What is krack lacking? Fellow thermonuclear appers, I am damn a valley coming
at you with a mail bag podcast. Before we get started, my usual
reminder subscribe if you haven't done so already. If you're on YouTube watching me
right now, hit that sub button, like comment on every vivideo to help
the algorithm. Love us back. If you are subscribed, subscribe to us
too on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Leave us
ratings and reviews on Apple. I can't stress enough how much that helps.
We've seen some ratings, but reviews also go a long way too, so
please head over there. It takes a few seconds out of your day if
you've done all those things. Word of mouth recommendations, tell people about us.
We appreciate the shout outs on Twitter. I've gotten dms shouting us out.
Make them public. Tell me you've recommended. If you've convinced someone to
listen to this podcast, I want to hear about it. Join our discord.
The link to that is in the podcast and YouTube descriptions, so go
ahead on over there and follow us on all the socials is another way that
you can help the show show. Those are all listened. In the YouTube
and podcast descriptions, they're on your screen at Hardwood Knox on Twitter and TikTok
at Hardwood Underscore Knox on ig And finally, the best way to support the
show financially if you want to throw super thanks or whatever they're called super whatever
on YouTube, we'd appreciate those, and then just buy a bunch of merch
for yourself, for family members, friends, acquaintances, random people you just
want to give swag to. The link to our store is in the podcast
and YouTube descriptions too, All the links that you need right there. So
please continue to support the show. Love every single one of you who continue
to come back and listen. Let's dive in to this mailbag though a lot
of really good questions, some of which, yeah, one of them,
man, I had to think long and hard about. But let's begin with
Mike h Who, in your opinion, is the most overrated coach in the
NBA Prior to this season, I'd say Doc, but he's out of the
league now. I think it's Jason Kidd. Was bad in Brooklyn, stunted
player growth in Milwaukee, and his time in Dallas has been fine. Jason
Kids probably a good one, but he almost feels properly rated at this point
to me, because people generally just don't like him and he's become a meme
the name that I think we probably need to start discussing. And I know
that they've been a fantastic regular season team, and I know that they've been
able to overcome absences to key players, but the offense has just been so
vanilla, too reliant on offensive rebounds and getting out in transition. Is that
a personnel issue? It might be Taylor Jenkins might be time to have a
conversation about him potentially. I know he's like considered coach of the Year candidate
type deal. I just don't get inspired when I watch Memphis's offense. Maybe
giving him a full year of Luconard that'll be fair. Beyond that, I
don't know when I was going through this, I don't know if there are
any coaches that feel overrated and we can go with Billy Donovan, but like,
why he's not overrated. He's like a perfect Bulls coach for this roster
because he just fits the essence of the Bulls at large. I really don't
know who it is among the employed coaches, because you can talk about coaches
that maybe you necessarily don't like her on the hot seat, like west End
Sell Junior in Washington. He's not overrated because you're just saying, oh,
he's overrated by being employed, which is kind of fucked up to go that
way. Another name, just how does Minnesota's offense fair with all these weapons?
With Chris Finch, He's supposed to be like this offensive mastermind and they
were pretty a l last year. Was that more to do with injuries than
anything else? Just names I'm watching actually looking at this, I'm pretty impressed
that you don't go into this thinking, oh, like, coach so and
so is just overrated. Could you know doing the conversation with Frank Vogel,
like how does how does he instill defense into this Phoenix Suns roster? That
might be something to a monitor. And so when I even say overrated or
when Mike h as overrated, it's almost like not an insult right now,
like we would I think we need some more samples from other guys where it's
if you think email Udoka's right there, we obviously can't go with the first
time ors. That doesn't make sense. And even just like someone like a
Willie Green has been I would think buying large phenomena in New Orleans. I
think some are not necessarily happy with some of the rotation decisions that he has
made, but like he's really given them some serious or real and genuine and
effective defensive principles just like I even like you know, Steve Clifford and Charlotte,
Like I really like him. There's just there's not a name that springs
to mind for me at the moment, Like maybe maybe is it Nick Nurse,
Like let's see what he does in feel he was known as this sort
of this offensive mastermind and Toronto was really inspiring. So you know, Taylor
Jenkins, Chris Finch, Nick Nurse. When we're looking at coaches that are
viewed highly that maybe you're just overvalued here. I think that's what we need
to start getting into a little bit fun question to think about, especially from
Mike Gage, who I know fucking loves the coaching just grind. I guess
in the NBA, like ask him who's the eighth assistant on the Phoenix Suns
or the eighth assistant on the Charlotte Hornets, and he'll probably know Petos.
How bad is it actually going to be during next year's offseason, considering all
the pending but very likely contract extensions of Jalon Brown, Pascal Siakam, Anthony
Davis, et cetera that are going to decrease the value of free agency and
the low amount of talent in the draft class. Quick note just on the
draft class. I don't know nearly enough about it, but we've gone into
shitty draft classes before, and you can look back and like the class of
twenty and thirteen be wildly disappointed. Overall, I feel like you can always
still get excited about any draft class, that there's always at least one franchise
altering talent there, and like you can pepper in a handful of impact players
that maybe are drafted later in the first or the second round. So I
don't think we need to just wait and see, like maybe the impressions of
this incoming draft class change. I will say, when you're looking at free
agency, I would expect one of Paul George or Kawhi Leonard to reach the
open market. If not both, they each have player options. I think
Jalon Brown will sign extension. I don't know what to think about Anthony Davis.
I think even if he doesn't sign an extension, it'll just be okay,
Like, let's tack on because the way the early termination option is set
up and the way you extend off of player options versus early termination options.
Could he decide to go to free agency and just resign with the Lakers.
Yeah, maybe that'll be uninteresting. I don't know about Siakam. I'm just
I talked to s Barrahini about this on our last podcast, or of rank
the most likely outcomes for what's gonna happen if he gets traded, I don't
know that he signs an extension. It might be worth it to him.
I mean, it would be worth it to him once a team can actually
offer it, but he might decide to explore the open market at that point.
So I think I think there's a chance he could reach if he stays
in Toronto. If he doesn't get traded, it's probably because he signs an
extension though, but he also might want to wait and see if he qualifies
for the supermacs. I don't think Toronto would give it to him, but
that's something you could do. There are I think good non superstar names out
there. O Gianna Nobi is probably gonna hit free agency. I'll be shocked
if he signed an extension even with the new rules. Clay Thompson maybe an
extension candidate. Nick Clackson is going to be a fascinating free agency buy and
large though. And they're like, you could throw some restricted free agents in.
They're like Tyree's Maxie okay, great, Like he's he's not leaving.
It's just the restricted free agencies a fucking sham. I'm still aggravated that no
team through the poison pill at Austin reeves just to maybe fuck with the Lakers
books or try to try to call their bluff and need stap too many curses
words on this podcast already so far. I just free agency has changed that
at COVID has changed The best players for the most part, no longer reaching
free agency because it's worth it for them to sign extensions and then asked for
out later. We've seen it with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. We've seen it
with Damian Lillard now in Portland. Let's kind of get the money, figure
out the rest later. And yeah, there might be players who are stars
that are extension eligible. Let U Janas attent the Kompo this summer, he
can only tack on two additional years, so it doesn't necessarily make sense for
him to sign extension yet, but it will when he can tack on additional
years and then if they want to get out, you work something out.
After the time is passing, you become eligible free agencies. Just like totally,
it's almost scuttled at this point, they're still you get a Fred van
Fleet leaving like he did this past year, but like I would say,
a player on Ogna Nobi's level or like a Fred van Fleet level, like
those feel like the biggest names we're going to see leave via free agency unless
any of these rules change, or unless the infusion of TV money, Like
does the you know, the salary cap going up and only by a max
of ten percent? Does that get some guys thinking about hitting the open market
sooner? Or is the money the one thing that I could maybe see happening
here? Does the money get just so astronomical players are not necessarily concerned with
maximizing every dollar because they're just the bigger names. The stars know that they're
just gonna get paid regardless, and that it's going to be like wild money.
Because we're getting that point where yes, percentage of the salary cap,
these fifty sixty eventually seventy million dollars salaries because they're headed that way, They're
they're going to be the same person, you know, set a thirty five
percent of a salary cap or whatever. But like just the sheer sticker shock
of that much money in one season, does it get to a point where
players will just value the ability to choose or try to get to a different
location or see what's out there, knowing that they could either resign with their
incumbent team or that even if they're taking less, it just doesn't matter because
they're still getting in the two hundred plus million dollar range over the life of
their deal. That's something I could see happening. But yeah, just the
way everything is set up right now, I don't know if free agency is
ever going to have a renaissance. And I look, I think when you're
looking at next offseason, specifically to actually answer Pete those questions, I knew
more of the tax apron rules are going to kick in, so it's gonna
get even harder for teams in the second apron to operate. Right now,
they can take back one hundred and ten percent of salary in trades, that's
going to go down to one hundred percent. The aggregation rules will get tougher,
But when you're looking at just the penalties, there will be teams that
might be looking at Duck that even the first apron more as they get to
understand this, and so we could see a bunch more trades, and so
I would expect the trade markets to pick up in the coming year. It's
just his teams try to grapple with the ramifications of the new basically, like
I guess, soft, hardcap, whatever, whatever you want to call it,
just these new CBA rules. And so I don't think next offseason is
going to be a sham. There will be, like always will being held
hostage by like one or two or three guys, whether it's a trade request
or a team like in Toronto's case that's really just looking to move this guy.
So yeah, but look, free agency, I get it. I
mean it would be pretty like if for some reason Siakam and Anthony Davis and
Paul George An Kawai and OG and Clay all at the open market, that
might be in theory, one of the more interesting free agency classes that we've
seen in quite some time. Usher asked, one of the biggest talking points
I hear about the Suns besides the defense, is who is going to orchestrate
the orchestrate the offense. Why does it seem like there isn't a ton of
faith in point Book being a success? Is its small sample size? And
because he had a true point guard next to him, is there any evidence
stats that can help us make inference weather point Book will or will not succeed.
Love the show as always, which kind of a second part to this
question too, but let's just you know, actually we probably into the second
part first, and so Usher also asked, do you need to have a
true point guard to have an a lead offense? And the answer is no,
just because the definition of point guard has changed, just as we're kind
of moving away from positions like as long as you have a quarterback. These
initiators who even if they're not the most talented passers, if they can at
least react to the attention that they're getting or just generate and hit really difficult
looks for themselves, like if you took, like take Luca Donchez as an
example, and remove the passing elements of his game, like take it from
a you know, he's like a fifteen out of ten on a scale of
one to ten, move it down to like a five. But just because
he's so he can scored every level and efficiently and hit these tough looks,
he could be the driver and off of an offense. And now we kind
of saw it with the Clippers last year where the yeah, they're offen spent
a lot of time in the gutter, but when they played with Kawhen Leonard
and Paul George, who are good secondary initiators, but they're not They're not
Luca, they're not James Harden like the bigger point guards who maybe you know
and James horns case didn't even start out as a point guard in his career.
They're not like these A plus plus passers. So you put Paul George
and Kwai Leonard on the floor, you take off any minutes that could have
been with Russ Waller Reggie Jackson. And I know that the ten years there
didn't necessarily overlap, but you want to remove any of the minutes that had
either one of those three on the court. With PG and Kawai, the
Clippers still ranked in the ninety nine percentile of offense during that span. The
sample size was not like massive, again because Paul George and Kwai Leonard didn't
play in a ship ton of games, but like you can get by just
having elite offensive players who aren't necessarily elite point guards. And by that I
mean not necessarily coming down to the size or the position. But when looking
at the passing, the table setting ability is that you can get by having
to B B plus passers if those guys are also, of course a A
minus defense, but if they're A A plus scores, that goes a long
way as well. And I'm not talking ball stoppers, like you don't you
want someone who is going to be I would say better than a Julius Randall
type passer, and I would throw Kawai and Paul George. I would probably
at least trust them more, and they can. It feels like they can
score at different levels. So you can build an offense that way, which
is why I don't necessarily get the concern with the suns to Let's focus on
the Booker element of this for a minute, because part of it probably has
to do with Booker, where I don't think maybe you know the sample size
has not been huge. He logged as the official point guard last year only
one hundred and six possessions. The Sun's offense was in the ninety nine percentile.
That's like, it's just such a small sample size, so you're not
really seeing it. But they were also like you dig deeper and you see
minutes and like, so he did play without CP three or paying on the
floor about five hundred and thirty possessions. The Sun's offense was also in the
ninety nine percentile during that stretch. So he's been on the court where he
is the primary playmaker or is closed to it. But I just think because
he played next to CP three specifically, he's never been viewed in that vein.
And it's really weird because we're talking about I don't know where I rank
him when it comes to passers in the league. But like, he is
one of the most complete offensive players in the game right now, bar none.
He is a more complete offensive player than Bradley Beal, just because you
can look at his off ball movement and like, while Kevin Durant might even
have the higher ceiling when you look at what Booker is able to do as
he moves around off the ball, and I'm talking like if he needs to
hit you know those quick fire jumpers, or if he's you're putting pressure on
the rim because of his off ball movement, but you're looking at also the
way he runs an offense as a pastor, Like, yeah, Kevin Durant
is again one of the greatest players of all time, better than Devin Booker
in fury, although we did just see a postseason where Devin Bookers, but
most of the times the Sun's best player, even though Kevin Durant was on
the floor. His passing it is improved probably each and every season, some
by larger margins than than others. But he's gotten so good that just like
you're going to see more incremental improvements here. And he can throw really difficult
lobs, really difficult pocket passes, really difficult skip passes. He'll take chances
in the full court. We've seen. I can't remember. There's like two
passes that he threw the mcal bridges in transition. I don't think it was
this season, might have been like last playoffs. I don't even remember.
But they're just like these like whipp it bounce passes across the entire court,
like from one end of the other through the defense like threading the needle.
There are maybe like there are fewer than ten guys who can throw that type
of a pass, and Devin Booker is one of them right now. I
do think he can telegraph some of his reads, especially when he's looking for
big men. He can become really like zeroed in on it. But he
just throws the ball through traffic so well, or uses the right height and
different angles because it's not just a chess pass or a lob or a bounce
pass or just a basic pocket pass. Like he can do all, like
make all these different types of passes, so he's a more versatile passer and
also does it while he's under control and so looking at the past six years,
which is when twenty seventeen eighteen, that's when he really started to ratchet
up his playmaking is on ball skills. He has had an assist rate over
twenty six and under thirteen of everyone who has logged at least ten thousand minutes
during this span, and that's still less than two thousand minutes of season.
It wasn't just some arbitrary number. I thought ten thousand. Most of kat
these guys have played a bunch, but who has also hit those benchmarks and
assist rate over twenty six and turnover rate under thirteen. The only other players
to join Booker or Damian Lillard, Fred VanVleet, Spencer Dinwoodie Dejantay, Murray,
Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving. I should have doubled checked. This is
weird that Lebron is not on here, right he is not. Just want
to make sure that he's not in there. That's like legit company and we're
talking about I don't Murray kind of moved to more of an off guard role,
and Fred VanVleet has always played off the ball a ton. Say what
you want about Steph Kurby, Like those are what people would consider more It's
definitely more more sort of conventional point guards. No, there's nothing conventional about
Steph and Dame and Kyrie YadA, YadA, YadA, but relative to what
Devin Booker is, yeah, they would definitely be considered more conventional points.
And Devin Booker's part of that company. Now. Am I going to be
interested to see what happens if? I don't think they'll spam it the way
they did with CP three, But Devin Booker. You know, by and
large through the seasons, we've seen pick and roll initiation account for like twenty
five percent to thirty percent of his possessions. Either might have been a season
or two where he was over if you really like juice that up jacket up
to thirty five percent, forty percent, forty five percent or real again,
really spam him as a pick and roll initiator. Does that change? And
I do think part of the benefit of what makes him such a good passer
is because he's able to focus on scoring more if at worst equally there does
that dynamic change at all? I know the son's name, Bradley Beal,
their point guard. That's more of a just a size thing there to me,
because Devin Booker is the best passer on this team, better than the
Brant, better than Bial, So I'm sure to see how he holds up
in a role it's gonna really call for him to do it more. I
think he's gonna thrive, honestly, Like maybe the scoring comes down, but
we might see him average, like I don't know if he's a tennessist guy.
And like the way they might run their offense just because you have beyond
Durant, there's gonna be so much equity like divested among all three of them.
And then also just like, is this gonna be even an assist heavy
team? So I don't want to throw it there, but like, I'm
not saying he's gonna be the next Luker James Harden when you're racking up these
systems like this is gonna be a year. I think he probably has a
bunch of double digit assist games or that we could see him average like eight
or nine per game, because I think I trust his passing that much and
I would fully expect the Sun's offense to still be elite. And I don't
think they need to be a great passing team because they have these three top
end scores. When it comes to the Suns, as us You're mentioned,
it is more about, Okay, what does it look like with their defense.
Eton's gonna be a huge part of that. How does their death pen
out in the sense, Yeah, they really won the minimum contract game,
but we always say that about certain teams, and how many of those do
they actually hit on? More to the point, do there does their big
three stay healthy enough to where like you don't have to rely too heavily on
that depth and on that minimum contract depth, and so those are all big
and fair questions. The offense itself is just not a question. This team
is regardless of how they get their buckets. Even if I've just overestimated Devin
Booker's passing to the up TEAMHS degree, this team is going to be if
they're not a top five offense. I something seriously I would imagine has gone
wrong. Someone is having the worst season of their career. There's been a
bunch of injuries, some combination of all three. You just look at these
guys. I think that they're built. You know, you could see the
Sun's getting a little bit too mid range happy last year. I think that
Devin Bookers won gonna be able to adapt his game. He's just one of
the most scalable players in the league. Two Bradley Beal changes the scoring distribution
for this team, where I think he can put more pressure on the actual
basket. And even if he's living too much from the mid range of points,
he's still gonna be able to get to the to the foul line.
I think he's someone who will be comfortable like kind of not like titrating up
his three point volume as well. Durant has always been sort of iffy there.
So this team is going to be great. And Devin Booker again one
of the most complete offensive players in the game, and so calling him the
day fact though, let's call it a floor general. Let's not even call
it a point guard. If that, if that's what he has to be,
if there is going to be more responsibility than even we think right now,
is going to be put on his shoulders. The Sons are going to
be more than fun. And I can't I cannot bring myself to worry about
offense at all with this team. Regular season, playoffs, whatever next question
comes from the farcas this was a good one. Which team is more likely
to be a higher seed within their conference? The MAVs are the Pacers going
trying to go through the teams that will be definitely better than both them in
their conference. So for the MAVs in the West, the teams that will
be definitely better than them, I have the Nuggets, the Suns. I'd
probably throw the Pelicans, Kings, Clippers, and Warriors in there. The
Lakers, Timberwolves, and Grizzlies and Thunder are maybe's for me teams that are
definitely better than the Pacers in the East, Heat, Bucks, Celtics,
Calves. I think you should throw the Knicks in there, and then maybe
the Hawks, maybe the Nets, maybe the Bulls, maybe the Sixers.
What's going to happen in there? Could the Pistons are magic sort of sneak
in here. I think I'd be inclined to when you're looking at the landscape,
you should probably side with the Pacers. But I'm just wondering with them
relying on young guys more where assuming jars Walker is healthy, he's going to
play a bunch, and then I would assume that they're going to also increase
benn Nick Mathrein's role and trying experiment with him. I do feel like we
could get to a point where we're not going to see like a flat out
late season tank. But it's this just sort of another rebuilding year for them.
I'm not saying they need to tear down. They have Bruce Brown like
they should be. I think this team has the potential to be really good,
But if you were asking, it's just it's really tough. I'm gonna
go with the MAVs just because the two stars, Kyrie Irving Lucadanche. It's
like they're really entrenched. I might like the bat Elens of the Pacers roster
a little bit more, but again, them investing so much, I would
assume developmental equity in Jaris Walker in, ben Nick Mathurin, even giving Andrew
Nemhard a bunch of minutes, that's someone who could look at someone who might
actually start for their team. Does that, you know, eat into their
immediacy at all? The ceiling in that regard even like how much are they
gonna play it will be topping And just like if you're gonna give Isaiah Jackson
and Jalen Smith run this season as well, how is that going with Let's
not forget they drafted Ben Shephard at number twenty six. This could still really
be another developmental year for them. And so I'm going to go with Dallas.
I think they'll be more invested in the here and now, and I
think even in what could be considered maybe a tougher conference when you're looking at
higher end competition. Just the way the off season has unfolded, there's the
Bucks and Celtics kind of at the tippy top of the East right now,
maybe the Calves can crack that tier. Do the Heat get there if they
have Dame? But as right now, it feels like it's the Bucks and
the Heat. Again, maybe maybe the Calves could be there where in the
West, like I could see a lot of teams just being like top top
tier, the Sons and the Nuggets for sure. If the Clippers are Warriors
and their health breaks right, I mean, there's just like a bunch of
maybes where the Grizzlies and the Lakers and what do the Timberwolves look like?
The Kings were right there last season? What if the Pelicans stay healthy?
So that I get that is stiffer competition in fury, I'm still gonna go
with the MAVs. I don't. I wouldn't trust that because I have very
little faith in the MAVs. Nuggs asked, why aren't the Nuggets? And
by the way, my lack of faith in the MAVs has more to do
with I just who we trust him to defend wings on this team? Right
now? Is it like it does Dante Exum need to play and what does
Josh Green really look like that in that role with nobody else to excuse me,
really help him out? So it's that's a really good question though the
far because I'm gonna I'm gonna go with the MAVs finishing Yeah, I'm gonna
go with the mass finishing higher in their conference. I'm still not sure.
The Nuggs ask why aren't the Nugget's going to be better next year than last?
Yo? Kitchen Gordon at least as good, Murray better another year removed
from injury porter potential to be a lot better with continued health of Latko Chanchar
and Zeke Naji getting better and still on the upswing Peyton Watson a long plus
defender. All three rookies look like players, especially Hunter Tyson and last prenom
least Reggie Jackson comeback player of the Year. What could go wrong? Look,
I think is right now they're a worst playoff team without Bruce Brown the
regular season, they should be fine. As Nuggs also mentioned the Christian Brown
kind of stepping into the Bruce Brown role. Here's where I land is just
one. I haven't seen the ball skills from Christian Brown or on ball decision
making of Christian Brown suggest that he can supplant that element of Bruce Brown's game,
and I don't think there's anyone else on the roster right now that can
do that, and you are dealing with unknowns in the sense that, Okay,
the Nuggets have done a good job of giving guys shots of you know,
their developmental guys. But Christian Brown played last year because they thought he
was ready. All I kept hearing was Peyton Watson was, but like that
wasn't someone really saw the floor. So Watson and Strouther, those are all
those are all mysteries to us and hunter Tyson how much how many minutes do
they actually play? And look, Zeke Naji, they've been trumpeting they like
they've been calling for the Nuggets actively in the organization's been calling for the Zeke
Naji breakout, predicting there for like three years running, and they just go
out, go go on, not to use them. So I need to
see this team in action and see the development of these other guys, including
Brown, to believe that they will be better than they are last year.
Because as of right now, by virtue of just losing Bruce Brown, I'm
not worried about the Jeff Green absence. I'd rather him than DeAndre Jordan on
the roster. But whatever they are a worst team. I do not think
they will feel it in the regular season as much, but they could really
feel it in the playoffs. I will say, yeah, the Murray being
another year removed from health. Michael Porter Junior, though, is just sort
of a swing piece. Really really interests me. Just some of the moments
he had in the playoffs. And I know he struggled a lot with a
shot in the later rounds, but as some one just looking at his defense,
the way he played, the aggression with which he crashed the glass,
even if it's not evident game to game in the regular season, that is
someone who could really kick it another like gear or five, and that changes
the entire well not the entire but that changes or I should say, Bowie's
the trajectory of what I would still argue as the best team in the league.
Even further unbiased Pistons fan, why didn't the mid season tournament use divisions
for their groups? I see no other purpose for divisions, and I think
they missed a big opportunity to build rivalries. Back up, I really liked
this latter point, not something I had thought about, where you know,
we could make they have divisions, so like, let's bring back some of
these these rivalries my guests would be. And they did make sort of a
big to do about the way they determined these buckets of teams. They wanted
to make sure that there wasn't some wild imbalance, and year to year,
I think, yeah, some of the fields might look a little bit more
imbalance, but I actually when Grant and I were going through them, I
was actually impressed with how intriguing all of them were. And so this year's
specific though, if you had stuck with divisions, Miami kind of just could
have rolled through the Southeast division. Could Denver have rolled through the Northwest.
I don't mean to just dismiss all those teams in there, but what is
we don't know what's going on in Portland. Utah is kind of going through
a rebuild, Like there's talent on those teams. Could Minnesota are they going
to be that good? Is what's Oklahoma City going to look like if they're
going to continue to disperse minutes between what looks like a you know, a
twenty one man rotation. Yes, I know they can't have that many players
under contract during the regular season. So I just think the way that they
set it up was to avoid situations, and I think the best one to
use would be the Southeast unless you're just super high on the Atlanta Hawks like
Miami going up against this year's Magic Charlotte Magic, Hornets, Wizards and Hawks
teams just feels unfair, especially if they wind up getting a Damian Loward that
would be. My guess is that they wanted to preserve the parody, and
I don't know that divisions actually do that. However, the idea of sort
of division rivalries kind of being reborn super interesting to me. But maybe they
also didn't want to give themselves a reason to keep divisions any more than they
have, where eventually those have to be obsolete. I'm convinced the Trey real
Stroker Murphy. My question is do heavy teams just not work? Is that
a thing of the past. Do we have to watch the Kadie Nets two
point o fail to prove that you need at least non good players to have
a chance. Look, I still think a lot of this just comes down
to health and a team's willingness to pay that many stars and then continue to
make moves to build around them. Where yes, we can give Matt it
should be a kudos for signing for an ECBA nerds out there. Like the
way these minimum contracts worked is that if you sign a one year minimum contract,
teams will get reimbursed. The difference between that and like this scale.
So like an Eric Gordon who came in at what was he at, they
get reimbursed for part of his salary if it's just a straight one year contract.
Now, if you add any sort of like player option to that,
you're not going to get reimbursed. And so katibates Diop Drew you banks,
Eric Gordon, Utah wants an abby All getting player option is the Suns have
to pay out of a pocket for that's going to add to their tax bill
basically, So where they could have, you know, in theory saved like
a million bucks per player or whatever, they're not going to do that anymore.
So that adds a lot to their tax bill. But then they turn
around they dump Cameron Payne, and we kind of saw the same thing.
They turn around and dump Dario Scharz after making Kevin Durant trade. They're still
willing to put these three stars together and they're keeping DeAndre eight and so they're
super top heavy for now with four guys, it's just what does the health
look like. You have to survive the regular season. You have to be
good enough to at least be in a position to where you're not fighting from
a deficit in the postseason, and then you need all those guys to be
healthy in the playoffs. You're banking on two dudes here who are over the
age of thirty. There's there's risks there, but there's also two guys who
are on the right side of thirty in Devin Booker and DeAndre Eten, And
so if they're if Aten has a bounce back year, this team looks a
lot different as of right now, I think they're I don't I don't want
to say clearly because we haven't gone through this and there's still a lot of
off season left to go. But they feel like the second best team in
the West to me, and look the nets again, if it wasn't for
health or Kyrie's being Kyrie, the best way to put it, that team
probably has a title. Like I just you know, they could have had
a title depending on what happened if Kevin Duran's shoes eyes was you know,
one er or two smaller. So there are a lot of ifs, and
if it was a fifth, we'd all be drunk all that. I just
I think that the model to get to three teams owners definitely don't want it
because of the way that this new CBA just worked out, And it's ultimately
cheaper to not have these three guys, because it's not just about paying all
three stars, that's certainly part of it. It's that there's an expectation you
need to figure out a way to put talent around them and exhaust all your
assets necessary, even the suns right now, like not just ballooning Tory craig
salary when they had his early bird rights, he ends up in Chicago because
mac Biambo still floating around out there. Are they going to drum up his
salary with early with early bird rights? Like, it's just so expensive that
I think, And that's two Trey real Stroker Murphy's point that you need at
least nine guys. I just still feel like if you pick the right three
guys where they're all at the right points in their career, or if you
just get a season of relatively good health, I think the issue is when
you're forming these three star, get these three, these three, these three
star just factions, whatever you want to call them. They're so shallow already.
And then you're also getting probably at least two of these stars really when
they're on their third, fourth, whatever contracts, and so they're just inherently
older. You're not seeing these formations happen as early in player careers where it's
like when the Thunder having James harn and Russell Westbrook, Kevin Right, even
Sergebak on the same team way back when, and even those could get when
you look at Cleveland, like does that get untenable a little bit when you
start thinking about next deals for literally everyone else on the roster. I still
think that there's a place for heavy teams and that they are uniquely built to
shine in the playoffs. But you have to be you have to either one
hit at an exceptional rate on the margin signings or to be willing to get
creative and spend. And we've kind of seen that with the Warriors, like,
yeah, they have all this top heavy star power, but they're always
kind of willing to spend, and we've seen them kind of walk back a
little bit from that, but they've been able to even when we think they're
shallow like they have like six or seven guys. It feels like at all
times, and so that's you know, to some extent, Joe lacap and
co. Are responsible for that. But it also it's just so expensive.
I think that teams or owners of these teams don't actually want it to be
on the table. The fact that they have these additional aprons in place makes
it easier for them to opt out of those scenarios or to be well,
hey, if we even have three stars, like we physically can't do all
this stuff. To place even more expensive talent around them, it's just untenable.
I don't think they might become fewer and further between. I think even
now they kind of have, they'll certainly be harder if the NBA ever expands
to thirty two teams. I just think it ends on the three stars you're
putting together. They're never gonna go away. Like the mystique of it all,
they might always happen in the same sort of slap dash fashion where two
of these guys are joining another guy, and those two are kind of later
in their careers, or at least one of them is entering or exiting their
heyday. Rather I should say so. I don't think they're ever gonna go
away, but to say that they just is there a risk there? Yes,
but there's a risk in in everything. And when you look at how
hard it is to win a championship in the NBA, is so difficult that
your risk profile is going to exist at a uncomfortable level no matter what.
Just because the Nuggets were so deep leash year, they weren't guaranteeither win the
title. There were so many people trying to pull holes in that roster,
and their bench was wasn't even deemed a strength of there. It's like Boston's
depth has been touted to no end. They've still yet to win a title.
The depth in New Orleans that was still derailed by poor health. And
so there's just so many wild card elements to this that having three stars in
their prime still or at least close to it, whatever you want to say
about KD, that still might be the most efficient path to title contention.
Is it the most efficient path they're winning a title? I'd probably argue yes,
because the chance is just so small. That's who have these three top
fifteen, top twenty guys in a place at once or in any given season,
they could be three of the top twenty guys. Because I don't know
where people feel Bradley Bolans. I don't even know where I think Bradley Blans
At this point, I'm given it enough thought. That's why I think the
intrigue is still there. If it does get untenable, it's I think it
has more to do with the financial logistics than anything. And I don't you
know, you might need at least nine ten good players to or operable playable
players to get through the regular season if you don't want to tax your stars
too much. It all just comes back to that for me, is if
those three stars are available in the postseason, you've given yourself more of a
chance to win a title than most of the other teams in the league.
And if you can put yourself in that position, and maybe look, if
you've viewed the Sun's a sort of focus tenders entering the playoffs this year,
that's fine. But like CP three was passed, is well passed to say
day, And like when it's happening mid season like that you didn't get to
go through a training camp or anything, it's a lot harder to come together.
No matter how scalable, someone like Kevin Durant is Mike h what's the
best absolutely not happening outcome for the star trade requests and why is it?
We find out that Day Millard wants to retire and take up bowling, and
that James Harden was a figment of our imagination. So let's run through the
list here. Kyrie Irving talks to James Harden about teaming up in Dallas.
Would be one. James Harden retires to finance and star in a silent burlesque
Broadway play. Damian Lillard doesn't get traded and doesn't report to the Blazers because
he's recording a single in which Harden and Embiid feature that reaches number one ninety
nine on the Billboard Top two hundred. Damian Lillard ends up with Paul George
in La. It would just be really funny if we weren't. If I'm
not trying to be too sarcastic, some dark horse outcomes to these trade requests.
What I would deem apending trade requests from Embiid James aren't of Boston would
just be like Boston's really just turned over some stuff with their roster this year
if they went we're talking about, oh, should they go after Dame.
If they just decide no, you know we're gonna go after We're gonna go
after Harden because the cost will be slightly cheaper. It's more about making the
money work, and then we have to give up fewer picks than we would
for Dame. Just that would be I don't know, Tatum and Brown and
Harden. I kind of love that pairing. I kind of hated it a
trio, but I hated it at the same time. Damian Lord to Oklahoma
City just he's the guy that sent them into this rebuild basically and then to
join it. And I think that they would become title contenders with him if
they keep Homegrin, Jaylen Williams, n SGA in place. And yes,
they have the goods to make that trade while keeping all three in place.
I would argue they really wanted to, you could probably trade for Dame while
keeping Giddy, Jay, dub SGA, and Jet home Grin. I think
you probably have to trade Giddy or Dort in that deal. I think.
But they have so many picks, guys, they have so many picks.
And then Joel embiid to either Houston or New Orleans, and I don't think
New Orleans would look at him, Bead. You don't want to add another
big man with a risky injury profile. But and you could talk about does
he shoot well enough? But like he shoots well, Jonas Valancota just doesn't
have a ton of volume from the outside, So it would be could play
with Zion and that would just be like these two massive physical anomalies, these
singularities as as human beings and physical specimens. I would just pay so much
money to see that together. It just sort of came to me. But
Joel Embid and Houston would just be going back to James Harden stopping around.
That was the team that's supposed to coach James Harden from Philly, and it's
the team that sort of fell out of love with him. And then it's
just there's just like a randomness to it where they have the goods depending on
what the Sixers wan I'm thinking there might be. But yeah, I mean,
if you're training him, Bead, you're probably opening more of a rebuild,
so their picks and some of their young guys would matter. But all
of a sudden, you're in Houston and It's like, Okay, you have
Fred van Vleet, and then I'm assuming you have at least one of Jalen
Green or Amen Thompson left after this with him, bead O Brooks is there
like this Terre East and still is part of that deal with Jabar Smith Junior
still there. There's so many moving parts. But Houston within Bead would just
be like, okay, what do we have here? It feels like it's
something, but what is it? Actually? I was still about the Spurs
firm. Bead and Bead and Wemby would be just so much fun, but
we could go down that rabbit hole for approximately ever. Next question comes from
Muckle. Who's had the best offseason so far? And why is at the
Summer lead Champion Cleveland Cavaliers shout out to Amobile for winning the Summer League Championship,
MVP Final, MVP whatever it's called. I find a pick. Let's
go through some of the tiers that I separate these into. Got a lot
better the Calves, the Pistons, the Rockets, the Lakers, the Bucks,
the Suns and the Spurs. Kudos for starting over Bucket, the Washington
Wizards off seasons. I kind of like Utah and Minnesota, and then this
could end amazingly or super portly Boston and Golden State. If I had to
pick the best off season, am I gonna pick the Bucks? Just the
Crowder and Beasley minimum signings, then getting Middleton and Lopez. Lopez's deal was
inflated. But it's just so short term. I don't know. I mean,
the Suns you have Bradley Beals, like that's either on there. The
Spurs with Wemby, I don't want to. I like some of their other
moves, the Julian Champenny retention, and I like getting Reggie Bullock and usually
cap space to have campaign and even Jetty Osman like real basketball players. Man,
is it the Pistons. I think it might be the Pistons I love
or Sara Thompson, and I like the fact that they decided to roll their
cap space forward basically by getting a Joe Harris getting a Monte Morris. So
the fury of this roster, it's still sort of jumbled a little bit.
There's a lot of overlapping ball dominant talent Killian Hayes, Kay Junningham, Jay
and Ivy or Starr Thompson that they have to finish figure out. But the
roster also makes more sense because you can get to yes, I hate the
dual big setup and they're still sing like they're semi married to it. But
it's just the way that they have their perimeter rotation set up now, or
that stash of bodies cachet of bodies on the perimeter. You're you're gonna see
more of boyon Bogdanovitch at the four than no of a sudden. That just
makes so much sense. With his shooting. You have Joe Harris to throw
in as a shooter, Alec Burks, Monte Morris can still snake his way
to pull up middies and also stretch the floor himself. I think I think
I'm in love with the Pistons offseason. This is what I like. The
Monding Williams hiring as well, that's weird. The Calves definitely belong to the
conversation muckle. I could see it just being like we look back and go
wow, like Boston or Golden State took those risks and really killed it Utah.
I just I like a lot of the business they did in Minnesota,
kind of making the moves on the margins. They didn't do anything, just
like two nuclear Utah getting John Collins, Like, is that something we could
look back on and be like, oh okay, look at what they did
and they got creative with their Paul Reid offers sheeet kind of kind of screwed
over the Sixers a little bit. I like the Jordan Clarkson renegotiate and extend,
just like I think it kind of like, I mean, I love
I will say I love the additions of Bryce Sensiba and Taylor Hendrix and even
a lot of people really like Kyante George. So there's maybe it'd be Utah,
But I really think I'm looking at Detroit, Cleveland do I throw And
I'm just I'm not looking at Boston and Goldens. They just wouldn't surprise me
if they ended up one of them ended up being the being the answer here
HP Bergie, what's the best Team USA starting lineup in your opinion? Also,
what are some funky lineups they should run? So I haven't really given
much thoughts a Team USA, and I had to look up and like double
checked the roster to make sure I wasn't off. My starting line of would
be Tyres Haliburton Anthony Edwards, MacHale, Bridges, Jared Jackson Junior, and
Walker Kessler. I think might surprise some people who listen to this podcast,
but just give me the dual room protection and it's everyone at that position is
a really good defender there, and then you can do things with Okay,
Bobby Portis is coming off the bench, so was Cam Johnson and Palabank Caro,
So you have sort of these fringe bigs that gives you the flexibility,
especially with everyone else being able to shoot three. Just throw Walker Kessler out
there. A funky lineup though, we're going no point guard, no center,
So and Edwards, Brandon Ingram, McHale, Bridges, Cam Johnson and
Palo Bank Arrow. I kind of love that that lineup. It's like,
get a little bit iffy. Do you think you have enough playmaking? I
think just the leap that McHale has made Brandon Ingram's good enough, and Edward
really and Edwards really made a leap on that end this year, and I
think that you get Pala Bank Carrol's playing a hunder rated pass for me or
at least someone who's a burgeoning passer. So the no point guard, no
center lineup sign me up for that, Austin, who are you most interested
in watching play on a new team next year? Not including rookies? And
why so three? I'm fascinated by Chris Stops in Boston almost morbidly. So
what does that due to their switchability going from Marcus Smart to him on defense?
What was it due to their playmaking on offense when they were already kind
of had a deficit. How does it impact the roles for RW three Horford,
I'd assume we'd see a lot of dual big lineups, but Joe Mazzoula
wasn't necessarily in love with those either. Are they throwing Christops? Porzingis the
ball on the post? He was better there this year, but their rosters
just like unless you think that he's gonna become a really good passer and he's
like, he's okay, now he's made some incremental strides himself. I'm just
fascinated to see what kind of impact he has on their team, good or
bad and different all three whatever. Bruce Brown and Indie really intrigues me.
They still an Indie just don't have like a surplus of true sized wings,
but they give Bruce Brown a bunch of spaits to work with and most of
their lineups, and then just by adding him and then Jariss Walker gives you
a lot more ball pressure than you had last year. Throw them in line
ups with Miles Turner and I just feel like and even you know, like
Aaroni Smith round it out and maybe nem hard like, do we see that
five man lineup? Is that their best possible defensive lineup? I just I'm
fascinated by the Pacers. And then Chris Paul and Golden State. He is
the antithesis of the Warrior's basket ball in so many ways, but he has
the IQ to adapt. And also just the minutes without Steph or just coming
off the bench, whatever should be fine. You could spam picking rolls if
that's how you want to go, see if he can run it with cominga
even at Dari or Starch could technically help there. Draymond Green could play that
role of course too, and they have Cavon Looney, so if you want
to go that route, it's just the fascination is going to be how many
minutes is he playing? How many minutes is he playing with Steph? Is
he closing? Do we see the Draymond steph CP three, Clay Andrew Wiggins
line up a bunch not at all. How does it all come together defensively,
offensively. I'm not gonna be able to take my eyes away from it.
A couple more questions here, Darkwing Duck. Yeah, this one was
a I did think about this one, but not in the way that you
wanted to. Can any teams last seven players and two way dudes beat Utah's
last seven players in two way dudes? I love this questions. Is the
proper way to look at it is to look at all four hundred and fifty
NBA players and every two way. That won't take any time at all for
context. If you they could pursue presumed a jazz top eight marketing Kessler,
Clarkson, Collins, sex an olnic thhtam At Baji. You have three first
round picks, Chris Dunn and Urts with a few others. Look, I
what about it this way? And there was a little bit more to this.
You just wanted me to acknowledge the jazz is depth. They do have
some intriguing depth here. They have three rookies that I think I don't know
how to feel about. Kyante George love the idea of Bryce Entiba, and
I'm a huge Talent Hendricks fan, as anyone who listened to this podcast knows.
Looking at just the last seven players, I'm not looking at all these
two ways, some of them aren't even filled. But looking at the last
seven players of each roster and kind of like going I would put in the
first tier of teams where it's okay, let's look at this bottom seven of
the teams. Oklahoma City, New Orleans and maybe Utah. New Orleans and
Oklahoma City anything belong on a tier of their own. Utah just has so
many rookies involved here, I'm not sure where to rank them. And then
the team's after that, Utah, Detroit could sneak in there, Memphis could
be in there, maybe they even should be in there. It certainly during
the regular season. Maybe the Clippers, like when you really start to go
through their roster as it is right now, it's possible Orlando is right there.
And that's even if you throw away Jonathan Isaac, which you should in
more ways than one. And then the Spurs, like the Spurs are just
sort of sneaky deep when you're looking gonna get past their bottom seven guys,
but I think the two I would definitely have here at the top Oklahoma City
and New Orleans. I think Memphis, Utah, the Clippers. Those are
all teams that would probably in Detroit would probably be fighting for a position after
that. I'm just not as confident in the Spurs, Clippers magic pick.
I'd be the most confident maybe in the Clippers. There. I don't know.
Last question, am I going to finish this in under an hour?
Let me go back and check this time and the answer is yes. Look
at us out here is this is off season pacing Austin. Following up on
the minipod that you did on Joel Embiid, what type of Hall wouldn't be
yet considering he just won MVP, but also as a lengthy injury history and
will want to go to a top team to win. Who would be interested
and not just anyone besides the Nuggets. Look, this is complicated. I
will say there's value in the team making this decision before the player, and
we saw it with Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell where it didn't get to a
point where either of those guys requested a trade. I'm not sure Rudy Gobert,
ever, would have had the prestige to do so. Could you see
a scenario where the team that trades for Joel Embiide gets less than the Jazz
got for Rudy Gobert. Absolutely if inbiad requests out and he gives them a
very distinct wish list and teams take that seriously. It's a little different here
because he's not on the same yet anyway, Like he's not on the same
aging curve as Damian Lillard. We're talking about someone. Yeah, he has
his injury history, but he is younger. I think he is. He
even thirty. Ye, I don't have to change my seat. I'm getting
used to this new mic positioning at the moment, which I'm probably gonna change
that. I love seeing the stand in the way of everything. Yeah,
he's twenty nine. He turns thirty s next year. Is only his age
twenty nine season. He's already won an MVP, he's playing. He plays
both ends of the floor here. That's like it's going to be an easier
sell even if he doesn't want to be on your team, especially because or
in theory doesn't want to be on your team, because if you move him
now. And that's what I'm kind of operating on the desumpthing. You have
three guaranteed seasons with him left, and then there's that fourth year player option
in twenty six twenty seven. So I think if if I'm just trying to
like kind of consolidate the idea of assets, so let's say first round picks
or prospects, like the equivalent of first round picks, I think you're probably
looking at if I set the over under at four point five, I would
take maybe it should we said at three point five, it's three point five,
I'm taking me over. If it's four point five, I'm probably still
taking me over. Where it feels like the team that gets him has to
give up three first two players, that would be the equivalent at least we're
four first and one player that would be the equivalent plus swaps, and so
I would say something along the lines of that would be around the five.
If you look back at it, and we did this with the Jazz trade
for specifically Rudy Gobert, how many first round picks does that amount to,
like Walker Kesler counting as a first round pick there, I would say five
for Joel Embid and that's not including swaps salary matching. Maybe some more immediate
like who was viewed as the lowry marketing in that type of a trade.
When you're looking at teams that could be interested, it might change depending on
the time of the year, like does Boston come and take a look if
they're getting closer to the trade deadline they have like Kris stops sports and gets
matching salary out there. Brooklyn I could see being interested. I could see
Charlotte trying to get involved. I don't think Chicago has the assets. Dallas
doesn't have the assets. Denver no. Detroit has the assets, but I
don't know what I mean. Imbid in Detroit and keep Kade. I would
actually like it. I just don't know that they would be interested that really
does accelerate their timeline. Golden State would be a no, and they probably
don't have enough at this point just with the coaminga Moody and Picks. I
could see Houston being interested. Indie probably not, although him and Haliburton could
have happened in Philly if they would have traded Ben Simmons form. The Clippers
don't have the assets, The Lakers don't have the assets. The Grizzlies.
No Miami with him and bam Adeba I will be interesting, but I'm gonna
say they probably punt on that. Milwaukee, No, Minnesota No. I
want the Pelicans to be interested, and they definitely have the assets. The
Knicks will be interested, but go check out my conversation with s Barraheney from
SDPN Sports about why we kind of think that their assets are losing some of
their luster. They'n't say they don't have assets, but if you believe that
the Knicks are going to be good, their own first round picks have declined
in value moving forward. Okay, see should be interested. Phoenix doesn't have
the assets. Portland like that would have been if a bid was available before
this whole Damian Lillard stuff. Would you have traded Scoot and Shandon Sharp and
picks for Joel Embiid. I don't think they'd be interested in now. Sacramento
wouldn't be interested. I would love for the Spurs to be interested, but
that would just not be theremo, which is wouldn't be Toronto to build something
around O g and Siatt Like, would you give a barn You wouldn't give
a barns for k D. I don't think you would for EMBIID. That
might be a sleeper team there. Utahza going to be interested, probably just
with the way ains uses timeline and they have Kessler in there, and so
I don't know if going all in on Abiad makes the most sense when you
have question marks aside from Larry Market and basically everywhere else in the roster.
And then Washington. No. So I would say if I didn't arrow down
to the five most aggressive teams in the EMBID sweepstakes, I would say I
think Brooklyn would be one of them. The Knicks would be one of them.
That's two. I think Houston. I know they have I know they
have some bigs in there right now, but I think Houston would really try
to get itself involved. I want to say that the next two aggressive teams
would be New Orleans and Okay se but I just think so differently from those
front offices. So I'll throw those if I had to pick my five favorite
EMBIID. But but yeah, so three teams, we need two more that
would really be involved in the EMBID sweepstakes. Brooklyn, New York, Houston.
I don't, man, this is I'm I'm just trying to I don't
want to pick. There are teams that just the five most It's not it's
not gonna be Boston. Would it be Charlotte, Like, is that something
Charlotte would do new ownership trying to make a splash. I don't know,
I don't know. I don't know about that. Yeah, I'm like,
fai, I don't even know if, like, would you guarantee Toronto would
be one of the five most aggressive teams? I think I named the three.
I'll go with we gotta go one of New Orleans or Okay, so
like, okay, see he's gotta just I'm gonna throw with Casey and they
have the assets to where you could try and pair him with at Home Grind
and SGA. So I'm just gonna say, okay, see him there at
a pick between them or New Orleans and the other one. I don't think
it's the Spurs. Would it be Toronto, like just trying to wedge open
their window in a different way? Probably not. They have Yaka Purdle there
so they can't even make that deal, right. No, I'm just gonna
say Charlotte, that just seems like a team that's gonna be like we would
never get this player in free agency. And even if we see this through
the bitter end and just have three years of him, Charlotte, Houston,
New York, I'm throwing Okay, see in there, I don't give a
fuck. And Brooklyn would be the five teams I think would be most aggressive.
Now, the five teams that I would want to be most aggressive,
the Knicks, for sure, we can keep them on there. Okay,
see New Orleans. I just it just feels like such an eclectic and eccentric
group that would we would end up seeing Detroit. I want to see Detroit
do it. I just jail Duran's nice and they have other biggs, but
now like I want to see Detroit do it, and then another team I
want to see go after him Bead that might be I don't want to is
it my gond of default? The Brooklyn Chicago just doesn't have the asset juice.
This does kind of talk about it now. Golden State's offer I don't
think would be good enough. I might just stop at those fourteens. We're
really funny. If Memphis was just like fucking we're gonna try and pair him
with Triple J. That seems too tough though, Orlando, no, m
this is a tough fight to pick a fifty dispersed Yeah, let's go with
the Spurs. I want to see the Spurs, New the Thunder, the
Pelicans, the Knicks, and the Pistons really go all out for Joel Embiid
not if he becomes available, when he becomes available, because this tracking in
that direction. Hope you all enjoyed this mailback episode. If you've made it
this far, please subscribe and also help us build the community. I'm asking
everyone who's a regular subscriber recommend us to people or shout us out ratings,
reviews, Apple, Spotify, YouTube commenting, liking every video. I try
to respond to as many comments as possible, but if I don't, just
again, you're you're trying to help the algo there. Join our discord,
buy a bunch of merch from us. There's also super thanks on YouTube if
you want to support the podcast that way. We will never I don't think
we'll ever, especially because Grant and I are very fortunate to be where we
are a career wise. I don't think we'll ever do a Patreon, and
some people have asked to us to start. I want all the content,
and I don't want some people to pay for it while there's aren't. So
if you want to throw merch by bunched a bunch of shit ton of merchan
We make very little money off of that, so the YouTube super thanks might
be a better way to support the show. But yes, thank everyone who
subscribes, tell people others to subscribe, and until next time, and is
always I read you all, with the shout out to the one, the
only, the indelible, the one who's still floating around in free agency explicably Frank Knealer