Welcome everyone, Episode seven oh five of the NBA Podcast. I'm Brian Saporik
and we have a great show for you today. You know, the free
agency is mostly done, with the draft is over. We'll see about some
big trades, but as of now, things are relatively quiet around the NBA
other than summerly, which makes us the perfect time to step back and reevaluate
how the championship race could stack up after we saw a lot of player movement
this summer. Before we do that, a reminder that you can follow us
on Twitter at the NBA Pod. You can find our Twitter handles and our
bios to get us follow as well. You can also find us on iTunes
and wherever those podcasts are found on iTunes, please subscribe download leave them five
star reviews. Joining me today is not my usual co host, Morton Jensen.
He is on vacation, so we have instead called a longtime friend of
the show, Dan Favalley of the Hardwood Knocks podcast, to help us out
ranking these title contenders. And Dan, how's it going? Man? Man?
I'm doing great. You know what, I'm doing great because it feels
like we've there. We have podcasts that are in the clip that haven't been
released yet that people don't know about it. Me you've recorded, I feel
like over the past two months back and forth between each other's shows like a
bunch and for some stuff for BR too, So I'm excited to get to
talk to you again about the championship picture. How are you doing? I
am likewise excited. I'm always happy to have you on. And yes,
as you alluded to, we do have some some fun stuff coming out on
the BR front one this week and then one hopefully next week as well,
so we will stay tuned to Twitter for that. But the one coming out
of this week I had a lot of fun with and I'm still salty about
that one. I'm not gonna yeah, well maybe we'll have to record a
reaction podcast just to review how many times. Yeah, I'm not gonna spoil
I'm not gonna all right, So we're doing title contenders and Dan was kind
enough to cook up a tear maker for us, so we're gonna We're not
gonna go one through thirty. We're just gonna, you know, break them
up into five tiers. Dan, I did not ask you before we recorded,
but I did ask you what your tiers. How you quantified them or
like, you know what an S tier correlates to an A tier correlates to.
So we could have taken very different approaches to this, which will make
which means worth to argue towards the consensus, which I love. That's right.
So so let's start at where do you want to start? Top or
bottom? I feel like in this we normal We've been taught because of what
we do for a living, that you should go in reverse order. But
this feels like one of those situations where more of the discussion actually happens for
the teams that are on the lower pull. So I feel like we should
begin with s U and then work our way back. Unless you disagree,
let's do it. I agree because I frankly the D tier for me was
the teams that are But what's the say? You know there was like rigging
for Wiggins back in the day. Do we have one of those for Cooper
Flag yet? Yes? It's I think John Hollinger coined SAG for Flag flag.
Okay, yeah, so spoiler tier D for me or the SAG for
flag teams? What about what about in the pooper for Cooper? I like
that when I released this on the Hardwoe Knox feed to day after you release,
I might call the podcast in the pooper for Cooper. I think that's
a brilliant idea that I cannot wait for the is of Mooji tweet that you
can turned out with that. All right, So S tier Dan, what
how did you classify these teams? So I view s t here as I
don't want to coin as like you're disappointed if they didn't win the title,
but like you're going in as my my bar for ste I would say it's
like these these are the great teams, and I'm curious to see what you
ended up with. I only have one team in my S tier. Ooh
interesting, Okay, so I think it's Boston, Like we both have them
an S tier, right, and it's just with them. What's interesting is,
I know people have kind of to keep in theme with the feces comments
pooh pooed their path to a championship, But like, isn't there just a
they had a top four point differential permane hundred possessions in the regular season in
playoffs combined of all time. Isn't there just a chance that, like we
all kind of tried to find flaws or slept on. What is just this
generational type team When you look at their and I know there's the Christops injury,
it seems like he's gonna miss that, you know, at least be
out until Christmas are around then, and who knows how much he plays once
he comes back. I just can't bring myself to care. Like this team
is really good, and I think you could make cases for some teams to
be and I would have made a case for the Nuggets that they kept KCP
to be in their tier, but like, I need bankability in the S
tier. And it feels like when you get into teams like Philly, it's
well, how does Paul George meshin? What does Joelle and Bee's health look
like? When you get to a team like the Nuggets, it's okay,
we know Christian Brown is good, but just saying that he can fill in
for Contavious called woll Pope, which by the way, he can't because he's
not the same offensive player, but defensively sure, well now that you need
someone else to level up behind him, And so like even the Knicks,
it's well, how does Michel Bridges fit in? And what's up with og
Anoby's health and how do they reintegrate Julius Randall and all of a sudden,
it's Mitchell Robinson is like your only center unless you want to play Jericho Sims
or a bunch so or maybe Tims will go to Julius Randall slash og as
like his five. So when I look at the Celtics, even with the
KP injury, I just have fewer questions. Okay, that's fair one team.
I will note that you left out in the as you were like knocking
out teams of why they aren't s tier what about? Okay? See,
yeah, you know. Do you know what I've gone back and forth on
this? Is they all they did? If this all season was incredible,
But they did all of it without addressing what I thought was their biggest need,
and that was the third shot creator type to break down defenses from a
dead stop. Now that I'm thinking about it though, and I just wrote
about this, so I should have thought about it, But like, are
we just I'm just discounting that Jalen Williams isn't gonna get better, that Chet
Holmgren isn't gonna get better, that maybe Aaron Wiggins isn't gonna take on more
caseon Wallace. So if you have them an str I won't fight that for
a minute because there, I mean, we have our Thunder podcast on the
side. Thunder buddies go like and subscribe. But yeah, so that's a
team that I still just if I knew like what Jay dubb was gonna look
like or how much of a floor game they were gonna, let Chet Holmgren
explore, I might feel more comfortable with it, but like, yeah,
that's the That would be a team to consider for sure as well. I
think you could also if you really wanted to mention just because they did.
Their depth is weird, but like they destroyed it even And this is what
Dame just missing wide open threes last year. He's not gonna he might get
older, He's not missing wide open threes forever. But they trucked opponents when
Damiannis and Chris Middleton were on the floor, like they absolutely annihilated them.
So so you had, okay, see in your st here. I So
I took a slightly different approach with my S tier. I actually had four
teams and then five with a question mark that I was like waffling between.
So my S tier was just like, I don't want to call it title
contenders because I think teams in the A tier also could potentially contend for a
title, but title front runners or you know that. Honestly, it's like
most of the teams just with the best Vegas Thuns, and I think,
frankly, the Vegas is pretty right on with their determination here. So yeah,
I had the Celtics obviously, had the Thunder, had the Knicks had
the Sixers and then the Nuggets or my question, I could I you know,
it's like, I don't want to overrate. They were up twenty points
at home in Game seven in the second half and then just blew a giant
lead, and who knows if they hold that lead. So I think there's
a very good chance they beat Dallas. There's a chance they even beat Boston
and repeat as champions, And like, maybe we're all just overreacting, but
to your point, the loss of KCP is huge, the Deron Holmes injury
very unfortunate for them. I think, you know, I wrote about them
a couple months ago that I understand what they're doing, and I think it's
frankly kind of the smart approach where they're just doubling down on youth, and
they're saying, you know, we've got Jokic, Jamal and Michael Porter Junior
on these max contracts, like we're gonna be a second Apron team for the
foreseeable future. And really the only way for us to sustain this is to
hit young player, like lean on them, give them the reps, get
them ready, And it might have cost up to the title last year,
but if these guys pop, then we've got these on these guys under you
know, cheap cost controlled contracts for a couple of years. So like,
I respect the approach that they're going for here, but to your point,
yeah, even if Christian Brown can scale up or replace KCP, who is
now scaling up to replace Christian Brown coming off the bench, So it feels
like I just I'm nervous about discounting Nikola Jokic, just we've seen what he
can do in the playoffs. He's anchored a championship contender before, or a
championship team before. H and even this year, I mean the Nuggets losing
the second round, he's still average like thirty thirteen and eight or something absurd.
So you know, I probably, like if there were six tiers.
I might have Celtics Thunder on the S tier alone and then Nick six or
the Nuggets on the tier below them, but above all these other teams,
And that's what I was gonna ask you, And so the pivot point for
me because if we were to rank these within the same tier, I think
Boston and Okac was in the top of my eight tier. So I'm fine.
I'm fine with them being an as I think your approach is probably makes
for better conversation and it's more just like, Okay, do we really need
one team in S tier? But with the Sixers is like, how do
you reconcile Joel Embiid has basically never been healthy for the playoffs or end or
never really been great for an extended period of time in the playoffs. That
doesn't because in my opinion, if you're gonna make the Knicks and the Sixers
S tier, I think the Nuggets have to be S tier because I would
have them because of Jokic and just like the familiarity with the crux of their
roster at the top, I'd probably have them in front of both, even
though it's harder to come out of the West. And so how do you
square away like we just have it's not I mean, it's it's borderline Kawhi
level at this point, except he's playing through it, which just Joel Ebad
is always hurt in the playoffs, And so how do you like, like
so even forget like they might have the most well balanced sort of top three
players in the league, the one three five look of Embiid, George and
MAXI. But I just I don't I find it tough because of just Joellen
Bee's health specifically of well, do we really put them up there with these
teams when we've never seen him healthy enough to even I guess like understood,
like we've seen flickers and flashes. Don't get me wrong, but that just
seems like a massive gamble to sort of if we're dismissing the Nuggets, like,
well they let KCP go and they're banking on youthful development, the Sixers
are like, well, we're just built around this guy that's never healthy but
needs to be healthy for us to win the title, right, Yeah,
And that's a very fair critique, I'd say, if we're drawing the comparison
between him and Kawhi and Beads, injuries have largely been fluky, like he
breaks his face, you know Pastaliaka like elbows them in the face and he
breaks his face, or like he broke his face our morcall pulls his shoulder
one year. The Bell's palsy thing. This year was just like what kind
of the organ trail ship that we have going on? Like, how are
we coming up? Who's gonna get ye? Colera coming right down the corner.
I mean maybe he had that against Toronto. He had bubble guts for
a couple of games. We need Look, I need the Nuggets or the
Sixers to sign Gary Trent Junior for the minimum and then we can call him
dissentery Gary. Uh if you know, you know it's a blake. I
love it. I love it. Yeah. According to all the fake rumored
bongers on Twitter, Gary Trent Junior is definitely signing with the Sixers any day
though it's been these people. Can't you know, delineate. I'm not hoping
that Gary dysentery. I'm not root that. Yeah, but so like yes,
I mean yeah, like I just don't know how much stock to put
into the ken. This guy does not stay healthy for a two month stretch
or is it just like he has just gotten ridiculously unlucky and we're just dealing
with a relatively small sample size here and all you need, I mean,
help it happens. Why every year all he needed was the one year in
Toronto, Like, if things break right, I think you you know that
the ceiling case for the Sixers might be I mean, I don't want to
be reckless here, but like I think ceiling case is definitely you know,
top tier title contender. The floor is a lot lower though, And if
that makes you want to like push them out of the sire because you're confident
that the Celtics and Thunder have a higher floor as well, I think that's
a very fair argument. I'm willing to put them in st here. I
think the Nuggets have to go there then too, And but I want,
like, are you certain? I think this is where we're gonna disagree.
Who is right now the second most promising team in the East. Is it
the Sixers or the Knicks? Because the Knicks I think certainly have a higher
floor than Philly because of their depths and just like the things they did,
I know Timms was running his players into the ground. The things they did
amid injuries. This year was absolutely astounding when you look at all the players
they lost, and if you get better health from just Julius Randall or Mitchell
Robinson or Ogannanobi and you've added mcal Bridges Hartenstein's a big loss. Don't get
me wrong. I'm just like the top part of the Sixers roster is better
because there is a chance and I'm everyone, I'm in the bag for Jalen
Brunson. I want to make that clear. He finished fifth on Miami p
Vallet everybody, but like, there is a chance that the Sixers, when
you pit top three against top three, that they just have the best three
players like this in a series against the Knicks, and the Knicks like after
Jalen Brunson, like no one's even if you want to take Jalen Brunson over
Joelle and b their second and thirds are not gonna come close to touching Paul
George and Tyres MAXI Like it's just not so it's I'm willing to listen to
the case, but like does the shouldn't the floor Matt, And also just
the newness of just like well, we don't really know how Paul George,
I know, we don't know how McHale Bridges will work either, but like
we have a sample of like the Knicks with OG just basically destroyed people,
right, And we've seen Michale Bridges play with half of the Knicks already.
It's not like Paul George has never played with this kind. I mean,
we've seen Mikail Bridges win championships with his current teammates, So there is there
is zero fit concerns with Michale Bridges, Like I you know, I on
pay for both of these guys should fit like Michael should fit with the Nicks,
Paul George should fit the Sixers, Like I don't think any either one
of them are gonna go completely off the rails. But yeah, I think
if you're looking at who is gonna be better day one of the twenty twenty
four to twenty five season, it's almost certainly gonna be the Dicks. They
have continuity, they have chemistry, Like MB it has already been kind of
set up some morning players of like, yeah, we're really excited, but
it's gonna take time for us to mesh. Like this is not going to
be an overnight thing. So day one of the season, I think the
Knicks certainly have the higher floor. You could probably argue have the higher ceiling
until we see the Sixers in action, you know, then it's just come
April, who has the higher ceiling. I think it could be closer because
the Sixers now also have this kJ Martin contract. They hand it out,
so they have a legitimate chance to upgrade in the first round picks, which
the Knicks they have those fake ones from Washington and Detroit. But right and
the next Like, my question with them is what happened with Julius Randall because
it seems like, you know, they go on this big run without him
last year. He's on the final year of his contract. Maybe because Jalen
Brunson just took this big discount that opens the door for Randall to say as
well. But I wonder does he get boxed out at some point frankly,
like who starts for the Knicks? Like are you are you moving? Well?
That's why a lot of people have wondered what it'd be better for them
to break up Randall into two players, so that you can just start the
Nova Knicks with og An Andobi right and Mitchell so be Mitchell Robinson bring uh
Jalen Brunson, mchal Bridges uh and then Josh Harten and I guess bring Dante
off the bench, or at least you don't you get to a point where
it's only one of them. What's interesting with Julius Randall two is maybe if
this isn't a problem because og is still gonna be making more than Jalen Brunson.
But the Knicks played host to Jalen Brunson's Superstar ascent and he was you
don't want to credit them for it like they played host to it. They
did the same thing with Randall, who's made two MBA teams with them,
And now Jalen Brunson has set a clear precedent about like why just took less
and so is that gonna impact what the Knicks are gonna ask Julius RANDALLD to
take and extension talks where it's you know, it's kind of the same thing
with Kawhi and PG. Why are you paying Randall more than Jalen Brunson at
this point in a vacuum You shouldn't be. But Jalen Brunson is the one
who agreed to take you know, twelve on average over the next three years,
about twelve and a half million dollars less. So I'm wondering if that
makes it. I think it makes it either more likely that Randall's traded or
that he signs an extension that is, like, does he pull the PG
and say, just give me what Jalen got, and like, maybe that's
what you end up with. Yeah, yeah, that's reasonable because I mean,
frankly, like Jalen Brunson, if he became a free agent next summer,
I think he would have had the five year or two seventy eight million
seventy million to offer from if not from the next from another teamer, it
would have been four years, but he would have gotten the full max.
Like, I don't think Julius Randall is getting a full max. No,
he's not. There's just he's too hard of a player to fit in and
we kind of saw it. He's younger than James Harden, but that's what
it's become with James Harden. Is even like James Harden was ridiculously good when
he was in Philly for the most part, Yeah, and like, but
there still just wasn't a market for him when like he had to pick up
his player option and so Julius Randall extremely talented, incredibly important to the Knicks,
but he's just such a tough He's tough to fit into a larger ecosystem,
is the way I would frame it on offense, Yeah, and that
I think would limit the teams that want to go after him. And I
think, look, with Jalen Brunston, I just think you're right. I'd
said this on the podcast. I didn't reaction to the extension is. I
honestly think people said, well, he could have gotten injured and that money
might not have been available, and I think from outside teams maybe, but
the Knicks have unloaded their war chest already in the image of this is Jalen
Brunston's team, and so even if he had suffered a bad injury, I
honestly think five years and two sixty nine would have still been on the table
for him from them. So that's why I do think he gave up that
contract. But to get back to the actual thing that you have me on
the show to do, so, I guess we should go. I'm just
saying, within this tier, how do we feel about Nuggets, then Sixers,
then Nicks. I'm fine with it. Yeah, would you have had
the Sixers above the Nuggets. I want to not stance again, not at
the start of the season. I think the Sixers, if everything big breaks
right for them, I think they probably have the third highest ceiling of any
team in the NBA. And that's every you know, Embiid and George stay
healthy. That's they flipped the kJ contract mid season. I don't know for
whom, but they'll have some way. That number came in a little bit.
I actually haven't looked to see like what their apron status was, and
like them, I thought the contract was going to be more than eight million
bucks. They're right at the first apron right now, like once they fail,
they could have gotten a little higher, like twelve thirteen million, and
then would have been in like second apron ish territory. I wonder just they
didn't want to have the second apron be a concern at all. They wanted
to be lagged great contracts, that kind of thing. I agree, And
I haven't seen. I don't know if the official numbers have come out yet,
because I'm wondering if it's you know, we heard two years sixteen for
Josh Akoe and your boy, Simon Fontecio as well. So I'm wondering if
it's just like a straight dollar for dollar match for one of those guys.
This is tough because they're flat well they're flat rates in terms of the contract,
but I wanted someone to be signed for the exact dollar amount of just
like where it's like, why is just trying to like what why is roy
O'Neill making the same amount of money as Kyle Kuzma to the dollar right?
Something like that to happen. I thought Dorian Phinney Smith might have been or
like have the exact dollar amount minus exactly one minimum contract, right, But
yeah, I'm good with this here. So our s tre is Boston,
Okay, see Denver, Philly and New York. And I gotta say,
as a Knicks fan, it's surreal to have them in here and be debating
like, well should they be in front of the Sixers and the Nuggets?
Like its fucking insane. Yeah, I mean, frankly, this might be
too strong with a take. I was about to say, I would be
surprised if one of these five teams doesn't win the championship next year. You
know, it's a long season. Things happened, but I would I would
be fair. Like, if you gave me these five teams or the field,
I would take these five teams by far. I'm trying, you know
what, I feel some type of way, and this is the time we're
doing this. By the way, there's like something's brewing in New Orleans and
it's like they got to get a center at some point something. I'm assuming
we'll go down with Brandon Ingram, but the Trade Water seem to be pretty
barren for him. I look at the Bucks and they're like, and then
there's Dallas too, and I'm sort of like, I'll take I'll go with
you, though, I'll take one of these five winning that. Honestly,
I've been trying to I've been trying to convince myself not to pick Okay See
to win the title next year. Like I'm trying to talk myself out of
it because I think Boston deserves the respect of why would you ever pick against
this team? What is the team that has the antidote to beat them?
And I don't know that that team exists, but so I think that's a
strong stier. I would say, since Ronto the A tier. Now I'm
assuming that Bucks and Mavericks fans will feel the most aggrieved. Yeah, Minnesota
fans too. I think, oh yes, I polach they should be pissed
off, and I mentioned but yeah, those were the three the topest exclusions.
So for me, the A tier was just what I called playoff locks,
although I cheated because I went in theory, if their playoff locks,
it should just be you know, between the S tier and the A tiers
six teams for me each conference. I think I have seven for each conference.
Yeah, so I viewed this one as more like it's easy to envision
them making the conference finals or making it out of their conference, whereas like
the teams above them, all these teams might have that expectations. But it's
like I viewed it, I was my standard was a little bit higher.
So like I initially had OKC in this tier with Denver the sixers, but
it was like these teams, it's just very easy to envision them being one
of the last four teams standing at the end of the year. Okay,
yeah, so yeah, you were a little more a little more selective because
I have like the Magic were in this tier for me, the Kings were
in this tier for me, which I'm guessing they were not we need to
We're gonna need to. Yeah, okay, okay, So Mavericks, Wolves,
Bucks we agree in this tier? How would you rank those three?
Man? I mean it's like, how do you put the Wolves above the
Mavericks? And the mass just beat the Wolves in the playoffs, so I
guess that answers that well. I mean you put them above because it's like,
oh, Anthony Edwards is only twelve years old or something, right,
there is that, There is that and Joe Ingles. Maybe we're underrating the
Joe Engles edition there. Honestly, I thought that was an incredible get yeah
that and look respect to them for not you know, they steered into the
set like they did things that cost them money and assets this year. Of
all these other teams kind of one lied about what was happening with this,
Like the Clippers are still just like the biggest bullshitters in existence. He was
the one that got me. I kind of respect the Warriors. In February.
Joe Lake was like, yeah, we're just like not looking to have
these huge tax bills anymore. And I respect that more than the Clippers lying
about like, you know, the second aprin is challenging and it's like,
well, you offered Paul Georgia contract that would have put you there anyway,
So I'm very confused, right right, right? So oh man, I
mean the Bucks, You're right, Like when they were all healthy, they
were great, and adding Dylon Wright, especially at a minimum, was a
huge get for them as prince too. Yeah right, Like, you know,
I know Lakers fans will scoff at that, but it's different when he's
on a minimum deal and you don't have super high when Prince to be your
only two way player aside from Lebron and ad like, that's when it becomes
an issue, right, right, But the Bucks are probably all covered there,
although you're right to point out New Orleans. You know, we've heard
some brook Lopez rumblings this summer, so it's I guess I would say the
Bucks that is currently constructed would be in this tier for me. But if
they if they did like some sort of ingram for Brook Lopez and Pat Connaton
and stuff trades or like whatever better, there needs to be like a third
and eighth team involved. There's no way brandon Ingroom can go to Milwaukee.
Rather, that would just be so and they can't aggregate. So that's just
not even feet right. They're they're close enough to the second apron where they
could get under it, and it's yeah, constructing a deal, there would
have to be a third team, but like, I don't know how they
would make it work. Like when those Brook, Lopez and Ingram rumors came
out, I was I spent like five minutes trying to figure it out,
Like, Nope, none of this makes sense, so it's probably not gonna
happen. I was gonna say, I do think this the order that we
have right now, Mavericks, Wolves, Bucks feels like it's most right,
just becase because the Bucks' depth is non existent still, they're weirdly relying on
just wild cards or young players. And I think there's an argument for Minnesota
over Dallas, but I still think Dallas is the better playoff team when you
look at how they're built. And I know people are concerned about their point
of attack defense and maybe there's something going on with Quenton Grimes's medicals that I
don't know about, but like that dude can defend. He did it in
New York. He didn't do it in Detroit. He got injured. That's
an answer for point of attack defense, and also they have Dante Exam still
center. Naji Marshall. Isn't this perfect defensive replacement for Derek Jones Junior?
And you might miss his athleticism. But I think the MAVs, if we're
like a value like that has sort of been my biggest tie breaker. And
also just how you're ordering is like who is best built to succeed in the
playoffs right now? It does sort of feel like Dallas is clearly to me
like out in front, because like the Timberwolves need like Rob Dillingham is not
gonna be that a level shot creator immediately. I mean, if he is,
oh my god, wow, and then we just you can't trust Karl
Anthony Towns to do that. And after that you don't have options. Yeah
yeah, who did you have? Which other teams did you have in this
tier? So I had the Calves in this tier? I did too?
Okay, good? I just think, well, you know, I did
kind of have I don't know if it was an overreaction, but I like
when that initial reporting came out after their playoff exit from the Athletic where it
was just Donovan Mitchell that Darres Goland doesn't really want to play with Jonavan Mitchell
and they threw Jared Allen under the bus, and I just thought, something
is off here, and not all four of these dudes are going to come
back. All four of these dudes are not going to come back. They
have Donovan Mitchell gave him, bought them basically an extra two years with his
extension, and I think it was rickety last year. And maybe you get
to appoint mid season where you have to look at breaking up one of the
dynamics. But Kenny Atkinson's teams in Brooklyn always overachieved at one end of the
floor. It was usually defense. But he just I think he will be
creative with how he used is Mobile and Allen together in actions. And I
keep coming back to the fact that, like those four were really good together
when they had less familiarity in year one, and like an inferior roster around
them too, And so I'm just like, it sort of feels like we're
sleeping on the caves to the extent, I'm not doing this yet, but
I very easily could see them being like better than the Bucks, maybe even
better than the Knicks, just because like they're there's not another team in the
East aside from Boston that has in a vacuum the top end talent at their
like top four spots when you just look at their four best players. Yeah
yeah, and who knows. I mean, we thought Mobile when he came
back from the injury, wasn't shooting like a super high volume of threes,
but was starting to take them more than he was prior to the injury,
and was at least like offering some semblance of floor spathing, which is basically
what one of those two guys needs to do to make the Mobile Allen partnership
work. It's also just important to remember how young Evan Mobley is and how
long it often takes NBA bigs in particular to really hit their stride, and
he was already such an impactful defender, And frankly, we saw like the
calves were almost better with some of those guys either injured or like off the
floor, Like if Atkinson can figure out the right stagger patterns and right pairings
of you know, do I play Garland with Alan or Garland with Mobley and
then Mitchell with Alan, Mitchell with Mobley, Like how many of these guys
can I have on and off the floor at any one time? If he
figures that out, they're in business. He has experience coaching Alan and Karris
Lavert already. And you know, with all due respect to JB. Bickerstaff,
like I don't know that that was I think there's a real chance of
its coaching upgrade this offseason. So I think they're you know, I think
they were already a very good team that deserved to be in this conversation,
and now you know, potentially, thanks to internal improvement, have a chance
to get even better. Yeah, I mean the thing that needs to I
still think I think it is a coaching upgrade. I thought Jamie Bickerstaff was
too risk averse and then like his hand was kind of forced with the injuries
and the Calves played more creatively in the way that stylistically they should have.
But I think he got once everybody was healthy, a little bit better at
taking some chances there. But I do agree that I think it's an upgrade
overall that there might I think they'll just be more creative stuff done with their
top four guys. So I'm glad we both had them in this tier.
I didn't know for another team, what did you do with the Grizzlies.
So again, my my tiers were a little loose here, but the Grizzlies
were in here. For me, I was all about it, So that's
good enough for me. I'm going to put them in here. I just
think everyone's forgotten how good they were two years ago because they just got I
mean, every year this happens to one team where you just get absolutely annihilated
by injuries. And it was like to a comical extent with the Grizzlies last
year. But I actually think it might have benefited them because you got to
see Jaron Jackson Junior more in a feature role. We got his ISO frequency
like tripled his career crazy, and they've like probably don't find Vince Williams Junior
or Gig Jackson if they're all healthy. And now you've like got these two
legit rotation guys locked up on these super cheap deals. Who can now go
back down to being your like seventh eighth, ninth man because we still have
you know, John Morant hopefully's healthy and stays off out of any off court
trouble, Desmond Bane, Jaron Jackson Junior, Marcus Smart. Uh, We'll
have to see, like if Zion Williams pops at any point. Who knows,
probably Williams fanatic at one point, I don't think. I don't think
it's happening. The ship might have sailed, and that's okay. But you
know, I think Memphis has well see like what they do with Zachi Ed,
but he at least intrigues and could give them some different looks that they
didn't have, you know, especially with Steven Adams hurt last year. So
like this, you know, this team won what fifty five games and was
the two seed in the West two years ago, and now all of a
sudden, we're just like completely ruling them out because they just had a bunch
of injuries last year. And so the thing for me, I do think
part of it is just absence makes us forget when it comes to the NBA.
It's not it doesn't make our hearts grow fonder, We just forget it,
right, And so I do think there's that element. But I do
worry like Jared Jackson Junior, even Marcus Smart and of course John Morant,
they're not pillars of durability. There's always been something that it seems like one
of them is dealing with. And then Marcus Smart was so bad last year
and I granted he was overstretched and the spacing was weird at points. The
spacing might be weird again, especially if you're gonna play jaroned Jackson Junior next
to a traditional big most of the time. And so it gives me pause
where I still feel like as much talent as there is, that they could
still that they might be elite defensively and then really struggle offense in set situations.
But what you mentioned, and I think is the thing that swung it
for me in the sense that I wasn't sure where I was gonna put them,
but you had them an a tier and I was thinking about, so
we just let's throw them in the eightier Desmond Baide and Jared Jackson. You're
getting those reps. Last season, their efficiency went down, although Baines wasn't
down by much, But like now, they're just better, more well rounded
players on the offensive end, and so you have more counters. I still
think this is a team that's you know, a lot of people expect them
to bring Lukenard back, and you mentioned Gigi Jackson and Vince Williams Junior.
Those guys are legit rotation players, but they might still need a higher end
wing because Smart isn't a wing. GG Jackson is for sure like a combo
forward type and then Vince Williams. He's not particularly big, but he defends
up so you could throw him in there. But there still feels like there's
a lot of question marks, and so it's like, well, what separates
them? Full disclosure, This was my last team of the A tier,
so I know you said you had a few more, and so it was
like, why do you have them above Phoenix? Why do you have them
above of uh, you know Golden State or the Pelicans, and the Pelicans
are my TVD team, like depending on what they do, there's a transaction
for them to be done, Like I could I reserve the right to shoot
them up if they but so I think what it comes back to me is
that there's a familiarity with their top three already and there's more balance than there
is when you're looking at Phoenix specifically, which Skews just has all sorts of
holes. Even if you like their roster, you know, after what they've
done on the minimum market, so and signing resigning Josha Kogi to that balloon
deal, of course, can't forget about that. So they were my last
team. But there's so many questions. But I think we're kind of at
the point where which of the teams in the eighth year do we not have
serious questions about? Maybe is like what is the one you feel most confident
about? And I mean we have Dallas ranked in front of everybody, so
it's probably them, But we could just be like, well, they lost
the athletic letticism of Derek Jones junior, and what does their point of attack
defense look like now? Because you can't throw Nase Marshall on, you can
do I think some of the change of pace guys like Shay and you know
so, but like can he do like the raw like the guys that are
have more lateral like they're gonna be more laterally explosive. I don't know.
So, Yeah, the Grizzlies here, for me, I think makes a
lot of sense. I think I could probably guess which other teams you have
in this year, though, Oh you told me two of them, so
I guess I don't need to guess. Yeah, I think I said Suns
and Kings, and I'm I'm willing to move both of them down and we
could talk about them in a minute. The one team that I would probably
still put it in the A Tier the Indiana Pacers. I know, the
playoff round might have been a little flooky because of they got to take advantage
of some injuries and like, you know, realistically, if you honest it's
not hurt. Did they get knocked out in the first round and did we
just not think about them in this context? But you know, Haliburton is
a legit number one. I think Siakam has proved himself again and again to
be just as good in the playoffs as he is in the red season.
And really like the nemhard breakout after Halliburton got hurt was a big eye opener
and if he can build on that moving forward. They've also still just got
a bunch of young wings niece Smith, Benedict Matherin. Like there's you know,
if we're baking in the potential of internal improvement for OKAC, I think
it is fair to do the same for Indy. And I think Indy,
you know, very well like and they were just so god him could offensively
last year. They might be even better this year. So what I struggle
with with them, I'm fine with them being in the A Tier because like,
I mean, you look at their top two and then you just have
a lot of pieces that fit around them. I just don't know how to
feel about them defensively because I don't you mentioned they have a bunch of young
wings. In my eyes, they have one wing and his name is Aaronice
Smith, Like Bennet Mather's not a wing. I know Ben Shepherd can kind
of guard up, but do you consider him a wing? And so like,
it feels like if to stretch the baut and Andrew Nemhart can guard up,
Like now we're stretching the boundaries of they still need a bigger winger combo
forward defender aside from Siakam who again not a wing or so I but I
look at Siakam and Nie Smith and Nemhard is like those main guys there,
and I just find myself wondering, and it's more of a curiosity than I'm
criticizing them for this one who was giving Obi top in four years and sixty
million and two? Couldn't you make the case that, like, especially given
how the market shook out, why is this team they would have been better
off because they still could use their mid level They're just not gonna They don't
want They're not gonna be a team that pays the tax I don't think I'd
be shocked if they did. But like, what if you just put Naji
Marshall on this team to a podcast favorite around in these parts. But so
I would like to see them go. They do, they could make trades.
I mean, they have that teach McConnell's salary. And like the Andrew
Nemhard breakout is like it complicates things in a really good way because it's,
okay, you have Nemhard and McConnell and Mathrin and Shepherd's out there, and
you're very in in Mathrin of course, But if Nemhard is this good on
the ball already and gives you more defense than Meneic Mathren, what like what
is the like? So how did the minute shake out there? And then
also though, well, now you have Toppin, you have Turner, you
have Siakham, Jalen Smith is gone, but Isaiah Jackson is still floating around
out in there. What does this mean for jaris Walkers? Are you deciding
to develop him as just this wing defender and then you're gonna try and fit
him in on on offense? And how does that work. They did not
make my a tier, but I respect them enough for what they've built and
just like you speak about forgetting before Tyres Alberton suffers that hamstring injury, he
was going to be first team All NBA and probably finished top three or five
on the MVP ballot. Yeah, I mean that top in contract. I'm
with you, like that was an overpay, but it felt like it might
have been deliberately slow, Like it might have just been a souped up version
of what Nix did with the Kobe. And my issue with that is why
go out four years? Yeah, Ben, right right, It's just because
this is not Obie Top is a much better player that we've seen in Zeke
Nagy. But I like gay. When the Nuggets on it, he I
was like, well that makes sense, they're gonna need some trade fodder.
But I went on to think about it. I was like, well,
if they don't play him, no one wants four years guaranteed of a player
they know nothing about, and like that's kind of the situation they're in right
now. But Obie Top, it is more proven, so like you can
probably be like Obi Topping in an average of fifteen million a year. That's
that's that's a good point. That's movable. Yeah. Yeah, Like I
haven't looked up the exact number, but I wonder if it's in Dorian Phinney
Smith territory. Well, they could take him back. I think he starts
at I'm assuming it's escalating, but he starts at thirteen point four, So
that would get you boring in Phinney Smith. Yeah, even like this would
have been a perfect Kleb Martin team too. Yeah, which, by the
way, he's got to get a new agent. I know that his contract
with Philly could be worth more than forty but you had a chance to guarantee
yourself like an extra twenty five million dollars with the heat for an additional year,
basically with they want him to opt in and extend him so that this.
Honestly, I don't think I've ever missed on a free agent market more
than I did this year. I just I guess I didn't understand how much
teams were really just capslock going through it and trying to figure stuff out themselves.
Yeah, I will say that was my big blind spot as well,
was just like what was going to happen to the middle classes offseason because they
just kind of got wiped out. And I like, honestly, I you
know, I have a list of like potential articles jotted down in a notepad,
and in one of the articles or in my July section that I just
didn't have time to write to before a free agency began, was how short
term balloon deals could squeeze free agency with a bullet point, more guys might
have to take smaller contracts if cap space dries up, which lo and behold
Tobias Harris out here getting twenty six million dollars a year, Caleb Martin's down
taking eight MILLI here, like it's yeah, I don't get I said,
remember when we were doing our free agency over unders. I think I said
some Moni font Techio's that he was probably the mid level guy, and I
smashed the over he got, like the room exception type deal just like yeah,
yeah, it was a white out. So it's a fair point about
topping it about the patrons in general, but I would I would put them
in my A tier and then I can be talked into moving every every other
team that I had, So who would be to get to the what's tier?
Ripped? Now? B tier, who would be your first team there,
because there's a team that I haven't here that I was prepared to put
very high up in the A tier had they just made the move for an
archetype of player everyone's been begging them to make and they just decided, nah,
we could. I assume that being the Orlando Magic, I don't think
I've ever turned and I still don't think they had a bad off season.
But when they were doing the br live stream, when free agency like starts
and day sign Kntavious called Little Pope, I went off and which is like,
they are gonna have a this is a great Like they're clearly setting themselves
up for another move. I was just like, oh, you're not gonna
sign KCP without like now you're gonna go out and trade for Anthony Simons and
you're gonna go out and get LaMelo Ball or somebody. And then it's like,
now we're just gonna like reinvest in all our own players and call to
day and just they're gonna be really good defensively again, and I recognize that
Franz Wagner should shoot better and that Palabank Carrol's still gonna get better and I'm
very high on Joe and Suggs. I've the term I've used from now is
I think he's gonna end up being like a super charged Derek White. But
like you do not have you actually have, I would argue even less options
to run your offense because Mark l. Foltz has now gone and so it's
Cole Anthony and Suggs and Palo and Franz and like that's what we're doing here.
Off season is not over. But like even someone like Anthony Simons,
who's very much a secondary, Like if you put Anthony's di'monds on this team,
if it's like Cole Anthony Jet Howard and picks or Cole Anthony Anthony Black
and a pick whatever, I will shoot them right up past the Milwaukee Bucks
right now. And it almost aggravates me. And I said it was gonna
aggrevate me if they did nothing. They didn't do nothing. They did a
bunch of stuff. But just like, why, I understand you're not trying,
but like it's only gonna get harder for you as your team. And
also, why are we maxing out Franz now? If he wanted to max
make him earn it and just sign him to it and restricted free agency.
So I just there's something. I just wanted them to be in even better
shape than they are, and I feel like there's still opportunities out there.
I'm sure, but if this is the team, they're gonna be a really
solid playoff team. But I think the path to them winning a playoff,
even an a playoff series is just like KCP is not the difference there.
Yeah, it sounds like and I'm in the same boat, Like opportunity cost
is kind of the big critique here. They had the opportunity to create fifty
million dollars this summer in cap space and could have made multiple major splashes,
and KCP I think counts as a big splash. I think extend the renegotiating
and extending Jonathan Isaac was smart business for them, especially you know, they
still gave himselves some protection on the back end, like it's not fully guaranteed.
That should be a great trade ship if he stays healthy. He's an
incredible defender. So you know, to your point, that is all good.
It's like, why are we paying go Goop to todz Ai? You
know, what was it? Three years? Twenty five million figure? What
Mobigner got but it was also like in the ten two years, twenty two
million, there you go. Yeah, so like Orlando is just in this
spot. And this is always the trickiest part of a rebuild of like your
cap space is about to disappear because you just maxed fronds. Jalen Sons is
up for an extension this summer, or he'll be restrict agent next year.
Powlow will be up for an extension next year. You have a basically two
year window, not even two year one and a half. You have to
use your flexibility by the twenty twenty six trade deadline because it is gone after
that. And it just doesn't feel like they maximized this window. But maybe
they just don't feel pressure to do it in this window, and maybe they
said kind of the approach that OKAC took it the trade deadline this past February,
which threw some criticism at the time of like we just want more data,
like we need to identify our biggest weakness and the biggest needs, and
then we like we have all of these big pieces and big chips that we
like still have the potential to make this move. The right move just hasn't
presented itself. Yet, although to your point, it's hard to believe that
I would be fairly certain that Anthonty Simons is at least gettable at the right
price. I guess what my issue with that is because I didn't applaud,
but I understood what the thunder we're doing, and I defended them by saying,
tell me who they passed on that would have made the difference. Then
people came out with Daniel gear and I was like, did you watch Daniel
Gafford in that Thunder series? Was not even playable. I know he ended
up helping that team, but and they won that Dallas wins that series.
But the thing with the Magic is they have the data. We just watched
the playoff series where everything that we thought was gonna go wrong or would be
there undoing is what unmade them. And so if you really, if if
you go the route they have so far to me, it has to be
because you believe that Pallo is just going to level up as an orchestrator,
and that even giving him infinitismally better spacing is gonna unlock a version of like
this guy is our Lebron And so if you believe that and that's what you
want to say, Okay, fine, but otherwise it's all right. We
really believe that Jalen Suggs is gonna become a floor general type player. But
I just think we end those guys are gonna get better. I just said,
I love Jalen Suggs. I thought he made some strides as a passer
this year, particularly in the open floor. That being said, we see
these guys in the playoffs, and I know they're gonna continue to get better,
but like they didn't even address their high volume knockdown shooting thing with like
this isn't some guy that you're gonna run off a ton of pin downs and
he had he struggled shooting at points last year and in the playoffs, and
so like you could argue that they didn't even address one of them, or
they did. Ksep's gonna be a great fit here, Yeah, but it
feels like it was too minor for me based on how good I think they
could be. And maybe they just looked at it us like, well,
boss is not going anywhere. What's our rush? And now they've made the
decision. Any splash we do make is gonna be via trade. And it
was gonna be via trade anyway, because like they were mentioned in the Paul
George sweepstakes, but that was all that always felt like kind of stalk stalking
horse type stuff. Yeah, yeah, and that was just him trying to
leverage the Clippers into giving him the max, like and you know, just
in case the floor falls out in Philly and Darren Moorey is a liar and
doesn't actually give you the contract that he's been telegraphing for months. So yeah,
I mean, I'm I'm totally fine put them in the B tier.
I think it's fair to put them either at or towards the top of the
B tier. I think SUNS fans in particular would take umbrage with that,
But I just trust the magic to depth more and that. You know.
One other thing about the Magic is like we didn't see a ton of Jet
Howard last year, like maybe he's the answer to some of their shooting problems
and Anthony, he did do some nasty stuff. And I watched when I
was writing Somebody, I watched some Jet Howard G League stuff and I was
kind of like wonderful, Like why aren't they just trying out this guy,
Like he's supposed to be like what they need, and he wouldn't when you
look at his size, he wouldn't steal playing time from someone that you need
to play right and now he theoretically would after you had a KCP. But
yeah, you might be right, like maybe he's the answer to like the
higher volume motion shooting type guy. Yeah, they just have enough young talent
that I'm willing to continue bettering on them. Again, similar to the Thunder
and to the Pacers, like internal improvement, I think how to be factored
in for teams like this a lot more than a team like the Suns,
where you know, Kevin Durant, with all due respect, is like probably
not going to get substantially better at this point in his career. He's already
just phenomenal and he's going to remain phenomenal probably until he turns fifty because that
shooting stroke is not going away. But you know, I have a lot
more questions about Phoenix's depth right now, and just like the Avenues, that
they have to improve their team throughout the season, whereas Orlando has a lot
more flexibility to address you know, any glaring needs that pop up, like
they can much more easily make midstream adjustments than Phoenix. Who did you have
Well, I don't even know if you had the Magic that we just decided
to talk about them first. Who is another team you had in the beat
here? So Magic Suns? Would you have them in front of or behind
the Magic the Suns? Yeah? I think behind. I mean it's easier
to come out of the East, and I don't, right, we should
probably just talk about Phoenix, like Katie is his age thirty six season,
he's already injured with Team USA, because that's what we need to I know
they're probably being overly cautious, but that's something that's a little bit alarming,
and we've seen over the past few seasons, like he doesn't have it in
the sense of if he's gonna have to face double teams or make decisions out
of those, he's just not the same type of dominant in those situations that
he was. And yeah, I like the Monte Morris signing. I think
Royce O'Neill he always just seems to get criticized because he's always asked to do
more than he should on defense. He's in another situation, but I still
think he's a useful player. I just don't know what this team's defense ends
up looking like under my like, what is the It's not like use of
Nurkics does not work for what we've seen Mike Budenholzer teams do. Like He's
not gonna have a Brook Lopez type renaissance under Mike Budenholzer or reinvention. I
should say, not even renaissance right right, all of a sudden, bombing
threes and playing the best rim protector in basketball. I've almost wondered, like,
and I know I'm not the first person to say this, but it's
like, do they just like want someone who's tall and long and so bull
Balls should play some time at center, Like I just because it's like,
what are you like, run small? Maybe try out some David Roddy,
who I'm not even sure is worth a roster spot. And it's not weird
an agreement that Mason Plumley's not the answer, right right right. I mean
that's the problem with Phoenix is like they're just so top heavy, and I
like Grayson Allen was great from them last year, Like shot forty eight ish
percent from three point range. He played it. I also thought he was
better defensively than like he had any business being too. Yeah, Like honestly,
that's where they fell apart in the playoffs. He got hurt and then
their depth was just so crappy after that that like they they just have to
Like I guess maybe this is the best way to quantify these teams in the
B tier and like where you know S tier, I think things can still
go wrong and those teams can survive to some extent, like Celtics. We
thought last year Kpe got hurt throughout the playoffs, they're still fine. These
teams in the Bechier. It feels like every single thing has to break right
for them for them to be a legitimate contender. And so it sounds like,
not only do your top three half to stay healthy, but Ryso Neil
needs to stay healthy use of Nirkid, she needs to stay healthy. Grace
now needs to stay healthy because if any of those guys get hurt, where
do you turn it. And also when you look at their stagger patterns in
Fury, they're set up to do it well and maybe this will just be
it'll correct itself. This year they lost the minutes that Kevin Durant and Bradley
Beal played without Devin Booker, and so it's like, if you're losing two
star any two star minutes, that's a problem. Yeah, that's not good.
I mean the Beal trade in general, I know their hands were tied,
Like I know Phoenix fans and are you already bumped it up against the
second apron? What are you gonna get with Chris Paul's contract? I get
it, I get it, I get it. Don't trade for the guy
with the no trade plus that was just unless they're gonna negotiate it out right,
if like, if the no trade Claus would have went with it,
Like I don't know who would have wanted that contract necessarily, but your hands
would not be near is todd? They honestly might be, Like I mean
if Zach Lavinian is radioactive right now, Like I don't think Bradley Beal is
movable even without a no trade class, Like I think you would have to
pay to get off with him at this point, Like kudos to Washington man.
I would they have been better just with Chris Paul instead of Bradley Beal?
I mean they would have at least had more flexibility to like make changes
this offseason and not only signed minimum contracts for two years straight. I do
think it's weird how people still kind of are like, oh, why would
they have ever done the Bell trade? Where it's I do think if you're
mad about the Bell trade, you should really be mad about how much they
gave up in the Kevin Durant trade, because I feel like that's the move
that kind of moved them toward this. Or maybe it's just you should just
be mad that matt Ishbio is impulsive as fuck. And I will say this,
I like, I think deserves credit for at least going all in on
this strategy, like he is not he is not cheaping out. He is
you know, he's spent a ton of money on Royce O'Neill and that's going
to send their tax bill even higher. And like yeah, and a Kobe
as well, Like that was you know, they paid him eight million dollars
basically to be a mid season human trade exception because they who are they training
that twenty thirty one pick for? Or maybe it's kJ Martin who knows well,
well, say the dollar for dollar amounts here, But like I respect,
you know, if he was going to go this route, which I
don't know with the right route to go, but if you were going to
do it, like the only thing you could not afford to do is get
cheap with the supporting cast and like, you know, use your bird rights
when you and like you know they I know John holl And Drew calls it
the bird rights trap, but like they intentionally bird rights trapped themselves with O'Neil
in particular the trade deadline. Who's I'm assuming of the Kings in here?
Right? I do? Yes? Would you have behind these two? Honestly,
I'm like so low on the Suns, it's not even yeah, like
regular seasons, I think I would put the like I originally had them in
my A tier and then you talked me out of movie, Like I think
it's fair, but that you know, I had My original A tier was
just like teams I feel are solidly playoff. Could easily see them being top
six seeds and then my B tier with like more playing teams. Teams they
just have more questions about. So I'm good with like keeping you know,
magic Suns Kings down here because things could easily break wrong for all of them.
They could very all three could very easily be in the B tier.
But I think those three are probably above anyone else in B tier. So
yeah, I think I would do Magic King's Sons as the top. What
did you think of the DeMar de Rosen acquisition, both in terms of what
it cost that twenty thirty one swap plus Saracen Barnes some seconds in cash obviously,
and then just the overall fit. Yeah, I mean obviously the twenty
thirty one swap. I liked it a lot more before that detail came out
because that and it was just like an add in, like wo include,
I'm like, uh bury the lead a little bit there, buddy, like
sir, that's what they gave up. That was a big piece they gave
up. Like, you know, I like it. I think he's gonna
raise their floor in the regular season. Like, I don't know that it
makes them a significantly better playoff team. It might not make them a better
playoff team at all. We've seen the on off splits with Damorrow over the
years, But you know, I think Damar has been one of the most
clutch players over the past couple of seasons in Chicago. The Aaron Fox has
been one of the most clutch players for the last one or two years in
the NBA. So now just having two guys that you can reliably go to
in late close game situations I think will help them steal games that they otherwise
have no business winning. So it's really just can that defense hold up once
the playoffs roll around, because they have so many guys who can be targeted
on that on the floor. So I don't have much confidence in them winning
a playoff series, but I could, like I'd be surprised if they don't
win forty five games this year. I think what helps my impressions of them
is I'm a big believer in Keegan Murray's defense. I think Kean Ellis played
well enough, and I think even Darn Fox was less stiff on that end
of the floor that there's a pathway to where if you're playing Sabonis and De
Rosen you can still build lineups that might have three average or better defenders.
Again, you're banking a lot on Daron Fox in that scenario, who I
also do think is like a dangerous enough shooter to wear if you want to
run stuff with Sabonus and De Rosen. That Fox has learned to move without
the ball a little bit more since the Sabonis came, and I think he
has a good enough shooting stroke to make it work. They also still can
make moves like they have that and like the thing about the Rosen too is
I'm sure they didn't sign the league monk with the intent to trade him,
but that becomes like a salary if they want to flip offense for defense.
They still have Kevin Hurder. I know he's coming off a down year and
a really bad twenty twenty two postseason, sorry twenty twenty three postseason as well,
but like that's another contract that's if you want to go. I know
a lot of people mention, like what about Kevin Herd for Dorian Phinney Smith.
I even suggested, like what about Kevin Herder for Cody Martin if he's
healthy and Grant Williams. It feels like they have ways to kind of futz
and fiddle midstream that will make where it doesn't have to change the entire identity
or core principles of your team, and like can just make you better.
And like, if you're moving a league monk, it's probably a bigger swing
for sure. So I think I might like their playoff stock. I think
the Rose is gonna help them navigate the regular season and ensure they get to
the playoffs. And then I'm wondering, like, does Mike Brown have the
ability to make some tough calls with his lineups once you get to the postseason,
because I feel like it might be a different iteration of the Kings makes
more sense and a lot of the matchups are in that like postseason, this
team is game planning for you for two weeks straight and no other team type
of environment. Yeah, so who, how did you classify your be tier,
Like which which types of teams were in here for that was not like
these guys are in the playoffs, might have a higher ceiling than that,
but I expect them to finish in the top six of their of their conference.
And like I think to some extent, like the math just doesn't work
out in that with the West because we have the Thunder, the Nuggets,
the Mavericks, the Wolves, the Grizzlies are there, and then it's the
Kings and the Suns. But it's like, even if it's you know,
one of these teams has to get through by way of the play in time.
Like I just considered them almost like they will be a top eight,
they will be in the eight playoff team bracket. It's kind of how okay,
so that in theory leaves what one East team and one West team or
no, maybe two East team? No? Well yeah, one East one
West team. Yeah, so I'm curious who you had in the West here.
I'm I like, I went against my better judgment because I'm just a
big believe in like so many pieces of their team, and I have New
Orleans. Yeah, I it's between them Houston and Golden State, right is
there? I mean I guess the Lakers too, but I yeah, I
like, originally my my beatier was just teams that I thought like where it
would be in the play in mix, so like in the seven through ten
range, and I had Lakers, Warriors, Pelicans, Heat, Rockets,
Clippers. So you basically need to identify, well you have I guess.
Is the East team just easy to round out? Like it there's only the
Heat. Yeah, it's just I mean, you could maybe talk yourself into
the Raptors, but it's just the heat. I am going to be higher
on the Raptors than consensus. I can already see it. But I'm just
Eric S. Bosher will work as voodoo and they'll at least be in the
mix of the top eight, and I think Toronto might steer itself out of
the top eight if it gets to that point. So that was I don't
even like, what else are we gonna say, I mean, the or
if you want them to get better? Or is there honestly though, is
there a scenario where like the Hawks are just better balanced and they're like have
a case to be put in over the heat. It's hard for me to
see it, okay, because it feels like they're just kind of pivoting toward
Like I don't know if they're trying to move off to Trey Young right now.
I think they would want more assurance that they could get at least one
high caliber point guard in return. But like that, them landing the number
one pick seemed like it gave them some license to at least heavily retool,
if not fully rebuild. So I just don't know what their intentions are as
a team right now. Whereas they're going to be going for it just because
San Antonio controls your next three picks, and so unless you're moving Trey Young
to them and getting some of your picks back, I just don't see the
incentive for them to go the like the rebuilding route. Yeah yeah, they
I mean they don't have it necessarily. It's just you know, where are
you? Like how often? How much can you spin your wheels with this
iteration of the team and like what is is Clinton Capella on this team past
mid February? Like, I you know he, I am confident will go
for it this year. And frankly, Jimmy Butler in a contract year getting
publicly rebuffed by the team president being like, hey you, I'm not gonna
give you this money. Show up during the regular season next year, probably
gonna light a fire under Jimmy Butler. Like I think we might see a
Jimmy Butler who actually cares about the regular season this year because he knows he
has to to get one more big payday. That or he's getting older and
this could be he could be entering his tour defart error error. Oh boy.
Yeah, I'm not gonna put that out in the universe because Miami fans
already hate me, so I'm I will say about the Hawks though, is
like, even if you're looking to move Trey Young, you took one potential
Tray Young team off the board by trading de Jonte Marty You there, right,
and then San Antonio now has Chris Paul Stefan Castle and Trey Jones and
just doesn't I actually liked Trey Young there, but it never felt like a
Spurs move. It's like they're almost like, we'll dare you to trade them
somewhere else that your picks become even more valuable. And so it's just like,
who is the tray young tea? Is it Miami? Is it?
Like? Can Houston talk itself into that? And then it's like I'm starting
to wear It's like Orlando is not gonna do it? Yeah, it's the
Lakers. Oh forgot about that? Might be the only only guest in your
podcast just forgets about the Lakers. I mean it's easy to do these days.
So it's your podcast. Who is the final West team? I'm good
with going with the Pelicans. I mean, I agree with you. It's
like weird to do that when I don't know who their starting center is right
now, Daniel Tice, thank you very much. I repeat, I don't
know who like starting center is, right we will be moving them down to
the DT right, Dane the starting center in mid October, I would not
have them as my final team. Uh, but I think that it just
feels like another shoe has to drop at some point with Ingram or maybe I
mean, we'll see, Like this's this Brunson thing. I think could have
some interesting ripple effects across the league. And maybe it'll be a wake up
call to brandon Ingram, like, hey, this guy was going to get
this max contract and he still took way less, Like you know that Mark
sign reported the other day the Apelicans of Like what, brandon Ingram trying to
find another team that is willing to give him a max contract and he just
can't do it. So maybe that's a sign that even if you become a
free agent next summer. I know Keith smith a spot Tracks already put out
some early cap space projections. There just aren't a ton of teams projected to
have cap space in general, much ales max cap space. So brand Ingram
doesn't move. And maybe it is Daniel Tye at the starting which I have
and I hate you. It's the same thing with Julius Random. Where these
players are. You can make fun of them all you want. They're flawed,
but they're good. I just struggle to find like destinations where it's what
team would trade for him, give up something and then be prepared to pay
him. I don't like with brand Ingram. I just don't have one.
Some people like the Kings, I hate it. I thought about the Lakers
might make some sense. They don't have any wings, like two way wings
on that roster, and he would come close to at least meaning Matt criteria.
But I don't love the fit with him a D and Lebron like all
none of them, Like he doesn't space the floor. And then Lebron likes
to work on the ball. Brand Ingram likes to work on the ball.
But that might be you know, if you don't want to give up what
it cost to get Trey Young at this point of a sweet brand Ingram is
gonna cost less than that. Yeah, it'd be very funny if the Pelicans
just turned into a Lakers feeder system where they just keep trading, keep trading
the Lakers, and then just keep shortening the Lakers' future, right right,
which it actually worked out pretty well for them to help them get John Tay
Murray. Yeah, so, I but like, do you have any like
what what's like a realistic brandon Ingram team, do you I thought about Memphis
a little bit, but like that salary matching gets a little It's like,
okay, so you're trading Smart and Clark, I guess is how you're going
that route? Or like Smart has to be in that deal because you're not
trading Bane or Jared Jackson junior right right? And then are you paying well,
I guess Jaron jacksonville way below Max, but like you know, Johnson
of Max Baines on very close to a Max. Are you also going to
give Brandon Ingram this massive contract when Jared Jackson Juniors do for one in the
near future as well? So, yeah, it sulpsify the team. That
makes sense. Maybe the Hawks if they're refusing to tanky trade and that's true,
that's a fair point. Yeah, the Jazz if they're just searching,
desperately searching for this partner for lawyer Marketen that may or may not materialize.
That's a good question. Like I know the Cavaliers have been mentioned. I
just don't get how they do it. That is, that's the one that's
that's a terrible fit. That's like, yeah, especially who do you want,
Like I guess well, Jared Allen obviously does what I say, do
you want? You don't want one of the guards because you have to shot
that Murray, But I forgot about Jared Allen for a second. So yeah,
I think it'd be like Alan and Lobert. So you're just hiring Kenny
Atkinson and then getting rid of all the Kenny Atkinson players. But I still
I'm just oddly hot, like even if you have to run it back with
Brandon Ingram, just the idea of like another year of Trey Murphy getting better,
her Jones maybe getting better. You've added to Jonte, who've always been
higher on a lot of people. I thought CJ had mostly a really good
year last year when you look at his three point volume specifically, and just
Zion is just if you get again, it's the same thing with Joelle Embiid,
and I feel like Zion's injuries have just been they've been. They feel
kind of as random, like it's not the same thing that keeps hampering him
right so, but he's been utterly dominant when he's at his peak, and
so it's like this is the team when you look at like as of right
now, like in this tier, they could potentially have the single best player,
Like that's how good Zion Williamson is. And it's okay, well what
about Jimmy Butler, what about Kevin Durant. It's yes, those guys maybe
he would pick them over him, but like there's not a pathway next season
to Orlando having the best best player in this tier. I would say,
as much as I love Palo Bankaro and like the Pelicans still have that element
of this might be a top seven or ten guy that's just on our roster.
Yeah, I mean we saw him in the playing game against the Lakers,
like that was that was his statement playoff game or playing game or whatever
you want to call it, but like that was the oh, I'm ready
for this stage too. I'm not just an eighty two game player. And
then unfortunately he gets hurt. I'm just going to raise a whole nother round
of questions of can this guy stay healthy? But you're absolutely right if he
does, and you know we'll see that the fit in theory with him Dejonte
CJ. You know, Trey Murphy is the floor spacer and Herb Jones like
they they have the potential to play some really creative lineups. This year,
they could just really go heavy on small ball. But like, versatility is
the thing that we've seen throughout especially like the last five to ten years.
Like, you basically can't only play one style and expect to win four playoff
series because you're being tested in different ways each series. And I think the
Pelicans have more answers than some of the teams right by both of them.
Yeah, so I don't know that. I like, I think you could
have put some other teams here, and I'm sure we're going to talk about
them now, How did you What does your seats here look like? So
I would have Lakers, Warriors, and these are kind of like the teams
like we're considering them playing teams that might have potentially higher ceilings with us.
Right now, it feels like they're most likely path to postseason basketballs through the
play in Yeah, yeah, Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, I
guess Raptors, and Hawks in there as well, because just again it's like
a numbers games. Someone has to finish ninth and tenth in the East,
and it's certainly not going to be the Wizards of the Nets and we're you
know, yeah, it's definitely the Hawks are definitely like they have every incentive
to continue to try to win, and it's just yeah, so it's but
I don't know. I'm kind of I like, well, could the Bulls
maybe consolidate picks and be the team that trades for brandon Ingram for some reason?
Oh my god, we know the ball I had in my lowest like,
I think they have finally embraced we are just gonna be bad where we're
gonna lean on our young players and the Bulls though, so no, but
yeah, I think these are the teams. I just which team is more
well, well again, i'm around it. Which team is more likely if
they're better than expected to trade out of this tier? Though, the Raptors
are the Bulls, and it feels like it would be the Raptors, like
the Bulls might double down, like like we got to make a big move
with the deadline. That's right, can't cost yourself that one game of gate
revenue. God for hey, if they're eighth, somehow they might get too.
Right. That's a good point. It's a good point. So of
the teams that we've now settled on in this tier, I want to be
higher on the Rockets, but they're just gonna be so reliant undevelopmental pieces,
where reed Sheepherd should play a bunch omen tops and should play a bunch.
Shang Gun is still young. I mean he was great last year. Jalen
Green is inconsistent, and they also if they're healthy. I was talking about
this with s barrahiny they have like twelve thirteen guys that should just get minutes.
And so they seem ripe for consolidation trade but maybe not at the point
where they're gonna make it. And it's not to their detriment. It's a
good problem to have, but it represses their ceiling, I think. And
so I feel like the Lakers or the Warriors are the team in this.
I don't know which one. I mean, the Lakers haven't done anything really.
They have Dalton connecting, Brownie James. Congratulations to the Lakers, and
Lebron took the massive pay cut of course, but like and so they have
that like chemistry built in. And now the Warriors is it's not just losing
Klay Thompson. They're probably a better team in a vacuum talent wise than they
were last year. But they're still gonna be reliant on like oh, what
is Jonathan Kamengo? What is Moses Moody? Can Pods take on more ball
handling and playmaking? And then there's just how is this team gonna score?
When you look at their offense and their potential spacing, it's yeah, okay,
buddy, healed great, like Steph Curry can dribble, and then who
else Pods and Draymond like a little bit right and so and but do you
have you don't have the spacing to capitalize on those as of right now.
So just like who is the like who who is your like number one team
in this tier? Yeah, I think it's probably the Lakers, just because
you don't want to bet a gunst Le Brown James until proven otherwise. And
we're seeing even with Tims, like the dude was almost forty years old and
he's still somehow a freaking top that player in the world. He's not coming
back into twenty twenty eight. I won't rule it out. I won't run
I believe it when I see it. Yeah, So, I mean,
like it's it's easy to poke fun at the Lakers, especially you know what
happened to them last year, But like, I think there is a fair
argument that Darvin Ham was doing damage to them, Like even a league average
coach, they might have been better last year and Darvin Ham just so badly
screwed with the rotations or screwed up the rotations that they looked worse than they
actually were talent wise. And now, I mean, who knows. JJ
Reddick is the first time head coach. We have no idea what he's going
to look like. But you know, Lebron setting like ghost screens or something
like, I mean to see something off the walls happening with the Lakers.
I mean, what with like all ten episodes of Mind the Game before he
got hired that wound up being his coaching interview, and you know, like
hearing him and Lebron just talk ball like, it's very clear that he has
a sharp basketball mind and a creative basketball mind. And you know, I'm
assuming the Lakers will put the coaching staff in place around him to give him
some experience to lean on to handle all the day to day minutia that he
is assuredly not aware of. But you know, if his main focus is
just designing the ex'es and o's like that part of it, I am fairly
confident he will be better than league average even and so you know, Lebron
and AD is a really solid foundation to build on. Right, they haven't
really done anything. Maybe they get a little bit more fortunate with health blat
this year. I mean, Gabe Vinson barely played for them last year,
but like, really, just going into the year, how long do you
take them this ste all on? Like they go on the conference finals with
the you know, Reeves and Vandal lineup and it takes them at half a
freaking season to get back to just starting that line up. Like what just
happens if the Lakers from last season start that lineup from day one and if
they do it from day one this year, what happens? I go back
and forth because let's say they did make a coaching upgrader or at least they're
more creative on offense, And then what if Van do was healthier? What
if gave Vincent is like that was a everyone was like, Okay, the
gave Vincent signing was super interesting. That he just doesn't really play because he
gets in there, So there's that element to it. But also, like
Lebron and Anthony Davis were on the court for more than two thousand possessions together
last season, and it's like the Lakers still just very clearly had this ceiling
of you'll get into the playoffs maybe and then what happens. They've done nothing
to change that, right, and so I just I do think though they're
probably the most bankable in it. It's just it's just they have those top
two guys, and like, even if you go to Golden State, you
can't trust like Draymond the same way that you can trust Ad. I mean,
you can't trust Raymond and not get suspended by Franklin and the Clippers.
It's okay, they're two top guys in Kawhi and Harden, but Kawhi is
probably the least trustworthy of those two at this point where you're looking at guys
actually like, yeah, we know what he is when he's on the court.
How many games is he playing? So and it's now you have to
figure out, Like the Clippers have done the load management thing, it didn't
work this year. They did the Kawhi is gonna play thing, that didn't
work. So is it Kawhi's on ice until April? So like what is
the next move there? I think you're right that it's the Lakers and I
honestly the only other team. It's like it's them or the Warriors. I
just don't I guess if the Rockets really pop and they just like read Shepherd
comes in and he's amazing out of the gate and increases their spacing, Tarrasan's
healthy, and they're just like fucking shit up on defense all the time.
But they're just it's not an insult, it's they're They're sitting pretty and I
don't think that they're gonna they need to make a move to probably reach that
point. And I don't know that they're going to be in a rush to
make that move when it feels like they're very much structuring their books around having
a bunch of cap space next summer, right right exactly, like they they
have the probably the highest upside of any team in this year, like long
term, yeah, but I'm not sure that they reach it next year,
whereas like Lakers and Warriors are clearly feeling a much more imminent win now.
Pressure. This is a fun question. Who is more likely to make a
trade that requires them giving up a first round pick that is later than twenty
twenty seven. The Lakers, the Warriors, I'll throw the rockets in there,
or the Clippers, probably the Lakers. Is because Lebron is forty and
he is clear the one plus one did not seem like a coincidence. He
is going to continue to exert pressure on that organization, which is hilarious because
they're probably gonna be like, look, dude, we know you're not leaving
out like you are clearly just if you wanted to leave, LA was literally
holding your son hostage and paying right. So I'm sure he's going to try
to pressure them into it. I don't know that it necessarily works, but
they do at least have a bunch of those like mid tier you know,
D'Angelo, Russell, Van Do, Gabe, Vincent Austin Reeves really like that
they have the contracts to make it work, and because of Lebron James's massive
pay cut, they're slightly below the second apron so they are allowed to aggregate
contracts. So I think they're probably the most desperate to make a move since,
as you said, I mean, like the Warriors, they made moves
this offseason. I mean, you know, losing Klay Thompson obviously sucks,
but like Buddy Heal, Danthe Melton, Kyle Anderson, those are all like
pretty big additions to that team. And I agree with you that I think
there's a real chance they're better this year than they were last year as a
result. And there just seems and even if you just framed us, who's
most likely to make a trade that matters, is still like it's the Lakers,
because the Clippers that just there's no pathway to them being contenders again.
They just don't like it's gone and so why are you gonna make any sort
of move because you're gonna have to give up a distant first round pick to
do that. And then the Rockets, I just don't know if they're gonna
have the appetite for it. We already mentioned the cap space and just they
have so many not projects, but prospects I guess the way, and they're
trying to figure stuff out. And then the Warriors would be the other candidate.
So we just keep coming back to Lakers the Warriors, but they also
they don't seem to have an appetite to do that either. Like I know
they've been linked to lowry marketing, but they seem oddly obsessed with Jonathan Kamingo,
who seems like he could be a really good player, but it's not
played like a really good and part of that might be opportunity. But John
give Me is viewed as like, well, could they really like give him
up in a trade for lowry marketing? Yeah, they absolutely could and should
if they have the opportunity to do that. So I but they just seem
like that they're planning for the next era more so. And it's like,
we're gonna do a two time a one point five timeline thing, where's we
don't want to be irrelevant until Steph fades into the sunset, but we're not
getting rid of our young guys to maximize what's left of Steph's prime. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. And they already trade the twenty thirty pick, so
I think they have twenty twenty eight is the only one they're legally allowed to
trade past that range, whereas the Lakers have twenty nine and thirty one that
they can offer. And I think you're right, like the Warriors should not
be interested when Stephen Curry is only under contract for a couple more seasons give
way anything? Why can't I don't. I didn't look at their pick commitments.
Why can't they trade twenty twenty six? Who do they because their pick
commitments are weird and it's like a fake first round or they sent to Washington
in the Jordan pool very much? Yeah, yeah, so I mean for
some reason, I thought, yeah they should. They can trade twenty six
and twenty eight. Yeah, okay, yeah, it's just twenty thirty they
can't. Yeah, can they also do if they wanted to be like,
okay, it's protected for selections twenty one to thirty, and then also trade
their twenty thirty first round pick, right since Washington's top twenty protected technically,
Yeah, so I mean, and then swaps of course, And yeah,
I just don't. I guess what's tough with this team is, even if
I think they're better and more balanced on paper, it seems harder, for
some reason for them to make a trade that would vault them into title contention
or close to it than it is for the Lakers, who have two guys
that can headline a title contender. The Warriors have one guy. And like,
if you add Larry Marketing to this team, if you add Brandon Ingram,
if you add Zach Lavine, even if you added trade like something like
wild, like LaMelo or Trey, they're not there. But if you add
basically any of those names to the Lakers roster, I think you could make
a case for the Lakers. Yeah. Yeah, I think that they're the
only ones that could realistically vault into like the A tier this year, Whereas
I have a hard time seeing any move that would put any of these other
teams in there. Uh so, I guess we should just for posterity sake
o our D tier of teams. It's no shot. And although should the
Spurs have been in the CE tier better than the Clippers maybe so, I
originally broke up the C and D tier. C tier for me was end
stage rebuilding is what I called it. And I have the Spurs in there
even though they are only what year two into the Webby era, but like,
he's so good that they are already in that. So I had Spurs,
Jazz, Pistons, and Hornets in the we are not deliberately tanking this
year tier, and then Wizards, Nets, Bulls and Blazers in the we
might win ten games this year, we are trying to be pretty bad.
Yeah, I mean the Blazers, if they don't make some roster changes might
stumble into too many victories. I think, honestly, I think the Spurs
are the only team as of right now that I would say would be guaranteed
to like not like the Jazz still have lowry marketing right now, but even
if they have him, they might still be trying to lose games. So
this is like the Spurs the only one in this tier. I'm like,
should they have been up a little bit because the others are just like,
Okay, the Pistons and Hornets can try to win, but they're not gonna
And I don't I honestly don't think the Hornets are gonna try. And then
like the Bulls, maybe they'll try, but they're the Bulls. It won't
matter. So you can talk out now like CP three and with Harrison Barnes,
you could talk me into the Spurs being in the seed tire at seventy.
Well, this is I'm sure you've probably read this ad nauseum and stuff
that I or other people have written and you've edited in so far as we
get an editor anymore on things like the Spurs with Wemby and Trey Jones on
the court, unless you were plus five point two points per one hundred possessions.
You had Devin Vassell in there plus ten something points per one hundred posessions.
And now it's like we have two more competent NBA rotation players and Trey
Jones can get bumped down to the second unit without us having a you know,
a starting unit that's basically a arcrificial lamb statistically, So there's like I
mean, because it feels like all the teams in the seatier, like for
the from the Western Conference anyway, they have like this boom er bust potential
and so like the Spurs might belong in the seatier just by saying, hey,
the math doesn't check out, but one of these teams is gonna implode.
But one of these teams is probably gonna be a lot better than we
expect, right right, Yeah, I mean it's they're getting promoted. I'm
going okay, I like it. I like it. I'm allowing it because
yeah, I mean I could easily see them. I mean I could see
them making the plane this year, which is crazy to say, but like
adding CP three Barnes and the Castle as well, I'm curious if they were
the team that traded for Lowry Marketing where would you put them A. Devin
Vessel is still on the team after this, That's really the only thing.
Devins Ell and Stephan Castle are still on the team in addition to CB three
and Wemby. Damn. I mean definitely at least B tier. Do I
put them in A? I think I would put them in B until I
saw it. But would you have them B like ahead of the Kings and
the Suns and the Yeah? Probably yeah, maybe not. I think the
Kings will still have a really high regular season for but I mean this like,
there's just never been anything like Wemby before, so we have no idea.
I mean, we'll see with in the next couple of weeks the Olympics.
Like, wouldn't shock me if he's significantly better than he was a few
months ago. I mean, he the the rate at which he was able
to absorb information and then get better throughout the season, Like we typically don't
see these like massive in season leaps. It's like you you are who you
are, and then you take the off season and you add something new to
your bag, and you come back and you show it off and you're a
much better player. Wemby was like, oh my god, this guy's getting
significantly better as the season's going off, Like, oh, he has a
pull up three pointer now, and it's right right, he just he just
seemed to get more comfortable with the NBA game. And to your point,
maybe it's like we don't have Jeremy so Hanna as the point guard anymore.
Well, now we're not gonna have to do the point so hand experiment for
thirty games next season. You have Chris Paul and Trey Jones. And like,
you know, Chris Paul, if you're banking on him to stay healthy
for all of you two games, good luck. But like pairing him with
any big man is just a cheap code. I mean, he made DeAndre
Jordan into a freaking All Star, you know, like he was that like
what are you gonna He's gonna just throw a ton of lobs at the seven
foot four guy who could jump up and catch them. All you would do
is throw it at the damn basket. And when you can outreach anyone,
like, they're gonna just generate so much easy offense from literally just and catch.
Yeah. I mean, he might honestly be so good. I know
people framed us. He's gonna agitate and they're gonna have to make a move
that's not gonna happen. He just might be so fucking good that they have
no choice other than he's gonna win us X games, and like at that
point, we're not gonna have these great draft picks, like we might as
well go trade for player X, star Y, whatever, because Wemby has
us like in contention for the six seed already. Yeah, right, exactly.
Yeah. I think I said that last year. They are not able
to tank anymore because he's just too good and like good, especially now that
you know teams like the Nets and the Wizards have just thrown in the towel
on trying to compete, Like you are not going to catch those teams,
so you might as well just let Wemby grow at his own pace. And
I think they're being smart and strategic about how they are rebuilding around him,
Like I respect them for not making an all in move and for like going
after these distant pick swaps and picks because they know, like we need to
be loading up for Wemby's prime at the turn of the decade, assuming that
we were all still here on this planet at that point, and assuming the
Mothership doesn't call him home, right, that's right, right, that they're
really gambling on a lot of future based things that might not happen. But
I think they're being smart about you know, like I know they got killed
for trading the number eight pick to Minnesota. That's like, I get why
they are making these moves like they are. They're being very deliberate about this,
and I think it's going to pay off in the long run, but
also in the short run it might not matter because when we might be good
enough that they're still winning at a much faster pace than you typically see for
a team, you know, this early and into its rebuilt. Yeah,
they are just I want them to be aggressive, but I know they just
don't have to because he's just still good. He's honestly, he's gonna be
one of the greatest players of all time if he stays healthy. There's it's
just absolutely wild. Shou you want to recap what our tiers were unless you
have anything else to add about any of these teams. No, let's yeah,
so s tier. We had Celtics, thunder Nuggets, Sixers, and
Knicks, and this was our top tier title contenders. A tier were teams
we feel reasonably confident about and could very easily see them making it at least
around if not too or advancing you know, second round, maybe even conference
finals at being Mavericks, Timberwolves, Bucks, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, and Pacers.
The B tier were you know, also teams that we think probably finished
somewhere in the top eight of their conference, that being the Magic, Kings,
Sons, Heat and Pelicans. C tier we had Lakers, Warriors,
Rockets, Clippers, Sons, Hawks, and Raptors. These are teams potentially
probably in the play and mix. And then the D tier. What would
in the Pooper for Cooper? I believe, yeah, and the Pooper for
Cooper is the D tier. There we go, So Jazz, Pistons,
Hornets, Bowled, Blazers, Wizards and Nets. Could you imagine if the
Spurs just decide to like Wenby might Riot, but if they shut them down
and they're in the Pooper for Cooper and they get Cooper? What or what
if they just win the like what if they just get really lucky? Like
yeah, sure too, because like get a one percent chance and now you've
got Cooper flag as well. At that point, like it's already the Spurs
and the Thunders League by the late twenty twenties. But if Cooper Flag goes
to San Antonio, like every other team should just push all its chips in
right now because there is no point like that's over. What are you waiting
for? You're you're not winning in twenty twenty eight, Just burn it all
down. What's like twenty eight teams will be rebuilding at the same time.
I'm looking at our list now and like, once we get through, because
there we kind of ranked them within the tiers, but so the S tier,
even if you don't think they belong in the sty. I feel confident
about those five teams, the Celtics, the thunder, the Nuggets, the
Sixers, the Knicks. Then I feel confident in the MAVs, the Timberwolves,
the Bucks and the Calves. So like after those nine teams, though,
I'm just looking at all these and you could talk me into every single
one of the schools, every single one of them and if you know,
forget about in the Pooper for Cooper, but all these other you could talk
me to them being demonstratively better then we have them categorized or just like way
way, way worse. Yeah, you have to talk to me for a
while to talk me into the Raptors. But other than that, yeah,
like I I could, I could definitely see the Rockets winning forty five plus
games and you know, quite like being the sixth seed in the West.
It's just for me. The West is so tough. It's like I'm baking
in you know, Like if the Rockets were in the East, I think
I would feel more confident in their chances of actually waking up the tox six
seeds. It's just there in the West and they're you know, like if
you think they are going if you think the Houston Rockets are going to be
a top sixceeed. We do this with you know, the draft and with
trades and with roster spots all the time. It's like which of thunder Nuggets,
Mavericks, Wolves, Suns, Pelicans, King's Grizzlies. Yeah, that's
eight teams. So we just mentioned like you have to remove three of them
or put the Rockets over three of them. I can't make a case like
that, No, I can't. I can't get there with you. Just
fascinating exercise to do. I'm curious if we'll have any transactions that kind of
blow this up though, the rest of the season. We need to put
this out tomorrow morning. And I swear to God, if Brandon Ingram gets
traded tonight, I'm gonna scream. Well, that's fine because brand Inger's not
someone who impacts the title race. But it depends depends on what the framework
is. The Proklopez is going to New Orleans were we're maybe we're just swapping
the bucks and the Pelicans and our tears, so we'll have to agree even
while you're about to have a baby. So maybe, like, if there's
a move that doesn't it can't happen this week, that'll just be worth it.
But there's a move that happens within the next couple of months that shifts
this, we'll have to redo it and maybe see how much it changed.
Yes, this feels like a fun like mid season after the trade deadline to
revisit. Oh god, just how wrong will it? No one's gonna trade
They have no idea what's going on? That's right? Well, now,
Dan, all these teams are saving their mid level exceptions for trade exceptions.
Clearly, that's that's the only reason they're not spending them right now. Yeah,
that's the only reason. Well, we'll have to do a how a
team's got too scared of the Second April Podcast at some point a follow up
to teams should be afraid of the Second April Podcast and should we get like
CJ. McCollum and Grant Williams on the podcast, Grant, how do you
feel about getting the last big mid tier contract in NBA history? Congratulations?
And I just I know people now, let's not we we need to save
it. I have. It's just wow, that's all. Well, there
we go. We've got another podcast in the Hoppersit we just this happens last
time we recorded where it was was like, well, we're going to record
another one. Well, Dan, thank you as always for coming on.
It's always a blast to have you and to walk you through goofy exercises like
this. So can you let our listeners know one more time where they can
find you on Twitter and where they can find your work. Yes, follow
me on Twitter at Dan Favalley fav al E. All my stuff is at
Bleacher Report, and then also check out the Hardwood Knox podcast. Just like
the NBA podcast, we cover the NBA at large because there's not enough NBA
podcasts out there. Quite frankly, you have no options aside from the NBA
Podcast and Hardwoodknox. You might as well subscribe YouTube, Spotify, Apple,
the whole nine, but spelled exactly as the towns come check, Grant and
I out and then from time more than occasionally, I would say, Brian
is on the podcast as well, so that's another reason to come tune in.
And I love doing these things with you. I'm always happy to talk
to talk hoops with you. I'm excited that we get to tease. We're
doing the Brian Windhorse thing where he's I know things but I can't say it,
and we're just we've got content coming. We're gonna tell you what it
is. But there's yeah, yeah, it's a fun extra sign So please
go subscribe to Hardwood Docs. I will be on there sometime within the next
week, presumably we'll see when this thing gets published if we are, But
we do have a fun project coming up and hope you all enjoy that because
we have a ton of fun doing it. But Dan, thank you again.
We always love having you, and please everyone, thank you for listening
in. As always. Please follow us on Twitter at the NBA Pod.
You can find our Twitter handles and our bios to give us to follow as
well. You can also find us on iTunes and we're about to podcast or
founds on iTunes. Please subscribe download please the five star reviews. Until next
time. I'm Brian's Pork and I was joined by our very special guest,
Dan Valley of Bee Hardy with NOx Podcast. Dan, thank you again,
my friends. We will talk too, Yes, talk you very soon.
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