What is up, fellow thermonuclear a effort, I am da Valley coming at
you with a very cool mail bag, while I am extremely uncaffeinated. If
anyone's been following along, which is also probably why I've not been putting out
as much content this week, I'm trying to do a seven day caffeine cleans
because also anyone who listens knows that I consume probably I don't want to say
unsafe, but ungodly amounts of caffeine. I'm talking between like, on average,
six and eight hundred milligrams a day, which is between six and eight
cups of coffee. And that's down from like ten to twelve cups of coffee
worth. Fun fact, I do not actually drink coffee. I consume them
via pre workouts is the big one. But also just energy drinks amno energy
and those go sour Patch kids energy drinks sugar free by the way, only
one gramma carb Those are addictive as hell, even the Swedish fish favor,
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see them already off the rails here, I am delirious. We have a
mail bag. Very quickly, let me just remind you, implore you,
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They're also on the YouTube description as well. Let's dive into this mailbag.
I'm trying to keep these briefer these off season podcasts. Shout out to everyone
who's thanked me for making their off season a little bit easier. I am
here to give you all the incorrect takes possible, and I say this all
the time, and I hope it doesn't dilute the meaning. But I appreciate
every single listener that we get, especially the ones who engage are asking questions
for these mailbags. It means a ton that I'm able to do two a
week if I really want to. Instead of doing a two hour mailbag where
we stay on the mall into one. This one's going to be a mix
of Twitter since we had so many questions, and then the other one will
be our discord dominant and I also have a couple of questions on YouTube I
need to get to. Without further ado though, let's get something topical.
This comes from Leland. He said, Hey, I wanted to add to
the thoughts of why the Celtics might trade Jalon Brown for Durant. You've covered
most of it, but there's one other scenario that's most likely but not but
very possible, and that the Celtics have an off year just point Brown could
keyword being could possibly let up a known that he doesn't want to stay,
and the Celtics might have to face trading Brown on an expiring contract all of
the Pacers and Paul George and Spurs and Kawhi Leonard that value then as a
rental would not help the Celtics get another top ten to fifteen player. I
agree with this statement and this thought process. It rests on the fact that
Brown though more than an off year next season. You have to buy into
whether you think that the Celtics run to the Finals was lucky or not,
whether you buy into their mid season turnaround in full or not. The Celtics
were a good basketball team and they've gotten better just by adding to Neil Gallinari
and Malcolm brogged In. Maybe you account for some regression from Al Horford,
but guys like Robert Williams, the third Grant Williams, they're only going to
continue to improve. Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are young enough to where they
even might continue to improve. So I don't think that you make this call
because you're worried about there being a regression. You make it because one it's
fucking Kevin Durant, and there was that report from Adam Himmel's back. I
believe that the Nets asked for both Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown and trade talks.
I really hope that's fucking true, just because I would love to think
that Brad Stevens had to react to that, or that there are people on
the other end of the phone or the zoom call or whatever the text message,
whatever the hell was happening, that I actually had to digest what was
happening there. But if you are worried that Brown is going to leave,
because we know we've talked about it on this podcast, he is not going
to sign an extension. It doesn't behoove him to one hundred and twenty percent
raise off of his final salary. It doesn't even really get close enough to
his max to justify it. He's better off waiting and hitting free agency in
twenty twenty four. Maybe he signs a short term deal to account for when
the salary cap winfall actually comes, but he is going to wait, and
so it will be shocking if he doesn't become an unrestricted free agent, and
if he has given any inclination that he plans to leave or explore the market.
Yes, I do think that would incentivize the Celtics to go after Kevin
Durant, and most of this stuff, it's like, is coming from the
Nets, but Boston is mentioned as one of the three teams with Toronto and
Miami who's most heavily involved. I think that more so speaks to where Durant
either wants to go and there were reports that he has now views Boston as
an actual destination per snyse Ian Begley. And then there's also just the Nets
know that a Boston package built around Jalen Brown. Perhaps that drives up the
offers of other teams that are in this, like the Phoenix Suns, or
maybe if the Pelicans decide to get involved. That being said, I think
from Boston's perspective, you have to kick the tires because it's Kevin Durant and
he gives you basically everything of what you were missing when you're looking at the
NBA Finals, All of a sudden, there's a trickle down effect where he's
drawing most of the defensive focus and maybe you're talking about, oh, Jayson
Tatum was the best player in the NBA Finals instead of KD is KD Dunn.
That discourse surrounded by Jalen and Tatum was just absolutely horrible. Jalen was
better than Tatum statistically in the finals. Is Jalen is good in the finals.
If Jason Tatum isn't the sole focus, not the soul, but the
primary focus of Golden staty no. And so people in the YouTube comments who
are telling me that Jason Tatum is not a franchise player, I want to
stop short of telling you to stfu, but like Jason Tatum is a franchise
player. If you don't think he's top ten, that's fine. I'm not
saying you have to think he's the top ten player in the league. He's
a superstar though. So moving on from that, but yes, if the
Celtics think that Jalen Brown is going to leave, that absolutely isn't incentive to
go harder after Kevin Rant, who's under contract for longer, even though you're
giving up you know, eight nine years at this point, getting eight nine
years older in addition to giving up other players. What does help, though,
is it seems like Kevin Durant is trying to leverage on the Celtics behalf
by saying he wants to play with Marcus Smart and so there needs to be
more salary and steal to make it work. It's not going to be Jason
Tatum. It's not going to be Robert Williams. The third maybe the Nets
ask about him, but I would be shocked if Boston acquiesced to that.
If it was just RW three and Brown, no draft equity, maybe,
but if you also want draft equity on top of that, you're probably looking
at Derek White or once he can be aggregated again, Malcolm Brogden, and
so by Katie saying he wants to play with Smart, you're kind of ensuring
that you don't have to give up Smart in that deal. I don't know
that Kevin Duran's can end up with the Celtics. They do feel like a
more possible destination they did at the beginning of this. My bet is still
Phoenix or Miami, just because I think megastars tend to get where mega stars
want to go and those were first two options. Still, Leland, you're
right. I think you hit it on the head that there might be more
of an incentive for Boston to be in this if they don't think that Jalen
Brown wants to stick around long term, and look, he should, he
might be pissed off at this point because he kind of became It was never
actually sourced that the Celtics were shopping him in the middle of the year when
they were struggling, but that was the I would call it the low hanging
through discussion of oh, should you break up the Jay's and if you're going
to do that, you're trading Jalen Brown. And now you're actually being mentioned
in trade rumors when you just made the finals and came within two victories of
a title. So I could see why that would frustrate him. He's also
one of the smartest players in the league. He understands that this is a
business. If they're going to pay him max money or his market value and
hit free agency, I can't imagine you definitely need to worry about him being
this massive flight risk. Harry asked if the young guys on the Blazers really
pop at Anthony Simons nos Little used as examples Shade and Sharp. I think
we could thrown there as well. What's their ceiling in the West. This
is tough because I think even if we're assuming really good health from Dame and
Jeremy Grant and nurkicch and you want to include leaps for Anthony Edwards and nos
Little And look, nos Little was very good before his injury. He brings
like this just explosive energy to the table as a rebounder, a little bit
of a multi positional defender, a play finisher on offense closer to the basket.
You're not going to trust his perimeter game just yet. And then Anthrey
Simons is just I think he did a lot better as a playmaker last year
and that he can lead some units on his own more than he could before.
But his crowning skill is just that off the dribble shooting, he is
lights out when he's done that. And so I think that the Blazers at
full Stra are probably better than people think. They seem like they're set up
to succeed defensively, Yeah, you're gonna have to run some like base maybe
overly orthodox coverages with Nurkisch in the middle, but that can work in drop
coverage, or you can get really creative and are you downsizing a little bit
and you're trying out Jeremy Grant at the five and you have Josh harton Gary
Payton a second on the court with him, then Damian Lillard and Anthony Simons,
or Damian Lillard and someone else, or Simons and someone else. So
I think that this could be a better defensive team than people believe. And
if you have Dame and I would say Anthony Simons at this point, if
they're both healthy, you're probably looking at a top ten offense when you get
into the Western Conference. Though, if we're going to assume good health for
the Blazers, let's do it for everyone else. Here are the teams that
I do not think the Blazers have a chance of passing next year. Phoenix,
Denver, the Clippers, and the Warriors. Those are the teams that
I don't think they could pass, and so I will put their ceiling at
fifth in the West. Now, if you ask me whether I prefer the
Pelicans or the Timberwolves to the Blazers, I probably prefer both teams at this
point. Do I prefer the Grizzlies with the Blazers? It's close. I'm
way too low on the Grizzlies. I apologize Memphis fans. Do I prefer
Dallas the Blazers? I think I prefer the Blazers at this point, and
so Sacramento were the Blazers. I think I give the Blazers the slight edge
there as well. So well, a lot of things need to go right,
and there are teams that I don't think they're going to pass if everything
goes according to plan or works out in Portland's favor, I don't think it's
outside the realm of possibility that not only are they the bona fide playoff team,
but they're kind of comfortably in there as that top five spot. And
if we're talking about the four teams, I just named Denver, Phoenix,
Golden State, and the Clippers as teams that if there's a team that I
think the Blazers could outperform, I honestly don't even know what it is like.
I think people are probably too low on the Suns right now, just
because they didn't change anything up majorly yet this offseason. Kevin Durant rumors pending
of course, Golden State, the fact that they're taking a lot of chances
on their or presumably gonna take chances with their youth by maybe playing Wiseman,
coming to Moses Moody Moore, could they be a weaker regular season team,
I don't know, I, like I said, I can't envision Portland passing
any of those four teams. I think I'll just go with Denver or the
Clippers because there's combustibility there with their injuries more so than there is in Golden
State. And you could or Phoenix and you could say, oh, well,
James Watson has been injured a ton. If James Wiseman's not playing,
there's a chance that Golden State is actually better off, just because there's a
learning curve there for Wiseman since he's played so few NBA games. That's a
great question, Harry. I don't know. I have to you know,
I'm saving this from when I really have to go on record with Bleacher Report,
but also as we get into later podcast in the off season, as
I try to make my record hierarchy, my championship hierarchy. I don't know
where I'm gonna put the Blazers. They're They're a tough cookie, right up
there with the Pelicans for me, and then I'm going to be absolutely just
out of my mind when I get to the Eastern Conference. What do you
think, Harry or Blazers fans, what is your Let me know in the
comments on YouTube or on Twitter. What you think they're sealing is if they're
going to be or discord join our discord. What the Blazers ceiling is if
if they're fully healthy all year, and I would look, I think Afrey
Simons is going to get even better, and I just I don't trust Noss
Little's health right now, and I'm very curious to see what the Blazers get
from Shade and Sharp, assuming he's healthy, and how much they play him.
I'm just looking at the roster in totality and think that could be a
fifth seed in the West if everything goes right. Austin has three questions.
I'm going to answer all of them. We discussed some of these on the
side. Let's start with this one. What do you think the odds are
of Bennedic Matherin being Rookie of the Year given a skill set and opportunity.
I'm actually gonna sandwich this with another question about my dark horses to win Rookie
of the Year. That one came from Jake g as Well. Let's just
start with Bennednick Matherin. Do I think he could win Rookie of the Year.
There's going to be opportunity Indianna. They're very clearly rebuilding, and Tyrese
Haliburton's kind of your one A at this point, and then everything feels wide
open after that, when you're looking at the offensive pecking order, maybe you
think Chris da Warte will get more touches is just being more established and definitely
being older. I get that. I vibe that that's it after that,
though, I mean, like you don't have to allocate a certain number of
touches to t J McConnell, or to JAYN Smith or to Buddy Healed.
I mean Smith and Buddy Healed specifically, and even Miles Turner. Those are
gonna be guys that play off the ball, and you look at the rest
of this roster like, you're not gonna have ohe Brissette on the ball.
A Ton, You're not gonna have if you're even playing him, Aaron E.
Smith on the ball, a Ton, and so Mathren. If we're
really thinking about this, should be no worse than the third option on the
pacers. And we know that there's a lot that goes into the Rookie of
the Year and the Rookie of the Year discussion this season included some really high
level discourse, I thought, and so it will go beyond just usage.
But if you're not having these dominant campaigns from the top three picks this year,
which I'm not gonna say you might not because they're all bigs, but
you look at them and their offensive roles could be is it the word tainting
like restricted a little bit? Just based off the teams are on and how
offensive ecosystems tend to work, that might open the door for a lot of
these guys outside the top three. And so I would throw Benn nick mathin
up there. I'm without even looking at the betting odds Rookie of the year.
If he's like a plus, like you know, if he's fifteen to
one, feels like that might be a fair return. Maybe that's even not
giving him enough credit looking at what he did in Summer League, the separation
that he can create off the dribble, some of him just the off the
dribble looks that he hit from beyond the arc, and his ability to score
at all the different levels. I'm not sure. I definitely didn't understand,
but I only get shin deep, maybe knee deep into draft coverage right ahead
of it. I didn't know that he was like such a had such on
ball upside, and that's clearly there. Just based off what I swore in
some league and going back and watching some of his college film, a lot
of people thought he would be predominantly this offball threat. But there's also like
value in that if you trust him to be and in motion away from the
ball, how how's Rick Carlisle going to use him in in that regard?
I think he could play off sorry s Haliburton really well. I think he
can be in lineups. I don't know how it will look defensively, but
if you want to play Duarte and Haliburton and Mathred at the same time,
so that's going to help him. I think the defensive role he plays,
if they very much decide that, hey, we're gonna slot you at the
two and we're gonna stagger him, and it's a ton that could benefit him.
But maybe there's also just like, oh, he's defending like more bigger
wings than we thought he could, especially right off the bat, that could
help him. Guess what I'm trying to say is like the highest range outcome
for him feels a lot higher to me than it did when they first drafted
him, and it has nothing to do with the pacers set up, just
it's off of watching him. And so I think he has as good a
chance of anyone outside those top three players that we're going to gravitate, you
know, Jabari Smith, you and your Chet home Grin and Paalo bank Carro.
I think he has as good a chance of anyone. And the opportunity
in Indiana, I think you can be on offense, you can argue is
going to be greater than maybe even bag Harrow gets in Orlando, certainly than
Homegrin gets in Oklahoma City, probably Jamar Smith Junior Houston, who knows.
But so I think he has that going for him a viable Rookie of the
Year candidate. He would not be my pick at the moment, but I
think would he be my top five, definitely be my top seven. I
think at this point I don't know if he would be in my top five,
but if you put him in your top five, I wouldn't argue with
you, like, not even the slightest j g as outside of the top
three players, who is your dark horse candidate for Rookie of the Year.
And so I try to think really outside the box here and I stipulated that
I can't pick any of the top seven players, and I didn't even want
to focus on like, oh well, then I'll just default to like eight
and we'll just go with Dyson Daniels and so on and so forth. I
also don't know what Dyson Daniels the opportunity is going to be like in New
Orleans. So I looked at Houston, and I could see Terry Eason just
based off what he could do as a wing and in heavy minutes that I
assume that he'll get, I could see it being him. I could also
see it if maybe Houston gets away from Kevin Porter Junior a little bit.
Do they move him, do they try to make him just the specific microwave
type score where they don't task him with any facilitation duties. Do you get
Tai Tai Washington in here? I think most people will push back against that.
I could see one of those Houston guy sort of merging here. My
actual pick would be Jeremy Sohan from the Spurs. Just a really smart player
and if he's going to be healthy, I think will already be a defensive
disruptor. If the jump shot comes along, and now the chip England's not
there anymore. Maybe you don't think that's going to be the case. If
he's better than expected as a jump shooter. This is just someone that I
think has a much higher ninetieth ninety nine percent to outcome than people even crediting.
Right now. I don't think people believe that the Spurs picked up this
potential cornerstone. And look, if I'm ranking the players that are most important
to the Spurs the future, I think I might have Josh Primo ahead of
him, and maybe even Devin Vassel, but he's sort of right there.
I think I would argue that Sohan's ceiling is higher than what we even have
from Kelton Johnson, who just signed that four year, eight million dollars extension.
And Kelvin Johnson is really fucking good. So I'm gonna go with Jeremy
sow In there. I don't know if he's going to make my actual like
Rookie of the Year ladder and when I do it, but I think that
he's someone if we're assuming that San Antonio is all in on this rebuild,
they're going to give him some serious agency this year, and I think that
that could then be parlayed into the counting stats that's necessary to get attention,
but then also just the effectiveness to gain even more momentum from them, and
people start to dig into you and see, oh, this is a really
impact rookie who maybe is defending better than most other rookies, and maybe if
they really dig deeper, they'll see that, oh, this is someone who
makes really quick passes and he's not a ball stopper at all, and maybe
they're running even some just stand still half court sets through him. So I'm
excited to watch him play, and not just because I love his hair.
He was hoping that he is healthy. I think he was dealing with a
shoulder injury or something. Some really words the health and safety protocols. I
don't know. It's all blurring together. Austin's next question, do you think
the Kings actually have a chance to slash will make the playoffs or at least
the playing game this season? Yes, they have a chance. Am I
going to pick them to be in the playoffs? No? Well I picked
them to be in the play in probably not. Like, let's what teams
in the Western Conference are worse than the King without beyond a shadow of a
doubt, right, now Utah, I feel like it's going to get there.
The Spurs want to be there. Okay, see could still be there.
I think I would just keep an eye. Okay, see they are.
They might be just understatedly good. Here, that's three teams and then
Houston. I think you're still putting there. So that's four which look now
you're kind of looking at that. We have twelve thirteen, fourteen to fifteen.
You only need to beat out one other team then if you're the Kings
to be in the play in here's the issue is that team Dallas, Denver,
Golden State, the Clippers, the Lakers, the Grizzlies, the Timberwolves,
the Pelicans, Like it's really crowded in the Western Conference, the Blazers,
the Suns. It's really crowded in the Western Conference. I don't think
I'm gonna pick the Kings as of now to make the play in tournament.
I do think they've built a very interesting roster. I am all in on
the Keegan Murray pick, especially as a fit. I'm wondering how this team
is going to carve out enough defense. As Matt Moore of Action Network did
say, though, there are worse models than the Iron Fox domas bonus and
quote a fuck ton of shooting. I just I'm looking at this roster and
it's okay, Like Molik Monk is kind of exciting, and he's gonna put
some pressure on set defenses and drill a bunch of threes. Kevin Hurd another
motion shooter. You have Harrison Barnes is I guess you're him and Damian Mitchell
your best defenders? Does Kegan Murray work his way into that discussion? You
need the Iron Fox to maybe have the best defensive season of his career.
At this point, the roster's got like some depth to it again, especially
on offense. Just to have Rashaun Holmes as your backup five right now is
beyond a luxury and I would argue just the misallocation of assets, but I
digress there. So I don't think I think it's very eminently possible that they
may the play in tournament. I'm not going to pick them to win the
play in Tournament, and I'm not even sure that I'm going to pick them
to be one of the top ten teams in West because as of right now,
I only feel confident in saying and I don't even feel one hundred percent
confident in this. But okay, see Utah, Houston and San Antonio the
only teams that are going to definitively be worse than Sacramento next season. Final
question from Austin, who are your some of your picks for first time All
Stars this year? Mine would be Darren Fox or Zion in the West and
in the East, I got Cade and bold pick John Collins. Two things.
I don't think John Collins is a bold pick. I think with the
Jante Murray and Trey Young there, and then you do have Clint Capella eating
up some of those minutes at the five to where Collins might be best student
on offense is the primary screener. I get that concern, but that's a
good pick. Zion also already made in All Star Games, so I'm not
going to include him in mind. Darren Fox is a good one. He's
look he played I can all start to close the season, and he's had
half season long stretchers, three quarters season long stret which is where he's looked
apart of an All Star. So it wouldn't shock me if he gets there.
If I had to pick one from each conference, I really want to
pick Tyres Maxie from the East. But as Austin and I are actually discussing,
he put up wild numbers with James Harden, Joel and b last year,
but do those sort of sustain I could see him work. He's way
into the discussion, though Kay Cunningham is of course a good one. I
think Evan Mobley belongs in there. I'm going to go with Kay Cunningham and
I'll follow that up with fuck it, let's be bald. I'm gonna say
Tyres Maxie putting that over Scottie Barnes or Nevin Mobley is probably stupid, but
I'm just gonna throw that out there. For the West, I'm gonna just
say shake Yosoxander. I think this might be the third year, and predicting
his first All Star Piers, it's definitely the second one. That dude is
just so good and if they actually let him play and he doesn't get injured
and this, granted this isn't as big of it. I think he had
an injury last year, so this isn't as big of an issue. When
you're looking at pre All Star break. Now that they kind of have some
I don't know if they have enough floor balance around him, but they definitely
have more weapons around him. I could see him being a little bit more
efficient than he was this past year. It did seem like Oklahoma City sort
of clunky set up took its toll on his efficiency and his not overall production,
but just his efficiency in the way his shot selection last year, I
should say so. But Darren Fox is also a good one. I'm trying
to think of if there's anyone else in the West that would just spring to
mind for me, and I don't think there is right off the bat,
So yeah, I'm going with So we're settling on shakilas Auxander in the West,
and I'm going to go with Kate cutting him in the Eastern conference with
keep your eye on Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, look Tyres Maxie. I
even think John Collins is probably a good one, but those would be names
to keep an eye on, and certainly out west you have Darren Fox in
there, and I don't I honestly can't think of like someone else that would
like Jordan Pool is not going to crack that discussion this year for Golden State.
I'm probably forgetting at least someone like what could Anthony Simon's maybe go Kaboom
is that someone we should really be were watching as a first time All Star.
I can't get there at the moment. Michael Porter Junior if he's healthy,
and I'll get to him in sort of a second, and something that's
tangentially related to that. So those might be some other names just to keep
an eye on. Great questions, Austin, and thank you for all of
them. Kaide asked, whom are you targeting in an NBA expansion draft?
Just players in general or favorite starting five? This question we had something similar
a while back, and I always put way too much thought into it because
the expansion rules are so they're not complicated, but they make it hard to
kind of decide who would be available. Every team can protect up to eight
players in an expansion draft, and you kind of have to think through,
Okay, well, if you're going to the ninth best player and everyone's roster,
this isn't gonna be fun. But there are players who have contracts that
would teams want to ditch or get rid of, of course, Russell Westbrook.
But like so, one of my picks in here that I think would
be a sure fire pick is a Mike Conley for me, just slotting him
at point guard. Do the Jazz do they think they can get value from
on the trade market or because he owed so much this year and then guaranteed
almost fifteen million in twenty three twenty four and they're rebuilding, would they just
make him available in an expansion draft rather than protect him. It's tough because
like when you go eighteep on their roster, like, yeah, Donovan,
Mitchell, Walker, Kessler, They're also gonna have Jared Vanderbilt. They're probably
protecting those guys over him. But do you, like, are you still
thinking that you can get value out of Mike Conley or just view him as
a good salary matching to I'm gonna pendil in Mike Conley here. I also
have Gordon Hayward as one. I think that the Hornets would probably want to
get rid of his deal. Maybe not so much given that we don't know
what's happening with Miles Bridges the future, but so I have him penciled in
here as well. That is Gordon Hayward the one I thought about, and
I don't think they would do it, But if the Nuggets have the opportunity
to just get off of Michael Porter Junior's money. Would they unprotect him in
an expansion draft rather than have that basically five year max extension, which there
are some protections for them, there are partial guarantees on the back end.
I don't think they would do it, so I'm not gonna pick him,
but he is someone I having question marks on my sheet that I'm staring at
right now. So so far, if Mike Conley, Gordon Hayward, this
was interesting, I have Cavan Loooney as my center because when you start to
look at it for Golden State, if they can protect up to eight players,
they're gonna have to use every one of those protections. I'm saying definitely
Steph Clay, Wiggins and Draymond that's four. You definitely protect Cominga and Pool
that's five. And six. I'm assuming you protect Wiseman. You don't just
leave him on protecting an expansion draft that's seven and so were you protecting Moses
Moody or Cavan Looney there? I don't know. Maybe you're protecting Loudy,
but I'm picking I'm picking Cavan Loudy because I think he'd be the one that
they'd be more inclined just to protect the wing rather than the big So I
have Cavan Loony, Gordon Hayward, and Mike Conley right now. I thought
about Tobias Harris here, but I don't need to go that much all offense.
I think I'm gonna go with I'm assuming Marcus Moore Senior wouldn't be protected
by the Clippers. Maybe I'm wrong there, but they have all the wings
and I think they should open up playing time for a mere coffee. And
then I'm I'm kind of torn between Eric Gordon or Josh Richardson. Give me
whoever is less likely to be protected by their team. I think for my
roster, Josh Richardson might make more sense at the same time having the extra
element of shock creation from Eric Gordon. So I'm gonna go Mike Conley,
Eric Gordon Hayward, Marcus Moore Senior and Cavan Loody I gave. I really
thought maybe I should figure out a way to get ken rich Williams in here,
if I could have him over Gordon or Richardson, that like two spot,
even though Kendrick Williams isn't the two that's what's tough for me, And
maybe if you think that Gordon's going to be protected, I think, Okay,
see there's a chance they protect ken Rich Williams, But they also have
enough youngsters on the roster that you could get eight deep pretty quickly. So
I'm probably at Mike Conley and then Eric Gordon or ken Rich Williams, Marcus
Moore Senior, Gordon Hayward and and kvon Loody. That's a fascinating question,
Kade. Let me know anyone with their expansion would be and I'll let you
know whether I think those players would be protected. Do you think that I
chose anyone that would be protected in an expansion draft as well? The Michael
Porter junior question to me is fascinating. Maybe a little bit less so now
that we're closer to the season and it's like, oh, he's gonna be
healthy, Jamal Murray's healthy. They added Bruce Brown and KCP like this is
the year that the Nuggets are are going for it, Kayden asked, with
Katie reiterating that the Nets need to choose him or the franchise leadership, Nash
and Marks. It seems like Katie will be traded if when this trade happens,
what should the Nets do not this year, but the following year in
twenty three twenty four, go tank mode or push for the playoffs with Simmons.
So they should not go tank mode because they owe their twenty twenty four
draft pick outright to Houston this year. I think you tank because, and
I know this wasn't your question, but just to get that on the record,
you tank this year because it's a swap with Houston. You sho should
still be pretty bad. So even if you have the worst record, you're
still looking at high lottery pick next year. Though your first round pick is
Ody Houston, free and clear. I don't think you tank on purpose.
With that said, I liked what the Nets did when they were first taken
over by Marks. They decided those picks are out the window. They were
gonna build their roster oil they see fit. They weren't going to make these
short sighted wind now moves to just ensure that the picks they were sending to
Boston were a little bit less valuable. So I could see them sort of
pivoting to the all in youth movement anyway, if that's the route they decided
to go. Given that what we've heard about the Durant return that they are
sort of focusing on a player as a centerpiece rather than just all the picks,
and it seems like they want players en picks. We'll see what they
wind up settling for. I think what you do is you try and go
for it around Ben Simmons. I don't think you do anything to short circuit
your future. Go spend on dumb free agents and signing trades, or make
these other trades where whatever draft equity you're getting from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant
trades, you're then flipping for like mediocre players like a Gordon Heyward. But
look, if you want to keep Royce O'Neil, if you want to keep
Seth Curry and put them around Ben Simmage, want to keep Joe Harris,
I don't think it needs to be a full on sell off, in large
part because look, yeah, do the one year tank, but in large
part because I don't know that you're good enough anyway for it to matter.
But it's mostly just that you already owe your twenty four pick to Houston outright,
so tanking doesn't really do anything for you. That being said, I
think the right call here, Kayden is you evaluate your team, build your
team, operate as if those picks they're gone, it's whatever to Houston.
So if that if you need to hit reset and you want to trade everyone,
including Simmons, and like accumulate all these other picks from other teams,
I'm totally fine with them going that route. But I would like to see
if we do get Kyrie Irving, Kemn Durant trades. I just want to
see what a team looks like when it's sort of built around Ben Simmons.
Can we get fuck ton of shooting around Ben Simmons. I don't think that
that's going to be as nearly as effective as some people think they honest comparisons
are always absolutely terrible. But I still think Simmons is a damn good NBA
player. He's a fantastic All World defender, and he's an all world passer
as well, And so if you put the ball in his hands and everyone
else around him, it's sort of supplementary. You're dealing with just a lot
of good floor spacers. There might be something to that. And then because
yeah, there's there's really no like virtue in getting these lower level playoff berths
or sneaking into the plane. But if you're getting these other picks that you're
holding onto from other teams, that's how you get your bites at the draft.
Apple In I will say, if Kevin Durant, Kyrie Vernon are gone
this upcoming year, unless they're getting like Jamon Brown or brandon ingram Back or
just someone else that we're not talking about, I think that they need to
go for the one year tank and then sort of try to reboot things quicker
in twenty three twenty four. That's a really good question, though. Kayden
mo hayde Is Spare asked what's a better shot at top of the ark three
or a free throw line mid ranger. I think context is important here.
If you're telling me, is it just a foul shot when the whistle's dead,
the ball's dead, Yeah, it's the foul shot. But I think
it's just universally you're gonna say the above the break three pointer, and it
could. It depends on who is taking the shot. It depends on the
context of the shot. But look, the league average on above the break
threees was one point zero four seven points per shot this year on from fifteen
feet out. This season, the average was point eight one eight points per
shot. If fifteen feets about the distance of the free throw line to the
rim on just long mid rangers, so if you want to expand pass the
free throw line a little bit, the average was point eight point two points
per shot. And I think what we're learning is that the types of shots
you're taking are directly the result of the floor geometry. And so when you're
taking above the break three pointer, you're most likely opening the floor more because
you can. It's not necessarily this off the dribble difficult look. It's you
can be at a stand still there. If you're at a stand still on
the free throw line, I don't know what type of defense is like going
to like that's going to be effective against. And that's sort of when we
talk about no, the mid range isn't dead. If you're saying a self
created look that ends up being wide open from the foul line jumper. There
are certain players if it's like the are to Rosen maybe Chris Paul, that
you prefer that over a catch and shoot above the break three or a pull
up above the break three. I still think for the most part it's the
top of the RC three whatever you want to call it, or an above
the break three just because there are more options there. You're not gonna get
catch and shoot jumpers from the foulon, and if you are, I'm gonna
question how your offense is being run. For sure. Let's wrap things up
with this fun question from FNF devon should I put all my money on one
spot at the roulette table or save up for a house? You guys think
that I want to answer these these joke questions that are maybe tralling us.
You should absolutely put all your money on the roulette table because you can double
up and where else are you gonna get one hundred percent of your investment back?
Think about how long it's going to take you to save up for a
house, especially in this housing market. I am fucking kidding. Please save
up for a house. Save in general, do not put all your money
on the one spot in the roulette table. That would just be an absolute
nightmare. And also, as I'm kind of looking at this clock, I
have time for at least one more question, So let's get to this from
Chris Curtis on YouTube Love the Show. In the mailbag, You're the man.
Thank you, Chris. If you got to change a decision that Nicks
have made in the past decade. What would it be As a Sons fan,
It's pretty easy that might do over would be selecting Luca number one,
But a strong honor mention would have been taking Tyrese Halibert and over John Smith.
Yeah, that one's stung. I'm not gonna lie. That's a great
that's a great question, Chris. For the Knicks specifically, I can't even
pick they should have Amnesty Amari Stadomier because that's more than a decade away at
this point. I might just like point to one of the draft routes not
taken. What if they had gone with Shay Gilgi Alexander instead of Kevin Knox
in that draft? What does the trajectory of this franchise look like if they
go that route? I think, look, fans aren't gonna be wondering this
as much either. And I don't think this needs to be the biggest do
over because I still have Hope and he's been very good and limited minutes.
But just like, what if instead of Obie top and you went with Tyrese
Halibert would sort of be a fun one. So I'm trying to lean more
more recent here, and there are a bunch of other draft decisions from the
Knicks we could relitigate they buy a Mars drafted pretty well when they've been like
especially like with their later first round picks in recent years. But I think
it would be just because I'm so high on Chekuilersoxander, and I vum as
this all MBA player. When is the last time that the Knicks had that
player consistently level of player at the one or the two spot. Really,
I think if you hope that RJ. Barrett turns into the all MBA type
player at the two, Shakuiler Stoxander can be more of the engine of an
offense, and so that Kevin Knox. I think it's easy to zero went
on that too, just because Kevin Knox went all the way bust and it
doesn't even have to be Shay like I might have. You would have rather
have had Michael Porter Junior than Kevin Knox, even with his injuries. You
certainly Mchael Bridges of course, that draft, it felt like there were a
lot of options, and sometimes I feel like the Knicks have overthought it when
they're higher up, and yeah, when it's a no brainer pick, or
again the value they've mined out of the later rounds of the draft. But
sometimes it's just like, hey, you've needed a primary ball handler, facilitator,
whatever, like pole star for your offense. Just take the player that
has a chance in hell of becoming that, rather than out smarting yourself with
Oh look at the talent of Kevin Knox, where yeah he had a good
summer league, but it was wildly inefficient. I don't think anyone actually thought
he was going to be a primary offensive engine at the time. And so
that's the one that sticks with me. I don't know if I'm living Knicks
fans, if you're listening fellow Knicks fans, I don't know if that's like
too recent, but the Shay Gilders Alexander miss still stings a lot for me,
and like, if we're able to redo like history with ping pom balls,
then yeah, it would be nice if they won the Zion Williamson draft
or the Karl Anthony Towns draft, But I'm looking at it from decisions that
they could probably control. And no, if you're asking do I, why
don't I focus on the Donovan Mitchell draft and why could would they drafted Frankielkeena.
I won't go there because Frankielkeena is an all time great. This was
a lot of fun. I'm actually proud of myself for doing this and under
very well under an hour. Please remember a rate review and subscribe to the
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As always, though, remember to never leave this podcast before giving a
shout out to one the only the regret that I will never have. For
the next day in amat number eight, frank Meila Keen