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What is krak alacing fellow thermonuclear A
efforts. I am a damp valley coming

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at you without my certified fantabulous co
host, mister Grant Hugh, this is

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supposed to be if you're listening to
this on Friday, February second, our

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Monster Western Conference trade deadline primer.
We already did the East a couple of

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weeks back. Grant, however,
is ill so with flu like symptoms,

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so we hope that he is better
soon. We might be able to get

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this up. I'll put out a
weekend pod or maybe we'll be able to

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do it early next week. We'll
figure it out, but just want him

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to get better first and foremost,
and well, we may not have the

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most consistent schedule in terms of days. I do try to do Monday,

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Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I want to make sure

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that you all have three episodes per
week and there's no shorter of news to

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react to. So that's what we're
going to be here to do right now.

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I'll have a Joel Embian rant later
on. I already post a snippet

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of that on YouTube that was like
twenty minutes long for anyone who previewed that.

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But we're gonna start with what the
thumbnail will be and Julius Randall's on

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that All Star Julius Randall again,
I was a little bit surprised that the

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coaches picked him, but not undeserving, and we will get to All Star

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selections as well in this. So, the Knicks announced that he will be

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reevaluated in two to three weeks with
his dislocated shoulder. The hope is that

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or the expectation, not even the
course of action here is he doesn't need

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surgery, and that's what they're trying
to avoid. That is good, that's

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great, actually, but I do
think it's important to note that this is

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a two to three week reevaluation period, and so it's not, oh,

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in three weeks Julius Randall will be
back. It's actually go it's not that

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if we're saying three weeks, that's
going to take us through about the All

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Star break. Their first game is
February twenty second, so three weeks from

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that is basically there. So that's
another seven or eight games he will miss

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in addition to what he's already missed
before. We probably have a timetable for

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when he actually is going to return. That is still not the end of

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the world, and it's good.
The Knicks are playing well right now without

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him and without og Anobi. They
had a rollicking victory over the Indiana Pacers

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on Thursday Nights, who were shorthanded, so to speak themselves, because Tyres

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Maxie's on Tyrs Maxie, We excuse
me, Tyrus Albert Maxi did drop a

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fifty burger though Tyres Maxie is Tyrus
Albert is not a minute restriction. I'm

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sorry, I'm tired. So they're
doing fine without him and Tom Thibodeau team,

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like the Knicks are deep to begin
with, but I mean when you're

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dealing with injuries to og and to
Julius Randall and Mitchell Robinson on top of

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that, you do get a little
nervous. So the fact that they're winning

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like it's a testament to that.
And Tom Thibodeau teams generally figure out ways,

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even when they're shorthanded, to make
the most of these injury absences.

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What I do think, however,
is interesting, is how this might impact

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what they're going to do at the
trade deadline. We know they were in

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the market for a shot creator,
and now we know that they're probably gonna

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be without Julius Ranald for at least
a month, and you're not gonna want

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to lose ground in the standings,
and like yes, as of this recording,

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they are only two one loss actually
behind the Milwaukee Bucks for second place

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in the East, and they have
a cushion there. They're not gonna for

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them to drop out of six.
They would have to Julie don't have to

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miss months rather than weeks. And
so even into them of being a six

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week thing, are they gonna give
up, you know, the six losses

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that are separating them and the Miami
Heat and ne Orlando Magic right now?

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Probably not, And so they could
be content to just, hey, we're

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gonna get healthier and then we're just
gonna run it back like this. We'll

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try and work out something on the
market margins or maybe our primary targets don't

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change. And Malcolm Brogden is the
name that's been bandied about. Jordan Clark's

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been out there. I don't hate
his fit. He's having a really good

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season. Then he's improved as a
passer. But when two things, you

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want someone who's probably a little bit
better of a passer. If not a

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lot better of a passer. And
the other thing with him is that his

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salary is going to drop precipitously after
this season, and I think you want

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a bigger number than the fourteen million
or whatever he's on the books for if

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you're gonna roll that into a salary
slot that you want to use to anchor

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a trade. And so Colin Sexton
might actually just be a better like we're

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talking about Utah Jazz players, be
the better option for them if they want

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to go that round. He's having
a hell of a season himself, and

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he's gonna give you just Jordan Clarks
has more of the off the dribble jumper

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juice, and then you're gonna get
Colin Sexton is gonna give you more of

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that just raw pressure on the ball. So those targets would all remain the

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same any of the names you've mentioned. I do wonder though, if it

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creates more urgency or aggression when you're
looking at those names, and I say

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this, there are two buckets this
falls into. Is one looking at the

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biggest name that they've been linked to, and it's not It's not Zach Lavine,

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it is de Jontay Murray. Does
that make him a little bit more

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appealing, because no, you don't
like him as a or you don't love

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him. I'd probably like him better
than most is a fit next to Brunson

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and Randall based off the season that
he has had, but he's he's not

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the cleanest fit now though, if
you worry about Julius Randall missing time or

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just having to navigate all these injuries, does de Jeanna Murray become a little

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bit more valuable to you in your
eyes? And I think the even bigger

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thing here is do you view him
as if it takes Quentin Grimes and a

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pick to get him? Do you
think that Dejontay Murray could, in theory,

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on this four year, one hundred
and fourteen million dollar extension that kicks

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in next season, be more valuable
than Quentin Grimes in a first round pick.

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Maybe maybe some good, good seconds. And the answer to me there

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would be yes. If that's the
cost, and so the cost gets low

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enough, I think maybe you might
be more inclined to roll the dice on

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an if he fit or an imperfect
fit that has one higher upside on the

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court, which de Jontay Murray just
does defensively offense, then a Jordan Clarkson

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and then a Collin sext and he
just has higher offense, but even than

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a Malcolm Brockton, he has a
higher offensive upside than them and certainly defensive

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upside. And do you also roll
on him the dice on him having a

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higher upside in future trade shwks because
you are still trying to plan for that

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next biggest move where you're getting someone
who is as good, if not maybe

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better than John Brunton, depending on
who becomes available. I think I could

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just see this injury and again,
if they do act like this, then

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it probably says, oh, Julie
Reynold's not going to be back in like

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three to four weeks, might be
a little bit longer than that, or

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they're just worried about how the injury
bug has bit in some of their key

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players. I wouldn't roll that out. And then the other thing is is

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this definitely might open up what they're
looking at when you're talking about non stars

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because all the names we mentioned,
de Jontay Murray is the highest end one.

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He's not this megastar. He's been
an All Star replacement before. You're

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now going to look at I would
say wings or combo forwards more than maybe

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you would have before. I don't
think they're gonna go out and get a

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Kyle khuz Mur or Jeremy Grant.
But does this make someone a boy On

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Bodanovich, for instance, more appetizing
where even if you have to give up

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a first maybe you're getting some seconds
back from Detroit or another player that you

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like from them. Maybe they would
just do it straight up for Grimes,

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But even then I think you want
additional compensation if you're the Knicks, just

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to give up a first round pick
for someone who's in their their mid thirties,

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but you roll his salary slot.
He is a team option for next

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season and is still hyper valuable to
teams. Again, doesn't give you nearly

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the same value as a Dejonte Murray
or even a Colin Sexton in future trades.

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But looking at specifically this season,
that might be a name of Oh,

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he can soak up time in Julius
Randall's absence at the fourn just as

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someone who's a shot creator shot maker. We can also just because of what

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the Knicks are able to do defensively
with Hartenstein or Robinson at the five,

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and then you have og Anobi like
you could play Randall og and Boyan Bydanovitch

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together. If og ends up being
your two in that scenario, you can

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get away with Boyan Bodanovitch as your
three or just someone who you move around,

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because Randall does take on some pretty
tough defensivessignments himself, even though his

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performance there certainly and Wayne's and so
someone like that might become just far more

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interesting to this next team. And
I doubt that there's you know, there's

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gonna be a bigger name necessarily that
materializes. It feels like there's always the

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surprise, but I don't think it'll
be lowry market in and that's not I

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mean, he'd be a clean fit. But it does get you know,

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is that a little bit too weird
with him Randall Robinson or Jamie then you're

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just super big in some of your
lineups. Michal Bridges, does this make

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it more likely that we know the
Knicks have interest in them, but that

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they would try and go get the
kitchen sink and his friend of the podcast

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and producer and co host over at
Knicks Film School, Andrew Claudio, continues

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to tell me the Nixon Nets haven't
made a trade since the eighties. Bobby

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Marx has said these organizations don't talk. They have like no real history aside

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from being neighbors when it comes to
them in the Nets in New Jersey or

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the Nets in Brooklyn. And so
I don't understand that at all. And

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if mckel bridges does become available,
the Knicks have a kitchen sink offer.

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Yeah, they're not going to be
OKAC or New Orleans, but they're be

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like given the top three to five
offers. I'm sure if they really put

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their assets on the table. So
cause this makes it more likely that they

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explore that route. The answer is
maybe I would say no there, But

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I do think this increases the likelihood, specifically that we see them aim a

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little higher or be more aggressive at
trying to get someone that will offset mainly

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some of the Deuce McBride minutes,
and he was great against Indiana's had some

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really high moments since the Quickly trade
and signing his extension, and so the

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names I look at there, Jean
Tay Murray's been mentioned. I would just

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keep an eye on Collin Sexton.
I know people just don't think he's a

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sexy player. He's been really good
and he can make some plays as a

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driver. Brogden, of course,
that was the name that was always out

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there, but someone like a boy
on Bogdanovic sort of creeping into there.

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I don't think that's really the only
player with size that fits the bill of

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what the Knicks are looking for,
where it's not this monster swing like that

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would be a Michael Bridges or Lowry
market In. And it's also just like

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gettable at a reasonable rate and fits
what you're doing, and it's sort of

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plug and play. There's not a
ton of names like that. I think

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Kuzma not super plug and play.
And then it's just probably gonna cost more

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than you'd want. Little Wizards might
be able to move him for only one

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first round pick. If it's Quentin
Grimes, you at least look at it.

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Maybe if Portland comes off their asking
price for Grant, do you consider

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that or would you prefer brocked in
there? Again, I now just more

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than ever expect the Knicks to make
a move for someone who will not just

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potentially play some minutes in the rotation, but will be a fairly prominent part

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of their playoff rotation. I'm talking
about like the top eight, top eight

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guys. I think this just makes
it more likely that no, they maybe

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don't need to, but that they're
actually going to try and do that.

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Let's go on to let's do the
other trade here. What the other trade?

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There was a trade between Houston and
Memphis, and it was interesting,

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not something I think many saw coming. Although the Rockets have been in the

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market for a center for quite some
time, since before the season they almost

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signed Brook Lopez. The Rockets traded
three second round picks and Victor Oladipo to

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the Grizzlies for Steven Adams. I
will start with the Rockets side of things

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here, and this is Look,
this is not a play to marginalize Alprin

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Shangoun next season. Steve Adams is
not going to play, is not expected

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to play this year, which is
why the deal is a little curious.

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But you're still you're planning for the
future, which I think is fine.

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It didn't cost nothing to do this, though. WOD finally reported the details

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on the picks, So you gave
up two seconds this year it's Oklahoma City's

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second, which is just like,
okay, that's gonna be what fifty four

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or something at this rate, a
conditional twenty four second rounder, that's going

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to be the most favorable of Brooklyn's
or Golden States They are protected like fifty

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five to fifty eight or fifty six
to fifty eight, and so those that

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one pick will come, they it'll
be the more it's basically going to be

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the more favorable of Brooklyn's or Golden
State's second round pick this year. That

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could be in kind of the high
thirties. That's not nothing. And then

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Wage said, a twenty five second
rounder the more favorable of Houston's own.

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That language is weird. I think
it just means they own their own second,

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I believe. And then they have
they have Oklahoma City's twenty twenty five

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second, and so I think it
ends it's going to end up being their

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their second or Oklahoma City second.
The more favorable of that. That's a

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reasonable cost to pay for someone who's
now going to be making backup center money.

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We kind of forget about this,
and it's I'm sure it's because one

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this is year one of it,
and two he's not playing, but Steven

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Adams makes twelve point six million dollars, and like that's just not like that's

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just nothing. That's it. It's
nothing. So he's on the books for

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the same amount next year, and
then you still have that money. I

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think the biggest criticism for people here
will be he's not going to play this

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season. He plays the same position
as Alpha and Shangoon, and then you

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eat into cap space where, depending
on what you did with Jay Shaun Tate's

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team option or moved around some other
salaries, you could have had between like

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fifteen and twenty million in cap space
this year. Bobby Marks noted this a

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while back. Fred Van Vliet and
Jalen runs In are the only stars like

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capstock stars to change teams in free
agency since twenty nineteen when Kevin Duran and

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Kyrie Irving did it. One that
cap space we're talking about with Houston,

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that wasn't star money to begin with, and two stars aren't leaving in free

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agency. I'm open to the idea
of that changing in the future. It's

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not happening this summer, and so
Steven Adams comes off the books in twenty

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twenty five. At that point,
if Jalen Green is still on your team,

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although it seems the Rockets are open
and moving him, you can still

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get to a point where you have
max cap space, then like you could

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have Fred van Fleet coming off the
books because he has a team option,

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you're going to have low cap holes
for I think that will be Alprin Shang

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Gun's restricted free agency year as well, if I'm not mistaken. And then

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you also have Jalen Green's cap holds, so you figure out what to do

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there. This doesn't really fuck with
their cap space plan and so I don't

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have a problem with it from that
logic. Now, does this mean that

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they're gonna start playing Alprin shang Gun
less because they want? I think someone

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mentioned that they've planned on playing like
Steven Adams when he comes back, he'll

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be thirty one twenty minutes a game. You're not playing these two together,

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and so if you're playing him twenty
minut it's a game you're only giving Alpern

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Shangun twenty eight. I just he's
at under thirty three for the year.

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This season, he's averaging basically twenty
two points, nine rebounds, five assists,

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a one steal. His defense has
been better than I think people have

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really talked about, but like he's
actually played real defense around the basket and

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part of that is there's a lot
of guys on the perimeter that allow him

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to just worry about being in the
right spot rather than certain matchups are having

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to make these super complicated reads in
the half court. Still, I don't

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view this as a move that's gonna
like if they had Brook Lopez, it's

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different. Or if they went out
and traded for like another like a Wendo

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Carter Junior or someone you would have
to worry maybe about, or Jonas valenceunis

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that you would have to worry about, Oh are what are they doing here?

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Do they not really have this conviction
in Alprin Shan Gun? So that

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doesn't bother me. And also,
if you're bringing Steven Adams to play just

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the so Albern Shanguin's fifteen and a
half minutes a game that he's not playing

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right now, that's fine. That's
an upgrade over Jeff Green if Steven Adams

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is healthy, just because the way
Steven Adams screens, the way he boxes

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out, that adds value to your
team. And so I don't have a

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huge issue with this move other than
the fact that, Okay, now you're

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limiting your options for this season.
You still have You've traded some second round

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equity, so it makes it a
little bit harder to pull off singles and

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doubles. And now you've traded one
of your best salary matching tools in Victor

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Oladipot to where you're not just going
to turn around and trade Adams because one,

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you can't aggregate him this year anyway, by the way, he could

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be reshipped out over the summer just
as an expiring contract. At the same

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time, you still have you still
have some other seconds. You still have

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all these inbound first even though your
own some of your own or going outbound,

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you have other trade friendly contracts.
When you look at Jock Landale,

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the final three years are non guaranteed
and he's at eight million. You even

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have I know you like Jeff Green
to the locker room, but he's nine

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point six million with fully or it's
only one point six million guaranteed for next

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year. And so right there,
that's seventeen point six million dollars in salary

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that you just don't need and like
that's and then you also have Jayshon Tate

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super valuable. But if you believe
in Tarry Eastan, if you want to

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get Cam whit more consistent rotation minutes, and we've seen more of him and

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he's just like he's fucking pogo stick, just a shot of adrenaline. He's

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fun, he's fun to watch.
You can just and then you have some

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of these just minimum guys who are
making money, where it's Reggie Bullock at

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two million or Bobon at two million, Aaron Holliday at too you can step

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ladder your way too different. Is
even Reggie Bulock trade eligible because they signed

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him in November or whatever it was
off the check on that anyway, So

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like you can still get to like
real money and then attached stuff or play.

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I mean, if you're going to
attach Dalen Green to something that's you

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know, he's not salary flotsam,
but Jalen Green is making nine point nine

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million this year, and so you
end up making a bigger move and Houston

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is known to be star hunting.
I'm sure they're offer for Michael Bridges included

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some of Brooklyn's own picks and then
either Green or just some other future picks

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they have, they have some of
their own into the distant future as well,

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So you can still make those moves, which is why I think I

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like this better on balance for the
Rockets, because it's kind of kicking the

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can without this huge opportunity cost.
I think the biggest asset you forfeit here

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is the Brooklyn or Golden State second
and then next year if you suck or

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I or if Okay, see for
some reason sucks, that gets a little

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bit iffy. So I don't really
mind it when you look at the I

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just don't know what it portends about
the rest of the Rockets. Is trade

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deadline that I will say they could
still again. They could still turn around

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though and make you know, the
move I'd liked for them. Not a

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lot of people have mentioned this.
They've mentioned Malcolm Brogden with them they were

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sneaky. I still think they could
be a sneaky de Jontay Murray team if

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you play him and Fred van Fleet
and Dylan Brooks together, holy defense and

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like you could like Tar Easton could
be a four and then you just have

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Alpha and shake like that. You
get a lot of defense out of Lord

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Jabari Smith Junior, like you just
that would be hilatious. So I like,

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I don't know that i'd have him
as a top target for this team,

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but I would just like to see
them kind of kick the tires on

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that, and he just becomes a
trade asset. He eats into your long

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term cap space, but he becomes
a trade asset for you, so they

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can still do stuff. I've I've
liked to point on Modonovich for them that

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someone else who fits the twenty five
twenty twenty five cap space plan, and

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I don't does he cost a first? Does he not? That's something to

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look at. Now getting to his
salary is a little bit more difficult.

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It means that you're gonna probably have
to give up Jeff Green in addition to

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the Jock Landell money. But like
I would do that because I think Bogdanovich

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would be you could play him at
the three on this team given their other

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defensive personnel. But that's what this
trade signals to me, is that the

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Rockets are still kind of thinking in
the here and now, but more so

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forward towards next year. I just
wonder what it means for And you could

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get away if you want to give
up Jayshon Tate, you could get away

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with probably keeping Jeff Green from Boyon, But I don't know that I want

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to give up Jayshon Tate in a
Boyan trade. I guess if it's no

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picks and Detroit just wants Jashon Tate
and it have to be Jayshon Tate and

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Jock Landell gets you to where are
we at fifteen? Oh? No,

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Jack Landil's making eight, so that's
fourteen and a half. Yeah, that

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gets you. That does the blow
and Magdonovic over under their new trade rules.

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I don't know. I like jayshonte
a lot or I think you'd be

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a good trade target for other teams. Detroit maybe capitalize on his value by

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getting a third team involved in there, so you could still make a move

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like that. I just don't the
fact that they moved all the DEEPO now

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this fear and advance before the trade
deadline, mind you, which it's it's

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a week that they did it beforehand, that's still like atypical if they thought

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other bigger moves are out there.
So what does this say about the Rockets

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trade deadline plans? What does this
say about the trade deadline at large?

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That's kind of an interesting discussion.
I don't have definitive answers to it,

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but I think this pretty much shows
that the Rockets are still trying to get

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better, deeper, more solid,
and that they're not trying to do so

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through cap space like they did this
past offseason. And maybe they're trying to

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do that in twenty twenty five,
but it was never gonna be this summer

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anyway, and so let's not cry
over cap space. That wasn't gonna net

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anyone of consequences. Looking at the
names that are out there, who are

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they missing out on? If let's
say they're picking up Tates team option if

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they have them, I doubt they
would just dump him unless they were getting

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a star who's not really available.
Who are you missing out on? And

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you can continue to roll this over
by well, now we'll just pick up

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and guarantee Landale and Green if we
just need that extra money. I guess

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Green would be the one. I
would probably guarantee Green at nine zero point

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six and then let Landale go.
I mean, if you just want to

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roll it over, it's it's fine, but he's not doing anything for you.

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And Green's at least sort of this
emotional bell Weather from Memphis side.

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This is a little bit more confusing. It's very much like luxury tax driven

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they were before factoring in where they
ended up in the draft lottery, they

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were at one hundred and eighty six
million dollars about next year. That was

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assuming they were going to pick up
Luke Canard's team option, which give us

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knee issues. Far from a guarantee
there by the way. So like that

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was pushing up against the second luxury
tax apron, which is one hundred and

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00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,480
no wait, what's the The second
apron is one hundred and ninety million next

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season right now, And so they
weren't gonna have a ton of room to

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work within that. And that's if
you're talking about, well, if you

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want to keep Luke Canard and if
you want to re sign Exavier Tillman,

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it's really difficult to do and then
stay under the second apron. This clearly

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shows to me that maybe they want
to bring back Tillman, or at the

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very least it shows it shows two
or three things that they very much value

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Marcus Smart because we haven't heard his
I know he's injured, but it wasn't

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a great fit. They didn't have
the sample with all their main guys available.

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They clearly still want to explore that
because he might have been the Looking

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at his twenty point two million dollars
salary for next year. That's the guy

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you kind of move if you're really
looking to give out some breathing room.

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It shows then, so it's it's
again, it's at least two of these

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things that you want to bring back
Lukenard for his his motion shooting, some

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00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,200
of the stuff that he can do
a little bit off the dribble when his

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knees are healthy. And then you
want to pay Exavier Tillman. And I

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think at this point you almost have
to and like of your site set on

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someone bigger on the trade market because
Brandon Clark's gonna come back from his achilles

351
00:22:06,519 --> 00:22:10,039
injury next year or maybe later this
season. Perhaps that's what this says too,

352
00:22:10,079 --> 00:22:12,319
is that they expect Brandon Clark to
play this year. You don't really

353
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know what he's gonna look like,
and so his number is not huge.

354
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But he does have three years and
like thirty seven and a half million on

355
00:22:18,839 --> 00:22:26,160
his deal after this one. So
it shows a peppering of all those things.

356
00:22:26,559 --> 00:22:30,720
I still feel like like they might
not be done to where it's Luke

357
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Canard could probably be had. I
doubt Marcus Smart is untouchable. This might

358
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,440
not be the last cost cutting move
they make. If it doesn't happen leading

359
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,279
into the trade deadline, it might
almost certainly happen over the off season,

360
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depending on how much Tillman costs,
depending on where they land and the draft

361
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lottery, depending on what they do
with Canard. If look, if they

362
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have no intention of bringing back Canard, then they're just like they're kind of

363
00:22:52,839 --> 00:22:56,680
just set VICTUALDPO is gonna come off
the books. And so what you've essentially

364
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,799
done is shaved twelve point six million
dollars from your commitments next year. And

365
00:23:00,839 --> 00:23:03,680
so if we look at that through
this prism, this doesn't necessarily include their

366
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,640
draft pick hold just yet they are
projected at So let's let's throw their number.

367
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I think they are number six hold
in there. And so if you

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got rid of Lukenard while also getting
now Steven Adams, money's off the books,

369
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noolo depot, you're going to be
like at one hundred and sixty eight.

370
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And so that's you know, that's
actually under the tax. The tax

371
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is one seventy two, and the
second are print is like there, I

372
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think it's sloted an eighteen million above, So one ninety seventeen to eighteen million

373
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above so that would give you room
under the tax, but you still have

374
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to sign resigned Xavier Tillman. And
so do you think he's gonna cost you

375
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,519
only four million dollars a year?
I kind of doubt it. But from

376
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there you can look at, well, do we need to have Zaia Williams

377
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on the team? Can we get
rid of Derrick Rose or a John Concher.

378
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I don't think you just dumped Anti
al Dama, but if you reached

379
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that point with David Roddy or Jake
Laarravia to where you move them, so

380
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there would be ways for the Grizzlies. I don't support this, by the

381
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way, anyone who listens to this
podcast knows it's not I'm not going to

382
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try. They've owned his money,
but there's now a pathway to them re

383
00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:08,720
signing Xavier Tillman while ducking the tax
next year as they keep Marcus Smart As

384
00:24:08,839 --> 00:24:14,000
the extension for Desmond Bane kicks in. That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle

385
00:24:14,079 --> 00:24:15,640
room for other moves. They are
adding a lottery pick, and they can

386
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,839
also shave like as I mentioned,
salaries elsewhere. Maybe it's a consolidation trade

387
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that still saves the money. And
yet it improves the roster. This opens

388
00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:27,759
up more avenues for them to make
moves or at keep some of their talent.

389
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Maybe even Brandon Clark is someone they
just look at moving that contract.

390
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,559
I don't you might have to compensate
someone to do that at this point,

391
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:37,799
but it now makes it easier to
duct the tax while keeping Exavier Tillman and

392
00:24:37,839 --> 00:24:41,799
Marcus Smart and having a Desmond Bain
extension kicking in, and it certainly allows

393
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them to duck the second apron.
I don't know what it says about Steven

394
00:24:48,079 --> 00:24:52,759
Adams's health at this point, though. They're the team that has more access

395
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than anyone to his medicals, and
so if they're going to move him now,

396
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:57,240
they did get I mean they got
three seconds for him, and I

397
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:02,119
would say they got two real seconds
for him. And so for an injured

398
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player on the wrong side of thirty
now he's dealing with like recovering from a

399
00:25:07,599 --> 00:25:11,240
right knee injury, and so like
knees with big guys, he's about a

400
00:25:11,279 --> 00:25:15,440
seven footer turns thirty one in July. Maybe they just wanted to get out

401
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,400
of that business, or they like, maybe they liked Hillman so much and

402
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,240
they know Clark is gonna come back, and you have Jaron Jackson junior already

403
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:22,759
that they said, Hey, we're
just gonna pick up these extra seconds that

404
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,000
will be good sweeteners and other deals. I don't really know how to value

405
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:30,279
it from their perspective, other than
as of now, looking at what the

406
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,799
roster will be next season without any
additional changes, they are a worst team

407
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,200
looking ahead to next season because of
this deal, and so I don't necessarily

408
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:41,920
love it for them. I understand
the financial logistics behind it, and I

409
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:47,759
think this is a precursor to another
move or two, or three or four.

410
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,480
It's certainly not going to be the
last thing they do between now and

411
00:25:49,559 --> 00:25:53,039
next season. It makes them more
interesting to watch, But in the interim,

412
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,440
as of right now, looking ahead
to next year, they are a

413
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:02,440
worst basketball team because of this,
and so that is something to consider.

414
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,400
Even if you value the extra flexibility
under the second apron first apron, under

415
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,119
the tax in general, their ability
to stay under it, and if you're

416
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,759
a big Exavier Tillman fan and want
him to get paid, this is probably

417
00:26:11,759 --> 00:26:15,799
something that you really enjoy. Let's
wrap up here, not with the Lebron

418
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,960
James trade rumor, because I know
that person who reported it has had some

419
00:26:19,039 --> 00:26:22,279
hits, but I need to know
more about his missus before we go there.

420
00:26:22,599 --> 00:26:29,920
Let's talk NBA All Star snubs.
So the reserves were announced and we

421
00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:33,319
have we'll go through. Let's just
go by conference. So the starters were

422
00:26:34,079 --> 00:26:37,240
and it's hard to like declare snub. I think the West was fine.

423
00:26:37,279 --> 00:26:41,000
So the starters are Luca, Kevin
Durant, Shake Gillers, Alexander Lebron,

424
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:45,839
and Nicoliokich. I'll tell you where
I would have differed, just who would

425
00:26:45,839 --> 00:26:48,799
have been starting for me. I
probably would have had Anthony Davis in there

426
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:55,279
or Kawhi over Lebron James. That's
where I'm leaning at the moment. All

427
00:26:55,319 --> 00:26:57,000
five of those guys I do think
deserve to be All Stars. Now,

428
00:26:57,039 --> 00:27:03,880
the West reserves are Devin Booker,
Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards,

429
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,200
Paul George, Kawhi, Leonard and
Karl Anthony Towns. As a reminder,

430
00:27:07,279 --> 00:27:11,759
coaches are the ones voting on the
reserves. I only have one issue

431
00:27:11,799 --> 00:27:15,720
here and that's the Karl Anthony to
everyone else deserves to be in it.

432
00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:18,000
Maybe some people will qubble over Steph
Curry being in there. There are two

433
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,559
things. I don't want to hear
that, Oh, the Lakers have two

434
00:27:21,599 --> 00:27:23,519
All Stars and they're below five hundred, or the Sons have struggled and they

435
00:27:23,559 --> 00:27:26,200
have two All Stars. At points
the Sons are kind of on like a

436
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,319
mini tear right now. Also,
Lebron and ad are not the problem in

437
00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:33,200
a LA. It's the supporting cast
is so bad. It's the fact that

438
00:27:33,279 --> 00:27:36,480
Lebron I d have already played by
the way they've played, like, I

439
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:41,880
think five hundred possessions more this season
together than they did all of last year

440
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,559
last time I checked. That's a
huge number. And they both have played,

441
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,559
especially Davis, They've been pretty incredible. They're now both banged up,

442
00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:51,799
which is a little bit awkward.
I don't have an issue. It's an

443
00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:55,160
all Star game, and so I'm
not going to look I don't. I

444
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,279
don't think that, oh, this
team's in first or second, they need

445
00:27:57,319 --> 00:28:00,799
two All Stars. And so it's
like, why, as an OKSE you

446
00:28:00,799 --> 00:28:03,519
have two all Stars because they're in
the top two of the conference. I

447
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,559
don't necessarily think like that. However, if you're going to think like that,

448
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,359
Karl Anthony Towns wasn't the name to
give the nod to from the Timberwolves,

449
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,480
it was Rudy Gobert, and it's
just not even close. I think

450
00:28:14,519 --> 00:28:18,400
Towns has had a good year.
He's probably been better defensively for long stretches

451
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,160
most of the season than he's normally
been. That says a lot more about

452
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,160
the personnel around him. To me, he's been inconsistent and had highs and

453
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,960
lows on offense. Though still a
very good player. But you know,

454
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,240
looking at him, knowing that there's
the wild card spot if it needed to

455
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,359
be another big Larry Market in or
do Masa Bonis right off the bat.

456
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,400
Two more deserving I would say in
a vacuum note was Daron Fox is just

457
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,359
a capslock snub. That's someone who
I probably have on an All NBA team

458
00:28:41,559 --> 00:28:44,720
right now. I believe I haven't
gone through it, so I shouldn't be

459
00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:45,920
one of those. He's a top
ten player in the league, and you

460
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,880
just don't rank anybody. So I
would have had the Aaron Fox. But

461
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,559
I also would have had do mas
Abonis Larry Market and over Karl Anthony Towns.

462
00:28:55,599 --> 00:28:56,799
I might have made a case for
like a Cheded Holmgren over a Karl

463
00:28:56,839 --> 00:29:00,400
Anthony Towns as well, I definitely
would have made a case for Rudy Gobert

464
00:29:00,799 --> 00:29:03,960
over at Carling Anthony Towns. That's
my one quibble when looking at the All

465
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:10,079
Star snubs. I think everyone else
like you got it right all other eleven

466
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,119
names and as of right now,
hopefully health permitting, with Lebron and Anthony

467
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,000
Davis specifically, it looks like all
these guys should actually be playing though,

468
00:29:18,039 --> 00:29:19,920
So that's pretty cool, and I
think we'll just pencil Kwhi in there because

469
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,559
he's always a health risk. The
West is proof, though not so much

470
00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:27,720
really with the East. We need
to expand All Star rosters to fifteen players.

471
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,960
Jackson Frank had point this out on
Twitter that it was been at twelve

472
00:29:33,039 --> 00:29:37,759
since I think nineteen eighty two,
back when there were only twenty three teams.

473
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:41,680
We've now expanded by seven teams in
the league. We can't afford to

474
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,839
expand the rosters for the All Star
Game to fifteen names without actually diluting the

475
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:51,559
honor. And so I would like
to see that happen because I'd like looking

476
00:29:51,559 --> 00:29:56,400
specifically at Domas tarn Fox and Larry
Marketen, We're just names that were really

477
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,240
tough to leave off in Rudy Gobert, the fact that I guess technically,

478
00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:02,279
if you would have balance towns from
this, all four of those guys could

479
00:30:02,279 --> 00:30:06,039
have made it. However, like
at least three of them could have made

480
00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:10,400
it in this instance. So that
stuff in the east though. So the

481
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:15,920
starters are Giannis, Joel Embiid,
whose injury he has the mniscus. It's

482
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,480
not a tear. And if I
say that in the because I already recorded

483
00:30:18,519 --> 00:30:22,839
what you're gonna hear on Joel Embiid
shortly, if I said it was a

484
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:26,000
tear, I apologize. I had
a bunch of information in there. He's

485
00:30:26,039 --> 00:30:29,279
gonna be out for a while.
I feel like they're taking the weekend apparently

486
00:30:29,319 --> 00:30:30,680
to see what's gonna happen and figure
out a course of treatment. I'd be

487
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:36,400
shocked to be played in the All
Star Game. Still starters Giannis, Joel

488
00:30:36,559 --> 00:30:40,440
Tyres, Albert, Damian Lillard,
Jason Tatum. I think they got four

489
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,759
of the five right here. Damian
Lillard really got bumped up by the fan

490
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,640
vote. I would have had Jalen
Brunson I think as the overall starter.

491
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:53,200
Tyre's MAXI had a case, Donovan
Mitchell had a case, Trey Young used

492
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,319
to have a case, but I
would have what I've still had, Damian

493
00:30:56,359 --> 00:31:00,640
Lord of my reserves. I think
I would have so like those belong in

494
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,880
All Stars. When you're looking at
the reserves bam at a Baio, Palla

495
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,839
Bankaro, Jallen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Tyres Maxi, Donovan Mitchell, Julius

496
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,480
Randall. I was a little bit
surprised by that. I don't have any

497
00:31:11,759 --> 00:31:15,160
real quibbles with it. I will
say, when you're kind of looking with

498
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:22,440
the Eastern Conference, it just feels
like I probably would have gone. I

499
00:31:25,079 --> 00:31:27,400
think a lot of people would have
said, oh, Jimmy Butler should have

500
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,559
been in there, or maybe DeMar
de Rosen. I don't really know that

501
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:36,720
they needed to be. But when
you're looking at sort of potential snubs,

502
00:31:37,519 --> 00:31:41,519
I might have had Trey Young even
over bam at a Bio. At this

503
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,960
point, I'm not gonna, you
know, the the biggest snub to me.

504
00:31:45,119 --> 00:31:48,519
Let me start here. I'm not
as peeved by the Christaps Porzingis or

505
00:31:48,519 --> 00:31:52,039
Derek White absence, and all the
Celtics only have two All Stars they deserved

506
00:31:52,039 --> 00:31:59,039
three. I really do believe that
Scottie Barnes should have been an All Star

507
00:31:59,119 --> 00:32:02,400
this year, and it's not just
because the advanced metrics love him. It's

508
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:07,880
because I just think he's been legitimately
good, made progress on both ends of

509
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:12,480
the court. So I really I
probably would have had him in. When

510
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:15,319
you're looking at the rosters the reserves, I wouldn't have had him as a

511
00:32:15,319 --> 00:32:21,440
starter. I would have had him
over Bam and Pallow, maybe even Julius

512
00:32:21,559 --> 00:32:25,000
Randall, that's like kind of it. I probably would have had him over

513
00:32:25,079 --> 00:32:30,200
Jalen Brown too. It just feels
like, and I don't mean to say

514
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,079
that any one of those guys need
to be I might have had him over

515
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:37,200
Damian Lillard, Scottie. Barnes just
felt like he was a capslock All Star

516
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,359
to me this year, and to
not have him on there. I know

517
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:45,559
Pala Ben Carrol's shouldering a huge workload. Bamdabayo has been great defensively, but

518
00:32:45,599 --> 00:32:47,039
we've seen some of his offense trail
off. I know there's been a lot

519
00:32:47,039 --> 00:32:52,480
of injuries in in Miami, so
I'll frame it this way. I would

520
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,759
have absolutely I think I would have
had Dame as a reserve. So the

521
00:32:54,799 --> 00:32:58,680
starting lineup is fine, even though
I would have had Jalen Brunson instead of

522
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,640
Dame there, so those six guys, Jalen runs in with Dame, the

523
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:05,079
other the other starters. I would
have definitely had Donovan Mitchell. He made

524
00:33:05,119 --> 00:33:07,759
it. I definitely would have had
Tyrese Maxi. There's a lot of debate

525
00:33:07,839 --> 00:33:13,839
to be had after that. I
think I probably would have leaned going with

526
00:33:14,079 --> 00:33:15,720
you know how many spots three of
I would have went. I probably would

527
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:20,759
have went Jalen with Scottie Barnes,
and then that would have left us with

528
00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:27,599
really two spots, So Randall,
Bencarro, Trey Young would have gotten consideration

529
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,599
if I had to bounce one,
because Scotty Barnes is just the name I'm

530
00:33:30,079 --> 00:33:37,680
lasered in on. I probably would
have bounced. I probably would have bounced

531
00:33:38,079 --> 00:33:40,599
Bam. I'm not gonna lie.
That's tough for me to say, but

532
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,680
I probably would have bounced Bam.
I just think he's been more uneven.

533
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,039
I know Palo's kind of seen some
up and down with his efficiency, but

534
00:33:47,519 --> 00:33:52,400
the spacing that he's working with is
terrible, and he is better at generating

535
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,559
his own offense than a Bam and
a Bio. Is there? Uh,

536
00:33:55,119 --> 00:33:58,319
Those it would have been one of
those two. I will say that I

537
00:33:58,319 --> 00:34:01,480
would have bounced Bam or Palo first, Scotty Barnes looking at the injury replacement

538
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:06,720
for Joel Embiid. I'm not I
would. I'm hoping that Scotty Barnes,

539
00:34:06,759 --> 00:34:08,000
like that would be my pick.
I think a lot of people are gonna

540
00:34:08,039 --> 00:34:12,360
favor of Trey Young. Who That's
the other thing is like what I've had

541
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:17,480
Trey Young and Scotty and just bounced
to Bam and Pallo. Yeah, you

542
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:21,199
could have done that Scotty in the
front court instead of Bam and then Polloll

543
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,599
was a wild card. H could
have been a wildcard. Yeah, that's

544
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,840
maybe what I would have done.
But I think the injury replacements in this

545
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:34,559
order should probably be Scotty Tray and
then then I guess Derek White or I

546
00:34:34,599 --> 00:34:37,039
probably have KP over Derek White.
I don't really know how to do that.

547
00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:39,760
But the East was just kind of
a mess, and I think the

548
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,440
only the snubs are tough because you
have to say who are you gonna bounce?

549
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,239
And so I'm telling you right now
my only real just I would have

550
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:52,159
really given thoughts to KP. Christops
what he's done on the court, and

551
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,880
Trey Young over a Palla Bancaro over
a Bam like those are the names I'm

552
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,320
cind of. Maybe I would have
even looped Julius Randall into there, just

553
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,840
because he's so He's had some really
highs and lows here. But the only

554
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:07,679
true cap socks nub I believe that
exists in the East is Scottie Barnes,

555
00:35:07,119 --> 00:35:10,800
and I probably would have bumped Pallo
or Bam for him, and so I

556
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:15,360
think he deserves, obviously to be
the injury replacement. That's where I'm at

557
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,280
with all stars. You let me
know what you think in the comments or

558
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,639
in our discord. Go join the
discord. You can get at me on

559
00:35:20,679 --> 00:35:23,480
Twitter. You can email us Hardwine
Knocks at gmail dot com. Thank you

560
00:35:23,519 --> 00:35:28,199
all for listening. Hope you enjoyed
this third podcast of the week. Really

561
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,480
trying to I think we'bout like five
pot well, let's say four podcasts last

562
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,320
week's I think one of them was
really two of them might have been really

563
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,360
short. Continuing to pump out a
ton of content for you. I know,

564
00:35:37,559 --> 00:35:39,599
discord members, you should join our
discorder. Hungry for a mail bag?

565
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,360
Maybe I'll try and get one more
up before the trade deadline. It's

566
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,039
just this time of year. It's
tis the season for audibles dealing with it

567
00:35:46,079 --> 00:35:49,119
at Pleach Report, so we have
to deal with it in the podcast.

568
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,039
Let's hope Grant gets healthy though,
so we can give our trademark, you

569
00:35:52,079 --> 00:35:55,320
know, ninety to two hour on
the Western Conference Primer until next time.

570
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,440
They'll please remember to subscribe to us. Hit the sub button on YouTube if

571
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,320
you're still around. I don't know
why not. We're here to talk about

572
00:36:01,639 --> 00:36:07,880
the Joel Embiid injury. Woge Well. The Sixers announced that Joel Embiid has

573
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:13,760
injured has an injured lateral meniscus in
his left knee and will be out through

574
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:17,960
at least this weekend. While a
treatment plan is finalized, it does not

575
00:36:19,079 --> 00:36:22,480
seem Woades says, quote, they're
still uncertainty about how the Sixers medical staff,

576
00:36:22,559 --> 00:36:28,440
several specialists and Embiid will move forward
to treat the injured meniscus. They'll

577
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:32,000
take more time over the next several
days to chart a course end quote.

578
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:39,360
Now these meniscus, there's replacement,
there's repair. Jeff Stotts from In Street

579
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:44,960
Clothes did tweet immediately after this basically
that this is the second tear in Embiad's

580
00:36:45,039 --> 00:36:49,480
left lateral meniscus. He missed the
final thirty seven games of twenty sixteen twenty

581
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:54,920
seventeen regular season and ultimately underwent a
partial meniskieptomy, which is a removal.

582
00:36:55,119 --> 00:36:59,880
The location of this latest injury remains
the key, per Jeff Stots, to

583
00:37:00,039 --> 00:37:04,280
possible treatment options, and so there's
a bunch of different ways that it can

584
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,920
go here. Players come back from
meniscus stairs all the time, whether they

585
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:12,239
were removed, whether they're repaired,
reconstruction, whatever, and embead is proof

586
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:17,400
of that at all. This is
a failure on so many parts that it's

587
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,639
not even funny. It's a failure
on the NBA, it's a failure on

588
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,360
the sixers, and it's a failure
for sure, without question, on the

589
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:30,440
Players Association. But first of all, and people by the way who were

590
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,079
calling and be soft or saying he
was ducking the Nuggets a few days ago,

591
00:37:34,079 --> 00:37:36,440
a few games ago, you should
be ashamed of yourself. So if

592
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:37,920
you haven't come out and apologized and
said I got caught up in the moment,

593
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,079
If you did that, that's fine. That whole ducking narrative was fucking

594
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,719
stupid, and this whole thing bugs
the shit out of me. When we

595
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:50,199
talk about players and missing games,
the players, most of the time are

596
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,400
not the ones actively deciding how many
games they're gonna miss, whether they're going

597
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:58,679
to be rested, they want to
play go figure basketball players most of them

598
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:04,079
want to play basketball, and so
does Embiid have input on whether he should

599
00:38:04,159 --> 00:38:07,519
play when it's his body? Yes, of course should the Sixers have.

600
00:38:07,679 --> 00:38:10,760
Let's start with that game very quickly
before we get into the ramifications on what

601
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:15,679
this means for the Sixers in the
NBA and the players Association and how everyone

602
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:20,119
has just failed here. It seems
like when you look at that game specifically,

603
00:38:20,199 --> 00:38:22,440
Joelle and Bebe should not have been
the one deciding whether he was on

604
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,159
the injury report. It's nice that
he wanted to play, but when you

605
00:38:24,199 --> 00:38:30,079
have reports coming out after the facts
from ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne that he couldn't even

606
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,800
jump and so why wasn't he listed
on the injury report, that's on the

607
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:37,079
Sixers, not even Nick Nurse specifically. It's on the organization, the training

608
00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:39,960
staff, in front office, everybody. Part of being in that position is

609
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:45,199
to override your players. It's why
when Lebron James receives slack for the Russell

610
00:38:45,199 --> 00:38:50,320
Westbrook trade in La fuck that.
That's why you have Rob Polinka there to

611
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,519
tell your stars no, to override
your stars, because they do not run

612
00:38:52,559 --> 00:38:58,239
the organization. Their well being or
the roster's well being is your primary concern.

613
00:38:58,559 --> 00:39:00,519
So he sits out that game.
Of course, it's just shameful the

614
00:39:00,559 --> 00:39:05,159
people that thought he was ducking and
Matt Moore of Action Network had the piece

615
00:39:05,199 --> 00:39:08,320
about the games that embid and missed. Now that might be notable because he

616
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:13,239
sat out so far against so many
really good opponents. Again, that's a

617
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,320
decision that's happening with the Sixers where
maybe they decided, hey, we're just

618
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:20,039
going to punt on these games.
We want to have you involved in the

619
00:39:20,039 --> 00:39:22,719
more winnable ones. Could he have
been part of it, sure, but

620
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:23,719
this is not Joelle and be decided, well, I don't want to play

621
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:28,199
against these teams above five hundred on
the road. That's just not how most

622
00:39:28,199 --> 00:39:32,199
players are wired. So that whole
thing was stupid and Nuggets fans, media

623
00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:37,199
members, anyone who called out Joel
for being soft or ducking ducking Jokic in

624
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,960
Denver. He hasn't played in Denver
since the since before the COVID nineteen pandemic.

625
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,559
You should be ashamed of yourselves if
you've apologized already, if you were

626
00:39:45,559 --> 00:39:49,039
making jokes and you walk them back, fine, But if you haven't apologized,

627
00:39:49,039 --> 00:39:51,639
if that's a take that you've decided
to die with, or if that's

628
00:39:51,679 --> 00:39:54,480
a take that you've just decided to
ignore and not acknowledge and backtrack, just

629
00:39:54,519 --> 00:39:58,679
admit you were wrong. It was
fucking stupid just to think that Joel Embiid

630
00:39:59,079 --> 00:40:02,440
an MVP didn't want was who was
out playing Jokic in the regular season on

631
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:07,159
a handful of occasions, didn't want
to face the Kola jokicch dumbest shit.

632
00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:09,920
Then he's playing. He sits out
the Blazers game, and he's playing in

633
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:14,760
the Golden State Warriors game and he
can barely move. This man looked like

634
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:19,880
he was wearing concrete shoes the entire
game. He's playing twenty nine minutes.

635
00:40:20,119 --> 00:40:22,559
This is a failure on Nick Nurse, who decides how many minutes his players

636
00:40:22,599 --> 00:40:25,760
are gonna log on the court.
It's a failure for the Sixers training staff

637
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:30,400
for letting him be playing or clearing
him to play, and I don't want

638
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:31,960
to hear the defense from that I
have seen. Well, this is a

639
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,519
separate injury. He was just dealing
with a sore left knee, and then

640
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:39,079
this miniscous thing happened when it was
falling on I can't remember who fell on

641
00:40:39,079 --> 00:40:43,440
top of him during the Warriors game. Already I already forgot. It wasn't

642
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,960
Kaminga, was it? Who wasn't? I already forgot. I don't care.

643
00:40:46,119 --> 00:40:49,159
He should have been on the court
in the first place. You can

644
00:40:49,199 --> 00:40:51,920
stop it right there. It wasn't
like he was playing. He had a

645
00:40:52,039 --> 00:40:54,360
terrible game on offense, specifically,
looked like he could barely move, So

646
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,559
it wasn't like he was just lighting
it up and then he got injured.

647
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,920
Just because it's a separate injury,
the initial one should have kept him off

648
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:07,039
the court. Whyatt didn't keep him
off the court is beyond me. You

649
00:41:07,159 --> 00:41:10,440
have so many failures leading up to
that moment where it's well, who cleared

650
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:14,920
him beid to play and if he
wasn't technically cleared or you left the decision

651
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:16,719
up to him, whose call was
that, the front office, the training

652
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:21,559
staff? Did he say his body
was fine? Okay, let's say he

653
00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:23,239
was cleared medically. It looked fine, he seemed fine, and then he

654
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:27,280
said his body was fine. Because
Joel Embiid wants to play, what is

655
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,360
Nick Nurse doing? What are this? The Sixers could have texted him or

656
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:32,000
one of his assistants when they saw
how Joel Embiid was moving and say get

657
00:41:32,079 --> 00:41:36,119
him the fuck out of this game. There's no reason he should have played

658
00:41:36,119 --> 00:41:38,960
almost thirty minutes at that point.
And especially look, the Sixers were playing

659
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:44,760
better off without him through certain stretches
in part because of just how much Joel

660
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,000
Embiid was laboring on the court through
that time. And yes, you would

661
00:41:47,039 --> 00:41:52,360
like Embiid to be confident enough or
strong willed enough to say, hey,

662
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:57,159
I can't play, I'm not gonna
play. But like there's the discourse happening,

663
00:41:57,199 --> 00:41:59,760
and you're someone who wants to play
basketball. This is not a matter

664
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:01,519
of now we're going to lead him
to the bigger there's two bigger discussions.

665
00:42:01,679 --> 00:42:05,559
What does this mean for the Sixers
if he misses an extended period of time,

666
00:42:05,679 --> 00:42:07,800
Let's just start there. That impacts
what they're gonna do with the trade

667
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:12,599
deadline, because with Joel Embiid.
They're a contender who should be acting extremely

668
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:15,840
urgently and aggressive. If he's gonna
miss time through the All Star break and

669
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,719
beyond. If this becomes a four
to six week to eight week thing,

670
00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:22,679
you gotta recalibrate. Now, there's
still the urgency because Joel Embiid's prime is

671
00:42:23,039 --> 00:42:27,360
just ticking. Knowing how look,
he missed the first two seasons of his

672
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,320
career, then barely played when he
was barely played, when only played like

673
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:34,079
thirty something games when he was a
rookie. You're kind of operating with urgency

674
00:42:34,119 --> 00:42:37,559
to begin with that still exists,
but your season's kind of in the gutter.

675
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:39,360
Or maybe not. He can come
back and then dominate again, and

676
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:43,800
maybe he'll be fresher because he got
that rest. So do you still act

677
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:46,039
urgently at the deadline. I don't
know what opportunities are going to be available

678
00:42:46,039 --> 00:42:49,840
to them either. They've needed another
shot creator, and if Embid is going

679
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,679
to miss significant time, they need
it more than ever if they want to

680
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,000
tread water without him and have Tyrese
Maxi there when he is healthy. You

681
00:42:55,079 --> 00:42:59,360
do have Tobias Harris, you have
Nick Batoum. It's a lot to place

682
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,960
on all of their shoulders just to
supplant whatever Joel Embiid's doing, and does

683
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,159
it make it more likely that they
get attracted to Dejonte Murray. Probably not,

684
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:09,679
just because he's smaller. I wouldn't
mind him on the Sixers, though

685
00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:13,199
he can roll him over into a
different asset. I would still say,

686
00:43:13,199 --> 00:43:15,880
no, they're not going to be
like part of the zach Lavine sweepstakes.

687
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,960
That would shock me. They maybe
look at someone who is lower cost.

688
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,880
Perhaps they don't net you a first
round pick, but they give you some

689
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:25,199
additional scoring juice, like a boy
on Bogdanovich, who the Pistons probably want

690
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:29,000
eight first round picks for at this
point I don't know. But the Embiid

691
00:43:29,079 --> 00:43:30,320
injury time, on which we don't
know at this point, I want to

692
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,440
make that clear, is absolutely going
to impact how the Sixers act at the

693
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,599
trade deadline and then just what happens
for the rest of their season and then

694
00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:42,000
beyond, because if this season gets
butchered in any way, even if it's

695
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,440
just your trade deadline activity where you
were hesitant to make a move that you

696
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,440
would have made if Joel Embiid was
healthy, that's going to open up a

697
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:52,159
weird discussion come time for this offseason, when Joel Embiid is surveying his future

698
00:43:52,199 --> 00:43:55,639
and considering what needs to happen now
he could come back, The Sixers could

699
00:43:55,639 --> 00:44:00,719
be as currently constructed, Maybe they're
the at that point, maybe they're the

700
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,719
five seed, maybe they're the maybe
they're the sixth seed, and they're still

701
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:07,159
able to just run through the playoffs, make the conference finals. Everything's hunky

702
00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:10,239
doory. It just gets a lot
harder to reach that level when you're already

703
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:15,079
fifth and you have four games up
on the Pacers in the lost column,

704
00:44:15,079 --> 00:44:16,519
like there's a chance you could You're
not gonna fall to seventh. I mean,

705
00:44:16,559 --> 00:44:20,400
the Heat would have to go on
a real tear and the Magic's offense

706
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,000
unless they do something so you're gonna
be in the top six. Your playoff

707
00:44:23,039 --> 00:44:27,400
path gets at least a little bit, if not a lot, harder for

708
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,360
you to to sort of grapple with. So that timeline is going to matter.

709
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,599
But let's talk about maybe why Embiid
is so insistent on playing in the

710
00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:37,719
first place, even though he says
winning a title is his main priority.

711
00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:40,679
We know he wants another MVP award, and so the NBA institutes the sixty

712
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:45,119
five game minimum, which is,
you know, the equivalent of about it's

713
00:44:45,199 --> 00:44:49,480
less than twenty percent of the season, but let's say it's about twenty percent

714
00:44:49,639 --> 00:44:54,039
of the season at that point,
they have this minimum. And one I've

715
00:44:54,039 --> 00:44:58,760
seen a lot of people criticize the
NBA for this. The NBA deserves criticism,

716
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:00,519
and when the rule first came out, I was I understood it.

717
00:45:00,559 --> 00:45:04,920
I want to see players play.
But my bigger issue, and we said

718
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:08,320
this on the podcast, was players
when it comes to load management and the

719
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:12,480
number of games being played in their
injuries. Most of the time they're not

720
00:45:12,599 --> 00:45:15,679
the ones who are making the call
on maintenance and rest nights. I would

721
00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:20,800
say ninety eight percent of the time
at least they're not. And so this

722
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,239
whole thing to address the issue of
oh, players have to be on the

723
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:28,320
court, that was mandated towards the
teams, directed towards the teams. That

724
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,679
wasn't about the players specifically. However, for people who were mad at the

725
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:37,559
NBA at the owner's side for putting
that through, these things are collectively bargained

726
00:45:37,599 --> 00:45:43,599
with the NBA's players Association. I
don't know what the messaging was when this

727
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,159
sixty five game rule, and there's
some flexibility there, but when it comes

728
00:45:46,199 --> 00:45:51,559
to injuries and overall availability, it
doesn't seem like there's exceptions there. It's

729
00:45:51,559 --> 00:45:54,320
more so if there was a catastrophic
event, they had a family matter to

730
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,880
tend too, where needed to miss
time for that, maybe a travel issue

731
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,880
like when DeAndre Ayton was trapped in
his house because when I storm, So

732
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:07,000
the extenuating circumstances don't apply to injuries. What was the messaging there from the

733
00:46:07,079 --> 00:46:09,960
Players Union to their players by just
I don't know if they conceded it or

734
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,880
if they were just on board with
it both sides, no owners, the

735
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:15,920
league, and then the players know
that this new TV deal is coming,

736
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:20,559
and so you want to maximize the
potential for revenue there and get the largest

737
00:46:20,559 --> 00:46:23,440
deal possible forever long you're going to
sign it. What was the messaging there

738
00:46:23,679 --> 00:46:27,800
though? And now you have an
instance where is in beat on the court

739
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:31,159
because he wants to continue qualifying for
the MVP debate for the All NBA discussion.

740
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:35,440
Did Tyrese Haliburton try to come back? He did try to come back

741
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,599
to early He played in Siakam's debut
when he clearly shouldn't have. So now

742
00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:42,360
you have an instance where this sixty
five game rule is objectively stupid, but

743
00:46:42,519 --> 00:46:45,519
everyone fails here because the Players Association
allowed this to get through and it was

744
00:46:45,559 --> 00:46:49,760
also just. And this is something
I'll even cop to it. I don't

745
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,159
know that I admitted this or realized
it at the time. And there's always

746
00:46:52,199 --> 00:46:57,599
unintended consequences to when you do something. But you can't be above critique when

747
00:46:57,639 --> 00:47:01,079
the people who are getting paid a
shit ton of money to understand this stuff

748
00:47:01,119 --> 00:47:06,119
better than us don't, and when
even then it was fairly clear that they

749
00:47:06,119 --> 00:47:08,440
were addressing a superficial issue, unless
I'm wrong, because it was a quick

750
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:13,119
scan for this. There's been one
player. Let's use the MVP debate as

751
00:47:13,119 --> 00:47:15,800
a thing you need to play in
sixty five games. John b played in

752
00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:20,000
sixty six last year and made the
cut what you essentially did. There's only

753
00:47:20,039 --> 00:47:23,840
been one player in NBA history to
win the MVP Award while playing in fewer

754
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:28,639
than sixty five games, or it's
equivalent because we had lockout shortened seasons and

755
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:32,719
COVID shortened seasons. It was Bill
Walton played in fifty eight games, I

756
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:37,159
believe, and won the MVP Award. That was in nineteen seventy eight.

757
00:47:37,519 --> 00:47:39,880
He did that, so that as
the one player do that, you're fixing

758
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:44,480
an issue that hasn't actually been an
issue at all. When it comes to

759
00:47:44,559 --> 00:47:49,119
choosing awards, availability has always factored
in to the awards. Maybe it's more

760
00:47:49,159 --> 00:47:53,000
directed at the All NBA the all
defensive discussions. Even those conversations tend to

761
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,840
factor in availability, even people who
just say, well, since values not

762
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,960
caked into it, I'm just looking
for the fifteen bets, the overall players.

763
00:48:00,199 --> 00:48:04,719
You get to a point where it's
let's just use Joel Embiida as an

764
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:08,800
example, seventy one games of shake, Gilgess Alexander at this level is way

765
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:14,639
more valuable over the course of an
entire regular season than Joel Embiid at fifty

766
00:48:14,679 --> 00:48:16,480
seven or whatever it ends up being. That's just a matter of fact,

767
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:20,440
and that's gonna get caked into an
All NBA discussion, especially now when there

768
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:24,079
are no positions, And that is
why we'll say maybe players feel added pressure

769
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:28,719
to hit this minimum. Is that
one if you're a guard like Haliburton,

770
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,400
just more spots are available for you
because there are no positions. But when

771
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:35,920
you're a center like Embiid. On
the flip side of this, there are

772
00:48:36,159 --> 00:48:38,519
technically there are more spots available to
you, but there could be fewer spots

773
00:48:38,559 --> 00:48:42,800
because the three all NBA teams in
years past, it was okay, like

774
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:45,519
you're guaranteed to get the three bigs
in there, and when you're at a

775
00:48:45,599 --> 00:48:49,039
point, there are a ton of
talented big guys here, but when you're

776
00:48:49,039 --> 00:48:53,079
looking at pure centers, Joel Embiid
and Nakolea Jokic are probably the only top

777
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:59,840
fifteen guaranteed like pure centers, those
big guys you say they're centers all the

778
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:02,239
time, who will be top fifteen
every single year. And so it was

779
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:07,880
an opportunity for other guys like we'll
say Anthony Davis, who is a top

780
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,400
fifteen player probably in a vacuum,
but his availability's always been murky. If

781
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:14,480
he qualified or was listed in the
center position, he could play in fewer

782
00:49:14,519 --> 00:49:16,519
games and get that center spot.
And so do you feel more pressure as

783
00:49:16,559 --> 00:49:22,119
a big man to play in the
requisite number of games because there's in theory

784
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:24,639
there's more spots available to you,
but not really because the way the voting

785
00:49:24,639 --> 00:49:29,719
has shaken out and how many guard
and forward spots they're were available to begin

786
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,639
with, and that's an impact of
all this, But it's not just on

787
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:37,639
the leak. It's on I know
Tyres Haliburt was pretty critical of the rule,

788
00:49:37,679 --> 00:49:40,079
and he's not wrong, but why
did the Players Association like if this

789
00:49:40,199 --> 00:49:44,679
is how most of the players feel, And I honestly don't know, but

790
00:49:44,679 --> 00:49:46,960
I would guess that most of them
are not that most of the stars certainly

791
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,360
aren't. And maybe there are guys
who are, you know, the thirty

792
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:52,159
seventh best player in the NBA and
they kind of like the idea because they're

793
00:49:52,159 --> 00:49:55,159
gonna play in a crap ton of
games and that'll give them an opportunity to

794
00:49:55,159 --> 00:50:00,840
make an All NBA team. But
when you're going to tie contract ex incentives

795
00:50:00,119 --> 00:50:06,800
and values like haliburtons to making All
NBA that initial like that last ditch effort

796
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:09,000
to get there, that is absolutely
going to matter. And that is something

797
00:50:09,039 --> 00:50:13,239
the Players Union should have foreseen.
It is something the league I bet you

798
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:16,960
understood and probably didn't care because of
the TV deal that's upcoming and them just

799
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:21,559
wanting to make sure they're selling,
you know, the best package possible by

800
00:50:21,559 --> 00:50:23,639
saying, well, our players play
in the middle of January when it matters,

801
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:27,960
especially on national television, and again, the Players Association might have been

802
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:31,719
thinking along the same way. I'm
not absolving anyone here. Everybody fucked up

803
00:50:32,159 --> 00:50:36,679
the Sixers, maybe even Joel Embiid, but he's gonna be Look, he's

804
00:50:36,679 --> 00:50:37,880
gonna be the least culpable in all
this. Quite frankly, he's not in

805
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:40,960
a position of power on the Players
Union. He can say whatever he wants.

806
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,840
He is the star, but it's
on the Sixers organization to override him

807
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:47,760
when necessary. And then you have
the league and the Players Association. Neither

808
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:52,320
of them seem to have anyone's back
in all this, and so I'm complaining,

809
00:50:52,519 --> 00:50:54,159
I'm ranting. I want to make
it clear that this is not something

810
00:50:54,199 --> 00:51:00,000
I was necessarily pointed pointed out when
the new CBA was ratified. Keith Smith

811
00:51:00,079 --> 00:51:02,519
and I from Spotrack last year.
Last season, we did talk about some

812
00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:06,840
of the unintended consequences. This came
up loosely, but we were open to

813
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:10,519
seeing how this idea played out.
I'm gonna expect some sort of quick repealment

814
00:51:10,679 --> 00:51:15,320
here once the NBA signs its new
TV deal, but like, we can't

815
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:19,440
have like and even just the injury
reporting rules which are aimed at. It's

816
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:22,199
not about availability, it's about sports
betting, and fuck that, Like,

817
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:23,639
yeah, the six Ers should have
had them on an injury report because that

818
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:29,079
there is a competitive gamesmanship there when
you're talking about the Nuggets needing to prepare.

819
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:31,000
But like the injury reporting stuff probably
has a lot to do with wanting

820
00:51:31,039 --> 00:51:35,880
to make sure that like the betting
markets are like you have ties to the

821
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:38,119
sports betting company. I mean ESPN. There's now a branded ESPN bet and

822
00:51:38,119 --> 00:51:42,360
the league's gonna have partnerships with sports
betting companies, and so the injury report

823
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:47,960
helps sports betting companies operators set lines. There's just so many there's so many

824
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:53,159
cooks in the kitchen right now,
and as larger entities as as just larger

825
00:51:54,679 --> 00:52:00,320
like as just like a larger corporation, as a business, as a leadge

826
00:52:00,039 --> 00:52:02,639
this is a failure on everyone's behalf. And it's not just about Chowell and

827
00:52:02,639 --> 00:52:06,239
Bead. It's gonna get tied to
Tyres Halbert. It's gonna get tied to

828
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,079
other players who you kind of have
to monitor in and see and there will

829
00:52:08,079 --> 00:52:12,280
be someone just don't give a fuck. Kawhi Leonard is not gonna care if

830
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:15,280
he hits the sixty five game minimum, he might like to, but he's

831
00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:17,559
not gonna care. And so players
later in their contracts, especially when you're

832
00:52:17,559 --> 00:52:21,079
in Tyres Haliburt and you're getting you're
about to start your first match, and

833
00:52:21,119 --> 00:52:23,679
there is all NBA language in there
that's gonna matter more for those types of

834
00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:27,199
players than it is going to be
for players who are on their third,

835
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:31,559
fourth deals, et cetera. So
this should have been realized and like even

836
00:52:31,679 --> 00:52:35,239
now, is there no way to
just kind of adjust it and get back

837
00:52:35,519 --> 00:52:37,679
in a room or at least like, oh, we messed up, and

838
00:52:37,719 --> 00:52:39,840
so now the competition committee's gonna have
to figure figure that out. But to

839
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:45,559
Joel Embiid issues specifically to where it
reached this point, where to where now

840
00:52:45,599 --> 00:52:47,840
he might miss extended time and maybe
he doesn't, but we're all gonna question

841
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:52,519
whether he should or not. It
reached this point and became exacerbated because of

842
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:59,239
so many different failures and anyone who's
boiling this down to people should have to

843
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:01,679
go to their job work when I'm
sick, it's just different. You need

844
00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:05,840
to have some level of empathy.
I know that's what the money is for

845
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:07,480
for you to play hurt. But
when you're playing hurt to a point where,

846
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:10,880
using Joel Emid as a primary example, where you actually can't play,

847
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:15,079
it's serving the best interest of nobody. Because as much as the NBA wants

848
00:53:15,119 --> 00:53:19,239
the regular season to be more relevant, the playoffs matter the most. And

849
00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:22,480
a player like Joel Embiid, who
has a murky track record in the playoffs

850
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:27,719
when looking at his individual performance in
large part because he's been banged up to

851
00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:30,239
high heavens, you need to be
looking out for the well being of these

852
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:35,440
players during the highest stakes moment.
And what this is really an indictment of.

853
00:53:35,559 --> 00:53:38,239
If you have an issue with players
not playing, it's an indictment of,

854
00:53:38,679 --> 00:53:42,119
well, it could be two things. The game is just so demanding

855
00:53:42,119 --> 00:53:45,760
when you look at looking at the
styles and the physical anomalies we're dealing with.

856
00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:49,199
Joel Embiid's another one. As Tim
bontem said, he's Kevin Durant plus

857
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:52,960
one hundred pounds. Like when you
just look at his footwork, that's not

858
00:53:52,039 --> 00:53:54,159
Kevin Durant to a t. But
like that's what we're dealing with, and

859
00:53:54,199 --> 00:53:58,480
so you're it's not and I'm not. First of all, Nikole Yokich is

860
00:53:58,519 --> 00:54:00,320
an iron man, deserves all the
credit in the world, and he's anomalist

861
00:54:00,599 --> 00:54:06,039
unto himself, but he doesn't move
in like a physically anomalist fashion. He's

862
00:54:06,079 --> 00:54:12,719
more of just like a cerebral an
anomaly and a finesse inaccuracy and efficiency phenomenally.

863
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:15,599
And there's just but his even him, look at him, he's like

864
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:17,519
scratched up, you know, like
within five minutes of every game, where

865
00:54:17,519 --> 00:54:22,440
he's dealing with scratches and cuts from
all these previous games. The game is

866
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:24,800
demanding because of the pace or because
of the physical nature of what some guys

867
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:30,280
are doing, especially these bigs who
are carrying a bunch of weight on a

868
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:34,760
crap ton of height. It's just
demanding. And so you could bemoan well

869
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,039
yesteryear and there was hand checking.
It was more physical than I don't fucking

870
00:54:37,119 --> 00:54:40,639
care, Like we're dealing with the
here and now. The real indictment here

871
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:44,400
is then of the length of the
season. If you have an issue with

872
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:47,400
the amount that players are playing,
we're not talking about faked injuries every five

873
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:51,800
seconds. It's different when you're dealing
with tank jobs. And I'm just sorry,

874
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,679
you can't pretend to care if you're
not gonna see Kyle Kuzma play,

875
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:59,960
should he not get traded from March
through the end of the season because you're

876
00:54:59,960 --> 00:55:01,519
not watching the Wizards. I called
bullshit. If you're gonna care about that

877
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:07,239
anyway, I'm not defending the league
here, I'm I'm yelling at everybody.

878
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:08,599
I'm even yelling at myself a little
bit. And this or not having the

879
00:55:08,639 --> 00:55:12,760
forethought to think that this sixty five
game minimum thing could be a disaster.

880
00:55:13,039 --> 00:55:15,199
But I'm not even sure if this
is about the sixty five game minimum thing.

881
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,960
Even if it was, even if
Joel Embiid is the party that wants

882
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:23,239
to win MVP qualify for all NBA
as an organization, you need to step

883
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:27,000
in and say like no. And
so even if you want to absolve the

884
00:55:27,039 --> 00:55:29,679
league and the players union a little
bit, because it's well, it's good

885
00:55:29,679 --> 00:55:32,079
that players understand. Maybe there are
some who would have appeared and taken some

886
00:55:32,119 --> 00:55:36,159
rest nights later in the season or
middle of the season. They're not injured,

887
00:55:36,559 --> 00:55:38,039
but they had missed ten games previously, and they're just gonna continue to

888
00:55:38,079 --> 00:55:42,440
play when they're not injured or when
they could have had a rest night because

889
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,159
they want to qualify. If you
want to absolve them of all blame,

890
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:47,840
then a bulk of a blame needs
to fall on the sixers here now.

891
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:52,239
But anyone who's boiling this down to
players should have to do their jobs.

892
00:55:52,519 --> 00:55:59,320
You are oversimplifying what is going on
here. And there's just been multi layers

893
00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:02,440
worth of failure here and now I
don't know what the exact cost is gonna

894
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:06,039
be, but we're talking. I'd
be shocked if it's just not a matter

895
00:56:06,079 --> 00:56:10,760
of weeks if not months with Joel
Embiid And this opens up a issues elsewhere

896
00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:15,480
and we've already seen it kind of
creep into the tyres, the tyres haliburt

897
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:17,599
and stuff, specifically because of how
good he has been and just looking he's

898
00:56:17,599 --> 00:56:22,159
like inching towards that threshold more so
than some of these other players who might

899
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:23,880
might factor in there. And then
what is this gonna do? The discourse

900
00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:28,719
where it's well, is Nicoli Okich
or shake gilg Duxander the rightful MVP would

901
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:30,800
if it be, just would have
played in whatever games. It almost like

902
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:35,320
he gives you an out there for
a problem like I mentioned before that you

903
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:37,800
didn't even have because players appearing a
fewer than sixty five games, weren't winning

904
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:42,719
MVP, they weren't really winning Defensive
Player of the Year. I'd be shocked

905
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:45,239
if they were. I don't I
didn't look, but I'd be shocked if

906
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:47,960
they went, you know, if
they were making all NBA teams on a

907
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:52,960
regular basis. So it's just so
much of a failure here. And hopefully

908
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:57,679
Joel Embiid is going to be okay, but anyone who including in the Sixers

909
00:56:57,800 --> 00:57:00,320
organization, in the league, and
I don't know, I would like to

910
00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:01,920
know what the messaging was for the
players Association or if look, if the

911
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:07,400
players did, you know, if
there was widespread approval for it. You're

912
00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:09,079
gonna have to eat some of your
own crow here, because like this was

913
00:57:09,079 --> 00:57:13,559
collectively bargained. It's not just on
the league. And it sucks in general

914
00:57:13,639 --> 00:57:16,280
because now, at least in part
because of this, whether it was the

915
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:22,360
discourse and being wanting to hit that
minimum, it opened the door for issues

916
00:57:22,519 --> 00:57:25,320
like this and the additional failures that
will be incumbent with them. And I'm

917
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:29,960
looking specifically at what were the Sixers
doing. They should be ashamed of themselves

918
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:31,960
or laying and beat on the court
against the Warriors, for not doing a

919
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:36,360
better job of controlling the messaging with
his injury, because this was the same

920
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:38,239
knee that was sore. I don't
care if it's a separate injury. He's

921
00:57:38,239 --> 00:57:42,960
been wrested because with sore left knee. I've already gone too long on this.

922
00:57:43,159 --> 00:57:46,239
If you're new to this channel,
this podcast, please remember to subscribe,

923
00:57:46,679 --> 00:57:50,559
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924
00:57:50,559 --> 00:57:52,559
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925
00:57:52,599 --> 00:57:57,000
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926
00:57:57,079 --> 00:58:00,519
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927
00:58:00,719 --> 00:58:02,880
Follow us on all the socials they
are on your screen or in the podcast

928
00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:07,800
and YouTube descriptions. Until next time, and as always, with the shout

929
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,639
out to one the only, the
legendary, the indelible, not so adorable

930
00:58:10,719 --> 00:58:13,840
at the moment, but we're playing
it smart. He's not trying to make

931
00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:15,559
all NBA, but hit the sixty
five game minimum. It all costs.

932
00:58:15,559 --> 00:58:25,320
Frank Fila Keina