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What is Kracklak In hardwin Knox list, there is I Am Dance Valley coming

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at you solo today because we had
a podcast scheduled within guests. Won't spoil

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them because as I plan on having
them back, but there were technical difficulties.

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Couldn't get their service to work.
They were coming at me from an

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MBA arena, so we pivot.
But if you're not, I am caffeinated.

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Having listened to lots of emo punk
before recording this podcast and doing some

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research, I thought it was good
to default to a mail bag since that

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would also allow us to tackle some
of the most recent news items before we

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get started, though, Please please
pretty please with sugar on top, reminder

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just saw this tweet or whatever,
we hope that you stick around consider throwing

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us that permanent subscription. I promise. It is not just me going solo

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all the time. Predominantly, It's
not that. Again, this was a

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special circumstance. We are in totality, myself and my co host Adam Promo

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only modestly insufferable when it comes to
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subscribe there and yeah, that's about
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if really want to, at Damp
Valley FA V A L E. But

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we do have them all back to
get too. We had a ton of

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really good questions and some really shitty
questions that I did not answer because they

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were in in mocking of certain things. I appreciate jokes, but I'm getting

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a little bit I don't want to
use the word annoyed. Let's say a

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tired fatigue disgusted by the Zion Williams
and wait jokes, I've only filtered in

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the great questions. There were something
that I was unable to get to just

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jet because we had so many and
I want to keep this podcast to under

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two hours and fifty minutes or what
have you. I think we should begin

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with Kemba Walker. John Let's pick
it with John Wall because we had a

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couple of questions on John Wall.
Actually no one asked us about Kemba Walker

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the Knicks announcing that he was going
to be displaced from the rotation. So

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let's actually begin there. I'll just
provide my two cents, maybe even three

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cents on this entire situation. Tibbs
basically came out, didn't basically come out.

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He did come out told reporters that
Kemba Walker is no longer in the

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rotation. The Knicks are going to
be starting Alec Burks. It's a decision

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that is in stark contrast how the
Knicks acted last year with Alfred Peyton,

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who they kept in the rotation to
their detriment both during the regular season and

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the playoffs. I think you can
probably applaud Tibbs finally making this decision.

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I'm tend to be indifferent to it. It doesn't prove to me that he's

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necessarily learned anything. I think this
more so speaks to how low risk the

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Kemba Walker addition was. When you're
looking at the money he's making, you

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didn't have a ton of equity and
invested in him, so it's easier for

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you to say, Hey, we're
gonna bench Kemba rather than bench Evan Fournier,

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who we gave three guarantee years in
free agency at essentially double the price

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point of what Kemba Walker is making
per year. This is not to say

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that I think Evan Fournier should have
been the one that's benched. I'm probably

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more intrigued by what the Knicks would
look like if you bench Evan Fourie instead

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of Kemba Walker, But I'm also
intrigued to see a more extensive sample from

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this starting unit with Alec Burks in
there. They've only played Burkes, Fournier,

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Barrett Randall, and Mitchell Robinson twenty
five possessions together this season. They

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have outscored opponents by twelve point six
points per one hundred possessions over that small

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size, one twenty eight offensive rating
against the one fifteen point four defensive rating

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ones and mark the former and the
ladder is absolute a dogshit. Again,

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such a small sample size. You
don't know. What I do think this

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infers is there are a few things. One, they clearly the Knicks clearly

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didn't want to separate a manual quickly
and Derrick Rose too much if they were

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gonna eat into the second unit.
That's been just straight up annihilating fools this

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year. And I totally get that. You can give Alec Burks the quick

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hook and put in Derrick Rose if
you're looking for more stable point guard presence

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there. Maybe even if you want
to manual quickly to be the first sub

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off the bench in this situation.
So there are ways around that, and

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I like that thinking there. I
also think that while Derrick Rose is long,

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while we've seen Manuel quickly step up
defensively, you might get a little

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bit more wing type resistance from Alec
Burks just because Evan four Day is going

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to need to be hidden. He's
just not going to help you there.

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What is interesting about this, though, is I'm assuming look and when you

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look at Kemma Walker's been hitting threes
this season. People were pointing at the

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season stats he's at a higher clip
from three that Evan four Day on the

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year, But Evan Fourier has also
been a lot better recently than Kemba Walker

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has. When you look at you
know, since November first, which is

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really when this whole Knicks malay started. There six and eight. In the

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month of November, Evan four Day
is shooting thirty five point nine percent from

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three, which is, you know, not great he's been. He's really

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upped it over the past few games. Kemba walkers at twenty nine point six

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percent. The concern about Kemba Walker
is he's getting the rim even less than

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in previous years. Twenty one percent
of the shots are coming at the rim.

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It's only a one percent increase over
last season, and then that number

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has been on sort of the downtick
over the past few years. Tim's also

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mentioned didn't want to put three undersized
guards in the rotation. There's some definite

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merit to that the Knicks defense is
picked up in November, owed only in

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small part to just more lucky.
I wouldn't even call it lucky. Opponent

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three point shooting. Opponents are shooting
sub thirty six percent against them from three

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in the month of November. It's
their rim protection has been astounding. Opponents

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are shooting fifty six percent at the
rim against the Knicks in the month of

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November, which is just that's by
far and away the league's best mark,

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and they're actually taking a bunch of
their shots within four feet just given how

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the Knicks are defending right now.
So they're twelfth and points slob per possession

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for the month of November, but
their offense that's coincided with a twenty fourth

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place ranking and points scored per possession. Kemba Walker has not really helped you

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there when he's not making shots.
What I think this decision says, other

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than the size of Kema Walker,
if he's three inches taller, if he's

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Alfred Peyton's size, is Evan Fourney
they make this decision for I still don't

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know, because there is it becomes
politics. You paid Evan Fourney more,

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are you going to rip him out
of the rotation, let alone the starting

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unit. What I also think this
says by moving out of Barks into the

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starting lineup, the Knicks really want
Julius Randall to just have carte blanche influence

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over the offense. And I thought
that Kema Walker did a fairly good job

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of trying to exist within the larger
dynamic of Nick games. To where he

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wasn't the reason that we saw Julius
Randall struggle with his efficiency as much as

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we have. I think the tougher
thing for Randall has just been when he's

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off the ball more, it doesn't
really feel like he knows what to do,

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and his offense isn't coming in these
vastly different forms. Overall, this

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is still someone who wants to operate
with the ball in his hands an attack,

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and there's real credence to saying,
hey, he is our best player.

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We paid him. Move Burked into
the starting unit. He's called the

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point guard, but it's really it's
really Julius Randall who is running your offense.

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That is an interesting decision to make. I do not yet know if

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it's the right one. If you
tell me it's going to result in more

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touches for RJ. Barrett, I'm
all here for it. Maybe this is

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even a situation where you insert Derek
Rosse Paul RJ. Barrett and give him

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time to get more offensive reps with
the second unit where he can have more

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of an influence over the offense.
And if that is a trickle down effect

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of moving Kema Walker out of the
rotation, I think it's worth it because

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me personally, I'm more concerned with
New York long term trajectory. No matter

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how much they went all in over
the office, it wasn't really all.

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Don't think they changed themselves to anything
that they can't reverse. But this is

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a team that's not built to be
great. It was never built to be

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great. It was built to be
good, and I think they've underachieved relative

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to those expectations. They have the
league's hardest remaining schedule, and so there

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is some urgency to kind of figure
this out. That being said, Julius

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Randall shooting splits have been a lot
worse with Kemba Walker off the court,

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and so removing the threat of Kemba
Walker's creation, I am wondering what that

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could do to Randall. The idea
of Kemba Walker is worth something, even

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when Kemba Walker is actually struggling and
you're replacing with Alc Burks, who,

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yeah, he's a shot generated himself, So Julius Randall might be fine there.

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Randall's played better more efficiently with Evan
Fourney off the court. That is

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something to monitor, and this is
including during the month of November. How

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much of that is just skewed by
the fact that the Knicks starting line up

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to this point has been a bottom
feeder, just the worst high volume unit

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in the NBA, but by far
for the most part, there's definitely noise

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in there. Still something to monitor
though, because I think it says a

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lot about how the Knicks want to
use Julius Randall and maybe how they feel

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about Yes, he needs more spacing
and shock creation around him, but is

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his offense really going to change,
does his feel for playing within that is

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that going to improve? And TIBs. It kind of mentioned that they're going

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in they were going in too many
different directions, and that could speak to

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the offseason of maybe going one too
far, where they leaned so far into

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offensive creation that they got away from
specialists, or just maximizing the fit around

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Julius Randall at least during the regular
season. That's not necessarily on the Chema

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Walker edition that could have fallen into
their lap. It does seem like they

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had advanced notice on it, just
given how much cap space they left themselves

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to operate with. I just don't
overall, is what I'm getting at.

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I don't view this necessarily as a
solution to anything at least not guaranteed.

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It is an answer, it's a
response, it's a change, and I

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think you need to give the Knicks
credit for making such a stark change this

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early in this well not this early, but just making a start change at

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all, when they were more stubborn
last year. I don't know if that

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implies growth from TIBs. I'm not
going to say yes there. Let's see

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if he's willing to adjust from here. I also don't think this is the

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last week heard from kemba walker in
New York injuries for one happen. I

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think you can talk yourself into certain
instances that he can still be valuable off

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the bench. If this doesn't work
in New York seasons, go off the

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rails even more so, what do
they look at? But they try and

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get him back in the starting unit. If they shake things up even further,

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maybe we get to a point.
I would probably wait a couple of

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weeks. If he wants a trade. There are teams that I think could

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certainly use him, and he's so
cheap. I don't know what his value

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would be. But if you don't
have to take on any long term salary

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and you do him a solid,
Maybe send him to you know, a

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team like the Clippers could really need
him. Their offense is hovering around the

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bottom five and points per possession,
but they probably need someone who puts more

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rim pressure on their basket. Maybe
a team just like New Orleans that is

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not winning games is not going to
win games either, but it's clearly trying

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to win games just to provide some
outside shooting stability at point guard there for

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them, you know, in addition
to DeVante Graham. Obviously, when you

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haven't gotten a lead from mkil Alexander
Walker or a or a Kyra Lewis junior

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and they're not really playing Thomas Sataranski, there are teams that would want Kim

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Walker, and I think there are
teams that could absolutely where he could absolutely

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help them. I just don't think
we're gonna get that point to the Knicks.

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There's a wait and see mode here
obviously, and I just I don't

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know if this is gonna work,
is what I'm getting at. We need

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to see how it plays out.
I think the player that this actually aside

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from what this says about Kemba Walker
and how ineffective he's been, and there

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have been nights where he just looks
absolutely washed. But they've never needed him

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to be the takeover guy, and
I think he prioritized trying to not be

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that at certain points, even though
he just probably can't. So this is

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first and foremost want a referendum on
Kemba Walker how he's played, specifically since

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you know, for the for the
past month or so. I think what

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it says more or equally excuse me. It says a lot about how the

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Knicks want to use Julius Randall and
how they think that needs to be set

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up. And so Alec Burks has
had some really good moments this year.

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He is shooting forty five point one
percent from three. This is someone who

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00:12:05,919 --> 00:12:09,440
can also get you a bucket,
and that might be with the ball on

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his hands. That might be why
this could work out is you're losing Kemba

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Walker's shot creation in theory, and
he's still better passer than Alec Burks.

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But Burks is not someone who is
foreign too working with the ball in his

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hands, and so you still have
that element of, oh, can someone

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go out and just create their own
jumper, because Kemba Walker wasn't getting to

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the rim anyway, and at this
point you're going to get more, you

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know, I shouldn't even say that, You're probably going to get just as

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much, if not, you know, a tad more rim pressure from Alec

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Burks. His twenty one percent of
his shots are coming at the rim the

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season. That's identical to Kemba Walker's
share. So these are the Knicks.

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Just don't have those A ton of
those guards that are going to get to

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the basket at will. I think
Alec Burks was one of the potential right

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answers, though, and it was
less about who were you putting in the

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starting unit. If it was Emmanuel
quickly I would get it. It was

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Derrick Rose, I would get it, and I get Alec Burks. I'm

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just wondering. I do think people
were quick to say that you haven't watched

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the Knicks if you said this,
and maybe that says something about how much

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people have watched the Knicks for the
month of November or the past couple of

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weeks. Even four days looked better
on offense. I don't think that this

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is a no brainer call when it's
between Evan Fournier and Kema Walker to see

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who's more not more damning, but
who where's the greater opportunity for addition by

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subtraction. I guess is what the
question comes down to, and the Knicks

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have decided it was Kemba Walker.
I don't think that's the wrong answer.

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I'm just not positive that's the absolute
right answer. And they might just value

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Evan Fournier size point like he's six
seven, not a good defender, but

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that's versus Kema Walker, who's six
foot and probably high tops. So back

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to those decision Tips made, we
need to see how it works out.

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The Knicks are playing the Nets on
Tuesday night. Who just lost? By

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the way, quick note on the
Nets, they lost Joe Harris is going

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to have ankle surgery. That's a
big blow for them. He is to

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me, Penny Mills has been great. Was the Marcus Aldrich for them.

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I would still view Harris is their
third best and most important player. You're

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already now without Kyrie, you're down
two of your four most important players.

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Now Patty Mills is going to replace
some of that shooting. When you look

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at just the wing minutes, that's
going to put a lot on Bruce Brown

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or DeAndre Bembrey. I wonder depending
on how much time Harris misses since there's

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no timetable, but it seems like
there's no concrete timetable with the Nets are

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hoping he'll be back in like eight
to twelve weeks I think it was,

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and maybe on the earlier end of
that timetable, if I'm not misremembering.

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Do they go out and try and
find a wing? Can they get a

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Daniel House from Houston? Maybe just
for someone to replace like the body on

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the wing. You're not going to
get Joe Harris's functional shooting back, but

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just as another body, because Harris
covered some pretty important defensive assignments at points.

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And so if you believe in DeAndre
Benbrie, if you believe in Bruce

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Brown, that's that's fine. But
the Joe Harris stuff is going to be

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something to watch from here on.
From Brooklyn. Let's move on to the

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John Wall stuff. We have various
increase about him given the latest update according

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to a Woage, while recently met
with Rockets general manager Rafael Stone about rejoining

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Houston's rotation, which he is yet
to set foot in this season. That

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dialogue did absolutely nothing. Wall apparently
wants to start. The Rockets only wanted

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him to come off the bench.
That was apparently the status quo over the

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off season as well, which speaks
to why he ended up not playing at

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all. Trading Wall is easier said
than done. To put it lightly,

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He's owed forty four point three million
this season and forty seven point three million

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00:15:28,679 --> 00:15:33,759
next year on a player option.
Per Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannex, suitors

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00:15:33,799 --> 00:15:37,480
are only interested in dealing from Wall
if he declines that player option, which

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he has no reason to do because
he's not even gonna recup forty seven point

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00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,159
three million dollars over the course of
a three year deal if he were to

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reject it. Equally implausible, the
Rockets are not attaching sweeteners to get rid

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00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,840
of Wall. I guess could you
talk to yourself into giving up Milwaukee's twenty

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twenty three first or just some seconds
to do it? Perhaps, But rebuilding

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squads have little incentive to unlold picks
or prospects just for the sake of cutting

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00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,879
salary. That's not something there they're
going to do, and just moving him

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is so difficult. There are teams
that could arguably use him, but they're

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going to be interested if he gets
bought out. That's basically what it is.

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Or I guess apparently permatics, if
he declines his player option. When

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you're dealing with a number this huge, even looking at the short term becomes

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difficult. He's not all of a
sudden a trade asset over the summer because

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00:16:23,799 --> 00:16:29,360
he's making forty seven point three million
dollars. You're how often DC trades where

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00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,480
you're just sending out that one monstrous
salary attached to whatever picks and prospects to

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get a star, And that's really
the only situation in which it would be

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00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:41,399
valuable. Otherwise you're looking at probably
minimum a three for one deal is what

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you have to do when you're trading
John Wall because that salary is so huge,

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and then they're whatever teams are going
to trade for him. You're not

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going to view Wall in the terms
of, well, we can wave him

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or broke ra a buy out with
him next season, because waving and stretching

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his salary over three years is just
like, what does it do. It's

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fifteen plus million dollars basically in dead
money for three years. There that's that's

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not great. And then you can't
just have that much dead money on the

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books if you're trying to win,
which if you're training from Wall. I

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assume you're probably trying to do.
I don't. There just aren't worse contracts

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out there for bad teams to talk
themselves into acquiring Wall. I mean even

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trying to find like longer term deals. There's no truly bad long term deal

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on the books that makes sense to
take on this season of Wall in next

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season. If that, If that's
how you're viewing, if you really want

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John Wall, would ever think he's
still good? That's fine too. I

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just don't. I don't know what
that team is. It's almost it's almost

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impossible to just come up with a
team where it makes sense too they should

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actually train for John Wall. You
could look at, you know, Cleveland

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00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:49,000
having lost Colin Sexton for the year, that would be fairly interesting, and

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you do have Kevin Love salary.
But Love has played like fairly well for

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00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,960
Cleveland through nice touchdown pass on Monday
Night, by the way, I think

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to Darius Garland that was a fun
watch. And also just beyond his salary,

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you have to come up with more
money, and you're just not chock

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full of these expendable players. You're
still getting into that issue of three for

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ones and four for ones, and
are you going to give him Jetty Osman,

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who's been shooting really well for you
this year. So that's just a

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team where it doesn't make sense.
I think the one that I've landed on.

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And look, if Houston was willing
to include assets, then yeah,

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could Detroit, Could Oklahoma City teams
like that? Maybe even Sacramento if they

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00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:30,319
finally blow it up like they absolutely
should. Can they talk themselves into taking

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00:18:30,319 --> 00:18:32,599
Wall? Yeah? There are teams
that I think can convince themselves to take

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00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:37,000
on Wall if they're getting compensated,
and maybe not even heavy compensation. That

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being said, the Houston Rockets have
no reason to offer that the Galaxy brand

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00:18:41,559 --> 00:18:45,400
trade is just swapping Russell Westbrook for
John Wall. Throw a rush back to

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Houston and Lakers pivot. But aside
from me, trolling Russ has not been

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the primary issue of late for Los
Angeles. I do think is fit is

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00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:57,359
still a long term dilemma for them, but he's not. I don't adding

296
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,559
Wall. It just doesn't help you
unless you think he's going to be this

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00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,599
monstrous defensive upgrade and provide you with
a ton more force basing possible, but

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unlikely. I've settled on the Clippers, and they have the ready made framework

299
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,839
of Okay Eric Butzo. He's making
eighteen plus million this year three point nine

300
00:19:17,839 --> 00:19:22,720
million partial guarantee next year. He
can be an offensive zero without being great

301
00:19:22,759 --> 00:19:26,519
on defense. You have Sir Gerbacca's
expiring salary. He's just not looked great

302
00:19:26,559 --> 00:19:30,599
after returning from his back injury.
The only other way to recoup it the

303
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,319
ret or not to recoup to build
on top of that, though, you

304
00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,400
still need another player, if not
two players, if not three players,

305
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,079
because it's either Marcus Moore Senior or
Luke nar that you would have to include

306
00:19:40,279 --> 00:19:45,720
as that third player. I still
think it's Canard. He opened the season

307
00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:49,119
on relative fire, but he's dipped
below thirty four percent shooting from deep over

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00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,559
the past twelve games, and he's
barely hitting forty percent of his twos for

309
00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:56,039
the season. His defensive energy has
been pretty admirable at times, but he's

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00:19:56,079 --> 00:20:00,880
owed forty three point two million this
season through twenty twenty four, with a

311
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,440
team option for twenty four twenty twenty
five. So when you hear people say

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00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,440
that he's on a four year,
sixty eight million dollars contract, it's really

313
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,400
he's guaranteed three years, including this
one, in forty three point two million.

314
00:20:11,039 --> 00:20:15,880
That is still less than John Wall
is making this season, not never

315
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,440
mind what's happening next season for the
Clippers. Still, I think you can

316
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,920
say that Wall is going to give
you more as a passer. He's going

317
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:23,759
to give you more someone who could
put pressure at the rim. And right

318
00:20:23,759 --> 00:20:29,079
now LA is twenty fifth and point
scored per possession twenty eight and the share

319
00:20:29,079 --> 00:20:32,039
of their shots that come at the
rim and twenty ninth in transition efficiency.

320
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:37,599
Wall can even with you know,
his downgraded level of explosion from his aday,

321
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,599
he's still gonna give you some extra
pressure on set defenses and he's definitely

322
00:20:41,039 --> 00:20:45,799
an outside shooting and playmaking up grade
over Eric Bledsoe. If you're willing to

323
00:20:45,799 --> 00:20:49,119
move Kennard, which if I'm the
Clippers, I'm probably not doing it,

324
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,279
just because the number for Wall next
year, And that's where you get into

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00:20:52,319 --> 00:20:55,440
the problems of you're raising your tax
bill this season. I'll be it not

326
00:20:55,519 --> 00:20:59,880
by much because this three for one
package is only adding in raws salary under

327
00:21:00,039 --> 00:21:03,279
four million dollars to your payroll.
But next season that's going to limit what

328
00:21:03,319 --> 00:21:07,240
you can do. You probably need
to view Wall as a trade asset because

329
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:08,880
you're not this would be a classic
team that's not going to buy him out

330
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,960
or just take that lesser cap it. They need that money to go to

331
00:21:12,039 --> 00:21:17,200
someone. Maybe they view it that
way, I honestly don't know, or

332
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,440
maybe they like his fit with Kauai
and PG where he's all of sudden the

333
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,640
third option instead of even the number
two this season. There's probably a path

334
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:27,759
to justifying it. Just because you
don't have Kawai. You don't know if

335
00:21:27,759 --> 00:21:30,599
he's going to come back from that
Parsley torn acl and your defense has been

336
00:21:30,599 --> 00:21:33,400
so good at points that if you
can just get a nudge in the right

337
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:38,200
direction offensively, maybe you really have
something here. And the West is beyond

338
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:44,039
Phoenix in Golden State and Utah,
the West is wide open. We know

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00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,519
that the Nuggets are not gonna have
Michael Porter Junior for probably the rest of

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00:21:47,519 --> 00:21:49,680
this season. We don't know when
Jamal Murray's coming back. That was the

341
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,839
other sort of bit of breaking news
is that Denver is now without you know,

342
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,880
it's two best players addition to PJ
Doger, he's also out for the

343
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,119
season. The impact on the nug
Gets, by the way, if they

344
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,920
had one of Murray or Michael Porter
Jr. I think that they would be

345
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,759
a viable title contender. And it
could be Michael Porter Jr. As that

346
00:22:06,759 --> 00:22:08,000
one. He wasn't playing well when
he went down, that was due to

347
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:12,279
injury. I think you clearly know
at this point. I'll touch on the

348
00:22:12,319 --> 00:22:15,160
Nuggets actually in a second for a
little bit. So if the West is

349
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,519
wide open enough, maybe the Clippers
can talk them into this. Maybe this

350
00:22:18,599 --> 00:22:22,720
is a situation where what if they're
getting a Walkie's twenty twenty three first back

351
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:26,559
and that's just an asset they can
include in a deal, and Houston Viusa

352
00:22:26,599 --> 00:22:30,079
as a throwaway asset. You know, let's break Wall up into some digestible

353
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,319
contracts. Two of them come off
the books after the seasons, and she

354
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,039
pay Eric Blets, it'll go away. You can also Lukenard's only twenty five.

355
00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:41,599
He's also eminently tradeable. That's something
you can look at, or just

356
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,119
a couple of seconds, that's something
that they could throw in there just the

357
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,319
cost of, Hey, we're you
know, getting rid of a what's become

358
00:22:47,319 --> 00:22:49,960
a distraction for us. I think
you could also argue that Wall can help

359
00:22:51,319 --> 00:22:52,880
the Rockets and not in a bad
way. I know you want to develop

360
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,000
Kevin Porter Jror In Jail and Green, but there needs to be a safety

361
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,720
net beyond them, which is why
it's so puzzling that they couldn't even guarantee

362
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,680
Wall like an actual role. I
mean, aside from just taking up DJ

363
00:23:03,759 --> 00:23:07,440
Augustine's minutes. I think that he
can really help out Jalen Green specifically,

364
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,039
but even Kevin Porter Jr. Is
I don't think either of those guys should

365
00:23:11,079 --> 00:23:15,160
have the full brunt of Houston's offensive
burdens voice it on to them. And

366
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,720
that's what makes this decision so absolutely
puzzling. From the rocket standpoint, Just

367
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,240
to draw that line seems I get
it, and you appreciate the investment in

368
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,640
the youth, but you can't there's
something to not leaving kids all alone.

369
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,720
And Wall if he's willing to play
for you, and even if you needed

370
00:23:30,759 --> 00:23:33,799
to start him and just give him
a quick hook, if he's willing to

371
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,920
play like a twenty to twenty five
minutes per game role, that's fine.

372
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,799
I think that that can actually help
you. How just beyond the Clippers,

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00:23:42,839 --> 00:23:45,519
though, looking at outside teams that
would trade for Wall, I'm not talking

374
00:23:45,559 --> 00:23:49,920
about a buyout. I don't I
honestly don't have anyone. I thought about

375
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,440
Memphis when John Morant first went down, but luckily he's gonna be back in

376
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,599
a few weeks. And even then, it's like, I don't know why

377
00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,359
you would want to trade Steven Adams
and Filler just to get Wall and then

378
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,200
still have them on your books when
Marian is going to be there. Orlando

379
00:24:03,279 --> 00:24:06,599
could really use the offensive. Joelton
has some just throw away like if you

380
00:24:06,799 --> 00:24:08,920
Terrence Ross and Gary Harris, like
those are guys who were expendable. They're

381
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:14,400
not trying to win games either.
I know people have mentioned sort of Philly.

382
00:24:14,599 --> 00:24:15,839
It's just it's not happening. It's
part of a bensit even if they

383
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,440
leaned, I guess if they leaned
all the way to a future return and

384
00:24:18,519 --> 00:24:22,799
they really like Tyrie s Baxy.
I just don't even know why you want

385
00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:26,000
Wall's money on the books. That's
just gonna bring you closer to you know,

386
00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,920
it's not gonna it will increase your
task bill depending on the money that's

387
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,960
there, But just to have that
much, that dollar amount tied up in

388
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,440
one player, it limits your your
flexibility of what you're going to spend,

389
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,640
even though I guess you could argued
that it does so without hamstring and roster

390
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,440
Spots's not you, It's not John
Wall's not costing you two roster spots.

391
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:51,440
It's still one roster spot. I
just I don't see a fit anywhere else.

392
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:52,240
If you have one, feel free
to get at me. And I'm

393
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:56,880
talking about a team that have actually
trade for John Wall. If you have

394
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,599
one, get at me at Damp
Valley, at a V A L.

395
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,599
E. Let's talk about this Michael
Porter Junior stuff very quickly. He's going

396
00:25:03,599 --> 00:25:06,720
to have back surgery, might be
out for the rest of the season.

397
00:25:06,759 --> 00:25:08,680
The Rockets aren't quite sure. They
made the decision early enough where I think

398
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:14,839
it's open ended. This is really
a gut punch, another gut punch for

399
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,680
a Nuggets team that already missing Jamal
Murray now missing PJ. Doger, has

400
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,519
had their fair share of offensive struggles
this year. Yokich was out with a

401
00:25:23,599 --> 00:25:26,680
risk injury for a while. He
did return on Monday night, though,

402
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:32,559
so that's also that's also good news
for them. It's just what do they

403
00:25:32,599 --> 00:25:34,839
do? And I think there are
a bunch of different ways to look at

404
00:25:34,839 --> 00:25:40,359
it. They're a team that's five
hundred, they're sixteenth and offensive efficiency nineteen.

405
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,799
The defensive efficiency. Ironically, I
destroyed my co host Adam for saying

406
00:25:45,839 --> 00:25:48,400
that Yoki belonged to the early season
defensive Player of the Year discussion. I

407
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,359
still kind of believe he needed to
be shamed for that, But not having

408
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:59,400
Yokis really seemed to fuck with Denver's
defense just he plays such a he plays

409
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,720
well their hyper aggressive style, has
good hands and can really get up onto

410
00:26:03,759 --> 00:26:07,319
the ball and is at least in
the right spots. And so going from

411
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,279
him to either a smaller front cord
or having to rely on just guys who

412
00:26:10,279 --> 00:26:14,400
don't have as much reps are on
as good defensively in that scheme really hurt

413
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,640
them. And then also you can't
just expect Aaron Gordon to anchor that all

414
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,680
on his own. So the defense
might pick up for Denver, the offense

415
00:26:22,759 --> 00:26:25,279
is going to be fine with Yokitch
on the floor. I think you would

416
00:26:25,279 --> 00:26:29,920
preferably you need a help replace Dozer
what he brought to you defensively, or

417
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,960
just looking at Porter Junior indoors,
you're collectively you need another wing who can

418
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,160
hoist threes. I don't really know
what trades out there they're going to be

419
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,440
willing to make. I like Eric
Gordon for this team, but then you

420
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,319
get into scenarios where you're trading two
of Jamachael Green, Jeff Green, and

421
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,559
Monte Morris. Plus something else is
he's too small for you as well.

422
00:26:48,599 --> 00:26:52,519
He's going to give you some offensive
creativity, hit deep threes, get at

423
00:26:52,559 --> 00:26:56,480
the rim. That's great, but
you probably want someone who can more consistently

424
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,400
defend wings. And if you're going
to funnel so much of your resources into

425
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,240
an eighteen plus a million dollars per
year player, eric Gordon's just not properly

426
00:27:03,279 --> 00:27:06,680
size for it. I also don't
know that you make that type of a

427
00:27:06,839 --> 00:27:11,680
big time move when you're dealing with
so many injuries. I don't know who's

428
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,799
going to make me feel a lot
better about the nuggets immediate title chances.

429
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,279
Should you tell me they're not gonna
have Michael Porter Jr. All All or

430
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,680
Jamal Murray to close this year?
And there's a very real chance that they

431
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,400
won't, And you don't want to
funnel your assets into just a wasted season.

432
00:27:25,599 --> 00:27:29,759
Maybe there's more of a stop gap
here. Can you look at getting

433
00:27:29,759 --> 00:27:33,240
a you to want a Nabby from
Toronto, would they even be willing to

434
00:27:33,279 --> 00:27:37,599
move him Daniel House again? And
Houston is someone who in theory can hit

435
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:38,720
threes even though he's not right now, and he's going to give you some

436
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:45,359
just defensive positional valuability. I mean, like, those are probably the scale

437
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,480
of move that Denver would be better
off focusing on, because I don't I

438
00:27:49,559 --> 00:27:53,599
also want I don't know what the
all in proposition really looks like for them.

439
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,119
But two, it is fairly hard
for them to match salary because you're

440
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,119
not trading Gordon sign up to an
extent, but you're not trading Gordon,

441
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,319
not trading Yokis, you're not trading
Murder, You're not trading Michael Porter Jr.

442
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,480
At this point, And so the
salary matching gets tough after that.

443
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,839
And if you're gonna give up a
Bones Highland or even a Zeke Nashi,

444
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000
you need to be getting back someone
you view is probably a longer not probably

445
00:28:14,039 --> 00:28:18,559
definitely a longer term part of your
core. And and even if even if

446
00:28:18,559 --> 00:28:22,160
it's the Reggie Bullock and you're just
betting on let's say the Maverison want to

447
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,839
move him to a conference rival,
and that you can bank on him playing

448
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,039
better with you. You're not giving
up Bones Highland for that type of equity.

449
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,880
Josh Hart in New Orleans would be
interesting. He's having a hell of

450
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,880
a year. I'd be curious what
the asking rate is for that. I

451
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,240
don't think they're gonna want the first
first round pick that Dever can trade,

452
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,400
which I believe is in two thousand
and twenty seven. Do you give up

453
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,799
Bones Highland for Josh Hart? When
Hart is not really a shock creator,

454
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,480
you do have him under team's control
beyond this season if you want that is

455
00:28:51,559 --> 00:28:55,839
Josh Hart, but Highland there's a
swing there, like he has a high

456
00:28:55,839 --> 00:28:57,759
ceiling as someone who can generate his
own offense. But it is also just

457
00:28:57,839 --> 00:29:00,599
right now. We saw it on
Monday Night his return to the lineup just

458
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,240
did a bunch of super deep threes
and really opens up the floor for you

459
00:29:04,319 --> 00:29:07,960
and can have these big nights if
you can figure out a way to get

460
00:29:07,039 --> 00:29:12,160
Josh Hart without giving up Bones Highland. If it's costing you Zeke, if

461
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,880
it's costing you one of the Greens, if it's costing you Monte More,

462
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:21,599
would you Zeke naj Monty Morris for
Josh Hart? Do the Pelicans even want

463
00:29:21,599 --> 00:29:23,279
to do that. I think Monte
More actually probably help their offense, and

464
00:29:23,359 --> 00:29:27,079
Zeke Nagi deepens their center rotation.
But you have minutes good minutes from Willie

465
00:29:27,079 --> 00:29:30,519
herding Gomez right now plush Jonas Valanciunist
Jackson has been bounced from the rotation.

466
00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:34,960
So yeah, even even that comes
in as you can you send Zeke nag

467
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,960
somewhere else that might send New Orleans
something that they want. Josh Hart might

468
00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:45,319
be like the biggest name that I
could envision the Nuggets targeting, and so

469
00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:47,799
far so we've been willing to go
that far, and I don't know that

470
00:29:47,799 --> 00:29:51,440
i'd endorse them. I'm always for
teams going after it, but just the

471
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:57,119
sheer breath of the injuries, the
the players that they're missing, I just

472
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:02,039
can't bring myself unless they're gonna stump
into someone that we can't even think about

473
00:30:02,519 --> 00:30:06,480
right now. I don't know why
you would be ultra aggressive on the trademarket

474
00:30:06,519 --> 00:30:10,799
here. You should probably just be
monitoring more so for cheaper flyers or a

475
00:30:10,839 --> 00:30:12,720
middle end option. Again, Josh
Hart might be might be the limit for

476
00:30:12,759 --> 00:30:17,119
me, And that's even been generous
to someone who you want to shoot threes

477
00:30:17,799 --> 00:30:21,599
never just been this super efficient,
high volume guy from deep for his career,

478
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,519
and so that would be something else
to consider. Let's dive head first

479
00:30:25,559 --> 00:30:30,319
into this actual mailbag, though,
we will begin with the NBA chicken who

480
00:30:30,319 --> 00:30:34,640
asked what trends are you buying roughly
twenty games into the season. Rather than

481
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,480
focus on this player is better,
this team is better, I'm buying this

482
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,599
team for real. I mean,
if you want to ask, I'm definitely

483
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,279
buying Golden State for real, if
anyone cares tongue in cheek there, I'm

484
00:30:45,319 --> 00:30:52,160
buying into the offense being down and
really dropping as a result of not just

485
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:59,039
the new officiating rules, but also
the past two seasons really were butchered by

486
00:30:59,079 --> 00:31:02,119
the coronavirus pan make it. You
got into a situation where players went into

487
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:06,839
the bubble that you know for the
eight games plus the playoffs where they were

488
00:31:06,839 --> 00:31:08,559
shooting the lights out, and then
just last year when you didn't have fans

489
00:31:08,559 --> 00:31:12,160
and stands in a lot of places
for much of the season, and so

490
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,680
you look at this year. The
average offensive rating so far is one hundred

491
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:21,519
and eight point six. That is
down from last year where it was one

492
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:25,319
twelve point nine and that, and
also you go back to two thousand,

493
00:31:25,359 --> 00:31:29,480
nineteen twenty and twenty, the average
offensive rating NN was one ten point nine,

494
00:31:29,519 --> 00:31:33,359
and so there's even there's definitely some
correction there, like you went from

495
00:31:33,359 --> 00:31:36,160
that full season with m the Arenas. But so even going back to two

496
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:41,039
than nineteen thousand twenty where you only
really have those bubble games slightly inflating those

497
00:31:41,119 --> 00:31:45,359
offensive ratings, you're still looking at
a demonstratus drop off there. The foal

498
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,640
rate average foal rate that year twenty
point two in two thousand, nineteen twenty

499
00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:52,559
and twenty, in two twenty two
twenty one, the average foal rate free

500
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,720
throw tenth rate. Excuse me,
it was nineteen point two. You're this

501
00:31:56,799 --> 00:32:00,640
season strup at seventeen point five.
I think that might go up a little

502
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:05,200
bit as time goes on, as
refs, you know, aren't as loose

503
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,799
with the with the whistle. It
does feel like there were maulings at the

504
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,680
rim that really should have been called. And everyone's still adjust eating to adjusting

505
00:32:15,039 --> 00:32:17,200
to this new world order, so
that will go up a little bit.

506
00:32:17,319 --> 00:32:22,680
But those sort of effects feel like
they're here to stay. And the other

507
00:32:22,759 --> 00:32:27,759
thing would be, are we going
to see this difference in shot distribution.

508
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:32,079
Thirty two point one percent of the
average shots for teams are coming at the

509
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:37,039
rim this year. That's down from
last year at thirty three point three percent,

510
00:32:37,359 --> 00:32:40,799
and that to me would be more
to do with the new foul rules,

511
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:45,519
and going to two and twenty it
was even higher threety five point two

512
00:32:45,559 --> 00:32:49,599
percent. That's the average chair of
shots that came out at the rim per

513
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:53,079
team. And so that's just what
I'm buying is that offense is going to

514
00:32:53,319 --> 00:32:55,720
hover more so around here. I
don't think that this is just a one

515
00:32:55,759 --> 00:33:00,279
year anomaly or a quarter season anomaly
from last year. I really do think

516
00:33:00,359 --> 00:33:07,759
the foul rules combined with how teams
played last year where it wasn't as hostile

517
00:33:07,799 --> 00:33:10,000
and road environment since they're moren fans, and I just think in general MP

518
00:33:10,119 --> 00:33:15,440
arenas might be more conducive to two
players, line of sight being more accurate,

519
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,319
maybe even especially for role players.
That's just something I think we need

520
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:23,880
to really buy into at this point. Next question comes from Hermie. Is

521
00:33:24,039 --> 00:33:30,039
Draymond back? And the answer here
is yes. I think we've seen Draymond

522
00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:37,000
turn on the defensive jets before in
previous seasons. Over the last two specifically,

523
00:33:37,079 --> 00:33:39,400
though it was definitely more selective.
Last year was close to full bore.

524
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:43,680
He made All NBA First Defense and
All Defense First Team, excuse me,

525
00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:46,759
and he definitely deserved it. This
year is like a completely different being.

526
00:33:46,839 --> 00:33:52,960
We're talking about a Draymond Green who's
at peak dynasty level. He came

527
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:58,160
out and said that he's not appreciated
enough, basically, and it wasn't unprompted,

528
00:33:58,279 --> 00:34:00,640
but he did say that defense doesn't
go viral and a lot of the

529
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:05,960
people don't know what they're they're talking
about. And he's right. I mean,

530
00:34:06,319 --> 00:34:08,400
I cover this league for a living
full time, and there's I'm not

531
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,400
gonna know what I'm talking about on
defense. And I wouldn't use myself as

532
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,000
the standard because I'm a fucking idiot. But you watch Draymond Green on defense,

533
00:34:16,039 --> 00:34:19,559
though, if you do actually watch
him, I think it's easy to

534
00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:23,199
appreciate what he does, how much
he's going to communicate on the defensive end,

535
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:29,320
and really just the ground he covers
and the smarts and the explosive control

536
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:34,039
with which he plays with where he's
someone who could really he will hard close

537
00:34:34,079 --> 00:34:36,960
out on somebody, but it's not
going to fathom and we'll pull back enough

538
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,400
if they're going to attack off the
dribble and try and capitalize on his clothes

539
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,400
out where it doesn't even feel like
they have the advantage there. I think

540
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,960
he's probably one of the best in
the league at contesting shots while he's really

541
00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:52,840
backtracking and off balance. His rotations
around the rim are just absolutely on point,

542
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,760
and his activity level is such that
I was watching the Warriors Cavs game,

543
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,519
was that Sunday or Saturday, and
I don't even don't even know at

544
00:35:00,559 --> 00:35:04,159
this point, but there was a
play where he's in the middle of the

545
00:35:04,199 --> 00:35:07,079
floor like he's going to be in
the half court a ton, and he

546
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:13,199
shifts over to his strong side but
the CAB's weak side for a pick and

547
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:19,119
roll that's being run between Kevin Love
and Darius Garland. He immediately shifts over

548
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,920
to cut off a cut that's coming
from Isaaco Coo at the opposite end on

549
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:29,639
the other end of that court,
and then once that part of it's been

550
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:37,239
neutered, he goes to cover Dean
Wade in the corner and then also breaks

551
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,519
up the play from Ricky Rubio there. Though I'm stammering through this to try

552
00:35:40,519 --> 00:35:43,320
to Remember the player should have had
the highlight right in front of me,

553
00:35:43,559 --> 00:35:45,679
but he's he's in the middle floor. He rotates over just to have his

554
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:50,719
eyes on the Darius Garland Kevin Love
side pick and roll. Then he's moving

555
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,440
over to cut off the Isaaco Coro
cut when that's not an imminent threat for

556
00:35:53,559 --> 00:35:59,119
him. He's going to the corner
where Dean Wade is sort of camped out,

557
00:35:59,159 --> 00:36:01,679
but then comes back quickly enough just
to break off the player. Ricky

558
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:06,400
Rubio has the ball at this point
to create a turnover there. He literally

559
00:36:06,559 --> 00:36:12,000
impacted all five guys in the Calv's
lineup on that one half court possession,

560
00:36:12,079 --> 00:36:15,760
and that was I don't know if
that's the microcosm of Draymond Green's defensive impact

561
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:20,840
that play specifically, but that's just
something that sprang to mind immediately for me,

562
00:36:21,079 --> 00:36:23,000
is that type of activity, even
whether you don't know if that's what

563
00:36:23,119 --> 00:36:27,480
he's doing supposed to be the right
rotation, or if the timing was there,

564
00:36:27,519 --> 00:36:30,599
or if he got lucky because Ricky
Rubio took like a weird, weird

565
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:35,000
path or didn't read that Draymond Green
wasn't further enough in the corner for him

566
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,719
to try and go attack down the
middle. There. Maybe Ricky Rubio's handle

567
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,559
was loosey goosey in the moment.
There are types of things that I just

568
00:36:40,599 --> 00:36:44,519
want to account I can't account for, wouldn't be able to tell you,

569
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,960
but that type of activity, and
he just does it without fouling a ton.

570
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:52,199
He is averaging three point two fu
per thirty six minutes. This is

571
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,719
right in line with twenty fifteen two
and sixteen two, seventeen eighteen Draymond Green,

572
00:36:57,519 --> 00:37:00,440
where it's the third lowest foul rate
of his career. As of right

573
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:02,000
now, it's tied with others,
but it's the when you're going like the

574
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,320
you like move the numbers more desmal
places. It's the third lowest foul rate

575
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,400
in his career, I believe,
and that for the type of activity that

576
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:14,199
he's shouldering any someone, it's not
just we could we could boil out on

577
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:17,159
too. He's the best defensive player
on the leagu's best defensive team. That

578
00:37:17,559 --> 00:37:23,119
is absolutely fair argument. It's also
just his interchangeability, not his capacity to

579
00:37:23,199 --> 00:37:28,320
guard all these different positions. But
where people looked at Robert Covington as a

580
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,360
solution for Portland, and I loved
that trade for the Blazers at the time,

581
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,000
and I still don't necessarily despise it. I even like the Larry Nance

582
00:37:34,119 --> 00:37:37,320
Junior edition. You get a bunch
of good team defenders, your defense should

583
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:40,000
be better. But Robert Covington is
not going to be this just lockdown one

584
00:37:40,119 --> 00:37:44,800
on one guy. He doesn't necessarily
have the girth to do that. To

585
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,800
couple that with his quickness and ability
to use hands, and I think he's

586
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,559
been last year's probably a little bit
better in one on one situation than people

587
00:37:52,559 --> 00:37:54,480
credit him. This year, I
think he's just been exploited more. Draymond

588
00:37:54,559 --> 00:38:00,440
Green can be that guy where it's
I'm not necessarily going to be the back

589
00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:04,559
line or the free safety of this
defense. You want to put me on

590
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,199
Kevin Durant, go ahead and just
put me on Kevin Durant, and he'll

591
00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:08,840
still do other stuff, always defending
Kevin Durant, but he will give opponent's

592
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,760
hell one on one and then look, there is something too. I don't

593
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,039
want to throw out the window,
just his positional malluability. But Warriors are

594
00:38:15,079 --> 00:38:20,159
playing the Blazers and he's just so
disruptive to Damian Lillard. It's not even

595
00:38:20,199 --> 00:38:22,800
a matter of getting Damian Lillard to
miss shots, it's the ball denial.

596
00:38:23,079 --> 00:38:28,480
It's how he changes Lillard's course by
the way that he is able to avoid

597
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,360
screens, and it forces Damian Lillard
to get to get rid of the ball,

598
00:38:31,039 --> 00:38:35,480
which is you know that is given
Damian Lillard's had struggles appoints this season

599
00:38:35,519 --> 00:38:37,480
that the net negative proposition for the
Blazers is to not have the ball with

600
00:38:37,599 --> 00:38:43,079
Damian Lillard's hand. So Draymond Green
is back. I think he's defending at

601
00:38:43,079 --> 00:38:47,800
the best level I can remember since
like Peake Dynasty Warriors, and he would

602
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,039
be my pick for defensive Player of
the year right now. My long win

603
00:38:52,119 --> 00:38:53,920
and answer way of saying, I
don't know that Draymond Green ever actually left

604
00:38:54,039 --> 00:38:59,280
us, but Peake Draymond Green on
defense appears to be back. Funny that

605
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:05,360
I mentioned Blazers because doctor Funkenstein asked, what are the best lineups for the

606
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:09,880
Blazers on offense and defense? We
probably need to come up with some arbitrary

607
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:14,719
cutoff here. If you want to
use like twenty five possessions, you can

608
00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:19,800
get into some real, like you
know, odd results if we use it

609
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,280
with a minimum of twenty five possessions
logged. Their best offensive unit is going

610
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:29,440
to great out as the oh it's
still gonna be if fifty five possession unit

611
00:39:29,559 --> 00:39:32,239
of Damian Lillard, Anthony Simon's,
Norman Powell, Robert Comington use of Nurkics.

612
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:37,039
They have a one thirty two point
seven offensive rating. They also have

613
00:39:37,079 --> 00:39:39,280
a really good defensive rating. This
comes on the back of them shooting eighty

614
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:45,519
five plus percent from mid range and
getting to the rim just a bonkers amount.

615
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,559
That group has a ninety point seven
offense defensive rating by the way,

616
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,559
so in terms of pure offensive results
minimum twenty five possessions, whether it's minimum

617
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:57,679
of fifty possessions doesn't matter. That
unit and they're one thirty two point seven

618
00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:01,320
offensive ratings has been portlands best this
season. Moving on to the defensive side

619
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:06,079
of the floor, just looking at
the numbers minimum of twenty five possessions,

620
00:40:06,159 --> 00:40:08,840
the best defensive unit has probably been
the Lillard, McCullum, Powell Lowry NaN's

621
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:13,519
use of Nurkics unit. They've only
played twenty eight possessions together. They've an

622
00:40:13,559 --> 00:40:17,239
eighty three point eight defensive rating,
which they have gotten on the back of

623
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:22,280
they've allowed a ton of shots at
the rim. But they've they have opponent

624
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:27,800
shooting zero percent from three point range
in that time and thirty seven point five

625
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,519
percent from mid range overall and sixty
percent at the rim, which is just

626
00:40:31,679 --> 00:40:35,519
it's it's a fine marsh, like
not super elite, but but it's okay.

627
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:40,239
So there's probably just some luck taked
into there of their higher volume units.

628
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:44,559
Just if you want to look at
just their their top ten ones they're

629
00:40:44,599 --> 00:40:46,840
played, they've gotten some really good
defensive run out of Zeller, Nance,

630
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:52,360
Little Simons, and Lillard. That
group as a one or four point three

631
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:58,000
defensive rating, which is totally rock
solid, is paired with a one twenty

632
00:40:58,039 --> 00:41:00,760
six point three offensive rating. They've
played five possessions together this season. They're

633
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:07,679
the fourth most used Blazers lineup to
boot. Is there some luck there?

634
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,880
I don't know if that's a unit
you look at and say, okay opponents,

635
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,639
or there's a reason they're shooting thirty
four point three percent from three three

636
00:41:14,679 --> 00:41:16,920
point one percent from mid range,
they're sixty one point three percent at the

637
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:21,960
rim. None of those numbers are
so low that it really makes you think

638
00:41:22,119 --> 00:41:27,360
there's like too much noise there.
They're probably allowing a few too many attempts

639
00:41:27,639 --> 00:41:30,719
at the rim, and maybe they're
getting a little bit lucky when it comes

640
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:36,719
to opponent three point shooting. They
have done a great job sort of limiting

641
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,039
transition frequency, so that's a big
part of it too. And I think

642
00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:42,360
if you look at them and say, Okay, well, this is a

643
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,280
team where you have the weak links
sort of on the perimeter, but you

644
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:50,079
have three guys who hold up and
in the team scheme specifically, and Little

645
00:41:50,119 --> 00:41:53,159
has been playing lights out lights I've
been playing really well this year, and

646
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:58,559
you're grabbing your defensive rebounds. There's
some low hanging fruit there that could help

647
00:41:58,599 --> 00:42:00,159
them. So that would be my
actual pick, just because they've played so

648
00:42:01,519 --> 00:42:06,079
they've played so much this season,
just relative to the rest of the Blazer's

649
00:42:06,119 --> 00:42:07,840
units, and they would probably be
if you're trying to grade the most effective

650
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:13,719
Blazers unit on the year, I
think the Lillard Simon's Powell coming to NERK

651
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,519
one is going to sneak in there
because of its offensive rating. But and

652
00:42:15,639 --> 00:42:21,679
it's fair weather sample size fifty five
possessions ranks eighth on the Blazers most use

653
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,480
lineups, But this one than Lillard
Simon's Little Nance and Zella like that has

654
00:42:25,559 --> 00:42:29,719
to be like probably there, but
just by the data and melts to how

655
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,639
much they've played it at least the
second, maybe third best lineup that they

656
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:39,280
fielded this season. Next question comes
from Vince d. He asked how often

657
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,880
do teams win the back end of
a back to back when the other team

658
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:47,559
is coming off two plus days rest. So I filtered this out at Cleaning

659
00:42:47,599 --> 00:42:52,000
the Glass. Did It's the second
night of a back to back, so

660
00:42:52,079 --> 00:42:54,159
you're coming off to your day's rest
and your opponent has at least two days

661
00:42:54,199 --> 00:42:59,800
of rest. There weren't enough situations
where the opponents had two plus days of

662
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,119
Looking at three, there was only
a handful of games. The average net

663
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:06,599
rating for teams, and this is
reason, is a minus five point five.

664
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,000
And I'm not a fan of measuring
stuff like this, so this is

665
00:43:09,079 --> 00:43:14,360
not telltale of necessarily anything. But
a minus five point five net rating would

666
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:20,320
be the equivalent of roughly the Memphis
Grizzlies this year, and that ranks twenty

667
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:22,119
fifth in your point differential per one
hundred possessions, just to give you an

668
00:43:22,159 --> 00:43:28,199
idea. And teams are combined five
and nine in these instances, and so

669
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:34,920
rests you. I don't. You
can't say this with an absolute fact because

670
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,800
we're dealing with such a tiny sample
size. It's not only fourteen games in

671
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:43,679
general, but Chicago and Charlotte are
the only teams that have played more than

672
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,559
one game under this circumstance, and
Chicago's one and one in these situations,

673
00:43:46,639 --> 00:43:50,280
Charlotte is oh and two. And
then you're dealing with a bunch of one

674
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:52,119
game samples. But the average net
rating just across teams that have played this

675
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:55,679
is minus five point five, which
is not good, with an offensive rating

676
00:43:55,719 --> 00:44:01,440
of one oh two point eight also
not good, even relative to the you

677
00:44:01,519 --> 00:44:07,760
know, declining offensive standards of this
season. Alan Sindall asked, is al

678
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:13,639
pren Shangoon good? And my answer
is yes. I don't know what he's

679
00:44:13,679 --> 00:44:16,239
gonna end up being long term,
but this is someone who has been probably

680
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:20,880
one of the five best rookies this
season. Could be a dark harsh to

681
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:25,360
win Rookie of the Year depending on
just what kind of happens with the Kate

682
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:29,199
Cunningham stuff is out there. But
Evan Mobley and Scotty Barnes, will they

683
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:31,119
trail off at all? What about
Chris Duarte Frons Wagner, those are all

684
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,400
Those are four guys that would definitely
put in front of him, and then

685
00:44:34,559 --> 00:44:38,400
you know the Kade situation. Looms
just says the season goes on, Shanguz

686
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:42,840
has been interesting. He throws some
really wildly passes off the dribble, some

687
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,599
one handed bangers there. He's super
crappy with the ball in his hands,

688
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:51,679
can disarm defenders inside the arc,
has some really artful footwork even after picking

689
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:54,880
up his handle, knows how to
use his pivot foot that that flourished off

690
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:59,559
the dribble. It's just he's just
a little bit quicker than I think you

691
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,039
real, and definitely quicker than I
expected coming in. I mentioned that he's

692
00:45:02,039 --> 00:45:06,559
already gonna stretch the floor. I
think his defense overall has been better than

693
00:45:06,639 --> 00:45:10,800
expected from what I've seen of him. He'll have moments where he's turning his

694
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:15,519
hips and moving his feet to perfection
against quicker attackers. But he can also

695
00:45:15,599 --> 00:45:17,400
be flame royal in space at certain
times, and so I'm not really sure

696
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:22,760
what to expect from him there over
the big, bigger picture, bigger picture

697
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:24,880
trajectory. But he's good. I
think he's going to be really good.

698
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,920
He should be playing more for Houston. I get that it's probably hard to

699
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:34,039
pair him and Wood together just because
you want Biggs with more of a heft.

700
00:45:34,639 --> 00:45:37,800
What is your defensive rebounding going to
look like in those instances. They've

701
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,039
actually been able to handle the defensive
class when they play together, But the

702
00:45:40,079 --> 00:45:45,719
defense overall is not good because I'd
hazard that you don't have guys you wont

703
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:47,159
when you're dealing with someone who has
to guard the flour. Neither of these

704
00:45:47,199 --> 00:45:51,960
two are just going to get you
a ton of shot contests on the perimeter.

705
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,159
They're also not these rim de turrens. We're gonna be able to cut

706
00:45:55,199 --> 00:45:59,800
off drumal penetration with all this consistency, and they're not super. Neither of

707
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:02,519
them a great rim protectors. Opponents
are shooting sixty nine point two percent at

708
00:46:02,519 --> 00:46:07,039
the rim and fifty five point six
percent from short mid range when Shane gouden

709
00:46:07,119 --> 00:46:10,400
Wood are on the floor. I
just I don't think Shango's ever going to

710
00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:15,119
be like this net positive defender.
But that might say more about right now

711
00:46:15,199 --> 00:46:17,599
the results between him and what he
could say more about the makeup of Houston's

712
00:46:17,679 --> 00:46:21,760
roster. They're playing a lot with
Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. And

713
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,239
so if Jay Shawn Tad is really
your only net positive defender in those lineups,

714
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:29,599
you are bound to get cooked even
when you are going with more defensive

715
00:46:29,599 --> 00:46:31,239
oriented U. And it's just looking
at the lineup data right now, Actually

716
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,079
you're going to be hard pressed there. But I think Shan Gouda is a

717
00:46:35,119 --> 00:46:39,119
future is a really good, too
great offensive center in this league. His

718
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,960
swing skill is just going to be
defense in the sense of how can he

719
00:46:43,039 --> 00:46:45,440
hold up, what type of a
rim protector is he going to be?

720
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,079
And how does he move in space? Can he make consistent place there to

721
00:46:49,159 --> 00:46:54,199
where he's not getting torched? At
beakfast TV, ask what is Monte Morris

722
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:58,360
shooting from mid range? I'm a
Nuggets fan. It seems like he hasn't

723
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:01,039
missed. He has in fact missed, but you I get where you're coming

724
00:47:01,039 --> 00:47:04,880
from. Here shooting forty eight percent
from mid range. That's forty eight of

725
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,559
ninety nine on the season. He's
actually shooting fifty two percent on long mid

726
00:47:07,679 --> 00:47:12,480
range jumpers, which are shots between
fourteen feet and just inside the three point

727
00:47:12,559 --> 00:47:15,880
line. He is at thirty two
of sixty one from there, and then

728
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:20,880
just from the float range sixteen of
thirty eight, which is good for forty

729
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:22,880
two percent, and so like the
long jumpers are really propping him up there.

730
00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:27,559
It's nice to have that solid option
from him. Wild to me that

731
00:47:27,639 --> 00:47:31,840
he is shooting fifty two percent on
long mid rangers versus thirty two percent from

732
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:37,039
three he is shooting. He's shooting
pretty good on above the break threes around

733
00:47:37,079 --> 00:47:39,559
thirty six percent. He's five of
twenty two on quarter threes, which really

734
00:47:39,639 --> 00:47:44,360
that's twenty three percent that's going to
drag down his total quite an actual bit.

735
00:47:44,519 --> 00:47:47,400
Monte Morris though a favorite of this
podcast of my co host Adam Frommel

736
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:52,400
super efficient player and of late this
season mid range savant, and it's not

737
00:47:52,599 --> 00:47:55,639
look this is you know, I
don't think he's gonna hit fifty two percent

738
00:47:55,679 --> 00:47:59,760
of his longman rangers for the season. But let's look at his career splits

739
00:48:00,119 --> 00:48:05,880
for mid range fifty two percent as
in two twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen,

740
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:10,280
one hundred fifty seven of three hundred
and two forty one percent, twenty forty

741
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:14,599
percent last year and forty eight percent
this year. Not like this huge outlier

742
00:48:14,639 --> 00:48:19,840
he's always been. I would say
in above average mid range shooter, and

743
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:22,920
he only played two games in twenty
seventeen eighteen, so that's not caked in

744
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:25,440
to there. But yeah, he
shot fifty two percent on all mid rangers

745
00:48:27,079 --> 00:48:29,519
in his second season, and I
was on three hundred and two attempts.

746
00:48:29,559 --> 00:48:34,239
It wasn't volume that you would necessarily
scoff at, so perfectly sustainable. I

747
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:37,079
have no idea fifty two percent on
longman rangers. Again, that seems a

748
00:48:37,119 --> 00:48:40,440
little that seems a little spicy,
but this is not out of character but

749
00:48:40,639 --> 00:48:46,679
by any means. For for Monte
Morris Scampy asked, what's Zach Klavin shooting

750
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:51,599
on wide open threes? Zach Levine
is shooting thirty eight point six percent on

751
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:53,679
wide open threes where a defender is
six or more feet away from him.

752
00:48:53,679 --> 00:48:58,760
That's seventeen to forty four. He's
also thirty four of eighty five on open

753
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:05,639
three pointers where fender is four to
six feet away from him. Ironically,

754
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:09,119
these open three pointers, combining them, they count for about the same share

755
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:14,960
of his shots as they did last
season. I think he's really benefited more

756
00:49:15,079 --> 00:49:17,440
so inside the arc and the path
that opened up, both on the ball

757
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:21,599
and off the ball for him by
having demarterrozen there and just some other weapons.

758
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:24,440
And the bull spacing has also been
pretty funky at different points this year,

759
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:29,840
so that's something to consider. Zach
Lavine has dropped off with his off

760
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:32,760
the dribble three point shooting. He's
still around thirty five percent though unauthor dribble

761
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:37,480
threes, and that's an asset to
have someone who can hit those shots.

762
00:49:37,599 --> 00:49:40,840
But he's hitting his open three pointers
thirty nine point five percent combined on the

763
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:45,880
season when a defender is at least
four feet away from him, and knowing

764
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,039
that he's not doesn't need to be
the primary ball head or and all these

765
00:49:49,159 --> 00:49:52,960
units. That's an absolute weapon for
the Bulls to years, and they have

766
00:49:53,159 --> 00:49:58,760
used it. Morgan asked who is
the most underrated player in the NBA currently?

767
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:04,239
This is a loaded question. It's
subjective. I'll give shout outs before

768
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:07,039
I give my actual answer here.
Royce O'Neill. Just the defensive workload,

769
00:50:07,039 --> 00:50:10,199
Debt Carries, want Toscono Anderson is
out there for me. He's not doesn't

770
00:50:10,199 --> 00:50:14,079
even have a consistent place in the
Warriors rotation, but he's just he's a

771
00:50:14,119 --> 00:50:16,480
smart player, can fill so many
different gaps. Devin Vassell is probably up

772
00:50:16,519 --> 00:50:20,639
there at this point for me.
Cameron Johnson, I don't think people realize

773
00:50:20,679 --> 00:50:24,039
what he can do offensively other than
shoot, and he wasn't shooting well to

774
00:50:24,079 --> 00:50:29,400
start the season. But also just
someone who's not going to to play to

775
00:50:29,559 --> 00:50:32,599
your detriment on the defensive end.
I think Timberwolves have two and Jade McDaniels

776
00:50:32,599 --> 00:50:37,000
and Jared Vanderbilt. Both of those
guys are defensive monsters, and I'm not

777
00:50:37,199 --> 00:50:45,320
sure the national NBA fandom discourse covers
either of them enough, and they definitely

778
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:47,679
don't get a ton of national media
shine there. There are there's a subgenre

779
00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:51,719
of NBA Twitter that's in love with
Jared Vanderbilt this season, but those two

780
00:50:52,079 --> 00:50:57,480
Iaiah Hartenstein, I could not believe
that he came down as a fringe roster

781
00:50:57,639 --> 00:51:00,159
guy for the Clippers this season.
Excuse me as I lose my voice.

782
00:51:00,199 --> 00:51:06,119
This is just someone who can pass, can make certain quick plays on offense

783
00:51:06,199 --> 00:51:08,440
for you, is not going to
be boom roasted every single time around the

784
00:51:08,519 --> 00:51:13,400
rim defensively, just as a second
or third big how he didn't have a

785
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:19,079
guaranteed roster spot for so long.
We'll continue to blow my mind. Jalen

786
00:51:19,119 --> 00:51:22,039
Brunson's up there. He is shooting
fifty seven plus percent on drives this season.

787
00:51:22,119 --> 00:51:28,360
Fun fact, there are ten players
averaging ten drives per game this year.

788
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:31,239
Five players averaging ten plus drives per
game this year and shooting fifty seven

789
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:36,119
percent are better on them Jannis Luca, Jalen Brunson, Mike Conley, and

790
00:51:36,159 --> 00:51:39,440
Malcolm Brogden. Hysterical that Dallas has
two of them and they're not a team

791
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:42,639
that puts a ton of pressure on
the rim, which shows you the type

792
00:51:42,679 --> 00:51:47,840
of load that the don Chechen Jalen
Brunson have to one carry and then also

793
00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:52,480
what they can do from that in
between range. Frank neil Key is up

794
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:54,360
there for me. By the way, he was the mavst best free agent

795
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,760
addition in this offseason. I think
that's become pretty clear. I'm not even

796
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,719
being tongue in cheek. Those are
all honorables for me, and you can

797
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:02,679
come up with others. I think
mine, and it's a higher profile on

798
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:06,880
one mostly name. I think people
will recognize this is not a deep cut

799
00:52:07,039 --> 00:52:09,960
of Some people might consider Isaya hart
and Seen a deep cut or Frank niel

800
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:15,400
Keeno or Jaden McDaniels, even Jared
Vannabot, Rishawn Holmes. This dude is

801
00:52:15,119 --> 00:52:20,360
so good. He is so so
so good. Sixty two point five percent

802
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:22,840
on his push shots this year.
That's just a mind melting number. That's

803
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:27,480
also sustainable given how he plays.
I don't think he receives enough credit for

804
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:30,599
being not bad. Defensively, He's
not going to be great. He can't

805
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:35,800
resurrect the King's defense on his own, but he is a viable room protector

806
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:37,440
who is not bamed beyond ice when
he's pulled a little bit further away.

807
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:42,480
This season, opponents are shooting fifty
three point three percent against him at the

808
00:52:42,519 --> 00:52:47,360
basket among everyone who is contested at
least one hundred shots from point plank range

809
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:52,000
this year. That is the sixth
best mark in the league, right around

810
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,679
Evan Moble, Miles Turner, Daniel
Gafford, Jannis and Rudy Gobert, who

811
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,360
remains a monster there. This is
just someone who's who's solid, and he's

812
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:04,320
just ahead of Art Allen, Clint
Capella, John Collins, Domasa Bonus.

813
00:53:04,519 --> 00:53:08,639
You get the picture there. I
cannot believe that the King's got to keep

814
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:13,679
him on that early Bird four year
deal. Where he's basically making the mid

815
00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:15,760
level exception. Oh that's basically what
is a little bit more, but he's

816
00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:19,400
making close to mid level money over
the next four years. Fourth season is

817
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:22,760
a player option. Of course.
I couldn't believe that there wasn't a stronger

818
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:28,159
market for him in free agency.
I'm curious to see whether he gets moved

819
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:30,559
this season. I would absolutely trade
him if I'm the Kings, because his

820
00:53:30,679 --> 00:53:34,679
value should be at an all time
high and you should get a first round

821
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:37,960
pick, maybe an interesting young player
or two for him, not super high

822
00:53:37,039 --> 00:53:43,440
end stuff. Something I had sort
of proposed bounced around this idea anyway,

823
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:47,960
was can you get him to Toronto
and Toronto will send Sacramento it's picked this

824
00:53:49,079 --> 00:53:53,679
year latter protected precious Sachuwa, Delano
Banton and Gan Dragic. Maybe you send

825
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:58,159
a twenty twenty three second round pick
as well from Toronto. That would be

826
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:01,239
for Tristan Thompson Rashaun Holmes. Just
something that I've been ruminating about. I

827
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:07,599
think they need that nice lob threat
and his skill there holds is a given,

828
00:54:07,639 --> 00:54:08,320
and the open floor and his lob
finisher, Like I said, he

829
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:12,559
shooting sixty two point five percent I'm
on fucking floaters. That is that is

830
00:54:12,679 --> 00:54:15,559
nuts, That's just absolutely bonkers.
I don't know that you get two first

831
00:54:15,639 --> 00:54:19,519
rounders for him and Dolonald Benton has
got to be the equivalent of probably a

832
00:54:19,599 --> 00:54:22,320
lower end first rounder right now,
just because the contract is shorter, even

833
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:28,800
though it's super cheap. But he's
been playing really well. Just disrupts defensively

834
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:31,360
like he was supposed to, but
he's given them raptors secondary ball handler,

835
00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:37,079
puts real pressure on the paint that
defenses are reacting to, finishing well inside

836
00:54:37,480 --> 00:54:39,599
and giving other guys on the Raptors
time to work away from the ball just

837
00:54:39,679 --> 00:54:45,960
by being that capable ball carrier for
them. I don't want to say free

838
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:47,920
home. I'd like to see r
Sean Holmes had a playoff team. Though

839
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:52,119
he's been great for the Kings.
The Kings deserve credit for bringing him in

840
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:55,159
giving him that role. The fact
that they kept him, that's kudos to

841
00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:58,920
them. Again, I was shocked
that he cost that little, but he's

842
00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:00,719
the most underrated player in the en
to me, because I think it even

843
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:04,519
was more proven in free agency,
where I think he should have been just

844
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:07,880
higher up on teams. Wishless.
I know that maybe a lot of teams

845
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:09,719
don't want to invest a ton of
bigs who aren't stars, or maybe who

846
00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:15,079
aren't top tier defenders. I get
it. He's so plug and play and

847
00:55:15,199 --> 00:55:17,280
scalable, and yet what he does
just can't readily be matched. This isn't

848
00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:21,400
someone who's just an open floor finisher. You're not going to find a big

849
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,519
who just replicate his push shot.
I still believe that he could probably stretch

850
00:55:24,599 --> 00:55:29,519
defenses out further if he was allowed
to something that Sacramento hasn't really given him

851
00:55:29,559 --> 00:55:34,119
the license to do or tried to
have him do. And if you're just

852
00:55:34,239 --> 00:55:37,280
going to field a big who can
play thirty plus minutes a game and is

853
00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:42,599
not going to hurt your defense,
And if anything, he probably looked the

854
00:55:42,719 --> 00:55:45,639
Raptors specifically, they're twenty ninth in
ponta field goal percentage of the rim.

855
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:49,360
Rashaun Holmes probably helps their defense there. They do a good job of dissuading

856
00:55:49,679 --> 00:55:52,039
looks at the rim just because they
are so disruptive on the perimeter. But

857
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:58,320
he is someone who can actually help
certain defenses. So he remains my most

858
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:00,599
underrated player in the NBA, which
I actually think is wild to stay because

859
00:56:00,599 --> 00:56:05,000
to me, he should be entering
the Mike Conley territory of No, he's

860
00:56:05,039 --> 00:56:07,000
not on the same level of stardom
as comedy, but he's been around this

861
00:56:07,159 --> 00:56:10,159
discussion for so long it's time to
graduate from it, and I still just

862
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:16,000
don't think he is appreciated. Let's
wrap up on this fun one. Addikanmu

863
00:56:16,119 --> 00:56:21,960
asked, where's the goat Mario Hazonia? He is in Russia. He signed

864
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:24,199
a two year deal, player options
for the second year to play in the

865
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:30,280
VTG United League in Russia. If
you're curious to see how he's faring,

866
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:34,760
he one says that he likes everything
in Russia, and through twenty plus appearances

867
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:38,360
nineteen starts, he's averaging almost thirty
minutes per game, sixteen point two points,

868
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:44,159
one point seven steals, shooting twenty
six point five percent from three,

869
00:56:44,280 --> 00:56:46,159
getting to the line four point two
attempts per per game. Good for him.

870
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:52,360
He's averaging more more turnovers to two
point three than assist per game one

871
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:54,320
point nine. Not the type of
season that would make you think that he

872
00:56:54,760 --> 00:57:00,239
is coming back to the NBA anytime
soon. Thank you to everyone who's up

873
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:04,000
with this solo mail bag. We'll
be back with a two person podcast later

874
00:57:04,119 --> 00:57:07,079
on this week. If you've made
it this far, please remember a rate

875
00:57:07,159 --> 00:57:10,840
review. Subscribe to Hardwood Knock download
all our episodes. Also tell your friends,

876
00:57:10,920 --> 00:57:15,920
family members, acquaintances, co workers
about us, Retweet our promos on

877
00:57:15,039 --> 00:57:20,119
Twitter, anything to help us continue
getting the word out about how pleasantly sub

878
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:22,280
mediocre we are. Until next time, I'll leave you with the shout out

879
00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:28,360
to the one, the only,
one of the most enduring underrated players in

880
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:30,480
the NBA, Frank Neil Kina