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INSTATCRT Celebrate Responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Hello and welcome to
the latest episode of Hardwood Offs. This is Adam Frommel here with my co
host Dan for Valley, and we have a lot to talk about in the
wake of all the changes made to rosters, both through the NBA trade deadline
and the ensuing bar Our buyout market that is still in progress. So we'll
be going over some most of those moves and what they have done to the
NBA Finals Chase in both conferences. We'll figure out if we think that massive
swings have occurred or if these are more minor transactions that might seem bigger than
they are because of the names, the magnitude of the names involved. But
before we get into any of that, Dan, how's it going. It's
going great because I was able to tweet out the link this time while you
were doing that intro. It is done. It's out there to the masses.
I'm proud of that. How are you doing. I'm good. I'm
coming off a fantastic morning, Sue. The t Rex the exhibit is in
Denver, where I'm at. So we took our two year old, who
is obsessed with dinosaurs to see this gigantic, full sized t rex with skin
eating it at Montasaurus in its mouth, and he was obsessed and didn't want
to leave, and we spent like two hours in the museum and he absolutely
loved it. So, coming off a great morning, is he still like
our dinosaurs like hardcore his thing? Oh? Absolutely. It is astonishing how
many different kinds of dinosaurs he knows, and if I mispronounce any of them,
he will correct me. It is really, really humiliating to hear a
toddler say, actually, Daddy, that is a diplodocus, not a brachiosaurus.
Your kid is a genius. That is not something that I would ever
have doubted. Look, let's get started with just before we get to our
we have a ton of questions for the mail bag. But what do you
want to just segue straight from dinosaurs into an NBA dinosaur with Andre Drummond.
Yes, let's do that. What did you look? That's a big question
though. What do you think of LaMarcus Aldred's to the the Nets and Andre
Drummond to the Lakers. It seems like Gorgi Jang it doesn't seem like he's
signed with the Spurs. Austin Rivers, it seems like he's headed to the
Bucks. I do believe we tend to overrate what buyout candidates are, like
how much of an impact they're going to have. But I'm curious as to
whether you especially like or dislike any of these or is there do spot one
that you think is going to be a real difference. Yeah, I actually
think the Drummond one is the biggest difference maker for me, which I didn't
really anticipate. Saying, but I see the benefits there. I don't think
it's a perfect fit. I don't think he's this game changing, title race
altering addition that they're making midway through the season. But I see the benefits
because he is an incredible rebounder, which makes a difference in any game when
he's engaged. He can be a decent defender around the basket. He has
a little switchability out on the perimeter, he can handle the ball at the
top of the key and initiate offense from different places. None of that is
that exciting, But the biggest factor is the physicality that he brings, and
in doing so, the physical toll that he can take away from Anthony Davis
and Lebron James, who have not stayed healthy this season. So even if
he's only playing fifteen to twenty minutes per game, but he's matching up against
a big body and ensuring that Davis isn't going to have to do that.
Look, we've talked for years about how Anthony Davis is best at the five,
and that's where he's going to play in the biggest moments. But just
the ability to have that other option, especially because marcasoul hasn't stayed healthy.
I do think that matters with the LaMarcus Aldred signing. I don't get that
one. Like Aldred is clearly not the same player, and what need does
he fill for the nets? Like, Okay, he's a good midrain shooter,
he can occasionally take some threes, he's not a good defender. So
that just kind of compounds the weakness that already exists. And why is he
going to get touches on a team that has Kyrie Irving, James Harden,
and Kevin Durant when they're all healthy. Like, I just I don't see
how that one makes much sense. And it's also it's just like they signed
two people that probably hurt their defense more than anything. Yeah, they're still
going to be I've talked about leaning into the offense, but that's different,
Like that means getting like spot up shooters, not other ball dominant, big
bad right, And you know they are playing Blake Griffin with Nick Claxton right
now. I don't think that's gonna last long term. They've done fine with
it. But if that's the way, you're going to make sure that Nick
Claxton is still in the rotation, But you are going to see some Blake
Griffin at the four. They just have so many options with When you look
at their final five at full strength, we know it's gonna be KD,
Kyrie, James Harden. I would argue Joe Harris should just be Pencilton as
the fourth, but I don't know that they will. You know, they
could be if they've decided to play you know, Blake Griffin with Claxton or
if they decide to play Jeff Green with Claxton. They do, just if
we pencil Joe Harris in, though there are just so many different ways they
could go. Does LaMarcus or Blake or Claxton or DJ or Bruce Brown or
Jeff Green closes that fifth? There are six different options, And yeah,
that allows you to fiddle with matchups. But I just wonder having Blake and
both Blake and LaMarcus Aldridge there. I know they're not the same players.
But two things and one was pointed out by the Athletics set part. Now
that these bigger name buyout candidates, they tend to get leeway with their new
teams or the teams try and see if there's still that player that they used
to be, which can often be detriment to the team, and that makes
me wonder just how much playing time is LaMarcus going to get and Blake going
to get long term, and then are you going to be comfortable enough to
have both of them on the bench during crunch time or is it going to
be a situation where we can always expect at least one of them to be
on the floor sort of as like, you know, to be diplomatic about
it. And I just don't know if that's okay. I hope that's not
the case, because I think the ideal closing lineup is Kyrie Irving, James
Harden, Joe Harris, Kevin Durant and Nick Claxton. I gives you the
most defensive firepower, he gives you the most energy. I just don't know
what Griffin or Aldridge adds at this point that wasn't already on the roster.
Like, yay, more big names. We can make social media graphics about
how loaded with stars this Brooklyn Nets team is, but like there are stars
that have kind of withered up. Yeah, I'm with you. I actually
think that there's a chance Jang if he's gonna play in San Antonio, they
have minutes that they can give away at the five. I know they have
you know, Peartles really good, they have you Banks, they have some
onag. I don't know. They do tend to play him at the four,
I think for the most part, so I actually think it could be
Awesome Rivers that has like the biggest impact. Yeah, he look he tapered
off a lot in New York, but he was really good at the start
of the season when they were dealing with some injuries and he was dealing with
injuries himself. I believe just someone another guy who can dribble. I think
you trust him to run an offense or just to pick and roll more than
a Bryn Forbes, and he's going to give you more defensively to where when
I look at the Bucks right now, I think they're closing five ends up
being Yannis Drew Middleton, and then there are really two open spots there.
I think maybe given the way that they want to try to defend and create
more portability, that you can throw PJ Talk, but it's gonna be PJ
Tucker a Brook Lopez. There still seems to be like that fifth spot open,
where is it gonna be Dante di Vincenzo. Could it be as to
the extent that we need him to. Yeah, he I think defensively,
he's probably the best of the three options between Forbes and Austin Rivers. But
I could see Austin Rivers closing some meaningful games for Milwaukee, especially because I
think they would air towards that end of the spectrum. Because Austin Rivers can
and will create his own shot. It doesn't always happen efficiently, it doesn't
always happen when you want it to. But he can create his own shot,
and he's willing to do so. And given the struggles they've had in
each of the last two postseasons, when defenses compress around Jannis and they need
other players to get their own looks, I can see Milwaukee airing on that
side. Yeah, I agree with it. The Omish didn't post trade deadline.
It was a busy deadline. I saw people complaining that it wasn't a
good deadline. There were sixteen deals from midnight March twenty fifth through that three
pm, so there was a lot of action. I do think twenty three
teams right, Yeah, it was. It was basically pretty much most of
the league, more than two thirds of the league made a deal. And
so this is the question as we get into this mail bag that I'm going
to use as the trigger for the larger title race discussion. It comes from
Myer roth Bomb. He asked, how do you see the Eastern comments regular
season panning out? And just looking sort of at the larger pet question of
though, how do you think that the trade deadline impacted the title race at
all? If we went through the top five top seven contenders, like,
how would you be ranking those at the moment? In the Eastern general?
Are we talking about the top five or seven contenders? Let's break it up
by conference there. Yeah, I'm not sure it changed that much. In
the East, Lou Williams, the Hawks gives them more firepower off the bench,
which is an area they've struggled in since Trey Young arrived, just creating
that same level of offensive potency when he's not on the floor. But I
still don't think they're at the level of the seventy six ers, the Nets
or the Bucks at full strength. I think the biggest impact is probably that
you can make more convincing arguments that the Celtics and the Heat, who have
both been these middling five hundred level teams are going to re enter that picture
because Evan Fournier is a great pickup for the Celtics. Victor Oladipo if he's
healthy, could make a big impact on the Heat. Neither of those are
really guaranteed to come to fruition, but I think that there are more compelling
cases to be made that all of a sudden, this Eastern Conference race is
more of a six or seven team race for those top spots than just those
three teams and then a big drop off before everyone else. I think there's
gonna be that historic of a drop off. I think there was. I
think that that gap could be closed a little bit, but I think that
there is still a gap between them. Like there's a pretty clear cut delineation
between those tiers even after the trade market. So what would you what's can
you just run through that first tier again? For me? Yeah, I
think the seventy six ers, the Nets, and the Bucks are the obvious
class of the Eastern Conference. I think that the Hawks, the Celtics,
the Heat, maybe even the Chicago Bulls would belong in that second tier.
You can throw the knicks in that pin at the bottom if you want to,
though, I think we still have questions about the sustainability of the defense,
even though they deserve credit for maintaining it this far into the season.
I might be willing to throw Miami in there now post Oladipo. It feels
like he has not been good this year, but they feel like the team
that would unlock him. I guess you can't put them there now. They
have they might have the most potential of any team that's that's left there to
crack that tier. That feels like a distinct possibility for them more so than
you know, I don't think the Celtics after Evan Fournia get there. Uh,
the decision to trade Daniel Tie, that's still just they needed to figure
out if they were going to duck the tax, like you needed to figure
out another way to do it. That's just we're just like, don't duck
the tax if you want to compete. You know. Maybe the reality,
though is that they were going through because you have Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum
and Kemba and like next year once Tatum's deal kicks in. So I get
it, but there had to be enough if you were going to do it.
There had to be another way, right, I'm totally with you.
I agree with your Eastern Conference hears. I think at the top though,
between Philly, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee, I don't I feel like there's this
tendency to say, well, when Brooklyn's at full strength, they're just going
to be the number one. I can't talk myself, and I might even
go as far as saying I like both Philly and Milwaukee in a playoff series
at full strength more than I do Brooklyn, and the defense really does bother
me. I know it's the I'm not trying to downplay having Kadi, Kyrie
and Harden. There's the element of they're going to score so much at all,
all minutes, all seconds of the game that it doesn't matter. Still,
when you look at how those teams can match up with them, and
Milwaukee in particular is interesting here now too, just having Chris Middleton, Janice,
You've Dante devencenso there, you have Drew Holiday. I can't believe I
didn't name him like close enough to that, and then in Philly you have
Thible and Simmons with embad on the back line. Danny Green doesn't suck on
defense either, So those are two teams I think can give them problems,
where No, Simmons is probably the only one of anybody who's gonna shut down
one of the stars, if if that's even a thing, I don't know
if you can put. Janie has never been just he's gonna shut down one
guy. That's just not how he plays down the team than one guy.
Yeah, and maybe Drew, But I would say that Simmons is probably the
best individual defender of that bunch, if that makes any sense. So if
you were telling me that all those teams were full strength as currently constructed,
I would I'd probably be picking Philly and seven, Milwaukee and seven over Brooklyn.
I'm right there with you. I know that I've shared my concerns about
Brooklyn in previous episodes, and I think that those were compounded by these buyout
additions, where like adding Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge doesn't necessarily make them worse,
but it increases the volatility of the outcomes where Okay, you have a
marginal benefit on offense, but you're also leaning further into this offensive style at
the expense of the defense, and without really making the offense better, because
again they're not spot up guys who complement the incumbent stars perfectly. So if
you have these offensive nights when you almost feel obligated to give minutes to Aldrige
and Blake Griffin at the expense of Nick Klaxton and the other guys on that
roster who can make some sort of defensive impact, that worries me, Like,
yeah, it increases their ceiling, but I also think that it lowers
the floor more that it increases the ceiling. Yeah, I mean that's probably
a good way to frame it, or at least adjustifiable way to frame it.
So would it surprise me at all if Brooklyn emerged from the East?
Absolutely not, Like it's so easy to see the Nets just going on an
absolute scorch tear through the entire conference and emerging through without losing a game.
It's also very feasible for them to lose to one of these other great teams,
and I think it's more feasible that they lose. It's not necessarily more
likely to happen, but it's even easier to justify. Do you see any
other team that could crack the actual they're a legitimate championship contender in the East.
Is there another team for you that you think has a puncher's chance of
doing that. I think the Heat could just because that once the rotations can
press in the postseason and Eric Spoelstra stops experimenting and starts seeing the fruit of
that experimentation, the Heat are always more dangerous. If Oladipo is a good
fit, if Jimmy Butler and bam Adebayo are healthy, that's a whole lot
of top end talent right there. And we already saw the kind of run
that the Heat could go on last season when they advanced to the finals.
Like they do have those crunch time shot makers, even if they aren't all
efficient over the course of the regular season. So I think they'd be my
number one answer there, and then it would be between the Hawks and the
Celtics on the cusp of entering that. I think that even though the Hawks
have been a disappointment this season, and at the time of recording before they
play the Nuggets on Sunday night, they're twenty three and twenty two, but
they've been dealing with so many injuries throughout the season and we still haven't really
gotten a full picture of what they look like when fully healthy. For an
extended period of time. There is still enough talent there that I could see
it somehow, but I'm more hesitant to put them into that group. Yeah,
Miami is like the only one for me. I know, Boston's really
heavy at the top. I just they feel like there's still a player away.
It does, and I don't know who that play. Everyon Fornia is
going to help him out a bunch, to be clear, like just to
give them another ball handler, a shooter, or someone to create their own
shot. I would agree with you that it's Miami. So looking at the
West, then how does your contender hierarchy work out there? And they would
probably look. I think you can talk yourself into at least five teams being
contents here, right. I mean, I know you're talking about the Jazz,
the Souns, the Clippers, of Lakers, and the Nuggets. So
within that group, what really changed? We talked about drama at the top.
I think that could be a marginal benefit in the playoff went come playoff
time, the Aaron Gordon moved for the Nuggets is the biggest difference maker,
and I could see how that move alone could push Denver up a few pegs
in that hierarchy. Wherever you had Denver going in, it's still such a
jumbled mess that I'm not really sure. It feels difficult to order those five
teams both before and after the deadline, and I'm not sure that Aaron Gordon
alone does enough to like convincingly change it. Sugar Ray, Leonard, Roberto
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only because and there's going to be noise in here. But the Yokich Michael
Porter Junior front court has been quicking, and not just offensively either. The
defensive numbers on that combination it's only six hundred and twelve possessions, but Denver
ranks in the eighty fifth percent tile of points allowed per one hundred possessions.
Opponents are not hitting their threes in this situation, so that's something to consider.
But if you're that high across this big of it, like six hundred
and twelve possessions is fairly for two man combination. Maybe not, but it's
like significant enough for me to think, Okay, this is suspicious with how
stingy it is. But do we have to start talking about it being sustainable?
And now you're looking at it where maybe you have Monte Morris, Jamaal
Murray, Will Barton as your other three, and you look at that and
you go, okay, there's one above average defender within that trio. Now
you're throwing Aaron Gordon in there. So it's Jamal Murray, Will Barton,
Aaron Gordon plus Torto Yokich is your best five man unit. But you can
mix and match it where you know, maybe it's not Barton, maybe it's
Monte Morris is still there. Maybe you do know PJ dojer if you want
to go super big or something, they have a lot more options now to
go up against some of these tougher Western Conference teams. And I think specifically,
yeah, you're probably still going to run into the if you were to
play Portland. You know who's going to defend Dame is that that's not going
to be Aaron Gordon. Exactly how it was going to respond same with like
Devin Booker and Chris Paul if they end up playing Phoenix, or Donovan Mitchell
and Mike Conley. Like the backcourt combinations are maybe more concerning without Gary Harris,
but I think you have the more important position covered now with Aaron Gordon,
where he's gonna give you three, three, four five. So if
I was to go through really quickly, how I think that the contention thing.
And look, the thing that I also want to mention here, I
don't know how to view the Lakers anymore Lebron and ad because when you're ranking
contenders, this has to be a just looking at us. Who has the
best chance I think, first and foremost to come out of their conference because
getting to the finals is a huge part of winning the championship, and that's
the first huge step. If the Lakers are going to be healthy, I
guess they're still the favorite. But right now we know Lebron's going to be
out another month at least, and their fourth in the West. They are,
you know, five games away from play in territory six and a half.
Excuse me, so I think they'll stay out of Oh no, they're
only they are only four and a half games out of play in territory,
which would be the seventh spot. I just don't know if it matters more
for them that they wind up there, or if it matters more for a
team like the Jazz or the Suns that now of a sudden they might have
to play the Lakers in the first round. So if the Lakers aren't full
strength, I still think they're the best team. My second team is the
Suns, My third team is the Nuggets, My fourth team is the Jazz.
My fifth team is the Clippers as of right now, and I feel
like I might be under valuing the Clippers and their crunch time offense has gotten
better, but they've still been a mess defensively there. I don't know that
Rondo fixes enough of what they ail them, even when you're looking at him
through a playoff lens and I feel very odd, if stupid to put a
team that has both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to the idea. And I
know Paul George stuggled, but those two players, like you want those two
players in the postseason, the idea of them are the perfect postseason building block
archetypes. It feels really weird to have the Clippers at fifth, doesn't it
right? And a part of that is putting the Jazz fourth is disrespectful almost
because they have the best record in the league right now. I'm just I
think there's their offense will be fine. They just they have an element of
the same problem that the Nuggets did of who is defending these wings? They
have it. I guess they have it fined in the back court or smaller
wings because you have Royce O'Neill. But who's going to defend those more even
those more just athletic, bigger guards, Those bigger wings can wind up being
an issue for them. You don't trust he can take some charges. Matt
Thomas, maybe throw him. I actually thought that was a fine pickup because
he's under contract for next season. But yeah, so I feel stupid putting
them forth, just as port just as Bailey's putting the Lakers fifth. I'm
tempted to put the Nuggets second. And look if the Lakers the ad stuff
is weird. You have Akill Hees mentioned in there. They say he's like
two in weeks and change away. Maybe he'll be fine. I'm keempted to
put the Nuggets or the Sun's up top, and if I had to,
if I had to say, who do I think is going to be other
than the Lakers the biggest threat. I'm still all in on the Suns,
and that's they didn't make any moves of the deadline. I think Tory Craig,
he helps their depth out a little bit, and he's actually been playing.
They have questions up front with what are you gonna do with Eightan's inconsistent?
Can you get away with darios charts at the at the five in those
situations, their guard depth, if you don't trust Cameron Payne, they're they're
just they're question marks anywhere. But I look at that roster, it is
deep. They can defend a bunch of different ways, their long range,
shot making, roller coastere They're the team that I'm watching that as the I
don't know if you can call him a dark horse when they're side in the
West. But of the non Lakers group, the Suns and the Nuggets,
for sure, those have to be the two teams I think you're watching,
maybe even more so than the Jazz at this point, which again is not
meant to be disrespectful. It's just that inkling that I have. I think
it's important just to emphasize once again that when we're talking about these five teams,
like, even if they're fifth out of the five, these are the
obvious title contenders where we would not be even remotely surprised by them making it
to the NBA Finals. So, like, take whatever perceived disrespect there is
with that major grain of salt. As for my order, I think I
can't doubt the full strength, the full strength Lakers at this point. Like,
I don't know if they're going to get there, but if we are
operating under the assumption that Lebron James and Anthony Davis are actually good to go,
I think they have to be in that number one spot just based on
what we learned about them last year. My number two is still the Jazz.
I'm just I'm still really convinced by the two way abilities of that team,
even if it didn't really need to make major moves of the deadline.
I mean, a thirty four and eleven at this point, a thirty four
and eleven record at the stage of the season speaks for itself, and they
have been the best team in basketball this season. I'm between the Suns and
the Nuggets for my third pick. I think I'm gonna lean slightly towards the
Nuggets and that have the Suns as a hesitant fourth and the Clippers at A.
I can't believe they're in fifth place, fifth place. So you have
a lot of hesitants all over the place. Yeah, I mean, I
think they're all grouped so closely together. But this isn't This isn't a We're
creating a narrative by grouping five teams together into this top tier in the West.
It's like, this is legitimately like a one A, one B,
one C, one D one E situation, So I think hesitancy is inherent
to that situation. I think this question sort of ties into the title discussion
comes from Swan Suarez, who is an underrated MVP candidate who should be higher
up in the rankings. I struggle with that question because I feel like under
rain candidate is like a little bit of an oxy moron, right my my.
I'll do with my gut answer, then, which is honest, I
don't I don't think that he gets talked about enough in the discussion as he
should because he's the two time reigning MVP. But from a purely objective standpoint,
he and Yoki should be the front runners right now. Yeah, I
would pick Yannest too. A little bit that he hasn't received enough conversation because
of voter fatigue, feels like, and people still harp on what he can't
do, and that's fair. But he's been carrying lineups more often without Brook
Lopez in them, so it's not necessarily he's always the center. But if
it's Janie and Bobby Portis, like, that's a huge difference. And now
it'll be Honest and PJ Tucker for a lot of those stints, which you
like better on paper. If p J. Tucker is going to be PJ.
Tucker, I think Dame. It's also been the one where it felt
like people have made the argument for Harden Lebron, even Jannest to a point,
kich and abide, Dame deserves to be up there where the margin is.
Yes, the Blazers are six in the West, but they're have an
identical record to the Nuggets, and he helped them navigate this stretch without use
of Narkis or CJ. McCollum, and their offense falls up a cliff when
he's not on the floor, he continues to be probably the clutches player in
basketball when you just look at his shooting splits in crunch time and the Blazers
are like nineteen and four when they play games in the clutch. That's I
think, I believe it's the last time I checked. I can look it
up really quickly. Is the highest winning percentage in the NBA. And yeah,
they are winning a lot of games closely, but they're winning those games,
and so you wish they would play better against those above five hundred teams.
Still, when you look at how well they are with him on the
court, and if you I don't want to use that. I hate the
word narrative, but just no, it matters in this conversation. It shou
and it does. Yeah, So there's and that's the thing too, is
just like this data is from a couple of days ago, but his crunch
time number seventy percent on two's, forty nine percent on threes, and a
perfect one hundred percent at the fount line. That's just like this good.
Yeah, and they're eighteen and six excuse me, in close games. That's
the number I got wrong. So yeah, I feel like you could easily
if someone votes Dame for first place in the MVP race. I'm not gonna
be mad about it. I would have him in the top three right now.
I think Lebron and e Bede are gonna fall off by virtue of the
time they miss and you're you're going to look at I think it's gonna be
a Yogis Giannis Dame top three situation. Maybe Harden comes in and knocks Yannis
off because of the voter fatigue factor. Did you catch my screen pan down
there? Or were you looking away? I saw you pan down the screen.
I didn't see what you did it for. I'll do it again while
I talk there. It is what time is my Dame time shirt on?
Right now? I think the other name who deserves to come up is Rudy
Gobert. I don't think he's going to win. I don't think he should
win. I think he should be on the back end of ballots. The
Jazz have been the best team in basketball. He's the best player on that
team. He is a defensive system unto himself. He is a incredibly impactful
offensive player despite his limitations. He's again he's not going to win because this
is a team with Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley and depth of talent, but
he's been the best player on the best team, and that typically garners some
sort of respect in the MVP conversation. And unless you're talking to somebody from
Utah right now, he's not mentioned. Yeah, that's that's totally fair.
He has been you know, he should be top ten on the ballot this
year. He could probably change five on the ballot. I would say,
you think, I guess if you're not gonna if you think if you're gonna
exclude Lebron and Gobert by virtue of sample size, then yeah, that does
seem fair. Yeah. Uh who, Let's let's stick with the MVP thing.
Who's where's the question from Dustin five weakest statistical NBA MVP candidate? Oh?
He might be talking throughout history, but I'm reading it as this year,
who would be your weakest statistical candidate? Mm, if you look at
advanced metrics, it's probably game He's probably it probably is He's gonna rank lower
in those advanced metrics than a lot and even you know, when you're looking
at BPM things on those lines, even Gobert could probably follower than that.
But that's those are the those are the two that I would that would probably
stand out the most to me if we're considering them MVP candies. The strongest
statistical case it is probably Yo kier Janis. If we were to go to
the flip side of that spectrum, Yeah, that's that's a tough one.
I'll I'll go to the historical side of this question, I think, and
the answer that comes to mind right away is probably west Unselt, who won
MVP and Rookie of the Year during his first season with the Baltimore Bullets in
nineteen sixty nine while averaging thirteen point eight points and eighteen point two rebounds.
Like, he was a very impactful rebounder and defensive presence on a Baltimore team
the one fifty seven games, But that team was loaded with Earl Monroe and
Gus Johnson and Jack Marrin and Kevin Lowry, Like, there were a lot
of talented players, And I can't imagine an MVP candidate in today's NBA or
really any time in the last few decades who would win while averaging under fourteen
points per game, like, not trying to take credit away from him,
like incredibly underrated historical player but that is always going to stand out as an
anomaly. That and Derrick Rose were the first two who came to mind.
He wouldn't even he wouldn't even win six Man of a Year by averaging fourteen
points a game, it feels like in this day. And that's not to
say that like scoring should be necessary to win MVP, because it shouldn't be.
See a couple of minutes ago when we talked about Ridy Gobert. But
if you're talking about like purely from an advanced numbers perspective, like it's generally
harder to thrive in those when you're not a scorer. Two Pelicans questions tied
up here. The first one comes from Kate Hornack. Where will Lonzo Ball
play next year? What do you expect his contract to look like? I
think he's going to stay in New Orleans, I do. I think the
strides we've seen from him this year, the increasing on court chemistry that he
has with Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson all matter, and I would expect him
to be back on a multi year deal at like eighteen million a year.
Yeah, that's the eighteen million. It probably feels like the So when you're
a restricted free agent, you're go teams. It's almost prohibited for other teams
to go after you because they're tying up cap space in players that they're probably
not going to get, because when you want to bid on a restricted free
agent, I mean, they're so valuable that you're probably not going to get
him because his team is going to match him. He has been ever since
he was first mentioned in trade rumors, he has been in foego and that's
amounted to, you know, basically the the entire season. At this point,
we're shooting above you know, since then forty percent from three, very
very comfortably. So I think when you look at what he does as a
floor space or even if you don't like the way the jump shot looks,
still his IQ as a pastor even though he can't run traditional pick and roll,
and his ability to thrive as a team defender, and they've even put
him in some tough one on one situations this year. My baseline would say
if he signs for less than seventeen eighteen million dollars a year, I'd be
fairly shocked, because he does feel like a player that another team with cap
space will come in and pay just to see what happens. Is it the
Knicks? You know, that could be a team I would expect answer,
I would expect actually his offer sheet to come in at like four eighty feels
like the and I don't even know that might be low You know, is
there's gonna be a team that comes in at over twenty million dollars a year,
it wouldn't shock me. I guess you do have to consider the teams
that are gonna have cap space. I don't think Charlotte's gonna go after him,
even though they have Lamello in there. The Knicks I think will definitely
be interested. Are the Heat going to be interested? Probably not. Toronto
could be sneaky. If they get rid of Kyle Lowry, that would be
a team to watch for me. If he's another sneaky, fun one in
Chicago, they're just not gonna have cap space, though after they can find
a way to clear it up. Though him, Lavine and Vvich is a
really fun core Well that's so. But that's the other thing here is if
he's not playing in New Orleans because you if you aren't gonna match, then
you probably should have moved him at the deadline because I definitely think you would
have gotten a first round pick for him. That's why you open up sign
in trade scenarios, which is why Chicago might come into play. If New
Orleans really likes Lowry market in. He can't be the only thing coming back
to New Orleans because I think Lonzo Ball is substantially better at this point than
him, or he's just not even I know, he's not the most dynamic.
Go ahead was Matthew Johnson the other day who said he was like the
smartest point guard in the NBA? Or am I totally making that up?
He did say that he was also the guy that drafted him, so I
don't know, you know, but he's look, I he's not the most
dynamic point guard, because I'm not endorsing that statement. By the way,
his IQ was through the roof though, and you can look at the reasy
makes and he's your Christall is alive. That's fair. Hi checked Chris Paul
exists, and I mean Lebron you had to throw him in there. Yeah,
he's basically a point guard. So if if I had to pick with
Zion's really good when he's in the ball. If I had to pick a
salary for Lonzo Ballic season. I'm gonna say he comes in at twenty one
million. If I had to pick a team, I lean Pelicans, but
they're not They're just not the sexy pick. If you're telling me he's going
to start on a different team, I'm going to say. I'd like to
say Toronto because it makes so much sense if they lose Kyle Lowry. But
he's not going to Toronto. I'm gonna say the Knicks. I think Lonzo
balls and Knick next year. Jed. I've heard that we need to have
hotter takes though, so I'm going to I'm gonna say Lonzo ball ends up
on the Brooklyn Nets for forty million a year. It's illegal on so many
levels. If you had to pick, though, you still that you don't?
Yeah, and what was your salary for him? You thought? I
think eighteen a year. We'll see he was closer, Matt if someone If
there's a team that you could envision coming to max him just out of nowhere,
here's the max. I think it starts like twenty seven, twenty seven
and a half, depending on where the cap lies. Is there a team
right, Yeah, it probably is the Knicks. I'm trying to think of
another. Yeah, it probably is. The Knicks, like, okay,
see is not going to just come out of nowhere with that. Rono won't
do that. They aren't gonna have cap space. But now you have RJ.
Hampton, Marquel Folts. You're starting this rebuild you of Cole Anthony.
I don't think you do that. It's and maybe that is marware. Maybe
that tries to market down I mean, and also again we're not even talking
about signing trade scenarios. Is there I could see the Hawks, I mean,
you might have a better gauge of the fit. Something built around John
Collins or if they really like Bogey, if he starts to play better than
he has, could be something if they won't to give up picks too.
And New Orleans is like trying to straddle and they like they really like I
don't know what at this point you could tell me to convince me that John
Collins shouldn't stay so like. As soon as I hear that, I just
kind of bulk. I agree with you. And he's improved offensively enough to
where you can use him with Clint Capela now and it makes a lot of
sense. We have another Pelicans question too. This one comes from Leandry.
Is stan Van Gundy the problem in New Orleans or is it the front office
that's hurting the Pelicans. I'm assuming he's just referring to there. They're coming
off a pretty good win on Saturday Night in which Zion just ran the crunch
time offense, by the way, which is just do it. He doesn't
even need a screen anymore. Steven Adams will come up to the screen and
he doesn't even need to use it because he's just gonna go through guys.
But they are twenty and twenty five, their fourteenth overall in net rating,
seventh and offense, twenty eighth in defense, and thirty if an opponent effective
field goal percentage? How do you who do you ascribe the most blamed to
in New Orleans? Easily the front office. I look at the personnel that
they have on that team, and I wonder, like, how you're supposed
to have a great defense. I look at the lack of shooters that they
have around the centerpieces of this building effort, and I wonder how they're supposed
to succeed at a high level. And then I look at the improvement that
Zion Williamson has shown throughout his sophomore season, and I wonder how you can
possibly blame the coaching because he has gone within the course of the same season,
coming off the shortest offseason in American professional sports history, and he has
gone from not running any pick and roll and thriving only as an off ball
weapon to being like essentially a primary facilitator and offensive initiator and excelling at it.
And that's not something that happens without quality player development and coaching. That's
the I mean, New Orleans is never going to be a title contender this
year, like even the most optimistic hopes, where hey, this is a
playoff team that might make little noise in the first round if Zion is as
good as we think he is, which he is, and sure it's been
disappointing. Like the most important thing this team can do is have proper player
development for their youngest contributors. Zion has developed into an absolute scar and unstoppable
force on offense. Lonzo Ball has developed enough that he looks like a good
fit. Who can we can realistically see him coming back or generating a twenty
million dollars per year salary elsewhere and that's what they needed to see. Yeah,
I agree with you that it's the front office. It's just so weird
to say, like some of the things that are hampering them where it's you
know, give them more space to work with, and yet they're seventh and
offense and their tenth and half court offensive efficiency right now. Still, I
think you can see it with Brandon Ingram at points, even with Lonzo ball
a little bit when the balls in his hands, they need more space to
operate than New Orleans has given them. Zion apparently just doesn't need any space
that he just doesn't. He's fine as is, and so the decision to
give up value for and then extends Steven Adams looms as big here. He's
made their defense slightly better when he's on the court. But you're also probably
working from a superlow base line. Well, you can probably criticize the coaching
staff for they give up an awful lot of threes and they are essentially just
the worst team in the league at defending three pointers. Yeah, they are
thirtieth overall, and that matches up with what I see. I'm actually surprised
that they're not lower in opponent corner three point percentage. It seems like they
give up too many of those that you can put on the coaching staff.
They're also twenty seventh in rim protection and so if that's what you were thinking
that Steven Adams was going to give you, you're now your port defending from
beyond the arc and at the rim. It's not noise in both spots,
would be my argument, and I do ascribe that to the front office.
There's a lack of wings. I don't know what type of flexibility. You
weren't really working with any after the Steven Adams trade. That being said,
did you need to make the Steven Adams trade? And I don't think he's
the problem, but it seems like that prohibits them from doing so many other
things, and that their resources would have been better off going after more wing
type players at this point and definitely giving more space too. If Zion doesn't
need it, fine, but Brandon m Eric bletso Lonzo Ball, those are
guys that I think really need it. And perhaps you know, going to
New k Alexander Walker Moore and Kyra Lewis is getting minutes, maybe that changes
a little bit. And by the way, Kyra Lewis, I just haven't
seen a ton of them this season super fast, So just a blur.
So I do like this team, but I'm with you. I think the
blame has to fall on the front office mostly here. I just I look
at the roster and I wonder how stan Van Gundy could craft a top level
defense. I mean, like, are you are you playing Lonzo Ball with
Sendarius Thornwell and Josh Hart and James Johnson and Steven Adams. Okay, like,
great, we solved their defensive issues and we're gonna score twelve points a
game? Like what is he supposed to do? There? There is?
So the one thing I will say is they are just gonna run into some
problems where I don't care about teams spending money. And I say that again
again again on the podcast, because I feel like people focus, you know,
everything has looked at through the team perspective. I want players to get
paid as much as they can. But you're in this situation where you've had
to decide You've already paid brandon Ingram, then you paid Steven Adams, took
on Bletsos deal, now you have to pay a Lonzo Ball all of a
sudden, zion is extension knowledgeable after next year, you don't have time to
not be expensive. We're just going to be this cheap, young team,
and so you do have really tough decisions to make moving forward. I'm right
there with you. Let's go to Oh, we need to talk about this
question. I feel like Idris Mohammed good, Damna, I hope I really
didn't butcher that beyond reason? How do you think zach Lavine and Nikolavukovich fit
together? I love that fit. I think that it's a great mix of
two three level scorers who operate from different positions on the court and get their
offense in different ways, and that you can very much build a contender around
those two. I mean, Chicago doesn't have the pieces to build a contender
around those two yet, but that is a great start, and they're both
young enough to reasonably be a part of the finished product, assuming that they're
working towards that from the current core. Yeah, and he makes life so
much easier on zach Lavine, who hit it's just a ridiculous percentage on his
tough looks forty one point three percent pull up threes this year, which he's
taking five point one of those per game, and now you know, he's
not the best at operating in traffic, but he's gotten better at reading,
making reads or passes out of double teams. I feel like this year and
now that you have Voudovitch spotting up from beyond the arc almost always above the
break. By the way he's he's I think he's I need to check this
because I keep saying it, but I think he's top five in above the
break. Three he's made this year. He hasn't had that type of a
one floor spacing assist really, and not that he's necessarily throwing too, but
that opens room for him. And when you're kind of looking at all the
assists that he's thrown this season, he like didn't have the I guess you
can count. Patrick Williams is a big if you want to, but like
his three point assists and Larry Marketing. Maybe it's a bad example, but
they weren't going to his centers. Is my point is he's assisted on three
pointers for Larry market and for you know, uh Kobe White, Patrick Williams
and now you have just vooch met weaponry that's going to be huge for their
offense. And he's also someone who can this is Vouche now really act as
the focal point if you want to work him from the elbows, which is
something that Wendel Carter Jr. I don't know that he was ever really given
the opportunity to do that there, but he just didn't develop into that type
of player. And even the floor spacer, like this volume floor spacer,
you have that from Vouche, Now that's monstrous. My question is what kind
of it looks like Daddy is Young is back to the bench now They started
Lowry next to Booch in his first game in Chicago. Is that how you
would continue rolling? Because that opens up minutes havef Daddy he is Young more
at the five where he's been annihilating opponents this year, But then you also
have Daniel Tye now as well. So do you like it if it means
you know, more minutes for Daddy is Young at the four, like you
do want to see more Thad Rouge minutes? Or do you think it's right
to bring him off the bench where you know, theoretically functionally he should be
able to play more minutes at the five. I think either way it works
as long as there's a defensive slant with the pieces around Lavina and Boche,
whether that's Dad coming off the bench or in the starting lineup. I mean,
I think you can reasonably see lineups with insert point guard here, Zach
Lavine, Patrick Williams, Thaddeus Young and Vouch and just really lean into that
that defensive forward mentality. But again, like I don't, I don't think
that the pieces on this roster are the ones we're going to see when and
if this is a hyper competitive Bulls team. But to answer the first question,
like, I think we have to look at it from Vouch's perspective too,
where like we're looking at how this twosome works together and when was the
last time he got to play with a hyper talented guard like Zach Lavine who
is no longer a great score like he is in that elite scorer tier.
And Vukovich has become a multi time All Star and a dominant offensive force while
playing on a team notoriously notorious for the poor guard play and the clock spacing
that results from that front court long logjam they've had. He's not had an
opportunity to show off what he can do with someone like Lavine on the floor
next to him too. Yeah, that's that's a great point if you think
about the guards that he's played with in Orlando and just the spacing in general.
There the fact that he's shooting as high equipped as he was from three.
Maybe that's the best guard he's played with. Is it Dj Augustine?
Is it markil Foltz? Jamre Mel said, Hey, they made that graphic
for Shelvin Matt Yeah, one year. So uh, this next question comes
from Matt Lyons. Who's the best defender in the NBA according to the numbers
I have? I don't think you can decide defense just purely by by numbers,
would be my argument. But I mean on NBA maps DPS it's Nicola
Yoki. That's what I was gonna say, is do you have some point
saved? Nicole yo want to talk about that again? Though Janics is two,
batist Tibel is three, Draymond is four, and Rudy Gobert is five,
so there is some validity to that. ESPNS. I'm just gonna it's
a question. I'm just answering it. ESPN's defensive real plus minus top five
Rudy go one, Capella to Paul George three, Miles Turner four, Christian
would five. And then the other one I'll look at is defensive. I
didn't bring up the luck adjusted RPM. Let me do that now though,
luck adjusted defensive real adjusted plus minus the top five in that yaku Peartle number
one, Cam Johnson number two, Tobias Harris number three, Jay Crowder number
four, Camp pays More number five. I wouldn't pick a best defender based
off any of those, but just answering the question, I don't think that
there's any one single number metric you should ever turn to just as the answer
to a defensive question. But I think that if you are looking at all
of them in conjunction and weighing the flaws and upsides of each individual metric,
that I think that you might land on a case for Ben Simmons, especially
when you look into like what Christian and RSWO has done with versatility indexes and
stuff like, not only is he going to show up really high in all
of the impact metrics, but you're also going to see that he's taking on
the widest variety and toughest assignments. If you're like crafting an article where you're
not doing any film study and just basing it on every single defensive metric available
under the sun. I think you would probably land on Ben Simmons, Yeah,
Hammerer, yeah go. Bear's not always going to come up in those
stats, but I think that I think you're right there. We'll move on
to a couple of other ones before we wrap up. This is This was
asked before the call was made, but it turned out to be topical.
Has Al Horford been a top twenty NBA center this year? That comes from
d He's not playing the rest of the season. Oklahoma City tol him to
take his ball and go home, and that they promised to find a trade
for him next year. My snarky answer is that a top twenty center in
the NBA would be able to play both ends of a back to back.
Okay, but they're very clearly not playing him. I know, I know
for a reason. He's been good. He's been good for Oklahoma City,
like no doubt he's He looks rejuvenated to the point that it would have been
feasible for him to be traded it or agree to a buyout and join a
contender and actually make an impact. I don't know. I struggle with the
top twenty thing just because of the availability and because he's getting an extended number
of touches and looks by virtue of the lack of talent around him, I
would say he's been right there if he hasn't been in it because he was
his as a reasonable question, yeah, I don't. I didn't. Your
answer was that I could not believe your facial expression when the question is asked.
I know he's thirty four. I know he was averaging under thirty minutes
per game. He was shooting fifty one percent on two's, thirty six percent
from three three point four'ss per game fourty point two points. You know,
I'm sad that we don't get to watch him the rest of the year.
I wish that he would have been moved now to a contender, because I
think that he can actually really help one. This question is tied of is
tied of tied to that. It's kind of tied to that, But and
I lost it. Oh Namboo asked without Yo, Kitchen and bed, who,
what are the top five centers in the league. So we're assuming Joel
and beat and Nicole Yoker one and two. I think that's fair. Ruby
go Bat is clearly definitely up there. Well, he's up there, Karnthny
downs. Okay, what do we consider Davis? He spends most of his
time at the four, but in the playoffs he's gonna close at the five.
I still don't really think of him as a center, all right,
so we'll remove him. Then Bam has to be I was gonna say,
Bam. Autobio is definitely in that is that is a healthy use of Nurkisch
in there. No, no, no, you don't think so. I
thought the Blazers should have maybe considered moving him based off how he played,
but I understand he was ru Rujevich is up there. I think think between
like Clint Capella and Jonas Valancinis. Maybe, I don't know, do you
wanna Jewis play enough? I haven't even looked at how many minutes forget I
think he does. So I would DestinE the question I would have. I
would have a town's bam, and as the Locks and Goberts, I would
say Gobert, Gobert Bam second, town's third. I think no, I
would have Oh man, that's a really tough one. I think Gobert has
to be third this season. In a nutshell, I probably would take Towns
over these, I think your order is correct. If you're asking me which
one I want moving forward, it's still going to be Towns. I think
he's so good a name we didn't mention. Who might I know he's been
injured this year at points, but Christian would could sneak his way in this
conversation. Miles Turner is actually a really good one. Jared Allen even Rashaun
Holmes this year definitely up there could be in there. You mentioned Joannis found
Chunis already. I'm gonna say for my last two, I'm just for the
hell of it to pick. I'm going with I'll say Vooch he's in my
top five after that, and then I'm gonna go with am. I gonna
go with for Shawn Holmes right now, that might be the guy for me.
He's that top five seems so agreed. Just for Shaun Holmes. But
or Christian wood is up there first that we didn't mention Al Horford that was
a top twenty. I'm still being snarky. I don't I can't settle on
a fifth. My top would be Gobert Voch, bam Adeboio and Karl Anthony
Towns I think there's a lot of different ways that you could go with fifth
unless we're you know, when you're doing these exercises on the spot, you
could always leave off somebody. But I don't think that we we mentioned everyone
that I think could be a contender for that. Chris Buche maybe, well,
I just assumed he was in a tear of his own. Here's a
quick one for you. But sad that we didn't mention though, is DeAndre
Aiden? Imagine if he had developed to the point that he was in that
conversation as good as his son's team already is I had I had him as
a top ten center I think entering the season, and he's just been all
over the place this year. I was still believing him. But but yeah,
he's been disappointing by the standards I had set for him. He's already
that's like an insult to the center death and the lead in the front of
it. Uh. We mentioned Clint Capello though, right, he has to
be in that discussion. Yeah we did. Okay, Uh, let's get
to this next question here. How far apart are Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry
if you were to ranked them among NBA players. Caleb Manser asks a lot
of ranking questions today. I mean, I think Paul is still ahead,
and that's not an insult to Lowry. It's just a compliment to Chris Paul.
We're talking about Chris Paul is like a top fifteen guy. We're talking
about Kyle Lowry is what like a top twenty five guy? Yeah, so
I think, like, yeah, the answer is, however much separation you
think exists between those tears. Here's a question that was for you, RJ.
Barrett projections for next year. I'm trying to decide where on the MVP
ballot he should fall. This question comes from rocket Ship Emoji. By the
way, nice that's a creative name. But is it aft paint emoji or
is it like a true emoji? No, it's it's a true emoji,
so it's not a hulks. I was hoping he was listening to the show.
Oh, we have a if you will, let's tackle this r J
question. Patrick, your question is going to be next. Shout out to
you for asking the first live question of this episode. Rough Dabs it is,
Yeah, it is. But here's let me give me, let me
give you. RJ. Barretts numbers this year seventeen point six points, six
point two rebounds, three point one assists, forty seven point seven percent on
two, thirty four point two percent on threes. That is, the thirty
four point two percent just seems so low because he's been shooting basically forty five
percent for most of the season since since his first five games, he's at
thirty eight percent from three for the year forty one games. But you know
what the most impressive number of all is is the two turnovers per game.
Like he's taken on these extra responsibilities without committing those turnovers, and I think
that's a big deal. But to answer the question, I think we're looking
at like fairly similar per game numbers, maybe a slight jump and assist,
just with fewer touches and better shooting percentages, because ideally New York is going
to continue to flesh out the number of offensive options that it has around him.
When you factor in an incoming rookie, a version of Obie Toppan who's
probably featured more prominently in the rotation, Mitchell Robinson continuing to grow and hopefully
actually staying healthy. I don't think we're looking at our j Barrett as like
a twenty to twenty five point per game score. I think we're still seeing
those like sixteen to eighteen points, just in more efficient fashion. Yeah,
the things that I'll be watching is, one, can the three point clips
sustain? And we know most of those are just going to be off the
catch? But can he do anything was off the dribble jumper, his floater,
his mid range game. He's getting to the rim less than he did
last season, but finishing better. Can you your free throw attempt three?
I think there's that's going to be the difference. The swing factor for him
is can he do something else than he's doing now? That's huge because if
you want him to be your north star for the future, and I think
he's more likely to be that than Julius Randall just because he's younger. I
will also say the improvements he has made defensively away from the ball this season,
I think it's sort of flown under the radar. You don't see it
when you look at his accounting stats. Steal percentage, block percentage down.
He's just better on that end of the floor. So we're looking at We're
still looking at someone with an all star trajectory. Potentially. I think it's
fair to throw him in there. What I expect that in year three?
No, I wouldn't rule out twenty points per game, maybe yet to four
assists around there, and we just see it come more efficiency, more efficiently
in totality. Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. He's already
one of the most improved players in the league. This year. He might
be I don't know how I feel about sophomores winning it. I flip flop
every year, so no one should listen to me. He might be three
on my ballot. But Julius Randall's up there. You've Shay, but he's
gonna miss a ton of time. Jeremy Grant's there. You are aware.
I'm never going to let you live that one down right? That look good
pick by you. I get lucky every once in a while. Volume shooters
are going to hit one eventually. So Patrick asked two questions in the room.
We already covered this one, But how crazy a mine for thinking the
Sun's healthy? Are solid picks for making the finals? Since you weren't here
at the beginning of the episode, Patrick, I will say I had them
ranked as the second best contender in the Western conference behind a full strength Lakers,
And if you told me that the Lakers are going to be dealing with
these injuries the rest of the year when Anthony Davis just doesn't look right even
when he's playing in the postseason. The Suns are next up for me,
and I had them as a very hesitant fourth, but we kind of established
that we were looking at the Jazz, Suns, Clippers, Lakers, and
Nuggets. Is like a one ABCD and E kind of thing, because there
they all deserve to be considered in that mix of legitimate finals contenders. He
also asked how this is the same question as what's next for Boston. They're
not going to get any of the prime buyout candidates we've seen that I think
Evan Fournier and I met, and this at the top two addresses a ton
of needs for them, just a better ball handling, another score, a
good floor spacer, someone who can generate his own shot. I don't anticipate
he'll ever be part of the closing unit when he's fully healthy, and I
do think I love Robert Williams the third. Everyone's talked about how wonderrated he
could be as a passer, his defensive mobility. I feel a lot less
confident in their big band rotation now that they have Moe Wagner and Luke Cornett.
I don't even think they've you know, they haven't that I've seen released
either of those guys, and then Tristan Thompson Daniel Tice just feels like a
really big loss for them. I totally agree with you. I guess it's
worth noting that everyone's like quick to jump to Tristan Thompson's defense after it was
reported that no one wanted him there, so that's good for team chemistry,
I guess. But yeah, I think I don't know that we're going to
see any big buyout moves or additions for them. I think this is very
much the roster they're going to attempt to compete with, which troubles me a
little bit because if Kemba Walker isn't Charlotte Hornet's version of Kemba Walker, that
is a big blow and I'm not sure how consistently he can play at that
level at this stage, So that, coupled with the shakiness of the Big
Men rotation, just makes me a little bit worried about them in the playoffs.
Even if We've seen Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum elevate their games, and
we know that Brad Stevens can give them some sort of addition from the bench
in a playoff series. If anyone else in the room has any questions,
please feel for you to throw them in then we'll answer. We are wrapping
up shortly, but we have a couple of quick ones to get here.
I thought this question was interesting from jarf. What is the true definition of
a wing? I always thought a three four was a wing, but I
keep hearing people referring to two guards wings, so or two's also wings or
just guards? Think he encapsulated? How positionless the NBA has become right where
now even like wing designations are blurry. I think the way I think about
it is who you guard. So if you're guarding a primary ball handler,
then I tend to think of you as a guard. If you're guarding people
who often operate off the ball or are lining up on the wings, and
I think of you as a wing. And if you're typically guarding on the
interior or those floor spacing big men who run pick and pops or spot up
in the corners or above the break, then you're a big, so I
think you always hear coaches talk about how your position is determined by who you
guard, and I think it extends to those more overarching definitions. I do
look at way defensive matchups a lot too, and where I think Aaron Gordon
might be a good example of this. He might be better off he used
as a big where it's just a four or five role, but he's defended
so many wings, and they've even use him like a wing on offense,
and so you don't need to look at height designations specifically, David Nwaba is
a wing. He's six four, but you just look at the defensive assignments
he's described and if his offense isn't going to be high usage enough to tilt
in any one direction, that's what I would look at when classifying players as
wings or not. So you can be you know, RJ. Barrett might
be a good example. Is he a wing or guard this year? I
think looking at his defensive matchups, he's probably more as a guard. Yeah,
But I think it's important to note that, like whenever you are attempting
to sort players into a limited number of buckets, be it the five traditional
positions or those three mora overarching descriptions. You are going to have people who
fit into multiple buckets. That's just an inevitability. Like what would you call
Lebron James? He says something a thing. I'm a bob right? What
is Zion? Right? It just like there there are some where it just
defies that description. Fred asked, are there any notable two way players tearing
up the G League that should see their NBA court time significantly increase for non
playoff clubs. I would argue one person who has not seen a Jordan Pool,
We're probably going to see more of him with Golden State. We've already
hinted that, they've already shown that. I think Jeremy Lynn needs to just
be in the NBA at this point. Regent Tucker going to be another name.
He has absolutely just dominated the the G League this year. Didn't shoot
too well on his threes, but it looks like we're gonna see him get
more minutes. Kevin Porton Junior not on a two way I'm not even going
through just two way guys here, by the way, turned it up in
the in the big leagues now. Yeah, so, but he I didn't
even realize he spent fifteen games in the G League this year. Paul Reid,
that's who everyone wants to hear from from a fantastic I don't know that
he's ever going to see minutes because of the team that he's he's on and
them chasing a playoff spot. But Jared Harper has been a scoring revelation,
which I think is you know, a lot of people knew that that's what
he could be. So those would be some names that there's a guy who's
there's a guy who's averaging thirteen point one points and three point five assists while
shooting forty nine percent from the field, forty six point two percent from three,
and eighty six point seven percent from the line. Does that sound like
an NBA guy to you? It sounds like an NBA guy to me.
Yeah, Gret Rillard, it's time to give him a chance. I was
waiting for I thought it was I didn't know who it was going to be.
I should have known it was gonna be Nate Walter or not. You
should know this will be our last one. Christian Vasile, Do the Rockets
have some positive stats with which we can build on. I will say,
despite everything for the season, they are thirteams in points allowed per possession.
That's a really good place to be. DeShawn Tate does all kinds of things
on that side of the floor. I sort of when I'm looking at them,
I'm trying to look at their roster and see are there players here that
can be a part of the next iteration of the team that is good or
of their rebuild. And Deshawntate stands out can do stuff with the ball in
his hands too. You'd like to see him hit more of his threes,
obviously. Kevin Porter Jr. We just mentioned him going to need to see
more of him. Christian would is We considered him to put him in our
top five cent or at least. I yeah, uh, And after that,
I think that's where you're probably getting kind of murky. I'm semi interested.
He's on a one year deal. They don't have his bird rights,
But Sterling Brown has been really good this year. I thought maybe I was
wondering refusing going to get bought out to go to a contender, but he
just might want to play twenty five plus minutes per game on a fairly consistent
basis. Those are the guys that I'm watching most of this team that I
leave anyone out at him. I guess John Wall has a default to hear
yeah, but he is old enough that I don't really view him in that
same light. I think the tricky thing here is that those guys have looked
really good, especially Kevin Porter Jr. In my opinion, like that G
League stint really helped him. He looks like he's playing with far more control
and kind of dictating the tempo rather than allowing it to come to him.
But as is the case with everyone else, like we have to be careful
with this evaluation. It's sort of like an offshoot of what we see at
the end of seasons where you can see those guys come out of nowhere because
they're afforded opportunities and because teams are operating with various motivations and you just don't
know what you're going to get from an effort level on a day to day
basis, which is one of our concert which was one of our concerns about
Christian Wood when he was coming off of that stellar run at the end of
his time with the Detroit Pistons, Like is this legitimate? And I think
we're sort of seeing a similar situation with Houston right now, because this roster
is bad and there are a lot of players getting minutes who shouldn't be getting
minutes in a competitive NBA rotation, So like, how much of it is
it is a product of opportunity that isn't going to be available going forward,
and how much of it is legitimately improved quality play With Jay Shawn Tate and
with Kevin Porter Junior and with Christian Wood. I think I leaned towards the
legitimacy end of that debate. I'm not quite sure on kJ Martin yet,
but that has to be encouraging just that Houston deservedly feels like it has at
least a few legitimate pieces on the current whatever you want to call this roster,
it's low key, so mean or maybe not so it's not really that
low key, Yeah, I mean? And look, Kenyan Martin Junior has
been you know, his three ball this season like an actual rotation and this
helps, So maybe look to him if you're looking for a one positive number
to pinpoint this lineup actually makes sense on paper, doesn't John Wall, Daniel
House, Sterling Brown, Jay Shawntae Christian Wood. Would you say that lineup
makes sense on paper. They are outscoring opponents by twenty two points per one
hundred possessions, and they have one on one point three defensive rating one twenty
three point three offensive rating. No question is like, over what like seven
minutes, it's seventy three possessions, so you might You're not like too far
off. So yeah, that's pretty accurate. The other thing I will say,
though, this is four hundred and sixteen possession sample size. When Christian
Wood plays without harden Oli Depot or p J. Tucker, so players who
are no longer with them. Obviously, the Rockets have a plus three point
one net rating on the season with a terrible offense and a fantastic defense.
I mean, I think Christian Wood legitimately might that good. I guess.
Okay, So my follow up question to you is this time next year,
ideally we've seen a healthy version of Christian Wood for a prolonged period, He's
going to be viewed as a top X player, oh, in the entire
league. In the entire league, I mean, is he is? If
he's playing at this level, is he an All Star next year? Twenty
two points, ten rebounds, shooting thirty eight percent from three sixty two point
two percent on twos. I'm gonna I'm going to go outside the top thirty
here because I think he would then make the Rockets like better than they'll actually
will be. And I'm not sure the ball is I don't know. He
does so much stuff one on one now, thirty was the number in my
head. Just seeing thirty to thirty five feels right. Here's I'm gonna.
I'm gonna throw this back at you. He's on a shorter deal. He's
he's twenty five tours twenty six and September this time around the trade deadline next
year, there's a year and a half of Christian Wood left in a bargain.
If you're the Rockets, are you looking this as we want to pay
him? Or is he going to get moved because it's just the it's not
look. I think he's young enough to be a part of the next team,
but they're so all over the place that if they don't have the blue
chip cornerstone to pair with him, I don't know what you do. So
it's a twofold question, is one is he that guy? Or are you
more inclined to move him before his nundtracked up. And at this moment,
let's say, over the off season or before next year's trade deadline, what
type of value are you looking at for Christian Wood on the trade market should
you? Well, I mean, based on the current Rockets regimes, previous
moves, looking specifically at the totality of what they ended up getting for James
Harden, I would assume for Christian Wood they'd get like a twenty forty one,
heavily protected second round pick. Another illegal thing, but that's a good,
spicy take. I like it. You're in the right You're in the
right space. Look, they're not going to move him, I don't think.
I think he's young enough, and he they took a chance on him
already and it's paid off when he's been healthy enough to be on the court.
And I think that there's there's going to be loyalty for both ends on
that. I keep him just because you need good players on the team,
and he really if you can have a top thirty to thirty five guy,
just keep him on the team. If you're going to trade him with a
year and a half left, you're probably looking at a young player in two
first round picks. Oh Patrick said in the chat top thirty five to forty
five, that's you know, I think that range is totally reasonable. What
it's all right, here's let's go the opposite way. Oh and first of
all, I think he gets you more for the I think he gets you
more than Boots does on the trade market, just because of the type of
players they are. He's a little bit more not as good as a passer,
more dynamic though with the ball in his hands. I think you can
say, do you see a path for him to be an All Star next
year or top twenty five, top twenty guy? Is that like a ceiling
he actually has? I think so, but it feels like it depends on
the pieces they put around him, because if you are on one of the
worst teams in the Western Conference, you have to put up some massive numbers
to enter that conversation. And Houston is going to be one of the worst
teams in the Western Conference next season unless something ridiculous happens in the off season.
So I would say that there probably isn't that realistic a half next year,
but I expect him to play at an all star caliber level. Do
you have anything else to hit before we mosey on out of here. I
think we got to a lot. I'm proud of us. Thank you,
thank you all for listening, and for everyone who straggled in and out.
This was our least successful locker room that we've ever had. Our egos have
been damaged after having dozens of people in here. The tracts Patrick for sticking
around for so long and asking some good questions. Yes, we appreciate you
Patrick, and anyone else who said again straggling out. Remember we do this
every week at four o'clock. Maybe we'll build it as an actual ask me
anything. Maybe that was the turn off. We thought if we isolated the
topic it'd be different. But well, we're gonna, you know, fuck
around with this and fiddle with it as we see fit. Sundays are tough
in here, per Patrick, that is something for us to consider, particularly
when you think about FOOTBA season. You're just like downline. Until next time,
though, Please, please, pretty please remember to rate, review,
subscribe, Hardwood Knox. Wherever you're getting your podcasts, we have all the
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Follow us. We're all over the place, including Sports Math Network at
Sports Underscore at the Underscore Sports Underscore Math. But until next time, we
leave you with the shout out two to one the only future All Star Apparently,
according to Adam Bromwell and Worth, at least three first round picks post
twenty forty Christian Wood, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin
Hagler, and Thomas Hearns. Legends whose four way rivalry define one of the
greatest errors in boxing history, relive their decade of dominance in the new Showtime
Sports documentary The Kings, a four parts series premiering Sunday, June sixth,
only on Showtime