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Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Hey everyone, 11 00:00:42,359 --> 00:00:45,119 before we get into today's pod, I want to tell you about Blue Wire 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,640 Hustle, a brand new program where you can host your very own podcast. 13 00:00:48,679 --> 00:00:52,359 Here at blue Wire Hustle, it was created to give everyone the opportunity to 14 00:00:52,399 --> 00:00:55,759 take your podcast to the next level. Or if you want to host a 15 00:00:55,799 --> 00:00:59,479 podcast and just don't know where to start, Hustle is the perfect place for 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,840 you. As part of the program, you'll receive personal cover art Q and 17 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,760 a's with Blue Wire's top podcasters, access to our community discord, and an 18 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,519 e learning course full of tips and tricks. 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But that's BW hustle 28 00:01:51,519 --> 00:02:02,959 dot com slash Join. What is of Hardwar Knox Listeners, We are back, 29 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,799 this time without our fearless co host, Adam Promo. We are, 30 00:02:07,879 --> 00:02:13,319 however, super excited as usual to be joined by frequent guest and a friend 31 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,439 of the podcast, Bleacher Reports, Grant Hughes. Follow him on Twitter at 32 00:02:16,439 --> 00:02:22,639 GT Underscore Hughes. We're going to we're rebranding Factor Fiction, even though our 33 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,400 outline is basically buy or sell or factor fiction. This is truth or trash 34 00:02:25,719 --> 00:02:30,120 on either things we believe hot, taky things maybe, or just things that 35 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,879 we've noticed that other people are saying. To have a discussion about it, 36 00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:36,439 but it's it's truth or trash. Before we get started, though, the 37 00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:39,680 most important question of the night, Grant, how are you doing. I'm 38 00:02:39,719 --> 00:02:44,360 doing very well, thank you. And it's all content, Dan, it 39 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,560 doesn't matter what you call it. It's just it's just hashtag content, right. 40 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:50,080 But we need to we need to rebrand it to give the appearance of 41 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,879 it being fresh and new and unique. Let the let the takes be fresh' 42 00:02:54,199 --> 00:02:57,879 you know whatever, I get it, I get it, we got it. 43 00:02:57,879 --> 00:03:01,080 We gotta jazz it up. We're talking before we started though about you 44 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,960 know, you sent me yours like just before we started, and I realized 45 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,199 how much overlap we had, so I like quickly pivoted in some areas. 46 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:12,240 But as you mentioned, like at the top, it feels like the league 47 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,120 pecking order to me, or at least I mentioned, feels more disjointed than 48 00:03:15,159 --> 00:03:19,319 normal. But as you were mentioning, it feels like very hard to avoid 49 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,960 groupthink at the moment as well. Yeah, because I mean I don't know 50 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,039 about how you approach this, but sort of I just kind of went through 51 00:03:27,479 --> 00:03:30,919 some of the basic I don't know, you know, just sort by net 52 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,639 rating or look at teams records, or look at offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency 53 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,319 and sort of kind of say, well, which one of these things doesn't 54 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,960 belong? And you see Cleveland way up high in defensive efficiency or Atlanta way 55 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,360 up there in net rating, and say like, okay, well, based 56 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,719 on my priors or what I thought things would look like early in the year 57 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,520 or before the year, this is different. And I think there was so 58 00:03:52,599 --> 00:03:55,439 much group think prior to the season that everybody's kind of arriving at the same 59 00:03:57,039 --> 00:04:00,680 thing for the answer to which one of these doesn't belong? So I think 60 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,800 that's part of it. But but yeah, like another quality of this season 61 00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:08,479 coming in was, you know, there were the Lakers and the Clippers, 62 00:04:08,479 --> 00:04:11,159 and I guess the Bucks, you know, way up at the top I 63 00:04:11,199 --> 00:04:14,479 think probably would have been the consensus. And there's like a dozen teams in 64 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,079 that second, Like I could imagine this team being in a conference final, 65 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:23,600 and I think that sort of you know, that's there are not a dozen 66 00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:26,160 teams that can be in a conference final just scene that way, and so 67 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,560 kind of pulling those apart and organizing those is really hard, especially obviously this 68 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,160 early, when another thing we talked about was like one game or one big 69 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:38,079 night, like Luca had a triple double to night, and easily going into 70 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,040 this one of the buyer sells or factor fictions could have been, well, 71 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,120 Luca doesn't look right, and now it's like, okay, well one game 72 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,120 and now we're sort of back to our baselines line. So so yeah, 73 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,399 to your point, it's just kind of tough to to really separate things this 74 00:04:50,519 --> 00:04:55,480 early. I'm gonna throw one at you really early and phrase it this way, 75 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,959 truth trash or talk to me later. The Phoenix Suns are three contender. 76 00:05:01,079 --> 00:05:03,279 I mean, that has to be a talk to me later. But 77 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:08,079 but it's closer to truth than trash. I mean, and you know, 78 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:14,079 just put the numbers aside. I think looking at the makeup of the roster 79 00:05:14,759 --> 00:05:17,199 going into this year, you would have said, like, what don't they 80 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,079 have, you know, And I think maybe backup point guard would have been 81 00:05:21,439 --> 00:05:26,079 something to talk about whether that matters or not when you have Devin Booker that 82 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,439 could handle if if or you know, playmate if Chris Paul missed time. 83 00:05:29,639 --> 00:05:31,600 But campaign looks really good. I don't know how much you've watched him, 84 00:05:31,639 --> 00:05:36,560 but the bubble stuff when he proved last year that he was not kind of 85 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:42,040 a you know, overdrafted, that's all carried over. He's been really good. 86 00:05:42,079 --> 00:05:45,319 So, I mean, they have length on the wings, they have 87 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,920 Aiden who seems content to be like a third option just picking pop guy or 88 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:54,160 pick and roll guy, and they have stars, so they're just like they 89 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,360 I don't know what their weakness is. So I mean, I guess I 90 00:05:58,399 --> 00:06:02,040 think they're probably a realistic top four in the West team. I don't know 91 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,399 about top three contender, although like how different are those two things? Really? 92 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:10,560 Like maybe we were just kind of it's an issue of degree between us 93 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,519 as opposed to like a disagreement. Yeah, so I went with truth obviously 94 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:16,040 because some of these again I wasn't sure where I fell on them. I 95 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,319 just saw them being talked about. This was not one of them. This 96 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:23,319 is one I'm introducing. The way that they're playing feels like very playoff ready 97 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,439 we'll probably see more of Chris Paul and Devin Booker are playing together in the 98 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,759 postseason, which can probably only be a good thing, and they'll have just 99 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:31,560 more chemistry at that point. Right now, from the games i've watched it, 100 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,319 there is it does feel very my turn, your turn when they're on 101 00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:38,720 the court. But when they're two of the most lethal off the dribble scores 102 00:06:38,759 --> 00:06:43,519 in the league, that's mostly fine. The thing I think I'm mostly impressed 103 00:06:43,519 --> 00:06:46,079 with it they're playing this is per impredictable at the league's slowest pace. That's 104 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,680 the I'm just going by average time of their possession. That's fine. When 105 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,639 you're looking at them having Chris Paul and Devin Booker and just being able to 106 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,040 dissect defenses that might help them in the postseason. I would kind of like 107 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,800 them to see, like to see a little bit more variance there though, 108 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:01,759 like when they have, you know, a Dario Sarge at the five for 109 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:06,040 those second string units, I'd like to see them play faster than we've seen 110 00:07:06,079 --> 00:07:09,920 this season, just to give them that element of variance. Like I said, 111 00:07:10,399 --> 00:07:13,480 and as you mentioned, I simultaneously look at their depth chart and I'm 112 00:07:13,519 --> 00:07:16,079 like, yeah, they have everything, but You could also pick out ways 113 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,839 in which there might be holes, like come later on, where it's I'm 114 00:07:19,839 --> 00:07:24,120 not as worried about backup point guard because Pain's been playing so well and Javon 115 00:07:24,199 --> 00:07:28,160 Carter is gonna start shooting better. Backup five is maybe an issue like does 116 00:07:28,199 --> 00:07:30,560 Dario Sarge get you buy there? In the playoffs, you don't want to 117 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,480 have to get to a point where Damian Jones or Frank Kamitzky actually matter in 118 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,879 your rotation there. And then even the not so much this, but the 119 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:42,519 secondary wing rotation could get weird because there's Cam Johnson and then there's who like 120 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,279 Jalen Smith, I guess as your backup four. We haven't seen abdel Nader 121 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,040 yet, at least I haven't. I believe he's still injured. Each one 122 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,360 more is fine, but that's also where you feel like confidence, like Langston 123 00:07:51,399 --> 00:07:56,240 Galloway has been good for them in moments, and like they have him super 124 00:07:56,319 --> 00:08:00,279 cheap, so they're they're I think deeper in the aggregate than they received it 125 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:03,000 for over the off season, and I feel like they're built to really be 126 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,000 in the playoffs. And the reason I settled on top three is you sort 127 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,759 of mentioned it if you're top three in the West, like you're kind of 128 00:08:09,759 --> 00:08:13,959 in top three already, because who would you put peg as your top contenders 129 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:16,560 right now? I'm giving the Lakers the benefit of the doubt because it feels 130 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,079 like they're just sleepwalking their way to victories at this point, so they'll turn 131 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,480 it up. Do you put the Clippers there or the Sixers at number two? 132 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,800 I just feel like every single spot beneath the Lakers is suddenly up for 133 00:08:28,839 --> 00:08:31,879 grabs, and you know, teams like the Bucks and even the Nuggets and 134 00:08:31,919 --> 00:08:37,120 the Clippers like they haven't seized onto that territory like a lot of people thought 135 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,519 that they would. The Mavericks included too. Yeah, I think that's right. 136 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,480 I do think the Lakers get here's our first tangent. How many minutes 137 00:08:43,519 --> 00:08:46,879 in are we? The Lakers thing made me think of something, which is 138 00:08:46,919 --> 00:08:52,039 that I think a team like them, who I think still even even though 139 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,039 this is the case, it looks like the best team. I think a 140 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,600 lot of teams that sort of know who they are, that are fairly well 141 00:09:00,639 --> 00:09:03,279 intact, and there's a lot of continuity from last year and are very good. 142 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,840 We'll treat and I'll have been treating this season like the last you know, 143 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,480 handful of games in a regular season where it's like, look, we 144 00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:18,480 just need to once every week or so prove that we have our fastball and 145 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,279 then otherwise we're kind of like we're gonna get blown out by thirty to a 146 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,600 lottery team. Which that's another thing. The blowouts this year have been nuts. 147 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,919 But but I think we're going to see a lot of that because the 148 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,080 way this season is set up. You know, the Lakers are just gonna 149 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:35,200 coast and the Bucks are you know, all these teams and even maybe teams 150 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,759 that don't that don't have a right to or aren't good enough to do that, 151 00:09:37,799 --> 00:09:41,240 like Denver comes to mind, to not really take every game seriously or 152 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:46,159 doing that. And so I think the Suns to me, don't fall into 153 00:09:46,159 --> 00:09:50,120 that category because they they haven't proved anything, and they've got a lot of 154 00:09:50,159 --> 00:09:52,960 guys that that, you know, this is a big season for them, 155 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,120 it's a big season for Booker, might be Paul's last good season. I 156 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,279 don't know. So I think that that really is more ammo for your for 157 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,559 your point of that being truth is that the Suns are not one of these 158 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,200 teams that have an established identity that can coast that can get blown out and 159 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,679 not care and act like it's not a big deal because we've done it. 160 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,759 So I think you know that you may end up being right on that for 161 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,639 I mean, among many reasons, but that one. What do you have 162 00:10:20,759 --> 00:10:26,080 for me? Is truth or trash? Joel Embiide is a top I'm kind 163 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,000 of cheating on an article. It's going to come out that I did pretty 164 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:35,480 soon, but I'll just say, is a top three MVP candidate. Oh 165 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,519 and I'll give you you go ahead and give me your answer, and then 166 00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:43,759 I'll give you my justification. I would probably go trash, just because I 167 00:10:43,799 --> 00:10:46,600 wonder if he plays in enough games to make it to that level. Would 168 00:10:46,639 --> 00:10:50,639 be just my primary justification against it. Does the absolute best justification against it. 169 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:56,399 And it's why this is probably a borderline hot take, but I'm going 170 00:10:56,399 --> 00:11:00,000 with truth. I'm gonna have something coming out that he's gonna be my number 171 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,679 one MVP candidate, not a prediction, but of the whatever it is, 172 00:11:03,759 --> 00:11:07,799 six seven, eight games that most teams have played so far, who if 173 00:11:07,799 --> 00:11:11,320 the season ends a day and you gave the award out would be MVP. 174 00:11:11,399 --> 00:11:16,120 And I think it's him. I just think that this mix of Sixers talent, 175 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:22,440 as everybody's thought before the season, works and their defense is the best 176 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,840 in the league. I watched most of the Sixers Hornets game tonight, which 177 00:11:24,879 --> 00:11:28,039 was a blowout, and MB didn't even play the fourth quarter. But and 178 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,240 he didn't have a great statistical game, as like fourteen and eleven or something. 179 00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:37,159 But it seems really clear to me that he's sort of shored up a 180 00:11:37,159 --> 00:11:41,440 couple of the issues that held him back. Now. Conditioning and health are 181 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,720 the two that are the biggest ones. But he's a little bit harder to 182 00:11:43,799 --> 00:11:46,799 double. Now. He doesn't just panic or you know, turn into two 183 00:11:46,799 --> 00:11:50,720 guys. He's moving the ball and they have shooters. So that's going to 184 00:11:50,799 --> 00:11:54,799 get them wins. And it's going to be directly because of him drawing extra 185 00:11:54,799 --> 00:11:58,960 guys defensively, the Hornets like don't even look at the basket all night tonight 186 00:11:58,039 --> 00:12:01,279 when he's in there. And so if his block numbers are low, and 187 00:12:01,399 --> 00:12:05,679 this is the case already, the Sixers have an awesome rim defense in terms 188 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,120 of both frequency of upon an attempt and accuracy. Like he's just him being 189 00:12:09,159 --> 00:12:11,679 there is kind of a Gobert effect. You don't try to shoot, and 190 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,440 if you do try to shoot, he's in your head enough that if he 191 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,679 doesn't block it, he affects the miss. He's scoring like crazy. He's 192 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,559 got all these like bullshit foul drawing tricks that are just on another level now. 193 00:12:22,879 --> 00:12:26,480 So yeah, if he's it's it's kind of stupid to think that he's 194 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:31,159 gonna play enough games because he just sort of never has and he's always had 195 00:12:31,159 --> 00:12:35,440 conditioning problems. But from what I've seen so far, I'm kind of ready 196 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,200 to buy or call it truth or just buy into him as an MVP, 197 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,519 you know, top top end MVP candidate. Also because guys like Lebron, 198 00:12:43,799 --> 00:12:48,639 maybe even your honest, even though jannest is playing a ton of minutes relative 199 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,320 to what he's done in the past, I think are going to take take 200 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,120 it easy. The Sixers are another team like the Suns, who sort of, 201 00:12:56,159 --> 00:12:58,200 like I mean, especially since they might blow it up if they disappoint, 202 00:12:58,279 --> 00:13:01,480 like they haven't said, have to go for this. So if there's 203 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,799 gonna be a year where Ebid plays a lot and it's really effective, I 204 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:09,519 think this could potentially be it. Yeah, I think what I need to 205 00:13:09,519 --> 00:13:11,879 see is that the Sixers, and I bought into them before the season, 206 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,039 so this would be me being wrong if this doesn't pan out. But like, 207 00:13:16,159 --> 00:13:20,279 look at who they've beaten this year. Yeah, right, So it 208 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,960 does help his MVP case that the one loss that they have came in the 209 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:24,960 game that he sat out, Like that's a boon if it you know, 210 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,879 if he sits out like once every eight games and they just lose that game, 211 00:13:28,279 --> 00:13:31,360 that's a that's a boon for his MVP stock. So I see a 212 00:13:31,399 --> 00:13:35,240 path to him being there, But I feel like that's always been the case 213 00:13:35,279 --> 00:13:37,519 where it's like, well, if he played enough, he could be right 214 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,480 there. Maybe in this season there's like a better way of doing it. 215 00:13:41,519 --> 00:13:45,919 But I would also argue like the potential pitfalls of you know, if they 216 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,879 do make a trade for James Harden, which again, if they continue playing 217 00:13:48,879 --> 00:13:52,639 like this, why would they Like that's gonna just throw him for a world 218 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:56,360 too, Like we're gonna probably see him impacted and they'll be the element of 219 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:00,360 James Harden cannibalizing some MVP votes there. There's just too many mind feel here 220 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,159 for me for me to call this the truth right now? Have you do 221 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,799 you have a like a I mean, it's too early for any of this, 222 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,360 But do you have like if you if you gun to your head, 223 00:14:09,399 --> 00:14:16,399 who's your MVP prediction? Who's set up you know to to Because if it's 224 00:14:16,399 --> 00:14:18,480 not embiid or if it's obviously those are there are a lot of good reasons 225 00:14:18,519 --> 00:14:22,159 it wouldn't be in. But is it just Yannest again based on the simbers 226 00:14:22,159 --> 00:14:26,799 he's gonna put up? So tat Tatum was my preseason pick. I could 227 00:14:26,799 --> 00:14:31,519 see Trey Young being there right now, even though the Hawks offense is kind 228 00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:35,879 of imploded in the fourth quarter. I my Tatum stock is like, I 229 00:14:35,919 --> 00:14:39,200 don't think it's terrible, but it's it can't be him. If we were 230 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,840 to vote right now, I could see it maybe being EMBIID at that point. 231 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,360 I think you could probably also make a case for James Harden ironically, 232 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,759 as funny as that is, even though that he's only played four games though, 233 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,039 like it's seven games and the Rockets have only played four games themselves. 234 00:14:54,080 --> 00:15:01,559 Though Trey Young is interesting, I like, he's gonna be on my honorable 235 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,519 mention when I read could probably get some love in that conversation too. He 236 00:15:05,559 --> 00:15:07,279 looks good. It's just too bad Jason Tatum's the second best player on his 237 00:15:07,279 --> 00:15:09,639 team. Now that should be another of our truth. They're trash? Is 238 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:15,159 Jalen Brown? For real? It is actually, let's do it. Let's 239 00:15:15,159 --> 00:15:18,120 do it. I have truth, trash or talk to me later. Jalen 240 00:15:18,159 --> 00:15:24,039 Brown is a top twenty five player. Oh, that's such a ridiculous number 241 00:15:24,039 --> 00:15:26,200 of top twenty five. I'll say truth. I mean some of it. 242 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,120 Move it up. I'm ready. No, no, no, no, 243 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,120 I mean like that's that's a way. I don't I don't know what my 244 00:15:31,159 --> 00:15:37,399 top twenty five are, but no, Yeah, the shooting is going to 245 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,679 regress, obviously. Would you like to know what he's shooting on pull up 246 00:15:39,679 --> 00:15:43,600 twos? I would like to know. Seventy seven point four percent. That 247 00:15:43,639 --> 00:15:46,480 seems sustainable to me, Dan, Yeah, he might go up to eighty. 248 00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:50,679 I would think, yeah, No, he I do think just from 249 00:15:50,679 --> 00:15:56,240 the from what I've seen he it isn't just hot shooting that's different. I 250 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:02,480 mean that's the main driver of the numbers obviously. But he's developing. It's 251 00:16:02,519 --> 00:16:07,320 happened kind of incrementally, but he now is making passes that he couldn't have 252 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,480 made before, especially in transition. He's really Jared Weiss did a good write 253 00:16:11,519 --> 00:16:15,159 up of this recently for The Athletic and they just there, there are passes 254 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:19,039 that he's won seeing that he didn't used to see, and he's got the 255 00:16:19,039 --> 00:16:22,759 ability to make them with either hand on the move, where before, you 256 00:16:22,759 --> 00:16:26,559 know, when he came into the league, I distinctly remember he was purely 257 00:16:26,559 --> 00:16:32,720 a straight line driver who would just try to dunk over everybody. And he's 258 00:16:32,759 --> 00:16:37,639 developed so much more craft and I think, as you know, as a 259 00:16:37,679 --> 00:16:41,799 top twenty five guy like he, I mean, you could have made that 260 00:16:41,879 --> 00:16:45,879 case he was up there last year potentially, but but yeah, I think 261 00:16:45,919 --> 00:16:48,840 I think that's true. I think he's top twenty five. I've sort of 262 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,840 talked myself into it, even if I think we agree that the shooting on 263 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:56,840 pull up jumpers and twos in particular, like that's just you know, obviously 264 00:16:56,879 --> 00:16:59,399 going to come way down. Yeah, the question for him would be, 265 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,799 well, the efficiency obviously, but he's always been, or at least the 266 00:17:02,799 --> 00:17:04,960 past two seasons efficient in these like off the catch situations, and he can 267 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,279 be a threat in transition and even when he gets tunnel vision on his drives, 268 00:17:08,279 --> 00:17:11,880 like he's someone on Boston who can at least put consistent pressure on the 269 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,079 rim relative the personnel they have. The question would be that what happens when 270 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,480 Kemba Walker comes back is how does the facilitation sustain? And I think we've 271 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,000 seen just looking at what's happening with his turnovers this year, is that because 272 00:17:23,039 --> 00:17:26,079 he's trying to be more facilitator, he's making those mistakes. That's almost a 273 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:30,440 good thing. The Kemba Walker stuff, I think he can fit. His 274 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,799 offense will be fine. And the fact that you might have someone after losing 275 00:17:33,799 --> 00:17:36,160 Gordon Hayward who could work off the dribble, like they'll just be plenty of 276 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,039 touches to go around would be my guests. And Boston desperately actually just needs 277 00:17:40,039 --> 00:17:42,519 like some diversification there, But that would be the big question mark. What 278 00:17:42,519 --> 00:17:45,839 I did find interesting is that they have not like increased his pick and roll 279 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:51,599 volume last year doubled from the season before. It's basically held steady since then, 280 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:53,839 and they've been efficient in those situations. But it leads back to it. 281 00:17:55,079 --> 00:17:56,680 I kind of noticed it towards later of last season, and you see 282 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,759 it now. It's just like there's a better feel like from like it's not 283 00:18:00,759 --> 00:18:03,880 even just in transition to me, But like in those set spots where he 284 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,119 has to make different choices where it's not just going to the rim, it's 285 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,240 making less complicated passes or deciding to take a different kind of shot, there 286 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:12,920 just seems to be a better feel there. And maybe that stuff is tougher 287 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,960 to quantify. But that guy top twenty five, Like maybe is that even 288 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:19,359 a cop out at this point, because I think he was when we did 289 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,319 the Bleacher Report rankings which you participated in top one hundred before the season. 290 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,359 I think he was at like thirty five or something. But only from thirty 291 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,799 five to twenty five is like a pretty substant stand of jump. Oh yeah, 292 00:18:30,839 --> 00:18:37,599 because then you're talking legit all NBA consideration at like a possibly difficult position 293 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,359 to get it at. But I think he I thought about this watching himb 294 00:18:41,559 --> 00:18:45,400 tonight too, and just like to what you were talking about, there's just 295 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,400 better feel And and then I went and looked at like mbats twenty six, 296 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:55,039 like we're just we just don't give these guys enough time, you know, 297 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:59,119 we want to make these judgments of like enough times. That's really well, 298 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:07,279 I would argue Andrew Willgins this at too much time, But like Brown's twenty 299 00:19:07,279 --> 00:19:12,720 four and this is his fifth year like this. I just it's so striking 300 00:19:12,759 --> 00:19:15,039 to me. It feels like he's been around forever. It feels like we've 301 00:19:15,079 --> 00:19:18,880 decided what he is. Ands same with him be it's same with all these 302 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,720 guys that when you come into the league at nineteen and really maybe this is 303 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,200 just gonna be about James Wiseman and we think we know what you are. 304 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:30,319 It's not close, Like there's just it takes a half a decade really before 305 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,920 someone like like Brown, who obviously was talented, kind of gets closer to 306 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:40,200 the type of player he's gonna be. But maybe this is gonna be the 307 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:44,160 sloppiest segue ever. But I want to get to Pascal Siakam and the Raptors 308 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:51,079 now. And because Siakim was someone that we sort of I got suckered into 309 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:56,400 thinking like this growth trajectory was just limitless because he made such big leaves and 310 00:19:56,519 --> 00:20:00,720 now he's just lost and the Raptors are. I think the Raptors the only 311 00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:03,720 team with one win. Nobody has zero. I think they're the only one 312 00:20:03,759 --> 00:20:07,519 win team right now because they just lost again tonight. Yeah, you are 313 00:20:07,599 --> 00:20:14,680 correct. The Pistons are one six, and I was talking about NBA teams. 314 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,720 It's so, hey, Jeremy Grant is making us all look like fools, 315 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:22,480 is he though? Because maybe this is what happens when you give a 316 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,039 guy who should be a fifth option like second option duties. It's just like 317 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,880 so for me personally, maybe I haven't watched Jeremy Grant closely enough over the 318 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,400 past half decade, but I never saw the type of player that could put 319 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,880 the ball on the floor like he's been in truit And the fact that he's 320 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,640 doing it amid like less than ideal spacing too, is just because it took 321 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,920 forever for s feet to start hitting threes so and Jeremy Grant was still getting 322 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,759 buckets then, so I have been I still don't you know, if Detroit 323 00:20:48,799 --> 00:20:51,880 eventually flips him or something. I don't know that I understand the logic of 324 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:56,319 him being there unless you're gonna move Blake Griffin soon. So that's still questionable 325 00:20:56,319 --> 00:20:57,960 to me. But Jeremy Grant betting on himself, I called it a dumb 326 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,920 decision. I said, I was taking the money and stayed with a contender. 327 00:21:02,519 --> 00:21:06,000 He's making someone like me look like a fool, So I'll see, 328 00:21:06,039 --> 00:21:10,000 don't don't do this yet though, because you probably are still going to be 329 00:21:10,079 --> 00:21:11,680 right. It's just it's just a handful of game. But you're right now 330 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:17,079 he's done much more. The whole thing was like he just wanted I assume 331 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,279 because the money was equal that Denver was offering. He just wanted a bigger 332 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,839 role. And everybody like Denver it was going to MPJ before it was going 333 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,920 exactly and everybody thought, well, he can't do that. But so far, 334 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,599 so good for him. But no, But so the Raptors, like 335 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,160 I have a sort of a blanket. I'm just in the bag for them. 336 00:21:33,279 --> 00:21:37,160 I overrated them in the playoffs last year. I thought they were like 337 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:41,559 a fringe title threat. I was just I don't know what the point is 338 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,599 at which I would panic about them, because I think they're so well coached. 339 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,680 I just think they have a lot of I like Van Vleet, I 340 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:52,759 like Ogann and Obi maybe too much. I like Siakam, I love Kyle 341 00:21:52,799 --> 00:21:56,240 Lowry, you love Chris Bouche, who's been closing games for them and it 342 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,359 looks really good. I just he's probably been like their fourth or fifth best 343 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,640 player, which is a problem because that's in front of Siakam at the moment. 344 00:22:03,799 --> 00:22:07,960 Well, yeah, but they're one in five and Siakam has just been 345 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,359 in addition to getting you know, benched for disciplinary reasons, which is that's 346 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:17,440 a rough look. But yeah, so let's keep Parence Davis active. That's 347 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,440 the move. Sure, So I just uh, I don't know, I 348 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:26,359 just his truth are trash. The Raptors are going to struggle to make the 349 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,000 playoffs? Is because that is that where we are? Yeah, so, 350 00:22:29,039 --> 00:22:30,839 because we looked like one of the worst teams in the league. So, 351 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,039 I my, this is one of the ones we overlapped on. But I 352 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,319 kept it was truth or trash. Pascal Siakam is plateaued or this is it's 353 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,359 time to panic. I called trash on that, and I'll call trash on 354 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,119 the playoffs thing. I ultimately think they're gonna be fine if they missed the 355 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,440 playoffs. I think it's because they steer out of it, like earlier where 356 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,880 it's O Kyle Lowry, they decided to make a move like that, I 357 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,759 would my gut right now says, I mean, they are more likely to 358 00:22:53,839 --> 00:22:57,720 trade for James Harden than they are to trade Kyle Lowry and just become sellers. 359 00:22:57,839 --> 00:23:00,599 That's just where my gut is right now. Some of this stuff is 360 00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:04,880 a legitimate issue. Like their half court offense is going to be a problem 361 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:10,400 even if Pascal Siakam is Pascal Siakam from you know, let's say the first 362 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,279 part of last year. They're just not outside of transition. They're not going 363 00:23:14,319 --> 00:23:15,839 to be able to put a ton of pressure on the rim, and that's 364 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,880 always been kind of an issue with them. Yeah, what's sort of encouraging 365 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:25,160 for me, And it's in part because Siakam has been so bad. I 366 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:30,000 feel like there are just elements where it's easy to improve or or get away 367 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,359 from this. Where it's he's shooting under forty percent on layups right now, 368 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,599 that's not going to stand. He's shooting under twenty six percent on above the 369 00:23:37,599 --> 00:23:41,720 break threes, under twenty six percent on wide open threes, and just knowing 370 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,559 what we've seen in the past two seasons from him, it feels like that 371 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,200 number is going to progress to a higher. Mean, there are things that 372 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,680 he does legitimately have to change, like he does not look more comfortable dribbling 373 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,279 in traffic, and that's why teams feel like they're switching anyone they want on 374 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,119 him, but it's also like, you know, maybe he'll eventually stop just 375 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,400 spinning to the like going to the right and spinning all the time uselessly. 376 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:08,240 I have faith that maybe again the improvement trajectory that you and I bought into 377 00:24:08,279 --> 00:24:15,559 maybe snorted a little bit that clearly doesn't exist, like he's probably was last 378 00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:18,000 year, or you know, the early part of last year was that his 379 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,680 peak? Maybe, but we also have seen his efficiency decline. Is this 380 00:24:21,839 --> 00:24:25,759 usage one up? I think it's okay to be concerned. I'm not at 381 00:24:25,759 --> 00:24:29,279 panic yet because I think he's going to get better and I think this team 382 00:24:29,319 --> 00:24:30,079 is going to be just fine. They still just have a lot of the 383 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,559 tools. Defensively, I will say I'd like to see them just lean into 384 00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:41,200 the smaller lineups more, and I think we've seen that at least a little 385 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,759 bit more recently. But you know, we don't need to see or I'm 386 00:24:45,799 --> 00:24:48,039 like, I don't need to see Pascal Siakam and Chris Bouche play at the 387 00:24:48,079 --> 00:24:52,200 same time. Like I know that you're gonna have rebounding problems then, but 388 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,200 you're gonna have rebounding problems anyway, and so there's no reason that eighty eight 389 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,759 percent of Siakam's minute should be coming at the flour like throw them at the 390 00:24:56,799 --> 00:25:00,039 five and just mismatch the hell out of the thing on offense. Would be 391 00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,920 my were my gut feeling at the moment. Yeah, you know, I 392 00:25:04,519 --> 00:25:11,559 tend to agree. I can't relinquish my like just unflinching faith in the Raptors 393 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,240 just because of this. But you say Siak's numbers have to get better, 394 00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:18,319 and they do, because as I'm looking at it now, this is this 395 00:25:18,319 --> 00:25:22,839 doesn't include tonight's game, but at his posis among big. His points per 396 00:25:22,839 --> 00:25:29,119 shot attempt on cleaning glass is in the third percentile, and his usage right, 397 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,000 So there are worse guys, but there are none, I would suggest, 398 00:25:33,039 --> 00:25:37,559 I suspect there are none that have a third percentage, third percentile points 399 00:25:37,559 --> 00:25:41,960 per shot attempt and use his percentage in the eighty eight percentile. That is 400 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,559 a lot of bad offensive basketball. So, yes, they're going to get 401 00:25:45,559 --> 00:25:51,000 better. Seaka will get better. But I do think you you touched on 402 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,519 that that incredible stretch went last year when early on when it seemed like, 403 00:25:55,519 --> 00:26:00,200 oh this guy, I mean, there's just no ceiling. I don't know 404 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,160 if he's going to get back to that because that just see that, you 405 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,440 know, guys don't get better forever. I think at some point you're just 406 00:26:07,519 --> 00:26:11,160 that you are where you are. And he is a kind of a late 407 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,359 starters. He's gonna be what is he's almost twenty seven, so you know, 408 00:26:15,759 --> 00:26:18,920 like and through all this, like they've they're rebounding has been shitty, 409 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,359 and they're they're fouling a ton, and there's still seventh in points of loot 410 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,079 per possessions. Like the defense is there for this team already, and that's 411 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,519 with them like kind of you know, Pascal Siakam not playing a game or 412 00:26:30,599 --> 00:26:33,519 him not he fouled out I think twice already this season. It's like that's 413 00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:37,640 with those issues being baked in there too. Yeah, I think too that 414 00:26:37,759 --> 00:26:41,200 one of those we didn't even talk about this. Their shot profile is bonkers. 415 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,160 They're taking a ton of threes their second I think in three point at 416 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,640 tenth frequency they were first and maybe this is including last night's numbers. Two 417 00:26:49,319 --> 00:26:53,079 So their effective field goal percentages twenty sixth in the league based on their shot 418 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,680 locations. If they shot those at an at league average rate, they'd be 419 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:02,440 nine. So bad luck throwing bad luck too. So on top of all 420 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,640 that other stuff, the Raptors ain't dead. Don't bury him, truth, 421 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,720 trash or talk to me later. One of Dallas or Denver is going to 422 00:27:11,799 --> 00:27:17,240 implode this season in the sense that their floor, one of their floors, 423 00:27:17,319 --> 00:27:22,240 is going to be exponentially lower than we thought. I'm gonna say trash. 424 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,440 And that's tough because Denver has been so bad defensively, and and I don't 425 00:27:27,599 --> 00:27:33,480 know what the fix is, and but they're just they just they're a team. 426 00:27:33,519 --> 00:27:37,160 I throw them in this group. And again, I don't know that 427 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,480 they deserve to feel this way, because I think in hindsight, their run, 428 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:42,960 their playoff run, was lucky. They you know, I mean, 429 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,319 you drop down three to one twice, that doesn't happen necesarily by accident. 430 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,920 Yeah, right, But they they've sort of been on And what's weird is 431 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:56,240 Yokich usually starts like someone who just like hit the snooze bar on the season, 432 00:27:56,279 --> 00:28:00,359 and he's been awesome at least offensively and in terms of a statistical direction, 433 00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:03,000 but defensively, they're not there. You know, this has to be 434 00:28:03,079 --> 00:28:07,480 driving Michael and nuts because all he's ever wanted is to have a defense first 435 00:28:07,599 --> 00:28:11,720 team, and that like Denver was never going to be that team. But 436 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:15,960 they're really not now. And like they've had, they've had bouts of this 437 00:28:15,039 --> 00:28:18,519 before. There's with actually a lot of the same roster now that I think 438 00:28:18,519 --> 00:28:22,599 of it, where they'll have these stretches where they just you know, they're 439 00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:26,680 in the bottom five defensively doing powerings. For all those years, it was 440 00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:30,599 constantly just well, if Denver could get it together defensively, they're a top 441 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,000 six team or whatever, you know, but they and then they would they 442 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,480 play great defense for a little while. This feels a little different. I 443 00:28:37,559 --> 00:28:41,480 think Implode is too strong. I just think they know who they are. 444 00:28:41,759 --> 00:28:45,880 They're another one of those teams to get back to that idea that I think 445 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,279 they believe in their fastball and just collectively they had a deep playoff run. 446 00:28:49,359 --> 00:28:52,599 They're probably about as wiped as any team that didn't make it to the finals, 447 00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:56,039 considering the stress of what they went through. So I'm not ready to 448 00:28:56,359 --> 00:29:00,000 give in on that. And then for Dallas, I just believe in Luca 449 00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:03,079 too much, even if he looks a little heavy and until tonight had not 450 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:08,680 played well at all the three point shooting with him is just weird. I 451 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,559 don't understand. I guess he takes too many tough ones, but it's been 452 00:29:11,599 --> 00:29:15,000 awful all year, and even in his good game to ninety was three or 453 00:29:15,079 --> 00:29:19,599 ten. I just think there's Dallas is too well coached. They're gonna get 454 00:29:19,599 --> 00:29:23,119 Porzingis back. That's gonna help. I like that. The makeup of the 455 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,599 team. I think Josh Richardson makes sense. I think, you know, 456 00:29:26,799 --> 00:29:30,079 Maxi Kleiba has constantly been underrated, So I think I think both of those 457 00:29:30,119 --> 00:29:36,519 teams having like implode potential is trash, but neither of them has done anything 458 00:29:36,559 --> 00:29:41,519 to sort of prove they belong anywhere close to, you know, serious contender 459 00:29:41,519 --> 00:29:42,920 status. So I think a lot of people thought both of them, one 460 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:45,799 or both of them might be up there. Yeah, I think. And 461 00:29:45,839 --> 00:29:48,039 we ended up not doing a predictions product ever this, But when I was 462 00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:52,480 looking through my sheet of predictions I had, I ended up picking Dallas as 463 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:53,039 a team that I thought was going to be lower. I think I had 464 00:29:53,079 --> 00:29:56,400 them seventh in the West or something, and everyone definitely had them like near 465 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,440 consensus top three or four, calling truth on it. I just don't have 466 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,680 a pick as to which one. I kind of feel like it might be 467 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,480 Denver. Their bench has been so like not great. It feels like they 468 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,119 have to go back to their main guys too soon because they're not getting enough 469 00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:15,799 minutes out of their bench. Gary Harris is just I've guessed. I'm convinced 470 00:30:15,799 --> 00:30:19,200 that he's just never going to be the same oh of twelve on above the 471 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,799 break threes as we're recording this five of thirty on all jumpers, and so 472 00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:26,920 I put you at such a disadvantage because you do need his defense. I 473 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,880 just don't know where their defensive improvement comes from. And yeah, there are 474 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,599 things that are going to normalize in their favor or right now, teams are 475 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,240 just hitting a godly amount of three point attempts against them forty point four percent. 476 00:30:37,559 --> 00:30:41,240 That's not going to hold. And they're also shooting. Opponents are shooting 477 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:42,960 seventy four point one percent at the rim right now, which is the second 478 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:48,400 to worst marked in the league, so allowed by a defense. So I 479 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,359 guess they'll be like natural improvement there. But it's like if I told you 480 00:30:52,799 --> 00:30:56,400 that six came into the season, you would have you know, Murray Yokich, 481 00:30:56,519 --> 00:31:00,559 Michael Porter Junior, and Paul millsapp all taking at least two point five 482 00:31:00,599 --> 00:31:03,079 three point attempts per game and hitting at least forty two percent of them or 483 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,319 above forty percent of them, and Denver was two and four, Like, 484 00:31:07,359 --> 00:31:10,440 how would you feel about that? And I know they didn't have Murray for 485 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,680 a game, and I think Michael Porter Junior has been absent for two games 486 00:31:12,759 --> 00:31:17,839 if not mistaken, so you have to consider that too. With Dallas, 487 00:31:18,359 --> 00:31:22,759 I just think we've undersold how little shot creation they have aside from Luca. 488 00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:26,319 That was a clear issue over the offseason, and if anything, they got 489 00:31:26,319 --> 00:31:30,319 worse in that area. I think going from Seth Curry to Josh Richardson, 490 00:31:30,599 --> 00:31:33,759 who sort of showed flashes of that in Miami, but it definitely he didn't 491 00:31:33,759 --> 00:31:37,359 really have a chance to do it in Philly and he's not shooting a great 492 00:31:37,359 --> 00:31:41,680 clip from the field right now. And you've also just you know, kind 493 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,279 of sold on shooting because Richardson is let's say, a league average guy, 494 00:31:45,279 --> 00:31:48,640 even though he's at like thirty three point three percent this season. Seth Curry 495 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:53,039 is volcanic and so like that that's a huge difference, and that, to 496 00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:56,000 me like ends up really hurting them because even when Prezincis comes back like, 497 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,599 that's not he's not the guy to do that, Like he's not going to 498 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:01,559 face up and create these looks from scratch. You don't want him in the 499 00:32:01,599 --> 00:32:05,400 post. And then there's just the question of how healthy will Prezingas be, 500 00:32:05,559 --> 00:32:07,640 what does he look like when he comes back, and how does this team 501 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,519 play with him. I think Luca Dontrich is the one that's going to be 502 00:32:09,559 --> 00:32:12,960 fine, but when you look at all these other guys on the team that 503 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,720 are kind of just you know, bricking threes has probably been Dallas's biggest issue 504 00:32:15,759 --> 00:32:19,759 right now. Luke has been a part of that. But can you guarantee 505 00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:22,400 that Tim Hardaway Junior is going to shoot above thirty five percent from three this 506 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,079 year? Like he's had seasons where he's not good at that. Richardson same 507 00:32:25,119 --> 00:32:29,680 thirty three point three percent, Jalen Brunson thirty three point three percent, probably 508 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,480 closer to his career average than not. Dorian Finny Smith twenty six point seven 509 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:36,240 percent. Yeah, that'll go up, But if you need Dorring Finny Smith 510 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,599 to take five or six three point attempts per game, there's some high variants 511 00:32:38,599 --> 00:32:44,839 there. So I think I might go picking I might actually pick Dallas as 512 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,480 the team that has the lower floor here and that might end up plumbing it, 513 00:32:49,759 --> 00:32:52,200 so I would I would look at it different, I don't think so. 514 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:57,240 I don't think you picking them seventh before the season was outrageous just because 515 00:32:57,279 --> 00:33:01,119 I think like the two three certainly, but maybe even two through seven in 516 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:07,480 the West is like could be separated by three games or two games or something. 517 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,960 But I do think that Dallas does have a cap on it, and 518 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,319 you hit on the reason is that as as I think Luca is a full 519 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:20,480 extreme floor raiser, Like I just think if if you can get thirty five 520 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,799 minutes a game from Luca, you're going to score and you're gonna win more 521 00:33:22,839 --> 00:33:27,799 often than not. But this, you know, they just last year, 522 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,039 their their clutch performance was the worst in the league. And if you're having 523 00:33:31,079 --> 00:33:37,480 an historically good offense, which right life and I think that that is direct. 524 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,799 We always discount clutch like as it's it's inherently small sample. It almost 525 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,640 never carries over year to year. But when you're built like they are, 526 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,079 which is, if you're going to score on offense, it will it will 527 00:33:50,119 --> 00:33:53,359 be because of Luca and no one else will get anything going and at the 528 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:57,720 end of games, after he's tired from doing that throughout the game, and 529 00:33:57,839 --> 00:34:00,920 every halfway decent coach is saying, well, all we all we need to 530 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,160 do is make sure he doesn't get off and they can't score. Like that 531 00:34:05,319 --> 00:34:07,800 just sort of adds up. And maybe that's just sort of conveniently like you 532 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:14,920 know, aligning assumptions. But that to me is why I don't think Dallas 533 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:21,039 ever had like a even like a fringey or legit contender status. As they're 534 00:34:21,079 --> 00:34:23,400 composed, they're my number one Kyle Lowry team. I want Kyle Lowry on 535 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,199 Dallas, not just for this year, but like just keep him around. 536 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,480 Hope he has some late thirties magic and then he can just be that guy 537 00:34:30,559 --> 00:34:34,679 that will make big shots and make cool stuff happen at the end of game, 538 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,119 so Luca doesn't. But I mean, I don't know, maybe if 539 00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:40,679 the Raptors do actually stay terrible, that's the destination and Dallas just doesn't care 540 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:44,519 about it's cap space that it's saved. Yeah, and if you can't get 541 00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:45,960 Kyle Lowry, George Hill might be a name for them to look at. 542 00:34:46,119 --> 00:34:49,920 That would be someone who's like, so, yeah, if that's a good 543 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,360 point about Dallas, the fact I never viewed them. Maybe I'm looking at 544 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,360 how other people were viewing them and like measuring them from that, because I 545 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,079 didn't consider them that like that bona fide contender. It felt like they were 546 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,639 one player short, and even if it's a prize like someone who I feel 547 00:35:00,639 --> 00:35:05,239 like shapes the NBA discourse in Zach Low where he I think he said a 548 00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,519 week or two ago that they're less than a flier away, and that's like, 549 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,360 I just fundamentally don't see it, and I don't necessarily know what it 550 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,840 is about them. I guess what's encouraging there's They've been about league average and 551 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,800 both offensive and defensive efficiency this year all said and done, Like, yeah, 552 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,159 that's what they've been, So they clearly have a higher ceiling than that. 553 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:25,440 Do you have another one for us? Let's go to I'm sure your 554 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:30,719 listenership is just going to be just on the edge of their seats over this 555 00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:35,239 one. But the Calves are off to a relatively hot star, certainly as 556 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,800 measured against what was expected of them. They did get smoked tonight, I 557 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,960 think, or no, what happened tonight not important. They lost to the 558 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,559 Sixers, your MVP candidate and Joy No, no, that was Charlotte though, 559 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:50,960 oh than never mind. But they did lose to They lost by twenty 560 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,440 to the Magic. They scored eighty three points. It's actually it's a lot 561 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:58,840 worse. That's not good. So, but that only puts them down to 562 00:35:59,079 --> 00:36:04,000 four and threes, so which that's significantly better. Anyway, truth are trash. 563 00:36:04,079 --> 00:36:08,800 The Calves are a serious playing game threat in the East. I would 564 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:14,239 call it trash. It feels like the level of shot making from Darius Garland 565 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,679 specifically might be unsustand I'm aboard the Colin Sexton bandwagon. I am there are 566 00:36:19,159 --> 00:36:22,880 tell me, I think he's I think you have to look at him as 567 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,320 a two guard or a combo guard, and once you do, he becomes 568 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,679 a really good player. His passing this year, if you look at his 569 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,519 assist rate, that's absolutely stellar for someone who is a two guard, and 570 00:36:31,599 --> 00:36:35,880 he's I feel like he's making better decisions, like more meaningful passes. I'll 571 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,599 say, when he's attacking the basket. The shooting has been there now for 572 00:36:38,639 --> 00:36:40,400 a while, and so I don't know if he's ever going to be like 573 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:45,760 this super reliable and efficient off the dribble jump shooter, like he can work 574 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:50,480 off the ball and he's just so bankable from there. Darius Garland, a 575 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,599 lot of Calves fans think that he is the higher ceiling of the two, 576 00:36:52,639 --> 00:36:54,480 and they're probably righteous because of what he could do as a passer. But 577 00:36:54,639 --> 00:36:59,159 his level of shot making inside the arc, specifically the outside shooting, really 578 00:36:59,199 --> 00:37:01,280 isn't a surprise to me because he showed flashes of that last year. But 579 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:06,199 the finishing inside the arc this year has just been absolutely mind melting and I 580 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:12,519 would question whether that continues. I feel like the DeAndre DeAndre Jordan Andre Drummond 581 00:37:12,519 --> 00:37:15,960 experience is going to sour at some point. He's been mostly good for them 582 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,639 this season. They don't have Kevin Love right now while he's doing with a 583 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,960 calfish you and so if he comes back, like what does that do to 584 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,599 a defense that's actually raided pretty favorably this year. So and they also just 585 00:37:24,639 --> 00:37:29,239 have like these Isaaco Corol's not playing right now, and so with a rookie 586 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:30,000 there, Yeah, he looked good, but there are going to be some 587 00:37:30,079 --> 00:37:35,199 mistakes. Maybe makes them better if Dylan if and when Dylan Windler comes back 588 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,119 to factor that in U. There also looks like Dante Xa might make some 589 00:37:38,159 --> 00:37:40,400 time now, So their roster just feels like it's all over the place. 590 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:45,840 And I think the two players most responsible for their success or Sexton in Garland, 591 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:50,920 which I guess is encouraging because those are probably the two closest plus a 592 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,679 Coro like the long term pieces you have on your team. I just don't 593 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:59,199 view their shot making and again Garland specifically as sustainable, and I think we're 594 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:04,480 bound to see some defensive regression from them. Before that game against the Magic 595 00:38:04,599 --> 00:38:07,960 they were I think like top ten defensively still or had they dropped from even 596 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,880 there because they were top ten a couple of days they were. They were 597 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,280 second in defensive efficiency before that Magic games. Like that's just I don't see 598 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:20,679 that type of defensive ceiling with the team. The opponents aren't shooting well, 599 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:22,239 there's got to be some sort of luck there. They're the best team in 600 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,599 the world that forcing turnovers and they're not failing. That doesn't make any sense 601 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,760 in the world. I don't think that holds. And they've had issues rebounding 602 00:38:30,079 --> 00:38:32,079 the ball defensively, which I'm sure a lot of that has probably come like 603 00:38:32,159 --> 00:38:37,119 during non Drummond minutes, but at the same time, like, I don't 604 00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:39,039 know, and then I do think I don't know that they'll lean out of 605 00:38:39,039 --> 00:38:43,960 it because the kids, again i'll say, are most responsible for their success. 606 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,679 But I don't expect Andre Drummond to finish the season in Cleveland. And 607 00:38:46,679 --> 00:38:50,239 then even if he does, I just feel like once they're at full strength, 608 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,000 there's gonna be minutes flying everywhere, and you do have to look at 609 00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:57,239 some less established guys Likechael Carrol and Windler that to be a play in threat. 610 00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:00,639 I know it's the East, but even in that context, you're saying 611 00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:06,559 they're going to be better than of like three or four of the Bulls, 612 00:39:06,639 --> 00:39:10,039 the Hornets, the Wizards, the Pistons. I guess when your name most 613 00:39:10,039 --> 00:39:14,920 teams, it doesn't seem like that ridiculous. It's a super little bar. 614 00:39:15,679 --> 00:39:19,719 But if you expect the Raptors to rebound, it gets really difficult because then, 615 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,320 oh, yeah, like the Knicks are still pretty frisky right now, 616 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:27,679 so they have to be better than the Knicks, the Pistons, the Wizards. 617 00:39:27,679 --> 00:39:30,159 That's three, the Hornets, the Bulls. That those are the five 618 00:39:30,159 --> 00:39:32,079 teams that you basically have to You have to be better than four of them. 619 00:39:32,119 --> 00:39:37,679 I guess maybe that's realistic. I don't know. Yeah, here it's 620 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:42,360 trash to me, but and it's all I do think it's true that they've 621 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,719 gotten some promising performances from the guys that like actually really could matter for them 622 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,920 long term, Garland and Sexton and being the two main ones. Larry Nance 623 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:55,079 is another guy that we should probably mention, who's who's just just does everything, 624 00:39:55,119 --> 00:39:59,280 like just the actual good body. You could throw Ben Simmons on defense 625 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,000 and be like, hey, this this isn't a bad decision. Good passer, 626 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,960 really active, good athletes, like, yeah, he's he needs to 627 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,920 be on a good team. But so the defense. This is three games 628 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:12,840 played Sunday. We're recording this Monday night, so this will not include the 629 00:40:13,079 --> 00:40:16,920 loss tonight. But yeah, so this will look better. Although actually they 630 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:22,360 only gave up one on three, But so they had through Sunday had allowed 631 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,400 and affective field goal percentage of fifty two point three, which was ten. 632 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:29,360 That's good, but again kind of the same stat I gave earlier. If 633 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,000 opponents shot league average based on where the Calves are giving up their shots, 634 00:40:32,039 --> 00:40:36,320 which have been a lot of threes, A lot of stuff at the rim 635 00:40:36,599 --> 00:40:38,320 that affected field goal percentage would be fifty five point four, which we are 636 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,920 rank twenty nine, right, so they've been incredibly lucky on opponent shooting. 637 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:45,840 The other thing, this turnover thing is is unbelievable. Kevin Pelton wrote something 638 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:51,519 on it yesterday or today, and basically I'll just read it because like I 639 00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:53,440 can't ever have presumed to have come up with a stat on my own. 640 00:40:53,519 --> 00:40:58,719 So no team since the ABA NBA merger has increased its turnover rate as much 641 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:00,880 from one season to the next as the Cavaliers have, thus far from eleven 642 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:06,800 point seven percent of opponent plays resulting and turnovers to seventeen point seven, making 643 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:12,639 it unlikely to continue. Very classic Kevin Pelton undersell last season's bull Bulls, 644 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:17,039 who you may remember as Jim Boylan's like lunatic squad of like attack animals, 645 00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,440 pulled off the biggest one prior to that, which was a four point four 646 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,159 percentage increase. The Calvas are at six, so they were they are on 647 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:31,199 pace to have increased their turnover turnovers forces percentage by historic margins, and like 648 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,880 you said, they're not fouling. To me, this feels like just a 649 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,960 total marrage. I think some of it's stylistic, and you have young, 650 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,960 aggressive guards and nance can move and Drummond has actually good hands, Like that's 651 00:41:42,039 --> 00:41:45,119 you know, for all of his sort of empty numbers if people like to 652 00:41:45,119 --> 00:41:49,239 point out he actually does have good hands, he does create steals. There's 653 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,960 just no way this continues, and then when that defense falls off. They 654 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,480 scored eighty three points against the Magic tonight, so that like, yeah, 655 00:41:55,519 --> 00:42:00,719 the bar is really low for them to be in the play scenario. But 656 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:04,800 I just the numbers are kind of like it's hard for me to get there 657 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:09,480 looking at how much regression seems to very obviously be ahead of them. Yeah, 658 00:42:09,519 --> 00:42:12,920 that would be my guest. But going through those teams in the East, 659 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:15,000 it's like, I hate the Bulls this season. I've just I've not 660 00:42:15,119 --> 00:42:19,039 enjoyed them at all, and I think they're the team I've watched the least 661 00:42:19,119 --> 00:42:22,599 of just full stop. So maybe that's just uninformed analysis. They're on the 662 00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:24,000 Bulls, But when you go through the list of teams, it's like, 663 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,840 well, you know, maybe because the Pistons are like they're not they're bad, 664 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,679 but they're like promising bad where it's like, oh, Grant is having 665 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:34,360 good moments, and Killian Hayes is doing some good things, and Sadeke Bay 666 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:38,119 and Isaiah Stewart. But they'll probably be better than the Pistons. They'll probably 667 00:42:38,159 --> 00:42:42,559 be better than the Bulls. I get this would bring my next one though, 668 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,519 if they're going to be better than the Knicks, truth or trash. 669 00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:51,320 The Knicks are actually a nuisance in the East. Let's just use the same 670 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,800 logic as the Calves. They're playing threat. Well, I mean, I 671 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:58,639 think a lot of it comes they have. I don't have the numbers in 672 00:42:58,639 --> 00:43:00,000 front of you. I'll look them up when when you start going. But 673 00:43:00,079 --> 00:43:05,920 like they, I think have had the luckiest you know, opponents shooting luck 674 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,519 in terms of they've given up a bunch of threes wide open threes. Maybe 675 00:43:08,559 --> 00:43:13,199 you have this stat, Yeah, they and only they have given up more 676 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:16,280 wide open threes as a higher share of their opponent shots the Knicks's opponents are 677 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:21,159 shooting. This does not include their win over the Hawks, and I actually 678 00:43:21,159 --> 00:43:24,400 watching the fourth quarter from Atlanta. This stat is probably gonna tilt even more 679 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:29,159 in the Knicks's favor. Opponents are shooting thirty point three percent on wide open 680 00:43:29,199 --> 00:43:32,719 threes. Against New York. I mean, maybe they're doing maybe they've figured 681 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:37,360 something out, like whatever whatever it is you can do to make opponents misopen 682 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:42,599 shots. Maybe they're like pumping something weird into the but no, like they 683 00:43:42,639 --> 00:43:47,360 I think the best argument for this being truth or at least you know, 684 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:53,159 talk to me later, is that they do play now under Thibodeaux, as 685 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:59,320 you ever we should have expected. They play like an more organized brand of 686 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,360 basketball with like a little bit of purpose, and even though the pieces still 687 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:07,719 fit and fit weirdly with a bunch of guys that you know, they start 688 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:12,199 guys Julius Randall, Mitchell Robinson together. I just don't know how you get 689 00:44:12,199 --> 00:44:15,199 the shooting from that. And Alfred Peyton is not someone that I think defenses 690 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:19,000 really care about. When you put Frank in the game, same you know, 691 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,360 they have a lot of whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Frank Nilkeen 692 00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:25,480 is shooting above forty percent from three since January twenty fifth. He's also injured. 693 00:44:25,559 --> 00:44:29,360 Right now, when you're not speaking with Frank Hilkeen on this podcast, 694 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,280 I saw you went four for four or the other night there or something like 695 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,840 that. Anyway, let's let's make him a talk to me later, just 696 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:43,079 as in general proposition. But I think the Knicks, like, what's what's 697 00:44:43,119 --> 00:44:45,280 the specific question? Are they a nuisance in the east or just use the 698 00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:49,840 same logic as the Calves. Are they a playing threat? Truth or trash? 699 00:44:50,079 --> 00:44:52,639 Maybe it should just be let's put a finer point on it. Are 700 00:44:52,639 --> 00:44:55,800 they gonna Are they more of a playing threat than the Calves? That's so 701 00:44:55,880 --> 00:45:01,920 tough here, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say no. And it's only 702 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:06,239 because of the shooting luck. I just we get suckered into this every year 703 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:09,199 in one direction or the other, with several teams that get out to incredible 704 00:45:09,199 --> 00:45:12,880 starts of terrible starts, and it really at the end when you look back 705 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,519 at it was just they got lucky. And it's not always three point shooting. 706 00:45:15,559 --> 00:45:19,360 Sometimes it's free throw shooting. Like you know, a team will just 707 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:23,119 randomly have an opponent three throw percentage of like sixty five percent for it, 708 00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:25,719 just for no reason, and that wins them a couple of games or makes 709 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:31,239 their defensive rating look better. The shooting luck thing for the Knicks is it's 710 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:37,159 just it's too glaring of an anomaly to me to really be confident. And 711 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,960 even if I do think Thibodeau gives them if he doesn't break, him gives 712 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,000 them something to sort of, I don't know, ground them. So I 713 00:45:45,119 --> 00:45:50,599 was pretty comfortably trash here with this, and I've enjoyed watching them. Maybe 714 00:45:50,599 --> 00:45:52,800 they'll be fun bad. It's you know, the it's a roller coaster when 715 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,639 you look at RJ. Barrett's jump shot and to the lineup, Tips is 716 00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:59,880 running, but Mammanuel quickly looks like he's an actual NBA player, and they 717 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:01,559 close with him for the most part in the win over Atlanta. But I 718 00:46:01,639 --> 00:46:05,920 don't like the defensive shot profile, and it's still reeks of like TIBs not 719 00:46:06,039 --> 00:46:12,280 updating his defensive system, and they are. They're allowing more looks at the 720 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,039 rim than any other team in the league. And they're twenty seventh an opponent 721 00:46:15,119 --> 00:46:17,360 three point attempt, right and so when you have your opponent and right now 722 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:22,199 they have the best three point defense and our top eight in rim defense, 723 00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:24,719 like both of those are not holding for the year. It's just not happening. 724 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:30,199 And the other thing is they're twenty seventh in offensive efficiency, and that's 725 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:36,199 while shooting unsustainably high for them from three, and we've already seen like they 726 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,280 come down from Barrett and then even Randall over his past few games. I 727 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:43,400 think he was five from three or something like that in the win over the 728 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:45,559 Hawks. They don't have enough shooters to make this work long term, and 729 00:46:45,599 --> 00:46:49,119 I think that we're starting to see it. There was, you know, 730 00:46:49,159 --> 00:46:52,000 some lineups against the Hawks where they had block quickly and rivers on the floor 731 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:53,440 at the same time. It's like, all right, you know, there's 732 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:57,400 some sense there. But because you want to play Julius Randall so much, 733 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,480 and because you can't play him at the five without allowing even more of a 734 00:47:00,519 --> 00:47:05,960 parade towards the basket, you're always going to have Noel or Mitchell Robinson on 735 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:07,360 the court with him. So those are two non shooters. Barrett makes a 736 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,320 third just because defenses don't care about him, and he's hit some pull ups 737 00:47:10,679 --> 00:47:15,360 this year inside the arc, so maybe they're still hope for him. But 738 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,159 now you're effectively you're most used lineups. You're still limiting yourself to maybe two 739 00:47:19,199 --> 00:47:22,960 above average shooters, and that becomes a real that just becomes a real problem 740 00:47:22,079 --> 00:47:25,559 for them. So I don't expect all this to hold, and I would 741 00:47:25,599 --> 00:47:29,960 also think that even if it does, we're gonna get to a point where, 742 00:47:30,119 --> 00:47:32,960 once Alex Burks is healthy, if he and Julius Randall are still playing 743 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,880 like this, and even Austin Rivers, who's been big from them from downtown, 744 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:38,679 like not all those guys are going to finish the season in New York 745 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:43,480 like they're the team because of the players that are really have been a boon 746 00:47:43,559 --> 00:47:46,360 for them. I think when you're looking at the kiddies, it's Barrett has 747 00:47:46,559 --> 00:47:50,440 had his moments, like he's had some up and downs, but he's impacted 748 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:53,360 the game in good ways. I've seen good things from Mitchell Robinson at points 749 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:57,960 made a bunch of good defensive plays against the Hawks, and the foul problem 750 00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:00,519 is still a thing, but there he can at least go our games now 751 00:48:00,519 --> 00:48:04,920 where it feels like it's okay and then Emmanuel quickly, but like everything else 752 00:48:05,039 --> 00:48:07,880 is just like oh, Alec Burks was playing so well before, Randall's playing 753 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,360 out of his mind. Now you're getting great minutes from Austin Rivers since he's 754 00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:14,039 returned. These are guys that don't factor into the big picture. And I 755 00:48:14,039 --> 00:48:16,280 would think based on what the Knicks did over the off season, they will 756 00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:21,079 start moving some of them. And I would advocate strongly, if Julius Rynold's 757 00:48:21,119 --> 00:48:23,000 going to play like this, move him now while you can, because I 758 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,079 think here's a team out there that I'll look in and be like, oh, 759 00:48:25,119 --> 00:48:29,400 he's averaging twenty two eleven and seven assists, and he's turning the ball 760 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,599 over a lot, but he's still shooting over fifty percent on twos and forty 761 00:48:31,599 --> 00:48:35,719 percent from three. I would move him now. And so that's a big 762 00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:37,960 part of why it's trash too. But I do think what they've done now, 763 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:40,960 while it's fun, I think it's unsustainable. Yeah, we should talk 764 00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:45,039 about the team that they beat tonight, which is the Atlanta Hawks, which 765 00:48:45,159 --> 00:48:50,440 I think you know, so the Hawks fell to four and three, but 766 00:48:50,639 --> 00:48:53,840 if you pull it up, they're sixth in the league and net rating. 767 00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:59,960 Still despite that loss, they're third in offense. They're not good defense, 768 00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:01,960 but not terrible. They're eighteenth, which is kind of you know, the 769 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:08,159 difference between fifteen and twenty is kind of negligible so far. So I'm trying 770 00:49:08,199 --> 00:49:10,639 to put a finer point on this because it's not like, you know, 771 00:49:10,679 --> 00:49:15,119 the question, are they a surefire top eight team? I think it's The 772 00:49:15,119 --> 00:49:17,800 answer is probably yes. But just looking at some of the good East teams, 773 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:22,599 theoretically good East teams that have stumbled, let's put it at truth or 774 00:49:22,599 --> 00:49:27,440 trash or talk to me later. The Atlanta Hawks are a top six team 775 00:49:27,559 --> 00:49:30,519 in the West, and keep in mind the East in the East, yeah 776 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:35,840 no, so they're going to realign conferences this year and then the Hawks but 777 00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:39,840 no. So that means if they're top six, they are better than somebody 778 00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:44,519 from the following group, which, as I'm doing this is gonna be a 779 00:49:44,559 --> 00:49:47,519 tough sell. Milwaukee, Philadelphia. I'm just going down by net rating so 780 00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:54,920 far in order Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Indiana, Brooklyn, Boston, and then 781 00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:59,360 you've still got Miami and then Toronto way down there. So they got to 782 00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,559 be better than somebody from that group this season to be a top six team 783 00:50:02,639 --> 00:50:07,880 in the East. Right now. They are and a lot of that is 784 00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:12,440 based on their offense is awesome, which I think is one hundred percent legit. 785 00:50:13,079 --> 00:50:17,000 The question will be defensively, is where are you truth? Trash? 786 00:50:17,079 --> 00:50:20,679 Talk to me later. Hawks are a top six team. I have to 787 00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:22,440 heade here was talk to me later, because I want to call truth. 788 00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:25,360 But when you phrase it like that from the group, it's so tough. 789 00:50:25,559 --> 00:50:29,360 What I do think BOE's well for them is like they haven't even been close 790 00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:31,559 to full strength this year yet, Like Chris Doohn's injured, Gallo has been 791 00:50:31,599 --> 00:50:36,360 banged up, Christ Cappela is still working his way into shape. Rondo's only 792 00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,599 played in two games, I believe, and they've gotten good play from their 793 00:50:38,639 --> 00:50:43,719 younger wings. It's almost just like they have too many decisions to make. 794 00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:46,679 I'm not just it's like a minute by minute basis the amount of decisions they 795 00:50:46,679 --> 00:50:49,239 have to make. It's like, oh, what do we close with? 796 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:52,639 How do we run these lineups? Are we ever does Gallo play some three 797 00:50:52,679 --> 00:50:54,440 when he comes back? Will they ever share the court with John Collins? 798 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:58,800 Does him and John Collins the four and five work? Are we closing games 799 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:00,440 with Capella at the five? And then if we, does that mean that 800 00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:04,440 Collins or Gallo one of them has to be on the bench. Can we 801 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:07,639 close a game with Collins at the five? And are we you know, 802 00:51:07,679 --> 00:51:09,599 when Chris Dunn comes back, like do him and Rondo played together? Is 803 00:51:09,599 --> 00:51:14,280 he defending wings? Which one of our young wings is closing games? DeAndre 804 00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:17,480 Hunter probably gives us more optionality defensively, but cam Reddish has been I feel 805 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:22,039 like buying large just better defensively for him, particularly against smaller players. They 806 00:51:22,039 --> 00:51:25,400 make me nervous just because they have so in a good way, but it's 807 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,960 almost like too much of a good thing, and it feels like they need 808 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:31,960 to consolidate this a little bit in favor of some defensive talent. I don't 809 00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:37,800 know if I'm not advocating for John Collins trade in that through like through that 810 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,760 lens, but that feels like what they need to do they so I agree. 811 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,320 I think with their numbers are this is a testament to out early is 812 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:50,760 their number They're five man unit numbers going into sight were wild, like you 813 00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:53,280 would assume that. You know, Capella has long been thought to be sort 814 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:57,480 of the key to them playing passable defense because he would defend him, but 815 00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:00,880 their numbers with him at center stuck, and when John Collins has played the 816 00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:04,639 five, their defense has been really really good. So obviously it's just been 817 00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:08,679 that's just been luck because Collins can't guard anything. But I think you hit 818 00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:13,880 on the potential for why this could be truth. I'm I'm gonna talk to 819 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:15,880 me later too. Because if if you said seven or eight, then sure, 820 00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:19,920 but six is like, are they gonna really be better than Toronto, 821 00:52:20,079 --> 00:52:23,280 Boston like Miami? I just it's tough to get there. But they have 822 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:28,159 so many pieces that if they wanted to go out and trade for a star, 823 00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:31,800 like what could you get with Collins and like a cong we didn't even 824 00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:35,639 talk about him. He hasn't really he hasn't played, but I don't know, 825 00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:39,000 pick Reddish or Hunter and and find some salary ballast to throw in there, 826 00:52:39,039 --> 00:52:43,199 like they don't need Bradley Beal. But like if you just are if 827 00:52:43,199 --> 00:52:46,039 the Wizards want a bunch of young guys that are cheap, like, sure 828 00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:50,960 that you could do that. Now, Bill doesn't address the defense or really 829 00:52:51,079 --> 00:52:53,599 almost none of the you know, the typical guys that we spent the off 830 00:52:53,599 --> 00:53:00,000 season talking trade block about really do. But if you're if if this is 831 00:53:00,199 --> 00:53:04,519 going to be truth, I think one pathway to get there is they do 832 00:53:04,599 --> 00:53:07,360 like you say, is consolidate and just trade like three of these young guys 833 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:09,559 in a pick or something and they just get another start so you know, 834 00:53:10,119 --> 00:53:14,559 or another figure out who what kind of defensive piece you could throw in there 835 00:53:14,599 --> 00:53:16,320 on the wing to just fix everything because they got a lot of guys and 836 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:21,079 you know, it's almost like a blessing that they all haven't been healthy, 837 00:53:21,119 --> 00:53:22,760 which is weird to say, because they're just aren't going to be a lot 838 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:27,599 of minutes and somebody's gonna get pissed off and there that could be a whole 839 00:53:27,599 --> 00:53:30,079 other problem. But they're really kind of ripe to do something wild. I 840 00:53:30,159 --> 00:53:34,480 think potentially it's just when you look at like who could potentially be available, 841 00:53:34,519 --> 00:53:37,320 who's going to help them defensively? Even thought like what if they just decided 842 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:40,840 to move on from Gallo or Bogdanovitch at midseason and use that as balist parrot 843 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:44,519 with a youngster and like go after somebody you know, like at all. 844 00:53:44,559 --> 00:53:46,639 Adipo would make sense for them if they're if you don't have to give up 845 00:53:46,639 --> 00:53:51,480 too much and they're willing to pay him. I thought about Aaron Gordon for 846 00:53:51,519 --> 00:53:53,280 this team, but then that's still he could defend wing spots, but he's 847 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:57,039 still redundant if you have Collins in there too, Like, how do you 848 00:53:57,079 --> 00:54:00,159 balance that? It's still an issue. They have so many options. I 849 00:54:00,199 --> 00:54:02,000 guess it isn't for the regular season. It's definitely not a bad thing because 850 00:54:02,039 --> 00:54:06,280 as we've seen, like not only the injuries, but whatever happens with COVID 851 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:07,960 protocols. Like that's how this season needs to be viewed too, is that 852 00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:13,400 you need the extra available bodies. But when it comes to crunch time, 853 00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:15,679 like we've kind of seen it, like they have all these different options to 854 00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:19,480 make, and with the way that they've kind of played in the fourth quarter 855 00:54:19,519 --> 00:54:22,880 of the past couple of games, maybe those are also underlying issues they need 856 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:24,880 to look at. It's also hard to make that call though, before they've 857 00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:30,480 seen their rotation at full strength, Like you just even forget about ol Kongwu. 858 00:54:30,679 --> 00:54:34,039 Just not having like Gallo and Chris Dunne available at the same time as 859 00:54:34,119 --> 00:54:37,159 Rondo and Badanovitch along with them like everyone else, it just makes it hard 860 00:54:37,199 --> 00:54:40,119 to like how do you build your rotation or judge like they still had to 861 00:54:40,119 --> 00:54:43,760 play a bunch of Solomon Hill and Brandon Goodwin for this team. Yeah. 862 00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:49,400 Yeah. The other thing with them too is I honestly think, like having 863 00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,320 just said there seemed to be ways for them to consolidate or get better, 864 00:54:52,679 --> 00:54:57,880 there's still a team that I maybe this is just me being risk averse, 865 00:54:57,960 --> 00:55:01,360 but they I think they're not far enough along in the process to where they 866 00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:06,920 can be, you know, turning down all these bites at the apple they 867 00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:08,599 have because like we didn't talk about Kevin Hurder. I like Kevin Hurder. 868 00:55:08,639 --> 00:55:12,519 I think he might be like a seventh guy that just as a lights out 869 00:55:12,519 --> 00:55:15,239 shooter on a good team someday. And you know, they got all these 870 00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:20,239 guys in the like twenty one to twenty three range, throw Reddish and Hunter 871 00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:23,039 in there, Like, realistically, all those guys aren't part of the future. 872 00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:27,880 But I think you want to keep all these guys as many around as 873 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:30,840 you can to see if which couple of them pop, and then you have 874 00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:34,800 a better idea in a year or two of like what your team actually is 875 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:37,039 going to look like, and consult look like, and consolidation happens kind of 876 00:55:37,119 --> 00:55:43,159 organically. And really the Callins situation is a good example because they're just like, 877 00:55:43,199 --> 00:55:45,760 now we're gonna wait and see what you are before we meet your max 878 00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:50,239 salary demands. Like we just we're going to go another year. If you're 879 00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:52,199 this good, we'll pay you if not later we got restricted, right, 880 00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:54,519 It's like, I think that's kind of a good way to approach it. 881 00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:59,960 So having said all that about how they could get there, I don't know. 882 00:56:00,079 --> 00:56:01,360 I'd I think you just kind of hang on and see which one of 883 00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:06,559 these guys kind of emerge from from from all this and and you, you 884 00:56:06,559 --> 00:56:08,599 know, hope to come out of this year with an idea of like, 885 00:56:08,679 --> 00:56:14,760 these are are six guys that are really a big part of the future, 886 00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:17,599 and the rest of them we can can consider moving because this isn't the year, 887 00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:21,239 right, Like they want to make the playoffs. They're gonna do that. 888 00:56:21,559 --> 00:56:22,800 I think you'd just be happy with that and not you know, think 889 00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:28,760 about pushing, you know, going crazy. I'm with you, truth or 890 00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:32,920 trash. The Golden State Warriors can be more than a first round stepping stone. 891 00:56:35,119 --> 00:56:39,159 So this means they can win a playoff series. Yeah, not a 892 00:56:39,199 --> 00:56:42,360 play in series. I just want to make that clear. A play an 893 00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:46,280 actually playoffs I guess series that involves seven games against the team that actually I 894 00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:53,360 think that's truth. And I feel incredibly uneasy about saying that because we talked 895 00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:59,920 about this before we started recording. I thought, based on the preseason, 896 00:57:00,039 --> 00:57:04,320 and my sort of mantra on them was, I don't know if they're gonna 897 00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:06,920 be any good. But I know they're gonna be They're gonna play really hard 898 00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:10,079 and be fun and defend, and that hasn't been true at all. They've 899 00:57:10,079 --> 00:57:16,119 been just super inconsistent at the shooting is like Kelly Ubrey on the literally the 900 00:57:16,159 --> 00:57:22,119 worst three point shooting start in NBA history is a huge story. Wiggins being 901 00:57:22,599 --> 00:57:25,480 looking incredible for stretches and looking like he just doesn't want to be there. 902 00:57:27,159 --> 00:57:36,400 The Andrew Wiggins experience is the thing. I think a huge issue that will 903 00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:39,679 continue to be a complicated thing is that, you know, Steve Kerr wants 904 00:57:39,679 --> 00:57:47,039 to run an offense that is like high level you know whatever math analogy you 905 00:57:47,039 --> 00:57:51,480 want to use, like it's advanced calculus, and he has it's really react 906 00:57:51,559 --> 00:57:55,159 basically right, and it's it's complicated. You have to be watching three other 907 00:57:55,199 --> 00:57:59,320 guys and waiting for Steph Curry to not come off this pin down but the 908 00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:01,280 other one in on a split cut with this guy and he's gonna you have 909 00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:06,880 it's it's it's it requires an incredibly high basketball IQ. So it's an advanced 910 00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:10,360 calculus offense with guys that can't do long division yet, Like that's that's what 911 00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:15,639 the roster that's the situation. And so Curry blew up last night because they 912 00:58:15,719 --> 00:58:20,440 simplified and he just said ff it, like I'm going to attack the basket 913 00:58:20,519 --> 00:58:24,840 and and make cool stuff happen. So that's a huge problem. Wiseman's gonna 914 00:58:24,840 --> 00:58:29,679 play a ton and he has no idea where to be. Ninety percent of 915 00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:31,920 the time he does more harm than good right now, But the flashes are 916 00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:35,960 incredible. They should continue to play him. They will continue to play him, 917 00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:39,280 and it's going to be rough sledding against good teams, especially as that 918 00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:45,760 you realize that, like he just has miles and miles to go in terms 919 00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:49,639 of like understanding where to be, how to position himself, how to rebound 920 00:58:49,679 --> 00:58:52,519 the ball in traffic, which he cannot do. There's all this stuff. 921 00:58:52,559 --> 00:58:58,519 But I do think there's a chance that with Steph, with Draymond, assuming 922 00:58:58,519 --> 00:59:01,920 those guys stay healthy, there will be the learning curve will be gradual, 923 00:59:02,039 --> 00:59:07,880 but there will be one. And when you have an MVP type player, 924 00:59:07,960 --> 00:59:13,840 which I think Steph still is last night, you truth, with one hundred 925 00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:16,599 percent truth, you have a shot. And so you have a shot not 926 00:59:16,679 --> 00:59:22,719 only to make the playoffs, but to beat somebody because again you know the 927 00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:25,840 principles on this team have done it, and I think that carries a lot 928 00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:31,320 of weight if the question is that they will be more than a playoff stepping 929 00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:35,440 stone, like they're definitely gonna win a series. I don't know. They 930 00:59:35,559 --> 00:59:38,199 absolutely could, though it wouldn't It wouldn't register to me as as a shock 931 00:59:38,280 --> 00:59:42,800 if they did. I think they need to make a trade to do it. 932 00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,639 And that's where they get questionable to me, is that would this be 933 00:59:45,719 --> 00:59:50,440 the season to do that? Even if it's not. The Wiseman future picks 934 00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:53,519 and Andrew Wiggins all in for James Harden play Like, does it make sense 935 00:59:53,519 --> 00:59:58,519 to mortgage any part of the future or do anything this year? Are you 936 00:59:58,519 --> 01:00:01,480 good enough to justify doing that? Because I just don't I could. I 937 01:00:01,519 --> 01:00:05,840 guess I could see them winning a playoff series as it is, but you 938 01:00:05,880 --> 01:00:09,119 would need to get and maybe I'm just too stuck in their early season funk 939 01:00:09,239 --> 01:00:13,840 where you know, Kelly Huber is one of nineteen on wide open threes for 940 01:00:14,159 --> 01:00:19,800 whopping five point three percent clip on wide open threes there, But like, 941 01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:22,480 you need more shooting on this team desperately, and if they're not, I 942 01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:27,320 don't know how there are better players on this team than they were last year. 943 01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:30,400 And the Warriors defended about lee average with Draymond Green on the court last 944 01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:35,159 year, so you would think that should translate into better returns this year. 945 01:00:35,719 --> 01:00:37,639 I'm just I'm not sure. There's something about the scene that still feel uneasy. 946 01:00:37,679 --> 01:00:40,679 Like you said, they're gonna play Wiseman a bunch and then just the 947 01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:45,760 shooting variants night tonight from the supporting cast is just and they don't have like 948 01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:49,880 you look at this team, there's not like great supporting cast defenders. Who 949 01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:54,079 is the Warrior's second best defender. Oh, it's probably Wiggins, which is 950 01:00:54,199 --> 01:01:00,559 like, and I will say as bad as Wiggins has looked it just in 951 01:01:00,599 --> 01:01:04,159 Spurts, I do think he's had some good games. Can you believe how 952 01:01:04,239 --> 01:01:08,360 much how I'm just like he did like eight years of Minnesota history didn't happen. 953 01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:12,800 Everyone's laughing at me. Then I'm like, you know, sometimes he's 954 01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:16,760 actually but he so Ubre is there is the guy they've been putting on like 955 01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:21,760 Dan Lillard for example, and he's the one that's gonna guard the most threatening 956 01:01:22,159 --> 01:01:25,639 perimeter player, and he's just feast or famine because he does a lot of 957 01:01:27,280 --> 01:01:31,000 incredibly aggressive, you know, he's like it's like if Jim Boylan only coached 958 01:01:31,079 --> 01:01:36,960 Kelly, that's what defense will look like. And so he gets beat backdoor. 959 01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:40,079 He's terrible off the ball, like all that stuff. Wiggins. Actually 960 01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:45,960 he knows how to use his length. He's pretty strong. He's stronger than 961 01:01:45,039 --> 01:01:50,719 Ubre. He's had a bunch of like chase down blocks that like the Warriors, 962 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:53,360 just like Clay Thompson was a much better defender, but did not have 963 01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:58,400 the length or bursts to do some of the stuff that Wiggins does. So 964 01:01:58,599 --> 01:02:02,480 it's probably Wiggins, I guess. But but yeah, that's terrifying. It 965 01:02:04,079 --> 01:02:07,800 is for a moment of depend depending on him for anything is like is a 966 01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:13,960 mistake. But what's interesting about this team is they so there are shooters like 967 01:02:14,039 --> 01:02:16,360 Damian Lee can shoot. Michael Molder is in the NBA because he can shoot 968 01:02:16,840 --> 01:02:22,119 that, you know, And actually Damian Lee, probably outside of Curry and 969 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:27,119 Draymond, has like the highest, the most developed understanding of how gold and 970 01:02:27,159 --> 01:02:30,239 Say wants to play. I think most people think he should be playing more 971 01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:34,960 because he's passable defensively and he sort of understands what the Warriors are trying to 972 01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:39,400 accomplish on both ends. The problem is like if you play Molder and you 973 01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:45,320 play Lee and instead of say Wiggins and and Ubre, not that you'd ever 974 01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:50,800 really play meaningful minutes with both of those guys on the floor. But Molder 975 01:02:51,039 --> 01:02:54,280 and Wiggins are Molder and Lee, you're just kind of giving up a lot. 976 01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:59,079 They're they're not athletic. So the Warriors have these lineups that can be 977 01:02:59,119 --> 01:03:01,280 good on one end, but probably not on the other. Potentially, although 978 01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:06,119 look like Uber is gonna be better, right Like Wiggins is what he is, 979 01:03:06,119 --> 01:03:07,519 but Uber is gonna be better. You can't shoot this. He shot 980 01:03:07,559 --> 01:03:12,599 thirty five percent on pretty solid volume last year. If he shot thirty, 981 01:03:12,960 --> 01:03:15,400 like what would you have to shoot from now on to the end of the 982 01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:17,159 year to hit like thirty three percent on the year, he'd be like a 983 01:03:17,239 --> 01:03:22,719 forty five percent year or something ridiculously, So he's if he gets anywhere within 984 01:03:22,840 --> 01:03:25,360 like three or four percent of what he shot last year, he's gonna be 985 01:03:25,400 --> 01:03:31,000 incredible from here on out. So I don't know, I just think this 986 01:03:31,079 --> 01:03:35,039 is it's probably not good to be doing this. After Steph won for sixty 987 01:03:35,039 --> 01:03:38,280 two and Draymond looked like vintage Draymond on defense against Portland. But you know, 988 01:03:38,519 --> 01:03:44,559 I still am not ready to give up on my initial baseline of like, 989 01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:46,159 I think they're gonna be fun. I think they're gonna defend, and 990 01:03:46,199 --> 01:03:50,400 I think they're gonna be like interesting because they have they have not beenest. 991 01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:52,719 They've been interesting in the wrong way so far because they've lost three games by 992 01:03:52,719 --> 01:03:55,880 twenty five. I think they end up being a playoff team. So like, 993 01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,079 I do think that things are gonna get better. I just unless they 994 01:03:59,119 --> 01:04:02,400 make a i'll call like an Aaron Gordon sized move, like a player at 995 01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:08,320 that level that addresses an actual need in an impactful way, which would be 996 01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:13,360 defense for them. He's not gonna help their shooting. Like That's where I 997 01:04:13,400 --> 01:04:15,480 just don't know if I could see them winning a playoff series. Like I 998 01:04:15,480 --> 01:04:19,679 don't know that they have the fire the firepower on offense or just the defensive 999 01:04:19,719 --> 01:04:24,719 depth. Yeah, I don't think they're gonna because I think if they if 1000 01:04:24,719 --> 01:04:27,559 they were going to, they would have well, you know, back before 1001 01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:31,960 before the draft or you know, I just I agree that I think you 1002 01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:36,840 know they're they're clearly a move with the thing is like what are you gonna 1003 01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:43,519 do? Because Wiggins is negative value, Clay's contract is negative value. Draymond's 1004 01:04:43,599 --> 01:04:46,039 might be negative value. You're not trading stuff. You're you're almost definitely not 1005 01:04:46,079 --> 01:04:49,880 trade if you're making a window move, you wouldn't trade Draymond anyway. I 1006 01:04:49,920 --> 01:04:54,159 think his contract you could argue his net neutral for not like if he's gonna 1007 01:04:54,159 --> 01:04:57,519 defend like he did against Portland. Yeah, and what you like, you 1008 01:04:57,559 --> 01:05:00,719 can't move Clay because he's too important. I think long term anyway, no 1009 01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:03,639 one's like, what do you get from him? It's you have Ubrey's expiring. 1010 01:05:03,679 --> 01:05:06,440 What can you attach to that to make something happen? Where do you 1011 01:05:06,519 --> 01:05:10,599 land on the And I'm surprised like this hasn't been talked more about, like 1012 01:05:10,679 --> 01:05:16,199 the go all in and get James Harden. I just don't think. I 1013 01:05:16,239 --> 01:05:21,840 think if you could sort of hook the Warriors decision makers up to up to 1014 01:05:23,360 --> 01:05:28,519 or shoot him up with truth serum. I think they look at this year 1015 01:05:28,639 --> 01:05:31,719 as another gap year and not this is not in the same way as last 1016 01:05:31,760 --> 01:05:38,840 season. I think what having now seen so the best thing that could have 1017 01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:41,800 happened for the stability of the team was that sixty two point game from Steph 1018 01:05:41,840 --> 01:05:45,119 because what that tells the Warriors is that we've still got an MVP caliber player 1019 01:05:45,599 --> 01:05:50,400 and so we can afford to try to make the playoffs. This year, 1020 01:05:50,639 --> 01:05:56,519 We're gonna probably get a sweet Minnesota pick because the Wolves are terrible, and 1021 01:05:56,559 --> 01:06:00,039 that pick is Russell's popping champagne after losses. He's counting ral victory. Now, 1022 01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:03,599 yeah, so you got that. I think they'll develop. They'll hope 1023 01:06:03,639 --> 01:06:11,280 Wiseman develops. So I just number for a player like hard at number one. 1024 01:06:11,480 --> 01:06:15,800 Like this is probably personal, but like it's hard for me to think 1025 01:06:15,840 --> 01:06:18,400 of a team if I'm running that team that I want him like for anything 1026 01:06:18,519 --> 01:06:21,800 of value, just because I think he's gonna aid. He still looks really 1027 01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:25,519 good when he's played. But that's kind of a side point. I think 1028 01:06:25,519 --> 01:06:30,480 bill Warriors specifically, this is a better gap year and they're really hoping that 1029 01:06:30,880 --> 01:06:33,679 by the time Clay is back next year, Steph is still MVP level. 1030 01:06:33,800 --> 01:06:38,320 Draymond proves this year that last season he just didn't care and he's still, 1031 01:06:38,559 --> 01:06:43,559 you know, an All NBA defender. Wiseman gets better, Wiggins is still 1032 01:06:43,559 --> 01:06:46,239 Wiggins. You get another high pick in there. I think they're just kind 1033 01:06:46,239 --> 01:06:51,039 of what's the analogy I want to use or what's the this is sort of 1034 01:06:51,280 --> 01:06:54,400 I don't know, it's like a Spurs thing. I think they want to 1035 01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:56,719 be the Spurs. I think they want to be really good for twenty years. 1036 01:06:56,760 --> 01:06:59,239 I think I think kind of that's the aim. And I don't know 1037 01:06:59,280 --> 01:07:02,039 that that's a hardened move. For example, is is going to achieve what 1038 01:07:02,320 --> 01:07:04,880 they're going for. I'd be curious if they could find a middle ground move 1039 01:07:04,960 --> 01:07:09,119 like I mentioned before, where it's you keep Wiseman at least, like that's 1040 01:07:09,159 --> 01:07:12,719 the can you get in Aaron Gorge nay I mentioned you don't like Zachobeam, 1041 01:07:12,719 --> 01:07:15,599 but it feels like he'd be perfect for this team. Even smaller scale than 1042 01:07:15,639 --> 01:07:19,199 that, like DeVante Graham not shouting well right now, but that's someone that 1043 01:07:19,239 --> 01:07:24,280 to seem could really use. They would also be a fun Kyle Lowry team. 1044 01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:27,199 Who wouldn't be a fun Kyle Lowry team. Send Andrew Wiggins home. 1045 01:07:27,800 --> 01:07:30,880 Oh, wouldn't have sign me up for that? That's incredible. You can 1046 01:07:30,960 --> 01:07:32,920 have the Minnesota pick, Just give me Kyle Lowry and I don't think I 1047 01:07:32,960 --> 01:07:36,760 think it probably was more than the would you do the Minnesota pick and Wiggins 1048 01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:41,280 for Kyle Lowry if ye like I was gonna say, if you assured me 1049 01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:45,159 that Kyle Lowry would cease aging and sign another assignment for three more years and 1050 01:07:45,239 --> 01:07:48,880 be just as good at thirty eight or whatever as he was at thirty four, 1051 01:07:49,199 --> 01:07:51,519 But then I would do that. Seems like that's asking a lot. 1052 01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:57,119 It's kind of asking a lot you had you had the Pacers on this, 1053 01:07:57,320 --> 01:08:00,880 Yeah, this is this is gonna be kind of a bad look since we 1054 01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:05,039 just talked about how the Raptors are in trouble sort of. But I'm in 1055 01:08:05,159 --> 01:08:11,679 on the Nick Nurse coaching tree from which Naate Jorkern has fallen, and I 1056 01:08:11,719 --> 01:08:14,880 think so the Pacers sort of just picked the low hanging fruit, which was 1057 01:08:14,920 --> 01:08:16,880 their shot profile from last year where they shot a ton of mid rangers. 1058 01:08:17,079 --> 01:08:20,600 They've cut those out. They're shooting a bunch more threes, and as I 1059 01:08:20,640 --> 01:08:24,359 just looked through the rocks now, the TJ. Warren injury is a big 1060 01:08:24,399 --> 01:08:28,600 deal because they just don't have any wings with size. Jeremy Lamb, I 1061 01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:31,119 just he hasn't played. I wouldn't expect they're going to get anything from him 1062 01:08:31,159 --> 01:08:35,319 coming off that injury. He's a type of player that they need but not 1063 01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:42,640 no, well they started so they started Aaron Holiday. They still have justin 1064 01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:45,000 Holiday. I guess maybe we're overlooking him, but Ron overlooking him, but 1065 01:08:45,399 --> 01:08:49,159 that's an issue. The wing is the wing thing is kind of a problem. 1066 01:08:49,159 --> 01:08:55,119 But I just I just feel like they handled the shot profile stuff. 1067 01:08:55,159 --> 01:08:57,680 They were very good last year. I think they have the potential to be 1068 01:08:57,760 --> 01:09:01,960 even better this year just by fixing that and looked like Oldipo looks good. 1069 01:09:03,039 --> 01:09:08,239 I don't think all NBA Oladipo is coming back. That just felt like just 1070 01:09:08,479 --> 01:09:11,520 lightning in a bottle. That year. He was just super healthy, super 1071 01:09:11,600 --> 01:09:15,800 quick, getting by everybody. But what he's done so far this year has 1072 01:09:15,840 --> 01:09:19,159 been as good as any other year of his career, including the sort of 1073 01:09:19,199 --> 01:09:23,560 truncated I think eighteen nineteen year where he was sort of hurt, made an 1074 01:09:23,600 --> 01:09:27,159 All Star Game and then played like thirty some odd games and didn't play the 1075 01:09:27,159 --> 01:09:30,199 rest of the year. He had a sequence tonight at the end of the 1076 01:09:30,239 --> 01:09:33,199 game where he came down, did a pull up three from like twenty eight 1077 01:09:33,199 --> 01:09:39,600 feet to get the Pelican or to get Indie within three, stole the inbound 1078 01:09:39,640 --> 01:09:43,439 assisted a Miles turner three that tied, and like he just he looks active 1079 01:09:43,479 --> 01:09:46,239 on both ends. Olddipo looks like a player. So and he's not telling 1080 01:09:46,399 --> 01:09:50,359 anything. Sorry, he's not even doing anything like unsustainable. Yeah, he's 1081 01:09:50,359 --> 01:09:54,239 not gonna shoot sixty percent. I'll catch a shoot threes forever. But you 1082 01:09:54,279 --> 01:09:57,319 mentioned the pull up three, Like thirty six point eight percent on pull up 1083 01:09:57,319 --> 01:10:00,039 threes for him, Like that's totally like that's you know, probably closer to 1084 01:10:00,079 --> 01:10:02,720 all NBA season than the one where he was an All Star before he got 1085 01:10:02,720 --> 01:10:06,039 injured. But like that's not an absurd number where it's like, oh, 1086 01:10:06,079 --> 01:10:11,680 he can't do that. And he's been defending well too, which wasn't happening 1087 01:10:11,720 --> 01:10:14,560 in the bubble, and it felt like he was hijacking possessions on offense app 1088 01:10:14,600 --> 01:10:17,520 points and it just doesn't feel that way now. Yeah, so I've departed 1089 01:10:17,560 --> 01:10:21,680 from our from our conceit. But the truth, I guess I'll just say 1090 01:10:21,760 --> 01:10:27,800 truth trash. Talk to me later. India is by the thing on the 1091 01:10:27,800 --> 01:10:30,960 island is India is this good? Which by this good? I guess it's 1092 01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:33,279 like, you know, they're one of the three or four best teams in 1093 01:10:33,319 --> 01:10:38,399 the East. I'm gonna call the truth they're good, right, Like, 1094 01:10:38,640 --> 01:10:40,720 yeah, they kind of have a lot of talents. So but we didn't 1095 01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:43,479 even talk about Sabonus yet. I don't think either of us are super high 1096 01:10:43,520 --> 01:10:48,039 on Sabonus relative to higher now yeah, way higher now. Yeah, he's 1097 01:10:48,079 --> 01:10:50,760 been Look he's not gonna shoot, he's taking threes now, He's not gonna 1098 01:10:50,760 --> 01:10:54,960 shoot fifty plus percent from me on the arc forever. But like they're not 1099 01:10:55,039 --> 01:10:58,520 getting anything from Miles Turner beyond the arc right now, he's up thirty percent. 1100 01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:00,680 So it's like that, like there's kind of the give and take there, 1101 01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:05,279 Like this team is just ridiculously good. So Bonus is just like super 1102 01:11:05,399 --> 01:11:09,720 charged now in this offense too. And I think people like view his game 1103 01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:14,079 as a throwback. I just feel like he's more of a contemporary spin on 1104 01:11:14,239 --> 01:11:17,039 like doing some like the work, Like he's he's not setting up shop in 1105 01:11:17,079 --> 01:11:20,000 the post taking ten to twelve seconds off the shack hack while he's backing dudes 1106 01:11:20,039 --> 01:11:25,399 down, like he's making these just like super fast reads. He's really like 1107 01:11:25,479 --> 01:11:29,159 he's really good at like using his shoulders and like he's gonna lead fast breaks 1108 01:11:29,199 --> 01:11:31,359 too. So he's just been so good for them. And if you were 1109 01:11:31,479 --> 01:11:34,279 say, like truth or trash, they're top four in the East. I 1110 01:11:34,279 --> 01:11:36,880 did not have them here at the beginning of the season. If you tell 1111 01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:40,520 me that they're keeping Victor Oladipo and they're not going to trade him, which 1112 01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:43,239 I do think needs to be factored into all this since he's coming in a 1113 01:11:43,319 --> 01:11:46,359 contract year and he's look, he's making that decision more difficult because he's playing 1114 01:11:46,520 --> 01:11:49,680 so well and it's like, all right, this is great, but if 1115 01:11:49,680 --> 01:11:54,159 we pay him, like what happens from there? And that you do have 1116 01:11:54,239 --> 01:11:58,079 to think about that. They don't really have a north Star aside from Sabonus 1117 01:11:58,119 --> 01:12:00,199 after him, and I don't think you want to build your entire team around 1118 01:12:00,760 --> 01:12:04,960 a Sabonus type. You still need that traditional face up option, which Sabonus 1119 01:12:05,039 --> 01:12:09,560 is just not. And we're even seeing the benefits of what old Deepo does 1120 01:12:09,560 --> 01:12:12,239 from Malcolm Brogden just being able to open his game. That's something that t. 1121 01:12:12,399 --> 01:12:15,560 J. Warren isn't even gonna do when he's healthy. So if you 1122 01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:17,199 told me they kept Oladipo, I'd pencil them in his top four in the 1123 01:12:17,199 --> 01:12:20,640 East right now. And they have continuity in spaces like at the top where 1124 01:12:20,680 --> 01:12:23,960 a lot of other teams don't. And like you said, they took the 1125 01:12:23,960 --> 01:12:27,960 they swallowed or swung at the low hanging fruit, which was their shot profile 1126 01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:29,840 where you know, Steve Clifford team is gonna be like, hey, we're 1127 01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,000 not going to turn the ball over or foul. And they were just like, 1128 01:12:32,039 --> 01:12:35,439 hey, we're gonna take three steps back and take more threes instead of 1129 01:12:35,479 --> 01:12:41,159 all these long twos, which which was always you know with Turners specifically, 1130 01:12:41,479 --> 01:12:45,039 like he's the number one guy, but they have all these guys that are 1131 01:12:45,159 --> 01:12:48,520 very good, like Oladipos he's fine, and Brogden is a good three point. 1132 01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:50,960 She brought out a career high thirty three a couple of nights ago. 1133 01:12:51,039 --> 01:12:56,399 Yeah, twenty one and eleven. Tonight he hit four or nine from deep 1134 01:12:56,439 --> 01:13:00,159 old depos five eleven. This is a They beat the Pels and over time 1135 01:13:00,199 --> 01:13:03,439 by two, so that Oladipo incredible sequence at the end of regulation paid off. 1136 01:13:04,199 --> 01:13:08,840 Yeah, they just have a bunch of It is an interesting point that 1137 01:13:08,880 --> 01:13:11,720 you make though, that they don't have that north star. I don't know 1138 01:13:11,760 --> 01:13:15,399 how they ever, how they get it with this iteration of the team and 1139 01:13:15,439 --> 01:13:19,239 the thing is like it's so clearly needs to be a big wing because otherwise 1140 01:13:19,319 --> 01:13:21,960 that but if even if they had, if they had a healthy TJ. 1141 01:13:23,119 --> 01:13:27,079 Warren, the man that they're just like, they're good at every position, 1142 01:13:28,039 --> 01:13:30,359 maybe maybe they're a team that if Warren gets healthy, although the foot thing 1143 01:13:30,439 --> 01:13:34,680 is scary because he's had a lot of foot injuries in his career. I 1144 01:13:34,720 --> 01:13:39,399 mean, I'd like them against almost anybody in the playoffs at least to be 1145 01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:43,680 really competitive if they had, if they're starting five were turners a bonus Warren, 1146 01:13:44,239 --> 01:13:46,399 Oladipo and brog And that's tough. That's really tough. And then you 1147 01:13:46,479 --> 01:13:49,239 just look at who comes off the bench for them, Aaron Holliday, Justin 1148 01:13:49,279 --> 01:13:53,279 Holliday. They're just so dB and throw Dougment Dermott in there if you have 1149 01:13:53,359 --> 01:13:56,600 to. Yep, they've got good. I'm I'm in on them. I 1150 01:13:56,680 --> 01:13:59,079 might be higher on them than you, even though you're the one that introduced 1151 01:13:59,079 --> 01:14:03,800 this truth or trash the net. The nets are one piece shy of actual 1152 01:14:03,840 --> 01:14:12,199 title contention, and that piece is not James Harden. Hmm. I'm gonna 1153 01:14:12,239 --> 01:14:18,640 say trash, and it's only because I actually don't think they need anything else. 1154 01:14:19,760 --> 01:14:25,079 I'm gonna ask follow up question, Yeah, who is after Jared Allen 1155 01:14:25,199 --> 01:14:29,920 the nets second best defender? Oh man, can it be Andrew Wiggins again? 1156 01:14:30,560 --> 01:14:33,479 He could beat Bruce Brown, they just don't play him well in a 1157 01:14:33,479 --> 01:14:39,720 playoff series. I think it's Kevin Durant because we've seen the as he has. 1158 01:14:40,079 --> 01:14:44,600 He can be a really high end defender and was a really high end 1159 01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:47,840 defender in the games that mattered a great deal for the Warriors and to a 1160 01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:51,399 lesser extent, the Thunder. But yeah, no, that's that's a good 1161 01:14:51,439 --> 01:14:57,119 point. They don't have someone that night tonight, Like for the millionth time, 1162 01:14:57,159 --> 01:14:59,760 Torrian Prince looks like he should be that guy. He just isn't. 1163 01:15:00,800 --> 01:15:03,840 But no, they that that's an issue. I think though, that they 1164 01:15:03,880 --> 01:15:10,640 have so much offensively potentially, they've been a disappointment to me, even if 1165 01:15:10,800 --> 01:15:14,520 like the things that you worried most about, which would be how Irving and 1166 01:15:14,600 --> 01:15:17,520 Durant looked, have been like major positives. I think they both look great. 1167 01:15:17,600 --> 01:15:20,279 Durant doing even I mean, Durant looks like Kevin Durant to me, 1168 01:15:20,319 --> 01:15:26,520 I think it's almost indistinguishable from pick a year, you know. But but 1169 01:15:26,600 --> 01:15:28,760 yeah, I don't. I don't know who the defender is. I think 1170 01:15:28,840 --> 01:15:32,800 theoretically in a playoff series, if they're all playing well, there's a way 1171 01:15:32,840 --> 01:15:35,960 to just work around that because they can put lineups on the floor that are 1172 01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:40,479 super long that can you know, maybe they're a team that needs to play 1173 01:15:40,479 --> 01:15:44,720 more zone. I don't know, but to me it is it's definitely not 1174 01:15:44,840 --> 01:15:47,000 James Harden. James Harden is not the answer for them with today, Like 1175 01:15:47,039 --> 01:15:51,159 it's not even close. So people are using the like Durant needing to miss 1176 01:15:51,159 --> 01:15:55,039 gains and Irving needing to miss games. Now that Dinwoody is down, is 1177 01:15:55,039 --> 01:15:58,920 like the I but is to justify that, And it's Causlvert's going to play 1178 01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:01,880 better. And at this point, if you need to punt on you know, 1179 01:16:01,960 --> 01:16:05,279 twelve to fifteen games this year, I'd probably just do it. The 1180 01:16:05,279 --> 01:16:10,800 opportunity cost for James Harder just doesn't fix what you He definitely elevates their ceiling, 1181 01:16:11,000 --> 01:16:15,079 but I don't think he makes them any less high variants night tonight necessarily 1182 01:16:15,800 --> 01:16:18,720 more if anything. I mean, yeah, they're already high variants just because 1183 01:16:18,760 --> 01:16:21,760 of you know, being an offensive first team. Yeah, I don't know, 1184 01:16:23,199 --> 01:16:26,199 you know, you know, their second best is Joe Harris in the 1185 01:16:26,199 --> 01:16:30,640 conversation there's a players who actually play. It might be Joe Harris. I 1186 01:16:30,680 --> 01:16:32,600 think I think it might be I mean not, I'm kind of serious, 1187 01:16:33,560 --> 01:16:40,960 but but Joe Harris has become like a pretty good Like past an insulting, 1188 01:16:40,960 --> 01:16:44,600 you don't want Joe Harris to be your second best defender, right, yeah, 1189 01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:48,680 okay, that's fair? No, I yeah, I mean who is 1190 01:16:48,720 --> 01:16:51,840 that player though? Who? Who? If they are a player away, 1191 01:16:53,079 --> 01:16:55,960 I don't want to keep stepping on this Tobe, But like Aaron Gordon was 1192 01:16:56,000 --> 01:16:58,520 the name, it gets a lot harder to do now that you don't have 1193 01:16:58,560 --> 01:17:01,680 Din Witty because he would have been perfect for Orlando. I don't know if 1194 01:17:01,680 --> 01:17:05,239 there's anything smaller scale that you could necessarily do if you're them, Like can 1195 01:17:05,279 --> 01:17:11,000 you get Thaddeus Young probably helps out this team a lot. Even a Trevor 1196 01:17:11,039 --> 01:17:14,119 Ariza if he gets bought out, ends up helping them a lot. People 1197 01:17:14,159 --> 01:17:15,640 have mentioned George Hill that doesn't really fit what they need on defense, even 1198 01:17:15,640 --> 01:17:21,000 though he'd be obviously stellar for them offensively. Could they get Kyle Anderson Like 1199 01:17:21,039 --> 01:17:27,159 that would be super interesting? Now you can't blood, but he would be 1200 01:17:27,199 --> 01:17:31,680 fun for them, So it feels like they are, like they'll be in 1201 01:17:31,880 --> 01:17:35,960 the title contenders circle, but after being so in on them because of the 1202 01:17:35,960 --> 01:17:39,920 way Irving and Durant have looked like their defense is a problem. They're twenty 1203 01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:43,439 third since Christmas. They were like first after their first two games. They've 1204 01:17:43,439 --> 01:17:45,840 been twenty third since they can't grab a defensive rebound. The other night, 1205 01:17:45,920 --> 01:17:50,840 which was wild, they closed without Jared Allen, DeAndre Jordan or Caris LeVert 1206 01:17:50,920 --> 01:17:54,159 on the floor. They want with some Jeff Green at the five stuff, 1207 01:17:54,439 --> 01:17:58,520 and it came back to bite them because they weren't able to grab rebounds at 1208 01:17:58,600 --> 01:18:02,000 crucial points. So you know, losses like that, like you know you 1209 01:18:02,439 --> 01:18:05,640 lost too. They also lost to Charlotte like that. It's I don't want 1210 01:18:05,640 --> 01:18:09,039 to read too much in Atlanta. It's not like a terrible team to lose 1211 01:18:09,039 --> 01:18:12,079 to either. In these back to backs against teams are weird. It feels 1212 01:18:12,079 --> 01:18:15,880 like everyone's splitting them. I'm not saying it's all doom and gloom in Brooklyn, 1213 01:18:15,119 --> 01:18:17,800 but I'm still I'm higher on them than I was entering the season, 1214 01:18:17,840 --> 01:18:20,760 where I thought that they were just Oh, Kevin Durant like he's coming off 1215 01:18:20,800 --> 01:18:25,319 and Achilles let's adjust our expectations, and the fact that he's at an MVP 1216 01:18:25,479 --> 01:18:30,640 level basically is a huge deal. The defense long term is just super concerning 1217 01:18:30,640 --> 01:18:33,880 to me. And look, there's a chance they end up trading Jared Allen 1218 01:18:34,039 --> 01:18:39,039 too because of his contract coming up. Like he's playing more than DeAndre Jordan, 1219 01:18:39,319 --> 01:18:42,119 more likely to close games. There's still a chance that they move him. 1220 01:18:43,079 --> 01:18:45,800 Here's the So I'm just looking at it now. So they're eighth and 1221 01:18:45,880 --> 01:18:48,960 offensive or sorry, ninth in offensive efficiency. I think we agree that that's 1222 01:18:48,960 --> 01:18:51,720 going to come up. This is by cleaning the glass so there's no garbage 1223 01:18:51,720 --> 01:18:57,119 time. And they're actually eleventh in defense, yes, despite because they were 1224 01:18:57,199 --> 01:19:00,039 first after their first two games and their twenty third sins. Sure, but 1225 01:19:00,479 --> 01:19:05,000 they those two games counted. I mean they did. That's that's fair. 1226 01:19:05,600 --> 01:19:08,680 No, I don't know. Yeah, the defense is an issue. I 1227 01:19:08,760 --> 01:19:12,880 just think the offense could be like if they're the best offense in the league. 1228 01:19:13,640 --> 01:19:15,680 I mean if they're not, if they're not one of the five best 1229 01:19:15,680 --> 01:19:16,720 offenses in the league, like we're gonna be the same. What the hell 1230 01:19:16,720 --> 01:19:20,640 went wrong? So I think you're you're you're if you can get up, 1231 01:19:20,720 --> 01:19:26,159 if you can get to fourteen fifteen defensively or fall to that from this number, 1232 01:19:26,279 --> 01:19:29,520 which you so rudely are just being dismissive of. They have the best 1233 01:19:29,600 --> 01:19:31,560 opponent effective field goal percentage in the league, right, I know, they've 1234 01:19:31,560 --> 01:19:35,199 been super lucky. They've been super lucky, so they've been super lucky to 1235 01:19:35,239 --> 01:19:40,479 be basically mediocre. But yeah, the rebounding thing is really weird to me. 1236 01:19:40,560 --> 01:19:44,000 There doesn't seem to be an excuse for that, and that actually I 1237 01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:45,920 think you look at their roster though, and you're like, you know what, 1238 01:19:45,079 --> 01:19:49,439 that might be the league's worst rebounding team. That's sort of aligns doesn't 1239 01:19:49,439 --> 01:19:55,960 though, because defensively, DeAndre Jordan's just not the same. Jared Allen's never 1240 01:19:56,000 --> 01:19:59,000 been like that guy. And if you're gonna go with Kevin Duran Jeff Green 1241 01:19:59,039 --> 01:20:00,039 at the five, like if those are your front court, like you're gonna 1242 01:20:00,079 --> 01:20:03,359 give up some offensive boards in those situations. Yeah, the thing is with 1243 01:20:03,479 --> 01:20:09,239 the thing with them is going into the year. I guess like I was 1244 01:20:09,279 --> 01:20:12,920 just I was I'm very protective of Steve Nash, and I was like, 1245 01:20:13,199 --> 01:20:16,159 has nothing to do with the fact that you guys are alumni of Santa Clara 1246 01:20:16,199 --> 01:20:20,640 at all. No, he's not none whatsoever. He's sort of like, 1247 01:20:20,640 --> 01:20:24,720 like I don't consider him family. He certainly would. Did you know that 1248 01:20:24,920 --> 01:20:29,119 Steve Nash went to college with Lloyd Pierce? Comes up on every single broadcast 1249 01:20:29,159 --> 01:20:30,199 that either one of them are on. They don't both have to be on 1250 01:20:30,279 --> 01:20:33,720 it. That's I've played a lot of basketball with Lloyd Pierce because he was 1251 01:20:33,720 --> 01:20:38,920 an assistant in Santa Clara when I was there. He was an incredible defender, 1252 01:20:39,359 --> 01:20:43,720 as you might imagine. But he but but so like I the way 1253 01:20:43,880 --> 01:20:45,840 the next thing I thought would go south if we're gonna go south with one 1254 01:20:45,920 --> 01:20:51,600 injury to just unmanageable sets of personalities, and like we've cleared those hurdles, 1255 01:20:51,640 --> 01:20:55,640 Like it doesn't seem like, you know, Kyrie kind of tiptoed a little 1256 01:20:55,680 --> 01:20:59,359 bit into being Kyrie, but like there hasn't been anything, you know, 1257 01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:03,279 just super disruptive and their most important players look healthy. So now I'm kind 1258 01:21:03,319 --> 01:21:06,119 of thinking, like, well, if the hurdles that I thought were going 1259 01:21:06,159 --> 01:21:11,319 to trip them, if they cleared them, like shit, let's go, 1260 01:21:11,479 --> 01:21:14,800 Like they're the talents there, Like what's in the way. It turns out 1261 01:21:14,840 --> 01:21:17,199 it's defense and rebounding. But maybe I'm just I don't know. Suddenly I 1262 01:21:17,239 --> 01:21:20,279 feel like way more optimistic than I should have been, just because the way 1263 01:21:20,319 --> 01:21:26,119 I thought it would go bad didn't happen. I get that's it's if Kevin 1264 01:21:26,159 --> 01:21:29,880 Durand and Kye River in a play this well, Championship is the ceiling in 1265 01:21:29,920 --> 01:21:31,600 Brooklyn. I want to make that clear. He just feels like if you 1266 01:21:31,640 --> 01:21:35,640 need to beat the Lakers, or the Clippers, or even the Bucks, 1267 01:21:35,760 --> 01:21:39,760 I mean shit, even the Pacers at this point, like they feel like 1268 01:21:39,800 --> 01:21:43,560 they're one player short and not the James Harden type player. I don't think 1269 01:21:43,560 --> 01:21:45,319 it needs to be a star, but it needs to be just like another 1270 01:21:45,439 --> 01:21:50,880 defensive body, like the player Torrian Prince looks like he could be. That's 1271 01:21:50,960 --> 01:21:56,439 exactly what I was gonna say. If they just imported someone who looked exactly 1272 01:21:56,479 --> 01:22:00,800 like Torrian Prince and had like the build and the ability, but actually like 1273 01:22:01,119 --> 01:22:04,319 played like that person looks, then Yep, they'd be. They'd be the 1274 01:22:04,359 --> 01:22:09,079 title favorites. Probably are we out of trash or truth or trashes? I 1275 01:22:09,119 --> 01:22:13,119 think we each have two more left from what I'm looking at a Pelicans, 1276 01:22:13,640 --> 01:22:17,680 Yeah, truth or trash the Pelicans before I want to. I want to 1277 01:22:17,720 --> 01:22:20,479 make sure I get this right because I think they gave up too many points 1278 01:22:20,479 --> 01:22:26,880 tonight. They're fifth defensively right now, truth or trash? The Pelicans are 1279 01:22:26,920 --> 01:22:31,199 a top five defense. Whoa I'm gonna say trash. Top five teams high, 1280 01:22:31,279 --> 01:22:33,640 Like, if you give me some wheel room of like top twelve, 1281 01:22:33,800 --> 01:22:38,520 I might buy it. Top ten. Let's go top ten. Why is 1282 01:22:38,560 --> 01:22:44,119 that still so hard? Don't you trust stand band? I mean, I'll 1283 01:22:44,159 --> 01:22:46,399 say truth just because all his teams tend to play above their head and the 1284 01:22:46,479 --> 01:22:50,000 Steven Adams on off stuff with them is just absolutely wild. At this point, 1285 01:22:50,319 --> 01:22:55,119 Leto's a really good regular season player. Ingram's been defending better a Lonzo 1286 01:22:55,199 --> 01:22:58,319 Ball is a very good maybe not necessarily one on one, but he's a 1287 01:22:58,319 --> 01:23:02,560 good team defender. So I'll I'll say truth. I think it's truth too, 1288 01:23:02,600 --> 01:23:05,359 And I think the problem is it comes at the expense of, like 1289 01:23:05,439 --> 01:23:10,840 what made New Orleans theoretically interesting last year's They played with a lot of pace, 1290 01:23:11,119 --> 01:23:15,520 they have the personnel. I mean, that's the Adams move at the 1291 01:23:15,560 --> 01:23:18,319 time made no sense because it's like we're slowing it down now because Adams cannot 1292 01:23:18,359 --> 01:23:23,079 Adams is not an up tempo player, no, except he will clear the 1293 01:23:23,079 --> 01:23:28,119 defensive boards and get started. But and the spacing issues he creates a Zion 1294 01:23:28,199 --> 01:23:30,880 will cramp the offense, which is sort of has they sacrifice that to play 1295 01:23:31,159 --> 01:23:35,720 Van Gundy defense and just sort of handle all the stuff they're supposed to handle. 1296 01:23:36,319 --> 01:23:40,079 They're doing like a Bucks thing where they're just like, screw it, 1297 01:23:40,159 --> 01:23:43,359 you guys can shoot all the threes you want. They've given up just an 1298 01:23:43,439 --> 01:23:45,720 ungodly percentage of opponent three point percentage when I did that. When I put 1299 01:23:45,720 --> 01:23:53,119 this together, they had allowed opponents its non garbage allowed opponents to take forty 1300 01:23:53,119 --> 01:23:57,760 eight point four percent of their shots from deed, which is like just incredible. 1301 01:23:58,199 --> 01:24:00,960 The Clippers were second at just under for two percent, so the gap 1302 01:24:01,079 --> 01:24:06,560 is wide, but you get nothing at the rim against them, which makes 1303 01:24:06,560 --> 01:24:11,279 sense personnel wise, because Adams is huge, Zion's big, Ingram's long, 1304 01:24:11,439 --> 01:24:15,439 Lonzo's a big guard Bledsoe is a fire hydrant, like, it makes sense 1305 01:24:15,479 --> 01:24:16,760 that if they want you out of the lane, they will keep you out 1306 01:24:16,760 --> 01:24:20,359 of the lane. So they will be subject to a bunch of high variance 1307 01:24:20,479 --> 01:24:24,600 nights where if teams just hit above the break threes, you'll lose, which 1308 01:24:24,640 --> 01:24:28,680 is true of Milwaukee too. But I think that, you know, sort 1309 01:24:28,680 --> 01:24:32,279 of like to a much larger extent with Thibodeau and the Knicks, the Pells 1310 01:24:32,279 --> 01:24:38,079 just sort of have principles now what, I don't know. I think actually 1311 01:24:38,079 --> 01:24:41,479 it's potentially detrimental for the playoffs for the same reason as the Bucks run into 1312 01:24:41,520 --> 01:24:45,359 trouble where if you just do this one thing and teams can scout it and 1313 01:24:45,600 --> 01:24:47,760 figure out where to get shots from in a playoff series, that's a problem. 1314 01:24:47,800 --> 01:24:50,520 The Pelicans will take that as a problem because that means they made the 1315 01:24:50,520 --> 01:24:55,279 playoffs. Yeah, but I just I think defensively, they got the personnel 1316 01:24:55,319 --> 01:24:58,800 in the style to be a really good defense. I I oversold it, 1317 01:24:58,880 --> 01:25:00,039 kind of trying to pin you to time five, but I'll say, like 1318 01:25:00,119 --> 01:25:02,680 top seven, I would. I think it's truth, you know, with 1319 01:25:02,720 --> 01:25:05,640 the potential to be top five, I think they're going to be a really 1320 01:25:05,680 --> 01:25:11,960 good defense, and if they can play fast enough occasionally and get enough shooting 1321 01:25:12,079 --> 01:25:15,600 somehow, they could be really good. I think they're fifth and points allowed 1322 01:25:15,600 --> 01:25:20,279 per possession after a defensive rebound, and they've just they've kind of done the 1323 01:25:20,319 --> 01:25:23,840 Stamman gun anything there where it's, hey, we're gonna make sure that we're 1324 01:25:23,840 --> 01:25:26,479 gonna get back and teams are not going to be able to play at above 1325 01:25:26,680 --> 01:25:30,720 league average pace in those situations, and they'll at least protect against the rim 1326 01:25:30,720 --> 01:25:33,079 there. But giving up that many threes, that makes me a little bit 1327 01:25:33,119 --> 01:25:38,479 uncomfortable. And there's also there's mid season shake up potential with this team too. 1328 01:25:38,479 --> 01:25:42,840 When you look at Lonzo entering restricted free agency, Bloodsoe is clearly, 1329 01:25:43,399 --> 01:25:46,600 excuse me, not untouchable, even though teams may not want to touch him 1330 01:25:46,680 --> 01:25:53,239 themselves. So there's that would be like what would make me uneasy about it? 1331 01:25:54,119 --> 01:25:57,319 Top seven I might call trash, top top ten I'll call truth. 1332 01:25:58,880 --> 01:26:01,520 Yeah, they you know, it's interesting if you look at the whole thing. 1333 01:26:01,560 --> 01:26:04,680 So the Bucks kind of made this a thing where you know, they'll 1334 01:26:04,680 --> 01:26:09,359 give up a lot of threes, but it's they're very specific about where they 1335 01:26:09,399 --> 01:26:12,640 want those threes to come from and who they want shooting them. Typically, 1336 01:26:12,640 --> 01:26:15,000 they'll just let a bunch of bigs shoot above the break threes all night and 1337 01:26:15,079 --> 01:26:18,119 just you know, assume you're going to hit thirty one percent of those and 1338 01:26:18,159 --> 01:26:21,640 we can live with it. But if you look up and down the you 1339 01:26:21,680 --> 01:26:28,359 know, trying to correlate you know, opponent three point frequency with defensive rating, 1340 01:26:28,680 --> 01:26:30,960 you get just it's all over the map. And I think, really 1341 01:26:31,439 --> 01:26:34,119 some of that's luck, but I think it's been true for a couple of 1342 01:26:34,199 --> 01:26:38,439 years now. The teams that figure out, like we just done a lot 1343 01:26:38,479 --> 01:26:41,920 of corner threes and you can have them at volume from everywhere else, and 1344 01:26:41,920 --> 01:26:45,239 we're good with that. If that means you get nothing at the rim, 1345 01:26:45,279 --> 01:26:47,920 that works, but it also works if you run you know, Indiana for 1346 01:26:47,960 --> 01:26:53,520 example this year now is allowing the lowest three point frequency. Their defense is 1347 01:26:53,560 --> 01:26:56,960 good, So it's just it's interesting. I think the Pills are picking a 1348 01:26:57,119 --> 01:27:01,319 way to handle three point volume, and I think it's gonna work because they've 1349 01:27:01,319 --> 01:27:04,439 got the guys to do it. But you can also they're giving up more 1350 01:27:05,199 --> 01:27:09,000 wide open three point attempts as a share of their shots than any team in 1351 01:27:09,000 --> 01:27:12,039 the league right now, and teams are hitting those at like a forty percent 1352 01:27:12,079 --> 01:27:15,920 clip, So it's not like that's probably about what they could expect. And 1353 01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:19,159 so if they're doing this while that's happening, it probably does bode well for 1354 01:27:19,199 --> 01:27:25,920 the sustainability of it. Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm hemming and 1355 01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:28,800 hang now too with the it's just a lot of threes. But look, 1356 01:27:28,960 --> 01:27:31,039 that means they're gonna lose. They're gonna lose to a bad team by twenty 1357 01:27:31,039 --> 01:27:35,079 five, like it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen more than once. But 1358 01:27:35,079 --> 01:27:39,640 but I think if they're just gonna stick to that principle, like you have 1359 01:27:39,680 --> 01:27:43,920 the Bucks showing you that this works, so not a bad team to emulate 1360 01:27:43,960 --> 01:27:46,680 for a regular season defense. True, you kind of touched on this already, 1361 01:27:46,680 --> 01:27:51,880 truth or trash. The Clippers will rank outside the top twelve of points 1362 01:27:51,920 --> 01:27:57,520 allowed per possession, right outside the Do you know where they ranked right now? 1363 01:27:58,760 --> 01:28:00,359 I can look at it right now. I'll tell you that they are 1364 01:28:01,039 --> 01:28:05,439 twenty first, Am I seeing that right? Twenty first in defensive rating? 1365 01:28:05,479 --> 01:28:12,399 I have them as twenty sixth with from cleaning the Glass. Okay, I'm 1366 01:28:12,479 --> 01:28:17,399 using NBA dot Com, same difference. Why why can't they be better than 1367 01:28:17,439 --> 01:28:20,399 that? So it's they're, like you said, they're giving up a ton 1368 01:28:20,439 --> 01:28:25,279 of threes, but they also have I'm calling you trash just because they rank 1369 01:28:25,399 --> 01:28:29,399 in the top ten of both RIM and three point defense right now, actual 1370 01:28:29,399 --> 01:28:31,520 opponent percentage, So there's I'm looking at this thing. There's no way this 1371 01:28:31,560 --> 01:28:36,399 holes. The rebounding issues are probably fairly real because just you know, you 1372 01:28:36,479 --> 01:28:40,479 have zoobots, but like Sergebacco when he plays the five isn't gonna bring a 1373 01:28:40,479 --> 01:28:45,159 ton. Maybe having Marcus Morris healthy will help you a little bit. They've 1374 01:28:45,199 --> 01:28:48,640 been They've been fouling wildly. They're twenty sixth in foul rate while being only 1375 01:28:48,680 --> 01:28:54,319 twentieth in forcing turnovers. That's something to look at, but it just feels 1376 01:28:54,359 --> 01:28:58,680 like, you know, maybe I'm like, like I should I feel like 1377 01:28:58,720 --> 01:29:01,880 I should be closer to the truth on this. Then I am trash because 1378 01:29:01,880 --> 01:29:03,840 like you just look at all the indicators right now, and there are a 1379 01:29:03,880 --> 01:29:05,800 bunch of red flags. But I just feel like, you look at the 1380 01:29:05,840 --> 01:29:11,640 personnel of George and Leonard, won't you have Morris back. I would expect, 1381 01:29:11,800 --> 01:29:15,199 just like the everything to normalize a little bit. I think reboundy is 1382 01:29:15,239 --> 01:29:17,560 gonna end up being the issue for them, defensive rebounding, but looking at 1383 01:29:17,600 --> 01:29:21,920 fouls and forcing turnovers, I don't know if that just becomes like remains this 1384 01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:26,720 huge issue for them. I think I'm going to oversimplify it and just say 1385 01:29:26,760 --> 01:29:30,520 they were fifth in defensive rating last year, and I don't think the personnel 1386 01:29:30,560 --> 01:29:35,560 has changed significantly enough for them to fall. Yeah, montros Harrell was not 1387 01:29:35,680 --> 01:29:39,760 the glue. Oh No, And I think Lou Williams is gonna play all. 1388 01:29:39,880 --> 01:29:43,600 You know, Lou Williams might play less also as a potential trade candidate, 1389 01:29:43,640 --> 01:29:45,119 I think, but you know, he's already playing less two, which 1390 01:29:45,159 --> 01:29:49,079 is why this is so weird. No, I think. I mean, 1391 01:29:49,960 --> 01:29:55,760 we really haven't talked a lot of Clippers, but they're to me still just 1392 01:29:55,880 --> 01:29:59,800 right right there. I think the you know, if last season had ended 1393 01:30:00,079 --> 01:30:02,560 ferently, like if they'd made the conference finals, which obviously they could have, 1394 01:30:02,640 --> 01:30:05,520 and have put up a good fight, like, I wouldn't have really 1395 01:30:05,560 --> 01:30:10,399 any doubts about them being awesome on both ends. But just because of what 1396 01:30:10,520 --> 01:30:14,119 happened now there's this stigma that, like, well, something's wrong and these 1397 01:30:14,159 --> 01:30:16,760 personalities aren't gonna work. But yeah, I think I think they have as 1398 01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:20,119 good a chance to be a top five defenses as anybody you know, including 1399 01:30:20,199 --> 01:30:26,159 the Mighty Pelicans probably. I believe you had one more about a certain King's 1400 01:30:26,279 --> 01:30:34,079 prospect. Hold on, I see him as his dad tweeted again, Wait, 1401 01:30:34,199 --> 01:30:39,439 can we talk about how his dad tweeted deleted the tweet but then quote 1402 01:30:39,479 --> 01:30:45,479 tweeted someone who tweeted the deleted tweet? Is Paul Pierce running Marvin Vadley's senior 1403 01:30:45,600 --> 01:30:49,880 junior's Twitter account? Or am I running it? Because I mean no, 1404 01:30:49,960 --> 01:30:54,600 I don't know, like he Yeah, it's there was some it's difficult to 1405 01:30:54,680 --> 01:31:00,479 unpack, like how why it happened in that way. That's that's only the 1406 01:31:00,520 --> 01:31:04,600 second strangest part, I guess. Yeah, So for people that don't know, 1407 01:31:04,720 --> 01:31:08,279 I can't imagine if you're listening to this podcast, you don't know what 1408 01:31:08,319 --> 01:31:12,359 happened. But basically Marvin Bagley's dad said, you know, tweeted trade him 1409 01:31:12,399 --> 01:31:15,760 based more or less, and then Darren Fox's dad said, yeah, trade 1410 01:31:15,840 --> 01:31:21,720 him, which is awesome. By the way, if you want to choose 1411 01:31:21,720 --> 01:31:28,359 a side in terms of, like you know, the King's factions, you 1412 01:31:28,560 --> 01:31:31,920 probably are gonna want to be on Darren Fox's side. No, it's so 1413 01:31:32,039 --> 01:31:35,840 yeah, truth or trash. Marvin Bagley's got to go like they got it. 1414 01:31:35,880 --> 01:31:39,880 They should just trade him as someone who's been higher on Badley the most. 1415 01:31:39,920 --> 01:31:44,920 I'm just gonna call trash the I think he's getting like forcing it on 1416 01:31:44,960 --> 01:31:48,079 offense now too much from the King's games that I've seen where he's like I 1417 01:31:48,079 --> 01:31:50,960 can't remember which game it was, but I feel like he aggressively just like 1418 01:31:51,800 --> 01:31:55,119 told him want to get out of his way so he could just really work 1419 01:31:55,159 --> 01:31:59,199 in the post and then just bomk up a shot. I could. It's 1420 01:31:59,199 --> 01:32:01,840 getting to the point where it's tough to really believe in him. Like the 1421 01:32:01,920 --> 01:32:04,600 numbers are not great, but I still just look at the way he ended 1422 01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:09,439 his rookie season and there was just such flow offensively, he was hitting shots 1423 01:32:09,439 --> 01:32:13,279 from the perimeter off the catch. I just feel like that player is still 1424 01:32:13,319 --> 01:32:15,199 in life. I don't know why that player would be gone, to be 1425 01:32:15,239 --> 01:32:19,920 honest, there's not anyone here in Sacramento that's like monopolized touches. Relative to 1426 01:32:19,960 --> 01:32:25,600 that season. You have Harrison Barnes is still relatively low lift there. You 1427 01:32:25,600 --> 01:32:30,199 still have de Aaron Fox, Tyrre's Halliburton when he's healthy is super low usage. 1428 01:32:30,479 --> 01:32:32,840 I'm not there yet, but the fact that, and I also don't 1429 01:32:32,840 --> 01:32:38,119 know how accurately parents speak for their children in this case, but you have 1430 01:32:38,199 --> 01:32:42,840 to believe that one of the fathers d Aaron Foxes or Marvin Bagley's is like 1431 01:32:42,960 --> 01:32:45,800 really in tune into what his son's feeling. So either fox wants Bagley out 1432 01:32:45,880 --> 01:32:50,920 or Bagley actually wants out or both. Yeah, I want, I want 1433 01:32:50,920 --> 01:32:56,439 to I'll paraphrase it. Ronona Shelburn on The Jump today said they were talking 1434 01:32:56,479 --> 01:33:00,119 about it and said something to the effect of Marvin Bagley's We those of us 1435 01:33:00,159 --> 01:33:03,800 in the business know that Marvin Bagley's father is a to put it nicely, 1436 01:33:04,000 --> 01:33:09,159 influential figure. I think influential was the word in his son's life, which 1437 01:33:09,199 --> 01:33:14,319 to me is just like that's as much as she could say comfortably without saying 1438 01:33:14,319 --> 01:33:17,039 like this guy, you know what a so you know, like so and 1439 01:33:17,119 --> 01:33:23,000 so. I think like it's a LaVar ball situation potentially in terms of like 1440 01:33:23,279 --> 01:33:28,000 he's probably in ownership's ear. He's he's definitely he knows that a fact. 1441 01:33:28,600 --> 01:33:30,520 He's he's made, He's he did this when Dave Yeager was the coach. 1442 01:33:30,560 --> 01:33:34,760 He's you know, questioned Yeager and was like making, you know, all 1443 01:33:35,600 --> 01:33:39,359 arguing for a son to play more all this stuff. The thing for me 1444 01:33:39,479 --> 01:33:42,479 is, even if none of this had happened, even if there wasn't. 1445 01:33:42,520 --> 01:33:45,279 Now this to me, it's a significant issue because I do think that if 1446 01:33:45,279 --> 01:33:49,439 Fox's dad is saying, yeah, trade him, to me, that is 1447 01:33:49,520 --> 01:33:54,319 at least some evidence that the guys on the team that matter are kind of 1448 01:33:54,359 --> 01:33:57,560 like, yeah, we don't, we're not in on him, because I 1449 01:33:57,600 --> 01:34:00,079 don't feel like, you know, that would have Maybe that's reading too much 1450 01:34:00,079 --> 01:34:04,479 into it, but throw all that out to me, the theory of Bagley, 1451 01:34:04,600 --> 01:34:09,039 and also throw out the Luca thing, which nobody in Sacramento will ever 1452 01:34:09,159 --> 01:34:12,239 throw out that it could have been it could have been Luca. And the 1453 01:34:12,239 --> 01:34:17,600 best part is there were there were talks that one of the reasons that then 1454 01:34:17,800 --> 01:34:23,039 Kings GM Valadi Divots didn't draft Lucas because he had a bad relationship with Luca's 1455 01:34:23,039 --> 01:34:27,119 father. Like, you can't make this up. So throw that out too. 1456 01:34:27,880 --> 01:34:31,319 The theory of Bagley as as a player in the modern NBA like just 1457 01:34:31,439 --> 01:34:38,680 never made sense to me because he's essentially like a positionless guy. And now 1458 01:34:38,720 --> 01:34:41,520 tweeters are good now if you can be like a three or four, like, 1459 01:34:41,560 --> 01:34:45,960 that's a good thing. But he's the wrong kind of tweener where he's 1460 01:34:45,960 --> 01:34:47,720 a four point five. He's like he's like a John you know, John 1461 01:34:47,760 --> 01:34:51,560 Collins is the easy comp But John Collins has a ton of offensive game, 1462 01:34:51,800 --> 01:34:56,880 is like a three level scorer. You at least have that. Bagley, 1463 01:34:56,920 --> 01:35:00,760 you know, has not demonstrated a three point shot, has not shot well 1464 01:35:00,800 --> 01:35:04,720 from two point range, despite like just obviously great athleticism. He's off the 1465 01:35:04,760 --> 01:35:08,399 floor super fast. He's a lefty, which always is a little bit of 1466 01:35:08,399 --> 01:35:13,159 an advantage. He's extremely left handed, though, and defensively can't defend the 1467 01:35:13,239 --> 01:35:16,600 rim and might even be worse trying to guard mobile fours. Can't guard there's 1468 01:35:16,680 --> 01:35:20,520 no way he guards below for on the perimeter, can't do it. So 1469 01:35:20,800 --> 01:35:25,600 I just, you know, the theory of him, like his best case 1470 01:35:25,680 --> 01:35:29,159 outcome. I don't know what it ever was like on a good team, 1471 01:35:29,399 --> 01:35:32,199 a Mari Stodhomyer or something like, you know, which would be incredible. 1472 01:35:32,199 --> 01:35:36,520 He's never touching that. But that type of player where it's like super athletic, 1473 01:35:36,560 --> 01:35:42,720 he can be a dive guy. You'll you'll live with the defensive you 1474 01:35:42,760 --> 01:35:45,760 know, negatives, He's just he's not even that and he hasn't been healthy. 1475 01:35:45,840 --> 01:35:48,279 And now you got all this other stuff that I just said we'd ignore, 1476 01:35:48,359 --> 01:35:54,520 so you know, there's always ways to repair situations, and like Luke 1477 01:35:54,560 --> 01:35:59,119 Walton getting fired could be one of those, considering that you know, he 1478 01:35:59,199 --> 01:36:02,159 and Buddy Healed had their issues and those bunch of tamped down. But I 1479 01:36:02,199 --> 01:36:04,439 think I think it's true. I think he's got to go. I think, 1480 01:36:05,159 --> 01:36:08,520 you know, there is talent there, as you say, like, 1481 01:36:08,600 --> 01:36:12,800 there's a chance to just get him somewhere where he can play, where there's 1482 01:36:12,840 --> 01:36:15,640 a fresh star at all the cliches, and maybe it looks better, but 1483 01:36:15,199 --> 01:36:17,680 I just don't see a way out. Where do you put him. He's 1484 01:36:17,760 --> 01:36:21,520 making nine million this year and eleven million basically, I think, what is 1485 01:36:21,560 --> 01:36:27,039 it eleven eleven point three million next year? And I'm just like, what's 1486 01:36:27,079 --> 01:36:30,800 the team that's taking a chance on Marvin Bagley right now? Okay, see 1487 01:36:30,960 --> 01:36:34,359 just let's stockpile young guys and see what happens. It would have to be 1488 01:36:34,359 --> 01:36:38,159 that, I thought Chicago, if they don't want to pay marketing, like 1489 01:36:38,359 --> 01:36:42,800 is Bagley in something small for marketing? Maybe I think marketing is way better. 1490 01:36:42,880 --> 01:36:46,479 He's way better. But it's like he's probably gonna cost you Joe Harris 1491 01:36:46,520 --> 01:36:49,319 or Marcus Morris money if he keeps playing like this, you know, four 1492 01:36:49,399 --> 01:36:54,079 years and seventy million or something like that. Do you want to give that 1493 01:36:54,119 --> 01:36:58,399 to him? I'm just no, I just don't know what team you like? 1494 01:36:58,439 --> 01:37:00,479 Those are? Okay, see's a good one. I just can't think 1495 01:37:00,520 --> 01:37:01,520 of another team that's gonna be like, yeah, we'll take a flyer on 1496 01:37:01,560 --> 01:37:05,119 Marvin Bagley and we'll give you something in return, Like you could send him 1497 01:37:05,159 --> 01:37:09,479 in the Knicks cap space, But like, are you salary dumping Marvin Bagley? 1498 01:37:09,680 --> 01:37:12,119 Right? I mean, I let's foy if it gets to that point, 1499 01:37:12,159 --> 01:37:15,000 that would be crazy. But no, it would just have to be 1500 01:37:15,039 --> 01:37:16,920 a team. It just go down to the bottom of the standing Detroit, 1501 01:37:17,079 --> 01:37:24,000 like just somewhere that like, you know, winning is not not a realistic 1502 01:37:24,039 --> 01:37:27,199 thing and it's maybe not the number one priority for this year. You just 1503 01:37:27,199 --> 01:37:30,239 give Bagley a ton of minutes and just let's because really he's never averaged He's 1504 01:37:30,279 --> 01:37:33,680 averaged basically twenty five a game, twenty five minutes a game for all three 1505 01:37:33,760 --> 01:37:38,479 years of his career, and you know, thirteen games last year's total, 1506 01:37:38,600 --> 01:37:42,000 right off of a season. Just see what he could do, just because 1507 01:37:42,000 --> 01:37:44,399 then you'll know, you know, I think I think there are teams that 1508 01:37:44,399 --> 01:37:46,479 could talk themselves into him and it being worth it. And the thing is, 1509 01:37:46,520 --> 01:37:51,119 though, like he's not an insignificant investment because of his draft slot, 1510 01:37:51,159 --> 01:37:55,079 as he said, Like he's gonna make some money. So he's basically like 1511 01:37:55,079 --> 01:37:59,279 a mid level guy in terms of salary, with the bonus of team control 1512 01:37:59,319 --> 01:38:02,239 if you decide you want to keep him. But it's not an insignificant acquisition 1513 01:38:02,560 --> 01:38:06,159 if you're gonna, if you're gonna, just you would be selling low at 1514 01:38:06,199 --> 01:38:11,479 super low, so you wouldn't even have a chance to sell medium. No. 1515 01:38:11,479 --> 01:38:14,000 No, But it seems clear to me that the Kings are just not 1516 01:38:14,159 --> 01:38:18,720 gonna. Look if they're not gonna and this might be the point, like 1517 01:38:18,760 --> 01:38:21,520 the part where Okay, get rid of Luke Walton, maybe some of this 1518 01:38:21,680 --> 01:38:25,319 changes, Like if you're not going to put and I think this is a 1519 01:38:25,640 --> 01:38:30,800 you know a problem in general, but play faster. Sacramento is eighth in 1520 01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:34,640 average possession time right now. They should be faster than that, Like there's 1521 01:38:34,680 --> 01:38:39,399 no reason, uh, you know they should be. To me, they 1522 01:38:39,439 --> 01:38:43,159 should be first in pace after every single defensive rebound or just live like live 1523 01:38:43,159 --> 01:38:46,159 ball turnover. And if you're not gonna play like that at like badly is 1524 01:38:46,199 --> 01:38:49,079 probably be most valuable as a floor runner in those situations. So just get 1525 01:38:49,079 --> 01:38:54,359 out and play even faster. I think that's right. I mean, like, 1526 01:38:54,800 --> 01:39:00,640 I don't think Walton is like if we're apportioning in all this, like, 1527 01:39:00,920 --> 01:39:04,560 I think Walton is justified in giving Bagley the role that he's given him 1528 01:39:04,560 --> 01:39:08,600 so far. But I do think there's a lot of evidence to suggests that 1529 01:39:08,600 --> 01:39:12,159 Walton just isn't, you know, like a top whatever you want to say, 1530 01:39:12,199 --> 01:39:15,640 a top twentys of bottom ten coach. Yeah, like Saguinel's thirteenth in 1531 01:39:15,640 --> 01:39:18,319 transition frequency this year. That's just that that's just that's too low there. 1532 01:39:18,439 --> 01:39:21,479 Fox. First of all, right, well, and if you want to 1533 01:39:21,479 --> 01:39:26,000 get Buddy healed clean, looks like get him into scattered situations. And I 1534 01:39:26,000 --> 01:39:30,279 think Ty Halberton too, like that guy we have. We should talk more 1535 01:39:30,279 --> 01:39:34,840 about him. So he's year did you pick him before the season? Is 1536 01:39:34,920 --> 01:39:38,439 Rookie of the Year. Yeah, the injury is probably gonna hurt him at 1537 01:39:38,479 --> 01:39:40,960 this point, just because he won't have the volume of Lomello, probably, 1538 01:39:41,199 --> 01:39:45,319 But yeah, I think I don't. I think Rookie of the Year is 1539 01:39:45,439 --> 01:39:48,520 tough for a player like him because he's not going to average seventeen a game 1540 01:39:48,680 --> 01:39:51,960 or whatever, you know, but I think he to me, he's clearly 1541 01:39:53,680 --> 01:39:58,079 the rookie that will have the biggest impact on winning. Like this's not it's 1542 01:39:58,079 --> 01:40:01,239 not close. He might already be net mutual depositive on defense. Oh no, 1543 01:40:01,640 --> 01:40:04,720 he is. And he's really smart. He's always in the right place, 1544 01:40:04,760 --> 01:40:08,760 and he does like my favorite thing, which is such a niche thing. 1545 01:40:08,800 --> 01:40:13,239 But he'll he'll he'll he'll pre plant, not pre plan, but he 1546 01:40:13,279 --> 01:40:16,880 will drive with intent and specific intent of I know, I'm gonna beat this 1547 01:40:16,920 --> 01:40:20,479 guy to this side, and I'm gonna draw this defender, and the second 1548 01:40:20,520 --> 01:40:24,279 that defender takes a step towards me, the ball out of my hands, 1549 01:40:24,279 --> 01:40:28,039 and that defender's guy has an open shot. He has like just just knows 1550 01:40:28,119 --> 01:40:30,000 how to play, and he plays so well off others too. He had 1551 01:40:30,319 --> 01:40:32,560 when he got injoyed. I think he hadn't affect the field goal percentage north 1552 01:40:32,600 --> 01:40:35,920 of seventy on jumpers, which probably like a thirty shot sample size, But 1553 01:40:35,920 --> 01:40:41,720 I don't care. I wanted the Knicks to take him so bad and they 1554 01:40:41,760 --> 01:40:45,760 did not. Obi Toppin seems like he'll be he'll be fun. So I 1555 01:40:45,079 --> 01:40:48,720 had a last one here that we don't need to spend too much time on. 1556 01:40:49,159 --> 01:40:54,880 But James Harden will be traded before the March twenty first trade deadline, 1557 01:40:54,920 --> 01:40:57,920 and it will not be to one of the six teams that he is named 1558 01:40:57,960 --> 01:41:04,159 as a preferred destination. True, they're trash truth that he'll be traded by 1559 01:41:04,199 --> 01:41:11,119 that deadline, trash that it will be to one of the teams he has 1560 01:41:11,199 --> 01:41:15,920 not named. So you think he'll be in Portland, Boston, Brooklyn, 1561 01:41:15,239 --> 01:41:19,680 Philly, Milwau, Milwaukee or oh god, what was what was the other 1562 01:41:19,680 --> 01:41:24,199 one? Why am I banking on that one? Did you say Philly? 1563 01:41:24,359 --> 01:41:27,880 Did not say Philly, Philly, Brooklyn, Boston, Milwaukee, Portland, 1564 01:41:28,359 --> 01:41:33,319 Miami, Miami. I don't like any of those. So the Sisters, 1565 01:41:33,560 --> 01:41:38,680 if they're playing this well, like this was almost a bad start for the 1566 01:41:38,800 --> 01:41:41,760 Jay Like, if you're looking for James Harden returns, maybe there'll be another 1567 01:41:41,760 --> 01:41:43,600 team that gets desperate. So I don't want to go that far. But 1568 01:41:43,840 --> 01:41:47,119 when you're looking at the teams that he named, I don't think Boston does 1569 01:41:47,159 --> 01:41:50,439 it just because it doesn't. They just don't make these trains. I know 1570 01:41:50,439 --> 01:41:55,319 they traded, but after he goes somewhere else, it will be leaked that 1571 01:41:55,439 --> 01:41:59,920 they were close. Do you give up Jalen Brown right now for age thirty? 1572 01:42:00,079 --> 01:42:02,720 W James Hard It's just that's a tough decision. But Miamie just doesn't 1573 01:42:02,760 --> 01:42:06,159 I don't see it, like if you went Tyler hero Duncan Robinson and all 1574 01:42:06,199 --> 01:42:11,000 the picks plus salary filler, like does that even come? Like is like 1575 01:42:11,079 --> 01:42:13,840 does that do it? Like? That just doesn't wound me. And then 1576 01:42:14,039 --> 01:42:16,800 Brooklyn and Philadelphia specifically, Brooklyn never had the best offer to begin with, 1577 01:42:16,920 --> 01:42:19,239 unless they were just gonna unload every single pick. But I think it's been 1578 01:42:19,239 --> 01:42:24,600 pretty clear that James Harden is not with that team is missing, and then 1579 01:42:24,680 --> 01:42:28,560 Philly is atop the East, and if they stay there through like twelve to 1580 01:42:28,600 --> 01:42:31,399 fifteen games, that becomes a problem. And it's not gonna be Milwaukee that 1581 01:42:31,439 --> 01:42:34,119 was a that would the fact that the name them was a farce like that 1582 01:42:34,199 --> 01:42:40,760 just had start. Yeah, and Portland would be interesting, but McCullum, 1583 01:42:40,800 --> 01:42:44,479 the injured Collins, Anthony Simons, and the seer little and then every single 1584 01:42:44,520 --> 01:42:46,960 pick that you can, you know, throw in there, which is weird 1585 01:42:47,000 --> 01:42:50,439 because I think their protections on the pick that they gave up this summer in 1586 01:42:50,479 --> 01:42:56,800 the Robert Covington trade really leak out, so they would have to like fucks 1587 01:42:56,800 --> 01:43:00,079 and fiddle with that. Basically, I just don't I don't see a pathway 1588 01:43:00,079 --> 01:43:02,439 for him to get to one of those teams. It's gotten the point where 1589 01:43:02,479 --> 01:43:05,199 it's like Boston is like the cleanest destination for him, and I just don't 1590 01:43:05,239 --> 01:43:11,359 see that happening. Yeah, I'm so terrible at these because it's like, 1591 01:43:11,399 --> 01:43:13,960 well, clearly they got to trade him, and clearly they will. But 1592 01:43:13,960 --> 01:43:15,279 then when you start going through the teams, I don't see it. I 1593 01:43:15,279 --> 01:43:18,239 don't see it. I don't see it. I think if I had to 1594 01:43:18,319 --> 01:43:23,199 pick, and I'm sure this will contradict something I thought or wrote, like 1595 01:43:23,279 --> 01:43:27,560 within the last month, but also maybe something that's six weeks ago, I 1596 01:43:27,600 --> 01:43:30,079 said, we will line up with something I said six weeks ago. Because 1597 01:43:30,399 --> 01:43:32,439 you just go back and forth on this, I feel like it's still the 1598 01:43:32,560 --> 01:43:41,720 Nets only because it seems clear to me that they are interested in names and 1599 01:43:42,640 --> 01:43:48,560 they have built their sort of whole identity around let's get stars, and the 1600 01:43:48,640 --> 01:43:53,680 din witty thing maybe opens up an avenue where you can justify, like, 1601 01:43:53,720 --> 01:43:56,319 hey, yea, even though we just spend a whole bunch of times, 1602 01:43:56,319 --> 01:43:59,720 then he clearly don't need more scoring. We need someone to fill this role. 1603 01:44:00,239 --> 01:44:03,119 Lavert and other stuff, Alan whatever you know, can still get you 1604 01:44:03,199 --> 01:44:06,880 there. I don't think it would be a good fit. I don't know 1605 01:44:06,920 --> 01:44:11,640 what the percentage chance of the Nets being the team is. It's not high, 1606 01:44:11,680 --> 01:44:14,159 but I think it might. To me, it might be the highest 1607 01:44:14,239 --> 01:44:17,039 still because Philly was the obvious other one, and I think Philly's just gonna 1608 01:44:17,039 --> 01:44:19,880 be too good and they're gonna say, well, we just needed to see 1609 01:44:19,880 --> 01:44:23,239 if this is gonna work. Yeah, the Ben Simmons thing was always a 1610 01:44:23,279 --> 01:44:27,359 tough, like under contract basically for the next half decade, twenty four all 1611 01:44:27,479 --> 01:44:30,720 NBA type already, that's just tough. Yeah. No, I think I 1612 01:44:30,760 --> 01:44:34,439 think it's Brooklyn and it's like but I put again, I sort of hate 1613 01:44:34,479 --> 01:44:39,039 it, you know. I feel like everyone's mentioned Toronto. Now. I'd 1614 01:44:39,039 --> 01:44:41,159 like to state I don't want to do a victory lap because I'm wrong all 1615 01:44:41,159 --> 01:44:44,199 the time. But we had a podcast where I suggested Toronto like way before 1616 01:44:44,680 --> 01:44:47,479 this went mainstream. It was before OG signed his extension. So the framework 1617 01:44:47,680 --> 01:44:53,720 was Og and Fred Van Fleet and Picks rather than Pascal Siakam. What is 1618 01:44:53,760 --> 01:44:56,920 now If you're trying to build a trader on Pascal Siakam, the Raptors are 1619 01:44:56,920 --> 01:44:59,399 in trouble at this point. I think if I'm the Raptors, I still 1620 01:44:59,520 --> 01:45:02,199 might believe in Pascal Siakam. And I know it's tougher with the poison Pill, 1621 01:45:02,520 --> 01:45:06,479 but I still might try and go the van fleet like o G Route, 1622 01:45:06,520 --> 01:45:09,800 I'm not giving up both Og and Siakam, though it's not something I 1623 01:45:09,800 --> 01:45:12,560 would do. And then I kind of I don't think they should, but 1624 01:45:12,680 --> 01:45:15,560 like, just for the for what they could need and the way that they're 1625 01:45:15,560 --> 01:45:18,239 already playing so slow, I'd like to see him in New Orleans. That'd 1626 01:45:18,279 --> 01:45:23,199 be something that would interest me. I mean, that would really I mean, 1627 01:45:23,239 --> 01:45:27,880 it would completely change their timeline. And there's like the it reeks of 1628 01:45:28,000 --> 01:45:31,239 we tried to speed this up with Anthony Davis too soon and haphazardly, and 1629 01:45:31,239 --> 01:45:35,560 then it reeks of that again. But at least it's not to Marcus Cousins. 1630 01:45:35,560 --> 01:45:39,680 It's James. It's James Harden, Like, I mean, it's so 1631 01:45:39,760 --> 01:45:45,560 difficult to imagine what that team would look like. And that's not a bad 1632 01:45:45,560 --> 01:45:49,000 one though, really because the Pelicans do have like the pieces that should be 1633 01:45:49,039 --> 01:45:54,760 interesting and and I think, as we've said, you know, they've got 1634 01:45:54,760 --> 01:45:58,319 some defense to sort of you know, make up for hard and depending on 1635 01:45:58,399 --> 01:46:00,640 what they'd have to give up to do it. But but yeah, I 1636 01:46:00,640 --> 01:46:03,439 don't know, Toronto is interesting too. It makes make Toronto with the one 1637 01:46:03,479 --> 01:46:06,199 in five starts suddenly seems way more likely than it did. You know, 1638 01:46:06,399 --> 01:46:10,560 I just don't know how do you sell that around Pascal Siako. I guess 1639 01:46:11,159 --> 01:46:14,199 maybe an NBA circles they're more level headed than NBA Twitter. I would like 1640 01:46:14,279 --> 01:46:16,560 to think so Siak, I'm probably is still like, oh, yeah, 1641 01:46:16,640 --> 01:46:19,399 we have a chance to get him, who's under contract for another what is 1642 01:46:19,439 --> 01:46:24,479 it, four years, five years, whatever it is. He is under 1643 01:46:24,479 --> 01:46:28,439 contract for four years, well three years after this one. Like maybe that's 1644 01:46:28,439 --> 01:46:30,399 something. And if they're willing to attach stuff like all these picks to it, 1645 01:46:30,720 --> 01:46:32,720 that make it an other sense. I know people have mentioned Denver. 1646 01:46:33,520 --> 01:46:39,239 I would if you told me that they got to keep Michael Porter Jr. 1647 01:46:39,319 --> 01:46:43,279 All or Jamal Murray in that scenario, I wouldn't hate it. But then 1648 01:46:43,319 --> 01:46:46,359 I'm like, that's just so not what Denver needs right now, Like he's 1649 01:46:46,399 --> 01:46:50,039 just they need a star defensive wing if that's the route they're gonna go. 1650 01:46:50,600 --> 01:46:55,079 So that's like they don't make a ton of sense. And we talked about 1651 01:46:55,079 --> 01:46:58,199 this briefly, but the Warriors, just from an asset standpoint, feel like 1652 01:46:58,199 --> 01:47:02,159 the only other team that could realistically field an offer and then have the incentive 1653 01:47:02,199 --> 01:47:05,279 to get involved, because yeah, you could probably talk yourself into some other 1654 01:47:05,319 --> 01:47:10,720 teams, but you know, where's Orlando gonna let throw in all their picks 1655 01:47:10,840 --> 01:47:14,479 plus Cole Anthony, and like they don't even have attractive stuff after that, 1656 01:47:14,520 --> 01:47:17,399 like moving Jonathan Isaac now he's one injured to just signed an extension, So 1657 01:47:17,439 --> 01:47:23,600 there's the poison pill provision to deal with Atlanta. No, I just wouldn't. 1658 01:47:23,600 --> 01:47:25,760 I don't want to see James Hard and Trey Young on the same team, 1659 01:47:25,960 --> 01:47:29,920 just no, oh god, can you imagine we'll talk about my turn, 1660 01:47:30,000 --> 01:47:31,960 your turn, I mean, just like my turn, your turn at 1661 01:47:31,960 --> 01:47:35,159 the foul line, just NonStop. That would either into all of their games. 1662 01:47:36,199 --> 01:47:39,239 So I just don't. I don't think it's gonna be to one of 1663 01:47:39,279 --> 01:47:42,000 the six teams because I feel like there's a harder path to figure out packages 1664 01:47:42,079 --> 01:47:44,680 there. I probably agree with you that if it's gonna be one of those 1665 01:47:44,680 --> 01:47:47,119 six, it feels like it'll be the Nets. But I feel like because 1666 01:47:47,119 --> 01:47:49,479 of how wide open the league is right now, where I think you look 1667 01:47:49,520 --> 01:47:53,600 at it and you say, Okay, there's the Lakers, there's the Clippers, 1668 01:47:54,039 --> 01:47:58,560 then there's Team is it Philly is at Milwaukee, and then there's everybody 1669 01:47:58,560 --> 01:48:00,680 else, Like it feels like there are only three teams that are gonna belong 1670 01:48:00,680 --> 01:48:04,399 in that upper reschelant with like a whole match of teams that could be in 1671 01:48:04,439 --> 01:48:09,640 that second tier where you thought Denver and Dallas were going to be, like 1672 01:48:09,680 --> 01:48:14,079 now that's also populated by oh yeah the Pacers are there. Yeah, maybe 1673 01:48:14,079 --> 01:48:16,119 the Hawks are there. Oh the Nets are there, oh or the you 1674 01:48:16,119 --> 01:48:18,800 know, the Jazz are there, the Suns are there. So it feels 1675 01:48:18,800 --> 01:48:23,600 like there's going to be a team that talks itself into doing something wild this 1676 01:48:23,760 --> 01:48:26,720 year. And I don't think it's gonna be one of the six. I'm 1677 01:48:26,760 --> 01:48:30,239 just I'm betting on the field here, which normally isn't too bold. No, 1678 01:48:30,439 --> 01:48:31,960 but it's not a bad bet. You know, As I'm looking down 1679 01:48:32,000 --> 01:48:34,680 the teams, the one that actually sort of would have made sense had they 1680 01:48:34,760 --> 01:48:40,520 not already dealt for the Rockets other discround stars Washington, Like if they could 1681 01:48:40,560 --> 01:48:44,159 have figured out a way to just you know, Bill for Harden or the 1682 01:48:44,199 --> 01:48:47,720 Principles and you just decide who's given up more and you just go with that, 1683 01:48:48,000 --> 01:48:51,600 like that would have made weirdly like a lot of sense, just because 1684 01:48:53,000 --> 01:48:55,800 I think you put if you're taking on Harden, like this is why the 1685 01:48:55,840 --> 01:49:00,640 Nuggets just feel like such a just impossible fit to me. You know, 1686 01:49:00,680 --> 01:49:03,920 because the Nuggets play a very specific way and it is Nikoliokich has the ball 1687 01:49:03,960 --> 01:49:08,640 and passes the ball, and that's their identity. You could not introduce James 1688 01:49:08,680 --> 01:49:12,960 Harden into that without just totally upending that whole thing. Washington doesn't have an 1689 01:49:13,000 --> 01:49:15,520 identity. Washington wants to be relevant, Washington. You know, it's just 1690 01:49:15,720 --> 01:49:19,560 that that's the type of team. I guess Orlando falls into that category team, 1691 01:49:19,800 --> 01:49:24,680 like you said, but man, I don't know, it's it's it's 1692 01:49:24,680 --> 01:49:27,279 a mess. It's almost surprising to me that he hasn't been traded yet. 1693 01:49:28,000 --> 01:49:30,920 And but but that's that's we just said, you can't find any place. 1694 01:49:30,960 --> 01:49:33,359 Well, It's also this is very clearly they're waiting to see if Philly puts 1695 01:49:33,359 --> 01:49:36,960 Ben Simmons on the table, because that Crounts is anything else that you could 1696 01:49:38,000 --> 01:49:41,600 get. It seems pretty clear you can't do better than that. Based on 1697 01:49:41,640 --> 01:49:45,920 what we just said. Philly is just outright actually told you know, they're 1698 01:49:45,000 --> 01:49:47,720 like, you're probably just waiting, like to see if they implode. But 1699 01:49:47,720 --> 01:49:51,960 if you get to a point where they're, hey, it's February one and 1700 01:49:53,039 --> 01:49:56,720 they're still atop the East, that's probably where things would get super interesting. 1701 01:49:56,800 --> 01:49:59,840 And look, he keeps adding teams to his lists. He's up to say 1702 01:50:00,039 --> 01:50:02,760 she only had two originally. Yeah, it's exponential growth. Eventually it'll just 1703 01:50:02,800 --> 01:50:08,520 be like I don't know, man anywhere just it doesn't matter league league in 1704 01:50:08,600 --> 01:50:11,159 play now too. Yeah, send me to the G league bubble. That's 1705 01:50:11,159 --> 01:50:15,279 definitely something that Grant. This was great and super long, as per mostly 1706 01:50:15,399 --> 01:50:19,039 usual for us. If you guys are not following Grant on Twitter, please 1707 01:50:19,039 --> 01:50:26,520 remedy that post taste at GT Underscore Hughes. He covers the NBA spectacularly for 1708 01:50:26,600 --> 01:50:30,319 Bleacher Reports, so again at GT Underscore Hughes, Grant, thank you so 1709 01:50:30,399 --> 01:50:31,800 much again for hopping on and giving me so much of your time, and 1710 01:50:32,119 --> 01:50:35,079 you know so well by now that you'll be getting a text message sooner or 1711 01:50:35,159 --> 01:50:38,880 later to come back, always looking forward to it.