Everyone, Welcome to another episode of the Hardwoodknox Podcast. Got a ton of
mail bag questions to get through. Anyone again, who is here live with
us one last time? You can ask questions in the room. You could
request to speak. I will throw you on just as a reminder you are
being recorded. Let's just get right into this because we have a ton of
questions right now. The first question that I thought was really interesting, just
based off all the injuries we have seen in the playoffs this year, is
should the NBA delay some of these games because of the injuries? And that
came from at Ida Why Russ I will say, you can't do that,
just because obviously the schedules already been made. But there would be the element
of, oh, why didn't you Why are you delaying the conference finals when
you didn't do that during the semi finals. Who knows if that gives James
Harden more time to rest for the Nets, maybe you get Kyrie back somehow
for Brooklyn Lebron and a d of course with the Lakers. So yeah,
I just don't think you could do that, you know, morally competitively,
it just wouldn't make sense. The other interesting thing here, and I think
if you gave the Suns as an example, truth serum, they want to
start the Western Conference Finals on time rather than wait because while they're without CP
three, the Clippers are without Kawai. And I'm not saying that, you
know the Suns would lose to the Clippers if they had Kawai, I would
still pick the Suns. That would be you know, full strength, I'd
go Souns over Clippers and seven. But you know you're gonna get CP three
back, and we hope he's okay after returning that positive COVID test. Kawai
looks like he's probably just not going to play again during the playoffs or during
this season. We don't know the extent of his ACL injury yet, and
so if you're a Phoenix, it would almost behoove you to not have the
series delayed, try to play the one to three games without Chris Paul,
just so that in the event Kawai did come back, you're not also giving
him time to return. Because I think for them, and this might just
say how I speak to how I feel about their depth and also Devin Booker
in general, as one of his band wagoners. I think that they can
navigate a Clippers team without Kawai just as well as they could. If the
Chris Paul comes back and you have to go up against the Kawai again,
I don't think that's going to happen. And the NBA will not postpone these
games. You just you can't do it. There would be if this were
the start of the playoffs, like maybe, but you have to delay all
the series. You have to get into all these all these injuries, so
no, I can't see them being delayed. We have a question in the
chat from Jake Weist, what do you think who do you think is going
to come out of the East. So selfishly, and I don't want to
date this for our actual podcast listeners, but I have the Sixers coming out
of the East this year. Sixer Sons were my finals pick, with the
Sons winning the finals. I'm actually on record that is not me just picking
as the playoffs unfolded. I don't think the Sixers are going to beat the
Bucks though if they if they end up beating in Landa. Just having to
watch Philly's half court offense is it's brutal down the stretch of games and the
Ben Simmons stuff, I feel really bad for him. It's also incredibly legitimate
when you have someone who's just so disengaged from the offense by design, and
there are other things that Doc Rivers maybe could do to keep him involved later
in games. But then you just have to grapple with this idea that,
oh, he'll get fouled with the blow on his hands, and he might
have one of those nights where he shoots four or fourteen from the foul line
or just something you know, terribly bad like that, and that's a real
issue for them, and they were already kind of short that shot. Creator.
I'm a big believer that you can win a title with someone like Nicole
Yokich or Joel Embiid as your best player. I don't think there's a replacement
for having that face up, wing or guard down the stretch of really close
games. And I'm not even saying a Damian Lillard, who is just dude,
is an alien. Any clutch shot he takes like you have to assume
it's going in, and the data like pretty much backs that up. Put
Like a Jamal Murray in Denver, you could tell that they missed him a
ton throughout that postseason series. Philly kind of had that element with Jimmy Butler
let him get away, that situation soured. Don't want to rehash that.
The closest they come to that player now is probably Tobias Harris or Tyrease Maxie
might even be the better option there. I think he's more of an every
level score than Tobias Harris really is. That's all. It was just not
Tobias Harris's strength. But yeah, he can dribble into some threes, he
can bully some some smaller wing defenders, and Tobias Harris is really good if
you ask him to create too much. Even when he was on that Clippers
team where he was essentially, you know, one of the top two options.
Again, they ran through Daniel Gallinari a lot more because he's just more
comfortable in those types of situations. And so if you're looking at Tyrese Maxie
or Shake Milton as your best just sort of perimeter option there, that becomes
a problem. And we've seen it in Hawks games specifically, if you can
force the ball out Joel Embiad's hand, which one it's not easy to do,
but you can't do it. The Sixers just don't have a ton of
other viable options around him, and all of a sudden, you put even
more of an onus on him during crunch time after he just was super high
usage for the first three quarters of games, and he has to defend his
ass off in addition to being everything to Philly on offense. You can see
him getting gassed down the stretch, and so even when he's not necessarily perfectly
defended or they're not sending a ton of bodies at him on the catch,
he might just be more inclined to defer anyway, which puts you in all
sorts of trouble. So I'll stand by my Philly pick because I'm stubborn,
and it would be really cool if my actual final setup was right. And
I feel probably better against Philly going up against Milwaukee, who tends to crap
the bed on offense every once in a while or more often than that,
than I would if they were going up against Brooklyn, even if Kyrie wasn't
playing and James Harden was playing on you know, one point two five hamstrings
or whatever it ends up being. I still just you look at the Bucks
and Drew Holiday. You figure has to play better at some point. Chris
Middleton parentally underrated, he's fantastic, and then having Jannis to just bulldoze his
way towards the basket. It seems like that team they're probably just as shallow
as Philly, but at the top, the talent is there and when you're
looking, specifically at crunch time. So my head is saying that the Sixers
will not come out of the East, but again, I picked the Sixers
to come out of the East. Initially, I have to ride with it.
I'll die with it is more like what I need to say, But
I'm gonna ride with it anyway. Meyer rothbamb Aske is Tylo a good coach
for playing Terrence Man or a bad coach for not playing him earlier in the
playoff Slash series? Just the correction there for Meyer that is superstar future multi
time MVP. Terrence Man just wanted to get that correction out there. Look
the I think the most bizarre thing Tyler said. I can't remember which game
it was before, but Tylu said that Terrence Man was out of the rotation.
It took him too long to get away from those rondo minutes. At
the same time, I think he has shown the willingness to foot and fiddle
with his rotation in the playoffs in part because of injuries. You know,
we Gui was injured, but even Sergeibaka as well. That's that's going to
really just quote you into throwing out more unconventional front court units in general.
But you look at the lineups the Clippers have played, and there's it looks
mattingly inconsistent by the sheer number of five man combinations we have seen I think
roughly exactly actually it's two trillion five man combinations for the playoffs. But seriously,
I think the experimental nature of him ends up being a good thing in
the long run. There are some obvious lineup questions where it's like, hey,
why are you trying to get away of Why are you trying to get
away with Rondo for so long? It took me too long to get away
from that randomly throwing to Marcus Cousins into that jazz series at the beginning of
it. At the same time, it seems like he's trying to get a
feel for what he has and he saw eventually that downsizing was going to work
against Utah. It worked a lot better than I expected against Utah, just
given the I know, the Clippers have the personnel to downsize. I just
don't look at, you know, when you're seeing some of the players who
log minutes at center for them. If it's a Marcus Morris, if it's
a Nick Batoum, I just didn't think that was going to be a mismatch
that punished Utah in the same way Houston did a couple of years back with
their small ball units. Still, I think I would lean towards my co
host Adam, who is not here today. Other engagements something about it being
Father's Day or whatever. He has a kid and a family, talk about
terrible priorities on his path. But I lean towards Tyler being a really good
and maybe underrated coach. Yes, I'm throwing pot shots at you, Adam,
because I'm just going to assume that you listen to this. So yeah,
let's you know, let's see what he does during this Phoenix series.
That's just going to be that has to be a chess match more than anything
we've seen. Monny Williams is willing to experiment as well, get away from
Darry or starts at the five units if they're not working, or lean on
them like we saw in the regular season, if Ayton starts roller coaster ring,
which he is not been doing during the playoffs, He's just been fucking
spectacular. I'd say pardon my friends, but I'm actually not sorry. Aton
has just been He's been annihilating dudes on just more aggressive on offense, and
even better, has proved really solid defensively for Phoenix. That's going to be
fun. I want to see Chris Paul come back. I'd love to see
Kahi come back to I hate seeing stars get injured. I hate seeing players
get injured. I want to see full strength series. That being said,
I'm with Chris Paul out for a little bit, and then with Kauai,
I'm just assuming he's done for the postseason. I mean just I see a
cl it's in his right leg. He's had issues with that in the past.
He's just I'm gonna assume he's done. That's going to be a really
interesting chess match, and so maybe we'll get a better feel or Tyler was
a chance to really build up his reputation or harm it through this series.
Jake Weis did say in the chat as we were just talking about the sixes
before, I think Janice is going to struggle a lot through Joel and Lane
rather than Katie or Griffin. I would probably agree. I just don't know
what to expect. There were moments in the or there have been moments in
the Hawks series, and look, we're talking like Philly's gonna be in this.
We have a question about how the Hawks match up with Milwaukee, so
we'll get to that in a second. But and Bead had some just that
the first like early on in the Hawks series, maybe he was still getting
a feel for how he was going to play on that meniscus injury, but
he just didn't like always look right. And if he's really as tattered as
he's been later in games, that's going to provide Yannis with opportunities even in
the half court. I think the key though against the Sixers for Yannis,
and it's like this, against all teams, you need to score earlier in
the shot clock. When you look at the shot distribution for Milwaukee earlier on
in that second round series against Brooklyn, like they were not getting as many
of their looks in that like eighteen to fifteen second range or twenty two to
fifteen second range, even breaking it down by both those slots. So that's
just always going to be the key. I do. I agree that Philly
just has more personnel to throw at Yannis if they want here than Brooklyn could
ever hope, not just Joan Bead you have Ben Simmons to use too,
if you really want to go that route. And I think, and people
are probably gonna shame me for this, you couldn't try to Buias Harris depending
on like what the offense from Milwaukee is looking like. If it's in the
half court and they've slowed down and your defense is set, you could give
to Buias Harris a crack at that. One thing the Sexers might want to
just watch is their bench heavy units. They did save them a little bit
against the Hawks in one of those games. But if you come out of
that rounds, but you're probably gonna need to get away from that. Let's
get to that question that's about Atlanta and Philly. But it comes from Kim.
Who is an easier matchup for the Bucks Atlanta or Philly. I think
it's Atlanta and I don't. I'm not going to spend too much time on
this because we're recording this like just before the tip of or No, we're
recording this well before the tip of the Sixers Hawks Game seven. And I
don't want to again date this too hard, but you look at Atlanta and
I don't know that they would have a good Gianness defender to begin with.
You're now missing DeAndre Hunter, who I assume would have gotten a ton of
reps against him. I guess you could try and get away with Clint Capella
on him, and I actually don't hate that, but you need Yannest to
be at the five in those scenarios because then you're gonna be taking him away
from Brook Lopez or just the other matchups which are personnel on the court are
going to get wonkier. I will say, I've been pleasantly surprised with how
John Collins has played defensively in the postseason. He did you know Julius Randall
was terrible in that first round series. But like, John Collins has some
really tough reps against him, and so kudos him. We've even seen him
have some just good moments where he's helping against Joel and Beads. He's defended
to buy his Harris a little bit as well, and so really kudos to
him on that. Like those would be your best option, though I don't
know what else you try. You're not gonna try Badanovitch against Joannis. Like,
do we get to a point where they have to rely on Solomon Hill
or Tony Snell. You're that's just going to be a problem. And you
move over to Philly and there's just they have a ton of you know,
not having Danny Green at least for the start of that would be series could
be a problem. But you have Matis Sybel who can check Drew Holliday or
Chris Middleton. You have Ben Simmons who could check whoever you want him to,
including Jannis. And then you have dwell Embid, who I don't know
if you want him as a primary on your honest but if you're gonna have
him dropped back, like yeah, he'll be there to make life help on
Jannis too. So I do think that Philly poses the tougher matchup. But
just what we've seen from Trey Young in the playoffs, if he gets going
downhill, the decisions he's going to make if he stops and pulls up,
if he stops for his floater, finds Sean Collins on those those lobs,
sprays out to shooters on the Hawks that I do think both of these teams
are equipped to give Milwaukee e trouble. But I think Milwaukee matches up better
defensively, which which matters to me, old friend bear as you guys are
pretty reasonable and realistic about this stuff. So here goes what can the Jazz
do to improve? I mean not catching a team that's on fire and getting
healthy obviously helps well. They consider moving Gobar possible with the current contract,
Conley's future. Who to draft? I haven't gotten in to enough of my
draft prep work. Yeah, I'm just an eleven hour crash course guy there.
You're not going to draft Someboddy that helps you if you're Utah immediately it
just doesn't happen. You're not trading Gobert. And it's not because of the
contract. I know. He signs that massive I think it was like two
hundred and six million. It can be up worth extension. He's a three
time defensive Player of the Year who just makes your entire defense. He is
a defense onto himself. I think the bigger problem for Utah was it's wing
defenders letting I know it's designed to funnel guys towards Rudy Gobert. When you're
playing the best jump shooting team in the NBA or one of the best jump
shooting teams, depending on how you feel about you know, you know,
the Blazers aren't there anymore, and the Celtics clad jump trust, they're not
alive anymore. But the Clippers were a fantastic three point shooting team. When
you have Kauai, you have someone who just wants to torch you from the
mid range. They were letting guys get by them too quickly, and I
think that's been the biggest problem for the Jazz is they need these bigger wing
defenders. It was something that we cited earlier or even before the season,
and I still think it came to bear. You don't need him as much
in the regular season because I think Rudy Gobert can give you a top five
defense on his own. But when you're facing a team that's going to have
time to manipulate their lineups, and then yes, you're you know, Rudy
Gobert can't be responsible for contesting three pointers or even getting out to the mid
range all the time. But now when you're compounding that with the fact that
the Clippers were also downsizing that starts to I don't want to say it turns
Rudy Gobert into a liability, but it does put him in an awkward situation
where there's only so much he can do to impact the game there. And
so the two things I would look at is can you just get a bigger
wing defender to throw at like it's you're not gonna get in a world offender.
You're gonna be working with the MIDI mid level exception, and that's assuming
you're willing to use it. But five point seven million dollars is the most
you're going to spend on a free agent unless you broker assign in trade.
But that gets all you know, they don't really have a ton of assets
themselves. But then they would also be hardcapped, which is tough. If
you want to bring back Mike Conley, I will say on the Mike Conley
front, pay him, bring him back. You don't want to give out
a damaging contract from a team perspective. But I think what we also saw
earlier on in the Clipper series was that he's kind of mission critical to keeping
Rudy Gobert involved on the offensive end. When you just look at who's going
to find Rudy Gobert most efficiently or look for him on his roles. I
think he's just better equipped to do that than Donovan Mitchell, which is why
he's such a huge part of Utah's success. So definitely bring back Conley,
you're not trading Gobert. The other thing that I think they need to do,
though, is you need to give yourself the option of going small.
I know you don't want to pull your two hundred million dollar man in those
situations, but if it's down the stretch and you see that it's becoming a
problem, it would be good to have someone who can play some small ball.
Five and is that you know is Rudy Gobert's friend Nicholas Patum. He's
going to be a free agent. Would he considers signing in Utah. That's
someone who can give you those minutes while also helping you with your wing defense.
He really doesn't qualify for the athletic part though of that. Otto Porter
Jr. Someone that Utah we can all say confidently has long been enamored with,
dating back to his I think these twenty seventeen free agency and I believe
they were supposed to be interested in him if he was going to get bought
out by Orlando, which never happened, He's going to be looking to reboot
a stock. Maybe he wants to go somewhere that can promise him a starting
spot, which Utah clearly cannot. And also, I want to make this
clear, Otto Porter Junior is not being good aside from the injuries and questionable
partying during a pandemic, but the injuries, the offense has been off for
him. I would just assume he'll shoot better in Utah when his role is
simplified compared to what's happening in Chicago and Orlando. But those are like the
level of players that you're looking at with what Utah can spend, and I
would say, go out there and get someone who can give you those minutes
at least some more explosive minutes as a wing defender. David Nwaba's a name
I thought about. It's you need to go after like a Jay crowd Are.
I'm not trying to troll here, but he would be the perfect player
for this team. And there aren't a ton of those guys, especially ones
that are bargains, just sort of floating around the free agency markets, but
that that's what you're gonna have to do, is make those moves on the
margins. And you need to also give those guys more looks during the regular
season because you can't just all of a sudden go to the postseason and decide
like, oh right, we're gonna we're gonna go this route. You want
to get a feel for what they're really able going to be to give you
there. I expect the Jazz to look largely the same. If there's something
they can do, though, diversify your your wing rotation or even just your
front court rotation to be better if you can fold that player into one.
Like I said, and and Ido Porter is probably the best fitting slash,
best actual option that they could get given what what they could spend. It
is interesting, though, because I know Utah was injured, Mike Conley only
making his debut in that Game six. Donovan Mitchell, I know Mark Jackson
kind of suggested that he was faking his injury. He was not faking fucking
injury that was bothering him throughout the series. And so if you're healthier,
you probably beat the Clippers, you think. At the same time, there's
really no excuse you blew a twenty was at twenty five point lead like in
that game, and you also lost the previous game when they didn't have Kawhi
Leonard. There's just you know, you were missing Mike Commy as well.
But Rudy Gobert, Donovan, Mitchell, Joe Ingles, button Bydanovich. That
team is better, at least should be on paper than a Clippers team that's
headlined by Paul George and has Reggie Jackson and Nick Patom. Fantastic stories of
this seasons, by the way, and I know it'll get people into the
conversation of these guys maybe not playing as well as they should be in smaller
markets only to end up in a flagship lamber market and start playing better.
Reggie Jackson was just genuinely injured in Detroit all the time. You know,
they built a pretty formidable offensive attack at one point around his pick and roll
wizardry. So his really isn't a surprise. Nick Patom, Yeah, he
cratered in Charlotte before he was basically yanked out of the rotation last year.
I don't really know what that is. That was just sort of a resurgent
season from him. That being said, like those are the guys you know,
Marcus Morris when you're looking at and Terence Mann, who's been fantastic,
Like the Jazz should have won that series even as banged up as they were,
when you're just looking at the talent level and so not the greatest matchup
of them because the Glippers could go small. Do you have to go into
this offseason, though, I think asking some pretty tough, really existential questions
about your identity and what you can do to change it, and whether you
believe that this team is championship ready as is, and I believe it is.
I just think there needs to be some smaller tweaks or maybe it's looked
be more aggressive. And is it time to shop Joe Ingles? Do you
think if you're bringing back comedy that maybe you can shop pulling in Bagdadovitch,
who I know a lot of people aren't crazy about his contract. He's still
probably just closer. He shopped fifty percent on pull up threes in the in
the playoffs this year, so there will be a team. When you look
at the two years left on his deal, if you really wanted to move
him, two years a little bit under forty million dollars. I don't know
what you could get for him, but Joe Ingles was entering the final year
of his thirteen million dollars deal, he'll definitely be attractive. You do have
Derek favorss deal. I think that player option though we'll scare some teams away.
He's about two years and a little under twenty million left the final which
is a player option. I would probably argue that Jordan Clarkson's contract might be
the hardest to move, and he was fantastic this year, but he's just
such a wild card that unless you're dead set on just having him be that
bench score, who's going to come in and throw up shots without having a
conscience, which I again there's a level of importance to it. Just the
three years on that at roughly you know, thirteen million dollars on average,
That gets a little fickle for some. So if you really wanted to make
a splashy trade, it's one, as I said, not going to be
Gobar. You're looking at an angles were a Bogdanovich would would be my guest
there. So I just don't know what you can get with those guys,
because you know every team is on the hunt for the wings that I was
sort of just describing. And while you do have at least another or wing
to offer in turn, it's just like you look at the free agency market
like this, You just look at the wing market in general. There aren't
a ton of guys who could be traded, and sometimes when you're looking at
this, it's just outside of Utah's asset range. When you're looking at trade
candidates, maybe Reggie Bullock is someone that they could look at him free agency
would be really good for them. He's probably better against smaller wings though,
And again, when you only have the mini MLI like the Knicks should be
willing to pay that, and he, in my book, is probably gonna
get the full mid level. I just don't you know the ready option made.
Isn't there is a Tory Craig or that that would really help you?
And are you are you willing to play him? So I actually think Utah,
Well, there's not going to be a ton of change. It is
kind of an important offseason because they're so close, but they're just clearly not
there, and you can say, oh, if they were fully healthy,
Mike Conley's not getting any younger. These injuries happen after playing an entire season,
so you can't just necessarily bank on being healthy. And you could even
say guys who haven't really had injury problems a ton. I know Boyamodanovitch missed
some time last year, but he's not getting any younger. I did it
for Joe Ingles. Of course, that was a longer answer on the Jazz
than I expected to give, but they're, you know, they're they're actually
really fascinating to me. This next question comes from James. What's the highest
three point percentage in a single playoff run given some sort of minimum attempts taken.
I'm thinking about Seth Curry here. That's who I thought about when this
question was asked, and so I sorted, this is like arbitrary, but
I looked at anyone who was taking at least fifty three point attempts in a
single postseason campaign. Jeff Hornsack is first at fifty eight point six percent.
Ray Allen is second fifty seven point one percent. Did it twenty two thousand
eleven with Boston. Padrostoyakovitch when he was with the Hornets in two thousand seven
two thousand and eight is third. Fourth is Steve Smith from two thousand with
Portland. Paul Pierce is actually on here, which surprises me when he was
with one with Washington two fifteen fifty two point four percent. I'm not gonna
go down this whole list. I'm just gonna go to number six because I
find it funny. Al Horford in twenty seventeen with Boston was fifty one point
nine percent on that minimum. So I decided to up it just because those
I guess those names makes sense. But when I saw Al Horford, Jim
Jet, thirty four year old Jim Jackson, even Robert Covington was in from
two thousand and twenty May the top ten, I just decided to up their
criteria to seventy five attempts and Seth Curry is the leader all time so far
in players who have attempted at least seventy five three pointers in the playoffs.
He's shooting fifty percent on them. He has a chance to finish with the
highest clip in NBA history among guys who've taken that many. You could filter
it out to you know, one hundred at that point if he keeps his
pace. But J R. Smith is right behind him there when you round
their percentages, they're both actually at fifty percent. He took eighty attempts with
Cleveland in two and seventeen across eighteen games. Nash is third two thousand and
three with Dallas forty eight point seven percent, Danny Green not surprising forty eight
point two percent in twenty and thirteen with the Spurs, and then fifth.
Ray Allen makes it again two thousand and one with the Bucks. I love
Milwaukee Bucks, ray Allen and Seattle SuperSonics. Ray Allen that dude was more
all around hooper than people give him credit for. He was at forty seven
point point nine percent. Danny Green, by the way, makes the top
ten twice in this which is he's also number seven. I just like to
use as a reminder that Danny Green is still good and the Lakers were out
of their minds to just sort of use them as a throwaway after kind of
seeing how the Spurs use them as a throwaway and at Kawhi Leonard trade.
I know Danny Green has missed a ton of big threes, and I also
know he's not the same defender that he's always been, although he will still
mess up your life in transition. And I think he can check you know,
no, he shouldn't be checking Trey Young. He could still give you
quality minutes against some of the higher end guards, some of those wings too.
There's a reason he's missed so many been in a position to miss so
many big time threes. It's because he's good and valuable to the teams that
are really good. I'll be fascinated to see where he goes in free agency.
If anyone from my previous uton rand is wondering if he'd be good for
them, He's just you need someone again who's gonna defend some of the bigger
guys. Kind Of would be interesting to see Danny Green in either Milwaukee,
Denver, or Portland. Would be fun, assuming they kind of stay together.
I know they're a little bit smaller on the perimeter with we assume they're
gonna resign norm They have Dame, they have CJ. McCollum, Danny Green
among all those guys, I still think he's probably better to well, not
think definitely among Damon c J. But he can at least capably defend some
threes. So those would be three teams that I'd be really interested in seeing
him play for this next question comes from I don't know where I miss said.
Okay, Niko Bellick, who do you think Denver should get for next
season? Denver is another team where you kind of have to look at their
spending power and realize that there's a legitimate chance. You know, if a
Will Barton opts out, if they want to resign Paul Millsap, if you
Michael Green knops out, and they want to bring these guys back, they're
going to be working with the mini mid level, which is five point seven
million. As a really good team, they might be in a better position
than most to get someone good with that. At the same time, they're
not among the glamor markets and more than that, and I'm not I'm not
trying to advocate for glamor markets here, but they're not a team that's necessary.
That's shown that they're going to canon ball deep into the luxury tax and
Jamal Murray's injury kind of complicates that for them because I would tell you right
now and I'm never gonna you know, I don't care about team governors spending
their money, and I'm not trying to get get billionaires to pay less in
luxury tax. I want to make that clear. I'm trying to deal with
the reality of the situation. When you don't have Jamal Murray, You're absolute
best shot at a championship has been squandered. This team is just it's legitimately
a lot weaker without him. Are you going to be willing to spend even
if you can open up and they can, you know, if they don't
want to bring back Paul millsap let' say Walbart knops in. Let's say Jay
Michael Green opts in, it gets easier to stay within under the apron to
use the full non taxpayers in the level, which is like a hair under
ten million dollars this season, and so that would open up a lot more
options for them. I'm curious to see what they're willing to spend. Now
that being said, there are two ways that they could go if they were
gonna funnel their best spending tool. Let's assume that they use one of it.
There's a couple of different routes they could go. If they're going to
spend it on one player, you need another ball handler type to replace Jamal
Murray because off of a normal ACL recovery timeline, he's gonna miss most or
all of next season, and because he's so young, I know there's gonna
be the urgency. You want to see what he looks like with Aaron Gordon
there and Michael Porter Jr. Before both those two dudes are on different contracts.
He's gonna miss at least most of the next year. So do you
want another ball handler because you don't think it's gonna be for Kuno Compazzo and
Monte Morris really getting there, and Jokis does need relief. I wouldn't argue
you don't necessarily need that, especially if Will Barton is coming back, because
he can give you some pressure on the rim and some initiation on offense as
well. You also have Michael Porter Jr. If he's healthy and not having
back problems. No, he's not a creator, but we've seen that he
can be basically a star on offense, and so I don't know that you
need to go out there searching for another guy who could create his own shots.
Maybe if you're trying to find a table setter, can you bring back
Austin Rivers, who I think was really good for them. Yeah, I
don't. You should not be spending your entire mid level exception on him.
I want to make that absolutely clear. The other route that they could go
is focus on their wing defense, because they did sort of that they didn't
did sort of they got burned there. Like that was a big problem that
they had in the playoffs. Even though you know, you go up against
Portland and you beat them, but like that was still just something that they
struggled with. I don't know who you can get. This comes back to
with what you could spend. If you have the non tax players mid level
exception, someone like a Reggie bull Locke might become realistic. He could really
help you. You could maybe take a flyer on Otto Porter, Trevor Rizos
like eighty Now. I don't know how interested in him. You're gonna be.
Tony Snells a free agent and he might be able to come fairly cheap.
You could look at bringing West Matthews. He plays well for Spurts defensively.
Still, I just don't know how many minutes you're gonna get out of
him. Derek Jones Junior could be interesting. I just don't think he's going
to opt out of that money in Portland. He wasn't even playing for them
when they rolled into the postseason. I think you can argue that he should
have been, but he has a liability on offense, and he shot a
higher clip than normal from three in Portland, which anyone. It seems like
any wing who just goes to Portland is most likely going to shoot a higher
percentage than normal from three. I mentioned Danny Green for them would be really
good. What you can do, I guess is look at trades for Denver
and just you know, you're gonna make moves on the margins. Maybe they're
not even willing to spend whatever version of the tax of the mid level exception
excuse me that they're working with, and so they're looking to exchange contract for
contracts. That gets really difficult for them because they don't just have a ton
of these middle money contracts. You can move, you yo, Kitch Murray
off limits of course. I don't know why you get rid of Aaron Gordon
when you need to improve your your defense. And he checked a lot of
you know, like the smaller players for them, and I thought he held
up pretty well aside from you know, all the inconsistency on offense. Jamichael
Green, if he ops in, that's okay, that's seven point six,
But like that, that's your fifth highest paid player as of right now.
Will Barton is the player that I'd be looking at if he opts in fourteen
point seven million. I honestly don't have a feel for that player option.
He was injured a lot of this year, and I don't think he would
get as much money per year on the open market. That being said,
there's a talent drain in free agency, so maybe he's not getting fourteen point
seven fifteen million dollars a year. Is someone going to give him like four
and forty eight though? And so you're getting you know, an extra thirty
three million dollars let's say, and guaranteed salary over four years. But if
you still have him, if he opts in, what can you attach to
sort of make a deal there? And you know a player that I would
honestly, this could be a decent swop for swop. Maybe Dallas needs to
send Maybe Dallas needs to send Denver something else's based off the season Josh Richardson
had. But Josh Richardson in Josh Richardson in Denver makes a bunch of sense
for them. If Dallas, I'm assuming Josh Richardson Oopson. Maybe not again,
this ree agency market is always going to be weird, But if you
could do something like that, that could really help you. The other thing,
if you wanted to take a bigger swing, And I'm not sure how
willing Boston would be to do this after making the Kemba Walker trade and giving
themselves more immediate cat flexibility in long term, but Marcus Smart is extension eligible
this year. They can give him up to a maximum of seventeen point two
million. If Marcus Smart wants that amount or more and isn't willing to sign,
Boston has to look at one, are we willing to let's say he'll
sign an extension, are you willing to pay him seventeen point two If you're
not willing to pay him that, you can't risk him going in the open
market because there's a chance that he might get more as a starting salary,
and you have to look at moving him. The trade I came up with
was Monte Morris, Zeke Naji and then the number twenty seven pick. Assume
that happens after the drafts, that everyone can trade their their draft picks legally
and the Stepian rule doesn't come into play any sticklers out there for the CBA.
Like myself, I don't know that Naji really moves the needle for Boston
anymore now that they have Moses Brown in addition to Al Horford, in addition
to Robert Williams in addition to Grant Williams, So there need to be other
moving parts there. The Nuggets do have Bull Bull, they have PJ Dojer
as well. They need better point guard play and Monte Morris is about to
start a three or twenty seven million dollars extension which is super team friendly,
might be the best backup point guard in the league. Is certainly going to
give you better creation in the playoffs. And a Peyton Pritchard, who we
saw them lean on the number twenty six pick. Just you know, Boston
did just trade its own first round pick, so getting another prospect there not
a bad thing. And I know they'll run into some roster spot crunches.
You're not gonna trade a distant first round pick for him and the Nuggets I
think already traded twenty twenty three is going to Orlando. I can double check
that well recording this, But so it would have to be like a Bull
Bowl or a PJ Dojer, and if it's Dojer, I would question whether
you should do it, knowing Marcus Smart's going to head towards free agency.
But I think that sort of framework with the number twenty six pick and then
Monte Morris and then something else is how And yeah, they traded a Denver
Staryway twenty twenty five as well, that said to Orlando twenty twenty three is
going to Oklahoma City, so that's not going to happen. Would I do
PJ Dojer, Monte Morris and number twenty six? I think Denver is the
one that's probably giving up a ton there. I still probably do it if
I'm them. I don't know how important dojer is to you. If Will
Barton is still going to be there, and you have Michael Porter Jr.
And you have Aaron Gordon, he's on a great he's on a super bear
bones deal and he can shoot threes and he can give you some defense,
But Marcus Smart really elevate your defense. You do, of course, then
run into the issue of Smart, Gordon, Porter, restricted free agency or
his extensions kicking in. Plus maybe Wilbarton would all be hitting free agency or
set to take on new deals at the same time, I think with smart
though with Denver, you can look in the mirror and say, Okay,
we don't have Jamal Murray, but our championship point though, is just still
open this season, and that's the move. If you're Denver is, can
you make that bigger swing on the trade market. I don't think that they'll
have the guts to do it after they already did it with Aaron Gordon and
were sort of burned by the Murray injury. That would be the type of
move though, that I think would really elevate their needle. Next question comes
from Gabe sanza As, who leads the playoffs and unassisted three point shooting.
Didn't have access to get this data exactly, but I did look at let's
look at the higher volume guys first, and among anyone who appeared in seven
postseason games this year. And I'm just using seven because that implies that they
played an entire series. Like an entire full series at least Luca Donje's no
surprise there, and three point five percent of his made three point field goals
went unassisted. Ninety one point seven percent of all his field goals went unassisted.
Hardon Is two ninety one point seven unassisted field goal rate on threes.
Trey Young is third seventy eight point one percent, Donovan Mitchell is fourth at
seventy five percent, and Chris Paul is fifth at seventy three point three percent.
I looked at then, who's the best pull up three point shooter statistically
so far in the playoffs. We had a we had if you it depends
on what you want to use as a minimum. I went with seven games
played and then ten off the dribble three point attempts. Chris Paul ranks first,
mostly because he just hits the minimum. He's six of ten on pull
up threes during the playoffs. Second place is Shake Milton of six of eleven.
That's fifty four point five percent. If you're looking for higher volume,
Lawyer Bodanovitch eleven of twenty two fifty percent, Donovan Mitchell super high volume forty
five point seven percent for the postseason forty two of ninety two. Lucancich is
behind him, Kawhi Leonard is behind him. Set Curry then checks in in
the top eight at forty two point one percent, to go with Tim Hardaway
Junior also tied at forty two point one percent in case anyone cares about those
type of playoff things. We have a speaker request from Noah, so I'm
gonna throw you on here. Noah, you should be good to go.
Noah, are you there? Yeah? That's what's up? Dan? How's
it going, man? I'm good. I'm good. Obviously happy that Brooklyn
was eliminated. But when you were talking about and assistants with something earlier,
you bought up Al Horford, and that reminded me about the terrible trade that
I saw going through this week. I got a lot of flak for criticizing
this trade, obviously, and I'm not sure why. I understand the cap
the thing with cap and you have to get with Kemba Walker's contract or not.
But I don't think that Brat Stevens need to include the first round pick
in order to get back Moses spread and Al Horford, who I'm guessing Brad
steven thinks can contribute right away, but I don't really. I'm not sure
how much. It's definitely not going to be twenty eighteen, Al Horford,
But what do you think about that trade? Like one is, I'm playing
a microphone plugging game here, but I actually I agree with you, Noah,
it's not a terrible trade if Boston really you know, they did enable
themselves to now resigned Evan four day a little bit easier without paying as large
of a tax bill. It also positions you if you want to, there
are ways that you can figure out how to use your full non tax player
mid level exception, which in turn makes the team better. That being said,
number sixteen, that's almost a lotto pick. And I know we are
romantic size first round picks, but number sixteen is what it costs to get
rid of someone who, if he's healthy, is better than Al Horford and
can play at an all star caliber level. And I know it's a big
if with his knees, Like Al Worford is thirty five years old, and
now you have this glut of bigs and it's not I don't think this was
a sign of how much they value Moses Brown. That was I think to
be included for salary purposes. I just don't understand, like why they couldn't
even get ken Rich Williams or if you were gonna give up number sixteen,
there were ways that you could include Tristan Thompson's expiring contract then to save yourself
even more money. And so that's really where I think they messed up.
We have to see how this plays out, you know, if Kemba's if
this is one of those situations where they can't reboot Kemba's value and no casey
like they reboot everyone else's value. Maybe you know the report on his knees
is worse than we know publicly. Maybe Al Horford is fantastic for Boston,
but it's like at this rate they have so many bigs. Robert Williams,
Grant Williams, are you gonna play Al Horford at the four again? Which
is what we saw? It was a disaster in Philly. So I think
horfords fit on Boston is fine, but still need to move another bigger two
for the rotation to make sense. And before I'll throw it back to you
know, really quickly, they needed to get something else out of the deal.
If you want to give up the number sixteen pick in my book and
my if it was Kendrick Williams actually would have been fined with it, but
mostly be could you have found a way to move that Christan Thompson contract,
because then I think that makes the structure of this deal look a lot better.
I think. Obviously Boston's biggest problem this year injuries really hurt them.
Their big man rotation was really confusing at best. But at the same time,
you're correct with the sixteenth pick people are talking about Moses Brown is a
good value. I like Moses Brown, but I don't think he's worth a
first round pick. And he was really slow too. Yes, and he
also might have his production might have just been a product of being on a
terrible team. No hate to Moses Brown, but it's like I'm thinking,
like, what if you had made that same trade, Like if you had
made that same trade for Christian wood that would have in a higher I feel
like that would have been better, you know. And I think you could
have made that same trade the sixteenth pick, Kemba Walker for Christian Wooden throwing
somebody else. I think that would have been way better than getting Al Horford,
who's thirty five? Who were I don't think it's going to be the
same valuable piece to Boston's offense and defense that he was a couple of years
ago. And Moses Brown and whoever. You know, I really don't,
and I honestly I think Kemba Walker is better than people will than NBA Twitter
thinks he is, and injuries do do have like have hurt him. A
couple has heard his production, but when healthy, he's still a top fifteen
point guard, and when he's healthy, he can help Boston win games and
or even do his best, as we saw a couple times this season.
So I don't think. I think people are overvaluing this trade and overvaluing Moses
Brown and Al Horford and undervaluing Kemba Walker even at that contract, He's still
only what thirty two years old, and we all know point guards have a
way higher lifespan now in the NBA. So I don't know. I just
I feel like that that trade was a little questionable. I think you could
have made that same trade a first round pick Kemba Walker for a better big
and Christian would a young big, somebody who could help you win a big
that they actually need someone who's a better offensively. And plus the Boston has
way more holes to build than just this gluttonous cluster of bigs now that they
have. Well, one of those voys was they needed another ball handler,
and now they need two more ball handlers because exact really, So I think
the thing and I actually have a question for you really quickly have this,
but I think the thing I'll push back into. I don't think you get
Christian Wood for that package just one because of the rockets timeline. So you
plently a thirteen that would value Kemba, you know, is it? Kemba's
going to Dallas, Chris Stops is going to Houston, and then Christian Wood
was going to Boston. But I don't know why Houston would value Chris Stops
more than Christian would. At this point, you was really good. You
would have if you wanted to make it. You're like that, you probably
need to include more equity. Now to that point, I absolutely would have
included more equity if it meant bringing back Christian would rather than Al Horford,
because you're just looking at his partial and I know people are looking at his
fourteen point five million partial guarantee for twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three and
saying, oh, they could waive that, they could stretch it and then
they're gonna have cap space. No no, no, no, don't leave
five million dollars and dead money on your books for three years. I think
they're gonna think along the same route and probably let him finish this deal.
So I don't know that you could have gotten I think you could have gotten
more. I don't know if you could have gotten a much better player than
Al Horford, but you certainly if you were going to get out Horford shouldn't
have been able to give up as much. And like at that point,
like, could you have gotten Chris Stops and kept the number sixteen pick?
Like was that like Dallas can't be that high? After seeing the way Christops
moves now, it's like he's on like stilts with Cement choose. But I
am to what I was discussing before an outside perspective, would you give Marcus
Smart an extension if you're Boston well as somebody who wants Tom Tillotto and Marcus
Smart to pair up, and I would love to see him in New York,
I would not want Boston to give him an extension, But if for
Boston's necessity, they need to give him an extension because a lot a lot
of teams would probably be viagra him and he could he will get probably more
than the seventeen point two on the open market that you were saying if they
want to execute a trade for him, if they don't think that he's going
to bring as much value. But at this point, he would be your
primary ball handler besides which is a bad thing, besides Jason Tatum. You
would have to give him an extension. But also you have to understand if
you aren't willing to give him that much, then you have to trade him
and probably get I don't know what you would get back for him. Who
would take that trade? Portland would love Marcus Smart, but I don't think
that right now. The suitable player on that team would include probably a package
of C J. Derek Jones Jr. Or whatever. But I don't think
they're giving that much up for Marcus Smart. You you would have to trade
him if you're not going to give him the extension, but they have,
I would it would be in their best interest to give him that extension.
Yeah. I would love Marcus Smart in Portland too. And maybe I'm wrong,
and I see that Segre Trica, I hope I'm not butchering that name
to bet is in the room as well, and he's a Portland guy,
so maybe he would be able to push back into that. They would just
be so they're so tiny. Then I know Marcus Smart can defend one through
four, but he like the type of player that that they would need,
and having him and then having Robert Covington absolutely massive for for the defense.
Thank you as always know if for listening, and I'm going to remove this
that an official Mike. Let's actually make this the last question since I've been
rambling here for almost an hour, and so you guys can watch, I
have it on in the screen, but so you guys can watch unimpeded Clippers
sons. This last question comes from y n Wa two one three. Who's
the best player in this playoffs before the Kauai injury? Please? Maybe you
want me to say Kauhi I you know I wouldn't push back against that.
He's been He was incredible and there's we talk about two way workloads. That's
what makes true holiday so underrated. Kawhi Leonard defended Luka don chich On more
possessions for more time than anyone on the Clippers. He then defended Donovan Mitchell
up until his injury. Up until Kawai's injury, more often on more possessions
and just spent more general time on him. Than anyone on Utah and then
do that and also be the number one option on offense, Like, holy
freaking crap, I think he's in there. Kevin Durant has to be in
there. It's weird to see respect for him grow even in a loss.
And I don't disagree with it. I'm one hundred percent on board with it.
I just think normally the discourse would have been like, oh, all
that for a second round exit, not taking into account all the injuries that
that that Brooklyn obviously had. The James Harden discourse got bad for a little
bit too after that win. And there's James Harden. There's real grapes to
have about his postseason performance. That was not one of them. Just he
played one hundred and thirty nine of a possible one hundred forty nine minutes.
HAP tip Jackson Franks for pointing this out on Twitter while on one hamstring basically
grade two hamstrings. Grade two hamstring string is what Harden said. It was.
That's I'm not I wouldn't have played him. And this was also something
that I thought a sector of Warriors Twitter kind of made this about, like
Steph saying how Kadi was praised when Steph was. You know, people said
he used the needs an excuse. Then they also pointed out that the Warriors
were you know, criticized for playing Katie when he ruptured his achilles. It's
I will always want one hundred times out of one hundred and default who don't
play the players in that situation. I wouldn't have played James Harden if I
was Brooklyn. I think it's fine to compliment them for their performance. I
just don't think it was an obligation of them to play. And had there
been an injury, I think it's worth the discussion, like there was with
Kevin Durant, should the team have gotten involved there. I know they want,
you know, they say that players know their bodies better and they trust
them to make the call. I get it, and if the players like,
but you have to deal with the long term applications. For Brooklyn,
it doesn't look like he was in a position to reaggravate it. I will
also say a hamstring strain, while fickle, a lot different from someone who
was dealing with an achilles injury that was you know, James Harden could tear
his hamstring, it would be it would be disasters. He could ruptures Quad
attend and whatever, it would be a disaster. But Katie was dealing with
an achilles injury at the time, cash strain, whatever it was called.
So I still think it's different, but I get it. I don't think
Steph should have been criticized when he was playing injury, but was it was
the twenty sixteen I think it was like two playoff runs as well. So
this totally misleads me from the question. But I think Kawhid belongs in there.
I think Kevin Durant belongs in there. I'm not going to forget about
that Kadi shot to force overtime in Game seven. Ever, I'm still thinking
about his forty nine point triple double was one of the single best individual performances
I've just ever seen and was probably, you know, one of the top
five playoff performances from a single player of all time. I think you can
throw Joel Embiid in here too. What he's done while playing on him a
niscus injury has been incredible. I don't think he's necessarily been the same on
defense that he's had his moments, but he's been great by and large.
And then I also think, you know, I know he didn't play a
ton, but Damian Lillard was magnificent. He left the playoffs averagely one point
six five points per possession on isolations, which is just like to like second
place. To put that in perspective, the last time I checked was at
one point three three, and I know Dame samples Eiza smaller, but his
offensive display was just it was something else. It is, as Kevin Duran's
Twitter would say, a spiritual experience watching him play basketball. So I think
those are the four guys, and I'm not really forgetting anyone there. I'm
even if you're even trying to think of people who didn't really spend too much
time in the postseason. I just I don't know who else you would default
too. Do we throw Sep Curry in here? He might belong in here,
I honestly have no idea, but if I've reached the step, Curry
is the best player of these playoffs portion of the podcast, it's probably time
to end it. Thank you for everyone who came through on Spotify's Green Room.
I gotta stop calling it locker room. Thank you for everyone who stayed.
Shout out to Noah and Sager for still being here. Towards the end.
Until next time, I leave everyone, as always with a shout out
to the one the only restricted free agent who is probably going to command a
max or near max deal because he absolutely deserves it, Frank Dealt