What is crack a lac in Fellow Thermo Nuclear af ors. I am Danton
Aley, coming at you as always with my certified fantabulous Thermonuclear af co host,
mister Grant Hughes. We're gonna talk news rumors in season tournament today.
Maybe have a little bit of stat padding at the end with guess a player
and whatnot. Before we get started, though, the usual quick reminder,
please support the show by subscribing if you've not already, and if you have,
make sure you're subscribed across all platforms Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play,
of course YouTube comment like our videos helped the algo love us back. We
were recently I mentioned this when I published the Pacers podcast I was on.
We were recently downvoted on Apple. I don't know what Grant or I said
or maybe wrote to inflict those down votes. Put head over Apple, good
ratings, good reviews, we'd appreciate them. That about covers it. You
know the socials podcast YouTube description. Merch in the podcast and YouTube description as
well, and join the discord. Lots of stuff is happening there. It's
how you get mail back questions in. That's how you get in on the
stat panning stuff, and there's just there's more conversations happening, and we appreciate
everyone who who drives them. Mister Grant Hughes, how the heck are you
doing? If you had to rank the fan bases in order of likelihood of
submitting a down vote, who would be number one? Of late? What
did we say about it? I don't know. I'm just thinking maybe more
generally, I feel like Orlando on the list. I feel like I feel
like I'm on Orlando's list. I think we're good with the Timberwolves and the
Magic fans actually so well, we've acknowledged that they're both really good now,
so that helps. And that's more than a lot of other national podcasts too,
who are still like caught up, Oh, like, are they gonna
trade Karl Anthony Towns in two weeks or whatever. We've been down voted pretty
aggressively by Lakers fans before, but I don't think we said our last segment
on the Lakers, well, yeah, it wasn't really flat. So maybe
it's Lakers fan but they're anonymous this time because they didn't write reviews. A
lot of times they write reviews. But I just saw our average plummet,
not plummet. Put it dropped by a couple decimal points, which is a
lot in the grand scheme of how many ratings we have. And I just
don't know. I didn't write anything. I guess I did publish a trades
piece, so it could be Hornets fans, Pistons fans, Raptors fans,
Bulls fans, a bunch of other fans. So the list is getting like
kind of uncomfortably long. It's probably not great that as you go down it's
like, yeah, I could have been them. I definitely I think the
trades will end up coming up. I actually thought at least three of them
were just very good trades, very good if you do say so yourself.
Yeah, in my totally unbiased opinion. And one of them I know was
good because you took too long to respond to me when I asked you a
question about it, and I went a complete opposite direction, and when you
responded, I was like, motherfucker, I'm not rewriting this. So which
is I wish you had told me that on text. That's still pretty good
to hear it. Now. What was that? Oh? That was a
rapt Warriors trade, right, and in it I actually think it winds up
making it that. It was more realistic to me. I don't know if
I like it for the Warriors better, but it was a more realistic trade.
Yeah, you also think Jonathan Aminga is like gonna be better than I
have thought that. I'm sure I've said that. I'm not sure where I'm
at today. Now we know where the down votes are coming from. We're
all just constantly re evaluating our positions. I think that's a healthy way to
be. You get new information, you got adjust a few things. I
just you know, do we want to get to some news and if rumors
and and let us know and discord in the comments. If you appreciate us
giving these updates. This doc it's sloppy, there's all these typos. I
feel bad for grant. It takes weight, It takes a long time to
put together. I feel like it could be helpful. But if you guys
aren't finding this helpful, please let us know. I'll stop doing it.
Okay, Well, we'll just, you know, assuming they do like it,
they probably also people probably also like it if we breeze through it.
So let's let's take that approach. Because I just scrolled down this, and
this is long, so let's let's get gone. Sounds like every editor I've
ever had after cut this, cut that, cut this, shorten this.
Why use six words when two will do? All? Right? Do you
want to start us off? Sure? I alphabet time Atlanta Hawks. They
continue to monitor Pascal Siakam's availability for hoops hypes. Michael Scotto. That is
an evergreen report that could have been delivered with any team substituted for the Hawks
at any point over the last two years. I think I think there's a
chance you might get to the Hawks because I have some thoughts on that,
but I'm gonna save them since you said breeze through this, and I think
we might talk about them in a little bit. For the Boston Celtics,
Christaps porzingis dealing with the calf injury. Was a full participant in Wednesday's practice
and then participated in a five on five scrimmage with coaches following the session.
According to Suochi Tarada of the Springfield Republican, he has missed Boston's past four
games. They need him back. He's like, yeah, I just well,
I was just thinking of the of the in season tournament game and that's
just a different game if he's there. I think for the Brooklyn Nets,
Loneywalker the fourth is dealing with the left hamstring strain that's expected to sideline for
Brooklyn's next seven games, according to Newsday's Evan Barnes, also, I got
another net side from here. They announced on December second that Ben Simmons,
this is kind of a bigger deal, had an epidural injection to aid his
lower back and will be reevaluated in two weeks. According to Ndscapes Mark J.
Spears, epidurals A. That's like, you're not messing around anymore.
If that's happening, not great news for Ben Simmons. It sucks that it's
just the back all the time now. Yeah, it just sucks. That's
my take on that the Bulls. Zack Lvine has missed Chicago's last three games
with a sore right foot. He's expected to return sometime next week. And
speaking of Zach Lavine, ESPN's Adrian wolds and Rowski reports that there's currently no
market for Levine in the three years, one hundred and thirty eight million dollars
remaining on his contract. I think that's a little that's got to be a
little overstated, and if it's true, I think it's bonkers. But there
is a risk in acquiring Zack Lavine, especially this year's version of that.
Yeah, no, I was going to ask you, actually, what do
you think no market actually means? Like if you first round picks right what
I want four? There's no market right now for what the Bulls want.
But like I mean, there's much guys that are, you know, on
worse contracts and worst players have been traded. That's the strange way to phrase
that. For Cleveland, carrosel Verge has now missed the last two games due
to left knee injury management. It is unclear when he's going to return for
the MAVs. The right elbow sprain is expected to sideline Josh Green for multiple
weeks. According to the Athletics, Sean Serrania Maxi Kleeba is now missed twelve
games with a dislocated right toe and has yet to return to practice. That
means his timeline is unclear, and finally, right knee soreness sidelined Grant Williams
on Wednesday. He's listed as day to day. I really thought we were
going to get a big Josh Green season this year, maybe it'll still happen,
but that's that's I thought we were going to get a bigger Grant william
season than we have lately too. I mean he's been at forty percent from
three. That's that's part of what you're going for with him. But yeah,
he hasn't been a huge impact all right for Golden State. Chris Paul's
lower had a lower left leg injury, which was kind of ominously described as
a as a nerve issue. He sorry, when you hear the word nerve,
you like your mind goes into hyper driving. You're bracing for the worst,
right, Well, yeah, because it's rare one Like you don't you
know if sprain, strained, tear pole like all that stuff is. We
understand what that is, even like a break or whatever. Like a nerve
issue is just like you know, didn't speaking of backs, like didn't Ben
Simmons initially have like nerve is shues and that was this season. Yeah,
that's that was praised initially. They go away when they go away, like
you know, sometimes they stick around forever. So but anyway, and Andrew
Wiggins had that right finger contusion, slammed it in a car door. Was
the story you ever done that I have? Actually, people think this is
polish on my nails. I've just freaking closed all of my thumbs. You
could just do it all the time. Anyway. They're both back Wiggins and
Chris Paul on Wednesday, so a good news for both of them. Semi
exciting news for the Rockets. They assigned Amen Thompson, who's been dealing with
the right ankle injury and has not played since November first, to the G
league's Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and I would assume that means that he's at
least close to a return. Jalen Smith for the Indiana Pacers has now missed
three games with his left knee slash heel injury, and he's already been ruled
out of Thursday's ICT semifinal against the Bucks. Kind of a bummer, but
let's Aaron Nee Smith stand up more minutes for that man. With the Lakers,
Darvin Ham said earlier this week that Gabe Vincent, who is dealing with
rightnee of fusion, has started doing some conditioning work. He has not played
since October thirtieth. I didn't have this listed, but the other thing,
Johan Buja of the Athletic reported that the Lakers have more interest in acquiring DeMar
Derozen and Alex Caruso than they do Zach Lavine. And there's been even,
I think, follow up reporting that said they really want Alex Caruso, and
I know he said we're going to breathe through this. That doesn't make any
sense to me. I know that those two are expiring contracts, but if
you're going to get both of them won, the salary matching doesn't change all
that much. And if you're just going after Caruso or Deroze, it gets
a little bit easier. Like they don't need That's not that they don't need
Alex Caruso, he's zach Lavine stands to fix some of their biggest offensive weaknesses
more than any of these other Like Derozane could help you during the non Lebron
minutes, but it's fit with Lebron would be fairly clunky, I think,
And so I found that curious. I wasn't sure if it was a nod
to how good Delo's been on both ends for a lot of this season,
and so are they just because you can't get to Zack Levine's money. You
could, it's gonna take like five or six players, but you can't get
to Zack Levine's and d Lo. Yeah he's good. Delo's got to be.
I was gonna ask, like, he's got to be going back in
that package. Yeah, I don't know other stuff too. So because if
you're not gonna trade Reeves, we know that Vanderbilt can't be traded this year.
You're not gonna trade Lebron or or a d and so you could step
it would be like a six for one deal, which is just we don't
see those midseasons. So I just found that curious. But I would understand
if they kind of thought, oh, we'd rather have Delo right now than
Levine. I disagree with that, come playf time, But I was just
I don't think that the rows in and like, if you want the flexibility
of them being on shorter contracts, okay, fine, yeah, but you're
gonna have to sign them to new ones. It definitely feels like a financial
Like I can understand wanting those two more from like a financial and like just
asset value perspective, But the fit is like favors Levine, like he's what
the Lakers who would need more than de rosan curers glad, I'm not going
bonkers then no, I think that's right all right. So for the memphiscos
is Luke Kenardi has been out since November fourteenth with a bone bruise and his
left knee. He's still two to three weeks away from a return. According
to ESPN's Adrian Wojnowski. That's a lot. I mean, so there goes,
you know, six weeks potentially with so much shit in Memphis. Snake
bit and speaking of still awaiting Memphis is the timelines for the return of Marcus
Smart and Jake Laravia. A left foot injury for Smart obviously, and Loravi
has got a left eye injury perspectively. Some notes on the heat. Tyler
Hero, who has that left ankle injury, did not travel with the team
for Wednesday's matchup with Toronto. His return date still remains unclear, but he
is approaching the end of his initial timeline for return. Bam Adebayo with a
hip injury and Haywood high Smith with some back issues. They did not make
the trip to Toronto either, and finally, Drew Smith is done for this
season after suffering a right acl injury. Did you see that injury? For
Smith? It was the raised floor thing, like so Cleveland has that rate.
You know, there's a little step down from the floor to the bench
and he just landed wrong right on that spot. It's like there's not clip
that were going around and people were trying to say that there was a hole
in the floor. No, I think the floor is just yeah, probably
if it was going around recently. It's just that the floors, like,
you know, there's I don't know what the distance is, but it's enough
to where if you land on it the wrong way you can end your season.
Apparently, get rid of raised floors. What are you doing? For
the Milwaukee Bucks, Pat Conninson has now missed four games with a sprain right
ankle and is not expected to return until at least the end of the n
season tournament. For the Timberwolves, Chris Finch said he doesn't have a timeline
for Jane McDaniel's return from his sprained right hang, but he's hopeful j mack
will be available at some point during the Wolves' upcoming road trip, which begins
on Friday, December eighth. And Anthony Edwards returned to action on Wednesday,
night, following that right hip injury that caused him to miss two games for
New Orleans. They put The Pelicans announced last week that Larry Knince Junior had
aggravated his right rib fracture, huge bummer and is expected to miss approximately four
to six weeks. That's for ESPN's Andrew Lopez. Better news which the Pelicans
need on the injury front, generally speaking, is Trey Murphy's back from his
left knee injury. And I've already entered, I don't know, one of
the ten best dunks of the year, just this standard, high flying,
cocked it back, awesome dunk. So he looked good there. Matt Ryan
is still listed as day to day with the right calf strain, and he's
been out with that injury since November eighteenth. This is just an interesting quote
from Quentin Grimes of the Knicks after they were eliminated by the Bucks in the
Nc's and Tournament, Via the New York Post. Stepan Bondi quote, It's
just hard when you go the whole quarter without touching the ball, the whole
second quarter without touching the ball, and then when you get one shot,
got to make it. So it's tough going out there and just standing in
the corner the whole game. Then you got to make the shot. When
you shoot the ball one or two times per game. It is what it
is. I saw people dragging him, and we might talk about the Knicks
like in depth on this podcast after in season tournament stuff. I think this
is one. I think it's okay to have those human moments where you're just
frustrated and you're saying it's frustrated. I will say part of this is on
him, like he needs to be more aggressive when he gets the ball and
attacking his clothes outs. That's clear. However, since he's come back from
injury, his touches are down, and I don't I'm not trying to swing
at the low hanging fruit. But this is somewhat of a reoccurring issue with
a certain head coach who is in charge of the Knicks. When you look
at Obi top and not being happy with his role. I Q has gone
through spurts. He has a pretty big role with this team, and we've
seen it in the past when he was in Chicago and Minnesota as well.
I just don't it's not a throwaway comment, and I don't think Quentin Grime
should be The Knicks will probably fix it, because it does feel like this
locker room is very together, that being set by the way Tom Tible loves
Quentin Grimes, like that's been made a parent. So I think it's fine.
I'm just just surprised that so many people are like, well, stop
fucking sucking. Then if you're gonna say it's like no, like it goes
beyond that, and I think it's I don't think this is a I know
some people like to have all the semi dramatic stuff buttoned up buddy organization.
Like when Obi Toppin like got into a fight I think it was after the
playoff game with like one of the coaches that, like, people knew about
that for a while and then it trickled out. It's like, no,
let it trickle out like this shit happens. It's basketball. Quentin Grime is
a young player. He's trying to adapt to his role as frustrated with his
role in how he's playing. I didn't see an issue with this comment.
I don't know if you did. No, I I think I agree with
you. Know, if he weren't frustrated, there would be a bigger issue
just because you want the guys to want to contribute. I was gonna ask
you though, like, real quick, is he This sounds like the comment
of someone who thinks he's capable of doing like quite a bit more than be
a catch and shoot guy and defend on the other end, Like do you
feel convinced that it is the case that he can do a lot more and
is justified and basically saying I want to, you know, because this is
what this is, right, I want not just more touches, but like
I want to do more than stand around. Do you think he's justified in
wanting that based on his game. I don't know that I would ever have
said this, but it's just so ingrained in my mind after watching so much
of this team and thinking about them. He can do what Herb Jones is
doing on offense this year with a better three point stroke. Wh It's like
Herber is cutting keeping the ball moving. It's not super complicated passes. You
could put the ball in his hands. I do think though, when you're
looking at the primary ball handlers Julius Randall, RJ. Barrett, Jalen bruns
In like they could do more to get him the ball. But when he
gets the ball, he needs to shoot it or actually attack, and so
it's kind of like everybody's fault, it feels like, but the knicks are
just also so damn deep that it's really it's that it's kind of really tough.
You know, you're not your role could be a little bit bigger than
it is now, but how much bigger could it realistically get while Jalen Brunson,
Julius Randall, Emanual Quickly, Josh Hart, Dante DiVincenzo, all these
guys are still there. Yeah, you know, it occurs to me we're
already blowing it at going going short here, but segment now, well you
sort of are. I was just gonna say it, you know, watching
and I'm just gonna step on other stuff we're going to talk about. Watching
Tyrese Haliburton play. Recently, it occurred to me that like guys like Grimes
that are somewhat limp. You know you've just said, and I agree with
you, you can do a little bit more. But like limited guys,
the difference for them between a lead ball handler who is thinking past first and
a lead ball handler who's thinking shoot first is like night and day. Because
like someone like Halliburton will like he'll come across half court thinking like I gotta
pass Quentin Grimes open, like if they're on the same team hypothetically, like
I have to find a shot for him. Whereas, like I think Randall,
the three guys you mentioned, Randall, Barrett, Brunson are all thinking,
you know, you can toggle the sliders a little bit one way or
the other. But they're all like shoot first players, right like when the
post is to not but he's still that yeah, but he's like, you
know, the best use of Brunson is like getting into the upper pain,
like figuring out how to score, Like that's that's option one for him.
And Randall and Barrett I think are probably skewing more shoot first. So like
it was like I would like r J to stop shooting period at the moment.
Man, he's been one of the NBA's wild most wild roller coaster founding.
I would say he's a confounding player every year. It's just something different.
That's the word r J. Confounding Barrett like that is the word to
describe him. All Right, I'm gonna get us onto the Orlando Magic.
Markel Foltz leftknee issue Wende Carter Junior that left hand uh slash wristed. That
was a hand injury, and Jonathan Isaac left ankle. Are all out?
We're all out against the Cavs on Wednesday. That was a ten point lost
for Orlando. I think I watched the first half fight though. I actually
I was watching that game. That's the only game I've watched all season of
the NBA, and they did. They put up a real fight. But
so weird that I watched it too. What are the odds that were both
both? What were the other game we both it was? Was it Thunder
Thunder Thunder Timberwolves. Yeah, yeah, we're just and we didn't plan it
just right in sync. It's like we watched more than one game of year.
I don't know. We'll speak for yourself. The Sixers. So after
suffering a fracture rib and a hit and run that causing tomasson eleven games,
Caliubre Junior rejoined the rotation on Wednesday. That is great news. Good good
to have him back for the For the Phoenix Suns, Damian Lee underwent a
successful procedure to repair his right meniscus. He's gonna be out indefinitely, according
to Gerald Borges of Phoenix Gophoenix dot com. Do you cared up data from
biler? You want to let that go? Not very good when there's a
second bullet point under a bold header. Bradley Beal went through shoot around on
Tuesday and the Sons are hopeful he can play sometime next week. According to
Sham's uh, he's been in has appeared in three games this season. Yeah,
that's uh. It's not going great. Their contract's looking a little worse.
Yeah, I mean yeah, And I don't know him coming back.
I think the solution is just Devin Booker exists, and you look, even
when he has like some of his bad nights, like you know, the
the fact that they are in the one percent tile of turnover percentage when he's
on the court. Yeah, I don't know if I think Bradleybeale coming back
helps a little bit, but that's something to monitor with this team for sure,
in addition to their health as those turnovers the Blazers and Fony Simons,
who has appeared in just one game before he required right thumb surgery, has
been upgraded to questionable on the Blazer's injury report. I wrote Phoenix for some
reason, deandret and missed Wednesday's game with right kniece horness. It's not clear
how much, if any, additional time he'll miss. And finally, Jeremy
Grant entered concussion protocol after December second loss to the Jazz and remained out of
the lineup as of Wednesday for the Sacramento Kings. Keigan Murray has had kind
of an on again, off again back injury. He missed four games,
came back for two, and then aggravated against the Pelicans in the n Season
Tournament quarterfinals. He was out Wednesday and is listed as day to day moving
forward. Yeah, Like he's just such a swing piece for them. It
sucks, you know. Of course injuries. We're going to get the Kings
this year because everybody had to talk about it and we were among them.
But he's so critical to them. He's got to get on the floor and
stay there so they can figure out what's going on. Is this a safe
space for me to admit that. Whenever I see IST, and I know
I was the one that wrote this, I've tried not to write it.
It sounds like some sort of CD organization or looks like it. When you
see IST, I think of it as like a medical condition. Do you
have do you suffer from ist? Talk to your doctor about. Uh.
The Spurs no injury notes, but they Jeremy Sohan came off the bench on
Wednesday, but so did Trey Jones. The Spurs guarded be Zat Collins,
Jeddy Osmond, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vessel. I did not watch that
game against the tip Wolves. I don't know what Pop is doing. I'm
kind of just I'm kind of just here for the perennial fuck used from him
this year where so, but that, I mean actively bizarre. That's going
full suns. Basically, they're like, yeah, Devin Vessel, Devin Booker,
same name, not a point guard. You can play point guard?
So wait, that's okay. Keldon is the three. I was like,
is Kelton Johnson the two? That's a bonkers lineup? Uh. I mean
again, I didn't watch, but at that point it's kind of like,
maybe is web and Yama up next? Did they do that? They lost
only by eight? Though? All right, well I'm gonna have to like
that. You want to know who led them in? Assists? Uh?
Wemby Jetty Osmond with six? Oh look all right, if you touch as
Larry Markinen has now missed six games, including Wednesdays, with the left hamstring
soreness. Unclear when he's going to be back. Kelly o Linik missed his
second straight game with the right shoulder strain on Wednesday. Finally, the Wizards
Landry Shamman is dealing with a neck injury and miss Wednesday's game against the Sixers.
That does it for news and notes. It only took us like fifteen
minutes. I'll take it. Oh yeah, with like some pretty egregious digressions
too, so not bad. Uh So let's talk in season, tournament and
big picture. What if just your been your you know, we can get
in some of the matchups that are to to come. I don't know if
we don't nessary we want to spend a lot of time rehashing how the Suns
look like? That happened? Yeah, uh, definitely talk. We can
talk about them that are come. But what have you thought about the Ncason
tournament in general? What stood out to you? Do you like it?
Do you not like it? Concerns, thoughts, complaints, ecstaticness, what
have you? Yeah? I mean, I guess I run. I don't
know if you run into this a lot, but I definitely do where I'm
gonna give you my take now, right. I haven't like said this anywhere
else, but it's just gonna be some version of one I'm sure you've already
heard, you know, like just because we're in the take silo like all
the time and we just are confronted with it. But like I kind of
love it. Like I don't understand. I don't I don't know what to
complain about if like, if you're what's the knit to pick, Like,
I don't know even the stuff that people are complaining about with the margin of
victory matters too much, And like I just don't agree that I love that.
Yeah, I just I think it's great. Like play it till the
game's over and try not to get smoked. Like it's not that different than
than how you play any other game. So like there's fixes for that.
The best one I heard was just play it by who wins the most quarters,
Like that should be the tie breaker, yeah, because it does get
weird when you're looking at margin of victory when they're tie breakers outside of your
group. Sure, yeah, you might have to go down the tiebreaker,
you know, tree a few branches if with something like that, but like
throw that in there, see if it helps. Just help, Let's have
more in season tournament games. Maybe you wanted to last longer, Like that
scene from basketball. You ever see basketball where they're describing the playoffs and it's
like in eleven year process. Yeah, just make it. Hey, you
know what what if? What if the whole season was the in season tournament
and then at the end of it you got a big trophy if you were
the best team. Oh? Has anybody thought of that yet? Like just
more? Uh? No, I think I think it's really great. Like
I I got a text from somebody. I was driving home and I hadn't
watched it. I was gonna watch it later of Indie. Who the hell
did they even play? Oh? Boston, Boston? Uh? And it
was from someone that like doesn't text me that regularly about games, and he's
like, are you watching this? And so I was like, no,
but I'm intrigued. And then I got home and the first half was the
total dud And the second half was my favorite half of basketball I've watched this
season, just because of like how into it everybody was. The crowd in
Indiana was insane, which it was like you the announcers I think were saying
it with a playoff crowd is like, no, this is like a Game
seven crowd. It was. It was that loud. I thought it came
through on the broadcast and just like the pacers wanted it so bad and I
just like I love that feeling. You four maybe, but I just as
a if you're asking, like what's good about the product, it's that it's
it's like cause you don't it's it's was December fifth or fourth, whatever,
Like find me a video from a December fourth game that had like a fraction
of that intensity and that like level of play, like you just never will
so massive success on that front. It's like it's made the games matter.
I cared about it, Like I'm super interested in the rest of these games
now because the the last round was so intense and pockets just I think.
Complain about the courts, I guess, but like, no, I don't
really care most of the workers, like there was something like the MAVs court.
I guess they just quit using like Okay, there's like a defect,
yes workshop that one, but other th like I don't the uniforms of the
courts it's all fine. The running up the score, fine, if that's
the cost of like having super competitive games that are awesome to watch, like,
sign me up, I will pay that. Yeah. I loved most
of the courts, the ones that had too much red I get, but
like the Pacers court, and they were one of the few teams that actually
I thought hit on their jerseys kind of like the jerseys like the Lakers jerseys
or some of the biggest atrocities I've ever seen on I was watching them last
night and my daughter was like, I kind of like the Lakers JERSEYSS Like
I kind of do too. I'm gonna tell her you hate them now.
Yeah. I've been like, uh, you're gonna be put up for adoption
if you like. So. I agree with everything you said, and I
think I don't. I don't want to step on the toes of your point.
I just want to add to it. It's like, I think some
skeptics are starting to be turned and some of the moments that I look at
at sort of the flash bulb. Okay, this is real. Look at
what Lebron James is doing. How many minutes he's playing in these games?
Right? Kevin Durant I don't know if you saw what he said after the
loss where he said, you know, I was a skeptic, but I
really loved it the intensity he's got, like turning Kevin Durant, who's just
like an inherent skeptic of anything, which is fine. I think that's that's
a good way to be that spectacular. And then it was this might just
be how he's wired. And I know he hasn't necessarily played it like the
in a bunch of these winning situations throughout his basketball career, Like before the
NBA, Tyre's Aliburton calling Tuesday's game the most important he's ever played in was
fucking cool. Yeah, Like that was cool, And you know what I
also enjoyed. I normally don't like when fans because this isn't the NFL.
There's there's a whole there's a whole thing to get into about why the NFL
is so popular. Part of it is scarcely of product, and I would
argue a lion's share of it. It's every there's seventeen games now, every
single game counts for more than five percent of your season. I can't get
up in arms when a team has a bad game in the middle of December,
because it counts for so little of their season. That is the inherent
problem the NBA is up against because they don't want fewer games, because they
want the gate revenue and all the other money and the you know, the
live the regional net not the regional networks. You're kind of dying right now,
the rights that go with it. Oh my god, where is I
going with scarcity? Scarcity, They're never going to start in the season.
So this is what this is the workaround, right and so it's but so
to that end, and this was getting nick Fans were so mad about what
happened to Milwaukee. It wasn't just oh, the buckshot two trillion percent from
three, let's just move on. It was well, like, is it
time to trade Mitchell Robinson because he had his first get bad game of the
season, and that there's a level of tossicity in that. But I like
that fans we're so invested in the outcome of something like that that their brain
immediately goes through, well, how do we fix what went wrong? I
love that, and I at least love that train of thought. Not necessarily
let's trade everybody. And you know, I think for fan bases of teams
that are just not casslock bold text italics contenders. This stuff is even bet
like Pacers fans have to be enjoying this and Knicks fans where it's like,
you know your team is good. There's a lot of idols that say this
could be a fifty win team. They're not a title team as currently constructed,
and so to know that, but then to still see like we can
techically win this because of the elimination element of it all, and that injects
a scarcity of product into it. Because one, you just talked about extending
the tournament by eighty games, but it is kind of short. It was
basically a month. It's gonna be over, and so it's happening so quickly,
and every game within the mid season or the D season tournament bubble,
so to speak, it means so much because there's only so few of them.
I think it's been a rousing success. I don't think people who are
open minded to it. We were open minded to it, but we're not
taking victory laps. I've seen a lot of I told you so is it's
year one, Like people were taking victory laps. Remember when they did the
elam ending during that All Star Game for the first time, I was like,
yeah, we knew it was going to be great, and then that
not like fuck this, So we have to wait and see how it builds
from here. But I think the harbingers so far are super encouraging and just
I actually expect next year to be better because it felt like now that teams
understand the tie breakers, like the margin of victory stuff is going to matter
in earlier games where it feels like teams kind of just weren't thinking about that
to begin with. Yeah, you know what, as you were talking you
you sort of hit on. I think like the key thing, the key
behind all of this, like why it's working is like you want to drive
fan interest, right That is that is really ultimately the goal of the Ncason
Tournament. That's the NBA is a product, is trying to get eyeballs.
It's trying to be more popular, right, Like, so how do we
do that? There's one answer, and it's not Comparing yourself to Henry Kissinger
is a good start. Don't do that. Don't do that. That's a
don't do do. Make it so that the teams, like players and organizations
care more right, and that was always gonna be the question, like is
it the five hundred grand that matters? Is it what? Whatever? The
cocktail is, like, it's working for every kind of team, because the
Pacers are one side of this where it's like they're not a title team.
They might win this thing and that might make this season a right. I
mean, the season's gonna be successful no matter what because of what Haliburton's done
and just the trajectory of the team. But they're not. They're not like
a win you know, two plus rounds in the playoffs team that proved me
wrong. I would be awesome to if they did that. But they're not.
I'm sorry as far if they're defense unless it is like what it was
against Boston in the second half. They're not winning a playoffs. No,
they're not. They're not. I was trying to oversell it because it's so
high on the Pacers that last down voted Pacers fans head over to Apple give
us the one star rate. But that's the easy side, right, like
teams that aren't going to contend for the title. The harder one is like
how do we make Boston, Milwaukee, you know whoever? Like you know,
whether they advanced or not. The way you make them care is you're
saying, like this is you want to know why do we say playoff games
matter more? It's because, like that's when you figure out like where your
real strengths and where your real weaknesses are because you're being tested against better competition
that's fully engaged in really trying to win, which you just don't have in
October, November, December, whatever. So these games are giving really good
teams like a decent look way earlier than they otherwise would get it at,
Like, how do we hold up in a max effort environment that feels much
more like a playoff game than anything else we're we're going to get to.
So, like I think just the by virtue of playing against teams like Indiana
that are like, let's go for it, it's valuable to really good teams
too. And that's I think a critical thing because you don't necessarily just want
like the Hornets and the Wizards or whatever to win the nd season tournament all
the time because they care. You want some really good like title threats to
maybe meet in the finals of it at some point, just because they're interested
in sort of seeing where they're at I think that's so you've gotten every kind
of team to care. So it's like massive success by the NBA on that
front. And I saw someone make this point. I can't remember who it
was. So I apologize that the older teams or players might be more invested
in it because they are fresher at the beginning of the season, so it's
easier for them to ramp. But like Lebron, for example, it's easy
for him to do this in December than it is in May and June theoretically,
and so that's a home run. I do have one complaint. There's
other complaints, but what is the deal with the five pm Eastern times start
on Thursday for the Pacers Bucks game. I don't I understand that you don't
want to go up against Thursday night football and you already have a game that
is in the Pelicans and Lakers, but it's the Lakers, so maybe you're
okay with it. I don't if I haven't seen anything that this have to
do specifically with. I don't know, like that we know the arena was
going to be available, like this is always where the location was going to
be was in Vegas, and and so I'm just like that's two pm on
the West coast. People are at work, so it's starting at three o'clock
on a Thursday in Vegas or two on the Eastern time, so it's starting
at two pm. That's so weird. It's weird, and it's sort of
like, you know, you know, for I'll use the Pacers. Gianni
is a known to bucks are No. They've won a title within the past
half decade. This is for a lot of people, and some people will
view this as an insult. It's not. I think being a casual fan
of the NBA is fine. The term casual just gets thrown around like it's
an insult. This is a lot of people's first real exposure to these Pacers
because they're on national TV. I found out when I went on setting the
pace. I didn't know they only had one national televised game all year.
I just don't really pay attention to that stuff. Yeah, as much when
you're covering the entire league. So now they're getting they got another one,
and now they're gonna get another one. You're kind of missing an opportunity to
market teams and different players rather than just the same players. That has probably
contributed to this culture where I don't really relate to it because I grew up
in a different era, and I'm sure you don't relate to it either,
But among the younger generation, they root for the players more than teams.
I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with that, but it's like it is
weird, like you want to have the allegiance to a team so that you
can get to a point where, hey, Pacers Bucks is this massive and
it should be because Johannis and Tyre's Haliburton exists, but like we shouldn't be,
you know, there tends to be this huge focus on the same players,
and it's like Lebron and Steph and Kevin Durant, like these guys are
going to age out. It's Lebron doesn't look like it, but it's going
to happen. And so I just find that start time incredibly. But if
it was a weekend, okay, sure, but it's not. It's a
Thursday. There's no holiday like coming up where a lot of people would be
be off. And so I found that to be a minor to major myth
like and I'm specifically looking at it through the lens of get as many people
to get eyeballs on Tyre's Haliburton and the Pacers as possible, because even if
they're not considered elite, they are. I mean, between them, the
Kings, I think even the Pelicans at point, there's the Nuggets of course,
like those are the most entertaining teams objectively to watch this season. The
Pacers are up there is what I mean. Oh yeah, well, and
that game is gonna there's gonna be three hundred points scored in that game or
something ridiculous, just because the transition defense that game is gonna be not just
I mean, are the Bucks still the worst transition defense in the league if
they're not there twenty ninth? I mean so, and if there's it might
be because Indiana is right, So it's gonna be a dunk fest. It's
gonna be awesome, Like the potential for like get that game on primetime.
If you want to convert or like build new NBA fans, show them a
game where you know it's like one forty five to one forty four in regulation.
So do you want let's this is going to be dated to we want
to make this quick because they're like I want to go back and forth maybe
one thing we're watching for from each teams in these in these in these is
t matchups. Yeah, well, I mean we may as well just transition
into the Bucks Pacers. That That is what I'm looking at, is like
who's going to stop anybody? And and probably the answer to that is Milwaukee
will. But I don't know like that that defense has been really bad and
it it has looked really bad consistently. So uh I I was, I
was doing some prep for this. Uh I'd like my notes were like,
you know, Bucks are are I assume Yannis is gonna go twenty of twenty
five at the rim just because the Pacers just you can get whatever you want
there. And I was looking at, well, what happened last time?
He was nineteen of twenty five from the field for fifty four points in that
one twenty six one twenty four loss earlier this year, So like I was
trying to come up with an absurd Giannis stat line and it was just barely
too absurd because he almost did it so lots of points. Also, Dame
didn't play in that in that meeting earlier this year, so that'll change things.
I mean, one the offense will be even better, but the defense
probably will be worse. So just lots of points there. I assume Milwaukee
wins that, don't you they would be my pick because they have I know,
you're you see me more concerned about their defense than I am. But
like you go through their most used lineups and their seven most used lineups or
whatever have decided the above average defenses. And so it's like, Okay,
I know we're dealing with small samples here, and there are injuries like the
pat commentson right now, what about their seven most used combinations? Yeah?
Point, so, oh go ahead. No, I was just gonna say
it's hard. You're like, I'm I know. I it's like I've been
just a little more skeptical of the Bucks than you all year and all the
You're like, you have all the statistical underpinning for your case and I just
have, like God, Yannis and brook Lopez just don't get back anymore.
Like that stuff is weird. NA seems like he's like striking a pose on
his misses. It doesn't make any sense. Yeah, so that I just
keep bumping on that because the the eye test, you know, you will
take the numbers over the eye test, you know, seven days out of
the week. But like the eye test is so bad sometimes I just can't
get it out of my brain. So but I'm picking the Bucks to win
that anyway. So the two things that I'll be won from e So I
basically is could we just get more of the Giannis and Dame pick and roll
They ran a few times against the Knicks and it was just absolutely annihilatory and
it will be annihilatory against every other team. But the Knicks are uniquely ill
equipped to guard teams that have like these stretch bigs. And then there are
secondary actions that don't there are actions that don't involve those stretch bigs. Yeah,
we've seen it against I think Boston, they've played them. Like.
I think Boston and Milwaukee might be the single Towo Wurst matchups for them in
the Eastern Conference, and maybe even the Pacers might get up there because the
speed at which they play not much. They stretch the floor, but their
defense is so bad and I mean they clearly have another level. Do it
more? Is this on Adrian Griffin? Is it just Oh, we want
to spread it out and make sure we do Middleton and Yannis and we want
to have you know, Brolo and Dame, and I'm sure all those combinations
are are fine. I mean, we know Middleton and Yannis is good.
I assume Dame and brook Lopez the numbers on that are great, and I
believe that is their most used pick and roll combination. Michael Pena of The
Ringer I think wrote that. But like Gianni's and Damas or even just do
the inverse, then have Da Dame screen more for Giannis. I just want
to see more of that, and this should be the team to do it
against, because I don't know that the stuff with y Look, Gianna's getting
to the rim. I want to make it clear they'll be, They're gonna
score in droves. And the fact that they have a defense that can theoretically
stop the Pacers at least when Indiana's and half court, although by the way,
Indiana has the best half court defense in the league. Like, if
you're Milwaukee, you might just need to keep pace with like a ridiculous number
of three pointers attempted by the Pacers and the Bucks. Yes, they're eight
and three point attempt to eight nine and three point percentage. I'm going to
tell you right now that might not be good enough. To get to an
outside shooting match with the Pacers, and the Indiana does this the two things
I'll be watching for them. They really this is like by design. It's
not like they're funneling people towards Myles Turner because he's so often not near the
basket. It's we're just gonna give up looks at the rim because those are
only worth two points. And that shit feels like how they defend and they
play so small that I guess that's what they do. I'm really just gonna
be watching to see are we gonna get another like incredible Aaroni Smith performance?
Can he help them cob together enough stops? And because I know this counts
towards the regular season because the stakes are getting higher, do we kind of
see progressively less of Ben mcmathrin If he isn't playing well, he's already been
moved to the bench. He has these moments where it looks like, oh
he might pass, he's defending well, but it just it all hasn't come
together on a consistent basis. Ironically, the last time it did, I
think they were playing Milwaukee, So there is that. But I'll be fascinating
to see sort of how those wrinkles play out. Yeah, I think I
would echo that. I think just in general, the matchups individually are going
to be really interesting, just sort of like where do you hide all these
guys that need to be hidden, you know, Like, so do we
assume that Malik Beasley is gonna guard Haliburton, for example, because it won't
be Dame? And then I don't feel don't love that. Although Beasley,
I mean, been one of the best signers this year that he's been in
a minute, he he, this is the best I've ever seen him play,
still like you got Haliburton, all right, I mean, it's not
gonna be Dame, not gonna be Middleton. And then on the other like
who's guarding Dame? I guess it's like I mean, Nerd will probably get
around or Smith. We'll see a lot of time, maybe they throw nem
hard, maybe McConnell gets some minutes. It's gonna be an all hands on
deck situation obviously. And then yeah, I just I would love to see.
I'm interested to see what Indiana does, like scheme wise, to just
not give up, you know, I'm not kidding, Like twenty yannis Field
goals in the restricted area like, how do you prevent that? I want
to see under on Yannis Field goals made inside the restricted area eleven and a
half. I'd take the over. I mean, just whatever his season high
is, I would say over that. I say, I'm saying, wow,
I don't actually know how many made I know he leads the league,
but I think by like a mile in points in the paint, But I
don't know how many like made shots he's averaging like he's eleven and a half
considered low, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure he has scored
thirty points in the paint in a game this year, so I mean that's
fifteen right there. Yeah, I mean he's only averaging in general eleven point
seven makes per game, and eleven point three of those are Yeah, that
sounds about right that. Yeah, they get over under by you, by
the way, by me, I mean just okay, shoulder by patting myself
on the back. Lakers, Pelicans, what are you thinking heading into that
one? It's like opposite world. It's just like these teams are both big.
They're both they both or can be big. The Pelicans are a little
more malleable. Interestingly, now that they've got so many of their guys back.
I think I'm looking mostly at like, is New Orleans gonna be able
to run hot enough from deep to sort of like I don't see. I
don't see a scenario where it's likely that the Pelicans are dominating inside just because
the Lakers can get so big and so physical and like that's how they have
been most successful with this iteration of the team. And then if they're not
gonna do that, And by the way, Lakers have the number two defense
in the league since like the middle of November, so they're just like the
defense is really good, and so I don't think the Pelicans can overpower.
So then it's like, well, is Trey Murphy gonna get you know,
is he gonna hit six threes? Is Herb Jones gonna be left alone?
And can he hit two or three of those if he's off the ball like
that kind of that's how I would see New Orleans winning. I'm actually,
as you can tell, I'm kind of leaning Lake. Uh just I don't
know, just just because I just think if it's if it comes down to
h this is a physical like defense, first game, there's the score is
probably gonna be lower. I just like the Lakers more in that kind of
messy So I actually might like the Pelicans more in this one, because I
think Sacramento ended up making New Orleans uncomfortable enough with their smaller lineups, where
Zion just was not getting like real fourth quarter minutes. And it was like
brandon Ingram show the Lakers could, in theory do that. They're not going
to. They don't want to, right, And so if you're gonna let
I mean, do Zion, look can he say? I mean, there's
just can he get to the paint as readily? There are these games where
it feels like he can, but for the most part, yes he can.
And they've also kind of discovered the numbers on the Zion. No other
big lineups but Tray Murphy's there. They're so small they're a bit obliterating everybody.
And so you can get to that if you want. And that is
a setup that could make the Lakers uncomfortable, and you use the word with
the Pelicans, it's malleable there and if you're gonna have brandon Ingram play like
he did against the Kings, and there was even a lot more It felt
like, at least there was a lot more two man stuff involved with brand
Ingram and Zion, and I don't know if did that takes Zion out of
his elements. I feel like he was screening a little bit more from brandon
Ingram, which, by the way, is sort of free money where it's
oh okay, if he creates space, brandon Ingram can dribble into a pull
up from the mid range of actually a pull up three, or like Zion
mp paging towards the basket is just objectively terrifying. I like the Pelicans in
this one more. And I think just the talent that they have, they
can play a bunch of different styles, and they're gonna get more shooting out
shooting in movement, off ball movement out of their team than the Lakers probably
will. Yeah, I think that's probably right. I just I was thinking
about both of these teams the other day, and it's like, I think
they kind of have similar problems where in one specific sense, which is like
the Pelicans are super malleable. They got like thirteen guys that I would feel
good about having on the floor just depending on the situation, but they kind
of have a lot of one way, like you know, herb Jones is
getting closer to the middle, but like Dyson, Daniel's out there for defense,
and like if Jordan Hawkins plays, which he doesn't really anymore, he's
out there to shoot. And you know, valanciunisk is just not going to
space the floor. They don't have anybody now that can switch as a center
on defense with nance out, and the Lakers kind of have that too,
where it's like, well, if we got to guard a killer wing,
Vanderbilt's got to play, but he can't shoot. And then if we really
need to go all offense, we play Reeves and d Lo together, but
then we don't guard anybody. There's just a lot of one way types on
both of these teams, and maybe maybe like both in this in this is
t game, and you know, big picture this season, the one that
has more success will be the one that just sort of either figures out how
to get more two way guys around their stars or pushes the right buttons,
you know, night tonight, with all these different options they have, I
think I just trust the Pelicans floor balance, I guess more than you do,
because I know it's not an absurd volume. But like I do view
Yonis as someone who just spaces the floor at this point. Yeah, I
only two attempts per game, but he's at like thirty seven and a half
percent or whatever it is, so you're not gonna get me on yonis Trey
Murphy being back changes a lot like that's that's I mean, we talked about
it preseason, we talked about it after he got hurt. He's just he's
such a key piece of every like of the best version of this team,
like the best version of the Pelicans does not exist without Trey Murphy on the
floor. I don't think, Uh, did you have thoughts? Do you
want to how do we want to finish this? Do we want to get
into you guess a player or I know you had some thoughts on the Hawks,
who I assume you do not view as one player away from a contender,
which is something we'll be hitting soon, so I'd be game for talking
about them now. I was curious if you had any unspoken Pelicans thoughts,
since I know you did a little bit of prep on them. I'm just
curious because I feel like you're always you got a little better finger on the
pulse of neurons than I do. It feels like the possibility there. I'm
gonna save them for that podcast because I feel like we're invariable because you wouldn't
at least view them as a team that is one player or development away from
title contention, right, Like, Yeah, they're on my They're on my
long list at least, I don't know how long the list. If I
referred teams they received consideration. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if
we want to you want to do the Hawks right now? Or do you
want to get into some guests. I don't know. You asked me that,
well, are the Hawks on your this is nice little pee behind the
curtain for We're Teething the podcast that's dropping on Friday. Do you have the
Hawks on your list as the one player away team? No, I don't.
Let's talk about the Hawks then, all right. I guess maybe the
reason there didn't make our my even my long list for one player away is
because it seems like they're not one player away. So they're kind of quietly
right around five hundred, which the five hundred pace of last year, which
is not a great spot to be in because they won four of six and
just have been worse Trey Young, like Trey Young shooting poorly was kind of
the explanation for the underwhelming play for much of the season. But he's trended
up. But he's thirty eight and a half percent in one December game coming
into tonight, thirty seven point seven percent from three in November. So I
mean he just made like a quarter of his threes in those October games,
so that dragged everything down. And like his counting stats and all of his
advanced metrics like BPM and you know, all the alphabet soups are like pretty
close to where he was last year. So it's no longer the case that
like you can explain away why the Hawks are you know, kind of underwhelming
because Trey is shooting poorly and like not unrelated there, I think, what
are they number two in offense overall? So like the offense is back,
it's the defense that's gotten worse, twenty fifth after being twenty first statistically,
by the way, But and I know this because I just wrote about it.
Jontay Murray's been one of the ten most valuable one on one scores in
the league, which is okay, which is actually does tie into kind of
like my one of my overarching thoughts because Murray has been good and like good
in ways that probably you would not have expected, which is to say,
like offensively as an individual creator as a shooter, he's been better than his
San Antonio days, but he has not been the defensive player he was for
the Spurs. And the whole theory of pairing him with Trey Young is,
here's the guy we throw at the other team's one or two and he's gonna
kill him and he's gonna have two and a half steals a game because he's
a hawk off the ball to so like that that just really hasn't been there.
So he's he's you could say, like he's equally valuable Murray is,
but like in such a different way that it's less valuable to Atlanta maybe than
you would want. Although like his contracts still good, all that stuff whatever.
The main overarching thing is, like, I think what worries me is
we're pivoting now from well, Quinn Snyder will fix it, Like, look
at all the talent on this team. This was my thought going into the
season. I think I picked him to win like in the high forties,
which is still not over. I believe I'd have to check. I'm prett
sure we both went over, but not on that pace. Suffice to say,
so we've gone from Snyder's gonna fix it to some version of like he
needs more so we need more time. It's gonna take some more time to
figure this out. And I just think that leaves me kind of cold.
I think it's more just the personnel. I think the collect the group as
it is, Like Jalen Johnson's out right now. He's incredibly important. He
does things like no none of their other combo forwards can athletically as a passer,
defensively, running the floor. He's just he has elements that no one
else replicates on the roster. So him being out is a problem. But
I just think, you know, DeAndre Hunter's been disappointing. Ogdanovic is great
when he plays, but he just can't get through a season. It seems
like Young has settled into something less than Oh, he's definitely capable of,
you know, being the best player on on a conference finals team, which
is always gonna seem wild that that happened. So you know, we could
get into like what should they do? Or I guess I'm curious before if
we get to that, before it like what do you do you feel the
same way about the Hawks where it's like I kind of think it's not just
gonna be as simple as Snyder will make them play differently and it'll be fine
because you just maybe can't fix this defense. I don't know. Yeah,
And that was gonna be my fove question to you is when I watch them
or dig into them, I don't know what they do good defense? Is
there anything they actually do well defensively? And I think some of the bigger
outliers are okay, they just they're not grabbing like they're a terrible rebounding team,
and that's you know they play. I guess they're not super large,
but they're not. They're not the pacers, you know what They're not like
they're they're power like Jalen Johnson is power forward size and they have Click Cappella
and Yeko okung Wu up run and they have there has always been a good
rebounder for a guard like historically, so and then you start to dig into
it's like, okay, well, what should be their best started or their
their best five man unit? And I know again, Jalen Johnson is out
right now has been really bad this year, just below average offense a well
below average defense. You it's just I watch them and I don't get a
sense of what you can understand what they're doing. They can play a bunch
of different ways on offense. The fact that they're this good on offense while
Trey Young has been relative to what we expect Tree Young to be still an
efficient. Defense is still react to him, which is important. And they're
having de Jontay Murray Jalen Johnson when he's healthy, gives you just sort of
a variable oop that you're working with. But and then like you have just
sort of like Sadik bay remains Microwavey and I haven't been as disappointed on offense
with DeAndre Hunter as maybe you have been. What do they do well on
defense? Though? And the thing that I think stands out more than even
the rebounding for me is this is a team and I'll liken it to the
Kings. What they did really well last year in this year is they get
their defense set because they make a lot of shots. Yea, the Hawks
suck defensively after making a shot. They're not great at getting back. If
you watch them, like teams can run on them or at least get them
in semi transition or before they're fully set, whatever you want to call it.
And the personnel on this roster, Clint Capela's getting older. Okay,
you have Jalen Johnson and you have DeAndre Hunter, and I like you want
to throw Murray in there. You could expect them to be better. Where
how are you building out a much better defense with what you have? And
this leads into Okay, there's clearly the Pascal Siakam interest, and I do
think he's an intriguing fit. But then you start to dig into what's going
out, what they actually need, and it's twofold because it's okay, can
Pascal Siakam fit? Are they using him as the five? Like? You
don't want him playing with Capella? Might just be matching salary in that,
but do you want him playing with the congoo Jalen Johnson? Does Jalen Johnson
need to be in the Jalen Johnson was making enough his threes that Sakam Jalen
Johnson would intrigue me. Do you have to give up Jalen Johnson to get
Siakam at this point? In addition to picks And if I'm Toronto, I'm
definitely asking. And he's also not someone who's gonna come in and fix the
rebounding problems, fix all the rim protect like they're like they're getting obliterated at
the rim. They've gotten a little bit unlucky with opponent three point shooting,
but they allow a bunch of looks at the rim, they allow a bunch
of threes. Is not going to come in and fix that, it feels
like, And I don't even think this player fixes it. And I know
we mentioned him with a lot of teams like they need Ognobi, they need
the wing stop or I think to supremely elevate them. And so now I'm
getting in my mind where it's that to me, dictates a fundamental shakeup in
this team. It's probably got to be Murray like that, right, well,
okay, what about Trey' I don't need to give up Tray to get
Anonobi. No, no, no. I meant is that the fundamental Do
you trust that you're good enough can be good enough offensively without trade? Do
you think that he might get you more? And this was an exercise I
went through in my head like a week ago, and then I started thinking,
all right, well, what is the team that's gonna come in and
trade for Trey Young and give up a boatload of stuff, and I can't
find it. And so I think Trey Young is a superb basketball player,
I want to be clear. So it almost has to be Murray because it's
if you get to a point where you're giving up DeAndre Hunter and Jalen Johnson
and on Yako Kung was tough to move after the extension. But it's like
those two in picks and Griffin's thrown in there, it's all right, well,
how are you now fleshing out? What are you consolidating into that it's
worth annihilating that much of your depth. I can't figure out the Hawks,
and we can call them just aggressively mediocre, which is exactly what they are.
But what makes it so difficult is I don't understand what the path forward
is for them, because like, if Trey Young plays better, is it
or if he's more efficient, because actually think that he's had, like his
passing in just his live dribble decision making, it can be so valuable.
But it's like oor, okay, or you did your offense is even better
than number two in the league. Is not gonna enable you to win a
bunch more games, maybe some, probably not a bunch. Yeah. The
trade thing is interesting because it's so fun. I independently got to, like,
you know, in the in the in my section of notes on the
Hawks, it's like, what do you do now? And it's like bullet
point bill, bullet point trade Murray, question mark. And then it's like
intriguing. It's not to blow it up and start over a situation, but
they're too talented to do that. So it's not like they're hopeless. I
just don't understand how they imbue more defensive hope into the And it's how much
better do you get? Like Murray has not been as good defensively as he
was in San Antonio, but he has not been your worst defense. So
how much better do you get defense in any move in which you trade to
Jean de Murray. Well, if it gets you o Gananobi, I think
you get. I mean, that's about as big of a defensive impact as
you can realistically get short of like let's get you know, Gobert or Jared
Jackson junior or like someone that can just you know, kind of be it
has been a defense onto himself in the past like but so like the the
what is the deal? Like if it's if the principals are Murray and Ananobi,
just hypothetically, like what are the throw ins on either side that in
your mind? That like like who's throwing in more? And how much more
needs to be thrown in? Because I think it's Atlanta, because Toronto might
not view Murray as an asset if they're keeping Siakam running things through Scottie Barnes
and then have Yaka Perle. Murray's a tough fit there. I mean they
need a guard, a lead guard, but I mean Shruder's actually been really
good for the money there, but uh yeah, he's his shooting is like,
you'd have to really believe in Murray's shooting to even think about having him
be the lead guard on a team with and and non shooting center. For
sure, there's some type of three way trade where Dallas gets de Jontay Murray
and Kyrie ends up in Toronto. Oh man, what are the vax Man
dates in Toronto? There's pretty strict in Canada. Still, I don't know,
yeah, I just I don't know what the Hawks do next. I
do know that while intrigues me, depending on what the rest of the rosteros
Like, I don't think that's the trade, And I think I might have
felt differently, and I thought they would keep Murray in that deal, like
well Trey and Murray, and yet like hell yeah, like that's yeah,
that's the base of something special. I don't think it is. After watching
this team, especially when you have to factor in, I would imagine that
two of DeAndre Hunter, de Jontay Murray, and Jalen Johnson are going out
in that deal. I mean, I think the trade is tricky, as
we've just illustrated, and you hit on this and maybe this is a good
spot to close that, Like there's some low hanging fruit here in terms of
for the Hawks defense. I had the numbers you hit on the exact spots.
They're twenty eight eight in opponent rim attempt frequency and twenty ninth in opponent
corner three frequency. So it's just like, what are you shutting off schematically
if you're giving up the two most valuable areas of the floor at bottom bottom
two and bottom three rates, Like, it's so that to me circles all
the way back to Quinn. Snyder'll fix it. It's like this is a
coaching like this is a tactical thing, Like how are you giving up both
corner threes and rim frequency at that rate? Like that's I mean, I
guess it's it could be personnel, like guys just don't know, can't do
what they're supposed to be doing. But if you can clean that up,
like let's get to twentieth in both of those, you know, maybe now
you're the twenty threeth defense and opponents have the third highest field goal percentage on
mid rangers, So it's like the Hawks are getting teams to the terrible shots
that the Hawks get teams to take are going in. So like let's normalize
that number in maybe now we're talking about like the number sixteen defense, seventeen
defense just bit balling and that's good enough if you're second on offense to be
really dangerous. But right, and look, I know, I said,
what do they do well, they've been forcing turnovers without fouling, So they're
in the top ten of both opponent turnover rate and opponent like fouling their opponents.
So that's good. They're not fouling when you watch them, like it's
not like they're hacking and whacking and getting caught off governever they have to defend
a pick and roll. But they are getting destroyed in pick and rolls I
think from those in between areas. Mostly they're getting destroyed by roll men in
those situation as well, and they're going to They're fouling more often in those
situations, but not even to at an above average degree. I just I
don't know what the answer is. When it's not on the roster is the
point. I don't know. And if we throw out this is where we
should probably close. This is gonna be maybe cold water for twenty nine fan
base in the league. Everyone talks about Ojan Andobi. I'll be flabbergasted if
they moved him. He's six. No, I mean, if they get
an offer or he says he wants out because he's going to be a free
agent this summer. Maybe and maybe he wants a more prominent offensive role,
but Siakham's the guy at this point. He's not playing as well. You're
running things through Scotti yaka Pertos, so there you need Ananobe's floor spacing and
he's more important to your defense at this point. Why what are you getting
for Adonobe going into free agency? Because it's like, Okay, so we're
losing Ananobi. Are we gonna get I'm not saying you would get more for
Siakham, but are you just getting two first round picks? And like cute
prospects for Adanobe? Are even getting that much? And then if it's not
at Anobe, because that's the guy and that's the other issue, other teams
are gonna want Anobe. The Kings can probably put together a better offer every
team. Every team would certainly take him, and I don't know how many
would not start him, like he's just he might. This is the reason
we talk about him all the time. So to your point, you're probably
right, like this is why Toronto should just keep him and pay him whatever
it takes, because he will always be tradable like it unless you've just fully
max him out of just some stupid number, like how about this tying all
the way back? If Ananobe has zach Levine's contract, is anyone saying that
there's no market for him because I don't think so, because he's so plug
and play like probably not, Yeah, I think I think zach Lavine is
a really good offensive player that you know has some flaws, but like Anonobi,
just what team in the league would not say, oh my god,
like, forget it, I don't want that guy like that. There isn't
one. They all want them. And then you start to go through like
the alternative or the contingencies whatever you want to like the feasible ones, and
it's it's who I mean, does Jeremy grem be interesting on this team?
He's definitely not gonna help your rebounding, But that's not You have Jalen Johnson
there, so you're not gonna give him up in that too. I guess
Jalen Johnson Jeremy Grant can play together with a big on the court. It's
just like there's not just these combo forward or combo wing defenders that are feasibly
gettable, especially like given the Hawks. Yeah, the Herb Jones would be
great on this team. We would be dynamite. You probably can't even get
a Lou Dort I don't, okay, So he's not gonna be looking to
move somebody like that. You gotta start digging around the like Finney Smith and
Royce O'Neill. You gotta call Brooklyn and see what those guys. You take
the chance. I'm like chumok from Orlando, just like, what do we
try and reboot this guy's value? And it's well, that's kind of a
tricky proposition when you won't even allow aj Griffin like the opportunity to build up
his value in the first place. So I don't know where they go.
And it sounds doom and gloom maybe because it is, but they're just they're
like they're so close yet so far territory. Yeah, because I like a
lot of their individual players and again, clean up some of the process stuff,
and like they could still win forty seven, like forty high forties whatever
like that, you know, that could all still happen. I do think
there's we're talking about them now because they're not going to make our one player
away things. So like they're definitely a notch below probably where they want to
be. He's injured and I know he's slipped, but like what if the
Grizzlies just decided this isn't working, this season is done and they were willing
to retrade Marcus Smart and you just are you too small with Smart, Murray
and Young. I'm not worried about being too small with Smart. I'd just
be worried about like maybe the offense just isn't there at all. You know,
it's like he can guard up. I think I think that where Smart's
like has lost it, you know a little bit the last year or so,
as he's not as quick as he was. I feel okay with him
guarding like fours still as opposed to like chasing around smaller guards. But he
would probably have to chase around smaller guards because Drey Young can't guard anybody,
and Murray is not a defender anymore. Apparently, Uh, Danny Avio would
be good for this team. He was poison pilled though, And I mean
he's been playing good enough in Washington to not move that. But yeah,
let's uh you want to move into well, I guess we should. We
should, we should hit it. I wasn't ready for it. So this
is this is gonna be terrible podcasting here. Uh, and it's I don't
know where it is. I might have I might have actually deleted this that,
but no, here we are all right, we're gonna do guess of
players and guess the tweets in this one, right, that's what we settled
on. Sure, all right, you want to go first? You want
me to go first? Yeah, I got one from Rubs Rubik scal that
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you here. Uh thanks again as always Ruby skle.
She give me two, and I'm trying to decide between them. I
think I'll just she gave me zero this week. She might be mad at
me. Well, I got both of them? Which one do I want
to do? Do both of them? Okay, So we'll start with this
one. Dan. Through two seasons in college and fourteen seasons in the NBA,
I wore only one number, number twenty three. It's pretty broad set
of possibilities so far. I was she wasn't in the NBA. Figure,
Wait, what was your guest Jason Cape? I don't even know what number
he wore in college. I had a mini heart attack there. For a
second, I thought you got I was a McDonald's All American in nineteen ninety
nine and NCAA champion in two thousand. I was consensus NCAA second team All
American in two thousand and one. I was drafted fifth overall in two thousand
and one, two thousand and one, draft number five. I became very
popular, very quickly with my teammates and fans for my scoring maturity. Dedication
to the team and fans Germany all costs. I wrote a letter of apology
in my fourth season when my team failed to make the playoffs for the twelfth
straight year. Uh. This was printed in several local newspapers. I gave
my word that I would take them into the playoffs the next year, which
I did. That might be like you had to be in the region to
remember that. All right. Let's see, I set a franchise record of
most threes in a game with no misses eight and I led the league and
made threes in two thousand and seven two thousand and eight with two hundred and
forty three makes. However, do you have a guess before I give you
the one? I think you're I'm not going to get this one. I
can read. I think you might. However, I was better known for
my incredible dunks. I was, after all, the only only the second
person to win back to back dunk contests. The first guy also wore twenty
three Vince Carter. Nope, Carter wore fifteen. God, let's see,
I don't know if you're getting I started eight hundred and forty two of eight
hundred and fifty seven games, the most games I ever came off the bench
in the season was five in my rookie year. See, I could give
you more hints. Probably I'm gonna need him. You already said the first
name of this person. I said, Oh, Jason Richardson, you got
it. Wow, the back to back dunk contest. I thought you'd have
it on. But yeah, I remember the letter of apology. I remember
seeing that that you would remember that. I would remember that, I said,
And you know what I said, I said, thank you, Jason.
It's been a tough ride these last twelve years. Appreciate it. All
right. Let's see, do you have one? I want you give me
one if you have one, yes, okay, So this one comes from?
Which one do we want to do? First? Here? Nicole colef
set one over, So thank you, Nicole cha. I am a three
time EuroLeague winner. Is clue number one. Clue number two. I was
the first NBA player from my country, and I am currently the president of
the Basketball Federation. Three time you're a league, okay, clude number three.
I was a rookie at thirty one and played for two years in the
NBA. In those two years, I played in twenty two playoff games.
Are we to sabonas I believe that's that has to be correct. I'm now
noticing that the player the answer is not on this list, the rookie at
thirty one and like a highly decorated European player. No it's not it's not
him, a rookie at thirty one. Okay, continue clue number four.
The highlight of my national team career leading my country to a semi final of
the EuroBasket in twenty eleven, beating the host Lithuania in the quarterfinals along the
way. Wait, so they beat in eleven, beat Lithuania in the quarters.
Oh, I see where the answer is now, Okay, I don't
have a guess. After that clar you might get it to five a stretch.
Big I only shot thirty one percent from the three point line in the
NBA. Despite that, Roy Hibbert probably wakes up in terror screaming my name
once a week. Oh, Pero Antic, Yes that is correct. He
was a three time your league champ. He's a three time your league winner.
Yeah wow, good for him, Oh Parol. I feel like Pero
Antics got on our radar at some point for some reason, I was talking
to culj about this where we were discussing. It was the scouting reports and
someone compared Nicole to peril ants. That's what it was. That's what it
was because prior to that, pero antics had not existed in my brain for
a very long time. That was not I'm okay, all right, Uh
okay, you ready for another one. This is the other one from Rubik
Scale Clue number one. Dan, I was a I love how they all
start with college stuff and you're just gonna glaze over and not have any Yeah,
I know nothing about college, just years out of this, so you
can get kind of zero in, all right. I was a consensus NCAA
second team All American in two thousand and three. This is all, but
this is all coming off of the dun Levy stuff because there's all like relationships
to Mike Dunleavy. Because we had a Mike Dunleavy question last week. I
think or I had a guest player or something. Anyway, Dunlevy was that
guy in two thousand and two. I was also first team All Conference in
two thousand and three for the Missouri Valley Conference. Mike Dunlevy was All ACC
and O two. I can skip the dun Levy stuff. Just to keep
this focus for you. I played this except for this part. I played
the same position as Mike Dunlevy hard slash small forward. Let's see, there's
a lot of dun Levy Tians. I'm trying to keep it simple for you.
I played for one Western Conference team, the Jazz, for four years,
and the rest of my teams were all in the East Sixers, Bulls,
Hawks. Kyle Korver, good job, nailed it. We have some
breaking news, oh that I'll timestamp. I'm not gonna put it in the
front because I'll just take too long. Zach Lavine is going to miss an
additional three to four weeks. We said he was only gonna be had a
week with right foot inflammation, and so if he didn't have, if he
didn't have trade value before, it's gonna happen now. Uh So that'll be
anyone who didn't make it this far. On the podcast and things that we
were just wrong at the beginning, we covered a breaking that's a out of
both of them's a little frisky. I don't know how much of a lost
it ends up being, but that's just you want to see him play well,
and I just want this Chicago era to end already for them at the
reset button. This probably it was gonna be delayed anyway, We're not at
December fifteenth yet. This is I wonder what that does to his trade value
though, because we're talking three to four weeks. Is his reevaluation time will
miss three to four weeks and so it's okay, are they going to reevaluate
him? Then how long is it? He might not be back until the
middle of January at this point, I mean, you would say that it
narrowed potentially because three to four weeks is not the full year, but an
injury this year at least introduces the possibility that, like, he's not going
to put you over the top of this season potentially, and so if that's
the case, I would say it narrows the number of teams that are interested
in him. But apparently that number was already zero based on the report that
there's no market for him, because like the other thing is like if you
trade for zach Lavine, you're maybe you're one of the teams that's hoping for
like, oh, look, this is a bump for this year, but
there's also all those other years on the contract. So it's not just like
so a three to four week injury might not scare off the teams if they
exist that want zach Levine for the duration. You know what I mean.
There were someone in our YouTube comments who said that Charlotte should trade for him.
It's like that's the team that would be like, yeah, like leg
will steert zach Lavine perfect he's hurt, will take him. Yeah that's okay,
Well we're sure he's not. Just it's a fantom foot injury because he's
sick of all this stuff with the Bulls. He had looked pretty bad lately,
so I can buy that he was playing Her body language was was terrible.
His body language was also injured. That whole pr fiascal he apologized for
like kind of shoving off the Bulls PR person. That was just such a
terrible look, and it was he reacted so poorly after the fact. I
know eventually he apologized. Good, let's move on. But that was just
I mean, it's like we talked about earlier. It's like he's a human
being, Like he's not happy there. It's manifest. Have you ever aggressively
like shoved off? Of course not, you know, this is very different,
but yeah, like it's it's just more evidence that like you gotta trade
this guy, like and then do trade everybody else, but definitely else first
trace when's the last time we kind of had a mutual trade request where it
was just like the bulls, but we don't want you, like, yeah,
I don't want to be here. And that's just kind of how it
unfold. Like not in free agency. You're in the middle of a contract
that you didn't sign too long ago, and both sides are just kind of
like, yeah, like we don't really like each other. And yeah,
yeah, is it Harden in Houston, because I mean he definitely wanted out
first he drove it wasn't mutual. Yeah, he gets there. Always eventually
mutual because then when the team pulls the trigger like they technically it was mutual.
But yeah, no, it is. It is pretty rare. Usually
it's one side or the other's pretty adamant, and you know, well,
usually it's the player and then the team acquiesces. But yeah, I think
everybody's eager to end that partnership for sure. Back to stat padding. Back
to stat padding, you have another guest, a player. I have like
short ones that you'll get relatively easily, I think. But if you've got
something, go ahead. Let's do the one from be Rich for you.
Clue number one. I was drafted in late first round in two thousand and
four, hailing from an Atlantic ten school that went undefeated twenty seven to zero
during the regular season, eventually losing in the Elite eight as a one seed.
Wait, give me, wait, an Atlantic ten school as a one
seed? What year was it? Two thousand and four? All right,
I'm just starting to realize how deficient my knowledge of coach basketball is by going
through these. Is this Mike Cansey, No, it's not. Clue number
two A decent combo guard. I made the playoffs six times in my eight
year career. The most similar player to me, according to Basketball Reference is
John Salmons. So this is completely useless because those player comps are so misleading.
All right, sorry, I've just uh you said, combo guard eight
years? Yes, okay, eight year career combo guard starting in O four,
got it? Uh? Clue number three. I was traded three times
in a three year fan and as such, I was a left handed teammate
with multiple superstars, including Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant, Dirk Novitzky, Lebron,
James Jason Kidd, and Vince Carter. It's a left handed so he's
literally a left handed basketball player that played with. Just getting a little extra
clue to who played give me the list of the star he played with.
Again, my listening is very bad. Paul Pierce, kd Dirk, Lebron,
Jason Kidd, Vince Carter. God, who's like, you can't do
this? That should have that should put it over the top, the lefty
thing. All right, go ahead, this is you're gonna get it now.
I was out of the league after my age twenty eight season. This
definitely wasn't because of an of alleged indiscretion with a certain star player's mom.
Oh Delante West. Dalante West, he was He had some really high defensive
moments when he was in the league, and I hope he's doing well.
I know he was struggling with some yeah stuff for a while. He was
a good player for I mean, in the right spots for for for a
couple of different teams. Okay, Delance West, all right, I feel
like I took longer than I should have to get that one. But that
was the final clue. So it was I appreciate a final clue. Well,
what I don't appreciate is when you say you'll get it on this one,
because I'm immediately like I've set up to fail. Now I'm never gonna
get it. But I do like one still. But I do like this
when the clue is easy enough at the questions wrong, I'm not as humiliated.
Although the end one we did last week that was rough, like mentally
for me. But for some reason, the guess a player, I guess
because you're sort of stewing in your own failure in that moment. Just I
can't handle missing those. It's a hard place to be. It's a hard
place. Okay, speaking of these are Dan, you should totally get these.
There are only three clues. I can make up more if we need
to, but I don't think you're gonna need them. All right. First,
I don't know what we should call. There's like the rapid fire guess
of players. I was drafted out of high school by the Toronto Raptors at
number nine in nineteen ninety. Very good one clue. The next two would
have been easy, all right. Next guy listed at seven foot four,
but I've always seemed taller. Probably won't get it on that one you want
to get no. Uh. Debuted with the Spurs in twenty fifteen sixteen,
played most games in my career in Dallas. I'm back with Houston for a
second year in a row because good vibes follow me everywhere. No, the
friends never played for yeah nothing. My best friend is Tobias Harris. Oh,
bobon damn it. He's only seventy four, that's what he's listed at,
but he always seems bigger than that. Right, Yeah, all right,
Okay, I'm gonna skip this one and come back to it because I
did it anyway. But it's kind of hard, all right, this one,
you'll get drafted number sixteen out of USC. I guess I should keep
with our conceit of I was drafted number sixteen out of USC in twenty eleven
by the seventy six ers. I was traded to the Magic after just one
year in Philadelphia, where I averaged a double double in twenty twelve thirteen and
would do again in six of my next eight seasons with the team with what
team? Orlando nikole Vucevic, correct, good job, I was the next
The next one might not have helped you. I was just gonna say he
was an All Star in eighteen, nineteen and twenty twenty one, and then
I would have just mentioned the trade if you hadn't got it all right,
I will be impressed if you get this one. I was the number fourteen
pick out of UCLA by the Jazz in twenty thirteen, but I never played
there. The Jazz traded me and the number twenty one pick, who was
Gorgie Jing, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the number nine pick, which is
Trey Burke. I played four and a half of my five NBA seasons for
the Timberwolves n A. I was sent home from the rookie transition program for
a blatant violation. You got it, uh, fun fact I was at
that rookie transition program in which he was accused or had the indiscretion. Yeah,
it was the rookie photo shoot. Uh. And that I got news
like broke basically the next day that he had been disciplined for that. The
person that you had allowed to enter Shabazmuhamma's room had gotten him kicked out.
Yeah. I was in charge of guarding the door and I went home.
I don't know what I have it leup break. Okay, good job.
I like the little bite sized guess of players because they're confidence builders. You're
four for four and didn't need the third clue on any of them. And
so we have another bite sized guess a player in the form of who tweeted
this? Okay? And look if your kids are with you. Some of
these tweets are not suitable for work or children, and I did not tweet
them. So I want to if you have any of your offended by any
of this. I tried to pick ones that wouldn't be super offensive. I
apologize. I didn't tweet these, though I'm not one of the options for
which NBA player tweeted this? Grant? Are you ready? I'm ready?
Which NBA player tweeted this? I met notts Berry Farms, and my butt's
too big to fit in the seats on the ride. Ah, that's me,
Yellen? Was it Dwight Howard, Kyle Lowry, Shaquille O'Neal or Zion
Williamson. I see what you're trying to do with my butts too big and
you're trying to red harring Melli. Actually it's not any of the guys.
It's Admiral Schofield. I'm gonna I'm gonna say Dwight Howard because he seems like
someone that would have been at Notts Very Farm. It was Shack oh Man.
What year was it? August twenty, two thousand and nine? Okay,
felt like a two thousand and nine tweet to me, which NBA player
tweeted this accidentally hit a squirrel yesterday in my car. Feel so guilty I
could barely sleep. Casey Anthony is a monster? Was it Kevin Durant,
Blake Griffin, Kyle Kuzma or Chandler Parsons? What August eleven? I don't
have the dates on all these, but this one's from August fifteenth, twenty
eleven. Okay, Chandler Parsons th incorrect. It was Blake Griffin. I
thought you would have known that one. I don't remember that. What What
is the What does Casey Anthony have to do with anything? She murdered her
children? I know that. But he's saying because he knows what it feels
like to have killed, Like, that's the joke because he killed a squirrel?
He I yeah, I mean like if he feels this bad about killing
a squirrel, sure, I understand that was an intention intended joke. All
right, here's here's my thing. I don't think the tweet is necessarily coherent,
but I thought it was infamous enough that you knew who ye're over.
Gave me choices then, because I was not gonna give you choices, you
didn't give me choices there was I would have no chance. I'm not gonna
get any of these. But if you didn't give me choices out of no
hope, I got a one in four shot. Here which NBA player tweeted
this at Miley Cyrus neck is cray hashtag? Damn? Was it Jimmy Butler,
Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid or Paul George mm I've narrowed it to Jimmy
Butler and Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler. I'm gonna say Kevin Durant. It
is Joel Embiid. Oh. Interesting. He thought he was crushing on Rihanna,
but he had a crush on Miley Cyrus as well. Yeah, I
like almost didn't include this one, but we're risky podcast he take chances?
Which NBA player You're gonna have to say it? You came up with this
bit? This is your fault? Which NBA player tweeted this, Every spit
it out come on. I don't even know what it is. I don't
everybody. I can't do it. I put it on the screen. Can
you put it on the screen? No? Because their name? Okay,
everybody horny. I'm like, I'm liking what I see. Was it Patrick
Beverley, Joel Embiid, Kendrick Nunn or Dennis I would say Dennis Smith Junior.
It was Kendrick. That was my other guest. It was just so
it was just so straightforward that I couldn't Oh man, well, I'm terrible
at this game, but that was more than worth it to hear you almost
be able to get that out. I hope people enjoyed the segment. It
actually took me a lot to find, like what I thought were tweets that
weren't too famous, but we're famous. Uh so if people like this,
let us know, do you want to take us out here? Yes?
Oh man, everybody, thank you for uh just please recommend more stuff that
Dan has to try to say, uh because that's about as hard as I've
laughed in a while, because he was laughing. If if if you saw
this on YouTube, congratulations. If if it's just audio, I'm not sure
what you're gonna make of the last five minutes or so. They just cut
off for thirty seconds. What happened? As we always suggest at the top,
Please remember to rate the podcast review at subsc vibe. Wherever you consume
your podcast. You can follow us on our socials at Hardwood Knocks on Twitter
and or I still can't call it X but whatever on x on Instagram at
Hardwood Unerscore Knocks on Instagram. If you want to learn how to get your
questions or your suggestions for stat padding stuff on here, join our discord.
You can direct messages through there to do that. We have links in the
YouTube and podcast description same place, so you can go for information on our
merch. I think that covers it. As always, we close with a
shout out to the one normally Frank, Mila Kina, and an apology to
Jared Allen.