What is krack alac in fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan for Valley,
coming at you with my certified fantabulous co hosts and public enemy number one
among New Orleans Pelicans fans, Mister Grant Hughes, we are going to go
through our one goal objective thing we're monitoring or want to see for every NBA
team down the final few weeks of the regular season will be beginning with the
Eastern Conference doing the dangerous task of going alphabetically, so we will begin with
Atlanta, but after that it gets weird. You never know what's gonna happen
with the alphabet when it comes to Grant and I. However, before we
get started here, and we'll spend five to six minutes on each team roughly
that at least we'll try to, and then maybe we'll expand on one or
two teams, depends on how it goes, but we'll try and keep the
pace moving and not publish an eight hour episode like we did last week or
whatever it ended up being that that second part of the West One was long,
Grant, But first and foremost, before we get started here, how
the heck are you doing, mister hughes. I'm doing well. I feel
like me doing well is mostly luck, but you know, there could be
some other factors that were not kidding. Should we do we? Like try?
Can I just try to needle the Pelicans fan base a little bit more
and just by I think I think we already did that by being I guess
not complimentary enough. That was this. It didn't bother me. I was
aware of it, and I thanked Rome and Discord was like in the YouTube
comments, just yelling at people. So I really appreciated that. But I
did read the comments, and I was more flabbergasted than frustrated or upset.
I do. We've been through this. I let Randos on the internet ruin
my day or my mood far more often than you ever had, because you're
a fucking legend, and that's rubbed off on me a little bit. I
used to be way worse with this stuff, but I was just in and
I mentioned this to you, the disconnect between what I thought was a really
good and like positive leaning discussion because spoiler alert, friendone wants to know how
the sausage is made. I'm not gonna put I'm not gonna clip the negative
stuff and put it on YouTube because I don't want to deal with that BS
response if you want to get mad while listening to the whole podcast, Hell
yeah, you learned that right when we say something negative about your team you
disagree with. But I'm normally only posting like the positive stuff or those types
of questions. So it was just interesting how inept I was at I guess
gauging the room or about the tenor of our discussion versus how it would be
received by Pelicans fans on YouTube, And so I just I found that interesting.
I was more more shocked than upset than any Yeah, I mean,
one, the name of the game, at least for us, although this
may explain why we are where we are, is like not to be inflammatory
on purpose, Like that's never the goal, Like that's like, in fact,
Badline is trying to be the least insufferable national and be able to get
out there. The goal is in fact to be like an antidote to that
kind of stuff, Like we're really not hot taking it, Like that's not
the goal. And like two, what you're describing does not sound like a
you problem, Like it's not you are not the one you know, your
sensitivity or whatever, or inability to judge like what's gonna you know, raise
the ire of a particular fan base, Like, no, you judged correctly,
and you had some irrational actors that you couldn't have foreseen. Like that's
all it is, Like was it you that said everybody wants what maybe with
someone in discord, Sorry, I forget who said it, but like everybody
wants what Ben Golliver calls generic praise for their team. I forget who said.
I can't remember who said that, but that's one hundred percent right,
like I mean, and no, that's not one hundred percent right. That's
one hundred percent right for some subsection of people that are going to take like
a measured discussion trying to determine like what's going on with your team in like
an ostensibly fair way as critic or as like evidence that you don't know what
you're talking about. So you know, it's it's not a you problem,
it's not an US problem. It's a few misguided stragglers in the comments problems.
There's also I think this, well, the two fold for me is
what I think I've noticed is that and I've said this so many times,
the local coverage on pretty much all these teams is just so good and nuanced
that if you compare that to this podcast when we're trying to talk about all
thirty teams, you're gonna come away probably disappointed or unimpressed. And so I
honestly don't we all we have our fandom roots, but like, we're not
coming at this from the pure fan perspective, And so part of me wonders,
like, is it just insufferable not to listen to someone talk about your
team when they've watched them less than you, even if they're better at what
they do overall? And so I think that that has sort of because of
how good the local coverage is, and look, there is some toxic national
coverage. There is some lazy national coverage. I'm not here to say that
there isn't, But I just wonder if that's created sort of a you know,
in inherent resentment to where you're going into, well, you're talking about
every team you clearly don't know enough about my team type of deal, and
I wonder if that goes into the reactions. And then kind of the other
thing is it does feel like a and I've definitely felt this way in the
past, but as I've gotten older, I'm just more open to discussion and
admitting when I'm like flat out wrong or don't know, like the discussion about
the heat where I basically boiled it down to aliens because I have no idea
what and I'm comfortable saying it that way. But it does feel like people
just want to and you get this in like even when like comments are praising
you, there's a lot of well, actually, like I need to show
you how much I know when it's like these, like when you're not necessarily
having an interaction with someone, but like the need to comment or to disagree
is is like I know this, and I guess I've never had that.
I think when I'm challenged that like response might come out to me be like,
well, I need to defend my take, but I guess I've never
had that need to be like, well, no, like I know this,
and I need to let you know that I know what. Or I
differ from you, not even just in a measurable way, but I differ
from you in the slightest way. I need to let you know why,
and like I need to turn that into a big thing. It feels like
there's more of that for some reason. I think it's just the symptom of
like the everybody gets to live in an echo chamber now, just because that's
how Internet culture works. And so like the second that you know, you
can you can very much insulate yourself inside the The Pelicans are the greatest team
on planet Earth, and nothing they do is anything other than the product of
like their greatness, and it's all by design. Like you can live in
that world. It's easy, Like you could just find some like minded people
on your very you know, whatever sites you like to read or whatever your
Twitter lists are, like easy, you can live in that world. Yeah,
and that's and that's pretty comfortable. And that's kind of a huge problem
societally, like outside of the NBA discourse that we got to work through.
And then like when you're in that little silo where everybody thinks the same thing
and everybody just like pats each other on the back for agreeing, it's not
great to hear someone that disagrees with you, and like you're not equipped anymore
to have a civil conversation about it. And so again, Dan, not
a you problem. I'm just sha't we hold on? I know, I'm
just like trying to bait. You should we now try to piss off all
thirty fan bases as we go through these teams. I was gonna say,
maybe we do that, and then I sometimes wonder if we're too accessible and
I'm not going to change. I mean, I haven't been really as active
in Discord the past. Hey join our discords that I don't have to interact
as much because my life has been like way too chaotic the past weeks.
I feel guilty that I haven't been around in Discord as much. And so
it's when you look at the podcasts that are way bigger than us, there's
like I can't even think of anyone that interacts or reads the comments or response
to the comments regularly, and so it's just like, is that level of
detachment to be there? And I don't want to have that level of detachment.
I like our Discord members or fantastic, and we've had great discussions and
content inspirations there and the mail bag questions are always fun. But I've also
thought a lot about that where it's like, no, you know, Zach
Lowe is not seen what anyone's criticizing him about because he's not interacting with his
listeners and It's like I think the Dunker Spot does interact with their listeners on
Twitter and they have their mail bags, but like Buying Large, like you
know, the Big podcast, like Bill Bill Simmons is not interacting with his
listeners on a regular We're reading the comments, I'm sure on a regular basis,
and so maybe we need to strike that balance. But I'm not going
to be completely inaccessible. But that was something else I thought about where it's
like, we want to be more popular, build up the pod, it's
do we interact or read our comments less? Is that? Is that the
recipe? I think it works the other way. Once you get popular enough,
you don't have to do anything else, Like you just like put your
stuff out there and don't worry about it because your bulletproof that was eight and
a half minutes on Absolute Yeah, vanity time stamps that one. What are
you gonna call that? Uh? The intro. I think let's get to
the Atlanta Hawks and so we both sort of have our own things here for
each team and we'll get into them as we deem fit. What is your
like, what is your thing? I know what it's going to be for
this team. I'm ready to kind of lampoon it because I'm over it.
But yeah, I'm kind of over it. Well, no, I'm not
over it because I there's something about this concept that like just tickles the part
of my brain that is always kind of had this weird feeling about this type
of player. So I think the Hawks, you know, I don't know
that this is their goal. I think they would much prefer that to not
have to work through this right now. But Trey Young is hurt, and
I think it would at least be a good use of the remaining games the
Atlanta Hawks are going to play this season to kind of like kick around,
like a little thought experiment. What would it be like if Trey Young were
not here because he's not going to play. He's hurt. I don't know
what the official designation was, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be out
for the season. I don't know why they would bring they haven't classified as
indefinitely, and it's a I'm not I'm not saying this ingest, but like
left pinky finger surgeries is what he had, right, So we'll see whatever
I think. So it's a pretty simple argument to me. It's been six
years. There was the high of the Conference Finals appearance. Trey Jung is
a phenomenal offensive players. Like the numbers back it up. He's one of
the best lob passers in the league. He's you know, can be an
offense unto himself. Sometimes not to the absolute highest level always, but sometimes
you know, he's been the reason the Hawks are like first or second offensive
efficiency, Like really you know, high end offensive player, that type of
player when they don't defend and when their off ball stuff is not useful,
Like this is a very much like talking talking head argument of like guys kind
of sour on that. And and you know, John Collins I think comes
to mind. And there's never really been anyone that's like over the moon about
playing with Trey as far as I know. So if you've had six years
of this, you have the iffy leadership you you have, you know,
he's already signed. It's not like you're gonna get out from on. You
know, you're not going to make a decision on his next contract. Like
that decision has been made. It was probably the right decision to maxim I
just I think the Hawks there's value in them kind of seeing what this looks
like and then the next logical step is like, what could we get for
him potentially if we like how things might be with the Jante Murray and Jalen
Johnson and whatever else. There'll be some there will be more house cleaning.
But you've changed coaches more than once with this guy. You've changed the surrounding,
you know, supporting cast, you've changed front offices. So like,
this is the last card that hasn't been played. If you're trying to figure
things out, maybe the answer is still we build around Trey Young. We
just do different things around him. But I think maybe it's not to me.
This is an opportunity, the doubt, the stretch of the season,
just to kind of see what life is like without him, and if there's
any appeal to that, I feel like I've seen enough and the answer is
what we knew. The answer was going to be, the defense will be
better. Even though Trey Young has defended better over the past year and a
half, the defense is going to be better. Its peak is gonna be
neither high enough nor sustainable enough to say this team is better without Trey Young,
and it's gonna be the same thing when you're looking at how the offense
is run around to Jontay Murray. And so if people want to have the
trade Trey Young discussion, it needs to be framed as because the Hawks want
to rebuild, not because they're better off without Trey Young. You are not,
in my mind, flipping him and recalibrating, reorienting, reoptimizing the roster.
It's just it's not possible. We've kind of seen it, like,
yeah, they had some good defensive luck, but if they don't have it
on some night, then they just don't have the offensive juice to get by.
And so I'm more interested with this team. The goal needs to be
like if you want to move on for Murray, that's fine. Like let's
the non stars, Like you need to figure out what's kind of going on
here. It's is on Yaka Kungu the air apparent to Clin Capella? Or
do you want to bring him off the bench? Do you view him as
more of a four? We know Jalen Johnson is part of the core,
Like is it Crachi's defense officially a thing? Do we want to keep him
around long term? Before Atlanta? Is DeAndre Hunter? He's cut mid range
jumpers out of his diet. Coming off the benches looked good on him.
Has he entrenched himself to the core, And so there's, yes, there's
that question of you need to decide whether you want to continue building around Tray
Young. But I need to emphasize that there is just close to zero possibilities
in my mind where this team is better off in the short term without him.
And so if you want to have the Trey Young discussion, it's to
me, I think it needs to be framed as well. Then the Hawks
want to rebuild, and because you have Trey Young, I'm gonna keep trying
to build around Tray Young, and that's gonna entail now monitoring the supporting cast
around him, which I don't think has been optimized to his greatest strength enough.
And again he hasn't adapted as well over the year as he plays off
the ball a little bit more now, Like I don't think that they've just
built the roster that I don't want to say insulates him defensively, but that
you know, is gonna be top tier defensively with the personnel around him,
and just like the weird stuff in the front court. So it's like I
look at this team and I view Trey Young and Allen Johnson as the guys
moving forward, and like you need to kind of figure out what you have
around them. Now that gets a lot harder because Trey Young's not playing.
Sadi Bay has done for the season. Conglu just came back, I believe
from his injury. Like that's to me, Like what I'm watching for with
this team is who of the others actually makes sense around the two players that
you know you should be building around. Yeah, I think look, I
think your your point is well taken. It's I would just say, if
you're gonna if you're gonna say that the Hawks are are not a better team
without Trey Young, you have to also consider the fact that they've had negative
point differentials four years running, have topped out at forty three wins, and
Trey Young's been mostly healthy. So it's like, yeah, and again that
doesn't that doesn't take away from what you're saying, which is like, it's
the other guys, it's not Trey Young, which I think is probably mostly
right. I think maybe in a more interesting question would be like what do
you think the Hawks will do? Because we know how the league works,
and sometimes you know it's it's a matter of when you just go back to
Damian Lillard, go back to whoever you want to use as like, I
don't know, there's some like whispers like maybe he's the next guy to go,
Like those are out there for Trey Young, and you could you pair
those with like a team that has underperformed I think by most people's estimations,
and it's like that snowball kind of starts rolling down the hill and event it's
like it, only it doesn't keep it doesn't roll back up, like it
just gets bigger and goes faster. Do you think that Trey Young will be
on the Hawks in one year? Is like crazy? But I mean an
offseason trade wouldn't stun me in like eighteen months or something like that, or
the deadline of the twenty twenty five trade deadline. Is Tray still on the
Hawks. I think he is, just because I don't know, aside from
maybe the Spurs and then that's like the classic Nets with mckail bridges the Rockets
there where you're just getting back to your own picks and the level of and
that I also just think, like you're Atlanta, Trey Young is one of
the best franchise players of all time. You don't give up this player.
I think the bigger question is how if we had to build the optimal roster
around forget about trade assets, who's available in free agency or cap situation.
You need to sit down, map that out, and you know, if
it involves actually rebuilding around Trey Young and taking a step, then that's what
you need to do. And so that's the route I would actually go.
Do I think they will. This front office is unpredictable to me. I
just don't see the team out there that's gonna come in and bowl them over
with the offer. I mean, again, the Spurs aren't the type of
team that's just gonna overpay. No. Maybe the wee Beyama trajectory changes that.
And we know what the Lakers can do in terms of pick offerings,
But it's like Austin Reeves and three. First is you can like that's gonna
be their best offer, Like you can pass on that and not really flinch.
And now, if you're Trey Young, though, and the Hawks come
to you and say we're gonna we're gonna rebuild around you might get ugly for
a year or two. How do you feel about that? Maybe he's the
guy that maybe it's him and not the Hawks. That's saying like, I'm
not sure I want to hang around for like a year while we are a
year or two while we try to swap out the parts, you know,
because it's not gonna be that easy for them to ness. I don't know,
like I I sometimes I understand the inclination to like push back against like,
ah, he's the next guy to get traded. It just feels like,
I don't know, it's a gut thing. It just feels it feels
like he's gonna be the next, you know, in the next batch of
throw Towns in there or whatever. But he feels like he's in that group.
But it's like you harp on that for not you specifically, but if
you harp on it long enough, you might get there. Because so few
teams win titles and so it's like, just think about the way people viewed
it with Miles Turner or obviously a lower level, the way people view it
with Towns Now and it's like, Okay, well he saw in another contract
in Minnesota. Yeah, maybe he eventually gets moved. That doesn't make you
right though, just because you said this for years and years and he was
finally moved. It's even This feels like a closer like fac simile to remember
when people just thought that Shay Gildzuxander was eventually going to get traded out of
Oklahoma City so they could continue their rebuild, or he would ask for out.
And I'm not saying the Hawks have it reached the thunders level right now,
and I'm not even saying they won't trade Tree Young. But that's what
this feels like to me, is that people have decided he needs to get
traded, and so they're just gonna focus on that, and if he does
eventually ask for out or get moved, it's told you right, And it's
just like it's more complicated than that, to be sure, Yeah, I
think sometimes the news cycle is so gnarly though it can almost like bring things
into being. It feels like that's not really how it works, but it's
almost It might be the Damian Lillard scenario. I don't think Trey Young has
expressed the type of loyalty that like publicly that Damien into Atlanta, that Damian
Lillard did to Portland. But like you just said, oh, Dane can't
win there, he needs to ask for a trade, and we everyone kept
saying it kept saying it, kept saying it. In year six of that
he finally did. It's like we knew it all along. See my take
from twenty five fifteen was right, all right, we gotta way a blow
past the time the are purported time limit. The Boston Celtics are next.
Do you want to lead off with this one? Or should I give you
my kind of issue slash thing They got to figure out first, so I'll
have let's do mine first. My actual goal for them is just, hey,
you need to get a Drew Holiday extension done. He's the extension eligible
on April first. He has a forty plus million dollar player option. There's
there's two elements to this. It's and I did one my primary concern or
goal. It speaks to just how good the Celtics are. We both have
the same lake in concerns, which is what I'll throw it to you in
a second. But it's twofold here. You gave up stuff to get You
clearly won that trade. But he gave up stuff to get Drew Holiday,
so you want to keep him. You don't want to put yourself in a
scenario where he gets a contract offer in a free agent market that maybe Paul
George gets interesting for but like, aside from then, all of a sudden,
I Drew Holiday's on the open market? Does that get weird? And
the other thing is just if you sign him to an extension and you just
know now, like just having the information of, oh, he declined the
player option, he's on the smaller average annual salary, that's gonna help you
plan your very financially inflexible future a lot better moving forward than if you kind
of have to figure out the number on the fly. And that will,
I think, inform a lot of things where it's not just okay, well
what do we need on the roster? What's the cap situation? But everyone's
identify speaking of players that people have basically decided need to be traded, Jalen
Brown signed his super Max and so oh he's eventually going to need to be
moved. It's not tenable. See how long you're gonna be able to float
this core? And part of that is we need to get Drew Holiday's next
number not just lower for next season, but on the book's long term.
And so I think that's just if I'm the Celtics, everything is peachy king
here and not like they are are flaws, and we'll talk about them in
a second. But like, let's get a Drew holiday extension done and that
will just I think alleviate yeah, stuff that happens in the playoffs, if
you get blown out in the second round or something, there'll be an additional
conversation, but allowing you to kind of get a jump on what your cap
sheet looks like and how you can flesh out your team or plan your future
around that. I think there's a lot more value in getting a Drew holiday
extension done now than if you were simply to opt out and then sign that
deal later on. Yeah, I think that's a wonderful contrast and a good
illustration of the breadth of issues we can cover on this podcast, because I'm
going to give you the talking head take of like, well, I guess
maybe the goal that the Celtics should have is not necessarily like figuring out their
late game offensive execution issues. It should be like shutting everyone up that won't
stop talking about all of the like their concerns with their late game offensive execution
issue. Yeah, I mean, like it's the type of thing they can't
really like. The balance of the regular season is not going to be where
you find your answers for this, Like, although like almost letting the Bucks
back in it tonight as we're recording. I don't know if you saw the
end of that game, but it was it was not a game. And
then the Celtics score like eighteen points in the first eleven minutes the fourth quarter,
and the Bucks, you know, thirty something, and it's just like
with no Yiannis, it's like, what are we doing, Guys, like,
don't don't let us, don't force us to keep talking about this stupid
Oh they're you know, it brushes up so close to the jump shooting teams
can't win a championship that I like, I like physically cringe and hate it
because that's so stupid. But there is an element of that where it's like,
oh, they just you know, when they make twenty threes like they
did for what four games in a row, I think it's set a record
recently, they're unbeatable. But then sometimes they go cold and that happens at
the worst times, and we're left watching Jason Tatum miss an open corner three
that could have tied or beat the Nuggets. A couple of weeks ago,
and it's just like, what are we doing. It's an issue though,
like we saw it, you know, play a hand in them not winning
a title in twenty two. Uh, we've seen it more than once this
year, these these cold spells at the end of games where Jason Tatum is
I don't know, people will say not assertive enough, too willing to settle
for a contested jumper, which he can get to, which is like a
skill and that's a great ability to have, but it's not satisfying for people
that want him to just you know, find other ways to score. So
you know, they're so good that this probably isn't going to be an issue
until like I don't know, the finals maybe, but like especially well they
did just let the giannisless Bucks back and again let them. It just happens.
It happens, and it like there's something I don't know. Maybe it's
because it's been kind of the same issue for multiple years now, where it's
like it takes on a life of its own and everybody kind of gets to
here we go again, feeling when the Celtics you know, run into these
droughts laden games and teams you know, make them competitive when they weren't for
three and a half quarters. That said, the Celtics still have a plus
five point six net rating and fourth quarters, which is the best in the
league. So it's just like, I don't know what to do with that.
But it's a real thing, right, Like it's it's one of these
it's a shot selection issue. It's a you know, it's all the all
the you can go and all the and o's, like the types of shots
they're hunting, like who's on the floor, Like is the five out thing?
Just kind of baiting them into taking lots of threes because that's what you
can generate with that kind of look. I don't know, but I do
they got a better job buy and large of getting to the basket and varying
up the script and high leverage moments. But I want it you point me
to the team. Maybe it's Denver that sticks to their functional script that late
in games it feels like everyone there the offense always kind of bogs down because
you're playing too conservatively and you're overthinking it. But to your point, I
don't really have anything to add just to back it up. So they do
have when you're looking at overall clutchness they have a top eight offense to go
with a nineteen to ten record. In those situation, that's not an issue
on its face. Now, however, they are hovering around the bottom ten
of point score per possession in the final three minutes of one possession games.
They're in the bottom five of point score per possession of one possession games in
the final minute. It's like, this is a real issue, But it's
sort of just like your gold shoe are a little too tight because it's so
dominant, Like, what else are we going to talk about with a team
this good? There's just like you have to pick the thing that everyone like,
yeah, you're right, you're your golden shoes are like there's a scuff
on them or something. Is that a thing? Do we just make one
up? Yeah? Sure? Why not? Do we want to go to
the Brooklyn Nets? Sure? What do you let us off of the Celtics?
What he got for them? It's just the Kevin Ollie thing. I
I think, you know, it's it's always the it's always easy when uh,
like an assistant coach is always the good cop and the head coach is
the bad cop. And then like when you're not getting minutes or whatever,
it's the the usually the former player assistant coach that's like, you know,
in practice, got his arm around you happy, is not I, you
know, I didn't make the decision to cut you know, to cut you
out of the rotation like I love you or we're going to work through this,
like he get so Kevin Ollie kind of gets to be that guy as
an assistant coach, and lots of other assistants get to be that and then
they're the head coach, Like used to be that guy, and then he
was the head coach and things change. So I think the Nets just kind
of have to figure out, is Kevin Allie really truly an interim guy,
see someone we're gonna have, you know, as our you know, next
four or five, you know, coaching contracts are always like three and four
years. Now, Is that who we're going to invest in? Just the
goal should just be to see like as a trial run down the stretch of
this season, which is hard because there's injuries and like, you know,
it's just difficult to judge anything over the last like fifteen plus games of the
season, especially if you're not really contending for anything. But I think that's
got to be there the Nets focus right like you could? You could.
I mean, I hope you'll talk about some other things to give us a
little breadth here, but like that, that seems like the issue to me
is like, is Kevin Ollie the guy? I don't know? We'll find
out. So that's like kind of an extension of what I have. And
it's basically I need this team, and by that I mean the front office
or maybe owner JOSEI to accept the reality of their situation. And you had
Sean Mark basically saying when jacqu Von was fired that the Nets were too good
to have a record this pore. That is mind meltingly stupid. This team
on paper, I'm sure we talked about it in the preseason. Their highest
end outcome was maybe they got a top six spot. And think about everything
that needed to go right right down to Ben Simmons being healthy and effective,
right, and to have that internal view of yourself and then not pivot off
it just to trade Royce O'Neill. It's time to accept that something more extreme
needs to be done. Now, what is the more extreme? I'm not
saying they need to tear it down, although that's probably the route I would
favor. But it's then you need to double down and identify the player who
can actually accelerate your position. That's not a Donovan Mitchell level player. It
needs to be someone better than that. And so you need to spend the
rest of this season asking and answering critical, tough, awkward questions. The
Kevin Alie want is certainly who's the next head coach? Is it Kevin Ali?
You're absolutely right on that. McHale bridges it was. It was open
for debate after last year. He's clearly not the best player on a really
good team. He's probably not even the second best player, at least unquestionably
on a really good team. You need to ask yourself, can you get
the player who's better enough than him to put him in his proper spot in
the pecking order? And also, do you trust that he's gonna develop enough
on ball counters to deal with the extra defensive attention he's gonna get, even
if you bring in a different number one, even if you bring in the
point guard, a different type of point guard. You also need to ask,
hey, Cam Thomas' extension eligible this summer, is he actually part of
our core? What is his ceiling? We know what he could do as
a score, we know from where he could do it. We've seen incremental
improvement as a passer, as a three point shooter. Can that scale up
even further? Or is I think he will be He can be better than
a microwave type of six man. But will he won the odds he reaches
this top percentile his outcome? And two, what are the odds that you're
gonna be good enough for that to matter? If you're gonna pay him?
You also have to ask are you the team that should really be paying Nick
Claxton this all season? That needs to be part These are all questions that
need to be part of did we miss the boat on getting value for Dorian
and Phinney Smith. You can even ask the same question about Cam Johnson here
and so it's fine if they decide we want to keep this core intact,
but it's not this core when you look at this core, Even if you
think mckel bridges gets better on the ball and ratchets up the defense next season,
Even if you think that Cam Thomas has other levels to reach, even
you think that Nick Claxton still he's improved incrementally every season basically as is without
a seismic shift in pecking order. This team is sub mediocre and it's time
to accept that. How do you get out of that? Is it to
strip it down rebuild gradually, or is it we're gonna go out there and
get the guy that elevates us to probably not title contentions since those players really
aren't available. But we know we can be a top sixteen in the East
now and I'm gonna tell everyone right now, and I'm not saying he'll be
available. The answer is not a Donovant Mitchell level type of guy who look,
he would have had a first team All NBA case if he didn't miss
the game's minimum now at this point. But like in any given season,
it's you can't be on any given season, Donovan Mitchell's that guy. It
needs to be. Oh no, that guy, it's the Shade Goes Alexander.
That's who you need if you want to get elevated. That guy's probably
not out there, which is why I would probably favor the more gradual rebuild
approach with this team. I think to your point too, like you're just
looking at a roster that is bottom bottom ten on offense, below average on
defense. Despite what I was sure was going to be, like we both
the kind of personnel that was just going to guard the shit out of everybody,
and that hasn't really happened there. They'd be a much more interesting ver
because you got Bridges, you got cam Johnson, you know, like you
got Clackson if you bring them back. But like that's the profile of like
a Chicago Bulls esque like ceiling, and we are very much on the record
of that is not what you want. So so yeah, you can't running
it back clutch team in the history of the NBA. Chicago. You want
to be the Chicago and De Marta Rosen and you want to be the Bulls
in the last five minutes of close games. But otherwise you do not want
to be the Bulls Charlotte. We want to move on to not the Bulls
but the Charlotte Hornets. Yes, so this is a this is a I
was gonna say that for the Hornets. It's almost like a hypothetical because we
may not see LaMelo the rest of the year. I think the goal should
have you know, maybe maybe we can put an asterisk next to it,
but like at some point you're gonna need to figure out how do LaMelo Ball
and Brandon Miller work together, because we've talked about this a little bit before,
Like the either or thing that has been raised some by some people or
I think is just it's kind of it's what happens when you've got who you
thought was your cornerstone and he's out of the picture for whatever reason is in
this case it's injury and you've got another guy show shows up and it's like,
oh, do we reorient around this guy? Like, to me,
that's a false choice. I think you need to see how they play off
each other. And now that I'm discussing this, I think we have talked
specifically about this, like this this should be an awesome tandem. Like the
pieces fit you know as Miller as a secondary guy, Ball as a primary
distributor who you know, Miller can shield defensively and Lamel can be more of
a distributor if you don't love that from Miller Miller. So, like I
think the Hornets number one issue, Like there's a lot going on there,
Like I imagine they're going to have a new coach, probably because you've got
new management. Even though Jeff Peterson has worked with Steve Clifford before and likes
him. I think there's gonna be some shakeups. We've already seen. You
know, they finally rip the band, The Gordon Hayward band aid off.
But like those two guys are the franchise right now, and like that's it,
and you need to determine how well they're going to work together insofar as
that's even possible right now. But the idea like we got to move one
or the other seams insane to me. I think you've got to just find
some indication of like how that's gonna look going forward, and then what do
you need around him? Yeah, she's first of all, what are you
gonna get for LaMelo now? Because people are gonna harp onnest I don't understand
the I guess there is an argument to be made. If someone bowls you
over with an offer, maybe you listen to it. But like people thought,
and I'm not saying he's gonna have the same career outcome, but people
thought Steph Curry was gonna be a bust because of his ankles. He didn't
get a max contract and I've all he had one of the best contracts NBA
history, But like he turned out okay, and so like, we need
to give this time, especially when there's not redundancy there, which is why
I went in the complete opposite direction because this team, since Lamel is injured,
I don't know how much you can learn about them big picture. We
have learned that without LaMelo ball, the half court offense is gonna suck.
It might even suck with LaMelo ball points. So I want to see them
just crank it up in transition the rest of the year. When I'm watching
them, they have Vassili Meachiz, who likes to operate a little bit more
methodically, but he can get up and down the floor. You have Brandon
Miller, which, by the way, your best half court weapon right now
is maybe a Brandon Miller pull up jumper from the mid range, which is
like, good for you, Brandon Miller, but it's also not ideal.
And so like, I think you can create advantages in transition, or at
least that's how you're gonna be most threatening. And just between Nick Richards Miles
Bridges, like I said Trey Man that someone who can get up and down
the floor, you need to play faster. And since since the you know,
the trade deadline, basically Charlotte is twenty sixth in transition frequency that climbs
to twentieth after an opponent miss, which still sucks, and just overall their
twenty third in average offensive possession time. I'm not saying it will always be
pretty, but a way to offset the talent and creation deficit that you're clearly
at, even with Mesich, even with Trey Man, even with what Brandon
Miller has done, is to just play faster and get out and transition and
just run the fuck out of the ball, especially after opponent misses. And
that's what I would just like to see them do because I think that will
help them gain more information outside of the LaMelo ball Brandon Miller like snapshot that
we want to see and figure out what they're going to be long term.
It's well, right, well, who can play like this or what do
we have something here? And even if that's not what you learn, if
you just want to be more competitive for the rest of this season, which
they don't technically have an incentive to do, but I just want like they're
a team that I think when I look at the personnel, it's kind of
like, well, why aren't they running more? Yeah, I mean it's
always the I think that's always like, at least for your fans sakes for
crying out out at the end of seasons like this, Like let's just put
an entertainment you're gonna want to run when you have LaMelo anyway, it's like,
let's have that like dynamic already in place from when he comes back,
whether it's this season or next season, with a lot of these guys that
are still gonna like it looks like Trey Man and Message those are gonna be
guys that they want to keep around. Maybe they even decide to keep her
Ton's is sort of this human trade exception. So I just I need to
see them. I agree with what you're saying, like let's just see with
them. But are we going to see that? So it's we can't run
the shit out of the ball please, Yeah, Chicago Bulls. Man,
what do we even say about the Chicago Bulls? Oh man, I actually
have I have stuff to say about the Schogboles That is not stuff that you
would think that I have to say about the Chicago Bulls. Oh okay,
Well, I just say real quickly, like I'm not gonna just say pick
a direction, but I'll be more specific. You need to decide what you're
willing to do in restrict your free agency for Patrick Williams, who has shown
some flashes, but like I just I still don't really know what he's going
to be. And he's come for the year too, so you're not going
to figure anything out. So you're you have less information than you were gonna
have. Uh, you know, it's just like it's confound like he's a
forty three point shooter and he's a good defender, but like he can't do
almost anything else, Like he can't dribble, he can't pass, like he's
not a good So I don't know what that's worth. But you've got the
draft pedigree to consider. You've got the DeMar de Rosan situation. Where are
you extending him before July first? Are you gonna let him hit free agency?
Are you what are you willing to pay to keep him? Like?
And then what's that say about the direction of the team that we've always you
know, for however long just hated the direction they have chosen slash not chosen.
So that's all the basic bull stuff. But I'm very curious to hear
what you're what yours is going to be So I am not late. We
all know. I've been on the Io dessum Wu train quite some time,
and when we were going through free agents still available, I was like,
some team needs to steal him from Chicago. Yeah, I look, I'm
like I'm over for a lot of takes. This one looks pretty good.
I would like to see and they've started doing it, and Will gottlieb Over
at Chicago Sports wrote a fantastic piece about this. I want to see them
explore the depth of Io de souon Mu's scoring package, and like, we
know what he can do. Defensively, He's he's like six or five or
whatever it is, but you can defend almost every position. His default mold
is defference and we've seen it. He's passing on over fifty one percent of
his drives, which is an incredibly high mark. Actually had this written down
somewhere that among the seventy five players who have used as many drives as Io
desun Mu, he's fourth in the share at which he passes, which is
fine overall if you're looking to generate rim pressure. Especially Look, Zach Lavine
is out for the year. Kobe White's dealing with some hits hip stuff at
the moment. Now's the perfect time to do it, and we've seen the
Bulls do it the past couple games. Is can you get I would assume,
looking for his own shot outside of just hitting these set threes, which
again, that's something he could do now if you can add sort of a
self sustaining scoring package to it. We've seen some aggression from him in the
pick and roll. He eighty one or eighty two percent of his pick and
rolls and in a shot or a foul, which is fine, but like
those aren't follow throughs all the way to the basket. That's a lot of
stuff that's happening from the in between. Or is it a simple high pick
and roll and he's going it dribbling into a three. I want to see
if they can get him moving downhill and being more aggressive as a scorer,
and we've seen that in as we're recording this, the Bulls is past two
games where he goes off for what was it, thirty four points on a
season high twenty two shots in that win over the Wizards, follows that up
with twenty three point detonation in the victory over the Blazers. I just want
to see more of it, and now is the opportunity time to do it
because of the injuries. But also let's frame this in a bigger pit to
tie it with what you said, who on this roster do you look at
and say, well, they need to be a part of whatever the Bulls
decide to do next, whether it's rebuild, whether it's to double down on
a trade. Kobe White is probably the only one you already touched on the
Patrick Williams uncertainty. And I think you can even make a case that I
wouldn't do this, but like, Kobe White probably isn't going to be extendable
on this deal because it's so absurdly team friendly. Not a big enough number
off that right, and so it's well, if we're gonna strip it down,
I don't know that you could say that Kobe White needs to be a
part of it because he might get way too expensive for you and outpace your
trajectory. Whereas Iodasunmu you could run into that same issue of course, But
like I'll say, give it to Kobe White. We know whatever the Bulls
decided to do next, he should be on this roster. Is Io do
Soon MoU on that same level, I would argue, yes, but I
want to see more from him as a scorer, and I think now they're
kind of built to see what he's able to do in that capacity. It's
nice that for him, even if the scoring doesn't ultimately become a part of
his game, that like that just means he's not going to be like a
plus plus starter, but he'll be like he's, no doubt like a low
end starter as it is, and maybe better than that. Many of that
undersells it, and he's for sure a rotation piece because of the versatile defense.
You might know this because you've you've looked at some of this stuff.
Do you want to guess what Kobe what? Sorry slip there? What do
Soon moves per thirty six averages are for the season? Just points, rebounds,
assists? Ooh, I'm gonna say points, rebounds, assists, I'll
say fifteen, eight and nine. He's a twenty five and five guy per
thirty six, Like, I mean, you know, Kobe White just for
you know, nobody really plays thirty six minutes anymore. Kobe White's like twenty
six, seven and six. But Soon moves efficiency numbers hold up just fine.
You know, thirty nine percent from three whites at thirty eight point eight,
like they you know those two, Like, do the Bulls just have
their back court? Like? Is that just the backcourt viewture for a combined
like under twenty million dollars a year might be twenty million a year? Yeah,
that wow, And it's I mean that's only for another two years or
whatever it is, but wow, I mean like yeah, so yeah,
that's a maybe. That's the one thing the Bulls don't need to figure out
is who's their backcourt. And like you said, whichever direction they go,
like, there's no teardown that also includes getting rid of those two guys,
and there's no like, let's really go for it that doesn't include those two
guys playing huge roles. So, like, I guess unless if you if
going forward entails, but we need to make a trade, those are I
think the top two. I guess it's Alex Caruso and then I would assume
Kobe, Like those are the three players on this roster everyone's gonna want.
Yeah, in the Cleveland Cavaliers are next. I can lead us off here.
I guess, well, you're time stamping. So, uh, the
thing this is I keep running into these, but sorry, Like the Caves
need to figure out is Evan Mobley ready And they don't get to get a
lot of information about that down the stretch of the season because he was hurt
and then he came back, and then he's hurt again. And the Caves
are never allowed to have more than two of their four best players healthy.
I think I've had the number. I think it's like twenty two games that
they've all for been healthier, is correct, because I have that number written
down as well. It's insane, so like they don't have a single lineup,
by the way, five man lineup that has played in more than twenty
two games together and they're still like right there, which you know, just
it's unbelievable. I mean, we talked about Coach of the Year stuff,
like I don't know, at some point we just have to say bigger staff
has figured something out and has pushed some of the right buttons. So but
the mobile thing, like dating back to this, I will never stop thinking
about mobiley against the Knicks in the playoffs as a role guy banging into two
giant humans in the lane and not see, you know, not have a
good place to kick it out too, because Max Struz wasn't there at the
time, and no one's got it guarding Isaacacorro or Kris l Verd or whoever's
in the corner and being unable to finish, you know, read the quick,
make the quick decision, finish, oversize like all that stuff. Those
were my biggest questions about Evan Mobley coming into the season, and that matters
because Evan Mobley, to me, still is the guy that if the Calves
are going to level up, you said at Donno Mitchell's great player is still
like the ceiling of this team is still you know, depends on Evan Mobley.
And that's a rough place to be lately because I think it's fair to
say he has not delivered on the hype that I heaped on him and that
a lot of other people did. Some of that's been injury, some of
it has been performance. So I think the goal for the Calves before they
get into a situation in the playoffs where elimination is at stake is to figure
out, like so when teams do against us, what we know they are
going to do, which is make Evan Mobley be an offensive focal point and
make decisions. Is he ready for that? Don't know. You may not
know until until elimination is at stake, but that seems like a pretty high
priority issue for me. Yeah, I would like to see. It's also
kind of comes back to the dual big stuff as well. It's not just
about Evan Mobley. I would like to see we've all there's only been there's
been fewer than fifty possessions in which Sam Merrill has played with Jared Allen and
Evan Mobley. And he's someone who I think at this point opens up the
floor for you, not as a playmaker like Max Shrews does, but just
as a pure floor spacer. And so if you're gonna play him with those
two, you've now insulated him defensively and he'll fight defensively, like kind of
like Max Strews where it's oh they're a little bit they Max Shrews has better
size, but like they will fight defensively more than people credit them. So
I would like to see more of that instead it as a goal I would
also one of the goals I had for them is like, let's keep this
Darius Garland three point volume thing going. That's been on the climb. Uh,
it is a little bit more touch, like he's been done a better
job of sort of playing in the Donovan Mitchell minutes and so lately, and
so it's like, well, how does that now impact that Donovan Mitchell is
gonna be out at least a little bit with that nasal procedure he had he
had done until that's something to monitor. I think the goal for this team
would because of how banged up they are, and because of how many questions
we have about the rotation the bigs, even the guards playing together, and
who's gonna be a part of the you know, the the playoffers like,
well, Isaac Okorro hit enough threes when you get to that stretch they need
well, I won't say they need, but like, let's just I don't
I think default to this. There are two teams that I think in the
league that I think the playoff seeding matters a shit ton for right now.
The Cows are one of them. Lock up that number three seed so that
you avoid Boston as long as possible, I think that's big. And if
you can get number two, just because of how injury riddled you are,
you're writing contention there, and you own the tiebreaker over the Bucks now as
well, which is a big deal too. You now guarantee yourself home court
through the first two rounds. That's a pretty huge deal. And so if
I'm this team, because you're in survival mode right now and you're looking at
who's behind you, the Sixers aren't going to come at you without Joel Embiid
the magic or they're frisky as hell. They have one of the top six
net ratings since the end of January. So that's a team where up the
Knicks. Oh Jao, he's out again. The elbows stuff is cropping up
and didn't look the same when he came back. That's still been a team
that's pretty deep. But can you fend off those three teams? Maybe get
the two seeds, Like that's a realistic goal for you, and I think
that sets you up to be Okay, we're not gonna have the information we
need on our entire just arsenal. We found out a lot about our depth,
like just knowing that you have the sam Merril lever to pull and even
some stuff with george Y Yang and Karas the vert helping you push the pace.
But you're not gonna know enough about your full cast, and so it's
like, let's just get a top three playoff seed so that we don't have
to go through Boston. I mean, like, even by the way you
might then avoid New York, is still not a great matchup for them now
at least you being sure, Okay, well we're not gonna we're not gonna
see New York in the first round either. If we finished with you know
that top three, top two seed. Yeah, I think that's all good.
Let's get to the Detroit Pistons. Injuries have like made this team even
harder to talk about at like the Asar Thompson good vibes to start, Thompson
with those blood cloths, blood clots out for the season. Isaiah Stewart also
out for the season. My goal for them was gonna be, like,
can Monny Williams like quit screwing around and just start playing some lineups that like
theoretically matter to the future. I think he's done more of that, but
now you are gonna be robbed, like, is okay? Is it is
it me? Or are we having more and more situations at this stage of
the year where it's like the things the team needs to know, are just
like not knowable because of injuries. Like we just talked about Mobiley, We're
gonna talk about the Pistons now, I forget already. Who else we mentioned
that? Uh uh Patrick Williams is out, so the Bulls don't get any
more information? Yeah, ball, Like is it? Maybe maybe I'm just
like gravitating towards like I wish I knew more about teams that had a bunch
of key injured guys, but like this keeps happening for I was texting with
someone the other day and I said, I don't know if I say this
every year, and so like maybe we need to keep the receipt on this,
but I feel like I just I don't remember the onslaught of injuries ever
being like this, and is it just this time of year and teams are
a little bit more like in the case the Wizards, where it's okay,
could Denny Avi or Kyle kuzmoer Tys Jones be playing, Sure, but we're
looking at teams that have actual stakes here that are missing a bunch of guys,
And so it just feels like there has been an increase in injuries this
season, and like mission critical injuries but we need to keep the receipts on
this because am I going to say this the same time next year? Well?
Right, yeah, Like I I kind of roll my eyes sometimes where
it's like, oh, that's the injuries this year. You know, it's
like, no guys get hurt every year, it's normal. But I mean,
I don't know, it's just the feeling. It's like it's undercutting all
of the things I want to learn, like and we don't get to see
if Monti Williams. You know, it's like some of the things that the
Pistons did were earlier this year were just like inexplicable, like sticking with Killie
and Hayes for as long as they did, setting up a star Thompson to
fail with some of the lineups they put around him. That just made it
so his lack of shooting was you know, did just a giant spotlight on
it, Like there's way there are workarounds like there, you know, even
go down to like the was it sensible to have some veterans in there,
especially some that were taking minutes from the younger So anyway, what I was
gonna say was I need Monny Williams to prove he can play lineups that at
least make sense in terms of what you're hoping to find out about, like
the long term future of the young players on this team. In some ways,
I guess that's easier because now it's just cunning Ham and Ivy and let's
let's hope that that, you know, looks really good down the stretch and
during I guess to some extent, but yeah, I don't know. The
Pistons got way less interesting the second Thompson was ruled out for the season to
me, because that, like, I love Ivy, I think Ivy still
has like massive potential. I'm not I've not sold any ice, even on
wide open threes. Don't care. I still I'm not selling the stock.
But Thompson was kind of like the reason to watch the Pistons for me if
you're gonna like flip around and pick a game for a few minutes. So
I don't have a lot to add to that. So my pri goal for
them was gonna be can we get And some of this was awkward to asar.
Thompson K Cunningham plus shooting lineups and so that means je n Ivy and
Jalen Durnan are not on the court, and frankly, I really don't give
a fuck. I think that is sar Thompson and k Cunnham are the only
players on this team that have established themselves as core players for the future.
So I wanted to see more of that. And the fact that they never
got to this season when you dig into the data when they had Gallo,
when they had Muskala, and we know they have Stewart, those two barely
played with any one of those three guys at the five, And that to
me is I don't know if that's on the front office, if that's on
Monni Williams, but you know what it is, it's functional malpractice. That's
that's what it is. Now that our star Thompson is, I hope he's
okay. It sucked. The plug clot thing sucks long term, short term,
that just sucks. Hopefully he's going to be all right. Now It's
like, okay, can we get the Key Cunningham and Jalen Durham plus shooting
lineups? But before I go into that, like some side quests would be,
can we get Jane and Ivy to hit a wide open three? Or
even I'll say this about Jalen duran and like, he how do I phrase
this gently? Can they get him to stop branching out on offense? Like
I don't care about him attacking mismatches off the dribble anymore. If he can
do that, that's great, But your offense is not gonna be that much
better for him doing that. And his defense it feels like he's just not
as like he can go like. It feels like he's just less disciplined,
less coherent. I'm that end of the floor. Can we get Jalen Durham
back on. I was so excited for him this season and now it's like
I don't know. I did I could? You could take me or leave
me with Jalen durn So those put me some nice time. Can they get
Jalen Durant? Can they get him to start passing more again? Go dig
into his passing splits? It's like, yeah, I'm not really gonna pass
out of the role anymore. Why would I do that? So but even
when you dig in, and this is again, they are personnel strapped.
When you when I say kay coming him and Jalen Duram plus shooters, it's
will name the shooters Dan, So you have Simoney Fontachio, you have Evan
Fournier, Quentin Grimes in theory before his injury, he wasn't making threes,
but that would be a name throughout there. Marcus Sasser. Let's get to
those lineups and look, Isaiah Stewart not being available makes it very difficult.
That is why I have Jalen Duran sandwiched in here. I will say this
is a little bit of a travesty. Kate Cunningham, Jalen Dern and Simoni
Fontechio have tallied twenty possessions together without Ivy Stewart or Thompson in the game.
And I know Streward is technically a floor spaser, but not at the four
that So get to those lineups at the end. Look, first of all,
some of those players are and fourne Marcus Sasser, they're available. Everyone
else is not. So it's I don't need to see like the James Wiseman
in this anymore. I know he's had some like higher level moments with the
Pistons. I don't care. It's just like the model means. First of
all, the model is because Kate Cunningham, to me, is that dude.
And you could say, well, if he was that dude, the
Pistons would be better. You show me the functional lineup that he has not
been able to like that he should have shouldered to like to like actual more
wins Kate Cunning him is that guy. The model is kid plus shooting.
It's so limited and it's like Jalen Duran is there again. I really wanted
to be kid and Asar plus shooting. That needs to be the goal to
get to next season, and Jay and Ivy needs to be needs to prove
them that he could be part of that makeup. That's what I want to
see from the Pistons for the rest this year. Because outside of that,
I just like Marcus Sasser is super intriguing and Samoni fon Techio. I've come
around on that acquisition. I thought they were being a little Devil may Care
with the second round pick they gave up for him. I'm no longer there
with that, but that's just where I'm at with like, that's just sort
of what I'm watching for. Yes, if Jay and Ivy could hit more
wide open threes, or if Jalen Duran could be more of the player he
was to start the season, that would be great as well for sure,
Yeah, I'm with it. We're now on to the final team for this
part of the podcast, the Indiana Pacers. Grant what you got for me
or them? Excuse me, Well, it's for you too, But it
is a this is not a you problem, this is a Pacers problem,
and you'll be free to comments on it. So long long ago, Dan,
you may recall that the Indiana Pacers were one of the darlings of the
league and during the n season tournament we could just not do anything but gush
over how great their offense was, particularly that transition attack, how Tyrey's Haliburton
was Steve Nash, some idiot that looked and sounded like we probably made that
comparison more than once, and just the way that he transformed the team and
was so you know, just just a generational offensive player. Uh. The
Pacers offense has not been so hot lately, and Tyr's Max did I say
Terry's Maxie? I hope I didn't. Terry's Haliburton has has not been nearly
so good, and that's mostly due to the injury. So the question or
the goal for them has just got to be figuring out how to like get
back to where they were offensively, and we can talk about whether that's possible
because a pretty key piece that was running around and make and opening things up
is not there anymore. So maybe that's not possible, and maybe you can't
undo the hamstring that Haliburton has clearly been gutting through to try to get sixty
five games. More power to him, he should be doing that. That's
a lot of money. But yeah, so, like I just wanted to
flag that as I'm looking up what Haliburton's splits are because basically since the injury,
we can use the All Star break kind of like as a proxy for
that. He's been shooting like thirty percent from three. He's down from like
twenty six and thirteen to more like nineteen and eight. Like, it's just
the numbers are are totally different for him and by extension, for the Pacers.
So they're gonna do anything in the playoffs. Certainly they got to find
some of that juice on offense down the stretch here. Tari's Aliburton is the
biggest fraud in the every day am I doing the podcast? Think thing right
now? Stop it. I'm with you on that, And so I want
to tip unlockedown Pacers Tony East from Forbes and Kaitlyn Cooper of Basketball. She
had a fantastic discussion about what's kind of changed for the Pacers since this year
Oakham trade. And the thing that I have flagged but it was since the
trade deadline is that and this steps on the Tyres Talburton is a part of
this. They need to recapture their transition mojo. And I know they're still
eighth by the way. In point this is point score per possession since the
trade deadline. But like when your defense caps out at over twenty fourth instead
of twenty sixth, Yeah, your offense can't afford to just be eighth.
Yeah, the second and eighth is enormous when you're a bottom almost bottom five
defense, right, And so I'm noticing the biggest they're not pushing as much
off of opponent misses, and it's just it's not even close. They are
so before the trade deadline, almost thirty two percent of their possessions after grabbing
a defensive board led to transition opportunities. That was the sixth largest share in
the league. Since the deadline, the Pacers fast break frequency following opponent misses
has dipped a twenty five point nine percent. It's like a like, that's
a huge when you're looking at the proportion of what it was. That's a
huge dip and it's a bottom ten frequency now. And so you start to
get into what Kayln Cooper and Tony's talked about a lot of the Haliburt and
Siakam stuff, which I'll touch on a second, but you're missing Buddy Heald,
who was a huge part of what you did in transition, just as
someone who runs the floor his decision making in there, as Kaylyn Cooper and
Tony's talking about the ghost screens that he's going to set, and so missing
him is a big part of this. And now it's gotten even harder to
approximate what you're missing from him because Bennec Matthrin has done for the season and
he has somewhat quietly on a national level, improved as a three point shooter.
So in the backdrop of all of that that you have to deal with,
you're now trying to integrate Siakam while also dealing with a Tyrese Haliburton who
is a shell of the player he was. And I think it's it's not
because Tyre's Halburton actually it turns out he's not the biggest fraud in the NBA,
if anyone didn't catch the grift there. But he's like he's still injured
or he's just not right, and so these things are compounding upon one another,
and I think some of it has been, well, they're trying to
explore what you can do with Halburton and Siakam, and so Halburn is playing
off the ball a lot more. They've almost tried to use him at points
like they would Buddy healed, and like that's just a weird spot for them
to be, especially when you're compounding it with the injury he's going with.
I don't know, I'm not you ask go, ask Kaitlyn Cooper what they
could do to do this. And part of it is like maybe you should
slow down when you have passed Kial Siakam because he can do that stuff in
the half court and attack mismatches when you get them. But also like,
well, is it like do we get to a point where we've seen some
more Siakam plus bench mob lately? Is it kind of tweaking the parameters to
well, let's make sure the bench mob that's with him can get out and
run in those instances. If we don't think that the starters can do that
as much anymore, and the starters can still, they're probably they're not the
lineup. That's the issue when you're looking necessarily at this transition frequency, so
that they need to figure out a way to regain that, because that's how
they disarm teams is to run in every situation. And yes, it's great
that they can run off turnovers, they're not a team. They don't rank
first in the league an opponent forcing opponent turnovers, and so like that's gonna
be such a smaller share. And by the way, even that frequency has
dropped off a little bit, and that is such a crux to what they
were doing. I fully recognize though that if Tyre's Haliburton isn't Tyre's Halliburton,
like forget the buddy heeled absence now the better like mathin absence. If Tyre's
Haliburton really isn't even close to full strength, that's just out the window.
But if you can get him, if he's gonna get healthier, if you
can just figure out ways where maybe it's Siakam when he's on his own,
like to get those lineups to run a little bit more, or to to
cater to the lineups with Siakam and the bench that are running off opponent misses
more. I think that really does a service to your offense. Where I
look at this team and I just don't see the pathway to them having a
much higher defensive ceiling, which is why I focused on that, And the
pathway might just be, well, can Jaris Walker really muck up stuff defensively?
If sort of this wing defender, I don't like they've tested him out
a little bit more this side of the the All Star break, of the
trade deadline. I'm just I don't have a ton of belief in that,
especially as their rotation is gonna shrink down for the postseason. Yeah, it's
a lot to ask too. I just I wanted to get the Haliburton numbers
because they're were much worse the splits. Then I then I gave let On.
So this isn't a perfect situation because the injury didn't just happen at the
All Star break. There's you know, it's so really what this does is
it's dragging down his pre All Star break numbers a little bit too. But
before the break, forty two games, sorry, forty three. Forty two
of those were starts. He had that weird minutes limit thing. Twenty one
point eight points, eleven point seven assists, sixty two six true shooting percentage,
like just phenomenal since then, thirteen is thirteen games post All Star Break.
Doesn't count his game tonight, which is actually halfway decent but still not
vintage Haliburton fifteen point eight points, nine point eight assists, Okay, forty
one point seven percent from the field, twenty one point three percent from three.
So, like, it's just it's not it's not the it's not the
same guy. It's not even close because in theory, you know, like
making him, hey, Tyrese, go do a Buddy Healed impersonation for like
half of this quarter, like the first half, Tyrese Haliburton could do that,
because he's a dangeroushoe off movement. Like the guy shooting twenty one percent
can't help you there either. His usage is down. That's partly Siakham being
there. It's partly because like I think he just isn't capable right now physically
of doing the same things he was. Uh, but yeah, and it'd
be great if you could get out and run too, but Halburn's a huge
driver of that and maybe he can't do that either. You know, it's
it's an oversimplification, but like when you clearly have a different player like than
you did for the first half of the season, really like the first third,
I guess it'd be more accurate. Uh, it's really hard to get
anything done, so Uh, I don't know that it's it's it's gonna be
tough sledding for the Pacers, at least until that hamstring is is all the
way back. Stat padding time. Do you have any for me this week,
mister Hughes, I do. Damn. I'm gonna sit up straight.
I'm gonna get nice in frame here so that in the event you want to
cut these up, it'll be easier to do that. Uh. These are
are about career scoring average, and I'm hopeful that I haven't given you any
of these before. Pretty straightforward, Dan, which NBA player had the higher
career scoring average or has the Let me try that again, Dan, which
NBA player has the higher career scoring average? Luka Doncic or Kevin Durant Luka
Doncic, That is correct, twenty eight point six to twenty seven point three,
Alan Iverson or Trey Young. Trey Young, it is Alan Iverson twenty
six point seven to twenty five point six. Dan who has the higher scoring
average? Zion Williamson or Kobe Bryant. Kobe just barely twenty five even to
twenty four point eight. These modern guys just the numbers. I don't know
if you've heard Dan games too, which helps him Zion, but it's a
it's a new world, Dan who has the higher Which NBA player has the
higher career scoring average? Devin Booker or Kyrie Irving. Devin Booker, It
is Devin Booker correct. Twenty four point two to twenty three point five.
Damian Lillard or Stephen Curry. Oh, I'm gonna say Steph Curry incorrect.
It is Damian Lillard. That one surprised me. Twenty five point one to
twenty four point eight. These are all gonna be close. Joel Embiid or
James Harden Ooh, I'm gonna say Joel Embiid. It's Embiid actually by kind
of a lot, twenty seven point eight to Harden at twenty four point three.
Those early okay see years I think are dragging it down a little bit
and maybe with the Clippers too, as well as even last season with what
are you average in Philly? Last year? Wasn't it like twenty a year?
Maybe not even twenty? Yeah, that's true, all right, Dan,
Who has the higher career scoring average? Karl Anthony Towns or Giannis Outatakumbo
Carl Anthony Towns. It's Jiannis twenty three point three to twenty two point nine.
We'll throw back here, Dwayne Wade or Carmelo Anthony Dwayne Wade. It
is Rmelo twenty two point five to twenty two even last one here? Higher
career scoring average Dan Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook, Oh, Anthony Davis correct
not particularly close, twenty four per game, which is higher than I would
have guessed for Ad. Probably russ Is at twenty one point eight had some
early and late year drag downs. I think on those numbers, pretty good
success rate by you. These were all really close, So I made it
kind of tricky on purpose. That was a good one. I liked that
one, all right, What do you got it? That's it all right?
I have a bunch for you. Uh, what if I'm going to
sandwich the offbeat one in the middle. So let's start with this buckle up
grant. Which NBA legend would be better in twenty twenty four, assuming they're
in their prime, their peak. Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan,
Hakeem Olajawan or David Robinson oh Man, I think Elaju won. They
probably would have stretched him out to three. Kevin Garnett or Dirk Navitski Garnett,
Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal Ooh. I think it's got to be Shack
Carmelo Anthony or Paul Pierce pass No, I'd say, I mean we've seen
Carmelo pretty close to twenty twenty four. I'll still say mellow. Why not
Ray Allen or Reggie Miller. I think Ray Allen the athleticism. People forget
the athleticism he had as a driver, Yeah, early career Ray Allen,
for sure, I'm with you there. Charles Barkley or Scottie Pippen. Oh.
I think probably Pippen just because he would be the five position defender that
everybody wants now and then. I mean he could there's nothing he couldn't really
do. Jason Kid or Steve Nash. I think Nash. I think kids
shooting, at least early career kids shooting would have been a problem for the
modern game. Mattu Genobli or Alan Iverson managed. Sorry, I didn't hear
the second name, so it's just gonna be Manu. For me, it
was Madu or Alan Iverson. Yeah, no, I know it has to
be Iverson right, like he would be well physical? How physical can you
be with him? Now? The rules changed like a month ago at a
good point. That's a magic Johnson or Dwayne Wade. I think magic because
you really could play him at center. Yeah, I would agree. Larry
Bird or Oscar Robinson. I cannot confess to having a great sense of what
Oscar Robertson's game was like other than he played in an era that was super
fast, so the numbers are nuts. I mean, I think probably Bird
because you'd get the it's so hard. I don't know. I don't feel
qualified to say, but I'll go Bird, Patrick Ewing or Denis Rodman.
I think Ewing. I think Rodman is still just like although I mean,
would Rodman kind of be like Asar Thompson is that, you know, just
the best athlete on the floor. They could guard everybody, but couldn't do
anything else with the ball. I don't know. Chris Bosh or Pow Gasol.
Hmmm, that's a close one. I think I might go Gasol,
especially if it's like prime Gasol, because you're getting you can get six assists
out of that guy too. In addition to everything else, I just wonder
if Bosh, because of the mobility he had defensively, might be like the
better I know pow Gasol did a lot of like really good traditional big man
stuff there. You're probably right just because of the passing. It depends if
you get like the oh I can shoot threes Chris Bosh, or if you
get raptors Chris Bosh. I think, you know, because he kind of
was two different players, and yeah, that's that's a good one though.
I think, I mean, they'd both be awesome. We could agree there.
Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady. I think McGrady. I think, well
McGrady was the better player then. I think, you know, at his
peak, and I think he would only be like who is McGrady in the
modern game? I'd like, is he close to like between Paul George and
Kawhi basically somewhere. I think that's pretty good. Wal Klive Frasier or Gary
Payton. Oh, that's so tough because you don't have the I think i'd
probably go Peyton just because that defense is gonna play. That is all I
have for you in that block. How do you how'd you feel about those
mashups? Man? That's tough. I wasn't ready for opinion questions. I
like, I like the comparisons, though they're forcing. You know, I
left out on purpose because I just assumed he would be the answer no matter
who I pitted him against except for Jordan. Oh uh no, I don't
know who should Grant Hill? Oh yeah right. I kept trying to put
him in there, and I was just like no, like I would like,
no, I'd probably I even thought about. I was like, if
I Grant Hill or Michael Jordan, no one's gonna pick Grant Hill, but
I might make a gigs. I mean, Gret Hill really didn't develop a
three point shot until the Suns like made him into a corner shooter. But
just like Grant Hill is what Ben Simmons should have been, you know,
like that's that's that's the like, just this giant forward that could get wherever
he wanted on the floor, except Grant Hill could really finish. Oh yeah,
he he came. He was way too early and gone gone, gone
from his prime too soon too. The ankle injury just like completely wrecked him.
Him and McGrady were supposed to do incredible things in Orlando. Imagine them
together, like if they had never gotten hurt and were just at their peaks.
My god, and well do you remember too, Like I don't know
how real this was. I think it was sort of real, Like Tim
Duncan was gonna be there too. Yeah, that was. And then there
was the whole like when you have a pillow fight with Greg Popovich or something
and save the day or whatever. Probably, I don't know it sounds right
that it. I have two more blockstoets. This one's a little off beat
and it's per my own TikTok research. Which can you guess the NBA player's
favorite food? Which NBA player's favorite food is, allegedly Goji Berry's shake,
Gilgess, Alexander or Russell Westbrook. Thank you for giving me options, by
the way, because that was gonna be tough to do it cold. I'm
gonna say, SGA he seems like a Goji Berry kind of guy. Yeah,
he's not. It's Russell Westbrook. Which NBA player's favorite food is allegedly
roasted pumpkin? Paalo Bancaro or Scottie Barnes. Oh, what a weird choice.
Uh, I'm gonna say Scottie Barnes incorrect? Is Palo Banko? What's
going on? Roasted pumpkin? Which NBA player's favorite food is allegedly fish stew,
Giannis attempt to kumpo or NICOLEA Jokic sounds like Jokic to me? That
is correct. Which NBA player's favorite food is allegedly just taco bell, Tyler
Hero or Tyrese Maxi. Oh, man, guys don't eat that unless we
get a sponsorship. I'll say Tyres Maxi. It's Tyler Hero. That's not
a good life choice. Which NBA player's favorite food is allegedly chicken nuggets,
Donovan Mitchell or Jamal Murray. H. I'm gonna say Jamal Murray. That
is correct. You get two of five. That's not bad there. I
was just figure that would be like a fun random one. I felt really
good about the fish Stew's just the only one I had anything. I couldn't
figure out a good. I couldn't figure out a good like one to I
had to put fish stew in there because it was fish stew. Like if
I say Yo Kicchen anybody else, it's probably just always obviously gonna be Yo
kitchen. So I was trying to think of the player, and I was
like, I'm not gonna go with like Damas Berton's or Alexei Polkashevski type deal.
I didn't want to do that. That'd have been too mean. I
did when you said Giannis because you said Yannis first, and I was like,
oh, well that's gonna be honest if you give me like Giannis or
I don't know, like Mark Williams. So it's like, all right,
if you want to know what Yannis's favorite food, I don't know how accurate
this is. So I don't even know if I'll cut it up. I
might anyway, just because it's like something different. Do you want to know
what his favorite food alllegedly is? Yes, I do egg sandwich, eggs
sandwich. That's pretty basic, like no specifics, not a not a McMuffin,
not anything. Some ones. I can't remember who it was but they
were very specific. I think was Trey Young was like eggs on bread or
something like that that I saw on bread. It's like an egg sandwich on
bread like type deal. But all right, I mean that's the same scrambled
eggs on some toasts. Yeah, every day. I love scrambled eggs.
It's delicious. Okay, final one for you, but it's a well,
it's a huge block. Got twenty five questions and these are not opinion based,
if that makes you feel any better a little bit. Which NBA player
has more twenty five point tenn assist games for their career in the playoffs and
regular season. Lebron James or Oscar Robinson. I'll say Oscar. It is
Oscar and its not even close. Three sixty one to two twenty eight for
Lebron, James Harden or Russell Westbrook. A'll go with Harden. That is
correct. He's got Russell Westbrook by nine in this category. Magic Johnson or
Jerry West. I'm gonna say West that is incorrect. It's not even really
that close. Magic Johnson won sixty two to Jerry West one thirty seven.
Okay, that's pretty close. Come on, twenty five games. I don't
know. Luka dancicch or Trey Young. Trey that is correct, hasn't beat
fairly handedly as well, Nicole jokicch or Chris Paul. Oh, the twenty
five is tough for Paul. I'm still gonna say Chris Paul, that is
correct one twenty four to eighty eight for Jokic, Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.
I think it will go Jordan. That is correct. Seventy two to
forty, Steph Curry or John Wall Oh, I think it's John wall You
are a hater. It is Steph Curry seventy eight to sixty four. Oh,
at least it was close. Stephan Marbury or John Stockton. Again,
the twenty five is tough. I think I better go Stockton. You clearly
do not support science. It's Stephan Marbury sixty two to sixty. Oh,
Larry Bird or Alan Iverson Iverson that is correct. It's not even eighty three
to sixty four Gilbert or Renus or Devin Booker agent zero. Let's go incorrect
Devin Booker twenty five to twenty three. Oh, Kyrie Irving or John Morant.
It has to be Kyrie. Johns had like three fulls healthy seasons.
Yes, but it's fairly close. Thirty three for Irving, twenty eight for
John Morant, painfully close. He would have had a beat if he didn't
get injured this year. Yeah, he would have got him this year.
Tracy McGrady or a John Rondo Again, the twenty five is really hanging me
up. How many times did Rondo score twenty five? I'll say McGrady that
is correct. Twenty to fourteen? De Iron Fox or Derek Rose. It's
got to be Fox correct twenty eight to twenty one. Tyree's Haliburton or Fat
Lever? Fat Lever's back? It's okay? Is he trying to trick me?
I? I mean how I'll say fat Lever? How about that?
You'll be incorrect? Fat Leaver eighteen, Tyre's haliburt in twenty six? Damn
it? Fat? What's this real? Like? We know? Do we
know what fat Lever's name is? It's not just fat? No? Well,
look I'll look it up. While you were asking me a question,
okay, next one, and now you made me lose my spot because you're
questioning if what fat Lever's real name is. Don't you want to know too?
Well? I kind of Lafayette Fat is way cooler, both cool.
Grant Hill or anyway, let's get back. Grant Hill or Donovan Mitchell Grant
Hill correct twelve to seven. LaMelo Ball or Monte ellis my guy? I'll
say Monte correct fifteen to ten. Brandon Ingram or Pascal Siakam Siakam That is
correct by a hair seven to six. Out Giannis attend to Koopo or Jason
Kidd. Jason Kidd correct forty four to thirty seven. I didn't think you
were going to get that one. Kevin Durant or Kyle Lowry. Why is
Kyle Lowry in this question? Kyle Lowry incorrect thirty to twenty five in favorite
Durant, Baron Davis or Steve Nash Nash that is correct, not even close,
seventy two to forty six. Kate Cunningham or Andre Gadala m I'll say
Goodala long career incorrect seven to six in favor of Kate. He was two
on selfish. Joelle Embiid or Kevin Garnett Embiid that is correct seven to six.
Brandon Jennings or quem Olajuan Hakeem incorrect seven to three for Brandon Jennings,
Paul George or David Robinson. Paul George incorrect, David Robinson four to two,
Jalen Brunson or Julius Randall. That's a great question. I'll say Brunson
that is incorrect. They are tied with five. Bab All the tie.
He snuck a tie in. I respect it. And that's how we close.
I did think, because people have complained that all we do is the
coin toss ones where they're super close. I thought I mixed that one up
nice amount. I was not more or less confident, like they all seem
like they're going to be close in most cases, and you're really good at
every time you throw Steph in there, I never pick him, and I
feel like you know that now. And so it's I don't know if I've
gotten Steph Curry as a correct answer in a long time. No, you
always don't pick Steph. It's just it's absolutely mind blowing. I am what
was the one? I was actually surprised. I thought you were gonna get
the Marbury one very easily. By the way, who was he against?
I already can't remember John Stockton. Oh, I mean Stockton had like a
trillion ten asist games. Though, how hard is apparently very hard? How
hard is it to get twenty five points? Like real tough for some guys?
What was the one? What did I say? I was surprised that
you actually got that one? Was it? The was it? Did you
know? He went with Asian zero for Booker? I thought you were gonna
get that one. There was one that I thought that you got that I
didn't think you were gonna get Now I can't remember what it was. So
apparently fat Lever Fat Lever is the ultimate red herring. I never know what
to do when you put fat Lever. I'm telling you, though, if
you like do all these crazy ass statistical like sorts that he shows up in
all the well, I don't know. Well, okay, I can see
why, because he's got a run. I'm looking at his basketball reference page
now, two time All star fat Leaver shout out. Uh, he had
a run from eighty six, eighty seven to let's call it eighty nine to
ninety where he's like he never averages twenty, but he's like eighteen nineteen.
But then he's like eight boards or nine boards and eight assists like up in
that range. So like, I guess if you're looking for probably triple doubles,
he comes up a fair amount because he was getting you know, nineteen
nine and ten, you know, pretty frequently. It's funny too, because
the name that we call him just sounds like a directive you would give to
people on an assembly line, like it's the fat lever, Like, right,
do you want to take us out of here? Sure, we might
need to start shouting out fat Lever. Well, we'll see everybody. Thanks
for listening, for tuning in. If you watch this on YouTube, thank
you. Oh we didn't do any guest players, so I'm not gonna think
anybody will do that another time. However, if you would like to contribute
to that effort or to stat padding, if you've got any cool ideas,
join our discord. That's where we get a lot of our information from,
and you can get the links for that in the YouTube and podcast description.
As always, please remember to rate, review, subscribe, tell your friends.
Word of mouth is very helpful. Like to grow this podcast with your
help, that becomes easier. I think that's gonna do it. As always,
we'll close with a shout to Frank Mila Keina and an apology to Jaredillen