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What do it do, Hardwoodknox listeners, I am Damp Valley coming at you

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with another mailbag, super humbled and
appreciative that we can we're at I'm at

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the point where we can do two
mail bags a week if we wanted to,

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assuming that time allows. Where we
have our discord members who will get

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priority on the questions, especially because
they tend to explain there's more. And

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then we do a YouTube and Twitter
one. That might be the goal for

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me during the off seas off season. Again, I don't know how much

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content I'm going to continue pumping out. We've been a daily podcast though for

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like the past two months, which
is wild, but the response has been

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great. I enjoy doing this,
so let's keep going. The quick reminders

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though the usual house keeping notes.
Please please throw us the permanent subscription wherever

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you're consuming us, if you're on
YouTube and Me and the World all,

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if you hit the subscribe button down
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help the algorithm, love us back
as we continue to try and get the

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Hardwood Knox name out there. If
this is your first time checking us out,

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don't click out of this video,
watch the whole thing or at least

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subscribe. Trust me, we take
ourselves very unseriously around here. You'll love

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us. The usual notes for the
podcast as well. If you're listening to

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this on whatever podcast player, subscribe
to us down on every episode, tell

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people about us, help us,
reteet our promos. If you have an

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issue with anything I say, you're
free to dm me comment on Twitter as

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well. All our social handles are
on the screen or in the podcast and

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YouTube descriptions. Finally, join the
Discord. We are closing in on one

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hundred members. It's not like this
huge group. I know the localized coverage

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podcasts tend to get a ship ton
more, but the group in there is

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absolutely spectacular. It's a very small
portion of our audience. But the response

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again has been great. I'm able
to do an entire mailbag episode based off

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the questions that they are asking,
so I appreciate every single one of you

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on Discord shouts out to you.
Link is in the podcasters podcast description and

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below on the YouTube video as well. Without further delay though, and this

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was almost a two minute delay,
probably more than that when you factor in

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the introduction. Let's get to the
discord questions had a whole bunch that were

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All of them were really I mean, all our questions are really good,

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but a lot of these were just
super interesting to think about. We'll start

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with straps. I'm just going in
the order that they came in. Dan

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Favalley has a vial of truth serum
that he can use to ask one GM

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player, coach whatever in the NBA. One question that will be truth really

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answered. Who do you ask and
what question are you asking them? I

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mean, selfishly, I'm gonna go
with something Nick's related here, and I

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think the question right now would be
I want to ask Tibbs, why can't

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you play Julius random Obi Toppin together. I also want to ask Leon Rose,

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was she jiljis Alexander or Tyrese Haliburton
even on your radar? Those are

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the questions selfishly as a fan that
I probably want to ask, but push

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comes to shove, I'd love to
ask, Like I'm just gonna go through

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some of the ringers here. I'd
love to ask Sam Presty, just what

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are your thing? Are you tanking
right now? Like just to hear GM

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tell me that they were actually tanking. I don't think the thunder or tanking

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this season. To be clear,
I would also love to ask Adam Silver

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just a whole bunch of questions,
just sort of like, well, what

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do you really think about, you
know, Robert Sarver, Why haven't we

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reached the end of that you know, hostile workplace investigation, which is probably

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the actual kindest way to put it. That's probably we went through the GM

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coach and commissioner or whatever. If
I could ask one player a question,

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this is just something I'd probably been
thought about a ton. I want to

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ask Kawhi like if he was ever
even really close to going back to Toronto,

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just because I feel like that's almost
a dynasty that was derailed. Maybe

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I'm being like too recent with that. I'd probably ask Frankie Lak, you

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know, what he wants his nickname
to be, since he hates the Frankie

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Smokes and the French Prince apparently.
I'd want to ask Rudy Gobert and or

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Donovan Mitchell, like, on a
scale of one to one hundred, how

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much they actually hated each other?
Where did that all go wrong? Those

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were just some of the questions,
Like boring a hole in my brain.

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I'd probably want to ask Danny Ainge, how close he ever came to You

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know, we make jokes about his
almost I don't think people sort of missing

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this is a fucking stupid tangent.
But here we go. Anyway, people

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misinterpret like the Danny Ainge jokes that
he never made moves, and no,

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we know he made moves. Like
they traded for Kyrie, they made the

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Isaiah Thomas trade in the first place, you signed Gordon Hayward, you signed

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Al Horford like that. That is
a team that made moves. But it

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was like always the leaks about the
almost Oh they were this close on so

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and so that were coming out.
Oh, they offered ninety first round picks

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for Jesse's Winslow. So that is
where just sort of the jokes spawned from.

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We know that he I mean he
did the Paul Peterson k Gardnet trade

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and just really slam the Brooklyn Nets
his future into the ground. So we

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know they made moves. But this
is more about the nature of just like

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all those almost always leaking, I
would say, more so than any other

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team. I would like to know, speaking of that, what the second

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best offer was for Rudy Gobert.
I think the Timberwolves came just from the

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top rope and probably beat anyone far
and away. I'm just curious if anyone

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was ever close. I definitely want
to ask Kevin Durant if he actually loves

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Kyrie Irving this month, if he
regrets going to Brooklyn at all and tethering

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his livelihood to such an enigma.
I would go as far as saying a

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detriment to his team. I'd also
ask James Harden like, did you like

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what was that? Like? Did
you leave specifically because of Kyrie? I

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guess that's not really a mystery to
answer that. I'd probably ask, you

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know, Joe Ellenbad some really honest
questions about Ben Simmons, and then vice

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versa. Man if any player,
coach, GM executive agent wants to come

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on this podcast and just get super
honest, I'm willing to ask the very

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difficult questions. I just and I
was just having this conversation while I was

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making an appearance with the on the
Young Contest podcast. L Blue Wire pod

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covers the thunder Go check them out. I don't really pursue like the higher

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profile interviews, and I've leaned on
the solo format as we go daily,

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mostly because I know that we're going
to have a ship ton of look ahead

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content off season grades where it's gonna
be guests after guest after guest, and

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as you all know your regular listeners, I hate intruding upon people's existences.

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But also just like we've done,
we had a player on years ago,

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I don't want to single their name
out. Maybe longtime listeners remember we've had

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like we've had guests on from bigger
outlets. We've had on I don't even

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want to get into the details because
I feel like we've had on very few

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of them that you're gonna know who
it is. Those conversations are fun.

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I enjoy them. Some of the
best ship gets talking about off the record,

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And so that's why I don't pursue
like the player former executive type stuff

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because they're trying to be too diplomatic
or I don't want to say, afraid

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to say things. But that's just
the nature of how it is. Even

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on a lot of this player driven
content, like yeah, they get deep

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on like Draymond's podcast or jj red
podcasts, and so you can tune into

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those, but that's why I prefer
listening to like analysts talking to analysts or

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these you know hopefully you enjoyed this
solo podcast. One of the best solo

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podcasters in the business, by the
way, who I must have I haven't

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listened to and just a little bit, and I'm sad that the Detroit Pistons

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Versus Everybody podcast doesn't look like it's
up and running anymore. Las Jackson if

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you don't follow him on Twitter at
Last Chance, that's at L A z

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H A n C. He was
one of the best. He is one

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of the best solo podcast I've ever
listened to. Also, Keith Parrish,

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we know him from Fast Break Breakfast
and we've been on each other pose a

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couple of times. But he also
has the Grit and Grinds podcast, the

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Memphis Grizzlies podcast that he's a lot
of the time solo, and those two

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just do a fantastic job whenever they've
done solo episodes together, So shout out

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to them. I don't know if
that was anywhere near the answer that you

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were looking for, Strops, but
there was my tangent cosmic raccoon love that

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discord name says, I'd love to
hear a theory of the case for how

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the Timberwolves defense is going to work
with Cat at the four. He struggled

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on the perimeters of five and fast
fours will blow right by him. And

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since Gobert can't punish wings on either
side of the court, teams can still

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put the five on Cat. So
it isn't as if the mismatch on defense

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of Cat as a four will be
an advantage on offense. I know they'll

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staggle their minutes, but to start, and like we finished the game with

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Kat trying to be a four defensively
seems like it's going to be bit a

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big issue for them even in the
regular season, let alone the playoffs.

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First and foremost, this is a
question I think everyone is pondering a ton.

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Shout out to the best like content
I've consumed where they've discussed or written

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about it. Day More of the
Day Moore podcast did a great job and

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sort of a deep dive it was. It wasn't his initial reaction to the

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pot. I don't think I think
he did a follow up one. You

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should go check that out. Also. Nakayas Duncan wrote a great piece at

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Basketball news dot Com about the fit, the concerns, the highs, the

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lows, everything about Rudy Gobert crom
Anthony Towns. So I don't think a

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lot changes for the Wolves defensively right
away because they had Karl Anthony Towns,

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Like they didn't always use him as
a four necessarily on defense, but they

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had him coming up high and being
really super aggressive. Now you get to

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do that, and then just Rudy
Gobert is behind you, and they had

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like Jared Vanderbilt last season. That's
just you know, Rudy Gobert is a

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different animal there, and animals and
bed Term, they're a different beast there.

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So like, I just feel you
can give Towns more free reign.

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And Rudy has spent the past the
better past the half decade covering up for

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a ton of perimeter issues with the
Utah Jazz. And when you have guys

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like Dade McDaniels or Kyle Anderson plus
Anthy Edwards, who I don't really know

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how I feel about him necessarily as
a consistent on ball defender, but he

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can just be disruptive away from the
ball or when it comes to making plays

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forcing turnovers. That's an upgrade over
what he was working with in Utah.

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Collectively, maybe maybe you think Royce
O'Neil is better than Auntie Edwards overall defensively,

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that might actually be a debate this
past season. Shout out to Royce

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O'Neil, though he's been overcast for
way too long on the defensive end in

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Utah. Excited to see what he
does in Brooklyn or his next team,

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depending on what the Nets do.
Yeah, where was I? But you

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have Jane McDaniels and Kyle Anderson.
That's just two solid guys in front of

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you. So I'm not too worried
about the aspect of how do you go

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about it? For you know,
forty to forty four minutes of the game,

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there'll be plenty of staggering, like
Cos mccrack quin said, if you

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can let Towns be a little bit
more aggressive, also having like someone who

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is just the single best Rinen protector
maybe the NBA has ever seen. And

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we're actually gonna get into Rudy Gobert
a little bit later with another question to

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where I think that our question asker
whom I appreciate and love dearly obviously because

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I love everyone dearly, and Discord
might be underrating Rudy Gobert speed, Like

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if is there a chance that Carlytowns
could just learn and take cues from Rudy

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Gobert, where maybe he's even more
interesting when he's playing the five, or

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he can look Rudy Gobert. Maybe
he's not like the most explosive or quick

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laterally, but he is someone who
is able to get downhill if he's like

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kind of going east west and his
body's turned, or knows how to use

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lanks in space to his advantage when
he's defending outside the basket. I'm not

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saying that the Symberbowl was brought in
Rudy Gobert to you know, Tutor karn

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Anthy Towns. Karthy Towns is just
underwhelmed defensively a lot. I just think

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now you're sort of giving him more
of a license on defense without there being

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a potential drawback where I do think
and cosmic rat cosmic raccoon touches upon this.

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It becomes an issue is in crunch
time, are you making the tough

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decisions of, oh, we're only
going to close with Gobert and we'd rather

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have like a Kyle Anderson and Jada
McDaniels set up on the front line.

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No, because you just supermaxed Karl
Anthony Towns. Not that it kicks in,

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but like you have all this money
invested in Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns,

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they're going to play together down the
stretch of big games. And that's

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where against maybe just more athletic ball
handlers at the four, or if teams

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were able to create mismatches, they
still have to worry if they get inside

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about Rudy Gobert, but pulling up
over Towns or getting you know, just

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creating space, whether it's with step
backs or or scape dribble threes, maybe

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just coming up on popping from the
mid range, which we know that that's

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you know, part of the appeal
of having Rudy Gobert there is he's such

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as the term people will pull up
from mid range. But if you're getting

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by behind Towns, he's not the
type of player who's going to come up

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and dismantle that player that shot attempt
from behind. And so I do think

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there's a real concern there. I'm
just not worried about it overall. In

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the regular season, I feel like
the Wolves have a chance to be like

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a top three or four seed in
the West. I don't know if I

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would put them in like, and
I didn't when I power rank to my

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contenders in the top seven or eight
contenders in the league. Right now,

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I think it's a real issue in
crunch time, and I don't know how

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it's going to work, or if
it's going to work in crunch time or

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the postseason overall until we actually see
it in action. But I think that

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the Wolves have adequately covered up for
Towns. Now, whether it's an issue

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that you had to cover up for
someone that you just decided to supermax roomates

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to be seen. Karlathy Towns is
one of the most valuable offensive players in

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the NBA, especially at his position, but just just overall, and I

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think that his pairing ends up being
on both ends of the floor. Just

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looking at Gobert's rim running, I
think it's end screening. I think it's

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gonna end up being way more dominant
than people think, at least for the

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regular season. But there's gonna have
to be an improvement from Towns or is

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it just Rudy Gobert papers over so
much it doesn't matter. We're gonna see

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him, you know, And that
could be part of it too. It's

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just like having Jane McDaniels specifically on
the court, even at the edwards,

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like if Rudy Gobert needs to come
up higher once Towns gets beat, you

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have guys behind you who you can
trust to make those secondary stops of players

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who cut to the basket, or
even if the ball handler still continues to

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get through. So Rudy Gobert covers
so much space that I just don't think

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the concerns about the Town's fit matter
as much. For like I said,

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forty to forty five minutes of a
game. At this point, we'll have

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to see if teams were able to
pick them apart more meticulously over the course

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of the best of seven series.
Though next question comes from Muckle, and

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I'm trying to do video are one
question. I'm hoping for a Friday,

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just depending on the news cycle and
how much time I have on Colin Sexton

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specifically, maybe he signs with Cleveland
and that that's all. That's also kind

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of why I've been holding off.
I'm afraid to do anything that could get

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dated really quickly on one question anyway, But Muckle said I was actually going

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to ask a Colin Sexton question too, assuming the Calves resign him do you

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like him starting next to Darius Garland
or coming off the bench to the sixth

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man. I won't go two into
detail into the numbers and stuff just behind

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this, because I've already started mapping
out my little soliloquy in notes there,

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just in case you thought that this
was a random podcast with no forethought.

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You're mostly right, but I think
I like Colin Sexton's fit next to Darius

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Garland more than I like it for
Cara Stelvert, who's just so much better

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on ball. I do think when
you look at the setup now of the

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Cavs current roster with Ricky Rubio coming
back, a lot's going to depend on

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when he plays. I want Colin
Sexton coming off the bench just because that

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means he's probably gonna end up spending
more minutes alongside Ricky Rubio, and he's

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the cleaner fit there. You're also
Ricky Rubio is going to cover up more

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for him defensively than a Darius Garland
would. And I still have hope for

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Sexton as an on ball defender.
Justin Rowan from the Chase Down Pod and

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I talked about this in a podcast
I think we talked about just before it

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was after the lottery, So I
think that's the smartest move right now,

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where you could there might be room
for flexibilities if Cleveland no longer wants to

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go the three big so to speak
route. We know Alan and Mobley will

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be starting, we know Garland we'll
be starting, and then the other two

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slots are kind of up in the
air. If you're going with market In,

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Yeah, there's only that one available
if you're willing to start like Lavert

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and Sexton like just really kind of
drown the opposition and offense. I don't

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I would like to see that three
guard combination just a little bit more.

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And Karislav is big enough to where
he can get away with him at the

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three for a little bit. But
because he's so like good or I don't

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want to say good, but better
on the ball than off I don't want

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him spending a ton of time with
Ricky Rubio. Colin Sexton next to Rubio

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makes more sense, and so him
being the sixth or seventh man, maybe

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they're co sixth men type situation.
Once Rubio is healthy, that's the route

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I think you should go, But
again it's only I'm just assuming they're still

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gonna start marketing, in which case
you are choosing between Lavert or Darius Garland.

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Theoretically you could throw Isaaca Coro in
there. I just think you might

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as well lean into the like the
shifty defensive model on the bench at this

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point, like you have Rolnett,
though, you have Ricky Rubio, you

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have oh my god, you have
Isaaco Coros. Like throw those guys out

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there, and then you have Kevin
Love and Colin. Sexton's a sort of

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anchor, like your primary offense in
those situations. And do we see ak

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Bashi? Does he does he crack
the rotation? I'm really curious to see

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how he fits in with the team. So I think that's the route I

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would go. Muckle. It's again, I really need to know what the

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Cavs were planning on doing at the
three, if it's marketing or if it's

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a Coro, it's I'm bringing Sexton
off the bench if you're getting to a

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point where they're willing, if the
possibility of starting both Lavert and Sexton is

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on the table, I would at
least consider it. I still think i'd

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probably bring Sexton off the bench,
stagger him from Lavert and Garland a little

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bit more, what will be interesting
to see is how they close games three

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of the closing spots again also up
Mobili, Allen and Garland. We didn't

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see enough of Sexton last year,
know how he factors into the crunch time

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units. But could they go the
three guard route for crunch time or is

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that gonna is marketing gonna have a
line share of those minutes? Do you

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lean defense with Isaac okorro Is that
going to be a situational decision. I'm

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sure to some extent it will be, But that rotation question is fascinating.

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Even if again Sex is coming off
the bench, I'm gonna really be looking

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at and this is when he goes
back to Cleveland, by the way,

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I'm really going to be looking at
how they tell or they're closing units,

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and even just what their second unit
ends up looking like, whether it's being

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willing to change. I would also
argue what happens if the Vert gets traded.

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He's extension knowledgeable, and if you
bring Sexton back, maybe you're looking

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to trade Lavert where I don't know
if a team really wants him. Anyone

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that could use this a little a
little bit more on ball offensive juice,

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like do the Mavericks try and get
involved, and then are they compensating you

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to take on a Tim Hardaway Junior. I don't think they would give up

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Reggie Bullock for him, although Reggie
Block would be a perfect fit. That's

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just one team that brings to mind
anyway. So if a team that's looking

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for on ball offense or you just
using him as your primary salary fodder for

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something, if you really want to
go after I mean, like, what

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would a Carross Avert for Duncan Robinson
trade look like if the Heat willing to

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give you a pick in that scenario, because Robinson's a really good fit there

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just to get more off ball shooting
for Cleveland. So that would also change

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the context of my answer. If
there's no Lavert, let's just say,

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am I still bringing Colin Sexton off
the bench? Yes? I think because

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Marketing starting, I'd rather have a
Coro there. Defensively, was Marketing's defense

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sort of a flash in the pan
last year. They were able to manipulate

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his matchups a ton, so he
wasn't necessarily going up against these true wings.

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He was still moving a lot better
than I thought he would. And

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you'll always have Mobili and Jared Allen
to paper over a lot of stuff.

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But at that point I might still
lean bringing sex and off the bench because

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you want to surround Rubio with as
much shooting as possible when he's healthy.

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And then also just like if he's
not healthy, who's your other creator of

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Sexton's immediately starting and Lavert is gone? I guess potentially you could be getting

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someone then who's who's a creator?
But I would imagine that if you're moving

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Lavert, it's to get like sort
of a truer three, in which case

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you might want that three to start. And so I do think bringing Sexton

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off the bench is smartest, and
it does seem like based on their contract

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offer, that's how the Calves are
are viewing Sexton at this point. Glad

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ass in three years time, who
do you think is better RJ Barrett or

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Devin Vassell? While I think RJ
is the better player right now, if

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00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,599
the Nicks get Donovan Mitchell, RJ
becomes the fourth option behind Donovan, Brunson

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and Randall unless they move Randall.
Even so the option, he won't necessarily

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get all the leeway opportunities that he
should get to develop into the star.

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Vassel on the other hand, is
going to be the second could become the

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00:20:07,039 --> 00:20:10,440
first option on the Spurs and have
more than apple opportunity to develop and become

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a really good player. Also,
I'm higher on Vassell's defensive ability than r

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00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,400
J, even though its defense is
underrated. What are your thoughts, because

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I know you're high on both.
Yeah, this was like almost mean question,

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Glad talk about. I threw in
the Thanos meme saying me having to

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00:20:26,799 --> 00:20:30,960
choose between Devin Vassell and RJ Barrett
long term, the hardest choices require the

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00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:37,279
strongest of wills. So the issue
here, I would frame it this way.

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I think RJ Barrett is going to
be the better NBA player. I

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00:20:41,599 --> 00:20:48,079
think Devin Vassell could end up being
the I don't want to say it could

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00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:52,319
be more impactful, but the more
sought after or easier to fit in NBA

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00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,599
player. And so let's break this
down. The difference in their games right

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00:20:56,599 --> 00:21:00,880
now is self creation. The Spurs
have not given and Vassell a ton of

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that opportunity. It did feel like, and I keep saying I need to

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00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:04,640
look up the date on this and
then don't, but it did feel like

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from what I was watching that they
were throwing more ball screens Devin Vassell's way

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00:21:08,519 --> 00:21:11,319
so that he could dribble into his
his MIDI I don't know that he's going

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00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:17,279
to be anyone whoever like orchestrates these
slow, methodical picking rolls in the half

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00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,799
court. RJ. Barrett's already done
that. About fifty four percent of his

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00:21:21,839 --> 00:21:25,680
shots came off assists last year.
About eighty percent of a cell shots came

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00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,640
off assists last year. RJ Barrett's
rim volume, He's taking like forty plus

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00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,759
percent of his looks at the rim. Vaceell is only taking fewer than twenty

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00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:37,119
percent there. Now, Vassell is
the more efficient player, He's the better

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00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,640
cutter and finisher at the rim right
now. His opportunities are higher end too,

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00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,759
because again a lot of those are
coming off passes. He was the

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00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:45,559
more accurate three point shooter last year. Again, he probably got a higher

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00:21:45,599 --> 00:21:51,079
quality of looks, but RJ also
wasn't chucking these off the dribble threes necessarily

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00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,400
either, And so I do kind
of feel like their roles are gonna be

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00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,799
polar opposite long term. And I
know Glad mentions that Vassell could be this

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00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,000
bond option on the spurs. I
really do think that San Antonio is gonna

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probably have like a Premo Keldon Johnson
at the top of their pecking order,

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and maybe they might be willing to
give like Malchai Brandham a little bit more

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run on ball where they're always gonna
view for Sell to me to some extent

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00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,799
as complimentary if they're willing to plumb
the depths of his on ball skills where

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he is let's just say their second
option, whether you think that Premo's number

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one or Kelton Johnson's gonna wind up
being number one, And after they extended

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Kelton Johnson, I'm assuming that they're
going to try and groom him more.

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I need to see more from the
sell there before I'm prepared to say that

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00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,079
their self creation to his game.
With all that said, r J.

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00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:42,079
Barrett has been inefficient relative to the
league average, shot under sixty percent at

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the rim last year. The fact
that he got there frequently is a big

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00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:52,319
deal, but he needs to turn
those opportunities into efficient opportunities, which he's

354
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:55,680
just again he got better, but
it remains to be seen and what it's

355
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,599
also working against him. If we're
looking at these players within the confines of

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00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,640
their current team, Glad points out
Barrett's getting nudged down the pecking order once

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00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,359
again, just as he kind of
got nudged down the pecking orders start last

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00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,599
season with the players that the Knicks
head signed and must not forget, like

359
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,440
they might not trade Derrick Rose as
part of the Mitchell deal, and so

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00:23:12,519 --> 00:23:18,200
how attached as TIBs to running stuff
through quickly if he stays or Derek Rose

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if if he's still there. So
what I will say is that inconsistency of

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role type could be harmful to how
RJ. Barrett is developed. What I

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00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,319
do think helps him is he's a
pretty good set three point shooter already,

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00:23:33,319 --> 00:23:36,880
and I think he can be more
plug in play than a lot of people

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00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,519
are crediting him. And I think
that his defense is not just underrated but

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actively good. I like Devin Vassell
as a team defender more as someone who's

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going to disrupt. I think I
like RJ. Barrett a little bit more

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00:23:47,319 --> 00:23:49,839
to go up against the physical,
bigger wings if you need him to.

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Those are different kinds of defense,
and the way I frame it is I

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00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,160
just believe that Vassell You'll look at
him and you'll be able to say that

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00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,880
guy fits anyway, sort of like
a McHale Bridges not saying that they're the

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00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,640
exact same player. His skill set
is so shout out tywindish, don't forget

373
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to drink for this, his mcal
Bridges his skill set. Devin was sell

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00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,839
skill set is so scalable you put
him anywhere, and so that might make

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00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:18,440
him equally, if not more,
valued asset player around the league. But

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00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:22,279
with RJ, it's still to me
feels like there's a path to where he

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00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,039
is your number one or two option
on offense while also being maybe your second

378
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,119
or third best defender on the team, and that being an okay outcome.

379
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The two things that I think will
be the turning points is what does Devin

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Vassell do if he gets more on
ball scoring volume, And then what happens

381
00:24:37,839 --> 00:24:41,039
with RJ Barrett this season? Does
he get more efficient in whatever role he

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00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:44,160
has, and what does that role
look like? You're gonna at least give

383
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,799
him the license to run more bench
heavy units, which they've had some success

384
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,960
doing. A lot of that depends
on whether they trade for Mitchell, what

385
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,559
they do with Randall after that.
I do think while having Donovan Brunson and

386
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,799
Randall on the same roster would stunt
r ball development. I do believe he's

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00:25:00,839 --> 00:25:03,880
more pluggin play than people are crediting. So I lean RJ. Barrett,

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00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,400
apparently because I'm a fucking homer,
but kind of only slightly. There's just

389
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,799
a lot that remains to be seen
between these two. And I'm trying to

390
00:25:11,799 --> 00:25:15,880
think of like a good just like
mirror comparison to this, where it's like,

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00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:21,079
look like DeMar. I think you
could look at as like a DeMar

392
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:25,440
de Rosen type scenario, or even
a Jimmy Butler type scenario where it's,

393
00:25:26,279 --> 00:25:29,079
well, Jimmy Butler's like way too
good on defense and De Rosen's not good

394
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:30,960
enough on defense that compared to RJ. But De Rosen is harder to build

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00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,200
an offense or fit into an offense
in which he's not one of the two

396
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,799
vocal points, just because he's so
limited away from the ball. I don't

397
00:25:37,839 --> 00:25:42,400
think RJ's on that scale. But
you would rather have De Rosa as an

398
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:48,400
engine for the offense than say like
Michael Bridges for instance, would be a

399
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,839
good example and maybe even more than
a Middleton, which is looking at their

400
00:25:52,839 --> 00:25:55,720
difference in passing. Middleton's really good
on offense, that might not be and

401
00:25:55,799 --> 00:25:59,559
he's a better three point shooter,
so that could that could end up being

402
00:25:59,559 --> 00:26:02,319
the difference. I just don't know
right now that I'd be comfortable saying the

403
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:08,759
gap between RJ and his skill set
on offense is a comparative of a cell

404
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,160
is as large as that between de
Rosen and Bridges, who's a very efficient

405
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,720
player but also very complimentary, And
it might just come down to a matter

406
00:26:15,759 --> 00:26:19,279
of preference. I think we saw
this A lot of people were up in

407
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:25,119
arms about Seth part Now's player tears
at the Athletic and he mapped out his

408
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,839
criteria and he was talking about sort
of the Brandon Ingram versus Dorian Phinney Smith

409
00:26:29,079 --> 00:26:32,519
debate. Do I agree with it, No, But I understood where who

410
00:26:32,559 --> 00:26:34,440
was coming from, the sense that
if you're trying to win basketball games,

411
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:40,319
it's easier to fit Dorian Finney Smith
into any version of any team than it

412
00:26:40,319 --> 00:26:42,839
would be for Brandon Ingram, who
does need to have more on ball volume,

413
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,759
and on ball volume can be a
burden both for the player and the

414
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:52,400
team because it suggests these like prescribed
already allocated touches, and if the player

415
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,519
in question is not necessarily worth that
it really does complicate matters and there's still

416
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,279
I'm not saying bus potential with RJ, but there's like there are swing developments

417
00:27:00,319 --> 00:27:03,839
that are gonna sway his trajectory one
way or the other. And when you

418
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,240
kind of take in that, it
feels like his type of usage can be

419
00:27:08,279 --> 00:27:11,359
inconsistent. I really need to see
how the Knicks are going to deploy him

420
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,839
next season, which will also rest
on what they actually look like. That

421
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,359
was my long ass way of saying, I lean r J, but I'm

422
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:25,240
willing to definitely entertain the outcome that
it's Devin Vassell, and my initial framing

423
00:27:25,279 --> 00:27:26,759
just might be the best way for
me to do it. RJ is the

424
00:27:26,799 --> 00:27:33,000
better basketball player, and Devin Vassell
just fits and can make an impact in

425
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,039
more situations. Stupid Jerk asked what
is the right way to think about the

426
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,079
various events of the off season.
Seems like there's a consensus to take summer

427
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,440
league performances, training camp anecdotes,
and preseason with various sized grains of salt.

428
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,079
What do you look for that you
think has real predictive value of empty

429
00:27:48,079 --> 00:27:52,359
calories? That's an interesting question.
My first let's start with summer League.

430
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,519
I've learned to watch Summer League through
the lens of what does this tell me

431
00:27:57,519 --> 00:28:00,279
about a player skill set that I
didn't already know? And in a lot

432
00:28:00,279 --> 00:28:03,160
of cases it's everything because I didn't
know something in the first place. But

433
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,079
I lead a lot on is there
more cell creation there than we thought?

434
00:28:07,079 --> 00:28:11,440
Because not all of these guys are
going to have those types of on ball

435
00:28:11,519 --> 00:28:14,599
touches once they get to the to
the big clubs, to the regular season,

436
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,359
if they make the rosters, or
they're even some of the top prospects,

437
00:28:17,519 --> 00:28:19,119
and so you want to try and
project forward and see, oh,

438
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,640
there's gonna be more for Team X
to plumb from player why long term,

439
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,440
whether he's a rookie or let's use
Desmond Baine's case in twenty twenty one,

440
00:28:27,799 --> 00:28:32,200
where he really showed a lot more
on ball juice and they gave him that

441
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,839
license. He wasn't running things.
He still to play his complimentary role,

442
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,119
but you saw hints of it in
summer league, a more expansive, a

443
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:44,039
broader offensive skill set he busted out
during the regular season. And then I

444
00:28:44,079 --> 00:28:48,920
also think it works the other way
ken players who are known as ball dominant,

445
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,519
like how do they look moving away
from the ball, or if that's

446
00:28:51,519 --> 00:28:55,079
how their role projects to be in
the NBA. Let's just Keegan Murray as

447
00:28:55,119 --> 00:28:56,799
an example. Yeah, it would
have been really easy to give him a

448
00:28:56,799 --> 00:29:00,720
ton of from scratch touches with the
Kings in Summer Lea, but they still

449
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,359
had him kind of floating around and
trying to find his spaces and relocations,

450
00:29:03,599 --> 00:29:07,160
and he did really well doing that, And so knowing that's what he's supposed

451
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,839
to be strong with, I think
that matters. But then there's also Benedic

452
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:12,880
Mathren. I did not realize had
maybe some people did, had all this

453
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,759
on ball juice. He had some
really difficult jumpers for the Pacers. That

454
00:29:17,799 --> 00:29:21,079
shows me that for a team that's
rebuilding, they should probably give him more

455
00:29:21,079 --> 00:29:25,039
of a chance to work on ball. I tend to throw negative performances out

456
00:29:25,039 --> 00:29:29,319
the window unless they're like, you
know, is it year two, is

457
00:29:29,359 --> 00:29:32,559
it year three? We know the
Hawks kind of made a decision on Sharif

458
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,880
Cooper based off how much he struggled. I don't view I try to throw

459
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,119
efficiency and like a learning I try
to account for a major learning curve.

460
00:29:42,119 --> 00:29:45,319
If players are in the first two
years of their career, even the third

461
00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:51,400
if it's a vastly different type of
usage. And so my thinking is I'm

462
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:56,720
more inclined to lean toward reserved optimism
for the bright spots in Summer League than

463
00:29:56,759 --> 00:30:00,480
I am to read too deeply into
struggles or you know, go over the

464
00:30:00,519 --> 00:30:06,279
top when it comes to positivity.
I did. I went off the rails

465
00:30:06,319 --> 00:30:10,480
when I saw Desmond Baine last year. But like you know, those instances,

466
00:30:10,519 --> 00:30:12,319
I don't actually think that chet home
Grin is like Kevin Duran and Joan's

467
00:30:12,319 --> 00:30:15,960
attend to Coopo and Karl Anthony Towns
and Dur combined into one player. Like,

468
00:30:17,079 --> 00:30:19,079
But that's what Summer League taught us
at moments. So that's how I

469
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,319
view Summer League training camp anecdotes.
I just I don't take I don't describe

470
00:30:23,359 --> 00:30:27,200
any value too. I don't I
know NBA practices are hashtag built different.

471
00:30:29,319 --> 00:30:33,559
I don't care it's you can't simulate
game speed. I don't care like that

472
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:38,000
every player has somehow lost ten pounds
and is single digit body fat but actually

473
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,880
got stronger over the offseason. How
they gained twenty pounds of muscle while losing

474
00:30:44,279 --> 00:30:47,160
you know, five pounds overall from
their body weight in a span of like

475
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,240
ten to twelve weeks is not possible. Can you look at players and see

476
00:30:51,279 --> 00:30:53,279
if they look like they're in better
shape than they were last season? Sure,

477
00:30:53,319 --> 00:30:56,880
you can definitely take that away.
And then preseason I kind of view

478
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:02,480
it through the same lens as Summer
League, where except like I'm going to

479
00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:06,440
throw it out the window for veterans
are struggling in preseason, I'm just not

480
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,279
gonna care if their track record is
that they're just really good during the regular

481
00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:11,960
season. I think it's just another
extension for Can we look at the fringe

482
00:31:12,119 --> 00:31:18,039
rotation battles and see like who's winning
out there? And that's mostly gonna be

483
00:31:18,039 --> 00:31:21,000
done when you're looking probably at like
rookies and sophomores and third year players,

484
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,359
or you know, is it something
in Milwaukee where you're kind of wondering,

485
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,359
like, you know, who's gonna
get their final rotation spot? Or we

486
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,079
know that Joe Ingles is injured,
Chris Middleton's injured, did mar Jean bow

487
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,240
Champ play well enough like he did
in summer League to warrant some immediate minutes?

488
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,000
And then just position battles, like
how are the Magic going to structure?

489
00:31:38,039 --> 00:31:41,279
Their front court. That's less of
a pivotal question now that we know

490
00:31:41,319 --> 00:31:45,079
that Joan Is probably won't even be
ready to start the season. My god.

491
00:31:45,839 --> 00:31:51,799
So I if I had to rank
the meaningfulness of those three, I'm

492
00:31:51,839 --> 00:31:55,920
gonna put training camp, anecdotes,
practices, scrimmages, whatever dead last.

493
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,200
I'm gonna put preseason in second.
And I still view Summer League is just

494
00:31:59,559 --> 00:32:01,480
it seems like there's the most structure, the most level of competition there as

495
00:32:01,519 --> 00:32:06,200
well, like they have an MVP
trophy to give out and there's a Summer

496
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,319
League championship. So that's most tell
tale to me. And then at the

497
00:32:08,359 --> 00:32:13,319
top of everything, of course,
is offseason workout videos. Shout out n

498
00:32:13,319 --> 00:32:19,960
Simmons. Good question, though,
stupid jerk. Next question comes from JT

499
00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:22,640
Alexander, more of a broad question
for you, Dan, what thing annoys

500
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,519
you the most about watching the NBA
team slash players? And on the flip

501
00:32:25,559 --> 00:32:30,000
side, what's the best thing about
covering the whole league. I'll start with

502
00:32:30,039 --> 00:32:32,519
the best thing about covering the whole
league is it's very much easier to come

503
00:32:32,599 --> 00:32:37,359
up with content because I'm able to
zoom out and man. During the COVID

504
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:42,240
shutdown, I don't know how localized
podcasts we're able to get through. Like

505
00:32:42,319 --> 00:32:46,720
just hats off to Nick Film School
and the Timeline podcast and Dishes and Dimes

506
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:51,960
who they delve more into league wide
coverage. The Young Contested the Euro Step,

507
00:32:52,039 --> 00:32:55,240
like all the great team podcasts to
have to go in day in and

508
00:32:55,319 --> 00:32:58,920
day out when there's not always stuff
to talk about. Yeah, during the

509
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,279
season there's game previews and there's game
reactions, and then like to start the

510
00:33:02,279 --> 00:33:07,119
off season, draft prep and rumors
and free agency. But like once you

511
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,000
get to on a normal timeline,
it's been all kinds of fucked up over

512
00:33:09,039 --> 00:33:13,039
the past couple of years. Once
you get to like the middle of July

513
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:16,359
summer league has settled down, and
you're you know, being held hostage by

514
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:21,759
the Kevin Durant Dono Mitchell trade rumors. That's just toss to cope with content.

515
00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:24,200
I'm even struggling now. I tend
to cater. I like to cater

516
00:33:24,319 --> 00:33:28,279
to the audience, which why I
love mail bags. I guess it could

517
00:33:28,279 --> 00:33:30,599
be a sign of laziness, but
I want people to want to come back

518
00:33:30,599 --> 00:33:36,920
and listen and if new questions,
if new potentially new listeners ask a question

519
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:38,400
on Twitter or YouTube, and it
makes them more likely to come back.

520
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,640
I just I enjoy that and I
think it, you know, it makes

521
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,039
me think about things I wouldn't necessarily
talk about on my own. I'm certainly

522
00:33:45,079 --> 00:33:47,759
not gonna ask myself what's the best
thing about covering the league? And I

523
00:33:47,799 --> 00:33:52,599
also, from my perspective, covering
the entire MBA like it does allow me

524
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:58,039
to sort of roll with the urgency. And I do get sort of that

525
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,240
adrenaline rush and endorphin rush when I'm
under a tight deadline where I have to

526
00:34:02,279 --> 00:34:06,319
react to like this big game,
this big news rumor, or I'm writing

527
00:34:06,319 --> 00:34:09,079
about, you know, maybe a
team that's not getting enough shine or a

528
00:34:09,079 --> 00:34:13,320
team that's in strife and getting too
much shine. And I love being able

529
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,360
to zoom out and write and talk
about every team, focus on singular ones

530
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,599
when I can, and then it's
always just fresh for me. When I'm

531
00:34:20,599 --> 00:34:24,159
covering the whole league. The sacrifice
I am making and not like high is

532
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:30,159
mighty sacrifice. The concession I personally
am making is I can't distill the game

533
00:34:30,519 --> 00:34:35,199
in real time or even watching back
inslow motion like a Kitlyn Cooper, like

534
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:39,960
a mo Tequil, like an akaias
Duncan like a Zach Low, and what

535
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,559
they are able to do on a
national scale is so incredible because they're able

536
00:34:45,599 --> 00:34:50,159
to recognize all these different pet plays
and blown assignments again in real time.

537
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,480
And I have to go back,
I have to do my own reading and

538
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,920
look up stuff. And I'm I'm
so I'm conceding that to begin with,

539
00:34:57,079 --> 00:34:59,800
I'd probably be better at it if
I'm looking at you know, if I

540
00:35:00,079 --> 00:35:05,320
is covering just the the Cleveland Cavaliers, for example, I probably better.

541
00:35:05,639 --> 00:35:10,400
But I'm now also committing to I'm
not going to know as much about the

542
00:35:10,519 --> 00:35:15,559
Orlando Magic as people that cover that
team intimately. And I do sometimes lament

543
00:35:15,639 --> 00:35:17,920
that when you hear these podcasts and
they're able to talk very in depth about

544
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,719
the substitution patterns, and for me
to come up with that research, I'm

545
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,519
either citing someone who said it or
I have to like dig into the weeds

546
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:30,480
to find it. And and I
think it takes a commitment to watching games

547
00:35:30,519 --> 00:35:32,760
when they're not happening. And yes, there are people that watch the same

548
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:36,599
game over and over. That's not
something I'm doing if I'm working on a

549
00:35:36,599 --> 00:35:39,559
piece in particular, Like yeah,
possession by possession breakdowns are super valuable after

550
00:35:39,559 --> 00:35:44,639
the fact. I'm also look the
sausages made the way the sausage just made.

551
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,960
My job at Bleach Report is extremely
collaborative. They pitch me, I

552
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,559
pitched them. I able. I
have carte blanche essentially over what I write.

553
00:35:52,639 --> 00:35:55,519
The headlines are not always my choice. But if I try to change

554
00:35:55,559 --> 00:36:00,360
something or don't want to write something
like I've never people think we're forced something,

555
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:05,039
that we're purposely being inflammatory. That's
not what I'm doing. But to

556
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,639
also go about it that way,
I recognize that there's also going to be

557
00:36:08,679 --> 00:36:15,440
like sort of a a disdain there
among fans that I think are reasonably distrustful

558
00:36:15,559 --> 00:36:20,320
of the national media or writers or
podcasters. And I think that's fair one

559
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,920
because localized coverage is so good,
and there is some just like lowbrow coverage,

560
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,519
or detrimental coverage, or just very
not even surface level. They're not

561
00:36:27,559 --> 00:36:30,639
even scratching the surface with their now
sis. They're relying on tropes that are

562
00:36:30,639 --> 00:36:34,800
outdated, trends that are outdated,
or just the same old thing over and

563
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,719
over and over again. I don't
ever want to be that person. I

564
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:43,599
try to be the least insufferable national
writer and podcast that I can be.

565
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:46,920
And I like that challenge. I
like challenging myself. I hate my sleep

566
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:51,719
schedule. I hate that I work
so much. I hate that I just

567
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,599
really I plan to have free time
and then I don't. But I also

568
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,840
like, I need to have that
drive, that push to achieved for something,

569
00:37:00,199 --> 00:37:06,280
and I like, I think that
covering the entire league challenges me on

570
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:12,639
this broader scale to where I can
I can sustain that drive over a long

571
00:37:12,679 --> 00:37:15,599
period of time. And I've been
covering this league now for for over a

572
00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:17,719
decade at large, and I've had
adapt away, I've covered, I've I've

573
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,760
learned a lot, and I really
do appreciate that. Like I said,

574
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,079
though, there is a part of
me that's like one which is I was

575
00:37:23,119 --> 00:37:28,280
either just as smart and talented as
a Caitlyn Cooper just as like an example

576
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,960
there or Zach Low, Like you
know, when you're looking for the combination

577
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:36,960
of writing skills, film analysis,
the ability to actually talk about perspective,

578
00:37:37,039 --> 00:37:40,719
perspective fits or transactions. In zach
Low's case, they're able to He's able

579
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:45,079
to report at points and then he's
gonna dig deep into the salary cap with

580
00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:50,239
Kaitlyn Cooper can like tell you like
really more specific plays about teams that she's

581
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,480
not even technically covering. She does
cover the entire league, so and she

582
00:37:53,519 --> 00:37:57,599
can like she can do that like
on a whim. And then she what

583
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,000
I really think that she's great at
And this is going off the raility here

584
00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:06,280
again projecting team fits in this technical
way, and yet it's so accessible because

585
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:07,880
even I can understand it. Maybe
I have to go back and reread it

586
00:38:08,039 --> 00:38:12,039
because it's too high level for me
at points, but it's so accessible.

587
00:38:12,039 --> 00:38:15,719
The way that she's able to write
without it coming off is drab's and she's

588
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,199
actually just one of the best writers
in the business. That's like I appreciate

589
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,320
it, just like I appreciate all
the indepthness of the localized coverage. There's

590
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:24,840
a level of MV there that also
contributes to my drive though, is that

591
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:30,079
as younger people are coming into this
business who I don't I'm not saying I

592
00:38:30,199 --> 00:38:35,639
view them as how don't I put
this than I I'm trying to make the

593
00:38:35,639 --> 00:38:37,840
most humble way to put this is
I get very warm and fuzzy inside when

594
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:42,519
people ask me for advice, But
I'm not saying I consider myself on the

595
00:38:42,559 --> 00:38:45,280
same level of some of the younger
people who are way smarter when it comes

596
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,800
to covering the exidos in the game. But seeing a younger generation coming in

597
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,119
invest so much time, that's gonna
push me to continue to go harder and

598
00:38:52,159 --> 00:38:54,360
harder and either be more creative or
at least, like I said, be

599
00:38:54,400 --> 00:39:00,400
a little bit more diligent. So
that's what I love about covering the league

600
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,440
is that I can bemoan the adaptive
nature sometime. And there's definitely times where

601
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,719
I feel like I do get an
unfair rap because I'm not covering a single

602
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,199
team, and it's like I'm willing
to have a discourse with anyone. I

603
00:39:10,199 --> 00:39:14,559
will be hostile back to you on
Twitter if you're hostile to me, either

604
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:20,920
out of like just fucking nowhere where
because I comment on Leon Rose you're telling

605
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:22,719
me on pro domestic violence, Yea, I will go off. Normally,

606
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,440
I'll try and give even people who
are rude, like one or two responses

607
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,440
of hey, like, I'm not
inferring anything about you as a human based

608
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,039
off this interaction. Why are you
doing that for me? But it does

609
00:39:32,079 --> 00:39:35,599
I'm not gonna lie it grades on
me, And so I'm not saying it's

610
00:39:35,599 --> 00:39:38,159
easier for people who cover a single
team. I know for a fact that

611
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,440
people who are covering a singular team, they get too much shit from fans

612
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,519
who only want positive coverage or covers
that aligns with their own views of the

613
00:39:45,559 --> 00:39:51,960
team. And if you say anything
dissenting or that diverges from the prevailing prevailing

614
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,880
thought, yeah, you're just absolutely
crucified for it. So like there's an

615
00:39:55,880 --> 00:40:00,360
eye look white male here, no
struggle here in the industr. There are

616
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,960
people that have it way worse than
I do. But sometimes what I love

617
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,920
about the league is also what I
hate about it is it's not the constant

618
00:40:07,159 --> 00:40:13,400
adaptation. But when you are a
national writer and you're not the top one

619
00:40:13,599 --> 00:40:16,639
one percentile, and at least you're
not trying to be disingenuous about it,

620
00:40:16,679 --> 00:40:22,440
Like I'm not purposely saying something wrong
or inflammatory. But if you're not in

621
00:40:22,519 --> 00:40:24,400
that click, or if you're not
a certain person, if it's a Zach

622
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,920
Low or Nakais Duncan, they're gonna
assume you're wrong or that you have these

623
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,119
ill intentions, Which is why I
said some of the biggest honors I get

624
00:40:31,639 --> 00:40:36,639
is people ask me to come on
their localized podcasts they're covering a singular team,

625
00:40:36,679 --> 00:40:38,480
because in my view, it's like, hey, you don't suck so

626
00:40:38,559 --> 00:40:43,159
much that they don't want you to
come on this podcast. If I actually

627
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:50,280
had an annoying thing about annoys me
most about watching NBA games is nationally,

628
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,159
I feel like we can miss the
plot too much, where all of a

629
00:40:52,159 --> 00:40:55,760
sudden, these broadcasts are talking about
not only outdated information, but things that

630
00:40:55,760 --> 00:41:00,880
aren't even related to the game,
other teams, players up coming for agency.

631
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,639
I get it if it turns into
a barn burner, but it would

632
00:41:02,639 --> 00:41:05,960
be cool, and there are a
lot of nastal broadcasts that do it right.

633
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:10,639
It'd be cool to see more focus
on the game that's happening in front

634
00:41:10,679 --> 00:41:14,360
of you, and if you're gonna
go big picture implications, maybe focus on

635
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:21,280
the characters that are actually on the
court or that you're watching. And I

636
00:41:21,679 --> 00:41:28,360
think I've started to The final thing
that annoys me is I don't like the

637
00:41:28,559 --> 00:41:31,920
absolutism when it sometimes comes to covering
the league, where people believe that there's

638
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,559
a right way or a wrong way
to do it, and that their way

639
00:41:36,079 --> 00:41:37,719
is more virtuous than others. And
they don't come right out and say it,

640
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:43,480
but they sort of hint at it
because they have to either over celebrate

641
00:41:43,559 --> 00:41:49,239
everything or because I'm not on this
podcast, like talking about the substitution pattern

642
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,840
of the you know, the Sacramento
Kings on the second night of a back

643
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:59,760
to back in Thursday in January,
when Daron Fox is already seven of seventeen

644
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,039
from the floor or whatever it is, or I'm not on here. I

645
00:42:02,079 --> 00:42:05,039
can't. I just I can't.
I won't even try to do it.

646
00:42:05,039 --> 00:42:07,760
I'll read up on it when you
guys have questions. I'm not gonna sit

647
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,639
here and try to like break down
horns or like floppy action. Do you

648
00:42:10,639 --> 00:42:15,079
know how long it took me to
be able to recognize like SCRAMs switches in

649
00:42:15,119 --> 00:42:17,480
real time? And so like you
don't like you don't want that ship for

650
00:42:17,559 --> 00:42:22,920
me, and I have sometimes felt
the valued because I can't speak that way

651
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,079
or don't even want to. If
I invested the time, I do think

652
00:42:25,119 --> 00:42:30,079
that I'm confident I could go that
route. But I like incorporating all different

653
00:42:30,079 --> 00:42:34,840
elements of the league, the games, the extracurricular stuff, the rumors,

654
00:42:35,079 --> 00:42:38,960
the transactions including trades and free agency, the salary cap nusha of it all,

655
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:42,639
and then yeah, I'm going to
dig into like x's and nose or

656
00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:45,760
at least like the basis of skill
sets and how teams are playing. I

657
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,880
love it all, and so that's
another concession. It's not a sacrifice in

658
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,119
the sense like I am holier than
now I've made this sacrifice. It's it's

659
00:42:53,119 --> 00:42:55,840
one that you just concede, like
I'm not going to be able to be

660
00:42:57,519 --> 00:43:00,840
an expert in anything, and so
now you're just rambling on and on about

661
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:06,000
nothing. So I'm just not a
fan of thinking that there's only one way

662
00:43:06,039 --> 00:43:07,320
to cover the game, or that
there's even right or wrong way. I

663
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,119
know there is such a thing as
detrimental coverage, and I went on a

664
00:43:10,199 --> 00:43:15,679
rant last week, i think,
even on the Uncontested podcast again about how

665
00:43:15,679 --> 00:43:20,880
we sometimes or too often treat smaller
markets as these prospective farm systems for more

666
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,320
glamor markets or flagship teams like that
stuff's detrimental because the whole idea of this

667
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,519
is every organization should think that if
they build their team the right way or

668
00:43:28,559 --> 00:43:31,039
aggressive enough, get the right players, that they can win a championship.

669
00:43:31,039 --> 00:43:35,519
If we're out here talking about Shane
Kilojos, Alexander leaving Okay see or the

670
00:43:35,599 --> 00:43:38,760
day that ze On decides to leave
New Orleans, or what's just been happening

671
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:43,119
with Dovid Mitchell that it's other teams
but including the Knicks, like they've been

672
00:43:43,119 --> 00:43:45,679
slobbering over him since he basically came
into the MBA because of his New York

673
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:52,159
roots. It's like disingenuous and it
hurts the product, or the at least

674
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:53,960
the coverage of the product, in
the sense that I don't think it helps

675
00:43:54,039 --> 00:43:59,119
educate people about how the game actually
works. And then two, it creates

676
00:43:59,159 --> 00:44:05,519
this I don't know if it's even
a false like it's not false, but

677
00:44:05,559 --> 00:44:08,599
it creates like this idea that there
are only a handful of teams that can

678
00:44:08,639 --> 00:44:13,599
win championships, and you can't have
a league like that, especially one with

679
00:44:13,639 --> 00:44:16,320
the NBA where there's so much talent
that there's plenty of room for parody.

680
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:19,599
And right now it feels like we're
in a great spot when you look at

681
00:44:19,599 --> 00:44:22,719
the teams and how they stack up
in either conference, where I went through

682
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,119
seven or eight teams on the last
podcast that I thought I could viably win

683
00:44:27,159 --> 00:44:31,320
a title next year. I didn't. I forgot to include the heat on

684
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,599
it. They should have been an
honorable mention right off the bat. But

685
00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:37,360
like you could also throw if you
want to throw the Raptors in there,

686
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:39,480
I'll listen to the argument. You
want to throw the Timberwolves in there,

687
00:44:39,599 --> 00:44:44,400
or the Lakers in there, I'll
listen to the argument. So there is

688
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,639
such a thing as detrimental coverage,
but people enjoying the game through different lenses

689
00:44:47,639 --> 00:44:53,239
and in different ways and covering it
in different ways that that isn't anything that's

690
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:57,760
bad, and we need to stop
the extreme mistakes of like this is the

691
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,159
right way to cover a league,
or shame people who don't necessarily agree with

692
00:45:01,199 --> 00:45:04,480
Again, if they have a detrimental
opinion, and they're telling you, they're

693
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,840
being rude, they're telling you to
fuck off, they're using misogynistic and racist

694
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:09,760
language, or they're accusing you of
being pro domestic violence because you think the

695
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:15,320
nick should have media at what would
normally be media events. Yeah, totally,

696
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:20,280
Like that's detrimental criticism. But there's
a bunch of different ways to enjoy

697
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,280
the league. Enjoy it how you
want, don't feel embarrassed or pressure to

698
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,719
enjoy it in the same way.
You don't need to gaslight anyone, don't

699
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:30,599
need to be faux virtuous about it. That's where I'm at. Look Oldish

700
00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:35,519
man out here yelling at clouds,
I'm indoors. Demos Quol asked what's the

701
00:45:35,559 --> 00:45:37,559
plan for Atlanta with de Jante Murray
and Trey and offense? The de Gante

702
00:45:37,639 --> 00:45:42,440
removed significant usage from Trey. Maybe
Trey play some more off the ball because

703
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:47,599
from two he's the only capable of
doing that, and Demons caused another question

704
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:51,719
about KD. So, yeah,
this is gonna be fascinating because we've been

705
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:53,199
talking about this idea, like,
imagine if you got Trey Young off the

706
00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:58,880
ball, moving around like Steph Curry
would Trey Young cans can't screen like Steph

707
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:00,519
Curry ken, And so there's that. We've also I'm not going to rule

708
00:46:00,559 --> 00:46:06,360
out him being effective off the ball, but we can't just assume that he

709
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,400
will be, mostly because we've just
never really seen it. And so these

710
00:46:09,519 --> 00:46:14,320
numbers are they're they're good at sound
accurate when you hear them, but they're

711
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:19,840
actually kind of wild. Over eighty
three percent of Trey Young's baskets when unassisted

712
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,280
last season. That was the fourth
largest share among ninety six players who averaged

713
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:29,199
thirty or more minutes per game.
He also ranked fourth under the same criteria

714
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,159
in twenty twenty one, sixth in
that criteria in twenty nineteen, twenty and

715
00:46:34,199 --> 00:46:38,440
twenty, and ninth in twenty eighteen
twenty nineteen. Assuming that Trey will see

716
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:44,719
an agency over a chunk of possessions
and has zero issue inciting mayhem away from

717
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:49,519
the ball, are we sure with
absolute certainty Murray is the creator who can

718
00:46:49,519 --> 00:46:52,559
take advantage of it. I don't
know. He's improved his mid range game,

719
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:57,920
he's improved as a passer. I've
never gotten this absolutist floor general feel

720
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:00,800
from him. Having a different type
personnel around him. Sure that will help

721
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:05,079
playing Murray and Capella at the same
time, though, Like things can get

722
00:47:05,079 --> 00:47:07,599
a little squishy in the half court
depending on who you're You have Trey,

723
00:47:07,639 --> 00:47:10,559
and then is Collins on the court, is Bogdomandanovitch on the floor? Is

724
00:47:10,599 --> 00:47:14,440
it DeAndre Hunter? Like they're sort
of a chance. Yeah, if it's

725
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,239
Collins, Young and Bogdanovitch, those
are three above average shooters around those two.

726
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:22,079
If it's DeAndre Hunter at this point, like maybe he's an above average

727
00:47:22,079 --> 00:47:25,960
shooter. So I don't know if
he's the type of ball handler to do

728
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,000
that for Young, but to Demo's
close questions, you absolutely need to try

729
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:35,000
it if if you want this to
work, because I do think Murray can

730
00:47:35,039 --> 00:47:37,079
do a little bit more off the
ball. It wouldn't shock me if his

731
00:47:37,159 --> 00:47:40,639
stand still three point percentage ticks up
a notch or eight in Atlanta, and

732
00:47:40,679 --> 00:47:44,000
you could get him moving off the
ball a little bit as well, not

733
00:47:44,079 --> 00:47:46,000
to come around screens and hit jumpers. We'll get going towards the basket,

734
00:47:46,039 --> 00:47:51,599
because he could finish there pretty well. But again, that's a lot harder

735
00:47:51,639 --> 00:47:52,880
to do if Capella is on the
court at the same time as him.

736
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,360
And then where's John depends on where
John Collins is standing. He was already

737
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,599
uncomfortable, not uncomfortable, but he
was already had a lot of corner by

738
00:47:59,679 --> 00:48:01,840
stand or his duty and look to
his credit, he did well in that

739
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,599
role. But those are going to
be questions they have to answer. I

740
00:48:05,599 --> 00:48:09,039
think you're probably just more comfortable staggering
them now. And so where the Hawks

741
00:48:09,039 --> 00:48:13,280
started to figure out some of the
non Trey Young minutes last year, like

742
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,679
you just have a different way of
going about it now, the idea of

743
00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:21,039
Bogdanovich and Dejan Day Murray running these
units without Trey Young. Maybe if John

744
00:48:21,039 --> 00:48:22,800
Collins is some of those units,
like maybe you just don't fall off a

745
00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:27,880
beat at all, or you're really
good defensively, if Onika Kung who is

746
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,599
going to play a prominent role.
So I think it opens there are a

747
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:34,880
higher range of outcomes for the Hawks
now and there's more ways for them to

748
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,719
reach those range of outcomes than there
were before. And I think the offense

749
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,960
will still be really good, but
there's a chance, there's not a chance.

750
00:48:42,039 --> 00:48:45,039
I do believe one of these players
in Murray or Trey is going to

751
00:48:45,159 --> 00:48:49,199
have to I don't want to say
be appreciably different and how they go about

752
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:52,719
their business, but there's going to
be a noticeable tweak in their usage when

753
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:55,360
they're on the court together. And
I think ultimately the thing that's going to

754
00:48:55,400 --> 00:49:00,599
be easier to explore and just probably
have a hier end impact is can Tray

755
00:49:00,679 --> 00:49:05,440
play a little bit more off the
ball just to throw some wrinkles into the

756
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,280
offense, and also because you know
he can in theory do things like fly

757
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:13,199
around screens and hit those off balance
threes or quick fire threes that you're not

758
00:49:13,199 --> 00:49:15,920
going to get from de Jontay Murray. Demos Cool also asked if the Celtics

759
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:20,079
don't succeed in trading for KD,
does that mean they have broken their relationship

760
00:49:20,119 --> 00:49:22,519
with Jalen Brown in the process.
Should they go for Donovan Mitchell as a

761
00:49:22,559 --> 00:49:27,320
second option. I did respond to
him that he that he chose chaos and

762
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,559
I respect it. The Jem Brown
stuff, Yeah, I think I don't

763
00:49:30,559 --> 00:49:32,599
know if you've burned a bridge.
This is a business and players understand how

764
00:49:32,599 --> 00:49:37,079
it works, especially someone as smart
as Jalen Brown. At the same time,

765
00:49:38,079 --> 00:49:40,960
if depending on how aggressive you actually
are and going about this, you

766
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:46,679
don't stand and just sort of exclude
him or rankle him if you start throwing

767
00:49:46,679 --> 00:49:51,000
Marcus Smart's name in there, or
Robert Williams, the third who I haven't

768
00:49:51,039 --> 00:49:53,280
heard mentioned as part of a trade
package just yet. Yeah, things get

769
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:57,039
iffy if then you're expecting to run
it back. I do think it helps

770
00:49:57,039 --> 00:50:00,360
that Jason Tayte already came out and
said I'm happy with our team, and

771
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:05,559
in the end, like maybe it's
different because Brad Stevens was coaching Brown at

772
00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:08,280
not too long ago, and at
one point for most of Jalen's career,

773
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:14,400
before all of Jaln's career, excuse
me before this season. But you're there

774
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:16,440
for the players and the coaches mostly, and unless you know that there are

775
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:21,519
players who were begging for you to
leave allah like Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert

776
00:50:21,519 --> 00:50:25,159
having a falling out there, James
Harden, Kyrie irving there, I think

777
00:50:25,159 --> 00:50:28,760
you can overcome it a little bit
more. Yes, it gets interesting when

778
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,159
we're talking about contract talks. We
know he's not going to extend because one

779
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:35,960
hundred and twenty percent raise off his
salary doesn't get him anywhere near or the

780
00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:37,880
max that he could have when he
when he hits the open market twenty twenty

781
00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:40,360
four. I think it makes it
more likely that he would leave if you

782
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:45,320
don't trade him now, depending on
how far talks got, and they happened

783
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:46,559
weeks ago, if it was just
a preliminary call, and maybe it was

784
00:50:46,559 --> 00:50:51,559
the nets who asked about it,
have you communicated that the Jayon Brown him

785
00:50:51,599 --> 00:50:54,400
waking up to the news and tweeting
it suggest that he wasn't happy about it.

786
00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:59,599
But I do think players understand and
ultimately, yeah, they want to

787
00:50:59,639 --> 00:51:01,800
be. It's about location, it's
about being happy, it's about maximizing your

788
00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:06,280
role, it's about your family.
But I would say probably at the bottom

789
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,199
of the list. No, you
don't want to play for this shitty organization,

790
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:13,159
but like you're there for your teammates
more than you are the front office,

791
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:15,199
I guess, is my point.
If the Celtics are still going to

792
00:51:15,199 --> 00:51:17,320
go ahead and maxim when he hits
free agency, they're fine. Should the

793
00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:21,360
Celtics go for Donovan Mitchell is a
different type question. They do need a

794
00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:24,119
shot creator on that level. But
I could also argue, like, does

795
00:51:24,159 --> 00:51:28,239
he even he's an upgrade as a
passer over Jalon Brown, that's who you

796
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:30,599
still have to give up as part
of this deal, especially with the way

797
00:51:30,599 --> 00:51:36,280
your pick structure is there. I
probably wouldn't do it. I just feel

798
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:39,719
like Jalen Brown's game has been described
as robotic and I think by Zach Lowe,

799
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,440
and I guess I would agree offensively
anyway. But Donovan Mitchell, he's

800
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:49,280
really good off the balls. You
could play him with Tatum rather easily.

801
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:52,679
Man, that's such an instring question. I wouldn't give up Jalen Brown for

802
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:57,280
him, though. I just feel
like the Celtics have kind of built their

803
00:51:57,519 --> 00:52:01,079
roster on players who, if they're
not higher end on offense, they're complimentary

804
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:06,880
and then just like defensive disruptors,
that does mean that you can sprinkle in

805
00:52:07,039 --> 00:52:09,840
something like Donovan Mitchell, who has
not had a ton of defensive highlights over

806
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:14,840
the past two or three years.
But it also kind of runs contrary to

807
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:17,440
how you've even developed your team,
and like, do you all of a

808
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:23,000
sudden have to reshape your roster a
little bit because you have Smart and Malcolm

809
00:52:23,039 --> 00:52:28,920
Brogden and Derek White at this point
or one of them also going out and

810
00:52:29,079 --> 00:52:30,599
Donovan Mitchell deal. And this is
me saying, I don't think you get

811
00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:36,000
Donovan Mitchell unless you're giving up Joleen
Brown, and I just wouldn't do it,

812
00:52:36,159 --> 00:52:38,880
especially because you know, Kevin Durant
wants out of Brooklyn right now,

813
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:43,000
has four years left on his deal. Donovan Mitchell's at the point where would

814
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,079
he angle for a trade in a
year because he still wants to go to

815
00:52:45,199 --> 00:52:49,239
New York. That's an interesting that's
an interesting fit though. And if you

816
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:52,760
believe, if you're the Celtics and
you believe Jalon Brown's gone in two years.

817
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:55,559
Getting Donovan Mitchell with three years left
on his deal could absolutely make some

818
00:52:55,639 --> 00:52:59,840
sense. Is it a straight up
trade there? Though? I think in

819
00:53:00,039 --> 00:53:02,639
theory come playoff time, Dono Mitgel's
offense is way more valuable. But what

820
00:53:02,719 --> 00:53:08,480
Jalon Brown can give you as a
defender that's super valuable as well. I

821
00:53:08,519 --> 00:53:12,880
guess because you have Smart and White
and even brogged In to some extent,

822
00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:15,400
you're more comfortable doing it. But
then you also all of a sudden get

823
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:22,199
like small on the wings because you
have Grant Williams and Horford Robin Williams the

824
00:53:22,239 --> 00:53:27,119
third those are all just very four
or five players. I guess you can

825
00:53:27,159 --> 00:53:30,639
consider brogged in and White and Smart
like you get small forward facts emilies out

826
00:53:30,679 --> 00:53:35,519
of there, but like Daniel Gallinari's
not a wing anymore. You've assembled your

827
00:53:35,559 --> 00:53:37,239
team around just these two primary wings. So I think all of a sudden

828
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:40,880
you would need to fill a true
wing role because you have Smart can be

829
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:46,119
positionless on defense, doesn't really have
a wings offensive game deal for Derek White

830
00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:52,360
and definitely Malcolm Brogden, So I
don't think I would if I'm Boston.

831
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:55,880
I think the appeal of Kevin Durant
is that He is another wing like,

832
00:53:55,960 --> 00:54:01,199
combo forward type player just on absolute
Nitris and one of the ten to fifteen

833
00:54:01,199 --> 00:54:07,599
greatest players of all time. Our
next question, oh, also came from

834
00:54:07,639 --> 00:54:09,960
this is topical. Probably should have
put it on the top of this podcast.

835
00:54:10,199 --> 00:54:14,440
There's no Glad says, there's no
way Golden State gives Draymond a MAX.

836
00:54:14,559 --> 00:54:16,599
Right. There's also no way another
team trades for him or gives him

837
00:54:16,639 --> 00:54:20,519
the MAX in free agency. Love
Draymond, but that value just ain't there.

838
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:23,119
I can't imagine Draymond on another team. Yeah, I can't imagine.

839
00:54:23,159 --> 00:54:28,400
That was a great piece from Anthony
Slater and Marcus Thompson at The Athletic published

840
00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:32,119
on Wednesday, talking about the four
extension eligible players in Jordan Pool, Andrew

841
00:54:32,119 --> 00:54:36,960
Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Klay
Thompson. I can't picture Klay, dray

842
00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:39,639
or Steph in another uniform. But
if I had to pick one, I

843
00:54:39,679 --> 00:54:44,320
think it would be Draymond because he's
been very open about wanting to get paid

844
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:46,679
in the past, and good for
him. Do I think that he gets

845
00:54:46,679 --> 00:54:52,719
a MAX. No, Ultimately,
I don't think he gets a max MAX.

846
00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:55,000
And if he signs an extension this
summer, He's definitely not They're not

847
00:54:55,000 --> 00:55:00,320
giving him the max. That being
said, we need like the conver station

848
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:01,599
for him. Seems like it might
have veered too far from reality. He

849
00:55:01,639 --> 00:55:05,480
had some rough moments in the playoffs, some rough moments in the finals,

850
00:55:05,559 --> 00:55:09,079
especially on offense, that did not
define his entire series. His entire season

851
00:55:09,239 --> 00:55:14,000
before he got injured, he was
the defensive Player of the Year favorite.

852
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:17,280
And you combine that with his short
role passing and just the havoc he can

853
00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:22,320
create when you actually get him going
downhill. The Celtics found unique ways to

854
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:25,119
really bump him out of his element. That's something you need to concern yourself

855
00:55:25,119 --> 00:55:29,480
with. But if I'm the Warriors, I'm not looking as you know.

856
00:55:29,599 --> 00:55:32,280
Yeah, Draymond Green's next contract,
it could take him through like what is

857
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:35,880
he now? Is he It would
take him through his age thirty seventh season.

858
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:38,840
Is he really that that old?
So you have to consider that for

859
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:43,119
sure. At the same time,
yeah, because he had two years with

860
00:55:43,159 --> 00:55:45,840
him free agency, that would be
he's gonna be age thirty two next year,

861
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:49,079
age thirty three the year after,
So his next deal could feasibly take

862
00:55:49,119 --> 00:55:52,960
him through age thirty four, thirty
five, thirty six thirty seven or age

863
00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:55,639
thirty, depending on what he signs
the extension. I think this is a

864
00:55:55,639 --> 00:56:00,400
situation where you just wait see what
he looks like next season, and there's

865
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:04,039
gonna be no harm, no foul. Uh if you decide to wait to

866
00:56:04,039 --> 00:56:07,079
pay him. I think the infrastructure
in Golden State is strong enough, and

867
00:56:07,199 --> 00:56:08,880
he can also view it as if
the best offer from them. Oh and

868
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:13,079
he's a player option for twenty three, so it's the it's the one year

869
00:56:13,159 --> 00:56:16,280
that next deal. Though you're getting
into his mid to late thirties. Why

870
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:19,760
didn't I realize he has a player
option. That's a that's a miss on

871
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,199
my behalf. But if he's gonna
opt out, he's with Quatch Sports.

872
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:25,360
They're gonna know that they have an
offer from another team. And do you

873
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:29,440
really think a contender wouldn't just throw
the bag at Draymond even if over there,

874
00:56:29,639 --> 00:56:30,519
you know, if it's a two
or three year max, they're like

875
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:34,960
almost half the league could have a
ton of cap space next year. I

876
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,320
also think that's why I wouldn't rule
out like a near max pay day,

877
00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:42,480
just because the UH salary cap is
projected to go up and up and up,

878
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:45,079
and if an average is a ten
million dollars jump per year. Draymond's

879
00:56:45,119 --> 00:56:51,760
max now is not going to be
like as detrimental moving forward. No,

880
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,599
you're not going to give him the
you know, the forty Like, are

881
00:56:54,639 --> 00:56:59,679
you do you want to pay Draymond
Green forty million dollars a year? And

882
00:56:59,760 --> 00:57:04,159
he answer to that is just no, no, And he's gonna be eligible

883
00:57:04,159 --> 00:57:06,960
after next season, he'll be He's
at the ten year max right now.

884
00:57:07,039 --> 00:57:09,880
So his theoretical his max salary starting
in his next deal, if he opts

885
00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:15,000
out of his contract next season,
that could start at forty six point five

886
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:19,480
million. Forty six point six excuse
me, a million dollars. I'm not

887
00:57:19,599 --> 00:57:22,039
giving that for Draymond Green. And
I don't think the Warriors, they know

888
00:57:22,119 --> 00:57:25,800
they have to pay Thompson and Pool
and Wiggins, are that they're on the

889
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:30,920
hook potentially for paying those guys.
They're probably gonna want something that's closer to

890
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:35,079
his current salary right now, if
there's that gully between them, I don't

891
00:57:35,079 --> 00:57:37,320
think Draymond's gonna have a problem playing
out next year because he has that player

892
00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:40,400
options, a safeguard, and maybe
he ups his value by winning Defensive Player

893
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:45,039
of the Year this is still one
of the two or three most transcendent defensive

894
00:57:45,039 --> 00:57:47,800
players in basketball, and he can
be a very valuable offensive player. When

895
00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:52,679
you look at Golden States extension candidates, in some it wouldn't shock me if

896
00:57:52,719 --> 00:57:58,000
none of them get extensions. I
know Marcus Thompson and Anthy Slater said Andrew

897
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:00,639
Wiggins has a really good chance of
getting an extension, probably because you don't

898
00:58:00,679 --> 00:58:05,440
want him hitting unrestricted free agency next
summer. Jordan Pools are restricted free agent,

899
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:07,480
I think to maintain flexibility. If
he's asking for the max when anywhere

900
00:58:07,519 --> 00:58:09,800
near it, you just say,
you played really good this year, go

901
00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:13,519
out and do it again, and
we'll pay you. We won't even you

902
00:58:13,559 --> 00:58:16,440
know, make you go to the
open market to find your max offer.

903
00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:19,320
But if he has sort of a
down year, they want to make sure

904
00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:22,679
what they've seen last year is real
and not for nothing. But the Golden

905
00:58:22,719 --> 00:58:27,199
State offense without Steph Curry still not
good no matter how you sort of shape

906
00:58:27,239 --> 00:58:30,760
the lineups with Jordan pool when he's
playing with Draymond and play at the same

907
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:32,480
time, that was a super small
sample size, whether he's playing alone,

908
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:36,400
whether he's playing with Wiggins, like
the Warriors, offense, Watt was better

909
00:58:36,719 --> 00:58:38,519
last year when Steph was off the
court than it has been than it was

910
00:58:38,559 --> 00:58:42,960
the past, you know, than
it was in twenty twenty twenty one.

911
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:45,360
Still below average if you're gonna invest
Max money, and someone like Jordan Pool,

912
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:50,239
who was, let me make this
clear, absolutely fantastic last season,

913
00:58:50,320 --> 00:58:54,119
especially towards the tail end when he
had just he was just on like an

914
00:58:54,119 --> 00:58:59,320
absolute scorcher. I don't think he's
this no brainer Max candidate, and so

915
00:58:59,599 --> 00:59:04,159
I would bet against him getting an
extension. Clay just like has to guarantee

916
00:59:04,199 --> 00:59:06,960
years left on his deal. They'll
revisit it maybe next summer, after they

917
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:09,159
see what he looks like. It
wouldn't shock me if I'm not advocating for

918
00:59:09,199 --> 00:59:12,960
this, but he likes Steph,
wants to be in Golden State and so

919
00:59:13,199 --> 00:59:17,559
so bad, and he likes Steph. Didn't get like. But he might

920
00:59:17,599 --> 00:59:20,800
just be more willing to take a
pay cut than a Steph Gerry. He's

921
00:59:20,840 --> 00:59:22,360
just where I would be at this
point. He's a lesser player, he

922
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:25,079
might be worth less in general,
and so he's willing to sign a smaller

923
00:59:25,119 --> 00:59:30,199
deal. Do they flip flop where
like Draymond gets the Clay type extension that

924
00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:34,199
Clay has now, and then Clay
gets the Draymond type extension. I don't

925
00:59:34,239 --> 00:59:36,360
know how this is all going to
end. I would bet against all four

926
00:59:36,400 --> 00:59:38,880
players being in Golden State beyond next
season. I would say if we set

927
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:44,800
the over under at two point five
being Golden State beyond next season, I

928
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:46,639
might take the at least one of
them will be gone, is my point.

929
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:50,800
Long term. And finally, if
you're the Warriors, you want to

930
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:57,280
see how these other youngsters progress.
I think that Wiseman and Comingo's development could

931
00:59:57,320 --> 01:00:00,199
say a lot about how much you're
willing to pay Draymond Green. Moses Moody's

932
01:00:00,199 --> 01:00:04,639
development probably says how much you're willing
to pay for Klay Thompson. I don't

933
01:00:04,639 --> 01:00:06,599
think it's gonna be like, hey, we got Moody, so Clay just

934
01:00:06,679 --> 01:00:09,280
get out of here, or we
have Comingga Drey leave. Jordan Pool's probably

935
01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:14,800
the most Maybe maybe Wiggins is the
most valuable long term just because like they

936
01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:19,199
don't have another bigger wing defender on
the roster. Perhaps Cominga fills that role,

937
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:21,920
maybe they view him as that too, So Pool's probably like the most

938
01:00:22,000 --> 01:00:24,159
valuable long term. As thinking Okay, Steph Curry ages out, we need

939
01:00:24,199 --> 01:00:29,119
the primary shock creator. Is that
cominga right now? We know it's not

940
01:00:29,199 --> 01:00:35,239
Clay, It's not going to be
Draymond, so him probably followed by Andrew

941
01:00:35,239 --> 01:00:39,360
Wiggins. Just he's been tackling the
toughest wing assignments for them, But it

942
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:43,760
wouldn't shock me to see them let
all of this ride until the offseason.

943
01:00:43,800 --> 01:00:45,480
I guess I agree Wiggins would be
the most likely to extend, just because

944
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:47,599
you want to keep him out of
free agency. But if you want to

945
01:00:47,639 --> 01:00:51,639
maintain flexibility, reevaluate this at the
end of the season, after you know

946
01:00:51,679 --> 01:00:54,719
what you have in Looney cominga Moody
and even Pool to an extent, the

947
01:00:54,960 --> 01:00:58,519
look can Wiggins repeat this? He
was just voted in the All Star Game,

948
01:00:58,800 --> 01:01:00,840
didn't deserve it, was fantastic in
the finals their third best player,

949
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:07,519
if not their second best player during
that series, then like do it again

950
01:01:07,599 --> 01:01:10,079
would basically be the messaging. So
if I had to bet, let's set

951
01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:14,599
an over under on the number of
players getting an extension at one point five.

952
01:01:14,840 --> 01:01:16,320
I'm gonna take the under here.
But no, I don't think Draymond

953
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:19,840
gets the max, and I think
you ask for the moon, and then

954
01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:22,360
you settle for your market value.
Do I think if he hits the open

955
01:01:22,440 --> 01:01:27,000
market and plays really well next year
that there would be a team willing to

956
01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:30,400
give him the short term max.
I don't have one off the top of

957
01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:35,719
my head, but maybe, like
I mean, look at a team.

958
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:37,880
Would Detroit They could have sixty million
dollars in room almost next year, but

959
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:43,280
they throw him the max. I
mean a lot of the teams are gonna

960
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:46,440
have cap space or just not really
trying to compete again, So there's that

961
01:01:46,519 --> 01:01:51,239
to consider. Would Charlotte throw him
the max? They can kind of get

962
01:01:51,320 --> 01:01:58,039
there. I don't like Indiana.
Indiana like they could have a crap ton

963
01:01:58,079 --> 01:02:02,199
of cap space without all their free
agent holes. That is, Houston can

964
01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:06,039
have a ship ton of cap space. There might be teams are just like

965
01:02:06,079 --> 01:02:07,840
hey, two years, three years, yeah, And if the Warriors aren't

966
01:02:07,880 --> 01:02:10,719
even willing to do that, they
might prefer the short term route though,

967
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:14,880
So I don't think he gets the
max. I do think there will be

968
01:02:14,960 --> 01:02:19,320
teams unless he gets the max.
From let's fame this way, I think

969
01:02:19,320 --> 01:02:22,800
there will be teams that would pay
Draymond more. If he hits the open

970
01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:25,480
market, then the Warriors would ultimately
give him to stay. That's that's my

971
01:02:25,599 --> 01:02:28,760
bet there. I don't know if
that makes it more likely that he leaves

972
01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:30,679
or if that's just an uncle comfortable
thing to admit. But I also think

973
01:02:30,679 --> 01:02:36,000
we need to remember that he is
still one of the most transcendent defenders of

974
01:02:36,039 --> 01:02:39,599
all time, and still one of
the two or three most transcendent defenders right

975
01:02:39,599 --> 01:02:43,280
now. And if you told me
he played, let's just draymondre If he

976
01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:46,159
told me he played in between sixty
seven and seventy two games next year,

977
01:02:46,719 --> 01:02:51,639
I am gonna pick him to win
Defensive Player of the Year. I think,

978
01:02:52,960 --> 01:02:54,960
uh Demost Cole asked us will be
our last question. How do you

979
01:02:55,000 --> 01:03:01,480
guys see how do you guys see
Kessler? Is he Is he the next

980
01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:06,639
defensive anchor? Or what he's I'm
just laughing at something that I was reading

981
01:03:06,639 --> 01:03:12,440
in the chat, so I apologize
to everyone there. But he's talking about,

982
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:16,119
of course Walker Kessler, who went
to Utah as part of that trade

983
01:03:16,199 --> 01:03:21,760
with Minnesota, and he is a
big man, He's a shot blocking fiend.

984
01:03:22,639 --> 01:03:24,360
I said this in the chat,
and I did watch more of him,

985
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:28,239
and I think I don't really think
my opinion is has changed. Demos

986
01:03:28,280 --> 01:03:30,440
Cole says he's pretty mobile for his
length. He was switchable as well.

987
01:03:30,800 --> 01:03:34,639
If Gobert could do it, I
think Kessler can do it as well.

988
01:03:34,760 --> 01:03:37,599
He seems well coordinated personally. I
have him take as a future DPO Y

989
01:03:37,719 --> 01:03:40,480
candidate, but maybe it's just me, so I don't know. I think

990
01:03:40,559 --> 01:03:45,079
Kessler needs to be in like really
heavy drop coverage for the most part,

991
01:03:45,119 --> 01:03:47,960
And like I said before, Gobert
sort of has this like angled east west

992
01:03:49,280 --> 01:03:52,639
speed that I haven't seen from Kessler
seems way more reliant on his length than

993
01:03:52,679 --> 01:03:58,440
the combination of that and his footwork. Maybe he just gets a lot better

994
01:03:58,480 --> 01:04:00,559
in the NBA, but I wilt
look, you've seen like bigs and drop

995
01:04:00,599 --> 01:04:04,079
coverags like a brook Lopez be really
good. And if let's just say,

996
01:04:04,119 --> 01:04:06,840
like if and I didn't see this
from him and what I was watching,

997
01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:10,559
but like if he just really gets
load of the ground and knows how to

998
01:04:10,679 --> 01:04:13,400
use his length and then the space
in front of him his advantage. Brook

999
01:04:13,440 --> 01:04:15,519
Lopez held up really well in space
as sort of a drop big as well,

1000
01:04:15,559 --> 01:04:19,239
and he was garnering not two years
ago now Defensive Player of the Year

1001
01:04:19,599 --> 01:04:25,480
the Year praise so do I think
that that's Edwards is ceiling a monster shot

1002
01:04:25,480 --> 01:04:29,440
blocking team. But I would be
flabbergasted if we're talking about him as a

1003
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:32,199
defensive Player of the Year candidate,
just because I don't know if he's ever

1004
01:04:32,239 --> 01:04:34,880
going to have the playing time is
what it is. I think maybe he

1005
01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:38,760
could be a long term NBA player. He seems like the type of big

1006
01:04:39,079 --> 01:04:43,360
that's not going to wind up playing
the thirty plus minutes per game consistently enough

1007
01:04:43,400 --> 01:04:47,400
to enter that discussion. Maybe maybe
I'm actually wrong here though, but he's

1008
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:53,199
gonna need to definitely like broaden his
offensive game. There was some excuse me,

1009
01:04:53,239 --> 01:04:56,079
there was just some encouraging signs with
his touch away from the basket,

1010
01:04:56,719 --> 01:04:58,639
and you don't, to be clear, you don't need that to be a

1011
01:04:58,719 --> 01:05:02,320
dpoy guy, but you need like
a pretty expansive offensive skill set to stay

1012
01:05:02,440 --> 01:05:05,639
on the floor. And so how
horrible he set screens in the NBA kenn

1013
01:05:05,639 --> 01:05:10,760
he finished through NBA level contact.
Those are my questions there. His length

1014
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:14,039
though, absolutely spectacular, and he
will cover up for a lot of any

1015
01:05:14,079 --> 01:05:17,960
speed deficiencies if he ends up having
them with that length. I just when

1016
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:20,280
if we're going to compare him to
Gobert, I just don't even think it's

1017
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:25,320
close, and I don't see that
I'll come for him. But look,

1018
01:05:25,360 --> 01:05:28,119
demos Coole has been right on a
lot of stuff that I have not been.

1019
01:05:28,239 --> 01:05:30,159
He was the one that spotted.
He was talking to me about Donovan

1020
01:05:30,199 --> 01:05:32,320
Mitchell before The Magic to the Magic, before I even thought about it.

1021
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:39,599
So I think that he's going to
be an extremely valuable defensive player. I

1022
01:05:39,679 --> 01:05:44,039
just I don't see the Gobert mold, and I just think I guess that

1023
01:05:44,079 --> 01:05:47,960
Gobert is just a little bit faster
or a lot faster, and to replicate

1024
01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:54,199
what Gobert has done when Nuking plays
in space, Yeah, length can help

1025
01:05:54,239 --> 01:05:57,480
you there. But just from what
I was watching, when guys get by

1026
01:05:58,280 --> 01:06:01,079
Kessler like he was so reliant on
his life, and they're gonna be guys

1027
01:06:01,079 --> 01:06:04,239
in the NBA who are faster and
are better at finishing those tough angled shots

1028
01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:09,639
around the rim. What Gobet really
did wasn't still the sense of fear that

1029
01:06:09,679 --> 01:06:13,039
you had to bail out in the
mid range. I didn't see that from

1030
01:06:13,039 --> 01:06:16,880
what I watch of Ketchler Kessler too
much. So he should get the opportunity

1031
01:06:16,880 --> 01:06:24,360
in Utah like They're not really their
center rotation right now is him and Jared

1032
01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:27,960
Vanderbilt. I guess like would be
how you think they're gonna structure there their

1033
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:31,639
center lineup. This was great fun
mail bag went much longer than I thought

1034
01:06:31,639 --> 01:06:34,559
I was going to over an hour
shocker because it's me and I and Drew

1035
01:06:34,599 --> 01:06:38,920
bos. Thank everyone for listening and
watching. Please remember to subscribe to us

1036
01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:41,800
wherever you get your podcast and on
YouTube, both of which would be in

1037
01:06:41,800 --> 01:06:44,480
the world to me. Until next
time, and as always, I leave

1038
01:06:44,519 --> 01:06:47,320
with the shout out to one the
only, the actual future Defensive Player of

1039
01:06:47,320 --> 01:06:50,079
the Year candidate that no one even
asked me about for this mail bag,

1040
01:06:50,119 --> 01:06:55,400
but we do know he's officially good
enough to have his own Lakers jersey photoshop.

1041
01:06:55,880 --> 01:06:57,599
Frank kila ka