What is up, fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dana Valley coming at
you with my fans, Abbylistic co host Grant Hughes. Do we have NBA
hot or not to get to? And I would like to remind anyone watching
or listening just fucking subscribe already. Please, We love you all. Hit
that sub button. Download everything like comment on videos on YouTube. Help the
community grow. But we need to dig into everything that's happening. But we
have to ask the most important question first, Grant, how the hell are
you doing? It's a jersey fitting? Okay, we are onto too hot
or not? Which was you know, hat tipped two? And we'll do
their question first or take first. But Jolt the Goat came up with this
idea and discord where the listeners in our discord, just our discord, and
we had an overwhelming number of responses. We'll give us their takes there that
they consider hot but they actually believe, and we will react to them and
decide whether they're too hot or they're not. Which isn't to say like,
oh this is lame or not hot enough, but that Okay, this might
be a little bit unhinged, but it's the right amount of unhinged, the
correct that's what we're looking for, is the correct amount of unhinged. I
love it. Yeah, So this was the responses again, Like I said,
we're overwhelming. We we're gonna try and get to all of them,
and Grant and I are going to try and have a banner pace from here
on out. I will start us off and we'll rotate through them. And
some of we have, like a few of them are related, a lot
of Calves ones and look shout out too. I know you went through them.
The lack of big market inquiries here, it's just like so on brand
for our listeners. I love it where it's like we care more about like
the Pistons and the Jazz and the Hornets than we do, like we don't
need to talk about the Lakers. And so I really appreciate that because we've
had enough conversations about all those teams. So that even made me think not
more. Bruce is very appreciative. That's just like, oh, we have
these people who are listening that actually care about these non flagship franchises, and
they don't despise us enough to the point where they're actually sticking around and asking
us about them. I appreciate that, No we cover the crevices like that.
It seems like that. So let's start here with joelt the goat,
which this might have been my god, the toughest one to wrap my head
around. Jade Nivy is the transcendent star on the Pistons and not Kade Cunningham.
Kade is good at everything on the court, but he doesn't have any
game breaking skills to push him into that true heliocentric star role that many think
he'll be. His lack of first step quickness will lead to a lot of
mid range jumpers, which will keep him from being a high efficiency scorer,
and he lacks the true shooting touch to be a high volume scorer on off
the dribble threes. Jane Nivy is the guy with undeniable athleticism to throw defenses
into rotation and force open looks for himself and shooters against the highest levels of
defense. Grant Hughes too hot or not. It's a little too hot,
but just barely. And that's why I love this question. It was I
was the first one that I looked at it just barely, So to me,
this is a question about ceiling. That's that's like really all that's how
I have to sort of like parse it out. And what you're saying,
if if, if you don't think this is too hot, is that Ivy
has certain qualities that if he maximizes them, give him a better chance to
be like the best player on a championship team type of offensive forced so and
that Kade does not have those things, and so like everything that is in
the question is like it's it's fair like the you know, Cunningham so far
doesn't have like the elite athleticism the way to just completely collapse a defense,
like someone like Ivy, who's super athletics, super fast, like has some
of that. Like just watching the highlights from the Bucks game I watched,
you know, just to kind of refresh, you know, the comparison in
my mind, Like Cunningham had a better game statistically. I think he had
twenty seven and you know a bunch of other counting stats. Ivy was in
the team somewhere. But Ivy's highlights just pop right, And that's the reason
you're getting this type of question. Is he he does things athletically that a
handful of guys can do. Kade is like the you know, even even
when he was picked first overall, I feel like, looking back at that
draft class, the thought was, I'm not sure about the ceiling on him,
but man, he's definitely gonna be very good, Like but great might
be out of the question, and it's obviously way too early to say that,
but like, yeah, Ivy just explodes and Cunningham has to use craft
and like change a pace and his size and you know, to accomplish the
same kind of things, just a couple of stats, like to push back
a little bit. So Kate is scoring on unassisted baskets more frequently than Ivy
is right now. It's like stupid early. It's seven games or whatever it
is into Ivy's career when we're recording this, like that seems likely to change.
But just at the moment, Cunningham is a more self sufficient source of
offense and he's a better facilitator so far. So I think that's if that's
that's a big point in Kade's favorite Kid's also improved a lot as a pick
and roll ball, pick and roll ball handler. That's a big facet of
being like the you know, not transcendent star, but like the engine of
offense on a good team. I think cutting him has to work a lot
harder. He's not as good as as Ivy already at drawing fouls, which
is just speaks to the way Ivy explodes and just puts a defense on his
heels. It's a little too hot, But like I get it. I
get the idea that if both players get to the level where they're like as
good as they can be, then maybe Ivy is like that type of guy,
and cutting him maybe isn't. I And this was in the spirit of
the exercise, so I appreciate the thought, and it really made me think,
I we need to, like, let's see kid playing entire season first.
And I know we're worried about the efficiency and they're sort of the sea
sawing aggression levels here. I can't pretty muchself to care about the efficiency.
He's up to like thirty five plus percent on catching shoot threes. That's fine
for me. When you look at the jumper, even the pull ups are
the step packs, I think it's fine. You probably want it to.
You know, at the point where it seems like Scottie Barnes is processing or
going through the motions of those a lot quicker than kay cutting him. I
don't know that he needs to be super click. I look at his ability
to manipulate the defense at more of a deliberate cadence as a huge asset,
and it's reflected in the way that the Pistons play already. I mean,
look, their effective field goal percentage this year increases by almost twelve points when
he's on the floor. And you can say that Jay and Ivy is a
rookie, and so does it matter that Detroit has an offensive rating of one
twenty four when Kaye plays without Ivy versus ninety seven point two when Ivy plays
without Kade. Again, I'm gonna throw that out and say it doesn't matter.
Like Kate cutting him is already there to where now that you've given him
some space to operate with Balyad mcdonovitch on the floor, he's really able to
pick things apart. And I do think a lot of the efficiency will come
later. Do I want half of his jumpers to come from mid range even
when he's taken them at a forty seven percent clip right now? No?
I don't. I don't think that that's sustainable or smart. But we've also
seen someone like Demard Rosen carve out in all NBA caliber career while being a
player who probably operates at Yeah, there was more explosion in prime to Marta
Rozen and even probably now than Kay Cunningham, but like he can be that
type of a just break down these set defensive player where I don't know if
Jay n Ivey will already get there. I do see to Jay Nive's credit
more than I did when I was crash coursing for the draft when people compared
him to John Morant. I see it now. I thought it was like
it could be like a very lazy comp but there are moments when you really
see it with his decision making. I trust his ability to shoot more than
I did with him coming into the league. So I understand. I guess
why, based off what we've already seen, you could go that route because
Jay Nivey is sort of wowed, maybe more than Kay did with his efficiency
early on in his career. I think the better efficiency is going to come.
And even if Kay doesn't give you as much as that you know,
foul line pressure, rim pressure, He's just going to be the more transcendent
player to me because of how he will be able to elevate his teammates,
whether he's working within tight spaces or open spaces. And look, let's not
discount that we're talking a lot of this has to do with physical traits.
But this is someone who is they list him at six six. He feels
like he's bigger than that and is going to probably be what I think a
really rock solid, if not better asset defensively long term. So I would
call this not even a little too hot for me. I think it's way
too hot. But maybe this is just more testament than it is of Oh,
well Kade is at It's just like, well Jay and Ivy is really
just sort of blown us away. Yeah. I think it also kind of
comes down into, in addition to being about the ceiling for these guys,
it comes down to like which unteachable qualities are more valuable because they each have
like certain attributes that sort of are just inborn that you're not going to coax
out of a player, like or probably not, Like Ivy's athleticism is just
like that's just rare, and you can't like make a guy be able to
move around the floor the way that he does, but cunning him I think
too. His ability to kind of get to a spot at whatever pace he
needs to go to get there, Like that's a heart. I don't know
if that's totally unteachable, but at the very least, it's really hard to
learn. Like a lot of guys take a really long time to get half
as good at Kate as Kate is right now at just well, I need
to get down to the right block. I'm gonna do that, and I'm
not going to do it by blowing by somebody, Like I'm just gonna get
there. So I do think I think you're right, Like it's way too
it's too early to say this. It's it's it's probably too hot, but
like I do think it's more likely. So it's impossible for Cunningham to eventually
develop some of the skills that Ivy has. Like he's never gonna be that
fast, he's never going to explode off the floor, he's never gonna throw
himself into bodies, hang in the air and finish like that kind of stuff.
Ivy might be able to learn a little bit of, like the craft
stuff, Like it's way too early, but that ties back into ceiling.
It's just like how good, how good do you think Ivy can be And
the real answer probably it's your credit is like, it's way too early to
say, like, we don't know. Kate is already really really good.
Also, he's shooting I just looked this up an he's shooting six of ten
on step back jumpers this year. That's always ka it is Kate is okay.
Well, that's you know, I guess what, He's better than Ivy
right now. The only other thing I was going to ask on this is
do you have has like anything changed about even if you were concerned or not
in the first place, about how you feel about these two together long term
moving forward? Do you view it as more workable less workable when you than
you initially thought? And one of the things I thought that came to mind
as I was trying to, you know, put an answer together for this
is like, I mean, it almost doesn't matter because they see it seems
to me like, man, they're gonna work great. Like they're very complimentary.
I think I think they have such different games and they could improve in
such different ways. Uh that like this this should work like And I really
almost want to get out ahead of it and be like, can we not
do the Jalen Brown Jason Tatum. We got to break these guys up,
you know, three years from now, because they haven't won a title yet.
I feel like there's that kind of potential where you just have these two
great guys that can play, learn to play off each other and be like,
you know, the cornerstones of a really good team. I'm I'm more
optimistic than I was because it seems like their skill sets are divergent to the
point of they are complimentary. But the you know, Jay and Ivy shooting,
for example, a higher clip on pull up threes than catch and shoot
threes, Like that's something that needs to They at least need to like even
out a bit and that's just something to watch. But again, I am
more confident in Jay and ivy shooting ability than I was entering the season.
So I'm with you. I think it works long term. I still think
we look at this pairing and I just we fast forward three four years,
assuming they're still together. I just think that we might look back at this
even discussion and be like, well, what were we kind of thinking?
But yeah, no, I agree. So let's let's turn to another non
glamour franchise and what will be the first of many such pivots from Bower three.
If the Pacers turned Buddy Healed into a pick from the Lakers, or
really any asset, I think we should probably be clear on what asset we're
talking about when we answer this. The Haliburton Sabonus trade should be considered one
of the worst trades of the last decade. For I'm assuming four Kings,
which is because yeah, exactly, is that way too hot? Hot?
Not hot at all? Worst trade in the last decade. There's some doozies
out there. I looked up some, so I'm curious what you got.
Yeah, I would say that's too hot, because like Doma Sabonis has still
been good in Sacramento. If Tyrris Halibert and goes on to become like one
of the ten best players in the NBA for an extended stretch of time,
it's like the King's pumping on that because they couldn't figure out how to make
it work with Fox and Halibert. And I do think both those players were
culpable. The only thing, and I don't use the word but labor.
Again, I don't want to have to keep relitigating this from the Kings.
They still got an all star caliber player who's just you know, been fantastic
for them on offense, even when it's just like there is some stretches with
the Kings this season where feels like he's not as involved as he needs to
be. But at the same time, Darren Fox is playing out of his
mind at the moment, So they still got a really good player who was
probably the better player at the time of the trade and might still be the
better player. It's just that he's playing second fiddle to like where Tyris Haliburton
is now number one on his team. It feels too soon to say that
for me, and it's just I think if you want to criticize the Kings
for saying or getting to a point where they thought they needed to choose between
Fox and Haliburton for sure, do I think you could end up being one
of the worst trades that we look like, not this single worst, I'll
be shocked, Like, don't bots a bonus. You have to fall off
a cliffer. You just have to leave in free agency for nothing after the
you know, the Kings don't even come close to sniffing the plane. But
this feels a little too spicy. I do think I'm like, Tyre's Halliburton.
To me though, is that guy and I would not have made the
trade Viles Sacramento. I think he is one of the better primary building blocks
in the NBA right now. So yeah, I think I think it's a
little too hot, but I do want to my hot take. Maybe I'll
just inject this into the discussion. Is I think Haliburton right now today is
a better player than dearon Fox. And I also think he's a better player
than Sabonis and and the you know, Fox has played great, like Fox
has been better than he's been maybe ever to start the season. I think
Haliburton is better today. And so it was like it was I was,
I was like, you could have persuaded me at the time the trade was
done that like, yeah, maybe Sabonis is going to get you to that
play, get you in sniffing distance of the playoffs, which is what you
want. I don't think that's the right thing to want, but I sort
of get it. Haliburton, who knows right, And Fox is the guy
you've thrown your lot in with because you max them out, Like I get
it now. I think the trade's a huge mistake, just enormous because I
think Haliburton's better than all those guys still on his rookie scale deal. I
think he does a lot of things that Fox cannot and does not do to
make teammates better. So just throw that out there. But like the bar
for worst trade of the last ten years is super high to clear, Like
the Steakes need to be bigger first of all, because like if this goes
really bad, Haliburton's great and the King's just continue to not make the playoffs.
Like how different? How much has franchise really changed? Like look at
just to take two, Like the ridiculous you know Nets Celtics trade that mortgage
the Nets entire stock of draft picks for Garnett and Pierce for years and years
and years. Just look at the Russell Westbrook trade of the Lakers. It
derailed a team that won a title like a few months before that trade,
and now that team is like it's a lost cause you know. So there's
there's a real high articleer for worst trade in the last ten years. So
that's why this is too hot. But it's not a good trade. I'll
tell you that hell Burn's really good and the Kings are gonna wish they didn't
do that. So you're almost like a little too hot, wow? Or
no, only a little too hot is what you ended up at, Only
a little just because the bar is so high, Like there have been some
like franchise destroying trades, and this doesn't rise to is there any other one
that you feel compelled to note after researching them? I mean, there's a
James Harden trade. We could talk about that one. I don't know what
I feel like you're implying there's one I should be mentioning. No, I
was just curious because I didn't even put I thought that the take was so
hot that I didn't even like bother a go back and sort of look at
this, because I mean, you could, you know, throw someone's off
the cuff. And I don't know how you deal with like the superstar trades
necessarily when you're talking about like, well they were forcing their way out,
do you criticize teams were getting rid of them? Are the teams that actually
acquired them? But I mean the first, weirdly, the first one that
came to mind that I didn't include was when the Knicks traded a first and
some other stuff for Barnianni and I think I remember that one because I was
like, really it was it was. I was super against it vocally,
like more than I normally would be, and I got so much pushback from
Knicks fans. I was like stunned. It's like, this was a number
one pick. This guy's gonna be great. It's like a self selecting group,
right, that's like stupid to begin with. So they're gonna come out
and defend the trade. But yeah, that one, that one was not
as bad as like the Nets giving up first round picks for a thousand years
or Russell Wallfsbrook destroying Lakers. The The other thing I'll say too is probably
I've enough attention. That's the one that I was. I was wondering if
you're gonna get there. The Spurs Kawhi Leonard trade wasn't good. I know
they got a good enough haul for demarda Rosen, but like that set them
back from an actual rebuild and just put them in this very weird that they're
fun, they're frisky now and there are a lot of players to like on
the roster, but when you look at just the return they got on what
was a top five player in the NBA at the time, I know he
was entering free agency, but the package they favored that ends up being a
pretty bad Yeah. That was kind of the beginning of the end of the
Spurs really, right like once Kawhi was gone, he was kind of the
last meaningful piece of what the Spurs used to be. And then you know,
now here we are was the was the Rondo trade this decade to Dallas?
It was that was that was definitely in the running because they gave up
a first and they had him for like well it's like what less like a
month, Like what was it before him and Carlisle just like clearly couldn't work
and he was gone? Was it? There was another? Oh? Some
of the ones I didn't include were where a team gave up like draft rights
to a pick for something that became somebody great, you know, like I
want to say, uh, like Damion the pick that became Damian Lillard was
like in a Gerald Wallace trade or something like that, and like, oh,
man, I had it, now I've lost it because I've thought about
too many trades. Oh well, just the I'm pretty sure the George Hill
for the pick that became Kawhi trade was like, you know, that.
That's pretty bad. But but Kawaiet you couldn't have known at the time.
I forget if that was draft night and you knew it was Kawhi or if
it was the draft rights to that pick, and I think it was draft
I think it was draft night, but that was I think that might actually
also fall outside the scope of a decade at this point too. Oh it
might. Yeah, the Harden trade actually might too, I think by by
a few months. But I mean, oh, I thought you were talking
about this second, which for the next looks like an abomination at this point.
Now, well, yeah, that's really bad now too, because but
leave it to the nets man, they just love to give away decade's worth
of draft picks. Yeah, that was a good one, and I like
that one. Let's move on. We have a bunch on the Calves,
so I'll try and break this down one by one. This one comes from
the first of if you come from Muckle, let's start here. Too hot
or not. The Calves have four all stars in Mobili, Donna, Mitchell,
Jarron Owen, Darius Garland. I think that's hard to do and that
feels a little too hot, except they're the one seed right now. And
the Atlanta Hawks did it, you know, and whatever that was fifteen or
fourteen, I forget what year it was. So if the Hawks can do
it because they had a super good record and they had several really good players,
it's not it's only a little too hot the rest of this, Like
you know, Mitchell, I don't know, I want to talk to myself
out of all of it, but you know, the Calves have been really
good and all of those, all those takes are kind of plausible. I
don't know, it's just barely too hot. So yeah, I would say
it's just barely too hot, I think because look, Jarronowin makes it last
year and his numbers are a little bit more modest this year, but that's
gonna matter to voters if you think he belongs on the All Star team.
We can make that case. When I'll say, and none the four All
Stars is too hot, well, Darius Garland have played in enough games by
then. I also think like there's got to be a point where they go
through the motions a little bit. With Mitchell and Garland playing off one another,
to say they have two to three two is probably absolutely just not even
a little bit spicy. Three gets interesting because it says Evan Mobley done enough,
will people recognize his value defensively some of the progress he's made on offense,
which is just like, man, he does these things like if he's
just like spinning and I'm just like my heart will just stop and it's it's
sort of his offense is formless, but like in the best possible way where
it could end up being anything. At this moment, the next one,
the Cavs have the MVP in Donovan Mitchell this is also from Muckle, and
the defensive Player of the Year in Alan Or Mobley. Also Kevin Love wins
six Man of the Year. So are any of those too hot or not?
I mean, if you're giving me the field over any of those,
I'm obviously taking the field. But like Mitchell, who's I mean, who's
got a who's got a way better MVP case than than Mitchell? I did
an MVP ladder for Bleach Report. You or Donovan Mitchell ended up number two?
Okay, do you know the player who's in front of him? That?
I think it's gonna be very hard for anyone to catch. Who's that?
Oh? I thought you honest? Well yeah, okay, it's yeah,
I mean that's the thing you're gonna run up against your honest theoretically,
Steph like Yoki's numbers will get better. All the usual suspects I think should
be involved, but like right now today, I mean, Mitchell's this is
Mitchell's never been this good. Like it's not it's not close. He's just
at a different level. And it's you know, a tiny sample. Obviously,
we feel like we should just like put a big stamp on this pod
that you know, small sample alert. So let's frame it this way.
Which of these awards is most likely to till and we have another Cleveland award
question? But I don't think let's stick with these. Which of those awards
is a Cleveland player most likely the way between Defensive Player of the Year,
sixth Man of the Year MVP and if you want to throw most improved player
in there as well, I think that's fair too. Yeah, I think
I think Mitchell's a little over his head. I mean he has to be
so honestly, I think Mobile winning Defensive Player of the Year because I have
to stick to my guns on that, because I pegged him, you know,
part with your last year as someone I thought would win several of those
awards, and it doesn't feel like it's too early yet. I actually don't
know what the what the Calves are doing with respect defensive efficiency because they're the
team you don't check on. They're the team you don't check on in those
rankings because you watch them and it's just like you see Evan Mobley and Jared
Now it's just like, oh, this is fucking over for posing offenses right
now. I'm like, mob who do you like out of those? I'm
gonna say Donovan Mitchell for MVP, because I really Kevin Love has been great.
But do you know how many times we've had a six Man of the
Year who's average like under twenty seven minutes a game or whatever the number is.
It's like twice since the existence of the award. I just don't know
that he's gonna have the playing time to do it. I didn't have him
my top five at this point. I would absolutely have been my top five
if not at the top. And so I just think when MVP also is
so narrative based, where it's okay, this team is already good, but
now of a sudden, the Calves are a contender and Donovan Mitchell's there and
he had to navigate a stretch without Darius Garland. The key to that,
I will say, is what happens when Darius Garland comes back. They are
supposed to be very complimentary, but is there going to be a learning curve?
We've already see Donovan Mitchell struggle with some of the timing on his passes.
With this team, you would expect that. And then for Defensive Player
of the Year, I just think that when you have him in Mobile and
Jared Allen, there's that cannibalization that goes on, and we see it with
MVP when you have dual stars, which could impat Cleveland by the way,
if we get deep enough into the season, depending on how well Garland or
Mobley specifically we'll be playing. But I think it's Dono Mitchell because now we
have this early season narrative bump and the Calves have gone from oh quaint,
maybe a playing team last year too? Are they a contender? So I
have that and to this is the last one from Muckle. The Calves take
the one seed in the East and best record in the NBA. I mean,
how high do we need to get on the Cavs. I will say,
you know, they have the best net rating right now, they have
the highest SRS for Basketball Reference, which does factor in strength the schedule,
even though that's kind of wonky this early too, because you know certainly the
other things. It's just like they're there without almost this body of work has
been almost entirely without Darius Garland, who didn't look that good in the few
minutes that he played this year. Right, that's the argument, right,
like they're doing this and all the stuff. You would say, oh,
well, that's gonna get better as they play more. It's like the familiarity
with one another, like Donovan Mitchell is a big piece to introduce, like
a high usage guy. I mean, like no one could have foreseen it
going this well, Like the fact that they're here now when you would have
assumed they're kind of working the kinks out or kind of seeing who likes the
ball where or how do the how's the rotation? Like all that's really good.
And I don't think Garland is the type of guy that when the type
of player that when he's back, oh he's kind of disruptive. You have
to really adjust to what Darius Garland does on the floor. It's not like
it's you know, someone's super ball dollar. It's not like you're, well,
we play one way with Trey Young in a different way without him,
or you know, still like there's no he doesn't like fundamentally force everybody else
to like change what they do. If anything, he makes it easier.
I think so, like and the and the other factors. So that's not
too hot there that they can finish with the best record. I think too
like they are at a stage in their development, like certain teams are not
gonna gun for a bunch of regular season wins. We've already seen that this
year happens every year. The Cavs are a team that like, yeah,
man, let's try to win sixty? Why not? Like this is fun?
You know, they're at last stage where I think that's maybe more of
a priority. I will say not too hot on number one seed in the
East, although the frigging Bucks being undefeated still while like no Middleton, no
Middleton or Paton like that or Joe Ingles. So I'm gonna say too hot,
I'm best record in the NBA because I'm heading my best Like the Suns
are still kind of a buzz saw. The bench has been stronger than I
expected. CB three hasn't shot the ball too well to start the season,
so they're going to get better, I would imagine. But between the Suns
and the Bucks just having Yann, it's like we have to account for that.
And then it's oh, like is Portland or Utah that might mind up
in this conversation due for some reason, also too hot on the best record
in the NBA. But all your points are are well taken and last last
thing, sorry last thing on them, Like this is all a totally different
discussion than would you pick them to win a playoff series against Boston against Milwaukee
against like some of these teams that are more even like I don't know Toronto
Philly if they get it figured out, like the playoffs are different, like
I think, you know, I'm really confident about the Calves as a regular
season team. I do feel like, you know, they're sort of more
of a like Memphis of last year level playoff ceiling team, which is good.
But I'm not envisioning the Calves winning you know, two or three playoffs
series. I don't think not yet. It's too early for that. So
we have more calv stuff. This is I should have looped this in jt
Alexander Donovan Mitchell's an MVP can eight in Cleveland right now, too hot or
not? I would say not that's right now. Specifically, he's probably one
of the five so that looped into there. Luke J thirty seven had the
casual finish in the top three of the East, and Donna Mitch will be
in the top five of MVP voting. This is a little bit more interesting
because we're talking about the full season. I will say not not too hot
top five voting because we're so early on and you just look at these names.
By the way, can you guess a name that I had in my
top ten that you don't think would be maybe a consensus or people haven't paid
enough attention to if you just had to, if you were making a top
ten MVP bout off the top of your head right now, Oh, did
you include Harden or something? No? Oh, god, no, I
have no idea. I don't have say in there at the moment. But
anyway, so I would say I wouldn't lean towards definitely top three in the
East. Because remember I came on the podcast and we were doing truth or
Trash. I said the three is their floor. That's clearly not hot enough
for me. This that feels about right, like that's hot. But it's
a hot take because of all the teams. I already mentioned that I would
favor over them in a playoff series for example. A different argument, but
that's sort of how I organized my thinking. Not too hot, the top
three in the East and Mitchell top five MVP. That's totally plausible based on
what we've seen so far. Justin rowan friend of the podcast, has been
on many times, and I appreciate him pretending like he actually listens to us
because he has way better things to do with his time. This wand away
is interesting. Jamie Bickerstaff, Kobe Altman with the Coach of the Year Executive
of the Year sweep grant. Too hot or not? That's pretty hot.
That's pretty hot. I mean I think that's a little too hot. I
mean, you know what though, if if, if you we end this
season, and I don't know what the record would be, but if the
Cavs are where they are, like top five defensive rating, barely out of
the top five offense, then you're almost gonna have to He's gonna have to
be a finalist Bickerstaff, right, and then I don't know about Kobe Altman
just because the Jared Allen thing kind of fell into their lap and that's not
this year. The grant remains sorry by the way the time, Yeah,
should I still say sorry? Now? Mobiley was like the right quote unquote
obvious pick. I don't. I'm not sure my forgetting something that would really
elevate Altman too that to that level. No, I guess because there's only
like the one major transactions. Some we're also like bringing back Ricky Rubio.
Could that end up mattering the Dean like the Dean weight extensions? You're probably
that was highway robbery by Cleveland as far as I'm concerned. Oh, you
know what, And well, Danny Ainge probably should get it, but they're
not gonna give it to a guy that blew up a roster. That's not
how it works. It's always it's if he if they hold Pat or just
in the play in or something. I mean, he might trade those guys
for like five more first rounders. They're not dead. Yeah, So I
actually think it's probably I'm gonna say too hot here, I will say I
think Kobe olt was more likely to win Executive of the Year than J.
B. Baker's have is the win coach of the year would be my guest.
And who would be here if we're executive your ends right now? Who
would have it for you? Would probably be Koby Altman. I'd give it
to any age. I mean, like, that's all right, Yeah,
that's fair. Yeah, that's I mean, that's he won't get it,
but that's who I give it to. Well as of right now. Why
wouldn't he get it? What you have probably picked and like the third best
team in the year, they're going to be the four seed in the West,
and they're gonna have a thousand first rounders is going forward. I did
not expect to wind up in this discussion, though Joe Cronin in Portland having
a strong case too. I gave them a high off season grade. I
walked off them being like a good playoff team potentially, but I was sort
of correct. Should we move on to another another non glamor market. Yes,
I believe it's your turn, right, Yeah, okay, yeah,
it's me. This is from tybol Is it tyble or thible? I say
it tible, But I might be reading too much into the basketball reference Pronuncie,
and that's what most of the announcers say. I believe. I try
and go like what the home teams are saying as well. But all right,
anyway, the really uh steal prone Sixers, defensive wing dpo yuh.
The performance of Dyson Daniels, Trey Murphy and Herb Jones will have a greater
impact on the Pelicans success this season than CJ. McCollum and Brandon Ingram.
No disrespect either of them. I should I should note, uh, too
hot for you, Dad, I think it's way too hot for me.
I will I will say, Look, Dyson Daniels is a monster defensively already
we know what HERM Jones can do when when he's out the tray. Murphy
the third has really impressed me with his offense specifically, there's just so many
more layers than even showed last season, where the level of difficulty even on
his assisted shots where it's like he's coming off motion, that's a big deal.
And he's shown some on ball shake but and I know he's been in
concussion about like Brandon Ingram's ridiculously good. And I think we've seen even when
CJ. McCollum's not scoring, he's provided like structure and balance to the half
court offense at points. That is, if you wanted to say that collective
is going to be more valuable than CJ. McCollum this year, maybe trying
to scale ahead to some of their best defensive lineups in the playoffs, if
they're able to steal a series that might not be too hot. This feels
to me, and no disrespect tyble dpoy, this feels incredibly incendiary. That's
row that with this it's too hot. I mean, like I'm just going
to parse it out greater impact. They'll have a greater impact, that's the
question. Like Ingram and McCollum are going to be, if not the two
highest usage Pelicans this year, two of the three, depending on what Zion's
usage rate is. So just like in terms of who is affecting the game
and who is sort of organizing the other pieces, and like as great as
certainly Murphy and Jones are and as good as Daniels might be, like they're
complimentary pieces right now. Jones is like a game wrecker and is just a
different type of player. But like you know, there there just aren't a
lot of high usage, high efficiency, primary ball handler, playmaker guys,
like they're always gonna have a bigger impact. Like I get the spirit of
the question, Like these three guys are great, They're gonna be awesome in
their roles, and they've all, you know, kind of exceeded expectations gotten
better. Just like, that's not that's way too hot. There's no way,
how about this Pelicans one though, the Pelicans are making the finals this
year, let's just get hotter and finishing with the best record in the West.
Book it that's from T Bloom one seventeen. That's too hot there.
I don't think we were high enough on the Pelicans. Were pretty high on
them mentoring the season. I built them as a fifty game winner and that
they could win a playoff series. If he would have if this would have
if T. Bloom would have just said the Pelicans make the Western Conference finals,
I probably would have been like, that's that's not too hot, because
that's just where I'm at with them, and we need to see more of
them at full strength. The last you know, some of the minutes when
they're downsizing off the bench have not been great. I'm just a very big
believer in the depth of this roster, It's like you can play a ship
ton of different ways where it's, oh if what if we just rolled out
Zion with all four defenders. I don't know what the spacing looks like with
Trey Murphy, Harley Alvarado, Herb Jones and Dison Daniels. Probably not great,
but like he just bulled Dooz his way to the rim anyway, Like
what is that? Can they rebound enough? But I do think in theory,
Larry Nance Junior plus Zion should work. And then it's just like,
yeah, they're the best three point shooting team the NBA right now, they
do not take enough of them. How much does that matter when their offense
has been so good? Anyway, I'm a big believer in the Pelicans team,
and so it's like when it came back to I don't know which one
I gave you on truth or trash, but I said the New Orleans Pelicans
are more likely to win the title this season than the Sixers or the Miami
Heat. That takes aging pretty well right now. That's all I'm saying.
It's aging pretty well. This take is too hot. Obviously, we agree.
I think it's sort of like the Calves, where I mean the best
record in the West is way more plausible to me than making the finals,
just because the regular season in the playoffs are two totally different things, and
I just I'm not ready to say that the Pelicans are are currently more than
a team that could win a ton of regular season games and then run into
like a team that has real, like high leverage reps and like knows what
it is Like the Pelicans, I don't feel like know what they are yet
because of all the depth and because of all the options they have, Like
it's a great problem to have, and it's gonna be awesome to watch them
sorted out this year. But but yeah, I mean, making the finals,
that's that's tough. That's a little too early for me. Bower three
had another one. This one is wow, another one, because why not?
I'm not sure this will be safe to put on the podcast? Worried
about the Wolves should trade Karl Anthony Towns as soon as possible before the league
figures out. He's just a stretchy Andre Drummond. He's not a winning player
at the highest level despite the stats, because his lack of executing the mental
parts of the game, like not committing stupid fouls and not blowing defensive assignments
are a detriment in closed contests. Grant hot or not too hot or not?
Excuse me, Okay, I gotta start with a question for you though,
other than calling Cat stretching Andre Drummond, which I did laugh out loud
at when I read it, that's really funny. Any is any of the
evidence for Cat needing to be traded that's laid out in this question? Isn't
a winning player at the highest levels, lack of executing the mental parts of
the game, committing stupid fouls are a detriment. Is any of that wrong?
Like is any of that off base? Do you think? Do you
think? I guess not? But the winning player one just seems like when
has he been put in a position to be a winning player. There's the
Jimmy Butler season that seems like it was very you know, tenuous behind the
scenes, and then last season they were they weren't supposed like Anthy Edwards was
in year two and it's just like they you know, they have that really
competitor series against the Grizzlies. They were on the wrong side of a lot
of those you know, like comebacks. So I get it, but like
stretching Andre Drummond, And to me, it's more like there's probably a literity
to the thinking of if this guy is supposed to be as good as he
is, why did you just give up all these assets and are paying all
this money to someone who plays what is still karl It's best position, or
should be karlin It Dowd's best position. That's where I'm going with it,
which is he is the number one overall pick. He is a transcendent offensive
player. He is not someone that you should have to say he's never been
in position to do X, Y or z, like he is the guy
in theory if he's if he's the guy like capital T, capital G,
he creates the situation for everyone else to succeed in, right, Like that's
the number one pick pedigree, that's the you know, he's got two max
contracts essentially, now that's the that's what he should be. So like this
is this is still too hot only because trading him as soon as possible,
I feel like it is a wild pivot from We're gonna try to give him
the defensive presence and bear that we think was missing like that was the whole
point of this offseason, of all these draft picks that the Wolves gave up,
Like you gotta give it a little more time. But I totally understand
the thinking that Towns is just not is not that guy, because like we
we all saw, like the brain farts in high leverage games, the inability
to not foul it. I'll never forget. I forget, I do forget.
The broadcaster but said that he gets battle blindness, which is just like
there's like the fog of war and he's got five fouls and he just can't
stop himself from like making a bone head like reach at the ball that has
like a tiny chance of like adding positive value. He's not getting that steal,
you know. So that kind of stuff I think is legit. But
like this guy, since his rookie year, in terms of like on off
positive differential for offense right offensive rating, he's in the ninety second percentile at
worst. He's been that level or better in terms of like making his team's
offense better per Hunter possessions, Like you gotta try to, you gotta try
a little longer to figure it out with a guy that can do that,
because there's I mean, it's like what him, Steph Trey Young Yokich like
those like in terms of offensive impact, It's it's a little too hot,
But I do love stretching Andre Drummond. That's hilarious. I'm a big fan
of that. There's just too much substance to Kat's offense. Though, when
he's on for me to go like we're Andre Drummond, it felt like,
I know what the joke, But I think the way the scales would be,
it's not too hot to say that Towns can't be the best player on
a title contender where this seems like it's going and uh, we're free to
be corrected if if we're wrong here, I won't give out the first name
I actually know who asked this question because we've DM a bunch of times.
Can he be the second best player on like a title team? I would
say yes. And the first one is not too much of a knock because
there may be what two bigs right now that could be the best player on
a title team and it's Joel will be to Nakole yo Kin and we're not
even sure, like it just may not be possible right now. The way
the way the game's played like that's that's the other thing. Uh wow,
this one is oh, this one, this next one to you and it
is brutal. Okay, yeah, uh this is from the most cool KO
you will DeAndre Hunter is officially a bust. Oh you skipped over the more
and send me everyone? Do you not see? I'll go to it after
this, But DeAndre Hunter is a bust. I would say that's like I
would say it's too hot. It's like it's like he's shooting almost forty five
percent from three on the season. His defense has probably been like a little
bit better if you were hoping that he was going to be mcale Bridges with
more of an off the dribble jumper than Yeah, he's a bust. I
guess looking at his draft position, do you consider him a bust relative to
that? I thought the extension was interesting, even in the new cap climate.
I'm not ready to go bust though. There's questions about his health too,
and the the the kind of on ball offense he flashed in year two
before he got injured that was clearly an aberration and so unprepared to go there.
Bust feels really we're talking about someone if he's a bust, he can't
be a very useful player to a really good team, and I would push
back against the idea that he can't. Yeah, by the way, I
just saw the one I skipped over. I'm excited to get to that next
one Hunter real quick. This this is too hot. But it kind of
depends on what you want him to be. And the bust implies like it
was a draft mistake. Right, So he was the fourth pick after that,
I mean, in terms of guys like that seemed like obvious picks.
I mean, Garland went right after, but they weren't. They had Trey
Young. They're not gonna take Darius Garland, so you know, then Cam
Johnson, which everybody panned at the time, was a few picks later,
and then Tyler Heroes even later than that, Like in terms of value for
that pick, I mean, Jordan Pools further down that draft board, but
like they also weren't going to take him. I don't know about that.
The thing is, though, like just as a comp like what do you
want Hunter to be? You want him to be at worst a three in
D compliment to like a championship roster. And so the first person I think
of as Danny Green, and like Danny Green was already Danny Green in his
age twenty five season, which is to say, like one of the best
defenders across two or three positions and shooting forty something percent from three on what
at the time was good volume. It wouldn't be today just because everybody shoots
threes like Hunter is not anywhere close to that, and he's in his age
twenty five season. So like when you say a guy you picked fourth in
the draft is not going to be as good as Danny Green, that's not
as big of a knock as it sounds like, because Green has been a
great player in his role, but like not encouraging, I would say,
especially for someone you just paid. And but the other thing I'll say here,
though, is I would it change for you if you view it in
the context of what the Hawks gave up to get him, which was Nikky
Loxander, Walker, Jackson, Hayes, Marco Silva. A twenty twenty one
second round picked up became Herb Jones and in twenty twenty two second round picked
up became Vince Williams Junior. How nasty are the Hawks of Herb Jones?
Is in DeAndre Hunter's spot on the roster. Oh man, all right,
fair enough if you go through that, did they lose that trade? Yeah,
it's like Jackson, I don't know Jackson. He's is fine because Alexander
Walker ended up being he broke my heart. Yeah, so they might have
still won it. I'm just not ready to go bust. I'm glad that
you're taking responsibility. Gonna do this next one. Now, I thought you
were trying to sort of just weasel your right. It snuck passed me on
one on one line. I also terrified to answer it. Do you want
to read it? You want? Do you want to throw it? So
I have to answer it first. Uh yeah, I'll throw it. So
bemos Quail also said, is Kawhi Leonard or he said, Kawhi Leonard is
is finished? Yeah, Kawai is done. Just as I'm looking at it
right here, I'm gonna cop out and say, well, what do you
mean done? Like as move on? You didn't clarify, we don't get
still alive, like uh oh okay, here's what I'm gonna say, Uh,
it's not too hot and I'm going to assume that what what what is
meant here is he is done as like the guy that you can build a
championship team around, like, which I think most people agreed he was,
like and he sort of did that with the Raptors, like that was an
incredible run. Like nobody would have fought you saying he's one of the three
or four best players in the league, but like he's you just you can't
be that guy if you just aren't going to play. And so I think
it's been proven for several years now that he's not someone that's gonna play a
lot. And now he's missed four straight, I think, and he flew
back to la with the Clippers on a road trip to you know, get
treatment on the on the knee. It doesn't feel like this is the type
of trajectory that like reverses course injury wise. So I guess I'm open to
the idea of Kauai being really good for stretches. I just have a hard
time imagining that he's going to hold up, you know, long enough or
just give enough volume to be like you're no questions asked, you know,
superstar that everyone can orbit around on a really really really good team. I
would agree with your interpretation of it. I would just say it's too hot
to say that he's done, because he's still going to be. I think
even if he's not your best player on a title contender, he's still going
to be when he's available, no worse than your thing. If and even
in the context of do you still think he'll be better than Paul George moving
forward, I would probably still guess Yes, the availability is certainly a concerned
I interpret him being done as well. We've just he has this degeneraive kneed
condition and he's not going to be able to recover from you know this partially
you know, the partially torn right ACL healing. Now they said that there's
stiffness in that knee. He's dealt with a ton of lower body injuries.
At this point. It's concerning. And but I don't I mean, I'm
just not going to default to he's done like that enters like Brandon Watt territory.
This is going to ruin his career. I can't. I guess I
refuse to get there out of stubbornness. I do understand why you might go
to that at this point, because it's like, oh, he had the
partially torn acls is all last year and now he's back, hasn't played in
most of their games. He's slated to miss at least the next five well
I guess five now, since he missed their win against the uh the Rockets
on Monday night. It's a huge concern and ty Lewis tried to downplay it,
but it's like, I don't know if there's any downplaying miss as of
right now. Yeah, I mean it's it's been a long time, right
that that ACL was in June of twenty twenty one, so I mean this,
this is more than a year and we're having issues with the same Yeah,
it's I'm not up. It's a perfect hot take because it's like it's
definitely not clear that that's true, but there's like a decent chance that that's
true. So it is a perfect, like too hot of a take.
This next one's fun. Let's see am I doing this? Okay, I'll
do it. HP Bergie says, uh, jaylen Noel is winning six man
of the Year, and let's take that first. Jinlen Noel's winning sixth man
of the year. Your thoughts that's not too hot? I mean is it?
Wouldn't he be wouldn't he be your pick? At this point, I'm
like, there's I'm trying to think of who's in there. I mean,
there's there's Kevin Love, maybe someone from the jazz jemn Well isn't playing Maybe
enough minutes is that the time that it changes? But the three ball has
not been falling, but he's just been like absolutely frenetic for them on offense.
I don't I still don't think that's too hot. I mean, if
I call it too hot for Kevin Love, maybe any say it's too hot
for Jellen no Well because he is he hitting like that minute. He's not
even averaging twenty minutes per game right now, so is he hitting that necessarily
minutes threshold. The thing for me is is he does fit the like trope
of the six man winner, which is he comes in, he gets buckets,
he's a high volume player and short stints and he's not very efficient,
like that's that's like. And also he's from He's a combo guard from Seattle,
and we know that if all things being equal, you should just assume
that the combo guard from Seattle is winning six Man of the Year because Jamal
Crawford won like fourteen of them, So he's got that going for him.
I do think that like we're looking, I mean, I think Christian would
probably assuming he keeps coming off the bench, has to be a consideration.
I think like Jordan Poole, assuming he gets enough bench games. Is like,
I mean, if if you're talking about winning it right now, then
I guess Noel has a pretty good argument. But like is winning it?
Like is going to win it? That's that's too hot for me. I'm
not seeing that one. The second part of this, uh hot take or
not hot take is Anthony Edwards will get more All Star votes than Devin Booker.
Ah, too hot for me. Devin Booker, he was fifth on
IAMVP ballot, by the way. So far he's he's been really good.
And I know that some of Anthony Edwards his numbers might pop off the page.
And I think his game in general just leaps out at you a little
is in your face. Devinn Booker shooting sixty percent on mid range jumpers right
now, just and he's like he's averaging more potential assists. He's been double
teamed on thirty one point nine percent of his possessions. Everything his son's due
is founded around his decision making out of the double teams and when he's going
downhill, but also on the idea that teams are going to treat him like
that, and so that's too hot for me. I don't know that it's
way too hot. And I have just the one number, which is Booker
had three times as many votes as Edwards did last year, and like,
if anything, the narrative of this season is more pro Booker than Edwards because
of like, like you said, I think Booker is a legit MVP candidate
and and I don't think Edwards is being talked about it all that way so
far. So like, I don't know how you reconcile until cut Popeyes out
of his diet, im out on this idea. You know what, we
didn't even we didn't even throw that into the cat discussion. Maybe we should
have. Yeah, No, that those are both those are both too hot
for me. You got you have another non glamor market question, Glad says
Kelton Johnson is going to be an All Star grant he was too hot or
not? Okay? I wanted this to be too hot, And I went
through and looked at like, what are the who do we think you know
are your likely All Star Western Conference front court guys that are going ahead of
him, and none of them are are like ironclad, right you know lebron
A d Yokich, Zion like just going down the front court guys like other
than Yokich, you know, any one of those guys could just be hurt
or whatever like so those and then you're like Wiggins PG and Kauai Towns Gobert
like Ingram Draymond, like what are we? What are we talking? So
that is not too hot because I think he's not getting voted in obviously,
But like twenty four five and four true shooting over sixty percent his usage.
Talking about Kelton Johnson again here his usage is way up. Like he was
at twenty one percent last year, it's twenty seven. So now he's volume
efficiency, getting to the line more often, passing better. His assist rate
is way up. Draws tons of fact, like all everything is like working
for him. The hilarious statu is the Spurs offensive rating is no, it's
just their net rating is forty eight point seven points four hundred better with him
on than off. I might say a little bit about the reserves in San
Antonio. Jesus Christ, that's a stupid number. Wait, I'm loving it.
Like I'm saying that is not too hot, because he's been great and
you know he's at an age I think he's twenty two, where like,
yeah, it's possible that he's just this good now, Like this is the
leap he took. It. It's it's it's very it's it's on the table.
I this is my official apology for putting him, putting RJ. Barrett
over him in the top twenty five players under twenty five rankings. It was
inexcusable. Uh, he deserved to be higher. I am. I'm blown
away. This is not too hot. I'm blown away by the progress he's
made this season. Also, not to make this about me, but I
dislocated my shoulder a few years ago and I'm still just not as strong on
certain like when I'm going to do like chess press or shoulder presses, Like
the progress that I would like to make is like I can't. And this
dude just dislocated his shoulders back and playing at an all star level and there
is there is Okay, there's a more ill phrase this way, there's more
directionality to his game. It's still not trusting him to hit off the dribble
jumpers. I'm trusting him to do more than operate within a straight line when
he has the ball in his hands and the passes that he can make out
of there, I don't know what's going to happen where if you really slow
things down, can he beat the engine of like a half court offense.
But in terms of a from scratch scorer and playmaker who can make quicker decisions
while you know, going east west, north south, I'm there with him,
and so I don't think it's too hot. The West is as always,
it's deep with talent, and so you know, Calden Johnson versus Anthy
Edwards when we're talking about All Stars, they play different positions. But it's
like looking at votes, how popular is Calvin Johnson going to be? I
think the Spurs have to be sort of on the national radar like they are.
You know, we call them a non glabor market right now, but
they're like the third best TVMBA and we're going by record. So I'm gonna
say, not too hot. Would you predict though? Is it too hot
to p I mean, this is what we're predicting. I'm gonna say it's
not hot, But would you predict he makes an All Star team out right,
I wouldn't, but I think he's I think he's going to be deserving,
but I don't know that he I wouldn't predict it just because like the
Spurs will come back to Earth and like he is playing. I think this
will be his best season by far, but he's gonna come down from what
he's doing right now, just because there aren't a lot of guys that you
know, Floort with sixty percent true shooting and thirty percent usage, like that's
a tiny that's like Kevin you know, Kevin Durant, like hardened prime Hart,
Like that's way over anybody's head. But he's great. I do it
is also, I would say, not a hot take that you're that like
in terms of being an athletic specimen, you and Kelvin Johnson are not the
same. I do think that that is a reasonable take that you're making.
Put the respect to shoulder recovery and just general human fitness. I think Kelton
Johnson probably has you fen turn dp Hornet should start the tank and sell off
as soon as possible. They have one of the most exciting young players in
the league and are still regularly for too hot or not grant, this is
a million miles from too hot. This is act. This is the correct
suggestion. I think I said it before the season and have said it since.
This is this is the This team has to tank, like especially with
some of the purported tankers like not tanking so far. If there's such a
window of opportunity, I think if you could, because they don't have other
than LaMelo, there's just like not really anything here in terms of like building
blocks. So if you're if you're if you're gonna get richards, if if
you have a chance to get one of those and make it so that LaMelo
doesn't sign the max and then as soon as possible has to be traded,
like you gotta do it. I think I think you can move Heyward while
he's healthy, potentially for possibly positive value. Rosier, I think you should
be able to get positive value. So I think you clear the decks like
this is. This is my opinion, Like this is not too hot of
a take. It's what I would say they absolutely have to do. I
don't think it's too hot of a take. I've I do think that maybe
we overstated the direness of their situation. The fact that Steve Clifford has been
able to coach the defense out of this group is just really impressive. And
I think we need to give a ton of credit for how Kelly Bray Junior
is playing at points, for how Jayleen McDaniels has played this season. Nick
Richards, of course, which we actually have something on him. And just
a second, so I this, I share this opinion, and the fact
that's by the way that this has all happened without LaMelo, That's what I
struggled to. I'm like, well, Famelo comes back, they might be
more of like a playing team than I thought, and that's just not where
you want to be with Almelo. So ultimately that's it's not too hot.
I am in agreement, but they've impressed me to start the season. I
think you're just bitter because they beat the Warriors personally, but well, I
gotta I'm gonna be bitter at a lot of teams at this rate. Yeah,
No, I think I think we're on say page another Hornet's question from
Jake g I'll try to condense it a little bit. The gist as the
Hornets should pull the trigger and start Nick Richards once Melo is back. I
don't know why you need to wait till Melo it's back for that Bills,
I thought he'd be out of the NBA after his first contract, but the
work and commitment he's put in, you know, and had to have put
in this offseason has done wonders am all for him being at worst a low
end starter slash solid rotation piece, deserves every apology I can give him.
Listen, we'll give the apologies. We don't. That's that's our job.
Goes on to say Plumbly's main skills his ball movement in passing. That's also
correct. That won't be as much of a necessity with LaMelo back. So
is this too hot of a take that Richards should be the starter in Charlotte.
Essentially, Uh, I wouldn't even wait till LaMelo is back. I
understand like the theory of Mason Plumbly and maybe want to see Nick Richards go
up against more second unit players. But no, I mean like you were
in the mode of, oh, like let this team tank, but I
think even what would be better for them in terms of their development. But
also maybe this season is once LaMelo's back, having Nick Richards Richards out there
giving yourself more versatility on the defensive ended a different type of threat on offense.
I think it could benefit them Devil and then if you have Mason Plumley
is your primary backup because you're still not gonna play you know, Kai Jones
or JT. Thor who's you know. Jake g has mentioned this a bunch
in the DMS and on Twitter. To me, j T. Torch just
might be he's a shot of adrenaline when you watch him, and so they
might have some stuff to plumb up front. And I think this comes back
to our stands on the tanking or like being more graduate with the rebuild.
I would really lean into just like full on experiment. I think Nick Richards
is good enough to justify this, but I'm saying you can go off the
rails even further because I think that's the mode this franchise needs to be in.
Yeah, I agree, it's not too hot. I mean, you
out played James Wiseman, so he's obviously the Hall of Famer Richards. I
mean, like he's the number two pick. He just was. I'm gonna
we have a couple of quick fire ones, but I'm gonna throw mine at
you. Now some you mentioned James Wiseman hot Grant too hot or not the
Warriors need to give up on one or both of Jonathan Cominga or James Wiseman
because there's a good chance that neither of them are very good and they clearly
can't straddle two timelines in this Western Conference. So it's too hot and for
several reasons. And I'm mostly I'm sticking to my guns for I've saw along.
I was just of the opinion they shouldn't trade those guys that was mostly
last year. And I will concede though that there's like a really good chance
that neither of those guys are good. I mean, as early as it
is for both, and as athletic and like obviously gifted as both are,
there's just real problems. Like you know, Wiseman still just has no idea
what to do on defense. He doesn't understand how to play offense the way
the Warriors want to, so when he comes in, it's picking rolls and
it just changes everything. Kaminga is like had some dnps deservedly. I think
he doesn't quite know where he fits in. Having said all that, of
high you know, possession five man units early this year, the Warrior starters
veteran laden you know, Steph Clay Wiggins, Draymond Looney. It's the best
net rating of any you know, very frequently used five man unit in the
league. So like, if you think you can find two or three other
guys veterans, maybe that can give you good playoff minutes. Or if you
think there's a decent chance that any of these young guys can contribute you know,
rotation stuff in the playoffs, then I think the move is still you
just wait and you just hope that you know, Wiseman figures it out or
Cominga figures it out. Because like the stakes for this year, I don't
think are dire enough if those guys do continue to be disappointing, that you
need to do something drastic. So but I have to concede, like it's
not too hot to say that that both of those guys have been disappointments and
the like it's becoming an increasingly significant, like point of conversation out here and
something that the Warriors like, Okay, you know this, this is it's
it's getting a little we need to see something and and I don't think we've
seen enough for me either of those guys. I don't think it's too hot.
I'm James Wiseman. I don't see this team ever wanting to play how
he's best used unless they're Look, it does seem like Steve Kurry single handedly
trying to prop up Steph Curry's net rating swing by just mirroring the James Wiseman
minutes against when Steph Curry rests, so that that could look super impressive.
I'm not necessarily out on Wiseman. I just don't know that I if they
actually still want to be one of the primary threats in the West moving forward
with this core, I don't know. Wiseman specifically is the one that I
see a tough time of, just like, well, how is this just
going to go? The path to playing time is not clear with Raymond Green
or Kavan Ludy right there, And just also like, is he ever gonna
be good enough defensively for you to want to play him? And if you
want to play Steph Curry and Jordan Pool and even Clay Thompson a bunch.
Not to be unfair to Klay Thompson, but like you don't want Klay Thompson
necessarily on point cards as often anymore. I just the Wiseman and the Warriors
fit. I guess is. I don't want to say I'm out on it
because that seems cruel. There's been such a small sample size. I just
I don't see it. No, the signs aren't good. I do think
in pool Pool is the like is the proof of concept, right, because
I mean, he looked worse at his low than either Kamingo or Wiseman have
looked like. He looked like he was not an NBA player, and then
lo and behold. Now he's got one hundred and forty million dollars and he's
one of the best reserve guards in the league. He's gonna start for a
long time eventually. So like you can't you can. I think it's you
can't pull the plug yet, especially with the starters and the vets still being
so effective. But yeah, big concern for sure. Oh yeah you're up.
Sorry, my monna, we gotta Oh this is a good one.
Jt Alexander says, Laurie marking In isn't going to be an All Star.
Sorry, isn't going to be an All Star this year? L ol.
So I guess maybe we should flip that and say like he is going to
be an All Star. Well, I mean, I don't think it's too
hot to say he's not going to be an All Star. That's that's a
reasonable take. That's not too hot. I will say him the Jazz playing
five outs to often benefits him pretty well. And I don't want to I've
just mentioned this on the podcasting like three or four times. He wants you
to know that he's like doing things like with the some of the flair he
tries to throw these passes. He's just like, oh, people need to
know what I'm doing. But this has been a way more complete offensive player
than I think we've ever seen before. And what the Jazz are doing with
some of their lineup structures, I think it's really smart and it's contributed to
their success. I think what was it the game Cameraber, which game I
was watching that they played the other night, where it's like they very rarely
had like a non shooting big on the court and it's just like it works.
So I don't think it's I mean All Star. I think it's really
like that's say he's not going to be an All Star. That is the
correct take to have it would be too hot to say that he's going to
be an All Star. But with what he's doing now, Grant, should
he like sixty three percent of his two twenty two points a game, almost
three assists rebounding the ball fairly well? Like should he be in that early
season discussion, I mean, he's played great. I think that's more reasonable.
I do think you mentioned the two point shooting, Like a lot of
his gains in efficiency are just volume, but also he's making a ton of
like short floater range shot and mid range twos. He's you know, it's
not quite Chris Paul level, but it's like within a percentage point or two
in terms of his mid range accuracy. Like that's that's coming down. But
yeah, he's proven, like he proved last year, he can be a
quality starter on a good team. Like that's the floor now, I think
for marking and provided you have like a couple of the right types of things
around him. But yeah, and not an All Star, but like definitely
like a good starter I think at worst going forward now for him, Our
next one comes from Matt Chan, Trey Young and de Jontay Murray are the
best backcourt in the league. Grant Hughes too hot or not. It's too
hot, but I will admit that as I go through. I mean,
there's at least a conversation with like almost any of the other backcourts you'd put
up, like you know, just just spitballing, you know, Chris Paul,
Devin Booker. Most of that's Booker, but like that's still a backcourt
that led to sixty four wins last year and made the finals the year before.
And Booker as I think of more legit MVP candidate then obviously Murray,
but also young Marant Baine. I think I probably like those two better.
But I mean it's a conversation, you know, steph and like any sentient
being that you could put out, there is a pretty good, pretty good
backcourt MAXI Harden, like you know, if you want to get crazy,
Garland and Mitchell. Even though we've seen like twenty five seconds of that,
it's a little too hot, but like you know, it's worked pretty well.
I think I gotta believe that most people in Atlanta are pretty happy with
the earlier returns. Right, and Trey has definitely gone some through adjustment periods
on offense with his efficiency in playing off de Jontay Murray, but they're making
it work. We've seen him not just come off more screens, but even
set more screens. The Hawks are outscoring opponents by six point two points with
by six point two points per a hundred possessions when they share the floor about
an average defense. The offensive rating is is just absolutely absurd. What has
been interesting and what I was looking up in preparation of this podcast. They
are getting absolutely trucked when either one of these guys plays without the other.
They are when Trey plays without Dejeantay Murray, they are minus eighteen point one
points per one hunter possessions. When Murray plays without Trey, they are Oh
no, they're actually winning those minutes. Excuse me, I read it wrong.
So they're winning the minutes Murray plays without Trey and they're losing the minutes
Trey plays without Dejanta Murray, and the minutes in question are like they're They're
exactly what you expect them to be. It's like, oh, the defense
when Trade plays without Murray is atrocious, and I sort of wonder if they've
asked him to do much too much heavy lifting. And some of those lineups
where it's like Okay, your most used like Trey without Dejanta Murray combination is
going to include all three, not just one, but all three of Aaron
Holiday, Jalen Johnson and excuse me justin Holiday, so the Holiday Brothers and
then Joe Johnson. Like that's a lot of heavy lifting for trade to have
to do. And when you look at the talent that Murray's been around and
some of his line ups, they're trying to inoculate him a little bit more.
He's played a bunch with the all they bother brothers and even Jalen Johnson,
but like, oh yeah, come greu. And it does seem like
those minutes from what I've watched of a lot of their most used lineups are
coming against competition where my favorite them a little bit. But I did just
find that interesting that you've won the one guard minutes with Murray or the one
Star minutes with Murray Let's or however you want to phrase it, and lost
the ones that Trey is playing. I mean, it seems pretty obvious that
the correct take is they just need to trade Trey him. Like the I
mean, the numbers, the numbers through through ten days of the season are
just not lying. Let's see. Okay, here we go. H this
is from Drizzy Watts. I'm going to lump these two together and hydrocynth.
It's very tires Maxie focused. Set of questions tyres Maxie will lead the Sixers
in scoring and make his first All Star team, followed by Maxie will win
m IP Take those in any order you want, from from not hot to
too hot. You can even organize him. Look, so the scoring lead
the Sixers in scoring is too hot? He has to I know we're early
on, like Joel will Read is at twenty seven plus and Maxie's around twenty
replus. And look how many minutes max max is averaging? Thirty seven minutes
are right, So it's like he's not playing more. He's not going to
get volume out of that. The All Star conversation not even a little bit
too hot. I would probably pick him to make the Eastern Conference All Star
team right now in terms of most improved player. That is interesting because the
numbers are not like super drastically different from last year, and I think it
could be hard to spot how he's elevated his game if Doc would give him
more mother fucking control over the offense though during the you know, either one
star minutes or nost like give go Tyres Maxie no star minutes more often,
that would be his ticket to getting there. I do think he's going to
be buried beneath the James Harden, Joel and bead usage. Doesn't Bed miss
enough games to where that helps him. I'm gonna say it's too hot,
un most improved. I think it'll be too difficult to spot the differences,
and that if he was going to win that award, it was going to
happen last year, as disinclined as people including myself are to give it to
second year players. Yeah, that's interesting you mentioned that because a lot of
the guys when the might P question is the only one that really is like
not way too hot. Looking through it, I just kept coming back to
like second year guys like well, I mean, Scotty Barnes is going to
get a lot better, and what about Evan Mobley or okay, you know
all these which is such so stupid because the second year guys, I agree,
it's kind of like, well, yeah, of course they're going to
get better. It's not like they meaningfully changed. I mean, Nick Richards
is probably gonna win Most Improved Player, right, Like that's what we've decided.
I do think that Maxi has the assistance of a narrative that I feel
like and it's partly true, but like I don't know if you watch the
first two Sixers game as I saw were both national broadcasts, and stan Van
Gundy like there was a counter for like how many times he said that Maxi
was the most underrated player in the league. And I feel like that's not
just him. I feel like there's a real push for everyone to like acknowledge
how great Maxi is and like, yeah, he needs more responsibility. But
it's like until Harden really like you know, turns back into nets Harden or
embed his hurt or it's like Maxie is the third option on this team,
like that is the wrecked order. I think he'd be best deployed, like
you said, without either of those two guys, Like every minute those two
guys rest should be the Maxi show, Like you know, that's just how
it should work. But he's not leading him in scoring way too hot.
He's not making an All Star team. Oh, he's not making an All
Star team. No, I don't. It's well because if he makes it
like and being and Harden have to be on it too, right, barring
injury, Like barring injury is the caveat that runs through all this. But
like he's their third best player. Is he gonna Is he gonna make it?
With two other sixers at the right things are going, It's hard to
see. I guess that's a fair point. This next one from darkwing Duck
Denver won't win forty five games? Too hot or not? That's way too
hot, thank you. I thought it was way too hot too. They're
four and three through seven, that's a forty six win pace. And everyone
would agree that the Nuggets have been disappointing so far. So like again,
barring injury, if Yoki gets hurt, all bets are off. But that
like this is this is a fifty win team. It's just you know,
I don't know how they get under forty five is way too hot? What
is most concerned you about the Nuggets right now? Jamal Murray doesn't look like
he's very close to back to me, like just he I will say that
like I do, like I love Casep's fit. He'd missed some time with
an ankle. I think he's kind of the perfect two for that team,
but Murray just like and maybe it'll come and it's unreasonable to expect more.
But I think the combination of Murray like not really getting a lot of separation,
not looking quick most of the time he has moments, combined with Yoki
kind of not being that aggressive as a scorer for a lot of the season
so far, is like I don't know if i'd say that concerns me,
but like, those aren't great. Those aren't great signals, especially with Murray,
because I do think for the Nuggets to sort of be what the most
optimistic outlooks for them were, which is to say they're like a could be
a team that makes the finals, Like Murray just has to be pretty close
to Bubble Murray and MPJ has to be, you know, on the absolute
shortest list of like high volume three point shooters this year, which could happen.
But then you still have all the questions about about like can we build
a defense that wins playoff series around Yokich, you know, against the best
offenses. I don't know, but yeah, I mean they're really good,
Denver's really good, and I think they both they should get better. The
Murray stuff. I think it's way too early to say offense despite his struggles.
The defense bottom five and points out per possession. That's that's troubling for
sure. For sure the final one. And I didn't add this until the
last minute, so it's good that you're Actually it's up to you to throw
it to me first so they'll go look at it again. It somehow like
didn't copy and paste all these all right, this is from kilhas flattened lottery
odds, and the play and tournament have worked to curb tanking, and going
forward, most teams will attempt quick one to two year rebuilds rather than trying
to bottom out long term. Agree just tanking, like the pros is dead.
This take it's not too hot. And you want to know why.
I think it's reflected, Yes, the lottery odds in the play in tournament.
It does make it sort of prohibitive to go the long term tanking round,
or at least dissuades it a little bit, or incentivizes you not too
however you want to frame it. The other thing is just like you need
to look at how quickly title windows are opening and closing around the NBA where
you're not it's different if you're going through a long term tank to open what
you believe is this seven to twelve year window that does not exist anymore.
Look what happened in Brooklyn specifically, Look what happened with the Lakers surrounding lebron
and Anthony Davis. Like these title windows are opening and closing in a flash.
Even Look, you know we joke about the heat and Cleveland, like
Lebrono, he did his four year cycles there and then just leaves like those
title windows clothes, Like even the Warriors had to take two gap years to
reopen theirs. And yeah, there are injuries that are part of it,
but that is also the Actually there's injuries, players are leaving, getting unhappy,
things implode behind the scenes like we see in Brooklyn. And I think
that's gonna go into it. The trade off is no longer, Oh,
we're trying to open something that is just going to endure for a decade or
more. And why do you want to throw away X amount of years on
tanking? And even I the final thing, I'll say, we got to
change the definition of what tanking is. It seems like it's thrown around with
this like casualness that isn't deserved. I mean, Okay seas an example.
Yeah, they've they've done like shut down tanks. They've done that for two
years now, it's been two years and they've yet to do it this season.
And you can say like, oh, well, look at who's on
their team, Well, those are all there's just a ship tunnel legitimate prospects.
Now, like when you have yeah, Shay jojo Axander, Josh Kiddy,
it's not their fault, Chet Homer and gets injured. Now do I
think that they've done mid season tank jobs? For sure? I don't think
we've seen anything as egregious over the course of a year as we've seen from
teams in the past, like just the six Ers of course, but just
other teams, and how it felt like from the beginning we were always setting
out to tank. You now, maybe the Spurs and the Jazz, we're
trying to do that this year, and they fell as backwards into being like
competitive, probably the Jazz more so than that there Spurs, but even the
Jazz. It's like, I know, this team was accidental because like you
didn't acquire any of those players on purpose. You wanted the picks for Rudy
Gobert and even Royce o'deil that Donovan Mitchell specifically, but you looked at the
rosters like, well, this team can't suck because it has good players.
They're just gonna demolish it at some point. So I love this take because
I agree with it, and I don't think it's too hot. It might
it might sound too hot to people some people. I just I don't think
it is. Yeah, I don't think it's too odd. I think the
only way that changes is if like the thunder Go, you know, in
two years, begin like an eight year run of where they're a fifty game
winning team, you know, when if it's very clear that like Houston would
be another one that you know, it's still it's crazy because they've been going
on for so long or it feels like but if they work, then maybe
not. And I don't think you're going to see the end to like what
Portland did last year, where it's like we have a key injury the second
half of the year, like screw it, we're gonna shut it down.
Like that's gonna linger. And I think that probably should linger, because that's
just the smart move. But the process stuff, yeah, I think there's
a chance that just the flatt and lottery odds alone, I think just you
know, did a lot of work to kind of end that kind of stuff.
So yeah, not too hot, which which is maybe that will surprise
people. I don't know. That's all we have, I think, unless
you'd like to add I guess I'll take us so much that I'm probably gonna
put this into like two different Oh yeah, we went along. That's okay,
that's what we do. So guys, thank you for listening. That's
gonna do it. I hope you will all remember to let us know what
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takes and all you know. I want to say one last thing, actually
two last things today. Sorry Jared Allen, I was wrong about you,
and godspeed. Steve. Nash also shout out Frank niel Akina, who just
remains perfect in every single way.