This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Welcome everybody
here tuned to the Baseline Callie Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA.
And we are finally at it, man, totally into the final week
of NBA basketball, and that means we'll have playing time, plenty of time
for us to weigh in all these things. But another awesome episode to be
rolled out for you. Regarding the Autopsy Report series, you know, we
love doing it, so I'd be remissed if I wasn't able to get it
down to get in on it with my lab partner in crime, you know,
my man fifty grand Www Dot Shaw's whatsat net? Big Hunapi and see
my man, mister warren Shaw. What's good my man? How are you
living? And I gotta ask this question once we do our salutations always good,
always good to be here with you, my guy, and autopsy time.
But also also inching close to the second year of the Baseline Awards as
the season comes to a close, so you know, look out for that.
It was quite a lot of fun we had last year and definitely looking
forward to bringing that back too. But right now. We got to body
him up, bag him, zip him. Let's let's get a pop.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So I got a quick question for
you. Do you think and I noticed is what's kind of you know,
reading the temperature in the room here with regards to the MVP chase. But
do you think Joel Embiid's performance on our Boston Celtics cemented his come up and
of finally getting that award or did you think he had already bagged it prior
to that. I'm really curious of what your perspective it would be on this.
I'll keep it short and sweet. Um. I'm not one of those
people who are now like I'm swayed by the last week of the season,
like all of a sudden, you can win the ward in the last week,
Like just like you couldn't win it in the first ten games or first
month of the season, you can't win it in the last week. Per
se. It has to be the total body of work. But a lot
of people are in that mode and it's kind of like, what have you
done for me lately? And you know how you finish is really it's kind
of the determinating factor of who wins the award. I think that's just an
interesting situation. You know, the Nuggets are already they pretty much clinched the
Western Conference top seed in whatever. While it was my preseason pick I thought
Yoki had had was the guy was the pick, you know, maybe midway
through and even into you know, parts of February, I think it beat
has come on. But I wouldn't say the last game or this last week
is what's made the difference. I think it's still the total body of work.
So I can't be swayed that easily. I agree with you. I
just was really curious abot where you were with it because I've been seeding.
I've been seeing how people have been looking at the season in so many different
parts but have never been able to package or put together the full story,
you know what I'm saying. So it could be red chapter diverse, right,
And so for me personally, I think Joel Embid is gonna wind up
winning this. But I think it's going to be for all of the reasons
that doesn't really get spoken to, Like if you really think about the way
that the Denver Nuggets have been playing, regardless of the numbers, that Jokich
has been putting on. I don't know if the numbers are been having as
much of an impact as much as I just feel like he's as equally lost
as all of his other teammates are now. Then maybe they'll figure things out
when the time comes for the playoffs and everything, But I just feel like
you see more of a presence from Joel Embiid during these final stretch of games
where because of what the seventy Sixers have been doing, they had inserted themselves
to be among one of the top three teams right like they were trying to
chase down the Milwaukee Bucks. They have almost stayed, almost flagged down the
Boston Celtics, And so where we were talking about this being a two team
race in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia seventy Sixers have kind of changed that
dynamic, that the dimension of talk, so to speak. And a lot
of that is because of joelmb because again James Harden is not one hundred percent,
and again we're still questioning candies two when fully healthy be among the best
tandems that know how to get it done when it comes to crunch time.
And the one thing I will say about this and that I'm hoping is what
takes place, Especially when we're talking about the Nuggets and the Sixers, I
want all of their top tier players to be in peat conditioned for this playoff
run. I don't think we can have as much joy watching this upcoming playoffs.
And we'll get into our previews and everything like that when on the road.
I get that, but we can't enjoy this unless these guys are at
one hundred percent ready to go to make this this playoff push, because I
don't know how many windows of opportunity we can have with this many players and
this many stars inserted into the conversation for us to make a decision of who
actually is going to be representing the East and Western finals. I know we
do this in you know, other years, and we've said this before,
but I truly want to believe in the idea that embiid hardened healthy, Murray
Porter Yokich healthy means a damn good playoff competitive NBA playoff competitive series for twenty
twenty three season. Yeah, we all want to see that. You know,
who's nobody's running against that for sure, And just keeping it to the
earlier part. The VP's obviously in a regular season award. But people want
to then obviously think about, okay, well, what does the playoffs success
mean? Then? Other Nuggets have had better playoff success in their history than
Joel Embiid has with the Sixers. Obviously, Nuggaus made it to a Western
Conference final, the six Ers have not. So health has played our role,
I think, and both of the both of those outcomes, you know,
especially when the Nuggets were healthy, Jamal Murray was arguably the playoff MVP,
you know, for them in that bubble run, so to speak.
But at the end of the day, these are two teams that are poised
to make very very deep runs in respective conferences, two great players, and
a lot of people would still to take Yokich over and Bead in terms of
if you're building a franchise, is starting that today. But the overall body
of work I think for the MVP is a narrative conversation that we all know
and love, which we will have obviously in more detail on the award show.
Absolutely all right, So now that we're talking about all the winning,
let's go ahead and figure out a couple of teams who have defined the art
of losing that cold but you know, it's it's uncommon for like a team
like the Portland Trailblazers, Right, It's it's uncommon for them because they've actually
been a successful basketball team the last few seas and maybe minus a few injuries,
who knows how successful this team would have been. Right. But when
you when you already have packed it in and told your superstar go home and
start dropping some more hot sixteens, you know what I'm saying, You know,
start you already start working on your videos for the Grammys. You know
what I'm saying for next year pretty much is telling you that basketball isn't a
priority for the remainder of this NBA season. So with that being said,
Shaw and I are going to make sure we dig in on the Portland Trail
Blazers and the Washington Wizards, two teams who have very interesting scenarios with their
superstar players and what their executives are gonna need to do, so you don't
want to miss out on that As we continue our our top series. As
always, be sure to get my man Shaw Astro Sports NBA gain at me
a game face lead the show's Twitter handle at NBA. Based on available and
ultimjor platforms. You know where to find us. If you want to check
out this episode in our previous episodes, go to www dot the base on
NBA dot com. Also recognize the baseline runs with the nineteen Media Group.
For those of you watching us on YouTube, what Up? What Up?
If you see the blue logo down there, you know that's the nineteen Media
Group. We rocks with them. That's family. So we encourage you to
not only catch us, but catch the plethora of great talent and content via
the nineteen Media Group. Go to www dot nineteen Media Group dot com.
All right, so with that being said, you know how we do?
You know how we roll? Give us a couple of minutes here going throw
on the white coats so we can examine and zoom a couple of bodies in
our latest edition of the our top series. You don't want to miss out
here on the baseline. Time to break it. They're dead, My team,
My team is dead. They knew we were coming, man, they
knew we were coming. Time now for the breakdown. Callie waunt y'all based
on NBA podcast and this is our Autopsy Reports series. Shall not throwing on
them white coats and we get to body up a couple of more teams on
the slab, and the first team we're gonna talk about is the Portland Trailblazers.
Portland Trailblazers the team that you know pretty much have packed it in on
the early side of things. You know, they are among third, fourth,
worse than the Western Conference. And listen, I know that the focal
point has always been about them shutting down Dame Lillard earlier. It's ironic because
DAMEI Lillard is the consummate professional, and he's also the type of basketball player
that doesn't want the perception out there that just because his team isn't winning means
he doesn't want to be on the basketball court competing. But I will say
this much Shaw, this is a very interesting time for the Portland Trailblazers because
while we knew that there was gonna probably be a fire sale taking place with
their with their star athletes, they still somehow managed to keep Damian Lillard.
They still kept you know, use of Nurkics. Um. The future for
Anthony Simons is you know, is great, Um, But I'm sure that
there are certain question marks that even you may have for them I'm just wondering
shot that when you think about this basketball team and you think about, you
know, what defines winning for them, how much are they salvaging the loyalty
or basing this on the loyalty of Damian Lillard and and not what really should
be the proper and the right decisions made to rebuild this team and accelerate their
rebuilding process so to speak. Yeah, they're holding on to tales of yesteryear.
It's been a rough go obviously for this team this year. They're not
good offensively, not good defensively, not good in pace, you know,
don't shoot the three ball well. Even with Dame having a career year scoring
wise, you know, Billips has just really kind of struggled, you know,
to to kind of get an identity in place. And I take that
back through they were twelve to three point percentage of show. So I'm not
terrible, but it's just been something that understanding and holding on to Dame at
this point is now doing more harm than it can possibly do good because of
how much salary heats up with the cap. You know, he's gonna be
making sixty three million dollars at the end of his contract. Sixty three million
dollars, and listen, he's worth every penny of it when you look at
just how phenomenal a player he is. It's funny, you know, a
few years ago, Sean, We've had like some really great guests on to
talk about the Portland Trailblazers, and some of them, you know, I
think, really we're hard on Damian Lillard. I think that the perception regarding
Damian Lillard was, you know, he's such a ballhog. The ball just
seems to stick to him. You know, it's a mistake that you know,
you can't run it with him and McCullum, the two alpha's, and
then you you kind of look at the body of work and you know,
listen, Damian Lillard really has been a phenomenal player for the Portland Trailblazers.
You know what I'm saying, like not just putting up the numbers, but
you know, the teams that he's played for prior to this year have been
phenomenally good basketball teams. Which is really a stark contrast conversation that we're having
about what has taken place this year. And I don't know if you're putting
if obviously the idea or is that we should put that on his legacy of
you know what is taking place, but it is it is something that has
to be addressed because of what you've just alluded to. That much money invested
in one player and to have the results that you're looking at with this team
this past season, it's it's it's definitely and it's it's tenable. It's not
tenable at all for them to continue this. Yeah. When I say,
I mean and that'll be at the end of it. So the end of
his contract is four years ago, but he'll be like thirty six, thirty
seven years old making slaty three million dollars. I'm usually it hasn't worked out
too for too many good too many good teams. Yeah, I mean with
a player at that age. But the end of the day, in the
short term, where we're at um is, like said, they need to
figure out a way to to save Dame from himself. There's an incredible conversation
going on in NBA Twitter right now where Dame does not want to leave Portland,
he wants to win in Portland. Then criticizes or maybe not criticizes,
but make comments like hey, well I'm not here for the rebuild. Well,
the way the team is structured right now, they can't move forward.
I think with him in a way that that is logical, So it almost
makes him look illogical and some of his conversations. I'm not here, I'm
not trying to think about next year and la la la lah. But you
need to kind of release Portland or let Portland lets you go. And I
don't know if that's a you know, a media savvy thing where I was
like, hey, well, I say I tried to stay and you know,
they move me either way. I think the marriage has to be done.
But I don't want to spend too much time here because it's almost a
tired conversation at this point. Everyone is saying Dame should be traded. Dame
doesn't want to go, so what are we doing? You know, until
the Portland trailblazers on the front office decide like this is the route, that
the direction that we want to take. And sure we're hearing the reports now
all right now, this year, this is a year they're really gonna at
least think about it and consider it over over the course of the off season.
I just believe it when I see it. So for Now, I
think you focus on the players that are here, the players whose contracts are
up. You just mentioned Affreny Simons. He got a four year deal,
right, so he's he's locked in for the rest of the you know,
for the next foreseeable future. But Jeremy Grant, who brought over in the
trade last year, had a good season for them. Most was injured a
lot, but still average twenty a game. Nurkitch, who I know is
not a fan favorite of yours. You know, he signed up locked up
for another three years after the season as well. I love hold on,
hold on, let me get through. I know you want to know you
want to shade and sharp rookie playing really great basketball to close year. Um
that more interesting moves, So I think, are what are they going to
do with the contracts of Cam Riders and Matisse Tybel Now, I don't think
those are building blocks to your to your team, but those are pieces now
who you traded for and you're not gonna I would assume you're not going to
let them just walk away because their little has developed and showed a little bit
of something here and there. Um, But this team needs to figure out
what the identity is I guess around Dame long term and short term. Yeah,
so a lot of a lot of question marks. And I think part
of it too is that you look at the roster and you have a lot
of guys that have a lot to prove And my question is is that if
they can't prove it with Portland, where can they prove it. It's it's
amazing to me because a few years ago, like when you bring up matist
table, a few years ago Matisse Tybel was like there was there was a
there was a future for this kid, right, like he had a place
where he could he could literally be like a staunch defender, opportunity for him
to improve his perimeter shooting. UM. But he's a he's a he's a
big athletic um guard and I and even to this day, we still need
those, right at least when I checked. It's amazing how he's not usable
for a team like the Portland Trailblazers, or he's not been able to find
his footing with this team. UM. The one thing that I will say,
and I don't want to hearken too much on nurkis because I've said for
a very long time that the reason why you try to move Nurkics early is
because heaven forbid, he comes out and he does so well that he puts
you in a bind where you may feel like you have to commit to him
only because of the fact that you were tied to Damian Lillard, Right.
I mean, it's it's weird that the Trailblazer into space because you can't keep
all you're not. You can't even keep Nurkics if you wanted to. I
think you know he's worn out as welcome for the Portland Trailblazers, and I
think you have to completely move on from the idea that, to your point,
you don't want to you want to hold on yester year. He was
a part of Yester Year. He was a part of that experimentation of trying
to put together their version of a Big three, and it just doesn't hasn't
worked out. Doesn't mean that Nurkis can't still be a serviceable UM big and
can produce for like another team, but it's impossible to think that you're going
to try to build Nurkics and Simons. That's not going to work at all.
So they definitely have to move both Lillard both nurks Jeremy Grant. I
don't know. I mean, it would be nice to see some stability,
and I think he's had his better, his best years playing as a Portland
Trailblazer, So that could very well be a good placeholder while you figure out
what you want to do. Would you but would you rather pay Jeremy Grant
on this kind of not even middling team, you know, this struggle and
struggling to get in playing team, or just let Shade and Sharp develop and
you know, let Jeremy Grant ride off into the sunset, because he's going
to be looking for twenty five to twenty seven million dollars per you know,
in his next deal. He's twenty eight years old, so you know he's
got one two ish maybe more pay days he's gonna look to try to cash
in here. Well, let me let me ask you this question. Where
do you find where do you have the versatility for Shade on Sharp or do
you just see him basically strictly taking over a playing Jeremy Grant's role. It's
not it's not a one for one, you know, swap. I'm just
saying I think kind of in general, if you're looking at the spot itself,
and you know Grant is well ave to see more of a of a
three to four and Sharp is more of a two three. You know,
I think at this stage, but if I'm looking to build and you have
Simons or whatever the case may be, listen, this team isn't I don't
think team this team is going anywhere as currently constructed. And that's what I'm
saying. So if if Grant, you get the opt out of Grant because
his contract is just completely expires. You flubbed up and gave nir Kitchen an
extension last year, which you probably shouldn't have done. He's got three more
years as I alluded to, I don't think you double down or triple down
if you will on this roster by saying all right, well let's keep Granting
here for X amount of years unless you can get it to some sort of
team friendly deal and I'm not saying in terms of money, but in terms
of years or options and that way, then maybe you can keep them.
And then not obviously you keep the asset, retain the ascid and or he
becomes flippable, especially if you know it's it's a deal that you know allows
the team to have some sufist level of control. But I don't know why
Grant would agree to that. So to me, Sharp is the better bet
to to kind of weigh on and truly truly bought him out it. Maybe
it takes another year of struggling and Dames like, all right, finally,
let me, let me get out of here. I don't, I don't.
I'm not into playing games, but I don't know if Portland has another
choice here other than to kind of play games with Dame here and this it
sounds really jacked up, So I don't I feel that even saying it.
I mean, yeah, listen, I listen, we're not good. You're
and you know what we're gonna show you that you went you went from you
know the real mild manner. You know what I'm saying, real easy m
me to dexter. I mean you you you play you platting, you plating
to kill a dude's legacy, right, the killing kill a career. That's
harsh, Okay, His legacy in Portland is forever. Okay, there's no
doubt about that. He's a great trollblazer to ever lace them up. There's
no two ways about that. But you know, it's it's almost like a
game of chicken, you know, put all the memes you want to put
out there, like the names looking at them, they're looking at Dame.
And at this point there needs to be a separation, but nobody wants to
budge. They just kind of want to continue on and this kind of unhappy
and not great marriage. Um, and somebody should give. But if you
don't, and it's like and if you in the court of public perception per
se, it's like, all right, well, the Blazers may just want
to say, listen, we'll keep We'll keep the team kind of as is
where it's just like and then Dame ultimately is like, you know what,
maybe need to get up out of here. I mean, look, I
don't disagree with you. I think that this is part of the priority that
Cronin is going to have to really weigh is. But I will say this,
he cannot he cannot mess with this, right, he can't wait this
thing out. I think this has to be a very decisive and in judicious
immediate you know, play you dance around with this, you let this linger,
and then you run the risk of the guys that you do have have
them questioning where they where they fit in, and where they stand. Um,
well, let me let me circle back one on to one other particular
point that you made, because I think to me it sounded like you were
really disappointed in Chauncey Billups and what he has done, what he's done as
a coach, at least this past season. So I'm just curious for you
how long of a leash are you willing to give Chauncey Billups Because another part
of this equation as well, too, is recognizing that if you're Chauncey Billups
and you have to work with a rebuild process, are you willing to do
that? Because you no longer have a Damian Lillard, a star player to
work with. You have a a a a potentially promising star in Anthony Simmons,
but we've seen where he has his e been flows. If you're you're
Chauncey Billups, how much of how much patience can you exhibit in that you
know? You know, if I'm Chauncey, this is not what I signed
up for. I didn't sign up to to to rebuild. So UM came
there because Dame was there specifically, and if for some reason Dame were not
to be there, then you know, you'd have to reevaluate that situation.
Maybe he would stay. But if you're looking at a team of Simons and
Sharp and Cam, Reddish and and and Nurkics, like you know what it
is, like like you know what that is. So to me, it's
it's really kind of you know, shout or get off the pot time.
I think for the entirety of the Blazers organization, from Dame to the to
the to the crone in to Billups, everybody taking a hard look in the
mirror. But again, like I said, I don't want to continue to
beat this horse because it is the elephant in the room that we can't really
get around of. But we keep hearing the same thing. So it really
now results to the rest of the roster. And I think if they start,
if they find a taker for Nurkics, they don't resign Grant. You
know, obviously they moved off of Josh Hart here in the middle of the
season. Uh do you bring back, Like I said, if you bring
back Reddish and Thieble and guys like that, that to me might say kind
of where the team is going. But it's it's it's it's not really great,
I think in Portland right now. And it sucks because you have a
Hall of fame talent, you know on the roster who's you know again is
the greatest player to ever play for your organization. All right, Chell,
Well was that your eulogy? It felt like it were you killing him softly?
I think you probably. I mean I'm killing them really all right,
and you know, and just being as honest as I possibly can. You
know, I think we both have a certain level offinity for this Blazers organization.
We have a certain level of affinity for for Lillard himself, you know.
I mean I even like Anthony Simons. I mean, you know,
he's still twenty three. He's a lot, got a lot of growing to
do, you know, as as as a as a guard and as a
guy who can try to score it, but also you know, combo guard
who can sometimes create for others as well. But this roster just isn't it?
That's all I can say. Yeah, I mean, as we record
this podcast, I mean the Trailblazers are running out Drew U Banks, Kevin
Knox, Maze Sharp and Williams. So that's a eulogy and of himself,
like Oh my gosh, I listen, um. I hope that things do
turn around for the Portland Trailblazers, but yeah, this is shaking time.
Let me say this last thing. One hundred and twelve million dollars and committed
salary next year. That's without Grant, that's without Reddish, but that's without
table, that's out without even Winslow. They already have one hundred and twelve
million dollars and committed salary without some of you know, the key Ish guys
and guys who they just traded for or trade for within the last year or
so. So what are they doing? I don't know. I just don't
get it. I mean, easy, man, put the knife down,
don't I'm done. I don't know what you do in death, scalpel Man,
you're tuned to the base, like Callie ward Shaw discussing the hot button
topics of the NBA coming up. Hopefully my man has a much more feathery
touch with the Washington Wizards than he has right now with the Portland Chailblazes.
But Wain, you don't know. Yeah, you went from Quincy to Dexter
real quick. We'll try to we'll try to settle them back down be shot.
I don't know, but nothing about no damn Quincy. I'm old school.
What can I tell you? Jesus oh Man. We'll try to get
Shaw back, you know what I'm saying. We'll get our Shaw, Emmy
Shaw back on track. Here on the baseline, we are back, Callie
warned Shall baseline NBA podcasts, and this is the autopsy report, and we're
gonna go ahead and keep it moving. The next team that we'll be talking
about is the Washington Wizards. And you know, Washington Wizards have had a
very interesting season. Um, they came at the gate like gangbusters, right
like they were hanging with the teams in the Eastern Conference. There was really
a lot of promise regarding the combination of Bradley Beale and Chris STAPs Porzingis.
And maybe one could even argue that even when Bradley Beale was was went down
again that it really opened up the door for Kris STAPs Zingis to really kind
of find himself and come into his own. Part of where a lot of
our concern has always been with Kris STAPs is that it's just not sustainable with
him and he just can't stay healthy. And we don't know whether the interest
level is there to be a great player. There's definitely promise there for him
to be a solid player. Being a great player that's going to require consistency.
But when you look at this team show, when you look at this
Washington Wizards team, you know, we just finished having our conversation about the
Portland Trailblazers, And I don't know if if you're going to find a better
combination. I don't know if you did this on purpose like you intended,
you know what I'm saying, to cut up both of these teams at the
same time. But you have to start questioning the same thing that we did
for Damian Lillard with Bradley Beale, and you know, should I stay or
should I go? You know type thing? And if obviously I don't want
to leave, when does the organization say, hey man, we love you
for what you've done, but we need you to to to you know what
I'm saying, kick rocks so we can get into this full you know,
rebuild mode that we should have done. We should have moved you. How
many times has it been now when it comes to Riley Bale, like five,
six, seven, eight, twenty times? You know what I'm saying,
Like, it's just what are we to your point, what are we
doing here? We're securing the back I mean we've said that a lot about
Bill and to lesser degree, Lillard, Like they've they've wanted their money and
they've they've gotten their money. They're able to stave of their organizations. Now
anything could potentially happen. I believe it was on this show where we might
have had a conversation it's like, listen, one of these two guys should
form like voltron and like ask to go probably play with the other, you
know, you know, a Lillard and Bill combination would be one of the
better backcourts, you know, and then the NBA for sure, Um,
I don't think we're going to get that, you know, any at any
stage of the oh that that combination, that combination would be the combination that
we were hoping to see between Luca and Kyrie Irving. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I mean, like offensively, and I think even the playmaking capabilities,
you know, a little less than obviously lucas one of the better creators
in our game, but you know, it would definitely be up there,
right and I think where Washington currently lands is. Are they now going to
middle themselves to death? Listen, I've I've loved the season Christaps Porzingus has
had. He's had a complete bounce back seasons played sixty five games. You
know, Bill's only played fifty games. You know that guy just really can't
stay on the floor. But now you're hearing the Wizards talk about extension for
Porzingis, And I don't disagree in terms of that it's being warranted, but
I think a lot of people are saying, it's like, all right,
well, where does that leave you? Just because he had a good season,
are you the team that should pay him given the results that you had
even alongside bial like it left you out of even the playing game? Here
again again, and Kyle Kuzma is also so up for a contract extension.
What do you do with that? So let me just again run some numbers
for you, mistericality. Okay, do I need? Do I need a
pen and paper? Both Porzingis and Kuzma have player options. They're opting out.
They're opting out. I mean Porzingas maybe he eat option, but not
likely. So with those options, they already are at one hundred or forty
eight million dollars next year for a team that didn't make the play in.
That's that's reasonably priced, right, that's worse than for then, of course,
of course it is. And again that's that's what the player options.
So if you extrapulate that, you assume Kuzma's definitely opting out. There's not
a chance he's coming back at thirteen million dollars. Not a chance porzingis.
You could say, maybe at thirty six. Does he just say, listen,
you know what, I'll play it out again? I doubt it.
He's probably is looking for a two or three year extension. Does he make
a team friendly or not? Either way, you're going to be well over
the cap with those three guys. And again, this is a team that
didn't make the plan. So I'm struggling to see how the Wizards are gonna
be viable other than just like, hey, a fun story. They get
hot for a little while, score a bunch of points, and then ultimately
the offense and the defense continues to fail them. Daniel Gaffert seems like a
service so big you know, can obviously more than a rotation player. It
can definitely give you some blocks and some rebounds here and there, but everything
else around this team is still kind of just like, you know, Corey
cris Bird is reasonably decent shooter. Montie morrisonn't have the season we were expecting
him to have, at least not the season I expected him to have.
Adda played well when he got his minute sometimes here and there, but the
again, it's just it's just middling. And I think all of these teams
are looking and striving and should be striving for more than that getting into the
playoffs and then trying to build from there. But I don't know if a
combination of Bill Porcincis and Kuzma as good as it is offensively, both all
three of those guys are over twenty points per game this year, what does
it lend to You couldn't even get past the Hawks, and that to me
is problematic. Yeah, I mean, I'll I agree with where you're coming
from. Let me throw something out at you show because I'm curious what your
take is. You look over in the West Coast and Austin Reeves is like
kind of coming into his own right, Like he's becoming a star for the
Los Angeles Lakers, which is not easy, right, Kyle Kuzma had an
like he had an opportunity, and really the opportunity that was given to him
with the Los Angeles Lakers, I think because of consistency, it made it
very difficult for him for the Lakers to figure out a way to keep him
when you know, he wound up basically being expendable for something better than him.
Right when you look at the rest of this Washington Wizards team, with
all of these players, Kissper, Goodwin, Gaffer, Davis, Gil,
all of these guys right of deja, do you find him to be any
better than Austin Reeves? What kind of question is that? So? No,
The reason why I'm asking that question, Shaw is because if you're the
Washington Wizards and for a moment, let's forget Bradley Beale. Okay, I
know it's hard to but this is from won't forget brad to be Let's just
say the focal point is Porzingis and his extension. If you choose to bring
Porzingis, are you running back with the same roster of guys that you have,
Like of these guys that you've had, Gafford's been here for a while,
kiss Bert, he's been around for a little bit now of Dija relatively
young. But of those guys, do you find it there's there any promise
that's coming out of them that they're gonna they're gonna find a place to have
an impact for a team like the Washington Wizards that you're gonna start saying,
I want to build around you know Porzingis. With these type of guys,
you know, some guys figure it out very quickly. It feels like,
and I'm just saying, it feels like a guy like Austin Reeves has figured
it out where if this is the run that the Lakers are gonna make,
they're gonna have to make it with this guy aust To playing at the level
that he's playing. The Washington Wizards have had these players for quite some time
now, and it just doesn't feel like we're talking about any of these guys
with upside potential there. You just mentioned it. You just describe them.
They're relatively good. But how long can you continue to do that, especially
now that you have to start talking about putting mad dollars into the pocket of
a guy like Porzingis, or you have to maybe consider reconstruct reconstructing a contract
that you've given for Bradley Beale. Are you doing it at the expense of
saying we're gonna get rid of these guys and actually go through free agency and
see if we could put some some veteran, solid pieces, better pieces around
or are you buying into the idea that these younger guys are going to be
able to step up and actually, you know, shine a light on what's
going on right b B more than be another version of the Kyle Kuzma that
the Washington Wizards were banking on him becoming for that team. Well, I
think a lot of it is like, so Kuzma is only at thirteen million
dollars, so again he's going to opt out. The question you then have
to ask yourself is he's been playing above his contract right? Right? Then?
Is he the guy you want to tie a bunch of money into.
So now he's got to get twenty five to twenty two you know, somewhere
twenty to twenty five millions, bless you, thank you, somewhere in that
range. Now do you tie that up? Understanding that he's twenty seven and
he's probably at this point he is who he is. There's not another level
of growth for him. Offensively, maybe he could get a little bit better
defensively, but this is the player that you're tied to, this version of
him. And I think similarly with porzingis sure if you can get you know,
he plays sixty five games. If you can get to seventy seventy two
games with porzingis even better. At least he's defending for you at times as
well too. That's I think the question that Washington is kind of stuck with
both of them. It's just like, all right, well, you don't
see the next level of upside for them, and then you're gonna tie this
money into both of those guys around Bill, who also is kind of who
he is at this point. So that's where I say, like, you
get stuck in the middling ground, and sure, could you try to go
attract another, you know, young free agent so to speak. But Washington
is in a free agent destination and with the money that's tied up with these
guys currently, they can't sign anybody out right. They would have to do
some sort of trade and figuring that out. So you know, could you
move Abdiya and Kissburg and those guys won't make enough money because they're still in
the rookie scale. So you could try. It's just it's just very very
complicated, I think, for them right now. And that's where you get
frustrated because you have you have whatever talent on you have, and it's intoxicating
because like, hey, well these guys are twenty point per game guys,
but they're not championship level guys, at least not with the other roster pieces
that are around them. And that's what puts you in a hole, so
to speak. So I get why some people would be down on giving Porzingis
an extension. I get why even giving Kyle Kuzber the race he ultimately does
deserve, because it doesn't lend you and put you in a place that puts
you in the upper echelon conversation on the Eastern Conference. Agreed. But then
part of that is also recognizing too that do you want to finally concede to
the idea that this should be Porzingis's team, this should be Kuzma's team.
Like I guess part of Mishaw is recognizing that Bradley Beale, as great as
a player is, Bradley Beale is not moving the needle on elevating the Washington
Wizards beyond what you're getting right now from the Washington Wizards because the years of
where Bradley Beale was that guy was when he was playing next to John wall.
I mean, you can make the argument that Bradley Beale is beneficial to
Chris STAPs Porzingis. But if if the if the team is identified by what
Chris STAPs Porzingis does or Kyle Kuzma does, then what I'm just saying is
is, no matter what money you're putting into, whether whether it be one
of or both of those guys, it has to be with the understanding that
this is their team, which means you can't have Bradley Beal on this roster
any longer. But then when you do that, what are you putting around
the identity of one or both of those players moving forward? Because this is
no longer like the Watchington Wizards, and you just brought this up. They're
no longer in a space Shaw where people are okay watching this team just kind
of fumbled through the Eastern Conference. It's gonna it's They're not in a market
where they can afford to just say we have some dynamically, you know,
unique players with the way Kyle Kuzma, you know be you know, a
fashion icon and Chris Staffs perzingis being the International Unicornies. All that stuff doesn't
play man At some point, especially in the DC area, you got to
win and you have an opportunity, a window to be able to do that
in one of the weakest divisions in the NBA, But you can't because your
roster is not constructed with the mindset of going out to really compete and win
like that. And so that's that's where to your point, y'all, is
where that that you know, that interesting mentality of how this needs to be
approach is really jumping out where you give this money to these guys. It's
not to say that they're not deserving of it, and it's not that you
don't want them to have it, but you often do it knowing that you
are building around these two guys and this is no longer you gotta move Bradley
Beal, you gotta move also other players that you got to you know,
find a way to say to yourself that the guys that you're surrounding Kuzma and
port zingis there is potential upside to help improve and more so supplement what you
may not get on a consistent basis because of health reasons that these guys are
going to be out there the full eighty two for the season. And I
don't know how you juggle that. There's there's a what I'm saying is is
there's there's very little room of that transition to seeing improvement happen. It's almost
like, no matter what they do, if they don't do it right,
they could completely crash this team for five years, five years or more simply
because of what they're not doing in addressing these players. Yeah, well,
I think maybe we even need some of the advanced stats because maybe some wizard
fans and hopefully you're listening and tuning in, can give us some statistics.
You know, what's the record when Bale, Porzingis and Kuzma play. You
know, expect they've been staggered a lot or course of this year because of
all the injuries. And I think that's what is troubling when you have to
invest so much money in guys who traditionally miss a lot of time, and
that's just really hard to build that level of continuity. And we until Junior
on the sidelines. It's just like, well, would expect me to do?
You know they need a point guard. I don't think they'll be able
to address that. I think, you know, through free agency, so
they should have a lot of repick. Obviously, maybe they go that route
and get somebody who they can kind of groom, but chances are that player
is going to take some time to develop. And can you make that happen.
I think with one, two, or all three of those guys,
you know, within the next not even the next year, but probably the
year after that, before you start to steal some real yield and tread on
that tires. That makes some sense for the Wizard's ultimate direction. Yeah,
I'm not trying to, you know, be dooming Gloom. There's value in
having twenty point per game guys on your team. There's value in Porzingis and
what he does, even on the defensive side. Daniel Gelford as I mentioned
as well too, you know Dia. Again, I'm just kind of rehashing
it, but they're they're capable players, but they're not playoff They're not playoff
contenders, let alone championship can There's not even playoff contenders right now, and
I think that's problematic ultimately, And if you get lucky and get a game.
Get a season where they all play, you know, sixty five plus,
then maybe this conversation is different. But to me, we haven't seen
it yet, and I don't think you can. You can't count on that
any capacity. All right, so let me go ahead, shot and give
you some I'll give you an advanced statistic. You're ready, I'm ready.
The Washington Wizards this year have implemented twenty six different starting lineups. Okay.
Of the twenty six lineups, only two starting lineups have played double digit amounts
of games. All right, you're ready, I'm ready. Okay. The
first lineup, which is Adja bal Kuzma, Morris Porzingis, played thirteen games.
They were five and eight. The second lineup, Beal Gafford, Kuzmo,
Morris Porzingis, played twelve games. They were six and six. Okay.
So what I'm saying here, Shaw, is that even if you want
to entertain the idea of Kuzma and poor Zingis as being your foundational pieces of
the eighty two games, even with those two or those three excuse me,
as part of your starting roster, it is only amounted to twenty five games
played right of the eighty two and even at best. They are below five
hundred basketball team. You know, that's frightening, and and and and I'm
not trying to say I'm not trying to say that, you know, oh
my god, like you know, this is a dumpster fire. All I'm
saying, Shaw is, if you're resting your hopes on investing the kind of
money that you'd like to invest in, say Kuzma and poor zingis you have
to go in with the expectation of of of thinking that you need a significantly
better roster to be able to compete then what you already are having, even
if you've got Bradley Beale with them and that and I don't know how you're
able to achieve that with the money invested already in bial and with what you
already have surrounding the other two guys on your roster. That's tough. That's
tough. So if I heard you right, so would that with the Abdiva
lineup better or was the Gafford lineup better? The Gafford lineup is better.
That makes sense because of the defense, But then you lose you lose some
spacing out there. But again, if Kuzma can be you know, you
know, thirty thirty six to thirty percent three point shooter alongside Bill, and
that's where I think the point guard position becomes so important for them as well.
Um, somebody can really help distribute and get the ball out there because
Bill is not don't even want to go there. But you know, Bill
has some playmaking jobs, but he's not somebody who you want to have that
level of responsibility kind of throughout. And you know, he did it a
couple of years ago, and I think that was a year he was average
thirty and you know, I think he was like six or seven assisted games
will too, because like his usage rate was just bananas at that point.
But he's just he's not he can't sustain that. He definitely can't sustain it
in a winning environment. So to me, that's probably their biggest need.
Go out there and get a point guard. Then figure out as well what's
going on well obviously with Kuzma and Porzingism, because I don't think they're going
to be able to move Bill, and I think at some point depends on
the struggle's that you're in. But there are some out there that field Bill's
contract is is a little um toxic. You know, he's he's not He's
not the guy he's got. He's he's a little Paul George's without the defense.
Right. It's like he puts up the good numbers and understands that he's
not a number one and you can't build a winning team around him. And
it's not a knock. I think you hear that statement, it's like you
feel like it's so negative. It's just not a knock. Certain guys are
just what they are, you know, Like I couldn't be the president of
the United States doesn't mean I'm not I'm a bad employee, you know what
I mean. Certain things are just not my job, not within my purview
to do. So. It's it's it's the argument that I often make shaw
where people think that if I'm ragging a particular coach, it's not that I
don't think that he's a good head coach. I just think that he's better
as an assistant head coach. And I think part of that is because there
are certain attributes that you need to have to be an effective head coach that
some assistant head coaches that so badly want to be a head coach, they
don't have it. It doesn't resonate it may not be the right time,
or they're just not good at that. That doesn't mean that they are not
legendary well among one of the best, And sometimes we have to recognize that,
right, they're just some things that we're just not naturally that good at,
and we could be given numerous opportunities to go out there and try and
prove it. But at some point you the same the same ego that's driving
you to say that you deserve to be there should be the same ego that
speaks to you and say, I may not be really good or the greatest
at this part of it, but I'd be damned if I'm not the greatest
at what I've already that got me to the point to get me to the
door right and to maintain that. And I think if you're someone like a
Bradley Beale, who is an excellent basketball player, he's an excellent scorer,
I think that you have to acknowledge playing on a team that accentuates what you
do best, and sometimes that may mean not having to take the bag for
an organization that wants you to be more than what you know. You don't
either have a passion for doing or is not in your purview for what your
skill set brings. Sometimes you have to talk sense to the organization, you
know what I'm saying, well, and stop them from and stop them from
wrecking themselves. I have to amend in their leader statements. So hopefully people
are listening, you know, are still on, because I feel like I've
been like way out there were some of the comments here today. But even
if you tried to mold this team and made them like the Portland Wizards or
something like that too, the that's the hell of a mashup. But the
contracts alone of Beal and Lillard together is nearly one hundred million dollars. What
are we doing like that? That could never work? That could never work.
You have nobody, You have to have me and hey, listen,
listen the jack You know what the jackpot tonight is supposed to be? Was
the mega millions? Is one hundred and seventy seven or something like that.
Well, I mean even even even even the mega millions, you know what
I'm saying, You gotta work hard to even get that from what these two
guys. Again, yeah, that could never work. So I want to
amend that earlier statement, like, hey, they should try to find a
way to play together because from the team building standpoint, one hundred million dollars
two guys alone and two guys who don't play defense. Yeah, no,
thank you. I tell you what though, whichever state has to uh you
know, has to handle that contract. Oh they getting over on the state
tack stoll to be rest assured, DC Portland. I don't think that.
I don't think those states are are state tax free maybe like no, no,
no, you guys can stay here, live here. We got some
we got some infrastructure projects we need funded. Come on down a full paw
and roster building if that we're trevor to come to light. So I want
to amend that. You know, I think I was saying it kind of
almost tongue in cheek anyway, but let me really think about it. Yeah,
there's no way those two guys should ever look to try to play together.
No way. Look at you man, taking what little oxygen is left
to them boys. Anyway, Man, awesome show this week, you know,
really fascinating. You know, it's funny you would think that as we
start climbing up the food chain that we would have even more positive conversations about
what the futures are gonna be like for some of the teams that were already
you know what I'm saying, examining and exooming, but I feel like it's
getting worse. Like maybe maybe maybe some of these teams don't realize that they
are hanging on by a thread and and and it's just gonna be like they're
they're poorly they're poorly constructed, I think, you know, and they're gonna
be stuck in this middle ground for a very long time. So, you
know, would you rather be the Washington Wizards for Portland Trail Bazins right now
with you know, Lillard Hall of Famer Beal Fringe maybe can make the Hall
of Fame. What are I don't know, or the Houston Rockets or the
San Antonio Spurs right now, who are more or less bottomed out with an
opportunity to get you know, number one and number two picks with guys who
could potentially change in their franchise, And you know, I would rather be
I'd rather be the latter, you know, I'd rather be the Rockets or
or the Spurs right now than the Wizards or or the Blazers, to be
very honest with you, And I know that sounds insane, but at least
there is a direction as opposed to just like we're middling and we're kind of
held hostages by the to high level All star all the NBA type guys put
can't do much more than kind of what they've shown here with the last couple
of seasons. I would really like to see when it comes to Bale and
to Lillard, and I kind of liken this a little bit to what we
saw take place with Charles Barkley, Right, there was a transition period where
when Charles Barkley was the man, he had that window of, you know,
getting to an NBA championship, and he just couldn't get past Michael Jordan's
right, Michael Jordan was the roadblock for all of a lot of great players
of who we wished were hoisting up in O'Brien trophy. Right, what with
Damian Lillard and with with Bradley Beale, what I fear what I hope doesn't
happen is because it doesn't seem like that's their mentality. But what I hope
doesn't happen is they don't start jumping on teams that compromises the greatness of what
they have been given us over these years. This may have been the best
windows that they've had, right, you know, a few years ago,
But it doesn't mean that they can't go somewhere and be a part of something
that helps to continue to elevate the greatness of what they've brought to the game.
You know, we've seen guys do that, right. We've seen Grant,
He'll do it. Um, We've seen it a couple of times with
Baron Davis, right like, so we've seen players who have been able to
transition in the twilight of their careers, you know. And I'm not saying
it because of age. I'm saying it because of what their skill set means
in this modern NBA. Is it outdated or can it adjust and adapt and
adapt and adjust? And I'm hoping that that's what we're talking about here because
we're focused so much on how much they're getting paid, and listen, they've
earned every single dollar. It is not as if these guys have been bumming
it, you know what I'm saying, and just kind of being las fair,
and you know, the organization weren't in a position where they had they
couldn't do it. They had to do it if they wanted to keep these
players right, but in doing that, that was the risk that was taken.
If you're Lillard and your Bill, you have to now understand your risk
of the legacy that you're portraying if you're going to continue to play on badly
constructed rosters as we've talked about, and you have to start thinking about where's
your place going to be if this type of play that you're giving isn't helping
the team and isn't helping yourself. And I think that that's when you have
to start thinking about that transition to going the teams or figuring out a way
to get to teams that can allow you to continue the greatness of what you
do, and hopefully the organizations that have those teams know what to do in
putting the kind of roster where that allows that to be elevated and not suppressed.
Yeah. I mean again, I'll just close with this. They've gotten
their money. Do they want to win an NBA championship? And I think
the answer to that is yes, but they want to win it their way,
and you know, their way doesn't seem to be something that's possible with
their current teams and current structures. So do the teams ultimately these I listen,
it's best we just move on because you're not going to go, So
we're going to move you on ourselves. And Washington Portland will have some very
interesting decisions to make, as they do every year. Um, but I
think we're going to be in the same place, same bad time, same
bad channel next year, saying, oh, look at Washington. Did look
what Portland did or more or more I think more sadly what they didn't do.
So well said brother Well said, that was a really good eulogy.
I liked it. That was that was that was. That was shaw m
e. That was a shaw m E eulogy. Trying to become calm.
I can if you're kind of you're kind of scaring me there. You had
the dexter thing going on a little bit early. Didn't know what I didn't
know. If you you, you're gonna kill them over twice. How we
finished this show once again, man, we appreciate you and yours for hopping
on board with us this week for the baseline. Callie Warrenshaw, we appreciate
you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up with you next time.