What is Kraka lacked? Part of the Knots listeners, I am Damn Valley
coming out. You out my fantadis show host Adam from all this time.
I am, however, super pleased and excited to be joined once again by
good friend and colleague Epniture Report Grant Hughes. Follow him on Twitter at gt
Underscore Hughes. This is the second installment of our most Underrated slash Underappreciated player
on every NBA team series. We already did the Eastern Conference, so if
you've not checked out that podcast, do so right now. What are you
waiting for it? And this is going to be the Western Conference podcast.
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as we say around here, ta f thermoonuclear as fuck in the best possible
way. Let's get to the most underrated slash underappreciated player on every Western Conference
team with Bleacher Reports, Grant News Grant Welcome back to Hardwood Knops. Dual
appearances in the same week, which is not unprecedented for you, it's unprecedented
for any single guest who is not you. Adam doesn't even do like dual
episodes a week normally. So just look at you, like, look at
this lift right here. Welcome back. I'm excited to get into more underrated
players with you into alphabet so damn accurately, how are you doing? Though
it's been while there have been a few days since the Eastern Conference Inness exercise
was published, we have not spoken in like almost twelve hours, so I'm
just wondering how many life changing things have happened to you since then? So
long? It's been way too long. I you know it just I did
a you know, an epp some salt bath and uh did some real got
got the norma tech boots on and really just had to recover because I wanted
to just be in peak form for for the second one, because I care
more about the Western Conference, so I'm really like the the East one that
was you know, I brought like my B minus game, so so this
one, I'm gonna get serious. So glad to be back in such a
short turnaround, and I'm ready this time. Look Kuai would be sitting out
this this podcast. Oh yeah, I don't load manage, not at all.
And what a bringing endorsement for the Eastern Conference podcast. By the way,
B minus I was a solid like C plus, So go listen to
that podcast. Let's get off and running, though we're doing every team's most
Underrated player. In case you didn't catch that gist, we're in the Western
Conference. We'll go alphabetically grant the Dallas Mavericks are yours? Who did you
pick? And just Stops is no longer on the team, I just want
to tell, Okay, so I have to totally redo this section then,
because you know, I like there are there are a couple of choices I
would just shout out. I hate to step on it if if this was
going to be your guy, but I would shout out maxically. But I
feel like he's always kind of underrated as a as a good defender. Like
I still go back to when like he was the guy that the MAVs put
on Kawhi Leonard for long stretches of some playoff games when they had other options.
But for me, it's Dorian Finney Smith. I feel like that's probably
not a surprise. He's another low usage guy, but for this team in
particular, he just if you have Luca don Chich, who has all these
obvious strengths, but defensively, that's kind of where Luca is lacking to have
a guy that can guard one through four and specifically guard the types of players
that Luca his position should guard to spare him those like those heavier, heavier
lifts on D that really matters. And now I mean, and this isn't
just like, oh we can sort of guard one through four, Finney Smith
can is really good as an effective defender against four positions, and he shoots
thirty nine percent from three basically every year, you know, for the last
three. So that's huge because it's not an issue if you can't create your
own shot. If you have one of the best shot creators, that's like
ever walked the Earth on your team. So the fit is great, super
versatile. The volume I did this for Fred VanVleet on the Eastern Conference side,
Finney Smith is you know, around the top ten in minutes played this
year. So I always think we underrate just availability because if Finney Smith is
not there, then Dallas's whole thing kind of it gets a lot harder for
them to be the type of team they want to be and to be as
good of a defense as they've become if he's not available. But he just
sort of always is his matchup difficulty. Last thing. We've talked about this
a lot for underrated guys because it's kind of something you don't consider that much.
It's ninety nine point nine, so the only guy's higher than him in
terms of the quality of player they have to guard are lou Dort and mattist
Table. But he's played nine hundred more minutes than Tyble and six hundred more
minutes than Dort, so the volume again comes in for him. So it's
just hard to find a better piece for this particular team. But Finney Smith
is someone that I think would make literally any team significantly better. So the
correct answer is Frank Nilikina, but I think that Smith is the best second
answer, and you could drow Cleveland in there too. He looked like cooked.
I don't know how times's gonna say cooked when we record his pocket,
but he did not look great at the start of the season. He's looked
better, and I would say him getting healthier, Luca getting in shape,
plus sort of the uptick in Reggie Bullock's performance, and then Dorian Phinney Smith,
who's probably the single biggest reason why the MAVs have been good on defense,
Like those are the four biggest factors when I watched the Mavericks, I
feel like that you can assign to their defensive success this season and outperforming expectations
there. And I think the only thing I really have to add with Dorian
Phinny Smith is his three point shot. It's only been thirteen postseason games for
his career, but He's the type of player where you wonder what's going to
happen to him against postseason defense is if he faces either more more like like
contests on his shots or they're just gonna leave him open because they don't actually
trust that he's shooting forty point three percent from three in the postseason. Three
was thirteen games, So like this isn't you know, a motist table situation
with him. It's volume is higher than that so or or an outlier situation
with lu Dor where he goes off like one's every few games from the perimeter.
So them getting him getting him on the extension. I I'm shocked that
he didn't just go into free agency but four years of fifty two million dollars,
and I know that there's a cap on what extensions can be, YadA,
YadA, YadA. I really believe that had he played out the season,
he's probably looking at like a four year at least sixty million dollars deal
on deal. But even in a I guess the cash strapped market this summer,
but everyone wants wings who are in their twenties, who can defend four
positions capably. Yep, he's great, but Nuggets they were I don't want
to say they were hard, but I vacillated between three guys. I don't
know if we should be picking rookies in this Otherwise I would pick Bone Thailand.
But I think people are starting to see, like, oh, this
rookie class is so deep, and he's one of the huge reasons why Denver
might have got another steal. He is a capslock shooter, and he is
gonna annihilate defenses off the dribbles for off the dribble, for years to come.
He already has like a nice catch and shoot touch. I've been very
impressed with some of the pastes he's thrown. I think he's gonna be like
in a minus finisher when he's at his peak, just based off like the
way that he angles his body and how he's able to maneuver through traffic a
lot of the time. But I didn't pick him, even though I just
went on a Bones Island Tangent also busy Bones just one of the best nicknames.
I was between Jeff Green and Zeke Nagy. I settled on Zeke Nagy,
but shout out to Jeff Green, who's just settled into like this four
or five role kind of stretches the floor on medium volume, but gives you
a lot of switchability and some like reliable IQ on defense, even if he
has to go up against certain bigs at points. He's from where he was,
like when you go back and look at how it seems like he was
overrated then his careers on the line because he had the heart issue. Then
he sort of just all around the NBA. You would trade a first round
pick for him only for him do nothing, and there was normally Doc Rivers
on the receiving ends of those first round pick trades. So and then to
see what he's been now like transitioning into this really valuable front court role player,
shout out to him. I think it's Zeke Nagy though. Just his
ability to stroke it from three, I think the biggest hole in his And
he has some like I don't want to call it a floor game, but
there's like some to him when you get him going inside the arc, and
he can be sneaky on certain putbacks Defensively, I think what's tough is he
probably could stand just be more physical, and he's like sort of center sized
but sort of not and the Nuggets don't necessarily use him as they're big.
If you put him on a different team, though, I have no doubt
that there are teams in the league I would start him at the five because
he would be their best big men on the roster, or at least the
best equipped to do that. And so to have somebody who's just that mobile
on the offensive end while also being able to hit those threes and stretch the
floor. I know Denver's bench was sort of a point of contention for a
lot of this season, and I believe Naji has been banged up right now.
They've had so many injuries on the roster this year, but yeah,
he's did day to day with an ankle injury. He's just been really good
for them, and I again, there's the shooting at that position, but
it's also just the ability to be a four when you look like you might
be a five, and then just his movement away from the ball on offense.
I think is highly underrated outside of Denver, obviously, because speaking with
people there, I think it's clear that that team values him. For sure.
I think that's a great pick. The only the only other one I
well, there are a couple I consider I think Aaron Gordon every time we're
looking up defensive versatility, he's always way up there, and I think that's
a factor. But Monte Morris negative on offense for the past, however many
weeks it's been, I probably wouldn't think a little bit. Perhaps, Yeah,
I always uh. I was thinking about Aaron Gordon today as I was
preparing for this, and he don't do you get like like weird like post
athletic ability Blake Griffin vibes from him where he's kind of just like he's almost
like predetermining his moves on the ball and it just feels like, I don't
know, it feels very mechanical, which is weird because he's like a dunk
contest winning caliber athlete. But I don't know that. I've always thought it
was stupid. We just like remove that image from my brain. Next Ti'm
gonna walt to Aaron Gordon. I'm gonna be thinking about this when he's on
the ball. I hope that's not what he's become on offense. No,
I really want to see that is one of the more recent like bigger what
ifs if Jamal Murray just never gets injured last season, Denver has a case
is like the foremost title favorite, and I just feel like not having Porter
or Murray has shoehorn shoehorned him at points into this offensive role that he was
never suited for. We knew it in Orlando and he wasn't supposed to play
it in Denver, but it's kind of been thrust upon him in smaller doses,
but it's still an issue. Yeah, he's a perfect fourth option,
right, Like that's where it's like, he can do stuff on offense if
you absolutely need him to, and it's against the defense that has not loaded
to him then that end, or you just he does stuff in transition that
all works. But just before we go to the Warriors, Monte Morris,
like, you know, he's starting this year just by necessity. His minutes
are up, his shots are up, but his efficiency is also up,
so and that's always such a tough thing to do. It's minor stuff.
He's only origing thirteen a game, but he never turns it over. He's
not asking well, partly because he's not asked to do a lot of point
guard things because they have Yokich. But just just a quick nod to him,
we're doing more of those this year than he has in years past.
He's also true or false. Monte Morris has never missed a long and rage
shot. I'm gonna say true, I've never seen it. Yeah, me
too. So I got the Warriors next, and they're a weird team to
do this for because they've been so prominent for so long and they've been on
so it's it's everybody sort of has a rough idea of who does what because
they're on you know, the national stage more often than just about anybody.
I went with Gary Payton the second for a couple a couple of well,
one reason, defense, but a couple of aspects of that. I think
just anecdotally. We'll get to the numbers in a second, but I think
he's the most disruptive on ball defender in the league. And there are guys
like Patrick Beverlely that come to mind in that regard, even though I think
Patrick Beverley overrated because of all the fouling. You know, Marcus Smart is
another guy. I'm sure I'm forgetting several, but I think Peyton on the
ball, it's just like a matter of if he's if he comes in the
game, the over under is like forty five seconds until he deflects a ball
or like knocks it away from a dribbler. It just happens every Timee's like
a joke. It's like a given. So so that's the anecdotal case.
Obviously, he has the highest matchup difficulty on the team just because he You
know, if you have Jordan Poole and you have Steph Curry, neither of
them is going to guard the other team's best offensive guard. It's always going
to be Peyton's some stats now, because it's like just saying he creates havoc
and has a hard job is one thing, but so he's Peyton is tied
with Matisse Tybel for the league lead and deflections for thirty six, which is
like Tybell is like an all timer ball deflector already, like he's one of
the best. He's just like everywhere all the time. His instincts are nuts,
and Peyton is as good as him per minute in getting deflections. So
that that's kind of wild. That's among guys that have played forty games offensively,
It's it's tough with Peyton. Like that's where maybe if you're saying he's
underrated, you sort of have to look away. But he's a passable three
point shooter. He's left open all the time for a reason, but he's
around the league average. I think he's at like thirty six percent last I
saw. Those are all open corner threes. Whatever. He's a super athlete.
He's a really good cutter from the corner. He gets a lot of
duck ins and dunks because his defender is always just like not looking at him.
But still you gotta be opportunistic and advanced. Stats Wise, Raptor has
him as the Warrior's third best player. Estimated plus minus has him as a
second best player. Not saying that's I mean, you know that, but
but like that's a good argument for him being underrated, because nobody would even
consider him as like in the top five or six on the team. So
I think I think he kind of And he's also a guy that was basically
out of the league, you know, and wasn't danger of being out of
league forever until landing in just the right spot that could, you know,
make use of this up he's good at and hide the things that he's not.
He is like Saran rap on defense because it's just like you can't get
that stuff unstuck to you. If it's like, that's so hard to manouver
around. So he is. I think he is the right choice the only
other name I would consider here. And also sometimes I'll watch Gary Payton the
Second on offense and I'll think, what if Russell Westbrook played that role on
offense for the Lakers. Maybe they don't have the spacing to make it happen,
but just his willingness to cut. We've seen him used in like screens.
I know people have said like what if Russell Westbrook played the Bruce Brown
role, But it's almost like what if he just played the Gary Payton the
Second role? But that would, I guess, require also hustling on defense,
which is not something he does consistently. So I think the only other
name here you could Oh, actually, I'll make two cases. One is
wants Toscano Anderson. It would be very nice if he could hit a free
throw or a wide open shot this season. But he's just a smart player,
keeps the ball moving on offense, knows how to not get in anyone
else's way when he doesn't have the ball, and he gives you versatility on
the defensive end. I am a sucker for JTA and I would love to
see him get more consistent minutes with the Dubs, like it feels like a
lot of his playing time is sort of tethered to either how Steve kirstyling that
day or how many people are injured, but he has been it's been a
rough pass for him offensively. I think you can make the case, and
I'm not trying to galaxy brain this ship here, I promise I think you
can make the case that Steph is still underrated because I and maybe this is
recentcy biased, but I did an MVP Ladder Apleacher Report and people were mad
that I had him fourth because he went through a slump or the Warriors were
five hundred or whatever the record was without Draymond Green, or he only had
was eight points against the Bucks, and I used this example. I don't
know why I talked about on the Easter because we were talking about Drew Holiday,
but I used this example. If you get a team like the Bucks
to say that Drew Holiday's basically only job is going to be to face guard
you and pay attention to nothing else that is happening. No one else commands
that type of attention in league, and he changes just the geometry of an
offense by stepping on the floor, not by having a ball, not by
moving, just his existence. He could be standing in the corner and that
changes everything. So I'm not here to say that he's actually underrated. He's
an MVP, so I get it. I totally. He's the only unanimous
MVP in NBA history. But I feel like there's still a lack of appreciation
for what he does, or a lack of nuance for his value, because
it's not forget about the Yeah, okay, they struggled without Draymond. Let's
go see how the Warriors look now that they're not gonna have Steph Curry for
at least a few weeks here, They're probably gonna be much worse. And
that's just it still blows my mind after all these years, and some of
the arguments I think are designed to make people angry, where they say,
you know, he doesn't have a finals MVP like and he had Kevin Durant,
and it's like, okay, but not so stuff like that I can
throw out the window. But the fact that we can't look and or some
people can't look at and just the MVP race, I'm not saying he should
win and maybe there was a case for him earlier on in the season,
but to think that putting him in the top five this season when his team
is still really good overall and he remains the primary reason why, that still
just blows my mind. So he's not my pick. I would go with
Garrett Payton second or JTA. But he just like he sort of had a
case for the most Improved Player when he was the unanimous m VP. It
feels like that type of a situation here, I think. I think the
way I'd put it is is he's the greatest scorer ever who impacts the game
if in a in the most significant way of anyone on the floor. If
he's like over twenty, like it doesn't then they're just just just to use
an example, like you know a great great scorers that are that are good
another way, like Demargaro's and like best isolation scorer around right now, like
that type of thing. If he's not scoring, it's not like it frees
up stuff for other guys. Like just Curry's presence and the way that he
moves and the way that he's willing to do stuff off the ball. It's
just it makes it so yeah, to your point that the Bucks tried this
Drew Holiday, you know, face guard thing, and Curry did basically nothing
except run around and get off the ball and and and just accept it.
And the Worriors beat the defending chances by like twenty they were they would they
boat raced him early like it was just over And I don't know how It's
like, I don't know who else one gets that kind of treatment, like
you said in two, would have that be like kind of the predictable result,
because yeah, you're face guarding him, but all four other guys still
are freaking out the second he has like a sliver of space, and there's
just there's just there's just never been anyone who's best skill scoring can be bottled
up and it still doesn't matter for how or actually sometimes it has a positive
effect on how well his team scores when he does. It's it's a wild
thing. Yeah, that I take your point. It's it's hard, it's
hard to encapsulate how great he is, you know, without without sort of
feeling like ridiculous because he has one two MVPs. But anyway, yeah,
I like that is there like a similar case to be made for Draymond,
So like well, sure, because I think there are people that look at
like what is the average eight seven and seven, and it's like, well,
how good is this guy? Right? That's just such a you know,
we should I hope nobody is listening to this that thinks that. I
hope. I hope we have like a little I don't know, higher basketball
I Q audience in that. But defensively, like, yeah, he's kind
of similar where you know, the things that he does are hard to perceive.
But I don't think there's any question to me. I still think he's
the best defensive player in the league. And like, call me a bias,
but for DPO, I if he didn't miss time with the back stuff
agree, because they were the Warriors were the best defense by a considerable margin.
And and it's not like other than him, there's any Peyton, sure,
but he's like a low minute guy to get to get that done with.
You know, Curry playing a ton of minutes, he's passable. Pool
is a bad defender still, and and you know Cominga doesn't know what to
do half the time. Still, there's a lot of guys getting minutes that
just aren't aren't aren't great defenders. So yeah, I Green could be underrated
in that regard too. I think I think he just gets overlooked because he
doesn't do things that uh you know, pop out in the in the box
scort to use another super hack, uh take on him. To appreciate what
he does in real time, you have to watch what's happening away from the
ball, And for someone like me, and I try to fully admit this,
just as someone who can't comprehend like the decision making and real time xs
and os of MBA basketball, you have to go back and watch things or
read things about him. I think it was the breakdown he did with was
it Doris Burke on ESPN plus I can't remember who he did it with.
I think it was Doris Burke. That was just exceptionally insightful. And I
feel like that's probably where the discrepancy lies with this value. If you're only
looking at the box sort were expecting him, where you're watching the plays where
you understand, like why are you passing up open opportunities at the rim that
like, those are the things that are going to resonate more in real time.
So I think he does have a case there, But in terms of
just like someone who can carry an entire team, and the rush to prove
that he can't steph Curry still like sort of checks that box for me.
But again, maybe I'm galaxy braining this ship, not the spirit of this
exercise, So the rockets are weird. I said I wouldn't pick a rookie,
but I'm basically gonna pick a rookie. I'm gonna hedge here, so
Eric Gordon. I think it's fair and there, But there's also something I
can't wrap my head around. Is he's either underrated because the fact that no
one would give up a first round pick to get him at the deadline is
blasphemist to me, or he's overrated because Houston wouldn't accept the first round pick
together and it's like, Okay, what are you guys doing? He I
know people don't like his contract. That final season is only gonna be guaranteed
if you win a championship or he makes an All Star team and hits a
minute's threshold. And news flash, I don't care if your fucking owner is
Robert Sarver. If you win a championship or Eric Gordon makes an All Star
team, you will be happy to pay out or should be happy to pay
out that third year salary. Also, this is not Russell Westbrook's expiring salary.
If for some reason it was guaranteed, you can move. I think
it's like twenty two million. That's less than half of what Westbrook Is gonna
make next year. You can move off that expiring contract again if it becomes
guaranteed, which if it does, means that you probably want a title.
So I just want to make that clear. He has been so valuable as
just someone who he's done more with the ball in his hands. We know
not only about his value as a three point shooter, but the ultralong distance
three is when he's not on the ball, Those help spread out an offense
a ton, even when they're not necessarily going down. We've seen better iterations
of the rockets where he is shot worse overall from the three. But the
distance on his looks account for a lot of what the geographical aesthetics, let's
say, of Houston's offense and its success. And then this season, like
you want someone who can put real rim pressure without needing this huge head start
in the half court, it is him, guys, will he can barrel
through defenses. He's not a bad finisher. There are a hundred and here's
a stack. There are one hundred and fifty eight players who have used or
finished at least two hundred drives this season. Eric Gordon is sixth in field
goal percentage on drives among that group, at fifty eight or excusing fifty seven
point seven percent. That is, the only players in front of him are
Joel embiid Janis, Kale Bridges, Sabonis and I bet this is the I
bet you can't even guess who's in first place. I don't know. It's
because he's not getting to the basket on these plays. He's taking those like
short little mid rangers. He's shooting yokis. This is not yoking. Seventy
point two percent on drives. That is that leaves the league among one hundred
and fifty eight players who have used it least in hungry. I'm sorry,
that's absurd. Those aren't drives though, Those are saunters. Those are casual,
casual sachets. I'm so stealing that for something. Nicoleon the league in
field goal percentage on downhill sachets. So Eric Gordon I think has become underrated.
And he's also someone that I don't know that I would call him a
good defender, but if you needed him to defend up to the three spot,
he can still do it, and so I would have traded for him.
I really wanted Phoenix to trade for him. I think they would have
been They are title favorites, but I think they would have been a championship
formality had they traded for Eric Gordon. That's how high on Eric Gordon.
I am met on Phoenix obviously, but I have to pick Josh Christopher here.
And I don't know how many people listen to podcasts, I've seen a
ton of him. He is peskies hell and there's like a like what if
Mike Conley had an edge to his game. That's the vibe I get when
I watch him. There's like a confidence when he's pulling up off the dribble.
He makes these like very difficult passes look easy, but the fact that
he's making them in the first place, there's like a bravado there to them.
He can be like I don't want to say he's a wizard at playmaking
in the open floor, but he's danger as a decision maker in the open
floor, and he would work on defense. I am so intrigued by every
single one of Houston's rookies. And I'll also give an honorable mention to Usman
Druba included, because it would have been nice if they just uncorked him a
bunch this season. I understand he was considered one of the ross prospects in
the draft, but you talk about when I went back, I watched minimal
film on him, so admit that it looks like he might be able to
defend twenty seven of the five positions that are on the floor, just the
positions on the floor on the same possession. So I think Houston has a
very intriguing asset base. But Josh Christopher is sort of he was probably the
rookie that was talked and not just because he was drafted lowest for them,
but he was a rookie that was talked about the least among those four in
Shangoon Guruba and then of course Jalen Green. I'm he's another one of those
players where I don't know what he's going to end up as in the NBA.
But of non star career ox Ox Arcas, I can't talk today.
It tellesn't matter with me too much. Podcasting over the past few hours.
I'm gonna be watching him. Besides, think he's going to be really good
and that the rocket's mind of potential gem there. I like it. I
would have gone Gordon too, I just think because because I am not really
considering contracts so much for this. But I think that's part of the reason
that he definitely gets into the underrated conversation. The only other name might throw
out as Garrison Matthews just shooting matters. I think he should be fired.
But yes, yeah, well yeah, what he's he's your what what what's
your Duncan Robinson? Comp for him? What you called Duncan Robinson? Eighty
million dollars Garrison Matthews or it's not that far off, except that Garrison Matthews
does have a superpower, which is getting laid out, trying to get over
the top of screens and drawing offensive fouls. Nobody in the league is better
than that, better at him, better at that than him. I can't
talk either, So like I think, if you look up in the hust
I should have done this. But if you look up on an NBA NBA
dot COM's hustle stats where they have charges drawn, he's got a whole bunch
of them and like all of them are that where he's just getting he just
like bursts into flame. Is when he tries to get around a big guye
on the screen and like flies twenty feet away, like in a like a
Michael Bay movie or something like. He's he's super good at that and he
gets away with it all the time, and it's great an offense too.
His free throw, yeah, he takes normal charges. Oh yeah, I
know, I see what you're saying. Yeah, he's more than well.
He jumps way forward on his three point shot too. He's like he's he's
like low key one of the like best game like most has the most gamesmanship
in the league for like a guy that nobody ever sees, you know.
He kind of reminds me of did you ever play the three point contest in
like the NBA Live video games where it felt like if you held down the
shoot button long enough they would land inside the art. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, he's got that. Uh No, Eric Gordon is the
right pick. We are now onto the Los Angeles Clippers, another tough team,
especially this year because there's a bunch of guys that have been bumped up
into you know, bigger roles than they otherwise would have played. So,
like, you know, Terrence Man, I think probably although he had that
huge playoff game against the Jazz, that kind of might actually have him overrated,
But I like him a lot. I went with Nick Batoum. I'm
pretty sure I mentioned him more than once on the East Pod because I just
like to compare guys that are low usage, smart, good passers, lord
versatile defenders. I feel like all my underrated guys have kind of fit that
mold. But I think a couple of factors kind of add to him being
underrated, and one is that I still feel like he's thought of in tandem
with the twenty sixteen contract he signed that was immediately like one of the worst,
you know, that was what you'd point to when it went bad for
him in Charlotte as like one of the worst, you know, twenty sixteen
deals in a summer of really terrible ones. But you know, again not
his fault, like you're gonna say no to that, like what you know,
big deal. I could see Charlotte hornets Man being a little peeved though,
just like this is what he becomes after he was right and he was
never a locker room problem there. It is credit, but like he's doing
so much more for the Clippers over the past two seasons they did over his
final two in Charlotte. Yeah, no, I agree, And part of
that was injury. I think he had an elbow injury towards the end of
that. But he just heat disappointed he didn't live up to the contract.
And I don't I don't hold that against him. You know, four position
defender, he's a he's slowed down a little bit. I think, you
know, last year was really the revelation that because you know, he was
kind of on the way out, it seemed like. But still, you
know, in three of the last four years in terms of points per shot
attempt, he's kind of up, you know, above the eightieth percentile.
So he doesn't shoot a lot, he doesn't create a lot of his own
offense, but he makes the shots that are created for him, and he
moves the ball quick when he doesn't have it. So I just think,
you know, on a team like the Clippers that are going to be built
around stars in theory, once everybody's healthy and can just put these nasty you
know, all everybody's six seven to six nine lineups on there on the floor
in a playoff game, but two figures into that heavily, and the fact
that he doesn't need anything drawn up for him to be effective, like really
matters when you're gonna have two high usage stars. So I know I will
concede that. You know, the advanced metrics don't like him, the on
off stuff doesn't like him this year. But I'm just I'm just I'm just
thinking of him in terms of what he means to this team at full strength,
and just like you know, what he actually is capable of doing on
the floor, I don't think is appreciated very much. I think that's a
I think that's the right answer. I think you can make a case for
Norman Powell given what it costs to get him out of Portland. That was
an abomination of a trade by the Blazers. I'll stand by that, unless
Keian Johnson turned into the next big thing or they use their flexibility to actually
do something inspiring this offseason. I would bet against the ladder. I bet
against both those snarrats cotting out. I think I might have picked a mere
coffee though, just and I don't know if this is sort of an instance
of circumstance where he's putting up No, they're not gaudy numbers, but like
he's having an opportunity he wouldn't otherwise have. They've given a more on ball
response ability because of what their point guartation has become. He's been solid for
them Defensively, He's shooting fifty four percent basically on two's nearly thirty seven percent
on mostly above the break triples this season. There's a plug and play element
to his offense, but he can get by defenders when he's using his left
hand. So I think that he's someone who becomes he's found money right now,
but if you scale him to the longer term version of this roster,
he fits with the motif that you just outlined of let's just throw out these
hillacious lineups that don't necessarily have a big and they're going to defend their asses
off and be able to do a bunch of different things on offense. I'm
just not sure given how much credit la is received for one it's defense,
and then two, I think we've looked at players like Reggie Jackson. The
coaching job of course of Tylou even more a mere coffee has just been like
absolutely rock solid for them, and that's after playing you know, this is
I look at this is essentially his rookie season too, because he's played sub
It was about sixty games in this first two years come by before this season.
He's already played in at this recording sixty games this year. So I'm
fascinated to see whether he's someone who sticks with them because at like six seven,
handle the ball a little bit, shoot threes off the catch and above
the b I don't even even stand in the corner. I know, above
the break. Technically he could be in the way if that's where he's standing,
but they don't need to be. These short threes. He's shooting better
out above the break threes than on corner triples this season. I'm just I'm
intrigued by him. And so the Clippers have done. They've been scrappy as
any anyone this year, and I think that they've found, you know,
just like they found Nick Batoum last year. I feel like they're m Terrence
Man as well. They're finding like Isaiah Hartenstein and a Mere Coffee like those
are guys that I think can help them when they're at full strength. Yeah,
and I think, you know, sometimes in a position like this where
the big guns are out and it's kind of becomes a it's like a well,
somebody's got to get the number situation, you know, if but the
Clippers aren't a bad team, so it's not it's not like, you know,
to just it's not like we're struggling to find Oh, like, man,
look at this guy on the pistons or the or the rockets or the
or the magic or whatever that's getting numbers and a coffee is not A coffee
is different than that because the Clippers are actually competitive and it's not like he's
just putting up volume. So it's it is kind of similar in that,
like he wouldn't have gotten this shot had the Clippers been as good as they
wanted to be. But the fact that you know, somebody's got to get
these numbers, it doesn't mean that his numbers are are meaningless like they might
be on a bad team. It's it's a little bit different, if anything.
It would be like if he was averaging fifteen point let's seems averaging double
the points where he's at eight point eight for the year. If he was
averaging fifteen points per game, and he was shooting like forty three percent on
two's and thirty three percent. Like then it's, oh, is this a
matter of volume? But I's he's on a team that really hasn't been that
great on offense this year, and they've been banged up, like no Paul
George, no Kauai and then even losing Norman Powell immediately have do they get
him? So I'm interested to see any he's like, he's not young,
but he's young. He's twenty four, and so this is someone that I
think could help them or another team just moving forward. Do I have to
pick someone for the Lakers. I'm glad you do, because I have no
idea who what I would think. I'm gonna scramble while you start talking.
So I like stared at their death chart for forever and I didn't even know
who to pick. I think this is the state of their team. I
think you could make a case for Mellow. I'm not going to, but
I think you can make a case for Mellow because he is still like he's
clearly not a star and he's going to hurt you on defense, but the
lineups they have him in this year where there are times where he's basically the
center, even if he's not actually the center, and then he's quietly just
playing way more minutes than he should, but also shooting way better than you
would think he would on threes and averaging more points than he would Just I
respect that when you're now in your late thirties and you're still able to get
outside buckets with any semblance of a fit, I don't care how they're coming,
and they're still shocks he takes where it's like, oh, this is
too much mellow. That's not Mellow's fault anymore. There's too much mellow.
Because the Lakers built their roster their offseason was I don't know what it was.
It was a disaster and we don't need to labor it. I went
with Austin Reeves. Yeah, I don't think that there's unless you really believe
in sort of the Malik Monk has come on this year. I don't think
that makes him underrated. I firmly believe that he probably could have gotten more
than minimum money elsewhere, or maybe he couldn't have. I thought about this
too, because when he signed with the Lakers, they've given Kendrick Nunn more
money. At the time, so I like, if you want to say
he's the pick here, that's fine. If you want to say it's town
Horton Tucker who's come on of late, I kind of get that. I
just feel like he should be way better defensively than he is. There are
games where it actively looks like he's trying to help the other team extend their
lead when he's on defense. So I went with Austin Reeves just because I
guess the out of nowhere element here. But he's hit enough of his spot
up triples to be a threat from out there. And he is basically the
only Acres guard that can still or wing that consistently stays in front of anyone
on defense, so to see him work there. And he's also like shooting
seventy plus percent between four and fourteen feet and seventy three percent at the rim.
It's minimal volume. We're talking about a sub fifty shot sample size here.
So far, I don't care, just because he's been like very like.
You watch him and it's like, this is someone who, even if
LA was a little bit better, he might actually be in their rotation.
I do not think that he is a substitute for Alex Caruso, just because
they're both Caucasian and we're surprisingly good and came out of nowhere, I guess
for the Lakers. But he's been solid for them, and the effort he
gives them on defense is just worlds better than what they're getting from so many
other players who were supposed to figure in more prominently. I just I feel
weird because I also feel like we could pick Maleague Monk or Austin Reeves and
it could be a case of, well, they're overrated because they are getting
a ton of attention since they do play for the Lakers, But amid a
really shittastic season, I feel like he's one of the scant few silver linings
that have emerged. I think I think that's the right pick. That's the
only real option here because it's the Lakers, and it's hard for anyone to
be underrated. But I think just within the context of the team, like
they're playing Lebron at center, and Reeves is constantly, like almost everybody else,
guarding up a position and so and there's no there's no back line help,
so like he has to be super aggressive and he has to like he
I swear this is anecdotal again, but he's had more than more than once,
like like recovery chase down block in the half court where he just gets
beat and there's nobody behind him to protect the rim, and he gets there
and he puts de Pens into the glass. Like he's still he's still really
really competitive in a situation where like nobody else is trying, which is also
a factor for being underrated. So I like that pick. I don't.
I don't have anybody else even really close. And I'm also still amazed.
I know, I just said he's shooting I think a little bit over thirty
seven percent on spot of triples. But there are teams, there are more
teams. I would expect that like kind of fall for his pump and drive
game, and he's pretty good at the pump and drives. But it's also
like, at the end of the day, it's Austin Reeves, Like,
why don't you just let him take that shot? Like why are we overreacting
to a potential shot attempts from Austin Reeves? But I'm not. I don't
even mean to troblem. He's been one of the very few bright spots of
their season. Yeah, no doubt, I have the Grizzlies, and I'm
gonna start my run of big that's only too long. I want with Steven
Adams, and I think, like Withoom, the contract is a problem for
him in terms of how he's perceived. And I think also because he's a
big guy that can barely move, it looks like sometimes which is you know,
just basically going extinct and is almost has almost gone extinct in the league.
That hurts him. But like you think of the team, so he's
been he's kind of had a he's had a little bit of a trip,
you know, over the last several years, because he was there through several
iterations of some channel like very good and then very different and very uh I
don't know ever changing thunder teams uh. And then he was on the Pelicans
weirdly, and now he's on the Grizzlies. He let his right, doesn't
that feel like that never happened? But his his on offs are good every
year. So and that's through and again, like I've said this last time,
those are noisy, except when you're changing teams as often as he has,
and the personnel around you keeps changing, and the one constant is you're
you're going against starters every night and your team outscores them, and so eventually
the you know, correlation becomes causation to some extent. So that's the first
thing I kind of looked at with him. The other thing, this is
just like the great of course, Steven Adams leads and all this stuff,
league leader in screen total screen assists, lead leader in box outs, uh.
And so as a result, and he crushes He's got by far the
most box outs on the offensive boards because he just like can't be moved and
when a shot goes up, he just I would like to stand here now,
please, gentlemen's please get out of the way. I will I will
occupy this space right under the hoop, and nobody can do anything. And
so Memphis leads the league in second chance points by like a ton. And
that's that's like, it's because of him, that's it, full stop.
Partly like it's just that's an asset to a team, and it's not something
you think about when you're valuing players. So that's also part of the reason
that his positive net swings are mostly on offense. Defensively not so great because
of his mobility, but he adds a ton on offense just because he gets
in the middle of the middle of the restricted area and can't be moved by
anybody, so that's huge. Raptor has a number two on Memphis, which
is hilarious. Uh EPM doesn't like him quite as much, but he's still
in the positive there. He's also a good passer's his assist percentages are always
high for his position, and he's decent if he's the primary defender at the
rim inside six feet about fifty eight percent is the field will percentage a low,
which is like not elite, but it's good. It's better than better
than average. So all that put together with like his really sneaky value on
offense, which I don't think most people would you would think of first with
him, I think he's still like a really good, you know, better
than average maybe fringey, like top twelve starting center in the league, and
is the type of guy that like just keeps showing up on really good teams.
So I really like him. I think he doesn't. He's gotten a
bad rap because of the money and because of just the position and the way
he plays it. And that trade was roasted when they did it because the
thought was that they gave up just a lot of Valancrunus was the better player.
I think overall you still make that argument, but Steven Adams is doping
good for Memphis, and when that sort of coincides with the growth you've seen
from Jaren Jackson junior on both ends of the floor, that is super valuable
to you. So yeah, there's still just a dirty work guy who does
everything. Like he said, he doesn't move as well on defense anymore,
but that's just like and I'm worried about. I think he's gonna be valuable
to them in the playoffs. I one wonder how they sort of hold up
defensively though when he's on the court. At the same time, their offense
makes me uneasy because of how predicated on getting out in transition or second chance
opportunities, like just how relying it is on both of those play types.
And they're gonna need the ladder because I imagine that when you have time to
really zero in on a team for a best of seven series, you're gonna
be able to take away unless you play the Lakers, a lot of those
transition opportunities, maybe not in the first round, depending on who you pulled,
but definitely in the second round, so he could end up being incredibly
valuable to them. My pick for this team, and I'm like mad.
I'm not mad. I'm happy for Desmond Baine, but I was. I'm
normally behind the eight ball. I was so far in front of the eight
ball with him. I saw him in some league and I was like,
he is going to be so good this year. But he was just so
good immediately that Desmond Baine is mainstream. Desmond Bayan is mainstream. Now think
about that, because he might be danger of being overrated pretty soon. He's
been he's been like returning to solid ground lately, so that's fair. And
I think you could just make a case for Kyle Anderson. The pace at
which he plays is all his own. It's so like idiosyncratic. I love
it. But my pick is Taias Jones. I just like solid when and
also when he's like actually hitting threes at anything that's resembling an okay clip,
I just don't know, Like he's one of the best, single best backup
point guards in the NBA. Fifty point two percent on twos this year,
thirty six point five percent on threes. True shooting is still all over the
place. It's not great under fifty four, but this guy does not turn
the ball over in the three point error, which is as far as turnover
percentage goes back. Here's a list of every player to assist on at least
twenty five percent of their team's buckets when they're on the court, So have
a twenty five assist percentage or higher when they're on the floor, having a
turnover rate under eight, and they have to qualify for minutes per game.
So I wanted volume in here. Here's a list of every player with an
under eight turnover rate and an over twenty five assist percentage for the year,
Tias Jones. That is the end of the list. That is, I
know he, I know what type of role he's playing, and I know
he's not some like genius maestro, but that is incredible to me. And
like, the only comps that come up is so like Kemba eight point three
turnover rate in twenty fourteen fifty, Michael Jordan eight point four turnover rate in
ninety two, ninety three, t mac in two thousand and two, two
thousand and three, Michael Jordan again, Vince Carter. So it's like and
by the way, Thias Jones appears twice in the top ten on this list.
So it's all these secondary playmakers who weren't even except for Kemma Walker,
except there was twenty four year old Kemba Walker and he was like he was
the fact that he only had a twenty seven assist percentage that season is indicative
of how score first he was at that time. Still, aside from Kemba
Walker, like you're looking at mostly these secondary playmakers, whereas Tyas Jones is
the actual backup point guard here. So there's just the ability to protect a
ball and run, just sound plays and not make mistakes is huge, And
that's someone I believe he's entering fore agency this year. I'd be curious to
see what he gets or whether they feel the need to keep him around because
they have higher end concerns or higher end priorities on this roster, but like
they don't really have, you know themthy Melton doesn't play the same type of
game. Do you want Zayer Williams to take on like the maestro reps he's
been. I actually, really I'm way higher on Tyer Williams than I was
at the start of the season. You think Desmond Baine can take on that
type more playmaking responsibilities. He just might be someone who low key they need
to keep around for a minute. Yeah, Jones is an example of another
player type that has always underrated in addition to the like the guy who guards
four positions that we keep covering and he's just like he doesn't do anything wrong
right, Like, the worst he can be is an adequate game manager who
will not turn it over, will take the right shots, and like,
defensively he's pretty he's undersized, but like he's always way up there and steals
per minute. He's always up there in deflections. He never fouls like ever,
It's unbelievable how he can play backward defense without fouling. That's really hard
to do. So yeah, I love that pick. I love that as
a as another one, this go figure. Memphis, one of the best
teams in the league, has a bunch of guys that are underrated from a
small market. That kind of checks out. I have Minnesota. They were
kind of tough because I don't know for at a point where Jade McDaniels or
Jared Vanderbilt are considered properly rated, Because I do Vanderbilt's gotten a lot of
look if it. First of all, if if an energy drink took bodily
form, it would be Vared Vanderbilt. But I feel like he's gotten a
lot of praise for his defensive energy this year and being recognized as one of
the best contracts in the NBA, the fact that they were able to get
him that cheaply. So I'm gonna settle on Jane McDaniels because I feel like
he's gotten less love this year since it turns out, oh, hey,
he's not going to shoot forty percent from three on a ton of volume,
And so you look at him on offense and you're like, yeah, there's
stuff that he can do on drives and when he gets to the basket,
But how often is he actually going to do that? Thirty one point three
percent on mediocre volume of threes is definitely a concern still, And I'll get
to his defense in a minute. Fifty eight point two percent on twos,
and there's a little bit more directionality to what he does inside the r than
I think there was last year, where it's yeah, he's still gonna be
at his best when he can make the straight line be line towards the basket,
but he can still sort of navigate the floor in more complex fashion than
that. And then you look at what he does on defense. Is a
twenty one year old he can be stifling. And then there's just the way
he moves is like a blur. And it's not a blur in the sense
of north south. It's this east west haze of speed. And he is
I would say defensively in vigor ratings, where I don't know if he can
ever be you know, on the he's not going to be in the same
conversations as like a Matisse Thyble all the time. And I'm not even talking
about in terms of disruption, but of the scope of assignments necessarily that he
covers. But he can be i think the second best defender for one of
the league's best defensive teams. And when you talk about defensive anchors, I
think you're inclined to assume that we mean Biggs for the most part, as
and I'll and other people have said this, but like when you look at
him, Michael Bridges, I think there's proof that, yeah, you can
build a defense around like what a perimeter guy does, or even in certain
lineups like where Janie isn't on the court this season, Like you can build
a defense around Drew Holiday type players. So I'm not saying that Jane McDaniels
is that guy, but the fact that he can be the second guy to
that guy, whether it's a big or another perimeter defender, I think is
super important. And if he does develop just to stand still consistent, stand
still three point stroke where he's hitting let's say thirty five thirty six percent of
his off the catch threes, and that translates into the postseason, you have
one of the you have the single most valuable role player archetype in the NBA.
Is just that positional valuability on defense coupled with it's not three in d
like there's a little bit more to his offense when you put the ball in
his hands. Yeah, I like that. I would I would have gone
Vanderbilt just because I still think that unless you're watching a lot of Wolves games,
you don't really appreciate like just how incredibly frenetic and NonStop, you know,
his activity is, which like McDaniels, McDaniels has a similar value because
the theory for me of this team was always going to be like man if
you're gonna play Towns and Russell and Edwards, you better have to just lights
out energy, dirty work defensive guys out there, and they do like and
that's I mean, the stars of the reason the Wolves are good, but
they've got the right to kind of unsung type of defense first guys mixed into
that, mixed into that unit. So I think I like Vanderbilt just because
of the like he's always at cranked to eleven. Okay, watch the Timberwold,
just just for him, because he's He's a lot of fun. I
have the New Orleans Pelicans and this was a hard one for me. I
feel like Herb Jones is, well, you tell me, do you think
everybody's onto Herb Jones to the extent you can be onto like a rookie,
you know, defense first guy on a small market team, because I feel
like people know I would say yes, but I do sometimes feel like when
you and this isn't I'm not even trying to sound elad us here, but
when you're do what we do, we're plugged into a level of NBA Twitter
that's different from maybe people who aren't doing what we do, like what they're
consuming. Because our our friend Adam and the co host of this podcast,
tweeted that he would have Herb Jones on first team all rookie basically, and
I don't think that's an egregious thing to say, but he caught so much
shit on Twitter for it, so I think you could still go him.
But from my perspective, I've read so many tweets and like even appreciation articles
for him. It's like, I I've been like overstimulated with Herb Jones.
But that doesn't mean that he's not underrated. He's definitely not overrated. I
don't think that's that's a thing for him yet, right, So I shied
away because I'm in the same silo that you are, where it's like,
oh, yeah, Herb Jones is going to be on you know, six
all defensive first teams in the next decade, like it's just a given,
and you know, not on her. But that's like the Pelicans do that
every time he has a great play defensively in the you know, on home
games, so it probably should be him. I went with Valanciunists, I
think probably because I had just done Steven Adams and I was like, you
know what, he's like plotting Biggs, nobody appreciates him anymore, and Valentiunis
does a lot of the same stuff Adams does. He's kind of right up
there with him in terms of box outs and you know, the second chance
points he generates because he's similar, and that he's just too strong for the
way Biggs are sort of constituted physically now in the league. He's just always
unless he's playing Steven Adams or Joel Embiid or Yoki, he's just gonna have
a physical advantage. And he's a good post player. He just overpowers people.
Except he's actually a good three point shooter and he doesn't take a lot
and he kind of milks this upfake that he has the super slow mo upfake,
but it still works sometimes and he can put it on on the deck
for a couple of dribbles and like make something happen. Not gonna go all
the way to the basket, but he's capable in that regard, So I
think that kind of distinguishes him from the atoms where you got to rely on
knocking people over screen assists, box outs like that type of thing. And
I think too, it's kind of wild that he's in the top ten and
screen assists, and the Pelicans like don't have a pick and roll guard,
or certainly didn't until C. J. McCollum got there, and he's not
that type of guard, so a lot better. I don't know if this
was just the way they were using him in Portland, but even during the
non game stretches, I just feel like he's shown a level of passing that
wasn't really there in Yeah, didn't have an opportunity or wasn't asked to do
it, or wasn't there wasn't the confidence in him. But I think I
think so to that, and I think McCollum and Valentunis could, like you
know, if they get some chemistry gone, they can play together enough.
I think that that's like, that's workable. I don't know how much that
matters if Zion has the ball again, if that ever happens, but it's
nice to have. He's basically the second best player on the team. If
you're looking at you know, the advanced alphabet soup numbers. Like Adams,
he always has positive differentials basically over the last half decade, and this year
that's a big It's like a plus nine. When I last looked so another
big guy. I guess I'm getting a soft spot for them because I like
the variety in the league and as much fun as as downsizing and you know,
the Raptors approach and what the Clippers are going to be able to do
with all these big wings. I think it's still kind of fun if there's
just like a monster out there that just is shouldering people around, and Valentiunas
is doing it effectively. It's not just like he's a he's just being a
This was a team I'm happy I didn't have to do because I was trying
not to pick brookies and I would have picked a rookie. It would have
been Herb Jones or Jose Alvarado, who would be my actual pick. He
is six foot and he looks it when he looks like he might be five
eight when he's running around the boat like some bigger guys. The energy he
brings and like, yeah, he'll like he can score just enough if he's
going to actually take shots, but some of the passes he's able to throw
in the pocket, nice bounce passes. He just seems like really good chemistry
that everyone around him. His defensive energy, Oh my god, there was
a play and actually brought this up on a podcast I recorded recently when we
talked about the Pelicans. It was garbage time against Phoenix. But he's like
derailing Bismac Biambo's role to the basket. So there's six foot Jose Alvarado just
like cutting in front of him, and he's I think he was basically face
guarding him down there too, And so he plays with like a a freneticness
and energy on defense where it's, oh, he might have a career even
though he's only six foot and could textually get torched. I'm not saying Bismack
Nyambo is like the barometer for you know, a smaller guard to show that
he's a good defender. But doing things like that, So if you're watching
the Pelicans and then they're giving Jose Alvarado run, give him a look just
on defense, offense, away from the ball, whatever, I think he
can kind of he's probably the closest thing to an actual floor general they have
right now, just because is that DeVante Graham is a McCullum. I think
Brandon Ingram actually might be that guy traditional point guard style, though he is
way more of a floor general than DeVante Graham and certainly than the injured Kyra
Lewis Jr. I think you also could go with just based off the reaction
to the trade Larry Nanns Jr. Where it's like, I know, he's
been injured a lot, but the Pelicans were panned nationally at least for the
way that they obliterated flexibility, which I don't want to belabor this point because
I've said it on the podcast before. We just wrapped up an off season
where we were shipping all over them because they tried to use caps basically get
Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry and now we're gonna get mad at them for wasting
potential future flexibility to get good players. But Larry has Junior's just really good,
and his injuries can overshadow that fact. Also how bad Portland was the
season, But everyone loved that trade when Portland made it at the time.
And what's funny about Portland is they made a bunch of those moves where it
was like, oh, you like the Robert Covington trade at the time.
It's just that they kept aiming for singles and doubles when they should have went
fro home runs. But he's just not. It was like when Robert Covington
was used as a throw in in the Powell deal basically, or when Danny
Green was just sent to Toronto in the Kwai Lanard deal. And I know
that there's like math and money making it work, there are other ways to
go about that. I kind of view him in that same vein where it's
like, if Zion comes back next year healthy and Larry has Junior is healthy,
that's like a front court. Like if you don't want to play valent
Tunis or Jackson Hayes alongside Zenon for certain stretches, that's a front court.
And if you have Herb Jones and Brandon Ingram with the way he's defended this
season, and then maybe you just go with CJ. McCombs. You don't
really need a point guard. If you have Zion, that lineup could do
some real damage and his super versatile. So I think Larry Nance Junior is
probably the bigger name that could be underrated. My actual pick would be Jose
Alvarado because in terms of this year's I'll put this in quote, it's rookie
class. Since Alvarado obviously is not techinically the Brookie. He's a rookie.
He just hasn't entered the fold of Wow, look how deep this year's rookies
are. He doesn't feel like he's a part of that discourse just yet.
Yeah, I like it, I do. I like I like when the
defense first point guard gets a little note, he gets a little left.
That's good. Oklahoma City was mine, and I could have went with Kenrick
Williams here because the fact that no one offered enough to get him be a
trade from okay See at the deadline just proves to me that he's underrated.
But if Okasey really wanted a first round pick plus other stuff for him with
a year left on his contract, maybe he is more properly right than I
thought. I'm gonna step out on a limb here and say that for so
long we viewed Alexei Pokachevki as this novelty, and I know he's only been
in the league for a year and change. He's a real all NBA prospect
if you watch him this season, like more recently since he re entered the
rotation. I think just before shils Oxander came back. There is a rhyme
and a reason in actual coherence to his game now and it can still look
funky. There are still like the moments of like a plum that really he
hasn't earned where he's going to be way too overconfident what he can do.
He fits all of a sudden off the ball. He's hustled on a bunch
of defensive plays even from behind, but really just some nice rotations. He
can still do some some on ball stuff I'm intrigued of. Yeah, it'd
be nice if he can face up, work off the dribble, attack the
basket, hit these crazy fadeaways, these these pull ups. Maybe he does
do that. But the fact that he can move around off the ball,
or hit shots off the catch now, or sort of find crevices and a
half court defense in half court defenses, even though the Thunder don't traditionally operate
with a ton of room in a half court anyway, that's like a big
deal. And it's another case of I don't know that I would call him
a potential corner, so I'm not that high on him. He's a real
NBA prospects though, and I feel like we kind of lost sight of that
last year because he looked and played like more of a shot in the dark
novelty than anything else. Yeah, I am so glad I didn't get this
team, just like I think I think Pokashevski for sure is I don't.
I just don't know how he's viewed around the league. It's it's so hard
for me to get a gauge on him. I don't know, Like Aaron
Wiggins had a minute there, and Trey Mann has moments. Darius Basley's defense
doesn't receive enough credit too. I just still don't trust anything he does on
offense enough. I was just gonna say, every time I watch him,
he does some he's like the million dollars moved five cent finished guy, Like
he'll do this incredible. You know, he'll do something remarkable for a player
his size to get to the basket and he'll smoke the lay up or he'll
just it's just like it's not all quite there. But yeah, defendsively.
He has real value that I guess he might have been my pick. I
also would have tried to find a way to just shoot horns ash Gilly in
there, because I think he's in like the top five percent of NBA players
right now in terms of like how he maps the floor and the way that
he sees uh, you know, all nine people moving, and I don't
think that's something that you know, necessary. But like he's, you know,
twelve eight and six as a rookie, I think probably everybody's kind of
onto the fact. I do think that's yeah, for sure, for sure.
I thought about j R. E. Jeremiah Robinson Earl for a minute,
but he hasn't played in six weeks. And just like they were,
they just they decided, hey, he's a center in the NBA at six
nine, and I don't think he was. They've had a scrappy defense.
They are. I haven't checked this in a while, but per cleaning the
glass, they were the only team as of last week that ranked in the
top seven of both the frequency with which opponents reached the rim and then opponent
field goal percentage at the rim. And so it's like, Okay, one
of those things is can be lucky not both of them, and you had
him playing a lot of your center minutes. You can also go Mike Muscala
here just they clearly wouldn't trade him for a reason and he stretched the floor
for them. But yeah, they were a tough team. Aaron Wiggins didn't
sustain. He was the one that I had circled, and I I tend
to not There's been a lot of strong feelings about Trey Man in recent months,
and I can't I feel this is the best way to frame it.
It's only because they have the same first name. I'm way higher on the
future of Trey Jones in San Antonio than I am on tray Man in Oklahoma
City. And if we're comparing trays flaming there, Yeah, no, I
think Muscala. I mean Scala shooting forty three percent from three, I'm like,
so, and I mean, that's that's I don't I don't think you
would have pegged that coming into the season so or that he was arguably like
one of their most positively impactful players per minute. But yeah, I'm super
glad you got that team, and now I'm happy. I'm happy I didn't
get the next team. Yeah, they were. This was the hardest one
for me because it's the same thing we talked about with the Bucks. I
talked about the Warriors, like everybody kind of has a gauge of what the
Suns are and who matters, and like we're past the point, like mckail
bridge has got ninety million dollars. He's not underrated anymore. Everybody acknowledges he's,
if not the best, he's one of the best wing defenders in the
league. He makes threes, he's got more often, So we can't we
can't do that. Eighten's really good. Everybody knows it. Jay Crowder has
been around for what feels like a thousand years and just voters this year.
He just everybody knows he's good. Chris Paul, We're gonna do Chris Paul,
Devin Booker, So I just did. I just did Cam Johnson,
which I don't know, Like he's another guy that we know what he does.
He's probably properly rated, but like forty five percent from deep he holds
up defensively, He's okay there. He's like Bridges a year and two years
ago, is adding like the one dribble and two dribble stuff when he gets
run off the line. He's like, he's capable that type of thing.
He plays a position that's just super valuable, that the combo forward spot,
and if you can hold up defensively and make threes, cool. He's admittedly
like not asked to do a lot because I was looking at so he takes
five point nine threes a game, five point seven of them are either open
or wide open. So like he's got just it's easy pickings for him.
But he's still got to make him and he does make him. So all
that package of he's doing this on a team that is getting everyone's full attention
every night that is playing. You know, he's done it against great teams.
He's done it in playoff runs like so it's just it's almost by default.
But I do think of the players on the Suns that maybe don't get
appreciated enough. I just I kind of had to go with him, but
this team was easily the most difficult in the West. From me, I
probably went all. I probably would have went with Cam Johnson myself, just
because I actually think there's more to his offensive game than just hitting those threes.
And he's somebody who could fly around in a half court and then hit
those quick fire threes. He has like a nice connection with the players around
him if they need him to pass. We've seen like him show these I
just don't think he's asked dood enough and he was doing a little bit more
of it after Chris Paul injury, and then during that brief time they didn't
have Devin Booker before Cam Johnson gets injured where he can hit some like off
the dribble middies. So I think it has to be him just because there's
a level of player there where he's the Sun sixth man and you're at a
point where it's like, how do you find he's someone who should be playing
thirty minutes per game? And even if the Sun sort of mismatched their rotation
a little bit, I don't know how you find him thirty minutes a game
just because of how important your top five players are. I do think you
could go with Aaron Holliday based off how well he has played since the trade
deadline for them. I think you could also go eighton. And this might
be Recncy biased for me kicking in, but I just expected I don't know
if I expected to drop off, but it felt like there was going to
be a lot of self discovery within the Suns when Chris Paul got injured as
to what Aton's value really was. And I think he's earned himself a bunch
of or solidified himself a bunch of money intrisit free agency by how buy and
large well, he's played on offense without Chris Paul and our good friends over
the Timeline Pod Mike v Hill and Sam Cooper and then also David on Twitter
is at the four point play with four spelt written as ivy. They've pointed
this out a bunch. Eighton is shooting like sixty something percent or ridiculous on
hook shots this year, and so he has that aspect to his game.
He still doesn't go up with as much force as you want, but the
fact that the finesse within his game or like the touch that's a little bit
further out from the basket than you would like is is coming along. That's
big for them. And there's what he does defensively. I personally think that
Michael Bridges is the best defender and most important defender on the Sun's team.
I think there will be some people that make the case that it is Eighten
And if you look at just I know we're dealing with someone a rookie contract,
but if you just look at where he was in his rookie season and
then fast forward to now the you know he was still really good last year.
But just like make the entire leap to this point, he's somewhat The
fact that we could have a conversation is is DeAndre Eten like the anchor of
the Sun's defense is just like a wild thing to think. So they're not
a team that I wanted because the options are just so sparse, but also
maybe because they're one of my favorite watches. I find it funny when people
say that they play too slow and they're like per and predictable. They're like
fifth in average possession time because it's like, yeah, they're not traditional transition,
but like they get out in semi transition and make quick decisions and they're
just so so good. So they're so good that I don't know if they
have anyone who's underrated. I think it's Cam Johnson, just because we probably
don't know the full extent of his game just yet, even with sort of
the flickers into his offensive polio, that polio offensive portfolio that was gotten.
That would leave me with I also didn't want this team, by the way,
because they've just undergone so much like changes that they're barely recognizable. It's
the Portland Trailblazers. I don't even know I really wanted to be the asshole
that went with through U Banks because I couldn't believe that the Raptors just waived
him. I think he's someone who after they traded him, but required him
via trade. I'm just gonna settle on Josh Hart here if you want to
make the case for Trendon Watford, who I think there's like a when I
watch him move on the court, like end to end, I just want
to move that gracefully and that purposely. And it's just I don't know,
like if it means anything, like he can find spaces when he's weathering the
open floor if there's like tight spots, and he just feels like he's where
he needs to be, whether it's with her, like is he going to
the ball? Is he getting around the basket preparing for a pass, making
navigating this path away from the ball in the half court to get ready for
that pass. I feel like sometimes he is the reason. Yeah, there's
a tension being given to some of their ball handlers pre Anthony Sibins injury since
they just don't have when you just look at who's in the elbow right now
for this team, it's it's laughable, but it feels like he has moved
himself open in a lot of half court setch, which says a lot.
I think. Now with all that said, I just feel like Josh Hart
super rock solid player. He has never received enough credit, I think for
what he can do on defense, Like there's a center of gravity there that
probably if you really wanted to extend him one through four consistently enough, you
could. He is always someone that I think you look at or you watch
him, or just anecdotally you think that he shoots a lot better one three
pointers than he actually does, and so it'd be nice if that aspect of
his game was stronger. But he and he has looked discredit. He's shooting
almost thirty six percent on threes in Portland. That's just not a high number,
but he can really get things moving downhill inside the r fifty seven point
three percent on twos since joining the Blazers and fifty nine point two percent on
two's overall this year. That is a guy where I think, if you
want to build a contender, it's almost of the different players, but where
I think that Jay Crowder just makes sense on every single contender. I could
say almost the same about Josh Hard. The three point volume makes it a
little iffy, and I think Jay Crowd is a better defender overall, but
that's the brand of player that I feel like he's quietly developed into. I
think the only thing that's overrated, aside from if you if you consider him
three and D when the three hasn't necessarily always been there. There's definitely evidence
when you look at the numbers and just the context of them that his rebounding
is just not all that valuable. But it's still someone who's six five and
you can grab you just a bunch of rebounds like there's you know, we're
not This is not Russell Westbrook egregious, where you have like eight guys boxing
out just to get Russell Westbrook the rebounds. So he's my pick with the
caveat. Maybe there are a bunch of guys here that are underrated because they're
trying to find stuff out about their future while they don't have literally anyone.
Yeah, I think I think it's probably hard if you wanted to kind of
like really do some gymnastic. I think Simon's could be someone you'd mentioned,
only because I'm not sure since no one's watching this team, and since Dame
got hurt. Nobody has watched this team. I'm not sure everybody's kind of
up on like Simon's is someone that is going to shoot forty percent and deep.
He's got such a pretty shot. It's so you hear like he shoots
an easy ball, like Donovan Mitchell shoots an easy ball. Simons is in
that class, except it like he's twenty two. So I think I think
Simon's as like a guy that he's another you know, we talked last time.
If you're if you're thinking about guys that are gonna make like capital l
leaps, I think he is on definitely on that list, maybe on the
very short list of it. I'm not sure everybody's aware of that. Maybe
maybe they are, I don't know. It doesn't feel like he's you know,
got the national consciousness type of thing. Uh. Which also but probably
important there is that his performance translated to a much worse Blazer's team, And
there's you can call those empty numbers then, but the fact that he was
still hyper efficient and like hitting these toggling between these frum scratch trays or these
ultra deep catch and shoot opportunities. And I also think we've seen I wouldn't
say he's on the same level of Sejion McCollum when McCollum was traded or anything
he's done in New Orleans, but there's a difference in the in the decisions
he's making on the move as a passer, where there was real tunnel vision
there through his first two years. Again and limited examples, but it feels
like he's more trustworthy there. I get, I just thought of this,
so you know, walk me back. But I feel like there's a little
zach Lavine type of development trajectory for him where you knew immediately like this guy's
a monster athlete, like he's he's been in the dunk contest and now like
the ease and the smoothness and the versatility of his three point shot and kind
of getting past the tunnel vision thing, Like there's a lot of parallels.
I think. I don't I don't know. Asking someone to be as good
offensively as zach Lavigne is is a big deal the rim nearly for someone who's
say there's a stall to his game for some reason. That's the piece of
the athleticism is not getting translated into like what it feels like it should.
And again given his youth, it's very possible that that could change. So
I like the upside, but yeah, heart heart feels more like the underrated
pick that leaves. There's only one for this team, for the Kings,
A Sacramento Kings, is there? I mean, so I just picked Harrison
Barnes. I'm so soured on so many of the Kings because I I don't
know, like I just thought Dearon Fox was going to be a fringe All
Star or he was a Friends All Star. I thought he made at some
point. He's looked that part since before the Haliburton trade, like there's it's
been basically since the New Year. He's looked do it for a year.
You gotta prove it now because I've gone to bat for him too many times.
He's got to do it before. Ahead of Chris Paul in the NBA
one h during last season. Oh boy, well I didn't go that far.
I did. I think I did say I put him on a list
of something I did where like dark horses to win a scoring title or something,
because he'd averaged like twenty five and you know it still wasn't that efficient
a couple of years ago. And so I was like, oh, yeah,
he's he could get the thirty. Why not just get to the line
a couple more times, make one extra three, We're there. I did
not pick him. I picked Barnes just because I get. What I appreciate
most about his game is the way that he's proved to be really effective in
so many different ways. And that's so weird for a guy that came into
the league as like a fifth option that was so mechanical. Like the analogy
I used to use for him was he was like a character you'd make on
two K that you like gave ninety nine everything and then you handed the controller
to someone who didn't know what the buttons were. So it was like his
all of his drives would be totally mechanical and weird stops and starts, and
it just like it didn't work. But then he would do like do you
remember the Donkey had on Nicola Pekovic, Like as its first or second year,
it was it's like an altimer and so athletically he was just unlimited.
He developed into a really good three point shooter, but just it never was
there. And then he goes to Dallas and he's like one of the best
isolation scorers in the league for a year plus and it's just that's the absolute
last thing you would ever expected for him based on the buttons thing, and
then he just keeps getting better. This year, he's it's a couple of
days old now, but he's got He's at sixty three percent true shooting,
which is like sixty percent is the bar of Like this is an elite efficient
efficient score and he's doing it on a bad team, which in this case
I'm using to say, like that's harder because he's not being set up,
especially now that Tyrese Haliburt's on, so his degree of difficulties kind of up
there. He just does whatever he's asked to do. He's great. We
haven't I haven't gone to this, you know, gone to the well on
this one yet. But in terms of like a locker room guy, the
adult in the room thing, like he's an a plus there that matters that
that never gets factored into the underrated overrated calculus. Fine on defense, as
long as you know you're not asking him to play small forward, he can't
do that anymore. But yeah, like he shoots thirty eight percent every year
since fourteen fifteen. Other than when he from deep other than the Dallas years
when he was like suddenly a number one and his shot difficulty just went way
up. So I think you know, Harrison Barnes is like you cannot describe
him without using the term solid, and you're kind of getting dangerous if you
say he's better than that. But there's immense value to me and a guy
that just like is there every night on both ends and is zero maintenance and
is able to play like depending on the circumstances, just a ton of in
a ton of different ways, which you know, I think speaks to like
his lack of ego, where he's just gonna do what he is asked of
him. So I'm curious who the only pick was going to be. I
will say you did make a pretty compelling case. I thought about it a
lot. I won't lie. I'm not surprised that you picked a form of
warrior, to be honest with you, but shouldn't be so, And I
think it's by the way I've gone from I ranked him as one of the
worst contracts in the NBA, like middle in the middle of his last deal
with Dallas, because it was just like they had him in this role where
he was the focus of their offense, didn't get to the free throw on
and his efficiency in isolation was like still above league average, but it wasn't
a league average offensive output if that's your most important source of it. And
I'm now at the point and this is for the Kings, I'm like,
they need to extend this guy after this season. He has one year an
eighteen point four million dollars less, but he wants to stick around and he's
willing to extend off that number. Do it because I think he's crucial to
making this a bonus and Fox pairing work. This is a fun team to
do. And you have the Spur All I have the Spurs. You have
the Spurs. Yes, I almost tripped up there because I've put a lot
of thought into I picked for the Jazz and I'm assuming you're going to pick
the same player, But anyway, I doubt it. After this last one,
I think I'm gonna go with Devin Vassel. Still, people still sort
of view him as a specialist. In San Antonio has treated him like one
with decreasing frequency. We saw it a little bit this year. The freedom
he's given a dribble into his little pull ups, and now since the Derek
White trade, they've given him more ball streams and that's been fun to see.
And then knowing what he's capable of doing on defense, there's value there
if he wanted to move off the ball as a cut as a cutter.
I also think I already mentioned it, but Trey Jones has like a quaint
little mid range game and he can throw some pretty creative pocket passes as well,
so he would be someone to watch. I am curiously with Josh Primo
turns into still I think he's gonna end up being really good. He's a
rookie, though, so I try to stee you're clear of that. If
you wanted to say Zach Collins at this point, or Kelvin Johnson because he's
done more on the ball, that's that's totally fine. But it's to me
it's just Stevin mis Sell because I think there's more than he's eventually or invariably
going to be pigeonholed into this like three and D archetype, and he's just
going to be so much more than that. I don't know if he's I'm
not saying he's the next Kawhi Leonard in San Antonio, But he's someone that
would keep an eye on if there's a gap between the perception of what you
think he's going to be and what he actually might become. This is someone
that I could see having sort of different games, but sort of a mccale
bridges type rise in perception where he might also just be heavier volume on offense
because he's not playing aloside Chris Paul and Devin Booker, And it feels like
he even has a little bit more confidence in himself on the ball. I
feel like mccale is two unselfish at points. Still, I think Vassell is
a great pick. I this wasn't my team, but just throughout the course
of this year, Kelvin Johnson has increasingly like just seems seemed like just one
thing away from because he's so he's at in the three point shot. He's
forty one percent from deep this year. And he still is just like a
bowling ball downhill. But like, hey, Kelton Johnson gets to the foul
like he gets to the foul line two point nine times a game. I
don't know how that's possible with the physicality that he brings driving. He shoots
more often from three to ten feet than inside three feet, so just like
one more step and just run somebody over and you're good. And then suddenly
he's averaging twenty a game instead of what is at sixteen this year. He'll
he'll get there, I think, Vassell. I do agree, though totally
so portable, like right now, portable, like the kind of guy that
you want whip the bridges upside and then potentially more offensively. I think I
have no, no, no issue with that pick. You, however,
are going to have an issue with my Utah Jazz pick because I really struggle
with this, and I think I, like so many players on the Jazz
that I'm a bad gauge for this. But I picked Boyam Bogdanovich, and
there's no chance that that's who you would have picked, right, No,
But I get it because there's and I don't want to see what you're gonna
say. But when people were talking about should they trade him, is he
their path to an upgrade? If you see a wing who's six seven sixty
eight and just has better than sixty true shooting on the season, you're over
like that. We might be over like that's just hyper valuable, right,
So I agree, and so start with the small sample since the All Star
break, forty eight point two from the field, forty five point two from
three, he's plus six point four, which is the best on the Jazz
since the break. Overall, though, like he's just he just is.
The offensive efficiency is elite. He's he's perfectly situated. I'll admit in an
offense that, like the term Utah uses all the time as advantage basketball,
getting him the ball like on the move kind of mitigates the lack of you
know, start and stop speed that he has. It does it for everybody
on the team, but I think he and Joe Ingles too when he was
on the roster and healthy, benefit the most from that because it just puts
guys that don't have you know, blazing sprinter speed or quick you know,
quick twitch anything in positions to where they're you know, they're downhill, they're
always a threat to stop and shoot. He's a decent passer. He's a
shoot first guy for sure, which you should be if you're as accurate as
him. He's pretty much always good for thirty nine from deep. The downsides
for him are obviously, I think he's gonna eat forever on whatever that playoff
series was years ago where he did a good job defending Lebron James. But
he's he's probably a minus defender. But fine, if you're getting you know,
beat, you're still big and you have Gobert behind you, so he's
in the right place to sort of hide what he doesn't do well. I
just think I think he matters more than he gets credit. Four on a
team like for sure, you know Gobert, Mitchell Conley, that that's where
the Jazz, you know, our season future or whatever is going to be
decided. But I just think the offensive efficiency does not get enough credit,
especially since like he kind of has to pick his spots because he's not close
to the top option on this team. I see that I have Royce O'Neill
because I just feel like he's become a forgotten man since we harp a lot
on what Utah needs on the perimeter defensively, and that he can't go it
alone there. They just ask him to defend these wildly difficult assignments for twenty
thirty plus minutes every single game. Oh he's just quietly shooting above from three.
I know he's not high volume on offense, and there have been times
where it feels like he can be overstretched if he put the ball in his
hands. You don't need to ball in his hands anymore. Like we're past
that version of the Utah Jazz and this is this is wild. But over
the past three seasons, he has cleared two thousand minutes and a matchup difficulty
of ninety nine in each of the last three seasons. That is absurd.
It's also by default, though, like somebody's got to do it on that
team. But but I'm just I'm just nipping. But this is also like
it's in two thousand plus minutes every single season. It's it's by default.
But he's also been available while holding up against all of that. And hey,
he's like he's super complimentary on the offensive end. He would be if
they really, honestly, if they're trying to make an upgrade this offseason,
I think the default move is going to be can we attach Jordan Clarkson's money
or Bardanovitch's money to how many future first? Like they can move at first.
I think the sooness is two and twenty six. Are they willing to
go that route? If you really wanted to make an upgrade, I guarantee
that you can probably get first round value for Royce O'Neil just because the breath
of what he covers on defense. Yeah, it's a problem that Utah's things
pick it up. But they need someone who's bigger den Royce O'Neil, because
yeah, he's mostly gonna he'll go up against the number one or number two
options, But like if you you can't put him on the super big wings,
he's just not big enough. That's not that's not on him, and
he'll cover some of them. He is. I think his most frequently guarded
position, or second most rely league guard position is the three spot this year.
If I'm not mistaken, I'll the double check that. But just it's
every game like it's it's not even oh, who's gonna cover It's no,
it's just him. Roy Something's basically on the best perimeterside and if if you
can't put him on that person, you're fucked. That's the other thing.
They just have no safety net. So I just feel like he deserves even
if it's by default this workload. He has held up for it over each
of the past three seasons, and I feel like, yeah, it's time
that he receives his kudos for it. I agree. I was being a
physicians like I think the fact that like his job sucks, like because he
has to guard it doesn't at all. It doesn't matter. He's like,
man, I'm give enough four inches and forty pounds of this guy, or
I'm chasing around someone that Conley's not quick enough, like you know, he
he the fact that he is sort of overmatched sometimes but it doesn't matter,
like three you said at three years and he just guards the best guy,
like that's just how it has to be, and to put up with that
and to sort of in terms of the shots he gets, it's just scraps
generally, or he's getting left because You's always has a bunch of other bigger
threats. I think. I think the thanklessness of his of his job really
puts him in line with like a bunch of the guys I've already picked.
So I definitely can't go against that. Since I've cited defensive matchup difficulty and
uh, guys who are good at defense several times, I'd have to go
back and remember who you pick. But maybe these guys are just standing out
to me. You were like really in on the slow people in this one
Badanovitch Steven Adams joint his valanjudis. Do you just you hate speed? Do
you hate yes, slows slows the new fast. That's that's the thing,
everybody, you know, It's all about controlling the pace. It doesn't matter
what the pace. Luca, please send Grant all your viral three toad sloth
videos. I'd love to watch those for hours at a time. Grant,
this was a lot of fun and I think a very informative exercise. Are
you able to just tell our listeners where they can find your work and where
they can find you on social media? Once every six months? Yeah,
check me out a Bleacher Report, hopefully right alongside Dan but not next to
him, so that I don't look bad for what I put out compared to
him and get underscore hees. On Twitter, I tweet once in a while,
and I don't waste my tweets. I'm an efficient tweeter. So I
think you can attest to that because you still get alerts when I tweet,
like every I like when I get the Grant like And I don't know why
Twitter sends it to me about you. Maybe because you're like one of the
I followed you for one of the longest times on I don't I don't get
it for anybody else, but it's Grant. Maybe it's because I've tagged you.
I don't know like how it goes into it. I will get every
time you have an original tweet. He was tweeted for the first time in
a while, and I'm like, oh shit. And then and then You're
like, why is he talking about managing and Nobole retired for like five years.
He's cared like it's fucking Tuesday in March twenty twenty two. What does
manage and Noble have to do with anything that's happenday right now? Everything?
Uh, this was great and I will be pasturing us years as you know
right now. Thanks Dama,