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What is krack Lakin Fellow thermonuclear a
efforts. I am Dan Pavalley, joined

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by my certified fantabulist, perpetually loyal
co host Grant Hughes. We're here to

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talk NBA playoffs, Nick Nurse going
live on a Friday, just to get

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this out there a little. It's
not a bonus pod, but it's we

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don't really record on Friday's ever,
because everything's outdated. No one listens to

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podcast over the weekend. We're trusting
you are loyal, lovely listeners that you're

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going to download this episode anyway before
we get started, though, How are

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you doing, Grant super good?
We're in playoff mode and hence the Friday

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podcast. We just you know,
we worked twice as hard. But also

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it's shorts weather here in California.
Dan, We got a high of eighty

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one today, which makes my move
would go like through the roof because we've

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had a shitty, extra long winter, and I am very happy that the

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sun is out and we're in the
middle of the playoffs, so or in

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the middle of the first round,
so all good things, all good things

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right now. It's shorts weather here
in New York as well too. And

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I am wearing shorts, but I'm
still wearing a sweat because I just get

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cold all the time in my house. But I am miss ecstatic as well.

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I'm super good, as you put
it, not only because I'm joined

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by you, but I am living
in a raccoon free environment. Are we

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gonna okay? I wasn't gonna bring
it up. I'm so glad we had

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Dan, Dan, can we talk
about the raccoons? We're still waiting for

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people to trickle in here, and
so I feel like we're too business business

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eye anyway, sometimes we're like,
we don't talk about Some people don't like

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long intros, but fuck it at
this point. So I recently moved into

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a house. I purchased it.
I understand that I'm very lucky and that

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I was probably also a stupid decision
when you look at the market. YadA,

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YadA, YadA. We closed in
November. We had an inspection,

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everything turned out fine. About a
month ago, we heard some noise in

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the ceiling from the first floor,
and then our dogs on the second floor

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started like they were tracking something in
the floor. So clearly something's going on,

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and never a good sign. Never
a good sign, right, and

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so we call, we are recommended
to somebody who had his own company.

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He comes and says, oh,
you have a squirrel. I can see

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a little hole in your attic.
I will catch him or them, set

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them free, and like you'll be
done with this. But we have to

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leave the hole open because you want
them, if they're in the house,

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to be able to get out.
And if you do close up the hole,

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then you're gonna either have a dead
animal in your house or they'll come

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through the normal house. This guy
ghosted us because we kept hearing the noise

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and it was getting like louder then, and I've been told their call.

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Did you know of anything called a
softing? No? But I just want

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to say I just before you go
any farther, I'm sorry that I find

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this so funny, but the specifics
Okay, I don't want to step on

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this. Please continue because I'm gonna
try to hold it together. So a

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softing is basically this like the siding
ceiling of like your your patio or porches.

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So we have like a very nice
deck or patio in our front yard

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and then a side one Both of
these things are coming down like something heavy

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had been stepping on it, so
we eventually had to call another guy.

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He comes, goes into our attic
and he was like, he's up there

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for ten seconds. He goes,
oh, you have raccoons, and I'm

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I'm I'm deathly afraid of raccoons.
Oh, I didn't know that raccoons scare

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the shit out of me. I
think it's because like they've not jumped out

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at me, but like they've made
me jump when I'm taking the trash out

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in the dark because they'll be by
garbage cans. Now I'm floored because we've

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never had in this house any issues
with our garbage. We lived next the

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ore, one of our neighbors.
It's clearly a rental house. There's like

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two or three families living there.
They throw out their garbage without garbage cans,

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like it's just in these bags,
never been torn open. And you

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know, I'm up all hours,
so I've brought the garbage out of two

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am, four am, three am, whatever. So I'm just miffed we

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have raccoons. And so he's like
that you could see they've torn up your

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insulation in the attic. They've tuned
through wiring in the attic, which is

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also why we have central air and
then ductless. We have a ductless system

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in our garage that stopped working all
of a sudden. Guess what, that's

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why I stopped working. They came, he says. It looks like one

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of them fell through the soffing here, so like that outside ceiling I'll call

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it. And there's insulation popping out
of the sides. Now this is all

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We have dogs, and so we're
worried about the raccoons encountering the dogs.

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Yeah, it gets it gets worse
because two things are happening. We're having

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our first we're recording this Friday night. We're having our first real gathering at

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the house. Like twenty people are
coming over, our friends, both most

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of which we haven't seen in like
months. So that's about to get canceled.

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And then he tells us, now
the only reason they would be inside

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it's like, it's not even cold. What is happening? And he was

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like, well, you see that
big hole in your roof. There's a

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huge hole by the way in our
roof, just this huge hole just straight

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into the attic. It's rained and
there's this huge hole. We were told

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it was a tiny one. Raccoons
are apparently super strong, can get through

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plywood, the shingles. He was
like, you can tell they were determined

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to get in here. They're about
to give birth. And so I'm like,

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you've gone be kidding me. So
I'm like, meanwhile, he opens

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the attic and he's up there.
He's like, oh, it's raccoons.

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Like, hopefully they don't shoot down
the So I jump. We have a

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treadmill in the garage. I jump
on top of the treadmill and I'm like

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peeled against the wall because I'm so
nervous. So we move out, which

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is why it looked like I had
been kidnapped the other day on the intro

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of this podcast. We move out, staying with my in laws because we

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were worried about the dogs. We
were worried about Dan quite frankly, and

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he was like, they're not living
up here yet, they're just setting up

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a nest. He goes, I
think they're living under your shed, because

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he pointed out a hole in the
shed and he's like, they're sleeping there

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and they're coming up here, and
so they are outside. So we moved

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and they set up a trap.
On I think it was Tuesday, Wednesday

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morning, there's this giant ass raccoon
in the trap. It was a humane

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trap. I want to make that
clear. We actually we care. I

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felt bad, to be honest with
you, we felt bad. Even as

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much as I hate raccoons, there's
just this. It's the size of I

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don't know if you've ever seen my
dogs, but Wade is like twenty seven

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thirty pounds and just very long and
tall and big. And the raccoon was

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like the size of him. I
don't know how big raccoons were supposed to

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get. That seems too big for
a raccoon. To me. That's alarmingly

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large for a raccoon. It was
the female raccoon who was still pregnant.

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Hey good, good, So no
baby raccoons were actually allowed to still have

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the gathering at our house, and
they feel confident enough that they patched up

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the hole in the roof. Now
we just have to my final element of

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this story, and this is where
I think you can start to feel a

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little bad for me. I know
that we're very fortunate to have a home,

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to have some place to go.
It cost us. The one guy

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who ghosted us, we paid him
two hundred and fifty dollars to start that's

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just gone. This cost US sixteen
hundred dollars and there's probably about another few

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thousand dollars worth of damage just in
the attic to the elect And I don't

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even know. First of all,
I didn't even know what soffing was.

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He's talking to me. He must
think that I'm like this actual masculine guy,

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and I'm like, what, I've
never heard that word in my life.

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So neivas to say. We are
both you know, our houses raccoons

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free. So I'm very excited.
The dogs are going to move back in

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in a couple of days. We
just want to make sure. But I'm

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also you know, thousands and thousands
of dollars poor. Now I gotta say

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great, first of all, great
story, well told, just terrific arc

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the whole thing well done. I
do feel bad now because I have to

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tell you I've only given you like
a couple texts about it after you told

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me, mostly joking or like giving
you a hard time about it. I

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do feel bad because that does suck. That's like a real life disruptor.

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But good like that's just like,
you know, have you considered that first

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guy like might have just stuffed a
raccoon in there just like for fun,

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and there was there was actually a
squirrel until he got there, and that's

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why he didn't show up after that. That's what they can tell. How

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many animals they think we're up there
based off the feces. That was literally,

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yes, that's how they knew it
was raccoons, by the ways,

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because that's what they saw. And
so it's funny because you're texting me.

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You only think you said about been
making fun of me, like is we're

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about to stream last night for Bleacher
Report. You're like, hey, no,

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no raccoon's bonds or anything. I
think when I said, was Dan,

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there are twenty seven raccoons behind you, do not turn around. I

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was, and look he started,
and I'm sure this was to build it

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up, but he was telling us
stories about how if raccoons were determined,

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they will get inside your house,
which is also why we moved as well,

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because we just didn't you know,
we're obsessed with our dogs and so

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we're also I'm obsessed with me and
so like that was the other part of

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the reason. I mean, I
would be obsessed with not having a bunch

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of pregnant raccoons in my house.
Like that's a that's I feel like you're

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on steady ground there in terms of
your reaction to this whole thing, because

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that's like I mean, I mentioned
you know what timing wise, uh,

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you probably got I mean, not
not great overall, but if you were

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not that far away from having like
a lot more raccoons in your house,

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so you know, glass half full. I guess, I don't know.

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That's that is the longest winded intro. Not really a devastball we've ever had,

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but it was. It was Newstate. Has been very emotional week in

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the Favalley house. I mean the
good okay morgand news like if your dogs

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are acting all crazy and you know, tracking things around the house that you

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can't see, you know, could
have been a ghost, could your house

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could have been possessed. So I
guess the fact that you can, you

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know, you can't at least at
least it was like a real thing that

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you got out of there. I
just was I was mad at them a

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little bit. I was like,
you guys, don't keep this stuff away,

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Like what's the point of having you
too, literally contribute nothing to the

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household other than hugs and kisses,
which are very valuable, but it's like,

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great, you alerted us after the
fact, hooray, and you didn't

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keep it. You didn't keep it
away. But they feel confident enough that

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I don't know how the male female
relationship works with raccoons, but they seem

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to think by this point, if
the mail was hanging around, he would

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have been caught already. So we
are, as of right now, raccoon

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free. Hopefully they didn't. They
didn't tell any of their friends, and

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like, but I need to know
why they chose us. It's still what

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I don't know I have to ask
is why did you dig through shingles,

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plywood, whatever's like roofs are made
up. I don't know. And it's

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a great it's a huge hole too. It had a fit a raccoon.

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But it's just we stared out the
window of one of the bedrooms and just

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it's just this gaping hole into our
house. I mean, kind of a

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compliment. You know, there's lots
of houses in your neighborhood. They that

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yours was the best birthing suite that
a raccoon could ask for, So I

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guess, you know, I'm just
looking for positives here, because that's a

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really shitty story. I still anytime
I hear a noise, I jumped.

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So, yeah, I think you're
you're in for like ten years of that.

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Now everything is going to be a
raccoon in your mind. Now that's

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just how you're gonna live. Do
you know what, I'm not terrified of.

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What's that talking about? So before
we dive into just some playoff takeaways,

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now we oh no, wait,
we have a raccoon comment. Thank

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you, Alan, we love you. I used to have a raccoon.

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Tough little characters, an escape artists, I could go on. I was

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told, and this is beforehand,
that they're just super smart, and I

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did not know they have like mega
human strength either if they put their minds

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to it. So, before we
get into playoffs stuff, the Toronto Raptors

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fired Nick Nurse. I thought it
was interesting that that was the language that

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was used, just because normally it's
parting of the ways. But I don't

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know if you saw any of the
comments coming out of a size presser.

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He like unloaded on the culture,
what it was this past season and how

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it needed to improve, and it
wasn't what they were about. So and

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then based off what Nick Nurse said
before, one of the pregame availabilities about

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he needs to evaluate his own future. It doesn't seem like this was the

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cleanest of endings for no. That
was like, that's it. I didn't

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see all of my size comments,
so maybe i'd be interested in what you

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thought were the main you know,
the most incendiary or the most like sort

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of noteworthy sections of that. But
from the moment Nurse was saying, you

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know, I think he also said
in addition to I'm going to take some

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time to kind of you know,
reassess whatever. I think he also talked

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about like this has been you know, ten years is a pretty good run.

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I'm paraphrasing, but it definitely felt
like he was he was past tensing

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his raptors. Ten yere a little
bit or at least like, you know,

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opening up the possibility that like I
think, I think we both know

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we're done there, So I guess
I'm I guess I'll ask you, and

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I feel like I know the answer. Is there anything that's surprising about this

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because it did seem like things were
kind of lining up and that's excluding you

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know, any any comments from parties
involved, just like the play of the

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team, right, Like we've spent
all this time this season talking about how

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the Raptors are just very much the
same in terms of what's wrong with how

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they're playing as they were last year, and so that that always felt to

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me like with I think we'll go, I'll throw it to you, like

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anything surprising or could you see this
coming? Even before the comments. I

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think we could see it coming.
But when you started to go through the

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list of jobs that could be available
this summer, I think the Raptors were

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definitely higher up there on the list. It just felt faded complete after Nick

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Nurse's pregame availability. I will say, while neither of us are surprised,

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I don't know how you necessarily feel
about the decision and the context of do

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I think Nick Nurse did a great
job. I look at some of the

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minute's distributions, how how uniform Toronto's
offense and defense felt the time, where

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it's like they couldn't play these different
ways, And then I look at the

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roster and I'm like, well,
what else was he really supposed to do?

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And so I don't think he was
necessarily perfect, But was this roster

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actually built to be any better than
it was this season? And we have

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the benefit of hindsight, I think
both of us. I know I was

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high on I think I picked him
to win forty eight games or whatever it

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was, and so clearly I misread
the situation. I'm wondering if as much

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responsibility as Nick Nurse clearly deserves and
if look, if there are problems behind

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the scenes with he was clashing with
players, that's you're just you're done,

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as the coach, like you're just
you're done. But this also sort of

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feels like not a move of desperation, that's not how MASSI acts, but

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miss like misappropriated blame a little bit
because he might have been like one of

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the biggest issues. I think the
roster construction and this vision might be the

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greater issue. Yeah, I I've
been in the bag for the Raptors for

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a while. I think they're always
one of those teams that we just sort

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of thought was I guess one of
the ways to frame this is kind they

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felt like they underachieved, So I
guess in answer your question about the roster,

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I always liked the experiment, and
I think we over blow it a

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little bit because it's not like they
always had five guys out there that don't

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have a position and we're six seven
to six nine. But they did that

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a lot. It was very much
a you know, a concerted effort to

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kind of see what that could get
you. And the only thing we know

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for sure is it could get you
a lot of opponent turnovers. And you

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don't turn it over, but your
offense stagnates and you suck in the half

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court because you don't really have a
conventional point guard or you don't have a

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pick and roll attack consistently. But
i'd like, I liked I always liked

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the I like the idea of it, and I sort of associated that kind

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of let's be on the vanguard of
what basketball will look like, you know,

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kind of innovation. I guess you'd
call it positionally or whatever. I

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kind of associated that with Nurse a
little bit because of the sheen of like

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the boxing one in the finals against
Curry, and these weird defensive things he

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would try. And I think one
of the most complicated things about nurses that,

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in conjunction with like what I say, is a disappointing couple of years

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that were short on you know,
tactical innovation and whatever else. Like you

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got the start of his career as
a head coach where that like he was

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Coach of the Year, he won
a title, like he was defined by

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being like this is all this guy
is on the cutting edge. He's he's

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really creative. He's the mad scientist. Like he came up in I think

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in Houston, right with the with
their then D League team that basically shot

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threes and nothing else, and that
spilled into how the Houston Rockets played.

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Like so he definitely has the pedigree
of a guy who is just willing to

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tinker and had a lot of success
with you know, I guess uncommon ideas,

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But then you weigh that against how
how much of a flop, you

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know, strategically these past couple of
seasons have been and I don't know how

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to evaluate his legacy or how he's
viewed in the coaching or you know,

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league wide community. I guess the
fact that he's already like very much on

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the shortlist for the Rockets job and
will probably have his choice of others if

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he wants them, suggests that he's
the former like the first half of his

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head coaching career is probably getting a
lot of weight, which I don't think

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that's necessarily unfair, but he's gonna
be an interesting I think this next job

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for him is really going to be
telling because you do have two sides of

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a coin that are awfully different after
these couple of years. But yeah,

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not surprised ultimately, But but he's
just an interesting it's an interesting case.

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And you know what the other thing
is like if so, say the Raptors

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basically keep the same team together,
which they don't have a lot of great

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options other than doing that with Van
Fleet and Gary Trent Jean you'or having player

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options, and then you probably got
to bring Purtle back if they're just better

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next year, I would say,
because you gave up a twenty twenty four

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first to get him, right,
so the roster may not be very different.

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So maybe we will just get like
a good comparison, you know,

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change the coach, keep the players, see what's different next season. So

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yeah, I don't know, it'll
be interesting going forward to see how that

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looks. For what it's worth.
It seems like that's how you, Jerry

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was leaning, how you framed it. Let's this is just going to be

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the roster, he said. One
of the things that stood out this is

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per Michael Grange watching this team play
this year was not us. I did

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not enjoy watching this team play.
We believe in the players we have,

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but whether it's tweaks or major changes, will look at everything, all the

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things we stood for here, the
culture we lacked this year, and so

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that I'm making imprinces here leads me
to believe that he still believes in the

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roster. That's why you give up
a first round pick for Yaka Purdle and

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the overall vision, and that he
really thinks hiring a different coach And it

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seems like it might be email Udoka
unless they were just letting that out to

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see what the reaction was, which
I do believe in redemption and atonement.

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We just still don't know enough of
the details under how this inappropriate relationship and

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activity toward a female Celtics employee went
to know like, okay, well has

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he atoned for? Like what is
he trying to redeem himself from? So

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it makes me uncomfortable. But from
the basketball side of things, it does

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very much seem like the Raptors,
and I think we could always assign this

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belief to them, because why would
you give up a first round pick at

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the trade Devin if you didn't believe
in the core of this team. But

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I think Eujeri kind of etch that
and stone where you have the right blockbuster

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trade opportunity comes along. But this
very much clearly to me, not that

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we ever thought it was, but
based off what he said, this is

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not a we might rebuild or really
try and retool situation. This is a

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coaching and culture was the predominant problem, which I don't agree with, by

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the way, but that seems like
how the Raptors are viewing it. I

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think, first of all, it's
I don't begrudge Jerry for feeling like the

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roster is not necessarily the problem because
he put it together and it's easy to

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cast blame downward on the coach,
but he may be right. The other

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thing is like, if you're if
the culture wasn't what you wanted it to

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be, I think you got to
focus on, like who was actually setting

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the culture. And I don't know
if that's Nurse, because this is a

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team that you know, Kyle Lowry
was like as an iconic franchise player for

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that team and he's been gone.
I think mark a Soul was a big

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deal. They had Danny Green during
that title run, too. You've got

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all these guys who just they're the
types of guys you want around to set

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the culture, and Kauai was the
reason they want title. I don't know

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if he's a culture setter, but
like the personnel is dramatically different and it's

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younger, and you tie that up
with kind of Scotty Barnes work ethic concerns.

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The ju Jerry talked about kind of
talked around a little bit the clip

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that I saw. So it's I
don't know that it's fair to say to

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pin the culture issues on Nurse necessarily
because this is just a heavier lift,

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because when you have Kyle Lowry and
Gasol and Danny Green and Kawhi, there's

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just like culture isn't even a question. You just you have a bunch of

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winners and veterans and guys that are
professionals and you know, the correct kinds

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of tone setters. So maybe that
just ties all the way back to great

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coaches aren't great because they have great
players or the right kinds of players,

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And that's why it's so difficult to
evaluate coaching sometimes. But you know,

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five years as a head coach,
it wasn't five I think it was five

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ten is an assistant or something close
to that. Like you know that things

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run their course, I guess,
and you gotta blame, You gotta blame

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00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,000
somebody if you're Jerry and he's not
gonna blame himself. Well, it seems

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more faded completely very quickly. Adokuts
Toronto or Nick Nurse to Houston. I

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think the fact that in Woj's right
up, Udoka was the first coach's name

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mentioned is something we should give a
lot of weight to. I will say

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the fact that he also reported that
the second round of interviews are beginning for

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00:21:15,599 --> 00:21:18,000
the Rockets, so they're bringing back
Vogel and then like now Nick Nurse has

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00:21:18,079 --> 00:21:22,279
entered the fold. It's like,
so he's in the second round of interviews

336
00:21:22,319 --> 00:21:25,680
after not going through the first round. I might lead Nick Nurse to ye

337
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,079
to use it. Nick Nurse gotta
buy he didn't have to go through the

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first round. So NBA Playoffs.
I struggle to actually cover the NBA Playoffs

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for this podcast because the only real
way to do it seems to be,

340
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,119
like, well, let's focus on
a series or team, and if we

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00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,680
wanted to cover just one series or
a singular team, we would host a

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00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:48,480
regional podcast, and there's plenty of
spectacular regional podcasts out there. There's a

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national NBA pod. I think it's
just time to bounce around, look at

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surprises, disappointments, winners, losers, just impressions, our biggest impressions so

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far. And so I'll throw the
talking stick to you first, since you

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00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,960
let me go through my raccoon die
a tribe. What are you thinking about

347
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,839
right now is where every every series
is at least two games old, and

348
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some of them has re record this
or three games old. Yeah, I

349
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mean, first of all, don't
apologize for the raccoon story. I wanted.

350
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I wanted that, and I got
it. This is gonna be the

351
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least downloaded episode in the history of
this polosist because of that ten minute preamble.

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I don't know, I think might
be what the people want. So

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00:22:23,559 --> 00:22:27,200
time stamp it so anyone can skip
it afterwards if they would like. No,

354
00:22:27,279 --> 00:22:30,920
it's gonna the next pot is gonna
be all raccoon talk, I think.

355
00:22:32,079 --> 00:22:34,000
So the first the first thought I
had because we've been kind of,

356
00:22:34,319 --> 00:22:37,680
you know, kicking this back and
forth since much earlier in the playoffs,

357
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so this is a little iffier or
stale, I guess after the Warriors won

358
00:22:44,839 --> 00:22:48,920
Game three pretty handily last night against
the Kings, but my first and clearest

359
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,039
winner up to that point, and
still I think it gets credited as Mike

360
00:22:52,079 --> 00:22:56,680
Brown, the King's head coach.
The first two games of that series I

361
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:02,880
think revealed a version of the Kings
that I was not sure. I should

362
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,400
be more declarative than that that I
did not think existed, which is to

363
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,279
say, the defensive intensity was at
a level that we had not seen.

364
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:17,440
The schemes all seemed tailor made to
give the Warriors problems. The Kings did

365
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,680
things they don't typically do or they
did not typically do during the season.

366
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The offensive rebounding, the ball pressure, the attention to detail, the turnover

367
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,599
like all this, all the stuff
that the Kings did to give the Warriors

368
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,759
so much trouble in those first two
games. I think you can tie very

369
00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:36,279
directly to Mike Brown. He has
a little bit of an edge because he

370
00:23:36,559 --> 00:23:40,319
was the lead assistant for six years
in Golden State and is better positioned than

371
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:47,559
literally anybody else in the world probably
to decide what bothers this team, because

372
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,440
that essentially is one of his main
jobs, you know, is as a

373
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,359
scout as as as a guy who's
trying to plug holes defensively, just what

374
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,880
doesn't what don't we like to see
a team do? And then as the

375
00:24:00,039 --> 00:24:03,079
King's head coach, Okay, we'll
just do all that. And the Kings

376
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,000
did it exceptionally well and got up
two oho in the series that I think

377
00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:11,400
pretty much everybody had Warriors in six. I know I did. I Kings

378
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,720
in four is for anyone who Yeah, nobody checked that. Nobody looked back

379
00:24:15,759 --> 00:24:18,079
or checked that. So yeah,
I don't know, I think that's pretty

380
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,279
low hanging fruit, even if after
that Game three loss it's you know,

381
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,240
it's a little iffier, but yeah, to go up two oh. And

382
00:24:26,279 --> 00:24:29,359
the way that the Kings did it, I think Mike Brown unanimous coach of

383
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,039
the year by the way, So
me really going out on a limb and

384
00:24:32,039 --> 00:24:33,920
saying Mike Brown's doing a good job, but yeah, he's he's a big

385
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,519
winner for me through the first week
ish of the playoffs. Yeah he has

386
00:24:38,559 --> 00:24:42,920
to be. Do you feel any
better after Game three where they lose against

387
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,440
a Warrior team that doesn't have dream
on and we saw what the Warriors did

388
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,720
where some of it was just the
King shot so poorly from three. He

389
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,960
couldn't play Davion Mitchell as much.
He wasn't hitting his threes. Kick Murray's

390
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,960
been on playable in this series.
Fox ended up having almost a triple double.

391
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,599
And we were talking about during the
game, how until the third quarter

392
00:24:57,599 --> 00:25:02,960
it felt like we didn't really feel
Yeah, but do you feel better or

393
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,720
worse about the Kings over? Well, you can't feel better after that game,

394
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:08,960
But how much worse do you feel? Does? It's high into Mike

395
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,519
Brown has done such a good job
during this series, you almost like that

396
00:25:12,599 --> 00:25:17,000
now he has something more concrete to
adjust to. I just where are you

397
00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:21,079
at with that? Yeah? I
mean, I guess what i'd say is

398
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:26,680
banking those first two wins is really
big because you just have such a greater

399
00:25:26,759 --> 00:25:30,680
margin for error. As the King's
going forward, the Warriors have to win

400
00:25:30,759 --> 00:25:34,519
game four. I think to avoid
what I would have I gotta believe that

401
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,960
the Kings will win at least one
more home game. The Warriors are going

402
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,319
to have to win a road game, which has been a massive struggle.

403
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,200
So I think, I guess I
feel a little worse because the Warriors,

404
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,759
which we should have expected, I
guess, have figured out some solutions,

405
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:53,160
even shorthanded for what the Kings have
done really well. But no, I

406
00:25:53,599 --> 00:25:59,680
just I guess I'm just really impressed
because I and everybody else seemed to be

407
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,200
convinced that, you know, not
to say the Kings were happy to be

408
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,319
here, but they were overmatched.
They were in experience the Warriors would play

409
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,440
better, and the Kings just put
the lie to that, you know,

410
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,480
in a pretty substantial way through the
first two games. So even if the

411
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,680
Warriors go on to win the series, I would say that the Kings have

412
00:26:15,799 --> 00:26:21,240
made like probably a better showing than
anybody expected. And it's definitely not a

413
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,599
given that the Warriors are gonna just
that the tide has turned irreversibly. You

414
00:26:23,599 --> 00:26:27,279
know, it's easy to get caught
up in the recency buyas stuff. But

415
00:26:27,599 --> 00:26:30,480
yeah, I guess I feel a
little worse because they're not up three zero

416
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,599
but two ones pretty solid. I'd
say, for Brown and the Kings,

417
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,279
what do you do? You want
to do? You have a winner or

418
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,240
loser? Next I'll throw to you. I've been talking about positive positive fall

419
00:26:38,319 --> 00:26:45,319
by negative negative. I'm immediately drawn
towards well, I have a few let's

420
00:26:45,319 --> 00:26:48,039
go with. We have to do
the Timberwolves. I have a stat for

421
00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:51,400
you that you already know, and
I know this isn't a I know transition

422
00:26:51,519 --> 00:26:53,279
was not a huge part of their
game this season, but I just found

423
00:26:53,319 --> 00:27:00,480
this fascinating. Through the first two
first halves of this series, so first

424
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,640
and second quarter in games one,
end Games two, because so four quarters

425
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:08,559
total, the Minnesota timbost have scored
three transition points. Denver's defense has been

426
00:27:08,599 --> 00:27:11,440
a lot better. Zach Loo wrote
about it. You and I have talked

427
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,519
about it. Ben Taylor did a
video about how they've done some more like

428
00:27:15,799 --> 00:27:18,680
basically like he called it peel switching
or scramble switching. It wasn't necessarily scram

429
00:27:18,759 --> 00:27:22,880
switching, but the way that they've
they've mixed up their coverages with Nicole Yokitch.

430
00:27:23,079 --> 00:27:29,000
Now part of that I think against
the Timberwolves specifically for Denver. Now

431
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,039
this is tying into you might have
we have some stuff to tell about Denver,

432
00:27:32,079 --> 00:27:34,839
but Minnesota specifically, they are so
much easier to defend with Rudy Gobert

433
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,759
on the floor. It's not even
funny. He had a really good third

434
00:27:38,839 --> 00:27:42,839
quarter. I think it was in
Game two where the Wolves make that raging

435
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:48,119
come back, but just there's not
enough space on the floor. They are

436
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,640
so and they don't respect Minnesota shooters
enough. They'll just crowd Rudy Gobert on

437
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,839
the role or they will dare him. You should look at how technically wide,

438
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:57,799
wide open Rudy Gobert is on.
Some of these roles are the best,

439
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,839
like make a decision, base,
do it, and they just don't

440
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,119
care. And now you're dealing with
that on top of Anthony Edwards came alive

441
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,759
in Game two, but he's dealing
with the shoulder injury. There's just no

442
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:15,160
cadence to this offense, like they
can vary it up sometimes and when Anthony

443
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,759
Edwards gets by guys out of the
pick and roll or just coming up in

444
00:28:17,799 --> 00:28:19,799
their half court, they need to
get into their half court offense. Earlier,

445
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,039
Towns is not having a banner series, and I look, I guess

446
00:28:25,039 --> 00:28:26,759
this is a hot take and I
wouldn't predict it, but people are too

447
00:28:27,039 --> 00:28:30,200
I still believe they're too low on
Karl Anthony Towns. The offensive fouls are

448
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,319
frustrating, but he is and I
don't think this is on him to some

449
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,759
extent, still predicated on guys getting
him the ball. He doesn't need them

450
00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:40,640
to set him up, but he's
not bringing the ball up, So you

451
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:41,759
need to figure out a way to, like if you're gonna throw it against

452
00:28:41,759 --> 00:28:47,359
a mismatch on the block, or
you like let like have him attack outside

453
00:28:47,359 --> 00:28:49,039
in more, I still think he
could techually be their best player, even

454
00:28:49,079 --> 00:28:52,279
more so than anthy Edwards. I
wouldn't predict it, and right now he's

455
00:28:52,319 --> 00:28:56,240
not bad series for him. Looming
over all of this, by the way,

456
00:28:56,279 --> 00:28:59,680
and there's more that we can get
into from the series if you would

457
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,680
like. Looming over all of this
is they don't have Jane McDaniels, they

458
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,480
don't have Naz Reid. And now
you're going into a situation this offseason where

459
00:29:08,519 --> 00:29:14,319
you're five most important players Mike Conley, Jane McDaniels, at the Edwards,

460
00:29:14,319 --> 00:29:18,359
carl Ley Towns and Rudy Gobert have
barely played together and will barely have played

461
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,720
together. What information do you glean
out of this core? And you're I

462
00:29:22,839 --> 00:29:25,920
know, way at the Edwards is
young, Jade McDaniels is young, Mike

463
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,599
Conley is not, Rudy Gobert is
not. You've now given Towns his second

464
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,400
MAX contract. There's urgency and just
look at how much it gave up to

465
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,960
get Rudy Gobert in the first place. How do you know what you need?

466
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,359
But like, how do you confidently
continue to flesh out around this core,

467
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,240
especially when like we've kind of seen
that this wasn't damaging. I was

468
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,240
wrong about the Mike Conley trade.
He's been great connective tissue for Minnesota.

469
00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:52,920
So let me get that out of
the way. But like you already had

470
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,440
to make that huge adjustment of Okay, well we need to get a different

471
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,359
type of guarden here because it's not
working with Rudy Gobert and you're just gonna

472
00:30:00,359 --> 00:30:03,000
have the sample size of your best
players on the court together on top of

473
00:30:03,039 --> 00:30:07,160
all that's just going wrong, and
it's not I don't think the personnel is

474
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,000
an excuse necessarily for how much they've
struggled for most of this series, mostly

475
00:30:11,039 --> 00:30:15,799
because you have four of your five
best players on the floor in this series,

476
00:30:15,279 --> 00:30:19,839
and I've just been for the most
part, wildly unimpressed with how they've

477
00:30:19,839 --> 00:30:22,400
done in the postseason. Yeah,
so hold on, I thought you were

478
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:26,599
going positive positive. You just shipped
all over the Timberwolves. What's Yeah,

479
00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:30,440
I messed up. I was waiting
for you to circle back, and somehow

480
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,119
I was like, wow, he's
really digging a deep hole. I wasn't

481
00:30:33,119 --> 00:30:38,960
gonna get out of this, so
Timberwolves got it loser. I hold on

482
00:30:40,039 --> 00:30:42,880
all response to that by just you
let me go for four minutes before I

483
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,440
just trust you that much. I
think you're gonna get all the way back

484
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:51,079
around. I will say just a
quick one because this is kind of a

485
00:30:51,119 --> 00:30:56,400
Wolves adjacent thing. A winner is
the Nuggets defense a little bit other than

486
00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,359
the third quarter of Game two when, as you noted, the Timberwolves fire

487
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,559
and Anthony Edwards made like nineteen of
Anthony Andrews was like nineteen of fifteen from

488
00:31:04,559 --> 00:31:08,519
the floor. Somehow it was that
good. Yeah, no, that don't

489
00:31:08,519 --> 00:31:14,440
don't double check that either. But
the Nuggets, you know, I say

490
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:19,279
they're like a qualified winner because some
of the location based shot data suggests their

491
00:31:19,279 --> 00:31:23,279
defense has actually been bad. They're
I think they're fifteenth and their third and

492
00:31:23,359 --> 00:31:29,279
defensive rating in the playoffs, but
they're fifteenth I think in location based effective

493
00:31:29,279 --> 00:31:32,279
field wal percentage because they're still letting
the Wolves get to the rim a ton

494
00:31:32,319 --> 00:31:34,079
and the Wolves are finishing well there. So that's like a little bit of

495
00:31:34,119 --> 00:31:38,039
a red flag. But this is
mostly cribbing from Zach Low who wrote it

496
00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:42,480
up today. The Nuggets have been
more aggressive and like varying their coverages.

497
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:48,559
They're doing weird stuff like dropping yokis
sometimes depending on where the screens are coming

498
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:51,319
in the pick and roll, and
they're even bringing there crashing in an extra

499
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:55,160
defender, which you don't normally do
in drops because and you pointed this out

500
00:31:55,559 --> 00:32:00,359
because this ties to the Wolves.
There's several shooters on Minnesota that the Nuggets

501
00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:02,519
are just not that concerned with.
And so that's all to say that I

502
00:32:02,519 --> 00:32:07,359
don't know if this will continue to
work for Denver, but it is encouraging

503
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:13,680
that there are at least some signs
tactically that Denver is working or trying to

504
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,480
be opportunistic or being a little more
clever about how are we just going to

505
00:32:17,559 --> 00:32:22,240
get stops, especially in the pick
and roll, because the reason that we

506
00:32:22,359 --> 00:32:27,319
view the West as wide open,
and the reason that you know everybody other

507
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,000
than you, by the way,
who thinks someone other than Denver's coming out

508
00:32:30,039 --> 00:32:34,119
of the West or that it's a
toss up is just because of the defense.

509
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,680
So any positive signs for me from
Denver defensively, even if there's a

510
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:42,160
little bit of smoking mirrors maybe built
into it, is has to make them

511
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,160
a winner because I guess if you
were to just sort of imagine hypothetically,

512
00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:51,200
say Denver was like the tenth best
defense during the year, and they did

513
00:32:51,279 --> 00:32:55,200
this kind of thing all season and
they were more you know, malleable,

514
00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:00,960
just more creative and just more successful, I feel like we'd think about the

515
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,960
Western Conference a lot differently, and
so with some of the with all the

516
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,480
parody elsewhere in these series, you
know, I think Denver showing some defensive

517
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:14,279
you know, positive science is like, that's that's about as big a deal

518
00:33:14,759 --> 00:33:17,559
as you'd say, as you'd want
to see from any team on any side

519
00:33:17,599 --> 00:33:22,400
of the ball in these playoffs.
So pretty encouraging, even if I'm putting

520
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,000
it as a as a qualified winner
thing. I wonder if there's something to

521
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:34,119
the dunker spot Nicias and Steve Jones
had mentioned with the King's specifically entering the

522
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,960
playoffs that having more time to prepare
for an opponent would make their defense better

523
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,319
equipped. And I'm wondering if we
could see that at play with the Nuggets

524
00:33:40,359 --> 00:33:45,400
here, where maybe their personnel is
very rigid for a regular season setting to

525
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,359
where you might have hot spurts,
but if you give them an opportunity to

526
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,519
game plan for singular opponents, it
becomes a lot easier. Now, I

527
00:33:52,519 --> 00:33:55,880
still think teams like Phoenix specifically won't
wind up being a terrible matchup for Denver

528
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,880
now after the Kevin Durant trade,
But I'm wondering if there's something to that

529
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,160
with regards to Denver. I think
with Sacramento it's kind of born out,

530
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,200
although how much of it is Okay, Mike Brown has already he's coached with

531
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,360
the Warrior, so he knows a
lot of their their playbook. Yeah,

532
00:34:08,519 --> 00:34:12,119
all right, I got a loser
for you. You're ready. I have

533
00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:15,599
a winner as promise that ties into
the Nuggets. So let's Jamal Murray been

534
00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:20,639
an absolute monster this series. Has
the step back going shooting seven of ten

535
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,360
in the restricted area, making tough
shots again overall as well, and then

536
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,719
so he has that huge offensive performance
in the second game, but it was

537
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:30,280
even more encouraging, like he didn't
shoot that great in the first game,

538
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,679
nine of twenty two from the floor, fourth ten on threes, which,

539
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,519
yeah, you'll take that, But
like I thought, he was tough on

540
00:34:37,559 --> 00:34:42,440
defense, really good at making the
smart pass based off what are you how

541
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,039
he was reading Minnesota's defense. Eight
assists against one turnover in that game.

542
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:49,039
This is he was kind of up
and down a lot this season, which

543
00:34:49,039 --> 00:34:51,559
I think you would expect someone coming
off an a c L injury, and

544
00:34:51,599 --> 00:34:53,800
then he had some knee stuff crop
up during the middle of the schedule as

545
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:58,440
well. If he's going to play
like this, don't even forget game too.

546
00:34:58,559 --> 00:35:00,880
Jamal Murray, you get game one, Jamal Murray, You're scary.

547
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,519
The Nuggets are all of a sudden
because like that's a Jamal Murray where it's

548
00:35:05,639 --> 00:35:08,400
oh, like they can do different
things defensively then too, and now you

549
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,679
have a different way to manage a
ton of your minutes, like and look,

550
00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:14,400
there have been points in this series. I think, I don't know

551
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:15,760
how many. I think it was
a Game two that I saw. We

552
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,280
know it was Game one because they
weren't playing towards the end. Like even

553
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,719
Game two, the Nuggets feel a
little bit confident in Jamal Murray and Nicole

554
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,719
Yoget's not playing together, Like that's
incredible, Like we're i mean, taking

555
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,199
both of them off the court at
the same time, that doesn't really have

556
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:30,599
to do with Jamal Murray, but
that might be a win for Michael Porter

557
00:35:30,639 --> 00:35:34,199
Junior, who's kind of another low
key winner of this. But Jamal Murray

558
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,559
has been fantastic and if he's going
to be that that kind of postseason Jamal

559
00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:40,199
Murray we had come to expect,
Like just remember what he did in the

560
00:35:40,199 --> 00:35:45,599
bubble. Remember his first playoff series
against the Spurs, Like he like single

561
00:35:45,599 --> 00:35:46,440
handedly won them. I think he
might have cost them a game, but

562
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,719
he like single handedly won them too. If this is the version of Jamal

563
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,920
Murray that you're just getting the Nuggets. I know that offense isn't their primary

564
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:59,119
issue, but like they just become
infinitely harder to be if you can look

565
00:35:59,159 --> 00:36:01,039
at it and say, oh,
we know who the second best player on

566
00:36:01,079 --> 00:36:04,519
the court is going to be every
single game and it's Jamal Murray. Yeah.

567
00:36:04,639 --> 00:36:07,519
I mean he had the ball in
his hands a ton in that second

568
00:36:07,559 --> 00:36:09,440
half of Game two, is particularly
the third quarter where it just kind of

569
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:13,199
turned into a shootout. It was
kind of the most fun that that series

570
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,840
has been, which is not saying
a lot, but so play off Jamal

571
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,760
Murray for sure is very much its
own thing. The best part and the

572
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,440
thing I love is that it always
feels like whenever Murray does this, the

573
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,400
other team has a guy that you
know, and it used to be Donovan

574
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,639
Mitchell that we would just they would
just trade Haymakers and Anthony Edwards kind of

575
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:34,039
got into the act a little bit
in the second half of game too.

576
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,679
There's just nothing better, and I
don't know what it is. It's like

577
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:42,679
Murray's you know, brightest moments always
kind of line up with someone else who

578
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,719
we also love to watch doing kind
of the same thing. So more of

579
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,119
that, please, both from a
Nuggets perspective, because Murray matters so much,

580
00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:52,239
but also just from a from a
fan perspective because I don't know.

581
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:54,400
I don't know why it works out
that way, but that's just what happens

582
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,119
when Jamal Murray gets hot. I
have to I have to bring it down

583
00:36:59,159 --> 00:37:02,559
now because we're gonna go to another
guard that has had Playoffs success but is

584
00:37:02,599 --> 00:37:07,480
not and so one of my losers
so far as Trey Young, And part

585
00:37:07,519 --> 00:37:10,800
of that is just he's the best
player on a team that is on the

586
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,079
wrong end of so far what I'd
say is the most lopsided series. I

587
00:37:15,119 --> 00:37:19,360
know the Sixers are up three zero, but we could talk about it at

588
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,679
some point. I don't know if
I can't remember if either of us has

589
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,159
anyone from that series as a winner
or loser. But the Nets have mostly

590
00:37:24,199 --> 00:37:28,440
competed and so being down three oh
is just kind of like, you know,

591
00:37:28,599 --> 00:37:31,079
it's a little different. The Celtics
have been by far the better team

592
00:37:31,079 --> 00:37:34,960
than Atlanta. That is not a
surprise, but just coming on the heels

593
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,039
of you know, Young wasn't an
All Star again this year. He has

594
00:37:38,079 --> 00:37:44,159
now run through two coaches. All
the damning reports from during the season about

595
00:37:44,519 --> 00:37:46,119
you know, the one that really
I'm never going to get out of my

596
00:37:46,159 --> 00:37:52,840
brain is that I think it was
Sam Amock saying that if the Hawks players

597
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,320
had to choose between Young and Nate
McMillan, if they had to pick sides,

598
00:37:55,599 --> 00:38:00,960
they would have picked Nate McMillan's side, which is just so I mean,

599
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,360
that's gutting right, and so Young
in this series thirty five percent from

600
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,880
the field, twenty three point one
percent from deep. He's making under seventy

601
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,239
percent from the foul line, and
like low key, getting fouled and making

602
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:15,559
free throws is a big part of
his game. Just has not fourteen of

603
00:38:15,679 --> 00:38:22,039
forty from the field. I just
like he's got ten turnovers to fourteen assists.

604
00:38:22,519 --> 00:38:25,000
He just hasn't. The only scenario
where the Hawks would be competitive in

605
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:29,159
the series is if Young were the
best player on the floor, like more

606
00:38:29,199 --> 00:38:32,760
than once, and he has been
nowhere close to that. I think maybe

607
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:36,079
he'll, you know, you can't
ever rule out he's going to have a

608
00:38:36,119 --> 00:38:39,079
big game at some point. But
Boston and Boston's great. Boston is the

609
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:44,639
maybe the worst possible team for him
to match up against because there's so many

610
00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:49,400
good defensive guards and wings and they
all have size advantages. There's great back

611
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:53,599
line help in Boston's defense. Boston's
just good. But Young this playoff performance

612
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:59,760
coming after last season's playoff performance,
which was also poor. He was even

613
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:04,639
worse just looking at it. So
the Hawks fell in five to Miami in

614
00:39:04,679 --> 00:39:07,039
the first round of last season.
It's playoffs, and he shot thirty one

615
00:39:07,079 --> 00:39:12,280
point nine percent from the field eighteen
point four percent from deep across five games

616
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,840
for Trey Young, like good luck
that you are not going to succeed there.

617
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,320
I think maybe he had an ankle
injury. I can't remember, but

618
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:23,000
more turnovers than assistant last playoffs.
It's just like the trajectory for Trey Young's

619
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:28,360
career over the last twenty over the
last year, really, but even longer

620
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,239
than that, not great, not
encouraging. And so now we're gonna have

621
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:35,679
to talk about the Hawks potentially trading
him and all this other stuff. So

622
00:39:36,119 --> 00:39:37,960
I don't know how you frame him
as anything but one of the bigger losers

623
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:43,440
of this postseason. I received a
text message from someone during this series that

624
00:39:43,519 --> 00:39:46,920
reads, no one actually respects Trey
shot anymore and it clogs up everything.

625
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,920
It's hard to think he's that dude, caps lock that dude when he's had

626
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,440
no counter to it, because he's
just not a knockdown shooter and that's a

627
00:39:54,480 --> 00:40:00,559
frustrating issue when he's also a defensive
zero. And that you know I'm reading

628
00:40:00,559 --> 00:40:04,400
that because you mentioned the Trey Young
trade stuff. I've kind of dismissed it,

629
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:08,039
and I'll still mostly dismiss it,
but that could become very real over

630
00:40:08,079 --> 00:40:13,280
this offseason. And I don't buy
the whole timing of that report just before

631
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,440
the playing about the Hawks new for
ant office having the agency to move him.

632
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:20,599
That's either like I don't want to
say outdated info, but info that

633
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:22,760
people were holding onto for a while, or it's just not coming from the

634
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:27,119
Hawks. There's no reason for Trey
or the Hawks to leak that now.

635
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,239
But I do think it becomes more
interesting and we have a friend of the

636
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:36,440
podcast Rhett Bauer was proposing like a
framework of Trey plus what to Brooklyn for

637
00:40:36,519 --> 00:40:39,639
Mchaale Bridges plus what. And I
ultimately think that I don't know if either

638
00:40:39,679 --> 00:40:44,519
team would do that because I'm assuming
Brooklyn wants to kind of reset its culture

639
00:40:44,559 --> 00:40:49,559
after the whole KD Kyrie Irving James
Harden fiasco. And also just I think

640
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,679
that excused too far towards all secondary
creators for Atlanta with de Jontay and Michal

641
00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:58,159
Bridges, like who's your I guess
if you consider Dejanta Murray a one a

642
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,199
passer, I just I don't,
and like Trey can still do that,

643
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:02,599
and Michail Bridges isn't there yet,
and then you have, yeah, you

644
00:41:02,599 --> 00:41:06,119
have Bogey and you could grow Spencer
diduity in there. I thought it was

645
00:41:06,159 --> 00:41:08,480
an interesting thought exercise. I'm not
dumping all over the idea from from Rhett.

646
00:41:08,599 --> 00:41:12,800
It's that's which is why I'm bringing
this up, it's the prelude too.

647
00:41:13,199 --> 00:41:19,199
It's really hard to find no brainer
Trey Young destinations. And that's why

648
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:22,880
I think that Atlanta ultimately is because
he's still an offensive force in fury,

649
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:28,199
but like you have to figure out
how to tailor make the offense around him

650
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,239
or defense around him to make this
work. But it doesn't that thought process

651
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,599
doesn't mean as much when he's playing
like this on offense. It can be

652
00:41:35,639 --> 00:41:39,079
so frustrated or neutralized, even if
you don't want to say easily, even

653
00:41:39,119 --> 00:41:44,719
if you don't want to say consistently
as semi frequently as we've now seen him

654
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:51,119
postseasons. No, I think the
idea of trading for Young a it's like

655
00:41:51,159 --> 00:41:55,559
a really franchise altering decision because you
know you have to change everything about your

656
00:41:55,599 --> 00:41:59,920
operation if Trey Young is on your
team. He's not someone he is trailing

657
00:42:00,159 --> 00:42:04,320
is eminently not scalable like right,
because if he's on the team, you're

658
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:08,840
gonna have you're embracing extreme heliocentrism.
You're not. You're gonna have to cover

659
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:14,079
for him defensively at every other position, and you have these leadership questions and

660
00:42:14,159 --> 00:42:17,840
you have these postseason flop questions and
which is you know, stem largely out

661
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,960
of the point that you made or
that your anonymous text are made about how

662
00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:28,320
if he's not gonna be someone that
just wins you games offensively by himself,

663
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:31,360
then like what are you what are
you getting? And it seems pretty clear

664
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:35,920
like this is me inferring things too. I don't think guys like to play

665
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,840
with him. I think you've had
the John Collins stuff a couple of years

666
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:42,320
ago. You have the siding with
naming, but there's just a lot of

667
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,440
evidence that he's not fun or easy
to play with, and he's also up

668
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:50,320
in productive lately too, So like
I just it's such a big alteration for

669
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:53,199
a guy that it just it doesn't
seem worth it. And now we're talking

670
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:58,199
about Trey at like the absolute nadea
of his sort of que rating over the

671
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,920
last you know, several months or
years. But like you know, concocting

672
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:06,280
a trade for him that is defensible
and makes sense and finding a partner that's

673
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,400
willing to take on all the minuses
for some of the pluses that might be

674
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:13,639
there is really tough. And to
be clear, I also think it was

675
00:43:14,079 --> 00:43:16,800
in Tray's defense, it was oversold
how much he struggled during the regular season.

676
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,840
It was an early season thing,
and he end up putting twenty seven

677
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:23,559
and ten on reasonable efficiency. If
that's not going to translate to the playoffs

678
00:43:23,679 --> 00:43:25,800
is where it becomes an issue when
you could say, Okay, it's Boston,

679
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,719
that's a terrible matchup for him.
But the road through the easts of

680
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,760
right now is going to run through
Boston for quite some time. It looks

681
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,519
like and I don't know when I
look at this roster, I don't know

682
00:43:36,559 --> 00:43:37,719
what the answer is. And part
of that is because what we've seen this

683
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:45,599
series specifically doesn't feel like a roster
construction issue so much as a tray's offensive

684
00:43:45,599 --> 00:43:49,599
profile issue. And so is he
going to be able to make defenses pay

685
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,719
for now playing that far off him? Is that a function of they also

686
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:57,039
know what spots like Trey and jan
Ty Murray like to get to anyway inside

687
00:43:57,039 --> 00:44:00,679
the arc as, I don't know
what the response is and what even the

688
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,880
next evolution of trade would be.
I think it would. I think we

689
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:06,760
actually I think we know what it
is. Can you get him moving away

690
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:08,920
from the ball, Yeah, he's
kind of smaller and just never done that.

691
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,039
I don't know if you can go
that route. It'll be interesting to

692
00:44:13,039 --> 00:44:15,920
see. Quinn Snyder might be the
guy to do it, just because of

693
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:21,480
how his early onset Utah offense looked. Yeah, so I would say if

694
00:44:21,519 --> 00:44:23,280
they don't trade Young this offseason,
which still seems like kind of a long

695
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,400
shot, I guess even if the
front hour front office has the green light,

696
00:44:28,079 --> 00:44:30,599
if we get into next season and
Quinn Snyder has the summer to kind

697
00:44:30,599 --> 00:44:35,320
of set the culture, install the
offense, install the style of play he

698
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,280
wants that he had in Utah and
it doesn't look different offensively, or Young

699
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:42,760
continues to be unwilling to change how
he plays, like, then we got

700
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,159
real problems because then Young is the
only kind of lever to pull left for

701
00:44:46,159 --> 00:44:50,559
the Hawks. So that'll yeah,
this may well, we're gonna know,

702
00:44:50,639 --> 00:44:53,880
We're gonna have an answer, you
know, in November. I think I'm

703
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:58,679
gonna go positive this time. I
promise. Okay, I have a question

704
00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:01,880
for you. Okay, and you
finish second and defensive Player of the Year

705
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:07,000
voting and still be underrating for a
friend, I have a feeling that that

706
00:45:07,079 --> 00:45:15,159
is very much possible. Brook Lopez
might be the most underrated player in the

707
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:19,719
NBA because and I will say his
defensive value. First of all, his

708
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,719
value is often boiled down to look
what he's doing as a rim protector,

709
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,800
which I think it's not insulting,
but it's an oversimplification of his actual defense,

710
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,400
where yeah, look at what he's
doing as a rim protector. But

711
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,719
like, this is someone when you
look, he knows how to use angles

712
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:37,239
and like body bends to like come
out of what you would call his wheelhouse

713
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:40,280
or comfort zone and hold up like
he's if you don't want to call him

714
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:45,360
matchup proof, he's not someone that
is going to be played off the floor.

715
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:46,719
Like, yes, Miles Turner is
more matchup proof. You know who's

716
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:52,000
more matchup proof than Kristops sports and
gets Brook Lopez. It's like he I

717
00:45:52,119 --> 00:45:55,119
just I can't say enough about what
he's able to do defensively, and it

718
00:45:55,159 --> 00:46:00,440
holds up when Milwaukee's other best defenders
aren't on the court. You put Johannis

719
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:04,280
off the Bucks still ranking the ninety
like nine percent tile of defensive officials.

720
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:06,880
He pulled Drew Holiday off. I
believe it's the same story last time I

721
00:46:07,039 --> 00:46:10,079
checked. We go into Game two
against Miami, this is where the underrated

722
00:46:10,199 --> 00:46:14,599
stuff comes in when we talk about
brook Lopez, and maybe not we,

723
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:16,719
but I'm sure at least I'll say
I've probably been guilty of it at some

724
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:20,760
point, boiled down his offensive value
to like, look at how important to

725
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,440
that is to Milwaukee spacing. You
put someone who can shoot threes around Yannis

726
00:46:23,519 --> 00:46:28,360
and how that works. He takes
we start taking like eight three point attempts

727
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,800
for thirty six minutes. In game
two, he takes one without Jannis.

728
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:36,440
The Bucks decided we're gonna play through
brook Lopez very early on, and you

729
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:38,880
look at his ability to get He's
not going through these like he used to

730
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:43,239
be more of a We talk about
how much his shot profile has changed.

731
00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:47,199
Even when you're looking at his inside
the arc attempts, they're so much different

732
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:51,760
from how they were earlier on in
his career, Like you're not actually posting

733
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,880
him up, he's getting absurd position, and then on the catch he's just

734
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:59,679
turning, throwing up a push shot, cutting for a dunk. And the

735
00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:01,519
fact he could put the ball on
the floor and go outside in I think

736
00:47:01,519 --> 00:47:05,480
he only had one of those in
Game two. But he's a seven footer

737
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:07,039
at the age of thirty five,
who's just like, yeah, I can

738
00:47:07,079 --> 00:47:10,519
pump and drive whatever, that's fine. He is. And then in Game

739
00:47:10,559 --> 00:47:15,960
two he had what was it,
twenty five points on twelve of seventeen shooting

740
00:47:16,039 --> 00:47:21,800
doesn't make a three throughout that entire
game, and it was just the I

741
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:23,320
don't want to say that it was
the epitome of brook Lopez's value, but

742
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:27,599
it was just like this reminder he
does so much, and I think even

743
00:47:27,639 --> 00:47:31,239
you look at this series, Milwaukee's
defense has actually been not great overall the

744
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:36,960
heat or making jumpers, which is
just absurd. Also Brooke though has not

745
00:47:37,039 --> 00:47:39,159
when you look at the rim protection
numbers, those haven't been great for him.

746
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:45,280
He's kind of nailed the Bamatti Bio
assignment, though the Bucks are the

747
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:49,920
heat as a team or averaging point
nine two points per possession. When brook

748
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:52,840
Lopez register registers as a defender on
bam Atibaio, I can get in the

749
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:57,719
shot profile like Bamata Bio has more
turnovers than assists in those But because this

750
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:00,440
is measured in partial possessions, I
like to just I think the team.

751
00:48:00,639 --> 00:48:04,559
I think the team's performance is the
most accurate rate of view it, even

752
00:48:04,599 --> 00:48:08,360
though it's probably not perfectly tell tale
brook Lopez is thirty five headed towards free

753
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:13,679
agency, and he's just a monstrous
winner because of the recognition he gets for

754
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,800
his defense, for how good he's
still on offense. And I think when

755
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:21,840
we talk about biggs who can stretch
the floor, protect the rim, not

756
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,920
be played off the floor on defense
and then also just open up so many

757
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:30,480
different options and shots inside the arc. You can count those bigs on one

758
00:48:30,519 --> 00:48:37,679
hand. There's Miles Turner. There's
who's after that, Jaron Jackson, maybe

759
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,360
Jaron Jackson Jr. Who else?
I mean, Anthony Davis is he's not

760
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:44,639
on that list, right like you, because he's not the shooting elements not

761
00:48:44,679 --> 00:48:46,840
there other than that one time in
the bubble. Partly Anthony Towns doesn't bring

762
00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:51,159
the rim projection. There might there
might be four or five guys. Brook

763
00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:52,639
Lopez is one of them. And
I don't know if you have anything to

764
00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:55,079
add to this, My final thought
would be it would not shock me.

765
00:48:55,280 --> 00:49:00,199
I know the cap is going up, but like this is someone who could

766
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:04,079
get twenty plus million dollars per year. Yeah, on a short term deal

767
00:49:04,159 --> 00:49:07,159
for sure, just because you know, there's not really any drop off.

768
00:49:07,199 --> 00:49:09,079
And this is a guy that was
it last year that he missed all the

769
00:49:09,079 --> 00:49:13,400
time with back surgery. Like for
a guy that age, that's not big

770
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:15,519
and he's just he's better than he
was a year ago. No, you're

771
00:49:15,599 --> 00:49:21,400
you're totally right. I think the
most the not being able to be played

772
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:23,719
off the floor thing is the most
impressive part of all this because for a

773
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:29,000
long time, even when Lopez was
doing a lot of this, there was

774
00:49:29,039 --> 00:49:30,599
this, well, what if you
know, what if the Bucks just have

775
00:49:30,679 --> 00:49:35,320
Yannis play the five? Imagine imagine
what that might get them, you know,

776
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:38,039
And that's just like, that's just
clearly wrong. That's just not that

777
00:49:38,039 --> 00:49:42,239
that is not the best version of
the Bucks. It was easy to think

778
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:45,599
so because that's how every team kind
of wanted to operate when it was clear

779
00:49:45,639 --> 00:49:49,400
that, I mean, this is
the Warriors thing to because Draymond Green at

780
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,440
the five, Like, how do
we compete with that? Everybody's looking for

781
00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:55,239
the switchable center that can kind of
do a bunch of stuff, and well

782
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:59,840
maybe that's no, No, it's
not Yannest Jannie could do. That doesn't

783
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:02,079
make the Bucks better than having Lopez
out there. And I would say too

784
00:50:02,119 --> 00:50:08,719
that the auto Bio matchup is really
interesting because and it's actually kind of weirdly

785
00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:15,320
a good one for Lopez because Autobio
is not a guy that is gonna stretch

786
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:16,679
him all the way out to the
three point line, so he can hang

787
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:20,920
in his drop a little bit and
worry. For sure, Autobio is gonna

788
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:23,239
make, you know, fourteen to
eighteen footers and get in the lane and

789
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:29,079
push up floaters. But like the
Bucks would love it for opponents to take

790
00:50:29,119 --> 00:50:30,840
those shots, right, Like,
that's that's part of what they want you

791
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:35,960
to do. So he is positioned
to succeed. But there's not really we

792
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:40,199
haven't really seen, correct me if
I'm wrong, you know, the matchup

793
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:45,000
or the team that you kind of
look at Lopez on the floor and wonder,

794
00:50:45,079 --> 00:50:46,159
well, how is he going to
hang out there? That just doesn't

795
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:50,239
happen for him. Even if the
Clippers do what they did, and I

796
00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:52,320
think we'll get to the Clippers in
the second to close that game against they

797
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:55,000
have five guards on the court.
Essentially, I'm like, yeah, Brook

798
00:50:55,039 --> 00:50:59,599
Lopez could totally play. That's right, he's good, he's fine. I

799
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:04,480
have an other winner and that's at
the same position, and some recency buyas

800
00:51:04,559 --> 00:51:08,960
in this because we just watched this
game last night together this is Kevon Looney

801
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:15,159
and it like, if you follow
the Warriors enough, you do understand that

802
00:51:15,199 --> 00:51:19,079
he is sort of you know,
he's not on the level of the Steph

803
00:51:19,079 --> 00:51:22,760
Clay, Draymond you know, triumvirate
in terms of these are the guys that

804
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,679
want us the title. I think
probably when you know, looking back at

805
00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:30,559
it, you'll you'll think of Andrea
Godala even before you think of Kevon Looney

806
00:51:30,559 --> 00:51:35,679
because he was there for all of
it and had bigger roles. But so

807
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,800
Looney against the Kings, playing without
Draymond Green, just goes out and gets

808
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:44,519
you know, I think in the
first quarter he had three offensive boards,

809
00:51:44,519 --> 00:51:46,800
seven total, four assists, like
didn't score. I think he had two

810
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:50,880
points in the game. I'm not
looking at this right now, but he

811
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:55,039
ended up with twenty boards. He
really offered proof of concept and this was

812
00:51:55,079 --> 00:52:00,400
a major discussion point for us and
I think it should be going forward or

813
00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:04,679
if the Warriors, it almost doesn't
matter who the one big is. It

814
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:07,920
can be Looney or it can be
Draymond Green. The best versions of this

815
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:12,480
have featured Draymond Green, but Looney
last night was just the one of the

816
00:52:12,519 --> 00:52:16,320
key is to unlocking the spacing that
made the nugget the King's defense less effective.

817
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:21,400
It freed up shooters, it freed
up the lane, allowed the Warriors

818
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:23,519
to get at least, if not
three level scoring because they're not going to

819
00:52:23,519 --> 00:52:27,159
shoot a ton amid Rangers, but
two level because they were having a hell

820
00:52:27,199 --> 00:52:30,119
of a time trying to get to
the bucket for clean looks to get into

821
00:52:30,119 --> 00:52:34,360
space. And Looney very much was
the key for that because he can.

822
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:37,400
You can give him the ball twenty
three feet from the basket and he's gonna

823
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:40,440
make good decisions, he's gonna set
good screens, he's gonna just be the

824
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:45,199
guy that enables the Warriors to be
the best version of themselves. So I

825
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:49,639
just think, and he's doing this
all while playing basically heads up with Demanna

826
00:52:49,679 --> 00:52:52,639
Sabonis, who's one of the best
offensive centers in the league, and he's

827
00:52:52,679 --> 00:52:55,599
getting involved in tons of actions because
the King's run so much through Sabonis.

828
00:52:55,599 --> 00:53:01,440
So I just think Looney is some
that the Warriors all talk about as he's

829
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:05,000
the heart of the team. He's
like the adult in the room. He's

830
00:53:05,039 --> 00:53:07,599
so poised, he's so sacrifice so
much. You know, he comes off

831
00:53:07,639 --> 00:53:12,480
the bench gets benched in you know, huge playoff games from the starting lineup

832
00:53:12,519 --> 00:53:16,320
after starting all year, no problem, just kept Just the Kavan Looney celebration

833
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:20,760
is an order. I think there's
not a team that he wouldn't help,

834
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:22,880
you know that, that's all,
but this particular Warriors team. I think

835
00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:29,599
he just proved that he just matters
a ton. He's been incredible when they've

836
00:53:29,599 --> 00:53:31,760
most needed it, which is maybe
the best thing you can say about about

837
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:36,840
a role player. And that could
tie into I don't want to call him

838
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:38,360
a winner or a loser, but
I think this could tie into the larger

839
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:42,159
discussion. I think the Warriors are
a winner because they've discovered, well,

840
00:53:42,199 --> 00:53:45,199
look at what can happen when we
have so much space. Like just from

841
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:47,480
that game, I think there's something
to take away. Is Draymond Green at

842
00:53:47,519 --> 00:53:52,079
all a loser because of this?
Is it? It's proof of concept?

843
00:53:52,119 --> 00:53:57,199
I think more for what it can
do to open up the offense and help

844
00:53:57,239 --> 00:54:00,360
them put pressure on the basket.
But like, is there a little bit

845
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:04,440
of Okay, if he really laughed
in free agency, how much worse would

846
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,159
they be? And I want to
say I still skew because of what he

847
00:54:07,159 --> 00:54:09,039
does defensively. I think there's more
a proof of concept of the type of

848
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:13,360
a lineups they need to run out. But is he at all a loser

849
00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:15,920
because of what they do in Game
three without him? I mean, just

850
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:20,159
the fact that we're having to just
you know, kind of think about this

851
00:54:20,199 --> 00:54:22,840
a little bit is kind of a
bad look for him. And that's just

852
00:54:22,159 --> 00:54:28,719
independent of having to think about all
the give and take of the whole Draymond

853
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:32,599
experience, which you know, go
back to the punch, Like I think

854
00:54:32,599 --> 00:54:37,000
you can tie that to Jordan Pool
And we've talked a little bit about some

855
00:54:37,039 --> 00:54:39,679
of the younger guys maybe being unhappy. I think a lot of that is

856
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:44,199
Draymond. I think, if nothing
else, if you so, yeah,

857
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:46,679
I think Draymond comes off looking maybe
less in a girl at least for now.

858
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,639
He's like peaque. Draymond Green is
the best defensive player I think I've

859
00:54:51,639 --> 00:54:53,880
ever seen. And they don't win
the four titles without him. They might

860
00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:59,159
have five if he hadn't gotten suspended
in the twenty sixteen finals. That's we've

861
00:54:59,199 --> 00:55:05,360
belabored that. But like, it's
a bad look for him unless he views

862
00:55:05,519 --> 00:55:09,960
what happened with Looney as the only
big and his takeaway is, maybe I

863
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:15,199
don't need to hunt these high risk
backdoor cut bounce passes. Maybe I don't

864
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:20,920
need to try to do, you
know, really high difficult handle like Looney

865
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:24,679
is a low mistake guy offensively,
and he's just out there to get in

866
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:29,960
front of bodies and make the easy
play, make the easy pass. Steve

867
00:55:30,039 --> 00:55:34,400
Kerr always talks about let's hit singles. Cavan Luney is a three fifty hitter

868
00:55:34,519 --> 00:55:37,960
that hits a lot of singles,
just over and over, and Draymond Green

869
00:55:37,039 --> 00:55:40,519
is a little more like high high
variants, you know, the high the

870
00:55:40,599 --> 00:55:44,320
highs are high, the lows are
low. The mistakes sometimes with the passes

871
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:46,519
are terrible, and those killed the
Warriors in the first two games. So

872
00:55:46,559 --> 00:55:52,000
maybe if Draymond looks at that and
just kind of understands, you know,

873
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:55,440
we don't need to work quite as
frenetically on offense to get what we need

874
00:55:55,480 --> 00:55:59,320
against the Kings. And Looney kind
of proved that. But you said it

875
00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:06,280
defensively, Looney is not on Draymond's
level. Versatility wise, anticipation wise.

876
00:56:06,519 --> 00:56:08,039
Looney's just solid, is in the
right place, knows what to do,

877
00:56:08,519 --> 00:56:13,039
takes hits, can all that stuff. But yeah, I think it's not

878
00:56:13,119 --> 00:56:15,639
unfair to say Green is a bit
of a loser from this first round just

879
00:56:15,679 --> 00:56:19,440
because the Warriors just kicked ass without
him, Like how do you like,

880
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:23,360
how do you spend that another way? And the interest of moving us along

881
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:25,360
here too, since we said we
weren't going to go that much longer over

882
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:30,119
an hour. I'm onto a loser
and I think this is by default.

883
00:56:30,159 --> 00:56:31,440
I want to make this clear.
I haven't seen I think if you look

884
00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:35,239
at it's the Clippers or a loser. I'm like burying the lead there.

885
00:56:35,639 --> 00:56:37,400
I think if you look at the
how tightly they ended up playing the songs

886
00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:42,639
with Al Kawai and Paul George on
Thursday night, that's kind of a big

887
00:56:42,679 --> 00:56:46,360
deal downsizing maybe finding something there in
the second half, an actual loser from

888
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,519
this series. By the way,
Robert Comington, how can that do not

889
00:56:49,599 --> 00:56:52,000
see the floor? They talked about
him entering the rotation in Game three.

890
00:56:52,039 --> 00:56:55,239
He proceeded to log three minutes and
thirty eight seconds. But the Clippers,

891
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:59,320
it's just like, it's cool that
Norman Powell was able to go off for

892
00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:01,400
forty two and he just does what
he does at every single stop and is

893
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:06,599
valuable there, But now you're risking
and they're let's call him a tentative loser

894
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:09,440
because no one really expected them to
beat Phoenix without Paul George and the fact

895
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:13,719
that they won Game one kind of
opened the door of okay, like is

896
00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:16,679
there is there something here? But
like now you're just going through another postseason

897
00:57:16,679 --> 00:57:22,719
where yes, there's inbuilt excuses that
are viable. You don't have your two

898
00:57:22,760 --> 00:57:24,320
best players for at least one of
the games, you don't have your second

899
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:30,159
best player for the entire series.
But how many times like that is That's

900
00:57:30,239 --> 00:57:34,559
unfortunate And it's also just their reality
at this point after all these years,

901
00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:37,639
and so I feel like you're in
a position where you have to start asking.

902
00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:40,400
And I don't mean to turn this
into like one of the stars needs

903
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:44,039
to be moved. I don't necessarily
think that's the case. Like you're kind

904
00:57:44,039 --> 00:57:47,480
of finding these gems. In Russell
Westbrook's defense, whenever he's playing Kevin Durant,

905
00:57:47,519 --> 00:57:51,679
apparently, I think his rim pressure, even when it's chaotic and he's

906
00:57:51,679 --> 00:57:54,480
committing turnovers and his inability to just
finish consistently at the basket is wild.

907
00:57:54,559 --> 00:57:58,079
Like some of them are just really
high quality looks and they're just not going

908
00:57:58,119 --> 00:58:01,559
in. But they've found things,
They've unearthed gems. They have a lot

909
00:58:01,599 --> 00:58:07,320
of talent on this roster, and
yet the path forward still feels so hazy

910
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:10,800
because it's not we need to get
this type of player, it's we need

911
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:16,800
one of our stars to last an
entire playoff series, and they can't,

912
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:20,559
and that's it's unfair. So I
want to make that clear. I'm not

913
00:58:20,639 --> 00:58:24,039
Oh Kawai saft No, Like Kawai
was dealing with his injury in game two,

914
00:58:24,079 --> 00:58:28,760
apparently when he was just I noticed
almost no difference from him, which

915
00:58:29,159 --> 00:58:32,159
game one and two. The dude
is so good and he's been a top

916
00:58:32,199 --> 00:58:37,480
five seven players since December, so
you even get that extended of a stretch

917
00:58:37,519 --> 00:58:40,599
from him, and it just can't
last another not even we say, like

918
00:58:40,679 --> 00:58:44,559
another sixteen wins. They probably weren't
gonna win the hip anyway, but like

919
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:47,360
even just to get through the series, whether you win or or lose it.

920
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:51,440
And I just don't know what to
make of it, because it's cool,

921
00:58:51,519 --> 00:58:52,599
Like, again, they have so
much talent, and I think they've

922
00:58:52,639 --> 00:58:58,760
discovered things about themselves, and I
also think that they've not discovered enough,

923
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:00,760
I'm inclined to give Tily the out
of the doubt, but I'm always kind

924
00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:06,000
of like, you know, before
game three, it's why is in Terrence

925
00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:08,599
Man playing more minutes? And even
he logs fewer than twenty six in game

926
00:59:08,639 --> 00:59:13,159
three? And then it's well,
why why doesn't Robert Covington see the floor

927
00:59:13,239 --> 00:59:16,079
at all? Like, I think, I feel very confident in saying this.

928
00:59:16,119 --> 00:59:20,679
I know it's a hot take.
I would rather have Robert Covington play

929
00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:23,599
than Mason Plumley. I just like
everyone, sit down, brace yourselves.

930
00:59:23,599 --> 00:59:27,760
I hope everyone's okay, why not
try it? But again, Tyler is

931
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:30,119
so smart and such a good coach, that is there something else there?

932
00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:35,920
I just but the Clippers feel like
a loser because they're just never gonna have

933
00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:37,719
the run with this team that they
need to have, And I don't know

934
00:59:37,719 --> 00:59:44,000
how they go about inoculating themselves protecting
themselves against this happening all over again.

935
00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:49,199
Yeah. I think I would also
add that we are kind of the collective

936
00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:57,920
NBA fandom or whatever aresers in this
because I'm and I'm personally annoyed by this,

937
00:59:58,280 --> 01:00:01,960
because I just did not have any
fun talking about the Clippers this year,

938
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:06,440
because the only thing you could really
say with any you know, any

939
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:09,039
certainty, was well, you know
there, we'll just see when we see,

940
01:00:09,079 --> 01:00:13,119
you know, because they haven't.
They've they've rested guys. They're the

941
01:00:13,159 --> 01:00:15,760
load management kings. We don't,
you know, we won't really know until

942
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:17,920
we get to the playoffs. And
if those guys are healthy, I like

943
01:00:17,960 --> 01:00:22,719
their chances against anyone. I mean, so many people kept the Clippers in

944
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:25,679
the high end contender class even as
they were just being really boring and not

945
01:00:25,760 --> 01:00:29,920
winning a ton of games because you
got Kawai and Paul George and you got

946
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:34,119
all these you know, wings and
guards and everything like that might work.

947
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:37,000
You know, they might any contenders, they might come out of the West,

948
01:00:37,199 --> 01:00:38,639
and we're gonna and I'm annoyed because
we're gonna have to do it again

949
01:00:38,760 --> 01:00:43,280
next year because they're not going to
break these two Kawai and PG up.

950
01:00:43,800 --> 01:00:45,440
Realistically, how do you what do
you expect to get for them? And

951
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:49,079
it's they're not going in the direction
if you give up. You know,

952
01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:52,880
fifty games of Kawai is better than
eighty two of whoever you're trying, except

953
01:00:53,039 --> 01:00:57,000
from our perspective, because all that
means is we go into the next playoffs

954
01:00:57,039 --> 01:00:59,760
and they're the five seed or whatever, and we just have to do this

955
01:01:00,199 --> 01:01:02,880
dance again. It's like, it's
not an indict again. You're right,

956
01:01:02,920 --> 01:01:07,400
it's not an indictment of the roster
building theory, like it makes sense,

957
01:01:07,760 --> 01:01:12,079
but it's just again, we're going
to do this again where we just don't

958
01:01:12,119 --> 01:01:15,039
know what they are and it will
all depend on if they're healthy, and

959
01:01:15,079 --> 01:01:17,639
they probably won't be healthy. And
this eventually, this experiment's just gonna hit

960
01:01:17,679 --> 01:01:22,639
the half decade mark and we're gonna
it's gonna expire naturally. But I just

961
01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:24,320
that sucks. I don't want to
do that again. It wasn't You couldn't

962
01:01:24,360 --> 01:01:28,960
really analyze the Clippers at all this
season in a big picture way because you

963
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:31,320
just didn't have, you know,
the full picture to look at. So

964
01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:36,599
yeah, yeah, that's a good
call. I have another quick loser to

965
01:01:36,679 --> 01:01:42,079
hit that we were we landed on
earlier today, and that is the rules

966
01:01:42,679 --> 01:01:49,480
of the of NBA basketball, Because
I would say the most important thing about

967
01:01:49,559 --> 01:01:52,079
rules is you have to know what
they are and they have to stay the

968
01:01:52,159 --> 01:01:57,599
same and everyone has to understand how
they're going to be enforced and interpreted.

969
01:01:57,679 --> 01:02:00,199
That's why we have rules. So
it takes the work out of what do

970
01:02:00,239 --> 01:02:06,079
we do in situation X when thing
why happens? I don't know, Dan,

971
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:09,079
I don't know what the rules are. Because Draymond Green gets kicked out

972
01:02:09,159 --> 01:02:13,719
for getting his ankle grabbed and stomping
on Sabonis. Not that hard, I

973
01:02:13,719 --> 01:02:17,000
would add, the bruised Sternham thing
felt a little suspect, as did him

974
01:02:17,039 --> 01:02:21,880
writhing on the floor. Green's at
fault, could have fallen down, could

975
01:02:21,920 --> 01:02:25,320
have drawn a foul, but he
gets ejected, gets suspended, and then

976
01:02:25,719 --> 01:02:30,960
compounding So I don't know, And
then we're now we're considering history of We're

977
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:36,000
considering Green's history of violence, that's
my interpretation of it. We're considering the

978
01:02:36,360 --> 01:02:39,159
him barking at the crowd after the
fact. We're also acknowledging probably the fact

979
01:02:39,199 --> 01:02:42,559
that the commissioner was in the audience
as a factor in that. I know

980
01:02:42,599 --> 01:02:45,079
you've talked about this had to be
right, but like, okay, So

981
01:02:45,159 --> 01:02:51,280
now we have all these new parameters
that factor into suspension decisions. That's one.

982
01:02:51,679 --> 01:02:54,519
And then in this net Sixers game, we get Joel Embiid straight up

983
01:02:54,599 --> 01:02:58,519
kicking a guy, which, by
the way, has gotten Draymond Green in

984
01:02:58,559 --> 01:03:01,280
trouble many many times. It's a
flagorrant one, right, Do I have

985
01:03:01,320 --> 01:03:05,519
that? Right? He's kicking at
Nick Claxton from the ground, do you

986
01:03:05,920 --> 01:03:08,440
so? The reason why he only
got a flagrant one is that his aim

987
01:03:08,480 --> 01:03:12,199
isn't as good as Draymond's. Right, Yeah, you gotta work on it.

988
01:03:12,280 --> 01:03:14,239
Gotta work on it. You hit
the you hit the leg, You're

989
01:03:14,239 --> 01:03:16,280
fine. It's a flavorant one.
I mean, if you're talking about like

990
01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:20,199
there's no place in basketball for that, that feels like one of those moments

991
01:03:20,239 --> 01:03:22,039
if we're gonna if we're gonna,
I don't know if I we're gonna differentiate

992
01:03:22,039 --> 01:03:27,079
stomps and kicks if the landing spot
matters. So that's one thing. James

993
01:03:27,079 --> 01:03:30,159
Harden gets kicked out with a flagrant
two for a cup check, which like,

994
01:03:30,199 --> 01:03:34,039
yeah, don't do that either,
but measured against one another, I'm

995
01:03:34,039 --> 01:03:37,559
not sure how you determine what's worse. And then Nick Claxton gets tossed for

996
01:03:37,639 --> 01:03:42,800
flexing after dunks a couple of times
double Like, okay, so that's a

997
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:46,119
factor now too, what's your what's
your body mass index, what's your like,

998
01:03:46,159 --> 01:03:50,000
what's your body fat? Are you
are you you know, how yoked

999
01:03:50,039 --> 01:03:51,880
do you look? Have you been? Are you in a cut or in

1000
01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:54,199
a bulk phase? I don't know
does that factor into getting thrown out of

1001
01:03:54,239 --> 01:03:59,639
game? So like we're making a
halfway joke of this, but like this

1002
01:03:59,679 --> 01:04:01,760
is the playoffs. We got to
know what the standards are and they can't

1003
01:04:01,880 --> 01:04:05,760
change, and they can't be arbitrarily
enforced or at least hazily enforced. Like

1004
01:04:06,039 --> 01:04:11,159
we need to have much more clear
criteria of what's going to get you a

1005
01:04:11,199 --> 01:04:15,599
flagrant one, a flagrant two,
a technical kicked out, a game suspended.

1006
01:04:15,880 --> 01:04:19,440
Like I just feel like it would
be not Look, we all want

1007
01:04:19,519 --> 01:04:23,199
the games to be cited by the
players, especially in the playoffs, so

1008
01:04:23,480 --> 01:04:26,679
I'm not And maybe that just means
we air on the side of not throwing

1009
01:04:26,679 --> 01:04:30,920
anybody out or we just try to
find ways. But then that's also hazy

1010
01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:32,599
because you're leaving it up to referee
discretion. I just don't know. I

1011
01:04:32,679 --> 01:04:35,079
don't like this. I like rules
to make sense. I like to know

1012
01:04:35,119 --> 01:04:38,719
what they are. So that's all. That's all I'm saying about the rules.

1013
01:04:38,719 --> 01:04:42,679
Where the rules are the big loser
because they're missing their most important element.

1014
01:04:42,719 --> 01:04:46,000
Which is clarity and consistency. That's
all. I don't have anything to

1015
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:48,320
add other than that, I perfectly
agree with you. It's sort of just

1016
01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:53,079
like and I. The charge debate
is more we didn't even talk about that.

1017
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:56,760
Yeah, it's more fascinating to me
because I I'm not gonna get mad

1018
01:04:56,760 --> 01:05:00,360
at people who say banned the charge
immediately after we watch John Moran, jannest

1019
01:05:00,360 --> 01:05:03,000
Autenti Hupo get undercut and injured and
then Mith games in the playoffs. I

1020
01:05:03,039 --> 01:05:06,599
actually respect the people who are like, well, think about the offensive rating.

1021
01:05:06,639 --> 01:05:10,920
If you did that less in that
moment, I'm not that's just whatever.

1022
01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:15,239
But you can't ban the charge.
And because those people who are well

1023
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:17,960
actually about the offensive ringing are are
right, It's just it's not the moment

1024
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:20,719
for it. In my opinion,
you need to We talked about this on

1025
01:05:20,840 --> 01:05:26,599
the Just Gonna Keep plugging that the
hardwood Knock or do we call it because

1026
01:05:26,599 --> 01:05:29,760
the way that it happened you Grant
Hughes and the Hardwoo Knocks collective, like,

1027
01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:30,960
do you put your name in front
of it? Now? Sure?

1028
01:05:32,159 --> 01:05:36,480
But we talk about on that stream
though it is my point. You said

1029
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:41,199
it extend the restricted area. I
think that's kind of a simple solution,

1030
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:44,239
right, I'm not about I've seen
a lot of the takes of well,

1031
01:05:44,280 --> 01:05:47,480
God should be able to stop and
pop, and like, no, because

1032
01:05:47,480 --> 01:05:51,000
now you know, you're kind of
already saying that some of the teams skew

1033
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:56,119
to homogeneous or that teams are obsessed
with a certain type of player. You

1034
01:05:56,119 --> 01:05:59,480
don't think that's gonna aid in their
obsession of a certain type of player,

1035
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:02,320
And so it's just I don't I
don't like that idea, and I understand

1036
01:06:02,320 --> 01:06:05,199
why you can't ban the charge,
even though that would probably be the safest

1037
01:06:05,199 --> 01:06:10,920
outcome. Extend the restricted area for
and all, and at least regardless of

1038
01:06:10,920 --> 01:06:14,880
where the restricted areas, please be
more consistent with how you're calling charges in

1039
01:06:14,920 --> 01:06:18,159
the first place. I think that, Yeah, I mean I can't take

1040
01:06:18,239 --> 01:06:21,480
obviously can't take credit for the extending
the restricted area. A lot of people

1041
01:06:21,559 --> 01:06:24,639
every time this comes up, that's
like, oh, yeah, let's just

1042
01:06:24,639 --> 01:06:29,320
do that. That's the most obvious
solutions. You guys getting getting undercut at

1043
01:06:29,360 --> 01:06:32,000
the basket. I think the other
thing you could do is just have the

1044
01:06:32,079 --> 01:06:41,400
officiating be really really not biased is
the wrong word, but really purposeful in

1045
01:06:41,519 --> 01:06:46,320
making sure that if the offensive player
has like initiated the takeoff, has gathered

1046
01:06:46,320 --> 01:06:50,000
the ball and you are not already
standing there like reading the newspaper. As

1047
01:06:50,039 --> 01:06:54,480
a defender, like you need to
be there so early because what you want

1048
01:06:54,559 --> 01:07:00,000
is to avoid guys just running people
over. And like, I mean,

1049
01:07:00,159 --> 01:07:03,000
NBA athletes are the best in the
world, it's really hard for them to

1050
01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:10,000
just make a movement or change their
takeoff angle or do whatever. The eurostep

1051
01:07:10,119 --> 01:07:13,639
is. The reason the eurostep exists
is to work around the charge or position

1052
01:07:13,679 --> 01:07:16,920
defense. But like it's so easy
for guys to slide in and just barely

1053
01:07:16,960 --> 01:07:20,000
be there and the guy's already taken
off or close to it, Like,

1054
01:07:20,159 --> 01:07:23,639
we gotta get that out of the
game. I think, you know,

1055
01:07:23,679 --> 01:07:29,119
the charge circle movement is clearly the
easiest solution, but just making it so

1056
01:07:29,159 --> 01:07:30,519
that if there's any question at all, it's almost like a tie goes to

1057
01:07:30,559 --> 01:07:33,719
the runner thing. There's any question
about was the guy there early enough,

1058
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:36,000
the ANSWER's got to be no,
No, he wasn't. It's a block.

1059
01:07:36,199 --> 01:07:40,599
Like, just discourage the slide in
late I think would go a long

1060
01:07:40,639 --> 01:07:43,840
way towards getting the undercuts out of
the game. Man we've we've really gone

1061
01:07:43,840 --> 01:07:45,039
in on the rules. I don't
know who's here for that, but I

1062
01:07:45,199 --> 01:07:49,639
what are the rules are? On
our curiosity of nobody knows. I know

1063
01:07:49,760 --> 01:07:53,480
you have another winner, and I
have a winner loser. I'll get through

1064
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:57,440
really quickly. I think yours deserves
like an actual conversation. But my last

1065
01:07:57,480 --> 01:08:00,599
winner, well my last winner,
but one that stood out to me Derek

1066
01:08:00,639 --> 01:08:03,400
White just I think it was clear
that he was Boston's third best or third

1067
01:08:03,440 --> 01:08:08,519
most important player this season, drew
two games of the land Hawks. Just

1068
01:08:08,559 --> 01:08:12,320
more aggressive on offense than he's ever
been, the jumpers falling at probably an

1069
01:08:12,360 --> 01:08:15,000
unsustainably high clip, but the fact
that he's comfortable using pull ups or just

1070
01:08:15,039 --> 01:08:17,640
firing off the catch. In additional
way that he's moving without the ball and

1071
01:08:17,680 --> 01:08:21,199
able to get to the basket.
He's shooting like eighty percent inside five feet

1072
01:08:21,239 --> 01:08:26,840
for the series where he's already taken
fourteen shots. It's definitely not to say.

1073
01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:30,159
I think though, with the answer
to this question last year have been

1074
01:08:30,199 --> 01:08:32,640
who's their third most important player,
or even entering this season, it would

1075
01:08:32,680 --> 01:08:39,239
have been our W three or Markus
Smart right, and maybe even Horford.

1076
01:08:39,279 --> 01:08:43,119
And now it's just very clearly Derek
White. And I'll phrase it this way,

1077
01:08:43,600 --> 01:08:45,680
and I know this is spicy,
but I'll throw him in the Aaron

1078
01:08:45,760 --> 01:08:48,439
Gordon tire like that discussion. If
you set the over under at point five

1079
01:08:48,520 --> 01:08:53,720
career All Star appearances for Derek White, I'm not sure that I'm taking the

1080
01:08:53,880 --> 01:08:58,119
under. I'll say that that is
spicy, that's exciting. I'm interested in

1081
01:08:58,159 --> 01:09:00,039
that. I mean, sorry to
jump in, but like there was a

1082
01:09:00,079 --> 01:09:04,279
Senate there was a time when White
was with the Spurs where it wasn't clear

1083
01:09:04,279 --> 01:09:09,640
he was this kind of player,
like the ultimate glue. Guys and Spurs

1084
01:09:09,640 --> 01:09:12,640
fans whenever you say something nice about
Derek but like no one ever talked about

1085
01:09:12,720 --> 01:09:15,159
him when he was in San Antonio. He's talking about him all the time.

1086
01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:16,880
He will you reference it. He
had some great playoff moments. He

1087
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:20,520
had one of the best playoff dunks
in the last what ten years. Honestly,

1088
01:09:20,560 --> 01:09:23,399
I thought he played for the Rockets. I didn't even know he was.

1089
01:09:24,520 --> 01:09:28,119
It was Derek White. Anyway,
continue That's all I have on Derek

1090
01:09:28,159 --> 01:09:30,920
White. If you have anything to
add on, and he's great, Wow,

1091
01:09:31,039 --> 01:09:34,279
Yeah, So I'm gonna I'm gonna
take the over on point five All

1092
01:09:34,279 --> 01:09:38,760
Star appearances. I'm feeling I'm feeling
spicy. I'm gonna take the under just

1093
01:09:38,920 --> 01:09:41,800
to just to ship on your point. But no, I don't know he

1094
01:09:42,159 --> 01:09:45,399
if Aaron Gordon is considered a you
know, fringe All Star, which he

1095
01:09:45,479 --> 01:09:46,880
kind of was for a while this
year, I don't I don't know if

1096
01:09:46,880 --> 01:09:49,159
I bought that. But yeah,
White is in that class, if not

1097
01:09:49,199 --> 01:09:53,720
above it, just because of uh, he could do it. He could.

1098
01:09:53,920 --> 01:09:57,079
There's nothing he's really not capable of
doing on either side of the floor.

1099
01:09:57,119 --> 01:09:59,119
So yeah, he's been awesome.
That's the other thing. It's just

1100
01:09:59,159 --> 01:10:01,039
the defense is I think we both
had him on second team, and I

1101
01:10:01,079 --> 01:10:05,000
saw after Zach Lowe had him on
his first team. Yeah, and so

1102
01:10:05,079 --> 01:10:09,199
it's like, yeah, I mean
like that's that's a hell of a player

1103
01:10:10,439 --> 01:10:14,159
and my last loser that I'll get
to. And this will could be outdated

1104
01:10:14,239 --> 01:10:17,239
or it could be exacerbated by the
time someone listens to this. It's been

1105
01:10:17,319 --> 01:10:20,279
Knicks offense in general. I think
you could point to a bunch of things.

1106
01:10:20,439 --> 01:10:24,319
Emmanuel Quickly has not been good,
and it's playing time and is reflected

1107
01:10:24,359 --> 01:10:26,600
as much. Maybe the Knicks needs
to give him more playing time so that

1108
01:10:26,600 --> 01:10:29,439
he can get in a better rhythm. He saw some shots going at the

1109
01:10:29,439 --> 01:10:33,520
game. End of game two,
the calves are they're brutalizing Jail and Brunson

1110
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:36,239
at both ends of the floor.
They're just trapping him on offense. I

1111
01:10:36,319 --> 01:10:39,800
like that he was aggressive to start
last game, but then I didn't really

1112
01:10:39,800 --> 01:10:42,399
love his shot selection. I'd like
to see him. He's best when he's

1113
01:10:42,439 --> 01:10:45,880
kind of that ball mover connector while
also being the primary score. And he

1114
01:10:45,880 --> 01:10:48,399
hasn't found that balance credit Cleveland,
then they're really going after him. At

1115
01:10:48,399 --> 01:10:53,760
the other end, Julius Randall just
been he just doesn't look like he's moving

1116
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:57,680
the same. It's just to me, I can't when of course right.

1117
01:10:58,039 --> 01:11:00,640
And it feels more like the defense
effort was there in game one wasn't there

1118
01:11:00,640 --> 01:11:03,119
in game two. I'm just wondering
how much of that was. I'm not

1119
01:11:03,119 --> 01:11:05,279
trying to make excuses, but like, he didn't seem like he was moving

1120
01:11:05,319 --> 01:11:12,079
the same on offense either. RJ. Barrett I had I think I said

1121
01:11:12,119 --> 01:11:15,560
this in my overreactions to every Game
one that I did on a solo podcast

1122
01:11:15,560 --> 01:11:17,399
this week. If you told me
the Nicks could trade RJ. Barrett into

1123
01:11:17,439 --> 01:11:21,720
someone's cap space this summer, I
might consider it, which means that I've

1124
01:11:21,760 --> 01:11:25,800
come from I don't know if you
should include him in the Donovan Mitchell trade

1125
01:11:26,039 --> 01:11:28,640
to hear. I'm want to make
it clear this is not a serious take.

1126
01:11:29,079 --> 01:11:31,640
But this guy on offense, I
think he's actually been fine defensively this

1127
01:11:31,720 --> 01:11:36,560
year. He's bordering on really good
in Game one, and that's running counter

1128
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:42,520
to what we saw through the entire
regular season, where he was closing out

1129
01:11:42,520 --> 01:11:45,840
like he had weights on his shoes. The screen navigation got worse from the

1130
01:11:45,840 --> 01:11:49,079
other year. I think he's still
fine on ball in general. Generally,

1131
01:11:49,880 --> 01:11:55,800
the offense is just he doesn't have
a trademark skill. His trademark skill is

1132
01:11:55,840 --> 01:11:59,479
the idea of his skill being getting
to the basket, and when he does

1133
01:11:59,520 --> 01:12:02,000
get there, he can't finish.
And he's just not getting there as often

1134
01:12:02,039 --> 01:12:05,279
as you think because he bails out, he takes these fadeaways. I saw

1135
01:12:05,560 --> 01:12:11,279
Stefan Bondi of The New York Killing
News like tweeted this out before, and

1136
01:12:11,319 --> 01:12:13,680
then Jonathan Mackay of Nick's Film School, which is just one of the best

1137
01:12:13,680 --> 01:12:15,239
podcasts out there. By the way
they cover I'll shout them out, even

1138
01:12:15,239 --> 01:12:19,840
though I hate their producer Andrew Claudio
as a a fucking schmuck, just kidding,

1139
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:23,920
I love you Claudio, like they
cover the lead the right way where

1140
01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:27,359
it's They do everything from transactions to
x's and o's to interacting with fans.

1141
01:12:27,520 --> 01:12:30,680
They cover every nook and cranny of
it. I love I love the versatility

1142
01:12:30,760 --> 01:12:33,039
so quick shout out there. But
RJ. Barrett had said in that comment

1143
01:12:33,279 --> 01:12:36,600
and Jonathan McCray john highlighted it for
me, which is why I listened to

1144
01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:41,039
the clip at all about how his
like turnarounds that he likes to get to

1145
01:12:41,119 --> 01:12:45,279
and we're normally falling, We're not. R J. Barrett shot thirty six

1146
01:12:45,279 --> 01:12:49,039
point seven percent on turnaround jumpers this
year. If that's considered shots I normally

1147
01:12:49,119 --> 01:12:54,159
make. Oh is all I have
to say. And so like I'm just

1148
01:12:54,279 --> 01:12:57,000
I'm not ready to pour one out
for the Knicks offense. But that's just

1149
01:12:57,039 --> 01:13:00,399
something they need to consider. They're
I think they're also general spacing viability.

1150
01:13:01,119 --> 01:13:03,760
They did a good job with their
three point volume as the season went on,

1151
01:13:03,880 --> 01:13:09,319
but they I think they need more
caps lock shooters on this roster.

1152
01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:13,600
It's something for them to monitor over
the off season. Yeah, and look,

1153
01:13:14,159 --> 01:13:16,720
I echo what she said. The
Caps defense is a tough defense to

1154
01:13:16,720 --> 01:13:21,199
get going against. I think I
think that's got to be factored in.

1155
01:13:21,319 --> 01:13:27,359
But yeah, it's it's not great
the Barrett stuff in particular, like it's

1156
01:13:27,479 --> 01:13:30,159
it's it's one of those things where
for you may still be able to say,

1157
01:13:30,239 --> 01:13:33,199
well, but he's you know,
he's still young, right, We're

1158
01:13:33,279 --> 01:13:40,760
almost out of We're almost out of
that being like a viable rebuttal to any

1159
01:13:40,800 --> 01:13:43,800
criticism of him, I will say
he probably needs to be traded for his

1160
01:13:43,840 --> 01:13:46,079
own good at this point because it's
just the plug and play aspect of his

1161
01:13:46,119 --> 01:13:49,760
game isn't coming along, and I
guess with quickly there. It's even just

1162
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:54,640
like you don't want to give him
agency over the bench units in heavier volume

1163
01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:57,800
and tips is't gonna do that anyway, just the way he's gonna staggers players.

1164
01:13:57,840 --> 01:14:00,840
So for him, I think he
needs to be somewhere with better spacing

1165
01:14:00,920 --> 01:14:04,279
and that's going to allow him to
play through I don't even want to stay

1166
01:14:04,359 --> 01:14:10,680
same mistakes but failures, and that
there won't be as high stakes as high

1167
01:14:10,720 --> 01:14:14,640
of stakes ascribed to the outcome of
his performances because the Knicks are trying to

1168
01:14:14,640 --> 01:14:16,239
win now, and look they should. I just don't think with Jalen bruns

1169
01:14:16,319 --> 01:14:20,439
In and then Julius Randalls renaissance plus
the emergence of Emmanuel Quickly, I don't

1170
01:14:20,479 --> 01:14:25,680
know if this is the environment anymore
for his offensive game to grow. Just

1171
01:14:25,760 --> 01:14:29,920
because he shot like negative five percent, I'm wide open three pointers for most

1172
01:14:30,000 --> 01:14:31,319
for most of this season, and
so like he doesn't even have the plug

1173
01:14:31,399 --> 01:14:34,640
in play aspect of the offense down
right now. Yeah, that's tough,

1174
01:14:34,720 --> 01:14:40,119
that's tough. I gotta I gotta
quick winner here. This which is my

1175
01:14:40,199 --> 01:14:45,119
last one that I have, just
the KD. Booker pairing. It's I

1176
01:14:45,159 --> 01:14:47,760
think it's not really a surprise because
you know, from the second Durant got

1177
01:14:47,760 --> 01:14:51,159
traded, and before that, the
take on Durant was always like, there's

1178
01:14:51,159 --> 01:14:56,640
just really no scenario that he doesn't
fit into offensively because he's not someone that

1179
01:14:56,680 --> 01:14:59,600
has to dominate the ball. He
has a ton of gravity off of it.

1180
01:15:00,039 --> 01:15:02,479
If you need him to score as
a spot up three point shooter,

1181
01:15:02,479 --> 01:15:04,439
I don't know why you would ever
use him that way. He could do

1182
01:15:04,520 --> 01:15:08,279
that. He's going to attract a
ton of attention out there. He's obviously

1183
01:15:08,319 --> 01:15:10,680
one of the best midrange shooters ever. He can get to the basket.

1184
01:15:10,680 --> 01:15:14,039
His defense was awesome this year.
Just totally a guy that you could integrate

1185
01:15:14,079 --> 01:15:17,439
anywhere. And Booker there were I
mean, there are no questions about Durant

1186
01:15:17,439 --> 01:15:21,479
fitting Booker had very few relatively speaking, too, because he's got a lot

1187
01:15:21,520 --> 01:15:25,199
of that in him as well.
And I think it was pretty clear that

1188
01:15:25,239 --> 01:15:28,640
those two respected each other a lot. But like, just looking at this

1189
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:32,159
series in particular, Booker goes for
forty five in Game three, and all

1190
01:15:32,159 --> 01:15:35,920
he does is credit Durant for opening
up space for him to do that.

1191
01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:40,000
I mean, there's several quotes out
there about him going to Durant and saying

1192
01:15:40,039 --> 01:15:43,680
like, you know, you made
that happen for me basically, and Durant

1193
01:15:43,680 --> 01:15:45,079
saying like, I don't know about
that. I think you're just probably really

1194
01:15:45,119 --> 01:15:49,560
good. So the pairing seems to
work exceptionally well. Booker, by the

1195
01:15:49,600 --> 01:15:53,439
way, we had thirty eight in
game two. He's really slacking Game two,

1196
01:15:53,439 --> 01:15:56,279
but he's been over sixty percent from
the field in both of those games.

1197
01:15:56,560 --> 01:16:00,640
In two and three. Durant has
had at least twenty five three of

1198
01:16:00,680 --> 01:16:04,039
their games to this point shot over
fifty percent from the field for the series

1199
01:16:04,119 --> 01:16:06,920
and he's not even hitting threes yet. I mean, Durant's three ball has

1200
01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:11,920
been kind of mia so far that
the fact that like that's not a problem

1201
01:16:12,119 --> 01:16:16,159
really is, I think also speaks
to the value he has offensively alongside Booker.

1202
01:16:16,439 --> 01:16:20,199
And then Booker pointed to this too. If the adjustment then is for

1203
01:16:20,239 --> 01:16:25,239
the Clippers, well we got to
make sure Booker doesn't get loose. Good

1204
01:16:25,279 --> 01:16:28,159
luck, because if you send any
extra attention at Booker, now you have

1205
01:16:28,239 --> 01:16:30,840
one of the greatest scorers of all
time and Durant that is no longer being

1206
01:16:30,920 --> 01:16:34,000
you know, face guarded thirty feet
from the basket, and he gets to

1207
01:16:34,039 --> 01:16:38,640
go nuts. So I mean,
not a shock, but that pairing,

1208
01:16:39,279 --> 01:16:42,399
even if the if the Suns don't
go as far as maybe they hope to

1209
01:16:42,520 --> 01:16:45,279
this year, like as a foundation, just get a couple more depth pieces

1210
01:16:45,319 --> 01:16:49,439
around that core of you forget eight
and forget Paul. It's just the Booker,

1211
01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:54,520
the Booker Durant duo. Like that's
just gonna that's just gonna work.

1212
01:16:54,640 --> 01:16:57,600
There's just no scenario where that doesn't
work, I think, And the last

1213
01:16:57,640 --> 01:17:00,640
couple of games have really borne that
out. Because Booker's got on nuts and

1214
01:17:00,119 --> 01:17:03,319
it has He's great. Booker is
one of the best three level scores in

1215
01:17:03,359 --> 01:17:06,039
the league. He's awesome. But
a lot of that has to do with

1216
01:17:06,119 --> 01:17:09,600
Durant also being out there with him, and neither of them seems to have

1217
01:17:09,680 --> 01:17:13,039
a problem with one or the other, you know, getting what they can

1218
01:17:13,079 --> 01:17:16,720
get because the attention just can't.
There's not enough defensive attention to like properly

1219
01:17:16,760 --> 01:17:20,520
cover both of those guys. The
only thing I would add is, if

1220
01:17:20,520 --> 01:17:25,159
you went through an exercise, Let's
go through the exercise. We can draft

1221
01:17:25,319 --> 01:17:30,479
pick five all NBA caliber players you
could put anywhere with any personnel. There's

1222
01:17:30,520 --> 01:17:35,600
still gonna be one all NBA caliber
while two elevating the players or the system

1223
01:17:35,640 --> 01:17:41,399
in which and around which they exist. Who is on that list? I

1224
01:17:41,439 --> 01:17:46,239
mean Durant for sure, right and
but I think Booker Durant. I think

1225
01:17:46,279 --> 01:17:49,079
Yokich would be four. I don't
know who the fifth would be. Yeah,

1226
01:17:49,079 --> 01:17:51,560
you could just say Yannis because he'd
you know, you're gonna get all

1227
01:17:51,560 --> 01:17:55,840
these, you know. I think
with Joannis and MB you have to still

1228
01:17:55,920 --> 01:18:00,119
kind of build ultra specifically you need
the shooting and you need Yeah, that

1229
01:18:00,119 --> 01:18:01,760
that's fair. Yeah, that's the
thing. It's difficult to come up with

1230
01:18:01,840 --> 01:18:08,520
those types of guns, is it, Dame Ta? You know, Tatum's

1231
01:18:08,520 --> 01:18:11,680
a good one. Tatum is a
good one. We'll go with Tatum as

1232
01:18:11,680 --> 01:18:14,079
the as the fifth there then,
or is it? I would say Kauai,

1233
01:18:14,159 --> 01:18:17,319
but the availability matters because it might
be quiet. Yeah. So yeah,

1234
01:18:17,560 --> 01:18:19,800
eleven of ten. No notes on
that. That is going to be

1235
01:18:19,880 --> 01:18:23,640
a scary duo even if they don't
win it all this year. Do you

1236
01:18:23,680 --> 01:18:26,760
like how I go out, go
out on limbs to close these things out

1237
01:18:26,760 --> 01:18:30,039
and just say things like Kevin Durant
and Devin Booker are pretty good combo?

1238
01:18:30,960 --> 01:18:32,920
Right, Uh, let's finish with
the last hot take. The Sixers are

1239
01:18:33,039 --> 01:18:38,520
up three too on the next first
round, the Sixers look good. I'm

1240
01:18:38,560 --> 01:18:42,920
just gonna state, like actual truth
that there's no we don't talk about facts

1241
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:45,199
enough. All right? You got
anything else? Or should I take us

1242
01:18:45,199 --> 01:18:46,680
out? No? This was already
way longer than we wanted to, but

1243
01:18:46,840 --> 01:18:55,960
you asked the raccoon story, so
I regret nothing. Thanks everybody for listening.

1244
01:18:56,560 --> 01:19:00,920
Make sure if you're enjoying this to
rate review, subscribe follow all of

1245
01:19:00,960 --> 01:19:05,479
our social media at GT underscore hughes
at Dan's Valley at Hardwood Knock, they

1246
01:19:05,560 --> 01:19:09,239
give us five stars. Tell your
friends and enemies, and we will close

1247
01:19:09,600 --> 01:19:13,079
as always with a shout out to
the one and only Frank la keenan apology

1248
01:19:13,199 --> 01:19:17,039
to Jared Allen, and just a
farewell to all the raccoons they used to

1249
01:19:17,079 --> 01:19:17,840
live in Dan's house.