What is up, fellow Thermo nuclear a Eppers. I am Damn Valley coming
at you with what will be a very swift intro. We're getting into the
second half of our Western Conference podcast where Grant and I I'm delivered our biggest
question for each team we try to talk ourselves through it. We did the
Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers,
Los Angeles Lakers, and Memphis Grizzlies. In the first podcast, we
have the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New Orleans Pelicans, excuse me,
Oklahoma City thunder, Portland Trailblazers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento King, San
Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz. In this podcast, check out the first
part if you haven't already, I hope you enjoyed this one and very quickly
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and this community continue to grow. Let's get into our biggest question for every
NBA team in the Western Conference, part do we are on too? Man?
This pace is terrible? The Minnesota Timberwolves, look, I have so
many questions about I want to take the low hanging fruit and go with the
vibes, but I think we just have to go with is the offense gonna
click? They're nineteenth in points scored per possession right now. That is not
good. Seventeenth and three point attempt rate and twentieth in three point percentage.
There are you can expect, like some I'll call them progressions to the mean
on this team, but I do think it's the kind of a problem that
Jade McDaniels is sixth in three point attempts for them, and yeah, he's
hitting them at a thirty six point one percent clip, but like you need
if you're gonna have him on the floor, like two point six three point
attempts per game in nearly thirty minutes is not going to do it for me.
And you're not playing some of the other guys who you know are gonna
jack it up heavy minutes. You're also run into some line up staggering issues
where it's okay, we just can't we can't play Kyle and understand Rudy Gobert
together. And then the minutes are so. When Towns and Gobert on the
court, they have a one oh four point four offensive rating, which is
in the eighth percentile. They're shooting thirty point eight percent from deep in those
minutes. When Towns plays without Gobert, surprise, surprise, those lineups are
shooting and scoring better. They're also giving up a one nineteen point four defensive
rating. They've barely been a net positive in those minutes. When Gobert plays
without Towns, the Timbers are minus eight points per one hundred possessions with a
one oh four six offensive rating, which is again in the eighth percentile.
And the defense, by the way, which I found interesting during those minutes,
was barely average. I think when you look at the lineup contact in
some of the games that I've seen, there's just they're asking him to do
a lot during those like it's not just because Towns is off the floor,
but the offense doesn't look like it's humming, and then you're asking Towns to
really uplift like a group defensively. And the solution is just it has to
come internally because you can't do anything externally. I guess you could move d'anzel
Russell. I know that some people have made jokes that can they make another
deal with Utah where they get my comedy and it's just like I know d'anzel
Russell's expiring and commedy has that, you know, huge partial guarantee next year.
I don't think the Jazz are doing it. Would have to be Conley,
and I think another salary like I don't, they wouldn't do it straight
up in my opinion. And deanzel Russell, I don't know if he fixes
everything like Anty Edwards can talk about or people can talk about his lack of
dunks and then he can talk about how he likes to play with the floors
based out his perimeter shooting has suffered more than his interior volume at least,
and so you're counting on him to make And that's, by the way,
that's why you make It's not because you thought Towns and Gobert first and foremost.
We're gonna be this dominant Twin Towers pairing. You make the Gobert trade
because you believe Andy Edwards is making the leap that shake Gilgi Alexander's making right
now, and he's not. He's just not. And even if you thought
it was gonna be a hair below like you know, MVP caliber, like
you were still counting on him to make a leap into top fifteen, top
twenty five player territory, and he just hasn't done that yet. And I
understand there's warts here. I also wonder how much Karl Anthony Town's missing,
like so much of training camp in the preseason while he was sick, how
that goes into it. But like this team just doesn't have an offensive rhythm
or identity. It feels like when you go back and watch a lot of
their half court possessions, there's just so much like, well, what is
happening here? And why are they standing around? They can't They're not getting
into the foul line a ton, They're turning the ball over a bunch,
and then that is definitely impacting. Look they are as we record this,
they have they rop There's no way this is accurate. They are so they're
nineteenth in defense now after being I know, Gobert miss time set account or
but now they've dropped to nineteenth in defense, and some of that just comes
back to you know, when you are missing a shot. This is not
a team that you're depending on to get back right now. They're twenty fifth
in points lout per possession though after they make a shot, which is very
troubling. I'm just the offense is not. I guess I never expected to
be super seamless, but the Town's Gobert fit has been more finicky than I
ever would have expected, and I'm wondering aside from okay, Anthy Edwards just
eventually makes that huge leap, like how are you getting better here offensively?
And I don't necessarily know the answer, like Towns has room to play better.
I want to make that clear. This isn't just Anthy Edwards fault.
I think Gobert has probably been like the one who's had to adjust the least,
but also probably because the entire team is adjusting to him other than necessarily
the other way around, just because he's such a specific offensive player. And
so I'm you know, you can officially color me concerned about the Timberwolves offense.
Yeah, it's it's weird too because you just look at their effective field
will percentage, they're eighth, right and and and based on where they're getting
their shots, they could be seven that those you know, there's nothing way
out of whack there, So it's just and then like that's like shockingly high
based on like how it's looked, right, it's just the and how it
sounded. Because every time you read a John Krasinski article, you know,
three out of four of them have player quotes they're talking about like there's just
no heart, there's no you know where there's no there's no grit, there's
no all this like coach speak stuff. But it's like it's undeniable when you
watch Minnesota play that I don't know, yeah that we're doing are we really
I hate to do like the vibe check. But it's just that that is
part of what it feels like. I think if you're I mean, if
you're trying to be solution oriented, there just isn't there isn't a fix other
than patience and trusting that in all the things that you thought were true three
months ago can still be true, which is just that there's so much talent
here, it's a big adjustment offensively, some of the some of the underlying
stuff suggests like, you know, I think we're gonna be okay if we
you know, take care of the ball, you know, do some more
offensive rebounding should be better if you have Gobert in there and there's like size
and length, you know, and athleticism across the rest of the roster.
Stop turning it over so much, which is maybe the first thing you point
to the other twenty third right now and turnover percentage. If you're looking for
signs that there's an adjustment period and they haven't quite figured it out. Nobody's
sure where to be, when to move, where to get, Like that's
that's a sign. I think that that's just true that these guys are not
comfortable together yet. So yeah, if we put the vibe check aside,
I just uh, And this is an unsatisfying answer because you know, we're
trying to solve the problem or answer the question, but it's like there's just
there's enough talent here it should make sense together the offensively that you know that
this will be a top ten offense, Like it just I don't. Maybe
that's maybe that's like just being too dismissive of some of the stuff we've seen
so far. But we're also fourteen games in. There's a lot of a
lot to go, and I think Edwards is the one I'm concerned about,
to be honest, because the leap feels like it should have happened, and
it's we've seen nothing of the sort. I'm not so concerned about the dunks
because he is getting to the rim about as much as ever in terms of
frequency a percentage of his field goal attempts. It just feels like he should
be set up with a great screener now in Gobert, to get some easy
ones, and those aren't really materializing. So I'm concerned. I just think
I just keep coming back to the talent, and it's just difficult to integrate
someone like Gobert, who just but Utah had number one offenses all the time.
With Gobert and Volved, I just well, they had they had guys
who could hit catching shoot jumpers, which right now the Timberwolves do not.
They're they're in the bottom four of catching shoot effective field good percent it right
now, which is that's really bad. It's very much testing the theory that
if you have Karl Anthony Towns, you have a great offense, just full
stop, which used to be the case generally speaking. When he was on
the floor, it's like a tray young. It's the tray young thing.
If he's not on the floor. No, that's yeah, it's a tough
one. I'm if this were piece of what is it, piece or panic,
I'd still be preaching peace. But it's it's a concern for sure.
We have the New Orleans Pelicans next, we're gonna get more specific. Do
they need to trade a pick slash picks for a rim protector? It's you
know there there's We've we talked about Zion's defense. Uh, last time we
recorded. I think it's a problem. It's not the only problem, but
it's part of a situation where you know, the opponents are getting to the
rim, you know, way too often. I think New Orleans was in
the bottom ten, twenty third when I when I did the stats. But
they're making everything. They're shooting seventy point four percent at the rim. Pelican's
opponents are twenty seventh in the league. So yeah, it's Zion. He
doesn't stay in front of anybody. He can't navigate a screen. But it's
not like, you know, CJ. McCollum is some shutdown guy there.
It's kind of you know, anytime we talk about bad room numbers, it
is a lot of the perimeter defense. It's not just the fact that the
Pelicans. You know, Valanciunis is not a good room protector. Larry nance
Junior is a really good player, and he's closing games for them, but
he's also not someone that's gonna single handedly clean up all the messes that are
happening in terms of blowbys and stuff. The other trickle down effect is if
you're not defending the rim, you're siphoning a bunch of extra bodies down there.
Everybody's got a foot in the lane to try to help, and opponents
are missing a lot of threes, but they're getting a lot of threes.
So New Orleans right now is top ten in defense, or it was when
I did these numbers. I don't think that's gonna last because if you don't
solve the rim stuff, you're going to continue to surrender some high value threes
and they're gonna start going in. So then it's like, well, you
know, the Pelicans have ten firsts in the next seven drafts. You could
throw together the salaries of Demonte Graham, Jackson Hayes. I throw Valan Tunis
in there. I don't think that's gonna be your likeliest move, but that's
a big number. I think you just pissed off the entire Pelicans fan base
by saying, look, I'm trying to fix the team. I'm trying to
address a weakness. Garrett Temple too. You got like forty ish a little
less than forty million in salary you could piece together, not saying you should
spend all that on a rim protector for a team that's really good as it
is and might just be like a schematic tweak away from being passable. You
know, are you looking at Miles Turner, is Jaka Peartle someone you're gonna
go for. I mean, do you go get Mo Bamba from the Magic
and say, like, hey you anymore? I just think just zooming out
if you're gonna finish games or play good teams with Zion ce J McCollum,
and Ingram is. Ingram's the best of those three, but he's not perfect.
It's hard for guys with his frame to get around screens. He's just
there's just too many limbs that are too long and too easy to catch on
a screen. If those are guys are going to be out there, Herb
Jones can't guard everybody, and then Valentinis just isn't good enough to turn it.
So that's why they're playing nance a lot, just I mean, because
you're getting more mobility, more passing, more other stuff. It's the sort
of offset. So is do you is now the time? Do you?
Do you? Wait? Do you? I mean they're probably just gonna get
when but Nama when the Lakers pick swaps and it's field this over the summer.
But it's it's an issue for a really good team, So I think
it's worth sphighlighting and asking like how you how you improve this and what you
what you're willing to give up to do it? Do you think Rudy Gobert
is available? I'd rather have a victor. Look, I'm with you,
and I've long been of the mind that they should just go out and get
Miles Turner. I think even if you believe Joanna sound shown this is the
better player overall, reasonable to this point, because especially the ability situation,
Miles Turner is just such a better fit. I'll go out and do it,
and it's not going to cost you a premiere first round pick. At
this point, it's pretty clear. Just go out and get it done,
and then maybe you're sending Jannah sound Shoot to somewhere else we're getting actual value,
like for because I think Jana sound Shoot is the first round pick.
There's a little steep for Miles Turn at this point. I'd just be curious
and he might not do it because they're probably waiting to see if the Lakers
will go up there too first. I would do it. I would also
counter with do you know what I would try before making a trade's giving Zion
the ball in the half court and having him run a fucking pick and roll.
Yeah, they're not doing it and they've never done it, like absurd
volume. And it's the other issue is just like even give him the ball
more in the front court, especially when you're trying to bust up zones.
He is averaging lets. I'll do it this way. Five percent of his
offensive possessions are coming as pick and roll ball handler touches. His last full
season twenty twenty one, that number was closer to fifteen percent. His pick
and roll possessions per game if you want to do it that way. They've
been cut like they've been thirded one point it was three point two, then
it's one point one. Now I know you have CJ. I know you
have brandon Ingram, But like those guys, especially knowing the spots they like
to get to on the floor, they're not necessarily the ones that you want
to attack, like the teeth of those defenses. I think brand Ingram has
improved enough off the ball where you can prioritize Hey, just give it to
Like I don't. I'm the people in charge of New Orleans have forgotten about
basketball more than I will ever know. I recognize that. I don't.
I don't want to oversimplify it, but like hey, gives eye on the
ball and tell him to go and look. There are nights where it's he
doesn't look the same, where it's just sort of like he's bailing out before
you get to the rim or taking these weird, tough angled layups. Is
it a symptom of oh, he doesn't look the same. Is he still
dealing with the what do you have like a hip issue earlier? Is he
just not all the way back from his foot injury. Is something materially changed
here or is this just a matter of under exposure, Like it's let's do
this more. And so I think before you make a trade. This sounds
stupid to say, because they're ninth in offense, by the way, like
you're we're talking about their defense, their defense, but the defense matters a
lot less if you get up to first in offense, right, like you
can you can juice the differential that way. Look, but here's the other
thing is that they're twenty fourth. They're half court offense is fourteenth, but
they're twenty fourth and efficiency after they grab their own miss so like that's supposed
to be. I'm just I'm just saying, like more of Zion in certain
situations. And if, if, however, you are concerned about maybe him
sort of leveling off offensively a little bit, then you go out right now
and you you get Miles Turner because it's important, it's imperative that your defense
becomes playoff proof. And right now, I'd just be curious to see whether
it is they've had they've been the team that's had like well maybe not the
most ups and downs. It feels like they were on this high. Just
we were certainly not a Pelicans how to start the year, and now they've
like they dropped and then maybe now they've plateaued a little bit. Yeah,
oh this is me. I'm like waiting, like, well, what was
Grant was Grant doing? I'm the Oklahoma City Thunder Now I was going to
do the And we've talked about on the podcast. Should Shay Gilgras Auxander be
in the MVP discussion? The answer is yes, I understand there's a certain
you need to be, like between the top five and a top five and
top twelve player. I'm gonna let everyone in on a little secret. That's
exactly what say Gilgras Alexander is right now, the thunder of outscored opponents by
thirty three total points with him on the court. The Mavericks have outscored opponents
by thirty two points with Luca Nanchich on the court. Those are not perfect
comps, but I think you could pretty clearly make the case that Dallas is
supporting cast at the top. Dorian Phinney, Smith, Christian wood Spencer,
Dinwoody is preferable to lu Door, Josh Giddy and Alexey Polkashevski. However,
oh what Basketball refer his pages going off in the background, fucking basketball reference
adding AutoPlay ads. My actual question is, does alex Say Pokassevski belong in
the most improved player discussion? And I'm not trolling. We know how I
feel about Poku. Since he's his last four games after he missed a couple,
he is at fourteen point eight points to assist, one point zero steals,
two point five blocks, shooting fifty two point nine percent from three on
four plus attempts and sixty two point five percent on twos. He is contesting
a shit ton of shots at the rim. Opponents are shooting under sixty percent
against him at the rim, which in his role and given his frame,
is huge. Now when you watch him, this is me looking at the
entire season, not just the last four games. He is so much more
complimentary. He understands his body, he understands how he's supposed to be used
within the offense. He is active on defense. He's become this reliable floor
spacer for them and someone who's going to give you some emergency self creation.
My actual Alexei Pokachevski question is were like it's not is he gonna be in
the most improved player discussion. I think Shay is more likely to win it
than him. It's do they have another long term viable I don't want to
say building block, but on the same level as just like if you view
lu Dort as a keeper, you should view Alexei Pokachevski as a keeper to
this team, Like is he part of the next good iteration of the Thunder?
Because I don't even want to phrase it. Is he more than just
this novel concept? I think, look to me, maybe maybe that is
a fair question. I thought we got there at points last year, like
from when he came back in February after he was out of the lineup for
a little bit. He played really well. But I feel like if you
want that to be the question, find whoever's listening to this, like is
like Poku feels like like this is a real player for the future for the
Thunder. Is my question, and I'm it's a weird question to ask because
I have an answer to it, but like it's one I wanted to phrase
to someone who's maybe outside of like my Poku bubble. Yeah, no,
that it's it's a great question. I think in terms of improvement. When
he when his first year in the league, he was one of the most
damaging players anywhere. Like he just I mean, shot twenty eight percent from
three, took four point six of them per game, shot thirty four percent
from the field. Like this guy's playing rotation slash starting role for parts of
his rookie season, most of which he was eighteen years old for by the
way, So from coming from there to now, like he's a plus defensive
player, like just he's he is a he is a value add on defense
and the ball is going in on offense thirty seven percent from three, forty
six from the field, blocking shots, still playing twenty four minutes a game
overall, but like he said, has just been much better. I think,
Like and he's he's not twenty one yet, so he's a plus defender
with offensive upside, just shy of averaging double figures in scoring and like is
helpful just just just there, take out like the length, take out the
man. Like he's an interesting guy as a seven super mobile, seven foot
guy. Where do you play him? The opportunities and potential is you know,
off the charts theoretically for what types of lineups you could build that involve
him, especially if he's gonna be like a major shoplocker. Just being his
age and being a plus defender with his frame is like absolutely, he's He's
a piece that is a long term piece. There the only other guy I
think, you know, and it's obviously early. I think, you know,
Giddy is potentially going to be pretty good. I don't see like star
upside for him. I think Jalen Williams is really good. Are is gonna
be really good. He had a bunch of spot up threes last night off
believe it. They could use that, believe it or not, SGA drives.
There were a few of those, and he kept generating open wing threes
for guys. Williams I think has the frame to be like a switchable you
know, combo forward slash wing. He has on ball skills. He's a
good three point shooter. He really had his first you know, stretch derailed
because he got just nailed in the face and fractured his orbital I think,
and so he's going with a mask right now. But I have a lot
of hope for him. But yeah, Polkus, he's not He's twenty years
old. Still you got another month or so. It turns twenty one the
day after Christmas, and he's like a good, helpful NBA player, grant,
and he's not surrounded by a whole lot of like high end NBA talent.
So yeah, I think, you know, people are gonna say,
we're just focusing focusing on, you know, the last little stretch. But
I think he's legit. I think he showed it last season. People just
weren't sold because it was so roller coaster. He still he was before.
I mean, he was bad, but also just like that was the you
drafted him sort of knowing that, and they've they've seemed to showed patients.
I will say, there's an alternate reality in which chet home Run doesn't get
injured. What does that mean for him this year? But I do think
now I'm like, wow, Chet Homegrin and Poku up front, because it
doesn't look like they're gonna be in the Weban Yama sweepstakes unless they really,
you know, they have to. They have to flip a switch and turn
it all the way down. But like that, look, I don't know
how good Chet Homegrin would have been right off the bat, And again,
could he have impacted the opportunity poke who's getting now I'm all of a sudden
just like I might. I'm like Josh Giddy might be the player who I'm
like sixth highest on on the Thunder right now when you look at Dort poku
Uh, Shay chet home Grin, Jaylen Williams. Maybe maybe maybe that's pushing
it. But like I'm I'm infinitely intrigued by by this team and I didn
want to throw in a fun chase that though really quickly just beast think most
people who are not Thunder fans might have been expecting to hear about him.
There have been two hundred and seventy three players this season who have appeared in
at least ten games. Luca don Chich is the only player with a higher
share of his buckets coming unassisted. Meanwhile, Shay's efficiency is just through the
roof, which leads me into very quickly the fine sat. Among everyone to
attempt at least thirty five pull up jumpers, only Steph and KD have higher
effective field goal percentage on them. Say has been a monster. Also,
I love that Steph just comes up like every efficiency this the other than Steph
except for him that's gonna be my new qualifier forget arbitrary like volume benchmarks,
except except for Steph He So I watched a lot of that Thunder game last
night. He's unguardable, like he's just you can't you know, there's no
stat I mean except the Brazilian drives per game. He's gonna lead the league
for what the third year in a row. Now, you cannot stay in
front of him, and if you do stay in front of him, you're
off balance and he turns around. It hits a little weird pull ups that
you're talking about. It's just it doesn't make sense in a in a league
obsessed with three pointers, and he's hit a bunch of big threes this year,
but he does not shoot a lot to be able to get to the
bucket when everybody knows that's where you want to go. It's just I can't
remember someone like him, like with his side as in frame that could just
get to the basket. However many times he wants per game. It's unbelievable.
I have the Phoenix suns, so it's a it's a I couldn't decide.
So I have sort of two questions that are related. So one is
so we can agree that, like depth is an issue. Now, part
of that's injury, is part of that's crowd or not being there. Part
of that is maybe they're just going to be generally careful with guys like Chris
Paul. So, so do you solve that issue where you're just you don't
want to be pulling guys like Dwayne Washington had twenty one points last night out
of nowhere. You don't want to be relying on that, right, So
you need just more production from people not named Devin Booker. So is it
a trade that makes sense to upgrade the depth or and this is something I've
been kind of fixated on for a couple of years. Can we just ask
a little more from Michael Bridges because he's been really so his assists are up
right, So we'll talk about the trade in the second because you're better at
that stuff than I am. But for Bridges, he you know, he
adds little bits every year. I'm sure you and I have talked about,
like, oh, he can put it on the floor once or twice and
get to a pull up. His assist rate has grown. He's in the
seventy third percentile this season. That's good four point three per game going into
last night. That's also good for a wing. But he just is still
You watch him and it's almost never the case, like none of his threes
are self generated, very few of his twos have been self generated, just
for his whole career and that hasn't changed this year. And when he gets
the ball, he's looking to move it. He's not looking to get in
his bag, which normally that's great, but on a Suns team, where
you might start to need some of that, it'd be interesting to just kind
of let him explore the space. One point one six dribbles per touch,
which like, without context, that's hard to look at, but just understand
that on the Suns there are a lot of guys that have no business dribbling
more than that. That dribble more than Bridges does. You know the guys
are up around four, you know, you know, the hardened russ outliers
are way up there. But you know, Booker Paul sure, But Bridges
I think I think has more And I don't know if it's fair to ask
him to like tap into it now because that probably won't be his role when
the Sun's are whole. It would still be nice. So is it do
you look to him? Do you look to someone else eight and I think
has been kind of disappointing, maybe it's him, or do you just go,
all right, we gotta go get Max Strusse, or we gotta go
get Eric Gordon, Harrison Barnes. See if the Pistons are ready to finish
the stopover for Bogdanovich. I just you know, nobody, nobody's like hoping
to trade a Crowder type, like a combo forward that can score and do
a little bit. But the Suns have to, especially with Cam Johnson out,
So do you go that route? Do you give up some assets to
do that? Or do you wait for guys to come back and hope you
get some internal improvement? And I don't know the answer. I think Bridges
is capable of more, but you also you got to do something with Crowder
too, So I don't know. Yeah, the thing with Bridges and I
love Michael Bridges, and I somehow still think he's underappreciated on defense, but
that's not the discussion here. I wonder if he's been maxed out. He's
been at over seventeen points per game over his past four he's ratcheted up his
scoring an aggression basically since Cam Johnson went down, which is good. I
just it gets to a point where to expect him to be a lot more
offensively is almost unfair. And I think Cameron Payne has done a good job
stepping up since the Cam Johnson injury for them. And a big thing with
Phoenix is they don't look deep on paper and they're definitely shallower at the top
of the roster, but like their bench as like they've had players really step
up for them. Now, with all of that said, the answer to
me's not DeAndre Atan anymore. I'm more out on him offensively than I am
Michael Bridges, and I'm not out on either of them. They're both really
good players. I do think the ship is sailed on both being anything more
than situate. Like they're really good offensive players who are just not going to
be self starters and or consistent self starters. And that's fine, so you
need to make the trade. The issue with them is I don't even know
what Crowder's value is, and even given like let's say you're trading let's say
Crowder had a better close to the year last season, who are you getting
for Jay Crowder. This is a situation where you need to give up first
another salary to really make a splash. And to do that, I think
you do need to wait for the trade market to develop. Like, yeah,
could you maybe get Julius Randall from the Knicks for no first round picks
and just salary filler? Sure? But I you know, I know Sam
Cooper the Timeline podcast who that podcast is fantastic because I feel like he's borderline
joked about Julius Randall and Phoenix, but he's also been kind of intrigued by
it. And if I'm the Suns and I've seen Julius Randall play work,
I don't want to say play put play in air quotes defense this season.
I want him all the way away from my team at the moment. So
you have to wait for the trade market to develop. And that's just tough
right now. And I just feel like you can't make the slap dash trade.
And even if you were willing to go the route of and he's banged
up right now, but identify Cody Martin. That's probably really good pick up
for this team. He's not trade eligible yet, So you are getting to
a point we have probably have to wait to the middle of the year.
Are they good enough to weather that storm? Depending on how much time CP
three misses on top of Cam Johnson, on top of not having Jay Crowder.
I don't know. I think though, they're sort of in this weird
position where the trade market is not conducive to making a move. You can't
rush into anything because, look, you do have to evaluate this against the
backtrap of what's gonna happen with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. So if you are
going to make a trade, you probably shouldn't. Now is not the time
to trade the distant first round picks unless it's a no brainer. If all
of a sudden, I don't even I don't even know who the answer is
because I don't want to throw a name out there and people get pissed.
Yeah, if if Shay was available, which he is not because he is
the thunders Timeline, yes absolutely, but like it gets harder if it's okay
Gary Trent Junior is available in Toronto, Like, are you gonna want to
give up more than just your first round pick this year for him? No?
Because you probably want to wait out the Kady situation or other situations,
so you could lean further, I guess into like, well, do you
try and get like just a defensive pickup and we're just gonna slaw or opponents
that way, like add another wing type, like a like another Jay Crowder
type who's better than Jay Crowder. Sure, I do think they're in this
like weird spot where they almost have to wait out the market. I would
say the one name that's been mentioned a bunch of times, and I'd just
be curious with the opportunity cost is to get him, Like does Eric Gordon?
Is he like the nice middle ground where it's if you're not you're getting
him maybe without giving up a first round pick. At this point, if
it's the first round pick, I'm not doing out of it, like you
know, to make sure it's not really gonna kill you. So it's a
fake first rounder. I mean that's yeah, I just want to start to
jump back in. But like this isn't a knock on Bridges at all.
It's not like I'm saying he's underachieving. I think we both are about as
high on him as we can be on a on a role playing guy.
But like just looking at the stats that do it for me. Are you
know he's been He's it's true. Shooting percent is sixty four point five percent
this year over sixty is like you're a superstar. Now. The problem is
his usage rate is fifteen point seven percent, and it's basically hovered from twelve
to fifteen for his whole career. Let's just like bump that to like twenty
two percent and you can have a fifty nine percent, you know, true
shooting and suddenly you're a twenty point scorer on above league average efficiency. You
know, that's not that's not the way forward for the Suns as like a
championship threat, because you know, you've got Booker, you've got Paul,
You're gonna have other options. But like for now, I don't know.
I think I think he's got it in him. I think he could do
it. I just maybe, And again, sorry, you have to also
guard the best guy on the other team all night too, But we just
need you to get us twenty as well. Like I get it, that's
a lot, But I just think I think he's that good. It's I
just wonder if he's wired that way, and it's always that's obvious. He's
not of all their perimeter players. This includes I'm talking, I'm all of
them who like people who have the ball, people who don't. He puts
more rim pressure than anyone else. I think forty percent of his looks this
year coming at the rim. Just so much of that stuff is happening away
from the ball, and I would say that like Cam Johnson or Cameron Payne.
Even if Tory Craig sometimes is more wired to get to the basket the
ball in their hands already not off like cuts off ball movement, then mchaal
Bridges is and that's not I think mcail bridge a fantastic player, like he
might be a top fifty player in the NBA, which is really hard to
do. I'm just curious whether he's he's wired that way, and I don't
know who the trade target is. I understand why you'd want to wait it
out, but just the A lot of it's going to depend on one when
does Chris Paul come back and to what does he look like, because we've
seen the scoring and shooting regression from him, been fine as a passer,
so it's a it's a huge question for them, and I don't I don't
have a perfect answer. Surprise, surprise, that's the whole nature of this
exercise. We are onto the Portland Trailblazers and my question for them is this,
we I was wrong about them. I called them, I like I
smashed there under. They are tenth in points allowed per possession? Is this
for real? And when you look at they're expected field goal percentage based off
where they allow their shots, they're twenty ninth right now in the league.
And so that's despite them have a top ten defense. They allow too many
looks at the rim. They're twenty seventh there, and then they are in
the bottom six in the sheriff opponent shots coming from three, and then you're
like digging into okay, well they've gotten lucky anywhere their tenth in rim protection,
which is just like okay, they've also they're eighteenth in three point like
opponent three point percentage in twenty second when you're looking at above the break,
so like they haven't. Opponents are shooting thirty seven point one percent on non
corner threes. That numbers not lucky. I would say they've gotten where they've
gotten the if you want to say the luckiest teams are not hitting any of
just there in between looks against Portland. They're at thirty four point six percent
on short mid rangers, thirty seven point four percent on log mid rangers,
and they're shooting I guess you could say thirty six percent on corner threes.
Feels a little bit like lucky, like that number will go up. So
it's just I my aunt there is. I don't know what I do think
helps them. Is it for those they have more athleticism just on the perimeter
In general, when you look at this team and how they are defending,
with the players with Jeremy Grant, Josh Hart there, even like Shandon Sharp
has done this a bit. I also think you've seen it more from Anthony
Simons and Damian Lillard as well. Not to say those guys are good defenders,
but when they've been playing I do think esthetically it looks a lot better
for them. They are like they are going to make it a point to
get set after they make a shot on offense, Like that is the they're
not sort of like just lollygagging their way back. And that's where I think
their defense has just done just a really good job. And I also think
even when they're missing a shot, like when you're looking at a Josh Hart
when you're looking at Jeremy Grant, like those are guys who are willing to
get back. I think Lollard and Anthony Simons have done a lot better in
that situation too. They're able to slow down their opponents even when they don't
have the most efficient like defensive stances there, so they're at least forcing opponents
to burn through more of the shot clock even though Portlands missed a shot of
their own. I think that's important. You still look at the personnel some
of the what the bench mobs have done, Jesse's winslow at center, and
you just wonder, You just wonder, is this it's not the entire season.
I think what they've done on offense where they are like they've underachieved quite
frankly to be on offense. And how much does that have to do with
like Damian Lillard missing time. I you know, I don't know, but
nineteenth and points scored possessions not where you would expect this to be flip flopped
at the very least, nineteenth and defense tenth and offense is the defense real
It's one of the weirdest sort of shot distribution slash accuracy puzzles to put together
because like you said, there's not anything. You know, it's really easy
if oh, this defense has been top five, but opponents are making twenty
six percent of their threes, it's like, well, okay, then that's
not gonna last. So some of yeah, and some of the outlier shooting
stuff is in the mid range, which is sort of like who cares as
long as you're like, it's not there's just aren't generally high value shots anyway,
I think I think it's hard for me to imagine the Blazers finish the
season with a defense that is one better than league average and two I think
just based on it. So then it's like I'm just looking at where the
shots are that they're surrendering. And then you know, so like you said,
they give a huge share at the rim twenty seventh and opponent riom frequency
twenty fourth an opponent three point frequency. Just where are the shots coming from?
So like nothing has to get too wonky for the current defensive ranking and
defensive rating to come down. Just those shots will just go in at league
average rates. It's not like, you know, teams need to heat up,
which could totally happen too right, Like the shooting just could be way
better. So they feel like a like a twentieth ranked defense to me,
like fifteen to twenty feels like about right, which is like, you know
that's gonna come down. But I think, like you said, the offense
is going to be better. Interesting, I think so. I think of
the Blazers and the Nuggets off seasons as somewhat similar because they both basically added
like two defense first guys Jeremy Grant's more than that, but between and Peyton
hasn't played. So maybe that's another factor, is get Peyton out there a
little bit more. Maybe some of that defensive stuff really does look more sustainable
and they generate turnovers and all that stuff. If it's like a buy or
sell Portland's defense, I have to sell it. But I think I think,
like there's a chance, I guess that they're league average, but it's
not. They're not. They're not this good. I don't see that.
I honestly don't know. I'm not going to bet against them being league average
at this point though, Yeah, right that which for Portland historically, that'd
be great like that if you're downside of the bottom five and they just have
all these like really rangy wings and perimeter players. Now if for not having
that for so long, they are way more athletic than I can then I
can remember like in any of the Lillard Ara teams, for sure, there's
just more balance, more speed, more all that kind of stuff. This
is a good contrast to go into my team, which is the Sacramento Kings,
and so like, the only question you can ask is the streak going
to end? The longest playoff drout in the league. You know this,
they've been gunning for like the tenth seed. The eighth seed would be great,
but they've been gunning for that forever. It's a win now organization.
They've sacrificed future picks, they traded Yris Haliburton, so like it really matters.
This is the only thing that matters is are they going to be a
playoff team? Is the streak going to be over? And you look at
so answering that is not just like a yes or no for me. The
question that most informed that going into this year is how's the defense going to
be better? Because the offense is good, like it's it's legit. I
think you got Kevin Herder could do way more with the ball than he was
allowed to do with the Hawks, and he's an awesome secondary playmaking type.
Dearn Fox is about as good as he's ever been. Right now, Bonus
and Herder are working great together. Sa Bonus is a very good offensive player.
My thoughts on him, I think are pretty well chronicled, is like
he can't be a major piece of a team that wins in a meaningful way
just because of defense and doesn't stretch the floor, but like the offense will
be good. Malik Monk is inefficient but brings a ton of energy and is
like the just the right kind of guy to lead second units and kind of
keep you in games and like win you a couple. So Keegan Murray can
shoot it, he's been cold, he's hit the mini rookie wall. Harrison
Barnes will shoot. A better offense, good defense. So getting back to
the Portland thing. So the Kings right now are allowing an effective field goal
percentage of fifty six point seven percent, which is twenty ninth in the league.
That's bad. Based on the shots they're allowing, they should be sixth
in effective fieldical percentage allowed, which is wild. Most of that is because
they don't let you shoot threes, and their rim protection has been okay,
Like when you get to the room against Sacramento, there's not a lot of
resistance, but they're being you know, fringe top in the middle of the
pack and just keeping you away from the room. And they're like top five
in terms of forcing opponents to take mid rangers. So like all that Mike
Brown stuff, that's Mike Brown has coming as a head coach. He's changed
the types of shots that are allowing. Defensively, it seems like the defense
should be real, but I just like cannot get over you're centering your defense
around Sabonis in the middle. Keegan Murray's a rookie. Darren Fox has not
defended consistently at all since he was a rookie and was like the hungry rookie
thing, like generating steals, that kind of thing. This has probably been
his best defensive year since his rookie season, though, which is what happens,
which happens a lot, like a guy comes in and scraps and then
realizes he's good and then like doesn't happen so that the scrapping kind of goes
away. He's been better, so I think I have to answer my own
question, and I'm putting it off because I don't want to say this.
But I don't think the streak ends this year. I don't think it does.
I think even would you, So you don't count the play in as
the streak ending? No, no, no, no, you gotta the
plan is not. It doesn't matter. So like if you're just going down
the list of the teams, they gotta finish ahead of Houston Lakers, Spurs,
cool, Like I think that's that's realistic, But they have to be
better than both the Thunder and the Jazz, and we're just talking play in.
I don't think whatever. I mean, I just don't see if it
was one or the other. Fine, but then we're still just talking play
we're not talking actually making the playoffs. So I don't think the streak ends.
And I think it's just because their defense is it's gonna be better because
of the shot locations they're allowing. But it's still like, is this more
than a bottom five like bottom seven defense? I don't know, And then
you need the offense to be like two or three, and I just I'm
not sure that kind of upsides there. I think that's fair. They're allowing
seventy percent shooting at the him in thirty nine percent of shooting from three.
I can't tell the rim protection makes sense when you look at the lineups that
they're playing. Yeah, no, I think some of it is. Sabonis
is the main culprit on rim accuracy opponent rom accuracy. But it's like sometimes,
you know, like we just talked about Pokashevski blocking almost two shots of
game. Sometimes if you have like some wings or some range of your guys
that can come in and help out, you know, weak side stuff.
Murray's not that guy. Barnes isn't that guy. I mean, Davion Mitchell
plays harder on defense than everybody, but he's not He's the last guy that's
gonna affect shots at the rim. So I just I hate to say it,
but I don't see it. Who's the second pest defender on this team.
If we're just gonna presuppose, well, it's not presupposed, but like
Davion Mitchell's number one, I will say, look to their credit, like
the Fox Herder, Barnes, Murray Sabonis lineup, because actually it has like
it's only allowing it's one hundred point eight points per one hundred possessions. Like
that's an the eightieth percent times at least their top end lineup that succeeded there.
But like you look at this team and it's is like, it's certainly
not Harrison Barnes this year. I think you, like, is it Terrence
Davis. He's looked, yeah, but he just doesn't play a ton.
I think I think Monk has actually had some like really disruptive minutes, but
he's not like a hold the fort defender. He's just playing harder on both
things. You say, I don't know, is it Is it just Harrison
Harrison Barnes has had like the worst start to a season ever, but at
least you sort of know he'll be in the right place, which is a
low bar. But I mean, there's just there's just aren't defenders on this
team. I mean to me, like, do I think the Kings might
pivot into another like quick tank and run this group back by trading like trading
Harrison Bars. It's like trading Harrison Bars might be anti tank at this point,
right, yeah, And no they will not could go ever, that's
not happening, So I don't know. I don't have an answer here either.
I don't know what their pathway towards internal defensive improvement is, and I
don't know. They already gave up a first round pick in the Herders,
which is fine because it's inoculated against disaster, but that does make it harder
to go out and pull off another trade. Now, what they could do
is we already talked about this team, is if you're willing to take back
like a salary that maybe Phoenix doesn't want, you get Jay Crowder as part
of that equation. Replace him with Place Harrison Barnes with him. Your defense
is upgraded. I don't know how much better you get. I also like
Island. I guess Landry Shammitt, and you want another guy who chucks threes
and they got enough of those types. Understand Jay Crowder for Harrison Barnes,
Like, is that the move? I mean I might consider if I'm Sacramond,
given how inconsistent slash poorly Barnes is playing. How sure if you said
to me, you gotta you gotta bet on either Harrison Barnes or Jay Crowder
who's gonna be better? Like starting today? I don't know if it's a
no brain or that Crowder is better for sure, like if you end the
season stats, yeah, but because Barnes start has been so bad. But
I think defensively, the answer is pretty clearly Crowder and this team doesn't have
to concern itself with offense. That's yeah, right, that's fair. That's
fair. Let's move on to the San Antonio Spurs. My question is not,
since I kind of already tackled that in another podcast, is not is
Keldon Johnson an All Star? I don't think we need to dig too much
deeper into their bigger picture, just we need more samples from you know,
they tried Jeremy Sown at point guard basically against the Warriors. That what about
is what? Yeah? For super fun for the Warriors. I will,
however, say, did we undersell how good the highest end outcome for Devin
Vassell? And this is as someone who thought Devin Vassell was really good,
and so I want to make it clear I don't mean this in the sense
that I think he or even Keldon Johnson for that matter, is going to
run in offense. But Devin Vassel this season nineteen point five points forty one
point one percent three point shooting on seven point three attempts, doesn't get to
the foul line a ton, but he's averaging three point five assists per game.
And once they traded Derek White last year, his you know, the
number of ball screens that they sent his way went up. And it's definitely
the case again this season. When you look at his possessions, twenty seven
point two percent are coming as the pick and roll ball handler. There are
forty six players who finish at least five pick and roll possessions as the ball
handler per game. Right now, that's yo fairly substantial. Devin Vassell ranks
fourth and points per possession here at one point one two. Only in front
of him or Tyler Hero, Donovan Mitchell and guess who, Steph car Steph
Curry. I thought some other guy. Yes, So I'm looking at the
way he's playing. It'd be cool if you could get more on ball rim
pressure from him. I think he's someone who can move away from the ball.
But this is someone who, when we really start to talk about it,
did we give him a mcaal bridges like higher than mcaal bridges ceiling.
I mean, I think we gave him the ceiling of mcaal Bridges, but
he is doing more with ball screens than probably mcaal Bridge has ever had a
lot of that could be opportunity. I know the way that the Suns were
built, but did we undersell how good Devin Vassell might be for I'll speak
for myself, I absolutely did. I just thought I slapped the three,
you know, the three and D label emphasis on the three. He seemed
like a catch and shoot type earlier in his career. You know, you'd
see flashes occasionally, but like again, so this is the first year of
his career and his role has demonstrably changed this season, and it's because he's
capable of it. But he's only his two point baskets right first two years,
basically two thirds of them were assisted. This year forty one percent of
them are assisted. So that ties into the pick and roll accuracy, which
what you're seeing a lot of is he's a deadly mid range shooter this year
fifty three point three ten to sixty feet between sixteen and three point line fifty
eight point eight percent, and he's shooting like a decent percentage of his shots
from that range. So what that's telling me is if he's getting around the
screen he's totally fine being the guy that takes one dribble and pulls up and
and like, yeah, we we just talked about like shot location data for
team defense and how you know, if you get a team to take a
pull up mid range shot, like pretty good defensive possession. That's not true
for Devin Booker. That's not true for you know, any number of Steph
Curry, CJ. McCollum. There's it's not true for certain guys that are
gonna make that shot. And the Cell looks like he's gonna be that guy,
which is which is just wild to me. And like you said,
is his numbers. I mean, he's only playing thirty point nine minutes per
game. If you go to per thirty six, he's like twenty three,
five and four, and he's twenty two years old. So Marry says age
twenty two season. He just turned twenty two before the year. Like we
could get our Basketball Reference filters out if we wanted to, but like,
I'll take I'll take that perty six from a guy who's also suddenly just showing
that he can be an on ball threat. I think it's fair. Like
I'm really high on Kelton Johnson. I think it's a question. I think
it's a question of which of those two, you know, do you like?
If Johnson's been the team USA, he's kind of, I think,
been regarded as the more productive or higher, you know, ceiling guy.
I'm going to have a conversation now in Vassell. For sure, I think
this year Johnson's scoring more. But what we've seen from Vasell is like,
oh, he's he's a different kind of player than we thought he was,
which I think is the question you're asking. I think, for sure we
sold him short and he's just gotten way better. Do you know who?
I'm wondering if he could become and I think Bradley Beale No, okay,
wow, can he become Chris Middleton? Oh that's fun. I like that.
I'm wondering if he if that's too high, because I don't I think
one Chris Middleton is ridiculously good and people still kind of undersell it. I
think his last contract had a lot to do with that, which is just
stupid. When I look at Chris Middleton, I'm like, Okay, that
dude can anchor offensive units entirely on his own. We don't know that Devin
Vessel can do that, yet at the same time, the units Chris Middleton
is anchoring on his own like those are like he's playing a lot of his
minutes with Janie or Drew when he hasn't played this season. We know that,
thank you everybody, But like Devin Massell very much would have to be
the guy right now in Santita. We know it's Trey Jones, like that's
who they prefer to have really oversee their offense when he's healthy. But can
Devin Missell then turn into them where it's like, oh, you trust him
with maybe one mediocre creator around him to really jack up your offense. Where
Chris Middleton is better than that. But like we're talking about, oh,
he could have been mcl bridges three D, like should we have been more
looking at where it's Chris Middleton who was way more than a three and D
player. So just to make the comparison Chris Middleton's age twenty two seasons first
year with the Bucks, now he was like sort of the Pistons gave up
on him, but sort of literally did. He was a starter that year,
right this is twenty thirteen fourteen. Looking at his per thirty six is
percentages are a lot like Vassals forty one percent from three, but he's at
fourteen point five points, four and a half boards, two and a half
assists. So at this phase Middleton did not have Vacells like on ball stuff,
his facilitating, you know all that. And it's not like those Bucks
teams were great yet, right, so like Jannie was not anything close to
Yannis yet you don't get up to the Vacells level of numbers what Vassell is
doing right now until you get Middleton to like age twenty six, and the
Bucks were good by then. So I mean, the Middleton comparison is legit,
I think, and it's it's kind of similar because similar size, just
not like nuclear athleticism. Middleton is relatively speaking, like not an athletic wing,
but and Vasell's got a little more of that. So yeah, that's
a that's an interesting comparison. I think there's a lot too that we will
close this out with the Utah Jazz. So obviously, h this is another
kind of Lakers situation of like, oh boy, do they we's just in
the sense that we've belabored the Jazz to this point, like is it real?
Was the question forever. It's like, yeah, it's kind of real.
We were past that. Uh. The question I have is where will
the regression come from? The obvious answer is you trade half the roster,
But that's not happening yet. You know, at least at least, you
know, we got to get to December fifteenth for there to be you know,
just a little more activity. We're not going to see a bunch of
trades right now. The other reason where will the regression come from? Is
the question and not you know, when do they pack it in? Is
like it's too late, It's already too You're like, we were wondering how
do they tank? Can they tank? Like when when they have to hurry
up because they're running out of time? Did you see this stat from Kevin
Pelton, So you go back like the last twenty ish years and teams in
his database. These are his proprietary numbers with Utah's preseason win projection, which
he had them at like thirty four ish wins, which was way high higher
than consensus. Right, looks pretty smart, right now that start this hot
with the Jazz's current record, they almost always win fifty games, so they
go on to win fifty for the year. The other thing is they almost
always make the playoffs. They almost always win around like, so the Jazz
have to go like ten and fifty nine the rest of the way to even
be in the conversation for you know, the best lottery odds, which we've
discussed our fourteen, Like, they're not that great. It can't happen.
It's too late. It's too late. They've already won too much and they're
not going to be able to change it. So where does the regression come
from? For me, it's just like there's a decent chance this winds up
being a bottom five defense, which like, sorry, Jazz fans, like,
I think the offense is great. A lot of its sustainable. I
think Markenen's awesome. They have a ton of like capable offensive NBA players.
Opponents get into the rim way too often. Jazz are allowing you know,
their twenty fifth in that stat opponent three point shooting number five and accuras number
three in corner three accuracy. I just like, and you go through the
roster, you're really going to continue to defend with the lineup that has for
a lot of the game some combination of you know, Mike Conley Jordan Clarkson,
Malik Beasley, Marken and Kelly Lennock, Colin Sexton, like none of
those guys except maybe a younger Conley I think had positive defensive reputations. And
Conley, you know, it's not his fault, but he's had a couple
of bad playoffs in a rowka and stand front you guys, he's older,
so the regression will come from the defensive side. The problem is the Jazz
already just seem like a team that if you don't do anything really are gonna
win conservatively like forty six games like and they could win significantly more than that
like that. That's just what the stats. It seems crazy to me,
but historically that's just that's just where we are. That's their start. Combined
with what their preseason projections based on the numbers and the talent on the roster,
it's like, it's too late that you can't you can't tank it now,
sorry, guys, you miss you miss your Winbanyama window. And is
that something they need to apologize for. Maybe that's the question, like how
happy are you Jazz fans that this is the state of the French And that's
a serious Jazz fans were in my mentions concerned that they wouldn't tank this year,
and I think there was some folk there was On our last YouTube video
we tackled the Jazz. We didn't extensive I don't know what we were talking
about, but it was an extensive dive and people were mad that we were
talking about the tanking aspect. It was a real debate amongst Jazz fans.
I'm with you. We say it's too late. That's almost framing it as
well, then this is a bad thing. They missed their window. I
just don't know if it's a bad thing. Because you own Minnesota's future draft
and that team, it's sort of rickety. But if a fan, or
even if an analyst, and but I know there's like a disdain for the
way national analysts probably like us, will analyze individual teams. But I do
also think it's fair to say if the endgame is to be a sustainable title
contender this season in theory, I don't want to say hurt you, but
delays that because this is not You're like, if you think that this is
sustainable, it's not sustainable unless you go out acquire a star to augment it.
And I think that's to me. This that's to me where this is
different. This is not let's say the Pistons before they had Jade and Ivy
or Kade, where they didn't have all these extra draft picks. Utah has
malleability in the sense that if they're just so much better and this they win
forty six games this year, it's not, oh, we have to resign
everybody. Yeah, Jordan Clarkson as a player option, but Mike Conley's Parsley
guaranteed Molik Beasley as a team option. By the way, you could actually
strengthen your roster if you want, rather than doubling down on what you already
have. Necessarily Now, to me, I would default towards I would have
bottomed out gone after the Weben Yama Scoop Scoot Henderson's we've stayed. Can they
get im in like player like that? But the fact that they're this good
already it is too late. I just I don't think that's necessarily a bad
thing. There are Yeah, I can't be damaging. You look at sort
of the one or two offseason success that Phoenix had with your like the where
the three guards. They thought that was the great idea, But also just
like, look what happened with the Nuggets, Like they trade Mellow and they
have that one of the most random fifty five plus win that we're fifty plus
win seasons that I can remember. After that, they were still able to
mind talent on the market. They eventually, you know, you got Jamal
Murray. I think he ended up being seventh, But like you were able
to mind talent out of the draft and you got better a little bit more
gradually, but you were still good a lot of that time, like you
were never truly bottoming out. I don't think this is the worst It can't
believe the worst case scenario, because you're fucking winning and it's been a joy
to watch. But I don't think it's as I do believe there are some
fans, and I think it's fair who were concerned and would prefer the tank.
I think that's I think that's fair. But for anyone who thinks that
this is actively damaging, that pushes it way too far for me. Even
if you think there's like a transience to the way the roster is built,
which the final thing I'll say there is that's just the fact of the matter.
It's Ryan Markan is twenty five, context is twenty three. You just
drafted Walker Kestler. What is at BAJI But like between talent Horton, Tucker
and Conley and even Jordan Clarkson, who's a little bit of like this roster
is transy, Like it's it's fine to say, but it's also it's really
good. That's the thing I think. If you're a Jazz fan and you
don't really care that much about the rest of the league, you probably still
know who Wemban Yama is, but all you want to do is like two
three times a week watch the Jazz. Yeah, this is great, this
is great. You're happy with this, and like you're happy with it as
an alternative to the possible pretty unlikely promise had this gone the other way of
getting a transcendent talent who you know might might years from now be the best
player on a championship team. But there's like so many ifs, but me
having no skin in the game as a Jazz fan, the difference. The
difference now is that you're you asked, like how should they should they feel
bad about it? Or should should this be viewed as like a mistake?
If you're talking about a draft headlined by Anthony Edwards or Kaide Cunningham or Palo
bank Caro even who's been great. Right, then maybe maybe it's okay that
they're not tanking. But I really think I think, you know, this
could be wrong, probably will be wrong. I just think when Binyama is
someone that, like, whatever you have to do to maximize your chances of
getting him, you should do it, unless by doing so, you like
scuttle a potential like really deep playoff run or championship pursuit. Like if it's
that or when ban Yama, then go try to win two playoff rounds and
see what happens, you know, try to make the finals what like.
Do that. But if it's we win forty nine games, nobody really takes
us that seriously. We might win around and then the roster gets totally changed
and all these guys are gone. That was a cool year. But I'd
rather have a chance or my best chance at Wembanyama or even Scoot Henderson,
because who's just getting totally underdiscussed as a really really one of the best lead
guard prospects we've seen in a long time. He was my spicy cake.
Is that if he was like a few inches taller. They everyone will be
smitten with him over Victor woman Yama. If he were in any of the
last three drafts, I think you could make the case that people like it's
just Wemban Yama is a once in a whatever, at least in the eyes
of everybody who has an opinion about it, just a just a transformational general,
all the asianals, he's all the Asians generation in international, the T
shirt right there, all the more. But yeah, I just I get
it. It's got to be conflict. There's gotta be like a real conflicted
jazz fan base. But I get, I get, I get either side.
If it were me, i'd I would have wanted women yaa. But
and look, if you're looking at the top two, it's assuming you could
finish with a bottom three record. It's a twenty seven point four percent chance
of landing in the top two. That is not insubstantial. Right, That's
big, that's big. Yeah, that's all we got though, So boy,
how long did we take? Almost a two hour? More? Thank
thank you everybody for listening to the only the Western Conference portion of our biggest
questions. I'm sure Dan will chop this up somehow. A God, I
hope so, I don't know if I could listen to all this, that's
gonna do it for us this week. We'll do the East next week.
Thanks for listening. Remember guys or guys and gals. Anybody in the discord,
however you'd like to be referred to, Remember to download, subscribe,
comment, interact with us, Engage with us. We've got all of our
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Tell your friends and enemies. I would like to close, as always by
apologizing Jared Allen and on behalf of Dan and also meet because I like to
shout out to the one and only Frank Milogy the solution to We were trying
to figure out how the Mavericks can be less dependent on Luca