What is krak alacing fellow thermonuclear A efforts. I am a damp valley coming
at you without my certified fantabulous co host, mister Grant Hugh, this is
supposed to be if you're listening to this on Friday, February second, our
Monster Western Conference trade deadline primer. We already did the East a couple of
weeks back. Grant, however, is ill so with flu like symptoms,
so we hope that he is better soon. We might be able to get
this up. I'll put out a weekend pod or maybe we'll be able to
do it early next week. We'll figure it out, but just want him
to get better first and foremost, and well, we may not have the
most consistent schedule in terms of days. I do try to do Monday,
Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I want to make sure
that you all have three episodes per week and there's no shorter of news to
react to. So that's what we're going to be here to do right now.
I'll have a Joel Embian rant later on. I already post a snippet
of that on YouTube that was like twenty minutes long for anyone who previewed that.
But we're gonna start with what the thumbnail will be and Julius Randall's on
that All Star Julius Randall again, I was a little bit surprised that the
coaches picked him, but not undeserving, and we will get to All Star
selections as well in this. So, the Knicks announced that he will be
reevaluated in two to three weeks with his dislocated shoulder. The hope is that
or the expectation, not even the course of action here is he doesn't need
surgery, and that's what they're trying to avoid. That is good, that's
great, actually, but I do think it's important to note that this is
a two to three week reevaluation period, and so it's not, oh,
in three weeks Julius Randall will be back. It's actually go it's not that
if we're saying three weeks, that's going to take us through about the All
Star break. Their first game is February twenty second, so three weeks from
that is basically there. So that's another seven or eight games he will miss
in addition to what he's already missed before. We probably have a timetable for
when he actually is going to return. That is still not the end of
the world, and it's good. The Knicks are playing well right now without
him and without og Anobi. They had a rollicking victory over the Indiana Pacers
on Thursday Nights, who were shorthanded, so to speak themselves, because Tyres
Maxie's on Tyrs Maxie, We excuse me, Tyrus Albert Maxi did drop a
fifty burger though Tyres Maxie is Tyrus Albert is not a minute restriction. I'm
sorry, I'm tired. So they're doing fine without him and Tom Thibodeau team,
like the Knicks are deep to begin with, but I mean when you're
dealing with injuries to og and to Julius Randall and Mitchell Robinson on top of
that, you do get a little nervous. So the fact that they're winning
like it's a testament to that. And Tom Thibodeau teams generally figure out ways,
even when they're shorthanded, to make the most of these injury absences.
What I do think, however, is interesting, is how this might impact
what they're going to do at the trade deadline. We know they were in
the market for a shot creator, and now we know that they're probably gonna
be without Julius Ranald for at least a month, and you're not gonna want
to lose ground in the standings, and like yes, as of this recording,
they are only two one loss actually behind the Milwaukee Bucks for second place
in the East, and they have a cushion there. They're not gonna for
them to drop out of six. They would have to Julie don't have to
miss months rather than weeks. And so even into them of being a six
week thing, are they gonna give up, you know, the six losses
that are separating them and the Miami Heat and ne Orlando Magic right now?
Probably not, And so they could be content to just, hey, we're
gonna get healthier and then we're just gonna run it back like this. We'll
try and work out something on the market margins or maybe our primary targets don't
change. And Malcolm Brogden is the name that's been bandied about. Jordan Clark's
been out there. I don't hate his fit. He's having a really good
season. Then he's improved as a passer. But when two things, you
want someone who's probably a little bit better of a passer. If not a
lot better of a passer. And the other thing with him is that his
salary is going to drop precipitously after this season, and I think you want
a bigger number than the fourteen million or whatever he's on the books for if
you're gonna roll that into a salary slot that you want to use to anchor
a trade. And so Colin Sexton might actually just be a better like we're
talking about Utah Jazz players, be the better option for them if they want
to go that round. He's having a hell of a season himself, and
he's gonna give you just Jordan Clarks has more of the off the dribble jumper
juice, and then you're gonna get Colin Sexton is gonna give you more of
that just raw pressure on the ball. So those targets would all remain the
same any of the names you've mentioned. I do wonder though, if it
creates more urgency or aggression when you're looking at those names, and I say
this, there are two buckets this falls into. Is one looking at the
biggest name that they've been linked to, and it's not It's not Zach Lavine,
it is de Jontay Murray. Does that make him a little bit more
appealing, because no, you don't like him as a or you don't love
him. I'd probably like him better than most is a fit next to Brunson
and Randall based off the season that he has had, but he's he's not
the cleanest fit now though, if you worry about Julius Randall missing time or
just having to navigate all these injuries, does de Jeanna Murray become a little
bit more valuable to you in your eyes? And I think the even bigger
thing here is do you view him as if it takes Quentin Grimes and a
pick to get him? Do you think that Dejontay Murray could, in theory,
on this four year, one hundred and fourteen million dollar extension that kicks
in next season, be more valuable than Quentin Grimes in a first round pick.
Maybe maybe some good, good seconds. And the answer to me there
would be yes. If that's the cost, and so the cost gets low
enough, I think maybe you might be more inclined to roll the dice on
an if he fit or an imperfect fit that has one higher upside on the
court, which de Jontay Murray just does defensively offense, then a Jordan Clarkson
and then a Collin sext and he just has higher offense, but even than
a Malcolm Brockton, he has a higher offensive upside than them and certainly defensive
upside. And do you also roll on him the dice on him having a
higher upside in future trade shwks because you are still trying to plan for that
next biggest move where you're getting someone who is as good, if not maybe
better than John Brunton, depending on who becomes available. I think I could
just see this injury and again, if they do act like this, then
it probably says, oh, Julie Reynold's not going to be back in like
three to four weeks, might be a little bit longer than that, or
they're just worried about how the injury bug has bit in some of their key
players. I wouldn't roll that out. And then the other thing is is
this definitely might open up what they're looking at when you're talking about non stars
because all the names we mentioned, de Jontay Murray is the highest end one.
He's not this megastar. He's been an All Star replacement before. You're
now going to look at I would say wings or combo forwards more than maybe
you would have before. I don't think they're gonna go out and get a
Kyle khuz Mur or Jeremy Grant. But does this make someone a boy On
Bodanovich, for instance, more appetizing where even if you have to give up
a first maybe you're getting some seconds back from Detroit or another player that you
like from them. Maybe they would just do it straight up for Grimes,
But even then I think you want additional compensation if you're the Knicks, just
to give up a first round pick for someone who's in their their mid thirties,
but you roll his salary slot. He is a team option for next
season and is still hyper valuable to teams. Again, doesn't give you nearly
the same value as a Dejonte Murray or even a Colin Sexton in future trades.
But looking at specifically this season, that might be a name of Oh,
he can soak up time in Julius Randall's absence at the fourn just as
someone who's a shot creator shot maker. We can also just because of what
the Knicks are able to do defensively with Hartenstein or Robinson at the five,
and then you have og Anobi like you could play Randall og and Boyan Bydanovitch
together. If og ends up being your two in that scenario, you can
get away with Boyan Bodanovitch as your three or just someone who you move around,
because Randall does take on some pretty tough defensivessignments himself, even though his
performance there certainly and Wayne's and so someone like that might become just far more
interesting to this next team. And I doubt that there's you know, there's
gonna be a bigger name necessarily that materializes. It feels like there's always the
surprise, but I don't think it'll be lowry market in and that's not I
mean, he'd be a clean fit. But it does get you know,
is that a little bit too weird with him Randall Robinson or Jamie then you're
just super big in some of your lineups. Michal Bridges, does this make
it more likely that we know the Knicks have interest in them, but that
they would try and go get the kitchen sink and his friend of the podcast
and producer and co host over at Knicks Film School, Andrew Claudio, continues
to tell me the Nixon Nets haven't made a trade since the eighties. Bobby
Marx has said these organizations don't talk. They have like no real history aside
from being neighbors when it comes to them in the Nets in New Jersey or
the Nets in Brooklyn. And so I don't understand that at all. And
if mckel bridges does become available, the Knicks have a kitchen sink offer.
Yeah, they're not going to be OKAC or New Orleans, but they're be
like given the top three to five offers. I'm sure if they really put
their assets on the table. So cause this makes it more likely that they
explore that route. The answer is maybe I would say no there, But
I do think this increases the likelihood, specifically that we see them aim a
little higher or be more aggressive at trying to get someone that will offset mainly
some of the Deuce McBride minutes, and he was great against Indiana's had some
really high moments since the Quickly trade and signing his extension, and so the
names I look at there, Jean Tay Murray's been mentioned. I would just
keep an eye on Collin Sexton. I know people just don't think he's a
sexy player. He's been really good and he can make some plays as a
driver. Brogden, of course, that was the name that was always out
there, but someone like a boy on Bogdanovic sort of creeping into there.
I don't think that's really the only player with size that fits the bill of
what the Knicks are looking for, where it's not this monster swing like that
would be a Michael Bridges or Lowry market In. And it's also just like
gettable at a reasonable rate and fits what you're doing, and it's sort of
plug and play. There's not a ton of names like that. I think
Kuzma not super plug and play. And then it's just probably gonna cost more
than you'd want. Little Wizards might be able to move him for only one
first round pick. If it's Quentin Grimes, you at least look at it.
Maybe if Portland comes off their asking price for Grant, do you consider
that or would you prefer brocked in there? Again, I now just more
than ever expect the Knicks to make a move for someone who will not just
potentially play some minutes in the rotation, but will be a fairly prominent part
of their playoff rotation. I'm talking about like the top eight, top eight
guys. I think this just makes it more likely that no, they maybe
don't need to, but that they're actually going to try and do that.
Let's go on to let's do the other trade here. What the other trade?
There was a trade between Houston and Memphis, and it was interesting,
not something I think many saw coming. Although the Rockets have been in the
market for a center for quite some time, since before the season they almost
signed Brook Lopez. The Rockets traded three second round picks and Victor Oladipo to
the Grizzlies for Steven Adams. I will start with the Rockets side of things
here, and this is Look, this is not a play to marginalize Alprin
Shangoun next season. Steve Adams is not going to play, is not expected
to play this year, which is why the deal is a little curious.
But you're still you're planning for the future, which I think is fine.
It didn't cost nothing to do this, though. WOD finally reported the details
on the picks, So you gave up two seconds this year it's Oklahoma City's
second, which is just like, okay, that's gonna be what fifty four
or something at this rate, a conditional twenty four second rounder, that's going
to be the most favorable of Brooklyn's or Golden States They are protected like fifty
five to fifty eight or fifty six to fifty eight, and so those that
one pick will come, they it'll be the more it's basically going to be
the more favorable of Brooklyn's or Golden State's second round pick this year. That
could be in kind of the high thirties. That's not nothing. And then
Wage said, a twenty five second rounder the more favorable of Houston's own.
That language is weird. I think it just means they own their own second,
I believe. And then they have they have Oklahoma City's twenty twenty five
second, and so I think it ends it's going to end up being their
their second or Oklahoma City second. The more favorable of that. That's a
reasonable cost to pay for someone who's now going to be making backup center money.
We kind of forget about this, and it's I'm sure it's because one
this is year one of it, and two he's not playing, but Steven
Adams makes twelve point six million dollars, and like that's just not like that's
just nothing. That's it. It's nothing. So he's on the books for
the same amount next year, and then you still have that money. I
think the biggest criticism for people here will be he's not going to play this
season. He plays the same position as Alpha and Shangoon, and then you
eat into cap space where, depending on what you did with Jay Shaun Tate's
team option or moved around some other salaries, you could have had between like
fifteen and twenty million in cap space this year. Bobby Marks noted this a
while back. Fred Van Vliet and Jalen runs In are the only stars like
capstock stars to change teams in free agency since twenty nineteen when Kevin Duran and
Kyrie Irving did it. One that cap space we're talking about with Houston,
that wasn't star money to begin with, and two stars aren't leaving in free
agency. I'm open to the idea of that changing in the future. It's
not happening this summer, and so Steven Adams comes off the books in twenty
twenty five. At that point, if Jalen Green is still on your team,
although it seems the Rockets are open and moving him, you can still
get to a point where you have max cap space, then like you could
have Fred van Fleet coming off the books because he has a team option,
you're going to have low cap holes for I think that will be Alprin Shang
Gun's restricted free agency year as well, if I'm not mistaken. And then
you also have Jalen Green's cap holds, so you figure out what to do
there. This doesn't really fuck with their cap space plan and so I don't
have a problem with it from that logic. Now, does this mean that
they're gonna start playing Alprin shang Gun less because they want? I think someone
mentioned that they've planned on playing like Steven Adams when he comes back, he'll
be thirty one twenty minutes a game. You're not playing these two together,
and so if you're playing him twenty minut it's a game you're only giving Alpern
Shangun twenty eight. I just he's at under thirty three for the year.
This season, he's averaging basically twenty two points, nine rebounds, five assists,
a one steal. His defense has been better than I think people have
really talked about, but like he's actually played real defense around the basket and
part of that is there's a lot of guys on the perimeter that allow him
to just worry about being in the right spot rather than certain matchups are having
to make these super complicated reads in the half court. Still, I don't
view this as a move that's gonna like if they had Brook Lopez, it's
different. Or if they went out and traded for like another like a Wendo
Carter Junior or someone you would have to worry maybe about, or Jonas valenceunis
that you would have to worry about, Oh are what are they doing here?
Do they not really have this conviction in Alprin Shan Gun? So that
doesn't bother me. And also, if you're bringing Steven Adams to play just
the so Albern Shanguin's fifteen and a half minutes a game that he's not playing
right now, that's fine. That's an upgrade over Jeff Green if Steven Adams
is healthy, just because the way Steven Adams screens, the way he boxes
out, that adds value to your team. And so I don't have a
huge issue with this move other than the fact that, Okay, now you're
limiting your options for this season. You still have You've traded some second round
equity, so it makes it a little bit harder to pull off singles and
doubles. And now you've traded one of your best salary matching tools in Victor
Oladipot to where you're not just going to turn around and trade Adams because one,
you can't aggregate him this year anyway, by the way, he could
be reshipped out over the summer just as an expiring contract. At the same
time, you still have you still have some other seconds. You still have
all these inbound first even though your own some of your own or going outbound,
you have other trade friendly contracts. When you look at Jock Landale,
the final three years are non guaranteed and he's at eight million. You even
have I know you like Jeff Green to the locker room, but he's nine
point six million with fully or it's only one point six million guaranteed for next
year. And so right there, that's seventeen point six million dollars in salary
that you just don't need and like that's and then you also have Jayshon Tate
super valuable. But if you believe in Tarry Eastan, if you want to
get Cam whit more consistent rotation minutes, and we've seen more of him and
he's just like he's fucking pogo stick, just a shot of adrenaline. He's
fun, he's fun to watch. You can just and then you have some
of these just minimum guys who are making money, where it's Reggie Bullock at
two million or Bobon at two million, Aaron Holliday at too you can step
ladder your way too different. Is even Reggie Bulock trade eligible because they signed
him in November or whatever it was off the check on that anyway, So
like you can still get to like real money and then attached stuff or play.
I mean, if you're going to attach Dalen Green to something that's you
know, he's not salary flotsam, but Jalen Green is making nine point nine
million this year, and so you end up making a bigger move and Houston
is known to be star hunting. I'm sure they're offer for Michael Bridges included
some of Brooklyn's own picks and then either Green or just some other future picks
they have, they have some of their own into the distant future as well,
So you can still make those moves, which is why I think I
like this better on balance for the Rockets, because it's kind of kicking the
can without this huge opportunity cost. I think the biggest asset you forfeit here
is the Brooklyn or Golden State second and then next year if you suck or
I or if Okay, see for some reason sucks, that gets a little
bit iffy. So I don't really mind it when you look at the I
just don't know what it portends about the rest of the Rockets. Is trade
deadline that I will say they could still again. They could still turn around
though and make you know, the move I'd liked for them. Not a
lot of people have mentioned this. They've mentioned Malcolm Brogden with them they were
sneaky. I still think they could be a sneaky de Jontay Murray team if
you play him and Fred van Fleet and Dylan Brooks together, holy defense and
like you could like Tar Easton could be a four and then you just have
Alpha and shake like that. You get a lot of defense out of Lord
Jabari Smith Junior, like you just that would be hilatious. So I like,
I don't know that i'd have him as a top target for this team,
but I would just like to see them kind of kick the tires on
that, and he just becomes a trade asset. He eats into your long
term cap space, but he becomes a trade asset for you, so they
can still do stuff. I've I've liked to point on Modonovich for them that
someone else who fits the twenty five twenty twenty five cap space plan, and
I don't does he cost a first? Does he not? That's something to
look at. Now getting to his salary is a little bit more difficult.
It means that you're gonna probably have to give up Jeff Green in addition to
the Jock Landell money. But like I would do that because I think Bogdanovich
would be you could play him at the three on this team given their other
defensive personnel. But that's what this trade signals to me, is that the
Rockets are still kind of thinking in the here and now, but more so
forward towards next year. I just wonder what it means for And you could
get away if you want to give up Jayshon Tate, you could get away
with probably keeping Jeff Green from Boyon, But I don't know that I want
to give up Jayshon Tate in a Boyan trade. I guess if it's no
picks and Detroit just wants Jashon Tate and it have to be Jayshon Tate and
Jock Landell gets you to where are we at fifteen? Oh? No,
Jack Landil's making eight, so that's fourteen and a half. Yeah, that
gets you. That does the blow and Magdonovic over under their new trade rules.
I don't know. I like jayshonte a lot or I think you'd be
a good trade target for other teams. Detroit maybe capitalize on his value by
getting a third team involved in there, so you could still make a move
like that. I just don't the fact that they moved all the DEEPO now
this fear and advance before the trade deadline, mind you, which it's it's
a week that they did it beforehand, that's still like atypical if they thought
other bigger moves are out there. So what does this say about the Rockets
trade deadline plans? What does this say about the trade deadline at large?
That's kind of an interesting discussion. I don't have definitive answers to it,
but I think this pretty much shows that the Rockets are still trying to get
better, deeper, more solid, and that they're not trying to do so
through cap space like they did this past offseason. And maybe they're trying to
do that in twenty twenty five, but it was never gonna be this summer
anyway, and so let's not cry over cap space. That wasn't gonna net
anyone of consequences. Looking at the names that are out there, who are
they missing out on? If let's say they're picking up Tates team option if
they have them, I doubt they would just dump him unless they were getting
a star who's not really available. Who are you missing out on? And
you can continue to roll this over by well, now we'll just pick up
and guarantee Landale and Green if we just need that extra money. I guess
Green would be the one. I would probably guarantee Green at nine zero point
six and then let Landale go. I mean, if you just want to
roll it over, it's it's fine, but he's not doing anything for you.
And Green's at least sort of this emotional bell Weather from Memphis side.
This is a little bit more confusing. It's very much like luxury tax driven
they were before factoring in where they ended up in the draft lottery, they
were at one hundred and eighty six million dollars about next year. That was
assuming they were going to pick up Luke Canard's team option, which give us
knee issues. Far from a guarantee there by the way. So like that
was pushing up against the second luxury tax apron, which is one hundred and
no wait, what's the The second apron is one hundred and ninety million next
season right now, And so they weren't gonna have a ton of room to
work within that. And that's if you're talking about, well, if you
want to keep Luke Canard and if you want to re sign Exavier Tillman,
it's really difficult to do and then stay under the second apron. This clearly
shows to me that maybe they want to bring back Tillman, or at the
very least it shows it shows two or three things that they very much value
Marcus Smart because we haven't heard his I know he's injured, but it wasn't
a great fit. They didn't have the sample with all their main guys available.
They clearly still want to explore that because he might have been the Looking
at his twenty point two million dollars salary for next year. That's the guy
you kind of move if you're really looking to give out some breathing room.
It shows then, so it's it's again, it's at least two of these
things that you want to bring back Lukenard for his his motion shooting, some
of the stuff that he can do a little bit off the dribble when his
knees are healthy. And then you want to pay Exavier Tillman. And I
think at this point you almost have to and like of your site set on
someone bigger on the trade market because Brandon Clark's gonna come back from his achilles
injury next year or maybe later this season. Perhaps that's what this says too,
is that they expect Brandon Clark to play this year. You don't really
know what he's gonna look like, and so his number is not huge.
But he does have three years and like thirty seven and a half million on
his deal after this one. So it shows a peppering of all those things.
I still feel like like they might not be done to where it's Luke
Canard could probably be had. I doubt Marcus Smart is untouchable. This might
not be the last cost cutting move they make. If it doesn't happen leading
into the trade deadline, it might almost certainly happen over the off season,
depending on how much Tillman costs, depending on where they land and the draft
lottery, depending on what they do with Canard. If look, if they
have no intention of bringing back Canard, then they're just like they're kind of
just set VICTUALDPO is gonna come off the books. And so what you've essentially
done is shaved twelve point six million dollars from your commitments next year. And
so if we look at that through this prism, this doesn't necessarily include their
draft pick hold just yet they are projected at So let's let's throw their number.
I think they are number six hold in there. And so if you
got rid of Lukenard while also getting now Steven Adams, money's off the books,
noolo depot, you're going to be like at one hundred and sixty eight.
And so that's you know, that's actually under the tax. The tax
is one seventy two, and the second are print is like there, I
think it's sloted an eighteen million above, So one ninety seventeen to eighteen million
above so that would give you room under the tax, but you still have
to sign resigned Xavier Tillman. And so do you think he's gonna cost you
only four million dollars a year? I kind of doubt it. But from
there you can look at, well, do we need to have Zaia Williams
on the team? Can we get rid of Derrick Rose or a John Concher.
I don't think you just dumped Anti al Dama, but if you reached
that point with David Roddy or Jake Laarravia to where you move them, so
there would be ways for the Grizzlies. I don't support this, by the
way, anyone who listens to this podcast knows it's not I'm not going to
try. They've owned his money, but there's now a pathway to them re
signing Xavier Tillman while ducking the tax next year as they keep Marcus Smart As
the extension for Desmond Bane kicks in. That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle
room for other moves. They are adding a lottery pick, and they can
also shave like as I mentioned, salaries elsewhere. Maybe it's a consolidation trade
that still saves the money. And yet it improves the roster. This opens
up more avenues for them to make moves or at keep some of their talent.
Maybe even Brandon Clark is someone they just look at moving that contract.
I don't you might have to compensate someone to do that at this point,
but it now makes it easier to duct the tax while keeping Exavier Tillman and
Marcus Smart and having a Desmond Bain extension kicking in, and it certainly allows
them to duck the second apron. I don't know what it says about Steven
Adams's health at this point, though. They're the team that has more access
than anyone to his medicals, and so if they're going to move him now,
they did get I mean they got three seconds for him, and I
would say they got two real seconds for him. And so for an injured
player on the wrong side of thirty now he's dealing with like recovering from a
right knee injury, and so like knees with big guys, he's about a
seven footer turns thirty one in July. Maybe they just wanted to get out
of that business, or they like, maybe they liked Hillman so much and
they know Clark is gonna come back, and you have Jaron Jackson junior already
that they said, Hey, we're just gonna pick up these extra seconds that
will be good sweeteners and other deals. I don't really know how to value
it from their perspective, other than as of now, looking at what the
roster will be next season without any additional changes, they are a worst team
looking ahead to next season because of this deal, and so I don't necessarily
love it for them. I understand the financial logistics behind it, and I
think this is a precursor to another move or two, or three or four.
It's certainly not going to be the last thing they do between now and
next season. It makes them more interesting to watch, But in the interim,
as of right now, looking ahead to next year, they are a
worst basketball team because of this, and so that is something to consider.
Even if you value the extra flexibility under the second apron first apron, under
the tax in general, their ability to stay under it, and if you're
a big Exavier Tillman fan and want him to get paid, this is probably
something that you really enjoy. Let's wrap up here, not with the Lebron
James trade rumor, because I know that person who reported it has had some
hits, but I need to know more about his missus before we go there.
Let's talk NBA All Star snubs. So the reserves were announced and we
have we'll go through. Let's just go by conference. So the starters were
and it's hard to like declare snub. I think the West was fine.
So the starters are Luca, Kevin Durant, Shake Gillers, Alexander Lebron,
and Nicoliokich. I'll tell you where I would have differed, just who would
have been starting for me. I probably would have had Anthony Davis in there
or Kawhi over Lebron James. That's where I'm leaning at the moment. All
five of those guys I do think deserve to be All Stars. Now,
the West reserves are Devin Booker, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards,
Paul George, Kawhi, Leonard and Karl Anthony Towns. As a reminder,
coaches are the ones voting on the reserves. I only have one issue
here and that's the Karl Anthony to everyone else deserves to be in it.
Maybe some people will qubble over Steph Curry being in there. There are two
things. I don't want to hear that, Oh, the Lakers have two
All Stars and they're below five hundred, or the Sons have struggled and they
have two All Stars. At points the Sons are kind of on like a
mini tear right now. Also, Lebron and ad are not the problem in
a LA. It's the supporting cast is so bad. It's the fact that
Lebron I d have already played by the way they've played, like, I
think five hundred possessions more this season together than they did all of last year
last time I checked. That's a huge number. And they both have played,
especially Davis, They've been pretty incredible. They're now both banged up,
which is a little bit awkward. I don't have an issue. It's an
all Star game, and so I'm not going to look I don't. I
don't think that, oh, this team's in first or second, they need
two All Stars. And so it's like, why, as an OKSE you
have two all Stars because they're in the top two of the conference. I
don't necessarily think like that. However, if you're going to think like that,
Karl Anthony Towns wasn't the name to give the nod to from the Timberwolves,
it was Rudy Gobert, and it's just not even close. I think
Towns has had a good year. He's probably been better defensively for long stretches
most of the season than he's normally been. That says a lot more about
the personnel around him. To me, he's been inconsistent and had highs and
lows on offense. Though still a very good player. But you know,
looking at him, knowing that there's the wild card spot if it needed to
be another big Larry Market in or do Masa Bonis right off the bat.
Two more deserving I would say in a vacuum note was Daron Fox is just
a capslock snub. That's someone who I probably have on an All NBA team
right now. I believe I haven't gone through it, so I shouldn't be
one of those. He's a top ten player in the league, and you
just don't rank anybody. So I would have had the Aaron Fox. But
I also would have had do mas Abonis Larry Market and over Karl Anthony Towns.
I might have made a case for like a Cheded Holmgren over a Karl
Anthony Towns as well, I definitely would have made a case for Rudy Gobert
over at Carling Anthony Towns. That's my one quibble when looking at the All
Star snubs. I think everyone else like you got it right all other eleven
names and as of right now, hopefully health permitting, with Lebron and Anthony
Davis specifically, it looks like all these guys should actually be playing though,
So that's pretty cool, and I think we'll just pencil Kwhi in there because
he's always a health risk. The West is proof, though not so much
really with the East. We need to expand All Star rosters to fifteen players.
Jackson Frank had point this out on Twitter that it was been at twelve
since I think nineteen eighty two, back when there were only twenty three teams.
We've now expanded by seven teams in the league. We can't afford to
expand the rosters for the All Star Game to fifteen names without actually diluting the
honor. And so I would like to see that happen because I'd like looking
specifically at Domas tarn Fox and Larry Marketen, We're just names that were really
tough to leave off in Rudy Gobert, the fact that I guess technically,
if you would have balance towns from this, all four of those guys could
have made it. However, like at least three of them could have made
it in this instance. So that stuff in the east though. So the
starters are Giannis, Joel Embiid, whose injury he has the mniscus. It's
not a tear. And if I say that in the because I already recorded
what you're gonna hear on Joel Embiid shortly, if I said it was a
tear, I apologize. I had a bunch of information in there. He's
gonna be out for a while. I feel like they're taking the weekend apparently
to see what's gonna happen and figure out a course of treatment. I'd be
shocked to be played in the All Star Game. Still starters Giannis, Joel
Tyres, Albert, Damian Lillard, Jason Tatum. I think they got four
of the five right here. Damian Lillard really got bumped up by the fan
vote. I would have had Jalen Brunson I think as the overall starter.
Tyre's MAXI had a case, Donovan Mitchell had a case, Trey Young used
to have a case, but I would have what I've still had, Damian
Lord of my reserves. I think I would have so like those belong in
All Stars. When you're looking at the reserves bam at a Baio, Palla
Bankaro, Jallen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Tyres Maxi, Donovan Mitchell, Julius
Randall. I was a little bit surprised by that. I don't have any
real quibbles with it. I will say, when you're kind of looking with
the Eastern Conference, it just feels like I probably would have gone. I
think a lot of people would have said, oh, Jimmy Butler should have
been in there, or maybe DeMar de Rosen. I don't really know that
they needed to be. But when you're looking at sort of potential snubs,
I might have had Trey Young even over bam at a Bio. At this
point, I'm not gonna, you know, the the biggest snub to me.
Let me start here. I'm not as peeved by the Christaps Porzingis or
Derek White absence, and all the Celtics only have two All Stars they deserved
three. I really do believe that Scottie Barnes should have been an All Star
this year, and it's not just because the advanced metrics love him. It's
because I just think he's been legitimately good, made progress on both ends of
the court. So I really I probably would have had him in. When
you're looking at the rosters the reserves, I wouldn't have had him as a
starter. I would have had him over Bam and Pallow, maybe even Julius
Randall, that's like kind of it. I probably would have had him over
Jalen Brown too. It just feels like, and I don't mean to say
that any one of those guys need to be I might have had him over
Damian Lillard, Scottie. Barnes just felt like he was a capslock All Star
to me this year, and to not have him on there. I know
Pala Ben Carrol's shouldering a huge workload. Bamdabayo has been great defensively, but
we've seen some of his offense trail off. I know there's been a lot
of injuries in in Miami, so I'll frame it this way. I would
have absolutely I think I would have had Dame as a reserve. So the
starting lineup is fine, even though I would have had Jalen Brunson instead of
Dame there, so those six guys, Jalen runs in with Dame, the
other the other starters. I would have definitely had Donovan Mitchell. He made
it. I definitely would have had Tyrese Maxi. There's a lot of debate
to be had after that. I think I probably would have leaned going with
you know how many spots three of I would have went. I probably would
have went Jalen with Scottie Barnes, and then that would have left us with
really two spots, So Randall, Bencarro, Trey Young would have gotten consideration
if I had to bounce one, because Scotty Barnes is just the name I'm
lasered in on. I probably would have bounced. I probably would have bounced
Bam. I'm not gonna lie. That's tough for me to say, but
I probably would have bounced Bam. I just think he's been more uneven.
I know Palo's kind of seen some up and down with his efficiency, but
the spacing that he's working with is terrible, and he is better at generating
his own offense than a Bam and a Bio. Is there? Uh,
Those it would have been one of those two. I will say that I
would have bounced Bam or Palo first, Scotty Barnes looking at the injury replacement
for Joel Embiid. I'm not I would. I'm hoping that Scotty Barnes,
like that would be my pick. I think a lot of people are gonna
favor of Trey Young. Who That's the other thing is like what I've had
Trey Young and Scotty and just bounced to Bam and Pallo. Yeah, you
could have done that Scotty in the front court instead of Bam and then Polloll
was a wild card. H could have been a wildcard. Yeah, that's
maybe what I would have done. But I think the injury replacements in this
order should probably be Scotty Tray and then then I guess Derek White or I
probably have KP over Derek White. I don't really know how to do that.
But the East was just kind of a mess, and I think the
only the snubs are tough because you have to say who are you gonna bounce?
And so I'm telling you right now my only real just I would have
really given thoughts to KP. Christops what he's done on the court, and
Trey Young over a Palla Bancaro over a Bam like those are the names I'm
cind of. Maybe I would have even looped Julius Randall into there, just
because he's so He's had some really highs and lows here. But the only
true cap socks nub I believe that exists in the East is Scottie Barnes,
and I probably would have bumped Pallo or Bam for him, and so I
think he deserves, obviously to be the injury replacement. That's where I'm at
with all stars. You let me know what you think in the comments or
in our discord. Go join the discord. You can get at me on
Twitter. You can email us Hardwine Knocks at gmail dot com. Thank you
all for listening. Hope you enjoyed this third podcast of the week. Really
trying to I think we'bout like five pot well, let's say four podcasts last
week's I think one of them was really two of them might have been really
short. Continuing to pump out a ton of content for you. I know,
discord members, you should join our discorder. Hungry for a mail bag?
Maybe I'll try and get one more up before the trade deadline. It's
just this time of year. It's tis the season for audibles dealing with it
at Pleach Report, so we have to deal with it in the podcast.
Let's hope Grant gets healthy though, so we can give our trademark, you
know, ninety to two hour on the Western Conference Primer until next time.
They'll please remember to subscribe to us. Hit the sub button on YouTube if
you're still around. I don't know why not. We're here to talk about
the Joel Embiid injury. Woge Well. The Sixers announced that Joel Embiid has
injured has an injured lateral meniscus in his left knee and will be out through
at least this weekend. While a treatment plan is finalized, it does not
seem Woades says, quote, they're still uncertainty about how the Sixers medical staff,
several specialists and Embiid will move forward to treat the injured meniscus. They'll
take more time over the next several days to chart a course end quote.
Now these meniscus, there's replacement, there's repair. Jeff Stotts from In Street
Clothes did tweet immediately after this basically that this is the second tear in Embiad's
left lateral meniscus. He missed the final thirty seven games of twenty sixteen twenty
seventeen regular season and ultimately underwent a partial meniskieptomy, which is a removal.
The location of this latest injury remains the key, per Jeff Stots, to
possible treatment options, and so there's a bunch of different ways that it can
go here. Players come back from meniscus stairs all the time, whether they
were removed, whether they're repaired, reconstruction, whatever, and embead is proof
of that at all. This is a failure on so many parts that it's
not even funny. It's a failure on the NBA, it's a failure on
the sixers, and it's a failure for sure, without question, on the
Players Association. But first of all, and people by the way who were
calling and be soft or saying he was ducking the Nuggets a few days ago,
a few games ago, you should be ashamed of yourself. So if
you haven't come out and apologized and said I got caught up in the moment,
If you did that, that's fine. That whole ducking narrative was fucking
stupid, and this whole thing bugs the shit out of me. When we
talk about players and missing games, the players, most of the time are
not the ones actively deciding how many games they're gonna miss, whether they're going
to be rested, they want to play go figure basketball players most of them
want to play basketball, and so does Embiid have input on whether he should
play when it's his body? Yes, of course should the Sixers have.
Let's start with that game very quickly before we get into the ramifications on what
this means for the Sixers in the NBA and the players Association and how everyone
has just failed here. It seems like when you look at that game specifically,
Joelle and Bebe should not have been the one deciding whether he was on
the injury report. It's nice that he wanted to play, but when you
have reports coming out after the facts from ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne that he couldn't even
jump and so why wasn't he listed on the injury report, that's on the
Sixers, not even Nick Nurse specifically. It's on the organization, the training
staff, in front office, everybody. Part of being in that position is
to override your players. It's why when Lebron James receives slack for the Russell
Westbrook trade in La fuck that. That's why you have Rob Polinka there to
tell your stars no, to override your stars, because they do not run
the organization. Their well being or the roster's well being is your primary concern.
So he sits out that game. Of course, it's just shameful the
people that thought he was ducking and Matt Moore of Action Network had the piece
about the games that embid and missed. Now that might be notable because he
sat out so far against so many really good opponents. Again, that's a
decision that's happening with the Sixers where maybe they decided, hey, we're just
going to punt on these games. We want to have you involved in the
more winnable ones. Could he have been part of it, sure, but
this is not Joelle and be decided, well, I don't want to play
against these teams above five hundred on the road. That's just not how most
players are wired. So that whole thing was stupid and Nuggets fans, media
members, anyone who called out Joel for being soft or ducking ducking Jokic in
Denver. He hasn't played in Denver since the since before the COVID nineteen pandemic.
You should be ashamed of yourselves if you've apologized already, if you were
making jokes and you walk them back, fine, But if you haven't apologized,
if that's a take that you've decided to die with, or if that's
a take that you've just decided to ignore and not acknowledge and backtrack, just
admit you were wrong. It was fucking stupid just to think that Joel Embiid
an MVP didn't want was who was out playing Jokic in the regular season on
a handful of occasions, didn't want to face the Kola jokicch dumbest shit.
Then he's playing. He sits out the Blazers game, and he's playing in
the Golden State Warriors game and he can barely move. This man looked like
he was wearing concrete shoes the entire game. He's playing twenty nine minutes.
This is a failure on Nick Nurse, who decides how many minutes his players
are gonna log on the court. It's a failure for the Sixers training staff
for letting him be playing or clearing him to play, and I don't want
to hear the defense from that I have seen. Well, this is a
separate injury. He was just dealing with a sore left knee, and then
this miniscous thing happened when it was falling on I can't remember who fell on
top of him during the Warriors game. Already I already forgot. It wasn't
Kaminga, was it? Who wasn't? I already forgot. I don't care.
He should have been on the court in the first place. You can
stop it right there. It wasn't like he was playing. He had a
terrible game on offense, specifically, looked like he could barely move, So
it wasn't like he was just lighting it up and then he got injured.
Just because it's a separate injury, the initial one should have kept him off
the court. Whyatt didn't keep him off the court is beyond me. You
have so many failures leading up to that moment where it's well, who cleared
him beid to play and if he wasn't technically cleared or you left the decision
up to him, whose call was that, the front office, the training
staff? Did he say his body was fine? Okay, let's say he
was cleared medically. It looked fine, he seemed fine, and then he
said his body was fine. Because Joel Embiid wants to play, what is
Nick Nurse doing? What are this? The Sixers could have texted him or
one of his assistants when they saw how Joel Embiid was moving and say get
him the fuck out of this game. There's no reason he should have played
almost thirty minutes at that point. And especially look, the Sixers were playing
better off without him through certain stretches in part because of just how much Joel
Embiid was laboring on the court through that time. And yes, you would
like Embiid to be confident enough or strong willed enough to say, hey,
I can't play, I'm not gonna play. But like there's the discourse happening,
and you're someone who wants to play basketball. This is not a matter
of now we're going to lead him to the bigger there's two bigger discussions.
What does this mean for the Sixers if he misses an extended period of time,
Let's just start there. That impacts what they're gonna do with the trade
deadline, because with Joel Embiid. They're a contender who should be acting extremely
urgently and aggressive. If he's gonna miss time through the All Star break and
beyond. If this becomes a four to six week to eight week thing,
you gotta recalibrate. Now, there's still the urgency because Joel Embiid's prime is
just ticking. Knowing how look, he missed the first two seasons of his
career, then barely played when he was barely played, when only played like
thirty something games when he was a rookie. You're kind of operating with urgency
to begin with that still exists, but your season's kind of in the gutter.
Or maybe not. He can come back and then dominate again, and
maybe he'll be fresher because he got that rest. So do you still act
urgently at the deadline. I don't know what opportunities are going to be available
to them either. They've needed another shot creator, and if Embid is going
to miss significant time, they need it more than ever if they want to
tread water without him and have Tyrese Maxi there when he is healthy. You
do have Tobias Harris, you have Nick Batoum. It's a lot to place
on all of their shoulders just to supplant whatever Joel Embiid's doing, and does
it make it more likely that they get attracted to Dejonte Murray. Probably not,
just because he's smaller. I wouldn't mind him on the Sixers, though
he can roll him over into a different asset. I would still say,
no, they're not going to be like part of the zach Lavine sweepstakes.
That would shock me. They maybe look at someone who is lower cost.
Perhaps they don't net you a first round pick, but they give you some
additional scoring juice, like a boy on Bogdanovich, who the Pistons probably want
eight first round picks for at this point I don't know. But the Embiid
injury time, on which we don't know at this point, I want to
make that clear, is absolutely going to impact how the Sixers act at the
trade deadline and then just what happens for the rest of their season and then
beyond, because if this season gets butchered in any way, even if it's
just your trade deadline activity where you were hesitant to make a move that you
would have made if Joel Embiid was healthy, that's going to open up a
weird discussion come time for this offseason, when Joel Embiid is surveying his future
and considering what needs to happen now he could come back, The Sixers could
be as currently constructed, Maybe they're the at that point, maybe they're the
five seed, maybe they're the maybe they're the sixth seed, and they're still
able to just run through the playoffs, make the conference finals. Everything's hunky
doory. It just gets a lot harder to reach that level when you're already
fifth and you have four games up on the Pacers in the lost column,
like there's a chance you could You're not gonna fall to seventh. I mean,
the Heat would have to go on a real tear and the Magic's offense
unless they do something so you're gonna be in the top six. Your playoff
path gets at least a little bit, if not a lot, harder for
you to to sort of grapple with. So that timeline is going to matter.
But let's talk about maybe why Embiid is so insistent on playing in the
first place, even though he says winning a title is his main priority.
We know he wants another MVP award, and so the NBA institutes the sixty
five game minimum, which is, you know, the equivalent of about it's
less than twenty percent of the season, but let's say it's about twenty percent
of the season at that point, they have this minimum. And one I've
seen a lot of people criticize the NBA for this. The NBA deserves criticism,
and when the rule first came out, I was I understood it.
I want to see players play. But my bigger issue, and we said
this on the podcast, was players when it comes to load management and the
number of games being played in their injuries. Most of the time they're not
the ones who are making the call on maintenance and rest nights. I would
say ninety eight percent of the time at least they're not. And so this
whole thing to address the issue of oh, players have to be on the
court, that was mandated towards the teams, directed towards the teams. That
wasn't about the players specifically. However, for people who were mad at the
NBA at the owner's side for putting that through, these things are collectively bargained
with the NBA's players Association. I don't know what the messaging was when this
sixty five game rule, and there's some flexibility there, but when it comes
to injuries and overall availability, it doesn't seem like there's exceptions there. It's
more so if there was a catastrophic event, they had a family matter to
tend too, where needed to miss time for that, maybe a travel issue
like when DeAndre Ayton was trapped in his house because when I storm, So
the extenuating circumstances don't apply to injuries. What was the messaging there from the
Players Union to their players by just I don't know if they conceded it or
if they were just on board with it both sides, no owners, the
league, and then the players know that this new TV deal is coming,
and so you want to maximize the potential for revenue there and get the largest
deal possible forever long you're going to sign it. What was the messaging there
though? And now you have an instance where is in beat on the court
because he wants to continue qualifying for the MVP debate for the All NBA discussion.
Did Tyrese Haliburton try to come back? He did try to come back
to early He played in Siakam's debut when he clearly shouldn't have. So now
you have an instance where this sixty five game rule is objectively stupid, but
everyone fails here because the Players Association allowed this to get through and it was
also just. And this is something I'll even cop to it. I don't
know that I admitted this or realized it at the time. And there's always
unintended consequences to when you do something. But you can't be above critique when
the people who are getting paid a shit ton of money to understand this stuff
better than us don't, and when even then it was fairly clear that they
were addressing a superficial issue, unless I'm wrong, because it was a quick
scan for this. There's been one player. Let's use the MVP debate as
a thing you need to play in sixty five games. John b played in
sixty six last year and made the cut what you essentially did. There's only
been one player in NBA history to win the MVP Award while playing in fewer
than sixty five games, or it's equivalent because we had lockout shortened seasons and
COVID shortened seasons. It was Bill Walton played in fifty eight games, I
believe, and won the MVP Award. That was in nineteen seventy eight.
He did that, so that as the one player do that, you're fixing
an issue that hasn't actually been an issue at all. When it comes to
choosing awards, availability has always factored in to the awards. Maybe it's more
directed at the All NBA the all defensive discussions. Even those conversations tend to
factor in availability, even people who just say, well, since values not
caked into it, I'm just looking for the fifteen bets, the overall players.
You get to a point where it's let's just use Joel Embiida as an
example, seventy one games of shake, Gilgess Alexander at this level is way
more valuable over the course of an entire regular season than Joel Embiid at fifty
seven or whatever it ends up being. That's just a matter of fact,
and that's gonna get caked into an All NBA discussion, especially now when there
are no positions, And that is why we'll say maybe players feel added pressure
to hit this minimum. Is that one if you're a guard like Haliburton,
just more spots are available for you because there are no positions. But when
you're a center like Embiid. On the flip side of this, there are
technically there are more spots available to you, but there could be fewer spots
because the three all NBA teams in years past, it was okay, like
you're guaranteed to get the three bigs in there, and when you're at a
point, there are a ton of talented big guys here, but when you're
looking at pure centers, Joel Embiid and Nakolea Jokic are probably the only top
fifteen guaranteed like pure centers, those big guys you say they're centers all the
time, who will be top fifteen every single year. And so it was
an opportunity for other guys like we'll say Anthony Davis, who is a top
fifteen player probably in a vacuum, but his availability's always been murky. If
he qualified or was listed in the center position, he could play in fewer
games and get that center spot. And so do you feel more pressure as
a big man to play in the requisite number of games because there's in theory
there's more spots available to you, but not really because the way the voting
has shaken out and how many guard and forward spots they're were available to begin
with, and that's an impact of all this, But it's not just on
the leak. It's on I know Tyres Haliburt was pretty critical of the rule,
and he's not wrong, but why did the Players Association like if this
is how most of the players feel, And I honestly don't know, but
I would guess that most of them are not that most of the stars certainly
aren't. And maybe there are guys who are, you know, the thirty
seventh best player in the NBA and they kind of like the idea because they're
gonna play in a crap ton of games and that'll give them an opportunity to
make an All NBA team. But when you're going to tie contract ex incentives
and values like haliburtons to making All NBA that initial like that last ditch effort
to get there, that is absolutely going to matter. And that is something
the Players Union should have foreseen. It is something the league I bet you
understood and probably didn't care because of the TV deal that's upcoming and them just
wanting to make sure they're selling, you know, the best package possible by
saying, well, our players play in the middle of January when it matters,
especially on national television, and again, the Players Association might have been
thinking along the same way. I'm not absolving anyone here. Everybody fucked up
the Sixers, maybe even Joel Embiid, but he's gonna be Look, he's
gonna be the least culpable in all this. Quite frankly, he's not in
a position of power on the Players Union. He can say whatever he wants.
He is the star, but it's on the Sixers organization to override him
when necessary. And then you have the league and the Players Association. Neither
of them seem to have anyone's back in all this, and so I'm complaining,
I'm ranting. I want to make it clear that this is not something
I was necessarily pointed pointed out when the new CBA was ratified. Keith Smith
and I from Spotrack last year. Last season, we did talk about some
of the unintended consequences. This came up loosely, but we were open to
seeing how this idea played out. I'm gonna expect some sort of quick repealment
here once the NBA signs its new TV deal, but like, we can't
have like and even just the injury reporting rules which are aimed at. It's
not about availability, it's about sports betting, and fuck that, Like,
yeah, the six Ers should have had them on an injury report because that
there is a competitive gamesmanship there when you're talking about the Nuggets needing to prepare.
But like the injury reporting stuff probably has a lot to do with wanting
to make sure that like the betting markets are like you have ties to the
sports betting company. I mean ESPN. There's now a branded ESPN bet and
the league's gonna have partnerships with sports betting companies, and so the injury report
helps sports betting companies operators set lines. There's just so many there's so many
cooks in the kitchen right now, and as larger entities as as just larger
like as just like a larger corporation, as a business, as a leadge
this is a failure on everyone's behalf. And it's not just about Chowell and
Bead. It's gonna get tied to Tyres Halbert. It's gonna get tied to
other players who you kind of have to monitor in and see and there will
be someone just don't give a fuck. Kawhi Leonard is not gonna care if
he hits the sixty five game minimum, he might like to, but he's
not gonna care. And so players later in their contracts, especially when you're
in Tyres Haliburt and you're getting you're about to start your first match, and
there is all NBA language in there that's gonna matter more for those types of
players than it is going to be for players who are on their third,
fourth deals, et cetera. So this should have been realized and like even
now, is there no way to just kind of adjust it and get back
in a room or at least like, oh, we messed up, and
so now the competition committee's gonna have to figure figure that out. But to
Joel Embiid issues specifically to where it reached this point, where to where now
he might miss extended time and maybe he doesn't, but we're all gonna question
whether he should or not. It reached this point and became exacerbated because of
so many different failures and anyone who's boiling this down to people should have to
go to their job work when I'm sick, it's just different. You need
to have some level of empathy. I know that's what the money is for
for you to play hurt. But when you're playing hurt to a point where,
using Joel Emid as a primary example, where you actually can't play,
it's serving the best interest of nobody. Because as much as the NBA wants
the regular season to be more relevant, the playoffs matter the most. And
a player like Joel Embiid, who has a murky track record in the playoffs
when looking at his individual performance in large part because he's been banged up to
high heavens, you need to be looking out for the well being of these
players during the highest stakes moment. And what this is really an indictment of.
If you have an issue with players not playing, it's an indictment of,
well, it could be two things. The game is just so demanding
when you look at looking at the styles and the physical anomalies we're dealing with.
Joel Embiid's another one. As Tim bontem said, he's Kevin Durant plus
one hundred pounds. Like when you just look at his footwork, that's not
Kevin Durant to a t. But like that's what we're dealing with, and
so you're it's not and I'm not. First of all, Nikole Yokich is
an iron man, deserves all the credit in the world, and he's anomalist
unto himself, but he doesn't move in like a physically anomalist fashion. He's
more of just like a cerebral an anomaly and a finesse inaccuracy and efficiency phenomenally.
And there's just but his even him, look at him, he's like
scratched up, you know, like within five minutes of every game, where
he's dealing with scratches and cuts from all these previous games. The game is
demanding because of the pace or because of the physical nature of what some guys
are doing, especially these bigs who are carrying a bunch of weight on a
crap ton of height. It's just demanding. And so you could bemoan well
yesteryear and there was hand checking. It was more physical than I don't fucking
care, Like we're dealing with the here and now. The real indictment here
is then of the length of the season. If you have an issue with
the amount that players are playing, we're not talking about faked injuries every five
seconds. It's different when you're dealing with tank jobs. And I'm just sorry,
you can't pretend to care if you're not gonna see Kyle Kuzma play,
should he not get traded from March through the end of the season because you're
not watching the Wizards. I called bullshit. If you're gonna care about that
anyway, I'm not defending the league here, I'm I'm yelling at everybody.
I'm even yelling at myself a little bit. And this or not having the
forethought to think that this sixty five game minimum thing could be a disaster.
But I'm not even sure if this is about the sixty five game minimum thing.
Even if it was, even if Joel Embiid is the party that wants
to win MVP qualify for all NBA as an organization, you need to step
in and say like no. And so even if you want to absolve the
league and the players union a little bit, because it's well, it's good
that players understand. Maybe there are some who would have appeared and taken some
rest nights later in the season or middle of the season. They're not injured,
but they had missed ten games previously, and they're just gonna continue to
play when they're not injured or when they could have had a rest night because
they want to qualify. If you want to absolve them of all blame,
then a bulk of a blame needs to fall on the sixers here now.
But anyone who's boiling this down to players should have to do their jobs.
You are oversimplifying what is going on here. And there's just been multi layers
worth of failure here and now I don't know what the exact cost is gonna
be, but we're talking. I'd be shocked if it's just not a matter
of weeks if not months with Joel Embiid And this opens up a issues elsewhere
and we've already seen it kind of creep into the tyres, the tyres haliburt
and stuff, specifically because of how good he has been and just looking he's
like inching towards that threshold more so than some of these other players who might
might factor in there. And then what is this gonna do? The discourse
where it's well, is Nicoli Okich or shake gilg Duxander the rightful MVP would
if it be, just would have played in whatever games. It almost like
he gives you an out there for a problem like I mentioned before that you
didn't even have because players appearing a fewer than sixty five games, weren't winning
MVP, they weren't really winning Defensive Player of the Year. I'd be shocked
if they were. I don't I didn't look, but I'd be shocked if
they went, you know, if they were making all NBA teams on a
regular basis. So it's just so much of a failure here. And hopefully
Joel Embiid is going to be okay, but anyone who including in the Sixers
organization, in the league, and I don't know, I would like to
know what the messaging was for the players Association or if look, if the
players did, you know, if there was widespread approval for it. You're
gonna have to eat some of your own crow here, because like this was
collectively bargained. It's not just on the league. And it sucks in general
because now, at least in part because of this, whether it was the
discourse and being wanting to hit that minimum, it opened the door for issues
like this and the additional failures that will be incumbent with them. And I'm
looking specifically at what were the Sixers doing. They should be ashamed of themselves
or laying and beat on the court against the Warriors, for not doing a
better job of controlling the messaging with his injury, because this was the same
knee that was sore. I don't care if it's a separate injury. He's
been wrested because with sore left knee. I've already gone too long on this.
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out to one the only, the legendary, the indelible, not so adorable
at the moment, but we're playing it smart. He's not trying to make
all NBA, but hit the sixty five game minimum. It all costs.
Frank Fila Keina