What is krak alac in Fellows thermonuclear a efforts? I am and the Valley
coming at you with my certified fantabulus co host mister Grant Hughes. In the
interest of me not having to talk too much as I try to recover my
voice, we are going on to Western Conference Piece or Panic recording this very
late on a Thursday night my time, November sixteenth, So if anything happens
of two nights worth of games, since this will go up on Saturday,
They're not going to change most of our takes, I promise you, but
just want to give you a heads up in case anyone takes issue. And
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in my my personal life settles down a little bit, Grant as I squeak,
how that are you doing? I'm doing great, Dan. Do you
have your voice crack like in an embarrassing time when everybody heard it, like
when you're like when your your voice was changing. Yeah, I think when
I was giving I've given three best men's speeches. That might be a humble
brag. And how old were you when you're giving best man speeches? This
is what's supposed to happen when you're like thirteen or something. Uh No,
my voice cracks now all the time. It's happened on radio interviews, podcast
interviews, during my best man speech. It's squeaked. That's not embarrassing,
though, I'm talking about like freshman year of high school or like or you
know, maybe earlier. I don't know. I don't know when your voice
changed, but I have a distinct memory of being in Spanish class and answering
a question and I forget what the word was, but it was like uh,
like just yodling basically everybody here that never happened to me as far as
I can remember, I'm a stronger man for it. So uh, Western
Conference piece or panic though? Are you ready? This is my Grant was
the one who handled the majority of the excuse me, of the Eastern He
had a majority, He handled the entire Eastern Conference, and I will be
doing the Western Conference. And with the alphabet. We begin with the Dallas
Mavericks, which not a whole lot to panic about, which I will say
very impressive. I mean everything from Luca complaining less to just the their defense
is not great, but like you're getting good minutes from Derek Lively. Derek
Jones Junior has been a great pick up for them. I didn't really know.
And even the minutes your solo star minutes Kyrie and Luca, those of
large been good. So I ended up settling on pieceer panic Grant the Josh
Green sort of leveling off, And I think part of this has to do
with he's just playing a different roles. He's logging about the same amount of
minutes per game. He has been closing some games over a a Derek Jones
Jr. But he's averaging fewer drives per thirty six minutes his front court touches
per thirty six minutes. Our way down and you just look at him.
And they did sign him to an extension, not a huge one, three
years, forty one million dollars. It just feels like he's stagnated, maybe
even regressed. Do you view this as he's just really trying to figure out
his role in the larger ecosystem because there is just this shifting dynamic here,
or is this something to look at where maybe he's not suited for a role
that calls him to play on the ball in like small bites rather than extended
bursts. Yeah, I think I think your concern is well founded, and
I think maybe more broadly, like you know, Green is still the Mavericks.
I think are short a specific player type which is like bigger wing that
can guard you know, number one threats, and Green's not that guy.
Green's like a one to two defender. So I guess like it, but
that doesn't answer question. I think it's peace. I still really like Josh
Green. I think, you know, some of the criticism he's faced is
like he's just you know, he's not willing enough of a shooter, and
he does have these ebbs and flows sometimes where he's not as impactful as he
could be. I still really like him, I think I just I think
he really won me over. But maybe last year he just make he can
make passes on the move, like he plays really hard. He's a good
defender. They don't need him to be this world beater, especially when Tim
Hardway Junior is gonna shoot forty percent from three, which, like you know,
he's not gonna do that all year probably, but nice little stop gap
until Josh Green does kind of get more acclimated to what they want him to
do. So I'm not that concerned. I guess if one thing I'm surprised
by, I don't know if it's a panic thing, but I thought Jayden
Hardy would have a bigger role, honestly, just because if he's playing eleven
minutes a game right now, I more than Seth Curry. Just where are
those minutes supposed to come from? Not playing? But that's the thing,
Like I thought, what Dallas was gonna struggle with was we just got to
have a third guy that can dribble and like do stuff with the ball and
Hardy to me, was gonna be that guy. But Lucas played twelve games,
Kyrie's played nine, and they've managed to stagger those guys well enough to
where they haven't had that issue. So that's not a panic either. That's
more of a surprise. But I think it's peace for me. I like
Josh Green. I think Josh Green's gonna be fine. I'm mostly piece.
I'm just curious to see what his offensive development looks like in the context of
this team right now. The next team by alphabet another team where and just
as the criteria here, like if they're not if it's not an overarching panic
for the entire team, We're focusing on smaller elements and we're not going to
burn airtime on them, even though I think we burn some airtime on random
teams in the East. You're welcome everybody for that empty, empty noise.
So I think a lot of people would focus again on sort of the bench
minutes or the bench development that was just such a given because you lost Bruce
Brown and you were lying on a lot more youth and an experience, and
now Reggie Jackson's starting because of the Jamal Murray hamstering by the way, We're
gonna have to start issuing apologies to Reggie Jackson. Apparently, Yeah, I'm
sorry, Reggie Jackson. You deserve that player option there. It is so
quickly My piece or panic here is Christian Brown not really building off his rookie
campaign, and I think it's specifically on the offense. He's hit one corner
three all year. He's facing extra traffic in the lane, and I think
that's exposed his finishing and his handle, his dependence on the minutes beside Nicole
Jokic this side of the Murray injury have never been more apparent. I know,
he's twenty two, the season's not yet fifteen games old, and he's
definitely earned patience and probably piece after emerging as this championship run swing piece as
a rookie. But the path to Denver maximizing their depth rests basically on him
developing into a more complete and dependable offensive player than he is right now,
and I just don't think I've seen it enough. He is still a good
physical presence on the defensive end. He's pitching in more on the glass.
He knows how to navigate the floor away from the ball, which is huge
and I also think probably the thing I've been most impressed with him offensively,
he's throwing quicker second passes. But you probably I think you need more from
him on the offensive end, even if you think some of the shooting is
going to normalize. Is it a piece or panic here for what he can
be as an offensive player? I mean, just say galn pick, it's
better and let's move on. Yeah, right, I think it's a It's
not it can't be panic because it's a second year and the he was he
was such as I mean, he's not like a well rounded player, right
Like, that was never part of the makeup. He was going to defend
and play hard, and he did that in their finals run and that's great,
and he made a couple shots and had some highlights attacking the rim.
I don't really think it was realistic to expect him to suddenly become like a
league average three point shooter. Even so, this is kind of just the
expectation. If I was gonna panic, I think, like, I think
it might be more for like Zeke Nagi just like isn't going to be a
guy, you know, like he just I don't think he's going to be
someone that is. You know, we've had what I'm trying to think of
like the best stretch of his career, and it's just there. You know,
there haven't been too many and we keep waiting because the sort of outlines
of what a helpful player like the fully realized version of Zeke Nagy could be
for the Nuggets are really interesting and tantalizing, but we just haven't seen it.
So if I had to panic about someone, even I'm not even try
panic about him, but like, it's definitely more wards him than either Braun
or what a Brown. Yeah, I've been so good about not calling him
Christian Broun, but then I was just looking at his name and I had
to do it. Christian Brown. It's only messing you up when you look
at his name, right, not when you're just talking about him, because
you see it there, because it's the word Braun. Like sorry, correctly,
yes, and also sorry to Reggie Jackson. Yeah. Man. So
the Golden State Warriors, I mean, fuck, where do we like,
where do we begin with them? I think look to Steph Curry the knee
injury, that's certainly something that we could focus on. Here. I'm gonna
go more Macro and say the demise of their best lineup. Last year,
the starters Clay, Steph Wiggins, Draymond and Kevon Looney outscored opponents by one
hundred and forty five total points. That was the second highest mark in the
league, trailing over trailing only Denvers starting five, and yet the Warriors starting
unit logged less than half as many minutes this season. Grant that unit is
a minus seventeen in its floor time with a disastrous net rating. Now,
opponents are shooting eighty three percent at the rim in fifty three percent from three
against that lineup. I'm assuming that won hold. That seems a little high,
but Klay Thompson has been bad, Andrew Wiggins is by and large been
bad, and it's super cool that they're still winning the minutes Chris Paul plays
without Steph Curry. This is gonna be the first time in Curry's career when
he's playing healthy, because there's been another season I think it was twenty twenty
he played one hundred and forty minutes, but he was injured. That team
was going nowhere. The Warriors right now are on track for the first time
in Steph Curry's career if he plays in a real amount of games to be
worse with Steph Curry on the court than they are with him off the court.
And that's not a Steph Curry thing. Is this a piece or panic?
I think do it? Do it with specific respect to the Wiggins Klay
Thompson piece of things. And they are both in that unit that you referenced
that is a panic and the Klay Thompson thing. I think some of this
was evident last year. And again, like this is such a shitty thing
to have to talk about because the guy suffered like the two worst injuries you
can have, and he made it back and he contributed to a fourth title,
which is just like legend stuff, right, like I'm amazing, But
the fact is he is not moving well, is forcing shots, is struggling
to defend. Thompson has just not been a helpful player so far, and
Wiggins has been. I gotta believe that there are Minnesota Timberwolves fans out there
like going like yeah, now you know, you know, like now you
understand, because he's just he's he's again and he had, you know,
not a great year last year either. There was off the court stuff that
kept him away from the team. He had an illness too, like you
know, so you want to be sympathetic, and it seems as if he
came into camp out of shape. I think that's been alluded to several times.
But he's just been a non factor, has floated in and out of
games, and that first unit is just not gonna be what it was without
those two guys playing the way that they used to and I say used to
and not playing like they can because I'm not sure that they can play that
way anymore. So it's it is, yeah, you're right, like it
was awesome when the second unit was like winning games for them because the expectation
was, well, the starters will just again be the best five man unit
in the league because they were last year. They're eventually gonna win the Curry
minutes just because Curry can't continue to play this well and have you know,
negative on off impact stuff, like they'll switch the guys around him and that'll
you know, fix the Curry minutes. But it's not the same now when
the starters and those two wings in particular have been so bad as it was
early in the earlier in the year, and you'd say, god damn,
wait until the starters are great again, and Chris Paul in the second unit
and is winning those minutes. The Warriors are going to have a plus fifteen
net rating on the season. They're gonna win a million games. Like now,
it's how do we make it so Wiggins and Clay aren't, you know,
like, aren't negatively impacting the bottom line every time they're out there.
And we're recording this as the Warriors are about to lose to the thunder and
Clay is one for ten. Last I looked, and Wiggins has been okay,
but not shooting free throws like it's so, it is panic. It
is a little it is panic with for those two guys in particular, and
then I guess by extension the Warriors because then you're saying, all right,
Moses Moody, Jonathan Kaminga, you guys are going to take those spots over
the second unit's worse now, So it is it is a pretty early panic.
But having watched both of those guys, Wiggins and Clay, like every
minute they've played this season, they're not They're not the same, and maybe
that'll change, but right now it's panic worthy to me. Do you consider
making a change to that lineup or even do you consider making a change to
the Crunch Time pecking order? Now you absolutely have to consider it. I
just and I think Wiggins is much easier to demote, if you want to
use that term. I just Thompson. It's such a it's just not that
simple, like, and he's the one that I think has been worse of
the two. Honestly, I you know, they both have really struggled.
I just don't know how that conversation goes because I think Thompson is like just
so prideful and and just has been such a staple and has so much equity
with Like, you might not be able to bench Thompson because Steph Curry and
Draymond Green will say, no, no, no, we believe in this
guy. You have to keep playing him. Like, there's so many different
sets of dynamics at play with him that it might just be easier to play
Wiggins less and play Cominga more or Moody more. But you have to think.
I guarantee you they've had conversations, like I if it hasn't been brought
up yet, that seems crazy to me because it's pretty it's just nakedly obvious
that Neither of those guys are playing well like they don't if you know,
if it's just on merit, they're not playing well enough. That's the bottom,
you know, the the on off numbers are showing that, as are
all of their individual stats. The Houston Rockets, what is there to panic
about? Peer panic about? With them? Piece a panic? Can they
afford to pay out Prinching going a billion dollars in his contract? So I
settled on Fred Van Fleet's two point shooting, which is improved of late.
And he's still shooting forty point three percent on twos. That's you know,
he's never been a great finisher, but like even by these standards he's been
off, he's actually shooting better rant on twos outside of fourteen feet, he's
made ten of twenty on twos inside of four feet, he's eleven of twenty
four. That seems wrong. He's shooting thirty six point one percent on drives.
That's a bottom ten mark among one hundred and eight players who are averaging
at least five drives per game. Now, well, the caveat here is
when he's driving, defenses react, it's opening things up for everybody. And
he still does a lot of good things off the ball, that it's helped
out Alpern Shangun, it's helped out Jalen Green, it's helped out Jabari Smith,
it's helped out, it's helped out everything. But I've also wondered because
of the two point stuff like the inefficiency, I wonder if that's factored into
why Houston tethers him to Alprin shang Gun so much to where you don't see
a lot they're more inclined to stagger Jalen Green from those two that might say
more about what we're trying to develop Jalen Green. Is it pieceer panic on
Fred van Fleet's two point shooting? Though? I guess I don't think it
can be a panic because this just is pretty much who he's always been.
You look back at his at his shooting at the Rim every year and it's
just like, yeah, he's forty six percent, and I think you said
some of this, but he's like he's never really been above the mid fifties
and that's really bad at the Rim. So he's not it's he's not big
enough. He's a small guard that doesn't you know, have elite quickness,
and so that's just never been a great part of his game. I think
the singoon piece of it, though, like solves a lot of it,
you know, because then van Fleet can just be more of a spot up
guy and a ball mover and you can run everything through or not everything,
but a lot more through shingoon and you get away with it. So yeah,
I can't panic there, but like you would like you would like your
your starting point guard to make more than half of his shots at the rim,
that would be that would be good. If he's gonna ship fifty shit
wow, if he's got a shit fifty percent on long dudes, like so,
I mean, it's kind of the same thing with ways. Shoot,
there's just the rockets are so good right now, I just know there's nothing
a piece or panic. There's nothing panic over so some piece there, because
look, the other thing is, even if the inefficiency sustains, it's not
just a matter of well you've kind of expected this. Let's just say it
kind of hovers around this low. He's just doing enough other stuff to where
it's yeah, yeah cool whatever. Next team, they might warn a little
bit more discussion. The Los Angeles Clippers. I think it's the piecer panic
over the hapless start to the James Harden era, and they are oh and
six since the trade oh and five with Harden in the lineup. Only two
teams since the trade are averaging fewer points per possession than the Clippers, and
it's the Blazers and the Spurs. And when the big four are on the
court, they're playing more like a frighteningly foul for the Clippers are getting out
scored by sixteen point five points per one hundred possessions with an offensive rating grant
in the one percent tile. Not good. You can do other stuff where
if you yank Russell Westbrook, the data with Paul George, James Harden,
KWHI Leonard in a very limited sample excellent. Without Russell Westbrook, you have
no hope of playing with any pace. Should you do that? Are you
worried? We've had James Harden say we're gonna be scary once things get it
together. Is it a piece or panic for real though, based off what
we've seen from the LA Clippers, or does Daniel Tye solve everything? You
took my answer? If you if you say it's peace hypothetically, you're you're
you're betting on this being an issue of well hardened. You know, he's
not in shape. So I don't know why we're excusing him for that one,
but okay, maybe that's it. I know he's got to learn these
guys tendencies because he's a he is he is the system, and so he
needs to, uh you know, once he really dials in and gets enough
reps, he's going to just figure out where these guys like the ball and
he'll get it to them. All the time. He led the league in
assists last year. He can do it. Like you, if you say
peace, you're just assuming that a bund one of one, that your eyes
are lying to you and Harden does not look really terrible, uh and two
that you know, all of these problems are just gonna get fixed as the
losses mount. I just it has to be panic. I think we I
think we had a fairly measured conversation about this when the trade happened. Of
like, well, in theory, Harden can do X, Y and Z
for the Clippers. It kind of makes some sense. He can be an
innings eater, he can do all, you know, all this other stuff.
There were some I don't know, pathways to justifying the trade and coming
up with like good outlooks. You know, I think we were fair about
that, but now you know the numbers, the record being what it is
with him there, and the optics being what they are. I don't know
how you do anything butt, panic, because you know, just from an
organizational standpoint, like you kind of that's that was all your AMMO now and
and now he's facing free agency and you're gonna I mean, part of the
reason he wanted to be there, maybe all of the reason is because he
thought this like bottomless pocketed owner will pay me, you know, in free
agency, and maybe that happens, and you're they're going to run it back
with these with these guys because George and Leonard will get new deals too.
Yeah, it's panic. It's just like I don't have any faith that Hardin
can be as good as he was last year, and and there's a great
chance he's just going to be way, way worse because of how his age
and like the way he's taking care of himself and how difficult it is to
fit with him sometimes. So yeah, like, how do you get to
peace on this? If you if you've got any piece, I'd love to
hear the explanation. There's no peace because it's even if you I do think
they're they're going to be better than dog shit. We know that might win
a game at some point and so, but the baseline is winning or contending
for a title, and that's where the panic sets in. And look,
I'm not here for the James Harden talking about you know I didn't have a
training camp. Yeah, no, ship surely no not to have a training
camp. This wasn't some injury that kept you out of the sixers refusing to
let you be a training camp. And look, that's also that is part
of the reason why it's more of a panic, where if this trade had
gotten done to where you could have gone through a training camp with James Harden,
then maybe you would have understood more of the it might have been easier
to sort out the pecking order, lineup combinations that work here. So it's
absolutely a panic because yeah, they'll win a game, but they're not They're
not a title contender. No. Uh, the Los Angeles Lakers pieceer panic.
Man. You could go a bunch of different ways here, and I
tried not to focus on health. I went with Austin Reeves's development he's been
a lot better since coming off the bench. But the fact that you had
to bring him off the bench in the first place, the fact that the
minutes when he plays without Lebron have been bad, the fact that the minutes
when he and ad play without Lebron have been absolutely terrible. It looks like
he's just pressing a little bit more with you know what, I've thought about
too much. You know that bobon commercial he bounced the ball. He bounced
the ball. I feel like that a lot watching Austin Reeves now on offense,
and I don't you know, he's hit more of his threes than I
thought he would, but kind of just the off ball movement, even the
stuff he's done on the ball, he has not looked great defensively overall this
season. If you're the Lakers or you can the contract is even if he's
not the player you thought he was, the contracts irrelevant. It's not that
big of a deal. Maybe it's not the best bargain in the NBA,
like a lot of people thought, But are you at a piece or panic
when you're looking at his development this season and look, he has like a
sixty nine true shooting percentage since coming off the bench. Yeah, I think
I guess if there's panic, it's because I guess there's a little panic because
I just thought, well, this is this this team's third best player.
He's going to improve on last year and he's just going to be not an
All Star, but he's going to be a really like high end starter,
just because he's so efficient and he is still efficient by the way you said
it, and I just thought he would take a step forward that that hasn't
happened. I think that's kind of the case. Like Max Christie. Remember
how much Breakout buzz Max Christy had and he's playing fourteen minutes a game and
hasn't hit a shot all year. It feels like an eighteen percent from three
for him. Cam Reddish like is playing way too much. Every time I
turn the Lakers on and it's the fourth quarter, Cam Reddish is in the
game. That's not great, And that's I think an indicator of you know,
and this is also because Gaye Vincent's been heard. It's just like a
lot of the guys that I expected would make major impacts have not done it.
And some of the guys that I thought would be not helpful like D'Angelo
Russell, like Torrian Prince and like Cam Reddish are like actually contributing a lot.
I think Utcha Mura has been disappointing too. Uh So actually, as
I look at Hutcham has also been like very unhealthy for the most Yeah.
Yeah, he's only played eight games, so I guess just specifically answer it
a little bit of panic about Reeves and then more like it's not piece or
panic, but kind of confusion about like who's been the primary non star contributors
so far and who hasn't. It's been not met my expectations for sort of
like how this roster was gonna be uh, I don't know, deployed,
I guess would be the word. He also the the I don't want to
say this the better pieceer panic, but the fact that the Lakers have lost
the minutes where all three of lebron Ad and Reeves are on the court,
like that's also something to monitor. They've utilized like a little bit, uh
but there, and I don't know that they're their defense has been really bad.
They're not getting burned from like and you know, opponents are shooting sixty
two percent at the rim in those minutes and thirty seven percent from three.
That's not you know, those are numbers that might change a little bit,
right, Yeah, I don't know that that's weird because those three guys should
work perfectly together. I think I feel like that's just kind of noisy because
because Reeves is like a great secondary creator, he's gonna make open shots.
You'd think he's a smart cutter like he he shouldn't work so bad to start
the year though, That's why they got rid of him in the right and
the other. Look, I mean maybe like a third piece or panic here.
So the Lebron James minute limit, Oh we should I mean that was
the one, right, it's it's tapered off. He's down. He's down
to thirty three point nine minutes per game now. But like the way the
year started with him was like they're going to run this guy into the ground
by December, Like that would look he's lucky. He would be much higher.
And I mean we could say this about, well, you're throwing in
this random caveat if he doesn't play, like, what was it twenty two
and a half minutes in that twenty seven point went over the Grizzlies, right,
he's averaging over the three five minutes a game yea at this point season,
and I look, I know, people like to troll Lebron at this
point. They get mad that there's so many highlights showing of him in games
that he loses I as as we get closer to the end of just Lebron
playing. Yeah, he's in his age thirty nine season. The fact that
he can do anything like just get these chase down blocks, do any I'm
just I'm in awe. The fact, like the fact that he's on an
NBA roster at thirty nine is like a marvel let alone that he can play.
He can play minute totals in the thirties and still like win them games
in fourth quarters, which you know, like it's problematic and also amazing,
right, but we gotta like we really got to recalibrate like some of that,
Like it's kind of insane to point out, like what he's not as
good at anymore. Like you see, it's like when people are like,
well, the NBA should should drug test him, I don't fucking care if
he's taken every performance enhancing drug under the sun. The fact that he's playing
like this in his age thirty nine season. I'm fine with it. Pretty
amazing. That's what people come to if you want to really like in depth
analysis, you come to this podcast to hear us say, like, it's
amazing that Lebron's really good at thirty nine. That's what we're here for.
No, it is though, like's not. It feels insane to say we
don't talk about it enough, but like it's of we predominantly. I don't
know if we do this on purpose, but or maybe we consume so much
content where it's everyone's talking about the Lakers and the Knicks and the like,
we're not those aren't the teams. We try to focus on every team,
but like, we don't talk about the Lakers a lot. No, I
don't, and maybe we should. I don't know. But yeah, so
he's thirty nine. It's so stupid. How does he do this? Unbelievable.
The next team is the Memphis Grizzlies, and my piece are panic for
them? Is everything? Yeah, especially post Marcus Mart's now dealing with an
ankle injury. The offense is bad, the defense has regressed. I think
that might be I can't bring myself because there's there's a cause of everything a
lot of it's the injury Steven Adams right knee surgery, Jos still serve in
the twenty five game suspension, Brandon Clark left achilles injury, Derrick Rose left
knee soreness, Marcus Smart ankle injury. Al Dama's missed time this season.
The wing rotation is suddenly too reliant on Zaire Williams again. Xavier Tillman missed
some time. You had to sign Bismock Biambo, the one that I'm kind
of looking at because John Morant's return is not going to fix this. Are
they better than a bottom twelve defensive team just because you have Marcus Smart,
you have Jared Jackson junior. Opponents are shooting over forty two percent on three,
So it's and look, yeah, they concede threes by design, but
you're not gonna shoot. Have opponent shoot forty two percent from three all year.
They're they're fouling more, They're they're struggling to crash the glass. They're
not matching up as well in transition after they miss shots, and that's a
symptom of Okay, if John Morant comes back, you're gonna give your defense
more time to get set because offense is better, but man, is it
you know, if you want to go to the defense the macro route,
does this team have a path to salvaging its season? So I think it
gets harder with every loss, I think, And so my reason to panic
would be, like the holes just going to get too deep. And if
and when you know, say Rant's back in twenty five games, say it
takes him fifteen more to like, really, I mean that's half a season
we're starting. You know, you're starting god knows how many games under five
hundred you're going to be by then it may just be a question of like
they just run out of time. I still think that if you got every
and now you're not getting Adams back, and that's huge. We've talked a
lot about how you know, under the radar valuable he is, especially them
on offense, which is weird, but that's just the offensive rebounds on the
screen setting. That's just that's a huge part of why they're successful. I
still think that if you had everybody else back and Relati healthy, you know,
the team, this is a team that on paper is still like Jared
Jackson junior, still Defensive Player of the Year caliber guy Desmond Bain's really good.
John Morant, if he's healthy, is awesome. I think we still
like a lot of their role guys Aldama Conchar, you know, Roddy Knard,
Like there's guys. I mean, maybe Dire Williams finally does do something.
Like there's all these pieces. So I guess, like, I'm not
gonna panic yet, and and like that's nuts to say about a team that
I think has been probably the not probably has been the most disappointing team in
the league so far this year. That's just because I think when they're healthy,
they can be really good. I'm I guess if I do panic,
it's about they're just gonna run out of time, and you know, by
the time that happens, they just it'll be too late. I'm doing this
for you Grizzlies fans. I'm gonna panic because everything I say about the Grizzlies,
the the inverse seems to happen. Here you go. I kept hitting
their under, they went over. I hit their over. This summer,
they're they're going under. I'm gonna I'm gonna panic because that means they'll probably
win the championship. But you're doing a public service I mean, you mentioned
the three point opponent three point shooting. It's ridiculous. Did you did you
give this specific like forty two point one percent overall, that's the worst in
the league non corner threes. Forty one point two corner threes opponents are hitting
forty six point six percent of their core Like, I mean, that comes
down to the league average, And I think, what are they twentieth on
defense right now? Then suddenly you're already like twelfth or thirteenth if that stuff
normalizes, So I think the path I think I would be surprised if the
Grizzlies are not a top ten defense at the end of the year, and
like top five is very much in play to me. But they are relative
to the league average giving up a lot of wide open threes. Yeah,
that's not great forty four and a half percent though opponents are shooting on wide
open threes. That's gonna come down, I would imagine, I would you
would think you would think a team that I can't really bring myself to panic
over because we both said that they were one of the greatest teams alive before
we went into the to the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think the
focus here, you could go a lot of different offensive directions. Mine's on
Karl Anthony Towns is three point volume. Not Karl Anthony Towns the player.
I know, just for anyone who thinks that we're gonna dump all over Karl
Anthony Towns, he is. He takes. There's just too much vacillation here.
He takes twelve three point attempts and a win over the Warriors, then
he takes four against in a loss to the Suns. He attempted only three
in that first game against the Warriors. He attempted seven against the Spurs.
So for this season, like the volume is right in line with where he's
been in other years. Six point four three point attempts for thirty six minutes.
That needs to be closer to ten. And the Minnesota Timberolves are twenty
fourth and three point attempt right, they're twenty fourth and three point percentage.
There's a path where you can look at some of the guys on their roster
and say, well, yeah, you know, they'll start they'll start to
shoot better from three. We have, you know, Karl Anthony Towns himself
is shooting under thirty four percent. We have Colin Anderson shooting only twenty percent
on no volume, but like you're also getting Nasria to shooting four tenty four
point four percent. Jane mccanners is shooting thirty seven percent, Anthony Edwards is
at thirty seven point one percent. The extra volume and efficiency needs to come
from Towns, And it's not so much I like a lot of what he's
done on offense when he's attacking from above the break into those drives, but
you need that three point volume to open up the floor for everybody else and
also to help win the not the possession game. But like that's a way
to just drum up your offensive efficiency because those shots are inherently going to be
worth more when you're as good as a shooter as Karl Anthony Towns is.
And so I guess it's peace because the Timberwolves are really good, But I
think that that Karl Anthony Town's number and consistency on the volume from deep needs
to be significantly higher. Yeah, I think it's probably peace, but it's
not something you totally gloss over because to me, it's still indicative of the
bigger concern with this team, which is that the pieces are like clunky fitting
together. And it's like some nights Towns is going to be positioned well,
you know, it'll make sense for him to shoot hig volume of threes.
Other nights he's kind of trying to navigate, you know, Edwards being on
the ball and go Bear being in the way, And just I think if
you're gonna panic about it, it's because of that. It's because of like
a macro issue of like this is still like a weird setup in terms of
the starting personnel, just the two bigs, I guess mainly, but I'm
not gonna panic about that. What I will say is I didn't buy their
defense the last time we talked, and having watched a lot more film on
them, they're still number one in defensive efficiency. I don't think they're gonna
be the best defense in the league, but I think like top top seven,
top five late, you're late on that. I sold their start based
on their defense. Regressing Anthony Edwards on the ball can just be an absolute
menace. And then you also have McDaniel. It's just like I think the
defense is much closer to legit than I gave it credit for. So I
just want to put that out there. Welcome, thank you to the New
Orleans Pelican New Orleans Pelicans. Sorry, I still have to. That's the
Are there words that you say in your head that like you have to think
about because I'm so conditioned to. And there was a listener of this podcast
used to get on me about it because I would say New Orleans, New
Orleans. Now I say New Orleans a lot more existly, but I have
to. When I'm saying it, I'm thinking about it. Is that a
New York thing? Do you think? Probably? Is that? I wonder
if it's the New York thing? Now, well, now I'm gonna think
about it. I know I say New Orleans. I think, yeah,
you say New Orleans. Yeah, I've never noticed you say New Orleans.
So the New Orleans Pelicans. Look, I'm not peacer panicking the health just
because that's Here's what I'm piecer panicking. The problem with the Pelicans is the
question is supposed to be are they going to be healthy enough to be good?
Not are they actually good when they're healthy? And so this was inspired
by schmid Dua from the end the No Substack in podcast Go he does great
work. Go check him and Mason Gin's bg out on that podcast. When
you look at the data with their two best players in quotes on the floor
or off the floor, Ingram and Zion on the floor together minus six point
seven net rating, Zion on Ingram off minus ten point seven net rating,
Ingram on Zion off minus twelve point one net rating. Ingram and Zion both
off three point three net rating. Now, there have been injuries CJ.
McCollum, Mary Nance Junior, Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy, even Herb Jones
that can skew the results. Here's what I will then focus on. You're
losing the minutes both Ingram and z Ion are playing. I do not care
about the context of those lineups. You need to win those minutes. And
here's the thing about those minutes, Grant, You're not This is not some
oh opponents are shooting eighty percent from three. No, you're not getting burned
by that. Schmidt pointed out in his newsletter that the ball is really sticking
in brandon Ingram hands and that they've gotten away from point Zion accurate. And
then you have Zion saying that he's kind of trying to fit in or find
his fit or whatever it is. That's a that's a red flag for what
is going on there, and I don't know who to blame for it.
I'm gonna you know how high I am on the full strength Pelicans. I'm
in a full blown panic now. I will say, if you want to
calm down, the Pelicans won the minutes by seventeen point three points per one
hundred possessions with them on the court last year. You can still get to
that point in fury. But I don't care about the injuries. The fact
that you're losing the minutes with both of them on the court and then the
fact that you're not winning the solo minutes for either of them is pretty problematic.
So is there a chance it's panic for me? Is there a chance
that we will look at New Orleans being whatever they were, you know,
second in the West? We we I distinctly remember us talking about them as
are they the biggest threat to I guess Denver whenever this was last year,
you know, thirty something games into the season. Are we gonna look at
that stretch like we look at that Chicago bull The Bulls are first in the
East or whatever it was, and we're just gonna try to get back to
that over and over and we'll well, you know, we'll always have that
thirty game stretch where they were really good. I think it's a little different
than that. But to your point, the theory of the Pelicans to me
at least, is a healthy Zion on the floor means our offense is really
good and just it doesn't matter who else is out there. Uh, he's
such a he's just you can't handle him like he you know, twenty five
points a game on sixty percent shooting. It's like him and one other guy
in history that I've ever done that. He just like he's an offense unto
himself. He's like that kind of player. And you you laid it out
like to me, and I was looking this up as you were talking.
You think you got there listening to me with wrapped attention. I was looking
up the exact thing you were talking about independently. So I don't even have
to listen to you anymore because we've talked enough that our brains process information at
the same speed. So the Pelicans offense with Zion on the floor is one
hundred and six point three points per one hundred posessions this year. That is
a twelve percentile offensive rating with Ion on the floor. Is that good?
That that's good if numbers were backwards, if numbers, if if numbers worked
opposite to how they do. So the theory of the Pelicans, at least
as I saw it, is like, well, that's not working. So
I mean the injuries, the injuries are a factor. For sure, we
have to throw that in there. But also like this, you know,
we're not this kind of podcast necessarily, but like Zion is failing the eye
test. To me, he looks less athletic than he ever has. He's
not as overpowering, he's not as quick the ball, he's not making the
same reads. Like he just physically doesn't look as good. And maybe that's
the layoff, and but maybe that's the new normal, and maybe like Duke
Zion is never coming back, which has kind of always been how I thought
things would go bad for him. Is like the athleticism just becomes less than
a plus and then he's not the same guy anyway. It's a panic for
like all of the fourteen reasons we've just listed, I would be extremely concerned
if I were the Pelicans onto the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I'm gonna do
two here because I think that this one's gonna piss off a lot of thunder
fans, and I hope that I do hope that people who listen to this
podcast understand that we typically don't go this route the Josh Getty start, and
it will ring a little hollow because he's put together a couple of good games
in a row. He looks out of place a lot of the time in
the offense. He's shooting just and he's been more efficient lately. He's still
shooting just fifty five percent at the rim, nineteen percent from three entering that
game against the Warriors, including only twenty percent on catch and shoot triples.
His long range volume has declined year over a year once again, and while
he's not up his mid range jumpers as a result the higher share that he's
picking up around the basket, it's not bolstering his efficiency. The in between
looks that he tosses up on the move, they can still be a weapon.
They're just still too inconsistent. He's shooting just thirty two point one percent
on floaters so far, and I think there are still moments of brilliance peppered
in. This is someone who has great vision. He's a pretty good rebounder.
I don't want to say I think he's underrated defensively, but I think
he holds up defensively based in the role that they want to put him in.
However, defenses don't treat him like a threat, and I think that
makes life harder on the offense a lot of the times. I also think
it's a big reason. And the other big reason is Jalen Williams is just
so good. Oklahoma City has been more willing to let Jalen Williams pilot units
without SGA and Giddy than Giddy without Jalen Williams and SGA, And so if
you have to do that type of maneuvering when you have Case and will who's
just so much more plug in play. I wonder if this becomes more of
an existential question now, Josh Giddy proved to me last year and I was
not out on Giddy, but I was lower than consensus on Giddy. I
was lower than you on Giddy. I believe Yeah showed last year that he
could fit in to you know, playoff Shay, playoff j dub. So
I'm hopeful that this is not a panic for me, and I think some
people be mad that were even monitoring it, so he's proven he could do
it, But like, it is something that matters now and it is something
that is impacting how they run their team. The other thing would be and
this is for again, I hope Thunder fans who might be listening to this
for the first time aren't mad that we went the Gidea route. I think
it's a legitimate question, is it piece or panic on? Like, well,
how is the bench kind of standing out beyond Cason Wallace and like Isaiah
Joe there's all these sort of scattershot minutes when you're looking at how much Yeah,
you know, Kenrich Williams and Jay and Williams missed a bunch of time
and now they're back. Is there a he's a panic when you're looking at
the experimental mode of this team, wouldn't you like to see them cement more
of a regular rotation rather than experimenting so much? Now? The answer to
both of these for me, I want to be clear, it's just going
to be peace because they're so good already. But like the Thunder now entering
the conversation where Sam Presty was a liar, where they might just be really
good now, and so do you want to have more affirmative answers to this
rotation stuff? And look, I will say, if you still want to
do the like all over the place experimental rotation, then I'm gonna panic over
Usman Jaggs minutes so far. That'll be the thing. Yeah, I was
worried for a minute that we're gonna get all the way through that and you
weren't gonna advocate for Usman Jang. I'm glad we got there that So the
giddy thing I think I've I'm still a little higher maybe than you are,
but I'm certainly not as high. You know. You see him talked about
as if he's you know, on the level in the same breath as like
Holmgren Williams SGA, Like that's just he's he's kind of a notch below that.
And it's because of the shooting. He's still twenty one. Yeah,
so it's like it's weird because he's so young. But it feels like the
thunder It's like, well, I mean, these guys have been here forever,
We've already we've done with development, Like these guys need to win,
you know. I it makes it harder to excuse that, but I guess
I just fall back on like if all if by twenty three, and the
Thunder will have to make a decision on him before that because of how NBA
contracts work, But like if by twenty three twenty four, he's someone that
can just make spot up threes. I think I really like him still as
a player. I don't know if he's necessarily like a core piece or definite
starter on the fully realized version of this team, but then, like who
is other than Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Sga, like even Dort I could
see like being a bench piece in theory if you, you know, in
a couple of years. So it is an issue, Like he's shooting nineteen
percent from three gidea is and like I think you could argue too, he's
kind of positioned to it's easier to hide his flaws because of the way the
Thunder play offensively, which is to say, like drive, kick, drive,
kick, drive again again, and like so he's not in a position
where there have been two really good drives, the ball is kicked out and
you have to hit this open three. He's just gonna drive it again and
probably make a good pass So like in a more conventional offense or an offense
that attack the rim less relentlessly, he might be more exposed because it's just
fully acceptable no matter what, if you just attack and kick, like that's
what the Thunder want to do. So it's been a rough year. His
age makes me want to pause a little bit before I get too concerned about
it. But I think at the same time, like someone like to get
back to Jang if the like, if Jing becomes who who he might be
able to be, he makes way more sense than Giddy does, right,
like as as a complimentary piece to the thunder Stars. So yeah, I
mean, I guess. And then to answer the second one, I'm not
panicking about, like why are we experimenting with so many different guys when you
should be trying to find eight or nine? But like Jang would just be
pretty close to the top of that list if I were going to criticize the
Thunder for, you know, messing around with the rotation. And I think
the thing with Giddy that's most I don't know if it's troublesome with something to
monitor here is that when in theory there should be too much overlap between him
and Shay, but he is. So it feels like reliant on the attention
that Shay commands even when he doesn't have the ball, that that's you almost
need to insulate him with that having that type of star power around him,
which is why you might trust Jay Dubmore to run those independent units. And
the other thing they didn't have room to include. Well, and I was
writing about it, but I should have mentioned while I was talking it.
So he's shooting Guinea, shooting fifty two point nine percent on two with Shay
on the floor. He's at thirty one when Shay's off the floor. Yeah,
so it's like that's it's good that they can play together, but the
idea of him should be that he can run, Like just does it actually
matter? Especially? And I think the reason this is relevant is because he's
he's going to command in theory max or near max money in an extension this
summer. Is it like it's almost encouraging that, oh, his efficiency's better
with Shay on the court. That's great, But if you're going to invest
in a player to that degree, you need them to be more independent than
he is right now. Yeah, I agree, it is weird because as
a playmaker. He's just incredible. Do you think the like I wonder if
maybe this is obvious, but Giddy makes more sense to me as like a
de facto point guard on a team with a bunch of shooters, right,
Like doesn't that seem like like a like a bigger Ricky Rubio type of setup
or like that's not a great comparison, but like that seems like the position
he ought to be playing, whereas now he's on a team with at least
two and depending on Chet, maybe three better self sufficient scorers, you know,
than than he is certainly. And I just wonder if the fit's always
going to be a little bit strange unless he becomes a knockdown three point shooter
and then you know, we don't have any problems on offense at all.
Then it's just gonna hold up defensively. And is he someone that you could
the Thunder will look to upgrade on as they like really try to kind of
get over the get out of the developmental stage and into the word contending.
Now, you can't have Giddy being someone guarding the other teams what I mean,
I guess it'd be third best player. That is that that's that's that's
gonna that's not gonna cut it. And that's by the way, it's not
saying that like J. Dubb is God like the whole when you have that's
me that when you have J. Dubb and Giddy on the floor without Shay,
you're still getting smashed right now. I mean, this is more butche
is just really good. Here's the analysiss you come here for. We got
it. We are already we circle them all the way around to the correct
point about the thunder. Shay is good. So the next up is the
Phoenix Suns, which should be Is that or is that right that I skip
a team No Phoenix sunt Zee I'm i'm I'm so confident in my alphabet ability
right now. The Phoenix Suns. I mean it's I wanted to be trendy
and focus on not trendy but hip and cool and be like, well,
look at Kevin Durant's usage rate in the fourth quarter or as minutes per game,
or look at how much the Suns are getting out scored by in the
fourth quarter, or look at you to want to not be how hasn't idy
is on offense or the use of Nurkish layups? Everything comes back to the
absence of the Big three playing together. They have yet to play together,
Bradley Beal, is that late scratch before the Wednesday night game? If I
understand that availability was always kind of caked into the concerns with them. We're
month into the season. Basically they've yet to play together, and now that
kind of accounts for all the other issues that they're dealing with here. They
have the worst fourth quarter point differential by a mile right now. And yes,
okay, he comes back to if they had star power, you wouldn't
be as relying on Jordan Goodwin minutes or live and die when he actually does
play by them, you wouldn't matter about Yeah, Joshua Kogi has his good
games, then he has bad games, and it feels like it's impacting you
a lot more. They wouldn't be bottom three in turnover eight if Devin Booker
had played more. But that still leads into all this of is it piece
or panic, with one the availability collective availability of their star power, and
then two of the roster construction to where it's should they have leaned a little
bit more in to defense at the five? Should they have been more aggressive
in acquiring or keeping a secondary ball handler because they did have Cameron Payne on
this team. I think if you take a like the longest possible view within
the season of this, you can still talk yourself into peace because where it's
November and this team is, this team is exists solely to win a championship
because you don't build the you don't put these three guys together if you're just
trying to like win around or two in the playoffs. And you could make
the case that as long as those guys are ready by then and the playoff
seed is not so low that it's like impossiblely you know, the run is
just too difficult to get there. You have to make it in from the
play in or something and never have home court. Then you can't really panic.
But I it is a panic for me, and it's because it's twofold.
One is like, yeah, these guys have not played yet together.
That's not great. You know, we're a dozen games in almost. But
the related part of that is Kevin Durant has been the iron Man. He's
playing just under thirty seven minutes a game. He's played eleven games so far,
you're only getting forty of them. It's something like over the course of
the full year. I have to know what you're laughing at. I want
to know how long it's been since someone called Kevin Durant an iron man.
That's what I'm saying. That's the problem, Dan, He's been iron Man's.
He's capped at like forty five games per year since the Achilles And so
now you've you've used up a quarter of the games you're gonna get out of
Kevin Durant just based on his history, and you're running him into the ground.
And so by the time Devin Booker and Bradley Beal are healthy, like
the back thing for Beal is is like that's a concern to me because it's
like apparently it's flaring up and that's why he didn't play on Wednesday, And
he was like that could linger. I don't know, we can't play be
pretending me here, But I think that's the paddock would be, Okay,
what's going on with Bradley Bual's back there. But if if we would agree
that if Durant is not healthy, like this whole thing is never getting off
the ground at all, and if what you're doing to get by in November
and December is play Durant thirty seven minutes a game like That's not that is
not going to work because at some point Durant is going to miss significant chunks
of the season because he always does. And I think you might be accelerating,
you know, the arrival of that first injury for him by playing him
like he's not thirty five with you know, a million miles and like you
know missing half of every season for the last like four or five, like
that's that's a it's a related concern that the two things, like Bilin Booker
missing time just makes it harder for Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant is the
one of those three I think you need the most if you're trying to win
a title. Ooh no, uh no, I think Devin Booker. I
think you look at what's happened in the fourth quarter and kind of what happens
to KD when he's getting all these bodies thrown at him. It's Devin Booker's
playmaking and movement away from the ball, and his ability to generate more pressure
away from the ball is more important than what Katie is doing. And I
think, honestly it's not I won't say it's not even close. And I
think Kevin Durant's defensive impact, but what Devin Booker does defensively now too.
And by the way, Devin Booker in his two games has contested like fifteen
shots at the rim. Well he needs to quit tran so hard so he
doesn't get hurt. No, you know you're you're right, Devin book is
more right. But we would definitely agree that if you don't have one or
the other of those two, you must have both. If like Bial honestly
you could probably get away with like he's the third clearly the third best player
of that group. If you don't have Durant or you don't have Booker,
you're just like you're done both. Yeah, it's not the whole idea of
the Big three is when you so when you were in Brooklyn with Kevin what
not? You specifically when you were on the Nets team that had Kyrie,
Durant and James Harden, I think there's a you could have said Durrant was
the guy you needed. But if you had Kyrie, if you had any
combination, like two man combination of those three, you would have still felt
okay about their chance to be a threat. It's Devin Booker, and it
can't be Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Can't be Kevin Durant and Bradley Bal.
Yeah, this seems like a lottery team. If you just have Booker
and Bale in this supporting cast, it's not it's not good enough. I'm
ultimately peace, I think in the macro though, just because Devin Bookers,
I know he's had stuff crop up, but he's never been like there when
it matters. And they're they're five and six, Like if they were like
in you know, two to nine or something, we'd start talking about them
like the Grizzlies, Like is the whole gonna get too deep? Right?
And it's like, so they're five and six and in the top twelve of
both offense and defense. Yeah right now, Like that's a you know,
and the the defense is like, I'm I don't know if I would say
shocked, but I mean they're not. They're they're twelfth in defense while allowing
sixty eight percent shooting at the rim. I would say the three point shooting,
they probably got a little lucky on opponents thirty five percent. There,
we're saying that about a lot of teams right now. It' tis the season
for it, but it's a piece for me. The next team is the
Portland Trailblazers. So this is probably too h maybe not for this podcast.
It's too it's too niche. It's DeAndre Ayton's offensive usage. I actually don't
think that he's been bad for Portland. And I don't say that like it's
a debate that he's been terrible, but a lot of people probably look at
his numbers on offense and be like, well, like, you know,
this is clear he's not able to do more, and I really think it's
more so there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. The injuries have
hurt because Deandreton needs people to get in the ball and look at who's out,
Anthony Simons, Malcolm Brogden, Scoot Henderson probably the three players who are
most important to getting him the ball. That being said, that should impact
to me his roleman volume, which it has, like he's not used finishing
roleman possessions as frequently as he was last year. But when it comes to
just overall touches like our post ups, the most efficient play in the world
from him, not even close, but it would behoove the Blazers to explore
them. He had more post up possessions per game with the Suns last year,
and then overall his touches thirty three frontcour touches per thirty six minutes last
year. That's twenty down to twenty four point three this year. His usage
rate has plummeted into the sixteens to a career low. His usage rate in
the fourth quarter Grant thirteen point nine. I understand it comes down to,
oh, do you have people who can get him the ball. It's not
hard to just give him the ball and say, let's see what you can
do with it. Then, so go try this out. Isn't that the
whole reason why you have him. His defense has been pretty good. He's
been great on the glass for them, but like he's had to rely a
little bit more on putbacks than he would in Phoenix. And part of that
is the Blazers are gonna miss a bunch of shots. I know they're all
over the place right now, and just having Jeremy Grant and Shade and Sharp
do a lot on ball, get DeAndre in the ball and just see what
happens. And so I'm not I don't know if this is like a can
you panic over this? But if you're trying to get the maximum amount of
information possible on the player that Deandreton can be, arguably now is the time
to do it. Yeah, with all these guard injuries and you're not doing
it, And look to me, that's another fundamental failure or from the coaching
staff, specifically Chauncey Billups, who were two plus seasons now into the Is
it two plus seasons? It's not one plus? Right? Last year was
a second season, right, I should think that's right. So just I'm
like, you can't say you're out on the Chauncey Billups experience, but like,
get DeAndre in the ball because I don't understand why it needs to be
so difficult, And if it's because you don't trust him with it, then
that's a bigger problem as to Okay, well, like why why did you
acquire him in the first place if you didn't think there was a higher usage
offensive player there? You know what I'm about to do it? Thank you.
I'm glad I wasn't. I'm like, I've lost all concept of time,
Like he really been the coach for over two seasons. DeAndre Ayton has
played three hundred and forty seven minutes this year. He has attempted five free
throws. Five he made them all, so that's good news. He's five
for five, best free throw shooter in NBA history, the greatest of all
time. He's on pace to say, at the record this year. That's
like, I don't care what else is happening, Like I don't care that
they don't have any healthy guards. I don't care that that Skylar Mays is
now the you know, the guy that is primarily tasked with, And I
guess you throw Shaden Sharp in there, who's just still like such is still
learning how to do stuff as an NBA player. We really like Shadon Sharp.
He's gonna be really good. He's not a point guard. There's no
scenario where starting NBA center who has played every game for his team, all
eleven games, played almost three hundred and fifty minutes, has attempted five free
throws. Like, that's not that's not on Chauncey Billips, that that's not.
I mean that everybody shares some of the blame, but that's just like
that is a crippling lack of aggression. And I mean the guy has thirty
one offensive rebounds, so like take a couple of those back up maybe and
get fat. Like So I'm panicking because a lot of the stuff that we
did not like about Deona I say, we like the NBA community or whatever
it knocks DeAndre Ayton for doesn't go to the basket hard, you know,
avoids contact, just just not make plays. Is not in there to do
the dirty work. Like five free throws in three hundred and fifty minutes is
a damning number. So like I'm panicking on that front, not just because
I thought that Ayden was gonna have a maybe the guards being there would have
made a difference. Was gonna just be better and just gonna get to try
explore the space, get the you know, get shots up. Like he
doesn't seem to be doing anything at least from an aggression standpoint. So so
like I'm panicking there because that's like I cannot wrap my head around five free
throws on a season for a starting center that has been healthy all year.
That's nuts. Two point six percent foul rate on pain touches ridiculous low,
Like just run in it's almost like you that's hard to do, Like that's
actually difficult to do. So my whole thing, though, still is just
like he also doesn't this is it's not a symptom of him not getting the
ball enough that foul rate should be higher and he should definitely have more free
throws, But like, how are you how are you not getting him the
ball more? I don't care what your guard situation is. If anything,
because of the players you're missing, it should be more critical to get him
the ball. We agree the next team will be the Sacramento Kings. So
I have the Harrison Barnes regression here. And this comes with the caveat that
he started off last season like overwhelmingly slow. However, this year, after
that kind of first game where he dropped what did he dropped thirty one points?
Thirty thirty two point? Sure, yeah it was it was thirty two
points, his efficiency is just it's in the gutter. And so we's gotten
to the point where the past couple games, like you've yanked him during higher
leverage minutes, didn't play at all in the fourth quarter of that win against
the Cleveland Cavaliers. And so even when the efficiency is fine, it's in
such low volume. He's shooting thirty four point two percent from three since the
that first game where he went off for thirty three points. It actually was
we had that wrong. He does not look good on defense, and so
look, he doesn't make too much money, and you can imagine that the
efficiency is going to come up. But like when you're the Kings and you
look at the makeup of the lineups that you throw out there without Harrison Barnes,
is it, oh, well, Keigan Murray's gonna start hitting more of
his threes eventually, and he's made the lead defensively, so it doesn't matter.
Or is there a little bit of panic here because it's well, we
were already short on these combo forwards to begin with, and now if Harrison
Barnes can't close or can't be relied upon to play heavier minutes or higher leverage
minutes, that's a real problem. So are you a piece or panic there
with the Harrison Barnes start. I think, well, you said it.
They came into the year just they have too many guards and not enough wings
on the roster. There's too many like even like Chris Duarte is not someone
that I feel great about guard. He's not a combo forward. That that
was like one of their main offseason additions. So Barnes is like, especially
for a team that I think believed that based on last year, it was
good enough that it could essentially run it back and bank on improvement of just
based on how they operated. Extending some bonus not making any major acquisitions like
that is a problem. It's hard for me to get to full panic on
because I think Barnes is maybe what They're no higher than their fourth most important
player maybe fifth the bonus Murray Monk, I would probably argue, is more
important. Monk is the one I was kind of himming and hawing over.
Certainly Monk has the ability to just win them, you know, the playoff
games that they think they're gonna be in. Uh, they will be in,
I think. But yeah, I can't quite get to panic. I
mean, the the the regard defense, so just because look, Fox and
Murray have made real strides. I mean this is like, you know,
we could have panicked about the record and you know some of the offense looking
bad, like this team just is dearon Fox. And if Darren Fox is
healthy, I think they are what they were last year. And if he's
not, and we saw it happen because he missed time with that ankle.
Look, I'm not gonna lie, and this means that I was wrong about
them in the offseason. They feel like, yeah, I'm gonna say this,
if they figure out a way to trade for Ogannobi or a player who's
on that level. So let's say, like, what is Ogannobe the fiftieth
best player in the league or just someone who would matters in such a specific
way to them that he's better than you know what I mean, Like they
find that player where someone who hits threes and can defend a bunch of different
positions, And I'm not I know people say, well, that's what every
team wants. I'm not talking about someone who needs ball skills. They don't
need to defend all five positions like Ogiannobi. This team will be the second
best team in the Western Conference if they find that player. I think it's
possible. I would still have playoff questions just because I think Sabonis presents so
many problems as on a playoff team. But yeah, like in terms of
regular season, the other thing they have, like it feels like the West
is kind of like everybody's a little bit of a mess. Other than Denver
and I guess Minnesota, but like you know, the Warriors have their issues,
the Grizzlies fell apart, the Suns can't be healthy. Everybody's kind of
in a weird state of flux. And like the Kings, one thing the
Kings do have is continuity. So like we understand they they and we understand
like how this works, Like they under they have an identity. They they
their offensive system is I mean best offense ever last year. All that stuff
hasn't been good this year, but Fox being out is the reason for that.
Like if you do they are a team, Like is there a better
one player away team than the Kings? Like I think I think they're the
quint essential get the right guy. It's and it's just Anonobe like that just
is who it is. It is it? Well, I guess could you
see because the way they play and because of Kegan Murray's leap, Like if
they were the team that acquired Alex Caruso, I mean, like, look,
you anyone that can guard and like Mitchell's just too small like that any
he's not a good enough shooter, so like he's just as he's gonna need
to get better. He's either gonna need to grow or become a forty percent
three point shooter to really be like an impact guy. He's awesome on the
ball on it gets ones and twos, but like he's just he's not a
good enough offensive player to matter. Like Caruso I think would be better.
He's a little bigger, but like it's just the wing. It's just that
combo forward that you can move around and put on the other team's best guy.
That I that that would just put them over the top. Yeah,
I think because they already have like that. I'll call it the decision making
defense down because like they're allowing the right shots. Like they're not as year
too, they're not a great rim protecting team and opponents are hitting their threes.
Yet they have an above average defense because they have the best location effective
field goal percentag, which is like the expected field goal percentage based on the
shots you allow. So now you just throw like someone who's really talented on
defense and you're it feels right now like their defense is more predicated on one
allowing the right types of shots and then just getting set because their offense is
so good. If you do someone who's actually elite in one area anywhere.
Who isn't going to torpedo your offense. Yeah, I get what you're saying.
Yeah. Next team is the San Antonio Spurs. So this is sort
of like a I understand that the Spurs are rebuilding and they're probably willing to
take this trade off, but I have the like the the concessions being made
with this. Jeremy so In at point guard experiment to where Wemby's efficiency is
so much better when Trey Jones is on the court. This comes from Dan
Devine at Yahoo Sports. Wemen Yama is averaging thirty eight point two points per
one hundred possessions with Jones on the floor, shooting sixty five point four percent
on two pointers and thirty six point four percent on threes. When Jones is
off the floor, those numbers dipped to twenty five point five per one hundred
on just forty one point two percent shooting inside the arc and twenty five point
five percent beyond it. That's like, look, this is rookies. Wemby's
been really inefficient through the first three quarters still when you look at the splits
and then come on in the fourth quarter. But you also had Jeremy Sohan
talking about how exhausted he is from trying to run the offense and then playing
such a big defensive role on the perimeter, And so I'm just sort of
wondering, like, did the Spurs miscalculate here a little bit and not understand
the cost of experimentation. They're not supposed to be good, so that this
is fine, But if you're trying to maximize Wemby, shouldn't this be more
about putting the lineups, putting him in lineups the most where he's going to
work from the jump. And that's not an insult to Jeremy Sohan, but
like, if you want him to run point guard, doesn't it make more
sense than to have him come off the bench and do it so that lightens
his load in theory, So it's I don't know if that's a traditional piece
or panic, because you can't piece or panic about the record or the fact
that the defense is bad even though they have Wemby. He's actually improving the
defense when he's on the court, So just where they're at, it's tough
to come up with panic. And I would default to piece here because I
do think they're gaining valuable information that these reps will be valuable for Jeremy so
I just feel like they're I don't want to call them reps to nowhere.
I just feel like you're giving reps to the model that is not gonna wind
up being what's most important for your most important player. And I think not
only that, but like, is there really a future where the Spurs are
a great team and Jeremy Sohan is the point guard, because like for that
to be the case, he's gonna need to I think just he's gonna need
to be able to do I don't know, like run a pick and roll
and shoot like a pull up jumper or like have do like more like when
defenders go under the screen, you've got to be able to just quickly fire
off a three from above the break, Like I just I mean again,
like I said, Giddy's twenty one, it's someone's younger than that, So
like, yeah, I mean, all things are possible, I suppose,
so, like it's I guess it's worth exploring that, but it is I
think that is you. I don't know if it's a piece of panic,
but this is to me, like the central issue so far, which is,
like, are you pursuing the development of one player at the cost of
another, and you're sort of choosing the wrong one, right, like,
because there's nobody more important than when Binyama to the future of the Spurs obviously,
So like the argument is very easy to make that you should just do
everything you possibly can to foster his development. And if that means that Jeremy
Sohan doesn't like, you know, get to fully reach his ceiling or is
kind of you know back burner or whatever, like, yeah, that's that's
how it works. Like everybody has to sort of step aside if you can't,
you know, serve the ultimate goal, which is to just make wem
Benyama as good as he can be. I also don't know if the Spurs
are sure yet what wem Benyama is going to do in terms of a role
ultimately, So it's like, you know, maybe maybe they'll try him at
point guard pretty soon. I don't know. Yeah, it's it's a really
interesting question. I guess I can't panic about it, uh, just because
like I understand the thinking a little bit, but it does seem it's actually
this isn't the first time I've heard this, like brought up is like why
are we like why are we trying this. If it's maybe stunting, Webenyama's
growth a little bit, but it's like it also means the Spurs are gonna
lose a lot because he's obviously not a good point guard yet. So that's
that's good too. We want that. I like, I don't know.
I I think if if if the numbers you cited like hold true for the
full year, then you kind of are doing your best player a little bit
of a disservice. But like, I don't know, it's for now.
I think it's okay. I just I guess ultimately I'm not super convinced that
soa Anna is gonna be the point guard of the future, So like,
maybe don't it feels like more of it could maybe be a weapon in your
tool belt, yeather than what you're building your entire offense around. Maybe maybe
that speaks to how high they are on him. Like, you know,
I love Jeremy Soman. I think he's going to be a really good player.
But it's just when you have Wemby and this will get into the you
know, all of a sudden, the chet homegrin versus Wemby for Rookie of
the Year. I think you could go either way this point. Chet has
definitely been more effective in his minutes, but the Thunder have been a good
job. Sort of I feel like buttoning up his role. I don't sure
limiting him, but like where Wemby sort of in not even just full on
experimental, but like the things they ask him to do on defense and how
much different things he's trying to cover and then on offense. It's well,
if he had a shay or like a giddy or just someone who could put
him in the right spots, like he would probably be a lot more of
the fact that he's shooting over fifty percent on twues right now is honestly a
minor miracle based off what's the need to happen in San Antonio. Yeah,
I think I think Chet is being set up, like, yeah, you're
right. It's weird because it's like they're not limiting him, but it's like
Chet takes certain kinds of shots within the offense all the time, and Wemby
is just like, I don't know, just wherever. It seems much less
structured, which I guess is a symptom of not having a real point guard.
Like that's kind of what it is speaking of not having a real point
guard. Let's move on to the Utah Jazz, whoa I believe that they
do have a real point guard in Keyante George. Now the piece or panic
is just do they and it's not going to be I think there were fans
of the Jazz that expected them to be better or were like more competitive this
year, or their record to be better this year. And it's just when
you got rid, when you had that turnover at the trade deadline, and
then you kind of, yes, you got John Collins last all season,
but you didn't have that floor general acquisition. It was pretty clear that this
was going to be a rough season. But is there a piece or panic?
Are they It's kind of the similar vein of the Spurs. Did they
do a disservice to not necessarily their best player in Larry market In, who's
been great this year. The fact that he's played so well despite the absence
of a true floor general is actually really good for them. But Walker Kessler
when he was healthy not as good on offense. It's been very hard.
The Walker Kessler John Collins minutes have been really tough for them. They've looked
a lot better when they have sort of John Collins at the five, and
that's not where you're going to go long term. So, yes, Keante
George is in there now, but is it a piece or panic when you're
looking at their just their absence of that floorge. They're dead last in turnover
eight this season. The organization is not always there on the offensive end,
and I feel like offense should be with the types of lineups they're running out,
should also be their defining principle with some of the stuff they could do.
And so did they miss the mark by not having a veteran floor general
where forget about Kiante George for a second. Your best passer is Jordan Clarkson,
It might be Kelly Linnock. Honestly, I think, like so Mark,
And then there are parallels to what we're talking about with the Spurs a
little bit, and then there aren't because Markinnen's twenty six. Uh, he's
in his prime. We have a rough idea of what he is. It
sure would it be great if he had Mike Conley to set him up,
Like, yeah, for sure he I mean his numbers might be even better.
Uh, But it's not that it's not the same thing as because like,
who are there other like, for sure, oh, this guy is
a core developmental piece, Like I guess it's George. I guess it's Kessler,
who's sort of like he's not really out there for offense anyway. And
then after that, I don't know, are we down to like Agbajie.
I guess like Hendricks doesn't play, so I have to be a agbaji for
now, I would think, yeah, So like I guess, I guess
yeah, Like it's always it's always rough. It always makes things harder if
you don't have like the adult in the room point guard. But at the
same time, like I think, George just needs to play and develop and
then if you know by mid season he's capable, then great. But but
it's not the same like costing markin in. You know, developmental time is
not the same thing to me, So it's not I don't think it's a
panic. I guess it's peace. It's if you thought the Jazz were gonna
improve on last year's record, then I guess, yeah, you can panic.
But I don't think either of us saw that in the cards for them.
I I'm a piece as well. I am just curious as to there
are still our challenges even if you put you know, even if Caante George's
first team all rookie from here on out, he might be right now.
But like even if you had a more proven for general in here, does
the Collins Kessler pairing sort of like marking and has proven he could fit into
a dynamic like that. But are you doing a disservice to both of those
guys like by playing them together, and like, go ahead, you no,
I think I think yeah, I just think, you know, Collins
is not someone that like matters ultimately and like the big picture of the Jazz
franchise. So it's like, you know, I think he was just this
is a distressed asset that makes like Danny Aingel, I think saw John Collins
for the price he was available forms like yeah, well, yes, we
will take him because I think at some point we'll be able to trade him
for more than that or whatever. So like it doesn't bother me so much
that it is a weird fit and Kessler's I don't know, I'm really high
on Kessler as a defender obviously, but like I'm not sure that he's someone
that you need to like cater to or like worry about his development just because
I don't think, at least offensively, like there's not a lot of room
for him to develop. I think he's just gonna be a defense only center
that can dunk, and that's like just what he is. So I guess
I'm not you know, if you eventually get him a good point guard,
then yeah, he'll get a couple more like easy buckets a game, but
it's not stunting some growth trajectory that was gonna make him an All Star or
anything. I do feel like we kind of saw flashes of it last year,
not at all this year, which I do think comes back to like
kind of the absence of a of a floor general, Like he can make
some of like the quicker passes. Yeah, once he's like, you don't
want to putting on the ball, putting the ballton before to do it,
but that's something he could do, and like that's a you know, that's
a that Rudy Gobaer was never super great at. And so if you're able
to do that, that is another dynamic. I just don't know how long
does it take to get there. If George is the guy and you won't
have any other guy. I feel like they could have benefited from there wasn't
someone out there to say, well, let's make the John Collins trade,
but it's for a point guard. Yeah, that wasn't out there for them,
but it might be something for them to consider doing after this season.
Where it's not about accelerating the timeline. It comes back to the Fred van
Vliet acquisition in Houston, where Okay, they're really good right now, but
it's someone who doesn't necessarily infringe upon development or accelerate your timeline. He just
helped streamline it for everybody else. Yeah, I think if I'm panicking about
anything for Utah, it's that, like, other than George we As,
we just illustrated, Like I don't know who the core pieces are, Like
who the guys are going to be five years from now that you're banking on
being really great, I think, and I think like being better than they
meant to be last year and maybe sucking this year in a way worse draft
that could be a pretty big missed opportunity, to put it pretty mildly,
stat panting time gonna be a shorter one because I can't fucking speak, and
I really hope has my voice been so bad. Is it been? Sound
like Stavan Gundy in that one game he called where he just everybody. I
kind of feel like Doc Rivers, like that's what I sound like. Yeah,
you've out of the coaching game. So let's start with I have a
couple of guest players for your test of players for you. These first two
come from Rubik Scal. Thank you. As always, I've not asked answered
your past your discord messages because I am borderline dying over here, but thank
you for sending these these over all, right, Clude number one, grant,
I won a bronze medal each in my first three major national tournaments,
the Olympics, the Feeble World Cup where I was the m v P,
and the euro Basket. Okay, that's clude number two. At my next
attempt at the Olympics, I picked up a silver medal to add to my
collection. I then added gold medals at the FOBA EuroBasket. I also took
home the MVP and the FEBA World Cup. So this guy is just an
absolute stud in international Can I just Palgasol? It is not Pagasol. Clue
number three? How was I doing at the club level in Europe? Back
to back EuroLeague champs and top scorer in one of those finals. Not too
bad, Okay, not getting it. Clue number four. The EuroLeague wins
put me on the radar for NBA teams, and I was drafted as the
sixtieth overall pick by the Blazers. Rudy Fernandez. No, what a guest
though, I like that one. You might have been a lottery pick.
Yeah, I think he was. Clue number five. I played for Real
Madrid for one season and won the top scorer honors along with the Spanish Cup
Copa del Rey before I joined the Blazers squad. So this guy's was a
Blazer and a lot that's my Rudy Fernandez guess, and he spent I guess.
I can't. This doesn't work. I don't get to ask you questions.
Are you just gonna ask me if it was Rudy Fernandez again? Fernandez,
Comma, Rudy, uh No, do you have any more? I
don't know. Yeah, we've got We've got four more, all right.
Number six. I predicted that my only obstacle to success in the NBA would
be playing time, and I was proved right, as Rick Adelman treated me
like a catch and shoot sniper. Instead of trusting me with the ball.
With my minutes dwindling, I insisted on being traded to a different team.
I was granted my wish midway through the season and traded to the New to
New Jersey, where I got increased minutes but still came off the bench.
Oh and now I'm starting to get there. So this is the Adaman Blazers.
This is the sixtieth pick with a bunch of international and he got into
the Sorry to the Nets, you said, correct, And you said the
New Jersey Nets. Correct? Oh god, all right, give me the
next one. Who would be the other team in New Jersey that you were
thinking a lot of it was the Brooklyn Nets. It was gonna give me
more information, but that wouldn't have made sense with Adaman at the Blazers Clue
number seven. Over the next two seasons, I helped bring playoff basketball back
to the Nets, starting in one hundred and forty nine out of one hundred
and fifty two games, leading my team in points, field goal percentage,
and three point percentage. Oh my god, how do I not know this
sixtieth pick did all that right? The clue number eight final two clues here
I was widely regarded as perhaps the best jump shooter of my time and perhaps
of all time. Well you're gonna, I think you'll get it after this
one. I mean, I better. I don't know why I don't have
it already. Night and final clue right. I passed away in a car
accident on the Autobahn in nineteen ninety three, and my number was retired by
Draws Petrovitch. Yes, oh my god, okay, yeah, I was
like Adaman threw me. I thought I was way later in time than that.
All right, Yeah, geez wait, okay, Drawzi Petrovitch, Sorry,
it took me way too long ninety three. I was. I was
off by like a I don't know what I was doing with at the Adaman
Blazers in the timeline there, all right. Next one clue number one.
Born in Chester, Pennsylvania. I played small forward for Chester High where I
set the school rebound record. I took my high school to the state title
game in my senior year, where we lost to Lower Marion. Oh,
all right, clue number two. I was a McDonald's All American and a
consensus five star crew, widely regarded as a top five fall small forward.
I went to Arizona, where I made a reputation for myself as a fear
scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker, even though I was barely six foot
six inches, never mind the seven foot two inch wingspan. Is this Richard
Jefferson? No, yeah, he's from LA Clue number three. I was
drafted twenty third and played four seasons for the Brooklyn Nets during Kenny Atkinson's tenure
as coach, most of it as the starting power forward. Is this Rondez
Hollis Jefferson? Correct? Nice job, redemption. That was a nice job
by you. We haven't another one from from b rich underscore at X.
What's that? Kendall gil Gil yep, Kendall Gill Okay clue number one.
Drafted in the second round twenty twenty five. I was a remarkably durable player.
Wait, sorry, what year was he drafted two thousand and five?
Okay, drafted in the second round in two thousand and five. I was
a remarkably durable player, twice leading the league in minutes per game. Okay.
My career spanned twelve seasons across four teams. Never an All star,
I averaged seventeen point eight points four point six assists three point five rebounds per
game seventeen four and three. Drafted in the second round in five correct.
Okay, Clue number three a certified mid range inefficient gunner. I only had
one season with an effect within an effective field goal percentage above fifty. Oh
wow, okay, these are the final two clues. Oh. In four
of my my last five seasons, I started eighty plus games per season across
three different teams Milwaukee, Dallas, and Indiana. As for some reason,
these teams loved starting an average offensive below average defensive car combo guard. I
then retired at age thirty one. Give me those teams again, Dallas,
Milwaukee, Indiana. And this is like in the fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
Dallas Milwaukee, Indiana. Fifth like he's five twelve year career. So those
last five Dallas Milwaukee, Indiana. Oh man, you'll get it now,
don't worry. Clue number five. Hailing from Lanyard, Mississippi, I skipped
college to jump into a career of taking a zillion long twos for the Golden
State Warriors. Damn it, it's Monte Monte, Dallas. Yeah that hurts.
I thought you were going to get it by Clue three is what I
said to uh to be rich when they sent it over. What was CLU
three? Clue three was a certified mid range inefficient gunner. I only had
one season with an effective field goal percentage above five hund. I mean,
yeah, I should have got it, just the Mississippi did it and the
I mean I thought the clue number four. I was certain you were gonna
have it with the teams. Yeah, yeah, I'm bad at that.
I like it jumbles in my mind. If you'd said, like, ruined
his career in a moped accident and lied about it, that would have been
that would have been a good one. Would have got there for that.
Okay, I gotta start. I gotta I gotta think a little harder about
the source of these guests of players and calibrate. My guess is better.
Okay, I got a couple for you. They're not guests of players.
But do you want to do you have more for me? Or can I
let's go to you first? We can finish mine. All right? These
are they a little potpourri here? There's a whole bunch of different ones.
All right, Dan, I'm gonna give you four options. Who has posted
a season with at least one hundred and fifty blocks and one hundred and fifty
made threes. Your options are Jared Jackson Junior, Chris STAPs, Porzingis,
Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez. Only one of those guys has a season of
one hundred and fifty blocks and one hundred and fifty made threes. It's also
the only one ever Holy Jaron Jackson Junior, It's brook Lopez. Sorry,
all right, so this is a little different. I want you to tell
me which of the two players I mentioned scored more total points across the first
five years of their careers. So from NBA debut to the end of year
five, who had more total points scored? Got it? No? Yes,
I got it. Dan Who scored more total points in the first five
years of their career? Devin Booker or Andrew Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins. That
is correct. You've hacked the game, because that seems impossible. These are
all close. Wiggans seventy seven to sixty eight, Booker seventy six, eighty
three, Steph or Clay Ooh, I'm gonna say, Klay Thompson, that's
two in a row for you. Seventy one to twelve to sixty eight fourteen
the injuries for STI did him in there? H Sga or Chris Paul,
Oh man, I'm man. I'm gonna say Chris Paul. He was so
featured early on You're on Fire three in a row, dearon Fox or Buddy
healed? Oh m uh, Buddy healed all the threes? Correct? All
right? This is to sweep the category Paul George or Jimmy Butler. Oh
oh oh, Paul George. Correct, and it's close. It's like fifty
points separated. Wow, I would have just because Jimmy Butler the first two
seasons in Chicago, right, he was barely used. Yeah. One of
the craziest like career growth trajectories in memory is Jimmy Butler just being a total
zero that could only defend two capable being the best offensive player on a final
team. By the way, great job by you. Five for five and
I can't cut that one up. No one will want to see me go
five for five. No, you got to come up with something where it's
just like you just keep getting stars or something. Let's see, Okay,
this is I almost feel bad for this. Uh to you? All right,
Dan, I would like you to name three active Andreas in the NBA.
Actually, they don't have to be active. Give me three Andres.
They don't have to be active. No, can they be part of their
name like DeAndre. No, it has to be Andre Andre Miller. Correct
Andre Carolinko. Oh, I didn't even think about that one. Weird spelling.
I'm gonna I'm gonna accept it. And Andre Jackson very good. Yeah,
we mentioned him well on a different pot. Awesome, Dan. Name
three Andrews Andrew Wiggins or do they have to be active? Nope? Andrew
nemhard. Yeah, Andrew bid them really good. The Andrews are easier.
You could add Boget Andrew Nicholson. Remember that guy, he's still getting paid
by the Blazer. Shout out Andrew Andrew. Andrew Binham was in there too.
All right, let's see, uh you can. You can take the
reins again and then I have a couple of word associations for you. Okay,
so I have a one. I did one block of word association this
time, but that's not verified to do word association. By the way,
what's that I'm terrified of word association? Do we want to start there?
So then you can just go right into your word association. Then all right,
so I have a block of five here, word association crossover Jamal Crawford.
Oh, I don't know why. It isn't like the crossover like spelled
c R A W his right, So I get it from the nickname.
That's just not the one that I would have went to. But listen to
word association. You never know what's going to happen left handed Derek Fisher.
I don't know why. Oh that might be that that'd be great left No,
look, magine, Sorry, that's the lame answer. Behind the back.
I was going to give you behind the back in my word association.
Behind the back, uh, Steve Nash okay? And last one hit ahead
ooh, Lonzo Ball Oh okay. I thought I was convinced you were gonna
go with Tyre's Haliburton there. Oh yeah, Kevin Love came to mind too,
But that's more like an outlet thing. Let's see, do you have
another one? I have more, but I don't have another block of word
association once. Okay, let me give you. Let me try this one
on you, as you're aware. Dan Jalen Brown signed the first ever three
hundred million dollar contract. Uh, some debate, I guess on its actual
value. I will give you four choices. Who signed the first one hundred
million dollar contract? Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Juwan Howard or Chris Webber
Saquille O'Neal. It is Juwan. Can you believe that? Wow? Nineteen
ninety six? Moving on, who signed the first one hundred and fifty million
dollar contract? Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Steve Francis or Mike Conley.
Mike Conley? That's correct? Isn't that wild? That? That's wild?
All right? The first two hundred million dollar contract Zach Lavine, Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry, Lebron James. I know for a fact Lebron James has
never signed a two hundred million dollar contract. I'm gonna say, Steph Curry,
You're right, You're on fire. You've I mean, getting all Andrews
and Andreas and the contracts. Yeah, Steph Curry was the first two hundred
million dollar guy. All right, takeover? Oh you want me to go
to mine? Okay? So, oh this one is I thought was actually
I was actually thought this was a good idea which NBA player has hit?
More go ahead buzzer beaters in the regular season and playoffs combined. Okay,
Lebron James or Damian Lillard. Oh man, I'm gonna say, Dame,
it's Lebron eighteen to twelve. It's not even Wow. Hey, let's can
we get a Lebron time celebration going? I mean it also has to do
maybe his longevity a little bit too. Yeah. Look, Lebron always passes.
He never shoots. Remember when that was the thing. Yeah, he
is criticized for that. Wow. Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul. Hm,
I'm gonna say Chris Paul because I think that's the wrong answer. Chris Paul
seven to five, That is the right answer. Yeah. Carmelo Anthony or
Steph Curry mellow, Yes, Mello eight to six, Jamal Crawford or Derrick
Rose. Jamal Crawford correct, ten to six, you're kind of on fire?
Two, three or four. Tim Duncan or Michael Jordan. Ooh again,
sticking with I'm gonna pick the wrong answer, Tim Duncan because it'll be
right Duncan seven to six over Michael Jordan. I've figured you out now,
Dan, Devin Booker or Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, No, it's Devin
Booker. Six to five, damn it. James Harden or Dark Novitzky Harden
No, Dark Novitzky five before who Jannis attent to Koopo or Anthony Davis?
Oh wow, Jannis Nope, Anthony Davis six to four man nuwe Genobili or
Jason Kidd managed Genobili? Yes? Four to three over kid. And finally
Demard Rosen or Alan Iverson. I mean Demartin Rosen had like three last year,
a couple of years. I'll say, Derozen that is correct. Eight
to seven? You didn't, so would you get seven to ten? That's
pretty good. I don't know. Well, by the way, I was
gonna take Genobili no matter who the second person was, just on principle.
Uh let's see. Okay, I have some word association. But then that's
all I got for you. Okay, So give me that, and then
I have a few more for you. All right. I kind of stole
the Andrews and Andreas from word association, so the second batch will be a
little shorter, all right, great and word association marching gortat uh Beard.
I was gonna say the gortat screen. The Yeah, the screen though,
like where he rolls and he knocks the defender out of the way so the
driver can score. Okay, Spain, pick and roll Fab five Michigan.
Can you name the members of the Fab five? Jalen Rose, Chris Webber
and then I'm done. Oh well, we already talked about Juwan Howard.
Yeah, I mean I'm not I'm not a college or historical ficionado. All
right, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, those are the other two. UHL
was off the top of your head. I read the Fab five book that
Mitch Album wrote when I was like twelve or something, and so like,
I remember a weird amount about I remember a guy named Eric Riley was a
backup center on that team. Rob Polinka was on that team. I think
people know that, but uh yeah, anyway, Steve Fisher was the coach.
That's probably all I know. Uh okay, elbow touch o my god?
Uh yo kich Yeah. Gerald Wallace traded for to this to the Celtics.
This is I feel, this is like cruel to do to you while
you're sick. It's just it's a mean thing. The first thing I think
of his name, it probably should be his defense. But I think of
like the uh, wasn't he part of the KG trade in some form?
Was he traded from the Celtics and the Nets or something he might have been.
I I remember he had a dunk where he like hung on the rim
with one arm and like spun all the way around and it looks like his
shoulder should like separated. Never seen that dunk. Oh, it's rough,
and he's fine because Gerald Wallace was like uninjurable for a while. All right,
let's see the last three little quick ones here back tapped rebound Tyson Chandler.
That is the only correct answer. Thank you for getting that one pivot
game mellow. Weirdest shooting form the kJ Martin Kenyan, No, Kevin Martin.
Sorry, that was the first name I thought of too? Who that?
That's all I have? What other weird shooting forms have there been?
I mean Aliburton, that's a weird one. Michael ok Yo, Chris We
talked, oh man, remember that one that was that was really bad?
Anthony Mason had a funky she like cup the ball. All right, someone
had like a really jagged one that I can't remember. And we talked about
Bill cart Wright last time. But that's that was mostly free throws because you
never shot otherwise. Okay, so I have a few more for you.
There have been grant six players in NBA history who are six foot six or
shorter that have finished the seaton finished a season with at least one hundred steals
and one hundred blocks. I'm gonna separate them into two groups. You have
to pick the one that does not belong. So which player six six or
under did not have a hundred steels or one hundred blocks in any given season?
Okay, Charles Barkley, gar Heard, Draymond Green, Vince Carter h
gar Herd is like one of those people that I am aware played in the
NBA for a long time, but I cannot pick him out of a lineup
or tell you who he played for. I don't think so I'm just gonna
say gar Heard, that is incorrect. It is Vince Carter gar Herd has
actually had is tied for the most seasons in league history with that. Him
and Charles Barkley each had three seasons of one hundred steals plus one hundred blocks.
That's interesting. I don't think of Barkley as like an active defender.
But it must have been young Barkley, all right, Yeah, I mean
it was in the eighties, So yeah, okay, which player six foot
six inches are under did not have a season of at least one hundred steels
and one hundred blocks. Michael Jordan, Clarence Weathers Boon, Dwayne Wade,
or Latrell Sprewell. I know Spreewell had the steals, but I don't think
he had the blocks. And I just you can't put Michael Jordan in there
and not have him do it. Wade had a lot of blocks. Who's
the fourth one? So we have Jordan, Clarence Weatherspoon, Dwayne Wade,
Latrell'spreewell. I'm gonna say Spreewell, that is correct. He did not have
the blocks. He averaged over two steals a couple times, I think,
though he is an All NBA first teamer. Littrell Spreewell one year. How
about that? Hey, he got to feed his family, all right?
I have like a couple of this one is okay, championship on the line,
NBA championship on the line. Would you bet on what's the best way
to phrase this? NBA Championship on the line. What would you trust more
a use of Nurkic contested layup or DeAndre aight and self created dunk? Oh
my god? Uh, the DeAndre aydon self created dunk has never been witnessed,
and therefore I'm not sure it exists. So I have to take the
Nurkic layup, which is like a thirty percent proposition. Uh. To be
fair, he's shooting like forty eight percent of the rim this year, So
it's you said, contested, So I don't know what that's gonna knock it
down to. Would you rather be the first NBA player to dunk from the
three point line or be the first NBA player to record a quintuple double?
Oh wow, give me the give me the quintuple double, because like,
Wemby's probably gonna dunk from the three point line two or three times this year,
So then I wouldn't be the only one. Webby's gonna dunk from the
three point two or three times. That suddenly seems like the only answer that
you can give. Now. Well, Wemby might also get a quintuple double
too. Well, if we're gonna hearken back a few weeks ago, and
I thought he was gonna get seventeen blocks or whatever it was, And let's
make this the last one because I have no voice. I feel like anyone
who's listening this long probably hates themselves right now. So I'm stealing this from
the inverse of what we did already. Which NBA star were you convinced would
be a bust? Oh? Great question? Which NBA star was like convinced
was gonna be a bust? Oh? Man? That's really tough. Uh,
because do you have one in mind to jog my to jog my thinking?
I'll give you mine. There is if you google Dana Valley, Kawhi,
Leonard Bus there are reddit threads oh about what I wrote. I said
he would never be able to shoot and that his defense would not translate to
the NBA. I may have missed on that. Listen, we all,
I've tried to like pull up, let me pull up like a list of
this year's leaders, because I'm like really struggling to think of a star that
it's I have a lot more of the the opposite where I was just wrong
about uh them. I thought they were gonna be good and then they weren't.
Yeah, because it's not like I think a lot of people would be
like, well what about Yo Kisch. It's like, well, you didn't
have expectations of someone drafted ninetieth overall during a Taco bell commercial, So you
didn't. You can't be a bust during that. Oh uh. So I
don't know if there's a Reddit thread about it, but I I'm pretty sure
that I was a big Jason Tatum doubter because I remember I could never get
over the I think I read in more than one place and just watching him
at Duke that he was like, yeah, he's really good at creating contested
two point jumpers. And I was like, oh, well, I'm out
on Carmelo Anthony just on principle, and I don't want another Carmelo Anthony type.
I don't think Jason Tatum was going to be nearly as good as he
became. I'm trying to think who else. Oh, I just thought a
ridiculous one. This will date me too. I believe that watching Lebron James
high school clips and this is all when like he's on Sports Illustrated as an
eighteen year old or whatever. I think the comparison I made was he has
like Paul Pierce level athleticism, and it definitely was a Paul Pierce comparison because
he just did. I don't know what I saw, but he seemingly was
not going to be like an other worldly athlete, which if if if you
watched any basketball over the last twenty plus year, see, in fact,
was another worldly athlete. And I was wrong about that, So that that
one hurts. That that was a rough one. Wow, I don't think
I ever said that about Lebron. You never made the Paul Pierce comparison,
the notoriously unathletic Paul Pierce. Uh, do you want to take us out
of here? Yeah? I think we better since we just both of us
revealed that we thought Kawhi Leonard and Lebron James were gonna suck. So I
was. I remember the article. I was in my early twenties. I
wouldn't write it now if I was asked to and I had to identify players.
I thought, we're gonna be busted when you look at the hit rate.
I actually didn't do too bad to go back and look, but I
forget who else was on there. I was gonna ask me I could google
it. I google it right now. Dan fa Valley QUI liner bust and
see who else? See who else was on there? But there there are.
I found multiple Reddit threads because I was looking for what I said specifically,
and I was like, oh, I'm like, I can't find the
article, and it popped up and read it. But now I can't find
it for some reason. But I said his defense wouldn't translate. I can't
remember who else was was on there if I hit if I hit the reddit,
search for it as you're searching, I I definitely now I remember I
thought LaMelo was gonna be a bust because I made overset the Warriors turn office.
Apparently. Well yeah, I just thought, well, he's not a
good enough shooter, and if you're a guard who can't shoot, then that's
just not going to work. And then he could shoot. He couldn't fins,
can't finish, but he could shoot. I can't find me calling Kawhi
Leonard a draft bus. Now for some reason, I found all these results
the other day. And that company you paid discrub it from the internet did
a good job. Wait here we here we go. I found the article.
So I had Nicole a miratic on there. Okay, well he got
but he did leave the NBA. Nor's Cole Jesus, we've been We've been
doing this for way too long. This one's bad. Jonas Valance Unis Okay,
Well, Corey Joseph still in the NBA. Donatis mut a Unis had
had a minute there he was, you know, Kawhi Leonard. I'm just
looking at the full blurb of well, I'm trying to think back, like
because leonards lack of versatility will be exposed in the NBA, leaving the Spurs
with a taste of disappointment and Leonard sporting the label of bust. I'm not
just saying this, but I definitely remember the thought being this guy's a six
seven power forward that can't shoot, Like, what are we? What was
he supposed to be? I feel like I probably wasn't the only one to
say his shooting wouldn't translate, but for me to say that his defense wouldn't
translates pretty ingregious. I mean, you were wrong, But like I definitely
remember Leonard being a weird prospect because like, how good is he really?
If he went to San Diego State, like and he fell to the what
was he the fifteenth pick or something? I can't remember, do you remember
what Pickard was drafted. Wasn't he sixteenth? Maybe he was fifteen? He
was traded for George Hill. I know that. Oh my god, I
talk about a bad take. I remember for a long time thinking like,
well that worked out for both teams because George, because George Hill was pretty
good for all while he was drafted fifteen, if you were right. So
I also had Markith Morris and I wrote, not to sound incredibly harsh,
but what exactly where the Phoenix Sun's thinking? Oh, this one was.
I know he's still in the NBA. But Bismock Biambo the Charlotte Hornets at
number seven, Yeah, that was that's not a good pick that. I
think that's a correct bust analysis. Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons man,
that was just wrong. I mean he his career was his peak was short,
but he had a higher peak. This one's interesting relative to where he
was drafted. Tristan Thompson number four. Uh, I mean that's kind of
a you need more than what he became at number four, right, Like,
I think I don't think that's a bad bad it's pretty bad. I
would say a Jimmer for debt, I would say, worked you nailed that
one? Yeah, oh and then apparently, oh, but it was a
saying I didn't think he was gonna I mean, it's still wrong. I
had Kyrie irving in the vein of I don't think he was gonna be worth
the number one pick. I mean, that's up for debate. We should
have it or not we should should be Are you kidding? That's not up
for debate. I was wrong. I'm just trying to help you out.
Should we have a segment where we go find like ten year old stuff that
we wrote that was really terrible or is that If you're still here, let
us know we need we need to do a pod where we get our crowdsource
hit, like, just send us the worst basketball take you've had of all
time. I know, I just suggested it, but I wonder if that's
a door we want to open. I just I mean, it all exists
out there, but like some of it might be all like embarrassing, Like
I'm concerned, but maybe he would be held accountable. Yeah, yeah,
look, it's all still out there. Go find no, no, no,
don't go find it. Look, I'm really I'm having Ruby scal send
me articles that I wrote like eight years ago. I've had me nervous,
like their seats are just there and people have them. The internet's there forever,
Dan, except it's so we're just gonna have to live with it.
And we've been putting stuff on it for too long, and it's not all
good. Some of it's real stupid. Do you want to take us out
of here? Yes? Before that, hopefully nobody listened long enough to follow
up on that. I really hope that I didn't ruin this podcast with my
doc rivers voice. Listen, you played hurt and everyone respects that. So
actually the photo for this podcast is gonna be you know that photo of like
Joel Andbid carrying James Harden on his back. That was you during these podcasts?
Was me on your back? Oh man? I just you know,
happy to chip in everybody. If you've made it this far, congratulations,
I guess you also you're hurt now too because you put yourself through this.
Thank you for listening, Thank you for rating, reviewing, subscribing, following,
joining our discord, buying our merch If you don't know how to do
any of that, I don't know how you made it through an hour and
fifty minutes of a podcast without knowing any of that. If that is the
case, the information on how to do those things is in the YouTube and
podcast description. If you're watching this on YouTube, there's no way anyone's still
watching this on YouTube. You follow us on our socials. Tell your friends,
you guys, Tell your friends, Tell your enemies, and as always,
were close with a shout out to the one and only Frank Latina and
an apology to Jared Allen and Kawhi Leonard because he's a buster. Hey,
Reggie Jackson too, don't breathe about him. Yeah,