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What is crack blac in filo thermonuclear
a Efforts. I am Dan Valley coming

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at you with another mailbag episode,
going at it solo as we tend to

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do with mailbags. What we're here. Best way to join in on the

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of good conversations happening there. Very
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Before we do dive into the mailbag, I will have we'll get to some

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news. Grant and I will do
this. I think we'll have an episode

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going up on Thursday. This is
going up on Wednesday morning, so we'll

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hit some more injury notes, LaMelo
ball, more news like that. Warriors

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suffered a bunch of injuries on Tuesday
night. But I thought there were two

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that we're worth talking about here.
We'll start with Mark Cuban sold a majority

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steak in the Dallas Mavericks. They
were evaluated at three point five billion.

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Now, to be clear, by
him selling a majority steak, I'm assuming

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that means he's selling at least fifty
point one percent, and so he's not

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getting three point five billion dollars.
He is still let's just assume he's going

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to sell half, so we're at
one point seventy five billion, just using

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that as a flat number. He
initially bought his steak for two hundred and

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eighty five million. I believe he's
clearing a lot of money here. He

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is selling it to the what Miriam
Addelson, Uh, she's she's from the

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family of a loss. She is
a Las Vegas billionaire, excuse me,

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and she is a majority stakeholder I
believe in Las Vegas Sands. She is

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liquidating about two billion dollars worth of
the company stock in the Las Vegas Sands

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Corp. That's about ten percent of
her steak in the company, and that's

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to fund the purchase of this.
Now, what's interesting about this is Mark

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Cuban is going to retain his He
is considered again the primary stakeholder in the

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Dallas Mavericks, and he's been that
for basically twenty five years. At this

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point, he is selling his significant
steak. But and this is all pending

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league approval. It is expected to
be vetted. However, he would retain

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a stake in the franchise, and
he would also retain operational control of all

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the team's basketball dealings. As Mark
Stein framed it on his thumb stack,

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that's a pretty huge friggin deal.
What's also interesting about this is that Cuban

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has been among the most outspoken advocates
for casino gaming. I don't even want

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to say expansion in Texas, but
wants, you know, casino gaming to

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happen in Texas. He believes it
would make it more of a tourist destination

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than it is right now. And
he has talked about how he has dreams

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of sort of opening a Dallas Mavericks
arena that has a casino attached. And

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now the fact that he is selling
to someone who is so involved in the

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Las Vegas Sanscorp, who a company
that has been kind of at the forefront

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of If you go and look and
read some of the stuff when you talk

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about Texas and casino gaming and sports
gambling, they're a company that is routinely

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mentioned. So I don't know that
this portends anything about the future of casino

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or sports gambling in Texas. You
know, all the stuff you read says

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that it's not really a priority.
And there's the whole Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick

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who remains forahe emily against it.
I just find it a little interesting that

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this is the person that he is
selling it to. We will see if

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it goes through to Miriam Maddilson again. It is expected to go through.

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It just feels like a very It's
an interesting sale, interesting timing as well,

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but he is selling at the peak
of where these franchises are getting valuations

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at. I think the Mavericks were
by Forbes the seventh most expensive or lucrative

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franchise in the NBA at the start
of this season, and so he is

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capitalizing on that financial investment, securing
part of his own future, but still

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just retaining operational control, which is
great news for Dwight Powell, who will

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I'm assuming you get a lifetime deal
from the Dallas Mavericks after this season.

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That's That's really about it for now. We have to wait and see if

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more details will come up. But
I'm very curious to see how this set

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up really works. I want to
know how much of a steak he is

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selling, how much of a steak
is is he retaining? And I want

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to know, like does this one. The casino stuff is semi interesting to

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me. It's an inevitability in every
state. I would say most, I

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would say the vast majority of states. There are thirty eight states now I

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believe that have some form of legal
sports betting, and when you look at

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just casino gaming, and sports betting. There are may be one, two,

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three, four states that you could
argue will never have sports betting or

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something. It feels like an inevitability
everywhere else, and so that is interesting.

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Does this portend anything to happen with
the future of casino gambling in Texas?

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I have no idea does the same
thing about Mark Cuban's plans, though

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you would think it certainly does if
he's selling a quote unquote significant stake in

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this team that he's been synonymous with
essentially since he bought it, and he

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is probably the highest profile owner in
the league. I know that Steve Bomber

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gets a lot of shot, and
then you kind of have James Dolan and

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Jerry Reinsdorf as you know, owners
that are lampooned a lot by the public.

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And there's Joe lacub of course,
but he's kind of just like you

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know, and part of that is
Shark Tank and how he made his money

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and how he doesn't. I don't
know a frame is this portplake. He

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is courtsided every game, and he's
the jeans and T shirt kind of guy,

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so people think that they can relate
to him, even though I mean

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that's right. Frankly, they really
can't just I find it interesting on so

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many levels. We'll see if the
set up works. But I think this

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is most interesting because it has to
say something about Cuban's future with the team.

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He might retain operational control, but
he's sixty five. Does he plan

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on doing this long term? Do
a lot of people use this, Oh,

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we are they worried about Luca leving
and he just wants to get out,

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while while the getting is good,
I guess you could galaxy bringing it

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that way. I find it more
interesting on the level of what are his

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long term plans? And then two
does the same thing about the future of

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again casino gambling in Texas sports gambling
as well. The other piece of news

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we already talked about the Josh Giddy
stuff when it first came out. The

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Newport Beach Police Department is now officially
investigating these allegations against him that surfaced on

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social media, which and the Thunder
is still playing him. He played on

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Tuesday night. The Timberwolves fans and
the arena booed him every time he touched

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the ball. They cheered when he
did something really poorly. There was also

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Andrew Boget was talking on a podcast
about how apparently, Yeah, I don't

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know that I want to give this
credence just because of Andrew Bogant reliable source,

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but he had said that Giddy was
lied to about the miners age and

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that as soon as he found out, he sees contact with her, told

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the Thunder organization and like that was
kind of that until now. I guess

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that's unacceptable. If it's true,
then that's all of a sudden sanctioned by

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the league and the Thunder and we
don't ever hear anything about it. And

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now because it's I guess the Thunder
at least being consistent by not disciplining him,

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now we're telling him to be away
from the team or making him a

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healthy scratch by not doing that.
That's what they did apparently when they when

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they found out. I don't like
speculating on this, and it's just it's

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they're a minor. There's a minor
involved. I would say that even if

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the miner lied about her age,
if this happened over a year ago,

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which is what Andrew Bogick I've believe
said, what kind of freshman or sophomore

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looks the part of an eighteen or
nineteen year old. That's just will for

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willful ignorance at best, I would
claim it. We just need to wait

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for more details coming out. I'm
not going to ignore it entirely because I

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think it's important to talk about,
but I don't want to get into speculating

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and automatically calling him a scumbag without
knowing the details. I will say that

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it is just a terrible look right
now for the organization by probably playing him.

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I don't know who they're doing any
favors for. He didn't look good

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against Minnesota to begin with, and
these allegations are serious enough that we've had

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similar situations where there are not similar
allegations necessarily, but there have been allegations

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against players where they have been dispatched
away from the team. And is it

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because we don't have I mean,
I guess there was video evidence out there,

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but the lack of concreteness or of
a police report before this, is

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that just why they're keeping him around? Do they know something about this that

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we don't? Again, I'm really
the part of me, The most concerning

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part about this for me is one
I like just talking about someone who is

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a minor and that we've seen that
her information has been docks a bunch on

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the Internet, and then just also
the lack of like even by the NBA

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standards where everything can be very cryptic
when you're looking at that, We're gonna

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wait and see more from the Miles
Bridges stuff, or the Josh Primo stuff,

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or the Kevin Porter Junior stuff,
just to name some of the more

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recent incidents. It's just there were
still details and reporting kind of trickling out.

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There hasn't been a lot of follow
up reporting on this, and I

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know the Thunders are very buttoned up
organization. The fact that this was kept

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under wraps though maybe for a year, it's just also wild young comfortable.

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We'll see how it plays out.
He is currently a member of You knows

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he's not being a healthy scratch right
now. Does it ever get to that

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point? We don't know. What
does the investigation from the Newport Police Department

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find. I will say though,
just based off the fact that it has

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now been elevated to an official law
enforcement capacity, which again, if the

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Thunder knew about this at the time, like, shouldn't there been something done

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with actual law enforcement to put this
officially on the record. If they were

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truly even Giddy himself cared about doing
the right thing, and maybe they didn't.

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We don't know about it. But
the fact that this has now been

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elevated and this is just I'm not
a lawyer. Well, maybe we'll ask

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Grant about this, because Grant is
I don't know if anyone knows this,

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Grant's lawyer to my co host Grant
for anyone was watching or listening for the

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first time, well we can ask
him about this. Not a lawyer,

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but the fact that has now been
elevated to an official legal matter. I

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don't really understand why he's playing,
and it's not just a matter of the

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thunder need and the lead needed to
show that they're doing something I don't.

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I don't know who is benefiting from
having him play at the moment. Again,

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the lack of details leaves so many
some of the things open for interpretation,

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and that's pretty toxic in itself,
just that ambiguity there when you look

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at this social media commentary on it, and the final thing I'll say on

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this is adjacent to the fact people
going after ESPN's Malika Andrews for how she

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covered the Josh Giddy situation. Versus
the Brandon Miller draft comments that she made.

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I've watched the clips that were put
up and there, and I think

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the other one was a Miles Bridges
won. The third one that was up

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there, maybe it was Kevin Porter
Jr. They're all the same clip.

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She's just doing her job and relaying
the facts as we know them, and

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maybe adding some intel from things that
she has heard in every instance, and

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just people are telling on themselves as
bigots, as dipshits, as misogynists when

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they're claiming that she is treating Josh
Giddy differently because he's white. Now,

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is that happening within the media in
general? Is he getting more of the

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benefit of the doubt than a KPJ
than a Miles Bridges did. I can't

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speak to that. It's certainly possible
because the way that racial bias just works

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in this country. I'm not I
just don't think it's fair to single out

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Malika Andrews, of all people,
a black sports media member, for covering

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this differently when it's just there's there's
video evidence of it being the exact same

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thing. Her restating facts is not
communicating an opinion or ethering or ruining a

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moment. She didn't go on air
during the draft and talk about how Brandon

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Miller was you scum of the earth, even though he wasn't I guess,

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directly involved in the murder case.
She's just restating that he was like a

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person that was named in that case. And she did the same thing here

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with Josh Gideon. So there's been
consistency in that, And I understand if

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there's critiques on how the overall commentary
is forming. I already do not like

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what we're seeing on social media.
Again, this comes back to the just

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absurd ambiguity we're dealing with here where
these allegations are made and we just know

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nothing after the facts, aside from
now that they're being investigated. And this

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hearsay from Andrew bow who had said
on the thing, which is why I'm

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even kind of uncomfortable talking. Probably
maybe I shouldn't have given it credence,

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but I want to make sure they're
at least tackling it. Where he said

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that if I'm wrong, I will
apologize. If you're not one hundred percent

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sure, maybe you shouldn't say anything, which is why maybe I shouldn't even

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have talked about what Andrew Boget said, maybe that's not fair. Maybe that's

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not fair to Giddy or the alleged
miner involved here. It's not really fair

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to anyone. So if anyone's offended
by that, I apologize. But that's

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what's floating around now. You're seeing
on social media talking about how Giddy is

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in fact the victim, and that
just reaches a whole other level of toxicity.

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We need to wait and see a
resolution here. I do think though,

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because the police are officially involved in
at least some capacity, I don't

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I feel like Josh Giddy just shouldn't
be with the team at the moment,

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like, just even if it turns
out that he somehow is is I don't

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even want to use the word victim
in all this. He was just a

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knowing and didn't technically do anything wrong, like just pull him off the court

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right now, subjecting to what his
teammates are gonna have to deal with,

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what he is to deal with from
the crowds, the distractions that it kind

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of creates, I would think in
the arena they're not talking about it openly

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on broadcast. Just not a fan
of how this is handled it all,

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especially if it's been something that's been
ongoing for over a year. Again,

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we don't know the full details.
The danger of me commenting on it without

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actually knowing that I will say this
as usual to be brutally honest. There

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is no natural segue into actual basketball. But let's talk about basketball. We'll

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begin with the N season tournament is
topical and Austin had a question, what's

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happening with the N season tournament.
Pacers are undefeated and Clints the game at

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home. Also, there are six
teams making it through and who plays who

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East a winner versus West day or
all he'st versus East. Then championship is

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East versus West. So yeah,
the crux of it. Look, the

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rules are just there are eight teams
that advance. They have already advanced to

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the knockout rounds. Every team that
has the best standing in like the one

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of the six groups, they advanced. And then there were two wild cards

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that came from So let's deal with
the Let's just talk about the West.

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You have you have your groups,
and the winner of each groups then advances.

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There are then two wild cards from
the West that are going to be

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chosen. They were chosen by the
best record with the tiebreaker being point differential.

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From there, I know a lot
of people thought that if you're going

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outside the group, yeah, inside
the group, the tie breakers should be

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point differential. A lot of people
want to see that the tie breakers should

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be overall record on the season just
because you're dealing with outside groups. That's

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okay, I get it. The
matchups have been solidified though. However,

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after Tuesday night, and so we
have the Suns at Lakers, the Pelicans

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at the Kings, the Knicks at
the Bucks, and the Celtics at the

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Pacers, and so four teams from
each conference, we are now entering a

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single elimination territory. The schedule is
I believe they're going to play December Monday,

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so December fourth, and Tuesday December
fifth. So those are going to

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be those two subsets of games,
and then there'll be a semi finals and

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the a championshi and on those nights, as far as I can tell,

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because the NBA released a subsequent schedule
on these single elimination nights or the championship

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round, those are the only games
that are taking place. The actual championship

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is on Saturday, December ninth,
I believe, which would mean that the

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semifinals are going to be on Thursday, December sixth. If I'm misstating that,

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I do apologize, but I'm pretty
sure I did double check before I

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came on here and started rambling that
I am correct. And yeah, so

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there's a there's a SCHM Mortgage board
of games on Wednesday the sixth and Friday

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the eighth, and those are the
other twenty two teams that missed the quarterfinal

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round of the nd season tournament.
So that is really just just how it's

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working. And yeah, it is
December seventh is when the semifinals are taking

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place. So we will have the
first knockout round where on December fourth and

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fifth, where those four games are
taking place. Then on December seventh,

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we will have another pair of games
that will yield two teams remaining that will

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then play on December ninth. Now
the semifinals and the championships. So those

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final two sets of games December seventh, which is a Thursday, and December

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ninth, which is a Friday,
a Saturday, excuse me, those will

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be taking place in Las Vegas.
And I do think look, it's interesting

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the point differential became a thing when
we were when we were watching these games.

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It was let's look at the last
one the Golden State Kings won.

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If Golden State won by twelve plus, they would advance, but if the

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King's lost by fewer, by eleven
or fewer or just one, they would

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advance. They ended up actually winning, let alone e raising a large deficit.

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Golden State did have injuries to GP
two and Chris Paul, but they

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were just absolutely kind of just a
pathetic effort at points with the way they

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were turning the ball over. A
lot of fouls though in that game,

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and I thought some of them went
bad against the Warriors in the second half

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specifically. Still, that was just
they had such a big lead, there's

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no excuse for blowing that. So
that's really just how it works. You

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are staying in the same conference until
you get to championship and then it's East

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versus West. I hope that answered
your question, Austin. I hope just

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the end of it kind of clarified
this a little bit for you. I

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still find the point differential stuff interesting
because of what it kind of did.

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There were games within a games where
the look at Boston versus Chicago, the

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outcome was already we knew Boston was
going to win, but they were trying

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to drive up the score to change
the context of their placement in the n

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Season tournament. And I like that
stuff. I do think that if you

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went to a tiebreaker, some people
have argued this for the entire season looking

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at that record, I guess it
would increase the meaning of regular season games

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overall, So I would be open
to that idea, but I kind of

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like this. It made it chaotic
and really tough to follow. Where I

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wanted to laser in on OKC in
Minnesota, and that's the early game that

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I focused on the well, I
guess, not that it was at eight

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o'clock Eastern time. It was was
kind of in the second wave, but

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that's the game I wanted to zero
went on. But you're also kind of

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checking scores elsewhere, and it's always
like that to some extent. But I

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do find it easier when it wasn't
in this situation to kind of just focus

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on that singular game or two games, and so that made it chaotic,

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but that's part of this and it's
fun. We'll see if it takes.

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I really do think that it's done
that it's been a victory for its first

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year. I'm more intrigued to see
if we fast over three, four,

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or five years down the line,
is there more meaning ascribe to actually winning

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it? To this entire process process
of it. We've heard coaches talk about

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it, We've heard players kind of
talk about it. Some of them have

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been against it. That points where
Tatum and Derozen we're both sort of laboring

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the point differential thing. My advice
would just be play better than if you're

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worried about other teams scoring when you're
already down a ton. That's my whole

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thing, Like, just play better
from the jump and you're not in that

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situation, those minutes can actually matter. So I actually love the point differential

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tie breaker just because of what it
did to the final nine of games and

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what you're not just paying attention to
the outcome, you're paying attention to the

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types of outcomes. Makes it complex
to follow, And I will fully admit

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I wasn't necessarily tracking the in season
tournament standings throughout the entire year and the

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point differential different scenarios and stuff.
I kind of waited for it to play

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out, monitor it in real time. That was more that me just going

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through the inaugural motions of this entire
thing, and I think if this catches

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on, you'll be more invested in
the standings of these the point differential standing

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specifically before these games even take place. I think it's been for its debut

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year overall, I do think it's
been a very good experience. So that's

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where I'm at with that. We
can now move on to non in season

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tournament stuff, and we have a
pair of nix A Knicks questions. One

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00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,200
of those knicks Adjacment Jason. This
is from let's start with the one from

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00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:48,440
Austin Again. Should the grizz trade
for Mitchell Robinson The blocking of him and

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Triple J would be insane, Plus
they would get back that rebounding machine they

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are missing right now with Steven Adams. So yeah, I mean, if

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Mitchell Robinson is available, I would
say the Grizzly should excuse me, it's

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00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:03,960
late here, I'm yelling, should
absolutely take a look at him. They're

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not necessarily outfitted in disposable salary though. I mean, when you start to

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name the players that have to go
out to match Mitchell Robinson does not make

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a ton and you just run into
this problem with any trade he's making fifteen

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00:21:17,039 --> 00:21:19,559
point seven this year, that the
client's to fourteen point three next year,

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then the final years under thirteen after
that, which is pretty wild. And

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so that's just going to increase the
value of his contract the fact that it's

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00:21:27,079 --> 00:21:33,319
declining, But so is it.
Are they giving up Steven Adams expiring deal

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00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:36,559
in that? Are they giving up
Brandon Clark? Why would the Knicks want

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00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:38,720
his contracts when he's coming back from
an achilles injury and sign for multiple years?

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00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,440
What else are you attaching it to
make it worth the Knicks. While

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I can't see Mitchell Robinson actually being
available right now unless it's in a superstar

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trade, he is too important to
what the Knicks do, especially on offense.

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They are a team that I believe
that they've improved a little bit when

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you're looking at their shooting percentages from
short, mid range and at the rim,

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but they've been bad enough in those
spots specifically that they need what Mitchell

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Robinson is bringing to the table,
and so they're still dead last in rim

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percentage fifty seven point eight percent.
They're shooting thirty nine percent on twos between

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four and fourteen feet that ranks twenty
eighth and Now, so you look at

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what Mitchell Robinson is doing, and
he is grabbing rebounds on twenty three point

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00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,839
six percent of their two point misses
and sixteen point two percent of their three

333
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,640
point misses. When you look at
that short mid range area and rim area

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specifically, he's grabbing twenty point six
percent of their misses at the rim and

335
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twenty one point one percent of their
misses from short mid range. He's grabbing

336
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,319
thirty four percent thirty four point one
actually of their long mid range misses,

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00:22:48,799 --> 00:22:52,720
fifteen percent of their above the break
three misses, and nineteen point three percent

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00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,920
of their Oh I'm sorry, i'm
looking at their I'm actually looking at the

339
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,480
wrong one. He's grabbing twenty seven
point seven percent of their missus at the

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rim and twenty five point six percent
of their misses between four and fourteen feet.

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That's a guardantuan number when you consider
how poorly the Knicks are faring from

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00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:15,359
those ranges. The other thing is
second chance points are just a huge part

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00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,480
of what the Knicks are doing offensively
in general. Well, Mitchell Robinson is

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00:23:18,519 --> 00:23:21,880
on the court, and I did
cite this on the previous podcast, but

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00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:26,319
it's part of this mailbag question.
The Knicks are averaging when they have a

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00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:34,720
second chance possession, they're averaging about
one point zero about one point one points

347
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:40,799
per possession. With Mitchell Robinson on
the floor, that drops to point nine

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00:23:40,839 --> 00:23:44,519
to two points per possession when he's
off the floor. That's a massive drop

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offensive. He's just too important to
the way that they're faring right now.

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And I don't think that you'd be
willing to trade him unless it's part of

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00:23:52,279 --> 00:23:56,960
a megastar package because one your season, if it was this season, was

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going down the toilet. He wasn't
playing that well. Maybe talkers off.

353
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,359
Oh, the Grizzly send salary and
then a bunch of picks. That's not

354
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,400
where the Knicks are at right now, and they don't need the Mitchell Robinson's

355
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,160
probably more valuable than most of the
picks the Grizzlies could send back at this

356
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,240
point anyway. And so if you're
trying to load for superstar trade, you

357
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,240
don't trade your best defender right now. And who's been again one of your

358
00:24:15,279 --> 00:24:21,039
most valuable offensive players just for the
offensive rebounding. He's improved his hand coordination

359
00:24:21,319 --> 00:24:25,000
on the offensive end this year too. For the Grizzlies. Specifically, his

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00:24:25,079 --> 00:24:29,599
screening just isn't what Steven Adams brings
and so that there'll be some difference there.

361
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,400
There's no doubt though that having him
on the glass would would help a

362
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,200
crap ton. I think they're kind
of looking at you'd have to go the

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00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:45,240
route of cheaper flyers, I would
think, or players who are materially different.

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00:24:45,519 --> 00:24:48,039
Where it's like, could you go
after a Nick Claxton if the Nets

365
00:24:48,039 --> 00:24:51,720
don't want to pay him in advance
of free agency and he's making nine point

366
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,119
six million right now, he again
is not the screener that Steven Adams is

367
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,680
not the rebounder either, but super
switchable and it's going to give you a

368
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,160
huge defensive impact and he has some
ball skills on the offensive end. Or

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00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,720
do you go all right? I
think a lot of people have mentioned vouch

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for them. That'd be interesting.
Getting the money's a little bit tough for

371
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,440
them. Do you want to give
up, excuse me, Steven Adams in

372
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,240
that deal if it's a matter of
Brandon Clark and other salary, I guess

373
00:25:17,559 --> 00:25:19,519
maybe. But Vooch is not having
the best year right now, and he

374
00:25:19,559 --> 00:25:23,319
has another two years left on his
contract. At forty one point five million

375
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,519
total after this one, you might
be better off if the Bulls tear it

376
00:25:27,559 --> 00:25:33,319
down. Hey, there's Andre Drummond
just on his minimum contract. Can you

377
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,200
can you get him? And that
that's another big body, someone who would

378
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,720
help you on the glass for sure. Do you look at what's happening in

379
00:25:40,799 --> 00:25:45,039
Dallas? Do you just wind up
taking a flyer on just the rusty Rashawn

380
00:25:45,079 --> 00:25:48,039
Holmes to see if that could work
out? Would they consider trading the ultra

381
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:53,200
cheap Dwight Powell at this point?
Detroit has plenty of bigs. I don't

382
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,920
know that. I don't know that
they would want any of them. In

383
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:03,599
Memphis, Houston, no nothing there. Could you look at the Knicks have

384
00:26:03,759 --> 00:26:07,079
Jericho Simms? Could he be someone
that they would consider moving? Again,

385
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,640
that's just a much different archetype of
a player than Steven Adams is if you're

386
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:18,160
just looking to replace him, you
know, skill for skill, and you

387
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:22,200
could go with look is okay,
see we'll gonna finally, you know,

388
00:26:22,279 --> 00:26:25,960
let's roll out Poku at the five
in Memphis, just to see what happens.

389
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,839
They have a Jalen Williams and Chet
Holmgren there. They will play some

390
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,640
Kenridge at the five. Usman Jang
has kind of fallen out of the rotation

391
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:34,799
a little bit. He did have
a stint in the G League, so

392
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,759
maybe his minutes tick up after that. Would you play him at the five

393
00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:44,000
so you can get creative that route. There's not a lot of I mean,

394
00:26:44,039 --> 00:26:45,599
a healthy Robert Williams the third would
have been interesting. He is not

395
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:49,000
healthy though, You're not even if
you can get the money for DeAndre and

396
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,440
that's not going to be something that
interests you. The Spurs are not just

397
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,000
gonna get rid of Zach Collins.
Do you go with sort of a flyer

398
00:26:56,039 --> 00:27:00,839
on again, a very different player, but just see, hey Chris Bruschet,

399
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,400
he has only one year on his
contract after this one. Do we

400
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,200
just take a flyer on him?
He can also go a little bit smaller

401
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,799
and see otis Thaddeus Young Tickle their
fancy at all Utah is Kelly olynnok,

402
00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:14,400
which is super interesting. If they
want to go that wrap stretches the floor,

403
00:27:14,759 --> 00:27:15,640
he'll be on the glass a little
bit. But he's not like this

404
00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:21,599
screening big and he's also just not
this excellent rebounder either, and so that

405
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:26,400
doesn't necessarily fit the bill, uh
Daniel Gafford in Washington. I mean maybe

406
00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:32,359
if you're talking about the screening,
But when you look at a lot of

407
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,799
how what the Grizzlies need to replace
from Steven Adams, I don't necessarily know

408
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,599
if he's gonna give you. He
gives you some on the defensive glass and

409
00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:45,880
he's had an eleven he's had an
offensive rebounding rate over twelve or excuse me,

410
00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:49,480
over eleven in each of the past
four years. So that's something like,

411
00:27:49,519 --> 00:27:52,759
do you take a look at him? But again, we're talking about

412
00:27:52,759 --> 00:27:59,519
someone he's he is not expensive by
any stretch, but because of the salary

413
00:27:59,559 --> 00:28:03,759
structure that Grizzlies are working with getting
to his twelve point four million, you

414
00:28:03,839 --> 00:28:07,440
are just you're saying, essentially,
oh, are we trading Luke Kenard,

415
00:28:07,559 --> 00:28:11,240
Are we trading Steven Adams himself?
Or we trading Brandon Clark. You can't

416
00:28:11,279 --> 00:28:15,440
even step Lader. You would take
like three other players to step Luder your

417
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,200
way there after you go from that, and so that would be a weird

418
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:22,000
decision to make. Do you chase
good money after bad? That saying goes

419
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,039
because your season is so far gone
right now, I think any move of

420
00:28:26,079 --> 00:28:30,599
this caliber or any move of significance
kind of has to wait until a little

421
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,119
bit after John Morant comes back.
And that's not going to give you a

422
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,480
much time to evaluate the team.
But you want to make sure that you're

423
00:28:37,519 --> 00:28:42,400
gonna start winning with him enough to
justify going all in to this, well,

424
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,880
not all in, but to justify
you wus say, doubling down.

425
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:51,599
It's not like a triple down,
but to reinvest in this season's core and

426
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:53,599
to make a move that, Yeah, if it's Drummond, you could probably

427
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:57,079
that's a little bit easier to work
someone who's making that type of order Jericho

428
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:02,680
Simms. But if you're talking about
someone who's making around the mid level even

429
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:04,759
a little bit less, like it's
gonna cost you a player that you probably

430
00:29:04,759 --> 00:29:07,720
want Steven Adams around beyond this season, even though he's not healthy right now,

431
00:29:07,839 --> 00:29:11,720
or Brandon Clark if you're banking on
him returning from his achilles injury,

432
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,519
that makes the decision a little tougher
and his wife. I think you would

433
00:29:14,519 --> 00:29:19,359
need to wait until John Rant comes
back. Sticking with this is specific to

434
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,680
the Knicks. Box Boy seventy one, I think the Knicks should make a

435
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,559
move to sign Pascal Siakam. At
first glance, it sounds like a lateral

436
00:29:26,599 --> 00:29:29,519
move, but I think Pascal makes
the Knicks a better team both defensively and

437
00:29:29,559 --> 00:29:33,640
holistically, while providing similar offensive production
as Randall. I think if they are

438
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:34,960
going to pay a player forty million
dollars in the next few years, I

439
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,720
would rather have Pascal. They could
trade Randal for picks in a backup three

440
00:29:38,799 --> 00:29:41,480
or four. I just feel the
ceiling of a team with Randall's cap that

441
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:48,200
is captain the second without him ever
becoming a concerned defender. Pascal style of

442
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,119
play and acceptance as a second or
third star just makes him a better fit

443
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,880
for this team's future. That is
interesting. Any Pascal deal, first of

444
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,079
all, is gonna need to begin
with the sign and trade. The Knicks

445
00:29:59,079 --> 00:30:03,119
are just not rejected to have cap
base next year. You can always go

446
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:04,839
about clearing it, but it's not
a matter of just, oh, let's

447
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:10,960
take Julius Randall is on the books
for twenty seven point six million. It's

448
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,400
not just oh, let's trade him
and we'll have a We'll have enough money

449
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,799
to go out and sign Pascal Siakama. As of right now, when you

450
00:30:17,839 --> 00:30:21,160
look at just next season, there
are some kind of there a holds bacon

451
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,640
here ass something they pick up the
team option on on Jericho Sims. You're

452
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,960
looking at one hundred and fifty plus
million dollars in salary against a one hundred

453
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,839
and forty two million dollar cap,
so they're like a net. You know,

454
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,839
they're already ten million ish over the
cap, So it has to be

455
00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:41,920
assign and trade almost unless you're just
dumping player after player. That's not even

456
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,640
including every forty has a team option, So we're not even including his money

457
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,480
in those calculations. Now, is
that feasible? Sure? What the Knicks

458
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:55,039
awesome need to consider is that Jalen
Brunson is extension eligible after this season,

459
00:30:55,279 --> 00:31:00,519
and so he can extend off of
one hundred and forty percent of his current

460
00:31:00,559 --> 00:31:03,160
deal. And so that's someone that
you need to start thinking about in the

461
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,839
sense of just ballparking this year.
If you're gonna pay him thirty five million

462
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:08,920
dollars a year to start, does
he accept it? One, Because of

463
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,039
how well he's playing, and this
is his age twenty seven seasons, we'll

464
00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:17,000
be going into age twenty eight.
He could probably kick it another year and

465
00:31:17,039 --> 00:31:19,599
then wait for his player option and
then just you know, enter the market

466
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,319
that way and get a higher starting
salary. But if you're gonna pay him

467
00:31:23,359 --> 00:31:26,319
that money, I don't know if
the route is then to go, oh,

468
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:30,920
let's pay Pascal Siakam his max or
close to it, and now you

469
00:31:32,039 --> 00:31:34,920
have all right, these guys are
still in their prime. But Pascal Siakam

470
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:40,119
will be going into his age thirty
season next year, and then you have

471
00:31:40,279 --> 00:31:44,640
Jalen Brunson going into his age twenty
eight. It's just you're kind of like

472
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,400
super charging the urgency of your timeline. And I don't know if Brunson and

473
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,960
Siakam are enough to build a contender. I would be intrigued if you had

474
00:31:52,039 --> 00:31:56,720
enough shooting around them, because Siakam, I think, is a fantastic player

475
00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:59,880
this year. However, he's still
shooting just forty one point seven percent on

476
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,279
He's at twenty eight point three percent
on catch and shoot threes, including twenty

477
00:32:04,319 --> 00:32:07,400
three point one percent over his last
five games. You need to give him

478
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,160
spacing. And Jalen Brunson has become
one of the best off the dribble three

479
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,720
point shooters in the league this year, and so he might count as a

480
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,079
floor spacer. But if you're gonna
play Siakam at the four, which you

481
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,519
probably would, you can. I
think you can get by with some minutes

482
00:32:19,559 --> 00:32:22,000
with him at the five. Not
necessarily the rebounder or like the strong,

483
00:32:22,119 --> 00:32:27,799
huge body to play that position every
minute of every game, but you can

484
00:32:27,799 --> 00:32:30,720
get away with Siakam at the five
minutes. I don't think that's the Knicks's

485
00:32:30,759 --> 00:32:34,079
end game, especially with Timms,
who always wants their traditional rim protector there.

486
00:32:34,279 --> 00:32:37,000
So if you're playing with Mitchell Robinson, you need caps lock three shooters

487
00:32:37,039 --> 00:32:43,319
around them, and I'm gonna count
Jalen Brunson as one. Getting to the

488
00:32:43,359 --> 00:32:45,559
rest of that is okay. So
it was in grimes and quickly just because

489
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:50,119
r J. Barrett not necessarily a
proven shooter. He's still shooting well from

490
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,319
three overall in the season, but
we've seen a bit of a pullback since

491
00:32:52,319 --> 00:32:57,839
he came back from his his knee
injury. That's a real concern. And

492
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,799
so I don't necessarily love that setup. And what else are you giving up

493
00:33:01,799 --> 00:33:05,680
to get Siakam? So you're going
to pay him, and now you also

494
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:07,240
have to give up assets. Julius
Rendaud has to be part of that deal,

495
00:33:07,279 --> 00:33:12,559
because none of these like those two
together, just with Brunson and Mitchell

496
00:33:12,599 --> 00:33:15,839
Robninson, they just don't make any
sense. Is Toronto gonna be willing to

497
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:20,279
take on Randal. He will be
an expiring contract at that point, and

498
00:33:20,319 --> 00:33:22,920
so because he has a player option
for twenty nine point five million and twenty

499
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,200
five twenty six, maybe you think
he picks that up. It's a small

500
00:33:27,279 --> 00:33:30,160
enough percentage of the salary cap that
maybe he doesn't. So you need to

501
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:35,759
find a team that values Randall.
And Randall can be a very useful player,

502
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:38,880
but I don't think that you're going
to get that positive value for him

503
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,200
just because of how up and down
he is on both ends of the floor

504
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,519
and especially defensively. I want to
know what team right now is going to

505
00:33:45,559 --> 00:33:47,799
give you a first round pick for
Julius Randall. There are teams that maybe

506
00:33:47,799 --> 00:33:52,039
could use him. I assume some
Detroit Pistons fans were lusting after him.

507
00:33:52,039 --> 00:33:54,880
You're not getting a Detroit first round
pick for that, and so that makes

508
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,640
things tough. But let's just say
that you can use him as the salary

509
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,839
anchor. You still need to give
up more money and players, and at

510
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:06,279
that point, like okay, if
it cost you Grimes. Is it gonna

511
00:34:06,279 --> 00:34:08,119
cost you, Barrett? Is it
gonna cost you Dante Evincenzo? And then

512
00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:14,039
how many first? On top of
that, I just with Quickly's deal coming

513
00:34:14,119 --> 00:34:15,800
up as well, he's going to
be a restricted free agent. I don't

514
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:20,320
necessarily love the fit. The Knicks
are kind of getting to a point though,

515
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,599
where it's so hard to improve their
team because they have such a quality

516
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,039
core in place that Jonathan maccree of
Knicks Film School wrote about this on a

517
00:34:28,079 --> 00:34:34,079
substack recently. In other years,
it was so obvious where the improvement needed

518
00:34:34,119 --> 00:34:37,639
to come from or what they could
do. And in some ways that persists

519
00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:40,239
because you look at it as they
just need this bigger wing. It's just

520
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,559
different now because it's not a matter
of if we're gonna stop playing Evident Fournier

521
00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:46,199
or we're gonna go trade for someone
like a Derek Rose. It doesn't have

522
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:51,280
to be a star or we're gonna
stop playing Derek Rose, which is something

523
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,920
that happened for them last year.
And so the absence of that obvious move

524
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,440
makes it really difficult for the Knicks. Their next swing is gonna be mission

525
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,719
critical and it has to be big. I don't know if is big enough.

526
00:35:01,079 --> 00:35:07,159
I don't necessarily love the fit with
him and Brunson and Robinson. I

527
00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:10,400
think those three fine, let's work
with it, But then you need to

528
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:15,639
make sure that you have two really
above average shooters around them basically at all

529
00:35:15,679 --> 00:35:19,280
points when they're on the court.
I don't know if the Knicks have the

530
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,239
juice to get there. They have
quickly, they have Grimes, they have

531
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,360
Dante DiVincenzo. There are things you
could work out there. As RJ.

532
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,559
Barrett progress by the end of the
year into that, okay, then maybe

533
00:35:28,639 --> 00:35:31,039
let's take a look at it.
I also just don't love the idea of

534
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:37,039
Pascal Siakam playing next to such offensive, be limited centers. I would almost

535
00:35:37,079 --> 00:35:43,400
be more interested in seeing him play
alongside a A Garon Jackson Junior. What

536
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,519
does the rebounding look like with that? He needs someone maybe more like a

537
00:35:45,599 --> 00:35:50,920
cat next to him. Are getting
enough defense out of that, because then

538
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,800
Siakam is just effectively Okay, you
have to play a lot of the five

539
00:35:53,199 --> 00:35:57,719
in those instances the fit gets really
really tough. And if he is going

540
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,840
to play next to another big who's
not necessarily a shooter, I would argue

541
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,119
that big needs to have a ton
of ball skills, and then Pascal Siaka

542
00:36:04,119 --> 00:36:07,800
will be the one dotting up.
And so maybe you know a Zion Williamson

543
00:36:07,599 --> 00:36:12,280
that fit I don't even love.
Indeed, would even make more sense than

544
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,840
a Robinson upfront with him and Chet
Holmgren just kind of staring at him.

545
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,840
And Okay, see Victor wab Yama
not a center, but in San Antonio,

546
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,239
we're putting him next to his Zach
Collins. Like that's the type of

547
00:36:22,519 --> 00:36:25,639
Miles Turner. Even that's why the
Pacers are mentioned as such a like a

548
00:36:25,679 --> 00:36:30,639
popular destination for him, because that
just makes so much sense, and like

549
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,119
you could probably even get where you
need to put him on a team where

550
00:36:34,159 --> 00:36:37,000
all right, we'll just play him
at the five and and it'll be fine.

551
00:36:37,039 --> 00:36:38,440
Like Boston would be a good example. They can playhim with the five,

552
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,320
they can play him next to KP. It's not I'd be shocked if

553
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,280
that's they They could use another big
would imagine if they just decided, oh,

554
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,159
we're gonna move away from over the
offseason, like Jalen Brown's all of

555
00:36:47,159 --> 00:36:52,679
a sudden in Toronto, or we're
going Al Horford and Derek White or or

556
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:57,199
whatever. But like that's like he
needs those types of bigs around him,

557
00:36:57,199 --> 00:36:59,239
and if they're not, like I
said, if they're not gonna be these

558
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,360
shooters, they need at least have
ball skills, and that's just not much

559
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,880
of Robinson's game. So I don't
love the fit. However, I would

560
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:10,039
be open to it if the price
the opportunity costs in terms of assets is

561
00:37:10,159 --> 00:37:14,880
reasonable. So you're getting off of
Randall and then you're just able to have

562
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:20,199
enough shooting around those three of Robinson, Siakam or Brunton. I would also

563
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,280
say that, do I want to
upend both, you know, Robinson and

564
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:28,559
Randall getting rid of both those guys. Let's say for Pascal siaka I'm not

565
00:37:28,599 --> 00:37:30,159
necessarily the same deal, but you're
getting Pascal Siakam and you're saying, Okay,

566
00:37:30,159 --> 00:37:31,920
well, now we need to change
the way we're going at center.

567
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,199
Maybe Isaiah Hartnstein is starting, or
we're just gonna go after a different type

568
00:37:36,679 --> 00:37:40,480
of five. I don't think Pascal
Siakam is worth doing that, but it

569
00:37:40,519 --> 00:37:44,840
is an interesting I don't hate the
idea Box Boy seventy one, I just

570
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,760
it. I'm very particular about how
it have to work, which makes me

571
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:52,159
think that it won't work. I
am operating at a less than banner pace

572
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:55,000
right now. Let's see how any
more questions I can fit in in the

573
00:37:55,079 --> 00:38:00,880
hour. This is This is a
really good one from Peto. What do

574
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:05,960
you think about the concept slash theory
the lack of spacing is the reason behind

575
00:38:06,079 --> 00:38:08,320
Zion not getting as many foul calls
when driving to the rim. This theory

576
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:13,199
says that the collapsing into the pain
of the opposing teams would kind of,

577
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:19,639
quote unquote hide the fouls occurring on
Zion from referees. So I buy into

578
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:27,159
the lack of spacing limiting the playmaking
that Zion can make in these driving situations.

579
00:38:27,199 --> 00:38:31,239
The fouling just feels more about some
of his takeoff points on drives this

580
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:35,760
year also, and like kind of
the speed which he's operating. But in

581
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:40,440
general, just he is such a
unique build that he's tough to referee in

582
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:44,639
the same way that Lebron can be
tough to referee, where bodies bounce off

583
00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:47,239
him and it doesn't seem like it's
a ton of contact because he's just so

584
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:53,760
massive, such this pristine physical specimen. And I think those players are even

585
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:58,039
if I want to call them hard
to officiate. Maybe that's just giving some

586
00:38:58,079 --> 00:39:05,639
of the refs a pass. It's
going to inherently make them have to it's

587
00:39:05,679 --> 00:39:09,360
going to force them to operate against
more contact. Now, what I get

588
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:13,960
more concerned about when I look at
his drives is he's up to the volume

589
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,239
and basically all of his years in
the league that he's actually played, but

590
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:22,599
the playmaking has never been like cap
slot could. And so let's go back

591
00:39:22,639 --> 00:39:27,239
to his rookie season. Six point
five drives per thirty six minutes got fouled

592
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,840
on, eleven point three percent of
them, passed twenty three point five percent

593
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,880
of the time, had ten turnovers
to two assists. Go to twenty twenty

594
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,519
one, and again we're talking about
limited samples in some of these seasons because

595
00:39:37,519 --> 00:39:42,280
of injuries, but fourteen drives per
thirty six minutes got fouled on, eleven

596
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,480
point eight percent of them passed on
almost thirty percent of them, still had

597
00:39:45,679 --> 00:39:51,239
more turnovers sixty three than assists.
Doesn't play in twenty twenty twenty one,

598
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,199
twenty twenty two. In his limited
sample during twenty two to twenty three,

599
00:39:54,519 --> 00:39:59,679
seventeen point seven drives per thirty six
minutes got fouled on eleven point nine percent

600
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,840
of them a career high passed on
twenty six point two percent of them had

601
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:07,320
forty five turnovers to twenty five assists. This year, he's averaging almost twenty

602
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:12,800
drives for thirty six minutes. That
foul rate has now dropped to nine point

603
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,760
three percent. He's passing twenty six
point four percent of the time, has

604
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:20,800
seventeen turnovers to twelve assists. He
has never had an assist rate higher,

605
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,400
I think than seven point seven on
drives. I think that more so speaks

606
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:28,480
to the lack of shooting around him, because it means that guys are not

607
00:40:28,599 --> 00:40:32,840
capitalizing on the assist opportunities. It
also means that the traffic he's dealing with

608
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:37,719
will impact his passes, and this
year specifically, he has more bad pass

609
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:43,039
turnovers than lost ball turnovers for the
first time. I think overall, the

610
00:40:43,119 --> 00:40:46,159
traffic hurts in the sense that it
can impact his handle as well. I

611
00:40:46,199 --> 00:40:52,440
don't know if it's the reason for
him not getting to the foul line quote

612
00:40:52,519 --> 00:40:57,480
unquote enough. I would think that
has more to do just about his build

613
00:40:57,599 --> 00:41:01,360
and the way that there might just
be this intrinsic bias against those types of

614
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:06,440
players where he can withstand more contact, or maybe meaningful contact doesn't actually look

615
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,159
like much contact because of how he's
built. It is an interesting theory,

616
00:41:10,559 --> 00:41:15,159
though, because if there are so
many bodies around him, and we've seen

617
00:41:15,199 --> 00:41:16,880
this how many times this year where
he's like triple or a quadruple team,

618
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:21,159
it seems like and so are they
are. Is that amount of body sort

619
00:41:21,159 --> 00:41:24,639
of obfuscating some of the actual fouls
that are taking place. It's an interesting

620
00:41:24,679 --> 00:41:29,599
theory. I don't know that I
buy it, but it is certainly something

621
00:41:29,639 --> 00:41:32,199
that I guess could be could be
a play. Yet he is such a

622
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:38,519
unique player, one of one unlike
anyone I've ever really watched here kind of

623
00:41:38,559 --> 00:41:43,880
just like Shack with wheels would be
like how I kind of like with a

624
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:46,119
handle and wheels. I don't know
if that's the most apt description of him.

625
00:41:46,119 --> 00:41:52,559
And so that's just by default a
difficult player to referee or someone's gonna

626
00:41:52,559 --> 00:41:58,440
have to deal with more contact.
Pito has another question here, and it's

627
00:41:58,599 --> 00:42:00,639
it's another very one and the one
I had to think about, and I

628
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:05,800
want to make sure I differentiated from
what our discord members were responding to,

629
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,320
which, by the way, fun
aside one of my favorite and least favorite

630
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:14,079
things about the Discord mailbags is one. I don't even just send out solicitations.

631
00:42:14,119 --> 00:42:15,440
They just build up. So that's
great. That's not a least favorite

632
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,960
thing. But people respond and they
have such good discussions that it takes me

633
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,079
so long to go back through the
archives because there are all these responses happening,

634
00:42:23,079 --> 00:42:28,000
and I'm sure I've missed questions that
were in there, so I apologize.

635
00:42:28,039 --> 00:42:30,440
I try to give all our Discord
members you know, maybe I won't

636
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:32,199
answer. They have multiple questions,
all of them, but I try to

637
00:42:32,199 --> 00:42:36,599
make sure that I get to I
would say ninety percent of the questions that

638
00:42:36,639 --> 00:42:40,039
are posted in that that mail bag. So I love it and loathe it

639
00:42:40,079 --> 00:42:43,480
at the same time, but keep
doing it. I don't care that it's

640
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,840
a little bit more difficult. I
love that you guys are all in there

641
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:49,920
responding to each other's thoughts and questions. Anyway, this PETO question, what's

642
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,199
a feature from other sports that you
would like to be implemented in the NBA.

643
00:42:52,639 --> 00:42:57,760
Some of these were bandied about in
the Discord chat. I like the

644
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,880
idea of automated replays like tennis.
I don't like the idea of automation in

645
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,239
general, because replacing humans kind of
sucks. But this isn't going to replace

646
00:43:04,519 --> 00:43:07,320
referees. You're still gonna have the
same number on deck. It would just

647
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,079
speed up the replays. It would
allow you to maybe go about more challenges

648
00:43:10,119 --> 00:43:14,719
more efficiently. Would you even need
challenges at this point? Maybe it's an

649
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,000
example of you can have a maximum
of, you know, I don't know,

650
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:21,280
two challenges per half, but you
keep them if it or they carry

651
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:22,719
over if you don't. I like, I do like this year that they

652
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:24,760
allow you. It's only up to
two, but they allow you to keep

653
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,840
your challenge if you if you win
it. But the automated replays will at

654
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,719
least speed it up. There should
be people in the video boots in Secaucus,

655
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:36,000
New Jersey getting ready to just radio
the refs there ruling on it.

656
00:43:36,079 --> 00:43:38,519
I feel like that would speed up
a ton. I would would be really

657
00:43:38,559 --> 00:43:42,440
fun. I don't know if I'd
love this. Maybe the team can bestow

658
00:43:43,079 --> 00:43:47,199
each team can bestow one challenge onto
one player who gets to decide whether something's

659
00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:50,599
going to be challenged every game,
not necessarily on their own play, but

660
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,239
in general, so that we can
just see, oh, how accurate are

661
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:54,679
players when they're calling for these challenges. I don't know that I actually want

662
00:43:54,679 --> 00:43:58,360
to see that. I'm just interested. This is low hanging fruit. I

663
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,079
love Feba goaltending, so let's throw
that in there. Shout out to Rubik's

664
00:44:01,079 --> 00:44:05,440
scal for this one. I like
soccer's idea of playing advantage. If a

665
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:07,159
foul happens on the floor, don't
stop to play there, see if the

666
00:44:07,159 --> 00:44:10,320
offensive player is able to make the
shot. My actual answer here and I

667
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:15,679
will take the advantage. One step
further is when it comes to flopping or

668
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:20,119
complaining technicals, is that there should
be a specific maybe it's two minutes,

669
00:44:20,159 --> 00:44:22,519
a specific amount of time, or
specific number of possessions where that team just

670
00:44:22,559 --> 00:44:28,679
has to play four and five without
that player rather than assessing the technical rather

671
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:32,039
than ejecting them. That's the equivalent
of a red card or a yellow card

672
00:44:32,039 --> 00:44:35,239
inside be equivalent of kind of like
a yellow card, but it's like a

673
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:38,800
penalty in hockey you have to sit
for. I mean, like even if

674
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:43,800
it's just five possessions, or if
it's two minutes or ninety seconds or something.

675
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:45,639
And I think that would cut down
a lot of the complaining and the

676
00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:49,960
flopping in the league, if you
had to put your team at that four

677
00:44:50,039 --> 00:44:53,039
on five disadvantage for X amount of
time. I don't know that anyone else

678
00:44:53,079 --> 00:44:55,000
would love that, but I thought
about that, and it would just be

679
00:44:57,159 --> 00:44:59,840
I'd be very curious to see,
Like maybe it only needs to be a

680
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:02,760
because I feel like NBA teams are
they're so they're able to capitalize on four

681
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:07,480
and four, they go four and
four advantages in transition, and so if

682
00:45:07,519 --> 00:45:10,440
it's five on four that gets infinitely
more difficult. Or maybe it is if

683
00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:16,960
a player gets a flopping technical or
that is a complaining technical where they're behind

684
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:22,480
the play. Specifically, the other
team gets to pick a player from the

685
00:45:22,599 --> 00:45:27,000
like the rival team picks a player
from that team the offending players team that

686
00:45:27,079 --> 00:45:29,440
has to be on the court for
two minutes or something like that. Just

687
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:31,400
some kind of gamesmanship like that.
BNBA would never go for it, but

688
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:35,320
I would love to see that happen. That's not in any other sport.

689
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:37,320
But the advantage of you know,
four and five the power play in the

690
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:42,880
NBA that that's certainly from hockey,
and know I would honestly love I would

691
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,119
love to see that. Maybe I'd
get tired of it pretty easily, but

692
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:47,639
I would love to see that.
Next question comes from stupid jerk, who,

693
00:45:47,679 --> 00:45:51,159
as I like to say, is
anything but a stupid jerk in the

694
00:45:51,199 --> 00:45:53,800
discord. This is a fascinating question
and it's going to be the hook for

695
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:58,639
this entire podcast. You're welcome for
the time stamps. How many points per

696
00:45:58,679 --> 00:46:00,480
game would a Star Thompson have to
put up to win Rookie of the Year

697
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,760
if the rest of his game did
not regress and by the rest of his

698
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,599
game, it's the defense and even
the playmaking from Masar. He's been really

699
00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:09,280
good at moving the ball, even
though he doesn't necessarily have it a ton

700
00:46:09,519 --> 00:46:15,000
so Arsar Thompson is at eleven point
four points per game as I record this

701
00:46:15,639 --> 00:46:22,000
here. There are only five rookies
who have averaged as much or less than

702
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,360
one Rookie of the Year. Mel
Hutchins nine point two points and Bill Toschef

703
00:46:25,679 --> 00:46:30,599
nine point four tied in nineteen fifty
one fifty two, Malcolm Brogden ten point

704
00:46:30,599 --> 00:46:36,639
two points in twenty seventeen. Paul
Hoffman, not the NBA was the ABA,

705
00:46:37,159 --> 00:46:39,320
averaged ten point five points in nineteen
forty eight, and then we had

706
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:45,320
Monk Menike in nineteen fifty three at
ten point seven points. When you're looking

707
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,039
at kind of the modern era,
there's not a lot of guys who have

708
00:46:49,079 --> 00:46:52,679
won Rookie of Year while averaging under
fifteen points per game. We have Brogden

709
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:57,119
ten point two points in twenty seventeen, Amari thirteen point five in two thousand

710
00:46:57,119 --> 00:47:01,039
and three, Miller eleven point nine
points in one, Jason Kidd eleven point

711
00:47:01,119 --> 00:47:05,880
seven points when he tied with Grant
Hill in nineteen ninety five, and then

712
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:09,320
we had Mark Jackson thirteen point six
points in nineteen eighty eight. Those are

713
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:14,199
all the players Brogden, Stodemeier,
Miller, Kid, and Mark Jackson who

714
00:47:14,199 --> 00:47:17,719
have averaged fewer than fifteen points during
the three point era, and one Rookie

715
00:47:19,119 --> 00:47:22,679
of the Year. Now, I
don't like setting the actual just baseline at

716
00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:25,199
this is how many points for gaming
needy average. The ranks are probably more

717
00:47:25,199 --> 00:47:30,119
important, and so you look at
Brogden. He was fourth in points per

718
00:47:30,159 --> 00:47:32,280
game and one rookies in twenty seventeen, and I use the minimum of twenty

719
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:37,400
five games for the season just as
the cutoff there. Amari was second in

720
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,199
two thousand and three with his thirteen
point five. Miller's eleven point nine in

721
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:45,159
two thousand and one were third,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

722
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:50,280
Now Lasar Thompson, as of right
now, is fifth in scoring among

723
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,159
rookies, is eleven point five points
per game, trail Jordan Hawkins, Brandon

724
00:47:53,159 --> 00:47:57,639
Miller, Chet Holmgren, and Victor
webin Yama, and so in fury,

725
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,320
I mean like he could kind of
trickle down those standings. You have Jaimi

726
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:05,519
Hawks at eleven point two could jump
up, and I would also say Keyante

727
00:48:05,679 --> 00:48:08,239
George at nine point nine and Scoot
Henderson at nine point one. Scoot's only

728
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:12,639
played in eight games so far.
Those are players that could leap frog game.

729
00:48:12,639 --> 00:48:15,400
And so if he's tumbling down further
to be in the top five of

730
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:20,440
scoring when you're looking at the defensive
assignments, he's shouldering the stuff he's doing

731
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:23,400
on defense, just the counting stats, the disruption, but just actually holding

732
00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:29,199
his own in these situations. Being
fifth in points per game is a pretty

733
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:31,400
big deal. And he is shooting. He's at fifty three point one percent

734
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:35,519
from two. That's fine. Twelve
point nine percent from three is not sub

735
00:48:35,559 --> 00:48:37,320
seventy percent from the foul line.
Not good fifty point three to two shooting

736
00:48:37,639 --> 00:48:42,639
that's going to be held against him, and so I don't actually know the

737
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,599
specific number that I would pinpoint it. The issue, the primary issue for

738
00:48:45,679 --> 00:48:50,760
him, more than his points,
is that there are at least there are

739
00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:52,840
two guys in front of him,
Vitri Remyama and chet Holgren, who are

740
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:59,239
averaging noticeably more points per game while
being just as impactful, if not more

741
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:02,320
so in some sitch situations on the
defensive end. And I think there's kind

742
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:06,119
of value. He's the only one. I would argue, Well, now,

743
00:49:06,199 --> 00:49:07,639
Brandon Miller's kind of done this,
so he's not the only rookie.

744
00:49:07,639 --> 00:49:12,159
But of those three, Victor Remenyama, Chet Holmgren, a Sar Thompson,

745
00:49:12,159 --> 00:49:15,679
he's the only one that's just guarding
these top tier perimeter players. This consistently

746
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:20,039
where yeah, Victor Remenyama's all over
the place, did over chet holmgrin win

747
00:49:20,079 --> 00:49:22,719
the stuff he does on the perimeter. But it's not okay, go and

748
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:28,239
defend DeMar de Rosen. Just go
defend the other team's best perimeter player.

749
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,679
And that's you know, that's Asar
Thompson's job. Like when you look at

750
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:35,960
just some of the assignments he's covered. I mentioned Damar, He's been on

751
00:49:36,039 --> 00:49:39,440
Damian Lillard, He's been on Shake
Gilges Alexander, he's been on Tyree's Maxi.

752
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:44,000
The Sixers are averaging point seven point
nine points per possession when he guards

753
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,719
Tyres Maxie so far this season.
That's a hefty sample relative to the other

754
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:52,440
assignments he's covered, So that body
of work matters. The fact that they're

755
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:57,280
just scoring so much more. When
Yama is at nineteen point two and his

756
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,800
true shooting percentage is higher for as
inefficient as he's been fifty two point three,

757
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:02,199
and then you have Chet. I
don't want to call him. He's

758
00:50:02,199 --> 00:50:06,039
not strictly a play finisher. He's
way more than that. His role is

759
00:50:06,039 --> 00:50:07,679
a bit more streamlined, and he
has more talent around him than a sar

760
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:12,559
Thompson or when Manyama, and better
spacing than both those teams. At this

761
00:50:12,639 --> 00:50:15,599
point, he's a sixty nine to
foint three to two shooting any teen point

762
00:50:15,599 --> 00:50:17,960
one points per game. He is
your rookie of the year at this point.

763
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,199
I know I gave our discord,
remember some pushback when they when some

764
00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:24,039
of them declared that Chet Holmer was
the rookie of the year a week or

765
00:50:24,039 --> 00:50:28,480
two ago. I'm there right now
because he's an ended today. It needs

766
00:50:28,519 --> 00:50:30,000
to be him maybe when min Yama
catches him. I don't think it's that

767
00:50:30,079 --> 00:50:35,880
far off, just because the role
when Manyama has to subsume. Still,

768
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,400
even with if you want to use
that context, Chetolmer's just been too efficient

769
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:43,199
to it on defense and that's what
Assar Thompson is up against now. To

770
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,519
answer your actual question, so I'm
not copping out. If he could get

771
00:50:45,639 --> 00:50:52,880
up to like thirteen plus points per
game where he's or if he's third in

772
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:57,519
scoring, like that's the okay,
then we can start to have a conversation,

773
00:50:57,639 --> 00:51:00,679
especially if his true shooting percentage gets
to be in law line with or

774
00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:04,000
better than Victor wenb Yama's. We
can look at his defensive body of work

775
00:51:04,039 --> 00:51:07,440
and say, all right, was
he the best defender of this rookie class.

776
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,960
I don't know that the answer would
be yes right now. I think

777
00:51:13,039 --> 00:51:15,800
I look at I just look at
some of the stuff wemen Yama is capable

778
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:17,280
of. I know a lot of
it is. His highlights on this first

779
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:20,719
defense isn't good, but he makes
there. I know he's working from a

780
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:22,960
little baseline, he does make their
defense a lot better. Some of the

781
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:28,480
stuff again that chet Holgreen has done
with the ground he has covered makes me

782
00:51:28,519 --> 00:51:30,599
a little red sent But if he
can get to a point where he's the

783
00:51:30,599 --> 00:51:32,800
best defender in this rookie class and
he's top three in scoring, and yes

784
00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:37,480
it's home run Yama wembin Yama,
I'm sorry if I mispronounced that people on

785
00:51:37,519 --> 00:51:40,920
broadcast all the time, where it's
wembin Yana or just saying all these when

786
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:45,920
and mama is what Reggie Miller I
believe said once That was that was something.

787
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:51,719
Uh if if wemen Yama and chet
Holmgan are still every noticeably more points

788
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:54,320
at that stage, okay, but
I think he would probably just give him

789
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:58,880
this rookie class and the two players
specifically that he's trying to fight through.

790
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,000
And again, what could I with
Scoot Henderson, because I'd expected his scoring

791
00:52:01,039 --> 00:52:04,440
average is going to shoot up when
he has more than two hundred and eight

792
00:52:04,519 --> 00:52:08,519
minutes under his belt. You need
to get to I'll just say thirteen and

793
00:52:08,559 --> 00:52:12,840
a half points per game. Not
impossible. If they increase his roles,

794
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,519
they start to bench other guys.
Since the Pistons suck something awful this year.

795
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:19,519
But I also if he starts to
do more on offense, does he

796
00:52:19,559 --> 00:52:22,719
slip on defense because of his responsibility
there. I don't see a pathway to

797
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:25,760
him ruining it. I think this
is more about how impactful I still think

798
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:30,280
Leben Yama is, but I think
how good of a season that chet Holmgren

799
00:52:30,679 --> 00:52:32,719
is having. He still look,
he's higher in scoring that you think.

800
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:36,880
You look at the numbers and it's
Oh, but he's fifth among rookies right

801
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:38,360
now. And so if he just
if he finishes third, I think it

802
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:43,559
had maintains this defense and even the
playmaking. I do think that it.

803
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:50,519
I think it becomes at least a
debate. Next question comes from demos.

804
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:52,599
Oh, there's another really good good
questions all the time. Okay, so

805
00:52:52,599 --> 00:52:55,840
he traded three first round picks for
Ustman Jang, who they picked before Jaalen

806
00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:59,960
Duran, only to have him shine
shine the bench and not allowed to play

807
00:53:00,119 --> 00:53:01,920
more than twelve minutes on average.
Do they still believe in him as a

808
00:53:01,960 --> 00:53:07,519
prospect or have they just admitted they
missed the shot. I mean, look,

809
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:10,840
he's in year two, so I
don't know that they've they've admitted anything.

810
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:15,039
They're missing their shot. He is
racking up dnps. He played Tuesday

811
00:53:15,119 --> 00:53:17,880
night, but he hasn't played ten
plus minutes since November first. He's been

812
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:22,079
in the G League for three games, where he's averaged sixteen points, two

813
00:53:22,079 --> 00:53:24,320
point seven assists, seven point seven
rebounds, two steals, one point three

814
00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:28,559
blocks. I'm forty seven point eight
true shooting. He was much better in

815
00:53:28,599 --> 00:53:31,239
the G League last year fifty nine
point seven true shooting. I think what

816
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:37,000
we're seeing is two things. One, the Oklahoma City done are really good,

817
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:39,079
and so there are expectations to win
now, even though they are clearly

818
00:53:39,199 --> 00:53:43,079
experimenting. When you look at some
of the minutes to they haven't all of

819
00:53:43,079 --> 00:53:45,239
a sudden decided. And he hasn't
been bad. But it's not like,

820
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,039
well, we're not gonna play Case
and Wallace because he's a rookie here.

821
00:53:49,079 --> 00:53:51,559
He has played, he's been really
good, his decision making so quick,

822
00:53:51,559 --> 00:53:53,760
and he's great on defense, very
plug and play, or we're not going

823
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:58,079
to play Aaron Walliams. I think
it just gets tough. So you have

824
00:53:58,119 --> 00:54:01,320
those immediate expectations players that are going
through a rough learning curve where it's not

825
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:05,960
Chet, where it's not Ja Dubb
where it's not Cason Wallace where they're having

826
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,760
this impact while still growing. He's
still making their mistakes. Wuzman Jenks is

827
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:13,039
making a lot of mistakes, and
he just sometimes doesn't look like a basketball

828
00:54:13,079 --> 00:54:15,880
player. It's like sort of a
slowed down version of someone you could tell

829
00:54:15,920 --> 00:54:19,840
has feel and could be very versatile
and a great decision maker. But it's

830
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,079
just not translating. And then the
other thing is just that let's just say

831
00:54:22,119 --> 00:54:27,840
he's showing flashes, which he did
early on in this season, finding minutes

832
00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:30,639
for him, I'll just say on
the wing, you could play him at

833
00:54:30,639 --> 00:54:32,360
the five if you want, I
mean, go ahead, fucking try it.

834
00:54:32,679 --> 00:54:37,960
But with specifically Kenris Williams, Jay
Dubb and even Isaiah Joe just warranting

835
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:43,000
prominent roles. That's soaking up so
many minutes on the wing because you're not

836
00:54:43,159 --> 00:54:46,599
going to stop playing. Shay Lou
Dort just needs to play. Josh Giddy

837
00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:50,679
is playing right now. And again
none of these guys just sarily played the

838
00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:53,119
same positions. But we've seen minutes
where Isaiah Joe is the de facto for

839
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:55,719
where Kenrich is the day FACTI five. So you can move stuff around,

840
00:54:55,719 --> 00:55:00,280
but those three players specifically, because
you know, just the equity I'm looking

841
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:05,599
at it from this perspective invested in, Like Ludor is just a stable they

842
00:55:05,599 --> 00:55:07,159
paid him already, and then Josh
Cadda they have the draft equity in and

843
00:55:07,199 --> 00:55:12,719
apparently the allegations he gets the marn't
going to impact his role at least for

844
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:16,000
the moment. So Kenrick Williams JW
and Isaiaho also JUW and Kendrich Williams are

845
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:20,800
two players that are going to actually
be more official fours or like in those

846
00:55:20,800 --> 00:55:23,239
spots than someone like a Josh Giddy
or even a Lou Dort. And so

847
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:27,880
that's why they matter. When you
have those guys need to play like really

848
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:30,679
prominent roles. You're not gonna have
a ton of minutes for usban Jag And

849
00:55:30,679 --> 00:55:34,519
even if you said, well we'll
use him as the big you have Ched

850
00:55:34,559 --> 00:55:37,159
Holmgren and you have Jay will and
then you have just some of the smaller

851
00:55:37,199 --> 00:55:39,320
lineups you want to play with Kendrick
Williams, it's hard just to find those

852
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:44,280
minutes. And so, okaysee's running
into the issue of they're good and it

853
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,199
can get hard to play everybody and
the fact that they're good. Makes it

854
00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:55,599
even harder to play everybody because they
they don't they don't have the same I

855
00:55:55,599 --> 00:55:58,679
don't know what the word I'm looking
for is. They don't have the same

856
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:02,400
impetus. There isn't the same value
in letting a player work through his mistakes

857
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:05,960
of the spent expensive wins. When
you're one of the two or three best

858
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:07,679
teams in the West right now,
you have to cater to those expectations.

859
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,239
That doesn't mean go out and make
a trade, But it doesn't mean we're

860
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:14,239
gonna play our best players and the
guys who are making an impact right now.

861
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:16,039
That's not Usman Jang I am if
you listen to my appearance on the

862
00:56:16,119 --> 00:56:22,440
Uncontested podcast from the preseason, or
just any podcast in which we've tangentially touched

863
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,400
on the Thunder or dove deep on
the Thunder. I'm a Musmanjang believer.

864
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,679
Whether it happens in okayse he remains
be seen. I doubt they're willing to

865
00:56:29,719 --> 00:56:32,599
sell lower medium on him now,
but if they are, teams should be

866
00:56:32,679 --> 00:56:36,559
calling because I just feel like there
are stuff I want to see him.

867
00:56:36,599 --> 00:56:39,960
In Utah, he'd be interesting.
In Portland, pot he be interesting I

868
00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,920
don't want to see him in Detroit. I don't I don't want to wish

869
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:46,800
that upon anybody. I won't wish
Charlotte or Chicago upon anybody either. But

870
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:51,840
like this is just even on like
like semi good teams like throw him on

871
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,000
Dallas. I don't know if they
would actually play him, but that would

872
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:58,760
be with Luca and Kyrie I would
love and Graham Williams. I would love

873
00:56:59,239 --> 00:57:02,800
to see them alone, kind up
makeups that they could construct. Throw them

874
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:07,559
the Memphis. Let's let's get him
to play the five Indy S sort of

875
00:57:07,599 --> 00:57:10,639
flyer again. They have immediate expectations. Houston, Yeah, Thromer Houston.

876
00:57:10,639 --> 00:57:14,920
I'd love to see him there.
Orlando is enough just non shooters at the

877
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:19,960
moment, so that's a no from
me. Sacramento would they consider playing throwman?

878
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:22,679
San Antonio they would play him.
Toronto would play him. But there's

879
00:57:22,719 --> 00:57:24,559
just like not a lot of space
in there. I think if I had

880
00:57:24,599 --> 00:57:30,280
to pick another team for Usman Jang, my favorite fit would be Utah.

881
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:34,280
And that's maybe bizarre because Larry Market
and Walker Kessler, John Collins, Kelly

882
00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:37,760
Olynok, Taylor Hendricks are all there. But you could probably get away with

883
00:57:37,760 --> 00:57:40,599
playing Usman Jang with the way that
team's constructed as like your day Facto two

884
00:57:42,039 --> 00:57:44,719
or three. And if if it
can't be them, let's just say it

885
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:49,760
can't be them, put him in
Denver. Yeah, I want to see

886
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:52,039
him in Denver, Like, let's
give him another size with a guy who

887
00:57:52,119 --> 00:57:53,679
has IQ and see how he develops. And then if it can't be,

888
00:57:53,719 --> 00:57:57,239
if it needs to be a team
that I know is gonna play him and

889
00:57:57,239 --> 00:58:00,920
there isn't necessarily a logjam up front. We're getting some pretty tall orders here

890
00:58:01,119 --> 00:58:07,280
at that point, Like is it
just Portland at that point? It might

891
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:13,119
just be Portland for me at that
point, Portland or Smith Junior? Is

892
00:58:13,119 --> 00:58:15,599
there now? Prince Shangun? Yeah? Why is it Indy? Why do

893
00:58:15,719 --> 00:58:19,199
I keep coming back to Indy?
I mean they have Obi Toppen, they

894
00:58:19,199 --> 00:58:22,559
have Aaron E. Smith, they
have Jaln. Smith's been balling this year,

895
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:27,360
but I and they're not playing Jarvis
Walker at the moment. So yeah,

896
00:58:27,360 --> 00:58:30,039
it can't be. It can't be
Indy. What team what team would

897
00:58:30,079 --> 00:58:34,000
actually who has Ushman Jang would be
a good fit and it would actually play

898
00:58:34,039 --> 00:58:37,400
him because I don't want to see
him in Orlando I don't want to see

899
00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:40,159
him in in Chicago if they're going
through a rebuild. I don't Actually,

900
00:58:40,199 --> 00:58:43,760
you know what, if mel Ball
was healthy, I wouldn't mind Charlotte.

901
00:58:43,920 --> 00:58:45,960
I'm not gonna lie there. Maybe
we just throw him in Brooklyn with all

902
00:58:46,039 --> 00:58:50,880
kind of their like sized like position
players and see how that works out.

903
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,599
Again. I'm an usman jang believer. Let's not bail on him just now.

904
00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:59,599
Uh, let's wrap up here.
And this is actually the last batch

905
00:58:59,639 --> 00:59:02,320
of question having my dog from Brian
C. Does anybody care about me?

906
00:59:04,039 --> 00:59:07,039
If you don't, I guess you
could end the podcast here. But Brian's

907
00:59:07,239 --> 00:59:08,880
has a few questions about your job. Gonna list a few, hope some

908
00:59:08,960 --> 00:59:13,519
are worth time in a podcast.
I specifically copy and paste these into a

909
00:59:13,599 --> 00:59:15,480
doc. Did not prep for them
because I thought that would be fun.

910
00:59:15,880 --> 00:59:20,559
First one is if you were told
to create the perfect basketball podcast for at

911
00:59:20,639 --> 00:59:24,400
least four other hosts, who would
you pick? No Grant, sorry Grant?

912
00:59:24,679 --> 00:59:29,320
Who would be your reoccurring guests like
you know, Keith Smith for CBA,

913
00:59:29,480 --> 00:59:32,960
Sam Bessini for Draft, et cetera. Perfect. So I would pick

914
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:37,039
Kaylyn Cooper and I would force her
to talk about the NBA at large because

915
00:59:37,079 --> 00:59:40,039
she totally can't. Even though she
claims that she isn't good at it,

916
00:59:40,079 --> 00:59:45,800
She's just fucking awesome. Uh,
Kaitlyn Cooper, I go with Katie High

917
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:50,320
Knowlan is one of my favorite writers
of all time. And then can the

918
00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:53,960
Caius and Steve Jones count as one
host? I'm gonna count them as one,

919
00:59:54,119 --> 00:59:58,199
all right, So we'll go with
Nicias Duncan and Steve Jones. I

920
00:59:58,199 --> 01:00:00,760
would have just learn so much from
them. I probably get lost in conversations

921
01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:05,320
that they're having with Kaitlyn Cooper if
we all like confabs together. If I'm

922
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:10,880
allowed a fifth, because I'm just
co opting the dunker Spot podcast Rob Mahoney

923
01:00:12,159 --> 01:00:15,400
of The Ringer, who have actually
never spoken or really interacted with, but

924
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:19,159
he's one of my favorite writers of
all time, and so that would be

925
01:00:19,239 --> 01:00:22,119
my pick the dunker Spot. I
will go with five hosts. I don't

926
01:00:22,119 --> 01:00:24,119
want to just loop the Caius and
Steve Jones together, but Steve Jones and

927
01:00:24,159 --> 01:00:32,440
Nicias, Kaitlyn Cooper, and Rob
Mahoney would be probably my dream just podcasts.

928
01:00:32,440 --> 01:00:35,760
In terms of reoccurring guests. Brian
See, I think you kind of

929
01:00:35,800 --> 01:00:37,679
laid it out is Grant would have
to be let him come on as a

930
01:00:37,679 --> 01:00:40,480
reoccurring guess at least you wont let
me pick him as my host. Keith

931
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:45,199
Smith for CBA or Brian Taporak would
certainly. He's already a regular guest on

932
01:00:45,239 --> 01:00:49,519
this pod and we normally have Keith
Smith on once a year. Sam Passini

933
01:00:49,599 --> 01:00:52,519
is great for the draft. I
do miss Adam Spinella. He now works

934
01:00:52,519 --> 01:00:57,679
for the Philadelphia seventy six ers.
He was always my go to draft resource.

935
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:01,360
So Sam Passini would be would be
a good one. I do like

936
01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:06,039
Jeremy wu over at ESPN right now, So if we were doing draft stuff

937
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:10,039
for that and if there's like another
just like sort of reoccur, I know

938
01:01:10,119 --> 01:01:15,079
I'm gonna forget someone. I miss
Spinsters. That podcast from Blue Wire hele

939
01:01:15,159 --> 01:01:19,320
O'Shaughnessy was just super fun. She
came on the show a couple of times.

940
01:01:20,119 --> 01:01:22,599
That would be a good one.
But someone who's still podcasting and doing

941
01:01:22,639 --> 01:01:25,400
things, just another guest where it's
like, hey, let's come on and

942
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:30,440
talk would be like a good Who's
my favorite trade person? Who's first of

943
01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:32,599
all I would love to talk to
Howard Beck. I've met in person.

944
01:01:32,639 --> 01:01:37,280
He is super nice. Zach Low
of course as sort of a reoccurring guest,

945
01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:42,400
but Howard Beck like his features writing. I wish more companies invested in

946
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:44,639
features writing because he is. I
know he's at the ring right now,

947
01:01:44,639 --> 01:01:46,440
so that's great. Mere and Fader
would be another recurring guest. I love

948
01:01:46,519 --> 01:01:52,440
like just every time she publishes a
piece on someone who's tangentially related to basketball,

949
01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:55,159
going really deep into them. Would
love to pick her brain regularly.

950
01:01:55,599 --> 01:01:59,920
Just so many great writers and podcasters
and basketball lines out there, I feel

951
01:02:00,119 --> 01:02:04,280
bad not singling out just everybody,
And something we need to do a better

952
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:07,800
job of this podcast is having creators
on who are relatively new to the game

953
01:02:08,360 --> 01:02:10,719
or who deserve more shine. And
so look, if you're in our discord

954
01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:14,719
and you want to recommend whether they
cover the team or we're always in the

955
01:02:14,719 --> 01:02:17,679
market for people who can cover the
league at large, and you think that

956
01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:21,960
they do a good job covering the
entire NBA DM me, I'm open.

957
01:02:22,039 --> 01:02:24,480
I won't always take your suggestions,
but I will consider if you have someone

958
01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:28,920
who you think is Again, I
don't want to use the word lower key,

959
01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:30,519
because I feel that like that and
soul some but you think they deserve

960
01:02:30,559 --> 01:02:34,639
to need more shine or an up
and coming creator you'd like to see on

961
01:02:34,760 --> 01:02:37,679
the show. If you could be
a guest on any sports show, which

962
01:02:37,960 --> 01:02:44,079
show would it be? I definitely
should have prepped for this one. What

963
01:02:44,199 --> 01:02:49,519
is my What show would I want
to be on? Would it be?

964
01:02:49,679 --> 01:02:52,440
The Low Post? Would make me
feel like I made it? That's a

965
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:55,480
cliche answer, but all these years
in the industry, I'm lucky to be

966
01:02:55,559 --> 01:02:59,239
full time employed. I'm lucky to
have been able to host this podcast for

967
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:00,519
so many years. Could you have
been able to do a bunch of cool

968
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:07,320
radio and video and some you know, low ass level TV spots, But

969
01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:09,960
going on The Low Post would probably
make me feel like I just made it

970
01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:13,880
and to have that type of career
victory. This late where I think part

971
01:03:13,880 --> 01:03:16,960
of the battle in this industry,
aside from just surviving and hustling, is

972
01:03:17,119 --> 01:03:21,280
if you don't want to move to
And I've done editing. We did the

973
01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:23,800
writer's program an MBA Math, and
we have some people from that program who

974
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:28,159
were absolutely slaying it in this industry, and that's really fun to see.

975
01:03:28,320 --> 01:03:30,000
But I've never wanted to necessarily be
a manager or an editor, so if

976
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:36,920
you just want to write and analyze, there's just no like leg ups and

977
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,599
victories or just harder to find or
measure, at least from my perspective,

978
01:03:39,599 --> 01:03:44,880
and so going on the Low Post
would make me feel like I made it?

979
01:03:45,079 --> 01:03:47,880
Or what's another like the most popular
basketball podcast probably be The Dunker Spot,

980
01:03:49,039 --> 01:03:52,840
Like if you was ever invited on, I can't keep up even kind

981
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:58,079
of sort of five percent, like
with what Nikay is dunk Gonna Steve Jones

982
01:03:58,079 --> 01:04:00,880
do? But like a podcast like
that where make me feel like, oh,

983
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:03,000
okay, you've been in the industry
for a while and you actually do

984
01:04:04,280 --> 01:04:10,440
you actually do belong here. If
you had to pick one segment for award

985
01:04:10,480 --> 01:04:15,559
consideration, what would it be.
I don't really understand this part. And

986
01:04:15,639 --> 01:04:20,000
which segment do you wish was cut? I don't know. So you're saying,

987
01:04:20,039 --> 01:04:24,079
which if I had to make up
an award and cut an award,

988
01:04:24,679 --> 01:04:29,400
I'd probably cut Executive of the Year, if that's what you're asking. I

989
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:31,559
don't know that, like, or
can we reframe it to give it to

990
01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:36,079
entire staffs or even entire coaching staffs
with Coach of the Year. I think

991
01:04:36,119 --> 01:04:40,199
coaches do a better job not a
better job, but it's more recognized as

992
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,760
sort of this it's not recognized as
a group award, but you know there's

993
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:45,639
that staff there. I don't think
when you're talking Executive of the Year that

994
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:50,679
the front office gets like the entire
front office gets that same recognition, even

995
01:04:50,679 --> 01:04:55,880
though it's very much a group effort. If you had to pick one segment

996
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:59,960
for a ward consideration, what would
it be. Hope we're not talking about

997
01:05:00,119 --> 01:05:02,880
podcast. I mean, let's let's
throw out stat padding awards and then we'll

998
01:05:02,880 --> 01:05:09,400
just Kyle Kuzma win all of them. At this point, we don't have

999
01:05:09,559 --> 01:05:13,719
I know there's a most Improved Player, but we should have like a Comeback

1000
01:05:13,719 --> 01:05:16,000
Player of the Year award in the
NBA. I feel like, and it

1001
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:21,800
should be players that are either dealing
with injuries or maybe they fell off a

1002
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:26,639
cliff and like were able to just
sort of reinvent their career, and that

1003
01:05:26,639 --> 01:05:30,239
the latter is just so much rarer
when you're talking about a player who reaches

1004
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:32,679
a high point, maybe slips off, and then works back. I mean

1005
01:05:32,679 --> 01:05:35,719
brook Lopez as a comeback player would
be a great example. He's this All

1006
01:05:35,719 --> 01:05:40,880
Star in Brooklyn then kind of all
of a sudden like his stock he's in

1007
01:05:40,920 --> 01:05:44,400
the LA he's on the Lakers and
the stock towards sort of torpedoes and he

1008
01:05:44,440 --> 01:05:47,079
winds up in Milwaukee and the bi
annual exception. Last year he's the runner

1009
01:05:47,159 --> 01:05:51,760
up for Defensive Player of the Year. So I don't think does the NBA

1010
01:05:53,119 --> 01:05:59,280
like, I'm surprised that wasn't introduced
where, Like is there a Comeback Player

1011
01:05:59,320 --> 01:06:01,639
of the Year award? No,
it was. It was nineteeny one to

1012
01:06:01,639 --> 01:06:03,840
three eighty six. I wonder why
they got rid of it. They should,

1013
01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:08,360
they should bring it back, So
I would absolutely I would absolutely want

1014
01:06:08,400 --> 01:06:12,119
to see that. Let's look at
do does anyone care who they s I'm

1015
01:06:12,119 --> 01:06:15,960
doing? Miss in real time?
Who is seven winners of comeback player that

1016
01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:21,639
you are? Marcus Johnson in eighty
six, Michael Ray Richardson in eighty five,

1017
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:28,320
Adrian Dantley in eighty four, Paul
Westfall in eighty three, Gus Williams

1018
01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:31,679
in eighty two, Bernard King in
eighty one, Tiny Archibald in nineteen eighty.

1019
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:34,719
Let's bring let's bring back the Comeback
Player of the Year. I apologize,

1020
01:06:34,719 --> 01:06:38,719
Brian Ce if that is not what
you were asking. If you had

1021
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:44,079
to pick another company to work for, who would it be? Ooh?

1022
01:06:44,159 --> 01:06:48,079
Speaking of another podcast guest, Jason
Conceptsion does I'd love to go on him

1023
01:06:48,079 --> 01:06:51,559
and Chase Seranto's show because they're both
just super funny. But he he used

1024
01:06:51,559 --> 01:06:56,480
to write Go look at what Jason
conceptsjan could write at grant Land. I

1025
01:06:56,480 --> 01:06:59,599
think he did some stuff at other
websites back in the day, but he

1026
01:06:59,639 --> 01:07:01,440
is one of my favorite writers of
all time. Also, google someone Jim

1027
01:07:01,519 --> 01:07:05,960
Cavin cav A and he used to
write Jim Cavin Bleacher Report. Jim Cavin

1028
01:07:06,239 --> 01:07:10,960
Jim Cavin Knicker Blogger, one of
my favorite writers of all time. Huge

1029
01:07:10,960 --> 01:07:13,440
influence on me. He was always
super nice when we work together. We

1030
01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:16,280
would talk. He was one of
the first people who ever followed me back

1031
01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:20,320
on Twitter. This is years ago. I was in my mid twenties and

1032
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:24,400
I was like, Oh, this
is fucking cool. I still think about

1033
01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:27,519
him a ton. He's no longer
in the industry, So Jim Cavin,

1034
01:07:27,559 --> 01:07:30,320
Jason conceptsi Owann would love to have
those guys on a podcast. Host a

1035
01:07:30,360 --> 01:07:34,280
podcast beyond Jason conceptci Own's anything.
If you had to pick another company to

1036
01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:39,400
work for, though, who would
it be? Look Bleach Reports one of

1037
01:07:38,599 --> 01:07:44,639
the biggest sports media companies in the
country. I guess I could obviously say

1038
01:07:44,840 --> 01:07:47,920
ESPN, but I do think that
I might say The Ringer. I know,

1039
01:07:48,000 --> 01:07:51,000
not everyone's a Bill Simmons fan,
and I don't religiously listen to Bill

1040
01:07:51,039 --> 01:07:54,480
Simmons at this point. If he
has a guest on that I really like,

1041
01:07:54,519 --> 01:07:57,599
if it's Rob Mahoney or Zach Lowe
or Howard Beck, now I check

1042
01:07:57,639 --> 01:08:00,599
it out. But they employ some
of my favorite writers Fader, Howard Beck,

1043
01:08:01,400 --> 01:08:05,679
Rob Mahoney, Michael Pina. Right
now, that's another guy who's I

1044
01:08:05,679 --> 01:08:12,079
think you've been on this podcast once, but he's great. They so they

1045
01:08:12,079 --> 01:08:15,280
employ a lot of writers that I
really respect. And then the other thing

1046
01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:19,720
is that there seems to be an
actual investment in in Dan Devine, by

1047
01:08:19,720 --> 01:08:21,960
the way, more Striaho Sports right
now, used to be at the Ringer.

1048
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:26,439
He seems like a really good dude. Would be fun to talk to,

1049
01:08:26,560 --> 01:08:30,520
Going on his show would be a
lot of fun. Sorry, where

1050
01:08:30,560 --> 01:08:33,680
am I going with this? Oh? Okay, so that even sirat Sooe,

1051
01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:38,039
she she's I believe she's at the
Ringer. If not mistaken, there

1052
01:08:38,039 --> 01:08:40,680
seems to be an investment there for
whatever you say about Bill Simmons, whatever

1053
01:08:40,680 --> 01:08:44,359
you say about the company in longer
form content, or allowing you to go

1054
01:08:44,520 --> 01:08:48,319
deep into singular topics, or at
least narrowing the scope to where I don't

1055
01:08:48,319 --> 01:08:51,880
have to write about every single team, like where me and Grant do a

1056
01:08:51,880 --> 01:08:55,239
bunch of the Collapse and I know
how the sausages made, and me and

1057
01:08:55,279 --> 01:08:59,560
Grant have a lot of agency over
what we write, which is a pretty

1058
01:08:59,560 --> 01:09:03,640
big deal in this industry for sure, But to zero win on oh I

1059
01:09:03,640 --> 01:09:06,039
want to write about this player or
Justice team. I want to write a

1060
01:09:06,039 --> 01:09:10,239
feature about the Oklahoma City Thunder,
and we don't care that it's not going

1061
01:09:10,279 --> 01:09:13,880
to do a million reads because we're
only covering the one team. The ringer

1062
01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:16,119
does seem to be invested in that, and I hope to God is sustainable.

1063
01:09:16,119 --> 01:09:18,439
And so I'll just name that company
because I respect a lot of the

1064
01:09:18,439 --> 01:09:23,399
writers and a lot of the work, again, the focus work that they're

1065
01:09:23,439 --> 01:09:27,359
able to put out there. And
final question from this, if you could

1066
01:09:27,399 --> 01:09:31,279
have a sports job, what would
it be Besides player? I want to

1067
01:09:31,319 --> 01:09:38,199
be a trainer, not someone who's
working on a player's basketball skills, but

1068
01:09:38,239 --> 01:09:42,399
the weightlifting and nutritional side of it. That is a I think anyone who

1069
01:09:42,399 --> 01:09:45,239
listens to this podcast or for some
reason follows me on Instagram, where I

1070
01:09:45,279 --> 01:09:48,439
really don't post other than my Harvard
Knock content. I really am into fitness

1071
01:09:48,560 --> 01:09:53,000
and amateur bodybuilding. I would love
to compete one day. This is my

1072
01:09:53,079 --> 01:09:55,960
second year. Maybe I've alluded to
this to the pod, but I'm going

1073
01:09:56,000 --> 01:10:00,399
through my cut right now, and
last year I got so thin, gone

1074
01:10:00,439 --> 01:10:01,680
to people who asking me if I
was sick. The goal is not to

1075
01:10:01,760 --> 01:10:06,520
let that happen this year. I
love the way to try these different exercises

1076
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:11,199
build up your strength throughout. Different
movements can can impact you. And I

1077
01:10:11,239 --> 01:10:15,600
love the how nutrition and what you're
consuming, how much you're consuming some of

1078
01:10:15,640 --> 01:10:18,680
the timing of it can really manipulate
or impact your body. And if I

1079
01:10:18,760 --> 01:10:21,079
was doing that job, I'd be
able to have the time to study up

1080
01:10:21,079 --> 01:10:24,720
more on it, be a little
bit more technical about it. And so

1081
01:10:24,760 --> 01:10:30,880
I'd really love to be like a
trainer slash nutritionists for focusing on like the

1082
01:10:30,920 --> 01:10:36,119
strength the strength trainer and nutritionists side
of NBA players think it could be any

1083
01:10:36,159 --> 01:10:40,960
athlete in general, and if it
wasn't that I would say I would love

1084
01:10:41,079 --> 01:10:45,359
to be an assistant GM, just
to get to be one. You're never

1085
01:10:45,399 --> 01:10:46,520
gonna really get any of the credit, but you're not gonna get most of

1086
01:10:46,560 --> 01:10:49,000
the blowback, and then you get
to do a lot of the trade calls

1087
01:10:49,079 --> 01:10:53,239
or at least be in the room
for these high level conversations. So it's

1088
01:10:53,279 --> 01:10:56,920
sort of like you're probably you're not
paid the big bucks nearly as much as

1089
01:10:56,920 --> 01:11:00,840
the well, I say, assistant
GM, maybe it's assistant TZAR basketball whatever

1090
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:05,119
they're called now. But like the
guy, the second or third guy behind

1091
01:11:05,239 --> 01:11:09,079
the guy at the top of the
front office is a job that I would

1092
01:11:09,159 --> 01:11:12,640
like because you get a sense how
everything's working. You're in the know without

1093
01:11:12,680 --> 01:11:14,720
sort of the I mean there's pressure, I want to make it clear,

1094
01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:16,479
but you're involved without having to be
the face of it. And that's sort

1095
01:11:16,520 --> 01:11:20,000
of Anyone who've ever read my piece
about when I was dealing with depression in

1096
01:11:20,039 --> 01:11:28,720
twenty twenty one knows that I want
to be great at living in obscurity or

1097
01:11:28,760 --> 01:11:32,600
anonimity and so like that would provide, which is stupid as a content creator

1098
01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:36,600
trying to build up a podcast on
YouTube and all the criticism I get for

1099
01:11:36,680 --> 01:11:41,079
the stuff I write on VR and
on social media, so but that would

1100
01:11:41,079 --> 01:11:44,079
allow me to do that. I
think it would be strength though, conditioning

1101
01:11:44,199 --> 01:11:48,920
and nutritional coach for ideally an MBA
organization or a set of NBA players.

1102
01:11:49,279 --> 01:11:53,920
This was a lot of fun.
Thank you Brian for you maybe even just

1103
01:11:53,960 --> 01:11:57,520
pretending to care about what I would
want to do Meilbeg was fun. As

1104
01:11:57,520 --> 01:12:00,119
always, we went over an hour
because this podcast is never runder an hour

1105
01:12:00,159 --> 01:12:04,199
apparently until next time. Please remember
to rate, review, subscribe wherever you

1106
01:12:04,239 --> 01:12:08,199
consume, must tell people about us. Love all the support we continue to

1107
01:12:08,239 --> 01:12:10,840
get. Appreciate every single one of
you. Join our discord to take that

1108
01:12:10,840 --> 01:12:14,560
support and the conversation ever further.
If you want to join the mailbag discord

1109
01:12:14,640 --> 01:12:16,640
is the best way to do that, but also you can email us Hardwoodknox

1110
01:12:16,640 --> 01:12:19,560
at gmail dot com. Until next
time, and as always, lead me

1111
01:12:19,640 --> 01:12:24,159
to shout out to the one,
the only, Franknilachina and apologies too,

1112
01:12:24,399 --> 01:12:29,840
especially after what he did to the
motherfucking Clippers on Monday night, Reggie Jackson

1113
01:12:29,840 --> 01:12:31,479
and also DeAndre Jordan. Shout out
to them for turning back the clock to

1114
01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:32,119
the Vine Arrow