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What is krak Alac and fellow thermonuclear
a efforts. I am damn Valley coming

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at you with my certified fantabulous co
host Grant Hughes. We are delivering you

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our Western Conference mailback as promise where
we will get to one or two questions

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for every single team. Thank you
all for submitting your questions before we get

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started. Please remember subscribe to the
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at Hardwood Underscore Knox on Instagram.
With all that out of the way and

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under a minute, I might add
Grant, how the heck are you doing?

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I'm doing well. I've you got
to give me more time to think

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about the answer to your question usually
need ninety seconds minimum. I'm doing great.

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I had a good Christmas, looking
forward to the new year, writing

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about New Year's resolutions right now for
work, So that's cool. But yeah,

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I'm excited to do this great questions
again everybody. This is a super

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helpful exercise as always. So I
think that's enough Ado. So without further

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Ado, you want to start with
the Western Conference alphabetical number one team,

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the Dallas Mavericks. Yeah, so
I have Dallas, and we have two

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questions that are pretty related to each
other. So mesh narion As agree or

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disagree. The MAVs are better than
their record suggests. They have a ton

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of bad losses when they dropped big
leads to bad teams. And I've lost

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the four games Luca arrested in,
including the recent Minnesota game where he was

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ejected, which they should have won. They will be a threat come playoff

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time because, as Luca showed last
year, he can take out anyone.

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And then Quinn has a two part
questions. So the first part of it

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is, is there any evidence to
suggest the MAVs could rise in the standings

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and make a run, And if
so, what is it? And so

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we can go and look at their
schedule if we wanted to. If you

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look at their point differential as well, they're on pace to underperform their point

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differential per cleaning deaths by about four
wins. They should be about a forty

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seven forty eight win team, and
they're on pace to win between forty three

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and forty four. So I guess
there is evidence that they could be better.

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I would point out though, like
losing close games or not being able

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to win without Luca, or blowing
big leads like those are actual problems that

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you just can't write off. They
might be high variance moments, but close

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games or leads, those are going
to come at you in the playoffs.

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And so I do think. You
know, there's been a normalization a little

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bit on their shooting. They're now
eleventh when it comes to three point accuracy

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from beyond the arc, and that's
a good sign. I think we've also

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scene over the past month Luca's load
has gotten a little bit lighter. He's

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still superhuman, but more of his
buckets are coming off assists. His uses

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is dropped. Probably some of those
wins have helped a little bit as well.

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You've gotten there's still like the peaks
and valleys from Tim Hardaway Junior.

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But you're seeing some more peaks.
We've seen some of Reggie Bullock shooting normalize

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when he's gotten to play mixing missing
excuse me, Maxi Kleiba is going to

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be huge for them down the stretch. So I don't you know. There's

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the second part of this question from
Quinn about what could they do to improve,

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but I wanted to throw it to
you on just your thoughts with the

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Mavericks. Do you think this team
is better than it has showed this season?

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Because when I look at it,
I kind of feel like, are

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they eighth in the West? Are
they that team? Like I don't know,

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I probably expected them to finish like
maybe sixth they said, but they're

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not like underachieving to the extent that
I feel like they're due for this huge

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bump in performance without changing anything.
Yeah, I think you're kind of having

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to deal with two. I mean, I would do the same thing you

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did, and I'd start with the
point of Crenchel and it, well,

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it suggests there are a couple you
know, they're short a couple wins from

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where they ought to be at this
point in the season, and that translates

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to four or five extra or whatever
over the course of the year. So

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in that sense, yeah, they
are a little better than they've seemed.

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But I think so trusting the clutch
stuff for them is just different for almost

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every other than it is for almost
every other team, because you know,

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what's the prevailing narrative surrounding Luca and
how the maps have used him forever.

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It's that he wears down and like, you just you can split it by

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half, you can split it by
quarters, and the fact is, like

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he just it just it's not a
perfect declining, you know, trend line,

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but he just you know, you
get to the fourth quarter and he's

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shooting forty two percent from the field
in twenties, just under twenty seven percent

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from three, and those are the
worst numbers in any quarter. And that's

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just what happens, you know,
And it happens over the course of a

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playoff series, it happens over the
course of a season. The wear down

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is just real. And so if
you're saying, well, they've had some

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rough clutch luck, it's like,
well, it's because their best players kind

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of asked by the end of the
game, and you can't count on that

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normalizing necessarily that flies in the face
of they have a winning record in the

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quat right now, they're twelve and
ten. Their point differentials pretty bad,

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but they're twelve and ten, so
you could argue that they've maybe gotten even

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a little bit lucky in some of
those games. Which which way does that

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cut, Like, I don't I
suppose it would depend on if they do

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change, you know, the usage
distribution and their style of play. And

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you know, I thought that was
a really interesting game. We may have

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talked about it last time when Luca
was out and Kema Walker had like a

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thirty something percent usage rade and played
you know, forty something some odd minutes,

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and it made you think, like, is this just how they play?

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It's just it's not even lucas specific. They just have to operate with

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one guy. Not really true looking
at some of the other games that Luca

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has missed, where you know,
guys like Din Witty and and others have

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more evenly split the usage. But
yeah, I kind of feel I've kind

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of feel like the MAVs are right
about where they ought to be. You

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know, I don't think they profiled
as a serious contender on the level of

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you know the top three or four
teams in the league, and I don't

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think you know they're they're grossly under
or overperforming. They're just this kind of

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about right. So I don't know
what the changes that they make. I

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don't think it's going to be an
in season things. So it's just kind

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of where they are to me.
And look, they might still just be

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a threat come playoff time because they
have Luca and so if he's not going

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to wear down, I would agree
with that statement. We've seen Luca being

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an absolute killer in the playoffs.
The second part of Quinn's question also,

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what is the MAV's current problem other
than just making shots? And so there

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are a couple of things that I
look at. Their rim protection is not

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The volume they're allowing at the rim
is fine, but their rim protection is

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not good. Losing Maxi Kleiba is
going to hurt that. Teams are probably

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going to go after Christian Wood even
more. Are there ways for them to

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cover that up with That's something that
we just need to see bear out.

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We haven't seen a ton of at
least relative to what you would expect of

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like Spencer Dinwoodie, Luka don Chich
and Christian Wood playing together, you only

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had would recently go into the starting
five, and so that's a concern for

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me overall. And I don't know
if this if I would call this a

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bigger concern, but it's not even
the just making shots. It's the offensive

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diversification. And it's yes, they
have the best half court offense statistically in

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the league right now, they're also
dead last in transition frequency and not really

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having that change of pace gear.
We saw it in a couple games and

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some at points during the Lakers where
it was like, oh, they pushed

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off of live balls. They need
to have that element, and I think

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they need to have it even with
Luca on the floor, just to vary

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up their attack, and that would
be a way of them generating some more

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organic rim pressure, which is like
their own offense. That's not it doesn't

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you know. I don't want to
say it gets lost because people do talk

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about it, but they're a team
that if you didn't have Luca, like,

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we would probably be talking more about, oh, why doesn't this team

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get to the rim more. It
just doesn't matter because Luca is so amazing

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at every single single level, particularly
from the top two. When you're looking

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at three pointers and then just from
the mid range and so changing up the

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pace at which you're playing, and
they're not. Again, I don't want

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to say they're necessarily built to do
that, but you can push off of

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live balls, like that's something every
team can do. And that's what you

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know has kind of helped Philly a
little bit during their winning streak, and

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so I'd like to see more of
it from Dallas. And that's just me

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focusing on controllables with the roster when
it comes to just like, well,

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what's wrong with this team. I
don't want to bemoan just they need another

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co star, but they need they
need a higher end number two because like

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maybe you're gonna carve out enough ball
handling from Kemba and Luca and Spencer Dinwoody,

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Okay, fine, like you need
then at this point I think with

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Cleveland down, like you probably need
that front court player who can either place

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him five and hold up defensively or
is gonna need to be tethered to a

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Christian would if you want to maximize
his minute, his minutes where he's gonna

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space the floor, but can also
maybe be a center on defense. So

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that would be the player for them
to target via trade. I just going

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back to their assets very quickly.
And we've talked about this before. They

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can't theoretically convey a pick until twenty
twenty five, and that's assuming they're picked

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to the Knicks top ten protection conveys
this year. They're just better off because

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they don't have any blue chip prospects. If you ever want to take a

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swing, you are better off waiting
until the off season when you can trade

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four picks three swaps once the league
calendars resets, and then like salary filler.

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And so no, I don't expect
them to make a big move in

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large part, I just don't think
they're built to make one. Yeah,

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I agree, I think you know
with that you want to you don't want

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to get too far down the overthinking
it road, because it is just they

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need, you know, what are
the needs. There's nothing different really,

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it's the second star or you know
what to try to be Porzingis and they're

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kind of going without. It was
sort of Jalen Brunson, and now they

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have not replaced that really effectively,
and yet the team isn't really that meaningfully

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different, which is really just more
of a statement on what Luca is capable

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of doing as far as like elevating
a roster that just is short on a

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00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:54,480
couple of important things. The other
thing that's interesting is like I think we

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00:09:54,559 --> 00:10:00,320
ascribe the bad super low transition frequency
to Luca just he doesn't want to she

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00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,240
doesn't want to push. But I
think the fact that they're also bad in

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00:10:03,279 --> 00:10:07,200
transition defense. They're bottom ten team
in transition defense in terms of the points

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00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,679
they allow. They're they're pretty good
at preventing transition, but that's just more

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00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,279
of a tactical thing. It's not
a personnel thing. You just don't go

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to the offensive boards. I think
it's a little bit of a statement on

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00:10:16,879 --> 00:10:20,879
you know, they're not the most
athletic team. They sort of have to

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00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:26,360
make concessions with who they're playing at
center. Uh some that guy's always limited

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in one way or the other.
I think what they really need is like

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the best possible version of Kleiba,
and like that's probably not Kleiba, but

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it's just you know what that whatever
that player type is, it's a weird

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00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,120
player type because the best version of
that guy could guard, you know,

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the first option wing, defend the
rim a little bit and shoot three is

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it's just like not I mean,
I don't even Miles Turner. I'm not

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00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,440
saying Cleb is more valuablean Miles Turner, but his skill set is or at

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00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,279
his peak. Yes, no special, Yeah, it's it's a real niche.

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I mean, it's a weird collection
of skills that I don't that Cleba

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just doesn't have anymore, even if
healthy. That weird guy to get I

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00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,960
don't know who you'd even say approximates
that. I know we're moving in a

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better place. But the other thing
that I feel like we have to note

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is just the margins in the West
or in the league this year are so

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00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:15,080
unbelievably small, and it sounds a
lot like doom and gloom for the Mavericks.

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But to the first question about,
oh, are they going to be

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a threat in the playoffs or are
they much better than expect? Like their

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00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,919
four games out of first places,
we're recording this and so that's not you

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know, and they're top twelve in
defense, top seven in offense. It

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hasn't been pretty and there are ways
that I think we both believe they could

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optimize the current roster better. But
it isn't all doom and gloom. It's

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just that there's absurd parody right now, and I think that that's why these

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00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:43,679
high variants maybe either smaller issues or
smaller samples as like those are going to

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come back to really really matter,
specifically when you're talking about postseason seating.

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00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,879
Yeah, I agree, let's go
to Denver. This is It has some

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of the same elements of the last
question, but this is from JC Alexander.

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How do the Nuggets make a championship
winning team? Or Yoka? To

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be specific, it's how to the
Nuggets or anybody you know, not that

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he's going anywhere, but sort of
what's the theory of a championship winning roster

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around Yoki? This is a really
difficult question, and there's almost no way

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00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:18,240
to go at it without just we
have to start with the concession that even

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00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:20,720
if you know, some of the
advanced metrics really love Yokich's defense, you

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00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,519
know, Raptor has always been high
on him. Generally he grades out pretty

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well defensively if you're just looking at
the metrics. It's my opinion and I

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think we have to concede for the
purposes of this question, that he just

202
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presents defensive challenges to a roster that
so far have been a problem, like

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that's the problem, and maybe not
the problem. You could say health last

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year was the problem. But just
generally speaking, it's very difficult to play

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a championship level defense with a center
that is not a vertical shot blocking threat,

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that isn't the most latterally quick,
even if he's smart, even if

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he has great hands, even if
he does all this other stuff, right,

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that's just the reality of it.
And so you know the issue then

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is, well, so what are
you looking for? You need versatility,

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good defenders at the point of attack
because you're gonna have to play some styles

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where you know Yokich has to come
up to the screen. He can't be

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in drop coverage. He's not Brook
Lopez. That just doesn't work. He

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can't switch. So you're limited really
in what you can do. So you

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have to have wings and guards that
are able to really in tandem with Yokich,

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just slow the initial point of attack
action down, Like you can't let

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00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,240
the ball handler that you know Yokich
is kind of hedging out on get rid

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00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:39,159
of it quickly to somebody open.
You definitely can't let him get around both

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of those defenders and just throw the
whole defensive rotation into chaos. So I

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mean, to that effect, Aaron
Gordon and KCP are both like pretty good

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00:13:48,879 --> 00:13:52,000
in that regard. Now Bruce Brown
is another one. You know, smart

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00:13:52,039 --> 00:13:56,240
teams are gonna you know, switch
around and try to hunt more matchups where

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you're not attacking those guys. But
that's kind of the starter there. I

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think that's your defensive issue. Like
if you could add Draymond Green to the

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roster and suddenly you have a switchable
guy that can can defend the rim and

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do all this other stuff, great, like that's your solve, But there's

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one of him, and that's just
he's the salt. He would he or

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someone similar would be the salve anywhere
Aaron Gordon is kind of a decent like

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you know, poor man's version of
that. So that's the defensive struggle.

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I don't know how you do that
offensively, you know, I think Denver

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doesn't have any offensive questions. You
put enough good shooting a second side attacker,

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00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,200
which is like you know MPJ and
Peke Murray, you're set, I

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think offensively for any playoff series.
I'm just trying to think, like,

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you know, let's look at the
numbers, maybe this will tell it.

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So essentially, you have the Nuggets
ranked right now defensively are twenty eight.

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I'm gonna have to double check that
their bottom ten and for all for these

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00:14:54,919 --> 00:14:58,679
purposes, what you need to know
is that, and you've seen this stack

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00:14:58,679 --> 00:15:01,960
come up several times over the years, the idea that you've got to be

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a top ten defense to win a
title. So the Nuggets are way far

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away from that. I think maybe
they're fifteenth actually, but they have the

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twenty eighth. Yeah, location based
effective feet goal percentage. So here's the

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here's how you get around that.
If the Nuggets are going to win a

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title with a defense like this,
the only teams to do it outside the

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top ten in defensive efficiency since nineteen
eighty one are the ninety five Rockets who

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are twelveth, the oh one Lakers
who were twenty first, and the eighteen

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00:15:26,679 --> 00:15:31,519
Warriors who are eleventh. Every single
one of those teams is a defending champion

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00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:35,360
that flipped the switch, that had
the personnel, that had all that stuff.

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The Nuggets just aren't that team.
So how do you build a championship

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defense around Yoki? I guess you
have to win a title first, somehow,

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and then the next year when they're
ranked fifteenth or whatever it is,

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00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:48,639
you can you can do it.
It's that's we've said we weren't going to

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be dooming gloom about Dallas. It
is kind of doom and gloom for Denver

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because I don't personally believe that there's
a way to build a defense around Yokich

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00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:03,360
that can be top ten and like
a big value add against the best playoff

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offenses. I don't see it.
So I would disagree and think that one

255
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there's a chance they may have already
done it, and I'd be curious to

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00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,600
see what happens if this team is
at full strength or more this season or

257
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you know, Quiet said this about
his ACL injury, and there's been a

258
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,320
lot of talk about Jamal Murray sort
of waxing and waning this year. These

259
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,240
are two year recoveries, like you
miss a year and then you're working your

260
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:26,240
way back basically, And so maybe
Jamal Murray is going to be better defensively,

261
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I mean, because he was always
kind of an underrated, hard nosed

262
00:16:29,759 --> 00:16:33,679
defender by the time that you get
to the playoffs. And the other thing

263
00:16:33,759 --> 00:16:37,080
is just like because there's been the
trickle down of Michael Porter Junior being absent,

264
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Like some of your best lineups have
been defensive juggernauts this year. And

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would it be easier to survive minutes, you know, with the bench if

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00:16:42,919 --> 00:16:47,200
you had Michael Porter Junior to mix
and match in or like maybe even you

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00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,080
know, I guess the Bruce Brown
bench stuff was kind of noisy. I

268
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feel like Denver's main issue. I'm
more concerned about their bench than their defense.

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And I don't want to but labor
the point you made about the way

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that they defend. They finally tried
some different things, it felt like over

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the past few games, and they
like worked out where it's like, hey,

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let's be you know, you're you're
still kind of using Yokich the same

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way, but you're being more aggressive
with size and length elsewhere. And maybe

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that's the recipe. And so it's
that's why Christian Brown might be so valuable

275
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to them. It's what if you
so you have Aaron Gordon, and you

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00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,000
have Ksey Pen, you have Bruce
Brown, those guys are the answers.

277
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Maybe it's and again, this still
means that you have to tell your team

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00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,640
to Yokich, is it you need
an Aaron Gordon and then like a Jeremy

279
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,480
Grant in tandem with each other,
because then you're talking about, like you

280
00:17:29,519 --> 00:17:30,920
know, you mentioned being able to
guard up top and to the point of

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00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,920
attack, but there's also just gonna
be points where Yokich gets beats or guys

282
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,440
get by him or is in drop, and so you need size, length,

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00:17:37,559 --> 00:17:41,480
quickness behind him. And the way
you use Aaron Gordon, it's not

284
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always going to be him, and
so you're gonna have to rely on these

285
00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:45,920
other guys. Michael Porter Junior is
shown the ability to do it in the

286
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,240
past, I don't know that you
could rely on him. And so the

287
00:17:49,319 --> 00:17:52,799
Nuggets are and remain my title pick. I don't change my title picks anyway.

288
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,119
I don't know if they've built the
championship defense yet. I do think

289
00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,799
they're closer to it than not.
And it feels like, yeah, you

290
00:18:00,839 --> 00:18:03,160
could say, well, having a
one Jeremy Grant away and I'm just spent.

291
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,359
Well, I mean, Jeremy Grant
back and Denver would be fantastic,

292
00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:10,039
But that type of a player that's
a more feasible get than oh, you

293
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:14,119
need another top ten star on your
team to do it, And so maybe

294
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it's just they've leaned too far into
like the point of attack ish defenders because

295
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,720
Bruce Brown and even Casey be like, no, they're not small, but

296
00:18:21,759 --> 00:18:25,160
they're not huge, and so like
someone who's in Aaron Gordon's size, like

297
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,200
someone else like that, which is
why I've kind of wondered he's not the

298
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,200
answer. But like Zeke Nagi is
starting to play now in large part because

299
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,799
of the Jeff Green injury, and
so it feels like if they need something,

300
00:18:34,799 --> 00:18:37,720
it's that type of a player.
And yes, it'd be nice if

301
00:18:37,759 --> 00:18:40,480
it was ogi Ana Nobi, but
it doesn't need to be that good or

302
00:18:40,519 --> 00:18:42,039
he doesn't need to be that good, is my point. And so that's

303
00:18:42,079 --> 00:18:47,160
just sort of where I'm at with
the Nuggets. Yeah, I think it's

304
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,640
just so difficult because, as I
say, you can't you know, it's

305
00:18:49,799 --> 00:18:55,000
I don't see a way to build
a championship roster around Yokich. I also

306
00:18:55,039 --> 00:18:57,000
sort of feel like the roster they
have right now is almost as good as

307
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,440
you can do, with the exception
of like, well, I don't have

308
00:19:00,559 --> 00:19:03,559
like Andrew Wiggins or you know,
just Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart or like

309
00:19:03,599 --> 00:19:10,839
just someone to really put the clamps
on another wing, because without that,

310
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,640
like the reality is just they you
can't. I just don't see a way

311
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,920
to survive as a playoff defense when
everybody finishes everything around the rim and the

312
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,359
Nuggets are pretty good at preventing rim
frequency. But when I look these stats

313
00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,519
up last night, opponents are shooting
seventy one percent at the rim, and

314
00:19:27,559 --> 00:19:33,880
that's like Yokich isn't really the driver
necessarily of that. Like it's not just

315
00:19:33,039 --> 00:19:37,039
him. It does feel tactical,
it does feel schematic, it does feel

316
00:19:37,039 --> 00:19:41,279
like because of the way Denver has
to play. When that first level is

317
00:19:41,319 --> 00:19:45,119
beaten, it's just it's too easy
to get clean looks at the rim,

318
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,480
and like that's the first thing a
really good, title worthy defense takes away.

319
00:19:49,759 --> 00:19:53,079
And if you can't even handle that, then yeah, like everyone's subject

320
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,880
to the vagaries of a hot three
point shooting night from another team or you

321
00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:00,640
know whatever else, foul drawing,
that kind of thing. But if you

322
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,799
can't defend the rim, and it's
just that's where the buckets are easiest to

323
00:20:03,799 --> 00:20:07,920
come by, that's just that's just
such a hill to climb. I just

324
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,200
I hate to be so negative about
it, but you know, I just

325
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:18,279
haven't seen anything that convinces me that
without without adding like just take your pick

326
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:23,559
of some elite defensive piece, uh
that that Denver can get there. And

327
00:20:23,599 --> 00:20:26,759
that's like this is with the offense
that might just you know, their second

328
00:20:26,799 --> 00:20:30,079
I think right now that has like
a ton of upside on top of being

329
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,519
second, Like you could just be
one of the best offenses of all time.

330
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,720
And I just don't know if that's
enough. So sorry, sorry if

331
00:20:37,759 --> 00:20:42,960
that's too bleak for Denver fans.
Let's get to the Golden State Warriors.

332
00:20:44,079 --> 00:20:48,200
Uh So this one comes from semashionary
end as this question as well, and

333
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,680
it's tied to the We're gonna semashinary
end and then Bulls Film room. So

334
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,559
the first question, where's the future
of the Warriors? With Curry out?

335
00:20:53,559 --> 00:20:59,759
They might even miss the play in
this season, and I mean that's fair.

336
00:20:59,839 --> 00:21:04,119
I don't know that I would predict
that, but they've been predictably not

337
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,240
great in general without him. They're
two and three as we record this.

338
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,119
You know, they had that that
went over the Grizzlies was really good,

339
00:21:11,839 --> 00:21:15,480
but they also haven't had Andrew Wiggins, so that's something the factor into that.

340
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,119
So there's a chance they get better
you talked about. Before we were

341
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,400
recording, we were talking about Jordan
Pool, how he's come up relatively huge

342
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:23,000
for them. Still isn't hitting his
threes, and that might be something to

343
00:21:23,039 --> 00:21:26,799
monitor. I don't know what becomes
of this season, and it makes it

344
00:21:26,799 --> 00:21:30,759
harder to say, well, they
should just trade someone and just for bench

345
00:21:30,839 --> 00:21:33,400
depth. I need to know steps
timeline. As we record this. He's

346
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,000
at least two weeks away from coming
back from that shoulder injury, and you

347
00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:41,960
need a more concrete date and probably
more concrete understanding of where you are in

348
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,359
the West before you decide whether to
make a mid season move. And I

349
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,000
might even bet against the making a
mid season move anyway, just because that

350
00:21:48,039 --> 00:21:52,240
hasn't really been there outside of the
DiAngelo Russell trade. That hasn't really been

351
00:21:52,279 --> 00:21:56,039
there their m and that season was
was lost by that point, and this

352
00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:00,039
season isn't yet lost. I would
predict that they will make at least the

353
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:07,960
play in I don't know where you're
at with that. I think they'll I

354
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,759
think they'll be one of it's so
hard to say, well, look,

355
00:22:11,759 --> 00:22:15,519
we just talked about the parody,
so I think there's every opportunity for them

356
00:22:15,599 --> 00:22:19,839
to get healthy get one of the
young guys to contribute consistently. Jonathan Kamia

357
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,279
is closest in that regard right now. But even Moses Moody had good minutes

358
00:22:23,319 --> 00:22:29,279
against the Grizzlies, and he's kind
of the guy that Warriors fans assumed talking

359
00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:32,400
about Moody was going to be the
guy that could just give you twenty good

360
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,119
minutes because he was just a plug
and play wing. That hasn't been the

361
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,240
case. I still think there's a
lot of reason to believe that maybe that's

362
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,480
possible. I just you see the
games like they had against the Celtics,

363
00:22:42,519 --> 00:22:48,559
like they had against the Grizzlies,
where you know, the top flight version

364
00:22:48,599 --> 00:22:52,160
of this team is still really good. And you know, you can even

365
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,799
look at the five man unit lineup
data where the Warrior starters are still the

366
00:22:56,799 --> 00:23:00,640
best in net rating of any five
man unit that's played in any significant number

367
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,799
of minutes. You need like two
more guys to show up, just and

368
00:23:04,279 --> 00:23:08,039
maybe that's Stevencenzo who's shot it better. So yeah, I could see for

369
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,680
sure a top six record because it's
not that I mean, what are the

370
00:23:12,279 --> 00:23:15,200
how badly of things gone? And
if you pull the standings up they're like,

371
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,240
what a couple games out of it
there? Yeah, I mean they're

372
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,400
two and a half games from like
the sixth seed right now, so you

373
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,960
know they're just when you look at
their point differential without Curry, it feels

374
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,880
like this has the chance, depending
on how long he misses, to go

375
00:23:30,039 --> 00:23:37,160
from manageable to just extremely dire,
hopeless whatever. That leads into the Bulls

376
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,799
film room question, which is should
the Warriors just blow it up and build

377
00:23:41,839 --> 00:23:48,039
around their young guys and get picks
back. My immediate answer is no,

378
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:53,039
because you just you're obligated to The
One thing is you still have Step and

379
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,119
unless he's gonna be shut down for
the season, like this season absolutely matters

380
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,599
because Step is that important and he's
also that fucking good. The other thing

381
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,480
is, and I'm not saying that
these guys have no value, but who

382
00:24:04,559 --> 00:24:08,559
is giving you godfather offers for any
of the Warriors vets right now? You're

383
00:24:08,599 --> 00:24:12,680
not getting one for Clay, You're
not getting one for Draymond, I don't

384
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:17,200
think, especially with him being able
to potentially become a free agent this summer.

385
00:24:17,799 --> 00:24:21,319
And then Jordan Pool is so tough
to trade because he's on his poison

386
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,440
pill. And like I think he
would probably for most people fall under the

387
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,759
young guy umbrella anyway. And so
yes, if we're taking a cold,

388
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,039
callous like business approach, yeah you
should. If someone came in and offer

389
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:34,839
you the moon for Draymond, like, yeah, you should take it.

390
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:41,079
No one's going to though, And
I think outside of Curry, there's single

391
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,359
most valuable veteran is Andrew Williams and
he's injured, and so what are you

392
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,599
getting for him? I don't I
understand why people might think along these lines.

393
00:24:49,839 --> 00:24:52,680
If they want to focus on the
young guys, that would be one

394
00:24:52,759 --> 00:24:55,799
route to go. And we'll have
to see how the season unfolds. But

395
00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:59,599
you can start looking in at the
ages of this core and it's we're not

396
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,279
you know, they used up their
gap year, gap years leeway. There's

397
00:25:03,279 --> 00:25:06,039
no there's no gap year anymore,
which is why I was an advocate of

398
00:25:06,079 --> 00:25:07,480
that. I would trade James Wiseman
right now for death that would still do

399
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:11,759
it. I'm out on James Wiseman, but I'm also just obsessed with maximizing

400
00:25:11,759 --> 00:25:17,440
steps timeline. I don't see the
pathway to them though. Punting on this

401
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,279
season while also capitalizing on it,
Yeah, you get to you have your

402
00:25:19,319 --> 00:25:22,880
own draft pick, So there's that, But I don't think that they could

403
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,960
make you know, I don't want
to. I don't know that they could

404
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,519
make a star trade even if one
became available. You have Comingo, you

405
00:25:27,559 --> 00:25:30,039
have Moody. You could trade a
first round pick in twenty twenty six,

406
00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:33,240
But because that's so far off into
the distance, you need someone to be

407
00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:37,480
in love with Comingo or Wiseman or
both. And then also the star trade

408
00:25:37,519 --> 00:25:40,400
market doesn't exist. But then on
the flip side of the equation is I

409
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,799
don't think they have really the incentive
to go the other route. Just I

410
00:25:42,799 --> 00:25:47,880
don't think that if they sold off
their veterans again not named step that they

411
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,200
would get a ton to begin with. And so you're looking at sort of,

412
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,279
you know, middle of the road
moves, which they're just not a

413
00:25:52,279 --> 00:25:56,680
team that feels like they're they're going
to make, especially when a number two

414
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,319
pick like James Wiseman would almost have
to be involved because the complication here is

415
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,880
the salary matching. If you're not
trading dre Clay Steph or Andrew Wiggins,

416
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,279
like there's Wiseman and there's there's Loonear, like your primary salary matching tools,

417
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:12,640
and so I would advocate against them
doing anything nuclear, and that includes buying,

418
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,279
just because I don't think that opportunities
out there now. If Pascal Siakam

419
00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:18,799
becomes available or if something along those
lines develops, sure we can talk,

420
00:26:18,799 --> 00:26:23,039
but it's of right now. I
would argue against them going the nuclear route

421
00:26:23,079 --> 00:26:26,920
in either direction. Yeah, just
real quickly. I don't think they're going

422
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,200
to make a trade, and I
don't think they should. And that's not

423
00:26:30,279 --> 00:26:36,200
because they don't need stuff. It's
because the young guys have not played well

424
00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:41,519
enough or enough period to drive up
the markets for them in trade. And

425
00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:44,880
like, if you're another team,
what are you giving up for Wiseman at

426
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,279
this point? Like it's not going
to be something that moves the needle,

427
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:48,960
So you might as well just hold
on to him. Hope you recoup,

428
00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:53,240
you know, rehabs his values so
that you can trade him or just become

429
00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:56,839
someone that you can actually play going
forward. I don't know, like the

430
00:26:56,839 --> 00:26:59,480
odds are low, but I would
still say that, you know, the

431
00:26:59,559 --> 00:27:03,279
highest high end outcome for guys like
Wiseman and Cominga are like quality starters.

432
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,440
You know, it's unlikely they reach
those I think at this point. But

433
00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:12,559
if that's you've got that in one
hand and you've got like just name some

434
00:27:12,799 --> 00:27:18,759
you know, seventh or eighth guy
on in the other I understand why they're

435
00:27:18,799 --> 00:27:22,000
just kind of going to stick to
their guns. I just I still think

436
00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:26,039
just everything you read and hear,
and whether they're right or wrong. I

437
00:27:26,079 --> 00:27:33,039
do think that the belief among the
Warriors is that when everybody's healthy and we

438
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:37,359
get one or two guys kind of
playing up to expectations outside of the starters,

439
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,640
we can just beat anybody and like
they might not be wrong. You

440
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,160
know, it's it's hard to see
it right now, but they might not

441
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,519
be wrong. The final question here, which is what you get through?

442
00:27:48,599 --> 00:27:53,599
James asked, who's the first person
Draymond Green is calling after the Warriors were

443
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,240
eliminated from playoff contention, And I
would probably say Clutch borts to see whether

444
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,359
he needs to decline or pick up
his his player option. That's going to

445
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,920
be a fascinating decision because he is
owed. If he opts in next year,

446
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,160
he gets twenty seven point six million. I don't know if there's more

447
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,720
cap space out there, so maybe
a team would be like, let's play

448
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:15,759
Draymond that I think he can get
noticeably more money over the longer term,

449
00:28:15,799 --> 00:28:18,720
even if it's had a less annual
average. But I'm very fascinated to see

450
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,880
one what he does with that player
option in two, whether it ultimately leads

451
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:29,359
to him bolting or staying in Golden
State. Yeah, he'll call Lebron,

452
00:28:29,599 --> 00:28:32,279
which you said clutch sports, So
it's like the same thing. I guess

453
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,759
I could What do you think I
could see him going like four for eighty

454
00:28:36,039 --> 00:28:37,839
just to stay with the Warriors.
It's kind of like the first big extension

455
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:41,039
he signed where it's like that feels
like a reason, like a little bit

456
00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:45,920
risky, which it was not in
that case. But I don't know,

457
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,319
I feel like he can't really he's
not gonna. I don't feel like he's

458
00:28:48,319 --> 00:28:51,880
one hundred million dollar guy just because
like the market for him is just so

459
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,279
narrow and I'll go through the teams
very quickly that could theoretically offer him for

460
00:28:56,279 --> 00:29:00,599
for eighty this summer or at least
get there. Charlotte potentially have to rennounce

461
00:29:00,599 --> 00:29:07,160
PJ Washington, Detroit easily, Houston
and Indiana easily, the Lakers, the

462
00:29:07,279 --> 00:29:12,599
Thunder, the Magic, and maybe
probably not the Kings because I'm just mean

463
00:29:12,599 --> 00:29:15,519
they want to keep Harris and Barnes, and then the Spurs. Yeah,

464
00:29:15,599 --> 00:29:18,559
so it's Detroit and the Lakers are
the really are the only ones I think

465
00:29:18,559 --> 00:29:23,279
he would even remotely consider, right, So yeah, all right? I

466
00:29:23,319 --> 00:29:26,799
have the Houston Rockets. This is
from unbiased Pistons fan. How do the

467
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,880
Rockets look like they have too many
guys but also not enough guys? The

468
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,079
team is like ten guys deep,
but I feel like they should be getting

469
00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:34,559
they all should be getting minutes.
Is this what happens when you bought them

470
00:29:34,559 --> 00:29:37,240
out and get a lot of early
picks. Too many guys you want need

471
00:29:37,279 --> 00:29:41,599
to see, but not enough minutes
to go around. So this is an

472
00:29:41,599 --> 00:29:47,559
interesting question that happens like almost anytime
you get a rebuild that hasn't quite gotten

473
00:29:47,599 --> 00:29:51,559
off the ground yet. And it's
so just to go through some of the

474
00:29:51,599 --> 00:29:55,160
young guys you're talking about, Jalen
Green, Kevin Porter Jr. Jabari Smith

475
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,039
Junior, Alpern Sangoon, I'm throwing
Tari Easton in there, Keny Martin Jr.

476
00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:03,119
Even like someone like Goosman Garuba.
You could go wait and listen to

477
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,559
Nasian Nix and Josh Christopher if you
want to, but nix in there.

478
00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:14,119
But yeah, Pa stop. So
the issue here is none of these guys,

479
00:30:14,279 --> 00:30:18,519
I think, with the possible exceptions
of Green and Changoon have like star

480
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,839
or superstar upside, and Changoon is
a stretch you have to really be into.

481
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,119
Like Niche, you know, he's
a great post player, he's an

482
00:30:25,119 --> 00:30:27,039
awesome passer. He makes a ton
of mistakes still, but like the highs

483
00:30:27,079 --> 00:30:32,079
are high for him. And Green
is just like a Tier one athlete that

484
00:30:32,279 --> 00:30:34,599
is as fast as any human being
on the planet Earth in the open floor,

485
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,119
but hasn't quite figured out how to
turn that into like efficiency or foul

486
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,160
drawing or just you know that kind
of stuff, which is fine. The

487
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:45,480
issue is like, it's not that
this is what happens when you get a

488
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,319
bunch of picks. It's what happens
when all those picks don't really return a

489
00:30:49,359 --> 00:30:53,799
guy that is obviously, you know, your number one scoring playmaking option or

490
00:30:53,839 --> 00:30:57,279
the anchor to a defense. Because
then it's kind of like, well,

491
00:30:57,519 --> 00:31:03,279
you know, we have all these
options, nothing's all that clear. Yeah,

492
00:31:03,319 --> 00:31:06,920
we should just poke around and see
who can do what and what configurations

493
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,920
working. You kind of feel like
you're not getting any answers. And I've

494
00:31:10,039 --> 00:31:12,200
used this all the time, but
it's like the idea that if you feel

495
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,160
like you have a lot of options, a lot of good options, it

496
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,480
means you don't have any great ones
because it's just, well, what's the

497
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:23,240
difference between Jalen Green and you know, Porter handling the ball out or Smith

498
00:31:23,519 --> 00:31:26,640
you know, spotting up all the
time, or it's just like there's just

499
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,559
not a blue chip. It doesn't
feel like among this group. And so

500
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,200
yeah, like play everybody, and
maybe it feels like some guys get squeezed

501
00:31:34,279 --> 00:31:37,319
or don't get enough touches, but
that's just kind of how it works out.

502
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,079
Related to that, we have a
question from I don't know if you

503
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,559
wanted to comment on that. I
mean, I don't if you have any

504
00:31:44,559 --> 00:31:47,559
thoughts on the rockets make I would
mostly agree with it. I'm probably higher

505
00:31:47,599 --> 00:31:49,960
than Jalen Green on you. And
I think that Jabari Smith Junior might end

506
00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:55,759
up being like real anchor defense material. Does that qualify him as blue chip?

507
00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:57,720
I think it's more so this And
I don't know if this is what

508
00:31:57,759 --> 00:32:00,839
the next question is about, Like
this team is ripe even what even just

509
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:05,480
because you're not you know, drowning
and veterans that stuff like, yeah,

510
00:32:05,559 --> 00:32:07,839
Eric Gordon, and then that's kind
of it, like of the you know,

511
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:12,480
the really the old heads on this
team. They need a consolidation trade

512
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,200
to maybe simplify and narrow their focus
of what they're looking at. Yeah,

513
00:32:16,359 --> 00:32:21,880
no, that's fair. The second
question is from from David Maddalo, and

514
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,680
it's about just asking about sort of
the defensive metrics and the makeup of the

515
00:32:25,799 --> 00:32:30,640
Rockets core guys like Green, Chingoon, Jabari, and Easton. I'll start

516
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,960
with Easton. I think Easton is
like a stud defensive player, like a

517
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,960
guy that you could you don't really
build a defense around him, but you

518
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:43,759
could totally envision him being a huge
part of a really good defense for a

519
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:49,240
very long time. EPM loves him. He's in the hundredth percentile and steel

520
00:32:49,319 --> 00:32:52,480
rate for his position, which is
very good. He plays really hard,

521
00:32:52,559 --> 00:32:59,759
He's really hard to screen. He
can handle perimeter guys, he can get

522
00:32:59,759 --> 00:33:01,759
back, can just like be a
body in the lane. Four point two

523
00:33:01,799 --> 00:33:07,359
deflections per thirty six is elite.
So he's just causing trouble everywhere on and

524
00:33:07,359 --> 00:33:12,559
off the ball, and his energy
is really infectious. It hasn't quite infected

525
00:33:12,559 --> 00:33:15,079
the rest of the team, But
that's more of a statement on the other

526
00:33:15,119 --> 00:33:20,559
guys. The other guy who I
think is interesting to talk about is Gruba

527
00:33:22,079 --> 00:33:23,799
a little different than Smith. Smith
has potential too, like you mentioned as

528
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,079
like kind of a switchable, good
on ball guy with some length, but

529
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,240
Gruba came build I don't remember.
I don't know if you remember the sort

530
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:35,319
of the draft ride ups on this
guy, but as like a five position

531
00:33:35,359 --> 00:33:39,359
defender who could blockshots, and he
does move around the floor like someone that

532
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:45,160
has that ability. He can move, he's mobile, he's long, but

533
00:33:45,279 --> 00:33:47,960
just we just haven't seen enough.
If he were that great consistently, he

534
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,920
would be playing more. And he's
just not green. Is a zero,

535
00:33:52,119 --> 00:33:57,319
like he is a bottom ten defensive
plus minus and unqualified guys like we're talking

536
00:33:57,359 --> 00:34:00,920
like the Trey Young Jordan Poole tier
of like the out salute most damaging guard

537
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:06,640
defenders in the league. Not that
surprising just because he's a He's like a

538
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:12,119
guy with a thin build that is
more straight line speed than quick twitch and

539
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,119
you know, isn't down in a
stance a lot just watching him, Sangun,

540
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:19,079
I don't know, like he's not
a he's not quick, he's not

541
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,079
you know, helps side shop blocker. He's pretty good if he's like in

542
00:34:22,119 --> 00:34:25,360
a defensive position and waiting for you
know, the room attack, he can

543
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,559
get up and you know, at
least contest doesn't get a lot of steels,

544
00:34:29,599 --> 00:34:34,360
doesn't get a lot of blocks.
He's a negative minus zero point three

545
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,360
in defensive estimated plus minus. Not
awful, but like not an impact guy.

546
00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,719
He's kind of smart enough that maybe
he could figure his way to being

547
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,360
you know, a high deflections,
high you know, disruptive steel guy.

548
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:52,559
But yeah, other than Eason and
then potentially Garuba and Smith, whose break

549
00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:59,440
even by most like metrics DPM being
one of them. You're saying Smith,

550
00:34:59,559 --> 00:35:02,320
right, Say again, you're talking
about Smith right, breaking even? Yeah,

551
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:07,119
Smith's break even Easton is like a
that's great for a rookie, right,

552
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,199
not bad? Yeah, I mean
so, I think probably for me,

553
00:35:10,679 --> 00:35:16,079
Smith's disappointment as an offensive player so
far has like trickled into you know,

554
00:35:16,159 --> 00:35:19,880
I just the defense is cool,
but if he's not going to be

555
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,000
able to ever create space or get
his own shot, and he's been better

556
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:27,320
than he was in October November,
but I'm just kind of down on Smith

557
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,599
as a prospect in general. Maybe
that's not fair because you're right, like

558
00:35:30,639 --> 00:35:34,079
he does have the frame and kind
of the instincts to be a solid defender.

559
00:35:34,119 --> 00:35:37,840
I don't know if I see,
like you know, all defense upside

560
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,559
necessarily, but I've compared to Easton, Like Easton, I think absolutely has

561
00:35:40,599 --> 00:35:45,519
that. Let's move on to our
question for the Clippers. From this point

562
00:35:45,559 --> 00:35:49,519
forward, Kawhi Leonard will be a
top blank player for the rest of the

563
00:35:49,559 --> 00:35:54,000
season. Look, he comes back
December fifth and the win over Charlotte.

564
00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:58,760
HiT's a big time shot there.
He's averaging over twenty points and three assists'll

565
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,800
shooting better than fifty percent on his
twos. His three point clip is dipped

566
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,079
a little bit, but we've seen
him catch a groove there, specifically over

567
00:36:05,119 --> 00:36:08,079
his last Yeah, I don't know, like three games he's hit like a

568
00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:12,719
higher percentage of his threes. It's
so tough to measure. I think he's

569
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,199
looked a lot better on offense.
I think he's looked a little bit better

570
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:22,400
on defense too. I just it's
all about if we're talking about to share

571
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,639
ability and you told me Kawhi Leonard
is going to play almost every single game.

572
00:36:25,639 --> 00:36:28,840
We're only going to rest on the
second on one end of back to

573
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,960
backs. I'd probably say that he's
still a top fifteen guy. I just

574
00:36:32,039 --> 00:36:37,360
don't know is the availability going to
justify that at this point? And as

575
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:42,519
many people point out, like the
Clippers schedule is very pre all Star Break

576
00:36:42,559 --> 00:36:45,599
heavy, and then it lightens after
that, And so I'm almost wondering if

577
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,920
when he kind of has AH,
when the schedule kind of opens up a

578
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,719
little bit, he'll be playing in
a higher percentage of their games and that

579
00:36:53,760 --> 00:37:00,719
will allow him or permit him to
climb up these individual hierarchies to endings,

580
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:05,039
he is still a superstar, like
that is his apex. I just don't

581
00:37:05,079 --> 00:37:07,679
know how often or for how long
he can sustain that apex. I'd want

582
00:37:07,679 --> 00:37:10,760
to say he'll be a top fifteen
to twenty player the rest of the way

583
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:15,159
though, And that's just with me
having watched, Like he's not even all

584
00:37:15,199 --> 00:37:19,320
the way back yet, Like he's
just not even all the way back,

585
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:22,360
And so I think you like what
you've seen from him. I probably like

586
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,880
we've seen from him on offense more
than defense. Maybe the shot profile,

587
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:29,599
of the foul line frequency, maybe
that worries you a little bit. But

588
00:37:29,639 --> 00:37:32,000
the Clippers have been like a very
good defensive team all season, and I

589
00:37:32,079 --> 00:37:36,760
don't know that Quai still has like
the I'm going to swallow your soul gear

590
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,239
for forty minutes a night in him
on that end. But this is still

591
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:45,559
someone who's very much when he's on
it. It's a star on both sides

592
00:37:45,559 --> 00:37:47,480
of the floor. And so I'd
be willing to say predict top fifteen,

593
00:37:47,559 --> 00:37:52,519
top twenty and not feel like that's
too ambitious. Yeah, that's so hard

594
00:37:52,639 --> 00:37:55,559
because you are just baking in to
get that feels like the right range to

595
00:37:55,599 --> 00:38:00,920
me because you're baking in the availability
concerns and that's thing. But yeah,

596
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,840
I agree. The bottom line is
like, if he's right, he can

597
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,840
be the best player on the floor
against any team full stop for a game.

598
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:12,679
Like I don't know if that's true
over a playoff series, but we're

599
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,199
talking about the rest of the year. It's He's one of the hardest guys

600
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:19,800
to evaluate. I do think there
are some concerns, like he's getting to

601
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,000
the line less often per thirty six
just a little bit, but it would

602
00:38:22,039 --> 00:38:27,639
be a low since he left the
Spurs, his three point shooting has been

603
00:38:27,639 --> 00:38:30,440
bad, but we're talking about tiny
samples. Defensively, I do think I

604
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:36,119
think he had slipped defensively, you
know, in like even nineteen twenty,

605
00:38:36,559 --> 00:38:40,239
he wasn't. He wasn't just like
you know, the I mean dominant,

606
00:38:40,559 --> 00:38:44,039
right, We're talking about a guy
who's like, I will just I will

607
00:38:44,079 --> 00:38:46,199
blow up your entire offense just by
myself, you know, on or off

608
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:50,360
the ball. So saying he slipped
from that is like, well, okay,

609
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,280
everybody slips from that. Nobody sustains
that for a very long So fifteen

610
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,800
to twenty, I guess. But
I don't know what you do with the

611
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:02,119
fact that, like on a random
it just it doesn't matter who, if

612
00:39:02,119 --> 00:39:06,599
he's playing against Steph or Yogis or
Yannis or whatever, there's every chance that

613
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,800
Kauai on a given night has more
of an impact on winning than any of

614
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,760
those guys. It's just you're not
going to get it, you know,

615
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,280
two nights in a row, three
times in a week. I don't know

616
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:21,960
what that looks like in a seven
game series either. So just fifteen to

617
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,320
twenty and just like we have to
punt because I did. It's too hard

618
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:30,960
of a question. It's almost impossible
to answer. Yeah, we're on too,

619
00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:31,679
though that was a quick one.
That was the only question we had

620
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,000
for the Clippers. So next time
we do a Western Conference mail bag,

621
00:39:35,039 --> 00:39:37,719
get your Clippers questions and yeah,
we have a Lakers one. This is

622
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:42,039
from Brian C. I hate to
give homework, but you did it anyway.

623
00:39:42,079 --> 00:39:44,519
Brian, Thanks a lot. This
took me a long time, but

624
00:39:44,599 --> 00:39:46,440
wondering if the Lakers would have had
cap space if they did not trade for

625
00:39:46,519 --> 00:39:50,000
a D. So this is assuming
a D would have signed with him July

626
00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:52,480
first, the Pelicans would have been
stubborn and not you know, acquiesced too.

627
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:57,239
What was at the time like a
really bizarre it's since not that weird.

628
00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,280
But the trade demand but not a
demand. Will ye have a couple

629
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,079
of years left under contract? Now
that happens. But the idea is basically

630
00:40:05,079 --> 00:40:07,480
like if they don't trade for a
D and then they also don't give up,

631
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:13,360
we're talking ingram Lonzo Heart a bunch
of picks, including the fourth pick

632
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,079
in that draft, which got flipped
around but ended up being DeAndre Hunter.

633
00:40:16,199 --> 00:40:20,679
I don't know, how do you
feel about that? What's sort of what's

634
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:24,000
that look like? And so the
problem here is and because it's a cool

635
00:40:24,039 --> 00:40:28,079
thing to think about, I guess
because imagine, you know, you have

636
00:40:28,159 --> 00:40:30,199
Lebron, you have all these younger
guys, and theoretically you have space to

637
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:36,480
sign you know, another star and
or Davis. We're just spitballing at some

638
00:40:36,559 --> 00:40:42,039
point. The timing is the issue
here because Davis could not have opted out

639
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,519
with New Orleans and signed with the
Lakers until after nineteen twenty, and so

640
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:50,000
that's the year the Lakers won the
title. So you can't really get it

641
00:40:50,039 --> 00:40:52,519
both ways. You had to make
that trade then, and if I don't

642
00:40:52,519 --> 00:40:57,679
know why, because that essentially would
have amounted to the Lakers waiting for two

643
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:00,400
years, you know, with Lebron, to go get a d or another

644
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:04,400
star. So yeah, they could
have done that, but they won the

645
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,400
title in nineteen twenty. I think, you know, titles trump everything.

646
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:15,440
But so there are some other kind
of interesting like niche ideas here to explore.

647
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,719
So let's say, I don't know
if you remember this, but this

648
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:22,119
was a deal that went down like
June fifteenth, I think of twenty nineteen,

649
00:41:22,599 --> 00:41:25,000
and there was all this talk about
how if the Lakers had waited until

650
00:41:25,079 --> 00:41:30,719
July thirtieth, they could have essentially
made that number four pick and used it

651
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,840
as outgoing salary and had thirty two
and a half million in cap space instead

652
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,320
of twenty three point seven. So
there were ways they like kind of botched

653
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:39,400
it. I feel like this is
one of the first, like let's start

654
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:45,400
taking shots at Polinka situations where that
was just like, you know, almost

655
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:49,639
ten million bucks that just wasn't there. I don't know what the particulars of

656
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:52,679
that were, but that's an issue. So let's say though that they don't

657
00:41:52,679 --> 00:41:54,920
make the trade. So you still
have Lebron for thirty seven and a half

658
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:59,079
million, KCP is still on the
roster for eight, Lonzo for eight point

659
00:41:59,119 --> 00:42:02,199
seven. We're talking about in nineteen
twenty, Ingram seven point three, Kuzma's

660
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:06,400
there for two million, Josh Hart
for just under two, Alex Caruso for

661
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,760
three. That number four picks is
gonna make about seven million. So you're

662
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:14,280
in like the eighty low eighties in
salary with one hundred nine million dollar cap.

663
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,719
That's not enough to have gone out
and signed like Kawai, Kyrie,

664
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,400
Middleton, Butler Durant, even Kemba
or Tobias Harris. All those guys made

665
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:27,239
more than Lakers would have had to
give, and that's excluding like you've got

666
00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:30,480
to clear everything else out on that
roster, which is which is tough.

667
00:42:30,519 --> 00:42:34,719
They would have been in the range
for Al Horford, boy On Bogdanovich,

668
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,159
Malcolm Brogden, but then you're also
not getting Danny Green, who super mattered

669
00:42:38,199 --> 00:42:43,679
in that title run with Davis.
So yeah, it's interesting and like where

670
00:42:43,679 --> 00:42:46,519
the Lakers are now having no young
talent and no picks, it's interesting to

671
00:42:46,559 --> 00:42:51,719
look back at how else could this
have gone? But you still make that

672
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,559
Davis trade one hundred times out of
one hundred in hindsight because you get a

673
00:42:54,599 --> 00:42:59,199
title and Lebron wanted you to.
So like, as those are your two

674
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,280
factors. Good question, though it
kind of made me dive back in and

675
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:06,480
look at like what else could have
happened there? I would agree. And

676
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,039
the other thing here too is just
like you don't wait because of what happened

677
00:43:09,039 --> 00:43:13,440
with Paul George. You waited on
Paul George and he ended up resigning with

678
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,199
this thunder and then getting traded to
the Clippers, and so that's they had

679
00:43:17,199 --> 00:43:22,119
proof of why you don't wait.
And I think it's fair more fair,

680
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,039
or I don't know the word isn't
fair because this is an interesting thought exercise,

681
00:43:25,079 --> 00:43:29,639
but I think it's more salient to
focus on what if they didn't make

682
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,880
this litany of other shitty transactions.
What if you don't let Alex Carusa walk,

683
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:35,760
What if you don't make the Rush
trade. What if you e't even

684
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,639
make the Dennis Shrewder trade where it's
like they treated Danny Green just like salary

685
00:43:38,639 --> 00:43:42,000
filler in that deal with the first
round pick, So what if you don't

686
00:43:42,039 --> 00:43:46,639
make that deal? And those are
I think bigger turning points for this franchise

687
00:43:46,679 --> 00:43:51,119
than one deciding to trade for a
d or as you mentioned, like maybe

688
00:43:51,119 --> 00:43:53,519
fucking up the cat machinations of it
and not maximizing their spending power. But

689
00:43:53,599 --> 00:43:58,039
hey, the Lakers have even spent
everything. They run themselves like a small

690
00:43:58,039 --> 00:44:00,400
market franchise at this point. So
who I'm with you. I make the

691
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,519
ad trade, it's the other ones
that are just it's again, it's not

692
00:44:04,679 --> 00:44:10,039
there's the it's not just the Rush
trade that is the like the quintessential Rob

693
00:44:10,079 --> 00:44:15,440
Polinka move, like just didn't make
it totally actively destructive, but like you

694
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:21,079
still could have kept Caruso that season, or maybe you never make that Denistooter

695
00:44:21,119 --> 00:44:22,840
trade. I think a lot more
people were in support of that at the

696
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,159
time that it ended up being.
I was always on the fence. It's

697
00:44:25,159 --> 00:44:29,239
not a victory lap, it's just
what if you don't make It's Look,

698
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:30,639
it's their job to be better at
this than us. Anyway, they get

699
00:44:30,639 --> 00:44:35,599
paid accordingly, and so what if
you don't make even one of those decisions

700
00:44:35,599 --> 00:44:39,159
are reversed, You're a lot a
much different team right now. And I

701
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:46,000
just the Westbrook trade is completely inexplicable
because you want a title with Lebron and

702
00:44:46,039 --> 00:44:51,559
anthy Davis and then complimentary shooting a
defense and you just pivoted entirely away from

703
00:44:51,559 --> 00:44:54,960
that. And so that is the
more that's the bigger cardinal sin for Los

704
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,920
Angeles, And I think it's it's
tough because some people believe that the Disney

705
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:04,599
Idelshancount and now we're witnessing the Pelicans. You know, they're they're like banged

706
00:45:04,639 --> 00:45:07,280
up beyond comprehension. They've been shorthanded
like every single game that year, but

707
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,079
yet they're still contending near the top
of the West and recence he's going to

708
00:45:10,119 --> 00:45:15,199
kick in and their future looks incredibly
right. But you make the Anthony Davis

709
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,280
tright. Even if you could have
gotten him for a little lesser, maximize

710
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:22,239
your books more, you still make
that deal. And like you mentioned the

711
00:45:22,599 --> 00:45:27,159
rest trade and all these other stuff, like they watched the first Lebron season,

712
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,639
because it wasn't that the year that
it was like, let's go get

713
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,920
playmakers around Lebron. Let's go get
Lance Stevenson and Rondo and all these other

714
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:37,840
guys. So like there's really been
The Davis trade arguably is the only good

715
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:43,719
thing that this administration has done,
because on either side of it, there's

716
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,920
just mistakes of all sizes and shapes, just up and down the history of

717
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:53,559
the Polinka era. Let's go to
the Memphis Grizzlies, and our first question

718
00:45:53,679 --> 00:46:00,079
on them comes from Shalamar the God
best Dylan Brooks destination, And so I

719
00:46:00,119 --> 00:46:04,719
think this is a one. I
do think it's a it's a fair question,

720
00:46:05,199 --> 00:46:07,480
just because Dylan Brooks is in the
final year of his contract and who

721
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:10,119
knows if Memphis wants to play him, and it feels like he can still

722
00:46:10,159 --> 00:46:14,559
shoot them out of games, but
they don't treat him as like someone who's

723
00:46:14,599 --> 00:46:16,119
a liability either, And so I
want to make that clear. It's not

724
00:46:16,159 --> 00:46:20,360
just like this is someone who you
know was gonna play like thirty minutes per

725
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,599
game for them or whatever, and
he's super important to what they want to

726
00:46:22,599 --> 00:46:25,239
do on defense. But when you
look at teams, so he's on an

727
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:29,519
expiring contract, what are you hoping
to get for him at this point?

728
00:46:30,199 --> 00:46:32,840
Some teams that I've wondered if they
would take a look Brooklyn, do they

729
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:37,559
have the juice to get him.
Charlotte's season is over, so forget them.

730
00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:40,559
I thought about, like I thought
about Denver, but I don't think

731
00:46:40,559 --> 00:46:44,320
he's big enough and I don't know
that they have enough assets to get him.

732
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:50,239
I've also thought about like the Heat
would be kind of interesting for him,

733
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:52,800
but I also don't know that they
would be giving up equity to the

734
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:57,239
Grizzlies that would make Memphis want to
do the deal. And he would be

735
00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,920
like really interesting on Phoenix this year, I think, But I also think

736
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,239
that they're probably looking for someone bigger
and more trustworthy as a as a ball

737
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,519
handler. Portland could be interesting,
but it's just like they kind of have

738
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:13,280
where they wanted Gary Payton the second
to be in that role for them.

739
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:15,880
He's a tough player. Though,
to just find a fit for I think

740
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:21,400
he would be he'd be kind of
fun in like maybe maybe Utah like take

741
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:23,360
a flyer on him. I don't
know if you've any other Dylan Brooks destinations

742
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:27,800
that that you would that you would
like or would intrigue you. Yeah,

743
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,599
I have a Portland question later and
he's you already said it, but like

744
00:47:30,679 --> 00:47:35,519
that, just any place that you
know has these ridiculous well this is a

745
00:47:35,559 --> 00:47:37,920
top five or top ten offense,
but their defense is bottom five or bottoms

746
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:42,239
and just like get him because he
is kind of a damaging offensive player.

747
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:44,960
Just with his shot selection, he's
been more efficient. I think he's around

748
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:49,039
thirty four percent from three this year. But I mean we've seen you said,

749
00:47:49,119 --> 00:47:52,280
like he shoots you out of games. That's just gonna happen. But

750
00:47:52,559 --> 00:47:54,599
you know, sometimes the juice is
worth a squeeze because he is just a

751
00:47:54,679 --> 00:48:00,079
really disruptive defensive piece that kind of
changes the tone of every game he's in,

752
00:48:00,199 --> 00:48:05,719
especially big games like against the Warriors
in particular, because that rivalry is

753
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:08,360
starting to get kind of real.
He's just I mean, he's out there

754
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:13,039
doing like Marcus Smart stuff and like
Patrick Beverley stuff. Just trying to be

755
00:48:13,079 --> 00:48:16,000
an irritant in addition to being a
really good defensive piece. So you know,

756
00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:21,119
Denver, Portland, Sacramento, like
any place like that that just needs

757
00:48:21,119 --> 00:48:23,960
a big wing to defend and can
live with what he's going to do to

758
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:28,480
your offense. I think is like
a totally sensible destination for him. But

759
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:30,239
I don't know what I don't know
what he's worth. He's a really difficult

760
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:36,280
player to evaluate in terms of trade
assets. We have two other questions for

761
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:37,199
the Grizzlies. I see if we
can get to and I apologize if you

762
00:48:37,199 --> 00:48:42,679
hear my dogs going bonkers in the
background. Everybody secret based vibe as his

763
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,400
jaw really a plus on defense,
and there are some metrics that have kind

764
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:51,079
of grown to like jaw. We're
not like job, but he's grated out

765
00:48:51,119 --> 00:48:54,599
as a net positive on defense.
I still don't think he's there. I

766
00:48:54,599 --> 00:49:00,760
think he's still someone that teams could
like attack and he's a good rebounder,

767
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:05,039
which I think is going to help
his defensive metrics at relative to his position.

768
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:07,400
He's still someone that teams can go
after. I think he's probably been

769
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:12,119
a little bit better when he's getting
screened this year, but overall, I

770
00:49:12,119 --> 00:49:16,039
wouldn't call Jaw a net positive on
defense. I don't even think he's entered

771
00:49:16,079 --> 00:49:21,239
the territory of like, oh you
can count on him too? What submarines

772
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:22,360
too strong a word, but like
would you even call him a net even

773
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:24,760
defender? And I'm just not when
you watch him, I'm just not there.

774
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:28,000
He's had moments, and I think
a lot of that is like because

775
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:30,920
he has the physical tools and the
smarts to do it, but it's tough

776
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:32,679
when you show to the load that
he does on offense to always be there.

777
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:37,880
And then also I think that he
will benefit from Memphis's overarching defensive infrastructure.

778
00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:44,679
Yeah, I think I generally agree
like Raptor and EPM both have him

779
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:47,480
as a mild positive defensively, which
is like that's progress, that's impressive,

780
00:49:47,679 --> 00:49:52,800
But it's just he's a little bit
like Darren Fox or how darn Fox has

781
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:57,079
been where there's just all this athleticism
and speed and quickness and he doesn't do

782
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,320
Like his block and steel rates are
both in the twentieth percent, So that's

783
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:04,239
like, how is that possible?
Why isn't he just you don't have to

784
00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:07,440
be someone that holds up, you
know, in one on one situations or

785
00:50:07,519 --> 00:50:10,000
comes over to help. That's not
the expectation for a guy at his size,

786
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:14,400
at his position, But you should
be kind of darting around and like

787
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,679
you know, making highlight defensive plays
which you don't really see. So I

788
00:50:17,719 --> 00:50:21,639
think on the positive side, that
is like a level up area for him.

789
00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:23,599
I think if he can be like
you see guards all the time,

790
00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:28,239
just improve in those areas, Like
you know, Curry is the standout if

791
00:50:28,239 --> 00:50:30,440
he was a target and he's not
a target anymore. Part of the problem

792
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:35,199
for Morant is the other guys that
he plays with are so so good defensively

793
00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:37,239
that there's really nowhere else to like
pick at except for him. So he

794
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:42,119
does get a lot of attention for
the wrong reasons that he kind of can't

795
00:50:42,119 --> 00:50:45,079
control. Like he's just you're gonna
go at Dylan Brooks and Desmond bane a,

796
00:50:45,119 --> 00:50:47,440
You're gonna go at Morant. It's
just pretty easy. We have time

797
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:51,760
to get this from from Chale.
Marlea God asked, if you're Tyler Jenkins,

798
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:55,400
what are you doing with the half
court offense after the Christmas Day loss

799
00:50:55,440 --> 00:51:00,679
to the Warriors. I probably not
playing Brandon Clark against the Warriors. Anymore

800
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:02,559
might be might be step one.
He just seems like food for them.

801
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:06,679
The other thing I probably would look
into not doing is like, hey,

802
00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:09,519
Desmond just needs more time. He
was you know, his creation is up

803
00:51:09,559 --> 00:51:13,320
even relative to last year when he
already made it leave they'd basically double this

804
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,280
pick and roll volume this year.
Let's see him get more reps under his

805
00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:19,360
belt. You're also still trying to
work sut you're Williams back into the fold.

806
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,559
I don't know that you can do
a lot of aside from you could

807
00:51:22,559 --> 00:51:24,440
definitely change up your front court rotations
a little bit where it's, well,

808
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:28,679
maybe we're just going when Steven Adams
wasn't bad in that game, so you

809
00:51:28,719 --> 00:51:30,960
can get away with minutes with him
against the Warriors. But maybe you're just

810
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:32,239
decided, like, well we're gonna
try and mismatch the hell out of them,

811
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:36,480
or just play all Jarron at the
five the entire time without Brandon Clark

812
00:51:36,519 --> 00:51:37,639
being on the court. You could
try that, see how it works.

813
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:42,119
I think this is if you're truly
worried about Memphis's half court offense, which

814
00:51:42,119 --> 00:51:45,079
is fair to worry because they are
twenty third or twenty fourth in half court

815
00:51:45,119 --> 00:51:47,000
efficiency. They need to look for
outside help, but I don't think it

816
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:50,239
needs to be a star. I
was wrong on the Grizzlies this season.

817
00:51:50,280 --> 00:51:52,800
They are they look like a contender
at full strength. Can you get someone

818
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:57,039
like a boy and Macdonovitch or a
Kyle Kuzma type. Those feel like players

819
00:51:57,079 --> 00:52:00,119
that could really help them, specifically
in the matchup against the Warriors, but

820
00:52:00,119 --> 00:52:04,199
but just in general when you're looking
at their playoff stock. Yeah, the

821
00:52:04,199 --> 00:52:07,320
other things I'd add are make sure
Jaren Jackson doesn't commit a stupid fourth foul

822
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:10,679
like five seconds into the second half. So much better about not doing that

823
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:15,400
lately that it almost was just today
I didn't see the game, i'd have

824
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:16,719
to I've heard about it. I
was like, I was almost shocked that

825
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:19,400
that was just one of the answers, like, oh, he's had he's

826
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:22,639
been so under control, but he
hasn't been better. But it's just that's

827
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:27,000
kind of your answer for if you're
looking to find a different look and against

828
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,119
the good defense, is just,
you know, his three point shooting has

829
00:52:30,159 --> 00:52:34,440
been so inconsistent year to year,
But if you want a different look,

830
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,239
put him at the five and maybe
you space the floor out a little bit

831
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:38,960
and you can go at something you
know, it's easier to go at someone

832
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:44,119
like Pool with the floor space and
things like that, and make Desmond Bane

833
00:52:44,159 --> 00:52:45,760
make a couple shots like the Grizzlies
just didn't shoot the ball. Well,

834
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:49,559
that's another factor in that game.
Yea. If I were the Grizzlies,

835
00:52:49,559 --> 00:52:52,159
I would hit more threes. I
would simply just hit more threes and that

836
00:52:52,159 --> 00:52:54,280
that would be remedy. Shoot it
better. I say, we end it

837
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:57,800
there. There's another question. We
have other questions. I might try to

838
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:00,760
get to them later this week.
I'll take us out again. Everybody for

839
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,000
all your questions. Keep them coming. We'll do the East at some point

840
00:53:04,039 --> 00:53:07,159
here. As Dan mentioned at the
top, please remember to rate, review,

841
00:53:07,199 --> 00:53:12,239
subscribe, get us on wherever you
listen to your podcasts. We've got

842
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:15,039
our socials here. If you're watching
on YouTube, check us out, follow

843
00:53:15,079 --> 00:53:19,199
us on Twitter, follow us on
Instagram and everyplace else. Tell your friends.

844
00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:22,800
Word of mouth still really helps give
us five stars all over the place.

845
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:25,760
And lastly, I guess I want
to apologize. I'm gonna I'll have

846
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:30,960
to apologize to Jared Allen for not
apologizing, but I will apologize to Laurie

847
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:32,880
Marken in this week, and we
leave as we always do, with a

848
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:35,800
shout out to the one and only
Fragments