What is up, fellow Thermo Nuguire efforts. I am a thoroughly exhausted and
run down to him for that, like coming at you with a solo mail
bag. Have a handful of questions, a bunch of questions, really great
questions that we're going to get to in a second. But let's start off
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Housekeeping Knows though, let's dive in here. Go to begin though with the
Mike buden Holder news for the Milwaukee Bucks. They dismissed him. That was
the phrasing, which I thought was fairly interesting under the circumstances. Normally it
could be they've decided to part ways, but I guess because he was still
under contract and given the extension that he had signed their their ticket, I
think he was just signed through twenty four twenty five if I wasn't mistaken,
so it had to be a dismissal. Maybe that's why it's phrased that way.
I want to make this clear because I feel like Bucks fans gave me
pushback on Twitter, and I would like them to watch this segment or listen
to it in its entirety. I don't necessarily understand why you make this move,
that it was just time for a change. You only reached the Eastern
Conference finals twice in five years, you did win one championship, but you
have the best player in the NBA, no worse than the second or third
best player in the NBA. I understand why you make this move. I
also understand one the timing is just poor. His brother passed away right before
Game one due to he died in a car accident or died from complications from
the car accident. The optics of that make it terrible, which would lead
me to believe that the Bucks, even though they're supposed to have an extensive
search, per woach, they have their guy in mind. Maybe it's Nick
Nurse, maybe it's someone else, But this doesn't feel like a move you
make now unless you know who you want to replace Buddenholzer. And I think
it's fine to say that this team needed fresh perspective. Yes, coach Bud
did a good job of kind of overhauling the culture there, but maybe you
believe that he's reached his peak with this roster that they just need that.
I hate saying that they've lost the locker room, and the Bucks didn't seem
like a team where he lost the locker room, But maybe you just wanted
that new fresh voice in there, maybe someone who is going to branch out
and try a little bit more creative stuff on offense. I think all of
that is fine. My main I wouldn't even call it issue or even a
qualm here is just and I just don't agree with the decision or I think
that let's crazy this way, But it is essentially the fall guy because the
roster I believe, was more so the problem, and the Bucks have very
few other ways to shake up the franchise. Right now, you're heading into
an off season where depending on what you have to pay. Brook Lopez going
to be a free agent, Chris Milton has that player option, so maybe
he ends up on the books for less. But if he does just pick
up that player option, he's on the books for a crap ton of money.
If he signs a new deal, he's still probably on the books for
a crap ton of money overall. And the new CBA rules make it not
just prohibitive, but impossible to make certain changes. If you are about seventeen
and a half million dollars over the luxury tax apron, the Bucks, if
they keep this roster firmly intact, are going to be there. That means
no minimli. That means that they can't trade a draft pick that's seven years
out. They could still trade a draft pick. They could trade two twenty
nine. And the other thing here is that you can't find in this fascinating
and incredibly limiting you can't decrease your salaries as part of an aggregate trade.
Let's just say they were willing to trade. Just throw numbers out here,
twenty five million dollars in salary from two players for one seventeen million dollars player.
You can't do that apparently, so that restricts them even further. And
there are just some other restrictions in there, but those are really just the
big ones. What are they supposed to do? What changes are they supposed
to make? You're almost locked into saying, hey, will Joe Angeles come
back for one hundred and twenty percent of his salary this year non bird rights?
Maybe you know Jay Crowder didn't really play and his exit interview was either
illuminating and uncomfortable. You have his bird rights, are willing to pay him
enough that he sticks around, and you promise a bigger role with a new
coach. There's very few things that you can do with this roster. Yes,
you could still go ahead and make moves, but your assets are what
does mar John Bochamp twenty twenty nine first round pick and then salary get you?
Who does that get you? And the names out there, Like we've
been through this exercise in the podcast before, I don't know if it's someone
who's going to address their biggest issue, which I would argue is they either
need kind of a change up at point of attack offense or they just need
wing depth and maybe a little bit in the form of point of attack defense,
where like they struggled there in the playoffs at points, even while having
Drew Holiday on the roster. I don't know how they're going to address all
of that. But you look at this roster and Jason Maples for Anyone host
Temple of Hoop podcast, he was on top of this from the beginning of
the season. I picked the Bucks to come out of the East at the
beginning of the season and losing the NBA Finals, but I did pick them
to come out of the East. I underestimated. I was concerned about their
wing depth specifically, and I even underestimated it. Like there's just not a
ton of athleticism outside of Jannis on this roster. Chris Middleton, after coming
back from the second injury, looked pretty slow defensively, even when he had
like really bright moments of offense, and it just makes you wonder what's the
path forward. Drew Holiday is thirty two, Brook Lopez is thirty five.
Jannis just in absolutely at his prime, so that's why you're not worried about
him. But like the rest of the roster, Drew going at age thirty
three season next year, so it'll be age thirty sixth season for brook Lopez.
No, it'll be age thirty five for brook Lopez. Excuse me,
he turned thirty five after February of this year. Then you have even like
even Chris Middleton, it'll be his age thirty two season. Pat Connaughton,
whose role was up and down this year, that's going to be his age
thirty one season. You're not an especially young team. You're very asset light,
and now you can't even unless you cut salary elsewhere, like maybe you're
able to open up flexibility under the aprin You're not even gonna have the mini
mL at your disposal. I'm not saying this is not my way of saying
that Bud is perfect. He wasn't. I think there are a lot of
decisions that you could question in the playoffs, the uses of the timeout in
the final game against timeouts plural or non use of the timeouts against Miami for
sure, not going to Jay crowd or more continuing to lean too much,
maybe on Wesley Matthews. I just don't know when you look at some of
the contexts over the past two years since they've won their title. Chris Middleton
out during the postseason last year, Jannis misses the by the way, Chris
Milton is a huge chunk of this season, and the Bucks still just finished
with the NBA's best records. That's incredible still, and I know that the
postseason is all that matters. But again, misses a chunk of Game one
and then games two and three against Miami because of a back issue. He
did not look like Jannie himself when he was back. And the other thing
here that you can't attribute to Bud is that Jannie regressed as a jump shooter,
and we know that that's never been his game. But like the counters
just weren't there like they have been the previous two years. The mid range
percentage, I believe dropped. I haven't looked at it in a while,
but it was just it certainly was not a weapon against Miami. You can't
account You can't attribute all that, excuse me, to the head coach.
And when you're looking at the rest of the personnel, what we're what else
were you supposed to do? What adjustments did you want him to make?
If you're saying it's again you need a fresh voice or that you really believe
and I don't want to hear about Nick nurse. He was kind of inflexible
in Toronto. He did some creative things, but didn't change up the offense
enough to think when you look at this roster and look offense is the problem.
I think because there was a lot of talk about their defense, about
the quality of three pointers they were giving up. They this season specifically,
when you go back and just kind of look at their ranks throughout the coach
bud Era is they limited looks at the rim, and then their bag was,
Hey, we're gonna have to just conceive three pointers. That's just something
that's going to be caked in to this. So you know, twenty eighteen
nineteen they were thirtieth and opponent three point in tenth three. So the Sheriff
shots coming from beyond the arc. The year twenty they were twenty eight two.
Twenty one, they're twenty sixth. Last season they're twenty ninth. This
year they were fifth while also being third in the Shriff opponent shots coming at
the rim. They found a way and they I think they were definitely more
inventive defensively, like not even just this year, but when you look at
sord of the title here since then, they've been willing to try more things
when you just watch them, and this year specifically, I think it was
super effective for their defense. Overall, Miami caught fire in the playoffs from
three, which is something they really hadn't done all season. They did see
an uptick in shooting from you know, Max Strus and company after the All
Star break, a little bit after the All Star break anyway, like they
weren't this capslock Italics tech Italics bold text hot shooting team. They became one
against the Bucks, and a lot of it was contested three pointers. Like
they shot I can't even remember the number. I'll try and look it up
now, but they shot like an astronomical percentage on contested three pointers, so
where a defender is going to be at least at least he's met within two
to four feet of your person, like Miami even now, like dating into
the nixt series, their fourth an effective field goal percentage on heavily contested jumpers.
And they're shooting for the playoffs, and much of this is you know,
in the Milwaukee Buck series there are forty three point six percent on contested
threes. That's the second best market in the league among playoff teams. Atlanta
was actually first through their through their six game set against Boston, like those
are tough shots, and when you look at it, felt like there wasn't
enough offensive variability from the Bucks more so than defense this season specifically, and
I think most Bucks fans would agree. I don't know how you get that
out of this roster because I think jannat Attenta Coupo is the best player in
the world. That is just this postseason didn't change anything about that. There
are limitations to his game, doesn't change anything about that. For me.
Am I interested in how he ages for a game that's still pride and on
these long strides and getting by guys just playing super physical and explosive. Absolutely
fascinated by it. But I think he's the greatest player in the world right
now. You do have to build out your roster in a very specific fashion
to account for his limitations, though. It's almost like if you put him
on the court with a center who isn't Brook Lopez, or even a floor
spaces big. But brook Lopez is the ideal big to have alongside Yannis as
a rim protector, someone who stretches the floor but can also work from the
outside in and there are very few of those guys in the league, and
if you don't care about the rim protection, it opens it up a little
bit where you could say, oh, Zeke Nagy could do that Karl Anthony
Towns if you're able to ge him, which you can't. So I think
that matters, and it's if you're not going to have enough either functional shooting
like compmentary shoe where you're having guys like just fly around away from the ball,
or in Drew Holiday's case, where it's he's like seems like if this
is not a statistical anecdote, but he's a killer shot maker during the regular
season, like he can get the step backwork and he can get ridiculous jumpers
without fail. It always seems like those shots fall short for him in the
playoffs, not literally fall short, just that some of them are long and
just playing ugly. But they're just not going down to this high eclip.
And that's not to say that you need to go ahead and now let's trade
Drew Holiday. My point is just that there are and it's aside from you
honest is that you don't there are limitations, There are strictures within which you
need to work of this roster that I don't think a new head coach is
just going to solve. I'm open to the idea that I'm wrong. I'm
not saying this was the incorrect decision. I just truly believe that the Bucks
personnel this year and their roster set up in general. I believe that their
current roster, coupled with all these restrictions that were going to face moving forward,
was by far the bigger problem than whatever coach Bud wasn't doing. I
really just don't think there were all these threads that he wasn't pulling at that
were there for him to explore. And I think he made mistakes. Did
he cost them this playoff series? No? That these playoff series are not
lost by one or two or three or four or five decisions. The Bucks
were in that final game. They were in a three one hole than they
ever should have been in. Is that on Budd? Okay? What else
did you want him to do during the You won one game without Jannis where
you didn't have them prepared for Game one. That's been sort of the Bucks
m is that, Oh they lost the game one, all right? So
is that on? But he's definitely responsible for their failures. But I just
don't think that he was even close to the biggest problem there. And I'm
open to the idea that I'm wrong. You could hit the YouTube comments with
it, and I hope that Bucks fans at least gave me this, you
know, eleven or twelve minutes that I spent on this to show that I'm
really I'm not. I don't know if this is the right decision. It
doesn't feel right to me, or at least I don't think it addresses the
biggest issue, and we won't know until they go through the off season.
Maybe they're able to do something that's a little bit more creative that I don't
see coming. I would bet against it unless it's a core change of Oh,
we're looking to move on from Brook Lopez or Chris Middleton or even Drew
Holiday. I don't know that they're going to stumble into anything on the free
agent market, or if Joe Angels comes back and he's gonna be playing like
Gangbusters or Marjon bow Champ picked Hits next year. Excuse me. They're just
so limited in what they can do, and I think that's the bigger problem
in looking at how flawed this roster was from inoffensive perspective, and I will
also say it's a it's a little hypocritical to celebrate what Janis said after Game
five's loss to Miami about how this season wasn't a failure and then you fire
Bud because it was a failure in your eyes. I just if we're gonna
I think what Janni said, by the way, on the spot, just
to articulate that the way that he did is my coach brand. He's mentioned
his second fucking language, no less, but just on the spot, having
that answer incredible. I didn't agree with every aspect of it, but it
was an incredible answer. He was lauded for it. The discourse after it
was fucking terrible, not from Yannis, just from everybody who was analyzing it,
maybe including this podcast. Who knows, but that was fucking awful.
But to say that this season wasn't a failure, and I understood what he
was saying. I think it was. If you don't want to call it
a failure, it was a disappointment, and fans are clearly agreeing if you
want coach but to go. But you can't laud Jannis for framing the season
in those terms. Then get rid of your title winning head coach who like,
okay, yeah, only two Eastern Conference Finals appearances in five years,
Like they've run into bears, They've run into injuries like these have been.
Like this is to say that it's a like you came up short, especially
when you look at like the earlier versions of the roster that they had been
working with. I just don't think the resume is unimpressive. I think the
past two postseasons specifically were eminently excusable. So that's why this just doesn't sit
right with me. I'm very interest to see who they replace him with.
I would bet that it's going to be a bigger name, like not in
the realm of like a Yeah, I could see the Lakers kind of went
this route when they poached Darvin Hamm from Milwaukee. Ironically, I'd be fairly
shocked if it's a first time head coach, and i'd be fairly shocked if
it's someone who like so Kenny acts. I think it would be an interesting
fit, but he's known more for his player development than even though he kind
of does the creative stuff offensively, so I'd be surprised with someone like that.
Nick Nurse has been the obvious name linked. I don't know that I
love him for this team. He'll certainly be willing to play certain guys more
minutes than Coach Blood would have. That was he wasn't afraid to do that
in Toronto. But he just Toronto supposed to have all these great guys in
the roster and they weren't great this season, and the culture apparently it wasn't
great there. So I don't know why you would all of a sudden want
Nick Nurse. There there are other names that are out there. I will
be very interesting to see who they lean towards next of what names end up
being linked to this. I will just two things I'll just reiterate to close
this out. You make this decision when you know who you want after him,
and so that's why I'm so curious to who they pick. And too,
I'm just not sure if it's the right decision. And then three,
I really don't think it addresses the bigger issue. And so maybe we see
shakeups on the roster and then that'll clue me in where it's like, Okay,
well this is more of a total overhaul, and that's the route that
they wanted to go, that's enough about the bucks though, So I went
from saying I was going to do ten minutes and make this super short to
doing over fifteen minutes on the bucks. How about that, let's cannonball,
belly flop, pencil dive, nose dive, jack knife into this mail back.
We'll begin with you know, we were just talking about midlevel exceptions,
so let's kind of stick with it from walled of odds. Who are the
best mid level of signings over the past mini mid level exciting excuse me,
over the best half decade. Ruth Brown have to be up there. So
I don't know if I was perfect in my research on this, but I
did go back the half decade to look at some of the signings that stood
out to me. Bruce Brown might just be the answer, because the other
best ones that I came up with the mini mid level specifically was the Pelicans
use part of their minimily to sign Herb and Alvarado in two and twenty one.
I mean that might have been part of their middle They used part of
their regular mid level exception to sign Herb, Jones and Alvarado first time.
First time was in the NBA. I just find that that's wild good value.
By the way, it doesn't qualify with this question. Denver used part
of its mid level to sign Jared Vanderbilt in two and eighteen, that was
his rookie season. Should that qualify Vanderbilt? Also, wasn't this stud necessarily
well he was in Denver. You always saw the flashes, but it wasn't
right away. The only thing I think that the only signings plural that I
think rival what Denver's getting out of Brown right now, who really shifted the
game defensively for them in Game two against Phoenix, and so you could talk
about how we kind of regressed offensively, wasn't as great defensively over the latter
half the season. He's giving them big minutes in the playoffs. But the
only signings I think that rivals over the last half decade, I would say
the Blazers when they used and it was part of their minimle. I don't
even think they used all of their miniml. It was in twenty and eighteen.
They got Gary Trent Jr. Who was a rookie at the time,
and Seth Curry who ended up being a useful player for them. So I
think that's the only one because it came in dual players. I don't think
any one of them alone would stand the test of what Bruce Brown has done.
Maybe them combine, I will say, and this doesn't qualify for it,
but the Bucks in two thousand and eighteen, I think it was getting
brook Lopez for the biannual exception. That first year in Milwaukee, he made
three point four million dollars. That was the bi annual exception that has to
be if anyone does this research, the greatest bi annual exception signing of all
time. Look at what he turned into second and defensive Player of the Year,
floor stretching center and like someone who can also generate offense for you if
he needs to attack from the outside in or work from the post, or
just move away from the ball and slip through defenses and finish at the basket
like on Catches. Has to be the greatest finanal exeptional. I still thin.
Brook Lopez is one of the most underappreciated players in the NBA, and
his career trajectory is just absolutely incredible, going from this defensive liability, like
he blocks some shots, but he's mostly a defensive liability. Didn't really play
on the perimeter all that much too. Oh, he stretches the floor,
moves off the ball, isn't just posting up and he's just Yeah, he's
just a defensive Player of the Year candidate, if not close to a favorite
until they actually announced the results. So yes, I do think well of
OZ that it's Bruce Brown is the answer. But if you want to the
GT Jay, Gary turn Junior and Seth Curry signed joint signings, I think
are the only ones that give Bruce Brown run for the money. If I
missed anyone, you know, shout out if you really high on Dennis Shrewder
in Boston for some reason I don't know, please let me know. Next
question comes from Oh. This question from Austin is fascinating. Who would you
say are the top reclamation projects a team should go after young high pick who
hasn't quite lived up to expectations but still showed some flashes promise, and which
teams should go after those players like a cool Patrick Williams and topping. So
I think we are in fundamental disagreement of what would constitute a reclamation project.
I think it's of someone who more so like a like in Ruce mon Garuba
to where they're just not getting playing time in Houston or Kyra Lewis in New
Orleans. So those are the names I kind of focused on for this.
If you want to go the Obe top and patri Williams, Okoro routes and
so I want to answer your question if you're for I'll start with Isaac Okoro
has shown you can hit threes in the regular season, not so much the
playoffs. If you give him space, which Cleveland or not. I do
think he is utility as a cutter or sort of like the Bruce Brown roll
on the ball with a little bit less playmaking. I would like him in
Utah would be fun to see. They create all the space in the world
and they just need wings in general or Sack Gremento what they you know,
they don't have capslock shooters on their team, but they generate enough space because
of where Sabonis gets the ball a lot of the time, and just they
play at a high speed, and Fox and Herder and Monk and if Barnes
is still gonna be there, and Keegan Murray of court of course, they're
all passible to really good shooters. For Patrick Williams, I mean, pick
a team if you like. I like Utah, sure, but I think
the two of my favorites would be Indiana, provided that they're still kind of
doing this if you want to call it a middle build like Washington does,
where they're at least going to invest time in him rather than Okay, we
have this high draft pick this year plus two others and we're gonna spend our
caps space and trying to be really good next season. But I would like
to see him Indiana and then San Antonio would be super fun. They just
kind of had like all these wingish like bigger combo forward type, not bigger,
but combo foward types and Fassel and Jeremy Sown and Kelton Johnson. Excuse
me, I don't know why I forgot about him and they're gonna add someone.
Maybe it's when by through the draft and let's just throw Patrick Williams in
there and let him cook. But there are so many teams that you could
argue for any team that's I'm trying to win now and guarantee him playing time
or still Patrick Williams on there. So the other names that I have,
and these are just my favorite, oh Obi top and excuse me, Indiana
playing next to Miles Turner. I like that he kind of gives you both
of what I not defensively, I want to make that clear, but both
of what Isaiah Jackson and Jalon Smith give you. Like just like sort of
combines those two players into one. Although Isaiah Jackson might be at least more
confident with the ball in his hands and trying to turn corners there still but
Obi Top in Indiana or Oklahoma City, imagine next to chet home Grin.
I would love that. And I think that they have the defensive infrastructure to
where they can play someone who's a pure four. Maybe they would even give
him some run at the five. They weren't afraid to play super small,
just kind of put him in a super charge Dario Shart's role, or you
trust him to be like less of a bully with the ball in his hands,
but he can still stretch, stretch the floor, and he's gonna run
it faster than Charge did. But so I have how many names that I
listened. I have five guys that I have as reclamation projects or I think
are buried on the bench. And it's the first one is Zeke Naji in
Denver. Just remember the discord is coming out of training camp that he was
due for break like this was coming out of Denver, that they thought he
was gonna play this huge role. He did not this year, and he
wasn't like super banged up. I think he dealt with an injury towards the
latter third or the middle of the season, but it was just they never
used him and they need someone who can rebound and with more size for their
backup five spot. I get it. Just a wild turn of events to
me though, based off how much they were really building him up leading into
the season. Oklahma said he would be the pick for me. I don't
know. They liked to play small now doesn't hurt they're rebounding. I think
having Giddy and Shay there and if you're gonna play him with chet Home Grinna,
I think you would get playing time there. Ousman Gruba, my boy,
you all know I love me some Mousmon Gruba. I think towards the
end of the season in Houston he showed he could stay on the court a
little bit offensively. Put him in Utah. Please put him in Utah.
You're not gonna play him with Walker Kestler. I don't think, but maybe
you could. I mean, you're gonna have three other shooters on the court
at once. But just put him in Utah small ball five that shit and
it surround him with four shooters. Just let me see it. Put him
in Utah. Kyra Lewis Jr. Coming up to acl injury. His speed
looks like it's back. You can you can really get downhill, get bad
guys, get to the basket. Brooklyn would be fun because they're gonna space
the floor a ton anyway, And Spencer Dinwi and mcaal Bridges are not like
pure rim pressure, and Patty Mills certainly is impure rim pressure. Nor is
cam Thomas. Nobody on that roster as a like a wing or a or
a guard is pure rim pressure. Kyra Lewis, They would be fun now
Kai Flynn just throw him to Dallas probably, I mean maybe, but Dallas
has to commit to playing him. I think that they need someone who can
be as just like disruptive as he can defensively, and then maybe he will
give you within that spacing they have there in the half court during the non
Luca minutes, he could give you some secondary ball handling. So and like
if Kyrie is still there. I think those two could play together. I
don't necessarily love the fit with Luca though Chumo kk is the other one I
have, and injuries have derailed his like availability in Orlando more than anything else.
But I just kind of feel like with the roster they're building and how
close they are already, I don't know if if that's like the spot for
him anymore. I have Indiana again here. I'm just throwing all the wings
or commo forwards to Indiana again. That's prideed on the fact I look and
I think there's something there, Like he's showing offensive flashes, he's showing defensive
flashes. If he could stay healthy, let's just try and give him some
run there. I think you could also make the case, if you really
wanted to, that Charlotte might be interesting there. I could even say Detroit
following that's a deep Bay trade and then being so wing light. I just
don't with Boyan mcdonovitch there, and even Alec Burks even they play different positions,
but they're trying to go with dual bigs and Isaiah Stewart's there, James
Wiseman and Jalen durn there I wouldn't be confident in their ability to play him
enough, and you could, of course thrown him on the Jazz. I'll
throw anyway to the Jazz right there. Fun question. I don't know if
anyone else has any reclamation projects that they'd like to talk about that might be
worth its own pot in the off seasons. I try to plan for content
there. I'm actually not planning for off season content at the moment, if
anyone cares. That's not even I'm trying to get. I'm trying to survive
the playoffs and then the draft in free agency at the moment. The next
question comes from Yokich Joster. Okay, this is a good one. How
many wins would the two thousand and seventeen Warriors get with twenty twenty three Cavan
Looney on the roster? I would I think that over the course of an
eighty two game regular season they would get eighty three wins. That's what they
would get with him. I mean, man, that team would be this
version of Cavan Looney on that team. I also forget, like Cavan money
is so ingrained into the Warriors DNA for me, like I just kind of
assume he's been there for like in this high volume roll for the entire time.
And look, he's been on the team since two thousand and fifteen and
two thousand and sixteen, so he comes after their first title. But like,
I guess I haven't liked that. I like I'm confusing him for Festus
or whatever. But he only played I think he was under nine minutes or
something per game in that two thousand and sixteen two thousand and seventeen season.
Kevin Durant, of course we know, is on that team. They won
sixty seven games, but again Looney didn't have this huge role. Also did
he have a huge role that the year after, Like he kind of creaked
in the double digit minutes. But even the two thousand and seventeen and eighteen
team, which was also terrifying, although maybe more prone to just like not
flipping the off switch, but we're just kind of like, all right,
we're gonna repeat, and that's how it's done. They only won fifty eight
games that two thousand and seventy Warriors team that wins Like with this version of
Kavan Looney, I mean, who is I'll actually need to look at this
who I'm trying to remember who their second most you big was that year you
have a Zaza. So this Looney instead of Zaza, you don't even lose
any playmaking. You definitely add better defense. Yeah, that Warrior's team is
winning. They're winning at least seventy they're winning, right because they won sixty
seven? Is he guys, he's gonna be worth another seven wins? They're
at seventy four, So they break the seventy three and nine record after one
season. After breaking hitting seventy three and nine, they go seventy four and
eight. That's a that's a fascinating hypothetical to think about. The next question
that comes from, oh, we have two Ki Irving related questions here,
so so get ready. It's Alan Kyrie Irving sign and trade for Rudy Gobert,
who says, no, everybody, I think. But more seriously,
and I'm going to throw out the fact that Dallas might run into some hard
gap issues because if they're you have to stay under the hard gap. If
you're with the hardcap, Wow, you have to stay under the luxury tax
apron if you're going to acquire someone via sign and trade, which, oh,
the Mavericks won't have an issue Rudy Gobert is already under a contract,
and Minnesota actually has plenty of flexibility. I actually like the idea of Kyrie
in Minnesota functionally, emotionally, personally, off the court, whatever. But
Rudy Gobert, a little younger than Kyrie, still turns thirty one next month,
oh to one hundred and thirty one point five million dollars over the next
three years. I just doesn't give you enough like dynamics on offense, and
he will help you defensively, but he also kind of struggled in Minnesota this
year, not defensively as much, but there was slippage there as a rim
protector. Does it change when he's not spending so much time with like kat
wasn't even there for most of the season, So does it change like in
an environment that maybe they're looking at they are looking to slow things down a
little bit more than a team that's run by Anthony Edwards, would I just
I don't love it for Dallas actually, And then I think with Minnesota,
the problem is I think the value proposition might be worth the risk just to
get out from Rudy Gobert's contract, especially if Kyrie is only getting like two
or three guarantee years himself. What is your defense become with Kat? And
I mean Anthy Edwards might be all defense one day. Definitely made improvement there,
but you have Kat and Kyrie. What does that mean for Mike Conley
there as well? You're making subsequent moves. You have Jade McDaniels. I
just question whether the defense, especially on the interior, you would really have
to trust nas Read that would open up more minutes for him. But a
karn Anthy Towns plus whoever from court, even if it's Kyle Anderson and Jane
McDaniels on the court with him, I don't love it for either side.
The next Kyrie or in question comes from Bower three. They say, should
the Bucks consider a drew for Kyrie swap? I say absolutely not, but
I could see them thinking they need more offense. We just talked about how
the Bucks need more offense. So I would clearly agree with Bower here.
That being said, and we don't have to worry about this because the Bucks
definitely cannot pull this off. They're not staying under the luxury tax apron if
they if they acquire someone via sign and trade, So we don't even have
to worry about it. I still don't know that I love it for them,
because I do think that they kind of struggled with ball containment on the
perimeter, and so now you're gonna take your best perimeter stop or get rid
of him and replace him with Kyrie. So that really juices up your offense,
but it compromises your defense. Maybe you believe that, I mean even
just bringing back Jay Crowder and having Javon Carter there, maybe you believe that's
enough. You would need to bring in just some like really like dogged defenders
for this to make sense. Now, while we're on this subject, though,
like what places if he's gonna leave Dallas, what places would make sense
for Kyrie? Irving is a sign and trade destination. I talked about Toronto,
like for in the deal for Og and stuff. Maybe Gary Trent Junior
is coming over or a mega deal for Pascal. But just if the Raptors
like, well, we want to rebuild around Scotti, n Og and Pascal
doesn't make too much sense with Yaka Peartle there. I just I thought about
the heat they could do, like Tyler Hero and Kayla Martin. For Kyrie,
you could work Kyle Lowry in there if you really wanted to, but
you would have to expand it from Dallas's end. Where are they gonna give
Tim Hardaway Junior? I just have this written down. The Wizards going after
Kyrie. If he's just going wherever's gonna pay him, doesn't seem like such
a Wizard's move to be like, hey, we're gonna fucking sign and trade
for Kyrie. That seems like a Wizard move. Wizards move, But if
you want Kyrie Minnesota, like a Cat for Kyrie trade could make some sense.
I think Towns works next to Luca. You really just have to flesh
out your defensive infrastructure. After that, I will say, I know Bower's
not gonna like this because there was a very spirited discord. Well, actually
we'll get to that. So his thoughts on Towns are I think a little
bit too extreme for for but they're not even a little bit too extreme when
we get them. But they're they're super extreme. So this next question I
have, I don't have a name associated with it, So what did I
do? It's about Jason Tatum, So let me see if Oh okay,
So nicol Cha Kalev asked, excuse me, to clear my need to clear
my throat here. Even if even if they win the title, Tatum needs
to seriously work on his ISO game, hot or not, I feel like
the fact that the Celtics have to get too cute at the end of games
is will cost them at least a title. There's a reason why coaches run
symbol plays at the end of games, less rooms for catastrophe. So okay,
I think Jason Tatum was statistically because if they're one of the least effective
off the double jump shooters this year, he's now picked that up in the
regular seat the postseason. Excuse me, but he does have a nineteen point
five usage rate in the clutch during the playoffs, which is just way too
low. Shooting thirty eight point three percent on drives in the playoffs, again
too low. I think there was the stat out there. Someone points this
out and discord that Marcus mart is taking more shots in the clutch during the
playoffs than him and jell and Brown combined or something, and that's just such
a small sample size at this point, I think this sells a play in
five clutch games. If I'm looking at Jason Tatum improvement, I think he
got the room a little bit more this year, got the free from a
line a lot more this year. I think he needs to improve. If
you want to say he needs to improve an ISO score, needs to be
a threat in those situations from more levels. And by that, I do
think it means that he needs to follow through and get to the basket more
in that point. And there's also if you want him to be less deferential
and crunch time. I mean, he had a thirty nine usage rate in
the clutch this year during the regular season. I think as a right now,
he can be your best player and you can win a title, especially
if your team is Boston. If you're looking for him to kind of take
over games like a like a Yannis, like a peak Lebron, even like
a KD, I don't think he has that in him at the moment.
He might have it more defensively than a KD, but I just it's tough
for me, Like there's still the bailout element of his game that can bother
me or ruffle my feathers, where it's like, why you're not following through
on your drives. I just like I feel like I'm going to oversimplify this.
I think if they don't win the title, or even if they win
the title. One of the biggest laws of Jason Tatums Jason Tatum's game is
that that last level of offense sometimes doesn't always exist in where if it's like
he's not getting in the basket as much, he's gonna be very reliant on
drawing fouls, like where he's either just inside the paint or he's even outside
the paint on jump shots, and that's just probably not going to sustain you
as much in the postseason. So, yeah, that is something that he
definitely needs to work on, But I think he's actually gotten better. He
did get to the rim a little bit more often this year, but that's
always kind of been his mo people. I think over exaggerated the mid range
stuff for much of his career and the rim pressure has been sort of lacklustered.
But again, like he's getting the rim more often than he did in
the regular season during the playoffs. But there is something to the way that
Boston's offense doesn't seem to want to run things through him in crunch and we're
like, he's not going to necessarily start with the ball in his hand.
He's gonna need someone to get it in, or if he gets it's gonna
be too differential and it's not like drive and kick type stuff or like really
methodically breaking down and throwing the less obvious pass. And he's gotten incrementally better
basically every season as a passer, So I think it's fair to consider that.
I just don't know if I would say one percent that that's what needs
to happen. Cyborgian says, Okay. Cyborgian says, is it legal for
the Blazers to burn the team and the arena to the ground and file for
the insurance? I would argue that is illegal, and burning the team would
be murder, So I'm gonna say no. But the Blazers do need to
It's they either need to burn everything but Damian Lillard down, essentially if they
want to keep shading and this year's pick. I don't know what the point
of that would be because you're not getting value for all these other guys,
or you need to burn the entire thing down, keep shading this pick,
trade everybody else, and rebuild. That is the I don't know anything to
add on the Blazes. I'm not saying Damian's asked are out but if you're
keeping him, you need to be committed to it. And it's like go
get that, go hit that home run trade or even a triple of a
trade, which you've never done, not with Neil Shay and not now under
this front office regime. So yeah, that those are my less than extended
thoughts on the situation in Portland right now. Muckle asked what's your take on
the craziness this postseason versus the importance of the regular season. Seems like some
people are saying the upsets further proved the regular season doesn't matter. I personally
think it's good dev upsets and the number of upsets this year will prove to
be an outlier. This year is more due to matchups and experienced Kings versus
Warriors, terrible rebounding Cabs versus the Powerhouse Mitchell Robinson, and circumstances. Yeah,
it's hurt Jimmy Supernova instead of a sign of things to come. Muckle,
you are right here. First of all, the upsets are good because
you want the whole point of the play and is to believe that these upsets
can happen in the first place, which is why you want the idea of
the ten seed making it into the playoffs, and I think you look,
you laid it out. The injuries were a big deal this season. I
also what we have to see and this is look the NBA is trying to
do this. By the way, is Seth Partner wrote how one stars for
the dunked on Prime like email things where they daily dunks. I was reading
a think it was like a week or two ago that stars were available.
The two best players of every team this year were available less much less than
in seasons passed. So we didn't have great information on what these teams would
look like in the postseason. And then you're also going to get to a
point where it's like if Miami lost a ton of games to injury, but
they get a little bit more healthy. They didn't though they lost Tyler Hero
and now they lost Jimmy Butler. You're just not dealing with the same level
of knowledge on these teams. The bigger thing here is though you have now
shrunked the ground in the gaps between these teams because you're not teams that might
skew dominant. Let's say let's use the Clippers just as an example. If
Kawai and Paul George had been more available this year. What do they look
like they're not getting in his fifth or they getting in a second, Like
that's totally possible. We're seeing I think more of like, oh, there
are teams that are built for the regular season. Where the Kings, during
the regular season they get relatively great health. They finished third. The Grizzlies
they didn't get great health. But like they're so deep, and when you
have just competent rotation players, it can go eleven twelve guys deep. You
can stand loose Steven Adams, Brandon Clark still hold on to second place,
that you're Williams doing nothing for you, you still hold on to second place.
And the other thing I don't I don't want to say that this is
going to be a trend that continues. Some of it does come down the
load management, some of it does come down to injuries. Jimmy is trying
to spread out stars, and I want to talk more about this because Woman's
is something that they expect that the goal of this new CBA was to get
that third star on a team to go elsewhere, and there aren't a lot
of teams with three stars right now. I am not thrilled about that idea,
but the league is trying to while saving billionaires money because that's the goal
of everything. Apparently, still shocked, the players agreed it's all this.
However, the league is actively creating straints that will incite more parody now with
this new CBA, and so I wouldn't necessarily rule out more upsets moving forward.
Maybe it takes a while to be actualized. But I don't know if
this season is going to be an anomaly when we know what we know about
how much stars are going to be available and rested during the regular season,
and when it looks like talent might be spread out even further, these the
gaps between let's just let's just say the one seed in eight seed when looking
at the wins, what used to be these huge galaxy chasms in most instances
have now shrunk. And I think that we could, you know, for
the most part, you could look at that this year specifically, we didn't
have a sixty win team. We had we had two fifty five win teams.
That was it. And then just you know, the sixth seeds.
But or as an example, or let's even use the eight seed. Well,
that's weird because the play in skews Miami should have been seventh. That's
the other thing to consider here. But when you're looking at what would have
been the seventh place Heat, they had fourteen less wins than the first place
Bucks. That ga was probably larger last year. Oh no, it wasn't.
The Bulls had only said yeah, I mean, like the parody's kind
of been there during the regular season. The Heat won with fifty three games,
had the best record in the East. Last year, Chicago was six
at forty six, and so like these gaps just aren't like huge in the
West, it's probably a lot of different Phoenix was one, it's sixty four
wins. Last year, the eight seed was the Pelicans ended up being the
Pelicans. Let's say the eighth best record was the Clippers forty two wins.
There was a twenty two win difference there that definitely reduced This season, Denver
was at fifty three and the eighth best record was held by the Timberwolves.
They were at forty two. So that's eleven wins that you slashed that in
half. I think as talent gets redistributed, as teams are working within more
of these like CBA constraints, this could be something that we see continue.
I don't think that makes means the regular season doesn't matter. It makes seeding
important because you're gonna want home court advantage, you're gonna want to stay out
of the play in, you're going to want to have it makes it more
about matchups too. You're we're gonna want the most favor match up possible.
One thing not an original thought, people have been banging this drum. I
would like to see them allow the top seed to choose which team that comes
out of the play and they get to face just to like kind of give
more of an incentive for you'd have finish in first. And the other thing
is just like you shouldn't have to wait longer than the third, fourth,
fifth, and sixth seeds to know who your opponents are, you know what
I mean? Like, what's then the advantage? Yeah, you could look
and say, okay, well there are these groups of teams that we could
theoretically play, but you have to wait longer to game plan or you're you're
you're making things more complicated. So that is one change that I would like
to see the league make. Make great question though whole I thought that was
a really good one. Hb Ass rank the coaches left in the playoffs,
or I guess they're they're telling me to rank the coaches left left in the
playoffs. I hate ranking coaches because all these coaches forget more today about basketball
than than I will ever know. I will The question was asked, though,
so I will take a dab at it. I think the easy like
number one, just no debate here is it's Rik Blostra in Miami. Steve
Kerr's number two for me. I have Michael Malone at third for Denver.
I think he's been really like kind of pull it the right threads in the
Phoenix series, specifically, lets you look at Game two, kind of removing
MPJ, leaning into ball handling and defense with Bruce Brown, smart decisions like
that. I have Joe Missoula at four. There might be a case for
him at three. He's made some changes. He also wants you to know
it based off his press conference after a Game two against the Sixers. I
have Tips at five. This is weird. I just feel like he gets
like his players always seemed to rally aroun him unless they're cameradish for the most
part, and he's shown a willingness to adjust way more when it comes to
defense, specifically than I ever would have like thought or could have remembered in
his previous years with the Knicks, his stops at Minnesota, Chicago, even
Boston. I have Doc Rivers at six. I feel like he's quietly like,
don't a good job coaching the Sixers for the most part this year,
Like they dealt with some injuries, they tried some different playoff line, not
shying away from beball Paul in the postseason. If Monty Williams at seven,
you could flip him with Doc Rivers or TIBs, like the margins here are
pre thin, and I think I would like to see Monty, by the
way, if the sun's easy to go small at this point, ditch the
you know, ditch the let's try and get eighton to play without your kis
that he could dominate offensively, it's not working. I'd rather see you are
small in those minutes. He seems reluctant to make wholesale changes more than a
lot of coaches. And I have Hammon an eighth Lakers switter doesn't really seem
to like him, like when they look at his time out usage and then
some of the minute's distributions. I actually thought he's coached like a good team
this year. But I've done a good job coaching this year overall, especially
like it's first time head coach, first season in LA, I think he's
been fine. So those are my rankings. Next question comes from dark Wing
Duck. What offensive plays sets are trending in the playoffs? Oh hey,
another question that you shouldn't want to come to the DAN for Valley of Hard
one knocks four. I will say, like not the name of sets or
defensive schemes is not just something that like I do, like I can just
recognize, I think what's happening, and I'll probably have to rewatch it any
times. But I've noticed a lot more of this postseason anecdotally because I don't
have the status to back this up, it does feel like teams as biggs
are varying up their defense, like the defensive bigs are varying up their coverages
a lot more. Where it's let's use imbeed as an example, where the
regular season is drop drop, drop, drop drop, And yes, we
do typically see more adjustments of the postseason, but it's always he just coming
up higher to the screen, but we're also we're seeing more stumping, we're
seeing some hedging, we're seeing flat out like switching, and then we're still
seeing drop. We've definitely seen it more with Yokich as well. Maybe we
haven't really seen it so much with Boston or unless I'm just missing it there.
We've definitely seen some like shape shifting there with the Knicks. In regards
to it, I'm trying to think of the teams that are still in there.
We've definitely seen some variability with the way that Ayton plays defensively, not
always necessarily in a good way for that matter, And so that is maybe
this always happened and I just wasn't as and tune with it. And it
just feels like some of the big man battles, like when you're looking at
and Beat, you just won MVP. Congratulations Daim by the way, when
you're looking at Yo Kitch involved in the MVP discussion, the Nuggets run a
ton of pressure. The defense supposed to be their weakness, YadA, YadA,
YadA. Even with Perclopez and Milwaukee, I thought the Bucks kind of
throughout the season they did like a lot. It wasn't just yeah, they
were so reluctant to bring him, and that was part of the reason.
But I think Milwaukee, some of their sets against Miami were frustrating. He
would probably kind of fall into like the you know, Boston. I'm not
saying they play in pure drop, they varied it up, but like their
defensive scheme doesn't feel like it's changed a bunch from the regular season, nor
did the Bucks is watching them, And maybe that was someone else, Maybe
that was many of your problems with coach Bud being there in the first place.
But that's the that's that is the thing I'm noticing defensively, and I
will say offensively, when you kind of look at the clash of styles like
and Lakers Warriors would be a perfect example. Anyone who thinks that NBA offensives
have become just strictly homogeneous and all look the same, it is just it's
flat out wrong. Not saying dark winning Duck was implying Matt, But that's
just where I'm at with that. Peto ass I find it, man,
I find it absolutely fascinating. The structure of the Indiana Pacers rebuilds from now
on. In my opinion, they have a complete plank canvas for the upcoming
off season. They can build up assets and talents slowly, or they can
kind of push to retool quickly. On this last note, today I woke
up to the idea of cat in Indiana and I can't stop thinking about it.
What are your general thoughts on this? Points are waking up and thinking
about Brownie points, thinking about the Indiana Pacers in fucking May when they're when
they're not even playing switch out at to you PO. I hate this idea
all due respect and Bower, this is what I was hinting at. I
think I saw the answer. He called like a cat, a stretchy er
Andre Drummond just too cruel. But Bower did say they would not just acquire
towns straight up and like forst matching salary, even it wasn't cost you in
town. That's a I just feel like it's a very short sighted way to
look at it. Towns we've seen can be super effective. This year,
he was completely out of his element. I know people think he fades in
big games, that he's offt on as soft and low i Q on defense,
and that he has these sort of inconsistency performances. There's been so much
churn roster, churn coaching, churn to Minnesota for so long. Give me
him on a somewhat stable roster. And if you're gonna surround him with the
right defensive infrastructure, And by that, I mean if you want him to
play with a big, maybe he let's not lean all the way into like
a supermax big like Rudy Gobert. That's Miles Turner felt like he would been
a cheaper option. And why are we trying to get a cat to play
with another big in Indiana? I guess the idea would be a Miles Turner
for Miles Turner for Cat swap. But why do you playing Miles Turner and
Gobert together? That might be a you know, the Turner can stress the
floor, but that would be a disaster. Cat is one of the most
dynamic big men offensively all time. And I just feel like I'm not blaming
at all on the Wolves. It's definitely some of his on him. His
lack of growth on defense and disappointing, But the constant turnover there I think
has really impacted his development as a as a player and maybe even just as
a leader. And I think if you gave him more time without Rudy Gobert,
like without like if it was just Jade McDaniel's Anthony Edwards calmly and that's
your core and Carlton Town is there, I think it would end up panning
out. I do not like him in Indiana, though I do agree with
you Peto that Indiana isn't just a very flexible position. Three first round picks
this year they can have if they so please. They can get to like
almost thirty million in cap space. I think a lot of people have like
twenty seven and a half. But they can do things there to cut costs.
I'm sure somebody would trade for Buddy Heel's expiring contract. They can look
at getting rid of Daniel Tice. I think we're getting looking at him.
Go to teach McConnell. They're a ways for them to just get into the
thirty million dollars range rather effortlessly. And so do they spend that money and
who do they spend it on? This free agent market is not super deep.
Could you see them making run I like PJ. Washington for them going
after literally any way, and Chris Middleton would be incredible in Indiana that would
probably have to be assigned and trade for them. Unless he's gonna sign for
thirty something million over a longer term. I guess he could do that.
That would be you talk about really juicing up and accelerating your timeline. Chris
Middleton in Indiana with Ben Nick Matherin, Tyrise Halibert, and Miles Turner,
that would be something. So yeah, they're I think they're in a great
position. I'm very interesting where they land in the lottery. But to add
another top prospect to this, I think they're gonna try and do the vaunted
middle build though to where I don't know that they're going to spend their cap
space on all these high impact guys or even one player. Maybe they definitely
need to flesh out just sort of the three four spots and make those like
diversify those packages. But like, I think they're gonna be invested in,
like, well, we need to you know, you already have Tyrise Haliburton,
probably gonna see more from Like does Ben Nick Matherin start next year?
What happens with Andrew nem Hard. I think they're gonna be very invested in
him. They're not a team I would say, I'll phraze it this way,
I'd be fairly surprised if they make a big offer to one free agent
this summer, just based off the market. I think they should. By
the way, I love bj Washington there. I think he's my favorite fit.
But I don't think they're gonna go out like the DeAndre Eton route.
And I don't think they're gonna be the team that makes the huge trade.
And if they do, could it be something where it's like Miles Turner and
Buddy Healed for DeAndre eight. And at this point, because we know that
they really like DeAndre eight, agree with you overall, people though that the
Pacers are in an an enviable position from a roster building perspective. We have
let me check, I have discord notifications. Is there more questions that I
need to get to here? Uh no, But so we'll make this.
The last question comes from unbiased Pistons fan. If you've got to implement one
new salary cap or contract rule, it can be any want. What would
it be. I'd make players making max money locked into their teams for two
to three years minimum, hopefully stop guys from signing a big deal and trying
to force their way out early. This is so that's interesting. I just
I just don't think create demands. There's big of a problem as we make
them out to be. And it's it's like, are you locking the teams?
I'm running away from the microphone? Are you are you holding the teams
to that too? Like? Can they still trade these players over two to
three years? Players can't request a trade? That just seems like super uneven
in that regard. If you but if you want to make it that way,
where's teams you can't offer this deal unless you're going to keep this player
for two for minimum of two to three years or three years. That would
be fascinating to see how that changes the contract climate. If I could make
a change, I think I would just like get rid of the extension rules
so to speak. Where it's right now, it's going up to one hundred
and forty percent? Is the maximum raise you can offer for these you know,
the non rookie, non designated you know guys are making me all like,
aren't supermax eligible or they're not coming off their rookie scales? Just like,
what are we doing here? At this point? You're in a position
to where I'm trying to take a good example, Jalen Brown is not going
to sign for a one hundred and forty percent of it. He needs to
be making all the bat and be Supermax eligible, and so you're forcing him
to hit the open market. But you're claiming you want teams to kind of
retain talent, and that makes it more likely, quite frankly, that they
won't because if he's if it makes financial sense for him to hit free agency,
he's going to hit free agency. So I would like to see them
be able to offer these guys the max. Maybe you still want to have
criteria, whereas if they make an All Star team, you're allowed to offer
them like what their max would be. I would like to see that because
I think it would streamline a lot of the team building processes and also help
players decide their future. I would probably, also, by the way,
undo a lot of what we're seeing in the CBI. I don't like the
second luxury tax tax apron rule. Had a conversation about it with Keith Smith
of spot track or check that out previous podcasts from like a month ago or
whatever. I would just get rid of so much of that stuff and the
other thing I would consider. But they're going in a complete opposite direction.
Is just like rewarding teams when they're going to have all these talents. Where
if you have a player who's you drafted and has been on your roster for
a certain number of years, let's say let's say it's his third contract,
that their money like X amount of money won't count towards your luxury tax bill
or something. I think that would incentivize then maybe smaller market teams to spend
more in general. I think a lot of people believe that would benefit more
of the Clippers Warriors types. It might, But the big one would be,
let's change these tension rules because I think that they're just outmoded and they're
disingenuous to actually allowing teams and players to plan their long term futures together or
with or without each other. And then if a player turns down your max
extension that you can offer earlier, then you know that you need to move
on from him. These are great questions, as always, everyone, if
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