What is up, fellow thermonuclear A adverts. I am Dan for Valley,
coming at you solo to talk some NBA trade deadline. We had some moves
that happened, and I scheduled a bunch of different live streams. I had
to keep moving them back because it turns out that you all know I cover
the MBA full time for Bleacher Report. Said Hey, I actually had to
write about these trades, which are both just super duper incredibly fascinating. So
if you were sitting there waiting, I appreciate you sitting there waiting. Let's
talk about them. Though. We'll give people, some stragglers a few minutes
to come in here, so I will very quickly just remind you to subscribe
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Instagram. Those are the housekeeping notes. Those are all of them, I
think. So I think we can finally get into these trades. And you'll
have to forgive me if I'm like triple screening it at the moment. If
you're watching me, I have my phone, I have my second computer setup.
It's that time of year. It also doesn't help. It'd be a
lot easier if Twitter and fucking suck at the moment. I hate you elon
hashtag that sucks. Just tweet deck is all sorts of weird at the moment,
and it was down for a second. So yes, I will be
my h I will be. My eyes will be scattered all over the place.
I will get to questions as they come in once we talk a little
bit. But since someone's already in here, got one FK retro These trades
today made no sense for so many teams, I think. So let's start
with the Jazz one, because I do think that's the trade that people are
most confused of when they look at the return, like, I don't fk
Retro, You're not You're not alone in saying that. So the actual terms
of that trade is the Lakers will get Malik Beasley, Jared Vanderbilt, and
D'Angelo Russell. The Timberwolves will get Nikki, Alexander Walker, Mike Conley,
a twenty twenty four second round pick from Memphis or Washington. It'll be the
less favorable and it'll come via the Lakers. They also get UTAs twenty twenty
five second and Utass twenty twenty six second. The Jazz will get Damien Jones,
Wantis, Connolly, Anderson, Russell Westbrook and the Lakers twenty twenty seven
first round pick. It's top four protected. And also, and this is
just this is super note worth at the moment. If it doesn't convey,
it just turns into a twenty twenty seven second, And that's huge because it
allows the Lakers to then turn around and trade at twenty twenty nine second.
And so I want to break down the The implications for the Lakers is I
give this trade if we were grading them, which I technically am, but
I'm not doing that here. It's just it's an a for the Lakers.
I don't know how it's anything other than an a for the Lakers. They
only gave up one first round pick, and there was this school of thought
that if they were going to trade, make a trade that was so geared
towards this season that they needed to trade both picks because they needed a mega
return, and so like, even then, would the mega return be enough?
Like if you if they had gotten Kyrie Irving, I think you could
say, oh, well, I guess they had some like championship equity or
potential outcomes, but maybe they also didn't. So like, that's to get
this haul only giving up one pick and that you got to protect it,
and it doesn't trickle down because now you're able to do is you'll move like
this pick, move your twenty twenty nine pick. Excuse me, and I'm
sorry I'm stammering here. I'm trying to get this promoted on Twitter, and
it's tweet deck. I guess if you're sending out tweets, it won't actually
publish. So that's that's that's fucking awesome. That really kind of sort of
definitely blows anyway, though, So for the Lakers, the fact that you're
still able to trade you're twenty twenty nine pick, you go out and make
another move right now, or if you think this is enough and we'll get
into the fit of the players in a second. If you think this is
enough, like now, you get to holster that pick, and when you
go into the off season you can trade. You can still trade a swap
in twenty twenty eight, you're twenty twenty nine pick, and then a swap
in twenty thirty. I don't know what value that necessarily has, but if
there's there's more value there, it opens up more avenues for you to improve
your team. And also just looking at the books of this, if you
want to, you can still just say, hey, we'll go into this
offseason with cap space instead of keeping any of these guys. Russell's a free
agent, Malik Beasley is a team option. Jared vanderbilt salary is completely non
guaranteed, So you can just get rid of those, get rid of Ruey,
and still have all that cap space. If you want to sign Kyrie
Now you don't. I want to be clear, you don't make this move
with the intention of doing that. But if if for some reason it doesn't
work out, you have that avenue and you only gave up one first round
pick while significantly increasing your ceiling on this season. And I don't know,
I don't know how to judge what the Lakers highest and olcome is right now,
to be honest with everyone, mostly because the West is just so fucking
jumbled. That being said, the Lakers are disappointing. And yet if you
want to just to get in a top six spot to really have a chance,
like let's say you just want them to avoid the plan, they're only
four losses back of the six seed Dallas Mavericks. Now the catch twenty two
there is you have all these teams in front of you Portland, okay,
see the Jazz, Minnesota, New Orleans, Golden State, and Dallas.
That's a lot of teams. We've already shown that Utah's gonna punt on the
rest of this year, do we bet? Are you try us in anything?
In Minnesota they've been on a tear of late, but D'Angelo Russell was
a huge part of that. And Mike Conley's been solid. He kind of
elevates your floor. I think without raising your ceiling. We'll get to them.
The Golden State Warriors are dealing with the Steph Curry absence for another month.
What's gonna happen with Kyrie and Dallas? The Blazers just traded Josh Hart,
Like did they They didn't get better in that deal, getting Cam Reddish
and Ryan Orchidiacino and Spi McKay Luke. So, and we'll talk about that
as well. So like you have and the Thunder, you know, they're
sort of like they're not fading, but like they're a team that you could
see fading and you've gotten better. That's the other thing is this is not
the Lakers, like just being the Lakers and hoping that oh, Lebron and
I d have to will most definitely kind of sorder are gonna stay healthy and
they need to carry the little of themselves. D'Angelo Russell is like having a
pretty good year and he's been on a tear for basically the past two months.
Right now, he's shooting thirty eight point five percent on catching shoot threes
and even more importantly, shooting thirty nine point four percent on off the dribble
threes. This is a wild stat though nobody on the Lakers is averaging one
pull up jumper per game, end posting an effective field goal percentage which measures
two point and three point efficiency above fifty. D'Angelo russells affect a field goal
percentage on pull up jumpers fifty three point three. That is the eighth best
mark in the league among seventy three players who take at least four of those
shots a game. That's absolutely huge when you're looking at the dynamic of the
Lakers offense. It's something that Rust didn't give you, even though he was
going to take those shots. I think he's actually averaging more pull up jumpers
per game than D'Angelo Russell, which is a capslock problem. So you get
someone who I think, yes, the Wolves, maybe we're worried about his
long term fit off the ball when you were funneling so much of your offense
to Anthony Edwards even Kyle Anderson there, but like Delo has been able to
play off the ball, so he could play off Lebron. The line ups
with him and Anthony Davis and no Lebron, that should work out. Really
well. I think this is just in itself. I think if the Lakers
made this trade and the comment from fk Retro, which I left up on
the screen for a while, yeah, they literally gave up nothing, really
for three guys that so many teams were going after. Don't get how they
got them for so little. I will talk about that in a second one
once we get to the Jazz. But I think you could have done this
trade for just Delo and it probably would have been okay, Like maybe the
you know, the value would have been different because how does Minnesota give up
calmly in that deal? But if that was the you know, if that
was the only like, if Delo was the only thing that you got out
of this trade, would you have said that it was that it was a
failure on the Lakers part. Maybe, but like maybe not, because you
could say, well, they just might have signed him in free agency.
So that's huge for them. Now they get someone in Malik Beasley who brings
uh, sorry to anyone who's hearing all my messages, work messages go off
in the backgrounds. Here's the season to just get tons of texts and dms
and emails and keep up with absolutely none of them anyway, So training thought,
oh yeah, so yeah, they could have signed him in free agency,
but if you just got Delo, that have been huge. Malik Beasley
high volume three point shooting that has value to this Lakers offense. And he's
not a properly size of wing, but at six five, he's like their
second biggest wing if you're like outside of Lebron, and I don't consider him
a wing. I don't even really consider Ruey a wing, but that's huge
for them. I will know. Beasley has been shooting under thirty one percent
from three over his last twenty one games or twenty three games, so that's
more than a quarter of the season. That's something the monitor. He should
be getting at least the same quality, if not better quality shots in LA
when you're catching passes from Lebron. I think that that's a good pickup under
team control for next year if he works out as well. And then Jared
Vanderbilt, then talent infusing alone. I liked that play. The on off
splits don't love him. He became a little redundant and definitely awkward once Walker
Kessler emerged, though, And so now you're playing on a Lakers team where
you have If you're gonna try and play him next to Ruey Endoor Anthony Davis,
you might run into some of the same spacing issues, but defensively,
he should be able to spend more time around the basket, which is where
he's best suited, and he just brings you some rebounding hustle and then then
pure energy night tonight. Again, the talent play there alone is just like,
yeah, get it and then figure out the rest later. I don't
know, Like these are all three of the players that the Lakers are acquiring
right now, Like there's a chance that at least two of them would be
their third best players overall. Like I mean, you have Anthony Davis,
you have Lebron, and then it's I don't know how you feel about Austin
Reeve. Let's not have the Russell Westbrook discussion at that point. Like the
whole six minute of the year bus thing with him was totally overrated for the
Wolves. I don't love this, but I understand it. So you get
Mike Conley, who has experienced playing next to Rudy Gobert. He's having a
solid season, and I do believe we need to view this through the lens
of Okay D'Angelo Russell was going to be a free agent. If you thought
that he was going to leave or you didn't want to be the one to
pay him, you needed to figure out a way to get value out of
him. And so what you do with Conley is you basically fold delo salary
into a smaller salary that's on the books for next season. Mike Conley has
a full salary of twenty four point four fourteen point three million, of which
is guaranteed, so they could waive him if they wanted to to cut that
ten million off. I don't think you make this deal to do that,
though, So you bring in someone who's just cheaper can still play, so
you're not losing Dealo for nothing. Has the experience with Rigobert, He's probably
if you really want to continue to allocate more touches to Anthy Edwards and like
to play Kyle Anderson on the ball, and you also want to make sure
that when karl anthy Towns comes back that he can be a prominent part of
what you're doing on the ball and not strictly playing away from it. He's
probably the better fit for your roster and so the depth chart makes a little
bit more sense here to me. That being said, Mike Commy's thirty five,
He's gonna be thirty six next year. His contract is like, that's
net negative value when you're paying him that much, and I don't like,
what if he slips off? Doesn't have the intended impact. So while your
roster does make more sense, DeAngelo Russell to me, gave you the higher
ceiling when you look at what might have happened in the playoffs. There is
value though and catering towards fit and synergy and optimizing you know, the talent
that you're most invested in, and like I said, you need to view
it through the lens of DeAngelo Russell probablyving or maybe earning too much money for
the Wolves to finance in free agency, and I think that helps with the
optics here. And then also you get those like two distant Utah first rounders,
which in twenty five and twenty six, Yeah, the Jazz should be
better, but what if they're not? So like, what if those picks
end up being in the thirties, that's just you know, some nice value
there. I also I like the flyer on the kil Alexander Walker, just
because this team doesn't have a lot of reserve firepower. And while Nall can
be sort of this firecracker or inconsistent firecracker, he's just like that's an extra
body there, especially if you wind up, you know, acquiescing to the
jail and Noel trade demand that we know is there, so that helps you
as well, or at least is interesting to do. So again I understand
it from their perspective, but it's not a very inspiring move and now they're
just very much out of alternatives because it's what is there. But like Delo
was sort of their last big trade chip unless you're gonna look at moving Carl
Anthony Town's over the offseason once he becomes trade eligible. And so it really
gets like they have Jane McDaniels too, but like what you're just to build
out packages now gets so tough, and if this doesn't work out, Mike
Conley's not all of a sudden an asset. Yeah, you can move his
expiring contract, but at twenty four point four million, you're probably not taking
back great money at that point. Again, I understand it from their perspective.
That doesn't mean I love it. The jazz they are the team that
was criticized the most. I think in the aftermath of this deal, a
lot of people there were reports early on that the Jazz wanted a first round
pick for Jared Vanderbilt, Mike Conley, and Malik Beasley, and so I
think people are sort of treating this trade as if that was an absolute fact
or even possible. It wasn't. Like so I already mentioned, let's break
this down player by player. Jared Vanderbilt became awkward redundant after after the emergence
of Walker Kessler. He's on the books for four point seven million next year.
But a reserve big man who doesn't based the floor is never getting a
first round pick without other moving parts involved, i e. The Jazz taking
back bad money and he makes too little money to have been sent out for
bad money on his own. Malik Beasley, Yes, he'd probably get you
a first round pick on his own. Still, that first round pick is
not nearly as high end as the twenty twenty seven Lakers selection might be.
And I think the other thing to consider is, like he's been sub thirty
one percent from three for quite some time now. He's just been super up
and down for them. On offense. It's a good move for the Lakers,
and he's a valuable player, but like, I don't know, Like
he wouldn't have gotten you more than a lottery protected first round pick from a
team that would have wanted it to convey this year, and it would have
been in the twenties or something along those lines. So yes, he would
have gotten you a first round pick. There's that first round pick, but
it wouldn't have been nearly as high end or off into the distance. And
for a team like the Jazz, they have so many first round picks now
they're up to fifteen future first round picks that are loosely or unprotected. I
believe, as Wog framed it, loose protection means like top four, I
would say, or lower so top five or better so, and that makes
sense. I think they have the top five for Minnesota and twenty nine now
the top fourth for the Lakers in twenty seven. You wouldn't have gotten a
pick nearly that high end. And then Mike Conley, that's not I'm not
saying they would have needed to move off an asset to get him out of
town. He wasn't getting you a first round pick on his own. I
think even pairing him with someone other teams would have looked at, well,
we're taking on this asset because we're gonna pay Mike Conley next season. And
when you when you look at it that way, which is the right way
to look at it, they maybe maybe again, I'm just gonna say,
maybe could have gotten two first for these three players. That's maybe they would
Those two first would have just been afterthought first and not as potentially high end
as the Lakers might be. Now, you are taking on some risk here
because if that Lakers pick doesn't convey in twenty twenty seven, it turns into
just a second. But you also get the benefit here of increasing your cat
flexibility this summer. You just went getting rid of Beasley's team option. You're
not gonna pay Vanderbilt and un guaranteed, and then all of Mike Conley's money.
They're just they're gonna have max cap space and then some if they don't
want to do anything. And I'm not saying they need to go spend spend
spending free agency, but that's going to give them avenues to facilitate other trades
or make other trades themselves, either as buyers and lopsided deals, like,
you know what, if the Hawks just blow it up, John Collins is
going to slide right into Utah's cap space, Like that's still eminently possible.
So that having that flexibility is part of the value that needs to be incumbent
of this trade. That's like, you know, that's that's not bad value
here when you're looking at the Lakers first round pick that you're also getting.
Fk Retchers said, Jazz basically got cap space in a second twenty seven for
Westbrook? Who are they going to buy out? And yes, you could
look at it that way, and that's fine because look, most of the
season's already gone. That RUSS number, while it's huge forty seven plus million
already most of the salary has been paid, so it looks like a huge
number on the books, But it doesn't matter now because you know what the
trade market is. But you don't really know what else you could have done.
So you know, excuse me, you know what else you could have
done, and clearly there wasn't any better move out there. Otherwise you don't
make this trade. Alan Pinhoe says Lakers turn difficult Westbrook situation into three players
that fold in much better. Add this to Rudy improving Thomas Bryan at center
burning minutes you Todd did well with the pick. But Minnesota, Yeah,
I just talked about Minnesota, Allen. They not inspiring. I get it
from a fit perspective. I think Conley's better suited for a roster where when
Karnthy Towns comes back, you're gonna want him to be on Balsam in addition
to Auntie Edwards and Kyle Anderson. So I think he's easier to fit in
that dynamic and has the experience with Rudy. But there's no way, and
there's no way in hell that this is like an inspiring move for them.
I think it could be a better fitting one, but I don't know if
it actually elevates their ceiling. Might only elevate their floor. So I think
the jazz to get back to them did like fine, It's it doesn't have
to be overly inspiring. But if you could have would you have preferred Let's
say you could have gotten two additional twenty twenty three first round picks that we're
going to convey in the twenties, Why do you want that if you're Utah,
because you already have so many picks, like in general, that you
can afford to put something into the distance. They have their own pick this
year, they have Minnesota's pick this year, and then they have a first
round pick coming from Houston, Brooklyn, or Philly. It's at least favorable.
So you're already looking at three first round picks in the chamber. You're
not gonna do you what are you gonna do with a fourth and a fifth
one? So I would rather have the twenty twenty seven pick because it's right
now. Yeah, they do have two, or they have four. Now
they have four twenty twenty seven first but it's so far down the line you
can decide what you're gonna do with them. They're probably not going to keep
Cleveland's Minnesota as the Lakers send their own, but like by that point they're
gonna have a better hold of their rebuild. They'll be further along in their
timeline. Right now, you're kind of just kicking the can there. And
I think the other thing is they didn't They've been plucky and fun and like
in the you know, they're they're in the thick of the middle class of
the West. That's not why they traded Rudy Gobert and Don Mitchell. It
was too anger for something bigger, better, and so like, while they've
been surprisingly competitive, there's value in saying, Okay, well that doesn't fit
the bigger picture motif. And so what they did is they decided, hey,
we're gonna short the Lakers future while forefeiting no one mission critical to our
own. Do you think Beasley and Vanderbilt we're both going to be on this
team beyond next season, like going into their expiring dealsn't Conley for sure?
That was the age thirty six season. Doing that while also drumming up your
draft lottery odds this year. And look, we know what the league looks
like right now. There are some really bad teams that Jazz are not going
to catch up too. But like, you know, they could go on
a they could lose five sixth straight games and like all of a sudden,
they're in Orlando Magic territory, which is basically top five lottery odds at that
point, Like that that's a possibility, So you drum up your own draft
lottery odds there, and you also just have that effortless line too. You
know, I would probably have them at between forty and sixty million in cap
space. So that's look, that's for where they're at. I don't think
that that's bad value. I am surprised that the Lakers got this much for
their one first round pick, and as Ryan says in the chat, how
Lakers, how Lakers getting these deals? Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised, mostly
because general manager Rob Polinka has not done anything that I think inspires confidence in
him. Ryan also says Lakers to finals. I would respectfully yet strongly disagree
with that take. I do think they're more of a threat, as the
thumbnail that I put on YouTube should should show everybody. But I you know,
let's maybe maybe we should slow the role a little bit here. So
it's a it's a big time I think it's a big time win for them,
and I think that most of the players in Beasley and Russell fit seamlessly.
Vanderbilt I'm a little bit more skeptical on, but you could build certain
lineups around him and look, maybe him and a D can definitely work.
It's definitely easier to play him with a D than it would be a Walker
Kessler. So that's my impressions there. I think if you're to rank who
who may made the U, who made the who made out best in this
I would probably rank it as the Lakers first by a mile, and then
I think I'm putting the Jazz second, and then I like it the least
for the Wolves, even though I kind of understand it here. So that's
like, that's just where we're at. I think that then if there are
any questions, if you want to throw them in the chat about this trade
specifically, we'll get We'll get back to them as I continue rolling through this.
But I think I think that's really the more interesting h implication here out
of all this. I mean, it does I think maybe the most industry
ones, Oh, the Jazz are really just they're they're not about this season
at all, Like they're maybe they still kind of stumble into the plan because
Lowry Marketing and Walker Kessler are so good. Oshak Bashi has been really good
lately. They have Jordan Clarkson, of course, so there's a possibility that
they don't get much worse. But they've now you know, continue to stack
their deck for the future. And I think people need to look at this
in terms of cap space, even though free agency has changed, even though
Utah's not a desire the most desirable mark get. Having that flexibility absolutely matters.
So Pippin and from Ryan and Beasley and Pippen junior chemistry would be fire.
I'll take your words for that one. That one Ryan. So for
the Lakers of the implication here is just like they're clearly going for it.
I think a lot of people viewed some of the moments from a D and
Lebron when Lebron broke Kaream scoring record as something that felt like finality or closure.
A D just looked completely off that night. When you look at his
interview, his body language, the way he played on the court, I
thought he was hurt. There was like the one hustle play made was diving
into the stance or like a random loose ball. There was the sound bite
of Lebron like telling Ady he loved him. Hopefully Ady wasn't injured or going
through something, but that was sort of weird. This at least shows like
the Lakers are really committed to this core and I think it's not just about
this season. The m RS was only twenty six, Like this is something
that kind of gives them more of an open ended window and aligned to doing
other things over the summer. And look, this trade is objectively better for
them to me than giving up two first round picks and uh, you know,
to get Kyrie Irving. I would prefer this trade eleven times out of
ten to the Kyrie Irving scenario that was that was on the table for them.
Let's get to this other trade before I wrap up. So the Blazers
are trading Josh Hart to the New York Knicks in exchange for Cam Reddish,
Ryan Archidiacono, Shia mckail Luke, and a protected future first round pick.
I don't know that we've seen what pick is coming from the Knicks there.
Uh, it's going to turn into though it's a lottery protected and it's going
to turn into four second rounders. I don't like. Is that going to
be Dallas's or the Knicks? Is that the Knicks's own? There's a chance
that the Knicks still finish in the lottery, I guess, But if it's
if it's Dallases or the Knicks, my bet would be, like, you
know, neither of those teams are probably gonna finish in the lottery. The
Knicks are just sort of iffy there there's seven in the East. The Hawks
have been parking up a little bit lately though they have lost two straight.
But then it's like, oh the Bulls, wrapp There's Wizards, Pacers or
any of those teams really gonna put pressure on the Knicks. Maybe they like
it feels like they'll get in via the play in and then Dallas I think
just might be a depending on when Lukadanci comes back and how the Kyrie Irving
fit works out, that that might just be like a flat out like playoff
team in the West, which is you know, that's fine. I don't
love the idea. Josh hart Is gives you some defense, some rebounding.
He is first team all, doesn't shoot as well from three for his career
as you think, but he's going to give you like a lot of just
gusto, as I think Clive Fraser would say in transition. And so maybe
that just adds like like a different cadence to some of New York's games.
But he's got thirty point four percent from three this year, almost sixty percent
on Two's again, a really good rebounder, not much of a score can
make. It can be like a just a fine ball mover, secondary passer,
someone who I think adds value, but he's going to be a free
agent. He has a player option. So if you're giving up a protected
first round pick here that that looks like my guests would be that it will
convey like I don't, I don't love it, like I don't love it.
I just don't. I don't. I guess I don't understand it.
He played with Jalon Brunson at Villanova, so that's super fun. What does
this say about how they're gonna flesh out the rest of the rotation. I
mean, if anything, look, the trade deadline is not done. But
when you look at the depth chart, like Josh Hart should probably and we'll
see if Tims is invented enough to do this, that's someone who could play
some small ball four and it's that gonna make it. You know, we're
just gonna bury Obie Topping even further in the rotation for that. I guess
you can look at it as Okay, now your wings are kind of Quentin
Grimes, RJ. Barrett and Josh Hart. That's not overkill by by any
stretch. And there you're gonna have a lot of good defensive minutes. If
you play him with quickly, if you play him with Grimes, and you
know, pair them with heart maybe Mitchell Robinson up front, there's gonna be
a lot of damage done there defensively, so it's not looking at their death
chart. It's not overkills. It seemed to me with First Clans. I
just don't get. I know, you don't have cap space this year,
so you wouldn't have been able to sign them out right, But I don't
get giving up a protected first round pick here if it's just their own,
because I do think they're probably less likely to make the lottery than the Mavericks.
I'm not really sure. Perhaps I just, you know, I guess
it's nice that I don't know. It's I don't love this deal for that.
I can't get into it. It's just that it's going to turn into
four future second round picks if the if the selection is not conveyed this year.
I'm not like, I don't I don't love this. I'm just I
know the Knicks have two twenty twenty three first this year, and they could
technically have more, but the picks that they have from Detroit and Washington aren't
going to convey, so they have two twenty twenty three first two first round
picks in this draft is not overkill? And what is this? DJ ben
uh? Now, all we have to do is fire Pam whoa, that's
a Lakers trade comment. You want Darwinham fired already. I don't really know
that Darwin him has done anything that's warranted being dismissed in LA even if you
haven't been inspired by the job he's done. Look at the roster they gave
him to start to see how much time if the Davis missed as well.
So yeah, I don't. I don't love it. I'm not gonna kill
the next for it, like I get it, I don't. I guess
some the logic would be, Ah, they were never gonna play two rookies
or even one rookie. That's the way that TIPS would operate. I just
two rookies is not It's not overkill here, So there doesn't need to be
like this, Oh we needed to move off of these picks. It would
be different if you had all four first coming in, but you don't.
We know two of them just aren't going to convey in Detroit and Washington.
So I just don't love it. I guess the fit is there, but
you don't do anything to improve your spacing here. I do wonder what does
this say about maybe there if you want to read superinto what does this say
about their faith and RJ? Barrett? Are they gonna they've just paid Barrett
his deal kick in, they're gonna pay Heart. You don't give up a
protected future first, I would say, if you don't plan on paying Heart,
just sort of a curious move. It feels very this season focused to
like really push their defense, which if you're betting on this quiet and saying
like we think this is gonna nudge us towards the playoffs, then yeah,
that's fine. I just I don't love this move for New York. If
I was to grade this one, I haven't written about it yet, but
I probably give it like a C. Maybe a C, maybe a C
minus, not a not a D. You'm not gonna kill it or anything
like that. I think it's fine for the Blazers. They get another conditional
first round pick that they can technically reroute as part of other deals, which
is good because they can't trade their own and their other picks are just encumbered
by that protection. To Chicago, they have lottery protected through twenty twenty eight
is the is that pick that they owe to the Bulls, and so that
definitely hamstrung them and other talks. You're also you get the flyer on Cam
Reddish if you're gonna keep him. So there's that. To consider the fact
that they took that they did a three for one here, it does mean
that there's probably more other moves to follow. We know that they were shopping
use of Kitch. It's we knew they weren't gonna keep Josh Hard and so
to get a conditional first round pick and a flyer on right as you're betting
that the Knicks are going to make the playoffs, essentially, let's say,
and that's a fine gamble to make. I don't love it for them,
but I think the idea that now you can trade the concept of a first
round pick because you can't guarantee it, but that was something you really couldn't
do before. Now that you can actually do that. Now that you can
actually do that, I think opens up some more doors for them. So
I'm very interesting what they do for the rest of this deadline or how much
Cam might even play. Fk Retro says, this heart being there hurt quickly
in grimes rotations at all. See I thought of it the other way.
To me, I think it makes less sense for the Blazers, but your
thought process makes sense. I'd be curious you could throw in the channel or
up there. Why do you think it makes less sense for the Blazers if
we're just operating under the assumption that they weren't going to pay Heart, just
with Jeremy Grant also about to get paid, and they just resigned, They
extended Dame, they resigned Simon's, they resigned nurk Kitch. I don't think
they were ever going to I don't think they were ever going to keep Heart,
and I don't think that they were ever you know, everyone talked about,
oh teams are interested in Heart. I couldn't really think of a no
brain or destination for Josh Hart. The Knicks were one of them. I
just never thought they'd give up a first for him, even conditionally. I
thought it'd be like Isaiah Hartenstein if the Blazers wanted another Reserve Big Look or
Cam Reddish in seconds to get Josh Hart, which, by the way,
that could end up being what this is. And that's perfectly fine for the
Knicks, but I for the Blazers, like, yeah, I do think
it's Josh Hart's been so I don't even like up and down this year that
I do think Blazers fans got not that they turned on him, but like
weren't super high on having him now or long term. And so you could
look at it as, Okay, we just lost someone who's averaging. I
think he was at thirty three plus minutes per game, but he wasn't scoring
a ton viewing, how are you going to replace his minutes? I guess
gets super interesting there because that look that is you know, no bones about
it, like that's those are a ton of minutes to actually so that you
have to figure that out. And Cam Reddish is not some bankable someone who's
gonna come in. He's not going to replace hearts rebounding, that's for sure.
He's not going to replace hearts. I guess like he has the he's
not going to replace hearts like kind of girth on defense. So look,
it's you could get there by okay, if Justice's Winslow is healthy, maybe
they're just playing on upping and shading Sharp's minutes. And then you also Gary
Payton the second pack, so that makes this a little bit more palable.
Addition to if not little is healthy, so you play him aton in addition
to, let's see what this flyer is on Reddish and if he pans out,
look maybe you have a cheaper option now that you get to keep in
restricted free agency. So I get the lottery from play even if you don't
love the trade for the Blazers, I get. And there are concerns,
like I said, how are you going to fill that rotation? I do
think they just have options where you're definitely not gonna lose too much offensively going
from heart to like the names that I listed, But Cam Reddish is such
a stab in the dark that there was a chance that, oh, did
we just trade Josh Hart for four seconds? And that's kind of just like
a whatever deal. But you also chance to get a first You've decided to
bet on the fact that the Knicks are going to make the playoffs, and
the Knicks have decided, I guess, to not bet on the fact that
they're gonna make the playoffs, but that making the playoffs means something to them.
Otherwise you don't you don't give up this conditional first round pick. The
Reddish trade initial one those you gave up a conditional first that might never convey.
But now you've given up two conditional first. It's part of like to
get Cam Reddish and then to get rid of him, and you end up
with Josh Hart for two conditional first and that's what it amounts to. I
again, it's just like a like I don't really know how to feel about
that. I certainly I don't. I don't hate it. I don't love
it. I don't know what I don't. I guess I really don't know
how to how to feel about it, but I will say that I think
that it's mostly just flat out uninspiring. I just don't really have a like
A I don't love this deal for the Knicks. I don't think you have
to love it for the Blazers, but I think it makes more sense for
them, and I like it better for them. DJ Ben has something on
the Lakers trade. The lineup hand puts out on the floor stupid in my
opinion, I'm sure he's going to mess up, even though we got some
good play years now, more spacing etched. But I don't think he's a
good coach. I just tell me what lineups he's playing that you're mad at,
and then what your alternatives would be when you're looking at which players have
been available, which players are actually on the roster, I don't you know
you can quibble about some of them, like some of those really ultra small
Lakers lineups that we've seen over the course of season. Yeah, I get
that, but it's not like he was just dealt this hand that had all
these options here either, So I just I can't I'm not willing to really,
like, I know that Russell Westbrook was a scapegoat and that he was
not the sole reason that LA was where they was. That was on like
the front office and Genie Bus flat out like those are the people most responsible.
I don't know, even if you're not high on Darvin Ham, I
don't know that we've seen enough from him to just like with a quality roster
and a fully healthy roster, to make too many snap judgments about him.
We are probably getting to the point we're gonna wrap up here, So if
you have any questions, what were any other deadline questions you want to throw
in the chat? There's not a lot of other like real juicy news items
going around. Did it see Boston's jail and down suffered a facial fracture per
shams and we'll miss some time. He took an elbow to the face from
from Jason Tatum. He's now sidelined through at least the All Star break.
He's gonna have a follow up with a specialist on Thursday. That's really something
to monitor. Doubt it impacts Boston's trade deadline plans at all, but that'll
wind up being a huge loss for the Celtics. Predict, Oh, this
is fun. Predict the next trade right now? This is this is tough.
So who will be the next player to get moved? So now that's
sort of the Malik Beasley like one of the jazz Like all of the Jazz
dominoes have fallen and di'angelo Russell's off the table, and we kind of at
least as it could change, we saw it change with you know what what
Woud was saying about James Harden last year the day before the deadline, James
Harden isn't getting traded. The morning of the deadline, he was like,
oh, James Harden kind of wants out and there might be a deal coming
about. So we could see something like that with Kevin Durant as my point,
but I wouldn't expect it the team that I'm watching the I think the
Raptors will be the team that moved someone next. I'm gonna say that it's
going to be at least give me two players here, a Fred van Fleet
or o Gianna Noby trade. I do wonder if the fact that the Knicks
got Josh Hart means that they deemed o Gianna Noby ungettable and so that the
Raptors are less likely to move him. I still think like a Gary Trent
Junior or Fred van Fleet trade is eminently on the table. I would say
that two Gary Trent junior suitors are off the table. I'd like because the
Knicks were good Gary Trench Junior destination in my opinion, I thought they were
good for Mollie Beasley too, and I thought they were good. He was
a good target for the Lakers. I don't know if he still is.
When you have like, do you tray Mollie Beasley for Gary Trent Junior?
Like? Is that something you think Gary Trench Junior is enough of a defensive
upgrade. He's younger that if it was Mollie Beasley and the Raptors of value
having that team control of the next year rather than having to pay Gary Trent
Junior. Can we see that type of a deal Maybe, But I do
think we've kind of seen two potential G G T J destinations go off the
table here. Fk Rete, I'm leaning towards the Raptors traded something compass.
Yeah, I'm right there with you. I'm wondering which player it will be
if we had a predicted player. I've I've been back and forth on everything.
At one point, I assume that og and and Nobi was basically untouchable,
and now I almost feel like he's the second most likely Raptor to be
traded, if not the most likely. I am just wondering what it says
about the Raptors willingness to move Og or his market in general, or they're
asking price that the Knicks have basically pulled themselves. They had the picks to
give up to get them. But I don't know why you would trade Josh
hard and then also turn around and get Og again. They could do it,
but I don't think that that's I don't think that's something they will do,
and so I'm just gonna look at Fred van Fleet here, and they're
the team that I'm watching. I think the other like teams that could define
the trade deadline now, especially look the Jazz again, maybe they surprise us
and move like a Clarkson or a Sexton, But aside from there, they've
played there. It just feels like they've played all the players we were talking
about. It just it was Vanderbilt Willie, Beasley and Conley with a little
bit of a link and Clarkson and Sexton. Talks sprinkled and they've they've not
dealt the three most likely players to be traded. So yeah, that's just
like I think it's aside from Toronto, when we get I think Atlanta is
a team that could wind up to finding sort of the deadline. Do they
move John Collins and then also just sneakily Brooklyn because they prioritize the return in
the Kevin Durant trade. That screams, hey, we want to continue winning
now and we'll be open to moving these picks or other players. Do they
get in on the van Fleet sweep stays? But then we also have the
reports from which that Katie's talking to them about his future, and I don't
think if you're the Nets, I don't think you could make any other like
now focused trade without an assurance that Kevin Durant is going to stay, is
going to stay with you beyond this season. Like you can't just move that
like picks now on a lark. Like you definitely can't do that because if
he then he wants out, you've now like moved future equity there. You
don't recruit a ton of it in the Kevin Durant trade. But unless you're
getting a player back that you can then reroute for I guess like the similar
value or even more that you more than you gave up to get him,
that's just too much like an iffy proposition there. And so I'm wondering just
what they do. And I would like, you know, this is like
only tangentially related, but I really want if we're going through the teams that
I want Okay Record to say, yeah, I'm hoping FV and Collins both
get moved. Look, I just feel like John Collins needs to get moved.
Miles Turner signed an extension with the Pacers, so now him being there's
on him. And I know Collins resigned with the Hawks as well, but
he's been involved in trade rumors for so long. But the offers that you
see out there for him are just so I know he has seventy five million
or whatever left on his deal over the next three years. Oh my god,
his value to me isn't that low. I think if you get I
think, if you like get him in a system where he can at least
be more of a roller, at least more often than he Isn't Atlanta now
that you're going to be fine. Indiana's the perfect destination for him, but
you need a third team to send Atlanta immediate players teams that I want to
see make a move though. I really would like to see the Kings just
to get like, let's get weird. You're third in the West and your
margin for error isn't that huge, Like what can you do? And then
Phoenix, I'm just kind of looking at them there. If the character,
if the Clips get both Fev and Collins somehow be pretty happy. I would
be fucking floored if they were able to do that at this point. I
guess in that scen area, you're giving up both your swaps, a first
round pick and Terrence Mann. I don't know if that's enough to get you
both. I think they could definitely get one, and it wouldn't shock me
to see them get one. I'd probably prefer to see van Fleet there.
They've already been linked to Russell Westbrook on the buy out market, which is
a little concerning because this isn't even a shot at Russ. I just don't
think he's a great fit for that roster. It's like what if John Wall
took even worse shots at some points. I just like he's been better than
john Wall this season. I just don't love to fit there, But I
would like to see, like, what's gonna happen with the Suns. They're
they're kind of a what is this Dale Ruca No we talked about? Is
that in reference to Russ to the Clips or what what's happening there? You
worry about Rust to the Suns, but the Suns, I'm just very much
fk Retro and Russ to the Eclips. Yuck. I'm very much intreasing what
the Suns do because now that the Kevin Durant spector, which was already looming
over what they were always gonna do. How do you give up future assets
if you think that you might also, Yeah, this is to get back
to Westbrook from Mecca Rotter. You've been linked to the Bulls. That makes
no fucking sense either, Like I guess because you don't have Lonzo, But
no, I don't. I don't want to see Russ and de Rosen and
Lavine. No, that is not That is not a coherent team. I
don't know. The Bulls just can't get out of their own way if they're
gonna move one of those guys, like maybe, but it's not even Caruso
would have to be de Rosen or Lavine. And at that point, like,
what are you what, what are you like even doing if you're moving
to Rosen and then signing Russ, Like what is the actual endgame? I
struggle to see their in game now. No, Dala Muca, I'm not
I'm not moving Russ to the Suns. That would be. They were interested
in Kyrie though, so I have question their decision making a little bit,
but to like to that end with the Suns now that KD is just very
very likely to be back on the table because if not this season, over
the off season after the Kyrie trade, can you justify I mean you could
justify, but how likely are you to trade a first like a future first
round pick, or even you're twenty twenty three first round pick, which is
just more valuable than it was before the Devin Booker injury. Quite frankly,
you could go the other route, though, and say, well, you
know the Suns are now fifth in the West, like they've quietly you know,
they're on a three game winning streak right now, like when eight of
their last ten the offense has been like ify without Devin Booker, but he's
back now you are quite literally only three losses back from being in the third
seed in the West, And so why wouldn't you just go for it even
if you can't kick KD But knowing that Pascal Siakam would be a target for
this team, knowing that Kevin Durant would be a target for this team,
and then also knowing that those two players are more likely than not along with
other ones like what happens at brandon Ingram hits the market in New Orleans or
whatever. But knowing that the star trade market is going to open up even
further over the off season, do you have the guts to make a bigger
trade now? And that would be a stark departure from the way that James
Jones is operated even when the trade market wasn't this turbulent where you knew that
you were coming off of Finals Birth last year, for instance, and you
didn't just go out and get Eric Gordon at the time. Maybe there's a
move they can make to sort of straddle, you know, can you just
get Eric Gordon for seconds and call it a day and say, like,
let's just see where this is will reevaluate over the off season. I know
they've been linked to Fred van Fleet. I don't hate that for them,
Actually, I just question what the package would be going out there. But
I also just questioned in general, well, how committed to you are you
to making a move when you don't know what's going to happen with Kevin Durant
and his future with the Nets, and you're gonna want to be in on
him and maybe even Siakam his future with Toronto, which again I do not
expect to be neither of these futures to be settled at the deadline, although
for a minute I was like pretty sure the Nets were just going to trade
Katief in the deadline. Hey, we have more than twelve hours to go
though, like we have like fourteen or fifteen hours whatever it is, so
it's still technically possible. I don't I don't know what to expect from them.
They also have like having the new owner matt Ishbayah. I like you,
there's the there's the impetus of a new owner to want to do something
major whenever they come in. We've seen I mean, look at what happened
with Minnesota with Mark Larey and Alex Rodriguez coming in and they just go and
like they hired him Connelly and they made that Ridico bertrade, Like holy shit.
I don't know if something similar will happen in Phoenix, but like you
could see a little bit of that there as well. I do think it's
more likely that they do something disorder strato line in the middle. FK Retro
saying, also Eric Gordon is linked to the Clippers now too. Apparently he
would be interesting because he gives them some rim pressure in addition at three point
shooting and could probably play like he's not going to hurt your defense at all.
I don't know what you give up to get him from, Like who
would the rockets they would want. I have no doubt Terrence Man. I'm
not moving Terrence Man for Eric Gordon. You can get to the salary pretty
easy. But I'd just be curious just to what are you attaching to get
to the money, Like if you're using Luconnard and Robert Covington and then another
salary, like what is it that? What is it that Houston wants for
me? Is it seconds like a flyer on Brandon Boston Junior or Jason Preston,
I'm your coffee. You can do that. I would probably do that.
I like that way better than Russell Westbrook will tell you that right now.
David Luca says a CP and KD aging will be very expensive. Yeah,
no shit. I will say that it helps that CP three could basically
be his last year next season because he doesn't have a guarant the full guarantee
on the final year of his deal, but three more years of KD going
into his age thirty five season next year. That is shout out. I
said, no, oh my god, I'm taking it off the screen.
I know you're trolling Dave Muka, but that was just and then they come
out like you know that you've made a fucked up decision when you have to
come out and basically retract it. Like you saw the reporters who were I
don't want to use the word in their pocket, but it might be more
favorable to their comforts just coming out right away and saying, oh, no,
no, no, there's been no, there's been no decisions made.
And I sayah, Thomas, that's how you know that you probably shouldn't have
even thought about doing that in the first place, especially that no teams should
have considered this, but especially given what the Suns have been what's been going
on with their workplace culture over the past two decades. So yeah, that's
uh. And then for Eric Gordon to La Clippers, Yeah, you think
a third team is in there. That's a good point too. Is it
like a I don't know, like how you set that up? Maybe maybe
it's like an eight team trade to finally involved Jay Crowd or getting moved Joseph
Cruz, Are there any moves in Charlotte, sir at the moment, Joseph,
No, they should be one of the more active teams. I will
say there was the report that they really wanted to get a first round pick
for Mason Plumley. Then than Jazz got one first round pick for Beasley Vanderbilt
and Mike Conley. I think we'll tell you that you're not gonna get a
first round pick for Plumley. I did think that like three of their soon
to be free agents in PJ. Washington, Mason Plumley, John McDaniels,
and Kellyoobridge Junior would be moved. I still think will see a multiple of
those guys moved. Probably Mason Plumley is the most likely one, just because
John McDaniel doesn't seem like he'll be too expensive and he kind of plays like
a real position of need for them. At least with Plumbly, the air
parent is there and in Mark Williams, and you can also just go find
a Mason Plumley. But I John McDaniels is sort of a bigger wing type
that's harder to replace. Maybe Kelly bridge Yours expiring salary will be valuable to
someone, especially if they think he'll be healthy for the stretch run. But
I don't know for them specific with targets, I think they're probably more looking
to load up on flyers for youngsters or picks. Joseph does ask Is.
Rashaun Holmes had a conversation on it. I mean, he'd be interesting in
Charlotte to pair with LaMelo Ball. I guess if you wanted to give up
Mason Plumley and something else for Rashaun Holmes, and the Kings are probably compensating
you at that point a little bit because he's two years and twenty five million
left on his deal. You can afford to pay him because first of all,
I don't think his contract is that egregious if you actually play him,
but you know, we'll have to see maybe really has fallen off that much.
But they can afford to pay him more than most teams because Mark Williams
is just so cheap and so like if and I mean, look, look
if you went to if you went to Sacramento right now and said, we
don't even need compensation for Rashaun Holmes, like we'll just give you Mason Plumley
or even kellyer Bridge junior for Rashaun Holmes is like a trade that you could
flow, Like, yeah, I would do that if I'm Charlotte, just
to take the flyer on Rashaun Holmes. He'd be fun to pair with LaMelo
Ball. I also thought about if they were if they were looking to take
flyers here. I really think that they would be, and I proposed this
it was both loved and hated. I would love to see them be a
team like go to the nets and say, hey, do you just want
to get off of Ben Simmons's money, Like, well, we can fold
Gordon Hayward into this trade. So like that's like if they could, they
could just be a team that doesn't anything because they're so just They're not aimless,
but they're just they're so bad right now and they should just be They
should be focused on either taking really big swings that don't mortgage their future,
or you know, just trying to take stabs in the dark on players that
they could reboot their value. I do like per Joseph if if you're looking
for just like another big that you want on the roster next season and it's
not Mason Plumley and you really just don't have faith in like Kai Jones,
or you don't want to bring back Nick Richards, who's gonna be I think
he's an early bird restrict to free agent this year and for some reason,
you don't want to play J T. Thor all the time. That's something
to monitor and then it's like it's cost controlled in a sense that, Okay,
we know we're paying Mark Williams nothing for Shaun Holmes is twelve million a
year or whatever it is, and then we're gonna have to pay PJ.
Washington this summer and that's like, that's not a terrible allocation of money to
your front court. So I'd like the Holmes is interesting there as long as
it's not, Oh, we're really gonna like bury Mark Williams on the bench
behind him because he's shown a lot of flashes this year. Rob Sheldon hearing
plumbly could be a buyout and headed back to Denver, or is that just
what never wants to hear? I don't I can I say both. I
wouldn't shock me if he doesn't get traded that he becomes a buyout candidate just
because the Burdens don't need to anyone to suck. But if he wants to
play for a contender where he wants to play meaningful games, that will up
his value ahead of free agents. See, there's there's always buyout possibilities on
the table. It's the same thing with it's it's not it's like apples to
oranges. Here a little bit because neurlands now Well is not playing as much
as Plumley is. But like that's why nourylans the Well is a buyout candidate.
Obama becomes a buyout candidate if the if the magic don't move him,
So wouldn't shock me if he comes a buyout candidate. I just when you
look at the teams that seem to be in the market for bigs or reserve
big men, Like if you just look at Portland, Toronto is still floating
around the Yacca Peartle sweepstakes. The Clippers are looking for a reserve big And
I'm not saying he's a good fit at all these places, but like the
Nuggets are one of the teams, and he could slide into their trade exception
as well, And so the Hornets might say, well, like why would
we you know, we don't care about your luxury tax bill. Why can't
we just slide him into your your trade exceptions? Like given the number of
teams that seem to be in the market for another even Washington wants another big
man. I guess because they're playing Gafford and kp together a lot. Now
they want that other big to come off the bench. I would bet against
Mason Plumley being bought out at this moment. What do I think he's a
good fit for Denver? Yeah, I mean he beats like a lot of
the alternatives right now, and like I love Zeke Naji, but I also
recognize that maybe he's not the like the like, the just the flat out
five. And then Jeff Green has been all over the place this season.
DeAndre Jordan has probably been better than expected, but just not the answer like
Mason Plumley. Just as a passer, if you want to run your offense
similarly to how you would with Yo Kitchen, I don't want to say siminarly,
but if you want to run stuff through your center, Mason Plumley can
do that. I don't know what the defensive drop off is going to be
there. I would argue that maybe from a stationary position he's better than Yo
Kitch, but in like like in terms of mobility, he's a downgrade there.
So Rob is with me, Good Glen, someone agrees with me.
It's almost I was doing look Shout out to our podcast listeners and even I
thought YouTube was mean, but Grant and I were doing the Bleacher Report live
stream. The other day, which we're gonna be doing that if anyone is
still listening to this point five thirty Eastern time Trade Deadline Day winners and losers,
so come hang out with us there. We'll also be going live at
probably eleven PM Eastern Time to do our own podcast reacting to the trade deadline,
So mark all that down. But they were man. The commenters were
brutal. They did not they did not like us, and they did not
like my appearance. They were making fun of me having spiky hair that I
guess wasn't thick enough to their liking, so they was and it was.
There was more than one comment. So thank you for everyone who's just like
even the YouTubers who were normally mean, at least they're just criticizing my basketball
takes rather than my appearance, except when I get called to EMO to cover
the NBA. So that was quite the experience. I'll stay on for a
couple more minutes if anyone has any other questions they want me to get to.
I know, we don't have as many people and here as we normally
do between Twitter and YouTube. It is, I mean, it's a little
bit. It's definitely later on the East Coast. I thought people would be
more interested in the Russell trade to the Lakers, but that's just a I'm
so interested to watch the Lakers now and I haven't seen if we if Lebron
has tweet yet, because he's been very quick to tweet when stuff doesn't go
his way. But as he tweeted about this trade, yes, i'mon't have
to let me know since I can't really be up on Twitter right now.
Kyrie is apparently killing it in his MAV's debut, so this is gonna be
you know, where he tricks everyone to think everything's gonna be fine before it
sort of implodes. Another question from Joseph Cruz, is Charlotte's Charlotte for a
chance in top five picks in the draft or maybe Wemby or Scoot Yeah,
I mean, let's let me bring up there at Kankathon odds or Pankathon odds
right now. So if the season ended today, they're gonna the fourth best
lottery odds. So could they If you're wondering, can they out tank and
get into the you want to get into one of the top three spots so
that the odds are flattened. Can they catch up too? I think Houston,
San Antonio and Detroit are the bottom three teams. Yeah, they're tied
in lost colum with the Spurs. And so look, if you're Charlotte,
that thatcher and said to be like Mason Plumley, gone, let's get rid
of that. Let's even get rid of PJ. Washington at this point.
But you could end up with top three pottery odds, which will give you
the best chance of landing a wemb or scoot, even though it won't be
guaranteed. So yeah, there, I'll look quite frankly right now, I'd
probably be shocked if the Hornets don't have a bottom five record, just because
the teams in front of them. I don't think Orlando or India is gonna
actively tank. And then the Lakers the Wizards are all trying to win,
Blazers trying to win the Thunder and the Thunder and maybe the Pacers kind of
or Thunder and the Raptors. Maybe you're like sort of in that in between.
We'll see what Toronto does at the deadline, but there's not as much
of a clump when you're looking at the bottom of the league. So like,
yeah, there's Charlotte's locked in I would say to the fourth worst record,
Joseph, they have forty one losses through fifty six games. The next
team, the next worst team is the Orlando Magic that has thirty three losses
through fifty five games, and so like we're talking about an eight loss lead
there, the Hornets would have to go on to caps lock or run.
If you're worried about out tanking some of the some of the like other teams,
than yeah, like you're you're in a rush to move things. But
if you're worried about the Hornets winning too many games to fall out of a
top five spot, I think I think you're fine. Like if they if
for any reason, Sirie be quiet, please God. If for any reason
the Hornets don't finish with a top five records, something weird has happened somewhere
Charlotte ripped off a crazy winning streak, or more likely, I would have
to applaud the tank jobs of the like the Pacers or the Magic or the
Wizards who have twenty nine. Yeah, there's just don't worry, Joseph.
The Hornets are locked into a bottom four record and they have a real chance.
There's so the four worst teams are the Hornets fifteen and forty one,
the Spurs fourteen and forty one, the Pistons fourteen and forty two, and
the Rockets at thirteen and forty two, you could feasibly end up being the
worst team in the league. But if I had to predict, will they
finish with a bottom three record, I think it's gonna be hard to out
tank San Antonio, Detroit and Houston so long as you're playing everybody. Now
if we get into thank you for the kind words, Rob especially, but
if you're trying to outank those other teams and you have Lamello, who I
know has been banged up a ton this season, like you have players that
are probably helping you win a little bit more like the coaching with Steve Clifford
is definitely a better coach than looking at Steven Silas, I'd probably even rank
him above Dwyn Casey at this point. I'm not gonna put him above Pop.
But the Spurs are just so barren of experience, and they are I
would guess they They are a team to watch the trade deadline now too.
They are someone that's going to be I would say, materially worse after the
trade on like between Josh Richardson, Doug McDermot and Zach Collins and Jaco Purdle.
I think at least two of those guys get moved or at least one.
Josh Richardson seems like the one that everybody should want and could the Spurs
Would they be willing to get rid of him for you know, a few
seconds, and just like salary or whatever, they can draw up their return
because they have cap space. If they're willing to take on bad money.
Maybe one of the funniest challenge trades would be like Josh Richardson, Zach Collins
and Doug McDermott for Ben Simmons and like, let's just try to rehab Ben
Simmons's value in San Antonio. So this was a lot of fun everyone who
joined us. So we made it this far. And if not subscribe yet
YouTube or on your podcast player, hit that sub button on YouTube, subscribe
to as an Apple, Spotify, Stitch or whatever. We do put out
a lot of content here. We're podcasting a lot lately, and I'm sure
it's going to pull back after the deadline. I am. I will say
I'm excited to be able to I like focusing on new fits, and I
do love the trade deadline, but I'm excited to be able to Like it's
really hard to and I still I've done it, but it's like really hard
to watch basketball this time of year while you're also running around and writing and
podcasting and trying to track all this different different stuff. And so I'm a
little bit more like frenetic and higer than it normally ends. I'm like kind
of looking forward to the end of this week and like being able to focus
more on what's happening on the court. But it's always fun to do these
things. We'll have to try and I think we'll try and do more live
streams just in the future, since they do seem to play fairly well on
YouTube. Hopefully they're not insufferable to listen to and podcast form for our listeners
who are doing an audio, but again, subscribe if you've done all that,
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grow the community, and again join our discord day. I know Dala Muka
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our discord is, so go join Discord. Link is in the podcast and
YouTube description. Thank you all for listening. This was a blast and until
next time we could shout out to one the only, the key X factor
to the Mavericks Championship Hops, Frank Nila Keith.