What is track of lacking hard mognoxius. There is I have. It's superquick to death the drop for you based only when we recorded this podcast. Adam and I were talking before Chris Paul's official timeline for return came out, which is six to eight weeks he'll be reevaluated, giving us right hand injury. All the stuff we say is still pretty prescient, but Adam, of course it takes age very poorly since he was looking at it through a one to two week lens. I of course came off smelling like a rose with my takes because I was preparing for the worst case scenario. But we get into the impact, what we could see from Devin Booker, the opportunity ahead for DeAndre eight and all that good stuff. We also recorded this before we go on. Dragets signed with the Brooklyn Nets officially, but I don't think we talked about that except for me making a joke about the Nets needing to sign and grown Dragets, So that didn't age too poorly either, but we wanted to just let you know about that before we get started to the podcast. Hello everyone, Welcome to the latest episode of Hardwood Nucks. This is out I'm from We'll here with my always fantastic co host, Dan fa Valley. We've got a mail bag episode coming your way today, which are always some of my favorites, and I know that Dan enjoys them as well. We are moving out of All Star weekend, which had its highs and its lows, and we are heading into what's the true second half of a compelling NBA campaign that has been just as topsy turvy as it has been entertaining at times. So I'm excited for the second half. I'm excited for this mailbag. I'm always excited to spend time with you, Dan, So I'll kick things off with the traditional question of how's it going. I'm exhausted, more so than usual because I've tried to lower my caffeine and take over the past week just because I don't know what's considered dangerous, but mine was probably dangerously high, and trying to operate on like three and four hours of sleep without as much caffeine has proved to be a challenge. But there's a solution to that. More sleep. Yeah, yeah, slept like eight hours straight a couple of nights ago, Like legit, great, Now just do that every night and you'll be on on the right track. But I have no real complaints. How are you doing, I'm doing good. It's also been a busy week. I've I've started writing again about basketball, which is the return, and it's been what like four or five years since I've done that with any sort of consistency. Oh yeah, that's right, because you were editing a Bleacher Report for the longest time. That's a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been a while, So it's been fun. I've gotten to put out a couple of pieces at Sportscasting, where I'm working as a quality editor, and it's it's been a challenge to get back in that that mind frame and it's been fun though, and it's been good. The articles that I've read of yours from start to finish, as I told you so FROMO zero nine. Follow them on Twitter. You can see his work there and I'll write you the check for that after and hey, while you're at it, follow Hardwood Knocks at Hardwood Knocks Subscribe rate review to this podcast. I don't mean to beg and plea, but we got a one star review that was just completely inaccurate. Claim we were talking about covid for thirty minutes on a recent podcast, and it was it was seven or less, seven or fewer. No's it's less when it's time whatever, So go to it right now. Throw us five stars and just write a review, like even if you don't use iTunes, as long as you have access to it. Help us out there, and don't forget to join the discord link's in the podcast description. YouTube link is also when the podcast description. Subscribe to us there. If this is your first time stumbling into this podcast, consider throwing us the permanent subscription, download your every episode, help us out with the promos, retweet the stuff that we're talking about, or tell people that you know who like basketball or NBA podcast that this one is underrated. As fuck is the catchphrase here, that and thermonuclear or as fuck when we're talking about offenses apparently. And finally, thank you to everyone who downloaded and reached out about the w NBA episode we did with Sabrina. I know that was a change of pace. I don't know how we're gonna Pepper in a w NBA coverage moving forward, but we're going to do it. That's going to happen. Maybe it'll be just an extra podcast rather than part of it. Maybe I'll tether it to more NBA talk, but it was really cool to see people say that Sabrina made it easier for them to follow and them not knowing as much about the w NBA, And just a shout out to Sabrina, who I'm sure does not listen to this trash podcast, but for you know, carrying my ass more than usual in that podcast. It was I'm glad people. You know, the numbers were not what they are for us normally, but I still think it's really important and that's not me on a soapbox here. I just want to do a better job of making sure we're giving me the w NBA a real glance. So thank you everyone who listened and also reached out, because that was super cool. I will also say we haven't received exactly zero twack submissions to this point, and if you don't know what that means, go to sportsmathnetwork dot com and find out and then send us pictures because we're sited for those. Yeah, twack, there's fun to say, twack go through. Let's dive into the mailbag, though. We're gonna begin with some All Star Weekend related questions. Just a fair warning, I don't know when I'm putting this up, whether it's Monday or Tuesday. I'm pretty sure Monday is like a dead spot after the All Star break, but we're recording this before the All Star Game takes place, and so if anything wild happens there, we did not talk about it for obvious reasons because it didn't take place yet. First question comes from comeback Orlando Vouch, how do we fix this god awful dunk contest? Laughing my ass off? Oh wait, there was actually sorry, there is. There's two tied to this. Nat also asked why did the NBA broadcast to Slam Dunk Contest practice session and when is the real competition happening. I feel like at this point it's just played out in its current formats, so no matter what happens, and like, yeah, it's it's pretty bad when you're when the Dunk Contest contestants are completing their dunks with the same shooting percentages as like Russell Westbrook, Like that's not the ideal, But I feel like the format in general is just a little bit played out at this point, where if we're not including props, there's only so much that can happen. So I think we need to bring back the props. I'm not saying like the giant productions that create some overrated moments like Blake Griffin jumping over the hood of a car rather than the actual car itself, but stuff like Gerald Green blowing out a cupcake. You know, that kind of thing plays really well. It's creative. It allows them to flex those muscles in addition to the ones that help them jump. So that's one thing. The other thing is just the star power element. Until you can motivate the biggest names in the sport, it's not going to be the marquee event of Saturday night on All Star Weekend. How do you do that. Maybe there's an incentive for the team. Maybe there's a huge financial incentive, which the NBA can certainly afford. Maybe you have a representative from all thirty teams compete in a dunk tournament rather than just a dunk contest. But something has to change because as good as these athletes are, we've ultimately seen it all before at this point, Like we see more and more throwback dunk homages to legends of the dunk contests of previous years, which is fun, which we shouldn't take for granted, which we should still appreciate, but without the novelty factor, it's just hard to get excited about it. I do think there also needs to be a perception change here because it is just what are they supposed to do actually looking at their dunk, aside from incorporating props or different ways of like getting to the dunk. So much has already been done that we can't expect like that much and we have to appreciate like obtop and had some solid dunks in the dunk competition on Saturday Night. I think we have to do a job of appreciating it, or at least not criticizing it. Not to give the NBA pass, but like if you want the job morants when they're in their prime to compete, if you ever wanted Lebron James and the dunk contest, there needs to be never mind an incentive. But there can't be the risk of him going viral for all the wrong reasons of missing dunks and turning into a meme. And that's never gonna go away. So it's gonna fall on can they change the format at all? And I don't know what The answer is because I don't think there is a financial incentive that you could make large enough for the key players to care about this, So you know, is it can there be? I would say put a defender there, like, let's make like real people contest these dunks. But players aren't gonna want to do that. Maybe some, but so find the players that will and like turn like is it like? Do you turn the dunk contest into sort of like a one on one thing instead of the actual dunk contest? Do we turn into what was that? Remember that trampoline league? Yeah, slam ball? Make it slam ball. Let's play slam ball instead of the dunk contest. Same difference? Uh, And I think I can't remember was it? Anthy Edwards says that he's a he wants to dunk on people. He's a game dunker. He's not a dunk contest. Throw a defender in there. Somehow, I'm making a make it a fucking fan you either win it like or something, and like and do it. Find someone on Twitter who's a troll saying they could do this stuff, and then put them there and have to defend going up against Anthy Edwards to dunk it I bet you, I bet I bet you players if there was like trolls on Twitter or whatever that had to defend their dunk, I bet you that would get a lot of marquee names. Sure if we did that. Kevin Durand could dunk on a fifteen foot who yeah that too? So Wall what is he? So he's seven foot two going on six nine or six sorry, six nine going on seven foot two, whatever he is, So that would be you know, there's a lot of criticisms I feel like without suggestions of it, and I think we're maybe at the point have we seen too much? And like you said, how do you incentivize the big wigs, the best in game dunkers to do it, because right now they don't. I think it only hurts them. Even if you win it, there's a chance on yeah, why would you do it? And to be fair, it is still possible to have an iconic dunk competition because Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon gave us one which was now boarding on a half decade ago. But like even the them going running it back like that was a good dunk competition as well. So I think there's hope for it. But I don't know what the actual answer would be to making it better. I actually kind of I talked. This is not an idea. I thought about, let's get trolls, the people who think that they can play NBA defense or something, and let's see if that one draws Markie players in. But there's also something about seeing a dunk on someone that would be wild. And imagine if themagic if the dunk gets blocked by whoever is defending it. So I wonder if you can like somehow tie like a draft pick incentive to a team wide dunk tournament. You know, if each team sends one representative, you have a thirty team tournament, and you know there's a sixty first pick in the draft and it goes to whichever team's representative wins the contest. Is that enough motivation? I don't think so. Probably not no, But anything greater than that, and you're like, you're compromising the integrity of the process a little bit. We will give out Browning points to anyone who sends us messages on how to fix the dunk contest. Get up, get in our discord, or at FROMO zero nine at Danfa Valley. A couple more All Star related questions. So whop Informatics, one of our loyal favorite listeners, says, please fix the skills challenge. I didn't mind the setup this year. I didn't watch any real time full disclosure, but went back and watch highlights. I'd probably rather see actual defenders on the court than a windmill, to be fair. But what I is the way to fix the skills competition? What would be the ideal way to do it? Or is this that if you're looking at the three main All Star Saturday Night events, is that the one you're getting rid of in favor of a different type of event. Yes, I think it's I enjoy the race format when it happens, but beyond that, it's kind of whatever. To me, it's not that exciting. I would rather replace it with different new events. You know, Ultimately, the three point contest should be the marquee event, given the quality of the players competing in it, given the importance of the three point shots to today's game. But we should have more than that, Like, instead of the skills competition, have a one on one tournament, have a horse tournament, Have another three point contest where players have to hit three pointers increasingly far from the basket. You know, each time you have three shots, if you make it, you get to go back five feet, you know, until one person misses all three and the other dozen. Like I want to see Trey Young and Damian Lillard competing on forty foot jumpers. You know, that's that's more exciting and more in line with the current trends of the association. Then the Skills Challenge, which Strops from Discord asked, what other stuff would you add to All Star Saturday Night one v one competition meet me at the Room, et cetera. I guess I kind of took meet me up at the Rim by saying put a defender in the dunk contest. But I look, if you told me that meet Me at the Rim was going to replace the dunk Contest, I'd be all for it. So if that's what to do to shift it, But I'm with you, that would probably the Skills Challenge that's easy to replace. And I like the ideas that you mentioned, and even like Strop said, one versus one would be good, even two on two where like you pair NBA players with different people from other like maybe it's friends, like we see Devin Booker and Carl anthy towns go two on two against whoever. That would be super interesting to me. The other thing that I thought about is can we put and like make this part of All Star Saturday Night, since I'm assuming they're all in town anyway, let's do the draft in person on the court. It could be right before the game if you want it to be, but like make that and all starts. I would watch that. I would watch the ship out of that, because let's see the pettiness you have to face the person if like the James Harden stuff this year you have or the even the Rudy Gobert kind of subshade, like you have to look these people in the eye. And I think there'd be more of like the politics at play. So and you could have like an MC of the entire draft. That would be spectacular. I absolutely want to see that. I feel like that's been the big criticism ever since this format was implemented. It was like done halfway, and I could not agree more with that. I also, oh, go ahead. I also kind of want to see like a passing competition, like eliminate the dribbling portion or have a separate dribbling event, you know, like the classic game. How fun would this be? Remember when when you're learning how to play basketball, you tie a hand behind your back, you have an outline of a big square, rectangle or certain shape. Everyone nests to dribble or I guess you don't tie your hand behind your back for this one, and you have to maintain your dribble while forcing other people to the circle or forcing them to lose their dribble. Did you? I assume you did that at some point while while learning how to play, and that would be so fun to see with NBA superstars. Imagine Kyrie Irving maintaining his handle, assuming he's allowed to participate because of the location and vaccination status. But imagine literally trying to sign going on draggage because fucking Kyrie Irving camp play and most of their games are right. How fun would it be? Just like seeing something like that happen, or like setting up you know, increasingly difficult passes that the NBA's best distributors have to make, like you know, the throwing it through a tire portion, except you know, make make them have an obstacle directly in the way and they have to have a bounce pass with English go through that target. Or suspend it from like the rafters, so that it's like they're throwing an alley pass, but the tires are just suspended in mid air. Right, let's get creative here. Or the assist challenge could be like you imagine getting to put like someone those dunk tanks, but like instead of just having to throw it straight on at like the target, Like there's the different obstacles, there's the different targets you need to hit around the dunk tank, and then maybe you get to dunk someone that and it would have to be like someone you universally want to see have to go in the tank. I mean maybe Adam Silver because he just made he's made some banner ass compliment comments over the past few weeks. He wants, by the way, the inconsistency here, I'm not making this about COVID, but for him to say that locker room access is not going to spend yeah, I'm gonna spend less than thirty seconds. But for him to come out and say, like a week first, he says like a week ago, basically hints that Kyrie Irving should be allowed to play because the New York City vaccine mandates are inconsistent I agree they're inconsistent. I don't care about Kyrie Irving. Then he comes and says, yeah, locker room access is probably never going to be the same because we have to be safe about COVID, Like, dude, like the fucking inconsistency of your own comments. Anyway, the dunk tank idea is terrible, but like, those are just some things you could try, and don't be afraid to try new events. I feel like sometimes the NBA is probably overthinking it because they don't want to miss I think people will appreciate the attempt to, like and maybe let's get actual celebrities in the celebrity game or just get rid of the celebrity game altogether, and yes, or like have celebrities I said, we get actual celebrities, Like, Okay, that'd be fair. That's I think that that wraps up the All Star stuff, so let's get into the meeting. One last thing on the All Star thing. The biggest pet peeve I have during All Star weekend, aside from everything we've already talked about and the overall lack of intensity for three quarters in the game itself, I cannot stand like seeing the tweets from official NBA accounts celebrating records from the three point contests, like Karl Anthony Towns set the record for the highest score in the final round. Yeah, like with the opportunity for however many more points, like the completely the contextualization there and the constantly changing rules. Just celebrate it for how fun it was in the moment, and not like his score was higher than every other score. It's like, it's like comparing records across eras when you know the NBA had a twenty five game season, which obviously never happened, like the current eighty two game season. It's just like it's it's utterly meaningless and just I think it makes everything look worse. Let's get into that actual mail bag. We'll go through the discording questions first. Then we made a bunch of ones from Twitter, Summer from or summers excuse me, ass on discord, Would you rather have the next three years of the calves or the hornets? And they add I think starting the year, no one would say caves because the melon one bridges, but the caves seemed to be strangely well, strangely well run, and the flyers they took all hit. If they continue at this pace and acquire more talent, we could see even more improvement. Also, don't forget Kpja was a calv and got chipped out for a box of Ritz Crackers. I don't even think they got that, to be honest with you, but I feel like Cleveland is the easy answer for me here because I would take Evan Mobley over any other player from these two teams, which we essentially did with our young player draft that we did in a previous episode. LaMelo balls right there, But I just I think Mobley has a chance to make a far bigger imprint on every game because of the well rounded nature of his playing style. I mean, this is a guy who's already a reasonable candidate for All Defensive First Team as a rookie, which is just supposed to be unfathomable. And he also has all sorts of offensive tools in his arsenal. So him alone plus Darius Garland plus Jared Allen plus Colin Sexton or whatever Colin Sexton has turned into, the team is well run. It makes sense. I feel like Cleveland to me, it's not meant to be disrespectful towards Charlotte, which is obviously on an impressive path, but the top end talent is what we're worried about here. And even if you do want LaMelo Ball over Evan Mobile Lee, I think it's a tough sell to want the rest of Charlotte's up and comers or established pieces over the Darius Garland Jared Allen connection. Yeah, and that's what they go like three perspective cornerstones deep right now plus Colin Sexton. Whereas even if you like Miles Bridges and I'm like it had LaMelo Ball and Evan Mobile here are one and two in the conversation. So even like Miles Bridges better than the Calves, second best player in Darius Garland, long term, there's no one your third best player on the Hornet's you're not gonna like better than Jared Allen, Like Gordon Hayward's going to age out of this. I think PJ. Washington is underrated, but that's not like the And also they still have context in I think Zach low has said this with the most disrespected twenty four points game score in league history last year, so you still have that if he stays, Plus we don't maybe Isaaca Coro turns into more than just like a really good defender. Maybe there's some offensive pastiness there, So yeah, I think it's probably Calves pretty clearly, because it feels like they have like maybe three or four like potential corner stones running in place where Charlotte has two. And I think there are people that push back to say that, even Myles Bridges is that I would disagree, but yeah, I don't. I don't think I would consider a bridge as a cornerstone so much as a piece that you definitely want to keep around. Fair enough. Tara Bowen Biggs as this is a fun question. What is the most memorable basketball game you attended in person? And why? Adam never saw me play back in my youth basketball days, so he's not gonna be able to pick one of those. Just for anyone wondering. We've we've had some fun one on one battles, though. The game that stands out the most to me was in two ten, totally nondescript regular season game, but I was lucky enough to sit in like the second row of an Atlanta Hawks Los Angeles Clippers game. I don't even remember the score, I don't remember who won, but I remember Chris Paul's eyes because this is firmly in the middle of the Lob City era, and I think that game had more of an impact on how I approach watching basketball than any other because just seeing what Paul was able to do just through sheer manipulation, just looking off defenders processing the game, it was impossible to stop paying attention to that, and it really altered the way I viewed the entire game of basketball played at that highest level. So you know, I've been in I've been in attendance at double overtime games. I've seen some pretty ridiculous performances. I got to be on the court while Steph Curry warmed up during the twenty sixteen season, which was hugely memorable for entirely different reasons, but in terms of like the most impactful game that I've been at for me as a basketball fan and evaluator, just seeing the point godness in action from that close proximity stands out in my mind twelve years later. That's a good one I had. So I had two. One of them. I just remember it because the atmosphere. I was at Tracy mcgrady's first game at MSG when and it was just electric because he played well and I don't even remember who won. I think the game might have been overtime, But this idea was he was traded because they were trying to clear cap. He was acquired because they were trying to clear cap space for Lebron that summer in twenty ten, and I think that contributed to oh mcgrady's playing well and we're going to get Lebron and just the atmosphere in matthis Square Garden was electric. But I was also I can't remember if it was Kadi's or excuse me, I can't remember it was Okayse's first or second year in okay See, but I was at a game at the Garden and just remember seeing Kevin Durant already really good then, but that shot making and that game did go into overtime. I think the Knicks lost it the level of shot making that he had. I just remember watching him pull up from above the break again and again just sort of torching them, and it was It's just like the smoothest thing I've ever seen in person. I was behind the basket too, so it was really cool to kind of see like his form from that angle when Okasey was shooting on the basket that I was behind, and that to this day, I think it's just the as a as a fan anyway, There's obviously been different performances when I've been on site covering games. That is just I don't even know if it was I don't remember how many points he scored. I don't know if it was one of his better games. But that is just the most awe struck I've ever been of someone who I was like, he's just going to dominate forever and ever and ever. I don't remember ever having that feeling when I used to watch Michael Jordan when I was really younger and didn't really like understand basketball is just following basketball because I enjoyed it. I thought he would never miss and I just I got those same vibes from Kevin Durant and that was probably like one of the last games that I got to attend as a as a fan where you lose some of the I'm not going to complain about what we do, but like you, you lose some of the the mystique of it behind you all. We're like you're looking at through everything from a different lens. But all I was doing was just watching him and couldn't picture him missing and so that was and that was probably like one of my final that might have been my final experience having done that as a fans. I think that's also why I was memorable. Another good choice. I'll just amend my answer because I believe it was twenty eleven not twenty ten, since Paul didn't sign with the Clippers until the twenty eleven twelve season. And you know, people are going to fact check the shit out of this podcast. I'm glad that you know. Uh, let's keep going here. That was a great question. Thank you for that, Tara. I love I love when we get to be vain when people ask those questions that allow us to indulge our internet narcissists. Lou Jay thirty seven said, this is such a deep rookie class, both offensively and defensively. Evan nobody for sure, and maybe Herb Jones and Io Jasumu have real shots at making an all defensive team. When was the last time a rookie made one of those teams? So I looked this up and it's not just a matter of when it last happened, but per stat Head, it's only happened five times that a rookie has made an All Defensive team. The most recent why I was gonna guess most recent, it probably isn't in the last decade. No, the most recent, it's Tim Duncan in ninety seven ninety eight. But after him, it was David Robinson in eighty nine ninety Then it was Menu Bowl in eighty five eighty six, then the team in eighty four eighty five, and then Kareem in sixty nine seventy. So it hasn't been done closer to three decades than two decades, and it's only been done five times. I don't know. I'll tell you right now, and this is not There are people who've watched way more of I don't even know if i'd pick. I'll just assumed would. To be honest with you, I enjoy that he doesn't have a position, even though he's not the size of someone who normally doesn't have a position. I don't. I'm gonna guarantee you that herbs just people haven't watched enough for Jones to select. The people have votes. I don't know if Evan Mobley is gonna make it, and I'm not. I have not done my All defense teams yet and those are just ones that I won't even think about until the end of the season because I feel like they can shift wildly and they're the ones that are open for the most interpretation because I don't think stats really help you a ton aside from like the rim protection numbers, and there is data out there, but so I don't know if Evan Mobley makes it, but it has not been done in a really long time. And I even wonder if even if you would have him on, there are the voters predominantly going to feel the same way. Is there like some stigma of oh, well, it's just a rookie, But it's like the Calves. I don't when you watch the Calves, I don't. I don't want to play the Cavs from another team, and Evan Mobley is clearly the best defender on that team. So I think I think he clearly has the best shot of these three players. I can tell you right now, I'm gonna be giving serious consideration to Herb Jones and Evan Mobley when we do do our all defensive teams. Yeah, my answer is pretty similar. I think that Jones is absolutely deserving of inclusion, at least in the conversation. I think Mobley would be on one of my teams at this point, but I doubt that he actually gets that accolade at the end of the year. A because it's often reputation based and it's difficult for any first year player to come in and immediately carve out that type of reputation. And two, it's even harder when you aren't viewed as the marquee player defensive player on your own team. Whether that's right or wrong, it's a different conversation. But I think that voters will favor the block numbers that Jared Allen produces, the room protection that he provides, and be more inclined to give him a spot, and then feel kind of about including a second player from the same team that wasn't expected to be at this level this quickly, especially when that player is a rookie. So I just I doubt that the votes are going to be there, even if they should be. And I'm I don't I agree with you, but I do think it's like kind of a coin toss, which is something that we probably haven't been able to say when talking about all defense in a row. I'm trying to think of even the last rookie that you would have considered and at a lot of the guys were really good at defense. As rookies, they're not getting a ton of playing time, and so this feels a little bit of anomalous in the fact that we have three, and specifically Herb Jones and Evan Mowbley, who were just a huge part of these of these teams already and making such a huge impact. The one that jumps out to me is probably Chris Paul in two thousand and five, two thousand and six with New Orleans, where he was already averaging two point two steals per game. He was already an obviously impactful defender, making those highly recognizable, and it still didn't happen. And the other thing that's probably contributed to this is just like the rookies are so young now, just even in the one and done era, that you're not I mean, even looking at this list, the youngest person to do it of the five was Tim Duncan at at age twenty one, and that was after what he did two or three years of college, I can't remember, so and then everyone else two twenty two year olds, a twenty three year old, and a twenty four year old and David Robinson, So I think that might contribute to too, because NBA defense is hard. I'm trying to look up the leaders and defensive win shares among first year players in the last decade, and the top five are Ben Simmons at five, who probably should have been in the conversation right off the bat because of his versatility. Nerlans Noel was at four point two. Jason Tatum was at four, but I think he was still overcoming a reputation as more of an offensive player than a defensive start during his rookie season with the Celtics. Donothan Mitchell three point eight, number five is already mobili with the second half of the season to go. Donovan Mitchell is interesting to see him. It is, I will say, I think that's at least that's at least partially because that Utah team was already so good at defense that he was benefiting from that. And it's funny that two of those five, as weel Ben Simmons didn't technically play during their rookie season. They was there would be the second season, so I'm wondering if that helps, Like you're still around the team during that time, not to just credit what they did. I don't remember ever even thinking about considering them when the all defense discussions came out. Yeah, I'm just I'm looking through these names now because this is a time when you know, both of us were covering you know, Jaren Jackson, Junior, Anthony Davis, Lonzo Ball. And that's like about That's about it, beyond the names we've already mentioned as guys who were like obviously good on defense as rookies. Chris asked, Wow, I don't know what he's trying to do to Hornets fans here. Do you think, Christopher excuse me, do you think LaMelo Ball resigned with the Hornets when his contract comes up? Or do you think he leaves for a larger market and better chance to win a title. What what I'm gonna say about this is LaMelo Ball will be is scheduled for restricted free agency as of right now in twenty twenty four. I doubt he reaches it. The first extension when you're a max player, rookies have always signed. I think Christops is like the only example. I don't even know if Greg Monroe had the option of getting a max from Milwaukee when not Milwaukee Detroit when he sort of finagles his way out of there. And I do think I don't want to rule out a player ever forcing his way to unrestricted free agency by signing the qualifying offer, because things change a lot, and if they're really confident this is already I mean, LaMelo Ball that like in his final season of his current deal, is making ten point nine million dollars. So these players are now making even though they're on the rookie scale, they're making generational money. So there, it's not outside the realm of possibility someone goes the qualifying offer out, But I'm still of the mind I'm going to believe it when I see it. And so if you assume that he signs his extension, he's going to have at least another three years that's conservatively could be four after that before he would be a true free agent. And the way that the league is trending now, perhaps this could change over the next Collecting Martin agreement or something free agency plays out via trade. Anyway, Could he be someone that tries to force a trade sooner? I don't know. I just I feel uncomfortable thinking about this question so early into his career, though, I would say that I would be shocked if there's any agitation on his part before year five or six. I do think he is good enough now though, and this is what I will say to put the pressure on the Hornets after this season. I was never of the mind that they needed to go all in and a Miles Turner trade right now when he was healthy or someone else. I think a lot of their fans thought they should have. You still have this, You have the ability to keep him for another you know, to at least two. You have another two years of him under team control at least, but probably closer to five. At least five years left of him. So go through this season. You're kind of on schedule, maybe slightly ahead of schedule, I would argue, but he is good enough to put the pressure on them to where if they start to remain on a treadmill, if they don't really find an answer long term for the center solution, if they're not able to get like a third guy, or if you consider like a true number two in there, depending on how you feel about Miles Bridges, if they let if they get rid of Myles Bridges in the off season, maybe they signed and trade him because they don't want to pay him what's probably gonna be max money even in this market. Then yeah, it's fair to criticize them for not doing enough. I just want to push back against the idea that and I don't think Christopher was insinuating this by any means. The Hornets can do enough to be If you have a generational transcendent superstar in LaMelo ball, which I fully believe that they do, you can do enough in any more get to win a title. You probably have a thinner margin for error than a more glamor market team, which is unfortunate. But I would be very surprised if this becomes a thing before year five or six of his career. I fully expect him to sign his next contract in Charlotte, and I know for a fact there's stuff justin Charlotte, not bad stuff about LaMelo, but the things that he has done. And I think they alluded to this, even sort of publicly in that fantastic g Q article from Tyler Times. There are things that he is allowed to do that they that just wouldn't fly in a bigger market. Not that teams wouldn't do it, but it's not gonna go unspoken like it has in Charlotte. It's also and it's nothing sinister. I want to make it clear it's nothing sinister, but just third hand, fourth hand, just accounts of what he's allowed to do. That the type of license he's afforded is just not something that would fly, or at least wouldn't be, as I said, unspoken and like it is in Charlotte if he was in a New York or in LA or Chicago. The only thing I really have to add is because I fully agree with everything, especially the part where it's like he's in a second season, he's the first time All Star. He looks like he's having fun. It feels kind of weird to think about that kind of future this early. If he did want out, who would he have to call? He would have to call Michael fucking Jordan and tell him that he didn't want to play for his team anymore. No, he would he would have to his agent would talk to m cup Jack, who had talked to Michael Jordan. He wouldn't have have any interaction with Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan would be involved in that decision. Maybe, well, I mean he would be involved, but I doubt if unless Michael Jordan demanded to sit down with him, and LaVar is definitely gonna be at that sit down, you know that he would be there too. I would hope that that would be televised. But I think like that to me matters where it's like Jordan's presence may not have too much of an impact on Charlotte in terms of free agents wanting to come there, you know, players wanting to be traded there and all that jazz. But I think if you are the marquee superstar of the organization, you're going to have some contact with him if you're making that kind of request, and that's going to be just providing that extra little bit of hesitance. That's that's a good point that I did not consider. I also don't blame Christopher for asking the question in general, because as much as people hate the idea of trades or players forcing out, as much as Adam Silver can say trade demands are bad for the league, they're very much happening. The idea, well, they're happening, but they very much marketed their product around the idea of trades and transactions. So can we just can we think about how amazing it is that we've reached a point that there's like official NBA enterprises sponsored by the Jersey Assurance proprint, because that's that's a TapIt maybe overt acknowledgement that your favorite player could be moved at any point in time, And is that I don't know, Like again, like all four player empowerment and all that, I wonder if that perception and mentality is healthy for the league, just like again, official NBA events sponsored by the idea that your favorite players jersey might change, right, I don't really think we've reached like an epidemic or pandemic of trade demands, to be honest with you, and I think of anything, people who dislike the idea of talking about players leaving and whatnot, the current setup is probably better because it seems like free agencies playing out via trades, so the trade deadline or signing trades or whatever over the off season, rather than players reaching free agency in that becoming Remember how much you and I used to cover free agency specifically, and that's not as much of a thing anymore. And that's like a two or three year shift, So maybe things change overall. But I don't blame Christopher other fans for thinking this way because it was the same thing with Zion when he was because it was New Orleans. I don't think it's fair to the Pelicans fans. I think it's fair to the Hornets fans. But the league has marketed itself around the idea, yep, that these things happen, that whatever Adam Silver says, he's lying, just like this hardwood knock segment was brought to you by your favorite headache relief medication. We have a question about the Suns from New which I think this is a good time to talk about Chris Paul's hand injury though, where he alluded to that he's gonna miss some time, which you have a six and a half game lead on first as right, and this is more about being healthy for the playoffs. If you're wondering how they're going to fair, I think so. Some of the things that you should definitely be concerned about is they're pretty banged up at Guard and Drew Holiday. Wow, they had Drew Holiday, they'd be in good shape too. But Campaign has been banged up. Even Landry Shamma has been banging up lately. I believe Aaron Holliday has looked like he's put more rim pressure on the basket for them than I thought he was going to. And he I don't I don't want to say he got more of an opportunity than I thought, because you look at how many people are injured. So the fact that Paul is out is certainly a concern. But the Suns are outscoring opponents by three point three points per an hundred possessions when Devin Booker plays without Chris Paul, and so that's a good sign. I do wonder if this is an opportunity for Phoenix to kind of plumb like the seldom plumb the Devin Booker at point guard units. There are plus one point one points per an hundred possessions when he plays without Chris Paul and Cameron Payne. But most of those minutes to date have been played with Elfred Peyton. And I'm actually looking up as we speak because I used to check this because I want it to happen, but I've just accepted it's not going to happen. He's played a whopping thirty two possessions at point guard this year. The offensive rating during those times is one thirty four point four. That's great. The defense has been a disaster. I'm just wondering if he'd get more units like those, because I think Devin Booker has even It shouldn't be quietly, but I think Devin Booker is a good enough playmaker to not just be the tip of the spear for the offense, but like to actually operate from the one and that gives you a chance to, you know, have Aton and Crowder and cam Johnson and Bridges played together like that. That's a unit I would love to see more of. Ultimately, I think this is the classic blessing and disguise because the Suns know how good they are when Chris Paul is healthy. They're so far ahead in the Western Conference standings that they can afford to let him take his time, make sure that he's fully healed up, use it as an opportunity to get everything else in working order two for the inevitably deep playoff run, and then just use this as a time of experimentation. And I think it goes beyond playing Devin Booker at point guard. I want to see more lineups that are running things through DeAndre Ayden because the right matchup might emerge in the playoffs where if you can feasibly run your offense through him and let him dominate on the interior. You're going to be in a more advantageous position. Let Mhillbridges handle the ball more, Let Cam Johnson handle the ball more. Let them try to initiate sets that you might not otherwise employ if you're so dead set on winning every game because you have everyone in the lineup. So this, to me is just a hugely positive opportunity for Phoenix to see just how much better it can get, just how much more flexibility it has at its disposal in the playoffs, just how much more some of the lesser featured players can do with the ball in their hands. Because you have nothing to lose here except a few games that aren't going to matter. I would push back against blessing in disguise because Chris Paul has had multiple hand surgeries. He even said that his hand surgeon is like part of his family now, So I'm terrified it's not a blessing in disguise by any stretch. I think the fact that this isn't a more serious injury, given how much he was playing, is maybe that's the blessing. Well, that's what I mean, because it's not that significant to the best of our knowledge. Yeah, I'm going to be different. I mean, he's gonna take the reporting at this point is like he's gonna miss a week or so, right, and could miss longer if they exercise more caution. To me, that's so far from a worst case scenario, even with a history of injuries to that hand arrest. If they won't buy I won't buy into rest via injuries a blessing in disguise with Chris Paul, I can't do it. What is interesting though, the DeAndre eight no element. I think there's something really something to the fact that Robert Sarver doesn't want to pay him this summer, and that a huge idea behind that, And maybe it's more of an organizational one than just Robert Sarver having paid Mchael Bridges paying Chris Paul, paying Devin Booker, being cheap Cam Johnson extension algeable this summer too. By the way, I think there's something to the idea of they're worried about what he looks like without Chris Paul, and so you mentioning having him operate as more of like can they do stuff run things through him? In the post. I don't even know if it's like it doesn't have to be as complicated that it's just what does he look like when it's the future of this team, when it's Devin Booker, Cam Johnson. There's no downside to that because if it works, you're even better in this season. If it doesn't, then you have more justification to not pay him this summer, which is I actually he's going to get money somewhere, which is why I feel comfortable saying that. You know, I don't think his value is going to be tanked on the open market. It's whether Phoenix is going to be the organization that gives him that check. The problem there, though, is then you get yourself into a situation where they sign and trade him and your team gets worse immediately because you trade away someone who probably isn't going to be as good without Chris Paul. I just look it. They can self discovery as value. Chris Paul getting rest has value. It coming because of a Chris Paul injury. Just knowing me his injury history with hands hamstrings in Houston, I know he's been vegan basically since his final season in Houston, and that's help. They need a Chris Paul injury at the All Star break, not a Chris Paul injury during the stretch run, not a Chris Paul injury during the playoffs. A Chris Paul injury on something that's been a problem before at any point in the season is bad, and I will I will not entertain the idea that but less bad because of the timing. It's less than the worst case scenario. That doesn't mean it's a blessing in disguise, is my point? Better than the worst case is not a blessing in disguise. It is when so many other positives can come out of it. We can agree to disagree on that one. Yeah, we're gonna staunchly disagree on that one. But newt asked. Is the NBA trending towards more parity? The Suns are at the top of the West by a comfortable margin without a top five player. The East is as close as competitive as it has been in recent memory. And if you ask five different people who the best player in the NBA, as you can get you could be getting a different answer from anyone. Is a league missing a true generational star like in mj or prime Lebron, or is the NBA so deep with league talent that proper roster construction will be even more important in the future. I think it's a combination of a lot of different factors. It does seem like there's a little bit more parody because the depth of talent is so spectacular right now, where there are just an uncountable number of high quality basketball players who can fill so many roles, and with positional versatility and the malleability on both ends of the floor, we see creativity rewarded more, we see teams able to survive without that true marquee player. I also hesitate to draw any conclusions about that from this season, in particular because it's been such a tumultuous one with the COVID nineteen related absences, with the pandemic still affecting scheduling and availability to such an extent, especially in the first half of the season, that it just it feels dangerous to draw those big picture conclusions based on such a weird season. And ultimately, like, if you look at the history of recent title winners, they still have that trans end and player. They still have Steph Curry, they still have Lebron, they still have Jannis. It's It's still been a while since we've seen a true super starless team win a title, and I don't know that that changes anytime soon. And I wouldn't even put like the Suns in that category because even if they don't have a top five candidate, they have a players ridiculous depth of talent, and that's it's a perfectly constructed team, so they feel not even anomalous so much as fitting into the criteria in a different way. The I think it has to do the depth of talent is more. The depth of stardom, let's say, has to help with the parody more than anything, because I think, yeah, there are some people who are generous with the star label, but like when you say top twenty five player, now like that means star because those are maybe it's not can you be the best player on champ hip team on your own, but if you have another top twenty five star, like that feels like the recipe. And then when you get into a situation like Phoenix where their third best player and fourth best player is better than so many other teams, like when you get that deep and the fact that we're kind of seeing like even Milwaukee last year, is a great case study. And look, this is the questions. Let me throw it out there too from that guy tie, Does any team have a better third guy than whoever you like less out of Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton? And how big of an advantage is that for the Bucks if nobody does was thinking of this after the Hardened Simmons trade. I think Phoenix would have an argument with McHale or DeAndre eight and I'd still take and I think Drew has been better. I'd take Chris Middleton over either one of them. I'm absolutely Look, I'm taking Chris Middleton over the next second best player at this point, who is Kyrie Irving, But I'll absolutely take him over Ben'simmons as well. So I think it helps there if you can get the fact that there's so much talent that you can wind up having situations where you have three top twenty five guys in a given see in and remove not remove the honest from the equation, but remove the idea of Jannis where maybe he's like top ten or twelve instead of the best player in the NBA last year being able. There are so many guys who can fit that we're even having three top thirty players is just huge. And since there's so many, like let's say stars, even if you want to call them fringe stars, so many all star level players that you can have multiples without bottoming out your depths is monstrous. Now, in the case of the Bucks this year, I'd argue they're just not as deep, especially because of the Brook Lopez injury. But that's also when you have three guys who are I don't really know where Chris Midlton ranks this year, but when you have three guys who in any given season can be among the top twenty five to thirty five players in basketball, it gives you margin for error that I do think depth can't replace because you look at look at some of the buckets or sets that Chris Midleton has run in playoffs, passed and Drew Holiday, and having Yannis there too. The fact that like Jana didn't have to be the primary ball handler or down the stretch of a bunch of these games. That's a luxury those other teams aren't going to have, and I think it helps out a team like the Nets even having two The fact that Joel Embiid or James harn can carry a team on his own will help Philly, and I think I'm gonna put Phoenix in that scenario. They're deeper. But the fact that I believe we don't need to see it that Devin Booker can carry maybe not a great team on his own. You remove Chris Paul without adding anybody else. That's a luxury in itself. But when you have three of those guys that that's absolutely advantage for you. And just so we're clearly the Lakers do not have three of those guys. Anyone who is wondering if Russell Westbrook film that category, I'm really intrigued by that. That the question at the heart of this do the Bucks have the best, third best player in the league. I think they do. I'm curious who else we would even put in that conversation. So like, the Suns are one option because it's probably Mkhail Bridges, the Warriors. The Warriors are interesting, but probably not on the same level. The Heat are are one legitimate challenger because I feel like you could make a case for Kyle Lowry for sure. Beyond that where I mean the Bulls maybe with Fuchovic or Alonzo or Alonzo, yeah, I mean the seventy six Ers with a good version of Tobias Harris. Evan Mobley is is intriguing as the third best player in Cleveland if you don't consider him the second best already. But like, I don't know that any of these are rising to the level of Middleton, right, I think, I really think the only true competition if we're beating like, let's let's cut through the fat here, it's Miami and I don't even know if you can throw Golden State in there. We need to see more of Clay Thompson. Let's see Clay Thompson in the playoffs. So I think those are the only two teams that you could reason pit against them. Could Utah with Mike Conley Donovan Mitchell Rigobert maybe maybe not ridiculous this season. I wouldn't pick them over the Bucks. I don't think I wouldn't pick him over. It comes down you would be it would be maybe Warriors to me, Yeah, I think it's the Bucks though the Bucks, not Ritman Stone subject to change by the end of the year. Jt Alexander asked, actually hold on maybe knocked them because if if available Durant Simmons and Irvin No, it's a there are so many guys that I would take over Kyrie and Ben Simmons at this point said, look, Kyrie Irving being able to play has to be a factor here. You don't even here to get wrong, and that's why I had to include the win available caveat. But I mean at peak powers, at peak powers, like Simmons coming into this year would have been viewed higher than than Middleton without question. And just because he hasn't played, has his stock fallen that much as a basketball player? I think Chris Middleton is just better than Ben Simmons. We're at that point where the Ben Simmons offensive and look, I'm curious where we had them in the Crystal Basketball rankings now going into the year. I'm gonna move on to the next question because I don't want to talk anymore about Ben Simmons or Kyrie irvank J jt Alexander asked if you're if you're drafting current NBA coaches in a vacuum, who's your number one pick and why is Tom Timoto number thirty? Who? Mhm? I mean, I feel like I I went on my tibotaut a few episodes ago. Is he number thirty? Though probably not. I'm not gonna lie. He's down there at this point. I always struggle with the questions about coaches just because I don't know that we have enough information to actually evaluate them like this is. This is the caveat that I always want to give whenever we talk about Coach of the year is we don't have the access to know how impactful the coaches actually are in any situation. So I always really struggle with these. My top three would probably be tylu Eric Spoolstra, and then I think Nick Nurse is still there. The job he's done in Toronto is by and large been great. This season has been all over the place, But the roster construction or the lack of a bench isn't necessarily his fault. His playing his guys like ninety minutes a game is certainly up there. There are a ton of great coaches. I don't know who would be last. It's probably look Timoda is going to be near the bottom. Near the bottom, But like someone has Willie Green done anything like super inspiration on New Orleans Jets just doesn't have the track record. Jamal Mosley and Orlando Are you taking them over? If you want to take them over? Because I'm not gonna argue with you because he sucked this year and is it inability to like prioritized player development at all is pretty bad, and we know he's going to be fired at this point, the fact that the report came out that there's already been questions lobby to James Dolan about him. It's over. It'll probably, my guess, is over the off season, but it's over for him. So yeah, I think those are my top three, though you could certainly make a case for Pop spill Stretch is usually my number one. It's between I think him and Tylu. My top three are like kind of neck and neck, but it'd be this season specifically two between him and Tylu for me, and that's totally fair. To circle back in the preseason Christal basketball, Chris Middleton was actually higher than Drew Holiday. He was twenty fifth, but Holiday and Ben Simmons were tied. And I would argue that Ben Simmons is not going to be a better version of Ben Simmons after not playing forever. But Ben Simmons might be a better version of Ben Simmons when surrounded with more complimentary talent, because he is an objectively better fit next to Kevin Durant and an available Kyrie Irving than he was next to Joel Embiid. Is he? I think so, just because of the floor spacing that's provided. You know, Embid can shoot, Durant can shoot. I guess you're just operating under the assumption that he's gonna be able to have the ball a bunch with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. And maybe you're right because they made James Harden work. But that's just like they might. That's a team that feels like they might need to use him as the screener more than Philly ever did. And I think Philly was criticized for not doing that more. But Ben Simons has never shown that he could do that. Is he gonna be okay like hanging around the dunker spot? I like, is he gonna embrace that type of role? And then what is he from the free throw line? I just I am much lower on Ben Zimmons's offense than I've ever been, and I think that's I would comfortably take middle tender Drew Holiday over him right now. I think that there's also something to be said for the mental aspect of it, where he'd been objected to so much criticism with the seventy six ers while wearing that Philadelphia uniform. But the fresh start may just give him more confidence to do the things we saw earlier in his career. I don't know what that aspect of it him not improving at all his range is. I hope that's not a byproduct of him feeling too much pressure and overwhelmed by that. But he had Brett Brown just campaigning in the media. I don't care. I don't care if he makes them. I just want him to take them. So I don't think there was a point where he had a ton of support. That's not to say that he's still people are still dealing with shit. I don't think going to Brooklyn all of a sudden empowers him to expand his offensive game, would be my point. Yeah, I don't know that it expands it so much as allows him to do what he did best with more confidence. My point isn't about him suddenly becoming like this three point marksman so much as just like playing with the freewheeling nature that we saw a few seasons back in Philadelphia. But anyway, the goat as since the abolishment of a legal defense. We've seen the rise of overload defense and then the explosion of offensive in the space and paced error of the three ball. It feels like there's been an interesting sort of ebb and flow effort by teams to create unique offenses depending on their personnel after a few years of emulating more ball, and I think the rise of the big man MVP race this year is somewhat symbolic of that. Have we arrived to close to the Have we arrived too close to the most efficient form of basketball with just a few tweaks to get at to higher levels? What do you think is the next evolution of the game from here? Is the next big shift one that will be dujure or de facto allah league sanction or tactics adopted by teams. I love this question so much. I think that a lot of basketball strategy is cyclical, where we see the adjustments made to counter the rising trend, and then we get the adjustments to the adjustments which bring them back to what they originally looked like, and so on and so forth. Like we saw it a lot with the pack the pain defense that Tom Thibeau ran, which led to more spacing, which led to adjustments on the defensive end. So I think that the natural evolution here is to capitalize on the space that's been created by the propensity of three point shots by having more dominant interior presences, as we're seeing with Yokich and Embeed. I don't know that that necessarily makes things that much more efficient, so much as creates a little bit more stylistic divergence, which allows teams to do what they do best and create different types of roster constructions that ultimately arrive at the same endpoint. It's one of the reasons that I like to push back when people are like, yeah, like the NBA is so three point happy that all offenses look the same. Like that might be true if you look only at the final products, but the styles in which they get to those end points are far from homo gus. Teams run so many different kinds of sets to open up those looks on the perimeter. All of that is to say, like, I don't think that there's too much more room to go from here in the maximization of the efficiency of offensive basketball, which means that league sanctions are rule changes are what's going to prompt the next evolution. I think ultimately we're going to see some sort of attempt by the league to counteract what the three point line has done to the game, you know, the increasing devaluation of more traditional post bound big men and the incorporation of positionally versatile players, these seven footers who grew up handling the ball. Whether that comes by moving the three point arc back a little bit, by reducing the number of corner threes, by eliminating them entirely with a three point arc that doesn't have a break and just continues until it goes out of bound, the advent of a four point line, and anything that moves the action even further away from the hoop or out of the corners and freeze up more space on the interior, so that the calculus changes a little. Because ultimately, the reason for all these changes is the teams have increasingly realized that three is greater than two. So if you can make a certain percentage of your three pointers, it's just inherently more advantageous to you to take those over those less efficient twos. So if we can increase the points per possession of two pointers by promoting more spacing around the elbows on the blocks, that's the next step. How that happens I don't think is organic, because teams are just going to continue leaning into these three point trends until they're disincentivized to do so. The only thing I want to add there is I think there's also a chance that we just continue to see the guard and wingification of bigs in the NBA, where there's more people playing like Joel Embiid than there is Rudy Gobert, or playing more like a Christian Wood than a Jared Allen, and even Jared Allen's a perfect example of just someone who developed more ball skills. And so I don't know if the NBA will do I mean, look, the league average offensive efficiency this year outside of garbage time is down almost two points per one hundred possessions, which is pretty big year over years. The new has the way the game has been officiated, change that while they do more things like that, but I could also very easily see it going the other way. You talk about the advent of maybe a four point line that would be in favor of optimizing the efficiency of offenses. So I don't think we've reached peak efficiency in its form, but I do think the only thing that kind of disagree because I agree with everything you said. Basically is I still think there's another level of the player element here that that could change the way that happens. And maybe it's also just not only is it the wingification of the Bigs, but it's sort of just are we getting to a point where I just look at how big LaMelo ball is, where maybe he wouldn't have been considered a traditional point guard, he would have been more of an off guard. If they're grooming people who are six five and six six and like just six seven, six eight to be your primary ball handlers, is that the future of the game two to Where could that make the offenses more efficient? I don't know, but I would That's the only thing I could add to everything you just said. Great question, Yeah, that was a fantastic question. Uh. Paulito asked elephant in the room, what is the more valuable asset the number one pick in the I'm assuming he means twenty and twenty four NBA draft, Uh, DJ Wagner, the Bully Twins, Mike Mikey Williams, or whatever pick it takes to get Brownie and then Lebron James. Would any GM use the first pick on Bronni just to get Lebron who would be aged thirty nine Lebron or is at age forty Lebron. I'm not sure either way, though, if it's a twenty twenty four draft, it's that'll be age forty Lebron, all right, Yeah, it's It's difficult to answer because so much could change with Bronnie. Where right now does it look like he's going to be an NBA superstar? Don't really know, But let's assume the worst. Let's assume that he is not a high level college player, that he doesn't really belong in the NBA, because I think that's a more fundamentally interesting question. Is it worth drafting a player who isn't really going to crack your rotation so you can get one season of Lebron James? I think I think so, because ultimately, even with the number one pick, it's a crapshoot. Like you hope that you're getting a transcendent talent, you aren't. Always even those number one picks don't always pan out. So if you're telling me that what's likely a down to the dumps organization because they're landing the number one pick, you know, like, if it's the Sacramento Games, if it's the Detroit Pistons, if it's a team and I'm not trying to insult those ends or anything like that, but if it's a team that has struggled to put a high quality product on the floor and has thus struggled to put fans and seats, then yeah, it's worthwhile because you're guaranteeing something fun to follow something potentially special, because you get to be the organization that has Lebron James wearing your uniform during his swan song, all the farewell tours. You're going to be on national TV time and time again and putting yourself back on the map in a way that you're not going to with a marquee rookie, and in all likelihood you're not going to be that much better because Lebron is Lebron is Lebron, who is just this phenomenal, ageless talent who's still on the periphery of the MVP conversation when he should have been so much worse at this stage of his career. Given the mileage that he's racked up. There's a chance that he's still going to be playing like an All Star as a forty year old, But is he going to be operating at a level where he can sign a minimum contractor whatever he does to get there play with a raw in this hypothetical, not NBA caliber talent who you're going to have to put on the floor to make it a worthwhile event for him. You're not going to be that much more competitive anyway, so you're likely going to be in the mix for the number one pick the next year as well. So I think it's worth pushing back a timeline, especially because it's an event that you would have planned around. You know, if this is guaranteed to happen, you're not going to be operating as if it's a normal season. You're going to be considering this when you're resigning young players, when you're evaluating the trade market, when you're evaluating free agents. This is a multi year plan put into action. So I think regardless of how good Brownie is, if he's good, it becomes an easy decision, even if he is not deserving of an NBA roster spot. I think you do it not that high it would be, I just because it's not even the way that Lebron is operated. Once he's there. It's not just thinking you're talking about you might have the number one pick the next season if he's going to retire afterwards. No, you're gutting your future to maximize the roster around him in that year. And so I don't think are you at that point because I don't know that it's about that to him. If he's making that decision, there's his final season. There's no way he's going to playing. Okay, see just to play with Brownie and be on a bad team, is my point. I don't know that I agree with that that would like No, it's just I think I think at that point, he's basically acknowledging, like, yeah, my NBA career is basically over. I want this experience. I've earned this because I've put together this indelible legacy. I just I can't imagine any when GM jobs are so insecure, basketball front office jobs are so unstable that you're going to burn a number one pick for one year of Lebron when it's just even if it's just for profit, even if he's just willing to do it, you're able to keep your assets, have you set your franchise back, or you're just like, what, you're just a gap year so that high? No, if he, I don't know where he's supposed to rate in that class. If he, if he is someone who does not deserve to be in the NBA. Once you start getting too good teams that have picks or people that think they're won forty year old Lebron away from winning something special. Yeah, then I could see him. Let's say he's not let's just say he's not a first round caliber NBA prospect. I could see him going somewhere inside the lottery. Still, it would not be if we're talking about teams that are bad, this is their chance to get like a cornerstone player. Uh no, you there there. I would be floored if any NBA, any NBA GM of a team that was rebuilding thought in those lines. And if if that, but it wouldn't be a gem driven pick, it would be an older driven pick that it's still a governor driven pick. Excuse me? In a market, look in a market, depending on the market that it is, you can't afford to do just a one year windfall only to the potentially set yourself back years because you use the number one, two, three, four pick on someone who doesn't profile as a transcendent player or can anchor your team long term. Because what you've done also is if forty year old Lebron is gonna play, you've damaged your lottery chance. That's like, there's no there's not a win. There's not a winning scenario there to me either, you get Lebron, you've to gut your future to maximize his time there. Because I don't buy into this. Every stop he's been Miami Cleveland again, but the motivation is so different. Okay, but because so let's say, okay, but let's just hold on. Let's just say that the dude, they don't cut the roster. If forty ye old Lebron is playing, you've made your team better and then they therefore damaged your lottery chances or ability to recoup high draft equity after wasting a pick on Again, I don't know where Brownie is supposed to project on someone who shouldn't be drafted in that spot, but the premise here is that you're also giving minutes to Brownie, which essentially negates the operating under the assumption that he wouldn't be worth the number one pick, right, But then you're still going to play him, so that Lebron is playing with his son and that is going to hold back your on court success. So I don't. I don't think you rule out. So you're telling me that that you could still be one of the three or four worst teams in the league with Lebron James on your team. You've watched the Lakers, right, But seriously, I have no idea because that's still multiple years into the future, and the clients comes so quickly, even for the best players. So I don't. I just don't know. And even if I think it, if he's still operating at an all NBA level, then I think that changes my answer. I just I don't know if he is. I just like you're banking on a lot of he's going to go and be happy not to win, or content not to win and not be good, or he's going to be good. I don't think the motivation is to win in that situation. I think that he's essentially throwing everything but the experience out the window. So I then you're just assuming that he's going to be bad, because any team that has Lebron is not going to be one of the like three to five worst teams in the league. Well, I'm assuming that any team that has forty year old Lebron might not be able to escape that fate. You might have said the same thing about thirty seven year old Lebron. I might have said that any front office, any team governor that thinks along that lines, the executive should be fired, or that that team, that owner should be forced to sell, because that is just that's ass hattery to me for what it's worth. I agree, I'm trying to put myself in that governor mind frame where I'm just trying to maximize profits for my organization, where I in those shoes, I would not want to do that. Let's move on here and trying to get to some Twitter ones very quickly. JR Ask, can you throw out some numbers about Trey Young's defense. I don't know if he's a glutton for punishment. I'm assuming since you didn't have time to do leg work on this one, i'd there. So if you look at defensive metrics are apparently flawed. But if you're looking at NBA shot charts, regularize adjusted plus minus, and you're doing it over a multi year span, I find that at least fairly indicative, if not very indicative. So if you look at three year luck adjusted dr APM, so just on the defensive side of the wall, Trey Young ranks seven hundred and sixty nine out of seven hundred and seventy players in this stat if you use the five year luck adjusted granted this is only year four Trey Young, but over the past five years he makes nine hundred and ninety seven out of nine hundred ninety seventh. So Trey Young's defense is in fact bad. What I am going to say is who is worse and why is it? Isaiah Thomas? But I mean I'm not Isaiah Thomas is in the league right now, so I don't even know what to what to really make of that. I will say, no, no, no, no. I mean in that three year version, you can't say seven hundred sixty nine out of seven seventy Tory Craig, which is why you should take the metrics as a GREENISTO. Yeah, so I think it could be a lot of to do with playing timeline, look the luck of Justice stuff, But yeah, he is, Tory Craig is right there, So that's bizarre. Also, I will I kind of guessed like six hundred names and not landed on Tory Craig and also three year probably at this point isn't long enough to incorporate Isaiah Thomas. He I mean he even played this year. But I'll be very briefly true, but I'm just like the samples lies there is like pretty fairly wonky. So I don't know. I don't know what necessarily goes into the calculations here, but if minutes are a factor, then three years, maybe even five years at this point, I can't what is time. But I will say this about Trey Young is there have been stretches this when he fights through screens like he he helps the Hawks defense in the sense that he's not this net zero And this year I did look up. I believe it's the highest grade of his career. He ranks in the fifty first percentile per Reball Index of ball handler defense on screens, which grades out as a C. Which if you're getting C level ball screen defense entre Young, you've won like that Shi, Yes, absolutely, and he did look he looked better, just if only in terms of effort level at the beginning of the season, which makes me believe that come the playoffs stretch, we might see that again. I think it's harder to maintain that during the middle portion of the season. I think he's less vulnerable when teams are going to act put him in the actions, and there are teams where you will have places to hide him. He is still one of the biggest liabilities in the league, but his offense is us and yeah, and that's that's the and I was gonna make two is like we always see on the NBA Math Twitter account when we put out the TPA graphs, people always respond with like, oh, look at how bad Trey Young's defense is. What a fraud blah blah blah blah blah. It's like, also, look at the offense. He has the second highest score there in the league in our TPA metrics, and when you factor in the offense and the defense, he's number fourteen in the league this season. It's like, yeah, like poke fun at his defense. But it's obviously still not holding back his overall value. Well, it is holding it back, but it's not depressing it to futred territory or anything like that. He's still one of the most valuable players in the league. It's just it's that simple. Lan ass Is de Janda Murray making first Team All Defense. The actual answers, I don't know off the cuff, probably not he should. I think he should be on second team with the job he's done this year. There's just like there are very few guys that I think can be so pesky away from the ball but also on the ball, and like you can't have I call him glosey goosey handles. If you even have like a B plus handle and even worse than an A plus handle against jan Day Murray, You're going to be screwed. So I think he will make an All Defense that defensive team this year is my prediction. Like we said at the top of this, neither of us have done that just feels like something that needs to it's to do it so fluidly. That's just a even more so than all NBA overall teams fluid all like going through that very month is just to meet I don't want to say worthless, but not worth my time. And the other thing is that the All defensive teams are devoid of positional representation, so it's harder for guards to make those teams, which means my immediate inclination is to go negative here and say that he won't. He might be deserving, but like last year, Drew Holiday was the only true point guard to make either of the All defensive teams. The year before that Marcus Smart, Patrick Beverley, and Eric Bledsoe. But that's more of an anomaly in the modern game than anything else. So it's hard for guards, especially ones who aren't like just having their defense talked about left and right, to make that squad. That's fair. I do think the influx of what feel like wing injuries this season, and maybe I'm just harping too much on Paul George and Kwai Leonard both just you know, and now Draymond Green missing all this time, even the Rudy Gobert stuff that's I think Gobert still winds up making one. But I'm not sure if well Draymond Green play enough to make All defense if he only plays the last fifty games in season. I couldn't tell you, Ryan, if the season ended today, which teams are feeling pretty confident about their current playoff matchup. I'll tell you mine to see if you agree. I picked one from each conference in the East, and I'm just assuming that the eight teams will stay the same Miami cannot feel great about having a match up with Brooklyn in round one. My pick is actually, and maybe Milwaukee feels fine about Oh no, And this is my pick because Milwaukee going up against Cleveland, that's nothing against Cleveland. You're the reigning champs. If you have Middleton and Drew Holiday and Jannice on the court, you're not Yeah, you might be worried about Cleveland's defense, but like Darius Garland's job is going to be so difficult, and they just Cleveland still, even with Carris LeVert, doesn't have the offensive depth to go up against the top of the Bucks's roster. Anyway. That's where I'm at in the East as well. I don't think it's a totally ideal matchup for Milwaukee, just because Cleveland has the defensive chops and the defensive pieces to at least slow down Yannis a little bit. And I think it says something that the answer we're both landing on is a lower seated team going up against a higher seeded team with home court advantage. That's a good point. I would say the team that probably has to feel worse about their matchup. I'm not even gonna say the heat because the Nets are just a tirefi. It's the Bulls going up against the Raptors. We might pick. So in the West it gets more interesting because I think there's a case to say, well, the Suns they pull the Clippers, and if people care about avoiding the Lakers, there's that element. I'd probably prefer to face the Lakers, though the Clippers are so well coached. But Norm Powell's out right now, Qui's out, Paul George is out. I understand that one. But I'm gonna say Golden State would be pretty excited to wind up facing Minnesota at number seven, is my actual. The Clippers are just so spect you're going to feel them. Yeah. I mean the other options are, you know, playing the Nuggets, who might have Jamal Murray and Michael Porter junior back in the lineup, or an injured Utah team going against Dallas or vice versa. So I feel like Golden State's the pretty easy answer in the West. The Tomas Josh Giddy for Rookie of the Year versus his Can you make Josh Getty's case for Rookie of the Year and what's his comparison to LaMelo Balls Rookie Year defensive performance included. So I did do research on this. I know oks he's been good on defense. I think Josh Giddy has been solid. Just looking at the defensive assignment think yeah, But looking at the defensive assignments he's tasked with and like the stuff he does. His role is sort of streamlined for him. That's great as a rookie that he could still you know, function that way he is. If you're trying to make a Rookie of the Year a case for him, which I don't think you can. I want to. I think Josh Giddy has been good, but you can't make it's he's sixth in value over replacement player first and assists, second in rebounds, and eighthan scoring quietly, and that's just not the huge part of his game. Plus he's probably he's not hurting you on defense. At least there's his case. Looking at LaMelo Ball's rookie season, so per thirty six for LaMelo Ball nineteen point seven points, seven point seven assists, seven point four rebounds, and he ended up his true shooting was fifty three nine. Josh Giddy per thirty six minutes fourteen point three points, seven point three assists, eight point nine rebounds, and he was at forty seven eight true shooting. If you're asking me who was better defensively as a rookie, I think it's Josh Giddy. I also think that LaMelo Ball always tasked with harder assignments. That's just me thinking back. I might be completely off there, and the true shooting numbers are those are a big deal. So I don't think he's come. I'm wanna think he hasn't come relatively close. But I'm taking year one LaMelo Ball over year one Josh Giddy extremely comfortably. Is the way that I would frame it. Yeah, you hit him the exact points I was going to make. I would I would be a little more high on Giddy's defense relative to LaMelo's. I think that we might have a little bit of revisionist history here because Ball has made some defensive strides in year two that weren't really there the discipline wise, instinctually, he he just wasn't making the same reads that he is this year. Giddy already seems like an impactful defensive player. Maybe not a great one, but at least the rebounding. He is so good at boxing out that's yes, which is which is a piece of defense, but it's the shooting alone. Swings this heavily in LaMelo's direction because ultimately, like you sided the true shooting numbers and you know the breakdown from from zones, He's hitting forty nine percent of his twos, twenty six point seven percent of his threes, and seventy five seventy point five percent of his free throw as will only getting there one point five times per game is giddy this season, and that's just not that's just not going to cut it in a comparison to LaMelo. There's so much reason to be giddy about Josh's future, but he's not going to stack up against LaMelo here. So I don't know who's gonna I don't know if I'm gonna post that club on YouTube, but I'm ruling my eyes seventy right now. This is gonna be our last set of questions. I want to try and blow through two of them since I very much need to leave. Zachary asked, should Bucks versus Sons be the favorite for the finals matchup? Yes, I think I'm with you because for me, it comes down to do you think Golden State can beat Phoenix? And they probably can, but I would still take Phoenix, and I think you have to the Bucks have to be the team you're most comfortable with picking coming out of the East. As my dogs go off in the background, they're the most like that is the most likely match. But I think what makes this year's playoffs so fun is how many different teams could realistically come out of the East because Milwaukee not having brook Lopez, not quite having the same amount of functional depth right now could be troublesome. And I don't know that anyone would be shocked to see the Miami Heat emerge. To see everything, click for the Bulls to see the seventy six ers with them Biden hardened to see Brooklyn. You know, we've talked about how Toronto is a dark dark horse to come out of the East. Cleveland's defense is just immaculate. So it feels like there are arguments for so many different teams in the Eastern Conference, in particular, that there's so much variability in which matchup it could be. But if you're asking which is the most likely, I think that's the easy answer by everything you said there, and there are only two teams that I can see coming out of the West right now. I'm out on the jazz Is coming out of the West and the Grizzlies. I just think it's that little wild, it's a little little early. I think you could make a case for the Nuggets if Murray and Porter are back in the line up. Gonna make this case for the Clippers if Paul Georgian and Choir back too. Absolutely, why would the Rockets not make a move at the trade deadline? I would just say they're bad enough and if you didn't get what you wanted for Eric Gordon or Christian would I don't think their values are going to depreciate that much over the off season. Yeah, I'm still surprised that there wasn't more of a market out there for Mordon. But if it wasn't there, it wasn't there. And they also got Dennis Shrewder, so they did make moves and got off the Tice contract, which they never should have given out in the first place. And the final question from Zachary also, what is the thoughts on Zion returning this season? We covered this with Sabred on the last podcast. I would be floored at this point if he plays this year, And he asked, what is Zion's contract outlook coming out of all this turmoil. And I think the question here is, if you're New Orleans and he's willing to sign it, are you giving him the max extension this summer? Do you have a choice? You kind of don't. But I'm just like, I might need to see him. I need to see him play. I don't you have to offer it, but I'm callously I wouldn't. I just he's good enough. But if he doesn't play this season, you have to offer it because of just the specter of, oh, is he's gonna want out or something. But and I'm a very high on Zion when he's fully healthy, but like we have not seen Zion fully healthy in quite some time now, So I would I'm gonna let's ask for what would you do really quickly resign? I don't. Well, that's a good example of why you're not. And then the executive, what's your prediction I think he'll end up getting in signing? Yeah, is just the ceiling is just too monumentally lofty to leave it on the table. So I think you're building everything around the fundamental premise that he'll be available at some point. And I don't think that you can backtrack from that now and yeah so and also if you want to talk about blessing in disguises, I think it's far more likely that he signs if you were worried about him leaving, it's pretty far more likely he would sign the max contract extension. Like now, and let me try and get to this one really quickly from Raoul Clement ass We just saught to Rose in for seven straight games, shoot the score thirty five points of over fifty percent shooting. Who's another player who could do this? I have a couple in mind, hint one of them is injured right now. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on Cato Wow, that it's such a difficult thing to do. Janus is an answer just because when he scores, he scores with a ridiculous amount of efficiency. Never rule out Durant from that conversation. Trey Young's shooting fluctuates too much to be there beyond beyond the big names, It's really hard to predict that kind of scoring explosion. Could I would say, yokie, what about Luca? Did you say Lucas? I don't. I don't think the fifty percent element is going to be there. You know, he's he's responsible for so much of that offense and is the subject of so much defensive attention every night that you're gonna have a poor shooting night and make up for it at the line. But I just if, I mean, if you're talking about this season, I'm I could kind of get it. But if you put someone around, like if he had zach Lavina's to the second best player, that helps for sure, Right, could zach Lavine do it? I guess the Rose enough. Yeah, that's a great question. Though most likely I think I might say Joanna, Jannas or Yoki. And look, you know what, I'm not putting anything past Lebron at this point. I know he probably takes a hair or too many threason doesn't get to the rim enough. But I would throw him in there, old Lebron and it's a great spot to end this podcast. Thank you to add everyone who bore with us through my puppies barking in the background. Thorn Wade shout out to them for sucking a little bit today. Follow us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox. Please remember to subscribe, rate review to this podcast you haven't already. Follow us on Instagram at Hardwood, Underscore, Knox, follow us on YouTube. Link is in the bio, and also join our discord. If you enjoyed this, you get your mail bag question prioritized. We do take stuff from Twitter, but we want to give our discord peeps. Am I allowed to say peeps our discord ogs. We want to give them priority here, so join discord. A lot of fun conversations happening there. Go follow sports Math at sports maath Net that all these social media accounts are also in the bio. Checkout twack. Not the bio the podcast description, but check out twack sportsmathnetwork dot com Twack. Just go check it out. Until next time you get the shout out the one the old me the second best player on the Mavericks. You can ensure that lukadan Chich is able to score thirty five points having straight games on hitting of these different percentains full of rocks, Frank Neil people