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What is crack a lac in Fellow
Thermo Nuclear af ors. I am Danton

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Aley, coming at you as always
with my certified fantabulous Thermonuclear af co host,

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mister Grant Hughes. We're gonna talk
news rumors in season tournament today.

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Maybe have a little bit of stat
padding at the end with guess a player

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and whatnot. Before we get started, though, the usual quick reminder,

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please support the show by subscribing if
you've not already, and if you have,

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make sure you're subscribed across all platforms
Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play,

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of course YouTube comment like our videos
helped the algo love us back. We

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were recently I mentioned this when I
published the Pacers podcast I was on.

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We were recently downvoted on Apple.
I don't know what Grant or I said

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or maybe wrote to inflict those down
votes. Put head over Apple, good

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ratings, good reviews, we'd appreciate
them. That about covers it. You

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know the socials podcast YouTube description.
Merch in the podcast and YouTube description as

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well, and join the discord.
Lots of stuff is happening there. It's

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how you get mail back questions in. That's how you get in on the

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stat panning stuff, and there's just
there's more conversations happening, and we appreciate

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everyone who who drives them. Mister
Grant Hughes, how the heck are you

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doing? If you had to rank
the fan bases in order of likelihood of

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submitting a down vote, who would
be number one? Of late? What

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did we say about it? I
don't know. I'm just thinking maybe more

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generally, I feel like Orlando on
the list. I feel like I feel

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like I'm on Orlando's list. I
think we're good with the Timberwolves and the

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Magic fans actually so well, we've
acknowledged that they're both really good now,

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so that helps. And that's more
than a lot of other national podcasts too,

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who are still like caught up,
Oh, like, are they gonna

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trade Karl Anthony Towns in two weeks
or whatever. We've been down voted pretty

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aggressively by Lakers fans before, but
I don't think we said our last segment

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on the Lakers, well, yeah, it wasn't really flat. So maybe

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it's Lakers fan but they're anonymous this
time because they didn't write reviews. A

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lot of times they write reviews.
But I just saw our average plummet,

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not plummet. Put it dropped by
a couple decimal points, which is a

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lot in the grand scheme of how
many ratings we have. And I just

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don't know. I didn't write anything. I guess I did publish a trades

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piece, so it could be Hornets
fans, Pistons fans, Raptors fans,

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Bulls fans, a bunch of other
fans. So the list is getting like

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kind of uncomfortably long. It's probably
not great that as you go down it's

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like, yeah, I could have
been them. I definitely I think the

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trades will end up coming up.
I actually thought at least three of them

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were just very good trades, very
good if you do say so yourself.

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Yeah, in my totally unbiased opinion. And one of them I know was

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good because you took too long to
respond to me when I asked you a

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question about it, and I went
a complete opposite direction, and when you

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responded, I was like, motherfucker, I'm not rewriting this. So which

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is I wish you had told me
that on text. That's still pretty good

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to hear it. Now. What
was that? Oh? That was a

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rapt Warriors trade, right, and
in it I actually think it winds up

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making it that. It was more
realistic to me. I don't know if

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I like it for the Warriors better, but it was a more realistic trade.

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Yeah, you also think Jonathan Aminga
is like gonna be better than I

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have thought that. I'm sure I've
said that. I'm not sure where I'm

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at today. Now we know where
the down votes are coming from. We're

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all just constantly re evaluating our positions. I think that's a healthy way to

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be. You get new information,
you got adjust a few things. I

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just you know, do we want
to get to some news and if rumors

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and and let us know and discord
in the comments. If you appreciate us

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giving these updates. This doc it's
sloppy, there's all these typos. I

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feel bad for grant. It takes
weight, It takes a long time to

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put together. I feel like it
could be helpful. But if you guys

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aren't finding this helpful, please let
us know. I'll stop doing it.

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Okay, Well, we'll just,
you know, assuming they do like it,

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they probably also people probably also like
it if we breeze through it.

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So let's let's take that approach.
Because I just scrolled down this, and

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this is long, so let's let's
get gone. Sounds like every editor I've

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ever had after cut this, cut
that, cut this, shorten this.

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Why use six words when two will
do? All? Right? Do you

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want to start us off? Sure? I alphabet time Atlanta Hawks. They

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continue to monitor Pascal Siakam's availability for
hoops hypes. Michael Scotto. That is

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an evergreen report that could have been
delivered with any team substituted for the Hawks

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at any point over the last two
years. I think I think there's a

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chance you might get to the Hawks
because I have some thoughts on that,

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but I'm gonna save them since you
said breeze through this, and I think

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we might talk about them in a
little bit. For the Boston Celtics,

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Christaps porzingis dealing with the calf injury. Was a full participant in Wednesday's practice

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and then participated in a five on
five scrimmage with coaches following the session.

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According to Suochi Tarada of the Springfield
Republican, he has missed Boston's past four

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games. They need him back.
He's like, yeah, I just well,

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I was just thinking of the of
the in season tournament game and that's

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just a different game if he's there. I think for the Brooklyn Nets,

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Loneywalker the fourth is dealing with the
left hamstring strain that's expected to sideline for

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Brooklyn's next seven games, according to
Newsday's Evan Barnes, also, I got

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another net side from here. They
announced on December second that Ben Simmons,

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this is kind of a bigger deal, had an epidural injection to aid his

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lower back and will be reevaluated in
two weeks. According to Ndscapes Mark J.

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Spears, epidurals A. That's like, you're not messing around anymore.

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If that's happening, not great news
for Ben Simmons. It sucks that it's

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just the back all the time now. Yeah, it just sucks. That's

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my take on that the Bulls.
Zack Lvine has missed Chicago's last three games

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with a sore right foot. He's
expected to return sometime next week. And

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speaking of Zach Lavine, ESPN's Adrian
wolds and Rowski reports that there's currently no

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market for Levine in the three years, one hundred and thirty eight million dollars

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remaining on his contract. I think
that's a little that's got to be a

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little overstated, and if it's true, I think it's bonkers. But there

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is a risk in acquiring Zack Lavine, especially this year's version of that.

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Yeah, no, I was going
to ask you, actually, what do

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you think no market actually means?
Like if you first round picks right what

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I want four? There's no market
right now for what the Bulls want.

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But like I mean, there's much
guys that are, you know, on

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worse contracts and worst players have been
traded. That's the strange way to phrase

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that. For Cleveland, carrosel Verge
has now missed the last two games due

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to left knee injury management. It
is unclear when he's going to return for

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the MAVs. The right elbow sprain
is expected to sideline Josh Green for multiple

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weeks. According to the Athletics,
Sean Serrania Maxi Kleeba is now missed twelve

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games with a dislocated right toe and
has yet to return to practice. That

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means his timeline is unclear, and
finally, right knee soreness sidelined Grant Williams

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on Wednesday. He's listed as day
to day. I really thought we were

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going to get a big Josh Green
season this year, maybe it'll still happen,

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but that's that's I thought we were
going to get a bigger Grant william

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season than we have lately too.
I mean he's been at forty percent from

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three. That's that's part of what
you're going for with him. But yeah,

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he hasn't been a huge impact all
right for Golden State. Chris Paul's

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lower had a lower left leg injury, which was kind of ominously described as

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a as a nerve issue. He
sorry, when you hear the word nerve,

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you like your mind goes into hyper
driving. You're bracing for the worst,

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right, Well, yeah, because
it's rare one Like you don't you

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know if sprain, strained, tear
pole like all that stuff is. We

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understand what that is, even like
a break or whatever. Like a nerve

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issue is just like you know,
didn't speaking of backs, like didn't Ben

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Simmons initially have like nerve is shues
and that was this season. Yeah,

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that's that was praised initially. They
go away when they go away, like

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you know, sometimes they stick around
forever. So but anyway, and Andrew

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Wiggins had that right finger contusion,
slammed it in a car door. Was

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the story you ever done that I
have? Actually, people think this is

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polish on my nails. I've just
freaking closed all of my thumbs. You

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could just do it all the time. Anyway. They're both back Wiggins and

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Chris Paul on Wednesday, so a
good news for both of them. Semi

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exciting news for the Rockets. They
assigned Amen Thompson, who's been dealing with

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the right ankle injury and has not
played since November first, to the G

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league's Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and
I would assume that means that he's at

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least close to a return. Jalen
Smith for the Indiana Pacers has now missed

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three games with his left knee slash
heel injury, and he's already been ruled

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out of Thursday's ICT semifinal against the
Bucks. Kind of a bummer, but

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let's Aaron Nee Smith stand up more
minutes for that man. With the Lakers,

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Darvin Ham said earlier this week that
Gabe Vincent, who is dealing with

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rightnee of fusion, has started doing
some conditioning work. He has not played

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since October thirtieth. I didn't have
this listed, but the other thing,

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Johan Buja of the Athletic reported that
the Lakers have more interest in acquiring DeMar

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Derozen and Alex Caruso than they do
Zach Lavine. And there's been even,

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I think, follow up reporting that
said they really want Alex Caruso, and

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I know he said we're going to
breathe through this. That doesn't make any

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sense to me. I know that
those two are expiring contracts, but if

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you're going to get both of them
won, the salary matching doesn't change all

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that much. And if you're just
going after Caruso or Deroze, it gets

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a little bit easier. Like they
don't need That's not that they don't need

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Alex Caruso, he's zach Lavine stands
to fix some of their biggest offensive weaknesses

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more than any of these other Like
Derozane could help you during the non Lebron

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minutes, but it's fit with Lebron
would be fairly clunky, I think,

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And so I found that curious.
I wasn't sure if it was a nod

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to how good Delo's been on both
ends for a lot of this season,

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and so are they just because you
can't get to Zack Levine's money. You

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could, it's gonna take like five
or six players, but you can't get

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to Zack Levine's and d Lo.
Yeah he's good. Delo's got to be.

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I was gonna ask, like,
he's got to be going back in

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that package. Yeah, I don't
know other stuff too. So because if

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you're not gonna trade Reeves, we
know that Vanderbilt can't be traded this year.

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You're not gonna trade Lebron or or
a d and so you could step

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it would be like a six for
one deal, which is just we don't

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see those midseasons. So I just
found that curious. But I would understand

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if they kind of thought, oh, we'd rather have Delo right now than

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Levine. I disagree with that,
come playf time, But I was just

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I don't think that the rows in
and like, if you want the flexibility

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of them being on shorter contracts,
okay, fine, yeah, but you're

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gonna have to sign them to new
ones. It definitely feels like a financial

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Like I can understand wanting those two
more from like a financial and like just

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asset value perspective, But the fit
is like favors Levine, like he's what

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the Lakers who would need more than
de rosan curers glad, I'm not going

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bonkers then no, I think that's
right all right. So for the memphiscos

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is Luke Kenardi has been out since
November fourteenth with a bone bruise and his

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left knee. He's still two to
three weeks away from a return. According

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to ESPN's Adrian Wojnowski. That's a
lot. I mean, so there goes,

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you know, six weeks potentially with
so much shit in Memphis. Snake

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bit and speaking of still awaiting Memphis
is the timelines for the return of Marcus

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Smart and Jake Laravia. A left
foot injury for Smart obviously, and Loravi

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has got a left eye injury perspectively. Some notes on the heat. Tyler

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Hero, who has that left ankle
injury, did not travel with the team

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for Wednesday's matchup with Toronto. His
return date still remains unclear, but he

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is approaching the end of his initial
timeline for return. Bam Adebayo with a

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hip injury and Haywood high Smith with
some back issues. They did not make

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the trip to Toronto either, and
finally, Drew Smith is done for this

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season after suffering a right acl injury. Did you see that injury? For

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Smith? It was the raised floor
thing, like so Cleveland has that rate.

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You know, there's a little step
down from the floor to the bench

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and he just landed wrong right on
that spot. It's like there's not clip

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that were going around and people were
trying to say that there was a hole

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in the floor. No, I
think the floor is just yeah, probably

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if it was going around recently.
It's just that the floors, like,

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you know, there's I don't know
what the distance is, but it's enough

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to where if you land on it
the wrong way you can end your season.

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Apparently, get rid of raised floors. What are you doing? For

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the Milwaukee Bucks, Pat Conninson has
now missed four games with a sprain right

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ankle and is not expected to return
until at least the end of the n

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season tournament. For the Timberwolves,
Chris Finch said he doesn't have a timeline

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for Jane McDaniel's return from his sprained
right hang, but he's hopeful j mack

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will be available at some point during
the Wolves' upcoming road trip, which begins

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on Friday, December eighth. And
Anthony Edwards returned to action on Wednesday,

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night, following that right hip injury
that caused him to miss two games for

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New Orleans. They put The Pelicans
announced last week that Larry Knince Junior had

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aggravated his right rib fracture, huge
bummer and is expected to miss approximately four

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00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,759
to six weeks. That's for ESPN's
Andrew Lopez. Better news which the Pelicans

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need on the injury front, generally
speaking, is Trey Murphy's back from his

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left knee injury. And I've already
entered, I don't know, one of

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the ten best dunks of the year, just this standard, high flying,

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cocked it back, awesome dunk.
So he looked good there. Matt Ryan

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is still listed as day to day
with the right calf strain, and he's

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been out with that injury since November
eighteenth. This is just an interesting quote

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from Quentin Grimes of the Knicks after
they were eliminated by the Bucks in the

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Nc's and Tournament, Via the New
York Post. Stepan Bondi quote, It's

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just hard when you go the whole
quarter without touching the ball, the whole

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second quarter without touching the ball,
and then when you get one shot,

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got to make it. So it's
tough going out there and just standing in

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the corner the whole game. Then
you got to make the shot. When

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you shoot the ball one or two
times per game. It is what it

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is. I saw people dragging him, and we might talk about the Knicks

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like in depth on this podcast after
in season tournament stuff. I think this

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is one. I think it's okay
to have those human moments where you're just

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frustrated and you're saying it's frustrated.
I will say part of this is on

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him, like he needs to be
more aggressive when he gets the ball and

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attacking his clothes outs. That's clear. However, since he's come back from

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injury, his touches are down,
and I don't I'm not trying to swing

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at the low hanging fruit. But
this is somewhat of a reoccurring issue with

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a certain head coach who is in
charge of the Knicks. When you look

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at Obi top and not being happy
with his role. I Q has gone

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through spurts. He has a pretty
big role with this team, and we've

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seen it in the past when he
was in Chicago and Minnesota as well.

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I just don't it's not a throwaway
comment, and I don't think Quentin Grime

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should be The Knicks will probably fix
it, because it does feel like this

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locker room is very together, that
being set by the way Tom Tible loves

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Quentin Grimes, like that's been made
a parent. So I think it's fine.

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I'm just just surprised that so many
people are like, well, stop

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fucking sucking. Then if you're gonna
say it's like no, like it goes

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beyond that, and I think it's
I don't think this is a I know

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some people like to have all the
semi dramatic stuff buttoned up buddy organization.

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Like when Obi Toppin like got into
a fight I think it was after the

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playoff game with like one of the
coaches that, like, people knew about

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that for a while and then it
trickled out. It's like, no,

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let it trickle out like this shit
happens. It's basketball. Quentin Grime is

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a young player. He's trying to
adapt to his role as frustrated with his

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role in how he's playing. I
didn't see an issue with this comment.

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I don't know if you did.
No, I I think I agree with

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you. Know, if he weren't
frustrated, there would be a bigger issue

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just because you want the guys to
want to contribute. I was gonna ask

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00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,120
you though, like, real quick, is he This sounds like the comment

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of someone who thinks he's capable of
doing like quite a bit more than be

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00:14:54,399 --> 00:14:58,600
a catch and shoot guy and defend
on the other end, Like do you

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00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,639
feel convinced that it is the case
that he can do a lot more and

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00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,879
is justified and basically saying I want
to, you know, because this is

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00:15:05,879 --> 00:15:07,559
what this is, right, I
want not just more touches, but like

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00:15:07,679 --> 00:15:11,639
I want to do more than stand
around. Do you think he's justified in

248
00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:13,600
wanting that based on his game.
I don't know that I would ever have

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00:15:13,639 --> 00:15:16,360
said this, but it's just so
ingrained in my mind after watching so much

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00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,759
of this team and thinking about them. He can do what Herb Jones is

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00:15:20,799 --> 00:15:22,360
doing on offense this year with a
better three point stroke. Wh It's like

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00:15:22,399 --> 00:15:26,720
Herber is cutting keeping the ball moving. It's not super complicated passes. You

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could put the ball in his hands. I do think though, when you're

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looking at the primary ball handlers Julius
Randall, RJ. Barrett, Jalen bruns

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In like they could do more to
get him the ball. But when he

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00:15:35,639 --> 00:15:39,879
gets the ball, he needs to
shoot it or actually attack, and so

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it's kind of like everybody's fault,
it feels like, but the knicks are

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just also so damn deep that it's
really it's that it's kind of really tough.

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You know, you're not your role
could be a little bit bigger than

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00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,679
it is now, but how much
bigger could it realistically get while Jalen Brunson,

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Julius Randall, Emanual Quickly, Josh
Hart, Dante DiVincenzo, all these

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00:15:58,679 --> 00:16:02,279
guys are still there. Yeah,
you know, it occurs to me we're

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00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,759
already blowing it at going going short
here, but segment now, well you

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sort of are. I was just
gonna say it, you know, watching

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and I'm just gonna step on other
stuff we're going to talk about. Watching

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Tyrese Haliburton play. Recently, it
occurred to me that like guys like Grimes

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that are somewhat limp. You know
you've just said, and I agree with

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you, you can do a little
bit more. But like limited guys,

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the difference for them between a lead
ball handler who is thinking past first and

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a lead ball handler who's thinking shoot
first is like night and day. Because

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like someone like Halliburton will like he'll
come across half court thinking like I gotta

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pass Quentin Grimes open, like if
they're on the same team hypothetically, like

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I have to find a shot for
him. Whereas, like I think Randall,

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the three guys you mentioned, Randall, Barrett, Brunson are all thinking,

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you know, you can toggle the
sliders a little bit one way or

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the other. But they're all like
shoot first players, right like when the

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00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:56,120
post is to not but he's still
that yeah, but he's like, you

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00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,879
know, the best use of Brunson
is like getting into the upper pain,

279
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,919
like figuring out how to score,
Like that's that's option one for him.

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And Randall and Barrett I think are
probably skewing more shoot first. So like

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it was like I would like r
J to stop shooting period at the moment.

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Man, he's been one of the
NBA's wild most wild roller coaster founding.

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I would say he's a confounding player
every year. It's just something different.

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That's the word r J. Confounding
Barrett like that is the word to

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00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,160
describe him. All Right, I'm
gonna get us onto the Orlando Magic.

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00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:30,160
Markel Foltz leftknee issue Wende Carter Junior
that left hand uh slash wristed. That

287
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,400
was a hand injury, and Jonathan
Isaac left ankle. Are all out?

288
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,400
We're all out against the Cavs on
Wednesday. That was a ten point lost

289
00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,079
for Orlando. I think I watched
the first half fight though. I actually

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00:17:40,079 --> 00:17:41,640
I was watching that game. That's
the only game I've watched all season of

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00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,319
the NBA, and they did.
They put up a real fight. But

292
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,440
so weird that I watched it too. What are the odds that were both

293
00:17:48,559 --> 00:17:52,640
both? What were the other game
we both it was? Was it Thunder

294
00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:56,839
Thunder Thunder Timberwolves. Yeah, yeah, we're just and we didn't plan it

295
00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,920
just right in sync. It's like
we watched more than one game of year.

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00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,480
I don't know. We'll speak for
yourself. The Sixers. So after

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00:18:03,559 --> 00:18:07,440
suffering a fracture rib and a hit
and run that causing tomasson eleven games,

298
00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:11,039
Caliubre Junior rejoined the rotation on Wednesday. That is great news. Good good

299
00:18:11,079 --> 00:18:15,400
to have him back for the For
the Phoenix Suns, Damian Lee underwent a

300
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,480
successful procedure to repair his right meniscus. He's gonna be out indefinitely, according

301
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:23,839
to Gerald Borges of Phoenix Gophoenix dot
com. Do you cared up data from

302
00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,599
biler? You want to let that
go? Not very good when there's a

303
00:18:27,599 --> 00:18:32,119
second bullet point under a bold header. Bradley Beal went through shoot around on

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00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:34,240
Tuesday and the Sons are hopeful he
can play sometime next week. According to

305
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:40,279
Sham's uh, he's been in has
appeared in three games this season. Yeah,

306
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,519
that's uh. It's not going great. Their contract's looking a little worse.

307
00:18:44,839 --> 00:18:48,240
Yeah, I mean yeah, And
I don't know him coming back.

308
00:18:48,279 --> 00:18:52,160
I think the solution is just Devin
Booker exists, and you look, even

309
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,279
when he has like some of his
bad nights, like you know, the

310
00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:57,319
the fact that they are in the
one percent tile of turnover percentage when he's

311
00:18:57,319 --> 00:19:00,599
on the court. Yeah, I
don't know if I think Bradleybeale coming back

312
00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,759
helps a little bit, but that's
something to monitor with this team for sure,

313
00:19:03,759 --> 00:19:07,880
in addition to their health as those
turnovers the Blazers and Fony Simons,

314
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,960
who has appeared in just one game
before he required right thumb surgery, has

315
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,200
been upgraded to questionable on the Blazer's
injury report. I wrote Phoenix for some

316
00:19:17,279 --> 00:19:19,720
reason, deandret and missed Wednesday's game
with right kniece horness. It's not clear

317
00:19:19,759 --> 00:19:22,559
how much, if any, additional
time he'll miss. And finally, Jeremy

318
00:19:22,559 --> 00:19:26,960
Grant entered concussion protocol after December second
loss to the Jazz and remained out of

319
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:32,119
the lineup as of Wednesday for the
Sacramento Kings. Keigan Murray has had kind

320
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,000
of an on again, off again
back injury. He missed four games,

321
00:19:34,079 --> 00:19:37,599
came back for two, and then
aggravated against the Pelicans in the n Season

322
00:19:37,599 --> 00:19:41,559
Tournament quarterfinals. He was out Wednesday
and is listed as day to day moving

323
00:19:41,599 --> 00:19:45,440
forward. Yeah, Like he's just
such a swing piece for them. It

324
00:19:45,799 --> 00:19:48,559
sucks, you know. Of course
injuries. We're going to get the Kings

325
00:19:48,559 --> 00:19:52,559
this year because everybody had to talk
about it and we were among them.

326
00:19:52,559 --> 00:19:55,440
But he's so critical to them.
He's got to get on the floor and

327
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,000
stay there so they can figure out
what's going on. Is this a safe

328
00:19:59,039 --> 00:20:00,880
space for me to admit that.
Whenever I see IST, and I know

329
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,160
I was the one that wrote this, I've tried not to write it.

330
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,920
It sounds like some sort of CD
organization or looks like it. When you

331
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:12,200
see IST, I think of it
as like a medical condition. Do you

332
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:18,960
have do you suffer from ist?
Talk to your doctor about. Uh.

333
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:23,720
The Spurs no injury notes, but
they Jeremy Sohan came off the bench on

334
00:20:23,799 --> 00:20:27,400
Wednesday, but so did Trey Jones. The Spurs guarded be Zat Collins,

335
00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,920
Jeddy Osmond, Keldon Johnson, and
Devin Vessel. I did not watch that

336
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,039
game against the tip Wolves. I
don't know what Pop is doing. I'm

337
00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:38,079
kind of just I'm kind of just
here for the perennial fuck used from him

338
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:44,839
this year where so, but that, I mean actively bizarre. That's going

339
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,319
full suns. Basically, they're like, yeah, Devin Vessel, Devin Booker,

340
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:49,640
same name, not a point guard. You can play point guard?

341
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:53,880
So wait, that's okay. Keldon
is the three. I was like,

342
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,880
is Kelton Johnson the two? That's
a bonkers lineup? Uh. I mean

343
00:20:59,559 --> 00:21:02,160
again, I didn't watch, but
at that point it's kind of like,

344
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:07,319
maybe is web and Yama up next? Did they do that? They lost

345
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,599
only by eight? Though? All
right, well I'm gonna have to like

346
00:21:10,759 --> 00:21:12,920
that. You want to know who
led them in? Assists? Uh?

347
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:19,440
Wemby Jetty Osmond with six? Oh
look all right, if you touch as

348
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,920
Larry Markinen has now missed six games, including Wednesdays, with the left hamstring

349
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,960
soreness. Unclear when he's going to
be back. Kelly o Linik missed his

350
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,839
second straight game with the right shoulder
strain on Wednesday. Finally, the Wizards

351
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,000
Landry Shamman is dealing with a neck
injury and miss Wednesday's game against the Sixers.

352
00:21:34,039 --> 00:21:37,480
That does it for news and notes. It only took us like fifteen

353
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,880
minutes. I'll take it. Oh
yeah, with like some pretty egregious digressions

354
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:48,759
too, so not bad. Uh
So let's talk in season, tournament and

355
00:21:48,039 --> 00:21:51,640
big picture. What if just your
been your you know, we can get

356
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:52,519
in some of the matchups that are
to to come. I don't know if

357
00:21:52,519 --> 00:21:56,759
we don't nessary we want to spend
a lot of time rehashing how the Suns

358
00:21:56,759 --> 00:21:59,519
look like? That happened? Yeah, uh, definitely talk. We can

359
00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:02,519
talk about them that are come.
But what have you thought about the Ncason

360
00:22:02,559 --> 00:22:03,960
tournament in general? What stood out
to you? Do you like it?

361
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,759
Do you not like it? Concerns, thoughts, complaints, ecstaticness, what

362
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:11,720
have you? Yeah? I mean, I guess I run. I don't

363
00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,160
know if you run into this a
lot, but I definitely do where I'm

364
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,000
gonna give you my take now,
right. I haven't like said this anywhere

365
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,799
else, but it's just gonna be
some version of one I'm sure you've already

366
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:23,119
heard, you know, like just
because we're in the take silo like all

367
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,559
the time and we just are confronted
with it. But like I kind of

368
00:22:26,559 --> 00:22:30,799
love it. Like I don't understand. I don't I don't know what to

369
00:22:30,839 --> 00:22:33,440
complain about if like, if you're
what's the knit to pick, Like,

370
00:22:33,799 --> 00:22:37,559
I don't know even the stuff that
people are complaining about with the margin of

371
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,279
victory matters too much, And like
I just don't agree that I love that.

372
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,200
Yeah, I just I think it's
great. Like play it till the

373
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,960
game's over and try not to get
smoked. Like it's not that different than

374
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,680
than how you play any other game. So like there's fixes for that.

375
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,200
The best one I heard was just
play it by who wins the most quarters,

376
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:57,839
Like that should be the tie breaker, yeah, because it does get

377
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,200
weird when you're looking at margin of
victory when they're tie breakers outside of your

378
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,759
group. Sure, yeah, you
might have to go down the tiebreaker,

379
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,359
you know, tree a few branches
if with something like that, but like

380
00:23:11,519 --> 00:23:12,440
throw that in there, see if
it helps. Just help, Let's have

381
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:17,000
more in season tournament games. Maybe
you wanted to last longer, Like that

382
00:23:17,079 --> 00:23:21,680
scene from basketball. You ever see
basketball where they're describing the playoffs and it's

383
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,599
like in eleven year process. Yeah, just make it. Hey, you

384
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,720
know what what if? What if
the whole season was the in season tournament

385
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,880
and then at the end of it
you got a big trophy if you were

386
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,640
the best team. Oh? Has
anybody thought of that yet? Like just

387
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,799
more? Uh? No, I
think I think it's really great. Like

388
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:45,759
I I got a text from somebody. I was driving home and I hadn't

389
00:23:45,759 --> 00:23:49,799
watched it. I was gonna watch
it later of Indie. Who the hell

390
00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:53,920
did they even play? Oh?
Boston, Boston? Uh? And it

391
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,680
was from someone that like doesn't text
me that regularly about games, and he's

392
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,759
like, are you watching this?
And so I was like, no,

393
00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:03,359
but I'm intrigued. And then I
got home and the first half was the

394
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,400
total dud And the second half was
my favorite half of basketball I've watched this

395
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,720
season, just because of like how
into it everybody was. The crowd in

396
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,000
Indiana was insane, which it was
like you the announcers I think were saying

397
00:24:15,039 --> 00:24:17,920
it with a playoff crowd is like, no, this is like a Game

398
00:24:18,039 --> 00:24:21,440
seven crowd. It was. It
was that loud. I thought it came

399
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,920
through on the broadcast and just like
the pacers wanted it so bad and I

400
00:24:26,079 --> 00:24:33,319
just like I love that feeling.
You four maybe, but I just as

401
00:24:33,319 --> 00:24:36,359
a if you're asking, like what's
good about the product, it's that it's

402
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:41,119
it's like cause you don't it's it's
was December fifth or fourth, whatever,

403
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,240
Like find me a video from a
December fourth game that had like a fraction

404
00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:48,839
of that intensity and that like level
of play, like you just never will

405
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,720
so massive success on that front.
It's like it's made the games matter.

406
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,599
I cared about it, Like I'm
super interested in the rest of these games

407
00:24:56,599 --> 00:25:02,000
now because the the last round was
so intense and pockets just I think.

408
00:25:02,759 --> 00:25:04,759
Complain about the courts, I guess, but like, no, I don't

409
00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:08,519
really care most of the workers,
like there was something like the MAVs court.

410
00:25:08,519 --> 00:25:11,480
I guess they just quit using like
Okay, there's like a defect,

411
00:25:11,599 --> 00:25:15,000
yes workshop that one, but other
th like I don't the uniforms of the

412
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,279
courts it's all fine. The running
up the score, fine, if that's

413
00:25:18,319 --> 00:25:22,680
the cost of like having super competitive
games that are awesome to watch, like,

414
00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:25,839
sign me up, I will pay
that. Yeah. I loved most

415
00:25:25,839 --> 00:25:29,559
of the courts, the ones that
had too much red I get, but

416
00:25:29,599 --> 00:25:32,519
like the Pacers court, and they
were one of the few teams that actually

417
00:25:32,599 --> 00:25:37,119
I thought hit on their jerseys kind
of like the jerseys like the Lakers jerseys

418
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,759
or some of the biggest atrocities I've
ever seen on I was watching them last

419
00:25:41,839 --> 00:25:44,680
night and my daughter was like,
I kind of like the Lakers JERSEYSS Like

420
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:45,799
I kind of do too. I'm
gonna tell her you hate them now.

421
00:25:47,279 --> 00:25:49,440
Yeah. I've been like, uh, you're gonna be put up for adoption

422
00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:53,880
if you like. So. I
agree with everything you said, and I

423
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,880
think I don't. I don't want
to step on the toes of your point.

424
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,799
I just want to add to it. It's like, I think some

425
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,079
skeptics are starting to be turned and
some of the moments that I look at

426
00:26:03,079 --> 00:26:07,160
at sort of the flash bulb.
Okay, this is real. Look at

427
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,759
what Lebron James is doing. How
many minutes he's playing in these games?

428
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,440
Right? Kevin Durant I don't know
if you saw what he said after the

429
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:15,920
loss where he said, you know, I was a skeptic, but I

430
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,160
really loved it the intensity he's got, like turning Kevin Durant, who's just

431
00:26:21,319 --> 00:26:25,119
like an inherent skeptic of anything,
which is fine. I think that's that's

432
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,759
a good way to be that spectacular. And then it was this might just

433
00:26:27,799 --> 00:26:32,000
be how he's wired. And I
know he hasn't necessarily played it like the

434
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,200
in a bunch of these winning situations
throughout his basketball career, Like before the

435
00:26:36,279 --> 00:26:41,079
NBA, Tyre's Aliburton calling Tuesday's game
the most important he's ever played in was

436
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:42,839
fucking cool. Yeah, Like that
was cool, And you know what I

437
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:48,559
also enjoyed. I normally don't like
when fans because this isn't the NFL.

438
00:26:48,759 --> 00:26:52,440
There's there's a whole there's a whole
thing to get into about why the NFL

439
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,480
is so popular. Part of it
is scarcely of product, and I would

440
00:26:55,559 --> 00:26:59,720
argue a lion's share of it.
It's every there's seventeen games now, every

441
00:26:59,799 --> 00:27:02,759
single game counts for more than five
percent of your season. I can't get

442
00:27:03,079 --> 00:27:06,119
up in arms when a team has
a bad game in the middle of December,

443
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:07,799
because it counts for so little of
their season. That is the inherent

444
00:27:07,839 --> 00:27:11,400
problem the NBA is up against because
they don't want fewer games, because they

445
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,000
want the gate revenue and all the
other money and the you know, the

446
00:27:14,079 --> 00:27:17,000
live the regional net not the regional
networks. You're kind of dying right now,

447
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:22,039
the rights that go with it.
Oh my god, where is I

448
00:27:22,079 --> 00:27:25,400
going with scarcity? Scarcity, They're
never going to start in the season.

449
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,880
So this is what this is the
workaround, right and so it's but so

450
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,720
to that end, and this was
getting nick Fans were so mad about what

451
00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:36,440
happened to Milwaukee. It wasn't just
oh, the buckshot two trillion percent from

452
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,680
three, let's just move on.
It was well, like, is it

453
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,559
time to trade Mitchell Robinson because he
had his first get bad game of the

454
00:27:41,599 --> 00:27:45,880
season, and that there's a level
of tossicity in that. But I like

455
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:51,519
that fans we're so invested in the
outcome of something like that that their brain

456
00:27:51,559 --> 00:27:53,799
immediately goes through, well, how
do we fix what went wrong? I

457
00:27:53,839 --> 00:27:57,400
love that, and I at least
love that train of thought. Not necessarily

458
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:03,480
let's trade everybody. And you know, I think for fan bases of teams

459
00:28:03,519 --> 00:28:07,720
that are just not casslock bold text
italics contenders. This stuff is even bet

460
00:28:07,799 --> 00:28:11,240
like Pacers fans have to be enjoying
this and Knicks fans where it's like,

461
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,039
you know your team is good.
There's a lot of idols that say this

462
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:18,000
could be a fifty win team.
They're not a title team as currently constructed,

463
00:28:18,039 --> 00:28:19,400
and so to know that, but
then to still see like we can

464
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:26,519
techically win this because of the elimination
element of it all, and that injects

465
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,440
a scarcity of product into it.
Because one, you just talked about extending

466
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,839
the tournament by eighty games, but
it is kind of short. It was

467
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,559
basically a month. It's gonna be
over, and so it's happening so quickly,

468
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:41,160
and every game within the mid season
or the D season tournament bubble,

469
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,079
so to speak, it means so
much because there's only so few of them.

470
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,359
I think it's been a rousing success. I don't think people who are

471
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,720
open minded to it. We were
open minded to it, but we're not

472
00:28:52,759 --> 00:28:55,599
taking victory laps. I've seen a
lot of I told you so is it's

473
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,599
year one, Like people were taking
victory laps. Remember when they did the

474
00:28:57,599 --> 00:29:00,640
elam ending during that All Star Game
for the first time, I was like,

475
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,359
yeah, we knew it was going
to be great, and then that

476
00:29:03,519 --> 00:29:07,039
not like fuck this, So we
have to wait and see how it builds

477
00:29:07,079 --> 00:29:11,640
from here. But I think the
harbingers so far are super encouraging and just

478
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,359
I actually expect next year to be
better because it felt like now that teams

479
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,839
understand the tie breakers, like the
margin of victory stuff is going to matter

480
00:29:18,839 --> 00:29:22,440
in earlier games where it feels like
teams kind of just weren't thinking about that

481
00:29:22,559 --> 00:29:26,839
to begin with. Yeah, you
know what, as you were talking you

482
00:29:26,839 --> 00:29:30,319
you sort of hit on. I
think like the key thing, the key

483
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,359
behind all of this, like why
it's working is like you want to drive

484
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,200
fan interest, right That is that
is really ultimately the goal of the Ncason

485
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,799
Tournament. That's the NBA is a
product, is trying to get eyeballs.

486
00:29:41,839 --> 00:29:44,200
It's trying to be more popular,
right, Like, so how do we

487
00:29:44,279 --> 00:29:48,079
do that? There's one answer,
and it's not Comparing yourself to Henry Kissinger

488
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,200
is a good start. Don't do
that. Don't do that. That's a

489
00:29:51,279 --> 00:29:57,880
don't do do. Make it so
that the teams, like players and organizations

490
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,759
care more right, and that was
always gonna be the question, like is

491
00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:04,559
it the five hundred grand that matters? Is it what? Whatever? The

492
00:30:04,559 --> 00:30:08,960
cocktail is, like, it's working
for every kind of team, because the

493
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,039
Pacers are one side of this where
it's like they're not a title team.

494
00:30:12,519 --> 00:30:15,160
They might win this thing and that
might make this season a right. I

495
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,240
mean, the season's gonna be successful
no matter what because of what Haliburton's done

496
00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:22,319
and just the trajectory of the team. But they're not. They're not like

497
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:26,359
a win you know, two plus
rounds in the playoffs team that proved me

498
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,200
wrong. I would be awesome to
if they did that. But they're not.

499
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,759
I'm sorry as far if they're defense
unless it is like what it was

500
00:30:32,759 --> 00:30:34,119
against Boston in the second half.
They're not winning a playoffs. No,

501
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,200
they're not. They're not. I
was trying to oversell it because it's so

502
00:30:37,359 --> 00:30:41,359
high on the Pacers that last down
voted Pacers fans head over to Apple give

503
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,200
us the one star rate. But
that's the easy side, right, like

504
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,440
teams that aren't going to contend for
the title. The harder one is like

505
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,960
how do we make Boston, Milwaukee, you know whoever? Like you know,

506
00:30:52,079 --> 00:30:55,759
whether they advanced or not. The
way you make them care is you're

507
00:30:55,799 --> 00:30:59,599
saying, like this is you want
to know why do we say playoff games

508
00:30:59,599 --> 00:31:02,799
matter more? It's because, like
that's when you figure out like where your

509
00:31:02,799 --> 00:31:07,200
real strengths and where your real weaknesses
are because you're being tested against better competition

510
00:31:07,279 --> 00:31:10,359
that's fully engaged in really trying to
win, which you just don't have in

511
00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:14,799
October, November, December, whatever. So these games are giving really good

512
00:31:14,839 --> 00:31:18,640
teams like a decent look way earlier
than they otherwise would get it at,

513
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,119
Like, how do we hold up
in a max effort environment that feels much

514
00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:25,519
more like a playoff game than anything
else we're we're going to get to.

515
00:31:25,599 --> 00:31:30,200
So, like I think just the
by virtue of playing against teams like Indiana

516
00:31:30,279 --> 00:31:33,960
that are like, let's go for
it, it's valuable to really good teams

517
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,119
too. And that's I think a
critical thing because you don't necessarily just want

518
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,279
like the Hornets and the Wizards or
whatever to win the nd season tournament all

519
00:31:41,319 --> 00:31:44,799
the time because they care. You
want some really good like title threats to

520
00:31:44,839 --> 00:31:48,640
maybe meet in the finals of it
at some point, just because they're interested

521
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,519
in sort of seeing where they're at
I think that's so you've gotten every kind

522
00:31:52,519 --> 00:31:55,680
of team to care. So it's
like massive success by the NBA on that

523
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:57,599
front. And I saw someone make
this point. I can't remember who it

524
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:02,079
was. So I apologize that the
older teams or players might be more invested

525
00:32:02,119 --> 00:32:05,680
in it because they are fresher at
the beginning of the season, so it's

526
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,240
easier for them to ramp. But
like Lebron, for example, it's easy

527
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:12,640
for him to do this in December
than it is in May and June theoretically,

528
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,240
and so that's a home run.
I do have one complaint. There's

529
00:32:15,519 --> 00:32:21,920
other complaints, but what is the
deal with the five pm Eastern times start

530
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:27,920
on Thursday for the Pacers Bucks game. I don't I understand that you don't

531
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,519
want to go up against Thursday night
football and you already have a game that

532
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,039
is in the Pelicans and Lakers,
but it's the Lakers, so maybe you're

533
00:32:34,039 --> 00:32:37,000
okay with it. I don't if
I haven't seen anything that this have to

534
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:42,559
do specifically with. I don't know, like that we know the arena was

535
00:32:42,599 --> 00:32:45,039
going to be available, like this
is always where the location was going to

536
00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:47,359
be was in Vegas, and and
so I'm just like that's two pm on

537
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,599
the West coast. People are at
work, so it's starting at three o'clock

538
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,400
on a Thursday in Vegas or two
on the Eastern time, so it's starting

539
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,960
at two pm. That's so weird. It's weird, and it's sort of

540
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,759
like, you know, you know, for I'll use the Pacers. Gianni

541
00:33:02,119 --> 00:33:05,480
is a known to bucks are No. They've won a title within the past

542
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,200
half decade. This is for a
lot of people, and some people will

543
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,640
view this as an insult. It's
not. I think being a casual fan

544
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,640
of the NBA is fine. The
term casual just gets thrown around like it's

545
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:19,759
an insult. This is a lot
of people's first real exposure to these Pacers

546
00:33:19,759 --> 00:33:22,200
because they're on national TV. I
found out when I went on setting the

547
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,160
pace. I didn't know they only
had one national televised game all year.

548
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,599
I just don't really pay attention to
that stuff. Yeah, as much when

549
00:33:27,599 --> 00:33:30,079
you're covering the entire league. So
now they're getting they got another one,

550
00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:34,000
and now they're gonna get another one. You're kind of missing an opportunity to

551
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,400
market teams and different players rather than
just the same players. That has probably

552
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:44,920
contributed to this culture where I don't
really relate to it because I grew up

553
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,200
in a different era, and I'm
sure you don't relate to it either,

554
00:33:46,599 --> 00:33:52,960
But among the younger generation, they
root for the players more than teams.

555
00:33:52,039 --> 00:33:57,920
I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong
with that, but it's like it is

556
00:33:58,039 --> 00:34:00,119
weird, like you want to have
the allegiance to a team so that you

557
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:05,480
can get to a point where,
hey, Pacers Bucks is this massive and

558
00:34:05,519 --> 00:34:07,840
it should be because Johannis and Tyre's
Haliburton exists, but like we shouldn't be,

559
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,760
you know, there tends to be
this huge focus on the same players,

560
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,679
and it's like Lebron and Steph and
Kevin Durant, like these guys are

561
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,039
going to age out. It's Lebron
doesn't look like it, but it's going

562
00:34:17,079 --> 00:34:22,559
to happen. And so I just
find that start time incredibly. But if

563
00:34:22,559 --> 00:34:24,679
it was a weekend, okay,
sure, but it's not. It's a

564
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,159
Thursday. There's no holiday like coming
up where a lot of people would be

565
00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:34,199
be off. And so I found
that to be a minor to major myth

566
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,880
like and I'm specifically looking at it
through the lens of get as many people

567
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,480
to get eyeballs on Tyre's Haliburton and
the Pacers as possible, because even if

568
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,000
they're not considered elite, they are. I mean, between them, the

569
00:34:45,079 --> 00:34:46,639
Kings, I think even the Pelicans
at point, there's the Nuggets of course,

570
00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:51,039
like those are the most entertaining teams
objectively to watch this season. The

571
00:34:51,079 --> 00:34:52,320
Pacers are up there is what I
mean. Oh yeah, well, and

572
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,320
that game is gonna there's gonna be
three hundred points scored in that game or

573
00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:00,679
something ridiculous, just because the transition
defense that game is gonna be not just

574
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:02,800
I mean, are the Bucks still
the worst transition defense in the league if

575
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:07,280
they're not there twenty ninth? I
mean so, and if there's it might

576
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,360
be because Indiana is right, So
it's gonna be a dunk fest. It's

577
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:15,079
gonna be awesome, Like the potential
for like get that game on primetime.

578
00:35:15,079 --> 00:35:17,239
If you want to convert or like
build new NBA fans, show them a

579
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:22,679
game where you know it's like one
forty five to one forty four in regulation.

580
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,000
So do you want let's this is
going to be dated to we want

581
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,119
to make this quick because they're like
I want to go back and forth maybe

582
00:35:28,159 --> 00:35:31,199
one thing we're watching for from each
teams in these in these in these is

583
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,880
t matchups. Yeah, well,
I mean we may as well just transition

584
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,840
into the Bucks Pacers. That That
is what I'm looking at, is like

585
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:43,800
who's going to stop anybody? And
and probably the answer to that is Milwaukee

586
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,320
will. But I don't know like
that that defense has been really bad and

587
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:52,719
it it has looked really bad consistently. So uh I I was, I

588
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,360
was doing some prep for this.
Uh I'd like my notes were like,

589
00:35:55,519 --> 00:36:00,039
you know, Bucks are are I
assume Yannis is gonna go twenty of twenty

590
00:36:00,039 --> 00:36:05,079
five at the rim just because the
Pacers just you can get whatever you want

591
00:36:05,119 --> 00:36:07,800
there. And I was looking at, well, what happened last time?

592
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:13,119
He was nineteen of twenty five from
the field for fifty four points in that

593
00:36:13,159 --> 00:36:15,920
one twenty six one twenty four loss
earlier this year, So like I was

594
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,480
trying to come up with an absurd
Giannis stat line and it was just barely

595
00:36:20,679 --> 00:36:23,679
too absurd because he almost did it
so lots of points. Also, Dame

596
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:29,000
didn't play in that in that meeting
earlier this year, so that'll change things.

597
00:36:29,159 --> 00:36:31,440
I mean, one the offense will
be even better, but the defense

598
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,480
probably will be worse. So just
lots of points there. I assume Milwaukee

599
00:36:35,559 --> 00:36:37,840
wins that, don't you they would
be my pick because they have I know,

600
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,840
you're you see me more concerned about
their defense than I am. But

601
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,519
like you go through their most used
lineups and their seven most used lineups or

602
00:36:45,559 --> 00:36:47,840
whatever have decided the above average defenses. And so it's like, Okay,

603
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:51,320
I know we're dealing with small samples
here, and there are injuries like the

604
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,760
pat commentson right now, what about
their seven most used combinations? Yeah?

605
00:36:54,079 --> 00:36:58,079
Point, so, oh go ahead. No, I was just gonna say

606
00:36:58,079 --> 00:37:00,280
it's hard. You're like, I'm
I know. I it's like I've been

607
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,400
just a little more skeptical of the
Bucks than you all year and all the

608
00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,599
You're like, you have all the
statistical underpinning for your case and I just

609
00:37:07,599 --> 00:37:12,199
have, like God, Yannis and
brook Lopez just don't get back anymore.

610
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:19,119
Like that stuff is weird. NA
seems like he's like striking a pose on

611
00:37:19,199 --> 00:37:22,719
his misses. It doesn't make any
sense. Yeah, so that I just

612
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:27,079
keep bumping on that because the the
eye test, you know, you will

613
00:37:27,079 --> 00:37:29,760
take the numbers over the eye test, you know, seven days out of

614
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,880
the week. But like the eye
test is so bad sometimes I just can't

615
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,480
get it out of my brain.
So but I'm picking the Bucks to win

616
00:37:35,519 --> 00:37:37,159
that anyway. So the two things
that I'll be won from e So I

617
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:40,159
basically is could we just get more
of the Giannis and Dame pick and roll

618
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:45,840
They ran a few times against the
Knicks and it was just absolutely annihilatory and

619
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:50,239
it will be annihilatory against every other
team. But the Knicks are uniquely ill

620
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,639
equipped to guard teams that have like
these stretch bigs. And then there are

621
00:37:54,679 --> 00:37:59,960
secondary actions that don't there are actions
that don't involve those stretch bigs. Yeah,

622
00:38:00,119 --> 00:38:02,519
we've seen it against I think Boston, they've played them. Like.

623
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,800
I think Boston and Milwaukee might be
the single Towo Wurst matchups for them in

624
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:09,800
the Eastern Conference, and maybe even
the Pacers might get up there because the

625
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,320
speed at which they play not much. They stretch the floor, but their

626
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,280
defense is so bad and I mean
they clearly have another level. Do it

627
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,800
more? Is this on Adrian Griffin? Is it just Oh, we want

628
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:22,760
to spread it out and make sure
we do Middleton and Yannis and we want

629
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,920
to have you know, Brolo and
Dame, and I'm sure all those combinations

630
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,639
are are fine. I mean,
we know Middleton and Yannis is good.

631
00:38:29,639 --> 00:38:31,440
I assume Dame and brook Lopez the
numbers on that are great, and I

632
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,519
believe that is their most used pick
and roll combination. Michael Pena of The

633
00:38:35,599 --> 00:38:39,320
Ringer I think wrote that. But
like Gianni's and Damas or even just do

634
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:44,400
the inverse, then have Da Dame
screen more for Giannis. I just want

635
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,239
to see more of that, and
this should be the team to do it

636
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:51,800
against, because I don't know that
the stuff with y Look, Gianna's getting

637
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,000
to the rim. I want to
make it clear they'll be, They're gonna

638
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:58,119
score in droves. And the fact
that they have a defense that can theoretically

639
00:38:58,159 --> 00:39:00,199
stop the Pacers at least when Indiana's
and half court, although by the way,

640
00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:04,519
Indiana has the best half court defense
in the league. Like, if

641
00:39:04,559 --> 00:39:08,559
you're Milwaukee, you might just need
to keep pace with like a ridiculous number

642
00:39:08,599 --> 00:39:13,440
of three pointers attempted by the Pacers
and the Bucks. Yes, they're eight

643
00:39:13,519 --> 00:39:15,039
and three point attempt to eight nine
and three point percentage. I'm going to

644
00:39:15,039 --> 00:39:17,239
tell you right now that might not
be good enough. To get to an

645
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:22,039
outside shooting match with the Pacers,
and the Indiana does this the two things

646
00:39:22,039 --> 00:39:25,360
I'll be watching for them. They
really this is like by design. It's

647
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:30,039
not like they're funneling people towards Myles
Turner because he's so often not near the

648
00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:32,920
basket. It's we're just gonna give
up looks at the rim because those are

649
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:37,559
only worth two points. And that
shit feels like how they defend and they

650
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:39,840
play so small that I guess that's
what they do. I'm really just gonna

651
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:45,360
be watching to see are we gonna
get another like incredible Aaroni Smith performance?

652
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,400
Can he help them cob together enough
stops? And because I know this counts

653
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,760
towards the regular season because the stakes
are getting higher, do we kind of

654
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,840
see progressively less of Ben mcmathrin If
he isn't playing well, he's already been

655
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,400
moved to the bench. He has
these moments where it looks like, oh

656
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,519
he might pass, he's defending well, but it just it all hasn't come

657
00:40:01,559 --> 00:40:05,639
together on a consistent basis. Ironically, the last time it did, I

658
00:40:05,679 --> 00:40:08,599
think they were playing Milwaukee, So
there is that. But I'll be fascinating

659
00:40:08,639 --> 00:40:13,440
to see sort of how those wrinkles
play out. Yeah, I think I

660
00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,639
would echo that. I think just
in general, the matchups individually are going

661
00:40:16,679 --> 00:40:20,559
to be really interesting, just sort
of like where do you hide all these

662
00:40:20,599 --> 00:40:23,079
guys that need to be hidden,
you know, Like, so do we

663
00:40:23,199 --> 00:40:28,480
assume that Malik Beasley is gonna guard
Haliburton, for example, because it won't

664
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,119
be Dame? And then I don't
feel don't love that. Although Beasley,

665
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:37,239
I mean, been one of the
best signers this year that he's been in

666
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,280
a minute, he he, this
is the best I've ever seen him play,

667
00:40:40,639 --> 00:40:45,000
still like you got Haliburton, all
right, I mean, it's not

668
00:40:45,039 --> 00:40:47,800
gonna be Dame, not gonna be
Middleton. And then on the other like

669
00:40:49,079 --> 00:40:52,679
who's guarding Dame? I guess it's
like I mean, Nerd will probably get

670
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,320
around or Smith. We'll see a
lot of time, maybe they throw nem

671
00:40:55,360 --> 00:41:00,159
hard, maybe McConnell gets some minutes. It's gonna be an all hands on

672
00:41:00,199 --> 00:41:04,880
deck situation obviously. And then yeah, I just I would love to see.

673
00:41:05,079 --> 00:41:07,840
I'm interested to see what Indiana does, like scheme wise, to just

674
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:13,000
not give up, you know,
I'm not kidding, Like twenty yannis Field

675
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,079
goals in the restricted area like,
how do you prevent that? I want

676
00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:20,199
to see under on Yannis Field goals
made inside the restricted area eleven and a

677
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,199
half. I'd take the over.
I mean, just whatever his season high

678
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,079
is, I would say over that. I say, I'm saying, wow,

679
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,440
I don't actually know how many made
I know he leads the league,

680
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,760
but I think by like a mile
in points in the paint, But I

681
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,440
don't know how many like made shots
he's averaging like he's eleven and a half

682
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:39,000
considered low, I don't know.
I mean, I'm sure he has scored

683
00:41:39,159 --> 00:41:43,719
thirty points in the paint in a
game this year, so I mean that's

684
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:49,039
fifteen right there. Yeah, I
mean he's only averaging in general eleven point

685
00:41:49,079 --> 00:41:52,239
seven makes per game, and eleven
point three of those are Yeah, that

686
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:57,320
sounds about right that. Yeah,
they get over under by you, by

687
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,199
the way, by me, I
mean just okay, shoulder by patting myself

688
00:42:00,559 --> 00:42:04,599
on the back. Lakers, Pelicans, what are you thinking heading into that

689
00:42:04,639 --> 00:42:07,280
one? It's like opposite world.
It's just like these teams are both big.

690
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,880
They're both they both or can be
big. The Pelicans are a little

691
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:13,880
more malleable. Interestingly, now that
they've got so many of their guys back.

692
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:19,840
I think I'm looking mostly at like, is New Orleans gonna be able

693
00:42:20,159 --> 00:42:25,079
to run hot enough from deep to
sort of like I don't see. I

694
00:42:25,079 --> 00:42:30,280
don't see a scenario where it's likely
that the Pelicans are dominating inside just because

695
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:34,360
the Lakers can get so big and
so physical and like that's how they have

696
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,719
been most successful with this iteration of
the team. And then if they're not

697
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,159
gonna do that, And by the
way, Lakers have the number two defense

698
00:42:39,199 --> 00:42:42,719
in the league since like the middle
of November, so they're just like the

699
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,599
defense is really good, and so
I don't think the Pelicans can overpower.

700
00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:49,239
So then it's like, well,
is Trey Murphy gonna get you know,

701
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,760
is he gonna hit six threes?
Is Herb Jones gonna be left alone?

702
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:54,440
And can he hit two or three
of those if he's off the ball like

703
00:42:54,519 --> 00:42:58,360
that kind of that's how I would
see New Orleans winning. I'm actually,

704
00:42:58,599 --> 00:43:01,320
as you can tell, I'm kind
of leaning Lake. Uh just I don't

705
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:06,760
know, just just because I just
think if it's if it comes down to

706
00:43:07,519 --> 00:43:09,199
h this is a physical like defense, first game, there's the score is

707
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:13,000
probably gonna be lower. I just
like the Lakers more in that kind of

708
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,920
messy So I actually might like the
Pelicans more in this one, because I

709
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:22,199
think Sacramento ended up making New Orleans
uncomfortable enough with their smaller lineups, where

710
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,840
Zion just was not getting like real
fourth quarter minutes. And it was like

711
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:30,280
brandon Ingram show the Lakers could,
in theory do that. They're not going

712
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,360
to. They don't want to,
right, And so if you're gonna let

713
00:43:32,559 --> 00:43:36,719
I mean, do Zion, look
can he say? I mean, there's

714
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,480
just can he get to the paint
as readily? There are these games where

715
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:42,400
it feels like he can, but
for the most part, yes he can.

716
00:43:42,599 --> 00:43:46,400
And they've also kind of discovered the
numbers on the Zion. No other

717
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:52,480
big lineups but Tray Murphy's there.
They're so small they're a bit obliterating everybody.

718
00:43:52,519 --> 00:43:54,480
And so you can get to that
if you want. And that is

719
00:43:54,519 --> 00:43:58,719
a setup that could make the Lakers
uncomfortable, and you use the word with

720
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,320
the Pelicans, it's malleable there and
if you're gonna have brandon Ingram play like

721
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,880
he did against the Kings, and
there was even a lot more It felt

722
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:07,880
like, at least there was a
lot more two man stuff involved with brand

723
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:09,960
Ingram and Zion, and I don't
know if did that takes Zion out of

724
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:13,519
his elements. I feel like he
was screening a little bit more from brandon

725
00:44:13,639 --> 00:44:15,880
Ingram, which, by the way, is sort of free money where it's

726
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:20,440
oh okay, if he creates space, brandon Ingram can dribble into a pull

727
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,079
up from the mid range of actually
a pull up three, or like Zion

728
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:29,519
mp paging towards the basket is just
objectively terrifying. I like the Pelicans in

729
00:44:29,559 --> 00:44:34,960
this one more. And I think
just the talent that they have, they

730
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,039
can play a bunch of different styles, and they're gonna get more shooting out

731
00:44:38,079 --> 00:44:43,519
shooting in movement, off ball movement
out of their team than the Lakers probably

732
00:44:43,559 --> 00:44:46,960
will. Yeah, I think that's
probably right. I just I was thinking

733
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:50,880
about both of these teams the other
day, and it's like, I think

734
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:54,679
they kind of have similar problems where
in one specific sense, which is like

735
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:59,960
the Pelicans are super malleable. They
got like thirteen guys that I would feel

736
00:45:00,039 --> 00:45:01,960
good about having on the floor just
depending on the situation, but they kind

737
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,159
of have a lot of one way, like you know, herb Jones is

738
00:45:05,159 --> 00:45:07,920
getting closer to the middle, but
like Dyson, Daniel's out there for defense,

739
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:09,519
and like if Jordan Hawkins plays,
which he doesn't really anymore, he's

740
00:45:09,559 --> 00:45:14,360
out there to shoot. And you
know, valanciunisk is just not going to

741
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:16,119
space the floor. They don't have
anybody now that can switch as a center

742
00:45:16,159 --> 00:45:19,960
on defense with nance out, and
the Lakers kind of have that too,

743
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:21,920
where it's like, well, if
we got to guard a killer wing,

744
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:23,480
Vanderbilt's got to play, but he
can't shoot. And then if we really

745
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:25,880
need to go all offense, we
play Reeves and d Lo together, but

746
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:30,199
then we don't guard anybody. There's
just a lot of one way types on

747
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:34,920
both of these teams, and maybe
maybe like both in this in this is

748
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,960
t game, and you know,
big picture this season, the one that

749
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,719
has more success will be the one
that just sort of either figures out how

750
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:45,679
to get more two way guys around
their stars or pushes the right buttons,

751
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:47,599
you know, night tonight, with
all these different options they have, I

752
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:51,840
think I just trust the Pelicans floor
balance, I guess more than you do,

753
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:53,320
because I know it's not an absurd
volume. But like I do view

754
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:57,280
Yonis as someone who just spaces the
floor at this point. Yeah, I

755
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,599
only two attempts per game, but
he's at like thirty seven and a half

756
00:45:59,639 --> 00:46:02,920
percent or whatever it is, so
you're not gonna get me on yonis Trey

757
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:07,639
Murphy being back changes a lot like
that's that's I mean, we talked about

758
00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:09,480
it preseason, we talked about it
after he got hurt. He's just he's

759
00:46:09,559 --> 00:46:14,199
such a key piece of every like
of the best version of this team,

760
00:46:14,239 --> 00:46:16,039
like the best version of the Pelicans
does not exist without Trey Murphy on the

761
00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:21,679
floor. I don't think, Uh, did you have thoughts? Do you

762
00:46:21,719 --> 00:46:22,840
want to how do we want to
finish this? Do we want to get

763
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:25,079
into you guess a player or I
know you had some thoughts on the Hawks,

764
00:46:25,079 --> 00:46:29,519
who I assume you do not view
as one player away from a contender,

765
00:46:29,519 --> 00:46:30,880
which is something we'll be hitting soon, so I'd be game for talking

766
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:35,400
about them now. I was curious
if you had any unspoken Pelicans thoughts,

767
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,639
since I know you did a little
bit of prep on them. I'm just

768
00:46:37,679 --> 00:46:39,239
curious because I feel like you're always
you got a little better finger on the

769
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:44,840
pulse of neurons than I do.
It feels like the possibility there. I'm

770
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:47,639
gonna save them for that podcast because
I feel like we're invariable because you wouldn't

771
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:52,920
at least view them as a team
that is one player or development away from

772
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:55,440
title contention, right, Like,
Yeah, they're on my They're on my

773
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:59,119
long list at least, I don't
know how long the list. If I

774
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:04,679
referred teams they received consideration. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if

775
00:47:04,719 --> 00:47:07,400
we want to you want to do
the Hawks right now? Or do you

776
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:08,440
want to get into some guests.
I don't know. You asked me that,

777
00:47:08,679 --> 00:47:12,159
well, are the Hawks on your
this is nice little pee behind the

778
00:47:12,159 --> 00:47:15,800
curtain for We're Teething the podcast that's
dropping on Friday. Do you have the

779
00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:20,000
Hawks on your list as the one
player away team? No, I don't.

780
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:22,320
Let's talk about the Hawks then,
all right. I guess maybe the

781
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,920
reason there didn't make our my even
my long list for one player away is

782
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:30,760
because it seems like they're not one
player away. So they're kind of quietly

783
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:37,239
right around five hundred, which the
five hundred pace of last year, which

784
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:38,719
is not a great spot to be
in because they won four of six and

785
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:42,960
just have been worse Trey Young,
like Trey Young shooting poorly was kind of

786
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:47,159
the explanation for the underwhelming play for
much of the season. But he's trended

787
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:50,960
up. But he's thirty eight and
a half percent in one December game coming

788
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,079
into tonight, thirty seven point seven
percent from three in November. So I

789
00:47:54,079 --> 00:47:57,800
mean he just made like a quarter
of his threes in those October games,

790
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,559
so that dragged everything down. And
like his counting stats and all of his

791
00:48:00,639 --> 00:48:06,320
advanced metrics like BPM and you know, all the alphabet soups are like pretty

792
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:07,840
close to where he was last year. So it's no longer the case that

793
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:13,719
like you can explain away why the
Hawks are you know, kind of underwhelming

794
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:17,599
because Trey is shooting poorly and like
not unrelated there, I think, what

795
00:48:17,599 --> 00:48:21,559
are they number two in offense overall? So like the offense is back,

796
00:48:21,599 --> 00:48:24,239
it's the defense that's gotten worse,
twenty fifth after being twenty first statistically,

797
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:27,760
by the way, But and I
know this because I just wrote about it.

798
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:30,639
Jontay Murray's been one of the ten
most valuable one on one scores in

799
00:48:30,679 --> 00:48:36,039
the league, which is okay,
which is actually does tie into kind of

800
00:48:36,079 --> 00:48:39,679
like my one of my overarching thoughts
because Murray has been good and like good

801
00:48:39,679 --> 00:48:44,440
in ways that probably you would not
have expected, which is to say,

802
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,519
like offensively as an individual creator as
a shooter, he's been better than his

803
00:48:47,639 --> 00:48:52,000
San Antonio days, but he has
not been the defensive player he was for

804
00:48:52,039 --> 00:48:54,000
the Spurs. And the whole theory
of pairing him with Trey Young is,

805
00:48:54,199 --> 00:48:59,039
here's the guy we throw at the
other team's one or two and he's gonna

806
00:48:59,119 --> 00:49:00,559
kill him and he's gonna have two
and a half steals a game because he's

807
00:49:00,599 --> 00:49:05,760
a hawk off the ball to so
like that that just really hasn't been there.

808
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:08,519
So he's he's you could say,
like he's equally valuable Murray is,

809
00:49:08,559 --> 00:49:14,599
but like in such a different way
that it's less valuable to Atlanta maybe than

810
00:49:14,679 --> 00:49:17,079
you would want. Although like his
contracts still good, all that stuff whatever.

811
00:49:17,119 --> 00:49:22,119
The main overarching thing is, like, I think what worries me is

812
00:49:22,679 --> 00:49:28,239
we're pivoting now from well, Quinn
Snyder will fix it, Like, look

813
00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:30,719
at all the talent on this team. This was my thought going into the

814
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:32,000
season. I think I picked him
to win like in the high forties,

815
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:36,280
which is still not over. I
believe I'd have to check. I'm prett

816
00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:38,400
sure we both went over, but
not on that pace. Suffice to say,

817
00:49:38,599 --> 00:49:42,480
so we've gone from Snyder's gonna fix
it to some version of like he

818
00:49:42,519 --> 00:49:45,119
needs more so we need more time. It's gonna take some more time to

819
00:49:45,119 --> 00:49:49,280
figure this out. And I just
think that leaves me kind of cold.

820
00:49:49,519 --> 00:49:52,920
I think it's more just the personnel. I think the collect the group as

821
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:55,760
it is, Like Jalen Johnson's out
right now. He's incredibly important. He

822
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:00,639
does things like no none of their
other combo forwards can athletically as a passer,

823
00:50:01,159 --> 00:50:05,760
defensively, running the floor. He's
just he has elements that no one

824
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:08,920
else replicates on the roster. So
him being out is a problem. But

825
00:50:09,039 --> 00:50:13,719
I just think, you know,
DeAndre Hunter's been disappointing. Ogdanovic is great

826
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:15,440
when he plays, but he just
can't get through a season. It seems

827
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:22,119
like Young has settled into something less
than Oh, he's definitely capable of,

828
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:24,639
you know, being the best player
on on a conference finals team, which

829
00:50:24,679 --> 00:50:30,239
is always gonna seem wild that that
happened. So you know, we could

830
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:32,440
get into like what should they do? Or I guess I'm curious before if

831
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:37,280
we get to that, before it
like what do you do you feel the

832
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:42,719
same way about the Hawks where it's
like I kind of think it's not just

833
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:45,199
gonna be as simple as Snyder will
make them play differently and it'll be fine

834
00:50:45,199 --> 00:50:49,559
because you just maybe can't fix this
defense. I don't know. Yeah,

835
00:50:49,599 --> 00:50:52,159
And that was gonna be my fove
question to you is when I watch them

836
00:50:52,519 --> 00:50:58,000
or dig into them, I don't
know what they do good defense? Is

837
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:00,280
there anything they actually do well defensively? And I think some of the bigger

838
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:05,920
outliers are okay, they just they're
not grabbing like they're a terrible rebounding team,

839
00:51:06,079 --> 00:51:08,639
and that's you know they play.
I guess they're not super large,

840
00:51:08,639 --> 00:51:13,519
but they're not. They're not the
pacers, you know what They're not like

841
00:51:13,679 --> 00:51:16,320
they're they're power like Jalen Johnson is
power forward size and they have Click Cappella

842
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:21,239
and Yeko okung Wu up run and
they have there has always been a good

843
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:24,519
rebounder for a guard like historically,
so and then you start to dig into

844
00:51:24,599 --> 00:51:29,079
it's like, okay, well,
what should be their best started or their

845
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:31,199
their best five man unit? And
I know again, Jalen Johnson is out

846
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:36,840
right now has been really bad this
year, just below average offense a well

847
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:40,400
below average defense. You it's just
I watch them and I don't get a

848
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:44,440
sense of what you can understand what
they're doing. They can play a bunch

849
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:45,880
of different ways on offense. The
fact that they're this good on offense while

850
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:50,519
Trey Young has been relative to what
we expect Tree Young to be still an

851
00:51:50,519 --> 00:51:52,280
efficient. Defense is still react to
him, which is important. And they're

852
00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:55,719
having de Jontay Murray Jalen Johnson when
he's healthy, gives you just sort of

853
00:51:55,760 --> 00:52:00,280
a variable oop that you're working with. But and then like you have just

854
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:05,280
sort of like Sadik bay remains Microwavey
and I haven't been as disappointed on offense

855
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:07,239
with DeAndre Hunter as maybe you have
been. What do they do well on

856
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,480
defense? Though? And the thing
that I think stands out more than even

857
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:15,119
the rebounding for me is this is
a team and I'll liken it to the

858
00:52:15,199 --> 00:52:19,039
Kings. What they did really well
last year in this year is they get

859
00:52:19,119 --> 00:52:22,920
their defense set because they make a
lot of shots. Yea, the Hawks

860
00:52:22,599 --> 00:52:27,519
suck defensively after making a shot.
They're not great at getting back. If

861
00:52:27,559 --> 00:52:30,639
you watch them, like teams can
run on them or at least get them

862
00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:32,960
in semi transition or before they're fully
set, whatever you want to call it.

863
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:37,280
And the personnel on this roster,
Clint Capela's getting older. Okay,

864
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:44,440
you have Jalen Johnson and you have
DeAndre Hunter, and I like you want

865
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:45,559
to throw Murray in there. You
could expect them to be better. Where

866
00:52:45,639 --> 00:52:49,960
how are you building out a much
better defense with what you have? And

867
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:53,480
this leads into Okay, there's clearly
the Pascal Siakam interest, and I do

868
00:52:53,559 --> 00:52:59,039
think he's an intriguing fit. But
then you start to dig into what's going

869
00:52:59,079 --> 00:53:04,079
out, what they actually need,
and it's twofold because it's okay, can

870
00:53:04,119 --> 00:53:07,079
Pascal Siakam fit? Are they using
him as the five? Like? You

871
00:53:07,119 --> 00:53:09,440
don't want him playing with Capella?
Might just be matching salary in that,

872
00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:13,719
but do you want him playing with
the congoo Jalen Johnson? Does Jalen Johnson

873
00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:16,400
need to be in the Jalen Johnson
was making enough his threes that Sakam Jalen

874
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:20,679
Johnson would intrigue me. Do you
have to give up Jalen Johnson to get

875
00:53:20,679 --> 00:53:23,719
Siakam at this point? In addition
to picks And if I'm Toronto, I'm

876
00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:29,039
definitely asking. And he's also not
someone who's gonna come in and fix the

877
00:53:29,079 --> 00:53:34,079
rebounding problems, fix all the rim
protect like they're like they're getting obliterated at

878
00:53:34,079 --> 00:53:37,159
the rim. They've gotten a little
bit unlucky with opponent three point shooting,

879
00:53:37,159 --> 00:53:38,559
but they allow a bunch of looks
at the rim, they allow a bunch

880
00:53:38,559 --> 00:53:42,760
of threes. Is not going to
come in and fix that, it feels

881
00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:45,719
like, And I don't even think
this player fixes it. And I know

882
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:49,079
we mentioned him with a lot of
teams like they need Ognobi, they need

883
00:53:49,079 --> 00:53:52,039
the wing stop or I think to
supremely elevate them. And so now I'm

884
00:53:52,039 --> 00:53:59,920
getting in my mind where it's that
to me, dictates a fundamental shakeup in

885
00:54:00,079 --> 00:54:05,119
this team. It's probably got to
be Murray like that, right, well,

886
00:54:05,559 --> 00:54:10,320
okay, what about Trey' I don't
need to give up Tray to get

887
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:14,679
Anonobi. No, no, no. I meant is that the fundamental Do

888
00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:17,320
you trust that you're good enough can
be good enough offensively without trade? Do

889
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:21,440
you think that he might get you
more? And this was an exercise I

890
00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:23,199
went through in my head like a
week ago, and then I started thinking,

891
00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:27,039
all right, well, what is
the team that's gonna come in and

892
00:54:27,119 --> 00:54:30,480
trade for Trey Young and give up
a boatload of stuff, and I can't

893
00:54:30,519 --> 00:54:32,719
find it. And so I think
Trey Young is a superb basketball player,

894
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:37,000
I want to be clear. So
it almost has to be Murray because it's

895
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,079
if you get to a point where
you're giving up DeAndre Hunter and Jalen Johnson

896
00:54:40,639 --> 00:54:44,880
and on Yako Kung was tough to
move after the extension. But it's like

897
00:54:45,119 --> 00:54:46,679
those two in picks and Griffin's thrown
in there, it's all right, well,

898
00:54:46,679 --> 00:54:50,679
how are you now fleshing out?
What are you consolidating into that it's

899
00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:54,039
worth annihilating that much of your depth. I can't figure out the Hawks,

900
00:54:54,079 --> 00:54:58,480
and we can call them just aggressively
mediocre, which is exactly what they are.

901
00:54:58,719 --> 00:55:02,239
But what makes it so difficult is
I don't understand what the path forward

902
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:07,679
is for them, because like,
if Trey Young plays better, is it

903
00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:10,039
or if he's more efficient, because
actually think that he's had, like his

904
00:55:10,199 --> 00:55:14,320
passing in just his live dribble decision
making, it can be so valuable.

905
00:55:15,039 --> 00:55:17,239
But it's like oor, okay,
or you did your offense is even better

906
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:21,960
than number two in the league.
Is not gonna enable you to win a

907
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,599
bunch more games, maybe some,
probably not a bunch. Yeah. The

908
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:30,559
trade thing is interesting because it's so
fun. I independently got to, like,

909
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,239
you know, in the in the
in my section of notes on the

910
00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:35,239
Hawks, it's like, what do
you do now? And it's like bullet

911
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:38,239
point bill, bullet point trade Murray, question mark. And then it's like

912
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:42,679
intriguing. It's not to blow it
up and start over a situation, but

913
00:55:42,679 --> 00:55:45,360
they're too talented to do that.
So it's not like they're hopeless. I

914
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:52,079
just don't understand how they imbue more
defensive hope into the And it's how much

915
00:55:52,119 --> 00:55:54,280
better do you get? Like Murray
has not been as good defensively as he

916
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:58,079
was in San Antonio, but he
has not been your worst defense. So

917
00:55:58,119 --> 00:56:01,360
how much better do you get defense
in any move in which you trade to

918
00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:05,719
Jean de Murray. Well, if
it gets you o Gananobi, I think

919
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:07,920
you get. I mean, that's
about as big of a defensive impact as

920
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:13,119
you can realistically get short of like
let's get you know, Gobert or Jared

921
00:56:13,199 --> 00:56:15,840
Jackson junior or like someone that can
just you know, kind of be it

922
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:20,400
has been a defense onto himself in
the past like but so like the the

923
00:56:21,599 --> 00:56:25,079
what is the deal? Like if
it's if the principals are Murray and Ananobi,

924
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:30,599
just hypothetically, like what are the
throw ins on either side that in

925
00:56:30,639 --> 00:56:34,079
your mind? That like like who's
throwing in more? And how much more

926
00:56:34,159 --> 00:56:37,960
needs to be thrown in? Because
I think it's Atlanta, because Toronto might

927
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:43,360
not view Murray as an asset if
they're keeping Siakam running things through Scottie Barnes

928
00:56:43,559 --> 00:56:46,000
and then have Yaka Perle. Murray's
a tough fit there. I mean they

929
00:56:46,039 --> 00:56:50,199
need a guard, a lead guard, but I mean Shruder's actually been really

930
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:53,159
good for the money there, but
uh yeah, he's his shooting is like,

931
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:58,239
you'd have to really believe in Murray's
shooting to even think about having him

932
00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:01,480
be the lead guard on a team
with and and non shooting center. For

933
00:57:01,559 --> 00:57:06,880
sure, there's some type of three
way trade where Dallas gets de Jontay Murray

934
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:10,280
and Kyrie ends up in Toronto.
Oh man, what are the vax Man

935
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:14,119
dates in Toronto? There's pretty strict
in Canada. Still, I don't know,

936
00:57:15,679 --> 00:57:16,760
yeah, I just I don't know
what the Hawks do next. I

937
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:22,639
do know that while intrigues me,
depending on what the rest of the rosteros

938
00:57:22,639 --> 00:57:25,159
Like, I don't think that's the
trade, And I think I might have

939
00:57:25,199 --> 00:57:29,039
felt differently, and I thought they
would keep Murray in that deal, like

940
00:57:29,079 --> 00:57:30,400
well Trey and Murray, and yet
like hell yeah, like that's yeah,

941
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:35,320
that's the base of something special.
I don't think it is. After watching

942
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:37,960
this team, especially when you have
to factor in, I would imagine that

943
00:57:38,079 --> 00:57:44,440
two of DeAndre Hunter, de Jontay
Murray, and Jalen Johnson are going out

944
00:57:44,599 --> 00:57:46,440
in that deal. I mean,
I think the trade is tricky, as

945
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:50,440
we've just illustrated, and you hit
on this and maybe this is a good

946
00:57:50,559 --> 00:57:53,599
spot to close that, Like there's
some low hanging fruit here in terms of

947
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:59,039
for the Hawks defense. I had
the numbers you hit on the exact spots.

948
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:01,880
They're twenty eight eight in opponent rim
attempt frequency and twenty ninth in opponent

949
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:06,920
corner three frequency. So it's just
like, what are you shutting off schematically

950
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,320
if you're giving up the two most
valuable areas of the floor at bottom bottom

951
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:15,719
two and bottom three rates, Like, it's so that to me circles all

952
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:17,440
the way back to Quinn. Snyder'll
fix it. It's like this is a

953
00:58:17,519 --> 00:58:22,239
coaching like this is a tactical thing, Like how are you giving up both

954
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:24,880
corner threes and rim frequency at that
rate? Like that's I mean, I

955
00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:30,119
guess it's it could be personnel,
like guys just don't know, can't do

956
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:34,119
what they're supposed to be doing.
But if you can clean that up,

957
00:58:34,159 --> 00:58:37,280
like let's get to twentieth in both
of those, you know, maybe now

958
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:40,800
you're the twenty threeth defense and opponents
have the third highest field goal percentage on

959
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:45,199
mid rangers, So it's like the
Hawks are getting teams to the terrible shots

960
00:58:45,199 --> 00:58:49,719
that the Hawks get teams to take
are going in. So like let's normalize

961
00:58:49,719 --> 00:58:52,440
that number in maybe now we're talking
about like the number sixteen defense, seventeen

962
00:58:52,519 --> 00:58:57,440
defense just bit balling and that's good
enough if you're second on offense to be

963
00:58:57,599 --> 00:59:00,480
really dangerous. But right, and
look, I know, I said,

964
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:04,239
what do they do well, they've
been forcing turnovers without fouling, So they're

965
00:59:04,239 --> 00:59:08,800
in the top ten of both opponent
turnover rate and opponent like fouling their opponents.

966
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:12,360
So that's good. They're not fouling
when you watch them, like it's

967
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:15,679
not like they're hacking and whacking and
getting caught off governever they have to defend

968
00:59:15,039 --> 00:59:19,440
a pick and roll. But they
are getting destroyed in pick and rolls I

969
00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:23,599
think from those in between areas.
Mostly they're getting destroyed by roll men in

970
00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:27,840
those situation as well, and they're
going to They're fouling more often in those

971
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:30,800
situations, but not even to at
an above average degree. I just I

972
00:59:30,880 --> 00:59:35,079
don't know what the answer is.
When it's not on the roster is the

973
00:59:35,079 --> 00:59:37,320
point. I don't know. And
if we throw out this is where we

974
00:59:37,360 --> 00:59:40,320
should probably close. This is gonna
be maybe cold water for twenty nine fan

975
00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:44,639
base in the league. Everyone talks
about Ojan Andobi. I'll be flabbergasted if

976
00:59:44,639 --> 00:59:47,760
they moved him. He's six.
No, I mean, if they get

977
00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:51,199
an offer or he says he wants
out because he's going to be a free

978
00:59:51,199 --> 00:59:54,360
agent this summer. Maybe and maybe
he wants a more prominent offensive role,

979
00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:59,199
but Siakham's the guy at this point. He's not playing as well. You're

980
00:59:59,280 --> 01:00:02,400
running things through Scotti yaka Pertos,
so there you need Ananobe's floor spacing and

981
01:00:02,440 --> 01:00:07,559
he's more important to your defense at
this point. Why what are you getting

982
01:00:07,599 --> 01:00:09,960
for Adonobe going into free agency?
Because it's like, Okay, so we're

983
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:13,760
losing Ananobi. Are we gonna get
I'm not saying you would get more for

984
01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:16,440
Siakham, but are you just getting
two first round picks? And like cute

985
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:20,760
prospects for Adanobe? Are even getting
that much? And then if it's not

986
01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:23,440
at Anobe, because that's the guy
and that's the other issue, other teams

987
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:28,199
are gonna want Anobe. The Kings
can probably put together a better offer every

988
01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:32,400
team. Every team would certainly take
him, and I don't know how many

989
01:00:32,440 --> 01:00:36,480
would not start him, like he's
just he might. This is the reason

990
01:00:36,519 --> 01:00:39,039
we talk about him all the time. So to your point, you're probably

991
01:00:39,119 --> 01:00:42,639
right, like this is why Toronto
should just keep him and pay him whatever

992
01:00:42,719 --> 01:00:45,239
it takes, because he will always
be tradable like it unless you've just fully

993
01:00:45,280 --> 01:00:50,239
max him out of just some stupid
number, like how about this tying all

994
01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:53,480
the way back? If Ananobe has
zach Levine's contract, is anyone saying that

995
01:00:53,519 --> 01:00:58,000
there's no market for him because I
don't think so, because he's so plug

996
01:00:58,039 --> 01:01:01,519
and play like probably not, Yeah, I think I think zach Lavine is

997
01:01:02,039 --> 01:01:07,920
a really good offensive player that you
know has some flaws, but like Anonobi,

998
01:01:07,119 --> 01:01:09,960
just what team in the league would
not say, oh my god,

999
01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:13,480
like, forget it, I don't
want that guy like that. There isn't

1000
01:01:13,480 --> 01:01:16,360
one. They all want them.
And then you start to go through like

1001
01:01:16,599 --> 01:01:22,599
the alternative or the contingencies whatever you
want to like the feasible ones, and

1002
01:01:22,599 --> 01:01:24,639
it's it's who I mean, does
Jeremy grem be interesting on this team?

1003
01:01:24,639 --> 01:01:29,400
He's definitely not gonna help your rebounding, But that's not You have Jalen Johnson

1004
01:01:29,440 --> 01:01:30,519
there, so you're not gonna give
him up in that too. I guess

1005
01:01:30,559 --> 01:01:36,960
Jalen Johnson Jeremy Grant can play together
with a big on the court. It's

1006
01:01:37,039 --> 01:01:42,880
just like there's not just these combo
forward or combo wing defenders that are feasibly

1007
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:45,239
gettable, especially like given the Hawks. Yeah, the Herb Jones would be

1008
01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:49,960
great on this team. We would
be dynamite. You probably can't even get

1009
01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:52,199
a Lou Dort I don't, okay, So he's not gonna be looking to

1010
01:01:52,239 --> 01:01:55,800
move somebody like that. You gotta
start digging around the like Finney Smith and

1011
01:01:57,039 --> 01:02:00,519
Royce O'Neill. You gotta call Brooklyn
and see what those guys. You take

1012
01:02:00,519 --> 01:02:02,880
the chance. I'm like chumok from
Orlando, just like, what do we

1013
01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:06,280
try and reboot this guy's value?
And it's well, that's kind of a

1014
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:09,400
tricky proposition when you won't even allow
aj Griffin like the opportunity to build up

1015
01:02:09,679 --> 01:02:13,559
his value in the first place.
So I don't know where they go.

1016
01:02:13,599 --> 01:02:15,719
And it sounds doom and gloom maybe
because it is, but they're just they're

1017
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:20,320
like they're so close yet so far
territory. Yeah, because I like a

1018
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:24,800
lot of their individual players and again, clean up some of the process stuff,

1019
01:02:24,840 --> 01:02:29,239
and like they could still win forty
seven, like forty high forties whatever

1020
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:31,360
like that, you know, that
could all still happen. I do think

1021
01:02:31,599 --> 01:02:35,440
there's we're talking about them now because
they're not going to make our one player

1022
01:02:35,440 --> 01:02:38,559
away things. So like they're definitely
a notch below probably where they want to

1023
01:02:38,599 --> 01:02:42,840
be. He's injured and I know
he's slipped, but like what if the

1024
01:02:42,880 --> 01:02:45,599
Grizzlies just decided this isn't working,
this season is done and they were willing

1025
01:02:45,599 --> 01:02:51,000
to retrade Marcus Smart and you just
are you too small with Smart, Murray

1026
01:02:51,000 --> 01:02:54,760
and Young. I'm not worried about
being too small with Smart. I'd just

1027
01:02:55,199 --> 01:02:59,599
be worried about like maybe the offense
just isn't there at all. You know,

1028
01:03:00,079 --> 01:03:02,119
it's like he can guard up.
I think I think that where Smart's

1029
01:03:02,199 --> 01:03:05,719
like has lost it, you know
a little bit the last year or so,

1030
01:03:05,800 --> 01:03:07,360
as he's not as quick as he
was. I feel okay with him

1031
01:03:07,400 --> 01:03:12,400
guarding like fours still as opposed to
like chasing around smaller guards. But he

1032
01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:15,639
would probably have to chase around smaller
guards because Drey Young can't guard anybody,

1033
01:03:15,639 --> 01:03:19,559
and Murray is not a defender anymore. Apparently, Uh, Danny Avio would

1034
01:03:19,559 --> 01:03:22,159
be good for this team. He
was poison pilled though, And I mean

1035
01:03:22,159 --> 01:03:23,960
he's been playing good enough in Washington
to not move that. But yeah,

1036
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:28,639
let's uh you want to move into
well, I guess we should. We

1037
01:03:28,679 --> 01:03:30,440
should, we should hit it.
I wasn't ready for it. So this

1038
01:03:30,519 --> 01:03:35,719
is this is gonna be terrible podcasting
here. Uh, and it's I don't

1039
01:03:35,719 --> 01:03:37,760
know where it is. I might
have I might have actually deleted this that,

1040
01:03:37,920 --> 01:03:45,280
but no, here we are all
right, we're gonna do guess of

1041
01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:47,880
players and guess the tweets in this
one, right, that's what we settled

1042
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:52,280
on. Sure, all right,
you want to go first? You want

1043
01:03:52,280 --> 01:03:53,840
me to go first? Yeah,
I got one from Rubs Rubik scal that

1044
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:59,760
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you here. Uh thanks again as always Ruby skle.

1045
01:03:59,800 --> 01:04:02,159
She give me two, and I'm
trying to decide between them. I

1046
01:04:02,199 --> 01:04:04,800
think I'll just she gave me zero
this week. She might be mad at

1047
01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:08,519
me. Well, I got both
of them? Which one do I want

1048
01:04:08,519 --> 01:04:12,079
to do? Do both of them? Okay, So we'll start with this

1049
01:04:12,119 --> 01:04:16,320
one. Dan. Through two seasons
in college and fourteen seasons in the NBA,

1050
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:23,519
I wore only one number, number
twenty three. It's pretty broad set

1051
01:04:23,519 --> 01:04:27,960
of possibilities so far. I was
she wasn't in the NBA. Figure,

1052
01:04:28,239 --> 01:04:30,960
Wait, what was your guest Jason
Cape? I don't even know what number

1053
01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:32,760
he wore in college. I had
a mini heart attack there. For a

1054
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:38,519
second, I thought you got I
was a McDonald's All American in nineteen ninety

1055
01:04:38,599 --> 01:04:44,199
nine and NCAA champion in two thousand. I was consensus NCAA second team All

1056
01:04:44,239 --> 01:04:47,760
American in two thousand and one.
I was drafted fifth overall in two thousand

1057
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:53,719
and one, two thousand and one, draft number five. I became very

1058
01:04:53,760 --> 01:04:58,639
popular, very quickly with my teammates
and fans for my scoring maturity. Dedication

1059
01:04:58,719 --> 01:05:01,239
to the team and fans Germany all
costs. I wrote a letter of apology

1060
01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:05,320
in my fourth season when my team
failed to make the playoffs for the twelfth

1061
01:05:05,320 --> 01:05:10,719
straight year. Uh. This was
printed in several local newspapers. I gave

1062
01:05:10,760 --> 01:05:13,440
my word that I would take them
into the playoffs the next year, which

1063
01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:17,599
I did. That might be like
you had to be in the region to

1064
01:05:17,679 --> 01:05:24,599
remember that. All right. Let's
see, I set a franchise record of

1065
01:05:24,679 --> 01:05:28,400
most threes in a game with no
misses eight and I led the league and

1066
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:30,679
made threes in two thousand and seven
two thousand and eight with two hundred and

1067
01:05:30,719 --> 01:05:36,039
forty three makes. However, do
you have a guess before I give you

1068
01:05:36,079 --> 01:05:39,159
the one? I think you're I'm
not going to get this one. I

1069
01:05:39,159 --> 01:05:41,920
can read. I think you might. However, I was better known for

1070
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:45,199
my incredible dunks. I was,
after all, the only only the second

1071
01:05:45,199 --> 01:05:49,159
person to win back to back dunk
contests. The first guy also wore twenty

1072
01:05:49,159 --> 01:05:57,280
three Vince Carter. Nope, Carter
wore fifteen. God, let's see,

1073
01:05:57,800 --> 01:06:00,239
I don't know if you're getting I
started eight hundred and forty two of eight

1074
01:06:00,320 --> 01:06:01,960
hundred and fifty seven games, the
most games I ever came off the bench

1075
01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:05,800
in the season was five in my
rookie year. See, I could give

1076
01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:11,920
you more hints. Probably I'm gonna
need him. You already said the first

1077
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:15,599
name of this person. I said, Oh, Jason Richardson, you got

1078
01:06:15,599 --> 01:06:19,599
it. Wow, the back to
back dunk contest. I thought you'd have

1079
01:06:19,679 --> 01:06:25,400
it on. But yeah, I
remember the letter of apology. I remember

1080
01:06:25,440 --> 01:06:29,400
seeing that that you would remember that. I would remember that, I said,

1081
01:06:29,400 --> 01:06:30,639
And you know what I said,
I said, thank you, Jason.

1082
01:06:30,920 --> 01:06:36,119
It's been a tough ride these last
twelve years. Appreciate it. All

1083
01:06:36,239 --> 01:06:40,199
right. Let's see, do you
have one? I want you give me

1084
01:06:40,239 --> 01:06:44,519
one if you have one, yes, okay, So this one comes from?

1085
01:06:44,559 --> 01:06:46,800
Which one do we want to do? First? Here? Nicole colef

1086
01:06:47,119 --> 01:06:51,639
set one over, So thank you, Nicole cha. I am a three

1087
01:06:51,679 --> 01:06:57,599
time EuroLeague winner. Is clue number
one. Clue number two. I was

1088
01:06:57,599 --> 01:07:01,360
the first NBA player from my country, and I am currently the president of

1089
01:07:01,440 --> 01:07:10,800
the Basketball Federation. Three time you're
a league, okay, clude number three.

1090
01:07:10,840 --> 01:07:13,480
I was a rookie at thirty one
and played for two years in the

1091
01:07:13,559 --> 01:07:15,719
NBA. In those two years,
I played in twenty two playoff games.

1092
01:07:17,320 --> 01:07:25,920
Are we to sabonas I believe that's
that has to be correct. I'm now

1093
01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:30,639
noticing that the player the answer is
not on this list, the rookie at

1094
01:07:30,679 --> 01:07:33,800
thirty one and like a highly decorated
European player. No it's not it's not

1095
01:07:34,119 --> 01:07:39,320
him, a rookie at thirty one. Okay, continue clue number four.

1096
01:07:39,360 --> 01:07:42,880
The highlight of my national team career
leading my country to a semi final of

1097
01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:46,440
the EuroBasket in twenty eleven, beating
the host Lithuania in the quarterfinals along the

1098
01:07:46,480 --> 01:07:54,440
way. Wait, so they beat
in eleven, beat Lithuania in the quarters.

1099
01:07:54,639 --> 01:07:59,079
Oh, I see where the answer
is now, Okay, I don't

1100
01:07:59,079 --> 01:08:01,960
have a guess. After that clar
you might get it to five a stretch.

1101
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:04,719
Big I only shot thirty one percent
from the three point line in the

1102
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:09,719
NBA. Despite that, Roy Hibbert
probably wakes up in terror screaming my name

1103
01:08:09,760 --> 01:08:15,199
once a week. Oh, Pero
Antic, Yes that is correct. He

1104
01:08:15,359 --> 01:08:19,479
was a three time your league champ. He's a three time your league winner.

1105
01:08:19,560 --> 01:08:25,640
Yeah wow, good for him,
Oh Parol. I feel like Pero

1106
01:08:25,680 --> 01:08:28,560
Antics got on our radar at some
point for some reason, I was talking

1107
01:08:28,640 --> 01:08:32,199
to culj about this where we were
discussing. It was the scouting reports and

1108
01:08:32,880 --> 01:08:38,600
someone compared Nicole to peril ants.
That's what it was. That's what it

1109
01:08:38,640 --> 01:08:43,439
was because prior to that, pero
antics had not existed in my brain for

1110
01:08:43,479 --> 01:08:47,079
a very long time. That was
not I'm okay, all right, Uh

1111
01:08:47,199 --> 01:08:51,000
okay, you ready for another one. This is the other one from Rubik

1112
01:08:51,039 --> 01:08:56,119
Scale Clue number one. Dan,
I was a I love how they all

1113
01:08:56,159 --> 01:09:00,760
start with college stuff and you're just
gonna glaze over and not have any Yeah,

1114
01:09:00,960 --> 01:09:03,720
I know nothing about college, just
years out of this, so you

1115
01:09:03,720 --> 01:09:08,399
can get kind of zero in,
all right. I was a consensus NCAA

1116
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:12,560
second team All American in two thousand
and three. This is all, but

1117
01:09:12,600 --> 01:09:15,800
this is all coming off of the
dun Levy stuff because there's all like relationships

1118
01:09:15,840 --> 01:09:20,000
to Mike Dunleavy. Because we had
a Mike Dunleavy question last week. I

1119
01:09:20,000 --> 01:09:24,560
think or I had a guest player
or something. Anyway, Dunlevy was that

1120
01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:28,399
guy in two thousand and two.
I was also first team All Conference in

1121
01:09:28,439 --> 01:09:31,159
two thousand and three for the Missouri
Valley Conference. Mike Dunlevy was All ACC

1122
01:09:31,279 --> 01:09:33,880
and O two. I can skip
the dun Levy stuff. Just to keep

1123
01:09:33,920 --> 01:09:39,199
this focus for you. I played
this except for this part. I played

1124
01:09:39,239 --> 01:09:45,600
the same position as Mike Dunlevy hard
slash small forward. Let's see, there's

1125
01:09:45,600 --> 01:09:48,079
a lot of dun Levy Tians.
I'm trying to keep it simple for you.

1126
01:09:48,600 --> 01:09:53,439
I played for one Western Conference team, the Jazz, for four years,

1127
01:09:53,479 --> 01:09:57,920
and the rest of my teams were
all in the East Sixers, Bulls,

1128
01:09:58,479 --> 01:10:02,439
Hawks. Kyle Korver, good job, nailed it. We have some

1129
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:06,600
breaking news, oh that I'll timestamp. I'm not gonna put it in the

1130
01:10:06,600 --> 01:10:12,119
front because I'll just take too long. Zach Lavine is going to miss an

1131
01:10:12,159 --> 01:10:14,920
additional three to four weeks. We
said he was only gonna be had a

1132
01:10:14,920 --> 01:10:18,800
week with right foot inflammation, and
so if he didn't have, if he

1133
01:10:18,800 --> 01:10:25,279
didn't have trade value before, it's
gonna happen now. Uh So that'll be

1134
01:10:25,359 --> 01:10:27,600
anyone who didn't make it this far. On the podcast and things that we

1135
01:10:27,600 --> 01:10:30,960
were just wrong at the beginning,
we covered a breaking that's a out of

1136
01:10:30,079 --> 01:10:33,079
both of them's a little frisky.
I don't know how much of a lost

1137
01:10:33,680 --> 01:10:36,479
it ends up being, but that's
just you want to see him play well,

1138
01:10:36,520 --> 01:10:40,880
and I just want this Chicago era
to end already for them at the

1139
01:10:40,880 --> 01:10:44,680
reset button. This probably it was
gonna be delayed anyway, We're not at

1140
01:10:44,680 --> 01:10:48,079
December fifteenth yet. This is I
wonder what that does to his trade value

1141
01:10:48,079 --> 01:10:54,960
though, because we're talking three to
four weeks. Is his reevaluation time will

1142
01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:59,000
miss three to four weeks and so
it's okay, are they going to reevaluate

1143
01:10:59,079 --> 01:11:00,520
him? Then how long is it? He might not be back until the

1144
01:11:00,560 --> 01:11:04,920
middle of January at this point,
I mean, you would say that it

1145
01:11:05,079 --> 01:11:10,239
narrowed potentially because three to four weeks
is not the full year, but an

1146
01:11:10,279 --> 01:11:14,439
injury this year at least introduces the
possibility that, like, he's not going

1147
01:11:14,479 --> 01:11:16,640
to put you over the top of
this season potentially, and so if that's

1148
01:11:16,680 --> 01:11:19,640
the case, I would say it
narrows the number of teams that are interested

1149
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:24,319
in him. But apparently that number
was already zero based on the report that

1150
01:11:24,359 --> 01:11:27,399
there's no market for him, because
like the other thing is like if you

1151
01:11:27,439 --> 01:11:30,520
trade for zach Lavine, you're maybe
you're one of the teams that's hoping for

1152
01:11:30,600 --> 01:11:32,159
like, oh, look, this
is a bump for this year, but

1153
01:11:32,199 --> 01:11:35,039
there's also all those other years on
the contract. So it's not just like

1154
01:11:35,359 --> 01:11:40,039
so a three to four week injury
might not scare off the teams if they

1155
01:11:40,079 --> 01:11:42,920
exist that want zach Levine for the
duration. You know what I mean.

1156
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:45,880
There were someone in our YouTube comments
who said that Charlotte should trade for him.

1157
01:11:45,920 --> 01:11:47,920
It's like that's the team that would
be like, yeah, like leg

1158
01:11:48,000 --> 01:11:55,239
will steert zach Lavine perfect he's hurt, will take him. Yeah that's okay,

1159
01:11:55,279 --> 01:12:00,239
Well we're sure he's not. Just
it's a fantom foot injury because he's

1160
01:12:00,319 --> 01:12:02,600
sick of all this stuff with the
Bulls. He had looked pretty bad lately,

1161
01:12:02,680 --> 01:12:08,359
so I can buy that he was
playing Her body language was was terrible.

1162
01:12:08,439 --> 01:12:13,199
His body language was also injured.
That whole pr fiascal he apologized for

1163
01:12:13,399 --> 01:12:15,560
like kind of shoving off the Bulls
PR person. That was just such a

1164
01:12:15,640 --> 01:12:17,720
terrible look, and it was he
reacted so poorly after the fact. I

1165
01:12:17,720 --> 01:12:20,760
know eventually he apologized. Good,
let's move on. But that was just

1166
01:12:21,159 --> 01:12:25,960
I mean, it's like we talked
about earlier. It's like he's a human

1167
01:12:25,960 --> 01:12:29,840
being, Like he's not happy there. It's manifest. Have you ever aggressively

1168
01:12:29,960 --> 01:12:32,119
like shoved off? Of course not, you know, this is very different,

1169
01:12:32,399 --> 01:12:36,920
but yeah, like it's it's just
more evidence that like you gotta trade

1170
01:12:36,920 --> 01:12:41,359
this guy, like and then do
trade everybody else, but definitely else first

1171
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:47,079
trace when's the last time we kind
of had a mutual trade request where it

1172
01:12:47,079 --> 01:12:49,359
was just like the bulls, but
we don't want you, like, yeah,

1173
01:12:49,359 --> 01:12:50,880
I don't want to be here.
And that's just kind of how it

1174
01:12:50,960 --> 01:12:55,319
unfold. Like not in free agency. You're in the middle of a contract

1175
01:12:55,319 --> 01:12:58,199
that you didn't sign too long ago, and both sides are just kind of

1176
01:12:58,239 --> 01:13:00,479
like, yeah, like we don't
really like each other. And yeah,

1177
01:13:00,560 --> 01:13:04,640
yeah, is it Harden in Houston, because I mean he definitely wanted out

1178
01:13:04,680 --> 01:13:10,840
first he drove it wasn't mutual.
Yeah, he gets there. Always eventually

1179
01:13:10,920 --> 01:13:15,439
mutual because then when the team pulls
the trigger like they technically it was mutual.

1180
01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:17,159
But yeah, no, it is. It is pretty rare. Usually

1181
01:13:17,159 --> 01:13:21,239
it's one side or the other's pretty
adamant, and you know, well,

1182
01:13:21,319 --> 01:13:25,439
usually it's the player and then the
team acquiesces. But yeah, I think

1183
01:13:25,479 --> 01:13:30,079
everybody's eager to end that partnership for
sure. Back to stat padding. Back

1184
01:13:30,119 --> 01:13:33,319
to stat padding, you have another
guest, a player. I have like

1185
01:13:33,359 --> 01:13:36,840
short ones that you'll get relatively easily, I think. But if you've got

1186
01:13:36,840 --> 01:13:41,560
something, go ahead. Let's do
the one from be Rich for you.

1187
01:13:41,720 --> 01:13:44,279
Clue number one. I was drafted
in late first round in two thousand and

1188
01:13:44,319 --> 01:13:47,640
four, hailing from an Atlantic ten
school that went undefeated twenty seven to zero

1189
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:51,800
during the regular season, eventually losing
in the Elite eight as a one seed.

1190
01:13:53,279 --> 01:13:56,239
Wait, give me, wait,
an Atlantic ten school as a one

1191
01:13:56,279 --> 01:13:58,960
seed? What year was it?
Two thousand and four? All right,

1192
01:14:00,640 --> 01:14:03,680
I'm just starting to realize how deficient
my knowledge of coach basketball is by going

1193
01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:09,720
through these. Is this Mike Cansey, No, it's not. Clue number

1194
01:14:09,720 --> 01:14:12,560
two A decent combo guard. I
made the playoffs six times in my eight

1195
01:14:12,640 --> 01:14:15,800
year career. The most similar player
to me, according to Basketball Reference is

1196
01:14:15,880 --> 01:14:21,680
John Salmons. So this is completely
useless because those player comps are so misleading.

1197
01:14:21,800 --> 01:14:28,079
All right, sorry, I've just
uh you said, combo guard eight

1198
01:14:28,159 --> 01:14:32,239
years? Yes, okay, eight
year career combo guard starting in O four,

1199
01:14:32,359 --> 01:14:38,399
got it? Uh? Clue number
three. I was traded three times

1200
01:14:38,399 --> 01:14:42,079
in a three year fan and as
such, I was a left handed teammate

1201
01:14:42,520 --> 01:14:46,800
with multiple superstars, including Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant, Dirk Novitzky, Lebron,

1202
01:14:46,880 --> 01:14:53,119
James Jason Kidd, and Vince Carter. It's a left handed so he's

1203
01:14:53,159 --> 01:14:57,000
literally a left handed basketball player that
played with. Just getting a little extra

1204
01:14:57,079 --> 01:15:00,680
clue to who played give me the
list of the star he played with.

1205
01:15:00,720 --> 01:15:04,000
Again, my listening is very bad. Paul Pierce, kd Dirk, Lebron,

1206
01:15:04,319 --> 01:15:10,439
Jason Kidd, Vince Carter. God, who's like, you can't do

1207
01:15:10,560 --> 01:15:12,960
this? That should have that should
put it over the top, the lefty

1208
01:15:13,039 --> 01:15:16,000
thing. All right, go ahead, this is you're gonna get it now.

1209
01:15:17,039 --> 01:15:20,319
I was out of the league after
my age twenty eight season. This

1210
01:15:20,640 --> 01:15:27,560
definitely wasn't because of an of alleged
indiscretion with a certain star player's mom.

1211
01:15:28,199 --> 01:15:32,800
Oh Delante West. Dalante West,
he was He had some really high defensive

1212
01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:35,079
moments when he was in the league, and I hope he's doing well.

1213
01:15:35,199 --> 01:15:38,920
I know he was struggling with some
yeah stuff for a while. He was

1214
01:15:38,960 --> 01:15:42,079
a good player for I mean,
in the right spots for for for a

1215
01:15:42,119 --> 01:15:45,960
couple of different teams. Okay,
Delance West, all right, I feel

1216
01:15:46,000 --> 01:15:48,439
like I took longer than I should
have to get that one. But that

1217
01:15:48,560 --> 01:15:53,680
was the final clue. So it
was I appreciate a final clue. Well,

1218
01:15:53,720 --> 01:15:56,000
what I don't appreciate is when you
say you'll get it on this one,

1219
01:15:56,039 --> 01:15:59,560
because I'm immediately like I've set up
to fail. Now I'm never gonna

1220
01:15:59,560 --> 01:16:03,880
get it. But I do like
one still. But I do like this

1221
01:16:03,960 --> 01:16:11,239
when the clue is easy enough at
the questions wrong, I'm not as humiliated.

1222
01:16:11,239 --> 01:16:14,560
Although the end one we did last
week that was rough, like mentally

1223
01:16:14,600 --> 01:16:16,079
for me. But for some reason, the guess a player, I guess

1224
01:16:16,119 --> 01:16:19,479
because you're sort of stewing in your
own failure in that moment. Just I

1225
01:16:19,479 --> 01:16:23,840
can't handle missing those. It's a
hard place to be. It's a hard

1226
01:16:23,840 --> 01:16:29,359
place. Okay, speaking of these
are Dan, you should totally get these.

1227
01:16:29,399 --> 01:16:32,119
There are only three clues. I
can make up more if we need

1228
01:16:32,159 --> 01:16:34,680
to, but I don't think you're
gonna need them. All right. First,

1229
01:16:35,319 --> 01:16:38,800
I don't know what we should call. There's like the rapid fire guess

1230
01:16:38,800 --> 01:16:43,279
of players. I was drafted out
of high school by the Toronto Raptors at

1231
01:16:43,359 --> 01:16:47,520
number nine in nineteen ninety. Very
good one clue. The next two would

1232
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:51,479
have been easy, all right.
Next guy listed at seven foot four,

1233
01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:57,000
but I've always seemed taller. Probably
won't get it on that one you want

1234
01:16:57,000 --> 01:17:01,039
to get no. Uh. Debuted
with the Spurs in twenty fifteen sixteen,

1235
01:17:01,279 --> 01:17:04,920
played most games in my career in
Dallas. I'm back with Houston for a

1236
01:17:04,960 --> 01:17:11,000
second year in a row because good
vibes follow me everywhere. No, the

1237
01:17:11,079 --> 01:17:17,000
friends never played for yeah nothing.
My best friend is Tobias Harris. Oh,

1238
01:17:17,079 --> 01:17:23,239
bobon damn it. He's only seventy
four, that's what he's listed at,

1239
01:17:24,199 --> 01:17:27,880
but he always seems bigger than that. Right, Yeah, all right,

1240
01:17:28,279 --> 01:17:30,000
Okay, I'm gonna skip this one
and come back to it because I

1241
01:17:30,319 --> 01:17:32,199
did it anyway. But it's kind
of hard, all right, this one,

1242
01:17:32,199 --> 01:17:36,800
you'll get drafted number sixteen out of
USC. I guess I should keep

1243
01:17:36,840 --> 01:17:42,680
with our conceit of I was drafted
number sixteen out of USC in twenty eleven

1244
01:17:42,960 --> 01:17:47,119
by the seventy six ers. I
was traded to the Magic after just one

1245
01:17:47,159 --> 01:17:53,079
year in Philadelphia, where I averaged
a double double in twenty twelve thirteen and

1246
01:17:53,119 --> 01:17:58,039
would do again in six of my
next eight seasons with the team with what

1247
01:17:58,199 --> 01:18:02,800
team? Orlando nikole Vucevic, correct, good job, I was the next

1248
01:18:02,840 --> 01:18:04,840
The next one might not have helped
you. I was just gonna say he

1249
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:08,399
was an All Star in eighteen,
nineteen and twenty twenty one, and then

1250
01:18:08,439 --> 01:18:11,600
I would have just mentioned the trade
if you hadn't got it all right,

1251
01:18:12,079 --> 01:18:15,159
I will be impressed if you get
this one. I was the number fourteen

1252
01:18:15,199 --> 01:18:19,359
pick out of UCLA by the Jazz
in twenty thirteen, but I never played

1253
01:18:19,359 --> 01:18:24,800
there. The Jazz traded me and
the number twenty one pick, who was

1254
01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:28,880
Gorgie Jing, to the Minnesota Timberwolves
for the number nine pick, which is

1255
01:18:28,920 --> 01:18:31,760
Trey Burke. I played four and
a half of my five NBA seasons for

1256
01:18:31,840 --> 01:18:39,159
the Timberwolves n A. I was
sent home from the rookie transition program for

1257
01:18:39,199 --> 01:18:44,000
a blatant violation. You got it, uh, fun fact I was at

1258
01:18:44,479 --> 01:18:48,880
that rookie transition program in which he
was accused or had the indiscretion. Yeah,

1259
01:18:48,880 --> 01:18:54,239
it was the rookie photo shoot.
Uh. And that I got news

1260
01:18:54,439 --> 01:18:59,600
like broke basically the next day that
he had been disciplined for that. The

1261
01:18:59,600 --> 01:19:02,199
person that you had allowed to enter
Shabazmuhamma's room had gotten him kicked out.

1262
01:19:02,279 --> 01:19:04,600
Yeah. I was in charge of
guarding the door and I went home.

1263
01:19:04,640 --> 01:19:06,920
I don't know what I have it
leup break. Okay, good job.

1264
01:19:08,199 --> 01:19:12,239
I like the little bite sized guess
of players because they're confidence builders. You're

1265
01:19:12,239 --> 01:19:15,000
four for four and didn't need the
third clue on any of them. And

1266
01:19:15,039 --> 01:19:18,600
so we have another bite sized guess
a player in the form of who tweeted

1267
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:23,039
this? Okay? And look if
your kids are with you. Some of

1268
01:19:23,039 --> 01:19:29,000
these tweets are not suitable for work
or children, and I did not tweet

1269
01:19:29,039 --> 01:19:30,520
them. So I want to if
you have any of your offended by any

1270
01:19:30,520 --> 01:19:33,560
of this. I tried to pick
ones that wouldn't be super offensive. I

1271
01:19:33,600 --> 01:19:38,079
apologize. I didn't tweet these,
though I'm not one of the options for

1272
01:19:38,279 --> 01:19:42,199
which NBA player tweeted this? Grant? Are you ready? I'm ready?

1273
01:19:42,840 --> 01:19:47,439
Which NBA player tweeted this? I
met notts Berry Farms, and my butt's

1274
01:19:47,479 --> 01:19:51,159
too big to fit in the seats
on the ride. Ah, that's me,

1275
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:58,279
Yellen? Was it Dwight Howard,
Kyle Lowry, Shaquille O'Neal or Zion

1276
01:19:58,359 --> 01:20:04,680
Williamson. I see what you're trying
to do with my butts too big and

1277
01:20:04,720 --> 01:20:11,800
you're trying to red harring Melli.
Actually it's not any of the guys.

1278
01:20:11,640 --> 01:20:15,039
It's Admiral Schofield. I'm gonna I'm
gonna say Dwight Howard because he seems like

1279
01:20:15,039 --> 01:20:19,680
someone that would have been at Notts
Very Farm. It was Shack oh Man.

1280
01:20:20,000 --> 01:20:24,960
What year was it? August twenty, two thousand and nine? Okay,

1281
01:20:25,119 --> 01:20:29,119
felt like a two thousand and nine
tweet to me, which NBA player

1282
01:20:29,159 --> 01:20:32,119
tweeted this accidentally hit a squirrel yesterday
in my car. Feel so guilty I

1283
01:20:32,119 --> 01:20:36,439
could barely sleep. Casey Anthony is
a monster? Was it Kevin Durant,

1284
01:20:36,800 --> 01:20:45,680
Blake Griffin, Kyle Kuzma or Chandler
Parsons? What August eleven? I don't

1285
01:20:45,680 --> 01:20:47,279
have the dates on all these,
but this one's from August fifteenth, twenty

1286
01:20:47,319 --> 01:20:58,960
eleven. Okay, Chandler Parsons th
incorrect. It was Blake Griffin. I

1287
01:20:58,960 --> 01:21:01,119
thought you would have known that one. I don't remember that. What What

1288
01:21:01,239 --> 01:21:05,079
is the What does Casey Anthony have
to do with anything? She murdered her

1289
01:21:05,159 --> 01:21:09,199
children? I know that. But
he's saying because he knows what it feels

1290
01:21:09,239 --> 01:21:11,800
like to have killed, Like,
that's the joke because he killed a squirrel?

1291
01:21:12,079 --> 01:21:15,079
He I yeah, I mean like
if he feels this bad about killing

1292
01:21:15,079 --> 01:21:20,520
a squirrel, sure, I understand
that was an intention intended joke. All

1293
01:21:20,600 --> 01:21:26,039
right, here's here's my thing.
I don't think the tweet is necessarily coherent,

1294
01:21:26,159 --> 01:21:29,960
but I thought it was infamous enough
that you knew who ye're over.

1295
01:21:30,520 --> 01:21:32,159
Gave me choices then, because I
was not gonna give you choices, you

1296
01:21:32,199 --> 01:21:34,880
didn't give me choices there was I
would have no chance. I'm not gonna

1297
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:38,279
get any of these. But if
you didn't give me choices out of no

1298
01:21:38,319 --> 01:21:42,119
hope, I got a one in
four shot. Here which NBA player tweeted

1299
01:21:42,119 --> 01:21:47,840
this at Miley Cyrus neck is cray
hashtag? Damn? Was it Jimmy Butler,

1300
01:21:48,279 --> 01:21:56,239
Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid or Paul
George mm I've narrowed it to Jimmy

1301
01:21:56,279 --> 01:22:01,399
Butler and Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler. I'm gonna say Kevin Durant. It

1302
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:04,760
is Joel Embiid. Oh. Interesting. He thought he was crushing on Rihanna,

1303
01:22:04,760 --> 01:22:08,640
but he had a crush on Miley
Cyrus as well. Yeah, I

1304
01:22:08,720 --> 01:22:13,439
like almost didn't include this one,
but we're risky podcast he take chances?

1305
01:22:13,640 --> 01:22:18,279
Which NBA player You're gonna have to
say it? You came up with this

1306
01:22:18,359 --> 01:22:32,640
bit? This is your fault?
Which NBA player tweeted this, Every spit

1307
01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:36,000
it out come on. I don't
even know what it is. I don't

1308
01:22:39,279 --> 01:22:44,800
everybody. I can't do it.
I put it on the screen. Can

1309
01:22:44,840 --> 01:22:47,159
you put it on the screen?
No? Because their name? Okay,

1310
01:22:48,680 --> 01:22:56,279
everybody horny. I'm like, I'm
liking what I see. Was it Patrick

1311
01:22:56,359 --> 01:23:01,840
Beverley, Joel Embiid, Kendrick Nunn
or Dennis I would say Dennis Smith Junior.

1312
01:23:02,359 --> 01:23:06,399
It was Kendrick. That was my
other guest. It was just so

1313
01:23:06,439 --> 01:23:12,600
it was just so straightforward that I
couldn't Oh man, well, I'm terrible

1314
01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:15,640
at this game, but that was
more than worth it to hear you almost

1315
01:23:15,119 --> 01:23:18,039
be able to get that out.
I hope people enjoyed the segment. It

1316
01:23:18,079 --> 01:23:20,479
actually took me a lot to find, like what I thought were tweets that

1317
01:23:20,560 --> 01:23:24,920
weren't too famous, but we're famous. Uh so if people like this,

1318
01:23:25,279 --> 01:23:28,600
let us know, do you want
to take us out here? Yes?

1319
01:23:28,880 --> 01:23:34,439
Oh man, everybody, thank you
for uh just please recommend more stuff that

1320
01:23:34,560 --> 01:23:39,199
Dan has to try to say,
uh because that's about as hard as I've

1321
01:23:39,239 --> 01:23:44,079
laughed in a while, because he
was laughing. If if if you saw

1322
01:23:44,079 --> 01:23:46,439
this on YouTube, congratulations. If
if it's just audio, I'm not sure

1323
01:23:46,439 --> 01:23:49,399
what you're gonna make of the last
five minutes or so. They just cut

1324
01:23:49,439 --> 01:23:56,960
off for thirty seconds. What happened? As we always suggest at the top,

1325
01:23:57,319 --> 01:24:00,239
Please remember to rate the podcast review
at subsc vibe. Wherever you consume

1326
01:24:00,279 --> 01:24:05,079
your podcast. You can follow us
on our socials at Hardwood Knocks on Twitter

1327
01:24:05,159 --> 01:24:11,359
and or I still can't call it
X but whatever on x on Instagram at

1328
01:24:11,359 --> 01:24:15,079
Hardwood Unerscore Knocks on Instagram. If
you want to learn how to get your

1329
01:24:15,119 --> 01:24:18,640
questions or your suggestions for stat padding
stuff on here, join our discord.

1330
01:24:19,039 --> 01:24:24,279
You can direct messages through there to
do that. We have links in the

1331
01:24:24,319 --> 01:24:27,479
YouTube and podcast description same place,
so you can go for information on our

1332
01:24:27,520 --> 01:24:30,159
merch. I think that covers it. As always, we close with a

1333
01:24:30,159 --> 01:24:33,000
shout out to the one normally Frank, Mila Kina, and an apology to

1334
01:24:33,079 --> 01:24:33,640
Jared Allen.