1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:04,120 What's up, y'all is Drewski and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:08,679 a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Due Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories 3 00:00:08,679 --> 00:00:11,880 of your favorite balls and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a 4 00:00:11,919 --> 00:00:14,720 favorite team? Wasn't the Raptors at the time? Or no, was the 5 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,800 Rappers even started on the topic? Come on, bro, I tell you 6 00:00:18,839 --> 00:00:21,839 like I'm fifty, Taylor Rogues, Asian Wilson, and many more. You 7 00:00:21,879 --> 00:00:24,800 won't want to miss this. Listen to The Due Zone with Drewski on Apple, 8 00:00:24,839 --> 00:00:32,320 Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Greg 9 00:00:32,359 --> 00:00:36,119 Olsen inviting you to check out my new Blue Wire podcast t E one, 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,560 where I interview tight ends throughout the history of the NFL who have helped revolutionize 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,240 the position. TE one is presented by this Chevy Silverado. The Silverado was 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,640 all about grit. It's strong and dependable, exactly like playing tight end. 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,759 Just like the incredible players we sit down with on the podcast, The Chevy 14 00:00:53,799 --> 00:00:58,200 Silverado is in a league of its own, Strong, advanced, and dependable. 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:10,799 Download TE one today wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello, everyone, 16 00:01:10,879 --> 00:01:15,159 and welcome to another episode of Hardwood Knocks. This is Adam Brommel here with 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,680 my co host Dan Favalley, and we are sponsored as always by door Dash 18 00:01:18,719 --> 00:01:23,879 and bet Online dot AG. We are excited because the NBA Finals are upon 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,439 us in a matchup that I don't think anyone saw coming at the start of 20 00:01:27,439 --> 00:01:30,480 the playoffs and especially at the beginning of the regular season. We have the 21 00:01:30,519 --> 00:01:34,719 Miami Heat representing the Eastern Conference against the Los Angeles Lakers from the Western Conference. 22 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,640 We're gonna be talking about that series, as well as some other bits 23 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,760 of news that have merged in the last twenty four hours. The doc Rivers 24 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:47,120 mutual decision to part ways with the Los Angeles Clippers as head coach, the 25 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,239 rumor that Victor Oladipo might want out of Indiana, and the latest in the 26 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:57,319 seemingly perpetual potential rift between Ben Simmons and Joe l Embiid on the Philadelphia seventy 27 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:00,319 six ers. But before we dive into any of that, Dan, how's 28 00:02:00,319 --> 00:02:05,359 it going? I am t I read, Adam, not gonna lie. 29 00:02:05,439 --> 00:02:07,599 How are you doing? Still in good spears? So I'm ready for the 30 00:02:07,719 --> 00:02:09,960 NBA Finals. It's exciting. I will say that we got here because there 31 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,120 were many moments in time where I think a majority of people, but definitely 32 00:02:15,159 --> 00:02:17,759 you and I were skeptical that we would get here. And so it's cool 33 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:22,280 to see a conclusion to a season, and it's nice to you know, 34 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:24,199 I don't know, maybe it's not nice because these are unprecedented circumstances. But 35 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,240 this is not, as you sort of mentioned at the top, a series 36 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,479 that anyone expected when the playoffs first run away. I wrote a piece for 37 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:36,000 Bleacher Report about the most like unexpected finals matchups that we could see that we 38 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,240 would actually want to see, and of the five that I picked, there 39 00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:44,080 was heat Lakers in part because of the Lebron versus pat Riley slash Erik Spoelstra 40 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,800 stuff. And then also Jimmy Butler once said that he always wanted to play 41 00:02:46,879 --> 00:02:49,439 for the Lakers, so that would be funny. And then just the idea 42 00:02:49,439 --> 00:02:53,080 of Jimmy Butler getting to the finals after the Sixers basically let him go, 43 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,520 the Bulls traded him away for whatever, and then thinks soured in Minnesota and 44 00:02:58,719 --> 00:03:02,879 a lot of people have put most of that on him and in Minnesota, 45 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,479 the way that the departs are unfolded. He definitely deserves criticism for but he 46 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,120 left three pretty incompetent front offices, and I think that that's something that was 47 00:03:10,159 --> 00:03:14,960 sort of lost amid the tumult there. So this is an interesting matchup. 48 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,879 I'm excited to get into it, but like I said, I'm also very 49 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,960 much exhausted at the moment. How are you doing? I am also tired, 50 00:03:22,039 --> 00:03:24,039 looked tired enough that when you said t I red or whatever it was 51 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,680 at the beginning, I struggled for a minute to understand what you meant, 52 00:03:27,759 --> 00:03:30,479 because my brain is mush. My dog has been sick of the last two 53 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,199 nights and getting up every hour, and it's like I have a newborn all 54 00:03:35,199 --> 00:03:38,800 over again, and it has not been a fun reminder of that. So 55 00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:42,680 she looked up to a caffeine ivy right now, so that this isn't like 56 00:03:42,719 --> 00:03:46,520 too low energy a podcast. Yeah, I probably need to up my caffeine 57 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,719 intake, and I already probably consume too much caffeine to begin with. And 58 00:03:49,759 --> 00:03:52,120 you did say before we started recording that you were brain dead, So I 59 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,159 feel like this will be an awesome podcast. It should be, as if 60 00:03:55,199 --> 00:03:59,360 they all aren't already I mean, come on, and for listeners, this 61 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,400 is the first of three podcasts I'll be recording to day as we talk on 62 00:04:02,759 --> 00:04:06,719 a Tuesday, so mine will get progressively worse. Let's hope this is the 63 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:12,520 best one. So look, let's start with Lakers Heat Finals matchup. I'm 64 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,680 not sure how you feel about this one, since I'm sure it's not one 65 00:04:15,719 --> 00:04:18,279 that you've given a lot of thought too, at least maybe once the conference 66 00:04:18,319 --> 00:04:23,199 finals started, obviously, but before then probably not before we get into the 67 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,040 nitty gritty of it all, like what are your inklings? Who was just 68 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:28,360 at the top? What is your pick? Because we always start our previews. 69 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,720 Yeah, I've been struggling with this one a lot since the matchup was 70 00:04:32,759 --> 00:04:36,480 set, and really since it seemed likely to be set, because I think 71 00:04:36,519 --> 00:04:43,120 the Miami Heat are the better basketball team. They have superior coaching, they 72 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,000 have superior depth, they have a lot of really good usable players, and 73 00:04:47,319 --> 00:04:53,160 a lot of counters to what the Lakers do best. But I can't bet 74 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:59,120 against a motivated Lebron James in this series, you know, especially because their 75 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:02,839 path to the f als like hasn't been all that grueling and taxing relative to 76 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,800 other teams so I think I'm gonna go with Lakers in six, even though 77 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:13,199 that almost feels like an upset to me, despite the reputations of the franchises. 78 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,040 I would say that that's the cowards pick, and it's also my pick 79 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:20,120 Lakers because I feel like it should be Lakers in five. But I don't 80 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,600 want to discredit all the things that the Heat have done. And something that 81 00:05:23,639 --> 00:05:29,920 I've really found instructive is I was listening to the Dunked On podcast and Danny 82 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,279 LaRue mentioned this. The Lakers very clearly have the two best players in this 83 00:05:33,399 --> 00:05:36,079 series, which is huge to have the two best players in the series, 84 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:40,519 not just the best player. Maybe on a given night, Jimmy Butler's better 85 00:05:40,519 --> 00:05:44,800 than an Anthony Davis, but on most nights it's gonna go Lebron Anthony Davis, 86 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,240 and then Jimmy Butler's the third best player. However, how when you 87 00:05:47,319 --> 00:05:51,480 go to the Lakers third best player, how many Heat members of the Heat 88 00:05:51,759 --> 00:05:58,279 are in between like Anthony Davis and the Lakers third best player. I was 89 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:00,199 going to ask you this exact same question, and as we moved on, 90 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,319 and I'd kind of want to turn to NBA maths player power rankings which look 91 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:10,680 at ten game samples, adjusting for the difficulty of the opponent and the box 92 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,920 score contribution. So it does sell defense a little bit short, but it 93 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,120 is at least a good baseline. And in those which we released Tuesday morning, 94 00:06:17,519 --> 00:06:20,399 Lebron is number one, Anthony Davis is number two, but then bam 95 00:06:20,399 --> 00:06:25,560 Adebayo's number three, Jimmy Butler's number four, Tyler Heroes number five, Gorn 96 00:06:25,639 --> 00:06:29,600 Drogic is number six, Jay Crowder's number seven, Rajon Rondo is number eight, 97 00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:31,959 and then Duncan Robinson is number nine. And I kind of feel like 98 00:06:32,079 --> 00:06:38,240 Duncan Robinson belongs above Rajon Rondo as well, just he struggled with his shot 99 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:41,879 a little bit during the second round of the playoffs. I don't think that 100 00:06:41,959 --> 00:06:45,360 Kyle Kuzma or Kentavia is called Well Pope, or Danny Green or Dwight Howard 101 00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:49,120 or Alex Caruso belong above any of those heat players. So I think you 102 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:56,360 can make a serious argument that Miami has the next six players after those top 103 00:06:56,399 --> 00:06:58,879 two, and on any given night, I think you could argue it'll be 104 00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:01,639 seven, depending on what you get from Andre Goadala. I feel like that's 105 00:07:01,639 --> 00:07:06,199 a possibility. Kelly Olenick has thrown some flames at times during the playoffs too, 106 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,120 like you can get one game out of him. So there will be 107 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,720 nights where it feels like they Heat might have if everyone's like on seven of 108 00:07:13,759 --> 00:07:17,319 the nine best players on the court, which is absolutely huge. Why I 109 00:07:17,319 --> 00:07:21,879 think that the series could be extended. What I worry about, and I 110 00:07:21,879 --> 00:07:26,360 don't know if it's worried, but I don't know what ends up happening with 111 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,000 Miami's defense relative to how they're going to cover Anthony Davis and Lebron James, 112 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:36,040 Like, let's just say this is obviously they should play. It feels like 113 00:07:36,079 --> 00:07:40,720 a lot of zone because when you're looking at how much Boston struggled at it 114 00:07:41,279 --> 00:07:44,720 versus it at times, and that was with Miami like really giving them no 115 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,240 airspace on shooters, The Heat are gonna be able to probably blockade the paint 116 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,519 more against the Lakers because they're not going to be as concerned about Los Angeles 117 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:55,000 as shooters, which have to their credit, the Lakers are shooting forty percent 118 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,480 on wide open threes during the playoffs, and they were at like forty four 119 00:07:57,519 --> 00:08:01,160 percent in the Nuggets series. I would hazard that does and hold, and 120 00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:05,839 so there are Jammy is way better at contesting three point attempts than any of 121 00:08:05,879 --> 00:08:07,399 the previous opponents for the Lakers, right, And I just I don't believe 122 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,199 KCP is going to shoot so well. Right, And I think I got 123 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:13,560 into this on the mail bag that I did solo the way that the Heat 124 00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:16,399 have been when they do the two three zone and they're just like, screw 125 00:08:16,399 --> 00:08:20,120 it, we're gonna put Jimmy Butler and Jay Crowder at the top like that 126 00:08:20,279 --> 00:08:22,120 gets like that allows them to do a lot of things that other teams couldn't 127 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,560 do if they're running the same events. But looking at individual matchups, because 128 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:28,079 we will see it like there. That's the other thing with the Heat, 129 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,200 which this is great. They will shape shift defensively, like not in the 130 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,000 same quarter, but on the same possession, like because they're defenders, they're 131 00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:39,840 just they're able to do that. And so when you're looking at the individual 132 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,120 matchups, I think it's easy to be like, well, Jimmy Butler on 133 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,200 le Bron Bam against Davis, and if you were designing someone in a lab 134 00:08:46,279 --> 00:08:50,840 to guard Anthony Davis, it's the same when we're talking about Jannis Atintacoupo. 135 00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:54,440 Isn't it bam at a Bio? But as we saw in that series, 136 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:56,480 it was Jay Crowder that got most of their reps on Jannis. Is that 137 00:08:56,519 --> 00:09:01,639 going to happen in this series? Because the Lakers play so big, if 138 00:09:01,639 --> 00:09:03,720 they're going to continue to roll with two centers, whether it's Dwight Howard or 139 00:09:03,759 --> 00:09:07,559 JaVale McGee, do you put bam Adebayo on the center and then Jay Crowder 140 00:09:07,639 --> 00:09:11,519 on Anthony Davis? And I think that matchup heavily favors Anthony Davis, and 141 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:16,039 then you could get into okay, well, then you know they could double 142 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,600 him, like that's obviously something to do, but where's the double coming from? 143 00:09:18,639 --> 00:09:22,559 And then I feel like that also makes it really harder to guard the 144 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,919 lebron Anthony Davis picking rolls that would just be my guest. And so that's 145 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,639 one thing that I'm I don't want to say incredibly fearful of for Miami, 146 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:33,200 but I think that Anthony Davis has he has all playoffs is going to cause 147 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,399 some matchup problems for Miami. And maybe the silver lining there is like Anthony 148 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,440 Davis is shooting over forty four percent on his pull up two pointers in the 149 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:46,080 playoffs, which isn't astronomically high, but he was barely over thirty seven percent 150 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,840 on those same shots in the regular season, and he's hitting more of his 151 00:09:48,879 --> 00:09:52,440 catch and shoot threes. He's just been an absolute monster. He's hitting more 152 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,240 of his unassisted looks in general. If he's going to continue to play that 153 00:09:56,279 --> 00:10:00,519 way, that's even that's a problem either way. But I feel like becomes 154 00:10:00,759 --> 00:10:03,120 if he's doing that while they're playing bigger, that becomes a pretty big issue 155 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,840 for Miami. Yeah, you know, I feel like if you're Miami, 156 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,279 you kind of want to be in a situation where you're forcing Anthony Davis to 157 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,120 be the one who beats you, because it means that Lebron isn't. So 158 00:10:16,399 --> 00:10:22,759 I think I'm more willing to accept that matchup nightmare and try to work around 159 00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:26,039 it. But I don't I don't expect to see as much, if any, 160 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,000 of the two three zone that we saw against Boston in this particular series, 161 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,440 because that was by putting those bigger bodies up front like they were very 162 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,240 much by design, trying to take Kemba Walker in particular, out of a 163 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:41,440 rhythm, just by surrounding him with bigger bodies by forcing him to not be 164 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:43,960 able to drive down the middle whatsoever, and kind of funneling everything to the 165 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,360 corners and the baseline like that was all designed to work against him. But 166 00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:54,519 the Lakers don't have a primary ball handler beyond Rajon Rondo and Lebron James. 167 00:10:54,639 --> 00:10:58,600 You're not worried about Rondo as a shooter, and you can't do that to 168 00:10:58,759 --> 00:11:01,080 Lebron because he has the side is to counter it. So I don't expect 169 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,120 to see that as much as more traditional sets and just a lot of cross 170 00:11:05,159 --> 00:11:11,200 matching. That's a good point too, I still know. I just don't 171 00:11:11,279 --> 00:11:13,919 know, like even if you're going to go that direction, the whole Lakers 172 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,919 having a center that is an ad on the floor, I just don't know 173 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:20,519 how that's going to end up impacting Miami's defense. My guess would be that 174 00:11:20,519 --> 00:11:24,600 they default to Jay Crowder on Anthony Davis in that situation. I wonder if 175 00:11:24,639 --> 00:11:28,679 you could put Jay Crowder on whoever the center is too, and then just 176 00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:33,120 let Bam stick with Davis just no matter who else is on the court, 177 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,000 and just kind of accept that Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee is going to overpower 178 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:41,399 Crowder or whoever else is attempting to guard him on a couple of possessions, 179 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:45,120 but they aren't really take over players, especially at this stage of Howard's career, 180 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,279 right, I guess if regardless of who's guarding him, maybe if you 181 00:11:48,279 --> 00:11:52,720 get a little if it's Tyler hero Like, unless it's that Dwight Howard posting 182 00:11:52,799 --> 00:11:54,440 up as a win. You can even argue that Anthony Davis posting up on 183 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,919 Jay Crowder is a win for you because Andy Davis is averaging over a point 184 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,480 per possession on post ups during the postseason, shooting fifty two percent on them. 185 00:12:01,519 --> 00:12:05,840 That's incredibly high for post ups. That still amounts to a relatively inefficient 186 00:12:05,879 --> 00:12:11,919 offense, and so perhaps they look at it that way. The other concern 187 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,679 that I was going to look at was, we've talked about a lot, 188 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,440 how are the Lakers going affair in the non Lebron minutes They've been winning it 189 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:22,279 with ad on the court. I'm just Lebron is averaging a career low in 190 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,039 playoff minutes right now. He was at thirty eight point five minutes per game 191 00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:30,240 over the final three games of those the Nuggets series, and I think he 192 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,720 logged over forty minutes in the Game five clincher. If I'm not mistaken, 193 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,120 how many minutes is he playing in this series? Is he averaging over it 194 00:12:39,879 --> 00:12:43,519 just it just feels like not the non Lebron minutes won't be a concern, 195 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:46,360 But it just feels like the Lakers aren't going to mess around with those minutes. 196 00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:48,000 Like it's not going to be unless it's a blowout. You're not going 197 00:12:48,039 --> 00:12:52,600 to see like twelve minutes of Lebron not on the floor. And that's kind 198 00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:56,399 of the biggest conundrum for me, is how the minutes are going to play 199 00:12:56,399 --> 00:13:01,399 out just because we haven't the Lakers path to this stage has been kind of 200 00:13:01,399 --> 00:13:05,879 weird, and that they've only needed five games in each of the three series, 201 00:13:07,159 --> 00:13:11,960 which theoretically should mean that they are pretty fresh all things considered for this 202 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,559 stage of the postseason. But on the flip side, and I will provide 203 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,960 the caveat here by saying that I mean no disrespect to the previous opponents, 204 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,639 but they haven't really played a great team yet, and I think Miami qualifies 205 00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:30,039 as a great team. So I'm looking at NBA maths team power rankings now, 206 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:35,159 which take into account strength of schedule, the difficulty of the calendar, 207 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,039 whether they're back to backs, how close the games are together, a home 208 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,320 away which hasn't obviously mattered while they're all playing in the neutral site. That 209 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:46,000 is the bubble. But Portland finished that first round series and a one hundred 210 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:50,279 is an average team by this metric, anything above is better. Portland finished 211 00:13:50,279 --> 00:13:54,879 at ninety nine point seven. Houston, which was still trying to reincorporate Russell 212 00:13:54,879 --> 00:13:58,759 Westbrook who was very clearly hurt, finished at ninety nine point five three. 213 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,799 Denver, which was exhausted from three from two three to one comebacks in the 214 00:14:03,799 --> 00:14:07,720 previous two series. As good as that team was, finished at ninety nine 215 00:14:07,759 --> 00:14:11,919 point four four, the Heat are at one on one point eight six going 216 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:16,559 into this series. They are the best team that the Lakers have played, 217 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:22,519 and as good as Denver's future appears to be, I'm not sure that, 218 00:14:22,639 --> 00:14:26,200 given the circumstances, that they really qualified as like top level competition, no 219 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:31,080 matter how competitive some of those games were, and I don't mean any disrespect 220 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,080 to the Nuggets, it's purely circumstantial there. But based on the numbers like 221 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,039 this is the toughest test and maybe the first true test that the Lakers team 222 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,720 has faced in the playoffs, which makes it even harder to evaluate them. 223 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,279 I'm with you, but I do there is a chance to me in the 224 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:52,399 series that we look back in hindsight and say Denver might have been LA's biggest 225 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:56,200 test, which seems wild, absolutely very possible. But I mean we said 226 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,399 it going into that series, where it's like, if these two teams were 227 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,759 were fresh and in similar circumstances, like, yeah, maybe we feel more 228 00:15:03,759 --> 00:15:09,679 comfortable picking the Nuggets. But the mental and physical drain of two consecutive three 229 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,639 one comebacks in the playoffs, I mean, we saw how exhausted Jamal Murray 230 00:15:13,679 --> 00:15:16,320 looked when he was told that he had to play another game two days later 231 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:22,120 after the first comeback. It was an unfair playing field for that series. 232 00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:26,279 You've counted on restaurants. Now they're counting on you, and while their dining 233 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,919 rooms maybe closed, they're still open for delivery with door Dash. Door dash 234 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,879 is the app that brings you the food you're craving right to your door. 235 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,799 I can't confirm this. I've been using door dash quite frequently throughout this pandemic 236 00:15:37,879 --> 00:15:43,360 that we're all trying to survive. Mostly whatever I've just been jonesing for some 237 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:45,759 wings. 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I'm sure to see how 256 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:00,279 and I guess this is two parter is how much center does Anthony Davis actually 257 00:17:00,279 --> 00:17:03,799 wind up playing? Because this probably does tow step on the foot of what 258 00:17:03,799 --> 00:17:07,680 we were just talking about before. I think every I would say the vast 259 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,119 majority of people believe that the Lakers are at their best when Anthony Davis is 260 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,039 at the five. The numbers both in the regular season and playoffs have not 261 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,400 supported this. It's more been dead even four hundred and eighty four possessions for 262 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,359 eighty at the four. In the playoffs so far, the Lakers have a 263 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,720 net rating of plus thirteen point nine during those times. During that time when 264 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,720 he plays center, six hundred and four possessions plus twelve point nine points per 265 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,400 one hundred possessions is their net rating. So that's like very very close in 266 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,960 this series specifically, though, it's more similar to the Rockets, whereas you're 267 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,640 going to see a lot of Jay Crowder as you're four, or just like 268 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,000 bam at a Baio and then all wings and guards essentially like whoever you want 269 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,960 to call your day fact on four. In those situations, I'm wondering if 270 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,720 the Lakers tried to counter that or if what we were talking about before, 271 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,640 if they're trying to capitalize on cross matching even just the regular, you know, 272 00:17:55,759 --> 00:18:00,319 individual matchups, will they still try and stay big in part because of 273 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,880 what the series that Dwight Howard had against the Nuggets. I'm curious to see 274 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:08,240 how they because it's not as drastic as it was with Houston, because bam 275 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,319 Adebayo is more of a it's not a traditional big, but he's an actual 276 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,480 big, where the Houston had some variation of it's like Roco or p J. 277 00:18:15,599 --> 00:18:18,920 Tucker at the five or Jeff Green at the five wherever you wanted to 278 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,759 say. And I just don't know how that's going to change the way that 279 00:18:22,799 --> 00:18:25,880 the Lakers play, because it has seemed through these playoffs that they're going to 280 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:29,279 adjust their lineups based on the matchups that are in front of them. That 281 00:18:29,319 --> 00:18:33,079 comes right down to you, Dwight Howard, starting instead of Javal McGee against 282 00:18:33,079 --> 00:18:37,000 the Nuggets. This is the first series they've had where it feels like we 283 00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:41,319 don't have a good answer going into it. We knew against Portland, who 284 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:45,240 was going to play use of Nurkicch and Hassan Whiteside, that they were going 285 00:18:45,279 --> 00:18:48,720 to have to play a little bigger. We knew against Houston, who didn't 286 00:18:48,799 --> 00:18:52,960 have a single center on the roster aside from the corpse of Tyson Chandler, 287 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,359 that they weren't going to And we knew against the Nuggets that you have to 288 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:02,000 go big against Nicola Yokich. This one, like because bam Adebayo is so 289 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,000 versatile and because he doesn't really play like a traditional center on either end of 290 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,680 the court. Really, I don't know, like I do maintain that just 291 00:19:08,759 --> 00:19:12,079 in terms of the personnel they have that Anthony Davis with the five makes the 292 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:17,720 most sense against most opponents, and if they're eager to dictate the terms in 293 00:19:17,759 --> 00:19:22,240 this series, that that's probably what they should do. But it also feels 294 00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:26,440 like they can get away with so many different combinations against this team, and 295 00:19:26,559 --> 00:19:30,039 the dual big one is interesting because I feel like if Miami's going to go 296 00:19:30,079 --> 00:19:33,599 to his own more. The best way to probably put the most amount of 297 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,319 pressure on would be, can you control the defensive glass and then just get 298 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:41,240 out and run when you're grabbing rebounds? And probably the most efficient way to 299 00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:45,200 control the defensive glass would be, hey, anthy Davis playing with White Howard 300 00:19:45,319 --> 00:19:48,720 or even if you want to say anthy Davis playing which aout McGee and so 301 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,119 that will allow you to get out and run. And so while if you're 302 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:52,720 in the half court, I might argue that having anthy Davis at the five 303 00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:56,440 is better if you're really looking to run. It feels like it might be 304 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,920 more efficient or more deadly to have the dual big lineups in there, because 305 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,480 you're gonna need to You're obviously gonna need Miami miss shots to make that happen. 306 00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:07,680 But if you're in that situation, I would think that the dual big 307 00:20:07,759 --> 00:20:11,359 lineups have more value there if you're going at it from that that perspective, 308 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:17,119 Yeah, I concur I'll be really interested to see what happens there because it's 309 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:21,200 so difficult to make a prediction about it, and this sort of I think 310 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,559 would also makes it more difficult. Is Miami feels like and coach Bo specifically 311 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:27,400 where he's not gonna have and I know teams would like this. They're gonna 312 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,720 play the matchups even when you're closing tight games. Like look at Game six 313 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,160 against the Celtics in crunch time, like he coach Bo had Iggy at a 314 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,440 Baio, Robinson, Butler and Hero on the floor, and so like Dragics 315 00:20:40,519 --> 00:20:42,599 was on the bench and Jay Crowder was on the bench, and it's like 316 00:20:42,839 --> 00:20:45,119 if you don't really know like who you're gonna go up against in those tight 317 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,079 situations, because those are two players who could just be on the floor in 318 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:52,640 crunch time, like you, I think the only constance in crunch time for 319 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,200 the heat or you're gonna have Bam and you're gonna have Jimmy Butler, and 320 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,400 then almost anything goes after that. I won't say that like a Linaker Derek 321 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,960 Jones Junior will be on the floor at the same time, though, Like 322 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,880 we're talking about a team that had Myers Leonard starting at one point, Derk 323 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,319 Jones Jr. Was kind of a major contributor in the regular season for them, 324 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,599 and then also Kendrick Nunn before the bubble was starting over. I feel 325 00:21:11,599 --> 00:21:18,079 like Tyler Hero is a lock for that now instead of maybe I'm buying way 326 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:22,319 too much into recency, but he looked that good in that Boston series, 327 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:26,559 and I just I can't imagine him not being on the floor in crucial minutes 328 00:21:26,599 --> 00:21:30,920 now, whether it's in place of Dragics, who looked like he was slowing 329 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:37,039 down in that Boston series, or in a dual point guard lineup, there's 330 00:21:37,559 --> 00:21:41,519 I wonder if LA's athleticism could give Tyler Hero problems, But I guess you 331 00:21:41,559 --> 00:21:45,440 might run into the same issue if we're talking about Dragic as well, Like 332 00:21:45,519 --> 00:21:48,279 that could be the It could be a similar issue where like do you need 333 00:21:48,319 --> 00:21:51,640 both those guys on the floor just to kind of vary in your ball handling 334 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,920 approach because Hero showing that he can. I think the beauty of playing against 335 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:59,759 the Lakers, who don't have a good backcourt at all is that they don't 336 00:21:59,759 --> 00:22:02,799 have a good backcourt at all. So, like, are you really worried 337 00:22:02,839 --> 00:22:06,440 about them matching up with Rajon Rondo and Contagious Caldwell, Pope and Danny Green. 338 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:08,640 There are probably places for them to hide, But I look, Danny 339 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,759 Green is like one of the best three point shooters in finals history, right, 340 00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:15,200 So like I would think you would worry about that a little bit. 341 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:21,680 I'm just I'm just wondering if their secondary ball handlers, like you could put 342 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,000 them either you want to play the either or game. You want to put 343 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,720 them both on the floor at the same time to diverse versify your attack. 344 00:22:26,759 --> 00:22:30,440 Like that's that's cool. But does LA's defense like sort of give them like 345 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,480 because you have like LA has Alex Caruso, they have playoff Rondo if you 346 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,079 want to say that playoff KCP, you have Danny Green, Like, those 347 00:22:38,079 --> 00:22:41,799 are guys who could give uh. You know, even if Lebron wants to, 348 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,279 like if he don't, if you don't, if he doesn't want to 349 00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:47,839 defend Jimmy Butler or isn't defending Jimmy Butler for some reason and you put him 350 00:22:47,839 --> 00:22:49,960 on a hero or a dragic like playoff Lebron in that situation is going to 351 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,680 be a problem for them. So that's something else that can sertas me because 352 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,200 I feel like Miami's offense has been a lot better than I expected it to 353 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,960 be, and I'll say the same about the Lakers, who are third in 354 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,039 offensive efficiency for the playoffs. I believe this is part cleaning the glass so 355 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:08,519 it filters out garbage time. They're like, both these teams have have surprised 356 00:23:08,519 --> 00:23:11,200 me offensively, and I think if you're looking at you know, if they 357 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,920 both can get out on the break, like maybe it kind of stays dead 358 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,519 even there. But if you're looking over the course of a series, just 359 00:23:17,599 --> 00:23:21,920 in the macro, it feels like the Lakers have a better chance of maintaining 360 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:26,599 their their level of offense in the playoffs than Miami does in this matchup. 361 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,920 I can see that, but yeah, I mean, I just keep coming 362 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,920 back to this series is so weird to me because everything is pushing me towards 363 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,680 wanting to pick Miami. You know, the their half court defense against the 364 00:23:38,759 --> 00:23:45,240 Lakers half court offense, the depth of usable talent that they have and star 365 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,759 level talent that they have, the coaching disparity, everything is pushing me towards 366 00:23:49,759 --> 00:23:53,519 the Miami. The teams that they've they've beaten to get here compared to the 367 00:23:53,519 --> 00:23:59,039 teams the Lakers have beaten to get here. But then there's Lebron And that's 368 00:23:59,079 --> 00:24:02,559 what we haven't talked about yet, is like, how do you stop this 369 00:24:02,599 --> 00:24:07,359 guy? He's thirty five years old and he's he's very clearly the best player 370 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,200 in basketball after these playoffs, Like I'm I'm not willing to hear arguments about 371 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,559 it again because you know, as Janice is going to be the two time 372 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,680 MVP and deserved both of those MVPs. But Lebron is showing yet again that 373 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,200 he just doesn't care as much about the regular season and you put him in 374 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:26,480 these do or die situations and there is no answer for him. Yeah, 375 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:30,000 and look, it's he's not like beating players off the dribble and traditional fashion 376 00:24:30,039 --> 00:24:33,000 anymore. But he's so strong that it doesn't matter. Like he can slow 377 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,720 it down a notch or twenty and he'll let me ask you, let me 378 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,759 ask you a question on this topic. So we're launching the Crystal Basketball postseason 379 00:24:41,799 --> 00:24:45,640 analysis that we've done for years at NBA Math, where we grade every single 380 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,200 player in the NBA on a one to twelve scale, and twelve is reserved 381 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,119 for the best player in the NBA. You can only give out one twelve 382 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:53,640 on your personal ballot. Who are you going to give yours too? This 383 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:59,680 year? I think it's Lebron and it's the playoffs. Have I think I've 384 00:25:00,519 --> 00:25:03,960 there's two methods of thought here that are like pulling me in different directions is 385 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,400 one I'm very much inclined to say, like, well, how much do 386 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,720 we take away from the bubble, just because like this is so unprecedented and 387 00:25:08,799 --> 00:25:12,079 Lebron seems like a player who's better set up to stop and start than anyone 388 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,799 else. At the same time, kind of since last year and then especially 389 00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:19,559 after this season looking at the Bucks specifically, like I'm resigned to just reading 390 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,480 so much more into the playoffs because like that's when you're gonna face like the 391 00:25:23,519 --> 00:25:26,480 toughest counters to what you're doing. And like, yes, the regular season 392 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:32,319 is the bigger sample size, but the postseason is one highest stakes and it's 393 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:34,400 going to be more representative of what a lot of players and teams can do 394 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,799 when they're given the time to be more methodical. And so after watching these 395 00:25:38,799 --> 00:25:41,839 playoffs, you're seeing what happened with the Clippers, where even if you don't 396 00:25:41,839 --> 00:25:45,519 want to say functionally that there's an argument against Kwhi Leonard, the behind the 397 00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:48,240 scenes stuff where like if there wasn't chemistry in the locker room, some of 398 00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:52,039 that has to fall on your best player, like it just does it. 399 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:53,599 That's not the kind of like leader he is, that's fine, but it's 400 00:25:53,599 --> 00:25:56,839 still going to fall on him. And then seeing what was happening to Buck 401 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:03,799 the Bucks and Yannis before us was even injured, I have to say Lebron 402 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,240 like, there's there's a case for Yannie. I like, and if you 403 00:26:07,279 --> 00:26:10,279 want to go with Kawai, it's really more so Yannest because I think he 404 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,720 benefits from his it feels like emotional attachment to the outcome of the regular season 405 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,799 as well, not on a James Harden level, but he just seems emotionally 406 00:26:17,799 --> 00:26:21,160 invested in every single possession at both sides of the floor. So he still 407 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:22,839 has a case, but after the playoffs, I think it has to be 408 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:30,559 Lebron. In our preseason Crystal Basketball, Lebron actually fell to fifth behind James 409 00:26:30,559 --> 00:26:33,839 Harden, Kawhi, Leonard, Steph Curry, and Jannis. Coming out of 410 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:40,240 the twenty eighteen nineteen season, we had him sixth behind Jannie, Steph Curry, 411 00:26:40,319 --> 00:26:45,119 KD, James Harden, and Kauai. Going into the twenty eighteen nineteen 412 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,599 season, where did we have him have a weird filter on this spreadsheet? 413 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:52,640 Apparently he was first, so that was his last topping of the Crystal Basketball 414 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,440 Rankings, and it's it's amazing that a thirty five year old is has a 415 00:26:56,519 --> 00:27:02,400 chance to reascend to that throne. He's gonna be up there for me. 416 00:27:02,599 --> 00:27:06,359 And it's I mean, especially after this regular season two where it seems like 417 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,119 he just the Lakers had a roster that could play defense, and so he 418 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,200 decided to buy in defensively, and no he was I think he spent statistically 419 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:17,960 for b Ball Indexes Kristen Narsho's statistic, I think he statistically spent the most 420 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,079 time on number three options. If I'm not mistaken, I don't care. 421 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:22,839 He's at age thirty five, and like that was the best defense he played 422 00:27:23,319 --> 00:27:27,160 since he called Miami home. And now the thing is, like with Lebron's 423 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,599 defense for years now, it's not about who he's guarding. Primarily, it's 424 00:27:30,599 --> 00:27:34,960 about his level of buying off the ball because you see him not making the 425 00:27:36,039 --> 00:27:40,400 rotations and then pointing at the guy that is wide open because he didn't make 426 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:44,119 the rotation and blaming a teammate or just not trying to jump a passing lane. 427 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,640 And throughout these playoffs in particular, but really throughout the regular season, 428 00:27:47,839 --> 00:27:51,759 we didn't see any of that, how many how many prescient plays has he 429 00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:55,240 made throughout the postseason? Whereas like, how in the world did he know 430 00:27:55,359 --> 00:28:00,440 that was coming and managed to jump it to this whole converse, who is 431 00:28:00,599 --> 00:28:06,240 Miami's best defender just outright against Lebron? And I think it's We're mostly going 432 00:28:06,279 --> 00:28:07,960 to see Jimmy Butler, but there are going to be people that wonder whether 433 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:14,279 it's Igadala Jay Crowder. Do we even see some Bam? We do? 434 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,599 And that's the fun part is that they have so many guys who can actually 435 00:28:18,279 --> 00:28:23,920 at least slow him down somewhat in theory on paper. Maybe I realized after 436 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,119 I said that that I was way less confident than what I had just said. 437 00:28:27,599 --> 00:28:32,440 It's because there are so many like Plautus that we could just bestow upon 438 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,000 the heat and we are, and like I want to pick them. I 439 00:28:34,039 --> 00:28:37,240 feel like they might be a trendy pick. It's hard. I don't like 440 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,960 alluding this down to I'm not betting against Lebron at this point, I'm almost 441 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,440 like inclined to say I'm also not betting against this version of Anthony Davis that 442 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,440 we've seen, where it's like, yeah, you can live with the shots 443 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,640 he's taking, except those shots are going in, whereas in the regular season 444 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,559 a lot of them weren't. So Look, the biggest knock on Anthony Davis 445 00:28:53,599 --> 00:28:56,640 for years has been the lack of a takeover ability. That he needed another 446 00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:02,240 star alongside him, whether it was through holiday or if the Pelicans needed to 447 00:29:02,279 --> 00:29:06,640 acquire someone else, and if he had the motor and desire to be able 448 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,039 to lead a team on his own, well he doesn't have to be because 449 00:29:08,079 --> 00:29:12,039 he's alongside Lebron and yet he's playing like he can now. I mean, 450 00:29:12,319 --> 00:29:15,799 I think it's as simple as that is, Like he's answering that question right 451 00:29:15,839 --> 00:29:21,440 in front of us right now. Yeah, I can't pick against them, 452 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,000 just yeah, but I feel like I'm going to waffle a few times on 453 00:29:26,039 --> 00:29:29,720 this series, Like I just this feels like if Miami comes out and win 454 00:29:30,079 --> 00:29:33,440 game wins Game one, like that feels like the type of outcome that could 455 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,200 kind of flip how I'm feeling about this game on my head. And the 456 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:41,279 thing I also wanted to note is so into the conference finals, in the 457 00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:48,119 fourth quarter, Anthony Davis slashed sixty seven sixty ninety four. The man has 458 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,359 been an absolute beast in the fourth quarter during these playoffs, I think overall 459 00:29:52,839 --> 00:29:55,799 looking at this, yeah, so overall in fourth quarters during the playoffs, 460 00:29:55,799 --> 00:30:00,160 he's slashing sixty three, forty four eighty one. He's been just and I 461 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,440 think that's good. I think it's okay, it's all right, Like it's 462 00:30:03,519 --> 00:30:07,880 doable, it's playable. So I'm just I think I'm stubborn in that way. 463 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,880 And I also want to give credit to the Lakers defense, because I 464 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:12,160 do think that they can match up, as I sort of mentioned before, 465 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,519 pretty well against Miami and the half court, and so I don't know what 466 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,200 their best lineup ends up being in this series, Like is it an Anthony 467 00:30:19,279 --> 00:30:25,039 Davison the five scenario? Is it going big? It matters how you fill 468 00:30:25,079 --> 00:30:26,559 out those final two spots. If you're going I'm assuming a D and Dwight 469 00:30:26,599 --> 00:30:30,960 Howard would be the best big man combination for this team, and then Lebron 470 00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:33,799 so the best lineup from there, like it becomes like a two man game, 471 00:30:33,319 --> 00:30:37,079 and I think it would be Danny Green and Alex Caruso, but I'm 472 00:30:37,119 --> 00:30:41,319 not sure, Like you could probably sneak Rondo if you want more ball handling 473 00:30:41,319 --> 00:30:45,960 in there, or KCP into that conversation. I don't think Kuzma is a 474 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,359 member of it, even though he's played fairly well defensively for them, And 475 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,079 I also don't know if that terrible matchup for Kuzma. I don't think it's 476 00:30:52,119 --> 00:30:56,119 gonna be great for him, but I think that will end up being I'll 477 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:00,519 go Green, Caruso, Lebron, Howard, and Ad ends up their most 478 00:31:00,559 --> 00:31:03,359 important five man combination. If you remove Howard from the equation how you felt, 479 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,200 the fourth gets interesting if you want size, I think Kuzma and Mark 480 00:31:07,279 --> 00:31:10,880 Keith Morris are the obvious picks, but again, a KCP or Rondo in 481 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,720 that situation could be incredibly intriguing. I think Rondo's in there for me just 482 00:31:15,759 --> 00:31:18,680 because you need that extra ball handling, especially against this swarming Miami defense. 483 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,119 But I get the arguments against that. Roger Rajon Rondo was shooting fifty eight 484 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,799 point three percent in the fourth quarter from three point range in the playoffs, 485 00:31:26,839 --> 00:31:30,519 just f y I also pretty decent. But just to be clear, you're 486 00:31:30,839 --> 00:31:34,599 not picking the Nuggets to win this series. I don't know, maybe Nuggets. 487 00:31:34,599 --> 00:31:37,319 If there's like best of nine, I mc Nuggets, but because it's 488 00:31:37,359 --> 00:31:40,839 best of seven, I think I'm gonna choose between a Heat or the Lakers. 489 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,119 Look my Nuggets. I will say I don't deserve any credit for it 490 00:31:45,119 --> 00:31:48,680 because of how much I vacillated, and I did pick against them in the 491 00:31:48,279 --> 00:31:53,319 Clipper series. But my title pick for the Nuggets does not look as ridiculous 492 00:31:53,359 --> 00:31:56,759 now. I caught so much crap for I was the only one to Bleacher 493 00:31:56,799 --> 00:32:00,799 Report and they put up a graphic with my name. I caught so much 494 00:32:00,839 --> 00:32:04,839 crap for picking the Nuggets. Most people picked the Clippers. There were some 495 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:07,720 Bucks and Lakers like scattered out there. I think there. I can't remember 496 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:08,640 if there were some Celtics there. I think there. I don't even know 497 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,839 if there were any Raptors there. Definitely weren't any members of the Heat. 498 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,119 They were one of the final four teams. That's all I'm saying. So 499 00:32:15,519 --> 00:32:16,839 it does not look as egregious as it did. I don't think it should 500 00:32:16,839 --> 00:32:20,519 have been egregious in the first place, but here we are. I mean, 501 00:32:20,599 --> 00:32:24,319 I picked the Bucks from start to finish, and whoops, your team 502 00:32:24,319 --> 00:32:27,480 didn't even make it in the second round. Out of the second round. 503 00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,960 Excuse me. Also shouts to Dwight Howard, who might not only might Heat 504 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,079 win a title, but he might do someone Orlando. I still think he's 505 00:32:34,079 --> 00:32:36,720 one of the lamest players just based off some of the stuff he does on 506 00:32:36,759 --> 00:32:39,000 the court. But he's gonna win a title in Orlando. It's like two 507 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,880 birds to me, one stone right there. That's weird. I hadn't thought 508 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,960 about that at all, but yeah, that's that's interesting. So we're both 509 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:50,440 picking Lakers in six. Yeah, I'll say this, then the Miami Heat 510 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,920 win this series. If finished that sentence, the Miami Heat win this series. 511 00:32:55,079 --> 00:33:00,920 If I just I have so much trouble with it because I guess if 512 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:08,680 what we're seeing from Anthony Davis is more a product of the matchups and the 513 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:14,960 rest advantage than anything else, And if that's negated against Miami and he's no 514 00:33:15,079 --> 00:33:21,200 longer this world burning mega superstar who is capable of challenging Lebron James for the 515 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,319 throne not just on his own team but in the NBA as a whole, 516 00:33:23,319 --> 00:33:29,000 if he doesn't look like that player, then Miami as a chance. I 517 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:30,759 think that's fair. I would say I could finish that in two ways. 518 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:36,799 I'll say one is if the Miami is able to just limit LA's high percentage 519 00:33:36,799 --> 00:33:40,400 opportunities close to the basket. No team is attempting more shots within six feet 520 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,839 within five feet excuse me. During the playoffs. The other thing that I'll 521 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:50,200 note is the heat win this series. If the Lakers supporting cast doesn't hit 522 00:33:50,319 --> 00:33:53,119 their their three pointers consistently, Like I don't want to simplify it down to 523 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,880 that much, but I actually feel like that's gonna end up being it's It's 524 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,519 probably something you could have followed through in each series. They've just gotten enough 525 00:33:59,519 --> 00:34:01,240 of it, even though they've been one of the lowest three point shooting teams 526 00:34:01,839 --> 00:34:06,559 during the playoffs. If they don't get enough of it, like if Kuzma 527 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,159 or Rondo or Danny Green is going cold or KCP, like if they don't 528 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:14,679 have guys the supporting cast hitting those jumpers around Anthy Davis and Lebron James and 529 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:19,920 the ball isn't in their hands, that ends up being like a ridiculously ginormous 530 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:24,199 problem. The weight is finally over. Football is back. You might not 531 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,320 be at a game this year, but you can still be in on the 532 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,000 action at bet online. Bet Online is going the extra mile to make sure 533 00:34:31,039 --> 00:34:35,239 you can get it on every possible chance. To win this season. From 534 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,320 game spreads and totals to team player and coaching props. Bet online gives you 535 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:42,960 more options to wager on than anywhere else. You can get in on their 536 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,480 season opening bonuses today and start off wagering on wins, Division odds, the 537 00:34:46,599 --> 00:34:52,000 championship futures all day, every day. Head to bet online today and take 538 00:34:52,039 --> 00:34:54,639 advantage of all the great sign up bonuses. Don't forget to use promo code 539 00:34:54,639 --> 00:34:59,639 blue wire all one word at bet online dot ag. That's blue wire. 540 00:35:00,119 --> 00:35:05,320 One word that online your online sports book experts. Let's move on, though, 541 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,000 Where do you want to go next to the Philly Let's go to Philly 542 00:35:09,039 --> 00:35:17,440 so. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the two things, one 543 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,440 of which is that the job in with the Sixers is basically Mike d'antoni's to 544 00:35:22,519 --> 00:35:29,199 lose. But he also kind of noted that there's a full blown rift between 545 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:34,800 Joel Embiad and Ben Simmons. He wrote who this is what he wrote? 546 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,079 This is from his piece as Los Angeles Lakers player Tyron Loup won NBA titles 547 00:35:38,079 --> 00:35:40,800 in two thousand and two thousand and one while playing with Hall of Famers and 548 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,880 Kobe Bryan and Shaquie O'Neil, who likes Simmons mbid didn't get along. So, 549 00:35:45,039 --> 00:35:49,559 like just outright said it, this does this surprise you at all? 550 00:35:49,599 --> 00:35:52,400 And do you think that this is an issue for the Sixers? Oh, 551 00:35:52,519 --> 00:35:57,360 it doesn't really surprise me because you know, as the saying goes, where 552 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,480 there's smoke, there's fire, and there's been so much smoke over the years. 553 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:07,599 Does it concern me? No, not really, because if we're comparing 554 00:36:07,639 --> 00:36:10,639 them to Lakers superstars who didn't get get along, like you put the right 555 00:36:10,679 --> 00:36:15,239 pieces around them, and you can still win a title, you can still 556 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:21,360 win multiple titles. These guys are still so talented, and I still have 557 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:28,079 way more concerns about the ineptitude of the Philadelphia front office and putting the right 558 00:36:28,119 --> 00:36:31,199 pieces around them, and letting JJ Reddick walk in, letting Jimmy Butler get 559 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:36,920 away in favor of retaining Tobias Harris, in signing Al Horford to the Mega 560 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:42,920 deal. Those are my concerns more so than whether two guys get along off 561 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,719 the court. We don't know if it was on the court, that wasn't 562 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,760 really specified in the report, But if you put the right players around these 563 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,360 two guys. They still have as much talent as any duo in the NBA 564 00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:57,800 Lebron James and Anthony Davis notwithstanding. As long as that's true, I don't 565 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:02,000 care if they don't get along. See, this would concern me because they 566 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:07,639 don't have to write down around them right now, and it's not just something 567 00:37:07,639 --> 00:37:09,760 that they can easily pivot out of. When you're looking at the Al Horford 568 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,880 contract, three years eighty one million, sixty nine million guaranteed left Tobias Harris 569 00:37:15,119 --> 00:37:19,719 is I think four years in one hundred and forty seven point two million. 570 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,360 It's around that number. And if now your two best players who have imperfect 571 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,760 fits around them, aren't getting along, this feels like a situation where next 572 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,960 season, should the Sixers flame out, where they're like, don't make the 573 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,119 conference finals, Joe Ellenbad, I feel like starts to get a little grumpy 574 00:37:35,159 --> 00:37:38,639 and request the trade like that's and that's see it happening Like that would be 575 00:37:38,679 --> 00:37:42,039 he would just be the player I point to because Ben Simmons is going to 576 00:37:42,079 --> 00:37:45,360 have more years left on his deal at that point. And if you even 577 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:46,519 had to come down to picking between them, and again I don't think you're 578 00:37:46,519 --> 00:37:49,599 at that point. I've made this clear. I think they could still work 579 00:37:49,639 --> 00:37:52,239 together if you put the right town around them. It's a question of whether 580 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,880 you can do that now or have you sort of box yourself into a corner. 581 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,320 But if you did, how to pick between them? I think you 582 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,840 have to pick Ben Simmons, Like I think he's the guy that you have 583 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,400 to build around. Even though Joel will beat he's the better player right now 584 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:08,119 just counting on and beads. Availability feels difficult, even though Simmons has had 585 00:38:08,159 --> 00:38:12,199 his own injury issues, But he's going to be able to have as a 586 00:38:12,199 --> 00:38:15,119 playmaker, assuming they still use him as that moving forward, he will have 587 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:19,239 inherently more influence over the offense, and I just I think it makes him 588 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,880 easier to build around. I wholeheartedly agree, And I think that even if 589 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:30,719 Simmons was an actual negative on offense, that the luxury of having a versatile 590 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,800 positionless player who made as large a defensive impact as he did this season without 591 00:38:36,039 --> 00:38:42,239 the overarching injury concerns that embiad has is too important. Like Ben Simmons could 592 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,400 have been in the defensive Player of the Year conversation this year, I don't 593 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,719 think that's in any way hyperbolic to say that, No, I don't. 594 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:54,360 He certainly could have been in there, And like he's how many players can 595 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:59,599 legitimately defend all five positions right now? And maybe don't put Ben Simmons in 596 00:38:59,639 --> 00:39:02,079 that if you trust him against centers, So how many players can legitimately defend 597 00:39:02,119 --> 00:39:07,800 four positions? And I still think you're pus damn out of Bio Simmons Lebron. 598 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,760 Maybe I think og can get you four positions, He's not going to 599 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:15,280 get you five. So like he's he's just one of the most versatile defenders 600 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:19,199 in the NBA. And look and Beat is one of the most impactful defenders, 601 00:39:19,679 --> 00:39:22,519 but it feels like he has an on again, off again relationship, 602 00:39:22,599 --> 00:39:24,320 like with how engaged he is. And then also it's just big men are 603 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,760 inherently more schemable, Like if you if he can't like be around the rim, 604 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,920 like there's not going if there's a way to pull him out of there, 605 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,159 which some teams are going to be able to do, it becomes an 606 00:39:32,159 --> 00:39:36,239 issue. But I would say, if you're ranking players right now, and 607 00:39:36,559 --> 00:39:39,480 Beat is the better player, but it just feels like that could really tilt 608 00:39:39,639 --> 00:39:44,800 pretty easily, if not pretty quickly. Two more things they have to make 609 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:46,960 some They have to make some moves over the off season, but I don't 610 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:52,840 think one of those needs to be splitting that duo up. You can still 611 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:57,639 work more ancillary moves around them and try try having one more year together. 612 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:00,639 Yeah, and look, it would be more than that if they got along, 613 00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:02,639 I think. But if they don't, then that's why the clock is 614 00:40:02,679 --> 00:40:07,800 on it. Like, if you can't material materially change this roster around them, 615 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:08,760 that's why I would say, like they're kind of working on a one 616 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:12,719 year shelf life, Let's go to LA, which I probably feel like we 617 00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:15,719 should have started with since the Doc Rivers news was bigger. Chris Haynes of 618 00:40:16,199 --> 00:40:22,159 Yahoo Sports had reported initially after the Clippers elimination that Doc Rivers' job was safe. 619 00:40:22,519 --> 00:40:25,519 Now we hear what would broke the news that it was a mutual parting 620 00:40:25,639 --> 00:40:30,199 that Doc Rivers is out. It's funny when all these things respawned as like 621 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,880 mutual partings. We saw that with Kenny Atkinson and the Brooklyn Nets. I 622 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,639 tend to wonder like, if there wasn't so much in the Clippers case, 623 00:40:36,639 --> 00:40:39,199 it wasn't necessarily turnover, but like, if there wasn't such a change from 624 00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:45,079 how they were playing last year, where the absence of real superstars and superstar 625 00:40:45,119 --> 00:40:50,840 egos and there wasn't a discrepancy in the locker room and how the players were 626 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,239 approaching the season. Is he still there? So I'm wondering how mutual it 627 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,519 is. It feels like this is one of the situations where it could have 628 00:40:57,559 --> 00:41:00,119 been more Doc driven than organizationally driven. A lot of people, I think, 629 00:41:00,159 --> 00:41:05,039 have cited that Steve Bomber after having seen, you know, Doc be 630 00:41:05,039 --> 00:41:09,360 behind these collapses. Most notably it was that twenty fifteen against the Rockets. 631 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:12,719 They were up three one, I think that was twenty fifteen, and they 632 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:17,079 ended up that they ended up blowing that. So I think there's an argument 633 00:41:17,119 --> 00:41:21,559 to be made that you could explore change. I just don't know necessarily where 634 00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:24,320 the upgrade is coming from. The names that have been mentioned, the biggest 635 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:29,679 one I think is Tylou, who's already there and who should be the favorite. 636 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:31,599 I would think so too, Like that's just of someone who can come 637 00:41:31,599 --> 00:41:35,559 in and balance out a locker room and then a good offensive mine, Like 638 00:41:35,599 --> 00:41:37,599 maybe we see more creative stuff in the Clippers next season. I would think 639 00:41:37,599 --> 00:41:40,599 that he would be he personally. If I'm Philly, I would have Tyler 640 00:41:40,679 --> 00:41:44,239 at the top of my list too, but it seems like that's the Antoni's 641 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,800 job to lose now, as as Poppy reported, which would be a fun 642 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,519 and intriguing fit. Yeah, I mean, if Tylu isn't the answer, 643 00:41:52,559 --> 00:41:55,920 I would still like to see them look internally and promote Sam Cassell. I 644 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,800 would love to see him get a head coaching shot. He has long been 645 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,360 as a top tier candidate who just hasn't gotten that opportunity yet. The amount 646 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:10,800 of personality and drive that he would bring to this team could be important after 647 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,960 this latest collapse that they've endured. I would love to see Jeff Van Gundy 648 00:42:16,079 --> 00:42:19,880 or Mark Jackson get a shot, but only so that they're off of my 649 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,400 television screen. Beyond that, I have no reasonable arguments for that. This 650 00:42:23,519 --> 00:42:28,360 might be a terrible take. I really don't mind Jeff Van Gundy like his 651 00:42:28,559 --> 00:42:30,760 I feel like his and maybe it's just when you hear him on the low 652 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,760 Post he gets a little bit more nuanced, But I feel like he does 653 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:38,559 a better job of straddling two lines during broadcast than like Mark Jackson, who 654 00:42:38,559 --> 00:42:43,400 I also feel like regurgitates the same things over and over again. But maybe 655 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,880 that's an unfair take. I mute the TV every time Jeff Van Gundy is 656 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:52,079 on it just because I get so tired of the negative stick where he has 657 00:42:52,119 --> 00:42:57,599 to complain about everything under the sun and barely ends up talking about the game 658 00:42:57,599 --> 00:43:01,400 that's being called. So I Tyler was both at the top of arlest Sam 659 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,440 Cassell's interesting other three names that I want to see that I would be thrown 660 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:07,760 into. I'm surprised that Mike D'Antoni wasn't mentioned, just because I feel like 661 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,280 he could sort of glitz up the offense of it, like even though they 662 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:14,880 weren't a terrible offensive team, like it just felt like there wasn't like any 663 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:16,920 flow to it. And when you have such good players and Paul George and 664 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:21,880 Kwai Leonard and even Lou Williams, maybe that doesn't matter. But even D'Antoni 665 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,840 did some interesting things with the Rockets when they leaned into iceo ball with James 666 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:29,519 Harden and at first Chris Paul Kenny Atkinson feels like he might be fun there, 667 00:43:29,599 --> 00:43:34,440 though I don't know if he's the personality you're looking forward to Steer Superstars 668 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,559 and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Since that, it does feel like that 669 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:43,280 was what led him to leave Brooklyn, at least partially the name. Look 670 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,400 you mentioned I Van Gundy. Give me Stan van Gundy over Jeff Van Gundy. 671 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,800 It just feels like based off Sandy. I agree from a coaching perspective, 672 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,760 but that doesn't have the added benefit of getting him off the booth because 673 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:59,440 contrary to Jeff, Stan is phenomena. That's what makes me want him in 674 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,960 this situation and hearing him analyze the game like he's pretty feels like he has 675 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:07,920 a more modernized approach and that might be something where he is like the best 676 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,440 of all worlds for the Clippers in this area. I still would put Taylou 677 00:44:10,639 --> 00:44:14,639 above him, but Stan van Gundy might be my second favorite pick for this 678 00:44:14,679 --> 00:44:16,199 coaching job, and I'll be interested to see if he gets any love. 679 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:20,239 I think the two favorites as of right now reported by Woe which Worth Thylu 680 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:22,679 and Jeff Van Gundy. But I'd rather see the other Van Gundy there. 681 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,719 But I don't want to lose him as an analyst on TNT. He's so 682 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:30,840 good. He's so good. It would be interesting if Doc Rivers ended up 683 00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:34,000 with the Pelicans and Alvin Gentry ended up with the Clippers, which I actually 684 00:44:34,039 --> 00:44:38,719 think would be a good fit for Los Angeles because Gentry has that offensive guru 685 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:44,119 reputation and that's where this team needs more help. They have all the defensive 686 00:44:44,119 --> 00:44:47,199 pieces are ready, so if that's his weak spot, that's already solved by 687 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:52,159 virtue of the players they have on the roster, and just getting more creative 688 00:44:52,199 --> 00:44:55,119 with the offensive talent that they had could be really impactful. I will say 689 00:44:55,159 --> 00:45:00,119 I've never heard his last name pronounced Gentry. I've always said Gentry. Is 690 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,239 that wrong? I don't know. I'm too brain dead at this point. 691 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,840 We've been talking for too long already some forty five minutes for us, which 692 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:09,719 is really short, and that I think that's a good segue into the Well, 693 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,440 the last thing I want to ask you on the Clippers thing. Do 694 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:16,119 you think the Doc Rivers departure is the right move for the Clippers insofar as 695 00:45:16,119 --> 00:45:19,480 they had any control over it, and you would think they had at least 696 00:45:19,519 --> 00:45:22,119 some control, because if it's a mutual, like let's just assume that the 697 00:45:22,159 --> 00:45:25,400 reporting is accurate here if it was mutual, or let's even assume that they 698 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:30,199 they were the ones that decided that they wanted to move on and initiated it. 699 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:35,280 Is it the right move, It's the easy move, It's the easiest 700 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:43,480 scapegoate. But coaching changes are always difficult because it matters who's available. And 701 00:45:43,559 --> 00:45:50,639 I do think that right now there are enough reasonable and good options available without 702 00:45:51,199 --> 00:45:57,079 that many appealing openings that yeah, it can be justified. I'll hesitate to 703 00:45:57,119 --> 00:46:01,119 say it was the right move because Doc Rivers is an upper echelon coach and 704 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:07,039 whenever you part with that, it's a big deal. I think the most 705 00:46:07,119 --> 00:46:12,119 full throated endorsement I can give it is that it wasn't a wrong move. 706 00:46:13,559 --> 00:46:15,960 I can't remember who said this, so I apologize to not crediting them. 707 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:20,239 But they also someone posed the question of how many teams have actually like do 708 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,559 they regret getting rid of their past head coach? And the situations that came 709 00:46:22,639 --> 00:46:29,800 up where Dave Yager for Luke Walton seems like pretty terrible. The bulls both 710 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,280 instances like he went from Tom Thibodeau to Fred Hoiberg that didn't seem to work 711 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:36,320 out, and I would argue Hoiberg to boiling is the boiling is the worst 712 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,880 move there. But now they have a different coach there, so it doesn't 713 00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:43,400 really seem like a ton of teams regret their coaching decisions. Even the stuff 714 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:45,559 that's going on with the Knicks. It's like the Sun's kind of picked up 715 00:46:45,559 --> 00:46:50,280 the igor Ka Kashkov awkward fit there, like picked up the pieces from there, 716 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,639 So maybe if you want to name that. But they get into Monty 717 00:46:52,679 --> 00:46:54,239 Williams, so I think is by far and upgrade. We'll see how the 718 00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:58,920 Knicks end up doing with Tibbs there. And that's actually a good point is 719 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:00,719 it doesn't seem like there's been like these major flops. I mean, Brooklyn's 720 00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:05,000 taking a chance and Steve Nash that felt like getting rid of Atkinson felt like 721 00:47:05,679 --> 00:47:07,800 I thought it was a bad move at the time. We'll see how Nash 722 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:12,440 does knowing that he'll have Kyrie and Kadi's ear. But that's a fair point 723 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:15,800 to analyze as well as it doesn't really seem that any very few teams anyway 724 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:22,159 are like really like are any of them like one or two or three are 725 00:47:22,199 --> 00:47:25,559 in dire straits or should really miss their their most recent head coach. In 726 00:47:25,599 --> 00:47:30,079 general, my philosophy with this stuff is that I think NBA teams and really 727 00:47:30,119 --> 00:47:35,440 teams in every sport are too quick to pounce on retreads who are more middling 728 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,960 options. Like if you if you can hire Mike D'Antoni, who has a 729 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:42,079 lot of demonstrated success, if you can hire Doc Rivers now who has a 730 00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:45,599 lot of demonstrated success, go for it. But otherwise, like taking a 731 00:47:45,679 --> 00:47:51,159 chance is not a bad thing. So if you want to give Tyler his 732 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,440 first real opportunity to be a head coach, because I'm not counting coaching the 733 00:47:54,519 --> 00:47:59,639 Lebron James led Cleveland Cavaliers because that was just weird from the start, if 734 00:47:59,679 --> 00:48:01,679 you want to give Sam Cassell his first opportunity, if you want to give 735 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:07,119 Chauncey Billups his first opportunity, Like those are those are the kind of names 736 00:48:07,159 --> 00:48:13,760 that I would rather teams go after instead of like the second and third tier 737 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:16,840 retread options. No, I think I think that's an absolutely fair point. 738 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,679 Is that, and it pretend it depends on the organization, But when it's 739 00:48:20,679 --> 00:48:23,079 like a bigger market where the team is so ready to win, those feel 740 00:48:23,119 --> 00:48:27,920 like the squads that are most likely to lean on those coaching options that you 741 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:31,559 you were just talking about. Agreed our last thing, So Victor Oladipo, 742 00:48:31,679 --> 00:48:38,079 this comes from the athletics. Jared Weiss wrote that it's basically known that Oladipo 743 00:48:38,199 --> 00:48:43,320 wants out of Indiana. I was about to say Boston, and I have 744 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:46,679 no idea what I was about to say Boston. So one we did say 745 00:48:46,679 --> 00:48:50,599 at the top, how tired we were? Yeah, And so before we 746 00:48:50,639 --> 00:48:52,960 get into I'll throw some trade packages out you. They're not they're like off 747 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:55,360 the cuff ish because I don't have any written down. But I've given a 748 00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,599 lot of thought to Oladipo trades, Like what do you make of this? 749 00:48:59,639 --> 00:49:02,280 Are you surprised? Do you think that the Pacers should end up moving him? 750 00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:09,440 Yes, I would absolutely move him while his value is still high. 751 00:49:09,519 --> 00:49:14,360 Because as much as I like Victor Oladipo on and off the court, as 752 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:19,119 much as I'm rooting for him to succeed, the resume isn't that impressive at 753 00:49:19,119 --> 00:49:22,320 this point. You know, he is a two time All Star. He 754 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,880 made the All NBA team in twenty seventeen eighteen. He has demonstrated defensive excellence 755 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,280 when he's healthy, but at this point, more of his career has been 756 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:35,480 spent searching for that level than actually operating at that level. He's now twenty 757 00:49:35,519 --> 00:49:39,400 eight years old, coming off that major leg injury. He struggled once he 758 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:44,239 was on the court this season, albeit in a weird situation without much continuity 759 00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:47,199 or ability to get into a rhythm. So yes, I would move him 760 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:52,840 for the best return package that I can get because I'm concerned that one more 761 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:58,440 year of this lackluster post injury production is going to detonate his trade value and 762 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:00,119 you're not going to be able to get anything, or he'll just leave in 763 00:50:00,159 --> 00:50:05,480 free agency for nothing. I would agree pretty much across the board there. 764 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:07,920 He's not It doesn't seem like he's a player that Indiana wants to max out 765 00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:10,039 anyway. He doesn't feel like they made some decisions over the off season, 766 00:50:10,079 --> 00:50:14,760 like staying Malcolm Brogden with the idea that Oladipo was a long term piece for 767 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,320 them in mind. But it doesn't feel like if he came out and you 768 00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:21,679 kept him through last season and he's you know, two seventeen, two and 769 00:50:21,679 --> 00:50:25,119 eighteen Victor Oladipo, then yeah, that's more appealing but as you've already alluded 770 00:50:25,119 --> 00:50:29,239 to the sample size, he has a much larger sample size of not being 771 00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,800 an All NBA player than he does of being an All NBA caliber player. 772 00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:36,079 And that's looked even in Indiana. That's true, Like, don't even look 773 00:50:36,079 --> 00:50:38,159 at the rest of his career, and before he suffered his right quad injury, 774 00:50:38,199 --> 00:50:42,360 like he wasn't at the twenty seventeen twenty eighteen level, and he was 775 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:44,599 trying to play through it at first, which contributes to it. But he 776 00:50:44,599 --> 00:50:50,039 wasn't getting to the rim as often more problematically, like they're his pull up 777 00:50:50,079 --> 00:50:53,079 jumper just wasn't falling at the rate that it previously previously was. He came 778 00:50:53,079 --> 00:50:57,039 back, he kind of weeded out the long twos in his game. Maybe 779 00:50:57,079 --> 00:50:59,440 that makes you feel or some of the long twos, I should say, 780 00:51:00,039 --> 00:51:02,320 and like introduce some more like ten to sixteen footers, and then took more 781 00:51:02,599 --> 00:51:06,239 of his shots from threes, Like maybe that makes you feel a little bit 782 00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:08,239 better about it. But when you don't know the player he's going to be, 783 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:12,199 and if he really wants out, I think you have to look at 784 00:51:12,199 --> 00:51:14,519 moving him. And I would ultimately move him. What's tough about it? 785 00:51:14,559 --> 00:51:16,000 Though, is that without him. I don't know that you look at it 786 00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,679 and say, well, we have this blue chip cornerstone. You have to 787 00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:23,400 feel that that's demands Sabonis and is he a top twenty five player? Like 788 00:51:23,559 --> 00:51:29,480 is that his ceiling? My guests would be no, but like maybe he 789 00:51:29,559 --> 00:51:31,519 wasn't all start this past season and so maybe you are that bullish on him. 790 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:35,360 Like That's where the trade from gets interesting, is that you might almost 791 00:51:35,519 --> 00:51:39,000 you're not really in a position to start over after paying Turner and Sabonis and 792 00:51:39,039 --> 00:51:44,280 Brogden and even Lamb who's probably gonna miss most of next season. So that's 793 00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:45,840 the dilemma that that indies in, is that you have to get a return 794 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,880 where you're probably not gonna get another star I wouldn't think, unless you're like 795 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:52,920 a distressed asset star, which I don't think they should be going after a 796 00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:57,119 you know, a Blake Griffin like that's not the guy like for them and 797 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:01,960 a crazy awkward fit anyway, So what they get back for him becomes super 798 00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:07,000 interesting because I don't think they would look at a package necessarily built around future 799 00:52:07,039 --> 00:52:09,320 prospects, or maybe they would because they were a playoff team playing like one 800 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,360 without all the DEEPO. And so if you're like, well, let's just 801 00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,840 get some cost controlled assets and picks, that might be a frame of mind 802 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:20,119 that they take and like, maybe we'll find that blue chip cornerstone and develop 803 00:52:20,199 --> 00:52:23,440 him rather than try and trade for one where the odds are overwhelmingly likely against 804 00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:29,400 them getting that player. I will say, and you are free to you 805 00:52:29,639 --> 00:52:32,840 in roughly twenty thirty. Look back and check this statement. I do think 806 00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:38,519 that this is a trade, an upcoming inevitable trade that is doomed to be 807 00:52:39,039 --> 00:52:45,360 horribly mis evaluated from a retroactive perspective, because he is going to be an 808 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:49,760 expiring contract, with the injury concerns already twenty eight we don't quite know what 809 00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:52,039 he's going to get. He's not going to bring back a huge package. 810 00:52:52,039 --> 00:52:54,880 So either that's not going to be a notable enough package if he does not 811 00:52:55,079 --> 00:53:00,239 experience a career resurgence to show up in these retroact of trade evaluations, or 812 00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:05,960 he's gonna blossom and the trade package is gonna look shoddy compared to what Indiana 813 00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,880 should have gotten for him. And we're going to criticize the Pacers franchise for 814 00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:13,719 not getting more because we don't remember the full context. Just it has the 815 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:17,400 makings of one of those where articles written ten years from now are just not 816 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:22,480 going to do justice to the actual situation. Yeah, I would. I 817 00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,079 would think if you're going to be more granular about it though, that most 818 00:53:25,079 --> 00:53:29,159 people would recognize that. But you're you're you're probably just dead on like it's 819 00:53:29,199 --> 00:53:31,599 gonna be. It's like we killed them for the Paul George return. But 820 00:53:31,639 --> 00:53:35,440 I feel like there are people that are gonna and that turned out to be 821 00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:37,760 fine, I guess, or what they were trying to do, But it 822 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:42,199 does feel like, yeah, there could be that perception publicly that they mess 823 00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:45,920 up the Victor Oladipo trade, which I probably won't. You have the mind 824 00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:47,159 depending on what they get, Like if you end up trading him for just 825 00:53:47,719 --> 00:53:51,719 cap relief like or something like a non if the package would have to be 826 00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:55,360 truly terrible for me to not see the thinking behind it for them with that, 827 00:53:55,559 --> 00:53:59,360 even if it is truly terrible, like I think you can still see 828 00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:02,559 the thinking because something terrible, as long as it's not going to be on 829 00:54:02,599 --> 00:54:07,079 your long term books, is still going to be better than a year of 830 00:54:07,159 --> 00:54:12,280 lackluster production and then a walk in free agency. So with that in mind, 831 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:15,280 let me just throw some teams out here with some baseline trade packages. 832 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,960 I'm going to start in Atlanta actually, because I think he'd be a fantastic 833 00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:21,719 fit next to Trey Young. Would you give up? And they just have 834 00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:24,320 so much cap space to burn, So like, if if Indiana really wants 835 00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:28,599 that, Clint Capella or Dwayne Deadman is like salary filler, Okay, fine, 836 00:54:28,639 --> 00:54:30,280 but like they don't need to give that up. Are you willing to 837 00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:36,559 give up two of DeAndre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Kevin Herder and number six 838 00:54:37,199 --> 00:54:42,400 as the meat and potatoes of a Victor Oladipo package. I was prepared going 839 00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:45,159 into this game to just say no across the board because I am so concerned 840 00:54:45,159 --> 00:54:50,199 about the Oladipo return. But I'll say yes to that one because the fit 841 00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:54,360 is so ideal alongside Trey Young if he can be even eighty percent of what 842 00:54:54,400 --> 00:55:00,480 he was during that twenty seventeen eighteen season. Couple that with how many second 843 00:55:00,519 --> 00:55:05,079 tier prospects they have and the fact that number six in this draft doesn't seem 844 00:55:05,159 --> 00:55:10,440 particularly valuable because the class itself does not carry such a sterling reputation. Sure, 845 00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:15,400 I would give up to two of that list that would be That would 846 00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:17,920 be my like, I don't know pause for Atlanta, but because the number 847 00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:22,079 six pick just doesn't have that much sway, I feel like you would look 848 00:55:22,119 --> 00:55:24,519 at they're gonna want Cam Reddish and DeAndre Hunter or it has to be something 849 00:55:24,559 --> 00:55:30,159 like DeAndre Hunter number six and then a future pick protected. I think I 850 00:55:30,159 --> 00:55:34,599 would probably still do that, but I do too, but again, that's 851 00:55:34,599 --> 00:55:36,679 a huge risk. I just don't know if you're ever going to get a 852 00:55:36,679 --> 00:55:39,119 crack at another what Oladipo theoretically could be, and you don't need him to 853 00:55:39,119 --> 00:55:44,119 be the best version of Oladipo next to Trey Young. And that's what it 854 00:55:44,119 --> 00:55:46,400 comes down to for Atlanta in particular. Because of those prospects, and you 855 00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:51,119 can include the number six pick as a prospect, none of them feel like 856 00:55:51,159 --> 00:55:55,679 they have like top twenty player potential. Atlanta has a ton of good supporting 857 00:55:55,719 --> 00:56:00,639 pieces around Trey Young, but is bereft of a second star, and Oladipo 858 00:56:00,679 --> 00:56:05,719 at least can be that second star. Yeah, I just respect to John 859 00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:09,400 cons would you prefer to have Drew Holliday under the same framework. Yes, 860 00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:15,559 I'm probably with you there. There's I'm interesting, can trust the defense more, 861 00:56:15,679 --> 00:56:22,079 I trust the leadership more, I trust the offense more. His age 862 00:56:22,079 --> 00:56:24,639 doesn't fit the timeline as well. But if you are looking to keep Trey 863 00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:29,559 happy and try to avoid going down this route that we see with so many 864 00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:34,679 superstars and smaller or less smart key markets, because Atlanta isn't really a small 865 00:56:34,679 --> 00:56:37,840 market per se, then yeah, like I think I think you can make 866 00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:39,639 the immediate play there. Yeah, I would. I would advise them against 867 00:56:39,639 --> 00:56:43,440 trying to keep Tray Young happy because he's not going to turn down to the 868 00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:47,360 max. Deals are restricted to free agent. But I think it just doesn't 869 00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:51,199 happen. Christophs Perzin is threatened to do it, and he probably never was 870 00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:53,000 going to do it, and New York reacted anyway. But I would agree 871 00:56:53,039 --> 00:56:58,480 I'd preferred Drew Holiday Boston. Maybe that's why I had Boston on the brain 872 00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:02,159 when I was saying this. Gordon a word number fourteen and number twenty six 873 00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:07,119 for Oladipo and Doug McDermott. Nah, I don't think so. I think 874 00:57:07,159 --> 00:57:10,440 you've seen enough from Gordon Hayward to be convinced that he can still play at 875 00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:14,679 a high level. And there's not much of a reason to mess with that 876 00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:19,280 young core. Even if you're not taking pieces away from the young core, 877 00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:22,599 you're still taking opportunities away from them. If you put the ball in Oladipo's 878 00:57:22,639 --> 00:57:25,800 hands more, I think Hayward's a better fit with that team. I'd probably 879 00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:29,119 go. If I'm Boston, I would do it. I think if I 880 00:57:29,159 --> 00:57:30,599 was India would give me pause, even though Hayward would be a good fit 881 00:57:30,679 --> 00:57:35,800 there. I think what we kind of saw in the series against the Heat 882 00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:39,760 is that they could kind of use another like high level like creator and shooter. 883 00:57:40,079 --> 00:57:44,519 And maybe you're looking at as as well. You know, Hayward is 884 00:57:44,559 --> 00:57:46,679 probably gonna be cheaper in free agency after next year, assuming he doesn't like 885 00:57:46,719 --> 00:57:51,679 extend or whatever this summer. I would totally understand that. Look at it, 886 00:57:51,679 --> 00:57:53,639 and maybe you're getting a little bit smaller too. And Aladipo has his 887 00:57:53,679 --> 00:57:58,599 own injury concerns. But I kind of feel like, I feel like you 888 00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:01,440 raise your ceilings of stand sleep for the next three to five years with Oladipo 889 00:58:01,599 --> 00:58:07,679 over keeping Hayward and either beyond next season retaining him or just letting him walk. 890 00:58:09,159 --> 00:58:12,840 The Brooklyn Nets are my next team. They're in the market for a 891 00:58:12,880 --> 00:58:15,400 third star. Now here's what's interesting. I would be I would not give 892 00:58:15,480 --> 00:58:21,440 up Caris Lavert in a wouldn't either Victor Oladipo trade. But I feel like 893 00:58:21,639 --> 00:58:29,440 if you went Torrian Prince and Spencer Dinwoody number nineteen and then another pick is 894 00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:31,960 that something in the heart, you would do well. I don't know if 895 00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:36,679 Indy does it. I don't know if Indie does it unless they truly are 896 00:58:36,719 --> 00:58:38,840 desperate because there are no better offers coming in. But yeah, if I'm 897 00:58:38,880 --> 00:58:44,079 Brooklyn, like yes, please, if I can get Oladipo without parting with 898 00:58:44,159 --> 00:58:46,400 Lavert, hell yeah, And I think I'm doing that too. And look, 899 00:58:46,440 --> 00:58:50,320 there are other things you could do aside from give them two. First, 900 00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:54,719 give them Spencer Dinwoodie and Torrian Prince, who's is definitely overpaid. But 901 00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:59,159 like the way that Indy does with Wings who have like any zemblance of a 902 00:58:59,199 --> 00:59:01,440 jump shot, like he'll probably end up being really good there, And then 903 00:59:01,880 --> 00:59:05,800 I wouldn't give them like a third first round pick like distant out. But 904 00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:07,920 you do have Musa, you do have Rodions, Kurups, like if you 905 00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,800 could throw them, even Nicholas Claxton, like there are those interesting, but 906 00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:15,000 look, you could throw in Timothy Luil Caberreau, who was really good for 907 00:59:15,039 --> 00:59:16,440 them. They have him on a non guarantee deal from one point eight million. 908 00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:20,920 I absolutely think they should keep them. So I think from what I'm 909 00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:23,719 looking at is two first Spencer Dimwoody, Torian Prince, and then something else 910 00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:27,960 that's not a first round pick. Like that's the package. And if I'm 911 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:30,840 Indie, I consider it because Spencer Dinwoody's really good, and I guess you 912 00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:37,599 worry about the defensive trade off there because he's probably only serviceable. But Indie 913 00:59:37,639 --> 00:59:39,519 seems to cobble together if Dan Burke is still going to be there on the 914 00:59:39,559 --> 00:59:43,519 staff, like they just seemed like t J. Warrens Now like this competent 915 00:59:43,559 --> 00:59:45,239 defender, and like Boyan Madanovitch was a competent defender for them. So I'm 916 00:59:45,239 --> 00:59:51,079 not worrying about it too much. But I think my guess is that Brooklyn 917 00:59:51,079 --> 00:59:53,639 would have a semi realistic shot of getting Oladipa without including Lavert. I don't 918 00:59:53,639 --> 00:59:58,400 include Lavert, and so maybe that is a deal breaker for the Pacers, 919 00:59:58,559 --> 01:00:00,960 But I also don't necessarily think it should be, just because of the injury 920 01:00:01,039 --> 01:00:05,559 risk and the contract. I don't know what the other packages out there are 921 01:00:05,599 --> 01:00:07,920 going to look like, plus a few of the nets when has giving up 922 01:00:08,039 --> 01:00:12,079 a bunch of future first round picks for a better and ever gone wrong, 923 01:00:12,519 --> 01:00:16,159 right, that's totally fine. Look, and if you if that's loosely protected, 924 01:00:16,199 --> 01:00:21,519 like if we're talking twenty twenty two, loosely protected, that's like an 925 01:00:21,519 --> 01:00:23,480 interesting pick if you're indeed, and I know front officers aren't going to think 926 01:00:23,519 --> 01:00:27,760 that far out because which front officers have that type of job security. But 927 01:00:27,800 --> 01:00:30,679 there's a chance that the Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving situation can busts. There's a 928 01:00:30,760 --> 01:00:36,280 chance there's also a chance that Kevin Durant is not that Kevin Durant we remember 929 01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:39,599 when he comes back from an Achilles rupture and arguably, yeah, like arguably 930 01:00:40,159 --> 01:00:45,079 could be better than you expect. And arguably Victor Oladipo adds to the combustibility 931 01:00:45,119 --> 01:00:47,960 of it just because of his right quad. Yeah, this team I don't 932 01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:51,320 want to spend too much time on just because I'm not sure if they have 933 01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:57,039 the like surrounding assets to go get him. But Dallas, if you're using 934 01:00:57,079 --> 01:01:01,159 Tim Hardaway Jr. As an expiring anchor, like you can include this year's 935 01:01:01,360 --> 01:01:05,559 after the draft, you can trade number eighteen whoever they take there, and 936 01:01:05,679 --> 01:01:07,039 like you have, I don't know what you include on top of that, 937 01:01:07,079 --> 01:01:10,480 Like I probably wouldn't want to give up Dorian Phinney Smith just because he's so 938 01:01:10,519 --> 01:01:15,440 important to guarding the bigger defensive wings that you have. You have Seth Curry, 939 01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:16,039 but I don't know that I would want to give him up in this 940 01:01:16,079 --> 01:01:20,280 either. That none of those guys are better than Victor Oladipo, but they're 941 01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:23,519 so important to what like the team is. And I don't know how much 942 01:01:23,519 --> 01:01:27,639 you should be eating into your depth around Luca nan Jich for Oladipo. I 943 01:01:27,719 --> 01:01:30,280 feel different if this was Drew Holiday. So here's my thing with Dallas, 944 01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:35,559 regardless of the package, is that you've already given up so many assets to 945 01:01:35,559 --> 01:01:38,519 get Christops Porzingis on this team. You have limited cap space, you have 946 01:01:38,599 --> 01:01:45,440 limited flexibility to make trades. You have to nail the acquisition of that third 947 01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:49,079 star. If it's Drew Holiday, I feel better about it, But there's 948 01:01:49,079 --> 01:01:53,159 too much uncertainty with Oladipo for me to want to shoot my shot with a 949 01:01:53,199 --> 01:01:58,960 package for him. Because you are not going to get another chance if you're 950 01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:04,559 a Dallas to build right team around Chris Stops and Luca, I mostly agree 951 01:02:04,599 --> 01:02:07,199 with you. What I'm thinking from it is is that Oladipo, based off 952 01:02:07,239 --> 01:02:09,800 what he could get in his next deal, like Dallas can afford to add 953 01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:13,840 kind of a semi expensive player, and if you think he's gonna end up 954 01:02:13,880 --> 01:02:15,599 at around twenty twenty one million, again, there are things that they could 955 01:02:15,639 --> 01:02:20,760 do to then go out and carve out close to max caps base the following 956 01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:22,960 summer, in which case maybe you're in play for Yanni's attend to Kumpo. 957 01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:25,519 That's why I think about it, Whereas with the Drew Holiday, like I 958 01:02:25,519 --> 01:02:29,360 feel like he ends up costing more than Oladipo at this point or opts in 959 01:02:29,440 --> 01:02:32,360 and he's making almost thirty million dollars and that kind of hamstrings you. I 960 01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:37,400 think about it also because you can let him walk, and if it's not 961 01:02:37,519 --> 01:02:40,400 costing you a twenty twenty five first round pick, which is the first future 962 01:02:40,440 --> 01:02:44,719 first round pick that they could trade because twenty twenty one and twenty twenty three 963 01:02:44,719 --> 01:02:49,159 are going to New York, if it's not costing you that I consider it. 964 01:02:49,199 --> 01:02:51,880 But yeah, I think I would You're right that they have to nail 965 01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:57,199 it because they've already played some of their best hands. Yeah, the next 966 01:02:57,199 --> 01:03:01,079 team and I'm I only have a couple left nuggets are interesting to me. 967 01:03:01,159 --> 01:03:05,000 I think people are going to argue that they shouldn't do anything drastic after making 968 01:03:05,039 --> 01:03:07,760 it to the Western Conference Finals. I would argue that it's going to be 969 01:03:07,159 --> 01:03:10,719 a lot harder to get back there next season, when the Warriors are at 970 01:03:10,800 --> 01:03:15,159 least going to be better. Maybe one of the up and coming teams hit, 971 01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:16,960 like whether it's the I kind of worry about the Grizzlies, but maybe 972 01:03:16,960 --> 01:03:21,639 it's the Pelicans, Maybe it's the Suns. For all we know, the 973 01:03:21,679 --> 01:03:23,559 Blazers are going to be healthier. I'm not putting them under the up and 974 01:03:23,559 --> 01:03:28,320 coming section. The Rockets should still be okay, the Lakers are going to 975 01:03:28,400 --> 01:03:30,679 have the Clippers. You're going to have, So I think it's harder to 976 01:03:30,679 --> 01:03:32,760 get back there. And if you can use Gary Harris as the anchor, 977 01:03:34,159 --> 01:03:37,039 like, is there you know Gary Harris and Will Barton and a first for 978 01:03:37,159 --> 01:03:42,360 Olidibo and Doug McDermott, is that something you're considering if you's if you can 979 01:03:42,400 --> 01:03:46,079 get him without giving up Michael Porter Junior. Are you doing it? You 980 01:03:46,119 --> 01:03:51,000 took the words out of my mouth. If you can get him without diving 981 01:03:51,039 --> 01:03:53,920 into your untouchable assets, which are yokitch Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Junior and 982 01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:59,280 Monte Morris, than you do it? Like how I snuck Monte Morris into 983 01:03:59,320 --> 01:04:01,960 that? What if they want Monte Morris though he's good, he's gonna be 984 01:04:01,960 --> 01:04:05,920 a free agent in twenty twenty one, then yeah, yeah, that's mostly 985 01:04:06,079 --> 01:04:12,360 mostly a joke. Monte Morris was very good for them at moments during the 986 01:04:12,360 --> 01:04:14,639 conference finals. If you don't have to like have him, he gets like 987 01:04:14,679 --> 01:04:16,199 a little bit like flustered. It feels like when he's in the lane and 988 01:04:16,480 --> 01:04:19,760 in traffic. But he's so good. He's just so good. I would 989 01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:23,280 agree with you there though, because I feel like there there's a risk involved 990 01:04:23,280 --> 01:04:26,719 there. But if you're not giving up Michael Porter Jr. Like you can, 991 01:04:26,760 --> 01:04:29,440 I think you can let Victor Olad people walk after next season. And 992 01:04:29,480 --> 01:04:31,239 it's like not a huge hit because I don't know how much value that Gary 993 01:04:31,280 --> 01:04:34,000 Harris contract has. And that's also why it's weird for Indiana. Maybe they 994 01:04:34,000 --> 01:04:39,320 trust that he'll be better with them. It also is there might be something 995 01:04:39,320 --> 01:04:41,760 to be said like if you treat Gary Harris and Will Barton in this deal, 996 01:04:41,800 --> 01:04:43,639 like that's a lot of your your wing depth and you have to take 997 01:04:43,679 --> 01:04:45,320 back other money in return. But that's something that they could look at. 998 01:04:45,360 --> 01:04:48,360 If Jeremy Grant's coming back, maybe you're not worried about it as much. 999 01:04:49,239 --> 01:04:53,960 The next team I think you knew this was coming is the Golden State Warriors. 1000 01:04:54,840 --> 01:04:58,280 I don't necessarily know what the framework is. I think you've already said 1001 01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:00,679 you wouldn't give up this year's pick, the Minnesota pick for Victor Oladippo. 1002 01:05:01,440 --> 01:05:04,239 I wouldn't, and then you can get more for them, or you can 1003 01:05:04,280 --> 01:05:09,599 just use them. I think if you can build it, if you can 1004 01:05:09,599 --> 01:05:14,280 build it around like Andrew Wiggins and something else, sure well. I think 1005 01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,719 the most thought process would be, can you trade for more expensive player or 1006 01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:21,079 using the trade exception and then flip that player with the pick to Indiana at 1007 01:05:21,119 --> 01:05:25,320 some point because you can't. I don't think Indiana want Wiggins now. If 1008 01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:28,360 you could do it, I would do number two in Wiggins. You know, 1009 01:05:28,480 --> 01:05:30,880 for Oladipo in a heartbeating, you probably need to if you're Golden State 1010 01:05:30,960 --> 01:05:34,199 take back more money there, since Wiggins makes so much. I would do 1011 01:05:34,239 --> 01:05:36,159 that in a heartbeat if I was going State, and I would trade the 1012 01:05:36,239 --> 01:05:40,079 number two pick for him Minnesota's pick. It is where it gets weird. 1013 01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:43,519 I've looked at is their framework where if you're Indiana, I want to know 1014 01:05:43,559 --> 01:05:46,039 if this makes sense, there has to be other parts involved. But if 1015 01:05:46,079 --> 01:05:50,679 you are trading Victor Oladipo and Miles Turner to the Warriors, are you doing 1016 01:05:50,679 --> 01:05:56,159 that? If you're getting number two the Minnesota pick another pick and you're also 1017 01:05:56,199 --> 01:06:00,039 taking back Andrew Wiggins's salary, there are there's other money in there, but 1018 01:06:00,119 --> 01:06:02,039 it won't be like long term or crippling. But is that a package you're 1019 01:06:02,039 --> 01:06:05,119 considering, or is Andrew Wiggins is just too steep? And now at this 1020 01:06:05,199 --> 01:06:09,000 point, I don't know what Miles Turner's value is, but he has three 1021 01:06:09,159 --> 01:06:14,360 like solidly priced years left on his deal. Yeah, I think it's I 1022 01:06:14,360 --> 01:06:19,360 think it's too much. I'm still so hesitant with that Wiggins contract. I'm 1023 01:06:19,360 --> 01:06:21,639 probably with you that you can't get both. But I would trade number two 1024 01:06:21,639 --> 01:06:25,280 in a heartbeat if it meant getting Aladipo back. I'd take that swing if 1025 01:06:25,280 --> 01:06:28,440 I'm Golden State. The team I think is gonna be mentioned the most is 1026 01:06:28,480 --> 01:06:30,679 Miami, just because they've been cited as a destination for him. They do 1027 01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:36,000 have some interesting salary matching pieces when you look at let's assume Kelly Olynnock opts 1028 01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:40,760 into his contract and then you have Andrea Godala one year fifty million yet left 1029 01:06:40,800 --> 01:06:44,960 with the team option on year number two. What like, are you trading 1030 01:06:45,039 --> 01:06:47,840 Duncan Robinson or Tyler Hero for Victor Oladipo at this point? No? No, 1031 01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:51,360 If you require Oladipo, does that mean you're not bringing back or On 1032 01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:55,639 Drogics on that one year balloon deal that seems so inevitable? Are you no 1033 01:06:55,719 --> 01:06:58,880 longer making a play for other guys on those one year deals like that? 1034 01:06:59,840 --> 01:07:02,440 I would not alter with the fundamental makeup of this team, even if it 1035 01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:06,079 does allow you to get another top tier talent on an expiring deal. That 1036 01:07:06,159 --> 01:07:10,599 isn't going to mess with those twenty twenty one free agent pursuits. Like they're 1037 01:07:10,599 --> 01:07:13,880 in the finals. They looked really good getting to the finals, Like, 1038 01:07:14,199 --> 01:07:16,440 there's no need to make a massive sway you here. I will say that 1039 01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:19,760 you can keep Crowder and drag it on huge one year deals and still trade 1040 01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:24,039 for Oladipo. I'm not giving up Hero or Duncan Robinson for it because if 1041 01:07:24,039 --> 01:07:28,079 I'm the heat, I think the cap space, like because Oladipo's expiring, 1042 01:07:28,079 --> 01:07:30,079 which fits into what they're doing. So like, if you can get him 1043 01:07:30,119 --> 01:07:35,880 for Kendrick Nunn pick number twenty in this draft and then olink like or even 1044 01:07:35,920 --> 01:07:40,320 Igodala like, whichever one they prefer, I would do it. But like, 1045 01:07:40,360 --> 01:07:42,960 if you need to be sure, but that's the worst package we've heard 1046 01:07:43,039 --> 01:07:46,320 yet, Yeah, Igodala, Kendrick Nunn and pick number twenties like they would 1047 01:07:46,320 --> 01:07:49,119 have to love stand out of that is the number twenty pick in an awful 1048 01:07:49,239 --> 01:07:56,039 draft? Fair enough? Do you think Milwaukee has the asset firepower to get 1049 01:07:56,039 --> 01:08:00,960 involved in this discussion? No, not really, because it's the same situation. 1050 01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:03,480 It's like, is Eric Bledsoe or George Hill really going to sell you 1051 01:08:03,519 --> 01:08:06,559 when the other thing you're getting as a non lottery first round pick in a 1052 01:08:06,599 --> 01:08:11,320 bad draft? Yeah, I don't see. I don't see the package being 1053 01:08:11,440 --> 01:08:14,440 enticing enough. The reason that they can get in play on someone like Chris 1054 01:08:14,480 --> 01:08:18,000 Paul is because the financial numbers are still so cumbersome and aren't just expiring. 1055 01:08:18,399 --> 01:08:23,319 You're not going to get that for for a one year deal, So you 1056 01:08:23,319 --> 01:08:26,680 wouldn't do if you're Milwaukee, you wouldn't do Bledsoe Dante and a future first 1057 01:08:27,199 --> 01:08:31,079 for APO eighties. But sure, but I think it's similar to I would 1058 01:08:31,079 --> 01:08:33,960 do it if I'm Milwaukee, but I would hang up the phone if I'm 1059 01:08:33,960 --> 01:08:39,079 Indiana. Oh you're that low on a future pick from Milwaukee at this point, 1060 01:08:39,079 --> 01:08:42,880 I believe in twenty twenty four, Oh future pick? Yeah, I 1061 01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:45,520 mean still like it's It's just that's such a tough sell to the Pacers fan 1062 01:08:45,600 --> 01:08:48,359 base saying like, hey, like, here's this first round pick four years 1063 01:08:48,359 --> 01:08:51,520 from now for a guy who's been the face of our franchise. I think 1064 01:08:51,600 --> 01:08:55,279 what their best bet would be, can you find a third team that like 1065 01:08:55,319 --> 01:08:59,119 actually wants Eric Bledso and would give a little something for him, like one 1066 01:08:59,119 --> 01:09:00,920 of the Caps based team if it's Charlotte or Atlanta like him where they're not 1067 01:09:00,920 --> 01:09:04,119 gonna you know, Atlanta's not giving up cam Reddish for him, but are 1068 01:09:04,119 --> 01:09:06,720 they giving up like a protected first, Like maybe that makes the package a 1069 01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:10,600 little bit more intriguing for Indie I don't. I don't know. I would 1070 01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:13,239 I would say that that's probably on the lower end. This is my final 1071 01:09:13,279 --> 01:09:15,600 team, although I would I didn't kind of want to throw in Toronto as 1072 01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:18,479 a dark horse, but I just don't with the way their free agency books 1073 01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:21,520 are, I just and how they're going to prioritize cap space in twenty twenty 1074 01:09:21,560 --> 01:09:26,960 one, I don't know like what they have that actually interests Indiana Like Norman 1075 01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:30,199 Powell and A first is the framework is just not gonna do it Portland. 1076 01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:35,520 I thought about, like you can build stuff around Trevor Ariza non guaranteed salary 1077 01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:40,399 at twelve point eight million, so that's like your main salary anchor. Then 1078 01:09:40,439 --> 01:09:43,960 you have Anthony Simon's throw in there, even though we had a bad year. 1079 01:09:44,039 --> 01:09:46,119 I don't think Zach Collins is of any like real value to Indie if 1080 01:09:46,119 --> 01:09:49,439 they're keeping Turner and sabonus. It gets interesting if you're trading Turner somewhere else, 1081 01:09:49,760 --> 01:09:53,960 But like, is there partial framework and maybe even Hood, like just 1082 01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:57,520 to deepen your wing rotation because he's cheap, Like if you're working with Areza 1083 01:09:57,920 --> 01:10:01,079 Hood Simons and pick number six, seen, is that at least a starting 1084 01:10:01,119 --> 01:10:04,239 point or no, Like, is that just on the super low end of 1085 01:10:04,239 --> 01:10:08,600 the spectrum of this And I'll say the caveat of this if I'm Portland Gary 1086 01:10:08,640 --> 01:10:13,119 Trent Junior is absolutely untouchable in this scenario. Yeah, I think it's it's 1087 01:10:13,159 --> 01:10:16,640 on the cusp of a starting point, which I don't know that it's really 1088 01:10:16,680 --> 01:10:19,760 anything more than that. Like I think I feel like you're gonna end up 1089 01:10:19,760 --> 01:10:24,359 needing to throw in some future picks there. But I just I don't like 1090 01:10:24,439 --> 01:10:27,680 to fit in Portland. I love it. Give me the three, like 1091 01:10:28,119 --> 01:10:29,880 if you're gonna bring Melo back, Like, yeah, all right, it 1092 01:10:29,880 --> 01:10:32,119 gets bad, but like go smaller, like Oladipo is gonna give you some 1093 01:10:32,159 --> 01:10:35,760 good wing defensive minutes. Anyway, Maybe it doesn't make sense to trade two 1094 01:10:35,800 --> 01:10:39,399 wings when you need wings so badly, but if you're still gonna use your 1095 01:10:39,439 --> 01:10:43,840 mid level. I that this was like my asking Oladipo to play off the 1096 01:10:43,880 --> 01:10:46,479 ball exclusively on offense. I think that could end up helping exclusively. No, 1097 01:10:46,600 --> 01:10:49,279 but like we've seen what Dame can do it points off the ball, 1098 01:10:49,720 --> 01:10:55,319 and so like the minutes to navigate, like you're almost gonna be in a 1099 01:10:55,319 --> 01:10:58,039 situation where one you'll never not have any of those three on the court, 1100 01:10:58,079 --> 01:11:00,279 and most of your minutes are gonna have two of McCollum and Willard and Oladipo 1101 01:11:00,319 --> 01:11:05,640 on the floor. Like that's offensive hell fire for defenses. So that feels 1102 01:11:05,680 --> 01:11:09,159 like more of a luxury move though for a team that isn't quite to the 1103 01:11:09,159 --> 01:11:12,279 stage where it can have luxury moves, probably more out there. But if 1104 01:11:12,319 --> 01:11:14,720 I was Portland, I would look at the asking price. I think, 1105 01:11:14,960 --> 01:11:16,159 look, I honestly feel like there are teams that could get in this that 1106 01:11:16,199 --> 01:11:19,880 we don't really know about because of just the situation with Oladipo, the injury 1107 01:11:20,039 --> 01:11:26,279 and the contract, like maybe Sacramento gets involved or something weird. Charlotte, 1108 01:11:27,000 --> 01:11:30,079 what are they giving? That's the question, you know, are you willing 1109 01:11:30,159 --> 01:11:34,039 to part with picks for him? Which they probably shouldn't be, But if 1110 01:11:34,079 --> 01:11:38,239 the asking price goes low enough, that's a that's a destination where I think 1111 01:11:38,239 --> 01:11:41,479 he could be a lot of fun because it's similar to that Portland fit, 1112 01:11:41,560 --> 01:11:44,319 but it's taking more of a flyer and a guy who can be your primary 1113 01:11:44,880 --> 01:11:47,600 scorer because you don't quite trust DeVante Cram and Terry Rosier. But it seems 1114 01:11:47,600 --> 01:11:51,000 like a fun, fun, potential destination for a team that's motivated to move 1115 01:11:51,039 --> 01:11:55,880 out of that middle class, maybe even Philly if you can like sort of 1116 01:11:55,960 --> 01:11:59,880 glamor up the your main salary filler, which is going to have to be 1117 01:12:00,039 --> 01:12:02,279 I wouldn't It's gonna have to be Tobias or Al Horford, and preferably to 1118 01:12:02,319 --> 01:12:05,640 Bias, because Indy would have an actual need for him, Like does as 1119 01:12:05,680 --> 01:12:08,680 a starting point, you're gonna have to take back o their salary, but 1120 01:12:08,720 --> 01:12:12,359 Tobias Thyble another first, like say you're Smith can be in there, Like 1121 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:14,760 can they get in this conversation at all? Do you need to have Josh 1122 01:12:14,840 --> 01:12:17,199 Richardson as well? In which case the money gets so complicated because it's just 1123 01:12:17,239 --> 01:12:20,199 so much money coming out of Philly. My guests would be no that there. 1124 01:12:20,239 --> 01:12:23,560 It would be like an intricate three team trade. And I don't know 1125 01:12:23,600 --> 01:12:27,840 that I'd want to give up Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris for an old depot 1126 01:12:27,880 --> 01:12:30,640 plus a pick plus Batist. That's probably something I wouldn't do. But he 1127 01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:34,159 would actually be a good fit in Philly. I think like for what they 1128 01:12:34,199 --> 01:12:38,640 need, I could see that for sure. That does it for us though 1129 01:12:38,920 --> 01:12:42,920 way longer than I expected on this the visual old Depot trade back and just 1130 01:12:42,920 --> 01:12:45,760 took us way over. If you guys have not already, please remember to 1131 01:12:45,880 --> 01:12:49,560 subscribe and to this podcast and download every episode that helps us out. Whether 1132 01:12:49,640 --> 01:12:53,359 or not you're using iTunes, please head over there. Throw us a five 1133 01:12:53,399 --> 01:12:56,239 star rating right or review. We much appreciate and that helps us out a 1134 01:12:56,279 --> 01:13:00,479 ton too. So again, just want to beg plead with you to go 1135 01:13:00,520 --> 01:13:02,920 ahead and do that since those numbers have kind of stagnated in recent weeks, 1136 01:13:03,319 --> 01:13:06,880 and follow us on social media at hardwood Knox on Twitter, go to YouTube 1137 01:13:06,920 --> 01:13:10,880 dot com so or a Hardwoo Knox. We're there. Until next time. 1138 01:13:11,239 --> 01:13:15,840 I leave you with a shout out to the one the only future head coach 1139 01:13:15,880 --> 01:13:24,720 of the Los Angeles Clippers, Stan van Gun. Nobody builds five G like 1140 01:13:24,840 --> 01:13:29,039 Verizon builds five G because we're the engineers who built the most reliable network in 1141 01:13:29,079 --> 01:13:31,199 America. And the more you do with five G, the more building it 1142 01:13:31,359 --> 01:13:35,560 right matters, the more your network matters. The more Verizon engineers going the 1143 01:13:35,600 --> 01:13:42,479 extra mile matters. It's us pushing us. It's Verizon versus Verizon. Five 1144 01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:46,279 G built right from America's most Reliable network, Most reliable based on rankings removed 1145 01:13:46,319 --> 01:13:49,720 Metrics second half twenty twenty US report at three mobile networks results may vary. 1146 01:13:49,720 --> 01:13:50,920 Award is not an endorsement.