What is krack Alac and fellow thermony the or a efforts. I am damp
Valley coming at you with what will be a super quick intro. Just wanted
to note that this is the second part of our Eastern Conference mailbag. So
we did the Atlanta Hawks through the Indiana Pacers, I believe in part one.
Go check that out. It's on YouTube, Spotify, Apple where we
get your podcasts, and now we're going to go through the Miami Heat up
until of course the Washington Wizards. We will do the Western Conference next week.
Thank you for everyone who is sent in questions. We do still need
a question or multiple questions for the Los Angeles Clippers. We'll also take some
on other teams. Join our discord to get them in there. You can
DM me on Twitter at Dan Favalley. You can ask in the YouTube comments
as well. If you're watching this, I will see them. Find them
Hardwood Knocks on Twitter as well. So still room to get in some questions
for the Western Conference if you've not submitted them already. If you've submitted questions
already, we appreciate the people that I've asked for multiple teams, especially when
we were low on some other ones, and so you all stepped up.
I really appreciate it. But we're hitting the second half of the East.
This has been great. Keep the questions coming. This would be something you'd
be fun to do every once in a while. But I had to work
really hard to rally the questions, and I don't necessarily want to do that.
I want you guys to just feel free to ask them or I guess
if I'm sending out one solicitation, maybe the response will be a little bit
more robust next time. Anyway, let's get to answering questions on the rest
of the Eastern Conference, beginning with the Miami Heat and finishing, of course
with the Washington Wizards. All right, let's move on to the Heat here
from Rubik scal Do we have to do this dance every year? We write
them off at the beginning of the season, which I did, And here
we are in March with Miami a game and a half out of home court
in the playoffs, and it's hardly the first time this has happened. Is
hubrists do they have that they just don't not give a shit until February?
Is it careful planning? Refuse to believe it's coincidence that this happens every year.
They're eleven and three as we're recording this since January thirty. First,
Uh, what's up with the heat? Like? Is it just? Is
it? Just? So? I let me give you one thing before I
sorry, before I cut you off of the question. I just asked you.
Uh, I was. I was writing about the heat today and I
was just looking at like this offensive profile where they're bottom ten in rim accuracy
and at temp frequency, dead last in the league in location based effective field
goal percentage, and just still and that's how they were last year too,
and they just like they still make it work. So like, what is
it this? I'm just rephrasing the question, like how is this continuing to
happen? First of all, I don't have a good answer other than when
you're asking if this is deliberate, it absolutely is. With Jimmy Butler,
there's just like there's a different mode from him later in the season. He's
shooting over fifty percent from three during this stretch on like three attempts per game,
which is for him, that's real volume. But there's other stuff that's
happening, and I do think it's a trickle down effect, like Haimi Hawkes.
He's healthier. That helps. But you look at this team. They're
flying around on defense now, which is something they weren't doing at least as
often it felt like for the first two thirds of the season or whatever.
Bam Adebayo he's hitting still really can't hit. I call them Trueman rangers.
Like he's shooting during the stretch, like under twenty percent from Trueman range,
where he's at fifty seven plus percent on in the paint two's that aren't in
the restricted area. That's like an eight percentage point increase over where he was
beforehand. So there are things that are happening, but the like is all
that, Like the Duncan Robinson playmaking, by the way, so it's like,
oh, this guy just does stuff inside the arc and he's hitting threes
and now he's a playmaker. He's just averaging five ass per game. I
don't I don't know how much of it's still is it? You know?
Coach bo just, I'm not gonna break out my best shit until we get
into March slash the end of February. I don't have answers here other than
if it's a trickle down effect from Jimmy Butler. I get like he's very
clearly the flip the switch conversations become a cliche. But we went through this
during their playoff run last year. I honestly think there's just some extraterrestrial shit
at play. I don't have like I don't. We can point to the
numbers and what they're doing, differently, I can't explain it to you why
it's not and you can't point to like any transaction like this is not about
getting Delawn right. This is not like Terry Rose here has been injured and
banged up, and when he's been playing, they weren't even using him like
everyone thought they were gonna use him. It was, oh, look,
Terry Rose, heer's setting all these screens, and it's like, well,
that's not really what I thought was gonna happen. So I just don't.
I don't have I apologize anyone who was hoping for some insight into this.
But do you talk about wanting to know what's going on in the Bulls front
office. I don't even fucking know what's going on behind the scenes in Miami
with those conversations, and if this is just like a contrived effort to lull
us into a false sense of I wrote them off because I don't want to
go when people ask me on the radio on podcasts, I don't want to
say, well, just no, they're gonna do this is what the Heat
do? They flip a switch. I'm gonna do that now. I'm not
gonna point to the numbers or anything I've watched, like, this is just
gonna happen, and I'm gonna keep saying it even if Jimmy Butler gets to
his fortieth birthday apparently, because this is just gonna continue to happen. You
know what the weirdest thing about all this is is that like when you think
of the Heat, you think of the really disciplined, like don't take plays
off, really like rigid, militaristic whatever. Like that isn't the type of
team that flips switches late in the year in theory, right that, Like
that doesn't make any sense. It's totally opposite for what happens. And you
would think like, oh, they're gonna overachieve from day one if if in
fact they're gonna overachieve, But instead it's like, no, they're all those
things super serious like, you know, practice really hard, you know,
max effort, but then also like try harder and do better for some reason
later in the year. So they're coasting like I don't don't understand, doesn't
make any sense. Do you think that this could be? And again with
Jimmy Butler's just I'm just it's a decision. I've just decided it's a decision
when it comes to Jimmy Butler. But because they always seem to wind up
being reliant on either like a buyout type guy with a Kevin Love or just
these younger guys who were in the program, whether they were draft picks or
or not. And so it's like, well, hey, with Heismith,
and look at how far nikole Jovic has come now and now Caleb Martin is
healthier than he was at the beginning of the year. So it does always
feel like they're dealing with that stuff. Could that be like a reasonable explanation
of younger guys are getting better and other guys are getting healthier. I guess
maybe sure, let's go with that. It's better than like, I don't
know, shrug hashtag heek culture. That's why at least at least you got
something there. Why did they sign Patty Mills like they have the lawn.
I know that there's Terroort's year and Patty Mills. I don't know. I
don't know why they did that, Dan, But my very first thought when
I saw that was like, gosh, I bet Patty Mills has still got
something. First, at least two playoff games, he will come in,
catch a heater, make four threes and just pump everyone up. And then
yeah, no, that's exactly what's gonna happen. Of course, that's what's
gonna happen, all right. Related heat question, uh, I would also
like the answer to some of a counter question, will the heat ever stop?
With the whole quote, we have a we have culture, and we'll
just grind in the playoffs a bit and swing for a star. They could
have probably wont to ring recently if they had done so. In my opinion,
seems like every offseason the heater linked to being a team a preference of
a star like Dame. That's my insertion there. On the move then low
ball and act shock they don't get anyone, and then act like they don't
need them. Damn, that's not a tea for you. Your thoughts I
have thoughts on this, So I don't think you're ever gonna give up the
culture stick. And I do agree that it's annoying Austin, Like, that's
just I don't get. I had a joke once when they were in the
bubble, and do you remember that there was a rule that you needed clearance
to get like certain people in the bubble, like when the playoffs and there
were certain teams that were there. You're allowed to bring people in, but
they needed like clearance. And so I made a joke that Jimmy Butler called
Adam Silver and asked if his will to win needed clearance to enter the bubble.
And like that's very much the heat persona, and it can be annoying.
I find it comic goal a lot of the time, but like it
seems to work in the postseason. But my my issue here and I understand
the question what opportunity have they actively decided not to pursue or engage, And
so it's when you look at Dames specifically, he wanted to go to Miami.
Do we really believe that they didn't offer They offered one first round pick
in Tyler Hero and that's just where they drew the line, and so it's
they. I think that Portland just went with an offer they deemed better.
And it's the same case with they did not have the assets to outbid for
Donovan Mitchell if you thought he was the guy. So who is Who have
they actively missed out on that they could have gotten, is my question.
And during this run, by the way, they've made Eastern Conference finals,
they've made the NBA finals, and so I don't think this stick has cost
them a title. If anything, it's probably because of the question that Rubikscal
just asked and we did not provide an answer to. By the way,
I fully recognize that we just talked in circles for eight minutes or whatever it
was. Here's no answer. Don't apologize, Well, I'm not apologized,
Like, I'm just standing a fact. We didn't have the answer to it.
Like if that's what they're doing and that's what gets them to where they've
been, then it's helped them get closer. I just like, now we
could talk about, Okay, was trading a two thousand and twenty seven first
round pick for Terry Rozier the move and now we can get into that conversation.
I just don't know what other moves were available with the assets, because
clearly there's a disconnect between how some people value Tyler Hero and then how the
league values Tyler Hero. And so if he's not considered that blue chip type
of asset on his current deal, what are they doing? And now it's
even harder pressed because their salary matching is Tyler Hero or Duncan Robinson and that
So if you're saying they would have put Hoimay Hawkeys on the table gotten Dame,
maybe they could have done that. Let's say they could have done that.
Dam has not had the best season. Yeah, are we just to
assume that he would have been better off in Miami when he says the biggest
struggle has been living without his family, I'm not gonna assume that. No.
I think this isn't This isn't the Danny Ainge Celtics. This is like
that. That kind of feels like what this criticism is of, Like,
you know, it's like a joke. Oh well, we were in,
we were close, we were in on this guy, we were in on
that guy. We didn't do it. The difference is, like the reason
the Heat don't always have the best package is because they're always aggressive. They
are they're they're the team that's giving up the first for Terry Rozier. They're
the team that's like they're always like if a star becomes available, I think
people fear the Heat because they're like those guys are pat Riley is cutthroat.
They will go for that guy. They will try to do it. They
don't always have the best package, Ke say, the Age Celtics because they
just didn't have a bunch of picks and stuff from I don't know what the
the original Brooklyn Nets trade, the Garnett and Pierce stuff. But like I
think, I think the Heat are really seriously in on every star that becomes
available. They just don't always have all the assets because they're aggressive, like
on a smaller scale, very frequently like giving you know what, what was
it, like, didn't they Goran Dragic give them a first for him or
whatever? Kyle out Like they're always out there trying to get guys. It's
not it's not that they're like punting on going to get someone and that's costing
them titles. I think if anything, maybe they're too aggressive sometimes, like
because they're always trying to win. Now there's like not a tomorrow for them,
So it's a different kind of like they miss out on guys for like
maybe the right reasons because they're always trying to be better. I don't know.
And also I think they miss out on guys because they end up like
Dame. I'm sure they want a Dame. They just ended up not having
the best passage for Dame, right because they create other trades before that,
Like they just didn't have the asset troph brunt of the Bucks. And I'll
loop these two questions together, the first of which or the swe have two
one from a deal in pain possible Doctor Vers still be good after three wins
in the second round, and then Austin, will the Bucks go for the
impossible and have four coaches on the payroll if they are a first round out
this year? I don't if they get exited in the first round, they're
keeping Doc Rivers right, they've been unafraid to change things, but i'd be
fairly and maybe the reason they won't have four coaches on the payrolls because Mike
Budenholzer gets a job, And I don't know if that's offsets in any way,
So that I'm gonna say No, there's no way that they fire DOC
Rivers. I think even if it's clear that they should fire DOC Rivers,
which is not often, they won't. I will say though they have so
since he's been in they're up to sixth in points allowed per possession under DOC.
That's up from eighteenth beforehand. There beforehand, they were nineteenth an opponent
transition frequency in twenty eighth and just transition defense. They're now fourth under DOC.
And when you watch them, they're doing a much better job getting back
on missus and even in the half court, forcing opponents to work deeper into
the shot clock. Overall, there's better ball containment somehow. Without they played
a little bit more aggressively. They're actually forcing turnovers now, so that probably
leads into their ball containment without getting a ton of different personnel like they have
Patrick Beverley, that's like the main difference from before. So that's encouraging.
I still think there's offensive awkwardness, and that's something that could come back to
bite them when you're looking at if Middleton's banged up, and are Giannis and
Dame, are they in sync? The need to operate sort of independent of
one another, even when they're on the court together. That's probably my biggest
concern. And then it's ken this defense hold up in the playoffs when teams
are going to have extra time to game plan around them. I do think
though, given the injuries in Cleveland and in Philly and in New York,
I think we have to just default to the Bucks. And this might have
always been the case. They're the second biggest threat to come out of the
East right in Miami. We just finished talking about it is in Miami.
Miami's in its own special group. But I was on the I've told someone
today like Boston's a lock. Obviously, if you're talking to pick the conference
finals today, Boston's a lock. And I got to the point now where
it's like, if Milwaukee's not there, I think I'm pretty surprised. If
it's not Boston Milwaukee in the East Finals, I'm surprised. To your point.
Though the defense has looked better with Doc, all the numbers are there,
the offense has been worse, and like it's almost kind of one of
those things of like, well, do we give the small sample caveat for
the offense but not the defense, like or are we gonna do? Are
we gonna say they both are meaningful or neither is meaningful because you kind of
can't have it both ways. And the y honest Dame stuff to me is
like the defining issue for this team down the stretch of like, can we
get some two man chemistry, can we get some pick and roll stuff going?
Because Dame and Brook Lopez have actually had some good moments as a pick
and roll tandem, or at least with Lopez setting the screens way out high,
so Dame gets downhill from the logo and like that works. Johannis,
just the chemistry is not there, and the Bucks as a team they so
it's fine when keeps the ball in the pick and roll. I was pulling
some play by play data earlier. Today Milwaukee scores at a rate that ranks
in the thirteenth percentile when the rollman finish his plays, like they suck with
the rollman and like in theory, Jannis should be one roll guy though,
right, what's that? They don't really have a true role guy? Though?
Why is it a great role guy? Rubble to the basket just like
give him a head start with the ball. This this should be like the
easiest thing in the world. It's clearly not. Jannis himself is a fifty
seventh percentile pick and roll roll man scorer, so like he's better than average,
but like it's insane to me that like this is if they can't get
a Dame Janice two man game going, like I don't I like one or
the other of them is just like broken as an offensive player because there's no
you have a spacing center Brook Lopez, assuming Middleton's out there, and like
and Beasley, like there's no one in the lane, like it should just
be it should be super easy. This is so and and nobody likes to
spam pick and rolls more than Doc Rivers, like he's coach Chris Paul on
Blake Griffin, he goes James Harden and Joel Embiid like he knows how to
do this. So I think that for me, if he can figure out
this this pick and roll combo and just make it the staple of the Bucks
postseason offense, like this guy's the limit if if he can make it work.
And I like his odds, but it's concerning to me that it hasn't
happened yet, so that I just had I had those numbers, and I
wanted to throw him out there for this conversation. This thing's back predoc though,
I wonder how much of it too comes down to And he's actually been
worse under Doc when you're looking at like what he's doing as a driver.
I'm talking about Damian Loward, but like the three point shooting has been weird
all year. He's at so he's at thirty two point three percent on catch
and shoot threes. On combined open and wide open threes, he's at like
thirty six and a half percent. That's not like good for wide open threes
and being Damian Lillard, right, So it's and the other thing I'm wondering,
So you mentioned like the Yanna is Dame pick and roll. Do you
think there's room or do you just think that this is not something that's gonna
materialize for like the inverted stuff with them, were like, let's have Dame
screen for you, honest and what happens or is that just like sort of
a I'd be curious to see the I don't know the data on it.
I don't know how often it's been used. I'd hazard that has not been
used very often, but like I is it worth it? And I keep
hearing is like, yeah, like whatever, Doc kind of alludes to it
or people are talking about, yeah, Doc Rivers wants to like do this
stuff. It's like, well, why why is it happening? But that's
I don't know that that's that's the question. I think, of course you
should use it because you the inverted pick and roll has worked fairly well with
Middleton, and honest like that was kind of a go to thing they would
go both you know, Middleton as the ball handler and Yannis setting a screen
was like kind of a staple for some of those really good Bucks teams,
and they could invert it and get Giannis going downhill or force weird choices on
switches and stuff like I think, I don't know, it's an oversimplification,
like Doc Rivers has forgotten more about basketball than either of us will ever know.
But it's like get your two best players involved and force a little guy
to figure out what to do with a big guy on defense like that that
should just be They should spam it all the rest of this year and just
see if it's gonna work, because like, if it doesn't work, then
I don't really think the Bucks can score enough to even scare the Celtics.
But if it does work, then like that's tough because Boston, you know,
it's gonna challenge if there's a team, if there's a team that could
neuter even the best version of the Bucks, that it's Boston. Well that's
true of every everybody, Like Boston's gonna be the biggest challenge certainly anyone in
the East. Faces. We are onto the New York Knicks. We have
two questions for them. First one, uh, this is oh what is
it? Nast noah nas noah, I apologize if I just have this written
down wrong. Will the Knicks ever be fully healthy again? Dude? I
don't know. Just they're so banged up, like jail the jail and runs
an injury. They have averted disaster. That's great. But now so you
have O g out, you have Julius Randall out, Mitchel Robinson out.
We know Isaiah Hartenstein is dealing with the Achilles stuff. Of course, the
I don't know if I already said the jail runs and stuff. And then
it's like, well, Josh hart is playing forty nine out of forty eight
minutes a game. Are we tempting fate here with him? And some of
these other guys a duce McBride. When Jalen Brunson went down, he played
every minute like Jalen Brunson had what was it forty three seconds or thirty seven
seconds, and then duce McBride just played every single second after it. I
will say it's wild, and I don't think enough is being made of it.
That the Knicks are just missing four of there would be starters. That's
a lot. That's a lot. That's almost the most starters you can be
missing. It's pretty close. So it's good that they avoided disaster with the
Jallehn Brunson injury. I don't the Mitchell Robinson injury matters, but I honestly
think at this point for him to come back, there's a chance that he
could do more damage to their offense than good for them overall defensively. And
I really like I Saya Hertenstein, do you not trust him to play a
ton of minutes, especially with the Achilles injury. I get it. I'm
looking at the OG and the Randalls stuff, because the OG has been like,
oh Okay, there's a ramp up and he'll be back by the end
of season. But when I just we don't have a like a like he
underwent elbow surgery. That's that doesn't seem like unseerious. And so what does
he look like when he comes back on the offensive end? Like, yes,
defense would still be fine. Is he gonna be able to knock down
three? Is the cutting element will still be there? But if he has
less three point gravity where he didn't have By the way, yeah, he'shooting
thirty nine percent from three as a nick, but you know under five attempts
per thirty six minutes isn't some intense volume. And it's the Randall thing,
which we have a question on Randall in the second what does he come like
he's dealing with an injury where it comes back and it's all right. So
is he gonna eventually need surgery on it? And how is he shooting with
it like it just or playing with it? Is he able to be as
physical because a lot of the stuff he does inside the arc requires physicality?
Or is there a chance that he's just still done for the season and we
don't know about it just yet because by the way, the last like real
update I think we got from them said he need to be reevaluated in three
weeks. That was like four or five weeks ago, and we haven't really
gotten a concrete update. I don't think unless I missed it, I don't
They're not going to be fully healthy again this season. I think that's been
pretty clear. It's the bigger question is to what extent will they still be
injured when the playoffs roll around, Because this is a team that I might
have even called them the biggest threat to the Celtics in the East if they
were fully healthy, and I even said if Robinson doesn't come back ors in
the same they'll be fine. Now it's the point where, all right,
are they still a team that's going to win a playoff round? You need
Jalen Brunson for sure. I think Jalen Brunson and og Ananobi and probably Dante
divin Genzo at this point, those are like the three players you just can't
afford to lose. You want to guess how many possessions, So obviously they're
presumptives starting five with Robinson in there and Brunson, De Vincenzo, og and
Randall has not played together at all. Do you want to guess how many
possessions those four guys have played sans Randall are sans Robinson. I'm gonna say
under one hundred and fifty, So I'll say one hundred and seventeen three seventy
four, which is still like that's like TIBs I should have In fact,
yeah, you know, TIBs is gonna max out whatever. We cannot pin
this on TIBs, right, I love that the whole thing. It always
wears this players down. It's just bad luck. But yeah, I think
it's kind of interesting. I think like whatever happens in the playoffs for the
Knicks, they're going to get a pass. I think if they get bounced
in the first round and just as everyone barely gets back, I don't think.
I don't think it's gonna be uh oh, this is a failure.
It's just like, yeah, shitty luck, man, Like everybody got hurt,
what do you want? But then that doesn't make their off season decisions
all that much easier, which I think the next question kind of pertains to
with Julius Randall. Yeah, so this is interesting from uh Is eight seven
New York. Randall isn't health. If Randall isn't healthy again for the playoffs,
and we just don't know how to value him this summer is basically the
question. My response to this is, yeah, that's tough because it's another
built in excuse for Julius Randall. He has a in his two playoff runs
with the Knicks forty six point two true shooting, which is just disastrously low,
especially when that player. You look at his usage in those postseasons.
Twenty nine point two is an average was and it was lower last year because
Jalleen Brunston existed. There were built in excuses. He was banged up during
both of them. And in twenty twenty one he was their number one option,
and Julius Randall's your number one option in the playoffs. Just I mean,
I'm not trying to insult Julius Randall. That's when let's rame this way.
R J. Barrett was your number two that year. Was Elfred Payton
might have been starting games in the playoffs or did they get away from that
in the playoffs. I can't even remember. So the team wasn't perfect,
and he was banged up last year. He was just visibly injured, and
so there's the built in excuse. And they did start Elfred Payton in some
playoff games. So I was correct on that, and then this year he's
gonna be injured again. If he's back, it's oh, he has like
this banged up shoulder. So I don't if he comes back, I probably
my expectations for him to play offensively are just going to be low, but
they're The extension eligibility is weird. They can extend him for a starting salary
around I think it's like forty one point three million off. We have two
years left on his deal, one of which is a player option. Given
what you know about Randall, what he's done in the playoffs is value to
the team. Though, would you extend him grant if that's on the table,
And I'm assuming you wouldn't give him the full boat, even though that's
not even his technically his max salary, but you're not going to give him
the forty plus million. Is there a number where you would look at and
say, no, we'll extend Julius Randall like I would do it, or
are you looking at it as I prefer kind of the short term salary optionality
for matching via trades, So I think normally what you should do is try
to extend him for for what you're talking about salary matching, like whether you
know, because right now he's on the books next year for twenty seven to
five, player option for twenty nine to four in twenty five to twenty six.
So if you want to extend him out just to sort of juice the
value of him as a trade ship for whatever the next big piece you're gonna
go after, I think you in a vacuum, you might do that.
I would do it differently. I'm not starting at forty one thirty maybe because
you're pricing in the injuries, you're pricing what you know about his playoff viability.
The problem is, I don't know how valuable Randall is. I think
we've talked about this a little bit in the past, Like he's certainly not
as valuable to other teams as he is to the Knicks. So like having
him on the books at a number that makes sense for the Knicks as like,
well, we just makes sense to have him on the roster for thirty
million a year or whatever. Scale that up however you want to. I
don't know if other teams would view it the same way, like, oh,
that's a big we value him at the same dollar amount. So if
he's a trade ship like it doesn't. It just doesn't quite square up to
me, if that makes any sense. So, like, I think my
path going forward would just be, like, we're not talking extension. You're
guaranteed on the books next year. You've got that player option. If you
well enough next year to decline it and hit free agency, awesome, That's
like that means you had a great year for us in twenty five to twenty
six, and sorry in twenty four or twenty five. But I'm not I'm
not going out a long way and I'm certainly not going up into the forties
for Randall. It's interesting because to the Knicks specifically, if you can get
him at a reasonable number, it's more valuable to extend him. But to
other teams it is less valuable to extend him because he's going to be more
valuable as that short term salary matching and you some things might even view it
as as an expiring contract that's over the summer because of that player option.
Do you think he's more valuable if we're talking strictly as a trade ship,
because let's say the best version of the next Knicks team has some other star
in there with Antonobi and Brunson and whatever. Is he more valuable as an
expiring twenty seven million dollar contract or whatever, then he had two more years
on that. The answer is yes, because the team that you're acquiring said
player from is probably not going to be on a Julius Randall timeline. And
then you just said, and as we've talked about, he's such a very
specific fit. He's not a he's a two time All NBA player. And
if you want to say he shouldn't have made it one of those, he's
an All NBA play like that is a thing that happened and that he deserved
two times at least once. Yeah, but he did it two times and
he could, by the way, if he never got hurt, like there's
a chance he would have been in the totally. So. But he's such
a specific fit that even if he were viewing it as well, we'll reroute
him. I don't think that he's it's not gonna be the same. The
number would have to even if he was at the same number where it was.
Oh, the average annual value is thirty million, let's say, so
he's barely getting a raise off of that player option number. I just don't
think you could count on netting a haul, and so as a team that's
rebuilding, presumably in this situation, I would prefer the flexibility of knowing this
money comes off the books, or that we could use it as another short
term salary matching to say, hey, give us, we'll take back money
you don't want, or something to that effect. That's my belief, and
I feel appreciate he's saying about that about a two time All NBA player who's
in his prime. I just think that's the reality. I'm with you on
that, all right, Orlando Magic. This is from Lil Mortenson or Lee
Mortenson. My eyes and L's are hard to tell difference between uh, can
Suggs? Can Jalen Suggs be a better shooting Marcus Smart? Or do we
need a point guard three and D player. I'm glad this is for you
and not me, because I've I've flip flopped on Suggs pretty hard, so
you've you've always been a little more sober on him, So I've kind of
wondered this is I'm not sure if Marcus Mart's the apt comparison anymore, because
I think that I trust Jalen Suggs's jumper and I also more so trust Jalen
Suggs to play within the limits of himself. And part of that is because
the Magic do have other options even when it comes to running point guard,
and the Celtics at times very much like no, like Marcus Mart's got to
be our primary pick and roll initiator and he's going to turn the ball over
twenty five percent of the time, but that's you run. I think.
So maybe the environment helps out Suggs here, but you know what the comp
I feel like might be better, Like could this be someone who turns into
a Derek White type player? Needs to come a long way as a passer.
But that's what I see, And I'm not talking about like physically,
but I'm just in terms of the gaps that they feel to where, No,
you don't want Jalen Suggs running your offense, but you don't really want
Derek White running your offense. But he's still gonna drop dimes and keep the
ball moving. Suggs could do that. He's not gonna try and iso a
shit ton, but like he can do some stuff on the ball when he
gets moving, and then he's also could just move a crap ton off the
ball. Now is Jalen Suggs the same level as screen or as Derek White.
That's what we get into. But I do feel like Jalen Suggs has
the potential to turn to that player. When we're specifically looking at his defense
and his complimentary three point shooting, he's not gonna have I mean, Derek
White doesn't have like necessarily a ton of gravity even when you look at his
three point splits. I just feel like that's the type of player you want
Suggs to turn into. And I believe again, I don't know how to
feel about the passing and the connective passing and the screening. I think he
can get there on one of those fronts though, for sure. And so
I don't think you need to try and upgrade from the Jailen sug spot unless
you view and this might be stepping on the toes of the next magic question,
but unless you view like you're viewing. Oh, no, Jalen Sounds
needs to be our point guard. No, that that's not that's not a
long term thing. No, I don't. I mean he's still though vastly
improved as a shooter, which is like now he's going to stay in the
league, which is like, oh my before no, no, no,
before the shooting stuff, before the shooting happened, I was like, what
is this guy? Because because Chris Dunn has but let let's talk about Chris
Dunn has like barely hung on, like he's bounced around, he's gonna he's
a minimum guy. Jalen Suggs is kind of Chris Dunn, except that now
Jalen Suggs can shoot, uh and so like that has changed his outlook as
like his career outlook entirely and has changed what he means to the magic.
I love Chris Dunn, by the way. Suggs though, like he still
why did you love Jalen Thuggs? Then what's why did you love Jalen Suggs
before he was Derek White? Two, he's not well if he if Jalen
Suggs becomes Derek White, the magic are real scary that that but that is
a better confidence smart just to get back to the question too, because smart,
like Smart's value was like I'm gonna guard a center for a few possessions,
Like Suggs is not that guy, and Suggs is not like flying into
the stands after being touched uh, you know, to like grift fouls like
Marcus Smart is an elite all times they turned on the central area and the
arena, and Marcus Smart's like row an all time foul grifter. Like and
I say that as a with respect, like he's just his performance art how
good Smart it was, with all due respect the proceeds to disrespect. Yeah,
I still think you know what, we are just gonna step on this
one a little bit, but like, I think you need just a different
true point guard type and then Suggs can come in and whether he's gonna guard
the one or the two, or whether he's gonna run second units or just
be a spot up guy. Like, there's a lot of ways you can
use Suggs going forward, which is great because I didn't think there were gonna
be any ways that you could use them, and I was wrong about that.
Uh. This is from Rubik scal Can Markel Fultz's post moves help them
survive in today's NBA in the absence of a convincing outside shot. Can he
be part of a magic future that involves playoff aspirations? The answer is no.
Uh no, So here's so false is shooting fifty three point eight percent
on post ops this year per second spectrum. That's a good number, especially
for a guard. It's not super high volume, though, can you up
that more? I just don't. Maybe it's because I'm viewing this too in
Orlando Magic terms, like they don't have and I think with Jacquvan has done
a good job when you watch them, like they have good spacing on the
court, but the defensive spacing is a lot different in comparison to the offensive
spacing because no one cares about the people that are spacing the floor in Orlando.
And so if you're gonna use Markel Fults in the post, I think
you're gonna need better shooters and better motion around him him. And then there's
also the level of and if you're putting the ball into his hands, it's
out of the hands of Palo Bank, Carrol and Franz Wagner and that that's
like So if we're talking about on another team, maybe I don't know.
I don't know what team that is. For the Orlando Magic specifically, I
don't think he's a bad player, but if he is part of the next
great Orlando Magic team, I think he's coming off the bench like as like
that's like like I can't like he's not you know, the starting point guard
or he's not even forget about the actual role. He's not closing games,
he's not playing a ton of minutes. Like that's the the next iteration of
the matter. I just don't think you would have to put so much like
shooting around him. And then again it's just even then there's limits to what
Palo Bank Carroll's probably ever gonna do as a shooter even though that short,
like you don't want to displace Palo Bank Carroll from the ball, and so
you need someone who can play off the ball more effectively then Mark cal Foltz,
can I think in Orlando is where I'm at. Yeah, it's just
like you can get away with having like a weakness in your game. A
point guard who is best on the ball cannot be like a non threat to
score. And like I get it, like cool post up game, you
know good you have to be as a post and like you know, upper
paint player as a point guard, you have to like to succeed as that,
like that's your offensive bread and butter. Not saying this is the case
for this guy, but like you gotta be Jalen Brunson good. Now,
Brunson can do a million other things, but like you gotta be Jalen Brunson
in the mid post if like if Folts is gonna have offensive value, like
he's got to be that good. He's not that good. Like no,
basically nobody is. Nobody does what Brunson does at that position. And I
will say, like his drop offs that like in terms of efficiency from mid
range this year is and he dealt with injuryacently played, was he played in
twenty five games or whatever it is? Is absolutely if that's like a thing
that sticks, that is absolutely jarring, and then gutting for his functional value,
he's shooting eleven percent from three and he's like his career twenty seven percent.
Liked, find me a guard that has been in a major role on
a on a team that is going to be as good as Orlando wants to
be with that, Like that's an oversimplification, but like that doesn't work.
You can't do it. You can't do it, like in the modern NBA,
you cannot be So if he's if he I think he would be.
I would be surprised if he has a major like a bench role even you
know, like fifteen minutes a night on the best version of this Magic team
in the next couple of years, just because like you know, like you,
I think you hit on it, especially if he's got the ball and
is scoring. Like that's just such a low expected value proposition, compounded by
the fact that you're taking opportunities away from your better offensive players. Like so
he's he's a good defender, he's a good passer, but like he has
no off ball value whatsoever. And that really to get all the way back
to what we said about the Magic Forever, that's what their guards need to
have is off ball value. If you want Bank, Harrow and Wagner to
be running your offense a lot of the time. The other the guards,
you're conventional backcourt players who'd normally be distributing have to be able to hit shots,
and folks can't do it. So it's just kind of I don't know,
it seems fairly straightforward to me. Yeah, And he is averaging one
point two field goal attempts per game as a spot up shooter. His effective
field goal percentage in these situations are thirty point six. He's yielding point six
to three points per spot up possession that is in the fourth percentile, and
I recognize that, like this is the extreme, but he was in the
twenty fifth percentile last year, and he was in the thirtieth percentile the year
before that, and the volume has just been He had two point three attempts
as the spot up guy last year, and it's just in now, could
he be someone? I just feel like this has never been his game.
Has he ever been in the environments where it could be. He's not going
to be like a super great cutter and you probably need to be a little
bit more laterally explosive. Then he he did average last season one point four
one points per possession as a cutter, And so if you can generate enough
space, it's never it's just that's what you're trying to use. Markkel Ful
says, I just don't see it, and maybe maybe we're missing something so
people can feel free to get at us if he's going to be like if
it's can he use the poet like used post touches to sort of shift his
value or increase it. It's to me anyway, it's definitely not happening in
Orlando. No, that not not seeing it. That would bring us to
the what are we up to? Oh? The Philadelphia seventy six ers.
So the question I have is from someone who uh is remaining anonymous, wishes
to remain anonymous. Can Paul Reid and Mobamba prevent the Sixers from entering the
plan? And the follow up question to that is is it even worth having
Joel and Be come back this season? Oh? Bad news, They're in
the plan. As we're recording this, they have slipped to seventh and uh,
we've just lauded the heat. Maybe the Knicks join them down there if
they ever, if they can't get healthy ever. But no, I do
not think Mobama and Paul e can come out of the play. And I
know that's like a tongue in cheek question, just kind of a bummer all
the way around. The more interesting one we haven't talked about. This shouldn't
be bother coming back this year? I think. I think probably because on
the off chance that he is still like the MVP version of himself coming back
from a meniscus injury, which is an off chance, like it's not likely.
Then don't you have a you know, a puncher's chance I guess of
making the conference finals? And who knows what happens. I mean, like
cause if you say no, he shouldn't come back and play at all,
you're punting. And like the idea of punting when you have an MVP like
in or around his prime just like doesn't sit right with me. But you
know, I wouldn't put it past Darryl Morey and the Sixers to just you
know, they've always they've talked on and off about like, well, we're
trying to do it this year, but also position ourselves for the offseason to
add another star. So they have kind of had an eye towards the you
know, more distant future. I guess, you know, mid term future,
I guess. But I think if in Beef can come back and play,
he probably should just because it you know, maybe you make a deeper
run. I don't. I don't know what do you think I think he
should? And it's not really about that, because I think that this team
is just cooked for the playoffs if he comes back and he's just Joel and
Beid, Okay, fine, he hasn't been Joeling being like any postseason he's
ever been in for the entire postseason, right, So I think you wanted
to come back so, okay, can we get an idea of what Buddy
Healed, Tyrese Maxi, and Joel and Me look like together. That's more
important information to me. I know they have cap space this summer, and
a lot of people are kind of trolling it by saying, well, who
they're gonna sign in free agency just resigned bias Harris. I'll repeat what Keith
Smith's gift says from his pot track. Cap space doesn't need to be used
on free agents. It can help facilitate trades in a big way. They
could bring back some of their own guys like a Melton, like a Buddy
Heeled, and still have shit ton of cap space because if Tyrese Maxiy's low
cap hold. So I think it would be great to get some information on
what that three man combination could look like. I don't know how valuable that
is because then you're talking about embeat as hobbled. You're not getting a lot
of practice time anyway, but it's still better than working with a net zero
sum of information. Now, what I will say is the Sixers do have
their own draft pick this year, and as you said, they were in
the play in as we speak. If they were really looking to like try
and just get I guess they can't do this because Tyrese Maxi's camp would be
pissed that they would cost him all NBA eligibility at some point. Or is
he already hit sixty five games? You get Tyre's Maxi to sixty five games
even though you still if you benched him, you'd be costing him all NBA
consideration. I don't think he makes it anyway, to be honest with you,
but he has played in fifty five Okay, so yeah, But could
they like if they wanted like a real epic just run of trying to increase
either could they could they drop past the Atlanta Hawks made there's seven losses ahead
of them, probably not so tough and be might as well because Trey Young's
injured in Atlanta too, even though some people think, like right, well,
they're better without him. So I I think he should come back.
I just don't view them as a serious threat in the playoffs if he is
back, because not because I don't think Joel Embiid is a great player,
just I can't envision him being Joel Embiid in the playoffs. If he's coming
back with five games to play or whatever in the regular season. Yeah,
yeah, it's sad. That was the only question we had on this.
Do you have any thoughts on just their cap space plan, Like you're you
they're one of the most fascinating teams to watch this summer, I think for
sure. Well, as you're telling, you know, like that the thing
that Keith said keeps ringing in my ears, like I wonder if this is
you know, this would be very much like a Moory thing of like being
out ahead of a trend and realizing that like, yeah, cap space,
well, these free agents suck, Like what do we YEA Tobias Harris coming
back is not like a value add We're just getting back to neutral. That's
maybe not the point. Maybe maybe the Sixers realize, like you know,
you know, uh, these the second Apron stuff. You know, what's
gonna happen is teams are really gonna want to shed money, like badly,
and they might be willing to pay through the nose to shed money. And
if we are able to take money on that space is way more valuable than
it's ever been before. Like we could ask for a lot because hype of
let's I don't know what the specifics would need to be. But it's like,
well, let's just say that. Let's just say that Lords and Rodriguez
get their tax bill for next season, like whoa, whoa, It's like
Jae McDaniels come on down, or just like hey, how many Hey,
Hey Warriors, Hey Clippers. Hey, this just throwing out teams that are
gonna be second Apron teams. Hey Wolves, how many first will you give
us to take on Karl Anthony Towns? Like oh, you know, because
it just because what if it's like, yeah, our tax bill, you
were this much into the second Apron, we're getting our picks frozen and we're
gonna pay like two hundred million dollars and tax or whatever. It is just
some insane number, you know, like there's a world where suddenly these huge
money contracts, like teams would actually maybe pay to get off of them.
That's not crazy, depending on like ownership, depending on how big that tax
bill is. I mean, like, the Wolves are not giving up for
anyone. I know you're not. You're not giving first. But as you
mentioned, I'm defending you. I'm saying joking. You know, there'd be
somebody in the YouTube comes to be like you've never watched a Timberwolves game this
season, so like, yeah, could you wind up getting a Norman Powell
because the Clippers decided to attach a first round pick? Damn? Or you
mentioned the Warriors be really funny, like where they grease the wheels of an
Andrew Wiggins. Yeah, so I didn't really think about it in those terms.
I think it's you know what the one is. And I'm not saying
there'd be a pick attached, but what if the Celtics just get juiced in
the second round or something. It's like down by it's not even you're great,
but we can't pay for this seam. Like just our payroll on taxes
is five hundred million dollars and uh, we don't have any picks anymore,
and we're totally screwed by all the second apron rule. Like, I think
there is a good chance that smart slash smart and good teams are clearing cap
space with the idea of like we're hit, we're entering an environment where we've
never been able to get more with our cap space because teams are so we'll
be so motivated to get off of contracts that maybe aren't even actually like objectively
bad, they're just bad for the team that they're on because they've got all
these other obligations that puts them in the second apron. I don't know that's
it. I didn't think about it that way. I thought about it more
as just like they don't have to give up as much value to get players
they want because they're saving teams so much money. That's an extension of that,
but that's a really good that's a more extreme version of what you're saying.
It's like it might even be you get paid to take on a contract
as opposed to like the price is lower. That you try to think of
just among the teams that are going to be in the second apron, either
this summer like or coming up, maybe they want to get out in front
of it. By the way, where it's what if a player's numbers is
just smaller to move now like Karnthine Towns would have been an example of the
trade deadline, the salaries about the Skyrock. I don't think there's really anyone
else out there, like who's the best player? You could envision just getting
moved for either nothing or like is it Zach Levine? I mean, there
was no the market was barren you'll recall what was a desolate healthscape. That's
what it was. All right, Well that was fun. Hey, look
we broke new ground on the Sixers being early adopters of the value of cap
space Toronto Raptors from Got Sports Go Go. How close are the Raptors to
top eight and what exactly do they need to add? No, I mean,
if we want to, if I want to be an asshole, they
are currently five games, five games seven, twelve games back in the lost
column from number eight eleven games back. But how close are they from being
at they like? When you look at what's boil it down to what is
their core the players that are I'm not saying everyone's untouchable, but these are
the players they're actively looking to keep. I don't want to put him in
here, and I know he's banged up, but I think he's just important
when it comes to like maximizing quickly Yaka Perle quickly, RJ Barrett Barnes,
and I'm throwing Grady Dick in there. That dude is on a heater and
he is doing real stuff as a shooter, and he's shown some of the
ability to attack some closeouts. Just to ask Moses Moody. So I have
those five guys, and like, could I see them bringing back Bruce Brown
or Gary Trent Junior depending on like, and they have Kelly Olynnick. They
can still get to I think like twenty eight or twenty nine million in cap
space if they get rid of everybody and I just decide, like, let's
bring Brack GTJ, Let's bring Brat Bruce Brown. I honestly do think as
currently constructed, they have like seven to eight really good players and they could
be a top eight team if everybody stays healthy. Now their need is very
complicated because I think you could make a case for this was the team that
member projects six nine. It does feel like they could use a bigger forward
because like Scottie Barnes is there, Archie Verrett has nice size, but he's
not a bigger forward. And then it's you have Kelly Olinic and Yaka Peerdle
like, so it feels like the I think a bigger forward is my answer.
But I could also make a case for, well, do you want
another floor general type because that's not really a manual quickly at that point then
though, where you're starting a manual quickly, So it's like, can you
shift him down, you know, to the Gary Trans junior spot or up,
let's say, to the Gary Trans Junior spot and then get more of
like an actual floor general a pair with Scottie Barnes, Like I could make
a case for that, or I could say, like a Linic and Purl
are nice, but I would like someone who's functionally just better than both of
those guys and maybe does a little bit of everything that they provide. Where
it's can we get a floor spacing riom protector or a floor spacer who could
pass, or maybe just someone who's not afraid to shoot free throws or can
shoot them at a real clip other than Yaka Purdle. But I think the
answer is kind of like a bigger forward or another wing type, don't don't
you do you think? Because I kind of feel this way that they're sort
of committed to some degree to quickly being the point guard, assuming you're gonna
have to pay him twenty five million a year potentially, Like I you know,
the numbers of the range has been between seventeen was maybe or eighteen what
the Knicks offered that he didn't like and he wanted twenty seven or something like.
I wonder if if trading for quickly came with the understanding, which I
think it did, that they're going to they're going to sign, they're gonna
extend otherwise. Yeah, so like if you then go if then their need
is a true floor general, like you know quickly, I don't love quickly
and cal in tandem with another small guard like I think I think he sort
of he sort of has to be that that spot right to justify the cost
or because that's that's a tough look if he's off the bench, isn't it.
No, I was saying that, can you shift him to the two?
Have the one? You're saying you just don't want him at the playing
with another guard, I'm not. I don't know. I would defer to
you because you've seen so much more quickly than I have. How do you
feel about him as a two if you've got, say, like a conventionally
sized part next to him. He's just the way he played with the Knicks,
and I think some people think his defense is overrated, and maybe on
the ball it's overrated, but in terms of screen navigation and he's Yeah,
so I'd be okay with it. But it's like, where are you getting
that name? And if you're drafting him, that's a weird and so I
I so, and I also when you were talking, it made me think
of they might just believe that that Quickly RJ. Scottie and then even Perle
just in this dark Oroyakovic offense, like your playmaking is done and so yeah,
we need to funds and fiddle with the backup stuff for sure. And
I think that's a fair when you look at the past percentage of both Quickly
and RJ. Barrett on their drives in Toronto versus New York, they have
skyrocketed just because of the way that the Toronto's offense is space for one.
Yeah, there's now they're space. So I I do. I'm with you
though that you probably made the assumption then in dark Oroyakovic's offense, he is
starting at the one and it's him in Barnes, which is probably a reasonable
gamble to make, or at least an assumption to make. What is what
This sort of touches on though, because they're committed to paying Quickly and Barrett's
on a second deal and you have a linux, you extended him, you
paid Perle where do you land on the whole, Like, do you want
the pick to San Antonio to convey this year? Is it better to get
that guy, have it as a trade asset or someone to develop immediately.
I see the merriage to both. I've always been team get this fucker to
convey because I want my pick commitments done and so I can figure out how
to move on from here. But you could say they're probably gonna be better
next year, so you'd be sending a lower pick in what might be a
better draft, but it's a lower pick. I think. I think I
like the idea. It's a risk, right because you're you're not sure you're
gonna get inside that top six and keep it, and everybody says this draft
sucks, so like, I don't know how valuable that is anyway, but
I think if you believe, and I think Toronto probably should think this.
And this is going back to the question like how close are they the top
eight, Like they're going to be better next year. They have to be
better next year, and so I think I kind of like the gamble of
like let's let's pack it in, let's try to keep this pick and then
the one we convey next year. Let's hope it's like twenty one or something,
you know, something like that. Let's hope that's how it works out.
But you know, I, I I think I typically agree with you
that like we got to get these stupid encumbrances like off because it's just such
as it's hamstrings so much. I think in this case, I might be
willing to gamble and try to keep this pick and then hope that the one
you give up is shitty next year. Okay, look at this point the
decision might just be made for them because we don't margin and the half court
offense has been all sorts of fucked up ever since the Seaakham trade. I
think I think the Barnes injury is the thing that makes me it's like,
well, what are we doing anyway? Like we're not going to learn anything
about this team really now, so you might as well just like just you
know that is like DJ Cart and Rasure and I won't stand for it.
So let's see there's another one here from Jason. I did want to very
quickly, do you have like a preference on what is the archetype of player
that maybe you got to boil it down to one that they need if quickly
and move on? Or is it right? Isn't it always like an og
Andobe type maybe like that he's young, is he still available? Can we
do that? Uh? Delan o'banton, I think someone just with some size.
No, I think I hadn't really thought of it this way, But
I think you're right that if if Barnes is gonna be your guy, which
I think justifiably that the Raptors believe that, and you have quickly in a
little bit with Barrett, like you probably do have enough playmaking, so like
a true point guard may not be that big of a need. So just
you know the classic the big wing like the Project six nine, like two
point zero, like, but not let's not go nuts this time. Let's
just get like one or two of them. Something like that makes more sense
to me. But I also like I like a Linok and Pearle like you
know, it's easy to say, let's get a floor spaceer who can defend
the rim and switch or whatever, but like those there's five Like I kind
of the idea and I want to see more of it, but of having
if you could get that wing type then and play a linic with Barns and
that wing type to where the like it's five out and then it's like okay,
Barns and that wing guy. Like the rotations they're gonna give you either
lower around the basket will offset maybe a lot of Kellyolynics defensive deficiencies. Yeah,
and just his passing is like he's not the same type of playmaker as
Jaka Pertl, but he's more of like a full like floor playmaker, like
let's put the ball and so the stuff he was doing in Utah specifically,
So yeah, yeah, agree with my own point. No, no,
Olynic is like one of those you have to watch him enough, but like
he's an aggressive, like creative passer. Well he'll be like on the wing,
you know, thirty feet from the basket and like whip a bounce pass
like diagonally across the floor. Like he's that kind of passer, which which
is really valuable. So yeah, we didn't even I didn't even include him
in the like playmaking by commit for Toronto. So he's another guy there.
Jason hindelelast, are you at all considering structuring your cap slash personnel strategy to
try to bring home Shay as a free agent? In three years? Can
I answer this? No, you're not. Nobody should be thinking three years
out ahead, but go ahead. Yeah, I mean. And also,
just the state of free agency is just these players either don't reach it because
they're signing extensions or and like Shay is gonna be a super Max eligible guy,
Like that's gonna be something that happens. And the other thing is just
like even if they they're not leaving in free agency, they're leaving me a
trade. And so if you want to plan around this way, and I
wouldn't do it, do you keep an open mind and want Shay Gildas Alexander
on your team? Fuck? Yeah, of course you do. Like everybody
everybody is. You should just be stocked. You should just be trying to
build the best team if possible, so that you could then have the trade
assets to go out and acquire Shay or the star that becomes available. But
no, we're not in that. And the only thing I'll say is does
this change at all? And three years is far and off in it.
So if you really believe it's gonna change and these players are gonna start leaving
in free and see, have that conversation, like you can't be like Scotty
Barnes is good now, like you can't just be and structuring your books,
by the way, is sort of a heavy lift because you have a manual
quickly just about to sign his new deal. R Jay's deal kind of aligns
with it. I guess Purdles does as well. So you're just kind of
saying, we're gonna have everyone from here on out that we sign sign aside
from Scottie Barnes is temporary. That's like, that's a lot of churn for
three years. I think. I think one of the things that has really
changed both in my the way I look at the league and I think how
the league operates now is like you know, you'd hear all the time like,
well, they're really gearing up for cap space in like twenty nineteen.
That's gonna be a big crime. You know, it's like twenty fourteen or
whatever is when this is being said, it's like I think everybody understands now,
like you can think about next year. Maybe that's it. You get
like that's that is where your future planning. You need a hard cut off
at like thirteen months from now, like you can't go farther out than that.
Because things changed too fast. It doesn't work. You can't do that,
that's the and but so I started covering the league in twenty eleven,
I bet you if I started now, and I think we kind of see
it with who's the best in the business, I wouldn't know nearly as much
about the salary cap and the CBA now if I started covering the league as
I did in twenty eleven, because like that was post decision and that's what
everyone was doing, and so you needed to know, Like we know that
the league a lot of the big media companies, including our own, skew
towards transactional coverage because it works. But because that works, Like that's why
I know so much about the CBA, because I needed to. And now
I feel like to cover this league, you don't need to know as much
about it because it's just not there are still the intricacies there. But like
we even kind of saw it it this year's trade deadline where it's just like
all right, like there's just not as like much creative like voodoo going on,
and like the Sixers are the only team that is actively and maybe Detroit
a little as like actively planning, like to use their cap space. It
feels like or structured. The Sixers are the only team I feel like actively
went their way to structure their books this way. Well, what's and what's
the last one to really do that? And then is it the Nets when
they got Durant and Kyrie? Is that like the last one the Rockets getting
almost brook Lopez almost? No, that's even that's different. Yeah and no,
it just it doesn't happen anymore. All Right, we got to get
to the Wizards. I think it's your turn to ask. Oh I saw
the question. Uh, shout out to anyone who gave us questions on the
Wizards. By the way, I appreciate both of you. Well one wasn't
just about the Wizards, but I looped to hear so HP Burgie, what
is the best way out of the Jordan Poole experience? He has two questions?
Let's start They have two questions. Let's start with that. Grant,
here's my follow up question today, would you trade ja jo Zoxander for Jordan
Poole? And look, did I ever actually say that? Did I ever
actually rank him above? I'll wear it. I'll wear it as a bit
kind of the podcast. Jacob Bourne will search it in messages. I asked
him about it, probably the same day I asked you about it. He
said no, and I believe this that went down, And I then responded
by saying, Grant's on the fence too. I wonder if this must have
been like Pool must have just had forty and made like thirteen incredible layups or
something several years ago. Agree just to thinke that way though the way,
of course, the best way out of the Jordan Pool experience is to have
a teammate punch him, sabotage this season, and then you trade him for
Chris Paul's expiring contract. That's the only way. No, Like, the
Jordan Pool experience is real sad right now. Like he's clearly not having any
fun. He's on a terrible team. He's making the thing worse. It's
just it's bad. I can I interject to I hate when we like assigned
player like characteristic not player like human value based off what they're doing on the
court or their contract, and so which Jordan Poole, I'm I'm being overly,
I'm being hyperbogga. He sucks at basketball, so he's a terrible human
being. Like, let's just make fun of him to no end, and
where it's like I don't really know him from Adam as a human being.
Did he deserve to get punched by Graymond? I have? I have no
idea, so right, but like the best way out of the Jordan Poole
experience is to just wait two more years and then he's an expiring contract because
right now you need to give up something to get off him. Yeah.
No, there there is no way out now because this is as low as
his value hopefully is ever gonna be. Right, Like, that's just that's
it's not gonna get worse. So greet your teeth and just be glad that
what's happening with the Jordan Poole experience is fast tracking the rebuild in Washington because
it's making your draft picks better and it might happen next year. So yeah,
it's just it's a bummer. I I really thought he was just gonna
score in buckets, like he just score a ton and be like inefficient,
but nothing like this. This is just people were betting on him to lead
the league in scoring because they thought it was not a long odds bet,
Like hell, yes, I mean you could get you thirty like, why
couldn't he get you thirty? I mean, that's not gonna lead the league
obviously, because you know guys are thirty three thirty four. But you could
get you thirty on like what like a forty three thirty six, you know,
ninety shooting split, Like that's not out. That wasn't out of the
realm of possibility. It is now that's not happening. The second part of
this question from HB. Bergie, what is the proper path to start the
rebuild? What players on the roster are actually worth keeping? I would say
the proper way to start the rebuild is what the Wizards did. They're on
it, and they burned it down. And it was the circumstances where Bradley
be able to know trade clause. They didn't let that stop them, whether
you like what they got for Christops, they didn't let that stop them,
and so they burned it down. That's the right way to start the rebuilding.
And like, I think we even thought it was smart to like,
well, okay, the market for Kusma's not great at the deadline, all
right, we don't declining, and it's like his salary's declining. I think
I struggle to come up with a move that the Wizards have made post Pool,
because I think that was clearly a mistake that in the re build that
like I didn't like. I mean, you know, they've they've they've been
it sucks, like this is gonna be painful, They're gonna be bad for
a long time, but this is the way out, Like this is the
only way out, and they're doing it. When you look at players worth
keeping, if I was to assign core value to where and I don't want
to use the word untouchable, but it's like you're planning on having this player
for multiple years. I think the honest answer is it's only blah coolabali right
now, I'm willing because I'm me to put Denny Avdya in that equation.
God damn better put Danny avda in there after that. There's no one that
I feel like I can't get there with Corey Kispert, there's no one else.
I think what you could say, though, and the Spurs ran into
this issue not so much because Wemby just I mean, they still kind of
have this issue to the effect, there is value, and I think people
confuse this. There is value in having players who don't align with your timeline,
but they simplify, streamline or optimize the development of others. And most
of the time I think that can happen. Do you have someone who is
super low usage but an excellent defender so that they can have these lists or
the more the more important answer me is someone to organize your offense if you
don't have that prospect on the roster. And so if I were the Wizards,
especially because I didn't trade him, I'm absolutely looking at bringing Tias Jones
back just to have someone who can manage the game, make life a little
bit easier on the opportunities for Dennyavda or on the opportunities that Blakulabali still is
not getting on the ball, and then like like as you mentioned with Kuzma,
no you're not keeping him, but it's not the end of the world
if you don't move him this offseason. But my actual answer to this question
is there are only two players that I view as potentially part of the long
term core Dnniyavvium Blakula Bali. And if you're actively trying to bring players back
and say why rather they didn't trade him? Yes, I know Marvin Badley
is all of a sudden protecting the basket. Congratulations to him. He's not
on this list. It'd be Tias Jones for me, just because functionally,
I think that has value that can trickle down to everybody else's job. Yeah,
I think that's it. I think it's just those two guys and Kuzma
and and Tias Jones for different reasons. Kuzma's not someone I think you want.
He's like Kuzma's kind of like he's a valuable he has positive trade value
that you're gonna get something from. But he's like kind of he's not helping
the other guys get better, like the way Tias Jones is. So he's
not that kind of guy. But yeah, to your point, there's four
total, but that but that's it. I mean that I don't see anybody
else here, Like I mean, Johnny Davis is a massive miss, Like
they just are not gonna get anything out of him. Pools is been detrimental,
Like there's just not and there's not really Like quietly, there's not a
lot of young guys on this Like Patrick balerin Junior is not someone that I
think has mounted so much. I'm just looking at their young guys. Ryan
Rollins is out of the league right now because the shoplifting allegations, which that's
a one. The team saw him, did he land with I don't know,
I didn't see that he got picked up. Yeah, I thought,
I thought, I mean, that's neither here nor there at this point.
That has nothing to do with the Wizards. Uh. Yeah, he got
picked up by the Bucks. Okay, so there must not be targets in
the Wisconsin area out of Minnesota. So this final question to wrap up,
what is by the way, if anyone hasn't guessed by now, this is
going to be split into two parts, is just the East and will do
the West next week. Because it's me we should have known Grant like we
should have I think we knew after the Nets. Yep. So everything,
Blacks says, and he left the Rockets off of this list on purpose because
he thinks they'd be the easy answer. I probably agree. Of the six
teams that are clearly in rebuild mode Spurs, Blazers, Hornets, Pistons,
Wizards, and Raptors, which team do you believe A makes the playoffs first,
the real playoffs, not a play in appearance, and B wins A
playoff series first, and he went this route because he said ranking in terms
of upside was too easy because it's just the Spurs. Yeah, well,
maybe let's go backwards. I think just from who's farthest away, Washington Detroit,
I think we kick out. I don't think. I don't think they're
going to make the playoffs win a series first. I think the Blazers feel
a long way away. U You've got the Spurs, the Hornets, and
the Raptors as your candidates for who's gonna be a top what a tough?
So real playoffs is like top six man, the West is tough, and
that factors in. Yeah, this is why I probed the Blazers before the
Pistons. They could do some weird stuff this offseason and just like up top,
they could go well yeah, I mean the Blazers feel like they could
go either way. I'm gonna go. I mean the Raptors are like cheating
because they're technically the closest and you have a rough idea of what that team's
gonna look like next year. I think it probably should be the Raptors.
Just that's not cheating if they were on the list. Well, so it's
answer I agree with you. Now, my question you would be which team
is more likely to win a playoff series? First, Hornets are Spurs.
Man, I'd probably go change in Charlotte, But I do think the Spurs
just have a better baseline where it's there's Wemby, there's Devin Vessel, there's
like Trey Jones just being there, there's and we sew it, and they
feel more likely because of when me just being so good. If they go
out and get Trey Young this Offuly, they might make a win now trade,
whereas Charlotte still needs to do that, like they're kind of they're in
the infancy of competence, so it's like they're not gonna do that. Yeah,
I think I think Charlotte in new ownership, like Charlotte could go could
be like we're everybody's gone except LaMelo and Miller. We just talked about that,
or we talked about that two hours ago and we did. The Hornets.
The Spurs are like, the Spurs cannot make anymore, let's get worse
moves like you are. Your right to do that is stripped when you have
Victor Webbin Yama. So now it's just we get better immediately and for as
long as we possibly can. So yeah, probably the Spurs to win it,
win a playoff series, although they feel it ain't happening next year.
I don't think you were in a couple of Yeah, and it's just like,
look at the like Denver's not going anywhere. Okay, see, he's
not going anywhere in Minnesota. We make jokes about the taxes, but I'd
be shocked if they don't run back their top five next year. They're not
gonna go anywhere. I mean, like Alex Houston, Golden State like that.
The Lakers aren't gonna just pack it in, like the Clippers are right
there, Like there's just I mean, there's what do we just mentioned eight
teams already? So I think the answer, I mean, first of all,
it's mostly East teams on this, but then the answer has to be
an East team, and the Raptors are the right one. I think there's
probably a debate between the Hornets and Pistons though for that second, like this,
I kind of like the but wh when you're looking at the process by
which they've got here. But I'm also just like Charlotte, everything is so
new, like you have the new front office executive will Steve Clifford still be
coaching? Is LaMelo gonna be healthy? So there's just like a lot of
variables there. Yeah, yeah, that's a good question though, stat padding
time, We're gonna do not as much guess of players this time around,
and it won't be our usual stat padding either because we've gone for so long
two and a half hours and counting, and this is a two part pot.
But still, gret, you have a couple of guests of players for
me, A rumor has it, I certainly do. These are from my
curnishing. I'm not going to give you any prompts. I'm just going to
begin with clue number one and thanks Mike. I was picked sixth overall in
the two thousand and four draft sandwich between All Stars Devin Harris and lou All
Dang. So are you in pick number six in four between Louel Dang and
who Devin Harris? I got nothing. Clue number two. It was this
draft that encouraged my team about our future as they picked my potential future running
made at number seventeen. It's not going to help you now. Clue number
three. I ranked third among rookies in four oh five and double doubles.
Only Dwight Howard and a Mecca Okapour were ahead of me. It was an
four big You're gonna have to keep going, all right? Or Unfortunately there
was a clear ceiling on my NBA potential with the team that drafted me,
as I fell into a sixth man role after my rookie year. It's not
helping me. No. Number five. After my rookie contract ran out,
I signed overseas with Olympiacos Twist because due to the tax breaks, my three
year, twenty million dollar contract was the equivalent of a thirty three million dollar
NBA contract. I also received a Nike shoe deal as part of this contract.
I did not know this. I clearly don't know it either, all
right, Number six. In twenty ten, my contract rights were traded to
the Sun, so he's back in the league for a twenty twelve second round
pick. I then signed a five year deal with Phoenix, but I didn't
stay long as I was amnesty to make room for Luis Scola. Oh man,
I should know this, now, shouldn't I? What did Phoenix amnesty?
Man? That's that's yeah, that's the clue that if you were gonna
get the the other ones is like, you'd really have to remember that draft
that wasn't Yeah, okay, Clue seven. I then signed with the Nets,
but was waived after three months and fourteen games. I signed in twenty
thirteen with New Orleans, but only played four games and twenty four total minutes
with the Hornets before going overseas again to become an Australian League Superstar, winning
the league scoring title in twenty fifteen and being an All NBL. I think
Mike means to say first team player. I did not know this either.
To Tanya Dap like I'm just gonna throw out random names. Then I got
nothing. I'm trying to think of what clues I would give. I'll give
you clue. You're probably gonna before I give you Clue eight a clue.
What I would say is I had just like a trash jumper form, like
just like one of the wonkiest jumper forms ever. I think this guy went
to Stanford. I could be wrong about at Uh. What else could I
say without giving it away? I'll get if you're ready for this is your
eighth and final clue, but it's pretty on the notes. I'm perhaps better
known as being the Hawk's second Josh behind Josh Smith and my afro. Oh,
oh my god, Josh Childress. That's right, that's right now.
I want to make sure that his jumper was really funky, like he had
like we Kevin Martin looking for him, but it didn't go in. But
I'm not sure if I'm right about that, all right. I didn't remember
this one him. No, that was the first clue. Like I said
that, like just like sparked a little something because I didn't remember the Olympiacos
thing. I didn't remember the Nike shooting. I don't remember the NBL,
all right. Second one here from Mike. I went undrafted in nineteen ninety
six before playing my first professional season in Italy. Guessing you're not going to
get that one. No. Number two. I signed during the ninety six
ninety seven season with the then Washington Bullets, where I would stay until nineteen
ninety nine. Nothing. In the ninety nine off season, I was traded
by the Bullets to Orlando for Isaac Austen. It was during the ninety nine
two thousand season that I started getting comfortable in the NBA. That wasn't enough
for me to stay long term, however, as myself and Chuckie Atkins were
traded as part of the sign and trade compensation for Grant Hill. I don't
not remember who's in that trade, okay, but you know where this player
is now, like if because Grant Hill came from Detroit, so this guy's
in Detroit. In my first clue for In my first season with the Pistons,
I averaged over two blocks a game. The next season, I averaged
three and a half blocks per game, this winning my first of four Defensive
Player of the Year. Oh, Ben Wallace, that's clue four. What
does flue five have? Uh yeah, I guess even more Clupe five was
I low key started the fracas that led to the Malice at the Malice in
the Palace by shoving her on our test WHU six. After I left the
Pistons for the Bulls, I was not allowed to wear my signature headband because
of a very stupid rule the team had. I forgot about this. Do
you remember this the headband thing? Yeah? The reason they stopped it got
to maintain my glorious fro somehow. Two froze. This is Mike comes with
themes. Two guys known for afros Number seven I was a four time All
Star, five time All NBA, six time All Defense, four times DPOY
and my number has been retired by the Pistons. Ben Wallace, you got
it. This reminds me of the time that this is probably ten years ago
where for b R. I don't know if I pitched it or it was
a sign, but the idea was like, do you need a top must
do you have a top ten player to win an NBA championship? And I
think that those Pistons teams were like, I mean like Chauncey Billups like rip
almost in print, Gean Wallace like there's no Then I was like, can
I make the argument that Ben Wallace was in fact a top ten player in
terms of value during those years? I think it was like a pretty big
stretch, but he was close. He was like there, he was their
best player. I think I respect to hustle. Thank you, good job
by two for two good Joe. I mean, I got it on the
last clue on the first one. That's not that was a hard one though,
Like he was, he was giving you nothing the first like three or
four, I have two for you. I'm gonna punt on. Mike has
a great list Like I said, we're pressed for time tonight, we have
one from Rubekscal and then one from be Rich, So I'll start with Rubicks
Scal. Sure clue number one. I'm the first player in the shot clock
era to have scored twenty plus points without a single miss while also pulling down
fifteen plus rebounds in less than thirty minutes, achieving the feat against Dallas in
twenty four minutes. And that is not the only time I finished a game
with a field goal percentage of one hundred. Man, I'm not so alls
I know is we're in the shot clock era and he had a game with
twenty plus points without a single miss and fifteen plus rebounds in just twenty four
minutes. Hm, So this guy's not playing a lot, is making a
lot of dunks? All right? I have. I couldn't even DeAndre Jordan
like I got. I gotta Kuto. Early on in my career is perceived
as a misfit in the era of pace and space, a bruising big who
couldn't space the floor in a sense. That was and is true. Over
my career, more than ninety four percent of my shot attempts have come from
within ten feet sixty percent of my shot attempts are within a restricted area.
I've only attempted twelve threes in my NBA career, and three of them were
end of the quarter heaves. And I just I know, we got like
a plodding big guy here, all right, What's I don't know, what's
the next clue? Clue three of eight. By the way, for the
first half of my career, I was used in short spurts primarily to body
up other giant centers Yo Kic and Embiid, but my second coach quickly recognized
that I was nigh unstoppable on the pick and roll. Nearly seventy five percent
of my main field goals are assisted, I've been shooting better than seventy percent
at the rim, and I'm an excellent offensive rebounder off my own misses.
Is this Boban No? Hmm, oh, I don't know. I don't
know what I think about your tone. I feel like I'm close. Boban
ever scored twenty plus points out of fifteen rebounds in the same game. Uh,
clearly not. But I'm trying to think who you would throw at,
Like, what low minute big guy would you throw at embiid. Yo,
get your embiid where the names correct and just score seventy percent gets his own
misses all the time. Uh oh, man, I feel like I should
at least hazard like one more big guy. Guess who's just like enormous that?
Uh Alex lenn In correct? Okay, go ahead. I don't know
what can I do at the other end of the court. According to Second
Spectrum, this season, I hold scores to forty eight point seven percent at
the rim out of eighty seven players who defend at least three point five shots
per game. Only Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler holds scores to a lower percentage
than me this season. Okay, so we're right now, man, who's
like a low minute rim protector? Guy? I do? I will say,
I think you're getting a little hung up on the low minutes thing.
Okay, broad near horizons? All right? Is it Mitchell Robinson? That
is incorrect? Hmmm. I just gotta keep naming a bunch of big guys.
You could do that, well, I mean, but that's not in
the spirit of the game. All right, what's my What's what am I
on? Clue five? Yeah? CLU five is coming up? Okay,
I'm surprisingly mobile for a seven foot or two hundred and forty pound European big
man. While I can switch and hold my own against wings in a pinch,
I am best employed and drop coverage incorrect. Oh, I felt pretty
good. Pearl European? Yeah we where's Pearl from? I forget he's from
Europe? Uh? Yeah, all right, Vienna, Austria. There you
go. So you knew that and I did not European big I mean,
there's only so many. I think you're gonna get it after this next clue.
Actually, okay, wait, is this like I feel like I I
know that he's It would be very sneaky to use this guy, but I'm
pretty sure his rent protection numbers aren't that it's not Sabonis because this is rent
protection numbers are terrible. Yeah, how many? All right? I don't
want to just keep guessing randomly, So what's the next clue? Clus six
At a salary of slightly less than eleven million a year, I'm the lowest
paid member of my team starting five season. Eleven million a year European center.
Let me just go. There's just gonna be a lot of dead silence
while I mentally scroll through a bunch of teams thinking of the European starting center.
I want to look at the this is this is how I solve problems.
I'm gonna look at the standings. Let's see. Indeed, Chicago,
I'm just looking down the list of teams trying to figure out what starting center
makes eleven million dollars. Oh, zubats, that is correct? Okay.
The final concludes on one of eleven players to be selected in the NBA Draft
from the Serbian club and Adriatic League powerhouse Mega Basket. Hat tip to my
Mega coach Deyon Melovich making rest in peace. Uh clue eight. I'm currently
my eighth season on my second NBA team. My time with the first team
is spent watching from the benches. Legendary center. So just Va Mosgov,
nearly retired Tyson Chandler and Javal McGee took up most of the playing time.
Please do Javal McGee in Shack's voice, I can't even attempt a Shack voice
could have also gone. This would have given it away. If you didn't
get I was gonna say I was traded for Mike Muscala. We have to
stop spending so much time talking to each other. Because I was like,
wasn't it I was thinking, I was like, who did the Lakers training
for? Was it Muscala? Yeah, that's that's that's scary that. That
was the next thought. Okay, we got there. Are you ready to
get into the mind of a psychopath? I am. I am prepared to
get into the mind of a psychopath right now. Clue number one. I
was a lottery pick in nineteen ninety nine and went on to have a seventeen
year career spanning nine teams. Elton Brand incorrect, damn it? Okay,
clue too. In my third season, I led the league and assists per
game while starting eighty one games. Andre Miller correct, nice job had not
the Clue three was in Ironman in two thousand and five thousand and six,
I started all eighty two games for the third consecutive season, and yep,
you guessed it. I was teammates with Greg Buckner. In two thousand and
six, I was traded along with Joe Smith and two first round picks Roylan
Iverson. Ooh, that was Clue four. Clue five. I scored my
career high fifty two points at age thirty three for the Trailblazers. While taking
him making one three pointer. Not known for my long range shooting, I
averaged twenty one point seven percent from deep for my career and finally, my
senior year in college, I dropped just the fourth triple double in the NCAA
Tournament history and blew out the Mike Bibbie, Miles Simon, and Jason Terry
lead Arizona Wildcats in the Elite eight. Am either the best your second best
NBA player out of the University of Utah, depending on how you feel about
Tom Chambers. Do you remember that Andre Miller fifty point game? No,
that was like that blew me away, as how the hell did he score
fifty two? You need to go back and watch. I don't remember.
I don't think I watched it live. I've watched the highlights from that.
I think I might have had to do like an animal three posts for it
on br at one point or something. It was freaking nuts. I don't
know that anyone could score fifty plus points the way that he did in that
game. That guy. The the very first thing I think of with Andre
Miller is he had the best fake timeout call. He would do it all
the time, like you you know players like get over the timeline and they
go up to the ref and like look at you know, and pretend to
pick the ball up. He would fake it and then just drive to the
basket and get a layup and then they call the time out the next possession
down. I must have done it ten times in his career. He kind
of feels like it granted this first players faster, but like sort of that
Jose Alvarado and Tyas Jones had a baby and like he had to wear ankle
weights to run around the court element there. Yeah, because you bought that
one so quickly. How do you feel about doing one for Mike? I
would love to who won? I was drafted by the Clippers straight out of
high school. Oh, this shouldn't be that hardship. I feel like you
could get this one, which is why I said maybe we should do it.
Yeah, uh, straight out of high school for the Clippers was Brandon
Boston out of high school. I mean high school players can't be drafted in
the current d right, so no some weird yeah, like maybe you went
to G League or something. All right, that is me guessing. Smash
Parker. When we were talking about Center government drafting, apparently a Clippers guy.
Draft oh Darius Miles correct after the first clue Wow, there were seven
clues. Use Bill's clues were great for uh. For Andre Miller, I
learned a lot. So what did we got for this one? Known as
a high flyer, I was the only reason people watched the Clippers in the
early two thousands. Clue three. I was then moved to the cast for
Andre Miller. That's funny during the time when the Cavs had very boring light
blue and black jerseys in the pre Lebron era. Clue forour speaking of Lebron
when the Cows are going to draft Lebron, I was quota of saying,
if he comes, he can hop on our bandwagon and maybe he can do
something with us. Oops. He took my starting job for me before I
was traded to Portland for Rubinel Me. I, I don't want to fuck
up Ruben. Boom boom oh boom cha. That's how I remember that que
boom jay boom chack boom chay boom chay. Yeah. I'm gonna need these
when they're like this to be in there phonetically from now on, everybody,
Thank you very much. Clue five I shredded my knee with the Blazers and
was never the same player. CLU six. I ended my career with the
Grizzlies and sadly the clear bankruptcy in September twenty sixteen before turning my fortunes around.
CLU seven, I now host a podcast with my best friend for my
Clippers days. Do you know whose best friend is? Oh? I was
gonna say, if you don't mention Quentin Richardson at some point, that's an
oversight on this clue. Yeah, those guys are joined at the hip for
the Clippers for sure. I feel like you need to do this other one
now, all right. Clue one. I was one of the early prep
to pro draft picks in the mid to late nineteen nineties. This is from
my cage, by the way, one of the early prep to pros in
the nineties. What's that? I can never remember the guy's name from the
Hawks, Damar Johnson. That is incorrect. Okay, nice job remembering the
name from the Hawks, though, Thank you. CLU two. I had
a hard time getting playing time with several respected veterans ahead of me in the
rotation to start my career, one of which is a Hall of Famer.
Oh, we don't know the team yet, right, No, that would
give it away. Oh, prep to pro then the team would give it
away. All right, what's the next one? CLU three. This went
on for my first three years in the league, but I was rewarded with
a four year, twenty four million dollar contract. Anyway, this feels like
Jermaine O'Neil. That's because it is Jermaine O'Neil. Correct, you just killed
it. There were eight clues Clue four. Unfortunately, the front office gotten
patient with the team, wanted to win now and through everything at the wall
and to see your moves. That left the team with essentially eight starters,
and I was the ninth guy. So I was traded for Dale Davis,
a move in which I became a starter on my new team and Davis ultimately
got buried on the bench. CLU five. I was the perfect running man
for my future Hall of Fame running mate, as I could dominate the post
and he could drain threes like there was no tomorrow. And by my second
season with my new team, I was the face of the franchise. In
my third season, this is CLU six. With this team, we had
the best record in the league, but didn't win the title. CLU seven.
Goddamn it, ron our test the mouse at the Palace got me a
massive suspension twenty five games. Clue eight. After Malice, I battled injuries
for years, ultimately moving on to the Raptors. He'd Celtics, Suns and
Warriors man prime Jermaine O'Neil. I know his peak wasn't that long. Holy
fuck man, he was really good. He was really good that pit.
He was one of the biggest losers out of the to Mallis and the Palace
references, by the way, because like that that team was really good that
pace. He's one of those guys too that if he entered the league today,
oh yeah, probably would even better fit. Yeah, I mean he
super athletic, like I remember. I remember him on the Warriors, believe
it or not, like and Mark Jackson would throw him the ball in the
post like a lot and he was washed and like, but he still could
like get a bucket occasionally even though he couldn't really move. Yeah, he
would have. He would have come in today and been like he would have
shot threes. He would have been Yeah, he would have been really good.
That was great. Do you want to take us out of here.
Thank you everybody for the guests of players as always. Uh, Nicolcha,
I did not forget about yours. I know you messaged me. Uh it
is one. We're gonna have to do something with a grank because he's he's
He's from a not the NBA. So he was drafted by the NBA.
But I don't think he ever played in the NBA. This might be a
stretch with this dude's or a shadow. He was my favorite player from the
region when I was growing up. Oh no, we played in the NBA.
Do you know? Do you know the name? Uh? I know
now that I'm looking at I know the name. But I don't think you're
not gonna get him. Okay, that's fair. I could do it right
now if he was wanna. I kind of want to now, Okay,
all right, Nicole Jay, here it comes. I was the fifty first
pick in the nineteen ninety five NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. Oh no,
he chose never to play in the NBA. I'm already ruining a clue.
I don't think you're going to get this. I still we've come that,
we've started. Now we may as well. I don't know, okay,
clue to a three time EuroLeague champion. During two of my EuroLeague runs,
I was the MVP at the final four. I won national titles in
the Spanish ACB League, Italian A League and the Greek Basket League. Holy
shit, man, And so this is he was a you said the mid
nineties, like ninety five the King he was drafted? All right, yeah,
I don't got it. Clue three. Despite all my success in Europe,
I chose never to play in the NBA. M Oh my god,
I'm dying. And this is the name, you know, like I've heard
of the name okay, which is why I thought he didn't play in the
NBA. But then I thought I read read one that he did. But
I was wrong. And we still don't know. We don't have the nationality
of this player yet. Well you're about to get them, okay. I
would like to have that, please, Kufour. With the Yugoslavia national team,
I won three euro Baskets and two World Cups. I was the MVP
of the nineteen ninety eight World Cup. Hmmm, oh man, who was
this guy? Yugosla? I think I? Oh, damn it. I
Okay, let's what's the next clue? It's right. Five. After my
playing career, I was a general manager of Virtus Roma and Italy, the
vice president of the Basketball Federation of Serbia, the president of the Competition Commission
in FOBA Europe, and now I am the current president of the EuroLeague.
I definitely did not know that. No, I don't think I'm going to
get it. How many more clues do I have? One? Okay,
let's hear it. Who's six? One of the original point forward. A
lot of people from the XU countries would say Luca plays like me. Some
of my nicknames include White Magic Body Bond and mister MVP body Bond. Yeah,
I'm not gonna get it. I really think I'm gonna know the name?
Who is it? I am Dayon Bottaroga. You know what, I
did not know that name. I'm not. I could have played it off
and lied and said, oh I die, I had it. I was
never gonna get that. Uh. And then he Nicole close with a fun
fact about him. A rock band wrote a song called sex droga Bottaroga,
which is basically sex drugs Bottaroga. He's part of the basketball folklore in the
Balkans, okay Yo. Shout out to the people that are just like following
multiple basketball leagues and I'm just like, I can't don't even follow college,
Like, yeah, you could barely follow one. I thought Brandon Boston was
drafted out of high school. Maybe I'm just gonna con further that he was
that that there wasn't some like exception made for Brandon Boston and you were really
just ahead of the curve. I think maybe he was just a really good
high school player that like was shit in his college season. Yeah he went
to Kentucky. Yeah, yeah, maybe that's what it was. Man.
All right, well we've expanded into EuroLeague Legends on Guessa Player. We're almost
three hours into this podcast. Is officially time to call it. Thank you
for everyone that participated, Thanks for your questions. We will get to the
West next week. We'll maybe do three more hours. Who can say thanks
for the guests of players. Please remember rate review, subscribe, tell your
friends, be involved in the process. Get on our discord if you are
interested in merch and or joining our discord so you can participate. Like everybody
that got a word in this week, the links for that or in the
YouTube and podcast description. I think that's going to cover it. We close,
as always, with a shout out to the one only Frank Milatina and
an apology to Jared now the computing as content, and a point ass