This is the baseline, discussing the hot button topics of the nb A.
Welcome everybody, your tune to the baseline. Cali Warrenshaw discussing the hot button
topics of the NBA back and add it again doing our coveted autopsy reports.
The boy Cali aka doctor kill Patients, and my man, uh the most
knowledgeable one, the doctor Shivago of basketball a man Christin Warrenshaw rapping out of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, joining me as always, brother, what is good?
What's happening? We are now fully embedded in spring, so it's time
for us to spring into action as we continue to body up some of these
teams and are coveted at autopsy reports, zip them all the way up here,
and just doing a little spring cleaning, you know, on our end,
getting these bodies up out of here and getting out of here pretty early
for us. I'm excited to talk about these two teams because they have some
they have some they have something that they should be excited about it in terms
of like future stars or potential stars already in the making, if you will,
And I'm interested to see what fans and listeners have to say about that.
But they did not have good seasons this year, so here they are
on the slab, ready to take a list. Your level of optimism is
quite refreshing. At least I can say that for one team, because what
did our guy Tyler? He called me benevolent the other day and I was
like, wow, look at you know the F cat word there. But
uh, you know, I'm trying to trying to be optimistic. I was
a little I was a little bit of a downer last week, so,
you know, trying to bring it out business. I can definitely hear it
in your voice. It seems like now that you're around the dead a little
bit more, you seem to be a little bit more lively. Oh,
by the way, are you excited for Beetle Juice twenty twenty four? A
d Yeah. They could have just kept that in their back pocket, but
uh, you know whatever, And like I said, maybe we could lose.
Wasn't a beetlejuice guy to begin with. So that's why I'm not excited
to see I say our podcast name three times man who knows what you know?
Who knows? Isn't that how it always starts? Though it's always it
always winds up being you got to say something like three times for it for
you to start raising holy Hell. So that's what it basically takes for us
to raise Holy Hell in the podcast game. Anyway, we appreciate you and
yours for hopping on board with us this week. Be sure to get up
my man at Shaw Sports NBA or get at me a game face Leader Shows
twinnan NBA basedline available on all the major platforms. You know where to find
is go to www dot the Baseline NBA dot com to check out this episode
and all of our previous episodes. And if you see us on the YouTube
channel, definitely hit us up give us a subscribe. Hopefully you'll like what
we're giving you. And if you see the blue and white logo, that
means we rock with the nineteen Media Group family. Nineteen Media Group you running
these content streets, so be sure to go to www dot Nineteenmediagroup dot com
to check out not only our show, but also the family of great show
and content creators that are a part of the nineteen Media Group family. So
let's get right into it, Shaw our coveted autopsy reports. We're gonna be
talking about two teams in this week's show, and the first team that we're
gonna put up on the slab is gonna be these Charlotte Hornets. Listen,
there's no surprise with this. This team definitely struggle out the gate. And
it's it's hard to say that the team you can assess properly when their star
player is virtually on the slabs on let's say, on the men. You
know, the team is on the slab, but he is on the men.
But I think the first thing that we have to really address, right,
like the thing that we have to call out the elephant in the room
about this shaw is this is again another year in which they do not have
their star fully healthy through the stretch of a regular season. And while all
eyes are on the talent of LaMelo Ball and what his potential could be and
what everyone has been hoping for, let's not act like this is something that
has to be taken into consideration. If you're Mitch cup Check, if you're
Steve Clifford, you know they choose to keep him around. Like, what
are we speaking of now when we say the future of the Charlotte Hornets,
when we say has to rest upon the health of LaMelo Ball, I mean
it absolutely does. I think that you can't talk about this Hornet's team without
talking about LaMelo and the fact that he's only played fifty eight games in the
last two years. They, for whatever reason not that I saw, have
not officially ruled him out for the rest of this season, whatever fourteen games
left or whatever it is. But he hasn't played since January or whatever it
is. He's done. He's not coming back, and there's no reason for
that to happen. And I think now you have to really think about what
is the evaluation of their medical staff and his body, what's what continues to
happen. He doesn't want to be heard, he's not trying to be heard.
But that's the reality of their situation now. To me, as optimistic
as I was saying coming into the outset, if he's not around, then
there's not a whole lot here unfortunately, Like that's just the reality of this
here too. While good player, bad human, you know, in terms
of Miles Bridges, sure can he score? Can he rebound a little bit
and do some things for you? Absolutely? And if that's who they're hitching
their wagon to, then that then that's their business. So from a talent
standpoint, he gives them a little bit of something there, but it doesn't
it goes nowhere without LaMelo being there, like absolutely nowhere. And this is
a lot of rebound team. And while they're taking a couple of swings,
that's some you know, youthful talent and Trey Mann and you know Pokasewski from
from okc Uh. None of these guys are sloted as like, oh my
god, I can't wait to have them in here. And you know they're
going to elevate this team to being at least in them playing contention next year.
So it starts an end with LaMelo and whatever they decide to do with
Bridges and the draft picks. Because of what you just said in regards to
Miles Bridges. Do you think that the Charlotte Hornets elected to keep Mile Bridges
around more because of what they potentially saw with him and LaMelo Ball, or
do you think that this is more about LaMelo Ball's influence about wanting to keep
Miles Bridges because I find it interesting. Look, you know, I don't
the fact that he scores a little almost twenty two points a game is not
anything to sniff at, but part of my thought process was is when you
brought Brandon Miller onto this team. This essentially was you hitting the reset button
and the potential about what this could look like if you had a combination of
LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. Now, granted, Brandon Miller's had his struggles,
He's had his ups and down so far this year, but you can
clearly tell Look, I don't think it's a far lead from a guy who's
almost averaging seventeen points per game to get you somewhere between twenty one twenty two.
I think the question is if if Miles Bridges was that much of a
problem, so to speak, someone who's focus seemed clearly more off the court,
then the focus should be about what he could give you on the court.
And it's going to be a while before we even see that aspect of
his life or the aspect of his game, so to speak. Then my
question is is what's influencing why the Charlotte Hornet is sitting fully hit the reset
button when the opportunity presented itself with Moles Bridges. Yeah, I mean,
I think it's a great question in terms of they didn't know going into this
year exactly what Brandon Miller was going to be, and maybe they had some
conversations with mister Bridges as well too to kind of like, all right,
well, because he has what he has a qualifying offer, right, so
he doesn't have a new extension, so he's basically playing this year route to
say, hey, well let me show you what I can do and now
we'll probably get some sort of a lucrative offer potentially to stay. They could
have tried to move him at the deadline, none of that kind of came
into play. They elected to keep him for all for the presumable reasons that
they want him to be here long term, and LaMelo probably wants him to
be here there long term. So you're right. I think, you know,
Brandon, Miller, LaMelo and Bridges are an interesting three. Un offensive
minded, you know Front's three. It's like it's kind of like when you're
doing forensics, like, oh, this is something interesting. You know that
that I didn't see this bullet hole. I mean there's underneath, there's something
there, but primarily offensively, and I think that the respect of that too.
As you mentioned Clifford before, and Clifford has not truly been an offensive
minded coach. So like their skill sets don't necessarily play to what his coaching
skill set is, and I think they're gonna to figure out a way to
marry that or you know, we do a lot of teams do get the
proverbial assistance on the sign lines that have those specialties and you have, you
know, an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and that type of stuff as well
too. So to me, Brandon Miller, Bridges, and LaMelo are are
solid. And then whatever I said, whatever they end up doing in the
draft, everything else on this roster, I think they're more or less taking
flyers on. You know, got Grant Williams from Dallas and traded PJ Washington
where we talked about tree Man and Pocoteski. Their bigs have not really not
had the years that they think they that they wanted to have. And Nick
Richards and Mark Williams, both of those guys have battled injuries and been in
all the line up. I don't think we've seen Williams since I don't know,
like maybe November December. I can't remember if this guy even played this
year. You know, after coming off coming on the scene and having a
pretty good start in the first fifteen or twenty games, or so. And
then outside of that, like I said, it's just tough. You know,
Davias Berton's you know, non guaranteed, like what are you really going
to do with that contract long term? So this is a situation where they've
got to figure out what they want to be on both sides of the basketball.
Because even though we've kind of lot at Clifford's potential defensive chops here,
that hasn't translated to them being a good defensive team. And they're not even
in the top fifteen, if you will, so just league average in almost
any significant statistical category. They're in the bottom half of that and mostly in
the bottom third of the of the league in almost anything that that matters when
it comes to statistics. So a lot of growth growth here, but it
starts with the mellow ball being actually on the list. It's weird because you
look at this team roster and this is a relatively young team. Shaw,
you can make the comparisons that you know, this team can be what maybe
top top five, top six as far as you know, you know,
the average age of this team being among one of the younger teams, you
know, Cody Martin, I think is like twenty eight on this team,
you know, or something like that. So this team has a very has
an extended learning curve. Let's use that terminology for them, which again then
brings this question to Steve Clifford to the forefront. It's still Steve Clifford,
the right person that you want for this kind of youthfulness to extract the level
of talent expectations that I think cup Check has put together with this roster,
right, and I understand that like a lot of this dynamic has been impacted
since Michael Jordan has exited stage left. But I think now we can finally
say this is really on cup Check, and this is really on cup Check's
decision making about what the organization from top to bottom wants to do in giving
people the interpretation about what this team wants to be in the next three to
five years. And I mean, these are the core years based on if
your belief is in LaMelo Ball, if your belief is in cup Check's ability
to scout the right talent and put the pieces together that they can collectively become
whole, right, you know, Well, I mean, but the well,
the other aspect of it too is that cup Check is also stepping down
right, so that that announcement came and it kind of was like almost like
a news dumps. I feel like it happened around All Star or shortly thereafter,
So, you know, he's not intended to be here. He might
be taking I think he might be taking some sort of advisory role, so
to speak, but he's not looking to be the general manager. You know
what that also says to me, Shaw, That basically says to me that
if he's taking an advisory role, his advice is still going to be resonant
and even whoever else comes on board, right, I'm more curious about whether
or not there is transparency to the idea that cup check no longer wants those
responsibilities. Therefore he's going to put somebody else that the organization going to put
somebody else in place. Is that person going to be independent of and really
kind of carve out what he believes should be the real culture of how Charlotte
Hornett basketball needs to be played or is he just gonna be another puppet string
to the idea that cupchick just doesn't want to deal with the business anymore.
He doesn't want to get his hands dirty in this anymore. He doesn't want
to get thrown the mud, getting thrown for what he hasn't been able to
achieve in doing. And I think that to me is gonna speak loudly when
we see what takes place in this offseason, because no matter what you do,
Shaw, even if you bring somebody new in to assume the role of
what cup Check is doing, if he's gonna have an imprint on this,
it means he's gonna have to clean house on the roster that cup Check is
put together. So we already ready to give up on that when you've already
basically given up the house sort of speak to put yourself in this position to
get LaMelo Ball, to have gotten Miles Bridges, to have gotten Brandon Miller,
and then when the opportunity presents of you threw money at Graham, you
threw money at Rose, you threw money at Hayward, and now you're only
now starting to clean house. It's just kind of interesting how these things are
intersecting with themselves. Well, I mean, I think you're your point though,
is will he be there? The answer to that is no again advisor
role, And then I think that does bring up the longer, larger question
for Clifford as well too, And I think at this stage this has been,
you know, a failed return and failed experiment. And I don't think
Steve there's a lack of effort in any capacity on that. But I think
we both questioned that coming in, Why this is a guy you fired whatever
it was two years previous to that, then you bring it back. It
just it just did. None of it made sense and it just hasn't worked.
Yes, the injuries are a huge part of that, unfortunately, but
now you've got to turn that proverbial page and ultimately come with the decision.
And the one good thing I can say about this season as well too is
that, well, in some ways they've picked a youthful direction in some ways,
right Bridges, I don't know how old his Bridges twenty five, twenty
six, so still within the proverbial timeline. But if they got off Rogier,
they got off off of Hayward. Those are two big deals that didn't
really make sense for even their timeline and even their talent level. Now you're
starting to try to reset and see what happens, but you're one thousand percent
correct. The general management and the coaching position of the Seed is probably going
to be whatever. Whenever the season ends, you know that it will be
like that Black Monday in the NFL. The Clifford will probably be out of
there, or they'll he'll gracefully resign, you know what I mean. Maybe
they won't fire us, they ride them back in the way it is.
I would like, yeah, like for him to mutually agree that if the
direction of this team does not comport with the way that he wants to coach
this basketball team, that he should step aside. And I think this is
a great opportunity. And I know we've got a couple other things we want
to get into with regards to the Hornets, but I think this is a
great opportunity to highlight Shaw. We're starting to see something different now. I
believe that we're kind of starting to turn the corner where we're bringing in from
sure voices who and and and are extending themselves a little bit more, showing
a little bit level of patience. And I think it's starting to bear fruit.
Right, look at Willie Green, look at doganaw look at uh uh
Darko out in Toronto, right, I feel like a lot of great guys
and I think especially in this this this this era right now that we're dealing
with the offensive movement of basketball, I think we're seeing that they're starting to
kind of squeeze a couple of guys in there that I really think are gonna
be helpful. Let's keep it, let's keep it one hundred. While there's
still conversations about trying to be a defensive minded type thing. The NBA doesn't
want to go backwards to a point where the game becomes so sluggish, So
I think that there's gonna be something of a happy medium and balance. What
I want to see more of is those guys who are showing their innovativeness,
their innovation to what you have, especially if you've got younger players that have
the capabilities to execute in that kind of way, and the warrants are in
a possosition to do that. Now, whether or not they pull the trigger
on doing it. To your point, show and to what we were saying,
really comes down to the executive part of the organization recognizing that they are
going to have to get younger, even with the mentality of the culture that
they're trying to build around for the Hornets. Yeah, So, I mean,
we always have to talk about the finances right, So one hundred and
sixteen million dollars in committed salary next year. You know, they have team
options on guys like Mark Williams, Trey Mann, you know, Evin jt
Thor shown some things as well. Probably pick those things up and you know,
carry the season out for you just because you want to have the proverbial
bodies. But then what is the extension that that you give Bridges at what
number do you bring him back that you're comfortable understanding that LaMelo's max contract kicks
in next year will be making thirty five million dollars is one thing to be
on the rookie scale, right, and you know, playing twenty five to
thirty five games a season now when you're going to pay thirty five million and
at the end of this contract forty six to forty eight million dollars, that's
that's gotta you gotta be there. You got to be on the damn basketball
court. So they have some big financial decisions to make here, especially in
the case of Bridges, but then even some of those supplemental pieces as I
mentioned in Williams and trey manner, you know, what are the options that
you'd want to pick up or you know, do you try to thin this
out some even some more and see what you can do? And we know
they haven't been traditionally been a free agent destination unless they're going to throw money
at somebody aka like how they did for Gordon Hayward. And this isn't a
great free agent class. So to me, I think you did everything that
you just said, right, Cup checkers out, Clifford gracefully bows out.
Maybe you get a young, you know, hot shot coach to kind of
come in here and try to boost up the offense if you will get them
kind of learning and trying to play the right way. And then you fill
the roster out for this year, which this next year which would be another
growing year. But really see what you have in Brandon Miller now too?
And is he the number two? Is he the number three? Can he
coexist with Bridges? You know? I meaning kind of code number two roles
assuming LaMelo is healthy, and I think it's a growth here for their Wholene's
going your tunes to the baseline CALLI warned Shot discussing the hot button topics of
the NB A couple of points I guess you know before we properly eulogize this
team. Shot Like, so when you look at this roster, right,
if we were gonna believe that this roster, from a young, youthful side
of things, has the potential to have a breakout, who should we be
paying attention to? Who are you saying, yo, man, I don't
want to throw any more dirt on your name and on your game. So
in this off season, I need you to be on one. I need
you to come back looking like a completely different person who's gonna have an initial
impact for this team, for this roster, for us to buy in,
you know, whether or not this Hornet's team is gonna take strides, especially
if they're anticipating a fully healthy Lamello ball and they're obviously, you know,
gonna have an improved Brandon Miller, and you know you're gonna get what you
get from Miles Bridges. But who out of out of oh, those are
the three are we saying? You know what, homie, I need you
to take that next step? Well, it's interesting, is again the easiest
answer in terms of who they need is Brandon Miller? Right, Like,
you need that just that gradual progression coming and seeing into second year or third
year et cetera, et cetera. But I think it's honestly the position that
they've had a lot of problem with, and that's at that five and that
five man and we've just talked about, you know, Mark Williams, Nick
Richards, which one of those two guys is the guy you know who's going
to be willing to kind of step in there and say, listen, I'm
a double double threat every single night. No, you don't have to be
twenty and ten, but can you be twelve and ten? I mean,
just consistently be there, not necessarily even as a post presence, but as
a lab threat or where the case to be, put backs energy big whatever
it is. I think most of those two guys have been They just haven't
been healthy enough to kind of really give the horness what they've needed to man
that middle. I mean, and they've always been talking about this since the
Plumbley days or whatever the case to be. They just haven't had consistency at
that five spot. So, you know, with with Mark Williams being the
younger of the two, and he had earned the starting position, and I
speaking about it from a fantasy standpoint, ironically, like he was a guy
who was like, Yo, watch him, there's nobody else really worthy there,
and then he just got hurt and hasn't been there. To me,
those are the two guys, even if they are even if they end up
splitting minutes down the middle twenty four minutes a night over the case of what
are they getting at? Can they get eight and eight, you know,
out of those guys on a regular basis, And I think that'd be an
amazing progression for both of them and be a great benefit to to LaMelo specifically,
you know, if he's hoisting shots or all having a dump off threat,
if he's driving you know what you mean, to get into the dunker
spot. Those are things that those two guys can potentially do, and they
just got to put in the work this offseason. Who do you have who
do you think has the most confidence to really, I guess kind of elevate
the team between the three, between ball, between bridges, between Miller.
I'm leaning a little bit more on Miller because I really feel like he has
a more sound, mechanically polished game where he can you know, rests ablish
the fact that the Hornets can hit a jump shot. He can you know,
really you know, open up the floor a little bit better, and
it could mean in some respects that Miles Bridges might have to take a back
seat, you know, if LaMelo Ball is out there. But I also
say LaMelo Ball and his ability to pick the you know, to to to
pick up the pace, you know, to get them out open more in
transition, that definitely plays more to Miles Bridges. So I'm just curious,
you know, who you think really will thrive more when that opportunity presents itself
and then we see all three of these guys on the court together. Well,
I mean, it's an interesting question because I think the playmaking responsibilities fall
with LaMelo and so the elevation, if you will, of all players,
all things, you know, the the what is it, the the tide
that lifts all ships or whatever the case it be, has to be LaMelo
in that capacity. So he's the one who can take less shots, you
know, can rebound the basketball and push it on the break and throw all
off the bridges if so it be, or secondary break, have Brandon Miller
fill in the you know, on the corner and maybe pop a three.
To me, he's him and his health are the key to what the Hornets
do. Regardless, but it's also so much of the aspect of what he
means to everybody else, not just what he brings statistically by himself. There's
no other a guy on this team that can elevate everybody's skill level and get
them open shots in the way that LaMelo can. And there's I mean truly
he has. He has a special skill set. There's not a lot of
players in the league that can do that, but for this team specifically.
Listen, Trey Man and I can't say the the Europeans name meet Hits or
whatever. Uh, those aren't the guys, you know what I mean.
And I think Trey Man's a good basketball player. Love him in a backup
role potentially, you know, behind LaMelo, But it has to be LaMelo
who's out here bringing, bringing the energy and allowing everybody to be better than
what they would be without him on the basketball right Charlotte Hornets probably are gonna
wind up mm hmm, maybe twenty wins this year. Shaw, I'm kind
of I'm picking the under on that. Right now, they're sitting with seventeen
with what a handful of games left to go, like fourteen. I think
you said earlier at fourteen fifteen games left to go. Yeah, they got
twelve. I'm not feeling confident that they're gonna wind up, you know,
getting the twenty. But if they do, I would think that that at
least, you know, give give coach Steve Clifford a good send off like
this. Don't be hovering around like, you know, among one of the
worst worst teams in the NBA in NBA history, you know what I mean?
So all right, Cali Warrenshaw basedline NBA podcast coming up, We're gonna
be talking about the San Antonio Spurs. I know, I know everybody,
and I promise you most of this conversation will not only be about Victor win
Banyana. But can you blame us if that's what the team is is resting
its shoulders of promise on? Yeah, who wouldn't right with the phenix?
But first, did you know that there's a whole collection of Black Led products
that fit into your daily routine and lifestyle that you can get at. And
it's so important that we show Black founders some love, not just during Black
History months, but all year long, because every time we buy a Blackled
brand, we're making room or creating demand for another blackled brand, Black founders
and the products they bring to the table are creating a whole new world of
choices at Walmart. Some of the products I want to check out our Natural
Vert Granola, Zach and Zoe, Honey, Scotch, Porter, Beard Bomb
and parteke Coookies. Go to walmart dot com, Slash Black and Unlimited to
discover all the amazing black owned products that you can add to your daily routine.
We're talking San Antonio Spurs. You don't want to miss out here.
On the baseline, Toyota is doing big things helping grassroots community organizations across the
country with its Nudge campaign. The Nudge campaign reflects Toyota's commitment to supporting and
furthering the success of those who need it most. A few months ago,
Toyota debuted the After the Nudge Podcast. The podcast is a seven episode limited
series hosted by Acclaim journalist Souladad O'Brien and former NBA All Star JR. Smith.
It features conversations with community organizations that Toyota nudge via ten thousand dollars micro
grants. We get to find out what happened after the Nudge. On the
After the Nudge podcast. You'll hear from founders and leaders like Paulina la Moniere
from Black People Will Swim, Doctor Khalid El Jakim from the Black History Mobile
Museum, Demitrius Harris from Fly Compton Foundation, and others learn how a simple
nudge from Toyota help boost their momentum, amplify their movements, and or propel
them to greater heights. Look for the Toyota after the nudgepodcast on toyota dot
com or wherever you listen to podcast. This segment of the baseline is brought
to you by Wick Donald's. Imagine if we were to live in a world
where the most iconic creators of the anime merge powers with the most iconic creators
of the Golden Arches, creating a universe of limitless possibilities, taking our imagination
and taste buds to levels unimaginable. Welcome to Wig Donalds. That's right,
not McDonald's, my friend, This this is Wick Donald's. For a limited
time, anime fans and lovers of the Chicken McNuggets will have a chance to
immerse themselves into their favorite fictional restaurant. And what better way for these iconic
tenements of taste to be appreciated and by introducing the bold new Wick Donalds Savory
Chili Sauce. When you combine your chicken mc nuggets with Wick Donald's Bold Savory
Chili sauce along with those iconic fries in a sprite, your taste buds will
go super Saiyan in a hurry. But are you ready? You better be
because this flavorful sauce will only be around till March twenty fifth. To go
along with your ten piece McNuggets, head to your nearest Wick Donald's and try
the new, Bold Savory Chili sauce while supplies last Cali warren Shaw Baseline NBA
podcasts as we do our coveted autopsy report. Time now for us Shaw to
talk about the San Antonio Spurs. And I don't know, given the way
everyone is in a fervor about Victor Weinbanyana and you know, you know,
the next generational levels to the way he plays this game of bass football,
we may not be talking about the San Antonio Spurs come next year the way
that we do, burying them, the way that we do, eulogizing him
the way that we do because of the Wemby well, you're optimistic there.
I think, did I play it up really well? Because I played it
really well. That was trying to sell myself so much on the idea that
everyone believes that he is going to suddenly turn this team into like a forty
five win team come next year. Yeah, I mean not not not so
fast. I think we'll continue to see his growth potential to be defensive Player
of the Year next year. They won't have enough wins for him to be
in the MVP race, but he'll be putting up MVP type numbers, assuming
he gets off these minutes restrictions and things like that. Like he's he's a
real deal, and I think you can't gush enough about how amazing he's been
this season and been just delivered on everything that we have hoped for and again
inlimited minutes. Specif it's the others that makes you very concerned about next year's
prospect, they are not quite sure what they're doing with Keil Non Johnson,
and I don't think he's had the bounce back that they would have hoped he
would have had in various roles, whether he's coming off the bench or starting.
While Devin vacill Is somebody who they seem to be attached to in some
ways. I don't know that he's it. Obviously, they love Sohan and
he's been a nice I think, you know, middle piece for that there's
continued to develop, but he still has limitations, especially offensively. The Spurs
don't really know who they are just yet. They just know they have this
amazing foundational piece and now they got to figure out how they fill in around
it. And that doesn't seem like a likely thing that they'll be able to
do just over the course of this summer, and that that makes me very
concerned. In addition to the fact that, as I could continue to allude
to, it's not an amazing free agent class. Biggest names that could potentially
come to them Tobias Hair, so we talked about, you know, last
week, maybe if he were return to Detroit or something like that too.
Maybe Demarta Rozen who's obviously had a tour of duty with Greg Popovich and San
Antonio. But that's not it's getting them closer to being competitive, which is
what Wenby needs, but it doesn't put them in the in the throes of
the playing conversation. I think next year either, and I think that's what
it is. Like they need to decide, now, how fast do we
want to get there? How fast is realistic for us to get there?
You know, with Wenby in tow as I said before, I use anaja,
Hey, he's a Ferrari and he's ready to ride, but you may
not have the requisite ability to drive as fast as you want to because the
other pieces just aren't there. And I think that's where they are ultimately going
to have to decide and figure out they'll get a top three, top five
pick this year unless they move it. I guess potentially for some maybe some
star who we don't know, might become available. But to me, this
is still at least two years out before the Spurs are back to relevance.
But I don't know if Wenby's willing to wait that long. So you sound
and I'm not know trying to diss or critique or anything like that show,
but you sound like someone who is of the mindset that like, because Wemby
is like a Ferrari and it's ready to go, that the San Antonio Spurs
seemed to already be like stuck in the in the garage right like they're still
stuck in the pit and have no preparation, have no plan in place,
you know, for ready to ride out. And I guess part of me
is a little concerned with that thought process because I'm like, if anyone is
trying to trying to, you know, reconnect what the Spurs did to create
that dynasty that they had. The missing part of this was that the team
was already foundationally sound when they had David Robinson. When they finally had Tim
Duncan, then everything started to come into place. Right And because we're in
a different error with the way that free agency operates, I don't know if
I'm of the mindset that if you're San Antonia Spurs, you're playing this game
through the level of free agency as much as you should be buying into getting
it right with the picks that you're You're You're you're drafting the players the rosters
with right like so to your point, you're saying that you don't see where
so so hand, where Johnson and and and in the parts that are right
now around one man Yama, they don't fit, correct, So do you
think nothing? They don't fit. They're not the accelerant that I think a
person of his talent is like so they can they can work. But if
you could move Vasilla and Johnson to get you know what I mean, another
star or somebody you know that's in the same atmosphere. These are right now,
complimentary guys and if you give a Sill enough shots, he's gonna score
twenty a game. If you give kel Johnson enough shots, same thing.
But that doesn't mean they're they are the overall right parts for the accelerant.
They're fine, complimentary players, but how do they get enough? That's those
two guys are their path to a potential another star. And you're what you're
saying, I think as well too. It's like, well, well they
could draft that. But that's where it goes back to my earlier point.
Well, then you're probably two or three years away from really being able to
see the fruits of that, even if you get a top five pick this
year, right, And so I think that to me is what I'm alluding
to. More so, are you leaning into the ideas like you don't think
that the Spurs can afford to wait that long or you don't think that based
on the way that when Byama is that he has the patience to cultivate and
elevate those guys that would be coming on board that would be the fit for
how he plays. It's interesting to me because when I think about guys like
Sohan and Caldon Johnson to your point, yeah, they can go out,
they could probably score, and they could be complementary pieces. As if it's
baked into this idea that they won't be able to make when Byanda a greater
better player and based on the way that when Benyama plays, it doesn't look
like he'll make them better players. So you know, where where would we
see a veteran like what kind of player are we talking about that could make
win Ba Yama a better player than he's already as sending himself to where it's
translating to the level of success that I think, you know, San Antonio
Spurs fans are are trying to say it's going to be within the next couple
of years, right. I mean, I do think they'll need some semblance
of you know, dynamic truly dynamic wing play or guard play, and I
don't think they have that in in any player right now currently. And that's
why I'm saying Lacil and Johnson can be pieces that get you maybe whatever guy
the draft pick that they'll have this this upcoming this upcoming summer could maybe get
them another piece that gets them that that that other guy Wemby to me,
and I don't obviously don't know him, you know, personally, when you
have somebody, I think of that talent level, you're you're thinking, maybe
the first two years can be growth, all right, learn the game,
play the best you know plays, play your minutes, understand with or whatever.
But by year three you're expecting to kind of really see some fruits of
that label. So I think they can toil around so this week for maybe
another year in this, but they've got to start putting the plan into place
here now. Again, they knew what Wenby was, or hoped they knew
what he was going into it. I think he's probably even exceeded some of
those expectations, which makes it a little bit more pressure pack now to like,
hey, no, we gotta we got to get moving. So you
have again another year where you can kind of buy this being this, you
know, eighteen to twenty two win team whatever it is. But year three,
that guy's gonna want to go. And I think that's that's what I'm
getting at and do you have the records at pieces that can get you there?
And what I say now is again not a strong free agent draft class,
So can you conjure up the assets within your internal roster? Currently they
still have a bunch of picks again from the Johntay Murray trade, you know,
moving him over to Atlanta a couple of years ago as well too,
a couple first round picks that got from Boston and the Derek White deal as
well, so they can move some stuff around and be creative, you know,
to pry away another you know, potential All star type level talent with
them, But there's not another ulstar on this roster currently constructed, like not
even close. Yeah, and I agree with you, there's not any potential
All star caliber. I just wonder if whether or not you see that there's
potential for them to become one, right, And so it doesn't sound like,
you know, from the way that you're evaluating and what you've seen from
how they play in their style of play, that any of that's going to
happen. Here's the thing that really becomes unfortunate. Shaw And I don't know
I whether or not people recognize us or speaking to this. If you really
look at this, this is bad timing for the San Antonio Spurs. You
know, there was a window of opportunity where they could be able to just
kind of be marginally bad, and because the Southwest Division was marginally good,
the gap between you know, what a bad San Antonio Spurs team would look
like and the rest of you know, that division would be maybe like three
or four games. Now you look at the way that this division is reflective
of You got Emai Udoka in the turnaround of what he's done with the Houston
Rockets, which is absolutely phenomenal. The New Orleans Pelicans have a new gear.
Don't know whether or not it's viable. We'll see how this translates,
but it's definitely trending in the direction where there you know it's gonna be a
reoccurring theme that they're going to be a part of the playoff picture. The
Dallas Mavericks right with this combination of Luca and Kyrie Irving and the talent that
they're making those guys essentially better very quickly. And you know, to me,
the Memphis Grizzlies when they eventually get back Jahn Morant like, I know
that they may be the slowest of the two because of the pieces they couldn't
keep, but you're always gonna feel, like with Jah Morant and Desmond Bane
that this team is gonna be competitive. So this division is stacked from top
to bottom. So I get to your point where there's that level of impatience
if you're one ban Yama, like, yo, we got to be able
to ride with these thoroughbreds that are already in our division. I'm just curious,
though, Shaw, like, if next year is not going to be
a good free agency class, then this year, this year, this year,
but this is not going to be a good free agency class, then
I would think that the emphasis has to be focused on the current parts and
this off season for them to significantly take a step forward, because even if
worst case Scenarioshaw, you don't see them being at least they will elevate themselves
to where they can be tradable pieces. Like you look at these guys right
now, they're not even tradable pieces. I don't know what you could possibly
get even for you know what I'm saying. You know bad players that are
out there, so to speak. I'm not saying they're bad, but I'm
just saying what they bring to the table doesn't invite anyone to be saying,
yeah, yo, bring bring me him. I want this dude, I
want that dude from your roster. There's not a whole lot of pickings from
that, but they've got to be able to play significantly better so that their
trade value is even worth the conversation. Well, I mean, but remember
that's that's a double edged short. It can go both ways, right,
So, and beauty is always in the behigh and the eye of the beholder
who looks at Keldon Johnson potentially and says, hey, I can do something
with that. Or some people's like, no, he's topped out. This
is who he ultimately is. Do you give him another year? Does he
play worse? You know what I mean? So, I mean it's just
a cause of benefit analysis. The one thing one of the things that birds
have in that, and again, as you were talking, is like,
well, let me just make sure I have my facts right. No,
they have three first round picks this year, first round picks this year,
and they have three first round picks next year, so you know there's some
protections on it, you know. I think with Toronto, I think this
year. I think there's protection with Charlotte next year as well too, But
they can be trading picks within the lottery and their own if they were so
inclined. If another superstar, if you will, or at least even all
Star wars become available in either of the next two years. But sometimes,
as we all know, it's like, all right, well, the picks
don't create the equity that's needed to bring superstar or all star level talent in,
so you need the salaries in essence to match. And that's where Johnson
and the Seal kind of come into play. So just you know, got
his extension. He's gonna be making twenty twenty million dollars or something like that
over the next couple of seasons. So that's where I'm like, well,
yeah, you can keep those guys, but if you're really trying to add
that accelerant, you know that that's your path to do it. But they
do have some leeway between this year and next year, having six first rounders,
three in each of the next first year, three each in the next
two years. Where do you think Greg Popovich leans on the most to see
the rapid improvement of this basketball team? Right, Like you know, Greg
Propovic started as a defensive minded guru. He has you know, transitioned where
he's put together offensively talented rosters and you know we've seen him basically play patchwork
orange with marginal rosters to be competitive and compete in the playoffs. Where do
you lean on with us trying to kind of be in the mind of Greg
Popovitch going into this offseason to say, look, we're not so good on
this, and even when we bring in what we bring in from our draft
class, I'm thinking this might be the best pathway forward for us to start,
you know, getting some of those ls that we could not get and
listen, by all stretch of the imagine, by all accounts, Shaw,
it wasn't like the San Antonio Spurs or just this horrible basketball team. They
have been a very competitive basketball team. This is a basketball team that can
compete, whether or not. The level of confidence that they can compete and
do this through the course of a regular season, I think to your point
is what speaks to the fact that maybe some of the talent has topped itself
out and you can only get away with doing this when you're playing against bad
competition. But when you're playing against the best of the best. You're not
really seeing these guys elevating themselves to the level that you see Victor woman Yama
elevating himself too. So, if you're Greg Popovich, what do you lean
on as far as being a competitive basketball team? Mores and more of the
defensive side of the basketball is going to be more on the offensive side of
the basketball. And I think you even know the answer to that. I
think you know Papaovich has tradiously been probably a better defensive coach than offensive coach,
not that he's been a bad offensive coach and as any aspect of capacity,
but ultimately, defense often revolves around scheme and effort, and those are
things you can intimately control on a regular basis, you know. The offense,
it's that's more skill based and that you can't always just teach. That
takes a lot of time in essence, develop or acquire the requis and talent
in essence to kind of get you there. Right now, they're thirtieth and
three point shooting. They're one of the worst teams you know in an offense
in general. They're not great in defense either. Twenty second, but those
are things to think especially with a Wenby as as a lighthouse if you want,
and the overall to turn in the middle that can be the centerpiece of
of what you do defensively, and so sure if you can buy. What
the NBA is saying is like, hey, we're going to look to see
how we can you know, empower defenses more going into next season. We're
seeing scoring come down here since the All Star break here a little bit.
That's where Sanentennial can make the most post amount of Hey, they can't ignore
offense, but that's where they can hang the proverbial hat on and say like,
all right, well we're going to be a defensive minded team first,
knowing that we mainly score one hundred or one hundred and five, and see
what we can do there to get some recordsent shooting, and see if we
can get timely offense, you know, as I like to talk about,
especially when games get closed in those clutch minutes late in the fourth quarter.
All right, ChIL, let's properly eulogize the San Antonio Spurs. I want
you to give me an ideal situation of who you would love to see Victor
Winmbanyama paired up with in the next couple of years. That gives you the
confidence that you know, this would be a San Antonio Spurs team that would
be considered as one of the more dangerous, you know teams to probably be
considered, you know, in in maybe its franchise history. If we're talking
about wimban Yama in the way that we're speaking about him, who would you
see would love to see be paired up with to kind of elevant to emulate
that level of danger? You know. Well, I mean there's you can
have the wishless, right, and then I think that's the aspect of what's
potentially realistic, and I'm going to go on on that lens, you know,
and you know, maybe you can bring more you know, color to
it in terms of like, hey, you know, here's what you'd want
to see. But I think if I canvass the league and think, okay,
realistically, is there another star or all star level guy who the Furge
could potentially get and that guy actually is Trey Young, I think, you
know, they could visit the Atlanto situation, especially with Trey Young potentially may
or may not be coming back this year and whatever happens with the playoff,
with their playoff run. Can you say, hey, let's bring you over
here and see if we can build something here. Especially you have that one,
you have that five, that could be really good. I don't think
Donovan Mitchell is somebody who would would go there, and especially when he his
contract is up, so that would take a lot of workability and some doing.
But I could see that being a pairing that could bring them some some
some positivity in the in the short Treman a long term in and then giving
and taking a lot of pressure off of Wenby as well too, to be
the offensive hub and the defensive hub. So I think in that regard,
whoever that second star is can't be more defensive minded, and sure it can
be two way if you will, but has to be somebody who's elite I
think, offensively to help the Spurs get to what ultimately need to go to.
So I'll try the question back around to you, who would you like
to see I guess best case scenario Wenby potentially pair it up with Man.
Who would I love to see best case scenario? If I wanted to see
the future of the NBA from a back court front court perspective, I would
love to see. I would love it'll never happen, but I would I
would love to see John Morant and Victor That would be my That would be
my dream situation, dream scenario. But if I'm saying something more realistic with
what's currently out there in the landscape of the NBA, pay attention to the
Lonzo Ball situation. I would be very curious to see what the San Aatolia
Spurs might be able to do and would want to do. At some point,
I think if you are the Chicago Bulls, you really have to start
reassessing how much longer you can continue to keep Lonzo Ball on your roster,
if you're talking about trying to do a move forward. And I think that
there can be a point where Lonzo Ball can can can be a healthy,
you know, like adequate, still young. But I find that, like,
I don't see where the longevity of his career stays in Chicago. I
see guys like Rudy Gay. I've seen other veteran guys out there maintain their
longevity playing like either Insanity, Atonio Phoenix are out in the west, mid
the West, southern, southern, West, western, you know places.
So if there's there's that level of seriousness of us considering what kind of combination
you would love to see and it be more realistic. I think if you're
the Chicago Bulls, you have to start kind of twirling with the idea like
what can we do, what might need to happen? And if you're to
San Antonio Spurs, what kind of skill set player would I love to see
without compromising the elevation of when Byama, but the both of them paired together
can really really kind of take this team to like another level. I would
love to see that type of combination go down. Well, it's interesting because
I think Chicago poses a lot of interest for a couple of different teams.
You know, Kobe White's are just his emergency if you will this season to
being one of the most improved players this year? Does that negate the need
for for for Lonzo moving forward? Like Kobe has really developed and I really
like that young man a lot. So yeah, could they explore something that
gets them? They still have exactly be situation they need to figure out,
you know, from an offensive and defensive standpoint too. So Spurs, I
don't think they would because the contract is just so so ALBATROSSI if you will,
but would make some sense, who is that one of your el cat
words but making stuff up here on the fly, right, But it's you
know, Levigne would bring some offense to a to a team that very very
much needs it. Ironically, though, I think my wish kiss scenario for
Wemby coming into this before he got drafted was like, I did want to
see him with the aforementioned team, you know, the other ball brother and
Charlotte. Had Charlotte been so fortunate and while Brandon Miller is great and all
listen to, combination and theory of LaMelo and Wenby would have been something that
would have been striking the fear of whatever to a lot of people for a
very long time. Nobody wants that crystal ball in the Eastern Conference at all.
But ultimately it didn't happen, and Wenby goes to the organization that is
probably better equipped to develop him for the majority majority share of his NBA career,
which I think is obviously amazing for him. But yeah, I think
you know, there will be no shortest of guys lining up to potentially play
with him if the opportunity to arise. As for for the Spurs, especially
fiscally, all right, So final final thoughts, Shaw, how confident are
you do you think that this next year will be an improved year for the
San Antonio Spurs or do you find them to be kind of like the type
of team that you know is based on whatever they their season ends, that
they're going to probably wind up right back into the same fold roughly numbers wise
as far as wins go. Before we start talking about this, this type
of turnaround of team coming, you know, raising themselves out of the dead.
You know, there to me are a great unknown because I in some
ways you feel like their general management is astute and that they will at least
kick the tires, but they're not going to do anything that doesn't behoove them
in the short term. So that I think they'll do everything they can to
investigate opportunities to make some semblance of around an improvement, especially with three first
round picks this year and maybe some guys that you know could be high level
role players on some other teams in addition to their own. But they won't
do anything that's just like listen, that doesn't that doesn't make any sense.
We're not going to just they're not dumping assets in any capacity, So that
depends on what the market bears for them this this upcoming season, you know,
and what happens in the playoffs and which team gets eliminated. It's just
like that, you didn't think they should have been gone that far, and
then can you make a magical run at some player that we're not even talking
about here currently. So there's too many unknowns and variables. But I trust
that they will be investigative in all ways possible that improves their roster. So
that answer has to be has to kind of stay in my back pocket until
I can kind of see how how the market shares for them. All right,
man, well this has been good stuff. I'm looking forward to see
what version of the San Antonio Spurs are going to become in the off season.
I'm not even really concerned about what even a draft pick looks like as
much as I'm concerned as much as I would be very curious to see what
which guys are put and in that work for the off season, because I
agree with you, I think for us to really really assess the direction of
this team, the mindset of this team, it has to come down to
us not completely focusing on what we already have come to understand regarding the greatness
of Victor women Yama, it has to be about the rest of these other
guys for us to be able to better depict on what direction the Spurs want
to go, whether it's keeping the assets or moving the assets along, because
I think that will go a long way into your point, Shaw, what
kind of rebuild process are we talking about with this organization? Awesome stuff,
Shaw, as per always Man, you know, I love when we get
to talk about these teams, the way that we do properly bury them,
the way that we do autopsium, get into the in the forensics state of
mind, so to speak. When we get with these teams, Man,
yeah, I think there's a little bit more optimism than the first two teams
we talked about here, just because they have at least in theory talent that
is elite in some way or another, that has all star level capability.
In both LaMelo and Wemby. You know, conversely, while we talked we
spoke about Washington and the Detroit last last week. Those two guys have fringe
level guys. If you will, if a if this person gets hurt,
this person gets hurt to make all stars, but all stars don't make you
a good basketball team or a basketball player in any capacity. I think with
LaMelo and Wemby specifically, those guys have talent that can really truly elevate their
proverbial franchises on both sides of the basketball court. And hopefully, hopefully we'll
they'll be both be healthy next year with some tweaks, I think, all
the rosters that can get them in a better position to be successful in the
years of coop. Absolutely man, well said, Well said, Well said,
you should, you know, get into the business of doing these these
these these eulogies and sendoffs. Man, I'm telling you, the families of
these organizations would be Yeah, this could be a business for you just basically
just they put it up on LinkedIn. Bro. Well, well, this
is definitely a partnership. We do this together. So I think you know,
if in your local soon, did you'd like us to come and properly
utilogize your team, We'll be happy to take the baseline on the road here
courtesy of nineteen Media. Absolutely all right, once again, man, thank
you everybody for hopping on board. We'd like to get your thoughts to be
sure to get us on get at us on all the social media outlets,
you know where to find us. For the baseline, Cali Warrenshaw. We
appreciate you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up with you
next time.