What is crack lackin fellow thermonuclear a Eppers. I am Dampavalley coming at you
with a solo mail bag. It's a Twitter mail bag. I was supposed
to do it last week, but I just ran out of time. So
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I think that's all I have for you after ninety seconds of that.
And as always when we're doing these soble mailbacks, please the intermittent pauses.
I am, honest to God, just time stamping this to make it easier
for everyone who's listening back as I just speak. Right now, we begin,
though not with a mail bad question, but Monty Williams he's joining the
Detroit Pistons after Grant and I said that we both believed he'd be sitting out
a year because he had three years and twenty plus million left on his deal
with Phoenix, and there was also the reporting from Stein that the Pistons tried
to get him and he didn't want to be there. He ends up signing
a six year deal that's guaranteed. It seems like for seventy eight point five
million dollars it has the potential to go to eight years and get and make
him over one hundred million or something like that. That is good for Monty
well for like great for Monty. Glad he's able to do that. Like
that's a lot of money, I would assume, or we don't assume.
I think woj Or Sham's tweeted that he is now the highest paid coach in
the NBA. This is probably the largest contract ever given to an NBA head
coach, even though their salaries aren't really made public. I don't you know,
even stuff that I've heard through the grape find or that's actually been reported
after the fact, Like I don't think Greg Popovitch or Spoelstra is making anywhere
near that. There's a lot of money over a shallout for Monty, and
I respect the Pistons for coaching hires do not count against your salary cap.
Owners can spend whatever they want on it. They identified Monty Williams as their
guy, they went out and got him. I'm excited to see what he
can do. It's just sort of someone to develop the kiddies on this roster,
to be a voice in the locker room and on the sidelines for them.
We also, I know he's not necessarily celebrated for his you know,
tactical genius, but the stuff that he ran there are a lot of complex
pick and roll stuff that Phoenix used to run. He knows how to get
the most out of his guards specifically, and so I think that should be
great for Jade and Ivy Kay Cunningham, and I think it'll just be great
in general. You know. Maybe you know, he has a lot of
bigs there, so hopefully they don't go in the way of his relationship with
DeAndre Ayton, but not none of these bigs, even James Wiseman at this
point or dealing with sort of the star ego or the ego that comes with
a max contract, not putting the Eton Monty stuff solely on eighton, really
interested to see what he could do with this team, and I have you
know, you have to like that, like you can't do just doesn't count
against the cap. I don't know why you would dislike this move unless you
really liked Kevin Ollie or wanted him in there. So from the perspective of
the coaching market, though, I think this is really interesting to see if
it inflates salaries elsewhere. I do think this was a confluence of circumstances where
you're dealing with someone who was incredibly sought after in the first place, and
we don't know if he was heavily linked to you know, how much was
Toronto actually interested in him? Did Philly give him a long hard look?
Did Milwaukee give him a long hard look at all? But this is someone
who had better options if you were looking to win now, and he was
a candidate, and I have to imagine that had he wanted to be involved.
The reporting came out later via the Athletic James Edwards and Shams that Monty
Williams had kind of rebuffed overtures, including from the Pistons and other teams,
and he wasn't sure he wanted to coach next year, that the Pistons were
on his list of teams that he would be willing to come back for.
So do you have to imagine there's competition there. There's also just in general,
like this coaching market when you're looking at established names felt pretty frothy.
You have Nick Nurse there, and now Monty Williams goes off the board.
And then also just knowing how sought after email Udoka was, we don't know
if teams were uncomfortable hiring him because of you know, the inappropriate relationship and
text messages he exchanged with the female staffer in Boston. That certainly factored into
the equation those hires. I mean, we're already made the UDOCA one specifically,
but like looking at Nurse, that just happened, and the Milwaukee gig
was just filled. And so I do think that the level of competition coupled
with Monty Williams was not doesn't seem like actively looking to head coach head coach
this year, that it was an offer that he really couldn't refuse, and
that the Pistons went over the top, you know, came from the top
of the rope. Drew all this money at him, and so I don't
think this is going to have like a permanent I don't think Kevin Young or
Doc Rivers or Frank Vogel, who are the reported finalists and Phoenix, are
going to the Suns and saying price of the coaching just went up. Not
I don't see that happening. Diddo for the Toronto job. This could explain
though, why maybe he wasn't involved in more heavily in the Milwaukee or Toronto
sweepstakes. Not sure those are organizations would have been willing to spend a boatload.
It's just I'm blown away by the number, but it's it's just super
cool for Monty. We'll see if this has any impact on the coaching market.
I think for names that might be as well respected as him, where
you're looking at someone who has basically I think he had a highest winning percentage
in the NBA since he took over the Suns or whatever it was Coach of
the Year winner. This is someone with that track record, and so should
Steve Kerr. You know, I think he's entering the final year of his
deal or whatever. Eric Balelstra ends in the final year of his deal,
like those are coaches that you could see getting similar fanfare and then money by
extension. I don't know that this tilts the coaching market one way or the
other unless it's a sign that, hey, if you're going to lack yourself
on to any organization, but particularly one who's in I don't want to say
the early stages of a rebuil, but even the early stage of the rebuil,
but you're at a point of rebuild where it's kind of unsteady and you're
looking now for the results to translate in the standings. That can create some
inherent turbulence instability that you're going to be able to get more guarantee years and
maybe more guaranteed money. I don't think it's going to be six years and
you know thirteen million bucks a pop. I mean, right now, Boyon
Bagdanovitch, if this salary is flat, if the salary, if the money
and the thing is guaranteed, the only Pistons player making more than money million
six years, Boyon Badonovitch, which is just kind of hysterical, and you
should be totally okay with it. There's no there's no harm here. So
I'm excited to see what his body of work with the Pistons when he gets
started, and we'll see if, if, we'll see how and if this
inspects the coaching market at large. We can now dig into the questions we'll
be tackling. The finals. Ones first have a lot of nuggets and yokig
content and I mean, look rightfully, so so we'll begin with I mean,
let's just get this out of the way. Adam want Adam or Adam
one r? Who's winning the finals? And we'll loop. Marque has two
questions, but the first one says, what chance do the Heat have against
Denver in the finals. I will say Grant and I did like a forty
minute segment on Heat versus Nuggets, So go check that out. It's on
YouTube, it's in our podcast feed if you have not done so already.
So who's winning the finals? We both picked the Nuggets. I had Nuggets
in five. He went Nuggets in six. I came very close to going
Nuggets in six because I have a lot of respect for what Jimmy Butler does,
Eric spole Elstra, what the Heat are able to do defensively. And
then it's just Kayla Martin heater that he's on at the moment when you look
at what chance do you give the Heat in the finals. From Mark's question,
if I had to Peggett, I think most statistical models have him at
like fifteen to twenty five percent. I think Grant phrased it the best.
We were we were doing the segment. It was towards the end we did
our predictions, and he said, I really believe there's going to be a
game, even with Nicole Yokich on the floor, where Jimmy Butler is the
best player. It said game, and so you can count on the Heat
winning one. But if you get two of those games, because let's just
say Yoki isn't scoring as much, or he goes like eleven of twenty,
which is inefficient for him, that's nine of twenty or something, which is
inefficient for him. And and Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Have you
know, their ups and downs, but their downs and their peaks and valleys,
those values are hitting on the same night. If you get two of
those games where Jimmy Butler is the best player on the floor, this series
gets a lot more interesting. If I was looking for a chance to peg
it, I would probably land and like the you have to respect what the
Heat have done, the adjustments Boloster is going to make. I don't.
I just feel like they've run out of as deep as they've been, and
like they've probably gotten bigger time performances from more people, and they're supporting casts
than the Nuggets, who are just very much like we're going seven eight guys
deep on an even night right now. But you kind of know you're not
searching, I guess, or you're not wondering who's going to be your number
two and three is often an e given, like you know it's going to
come from this set of guys, And it feels like there's more variability involved
with Miami. Even looking at BAM's offensive performances. Kayla Martin has been great.
Will you continue to average twenty points per game on lights out shooting from
everywhere? What are you getting from? Just said no, Kyle Lowry,
He's been all over the place. Where you're gonna get from Gabe Vincent?
Or you're gonna have a night where Matt Duncan Robinson makes more sense than Max
Strews, Or because Max Drews a little bit better defensively, they're gonna trust
him. It feels like they have more questions and they have fewer ways to
kind of dictate the style of play here. I think they ultimately will just
run out of options defensively for how to stop the Nuggets, and we have
a question about that specifically, which we will we will get to. So
I'm gonna give them. I feel like this is going to come off as
an insult. I've I've picked against them every single series and the playoffs so
far. It's some over three. Heat fans can take solace in that.
I think twenty five percent, twenty five thirty percent is fair and I don't
think, you know, there might be some Nuggets fans that think that's too
high. Seventy percent has of winning the finals like pretty damn high. And
so even if you're saying it to a one in three chance that the Heat
have, it's because Jimmy Butler just has one of those classic series and maybe
bam at a Bio puts together as best offensive performance. It could just certainly
happen. And so I do think it's eminently. I do think it's possible.
I don't think it's likely or even close to likely. I think the
Nuggets and they are by the betting odds, they should be overwhelming favorites Irva
Ass. This is a great question because I'm not sure it's getting enough,
at least on a macro view, that it's getting enough loved for Irva Ass.
And this is segueing into Nicole Yoki, who have the best postseason TPAs
of all time. For anyone not familiar with total points added TPA, it's
from NBA Math. Adam founded the site. I was the deputator there when
we when we get content other than written content other than Hardwood Knox. Hardwar
Knox is still under on the site, so you can go find it there
as well. But you go check out TPA on NBA math and it's a
catch all metric and you can go into the explainer of what it encompasses.
That just really tries to convey who have been the best players for entire seasons.
There's also career TPAs, and there's of course it's broken down by postseason.
So I excluded this one so far, and I went through the top
ten TPAs of all time, and this is going in order, So we'll
start first, going all the way to ten Lebron in two thousand and eighteen,
Tim Duncan in two thousand and three, and if you want that this
is just so it's weird to read it off, but I will Lebron in
two thousand and eighteen had a two forty six point three TPA. Tim Duncan
in two thousand and three had a two twenty six point five TPA. Lebron
comes in at number three in two thousand and sixteen with a two oh three
point four TPA. Larry Bird comes in at number four at a two hundred
point one TPA. Lebron checks in at five one ninety six point four TPA
Lebron again in two thousand and nine, one eighty nine point three TPA Jordan
in ninety one eighty six point two, Lebron in two thousand and thirteen again
one seventy eight point one, Kareem in ninth one seventy six point three.
That was nineteen seventy four, and then Mja again rounds out the top ten
nineteen eighty nine, one seventy five point six. I could we just take
a moment and say Lebron appearing on this list, like what is it sis
six times they would go one, two, three, four, He's five
of the top ten TPA seasons. That is, I don't like, don't
even know what you're supposed to make of that. But for NICOLEA. Yokich
specifically, I wanted to frame this. He's routinely breaking these statistical records when
you're looking at a game, and we've seen ESPN Stats and Info tweet out
all this different stuff about him. His TPA right now is covering closer to
one and sixty. That's in fifteen games. So let's assume he keeps that
same pace, and if the Nuggets play four against the Heat, he'll be
over the two hundred mark. And so then automatically he's just in the top
five with Lowry Bird, Lebron or the top Does that be the top five?
Yeah, Lebron, Tim Duncan, and Larry Bird. So those are
the three players that populate the top five because Lebron appears there three times.
Yeah, he's three of the top five seasons, four of the top six.
Just absolutely monstrous. Let's say that series goes Let's say the series goes
six games, he'll be in the top three, and he'll be in the
top two if it goes the full seven. And that's just assuming he continues
his current TPA rate total points at it rate. So Jokich is putting together
one of the best individual playoff performances wire wire of all time. And I
think this isn't the only metric that's gonna be able to quantify it or try
to quantify it. You can look at the numbers and what he's done on
his efficiency and you can lean it from that too, But I don't know
that we're talking about that though. Mostly everyone's kind of focusing on, Oh,
the never nuggets have arrived, look at what they're doing, and here's
Yokich. Like, when it's all said and done, we actually look back,
how many individual performances have been more effective or been better throughout these playoffs,
And there's a likely he's broken the TPA model, which a lot of
it because a box plus minus being factored into it, and his defensive rebounding
that is certainly going to inflate it. Still when you look at the names
that are populating in the top ten Kareem MJ. Lebron over and over again,
Larry Bird, Tim Duncan. But it'll kind of makes sense when you
think about it, and Nicole Yokich, he's going to be in there.
He's not there quite yet, but he's gonna be in there no matter what.
At this point, he's going to crack the top ten. There's a
real chance. I would even probably predict that he gets into the top three
or top four at least, and there's a real chance that he gets to
the top two. I would probably bet against him having the best postseason performance
of all time. But if the series goes seven games and he's just putting
up these bonkers numbers every single night, don't underestimate the job that Nicole Yoke
is doing right now, because I'm pretty sure that by the numbers, it's
going to be one of the three or four greatest postseason individual performances of all
time, and it's probably going to it should be capped in a title.
I mean, like, like, what else you're supposed we know Lebron was
the leading TPA from two and eighteen. Yeah, we know that he was
with the Calves that year. Was that his final season including camera. We
know he didn't win the title that year, So this could end in a
title as well, and that just would be like the ultimate capper. So
I think we just need to remember that I'm not saying Yokis doesn't get his
flowers anymore. I think people buy and large understand how good he is,
but I don't know that I've seen, you know, they're asking him about
being a two time MVP, or being the best player on a title team,
or what would mean to win a title, or how shocked some people
are that the Nuggets are here and that their favorites and that they were able
to dethrow Phoenix despite being underdogs in that series. YadA, YadA, YadA,
And then the discussion kind of veers into I guess I didn't really so
it veers into the we've reached the point where it's, oh, because the
Denver Nuggets title deserve an asterisk because they're going to beat all these play in
teams. So when you look at beating beating beating the Lakers in the last
round, you beat an injured version of the Suns, then you're gonna beat
the Miami Heat, and you beat the Timberwolves in the first round. I
want to make it clear, I don't think, I don't know. I
don't think people who are trying to be genuine in their coverage are actually talking
about that. Who you know Damon I can't remember his last name on Twitter
and posted something like the NBA, it's sort of the only league where it
turns to like measuring the validity of titles when you go back to the bubble
title and I'm just not deep enough into other sports discourse to understand whether that's
true. And I, you know, I want to make it clear that
I don't think that for the most part, that the reputable people, the
people who want to have authentic discussions about the game, give authentic coverage about
the game. This podcast, We're not going to get into the habit of
measuring titles unless I feel the need to defend it. And to some extent,
I'm taking the rage bait here and I did it on Twitter. Let
me see if I can actually let me see if I can actually bring it
up. So from Chris Palmer, if anyone just sort of remembers him,
he used to kind of write, don't even know what the fuck he does
now to be to be honest with you, but he was the one that
kind of spurred the discussion about it, and you're gonna throw it up on
the screen ver I was watching on YouTube tweets if the Nuggets win the twenty
twenty three NBA Championship, they will have beaten three play in teams, the
Lakers, the Timberwolves, the Heat, and a loss cost of the number
four Suns, the weakest ring in professional sports history. That is clearly,
just like I said, rage bait, I took it. I posted a
mini thread on Twitter about it. But but I will say, I'm gonna
throw this other one up on the screen for pool who who might be watching
watching along. There was also a tweet from ESPN Stats and Information that kind
of that's not what it was saying. I want to make that clear,
but I threw it up on the screen, the nuggets of the fourth team
to reach the finals and never face a team with a win percentage of fifty
five or above in that postseason, joining the fifty six Warriors, the fifty
seven Celtics, and the fifty nine Celtics. And so you're looking at it
and you're like, oh, okay, like this is you know what are
we trying to? Why else post that other than to kind of incite this
discussion, it would be my thought there and again I went on a whole
rent. I know how the sausage is made, like I said, I
do think there's things such things as disingenuous and toxic coverage. I don't know
what bucket I throw this under. Whatever the hell Chris Palmer's trying to do.
Yet, like that is that is certainly there one percent. But the
Nuggets are not going to get an asters for this title. The audacity of
them to what get the one seed, win enough in the regular season to
get the one seed and play who's in front of them during the playoffs is
on Like the audacity of them, that's cowardice. Are you kidding? And
let's also like step back for a minute. The Timberwolves were injured beyond reason
all season. I still don't know if they would have coalaced into something truly
dangerous. Let's just throw them out. Okay, you earned the right to
beat that team by being the one seed in the Western Conference. Now,
if you have a problem in the later rounds, let's remember a few things
here. So you get to Phoenix, who was not only favored in that
series, but they were twelve and one through their first thirteen games playoffs in
regular season with Kevin fucking Durant. And then you go against the Lakers team
and Lebron. Okay, yeah, they were the seventh seed and they didn't
have the best season. They were twelfth in the West at one point.
Blah blah blah blah. Could poorly they started. They won basically sixty seven
percent of their games about after the trade deadline that have more to do with
the actual trades are just getting rid of Russ. I don't care. They
won sixty seven percent of those games. These are not stepping stones that they're
facing. And okay, the heat or a different beasts all together, but
you can't fault the Nuggets have no bearing on Look at the teams that they
beat to get here though, I mean Milwaukee, yes, okay, the
Janni's injury. Then you beat a solid Knicks team, but it's like,
you know, I think Zach Lofras is beating equals. That's a great way
to say it. Then you go and you beat the Celtics, who,
yeah, you got a three zero on them, almost blew it. But
then you don't in the end, and you could say whatever you want about
the Celtics. They still got the Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals.
One year after getting to the NBA Finals and coming within two victories of an
NBA championship. This Heat team, they were not good. They were like
they had a negative point of Ferenti on the regular season. And I think
if you polled people in the organization, they're going to tell you that they
weren't even as expecting this. But the thing is is that it's you can
say that this is lucky shooting or they're on a run. This run is
now lasted twelve wins, three rounds of playoff basketball. They are not here
by accident because they don't deserve to be. And so if you want to
twist yourself into a pretzel just to continue to climb into your butthole by saying
that the Nuggets deserve an asterisk or that there's this is a week championship field,
I beg you to just reconsider. And I want to stop short of
saying, shut the fuck up. But that's how I feel people are actually
having this discussion. Again, I want to make it clear. I do
feel like I'm yelling at the wall at this point because I don't think the
sensible discourse is skewing this way. But to see that's that from ESPN Stats
and Information, and then Chris Palmer going on his just dumb ass rant was
it was just like, what are we doing here? And it's not just
I'm not even claiming, well, look at what the media is doing to
the Nuggets again, Okay, yeah, this is I don't Again, I
don't think it's the media. I don't think people are actually having this discussion.
Maybe First Take does it at some point or undisputed or whatever, but
like we did this with this we I don't know, we did not do
this. But this happened with the Suns for instance, when they reached It
happened with the Lakers specifically in the bubble their title, and then it happened
with the Suns where I was like, whoa, look at everyone who was
injured, Like, yeah, we don't care that Chris Paul was banged up
beyond reason or that Devin Booker broke his fucking nose during that series. With
that, the relative lack of you know, playoff experience at that point among
their core players not named Chris Paul, yeah that doesn't matter at all.
It was McKell, bridges and Devin Booker's you know, and DeAndre Atan's first
trip to the playoffs. Along the NBA Finals, Chris Paul's first trips to
the NBA Finals as well. I just I'm not here for the Astros.
Like, winning the championship is hard. You can only play who's in front
of you, and certainly if you get a more favorite favorable bracket, because
the Lakers, they were swept, But we want to you know, there
are people want to build it as a competitive sweep, which by the point
differential it was. But like these teams were there for a reason, they
were not just these also rands. And I think this everything that we watched
to this point has so much more to do with the Nuggets than it does
the level of competition. And you don't get to have it both ways.
Are all three ways? Whereas didn't we just finish a stretch where the Nuggets
were vilified because and Yokis himself as MVP credentials were impugned because he couldn't win
in the playoffs. He played well, he couldn't win, and that was
because they had all these bodies missing and that their team wasn't complete. We're
gonna sit here and say, oh, the Sun's with Kevin Durant were a
lost cause before the Chris Paul injury, before the DeAndre A and injury at
the end of it. Please, come on, we're gonna say that the
Lakers were you know, we're gonna give the Lakers a pass because what they
were new to each other. We just don't think that they were a good
team this year, even though they had Lebron James and Naffy Davis when it
mattered most. You don't get to have it both ways. If the Nuggets
deserve to be, If Yokich if part of the problem for his MVP two
time MVPA so that he wasn't winning despite missing all these players, you don't
get the poke holes in the championship path that they took after finishing with the
Western Conference's best record for the entire fucking regular season. That stuff matters.
They earned whatever path they got, and I don't think it's been super easy.
That is my rant against nothing, though, and I fully recognized that
I might be yelling at clouds here, but I'm either getting ahead of what
disingenuous discourse there will be or just kind of the that ESPN stats and Infro
tweet, even though I understand that slashal made that rubbed me the wrong way.
And then the Chris pommer one, which is I mean, you talk
about ill thought. I've had some pretty ill thought incoherent arguments. Maybe even
what the one that you just listened to. Let's get too I think this
is the last question we have on Nicolai Yokich and the Nuggets. Sad face
if you're a Nuggets fan, but hopefully you're sticking with us regardless. Kadamn
asked how to stop? How do you stop Nikola Yokich? You pray and
cross your fingers. I that's I'm only I'm kidding, but I'm like kind
of serious there. I do think, and this is with the caveat that
I don't believe there's such a thing as actually stopping nicol Yokich. He might
have his bad games, but one he doesn't really even as inefficient nights just
feel like they're wild offensive performances. I think what the Lakers did for a
second in Game one that everyone read into and Michael Malon absolutely trolled, where
you have a body and it's not Ruy Hachimura. But even so later in
the series, you have a lebron or a ruby that you throw on a
Kola Yokich, and then you have an elite romer, paint protector, shop
blocker, like all everywhere, all at once, type of guy playing off
to come bring help or protect the basket against you know, the off ball
cuts or the other shop makers that are going to be on the floor to
do all those things and fill the gaps. Or again pitching with the Nikola
Yokich coverage. I think that's the best bet you have of defending Yokich is
those two archetype of players. Now the caveat would be the catch twenty two,
whatever you want to call it would be. I don't know that a
team exists that has those two players. Lebron's not in his prime, so
I don't think he could count him. I thought about the Bucks for a
second with Janis and brook Lopez. I'm just not sure that I could get
there with it. I think they would probably come closest. But what you
effectively need is kind of a Bam at a bio and to coop on the
same team, because then you have Bam just on Yo Kitch and I think
he's better in one on one situations where yeah, he can be super switchable
and he'll bust up plays on the peri as sort of the lowman. That's
just not you know, that's never been his thing. I think even was
it the dunker spot Nicaias Duncan and Steve Jones, or was it the low
post. One of them pointed out that PAMs is not even much of a
rim protector. There's never been his strengths. And we've actually talked about that
for the middle of the season on this podcast as well. And so I
think that's the if you're that personnel permitting which again maybe the Bucks, I
guess you, I guess the Celtics. Just if you had Robert Williams not
puking, let's just say, and then you were using Al Horford on Yo
Kitch. I don't think you want to use Jason Tatum on him or jail,
But like I guess that would be one of the better So Milwaukee or
Boston would be one of the better situations there in theory Kavan Looney and Draymond
Green or Wiggins that maybe, But now I just feel like we're stretching it
too thin. And again I'm not saying to stop actually stop Yo Kitch,
but to have the best set up possible to make his life difficult. The
Clippers, I think they need a different big man other than than Zubots because
you kind of run. He's not going to be the roamer. You don't
want him going one on one against Yokich. You can go smaller, and
yeah, I guess between Kawai and Paul George and Kwai strong enough to go
up against Yokich, but George roaming is not really his thing. We're just
digging into the well here. I think that's your best bet at I don't
even want to say stopping Nicola Yokich, but you're going to be able to
slow him down or make his life difficult. It's like, I don't is
the best way to phrase it. Good question. I think that ex Erics,
Balelstra and the Heat are asking the same question. I think that the
Lakers, and I think that the Suns, and I think that the Timberwolves
we're asking themselves those same questions. I think that twenty nine other teams in
the NBA in general asked themselves that same question at some point. And I
think that he is arguably that is even our I would say, undeniably the
worst person in the league to double team. I just maybe like a step
Yokich is the better passer. But because of like where you might be doubling
Steff, that just opens up all sorts of stuff and the you know,
the pick and roll and the short rolls with Draymond becomes so easy because of
the points at where they're giving you those doubles. But Nicole Yokuch's offensive game
is close to it's as close to perfection as you can absolutely get, and
it's as close to unsolvable as you could absolutely get. That'll wrap up the
I think that's less ques Way have with the Nuggets, but let's go deeper
and see if there anymore. This is the second question from Mark, asking
who she enters the title favorite this year. Mark, this feels really unfair
because we haven't gone through free agency or the draft or craz yet. I
would say, as of right now, I think you need to I think
you would have to put Nuggets or the Celtics, because as down as people
are on them right now, they could make some moves on the margins and
just be right back where they were. You could probably talk me into the
Bucks, depending on if they're able to do anything and assuming they keep Middleton
and Lopez, and I think the Suns i'd like to see what offseason moves
they make. I'm trying to think of teams that are just uber close.
There are tons that could come into the conversation later on, depending on trade
is free agency, what happens on draft night. I will say, if
we're just looking at the rosters as they are now, even with the threat
of Bruce Brown leaving looming, I think I would it would have to be
the Nuggets for me, and I'm everyone who listens to this podcast knows I've
probably been higher on them and the consensus. I don't think so anymore.
They're in the finals and so we should all just be that should be the
consensus. And speaking of look, we have another Nuggets question for Nuggets fans
who have not tapped out yet. Thanks for sticking with us, but we
have another Nuggets question coming up right after this, well Nuggets related. But
yeah, so I think it needs to be the Nuggets. So in the
West, the Nuggets, and I would say the runner up is just you
know, we don't know what's gonna happen with eighton and Paul, Paul's older
Kevin Drank gets injured all the time, but having Booker and Ran on the
same team. We don't know who the coach is. There's so many questions
there, but that offense is going to be thermonuclear as fuck, and I
think that they probably the runner up for me. I don't even know if
you could taught me the Warriors at this point, I just I can't get
there. I'm just like, I can't get there. So I'm gonna say
in the West the Nuggets, in the East, the Celtics, and I
would just go with the Nuggets over all. That's not really sexy because the
Nuggets are in the finals, but I, like, you know, it
feels like they're correct answer right now. Duson asked, this is a it's
a fascinating question, but it's morbidly so an ill timed. I guess if
you're a Nuggets fan, Bruce Brown plays has played great in the playoffs as
six man for the Nuggets, so he's definitely outplayed any contract the Nuggets can
give him for next season. What are some teams? What do you think
are the best fitting teams that should offer him a contract? Who do you
think should offer him a contract? Who are the best fits for him?
Essentially is the question I will say to go into this a little bit on
the nuggets, behalf, they can offer him a little over what the tax
pyramid level exception is going to be based off one hundred and twenty percent raise
they could give him. I don't think that's gonna be enough to keep him.
This is someone who has earned I would think at least mid level money,
so between someone and eleven and twelve million. And it wouldn't surprise me
if some of the teams with cap space, we're just like, well,
hey, that he might give you four years and forty four or whatever it
might wind up being, but we'll give you two years and thirty six just
to give you the overpay, and like you can reach free agency. Again,
you're not super duper old anyway, and you're making all that money.
It wouldn't shock me. And so when I'm looking at your fits that I
could see and these are big caveats where it be if they cut salary via
trade or if a big free agent leaves. And so we'll start with we'll
just start with these beak some intrigued Philly if hardened leaves, I think it
makes a lot of sense. And all of a sudden they open up the
non tax payersmid level. Does that get you, Bruce Brown? The Suns
and MAVs two teams are probably working with a minimid level, not enough for
Bruce Brown. But if the Suns end up cutting salary via DeAndre eight in
trade Chris Paul trade as well, if they have an if they get to
the non tax payramid level, he's a perfect fit there did over Dallas.
If Kyrie Irving leaves, or if they find some way to open up the
nontax pyramid level, which they again will only do I Kyrie Irving Leaves,
and they could have cap space in that scenario. For what it's worth,
there could also be signed in trade macnations that still leave them operating over the
cap in the non tax payramid level territory. More really the stick or teams
that can actually offer him, you know, you know, let's call it
two syllable pay days put a days. That would be three syllable pay he
can get two syllable paid put aid. That's what I meant. These are
the teams that I like, I kind of like, and I'll do it
in reverse order of what I like these and they're three of them, I've
INDI at three, they feel like they need a bigger wing than him,
but just the spacing that they have with Turner and Halibert in there, and
then who they like to play if it's Dale Smith at the four, and
they've also just been like, hey, we've run smaller lineups anyway, and
Bruce Brown could be a part of that. Can he'd be your day facto
three in a lot of situations, run some backup point guard. I don't
know if you always want him defending bigger wings, but I think he could
work there. Number two for me would be Utah. They just have if
you're worried about his outside shot and he shot it okay in the regular season,
it's dipped into playoffs. They have the spacing necessary even with Walker Kessler
on the floor to let him put his his rim pressure on the basket.
There could be some size overlap if you want to bring Jordan clarkson that I
can Collin Sexton, and you have a Baji there as well, who's going
to be due for more minutes. You could easily fit him in, Like
you can just roll that guy out of the two or the three and let
him take some point card reps from you, and just if you're gonna surround
him with the level of shooting that you had on the floor this year.
I think he makes a huge difference there. And then finally, I think
my favorite destination mostly because they're feel like they're more ready to compete Sacramento Kings.
Now things get a little dice eat because if you play him with Sabonus
and Fox, it does feel like the floor would drink a little bit.
But they just need strong perimeter defenders and with the spacing they can roll out
in some of their lineups where if you want to stagger him from Arron Fox,
you're looking at having Sabonis Brown and a bunch of shooting in those staggered
units. Or if there are just minutes where the same difference, like if
you have another option at the five, maybe if you bring Trey Lyles back
playing him at the five ones of bonuses on the bench, you run Brown
and four shooters out there, there's a lot of space in there for them,
and I think, yeah, they might need more of an Ogna Nobi
type on defense than Bruce Brown, who's who's very connective. But I think
it's like you look at something as a sign and sturting the playoff specifically,
like he's defended his butt off. I think he's been better than he was
during the regular season. That would be a team I would love to see
him on. They will have the non tax paramid level exception. They can
also have cap space, and so you're looking at you Indie easily should have
twenty plus million in cap space, twenty five plus. Maybe they can get
the thirty if they want Utah. Their number really fluctuates. It's like anywhere
between twenty and fifty plus million cap space depending on what they do with Clarkson
and a link, So they'll have cap space, and then the Kings can
get if they renounce Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles and all their own free agents.
In general, they're looking at twenty plus million in space. They can
get to more if they find a taker for Rashaun Holmes. You shouldn't need
more to get Bruce Brown, but they might be in Bruce Brown's territory even
if you keep Barns, just if it's non tax payramid level territory that it
could be where he where he ends up. But yeah, he's definitely the
Nuggets if they keep him, it's going to be one of those situations.
We saw it with Nick Bertoum, Reggie Jackson, all in LA. We've
seen it with other players in the past, where you sign him again and
then he's gonna become free agent twenty four and you resign him using early bird
rights and he gets his paid day. Then they'll be investigated for that.
But you know what, take my second round pick if it means Bruce Brown
is sticking with me after helping me get to the get to the finals.
This next question comes from Jake g. If you're the Hornets, what's the
more enticing lineup? Oh, this is this is interesting. LaMelo Scoot Miles,
PJ and Mark Williams or LaMelo Terry Rosier, Brandon Miller, PJ.
Washington or Miles Bridges and Mark Williams. Jake Eds feels like a foregone conclusion.
We are bringing Miles back, but personally I'd prefer the former. I
do prefer PJ. Washington in all these setups, especially if you're looking at
the last one. This is a great question. And when I was thinking
about a few days ago, again, I did my prep work very long
time ago for this, about a week ago. For this, I want
to go with the LaMelo, Scoot, PJ. Washington, Mark Williams,
and I guess you had my bridges and they are regardless. I think it's
the latter lineup, though for me it would be more intriguing. I just
I like the idea of LaMelo and Scoot, just all the things that they
could do in transition. I worry about what happens when you need to kind
of slow things down and you will need I have confidence that LaMelo would like
will just be a good off ball shooter. I need to see more of
it from Scoot, But what happens that offense when they do slow things down.
I guess Scoot really gives you that downhill dynamic where he doesn't need a
huge start, like he doesn't need to be in transition to put defenses in
rotation the way that LaMelo ball can. I think he's gotten a little bit
better on that, but he needs to get stronger going to the basket and
just physically. There's just some weird overlap there. I don't love, actually
don't love the Miles PJ. Mark Williams front court Like I get it,
but I think I would much rather see Brandon Miller with PJ. Washington and
Mark Williams, and then you could have Terry Rosier at the two, or
even just go with Gordon Hayward and go super big. That's more intriguing to
me, and I guess you can question do you have enough creation outside of
LaMelo to pitch in. We know that's not Rosier's game, and then it
of course comes down to yeah, Mark Williams might have a mid range jumper,
he's not creating for himself or others. At this point, it comes
down to Brandon Miller and PJ. Washington. I don't think that's PJ.
Washington's game. We saw him do a lot of stuff kind of at the
nail the elbows this year, or more stuff than normal, I should say,
because of injuries, because of Miles Bridges Bridges's absence so and the other
thing with Miles Bridges, by the way, he still to serve the balance
of that thirty game suspension. I think he has ten games less after pleading
was it no contest to felony domestic violence charges? So that's something the factor
in here as well. I think Brandon Miller will gives you a chance at
getting the extra layer of shot creation, maybe not table setting that you would
want, but the extra layer of shot creation to make the lamello Terry Rosier
or Gordon Hayward. I might prefer the Hayward. I'm not gonna lie because
there's your secondary creation there, but the lamello Terry Rosier, Brandon Miller,
PJ Washington, Mark Williams lineup, I will say, if you think Scoot
is the better player, the better prospect overall, and I think Eileen Scoot
Henderson, I'm just drafting Scoot Anderson if I'm the Hornet's the lineups we get
into that, I'm more enticed by what Brandon Miller can do. You need
to be sure that he's the guy is a fit on the team. I
understand why you would take this swing on Scoot, though, and that's where
I end up on that matter. I will say I'm gonna apologize in advance
for butchering the name on this one. Ayo Ullella asked if everyone is healthy,
taking into accountability progression and excluding narratives, who wins next season's MVP.
This is what I have written down on this from last week. Good question.
I would have NICOLEA. Yokatri janis I could be talked into Luca don
Chich and I added tonight hashtag workout video since we saw him running up the
steps and I think it was Slovania or whatever. I don't know who else
you would throw into that equation at this point in bed does he ever plays
back to back seasons of twenty two hundred plus minutes? Do you do we
throw him in? There? Are the thunder good enough to put shay Yo
just Alexander kind of on that map? I had him for them fourth or
again fourth and my MVP bout, I can't remember. I had Yannis yokich
embiid and take him an sgear in my top five, and so I think
I must have had SGA fourth like that would be a nice dark horse,
but I think sort of what we could see with Yoki. Yeah, he
won two, but now people understand, oh, he can be the best
player on a title team because one of the Nuggets raither gonna win the title
or two they just fucking made it to the NBA finals. And then Jana
is kind of scary too. All right, Let's give him a super short,
a super elongated offseason relative to what he might be willing to have coming
off of injury. He has a new coach that he helped pick. There's
been just a lot of chatter about the Bucks all of a sudden, how
old they're getting. In his limitations, this might be narrative base, which
I know you weren't looking for in the answer to your question. Just the
idea of him coming back next year. I could see him being an absolute
terror, even more so than normal. Look, he's always just going to
be in the MVP discussion, Luca. I think it comes down to,
if you bring back Kyrie Irving, does he cannibalize consideration at all? But
if the Magic show a great deal of improvement where they go from outside the
play in even if it was a designed decline to just top three in the
West or something that's certainly gonna earn him a ton of credentials, and a
lot of people just feel like he's next up. And so what am I
at? Three candidates Yoki Yokai, honest, Luke Dantrich, I'll throw Shay
in there. I just think that he's so central what okay Se does.
If they make another sort of galactic leap that's gonna put him on the map.
Those would be the four names that I keep an eye out. I
mean, there's just so many usual suspects here just dayson. Just does Jason
Tatum get dinged? It all because of how Boston season ends. Joel Embiad
will be there if he plays enough, but just as Steph Curry will be
there if he plays enough. Are they gonna play enough for Kawhi Leonard.
I don't think Kawhi Leonard is gonna play enough. That'll be by design.
Steph Curry at this point, I think that'll be by design as well,
although maybe the Warriors decide to go for it and let him play as many
games as possible. So I'll throw Steph as my fifth there. I would
trust him to play more minutes than Joel Embiid next season is that's stupid.
That might be stupid when you look at the age discrepancy, but I'm just
I'm gonna frame it that way. Do you have, of course, go
with a Devin Booker or Kevin Durand and Phoenix? I just feel like those
two guys would cannibalize consideration from each other. I don't think I'm really missing
anymore. We can get into dark horses where it's like, oh, imagine
Zion plays in seventy games or something next year, like that's we're getting into
matagic. If Kwai Leonard plays in seventy games territory, that's a fascinating question.
I would like to, of course answer it after we go through the
off season, but right now, if we're assuming good health, and that's
what I'm assuming is good health, but we also have to recognize, Okay,
if we're going all these players are playing in eighty two games, then
I'm just gonna say Yoki as the answer to that question. So I'm trying
to be a little bit more realistic of who's going to play the most.
I guess some people could be worried about what Yokich looks like off a championship
hangover. I'm not really worried about that. We have a Knicks question,
and it's not from me, in case anyone was wondering whether I threw a
Knicks question into here. Okay, as should I, as a Knicks fan,
have hope in my heart next season or just gonna stop caring? So
I don't know, you shouldn't stop caring. There's hope here. There's a
base for something sustainable. I think what they need, and it's a bunch
of things. I think, well, it's a handful of things. I
think the biggest thing they need is shooting that can crack their closing lineup.
And so this is to say you can't just go and get a Seth Curry,
or you can't just go and even get let's broke her as sign and
trade for Gary Trench Jr. I mean maybe he might be like the the
lowest kind of like the lowest good free agent tigning you could get. That
says oh Am, I making material difference. I think you need someone who's
gonna crack your closing lineup. And that's so you have Julius Randall, Jalen
Brunson are in that. I guess Mitchell Robinson, do you consider a lock
there? And then it's okay who right now, there's at least one other
lock. Is it RJ. Barrett or is it Josh Harden? Is it
kind of both? Right now? So those are the five players you're trying
to beat out, maybe even throw manual quickly, Quentin Grige. Some of
you have to have someone who's better than a few of those players. Maybe
it costs you. It's gonna cost you some of those players to probably get
that player, and I think that's what you really need to be on the
lookout for it. And I think, look, when we're talking with those
players, the only one that should be even relatively close to off limits is
Jalen Brunson. And I'm not saying the Knicks have to trade Julius Randall.
I would I think I would argue. And Scott Perry's no longer the GM
don't know how much this impacts this, but in case anyone didn't catch that,
the Knicks didn't move on from him, his contract was up, and
now they only have like eighty seven primary voices in the in the front office,
so let's hope there's not too many crickets. I don't think the Knicks
need to trade Julius Randol. I think they need to be more open to
it than they inevitably will be. I don't think they're gonna view them is
someone that they just move, but I think that's what they need. And
so if you're gonna just run back the same core, you might still be
really solid in the east. Can you take in more development for Emmanuel quickly,
Quinton Grimes, even RJ Barrett with the way that he closed the season.
For the most part, it's like getting into the playoff turn. Yeah,
you could be better. I don't know that you have the I'll say
the phrase again, galactic leap in you as currently constructed. I think that
galactic leap was Okay, we got Jalen Brunson, we got this really good
Julius Randall year. Can we count on another all NBA esque version of Julius
Randall next year? We haven't seen consecutive Julius Randall campaigns at that level ever,
So that's something you have to factor in. I don't think you need
to stop caring, though, I just the bar needs to be higher than
competence, and I think it's the Knicks have raised that bar. I missed
on again. It was never the money, but I thought the process behind
the Jalen Brunson signing was misplaced, shortsighted whatever I was wrong there. So
this front office has or front offices. These front offices within front offices within
front offices have proved capable, but now you need to go out and get
and I think you still I'm gonna be honest, I think you still need
the best player type of guy where Jalen Brunson should be your number two.
So I think that's going to top year to do list. But you are
at the mercy of the trade market and you shouldn't just go after anybody.
If Towns becomes available, for instance, Karl Anthony Towns, yeah, he's
tempting, same with Jillen Brown. Are those the guys that you go all
in for. I don't know. I probably wouldn't. They're not for me.
I would have preferred Donovan Mitchell. Like if you weren't going to back
up the asset truck for Donna Mitchell, I don't know why you necessarily do
it for those guys a little. The thought of a floor spacing five the
tips has to play in Towns would be super intriguing, but he would have
a coronary with the lack of room protection there. I mean, So if
it's not that, if you're looking at Okay, our best player is still
going to be Jalen Brunson next season. You have to find shooting, functional
shooting that is going to, you know, preferably can create stuff for himself
and the half court when things bogged down. As we've seen what the way
that Miami went after Jalen Brunson and how Julius Randall can just inherently bog down.
But I think you need just more outlets that teams can't pack the paint
against you, and it needs to be shooting that can take the form in
your closing lineup, which means that they need to defend. They need to
be able to work with the ball in their hands. I think Trent Junior
comes close. I know a lot of people are down on his passing.
He's a really big gambler on defense, and he's a little bit on the
smaller side, but he can be disruptive away from the ball for sure,
and he's gonna get up three pointers. I don't have like a bunch of
names to say like this is who the nick should go after. We just
haven't seen. It's not gonna happen in free agency. They're have their non
tax players mid level. I just don't know who the best player is that
gets you. It's not you know, Dante DiVincenzo would be like sort of
interesting for this team, but he doesn't shoot enough or get him in enough.
I mentioned Seth Curry before. That's someone who works but not going to
give you much defensively, and you need him to stay healthy. And so
it's the two things that I'm looking at is is there a star that's worth
going all in for that becomes available, And maybe he doesn't check the box
of the floor spacing that you want and the functional shooting, but like if
Pascal Siakam became available, yeah, I think you need to look at it.
I think a lot of people will see, oh, well, this
team could really use ogn and Obi and it's you know, maybe just because
they didn't necessarily hang their hats on the defensive end, and to have someone
like him would be yeah, be involved in it. That's not who you're
pushing your chips all in for. I would say the worst. No,
I shouldn't say the worst. But like, ideally, if you're going star
hunting, your floor should like a mcaal Bridges type player where someone who might
give you more creation than even a Jalen Brown, like you're going to trust
his handle more at that point, better secondary playmaker. I don't know who
i'd rather have long term. I think like Jalen Brown is there, he's
younger, I think he's better there about the same age, and that helps,
and he's been has more of a proven Trackwick or just sort of a
higher volume, accurate three point shooter. But like if those are like,
those guys can make some semblance of sense. I just I don't even know
if either of them are, Like it's certainly they're not. They're like,
they're not the guys that are coming to be the best player and nudge Jalen
Brunson down to number two. But like if you if the nets decided a
shot mcal Bridges, yeah, I would think you should be in on that
guy. Otherwise, just looking at shooting, would it just behoove you to
go out and look at a buddy healed? I mean maybe, but who's
he playing over in the closing lineup? And that's where just things start to
get really really dicey, And it's almost why the needs that I'm talking about,
where it's, oh, you need a best player or you can go
after shooting mccracks are closing lineup, there's a chance that it just needs to
be sort of one and the same where it's like, okay, how Donovan
Mitchell became available? Like who's the next guy that's going to be there?
We know it's not going to be Luca this summer, and you know I
don't if it is Trey Young. I don't even know if he's necessarily the
answer. And you already have Jalen Brunson. So there's Brunson and Mitchell's one
thing. Brunson and Trey Young is another. I think you could even argue
that the Hawks would probably be acting for Brunson back in that deal. And
it's certainly not if Harden leaves. It's not is Joel Embiid that player like
he feels the best player on a title contender box like he checks that?
But and yeah, for a big, especially a Knicks big, like he's
someone who can step out and pop and hit jumpers, like is he even
the answer? So there's a lot of That's what makes their situations so difficult,
and it's not a reason to lose hope. I think what they did
this season though, is and I think this is the best way to frame
it, is more sustainable, is more of an accurate harbinger of what they
can accomplish next season and something they can actually build off of, rather than
that twenty twenty one campaign where there it was almost set up for them to
have this precipitous fall. I don't think that's going to happen. But I
also thought that they were for real then, so we'll see. I would
say, kay, why don't you have cautious optimism in your heart rather than
outright hope. Don't give up. But let's not. It's not all sunshine
and daisies, because there is still the element of it being a slippery slope
here. This question I've been thinking about for like seven nights or whatever it
is, comes from comes from Kade and who says no to this trade.
And it's a four teamer Let me see if I'll try to throw it up
on screen, actually for for anyone who is watching. So let's let's find
this on the screen. And where is it? I guess I can't find
it, so we might have to we might just have to journey on.
I'll read it off. It's a four team trade, so I don't want
to leave you guys sort of hanging here. It just feels a little bit
unfair. But alas I can't. I do have it pulled up, so
I don't know. I don't know where it is. I guess I just
have too many windows open. If I find it, I will throw it
up on the screen. But it is a four team mega trade and it
is it's a doozy. And if you can't tell, I'm still trying to
still trying to stall to find. Yeah, I can't get it up there.
So the four team trade from Kade Is Heat received Christian Wood in assign
and trade for three years and sixty eight point two million. The MAVs received
DeAndre Ayton and Duncan Robinson. The Suns receive Ogna, Nobi, Tim Hardaway
Junior, and Chris Bouche. The Raptors received Davis Burton's Landry Shammitt, the
number ten pick from Phoenix, the number eighteen pick from Miami, Miami's twenty
twenty or a second rounder in two tho twenty six from Miami, and a
twenty and twenty eight second round pick in Phoenix. I think I think the
Heat say no to this trade to start, and I think I think part
of that is Duncan Robinson has become valuable all over again that I don't know
you would use a first round pick to grease the wheels of Okay, you
get him off and then you're you know, you're hardcapping yourself in the form
of Christian Wood, and I have found the trade, so I will throw
it up on the screen for anyone who is watching and wants to see it,
and let's hope that it you know, the screen actually shows it all.
So it's up there and he wants to go take a look at it.
So I think they say no, Like Christian Wood brings a lot of
what they need offensively in the half court. He can play independent of Bam,
he can play with Bam. And maybe you still do view Duncan Robinson's
contract with the three years and it's like fifty eight million or whatever it is
remaining as a net negative. So I get it, But I don't think
that heater are gonna give up a first round pick and car hardcap themselves for
a player they know works, especially when there's no guarantee they get Max Strus
back, and it could become theoretically a lot harder to fit Max Strewson under
a hardcap, and Gabe Vinson as well. By the way, after you're
bringing Christian Wood, at least right now, you're not subject. If you're
not going to spend the middle a little exception non taxpayers with litt exception,
you're not going to hardcap yourself, and so you can pay that what it
takes. The other team that I think says no. The Raptors getting two
late first round picks for o Gianna Noby. I don't. They're getting off
Chris Bruschet's money, but that's not a big deal. They need a spicier
pick. The number ten pick is sort of your the carrot, and when
Landry Shammon's steals obviously whatever, but Paton's having two years left, I think
that's a biggie. I would rather have Chris Bruschet's money on my books.
I think they say no. And the MAVs are interesting here. Duncan Robinson
could help them out a lot, and his contracts better than Davis Parton's.
You're getting off of Tim Hardaway Junior, and you could say, well,
do you prefer his deal to Duncan Robinson's. You might. I get that
you're getting off Tim Hardaway Junior and Davis Parton's and then you're getting DeAndre eight
and it cost you the number ten pick. I thought about something similar as
to whether the Matericks viewed DeAndre Eton as worth the number one the number ten
pick, but I'd be curious. Three years a little over one hundred million
left on his deal, brings a lot of what they could use, but
you really need to bet on him coming back to his defensive peak, which
you know he definitely slipped on that side of the floor for most of this
season. And that's a big gamble to make, and so you're doing it
while giving up the number ten pick. I don't i'd I'd like Duncan Robinson's
fit and so he's more playable than dabins Porton's. I think some people might
argue with Tim Hardaway Junior is more playable than then Duncan Robinson, and so
you are taking some risk there and then you're also going out. I should
confirm that though, that you're going out one year longer on the salaries here,
because Duncan Robinson is on the books four yes, another three years at
about the it's at a bigger number per year than Tim Hardaway Junior. Is
it the same? It's around nineteen million a year on average. Tim Hardaway
Junior has two years left at declining scale, so seventeen point nine and then
it dips to sixteen point two. I think the MAVs probably say no to
this, Wow do the mass the massive it? If they weren't if they
didn't have to take back Dunsan Robinson, I don't think they'd say no.
So I actually think that there are three of these four teams saying no.
And Kid, I want to make clear, actually think this is a sort
of intriguing proposal. And I am I like what you're trying to do here,
and I love Ogana Nobi on the Suns, but I don't think if
you're and I'll finish with this the Suns while Ogianna Nobi would be a great
fit, and I think Tomartway, Junior Chris Bouche would be fantastic fits.
You're giving up no first round picks. Excuse me, you're giving up DeAndre.
You're giving up no first round picks. You're not gonna get Ogianna Nobi
for DeAndre. And at this point, if that was going to happen,
it feels like it would have been a possibility last off season in assign and
trade, or if he accepted the trade since he had a veto rights during
the trade deadline before the Toronto Raptors got Yaka Purdle and they were still in
need of a center. Obviously, you don't have DeAndre and going to Toronto.
Here would it be simpler to kind of configure a three team structure without
and I don't know how desperately you wanted the heat involved there, but where
it's okay, let's say the Suns are taking back Duncan Robinson and the MAVs
are keeping Tim Hardaway junior, and so it's basically DeAndre Ayton and they're sending
the ten pick to the Raptors. If you can reconfigure it that way,
I would say, I just don't think that ten and eighteen plus two seconds
and then salary filler let's call. Even though Berton's is a net negative,
I don't think that gets you O. Giana Noby. You need something else.
And so it's like, can you get the MAVs to include a Josh
Green or Jade Harvey at that point, why aren't the MAVs going after O
Giannaoby. They can trade this year's first and then another first after that that
pick, So number ten plus that mav second pick, I think that ends
up being more enticing for O. Giannaoby if you could actually get O.
Giannaoby to the Suns, though, that is my favorite part about this trade,
by the way, I think it makes sense for the MAVs. I
can see what you're doing with the Raptors here, and I think Wood can
make some sense for the Heat. But o Ganaoby to Phoenix is my favorite
element of this trade. I would also say that it is the least likely
of it. Second part of this question, who else would give up a
first or similar value in a Christian would sign and trade this summer. Nobody
like Milwaukee if they wanted to go with like give up mar John bow Champ
and you count that as a first. They're not going to give you a
twenty nine or twenty thirty first for Christian Wood. They also can't sign and
trade though like they're just so, they can't. They're above the second assuming
that low pest and middle team come back, they're gonna be above the second
second Apron, They're not gonna be able to work within the hardcap. I
don't think there's a team like they would have to be getting off some like
truly bad money. And I'm trying to think of like some of the worst
contracts out there. And even if you thought, oh, the Warriors do
it to get off of Jordan Pool again, they're not going to be able
to work within the hard cap here. Chicago is not going to do it,
even if they want to use like different things at the five. Do
you think, like Brooklyn be that desperate for some offense? Where would they
give you just a lower level first that they own there? I don't like,
they don't own many of their own anyway, and they're not going to
give you, you know, any of the picks that they own from like
the Suns. I mean, maybe an iminent one, but they're not gonna
give you Dallas this pick. For sure. That's not a team. I
don't think there's a team that would give up first round equity. And it
comes down to, okay, you're giving up a first round pick because there's
this deal that's just so bad you know that you want to get Like maybe
no, Minnesota's not doesn't even have a first to trade. But I was
gonna say, if you want to get off Rudy, go Bear's money.
That's more tongue in cheek. I don't think that team exists personally. I
guess, like New Orleans if they're really down on the CD McCombe contract,
but I don't know why they why they would be to that point. So
I unfortunately have nothing for either. I don't think there would be a team.
Maybe I'm just missing a contract, like the Hornets don't even have one
on their books, and they certainly shouldn't be willing to trade a future first
Philly doesn't have enough first round equity. Portland, no Sacramento, no San
Antonio, no Toronto, no Utah, no Washington. Definitely no. Yeah,
I don't think there's a team that would give up. I think you've
come closest with the heat is where hey, we're looking to get off dougtor
Robinson's money, but then your heart capture. You're assigning trade and I think
that that makes things a lot more difficult than a lot of teams want it
too, especially when you are giving up first round equity as part of the
process. This next question comes from Jeremy Jazz Twitter is in heat for Anthony
Black? That sounds sensual. That's cool Anthony Black, Kayson Wallace, and
Taylor Hendrix. Also, I see a lot of hate for Grady Dick going
to the Jazz. Can you give a prose cons for him lining up next
to Lowry and Kessler also hypothetically do the suxercise with Luca there via trade.
What I'm sorry, what are you giving up for Luca that you get to
keep Lowry Marketing and Walker Kessler? So Agbaji, you don't even need to
worry about salary matching, but other contracts and then like eight first round pick
at that point, because you're gonna have Luca, your own first round picks
are going to be too good. At that point, you need to dip
in and like Dallas has to value Cleveland's draft, it has to value Minnesota's
draft. I guess that's not a terrible way to go. So imagining the
fit, yeah, it would be super fun. I mean, Larry Markin's
a pure play finisher. Walker Kessler works well off Luca don Chich. I
shouldn't say Lowry's a pure play finisher, but he's comfortable in that role.
But then you can also do secondary stuff, and he'd be super secondary.
If Lucas there, would you be able to generate more off ball movement than
we've seen in Dallas with your personnel. I think Larry Marking would be a
good start there. I just eight first round picks? Is that the nun
is it's seven? I don't know how many first round picks you need to
give up to get Luca Dotchich without giving up Lowry Marketing or Walker Kessler.
Just that's so hard to do the first part of this. I don't know
what you're necessarily asking for me from the first three. If I had to,
I guess, let's look at my preferences among these four. So we'll
start with Grady Dick. I don't think, and I have begun my draft
prep work for anyone who cares. I don't like Grady will start there.
Grady Dick size and shooting is still rare, so I don't get the hate
like you put. Like the Jazz of Fielded really spacing lineups all year,
you get Grady Dick, who can also do the you know, catch and
drive stuff as well. I think the bigger ish. I'm sure I don't
know what Jazz fans are saying, but is it because of his defensive limitations.
I understand that, and from watching him, like I could see how
he would really get torched in certain nomball matchups. But all the experts that
I read seem to think that he'll be a good team defender. And then
from what I've seen, he's fine like guarding the corners not losing track of
those shooters even if they're you know, sliding up or down, and that
he's pretty good at making rotations where he's you know, the high man more
than one pass away and needs to rotate lower. Those things look fine for
me from him, So I think he would be a quality fit now of
the four, so I think he's the best fit. No, I think
he might be my least favorite fit, like of the four in the Jazz,
maybe Cason Wallace, who I can't say his name without thinking about case
and protein. Is that is that weird? But I love Pallas's defensive energy,
and he's the more reliable spacer. There's just like two. I want
someone bigger, like a real wing type player, not someone who's six four
six three six five on the Jazz. The fact that he brings so much
defensive heat that maybe helps you, so it's not oh, we look at
him over overlapping with Jordan Clarkson and and Colin Sexton if both of them are
still there next season, I really I want. Anthony Black is one of
my favorite prospects because he's so smart. He's just huge and you put the
ball in his hands and the decision making that he's displayed, and then what
he's gonna be able to do defensively, like this, is this someone who
can guard four five maybe positions. I just worry about his shooting, but
it's not as much of a concern on the jazz. So he's at like
thirty percent from three last year. Is the seventy plus percent clip at the
Charity stripe enough to get you on board with this idea that he can be
a better stand still shooter. I honestly don't know. I think Hendrix might
be my favorite one. And Adam Spanella Caitlyn Cooper did a great podcast for
The Box and One where they went into jaris Walker and telling Hendricks a great
deal, So everyone should go check that out The Box and One. And
I think Spins will be coming on the podcast next week. Maybe I'll solicit
draft questions from our discord join our discord to include in there. But is
Hendricks my favorite one? Just like would any team ever score at the rim
with him and Walker Kessler in the game? I think a big factor would
be do you trust his outside shooting? He was at thirty nine plus percent
on over four point five attempts per game, Like I trust it, and
his free throw percentage was high enough to where you trust it, But do
you trust him to make extra decisions with the ball, Like, this is
not someone that you want to see taking multiple dribbles. He's not going to
continue to move the ball. He just in general, like when you look
at his handle, it's not something that he's gonna bust out extensively and it's
not going to look pretty. And there are times where he either won't go
anywhere or you just don't want to see it. So I think he might
be my favorite because do you need another I guess you're losing Jordan Clarkson.
You could make the case that you want another sort of shot creator type.
So if I had to rank these, I'm gonna go about to hate myself.
I'm gonna go Anthony Black, Taylor, Hendrix, Grady, dick Case,
and Wallace. And I'm not sure where to land on the Dick Wile
I could be talked into either of those guys. We'll see who The Jazz
have. Their first pick is at number that's number nine for them. I
think they have the juice if they wanted to let me bring up the let
me bring up the draft order here should I let's should we should we throw
this up on screen as well? Would we bring up the draft order?
I feel like the Jazz have the ability to add another lottery pick if they
wanted to, Like what could they grease the wheels if they're also drafting its
sixteen and then twenty eight. So does sixteen and twenty eight get you Toronto's
thirteen and or even Oklahoma City's twelve. I don't know that Orlando would want
like a third first round pick. They have six and eleven, so that
might be the off. Does Dallas want to drop down from ten? But
so like ten twelve? Like it feels like they if you include another type
of first round pick or something small, maybe even forget number twenty eight,
But if it's sixteen and something, to jump up like four or five spots,
and do you land in the territory to draft two of these guys?
I think I've seen of all of these guys, Kays and Wallace feels like
he might fall the furthest. Although I should really look I don't look at
I try not to look at too many mock drafts while I'm doing my drafts
because those will very easily influence me but let's bring one up. Let's bring
one up here. Yeah, Taylor Hendrix is what I think the most popular
pick for the Jazz Black might go to the Wizards at eight. That would
make a ton of sense. Yeah, Kayson Wallace and Grady Dick would be
like, hey, can we get the pick that they can acquire two of
them? That would be That would be something because I love the fits of
these But yeah, so my ranking would it woud still be Anthony Black probably
be some higher on him as being the best player of all these guys,
followed by Taylor Hendrix. I'm gonna say, Grady Dick, thank Kayson Wallace.
I don't feel great about that though, So I apologize if anyone's a
offended by those picks. Grenade ass who are the top clutch field goal percentage
shooters in the playoffs this year, So I will give you the field goal
percentage one. That's not my favorite metric to use, but Jimmy Butler has
made more clutch shots than anyone in the playoffs, if you care. And
then I filtered it from I wanted at least a fifty player sample, and
so we have a little bit more than fifty players. By using this a
minimum of four field goal attempts in the clutch, and bam Atibayo and Aaron
Gordon lead and clutch field goal percentage. They're both shooting six or seven from
the floor, so eighty five point seven percent just raw field goal percentage.
If you go into the top clutch like true shooting percentage, which is just
going to incorporate free throw shooting, two point shooting, three point shooting,
the top five are and it's the filter I used at least five appearances,
so at least five games that went into traditional crunch time. Mitchell Robinson leads
the league with one hundred and thirteen point six true shooting. Dark White is
two at one oh six point four true shooting, bamatibi Io was three at
ninety one point three true shooting, KCP is four at eighty seven point five
true shooting, and then Caleb Martin the Goat, is fifth at eighty five
true shooting. It's funny that so many of I mean in a lot of
this is just your sample size is going to build up, so longer you
play, it's better. But four of the top true shooting percentage guys made
it to the conference finals. And three of the top five true shooting percentage
guys that metric are in the finals. Again, I think you lower the
filters on five crunch time appearances, but Mitchell Robins had even cracking list while
only appearing in two rounds of basketball. So but yeah, there's that list.
And then finally from Casey Rodgers is Mayonnai's an instrument. My only response
to that is this was a rock solid SpongeBob square Pants reference, and I
totally respected Casey. If you scrolled all the way, you're listening all the
way to the end to hear that we shout out that question that reference.
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it is. Until next time and as always a gibe with the shout out
to the one, the only, the indelible friend anyway, Kem