What is Krakolac and fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dana Valley coming at
you with my certified fans hab you as co host, mister Grant Hughes.
This is part three of our four part every team in the NBA Mailbag.
We're on to the Western Conference. We will do the first seven or eight
teams that'll be going live on Friday, March fifteenth. The other one will
be going live on Monday. What is that March eighteenth or whatever. I
hope you've enjoyed these. These were a ton of work, but we thoroughly
enjoyed them. Hopefully we'll pace ourselves a little bit better than the last one,
which was, like I tilighted it up, Grant, it ended up
being like over three hours worth of mailbag questions for the East. So we'll
try and pace ourselves a little bit better here. First and foremost, though,
before we get started, how thatck are you doing? I thank you
for asking. I'm doing very very well. I'm excited to get to the
Western Conference because like, actually, i'd be curious about how you feel about
this. I just feel like I I'll be honest, I watch the West
more. I'm on the West coast, Like I feel more familiar with the
West because I'm gonna watch every Warriors game at the very minimum, so I'm
just seeing more West teams. Do you feel that way about the East since
you're on the East coast or do you or do you still earlier? Here's
what happens this late into the season is there are certain teams where they become
film watches for me where it's like, you know what, like I'm not
carving out of time, They're playing a certain team that I think I need
to see a good team. I'm not gonna sit down and watch an entire
Wizard's Pistons game at this point, like if I want to go back and
look at the film from a player, that's the cuts you have to make
this time of year. And so because there are just more intrinsically interesting and
competitive teams, like the bloodbath in the Western Conference at this point is just
like the top ten teams, they're set, but we have no idea what
the fucking order is gonna be, right, And so that's like that's why
I feel I don't know if I feel more familiar in the West, but
it definitely intrigues me more than the East where there's still that bloodbath between four
and eight, because like I can't even you can't bring yourself to care about
what the Bulls and the Hawks are gonna do in the plane, Like you
just can't. So yeah, I'm interested in this one too. We have
a lot of great questions, especially we had a ton of Pelicans questions and
a ton of Jazz questions, so those teams should be fun. To start
us off, though, we will go to Dallas because we we know the
alphabet here right Grant? Well no, but but so far, so good,
because that is where we should start. Would you like me to read
it to you? Do you want to feed it to me? Uh,
I'll feed you this one and we'll loop these two together. So Rafael Faliza
daff asked how good will the map can the MAVs be without Jason Kidd?
And then at Lance Underscore nine to seven, two friends of the podcast,
Lance robertson, Uh, when does Dallas hire Mike Budenholtzer. By the way,
that's the second people just want Budd. Remember we had a question last
week, when can we get Bud for JB Bickers? That? Right?
Yeah? No, I so look the MAVs. I actually was. It's
funny I filed the other day coaches that should be on the hot seat,
and Jason Kidd was one that I nominated. And a lot of it has
to do with the defense falling apart, and just you know, as an
example, Luka Doncicch sets a record with six straight thirty point triple doubles and
the MAVs win three of those games, so they go three and three with
this guy just being historically ridiculous on offense. I had the MAVs. I
had to update the stat they were the worst defense in the league. Since
the All Star Break, they're all the way up to twenty ninth. This
is not including whatever happens against Golden State tonight as we're recording it. So
kudos to them, but the defense has been bad. You have Luca being
amazing, and you have kid kind of doing the thing where you know,
first year on the job, they make the conference finals and the defense is
really good, and then they missed the playoffs last year, and then this
year they're you know, hovering around the play in mess and maybe they get
up to six, maybe they fall to ten, we don't know. So,
like I get it that like kid Also, you know, I think
did not leave on great terms in Milwaukee and Brooklyn like that, just you
know, he tends to sort of I don't know, his performance tends to
get worse. I guess I don't know how much of that in this case
is all on him and how much of it is on a roster that just
like you have Luca, you have Kyrie, and you got a bunch of
like dependent players surrounding them. It's probably a lot you know a little from
call Um abcd on down the line. But like, I guess what I
would say is it's harder. This is how I look at coaching sometimes because
we don't know ninety five percent, maybe ninety nine percent of what goes on.
We say that all the time. Yeah, it's easy to be critical
of a coach, of every coach for some reason, right like oh he
mismanaged his timeout, it's always rotation suck. Oh he's not a good motivator.
Young players don't develop. I think for kids and for a lot of
coaches, you flip it and say like, well, like what's Jason Kidd
done really well? Like what can you point to that? It's like,
well, the MAVs are better because of a thing that he did, or
attack to key employees, or like the way he does the job. I
don't know what that thing is. So it's like it's it's it's easy to
be critical of him, but I also just like think the reverse is simpler
to say, which is like I'm not sure like why we should why anyone
would say like he's great at this job, right, Like does that make
sense? I think? And it's so I struggle to grapple with there were
some mid season changes in the heart of their rotation, and does that account
for some of the defensive incoherence, which it could, but they've been not
great defensively for a lot of this season. They also weren't they were built
to be not great defensively this season, And I think with Sam Vessini did
a breakdown on his podcast recently where he was looking at certain possessions and there
does seem, specifically since the trade deadline, to be an uptick and incoherence
and they've struggled, I would argue, and people have watched more MAVs than
me can tell me I'm wrong. Whatever, Whenever they go up against offenses
that do anything create in the half court that might put them in some sort
of rotation or force them to change coverages. They just seemed confused as fuck.
And that's like I don't know nearly enough to go in there and then
diagnose like, well, this is he should have been there. And I
do think there's been a lot of just like lapses away from the ball of
their primaries when you're looking at Luca and Kyrie specifically. Sometimes I do think
we received a lot of shit. Well I did anyway, because I wrote
about it and I hammered them twice for some of the trades they made at
the trade deadline, some of the stuff that's going on here. And I
don't know if this falls on him, but like the rotation could look different,
and I don't know if it's in a good way if the PJ.
Washington trade doesn't exist, because like Dave, because he's shooting so poorly from
three, I think he's at thirty percent or whatever. While in Dallas,
you need him involved almost in the primary offensive action, and so if you
need to use him as a screener or someone to put on the ball or
just near it, that all of a sudden's like well, and look some
of the data like might be fine when he's playing with Lively or Gafford,
but it's well, that's why we need the PJ Washington MAXI kleebe thing to
work. And then all of a sudden, I come back to well,
so now you're just in this spot. I know Derek Lively's kind of hit
this rookie wall is he banged up Daniel gafferd I think it was he dealing
with an ankle issue. So is that impacting him? Like you've like clogged
up this weird front court rotation now to where the only one you heavily use,
like heavily uses PJ. Washington. He forces this trickle down effect to
where or are these the optimal lineups? How much is that on Jason Kidd?
Though? Could you get Mike Budenholzer in here and they're gonna be a
better defense if you're looking for someone to adjust on the fly, I tell
you right now, my Gutenholzer is not the guy. Like when he finally
made wholesale changes in Milwaukee, not only did it take years of them getting
just like disappointed in the playoffs basically, but it was like he had an
entire offseason to do it, and so I'm not defending Jason Kidd here.
I don't think he's a particularly good coach, and I like he does seem
to connect with certain players or ingratiate himself to certain players, which is a
that's a skill. Yeah, But I just I look at this roster and
I do wonder how much of a difference would coaching make make because a lot
of this and I don't think lucas the problem. I don't even Thinkyrie is
the problem there. There's spectacular an offense just because those guys exist, which
might be an indictment of Jason Kidd in itself too. I don't know where
to land on it. I don't know that. I will say I don't
think you put Mike Budenholzer right now, and I'm not saying they should.
We're in march to fire a coach now when you have playoff aspirations, Oh
no, if you gave the fight, it's just if you gave him a
training camp, maybe they look a lot, but like, what is this
ceiling? Honestly, you could get who's the best defensive coach? Like if
you put Eric Spoelstra in charge of this team, is he going to coach
into a league average defense. I mean, I just think it's a personnel
thing. Like it was bizarre earlier this year when it was like Derek Lively,
a rookie center, is like the key to this defense. Like that's
that's a weird situation. Really good though he was, but it's like,
I don't know how how that's kind of beside the point. I think,
Yeah, Derek Lively has been or when healthy, has been super valuable.
Let me, I'll just put it to you this way. There's not gonna
be a coaching change now. I don't. I don't think that's there's any
chance. Do you think Jason Kidd is coaching the MAVs next season? I
don't. What would it I'm gonna throw it back to you. What would
it take for him? They have to win one round too? I mean,
at this point, we're just assuming they even make it to the first
round the playoffs, like they are in play in territory right. Well,
I'm sorry to cop out, but like the answer, what it would take
is Luka Dn should saying I want Jason Kidd to continue to coach this team.
And if he does not say that, you know, like it's the
same thing in Phoenix, Like Monti Williams would still be there if Kevin Durant
and Devin Booker wanted Money Williams to be the Phoenix Sun's head coach. If
Luca wants Jason Kidd to stay, he will stay. Like it's not even
with new ownership, Like ish, I don't know how to categorize what's happening
with Dallas. I call it there's new ownership, but like you know,
new ownership changes things a lot of the time, Like even if Mark Cuban
is the one doing the basketball stuff purportedly, right, I will say the
difference there just seems like the Las Vegas Sans Corp, Like majority stakeholder,
did that as like a bet that we can turn this into like a tourist.
Of course, like what I so, I get, but I get
what you're saying though, And also regardless of who's in charge at this point,
it might just be stale. You can't you they purposely missed the playoffs
last season, but the fact that it was so late in the year and
they had the ability to miss the playoffs is not great there, right,
and that's on the table. Something went wrong if like that being there as
an option. All right, Well, I don't know if Mike Bundholzer is
the answer. Do you think I think we could agree Bud would be an
upgrade over Kid. I just I want to know what people think the ceiling
of this personnel really is. And that was my concern when they gave up,
because at one point it's not like this anymore. But like, Daniel
Gafford was their fourth big and you just traded a first round pick to get
him, and I'm looking at it like, well, that's weird, But
then it's like, well, how much more important he's supposed to be.
Like right now, he's their third most used big I think since the trade
deadline, because they pulled back a little bit on the the Derek liveing minutes,
him and Derek Live basically mirroring each other in minutes. Gafford has played
a little bit more lately, but like he's among the bigs. He's fourth
in minutes per game since the traded line. So it's like that calculus is
weird in itself, and he has not helped their defensive rebounding issues. That
has not happened. I didn't think he was going to so and that's not
a victory lap. I'm just like it feels. I think the issue is
more so with the personnel outside of their top two players. And I know
their top two players are flawed on the defensive end, but those two guys
can carry you towards a super elite offense, and so like everything else after
that, I don't know how to grade out Jason Kidd, but I do
think when we're looking at other coaches, like given what JB. Bickerstaff has
done in Cleveland this year, they are very clear decisions when you're looking at
his lineups, So you could say I could see him changing in this being
better. I think it is easier. I'll frame it this way. I
think it's easier to upgrade from Jason Kidd than it is from some of these
other coaches that, like when Warrior Stands before the current extension, were frustrated
with him. That would have been hard to make on that. But like
you could probably name where it's like, you know, certainly okay, coach
Budd, Kenny Atkinson, you go through some of those names if you like,
even in this situation, maybe you're just better freshening it up rolling even
if it's a first time head coach, although I don't know if you want
to go that route when Lucas nearing the end of his current contract, But
yeah, I agree with that. I think I think Bud would be an
upgrade because, like, say what you want about what happens in the playoffs,
I think you tend like he would have a base drill during they would
have a base defense and drill at home, and everybody would at least play
it because some of those in look at tip Sam Vessini for this the miscommunications
going on. I think it was one of the ones that really flabber against
me. Was like they were playing the pacers and there was like even if
you don't understand, I'll just say I don't under Even if you're me,
you can look at that possession be like, well that literally made I don't
understand what they were doing, right. Yeah. Well Tim Cato wrote about
it too, and like he pointed out, I know we're not putting this
all on Luca, but like he said, explicitly, like Dallas's schemes,
like a major tenet of them is like we gotta hide Luca. We have
to put him in a place where like he's not under you know, it
doesn't have a lot of responsibilities, and that makes it tricky because like if
you're constantly trying to like play this weird shell game where you're moving Luca here,
there and everywhere, to like be out of actions, like everybody else's
job is harder just because would you agree this is a lot This is not
even like a Maverick question. It's harder to hide people on defense now,
right because offense have become so sophisticated that it's no longer just you need to
cover this guy. You need to do all these other things, and that's
why it becomes so hard to where it's like I do think people have over
romanticized, and I've said this probably ten times now Trey Young's defensive effort when
he was healthy, but like to have him fighting over screens and not dying
on them, like that actually matters because of all this stuff that you're responsible
for, even if you're getting hidden. Well, I think too, because
Luca is the size of a of a player that you would normally expect to
be guarding, like that dangerous big wing on the other team, and so
you're sticking him on on the on a corner shooter or whatever. So that
means like somebody who's not really I mean, you know, the Mavericks can
if you have Luca, you have the luxury of doing weird stuff with your
lineups because you don't really have a point guard or whatever. But like that
forces somebody else to go guard a player that like most on most teams,
it's like why am I guarding like Tim Hardaway Junior is guarding someone that's like
six' eight in athletic, Like that's wrong. We can't have that.
Like but if you like why is like PJ. Washington can't be the guy,
shouldn't be the guy on Kevin Durant And it's not that's like that was
a lot of times the answer in Charlotte too. So I'm not like a
teams are flawed. But that's a lot of time on the Mavericks just two
minutes on this. You don't need to spend a lot of time on Denver.
That's their next because they're great and we love them. And anyway,
space NERD thirteen thirteen, who are for the Denver Nuggets, who are our
six to eight guys off the bench straightforward. So yeah, I think at
this point it's just solidified as in whatever order. But like Christian Brown,
Peyton Watson, and Reggie Jackson round out your eight marotation. And if you're
gonna go nine, I'm assuming Zeke Nagy given what he's done post All Star
Break with sneak in there, over over Justin Holliday or DeAndre Jordan. But
that's just like you know, I will say though the six to eight of
their rotation. You can say this about a lot of teams. There's risk
there. We've seen Christian Brown perform in the finals. Peyton Watson's had an
incredible year, but like if his jumper's not falling or he's become too reliant
on it, Christian Brown can be passive on the offensive end. And then
just the idea that, like I think you to make case that Reggie Jackson
is the most important reserve just because the lifts he has to do as a
as a point guard. Yeah, and that's even he has these against the
heat. He scored like seven straight points on Wednesday night to help them the
Nuggets when they just flipped their switch and decide to pull away win. But
there's also just something unsettling about being semi heavily relying on Reggie Jackson in the
year twenty twenty four. That's the thing, I that is exactly how I
feel, because like I think Reggie Jackson is I think he's clearly the sixth
guy just because they got to have another guard out there, and Brown and
Watson are just not you know, on all type guys. Really like he's
super important and like he's got more experience and is you know, might just
be like just objectively a better player than Brown or Watson. Like just today,
I think I think Watson particularly has shown a lot of growth and is
going to be really great. With both we agree, but like it also
makes me very uncomfortable that Reggie Jackson is this important, like I because Reggie
Jackson is someone I mean, I don't want to get on your corner here,
but like Reggie Jackson we thought signed one of the worst contracts in the
offseason. From a team perspective, you have to say we it was me
I went, but I would. I haven't really been Reggie Jackson fan since
the days of him thinking like I'm too good to be the thunder six man,
I gotta go somewhere else and cook and like he's just you know,
he has remember the Clippers, which I mean he had a couple of these
like moments with the Clippers series where there was also Troit Reggie Jackson. Remember
Detroit Reggie Jackson. That was the thing for a while. Like yeah,
So anyway, that's their sixth through eatee, Like there's no question about that.
And if they a ninth guy at all in the playoffs, like in
minutes that matter, I'll be really surprised. I think it's just at this
team is so they can't surprise, or I don't want to say they can't
surprise, but they're so set where it's like I was gonna ask you if
there's gonna be some like switcher ruse made in the most used closing unit in
the playoffs, or the player that's gonna be moved around when it's most matchup
dependent, there's already an answer, and it's Michael Porter Junior. Like we've
seen it this year where it's like, yeah, you're gonna close with your
starting five, but if you need to yank someone there and you want to
go with Brown or Watson, it's so it's just and that's what's the value
of this team, which is like we know, like it's set, and
there's some risks within the top eight for sure, but so your top five
is so good, Like even if we're gonna make changes, we know where
they're coming from. Yeah, quick one here, This is another from Big
Honey's how Long until Teams Face Guard? Aaron Gordon win Jokic is working the
post just so he doesn't catch game winning lobs off of what looked like hookshots.
I guess basically, I don't like if your kid can't do that,
another set of eyes off Nikole Yokaich just seems like a very bad idea,
and that's so, yeah, I can't. And just like the Nuggets do,
they have so much other guys who will comfor from moving in motion that
if you're you're basically removing a defender from a play. It's different if you
want to say, let's face try and remove like an actual superstar wing player.
But when you're just trying to stop someone from catching Yokic's passes, you're
not even trying to deny him the ball from creating his own shot. You're
trying to deny Yokic from doing whatever. And so the answer could be like,
should they just face guard Yokic and that would just be a disaster anyway.
So I don't think I think it's a fair question because it's well if
you haven't, like I think we've seen it, like at points with Ordon,
I feel like I can't remember which team did it? Was it in
Minnesota once? I don't remember which team it was, But like you might
as well just try shit, I just don't think that that would work.
I think Yokic would carve it up. I think I think that would be
my Yokic would carve it up as my answer to like any any weird defensive
tweak you could possibly suggest to me. So that makes that one easy for
me. We are onto idea. There's really nothing the Nuggets or just the
Nuggets. We only have one question on the Warriors, and it's your show
now, mister Hughes. So we have from uh it's at a underscore Aaron
three the Warriors ideal rotation includes how many guys in our notes doc for anyone
who cares, I have one bullet point it says all you, mister Hughes,
This is very easy. It's Steph Clay, Andre Goodala, Kevin Durant,
David West, Shawan Livingston. Like I just think, like a problem
with this team now is you could talk. I was watching the beginning of
tonight of Maps Warriors, and I think Steve Kirk got to ten guys within
like the first seven minutes, and that's with Steph and Draymond both out,
Like he's gonna play you can play twelve guys, I think. So,
I like that's one of those things like oh, if you know the quarterback
controversy thing, like if you've got a bunch of good quarterbacks, it means
you don't actually have one like type of thing. Okay, So I think,
yeah, So I don't know, like you can't really cut it off
at eight, right, because if you do that, you go Steph,
you go Clay, whether he's coming off the bench or starting. Those are
must Wiggins is a must kamingas and must Draymond's and must uh GP two I
think has to play. Pagemski has been playing a ton where it's seven.
Are you not going to play CP three? Well, like that's the question,
Like I was just gonna say him, but it's like I don't know
how much do you really need him? If Pajemski is going to be like
they've they've started making tough not tough cuts, but like, okay, we
know that Charge and Looney don't need to necessarily be included. Charge is out,
Moody always gets xcized, Looney has Looney's basically out of the rotation.
He played early tonight, but like you know, it's not that long ago
that, like Lester kenyone is a converted two week guy was playing significant minutes
ahead of Moody, of course, because everybody plays ahead of Moody. What
do I do? What? What? What do you do? What do
you mean? What did Moody do to like just be he? I think
partly it's the Looney thing where it's like he can handle it, like he's
not gonna pout, So it's like, well then we can bench him.
But he's just Moody is like Moody's good at a few things and great at
basically nothing. So it's kind of like, oh shit, we need playmaking.
That's not gonna get Moody on the floor. Oh we need lockdown perimeter
defense. That's not getting Moody on the floor. We need high volume three
point shooting, not getting Moody on the floor. Like he's he's he's capable
of doing a lot of things. He's just never gonna be the guy you
pull in. It's like, we need to fix this deficiency in what we're
getting. He's the answer because there'll always be somebody on the roster right now
that's like better at the thing you need to add to the rotation than he
is. So it's just he's always the odd man out. That's just what
it is. But like he almost never comes in and has bad stretches.
He's always he's typically like, oh, he did a couple of good things
and then like he doesn't play for a week. Like that's just that's just
the moody experience. I don't have a great answer to this question. I
think there's like a dozen guys they play. Do you know what to complicates
it too, is that if part of shortening rotation is consistency, like we've
seen regression from pods, is it a rookie walls he banged up? Like?
Is it defenses just understand like he's not a shooter, and they're gonna
try and force him to create more like off the dribble and whatever it is.
There are two and it might even this might even be kind. But
because he hasn't been as available as he should be. This year, you
have two constants, it's Draymond Green and Steph Curry, And so in that
way, you're very similar to the Lakers who have Lebron James and Anthony Davis
and lately D'Angelo Russell. But just because the talent below Draymond and Steph when
they hit their peak, that it's higher than the Lakers supporting cast, but
the fact that they can't maintain it, and they've been all over the place,
most of these guys, because like even Kaminga and there's Pods, and
there's Clay and Wiggins has been a roller coaster ride. How do you shorten
come up with a concrete rotation when you don't know you can't even It's not
just oh, they'll go through like a couple like a short trough here and
there. No, it's like these you don't know where you're gonna get from
anyone other than Stephan Draymond on any given night. At this point, I
would I would say that Kaminga has established like he's playing a lot all the
time. There's he's not like he's not on the Steph Pods. Draymond and
Cominga are like before guys, we are gonna play boatloader minutes right right,
because even which is which is like Wiggins is like I think, more important
to the Warriors than say Pajemski is, but like Wiggins does sometimes just if
he's doesn't have it, Kerr will still put him to you know, limit
those minutes especially sometimes won't close with him. I think generally speaking, Wiggins
and Kaminga like, I gotta be out there just because like you need some
athleticism if like Draymond and Steph and Pods is just like that's not you're not
getting your like length and your defensive switchability from from those guys. I mean,
Draymond can do it, but like so Kaminga and Wiggins, I think
those five guys were talking about Pods, Wiggins cominga, Steph, Draymond are
like they're gonna play a ton and then after that it's like who's got it
going or like what do we need nights? And there could be seven guys.
We even mentioned Trace Jackson Davis who's playing over Looney like all the time
now, and Sorch too, so like he just there's no good answer,
and that's why the Warriors are just kind of you know, not a serious
contender, but not like falling apart and can look really good and can look
really bad. They just don't have a consistent eight nine man rotation. Houston
Rockets, you're ready. Oh, I'm ready. This is from Dan Favalley.
That's weird. Alpert Sangun might be done for the year, probably,
it seems like now. Although did you see that injury? Yeah, I
was watching live and then I rewatched it. I was I was convinced.
I was like, oh, that's something's broken. Yeah. So I was
in the building for that. I didn't tell you this. I went to
that game, the King's Rockets game, and I they let you in.
They let you in that building. I paid for a ticket. I went
in there, and so I took my son. This is he because he
wanted to go to a game. And this was the only game that started
at not seven pm, which would get us way past bedtime, so a
three pm start. We left a little early, and as we're walking like
two minutes left, I think it was about two minutes, we're walking up
to go get it. It was Slampson. It was our mascot's birthday,
so they had balloon animal stations. So we had to go get a balloon
animal before we left. As we're walking up the steps to get to the
concourse, we hear oh and it was a sang Goon play. Because the
whole crowd saw the replay of it, it was like, oh my god,
this guy and sure enough he got wheelchaired off. When I saw it,
I couldn't see it, like you know why, I couldn't tell what
was going on. It was at the other end of the floor. But
then seeing the replay, it was just like, well, this is a
sad day, I thought for sure, but it turns out like severely sprained
ankle is the worst of it, which is like I didn't even know the
ankle was an issue, just because I was focusing on his knee going the
wrong way. Anyway, just want to, you know, just throw that
anecdote in there. Anyway, How does how does his increased usage and growth
impact the rocket trajectory? So let's talk about some positive Shangoon things. Will
you get a max extension this summer? So that would start him at just
under thirty nine million for his first year, and if you go four years,
it's one seventy three point seven five years, and you get up to
two twenty four point nine. So I guess we'll just talk about Shang Gun
what like what does he mean to how you build this Rockets team? Are
you maxing him immediately? How are you playing this? I think they've already
well, I guess the idea of the way they've surrounded him and insulated him
defensively, like you just having Jabari Smith Junior, there a healthy Taries and
Jayshon Tay, Fred VanVleet, Dylan Brooks having those like well, Jabari Smith
Junior could play over the place, like the strong perimeter guys that he's able
to focus on what feels like more simplified rimp protection and surprise, surprise,
he's improved when you look at where he's stationed and just his general contest,
he's improved as a rimp protector. I do think he's good enough offensively to
give you that guiding light even if you still have well, what is Aman
Thompson going to be? Are we still holding out hope for Jalen Green?
And so it's how can you flesh out the roster around him to compliment him?
And there are some quiet where it's will some of these players shoot well
enough long term, but I think generally when you look at the archetype of
players they have, like the Fred van Fleet signing in particular, was super
smart. Do I think the Rockets understood what they have? No hashtag Brook
Lopez pursuit, So I think that now they might want someone who's better than
Shang Gun, But as of right now, it's well, how do we
optimize this roster around him? With all that said, though, I think
I'd be pretty surprised if he got the five year max. I would expect
him to probably get like the four year max at this point, and if
if they're not giving him the max, I'm curious as to whether he would
sign, Like is this something that actually leaks into restricted free agency? Yeah,
he's I love his game, Like, I just think he's has the
potential to be such a like, you know, one of the best offensive
players in the league, like full stop, and just because of his ability
to score and distribute at that position, I think he gets maxed. I
do though, like if I'm I'm hyper critical of the Kings extending Sabonis on
a MAX and like they're not the same players, but I think you potentially
consign yourself to some of the same issues where it's like we're gonna have and
look, you said it. The Rockets have surrounded Shangun with the types of
defenders the Kings never did with Sabonis, so they're like mitigating the issue with
like a you know, not the most mobile, switchable like rim protecting big.
But like, I do wonder if you build your team around this guy
and he's not Yokic, which is to say he's not even bigger, and
just you know, is the best offensive player in the league, best player
in the league, are you are you like putting a ceiling on your potential?
Like I don't know, it would be something I would think about,
but if it was, like if it's if it's max or I'm wid like
I'm just gonna max him because you don't really you don't really like Jalen Green,
I don't think is gonna get anywhere close to the max. So you're
not like looking down the pike at like, oh shit, we're gonna have
to we can't max this guy because what's that going to do for our ability
to pay the ex way, So it's it's it's not a no brainer,
but like, and it's weird to say this because I do like Shanghun so
much, but like you gotta you gotta think a little bit about it.
Like if you could do it for four years, I think it's I think
you do it pretty, you know, without much hesitation. But that fifth
year at you know, you're talking two hundred twenty five million, that's like,
I don't know, you gotta really think he's gonna get even better from
from this level. And I'm just curious about how the Rockets feel about that,
given what they did over the last offseason. I will say, I
know people like to compare him to Sibonis and Si Bonus is I would still
say is the better player right now, But I do think long term,
Shanghun I'm just gonna trust defensively more. And maybe I'm just's to say more
about the context of the town around him than what the Bonus has. And
I think his willingness to take more threes than Sibonus it opens up the floor
in different types of ways. So I don't think I'd be as hesitant to
give him the four year max. But I totally I understand what you're saying
there. I'm I'm even curious though, as to whether they view him as
their sort of guiding force moving forward because is it Aman Thompson or do they
think that they're still going to draft this guy or acquire him via trade or
something. And I would just be I would love to give Raphael Stone and
the rest of the Rockets front office just truth serum and know their thoughts about
Alpura and shang Gun. Yeah, you know, I think the Lopez thing
is great. Like clearly Shangun improved to a degree that they did not foresee,
So like what where are they on him? Okay, I still think
by the way that his playmaking can be branched out because he he the only
he reminds me of Jokic in a sense where it's just like he can facilitate
and doesn't have the same vision and his passes are not He's not Yolkic.
I want to make that clear. I'm not calling him baby Yokic or anything.
Disclaimer is not Jokic, but like he can set up the offense and
by so many different methods, like like across the entire floor in all these
different spots. That's what intrigues the hell out of me. Even if you
think there's some limitations on his jumper, which they're currently is. But again,
he's I think he's taing one hundred and eleven threes this year, which
I'd probably like to see that number come up. You certainly want to see
him shot better than thirty percent on them. But there's there's value in the
volume two where you're going to be stationed, right, Okay, So defense
is going to be a factor here if you're building around Shangun. So this
is from Cosmic Raccoon. The Rockets have been a top five to ten defense
the entire season. They're sixth right now, and that's been without their two
best defenders. I guess that's probably right. I'm in an Easton getting a
ton of playing time. Easton particularly just lost season essentially, and you're talking
about a rookie in the other case. So the question is, can the
Rockets be in the hunt for the top defense in the league next year with
no other change than a lot more minutes for their two best defenders. That's
interesting, Yeah, I mean when you're looking so, I mean, if
Ruego Bear's playing like he is now, you have Minnesota there, Cleveland,
if they don't make any wholesale changes to their front court, would certainly be
there. I think, what could so when you look at their personnel,
if tar Eastan's healthy, if I'm in Thompson is healthy, and then you
figure out, oh he's gonna be you know, he'll have NBA experience under
his belt. Imagine what it looked like. Then you still have Dylan Brooks,
you still have fred van Fleet, maybe Jayshawn Tates there just like all
Jabari Smith Junior, all these options. I want to say, yes,
I wonder if and I'm curious that you feel about this. The thing that
could hold him back from doing that is there? Eventually, Can they get
to a point where they're building elite level defensive units that give you an above
average offense because they don't have that right now, and some of the lineups
that have fare really well offensively, and by the way, a lot of
their most used lineups have not. They've typically given like a real trade of
a trade off up on the defensive end. And so I don't know,
like you need to It's weird because it's okay, you have the players to
be the best defense, but can these players also get you to a point
where you have one of the lead even if you don't think that they need
to have a top ten offense and like that's sort of title contention barometer material.
But when you're looking at this team, it's okay, well you have
Alprin Shangun. We just sung this praise this, should you maxihim? And
yet you're twenty fourth in point score per possession? Can you get better than
that with this personnel? And I'm just curious, like who is the key
there? Is it? Still? We know what Shan Gun is and we
know what Fred van Fleet does. Is it a'm and Thompson? Is it
Jaellen Green? If they still have faith him? Or is it they need
to make a wholesale change via trade or maybe they draft him or as signing
and then that player can't compromise their defensive value because you're getting into all the
guys that are so important to their defense. And like I'm and Thompson will
be around. I think they would be foolish. I know he's injury prone,
but Tarr Eastan's a fantastic fit. Like now you're starting to get in
the names. Okay, well then it's Dyllan Brooks or it's Fred van Fleet.
Like minutes are gonna have to come from somewhere if you're adding offensive talent,
that's what I think could wind up pulling them back in the defensive rankings
next year. I think that's right because if you just try to go through
sorry, if you did this, like, okay, what does that number
one defensive lineup look like? Like this semi realistics, Like Shan Gun's gonna
be out there, so there's one break even at best defender. But then
you go, I guess like Thompson Brooks, Easton Jabbari, Like that's four
really good defenders. I don't know how that lineup's going to score a time.
And you just took off their best second best offensive player and Fred Lee
and you like, and Jalen Green's not out there, and Cam Wentmore's not
out there, so like I mean you, yeah, there are a lot
of teams that probably could like be a top five, top ten defense.
I don't about best defense in the league, but they're never going to score
if you just play all their best defenders. Yeah, the balance is the
key, I think, And that's maybe that's just getting down to like,
oh, the Rockets actually need like a two way guy that's better than literally
everyone they currently have. You know, like that's true of a lot of
teams, but that's what when you really parse it out, that's kind of
what this feels like for them. Yeah, and I'm even so now I'm
looking while you were talking at their most used lineups and trying to find one
that ranks above average on offense and defense that would be an offensive rating.
The average right now is one hundred and sixteen, so above that, and
then it's the same at the other end, so one sixteen on the defensive
end. I'm already through their like top fifteen lineups and they don't have one.
I found it. So it's played sixty one possessions, okay, one
point three offensive rating to go along with one hundred defense rating. It's Fred
van Vliet, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Jabari Smith Junior, now Brin
Shangoun. I'm going to tell you right now that lineup's not holding up defensively
no long term. If I look, if I started looking into just like
the shooting. Look, I'm sure opponents have just not made a three against
that team low Bowl. They're shooting twenty four percent from there it is against
that oh one more here, credit to them for building like this defensive I
Udoka is definitely say because the defensive talent in here is way better than I
would have expected. By the way, for sure, last one on the
rockets here from Rubik scale over under a number of seasons on and Thompson makes
first team All Defense. Whatever we said for us are like minus one.
Maybe I would say, yeah, but I don't know. Is a man
just gonna be as a as a Sar's film is like so stupid? Yeah,
and I did break so I looked this up. His two most frequent
defensive matchups this year have been Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and so like
he's played so little did he guard him both at the same time. So
the ro the suns on the eighty seven plus possessions in which uh like Amen
Thompson's guarded log time against one of those guys, they're aftering point nine to
six points per possession when he's on one of them. And the two of
them have combined to take just sixteen shots on eighty seven possessions against Amen Thompson.
And we're not talking about he's not fouling them. They're not drawing fouls
on those possessions either. So his just ability to limit when you go and
watch him, not even just on bole opportunities, but like to force the
ball out of their hands or maybe not even get the ball. It's real.
So I'll say, if I said it, it is three and a
half too low, making all defenses hard. There's ten spots in his positionless
now, so he's going up against Biggs. I'm gonna set it at three
and a half. I think that's a great number. I think that's right
about it, I will say. And I don't want to be this guy.
But watching him in person, he's like he's not screenable, like sorry,
like you can't put a body on him that he doesn't navigate around or
anticipate being there, and just I'm too fast for you to get a body
on me, and like he's both Thompson's. I haven't seen a sar in
person, but Aman is just like that guy is like a capital a athlete
that like just moves wherever he wants, however he wants. And if you
are trying to get the basketball and he doesn't want you to possess it,
like good luck, you're just not gonna see it. He he's also like
because you look at certain highlights or just plays. Even when shots don't go
in or he does something where it doesn't necessarily translate to an immediately positive he's
like caps locked for the first two or three years of his career. It's
I'll throw every single stat out the window if it doesn't support what I'm seeing
on the court, because like that's the type of athlete, right, type
of right. No, I think that's the right because we get look guilty,
like we get caught up and like, oh, well, this guy's
EPM is whatever, and they're for he's better than the guy with the lower
one. Like I'm going to default to that most times, but just like
I don't know, let's not dismiss the eye test in certain isolated cases.
And the Thompson's are definitely eye test. They aced the eye test every time
unless they're shooting advance. Shout out to Mattie L. Braiden, Retro Braden,
and Rubikskal forgiving us. They were the only team we didn't have questions
for, and so I demanded them from our discord members and they gave it
to us. So go join our discord. Look, if you want to
see questions from your team, you can email us Rbinox going to discord.
I don't know how often we'll run this exercise, but if I don't have
to work as hard to get questions for every team, me and Grant can
can do this often. Because they have to work hard to get the questions
and then you want to think about them. It just feels unfair to me,
you know. So if we're just going to come up with like the
same if if we're generating all the questions, we're just going to regurgitate the
same ideas. We don't have so many independent thoughts about each team, So
it helps to have a third party go join our discord and ask questions.
So let's start with retro Braiden and I have a bunch of looking at the
typo because Bones Highland is in this, and I did this. I was
like inputting it while I was doing cardio the other day, and I have
bones Hikens. That's not even like somewhat I figured out on my phone.
So retro Braine, any evidence that a healthy Russell Westbrook should be playing over
Bones Highland. He they asked me there was a longer spiel. They asked
me to simplify. So that was the gist of the questions. I'm curious
where you land on this. I mean, the evidence would be like bones
Highland's entire career to this point, probably like he's what, I don't know,
what do you want? Like Russ is an imperfect player and neither of
our favorites in terms of what he brings to a team at like this stage
of his career. But like Russ is going to give you more rim pressure.
He's gonna be just more physical. He's like, I don't know,
stronger, He's like way physically stronger, Like if he's getting he could theoretically
he's gonna hold up on a post up on a switch, where Highland is
just going to be like completely invisible in that situation. Like just if you're
concerned about the scoring, I mean, you got more more granular data than
this. But like Russ is shooting forty five percent from the field, which
is like not ideal because there aren't a lot of threes baked into there,
and Higland is thirty seven point four percent from the field, thirty three percent
from three, Like I don't know, like you're not getting neither of them
is gonna be great shakes on defense. But I would just I would prefer
Russ on that end one and offensively, like Russ is gonna push the odd
transition possession, like down the other team's throat. He's gonna, you know,
go to the basket hard like Highland is. You know, he's a
he's just done type that isn't good enough to be a six man. He
feels a little bit redundant with the makeup of if he it's like if he
did one thing better, if that were three point shooter different and not even
that, but like if he got to the rim more or shot better than
fifty percent at the rim, or if he stood up physically or even just
functionally on defense better than Russ would, I could because you could just default
too well. Russ is the veteran and tyler who's gonna like that. But
I really do think that, and especially since he's been injured, you can
kind of see he adds an element of for it's chaotic, it's anarchic,
and it is counterproductive a lot, but like you still almost need it for
certain stretches. And then I go back and it's in theory bones should be
the better fit next to Harden where you don't have to kind of play like
the lineup roulette game as much, but you're not trying to maximize your offense
when James Harden's necessarily on the court, and like, it's not hard to
stagger Russ and Harden, like we've seen the Clippers do it. So if
you were, I guess, if you have the long term vestiture in Bones'
Highlands, you should be giving him more run even when Russell Westbrook's healthy.
I don't know that he's done enough in the NBA at large. Outside of
those they weren't just flashes and flickers. He had a really good first season
in Denver, but the fact that they were out on him basically even before
the second season started. There were stuff happening behind the scenes we know about.
But I don't know that he's done enough on the court for me at
least. You know, you could look at some of the lineup data and
yeah, there might be offensive numbers that pop. But I actually went because
I think Brydon had something that said some of the lineups were really popping,
even though they're small samples. I just didn't see enough of them to be
like, well, we need to explore this more. No, I don't
think so, and like, look, we need a bench, we need
someone to come in and like cook off the bench. Well you got Norm
Powell, who's way up in our six man you know, awards discussion.
So like, I don't know. I guess it's interesting to frame it as
Russ or Bones, but like, I just don't know what Bones brings that
the Clippers a need and be can't get from some place. Now, if
you had an injury to James Hard and Paul George or Kawhi Leonard, do
you think that this becomes more of a question or has become less of a
question, because then you're gonna want I think Braydon said he believes that they're
about the same as passers. I still think that Russ is gravity when he
goes downhill, like his drives and his kicks and his deferentials, like when
he defers there, I'm still gonna give him the edge. But I could
see from a theory, if you lose one of your better perimeter scores,
why you would think that Bones's island is more valuable to you than a Russell
Westbrook, who is very much not a perimeter score. Yeah, I guess,
So we need to move on because I'm very uncomfortable having to be put
in a position where I'm like advocating for this current version of Russell Westbrook to
play more. I don't. I don't feel great about that. Uh the
I think so. The next one is from Maddy oh reretro brain has a
second part to this. What is something grant that the Clippers would have to
do that you would solidify them as the favorites to win the whole thing.
I mean, like this is it's it's a it's a bad answer, but
it's like be healthy, like back spasms that we record this frastics spasms,
No, thank you, not interested in those. That sounds awful. That's
like your upper back between your shoulders and can imagine, yeah, forget it.
Paul George's got issue, like what is it a shoulder? I think
or Harden has it? No, Harden's left shoulder. Paul George's got a
knee right now. Like it's all kind of it's all the Clippers are kind
of clippers ing, like in terms of man like how durable Kawhi is all
year and look look at these guys. This is all they needed was to
stay on the floor and now they're kind of like, shit, this is
how it's gonna go, isn't it. Like it's you know, the things
we worried about, the caveats we attached to the Clippers forever, Like here
we are, like there's some of it starting to go sideways in the way
that people expected or had seen it go before. So health obviously, like,
yeah, health is the cop out. Every team needs to be healthy,
but the Clippers in particular are the one that we've always said like,
if healthy, maybe they can do it, and if not, then that's
just the status quo. So that's where it starts. Like we can get
into more and I know you've got some stuff on transition defense and just defense
in general, but like, yeah, there's live and points a lot of
per possession basically since the beginning of February. I will say, I think
that's been a troubling trend for them all year, has been their transition defense
and like they just don't get back or match up well after their misses.
And then like they made the other night, by the way, I know
that Kawhi was dealing with the thoracic spasms and left you went from leading by
twenty two points to losing by what was it twenty or whatever was like or
against. You made the Timberwolves transitioning offense look thermonuclear af the antithesis of what
the Timberwolves transition offense is because I'm not even sure it exists on most nights.
So that's something that's like, if you were to they're healthy, but
this still hasn't looked right. It's you gotta get because they haven't been hitting
their threes either, but I have confidence that those will go down when you're
looking at those players, So I'm more I'm the health. It's not a
cop out. It is the answer, and you can't even trust it because
it's not just Paul George, Kwi Leonard, and James Harden are playing and
it's they're actually healthy, not Kawhi is trying to make it through back spasms.
But it's also just like can they win with look there, their defensive
returns have been weird all season. We've kind of just trusted that well,
between Zubots and Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and Terrence Man, like they'll be
able to turn it on when they need to, and it's kind of like,
well can they So like that's the question. I still I still sort
of have with them. That's it. That's it for me. I agree.
This is from Maddy l which is interesting and Braiden retro. Braiden also
had some zemblance of the same question. Uh, what's going on with Paul
George's lack of an extension? If he doesn't resign with the Clippers, doesn't
portend anything sinister happening in the offseason. I want to point out before you
get started. I know you know this because I've seen some misconceptions about he
can only get X because of the over thirty eight rule. So the loophole
is, if you are thirty five or younger on October first, you can
sign a deal that takes you past your thirty or into and pasture thirty eighth
birthday. So the easy answer here could just be that Paul George wants more
years than the three that Kawhi Leonard got, Like he might want four or
five, and that's why he's waiting. It is does it? It strikes
me as I'm surprised that Kawhi got his and then Paul George. You know,
I think Brian Windhorse said, like a deal is getting done you know
they're in talks. It's gonna happen. It hasn't happened yet. I just
assumed that, like they would just sign identical deals. So to me,
what it means for Paul George is that either he wants more years and dollars
than Kawhi got, or the Clippers don't view Paul George as being worth the
same number of years and dollars as Kawhi got. I mean those you know,
that's not exclusive, but those seem like two of the likelier scenarios.
I bet it's that George is saying, like, well, my injury history
is not the same as Kauhi's or his reps are, so you got to
do better than the deal that Kawai got, which I now I can't remember
what it was, but it's basically like a two plus one. Is that
what it was? I can't remember how long. I don't even think there's
a player option on it. I think it's just a straight three. Yeah,
okay, three, So I can I can imagine George just saying like
I'm gonna need I don't know if I need the five I need. I
need a longer deal, like I need a longer max deal. It could
be something that they've already agreed upon when it's like, well, you're gonna
decline your player option and we're just gonna give you a longer deal rather than
that's taking off of this. Yeah, are you concerned about it? It
seems like he's not gonna go somewhere else, right, he would have to
be wildly unhappy with his place in the in the offensive pecking order with James
Harden and Kawhil And he's talked a lot about sacrifice this year, but not
in a way that makes me think that he's bitter or resentful and so,
and look where's he going? The Sixers would be like the only team with
cap space that I've used the threat he could. He's talented enough where if
he wants to go to the Knicks that you make the sign and trade happen.
But then, like some of those teams that he would want to be
signed and traded to, can they make it work and be hard capped?
Is something that you're gonna have to get into. So I'm not worried.
It is interesting though, just because it's a little sucks now and so it's
like, it'd be cool if he I just want to hear that Paul George
took meetings, which we don't get anymore because free agency unfolds. We remember
back in the day, maybe when we first started covering the league, were
just like, oh, they would take days to make their decision because they
were having all these meetings ron like did he take like two weeks? Well,
like oh, Dwight Howard flew to Houston or like there was all there
were all these like who's flying where we knew? We knew, like like
playing schedules, And I just want to hear that taking meetings. That's when
it would be like expect him to leave. But that's what would be interesting.
You know, Darryl Moury wants to come in and be mister like leverage
play like he would love like this. Maury has like no like cap on
his ambition. So like I suspect that you know, there's tampering has already
happened in the six all George's reps like guaranteed campering doesn't happen. No,
it's all pretend everybody's or whatever. So this is the last question we have
on the corpus from Ruverscal. Do you think we'll see Russell Westbrook playing in
the dunker spot again on a super small ball lineup of Powell, Hardened,
Leonard Westbrook and George We saw that line up very fleetingly and I mean seriously
small sample sized theater, but it is devastating in its speed and ability to
force turnovers. It is an interesting lineup. But the problem with it,
I suppose, is that like you have to play a point guard sized guy
in the dunker spot because you can't really use him any place else in that
configuration. Well, wait, should we bring it up? Should we sound
that, well, what have you used Russell Westbrook? Is the screener alarm?
Or we have we moved be opted? I think we don't need to
say that anymore, do we? Yeah? No, I mean it makes
some sense, Like I guess, like who's who's getting to the bucket in
that lineup to like make the dunker spot valuable other than Powell? I guess
if you're gonna pick nits about it, I wonder if you're just like,
it's gotta be so matchup specific though, because man, that's a small gal.
Yeah, that's that's a great point where it's which teams do you think
that you because you can't run that lineup against Denver. No, you can't
run it. You cannot if you did it against Minnesota, I mean,
that'd be interesting because just the juxtaposition of like, oh, this one he
has like two bigs on the court, and then this other team has zero
bigs and not only is a zero bigs, but who's the tallest player in
that lineup? Is it? This was Paul George six's eight yeah,
six eight six nine, And I like, I don't know, you're I
guess you're putting him on the center. I like Phoenix. If Phoenix also
goes small, maybe you try it there. You're not drying against the Lakers,
I have, I will confess because I don't watch any games. I've
never seen Clippers play, so I've never seen this lineup. They've played forty
four possessions and have a plus forty three point two net rating, one fifty
two offensive rating, one oh nine defensive rating. I honestly, you might
as well try it. I'm just like, what team Phoenix? I think
you can get away with it against Phoenix Golden State. I guess if Draymond's
the five, you probably like that's there. Would you dare to try it
against like the just because you're not threatened to buy like the rest of the
team, just like against the Lakers. Would you try it the Pelicans?
Anthony Davis is a thing. You can't. Anthony Games is the thing.
But it's just like you're so like the rest of that roster is so blots
where it's like you wouldn't And you're definitely not gonna try it against the Pelicans
because you're either against Yonis and Zion or then you're just inviting the Pelicans to
go Zion at the five without really Zion three hundred points with that with no
bigs in there. Yeah, it's interesting when you could try it against the
Kings maybe right, Yeah, the King rust defending some bonus. Is that
what you would do? I guess. I don't know. Oh man,
we're talking about forty four possession lineups. Look, I want I love Everyone
knows how I feel about absolutely play this lineup. I'm just curious whether it
would hold up. Yeah, long, like over a longer samples all if
they go to it for any length of time, Like I don't know,
Zoobat's got hurt or something's gone wrong. I'm so glad I don't have to
answer this next question about the Los Angeles Lakers, which is our next team
from Alexaus seventeen. Who is D'Angelo Russell and could he finally be finally entering
his prime and deserve to be the Lakers starting point guard for years to come.
I answered this question with another question, can you take this one?
No? So as someone who remember how and I just had this discussion with
Kyle tayee uh oh Good's let's reliitigate the Conley dlo well because I was saying,
because he was talking about how that might have been the best trade in
Wolve's history since it got gnaw and so I said, I don't know if
we did. Because I talked to him for the look at man after my
own heart, I said, I don't know if I told you this when
we record that I eviscerated the Wolves when they made that trade, I said,
I think I gave him like a D when I was grading them.
I was clearly wrong. I still can't quit. D'Angelo Russell is just like
a concept because I watch his game sometimes and I enjoy it. Since the
middle of January, about twenty seven games, he's averaging twenty two point three
points six point four assists, forty five point six percent from three on eight
point four temps per game, including forty four point eight percent on off the
dribble threes. That is the second best mark by the way of forty nine
players who've attempted at least fifty of those, behind only Colin Sexton during this
stretch. The bigger question with D'Angelo Russell if you want him to be your
long term point guard, is ken he carry units on his own. The
Lakers offense is in the seventy fifth percentile when he plays without Lebron, but
they're still minus three point one overall because you're giving up so much on the
defensive end that declines. Actually, they have a worse net rating when Delo
and Anthony Davis play without Lebron than when Delo plays without Lebron and AD they've
actually won those minutes. I think that says more about the quality of competition
and is that the path to him being their long term point guard is So
you've seen that you can mesh now with Lebron NAD, but can we just
make sure that you're cooking against the right units where we're never asking your lift
as a playmaker and primary scorer to be too heavy, And then can you
put together these twenty seven thirty game stretches over the course of well, no,
that was forty games. That was fifty games, to where you're just
he does still when you watch him, when you look at the numbers,
it does still feel like he has more peaks and plunges than a player that
you would want to be your long term point guard. I do think the
actual key to this is almost out of his hands. It's can you put
the right personnel on this Lakers team aside from Ad and Lebron to make it
work, not just in the starting five, but outside of it. And
that's where you get into some weirdness to where they haven't been able to find
these two way wings that stick. There's the Austin Reeves dynamic there to where
Austin Reeves is valuable. He can be okay defense, but he's not like
a good defender. So I don't The answer here is I don't know.
I will say the Lakers do not have a better option at the moment.
And the other final thing I'll say is I think he has played well enough
to get them to think about if you wanted to get a Trey Young or
de Jontay Murray. How much are you willing to give up an addition to
D'Angel Russell to get those guys and Trey Young. I want to make it
clear, it's just by far he can carry lineups on his own. But
it's like, because of how well d Angel Russell has played, if you
get to a point where you can trade three outright first pick first round picks
plus Austin Reeves plus all this other stuff, are you going the full boat
after Trey Young or you're throwing the half boat after de Jontay Murray. If
D'Angel Russell closes this season to play in the playoffs, whatever they end up
doing like this, it's a fair question. It's also a little bit out
of their control. He has a player option, so he can decline it
and leave if they don't want to pay him, which I mean, yeah,
that's a whole other thing. Is it too obnoxious for me to just
say I'm not changing any of my priors on Russell until I see a playoff
series where he's not like targeted and disappointing on defense to the degree that like
he gets his role cut, like I just like everything you said is true,
Like he provides a a the types of contributions that the Lakers aren't cannot
get from anyone else on the roster, like just the the scoring, the
three point shooting, the pick like the ball handling, pick and roll stuff,
Like he's been a good offensive player and sometimes better than that, like
for several years. But that's just really never what it's been about. The
Lakers need that stuff, but you need more than that if you're gonna say,
oh, this is our long term answer at point guard for a team
that realistic or not has like we're trying to win a championship. So I
think Russell has outperformed my expectations to this point because they're low, but because
he's been good. But like, I'm not gonna I don't know, I
guess I feel like I'm being dismissive, But I just like Russell is a
player type that I've never been a huge fan of. I think, like
all of the issues you talked about, Like it's tricky to fit the right
pieces around him because he has like legitimate deficiencies that good teams capitalize on all
the time. It's like just like a big that can't move or defend the
rim, like a point guard that can't guard on or off the ball,
and that needs really needs to shoot well and score well to to like break
even. Like you you, I don't know if you gave the on the
net rating numbers for when he's out there with Lebron and or a d like,
they're still losing those minutes even though the offense is pretty good. It's
not a coincidence that, like is what tends to happen with him and with
players like him. So let's see it. Let's see it in a playoff
series if they if they make a playoff series at all, before I like
really start reevaluating like where russell sits like in my estimation or you know,
at the position in general, I think it's fair, and it's just the
player option has an interesting element because he's gonna opt out that it's it's almost
well, would we rather pay him long term or throw all our trade assets
in for Trey Young or I know they mentioned Donovan Mitchell. I'd probably prefer
the Trey Young route still, even given his own defensive limitations, just by
virtue of his his his passing is just absolutely fantastic and you know that he
would float lineups better on his own than D'Angel Russell. Yeah, and then
like the high the highs of his offensive contributions will just be such that you
can live with, like the defense is not good or whatever, like Russell's
not at that level production wise. All right, move on to Memphis.
I think our last team of this one before we had some stat padding Memphis
Grizzlies. Let's see, you have to ask me this one because I asked
you the DL one. Oh you did. I apologize. I'm happy to
ask you this one because this is kind of a tough one too. Uh.
Our friend's nine on one ask how much is Memphis willing to invest in
a center this offseason? And you should probably you should probably outlay With their
cap situation, we would say, is the better question how much can they
which if I believe five point two million dollars basically is what they can do.
That's mini mid level cash. That's assuming they're willing to spend it.
If they If they are willing to spend it, and this I guess they're
over the tax. If they keep Luke Canard around, they have a team
option on him. If they do not keep him around. They're still butting
right up against the tax. So it's like you're maybe you get to the
full mL I guess kind of sort of do they want to spend that.
I don't know on a I mean, like, I guess it's not probably
not a starting center if you assume Jackson is just going to be your starting
five. I don't know, like they I'll put it this way, I
don't think they're going to get anybody, anybody better than a healthy Steven Adams
was and would have been. So you're you're talking like the Drummonds of the
world, Dario Sarich, Daniel Tice. Uh, you know, unless you're
talking a trade, right, there's some trade options you could you could look
at. I just don't know how wise it is to invest in it,
to really see that. This is another thing. If there were major names
out there available in trade, then maybe you think differently about it. But
I don't know, like who's the real difference maker you're getting in trade,
like Bobby Portis Kevon Looney like this, I don't know. I don't know
who's who's like changing who's changing their world? Do you do? You reb
Capella? Right, and you're not gonna go all in on a big when
you have Jaron Jackson Jr. I don't think so, No, I mean
they like, if you were gonna do that, maybe you just hold on
to Steven Adams and hope he gets healthy. Like I don't know if that's
a realistic thing, because they probably have a great sense of whether he will
ever be healthy or not, and that's why they traded him. But like,
you're not doing better than that? What? Like it feels like the
most and it would have to be via trade because they're gon't do anything splash,
You've already outlined this. It feels like, Okay, the Knicks want
to resign as a heart and Stein of early bird rights make him their starting
five, and then they'll have Jerich W. Sims a backup five and Mitchell
Robinson's healthy and becomes available. Would you be I don't know what his trade
value would be. Like that feels like the middle ground where he's not gonna
play a ton of minutes anyway, so we get plenty of triple J at
the five and he shouldn't cost the moon to obtain. But it feels like
they are most likely they will like either bank on Brandon Clark being healthy next
year even though he's smaller than drag Jift Junior, or they'll maybe they'll address
it in the draft or just with one of like the smaller time free agents,
which aren't by the way, those are drawing up to Like Kelly Olynics
signed an extension. Not that he was a bad free agent, but like
he's not even gonna be on the market anymore. Maybe maybe you think,
too, you can get some spot minutes from Santill Dama at the five against
like very specific lineups. I think you gotta be real careful there. But
it just it seems like going, Look, look, we talk about all
the time that Jared Jackson's ability to space like occasionally every other year basically affords
you the opportunity to, like you can't play as Steven Adams or just like
a Bismack Biyambo or like whatever. You can play like pretty plotting, you
know, paint bound big and get away with it because you're getting shooting from
Jackson and he can guard in space. But like doesn't mean you have to
do that. You can just play Jackson at the five and you know,
deal with the rebounding issues that come from that. And just put better offensive
players on the floor. Like that's an option too, and for based on
the landscape and based on what this Grizzlies team should look like next year.
I think that's my preference, right, I just let's have Jackson play most
of the center minutes. You don't need to spend even the mini mL E.
You use the minimum on a on a backup big, I guess,
especially if you think Clark is going to be you know, the guy who
plays some small ball five against second units, Like you're talking about a third
big really now? And it's just funny. They look they do need a
big when you're kind of just looking at the setup of their depth chart.
They traded Steven Adams, they traded traded Xavier Tillman. I'm just like,
I'm still just the word's not infatuated, but I'm just like, can we
get some real wings in here? Yeah, that'd be nice. So we'll
do on this addition to stat padding, let's do you want to do guess
a player? Do you want me to give you the stat padding? Guess
like questions that I have for you, I'll let you choose your own adventure
there. I'll answer your question by adjusting my posture so I'm in a better
position for you to clip these together. Oh okay, I know what that
means now then, thanks very much, sir. Okay, So, Grant
and I made this one super short because we have a lot to do.
Which NBA player has more triple doubles with zero turnovers? Nicole Jokic or Jason
Kidd Jason Kidd. That is incorrect eight to five in favor of Jokic,
Lebron James or Michael Jordan Lebron. That is correct one to zero. Good
job there, You're a monster. Chris Paul or Ben Simmons Chris Paul.
That is incorrect. Ben Simmons has two, Chris Paul has one. Wow.
Grant Hill or Magic Johnson Grant Hill. That is correct three to two.
Kobe Bryant or Jimmy Butler Jimmy Butler correct two to zero. Kevin Durant
or Russell Westbrook Kevin Durant, Uh, that is incorrect. Russell Westbrook has
him one to zero. Pow Gasol Po Gasol excuse me? Or keem Olajuwon
I gotta go Paw. That is correct. He has him three to two.
How about that? Yeah, Okay, Boris Dia or Larry Bird.
If you're putting Boris Dia on here, you know I'm gonna pick Boris Dia
that is correct. Two to one. Had him beat good stuff from you.
That's that's all I have on that one. Oh oh, are you
okay? I just was happy to hear Boris Dialle's name. If I'm being
honest. Okay, rant which m which active NBA player has more games in
which they made every single shot that they attempted? DeAndre Jordan or Bismock Biambo.
Oh, there's no minimum shot him ount sont for one. I'm gonna
say. I'm still gonna say DeAndre Jordan that is correct. He's the all
time leader, by the way, two hundred and seventeen. Bismock Biyambo one
hundred and thirty five amazing. Javal McGhee or Dwight Powell. Dwight Powell that
is incorrect. Javal McGee one hundred and thirty to one hundred and twenty seven.
Cavan Loney or Mason Plumbley. I'm gonna say Mason Plumbley that is incorrect.
Cavonloney won twenty two to one oh seven. Oh big margin. Rudy
Gobert or Yakab Peertl. I'll say Gobert. That is correct, ninety two
to eighty three. Mitchell Robinson or Robert Williams the third. Oh so many
dunks between these two. I'll go. I'll go Mitchell Robinson. That is
correct, seventy six to seventy three. Very topical at the moment. Daniel
Gafford, Yes, or Robin Lopez. I'm gonna say Daniel Gafford because he's
got like five of them in the last couple of weeks. Seventy two to
seventy one in favor of Daniel Gafford. Good job pulling ahead, Okay,
Drew U Banks or Jackson Hayes. Jackson Hayes incorrect seventy to sixty five in
favor of Drew U. Banks. Tristan Thompson or Taj Gibson. Oh man,
I'm gonna go TOAJ Gibson. It's funny that they're both considered active well
the TODs. Gibson's actually on a well, so is Thompson. Uh that's
incorrect sixty to sixty to fifty five in favor of Tristan Thompson. Isaiah Hartenstein
or Kyle Anderson. I gotta keep going with the bigs. I'm gonna say
Hartenstein that is correct. Fifty four to fifty. Kyler says fifty games in
which he shot one hundred percent from the floor. That's actually pretty wild,
that's amazing. Uh, Clink Cappella or Myers h no, no, no,
no sorry, Clink Capella or what? These players aren't active? Why
do I have them on the list. Let's try this one more time.
Clink Capella or Jericho Sims Clink Cappella incorrect. Forty seven games for Jericho Sims,
forty five for Clint Cappella. Gotta be a lot of two for two's
in there for Jericho Sims. Andre Drummond or Kem Birch, Kem Birch incorrect,
Andre Drummond forty one, Kem Birch thirty five. Try to zag on
that one that hurts, uh Yonas Valentiunis or Xavier Tillman. These are so
these guys that just never shoot. I'm gonna go Valentis incorrect exam thirty five
to thirty four on tilt right now, hurting. I'll give you a couple
more to see if you can fit on a high note. Okay? PJ.
Tucker or Jeff Green PJ. Tucker correct, twenty nine to twenty eight.
Would you like me to stop there? No, I'm gladd and give
me one more? Okay. Roys O'Neill or Kita bhd Off is even?
Is this like suns Reserve edition of this question? Royce O'Neil, that is
correct, Let's go twenty eight to twenty seven, twenty eight to twenty six.
Excuse me? You want to go for three in a row? I
do? Nick Claxton or Gary Payton the second? Oh? GP two?
Yeah, that's incorrect twenty eight to twenty seven in favor of Nick Claxton.
Oh, at least's close. Grant Williams or Tias Jones Tias Jones incorrect,
twenty six to twenty five in favor of Grant Williams. I think you're g
you a pair that I think you'll get. How could you possibly know which
ones I'm gonna get? I apparently don't, because I thought you were gonna
do pretty well with this exercise. Kelly olynnok or Moses Moody. Moses Moody
correct twenty two to twenty one. All right, you want to stop there.
I think we got to cut it off there, and so these are
so hard, like, I'm sure, do I just pick a guy played
more games. I went into this one knowing I couldn't cut it up either,
because there's not enough. We do this. It's called stat padding.
People know why we do this. Not enough people are gonna care about so
many of these names in there that they'll just swipe swipe past me. You
don't think there's a big market for Keta Bates Geop versus Royce O'Neill. As
soon as I said it, I was just like, this is so stupid.
I feel like it's good AMMO for anyone that's like, oh, you
guys only talk about the big market teams like, no, sir. In
fact, we completely skew the other way. For stat padding, we're talking
about the most obscure. I thought you were gonna put Leonard in there.
I was just not gonna pick him. But I was so mad that I
had him written down. I was like, because they're they're listed under active
and it's just like I would like players that are actually on rosters. And
then when I had Tod Gibson and Tristan Thompson written now I was like,
you have two guys who aren't on rosters, like no, Tod Gibson is,
and I forgot just because Tristan Thompson suspended like he So yeah, I
forgot about that boy, TODJ. Gibson. Okay that but you know,
so you're mentioning we only talk about big markets. I do throw in like
so the Michael Jordan versus Lebron want even though Jordan didn't have a game,
It's like, you gotta do that for the algo. So what is this
segment called grant right, it's it's it's naked, unabashed, pay pay attention
to us. We're gonna make shorts. It's look, it's our biggest subscriber
driver. Are these shorts. If anyone is doubting the model, it's just
like I publish a long form video or one of our clips, we might
game like anywhere between zero and five subscribers. Yeah, like Mars between most
of the either ors. You give me like zero and five. Yeah,
i'amiliar with it. But if this something like this, if we get only
five subscribers off a short, it's a failure. Like that's just that's just
how It's just bizarre. I'm familiar with failure too, based on this last
exercise. Sometimes it's good to get humbled, though, I appreciate it.
Yeah, we don't get that enough with Guess a Player? Right, all
right, we're doing Guess a Player. We're gonna call it for this one
and get the next edition. Can you take us out of here? I
really can. Thanks everybody for your questions. Thanks in advance for the questions
we're going to read on the next one of these. If you would like
to participate, join our discord uh the link for that and how to get
merch or in the YouTube and podcast description. If you have not already,
Please remember remember to rate, review, subscribe, follow anything you can on
all of our socials. Please just help the algorithm love us, share all
the content that we put out here about us. This Grant and I.
I was telling Grant because I want him to hear like compliments. We've gotten
a lot of praise from people within the industy lately. I don't I don't
know what we did, but if we're getting that type of praise, make
make all the other random people praise us. Yeah, yeah, we drive
up the audience. We want perfect strangers to care about us. That's what
this is all about. That's how I measure my self worth. Isn't that
how you measure yours? Absolutely, I don't care what my family thinks,
like what they're stuck with me? I will I want new people. You
never remember both your kids' names half time, I don't know like you.
You told me you were ready to give Mac up for adoption because he said
Sabonus was his favorite player. I did when we went to that we'll get
out right here. Well, we did go to the Kings game. I
had like a half a thought of, like, is my son going to
have to see me be confronted by an angry person which recognizes me from what
I said about Sabonis? In hindsight, thought no one, Well, uh,
counterpoint, yes they do. I've been recognized in the gym off of
YouTube. By the way, we don't make I don't even care about the
peaks behind the curtain. We make no money off of our YouTube, and
like we most of all of our revenues from the actual podcast stuff. Our
YouTube is considered fledgling, I guess, but I've been recognized at the gym
from our YouTube, So people the algorithm knows, and there's even some people
I don't. I don't think enough of myself to think this is all these
case. But some of them look at me with like a puzzled look on
their face. And it could just be because my nose and forehead are so
huge, or it could be I think that guy showed up in my shorts
feed like that was scrolling and I saw this dude, but it has happened,
so that was a distinct possibility put to you for or maybe I should
be criticizing you for putting your child in danger. Actually, like he's gonna
have to see dad have an argument in public. Uh, that's gonna do
it. Thanks, tell your friends, tell your enemies. Shout out Frank
Millikina apologies to Jared Allen.