1 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,960 What is krak alac in Fellows thermonuclear a efforts? I am and the Valley 2 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:23,039 coming at you with my certified fantabulus co host mister Grant Hughes. In the 3 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:25,879 interest of me not having to talk too much as I try to recover my 4 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,719 voice, we are going on to Western Conference Piece or Panic recording this very 5 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,759 late on a Thursday night my time, November sixteenth, So if anything happens 6 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,079 of two nights worth of games, since this will go up on Saturday, 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,840 They're not going to change most of our takes, I promise you, but 8 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,399 just want to give you a heads up in case anyone takes issue. And 9 00:00:44,439 --> 00:00:49,280 as always, please remember to subscribe wherever you consume stuff YouTube, Spotify, 10 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,079 Apple or the big ones, leave ratings and reviews. If you've done all 11 00:00:52,119 --> 00:00:55,679 three of those things, definitely join our discord link to that's the podcast and 12 00:00:55,679 --> 00:00:58,439 YouTube description. You could check out our merch link to that is in the 13 00:00:58,439 --> 00:01:02,359 podcast and YouTube description. All our socials are on screen or in the podcast 14 00:01:02,399 --> 00:01:04,480 description. And if you've done all those things, just maybe tell people about 15 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,959 us, share our content. We appreciate every single one of our listeners watchers. 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,680 Your support is the reason why we keep doing this and we love interacting 17 00:01:12,719 --> 00:01:15,959 with you, with you guys, and I promise I'll be active again in 18 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,959 discord, hopefully in the next few days as I, you know, recoup 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:25,120 in my my personal life settles down a little bit, Grant as I squeak, 20 00:01:25,439 --> 00:01:30,719 how that are you doing? I'm doing great, Dan. Do you 21 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,280 have your voice crack like in an embarrassing time when everybody heard it, like 22 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,959 when you're like when your your voice was changing. Yeah, I think when 23 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:44,719 I was giving I've given three best men's speeches. That might be a humble 24 00:01:44,719 --> 00:01:47,760 brag. And how old were you when you're giving best man speeches? This 25 00:01:47,719 --> 00:01:49,760 is what's supposed to happen when you're like thirteen or something. Uh No, 26 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,280 my voice cracks now all the time. It's happened on radio interviews, podcast 27 00:01:53,359 --> 00:01:57,920 interviews, during my best man speech. It's squeaked. That's not embarrassing, 28 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,799 though, I'm talking about like freshman year of high school or like or you 29 00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:02,000 know, maybe earlier. I don't know. I don't know when your voice 30 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,879 changed, but I have a distinct memory of being in Spanish class and answering 31 00:02:06,879 --> 00:02:08,960 a question and I forget what the word was, but it was like uh, 32 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:15,360 like just yodling basically everybody here that never happened to me as far as 33 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,439 I can remember, I'm a stronger man for it. So uh, Western 34 00:02:20,439 --> 00:02:23,520 Conference piece or panic though? Are you ready? This is my Grant was 35 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:29,199 the one who handled the majority of the excuse me, of the Eastern He 36 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,680 had a majority, He handled the entire Eastern Conference, and I will be 37 00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:38,400 doing the Western Conference. And with the alphabet. We begin with the Dallas 38 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:43,759 Mavericks, which not a whole lot to panic about, which I will say 39 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:49,520 very impressive. I mean everything from Luca complaining less to just the their defense 40 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:53,120 is not great, but like you're getting good minutes from Derek Lively. Derek 41 00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:54,919 Jones Junior has been a great pick up for them. I didn't really know. 42 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,800 And even the minutes your solo star minutes Kyrie and Luca, those of 43 00:03:00,199 --> 00:03:05,159 large been good. So I ended up settling on pieceer panic Grant the Josh 44 00:03:05,199 --> 00:03:08,080 Green sort of leveling off, And I think part of this has to do 45 00:03:08,159 --> 00:03:12,960 with he's just playing a different roles. He's logging about the same amount of 46 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:17,800 minutes per game. He has been closing some games over a a Derek Jones 47 00:03:17,879 --> 00:03:24,199 Jr. But he's averaging fewer drives per thirty six minutes his front court touches 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:29,360 per thirty six minutes. Our way down and you just look at him. 49 00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:31,599 And they did sign him to an extension, not a huge one, three 50 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:36,719 years, forty one million dollars. It just feels like he's stagnated, maybe 51 00:03:36,759 --> 00:03:40,039 even regressed. Do you view this as he's just really trying to figure out 52 00:03:40,039 --> 00:03:45,400 his role in the larger ecosystem because there is just this shifting dynamic here, 53 00:03:45,879 --> 00:03:49,520 or is this something to look at where maybe he's not suited for a role 54 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:54,159 that calls him to play on the ball in like small bites rather than extended 55 00:03:54,199 --> 00:04:00,879 bursts. Yeah, I think I think your concern is well founded, and 56 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:06,360 I think maybe more broadly, like you know, Green is still the Mavericks. 57 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:12,080 I think are short a specific player type which is like bigger wing that 58 00:04:12,199 --> 00:04:15,680 can guard you know, number one threats, and Green's not that guy. 59 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,519 Green's like a one to two defender. So I guess like it, but 60 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,160 that doesn't answer question. I think it's peace. I still really like Josh 61 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,480 Green. I think, you know, some of the criticism he's faced is 62 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,160 like he's just you know, he's not willing enough of a shooter, and 63 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,000 he does have these ebbs and flows sometimes where he's not as impactful as he 64 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,959 could be. I still really like him, I think I just I think 65 00:04:36,959 --> 00:04:41,160 he really won me over. But maybe last year he just make he can 66 00:04:41,199 --> 00:04:43,920 make passes on the move, like he plays really hard. He's a good 67 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,439 defender. They don't need him to be this world beater, especially when Tim 68 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,600 Hardway Junior is gonna shoot forty percent from three, which, like you know, 69 00:04:49,639 --> 00:04:53,519 he's not gonna do that all year probably, but nice little stop gap 70 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,639 until Josh Green does kind of get more acclimated to what they want him to 71 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,720 do. So I'm not that concerned. I guess if one thing I'm surprised 72 00:05:00,759 --> 00:05:02,120 by, I don't know if it's a panic thing, but I thought Jayden 73 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,439 Hardy would have a bigger role, honestly, just because if he's playing eleven 74 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,000 minutes a game right now, I more than Seth Curry. Just where are 75 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,720 those minutes supposed to come from? Not playing? But that's the thing, 76 00:05:12,759 --> 00:05:15,920 Like I thought, what Dallas was gonna struggle with was we just got to 77 00:05:15,959 --> 00:05:19,079 have a third guy that can dribble and like do stuff with the ball and 78 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:24,160 Hardy to me, was gonna be that guy. But Lucas played twelve games, 79 00:05:24,399 --> 00:05:28,480 Kyrie's played nine, and they've managed to stagger those guys well enough to 80 00:05:28,519 --> 00:05:31,560 where they haven't had that issue. So that's not a panic either. That's 81 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,680 more of a surprise. But I think it's peace for me. I like 82 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,600 Josh Green. I think Josh Green's gonna be fine. I'm mostly piece. 83 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:41,240 I'm just curious to see what his offensive development looks like in the context of 84 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:45,959 this team right now. The next team by alphabet another team where and just 85 00:05:45,959 --> 00:05:49,199 as the criteria here, like if they're not if it's not an overarching panic 86 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:53,279 for the entire team, We're focusing on smaller elements and we're not going to 87 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,120 burn airtime on them, even though I think we burn some airtime on random 88 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,000 teams in the East. You're welcome everybody for that empty, empty noise. 89 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,399 So I think a lot of people would focus again on sort of the bench 90 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:08,959 minutes or the bench development that was just such a given because you lost Bruce 91 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,600 Brown and you were lying on a lot more youth and an experience, and 92 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,079 now Reggie Jackson's starting because of the Jamal Murray hamstering by the way, We're 93 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:23,519 gonna have to start issuing apologies to Reggie Jackson. Apparently, Yeah, I'm 94 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:29,000 sorry, Reggie Jackson. You deserve that player option there. It is so 95 00:06:29,959 --> 00:06:34,839 quickly My piece or panic here is Christian Brown not really building off his rookie 96 00:06:34,879 --> 00:06:40,439 campaign, and I think it's specifically on the offense. He's hit one corner 97 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:45,199 three all year. He's facing extra traffic in the lane, and I think 98 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:49,240 that's exposed his finishing and his handle, his dependence on the minutes beside Nicole 99 00:06:49,319 --> 00:06:54,920 Jokic this side of the Murray injury have never been more apparent. I know, 100 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,879 he's twenty two, the season's not yet fifteen games old, and he's 101 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:04,319 definitely earned patience and probably piece after emerging as this championship run swing piece as 102 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:12,279 a rookie. But the path to Denver maximizing their depth rests basically on him 103 00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:16,120 developing into a more complete and dependable offensive player than he is right now, 104 00:07:16,439 --> 00:07:20,160 and I just don't think I've seen it enough. He is still a good 105 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:25,279 physical presence on the defensive end. He's pitching in more on the glass. 106 00:07:25,439 --> 00:07:28,319 He knows how to navigate the floor away from the ball, which is huge 107 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,959 and I also think probably the thing I've been most impressed with him offensively, 108 00:07:32,199 --> 00:07:38,399 he's throwing quicker second passes. But you probably I think you need more from 109 00:07:38,519 --> 00:07:41,319 him on the offensive end, even if you think some of the shooting is 110 00:07:41,319 --> 00:07:45,959 going to normalize. Is it a piece or panic here for what he can 111 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,439 be as an offensive player? I mean, just say galn pick, it's 112 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,279 better and let's move on. Yeah, right, I think it's a It's 113 00:07:55,319 --> 00:08:01,360 not it can't be panic because it's a second year and the he was he 114 00:08:01,959 --> 00:08:05,000 was such as I mean, he's not like a well rounded player, right 115 00:08:05,079 --> 00:08:07,439 Like, that was never part of the makeup. He was going to defend 116 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,079 and play hard, and he did that in their finals run and that's great, 117 00:08:09,319 --> 00:08:13,800 and he made a couple shots and had some highlights attacking the rim. 118 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,279 I don't really think it was realistic to expect him to suddenly become like a 119 00:08:20,319 --> 00:08:22,399 league average three point shooter. Even so, this is kind of just the 120 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:28,920 expectation. If I was gonna panic, I think, like, I think 121 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,559 it might be more for like Zeke Nagi just like isn't going to be a 122 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,440 guy, you know, like he just I don't think he's going to be 123 00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:39,960 someone that is. You know, we've had what I'm trying to think of 124 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,879 like the best stretch of his career, and it's just there. You know, 125 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:46,600 there haven't been too many and we keep waiting because the sort of outlines 126 00:08:46,639 --> 00:08:50,879 of what a helpful player like the fully realized version of Zeke Nagy could be 127 00:08:50,919 --> 00:08:54,600 for the Nuggets are really interesting and tantalizing, but we just haven't seen it. 128 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:56,600 So if I had to panic about someone, even I'm not even try 129 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:01,480 panic about him, but like, it's definitely more wards him than either Braun 130 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:03,840 or what a Brown. Yeah, I've been so good about not calling him 131 00:09:03,879 --> 00:09:07,240 Christian Broun, but then I was just looking at his name and I had 132 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,639 to do it. Christian Brown. It's only messing you up when you look 133 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,360 at his name, right, not when you're just talking about him, because 134 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:18,600 you see it there, because it's the word Braun. Like sorry, correctly, 135 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,799 yes, and also sorry to Reggie Jackson. Yeah. Man. So 136 00:09:24,039 --> 00:09:26,919 the Golden State Warriors, I mean, fuck, where do we like, 137 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,679 where do we begin with them? I think look to Steph Curry the knee 138 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:33,559 injury, that's certainly something that we could focus on. Here. I'm gonna 139 00:09:33,639 --> 00:09:37,799 go more Macro and say the demise of their best lineup. Last year, 140 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,879 the starters Clay, Steph Wiggins, Draymond and Kevon Looney outscored opponents by one 141 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:48,039 hundred and forty five total points. That was the second highest mark in the 142 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:54,840 league, trailing over trailing only Denvers starting five, and yet the Warriors starting 143 00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,480 unit logged less than half as many minutes this season. Grant that unit is 144 00:10:00,519 --> 00:10:05,159 a minus seventeen in its floor time with a disastrous net rating. Now, 145 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,360 opponents are shooting eighty three percent at the rim in fifty three percent from three 146 00:10:09,799 --> 00:10:13,480 against that lineup. I'm assuming that won hold. That seems a little high, 147 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:20,080 but Klay Thompson has been bad, Andrew Wiggins is by and large been 148 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,120 bad, and it's super cool that they're still winning the minutes Chris Paul plays 149 00:10:24,159 --> 00:10:30,159 without Steph Curry. This is gonna be the first time in Curry's career when 150 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,279 he's playing healthy, because there's been another season I think it was twenty twenty 151 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,039 he played one hundred and forty minutes, but he was injured. That team 152 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,360 was going nowhere. The Warriors right now are on track for the first time 153 00:10:39,399 --> 00:10:43,039 in Steph Curry's career if he plays in a real amount of games to be 154 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,159 worse with Steph Curry on the court than they are with him off the court. 155 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,960 And that's not a Steph Curry thing. Is this a piece or panic? 156 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:58,519 I think do it? Do it with specific respect to the Wiggins Klay 157 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:03,639 Thompson piece of things. And they are both in that unit that you referenced 158 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,759 that is a panic and the Klay Thompson thing. I think some of this 159 00:11:07,919 --> 00:11:13,559 was evident last year. And again, like this is such a shitty thing 160 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:16,840 to have to talk about because the guy suffered like the two worst injuries you 161 00:11:16,879 --> 00:11:20,519 can have, and he made it back and he contributed to a fourth title, 162 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:26,240 which is just like legend stuff, right, like I'm amazing, But 163 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:31,200 the fact is he is not moving well, is forcing shots, is struggling 164 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,840 to defend. Thompson has just not been a helpful player so far, and 165 00:11:35,879 --> 00:11:39,799 Wiggins has been. I gotta believe that there are Minnesota Timberwolves fans out there 166 00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,399 like going like yeah, now you know, you know, like now you 167 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,399 understand, because he's just he's he's again and he had, you know, 168 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:50,159 not a great year last year either. There was off the court stuff that 169 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,360 kept him away from the team. He had an illness too, like you 170 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,080 know, so you want to be sympathetic, and it seems as if he 171 00:11:56,120 --> 00:12:00,679 came into camp out of shape. I think that's been alluded to several times. 172 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,120 But he's just been a non factor, has floated in and out of 173 00:12:03,159 --> 00:12:09,039 games, and that first unit is just not gonna be what it was without 174 00:12:09,039 --> 00:12:13,000 those two guys playing the way that they used to and I say used to 175 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,399 and not playing like they can because I'm not sure that they can play that 176 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:20,039 way anymore. So it's it is, yeah, you're right, like it 177 00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:26,519 was awesome when the second unit was like winning games for them because the expectation 178 00:12:26,799 --> 00:12:30,399 was, well, the starters will just again be the best five man unit 179 00:12:30,399 --> 00:12:33,080 in the league because they were last year. They're eventually gonna win the Curry 180 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,600 minutes just because Curry can't continue to play this well and have you know, 181 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:43,200 negative on off impact stuff, like they'll switch the guys around him and that'll 182 00:12:43,399 --> 00:12:46,200 you know, fix the Curry minutes. But it's not the same now when 183 00:12:46,279 --> 00:12:50,919 the starters and those two wings in particular have been so bad as it was 184 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,080 early in the earlier in the year, and you'd say, god damn, 185 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,960 wait until the starters are great again, and Chris Paul in the second unit 186 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:01,799 and is winning those minutes. The Warriors are going to have a plus fifteen 187 00:13:01,879 --> 00:13:05,240 net rating on the season. They're gonna win a million games. Like now, 188 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:11,320 it's how do we make it so Wiggins and Clay aren't, you know, 189 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:16,000 like, aren't negatively impacting the bottom line every time they're out there. 190 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:22,039 And we're recording this as the Warriors are about to lose to the thunder and 191 00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:24,720 Clay is one for ten. Last I looked, and Wiggins has been okay, 192 00:13:24,759 --> 00:13:28,399 but not shooting free throws like it's so, it is panic. It 193 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,759 is a little it is panic with for those two guys in particular, and 194 00:13:31,799 --> 00:13:35,240 then I guess by extension the Warriors because then you're saying, all right, 195 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,399 Moses Moody, Jonathan Kaminga, you guys are going to take those spots over 196 00:13:39,799 --> 00:13:45,200 the second unit's worse now, So it is it is a pretty early panic. 197 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,799 But having watched both of those guys, Wiggins and Clay, like every 198 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:50,799 minute they've played this season, they're not They're not the same, and maybe 199 00:13:50,799 --> 00:13:54,279 that'll change, but right now it's panic worthy to me. Do you consider 200 00:13:54,440 --> 00:14:00,600 making a change to that lineup or even do you consider making a change to 201 00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:05,279 the Crunch Time pecking order? Now you absolutely have to consider it. I 202 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,039 just and I think Wiggins is much easier to demote, if you want to 203 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,960 use that term. I just Thompson. It's such a it's just not that 204 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,960 simple, like, and he's the one that I think has been worse of 205 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,000 the two. Honestly, I you know, they both have really struggled. 206 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:28,399 I just don't know how that conversation goes because I think Thompson is like just 207 00:14:28,519 --> 00:14:33,279 so prideful and and just has been such a staple and has so much equity 208 00:14:33,679 --> 00:14:37,320 with Like, you might not be able to bench Thompson because Steph Curry and 209 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:39,279 Draymond Green will say, no, no, no, we believe in this 210 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:43,679 guy. You have to keep playing him. Like, there's so many different 211 00:14:43,879 --> 00:14:48,000 sets of dynamics at play with him that it might just be easier to play 212 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Wiggins less and play Cominga more or Moody more. But you have to think. 213 00:14:52,399 --> 00:14:56,960 I guarantee you they've had conversations, like I if it hasn't been brought 214 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,360 up yet, that seems crazy to me because it's pretty it's just nakedly obvious 215 00:15:00,399 --> 00:15:03,480 that Neither of those guys are playing well like they don't if you know, 216 00:15:03,519 --> 00:15:07,039 if it's just on merit, they're not playing well enough. That's the bottom, 217 00:15:07,159 --> 00:15:09,600 you know, the the on off numbers are showing that, as are 218 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:15,039 all of their individual stats. The Houston Rockets, what is there to panic 219 00:15:15,039 --> 00:15:18,879 about? Peer panic about? With them? Piece a panic? Can they 220 00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:22,120 afford to pay out Prinching going a billion dollars in his contract? So I 221 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:28,480 settled on Fred Van Fleet's two point shooting, which is improved of late. 222 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:33,200 And he's still shooting forty point three percent on twos. That's you know, 223 00:15:33,279 --> 00:15:37,480 he's never been a great finisher, but like even by these standards he's been 224 00:15:37,519 --> 00:15:43,320 off, he's actually shooting better rant on twos outside of fourteen feet, he's 225 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,320 made ten of twenty on twos inside of four feet, he's eleven of twenty 226 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:54,039 four. That seems wrong. He's shooting thirty six point one percent on drives. 227 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,559 That's a bottom ten mark among one hundred and eight players who are averaging 228 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,600 at least five drives per game. Now, well, the caveat here is 229 00:16:02,039 --> 00:16:06,320 when he's driving, defenses react, it's opening things up for everybody. And 230 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,879 he still does a lot of good things off the ball, that it's helped 231 00:16:08,879 --> 00:16:12,440 out Alpern Shangun, it's helped out Jalen Green, it's helped out Jabari Smith, 232 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:17,440 it's helped out, it's helped out everything. But I've also wondered because 233 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,480 of the two point stuff like the inefficiency, I wonder if that's factored into 234 00:16:22,559 --> 00:16:26,360 why Houston tethers him to Alprin shang Gun so much to where you don't see 235 00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:30,919 a lot they're more inclined to stagger Jalen Green from those two that might say 236 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,279 more about what we're trying to develop Jalen Green. Is it pieceer panic on 237 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,279 Fred van Fleet's two point shooting? Though? I guess I don't think it 238 00:16:37,279 --> 00:16:41,000 can be a panic because this just is pretty much who he's always been. 239 00:16:41,039 --> 00:16:44,440 You look back at his at his shooting at the Rim every year and it's 240 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,039 just like, yeah, he's forty six percent, and I think you said 241 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:51,279 some of this, but he's like he's never really been above the mid fifties 242 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:56,600 and that's really bad at the Rim. So he's not it's he's not big 243 00:16:56,679 --> 00:17:00,279 enough. He's a small guard that doesn't you know, have elite quickness, 244 00:17:00,399 --> 00:17:04,640 and so that's just never been a great part of his game. I think 245 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,720 the singoon piece of it, though, like solves a lot of it, 246 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:11,640 you know, because then van Fleet can just be more of a spot up 247 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,000 guy and a ball mover and you can run everything through or not everything, 248 00:17:15,039 --> 00:17:18,400 but a lot more through shingoon and you get away with it. So yeah, 249 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,799 I can't panic there, but like you would like you would like your 250 00:17:22,039 --> 00:17:25,160 your starting point guard to make more than half of his shots at the rim, 251 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:27,440 that would be that would be good. If he's gonna ship fifty shit 252 00:17:27,559 --> 00:17:32,119 wow, if he's got a shit fifty percent on long dudes, like so, 253 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:33,119 I mean, it's kind of the same thing with ways. Shoot, 254 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:40,559 there's just the rockets are so good right now, I just know there's nothing 255 00:17:40,599 --> 00:17:44,200 a piece or panic. There's nothing panic over so some piece there, because 256 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,000 look, the other thing is, even if the inefficiency sustains, it's not 257 00:17:47,039 --> 00:17:48,799 just a matter of well you've kind of expected this. Let's just say it 258 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,319 kind of hovers around this low. He's just doing enough other stuff to where 259 00:17:52,319 --> 00:17:56,640 it's yeah, yeah cool whatever. Next team, they might warn a little 260 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:02,519 bit more discussion. The Los Angeles Clippers. I think it's the piecer panic 261 00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:04,759 over the hapless start to the James Harden era, and they are oh and 262 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:10,839 six since the trade oh and five with Harden in the lineup. Only two 263 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,960 teams since the trade are averaging fewer points per possession than the Clippers, and 264 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,759 it's the Blazers and the Spurs. And when the big four are on the 265 00:18:18,799 --> 00:18:22,559 court, they're playing more like a frighteningly foul for the Clippers are getting out 266 00:18:22,559 --> 00:18:26,880 scored by sixteen point five points per one hundred possessions with an offensive rating grant 267 00:18:27,519 --> 00:18:32,720 in the one percent tile. Not good. You can do other stuff where 268 00:18:32,759 --> 00:18:37,799 if you yank Russell Westbrook, the data with Paul George, James Harden, 269 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,839 KWHI Leonard in a very limited sample excellent. Without Russell Westbrook, you have 270 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,960 no hope of playing with any pace. Should you do that? Are you 271 00:18:45,079 --> 00:18:49,920 worried? We've had James Harden say we're gonna be scary once things get it 272 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,480 together. Is it a piece or panic for real though, based off what 273 00:18:52,519 --> 00:18:57,279 we've seen from the LA Clippers, or does Daniel Tye solve everything? You 274 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:04,839 took my answer? If you if you say it's peace hypothetically, you're you're 275 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:11,200 you're betting on this being an issue of well hardened. You know, he's 276 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,039 not in shape. So I don't know why we're excusing him for that one, 277 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:15,920 but okay, maybe that's it. I know he's got to learn these 278 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:21,039 guys tendencies because he's a he is he is the system, and so he 279 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,480 needs to, uh you know, once he really dials in and gets enough 280 00:19:23,519 --> 00:19:26,119 reps, he's going to just figure out where these guys like the ball and 281 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,279 he'll get it to them. All the time. He led the league in 282 00:19:29,279 --> 00:19:32,640 assists last year. He can do it. Like you, if you say 283 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:37,359 peace, you're just assuming that a bund one of one, that your eyes 284 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,519 are lying to you and Harden does not look really terrible, uh and two 285 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,799 that you know, all of these problems are just gonna get fixed as the 286 00:19:45,839 --> 00:19:48,319 losses mount. I just it has to be panic. I think we I 287 00:19:48,319 --> 00:19:52,720 think we had a fairly measured conversation about this when the trade happened. Of 288 00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:55,640 like, well, in theory, Harden can do X, Y and Z 289 00:19:55,799 --> 00:19:57,079 for the Clippers. It kind of makes some sense. He can be an 290 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,480 innings eater, he can do all, you know, all this other stuff. 291 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,720 There were some I don't know, pathways to justifying the trade and coming 292 00:20:04,799 --> 00:20:10,319 up with like good outlooks. You know, I think we were fair about 293 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:14,119 that, but now you know the numbers, the record being what it is 294 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,200 with him there, and the optics being what they are. I don't know 295 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,839 how you do anything butt, panic, because you know, just from an 296 00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:26,319 organizational standpoint, like you kind of that's that was all your AMMO now and 297 00:20:26,319 --> 00:20:30,960 and now he's facing free agency and you're gonna I mean, part of the 298 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,359 reason he wanted to be there, maybe all of the reason is because he 299 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,440 thought this like bottomless pocketed owner will pay me, you know, in free 300 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,160 agency, and maybe that happens, and you're they're going to run it back 301 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,200 with these with these guys because George and Leonard will get new deals too. 302 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,519 Yeah, it's panic. It's just like I don't have any faith that Hardin 303 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,920 can be as good as he was last year, and and there's a great 304 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,160 chance he's just going to be way, way worse because of how his age 305 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,640 and like the way he's taking care of himself and how difficult it is to 306 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,200 fit with him sometimes. So yeah, like, how do you get to 307 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,640 peace on this? If you if you've got any piece, I'd love to 308 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,759 hear the explanation. There's no peace because it's even if you I do think 309 00:21:11,799 --> 00:21:15,720 they're they're going to be better than dog shit. We know that might win 310 00:21:15,799 --> 00:21:21,240 a game at some point and so, but the baseline is winning or contending 311 00:21:21,319 --> 00:21:22,880 for a title, and that's where the panic sets in. And look, 312 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,599 I'm not here for the James Harden talking about you know I didn't have a 313 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,039 training camp. Yeah, no, ship surely no not to have a training 314 00:21:30,039 --> 00:21:33,599 camp. This wasn't some injury that kept you out of the sixers refusing to 315 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,119 let you be a training camp. And look, that's also that is part 316 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,759 of the reason why it's more of a panic, where if this trade had 317 00:21:40,799 --> 00:21:44,279 gotten done to where you could have gone through a training camp with James Harden, 318 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,720 then maybe you would have understood more of the it might have been easier 319 00:21:47,759 --> 00:21:52,880 to sort out the pecking order, lineup combinations that work here. So it's 320 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,119 absolutely a panic because yeah, they'll win a game, but they're not They're 321 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:02,960 not a title contender. No. Uh, the Los Angeles Lakers pieceer panic. 322 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,279 Man. You could go a bunch of different ways here, and I 323 00:22:06,319 --> 00:22:11,160 tried not to focus on health. I went with Austin Reeves's development he's been 324 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,000 a lot better since coming off the bench. But the fact that you had 325 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,400 to bring him off the bench in the first place, the fact that the 326 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,119 minutes when he plays without Lebron have been bad, the fact that the minutes 327 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:26,839 when he and ad play without Lebron have been absolutely terrible. It looks like 328 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,680 he's just pressing a little bit more with you know what, I've thought about 329 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,480 too much. You know that bobon commercial he bounced the ball. He bounced 330 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:37,920 the ball. I feel like that a lot watching Austin Reeves now on offense, 331 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,880 and I don't you know, he's hit more of his threes than I 332 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,799 thought he would, but kind of just the off ball movement, even the 333 00:22:45,799 --> 00:22:48,880 stuff he's done on the ball, he has not looked great defensively overall this 334 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,400 season. If you're the Lakers or you can the contract is even if he's 335 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,920 not the player you thought he was, the contracts irrelevant. It's not that 336 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:57,440 big of a deal. Maybe it's not the best bargain in the NBA, 337 00:22:57,559 --> 00:23:00,119 like a lot of people thought, But are you at a piece or panic 338 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,799 when you're looking at his development this season and look, he has like a 339 00:23:03,839 --> 00:23:07,839 sixty nine true shooting percentage since coming off the bench. Yeah, I think 340 00:23:07,559 --> 00:23:11,519 I guess if there's panic, it's because I guess there's a little panic because 341 00:23:11,559 --> 00:23:15,200 I just thought, well, this is this this team's third best player. 342 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,799 He's going to improve on last year and he's just going to be not an 343 00:23:18,839 --> 00:23:22,319 All Star, but he's going to be a really like high end starter, 344 00:23:22,799 --> 00:23:26,160 just because he's so efficient and he is still efficient by the way you said 345 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:30,160 it, and I just thought he would take a step forward that that hasn't 346 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,279 happened. I think that's kind of the case. Like Max Christie. Remember 347 00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:37,039 how much Breakout buzz Max Christy had and he's playing fourteen minutes a game and 348 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,160 hasn't hit a shot all year. It feels like an eighteen percent from three 349 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:44,559 for him. Cam Reddish like is playing way too much. Every time I 350 00:23:44,599 --> 00:23:47,279 turn the Lakers on and it's the fourth quarter, Cam Reddish is in the 351 00:23:47,279 --> 00:23:49,799 game. That's not great, And that's I think an indicator of you know, 352 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:55,200 and this is also because Gaye Vincent's been heard. It's just like a 353 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,359 lot of the guys that I expected would make major impacts have not done it. 354 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,119 And some of the guys that I thought would be not helpful like D'Angelo 355 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,440 Russell, like Torrian Prince and like Cam Reddish are like actually contributing a lot. 356 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:11,079 I think Utcha Mura has been disappointing too. Uh So actually, as 357 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,680 I look at Hutcham has also been like very unhealthy for the most Yeah. 358 00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:18,440 Yeah, he's only played eight games, so I guess just specifically answer it 359 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,880 a little bit of panic about Reeves and then more like it's not piece or 360 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,160 panic, but kind of confusion about like who's been the primary non star contributors 361 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,599 so far and who hasn't. It's been not met my expectations for sort of 362 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,599 like how this roster was gonna be uh, I don't know, deployed, 363 00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:37,039 I guess would be the word. He also the the I don't want to 364 00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:41,000 say this the better pieceer panic, but the fact that the Lakers have lost 365 00:24:41,039 --> 00:24:45,319 the minutes where all three of lebron Ad and Reeves are on the court, 366 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:51,039 like that's also something to monitor. They've utilized like a little bit, uh 367 00:24:51,079 --> 00:24:53,000 but there, and I don't know that they're their defense has been really bad. 368 00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:57,039 They're not getting burned from like and you know, opponents are shooting sixty 369 00:24:57,079 --> 00:25:00,319 two percent at the rim in those minutes and thirty seven percent from three. 370 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,480 That's not you know, those are numbers that might change a little bit, 371 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,119 right, Yeah, I don't know that that's weird because those three guys should 372 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,839 work perfectly together. I think I feel like that's just kind of noisy because 373 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,640 because Reeves is like a great secondary creator, he's gonna make open shots. 374 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,119 You'd think he's a smart cutter like he he shouldn't work so bad to start 375 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,759 the year though, That's why they got rid of him in the right and 376 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,240 the other. Look, I mean maybe like a third piece or panic here. 377 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:32,240 So the Lebron James minute limit, Oh we should I mean that was 378 00:25:32,279 --> 00:25:33,759 the one, right, it's it's tapered off. He's down. He's down 379 00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:37,079 to thirty three point nine minutes per game now. But like the way the 380 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,640 year started with him was like they're going to run this guy into the ground 381 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,799 by December, Like that would look he's lucky. He would be much higher. 382 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,640 And I mean we could say this about, well, you're throwing in 383 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,400 this random caveat if he doesn't play, like, what was it twenty two 384 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,039 and a half minutes in that twenty seven point went over the Grizzlies, right, 385 00:25:53,079 --> 00:25:56,079 he's averaging over the three five minutes a game yea at this point season, 386 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,839 and I look, I know, people like to troll Lebron at this 387 00:26:00,039 --> 00:26:02,599 point. They get mad that there's so many highlights showing of him in games 388 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:07,599 that he loses I as as we get closer to the end of just Lebron 389 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,839 playing. Yeah, he's in his age thirty nine season. The fact that 390 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,440 he can do anything like just get these chase down blocks, do any I'm 391 00:26:14,519 --> 00:26:18,720 just I'm in awe. The fact, like the fact that he's on an 392 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,759 NBA roster at thirty nine is like a marvel let alone that he can play. 393 00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:29,240 He can play minute totals in the thirties and still like win them games 394 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,000 in fourth quarters, which you know, like it's problematic and also amazing, 395 00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:37,480 right, but we gotta like we really got to recalibrate like some of that, 396 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,799 Like it's kind of insane to point out, like what he's not as 397 00:26:41,839 --> 00:26:45,039 good at anymore. Like you see, it's like when people are like, 398 00:26:45,039 --> 00:26:48,720 well, the NBA should should drug test him, I don't fucking care if 399 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,400 he's taken every performance enhancing drug under the sun. The fact that he's playing 400 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,440 like this in his age thirty nine season. I'm fine with it. Pretty 401 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:02,400 amazing. That's what people come to if you want to really like in depth 402 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,319 analysis, you come to this podcast to hear us say, like, it's 403 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:10,680 amazing that Lebron's really good at thirty nine. That's what we're here for. 404 00:27:11,279 --> 00:27:15,160 No, it is though, like's not. It feels insane to say we 405 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,400 don't talk about it enough, but like it's of we predominantly. I don't 406 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,640 know if we do this on purpose, but or maybe we consume so much 407 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,680 content where it's everyone's talking about the Lakers and the Knicks and the like, 408 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,279 we're not those aren't the teams. We try to focus on every team, 409 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,880 but like, we don't talk about the Lakers a lot. No, I 410 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,559 don't, and maybe we should. I don't know. But yeah, so 411 00:27:38,839 --> 00:27:42,640 he's thirty nine. It's so stupid. How does he do this? Unbelievable. 412 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,720 The next team is the Memphis Grizzlies, and my piece are panic for 413 00:27:47,759 --> 00:27:51,759 them? Is everything? Yeah, especially post Marcus Mart's now dealing with an 414 00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:56,759 ankle injury. The offense is bad, the defense has regressed. I think 415 00:27:56,799 --> 00:28:00,960 that might be I can't bring myself because there's there's a cause of everything a 416 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,599 lot of it's the injury Steven Adams right knee surgery, Jos still serve in 417 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,039 the twenty five game suspension, Brandon Clark left achilles injury, Derrick Rose left 418 00:28:08,079 --> 00:28:12,960 knee soreness, Marcus Smart ankle injury. Al Dama's missed time this season. 419 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,839 The wing rotation is suddenly too reliant on Zaire Williams again. Xavier Tillman missed 420 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,960 some time. You had to sign Bismock Biambo, the one that I'm kind 421 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,920 of looking at because John Morant's return is not going to fix this. Are 422 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:33,480 they better than a bottom twelve defensive team just because you have Marcus Smart, 423 00:28:33,759 --> 00:28:37,759 you have Jared Jackson junior. Opponents are shooting over forty two percent on three, 424 00:28:38,119 --> 00:28:41,119 So it's and look, yeah, they concede threes by design, but 425 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,440 you're not gonna shoot. Have opponent shoot forty two percent from three all year. 426 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:51,680 They're they're fouling more, They're they're struggling to crash the glass. They're 427 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,960 not matching up as well in transition after they miss shots, and that's a 428 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,759 symptom of Okay, if John Morant comes back, you're gonna give your defense 429 00:28:57,799 --> 00:29:03,559 more time to get set because offense is better, but man, is it 430 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,680 you know, if you want to go to the defense the macro route, 431 00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:12,839 does this team have a path to salvaging its season? So I think it 432 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:18,039 gets harder with every loss, I think, And so my reason to panic 433 00:29:18,039 --> 00:29:22,240 would be, like the holes just going to get too deep. And if 434 00:29:22,279 --> 00:29:25,880 and when you know, say Rant's back in twenty five games, say it 435 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,559 takes him fifteen more to like, really, I mean that's half a season 436 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,559 we're starting. You know, you're starting god knows how many games under five 437 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,480 hundred you're going to be by then it may just be a question of like 438 00:29:36,519 --> 00:29:40,200 they just run out of time. I still think that if you got every 439 00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:42,880 and now you're not getting Adams back, and that's huge. We've talked a 440 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:48,039 lot about how you know, under the radar valuable he is, especially them 441 00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:52,119 on offense, which is weird, but that's just the offensive rebounds on the 442 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:56,480 screen setting. That's just that's a huge part of why they're successful. I 443 00:29:56,559 --> 00:30:00,920 still think that if you had everybody else back and Relati healthy, you know, 444 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,799 the team, this is a team that on paper is still like Jared 445 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,119 Jackson junior, still Defensive Player of the Year caliber guy Desmond Bain's really good. 446 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,079 John Morant, if he's healthy, is awesome. I think we still 447 00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:15,920 like a lot of their role guys Aldama Conchar, you know, Roddy Knard, 448 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,680 Like there's guys. I mean, maybe Dire Williams finally does do something. 449 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:25,759 Like there's all these pieces. So I guess, like, I'm not 450 00:30:25,799 --> 00:30:30,160 gonna panic yet, and and like that's nuts to say about a team that 451 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,440 I think has been probably the not probably has been the most disappointing team in 452 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,680 the league so far this year. That's just because I think when they're healthy, 453 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,640 they can be really good. I'm I guess if I do panic, 454 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:42,480 it's about they're just gonna run out of time, and you know, by 455 00:30:42,519 --> 00:30:45,720 the time that happens, they just it'll be too late. I'm doing this 456 00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:49,240 for you Grizzlies fans. I'm gonna panic because everything I say about the Grizzlies, 457 00:30:49,279 --> 00:30:52,720 the the inverse seems to happen. Here you go. I kept hitting 458 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,880 their under, they went over. I hit their over. This summer, 459 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,039 they're they're going under. I'm gonna I'm gonna panic because that means they'll probably 460 00:31:00,039 --> 00:31:03,400 win the championship. But you're doing a public service I mean, you mentioned 461 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,359 the three point opponent three point shooting. It's ridiculous. Did you did you 462 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,640 give this specific like forty two point one percent overall, that's the worst in 463 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:17,319 the league non corner threes. Forty one point two corner threes opponents are hitting 464 00:31:17,359 --> 00:31:19,480 forty six point six percent of their core Like, I mean, that comes 465 00:31:19,519 --> 00:31:22,880 down to the league average, And I think, what are they twentieth on 466 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,759 defense right now? Then suddenly you're already like twelfth or thirteenth if that stuff 467 00:31:26,799 --> 00:31:30,960 normalizes, So I think the path I think I would be surprised if the 468 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,400 Grizzlies are not a top ten defense at the end of the year, and 469 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,920 like top five is very much in play to me. But they are relative 470 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,160 to the league average giving up a lot of wide open threes. Yeah, 471 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,480 that's not great forty four and a half percent though opponents are shooting on wide 472 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,880 open threes. That's gonna come down, I would imagine, I would you 473 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,480 would think you would think a team that I can't really bring myself to panic 474 00:31:51,519 --> 00:31:53,599 over because we both said that they were one of the greatest teams alive before 475 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,240 we went into the to the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think the 476 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,880 focus here, you could go a lot of different offensive directions. Mine's on 477 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:06,200 Karl Anthony Towns is three point volume. Not Karl Anthony Towns the player. 478 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,240 I know, just for anyone who thinks that we're gonna dump all over Karl 479 00:32:09,279 --> 00:32:15,039 Anthony Towns, he is. He takes. There's just too much vacillation here. 480 00:32:15,079 --> 00:32:16,960 He takes twelve three point attempts and a win over the Warriors, then 481 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:22,359 he takes four against in a loss to the Suns. He attempted only three 482 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,000 in that first game against the Warriors. He attempted seven against the Spurs. 483 00:32:25,279 --> 00:32:29,559 So for this season, like the volume is right in line with where he's 484 00:32:29,559 --> 00:32:32,400 been in other years. Six point four three point attempts for thirty six minutes. 485 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,240 That needs to be closer to ten. And the Minnesota Timberolves are twenty 486 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,720 fourth and three point attempt right, they're twenty fourth and three point percentage. 487 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,680 There's a path where you can look at some of the guys on their roster 488 00:32:44,759 --> 00:32:46,599 and say, well, yeah, you know, they'll start they'll start to 489 00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:51,440 shoot better from three. We have, you know, Karl Anthony Towns himself 490 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,960 is shooting under thirty four percent. We have Colin Anderson shooting only twenty percent 491 00:32:55,039 --> 00:33:00,400 on no volume, but like you're also getting Nasria to shooting four tenty four 492 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,440 point four percent. Jane mccanners is shooting thirty seven percent, Anthony Edwards is 493 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,000 at thirty seven point one percent. The extra volume and efficiency needs to come 494 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,839 from Towns, And it's not so much I like a lot of what he's 495 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:15,200 done on offense when he's attacking from above the break into those drives, but 496 00:33:15,839 --> 00:33:20,000 you need that three point volume to open up the floor for everybody else and 497 00:33:20,039 --> 00:33:23,039 also to help win the not the possession game. But like that's a way 498 00:33:23,039 --> 00:33:27,759 to just drum up your offensive efficiency because those shots are inherently going to be 499 00:33:27,759 --> 00:33:30,200 worth more when you're as good as a shooter as Karl Anthony Towns is. 500 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:35,680 And so I guess it's peace because the Timberwolves are really good, But I 501 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:40,279 think that that Karl Anthony Town's number and consistency on the volume from deep needs 502 00:33:40,319 --> 00:33:45,240 to be significantly higher. Yeah, I think it's probably peace, but it's 503 00:33:45,279 --> 00:33:49,359 not something you totally gloss over because to me, it's still indicative of the 504 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,039 bigger concern with this team, which is that the pieces are like clunky fitting 505 00:33:53,039 --> 00:33:58,319 together. And it's like some nights Towns is going to be positioned well, 506 00:33:58,519 --> 00:34:00,240 you know, it'll make sense for him to shoot hig volume of threes. 507 00:34:00,279 --> 00:34:04,519 Other nights he's kind of trying to navigate, you know, Edwards being on 508 00:34:04,599 --> 00:34:07,599 the ball and go Bear being in the way, And just I think if 509 00:34:07,639 --> 00:34:10,559 you're gonna panic about it, it's because of that. It's because of like 510 00:34:10,599 --> 00:34:15,440 a macro issue of like this is still like a weird setup in terms of 511 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,840 the starting personnel, just the two bigs, I guess mainly, but I'm 512 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,039 not gonna panic about that. What I will say is I didn't buy their 513 00:34:23,079 --> 00:34:28,719 defense the last time we talked, and having watched a lot more film on 514 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,719 them, they're still number one in defensive efficiency. I don't think they're gonna 515 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:36,280 be the best defense in the league, but I think like top top seven, 516 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:43,119 top five late, you're late on that. I sold their start based 517 00:34:43,119 --> 00:34:47,960 on their defense. Regressing Anthony Edwards on the ball can just be an absolute 518 00:34:49,039 --> 00:34:52,760 menace. And then you also have McDaniel. It's just like I think the 519 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:55,400 defense is much closer to legit than I gave it credit for. So I 520 00:34:55,559 --> 00:35:00,519 just want to put that out there. Welcome, thank you to the New 521 00:35:00,599 --> 00:35:04,199 Orleans Pelican New Orleans Pelicans. Sorry, I still have to. That's the 522 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,960 Are there words that you say in your head that like you have to think 523 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,840 about because I'm so conditioned to. And there was a listener of this podcast 524 00:35:13,079 --> 00:35:15,000 used to get on me about it because I would say New Orleans, New 525 00:35:15,119 --> 00:35:17,920 Orleans. Now I say New Orleans a lot more existly, but I have 526 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,559 to. When I'm saying it, I'm thinking about it. Is that a 527 00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:24,000 New York thing? Do you think? Probably? Is that? I wonder 528 00:35:24,039 --> 00:35:27,800 if it's the New York thing? Now, well, now I'm gonna think 529 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,519 about it. I know I say New Orleans. I think, yeah, 530 00:35:30,599 --> 00:35:34,400 you say New Orleans. Yeah, I've never noticed you say New Orleans. 531 00:35:34,639 --> 00:35:37,800 So the New Orleans Pelicans. Look, I'm not peacer panicking the health just 532 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:44,320 because that's Here's what I'm piecer panicking. The problem with the Pelicans is the 533 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,639 question is supposed to be are they going to be healthy enough to be good? 534 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,880 Not are they actually good when they're healthy? And so this was inspired 535 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:58,199 by schmid Dua from the end the No Substack in podcast Go he does great 536 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,800 work. Go check him and Mason Gin's bg out on that podcast. When 537 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,920 you look at the data with their two best players in quotes on the floor 538 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,039 or off the floor, Ingram and Zion on the floor together minus six point 539 00:36:10,039 --> 00:36:15,480 seven net rating, Zion on Ingram off minus ten point seven net rating, 540 00:36:16,199 --> 00:36:22,119 Ingram on Zion off minus twelve point one net rating. Ingram and Zion both 541 00:36:22,199 --> 00:36:28,239 off three point three net rating. Now, there have been injuries CJ. 542 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,559 McCollum, Mary Nance Junior, Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy, even Herb Jones 543 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,840 that can skew the results. Here's what I will then focus on. You're 544 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,920 losing the minutes both Ingram and z Ion are playing. I do not care 545 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:45,519 about the context of those lineups. You need to win those minutes. And 546 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:50,280 here's the thing about those minutes, Grant, You're not This is not some 547 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:53,360 oh opponents are shooting eighty percent from three. No, you're not getting burned 548 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:58,800 by that. Schmidt pointed out in his newsletter that the ball is really sticking 549 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,960 in brandon Ingram hands and that they've gotten away from point Zion accurate. And 550 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,280 then you have Zion saying that he's kind of trying to fit in or find 551 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:12,119 his fit or whatever it is. That's a that's a red flag for what 552 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,000 is going on there, and I don't know who to blame for it. 553 00:37:15,679 --> 00:37:19,000 I'm gonna you know how high I am on the full strength Pelicans. I'm 554 00:37:19,079 --> 00:37:22,880 in a full blown panic now. I will say, if you want to 555 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,800 calm down, the Pelicans won the minutes by seventeen point three points per one 556 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:30,920 hundred possessions with them on the court last year. You can still get to 557 00:37:30,039 --> 00:37:34,800 that point in fury. But I don't care about the injuries. The fact 558 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,360 that you're losing the minutes with both of them on the court and then the 559 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:42,960 fact that you're not winning the solo minutes for either of them is pretty problematic. 560 00:37:43,519 --> 00:37:46,880 So is there a chance it's panic for me? Is there a chance 561 00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:52,639 that we will look at New Orleans being whatever they were, you know, 562 00:37:53,639 --> 00:37:59,519 second in the West? We we I distinctly remember us talking about them as 563 00:37:59,599 --> 00:38:04,159 are they the biggest threat to I guess Denver whenever this was last year, 564 00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:07,760 you know, thirty something games into the season. Are we gonna look at 565 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,760 that stretch like we look at that Chicago bull The Bulls are first in the 566 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:15,280 East or whatever it was, and we're just gonna try to get back to 567 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:17,800 that over and over and we'll well, you know, we'll always have that 568 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,400 thirty game stretch where they were really good. I think it's a little different 569 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:27,360 than that. But to your point, the theory of the Pelicans to me 570 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:31,719 at least, is a healthy Zion on the floor means our offense is really 571 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:37,079 good and just it doesn't matter who else is out there. Uh, he's 572 00:38:37,159 --> 00:38:40,000 such a he's just you can't handle him like he you know, twenty five 573 00:38:40,039 --> 00:38:43,960 points a game on sixty percent shooting. It's like him and one other guy 574 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,239 in history that I've ever done that. He just like he's an offense unto 575 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:51,719 himself. He's like that kind of player. And you you laid it out 576 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,679 like to me, and I was looking this up as you were talking. 577 00:38:54,159 --> 00:38:59,719 You think you got there listening to me with wrapped attention. I was looking 578 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,239 up the exact thing you were talking about independently. So I don't even have 579 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:07,000 to listen to you anymore because we've talked enough that our brains process information at 580 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,519 the same speed. So the Pelicans offense with Zion on the floor is one 581 00:39:10,599 --> 00:39:14,079 hundred and six point three points per one hundred posessions this year. That is 582 00:39:14,119 --> 00:39:17,360 a twelve percentile offensive rating with Ion on the floor. Is that good? 583 00:39:19,039 --> 00:39:23,119 That that's good if numbers were backwards, if numbers, if if numbers worked 584 00:39:23,119 --> 00:39:28,599 opposite to how they do. So the theory of the Pelicans, at least 585 00:39:28,639 --> 00:39:31,400 as I saw it, is like, well, that's not working. So 586 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,400 I mean the injuries, the injuries are a factor. For sure, we 587 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,360 have to throw that in there. But also like this, you know, 588 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:42,440 we're not this kind of podcast necessarily, but like Zion is failing the eye 589 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,360 test. To me, he looks less athletic than he ever has. He's 590 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:50,880 not as overpowering, he's not as quick the ball, he's not making the 591 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,639 same reads. Like he just physically doesn't look as good. And maybe that's 592 00:39:53,679 --> 00:39:58,159 the layoff, and but maybe that's the new normal, and maybe like Duke 593 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:00,760 Zion is never coming back, which has kind of always been how I thought 594 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:05,519 things would go bad for him. Is like the athleticism just becomes less than 595 00:40:05,559 --> 00:40:08,639 a plus and then he's not the same guy anyway. It's a panic for 596 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:15,039 like all of the fourteen reasons we've just listed, I would be extremely concerned 597 00:40:15,039 --> 00:40:20,159 if I were the Pelicans onto the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I'm gonna do 598 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,280 two here because I think that this one's gonna piss off a lot of thunder 599 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:28,079 fans, and I hope that I do hope that people who listen to this 600 00:40:28,119 --> 00:40:35,320 podcast understand that we typically don't go this route the Josh Getty start, and 601 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,440 it will ring a little hollow because he's put together a couple of good games 602 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:43,000 in a row. He looks out of place a lot of the time in 603 00:40:43,079 --> 00:40:45,400 the offense. He's shooting just and he's been more efficient lately. He's still 604 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:50,199 shooting just fifty five percent at the rim, nineteen percent from three entering that 605 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,400 game against the Warriors, including only twenty percent on catch and shoot triples. 606 00:40:54,039 --> 00:40:59,239 His long range volume has declined year over a year once again, and while 607 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,440 he's not up his mid range jumpers as a result the higher share that he's 608 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:07,719 picking up around the basket, it's not bolstering his efficiency. The in between 609 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:12,119 looks that he tosses up on the move, they can still be a weapon. 610 00:41:12,519 --> 00:41:15,960 They're just still too inconsistent. He's shooting just thirty two point one percent 611 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:20,840 on floaters so far, and I think there are still moments of brilliance peppered 612 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,400 in. This is someone who has great vision. He's a pretty good rebounder. 613 00:41:23,679 --> 00:41:28,159 I don't want to say I think he's underrated defensively, but I think 614 00:41:28,199 --> 00:41:30,480 he holds up defensively based in the role that they want to put him in. 615 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:36,360 However, defenses don't treat him like a threat, and I think that 616 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:39,400 makes life harder on the offense a lot of the times. I also think 617 00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:44,480 it's a big reason. And the other big reason is Jalen Williams is just 618 00:41:44,519 --> 00:41:49,719 so good. Oklahoma City has been more willing to let Jalen Williams pilot units 619 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:55,800 without SGA and Giddy than Giddy without Jalen Williams and SGA, And so if 620 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,920 you have to do that type of maneuvering when you have Case and will who's 621 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,000 just so much more plug in play. I wonder if this becomes more of 622 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,559 an existential question now, Josh Giddy proved to me last year and I was 623 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,159 not out on Giddy, but I was lower than consensus on Giddy. I 624 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:16,440 was lower than you on Giddy. I believe Yeah showed last year that he 625 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:21,519 could fit in to you know, playoff Shay, playoff j dub. So 626 00:42:21,559 --> 00:42:24,559 I'm hopeful that this is not a panic for me, and I think some 627 00:42:24,599 --> 00:42:28,239 people be mad that were even monitoring it, so he's proven he could do 628 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,440 it, But like, it is something that matters now and it is something 629 00:42:31,519 --> 00:42:35,679 that is impacting how they run their team. The other thing would be and 630 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,719 this is for again, I hope Thunder fans who might be listening to this 631 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,639 for the first time aren't mad that we went the Gidea route. I think 632 00:42:40,639 --> 00:42:45,880 it's a legitimate question, is it piece or panic on? Like, well, 633 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:51,079 how is the bench kind of standing out beyond Cason Wallace and like Isaiah 634 00:42:51,199 --> 00:42:54,480 Joe there's all these sort of scattershot minutes when you're looking at how much Yeah, 635 00:42:54,559 --> 00:42:58,199 you know, Kenrich Williams and Jay and Williams missed a bunch of time 636 00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:00,639 and now they're back. Is there a he's a panic when you're looking at 637 00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:05,800 the experimental mode of this team, wouldn't you like to see them cement more 638 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,960 of a regular rotation rather than experimenting so much? Now? The answer to 639 00:43:10,039 --> 00:43:13,679 both of these for me, I want to be clear, it's just going 640 00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:16,800 to be peace because they're so good already. But like the Thunder now entering 641 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:22,199 the conversation where Sam Presty was a liar, where they might just be really 642 00:43:22,199 --> 00:43:25,719 good now, and so do you want to have more affirmative answers to this 643 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,559 rotation stuff? And look, I will say, if you still want to 644 00:43:29,559 --> 00:43:35,400 do the like all over the place experimental rotation, then I'm gonna panic over 645 00:43:35,519 --> 00:43:39,400 Usman Jaggs minutes so far. That'll be the thing. Yeah, I was 646 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:43,519 worried for a minute that we're gonna get all the way through that and you 647 00:43:43,559 --> 00:43:47,760 weren't gonna advocate for Usman Jang. I'm glad we got there that So the 648 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:53,800 giddy thing I think I've I'm still a little higher maybe than you are, 649 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,599 but I'm certainly not as high. You know. You see him talked about 650 00:43:57,639 --> 00:44:01,440 as if he's you know, on the level in the same breath as like 651 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:06,599 Holmgren Williams SGA, Like that's just he's he's kind of a notch below that. 652 00:44:06,679 --> 00:44:09,719 And it's because of the shooting. He's still twenty one. Yeah, 653 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:15,440 so it's like it's weird because he's so young. But it feels like the 654 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:19,719 thunder It's like, well, I mean, these guys have been here forever, 655 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,000 We've already we've done with development, Like these guys need to win, 656 00:44:22,119 --> 00:44:25,199 you know. I it makes it harder to excuse that, but I guess 657 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:30,159 I just fall back on like if all if by twenty three, and the 658 00:44:30,159 --> 00:44:35,119 Thunder will have to make a decision on him before that because of how NBA 659 00:44:35,159 --> 00:44:38,199 contracts work, But like if by twenty three twenty four, he's someone that 660 00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:44,239 can just make spot up threes. I think I really like him still as 661 00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:47,719 a player. I don't know if he's necessarily like a core piece or definite 662 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:52,360 starter on the fully realized version of this team, but then, like who 663 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:57,599 is other than Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Sga, like even Dort I could 664 00:44:57,599 --> 00:45:01,559 see like being a bench piece in theory if you, you know, in 665 00:45:01,599 --> 00:45:06,679 a couple of years. So it is an issue, Like he's shooting nineteen 666 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,239 percent from three gidea is and like I think you could argue too, he's 667 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:15,119 kind of positioned to it's easier to hide his flaws because of the way the 668 00:45:15,159 --> 00:45:20,800 Thunder play offensively, which is to say, like drive, kick, drive, 669 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:22,719 kick, drive again again, and like so he's not in a position 670 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:27,400 where there have been two really good drives, the ball is kicked out and 671 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,440 you have to hit this open three. He's just gonna drive it again and 672 00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:35,440 probably make a good pass So like in a more conventional offense or an offense 673 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,360 that attack the rim less relentlessly, he might be more exposed because it's just 674 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:43,599 fully acceptable no matter what, if you just attack and kick, like that's 675 00:45:43,639 --> 00:45:47,119 what the Thunder want to do. So it's been a rough year. His 676 00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:52,599 age makes me want to pause a little bit before I get too concerned about 677 00:45:52,639 --> 00:45:55,760 it. But I think at the same time, like someone like to get 678 00:45:55,760 --> 00:46:00,679 back to Jang if the like, if Jing becomes who who he might be 679 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:02,960 able to be, he makes way more sense than Giddy does, right, 680 00:46:04,079 --> 00:46:07,079 like as as a complimentary piece to the thunder Stars. So yeah, I 681 00:46:07,119 --> 00:46:10,239 mean, I guess. And then to answer the second one, I'm not 682 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:14,840 panicking about, like why are we experimenting with so many different guys when you 683 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:19,039 should be trying to find eight or nine? But like Jang would just be 684 00:46:19,079 --> 00:46:21,920 pretty close to the top of that list if I were going to criticize the 685 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,280 Thunder for, you know, messing around with the rotation. And I think 686 00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:30,320 the thing with Giddy that's most I don't know if it's troublesome with something to 687 00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:34,880 monitor here is that when in theory there should be too much overlap between him 688 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,800 and Shay, but he is. So it feels like reliant on the attention 689 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:42,760 that Shay commands even when he doesn't have the ball, that that's you almost 690 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:46,360 need to insulate him with that having that type of star power around him, 691 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:51,119 which is why you might trust Jay Dubmore to run those independent units. And 692 00:46:51,159 --> 00:46:53,559 the other thing they didn't have room to include. Well, and I was 693 00:46:53,639 --> 00:46:55,840 writing about it, but I should have mentioned while I was talking it. 694 00:46:57,079 --> 00:47:00,000 So he's shooting Guinea, shooting fifty two point nine percent on two with Shay 695 00:47:00,039 --> 00:47:04,679 on the floor. He's at thirty one when Shay's off the floor. Yeah, 696 00:47:05,079 --> 00:47:08,320 so it's like that's it's good that they can play together, but the 697 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:14,480 idea of him should be that he can run, Like just does it actually 698 00:47:14,559 --> 00:47:16,599 matter? Especially? And I think the reason this is relevant is because he's 699 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:22,000 he's going to command in theory max or near max money in an extension this 700 00:47:22,039 --> 00:47:24,719 summer. Is it like it's almost encouraging that, oh, his efficiency's better 701 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:28,400 with Shay on the court. That's great, But if you're going to invest 702 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,639 in a player to that degree, you need them to be more independent than 703 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:37,119 he is right now. Yeah, I agree, it is weird because as 704 00:47:37,159 --> 00:47:43,599 a playmaker. He's just incredible. Do you think the like I wonder if 705 00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:49,159 maybe this is obvious, but Giddy makes more sense to me as like a 706 00:47:49,199 --> 00:47:51,800 de facto point guard on a team with a bunch of shooters, right, 707 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,239 Like doesn't that seem like like a like a bigger Ricky Rubio type of setup 708 00:47:55,320 --> 00:48:00,440 or like that's not a great comparison, but like that seems like the position 709 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:04,440 he ought to be playing, whereas now he's on a team with at least 710 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,519 two and depending on Chet, maybe three better self sufficient scorers, you know, 711 00:48:08,639 --> 00:48:14,400 than than he is certainly. And I just wonder if the fit's always 712 00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:16,840 going to be a little bit strange unless he becomes a knockdown three point shooter 713 00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,800 and then you know, we don't have any problems on offense at all. 714 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:24,159 Then it's just gonna hold up defensively. And is he someone that you could 715 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,599 the Thunder will look to upgrade on as they like really try to kind of 716 00:48:28,639 --> 00:48:32,280 get over the get out of the developmental stage and into the word contending. 717 00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:37,760 Now, you can't have Giddy being someone guarding the other teams what I mean, 718 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,559 I guess it'd be third best player. That is that that's that's that's 719 00:48:40,559 --> 00:48:44,280 gonna that's not gonna cut it. And that's by the way, it's not 720 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,280 saying that like J. Dubb is God like the whole when you have that's 721 00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:52,840 me that when you have J. Dubb and Giddy on the floor without Shay, 722 00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:54,639 you're still getting smashed right now. I mean, this is more butche 723 00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:59,639 is just really good. Here's the analysiss you come here for. We got 724 00:48:59,639 --> 00:49:01,039 it. We are already we circle them all the way around to the correct 725 00:49:01,079 --> 00:49:06,880 point about the thunder. Shay is good. So the next up is the 726 00:49:07,159 --> 00:49:09,320 Phoenix Suns, which should be Is that or is that right that I skip 727 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:15,960 a team No Phoenix sunt Zee I'm i'm I'm so confident in my alphabet ability 728 00:49:15,079 --> 00:49:20,519 right now. The Phoenix Suns. I mean it's I wanted to be trendy 729 00:49:20,559 --> 00:49:23,440 and focus on not trendy but hip and cool and be like, well, 730 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,760 look at Kevin Durant's usage rate in the fourth quarter or as minutes per game, 731 00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,280 or look at how much the Suns are getting out scored by in the 732 00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,119 fourth quarter, or look at you to want to not be how hasn't idy 733 00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:37,840 is on offense or the use of Nurkish layups? Everything comes back to the 734 00:49:37,039 --> 00:49:43,400 absence of the Big three playing together. They have yet to play together, 735 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:46,320 Bradley Beal, is that late scratch before the Wednesday night game? If I 736 00:49:46,639 --> 00:49:51,679 understand that availability was always kind of caked into the concerns with them. We're 737 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,400 month into the season. Basically they've yet to play together, and now that 738 00:49:54,480 --> 00:50:00,239 kind of accounts for all the other issues that they're dealing with here. They 739 00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:05,400 have the worst fourth quarter point differential by a mile right now. And yes, 740 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:07,679 okay, he comes back to if they had star power, you wouldn't 741 00:50:07,679 --> 00:50:12,199 be as relying on Jordan Goodwin minutes or live and die when he actually does 742 00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:15,599 play by them, you wouldn't matter about Yeah, Joshua Kogi has his good 743 00:50:15,639 --> 00:50:17,559 games, then he has bad games, and it feels like it's impacting you 744 00:50:19,079 --> 00:50:22,239 a lot more. They wouldn't be bottom three in turnover eight if Devin Booker 745 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:27,280 had played more. But that still leads into all this of is it piece 746 00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:32,880 or panic, with one the availability collective availability of their star power, and 747 00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:37,280 then two of the roster construction to where it's should they have leaned a little 748 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:42,400 bit more in to defense at the five? Should they have been more aggressive 749 00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:46,840 in acquiring or keeping a secondary ball handler because they did have Cameron Payne on 750 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:53,440 this team. I think if you take a like the longest possible view within 751 00:50:53,519 --> 00:51:00,440 the season of this, you can still talk yourself into peace because where it's 752 00:51:00,519 --> 00:51:06,039 November and this team is, this team is exists solely to win a championship 753 00:51:06,079 --> 00:51:08,480 because you don't build the you don't put these three guys together if you're just 754 00:51:08,519 --> 00:51:12,639 trying to like win around or two in the playoffs. And you could make 755 00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:15,000 the case that as long as those guys are ready by then and the playoff 756 00:51:15,039 --> 00:51:19,480 seed is not so low that it's like impossiblely you know, the run is 757 00:51:19,519 --> 00:51:21,920 just too difficult to get there. You have to make it in from the 758 00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:25,159 play in or something and never have home court. Then you can't really panic. 759 00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:29,679 But I it is a panic for me, and it's because it's twofold. 760 00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:31,679 One is like, yeah, these guys have not played yet together. 761 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:36,599 That's not great. You know, we're a dozen games in almost. But 762 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,559 the related part of that is Kevin Durant has been the iron Man. He's 763 00:51:39,559 --> 00:51:44,559 playing just under thirty seven minutes a game. He's played eleven games so far, 764 00:51:45,199 --> 00:51:47,840 you're only getting forty of them. It's something like over the course of 765 00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:52,800 the full year. I have to know what you're laughing at. I want 766 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:57,440 to know how long it's been since someone called Kevin Durant an iron man. 767 00:51:57,519 --> 00:52:00,480 That's what I'm saying. That's the problem, Dan, He's been iron Man's. 768 00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:06,400 He's capped at like forty five games per year since the Achilles And so 769 00:52:06,559 --> 00:52:08,679 now you've you've used up a quarter of the games you're gonna get out of 770 00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:13,599 Kevin Durant just based on his history, and you're running him into the ground. 771 00:52:14,039 --> 00:52:16,320 And so by the time Devin Booker and Bradley Beal are healthy, like 772 00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:20,800 the back thing for Beal is is like that's a concern to me because it's 773 00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:22,920 like apparently it's flaring up and that's why he didn't play on Wednesday, And 774 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:27,119 he was like that could linger. I don't know, we can't play be 775 00:52:27,519 --> 00:52:30,440 pretending me here, But I think that's the paddock would be, Okay, 776 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:35,840 what's going on with Bradley Bual's back there. But if if we would agree 777 00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:37,719 that if Durant is not healthy, like this whole thing is never getting off 778 00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:42,320 the ground at all, and if what you're doing to get by in November 779 00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:46,280 and December is play Durant thirty seven minutes a game like That's not that is 780 00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:51,199 not going to work because at some point Durant is going to miss significant chunks 781 00:52:51,239 --> 00:52:53,679 of the season because he always does. And I think you might be accelerating, 782 00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:59,000 you know, the arrival of that first injury for him by playing him 783 00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:02,159 like he's not thirty five with you know, a million miles and like you 784 00:53:02,199 --> 00:53:06,280 know missing half of every season for the last like four or five, like 785 00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:09,559 that's that's a it's a related concern that the two things, like Bilin Booker 786 00:53:09,639 --> 00:53:14,519 missing time just makes it harder for Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant is the 787 00:53:14,559 --> 00:53:15,679 one of those three I think you need the most if you're trying to win 788 00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:21,039 a title. Ooh no, uh no, I think Devin Booker. I 789 00:53:21,039 --> 00:53:23,400 think you look at what's happened in the fourth quarter and kind of what happens 790 00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:30,880 to KD when he's getting all these bodies thrown at him. It's Devin Booker's 791 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:37,719 playmaking and movement away from the ball, and his ability to generate more pressure 792 00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:39,880 away from the ball is more important than what Katie is doing. And I 793 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:43,960 think, honestly it's not I won't say it's not even close. And I 794 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,039 think Kevin Durant's defensive impact, but what Devin Booker does defensively now too. 795 00:53:49,119 --> 00:53:53,320 And by the way, Devin Booker in his two games has contested like fifteen 796 00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:57,159 shots at the rim. Well he needs to quit tran so hard so he 797 00:53:57,199 --> 00:54:00,159 doesn't get hurt. No, you know you're you're right, Devin book is 798 00:54:00,239 --> 00:54:05,840 more right. But we would definitely agree that if you don't have one or 799 00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:08,519 the other of those two, you must have both. If like Bial honestly 800 00:54:08,559 --> 00:54:12,920 you could probably get away with like he's the third clearly the third best player 801 00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:15,760 of that group. If you don't have Durant or you don't have Booker, 802 00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:19,880 you're just like you're done both. Yeah, it's not the whole idea of 803 00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,840 the Big three is when you so when you were in Brooklyn with Kevin what 804 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:27,480 not? You specifically when you were on the Nets team that had Kyrie, 805 00:54:27,559 --> 00:54:30,599 Durant and James Harden, I think there's a you could have said Durrant was 806 00:54:30,639 --> 00:54:34,400 the guy you needed. But if you had Kyrie, if you had any 807 00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:37,360 combination, like two man combination of those three, you would have still felt 808 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:42,719 okay about their chance to be a threat. It's Devin Booker, and it 809 00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:45,719 can't be Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Can't be Kevin Durant and Bradley Bal. 810 00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,800 Yeah, this seems like a lottery team. If you just have Booker 811 00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:51,760 and Bale in this supporting cast, it's not it's not good enough. I'm 812 00:54:51,840 --> 00:54:55,719 ultimately peace, I think in the macro though, just because Devin Bookers, 813 00:54:55,760 --> 00:55:00,079 I know he's had stuff crop up, but he's never been like there when 814 00:55:00,159 --> 00:55:05,079 it matters. And they're they're five and six, Like if they were like 815 00:55:05,159 --> 00:55:08,280 in you know, two to nine or something, we'd start talking about them 816 00:55:08,280 --> 00:55:10,840 like the Grizzlies, Like is the whole gonna get too deep? Right? 817 00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:15,719 And it's like, so they're five and six and in the top twelve of 818 00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:19,079 both offense and defense. Yeah right now, Like that's a you know, 819 00:55:19,159 --> 00:55:22,519 and the the defense is like, I'm I don't know if I would say 820 00:55:22,559 --> 00:55:25,880 shocked, but I mean they're not. They're they're twelfth in defense while allowing 821 00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:31,199 sixty eight percent shooting at the rim. I would say the three point shooting, 822 00:55:31,199 --> 00:55:34,840 they probably got a little lucky on opponents thirty five percent. There, 823 00:55:35,039 --> 00:55:37,440 we're saying that about a lot of teams right now. It' tis the season 824 00:55:37,599 --> 00:55:42,000 for it, but it's a piece for me. The next team is the 825 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:46,840 Portland Trailblazers. So this is probably too h maybe not for this podcast. 826 00:55:46,840 --> 00:55:52,360 It's too it's too niche. It's DeAndre Ayton's offensive usage. I actually don't 827 00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:57,840 think that he's been bad for Portland. And I don't say that like it's 828 00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:00,480 a debate that he's been terrible, but a lot of people probably look at 829 00:56:00,480 --> 00:56:04,480 his numbers on offense and be like, well, like, you know, 830 00:56:04,519 --> 00:56:07,079 this is clear he's not able to do more, and I really think it's 831 00:56:07,119 --> 00:56:10,199 more so there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. The injuries have 832 00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:15,599 hurt because Deandreton needs people to get in the ball and look at who's out, 833 00:56:15,039 --> 00:56:21,719 Anthony Simons, Malcolm Brogden, Scoot Henderson probably the three players who are 834 00:56:21,719 --> 00:56:25,920 most important to getting him the ball. That being said, that should impact 835 00:56:27,039 --> 00:56:30,199 to me his roleman volume, which it has, like he's not used finishing 836 00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:35,079 roleman possessions as frequently as he was last year. But when it comes to 837 00:56:35,199 --> 00:56:39,519 just overall touches like our post ups, the most efficient play in the world 838 00:56:39,519 --> 00:56:44,559 from him, not even close, but it would behoove the Blazers to explore 839 00:56:44,599 --> 00:56:47,239 them. He had more post up possessions per game with the Suns last year, 840 00:56:47,840 --> 00:56:53,360 and then overall his touches thirty three frontcour touches per thirty six minutes last 841 00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:59,599 year. That's twenty down to twenty four point three this year. His usage 842 00:56:59,639 --> 00:57:04,480 rate has plummeted into the sixteens to a career low. His usage rate in 843 00:57:04,519 --> 00:57:09,199 the fourth quarter Grant thirteen point nine. I understand it comes down to, 844 00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:12,760 oh, do you have people who can get him the ball. It's not 845 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:15,719 hard to just give him the ball and say, let's see what you can 846 00:57:15,719 --> 00:57:19,559 do with it. Then, so go try this out. Isn't that the 847 00:57:19,599 --> 00:57:22,159 whole reason why you have him. His defense has been pretty good. He's 848 00:57:22,199 --> 00:57:27,119 been great on the glass for them, but like he's had to rely a 849 00:57:27,159 --> 00:57:30,480 little bit more on putbacks than he would in Phoenix. And part of that 850 00:57:30,559 --> 00:57:32,400 is the Blazers are gonna miss a bunch of shots. I know they're all 851 00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:36,679 over the place right now, and just having Jeremy Grant and Shade and Sharp 852 00:57:36,719 --> 00:57:39,519 do a lot on ball, get DeAndre in the ball and just see what 853 00:57:39,599 --> 00:57:45,000 happens. And so I'm not I don't know if this is like a can 854 00:57:45,039 --> 00:57:47,440 you panic over this? But if you're trying to get the maximum amount of 855 00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:52,760 information possible on the player that Deandreton can be, arguably now is the time 856 00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:55,480 to do it. Yeah, with all these guard injuries and you're not doing 857 00:57:55,519 --> 00:58:00,239 it, And look to me, that's another fundamental failure or from the coaching 858 00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:06,719 staff, specifically Chauncey Billups, who were two plus seasons now into the Is 859 00:58:06,719 --> 00:58:08,199 it two plus seasons? It's not one plus? Right? Last year was 860 00:58:08,239 --> 00:58:13,039 a second season, right, I should think that's right. So just I'm 861 00:58:13,079 --> 00:58:17,199 like, you can't say you're out on the Chauncey Billups experience, but like, 862 00:58:17,400 --> 00:58:22,280 get DeAndre in the ball because I don't understand why it needs to be 863 00:58:22,679 --> 00:58:27,079 so difficult, And if it's because you don't trust him with it, then 864 00:58:27,599 --> 00:58:30,480 that's a bigger problem as to Okay, well, like why why did you 865 00:58:30,519 --> 00:58:32,960 acquire him in the first place if you didn't think there was a higher usage 866 00:58:34,360 --> 00:58:38,519 offensive player there? You know what I'm about to do it? Thank you. 867 00:58:38,559 --> 00:58:42,519 I'm glad I wasn't. I'm like, I've lost all concept of time, 868 00:58:42,639 --> 00:58:45,519 Like he really been the coach for over two seasons. DeAndre Ayton has 869 00:58:45,519 --> 00:58:52,079 played three hundred and forty seven minutes this year. He has attempted five free 870 00:58:52,119 --> 00:58:54,800 throws. Five he made them all, so that's good news. He's five 871 00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:58,679 for five, best free throw shooter in NBA history, the greatest of all 872 00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:00,639 time. He's on pace to say, at the record this year. That's 873 00:59:01,079 --> 00:59:06,480 like, I don't care what else is happening, Like I don't care that 874 00:59:06,519 --> 00:59:08,840 they don't have any healthy guards. I don't care that that Skylar Mays is 875 00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:13,159 now the you know, the guy that is primarily tasked with, And I 876 00:59:13,159 --> 00:59:16,119 guess you throw Shaden Sharp in there, who's just still like such is still 877 00:59:16,199 --> 00:59:20,840 learning how to do stuff as an NBA player. We really like Shadon Sharp. 878 00:59:20,840 --> 00:59:23,679 He's gonna be really good. He's not a point guard. There's no 879 00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:29,119 scenario where starting NBA center who has played every game for his team, all 880 00:59:29,159 --> 00:59:31,880 eleven games, played almost three hundred and fifty minutes, has attempted five free 881 00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:37,400 throws. Like, that's not that's not on Chauncey Billips, that that's not. 882 00:59:37,559 --> 00:59:38,960 I mean that everybody shares some of the blame, but that's just like 883 00:59:39,639 --> 00:59:44,880 that is a crippling lack of aggression. And I mean the guy has thirty 884 00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:49,599 one offensive rebounds, so like take a couple of those back up maybe and 885 00:59:49,599 --> 00:59:52,840 get fat. Like So I'm panicking because a lot of the stuff that we 886 00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:57,320 did not like about Deona I say, we like the NBA community or whatever 887 00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:01,199 it knocks DeAndre Ayton for doesn't go to the basket hard, you know, 888 01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:06,800 avoids contact, just just not make plays. Is not in there to do 889 01:00:06,880 --> 01:00:09,639 the dirty work. Like five free throws in three hundred and fifty minutes is 890 01:00:10,079 --> 01:00:15,920 a damning number. So like I'm panicking on that front, not just because 891 01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:20,679 I thought that Ayden was gonna have a maybe the guards being there would have 892 01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:23,519 made a difference. Was gonna just be better and just gonna get to try 893 01:00:23,679 --> 01:00:27,599 explore the space, get the you know, get shots up. Like he 894 01:00:27,599 --> 01:00:30,920 doesn't seem to be doing anything at least from an aggression standpoint. So so 895 01:00:30,079 --> 01:00:34,559 like I'm panicking there because that's like I cannot wrap my head around five free 896 01:00:34,559 --> 01:00:37,360 throws on a season for a starting center that has been healthy all year. 897 01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:44,480 That's nuts. Two point six percent foul rate on pain touches ridiculous low, 898 01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,760 Like just run in it's almost like you that's hard to do, Like that's 899 01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:51,920 actually difficult to do. So my whole thing, though, still is just 900 01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:54,239 like he also doesn't this is it's not a symptom of him not getting the 901 01:00:54,239 --> 01:00:58,159 ball enough that foul rate should be higher and he should definitely have more free 902 01:00:58,159 --> 01:01:01,480 throws, But like, how are you how are you not getting him the 903 01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:05,199 ball more? I don't care what your guard situation is. If anything, 904 01:01:05,519 --> 01:01:07,920 because of the players you're missing, it should be more critical to get him 905 01:01:07,960 --> 01:01:15,599 the ball. We agree the next team will be the Sacramento Kings. So 906 01:01:15,679 --> 01:01:22,000 I have the Harrison Barnes regression here. And this comes with the caveat that 907 01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:29,880 he started off last season like overwhelmingly slow. However, this year, after 908 01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:34,159 that kind of first game where he dropped what did he dropped thirty one points? 909 01:01:34,199 --> 01:01:37,079 Thirty thirty two point? Sure, yeah it was it was thirty two 910 01:01:37,159 --> 01:01:43,519 points, his efficiency is just it's in the gutter. And so we's gotten 911 01:01:43,519 --> 01:01:46,559 to the point where the past couple games, like you've yanked him during higher 912 01:01:46,679 --> 01:01:51,639 leverage minutes, didn't play at all in the fourth quarter of that win against 913 01:01:51,639 --> 01:01:54,480 the Cleveland Cavaliers. And so even when the efficiency is fine, it's in 914 01:01:54,559 --> 01:01:58,960 such low volume. He's shooting thirty four point two percent from three since the 915 01:02:00,039 --> 01:02:02,760 that first game where he went off for thirty three points. It actually was 916 01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:07,760 we had that wrong. He does not look good on defense, and so 917 01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:12,199 look, he doesn't make too much money, and you can imagine that the 918 01:02:12,199 --> 01:02:16,840 efficiency is going to come up. But like when you're the Kings and you 919 01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:22,119 look at the makeup of the lineups that you throw out there without Harrison Barnes, 920 01:02:22,159 --> 01:02:24,159 is it, oh, well, Keigan Murray's gonna start hitting more of 921 01:02:24,199 --> 01:02:28,280 his threes eventually, and he's made the lead defensively, so it doesn't matter. 922 01:02:28,679 --> 01:02:30,960 Or is there a little bit of panic here because it's well, we 923 01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:35,159 were already short on these combo forwards to begin with, and now if Harrison 924 01:02:35,199 --> 01:02:39,280 Barnes can't close or can't be relied upon to play heavier minutes or higher leverage 925 01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:43,960 minutes, that's a real problem. So are you a piece or panic there 926 01:02:44,000 --> 01:02:49,440 with the Harrison Barnes start. I think, well, you said it. 927 01:02:49,480 --> 01:02:53,239 They came into the year just they have too many guards and not enough wings 928 01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:57,719 on the roster. There's too many like even like Chris Duarte is not someone 929 01:02:57,760 --> 01:03:00,800 that I feel great about guard. He's not a combo forward. That that 930 01:03:00,920 --> 01:03:04,639 was like one of their main offseason additions. So Barnes is like, especially 931 01:03:04,679 --> 01:03:08,119 for a team that I think believed that based on last year, it was 932 01:03:08,199 --> 01:03:14,480 good enough that it could essentially run it back and bank on improvement of just 933 01:03:14,480 --> 01:03:19,079 based on how they operated. Extending some bonus not making any major acquisitions like 934 01:03:19,199 --> 01:03:22,800 that is a problem. It's hard for me to get to full panic on 935 01:03:22,360 --> 01:03:29,360 because I think Barnes is maybe what They're no higher than their fourth most important 936 01:03:29,360 --> 01:03:32,599 player maybe fifth the bonus Murray Monk, I would probably argue, is more 937 01:03:32,599 --> 01:03:37,039 important. Monk is the one I was kind of himming and hawing over. 938 01:03:37,920 --> 01:03:40,880 Certainly Monk has the ability to just win them, you know, the playoff 939 01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:45,280 games that they think they're gonna be in. Uh, they will be in, 940 01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:47,440 I think. But yeah, I can't quite get to panic. I 941 01:03:47,440 --> 01:03:52,400 mean, the the the regard defense, so just because look, Fox and 942 01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:58,719 Murray have made real strides. I mean this is like, you know, 943 01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:01,559 we could have panicked about the record and you know some of the offense looking 944 01:04:01,599 --> 01:04:05,119 bad, like this team just is dearon Fox. And if Darren Fox is 945 01:04:05,159 --> 01:04:09,719 healthy, I think they are what they were last year. And if he's 946 01:04:09,760 --> 01:04:12,480 not, and we saw it happen because he missed time with that ankle. 947 01:04:12,719 --> 01:04:15,559 Look, I'm not gonna lie, and this means that I was wrong about 948 01:04:15,599 --> 01:04:19,719 them in the offseason. They feel like, yeah, I'm gonna say this, 949 01:04:20,039 --> 01:04:25,679 if they figure out a way to trade for Ogannobi or a player who's 950 01:04:25,719 --> 01:04:28,639 on that level. So let's say, like, what is Ogannobe the fiftieth 951 01:04:28,719 --> 01:04:32,239 best player in the league or just someone who would matters in such a specific 952 01:04:32,280 --> 01:04:35,079 way to them that he's better than you know what I mean, Like they 953 01:04:35,079 --> 01:04:40,079 find that player where someone who hits threes and can defend a bunch of different 954 01:04:40,079 --> 01:04:42,119 positions, And I'm not I know people say, well, that's what every 955 01:04:42,159 --> 01:04:45,199 team wants. I'm not talking about someone who needs ball skills. They don't 956 01:04:45,199 --> 01:04:47,880 need to defend all five positions like Ogiannobi. This team will be the second 957 01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:51,840 best team in the Western Conference if they find that player. I think it's 958 01:04:51,880 --> 01:04:57,079 possible. I would still have playoff questions just because I think Sabonis presents so 959 01:04:57,199 --> 01:05:00,400 many problems as on a playoff team. But yeah, like in terms of 960 01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:02,119 regular season, the other thing they have, like it feels like the West 961 01:05:02,159 --> 01:05:05,320 is kind of like everybody's a little bit of a mess. Other than Denver 962 01:05:05,400 --> 01:05:10,000 and I guess Minnesota, but like you know, the Warriors have their issues, 963 01:05:10,119 --> 01:05:13,800 the Grizzlies fell apart, the Suns can't be healthy. Everybody's kind of 964 01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:15,400 in a weird state of flux. And like the Kings, one thing the 965 01:05:15,440 --> 01:05:19,679 Kings do have is continuity. So like we understand they they and we understand 966 01:05:20,039 --> 01:05:25,320 like how this works, Like they under they have an identity. They they 967 01:05:25,440 --> 01:05:29,840 their offensive system is I mean best offense ever last year. All that stuff 968 01:05:29,840 --> 01:05:31,760 hasn't been good this year, but Fox being out is the reason for that. 969 01:05:32,199 --> 01:05:35,559 Like if you do they are a team, Like is there a better 970 01:05:35,639 --> 01:05:40,599 one player away team than the Kings? Like I think I think they're the 971 01:05:40,679 --> 01:05:45,320 quint essential get the right guy. It's and it's just Anonobe like that just 972 01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:47,599 is who it is. It is it? Well, I guess could you 973 01:05:47,679 --> 01:05:50,679 see because the way they play and because of Kegan Murray's leap, Like if 974 01:05:50,719 --> 01:05:55,719 they were the team that acquired Alex Caruso, I mean, like, look, 975 01:05:55,880 --> 01:05:59,960 you anyone that can guard and like Mitchell's just too small like that any 976 01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:03,440 he's not a good enough shooter, so like he's just as he's gonna need 977 01:06:03,480 --> 01:06:06,320 to get better. He's either gonna need to grow or become a forty percent 978 01:06:06,360 --> 01:06:10,639 three point shooter to really be like an impact guy. He's awesome on the 979 01:06:10,639 --> 01:06:14,840 ball on it gets ones and twos, but like he's just he's not a 980 01:06:14,840 --> 01:06:17,719 good enough offensive player to matter. Like Caruso I think would be better. 981 01:06:17,719 --> 01:06:20,920 He's a little bigger, but like it's just the wing. It's just that 982 01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:25,440 combo forward that you can move around and put on the other team's best guy. 983 01:06:25,920 --> 01:06:29,880 That I that that would just put them over the top. Yeah, 984 01:06:29,480 --> 01:06:33,400 I think because they already have like that. I'll call it the decision making 985 01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:38,599 defense down because like they're allowing the right shots. Like they're not as year 986 01:06:38,679 --> 01:06:41,800 too, they're not a great rim protecting team and opponents are hitting their threes. 987 01:06:42,039 --> 01:06:45,679 Yet they have an above average defense because they have the best location effective 988 01:06:45,679 --> 01:06:47,280 field goal percentag, which is like the expected field goal percentage based on the 989 01:06:47,280 --> 01:06:51,320 shots you allow. So now you just throw like someone who's really talented on 990 01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:56,039 defense and you're it feels right now like their defense is more predicated on one 991 01:06:56,079 --> 01:06:59,440 allowing the right types of shots and then just getting set because their offense is 992 01:06:59,440 --> 01:07:02,920 so good. If you do someone who's actually elite in one area anywhere. 993 01:07:03,079 --> 01:07:06,239 Who isn't going to torpedo your offense. Yeah, I get what you're saying. 994 01:07:06,599 --> 01:07:15,599 Yeah. Next team is the San Antonio Spurs. So this is sort 995 01:07:15,599 --> 01:07:18,079 of like a I understand that the Spurs are rebuilding and they're probably willing to 996 01:07:18,199 --> 01:07:25,400 take this trade off, but I have the like the the concessions being made 997 01:07:25,880 --> 01:07:31,239 with this. Jeremy so In at point guard experiment to where Wemby's efficiency is 998 01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:35,960 so much better when Trey Jones is on the court. This comes from Dan 999 01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:41,480 Devine at Yahoo Sports. Wemen Yama is averaging thirty eight point two points per 1000 01:07:41,480 --> 01:07:45,519 one hundred possessions with Jones on the floor, shooting sixty five point four percent 1001 01:07:45,559 --> 01:07:48,559 on two pointers and thirty six point four percent on threes. When Jones is 1002 01:07:48,599 --> 01:07:51,519 off the floor, those numbers dipped to twenty five point five per one hundred 1003 01:07:51,760 --> 01:07:56,079 on just forty one point two percent shooting inside the arc and twenty five point 1004 01:07:56,400 --> 01:08:00,719 five percent beyond it. That's like, look, this is rookies. Wemby's 1005 01:08:00,760 --> 01:08:03,320 been really inefficient through the first three quarters still when you look at the splits 1006 01:08:03,320 --> 01:08:06,599 and then come on in the fourth quarter. But you also had Jeremy Sohan 1007 01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:12,639 talking about how exhausted he is from trying to run the offense and then playing 1008 01:08:12,639 --> 01:08:15,560 such a big defensive role on the perimeter, And so I'm just sort of 1009 01:08:15,600 --> 01:08:21,199 wondering, like, did the Spurs miscalculate here a little bit and not understand 1010 01:08:21,199 --> 01:08:26,720 the cost of experimentation. They're not supposed to be good, so that this 1011 01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:30,119 is fine, But if you're trying to maximize Wemby, shouldn't this be more 1012 01:08:30,159 --> 01:08:34,760 about putting the lineups, putting him in lineups the most where he's going to 1013 01:08:34,840 --> 01:08:39,760 work from the jump. And that's not an insult to Jeremy Sohan, but 1014 01:08:39,840 --> 01:08:42,640 like, if you want him to run point guard, doesn't it make more 1015 01:08:42,640 --> 01:08:45,199 sense than to have him come off the bench and do it so that lightens 1016 01:08:45,199 --> 01:08:49,119 his load in theory, So it's I don't know if that's a traditional piece 1017 01:08:49,199 --> 01:08:54,640 or panic, because you can't piece or panic about the record or the fact 1018 01:08:54,680 --> 01:08:58,640 that the defense is bad even though they have Wemby. He's actually improving the 1019 01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:01,239 defense when he's on the court, So just where they're at, it's tough 1020 01:09:01,279 --> 01:09:04,560 to come up with panic. And I would default to piece here because I 1021 01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:10,199 do think they're gaining valuable information that these reps will be valuable for Jeremy so 1022 01:09:10,880 --> 01:09:14,479 I just feel like they're I don't want to call them reps to nowhere. 1023 01:09:15,000 --> 01:09:18,960 I just feel like you're giving reps to the model that is not gonna wind 1024 01:09:19,039 --> 01:09:24,239 up being what's most important for your most important player. And I think not 1025 01:09:24,319 --> 01:09:29,279 only that, but like, is there really a future where the Spurs are 1026 01:09:29,479 --> 01:09:34,520 a great team and Jeremy Sohan is the point guard, because like for that 1027 01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:39,720 to be the case, he's gonna need to I think just he's gonna need 1028 01:09:39,760 --> 01:09:42,600 to be able to do I don't know, like run a pick and roll 1029 01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:46,239 and shoot like a pull up jumper or like have do like more like when 1030 01:09:46,600 --> 01:09:50,479 defenders go under the screen, you've got to be able to just quickly fire 1031 01:09:50,560 --> 01:09:55,960 off a three from above the break, Like I just I mean again, 1032 01:09:56,039 --> 01:09:59,399 like I said, Giddy's twenty one, it's someone's younger than that, So 1033 01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:01,079 like, yeah, I mean, all things are possible, I suppose, 1034 01:10:01,119 --> 01:10:05,119 so, like it's I guess it's worth exploring that, but it is I 1035 01:10:05,119 --> 01:10:08,960 think that is you. I don't know if it's a piece of panic, 1036 01:10:09,039 --> 01:10:13,359 but this is to me, like the central issue so far, which is, 1037 01:10:13,479 --> 01:10:16,680 like, are you pursuing the development of one player at the cost of 1038 01:10:16,720 --> 01:10:23,520 another, and you're sort of choosing the wrong one, right, like, 1039 01:10:23,560 --> 01:10:27,760 because there's nobody more important than when Binyama to the future of the Spurs obviously, 1040 01:10:28,119 --> 01:10:30,960 So like the argument is very easy to make that you should just do 1041 01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:35,560 everything you possibly can to foster his development. And if that means that Jeremy 1042 01:10:35,560 --> 01:10:40,520 Sohan doesn't like, you know, get to fully reach his ceiling or is 1043 01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:44,359 kind of you know back burner or whatever, like, yeah, that's that's 1044 01:10:44,439 --> 01:10:48,199 how it works. Like everybody has to sort of step aside if you can't, 1045 01:10:48,680 --> 01:10:51,279 you know, serve the ultimate goal, which is to just make wem 1046 01:10:51,319 --> 01:10:56,960 Benyama as good as he can be. I also don't know if the Spurs 1047 01:10:57,239 --> 01:11:00,840 are sure yet what wem Benyama is going to do in terms of a role 1048 01:11:00,920 --> 01:11:03,840 ultimately, So it's like, you know, maybe maybe they'll try him at 1049 01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:08,199 point guard pretty soon. I don't know. Yeah, it's it's a really 1050 01:11:08,199 --> 01:11:12,600 interesting question. I guess I can't panic about it, uh, just because 1051 01:11:13,399 --> 01:11:17,640 like I understand the thinking a little bit, but it does seem it's actually 1052 01:11:17,720 --> 01:11:20,479 this isn't the first time I've heard this, like brought up is like why 1053 01:11:20,520 --> 01:11:26,279 are we like why are we trying this. If it's maybe stunting, Webenyama's 1054 01:11:26,279 --> 01:11:29,359 growth a little bit, but it's like it also means the Spurs are gonna 1055 01:11:29,399 --> 01:11:31,479 lose a lot because he's obviously not a good point guard yet. So that's 1056 01:11:31,640 --> 01:11:34,079 that's good too. We want that. I like, I don't know. 1057 01:11:34,159 --> 01:11:39,800 I I think if if if the numbers you cited like hold true for the 1058 01:11:39,800 --> 01:11:43,119 full year, then you kind of are doing your best player a little bit 1059 01:11:43,159 --> 01:11:45,039 of a disservice. But like, I don't know, it's for now. 1060 01:11:45,079 --> 01:11:48,199 I think it's okay. I just I guess ultimately I'm not super convinced that 1061 01:11:48,359 --> 01:11:50,960 soa Anna is gonna be the point guard of the future, So like, 1062 01:11:51,119 --> 01:11:56,359 maybe don't it feels like more of it could maybe be a weapon in your 1063 01:11:56,399 --> 01:12:00,399 tool belt, yeather than what you're building your entire offense around. Maybe maybe 1064 01:12:00,399 --> 01:12:02,880 that speaks to how high they are on him. Like, you know, 1065 01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:05,880 I love Jeremy Soman. I think he's going to be a really good player. 1066 01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:10,119 But it's just when you have Wemby and this will get into the you 1067 01:12:10,159 --> 01:12:12,680 know, all of a sudden, the chet homegrin versus Wemby for Rookie of 1068 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:15,640 the Year. I think you could go either way this point. Chet has 1069 01:12:15,640 --> 01:12:17,479 definitely been more effective in his minutes, but the Thunder have been a good 1070 01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:21,600 job. Sort of I feel like buttoning up his role. I don't sure 1071 01:12:23,079 --> 01:12:26,640 limiting him, but like where Wemby sort of in not even just full on 1072 01:12:26,680 --> 01:12:29,800 experimental, but like the things they ask him to do on defense and how 1073 01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,119 much different things he's trying to cover and then on offense. It's well, 1074 01:12:32,520 --> 01:12:36,319 if he had a shay or like a giddy or just someone who could put 1075 01:12:36,359 --> 01:12:40,399 him in the right spots, like he would probably be a lot more of 1076 01:12:40,520 --> 01:12:43,920 the fact that he's shooting over fifty percent on twues right now is honestly a 1077 01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:46,399 minor miracle based off what's the need to happen in San Antonio. Yeah, 1078 01:12:46,439 --> 01:12:53,079 I think I think Chet is being set up, like, yeah, you're 1079 01:12:53,159 --> 01:12:55,800 right. It's weird because it's like they're not limiting him, but it's like 1080 01:12:56,000 --> 01:12:59,760 Chet takes certain kinds of shots within the offense all the time, and Wemby 1081 01:12:59,800 --> 01:13:02,800 is just like, I don't know, just wherever. It seems much less 1082 01:13:02,800 --> 01:13:06,119 structured, which I guess is a symptom of not having a real point guard. 1083 01:13:06,239 --> 01:13:10,840 Like that's kind of what it is speaking of not having a real point 1084 01:13:10,840 --> 01:13:14,760 guard. Let's move on to the Utah Jazz, whoa I believe that they 1085 01:13:14,800 --> 01:13:17,319 do have a real point guard in Keyante George. Now the piece or panic 1086 01:13:18,119 --> 01:13:21,640 is just do they and it's not going to be I think there were fans 1087 01:13:21,960 --> 01:13:27,119 of the Jazz that expected them to be better or were like more competitive this 1088 01:13:27,199 --> 01:13:30,520 year, or their record to be better this year. And it's just when 1089 01:13:30,560 --> 01:13:32,199 you got rid, when you had that turnover at the trade deadline, and 1090 01:13:32,199 --> 01:13:34,399 then you kind of, yes, you got John Collins last all season, 1091 01:13:34,399 --> 01:13:40,199 but you didn't have that floor general acquisition. It was pretty clear that this 1092 01:13:40,359 --> 01:13:43,039 was going to be a rough season. But is there a piece or panic? 1093 01:13:43,079 --> 01:13:45,840 Are they It's kind of the similar vein of the Spurs. Did they 1094 01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:49,560 do a disservice to not necessarily their best player in Larry market In, who's 1095 01:13:49,600 --> 01:13:54,640 been great this year. The fact that he's played so well despite the absence 1096 01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:59,239 of a true floor general is actually really good for them. But Walker Kessler 1097 01:13:59,279 --> 01:14:02,039 when he was healthy not as good on offense. It's been very hard. 1098 01:14:02,399 --> 01:14:06,960 The Walker Kessler John Collins minutes have been really tough for them. They've looked 1099 01:14:06,960 --> 01:14:11,399 a lot better when they have sort of John Collins at the five, and 1100 01:14:11,439 --> 01:14:14,319 that's not where you're going to go long term. So, yes, Keante 1101 01:14:14,359 --> 01:14:16,359 George is in there now, but is it a piece or panic when you're 1102 01:14:16,359 --> 01:14:21,640 looking at their just their absence of that floorge. They're dead last in turnover 1103 01:14:21,680 --> 01:14:27,680 eight this season. The organization is not always there on the offensive end, 1104 01:14:28,039 --> 01:14:31,640 and I feel like offense should be with the types of lineups they're running out, 1105 01:14:31,960 --> 01:14:35,680 should also be their defining principle with some of the stuff they could do. 1106 01:14:36,039 --> 01:14:41,479 And so did they miss the mark by not having a veteran floor general 1107 01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:46,079 where forget about Kiante George for a second. Your best passer is Jordan Clarkson, 1108 01:14:48,319 --> 01:14:54,880 It might be Kelly Linnock. Honestly, I think, like so Mark, 1109 01:14:54,880 --> 01:14:59,600 And then there are parallels to what we're talking about with the Spurs a 1110 01:14:59,600 --> 01:15:02,920 little bit, and then there aren't because Markinnen's twenty six. Uh, he's 1111 01:15:02,960 --> 01:15:05,880 in his prime. We have a rough idea of what he is. It 1112 01:15:06,199 --> 01:15:11,520 sure would it be great if he had Mike Conley to set him up, 1113 01:15:11,560 --> 01:15:14,439 Like, yeah, for sure he I mean his numbers might be even better. 1114 01:15:15,039 --> 01:15:18,239 Uh, But it's not that it's not the same thing as because like, 1115 01:15:18,239 --> 01:15:21,319 who are there other like, for sure, oh, this guy is 1116 01:15:21,359 --> 01:15:26,399 a core developmental piece, Like I guess it's George. I guess it's Kessler, 1117 01:15:26,439 --> 01:15:29,600 who's sort of like he's not really out there for offense anyway. And 1118 01:15:29,640 --> 01:15:32,199 then after that, I don't know, are we down to like Agbajie. 1119 01:15:32,279 --> 01:15:35,520 I guess like Hendricks doesn't play, so I have to be a agbaji for 1120 01:15:35,600 --> 01:15:42,239 now, I would think, yeah, So like I guess, I guess 1121 01:15:42,319 --> 01:15:45,760 yeah, Like it's always it's always rough. It always makes things harder if 1122 01:15:45,800 --> 01:15:47,640 you don't have like the adult in the room point guard. But at the 1123 01:15:47,680 --> 01:15:51,119 same time, like I think, George just needs to play and develop and 1124 01:15:51,159 --> 01:15:56,720 then if you know by mid season he's capable, then great. But but 1125 01:15:56,800 --> 01:16:01,520 it's not the same like costing markin in. You know, developmental time is 1126 01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:04,199 not the same thing to me, So it's not I don't think it's a 1127 01:16:04,199 --> 01:16:08,319 panic. I guess it's peace. It's if you thought the Jazz were gonna 1128 01:16:08,399 --> 01:16:10,800 improve on last year's record, then I guess, yeah, you can panic. 1129 01:16:10,800 --> 01:16:13,239 But I don't think either of us saw that in the cards for them. 1130 01:16:14,119 --> 01:16:16,960 I I'm a piece as well. I am just curious as to there 1131 01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:20,800 are still our challenges even if you put you know, even if Caante George's 1132 01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:24,199 first team all rookie from here on out, he might be right now. 1133 01:16:25,039 --> 01:16:28,319 But like even if you had a more proven for general in here, does 1134 01:16:28,359 --> 01:16:31,840 the Collins Kessler pairing sort of like marking and has proven he could fit into 1135 01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:35,279 a dynamic like that. But are you doing a disservice to both of those 1136 01:16:35,319 --> 01:16:43,039 guys like by playing them together, and like, go ahead, you no, 1137 01:16:43,079 --> 01:16:46,119 I think I think yeah, I just think, you know, Collins 1138 01:16:46,159 --> 01:16:50,319 is not someone that like matters ultimately and like the big picture of the Jazz 1139 01:16:50,359 --> 01:16:55,079 franchise. So it's like, you know, I think he was just this 1140 01:16:55,159 --> 01:16:58,920 is a distressed asset that makes like Danny Aingel, I think saw John Collins 1141 01:16:58,920 --> 01:17:00,199 for the price he was available forms like yeah, well, yes, we 1142 01:17:00,199 --> 01:17:03,079 will take him because I think at some point we'll be able to trade him 1143 01:17:03,079 --> 01:17:06,960 for more than that or whatever. So like it doesn't bother me so much 1144 01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:12,840 that it is a weird fit and Kessler's I don't know, I'm really high 1145 01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:16,239 on Kessler as a defender obviously, but like I'm not sure that he's someone 1146 01:17:16,279 --> 01:17:19,840 that you need to like cater to or like worry about his development just because 1147 01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:23,960 I don't think, at least offensively, like there's not a lot of room 1148 01:17:23,960 --> 01:17:27,159 for him to develop. I think he's just gonna be a defense only center 1149 01:17:27,199 --> 01:17:30,399 that can dunk, and that's like just what he is. So I guess 1150 01:17:30,399 --> 01:17:33,000 I'm not you know, if you eventually get him a good point guard, 1151 01:17:33,039 --> 01:17:36,119 then yeah, he'll get a couple more like easy buckets a game, but 1152 01:17:36,319 --> 01:17:41,560 it's not stunting some growth trajectory that was gonna make him an All Star or 1153 01:17:41,560 --> 01:17:45,479 anything. I do feel like we kind of saw flashes of it last year, 1154 01:17:45,720 --> 01:17:47,840 not at all this year, which I do think comes back to like 1155 01:17:47,920 --> 01:17:51,359 kind of the absence of a of a floor general, Like he can make 1156 01:17:51,399 --> 01:17:55,279 some of like the quicker passes. Yeah, once he's like, you don't 1157 01:17:55,319 --> 01:17:57,600 want to putting on the ball, putting the ballton before to do it, 1158 01:17:57,840 --> 01:17:59,840 but that's something he could do, and like that's a you know, that's 1159 01:17:59,840 --> 01:18:02,720 a that Rudy Gobaer was never super great at. And so if you're able 1160 01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:06,279 to do that, that is another dynamic. I just don't know how long 1161 01:18:06,359 --> 01:18:10,279 does it take to get there. If George is the guy and you won't 1162 01:18:10,279 --> 01:18:13,720 have any other guy. I feel like they could have benefited from there wasn't 1163 01:18:13,720 --> 01:18:15,119 someone out there to say, well, let's make the John Collins trade, 1164 01:18:15,119 --> 01:18:17,720 but it's for a point guard. Yeah, that wasn't out there for them, 1165 01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:23,079 but it might be something for them to consider doing after this season. 1166 01:18:23,159 --> 01:18:26,479 Where it's not about accelerating the timeline. It comes back to the Fred van 1167 01:18:26,520 --> 01:18:30,520 Vliet acquisition in Houston, where Okay, they're really good right now, but 1168 01:18:30,520 --> 01:18:36,399 it's someone who doesn't necessarily infringe upon development or accelerate your timeline. He just 1169 01:18:36,439 --> 01:18:41,720 helped streamline it for everybody else. Yeah, I think if I'm panicking about 1170 01:18:41,760 --> 01:18:44,840 anything for Utah, it's that, like, other than George we As, 1171 01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:46,760 we just illustrated, Like I don't know who the core pieces are, Like 1172 01:18:46,800 --> 01:18:49,880 who the guys are going to be five years from now that you're banking on 1173 01:18:49,960 --> 01:18:55,359 being really great, I think, and I think like being better than they 1174 01:18:55,439 --> 01:18:59,680 meant to be last year and maybe sucking this year in a way worse draft 1175 01:18:59,720 --> 01:19:02,920 that could be a pretty big missed opportunity, to put it pretty mildly, 1176 01:19:09,720 --> 01:19:13,680 stat panting time gonna be a shorter one because I can't fucking speak, and 1177 01:19:13,720 --> 01:19:16,039 I really hope has my voice been so bad. Is it been? Sound 1178 01:19:16,079 --> 01:19:20,199 like Stavan Gundy in that one game he called where he just everybody. I 1179 01:19:20,279 --> 01:19:25,399 kind of feel like Doc Rivers, like that's what I sound like. Yeah, 1180 01:19:25,560 --> 01:19:29,960 you've out of the coaching game. So let's start with I have a 1181 01:19:29,960 --> 01:19:33,359 couple of guest players for your test of players for you. These first two 1182 01:19:33,359 --> 01:19:36,119 come from Rubik Scal. Thank you. As always, I've not asked answered 1183 01:19:36,119 --> 01:19:41,199 your past your discord messages because I am borderline dying over here, but thank 1184 01:19:41,199 --> 01:19:44,680 you for sending these these over all, right, Clude number one, grant, 1185 01:19:44,920 --> 01:19:48,439 I won a bronze medal each in my first three major national tournaments, 1186 01:19:48,479 --> 01:19:51,479 the Olympics, the Feeble World Cup where I was the m v P, 1187 01:19:53,159 --> 01:20:00,000 and the euro Basket. Okay, that's clude number two. At my next 1188 01:20:00,079 --> 01:20:02,680 attempt at the Olympics, I picked up a silver medal to add to my 1189 01:20:02,720 --> 01:20:08,159 collection. I then added gold medals at the FOBA EuroBasket. I also took 1190 01:20:08,159 --> 01:20:12,640 home the MVP and the FEBA World Cup. So this guy is just an 1191 01:20:12,680 --> 01:20:16,920 absolute stud in international Can I just Palgasol? It is not Pagasol. Clue 1192 01:20:17,000 --> 01:20:20,399 number three? How was I doing at the club level in Europe? Back 1193 01:20:20,439 --> 01:20:25,039 to back EuroLeague champs and top scorer in one of those finals. Not too 1194 01:20:25,119 --> 01:20:29,800 bad, Okay, not getting it. Clue number four. The EuroLeague wins 1195 01:20:29,840 --> 01:20:32,279 put me on the radar for NBA teams, and I was drafted as the 1196 01:20:32,359 --> 01:20:41,000 sixtieth overall pick by the Blazers. Rudy Fernandez. No, what a guest 1197 01:20:41,039 --> 01:20:43,079 though, I like that one. You might have been a lottery pick. 1198 01:20:43,640 --> 01:20:45,840 Yeah, I think he was. Clue number five. I played for Real 1199 01:20:45,880 --> 01:20:48,920 Madrid for one season and won the top scorer honors along with the Spanish Cup 1200 01:20:49,279 --> 01:20:56,319 Copa del Rey before I joined the Blazers squad. So this guy's was a 1201 01:20:56,359 --> 01:21:00,319 Blazer and a lot that's my Rudy Fernandez guess, and he spent I guess. 1202 01:21:00,359 --> 01:21:02,159 I can't. This doesn't work. I don't get to ask you questions. 1203 01:21:02,640 --> 01:21:06,800 Are you just gonna ask me if it was Rudy Fernandez again? Fernandez, 1204 01:21:06,840 --> 01:21:11,119 Comma, Rudy, uh No, do you have any more? I 1205 01:21:11,119 --> 01:21:14,079 don't know. Yeah, we've got We've got four more, all right. 1206 01:21:14,399 --> 01:21:17,079 Number six. I predicted that my only obstacle to success in the NBA would 1207 01:21:17,079 --> 01:21:20,560 be playing time, and I was proved right, as Rick Adelman treated me 1208 01:21:20,640 --> 01:21:24,720 like a catch and shoot sniper. Instead of trusting me with the ball. 1209 01:21:25,000 --> 01:21:28,439 With my minutes dwindling, I insisted on being traded to a different team. 1210 01:21:28,760 --> 01:21:31,239 I was granted my wish midway through the season and traded to the New to 1211 01:21:31,439 --> 01:21:34,680 New Jersey, where I got increased minutes but still came off the bench. 1212 01:21:36,159 --> 01:21:40,399 Oh and now I'm starting to get there. So this is the Adaman Blazers. 1213 01:21:40,439 --> 01:21:45,239 This is the sixtieth pick with a bunch of international and he got into 1214 01:21:45,319 --> 01:21:47,760 the Sorry to the Nets, you said, correct, And you said the 1215 01:21:47,800 --> 01:21:53,680 New Jersey Nets. Correct? Oh god, all right, give me the 1216 01:21:53,720 --> 01:21:56,640 next one. Who would be the other team in New Jersey that you were 1217 01:21:56,640 --> 01:21:59,479 thinking a lot of it was the Brooklyn Nets. It was gonna give me 1218 01:21:59,479 --> 01:22:02,119 more information, but that wouldn't have made sense with Adaman at the Blazers Clue 1219 01:22:02,199 --> 01:22:06,479 number seven. Over the next two seasons, I helped bring playoff basketball back 1220 01:22:06,479 --> 01:22:10,560 to the Nets, starting in one hundred and forty nine out of one hundred 1221 01:22:10,560 --> 01:22:14,039 and fifty two games, leading my team in points, field goal percentage, 1222 01:22:14,039 --> 01:22:16,960 and three point percentage. Oh my god, how do I not know this 1223 01:22:17,960 --> 01:22:25,600 sixtieth pick did all that right? The clue number eight final two clues here 1224 01:22:25,880 --> 01:22:29,760 I was widely regarded as perhaps the best jump shooter of my time and perhaps 1225 01:22:29,840 --> 01:22:34,159 of all time. Well you're gonna, I think you'll get it after this 1226 01:22:34,239 --> 01:22:36,520 one. I mean, I better. I don't know why I don't have 1227 01:22:36,600 --> 01:22:42,560 it already. Night and final clue right. I passed away in a car 1228 01:22:42,600 --> 01:22:45,000 accident on the Autobahn in nineteen ninety three, and my number was retired by 1229 01:22:45,159 --> 01:22:48,479 Draws Petrovitch. Yes, oh my god, okay, yeah, I was 1230 01:22:48,560 --> 01:22:51,760 like Adaman threw me. I thought I was way later in time than that. 1231 01:22:53,000 --> 01:22:56,079 All right, Yeah, geez wait, okay, Drawzi Petrovitch, Sorry, 1232 01:22:56,199 --> 01:22:58,760 it took me way too long ninety three. I was. I was 1233 01:22:58,800 --> 01:23:00,479 off by like a I don't know what I was doing with at the Adaman 1234 01:23:00,520 --> 01:23:04,960 Blazers in the timeline there, all right. Next one clue number one. 1235 01:23:05,039 --> 01:23:10,399 Born in Chester, Pennsylvania. I played small forward for Chester High where I 1236 01:23:10,439 --> 01:23:13,680 set the school rebound record. I took my high school to the state title 1237 01:23:13,680 --> 01:23:18,159 game in my senior year, where we lost to Lower Marion. Oh, 1238 01:23:18,520 --> 01:23:23,039 all right, clue number two. I was a McDonald's All American and a 1239 01:23:23,039 --> 01:23:27,079 consensus five star crew, widely regarded as a top five fall small forward. 1240 01:23:27,239 --> 01:23:30,000 I went to Arizona, where I made a reputation for myself as a fear 1241 01:23:30,079 --> 01:23:33,239 scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker, even though I was barely six foot 1242 01:23:33,279 --> 01:23:36,600 six inches, never mind the seven foot two inch wingspan. Is this Richard 1243 01:23:36,640 --> 01:23:42,600 Jefferson? No, yeah, he's from LA Clue number three. I was 1244 01:23:42,680 --> 01:23:46,079 drafted twenty third and played four seasons for the Brooklyn Nets during Kenny Atkinson's tenure 1245 01:23:46,119 --> 01:23:49,800 as coach, most of it as the starting power forward. Is this Rondez 1246 01:23:49,800 --> 01:23:58,920 Hollis Jefferson? Correct? Nice job, redemption. That was a nice job 1247 01:23:58,960 --> 01:24:03,199 by you. We haven't another one from from b rich underscore at X. 1248 01:24:04,960 --> 01:24:10,960 What's that? Kendall gil Gil yep, Kendall Gill Okay clue number one. 1249 01:24:11,119 --> 01:24:15,239 Drafted in the second round twenty twenty five. I was a remarkably durable player. 1250 01:24:15,439 --> 01:24:18,039 Wait, sorry, what year was he drafted two thousand and five? 1251 01:24:18,359 --> 01:24:21,000 Okay, drafted in the second round in two thousand and five. I was 1252 01:24:21,000 --> 01:24:29,159 a remarkably durable player, twice leading the league in minutes per game. Okay. 1253 01:24:30,479 --> 01:24:33,199 My career spanned twelve seasons across four teams. Never an All star, 1254 01:24:33,319 --> 01:24:39,000 I averaged seventeen point eight points four point six assists three point five rebounds per 1255 01:24:39,039 --> 01:24:44,199 game seventeen four and three. Drafted in the second round in five correct. 1256 01:24:44,359 --> 01:24:48,479 Okay, Clue number three a certified mid range inefficient gunner. I only had 1257 01:24:48,520 --> 01:24:54,119 one season with an effect within an effective field goal percentage above fifty. Oh 1258 01:24:54,159 --> 01:24:59,760 wow, okay, these are the final two clues. Oh. In four 1259 01:24:59,800 --> 01:25:02,479 of my my last five seasons, I started eighty plus games per season across 1260 01:25:02,520 --> 01:25:06,920 three different teams Milwaukee, Dallas, and Indiana. As for some reason, 1261 01:25:08,239 --> 01:25:13,560 these teams loved starting an average offensive below average defensive car combo guard. I 1262 01:25:13,640 --> 01:25:17,680 then retired at age thirty one. Give me those teams again, Dallas, 1263 01:25:17,720 --> 01:25:23,479 Milwaukee, Indiana. And this is like in the fifteen, sixteen, seventeen 1264 01:25:25,560 --> 01:25:30,439 Dallas Milwaukee, Indiana. Fifth like he's five twelve year career. So those 1265 01:25:30,520 --> 01:25:35,239 last five Dallas Milwaukee, Indiana. Oh man, you'll get it now, 1266 01:25:35,279 --> 01:25:40,000 don't worry. Clue number five. Hailing from Lanyard, Mississippi, I skipped 1267 01:25:40,039 --> 01:25:43,479 college to jump into a career of taking a zillion long twos for the Golden 1268 01:25:43,520 --> 01:25:50,000 State Warriors. Damn it, it's Monte Monte, Dallas. Yeah that hurts. 1269 01:25:50,279 --> 01:25:53,680 I thought you were going to get it by Clue three is what I 1270 01:25:53,720 --> 01:25:57,319 said to uh to be rich when they sent it over. What was CLU 1271 01:25:57,399 --> 01:26:00,640 three? Clue three was a certified mid range inefficient gunner. I only had 1272 01:26:00,640 --> 01:26:03,760 one season with an effective field goal percentage above five hund. I mean, 1273 01:26:04,000 --> 01:26:08,640 yeah, I should have got it, just the Mississippi did it and the 1274 01:26:09,039 --> 01:26:12,119 I mean I thought the clue number four. I was certain you were gonna 1275 01:26:12,159 --> 01:26:15,399 have it with the teams. Yeah, yeah, I'm bad at that. 1276 01:26:15,439 --> 01:26:18,960 I like it jumbles in my mind. If you'd said, like, ruined 1277 01:26:18,960 --> 01:26:23,000 his career in a moped accident and lied about it, that would have been 1278 01:26:23,199 --> 01:26:25,239 that would have been a good one. Would have got there for that. 1279 01:26:26,079 --> 01:26:29,800 Okay, I gotta start. I gotta I gotta think a little harder about 1280 01:26:29,960 --> 01:26:33,359 the source of these guests of players and calibrate. My guess is better. 1281 01:26:33,399 --> 01:26:36,039 Okay, I got a couple for you. They're not guests of players. 1282 01:26:36,079 --> 01:26:39,840 But do you want to do you have more for me? Or can I 1283 01:26:39,960 --> 01:26:42,279 let's go to you first? We can finish mine. All right? These 1284 01:26:42,319 --> 01:26:45,560 are they a little potpourri here? There's a whole bunch of different ones. 1285 01:26:45,880 --> 01:26:49,159 All right, Dan, I'm gonna give you four options. Who has posted 1286 01:26:49,199 --> 01:26:53,920 a season with at least one hundred and fifty blocks and one hundred and fifty 1287 01:26:54,000 --> 01:26:58,880 made threes. Your options are Jared Jackson Junior, Chris STAPs, Porzingis, 1288 01:26:59,199 --> 01:27:02,800 Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez. Only one of those guys has a season of 1289 01:27:02,800 --> 01:27:05,640 one hundred and fifty blocks and one hundred and fifty made threes. It's also 1290 01:27:05,680 --> 01:27:12,920 the only one ever Holy Jaron Jackson Junior, It's brook Lopez. Sorry, 1291 01:27:15,039 --> 01:27:17,960 all right, so this is a little different. I want you to tell 1292 01:27:18,000 --> 01:27:23,760 me which of the two players I mentioned scored more total points across the first 1293 01:27:23,920 --> 01:27:27,680 five years of their careers. So from NBA debut to the end of year 1294 01:27:27,760 --> 01:27:31,800 five, who had more total points scored? Got it? No? Yes, 1295 01:27:31,840 --> 01:27:35,760 I got it. Dan Who scored more total points in the first five 1296 01:27:35,840 --> 01:27:42,239 years of their career? Devin Booker or Andrew Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins. That 1297 01:27:42,319 --> 01:27:45,239 is correct. You've hacked the game, because that seems impossible. These are 1298 01:27:45,239 --> 01:27:49,079 all close. Wiggans seventy seven to sixty eight, Booker seventy six, eighty 1299 01:27:49,079 --> 01:27:56,279 three, Steph or Clay Ooh, I'm gonna say, Klay Thompson, that's 1300 01:27:56,279 --> 01:27:59,159 two in a row for you. Seventy one to twelve to sixty eight fourteen 1301 01:27:59,239 --> 01:28:02,279 the injuries for STI did him in there? H Sga or Chris Paul, 1302 01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:08,880 Oh man, I'm man. I'm gonna say Chris Paul. He was so 1303 01:28:09,000 --> 01:28:14,000 featured early on You're on Fire three in a row, dearon Fox or Buddy 1304 01:28:14,039 --> 01:28:23,960 healed? Oh m uh, Buddy healed all the threes? Correct? All 1305 01:28:24,079 --> 01:28:29,159 right? This is to sweep the category Paul George or Jimmy Butler. Oh 1306 01:28:30,239 --> 01:28:33,640 oh oh, Paul George. Correct, and it's close. It's like fifty 1307 01:28:33,680 --> 01:28:36,640 points separated. Wow, I would have just because Jimmy Butler the first two 1308 01:28:36,680 --> 01:28:40,560 seasons in Chicago, right, he was barely used. Yeah. One of 1309 01:28:40,600 --> 01:28:45,760 the craziest like career growth trajectories in memory is Jimmy Butler just being a total 1310 01:28:45,840 --> 01:28:48,960 zero that could only defend two capable being the best offensive player on a final 1311 01:28:49,039 --> 01:28:53,560 team. By the way, great job by you. Five for five and 1312 01:28:53,680 --> 01:28:56,159 I can't cut that one up. No one will want to see me go 1313 01:28:56,279 --> 01:28:58,960 five for five. No, you got to come up with something where it's 1314 01:28:59,000 --> 01:29:04,399 just like you just keep getting stars or something. Let's see, Okay, 1315 01:29:04,479 --> 01:29:12,159 this is I almost feel bad for this. Uh to you? All right, 1316 01:29:13,359 --> 01:29:16,800 Dan, I would like you to name three active Andreas in the NBA. 1317 01:29:16,960 --> 01:29:19,960 Actually, they don't have to be active. Give me three Andres. 1318 01:29:20,640 --> 01:29:24,920 They don't have to be active. No, can they be part of their 1319 01:29:25,000 --> 01:29:30,840 name like DeAndre. No, it has to be Andre Andre Miller. Correct 1320 01:29:31,079 --> 01:29:35,039 Andre Carolinko. Oh, I didn't even think about that one. Weird spelling. 1321 01:29:35,079 --> 01:29:41,119 I'm gonna I'm gonna accept it. And Andre Jackson very good. Yeah, 1322 01:29:41,119 --> 01:29:44,199 we mentioned him well on a different pot. Awesome, Dan. Name 1323 01:29:44,279 --> 01:29:48,920 three Andrews Andrew Wiggins or do they have to be active? Nope? Andrew 1324 01:29:48,960 --> 01:29:54,640 nemhard. Yeah, Andrew bid them really good. The Andrews are easier. 1325 01:29:54,720 --> 01:29:59,119 You could add Boget Andrew Nicholson. Remember that guy, he's still getting paid 1326 01:29:59,159 --> 01:30:02,000 by the Blazer. Shout out Andrew Andrew. Andrew Binham was in there too. 1327 01:30:02,800 --> 01:30:05,720 All right, let's see, uh you can. You can take the 1328 01:30:05,760 --> 01:30:12,199 reins again and then I have a couple of word associations for you. Okay, 1329 01:30:12,399 --> 01:30:15,399 so I have a one. I did one block of word association this 1330 01:30:15,520 --> 01:30:18,399 time, but that's not verified to do word association. By the way, 1331 01:30:18,600 --> 01:30:23,439 what's that I'm terrified of word association? Do we want to start there? 1332 01:30:23,479 --> 01:30:26,640 So then you can just go right into your word association. Then all right, 1333 01:30:26,760 --> 01:30:31,720 so I have a block of five here, word association crossover Jamal Crawford. 1334 01:30:32,119 --> 01:30:36,800 Oh, I don't know why. It isn't like the crossover like spelled 1335 01:30:36,800 --> 01:30:41,039 c R A W his right, So I get it from the nickname. 1336 01:30:41,039 --> 01:30:43,840 That's just not the one that I would have went to. But listen to 1337 01:30:43,920 --> 01:30:48,800 word association. You never know what's going to happen left handed Derek Fisher. 1338 01:30:49,199 --> 01:30:57,920 I don't know why. Oh that might be that that'd be great left No, 1339 01:30:58,119 --> 01:31:02,920 look, magine, Sorry, that's the lame answer. Behind the back. 1340 01:31:04,079 --> 01:31:08,439 I was going to give you behind the back in my word association. 1341 01:31:09,479 --> 01:31:15,960 Behind the back, uh, Steve Nash okay? And last one hit ahead 1342 01:31:16,520 --> 01:31:21,520 ooh, Lonzo Ball Oh okay. I thought I was convinced you were gonna 1343 01:31:21,520 --> 01:31:26,399 go with Tyre's Haliburton there. Oh yeah, Kevin Love came to mind too, 1344 01:31:26,399 --> 01:31:30,439 But that's more like an outlet thing. Let's see, do you have 1345 01:31:30,439 --> 01:31:32,359 another one? I have more, but I don't have another block of word 1346 01:31:32,359 --> 01:31:35,359 association once. Okay, let me give you. Let me try this one 1347 01:31:35,359 --> 01:31:39,720 on you, as you're aware. Dan Jalen Brown signed the first ever three 1348 01:31:39,840 --> 01:31:45,399 hundred million dollar contract. Uh, some debate, I guess on its actual 1349 01:31:45,520 --> 01:31:49,239 value. I will give you four choices. Who signed the first one hundred 1350 01:31:49,279 --> 01:31:56,199 million dollar contract? Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Juwan Howard or Chris Webber 1351 01:31:58,199 --> 01:32:01,479 Saquille O'Neal. It is Juwan. Can you believe that? Wow? Nineteen 1352 01:32:01,560 --> 01:32:06,479 ninety six? Moving on, who signed the first one hundred and fifty million 1353 01:32:06,520 --> 01:32:13,800 dollar contract? Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Steve Francis or Mike Conley. 1354 01:32:14,039 --> 01:32:16,399 Mike Conley? That's correct? Isn't that wild? That? That's wild? 1355 01:32:16,680 --> 01:32:21,520 All right? The first two hundred million dollar contract Zach Lavine, Kevin Durant, 1356 01:32:21,600 --> 01:32:28,239 Steph Curry, Lebron James. I know for a fact Lebron James has 1357 01:32:28,239 --> 01:32:30,760 never signed a two hundred million dollar contract. I'm gonna say, Steph Curry, 1358 01:32:30,840 --> 01:32:34,479 You're right, You're on fire. You've I mean, getting all Andrews 1359 01:32:34,479 --> 01:32:38,319 and Andreas and the contracts. Yeah, Steph Curry was the first two hundred 1360 01:32:38,319 --> 01:32:43,920 million dollar guy. All right, takeover? Oh you want me to go 1361 01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:46,880 to mine? Okay? So, oh this one is I thought was actually 1362 01:32:47,000 --> 01:32:50,439 I was actually thought this was a good idea which NBA player has hit? 1363 01:32:50,520 --> 01:32:55,840 More go ahead buzzer beaters in the regular season and playoffs combined. Okay, 1364 01:32:56,800 --> 01:33:00,600 Lebron James or Damian Lillard. Oh man, I'm gonna say, Dame, 1365 01:33:01,279 --> 01:33:05,159 it's Lebron eighteen to twelve. It's not even Wow. Hey, let's can 1366 01:33:05,199 --> 01:33:10,520 we get a Lebron time celebration going? I mean it also has to do 1367 01:33:10,560 --> 01:33:13,760 maybe his longevity a little bit too. Yeah. Look, Lebron always passes. 1368 01:33:13,800 --> 01:33:15,640 He never shoots. Remember when that was the thing. Yeah, he 1369 01:33:15,720 --> 01:33:20,880 is criticized for that. Wow. Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul. Hm, 1370 01:33:21,680 --> 01:33:26,159 I'm gonna say Chris Paul because I think that's the wrong answer. Chris Paul 1371 01:33:26,279 --> 01:33:29,960 seven to five, That is the right answer. Yeah. Carmelo Anthony or 1372 01:33:29,960 --> 01:33:35,800 Steph Curry mellow, Yes, Mello eight to six, Jamal Crawford or Derrick 1373 01:33:35,920 --> 01:33:41,319 Rose. Jamal Crawford correct, ten to six, you're kind of on fire? 1374 01:33:41,359 --> 01:33:45,720 Two, three or four. Tim Duncan or Michael Jordan. Ooh again, 1375 01:33:45,920 --> 01:33:48,640 sticking with I'm gonna pick the wrong answer, Tim Duncan because it'll be 1376 01:33:48,720 --> 01:33:53,159 right Duncan seven to six over Michael Jordan. I've figured you out now, 1377 01:33:53,239 --> 01:33:59,039 Dan, Devin Booker or Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, No, it's Devin 1378 01:33:59,039 --> 01:34:04,920 Booker. Six to five, damn it. James Harden or Dark Novitzky Harden 1379 01:34:05,720 --> 01:34:12,279 No, Dark Novitzky five before who Jannis attent to Koopo or Anthony Davis? 1380 01:34:13,520 --> 01:34:19,560 Oh wow, Jannis Nope, Anthony Davis six to four man nuwe Genobili or 1381 01:34:19,640 --> 01:34:25,840 Jason Kidd managed Genobili? Yes? Four to three over kid. And finally 1382 01:34:26,279 --> 01:34:30,680 Demard Rosen or Alan Iverson. I mean Demartin Rosen had like three last year, 1383 01:34:30,720 --> 01:34:33,359 a couple of years. I'll say, Derozen that is correct. Eight 1384 01:34:33,399 --> 01:34:35,399 to seven? You didn't, so would you get seven to ten? That's 1385 01:34:35,399 --> 01:34:38,640 pretty good. I don't know. Well, by the way, I was 1386 01:34:38,680 --> 01:34:42,439 gonna take Genobili no matter who the second person was, just on principle. 1387 01:34:43,119 --> 01:34:46,840 Uh let's see. Okay, I have some word association. But then that's 1388 01:34:46,880 --> 01:34:49,319 all I got for you. Okay, So give me that, and then 1389 01:34:49,359 --> 01:34:53,239 I have a few more for you. All right. I kind of stole 1390 01:34:53,279 --> 01:34:56,960 the Andrews and Andreas from word association, so the second batch will be a 1391 01:34:56,960 --> 01:35:03,520 little shorter, all right, great and word association marching gortat uh Beard. 1392 01:35:06,000 --> 01:35:11,479 I was gonna say the gortat screen. The Yeah, the screen though, 1393 01:35:11,560 --> 01:35:15,239 like where he rolls and he knocks the defender out of the way so the 1394 01:35:15,319 --> 01:35:20,720 driver can score. Okay, Spain, pick and roll Fab five Michigan. 1395 01:35:21,239 --> 01:35:26,159 Can you name the members of the Fab five? Jalen Rose, Chris Webber 1396 01:35:26,199 --> 01:35:30,199 and then I'm done. Oh well, we already talked about Juwan Howard. 1397 01:35:30,720 --> 01:35:33,760 Yeah, I mean I'm not I'm not a college or historical ficionado. All 1398 01:35:33,880 --> 01:35:38,439 right, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, those are the other two. UHL 1399 01:35:39,039 --> 01:35:41,800 was off the top of your head. I read the Fab five book that 1400 01:35:41,840 --> 01:35:44,840 Mitch Album wrote when I was like twelve or something, and so like, 1401 01:35:44,920 --> 01:35:48,439 I remember a weird amount about I remember a guy named Eric Riley was a 1402 01:35:48,439 --> 01:35:51,399 backup center on that team. Rob Polinka was on that team. I think 1403 01:35:51,399 --> 01:35:56,520 people know that, but uh yeah, anyway, Steve Fisher was the coach. 1404 01:35:56,640 --> 01:36:01,760 That's probably all I know. Uh okay, elbow touch o my god? 1405 01:36:02,640 --> 01:36:13,039 Uh yo kich Yeah. Gerald Wallace traded for to this to the Celtics. 1406 01:36:15,000 --> 01:36:17,520 This is I feel, this is like cruel to do to you while 1407 01:36:17,520 --> 01:36:21,239 you're sick. It's just it's a mean thing. The first thing I think 1408 01:36:21,239 --> 01:36:24,439 of his name, it probably should be his defense. But I think of 1409 01:36:24,479 --> 01:36:29,039 like the uh, wasn't he part of the KG trade in some form? 1410 01:36:29,119 --> 01:36:30,840 Was he traded from the Celtics and the Nets or something he might have been. 1411 01:36:30,920 --> 01:36:34,920 I I remember he had a dunk where he like hung on the rim 1412 01:36:35,000 --> 01:36:39,079 with one arm and like spun all the way around and it looks like his 1413 01:36:39,159 --> 01:36:43,479 shoulder should like separated. Never seen that dunk. Oh, it's rough, 1414 01:36:43,640 --> 01:36:47,000 and he's fine because Gerald Wallace was like uninjurable for a while. All right, 1415 01:36:47,359 --> 01:36:55,479 let's see the last three little quick ones here back tapped rebound Tyson Chandler. 1416 01:36:55,680 --> 01:36:59,199 That is the only correct answer. Thank you for getting that one pivot 1417 01:36:59,199 --> 01:37:08,479 game mellow. Weirdest shooting form the kJ Martin Kenyan, No, Kevin Martin. 1418 01:37:08,560 --> 01:37:11,159 Sorry, that was the first name I thought of too? Who that? 1419 01:37:11,279 --> 01:37:13,880 That's all I have? What other weird shooting forms have there been? 1420 01:37:14,079 --> 01:37:17,800 I mean Aliburton, that's a weird one. Michael ok Yo, Chris We 1421 01:37:17,840 --> 01:37:21,840 talked, oh man, remember that one that was that was really bad? 1422 01:37:23,439 --> 01:37:28,640 Anthony Mason had a funky she like cup the ball. All right, someone 1423 01:37:28,680 --> 01:37:32,640 had like a really jagged one that I can't remember. And we talked about 1424 01:37:32,640 --> 01:37:35,800 Bill cart Wright last time. But that's that was mostly free throws because you 1425 01:37:35,840 --> 01:37:40,960 never shot otherwise. Okay, so I have a few more for you. 1426 01:37:42,039 --> 01:37:46,399 There have been grant six players in NBA history who are six foot six or 1427 01:37:46,439 --> 01:37:50,920 shorter that have finished the seaton finished a season with at least one hundred steals 1428 01:37:50,920 --> 01:37:55,359 and one hundred blocks. I'm gonna separate them into two groups. You have 1429 01:37:55,399 --> 01:38:00,079 to pick the one that does not belong. So which player six six or 1430 01:38:00,159 --> 01:38:03,439 under did not have a hundred steels or one hundred blocks in any given season? 1431 01:38:03,520 --> 01:38:15,319 Okay, Charles Barkley, gar Heard, Draymond Green, Vince Carter h 1432 01:38:15,880 --> 01:38:18,119 gar Herd is like one of those people that I am aware played in the 1433 01:38:18,199 --> 01:38:20,960 NBA for a long time, but I cannot pick him out of a lineup 1434 01:38:21,159 --> 01:38:25,079 or tell you who he played for. I don't think so I'm just gonna 1435 01:38:25,079 --> 01:38:30,119 say gar Heard, that is incorrect. It is Vince Carter gar Herd has 1436 01:38:30,239 --> 01:38:33,520 actually had is tied for the most seasons in league history with that. Him 1437 01:38:33,560 --> 01:38:38,680 and Charles Barkley each had three seasons of one hundred steals plus one hundred blocks. 1438 01:38:39,159 --> 01:38:42,319 That's interesting. I don't think of Barkley as like an active defender. 1439 01:38:42,359 --> 01:38:45,399 But it must have been young Barkley, all right, Yeah, I mean 1440 01:38:45,520 --> 01:38:50,760 it was in the eighties, So yeah, okay, which player six foot 1441 01:38:50,800 --> 01:38:55,199 six inches are under did not have a season of at least one hundred steels 1442 01:38:55,640 --> 01:39:00,800 and one hundred blocks. Michael Jordan, Clarence Weathers Boon, Dwayne Wade, 1443 01:39:01,399 --> 01:39:11,399 or Latrell Sprewell. I know Spreewell had the steals, but I don't think 1444 01:39:11,439 --> 01:39:14,840 he had the blocks. And I just you can't put Michael Jordan in there 1445 01:39:14,840 --> 01:39:17,800 and not have him do it. Wade had a lot of blocks. Who's 1446 01:39:17,840 --> 01:39:23,600 the fourth one? So we have Jordan, Clarence Weatherspoon, Dwayne Wade, 1447 01:39:23,680 --> 01:39:29,279 Latrell'spreewell. I'm gonna say Spreewell, that is correct. He did not have 1448 01:39:29,359 --> 01:39:31,159 the blocks. He averaged over two steals a couple times, I think, 1449 01:39:31,199 --> 01:39:35,119 though he is an All NBA first teamer. Littrell Spreewell one year. How 1450 01:39:35,159 --> 01:39:42,920 about that? Hey, he got to feed his family, all right? 1451 01:39:42,960 --> 01:39:47,159 I have like a couple of this one is okay, championship on the line, 1452 01:39:47,359 --> 01:39:54,520 NBA championship on the line. Would you bet on what's the best way 1453 01:39:54,520 --> 01:39:57,600 to phrase this? NBA Championship on the line. What would you trust more 1454 01:39:58,000 --> 01:40:02,279 a use of Nurkic contested layup or DeAndre aight and self created dunk? Oh 1455 01:40:02,319 --> 01:40:10,000 my god? Uh, the DeAndre aydon self created dunk has never been witnessed, 1456 01:40:10,000 --> 01:40:12,439 and therefore I'm not sure it exists. So I have to take the 1457 01:40:12,520 --> 01:40:15,359 Nurkic layup, which is like a thirty percent proposition. Uh. To be 1458 01:40:15,439 --> 01:40:18,279 fair, he's shooting like forty eight percent of the rim this year, So 1459 01:40:18,279 --> 01:40:23,800 it's you said, contested, So I don't know what that's gonna knock it 1460 01:40:23,840 --> 01:40:28,239 down to. Would you rather be the first NBA player to dunk from the 1461 01:40:28,239 --> 01:40:31,800 three point line or be the first NBA player to record a quintuple double? 1462 01:40:32,520 --> 01:40:41,119 Oh wow, give me the give me the quintuple double, because like, 1463 01:40:41,159 --> 01:40:44,399 Wemby's probably gonna dunk from the three point line two or three times this year, 1464 01:40:44,479 --> 01:40:47,239 So then I wouldn't be the only one. Webby's gonna dunk from the 1465 01:40:47,319 --> 01:40:53,520 three point two or three times. That suddenly seems like the only answer that 1466 01:40:53,560 --> 01:40:57,960 you can give. Now. Well, Wemby might also get a quintuple double 1467 01:40:58,000 --> 01:41:00,000 too. Well, if we're gonna hearken back a few weeks ago, and 1468 01:41:00,039 --> 01:41:05,039 I thought he was gonna get seventeen blocks or whatever it was, And let's 1469 01:41:05,039 --> 01:41:08,560 make this the last one because I have no voice. I feel like anyone 1470 01:41:08,600 --> 01:41:12,640 who's listening this long probably hates themselves right now. So I'm stealing this from 1471 01:41:12,720 --> 01:41:17,279 the inverse of what we did already. Which NBA star were you convinced would 1472 01:41:17,319 --> 01:41:24,680 be a bust? Oh? Great question? Which NBA star was like convinced 1473 01:41:24,760 --> 01:41:30,640 was gonna be a bust? Oh? Man? That's really tough. Uh, 1474 01:41:30,680 --> 01:41:33,640 because do you have one in mind to jog my to jog my thinking? 1475 01:41:33,640 --> 01:41:36,560 I'll give you mine. There is if you google Dana Valley, Kawhi, 1476 01:41:36,640 --> 01:41:41,920 Leonard Bus there are reddit threads oh about what I wrote. I said 1477 01:41:42,279 --> 01:41:45,079 he would never be able to shoot and that his defense would not translate to 1478 01:41:45,159 --> 01:41:51,640 the NBA. I may have missed on that. Listen, we all, 1479 01:41:51,960 --> 01:41:56,399 I've tried to like pull up, let me pull up like a list of 1480 01:41:56,439 --> 01:42:00,079 this year's leaders, because I'm like really struggling to think of a star that 1481 01:42:00,119 --> 01:42:03,800 it's I have a lot more of the the opposite where I was just wrong 1482 01:42:04,079 --> 01:42:09,359 about uh them. I thought they were gonna be good and then they weren't. 1483 01:42:09,920 --> 01:42:13,079 Yeah, because it's not like I think a lot of people would be 1484 01:42:13,119 --> 01:42:14,960 like, well what about Yo Kisch. It's like, well, you didn't 1485 01:42:15,000 --> 01:42:18,640 have expectations of someone drafted ninetieth overall during a Taco bell commercial, So you 1486 01:42:18,680 --> 01:42:25,720 didn't. You can't be a bust during that. Oh uh. So I 1487 01:42:25,720 --> 01:42:30,119 don't know if there's a Reddit thread about it, but I I'm pretty sure 1488 01:42:30,720 --> 01:42:35,039 that I was a big Jason Tatum doubter because I remember I could never get 1489 01:42:35,119 --> 01:42:41,399 over the I think I read in more than one place and just watching him 1490 01:42:41,840 --> 01:42:45,359 at Duke that he was like, yeah, he's really good at creating contested 1491 01:42:45,399 --> 01:42:46,760 two point jumpers. And I was like, oh, well, I'm out 1492 01:42:46,800 --> 01:42:50,680 on Carmelo Anthony just on principle, and I don't want another Carmelo Anthony type. 1493 01:42:50,800 --> 01:42:54,920 I don't think Jason Tatum was going to be nearly as good as he 1494 01:42:55,000 --> 01:43:00,239 became. I'm trying to think who else. Oh, I just thought a 1495 01:43:00,359 --> 01:43:05,720 ridiculous one. This will date me too. I believe that watching Lebron James 1496 01:43:05,920 --> 01:43:11,159 high school clips and this is all when like he's on Sports Illustrated as an 1497 01:43:11,199 --> 01:43:15,239 eighteen year old or whatever. I think the comparison I made was he has 1498 01:43:15,319 --> 01:43:21,239 like Paul Pierce level athleticism, and it definitely was a Paul Pierce comparison because 1499 01:43:21,239 --> 01:43:25,039 he just did. I don't know what I saw, but he seemingly was 1500 01:43:25,079 --> 01:43:30,199 not going to be like an other worldly athlete, which if if if you 1501 01:43:30,319 --> 01:43:32,119 watched any basketball over the last twenty plus year, see, in fact, 1502 01:43:32,359 --> 01:43:38,279 was another worldly athlete. And I was wrong about that, So that that 1503 01:43:38,359 --> 01:43:43,520 one hurts. That that was a rough one. Wow, I don't think 1504 01:43:43,520 --> 01:43:46,680 I ever said that about Lebron. You never made the Paul Pierce comparison, 1505 01:43:46,760 --> 01:43:50,840 the notoriously unathletic Paul Pierce. Uh, do you want to take us out 1506 01:43:50,880 --> 01:43:54,920 of here? Yeah? I think we better since we just both of us 1507 01:43:55,079 --> 01:43:58,960 revealed that we thought Kawhi Leonard and Lebron James were gonna suck. So I 1508 01:43:59,119 --> 01:44:02,239 was. I remember the article. I was in my early twenties. I 1509 01:44:02,239 --> 01:44:05,760 wouldn't write it now if I was asked to and I had to identify players. 1510 01:44:05,800 --> 01:44:08,880 I thought, we're gonna be busted when you look at the hit rate. 1511 01:44:09,319 --> 01:44:12,920 I actually didn't do too bad to go back and look, but I 1512 01:44:12,920 --> 01:44:15,000 forget who else was on there. I was gonna ask me I could google 1513 01:44:15,039 --> 01:44:19,439 it. I google it right now. Dan fa Valley QUI liner bust and 1514 01:44:19,479 --> 01:44:24,079 see who else? See who else was on there? But there there are. 1515 01:44:24,159 --> 01:44:28,279 I found multiple Reddit threads because I was looking for what I said specifically, 1516 01:44:28,720 --> 01:44:31,159 and I was like, oh, I'm like, I can't find the 1517 01:44:31,279 --> 01:44:35,279 article, and it popped up and read it. But now I can't find 1518 01:44:35,319 --> 01:44:39,600 it for some reason. But I said his defense wouldn't translate. I can't 1519 01:44:39,640 --> 01:44:43,000 remember who else was was on there if I hit if I hit the reddit, 1520 01:44:43,039 --> 01:44:46,760 search for it as you're searching, I I definitely now I remember I 1521 01:44:46,760 --> 01:44:53,560 thought LaMelo was gonna be a bust because I made overset the Warriors turn office. 1522 01:44:53,600 --> 01:44:57,199 Apparently. Well yeah, I just thought, well, he's not a 1523 01:44:57,199 --> 01:45:00,000 good enough shooter, and if you're a guard who can't shoot, then that's 1524 01:45:00,039 --> 01:45:03,239 just not going to work. And then he could shoot. He couldn't fins, 1525 01:45:03,319 --> 01:45:08,359 can't finish, but he could shoot. I can't find me calling Kawhi 1526 01:45:08,439 --> 01:45:11,039 Leonard a draft bus. Now for some reason, I found all these results 1527 01:45:11,039 --> 01:45:14,159 the other day. And that company you paid discrub it from the internet did 1528 01:45:14,159 --> 01:45:16,079 a good job. Wait here we here we go. I found the article. 1529 01:45:16,760 --> 01:45:20,880 So I had Nicole a miratic on there. Okay, well he got 1530 01:45:21,279 --> 01:45:27,960 but he did leave the NBA. Nor's Cole Jesus, we've been We've been 1531 01:45:27,960 --> 01:45:31,880 doing this for way too long. This one's bad. Jonas Valance Unis Okay, 1532 01:45:31,960 --> 01:45:39,560 Well, Corey Joseph still in the NBA. Donatis mut a Unis had 1533 01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:45,640 had a minute there he was, you know, Kawhi Leonard. I'm just 1534 01:45:45,640 --> 01:45:48,039 looking at the full blurb of well, I'm trying to think back, like 1535 01:45:48,199 --> 01:45:54,119 because leonards lack of versatility will be exposed in the NBA, leaving the Spurs 1536 01:45:54,119 --> 01:45:58,359 with a taste of disappointment and Leonard sporting the label of bust. I'm not 1537 01:45:58,439 --> 01:46:03,199 just saying this, but I definitely remember the thought being this guy's a six 1538 01:46:03,319 --> 01:46:06,560 seven power forward that can't shoot, Like, what are we? What was 1539 01:46:06,640 --> 01:46:10,760 he supposed to be? I feel like I probably wasn't the only one to 1540 01:46:10,760 --> 01:46:13,840 say his shooting wouldn't translate, but for me to say that his defense wouldn't 1541 01:46:13,880 --> 01:46:18,600 translates pretty ingregious. I mean, you were wrong, But like I definitely 1542 01:46:18,640 --> 01:46:24,239 remember Leonard being a weird prospect because like, how good is he really? 1543 01:46:24,239 --> 01:46:27,960 If he went to San Diego State, like and he fell to the what 1544 01:46:28,079 --> 01:46:30,319 was he the fifteenth pick or something? I can't remember, do you remember 1545 01:46:30,359 --> 01:46:34,199 what Pickard was drafted. Wasn't he sixteenth? Maybe he was fifteen? He 1546 01:46:34,239 --> 01:46:39,520 was traded for George Hill. I know that. Oh my god, I 1547 01:46:39,680 --> 01:46:42,520 talk about a bad take. I remember for a long time thinking like, 1548 01:46:42,560 --> 01:46:45,760 well that worked out for both teams because George, because George Hill was pretty 1549 01:46:45,760 --> 01:46:47,560 good for all while he was drafted fifteen, if you were right. So 1550 01:46:48,199 --> 01:46:54,760 I also had Markith Morris and I wrote, not to sound incredibly harsh, 1551 01:46:54,840 --> 01:47:00,439 but what exactly where the Phoenix Sun's thinking? Oh, this one was. 1552 01:47:00,600 --> 01:47:03,880 I know he's still in the NBA. But Bismock Biambo the Charlotte Hornets at 1553 01:47:03,960 --> 01:47:08,399 number seven, Yeah, that was that's not a good pick that. I 1554 01:47:08,399 --> 01:47:13,760 think that's a correct bust analysis. Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons man, 1555 01:47:13,920 --> 01:47:16,000 that was just wrong. I mean he his career was his peak was short, 1556 01:47:16,039 --> 01:47:20,039 but he had a higher peak. This one's interesting relative to where he 1557 01:47:20,159 --> 01:47:27,239 was drafted. Tristan Thompson number four. Uh, I mean that's kind of 1558 01:47:27,239 --> 01:47:30,960 a you need more than what he became at number four, right, Like, 1559 01:47:31,159 --> 01:47:33,880 I think I don't think that's a bad bad it's pretty bad. I 1560 01:47:33,880 --> 01:47:38,000 would say a Jimmer for debt, I would say, worked you nailed that 1561 01:47:38,039 --> 01:47:40,800 one? Yeah, oh and then apparently, oh, but it was a 1562 01:47:41,600 --> 01:47:43,520 saying I didn't think he was gonna I mean, it's still wrong. I 1563 01:47:43,520 --> 01:47:45,479 had Kyrie irving in the vein of I don't think he was gonna be worth 1564 01:47:45,520 --> 01:47:49,640 the number one pick. I mean, that's up for debate. We should 1565 01:47:49,680 --> 01:47:54,079 have it or not we should should be Are you kidding? That's not up 1566 01:47:54,119 --> 01:47:59,000 for debate. I was wrong. I'm just trying to help you out. 1567 01:47:59,640 --> 01:48:02,319 Should we have a segment where we go find like ten year old stuff that 1568 01:48:02,359 --> 01:48:05,720 we wrote that was really terrible or is that If you're still here, let 1569 01:48:05,840 --> 01:48:11,279 us know we need we need to do a pod where we get our crowdsource 1570 01:48:11,359 --> 01:48:15,600 hit, like, just send us the worst basketball take you've had of all 1571 01:48:15,680 --> 01:48:17,800 time. I know, I just suggested it, but I wonder if that's 1572 01:48:17,800 --> 01:48:21,479 a door we want to open. I just I mean, it all exists 1573 01:48:21,479 --> 01:48:26,520 out there, but like some of it might be all like embarrassing, Like 1574 01:48:26,880 --> 01:48:30,199 I'm concerned, but maybe he would be held accountable. Yeah, yeah, 1575 01:48:30,359 --> 01:48:33,640 look, it's all still out there. Go find no, no, no, 1576 01:48:33,680 --> 01:48:39,199 don't go find it. Look, I'm really I'm having Ruby scal send 1577 01:48:39,279 --> 01:48:42,319 me articles that I wrote like eight years ago. I've had me nervous, 1578 01:48:42,319 --> 01:48:45,920 like their seats are just there and people have them. The internet's there forever, 1579 01:48:45,039 --> 01:48:48,199 Dan, except it's so we're just gonna have to live with it. 1580 01:48:48,399 --> 01:48:51,399 And we've been putting stuff on it for too long, and it's not all 1581 01:48:51,439 --> 01:48:56,359 good. Some of it's real stupid. Do you want to take us out 1582 01:48:56,359 --> 01:49:00,760 of here? Yes? Before that, hopefully nobody listened long enough to follow 1583 01:49:00,800 --> 01:49:02,560 up on that. I really hope that I didn't ruin this podcast with my 1584 01:49:02,640 --> 01:49:09,279 doc rivers voice. Listen, you played hurt and everyone respects that. So 1585 01:49:10,239 --> 01:49:13,159 actually the photo for this podcast is gonna be you know that photo of like 1586 01:49:13,880 --> 01:49:17,560 Joel Andbid carrying James Harden on his back. That was you during these podcasts? 1587 01:49:17,560 --> 01:49:20,720 Was me on your back? Oh man? I just you know, 1588 01:49:20,800 --> 01:49:26,239 happy to chip in everybody. If you've made it this far, congratulations, 1589 01:49:26,319 --> 01:49:30,399 I guess you also you're hurt now too because you put yourself through this. 1590 01:49:31,319 --> 01:49:35,199 Thank you for listening, Thank you for rating, reviewing, subscribing, following, 1591 01:49:35,640 --> 01:49:40,640 joining our discord, buying our merch If you don't know how to do 1592 01:49:40,680 --> 01:49:43,399 any of that, I don't know how you made it through an hour and 1593 01:49:43,520 --> 01:49:47,239 fifty minutes of a podcast without knowing any of that. If that is the 1594 01:49:47,239 --> 01:49:53,119 case, the information on how to do those things is in the YouTube and 1595 01:49:53,119 --> 01:49:57,079 podcast description. If you're watching this on YouTube, there's no way anyone's still 1596 01:49:57,079 --> 01:50:00,720 watching this on YouTube. You follow us on our socials. Tell your friends, 1597 01:50:00,680 --> 01:50:05,319 you guys, Tell your friends, Tell your enemies, and as always, 1598 01:50:05,319 --> 01:50:09,039 were close with a shout out to the one and only Frank Latina and 1599 01:50:09,079 --> 01:50:13,279 an apology to Jared Allen and Kawhi Leonard because he's a buster. Hey, 1600 01:50:13,319 --> 01:50:17,680 Reggie Jackson too, don't breathe about him. Yeah,