What is krak alac Nfelow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dana Valley, coming
at you with hopefully a very brief introduction. I went on Serbian Corner,
which is housed by d n v R d n V d n v R
Nuggets, specifically to talk with Miroslav Shook, an og listener of the podcast,
good friend of the pod. Follow him on Twitter at Miroslav Shook.
That's at m I r O s l a v c u K. He
hosts Serbian Corner over at d n v R Nuggets. You can follow them
on Twitter at Serbian Corner spelled exactly as a sound, just in case you
can't spell serbian s e r b i A n corner c O r n
e R And Yeah, so we got into Western Conference tiers. He came
up with Western Conference teers. I reacted to them, so he basically bounced
around the entire Western Conference. Figured to be an episode everyone would enjoy.
So I'm gonna put it up before we get started. There's the user reminders.
Subscribe if you're on YouTube, tell people about us, rate review Apple
Spotify, help us juice up the ratings. Like let's get the five hundred
ratings on Apple. So if you haven't done so, go to Apple rate
review us. Even if you don't use Apple Apple podcasts to help juice those
numbers, tell people about us. That's a great way to help out the
show as well. And before we actually get into the podcast, just wanted
to mention the Josh Giddy allegations which cropped up like basically around Thanksgiving. He's
being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an underage person. The NBA is
investigating it. He no commented. When he was asked about it before Oklahoma
City played Philadelphia, Mark Dagnolt essentially said the head coach of the Thunder essentially
said that they were comfortable with what they knew having him play and that it
wasn't kind of even in a a question. I believe the organization clarified that
it was per the league's guidelines, where the commissioner can come step in during
in depending investigation and suspend a player or have them away from the team.
I don't think the team actually has that power and if they could theoretically do
it, but it would open them up to litigation and do process with the
players union. These are very serious allegations. I hope the team knows something
we don't, which is why Diagno used the language he did, and that
it wasn't strictly about oh, you know, we're going letter of the law
here per the CBA, the collected Bargaining Agreement. It's just serious and the
whole thing just sucks because you're talking about the severity of the allegations and then
you have people sleuthing and essentially docsing what could be an underage minor and finding
out where they go to high school, where they live, knowing that they're
not in Oklahoma, and I'm not gonna I don't want to talk about names.
I don't want to talk about where they live because I just feel weird
putting it out there. I'm this adult talking about a potential minor or someone
in high school, and it's just the situation just blows and you hope it's
not true. The allegations didn't come from the person herself, but having a
video, having people on social media talk about it, I hope the lead
that you have to take it seriously. I'm not saying don't take it seriously.
You don't want to believe something like this, but at the same time,
if it did happen, you want to know so that the appropriate action
can be taken. At the very least, you have to wonder, like
what type of situation did he put himself in that would open up his team
and himself to this scrutiny. So you can't be happy about that. And
even people are gonna get into what actually is the age of consent in certain
states? What it is in Oklahoma. Look, I I My whole reaction
would be that I don't care if they were sixteen, If you're a twenty
one year old hanging out a sixteen year old, like that's not okay,
Like that still just wouldn't be okay. I don't care if it's like technically
technically legal. So we need to let it play out to see what happens.
But these are there again their serious allegation and the lack of information here,
and then just given the uncertainty of the source where it's just sort of
these it's you know, we don't have a concrete accuser at the moment.
I'm not saying that it needs the league needs to take it any less seriously.
I would argue that need to take it incredibly seriously, like all these
things. Just don't be surprised when the outcome maybe is not what you want
it to be. Because the NBA is a business, and they've kind of
sent messages multiple times where Carmelan was invited back to the All Star Game of
Utah last year, and then we've seen how they've handled the Miles Bridges situation,
specifically what went on with with Josh Primo. You brace for the worst
here. I again, that's the extent of what I feel comfortable commenting on,
and they want to make sure that we glossed over it. But these
are incredibly serious allegations and I don't know where to go beyond that. It's
just like they're it's harrowing to find that out. And then even again,
if we're talking about someone who is sixteen, that's still just no, like
no, And could the video gone back years and they were six I don't
like this the information and that's out there making see if this person is very
clearly still in high school, and so red flag Foreshore. Hopefully the league
does its proper due diligence and reacts accordingly. I will say, we don't
need to add fuel to the fire by yo, I know there are a
lot of people that want to go There's there's two ways to go about this
poem, like well, you know, innocent until proven guilty and like oh
these are just people for like, these are just people trying to start shit.
That's not an okay way to react. We also don't need to unnecessarily
throw fuel on the fire. I saw a video going around of Okay se
fans giving him an ovation when he was introduced with the starters. I watched
it. It did not I mean, okay, see fans stand on their
feet to begin with, like that just happens. But the other thing is
I didn't notice any extra like pizazz in the greetings of him. And as
some other people point out, there's probably a vast majority a lot of people
in the this the arena might not have actually known it would it even happened,
just given the nature of these allegations where it was the NBA eventually and
outs something. But it's kind of you know, beginning originating on Twitter,
and how many of those people are on Twitter right now following that. But
even just the greeting didn't seem like it was any more. It just didn't
seem different from any of the other intros that I've seen from Okay, see
maybe it was if you were there. Maybe it's not an extending cut,
and I'm just wrong. I don't want to see Hm get a standing ovation
either. To paint this is some you know, just adversity that he's the
only one suffering from. Even it could it could turn out to be that
way for all I know, which is why I even hate according to this
intro, because the lack of information. Let's monitor it, let's see what
happens. And the only thing I say is hopefully the league, the thunder
that everyone just involved, takes this incredibly seriously because these allegations are just quite
frankly harrowing. Now, no natural segue as always, so I'm just gonna
be straight honest about it. Let's talk some basketball with Miroslov Shook from d
NVR Nuggetes Serbian Court. Let me introduce my guests for today. I thought
it would be a good idea to check up on the co host of my
favorite national NBA podcast that doesn't take themselves too seriously, called The Card with
Knucks. He's also my favorite source of Twitter NBA jokes, but most importantly
as well, guy who is the very competent and hard working NBA analyst and
the writer at Bleacher Report, It's Daniel Dan Favalle. Welcome back to the
show. Then, Oh, thank you so much for having me, Mirosov,
and thank you so much as well for the super kind, way too
kind intro. So how are you doing these days? I'm good. You
know, I was sick for a minute. I had a respiratory thing going
on. I feel a lot better, as you can tell my voice.
So I'm ready to get into Western Conference tiers and these these suddenly suddenly frustrating
Denver Nuggets. Yeah, so before we begin with actual tears, I'm known
for being overprotective of Nikola Jokich when he battles the refs, and we really
haven't seen that for a while before those Cleveland and Detroit games. So please
give me your outsider perspective on the situation. Is it as serious as Luca's
tantrums, or maybe Luca being a bit calmer this season is actually being evened
out by Nicola. Meltdown here him there. Yeah, it might be that
because Luca has been a lot quieter with the referees, and so maybe in
the absence of Luca, anyone who's like involved in those little kerfuffles and disagreements
and impassioned moments of complaints, it just stands out more and more frequently because
we don't have the Luca highlight or you know, Luca and Lebron used to
get us through with that. I even feel like Lebron hasn't been falling behind
plays as much doing that. So I will say Jokich is, I don't
want to say, a tough player to referee, but I think when you
look at a lot of the stuff he does inside and how physical he can
play, I could understand why fans would get frustrated just because you watch Zion
as a Pelicans fan, I think even as an impartial observer, and I'm
just like their dude's just like running into him and he's just built so big
that you're not gonna get a call. And it's just a little bit different
with Jokic because he's not built like the tank that Zion is, but he's
so huge and he does stuff on the inside that sometimes it looks like it
doesn't rattle him because a lot of his he's like a lot of his can
look discombobulated by design is the way I would call it, because he's always
under control, but those like flip shots and the second chance looks he gets
around the basket like those don't always look pretty or conventional, and I'm just
wondering if it makes those tougher to referee. But he is one of the
players where if you are a fan of a team, you could certainly call
out his complaining. But when you watch him and it does feel like,
okay, you know, over the most recent stretch, he's actually like seven
three throws a game, and it's like, oh, it feels like you
should beat eleven or twelve. I could totally understand that sentiment. Yeah,
And actually I think he needs to work on his acting, because it's not
like he never flops while while shooting the ball. He does, and it
looks pretty bad, and he never gets the whistle on that, and when
he is actually trying to hit it, he just hit it and then he
doesn't get an end one because you know, it went too easily to be
awarded. Furthermore, I guess gotta start shooting a bunch of leaner and runners
where he's like throwing his shoulder or his back body or leaning into the player
and then firing up Africa. He needs to play like a He should just
start playing like Jalen Brunson, like he's just one of the guys who's able
to do that from because Nicole Jochiz likes to operate from the end between two
and Bronson's one of the whizzes at just like once the venders leave their feet,
he's not even trying to score. He's trying to like barrel into them
and get a shot up that ways, maybe start doing that, We'll see,
We'll see. I know he works a lot on his craft, so
that might be actually the next step for him. I mean, we need
to find a wait for him to get better than what he's showing now.
Right. So, as I said, it's a fifth of the season in
the books, and I believe it is time to react to some trends,
and hopefully some of our reactions might not be a total and complete, you
know, early overreactions. I wanted to scan the Western Conference and put the
teams into certain tiers, so these will be my tears. I wanted to
make that clear from the jump, so please don't aggregate them as dance late
November. How you want, that would be the best aggregation ever, So
let me pull out my presentation here. So the first tier I have here
is called should be in the Eastern Conference considering how bad they are Deer.
So this tier consists of three teams and it's the Spurs, the Blazers,
and the Jazz. Feel free to call me out if you feel I'm too
harsh on any of the mentioned teams or if I should have added somebody else
to this group. The one thing I'll say that I feel like you were
too unkind to the Eastern Conference because they might just be deeper and better when
you look at them, when you look at the bottom of the West this
year, I would agree that these three teams belong in this tier. None
of them are trying to win, and I think Jazz fans kind of got
a little bit of a wake up call with that because of how last season
unfolded. The Spurs should be better than they are. Man, They're just
they're not good and it's growing pains. But I think it might be time
to they need like a floor general in there, kind of like how the
Jazz had Mike Conley to stabilize things and the Blazers. They belong here.
I'm assuming that Grizzlies will be in your next tier up. I know they're
gonna get jaw back at some point, even smart, but they're dealing with
so many injuries that if you told me that the Blazers or the Jazz finished
with a better record than least this season, I might not be shocked.
Yeah, and you actually guessed it, because my next tear is called well,
I don't know what to think of them until they get at least some
of their guys back there. And of course it's the by themselves. Yeah,
that's God's fucking great. I love that there's no other team like that
in the league right now. Is the hole they're in right now just too
deep for them to even contend for the for the playing place, I guess
not the play in, because I mean, you just went through the three
teams that you just went through, the Spurs, the Blazers, and the
Jazz. They're not none of those teams are going to make the play in
And so now it's okay, so there's one, like, there's only two
other teams that they kind of need to fall off, and I think you
can look at some of these starts, and we'll obviously get into them as
you go to your tiers. And it's all right. The Pelicans are a
house of cars because their health, but they're getting a lot better. The
Rockets. You know, they've had a really nice start to the season,
but they have yet to win on the road. So is there's something going
on there? Could Alpern shangun fade because he's never had this high usage for
an entire year. And to answer to actually answer your question, when you
start going through it and you're looking for teams that could pull back, you
might be able to identify one. But the Grizzlies need to leap frog at
least two. And so I do believe that it is too late for them
this season because Joh, I mean John Rant's we're only halfway through John Moran's
suspension. Essentially, they're dealing with other injuries, and even when Joh comes
back, that's I'm not going to clear up their problems in the front court,
where it's their wing rotation is still relying on. Okay, Marcus Smart
is gonna play and guard up his offense when he's healthy. Should get better
with John just because they'll be shoulder in a smaller load. But they're like,
all right, we have santi Al Damon, we have David Roddy,
and we have Zia Williams. There's just not a lot of like the three
four spot is a real issue for them, next to Jaron Jackson junior.
And they have some answers where it's when Xavier Kilhiment is healthy, he could
be fine. They have Biambo on the roster now, but you can't.
I know, people said the West isn't as good as they thought, and
I honestly think it's because there are probably eleven teams in the West right now
that could be super competitive and dangerous in the right context. And if you're
the Grizzlies and you're you know, you're three and twelve through the first fifteen,
like if you get to I mean at this rate, if they're seven
and eighteen by the time Joh comes back, they'd probably that's super lucky to
get there, given how they've played. How are you supposed to come back
from that? So maybe they could get in the play in but they're their
season to me is certainly over from a larger perspective where it's no, they're
they're not gonna They're not gonna do anything real. It's just it's not in
the cards for them this season. And part of that is, look,
they waited too long to play their best trade chips. I know Keith Parish
from Fast Break Breakfast has gone through this, but when you look at what
they gave up to like just basically end up with Marcus Smart and like some
of these youngsters that haven't panned out, it's not it's not a great look.
And it would be helpful for them if they would have a bunch of
games against you know, Washington and Detroit. You know, but I guess
they can play some games against San Antonio in the future to boost up their
wins. I just wanted to come back to the to the first tier about
one team, and that's the San Antonio Spurs who are coming to Denver tomorrow.
They're on a I believe eleven losing eleven games losing streak right now,
and everybody in Denver is nervous because we don't want to be a team that
will snap that losing streak. How does it how does it look to you
that the experiment is Jeremy Socan at the point guard and his game next to
Victor w So. I love Jeremy Sohan, but the experiment is not going
well. And it's if you're gonna play him in the role that you want
to play him, then you need someone else on the floor who can play
off him but also organize the offense too. And that's why him and Trey
Jones really haven't played together a bunch of the season because San Antonio doesn't have
a lot of floor generals, And so could you get them more minutes together?
Do you need to kind of dust off Devonte Graham more often than you
have been invariably though? When you do that, now you're looking at the
five guys you're you want to play the most, and it's okay, Wemby
not going anywhere from the lineup, Devin Missel, They're pretty invested in Jeremy
Sohan, and it's, well, are these minutes coming if you're throwing another
guard on there? Are you pulling Calden Johnson, Are you pulling Zach Collins?
Those are two guys who are really important And so I don't know.
I don't subscribe to the idea that the Spurs are doing more damage to Wemby
or even Jeremy Sohan long term, there might be something too. If this
isn't the role that Jeremy Sohan is gonna play eventually, then maybe you should
just get him out of it, because what's the point, Like, you've
gotten all the information you need. But if you're the Nuggets, you're playing
at home after playing pretty poorly on the road for a while, this is
a game that you should win pretty handedly because the offensive the Spurs is just
not It can have its moments, but it does not look cohesive or dangerous
a lot of the time. And part of that is, in addition to
exploring what Jeremy Sohan can do, is sort of this point guard. You're
just letting Wemby go out there. They're not necessarily using him in these specific
spots. There are trends to what he's doing, but it's kind of he's
floating all over the place getting the ball in all these different locations. They
giving him the freedom to take a lot of fadeaways or step backs, and
it's like, you know, we go through this with Michael Porter Junior a
little bit, where it's you have the signs just to get your shot off
over anyone, like you don't need to create the separation on fades or step
Actually, just throw that bad boy up there. But he's a rookie Wemby
is, so there's going to be growing pains there. I don't think.
I ultimately don't think, and I counted myself as someone who thought it would
pan out. Jeremy Sohanna point guard, I'm I know, we're only x
sub twenty games of the season. I'm out on it. It's you need
to surround him with again, at least, he said, one other playmaker
who can work off the ball and probably more spacing, high volume spacing than
you have around him right now. Yeah, it's just right now, Wemby
looks like an inefficient version of Kevin Durant with like five inches to spare.
But we'll see, we'll see what's gonna happen to him in the next couple
of years. Okay, let's take one short break and then we'll turn.
We'll return with some better teams, hopefully. Okay, we are back back
to our presentation. The next year is called WTF question mark. Now,
there's only one team in this tier and it's the Houston Rockets, So they
actually might be, you know, next to the Grizzlies, but they might
actually be above like the four teams I have in the next tier. I
just have no idea what to think about them. When they signed the two
guys with the worst true shooting percentage on volume in the league two huge contracts,
I was like, WTF, what is what is going on? But
now they're like, they're five hundred team now right now? So which WTF
is a stronger one? The one that at least I thought that they're just
losing the compass or this one where we're actually seeing some really really good good
play from from Udoka's team. That's a tough one. I think they're probably
what we've seen from them. They've gotten a little lucky or a lot lucky
on opponent three point shooting, so it'd expect the pullback there to come.
I don't know what this team they feel like the quintessential like maybe thirty eight
and forty four, forty and forty two, forty one and forty one,
forty two and forty team that's where it feels like they should end up.
I don't think they're gonna end up in the Western Conference playoff picture. That
would really surprise me. At the same time, they have the ability to
get better. Jalen Green has been up and down a lot of the year.
Fred van Fleet has not been shooting well inside the arc, even by
his standards. I don't know how Amen Thompson's return. I don't know if
he I don't think he's been back yet. I haven't caught the past two
Rockets games, but I don't think he's Like when he comes back, does
that help or hurt you? Just because it's a rookie that is gonna be
subjected to a learning curve. But I do think when you watch them,
there is a real consistency to Yeah, it be nice if they ran more
on offense, but Albert's is really good, Like he can drive that entire
offense in the minutes. They've decided, Hey, we're tethering Fred van Fleet
and Alprin Chenggun together. They're minutes and the stuff Fred van Fleet does off
the dribble, even when he's not hitting the shots, defenses react and so
creates these opportunities for everyone else to move or to get open shots off of
his kicks. Al Prin Chang Gun has fantastic vision. He has a lot
of sort of the you know the physical fu game once he does get to
the interior, and he's been more aggressive with that. Jabari Smith Junior,
He's not scoring a ton, but like his efficiency. I think he's shooting
like thirty eight percent or whatever on threes. He's been good defensively, Tarry
Easton, Jay Sean Tait. Those are all solid defenders. Dylan Brooks solid
defender, Fred Van Fleet solid defender, and so I can see the defense
actually maybe out playing the offense as we move forward. I think the big
questions for them are does Dylan Brooks' shot selection kind of sustain because he's been
very kept in check? And then what sort of happens when rubber meets the
road of well, if it involves we need to play more veterans the younger
guys, and I'm looking at Aman Thompson specifically. Here Kem Witmore's already not
playing. It's are we going to prioritize A'man Thompson's development? Are we going
to prioritize winning games? Because that could throw off a lot of your bench
rotation, maybe not even your your starting lineup, And so that is what
I'm watching. But I do think look, I smashed the under for this
team. I think they were over under a like thirty one or thirty two,
and I hit the under without hesitation. That is something I would expect
them to clear now. And I think that's a positive development because it felt
for so long in large part because the personnel they had they were treating Kevin
Porter Junior like a building block apparently behind the scenes, which is just outrageously
stupid. So the fact that they kind of have like a direction, not
just with their head coach, but the players that are on the floor,
and you have guys who have a track record of being good defenders. When
you look at Fred Vanfleet, when you look at Dylan Brooks, when you
look at Tarry Easton, there's a base here and I think that's exciting if
you're a Rockets fan. Yeah, two things about them. Dylan Brooks looks
like he's still the FEBA World Cup version of himself, shooting really really high
percentage clips. And alpron shan Gun. I think they said that he grew
like two inches since last season, and if that's true, that's huge.
That's that's that's a really really big thing because if you want to be good
in the West, you need to be able to play against Nicolae Okis.
And you know, if you're a six to ten guy comparing to a seven
feet guy, that's a big difference. For instance, you have bem Adebayo,
who is a guy that has nothing on your kid because he's six'
nine and it's it's it's really hard for a guy that's not tall enough to
guard Nicholas. So yeah, I'm actually quite optimistic and I'm quite jealous of
some of the young guys Houston has comparing to to the to the guys Denver
has on its bench. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting at least this
eason for them. Yeah. There, they're gonna be like just one of
those teams that even if there don't end up very good, like, they're
gonna be just frisky and they're always gonna be looking to win because they owe
that top four protected pick to Okay, see this year, man, I
listen to your shows way too often, because my next tier is called Everybody
Actually, now that put a pinpoint on that Frisky is actually in the next
tier. So this year is called everybody thinks They're good but they kind of
suck tier, And it's the fourth the Rockets below this tier. Yeah,
I think, whoa, this is a spicy tier. Oh my god.
Yeah. So we have the LA Clippers, we have the Golden State Warriors,
we have the New Orleans New New Orleans Pelicans, and we have the
Phoenix Suns. Now, I know this is this is a mishmash of different
teams. They all look pretty bad right now, and I don't expect them
to stay at the same tier until the end of this season. But first,
let's let's see who would you put the Rockets above from this group?
Well, yeah, the title of the tier just threw me. I think
the Rockets are probably in the right place. But to say that these teams
might suck just feels, you know, and honestly with ironic, I mean,
I guess the Clippers have a case to be in that thing. It's
the Warriors. I look at the team as of this four that I'd be
most concerned about because the starting lineup, when it was at full strength before
the Draymonds suspension, before the Steph injury, that quintet was getting annihilated,
and that was one of the best five man units in basketball last year.
Andrew Wiggins has not looked the same Clay even on his good offensive nights,
and he's not getting good offensive nights every single game. He's just not there
on defense anymore. And I don't think when you look at kind of the
reserves, even though they've they've done well in the minutes without Steph Curry,
wincb three's one running the show. You look at Moses Moody, you look
at Jonathan Kaminga, and it's like, have they done enough to say,
well, these guys need to close games over a Clay or Andrew Wiggins.
If those two don't have it going, it's questionable, but it's also a
legitimate conversation. The Warriors seem to be searching right now part of its availability,
but like, no one really expected Brandon Pajemski to have this role in
year one, and he's had a fairly steady role lately. So they might
be the team I'm most concerned about, in part because my expectations for the
Clippers are just so low at this point, and they have picked up a
few wins in their past four games, one of which came against the Rockets,
but the other two came against the Spurs. And then you go up
and you get slaughtered by the Pelicans. So I'm just with the Suns.
Look, let's Bradley be old. Devin Booker, Kevin Ren have not played
a single second of action together. They're gonna be fine. I think.
Look, we've even seen it. They're on a long winning streak right now,
and ever since Devin Booker has come back a lot of the problems that
were haunting them, where it's okay, well, who's gonna be your second
best player every night or your best ball handler, that's no longer an issue
because Devin Booker is there. The attention that Kevin Duran is seeing in fourth
quarters, in half court sets, it's yeah, he's still prime time,
but it's not as much as many bodies because Devin Booker is there. He
is. I still don't think people appreciate how good he is is like a
point guard or floor general, whatever you want to title it. This is
just one of the like, forget shooting guard, point guard. This is
just one of the five best guards in the league right now. Like there's
Luca, there's Steph, There's Shay, and I think Tho's the only three
players that you can unless I'm just forgetting someone like really ludicrous to say,
those guys are definitely better as guards than that. Excuse me, oh my
god, Devin Booker and so like, that's huge for them. They're gonna
be fine. I have questions about the defense, which is started to slip.
But even when Bradley Beal comes back, you might offense just might be
so good and you'll be so much not less reliant. But you don't need
to live and die by his many. Okay, well, what is NOAs
little or Kaita Bates the up or Josha Kogi doing on offense? You can
have those guys in and not need as much of a lift offensively from them.
I think they're gonna be really good if they stay healthy, and the
team I might be highest on in this tier right now as the Pelicans because
they're playing like gangbusters Zion. I know a lot of people have said this.
There might just be something to If he's gonna miss all that time like
he did last season, his ramp up just might be a little bit,
a little bit longer than most. He's such a unique physical specimen. He's
starting to look more like himself. The minutes with him and Ingram they were
getting killed at one point, they're starting to win those they started to unlock
different units and combinations with the way they could play. We know what was
happening with the CG. McCollum, HERB Jones, plus like you know some
bench players Jordan Hawkins and maybe a Dyson Daniels with Jonas Fallon chun Is playing,
or maybe you have a different body in there when they're fully healthy,
when Trey Murphy comes back, when CJ's back, they're gonna be really dangerous
at both ends of the floor. Or and you know, with all of
these teams, I think health is probably the biggest question mark for them.
Where it's like you look at contr I think the Warriors have the most the
Warriors and the Clippers have the most. Like top end, Oh, is
there a question mark of how they're playing looking at Wiggins and Thompson or Russell
Westbrook has been so bad and then the fit in LA they need to figure
out. You know, they're getting killed when Russell Harden played together, and
they've gotten rid of a lot of those a lot of those minutes, and
but is that sustainable over the long term. They're playing PJ. Tucker at
the four for stretches, can you get enough spacing and offensive usage so that
what he does on offense, which is nothing a lot of the times at
this point, doesn't hurt you as much. So there's a lot of you
know, even with the Suns, you're looking at the back end of their
rotation where it's okay, well, who's the let's say they're fully healthy,
who are their fourth, fifth, sixth best players on any given night.
The Pelicans just have more going for them if they're healthy. I think then
all of these teams, except for like the Suns, probably have their strongest
case after them. So I actually don't think any of these teams actually suck.
If you're looking at potentially they're quintessential high ceiling incredibly low floor teams because
of the health question marks that they're dealing with, and I think that's what
all of them are sort of facing. Although the Warriors they look pretty bad
even when they have anybody at points, so that's maybe it's time to throw
the I think it's right that they're all kind of in a tier because we
have questions about what we haven't even seen their full groups together for a lot
of the time. Yet, when you're looking at Phoenix and La and New
Orleans specifically, So these are teams that are definitely tough to wrap heads around.
I will say I'm very optimistic on the outlooks of New Orleans and Phoenix,
though those are teams that I would be Like Phoenix, I'm still just
ready to say eve if they don't have a top four seed, like,
I still think they and the Nuggets are the two best teams in the West,
and New Orleans and Minnesota have Minnesota might belong in that like that tier
now, but like New Orleans has the potential to enter that top four tier
because that is their ceiling for sure. Okay, one thing about the Pelicans
is that they're missing CJ McCollum, and thanks to that, they're huge.
They're really big because CJ is a is a kind of a small guy and
a guy you can attack, you know, with your half court offense.
And I actually think that they might be better without him at this moment,
because you know, they're just they're just a menace to play against, even
though you know CJ is probably their third best player. You you are sort
of touching on what has become a discussion nationally, and I think even in
New Orleans circles is should CJ. McCom come off the bench when he comes
back because of how well the starting five has been faring right now, and
it would be something that's interesting to look at. They have a lot of
different things they could do when everyone's availed, just because like Trey Murphine cg
are out, but the Jose Alvarado Lion and Junior came back, Bi came
back, So they just have a lot of different bodies and I still question
whether they have an shooting even with Jordan Hawkins and once Matt Ryan gets healthy.
At the same time, when Zion is Zion, he's just shown that
spacing doesn't matter. It's not just go through four or three dudes and get
to the rim anyway. And we've seen that over the past couple of games,
I think, And so there are ceilings a lot higher than I think
their initial and the look they had me, you know, I'm a Pelicans
guy, but they had me like ready to deboard the bandwagon at one point
this year and I was clinging to it. So if it looks like that
will pay off, they're they're probably the most fascinating teams in me of these
four. That's that's for sure. Okay, it is time for us to
take another short break and then we'll get into some teams. I'm even more
impressed. Don't go anywhere. Okay, we are back, and as I
promised to you, now we get the frisky in So the surprisingly frisky tier,
and it is three teams. It's the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas
Mavericks, and the Sacramento Kings. So I'm a hater and I thought the
Lakers and the MAVs would be much worse than what they are. I'm also
famous. They are on Fox doubter, and I thought the Thunder should still
be at least a year away at this stage. Oh, I forgot to
put the Thunder on this graphic as well. So that's the fourth team actually
here. So tell me, are you surprised that the Lakers have been pretty
good so far and the MAVs as well. The MAVs definitely were better than
I expected. They have the same issues that we all expected, but the
urgence of Derek Lively basically from day one has been a big deal for them.
Luca is right front and center in the MVP conversation. They're winning both,
which I think has been critical. Both their solo star minutes when it's
Luca without Kyrie or Kyrie without Luca, so that is I thought there'd be
more issues with their defense there, but they have enough offense where you can
steal stretches. With Derek Jones Junior playing the Lakers, you know, they
haven't been great, but they've dealt with so many injuries, and like Austin
Reeves was so bad to start the year, he's been a lot better since
they they came off the he's been coming off the bench. So I don't
think that they're surprising me too much. And I would probably like I would
have the Pelicans and the Suns above both of these teams right now, because
I think that they have more weaknesses where it's the Lakers half court offense can
still be iffy when you're looking at late game situations too. They're so reliant
on age thirty nine season Lebron James that it's just it's uncomfortable. He's incredible,
but it's just uncomfortable that that dependence. But I have more I think,
because I trust Lebron. I just have inherently more trust in the Lakers
being a threat this year than the Mavericks and I think the Lakers might be
both of those. Both of these are teams where you could say, all
right, they might try and make a trade. They can only each trade
one first round pick up to one first round pick this year, and they
might be emboldened to do it just because the timelines they're operating on. So
of the two, I'm definitely more surprised by the MAVs. I also think
what they're doing or their place in the West feels way more fragile than Los
Angeles is, if we're assuming health for both. The Kings have not surprised
me. I guess they didn't get off to the to the best start.
I'm not a de Aaron Fox doubt or I've I've actually historically been way too
high on him. But he's starting to make me look a little bit smarter
these past couple of years. They are they've been grittier on defense, I
think than a lot of the numbers are going to indicate they are. Oh
they're actually their twelfth in points a lot per possession. Oh that's over their
last seven games. But like they have a defensive switch and they're a team
they've got trade assets like if an og Annobi becomes available, or if McHale
Bridges becomes available, or it's just another you need defensive help on the wing
to plug into those three four spots to maybe replace some of the Harrison Barnes
minutes. They're like, they're closer to the tippy top of the West than
not for me, and so they just haven't surprised me. If anything,
they've they've underachieved a little bit, and a lot of that I think is
just maybe people didn't realize how important Dearn Fox was because when he was out
for a little bit with that, I think it was this brained ankle.
They did not look great and then the thunder. They're surprising in the sense
that Sam Presty comes into the season preaching we borrowed wins from the future,
this is not the year to go in on the star trade, like we're
fully prepared to experiment and this is still kind of rebuild. That's the messaging
coming out. And then they're just hovering around the top of the West.
They have a top ten offense and defense. At the moment, they're basically
top seven offense and defense. Everyone is basically improved, with the exception of
a couple guys case and Wallace has been great, Isaiah Joe's been great.
Chet Holmgren is the rookie of the year right now, so and Shay remains
Shane might be the MVP. I mean when you look at the early season
MVP candidates, there is Shay, there's Yokich, there is Luca probably belongs
there, and there's Tatum and then you know Steph was at that level,
but then he missed time. Did it actually help his case because the Warriors
still aren't, you know, built to operate too long without him, even
though they're losing a lot of the minutes with him now, so there's noisy
there. But those feel like the top four right now. Maybe in Bed
belongs in there, but but Yo, Kich, Luca, Shay and who
did I mention that are right for Tatum? Yeah, those are like the
four guys uh Okay season is like ready, I don't even know if they
need to make a trade. We know the whole the Josh Giddy allegations for
the inappropriate relationship with a with an underage girl, that's certainly harrowing. They've
no I did that. Basically he is playing as of now, off to
see what that Bears. He's not even been that good this season for them.
He's perked up a little bit lately, so and that whatever happens with
that, that investigation is way more important than the honest to god basketball that's
happening on the court. But like even you just look at the makeup on
this team, looking at the floor. They they're doing things, and it's
I think people are gonna want them to make a trade this year if everyone's
available. And the thing is is that as of right now, they're still
experimenting with their rotation. If they just wanted to tighten it, they might
not need to make a move. It might just be no, we're gonna
tighten up, tighten up these these minutes, this rotation a little bit when
it matters. So honestly, of the tier that you just laid out,
there is a chance I would still put the Kings as the top team of
those four. There's chances to Oklahoma City. It feels like the Kings might
have a slightly higher ceiling at this point of only because you could see the
thunder kind of all of a sudden pivoting to well, no, like we're
playing Cason Walla in Usman jang a bunch of minute minutes here, and we're
gonna see Mesitch get even more time too as the season goes on, because
that's what they want. Maybe they don't do that again. They're so good
that at some point you can't justify experimenting unless you're still winning at this clip.
But those are the two teams I think okay See and Sacramento work are
to me clearly the best two teams from this year. And what's interesting to
me is that that pressed is uh talk about them borrowing the wins from the
from the future. Is it fair to Shay? I mean, Shae is
so good, Like why why wouldn't you want to to to put uh,
you know, amplification on this season and just try to be awesome this year?
I mean because right now they're awesome while experimenting, and so it's all
good vibes. It it comes to let's fast forward a month. They're gonna
they're gonna hit a rough patch. Every team hits a rough patch. How
do they react to that? And my guess is they'll do nothing. Like
maybe they make a trade where they're folding Davas Barton's a salary and to a
different salary, they can move over the summer. It also matters who comes
on the trade market. They're gonna want someone who's under contract, fits with
the timeline, and that's like a lot of people like, well, Pascal
Siakam would be great here, Zach Lvine would be great here, and it's
like that doesn't really fit. Well. This Siakam idea is semi interesting,
but he's gonna be a free agent and okay, so he's not. I
just don't think they're gonna mess around with that. And if you're winning at
this clip, you almost can't. It's not that you can't justify making a
bigger trade, but who are you getting rid of? Then, Like you
can get rid of all the future picks and I guess Davas Berton's a salary
and so if you're just tacking onto this core, But then it gets an
issue of oh, well, where are those minutes? Like who are we
pulling minutes away from? And I think a lot of people, and this
is independent of the allegations against him, they're gonna say, Josh Giddy,
they're not wrong, because like he's just his fit is weird, and he's
like he's needed to be on the court with Shay this year. Otherwise the
thunder has been really bad, and so that's the spot to kind of monitor.
But I think, and again, this is all further money because of
the allegations against him. I do see people in the chat saying sixteen is
fine in Oklahoma. It doesn't look like this person lived in Oklahoma. They
were in California, and so like that's and just the fact that he's in
the NBA, he's an adult, and like this is someone who's in high
school. Like that's just it's skeevy. And again, we need to let
the actual investigation play out because these are not even allegations coming from the person
themselves. They're coming from social media salutes. And so I hate the whole
situation. I hate just because they're doc saying the girl that's involved. It
just makes me wildly sad and uncomfortable. But he's the guy. There's no
natural sequae back to basketball. What a terrible conversation. I'm happy with myself,
Like he's the guy to just watch. And I just don't think that's
a decision they would make until this off season. I would And again,
if he is suspended or something, you know, Dad opens up a whole
other can of worms. But this team is they said they were gonna be
patient and we're almost prepping fans for a rough season. Now they've come out
and they've been patient, and they're just winning a crap ton and so I
wouldn't expect them to make any real changes. And it's not a nice thing
to ask, but considering all of what you just said, and the fact
that Giddy and Shae are not really you know, a perfect fit next to
each other as you're leading guards, do you think maybe it's the time to
try to pray them up to trade Giddy? Is that what you're saying,
Yeah, I guess and not Shaye. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's
probably too early because look, the minutes with them on the floor together this
season have been really good, but there's a lot of like, well,
the thunder is still work. Chad has opened up the floor for both of
them, but there's a lot of Shay's able to work in tight spaces.
And the bigger question to me is actually ken Giddy operate independent of Shae because
of the attention Shade draws and defenses just don't treat him like a threat.
It's like even when he's on the court alone, they're going to go so
far under him and test the jumper, test the floater, and it's not
always like working out for him. And so that's the thing to monitor,
and the thunder of not shown unless it's changed. Over the past few games
a ton of confidence in the Giddy without Shay minutes, they've been more inclined
to go Okay Jalen Williams J Dub. He will play without Shay and Giddy
more than Giddy will play without Shay and Jay Dubb. And that's just you
know, Giddy's gonna be in line for a pretty big payday assuming he finishes
the season. YadA, YadA, YadA. So would I consider it depending
on who becomes avail out to absolutely consider it, But it has to be
the right player. And I ultimately don't think that player because the thunder I
think are gonna want someone who skews younger. I don't think that player will
be available before the summer. Yeah, I agree with that. And now
I'm gonna show you my last year for today. And again, this is
not this has nothing to do with then. This is just the way I'm
looking at the West right now. The tier is called not perfect but pretty
damn good when they want to be tier. And it's two teams. It's
the NBA champions Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now we'll talk about the
Nuggets more in the final segment, but before that, just tell me some
what do you see about the team that has actually impressed me the most out
West this season? Yeah, they have to be the single biggest surprise.
And even as someone who is a Timberwolves optimist, I did not anticipate this
man things I'm seeing and think Edwards has just made the leap to this two
way star more consistently. Rudy Gobert looked so so different. There was a
play I can't remember what podcast I was listening to that was outlining it.
His defensive Player of the Year case, though, can be boiled down to
a possession he's covering on the perimeter somehow has the mobility to get back to
contest a close out or close out in the corner. He wasn't moving like
that last year and that's been huge for them. Nos Reid might be the
sixth Man of the Year. There's a lot of good candidates this year.
I think Lonnie Walker and Tarris Laverda kind of are more traditional ones. But
you have nos Reed there. He's been really good. Who else has been
really good this year off the bench? I mean, it's it's just we're
so really it doesn't matter. Like Alex Caruso might get some love there for
sure, and would certainly deserve to be. But like, so you have
that the NOAs read and then Karl the Town has been a lot better defensively,
He's been inconsistent offensively. I'd still like to see him take more threes.
But like when you look at the top eight of this roster, because
you can trust Kyle Anderson playing Nikil, Alexander Walker playing nos Reed playing,
they might have the best top eight rotation in basketball. You look at the
Nuggets at full strength and the Celtics at full strength, and you say,
okay, they clearly have the best top six. But like once you start
to get beyond that, the Pelicans, if they're fully healthy, we just
don't see it enough. Okay, see a team we just talked about when
top to bottom, Like, yes, I think the Pelicans the thunder deeper.
Other teams are deeper. When you're looking at one to fifteen. But
if you're looking at just strictly playoff rotations, Minnesota right now might have the
deepest, again just top one through eight, when you're shortened to seven or
eight guys, they might have the most bankable playoff rotation in the league,
which is no one was predicting that coming into the season. And so just
combined with the better play from Rudy, having Towns being healthy to at lease
open up the flor on offense, Anthony Edwards making the leap, nos Reed
making another leap. I think we've seen so much from him defensively. His
rim protection has improved and he remains switchable. Look, there were times where
he was compared to Zeke naj at one point, and Zeke Nagy has never
developed into someone who can actually be a true blue rim protector. Nos Reed
can be that in addition to his mobility on the perimeter. And this team
is just it's a frenetic watch even when they're not playing super fast, and
so much about what they've done is impressed me. But I think if we
boiled it down to the three biggest factors, I honestly think it's depth.
Just the one through eight guys they're all available, Edward's making another leap,
and I think, look, Rudy Gobert has been their second best player.
It's and it's probably not even close. Like and look, there's a chance
that nas Reed has been their third best player, which is kind of wild
to say. And then Mike Comley's just there and solid. It's just incredible.
So as long as they're healthy, my like, I would still be
inclined to put the Nuggets in a tier of their own right now because we
know this team. We know there, we know their faults and flaws,
but we know what their top end outcome looks as of right now. Though
you are absolutely correct, no other team has justified being in the Nuggets' is
tier more than the Timberwolves. And what's interesting to me is that Kat and
and Rudy Gobert actually looked pretty good together, unlike last season. Of course,
the sample was was not very big last season because of Kat's injuries.
But what I what I found interesting is that their defense we'd only go bear
on the court is just amazing. It's it's like unpenetrable, if that's a
word. And then they're also pretty good on defense when they only have Cat
and not go bear. They're strangely bad on defense. Maybe not strangely,
but there were some defense when they have both of those guys. But their
offense for some reason is off the charts, I mean comparing to what other
things they have in their fold. Yeah, I think, without knowing like
the actual lineups have been run, my guest would be like those two are
playing so many minutes next to Mike Conley Anthony Edwards that the offense is guaranteed
to be better in that, and then Towns just being a better offensive player.
I think when you look at them defensively, though, they have the
luxury of covering up for Cat better than any Timberwolves team in recent memory.
Because now Rudy Gobert, we've just add Nauseaum talked about his mobility this year,
nos Reed has been able to cover up for a lot in the Towns
in minutes that he and him play together, and then Towns is shold have
been better defensively in terms of being in the right spots. I still think
he's he can be just sloth paced and get caught off guard and be at
these weird angles when he's in space, and teams will still continue to attack
him, but because you also it's not just no, it's like when Jade
McDaniels is healthy and you have Kyle Anderson the pair with him and Anthony Edwards,
and then just knowing that you can count on Mike Conley and Nikhil Alexander
Walker has been great defensively for them as well. There's so much defensive talent
surrounding him that I think they've been able to insulate Karl Anthony Town's better than
they ever really could have hoped for. When they first made the Rudy Gobert
acquisition, they always looked like a Nuggets skillers, and now when you see
that they're actually very good against other teams as well, they might be really
scary. Yeah. I didn't catch the game that the Nuggets and Timber was
played earlier this year, but people were telling me that the stuff that works,
and it makes some sense. But if you have Rudy Gobert playing down
low and Karl Anthony town is gonna be the guy that's like guarding Jokic,
and it just works. I don't know if it's a size and strength or
if it's just the idea of like Rudy Gobert not having to be tethered and
taken away from the basket because that's what Jokic could do. I'm interested to
see if it would hold up over the course of a series. If these
two but one game in the regular season, sure, but like I'd be,
I think that the Nuggets could do some interesting tactical things to make those
moves difficult on Minnesota. And my gut still says that if these two teams
got in a series, Cat would be exposed by the end of it.
And again that's probably on Denver being healthy. But the off ball movement that
Denver can generate, specifically inside the arc, that can hurt Cat, and
I know Rudy Gobert being off Jokic kind of can deral some of that movement.
But I think I do think over the course of a series that it
would be It's kind of quaint to see over a game or two, but
of the course of a playoff series, I think Denver would really bust through
that model and force Minnesota into some compromising decisions. I actually agree, and
I think it's a big luxury to have naz Reid in that kind of situation,
and you also have Jaden McDaniels and nah as the guys to guard Jamal
Murray. So I think that would be an extremely interesting matchup for sure.
Okay, let's take one last short break and then we'll move on to the
NBA Champions then the Nuggets. Okay, we are back. So the Nuggets
lost Jamal Murray to hamstring injury, and at first it looked like they would
be fine with Dredge Jackson feeling in the starting lineup really well, but then
that opened some problems with the back end of the rotation. So their record
without Jamal is now four and five. They actually won that game when Jamal
mid game got injured. So I'm I already said I'm envious of some other
teams the guys they have on the bench against the Nuggets. What's your over
arching take on the Nuggets season so far? And am I right to still
have them in this top tier of the conference even with those losses that have
been planning up. Yeah, Look, I'm not gonna panic about this team.
I just they are a machine the end. Look, the overarching issues,
as you call them, they're exactly not just what we expected, but
they're exactly what they're supposed to be. They made this conscious decision to say,
like, we have our top six guys, and like the bench is
still gonna be a bunch of question marks because one they didn't have the resources
to really do anything else financially, and then two they try to take some
swings developmental swings, and so they are gonna be growing pains there. There
is value in getting this information and these reps in the regular season to maybe
identify because you have your six and you decided, look, if it's it's
different if like I'm honestly, and I don't mean to you know how I
feel about Michael Porter junior, but like Michael Porter Junior is missing time,
or if Christian Brown is missing time, you can overcome that. If Yo
Kich, if Murray, if Gordon even KCP when you look at his defensive
assignments, Like you've kind of just decided that if one of those four players
aren't healthy, you're not winning the championship. And so that's the decision that
you have made, Let's say, and I think that's a semi comfortable decision
to make. I think what makes this really uneasy is, Okay, well,
can we even get to like a six or seven man playoff rotation that
we feel super confident in the front court rotation after Yo Kich and Gordon and
Porter Junior is just all over the place right now. I've been a little
bit concerned with how Christian Brown has played. He needs, like he needs
Nicole Yokich to get anything going inside the arc for him, and so it's
fair to be concerned about that. But this is all happening in the backdrop
of they don't have Jamal Murray, and Matt Moore was talking about this recently
on the Lockdown Nuggets podcast, like Reggie actually been good for a lot of
the year, but now all of a sudden, he's going up against not
just league guards, but league guards who are then defending him because they're not
gonna defend This is what Matt Moore pointed out anyone else, because Aaron Gordon,
Michael Porter Junior, Yo Kicch, you are too to f and big,
and you're not gonna throw them on KCP because that feels like a little
bit of a waste just he's not doing as much on the ball. So
I do think they need at least another veteran in this rotation because it's Christian
Brown has earned the benefit of the doubt. But if you're waiting for a
Julian Strauther or you know, the Zeke Naji ship seems like it's sailed.
Every year is the Zeke Naja year, and then every year it's not the
zeke Naja year. But if you're counting on Peyton Watson, like those are
where you're getting into risky areas of well, are these guys gonna be good
enough when it matters most? And that's the question they have. I don't
know what they're gonna be able to do at the trade deadline, in part
because yeah, they have some I think there'd be a lot of teams and
be like, oh, if you're willing to trade Peyton Watson, we will.
We will definitely take a look at him. But they need to get
to matching salary to do anything of consequence. And it's like, Okay,
Jokic, Murray, Porter, Gordon KCP are your five highest paid players.
Your sixth highest paid player is Reggie Jackson making five million, And it's just
like when in terms of salary matching, like it gets really difficult to figure
out moves that they can make. I know a lot of fans have been
enamored with Alex Caruso, but like one you could get to the money for
him, you could step out of your way there. The bulls aren't taking
your best offer because you can't trade them like they're gonna get a first for
Alex Caruso. And so you're looking at someone who's Maybe you could get a
Javon Carter from Chicago if they decided, or an Io disson move, just
someone who could come in and play sort of a similar defensive role in Javon
Carterval Hill had three's man, I would love him in Dever actually, to
be honest with you, So does that type of move stabilize them at all?
But the reason I can't be concerned is because they knew the risks and
what was gonna happen coming in. Look, we can get bent out of
shape about It'd be nice if Michael porter Ji were just fire up more streamline
jump shots at times, or it'd be nice if Aaron Gordon could find the
basket at all. Right now, those things are gonna be fine. It's
if you believe that Jamal Murray and Koloki are gonna be healthy. And I
would say I think Aaron Gordon's probably their third most important player when you look
at the playoffs specifically, So if you believe those three guys are gonna be
healthy, you will have a chance. And it's can we carve out another
spot or two in the rotation that isn't so unpredictable. I think for them
to get to a point where they have seven guys who they can trust in
the playoffs, they're gonna need to get lucky on the trade end or buy
out market, though, And that's just where I'm at with this team.
I think what we saw at the beginning of the season when they were healthy,
their defensive ceiling might be even higher than last year. And a large
part of that is one Casey p has been incredible this year. Nikoliokic.
When they were at full strength, he was doing some pretty incredible things defensively.
And then you know, I've hammered this home the Michael Porter junior defensive
experience. It can still be touch and go, but the highs are so
incredibly high, and they are more sustainable than they've been. I can't bring
myself to panic. We can nitpick, we can be concerned. There's just
no for me, There's no reason to Pat. Yeah, And I think
the biggest reason why Michael Porter is so important to this team, you know,
next to his length, which which helps the whole team grow crazy,
crazy long, is the fact that he is such a perfect fairing next to
Aaron Gordon, because Aaron Gordon is just the most important guy on that defense,
and he is, you know, he's not a confident shooter. He
can he can hit some shots, but then he can go zero four twelve,
he will miss some shots as well. So you really need Michael Porter
to stretch that court out so so that Aaron Gordon would have the space to
operate in the dunker spot and stuff like that. And Casey p is a
is a as close to a knockdown shooter and a good defender as you'll you'll
find in the league. Jamal Murray, is there one thing that concerns me
a bit is the fact that we are talking about some veteran help that might
come, or maybe not even veteran help, but just some other guys to
be able to join the bench of the Denver Nuggets. And the thing is,
in the last six seven years, we've seen a pletora of players that
are trying to play good minutes without Nikolo Kich in the court, and none
of them made it, none of them. So it's it might not be
just the players that have been involved. It might be something that has to
do a bit with the coaching as well, because we know Nikolaokicch minutes are
always always overwhelmingly good, but you need that balance with his of minutes.
He played forffing forty two minutes last like in Houston and they still lost the
game, And it's like, I know he's an iron man, but you
don't want to overwork him too much in the regular season either. At this
point, it's just like it'd be nice if he could get the break rather
than Jamal Murray, but they just can't. Look even with Jamal Murray,
they're just not built to operate without Jokic still, and there are I know,
people talk a lot about like can't they run some different substitution patterns,
and it's sure, but when you start to go through like the data of
how just even the players you might want to see without Jokic more, and
it's okay, Like you know they're they're just so not efficient with with with
Jokic, Like off the court, where it's Reggie Jackson, even when he
was playing a bunch of Yolkic off the court, in an effective field goal
percentage of forty eight when Yokiic isn't on the floor this year, Aaron Gordon's
effective field goal percentage without Jokic thirty seven. That is incredibly low. Jamal
Murray's effective field goal percentage without Jokics this year thirty seven and a half.
Uh, Like, I think the one thing you could try, and I
just don't know, Like Michael Porter Junior might be built to play some more
solo minutes. He's just not as a scorer, sure, as a facilitator,
it's okay, no, but he is a fifty nine effective field goal
percentag without Yokich on the court, which is which is really good. And
so could you just try and build more punchier units where okay, Jokic is
off the court and you're gonna like have Michael Porter Junior scoring to lean on
you just you need guys who can provide not even net positive minutes for your
team, but net positive play as an individual without Jokich, and there are
so few guys on this team who can do that, even within the starting
lineup. I would argue that there are two guys on this team that could
feasibly be as individuals. I don't even know what it would look like for
the larger impact on the team. And we actually we do, Like we've
seen the Murray without Jokic minutes and they're not spectacular, but he's one of
the guys. And then it's MPJ and so it's like to not have,
you know, to not have another option with that. And I think the
biggest need you could you could say, is they need someone to be like
the idea of Christian Brown and Bruce Brown together is what they need and you're
just not gonna find that with the tools that they have. And even look,
even if Peyton Watson pops all of a sudden stays that way, what
is that actually doing for you in the now? He's not a creator?
And so it's like, do we need Jaen Pickett, Like, is that
the one you're you're looking at? Because his minutes are you know, they're
gonna dissipate when you have Jamal Murray and Reggie Jackson. So like it feels
like they're not one player short of winning a title, but it feels like
they're one player short of like we can breathe during the non yokicch minutes at
least, And I know at the beginning of the season it was like,
oh, the non Yokch minutes look better. That kind of faded quickly.
Even before the Jamal Murray minutes, they were outscored by fifteen total points without
Jokic on the court. That's a doable margin. Now that things ballooned over
their most recent stretch to like I don't even know, I think they've been
on scored by like seventy points without Jokic on the court during this like recent
road you know, disaster, whatever you want to call it, so like
it's just it's I don't want to say it's unsolvable, but with the resources
they have at their disposal, it's kind of this active decision that they've made.
And they've been out scored by twenty nine points without Yo Kitch on the
court in one hundred and four minutes, So that's not that's not great.
And during this this seven game stretch to the starting lineup has been outscored by
thirty points, like the starting lineup with Reggie Jackson, So you're not gonna
decide the win, Yeah, you'll win the minutes with Yo kitch overall,
but if you can't win the minutes in the lineup that he is going to
spend the most time in, you're I don't know if you cuss on this
podcast, so you're screwed. So I won't drop the f bomb. It's
just like, again, this is a problem that you understand it because of
how they allocated resources to their top guys. They just won a title by
doing that, so it's hard to refute. But there is there's a trade
off there, and we're witnessing it and it's It's part of the reason I'm
concerned. But I also can't get up in arms about it because it was
an active decision and for some reason that makes me feel a little better about
it, even though that might be a logical Yeah, I think that most
of the well informed Nuggets fans will tell you that they're prepared for some frustrating
regular season, but we know what is the price in sight, and they
probably need eight guys for the playoffs. You can survive with seven? Yeah,
they did seven last year, I would say, right, unless you
count you know, Jeff Green. Christian Brown was the eighth guy. Actually,
last year, and he played some really, really good minutes in the
finals. But what I want to say is you can do with seven,
but one of the guys off the bench has to be a big. You
cannot play just guards take a bench, and if Zeke Naji is your best
big, that doesn't sound promising. So this is the thing I'm looking most
most towards in the next months for the Nuggets basketball. And I think that
that extension he got is quite strange right now, because you know, he's
not that easy to trade because of it. I think, well, yeah,
but it's he's actually it's not too hard because it's so cheap. So
like the poison pill provisions doesn't mean as much. It's felt more like a
future move where it's, oh, we want this. Whatever he's locked into
next year is gonna be eight point eight million, Like that's a nice salary
matching tool on a very low stakes contract that's declining on a player who's still
he's not even twenty three as we're recording this, So that's what the logic
there felt like. I actually had a question for you though, because you
mentioned one of the players on the bench has to be a big. Now,
I just mentioned how important it is for Aaron Gordon offensively to play with
Nicole Jokish. What do you sort of make of the idea? And they've
killed during these minutes. It hasn't been a ton like Aaron Gordon at center.
It kind of works like would you like in the playoffs specifically? I
think you have to be open to it now, But is that something you
could see them trying out a little bit more frequently or they don't want to
put that wear and tear on ag because of how important he is defensively to
the Jokic lineups. Oh, they have been trying it already several times,
and they haven't when they do it too. They haven't tried it last season
almost at all during the regular season, and then they were killing people in
the playoffs with that. But the thing here is that Michael Malan was actually
panicking a bit, and this is why he's Okay, no more Zeke Magic
tonight, We'll just play Aaron at the five and and well hopefully survived that
we still had, you know, Jeff Green, who is a beefy guy.
I mean, he was a pretty much negative most of the playoffs even
and not to mention the regular season, but Michael Malone still felt that he
needed some more some more beef in the in the in the paint when when
Ki would go out of the your Jeff Green had like Jeff Green is like
the king of having moments that make you think he's still really good, and
then you go back and you watch other moments or you'll see the data and
it's like, oh, like no uh. And what's also tough is because
Nikol Jokic is your best player and he's gonna play. You know, I
don't want him playing forty two minutes in November. I will take him playing
forty two minutes in May. What are you supposed to allocate to someone who,
when it matters most in theory, is gonna play six or eight minutes
a game. And that's where it gets challenging. And so it's you know,
maybe they could have done a better job, like signing a minimum like
I'll go this route. Pismack Biambo would have done infinitely more for this team
on the court than DeAndre Jordan is ever gonna do for them, And so
you could have saying, but you talk to all these people around the NBA,
and I think the emotional component of having DJ there, like that's gonna
matter to them. So can you, like, can you find a really
cheap big on the trade market, because when they're making minimums or close to
it, now, that becomes more workable, and that, in theory,
is something you could address because hey, that shouldn't cost too much and we
don't need this guy could be a star. We need him to play eight
to ten minutes a game during the playoffs at most. And so it's like,
I know some people floated Andre Drummond. I have no desire to see
Andre Drummond on this team. I'm not gonna lie. I don't think.
I just don't love. I don't think it's gonna be good. I don't
think it would be good. But like see somebody in the chat get boogie
back. I don't really know if and I know I'm I'm I'm good without
that. But like a this this isn't the because the way they run their
offense, but like a Jericho Simms from New York, like we's not getting
minutes. You know you're not gonna trade for hart and Stein like they're using
him too much? Like could they like could they be a team I didn't
think of trade tars store I got here, But you can get a super
cheap big for the most part, and that's at least okay that it feels
feasibly addressable. But where like a lot of this, if you want like
a better creator off the bench or a better wing off the bench, those
those players traditionally cost a lot more. And so that's just where you get
into some like really interesting and tough discussions. But if I'm them, I
would be with you if you're to minimize how long you need to play Aaron
Gordont's So I mean, look, you might not need another big man in
the playoffs because Aaron Gordon at center for six to eight minutes a game could
make a lot of sense and like, you know, minimal issues. But
otherwise, you know, maybe they get like I said, the buyout market,
or can you trade for just someone who is who is so cheap right
now that it doesn't it costs seconds or something. And then just like you
have to send out the requisite salary match just to get a body in there.
And that's it. Again, that's at least something that they might be
able to address. Okay, then thank you so much for letting me force
you to speak about the Nuggets longer than you usually as do you want to
promote something before we go out? Uh, just check out the Hardwin Knox
podcast. I'm sure it's all Nuggets fans that are here, but we cover
the NBA at large and we do look, we have a lot of fun
and we do a really good job with it. So Hardwood Ox YouTube,
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built exactly. Yeah, thank you very much. And before we meet again
next week, my dear listener,