What is krack alackin Hardwood Knock listeners, I am oh Fellows thermonuclear or a
efforts, I apologize? What is up? I am Damp Valley coming at
you with my certified fantabulous co host Grant Hughes. We have a segment oriented
podcast. We're just gonna go through a bunch of random questions, factor fiction,
start bench cuts. We thought that'd be a good exercise since I wasn't
up on top of soliciting the mail bad questions this week, and we don't
have as many as we would need to put out what I think is a
good enough episode. So we'll get to that eventually to beef those up.
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and YouTube at Hardwood Underscore Knox on Instagram, who Grant, How the heck
are you doing since we last spoke, which was when listeners hear this,
it might be a day or two, but it was. It was even
longer than that for us. It was like five minutes, give or take.
Yeah, I mean the lots changed, the Sun's got bought, so
that was big. But yeah, no, I feel I feel similarly enthused.
And just to just to buttress your point about discord, just a lot
of great discussions and only like eighty five percent of it is what the Nuggets
should try to get for Michael Porter's guene. So there's a lot of variety.
That's probably it's best feature. This is on the agenda, but it
was breaking while we were doing our all star podcast. Four billion dollars for
the Suns. I'm just happy Robertsarver is going to be out there. His
punishment is just getting even filthy or rich. Hopefully he'll be able to cope
with that. We're four billion, like forget you know, the ties to
Michigan, and I don't want to mispronounce his name, but we're doing this
off the cup. I think as matt Ishbaia, the primary purchaser name being
here, they expected to be approved. Poor Rohich is considered a formality.
Four billion dollars right where you expected high or lower than you thought. I
think that was the you know, I think i'd seen maybe four and a
half, but like if it were lower than four, that would have been
the surprise, because it just seemed like if you're selling an NBA team in
any kind of decent market, that's about where it is now. And Phoenix
is like sneakily a lot of players want to live there. It's close enough
to La that he use a short short flight like seems about right. You
know, it's not my money, so it's four billion seems great. Yeah,
I'm like, I'm just curious and I'm not sure if it's I just
want to know, like what would the Wars of the Lakers with the Knicks
go for at this moment if they were up. Is this just an issue
of we're not scaling, We're scaling too far enough, like ahead and saying,
oh, well, if the Suns went for four, the Warriors would
go for eight. And maybe it's just really closer than we think. Or
would that be like if just one of those teams was for sale, that
would just be mind meltingly expensive, or the number would come back and just
smack us right in the face. I'm just I'm curious. Yeah, i'd
have said seven or eight. I think that's that's right about it for those
three specifically. I don't know you get anywhere close to that for anybody else,
maybe Miami, I don't know. I'm wondering how quickly it's approved,
because I had also wondered if this was holding up the Sun's doing actual business,
like Robert Stover's technically not involved with the team, but would that have
impinged They're they're spending it all at the trade deadline ability to take on longer
term money, and so I'm curious of having this clarity. Doesn't mean Jay
Crowd is gonna be traded in five minutes, but if the approval is expected
to come through very quickly. Is there just a scenario where Okay, now
the Suns are maybe more aggressive in planning like ahead for their future, or
even just more aggressive at the trade deadline. I don't need to tie this
back into trades. I was just Jay Crowder is not with the team,
doesn't want to be with the team, and he's just still on the roster.
Yeah, I mean, it can't hurt and that on that front.
The other thing is that I think Baxter Homes on Monday this week had to
report about there's like fifteen high level executives that are that's you know, it's
some some level of responsibility for the shittiness that went on in Phoenix, you
know, is attached to them, and they're just still employed. So I
think, you know, with that story dropping, getting the sale news out
now and getting the sale done, I think is a positive on that front
too, because I assume there's going to be some house cleaning or further house
cleaning than there already was. I might even think it we could go as
far as calling it a purge if it's as many as fifteen, maybe,
you know, so more lighthearted segue here, we just have a bunch of
stuff that we wanted to get through. But I have to ask you the
first one as we're getting in the season. This came from Cyborgian on Discord.
What's the most overrated holiday beverage? And you can even I didn't put
food in there, But what's like the most overrated edible drinkable holiday thing?
Well, just the first thing that comes to my This isn't even a Christmas
thing, a holiday thing, just the just the turkey. Like, we
don't need a turkey. I think we I think we need to think outside
the box. I think Christmas is more of a ham situation, which I'm
which I have better feelings about than a turkey. It's never the star right,
Like it's just always sort of there. You can do a decent turkey,
but even a decent turkey is pretty low on the list of like quality
main dishes. If you're just gonna have like some kind of animal in there,
I do anything with like a give me some pork, give me some
like some kind of cut of steak. You know, there's so many better
ways to go than just a turkey. I would prefer to have tofu over
Ham, so that monster I want. The drink question is good, Do
you have a drink? I'll kick it back to you because I have some
thoughts. I'm just gonna assume that anything pumpkin flavor is ineligible for this,
because pumpkin is absolutely trash, and anyone who who likes it, I question
your morals as a human being. But like this, the peppermint flavored shit.
And it's maybe it's because I don't like candy canes, which are just
like these really pointy, long ass breath mints or whatever they're supposed to be.
These peppermint flavored beverages that come out I've even seen like peppermint eggnog,
and Eggnog's probably overrated in and of itself, but it's like peppermint frothy beverages.
Starbucks will come out with them. Just no, any peppermint is no,
it's just like if I want it, like, I'd rather just chew
on like a mentos or something like. I don't need fucking peppermint in anything
that I'm that I'm drinking or eating. I don't need to see like these
peppermint cookies. No, like where these peppermint like I don't like. I
guess I've never seen peppermint cakes or pies, but like they're peppermint flavor.
There's definitely peppermint cupcakes. Absolutely not. I've never even tried them. I
can tell you that they're overrated as shit or just awful as anything. Okay,
so first of all, we're gonna have some serious disagreements now that we're
talking. We just we had no absolutely no arguments over all stars. But
now that we're talking about something important, we're gonna have to really, like,
you know, we're gonna be ourselves. We're not gonna just yes hand
each other. So your peppermint take is incorrect. Peppermint by itself, nobody
likes peppermint by itself. Just a peppermint candy cane is in fact garbage.
But peppermint as a bark or when crumbled up in conjunction with chocolate particularly,
I've had how many, several over the last couple of days, these little
these peppermint pretzel chocolate covered pretzel peppermint sticks excellent. You need to crumb the
peppermint needs to be crunched up. The sounds like as No, they're great,
They're great. Peppermint and chocolate like a peppermint bark oh Man, excellent.
So this, but that goes into the drink thing. Peppermint drinks are
tricky. If you're talking about like a hot chocolate with peppermint in it,
like a peppermint schnops in their mix, that's fine. I feel like this
question is really trying to get us to badmouth eggnog, and I'm not gonna
do it because eggnog's fine. It's like just kind of like a weird milkshake
basically with some like spices in it. Are you aware of a drink called
hot buttered rum? And follow up? Do I even need to go further
than the name to just make your stomach turn? So isn't anything like butter
beer from Harry Potter? Because I've had that at Universal and that's actually delicious,
whether it's hot or cold. Well, I'm sure that's just like a
bunch of sugar syrup shot into something. This but there's here's the two.
The first two ingredients and hot buttered rum are rum and melted butter. I'm
out immediately, don't need to know anything else that's disgusting. Butter just horrible.
It's like you've you've lost me with the first two ingredients. I have
never had hot buttered drum. I never will. That sounds atrocious as not
something a person should be consuming. And in my research for this, I
learned it goes back to colonial times. There are a lot of things from
colonial times that we should abandon, and I think hot buttered rum is probably
number one, So get out of here. The other thing we should probably
abandon is leaving out milk for Santa that not being chilled actively, like can
you put it in an ice bucket or something. You're trying to poison Santa
Claus with just curdled sour warm like tepid room temperature milk has been sitting out
for every many hours. Also irresponsible because warm milk is supposed to make you
fall asleep, and this guy is supposed to be flying around and landing on
roofs and that's you know, distracted driving. We don't need that. He's
got he's got work to do. I'm tired of tradition taking presents over the
well being of Santa Claus. That's really just my the hill of I'm prepared
to die on. Yeah, I'm with you. Next up, this is
a little bit more basketball related, apparently, but factor fiction, the Celtics
start to the season was overrated. And we say this as they have the
worst offense in the league over their last five games. Their defense has picked
up during that time, but they went from having this historically great offense,
so now they've been dead last over the past five games. What are your
what are just your thoughts and where the Celtics are at right now? I
mean, overrated is the word I'm hung up on. I mean, like
we so, I guess if you expected the Celtics to basically set the record
for offensive efficiency and then have everyone on in the entire organization like down to
like the equipment managers shooting forty three percent from three, Like, yeah,
I guess this is like disappointing and we overrated them. But like, and
the numbers are are rough. It's not just the last five. Just if
you filter starting December first, they're last in offense, They're last in rim
frequency, Like they don't get to the basket at all anymore. They're just
not making threes at all. Their twenty eighth and three point accuracy in that
stretch. But like even now, so yeah, sure they are not going
to be the best offense in the league. I do think we should note
that they're the third best defense since December first, and that's kind of more
in line seventh overall too, I think for something. So that's more what
we expected, I think. So I don't think the Celtics are broken.
I think some of the issues they're having like existed last year and they kind
of got over them. The stagnation, the term overs that stuff. The
shooting will will revert. It's just like the sample is small enough still where
I do put some value in the incredibly hot start. I do put some
stock in this rough stretch. But like I mean, are they not going
to be a top ten offense at the end of the year. Maybe,
but like they're not going to be there, They're not going to be terrible,
and their defense might be the best in the league by that time.
So not not too concerned. Boxer Celtics give me the bucks. There were
my preseason East representative, So I think I'll just stick with that. If
you have your honestly and he's healthy, you're gonna have to do a lot
of work to kind of talk me off of that. So I but there
might there is something that sometimes feels broken about their half court offense. Maybe
it's just Chris Milton hasn't played enough this season, but they're averaging point seven
two points per isolation possession this season, so that worries me. But I'm
with you, the Celtics weren't overrated. I am starting to read I mean,
the boxer might pick to come out of the East. I'm not really
rethinking anything, but it's just was this sort of a rush to coronate as
the Celtics is the closest thing to a championship inevitable this season had Yeah,
it's it's I know, I know they are supposed to be quick, but
it's just a signal of, like we gotta chill out with the you know,
five and ten games stretches defying the season, like the Pelicans are the
greatest team on earth, and then they kind of struggle a little bit,
and then now we're not so sure, and you know, the Celtics are
the greatest offense ever, and then they have some off nights and it just,
you know, apply that all across the league, like trust your priors,
trust your preseason predictions and thoughts. Even more still, now that we're
a third of away into the season than what's happened in the last couple of
weeks leading into Christmas Day games. I thought it would be fun to do
this one start, bench, cut Jannie, Yokich, and bead brutal.
I'm starting Yannis. I think he's the best player in the world. I
have no notes, just as we've said all year. I have no notes
for Yannis or the Bucks. I'm gonna bench Yokich and I'm gonna cut and
bead. That's real tough. But Yoka just won two MVPs in a row
and Beads finished second. That's gonna do it for me. I cut you,
honest, I would start Yokich, I would start you honest, I
would bench Yoki, and I would cut embiid. I just as I know
that six or strains are probably tired of hearing the durability argument they are,
especially from Yokich stands. But like that, even if you think embiad is
the more dominant player of the two, I want to guarantee like seventy plus
games of Yokich every season. Yeah, even if it was and make conference
finals. How about sixers, I mean, even if even if the Nuggets
one was iffy and bubbly. Still, That's that's the thing. I want
to throw the next one to you because I feel like this is just could
we have a more tailor made question for the two of us, who'd you
rather have for the rest of their career? RJ Barrett or Jordan Pool?
So for the rest of their career, not what's happened where we see in
Jordan Pool like come up big in some pretty high leverage moments. I'd rather
have RJ. Barrett. And I know I flip flopped a lot on him.
He feels more plug in play. And I know Jordan Pool, there's
this school of thought that when he's starting, I mean, his numbers have
just been better when he's starting, but like you don't necessarily need that from
him when Steph is there. And I keep going back to this, the
Warriors have never had and forget about his rookie season, and you can even
throw out most of the sophomore season. I know we spent a good amount
of time in the G League there, They've just never had an above average
offense when he plays without Steff on the court. And I think that this
season he's been objectively bad. There have been some highs, including that game
against the Toronto Raptors where they didn't have Steff. But there's just like I
still think he's an underrated finisher, can be a better passer, but the
turnovers have been weird at points this season. And I'm not just looking at
this season alone. I look at RJ. Barrett wing sized, started off
the season terrible defensively, probably gotten a little bit better there. We're starting
to see the shooting normalize from the perimeter. He's very much more plug in
play and so my issue here is not my issue, but I look at
this as these are two non stars. I don't think RJ. Barrett's going
to be an all NBA type player, all NBA type building block, and
I think people believe the jury is still out on that. For Jordan Pool,
I do not. And when he is such a zero for you offensively
to where you have to think can I close games with him? Especially when
Steph is going to be on the floor, and especially well, what does
Clay Thompson look like on that night could depend on that too. That's just
too many mental hurdles to get over to then invest in someone as a core
part of your team, where yes, we may need to you know,
if everything pans out, does Jordan Pool have the higher ceiling maybe just because
of the way that perimeter shock creation works. And as a primary playmaker,
I still think there's another level for Barrett to get to as a passer.
If the Knicks playman smarter lineups were eventually get rid of Randall and sort of
open up the share of the offense and open up just the half court in
general. And we've seen them do a better job opening up the half court.
Just I think RJ. Barrett's role has room for improvement more. But
overall, when we're looking at these two level of players the rest of their
career, I want someone who I think I can plug in somewhere and know
that they're going to make a net positive impact. That's RJ. Barrett over
Jordan Pool for me. So I'm taking Pool, and I think the best
argument for Barrett. You made good arguments for Barrett. It's it's a close
case. Is that he's almost a full year younger than Pool, which at
this juncture of a career like actually matters because we're talking about rest of your
career. How much runway do you have to improving. We agree both of
them need to get a lot better. I really put this on and I
think we agree about this. Perimeter shot creation, the ability to get shots
for yourself and for teammates at high volume with good efficiency is the single most
important skill and in like in a player that can that you can have,
and I think Pools just has been and will be better at that than Barrett
for the duration. So just like Pool has been bad this year, it's
been really rough defensively, there's no I think he's one of the worst defensive
guards in the league. But even with you know, a really tough stretch
of games, He's at fifty six point nine percent true shooting on twenty eight
point eight percent usage, Barrett fifty two point one on twenty five six So
volume in efficiency, Pool has still been better offensively. Last year the gap
was enormous. Pool is just under sixty percent true shooting on more volume,
actually slightly less volume. Barrett was barely over fifty one. Like these are
below league average true shooting figures. So the plug and play argument to me
is tricky. With Barrett. He has the wing size, he has the
frame you want, and like a scalable guy, but like he just doesn't
score efficiently enough and make enough perimeter shots consistently for me to say, well,
he's just gonna he's guaranteed to, you know, be a really quality
piece or a starter going forward. Pool may not be that either, But
I just think what we know about Pool is that he can get shots,
and for me, that just kind of like tips it to him. But
yeah, like you're gonna have to scheme around him defensively, I think,
although it is easier to do that with like a small guard that's gonna guard
ones and twos, then for Barrett this is an issue. He's fine,
I think defensively with some inconsistency, like he's gonna guard a wing and he's
gonna be okay. But offensively, Barrett's like a tough fit sometimes because if
the ball is just not going to go in, you know, I'm not
sure. I'm not sure like how plug and play he actually is, because
he cramps a team spacing at at this juncture as opposed to like being an
asset in that regard, I would disagree on crimping the spacing. The catch
and shoot numbers aren't there for him. They're not there for Jordan Pool really
this season either. But like we've seen those catching shoot numbers tick up,
and I think also there's a when you look at Barrett's role, like he
is not going to actively shoot you out of games, because there are different
ways to use him within the offense where if you need to give Jordan Pool
like that type of volume he's going to continue to take because pull up jumpers
are a problem, Like they're just not falling at even the clip they wore
last season when he was still kind of a below average pull up jump shooter
statistically anyway, And he's still going to take those shots because that's such a
huge part of his value, even though I think the finishing and the passing
is there too. So not again, not entirely sold on it, but
I think at this point I'm maybe I'm just being too like colored by the
most of the season that we've seen from Jordan Pool right now. Yeah,
it's been rough, there's no doubt, Like defensively, especially again, I
don't know how you weigh it, but just there are quarters at a time
where he's just not in a stance and like we'll just just blow by after
blow, but it's like it's real tough. I don't know how much that
matters, but just optically man like. It's it's it's stuff to handle.
This one was inspired by something Jolt the Goat said and discord. So start
Bench, Cut, Desmond Baine, Tyres, Haliburton, Darius Garland. So
I'm starting Haliburton. I'm in the bag for Haliburton. I just love how
he plays, you know, one of the best passers in the league,
makes threes off the catch, off the dribble, super smart, makes guys
better. That was the easy part for me. The next one is brutal.
I think I probably go bench Baine and cut Garland, and I think
it's because Bain, to me, has been and it's hard because he's missed
so much time this year. It feels like we've sort of forgotten about him.
But in terms of the beginning of a career, he's about as good
at high volume three point shooter is like we've ever seen. And I think
that's just a signature elite skill that coupled with what we saw earlier this year,
improved like on ball stuff, improved playmaking. I think he's a much
more valuable defender really than any of these guys. Garlands. Garlands the only
guy of these three that have been that's been an All Star. He's just
he feels a little too small for me sometimes and that's like a nitpicky thing,
but really small guards just have it harder, especially if you're if you're
expected to make plays. And this is gonna. I won't say anything more
about that, but it's tight. Haliburton is the easy start for me,
but the other two guys, it's tough. I think Baine, though,
is the second best. I would probably Desmon Main defensive value makes that interesting
too, and just I feel like maybe we're too far removed from seeing how
good he was is the secondary creator in Memphis this season to w I'm thinking,
Oh, I thought it was Haliburton. You start Halibert and you bench
Darius Garland and then you cut Desmond Baine. It's not as much of a
certainty, I guess now the way that you frame because I'm just thinking back
to how good he was at the start of this year, and there's the
he's plugging play on offense, but might be able to give you the secondary
minutes where jaws not off the court and he is sort of the engine of
your half court offense. I need to see more of that though before I'm
gonna put him Ahad of Garland, who is just one of the best passers
in the game when he gets in the in between range, Like yeah,
the decision making with the shots or those might not be falling at as high
of a clip right now, but he is devastating when it comes to,
you know, teeing up his his teammates, and the variability of his speed
on ball when when he's attacking, and just this, you know, the
on a whim stop on a dime decision making, whether it's shooting or passing.
I value that too, and I don't think Baine has that level of
facilitation in him, at least not right now. Yeah, that's fair.
I'm gonna see, Oh do you do you want to do one of them?
No? No, you go, So I have this. I want
to see how many players you can name out of this little this little stat
that I found, And we're gonna try and do like Stat of the Week
here, but I wanted to see moving forward, something that we find interesting
either of us. As we just recovering the NBA full time, there are
exactly one hundred players who have finished at least twenty ISO possessions this season.
Who are how many of the top five and point score per possession? Can
you name? Uh? DeMar Derozen No, damn it, that was my
surest one. I'll just I'll go through Sga, Oh, Luca, Luca's
gotta be one, right, No, well, I'm running out of guys
de Ros and SGA. Luca used to be hardened. I'm not gonna I'm
gonna float hardened, but I'm not gonna say hardened because you're gonna tell me
no, no, you have to cut me off at five wrong guests hard
Okay? So Harden is six? Okay, actually sorry, Harden's tied for
fifth. Okay, So no, I wasn't shut out good who. I
don't think you're gonna get one of them. I thought you were gonna get,
but I don't think you're gonna get the other ones isolation scores. I
don't want to leave too much dead air here, so let's go with I'll
just say Booker. No, he's not on there either. So the top
five, and it's six because they're tied in this order. Kyrie is one
at one point three one points per possession, Larry Marketing is two, Eric
Gordon is three, Donovan Mitchell is four. That's the one I thought you
were gonna get. And then D'Angel Russell and James Harden are tied for fifth.
Okay, I don't feel bad enough about not getting market In and Eric
Gordon I said, I didn't think you're gonna get those. Kyrie. I
was just like both of us have had him sort of on the back burner
all season, so I kind of understood why you wouldn't get him. I
thought you might have gotten Donovan Mitchell. Yeah, I guess I don't.
Weirdly don't think of him as an isolation guy. I don't know why he
has the highest effective field goal percentage of anyone in this field on isols.
Yeah, probably because a lot of his isolation attempts are threes, because those
all the dribble threes he's been, aside from staff, the best off the
dribble three point shooter in the game. There you go, all right,
I got one for you. So this is this is uh, they're okay,
Yeah, maybe pay attention to this. I don't know. There are
thirteen players this season that average at least fifteen drives a game. Six of
those guys shoot over fifty percent there on that high volume of drives, there
is one that has an assist percentage over fifteen percent on drives. So you
can make the case that this guy is not is of high volume drivers,
the guy that is gonna make shots but really is going to spray it out
like better than anybody for good shots. Who who is this? Who am
I describing? So the criteria is thirteen drives, fifteen drives over fifty percent
from the field on drives and this guy has is the only guy that has
an assist percentage above fifteen percent on those drives. Holy crap, it Lucas
too much of an obvious answer. So it's not going to be him.
And I don't think he passes that much on his drive. So it's not
Luca. It's not Shay because I don't think he would pass enough on those
either. Oh my god, I don't know if I'm gonna e Is it
Jail Brunson? No, it's uh so, Luca, You're you're kind of
The amazing thing is is we've we've sorted it for fifty percent or better shooting
on drives. Lucas at sixty three point one percent, which is like up
ten percent better than anybody else on this list other than Zion, who is
just barely at fifteen percent or fifteen drives a game. In terms of scoring
on drives, Luca is just like, it's not close. He's by far
the best. But for reference, his assist percentage on drives is twelve point
nine, so he's below this cut off. I'll give you maybe one more
and then I'll give it to you because this is this is hard. Fifteen
drives, is it, Zion? No, fifteen is too high for Zion.
I'm taking that back. No, he's he's uh, he's right at
fifteen, but his assist percentage is super low on drives. It's only five
percent. Honestly, I don't blame him. He's unstoppable. It's right,
why would he pass? So it's Garland when I was, but it's freaking
Darius Garland. So I think this kind of this bolsters like both of our
cases in a weird way, because you made the point of like he's just
such a good passer. But I think a lot of it is like his
shooting volume is like really low on drives, So what that says is he
gets in there and he's not tall enough to finish or go through contact,
but he kicks it out and his passes are always good. He so Darius
Garland getting in the lane is basically your best bet to get a good look
that doesn't come from him, because I think a lot of that's like he's
got lobs to Alan, he's got lobs to Mobili, he's got kickouts to
Mitchell, doesn't have kickouts to literally anyone else on the team because no one
else that plays can shoot. But I thought that was interesting, and it
makes me look stupid for cutting him, and it makes me look stupid for
not thinking that he would have been I guess fifteen drives seemed high for him
this year with Michel there, I don't think of him as a high volume
drive guy. So this one is also Taylor made for you who says no.
The Warriors get Josh Richardson and Charlotte's twenty twenty three first round pick.
It's top sixteen protected, then it's Lotto protected for two years and turns into
two seconds and so there's a chance it's not a first round pick. Then
the Spurs get James Wiseman. So that's the key. The key to this
is the pick, which I so it comes down to, are you trading
James Wiseman for Josh Richardson And almost definitely a couple of seconds unless things really
turn around and Charlotte's so I'm just betting against Charlotte being better than the water.
So I think I think the Warriors say no, But it's like,
what an indictment of Wiseman that you gotta think really hard about. Is richards
is Josh Richardson in a couple of seconds? For me, it's it's I'm
not And maybe this is wrong because Wiseman's value could drop further, but it
feels like trading at the bottom of his value. It feels like while Richardson
would probably be an upgrade. I think we joked about this off air as
I was looking at this, like if you of Moses Moody Josh Richardson's minutes,
the numbers aren't like all that different except for assists numbers, And I
don't think Richardson will be asked to be a facilitator on Golden State, so
like, I don't know that the upgrade is substantial enough. While conceding that
the Warriors like they need at least another guy to be in the rotation,
so I think the Warriors say no, but man, it sucks that,
like we really actually have to think about that. Are they more likely to
say yes if it's Jacob Peartle, Well maybe because like I don't think Wiseman's
gonna play and Peartle would play, and that way, you're not just Anthony
Lamb I think is not someone you're gonna give rotation minutes too for the full
season. So yeah, I think Peartle might actually feel a bigger need that
that's likelier I would say yeah, because you might keep Peartle. I don't
think Richardson would be someone you'd ever keep. See, And I look at
it a different way. It's like, I guess if you're gonna keep Draymond
and Looney and you want comingo, Like, how much of a role is
Peartle gonna play for here? He's not gonna close for this team. And
I think you would argue Josh Richardson wouldn't either, But I would also think
doesn't Josh Richardson have the clear path to closing? Then I don't think he
close, But yeah, I just don't know. I think I'm not saying
he would, But who would be more likely to in any giving game,
would it be Peardle. Are you gonna close with Peartle and Dre or you're
gonna close with Josh Richardson And there's a lineup with Draymond at the five?
Maybe, yeah, you know, you're probably right, You're I don't well,
i'd I say neither of them is very likely to close. But yeah,
Peartle, like because Looney Looney closed finals games, you know, like
in certain situations, I don't think Peartle does the things that Looney does.
If you're not gonna go Draymond at the five, that so that's I don't
know. I don't know. I think I think who's the worst player you
would change trade James Wiseman for right now? Oh god, I have no
idea who's even available, Like we'll give me, you gotta give me a
name or two. Like, so the deals have been flowed around there,
like would you trade him for Kelly Olenick? Would you prefer Jay rich or
Kelly Olynick? Well, I think you run in well, maybe you don't
run into the same problem because his shooting could actually put him out there at
the end of games with Draymond, because Draymond's gonna be on the floor at
the end of game. I think you have Steph Wiggins and Draymond are your
three spots locked up? And I've kind of grant fathered Clay into that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, No, I think a link is better.
Is a better option than Peartle or Richardson. Wow. I just don't mean
the Jazz I guess would give you a first round pick. Maybe they would,
Yeah, but the pick is the thing, Like, I you know,
how bad is it that I thought about the Bulls pick in twenty twenty
five, But like that thing is top ten, then top eight, then
like the Spurs aren't trading that because the Bulls. That's the thing. I
mean, it's Look, if this is what's out there, then maybe I'm
wrong that this is, like, well, how much worse? How much
worse could these offers get? Like for Wiseman, because I can stay hung
up on his value has to improve just because it's so low. I just
I don't know that. I guess I was looking at it from if you
get his salary off the books next season, you save like one hundred million
dollars total because of taxes, which is not maybe they don't care, but
if he's not really even playing for you and who is so this is better
what is the the player and it's a non star, Like what is the
player? And it's not specific twise me Like, what is the biggest need
for you for the Warriors right now? It's we talk about their bench depth
all the time, but like what specifically archetype or you know, specific type
of value you're looking for. I think I maybe just too anchored to what
worked last year, but speaking specifically about like a Gary Payton the second,
but I think someone like Caruso. Alex Caruso is like the type of guy
and Deepncenzo has been a lot better lately because the ball's going in and that
just changes everything for him. But someone that you can put in the game
to just really supercharge it and muck it up and create turnovers and make decent
decisions with the ball. Like that's that's really I think one of the main
things they're missing. So if it's like if if if you get if the
Warriors could get Caruso and a pick for Wiseman, I think I probably do
that, but I would think that the Warriors might be the one setting out
to pick an menequation Wiseman's gonna turn it around. Man, He's gonna learn
how to catch a basketball eventually and everything will be fine. Yeah, that
that'd be the type. I think that the type of player that they need,
not that there's all that many of those guys floating around. Did you
want to propose this? Who says not? Just because I was ready to
bounce it? And I'll state that I was the one that proposed in the
first place. YEA, yeah, sure. So who says no? The
Nuggets getting Davion Mitchell, Harrison Barnes, Rashaun Holmes, and the King's getting
Michael Porter Junior, Christian Brown and Zeke Naji. I think the King say
no just because Michael Porter Junior's health is just so up in the air all
the time. And I do think if you just surround them with more shooting,
that's fine. Harrison Barnes, when he's healthy, should be more.
It's gonna be more piddled to the defense. But I also think Michael Porter
Junior is more of an ability to be a playmaker on defense, is a
helper, and I wonder if that would factor in the equation. And part
me was like, well, Harrison Barnes is going to be a free agent
this sum Are they gonna keep him? But he's gonna make it less than
Michael Porter Jr. I know Michael Porter Junior's younger, but would you rather
have Harrison Barnes for the next three years or Michael Porter Junior for the next
three years? I don't think that's an easy answer. I don't and I
had something I can't remember. I think it was Betsy on Twitter was disagreeing
with me and my value of davy On Mitchell. I think that's fair.
I just don't trust him on offense. I think that defenses play off him
so much that yeah, he's made progress as a passer maintaining his dribble,
but if you start to involve him as the primary ball handler and more important
lineups, I think you'll see him get flustered. Maybe I'm wrong there,
but I like they do need like sort of backup fives in Sacramento, and
it's clearly not going to be Rashaun Holmes. Rashaun Holmes would be great in
Denver. An upgrade over DeAndre Jordan helps their bench. And do you like
Christian Brown? Like he's shown some real flashes at both ends this year.
For Denver, I think you would have to value you would have to like
the idea of what Michael Porter Junior can become. If you're sacrament it's just
such as it's a huge commitment, and so I think the King's probably pretty
quickly hang up. But I was trying to find Denver a point of attack
defender. I also don't know why either of these two teams, like involved
in the same playoff race, would ever do business. And I also sort
of had a loss room, like we really still trying to find more defense
for Denver. Like it's just they have lineups where they can roll out three
really good defenders at one semess just apparently that lineup is fine, but what
it does to the rest of their depth just isn't enough. Yeah, So
for me, I actually think the Nuggets say no, and I feel like
one of the last MPJ holdouts, And a lot of it is just to
go back to the Wiseman stuff, like you'd be training him at like a
pretty low point in his value, and maybe that's where it is now because
this heel thing isn't going away. You've got all the back surgeries, all
this other stuff. I still think Porter Junior just has a singular elite skill.
He's just one of the best shooters, especially from deep, that has
ever existed. It has done it for a relatively healthy season at like forty
four percent almost forty five percent. Just incredible shooter. I don't think Mitchell
is someone that should play rotation minutes on like a high end playoff team,
just because I don't know where his offensive value is and he's a kind of
He's a great on ball defender, his size makes him not so great off
it. It's just I think the other thing is I think Holmes is a
piece that like is a buy low in contrast to Porter Junior. That could
help. But I'm not sure Barnes would improve Denver's defense, if that's the
point so much over Porter Junior because of some of the off ball help stuff
Porter Junior. I don't think he would. I just thought plug and play.
His money comes off the books and they could play the same position.
Basically, you don't want to pay the money on the health are super compelling,
super compelling because just to get off that contract that is just gonna pay
Porter Junior like an All NBA player for half a decade, is that's a
priority. I just think the upside the version of the Nuggets that is the
best of these two possibilities includes Porter Junior just making tons of shots. I
don't know how likely that is. It's gonna be really expensive. Also,
I really like Brown. I think I think Christian Brown is a rotation player.
I think maybe not this year. But but that Low said like it
was just an off handed comment. It was in a preseason thing where Christian
Brown is ready and I was like, what I have to ada madez from
DM we are about it, and he didn't really like and then oh yeah,
he might be like is that more of a symptom of the state of
Denver's like bench still but he's impressed. Had moments at both ends of the
floor. And so if you, I still think that it's interesting that you
think the Nuggets would say no, But if you if you view MPJ through
his peak lens, I would understand why you still want to hold out hope.
That's all it is. That's all it is, is like if you
just get these guys, you know, if all these guys play the best
they realistically could, then Porter Junior just sent a different on a different level,
and all these guys I think just because of the shooting skill. It's
just the singular skill. I have another who says no for you, let's
hit it. The Lakers receive Fred van Fleet, Gary Trent Junior, Chris
Bouche, The Raptors get Russ Wantscano, Anderson, Max Christie swaps in twenty
six and twenty eight, and then the Lakers twenty seven and twenty nine first
round picks. So I think the Lakers say no, and it's mainly because,
well, there's a couple of reasons. One is they didn't seem keen
to do two picks and Russ for Miles Turner and Buddy Healed. It seems
like probably maybe he can tell me if I'm wrong. It felt to me
like if Indiana was gonna it, was ready to do it, the Lakers
like kind of were in charge of whether that was going to happen or not.
This feels like a worse deal for the Lakers because they're giving up those
swaps, and the other thing is and with Ad getting hurt, I think
that should probably push them farther away from from doing a win now move.
The other thing that's kind of interesting is you have player options for Gary Trent
Junior and Fred van Fleet. I don't know how likely it is Clutch family,
so he's coming back, don't Wanner? Okay that that's a factor,
because this is going to eat into the cap space if either of them picks
up where they they opt out and get new deals. Do the Lakers have
bigger aspirations than a couple of you know, starting caliber backcourt guys, although
granted, like neither of them has played very well this year, Van Fleet
just continue used to be under forty percent from the field. That seems like
a problem. I just feel like this is not as good of a deal
as the Pacers deal, and the Lakers circumstances have changed such that they're less
likely to do something like this now, so I think they'd probably say no.
I thought the Raptors might say no. But I'm wondering if I was
too aggressive on this, Like is there a deal here, Like let's throw
that and let's say Anthony Davis is back, and like the Lakers are still
gunning for it at the moment, which is not an impost like implausible,
what would you give up for this package coming back? Because like, I
think the push and pull of this that's really difficult is the Lakers aren't giving
up a lot, but when your first real asset is not conveying until twenty
twenty seven, because twenty twenty six is a swap, like is it would
one swap into? Like would the two first even be enough? Because you
couldn't get I would just I think the idea of fred Van Fleet is probably
better than a Miles Turner just for a shock creation and the defense he's supposed
to provide. But Ross has also become pretty important to the Lakers shock creation
off the bench character and Junior though is also Yeah, he's a erratic,
but he's kind of a two way wing and so that's something the Lakers could
use. It. Also, Chris Bouche would be a perfect fit for the
from not hitting his threes this year, but there are things that and he's
like being kind of slower defensively. It feels like, so maybe you value
your flexibility this summer, But my thing would be, you have thirty plus
million in cap space this summer. Are you turning that into a collection of
players who are better than Bouche, Gary Trench, Junior and Freder and Fleet.
Now that you could just say, well, Gary trenjring Fleet are gonna
be free agents. Could they sign Van Vleet or or g t j out
right? They might be able to. But I think if you took the
swaps out, I don't know why I'm putting value on the swaps, but
if you just make the draft compensation less onerous going out from the Lakers,
I think the stacks up pretty well against the hypothetical Pacers trade, mainly because,
like you know, I think Turner is a way better player than Chris
Bouche. But in terms of like the roles that they would play for this
Lakers team, I think Bouche could give you seventy five percent eighty percent of
what Turner would with, you know, the assuredness of he's not going to
leave in free agency, because again, Turner is a free agent. Two
I think, unless I have that wrong, yes, he's inspiring. And
Van Fleet and trans Junior I think are you know, probably both just better
two way players than Buddy Healed. So I think there's something there. I
just think the Lakers one probably believe that there's a superstar that they're gonna sign
or get somehow, and or are pushed farther away from swinging a big deal
like this because Davis his foot injury is you know, maybe just it's just
that ends the season potentially for them, not necessarily for Davis, but missing
enough time they're just not even gonna be a playing team. Well fair,
I don't I thought about could they do like the hedge move of it's none
and Beverly for Buddy healed, just to open up the shooting and maybe you're
including a second there, but you're actually helping Indiana probably getting out of Buddy
healed deal. And yes, that eats into your cap space, but Buddy
healed and an expiring contract might be able to be flipped over the summer.
So that's kind of the trade that I've been like, well, it'd be
like the Lakers are kind of making a win now move but not really.
Yeah, yeah, trying to split the split it. So we got a
couple more quick ones here. I'll throw you the first one playoffs, play
in or lottery, and your options are Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves. I'm
gonna go lottery for the Lakers, playing for the Warriors, playoffs for the
Timberwolves. The Stephen injury is tough to I think the Lakers might be better
set up. Maybe this is wrong, but there's a chance that the Lakers
have an easier time. Let's say they're both out a month. There's a
chance the Lakers have an easier time of nap just because they have Lebron and
the Warriors don't even have a singular force to put on ball like him offensively,
and so I'm very worried about Golden State's offense. I think was the
Light Years podcast on about how Jordan Poachi becomes more valuable when not just in
the starting lineup, but now you can plan your entire existence around Well,
we don't have Steff. It's not just trying to buy a few minutes.
I just can't try to extrapolate minutes without steffs seems more difficult to me in
theory. So I thought about putting the Warriors lottery. I still just trust
the Timberwolves when they get healthy. Right now, they're winning without Gobaron Kat,
so maybe that's the secret sauce Chris Finch is mentioning parking was the word
he used, Cat in the corner more when he comes back, that'll be
an adventure. I don't trust any of these teams though, but I'll go,
I'll go play in I'll lottery Lakers, even though they actually won't be
in lottery because the Pelicans will take their pick. Lottery Lakers play in Warriors,
playoffs, Timberwolves. Yeah, you always want to park your max salary
franchise cornerstone in the corner. It's always a good sign things have gone great.
From a team building perspective, I'm the Lakers are my lottery team.
I'm gonna flip the Warriors and Timberwolves. I think playoffs Warriors play in Timberwolves.
I think some of it is there are so many guys on the Warriors
and some of the supplies to the Timberwolves that have played like about is evenly
or poorly as you could expect. I think they will. I think Pool
is going to be a lot better now that it's just his ball, and
I think it's it's clear he's just comfortable doing that, and I think some
of the young guys could still contribute. Cominga has come on. I still
think Moody should get in there every once in a while. I think Ty
Jerome and Jamichael Green should just lose their rotation spots and they should be backfilled
with other guys. It's tight. Though it's tight between the Warriors and Timberwolves.
I just even without Steph, I think the Warriors can hang on and
like break even for a while, in spite of evidence it says that they
just never do that without Steph and the Timberwolves that it's there. It's been
so bad for a few stretches that I just they have in addition to like
the health stuff with Kat, the combustibility concerns that I don't really feel like
the Warriors have. So that's the closest one though. I like that one.
This one is your turn. So playoffs play in lottery, Pacer,
Raptors, Bulls. All right. I don't want to be a prisoner at
the moment, but I think that's how this is going to go. I
think the Bulls are the lottery team. I think the Raptors are the playing
team, and I think the Pacers are the playoff team. All of all
three of these teams have incentive and or should be planning to make future focused
trades. But the vibes are so bad with the Bulls and Raptors that I
just like it's almost Pacers by default. Even though the Pacers have been basically
like a kind of fun to watch average team. The Bulls just feel like
they can't do anything right, and the Raptors every other article you read it's
just how it's just so dispiriting about how bad the half court offense is,
how bad the shock creation is, the just they can't. It's so the
arrows are really pointing down for those two. And the Pacers kind of feel
like a fun like their decent still, So they're going to be my playoff
team. I'm going bolls lottery Pacers play in Raptors playoffs. I think they
figure it out or they make not the all in trade, but make a
trade that improves the state of their roster, whether it's going after like an
Eric Gordon or somebody just to throw a name out there, or maybe they
get a big I don't know, that's like, maybe it's DoD They just
take a flyer on Rashaun Holmes, depending on what the cost is, and
that's someone who might be able to help them. So yeah, I don't.
I almost include the Magic in this, by the way, because alls
they do is win apparently except for Monday Night of course. But yeah,
I'm with you on that. This was fun I enjoyed these sort of snackable
segments. Do you want to take us out of here? Yeah, let's
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