What is crack blac in filo thermonuclear a Efforts. I am Dan Valley coming
at you with another mailbag episode, going at it solo as we tend to
do with mailbags. What we're here. Best way to join in on the
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Before we do dive into the mailbag, I will have we'll get to some
news. Grant and I will do this. I think we'll have an episode
going up on Thursday. This is going up on Wednesday morning, so we'll
hit some more injury notes, LaMelo ball, more news like that. Warriors
suffered a bunch of injuries on Tuesday night. But I thought there were two
that we're worth talking about here. We'll start with Mark Cuban sold a majority
steak in the Dallas Mavericks. They were evaluated at three point five billion.
Now, to be clear, by him selling a majority steak, I'm assuming
that means he's selling at least fifty point one percent, and so he's not
getting three point five billion dollars. He is still let's just assume he's going
to sell half, so we're at one point seventy five billion, just using
that as a flat number. He initially bought his steak for two hundred and
eighty five million. I believe he's clearing a lot of money here. He
is selling it to the what Miriam Addelson, Uh, she's she's from the
family of a loss. She is a Las Vegas billionaire, excuse me,
and she is a majority stakeholder I believe in Las Vegas Sands. She is
liquidating about two billion dollars worth of the company stock in the Las Vegas Sands
Corp. That's about ten percent of her steak in the company, and that's
to fund the purchase of this. Now, what's interesting about this is Mark
Cuban is going to retain his He is considered again the primary stakeholder in the
Dallas Mavericks, and he's been that for basically twenty five years. At this
point, he is selling his significant steak. But and this is all pending
league approval. It is expected to be vetted. However, he would retain
a stake in the franchise, and he would also retain operational control of all
the team's basketball dealings. As Mark Stein framed it on his thumb stack,
that's a pretty huge friggin deal. What's also interesting about this is that Cuban
has been among the most outspoken advocates for casino gaming. I don't even want
to say expansion in Texas, but wants, you know, casino gaming to
happen in Texas. He believes it would make it more of a tourist destination
than it is right now. And he has talked about how he has dreams
of sort of opening a Dallas Mavericks arena that has a casino attached. And
now the fact that he is selling to someone who is so involved in the
Las Vegas Sanscorp, who a company that has been kind of at the forefront
of If you go and look and read some of the stuff when you talk
about Texas and casino gaming and sports gambling, they're a company that is routinely
mentioned. So I don't know that this portends anything about the future of casino
or sports gambling in Texas. You know, all the stuff you read says
that it's not really a priority. And there's the whole Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick
who remains forahe emily against it. I just find it a little interesting that
this is the person that he is selling it to. We will see if
it goes through to Miriam Maddilson again. It is expected to go through.
It just feels like a very It's an interesting sale, interesting timing as well,
but he is selling at the peak of where these franchises are getting valuations
at. I think the Mavericks were by Forbes the seventh most expensive or lucrative
franchise in the NBA at the start of this season, and so he is
capitalizing on that financial investment, securing part of his own future, but still
just retaining operational control, which is great news for Dwight Powell, who will
I'm assuming you get a lifetime deal from the Dallas Mavericks after this season.
That's That's really about it for now. We have to wait and see if
more details will come up. But I'm very curious to see how this set
up really works. I want to know how much of a steak he is
selling, how much of a steak is is he retaining? And I want
to know, like does this one. The casino stuff is semi interesting to
me. It's an inevitability in every state. I would say most, I
would say the vast majority of states. There are thirty eight states now I
believe that have some form of legal sports betting, and when you look at
just casino gaming, and sports betting. There are may be one, two,
three, four states that you could argue will never have sports betting or
something. It feels like an inevitability everywhere else, and so that is interesting.
Does this portend anything to happen with the future of casino gambling in Texas?
I have no idea does the same thing about Mark Cuban's plans, though
you would think it certainly does if he's selling a quote unquote significant stake in
this team that he's been synonymous with essentially since he bought it, and he
is probably the highest profile owner in the league. I know that Steve Bomber
gets a lot of shot, and then you kind of have James Dolan and
Jerry Reinsdorf as you know, owners that are lampooned a lot by the public.
And there's Joe lacub of course, but he's kind of just like you
know, and part of that is Shark Tank and how he made his money
and how he doesn't. I don't know a frame is this portplake. He
is courtsided every game, and he's the jeans and T shirt kind of guy,
so people think that they can relate to him, even though I mean
that's right. Frankly, they really can't just I find it interesting on so
many levels. We'll see if the set up works. But I think this
is most interesting because it has to say something about Cuban's future with the team.
He might retain operational control, but he's sixty five. Does he plan
on doing this long term? Do a lot of people use this, Oh,
we are they worried about Luca leving and he just wants to get out,
while while the getting is good, I guess you could galaxy bringing it
that way. I find it more interesting on the level of what are his
long term plans? And then two does the same thing about the future of
again casino gambling in Texas sports gambling as well. The other piece of news
we already talked about the Josh Giddy stuff when it first came out. The
Newport Beach Police Department is now officially investigating these allegations against him that surfaced on
social media, which and the Thunder is still playing him. He played on
Tuesday night. The Timberwolves fans and the arena booed him every time he touched
the ball. They cheered when he did something really poorly. There was also
Andrew Boget was talking on a podcast about how apparently, Yeah, I don't
know that I want to give this credence just because of Andrew Bogant reliable source,
but he had said that Giddy was lied to about the miners age and
that as soon as he found out, he sees contact with her, told
the Thunder organization and like that was kind of that until now. I guess
that's unacceptable. If it's true, then that's all of a sudden sanctioned by
the league and the Thunder and we don't ever hear anything about it. And
now because it's I guess the Thunder at least being consistent by not disciplining him,
now we're telling him to be away from the team or making him a
healthy scratch by not doing that. That's what they did apparently when they when
they found out. I don't like speculating on this, and it's just it's
they're a minor. There's a minor involved. I would say that even if
the miner lied about her age, if this happened over a year ago,
which is what Andrew Bogick I've believe said, what kind of freshman or sophomore
looks the part of an eighteen or nineteen year old. That's just will for
willful ignorance at best, I would claim it. We just need to wait
for more details coming out. I'm not going to ignore it entirely because I
think it's important to talk about, but I don't want to get into speculating
and automatically calling him a scumbag without knowing the details. I will say that
it is just a terrible look right now for the organization by probably playing him.
I don't know who they're doing any favors for. He didn't look good
against Minnesota to begin with, and these allegations are serious enough that we've had
similar situations where there are not similar allegations necessarily, but there have been allegations
against players where they have been dispatched away from the team. And is it
because we don't have I mean, I guess there was video evidence out there,
but the lack of concreteness or of a police report before this, is
that just why they're keeping him around? Do they know something about this that
we don't? Again, I'm really the part of me, The most concerning
part about this for me is one I like just talking about someone who is
a minor and that we've seen that her information has been docks a bunch on
the Internet, and then just also the lack of like even by the NBA
standards where everything can be very cryptic when you're looking at that, We're gonna
wait and see more from the Miles Bridges stuff, or the Josh Primo stuff,
or the Kevin Porter Junior stuff, just to name some of the more
recent incidents. It's just there were still details and reporting kind of trickling out.
There hasn't been a lot of follow up reporting on this, and I
know the Thunders are very buttoned up organization. The fact that this was kept
under wraps though maybe for a year, it's just also wild young comfortable.
We'll see how it plays out. He is currently a member of You knows
he's not being a healthy scratch right now. Does it ever get to that
point? We don't know. What does the investigation from the Newport Police Department
find. I will say though, just based off the fact that it has
now been elevated to an official law enforcement capacity, which again, if the
Thunder knew about this at the time, like, shouldn't there been something done
with actual law enforcement to put this officially on the record. If they were
truly even Giddy himself cared about doing the right thing, and maybe they didn't.
We don't know about it. But the fact that this has now been
elevated and this is just I'm not a lawyer. Well, maybe we'll ask
Grant about this, because Grant is I don't know if anyone knows this,
Grant's lawyer to my co host Grant for anyone was watching or listening for the
first time, well we can ask him about this. Not a lawyer,
but the fact that has now been elevated to an official legal matter. I
don't really understand why he's playing, and it's not just a matter of the
thunder need and the lead needed to show that they're doing something I don't.
I don't know who is benefiting from having him play at the moment. Again,
the lack of details leaves so many some of the things open for interpretation,
and that's pretty toxic in itself, just that ambiguity there when you look
at this social media commentary on it, and the final thing I'll say on
this is adjacent to the fact people going after ESPN's Malika Andrews for how she
covered the Josh Giddy situation. Versus the Brandon Miller draft comments that she made.
I've watched the clips that were put up and there, and I think
the other one was a Miles Bridges won. The third one that was up
there, maybe it was Kevin Porter Jr. They're all the same clip.
She's just doing her job and relaying the facts as we know them, and
maybe adding some intel from things that she has heard in every instance, and
just people are telling on themselves as bigots, as dipshits, as misogynists when
they're claiming that she is treating Josh Giddy differently because he's white. Now,
is that happening within the media in general? Is he getting more of the
benefit of the doubt than a KPJ than a Miles Bridges did. I can't
speak to that. It's certainly possible because the way that racial bias just works
in this country. I'm not I just don't think it's fair to single out
Malika Andrews, of all people, a black sports media member, for covering
this differently when it's just there's there's video evidence of it being the exact same
thing. Her restating facts is not communicating an opinion or ethering or ruining a
moment. She didn't go on air during the draft and talk about how Brandon
Miller was you scum of the earth, even though he wasn't I guess,
directly involved in the murder case. She's just restating that he was like a
person that was named in that case. And she did the same thing here
with Josh Gideon. So there's been consistency in that, And I understand if
there's critiques on how the overall commentary is forming. I already do not like
what we're seeing on social media. Again, this comes back to the just
absurd ambiguity we're dealing with here where these allegations are made and we just know
nothing after the facts, aside from now that they're being investigated. And this
hearsay from Andrew bow who had said on the thing, which is why I'm
even kind of uncomfortable talking. Probably maybe I shouldn't have given it credence,
but I want to make sure they're at least tackling it. Where he said
that if I'm wrong, I will apologize. If you're not one hundred percent
sure, maybe you shouldn't say anything, which is why maybe I shouldn't even
have talked about what Andrew Boget said, maybe that's not fair. Maybe that's
not fair to Giddy or the alleged miner involved here. It's not really fair
to anyone. So if anyone's offended by that, I apologize. But that's
what's floating around now. You're seeing on social media talking about how Giddy is
in fact the victim, and that just reaches a whole other level of toxicity.
We need to wait and see a resolution here. I do think though,
because the police are officially involved in at least some capacity, I don't
I feel like Josh Giddy just shouldn't be with the team at the moment,
like, just even if it turns out that he somehow is is I don't
even want to use the word victim in all this. He was just a
knowing and didn't technically do anything wrong, like just pull him off the court
right now, subjecting to what his teammates are gonna have to deal with,
what he is to deal with from the crowds, the distractions that it kind
of creates, I would think in the arena they're not talking about it openly
on broadcast. Just not a fan of how this is handled it all,
especially if it's been something that's been ongoing for over a year. Again,
we don't know the full details. The danger of me commenting on it without
actually knowing that I will say this as usual to be brutally honest. There
is no natural segue into actual basketball. But let's talk about basketball. We'll
begin with the N season tournament is topical and Austin had a question, what's
happening with the N season tournament. Pacers are undefeated and Clints the game at
home. Also, there are six teams making it through and who plays who
East a winner versus West day or all he'st versus East. Then championship is
East versus West. So yeah, the crux of it. Look, the
rules are just there are eight teams that advance. They have already advanced to
the knockout rounds. Every team that has the best standing in like the one
of the six groups, they advanced. And then there were two wild cards
that came from So let's deal with the Let's just talk about the West.
You have you have your groups, and the winner of each groups then advances.
There are then two wild cards from the West that are going to be
chosen. They were chosen by the best record with the tiebreaker being point differential.
From there, I know a lot of people thought that if you're going
outside the group, yeah, inside the group, the tie breakers should be
point differential. A lot of people want to see that the tie breakers should
be overall record on the season just because you're dealing with outside groups. That's
okay, I get it. The matchups have been solidified though. However,
after Tuesday night, and so we have the Suns at Lakers, the Pelicans
at the Kings, the Knicks at the Bucks, and the Celtics at the
Pacers, and so four teams from each conference, we are now entering a
single elimination territory. The schedule is I believe they're going to play December Monday,
so December fourth, and Tuesday December fifth. So those are going to
be those two subsets of games, and then there'll be a semi finals and
the a championshi and on those nights, as far as I can tell,
because the NBA released a subsequent schedule on these single elimination nights or the championship
round, those are the only games that are taking place. The actual championship
is on Saturday, December ninth, I believe, which would mean that the
semifinals are going to be on Thursday, December sixth. If I'm misstating that,
I do apologize, but I'm pretty sure I did double check before I
came on here and started rambling that I am correct. And yeah, so
there's a there's a SCHM Mortgage board of games on Wednesday the sixth and Friday
the eighth, and those are the other twenty two teams that missed the quarterfinal
round of the nd season tournament. So that is really just just how it's
working. And yeah, it is December seventh is when the semifinals are taking
place. So we will have the first knockout round where on December fourth and
fifth, where those four games are taking place. Then on December seventh,
we will have another pair of games that will yield two teams remaining that will
then play on December ninth. Now the semifinals and the championships. So those
final two sets of games December seventh, which is a Thursday, and December
ninth, which is a Friday, a Saturday, excuse me, those will
be taking place in Las Vegas. And I do think look, it's interesting
the point differential became a thing when we were when we were watching these games.
It was let's look at the last one the Golden State Kings won.
If Golden State won by twelve plus, they would advance, but if the
King's lost by fewer, by eleven or fewer or just one, they would
advance. They ended up actually winning, let alone e raising a large deficit.
Golden State did have injuries to GP two and Chris Paul, but they
were just absolutely kind of just a pathetic effort at points with the way they
were turning the ball over. A lot of fouls though in that game,
and I thought some of them went bad against the Warriors in the second half
specifically. Still, that was just they had such a big lead, there's
no excuse for blowing that. So that's really just how it works. You
are staying in the same conference until you get to championship and then it's East
versus West. I hope that answered your question, Austin. I hope just
the end of it kind of clarified this a little bit for you. I
still find the point differential stuff interesting because of what it kind of did.
There were games within a games where the look at Boston versus Chicago, the
outcome was already we knew Boston was going to win, but they were trying
to drive up the score to change the context of their placement in the n
Season tournament. And I like that stuff. I do think that if you
went to a tiebreaker, some people have argued this for the entire season looking
at that record, I guess it would increase the meaning of regular season games
overall, So I would be open to that idea, but I kind of
like this. It made it chaotic and really tough to follow. Where I
wanted to laser in on OKC in Minnesota, and that's the early game that
I focused on the well, I guess, not that it was at eight
o'clock Eastern time. It was was kind of in the second wave, but
that's the game I wanted to zero went on. But you're also kind of
checking scores elsewhere, and it's always like that to some extent. But I
do find it easier when it wasn't in this situation to kind of just focus
on that singular game or two games, and so that made it chaotic,
but that's part of this and it's fun. We'll see if it takes.
I really do think that it's done that it's been a victory for its first
year. I'm more intrigued to see if we fast over three, four,
or five years down the line, is there more meaning ascribe to actually winning
it? To this entire process process of it. We've heard coaches talk about
it, We've heard players kind of talk about it. Some of them have
been against it. That points where Tatum and Derozen we're both sort of laboring
the point differential thing. My advice would just be play better than if you're
worried about other teams scoring when you're already down a ton. That's my whole
thing, Like, just play better from the jump and you're not in that
situation, those minutes can actually matter. So I actually love the point differential
tie breaker just because of what it did to the final nine of games and
what you're not just paying attention to the outcome, you're paying attention to the
types of outcomes. Makes it complex to follow, And I will fully admit
I wasn't necessarily tracking the in season tournament standings throughout the entire year and the
point differential different scenarios and stuff. I kind of waited for it to play
out, monitor it in real time. That was more that me just going
through the inaugural motions of this entire thing, and I think if this catches
on, you'll be more invested in the standings of these the point differential standing
specifically before these games even take place. I think it's been for its debut
year overall, I do think it's been a very good experience. So that's
where I'm at with that. We can now move on to non in season
tournament stuff, and we have a pair of nix A Knicks questions. One
of those knicks Adjacment Jason. This is from let's start with the one from
Austin Again. Should the grizz trade for Mitchell Robinson The blocking of him and
Triple J would be insane, Plus they would get back that rebounding machine they
are missing right now with Steven Adams. So yeah, I mean, if
Mitchell Robinson is available, I would say the Grizzly should excuse me, it's
late here, I'm yelling, should absolutely take a look at him. They're
not necessarily outfitted in disposable salary though. I mean, when you start to
name the players that have to go out to match Mitchell Robinson does not make
a ton and you just run into this problem with any trade he's making fifteen
point seven this year, that the client's to fourteen point three next year,
then the final years under thirteen after that, which is pretty wild. And
so that's just going to increase the value of his contract the fact that it's
declining, But so is it. Are they giving up Steven Adams expiring deal
in that? Are they giving up Brandon Clark? Why would the Knicks want
his contracts when he's coming back from an achilles injury and sign for multiple years?
What else are you attaching it to make it worth the Knicks. While
I can't see Mitchell Robinson actually being available right now unless it's in a superstar
trade, he is too important to what the Knicks do, especially on offense.
They are a team that I believe that they've improved a little bit when
you're looking at their shooting percentages from short, mid range and at the rim,
but they've been bad enough in those spots specifically that they need what Mitchell
Robinson is bringing to the table, and so they're still dead last in rim
percentage fifty seven point eight percent. They're shooting thirty nine percent on twos between
four and fourteen feet that ranks twenty eighth and Now, so you look at
what Mitchell Robinson is doing, and he is grabbing rebounds on twenty three point
six percent of their two point misses and sixteen point two percent of their three
point misses. When you look at that short mid range area and rim area
specifically, he's grabbing twenty point six percent of their misses at the rim and
twenty one point one percent of their misses from short mid range. He's grabbing
thirty four percent thirty four point one actually of their long mid range misses,
fifteen percent of their above the break three misses, and nineteen point three percent
of their Oh I'm sorry, i'm looking at their I'm actually looking at the
wrong one. He's grabbing twenty seven point seven percent of their missus at the
rim and twenty five point six percent of their misses between four and fourteen feet.
That's a guardantuan number when you consider how poorly the Knicks are faring from
those ranges. The other thing is second chance points are just a huge part
of what the Knicks are doing offensively in general. Well, Mitchell Robinson is
on the court, and I did cite this on the previous podcast, but
it's part of this mailbag question. The Knicks are averaging when they have a
second chance possession, they're averaging about one point zero about one point one points
per possession. With Mitchell Robinson on the floor, that drops to point nine
to two points per possession when he's off the floor. That's a massive drop
offensive. He's just too important to the way that they're faring right now.
And I don't think that you'd be willing to trade him unless it's part of
a megastar package because one your season, if it was this season, was
going down the toilet. He wasn't playing that well. Maybe talkers off.
Oh, the Grizzly send salary and then a bunch of picks. That's not
where the Knicks are at right now, and they don't need the Mitchell Robinson's
probably more valuable than most of the picks the Grizzlies could send back at this
point anyway. And so if you're trying to load for superstar trade, you
don't trade your best defender right now. And who's been again one of your
most valuable offensive players just for the offensive rebounding. He's improved his hand coordination
on the offensive end this year too. For the Grizzlies. Specifically, his
screening just isn't what Steven Adams brings and so that there'll be some difference there.
There's no doubt though that having him on the glass would would help a
crap ton. I think they're kind of looking at you'd have to go the
route of cheaper flyers, I would think, or players who are materially different.
Where it's like, could you go after a Nick Claxton if the Nets
don't want to pay him in advance of free agency and he's making nine point
six million right now, he again is not the screener that Steven Adams is
not the rebounder either, but super switchable and it's going to give you a
huge defensive impact and he has some ball skills on the offensive end. Or
do you go all right? I think a lot of people have mentioned vouch
for them. That'd be interesting. Getting the money's a little bit tough for
them. Do you want to give up, excuse me, Steven Adams in
that deal if it's a matter of Brandon Clark and other salary, I guess
maybe. But Vooch is not having the best year right now, and he
has another two years left on his contract. At forty one point five million
total after this one, you might be better off if the Bulls tear it
down. Hey, there's Andre Drummond just on his minimum contract. Can you
can you get him? And that that's another big body, someone who would
help you on the glass for sure. Do you look at what's happening in
Dallas? Do you just wind up taking a flyer on just the rusty Rashawn
Holmes to see if that could work out? Would they consider trading the ultra
cheap Dwight Powell at this point? Detroit has plenty of bigs. I don't
know that. I don't know that they would want any of them. In
Memphis, Houston, no nothing there. Could you look at the Knicks have
Jericho Simms? Could he be someone that they would consider moving? Again,
that's just a much different archetype of a player than Steven Adams is if you're
just looking to replace him, you know, skill for skill, and you
could go with look is okay, see we'll gonna finally, you know,
let's roll out Poku at the five in Memphis, just to see what happens.
They have a Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren there. They will play some
Kenridge at the five. Usman Jang has kind of fallen out of the rotation
a little bit. He did have a stint in the G League, so
maybe his minutes tick up after that. Would you play him at the five
so you can get creative that route. There's not a lot of I mean,
a healthy Robert Williams the third would have been interesting. He is not
healthy though, You're not even if you can get the money for DeAndre and
that's not going to be something that interests you. The Spurs are not just
gonna get rid of Zach Collins. Do you go with sort of a flyer
on again, a very different player, but just see, hey Chris Bruschet,
he has only one year on his contract after this one. Do we
just take a flyer on him? He can also go a little bit smaller
and see otis Thaddeus Young Tickle their fancy at all Utah is Kelly olynnok,
which is super interesting. If they want to go that wrap stretches the floor,
he'll be on the glass a little bit. But he's not like this
screening big and he's also just not this excellent rebounder either, and so that
doesn't necessarily fit the bill, uh Daniel Gafford in Washington. I mean maybe
if you're talking about the screening, But when you look at a lot of
how what the Grizzlies need to replace from Steven Adams, I don't necessarily know
if he's gonna give you. He gives you some on the defensive glass and
he's had an eleven he's had an offensive rebounding rate over twelve or excuse me,
over eleven in each of the past four years. So that's something like,
do you take a look at him? But again, we're talking about
someone he's he is not expensive by any stretch, but because of the salary
structure that Grizzlies are working with getting to his twelve point four million, you
are just you're saying, essentially, oh, are we trading Luke Kenard,
Are we trading Steven Adams himself? Or we trading Brandon Clark. You can't
even step Lader. You would take like three other players to step Luder your
way there after you go from that, and so that would be a weird
decision to make. Do you chase good money after bad? That saying goes
because your season is so far gone right now, I think any move of
this caliber or any move of significance kind of has to wait until a little
bit after John Morant comes back. And that's not going to give you a
much time to evaluate the team. But you want to make sure that you're
gonna start winning with him enough to justify going all in to this, well,
not all in, but to justify you wus say, doubling down.
It's not like a triple down, but to reinvest in this season's core and
to make a move that, Yeah, if it's Drummond, you could probably
that's a little bit easier to work someone who's making that type of order Jericho
Simms. But if you're talking about someone who's making around the mid level even
a little bit less, like it's gonna cost you a player that you probably
want Steven Adams around beyond this season, even though he's not healthy right now,
or Brandon Clark if you're banking on him returning from his achilles injury,
that makes the decision a little tougher and his wife. I think you would
need to wait until John Rant comes back. Sticking with this is specific to
the Knicks. Box Boy seventy one, I think the Knicks should make a
move to sign Pascal Siakam. At first glance, it sounds like a lateral
move, but I think Pascal makes the Knicks a better team both defensively and
holistically, while providing similar offensive production as Randall. I think if they are
going to pay a player forty million dollars in the next few years, I
would rather have Pascal. They could trade Randal for picks in a backup three
or four. I just feel the ceiling of a team with Randall's cap that
is captain the second without him ever becoming a concerned defender. Pascal style of
play and acceptance as a second or third star just makes him a better fit
for this team's future. That is interesting. Any Pascal deal, first of
all, is gonna need to begin with the sign and trade. The Knicks
are just not rejected to have cap base next year. You can always go
about clearing it, but it's not a matter of just, oh, let's
take Julius Randall is on the books for twenty seven point six million. It's
not just oh, let's trade him and we'll have a We'll have enough money
to go out and sign Pascal Siakama. As of right now, when you
look at just next season, there are some kind of there a holds bacon
here ass something they pick up the team option on on Jericho Sims. You're
looking at one hundred and fifty plus million dollars in salary against a one hundred
and forty two million dollar cap, so they're like a net. You know,
they're already ten million ish over the cap, So it has to be
assign and trade almost unless you're just dumping player after player. That's not even
including every forty has a team option, So we're not even including his money
in those calculations. Now, is that feasible? Sure? What the Knicks
awesome need to consider is that Jalen Brunson is extension eligible after this season,
and so he can extend off of one hundred and forty percent of his current
deal. And so that's someone that you need to start thinking about in the
sense of just ballparking this year. If you're gonna pay him thirty five million
dollars a year to start, does he accept it? One, Because of
how well he's playing, and this is his age twenty seven seasons, we'll
be going into age twenty eight. He could probably kick it another year and
then wait for his player option and then just you know, enter the market
that way and get a higher starting salary. But if you're gonna pay him
that money, I don't know if the route is then to go, oh,
let's pay Pascal Siakam his max or close to it, and now you
have all right, these guys are still in their prime. But Pascal Siakam
will be going into his age thirty season next year, and then you have
Jalen Brunson going into his age twenty eight. It's just you're kind of like
super charging the urgency of your timeline. And I don't know if Brunson and
Siakam are enough to build a contender. I would be intrigued if you had
enough shooting around them, because Siakam, I think, is a fantastic player
this year. However, he's still shooting just forty one point seven percent on
He's at twenty eight point three percent on catch and shoot threes, including twenty
three point one percent over his last five games. You need to give him
spacing. And Jalen Brunson has become one of the best off the dribble three
point shooters in the league this year, and so he might count as a
floor spacer. But if you're gonna play Siakam at the four, which you
probably would, you can. I think you can get by with some minutes
with him at the five. Not necessarily the rebounder or like the strong,
huge body to play that position every minute of every game, but you can
get away with Siakam at the five minutes. I don't think that's the Knicks's
end game, especially with Timms, who always wants their traditional rim protector there.
So if you're playing with Mitchell Robinson, you need caps lock three shooters
around them, and I'm gonna count Jalen Brunson as one. Getting to the
rest of that is okay. So it was in grimes and quickly just because
r J. Barrett not necessarily a proven shooter. He's still shooting well from
three overall in the season, but we've seen a bit of a pullback since
he came back from his his knee injury. That's a real concern. And
so I don't necessarily love that setup. And what else are you giving up
to get Siakam? So you're going to pay him, and now you also
have to give up assets. Julius Rendaud has to be part of that deal,
because none of these like those two together, just with Brunson and Mitchell
Robninson, they just don't make any sense. Is Toronto gonna be willing to
take on Randal. He will be an expiring contract at that point, and
so because he has a player option for twenty nine point five million and twenty
five twenty six, maybe you think he picks that up. It's a small
enough percentage of the salary cap that maybe he doesn't. So you need to
find a team that values Randall. And Randall can be a very useful player,
but I don't think that you're going to get that positive value for him
just because of how up and down he is on both ends of the floor
and especially defensively. I want to know what team right now is going to
give you a first round pick for Julius Randall. There are teams that maybe
could use him. I assume some Detroit Pistons fans were lusting after him.
You're not getting a Detroit first round pick for that, and so that makes
things tough. But let's just say that you can use him as the salary
anchor. You still need to give up more money and players, and at
that point, like okay, if it cost you Grimes. Is it gonna
cost you, Barrett? Is it gonna cost you Dante Evincenzo? And then
how many first? On top of that, I just with Quickly's deal coming
up as well, he's going to be a restricted free agent. I don't
necessarily love the fit. The Knicks are kind of getting to a point though,
where it's so hard to improve their team because they have such a quality
core in place that Jonathan maccree of Knicks Film School wrote about this on a
substack recently. In other years, it was so obvious where the improvement needed
to come from or what they could do. And in some ways that persists
because you look at it as they just need this bigger wing. It's just
different now because it's not a matter of if we're gonna stop playing Evident Fournier
or we're gonna go trade for someone like a Derek Rose. It doesn't have
to be a star or we're gonna stop playing Derek Rose, which is something
that happened for them last year. And so the absence of that obvious move
makes it really difficult for the Knicks. Their next swing is gonna be mission
critical and it has to be big. I don't know if is big enough.
I don't necessarily love the fit with him and Brunson and Robinson. I
think those three fine, let's work with it, But then you need to
make sure that you have two really above average shooters around them basically at all
points when they're on the court. I don't know if the Knicks have the
juice to get there. They have quickly, they have Grimes, they have
Dante DiVincenzo. There are things you could work out there. As RJ.
Barrett progress by the end of the year into that, okay, then maybe
let's take a look at it. I also just don't love the idea of
Pascal Siakam playing next to such offensive, be limited centers. I would almost
be more interested in seeing him play alongside a A Garon Jackson Junior. What
does the rebounding look like with that? He needs someone maybe more like a
cat next to him. Are getting enough defense out of that, because then
Siakam is just effectively Okay, you have to play a lot of the five
in those instances the fit gets really really tough. And if he is going
to play next to another big who's not necessarily a shooter, I would argue
that big needs to have a ton of ball skills, and then Pascal Siaka
will be the one dotting up. And so maybe you know a Zion Williamson
that fit I don't even love. Indeed, would even make more sense than
a Robinson upfront with him and Chet Holmgren just kind of staring at him.
And Okay, see Victor wab Yama not a center, but in San Antonio,
we're putting him next to his Zach Collins. Like that's the type of
Miles Turner. Even that's why the Pacers are mentioned as such a like a
popular destination for him, because that just makes so much sense, and like
you could probably even get where you need to put him on a team where
all right, we'll just play him at the five and and it'll be fine.
Like Boston would be a good example. They can playhim with the five,
they can play him next to KP. It's not I'd be shocked if
that's they They could use another big would imagine if they just decided, oh,
we're gonna move away from over the offseason, like Jalen Brown's all of
a sudden in Toronto, or we're going Al Horford and Derek White or or
whatever. But like that's like he needs those types of bigs around him,
and if they're not, like I said, if they're not gonna be these
shooters, they need at least have ball skills, and that's just not much
of Robinson's game. So I don't love the fit. However, I would
be open to it if the price the opportunity costs in terms of assets is
reasonable. So you're getting off of Randall and then you're just able to have
enough shooting around those three of Robinson, Siakam or Brunton. I would also
say that, do I want to upend both, you know, Robinson and
Randall getting rid of both those guys. Let's say for Pascal siaka I'm not
necessarily the same deal, but you're getting Pascal Siakam and you're saying, Okay,
well, now we need to change the way we're going at center.
Maybe Isaiah Hartnstein is starting, or we're just gonna go after a different type
of five. I don't think Pascal Siakam is worth doing that, but it
is an interesting I don't hate the idea Box Boy seventy one, I just
it. I'm very particular about how it have to work, which makes me
think that it won't work. I am operating at a less than banner pace
right now. Let's see how any more questions I can fit in in the
hour. This is This is a really good one from Peto. What do
you think about the concept slash theory the lack of spacing is the reason behind
Zion not getting as many foul calls when driving to the rim. This theory
says that the collapsing into the pain of the opposing teams would kind of,
quote unquote hide the fouls occurring on Zion from referees. So I buy into
the lack of spacing limiting the playmaking that Zion can make in these driving situations.
The fouling just feels more about some of his takeoff points on drives this
year also, and like kind of the speed which he's operating. But in
general, just he is such a unique build that he's tough to referee in
the same way that Lebron can be tough to referee, where bodies bounce off
him and it doesn't seem like it's a ton of contact because he's just so
massive, such this pristine physical specimen. And I think those players are even
if I want to call them hard to officiate. Maybe that's just giving some
of the refs a pass. It's going to inherently make them have to it's
going to force them to operate against more contact. Now, what I get
more concerned about when I look at his drives is he's up to the volume
and basically all of his years in the league that he's actually played, but
the playmaking has never been like cap slot could. And so let's go back
to his rookie season. Six point five drives per thirty six minutes got fouled
on, eleven point three percent of them, passed twenty three point five percent
of the time, had ten turnovers to two assists. Go to twenty twenty
one, and again we're talking about limited samples in some of these seasons because
of injuries, but fourteen drives per thirty six minutes got fouled on, eleven
point eight percent of them passed on almost thirty percent of them, still had
more turnovers sixty three than assists. Doesn't play in twenty twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty two. In his limited sample during twenty two to twenty three,
seventeen point seven drives per thirty six minutes got fouled on eleven point nine percent
of them a career high passed on twenty six point two percent of them had
forty five turnovers to twenty five assists. This year, he's averaging almost twenty
drives for thirty six minutes. That foul rate has now dropped to nine point
three percent. He's passing twenty six point four percent of the time, has
seventeen turnovers to twelve assists. He has never had an assist rate higher,
I think than seven point seven on drives. I think that more so speaks
to the lack of shooting around him, because it means that guys are not
capitalizing on the assist opportunities. It also means that the traffic he's dealing with
will impact his passes, and this year specifically, he has more bad pass
turnovers than lost ball turnovers for the first time. I think overall, the
traffic hurts in the sense that it can impact his handle as well. I
don't know if it's the reason for him not getting to the foul line quote
unquote enough. I would think that has more to do just about his build
and the way that there might just be this intrinsic bias against those types of
players where he can withstand more contact, or maybe meaningful contact doesn't actually look
like much contact because of how he's built. It is an interesting theory,
though, because if there are so many bodies around him, and we've seen
this how many times this year where he's like triple or a quadruple team,
it seems like and so are they are. Is that amount of body sort
of obfuscating some of the actual fouls that are taking place. It's an interesting
theory. I don't know that I buy it, but it is certainly something
that I guess could be could be a play. Yet he is such a
unique player, one of one unlike anyone I've ever really watched here kind of
just like Shack with wheels would be like how I kind of like with a
handle and wheels. I don't know if that's the most apt description of him.
And so that's just by default a difficult player to referee or someone's gonna
have to deal with more contact. Pito has another question here, and it's
it's another very one and the one I had to think about, and I
want to make sure I differentiated from what our discord members were responding to,
which, by the way, fun aside one of my favorite and least favorite
things about the Discord mailbags is one. I don't even just send out solicitations.
They just build up. So that's great. That's not a least favorite
thing. But people respond and they have such good discussions that it takes me
so long to go back through the archives because there are all these responses happening,
and I'm sure I've missed questions that were in there, so I apologize.
I try to give all our Discord members you know, maybe I won't
answer. They have multiple questions, all of them, but I try to
make sure that I get to I would say ninety percent of the questions that
are posted in that that mail bag. So I love it and loathe it
at the same time, but keep doing it. I don't care that it's
a little bit more difficult. I love that you guys are all in there
responding to each other's thoughts and questions. Anyway, this PETO question, what's
a feature from other sports that you would like to be implemented in the NBA.
Some of these were bandied about in the Discord chat. I like the
idea of automated replays like tennis. I don't like the idea of automation in
general, because replacing humans kind of sucks. But this isn't going to replace
referees. You're still gonna have the same number on deck. It would just
speed up the replays. It would allow you to maybe go about more challenges
more efficiently. Would you even need challenges at this point? Maybe it's an
example of you can have a maximum of, you know, I don't know,
two challenges per half, but you keep them if it or they carry
over if you don't. I like, I do like this year that they
allow you. It's only up to two, but they allow you to keep
your challenge if you if you win it. But the automated replays will at
least speed it up. There should be people in the video boots in Secaucus,
New Jersey getting ready to just radio the refs there ruling on it.
I feel like that would speed up a ton. I would would be really
fun. I don't know if I'd love this. Maybe the team can bestow
each team can bestow one challenge onto one player who gets to decide whether something's
going to be challenged every game, not necessarily on their own play, but
in general, so that we can just see, oh, how accurate are
players when they're calling for these challenges. I don't know that I actually want
to see that. I'm just interested. This is low hanging fruit. I
love Feba goaltending, so let's throw that in there. Shout out to Rubik's
scal for this one. I like soccer's idea of playing advantage. If a
foul happens on the floor, don't stop to play there, see if the
offensive player is able to make the shot. My actual answer here and I
will take the advantage. One step further is when it comes to flopping or
complaining technicals, is that there should be a specific maybe it's two minutes,
a specific amount of time, or specific number of possessions where that team just
has to play four and five without that player rather than assessing the technical rather
than ejecting them. That's the equivalent of a red card or a yellow card
inside be equivalent of kind of like a yellow card, but it's like a
penalty in hockey you have to sit for. I mean, like even if
it's just five possessions, or if it's two minutes or ninety seconds or something.
And I think that would cut down a lot of the complaining and the
flopping in the league, if you had to put your team at that four
on five disadvantage for X amount of time. I don't know that anyone else
would love that, but I thought about that, and it would just be
I'd be very curious to see, Like maybe it only needs to be a
because I feel like NBA teams are they're so they're able to capitalize on four
and four, they go four and four advantages in transition, and so if
it's five on four that gets infinitely more difficult. Or maybe it is if
a player gets a flopping technical or that is a complaining technical where they're behind
the play. Specifically, the other team gets to pick a player from the
like the rival team picks a player from that team the offending players team that
has to be on the court for two minutes or something like that. Just
some kind of gamesmanship like that. BNBA would never go for it, but
I would love to see that happen. That's not in any other sport.
But the advantage of you know, four and five the power play in the
NBA that that's certainly from hockey, and know I would honestly love I would
love to see that. Maybe I'd get tired of it pretty easily, but
I would love to see that. Next question comes from stupid jerk, who,
as I like to say, is anything but a stupid jerk in the
discord. This is a fascinating question and it's going to be the hook for
this entire podcast. You're welcome for the time stamps. How many points per
game would a Star Thompson have to put up to win Rookie of the Year
if the rest of his game did not regress and by the rest of his
game, it's the defense and even the playmaking from Masar. He's been really
good at moving the ball, even though he doesn't necessarily have it a ton
so Arsar Thompson is at eleven point four points per game as I record this
here. There are only five rookies who have averaged as much or less than
one Rookie of the Year. Mel Hutchins nine point two points and Bill Toschef
nine point four tied in nineteen fifty one fifty two, Malcolm Brogden ten point
two points in twenty seventeen. Paul Hoffman, not the NBA was the ABA,
averaged ten point five points in nineteen forty eight, and then we had
Monk Menike in nineteen fifty three at ten point seven points. When you're looking
at kind of the modern era, there's not a lot of guys who have
won Rookie of Year while averaging under fifteen points per game. We have Brogden
ten point two points in twenty seventeen, Amari thirteen point five in two thousand
and three, Miller eleven point nine points in one, Jason Kidd eleven point
seven points when he tied with Grant Hill in nineteen ninety five, and then
we had Mark Jackson thirteen point six points in nineteen eighty eight. Those are
all the players Brogden, Stodemeier, Miller, Kid, and Mark Jackson who
have averaged fewer than fifteen points during the three point era, and one Rookie
of the Year. Now, I don't like setting the actual just baseline at
this is how many points for gaming needy average. The ranks are probably more
important, and so you look at Brogden. He was fourth in points per
game and one rookies in twenty seventeen, and I use the minimum of twenty
five games for the season just as the cutoff there. Amari was second in
two thousand and three with his thirteen point five. Miller's eleven point nine in
two thousand and one were third, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Now Lasar Thompson, as of right now, is fifth in scoring among
rookies, is eleven point five points per game, trail Jordan Hawkins, Brandon
Miller, Chet Holmgren, and Victor webin Yama, and so in fury,
I mean like he could kind of trickle down those standings. You have Jaimi
Hawks at eleven point two could jump up, and I would also say Keyante
George at nine point nine and Scoot Henderson at nine point one. Scoot's only
played in eight games so far. Those are players that could leap frog game.
And so if he's tumbling down further to be in the top five of
scoring when you're looking at the defensive assignments, he's shouldering the stuff he's doing
on defense, just the counting stats, the disruption, but just actually holding
his own in these situations. Being fifth in points per game is a pretty
big deal. And he is shooting. He's at fifty three point one percent
from two. That's fine. Twelve point nine percent from three is not sub
seventy percent from the foul line. Not good fifty point three to two shooting
that's going to be held against him, and so I don't actually know the
specific number that I would pinpoint it. The issue, the primary issue for
him, more than his points, is that there are at least there are
two guys in front of him, Vitri Remyama and chet Holgren, who are
averaging noticeably more points per game while being just as impactful, if not more
so in some sitch situations on the defensive end. And I think there's kind
of value. He's the only one. I would argue, Well, now,
Brandon Miller's kind of done this, so he's not the only rookie.
But of those three, Victor Remenyama, Chet Holmgren, a Sar Thompson,
he's the only one that's just guarding these top tier perimeter players. This consistently
where yeah, Victor Remenyama's all over the place, did over chet holmgrin win
the stuff he does on the perimeter. But it's not okay, go and
defend DeMar de Rosen. Just go defend the other team's best perimeter player.
And that's you know, that's Asar Thompson's job. Like when you look at
just some of the assignments he's covered. I mentioned Damar, He's been on
Damian Lillard, He's been on Shake Gilges Alexander, he's been on Tyree's Maxi.
The Sixers are averaging point seven point nine points per possession when he guards
Tyres Maxie so far this season. That's a hefty sample relative to the other
assignments he's covered, So that body of work matters. The fact that they're
just scoring so much more. When Yama is at nineteen point two and his
true shooting percentage is higher for as inefficient as he's been fifty two point three,
and then you have Chet. I don't want to call him. He's
not strictly a play finisher. He's way more than that. His role is
a bit more streamlined, and he has more talent around him than a sar
Thompson or when Manyama, and better spacing than both those teams. At this
point, he's a sixty nine to foint three to two shooting any teen point
one points per game. He is your rookie of the year at this point.
I know I gave our discord, remember some pushback when they when some
of them declared that Chet Holmer was the rookie of the year a week or
two ago. I'm there right now because he's an ended today. It needs
to be him maybe when min Yama catches him. I don't think it's that
far off, just because the role when Manyama has to subsume. Still,
even with if you want to use that context, Chetolmer's just been too efficient
to it on defense and that's what Assar Thompson is up against now. To
answer your actual question, so I'm not copping out. If he could get
up to like thirteen plus points per game where he's or if he's third in
scoring, like that's the okay, then we can start to have a conversation,
especially if his true shooting percentage gets to be in law line with or
better than Victor wenb Yama's. We can look at his defensive body of work
and say, all right, was he the best defender of this rookie class.
I don't know that the answer would be yes right now. I think
I look at I just look at some of the stuff wemen Yama is capable
of. I know a lot of it is. His highlights on this first
defense isn't good, but he makes there. I know he's working from a
little baseline, he does make their defense a lot better. Some of the
stuff again that chet Holgreen has done with the ground he has covered makes me
a little red sent But if he can get to a point where he's the
best defender in this rookie class and he's top three in scoring, and yes
it's home run Yama wembin Yama, I'm sorry if I mispronounced that people on
broadcast all the time, where it's wembin Yana or just saying all these when
and mama is what Reggie Miller I believe said once That was that was something.
Uh if if wemen Yama and chet Holmgan are still every noticeably more points
at that stage, okay, but I think he would probably just give him
this rookie class and the two players specifically that he's trying to fight through.
And again, what could I with Scoot Henderson, because I'd expected his scoring
average is going to shoot up when he has more than two hundred and eight
minutes under his belt. You need to get to I'll just say thirteen and
a half points per game. Not impossible. If they increase his roles,
they start to bench other guys. Since the Pistons suck something awful this year.
But I also if he starts to do more on offense, does he
slip on defense because of his responsibility there. I don't see a pathway to
him ruining it. I think this is more about how impactful I still think
Leben Yama is, but I think how good of a season that chet Holmgren
is having. He still look, he's higher in scoring that you think.
You look at the numbers and it's Oh, but he's fifth among rookies right
now. And so if he just if he finishes third, I think it
had maintains this defense and even the playmaking. I do think that it.
I think it becomes at least a debate. Next question comes from demos.
Oh, there's another really good good questions all the time. Okay, so
he traded three first round picks for Ustman Jang, who they picked before Jaalen
Duran, only to have him shine shine the bench and not allowed to play
more than twelve minutes on average. Do they still believe in him as a
prospect or have they just admitted they missed the shot. I mean, look,
he's in year two, so I don't know that they've they've admitted anything.
They're missing their shot. He is racking up dnps. He played Tuesday
night, but he hasn't played ten plus minutes since November first. He's been
in the G League for three games, where he's averaged sixteen points, two
point seven assists, seven point seven rebounds, two steals, one point three
blocks. I'm forty seven point eight true shooting. He was much better in
the G League last year fifty nine point seven true shooting. I think what
we're seeing is two things. One, the Oklahoma City done are really good,
and so there are expectations to win now, even though they are clearly
experimenting. When you look at some of the minutes to they haven't all of
a sudden decided. And he hasn't been bad. But it's not like,
well, we're not gonna play Case and Wallace because he's a rookie here.
He has played, he's been really good, his decision making so quick,
and he's great on defense, very plug and play, or we're not going
to play Aaron Walliams. I think it just gets tough. So you have
those immediate expectations players that are going through a rough learning curve where it's not
Chet, where it's not Ja Dubb where it's not Cason Wallace where they're having
this impact while still growing. He's still making their mistakes. Wuzman Jenks is
making a lot of mistakes, and he just sometimes doesn't look like a basketball
player. It's like sort of a slowed down version of someone you could tell
has feel and could be very versatile and a great decision maker. But it's
just not translating. And then the other thing is just that let's just say
he's showing flashes, which he did early on in this season, finding minutes
for him, I'll just say on the wing, you could play him at
the five if you want, I mean, go ahead, fucking try it.
But with specifically Kenris Williams, Jay Dubb and even Isaiah Joe just warranting
prominent roles. That's soaking up so many minutes on the wing because you're not
going to stop playing. Shay Lou Dort just needs to play. Josh Giddy
is playing right now. And again none of these guys just sarily played the
same positions. But we've seen minutes where Isaiah Joe is the de facto for
where Kenrich is the day FACTI five. So you can move stuff around,
but those three players specifically, because you know, just the equity I'm looking
at it from this perspective invested in, Like Ludor is just a stable they
paid him already, and then Josh Cadda they have the draft equity in and
apparently the allegations he gets the marn't going to impact his role at least for
the moment. So Kenrick Williams JW and Isaiaho also JUW and Kendrich Williams are
two players that are going to actually be more official fours or like in those
spots than someone like a Josh Giddy or even a Lou Dort. And so
that's why they matter. When you have those guys need to play like really
prominent roles. You're not gonna have a ton of minutes for usban Jag And
even if you said, well we'll use him as the big you have Ched
Holmgren and you have Jay will and then you have just some of the smaller
lineups you want to play with Kendrick Williams, it's hard just to find those
minutes. And so, okaysee's running into the issue of they're good and it
can get hard to play everybody and the fact that they're good. Makes it
even harder to play everybody because they they don't they don't have the same I
don't know what the word I'm looking for is. They don't have the same
impetus. There isn't the same value in letting a player work through his mistakes
of the spent expensive wins. When you're one of the two or three best
teams in the West right now, you have to cater to those expectations.
That doesn't mean go out and make a trade, But it doesn't mean we're
gonna play our best players and the guys who are making an impact right now.
That's not Usman Jang I am if you listen to my appearance on the
Uncontested podcast from the preseason, or just any podcast in which we've tangentially touched
on the Thunder or dove deep on the Thunder. I'm a Musmanjang believer.
Whether it happens in okayse he remains be seen. I doubt they're willing to
sell lower medium on him now, but if they are, teams should be
calling because I just feel like there are stuff I want to see him.
In Utah, he'd be interesting. In Portland, pot he be interesting I
don't want to see him in Detroit. I don't I don't want to wish
that upon anybody. I won't wish Charlotte or Chicago upon anybody either. But
like this is just even on like like semi good teams like throw him on
Dallas. I don't know if they would actually play him, but that would
be with Luca and Kyrie I would love and Graham Williams. I would love
to see them alone, kind up makeups that they could construct. Throw them
the Memphis. Let's let's get him to play the five Indy S sort of
flyer again. They have immediate expectations. Houston, Yeah, Thromer Houston.
I'd love to see him there. Orlando is enough just non shooters at the
moment, so that's a no from me. Sacramento would they consider playing throwman?
San Antonio they would play him. Toronto would play him. But there's
just like not a lot of space in there. I think if I had
to pick another team for Usman Jang, my favorite fit would be Utah.
And that's maybe bizarre because Larry Market and Walker Kessler, John Collins, Kelly
Olynok, Taylor Hendricks are all there. But you could probably get away with
playing Usman Jang with the way that team's constructed as like your day Facto two
or three. And if if it can't be them, let's just say it
can't be them, put him in Denver. Yeah, I want to see
him in Denver, Like, let's give him another size with a guy who
has IQ and see how he develops. And then if it can't be,
if it needs to be a team that I know is gonna play him and
there isn't necessarily a logjam up front. We're getting some pretty tall orders here
at that point, Like is it just Portland at that point? It might
just be Portland for me at that point, Portland or Smith Junior? Is
there now? Prince Shangun? Yeah? Why is it Indy? Why do
I keep coming back to Indy? I mean they have Obi Toppen, they
have Aaron E. Smith, they have Jaln. Smith's been balling this year,
but I and they're not playing Jarvis Walker at the moment. So yeah,
it can't be. It can't be Indy. What team what team would
actually who has Ushman Jang would be a good fit and it would actually play
him because I don't want to see him in Orlando I don't want to see
him in in Chicago if they're going through a rebuild. I don't Actually,
you know what, if mel Ball was healthy, I wouldn't mind Charlotte.
I'm not gonna lie there. Maybe we just throw him in Brooklyn with all
kind of their like sized like position players and see how that works out.
Again. I'm an usman jang believer. Let's not bail on him just now.
Uh, let's wrap up here. And this is actually the last batch
of question having my dog from Brian C. Does anybody care about me?
If you don't, I guess you could end the podcast here. But Brian's
has a few questions about your job. Gonna list a few, hope some
are worth time in a podcast. I specifically copy and paste these into a
doc. Did not prep for them because I thought that would be fun.
First one is if you were told to create the perfect basketball podcast for at
least four other hosts, who would you pick? No Grant, sorry Grant?
Who would be your reoccurring guests like you know, Keith Smith for CBA,
Sam Bessini for Draft, et cetera. Perfect. So I would pick
Kaylyn Cooper and I would force her to talk about the NBA at large because
she totally can't. Even though she claims that she isn't good at it,
She's just fucking awesome. Uh, Kaitlyn Cooper, I go with Katie High
Knowlan is one of my favorite writers of all time. And then can the
Caius and Steve Jones count as one host? I'm gonna count them as one,
all right, So we'll go with Nicias Duncan and Steve Jones. I
would have just learn so much from them. I probably get lost in conversations
that they're having with Kaitlyn Cooper if we all like confabs together. If I'm
allowed a fifth, because I'm just co opting the dunker Spot podcast Rob Mahoney
of The Ringer, who have actually never spoken or really interacted with, but
he's one of my favorite writers of all time, and so that would be
my pick the dunker Spot. I will go with five hosts. I don't
want to just loop the Caius and Steve Jones together, but Steve Jones and
Nicias, Kaitlyn Cooper, and Rob Mahoney would be probably my dream just podcasts.
In terms of reoccurring guests. Brian See, I think you kind of
laid it out is Grant would have to be let him come on as a
reoccurring guess at least you wont let me pick him as my host. Keith
Smith for CBA or Brian Taporak would certainly. He's already a regular guest on
this pod and we normally have Keith Smith on once a year. Sam Passini
is great for the draft. I do miss Adam Spinella. He now works
for the Philadelphia seventy six ers. He was always my go to draft resource.
So Sam Passini would be would be a good one. I do like
Jeremy wu over at ESPN right now, So if we were doing draft stuff
for that and if there's like another just like sort of reoccur, I know
I'm gonna forget someone. I miss Spinsters. That podcast from Blue Wire hele
O'Shaughnessy was just super fun. She came on the show a couple of times.
That would be a good one. But someone who's still podcasting and doing
things, just another guest where it's like, hey, let's come on and
talk would be like a good Who's my favorite trade person? Who's first of
all I would love to talk to Howard Beck. I've met in person.
He is super nice. Zach Low of course as sort of a reoccurring guest,
but Howard Beck like his features writing. I wish more companies invested in
features writing because he is. I know he's at the ring right now,
so that's great. Mere and Fader would be another recurring guest. I love
like just every time she publishes a piece on someone who's tangentially related to basketball,
going really deep into them. Would love to pick her brain regularly.
Just so many great writers and podcasters and basketball lines out there, I feel
bad not singling out just everybody, And something we need to do a better
job of this podcast is having creators on who are relatively new to the game
or who deserve more shine. And so look, if you're in our discord
and you want to recommend whether they cover the team or we're always in the
market for people who can cover the league at large, and you think that
they do a good job covering the entire NBA DM me, I'm open.
I won't always take your suggestions, but I will consider if you have someone
who you think is Again, I don't want to use the word lower key,
because I feel that like that and soul some but you think they deserve
to need more shine or an up and coming creator you'd like to see on
the show. If you could be a guest on any sports show, which
show would it be? I definitely should have prepped for this one. What
is my What show would I want to be on? Would it be?
The Low Post? Would make me feel like I made it? That's a
cliche answer, but all these years in the industry, I'm lucky to be
full time employed. I'm lucky to have been able to host this podcast for
so many years. Could you have been able to do a bunch of cool
radio and video and some you know, low ass level TV spots, But
going on The Low Post would probably make me feel like I just made it
and to have that type of career victory. This late where I think part
of the battle in this industry, aside from just surviving and hustling, is
if you don't want to move to And I've done editing. We did the
writer's program an MBA Math, and we have some people from that program who
were absolutely slaying it in this industry, and that's really fun to see.
But I've never wanted to necessarily be a manager or an editor, so if
you just want to write and analyze, there's just no like leg ups and
victories or just harder to find or measure, at least from my perspective,
and so going on the Low Post would make me feel like I made it?
Or what's another like the most popular basketball podcast probably be The Dunker Spot,
Like if you was ever invited on, I can't keep up even kind
of sort of five percent, like with what Nikay is dunk Gonna Steve Jones
do? But like a podcast like that where make me feel like, oh,
okay, you've been in the industry for a while and you actually do
you actually do belong here. If you had to pick one segment for award
consideration, what would it be. I don't really understand this part. And
which segment do you wish was cut? I don't know. So you're saying,
which if I had to make up an award and cut an award,
I'd probably cut Executive of the Year, if that's what you're asking. I
don't know that, like, or can we reframe it to give it to
entire staffs or even entire coaching staffs with Coach of the Year. I think
coaches do a better job not a better job, but it's more recognized as
sort of this it's not recognized as a group award, but you know there's
that staff there. I don't think when you're talking Executive of the Year that
the front office gets like the entire front office gets that same recognition, even
though it's very much a group effort. If you had to pick one segment
for a ward consideration, what would it be. Hope we're not talking about
podcast. I mean, let's let's throw out stat padding awards and then we'll
just Kyle Kuzma win all of them. At this point, we don't have
I know there's a most Improved Player, but we should have like a Comeback
Player of the Year award in the NBA. I feel like, and it
should be players that are either dealing with injuries or maybe they fell off a
cliff and like were able to just sort of reinvent their career, and that
the latter is just so much rarer when you're talking about a player who reaches
a high point, maybe slips off, and then works back. I mean
brook Lopez as a comeback player would be a great example. He's this All
Star in Brooklyn then kind of all of a sudden like his stock he's in
the LA he's on the Lakers and the stock towards sort of torpedoes and he
winds up in Milwaukee and the bi annual exception. Last year he's the runner
up for Defensive Player of the Year. So I don't think does the NBA
like, I'm surprised that wasn't introduced where, Like is there a Comeback Player
of the Year award? No, it was. It was nineteeny one to
three eighty six. I wonder why they got rid of it. They should,
they should bring it back, So I would absolutely I would absolutely want
to see that. Let's look at do does anyone care who they s I'm
doing? Miss in real time? Who is seven winners of comeback player that
you are? Marcus Johnson in eighty six, Michael Ray Richardson in eighty five,
Adrian Dantley in eighty four, Paul Westfall in eighty three, Gus Williams
in eighty two, Bernard King in eighty one, Tiny Archibald in nineteen eighty.
Let's bring let's bring back the Comeback Player of the Year. I apologize,
Brian Ce if that is not what you were asking. If you had
to pick another company to work for, who would it be? Ooh?
Speaking of another podcast guest, Jason Conceptsion does I'd love to go on him
and Chase Seranto's show because they're both just super funny. But he he used
to write Go look at what Jason conceptsjan could write at grant Land. I
think he did some stuff at other websites back in the day, but he
is one of my favorite writers of all time. Also, google someone Jim
Cavin cav A and he used to write Jim Cavin Bleacher Report. Jim Cavin
Jim Cavin Knicker Blogger, one of my favorite writers of all time. Huge
influence on me. He was always super nice when we work together. We
would talk. He was one of the first people who ever followed me back
on Twitter. This is years ago. I was in my mid twenties and
I was like, Oh, this is fucking cool. I still think about
him a ton. He's no longer in the industry, So Jim Cavin,
Jason conceptsi Owann would love to have those guys on a podcast. Host a
podcast beyond Jason conceptci Own's anything. If you had to pick another company to
work for, though, who would it be? Look Bleach Reports one of
the biggest sports media companies in the country. I guess I could obviously say
ESPN, but I do think that I might say The Ringer. I know,
not everyone's a Bill Simmons fan, and I don't religiously listen to Bill
Simmons at this point. If he has a guest on that I really like,
if it's Rob Mahoney or Zach Lowe or Howard Beck, now I check
it out. But they employ some of my favorite writers Fader, Howard Beck,
Rob Mahoney, Michael Pina. Right now, that's another guy who's I
think you've been on this podcast once, but he's great. They so they
employ a lot of writers that I really respect. And then the other thing
is that there seems to be an actual investment in in Dan Devine, by
the way, more Striaho Sports right now, used to be at the Ringer.
He seems like a really good dude. Would be fun to talk to,
Going on his show would be a lot of fun. Sorry, where
am I going with this? Oh? Okay, so that even sirat Sooe,
she she's I believe she's at the Ringer. If not mistaken, there
seems to be an investment there for whatever you say about Bill Simmons, whatever
you say about the company in longer form content, or allowing you to go
deep into singular topics, or at least narrowing the scope to where I don't
have to write about every single team, like where me and Grant do a
bunch of the Collapse and I know how the sausages made, and me and
Grant have a lot of agency over what we write, which is a pretty
big deal in this industry for sure, But to zero win on oh I
want to write about this player or Justice team. I want to write a
feature about the Oklahoma City Thunder, and we don't care that it's not going
to do a million reads because we're only covering the one team. The ringer
does seem to be invested in that, and I hope to God is sustainable.
And so I'll just name that company because I respect a lot of the
writers and a lot of the work, again, the focus work that they're
able to put out there. And final question from this, if you could
have a sports job, what would it be Besides player? I want to
be a trainer, not someone who's working on a player's basketball skills, but
the weightlifting and nutritional side of it. That is a I think anyone who
listens to this podcast or for some reason follows me on Instagram, where I
really don't post other than my Harvard Knock content. I really am into fitness
and amateur bodybuilding. I would love to compete one day. This is my
second year. Maybe I've alluded to this to the pod, but I'm going
through my cut right now, and last year I got so thin, gone
to people who asking me if I was sick. The goal is not to
let that happen this year. I love the way to try these different exercises
build up your strength throughout. Different movements can can impact you. And I
love the how nutrition and what you're consuming, how much you're consuming some of
the timing of it can really manipulate or impact your body. And if I
was doing that job, I'd be able to have the time to study up
more on it, be a little bit more technical about it. And so
I'd really love to be like a trainer slash nutritionists for focusing on like the
strength the strength trainer and nutritionists side of NBA players think it could be any
athlete in general, and if it wasn't that I would say I would love
to be an assistant GM, just to get to be one. You're never
gonna really get any of the credit, but you're not gonna get most of
the blowback, and then you get to do a lot of the trade calls
or at least be in the room for these high level conversations. So it's
sort of like you're probably you're not paid the big bucks nearly as much as
the well, I say, assistant GM, maybe it's assistant TZAR basketball whatever
they're called now. But like the guy, the second or third guy behind
the guy at the top of the front office is a job that I would
like because you get a sense how everything's working. You're in the know without
sort of the I mean there's pressure, I want to make it clear,
but you're involved without having to be the face of it. And that's sort
of Anyone who've ever read my piece about when I was dealing with depression in
twenty twenty one knows that I want to be great at living in obscurity or
anonimity and so like that would provide, which is stupid as a content creator
trying to build up a podcast on YouTube and all the criticism I get for
the stuff I write on VR and on social media, so but that would
allow me to do that. I think it would be strength though, conditioning
and nutritional coach for ideally an MBA organization or a set of NBA players.
This was a lot of fun. Thank you Brian for you maybe even just
pretending to care about what I would want to do Meilbeg was fun. As
always, we went over an hour because this podcast is never runder an hour
apparently until next time. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe wherever you
consume, must tell people about us. Love all the support we continue to
get. Appreciate every single one of you. Join our discord to take that
support and the conversation ever further. If you want to join the mailbag discord
is the best way to do that, but also you can email us Hardwoodknox
at gmail dot com. Until next time, and as always, lead me
to shout out to the one, the only, Franknilachina and apologies too,
especially after what he did to the motherfucking Clippers on Monday night, Reggie Jackson
and also DeAndre Jordan. Shout out to them for turning back the clock to
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