What is krak Alac and fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am damn Valley coming
at you with my certified fantabulous co host Grant Hughes. We are delivering you
our Western Conference mailback as promise where we will get to one or two questions
for every single team. Thank you all for submitting your questions before we get
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under a minute, I might add Grant, how the heck are you doing?
I'm doing well. I've you got to give me more time to think
about the answer to your question usually need ninety seconds minimum. I'm doing great.
I had a good Christmas, looking forward to the new year, writing
about New Year's resolutions right now for work, So that's cool. But yeah,
I'm excited to do this great questions again everybody. This is a super
helpful exercise as always. So I think that's enough Ado. So without further
Ado, you want to start with the Western Conference alphabetical number one team,
the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah, so I have Dallas, and we have two
questions that are pretty related to each other. So mesh narion As agree or
disagree. The MAVs are better than their record suggests. They have a ton
of bad losses when they dropped big leads to bad teams. And I've lost
the four games Luca arrested in, including the recent Minnesota game where he was
ejected, which they should have won. They will be a threat come playoff
time because, as Luca showed last year, he can take out anyone.
And then Quinn has a two part questions. So the first part of it
is, is there any evidence to suggest the MAVs could rise in the standings
and make a run, And if so, what is it? And so
we can go and look at their schedule if we wanted to. If you
look at their point differential as well, they're on pace to underperform their point
differential per cleaning deaths by about four wins. They should be about a forty
seven forty eight win team, and they're on pace to win between forty three
and forty four. So I guess there is evidence that they could be better.
I would point out though, like losing close games or not being able
to win without Luca, or blowing big leads like those are actual problems that
you just can't write off. They might be high variance moments, but close
games or leads, those are going to come at you in the playoffs.
And so I do think. You know, there's been a normalization a little
bit on their shooting. They're now eleventh when it comes to three point accuracy
from beyond the arc, and that's a good sign. I think we've also
scene over the past month Luca's load has gotten a little bit lighter. He's
still superhuman, but more of his buckets are coming off assists. His uses
is dropped. Probably some of those wins have helped a little bit as well.
You've gotten there's still like the peaks and valleys from Tim Hardaway Junior.
But you're seeing some more peaks. We've seen some of Reggie Bullock shooting normalize
when he's gotten to play mixing missing excuse me, Maxi Kleiba is going to
be huge for them down the stretch. So I don't you know. There's
the second part of this question from Quinn about what could they do to improve,
but I wanted to throw it to you on just your thoughts with the
Mavericks. Do you think this team is better than it has showed this season?
Because when I look at it, I kind of feel like, are
they eighth in the West? Are they that team? Like I don't know,
I probably expected them to finish like maybe sixth they said, but they're
not like underachieving to the extent that I feel like they're due for this huge
bump in performance without changing anything. Yeah, I think you're kind of having
to deal with two. I mean, I would do the same thing you
did, and I'd start with the point of Crenchel and it, well,
it suggests there are a couple you know, they're short a couple wins from
where they ought to be at this point in the season, and that translates
to four or five extra or whatever over the course of the year. So
in that sense, yeah, they are a little better than they've seemed.
But I think so trusting the clutch stuff for them is just different for almost
every other than it is for almost every other team, because you know,
what's the prevailing narrative surrounding Luca and how the maps have used him forever.
It's that he wears down and like, you just you can split it by
half, you can split it by quarters, and the fact is, like
he just it just it's not a perfect declining, you know, trend line,
but he just you know, you get to the fourth quarter and he's
shooting forty two percent from the field in twenties, just under twenty seven percent
from three, and those are the worst numbers in any quarter. And that's
just what happens, you know, And it happens over the course of a
playoff series, it happens over the course of a season. The wear down
is just real. And so if you're saying, well, they've had some
rough clutch luck, it's like, well, it's because their best players kind
of asked by the end of the game, and you can't count on that
normalizing necessarily that flies in the face of they have a winning record in the
quat right now, they're twelve and ten. Their point differentials pretty bad,
but they're twelve and ten, so you could argue that they've maybe gotten even
a little bit lucky in some of those games. Which which way does that
cut, Like, I don't I suppose it would depend on if they do
change, you know, the usage distribution and their style of play. And
you know, I thought that was a really interesting game. We may have
talked about it last time when Luca was out and Kema Walker had like a
thirty something percent usage rade and played you know, forty something some odd minutes,
and it made you think, like, is this just how they play?
It's just it's not even lucas specific. They just have to operate with
one guy. Not really true looking at some of the other games that Luca
has missed, where you know, guys like Din Witty and and others have
more evenly split the usage. But yeah, I kind of feel I've kind
of feel like the MAVs are right about where they ought to be. You
know, I don't think they profiled as a serious contender on the level of
you know the top three or four teams in the league, and I don't
think you know they're they're grossly under or overperforming. They're just this kind of
about right. So I don't know what the changes that they make. I
don't think it's going to be an in season things. So it's just kind
of where they are to me. And look, they might still just be
a threat come playoff time because they have Luca and so if he's not going
to wear down, I would agree with that statement. We've seen Luca being
an absolute killer in the playoffs. The second part of Quinn's question also,
what is the MAV's current problem other than just making shots? And so there
are a couple of things that I look at. Their rim protection is not
The volume they're allowing at the rim is fine, but their rim protection is
not good. Losing Maxi Kleiba is going to hurt that. Teams are probably
going to go after Christian Wood even more. Are there ways for them to
cover that up with That's something that we just need to see bear out.
We haven't seen a ton of at least relative to what you would expect of
like Spencer Dinwoodie, Luka don Chich and Christian Wood playing together, you only
had would recently go into the starting five, and so that's a concern for
me overall. And I don't know if this if I would call this a
bigger concern, but it's not even the just making shots. It's the offensive
diversification. And it's yes, they have the best half court offense statistically in
the league right now, they're also dead last in transition frequency and not really
having that change of pace gear. We saw it in a couple games and
some at points during the Lakers where it was like, oh, they pushed
off of live balls. They need to have that element, and I think
they need to have it even with Luca on the floor, just to vary
up their attack, and that would be a way of them generating some more
organic rim pressure, which is like their own offense. That's not it doesn't
you know. I don't want to say it gets lost because people do talk
about it, but they're a team that if you didn't have Luca, like,
we would probably be talking more about, oh, why doesn't this team
get to the rim more. It just doesn't matter because Luca is so amazing
at every single single level, particularly from the top two. When you're looking
at three pointers and then just from the mid range and so changing up the
pace at which you're playing, and they're not. Again, I don't want
to say they're necessarily built to do that, but you can push off of
live balls, like that's something every team can do. And that's what you
know has kind of helped Philly a little bit during their winning streak, and
so I'd like to see more of it from Dallas. And that's just me
focusing on controllables with the roster when it comes to just like, well,
what's wrong with this team. I don't want to bemoan just they need another
co star, but they need they need a higher end number two because like
maybe you're gonna carve out enough ball handling from Kemba and Luca and Spencer Dinwoody,
Okay, fine, like you need then at this point I think with
Cleveland down, like you probably need that front court player who can either place
him five and hold up defensively or is gonna need to be tethered to a
Christian would if you want to maximize his minute, his minutes where he's gonna
space the floor, but can also maybe be a center on defense. So
that would be the player for them to target via trade. I just going
back to their assets very quickly. And we've talked about this before. They
can't theoretically convey a pick until twenty twenty five, and that's assuming they're picked
to the Knicks top ten protection conveys this year. They're just better off because
they don't have any blue chip prospects. If you ever want to take a
swing, you are better off waiting until the off season when you can trade
four picks three swaps once the league calendars resets, and then like salary filler.
And so no, I don't expect them to make a big move in
large part, I just don't think they're built to make one. Yeah,
I agree, I think you know with that you want to you don't want
to get too far down the overthinking it road, because it is just they
need, you know, what are the needs. There's nothing different really,
it's the second star or you know what to try to be Porzingis and they're
kind of going without. It was sort of Jalen Brunson, and now they
have not replaced that really effectively, and yet the team isn't really that meaningfully
different, which is really just more of a statement on what Luca is capable
of doing as far as like elevating a roster that just is short on a
couple of important things. The other thing that's interesting is like I think we
ascribe the bad super low transition frequency to Luca just he doesn't want to she
doesn't want to push. But I think the fact that they're also bad in
transition defense. They're bottom ten team in transition defense in terms of the points
they allow. They're they're pretty good at preventing transition, but that's just more
of a tactical thing. It's not a personnel thing. You just don't go
to the offensive boards. I think it's a little bit of a statement on
you know, they're not the most athletic team. They sort of have to
make concessions with who they're playing at center. Uh some that guy's always limited
in one way or the other. I think what they really need is like
the best possible version of Kleiba, and like that's probably not Kleiba, but
it's just you know what that whatever that player type is, it's a weird
player type because the best version of that guy could guard, you know,
the first option wing, defend the rim a little bit and shoot three is
it's just like not I mean, I don't even Miles Turner. I'm not
saying Cleb is more valuablean Miles Turner, but his skill set is or at
his peak. Yes, no special, Yeah, it's it's a real niche.
I mean, it's a weird collection of skills that I don't that Cleba
just doesn't have anymore, even if healthy. That weird guy to get I
don't know who you'd even say approximates that. I know we're moving in a
better place. But the other thing that I feel like we have to note
is just the margins in the West or in the league this year are so
unbelievably small, and it sounds a lot like doom and gloom for the Mavericks.
But to the first question about, oh, are they going to be
a threat in the playoffs or are they much better than expect? Like their
four games out of first places, we're recording this and so that's not you
know, and they're top twelve in defense, top seven in offense. It
hasn't been pretty and there are ways that I think we both believe they could
optimize the current roster better. But it isn't all doom and gloom. It's
just that there's absurd parody right now, and I think that that's why these
high variants maybe either smaller issues or smaller samples as like those are going to
come back to really really matter, specifically when you're talking about postseason seating.
Yeah, I agree, let's go to Denver. This is It has some
of the same elements of the last question, but this is from JC Alexander.
How do the Nuggets make a championship winning team? Or Yoka? To
be specific, it's how to the Nuggets or anybody you know, not that
he's going anywhere, but sort of what's the theory of a championship winning roster
around Yoki? This is a really difficult question, and there's almost no way
to go at it without just we have to start with the concession that even
if you know, some of the advanced metrics really love Yokich's defense, you
know, Raptor has always been high on him. Generally he grades out pretty
well defensively if you're just looking at the metrics. It's my opinion and I
think we have to concede for the purposes of this question, that he just
presents defensive challenges to a roster that so far have been a problem, like
that's the problem, and maybe not the problem. You could say health last
year was the problem. But just generally speaking, it's very difficult to play
a championship level defense with a center that is not a vertical shot blocking threat,
that isn't the most latterally quick, even if he's smart, even if
he has great hands, even if he does all this other stuff, right,
that's just the reality of it. And so you know the issue then
is, well, so what are you looking for? You need versatility,
good defenders at the point of attack because you're gonna have to play some styles
where you know Yokich has to come up to the screen. He can't be
in drop coverage. He's not Brook Lopez. That just doesn't work. He
can't switch. So you're limited really in what you can do. So you
have to have wings and guards that are able to really in tandem with Yokich,
just slow the initial point of attack action down, Like you can't let
the ball handler that you know Yokich is kind of hedging out on get rid
of it quickly to somebody open. You definitely can't let him get around both
of those defenders and just throw the whole defensive rotation into chaos. So I
mean, to that effect, Aaron Gordon and KCP are both like pretty good
in that regard. Now Bruce Brown is another one. You know, smart
teams are gonna you know, switch around and try to hunt more matchups where
you're not attacking those guys. But that's kind of the starter there. I
think that's your defensive issue. Like if you could add Draymond Green to the
roster and suddenly you have a switchable guy that can can defend the rim and
do all this other stuff, great, like that's your solve, But there's
one of him, and that's just he's the salt. He would he or
someone similar would be the salve anywhere Aaron Gordon is kind of a decent like
you know, poor man's version of that. So that's the defensive struggle.
I don't know how you do that offensively, you know, I think Denver
doesn't have any offensive questions. You put enough good shooting a second side attacker,
which is like you know MPJ and Peke Murray, you're set, I
think offensively for any playoff series. I'm just trying to think, like,
you know, let's look at the numbers, maybe this will tell it.
So essentially, you have the Nuggets ranked right now defensively are twenty eight.
I'm gonna have to double check that their bottom ten and for all for these
purposes, what you need to know is that, and you've seen this stack
come up several times over the years, the idea that you've got to be
a top ten defense to win a title. So the Nuggets are way far
away from that. I think maybe they're fifteenth actually, but they have the
twenty eighth. Yeah, location based effective feet goal percentage. So here's the
here's how you get around that. If the Nuggets are going to win a
title with a defense like this, the only teams to do it outside the
top ten in defensive efficiency since nineteen eighty one are the ninety five Rockets who
are twelveth, the oh one Lakers who were twenty first, and the eighteen
Warriors who are eleventh. Every single one of those teams is a defending champion
that flipped the switch, that had the personnel, that had all that stuff.
The Nuggets just aren't that team. So how do you build a championship
defense around Yoki? I guess you have to win a title first, somehow,
and then the next year when they're ranked fifteenth or whatever it is,
you can you can do it. It's that's we've said we weren't going to
be dooming gloom about Dallas. It is kind of doom and gloom for Denver
because I don't personally believe that there's a way to build a defense around Yokich
that can be top ten and like a big value add against the best playoff
offenses. I don't see it. So I would disagree and think that one
there's a chance they may have already done it, and I'd be curious to
see what happens if this team is at full strength or more this season or
you know, Quiet said this about his ACL injury, and there's been a
lot of talk about Jamal Murray sort of waxing and waning this year. These
are two year recoveries, like you miss a year and then you're working your
way back basically, And so maybe Jamal Murray is going to be better defensively,
I mean, because he was always kind of an underrated, hard nosed
defender by the time that you get to the playoffs. And the other thing
is just like because there's been the trickle down of Michael Porter Junior being absent,
Like some of your best lineups have been defensive juggernauts this year. And
would it be easier to survive minutes, you know, with the bench if
you had Michael Porter Junior to mix and match in or like maybe even you
know, I guess the Bruce Brown bench stuff was kind of noisy. I
feel like Denver's main issue. I'm more concerned about their bench than their defense.
And I don't want to but labor the point you made about the way
that they defend. They finally tried some different things, it felt like over
the past few games, and they like worked out where it's like, hey,
let's be you know, you're you're still kind of using Yokich the same
way, but you're being more aggressive with size and length elsewhere. And maybe
that's the recipe. And so it's that's why Christian Brown might be so valuable
to them. It's what if you so you have Aaron Gordon, and you
have Ksey Pen, you have Bruce Brown, those guys are the answers.
Maybe it's and again, this still means that you have to tell your team
to Yokich, is it you need an Aaron Gordon and then like a Jeremy
Grant in tandem with each other, because then you're talking about, like you
know, you mentioned being able to guard up top and to the point of
attack, but there's also just gonna be points where Yokich gets beats or guys
get by him or is in drop, and so you need size, length,
quickness behind him. And the way you use Aaron Gordon, it's not
always going to be him, and so you're gonna have to rely on these
other guys. Michael Porter Junior is shown the ability to do it in the
past, I don't know that you could rely on him. And so the
Nuggets are and remain my title pick. I don't change my title picks anyway.
I don't know if they've built the championship defense yet. I do think
they're closer to it than not. And it feels like, yeah, you
could say, well, having a one Jeremy Grant away and I'm just spent.
Well, I mean, Jeremy Grant back and Denver would be fantastic,
But that type of a player that's a more feasible get than oh, you
need another top ten star on your team to do it, And so maybe
it's just they've leaned too far into like the point of attack ish defenders because
Bruce Brown and even Casey be like, no, they're not small, but
they're not huge, and so like someone who's in Aaron Gordon's size, like
someone else like that, which is why I've kind of wondered he's not the
answer. But like Zeke Nagi is starting to play now in large part because
of the Jeff Green injury, and so it feels like if they need something,
it's that type of a player. And yes, it'd be nice if
it was ogi Ana Nobi, but it doesn't need to be that good or
he doesn't need to be that good, is my point. And so that's
just sort of where I'm at with the Nuggets. Yeah, I think it's
just so difficult because, as I say, you can't you know, it's
I don't see a way to build a championship roster around Yokich. I also
sort of feel like the roster they have right now is almost as good as
you can do, with the exception of like, well, I don't have
like Andrew Wiggins or you know, just Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart or like
just someone to really put the clamps on another wing, because without that,
like the reality is just they you can't. I just don't see a way
to survive as a playoff defense when everybody finishes everything around the rim and the
Nuggets are pretty good at preventing rim frequency. But when I look these stats
up last night, opponents are shooting seventy one percent at the rim, and
that's like Yokich isn't really the driver necessarily of that. Like it's not just
him. It does feel tactical, it does feel schematic, it does feel
like because of the way Denver has to play. When that first level is
beaten, it's just it's too easy to get clean looks at the rim,
and like that's the first thing a really good, title worthy defense takes away.
And if you can't even handle that, then yeah, like everyone's subject
to the vagaries of a hot three point shooting night from another team or you
know whatever else, foul drawing, that kind of thing. But if you
can't defend the rim, and it's just that's where the buckets are easiest to
come by, that's just that's just such a hill to climb. I just
I hate to be so negative about it, but you know, I just
haven't seen anything that convinces me that without without adding like just take your pick
of some elite defensive piece, uh that that Denver can get there. And
that's like this is with the offense that might just you know, their second
I think right now that has like a ton of upside on top of being
second, Like you could just be one of the best offenses of all time.
And I just don't know if that's enough. So sorry, sorry if
that's too bleak for Denver fans. Let's get to the Golden State Warriors.
Uh So this one comes from semashionary end as this question as well, and
it's tied to the We're gonna semashinary end and then Bulls Film room. So
the first question, where's the future of the Warriors? With Curry out?
They might even miss the play in this season, and I mean that's fair.
I don't know that I would predict that, but they've been predictably not
great in general without him. They're two and three as we record this.
You know, they had that that went over the Grizzlies was really good,
but they also haven't had Andrew Wiggins, so that's something the factor into that.
So there's a chance they get better you talked about. Before we were
recording, we were talking about Jordan Pool, how he's come up relatively huge
for them. Still isn't hitting his threes, and that might be something to
monitor. I don't know what becomes of this season, and it makes it
harder to say, well, they should just trade someone and just for bench
depth. I need to know steps timeline. As we record this. He's
at least two weeks away from coming back from that shoulder injury, and you
need a more concrete date and probably more concrete understanding of where you are in
the West before you decide whether to make a mid season move. And I
might even bet against the making a mid season move anyway, just because that
hasn't really been there outside of the DiAngelo Russell trade. That hasn't really been
there their m and that season was was lost by that point, and this
season isn't yet lost. I would predict that they will make at least the
play in I don't know where you're at with that. I think they'll I
think they'll be one of it's so hard to say, well, look,
we just talked about the parody, so I think there's every opportunity for them
to get healthy get one of the young guys to contribute consistently. Jonathan Kamia
is closest in that regard right now. But even Moses Moody had good minutes
against the Grizzlies, and he's kind of the guy that Warriors fans assumed talking
about Moody was going to be the guy that could just give you twenty good
minutes because he was just a plug and play wing. That hasn't been the
case. I still think there's a lot of reason to believe that maybe that's
possible. I just you see the games like they had against the Celtics,
like they had against the Grizzlies, where you know, the top flight version
of this team is still really good. And you know, you can even
look at the five man unit lineup data where the Warrior starters are still the
best in net rating of any five man unit that's played in any significant number
of minutes. You need like two more guys to show up, just and
maybe that's Stevencenzo who's shot it better. So yeah, I could see for
sure a top six record because it's not that I mean, what are the
how badly of things gone? And if you pull the standings up they're like,
what a couple games out of it there? Yeah, I mean they're
two and a half games from like the sixth seed right now, so you
know they're just when you look at their point differential without Curry, it feels
like this has the chance, depending on how long he misses, to go
from manageable to just extremely dire, hopeless whatever. That leads into the Bulls
film room question, which is should the Warriors just blow it up and build
around their young guys and get picks back. My immediate answer is no,
because you just you're obligated to The One thing is you still have Step and
unless he's gonna be shut down for the season, like this season absolutely matters
because Step is that important and he's also that fucking good. The other thing
is, and I'm not saying that these guys have no value, but who
is giving you godfather offers for any of the Warriors vets right now? You're
not getting one for Clay, You're not getting one for Draymond, I don't
think, especially with him being able to potentially become a free agent this summer.
And then Jordan Pool is so tough to trade because he's on his poison
pill. And like I think he would probably for most people fall under the
young guy umbrella anyway. And so yes, if we're taking a cold,
callous like business approach, yeah you should. If someone came in and offer
you the moon for Draymond, like, yeah, you should take it.
No one's going to though, And I think outside of Curry, there's single
most valuable veteran is Andrew Williams and he's injured, and so what are you
getting for him? I don't I understand why people might think along these lines.
If they want to focus on the young guys, that would be one
route to go. And we'll have to see how the season unfolds. But
you can start looking in at the ages of this core and it's we're not
you know, they used up their gap year, gap years leeway. There's
no there's no gap year anymore, which is why I was an advocate of
that. I would trade James Wiseman right now for death that would still do
it. I'm out on James Wiseman, but I'm also just obsessed with maximizing
steps timeline. I don't see the pathway to them though. Punting on this
season while also capitalizing on it, Yeah, you get to you have your
own draft pick, So there's that, But I don't think that they could
make you know, I don't want to. I don't know that they could
make a star trade even if one became available. You have Comingo, you
have Moody. You could trade a first round pick in twenty twenty six,
But because that's so far off into the distance, you need someone to be
in love with Comingo or Wiseman or both. And then also the star trade
market doesn't exist. But then on the flip side of the equation is I
don't think they have really the incentive to go the other route. Just I
don't think that if they sold off their veterans again not named step that they
would get a ton to begin with. And so you're looking at sort of,
you know, middle of the road moves, which they're just not a
team that feels like they're they're going to make, especially when a number two
pick like James Wiseman would almost have to be involved because the complication here is
the salary matching. If you're not trading dre Clay Steph or Andrew Wiggins,
like there's Wiseman and there's there's Loonear, like your primary salary matching tools,
and so I would advocate against them doing anything nuclear, and that includes buying,
just because I don't think that opportunities out there now. If Pascal Siakam
becomes available or if something along those lines develops, sure we can talk,
but it's of right now. I would argue against them going the nuclear route
in either direction. Yeah, just real quickly. I don't think they're going
to make a trade, and I don't think they should. And that's not
because they don't need stuff. It's because the young guys have not played well
enough or enough period to drive up the markets for them in trade. And
like, if you're another team, what are you giving up for Wiseman at
this point? Like it's not going to be something that moves the needle,
So you might as well just hold on to him. Hope you recoup,
you know, rehabs his values so that you can trade him or just become
someone that you can actually play going forward. I don't know, like the
odds are low, but I would still say that, you know, the
highest high end outcome for guys like Wiseman and Cominga are like quality starters.
You know, it's unlikely they reach those I think at this point. But
if that's you've got that in one hand and you've got like just name some
you know, seventh or eighth guy on in the other I understand why they're
just kind of going to stick to their guns. I just I still think
just everything you read and hear, and whether they're right or wrong. I
do think that the belief among the Warriors is that when everybody's healthy and we
get one or two guys kind of playing up to expectations outside of the starters,
we can just beat anybody and like they might not be wrong. You
know, it's it's hard to see it right now, but they might not
be wrong. The final question here, which is what you get through?
James asked, who's the first person Draymond Green is calling after the Warriors were
eliminated from playoff contention, And I would probably say Clutch borts to see whether
he needs to decline or pick up his his player option. That's going to
be a fascinating decision because he is owed. If he opts in next year,
he gets twenty seven point six million. I don't know if there's more
cap space out there, so maybe a team would be like, let's play
Draymond that I think he can get noticeably more money over the longer term,
even if it's had a less annual average. But I'm very fascinated to see
one what he does with that player option in two, whether it ultimately leads
to him bolting or staying in Golden State. Yeah, he'll call Lebron,
which you said clutch sports, So it's like the same thing. I guess
I could What do you think I could see him going like four for eighty
just to stay with the Warriors. It's kind of like the first big extension
he signed where it's like that feels like a reason, like a little bit
risky, which it was not in that case. But I don't know,
I feel like he can't really he's not gonna. I don't feel like he's
one hundred million dollar guy just because like the market for him is just so
narrow and I'll go through the teams very quickly that could theoretically offer him for
for eighty this summer or at least get there. Charlotte potentially have to rennounce
PJ Washington, Detroit easily, Houston and Indiana easily, the Lakers, the
Thunder, the Magic, and maybe probably not the Kings because I'm just mean
they want to keep Harris and Barnes, and then the Spurs. Yeah,
so it's Detroit and the Lakers are the really are the only ones I think
he would even remotely consider, right, So yeah, all right? I
have the Houston Rockets. This is from unbiased Pistons fan. How do the
Rockets look like they have too many guys but also not enough guys? The
team is like ten guys deep, but I feel like they should be getting
they all should be getting minutes. Is this what happens when you bought them
out and get a lot of early picks. Too many guys you want need
to see, but not enough minutes to go around. So this is an
interesting question that happens like almost anytime you get a rebuild that hasn't quite gotten
off the ground yet. And it's so just to go through some of the
young guys you're talking about, Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. Jabari Smith
Junior, Alpern Sangoon, I'm throwing Tari Easton in there, Keny Martin Jr.
Even like someone like Goosman Garuba. You could go wait and listen to
Nasian Nix and Josh Christopher if you want to, but nix in there.
But yeah, Pa stop. So the issue here is none of these guys,
I think, with the possible exceptions of Green and Changoon have like star
or superstar upside, and Changoon is a stretch you have to really be into.
Like Niche, you know, he's a great post player, he's an
awesome passer. He makes a ton of mistakes still, but like the highs
are high for him. And Green is just like a Tier one athlete that
is as fast as any human being on the planet Earth in the open floor,
but hasn't quite figured out how to turn that into like efficiency or foul
drawing or just you know that kind of stuff, which is fine. The
issue is like, it's not that this is what happens when you get a
bunch of picks. It's what happens when all those picks don't really return a
guy that is obviously, you know, your number one scoring playmaking option or
the anchor to a defense. Because then it's kind of like, well,
you know, we have all these options, nothing's all that clear. Yeah,
we should just poke around and see who can do what and what configurations
working. You kind of feel like you're not getting any answers. And I've
used this all the time, but it's like the idea that if you feel
like you have a lot of options, a lot of good options, it
means you don't have any great ones because it's just, well, what's the
difference between Jalen Green and you know, Porter handling the ball out or Smith
you know, spotting up all the time, or it's just like there's just
not a blue chip. It doesn't feel like among this group. And so
yeah, like play everybody, and maybe it feels like some guys get squeezed
or don't get enough touches, but that's just kind of how it works out.
Related to that, we have a question from I don't know if you
wanted to comment on that. I mean, I don't if you have any
thoughts on the rockets make I would mostly agree with it. I'm probably higher
than Jalen Green on you. And I think that Jabari Smith Junior might end
up being like real anchor defense material. Does that qualify him as blue chip?
I think it's more so this And I don't know if this is what
the next question is about, Like this team is ripe even what even just
because you're not you know, drowning and veterans that stuff like, yeah,
Eric Gordon, and then that's kind of it, like of the you know,
the really the old heads on this team. They need a consolidation trade
to maybe simplify and narrow their focus of what they're looking at. Yeah,
no, that's fair. The second question is from from David Maddalo, and
it's about just asking about sort of the defensive metrics and the makeup of the
Rockets core guys like Green, Chingoon, Jabari, and Easton. I'll start
with Easton. I think Easton is like a stud defensive player, like a
guy that you could you don't really build a defense around him, but you
could totally envision him being a huge part of a really good defense for a
very long time. EPM loves him. He's in the hundredth percentile and steel
rate for his position, which is very good. He plays really hard,
He's really hard to screen. He can handle perimeter guys, he can get
back, can just like be a body in the lane. Four point two
deflections per thirty six is elite. So he's just causing trouble everywhere on and
off the ball, and his energy is really infectious. It hasn't quite infected
the rest of the team, But that's more of a statement on the other
guys. The other guy who I think is interesting to talk about is Gruba
a little different than Smith. Smith has potential too, like you mentioned as
like kind of a switchable, good on ball guy with some length, but
Gruba came build I don't remember. I don't know if you remember the sort
of the draft ride ups on this guy, but as like a five position
defender who could blockshots, and he does move around the floor like someone that
has that ability. He can move, he's mobile, he's long, but
just we just haven't seen enough. If he were that great consistently, he
would be playing more. And he's just not green. Is a zero,
like he is a bottom ten defensive plus minus and unqualified guys like we're talking
like the Trey Young Jordan Poole tier of like the out salute most damaging guard
defenders in the league. Not that surprising just because he's a He's like a
guy with a thin build that is more straight line speed than quick twitch and
you know, isn't down in a stance a lot just watching him, Sangun,
I don't know, like he's not a he's not quick, he's not
you know, helps side shop blocker. He's pretty good if he's like in
a defensive position and waiting for you know, the room attack, he can
get up and you know, at least contest doesn't get a lot of steels,
doesn't get a lot of blocks. He's a negative minus zero point three
in defensive estimated plus minus. Not awful, but like not an impact guy.
He's kind of smart enough that maybe he could figure his way to being
you know, a high deflections, high you know, disruptive steel guy.
But yeah, other than Eason and then potentially Garuba and Smith, whose break
even by most like metrics DPM being one of them. You're saying Smith,
right, Say again, you're talking about Smith right, breaking even? Yeah,
Smith's break even Easton is like a that's great for a rookie, right,
not bad? Yeah, I mean so, I think probably for me,
Smith's disappointment as an offensive player so far has like trickled into you know,
I just the defense is cool, but if he's not going to be
able to ever create space or get his own shot, and he's been better
than he was in October November, but I'm just kind of down on Smith
as a prospect in general. Maybe that's not fair because you're right, like
he does have the frame and kind of the instincts to be a solid defender.
I don't know if I see, like you know, all defense upside
necessarily, but I've compared to Easton, Like Easton, I think absolutely has
that. Let's move on to our question for the Clippers. From this point
forward, Kawhi Leonard will be a top blank player for the rest of the
season. Look, he comes back December fifth and the win over Charlotte.
HiT's a big time shot there. He's averaging over twenty points and three assists'll
shooting better than fifty percent on his twos. His three point clip is dipped
a little bit, but we've seen him catch a groove there, specifically over
his last Yeah, I don't know, like three games he's hit like a
higher percentage of his threes. It's so tough to measure. I think he's
looked a lot better on offense. I think he's looked a little bit better
on defense too. I just it's all about if we're talking about to share
ability and you told me Kawhi Leonard is going to play almost every single game.
We're only going to rest on the second on one end of back to
backs. I'd probably say that he's still a top fifteen guy. I just
don't know is the availability going to justify that at this point? And as
many people point out, like the Clippers schedule is very pre all Star Break
heavy, and then it lightens after that, And so I'm almost wondering if
when he kind of has AH, when the schedule kind of opens up a
little bit, he'll be playing in a higher percentage of their games and that
will allow him or permit him to climb up these individual hierarchies to endings,
he is still a superstar, like that is his apex. I just don't
know how often or for how long he can sustain that apex. I'd want
to say he'll be a top fifteen to twenty player the rest of the way
though, And that's just with me having watched, Like he's not even all
the way back yet, Like he's just not even all the way back,
And so I think you like what you've seen from him. I probably like
we've seen from him on offense more than defense. Maybe the shot profile,
of the foul line frequency, maybe that worries you a little bit. But
the Clippers have been like a very good defensive team all season, and I
don't know that Quai still has like the I'm going to swallow your soul gear
for forty minutes a night in him on that end. But this is still
someone who's very much when he's on it. It's a star on both sides
of the floor. And so I'd be willing to say predict top fifteen,
top twenty and not feel like that's too ambitious. Yeah, that's so hard
because you are just baking in to get that feels like the right range to
me because you're baking in the availability concerns and that's thing. But yeah,
I agree. The bottom line is like, if he's right, he can
be the best player on the floor against any team full stop for a game.
Like I don't know if that's true over a playoff series, but we're
talking about the rest of the year. It's He's one of the hardest guys
to evaluate. I do think there are some concerns, like he's getting to
the line less often per thirty six just a little bit, but it would
be a low since he left the Spurs, his three point shooting has been
bad, but we're talking about tiny samples. Defensively, I do think I
think he had slipped defensively, you know, in like even nineteen twenty,
he wasn't. He wasn't just like you know, the I mean dominant,
right, We're talking about a guy who's like, I will just I will
blow up your entire offense just by myself, you know, on or off
the ball. So saying he slipped from that is like, well, okay,
everybody slips from that. Nobody sustains that for a very long So fifteen
to twenty, I guess. But I don't know what you do with the
fact that, like on a random it just it doesn't matter who, if
he's playing against Steph or Yogis or Yannis or whatever, there's every chance that
Kauai on a given night has more of an impact on winning than any of
those guys. It's just you're not going to get it, you know,
two nights in a row, three times in a week. I don't know
what that looks like in a seven game series either. So just fifteen to
twenty and just like we have to punt because I did. It's too hard
of a question. It's almost impossible to answer. Yeah, we're on too,
though that was a quick one. That was the only question we had
for the Clippers. So next time we do a Western Conference mail bag,
get your Clippers questions and yeah, we have a Lakers one. This is
from Brian C. I hate to give homework, but you did it anyway.
Brian, Thanks a lot. This took me a long time, but
wondering if the Lakers would have had cap space if they did not trade for
a D. So this is assuming a D would have signed with him July
first, the Pelicans would have been stubborn and not you know, acquiesced too.
What was at the time like a really bizarre it's since not that weird.
But the trade demand but not a demand. Will ye have a couple
of years left under contract? Now that happens. But the idea is basically
like if they don't trade for a D and then they also don't give up,
we're talking ingram Lonzo Heart a bunch of picks, including the fourth pick
in that draft, which got flipped around but ended up being DeAndre Hunter.
I don't know, how do you feel about that? What's sort of what's
that look like? And so the problem here is and because it's a cool
thing to think about, I guess because imagine, you know, you have
Lebron, you have all these younger guys, and theoretically you have space to
sign you know, another star and or Davis. We're just spitballing at some
point. The timing is the issue here because Davis could not have opted out
with New Orleans and signed with the Lakers until after nineteen twenty, and so
that's the year the Lakers won the title. So you can't really get it
both ways. You had to make that trade then, and if I don't
know why, because that essentially would have amounted to the Lakers waiting for two
years, you know, with Lebron, to go get a d or another
star. So yeah, they could have done that, but they won the
title in nineteen twenty. I think, you know, titles trump everything.
But so there are some other kind of interesting like niche ideas here to explore.
So let's say, I don't know if you remember this, but this
was a deal that went down like June fifteenth, I think of twenty nineteen,
and there was all this talk about how if the Lakers had waited until
July thirtieth, they could have essentially made that number four pick and used it
as outgoing salary and had thirty two and a half million in cap space instead
of twenty three point seven. So there were ways they like kind of botched
it. I feel like this is one of the first, like let's start
taking shots at Polinka situations where that was just like, you know, almost
ten million bucks that just wasn't there. I don't know what the particulars of
that were, but that's an issue. So let's say though that they don't
make the trade. So you still have Lebron for thirty seven and a half
million, KCP is still on the roster for eight, Lonzo for eight point
seven. We're talking about in nineteen twenty, Ingram seven point three, Kuzma's
there for two million, Josh Hart for just under two, Alex Caruso for
three. That number four picks is gonna make about seven million. So you're
in like the eighty low eighties in salary with one hundred nine million dollar cap.
That's not enough to have gone out and signed like Kawai, Kyrie,
Middleton, Butler Durant, even Kemba or Tobias Harris. All those guys made
more than Lakers would have had to give, and that's excluding like you've got
to clear everything else out on that roster, which is which is tough.
They would have been in the range for Al Horford, boy On Bogdanovich,
Malcolm Brogden, but then you're also not getting Danny Green, who super mattered
in that title run with Davis. So yeah, it's interesting and like where
the Lakers are now having no young talent and no picks, it's interesting to
look back at how else could this have gone? But you still make that
Davis trade one hundred times out of one hundred in hindsight because you get a
title and Lebron wanted you to. So like, as those are your two
factors. Good question, though it kind of made me dive back in and
look at like what else could have happened there? I would agree. And
the other thing here too is just like you don't wait because of what happened
with Paul George. You waited on Paul George and he ended up resigning with
this thunder and then getting traded to the Clippers, and so that's they had
proof of why you don't wait. And I think it's fair more fair,
or I don't know the word isn't fair because this is an interesting thought exercise,
but I think it's more salient to focus on what if they didn't make
this litany of other shitty transactions. What if you don't let Alex Carusa walk,
What if you don't make the Rush trade. What if you e't even
make the Dennis Shrewder trade where it's like they treated Danny Green just like salary
filler in that deal with the first round pick, So what if you don't
make that deal? And those are I think bigger turning points for this franchise
than one deciding to trade for a d or as you mentioned, like maybe
fucking up the cat machinations of it and not maximizing their spending power. But
hey, the Lakers have even spent everything. They run themselves like a small
market franchise at this point. So who I'm with you. I make the
ad trade, it's the other ones that are just it's again, it's not
there's the it's not just the Rush trade that is the like the quintessential Rob
Polinka move, like just didn't make it totally actively destructive, but like you
still could have kept Caruso that season, or maybe you never make that Denistooter
trade. I think a lot more people were in support of that at the
time that it ended up being. I was always on the fence. It's
not a victory lap, it's just what if you don't make It's Look,
it's their job to be better at this than us. Anyway, they get
paid accordingly, and so what if you don't make even one of those decisions
are reversed, You're a lot a much different team right now. And I
just the Westbrook trade is completely inexplicable because you want a title with Lebron and
anthy Davis and then complimentary shooting a defense and you just pivoted entirely away from
that. And so that is the more that's the bigger cardinal sin for Los
Angeles, And I think it's it's tough because some people believe that the Disney
Idelshancount and now we're witnessing the Pelicans. You know, they're they're like banged
up beyond comprehension. They've been shorthanded like every single game that year, but
yet they're still contending near the top of the West and recence he's going to
kick in and their future looks incredibly right. But you make the Anthony Davis
tright. Even if you could have gotten him for a little lesser, maximize
your books more, you still make that deal. And like you mentioned the
rest trade and all these other stuff, like they watched the first Lebron season,
because it wasn't that the year that it was like, let's go get
playmakers around Lebron. Let's go get Lance Stevenson and Rondo and all these other
guys. So like there's really been The Davis trade arguably is the only good
thing that this administration has done, because on either side of it, there's
just mistakes of all sizes and shapes, just up and down the history of
the Polinka era. Let's go to the Memphis Grizzlies, and our first question
on them comes from Shalamar the God best Dylan Brooks destination, And so I
think this is a one. I do think it's a it's a fair question,
just because Dylan Brooks is in the final year of his contract and who
knows if Memphis wants to play him, and it feels like he can still
shoot them out of games, but they don't treat him as like someone who's
a liability either, And so I want to make that clear. It's not
just like this is someone who you know was gonna play like thirty minutes per
game for them or whatever, and he's super important to what they want to
do on defense. But when you look at teams, so he's on an
expiring contract, what are you hoping to get for him at this point?
Some teams that I've wondered if they would take a look Brooklyn, do they
have the juice to get him. Charlotte's season is over, so forget them.
I thought about, like I thought about Denver, but I don't think
he's big enough and I don't know that they have enough assets to get him.
I've also thought about like the Heat would be kind of interesting for him,
but I also don't know that they would be giving up equity to the
Grizzlies that would make Memphis want to do the deal. And he would be
like really interesting on Phoenix this year, I think, But I also think
that they're probably looking for someone bigger and more trustworthy as a as a ball
handler. Portland could be interesting, but it's just like they kind of have
where they wanted Gary Payton the second to be in that role for them.
He's a tough player. Though, to just find a fit for I think
he would be he'd be kind of fun in like maybe maybe Utah like take
a flyer on him. I don't know if you've any other Dylan Brooks destinations
that that you would that you would like or would intrigue you. Yeah,
I have a Portland question later and he's you already said it, but like
that, just any place that you know has these ridiculous well this is a
top five or top ten offense, but their defense is bottom five or bottoms
and just like get him because he is kind of a damaging offensive player.
Just with his shot selection, he's been more efficient. I think he's around
thirty four percent from three this year. But I mean we've seen you said,
like he shoots you out of games. That's just gonna happen. But
you know, sometimes the juice is worth a squeeze because he is just a
really disruptive defensive piece that kind of changes the tone of every game he's in,
especially big games like against the Warriors in particular, because that rivalry is
starting to get kind of real. He's just I mean, he's out there
doing like Marcus Smart stuff and like Patrick Beverley stuff. Just trying to be
an irritant in addition to being a really good defensive piece. So you know,
Denver, Portland, Sacramento, like any place like that that just needs
a big wing to defend and can live with what he's going to do to
your offense. I think is like a totally sensible destination for him. But
I don't know what I don't know what he's worth. He's a really difficult
player to evaluate in terms of trade assets. We have two other questions for
the Grizzlies. I see if we can get to and I apologize if you
hear my dogs going bonkers in the background. Everybody secret based vibe as his
jaw really a plus on defense, and there are some metrics that have kind
of grown to like jaw. We're not like job, but he's grated out
as a net positive on defense. I still don't think he's there. I
think he's still someone that teams could like attack and he's a good rebounder,
which I think is going to help his defensive metrics at relative to his position.
He's still someone that teams can go after. I think he's probably been
a little bit better when he's getting screened this year, but overall, I
wouldn't call Jaw a net positive on defense. I don't even think he's entered
the territory of like, oh you can count on him too? What submarines
too strong a word, but like would you even call him a net even
defender? And I'm just not when you watch him, I'm just not there.
He's had moments, and I think a lot of that is like because
he has the physical tools and the smarts to do it, but it's tough
when you show to the load that he does on offense to always be there.
And then also I think that he will benefit from Memphis's overarching defensive infrastructure.
Yeah, I think I generally agree like Raptor and EPM both have him
as a mild positive defensively, which is like that's progress, that's impressive,
But it's just he's a little bit like Darren Fox or how darn Fox has
been where there's just all this athleticism and speed and quickness and he doesn't do
Like his block and steel rates are both in the twentieth percent, So that's
like, how is that possible? Why isn't he just you don't have to
be someone that holds up, you know, in one on one situations or
comes over to help. That's not the expectation for a guy at his size,
at his position, But you should be kind of darting around and like
you know, making highlight defensive plays which you don't really see. So I
think on the positive side, that is like a level up area for him.
I think if he can be like you see guards all the time,
just improve in those areas, Like you know, Curry is the standout if
he was a target and he's not a target anymore. Part of the problem
for Morant is the other guys that he plays with are so so good defensively
that there's really nowhere else to like pick at except for him. So he
does get a lot of attention for the wrong reasons that he kind of can't
control. Like he's just you're gonna go at Dylan Brooks and Desmond bane a,
You're gonna go at Morant. It's just pretty easy. We have time
to get this from from Chale. Marlea God asked, if you're Tyler Jenkins,
what are you doing with the half court offense after the Christmas Day loss
to the Warriors. I probably not playing Brandon Clark against the Warriors. Anymore
might be might be step one. He just seems like food for them.
The other thing I probably would look into not doing is like, hey,
Desmond just needs more time. He was you know, his creation is up
even relative to last year when he already made it leave they'd basically double this
pick and roll volume this year. Let's see him get more reps under his
belt. You're also still trying to work sut you're Williams back into the fold.
I don't know that you can do a lot of aside from you could
definitely change up your front court rotations a little bit where it's, well,
maybe we're just going when Steven Adams wasn't bad in that game, so you
can get away with minutes with him against the Warriors. But maybe you're just
decided, like, well we're gonna try and mismatch the hell out of them,
or just play all Jarron at the five the entire time without Brandon Clark
being on the court. You could try that, see how it works.
I think this is if you're truly worried about Memphis's half court offense, which
is fair to worry because they are twenty third or twenty fourth in half court
efficiency. They need to look for outside help, but I don't think it
needs to be a star. I was wrong on the Grizzlies this season.
They are they look like a contender at full strength. Can you get someone
like a boy and Macdonovitch or a Kyle Kuzma type. Those feel like players
that could really help them, specifically in the matchup against the Warriors, but
but just in general when you're looking at their playoff stock. Yeah, the
other things I'd add are make sure Jaren Jackson doesn't commit a stupid fourth foul
like five seconds into the second half. So much better about not doing that
lately that it almost was just today I didn't see the game, i'd have
to I've heard about it. I was like, I was almost shocked that
that was just one of the answers, like, oh, he's had he's
been so under control, but he hasn't been better. But it's just that's
kind of your answer for if you're looking to find a different look and against
the good defense, is just, you know, his three point shooting has
been so inconsistent year to year, But if you want a different look,
put him at the five and maybe you space the floor out a little bit
and you can go at something you know, it's easier to go at someone
like Pool with the floor space and things like that, and make Desmond Bane
make a couple shots like the Grizzlies just didn't shoot the ball. Well,
that's another factor in that game. Yea. If I were the Grizzlies,
I would hit more threes. I would simply just hit more threes and that
that would be remedy. Shoot it better. I say, we end it
there. There's another question. We have other questions. I might try to
get to them later this week. I'll take us out again. Everybody for
all your questions. Keep them coming. We'll do the East at some point
here. As Dan mentioned at the top, please remember to rate, review,
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And lastly, I guess I want to apologize. I'm gonna I'll have
to apologize to Jared Allen for not apologizing, but I will apologize to Laurie
Marken in this week, and we leave as we always do, with a
shout out to the one and only Fragments