What is crack laughing, fellow thermonuclear A Effers, I am at Damn Valley,
coming at you with a solo mailbag here at the heart of the NBA
playoffs. We will get them some more playoff series previews as they sort of
are determined. Grant and I will talk sons nuggets. I think sometime on
Friday. I'm believe we're gonna go do that live at one pm from time
ten am Pacific. So if you're around on a Friday, come hang out
with us on YouTube. I'll try and set up that room earlier than normal.
Remember the rate review subscribe if you haven't done so already. That helps
us out a ton, especially if you're gonna like and comment as well on
YouTube. If you've done all those things, We're done to all those things.
Excuse me. Word of mouth recommendations are fucking awesome. We super appreciate
them before we dive into mailbag and update we were met with as sounding response
to my raccoon story on the last podcast. I really appreciate everyone's thoughts,
prayers, snark, hate or aid whatever being thrown at me. The only
update I have is that later this week, I think over the weekend.
I'm gonna have to go up there and clean it out because we have hired
a company to come sanitize it before we then assess the damage and get everything
fixed. So I am terrified to go open to the attic and clean it
out, but that is where we're at with that won't get too much into
tonight. We saw the Timberwolve season end as I'm recording this on a Tuesday.
We saw the Clipper season end in injury fashion with Al Kauai without Paul
George once more. But they put up a hell of a fight. If
anyone hasn't been a chance to watch Game five against the Songs, they really
did come back. A few couple turnovers down the stretch and miss light up
by Rush as well. We're gonna be talking about a Game six for them.
I'm excited for Hawks Celtics Game six. That's definitely gonna be one to
watch for for thursdon I think the only game will have on tap. So
it's good that we got one game six out of the slates that we're all
three to one on Tuesday night, I'm not gonna do I did put out
a Wizard's off season look ahead I don't know if I'm gonna get to an
individual podcast or every team. Grant and I will eventually do free agency previews
for every team broken down by division, but teams that I find fascinating or
if they're in the news. We're gonna have a Rockets one coming out later
this week. Now that they've hired email Udoka, I will say my thoughts
on the hiring of him for that episode. I did go on the Red
Nation podcast though, with Tom and Ali. I gave my thoughts on the
hiring there. She can go check that episode out or just wait until Thursday
and come check it out in this feed without further delay. Though, let's
get into these mail bad questions had a good amount of them. I'm scrolling
through them. I didn't organize them the same way I normally do this time,
so there's a bunch of raccoons gifts sprinkled in as I go through this.
But let's see if we can keep it somewhat organized. The first one
comes from Glad who asked who's the free agent that's having the biggest impact in
the playoffs aside from Jalen Brunson. And it's funny that we have the non
jail and Brunson division there, who's you know? He heeled up in some
situations against Sarious growing defensively ever since Tis made that change in Game two,
I think, look, you know what's weird is that? And glad ads
and why is it Kyle Anderson? Kyle Anderson didn't play Game five against the
Nuggets because of an eye injury. He might be the answer shot like fifty
five percent on two's whatever it was pitched in. Defensively, they did kind
of have him roaming a lot, but he spent some time on Yokich,
he spent some time on Jamal Murray just rocks out. He was probably the
second most important free agency signing in the league this year, behind Jalen Brunson.
If we're not counting Jalen Brunson, is it russ in La? And
I'm just mentioning Kyle Anderson. We're gonna try and just go through a couple
here, is it russ in La? Because it actually might be the rim
pressure he provided. You had Kawai and PG out between them for a total
of three games, and Paul George Missus that entire series. He's there averages
pretty upsurd number is not necessarily on the greatest efficiency, but he played real
defense on Kevin Durant, and there were times in Game five, especially in
the I think it was the fourth quarter, Durant went long stretches without touching
the ball. Part of me is like, he's got to go get it
like Russ's baldnial and certain instances there it was. It was pretty terrific,
and so I think he has to be up on that list, even though
he was a buyout signing. I don't know whether to include Malik Monkey has
not been super efficient inside the Ark, but he's putting up like seventeen plus
points a game in the King's Warriors series, I believe, and so he
certainly has to make that list. I don't know if anyone else does.
Would you nominate Isaiah Hartenstein has had some big moments in the Knicks cav series.
I certainly don't think he's outperformed in Anderson or a or a Westbrook by
by any stretch. Aside from that, I mean, Josha Coke probably should
be on this list, which just hasn't, you know, played enough at
all and hasn't played enough in the series to make that cut. That didn't
play enough in the Suns Clipper series past tense. Now have to remember to
to do that. Yeah, I don't. I don't really think there's any
other options here. No one from Memphis really who didn't really have anything.
I guess Taias Jones you could count, but they resigned him, so I
feel like that definitely should not count. Dennis Shrewder with the Lakers had some
very up and down moments, like all the Lakers guards, but he's still
can be really active on defense, and he's going to get view some pressure
in the lane, even though he's not getting into the rim nearly as often
as he did in the regular season. That's a That's another good one there.
If I had to narrow it down to one, though, I think
I'm probably gonna settle on and let's just remove Kyle Anderson Jalen Brunson from it.
I think I might have to settle on Russ. It's it's Russ or
malikue Monk and let him. Unless I'm just forgetting someone super obvious here,
I like, I don't even we didn't forget anybody in Brooklyn during their series
with Philly. We didn't really forget anybody in Philly. PJ. Tucker was
kind of a bear for them, has really helped out their rebounding. So
if you want to go with him, that's perfectly fine as well. There's
not gonna be anybody in Boston, and there is nobody in Amana. So
I think it's probably between the non Brunson non Anderson division. It is probably
between Russ and Malik Monk. And I apologize if I'm just forgetting a Bruce
Brown in Denver had some big moments in that series. I still don't think
he's gonna rival the two that we just listed the I still don't think he's
gonna rival a malikue Monk or Russell Westbrook in this year. Now, Bruce
Brown maybe playing deeper into the playoffs. So this is a question that we
should definitely be reevaluating down the line. Really enjoy that one good question.
But the answer, it's Jalen Brunson, is the actual answer. It's a
non Jalen Brunson division question, but the answer is and always will be Jialen
Brunson. Piezos, considering a scenario with the team lands number one in this
year's lottery, would be willing to trade the pick, would Okay, see
trade every single first round pick that they accumulated to trade up who I'm gonna
say, I'm gonna say, no, we're talking about a lot of first
rounders here. You can't. You're talking about every single first round pick that
they really know, we're on double digit first round pick that I think they
still have, that I think they still have in their in their chamber.
And then I mean even if it's just like would you give up some of
them, like don't project to be that good, but would you give up
even five or six? Yeah, I think you. I think you would.
And just for the thunder specifically, think about how terrifying it it really
kind of is when you when you look at Jaylen Williams, Shay Gilders,
Alexander chet Home Grin, you add Wemb to that, Josh Giddy, lou
Dort still being there. I just the problem that I can't the problem here,
uh Peto, that I can't. I just can't fathom any team being
willing to trade the number one pick. I think that would be flat out
bonkers of any team to consider. And so if Oklahoma Sea came calling and
said, so let's see what they have, they have all their own picks
moving forward, but they also have Houston's next year that's top four protected.
The Clippers next year unprotected. They have a twenty twenty four first from Utah
that's top ten protected, so they could have four next year alone. Technically
they're they're swaps in twenty so they have Miami's in twenty five their own,
so that when now we're up to six, they have Phillies in twenty five
loosen protected. We're up to seven going through the list two thousand and twenty
six. Houston now we're up to Now we're up to eight, top four
protected. There, we're just gonna assume all these combay twenty twenty six from
LA we're up to nine. That's unprotected. They have they have any that's
the latest that there there are things. And then of course they have their
own by the way, so that's we're talking double digits. If they weren't
including their own, you're looking at them like between six and eight. Let's
say what they do it? Holy fuck, I think that I think they
might. I'm not gonna lie. That sounds less ridiculous. If we're not
including their own picks there, for we're including everyone. We get into double
digits, and maybe they value the other teams picks over their own at that
point because they think they're gonna be really good. If it was like seven
eight and that's just the cost of getting Victor Woman Yama, I could see
them do if they were able to just pick like the pick the six to
seven that they include, I think they might. I just I can't fathom
any team that wins a lottery making when be available that would be just that
would just be absolutely mind melting to me, cyborgian ass Neither team has what
the other needs. When Milwaukee trades for Dame or Portland trades for Giannat,
who's the best rebuild package for the other? I'll tank your answers off the
air, Thanks, Joe. Question. I think by far though, Portland
has the best rebuilding package of that too. So if Jan has one out
of Milwaukee, which I can't see it, although we do have questions on
that about the Bucks specifically, and we might as well go there. We
have some nets questions too, put it there. Where is this Milwaukee Bucks?
One? Terrible podcasting? Here? Right now? There we go,
DJ Underscore seven. I asked if the Bucks lose this series, do you
think oh Madam Leving got the phrase in this if the Bucks lose this series,
do you think Mike Bootyholzer should be fired? And if so, which
potential coach that you think will be on the market should the Bucks pursue.
So, I just I don't think Mike Bodenholzer should be fired. There are
some things that you could definitely change about this series. Right now, as
I'm recording this, the Bucks are down three to one to the Heat and
it has not been a batter series for the Bucks. Why is Jay Crowder
maybe not being thrown against you Butler more? I think there's a lot of
question people have had. Isn't that the entire reason that he was acquired At
the same time, Johannis has missed more than two games this series. He
sat out with the back intusion for the end of Game one basically, which
was winnable. They win Game two without him, Okay, they get blown
out in Game three without him. The other note here is that Jimmy Butler
has gone just supernova, which is I guess you could say, is unavoidable
or death. It's just something that he's wont that he's inclined to do.
In the playoffs, even though he's had some bad playoff outings before, including
against the Bucks. The Heat are just shooting the lights out of the ball,
and that's without Tyler Hero, who's out basically for the year unless they
make the finals after fracturing his hand. This came from seth part Now on
Twitter. Miami shooting forty three of eighty two, which is fifty two point
four percent on contested threes in the series. The league average on those shots
in the regular season was thirty three and a half percent. The Heat actually
shot below that at thirty three point two percent. This is a team has
been spacing challenge, shooting challenge all year, and now they're worring from deep
like Gangbusters. And it's not like they're getting all of these super high quality
looks. Eighty two of their three pointers have been contested in the series.
Bud System. For as much as he's criticized for how the Bucks you'll manipulate
the shot profile and have allowed wide open threes in the past, they've allowed
fewer than them this year as a percentage of the shots that opponents are taking.
They've been able to protect the rim and kind of limit the quality of
the three point looks, and so I can't lay this specifically at his feet
if he wanted to make a change. Yes, Nick Nurse is still floating
around out there. Tylou would be very interesting Milwaukee, but he said that
he fully expects to be the head coach of the Clippers next season, so
you kind of have to you would punt on that. I like the idea.
Sam Quinn's been getting a lot of coaching consideration. He's on Miami staff
right now, studying under Spow. That's always something to maybe and bring some
of the trade secrets there with them. So like, that's that's that's fine.
I don't I think, I don't even know if i'd like Nurse for
this team. I do think for Milwaukee though, more than anything. This
might be a personnel issue at this point. But it's also just Jannis was
absent for part of the series and the heat are catching fire at an inopportune
time. I will say the Buck's depth, I've touted it, I've panned
it, I've been on the fence about it. I'm kind of back on
the fence about it now. There's not a ton of athleticism surrounding this team,
even though they have Yannis on it, which is wild the wing rotation.
Nikaia's Duncan had pointed this out on the Dunker spot leading into the playoffs,
those very stut observation. They just don't have a ton of juice on
the wings. There's Drew Holiday. You don't really consider Yannis a wing and
that's it. Like Chris Middleton just doesn't move the same way. That can
give you problems defending at the point of attack when when the advantage. Creators
like Jimmy Butler are just these bigger power wing size dudes and so like that
can't be up to Drew Holiday to slow down. He just doesn't necessarily have
the size to go up against all of those opponents, and that's something that
they'll be they'll have a difficult time addressing, just because they're very limited in
trade assets. Obviously don't have a ton of cat flexibility. But to me,
I look at this roster and think that those are some of their biggest
things is you need to deepen the wing rotation beyond sort of these just aging
veterans who aren't going to provide the same punch. Looking at Joe Angles,
looking even at a Jay Crowder, someone who's gonna be you know, Pat
Conston's had his moments in this series specifically, but who's going to provide more
of a consistent punch than a Pat Conaton on offense, or more of a
consistent defensive punch than a Grayson Allen who can like, yeah, he's tough,
he competes, but that's just there's not a perfect solution here. And
I think with Chris Middleton, who has a player option, that's going to
be fascinating to watch. With Chris Middleton getting up there in age, he
has slipped defensively for sure. He's not even moving necessarily the same way on
offense when you go back and look from a couple of years ago. Those
injuries are mounting. It's food for thought as we lead into the summer.
And I wouldn't expect Buenosa to be fired because they're just built in excuses here
with you know, with the Jannis injuries specifically, even if you want to
overlook the rest of the roster issues, and hey, the series isn't over
yet, maybe they're able to erase this. DJ Underscore seventh has two more
questions. One of them is Bucks related. The first one the second one
is if Jannest loses this series, will you no longer have him as your
best player in the NBA? Uh, that's no, I would still have
him as What would be the reasoning here is if you weren't impressed with to
impress with his performance coming back off that back contusion in Game four against the
Heat. I mean, he missed time in this series, and that's probably
the reason Milwaukee's down in the first place. You would think that it's a
you know, at least two to two now if he plays in every single
game. Now, if he had played in every single game and they're still
in this position, do we start to relitigate that and wonder, all right,
is it time to sort of look at the alternatives that we have here?
And I don't even know, you know, based off the playoffs specifically,
the alternative would be, oh, it's Devin Booker and let's just move
on. But I don't know, like Lebron isn't going to replace them.
I guess it could still be Kevin Dramp. If you're worried about Janice's injury,
all of a sudden, you're gonna definitely be worried about his. Could
be Yoki, could be embeed. Maybe there's debates at the top there is,
It's still Steph, but I would still have I'm still going to have
him as my best player in the NBA. Is something not enough as materially
changed with Jana specifically, and as I already outlaid in the previous response,
is I kind of think that this is more of a personnel issue beyond Yanna
specifically. And look, there is something to this I mentioned that is in
passing during a brief discussion with Grant last week. You do have to be
very specific about how you build out a roster around Jannis and around him be
compared to a Yokich, a Steph Curry, maybe even a Lebron not even
maybe, but but a Lebron James, like Kevin Durant, he's just not
as plug and play, even as even as more of a play finisher,
who, by the way, his passing in Game four out of this world.
So someone who's leveled up in every aspect of the game, with the
exception of being, you know, a reliable jump shooter. Really you still
have to there has to be more spacing for him than a lot of those
other guys. And he's not going to be the same player off the ball
as a lot of those other guys because of the shooting. That doesn't make
him worse because he's such this dominant force on both ends of the floor,
just like it doesn't necessarily make him Bead worse. But you do have to,
I believe, be more deliberate with your intentions as you flush out the
rest of the roster. And I just don't think Milwaukee has gotten there yet,
and you almost have to. I think the biggest, like the nitty
grittiest thing about needing to build around your honest that that item is the brook
Lopes type center is you really need a big who can space the floor.
And maybe he doesn't need to be a premier room protector because you can get
away with the Bobby Portis minutes, but he needs to be pretty damn close.
And the list of those players is just there's brook Lopez, There's Miles
Turner. I guess if you want to throw Christops porzingis in there? Am
I leaving anybody else off? Like maybe I'm like, if you're gonna start
to consider, okay, Zach Collins belong in this conversation, you know you
go a little bit lower end, but you can count the higher end dude
to do that on one hand. And so you do need that type of
player at least a floor space or at the five not totally uncommon, who
can hold his own defensively. Since Bobby Porters is not going to be the
guy you want to close games with anyway, it might be easier to find
someone like him. But brook Lopez is just one of three maybe at this
point also going to be a free agent n age thirty five bucks or if
they lose this series. Approaching a fascinating offseason? How many times am I
going to use that word during this podcast? I think we're already up to
five. Let's set the over under it. Let let's just set the over
under at eleven. This next question will come from t Bloom one one seven.
Oh. I like this one. What's more likely this offseason Dame to
the Nets or MacHale to the Blazers. And I think this has started to
gain some traction because Dame has been linked to the Nets, but we also
know that Dame is in love with McHale Bridges as well. I would say,
when you're looking at the direction of the teams, I think it's McHale
to the Blazers. I don't feel confident in saying that because the Nets are
kind of sneaky as a superstar trade destination. They have all of these extra
first round picks now from the Kevin Durant trade, that distant Dallas first rounder
from the Kyrie Irving trade. They also just have a bunch of wings on
the roster and just players that other teams would want. The problem issue there
is, you know, how much do you want throwing from me Smith?
If you're kind of starting a rebuild. I think some teams might still actually
want him, who knows, But yeah, I don't think they're going to
act with that type of urgency to go get someone in Dame who is just
so deep into his career, and whereas the Blazers are just beholden to Dame's
timeline if they're actually going to keep him, And so unless the the goal
is to force him to request a trade now, because you know you're not
going to move him unless you request for out, I like I think that
you're more likely to be Hey, let's dangle Shade and sharp. Let's we
have the projected number five pick in this year's draft. We can technly trade
some first allowable first as well with that two twenty four obligation to Chicago,
we have Anthony Simons. So I think it's become underrated at this point.
I don't know if I'm I don't know if I'm overstepping there, but the
perception of him just seems to be so low. No one really wants Nurk
hitch of course that that deal is like, I feel like that might be
a disaster. Might look back on that like a few months time. Boh
right, Like that's way too much money for him. I think he's three
years of forty eight point five million or fifty four point five million, whatever's
left. That's that's just too much for Nurk and the limitations he places upon
your defense. So I could more likely see, like, let's consider a
move like this, and this is a trade. I proposed that both Nets
and Blazers Twitter they founded in an article. Of course, it was aggregated
without including on Twitter, without including a link whage just a screen shot.
The Blazers get Michael Bridges, the Nets get and Seer Little Shade Sharp the
number five pick, and then an unprotected twenty twenty six first round picks,
So it's essentially three first round picks, one of which you know is going
to be in the top five. Sharp was drafted number seven and is still
basically a teenager, and then you have another unprotected and so we know the
nets turned down four first for Michael Bridges. I believe those were from teams
like the Pacers and the Grizzlies. I guarantee you there wasn't a single one
of them. There was probably unprotected in there, but there wasn't a single
one of them that projected to be even close to as high as this year's
Blazers pick, or where Shade and Sharp was really drafted. I'd be kind
of mythed or pleasantly surprised. Actually, if Indiana included its own first round
er, should it have offered four for Mchael Bridges? And it doesn't matter
if the Grizzlies were offering the Golden State's first round in the own first round
or they're all going to be dogshit Golden States twenty four first round, or
maybe that's a little bit better. So I think that's a viable deal,
and I could see the Blazers being more open to offering that. Then what
is it going to take from the Nets to get Damian Lillard. Just I
guess they have the salary filler to make it happen. That's what Also,
you know that I think what makes it more difficult is Dame's salary is so
large leading into next season he will be at his number is forty five point
six million dollars. The Nets having to come in the ballpark of that.
Yeah, if you want to move Ben Simmons or the Blazers, wildn't think
Ben Simmons back as part of that deal. If not, you do have
Joe Harris and Dan Widdie. So yeah, it's easier to get there,
But are you also going to need to give up Claxton or Phinney Smith and
Royce O'Neil. Like part of the appeal would be we want a pair of
Claxton with Dame and Bridges. I would think at least those three out off.
He was part of my corn. You probably even want Tory and Phinny
Smith. There's just this three in d Wing and he's on a you know,
a steal of an extension. For the most part, things get really
difficult then, and I could see the base of look if it can be
Bridges, Claxton, Dame. Let's say DFS, and then you're gonna keep
Cam Johnson in free agency. That's like a super interesting base. And then
are you also keeping Ben Simmons as part of that because that could be semi
interesting or you're just moving him as it's only two years left on his deal
as the large salary can basically be matched for Dame straight up, not really,
but so. And then first round equity in addition to what so,
it's Dinwoody and Harris or Simmons plus smaller stuff to get Dame plus all the
draft equity in the world. I just I don't fit. I guess it
wouldn't be all the draft equity in the world. But you catch my drift
there. I think that the Blazers are more likely to act, and it's
just inherently easier to acquire in my mind, even though McHale is might be
on the NBA's best contract three years left twenty one point seven, next year
twenty three point three, and then twenty four point nine, But substars,
sub superstars are normally inherently easier to acquire. I think, really what it
comes down to is McHale Bridges, is still the type of player that you
move without him agitating for it, and the Nets could theoretically pivot into more
of a rebuilding model here. And then the Blazers, we just know I
would be shocked if they moved Dame and he didn't ask for it. That
just feels like, you know, extending him and just the power, not
even the power he has with the organization, but his influence in the community
and just popularity around there. So I think the answer is that my long
way away of saying Dame McHale to the Blazers is more likely than than Dame
to the Nets. Let me know what you guys think, though, whether
you agree or not, you should agree because that's obviously the perfect answer.
This next question comes from JT. Alexander, and it's it's to let me
use the word. I'm gonna use it deliberately this time. It's a fascinating
one, and it's one of that crops up this time of year. I
think a lot. Is it time for the league to scrap conference rankings for
the playoffs and do a flat one V sixteen to V fifteen, et cetera
set up? I see the tour, I see the argument for keeping it
as is, but it would be cool to see the finals play versus the
league' two best teams, and not the two best teams in these each conference.
This does pre suppose that the two best teams would make it. I
would be all four doing this. I just recognize that the travel elements of
it and how you're going to split up the schedule you would the NBA would
need to be way more deliberate and how they're scheduling teams road trips so that
they're not kind of jockeying back and forth between the coast too often. I
know the way these players travel are not anything like the way that any of
us travel. Load management and player preservation is happening right now when we don't
have that issue at play. And if you're gonna throw in theory more cross
country games into the equation, it's going to become more common. And so
I don't know if there's a path to ever doing that, And I think
I don't know if this would hurt it. But because you're sort of shrinking
the sample size with which a lot of teams are playing one another, where
maybe you don't ever play anyone four times, doesn't ruin sort of the rivalry
or historical element of it where even if you know, even if you don't
care about the number of times they play in the regular season, and maybe
you shouldn't because of load management itself, look at you know, how often
teams were at full strength in certain matchups, or how often that they turned
over their roster with the deadline. So when they're facing these other teams during
the regular season versus the playoffs, their roster isn't the same even if they
didn't go through that turnover. But but like you do create a history in
the playoffs where it's just sort of like, oh, there's look at the
Bucks and the Heat is a perfect example here, like, yeah, there,
regular season games don't necessarily mean shit anymore. It's not ones that you're
especially looking forward to, or at least myself, Yeah, I'll always be
intrigued by it. But there's real history there between them and the playoffs,
and they're far more likely to play each other if it's split up conference,
And so we continue to get that rivalry that matchup and increasing the chances of
seeing it, rather than you dilute it by just going to the straight best
sixteen teams model. The play would be wild too. By the way,
now all of a sudden, you're just like, so it's it's going all
the way dipping into these twenty teams, and so the matchups they are I
could get really wonky, I'd be I'd still be all for it, because
I'm above all a fan of like rewarding the competitive landscape and the best teams.
If you're not going to do that, I'm still a fan of.
I think Zach Low proposed this, like let the one seed pick which teams
coming out of the plan to get the face in the first round. I
think that'd be great theater. I just don't see the NBA doing it.
I could see like at this point there's a situation where you just get rid
of divisions. That seems to do it pretty easily, but getting rid of
conferences feels like it would just be a dramatic step that I don't know if
the MBA is ready for or will ever ever be ready for. No name
before God wants me to answer a question about myself, which I'm always happy
to do obviously because I'm a narcissist. The question is, so this is
a bit out of let Field tell us a story of your be ball fandom
journey. Have you had a team you've been a hardcore fan of do you
still feel the same irrational attraction towards childhood be ball idols? So the genesis
is my fandom. I can't describe a specific moment necessarily, but I grew
up a Knicks fan, and some of my earliest memories of basketball come from
watching the Patrick Ewing led Knicks, Alan Houston being on that team, going
up against Alonzo Warning in the Miami Heat, a bunch of like really just
hardcore warlike playoff series between those two. I'll never forget Alan Houston shot.
I think it was in ninety nine while Ewing was injured, hits the game
what turned out to be the series winner, I think, to beat Miami
with point eight seconds left in the shock Hawk in the first round, you
had Lj's four point play against the Pacers. That team goes on to the
NBA Finals is an eight that was special. I got trucked by the Spurs,
of course, because the Spurs of the Spurs, but that was probably
my favorite postseason experience as a fan was watching that ninety nine Knicks team.
Is just perpetual underdogs make it through the East and crack the NBA Finals.
Ewing was definitely and even out in Houston. But more so Ewing I just
took excessive amounts of glee and the amount that he would sweat his kneepads,
the defensive place that he would make like we just he was earlier on his
career shot blocking or defensive highlight. And I like growing up sort of the
ground and bound style too, or like you would pounded to Patrick doing in
the post. But he also had that sort of finesse and fadeaway game and
he has I don't know, I can't even point to which one it is,
but you can see the anyone who's watching. There are other assigned basketballs
behind me, and he is among those that I'm lucky to have. And
so I grew up just an intense Knicks fan. I'm talking. I would
get upset after losses. I'd be the Knicks in NBA live on PlayStation.
I think it was get upset when I would lose with them, but it
would be like super cool winning a title as controlling that franchise. I also
remember the first Knicks game I went to because I grew up in a incredibly
low income household where it was just my mom and tickets damas she were so
expensive. She somehow through a friend's husband, got basically courtside seats to an
Atlanta Hawks game. And I was older. It's like, I not like,
I don't think I was a teenager yet, but I wasn't like four
or five, and my dad wasn't around to Like. My mom didn't particularly
like basketball. She drove me to all the travel teams that I made,
which I was terrible on because I was too passive, and like, you
need to be more aggressive. Even in the sort of youth association league where
it wasn't travel, I would be a little bit more aggressive or confident,
but I was still just too passive in them. She supported all that I
remember wearing when I was able to get like Team Max shoes on clearance in
one of the games, and I had all these stupid ass like wristbands and
elbow pads at headbands. I thought I was so fucking cool showing up the
games playing in that. So yeah, that she did all that stuff for
me, but she didn't really like basketball all that much. But she took
me that game with my aunt. I think was there was it just the
three of us. Yeah, I think it was, as we had three
tickets. It was a Hawks game. We were at center court, not
really court side, but like only a few rows back. I can't even
tell you if the Knicks won that game. I think they did. But
Gallo was on the team at the time. I fell in love with him.
He made like a pass out of the side in bounds that I thought
was spectacular. I was able to buy. The jersey is still hanging up
behind me now that Danilo Gallinari New York Knicks Saint Patty's Day. Just addition,
jersey is one of my most treasured items, in part because it was
one of the more expensive gifts I got from my mom. And then like
as you grow older, and I lost her when I was seventeen. I
think it was just after my seventeen birthday. You grow to appreciate that more,
but that is like a moment that stands out. And then as I
as I got older, you know, you meet people like one of the
best men at my wedding. He's an intense Knicks fan. We went to
a few games together. I would drag my now wife to certain games and
some of her friends would come with us sometimes. Two of the games that
I remember later on in life going to, and I always this was post
post mom era. How weird is that to say I would still be in
college, But like, I made good money for someone who was in college,
and I was one of my I was one of my few friends that
had a full time job while I was also going to school. So I
would buy tickets. And that's what we would do, is we would go
to a game every now and then two there are members we went to that
season that the Knicks, it must have been twenty nine twenty ten, before
Lebronze free agency, when they were making all those salary cap moves. I
went to the first game that Team Mac played as a member of the Knicks
at MSG. It was electric. I think they won. He was talking
about a playoff push, but everyone knew this wasn't the team Ac of old.
It was just old T Mac and or Team Mac who was old and
funny story, I ended up buying a house in an investment property in Florida
through a real estate agent that his brother was teams best friend. But that's
neither here nor there. Went to that game. He's talking playoffs, but
it was really just this salary dumping move, and I was kind of dipping
my toes a little bit into the water of wanting to cover the league at
that point. I didn't end up doing it. It was still too early.
It was twenty eleven, was my first season covering the league. But
we went to that game that was super fun, and then I went to
I'm pretty sure it was when they still sucked, but it was earlier in
Kevin Durant's career, but the Oklahoma City Thunder where the Oklahoma City Under at
that point an overtime game between the Knicks and the Thunder. I was behind
one of the baskets and I watched. I think the Knicks actually won that
game too, I can't remember, but it went into overtime and I watched
Kevin Durant cook and I'm watching him hit these really tough jumpers from above the
break or from the mid range, and I don't think I appreciated in real
time when I was watching from that guy, but it was just so freaking
smooth, and that was I remember the people I was with. I think
it was my vent my now wife then girlfriend, and we were with I
think I think that might have been the game where and he would have to
his name's Phil, my best one of my best friends, Phil, and
then his girlfriend now wife might have been with us. I can't remember if
that actually happened, making up if it wasn't. That was one of my
my wife's from friends and what we went with them, But that was,
like, it incredible. I just remember falling kind of in love with Kevin
Durant's game and still not following him closely enough until a few years after that.
But I think that was also maybe in two thousand and eleven, because
the thunder were there by then, right, I'm pretty sure I'd have to
I'd have to look that up. Maybe that was twenty and twelve, but
I feel like I was covering the league by that point for not in a
you know, super fo Yeah, they were no Casey, but so it
was probably the year after lebron chose Miami, and so I still count myself.
I call it a deadeningly disenchanted Knicks fan, and I grew. I
got. I came of age during the era of Knicker blogger dot net love.
Robert Silverman, Jason Conceptio was one of my favorite writers of all time.
Jim Kavin. I don't know if anyone's ever checked him out, if
he can find his old stuff. One of the single most talented writers I've
ever read in my entire life. I had the pleasure of working with him
at Bleacher Report for a little bit and he was always so nice to me,
and he was one of the few who kind of accepted me because I
just remember NBA Twitter and it can still be this way, but like that
clique of writers being I don't want to use the word incestuous, but it
was just there was a barrier there and Bleacher Report was viewed as Bleacher Report,
and still it still is to some people who I think just need to
get over them fuck themselves. But back then, when it was earlier on
and he was so nice to me, I remember when he followed me back
on Twitter. I was over the moon. We had had a couple of
conversations. He was just a genuinely nice dude to him. Him and Howard
Beck was always really nice to me while he was at BR and he's still
kind when we've had exchanges, and it's normally just me like saying, you
know this, this article is awesome, or what fucking company was stupid enough
to lay you off this time, so I've had the pleasure of like interacting
with those Sidnecks fans with that, I do think his time has gone on.
They can't hurt me as much. And I'm still I think I'm I'm
I'm objective enough in my analysis. But yes, I'm always going to for
the Knicks, and if they were winn a title like yeah, I would
probably be an emotional moment for me. But every year as I covered the
league more, you do distance yourself a little bit from it. You still
have your ties to that phantom, and I think it's important and it shaped
the way I cover what I do now. And I'm not saying the way
I do it is perfect. I'm not saying it's in vogue. I'm not
saying I'm actually funny, even though i make myself laugh hysterically when I'm talking
to Grant. But when I was growing up, and even like later on
a years, I always thought I wanted to be sort of a Capital Jay
journalist, a beat writer. As I went to school, I want to
scholarship to Penn State for a year, and I had a miserable experience.
I was homesick. It was fewer than two years after my mom had passed
away too, so I think that was part of it. I ended up
leaving after the first year, went home to just a you know. I
went to community college for a year, transfer my credits to Saint Joseph's University,
got an English degree. I started writing for Bleach Report while I was
still I think the year I graduated, which was twenty eleven, Turner buys
them out. They brought me on full time. I've never really looked back
knock on wood. I've been very fortunate in the industry, but part of
that process was realizing I didn't want to be someone who just either was,
you know, doing these news and postgame quotes. I think beat writers hard
beat writer jobs are incredibly hard. I also think some of them have evolved
the way that the job is done to make it even more harder but compelling.
And I would shout out to stick with the knickspread Katz of The Athletic
does it better than I think any doesn't as well as any beat writer,
if not better than any beat writer, because there's so much analysis and nuance
caked into Jut, I'm not delivering you these postgame quotes and these these throwaway
moments that are now available at all these other places, and so he's found
an incredible way to differentiate himself while being on site. That's someone where you
know the access really matters to the job they're doing. I never wanted to
be or I did want to be sort of the traditional beat writer at one
point, but as I went through more and more steps, I realized,
no, I want to provide analysis, and then it became a point where,
oh, access wasn't nearly as an important as it used to be.
I still do think it's important, but there are some of the most talented
writers slash podcasters in the industry right now are not people who have access.
I've been granted access to Bleacher Report. I wouldn't say it's overrated. I've
enjoyed my job just as much since I've kind of stopped doing quote unquote reporting
since the pandemic really and I've had opportunities to continue to do it or try
to do more of it. I've never really just pursued it. It's not
there's definitely some anxiety things that are in there, and maybe some insecurities as
well. I do think it's maybe been long enough where I'm older, where
I might be a little bit more confident in it. But I love the
analysis part of everything. I love the podcasting part of it and being able
to provide what I think is objectively subjective analysis where you're gonna be a little
bit more critical and you're not beholden to your access and so that's like sort
of my journey there, but that was kind of a long winded way of
getting here. Fandom definitely originated with the Knicks. A huge part of me
will it'll still always be there, which I think is funny when everyone and
while I feel like I get destroyed by Nick's Twitter, and there's every team
fan base probably does this, but Nick's Twitter, it cuts different because one
there's there's so many of them, but too because I feel so ingrained into
that at least subculture of it because I was a member of it for so
long. I follow so many people who are in it, and you all
know. One of my favorite podcasts is the Knicks Film School Podcasts, in
part because I have that Knick's allegiance, but I really do think that they
do the best job of covering the team slash League like more so than anyone,
and like it just provides the right balance of what I love to do
here while looking at the entire league, it's like there's probably not two nitty
gritty x's and those stuff. You're gonna get that from Nicks Film School on
Knicks though, but you're also going to get the transactional side of it.
The cap analysis just sort of the immediate postgame reactions, pregame previews, guests,
interviews, people who are close with the team, beat writers from the
team, but also really some hard hitting opinions like John John Macfrey doesn't pull
punches on that, neither those claudio So like that element. I still care
about the Knicks to that extent, where like that's going to be one of
my more listen to podcasts on my feed. But I think is each and
every year, and I believe it gets harder to cover the league now because
there's so many talented people out there and they're Look, you can look at
the questions from our discord members. Go join our discord by the way,
like because in the podcast and YouTube description. Just look at some of the
conversations, many of which I will chime in with others. I'll just sit
back and look the knowledge of not just our listeners favorite teams, but they're
knowledge of the entire league so overwhelming, overwhelmingly impressive. Then you have people
who come on at the scene where you're either killing it by covering an individual
team KFS the Timeline podcast, Kaylin Cooper with the Indiana Pacers the clip,
but I don't even want to continue, Like the Oklahoma City Thunder really is
a deep stable of podcasters and independent team writers. The Clippers spectacular there too.
There's every single team you name it. I try to follow it as
closely as possible, but they they force you in a great way to want
to level up your knowledge of every team, and that's just takes more of
a commitment to covering from my end the entire league at large, to where
I'm just not going to catch as many Knicks games as I used to him,
So I'm gonna catch a Crapton. I'm still thinking, I'm going to
get the general vibe and makeup of how the team looks and plays and feels.
And I do pride myself on trying to understand the tenor of what a
fan base is thinking when it comes to big picture stuff, small picture stuff,
granular stuff. I think there's going to be more disagreements on and a
lot of it. A lot of the times I'm just gonna be wrong because
I don't have that day to day pulse on the teams. But I still
do as exhausting as it can be. As I've been called because I always,
I guess, looked tired. There were some of our YouTube comes call
me sunken in Ben Shapiro, and I get it, like because sort of
looking at myself, it's still really hard. I still really enjoy it,
and it definitely has cut into my fandom. But the Knicks are always going
to have a special, sometimes soull in place just in my soul because they
are the origin of my interest in basketball. And it was something about BA
basketball stuck. I think you could even see sort of the fast paced nature
of how things changed on and off the court that pulled me to the NBA
over I was, and I like I am, a New York Giants fan
of football, but I was more diehard. I was a diehard Yankees fan
during the Andy Pettitt Tito Martinez teams. I'm not even really an MLB fan
anymore. I was. I was raised the Rangers fan by my extended family
because they were Rangers sickos, and I would still count myself as a Rangers
fan. My brother in law and father in law used to have season tickets.
They still do go to games, but like I, just hockey doesn't
do it for me, although playoff hockey's pretty fucking fun. So there was
just something about basketball and the Knick specifically that just it resonated with me,
and it continues to resonate with me. Now, I will say, well,
I have no regrets I guess about the trajectory of my fandom, and
maybe not even the trajectory of my career now that I think can sit back
about, I probably should. I wish I was just more popular, is
really what it was or more I don't know what's what it is. But
regardless, like I do still miss them being able to Like, in a
way, it's good that they can't impact my mood as much as they used
to, but I do kind of miss that feeling where I felt like everything
was riding on these Knicks games, and sometimes when I was younger, like
these were just regular season games against the Heat or the Pacers, and you're
not going to get that feeling anymore. There's still like the tinge of nerves.
But it's just it's not the same. I think Grant could probably tell
you that about the Warriors Adam. We love Adam from all around these parts.
We'll probably tell you that about the Hawks nowadays. And I'll still get
like anxious during watching certain Knicks games, but I'll feel that same way about
Thunders Thunder versus Kings at point during the regular season. So that's the Since
we had not a crap town of questions, I was able to go twenty
minutes of myself and it's always fun to talk about basketball fandom journeys. I
am happy to answer more questions about myself, less so about any Raccoons moving
forward. Rest Ashore. That is not where we end, though, because
we do have another question from a DJ Underscore seven. If Paul George gets
traded, hoof Clippers just eliminated and kudos and DJI asked this before, but
there was kind of written in the stars of the Clipper will get eliminated.
If PG gets traded in the offseason, what team that has the assets would
you like him to be on. I will preface this, I don't think
I don't think the Clippers are gonna move him just because I don't know what
you get back for him and Kauai At this point, they both have just
a year left on their contracts before they have player options, and maybe you
can count on them to both exercise it. They're forty eight point eight million
dollars options, but you're gonna have to start thinking about their age new deals
for that thereafter, What do you get for these guys in the market,
especially given the games that they've missed over the past few years. Paul George,
I think is going to have more value than Kauai because he's played more
minutes, even though Kauai is the better player, But what are you getting
for him? And if you're the Clippers, it's not going to be enough
to offset the draft equity that you still owe to Okay, see, they're
gonna I mean, and it's really so there's the swap in twenty twenty five
and then they give up the twenty twenty four and twenty twenty six first to
Okay, see, that's still a lot. And so you're not going to
tank at any point, is like where I'm getting at here. So you
still would want to be competitive and I don't know that there's a team out
there that's going to give you a return that allows you to do that.
Now, I do, of course, have some teams singled out, because
I don't want to answer your question. Let's keep it with the Knicks here.
I could see them really looking at it. If you're able to make
that deal while you're not gonna move Brunts in or I don't think you would
move Randall as part of it. I don't know. I don't necessarily know
why. I guess because he's an iron man, the Clippers would be interested
in him. But if you're gonna keep brunts in and Randall, and I'm
assuming you're keeping Robinson in that deal, if you then get to keep one
of at least one of Grimes and quickly and then you're going to resign heart
like. That's the outline the makings of a really good team. And it's
Paul George's extremely plug in play for a superstar and brings a lot of what
Tim's values. I'd be worried about Tims monitoring his minutes with the injuries that
he's had, but he wouldn't have to carry as much of the offensive or
defensive workload. Really, I mean probably the same, if not a little
bit more of the defensive workload that he would with the Clippers since Kauai existed
there, But he played so much time without Kauai, so I could see
them being interested. I don't know if they would be one of the foremost
teams that would be interested. I would love to see him in Memphis.
I don't know what that package looks like. Necessarily, it probably begins with
Zaire Williams and picks, and I'm assuming they would want You're not gonna get
Desmond Bay and it's not happening. I'm assuming that they would want maybe one
of the La Ravia or Roddy Guy guys they would I would probably say Roddy
they would be more interested in based off what we've seen from him the playoffs.
Could they want Tias Jones? I honestly don't know, but they do
have all their own picks, and they have Golden States who twenty four first
round pick, and if they're a team just because look number twenty seven this
year, I'm not sure if the Clippers want it, but if that's one
of the picture giving up, they probably give you two picks on top of
that, plus a Zaire Williams. Would they do that for Paul George thought
about Miami a little bit because Butler, we know is going to play at
least in the postseason, and so kind of a similar pairing. With regards
to PG and Kauai, I don't know, are you giving up Tyler Hero
for PG? I think that you're not giving a BAM and you do have
picks. So if it's Hero and Picks for PG, that's a team that
would really interest me. I love the idea of him in Atlanta, which
still somehow needs perimeter defense with John Day Murray on the roster. He did
not play in Game five that they won. DeAndre Hunter might be he's become
peak concept over practice, Like he's better as an idea when you're talking about
his defense than he is in actual practice. Would the Clippers be interested in
him? Would they be interested in John Collins? Would they be interested in
a J Griffin, Jay and Johnson Sadique Bay. There are actual picks that
Atlanta has. They have their own pick this year, then they have Sacramentos
pick next year. They owe a twenty twenty five and twenty seven first to
the Spurs. Would they be willing to go twenty twenty nine to trade that
to Lac that could really get Like if we're talking, let's say Hunter a
kungu and you know a distant first, Like, does that and maybe the
King's first? Like I'm not saying it has to be all those pieces,
but does that get the wheels in motion? I think that they would have
the juice to get it done and so immediately. I would like Atlanta,
New York or Miami would probably be my favorite destinations. But I could also
see Dallas probably doesn't have the horses, the asset horsepower. Excuse me,
I don't want to refer to players as horses. I apologize. I don't
think they have the asset fire power. You're looking at this year's first and
then another first basically, or a total of two first Jaden Hardy, Josh
Green, Salary Feller. I don't think that would get it done. Denver
would be really interesting. I don't know if the Clippers would want Michael Porter
Jr. You'd be exchanging like age for youth. But let's say it was
Michael Porter Junior in a pick and then the other salary like Casey. I
just I'd be intrigued, But I don't know that that. I just don't
see it as being feasible. Golden State would be fun with Paul George.
I just don't are the Clippers gonna want Draymond Maybe he wants to play in
LA and they could give up some picks and Jordan Pool and Jonathan cominga that
I wouldn't hate that, So we go, what do you go? Cominga
Moody and Pool. It's just sort of the base of the offer and then
you have to come up with the rest of the money. So is it
going to be a Draymond's heigne and trade or if he opts in, are
you giving up Wiggins for Paul George? That's oh no way. Pool's money
is just so large as it's fine. So Pool, Moody cominga for Paul
George and does it need to be getting picks? And they're honestly don't know,
And I retract my other answer. I want to see him in Memphis.
Two would be super fun. So my favorite destinations are and I think
that these teams realistically have the assets to get involved in Atlanta, Golden State,
the Knicks, Miami and Memphis. Of those teams, if I had
to pick one, is it Memphis. I might be Memphis. I just
they, you know what, they might have the least attractive offer if the
Clippers are looking to sort of build like the middle build where they're trying to
stay really good. So I'm gonna say Atlanta would be my favorite destination of
this group, just because I feel like their package might even be a little
bit more realistic than GSWS. I would of course be enthralled with him on
the Knicks. I think you could throw you know, if Toronto wanted to
get in on this, uh and like are you doing something with og there?
But can you guarantee that he'll stay in Toronto? And what are the
like what are the Raptors building at that point? Would love him in Milwaukee?
They just don't have the asset firepower there. I want a joke,
okay, se which definitely has the asset firepower. Would they give the Clippers
back one of their picks? And we know that Paul George resigned there once
we resigned there. Again, I just I don't think they're going to accelerate
the process at all to that degree. And it's did oh for it.
I could see like Orlando would be fun. I just don't think they're gonna
make a power play of that magnitude. Houston might. I just don't want
to see him in Houston fun exercise. I ultimately don't think that it's going
to matter Darkwing Duck as Dylan Brooks and a first round pick for Herb Jones,
who says no. So I guess the implication here would be that Dylan
Brooks is going to get signed and traded to New Orleans with the first round
pick for Herb Jones. Now, I think that New Orleans says no pretty
quickly because they need shooting. And so while Dylan Brooks would give you some
really big defensive oof, you're losing the defensive from Herb Jones without getting any
better of an offensive fit. Dylan Brooks is maybe more of a ball handler,
but that's not necessarily a good thing. When you look at a shot
selection, I will say, and I think this will anger Pelicans fans.
I'm not doing this on purpose. I don't you Herb Jones as untouchable.
Like if you could get Miles Turner for Jonis Valan shootis and Herb Jones,
I would do it. Herb Jones did shoot really well on threes. To
close the season. It was on like an attemph per game or some shit.
When you get to the playoffs. We've seen it with other think about
Isaaco Coo, how well he was shooting on threes year at one point,
getting into a Knicks Cavs series to where he's barely played. Maybe the injury
is part of that, but they've just left him totally unattended. He hasn't
really been able to capitalize. That can happen to Herb Jones and yeah,
talk about the cutting and the driving stuff all you want. I think that
his improvement there was overstated this year. I really didn't see any improvement.
Maybe people watch the tell because more than I did. That's fine. They
don't have the spacing to maximize it right now, and so I get why
maybe you'd want to give up picks or obviously other players, certainly not Trey
Murphy or Dyson Daniels and Herb Jones. I don't think he has as much
value as It's not just Pelicans fans. I think a lot of people around
the NBA believe he's also heading into the final year of his deal. I
don't think his next contract is going to be super ridiculous or anything. But
that's part of the calculus as well. I would not do this trade if
I'm New Orleans, Herb and the other thing with the Grizzlies. I know
a lot of people are naming them as a good Ognaobe destination. That's not
it for them. If the Grizzlies are going to make a trade this offseason,
it shouldn't be for Gianna Noby. You get in on the Paul George
sweepstakes the mcal bridges here. You need someone on the wings who, in
addition to providing defense, is going to be able to space the floor on
higher volume and generate their own shots. O Giannaoby can space the floor at
reasonable volume, and we've seen him attack closeouts, but like doesn't have a
lot of directionality to his offensive game. More turnovers a lot of times than
assists. You need to if you're gonna make that close to all in play,
it needs to be for someone who juices up your offense independent of offensive
rebounding and transition, so your half court offense even more. I don't think
that's a hot take, but I feel like that was lost in a lot
of the Oganna Nobi to Memphis dream scenarios is that the last we have draft
questions coming in. I will eventually start draft prep, but it's not going
to begin now. We had a real, more realistic question from Cyborgian asked
this is here's another question based on the massive turnover of the Blazer since Olsha
was fired, which fire GM deserves another job first man, So going through
sort of the Pampeona fire GM's at the moment, I say, there's probably
a lot of them that I would name. I do think he's actually not
my ultimate pick here. Travis Schlank in Atlanta certainly deserves another shot. I
think that there are a lot of things he did right in Atlanta. The
Trey Young trade ends up being a mistake there, But I don't know that
he was ever given enough of it. He was given the freedom to make
decisions for sure, on his own, but I just don't know if like
there was enough time to let it marinate with all the Nepo baby syndrome going
on in there behind like Atlanta scenes, I just don't know if he had
the freedom towards the end to really like how much was he pressured in the
making the Dejante Murray trade and like, yeah, the Cardinal Ston might have
been you made the conference finals on sort of this one off circumstances, and
you lean too far into it. You're way too aggressive. In the DeAndre
Hunter trade, I think that draft day Draft day trade, but I feel
like he's someone who I could envision getting and deserving another shot. My ashchool
pick is Dennis Lindsay from Utah. Just seemed to scout really well there through
the draft, makes them really savvy free agency decisions. Maybe the biggest criticism
has never went for the home run trade. It was kind of the core
becomes stale, he leaves. It was cited as he went to an advisory
then left, and it was cited as eventually an ownership decision. That's someone
that I would think the next big sort of executive opening that takes place,
I would believe I would think his name would be linked to it. But
just based off of the body of work that he put together in Utah,
I think it's him. I don't. I'm definitely not Neil Shay to me,
and I don't think Cyborgin was asking that because I've talked to them on
the side and he really does not, you know, I would say he's
just let's just say he's not a support of Neil O Shay and why why
would ANSP? Why would any of us be at this point we have two
more questions that come from Austin who asked him last week, but I didn't
have a chance to to get to them. His first one was what this
was in response to the Kuzma Dinwoody beefs? What's the most random? One?
Are the most random? Other? Most random beefs in NBA history?
I so two kind of stood out, and maybe they're two recent I do
remember. I think it was. Was it February two thousan twenty one?
It couldn't have been two thousand and well, none, he don't be didn't
shut down in February two thousand and twenty and one way I should have looked
this up went how long has Ronny McGruder played for the Pistons? But they
were just the Warriors gobsmacked the Pistons as would make sense, and ron mcruder
has been there, so must have been February two twenty one. But like
Ronny McGruder got dragged in the postgame comments by Drey and Clay because I guess
he was getting a little bit mouthy during the game. I found that to
be incredibly random. The other one is of the many things that came out
from that John Wall podcast appearance he made, and I can't remember it was
the let me see if I can see it here. I don't even remember
it was Run Your Race podcast. I think it was we nobody said about
the Rockets and poor Justin Patton, But this one started an actual beef.
He claimed that he wanted to go to UNC Wall, not Kentucky in college,
but that when he went to visit UNC Tyler Hansborough told him that he
doesn't talk to recruits and that played a role in his decision to go to
Kentucky. And then Tyler Hansborough fires back on Twitter that this and I guess
it doesn't count because Hansboro wasn't in the NBA at the time, and John
Walls and in the NBA right now. But I just the John Wall versus
Tyler Hansbroo bee was just not one that I thought I would really ever be
talking about. And so to me, that is probably one of the most
random ones in NBA history, without question, right, Like, what is
more random? I would love to know everyone else is what's the first one
that that springs to mind? Do you think that you know what is your
most random beef? Let me know in the YouTube comments. I would love
to know what everybody is thinking. Austin also ask who are some players that
who are your top players who may make an MBA all defense team that are
going to benefit from that there are no benefit now that there are no positions,
but they may wait. So who are your top players who may make
an all MBA defense team now that there are no positions, but may have
not done so without it. So basically I think this I'm reading this is
which players are going to benefit most from the NBA ditching positions on all defense
and all MBA. I think I think for all defense specifically, we're probably
going to see bigs benefit Like this year, can you fit Draymond, Jannis,
Evan Mobley, Jaren Jackson, Junior m Brook Lopez all five of those
guys and say bam Adebayo all six of those guys in ten of the all
defense slots? Maybe you can. With the way that MBA sort of let
you flats around with positions. When it comes to all NBA specifically, I
think guards are going to benefit the most. And so you sort of look
at the premier All MBA guards from from this year, and I had the
six that I had make it where Stephen Dame around my third team, Daron
Fox and Luca around my second team, and then I had Donovan Mitchell and
Shaels Alexander my first team. That leaves off James Harden, That leaves off
Tyrese Haliburton, leaves off Devin Booker, some of them would have had Devin
Booker, for instance, would have had a games played issue. It leaves
off Darius Garland. The list can continue to go on from there, and
so I think guards would benefit more than anyone this year. Specifically, we
haven't seen the All NBA teams yet, and not that I've seen all defense
either. If I had to pick the player that would benefit like just of
the guards, would it be it would probably be hardened just based off games
or Tyrese Haliburton. Feel like the guys who it would benefit the most,
I would say Devin Booker if we got rid of positions, but they're gonna
institute the games played minimum that also could have I don't think Steph got to
sixty five games anyway, so that could have hurt him too. But it's
going to it's going to just help guards in general because yes, that was
a fifty six. It's going to help guards in general because they're just that
was the hardest thing to make cut and some of you know, like Jalen
Brown was eligible a guard and followerdiddo for Paul George. I don't know if
it makes it easier for harder for those guys, but I think that forwards
and centers are going to be the ones that you know wings, the centers
is gonna be the one that suffer the most, and center is just more
so than anyone because I think you ask yourself, if we get rid of
positions, Nicole Yokich and Joel Ebi still make teams. I would think does
domas a bonus. I'm not saying that he shouldn't. I'm not saying he
shouldn't make a team, but would he have? And my guess is no.
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always, I need to shout out to the one, the only, the
indelible, frank Ni Lakina and Mike Always. Apologies to shared out