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Knox listeners, I am Damp Valley coming at you once more without my co
host Adam FROMMEL do have another backloaded pod for you Today. We're going to
be bringing in Bryan Toprek to talk about the Philadelphia seventy six ers. He
is a Bleacher Report quality editor, co host of the NBA Pod, and
also writes for Forbes Sports and Fansided. Follow him on Twitter at b Toporek.
That's at bt O p O R E kay. But before we talk
to him, just our usual few housekeeping notes. We're also going to talk
some NBA finals and then some some buddy healed trade rumor ish thingy majigis whatever,
I don't really know what to call them. Please, though, as
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in just a few moments. Let's talk some finals though, before we get
into the sixers. Who there's there's some sixers to talk. Let's just say
that. So the Lakers drop Game three, one fifteen to one oh four.
There's a lot to talk about when looking at how poorly the Lakers handled
this game, but I think this game needs to begin and end with Jimmy
Butler going full supernova and like that was the difference. He had a really
good game too, but in Game three, he scored forty points, dropped
eleven rebounds, dropped thirteen assists, played almost forty five minutes when fourteen of
twenty from the floor, two steals, two blocks, did have five turnovers.
But he was just an absolute monster and booked. It was an historical
performance. He is just a third player in NBA Finals history her stat head
to have a forty point triple double. The other two Jerry West in nineteen
sixty nine and Lebron James in two and fifteen. That's not big company to
be in. And also, this is per Mark J. Spears of The
Undefeated, Jimmy Butler is the first player to outscore, outrebound, and out
assist Lebron James in a Finals game. And that includes Lebron's teammates. That
is a wild stat to me too. And then you look at just what
he meant to Miami's offense, even when he wasn't the one taking the shots.
That he put a lot of pressure on the center of the Lakers defense,
which also just wasn't that great. If I, like Anthony Davis at
points, was showing too much respect to Kelly Olenick, I don't care really
how good he's been in this series. Anyway, though, eighteen of Miami's
thirty four field three point field goal attempts in Game three were directly off passes
from Jimmy Butler, and that's per Darryl Brockport Blackport excuse me on Twitter.
So this game, what it means moving forward the heat I still wouldn't expect
him to win this series, and I just think that's fair because both bam
Atabaio and gor and Dragics didn't play in game three. You can kind of
look at this victory as a well, you know, if you're going to
get some of them back like that should make this a series and it technically,
Ken I'm far more hopeful that bam Atabaio comes back than Dragic, And
even if Drags does come back, I wouldn't expect him to be that effective
if neither of them comes back, or if you get bam at a Bio
back and he's just super limited. Like this game was, it was a
lot of Jimmy Butler. You had some there were some big moments from from
Tyler hero hashtag stink Face. They got another good game from from Kelly Olenick.
But this was just a lot of Jimmy Butler playing at an intergrolactic level
is the best way that I would call it. That's not necessarily sustainable,
but I think and the other thing that was bizarre to me in this and
I don't like boiling games down to just a lack of focus or whatever you
want to call absence of a certain effort, not effort in general, but
a certain effort. But the Lakers finished plus six from three point range over
Miami. They once again won the offensive rebounding battle eleven to three, and
they were about dead even in free throws. They made twenty two of twenty
nine attempts. The Heat made twenty one of twenty three attempts, and so
the Lakers left some points on the board when it came to free throws.
And look they were in this game despite they had ten first quarter turnovers.
That's something that you could absolutely point to as an issue. Lebron himself at
eight turnovers in the game, this is probably one of his you know,
yes he dropped twenty five, ten and eight, but this is probably one
of his worst playoff games that we've seen. So it's weird almost when you
when you look at those numbers, like unless you're mega concerned that the Lakers
were I don't even know how you could be concerned they were a plus one
at the free throw line unless you expect them to win that battle by more,
and that's how they're gonna win games. This felt like a puzzling outcome
almost and almost just a victory of sheer will from Jimmy Butler. And because
on most nights, if you say the Lakers won the offensive, rebounding battle,
the free throw battle, and the three point battle, like you would
assume that that's a victory, and the fact that it wasn't it speaks definitely
to their sloppy play. Anthony Davis got into some foul trouble during the first
half, which which did not help him, and then he just felt super
passive. Nine shot attempts, only one shot attempt in the fourth quarter.
This is per at half court hoops on Twitter. In the eighteen or so
possessions that Anthony Davis was in during the fourth he was only involved in five
actions and not a single play was run for him. He had two post
up and then three where he set a ball screen, none with Lebron being
the ball handler in those situations. Again, that's the per half court hoops
on Twitter hashtag Wow, that's definitely a problem. I think a lot of
people have also pointed to if Lebron is going to spend so much time on
Jimmy Butler, why are you going to so easily switch off of him,
like when it's just not necessary. I agree with the overall stance. I
don't know that it became like this massive problem until later in the game where
it did feel like the Heat did a good job of targeting, like getting
they knew that the Lakers were going to switch so easily, so they really
went after a Danny Green knowing if he was going to be on the switch.
I'm just not as strong as Butler did over for KCP Markith Morris,
even someone who yeah, might have that girth, but like Jimmy Butler is
gonna beat him, particularly if you get him going downhill beforehand. And so
the Lakers are getting caught with like their hand in their pants in that situation
essentially is what it felt like. And it was weird because you look at
the partial possessions that Lebron defended Butler on were twenty one point nine in Game
three. That's the team leading twenty one point nine, and the Heat only
scored seventeen points as a team in those situations, which is under point seven
eight points per possession, which is good overall, but because he's splitting so
much time with other people like a Markief Morris, where Butler was three of
seven with two assists against him, Kyle Kuzma, who had a great game,
might have I think you can argue might have put up the most resistance
against Jimmy Butler on defense at points. Then Butler was one of three with
zero assists against Kyle Kuzman. Again, this tracking data is imperfect, but
the ones I'm reading sort of match up with what I was watching during Game
three, the when he went up against Cantabia's called a pope two of two
with one assists, So like those all become problems. Then look even against
the Anthony Davis, this is the one that I'd like, if you're gonna
switch like that, you'd rather see Anthony Davis go after Jimmy Butler. Here
he was two of two against Anthony Davis with with three assists, So I
would I think that you need to kind of if you're gonna have Lebron on
Butler, you need to do it in the same vein that you did against
Denver, where he's just going to stick to Jamal Murray more. And if
that's too much to ask, well, then it's time to explore something else.
And that's probably where the main issue comes in is who is the best
body, aside from Lebron James, to throw at Jimmy Butler. Let's say
full time or semi full time. It's not Marcus Morris, even though it
feels like he has the build. I wouldn't trust Kyle Kuzma to do it,
even though he's been he was solid defensively in game three. Danny Green
would probably be your best option, and like there's going to be a strength
deficit there and Lebron just might end up being your best option. So don't
soft switch as much. I guess would be the recommendation. But again,
I don't think that that was like the biggest deal in this. I understand
the logic where if you're gonna put Lebron on Butler, don't make it so
easy for Butler to be able to get off of him. But something else
that you know you look at was even particularly later in the game, like
after you're making those switches, the lane is just so open because Anthy Davis
didn't feel like he was anywhere near the basket. Paying so much respect to
Kentavia up wow to Kelly Olynk And that's just look, if Kelly Olynik is
gonna have a big game, like Kelly Olynic have a big game, I
would think that you need to put up a lot more resistance at the rim.
And yes, look at the beginning, if he's off the floor,
if he's in foul trouble, this is Davis I'm talking about. I totally
get it. But later in the game, like there was a possession where
Jimmy Butler dribbled out of the corner after I think the Lakers switched on him
twice, and there was just no one around the basket because Andy Davis was
like glued to Kelly Olynik. And I get the inclination where you don't want
Kelly Olynik to hit a three when it was a relatively tight game at that
point. Still it's Kelly Olynk and there should be like more help around the
basket in those situations for la. Something else about the Lakers that was just
off. So in the first two games of this series, they were shooting
almost sixty four percent in the restricted area and the paint overall, and then
in this one they were just fifty four point eight percent on those looks in
the paint and the restricted area. That's something that's gonna need to come up
for them, particularly if they're gonna you know, Aunty Davis wasn't necessarily killing
it on the offensive glass himself, but if you're going to commit so much
offensive rebound. If you're gonna be again plus eight on the offensive glass,
you're gonna want more of those those bunnies to fall. And they were kind
of a lot of them just set like random offensive rebounds where it's like Rondo
catching one and then he's gonna dribble it out, sort of the same thing
with like a Cuiz Month. So I think it's probably more instructive. You
look at and you say, all right, well, Anthy Davison, Dwight
Howard had two offensive rebounds apiece, which really isn't too much. Still,
that's just the number there is just wild to me. Lakers were also,
so you win the three point battle, you go five of twenty one out
above the break threes that's in. I wouldn't say that's an unsustainably low number.
They really they did their damage from the corners where they were not of
twenty one, which is that's you know, both of those feel sustainable where
it's like on a Lebron James lead team, Yeah, you're gonna see a
lot of made corner three pointers. And then when you're looking at their shooters,
yeah, they're going to be nights where they're just not going to have
it going from above the break and Danny Green dealing with an injury we know,
but in almost seventeen minutes of action, and that's probably why he's not
Maybe that's why he's not your best option to go up against Butler, oh
four from three oz of six and it just becomes, you know, almost
intenable to really keep him on the floor if he's not going to give you
you know, made shots on offense, and then he's becoming I don't want
to say he's a defensive liability, but he might be there and it looks
he becomes a liability in a sense if you can't have him go up against
a Jimmy Butler and then there's no go on drawg it's necessarily to worry about
that. This is just a huge punch back from the heat, Like it's
absolutely massive. And if they get Bamata Bio back for Game four, he
said that he plans to play every single game since he was injured in Game
one dealing with the neck issue. I believe also got some shoulder stuff going
on, and I believe his stances. He believes good playing GA four as
well. If you get him back the one thing. Perhaps that helps.
Even though he's not the greatest rebounder and he's not like this huge like you
can I don't want to say he's not a rim to turrent, but like
you can score at the basket with bam Adebayo on the floor. That's not
really meant to be any disrespect. He's just going to be a better guy
when it comes to switching on the outside. But if you get him back,
it should, in theory be able to limit the Lakers opportunities on the
offensive glass. And again I think maybe you can argue that the Heat did
that when you're looking at how their offensive rebounding was dispersed amongst the Lakers.
Still that should help there. And then just having sort of another offensive creator,
because the half court offense, you know, entering this series without Dragic
was absolutely terrible, and because they played their head codfms actually fairly efficient in
Game two without him. And then you have Jimmy Butler going absolutely off in
this one, just a huge performance from him, really putting pressure on the
Lakers, getting to the foul line, just just doing everything. Didn't take
a single three pointer, which is objectively amazing, and I think you can
argue that Miami can even get better. Tyler hero two of seven from three,
Duncan Robinson three of ten from three, and some of those were good
looks two for him, and so I know he's been struggling in the finals,
but if a few more of those looks go down, like maybe this
isn't even a situation where the Heat have to worry about entering a crunch time
any crunch time minutes. They jump out to that they led at fourteen at
one point. That was in the second half, and I think they had
a camera with exactly wasn't the first quarter at one point, Maybe it's thirteen
or something around there, But with the Lakers having ten turnovers and then you
end the first quarter where Miami's only up three and then only up four at
to half, like that was that was sort of mind blowing too, And
it was a kind of a kudos to the Lakers. They've just been scalding
hot from three point range in the first half specifically, and so you can
look at that for them and say, oh, that's actually encouraging. They
were so sloppy, they traveled by so much at the beginning, but they
came back. They held the lead at one point in the second half.
I think it was it was either at the beginning of the fourth quarter or
sometime in the third quarter, they like jumped out if he's tied it eighty
nine and then I think they went up ninety eighty nine or something like that.
Forgive me if I'm speaking there. This game just felt like it was
absolutely all over the place. So yes, that is encouraging for the Lakers,
but the heat can also do some things a little bit better. And
Butler, I think you can count on him to come with the same sort
of effort. Let's see if he has as much energy after playing almost forty
five minutes. So but if you have a bam out of bio, like
that's just who has been one of your top three players and basically every playoff
series here, there's been a lot of talk about Draggings, so I'm hesitant
to say that he's been their second best player at points, but he's had
some big offensive performances. If you get him back and he's just the semblance
of himself, like this becomes a real problem and it may look it should
make like more difficult than anthy Davis because with the way the heat feel like
they're defending and if you want like serious x's and notes, this is I'm
not the guy to go to. I've been very open about that on this
podcast. But they're going after Lebron a little bit more if he's like throwing
more bodies at him, and maybe that's just gonna make them more inclined to
be like, hey, he wasn't the primary defender on Anthony Davis in Game
one where they did lean on a lot his own. We're just gonna make
them that moving forward. And I think if you were going to design someone
in a lab to guard Anthony Davis just like he would be honest attend to
Coopo, it would be bam Adebayo. We'll see really how that goes.
The Lakers have to get him more involved, and that falls on it falls
on Lebron a little bit in the game. But also if you're not running
actions for Davis or Lebron is out of the game, like, that's a
huge issue as well. So those are those are all controllable things for the
Lakers. But if you're trying to take the pro Miami stands here, which
is what I think we need to do because it's been very We've been very
open and clear that this just feels like the Lakers series to lose. After
these injuries, after what we saw in Game one, even before the injuries
from the Lakers where they came back from that thirteen point lead, they clearly
feel feel like the superior team. But you look at Miami and you say
they're gonna get their can best defensive player back. I still think their best
defensive players probably Jimmy Butler. He's dude, it's just a monster. But
what you get bammout of bile back is just objectively huge, and maybe some
of these guys are just gonna start hitting more of their shots from downtown.
Like this is now. I think at two of the three games, they've
now lost the three point battle to the Lakers, which is just not like
that's to be only down two to one in this series, given the injuries
and like not consistently winning the three point battle where you were a plus,
I mean a minus. In Game two, they were a minus fifteen from
three. And then you look at Game one, which feels like forever ago
the three point battle I think it might have went to the Lakers as well.
So you've lost the Mad threes battle in all three games thus far.
Yeah, they were minus twelve from three. So the Lakers have outscored you
by thirty three points from three point range in this series and you're only down
two to one. That can be encouraging for them if you think that Tyler's
Hero and both than Robinson are going to shoot better from distance, like that
becomes a big deal. Hero now has performances. If he was two of
eight from three in game one and you combine that with two of seven in
game three, not so great, and then dugcan Robinson's been laying a lot
of bricks in this series. So that's like, you can look at this
now and I feel like you can convince yourself there's a path to Miami winning.
I still default too. Lebron is not going to commit eight turnovers in
every single game. The Lakers are not going to commit ten turnovers in the
first quarter. They'll figure out a way to get Anthony Davis more involved.
And it's not even necessarily a matter of saying, well, Anthony Davis can
just score at will, which at times it does feel like he can,
but just having him more involved puts a different sort of pressure on the defense,
and so I still think this feels like I picked Lakers in six for
the series as a reminder, I would still I would stick with that,
particularly now that he took a game. I was more inclined to think this
might be a gentleman's sweep or or an actual sweep after the injuries. We
have to see if Adabaio comes back and what he looks like once he does.
But this definitely sets Miami up. I don't know if it necessarily gives
him a blueprint to win by just saying Jimmy Butler needs to go supernova,
but maybe it does give a loutprint where in the sense that if you have
Jimmy Butler really attacking, which he was also doing in Game two to his
credit, particularly as the game moved on. But if you have Jimmy Butler
attacking and you get them at a bio back and you hit just a few
more three pointers, and you can play the Lakers to at least the dead,
even like they sort of did in Game three at the free throw line,
it feels like there's a path to them winning this series. Now,
like that's how big Game three was. You don't want to overreact to it.
For either side. And I don't think this is the type of game
where it shifts perception of the entire series unless you just thought that the Lakers
were going to steam roll them in four games. Obviously still there. It
gives that it gives the heat, like that zemblance of hope because like,
this is doable. This is probably the toughest game you play, because it's,
yes, you lost some of the same circumstances in game two, but
in game three it's like, all right, I'm not a big must win
guy, but if you lose your down three too, and the series is
just over, and then you're still dealing with these absences where maybe you thought
it was only going to be at a bio out of game and so now
it's a matter of all, we don't really know if we have light at
the end of the tunnel there. This was the hardest game for them to
win, and to their credit, they absolutely wanted it. And look for
the Lakers turnovers. They finished with nineteen on the game after committing ten in
the first quarter. Like you have to compliment Miami's defense for the pressure that
they were putting on the Lakers. Lebron made some super questionable decisions, and
I think you can even argue. You know, Miami scored eleven points off
ten turnovers in that first quarter. You could probably be arguing that they probably
should have scored more than that, but credit to their defense. We're putting
a ton of pressure on the ball and forcing Lakers into some of those mistakes.
But a lot of them felt like they could be cleaned up, just
like Lebron, just not making the right reason, throwing a couple of bad
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this dovetails, I guess sort of. With the sixers conversation, we're about
to have. But per Jason Jones of The Athletic, Buddy Healed is has
soured on Luke Walton. He's probably not alone, would be my guests,
to the point where he's not returning Luke Walton's phone calls the Athletics. Jason
Jones also notes, though, that the Kings aren't going to rush into a
decision to move him. And we'll talk about some trade partners here, but
they just signed Buddy Heel to a four year, one hundred and six million
dollars extension before the start of this past season. It's basically a ninety four
million dollar extension because twelve million dollars of that is in unlikely incentive. So
you signed him through that deal, and you can make a clear case that,
yeah, just move him because you have to max out Daron Fox.
Rich On Holmes is going to enter free agency in twenty and twenty one.
You've already paid Harrison Barnes, have to pay Boddad Bogdanovich this summer, and
so this team is going to get expensive quickly, which is not great when
you're not I won't even not just the not a bona fide playoff team,
but like You're not even guaranteed to finish top eleven in the Western Conference right
now, so there would be some merits to moving him, particularly if you
want to pay to keep Bogdanovich. That being said, it's kind of hard
to find, like Buddy, he'll trade partners because I don't think he provides
enough. He's a fantastic shooter. I don't know how he would feel about
coming off the bench somewhere else as opposed to Sacramento, because it does seem
like maybe that might be his best role, but he wasn't too happy with
it. You put him on a better team, maybe that's different, but
I'm just not sure. Like the defense is, he's not a great defender.
I don't really know what else to say on that. But I don't
know if he's going to provide you with enough like self creation to actually be
worth this contract or a guarantee it like you need someone who could maybe do
a little bit more off the dribble, and I know that Kings try to
put him in more pick and roll situations year and it just didn't really end
that well, and it felt like that was sort of a harping point for
their fans, especially at the beginning of the year was trying to make Buddy
Healed do too much of the ballon on his hands. Still, you know,
shooting really plays, and Buddy Healed is functional shooting like he can fire
shots up off the dribble. He can it's not just Stan still looks that
he's hitting. He can score them off in motion. And there are a
ton of teams where it feels like he would be a vent, like a
fantastic fit. But who's really you know, you have to give up stuff
to get him, just because you're looking at what he's making right now.
And the Kings clearly value him to that degree, even if they now think
that they overpay. Given that this is a new front office regime that's in
charge the Sixers who will talk about and we mentioned Buddy Healed within the podcast
while speaking with Brian, they seem like the most popular trade partner. But
like, you know, the Al Horford for Buddy Healed swap, like it's
just not happening on its own. Al Horford is owed three years and eighty
one million dollars, sixty nine of which is guaranteed, so you can look
at it as a two year deal. But like paying him thirteen point five
million dollar to go away and year three is not nothing, just about in
case anyone loves what I mean. So what are you putting in as a
sweetener? Is thible and a first enough? You know fiveble? Number twenty
one with Al Horford? I would almost hazard no. And now you're getting
into the point where Bill, can you use that you're smith like the Stephen
count as a sweetener at this point are you willing to include shake Milton?
I don't know that I would go shake Milton Thible and a first. I
might if I'm the Sixers be more inclined to go number twenty one a twenty
twenty two pick and then fiveble or Milton four buddy heel if I'm also getting
rid of Al Horford's money. Maybe the Kings are a team that could talk
themselves into Tobias Harris, but it feels a little bit redundant when they have
Harrison Barnes, who's a better defender, and Harris is the better score.
But like both those guys feel like they're best suited or should at least play
a ton of their minutes at the four and at least Horford. I think
you can look at up front and say that the Kings really could use the
center. Holmes is good, not a defensive anchor, and also headed for
free agency in twenty twenty one. You don't really know what Marvin Bagley is
After declining Harry Giles his team option, his fourth year option, he might
leave this summer. Bolita is good, but like you don't necessarily want him
to be your center. And unless you're so, unless you're just really into
Marvin Bagley, still I think that he could be your center of the future
rather than just playing a bunch of power forward as an offensive hub. Horford
does make some sense for this team, especially if they want to win now.
Still, I just don't know what it takes to move that contract.
And I'll stop there because we get into more of this in the podcast.
Other teams where it feels like it might make sense. The Magic, we
know that they just need shooting and perhaps Evan Formia could leave this summery as
a player option. Even if he doesn't, they just need more shooting on
the wings. Aaron Gordon would be a great fit in Sacramento. I'd be
curious if you make that move. Should you be Orlando, you'd have to
include other money for one and then two. Now you're saddled with four years
of Buddy Heels as supposed to two years of Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac's hurt
and extension eligible. They're like mark y'all, fots is extension knowledgeable. You're
just in this weird place where I don't know if you can justify making such
a substantial addition for someone who's not necessarily young and still has four years left
on his deal. And it becomes to me a lot harder to move Aaron
Gordon when you have Isaac out next year. Maybe you're really high on Amino
coming back from injury, and then you have Chumo Kek who didn't really play
or who just didn't play at all this year as a rookie. If if
you think that you're going to get them serious reps, I'd be curious.
Look, if Lodi Tevax was still there, I would say that Nicola Vouchovitch
would absolutely be like, maybe that's a swap that can that can work.
And then now it's time to just lean into Mo Bamba or Aaron Gordon playing
more five and you have Kem Birch. But I don't know if the Kings
want to invest that much money in a center at this point, and that
maybe they would rather have, Like would you rather have Voucher or Al Horford?
I guess you would rather have Maybe that's a stupid question. Right now,
Vooch is cheaper and he's younger, So yeah, I just don't know.
Is Voot for Buddy Healed? Like is that framework that makes any sense
for for Sacramento? I don't know. Are you willing to include anything else?
If you're Orlando there? And again I come back to now, you
have Buddy Healed under contract for four years, and it does feel like the
Magic or one of those teams that are just on tilt where they could pivot
into a rebuild at any moment, or at least that they should, And
so going this route might might be a little bit weird for them looking at
other teams. He would be fantastic in Milwaukee. I don't think that they
have the asset firepower to get him. A huge part of any hypothetical deal
there would be can you find a third team not only willing to take Eric
Bletso, but maybe who actually wants Eric Bletso? And then how are you
building out the offers from there, like you can give a I would give
up Donte de Vincenzo for Buddy Healed, And if you include him and a
first you do have picked twenty four in this draft, or you can trade
a distant first round pick. Is that enough? Like if we're talking that
and salary filler for Buddy Healed like a first round pick and Dante de Vincenzo,
I do not know. And then it's a matter of making the rest
of the money work. You're not sending Georgio back to Sacramento. That's just
not happening. They might have interested in brook Lopez, but at that point,
I think you get into while I'm not high on the final three years
of brook Lopez deal, then you get into the issue of what are we
overpaying for Buddy Heal because he's might be a top fifty player, might not
be a top fifty player, So there's a lot of things to consider there.
Memphis is a spout. I love for him. I don't know what
you give up. They have ways to match the salary. Just you look
at they have a ton of these mid level deals. Kyle Anderson at nine
point five million, Tys Jones at eight point eight Justice Winslow at thirteen million,
you want to sound tunings fifteen million, Gorgy Jang in the front of
year of his deal at seventeen point three million, So like they have the
means to build some offers, but you don't have a first round pick in
this year's draft. It's headed to Boston. Is Justice's Winslow someone who interests
the Kings? They do sort of me to lockdown defender, but Memphis went
to a great deal of trouble to bring him on, And at the same
time, maybe they're more willing to move him because he had the back issues
when he arrived there then couldn't play when they went back to the bubble either,
and so they a little bit more out on him and view it as
if they just want to say they've turned cap Space into Buddy Held instead of
just these Winslow. That's fine with them, But how much does the Justice
Winslow interest Sacramento because he would have to be the meat and potatoes of that
deal, Like, may you could be fine giving up Grayson Allen shout the
ball well from three this year, but Buddy heals a better shooter. So
if you can do there's just the's Winslow and Dylan Brooks, Like, is
that something that is going to interest Sacramento. I honestly, I don't know.
Dylan Brooks feels like a little redundant in that situation if they're going to
keep Agday Madanovitch and you have Jaron Fox. Another team that I thought about
and that actually might have an easier path to getting Buddy held would be Indiana.
They have Miles Turner. I have Miles Turners the better player than Buddy
Healed right now, And so how are you building out this deal where Buddy
Healed makes more than Miles Turners on the books for eighteen million and you have
to give up other money in this trade, which yes you have Doug McDermott
to do, but like, are the King sending you anything else back?
Victor Ladipo would be interesting, like maybe the Kings were trying to make like
the Star Power play where if you can bring an Oladipo and like Oladipo and
McDermott for like Buddy Healed, and are you trading a pick and then you
could say, look, this is an all MBA type player. Put him
next to the Aaron Fox, get him going off the ball a little bit
more, which might be good for him following his quad injury. And then
he's someone that can go up against these these I don't wants like top tier
wings, but he's going to give you solid backhard defense, and then you
can also defend some threes, like maybe they can talk themselves into that,
or again, Miles Turner wouldn't be a terrible fit on this roster either.
But Indiana with Buddy Held, if they're whoever they hires their next head coach,
if they're really looking up their three point volume, like he does a
great deal for them there. And I think knowing Indiana's track record where they
give up big name players and they don't want to pivot into these rebuilds,
and I'm just I'm specifically thinking of the Paul George trade when you look at
how they fleshed out that return where they took some bonus and Eladipo and everyone
thought they could have gotten more, should have got in a different direction if
they're interested in still competing post Aladipo trade, which would be my guest,
because they had to know that this was a possibility when you went out and
you got Malcolm Brogden and even Jeremy Lamb before his injury traded for t J.
Warren. Someone like a Buddy Heal to interest them because I feel like
he helps them raise that floor for them. And that's really all I have
on the teams where I feel like could talk themselves going forward to here,
like Denver could use his shooting. But how much do you damage your defense
if you go Gary Harris and another smaller salary for Buddy Healed Like that would
just be an incredibly interesting fit. You could talk yourself into Dallas maybe too,
but you need to get stops if you're the Mavericks, and unless you're
gonna get someone who's maybe a little bit more deppic creating his own shot,
like a Danilo Gallinari, I'm not sure that giving up Tim Hardaway Junior and
then a first and then other money for Buddy hell necessarily tracks there. In
Atlanta, Dead last and three point shooting this year, they have cap space
just straight. They could take Buddy Heels cap space into their books. So
I mean, if it's a matter of you know, they'll take the Kings,
will take number six for Buddy Healed. Ye, I would do it.
I just don't know how much he ends up helping you playing him and
Kevin Hurder and Trey Young at the same time, it is probably a non
starter. And even if you're playing him with a Cam Reddish and a DeAndre
Hunter like that puts a lot of pressure on the defense. John Collins is
still there and he's like not as bad defensively as he was as a rookie,
but he's not someone that's gonna necessarily help your cause if you can if
the cost is right, But if he's going to cost you, if he's
going to cost you Cam Reddish or DeAndre Hunter, I probably balk or I
would say this, I give up one of number six Reddish or Hunter,
and I would honestly be more inclined to give up Hunter at this point.
But you might prefer to have Hunters just because his positional optionality a little bit
more rangier than Cam Reddish. If you're gonna bring Buddy Healed in like you're
very much saying we're gonna Plahim at the two, or we're just gonna if
we play him at the three, like those are going to be lineups where
where the defense could get rolled. So if you can give up one of
those players to get him, and then I'd be fine including Herder. Maybe
Sacramento's interest John Collins, I don't know about that. When they have Marvin
Bagley, they're already But if if you can use if it just takes one
of Reddish Hunter and number six one of those want to reiterate as the headlining
piece, and then you you build out the offer from there, That's when
I think that it would it would be something to talk about. The last
team I'll mentioned. I don't really know if this makes a ton of sense,
but if you're the Celtics and maybe you're looking to like get off a
little money this year, and you're worried about what Gordon Hayward's next contract is
gonna look, like, build a framework around Gordon Hayward, like for Buddy
Healed deals, Like god, is it that bonkers? Like with Sacramento of
interested Gordon Hayward. Let's say Gordon Hayward and you know, the Celtics have
three first round picks and so it's weird to take like you're taking on long
term money in this situation, and Gordon Hayward's a good fighter when he's healthy,
But like, would they be willing to go twenty six and thirty and
Gordon Hayward for Buddy Healed. There might need to be more money involved,
or there definitely need to be more money involved, because Hayward's player option is
thirty four point two million, Buddy Healed is making twenty six, so it
comes pretty close. So would just take a small salary to make the money
work there, And I'm looking just at Sacramentos Books like they have a they
don't really have like a super small salary to give up now that I'm looking
at it, like you would have to go with a Justin James there,
So that's perhaps they're willing to do that. It does seem like from what
I know that they like him. I don't, but if you're maybe they
view Gordon Hayward as just someone an extra ball handler, an extra creator,
maybe that they can rely on a little bit more defensively. But that's that's
like sort of reach and you have to worry about paying him his next deal.
Still, if you're getting two first round picks as part of the equation,
I might even consider it. If it's fourteen and you're just picking up
another lottery pick. If I'm Boston they have. They don't need Buddy Heills
do anything for them on defense than just having that another three point outlet.
Who knows how he would feel about being part of sort of this success by
committee though if he had a problem in Sacramento, is it going to be
much better in Boston? Who knows? Those are teams though that spring to
mind as Buddy Healed destinations. I have rambled enough, though, Let's start
talking in Philadelphia seventy six ers with Bleacher Reports and Forbes and the NBA Pods.
Bryan Tobrick, The weight is finally over. Football is back. You
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wire all one word at that online dot ag. That's blue wire all one
word that online you're online sports book experts. Brian, Welcome to the Hard
One Knox Podcast for the first time. I don't know why it's taken us
this long to bring you on, or at least me specifically to bring you
on, because we've been I'll put in quotes coworkers because I don't know how
often we've interacted, but almost a decade at this point, so talk about
dropping the ball. But I'm excited to have you on for the first time,
so I appreciate you coming on. Well, thank you for having me.
Hopefully not the last time, because yeah, we've been colleagues, can
we say, for a decade, But yeah, it's it's walk over due.
And I'm both excited and sad to talk about the Sixers. Yeah they're
look at least they're fascinating, but like there, it's like the kind of
it's like a car wreck that you can't really look away from. So it's
like that type of deal. I'll start off with this though I even I
told you this and then and then Doc Rivers was higher. I said,
look, I'm gonna be reaching out to you as soon as they picked their
coach, that we can do. I didn't want to date the sixers of
the team. You don't want to do a look ahead for because you know
that it's gonna be dated, like in two days, because something's gonna happen.
I was like, let's at least wait for the coach and Higher,
so then like I feel like five seconds after that, basically Doc Rivers gets
hired. You wrote about this for Forbes. It was a really good article
where you're focusing on you know, the xs and os he brings, like
that's one focus, but there's gonna be the emotional aspect of how he juggles
what's going on with this team? What did you How do you feel though
overall about the Higher? Is there anything you specifically like about it or that
you are super concerned about? Yeah, you know, before he became available,
and it was pretty clearly going to be either Mike D'Antoni or Tailu,
I was pretty pretty team tie, mostly just because the MDA fit with Mbiad
in particular had me nervous and I you know, I have a half written
Forbes article that will never see the Light of Day that was titled six Ers.
Hiring Mike D'Antoni wouldn't force a Joel and Bead trade dot dot dot yet.
So so, I mean, I think Doc is kind of the best
of both worlds, right, So he, like Ty, has the championship
experience, like MDA, He's got the experience dealing with a bunch of different
superstars, and he just has more coaching experience in general, whether it's you
know, the Big Three in Boston, the Lab City Clippers now Kawai and
Paul George. So he's used to dealing with guys with big egos, which
is good some of the stuff that has come out both from Kevin and Arnovits
in twenty eighteen, he kind of did a post mortem on the Lab City
Clippers and you know, more or less said like Doc was not blameless with
regard to the chemistry issues that plague that team. And then you know,
Johan or Yo ban Bou of the Athletic As did a piece in January,
I believe, starting kind of hinting at some behind the scenes chemistry issues and
a lot of Clippers people got mad at him. And then you know,
after Doc left departed mutually whatever published another article where it kind of again said
like Doc was not necessarily great in terms of reaching all of these guys,
and he had to bridge the gap between these hired guns in Kawai and Paul
George and then you know the last year's team that overachieved with Montrez, Lu
Williams, Pat Bev all these guys, and he couldn't quite fit the puzzle
pieces together. So, you know, do I think that Doc Rivers is
going to be single handedly the difference between a first round sweep and a championship
next year? No? I do, Like I love Brett Brown. I
think Brett Brown's a great guy. Hope he gets back in the league somewhere.
I up until this year, I was not in favor of firing him.
I thought the speculation last year was pretty unfair. I do think,
and Brett even said it after they got swept. Now he said, I
didn't do a great job with this roster this year, Like I just couldn't
quite figure out how to make it work, and I don't know whether anyone
can. I mean, you know, it's we'll get into it, but
there are some major fit questions with the principal pieces involved and it's not going
to be easy to move off with some of them. So I mean,
I'm excited to see what Doc brings to the table. I think his experience
with a non shooting point guard in Rondo and a guy like Blake Griffin who's
a big guy who can also pass really well, that intrigues me with how
he's going to use Simmons. And that's really you know, going into this
when whenever his presser is like, that's the question I want him to answer,
is like, what do you envision Ben Simmons role being on offense,
especially in the half court. You know, he had KG in Boston and
DeAndre Jordan with the Clippers, so like he's coached some all star bigs as
well, like that should give him more familiarity with an archetype like embiid Rat
versus a guy like D'Antoni where you can't see the fit working. And then
you know Woad mentioned it in his story, Tobias Harris had a career two
halves of a year, I guess with the DUC and the Clippers. So
I'm excited to see if he can you know, tap back into that because
you know, the Sixers gave him a five year, one hundred and eighty
million dollar contract last summer, and they need to get more return on investment
than that than they did this year. If there's the Tobias Harris Emmon is
one I didn't think about. I will say, though, so you talk
about like the behind the scenes stuff, and I have a follow up question
about that in a second, And I think that's obviously concerning based off the
struggles he seemed to have with two different iterations of the Clippers. That being
said, even with the Clippers offense, while they were like good this year,
it just felt like there was I don't say no rhyme or reason to
it, because that's just mean, like there just wasn't a flow. And
for a team like Philly that desperately needs something resembling a flow on offense,
that's what's gonna worry me about. Doc. But then when you mentioned to
buy his Harris, I'm like, you know, those that Clippers team after
the Blake Griffin trainer, like that was genuinely fun. They did some cool
stuff, and perhaps that's the hope, but my biggest concern is, like,
well he was there dealing with that where they were devoid of superstar egos,
and now you're coming into a Sixers organization where it feels like they've emboldened
Ben Simmons and Joel and Beat specifically to the point of entitlement. And I'm
not sure how accurate that would be. And his doc really gonna lay the
hammer down like it seems like they might be more On the one hand,
I'm like, I hate when people and I feel like I've mentioned this a
zillion times now on this podcast. I hate when people box coaches into a
corner or like try and pigeon hole them, and I feel like it happens
a lot with blackhead coaches, where it's like they're great motivators and you're not
really focusing on like what they do as a tactician. Here, I'm actually
worried about, like is he going to be the one to inspire this team
or discipline this team because we know he's I wouldn't say he's just laid back
as I'm like Mike D'Antoni feels like, but they don't practice, Like are
they going to practice during the regular season? They're probably not gonna have shoot
arounds like that became a thing. Is he gonna get away from that?
Because it seems like this team might need that type of structure, and it's
something that I think Jimmy Butler said it like maybe more bluntly, and then
I feel like JJ Reddick is hinted at it a couple of times. It
feels like this team needs that type of structure. And I'll give Doc the
benefit of the doubt that I think all head coaches, with the exception of
Tom Thibeau and Jim Boylan, are more adaptive than anyone gives some credit for.
So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there. But like,
that's a real thing that needs to happen where I feel like if he takes
the approach that he had even with the non superstar Clippers, like that he
had for a season and a half, however long it was, I don't
know that that ends up working with this team. Yeah, I completely agree
with you. Josh Richardson after they got swept, like straight out said they
did not have accountability this year and they need more of it next year.
And you know, as much as I make fun of hashtag heat culture,
you know he's coming from that organization and that was the one he started his
career with. That's the only other one he's known. So for him to
come to Philly and just bluntly say like, we didn't have this and we
need it, it was a wake up call and that was a lot,
you know, after Brett got fired, that was a prevailing theme and the
Zoom call with Elton Brand was like, how do you establish this culture of
accountability? And you know, he said it starts with him and the front
office, but it's going to trickle down to the coaches and the players.
So we had tomare Azarli of Clutch Points on our pod yesterday. You know,
he's based in LA has been covered in the Clippers for a while now,
so he had some good insight into just how you know, the team's
responded to Doc, and he said he's optimistic that he can. Like he
think one of the big selling points for Doc is that he will get Ben
and Joel to buy in. Now, how long that lasts, I think
is the big question. But I think at first, you know, I
do think the Sixers team just needed a new voice in the front of the
room. And you know, I don't think Doc rivers Like I don't know
that he's you know, a top five tactician in the league. But I
don't think he's like Jim Boylan or Luke Walton like I think he's in that
you know, that that gray area in the middle where it's like he's not
spole Aster's not Popovich, He's not Rick Carlisle. But you know, I
think he is a genuinely good coach in a number of facets. He has
some stubborn tendencies, and tomare highlighted. You know, he was stuck with
Mantrez over Zoobach in the playoffs for way too long against Denver, so you
know, you have to worry about if they don't make major moves this offseason
as least you're like, stubbornly try to force the out Horford thing, even
though we saw it doesn't really work that well. You know, one of
the things I wanted in their next coach, regardless of who it was was.
You know, you just need to experiment in the regular season and try
out different things. I think if we've if the playoffs have underscored one thing,
it's that versatility in this day and age is gonna win more often than
not, and teams are you know, when you get to the playoffs teams
are gonna be able to take away or try to take away. They know
what your strengths are, they're gonna specifically target those. So if you have
ways to adapt and you've practiced those throughout the regular season, then you're not
going to be caught off guard. But if you've been playing the same way
every game, like you know, Mike Budenholzer's bucks, and then a team
figures out to strategy to stop you, then you're like, oh, right,
maybe we should have tried something else to the regular season. Like that's
what you know with spo in the zone. As much as it's fun to
say zone is for cowards, like the Heat broke it out a lot in
the regular season, and it paid major dividends in the playoffs. So you
know, I hope Doc can take his experience from you know, both Lob
City and this past year's Clippers team and realize some of the shortcomings. But
then also we'll see how he fills out his staff too. I mean,
we saw Wog mentioned Alvin Gentry as a possibility for one of his assistant coaches.
Based on what I've heard from some New Orleans guys, they seem to
love that fit. So you know this is not a finished product, either
coaching staff or roster at the moment. Yeah, I think the bigger thing
for me is like it doesn't matter whether they hire mikey Antoni or Tylu.
It's the personnel rather than the coach that's going to define this team because it's
such a you know, round peg, square hole situation, square peg,
roundhole. Over it goes And to that point, I'm gonna say, there's
one more time for the people in the back. And we've gotten pushedback on
this on this podcast, specifically from listeners whom love everything on to you.
You do not move Joel and beat or Ben Simmons. It's not happening right
now. Like it's just it's not happening. You don't default to giving up
two top fifteen players unless you assume you don't have a way out. And
as bad as their books look right now, they don't know for a fact
that they can't figure out something else to do because they haven't tried it,
like see what they can do over the offseason. First to that point though,
because they are in and look, the other thing is like they've been
a net plus together on a court, the court for the past three years.
This season was like the closest they came to not being a net positive
on the court. I think might not. Yeah, so plus one point
eight points per one hundred possessions per cleaning the glass, Like that's not an
offensive rating in the twenty second percent tile, which is so bad. But
because they're not the perfect fits, how much does it matter that they seemingly
don't like each other? And people can point to like Kobe and Shack or
the lob City error Clippers, and here would be my rebukes, Kobe and
Shack one type this team has not. And I actually wouldn't use the Lobsity
Clippers as like a good example, because they fell apart like in the playoffs
at points and there was like this grading aura about them, like that you
could just sense even when they were at their peak, and like I feel
like even JJ Reddick then might have hinted at it. So how much then,
does it actually matter that they don't like each other? Or don't I
mean, I don't love each other. I don't even know how to put
it, Like, do they actually hate each other? I'm like, but
how much doesn't matter that their relationship isn't Let's say it's not peachy Keene,
right. I mean, they're not like Jaalen Brown and Jason Tatum, who
genuinely seem to like each other and you you know, fit well on the
court together. You cannot envision a Boston Celtics future in which both of those
guys aren't there for the next five years, like I can very easily envision
the Sixers future and which one of Ben or Joe is not there, you
know, even in a few years. I'm with you that, you know.
Right now, I think they want to see what what Doc brings to
the table and how he can get these guys working in concert with each other
and then also with whatever supporting cast is in place. During Brand's conference about
firing Brett, he said, straight up, I'm not trading these guys this
offseason. They're twenty four and twenty six. They want to be here for
a long time. We want to better compliment them now. That will be
easier set than done. But you know, I would hope, I mean,
I'm hoping they're watching the finals right now, because like that is you
know, Lebron James and Anthony Davis would be the end goal for those two
guys. You know in theory they have similar like Ben has a similar skill
set and build to Lebron and be could be the Anthony Davis not saying those
guys are there yet, They're not Lebron and ATR significantly better than Ben and
Joel, But you know, seeing how those guys are working and have really
dominated these playoffs, you know, they're two wins away from a ring right
now, and it doesn't seem like Miami has a chance to stop him.
So, like it would not shock me if things go south this year,
if we really do start to have the conversation of trading one of Ben or
Joe, and I think it would probably be Joe on the move, just
because I mean, he hasn't been shy about admitting that he was really pissed
off that they did not bring back JJ Reddick and Jimmy Butler. Yeah no,
and yeah, he was on Reddick's podcast, I think it was in
August, and he said, like the offseason changes, like I just wasn't
having fun playing basketball this year, Like I was mentally checked out. I
was like kind of going through the motions, and that's just not not only
is it not what you want to hear from the your franchise center from the
guy you're paying that much money. But like you have to wonder if things
don't change or we're just going to get sixty percent Joe. I mean you
could see it this season like he'd I don't want to play like body language
doctor, but like the Joel Embiid that was here this year was not the
same player that was here last year. And if you know the fifth issues,
you could see it on defense at points it felt like he was dominant
defensively when he was on the corebine large, but like you could just see
it on certain possessions. Yeah, So you know, if those fit issues
continue, do we run into the same problems next year? And if so,
then I think it's reasonable to start. You know, I'm not saying
they're under any pressure to trade either one of these guys. Bend just signed
the extension. He's locked up for five more years, and Beads still got
three more years on his deal. So you know, I feel like when
you're two years away from free agency, that's when we start to have the
so what are we doing here? Like are we married long term or not?
Because you know then you can get if you wait till twenty twenty two.
Then it's like the Okay, he's going to demand a trade like Anthony
Davis and wars your hand. So yeah, I don't think Doc takes this
job. Honestly, if if you know el Brand, I'm sure he asked
Elton like, what's the plan here? Are we going to keep these guys?
Where we open the trading one? And I you know, I don't
think he takes the job. If Elton's like, well, now we might
trade it. We might trade Emp this offseason, I don't know. We'll
see. Can it beat be the best player on a championship team. It's
a really good question, and it's one I've been grappling with throughout the postseason
really because you know, he put up good numbers in that Celtics series,
I think average around thirty and twelve, and they got their heads beat in
four straight games. Now even look at that, was it the Raptors series
last year where they like they lost that series during the minute he was not
on the floor, and so like that team went on to win the title,
So that that would lend you to believe, oh, he can easily
be the best player on a championship team. Right. I mean they were
plus I think it was plus ninety with him on the court, and I
think it was minus one oh nine in ninety nine minutes with him off the
court. So if they, like, if they just have a replacement level
backup setter, they probably win that series. And you could make the argument
that they would go out to win the title last year. So you know,
I think the question isn't necessarily em beats specifically. I think it's more
just how championship teams are constructed in today's NBA, and I think you need
a star two way wing to have a legit chance at a title, and
should have traded for one in the middle of last year named Jimmy Butler and
then resigned him. That'd been a good idea. I know it's crazy.
I just I wonder where they could have possibly gotten a star two way wing.
But you know, as you said, I if they win the title
last year, Joel embiads the best player on that team, I think,
But you know, Jimmy Butler is one A, one B with him,
so I think he needs that type of player next to him to win a
title. Ken Ben Simmons develop into that player, hopefully, I mean,
that's what they're gonna need. I don't think Tobias hair Ken. So you
know, a lot of this ultimately, like it all still rides on Ben
and Joe, and I think they had a lot more margin for error a
couple of years ago before they started making all these trades, and you know,
now their cap is there, their books are just totally shot, so
you know, they, like I regardless of what happens with them moving forward.
I think those two guys, even though they are an imperfect fit,
could have won a title together. But I am wondering now if it's like,
if they've made so many mistakes over the last few years that it might
be too far gone. And you know, maybe this iteration of the Sixers
can't win a title together. But I don't think they're ready to give up
on it quite yet. On the Ben Simmons side of this, how important
is it or one? Do you ever see Ben Simmons expanding his range?
I'm not even talking about to the three point line, like, how about
outside the three foot line? Basically obviously hyperbolic? Do you ever see that
happening? And then ultimately though, how important is that happening? If you
want the b partnership to work, because part of me is just like,
you know, if he even just hit more of his free throws, like
maybe they would just be fine. But then I'm like, no, you
know, like there needs to be more variance to his offensive range. But
I honestly, I'm just curious as to what you think about if you want
this partnership to work, and regardless of even if they put the right personnel
around them at one point, like, does Ben Simmons need to expand his
offensive portfolio in some form? I think so. I mean, I think
the focus on it can be overblown at times because it tends to ignore everything
else that he brings. You know, like if people are saying Ben Simmons
isn't the All Star because he can't shoot, like that's just objectively not true.
He's one of the best most versatile defenders in the NBA right now,
as evidenced by him being on the l NBA team. He's fantastic. You
know, I wrote a piece for Forbes going into this past Sea and saying
like that won't the jump shot alone will not make or break his season?
Does he take strides defensively? He's finishing around the rim. He's getting better,
but he can still improve in that regard as well. As you mentioned
the free throw percentage needs to go up. I think you know that in
concert with him finishing around the rim, Like if he is more confident in
his ability to shoot free throws and he's a better finisher around the rim,
that's going to make him just a more effective offensive player, you know,
and of itself. But ultimately, yes, like he does, he does
need to eventually start taking jump shots. And I do think you know,
we saw it this past season when he hit the shot, I think it
was early against Cleveland and Brett Brown after the game is like, tell his
friends, tell his manager, tell his agent. I want to see at
least one one three per game from Ben moving forward. And Ben didn't take
another three for I think twenty five games. So yeah, so that was
not great. And you know, I think Doc will probably come in and
issue the same challenge, but we'll say, like, hey man, I'm
not messing around, like you're actually going to take at least one three a
game because you know, Ben has been working on that shot. Everyone in
around six Ers pract like I'm not at the practices every day. I live
in Baltimore and I would used to be in Nashville, so I'm like,
not in Philly directly, but everyone around the team says like he's working on
it, and you know, he knows he needs to add it to his
game to hit his ceiling. Like you know, I think it's true for
any NBA player like DeAndre Jordan would be a much better NBA player if he
could hit three pointers. He never added that to his game, and that
capped his ceiling. Ben Simmons, if he wants to hit that MVP level
like he if he stagnates right now, he can be if you know,
consistent All Star or fringe All NBA guy for the rest of his career.
That's cool, but he won't hit his ceiling like he could be, you
know, top ten, top five, even if he's got a consistent jumper.
So yeah, I mean, especially given you know Embiid's preference to work
down low and like just his dominance in that area of the court, you're
gonna need to put spaces around him. So you know, I think it
is something that ultimately it needs to come around if this thing is going to
last beyond the next few years. But I don't think We're going to see
Ben Simmons bombing ten threes a night next year, either, I think it's
going to be slower than a lot of people would like I do. I
think because of that though, like there's there is, as you mentioned,
like an under appreciation for what he actually does, like a fantastic passer,
but really his defense he might be. He has to be one of the
three most versatile defenders in the NBA right now. When I was writing about
this, like it was in an article I road semi recently, like his
versatility and the b Ball indexes. Christa Narsho has the basic defensive versatility measurement
and an everyone who played at least five hundred possessions this past season, only
o Gann and Obi James Harden, which is just funny because of how they
move him around to hide him, and Ronaldy Hollis Jefferson only graded out is
more versatile. And then you look at among everyone who played at least a
thousand minutes this season, only Terrence Ferguson, Royce O'Neill and Tory Craig spent
more time guarding number one options and so the workload that he carries, like
I know joel By is kind of the heart and soul of that defense because
not of what he just does at the rim, because of what his presence
at the rim actually means, like it changes, it warps an entire team
shot selection, like Ben Simmons can be in the defensive player of the Year
conversation in any given season. And yet I think I'm in firm agreement with
you. It's just that it feels you shouldn't be able to say this about
a top fifteen player now top fifteen, top twenty. It feels like he's
like so far short of what his ceiling might be where it's like we're not
even talking about it. I feel like if he had any semblance of a
floater, a mid range jumper, like a stand still three pointer, of
like like Aaron Gordon level like stand hill three pointer or something, we're looking
at a top five player with multiple MVP awards, and that just like is
I know, shooting is like this fundamental thing that we can't just say,
well, if he had this, like that's a big part of the game.
So he doesn't have it at it matters, but he's already just so
good where it's it's it's similar to Jannis, where it's at least Yannis is
taking him though, but if Jannis was hitting his threes in the league average
clip, like imagine like what that would mean for him. But Jannis is
at the level where he's taking them like these, like you know, turnaround
jumpers or three pointers, and he's won multiple MVPs. Now, maybe even
Ben Simmons kind of like putting pressure on defenses, not necessarily the form of
efficiency, but even volume, Like maybe that changes the perception of him a
little bit. Yeah, I mean I was listening to I think Stan van
Gunny was on Howard Beck's podcast a while ago and they were talking about this,
and it was either Howard Becker Zach Well. I don't I think it
was back though. I think it was back. I remember that. Yeah,
yeah he was, And you know, Beck was making this point about
like, yes, Ben does a lot of things well, but ultimately like
he does need to add this shot, and Stan van Gundy was pushing back
a little bit because Beck brought up Jannis as well, and Stan Mcgunny's like,
teams aren't guarding Ghannis, like they're goading him into that shot. So
I mean, it's it's tricky because I think during the regular season teams,
you know, you just don't have time to prepare for individual matchups every night,
so you might be able to like goad people into guarding Ben Simmons.
But once you get into a playoff series, like teams will be inviting him
to take that shot. I don't know that it necessarily changes their defensive tactics
at all. They're going to leave him wide open until he proves that he
can hit you know, a reasonable percentage of them. But again, I
just think for like the psychological spacing aspect of it, I do think it
is important for him to eventually add it. I don't want to compare him
to Lebron at any point because like Lebron is just Lebron no matter what portion
of his career you take him is better than current Ben Simmons. But you
know, it feels like he Ben is in the like O seven Lebron era
where you remember, like the Spurs Finals, they were just leaving Lebron wide
open and daring him to shoot, and he would and just like it was
a low efficiency strategy. You know, Oh seven Lebron didn't have Joel Embiide,
so that that can hide some of Ben's weakness. But you know,
Lebron didn't start winning rings until he added that credible jump shot. So again,
I think it's going to be a slow process. I don't think this
happens, you know, I don't think he's going to hit a high volume
of threes next year at a respectable percentage. I would love to be wrong,
but I just think it's going to take more time than that. But
I mean, I think, you know, again, like that, that's
one of the big questions for Doc is like how do you get him to
this point? And he saw that was openly like pining for Ben Simmons threes
in the press, right, and like we saw, you know, Doc,
with Blake Griffin, we saw Blake overtime. Blake Griffin came in the
league with the reputation of like just a dunker, doesn't do anything from beyond
five feet, and like, over time has developed into a pretty good shooter
for a big man. So he did more pull up threes in twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen, and rookie Trey Young there, Yeah, that's how about
Blake Griffin came that that is the trajectory you would like for Ben Simmons to
take over time. But again, how you know how many years did that
take for Blake Griffin to get to that point? So, like, bottom
line, yes, it's important, No, it's not the only thing he
needs to improve upon, you know, this offseason, next season whatever.
Like the finishing around the rim and the free throws I think are equally important
with regard to his offensive upside. Here's I think an interestingly difficult question.
Who's more important to the Sixers future batist Thible, Josh Richardson or Shake Milton.
So I actually don't think this is that difficult, right, Well,
then I'm not touch well well, and here's why. So, I mean,
Josh Richardson in a vacuum is the best player of those three. But
you know he's going to be a free agent in twenty twenty one, and
again, I mean, we'll see what happens with Doc. I think clearly
that his first year in six Ers Land did not go as he would have
liked. He didn't play as well as he would have hoped. And you
know, I I love Josh Richardson and I think, you know, this
was probably just a bad year and hope he's a lot better next year.
But I guess there there is a question of whether he's a great fit next
to Ben and Joel, just because you know, they tried to try him
as a backup point guard that did not work very well. Great defender,
but not a consistent three point shooter, and you need guys to be able
to knock down three. So if that high volume doesn't come, you wonder
whether he has a long term place and ultimately, if they're going to make
bigger moves this offseason, you know, he's on a very affordable contract.
You could use him as part of the bait to get off of one of
Orford to Bias. So I think it comes down to Shake and Thible,
and it's really just which do you prioritize defense versus offense? And I think
for the Sixers specific needs next to Ben and Joel, I think shake,
Especially on the contract that he's on, it's three years, you know,
one point some minim million dollars per year. Given the Sixers financial issues,
I think like he's basically their best hope of getting out of this thing and
keeping that pairing intact. So I would go shake here, And that's with
all due respect a Bibel who you know is a fantastic defender already, but
the shot is just so inconsistent. And again, like next to Ben and
Joel specifically, you need guys to be able to actually knock down, catch
and shoot threes. Yeah, and look, I mean like he's never gonna
be or it doesn't look like he profiles as the guy that's gonna like dribble
a lot in anything. Either. No, I would have the So I
didn't realize shake Milton was under contract for three more years. That's just I
guess something that kind of flew under the radar for me. So I get
that pick, and with Josh Richardson hitting free agency in twenty twenty one,
I understand why he wouldn't be bick but for me, he almost was,
because it feels like they need functional shooting with a little bit of ball handling,
and like he can. I know he was inconsistent last year, but
if you gave him like a little bit better space, and I feel like
he could be that guy. But then when you're looking at affordability just impending
free agency in general, it would be hysterical if he ends up with the
heat in twenty twenty one. By the way, if he if he lasts
two seasons in Philly, he might just be like foaming at the mouth to
get back to the Heat culture and maybe he'll go back there. But with
Shake under contract that's for the next three years, it under a total of
six million dollars. That's a really good point. But like that just puts
like an awful lot of pressure on him because he looked overmatched at times during
the postseason. I don't know how much of a learning curve you can afford
to give him when your hopes are so immediate, right, Yeah, I
don't think he should be a full time point guard. I think he profiles
as a combo like he can be a ball handler, but I think probably
better off as a secondary ball handler rather than primary. And again this goes
back to like the what is Ben Simmons' role in the half court offense?
Is? Is he a point guard? Is he your full time point guard
or not? Because that's going to lead into what types of players are you
going after this offseason? Yeah, I mean, like again, I think
Josh is going to have a better year next year, and like part of
me hopes that he looks at the landscape in twenty twenty one and you know,
it's with the co COVID financial uncertainty, we just don't know how much
cap space there's going to be, and like, maybe he decides to take
a short term extension, because then my answer might pivot to him instead.
But yeah, I have a piece coming out at fan Sided in a few
weeks about the Sixers in twenty thirty and it's basically just the most bleak projection
of like what how these series of missteps can continue? And one of them
does involve Josh Richardson going back to the Heat in twenty twenty one. So
good, good call there. I'm not sure to what extent you've I'm like,
I would say, shin deep in draft prep at this point, which
is not high at all. It's like a little higher than ankles, but
not much higher than that. Is there anyone that you like for the Sixers
that you think could be available at number twenty one? Or is you're just
an expectation that it doesn't even really matter because whoever they're taking is not going
to start the season on the roster. It's yeah, that's a fair question.
What if they sell the pick? I will write a three thousand word
scri screet at Forbes just raging about it. But I mean that is one
of their big trade chips. Not only twenty one, but they have two
early seconds plus two seconds in the further down in the round. So again,
if they are trying to move off of one of Horford or to Bias,
I would expect those would be up for grabs. I think ultimately they're
going to need a point guard and some capacity. Having one functional point guard
on the roster might help, And luckily it seems like in that range there
actually should be a decent number of them. Kira Lewis, if he slips,
I think would be a good fit. I know some people on six
ers Twitter. I don't know if it's at twenty one or maybe it's one
of these early seconds. But Desmond Baine's gotten some hype, Grant Riller's gotten
some hype because I think, no, ultimately you need ball handlers and shooters
like you've got forwards, got centers were set there, no more bigs,
please, you know, go go after point guard, shooting guard, those
types. Tyrese Maxie is another guy if he falls that far. Johnnius,
Ramsey, Jamieus. I don't know how you say his name but the kid
from Texas Tech, you know, any of those options, Like, I
think they're actually in you know, all of these teams the top ten to
try to trade down because they don't want they're like, oh, we don't
like any of these guys that much. I think at twenty one the sixers
are actually probably gonna have some good options, and even at thirty four and
thirty six, so given their financial reality over the next couple of years,
like this may be their best chance to add some very inexpensive young talent,
and I genuinely hope they take advantage of it. Yeah, I'm like,
it's I don't want to say it sucks. Like they're in a situation where
there could be some intriguing players to me that would fall, Like they could
be great swing pieces, but like if they still have questions about their jo,
Like if it's an RJ. Hampton or Cole Anthony who falls, it's
like maybe you should gem on them. But it's like, well, like
if if they're jumpers don't pan out, well, then like you're just completely
screwed. I'd be interested to see whether they could. I just don't have
a feel for this draft at all, even reading like the mocks and the
big boards. Is I don't know, like who's gonna fall where like a
I've fallen in love with Patrick Williams. There's always a guy or two that
just fall in love with who's not like one of the top top guys.
And he was like mocked like in the low twenties at one point, and
now he's like like number seven on people's big boards, and so it's like,
I don't think they could afford it even if he was there, which
I don't think he would be his jumpers too and established for them to probably
give him a chance. But I'm wondering if because it's this draft where it's
so hard to have a feel for it, like do you have the you
know, when you're talking about smaller scale moves instead of swinging for the fences,
do you have like a little bit of juice to move up and maybe
get in a position to get like a Sadique Bay or Devin Vassell. I
don't know. I don't know where those guys are going. Are they gonna
go inside the top ten outs. If they're going inside the top ten,
then no, you probably don't have the juice in there. If they're gonna
fall outside the top ten. Well, then it's like, well, you
know, maybe, but I'm kind of I kind of almost default on I
think that this pick is eventually just going to be traded. Yeah. I
leaned toward that as well, whether as you said, it could be a
trade up or I mean, I think most likely, even more than a
trade up is if if they're trading this pick, they're probably trying to get
out of Horford in particular. So before I get into that Horford Tobias Harris
stuff, the Sixers are going to use the mini mL E, right,
Like, do we need to do we need to worry about their governors not
ponying up the five million and change whatever it's gonna end up being, I
hope. So I don't know. I mean, they've they've sworn that they
were willing to pay the luxury tax. Well, they're not gonna have a
choice on that next season, right right, right. But I mean that
is part of the problem is that I think they built this roster assuming the
cap would continue going up. I mean, by all reasonable projections, it's
going to stay at So they're already going to be about seventeen million over the
tax line and Once you start to get into that like twenty to twenty five
million dollars over range, it gets really expensive really quickly. Like a five
million dollar contract ends up costing you, I think close to twenty five to
thirty million ultimately. So you know, that's probably another question that I hope
Doc Rivers asked it. This is what are you guys gonna cheap out or
like you do you have you know, empty pockets like uh like Balmer that
you just don't care? I would hope that they do, and I think
again, a point guard's probably the way to go here. Well, you
know, I mean last year they spend it on Mike Scott, which backfired
significantly because he as much as I love Mike and you know he is,
you shined fucking out, Horford. What are you doing burning that money on
Mike Scott after doing that? It blows my mind? Like Mike played well,
and I think he had some you know, like clearly the locker room
loves him. His look, he has a Moji's tattooed on him. He's
clearly a legend. But like, yeah, like what are you like?
The decision making there was worst than questionable. Yeah, it was a complete
misallocation of resources, Like if you bring him back on a minimum contract,
great, but don't use I think they ended up using the room exception on
him, and it was just like, you know, it's just such a
low key mistake compared to what they gave to Bias an Owl that it flies
under the radar. But I think it was similarly detrimental to their because like
they had to rely on Howell Netto and Trey Burke for most of the year,
and tray Burke fell into Brett Brown's doghouse like NonStop, and so they
just did not have any good answer at backup point guard. And then when
Ben went down, it was like, all right, well, there goes
our best wing defender at our best point guard. The other thing is like,
couldn't you have like gotten obviously just on the point guard issue. But
they just seemed like so like why not Wesley Matthews, Like he only signed
for the minimum with Milwaukee, Like you couldn't have gotten him for the room
exception, And look at how important he ended up being to them. He'd
be fantastic defending Jimmy Butler. Relative to the task of defending Jimmy Butler in
the series that the Bucks lost. So it's just like even just you would
think that again, even if you couldn't get a point guard, like,
wouldn't you. I just feel like you default like a wing or like or
someone who's a little bit more plug and play or just at least not like
you signed Horford to play power forward and then I think the reality is to
bias, Harris is going to have to play like some minutes of power forward.
So why would you go ahead and then sign a four five with the
room exception? Like, that's just bizarre. If you have you have four
bigs and Simmons and being Horford and Harris like you're good, your manants are
good. There, it's already impossible to fit all four of those guys where
they did to be. It was I really do think it was just like
trying to carry over some of the good vibes from last year and it just
totally backfired. So do you have like any free agents that you think could
fall in that price range that you like for the Sixers this offseason? Yeah,
So that's the problem. It gets really bleak at point guard after Fred
VanVleet. You know, I don't think Gord Drogic is a realistic target at
the taxpayer a MLI. I would love to be wrong about that, but
it feels like, yeah, even when this torn plants are I don't I
don't know if that would lower his value enough. I still think he probably
feels like he's in line for like that huge one year windfall from Miami.
Yeah, that would be my guest too, that they'll just try to keep
him and Jay Crowder and then punt it to twenty twenty one. So I
think he's off the board. So like, I mean, it's fatigue maybe.
Yeah, I was gonna say Jeff Tigue or DJ Augustine are probably the
best bets, and it's you know, neither you feel great about. But
again, these aren't going to be You're not playing these guys thirty five minutes
a night. It's like, come off the bench, play fifteen to twenty
minutes. Reggie Jackson, maybe sure, play rondo. Let's just save him.
The state of the Sixers in the backcourt is such that it feels like
they can't lose Alec Burks, who's not even a point guard. But it's
just like, oh he can dribble and shoot. Someone else would be I
think would be a great fit, but I don't know. I know he's
a like a non bird RFA, but like I don't know or early bird
ARFA. Excuse me, but like Javon Carter would be perfect for this team,
I just don't know how like serious Phoenix like and the money that Philly
can give him, it's just like, well why, like why wouldn't Phoenix
just keep him at that point? And that's the other thing I struggle with
is like I almost thought, like, I know you want a point guard,
but like Ben Simmons is a really good passer, so like if you
like surrounded him with maybe a gallow or something like, you can't even work
out sign in trade scenarios because the Sixers are just so far past what the
expected apron is at this point, and so I don't know, I don't
know what you do because like you said, the point guard market is worse
than bare Bones at this point, and so I think Alec Burks ends up
being huge to keep for them, And then maybe is it does it make
more sense? Then if you assume that you like, let's say you can't
get in Augustine, you're not going to get a Druggish is there like something
too. Then well, if you can keep Alec Burks, it might just
be like, like, maybe we need to fill the roster with Kent Baysmore.
It's just like guys who can who we know can shoot, but he
can facilitate a little bit, but guys we know who can shoot, rather
than trying to focus on the functional ball handling aspect. Yeah, I mean,
I totally agree with you about Alec Burks. You know, he was
one of the only guys on the team. You just like need guys without
a conscience who just like do not care and are willing to just fire away
because you know Ben is gonna find them. And like Tobias, I tweeted
a clip early in the season where he catches a pass above the break there's
no one within ten feet of them, and he didn't pull. He tried
to like drive in and called for an offensive bow. And I'm like,
if Tobias is not taking this shot, the Sixers are so much more screwed
than we realize. And little did I know how prophetic that would be.
So yeah, I would love to see Alec Burks. I have no idea
what kind of market he would have. My other thought is like Austin Rivers
as a minimum player option. Maybe he comes hangs out with his dad and
Philly. Maybe his dad's willing to give him more than Houston, just like
his dad was willing to give him more as an executive with the Clippers than
probably any other team on the face of this planet. Was that Was that
a twenty sixteen contract too? I can't remember because it was three years,
it was like forty two million. Well, look, Austin Rivers shot like
thirty six percent or something. I'll pull up threes this year, and like
that's something the Sixers could And look, they have room to have both of
him and and out Burks on this roster quite flankly, like they like,
no either of those guys solve your point card issues. But it's like you
said, it feels like they just need the guys who who actually can shoot
and then are going to be willing to willing to shoot. Right, Yeah,
just fill out your backcourt with actual playable bodies because they did not have
really anything resembling that once Ben went down. So let's talk about this to
Buias Harris al Horford stuff. We'll start with the quick question whose contract is
worse, right, now. So al Horford has three years and eighty one
million dollars left, but only sixty nine million of which is guaranteed silver linings.
The Bias Harris is on the books for four years and one hundred and
forty seven point three million dollars. So which contract do you think is harder
to move? I mean, I've been of the mindset that Al is harder
to move, but I'm genuinely curious to get your take as well, because,
like it's you know, six or Twitter, I think has been overly
optimistic about how easy it is to move either of these guys. And I
think, especially given the financial constraints of this summer where so few teams have
cap space and they're just aren't. It's like you're gonna almost have to trade
a bad contract for a bad contract. But both of these guys are.
I mean, they're two of the worst contracts in the NBA. The only
reason I choose al Over to buy is one from a fit perspective. I
think you can talk yourself into okay if you move to Bias to the four
full time next to Joel, Like we've seen that work in twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen, that look was pretty effective. I just don't see away unless
Al Horford, you know, gets new knees that he's gonna be sick.
The fit between it wasn't him and am Being or him and Ben, it's
all three of those guys together. I think they averaged when they were on
the court this year. I think it was ninety nine point five points per
one hundred possessions, which seems just yeah, it's a little a little well,
not ideal. And like, defensively they were great, but like I
think Al Horford ultimately is best as a as a five on both ends of
the court at this stage of his career. So I just think, like
to bias, I know it's a bigger contract, but his age and like
you could still talk yourself into Okay, he's not a great defender, but
he can be like poor man's Carmelo. He'll give us, you know,
twenty low twenties and seven rebounds a game, and that's fine. Al Horford.
It's like, is this guy just totally watched, Like what can he
provide? Because you know that he had so many games this year where he
just looked bad on both ends of the court. Hey, I think he
really you're taking a bigger leap leap of faith if you're another team taking on
Al Horford right now than you are. To bias Harris, I'd agree with
you, mainly because of the bias Harris's age, Like he's only twenty eight
and it feels like he's thirty eight because he's played for a zillion NBA teams
and maybe the teams that are gonna be willing to take on that contract,
they might actually be like better teams that feel like they're a third option away
from being like a serious title contender, and he is more than fit to
do that, like he was a legitimate like number two during that year that
Gallo went off with the Clippers before he was traded to Philly, and so
like he can still be good, he's just not I think after seeing him
playing Tannem Jimmy Butler, like he's not the guy that's going to be that
type of table center or put the requisite pressure on the rim and crunch time
to really diversify your offense. And if there's a team that doesn't need him
to be that, where Philly so badly needs him to be that, I
think it's easier to justify that contract. Then the other thing with al Horford
is if you told me, because you're looking at the partial guarantee in the
final year, and it's like, well, then it's really only two years.
Like, how do you pay someone thirteen million dollars You're just not play
for you, and so it almost feels like you're forced to guarantee that kind
like that partial guarantee is monstrous. It's thirteen point five million, I think,
so, like that's just not something to get rid of, and so
you're almost almost are tying yourself to three years of it. And it's like
you said, worry about the injuries. If you could tell me he'd be
healthy, I might pick Al Horford here, I mean I might pick Tobias
Harris's contract. And also, losing the revenue is going to be tough.
But like when you're looking at their salaries, I think right now that you
can say don't look at their price tags in general, because both seem I'm
pro players getting paid good for these guys getting all their money, but for
a team from a team perspective, they're making too much. I think you
could say though, that Tobias Harris is going to be worth seven to eight
million dollars more per year than our horror moving forward, which is what is
getting paid right now. And that's where I ultimately land on that. The
problem is that I don't think you can view Tobias Harris's contract then as an
asset. It's relative. It's an asset relative to like the lesser of two
evils, which isn't much of a selling point for these And so do you
think the sixers are one going to be looking to move one of them?
Because I'm sure they'd be willing, but like, is this something they're actively
going to look to do? And two if they are, like, are
they gonna be willing to glitz up the offers with the necessary buffers? And
I'm like, you know, number twenty one is fine, but like,
are you willing to go further out with the first round picture giving up?
Are you willing to include Thieble in this? Or you willing to include shake
Milton in this? How many is it? Like? And how many are
going to need? Because it feels like you're gonna need too sweeteners at least
to get off one of these deals. And if you're looking to get a
player who can actually like help you, it might be three, because if
the player coming back isn't on a bad contract, as you mentioned and like
that, that's like another hurdle that they have to clear. Yeah, and
I mean so I think if they're gonna try to trade one, they would
try to trade Horford first. You know. I think that the Doc Tobias
connection. I think they're probably curious to see if they can unlock him and
again the ages you mentioned, So I think Horford would be the guy just
because, like, ultimately, you don't need to be spending twenty eight million
dollars twenty seven billion dollars on a backup center, which is what Al Horford
profiles as. Like they can say he's a four and he can play next
to one beat all they want. It's just not true. It's so annoying
on the sixth part, by the way, that we finally got to a
point where everyone recognized Al Horford as a center and then they signed him to
be a powerful It's like, well, I want to play power for it.
They're like, great, here's one hundred and nine million dollars. But
it's like, no, he's a center. It's just he can't chase defensively,
he can't chase force. They tried to play him and drop coverage as
a backup center. He couldn't do that either. It's like, and again,
as you mentioned that, the knees in particular give you some concern.
So like, I think they could pretty easily flip him, not easily flip
him, but if they were able to move him, I think they could
get a replacement level big in his place for a lot less money because like
they signed him as in part as they won't admit it, but part of
it was Mbient insurance. Like they got so rocked in that Raptor series whenever
it beat him off the court, they were like, okay, cool,
now we have a Horford, So for forty eight minutes night, we're gonna
have one of these guys like an all star center. In theory, on
the court, we shouldn't get blown off, but they just ignored, like,
oh, he we shouldn't be banking twenty eight million dollars. That's just
that's like great logic in theory, but not when it costs you one hundred
and nine million dollars. Yeah. Right, So you know, like sixers,
Twitter's favorite trade target is Buddy Healed and Jason Jones and The Athletic just
wrote a piece last night about him, because Buddy Healed has been feeding into
this on Twitter. He's been like liking all these Philly posts. He's open
disdain for the Kings even during contract extension talks. Was Yeah, I love
it, I love it. Probably probably not a great side. So like,
do I think the Kings are willing to move off of Buddy Healed?
Yes? Why would they be willing to move him for Al Horford? Like?
What would you have to include? That's that's kind of questions, Like
would they be willing to move Harrison Barnes for Al Horford? Like forget Buddy
Healed? To me, I'm like, are they going to do Barns for
Horford without getting like two sweeteners in return? Right? Right? Like that
that's the missing variable is how much do you have to include? Like I
think the Sixers would gladly give up twenty one or any combination of picks in
this year's draft because they'll just treat it as like, well, they're not
on a roster, so they aren't they aren't valuable. That's how they tend
to value picks in recent years. Zaire Smith, I think is like the
wild card that they don't care about and they just know it's not going to
happen in Philly. I don't know how much, if any trade value he
has. I think he's you know, probably just a lottery ticket at this
point. I don't think he like moves the needle on a buddy hell deal.
So, you know, I think they'll sniff around bigger names like that.
Chris Paul was of course a possible target as well, but who knows
with you know, I think his relationship with Doc probably nixes that, although
I didn't even really I totally forgot about that too. That's the point.
Yeah, apparently they've like since been on good terms, so maybe not,
and maybe, you know, maybe they, but I don't know. That
seems like if you're adding Chris Paul to already vollowed a locker rim situation,
that just seems like a recipe for a disaster. So, like, I
think they'll sniff around the bigger names. You know, Andrew Wiggins would be
another one where I could, like, they'll they'll place a call to Bob
Buyers and say, Andrew Wiggins, al Horford, how much more do you
want? You know, maybe Wigan. You know, it's mad if Andrew
Wiggins is the asset of that deal. I know he he has three years
and ninety four point two million dollars left on his deal. I believe I've
clearly ninety four point seven million. Excuse me, he's even a little bit
more than that. So yeah, like he has more guaranteed money on his
contract. But I guess because he's younger and like that makes him the asset
at that deal. I don't know that. I think I'd probably like that
trade equally, not at all for eitherty. Yeah that sounds about right.
I mean, like my I landed on. I think they need to shoot
a little lower and rather than do a one for one swap, they need
to think part of the problem with Horford is that just there aren't many teams
that need a center at all, much less a thirty four year old being
paid that much money. The one team I keep coming back to is New
Orleans, not for Drew Holiday, because I just don't think there's I don't
think there is enough that they could include to do it Horford for Drew Holiday,
I think, yeah, I think actually, off the top of my
head, I would say shake fible and a future first, like not even
this year's first, like because I don't know why they would want number twenty
one and I'm not even sure that's enough. And then would you give up
like all, like all four of those things like Fible, Shake this year's
first, and then at twenty twenty two first, like are you doing that
for Drew they get off Horford's money and get Drew holiday. I think I
probably would, but that's an awful like you could probably talk yourself at well,
none of them are high level assets, but given how important Fible and
like Shake Milton are and how much you need cost controlled assets, that's a
that's a hell of a price to pay. I still probably do it,
though I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, but I still think like the Pelicans,
if they're shopping Drew, they can get more than that. I don't
think this will happen. Yeah, So I come back to more rather than
go for a bigger name, try to break Horford up into smaller pieces if
you can. So one of the ideas I've kicked around is something like bring
back JJ Reddick, who was just on Matt Barnes podcast and said they effed
up by trading him, which fair. Darius Miller who was coming off.
I believe the Achilles didn't play at all last year, so it's kind of
just like I don't think the Pelicans are probably gonna be that married to him,
and then Nicomelly for Horford and whatever you know, twenty one and end
some combination of future picks or you know, some of the seconds that they
have or like what I again, I don't know what that sweetener is.
And that's ultimately that's where I keep coming back to with all of these Horford
and to buy his trade ideas, because like, yes, if they could
trade Al Horford for Buddy Healed, straight up, go for it, like
totally it's not going to happen, but go for it. But you know,
I keep wondering, like, as you said, with the true stuff,
like are you trading so much that you aren't drastically improving either the short
term are or the long term outlook? And if so, like I wouldn't
make a Horford trade like for Nicholas Batum just for cap relief because cap relief
isn't going to help the Sixers at off, like they won't pay the luxury
tax. I don't care believe Josh Harris Dry do not care at all I'm
talking about to ask you, because it's like, would you do Al Horford?
And let's even say it's a smaller sweetener for Andre Drummond, like from
Cleveland, just to get off his money at the Internet year And look,
then Drummonds is just backing up Joel Embiid and then getting the shit kicked out
of him and in practice by too. But I mean it makes sense like
from a like just a far removed perspective, like that's now we're thinking about
the team's finances. But it also doesn't really even matter because like there is
that that's not even really going to be the difference if you keep Josh richardson.
But even if you don't like that, that may not even be the
difference between unlocking the non tax payers mid level down the line. So you're
not really saddling yourself with any additional assets by making that move. You're just
saving Josh Hawer's money, right exactly, And I don't care about that at
all. It's less money he can donate it to the Republican Party, so
it's actually for the best. That's the only benefit to Al Horford's contract these
days. So I mean that's ultimately where it lands. It's like, I'm
okay with you know, of course they should be shopping these guys around and
seeing what they can get, But I wouldn't want to give up a ton
of assets, especially just for cap relief, if it's going to make you
worse both next year and then also, like as bad as al Horford was
next to Embid and Simmons, you know you pencil in twenty games, probably
the Embiad's gonna miss. Horford does have a role there in the fifteen minutes
that Embid doesn't play per night during the regular season, like he and ben
coexisted somewhat well together, and you know, and Horford had a down year
shooting. I think if he, you know, if he, if he
unlike everyone else who comes to Affiliate recent years, like regresses positively to the
mean and actually starts shooting better, especially on catch and shoots next year than
he did this year. Like I'm not saying he's going to provide the positive
value on the contract, but it's not like he's a complete zero of a
player, So you know, I think they do need to be careful,
and ultimately it would not surprise me if they run this back, and you
know they say, you know, last year, going into the season,
we were heavily projected to be a title contender. Now we've added someone,
you know whoever with the mid level, we've added these draft picks. All
of these guys have another year under their belts, they have more chemistry together,
we have a new coach. Let's see what happens. And then if
you know, if it all goes to hell in those first few months,
like that's what the trade deadlines were, Okay, we tried it, it
didn't work. Then we can re exp deals then and you know, you've
paid four months of Val Horford's contract. So maybe it's slightly more enticing,
But yeah, I mean it's I keep being fearful that it will be exiled
from six Ers Twitter again for saying like I wouldn't be shocked if they run
it back, but I really I wouldn't. One year too late. But
it's tough to I wouldn't be shocked either, And it's without knowing what the
market to like grease the wheels of a trade rail. Horford is just now
more than ever because his contracts seems steeper in what we expect to be just
a more constrained cap climate, and so like he actually I think he could
help, you know, the logistics aside, Like I actually think he's a
good fit in Sacramento where you don't really know what's happening with Marvin Bagley,
and he's just what is he going to give you? On defense? Rahahn
Holmes is good, still not a great defender, and then also Horford gives
you range that Holmes doesn't have even more of a Bagley like shot pretty well
from the outside towards the end of his rookie year, but not not proven
either. So I like him there, but it's just a matter of,
like, you know, what do you have to include to get a Buddy
Heel or even a Harrison Barnes in that situation. The Pelicans were another team
that's prone to mind, he's actually a great fit if he's healthy alongside Zion
Williamson, But what do you have to You know, you're not getting any
huge assets back in that deal, but again, what do you have to
give up as the sweeteners there? And then the other team that kind of
stood out for me, it would be like if they can get assets for
the future, but then it's also someone who helps them immediately, Like what
would it take to get Rudy Yay and Patty Mills from San Antono? Like
that, those two contracts fit perfectly into what al Horford is owed. It's
like, what do you need to give up if the Spurs are willing to
if they are thinking more long term, or even if they just want to
go a little bit bigger upfront, they don't want to pay yaka Peardle and
they're intrigued by Aldridge Horford for a year with DeMar Derozen that would be like
the most depressing three star core in a long time, But like what do
you have to include to get that? That might be another avenue to consider,
but I just don't know. Like I we could say two sweeteners like
a pick and batistible, but like I don't even know if that's enough,
right, And that's the problem. I think if it was just if Horford
was on an expiring contract, it'd be a lot easier to conceptualize because we
kind of know the going rate for you know, you could get a first
round pick for a guy on like a fifteen million dollar contract like buy you
know, you rent fifteen million of cap space and get a first round pick,
But like, what do you do for eighty million of caps space,
three years and a pandemic? I don't know. The only other one is
like, if Boston really wants out Horford back, maybe they got shook by
bam Adebayo, do some variation of Horford for Gordon Hayward. Plus you know
it's Boston and Philly, so they'll take at least like three picks from the
Sixers and rake them over the coals for the third consecutive trade. But you
know that's That's another one where it's like if Boston was very desperate, I'll
put it that way, but I don't see that happening at all. That's
probably even less realistic then the proposed Buddy Healed all of the Buddy Healed trade
variations. The other thing I thought about is like, what you could they
go for a smaller swing where it's like, if you pair Zaiyar Smith and
Mike Scott's contracts together with other assets, you could take back at ten point
two, ten point three, ten point four million dollars play or whatever it
is, if you went if you can figure out a way to get a
three for one done, if you threw eecially Fible into that equation, like
you're looking at being able to get a player who makes almost fourteen million dollars
back. Is that something that they could or should consider or is it at
that point? Like well, then they're obliterating their death. But at the
same time, it's like, well, how important is Mike Scott and Zayear
Smith what they're doing right now? Anyway? Like Fible I get, but
if you're like, if he's the asset that's getting you better, I don't
even know what player it is, Like this might be a package that only
gets you if it's Scott and Smith and then something else like maybe you can
get Thomas at Aranski, which I think helps, But it's like does that
do it for you? Like is that like, oh cool? Like that's
a good move if it was like Scott Smith and twenty one like brig out
Derek Rose ready for those people. But no, I mean I think that's
absolutely worth the Explorer. I cannot express enough how bad Mike Scott was this
past year. And again I love him. I know six ers, Twitter
loves him. He was probably their worst rotation player. I've I've i've the
room exception well spent. Then I was like the logic there's just so bizarre.
The last thing I wanted to ask you is just an open form.
What's the most undercovered aspect of this team in your opinion or what's just something
that I didn't ask you that you want to talk about. Yeah, it's
a fair question. I think I don't know how covered this is from a
national standpoint. I think six Ers Shorter does a fantastic job of this.
But the front office is just still such an open question. You know,
we've we've been hearing non stop weeks over the past few weeks about like big
changes are coming, and you know, Alex Rucker under the EVPs is apparently
going to lose his job, but he still hasn't actually left lost his job.
Right in the spin that like he was calling a lot of the shots
like this past season, Like that was weird. Like at that point,
it's like, okay, like Elton Brand's agent is like doing some heavy lifting
over there. Yeah, Like I think fundamentally they really screwed up in twenty
eighteen when Colangelo resigns, like bringing in Elton Brand, who you know is
apparently very well respected around the league, but like a first time GM,
very inexperienced. They kept all of Colangelo's cronies still on board, and these
guys are the ones responsible for taking what they had in twenty eighteen, which
was a very promising core with a lot of flexibility. And we are here
right now where we're talking about like how much will you have to include to
get off of one of these contracts. It seems kind of absurd to me
that any of them are still employed. And no, by by all educations,
Elton Brand's going to keep his job. The rest of the front office
is still up for evaluations. So wasn't there talking like an extension for Elton
Brand recently or something? Am I imagining that I saw that rumor he wanted
one. He approached Sixers management and wanted one. Yeah, I can I
appreciate the boldness the right like I only saddled with you with two of the
worst five contracts at the NBA, but give me a three year extension that
I could dig my way out of it. So yeah, I think just
the overall like what the hell is going on in the front office? Again,
very well covered locally, I think it probably deserves more attention nationally.
Doris actually went in on it during Game four of the Sixers Celtics series,
and everyone on Sixers Twitter was like, yes, Queen, say, you
know it's bad when Doris Burke is going in on live on National TV about
it, Like I've heard her going on podcast, but like when she goes
in during broadcasts, it's like, it's because you screwed up badly. Yeah,
like that badly, he yikes. So that's one and the other is
as much as I love and beid his shot selection at times, I think
that is one thing that Doc really needs to get on him about just you
know, it's not even you know, he of course he's gonna post up
a time, and he's one of the only guys who can actually post up.
Well, he'll turn it over when he gets double team. He's got
to improve there. But like he also has a couple shots per game where
it's like early in the shot clock and he just it's like he gets I
was gonna say, like Russell Westbrook, like it's there's like eighteen seconds the
shot clock and he like pulls up for a long two and you're like why,
like what are you doing? If he just cut out the three or
four worst shots from his diet every game and redistributed them to anyone else.
I'd rather see Ben Simmons take four or three is a game. Then l
embiad takes some of these shots. So I think that is something to keep
an eye on next year and see, you know how how Doc distributes touches
and shots and like if he could get that cut out of m beads shot
diet because again it's like he I mean, it's the same thing with Russ
right, you take out the five worst shots he takes per game and he's
a totally different player. But because he takes those five shots a game,
he is that polarizing and be and I think, you know is so physically
opposing, it's so dominant. Draymond is even set. He's like, you're
bailing defenses out every time you take a shot like that. So the Sixers
really need to get on him and just like make him watch that Draymond clip
over and over again. It's like this is one of you know, a
three time champion, one of the best defenders last five years, telling you
don't do this because you're bailic defenders out. Listen to him. Oh that's
petacular. His turtle rate on post ups this year I think was sub twelve
percent, and it actually felt like in real time when you're watching it that
it was like much higher. Yeah, he has gotten better, I will
say every year in terms of his passing vision, and you could tell it.
I mean, he because he knows, like in the playoffs, he
knows he's gonna get double teams on post ups, and we saw it time
and again in that Boston series. So it's a work in progress, but
I think we have seen some incremental progress on that front. But yeah,
I mean that that also is a major area of focus moving forward, at
least, you know, especially because again it goes back to the Ben Simmons
question. If if Ben Simmons isn't gonna shoot, you got to figure out
where to put him on the court that you know. They can't leave him
wide open because then, like whoever's guarding Ben Simmons is going to double team
Joel embiid Ryan, thank you so much for coming on. This was a
blast. If you guys are not following Brian on Twitter, remedy that immediately.
You can find him at at BT O P O R e. K.
He is a quality editor for Bleacher Report, co host of the NBA
pod and he writes for four Sports and fansided again. Brian, thank you
so much. It took too long to get you on here in the first
place, but rest assured, if you're willing, I will be pesturing you
in the future. Very good. Happy to come on when they trade out
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