What is Kracklak In hardwin Knox list, there is I Am Dance Valley coming
at you solo today because we had a podcast scheduled within guests. Won't spoil
them because as I plan on having them back, but there were technical difficulties.
Couldn't get their service to work. They were coming at me from an
MBA arena, so we pivot. But if you're not, I am caffeinated.
Having listened to lots of emo punk before recording this podcast and doing some
research, I thought it was good to default to a mail bag since that
would also allow us to tackle some of the most recent news items before we
get started, though, Please please pretty please with sugar on top, reminder
to rate, review and subscribe to Hardwinknox wheview you get your podcasts, whether
you use iTunes or not, we asked that you head over there, search
Tarbor Knox, STO or Step five, start reading in review. Those help
us out a ton in the charts. If this is your first time listening
to us, welcome. Whether you've come here ran or by suggestion, or
just saw this tweet or whatever, we hope that you stick around consider throwing
us that permanent subscription. I promise. It is not just me going solo
all the time. Predominantly, It's not that. Again, this was a
special circumstance. We are in totality, myself and my co host Adam Promo
only modestly insufferable when it comes to podcasts that covered the entire NBA at large
in my totally unbiased, uninvested opinion. Follow us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox.
You can follow us on Instagram at Hardwood Underscore Knox. Follow our YouTube
channel go to YouTube dot com so or Hardwood Knox. We will come up
subscribe there and yeah, that's about it. You follow me on Twitter two
if really want to, at Damp Valley FA V A L E. But
we do have them all back to get too. We had a ton of
really good questions and some really shitty questions that I did not answer because they
were in in mocking of certain things. I appreciate jokes, but I'm getting
a little bit I don't want to use the word annoyed. Let's say a
tired fatigue disgusted by the Zion Williams and wait jokes, I've only filtered in
the great questions. There were something that I was unable to get to just
jet because we had so many and I want to keep this podcast to under
two hours and fifty minutes or what have you. I think we should begin
with Kemba Walker. John Let's pick it with John Wall because we had a
couple of questions on John Wall. Actually no one asked us about Kemba Walker
the Knicks announcing that he was going to be displaced from the rotation. So
let's actually begin there. I'll just provide my two cents, maybe even three
cents on this entire situation. Tibbs basically came out, didn't basically come out.
He did come out told reporters that Kemba Walker is no longer in the
rotation. The Knicks are going to be starting Alec Burks. It's a decision
that is in stark contrast how the Knicks acted last year with Alfred Peyton,
who they kept in the rotation to their detriment both during the regular season and
the playoffs. I think you can probably applaud Tibbs finally making this decision.
I'm tend to be indifferent to it. It doesn't prove to me that he's
necessarily learned anything. I think this more so speaks to how low risk the
Kemba Walker addition was. When you're looking at the money he's making, you
didn't have a ton of equity and invested in him, so it's easier for
you to say, Hey, we're gonna bench Kemba rather than bench Evan Fournier,
who we gave three guarantee years in free agency at essentially double the price
point of what Kemba Walker is making per year. This is not to say
that I think Evan Fournier should have been the one that's benched. I'm probably
more intrigued by what the Knicks would look like if you bench Evan Fourie instead
of Kemba Walker, But I'm also intrigued to see a more extensive sample from
this starting unit with Alec Burks in there. They've only played Burkes, Fournier,
Barrett Randall, and Mitchell Robinson twenty five possessions together this season. They
have outscored opponents by twelve point six points per one hundred possessions over that small
size, one twenty eight offensive rating against the one fifteen point four defensive rating
ones and mark the former and the ladder is absolute a dogshit. Again,
such a small sample size. You don't know. What I do think this
infers is there are a few things. One, they clearly the Knicks clearly
didn't want to separate a manual quickly and Derrick Rose too much if they were
gonna eat into the second unit. That's been just straight up annihilating fools this
year. And I totally get that. You can give Alec Burks the quick
hook and put in Derrick Rose if you're looking for more stable point guard presence
there. Maybe even if you want to manual quickly to be the first sub
off the bench in this situation. So there are ways around that, and
I like that thinking there. I also think that while Derrick Rose is long,
while we've seen Manuel quickly step up defensively, you might get a little
bit more wing type resistance from Alec Burks just because Evan four Day is going
to need to be hidden. He's just not going to help you there.
What is interesting about this, though, is I'm assuming look and when you
look at Kemma Walker's been hitting threes this season. People were pointing at the
season stats he's at a higher clip from three that Evan four Day on the
year, But Evan Fourier has also been a lot better recently than Kemba Walker
has. When you look at you know, since November first, which is
really when this whole Knicks malay started. There six and eight. In the
month of November, Evan four Day is shooting thirty five point nine percent from
three, which is, you know, not great he's been. He's really
upped it over the past few games. Kemba walkers at twenty nine point six
percent. The concern about Kemba Walker is he's getting the rim even less than
in previous years. Twenty one percent of the shots are coming at the rim.
It's only a one percent increase over last season, and then that number
has been on sort of the downtick over the past few years. Tim's also
mentioned didn't want to put three undersized guards in the rotation. There's some definite
merit to that the Knicks defense is picked up in November, owed only in
small part to just more lucky. I wouldn't even call it lucky. Opponent
three point shooting. Opponents are shooting sub thirty six percent against them from three
in the month of November. It's their rim protection has been astounding. Opponents
are shooting fifty six percent at the rim against the Knicks in the month of
November, which is just that's by far and away the league's best mark,
and they're actually taking a bunch of their shots within four feet just given how
the Knicks are defending right now. So they're twelfth and points slob per possession
for the month of November, but their offense that's coincided with a twenty fourth
place ranking and points scored per possession. Kemba Walker has not really helped you
there when he's not making shots. What I think this decision says, other
than the size of Kema Walker, if he's three inches taller, if he's
Alfred Peyton's size, is Evan Fourney they make this decision for I still don't
know, because there is it becomes politics. You paid Evan Fourney more,
are you going to rip him out of the rotation, let alone the starting
unit. What I also think this says by moving out of Barks into the
starting lineup, the Knicks really want Julius Randall to just have carte blanche influence
over the offense. And I thought that Kema Walker did a fairly good job
of trying to exist within the larger dynamic of Nick games. To where he
wasn't the reason that we saw Julius Randall struggle with his efficiency as much as
we have. I think the tougher thing for Randall has just been when he's
off the ball more, it doesn't really feel like he knows what to do,
and his offense isn't coming in these vastly different forms. Overall, this
is still someone who wants to operate with the ball in his hands an attack,
and there's real credence to saying, hey, he is our best player.
We paid him. Move Burked into the starting unit. He's called the
point guard, but it's really it's really Julius Randall who is running your offense.
That is an interesting decision to make. I do not yet know if
it's the right one. If you tell me it's going to result in more
touches for RJ. Barrett, I'm all here for it. Maybe this is
even a situation where you insert Derek Rosse Paul RJ. Barrett and give him
time to get more offensive reps with the second unit where he can have more
of an influence over the offense. And if that is a trickle down effect
of moving Kema Walker out of the rotation, I think it's worth it because
me personally, I'm more concerned with New York long term trajectory. No matter
how much they went all in over the office, it wasn't really all.
Don't think they changed themselves to anything that they can't reverse. But this is
a team that's not built to be great. It was never built to be
great. It was built to be good, and I think they've underachieved relative
to those expectations. They have the league's hardest remaining schedule, and so there
is some urgency to kind of figure this out. That being said, Julius
Randall shooting splits have been a lot worse with Kemba Walker off the court,
and so removing the threat of Kemba Walker's creation, I am wondering what that
could do to Randall. The idea of Kemba Walker is worth something, even
when Kemba Walker is actually struggling and you're replacing with Alc Burks, who,
yeah, he's a shot generated himself, So Julius Randall might be fine there.
Randall's played better more efficiently with Evan Fourney off the court. That is
something to monitor, and this is including during the month of November. How
much of that is just skewed by the fact that the Knicks starting line up
to this point has been a bottom feeder, just the worst high volume unit
in the NBA, but by far for the most part, there's definitely noise
in there. Still something to monitor though, because I think it says a
lot about how the Knicks want to use Julius Randall and maybe how they feel
about Yes, he needs more spacing and shock creation around him, but is
his offense really going to change, does his feel for playing within that is
that going to improve? And TIBs. It kind of mentioned that they're going
in they were going in too many different directions, and that could speak to
the offseason of maybe going one too far, where they leaned so far into
offensive creation that they got away from specialists, or just maximizing the fit around
Julius Randall at least during the regular season. That's not necessarily on the Chema
Walker edition that could have fallen into their lap. It does seem like they
had advanced notice on it, just given how much cap space they left themselves
to operate with. I just don't overall, is what I'm getting at.
I don't view this necessarily as a solution to anything at least not guaranteed.
It is an answer, it's a response, it's a change, and I
think you need to give the Knicks credit for making such a stark change this
early in this well not this early, but just making a start change at
all, when they were more stubborn last year. I don't know if that
implies growth from TIBs. I'm not going to say yes there. Let's see
if he's willing to adjust from here. I also don't think this is the
last week heard from kemba walker in New York injuries for one happen. I
think you can talk yourself into certain instances that he can still be valuable off
the bench. If this doesn't work in New York seasons, go off the
rails even more so, what do they look at? But they try and
get him back in the starting unit. If they shake things up even further,
maybe we get to a point. I would probably wait a couple of
weeks. If he wants a trade. There are teams that I think could
certainly use him, and he's so cheap. I don't know what his value
would be. But if you don't have to take on any long term salary
and you do him a solid, Maybe send him to you know, a
team like the Clippers could really need him. Their offense is hovering around the
bottom five and points per possession, but they probably need someone who puts more
rim pressure on their basket. Maybe a team just like New Orleans that is
not winning games is not going to win games either, but it's clearly trying
to win games just to provide some outside shooting stability at point guard there for
them, you know, in addition to DeVante Graham. Obviously, when you
haven't gotten a lead from mkil Alexander Walker or a or a Kyra Lewis junior
and they're not really playing Thomas Sataranski, there are teams that would want Kim
Walker, and I think there are teams that could absolutely where he could absolutely
help them. I just don't think we're gonna get that point to the Knicks.
There's a wait and see mode here obviously, and I just I don't
know if this is gonna work, is what I'm getting at. We need
to see how it plays out. I think the player that this actually aside
from what this says about Kemba Walker and how ineffective he's been, and there
have been nights where he just looks absolutely washed. But they've never needed him
to be the takeover guy, and I think he prioritized trying to not be
that at certain points, even though he just probably can't. So this is
first and foremost want a referendum on Kemba Walker how he's played, specifically since
you know, for the for the past month or so. I think what
it says more or equally excuse me. It says a lot about how the
Knicks want to use Julius Randall and how they think that needs to be set
up. And so Alec Burks has had some really good moments this year.
He is shooting forty five point one percent from three. This is someone who
can also get you a bucket, and that might be with the ball on
his hands. That might be why this could work out is you're losing Kemba
Walker's shot creation in theory, and he's still better passer than Alec Burks.
But Burks is not someone who is foreign too working with the ball in his
hands, and so you still have that element of, oh, can someone
go out and just create their own jumper, because Kemba Walker wasn't getting to
the rim anyway, and at this point you're going to get more, you
know, I shouldn't even say that, You're probably going to get just as
much, if not, you know, a tad more rim pressure from Alec
Burks. His twenty one percent of his shots are coming at the rim the
season. That's identical to Kemba Walker's share. So these are the Knicks.
Just don't have those A ton of those guards that are going to get to
the basket at will. I think Alec Burks was one of the potential right
answers, though, and it was less about who were you putting in the
starting unit. If it was Emmanuel quickly I would get it. It was
Derrick Rose, I would get it, and I get Alec Burks. I'm
just wondering. I do think people were quick to say that you haven't watched
the Knicks if you said this, and maybe that says something about how much
people have watched the Knicks for the month of November or the past couple of
weeks. Even four days looked better on offense. I don't think that this
is a no brainer call when it's between Evan Fournier and Kema Walker to see
who's more not more damning, but who where's the greater opportunity for addition by
subtraction. I guess is what the question comes down to, and the Knicks
have decided it was Kemba Walker. I don't think that's the wrong answer.
I'm just not positive that's the absolute right answer. And they might just value
Evan Fournier size point like he's six seven, not a good defender, but
that's versus Kema Walker, who's six foot and probably high tops. So back
to those decision Tips made, we need to see how it works out.
The Knicks are playing the Nets on Tuesday night. Who just lost? By
the way, quick note on the Nets, they lost Joe Harris is going
to have ankle surgery. That's a big blow for them. He is to
me, Penny Mills has been great. Was the Marcus Aldrich for them.
I would still view Harris is their third best and most important player. You're
already now without Kyrie, you're down two of your four most important players.
Now Patty Mills is going to replace some of that shooting. When you look
at just the wing minutes, that's going to put a lot on Bruce Brown
or DeAndre Bembrey. I wonder depending on how much time Harris misses since there's
no timetable, but it seems like there's no concrete timetable with the Nets are
hoping he'll be back in like eight to twelve weeks I think it was,
and maybe on the earlier end of that timetable, if I'm not misremembering.
Do they go out and try and find a wing? Can they get a
Daniel House from Houston? Maybe just for someone to replace like the body on
the wing. You're not going to get Joe Harris's functional shooting back, but
just as another body, because Harris covered some pretty important defensive assignments at points.
And so if you believe in DeAndre Benbrie, if you believe in Bruce
Brown, that's that's fine. But the Joe Harris stuff is going to be
something to watch from here on. From Brooklyn. Let's move on to the
John Wall stuff. We have various increase about him given the latest update according
to a Woage, while recently met with Rockets general manager Rafael Stone about rejoining
Houston's rotation, which he is yet to set foot in this season. That
dialogue did absolutely nothing. Wall apparently wants to start. The Rockets only wanted
him to come off the bench. That was apparently the status quo over the
off season as well, which speaks to why he ended up not playing at
all. Trading Wall is easier said than done. To put it lightly,
He's owed forty four point three million this season and forty seven point three million
next year on a player option. Per Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannex, suitors
are only interested in dealing from Wall if he declines that player option, which
he has no reason to do because he's not even gonna recup forty seven point
three million dollars over the course of a three year deal if he were to
reject it. Equally implausible, the Rockets are not attaching sweeteners to get rid
of Wall. I guess could you talk to yourself into giving up Milwaukee's twenty
twenty three first or just some seconds to do it? Perhaps, But rebuilding
squads have little incentive to unlold picks or prospects just for the sake of cutting
salary. That's not something there they're going to do, and just moving him
is so difficult. There are teams that could arguably use him, but they're
going to be interested if he gets bought out. That's basically what it is.
Or I guess apparently permatics, if he declines his player option. When
you're dealing with a number this huge, even looking at the short term becomes
difficult. He's not all of a sudden a trade asset over the summer because
he's making forty seven point three million dollars. You're how often DC trades where
you're just sending out that one monstrous salary attached to whatever picks and prospects to
get a star, And that's really the only situation in which it would be
valuable. Otherwise you're looking at probably minimum a three for one deal is what
you have to do when you're trading John Wall because that salary is so huge,
and then they're whatever teams are going to trade for him. You're not
going to view Wall in the terms of, well, we can wave him
or broke ra a buy out with him next season, because waving and stretching
his salary over three years is just like, what does it do. It's
fifteen plus million dollars basically in dead money for three years. There that's that's
not great. And then you can't just have that much dead money on the
books if you're trying to win, which if you're training from Wall. I
assume you're probably trying to do. I don't. There just aren't worse contracts
out there for bad teams to talk themselves into acquiring Wall. I mean even
trying to find like longer term deals. There's no truly bad long term deal
on the books that makes sense to take on this season of Wall in next
season. If that, If that's how you're viewing, if you really want
John Wall, would ever think he's still good? That's fine too. I
just don't. I don't know what that team is. It's almost it's almost
impossible to just come up with a team where it makes sense too they should
actually train for John Wall. You could look at, you know, Cleveland
having lost Colin Sexton for the year, that would be fairly interesting, and
you do have Kevin Love salary. But Love has played like fairly well for
Cleveland through nice touchdown pass on Monday Night, by the way, I think
to Darius Garland that was a fun watch. And also just beyond his salary,
you have to come up with more money, and you're just not chock
full of these expendable players. You're still getting into that issue of three for
ones and four for ones, and are you going to give him Jetty Osman,
who's been shooting really well for you this year. So that's just a
team where it doesn't make sense. I think the one that I've landed on.
And look, if Houston was willing to include assets, then yeah,
could Detroit, Could Oklahoma City teams like that? Maybe even Sacramento if they
finally blow it up like they absolutely should. Can they talk themselves into taking
Wall? Yeah? There are teams that I think can convince themselves to take
on Wall if they're getting compensated, and maybe not even heavy compensation. That
being said, the Houston Rockets have no reason to offer that the Galaxy brand
trade is just swapping Russell Westbrook for John Wall. Throw a rush back to
Houston and Lakers pivot. But aside from me, trolling Russ has not been
the primary issue of late for Los Angeles. I do think is fit is
still a long term dilemma for them, but he's not. I don't adding
Wall. It just doesn't help you unless you think he's going to be this
monstrous defensive upgrade and provide you with a ton more force basing possible, but
unlikely. I've settled on the Clippers, and they have the ready made framework
of Okay Eric Butzo. He's making eighteen plus million this year three point nine
million partial guarantee next year. He can be an offensive zero without being great
on defense. You have Sir Gerbacca's expiring salary. He's just not looked great
after returning from his back injury. The only other way to recoup it the
ret or not to recoup to build on top of that, though, you
still need another player, if not two players, if not three players,
because it's either Marcus Moore Senior or Luke nar that you would have to include
as that third player. I still think it's Canard. He opened the season
on relative fire, but he's dipped below thirty four percent shooting from deep over
the past twelve games, and he's barely hitting forty percent of his twos for
the season. His defensive energy has been pretty admirable at times, but he's
owed forty three point two million this season through twenty twenty four, with a
team option for twenty four twenty twenty five. So when you hear people say
that he's on a four year, sixty eight million dollars contract, it's really
he's guaranteed three years, including this one, in forty three point two million.
That is still less than John Wall is making this season, not never
mind what's happening next season for the Clippers. Still, I think you can
say that Wall is going to give you more as a passer. He's going
to give you more someone who could put pressure at the rim. And right
now LA is twenty fifth and point scored per possession twenty eight and the share
of their shots that come at the rim and twenty ninth in transition efficiency.
Wall can even with you know, his downgraded level of explosion from his aday,
he's still gonna give you some extra pressure on set defenses and he's definitely
an outside shooting and playmaking up grade over Eric Bledsoe. If you're willing to
move Kennard, which if I'm the Clippers, I'm probably not doing it,
just because the number for Wall next year, And that's where you get into
the problems of you're raising your tax bill this season. I'll be it not
by much because this three for one package is only adding in raws salary under
four million dollars to your payroll. But next season that's going to limit what
you can do. You probably need to view Wall as a trade asset because
you're not this would be a classic team that's not going to buy him out
or just take that lesser cap it. They need that money to go to
someone. Maybe they view it that way, I honestly don't know, or
maybe they like his fit with Kauai and PG where he's all of sudden the
third option instead of even the number two this season. There's probably a path
to justifying it. Just because you don't have Kawai. You don't know if
he's going to come back from that Parsley torn acl and your defense has been
so good at points that if you can just get a nudge in the right
direction offensively, maybe you really have something here. And the West is beyond
Phoenix in Golden State and Utah, the West is wide open. We know
that the Nuggets are not gonna have Michael Porter Junior for probably the rest of
this season. We don't know when Jamal Murray's coming back. That was the
other sort of bit of breaking news is that Denver is now without you know,
it's two best players addition to PJ Doger, he's also out for the
season. The impact on the nug Gets, by the way, if they
had one of Murray or Michael Porter Jr. I think that they would be
a viable title contender. And it could be Michael Porter Jr. As that
one. He wasn't playing well when he went down, that was due to
injury. I think you clearly know at this point. I'll touch on the
Nuggets actually in a second for a little bit. So if the West is
wide open enough, maybe the Clippers can talk them into this. Maybe this
is a situation where what if they're getting a Walkie's twenty twenty three first back
and that's just an asset they can include in a deal, and Houston Viusa
as a throwaway asset. You know, let's break Wall up into some digestible
contracts. Two of them come off the books after the seasons, and she
pay Eric Blets, it'll go away. You can also Lukenard's only twenty five.
He's also eminently tradeable. That's something you can look at, or just
a couple of seconds, that's something that they could throw in there just the
cost of, Hey, we're you know, getting rid of a what's become
a distraction for us. I think you could also argue that Wall can help
the Rockets and not in a bad way. I know you want to develop
Kevin Porter Jror In Jail and Green, but there needs to be a safety
net beyond them, which is why it's so puzzling that they couldn't even guarantee
Wall like an actual role. I mean, aside from just taking up DJ
Augustine's minutes. I think that he can really help out Jalen Green specifically,
but even Kevin Porter Jr. Is I don't think either of those guys should
have the full brunt of Houston's offensive burdens voice it on to them. And
that's what makes this decision so absolutely puzzling. From the rocket standpoint, Just
to draw that line seems I get it, and you appreciate the investment in
the youth, but you can't there's something to not leaving kids all alone.
And Wall if he's willing to play for you, and even if you needed
to start him and just give him a quick hook, if he's willing to
play like a twenty to twenty five minutes per game role, that's fine.
I think that that can actually help you. How just beyond the Clippers,
though, looking at outside teams that would trade for Wall, I'm not talking
about a buyout. I don't I honestly don't have anyone. I thought about
Memphis when John Morant first went down, but luckily he's gonna be back in
a few weeks. And even then, it's like, I don't know why
you would want to trade Steven Adams and Filler just to get Wall and then
still have them on your books when Marian is going to be there. Orlando
could really use the offensive. Joelton has some just throw away like if you
Terrence Ross and Gary Harris, like those are guys who were expendable. They're
not trying to win games either. I know people have mentioned sort of Philly.
It's just it's not happening. It's part of a bensit even if they
leaned, I guess if they leaned all the way to a future return and
they really like Tyrie s Baxy. I just don't even know why you want
Wall's money on the books. That's just gonna bring you closer to you know,
it's not gonna it will increase your task bill depending on the money that's
there, But just to have that much, that dollar amount tied up in
one player, it limits your your flexibility of what you're going to spend,
even though I guess you could argued that it does so without hamstring and roster
Spots's not you, It's not John Wall's not costing you two roster spots.
It's still one roster spot. I just I don't see a fit anywhere else.
If you have one, feel free to get at me. And I'm
talking about a team that have actually trade for John Wall. If you have
one, get at me at Damp Valley, at a V A L.
E. Let's talk about this Michael Porter Junior stuff very quickly. He's going
to have back surgery, might be out for the rest of the season.
The Rockets aren't quite sure. They made the decision early enough where I think
it's open ended. This is really a gut punch, another gut punch for
a Nuggets team that already missing Jamal Murray now missing PJ. Doger, has
had their fair share of offensive struggles this year. Yokich was out with a
risk injury for a while. He did return on Monday night, though,
so that's also that's also good news for them. It's just what do they
do? And I think there are a bunch of different ways to look at
it. They're a team that's five hundred, they're sixteenth and offensive efficiency nineteen.
The defensive efficiency. Ironically, I destroyed my co host Adam for saying
that Yoki belonged to the early season defensive Player of the Year discussion. I
still kind of believe he needed to be shamed for that, But not having
Yokis really seemed to fuck with Denver's defense just he plays such a he plays
well their hyper aggressive style, has good hands and can really get up onto
the ball and is at least in the right spots. And so going from
him to either a smaller front cord or having to rely on just guys who
don't have as much reps are on as good defensively in that scheme really hurt
them. And then also you can't just expect Aaron Gordon to anchor that all
on his own. So the defense might pick up for Denver, the offense
is going to be fine with Yokitch on the floor. I think you would
preferably you need a help replace Dozer what he brought to you defensively, or
just looking at Porter Junior indoors, you're collectively you need another wing who can
hoist threes. I don't really know what trades out there they're going to be
willing to make. I like Eric Gordon for this team, but then you
get into scenarios where you're trading two of Jamachael Green, Jeff Green, and
Monte Morris. Plus something else is he's too small for you as well.
He's going to give you some offensive creativity, hit deep threes, get at
the rim. That's great, but you probably want someone who can more consistently
defend wings. And if you're going to funnel so much of your resources into
an eighteen plus a million dollars per year player, eric Gordon's just not properly
size for it. I also don't know that you make that type of a
big time move when you're dealing with so many injuries. I don't know who's
going to make me feel a lot better about the nuggets immediate title chances.
Should you tell me they're not gonna have Michael Porter Jr. All All or
Jamal Murray to close this year? And there's a very real chance that they
won't, And you don't want to funnel your assets into just a wasted season.
Maybe there's more of a stop gap here. Can you look at getting
a you to want a Nabby from Toronto, would they even be willing to
move him Daniel House again? And Houston is someone who in theory can hit
threes even though he's not right now, and he's going to give you some
just defensive positional valuability. I mean, like, those are probably the scale
of move that Denver would be better off focusing on, because I don't I
also want I don't know what the all in proposition really looks like for them.
But two, it is fairly hard for them to match salary because you're
not trading Gordon sign up to an extent, but you're not trading Gordon,
not trading Yokis, you're not trading Murder, You're not trading Michael Porter Jr.
At this point, And so the salary matching gets tough after that.
And if you're gonna give up a Bones Highland or even a Zeke Nashi,
you need to be getting back someone you view is probably a longer not probably
definitely a longer term part of your core. And and even if even if
it's the Reggie Bullock and you're just betting on let's say the Maverison want to
move him to a conference rival, and that you can bank on him playing
better with you. You're not giving up Bones Highland for that type of equity.
Josh Hart in New Orleans would be interesting. He's having a hell of
a year. I'd be curious what the asking rate is for that. I
don't think they're gonna want the first first round pick that Dever can trade,
which I believe is in two thousand and twenty seven. Do you give up
Bones Highland for Josh Hart? When Hart is not really a shock creator,
you do have him under team's control beyond this season if you want that is
Josh Hart, but Highland there's a swing there, like he has a high
ceiling as someone who can generate his own offense. But it is also just
right now. We saw it on Monday Night his return to the lineup just
did a bunch of super deep threes and really opens up the floor for you
and can have these big nights if you can figure out a way to get
Josh Hart without giving up Bones Highland. If it's costing you Zeke, if
it's costing you one of the Greens, if it's costing you Monte More,
would you Zeke naj Monty Morris for Josh Hart? Do the Pelicans even want
to do that. I think Monte More actually probably help their offense, and
Zeke Nagi deepens their center rotation. But you have minutes good minutes from Willie
herding Gomez right now plush Jonas Valanciunist Jackson has been bounced from the rotation.
So yeah, even even that comes in as you can you send Zeke nag
somewhere else that might send New Orleans something that they want. Josh Hart might
be like the biggest name that I could envision the Nuggets targeting, and so
far so we've been willing to go that far, and I don't know that
i'd endorse them. I'm always for teams going after it, but just the
sheer breath of the injuries, the the players that they're missing, I just
can't bring myself unless they're gonna stump into someone that we can't even think about
right now. I don't know why you would be ultra aggressive on the trademarket
here. You should probably just be monitoring more so for cheaper flyers or a
middle end option. Again, Josh Hart might be might be the limit for
me, And that's even been generous to someone who you want to shoot threes
never just been this super efficient, high volume guy from deep for his career,
and so that would be something else to consider. Let's dive head first
into this actual mailbag, though, we will begin with the NBA chicken who
asked what trends are you buying roughly twenty games into the season. Rather than
focus on this player is better, this team is better, I'm buying this
team for real. I mean, if you want to ask, I'm definitely
buying Golden State for real, if anyone cares tongue in cheek there, I'm
buying into the offense being down and really dropping as a result of not just
the new officiating rules, but also the past two seasons really were butchered by
the coronavirus pan make it. You got into a situation where players went into
the bubble that you know for the eight games plus the playoffs where they were
shooting the lights out, and then just last year when you didn't have fans
and stands in a lot of places for much of the season, and so
you look at this year. The average offensive rating so far is one hundred
and eight point six. That is down from last year where it was one
twelve point nine and that, and also you go back to two thousand,
nineteen twenty and twenty, the average offensive rating NN was one ten point nine,
and so there's even there's definitely some correction there, like you went from
that full season with m the Arenas. But so even going back to two
than nineteen thousand twenty where you only really have those bubble games slightly inflating those
offensive ratings, you're still looking at a demonstratus drop off there. The foal
rate average foal rate that year twenty point two in two thousand, nineteen twenty
and twenty, in two twenty two twenty one, the average foal rate free
throw tenth rate. Excuse me, it was nineteen point two. You're this
season strup at seventeen point five. I think that might go up a little
bit as time goes on, as refs, you know, aren't as loose
with the with the whistle. It does feel like there were maulings at the
rim that really should have been called. And everyone's still adjust eating to adjusting
to this new world order, so that will go up a little bit.
But those sort of effects feel like they're here to stay. And the other
thing would be, are we going to see this difference in shot distribution.
Thirty two point one percent of the average shots for teams are coming at the
rim this year. That's down from last year at thirty three point three percent,
and that to me would be more to do with the new foul rules,
and going to two and twenty it was even higher threety five point two
percent. That's the average chair of shots that came out at the rim per
team. And so that's just what I'm buying is that offense is going to
hover more so around here. I don't think that this is just a one
year anomaly or a quarter season anomaly from last year. I really do think
the foul rules combined with how teams played last year where it wasn't as hostile
and road environment since they're moren fans, and I just think in general MP
arenas might be more conducive to two players, line of sight being more accurate,
maybe even especially for role players. That's just something I think we need
to really buy into at this point. Next question comes from Hermie. Is
Draymond back? And the answer here is yes. I think we've seen Draymond
turn on the defensive jets before in previous seasons. Over the last two specifically,
though it was definitely more selective. Last year was close to full bore.
He made All NBA First Defense and All Defense First Team, excuse me,
and he definitely deserved it. This year is like a completely different being.
We're talking about a Draymond Green who's at peak dynasty level. He came
out and said that he's not appreciated enough, basically, and it wasn't unprompted,
but he did say that defense doesn't go viral and a lot of the
people don't know what they're they're talking about. And he's right. I mean,
I cover this league for a living full time, and there's I'm not
gonna know what I'm talking about on defense. And I wouldn't use myself as
the standard because I'm a fucking idiot. But you watch Draymond Green on defense,
though, if you do actually watch him, I think it's easy to
appreciate what he does, how much he's going to communicate on the defensive end,
and really just the ground he covers and the smarts and the explosive control
with which he plays with where he's someone who could really he will hard close
out on somebody, but it's not going to fathom and we'll pull back enough
if they're going to attack off the dribble and try and capitalize on his clothes
out where it doesn't even feel like they have the advantage there. I think
he's probably one of the best in the league at contesting shots while he's really
backtracking and off balance. His rotations around the rim are just absolutely on point,
and his activity level is such that I was watching the Warriors Cavs game,
was that Sunday or Saturday, and I don't even don't even know at
this point, but there was a play where he's in the middle of the
floor like he's going to be in the half court a ton, and he
shifts over to his strong side but the CAB's weak side for a pick and
roll that's being run between Kevin Love and Darius Garland. He immediately shifts over
to cut off a cut that's coming from Isaaco Coo at the opposite end on
the other end of that court, and then once that part of it's been
neutered, he goes to cover Dean Wade in the corner and then also breaks
up the play from Ricky Rubio there. Though I'm stammering through this to try
to Remember the player should have had the highlight right in front of me,
but he's he's in the middle floor. He rotates over just to have his
eyes on the Darius Garland Kevin Love side pick and roll. Then he's moving
over to cut off the Isaaco Coro cut when that's not an imminent threat for
him. He's going to the corner where Dean Wade is sort of camped out,
but then comes back quickly enough just to break off the player. Ricky
Rubio has the ball at this point to create a turnover there. He literally
impacted all five guys in the Calv's lineup on that one half court possession,
and that was I don't know if that's the microcosm of Draymond Green's defensive impact
that play specifically, but that's just something that sprang to mind immediately for me,
is that type of activity, even whether you don't know if that's what
he's doing supposed to be the right rotation, or if the timing was there,
or if he got lucky because Ricky Rubio took like a weird, weird
path or didn't read that Draymond Green wasn't further enough in the corner for him
to try and go attack down the middle. There. Maybe Ricky Rubio's handle
was loosey goosey in the moment. There are types of things that I just
want to account I can't account for, wouldn't be able to tell you,
but that type of activity, and he just does it without fouling a ton.
He is averaging three point two fu per thirty six minutes. This is
right in line with twenty fifteen two and sixteen two, seventeen eighteen Draymond Green,
where it's the third lowest foul rate of his career. As of right
now, it's tied with others, but it's the when you're going like the
you like move the numbers more desmal places. It's the third lowest foul rate
in his career, I believe, and that for the type of activity that
he's shouldering any someone, it's not just we could we could boil out on
too. He's the best defensive player on the leagu's best defensive team. That
is absolutely fair argument. It's also just his interchangeability, not his capacity to
guard all these different positions. But where people looked at Robert Covington as a
solution for Portland, and I loved that trade for the Blazers at the time,
and I still don't necessarily despise it. I even like the Larry Nance
Junior edition. You get a bunch of good team defenders, your defense should
be better. But Robert Covington is not going to be this just lockdown one
on one guy. He doesn't necessarily have the girth to do that. To
couple that with his quickness and ability to use hands, and I think he's
been last year's probably a little bit better in one on one situation than people
credit him. This year, I think he's just been exploited more. Draymond
Green can be that guy where it's I'm not necessarily going to be the back
line or the free safety of this defense. You want to put me on
Kevin Durant, go ahead and just put me on Kevin Durant, and he'll
still do other stuff, always defending Kevin Durant, but he will give opponent's
hell one on one and then look, there is something too. I don't
want to throw out the window, just his positional malluability. But Warriors are
playing the Blazers and he's just so disruptive to Damian Lillard. It's not even
a matter of getting Damian Lillard to miss shots, it's the ball denial.
It's how he changes Lillard's course by the way that he is able to avoid
screens, and it forces Damian Lillard to get to get rid of the ball,
which is you know that is given Damian Lillard's had struggles appoints this season
that the net negative proposition for the Blazers is to not have the ball with
Damian Lillard's hand. So Draymond Green is back. I think he's defending at
the best level I can remember since like Peake Dynasty Warriors, and he would
be my pick for defensive Player of the year right now. My long win
and answer way of saying, I don't know that Draymond Green ever actually left
us, but Peake Draymond Green on defense appears to be back. Funny that
I mentioned Blazers because doctor Funkenstein asked, what are the best lineups for the
Blazers on offense and defense? We probably need to come up with some arbitrary
cutoff here. If you want to use like twenty five possessions, you can
get into some real, like you know, odd results if we use it
with a minimum of twenty five possessions logged. Their best offensive unit is going
to great out as the oh it's still gonna be if fifty five possession unit
of Damian Lillard, Anthony Simon's, Norman Powell, Robert Comington use of Nurkics.
They have a one thirty two point seven offensive rating. They also have
a really good defensive rating. This comes on the back of them shooting eighty
five plus percent from mid range and getting to the rim just a bonkers amount.
That group has a ninety point seven offense defensive rating by the way,
so in terms of pure offensive results minimum twenty five possessions, whether it's minimum
of fifty possessions doesn't matter. That unit and they're one thirty two point seven
offensive ratings has been portlands best this season. Moving on to the defensive side
of the floor, just looking at the numbers minimum of twenty five possessions,
the best defensive unit has probably been the Lillard, McCullum, Powell Lowry NaN's
use of Nurkics unit. They've only played twenty eight possessions together. They've an
eighty three point eight defensive rating, which they have gotten on the back of
they've allowed a ton of shots at the rim. But they've they have opponent
shooting zero percent from three point range in that time and thirty seven point five
percent from mid range overall and sixty percent at the rim, which is just
it's it's a fine marsh, like not super elite, but but it's okay.
So there's probably just some luck taked into there of their higher volume units.
Just if you want to look at just their their top ten ones they're
played, they've gotten some really good defensive run out of Zeller, Nance,
Little Simons, and Lillard. That group as a one or four point three
defensive rating, which is totally rock solid, is paired with a one twenty
six point three offensive rating. They've played five possessions together this season. They're
the fourth most used Blazers lineup to boot. Is there some luck there?
I don't know if that's a unit you look at and say, okay opponents,
or there's a reason they're shooting thirty four point three percent from three three
point one percent from mid range, they're sixty one point three percent at the
rim. None of those numbers are so low that it really makes you think
there's like too much noise there. They're probably allowing a few too many attempts
at the rim, and maybe they're getting a little bit lucky when it comes
to opponent three point shooting. They have done a great job sort of limiting
transition frequency, so that's a big part of it too. And I think
if you look at them and say, Okay, well, this is a
team where you have the weak links sort of on the perimeter, but you
have three guys who hold up and in the team scheme specifically, and Little
has been playing lights out lights I've been playing really well this year, and
you're grabbing your defensive rebounds. There's some low hanging fruit there that could help
them. So that would be my actual pick, just because they've played so
they've played so much this season, just relative to the rest of the Blazer's
units, and they would probably be if you're trying to grade the most effective
Blazers unit on the year, I think the Lillard Simon's Powell coming to NERK
one is going to sneak in there because of its offensive rating. But and
it's fair weather sample size fifty five possessions ranks eighth on the Blazers most use
lineups, But this one than Lillard Simon's Little Nance and Zella like that has
to be like probably there, but just by the data and melts to how
much they've played it at least the second, maybe third best lineup that they
fielded this season. Next question comes from Vince d. He asked how often
do teams win the back end of a back to back when the other team
is coming off two plus days rest. So I filtered this out at Cleaning
the Glass. Did It's the second night of a back to back, so
you're coming off to your day's rest and your opponent has at least two days
of rest. There weren't enough situations where the opponents had two plus days of
Looking at three, there was only a handful of games. The average net
rating for teams, and this is reason, is a minus five point five.
And I'm not a fan of measuring stuff like this, so this is
not telltale of necessarily anything. But a minus five point five net rating would
be the equivalent of roughly the Memphis Grizzlies this year, and that ranks twenty
fifth in your point differential per one hundred possessions, just to give you an
idea. And teams are combined five and nine in these instances, and so
rests you. I don't. You can't say this with an absolute fact because
we're dealing with such a tiny sample size. It's not only fourteen games in
general, but Chicago and Charlotte are the only teams that have played more than
one game under this circumstance, and Chicago's one and one in these situations,
Charlotte is oh and two. And then you're dealing with a bunch of one
game samples. But the average net rating just across teams that have played this
is minus five point five, which is not good, with an offensive rating
of one oh two point eight also not good, even relative to the you
know, declining offensive standards of this season. Alan Sindall asked, is al
pren Shangoon good? And my answer is yes. I don't know what he's
gonna end up being long term, but this is someone who has been probably
one of the five best rookies this season. Could be a dark harsh to
win Rookie of the Year depending on just what kind of happens with the Kate
Cunningham stuff is out there. But Evan Mobley and Scotty Barnes, will they
trail off at all? What about Chris Duarte Frons Wagner, those are all
Those are four guys that would definitely put in front of him, and then
you know the Kade situation. Looms just says the season goes on, Shanguz
has been interesting. He throws some really wildly passes off the dribble, some
one handed bangers there. He's super crappy with the ball in his hands,
can disarm defenders inside the arc, has some really artful footwork even after picking
up his handle, knows how to use his pivot foot that that flourished off
the dribble. It's just he's just a little bit quicker than I think you
real, and definitely quicker than I expected coming in. I mentioned that he's
already gonna stretch the floor. I think his defense overall has been better than
expected from what I've seen of him. He'll have moments where he's turning his
hips and moving his feet to perfection against quicker attackers. But he can also
be flame royal in space at certain times, and so I'm not really sure
what to expect from him there over the big, bigger picture, bigger picture
trajectory. But he's good. I think he's going to be really good.
He should be playing more for Houston. I get that it's probably hard to
pair him and Wood together just because you want Biggs with more of a heft.
What is your defensive rebounding going to look like in those instances. They've
actually been able to handle the defensive class when they play together, But the
defense overall is not good because I'd hazard that you don't have guys you wont
when you're dealing with someone who has to guard the flour. Neither of these
two are just going to get you a ton of shot contests on the perimeter.
They're also not these rim de turrens. We're gonna be able to cut
off drumal penetration with all this consistency, and they're not super. Neither of
them a great rim protectors. Opponents are shooting sixty nine point two percent at
the rim and fifty five point six percent from short mid range when Shane gouden
Wood are on the floor. I just I don't think Shango's ever going to
be like this net positive defender. But that might say more about right now
the results between him and what he could say more about the makeup of Houston's
roster. They're playing a lot with Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. And
so if Jay Shawn Tad is really your only net positive defender in those lineups,
you are bound to get cooked even when you are going with more defensive
oriented U. And it's just looking at the lineup data right now, Actually
you're going to be hard pressed there. But I think Shan Gouda is a
future is a really good, too great offensive center in this league. His
swing skill is just going to be defense in the sense of how can he
hold up, what type of a rim protector is he going to be?
And how does he move in space? Can he make consistent place there to
where he's not getting torched? At beakfast TV, ask what is Monte Morris
shooting from mid range? I'm a Nuggets fan. It seems like he hasn't
missed. He has in fact missed, but you I get where you're coming
from. Here shooting forty eight percent from mid range. That's forty eight of
ninety nine on the season. He's actually shooting fifty two percent on long mid
range jumpers, which are shots between fourteen feet and just inside the three point
line. He is at thirty two of sixty one from there, and then
just from the float range sixteen of thirty eight, which is good for forty
two percent, and so like the long jumpers are really propping him up there.
It's nice to have that solid option from him. Wild to me that
he is shooting fifty two percent on long mid rangers versus thirty two percent from
three he is shooting. He's shooting pretty good on above the break threes around
thirty six percent. He's five of twenty two on quarter threes, which really
that's twenty three percent that's going to drag down his total quite an actual bit.
Monte Morris though a favorite of this podcast of my co host Adam Frommel
super efficient player and of late this season mid range savant, and it's not
look this is you know, I don't think he's gonna hit fifty two percent
of his longman rangers for the season. But let's look at his career splits
for mid range fifty two percent as in two twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen,
one hundred fifty seven of three hundred and two forty one percent, twenty forty
percent last year and forty eight percent this year. Not like this huge outlier
he's always been. I would say in above average mid range shooter, and
he only played two games in twenty seventeen eighteen, so that's not caked in
to there. But yeah, he shot fifty two percent on all mid rangers
in his second season, and I was on three hundred and two attempts.
It wasn't volume that you would necessarily scoff at, so perfectly sustainable. I
have no idea fifty two percent on longman rangers. Again, that seems a
little that seems a little spicy, but this is not out of character but
by any means. For for Monte Morris Scampy asked, what's Zach Klavin shooting
on wide open threes? Zach Levine is shooting thirty eight point six percent on
wide open threes where a defender is six or more feet away from him.
That's seventeen to forty four. He's also thirty four of eighty five on open
three pointers where fender is four to six feet away from him. Ironically,
these open three pointers, combining them, they count for about the same share
of his shots as they did last season. I think he's really benefited more
so inside the arc and the path that opened up, both on the ball
and off the ball for him by having demarterrozen there and just some other weapons.
And the bull spacing has also been pretty funky at different points this year,
so that's something to consider. Zach Lavine has dropped off with his off
the dribble three point shooting. He's still around thirty five percent though unauthor dribble
threes, and that's an asset to have someone who can hit those shots.
But he's hitting his open three pointers thirty nine point five percent combined on the
season when a defender is at least four feet away from him, and knowing
that he's not doesn't need to be the primary ball head or and all these
units. That's an absolute weapon for the Bulls to years, and they have
used it. Morgan asked who is the most underrated player in the NBA currently?
This is a loaded question. It's subjective. I'll give shout outs before
I give my actual answer here. Royce O'Neill. Just the defensive workload,
Debt Carries, want Toscono Anderson is out there for me. He's not doesn't
even have a consistent place in the Warriors rotation, but he's just he's a
smart player, can fill so many different gaps. Devin Vassell is probably up
there at this point for me. Cameron Johnson, I don't think people realize
what he can do offensively other than shoot, and he wasn't shooting well to
start the season. But also just someone who's not going to to play to
your detriment on the defensive end. I think Timberwolves have two and Jade McDaniels
and Jared Vanderbilt. Both of those guys are defensive monsters, and I'm not
sure the national NBA fandom discourse covers either of them enough, and they definitely
don't get a ton of national media shine there. There are there's a subgenre
of NBA Twitter that's in love with Jared Vanderbilt this season, but those two
Iaiah Hartenstein, I could not believe that he came down as a fringe roster
guy for the Clippers this season. Excuse me as I lose my voice.
This is just someone who can pass, can make certain quick plays on offense
for you, is not going to be boom roasted every single time around the
rim defensively, just as a second or third big how he didn't have a
guaranteed roster spot for so long. We'll continue to blow my mind. Jalen
Brunson's up there. He is shooting fifty seven plus percent on drives this season.
Fun fact, there are ten players averaging ten drives per game this year.
Five players averaging ten plus drives per game this year and shooting fifty seven
percent are better on them Jannis Luca, Jalen Brunson, Mike Conley, and
Malcolm Brogden. Hysterical that Dallas has two of them and they're not a team
that puts a ton of pressure on the rim, which shows you the type
of load that the don Chechen Jalen Brunson have to one carry and then also
what they can do from that in between range. Frank neil Key is up
there for me. By the way, he was the mavst best free agent
addition in this offseason. I think that's become pretty clear. I'm not even
being tongue in cheek. Those are all honorables for me, and you can
come up with others. I think mine, and it's a higher profile on
one mostly name. I think people will recognize this is not a deep cut
of Some people might consider Isaya hart and Seen a deep cut or Frank niel
Keeno or Jaden McDaniels, even Jared Vannabot, Rishawn Holmes. This dude is
so good. He is so so so good. Sixty two point five percent
on his push shots this year. That's just a mind melting number. That's
also sustainable given how he plays. I don't think he receives enough credit for
being not bad. Defensively, He's not going to be great. He can't
resurrect the King's defense on his own, but he is a viable room protector
who is not bamed beyond ice when he's pulled a little bit further away.
This season, opponents are shooting fifty three point three percent against him at the
basket among everyone who is contested at least one hundred shots from point plank range
this year. That is the sixth best mark in the league, right around
Evan Moble, Miles Turner, Daniel Gafford, Jannis and Rudy Gobert, who
remains a monster there. This is just someone who's who's solid, and he's
just ahead of Art Allen, Clint Capella, John Collins, Domasa Bonus.
You get the picture there. I cannot believe that the King's got to keep
him on that early Bird four year deal. Where he's basically making the mid
level exception. Oh that's basically what is a little bit more, but he's
making close to mid level money over the next four years. Fourth season is
a player option. Of course. I couldn't believe that there wasn't a stronger
market for him in free agency. I'm curious to see whether he gets moved
this season. I would absolutely trade him if I'm the Kings, because his
value should be at an all time high and you should get a first round
pick, maybe an interesting young player or two for him, not super high
end stuff. Something I had sort of proposed bounced around this idea anyway,
was can you get him to Toronto and Toronto will send Sacramento it's picked this
year latter protected precious Sachuwa, Delano Banton and Gan Dragic. Maybe you send
a twenty twenty three second round pick as well from Toronto. That would be
for Tristan Thompson Rashaun Holmes. Just something that I've been ruminating about. I
think they need that nice lob threat and his skill there holds is a given,
and the open floor and his lob finisher, Like I said, he
shooting sixty two point five percent I'm on fucking floaters. That is that is
nuts, That's just absolutely bonkers. I don't know that you get two first
rounders for him and Dolonald Benton has got to be the equivalent of probably a
lower end first rounder right now, just because the contract is shorter, even
though it's super cheap. But he's been playing really well. Just disrupts defensively
like he was supposed to, but he's given them raptors secondary ball handler,
puts real pressure on the paint that defenses are reacting to, finishing well inside
and giving other guys on the Raptors time to work away from the ball just
by being that capable ball carrier for them. I don't want to say free
home. I'd like to see r Sean Holmes had a playoff team. Though
he's been great for the Kings. The Kings deserve credit for bringing him in
giving him that role. The fact that they kept him, that's kudos to
them. Again, I was shocked that he cost that little, but he's
the most underrated player in the en to me, because I think it even
was more proven in free agency, where I think he should have been just
higher up on teams. Wishless. I know that maybe a lot of teams
don't want to invest a ton of bigs who aren't stars, or maybe who
aren't top tier defenders. I get it. He's so plug and play and
scalable, and yet what he does just can't readily be matched. This isn't
someone who's just an open floor finisher. You're not going to find a big
who just replicate his push shot. I still believe that he could probably stretch
defenses out further if he was allowed to something that Sacramento hasn't really given him
the license to do or tried to have him do. And if you're just
going to field a big who can play thirty plus minutes a game and is
not going to hurt your defense, And if anything, he probably looked the
Raptors specifically, they're twenty ninth in ponta field goal percentage of the rim.
Rashaun Holmes probably helps their defense there. They do a good job of dissuading
looks at the rim just because they are so disruptive on the perimeter. But
he is someone who can actually help certain defenses. So he remains my most
underrated player in the NBA, which I actually think is wild to stay because
to me, he should be entering the Mike Conley territory of No, he's
not on the same level of stardom as comedy, but he's been around this
discussion for so long it's time to graduate from it, and I still just
don't think he is appreciated. Let's wrap up on this fun one. Addikanmu
asked, where's the goat Mario Hazonia? He is in Russia. He signed
a two year deal, player options for the second year to play in the
VTG United League in Russia. If you're curious to see how he's faring,
he one says that he likes everything in Russia, and through twenty plus appearances
nineteen starts, he's averaging almost thirty minutes per game, sixteen point two points,
one point seven steals, shooting twenty six point five percent from three,
getting to the line four point two attempts per per game. Good for him.
He's averaging more more turnovers to two point three than assist per game one
point nine. Not the type of season that would make you think that he
is coming back to the NBA anytime soon. Thank you to everyone who's up
with this solo mail bag. We'll be back with a two person podcast later
on this week. If you've made it this far, please remember a rate
review. Subscribe to Hardwood Knock download all our episodes. Also tell your friends,
family members, acquaintances, co workers about us, Retweet our promos on
Twitter, anything to help us continue getting the word out about how pleasantly sub
mediocre we are. Until next time, I'll leave you with the shout out
to the one, the only, one of the most enduring underrated players in
the NBA, Frank Neil Kina