What is krack alacing fellow thermal nuclear a efforts. I am Danta Valley coming
at you with a mailbag podcast solo. It is the first hardwood knock podcast
of twenty twenty four, wishing everybody a happy New Year. It is also
as I record this my birthday, So if you want to give me birthday
shout outs and the comments, or just like this video and or this podcast
and subscribe, share it on Twitter as a birthday present, or tell people
about us, just help us continue to grow this community. That can be
your birthday present to me. If you are a religious listener, and I
appreciate all the support from every single person that we get of this podcast.
You can continue to engage with us though, and get in on these mail
bags by joining our Discord. The link of that is in the podcast and
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just check it out, download it. It doesn't take a ton. Come
in there, start some good discussions. If the link isn't working for some
reason, because it's been like a week or two since we got a new
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But again, link is in the podcast YouTube description, Join our discord.
Our socials are in the podcast and YouTube description as well, and I believe
that's it. So before were hitting in this mailbag recording on my birthday.
That's again why I'm just gonna give myself a little birthday shout out there.
It is my Kevin Durant year, age thirty five. So for everyone who
is wondering how old I actually was, I've gotten everything from who's this kid?
To why is the age filter on that? I think that one might
have been from TikTok, not YouTube, but yes, I'm aged thirty five.
I feel like that's been a mystery around these parts for some weird reason.
I don't think that I've hit it at all. I normally try not
to do too much work on my birthday. It did not work out like
that this year. I'm busy, so I figured, what the hell,
let's make sure I get a third episode up. We did the Ognobe trade
reaction on Sunday. We'll have this up and then Grant and I will be
back. I think with a Thursday episode. Maybe it goes live on Friday,
but I think it'll I think we're recording Wednesday night, so it'll go
up on Thursday. So that's exciting. And another exciting note, since this
can be my rambling portion of my cut is ending. I know that I
don't look like someone who goes through like the bodybuilding motions, but I am
eleven or twelve days away from my cut ending and being able to eat something
other than rice and chicken and potatoes and that type of stuff a protein powder.
Of course, this year I tried for anyone who cares, this is
a full episode, so I'm gonna go. You can skip ahead. There'll
be time stamps. This year, I tried to really focus on whole foods,
so I didn't have a lot of protein powder during my bulk, But
that stuff becomes a godsend when your macros really need to lock in and the
carbohydrates are super low and the fat is just incredibly low. It's unhealthily low,
and I don't you should not do it for long periods of time.
I recognize it's unhealthy. This help helps keep me sane, though I know
I'm nearing my end. When I can start to see like a leg pump,
like veins in my legs and my calves, we are there, folks.
It doesn't take long for me to do it, so I'm excited to
be able to eat again. It's been easy, I will say it's been
easier this year. I feel like I have invented about it as much on
the podcast, maybe because I'm recording solo a little bit less or grant and
I talk a lot about it off air. But I did a better job
of not cutting carbs or cutting down my calories too low, too soon this
time, and so it'll be this was a fourteen week one. I think
last year I did twelve weeks. So I survived. I'll survive ninety eight
days, but we're getting close. It's tough around the holidays and my birthday
because you just want to indulge. Maybe I'll allow myself from extra carbs in
the form of like oatmeal or something tonight, but it's my choice. I
enjoy it. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna be any less excited that it's
coming to an end and I can be a little bit more free with what
I'm eating before we start the bulk back up again. That answers all the
questions you didn't have about what's going on outside of my life. Let's begin
with this mailbag I'll start with some quick news I I just want to get
to because we're at the point where some of these things are just going to
become expired, and this will probably be the hook of the podcast on YouTube.
At this point, the Pascal Siakam trade rumors are heating up a little
bit in advance of, or not in advance following the Ogn Andobi trade.
I don't know. I think a lot of people viewed this in one of
two ways that this either makes it more likely having a manual quickly and RJ
Barrett getting rid of og as soon to be free agent himself. It makes
it more likely that you are going to trade Pascal Siakam, Or does it
make it more likely that he just signs a four year extension. Now it
could be worth about I think it's like one hundred ninety million dollars, don't
I honestly don't know which school of thought I subscribe to, because the raptors
are just wholly unpredictable at this point, I will say, after ruminating more
on the Ogn Andobi trade, I don't know that I have any strong,
like different feelings of it. I feel like it might be a little bit
more risky from the Knix's perspective than I initially thought, even though I kind
of liked it for them a little bit more. I think that was one
of the rare trades where I think you could have gotten more for og earlier
on, and you made that decision to move him. But if you were
invested in him, I kind of understand waiting to see the signs that he's
either not staying, or he's not developing like you want him to, or
what's his role in a larger context, we don't want to pay him.
I think they did well relative to just the stage of his contract and development
that he was at. I don't know what it means for Pascal siaka mark
Stein, however, did note that teams re main interested, and he names
some of the usual suspects, and there were two I think there were two
new ones in there, at least that I haven't thought a lot about.
But he names Detroit, which Indiana, Sacramento in Atlanta, so like those
were the four newbies. And then he had Dallas in Memphis as a suitor,
and I know some people have speculated about Dallas, and so we'll go
through these and then we'll talk about any other teams that I would be interested
in seeing trade for Pascal Siakam. I don't love I love his fit on
a lot of these teams. I think the Pacers probably end up being the
cleanest. I'm just not sure he's exactly what they need. And he is
so bald dominant. Oh doesn't. He's not so bald dominant, but he's
bald dominant enough to where what are the concessions you're making with Tyre's Haliburton there.
I'm assuming Benic Mathern would be part of that trade, and so making
it stagger and giving him lineups where he kind of has the keys should be
a little bit easier, and then you're not infringing upon Benic Mathern's development.
I just don't know if it's It feels like any needs someone who can slide
down to the three as well as play the four next to Miles Turner.
Siakam gives you the four to five positionality, so you could play him next
to Turner, but you could also play him by himself in loan big lineups.
But let's start with the Raptors. I honestly don't know whether this makes
it more likely that they move him. My guess would be that they do
move him. I just think that the salary structure of their team is weird
moving forward, and that's part of the reason I'm reticent to be so high
on the Ojana Noobi deal. For them, You're gonna probably have to pay
R. J. Barrett and the Manuel quickly combined, like let's say like
fifty two million, maybe even up to fifty seven or sixty depending on how
much IQ commands and free agency, and then you already have Purdle on the
books, and then if you resign Siakam and that's just your core. Plus
Scottie Barnes's next deal is coming up. He's extension all as well after this
year. I would absolutely move Yaka Purdle if you could. I don't know
which teams are gonna want that salary. It's not egregious, but twenty million
dollars a year for a starting big man who might not close on certain teams
just because of the floors facing element or if you're worried about his free throws.
He is a very smart, cerebral player though can help teams. He's
not bad. I just think that that trade was a terrible idea for the
Raptors last season, So I get, I get that you could go that
route. But even if your core then just becomes quickly Barrett, Barnes and
Siakam, I don't really know what the upside of that is there. It
feels like you're still too tethered to what does Scottie Barnes become. But I
guess that's me undervaluing. Emmanuel Quickly is really good, and I mean,
anyone listens a podcast those I think he's great. I'm a lot lower on
RJ. Barrett long term. I guess you can look at it as well.
These are still guys. Quickly it's a little bit older relative to the
stage of his career, but looking at RJ, he's twenty three, Barnes
is still so is just so young. You still have that upside caked in
there. I just you get expensive a lot faster than I think that you
would with a core that you're banking on upside four? Should you keep those
four together? And so I would. I honestly don't know what the Raptors
are thinking. And if I was in charge of the team, I probably
would figure out ways to finago keeping Siakam because I like him so much,
but the fit next to Barnes can get weird, especially if you're factoring RJ.
Barrett into the equation and you're gonna have a non spacing five. My
guess is that they move him. Whether they should or not, I don't
know. I think he's a really good player. He gets marginalized in Toronto
at times. We've seen him go multiple multiple occasions this year, which just
feels like he doesn't touch the ball enough in crunch time. In the debut
game for Quickly and Barrett. There was a little bit of that for the
Raptors down the stretch too. There was a possession where Pascal Siakam had some
brilliant possessions in that game, and there was a couple of crunch time possessions
where RJ gets tunnel vision or or Pascal Siakam just doesn't touch the ball.
Not a huge, huge fan of that. It just does seem that the
Raptors are kind of pivoting, and just given that Siakam is the when you
looked at the Adanobi Trent Barnes Siakam quartet, he was the old head of
it. It feels like they will move him now getting into the teams that
makes sense, Detroit, No, just get out of here. I like,
what are you sending out here? You give a future pick, So
are you're trying to give up on j and Ivy The Raptors don't really have
a need for him anymore with Barnes or in so far as they did have
a need. But you have Barnes, you have Arjie Barrett, you have
Quickly. So I just don't know what Detroit can and they just shouldn't be
in the business of giving up their own first round picks. If they were
putting kid cutting him on the table, Yeah, sure, but you're not.
You're not doing that if you're Toronto, would Toronto be interested in Aasar
Thompson or you want to give that up for Siakam. This just feels like
Detroit is mentioned as a Seacam destination because they can get to cap space.
Then maybe look at that over the summer of the teams that were gonna go
through that were reported, I think Detroit is just my least favorite fit of
the bunch, maybe because I don't want to see Pascal wasting away in Detroit,
but I also just don't understand what the complexion of that trade package necessarily
looks like unless the Pistons are getting wildly responsible with their future picks and then
just making this sort of okay salary and picks type of trade. So I
don't love it in Atlanta just because I don't know what Atlanta's doing. They're
sort of like Raptors South at this point where it's all right, what is
going on here? You've ticked the can a bunch, You've made a couple
of swings, they haven't really worked out. I'm assuming that Dijon de Murray
would be part of that deal in some form, even if he's not headed
to Toronto, because can you play with Quickly and Murray and RJ Barrett and
Scottie Barnes. You're not going to invest that much specifically in guards with Quickly
coming up on free agency, Murray already being paid r JA. He is
kind of a wing, but he's like int that in between, and then
Scotty another primary ball handler. Would there be a third team as part of
that? Do you want? Yeah, you take a flyer on DeAndre Hunter,
especially with Scotty Barnes no longer in Toronto, but that can't be the
meat and potatoes of your package. You don't really have a need for for
Clint Capella, Bagdad Bogdanovich, but there would be draft equity in there.
I don't think you're gonna see the Raptors as an aside flip Siakam for basically
no draft. I would expect him to get a first round pick, at
least one out of whoever they're trading Siakam too. I just don't think he
raises Atlanta's ceiling enough. He's not going to fix the defense. I guess
if they want to play him at the five more and any event, you're
not sending out to Jante Murray, that gets all sorts of complicated. We've
seen Murray improve as I think a shooter, and he's been a really valuable
offensive player this year. You throw Siakam in there and he again, is
Clint Capella still there or even if he's playing with a yaka kungu. The
spacing doesn't look great, the shot profile won't look great. I think I
like him the least, the second least, So we'll go We'll start there.
There's the Pistons, then there's the Hawks. Then I think I would
go to the Kings. There's a case to have the Kings below the Hawks
in this, but the Kings just feel like a smarter organization than Atlanta at
this point, and so I would trust them to figure it out. I
don't want to see Sabonus next to Siakam. I just I don't think comes
a good enough rim protector to justify it. And then you are going to
shrink the floor because Pascal Siakam is not shooting that well from three, and
to have both of those guys on the court in a playoff series, I
think it puts a strain on some of your perimeter players. And we've already
seen Kevin Hurgerby all over the place this year, assuming that he would,
you know, stay in that deal. Fox. The shooting has really come
along. I've seen people doubt it, and it's just like, I guess
at this level, sure, but he's kind of shown that he can be
this really good self creator from the perimeter for a couple of years now,
and like the step back three is has been going for a few seasons at
this point. I just I can't remember what podcast I was listening to,
and they were they were being kind of skeptical about it, and I'm just
like, no, I don't think the Aron Fox is the best shooter in
the in the NBA, but we're in kind of year whatever three four of
this not being like a complete anomaly AnyWho. I just think that puts about
the sneeze. Wait, nope, I didn't sneeze. There you go.
So we're about to put I would just put too much strain on him and
maybe even kee It Murray a little bit. That's even good to increase the
difficulty of his wing defensive assignments, since Siakam and the Bonus aren't guys who
should be going up against wings. If the price was just so low,
I get, and you can keep Keegan Murray, who they're not willing to
trade for Siakam or anybody else per s nine. At this point, yeah,
I guess rolling it into that asset play. But then you do have
in theory fewer assets to go forward with to address some of your wing defensive
issues or just perimeter defense in general, and you have to pay Sakham.
If you're just paying some bonis, Fox is already going to be like he
was extension Ledge well this past summer they offered it. It wasn't long enough.
So you're going to start worry about Keegan Murray's next deal is gonna be
extensionally after next season. Just a very weird setup. I just like them
a little bit more than Atlanta because they're gonna be playing more meaningful basketball than
the Hawks. So that's quite frankly where I land. That leaves us with
I'm gonna throw Dallas in here. Now we're gonna get to some new teams.
I don't I guess I understand the theory of doing it in Dallas,
But then are you gonna play him with Derek Lively another nonche Are you just
trusting that the way Luca and even Kyrie can sort of create these high quality
looks for everyone and uplift these mediocre players into offensive competency that you think would
be so wide open, the space will be so good that he'll shoot well
in spot up threes, be able to attack some close outs. I don't
hate the theory there, and I like the idea of let's just get another
bigger name in here, someone who plays both ends of the floor, quite
frankly, and that's not something the Mavericks have a lot of. And even
if the players, you know, Derek Lively being a two Way player,
like they're just overwhelmingly flawed, and dinner with Dante Exim or Derek Jones Junior
the closest things they have to two way players. There's just those really measurable
flaws or big question marks. I guess if you're just giving up the one
first round pick and you can include, I think we're gonna give up two
swaps at this point. Maybe if that's like the basis of your deal and
salary, I get kind of rolling the dice on it, but I think
I would still rather see them skew more towards the wing end of the spectrum.
Is that that hybrid three four and someone who's actually gonna hit their threes.
I get that defense of the primary concern. I don't know. If
that Siakam comes in there, you could really build some electric lineups with him
at the five, and maybe Grant Williams or of Kliba is healthy, you
could do some stuff there. I still feel like it leaves them a little
light on the wings, and then you're bankrupting all your other assets to the
point where okay, then you can't go out and get that wing. What
is interesting, I just don't know how highly the Raptors valued the value Manual
Quickly and RJ. Barrett what do they view them as in the context of
that trade, But for the cost that Oganobi went for, just my consideration
on RJ. Barrett's contract, which I think at best is a net neutral
right now. Had the MAVs not, you know, maybe traded away their
twenty thirty pick swop, like, could they have built any of an interesting
package there just throwing in a first round pick some swaps, I guess they
wouldn't have had enough players, let alone a league guard like the Knicks did.
That seemed to be the big thing here and quickly being called the league
guard is just a little bit stretch. But having that guard type player is
gonna stroke threes, create for himself off the dribble maybe for others. Not
having that probably put them at a deficit. They would have been a good
Ananobe team though, had they had the assets for it, and it seems
like they were probably closer than I expected just based off what the Anonobi went
for. I do think that might just say more about Toronto's internal evaluation of
both our j and e Manuel Quickly more than anything else. Though. Don't
hate Siakam in Dallas. I question whether they have the actual asset firepower to
get him. I just don't love it. And I'm also wondering could they
be better served with a smaller type swing, And I don't know who that
is. I don't think it's even on the level of if the Hawks are
just looking to get off of DeAndre Hunter, but it is just like,
can you go out and get a Jay Shawn Tate. I think that I
would like Jeremy Grant for Dallas a lot more than I would Siakam at this
point, and so that type of a player. I don't even hate the
idea of Kuzma in there, who probably gives you enough defense, does he
give you enough shooting? I like to grant it just a lot more.
But those feel like the better types of moves for Dallas. Indy. I'll
throw next up here. They're kind of in the same boat, I guess
as Dallas in that sense where I'd like to see them skew more three than
four. But they just the space and they could create for Siakham. And
so even if he's not cheating the three ball too well, he'll be open
enough to down some of those looks and he should be able to attack close
outs. I like the idea of getting him in lineups that don't have Tyreus
Halibert, and that'll give you more of a north Star in those moments,
and he can play with Turner, who at the moment at least for you
know, one more season after this one. It's just so cheap that after
you resigned Sacam and you don't have too much equity invested in your front court,
what is the cost of getting him? You have to match money here.
I guess Bruce Brown would be part of that outgoing money. Would it
be like Toronto should want Buddy Healed for you gonna have Seacam into the equation,
though you're right you might really need Healed those sticking in Indy. Does
Toronto even want bennan Icmatherm at this point? If for getting Marjorie Barrett or
Manual quickly, how would they evaluate him? I'll just assume Jarres Walker would
be part of that trade. If you're gonna get picks from Indy one of
those young players and then salary, I guess that's the reasonable place to start
up. And I think that the Pacers that Sacam does more for that team
than a lot of the other ones that were mentioned in here. I just
again, as so many teams are looking for these three four types, I
might appreciate Jeremy Grant or Kyle Kuzman Indy more than I would. This comes
closer to being borderline for me, where it's you know, if the price
isn't too steep, or maybe it doesn't cost you as many picks, and
you're getting rid of Mathren and Walker and Seacam's coming in and you're getting to
keep Buddy healed. As part of that, I think Bruce Brown becomes a
little bit less important and we're seeing that he's just not I think we had
someone of the discord was unhappy with his defense this year. I don't want
to say he's been miscast necessarily. He's probably been a little bit less impathful
on offense than I would have assumed. It's just he's not that player,
and you sort of signed him to be that stop gaps fit in Indy though,
I just you would have to tell me what what is the cost for
Indy. And then on the flip side of that, I don't love the
potential return for Toronto. If you're looking for picks focused and it's just Jarris
Walker, Picks and Salary. I guess that's semi interesting. I don't I'm
just not a Benedict Maathne guy, it feels like, and you already have
that inconsistency element with r J there, and of course having quickly already there
too. I don't know how much you need a excuse me, Benedic Maathne
type to evaluate, but I would love to see sort of a five man
unit, assuming none of these guys get dealt in the Seacam trade of Siakam,
Miles Turner, Buddy Healed Halliburton, and then Aaron NEI Smith Like.
That is a lineup that could, I think, really do some two way
damage for the Pacers, which is why I would put them fairly high up
on this list. Would they be my top billing for Siakam in general?
In a vacuum where hey, we're going through teams that they should forget about,
well, don't forget about assets, but just forget about the realism of
how interested they are. I guess the Pacers come pretty close to being like
a face destination. But the next team I'm gonna put up here is the
final team that was the one that just sort of snuck into the sty report.
I kind of like the Grizzlies. Do you have Jared Jackson Junior there?
I don't know if you get them enough rebounding mileage out of the Siakam
Jared Jackson junior front court. But that's not any different than you know,
it can't be any worse than some of the front court combinations you're running out
right now. Salary structures in Memphis make it difficult. You're not going to
trade Desmond Bane or Jared Jackson Junior or John Morant, So you're looking at
like salaries to use to match at least two of Brandon Clark, Steven Adams
and Luke Kenard, all three of whom are injured and banged up, two
of whom have not played at all this season, and Clark and Adams.
So you need a whole lot of picks in there to really make that work.
And it might even be all three of those players. I don't know
if your Adams is one year left on his deal, it's not, and
it's not a huge amount, so it's not too backbreaking. Do you like
Clark? If you're Toronto, it just feels very lopsided. Do you get
Marcus Smart in on that trade? Is that something you look at with Toronto
have interest in maybe after having moved Annobe, so you can build some stuff
where it's Smart and then another one of those salaries I mentioned I'd probably go
with. I might just take the flyer on Canard if they're offering both.
But I don't know if they would be offering both. Uh, but Memphis
so they can get there with the money while keeping Bain Jackson Junior Morant.
They have all their own first round picks. They did burn some pick equity
on the Marcus Smart trade itself, but they they have first round picks to
trade. The idea of having Morant, Baine, Jackson and Siakam and then
I don't know who is still part of that. I think, you know,
if Smart is still there because you just gave up all the first round
picks and salary matching, all right, that's a lineup that could do some
defensive damage. You get enough spacing, I think between you know, just
having Desmond, Baine, Jaw Smart as the secondary option that of course triple
J. I think it's enough. But if you keep Lucnard as part of
the deal, and maybe Marcus mart is going out and Lucnar is actually healthy.
There's a lot more spacing there, and I think you have enough just
I mean Siakam, Jared Jackson Junior and even Bain. You have enough defense
in there to do some damage on that end of the floor. I would
just be Maybe it's because I have such a not an undefined hold on it,
but it's just such a curiosity. I wouldn't mind seeing Siakam in Memphis
might be my favorite destination of all the just the rumored ones that have been
mentioned. Whether their package stands up to others, I think if you're looking
at the Kings, if you're looking at the Hawks, even if you're looking
at the Pacers, not really so much the Maverick. I guess the Mavericks
all the other teams I feel like can do more for the Raptors in terms
of providing immediate impact players where it doesn't seem like the Raptors are looking to
just start over, tear it down and rebuild. So that's where Memphis is
gonna struggle. You have to be be fine with Lukenar's health and or be
really high on Marcus Smart. Should you be Toronto I'm not outside the realm
of pons possibility, you get. It just feels like oddly sized. If
you go, if you all of a sudden have Marcus Smart and r J
Barrett and Emmanuel quickly and then Scottie Barnes and Yako Peerl, I guess that's
like, maybe I'm underestimating how big RJ actually is. It just be it
would be a weird. You can do a lot of different things with that.
But if you're still having Dennis Shooter on the roster with that, does
feel like you skew a little bit too far towards the guard end of the
spectrum. But shooters reasonably priced at the moment, not on a long term
deal. So perhaps if you really like Smart in Toronto, that is something
that would appeal Smart another salary or two and picks maybe take a flyer and
one of the younger guys too. Do they want to Santi Aldama? As
I hear Williams rebuilding project, is there any value for David Raley or Jake
Lravia at this point? Do you like Exavier Tilmot as sort of a backup
big type? I just I would love to see the Jackson Siakam from court
dynamic basically is where man I think just having Jaw and Bain that would be
all sorts of fun. I think that makes Memphis just an an incredibly immediate
threat, Like should they even make the play in to have those top four?
Because I like Siakam way more than I do Marcus Smart, I think
you just become more of a threat if we're looking for any dark horses that
can kind of come out of left field here. I hope people have mentioned
the Thunder Seacom's a little bit too. If he's gonna be that ball dominant,
I also want him to be a better shooter than he is, and
I also definitely want Josh Giddy being sent out as part of that trade.
So I don't love the idea of, well, let's cannibalize some touches from
J Dubb and shake gilg Alexander and give it to Siakam and just some of
the offensive concerns that they have had with their top end units where it doesn't
feel like there's enough shooting or spacing at times as drive heavy as the Thunder
are, I just don't I don't love it. I could understand it,
but I don't love it. They're not a team that I would necessarily circle
in the Seakam sweepstakes. I'm surprised that Golden State hasn't been mentioned more.
Maybe they're spacing concerns there. Do they just not want to inject another curve
ball into the equation when this season has already kind of gone off the rails.
But they have a lot of questions on defense, especially without Draymond Green
playing Siakam with Steph that is just a two man dynamic that I think could
develop exceedingly well. I think at this point, because R. J.
Barrett is now in Toronto, you're probably looking at more of well and quickly
he's in Toronto, you're I think it would still be the Chris Paul and
stuff route is just the cleanest way to get there. But perhaps you can
give up an old Jananobi. Does that make Andrew Wiggins more valuable too Toronto
in that in those potential talks and if he does, like, how many
picks are you attaching and how do the Warriors feel about going wing for kind
of big and then your best wing defender at that point is Jonathan Minga and
Moses Moody, assuming both stick as part of that deal. I just think
for how urgent Golden State's timeline is, I like the idea of Siakam with
them more than I do some of the other team Detroit certainly than we mentioned
Atlanta. Then we mentioned I do worry about the floor balance if Draymond Green
is gonna stay as part of that deal at the same time, you've played
him a bunch with maybe you make it work. I think I'd just be
more concerned with you kind of need to still hold out hope for Wiggins in
that veins and Seacam's not a wing, and then can you afford to give
up Wiggins in that that package? I think I would say no, just
because you're getting Seacam's creation, which cancels out some of what Chris Paul does
for you, when just the emergence of Pajemski probably helps you offset that a
little bit more. But I could also understand the thought process of Toronto valuing
Andrew Wiggins more than Chris Paul's ostensibly expiring contract. That feels like pretty much
it when you're looking at perspective Siakam suitors. I don't think that, Yeah,
we've seen Houston kind of poke around like second bigs. I don't think
they're ones that that are gonna get in there. Sacam does not work in
New Orleans. They have they have the powder to make a move, but
it's just that's not it. I don't think the Hornets are gonna just lose
their minds and decide to skew towards the win. Now move and get like
that would be very Detroit. Siakam and Brooklyn interest me a little bit.
If you don't have to give up McHale Bridges and you're confident that he's going
to resign, and they have the salary structure just to make that work.
How many picks does it take though at that point? And do you think
that you can play and Nick Claxton together. You certainly can't play both of
them with Ben Simmons. Siakam and Ben Simmons together could be an issue with
Ben Simmons's salary being moved as part of that trade. You can get there
without just because you have Spencer Dinwide, you have Dorian Finney Smith, you
have Roys O'Neil's expiring contract. Don't love him in Brooklyn. He's not the
guy that I would go all in for. But depending on the cost McHale
bridges in Siakam moving forward, and then I think you could probably get him
to play with Mick Claxton. I just I trust Saka more than I do
Ben Simmons to make that work. I've thought a little bit about Chicago just
they're playing well. The zach Lavine Siakam Challenge trade is no longer really you
know, a possibility into oars. It ever was just based off what Toronto
already already did, but in Chicago like sort of taken up. I don't
want to see him playing too much Vouch, but like if you can use
him as the lone big and in lineups with Derozen and all the kind of
wings that they have, like Kobe White the way he's been playing, you
just don't have a lot of pick equity, and so you do have guys
that could probably help Toronto right away. Are you willing to go a pick
in Patrick Williams and Salary? Is there a third team that would send you
stuff for zach Lavine as part of that deal, because I just don't think
Toronto's gonna be interested in him after getting quickly and also Barrett to a lesser
extent that might be something to monitor. I wouldn't just I don't want to
see Chicago tilt towards the wind now direction, even if they could put up
a really good package for I think it could be a competitive package when you're
looking at the first that they have available to give up is Patrick Williams included,
you have to hold on to Kobe White as part of that deal,
I think to make it the most worthwhile I don't know that Toronto's gonna have
an intense amount of interest in Alex Caruso just because then you're skewing smaller,
but that is someone who could defend his his ass off. Would you play
him in quickly together him Dennis Schreuder and quickly in Barnes and go the three
the three guard route like that gets a little complicated, So maybe a trade
here is just more complex and less doable than I initially thought. But like
kind of just having Siaka, I probably like Siaka Chakak a little bit more.
For Levina is still there. That could just be a team I would
see like sort of sneak up in on that. That would pretty much do
it. In terms of just I don't think the Clippers, I do feel
like they might have the horses to get if they were dangling Terrence Man the
first round pick they could give up, they still have matching salary to send
out. I don't know if you want Norman Powell necessarily. I think you
need more of a Jeremy Grant type, just someone who's more plug and play
if there, whether they're big or wings, since you have Harden, Paul
George and Kawhi Leonard and so I think just in a vacuum. My favorite
Pascal Siakam trade destinations that I think are both realistic and well, I don't
know if one of those is realistic, but Memphis might be my favorite Pascal
Siakam destination. India is still up there. I kind of still like Golden
State, and I don't mind Dallas. How's that for just sort of this
lukewarm and tepid whatever, And I think that kind of does it for me.
I don't want to see them, even if if the Lakers had the
the like, the the assets to get it done. Words, yeah,
like we'll take your distance first and like whatever else you could offer swaps and
then Ruey Hotcher Moore, d lan Angel Russell. That's just that's not gonna
be enough, so let's not even waste time on that. I thought about
the jazz briefly. But if you had Larry market In, Walker Kessler and
Siakam, I just that's probably It's probably you could get some creation from Siakam,
which is what they need, and so that makes it a little easier
on Deontay George. I just don't that would be such a weird pivot for
them to acquire this soon to be free Asian. I think I'd rather see
okay See Taka. That's the one where it's I don't love the fit.
But if they were gonna make a swing and they don't want to give up
like eight first round picks to do it, it's just, oh, this
only cost us two first round picks and a young player or something along those
lines. I think I'd like okay See a lot better than I would like
a Utah, a Sacramento, certainly a New Orleans more than more than a
Dallas too. So I don't know where where okay See rates. I'm like
the whole rankings I just went through, definitely below Memphis and Indie for me,
which I guess are my two favorite spots, even though I don't think
the Oakom is a perfect destination for or I don't think Seacome is a perfect
player for Indy. It's okay, see like a solid They're my top five
probably just sort of sort of thinking about it. I like the more than
Sacramento, like I said, or Dallas. Uh. Do I like them
more than Golden State? Probably not, just because Golden States timeline. It's
more urgent. And let's just see how far this thunder thorer could take.
And I really just want Larry Marketen to end up in Okay. See.
Also wouldn't mind Jeremy Grant trade to Okay. See a nice little reunion there.
Let's dive into the actual mail bag, and so we will begin with
question from Muckle, who is your rookie of the year? Why is it
Craig Porter Junior. I'll answer the first part of this question. Chet is
my rookie of the year right now. I had Wemby for the longest time.
The efficiency is just I can't overlook it. Chet has true shooting over
sixty five. His role is easier and that certainly matters offensively anyway, or
at least the thunder and the thunder also putting him in better spots to succeed.
This person started doing a better job of that with Wemby, but it's
still not there on offense, and the efficiency is just too much to overlook.
So I think it's Chet. Wemby's probably still second now. Craig Porter
Junior. I don't know where he'll end up in this discussion. I don't
expect him to register in the Rookie of the Year discussion. He is the
best rookie though that probably nobody is talking about, and you would even need
to, you know, when you want to get We'll get into what I
like about him in a second. When you're even kind of trying to consider
will he could he make in all rookie team. There's a few things just
depending year. He's only made twenty two appearances for under fourger minutes, so
I don't know if he's gonna have the sample. He's also on a two
way contract and so you're gonna need to convert him from to necessarily really play
enough. I would believe to register in that discussion, and those are things
holding him back. However, to get someone who's on dress and having this
much of an impact in part because of injuries, but just in general from
what you've seen of him, there's a peskiness to him defensively, especially when
he's guarding secondary guys. He can really he'll break up plays away from the
ball as well. He's a stellar rebounder for his size and we'll hit the
glass there, and that defensive energy is important. It makes you plug and
play. On offense, he is a little bit less plug and play in
the sense that I think he's a pretty good passer. He's not making any
complicated passes, but he's going to make the right passes and he's not going
to turn the ball over. Tony, he's turning the ball over on fewer
than three percent of his drives. Right now, there's only one other player
who has an assist rate north of twelve with a turnover rate below three on
one hundred and more drives this year. That's Peyton Pritchard. So it's not
like Star Company. We're talking about pretty low volume guys overall, but taking
care of the ball, making good decisions when he's in the lane. But
when you look at his actual score, offense is where it feels like he
can be most valuable, or at least that's what most that's what is most
effective for him when he is managing the game. He just has this way
of wriggling into the lane and around defenses and sort of probing them. And
he like he's a threat to score from a bunch of levels. I just
a bunch of levels. There's not a bunch of levels. He's a threat
to score for multiple levels. He's hitting forty eight point six percent of his
pull up twos, but he's also kind of shown you that he can hit.
It's not just dribbling you into these pull up twos. Shooting eight to
fourteen on turnaround jumpers, and he's also nine to fifteen on step back jumpers,
and so there are levels to his levels of scoring. When you're looking
at the jumper types that he can get away with, he's not taking a
lot of just off ball looks. He can move around without the ball fairly
well. But only one point five percent of his shot attempts have come and
catching shoots right now. That speaks to how the Cavs are using him,
what they're turning tow him for, which is just offensive game management. And
so he's gonna have the ball in his hands a lot of the time when
he's taking the court, but that does complicate the scalability of does he need
to be can he play alongside like another two ball dominant type guys, or
is he gonna need to be someone who strictly leads second units. I just
think you look at the way he plays and there's just this like steadiness to
him that will give your offense an equilibrium while also not sacrificing anything on the
defensive end. This feels like someone who could stick. Feels like someone that
the Cavs might need to figure out how to convert, especially if you know
injuries continue to dampen them. With Darius Garland dealing with the broken jaw,
orhy Ribo is not with the team right now while he's dealing with his mental
health, and it seems like they will either buy him out or create his
contract at some point. Donovan Mitchell's missed a couple of games. He is
back, though you do have karas Avert there. This this this could be
someone that becomes more valuable to them depending on if this team makes a trade
where if they use Karraslvert's salary to do something else that makes Craig Porter Junior
a lot more important even if both Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland or are healthy.
But I do think he will depending on how many minutes he plays,
this will be someone who might be worth some just all rookie type consideration.
And he's not looking the year material right now, but this was a fantastic
find yo getting They really I'm gonna say they got three great fines leading into
this year. Max Strews has just been fantastic. Where's just not the shooting
and the volume, it's the stuff that you can do inside the arc and
the playmaking for them. And then you have Craig Porter Junior, and then
sam Merril has been really good watching him because they were playing the Raptors,
and every time I watch him, it's just like something about his shooting form.
And I tweeted this out on New Year's Day, there's something about sam
Merrel's shooting for him that makes me think he holds the Papa shot record at
dozens of David Buster Buster's locations across the Midwest. That's what I think of
when I watch sam Merril shoot. And so they've had some really good back
to mid end of the rotabll. Max Strew's at the top of the rotation.
But they've had three good finds heading into like for this for this season.
So kudos to the Calves. And I think that Craig Porter drews the
name that you're gonna, I would think, want to learn. Maybe this
is sort of just always played in sub twenty five games and some of that
Shane's gonna wear off, But that is someone who has helped the Calves like
he's been a necessity for the Calves, is what I would say. Whether
he remains that is a matter of course, but just like just one of
the guys that no one is talking nearly enough about. If you go through
on every single team, I still think that even Sam Merril's got some shine.
We know Max Druz has gotten shine. You look at Cleveland and it's
certainly Craig Porter Junior. Let's kind of stick with this rookie theme. We
had a question from rubik'scal where is it okay if you clean up Wemby's shot
chart? I e eliminated his twenty foot jumper for crying out loud and strike
and he passes from Jeremy Sohan would when we win Rookie of the Year.
My answer is maybe when I after going through the exercise of doing this,
so I did it in a couple of sets. Ways, if you Wenby
is shooting under twenty four percent off passes from Jeremy Soewen, uh, that's
not good. So if you remove those from Wemby's total shots on the season,
he will go from he's currently at fifty one point one percent on twos
to fifty five point seven percent on twos. Removing his shots off of Jeremy
so Hamp passes, he would go from thirty one point five percent on He
would go to thirty one point five percent on threes, up from twenty nine
point nine. Not a huge difference, but it'd be nice to be above
thirty percent his true shooting again, removing all the shots he's taken off of
Jeremy so Hamp passes would go from fifty three point two to fifty seven point
nine. The league average is about fifty eight, so that's a pretty big
deal. That's not enough I think to have him be Rookie of the Year.
I guess with the switch they made for him on defense and how I
really do believe he's already transcendent on defense. As bad as the spurs have
been for stretches and just most of this year. On defense, I think
Wemby's already or at least showing the makings of a generational defender, especially now
more than ever that he's their primary big. But when you have Chet at
sixty five plus true shooting, I don't think you hovering around league average is
enough. Now, if we remove just I'm gonna remove long mid range jumpers
from wemby shot diet, and those are twos that are outside of fourteen feet.
He's taken too many of them, and he's shooting twenty nine percent on
them. If you remove that from the equation, his two point percentage goes
from fifty one point one to fifty eight point five percent. His true shooting
would then climb to fifty seven point six percent. Since you're not bumping up
the three point shooting there, you're still gonna hover below league gaverage. The
bigger difference would come. Let's just remove those long twos from the equation and
all three point shot passes from Jeremy Sohan. His true shooting goes up to
about sixty in that regard, and then it get's interesting where it's okay,
a lot of these looks are still gonna be if they're not self created,
they're gonna be a little bit more complex than she is taking. And so
if you have this version of Wemby with sixty percent true shooting as opposed to
fifty three true shooting, I think that might make him Rookie of the Year.
Now I would probably still say no, just there's a narrative base of
this, and I actually I tend to underweight narratives or scoff at them a
lot of the time. But this, I think is a fair one.
Rookie of the Year is not about who's going to be the best rookie,
like who's going to be the best player overall in the years to come.
If you're using that as a tiebreaker because it's so infantitismally close, I get
it. It's supposed to tell the story of this season. I do think
Wemby is a huge storyline for this season. But check Hongren is the second
best player on the second best team in the Western Conference, and maybe he's
the third best player depending on how you feel about Jay Dubb. He's the
top He's already be a top two player on what might be the best team
in the Western Conference. I certainly I think feel better at this point about
Okaysee's playoff stock than Minnesota is. Just in terms of offensive questions. I
think they both have their own sort of voids they need to address there.
That's a really big deal and I think needs to factor into the Rookie of
the Year discussion. I think I will I will argue this to know when
Wemby's roll is a lot harder right now, including on the defensive end.
I firmly believe chn Holmers is a lot better in his role, and I
don't want to penalize him too much for just playing with superior teammates and then
being put in better positions to succeed because of having better teammates and a better
rotation. I will say, look, Wemby, I wonder if experimenting with
the floor general reps for Jeremy Sohan not starting Trey Jones, that if probably
cost a Rookie of the Year round. Because Wemby's effective field goal percentage jumps
by ten plus points when Trey Jones is on the court, and so there
are a lot of these things. You can't just subtract all the long twos.
But if you had a version of Wemby that's at sixty true shooting,
and again that's not totally bonkers just because Leaga average is fifty eight right now,
sixty is kind of the market where us to look at it and go,
oh, that's great, but we're kind of especially for someone who shouldn't
there. He live inside the arc. It's not out, like, completely
outside the realm of possibility for a rookie of his size. I don't I
ultimately don't think any of the stuff I just did is enough. But if
you give Wenby sixty true shooting on what he's doing defensively, I think that
makes this discussion a lot more interesting to have to where right now, I
think you almost need to default to ched Holmgren will see if he hits a
rookie wall how the rest of the season goes. But the fact that he's
been as good as he is, and on top of that, it's for
a team that's as good as they are. I'm not saying he's the driving
force, but he's a transcendent rid protector himself at this point, so I
think he has it on lock, and it would take a real monster about
face inefficiency from Wembat and a lot of that might not necessarily be on him.
He could change some of the shots he's taking the spurs. I think
I've done a better job of putting him in spots on the floor, regardless
of who else is on the court with him lately, to get his looks
up. And I appreciate the spare experimentation. I think self discovery is really
important, and with Wenby, you're still trying to figure it out, whereas
with Jeremy Sohan and the floor general experiment, you just kind of know that's
not going to settle into a productive normal. But I like check Homan is
just so much closer with finished product right now. It would be really tough
for Wemby, I think, to come back and see his Rookie of the
Year, which is a nothing to say when we have more than half the
season to go. Maybe it's premature. There's still one and two for me
if you care about third. I think I think Hami hawkas junior has worked
his way into that discussion. I think you could make cases for Derek Lively,
Brandon Pejemski might be working his way into that. Brendan Miller not so
much. Certainly, in all rookie case Scout Henderson, I think he's gonna
like Economy anders Way in this discussion. He's been playing a lot better of
late, so I think third right now is it comfortably Jimi Hawk as it's
probably it's close like there, I think third would be the fascinating discussion,
But right now I'm still more inclined to go with Hanai Hawks than anyone.
I'm trying to think of off the cuff off rip because I wasn't thinking about
number three and Rookie of the Year if I had really forgotten anyone, and
I don't think that I did there, So fascinating question from Rubik scal next
question will come from Drizzy Watts ass what is the ideal player profile for a
backcourt partner of Tyrese Maxi in the playoffs? We had some answers in the
discords, so I'll address those about the actual players. It's someone who could
defend the point of attack, no matter that player's size or physiological profile.
I would say, unless you're going to get a specific player, I probably
want that partner for Maxi to be six or five or bigger, maybe even
taller than six to five. But sixty five at the least. I think
ball skills would be a plus here because the Sixers could use another creator,
especially in lineups that might not have MAXI. But the defense is probably more
important. And then you just want someone who can reasonably space the floor,
maybe attack in open space, going downhill off the catch, what have you.
Because when we were talking ideal, it's okay the answers we got were
Paul George or Jimmy Butler. That's the answer. But what you're trying to
make concessions and be more realistic of players who actually exist too. But I
think if you had to pick one, I'm gonna skew more towards the defensive
end of the spectrum rather than this player needs to be two way or it
needs to provide x amount of creation. You don't want him to be a
spacing viability. But if you went with a defense first non star type,
obviously smaller end of the spectrum, probably at like a lou Dort like someone
like that, where they'll get up threes at least and we'll attack in open
space off the dribble. When you're looking at kind of offense first as a
non star, maybe Devin vessel, and he probably provides enough defense to where
he's not no defense, and so that would be kind of a fascinating proposition
if you're looking for and I feel like Devin Sell might be too high end.
The complete like this is a role player because we don't want to focus
just on stars, but it's the most complete role player type. CACP feels
like a good one. That dude just goes there and wins and just does
his job. And I don't know if he'll ever make all defense. I
think he's slipped there for kind of a hot start there and he can go
through lows offensively, but that's just someone who will fill a ton of gaps.
And so CACP is sort of the non star type if you're looking now,
if we want to get super ambitious, even a non star type and
this is Derek White would be a really good fit next to Again, not
someone who's gonna necessarily fit the size criteria that I put. Do you want
a little bit more out of him from an offensive scoring perspective, perhaps,
but like he's a good enough passer and just a you know, a palacious
defender that would be perfect obviously not gettable, And that's That's where I get
caught up in this because someone like Devin Booker makes a lot of sense next
to Maxie. I think not so much lately, but he's improved enough defensively
over the years to where I think you look at a Maxi Booker backcourt and
it's okay, like we're comfortable with it. But like Paul George Jimmy Butler,
even though those guys aren't necessarily considered, they could play to what are
positions at this point you want to be realistic about it, and it's well,
who's ideal and then might be potentially gettable here. That's why I kind
of thought about Fort. I thought about Dort. I thought about lou Dort
just because I don't think he's untouchable in Okay. See, I do think
he's more important to them than Josh Gidty if anybody cares about that. So
I think this is the name I will said on is Michal Bridges of someone
who I could see becoming available. Is very high end. It's not super
duper high end, but he's high end enough. I like, does he
give you? I think he gives you everything that you need. He probably
checks all the boxes without being the best solution possible to where it might be
someone who is a master of nothing almost on offense. But I mean you
just look at and that's that's even too cruel. But it's now you slide
him into a role where he's your third highest usage player, but he also
at times might be your second depending on sort of the matchup, where at
least he doesn't have multiple perimeter players in front of him. In Phoenix,
it was okay, we very much have Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Here.
I know you have Joel Embiid, but there's just something a little bit
more sensible about what it's Maxie and Embiid. It's just the one to three
five almost type of balance there. You know what he's gonna give you defensively,
can just go check the opponent's best player, especially if his offensive usage
doesn't need to be too complicated or too high. Gives you though, I
think enough playmaking or just enough ball skills to where if you need to run
him and embedd without Maxie or you're looking for someone to do you don't ever
want to separate, well not ever separate, but you want em beat on
the court with Maxie Moore you want to bench both those at the same time.
I think mckil bridge is someone who could slide in there. That would
be the name for Hilly, which is ironic because they could have had kel
Bridges. But that's the guy where it's okay, what is Brooklyn doing.
I don't think they're gonna trade him, but he's certainly more available than a
Jimmy Butler. The answer is not ZII or Smith. Unfortunately. I would
argue mckel bridges is more likely to become available this season than Derek White.
And so that's why I sort of said ale on that that's a great question.
Let's stick with the sixers though, because I think that we have another
question. It was from Rubikscal. I'm gonna do just two questions per per
person. By the way, well cap A max on that if you want
to join in on these mailbanks discord, you can email us as well,
Hardwood Knox at gmail dot com. I will get to it. You can
message me on all the other social media accounts, and I do sometimes send
out Twitter solicitations because I want to cater to everybody would join our discord be
a part of that community. We have a lot of ogs who are really
driving discussions. There's a bunch of you in there that talk all the time.
I like seeing it when I'm not participating in the discussion, I like
reading what you guys have to say. So join discord our discord liasts in
the podcast and you tube description. If you're not about Discord, change that
do it. Just try it. You don't have to be in there all
the time. Just join our discord Police Tobias Harris, though, question from
Rubikscal is Tobias Harris going to get any love from anyone? He is shooting
fifty one forty seven to ninety one for seventeen point six rebounds, three assists,
and to steal, and he ranks right up near on the top of
the Sixers and most hustle stats. Those balls recover deflections and threes contested.
So look here I want to in defense of Sixers fans and people who overlook
Tobias Harris, here's the one thing that doesn't count as a defense anymore,
the Tobias Harris contract. For what the Sixers were at. It's just I
get why you give the five Did they they chose wrong? If it was
an either er thing between Jimmy and Tobias Harris. They were good enough where
had aspirations that were high enough to say we're gonna pay Tobias Harris. It
doesn't matter if he's our third or fourth best player. That's just the cost
of doing business at what you thought was a championship level. I still get
that his pay grade was too high relative to the value he's providing, even
as the pecking order changed. Now he's number three in it. He's taking
up less than twenty nine percent of your salary cap this year. It's an
expiring contract. I know the number thirty nine point three million looks like a
lot. I get it, But like it's an inspiring contract. Now,
that's that is not I want to make clear the reason that he should be.
Like, if he's not receiving enough recognition, and it's because people say
he's overpaid, that's a shitty reason. It's not a valid reason. Quite
frankly, a more valid reason would be he just seems to be non existent,
too bad to losing his superpowers on offense for too long. He starts
off really hot this season, goes through some cold stretches, seems like he's
perking up a little bit from what I've seen lately, that's good. He
needs to be more consistent, and part of that might be trying to find
the balance of looking at everything he needs to do for the Sixers on both
ends, where he's kind of toggling between these different existences and you can call
him the third option, but at times it's really like, well is it
not? You have? You know now that Nicholas Patuma is there as sort
of this connective tissue, but there's also Dmney Melton and then Kellyubrid Junior we
know is not going to pass. He's toggling between a bunch of different existences
and I think that does complicate his offensive role. He deserves more credit though
for doing it and doing it well for long stretches. The fact that he's
dropped below thirty five percent on Spot Up threes for a year could be another
reason why he's going overlooked. Actually think he mostly needs to be given more
credit. This is the thing that I think is underrated for his defense,
where it's not lockdown, but it's oh, he's gonna I have watched him
or have seen that he this season. I've seen him defend that he has
defending karl Anthy Towns, Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, Jason Tatum. Like,
that's kind of the positional spectrum he's dealing with where if you're a wing
combo forward, big and to have to tackle that. And there's sometimes been
some smaller players that he'll find himself onto, not in super not in like
super duper high volume, I want to be clear, but like the prime
the primary reps for sure, those are the guys that he is going up
against that is that's no small shakes, and he holds his own a lot
of those times. It isn't always pretty, but like and you have Joel
Embiid is the backbone of your defense, but when you don't have the option
of, like, who else are you throwing on those dudes because you don't
have this size even you can see that again, Deantey Mountain is great.
He might struggle against the Kyle Kuzma or Denny Avia or DeAndre Hunter just because
of the size difference, and they're like, no, Tobias is gonna those
guys. And there's gonna be certain nights where he's to deal with some of
the more mobile sort of forward types where it's oh, when when Obi Toppin
was a stable the Pacers. You're gonna watch him on him or Patrick Williams
or we've seen him. I seem to have vent Paleoll ban Caro. It's
just he's all over the place, and I have named when you get the
ban Caro and Siakham and Kuzma, kind of feels like you're dealing with the
same market type of player. Carl Anthony Towns doesn't fit that mold. Scottie
Barnes doesn't fit that mold. Evan Maldgley, that doesn't fit that mold.
And so I think he deserves a lot of credit for what he does on
the defensive end. The path to him. What I do appreciate about him
on offense is, for the most part, we need to value the zero
to one dribble decision making, i'll call it where that renders him such an
easy fit on almost any team. Is someone who maybe not all the time,
but he's okay making those quick decisions to pass, shoot, drive,
attack whatever. And to have that in someone who can also play as well
defensively as he is in the size it's six's eight six' nine that
he is. That's a big deal, and at the same time, he
still does have that mismatch attacking element to his game. He's shooting fifty two
point seven percent on sixty plus turnaround jumpers this season. That's the that's the
stat I decided to cite it on Earth. Here. He can punish dudes
in the post on those turnarounds, maybe you don't always want him taking those.
That's like, this is someone who is just can wear a bunch of
different hats and not look exceedingly overtaxed. Now he goes through those valleys where
it does look like he's maybe not overtaxed, but just sort of doesn't know
what he's doing or loses himself within the offense. And I would like to
see the three point volume come up for him, especially given the dynamics of
this team. But Tobias Harris is probably one of the most underrated players in
the NBA at this point. I think he is can be maddening from a
perspective if you need him to be your third best player every single night and
to help you win playoff series. Have we ever seen him reach the defensive
level Andrew Wiggins did during the twenty twenty two postseason look, he's come a
lot close to than not Wiggins handled some more point of attack assignments there.
You can't trust the Bias Harris to be that player. Frankly, you can't
trust Andrew Wiggins to be that player. As we're seeing now. I do
think he's probably one of the more underrated players in the NBA. And I'll
be so interested to see maybe he gets traded this year if the Sixer are
looking to take back big money. But if you're Sixers fans, but who
was supposed to retire at the end of this season, and it's just like,
you know, don't start talking about patom and and Roco and just like,
oh, we have enough like to get by without Tobias Harris. Just
be careful what you wish for there. It's different if you're bringing someone else
in. He's part of a trade, but he's gonna hit free agency.
He'll have his suitors. If you're still gona be paying him thirty plus million
dollars a year, is that how you want to use that salary slot.
It's a discussion, But be careful what you wish for here, because I
do think he is one of the more underrated players in the League at this
point. Next question, we'll hold that for the answer that it's about me
personally. I love when people care enough to ask about myself. I do
appreciate that unbiased Pistons fan, when will the suffering end? But in all
seriousness, who's going to get snubbed from the All NBA teams? Because it's
positionless first and foremost, congrats and biased pissings fan. The suffering has come
to an end. In a matter of speaking, you've picked up the w
Now you just get back to the point of being frustrated by what Troy River
is doing or not doing, what Tom Gorres might be saying, or what
Monty Williams is doing. Is Jane maybe being too marginalized? What the fuck
is going on with Ursara Thompson right now? YadA, YadA, YadA.
But that form of suffering has come to an end. This is a great
question about the All NBA teams right now. I think what's gonna end up
happening. Biggs will wind up getting the short shrift here. And I'm not
gonna say this player at or these two players that it's gonna come at their
expense. And one I think there will be some players who benefit because of
the game's minimum looking at that sixty five game threshold. So while I could
see it going positionless is going to hurt a some bonus or a Randall if
those two dudes hit the game's minimum, I'm looking at Randall specifically on top
of just a total minutes that ends up helping them. The two players that
I have singled out would be just as I could see it like it hurting
them is Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert. And now Davis, you might get
into a game's minimum conundrum at this point, but I think you just start
to look at Rudy Gobert specifically, when you had the center spot, he
is I don't want to say prob I don't want to I hate talking in
absolute terms, but I think he might be my runaway Defensive Player of the
Year right now. And so if he was going you win that award,
he just automatically you get third team All NBA billing at that point is what
you should when you had the center spot that doesn't exist. And so I
would argue, if you believe he's gonna win Defensive Player of the Year,
he is the player that this is going to hurt the most. After that,
I could see it being a in Anthony Davis type would be my second
biggest pick, and maybe just a more legitimate pick because Davis does have that
all around impact. He's just a better offensive play finisher and has some more
self starting elements to his offensive game than Gobert. But when you start to
get into the guards and wings equations of this, and so there are just
fifteen spots, and let me just I haven't I don't have this list.
Let me just all rip see how many All NBA locks we could say we
can name. So there are fifteen spots. We know that I'm already this
is so I'm starting to name fifteen right off the bat, and now I
just can't name any because there's so many balls going in my mind. You
have, in no particular order. You have Luca, you have Shay,
you have Jokic, you have Embiid, you have I think Tatum's gonna make
an All NBA team, even though his some of his individual numbers have been
underwhelming. I would say one of, if not both of, Kevin Duran
and Lebron James are locks. And so we're at six or seven right there.
Who else am I forgetting? Is Steph gonna work? Like? Steph
feels like he might be a lock at that point. That's eight, Like
we're Daron Fox, is he'd be a lock for me at this point?
That's nine. And then you're gonna have like, now you're getting into the
discussions of well, who else belongs in there? Did I forget anybody else
that needs to be in this like actual discussion? I'm sure that I did
just by doing that off rip. But you have the I'll call them the
more to batibles, and I'll use some of these guys an example where it's,
you know, a Trey Young, a Jaylen Brunson. Are they gonna
be on everyone's all in the A teams? No, but the agency they
have over the offense might help them curry favor over in Anthony Davis, certainly
over a Rudy Gobert. So you have those names to watch, and then
also just it does feel like people might be gravitating more towards the wing types,
especially if they've elevated their playmaking. Does Scottie Barnes get more consideration than
a Rudy Gobert in this discussion? Like that is something that could actually happen
as bad as the the Toronto Raptors may have been. We haven't even mentioned
like it's Quhi gonna play it, like if Kuhi plays in enough games,
he will work his way into that. And so I do think the game's
minimum might take care of some of the awkwardness. But I can get to
just off the cuff of having ten locks and that this is nothing about well
will Devin Booker end up with enough playing time? Where does James Harden and
Paul George end up in this discussion? And so I'm just sort of again,
I'm trying to focus strictly on the line in my mind, and Jimmy
Butler is if he plays enough game will probably be a lock. I think
Bam will be another player. His case is always just so weird. This
season it felt like he might have had his strongest case, and so I'll
loop him into there. Those three players Bam, A d and Go Bear
is just the answer. I just don't know if it's a fair one,
because he is the one position player and you could like even like just because
these defensive Player of the Year, he's guaranteed to get that third center spot.
Isn't necessarily fair. You could argue that type of thinking might impede the
case of a Davis or a bam Adebayo because they're eligible at probably powerful what
end center in past years. But those are the three players I would say,
bam Anthony Davis, and Gobar. I would say right now, at
least two, if not all, three of those guys are going to be
left off an All NBA team. And I think it in large part it
will be not because they don't deserve it, and not because the players would
get elected to it don't deserve it. But it's just gonna be more wing
and guard heavy. I didnt even mentioned Dondvan Mitchell at this point, so
it's just gonna be so guard heavy that I think I think that ends up
hurting all three of those dudes. Great question, though, we'll have to
see where it kind of shakes out by the end of the year. Our
next question comes from oh man, this was to I gave this so much
thought, dark Wing Duck, A friend of the pop ass or says friend
of the podcast Tony Jones thinks the last person to produce in the league like
Larry market In is prime. Klay Thompson, do you have a better comp.
I see where Tony's going with this, just because of how much of
a play finisher it Larry Marketen is mostly from the perimeter, but the stuff
that stands out aside from the size and the positional differences and just you know,
when you're looking at offense, I get the comp to play a little
bit, but not so much on defense. There's not as much chaotic movement
to the way Marketing is scoring on offense as there was with Thompson. And
he's also like, that's someone you're gonna trust to be inside the arc a
little bit more than sixty percent on twos. Like, holy fucking shit,
Larry market there, and this is just the second straight year they's averaging over
twenty points while banging in more than fifty eight percent of his twos and more
than thirty seven percent of his threes. The list of players that have multiple
seasons of that are basically like Lebron James and then the player who I'm actually
gonna compare him to, And I think this is maybe it's too spicy,
but I honestly think this is the one. And it's in part it's team
context dependent for sure, and it's not perfect but I also think there's the
size element of it. It's probably and I'll say the first two years,
but Warriors era Kevin Durant to focus on another like person who's suited up for
the dubs. Just when you look at twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, those
first two years specifically, Kevin Rant was doing a lot of just he's still
he did more on ball work than market I want to make that clear.
Over ninety percent of Marketing three pointers are coming off asists. Kevin Rant,
Like that share was never that high, even in Golden State, but there
was a point where more of his baskets were basically coming off of assists than
self created. And it wasn't even though he was in the Warrior system.
It wasn't off of this super complicated like running around momentum. It was the
byproduct of he is one of the most lethal shooters and finishers just from every
level. Marketing doesn't necessarily have that same mid range, doesn't like that's a
hot day, isn't going to have that same you know, dribble pull up
to his game from the mid range. But like it just reminds me of
that a little bit where it's someone who is not strictly a prey play finisher.
And I do think marketing definitely comes closer to actualizing strictly a play finisher's
role than Kevin Durant would, but just in terms of, you know,
they can do more, but the way they're being used or the way that
they've been optimized and are most efficient, they're not doing the heaviest lifting,
and that just reminds me with that efficiency with his role, of how Kevin
Durant was used on the Warriors at time. I think, if I really
had to say it, it's sort of this and it's two players who are
better than him, but it's like this meld of Warriors era Kevin Durant and
then the best version of Anthony Davis that the Lakers have seen, probably Bubble
Anthony Davis is it. And I'm looking strictly at offense here, not defense.
I hope that's fair, not too spicy, or at least I hope
dark Wing Duck or anybody else who's listening to this you see where I'm coming
from at It's a fascinating question to really think about, though, just because
of how good market has been over this these last two these last two seasons
and we have three more questions, and two of them come from Rome eighty
one to eighty Let's start with I feel like I might have answered this one
already, but I'll answered again. Is there a player archetype that you have
a saft spot for? Is there a player type you have a disproportional dislike
for league guard types with size who always look like they could be something more?
Are my soft spots here? And I think I have others where it's
sort of like the Connectors where I love I love a good Derek White,
I love a good Nicholas Patoum. Anyone who could do a no dip three
is basically someone I'm gonna love. But when I look at and to use
an example of some of my successes and failures, although I'll never admit to
one of these failures, but like why I was so enamored with franknil Akina
is there was a smoothness to his game and he had some size at six
' five, and it was never it never came together, the finishing package,
the shooting package, the offensive motor. It just says you have to
come together. Even though he's the greatest player of all time, and so
I look at him and I'm just fully gonna believe that because he has that
size, that he could be more. It's also why I was so enamored
heading out of the draft. Now that I know they're gonna be this good,
I want to make clear, no, but Shay givigch Alexander and Tyrese
Haliburton, and that's again, like, oh, top ten top ten players
right now, all mel and Tyres Albert and all NBA lock. I didn't
mention him in that little brief exercise we did. That's what's so hard about
doing an off rip. So I'm a sucker for those types of players.
And if there's like more of a reclamation project, so I'm not just riding
the coattails of somebody who is, you know, already a superstar or an
All NBA type player. The Frank Neil Akina archetype is just what I'm gonna
be drawn to. I'm trying to think of if there's anybody else in the
league right now that might fit this mold a little bit more. Emmanuel Quickly
is too small, but I would be a sucker for like that, where
it's like he's not a good enough passer, but it's like he does so
many other things that that might be more in the mold of the Frank Neil
Keinez like that would still be a soft spot. And why I have a
sauce spot four IQ not just because I've you know, watched him so long
while he was on on the mix Kiante George, that would be I was
pretty high on him coming out of the draft. I don't know if he
fits that kind of size thing. What does he has? He listed it
six' four so including six that's six four sixty five type where they're bigger
than the than the Steph Currs, even like Kntavious Colo Pope. I remember
back in the day and this was I was wrong on this. I'm gonna
use this as part of my he's more of the Connector type. Now I'm
gonna use this as a failure. But when he was with Detroit, why
I thought he was worth a MAX deal was because I thought he could be
like a one C creator type and so like clearly that didn't pan out.
It was why I was so enamored with Josh Jackson when he was coming into
the draft. I was so enamored with Stanley Johnson for so long, and
so it's those and those were kind of wings, but it's a lead,
not quite league guarter wing type. So I think can be that or at
least offer more than just their specialty or connector production. When it comes to
people that I maybe just player types I discriminate against, perhaps unfairly. I
think a lot of people are just gonna land on the peer two. I
land on the peer four. Who can't slide down to the three or get
by at the five, especially if they're ball dominate, and so that they're
not then totally scalable on offense to looking at what they what they do.
And so I've held out hope for John Collins for so long, but I
recognize that he kind of fall I call them infinitely scalable or scalable as fuck,
whatever I said about him, there's still an element to that a little
bit on offense. But he is a peer four. I think that's you
know, you look at Julius Randall, he is a peer four, and
it's I he's probably become underrated. His his legacy is gonna be legacy for
Julie Rendal. We're to look back on his career or at least this window
of time of his career, and that's gonna be a fascinating discussion to have
at some point, especially if he makes a third All NBA team or third
All Star Game end or third All Star Game. But like, you can't
play Randall at the five, I guess some teams technically could. You're definitely
not gonna play him at the three because he can't card that spot or even
come close to it. It's just those pure four types. I thought Kegan
Murray was gonna end up being that by the way, talk about being wrong,
he certainly leveled that up defensively, And when I refer to peer fours,
it does more more so refer to defensive conundrums. And then you can
endear yourself to me still if you're John Collins by being plug and play on
the offensive end. But if you're you know it's gonna be you have to
work a lot harder unfair or not for me to fall in love with a
Julius Randall type. And he certainly, you know, he's wedged his way
into my heart at points. But like just sort of those those pure fours,
I can't I can't bring myself even it's some people might view Pascal Siakam
in this vein. I think he gives you more switchability on defense and that
there are teams that could get you away or get away with playing him as
as the five. And know everyone knows how high I'm on VM Mobley,
he's not up here for if arguably he's been miscast as a four, he
should be a three or five. That's what That's what Evan Mobley should be.
And so those are sort of the that's probably the player of archetypes I
get a little like unhappy with, and I not unhappy, but those are
ones that I might hold to a higher bar just I'm not about them.
And then there's also something too, even if just because they're switchable, like
the players that I just view as replicable at what could be a lower cut
rate, whereas I'm never gonna be as high on a Grant Williams or a
Miles Bridges on the court that I am going to on a lot of like
other of these players who I think can either do more or can be similar
players could be approximated for for cheaper. Next question from Rome asks where are
we here? Oh? If Cleveland doesn't achieve what they want this year.
They're waiting for Toronto to get Donovan Mitchell. The Raptors may not want a
guy who could leave. But I don't like the Mitchell fit in New York
at all. Toronto intrigues me. Though I am with you on the Mitchell
fit in New York. I still think you have Melan Brunson now, and
so there's a redundancy to getting another small guard there if you wanted to go
that route. I'm to harp on the Knicks for a second. You should
probably focus on like Dejontay Murray is the move now because you don't have Emmanuel
Quickly or RJ Barrett there. So don't necessarily love that fit. But he's
done enough on offense, I don't. I love it even less with having
Randall and Brunson on the team. And then also you will have sacrificed a
probably too much three point volume going from IQ to Ojiananobi and then it's whoever
you're gonna move now to de Jontay Murray. Just feels like your shot profile
could get really messed up. There might be like a little bit too Rjit,
A more efficient rj enis to the shot profile Toronto with Donovan Mitchell.
I don't love it now because Emmanuel Quickly is there and I think you want
like you're gonna pay him, and so are you gonna invest in two of
these smaller guards. I think they can play together just because of what a
manual Quickly does defensively, I think he can go. I think he's a
combo guard defensively. I think that helps. And the fact that he's not
just this a plus passer. It allows you to work with neither him and
Mitchell or a plus passers until you'll get enough aggregate passing out of them.
And Scottie Barnes maybe RJ Barrett if he sticks to make it work. My
distaste here would be I don't know what the package looks like. What does
Toronto have? Uh, there's a he's thirty five. I'm tired. What
does the package look like like? What does Toronto have that Cleveland wants?
They could restock Cleveland's draft well a little bit if you're moving Mitchell and the
price to get Mitchell, I'm assuming over the summer, when he's entering the
final year of his contract before his player option, it won't be that high.
But like, what is the Cleveland's not gonna be looking to rebuild if
they're trading Mitchell, So it can't just be a picks thing. Who from
the Raptors do you want on? Like that helps the Calves? Are they
gonna have interest in RJ. Barrett? They might almost need to if that's
the route you're gonna go here, and I don't. I don't think they're
going to, Uh, you're not gonna have interest even like, Okay,
Grady Dick maybe, and so it's Grady Dick in salary. You're not gonna
throw a Yaka Perl on a roster that has Jared Allen and Evan Mobley on
it. Garret tren Junior will be a free agent. I guess there's a
sign and trade thing to be worked out there. Dennis Shooter becomes a little
bit valuable in that trade, I suppose, because you are giving up Donovan
Mitchell, so you're looking at the guards. Could there be like a sign
in trade with Quickly involved? Probably not. I think Toronto would prefer to
have Quickly at this point for what he does defensively and how much they trust
Scottie Barnes. And then there's just you don't want to give up too too
much in a player who's gonna hit free agency and could or probably would leave
Toronto unless the Raptors are on Mitchell's list. I don't think the Caves trade
Mitchell, by the way, at least well, we're talking about the off
season, so that's more open for debate. It gets it just gets weird.
And so we even to see Acams on the roster, that'd be really
you talk about a gargantuan setup. Let's have Saka with Mobile and and Jared
Allen that would need to be assigned Trake season be free agent as well.
I think you're probably look at it. So it needs to be picks and
then Shrewder and Barry like it's some combination of Shrewder, Barrett Dick and Grady
Dick and picks, not Dick picks, just Grady Dick and picks, like
some sort of combination of that. And I don't know. I think Cleveland
can do better or for its roster, even if you like that asset play
by moving down to Mitchell, and that's where it gets weird. And then
I honestly just don't know. So if your core let's say that Mitchell stays,
if your core is quickly Mitchell and Barnes is sort of your top three,
and then Siakam is there is there? I like it? Do I
love it? I don't know. It feels a little to wing light all
of a sudden, which is a weird thing to say about Toronto. You
still have Scotty Barnes there, so maybe not. I don't hate the fit
of Mitchell in Toronto. I think I'd be more intrigued by seeing him go
to a team that doesn't necessarily have the the league guard already in place.
I guess the Mitchell's hit some gears defensively in Cleveland, where I wouldn't.
I wouldn't. I wouldn't hate it as Rome without talking me into it.
You might have talked me into it. I just only don't think there's gonna
be a trade match there, and I do. I would still be more
intrigued with what happens if you put Donovan Mitchell in New Orleans or what happened
that's your team role. Maybe you don't want to see Donovan Mitchell in in
New Orleans. What happens if you put Donovan Mitchell with Red van Vwiet in
Houston and you're just kind of done with the Jayleen Green experiment. I don't
hate that at all. We go on state get involved in that, I'd
be more intrigued. I might be more intrigued by that. So they're not
kind of my favorite destination, but they're intriguing enough even after the iq RJ
Barrett trade. Good question though. We actually do have two questions left.
This one comes from Austin about Andre Drummond is twenty fifteen Andre Rumman two.
The Andre Drummond come through on a time loop. Yeah, he's been good
for Chicago. Highest offensive rebounding rate of his career, second highest defensive rebounding
rate of his career. I think what really helps him in Chicago, and
look, there's he's still got offensive problems man with shot selection and finishing.
Who's shooting below fifty six that's the big yikes for a big man, especially
when the league averages is fifty eight. What I think makes him so good
in Chicago is he's playing in smaller bursts and then they've simplified his role defensively.
He's allowing sub fifty six percent shooting at the hoop. There's that streamlined
role defensively for him around the basket, and now it not only helps playing
in smaller bursts, but all these aggressive perimeter defenders. A lot of the
lineup su you're gonna see him in, and just a lot of the Bulls
lineups in general are two to three of Alex Cruzo, Iota soon move Javon
Carter and Patrick Williams on the court. That's massive for him when you look
at how disruptive all of those guys didn't really be on the perimeter. I
still think that he can be valuable as sort of a not even stop gap
big, but it's just this cheaper option if you need a big where it's
like if New York is uncomfortable with Precious at you a sort of filling out
their minutes at the five with a healthy once he's healthy, Jericho Sims and
then Isaiah Hart and Semi Asis Mitchell Robinson, or if the Grizzlies, you
know they have Jaron Jackson junior, there's someone Xavier Tillman, but they don't
want He could work in Memphis like that, but he still kind of needs
to be in that smaller burst role or around a bunch of other not a
bunch, but at least two other aggressive defenders, and so that's why maybe
New York with OG would probably work for him. With OG and heart is
there, so that could help Chicago. It just feels like it might be
perfect for him where if you were looking at him to be the backup big
Let's just say in Sacramento, for instance, or in Dallas, you're not
gonna have the same level of impact there, even though there's some better setup
men in Sacramento and Dallas specifically. Final let's this will be the final question
comes from where is it? Oh, here we are d nits. Who
are your favorite writers and reporters? And why so some criteria here I'm only
gonna focus on there's one or two people who they're only doing specific team coverage,
but I'm focusing on league wide coverage in net. And I'm also not
I'm not gonna include people who just podcast where it's Steve Jones is on here
for sure, but he's not writing, and so Nicias Duncan is definitely up
there. He's not writing as often, but he he and Steve Jones collectively.
You know how I feel about the dunker spot. Some of the brightest
minds in the business and the way that I really appreciate when Nicias is writing
what he's able to do, and when he's breaking down perspective fits or new
fits for guys who haven't necessarily played on these teams yet, when he's reacting
to trade rumors or recent trades, I think he does an excellent job of
that. You're gonna laugh. He's my co host. Grant Hughes, one
of the most underrated writers in the business. I love the way he looks
at the game. He can. He just has these turns of phrases where
he's both economical and his word count, but he's also just very clever and
point and so I love reading him and podcasting with him, and he's a
genuine friend. So Grant. Kaitlyn Cooper of course shout around this podcast many
times. I know she predominantly does just pacers, but she has branched out
into league wide coveraget points and when she does, she absolutely kills it.
And there's no one who is more nuanced, more specific and then blends all
that with there's just not whether it's even and Zachlow's on this list as well.
He doesn't need an explanation here. There's personality in his writing in addition
to it to be it being in depth. And then I really like that
he runs the spectrum of He'll talk about rumors and perspective, trade fits.
It's not just all x's and o's, but what Cooper is able to do
from the x'es and o's breaking down the game perspective to one, making it
accessible to everybody. And then just a really fucking good writer. It's just
not out there. There's maybe three people, three to five people who do
it like can blend that as well as she does, and no one does
it better than she does. Katie high Knows also on there the Basketball Feelings
substack. She's just absolutely great. I read anytime I read anything she writes,
I automatically hate everything I write that much more because she is just a
capslock writer. And she's also good at touching into the emotional side of this
game, of this league, of the difficult topics when there are podcasters and
writers and probably including myself, where we're too quiet or not loud enough when
it comes to the Miles Bridges domestic violence allegations and issues, and the same
thing with the Christops Porsliga's rape allegations that does just disappeared her willingness to step
out on that limb also as a women in sports where it's you're gonna be
unfairly discriminated against to begin with from audiences, on top of just being so
super talented to just have that courage and the gall to talk about the profoundly
important subjects that she does. I appreciate the content that she puts out there,
and it's a different way of looking at the league for some people where
it's not going to be as ny gritty about the x's and o's. But
that's a good change of pace. And it also it taps, like I
said, into the emotional side of the game a lot more than anyone else
is going to. And you can still if you're a basketball Sico, you
were still good to find so much enjoyment out of what she writes. Brian
Taporek coworker's mind. He is very good at what he does, especially from
a salary cap perspective. I always love too when he gets to edit my
pieces, if it's something on the Sixers specifically he does write at Liberty Ballers.
He's also writing at Forbes, but the salary Cap the CBA. Knowing
that he is all over that. It really it makes me feel more confident
what's going out there. His podcast co host Mort Jensen does a great job
looking at the game league wide. I really like that his writing is very
accessible to everybody, where he's able to distill down a lot of big picture
stuff or even some really nuanced, some tedious stuff, just down to like,
Okay, this was very economical, and what he did it was clear,
it was well written. I can wait understanding and learning something new.
And he's very confident in his opinions the way he is able to portray those
where I think a lot of us. For me, I don't want to
be wrong. I'm going to hedge and so I might use a lot of
maybe and likes and try not. I might not be absolute enough in a
lot of my analysis, and I think Moore does a good job of like
straddling that line of No, he's not this absolutist, but he is definitive
and confident in what he's saying. Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports Now doesn't like
when he gets to go in depth he does. I love how in depth
he's able to go on topics where he does what Bleacher Report does, what
I've done a lot of the time, and I strive to do is Yeah,
you're gonna have to do with these most interesting teams or x number of
teams that do this rext number of players, and he's still able to go
into detail and make it his own. But then when he does dive in
to just that singular topic. One of the best things he wrote this year
had to do with Wemby and the Spurs. He is really good to just
bring the heat and the factual evidence support everything he's saying. One of the
cleanest writers where the sentences can be like they're a great version of long.
There's like such a flow to the way that he is writing. Michael Penaw
the Ringer is really good at what he does. He does a great job
of covering a lot of ground and not too much space where it makes you
feel like you're sitting there too long, and yet at the same time,
when he goes into singular topics or reports on something, it's always going to
be super informative to learn something new there as well. Rob Mahoney one of
my favorite writers of all time. He's on the level of Caitlin Cooper where
it's like if you're taking someone's ability to just be a fucking incredible writer,
but have this understanding of the game and then provide this factual evidence and then
apply it to the entire league. Or it's not just it's not just diagnosing,
it's prognosticating. It's not just acknowledging this is what I watched, it's
well, what can happen here? Or what's going to be wrong here?
What could be done better? What would I suggest here? His reporting has
really leveled up a notch as well since he's been at the Ringer. In
my opinion, he and Dan Devine are probably two I've never invited either of
them on this podcast, I don't think, but those would be like dream
podcast guests. Everyone else that I've named so far, I believe it,
with the exception of Zach Lowe has been on this podcast. Nicaius has not
been on this either. He did help me with a Bleacher Report project once
he was provide his expertise for that some others. Amon Aiden she's been on
the podcast a few times. She's over at pros and Clause. She does
cover a lot of the raptors, but she has branched out into other stuff
as well, and she's good at tackling tackling some really they could be controversial
topics or sensitive topics, and then I just like she is able to go
into and provide excuse me, entertaining analysis where it's like she's mixed with jokes
on Twitter, but then her writing can sometimes include some of those, but
then it's also like you're reading a different person in a good way. And
that's something I've always done, not necessarily to emulate after I'm on, but
something I appreciate about her and something I always try and do. It's,
yeah, I can come off as like snarky on Twitter, but my writing
is going to be like I can really turn a phrase if I want to.
I'm not good at confident in myself, but I can be a really
good writer when the situation allows for it. And she's able to do that
incredibly well. And I've always liked the stuff she tackled a lot of the
I think where her strength is like kind of outside the actual basketball stuff is
like when she was talking about the Damian Lillard trade quest and how to view
it not just in terms of should the Raptors go after it? But how
do you view someone like that? And giving the one team trade request and
that element of it, and she did a great job there. Esperained probably
one of the hardest working guys in the business. I'm sure you all follow
him on Twitter. He does a lot of multimedia stuff. He's been He's
been really great on video. He's a great Twitter follow He does a lot
of stuff with the Raptors, but he's really knowledgeable when it comes to the
league as a whole. Keith Smith reports some stuff Noh's the CBA backwards and
forwards. He is absolutely great. I think that's probably it just for now
here. I'm sure I forgot people, but those are just like off the
cuff, the and when when we're looking at peer reporters I like I like
Mark Stein, his substack has been really useful. Jake Fisher, I like
that he integrates like some personality into his reporting or analysis into his reporting,
and sometimes it feels understated. Where I think he had a lead on the
was it the Raptors trade for Anonobe the intel that came and just like he's
kind of sneak in these either they're like digs, they're not too biting,
or just personality in the reporting. Where Zach Low does it too, and
he just doesn't report as much. But like Jake Fischer's a lot of catslock
reporter, so I appreciate him doing that. But yeah, those are just
some Those are just some of the people. Those are the ones that I
like to make sure that I'm reading consistently. And you all know I'm trying
to consume as much content podcasts, reading as much as I can. I
don't do as much of the video stuff, like because I love Ben Taylor.
He's not really writing, but thinking about Basketball is a great podcast.
I don't watch nearly as much of his just like kind of singular topic videos
as I should. For some reason, I guess like it's harder for me
to sit down and watch a video and remain focused when I'm reading. It's
a lot of the time I'm doing cardio or something else. And then of
course if I'm listening to a podcast, it's the same difference. I can't
be doing cardio and watching a video for some reason, and I can't force
myself to sit still in and watch a video. I can't expe as well
I've done it, but as well, So thanks for asking that, d
Nance. I really appreciate when anyone cares enough to wonder about about me,
my preferences, proclivities, what have you. Thanks to everyone who made it
through. This will go up in the middle of the day, which we
normally don't do. On Tuesday, January second, Happy birthday to me,
Mike Kevin Durant year. Celebrate with me by subscribing, sharing our content,
telling people about us, help the community grow, shout outs on social media.
Really appreciate every single one of you and all the support that you've given
us, and I'll reiterate once more. Join the discord even if you're not
on Discord, download Discord, create the Discord account, just to join our
discord, like is in the podcast and YouTube description. Shout out to the
one and only for ever and always, one of those big guard types.
But I feel like I can do more. Frank Nila Keita