn't

840
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:21,239
want to go there as preference was
the okay, see, yeah, that

841
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:24,159
stuff is outside of your control,
and he eventually did go to Portland obviously

842
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:29,480
spent the past two seasons there.
They still haven't made the all in move,

843
00:52:29,679 --> 00:52:32,280
and I don't know if that looks
like Shoure they've traded teacher McCollum already.

844
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:36,920
I've been a big proponent of them
not busting up this backcourt for the

845
00:52:37,039 --> 00:52:40,119
longest time. There were built in
excuses of I mean, one, they

846
00:52:40,159 --> 00:52:43,719
did make their Western Conference finals not
too long ago, so I'll forget that.

847
00:52:44,119 --> 00:52:45,360
You could say that they've read too
much into that success. That is

848
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:51,679
a very that's factual, and if
that happens, that's always the president.

849
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:55,519
That's the ingrained danger of that scenario
is then acting like you are a conference

850
00:52:55,559 --> 00:53:01,559
finals worthy team when were they.
I don't know, but it's probably dictated

851
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:06,960
and informed their thinking since then,
and that arguably could have set them back

852
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:08,960
based off some of the other decisions
they've made. They still haven't made the

853
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:13,199
all in play. And if you
as the front office, it is your

854
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:16,320
job to make those difficult decisions.
If you didn't want to trade CJ before

855
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:20,320
now again, I would understand it
as someone who said that they shouldn't,

856
00:53:20,599 --> 00:53:24,079
and I will reiterate that his trade
value is so complicated. He's about to

857
00:53:24,119 --> 00:53:28,760
be on a three year, one
hundred million dollars extension. That's expensive for

858
00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:30,320
someone who is I think he's on
the wrong side of thirty. Now he

859
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:32,559
might be age twenty nine, I'll
double check. I'm going to this point.

860
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:37,440
He's also a non star. You're
not trading CJ McCollum on his own

861
00:53:37,719 --> 00:53:42,360
and getting an upgrade or not.
This isn't like a star for star swap.

862
00:53:42,679 --> 00:53:45,000
He's twenty nine or thirty in September. By the way, for people

863
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:50,679
who care he you need to attach
stuff to him, and then what stuff

864
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:52,679
and then what are you getting?
Because teams in a rebuilding aren't going to

865
00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:55,519
be interested in a thirty year old
on one hundred million dollars contract, so

866
00:53:55,599 --> 00:54:00,199
it's almost like you need a third
team involved. The closest you can come

867
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:05,039
to building a swap type scenario where
it might satisfy the needs of both teams

868
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:07,920
is Ben Simmons for CJ McCollum.
It still feels like Philly would be selling

869
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:12,719
lower there. And even if you
include Robert Covington, should you be Portland's

870
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:15,400
There are so few situations that you
can spot out there. Yeah, maybe

871
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:19,440
you could trade TJ McCollum to a
team, let's hit a NIX where we

872
00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,599
want to take him into almost cap
space or some very minimal salary out there

873
00:54:22,599 --> 00:54:24,960
and send you all the first round
picks, maybe some of their young players

874
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,880
in IQ and topping. That does
nothing for you because you have Damian Lillard

875
00:54:29,119 --> 00:54:31,440
and unless this is a post Damian
Lillard trade, you're not going to be

876
00:54:31,519 --> 00:54:36,840
waiting picks, prospects, caps relief, cap relief, and that's where it

877
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:40,039
gets difficult with TJ McCollum. Now
that being said, you've made all these

878
00:54:40,119 --> 00:54:45,559
other let's say singles and doubles types
move you've still shied away. It seems

879
00:54:45,599 --> 00:54:50,280
like from going after the all in
one I don't know specifically what that was,

880
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:52,880
because they have gotten in on the
initial Paul George sweepstakes and this he

881
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:55,960
already gone. If that happens,
it's like you have to go years back

882
00:54:57,199 --> 00:55:00,599
down the line. Here. They
would be gambling on a player that didn't

883
00:55:00,599 --> 00:55:02,559
want to go to Portland if you're
making that trade. That's always the case

884
00:55:02,639 --> 00:55:07,800
with these teams. Could they have
gotten involved in the Drew Holiday sweepstakes like

885
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:10,199
Milwaukee did, cause they've gotten now, they shouldn't have gotten involved into Chris

886
00:55:10,239 --> 00:55:13,159
Paul stuff. Him and Dame on
a team would have been fun, But

887
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:15,000
that's just that's a lot of overlap, even if you're getting rid of CJ.

888
00:55:15,119 --> 00:55:20,480
McCollum there and that that's a small
backcourt as well. So that's what

889
00:55:20,559 --> 00:55:22,519
I think he's looking for the from
the organization in Dame. I feel like

890
00:55:22,599 --> 00:55:27,519
that's what this was, was him
sort of letting off that warning shot by

891
00:55:27,639 --> 00:55:30,400
saying, I'm not requesting at trade
right now, but I will if stuff

892
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:35,800
isn't done, whether that trade request
comes this summer, mid season or something

893
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:38,400
he's willing to reevaluate after coming off
of next season, where it can really

894
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:42,239
feel like he if you're a Damian
Lawrd. I want to spin it that

895
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:45,400
you gave everything this franchise, you
gave him at a quit time. I

896
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:49,800
if I'm the Blazers, I don't
know what the move is, but you

897
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:51,960
have to explore at this point,
and I would say the best way to

898
00:55:52,039 --> 00:55:55,920
explore is you're dangling CJ McCollum around
the NBA, attaching whatever sweeteners you need.

899
00:55:57,320 --> 00:56:00,239
And are there different types of players
that become available. There's you know,

900
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:02,760
Chris Middleton's not going to be available
off Milwaukee at this point, but

901
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:07,719
if Bradley bial becomes available, do
you make that swing? Are you even

902
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:10,800
willing to make a deal where it's
you're mortgaging more of your future with first

903
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,559
round picks just to bring in a
name, And maybe you are keeping CJ

904
00:56:14,679 --> 00:56:19,239
McCollum in that instance, because you
look at the trade landscape around the NBA

905
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:22,280
right now, there's always a next
star that's gonna want to be moved.

906
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:24,639
There's no like present one you stare
at right now and say, oh,

907
00:56:24,679 --> 00:56:29,360
it's gonna be him. I think
everyone believes it's gonna be Bradley Beale or

908
00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:32,519
to be Ben Simmons. As a
result of excuse me, the fit in

909
00:56:32,559 --> 00:56:37,800
Milwaukee deteriorating maybe as zac lavine is
there zac lavine and upgrade over CJ.

910
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:39,800
McCollum though he's younger, Yes,
but if you're trading CJ. Mccollumb and

911
00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:43,400
that deal and giving him stuff,
I don't know how much you've actually upgraded

912
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:46,039
your roster. Bradley Beale is definitely
better than CJ. McCollum when you look

913
00:56:46,039 --> 00:56:50,000
at him as a facilitator. So
maybe that's something that you could look at.

914
00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:54,039
But you're at the point now where
you need to show Dame that you're

915
00:56:54,079 --> 00:56:58,760
committed to the degree of we're going
to make the al In move that we

916
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,480
have not and that will take some
patience because I think the trademarket still needs

917
00:57:01,519 --> 00:57:05,920
to develop. You need to see
if Ben Simmons is even gettable. And

918
00:57:06,079 --> 00:57:07,880
you know we've talked about this in
past episodes. I don't know the Ben

919
00:57:07,960 --> 00:57:10,840
Simmons is the queen Ist fit.
I really like him importantly, and that's

920
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:14,559
one of the spots that I think
he would be be great in. Aside

921
00:57:14,599 --> 00:57:16,239
from that though in the obvious names, Yeah, there's the there's the element

922
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:20,239
of we need to wait and let
the trademarket develop. But I'm fascinated to

923
00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:24,320
see where this all leads over the
off season. I don't think that Dame

924
00:57:24,440 --> 00:57:29,719
has is necessarily headed towards that trade
request, but I also want to reiterate

925
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:32,320
that if it comes and you're the
Blazers, you almost have to acquiesce because

926
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:36,840
I don't know that anything good can
I'm not saying settled for the crappiest offer.

927
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:38,039
You could do what the Spurs did
too and send him somewhere he doesn't

928
00:57:38,039 --> 00:57:43,320
want to go. That is your
right as the team. But this situation

929
00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:45,440
is more tenuous than some people might
have you believe. Where they think that

930
00:57:45,559 --> 00:57:50,000
Blazers have all the control Dame is
a lot of good will built up within

931
00:57:50,079 --> 00:57:52,360
that franchise, within that fan base, even after the Chauncey Billup Jason Kid

932
00:57:52,840 --> 00:58:00,559
debacle. So it's it's on them
to either give him a reason to stay,

933
00:58:00,719 --> 00:58:02,280
which I don't think that they've done
to this point. I think his

934
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:09,119
point about them having not made the
all in play yet is fair, and

935
00:58:09,239 --> 00:58:14,679
we've just seen it in the level
of trades that they have made that's going

936
00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:16,880
to do it for us this week. If you have not subscribed to Hardwoodknox

937
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:21,039
yet, please check us out on
iTunes wherever else you're consuming your podcasts.

938
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,800
Find us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox. We're on YouTube under the name Hardwood

939
00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:28,480
Knox. You can find us on
Instagram at Hardwood Underscore Knox. We appreciate

940
00:58:28,519 --> 00:58:30,239
everyone who joined us in locker room. We look forward to talking to you

941
00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:35,159
guys next week. Every Sunday four
pm until next time. As always,

942
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:37,639
leave you with the shout out to
the one, the Only Frank Nie o'keina