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Hello everyone, and welcome to the
latest surely one of the most ridiculous episodes

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of Hardwood Knox. This is Adam
fromwil here with my fantastic co host Dan

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fa Valley, and it has been
one of the most ridiculous basketball days that

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I can remember. It started off
with some unexpected news that Kawhi Leonard of

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the Los Angeles Clippers had suffered an
unspecified ACL injury that will most likely knock

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him out for at least the duration
of this series against the Utah Jazz.

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Then we learned about Chris Paul entering
the COVID nineteen protocol and probably missing some

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of the Western Conference Finals that the
Phoenix Suns have already advanced to. Then

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Scott Brooks was unsurprisingly let go by
the Washington Wizards, and then stan Van

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Gundi was far more surprisingly let go
by the New Orleans Pelicans. And we're

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recording this shortly after the Atlanta Hawks
completed a twenty six point comeback against the

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Doc Rivers. Is I mean the
Philadelphia seventy six ers. So I think

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we had to start there, right, Dan, just because that was just

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a wild, unexpected game. Just
quickly on your recap did you get that

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Donnie Nelson's no longer with the Dallas
Mavericks. No, I knew I was

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going to forget something, because what
a day that was before twelve pm Mestern

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time was out of control. I
woke up a little bit later than normal.

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We just installed some like room darkening
blinds in our bedroom, so I

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slept in a little bit more than
usual, and there was just this deluge

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of news as soon as I woke
up. I'll be letting Sportscasting know that

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you decided to sleep in on their
dime. But yeah, did we have

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to start with? I mean,
also the doc reversing Chris Paul being dealt

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like playoff blows at essentially the same
time. Just this is all it's too

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much taking. But yeah, hawk
sixers Philly leads by as much as twenty

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six they were they had a twenty
didn't they have a twenty point lead going

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into the fourth quarter? Was it
eighteen? What was the lead heading into

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the fourth in this it was a
lot of points, that's fair. It's

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all kind of blurned together because again
we're we're doing this so quickly after But

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I think it was eighteen based on
my quick math because the Hawks won the

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fourth quarter forty to nineteen for a
three point win. Yeah, so that's

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a huge and the impetus was a
combination of maybe the Sixers tried to steal

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too much sign without dwell and beat
on the court, plus Lou Williams going

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absolutely nuclear. Lou Williams was a
plus thirty one in a three point victory.

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That says a lot. I'm always
reticent to cite individual plus minus,

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especially on a single game basis,
but that says a lot. He just

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went nuclear. I mean he and
Seth Curry we're trading buckets during the fourth

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quarter. He didn't make any mistakes. He played the entire last fifteen minutes

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or so of the game and was
just unbelievable. I don't how do you

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feel about that? And look,
Trey Young was good. Thirty nine.

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That was like the most casual thirty
nine points ever, a ten of twenty

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three shooting. He was seventeen of
nineteen at the foul line, which was

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huge for him. John Collins made
some really big plays down the stretch.

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That huge block you're talking about his
recovery there on the block, him block

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and beat who do you blocks?
Harris? He should have taken the corner

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three pointer down that possession. Gallo
with that dagger two down the stretch.

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He still looked at signing is going
to be if a long term but the

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like that he can do that still
point is my point. It's unbelievable how

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many takeaways I feel like we can
have from this game, just between the

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Lou Williams explosion, Trey Young just
continuing to cement himself as an absolute stud

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whose resume is just not going to
be questioned after this this postseason run,

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however long it lasts. Seth Curry
thirty six points, I'm thirteen of nineteen

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shooting, continuing to just torch the
Hawks and operate us so much more than

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Justice bought up guy, and he's
quickly becoming one of the most underrated contracts

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in the NBA, the biggest value
contracts in the league. Ben Simmons,

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you know, I've been a staunch
Ben Simmons defender from the start, really,

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but it's tough to have a point
of attack guard who shot four or

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fourteen from the free throw line and
was getting hacked and they had to keep

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the ball out of his hands because
the Hawks were trying to climb back from

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that twenty plus point deficit, only
took four field goal attempts in a close

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playoff game, and per stat Muse, among players in a single playoff run

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who have taken at least fifty free
throw attempts, he now has the second

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worst free throw percentage in a playoff
run thirty two point eight percent, which

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only beats Ben Wallace in two thousand
and six, who was at twenty seven

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point three percent. I think I've
been hesitant to engage in this conversation because

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the amount of defensive flexibility Ben Simmons
brings the transition offense, his ability to

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serve as a brilliant passer and a
quality cutter. To me, it often

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supersedes the very obvious works in his
game, But those are just becoming more

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and more pronounced, and I feel
like this game in particular could be used

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as the start of a bigger conversation
about the validity of having him as a

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part of the Sixers core. Is
that too hot? Takey coming off this

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game? No, because it's clear
that he and Joel Embiid work, but

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this is untenable during the postseason.
It's not a he and Joel Embiid thing.

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It's a Ben Simmons thing at this
point. And like you already mentioned,

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he wound up missing ten free throws
in Game five four fourteen, and

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there's you know, when you're looking
at free throw percentages, you can really

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quibble over how many points you're really
leaving on the board. Twenty eight point

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six percent and fourteen attempts is a
problem. And when you're only taking four

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shots too throughout the game and you
don't have range beyond that, which we

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need the Ben. This was always
lazy discord, but you can't want Ben

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Simmons to take threes when he can't
make stand still, wide open free throws.

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That can't be a thing at this
point. And if Philly loses this

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series, the Ben Simmons trades will
have to be looked at, and the

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natural targets will be the Ben Simmons
CJ. McCollum structure will be visited,

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I'm sure, or Ben Simmons for
Bradley Beal. I don't know which way

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you go. McCullum feels more likely, just because if you are Washington,

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and I'm not trying to downplay Simmons's
value under contract for another four more years

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and he's you know, defensive player
of the year quality. He is only

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twenty four turns twenty five in July. If you're Washington, is that who

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you want to begin you're rebuild around. I'm not even considering the fit with

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Russell Westbrook because there isn't one.
I just don't think you weigh that if

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you're thinking longer term, because Russell
Westbrook is not the future either. It

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just you probably need to give up. My point would be other stuff to

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get Bradley Beale, whereas CJ.
McCullum, maybe there's a chance Portland has

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to send you back something else at
this point, though, when you look

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at the is it fair to call
the liability that he's become on offense?

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Maybe that's straight. Let's relay what
happened during the closing men into this game.

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We were watching together, you know, we were on Skype and we're

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streaming the game through the watch dnt
app and kind of talking through it together,

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and both of us when the Sixers
had the ball down three or four,

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I can't remember, with twenty one
seconds left, we didn't think that

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Simmons was going to be back on
the court after a time out was called

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because he's not going to shoot a
three. He can't touch the ball or

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else Atlanta is going to foul him
immediately. So that in and of itself,

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I think is a huge indication of
just how much of a perceived liability

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he's become. He was still on
the floor for that possession. It didn't

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work, but he was on the
floor. I'm more intrigued by the Portland

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framework, though, because I do
like the idea of pairing him with Damian

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Lillard. That's something that Philadelphia doesn't
have that Washington doesn't have unless he's playing

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with feel, which is that dominate, dominant point of attack creator who can

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pull up and create his own looks
and shoot from all over the floor.

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Embid is a terrific offensive talent,
but that's not what he is. Right.

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Here's where it would get interesting.
Do you think that Phillies defense,

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because it was built on elite you
know, they're built on elite defense as

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well, doesn't sustain the loss of
going from a Ben Simmons to a CJ.

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McCollum. That is a big ass
difference. And Ben Simmons is somebody

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who you can just put on.
We can talk about how rim protectors are

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probably or definitely inherently more impactful defensively. But to have that guy in Ben

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Simmons, who you can put on
anybody that you want and know that he's

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going to make a difference. Losing
that is tough and it feels necessary because

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you need the greater optionality, versatility, whatever on offense. It's just that's

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a huge drop off. You go
from Ben Simon's a Bradleybilly, you go

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from Ben Simon's the CJ mccoum.
It doesn't matter. That is just such

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a massive drop off on defense.
I'd be curious whether I think the Sixers

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would have a better fitting roster,
but I don't know how much it elevates

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them. And look, they did, you know, with when joelb play

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without Ben Simmons this year, there's
lineup context to think about. They were

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in the eighteen percentile of defensive efficiency
and so I don't know that you can

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just count on, Hey, give
me a tise tiable, a trap ton

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more minutes, bring back Danny Green
and they'd be fine. There are probably

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some real issues there that they have
to consider. I'm really glad that you

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said that proactively, because my response
was going to be it wouldn't be as

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good. But bring back Danny Green
and give m Atise table more minutes and

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they'll probably be fine. I mean, the development of Tyrese Maxie looms kind

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of l large here. But Ben
Simmons is incredibly important to what Philadelphia does

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defend. I mean, he's one
of the five to seven best defenders in

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the game. So and he's probably
the single most versatile defender. He's got

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to be seen in the data.
Just the matchup data alone indicates as much

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that he covers a wider variety of
assignments and covers them well than anyone else.

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Yeah, so I think you at
this point, though, you probably

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just need it for the variance in
how your team is run. Though,

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right you look at that move seriously. If you wind up losing into the

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Hawks, like like, you're not
moving Tobias Harris, You're not moving in

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bead, you probably have to make
a change. If you have a series

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loss to Atlanta with this many blown
leads, regardless of what's going on with

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him, be it's health Now.
I think the thing we aren't talking about,

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what if a sign in trade for
Kyle Lowry's on the table, you

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can figure out the hardcap stuff.
Your package obviously isn't going to include Ben

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Simmons. Is that is that the
preferential route to giving up Ben Simmons?

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That package is going to cost you
at least one of Maxie and Tiable at

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least one of them, plus right, you probably have to double sign and

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trade Danny Green because I don't know
what your salary filler is now. Because

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Danny Green's coming off the books.
You're not moving to buyas Harrison that deal

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either. I wouldn't think I would
say that that's probably the preferential route.

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I just don't know how realistic it
is post trade deadline, because they're going

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to have to be other money mechanisms
in there to make it work. Yeah,

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I'm getting slightly distracted just because I'm
seeing all these Ben Simmons tweets coming

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in and just to relay a few
that were great. I saw somebody say,

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and I'm already blanking on who it
was that Simmons, who shot four

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of fourteen actually shot better from the
line this game than he did the previous

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game, where he only made twenty
percent of his looks, and Anthony Doyle

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tweeted Ben Simmons has missed more free
throws this year in the playoffs than Steve

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nashmist in the playoffs entire career.
Benna shot sixty seven free throws. Steve

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Nash shot four hundred and forty.
That is wild. And again I'm not

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really here for the Ben Simmons slander
because, as we mentioned at the top

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of this segment, like there's so
much good that he does, but it

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just speaks to the growing problem there's
there are. This would be counter to

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our one discussion where we said there
are obstacles for every star and should just

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accept them. This is one of
those borderline is it an unworkable obstacle?

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And the question there would be can
they make this team more playoff proof on

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the margins without making that wholesale change. And the Kyle Lowry sign and trade

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is the biggest best I think,
I agree, I agree. I hesitate

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to take any one star level player, and Ben Simmons is a star level

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player and just say that you can't
win a title with them. I think

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the issue is he's pushing closer to
that category unless there's a perfectly constructed roster

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around him that can account for the
very serious plaus you know, you could

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get away with the hacker shack and
the hack of Dwight Howard and the hack

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of Ben Wallace is because they're not
primary ball handlers. But that with Ben

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Simmons, if you can't have the
ball in his hands at the end of

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the game, you cannot play him. Yeah, And that's where it's like,

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I don't know that moves on the
margins solve this team, which is

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where it gets interesting. So it
would have to be the Kyle Lowry type

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move or that's why you're visiting the
Ben Simmons trade scenarios, because I don't

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think that you can just be like, hey, let's can we get Austin

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Rivers or Alec Burks in here and
be fine. I don't know if it's

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that, you know, maybe I
would say the lowest end game changer for

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them would be an Evan Fournier And
I'm not even sure like that does it.

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So if they lose this series,
which they haven't lost yet by the

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way Game six this is, we
should note that that it is still eminently

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possible, and this team seems Philadelphia
could win this series. This team seems

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so much much better at the top
than Atlanta. But Atlanta has you know

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Bardanovitch is in foul trouble and struggling, they just have other guys to go

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to. There's just so many weapons
on this team right now. Maybe Joel

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Embi had he had a louder second
half after dropping twenty four in the first.

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I just kind of, you know
the way this It seemed like Philly

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might after Game two that this was
going to be not a shorter series,

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but like, oh, they'll win
in six, but it'll be a decisive

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six, And it really felt like
that for most of Game five. Kudos

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to Atlanta for having two just gutsy
come from behind victories in the playoffs so

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far against Philly. Like that shows
real I think that experience is really important

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to them. I think it also
stems from the lack of experience because up

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and down this roster, it's filled
with key contributors who have not been in

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the playoffs before. And when you
haven't been in the playoffs before, you

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don't necessarily know how to win these
type games, but you also don't know

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how to lose them. If you
watched but I'm sure you watch Buck's Nets

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Game five, I know the takeaway
was, oh, why isn't Joannis taking

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on to Kevin Durant assignment and this
that the other thing. There are two

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things. I don't know that it's
Jannis's decision. There's a coach involved here,

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and I'm not trying to lay that
at Mike Buenholzer's feet because I don't

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know. If I would do the
same thing, I would say more aggressively

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double triple Kevin Durant. James Harden
is playing on one leg. He made

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one field goal in Game five,
leave him or and Jonas is most disruptive

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as a helper, so let him
putting him on. And the other thing

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with putting him on KD, I
would argue you still have to bring help,

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or that it's just not gonna matter
because KD is gonna go off.

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He's gonna have forty nine points on
certain nights no matter who's defending him.

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The things to me that I think
were the difference makers. I'm curious what

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you think the stuff I just mentioned
on defense, be more aggressive going after

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KD, then double triple. Just
throw everybody at him and be smarter on

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offense. There is everyone's pointing to
that viral moment where James Harden waved help

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defense off in the post on Drew
Holiday. That can't be the way that

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you're attacking a hobble James Harden is
by going after him in his statistically,

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he is a great post actually undeniably
best defensive position. And I'll note this,

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get into your offense quicker. Because
Milwaukee during the excuse me, the

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regular season, they led the league
in the share of their buckets that came

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between eighteen and fifteen seconds in the
shot clock early, so it's like not

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always transition, semi transition just before
the defense gets set. In this series,

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they are at nineteen point three percent
of their buck share of their shot

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attempts are coming during that range.
And no, you don't want to force

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it, but that is a difference. And you even look at their earlier

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shots where you're looking at between twenty
two and eighteen seconds in the shot clock

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as well, those numbers are down
in this series. You have to react

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quicker there. And then I do
think there's the level of can you be

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more inventive, like Janice just needs
to the jumper's gotta stop. I don't

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like saying that. I'm a big
believer an advocate in volume changes, the

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way defenses have to defend you.
But I would argue his perimeter volume right

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now is hurting the way that the
Bucks can be defended and they need,

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you know, go at James Hardenore
if he's going to be on the floor

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for that long. It just feels
like one dumb decision after another. Right,

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The simplest one is how you defend
Katie. Like I don't like the

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idea of assigning Jannis as the primary
defender on him, because that's not even

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his strength. Like he for all
of his defensive gifts and for all of

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his defensive accolades, he is not
the greatest isolation stopper. He's a terrific

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help defender, and if you put
him on Katie as a primary matchup,

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you're taking away his biggest strength,
and it's a strength that you need.

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It was baffling to me that there
wasn't an in game adjustment to send help

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off of Harden or other players against
a scorching hot Kevin Durant. And then

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I realized that Mike Budenholtzer was still
coaching, and I was a little bit

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less shocked because he's the master of
not making any in game adjustments whatsoever.

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This just it feels like a dumb
basketball team, an extremely talented dumb basketball

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team. I mean that might be
fair. Mike Budenholz is not surviving this,

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yea, his job has gone if
they don't win this series. I

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don't I would be very surprised if
he comes back. And I don't know

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that coaching makes all the difference,
but it feels like there were enough of

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mistakes here, given the injuries to
Brooklyn. Yeah, absolutely missing time and

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then playing on one leg, and
then no Kyrie, and there has been

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no strategic adjustment. There's been no
rotational adjustments. There's no changing up how

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you're attacking Brooklyn's defense or lack thereof. There's been no tactical switches. When

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Kevin Durant is going off, that's
just okay, We'll let him cook a

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different defender and a one on one
scenario. We'll let him crawl off a

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screen and hit another three as we
try to fight through it without sending any

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help his way. It just it's
really for us training to watch a team

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as talented as the Bucks have all
of that talent be squandered, both by

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end game execution and the lack of
coaching adjustments and it's almost like we saw

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a similar story unfold with the Atlanta
Hawks team that was coached by Mike Gudenholtzer,

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or it's like the Spurs immediately went
on one of the best championship runs

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of all time once Mike Budenholzer left
them after a championship collapse. Some coaches

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are phenomenal regular season coaches and don't
belong in the sidelines in the playoffs.

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And I want to make it clear
that I thought jan has played a smarter

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game than he has a lot of
this series on offense anyway, And I'm

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just not laying the defensive responsibility at
his feet if you want, I don't

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think that's the answer. But if
you want Jannis to be the primary defender

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on Kevin Durant, I don't think
that's a has to be a Yannis decision

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where he has to go to the
coach and tell Mike Budenhols I wanted Defenderant,

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like, make that your call.
So that was just criticism I didn't

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agree with. And I thought Jannis
probably had one of his better playoff games

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on offense overall in Game five to
waste that when the other thing I'll argue

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James harn will probably be just as
hobbled he is planning to play in game

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six. I think I saw Joe
Harris has been low key terrible, and

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Joe Harris isn't going to be terrible. Okay, He's not gonna be like

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that forever. Like that's you're going
to get a good Joe Harris game.

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I would argue, And then what
happens? But just because you you've shown

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you can't hang with Brooklyn when they're
when they're making shots, and so I

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do do you give the Bucks?
What percentage chance of winning? Do you

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give the Bucks? In Game six? I still think that the talent they

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have at their disposal is significant enough
that I would give them like a thirty

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percent chance of winning the series.
What percentage chances is Mike Buonhols or the

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head coach in Milwaukee next season.
I think that would be about thirty percent.

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Those numbers might be slightly correlated.
I'm wondering if it's lower, just

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because if they lose this, even
if they force a Game seven, just

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to look back at this series and
a missed opportunity, then in Game five,

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that's probably a smarter answer. The
other thing from this series. You

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and I both have picked against the
nets and gotten a bit of criticism for

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doing so, just because the offensive
talent they have at their disposal is overwhelming.

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I don't know about you, but
I still don't know that I have

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00:21:22,039 --> 00:21:26,400
a good feel for how good this
Brooklyn team is. It might be because

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there are three best players have played
in fewer than fifteen games together. That

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00:21:30,559 --> 00:21:33,279
might be, and that's part of
it. But the other part is,

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like, I'm not sure how good
this Milwaukee team is in a postseason scenario.

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It just it doesn't feel like we've
seen Brooklyn be fully tested and see

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just how well it can play with
the stars all on the court, which

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is kind of terrifying. But there
it looks. I mean, if you're

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even even in this hobbled state,
they are fully capable of winning a title.

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We've said that from the start.
Yeah, but here's if we're picking

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against them, Like, it's not
to say they have no shot at winning

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a title or anything. You have
to be changed. Yeah, it almost

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this. Everything you're saying, though, adds to the element of I would

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say Philadelphia and Milwaukee specifically have to
be will be kicking themselves if they get

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bounced in this round, because that
might be it'll be one of the best

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chances you have of beating Brooklyn just
because Philly meeting them in the next round.

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But if they beat the Hawks,
which we don't know that they will

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anymore, to go up against some
version of a NETS team that's not at

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full strength when they have those three
players as big and then Milwaukee to actually

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be in a position to have a
three to two lead on this team like

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that, these are opportunities that they
just might not get back. I'm not

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I think injuries are probably going to
be a big three long thing in Brooklyn.

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Just when you look at these three
guys. Kevin Rant with the achilles

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00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:56,880
just amazing that he's doing this,
but we did even mentioned that he just

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had a forty nine point triple double, absolutely wild and play the entire game.

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It's incredible what he's done. But
just having that achilles injury in his

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rearview and we saw him deal with
some lower extremity injuries this year. James

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harn has been ripe for injuries just
because of his usage the past seven eight

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years, however long it's been.
And then Kyrie Evere's just always had stuff.

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It's various stuff. It's not necessarily
all reoccurring or chronic, but he's

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always had stuff. At the same
time, I don't know that you could

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say you're ever going to get a
point where what one point five, one

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00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,039
point seven, five of the next
three stars are injured, right, that's

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just opportunity. It might there with
you. I do think that in our

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00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,160
previous episode, I said that when
it comes to the Crystal Basketball rankings we

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00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,960
do at NBA math, the coveted
twelve, we felt like there are like

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00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,680
seven or eight options for it.
Unless something changes, it's going to be

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Kevin Durant. And that one game
was enough to convince me that he is.

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He is getting my vote this year. He can't. For me.

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The availability stuff matters, and I
just think he's too much of a wild

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00:23:59,799 --> 00:24:03,079
card. They're still maybe playing forty
eight minutes in a playoff game, and

335
00:24:03,279 --> 00:24:06,960
knowing that a lot of the stuff
he went through, aside from the league

336
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,920
health and safety protocols this year that
might have been more load management and precautionary

337
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,799
than actually a red alarm, I'll
think I'll give more weight to it.

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But he he's that dude. I
could not. I was shocked he played

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00:24:19,319 --> 00:24:22,000
the entire game. I'm not gonna
lie. I am curious, and this

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00:24:22,039 --> 00:24:25,839
is a good segue into the injuries
we have. So kwilin are dealing with

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00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,799
a right acl injury. They're calling
it a sprain as of now. I

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00:24:29,839 --> 00:24:33,400
hope it stays that way, because
a tear surgery there of any kind puts

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00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,640
next season in jeopardy for him.
And then Mike Conley had a setback in

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00:24:37,759 --> 00:24:41,519
his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Don't know when we're going to see him

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00:24:41,559 --> 00:24:45,599
again. And then Chris Paul is
in the league's health and safety protocols.

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00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:51,839
Now, John Gambadoro did say that
Chris Paul returned a positive test. I

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00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,319
think it's also been out there that
Chris Paul is also vaccinated, so that's

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00:24:56,039 --> 00:25:00,519
you know, make of that what
you will. I do believe that the

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00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:04,680
quarantine periods are shorter for people that
have been vaccinated. He might just need

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00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,640
to return to negative tests, or
this is a situation where they have so

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00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,680
much time before the start of the
next series. He could be back by

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00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,640
Game two or three at the latest. But hopefully he's just okay. If

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00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,079
if he returned to positive test,
Hopefully just is going to be fine as

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00:25:18,079 --> 00:25:22,960
soon as possible. I think it's
important to note on that point. I

355
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,240
think it's important to note that I
don't like engaging with the disingenuous arguments from

356
00:25:27,279 --> 00:25:33,960
the anti VAXX contingent, but being
vaccinated does not guarantee you that you're not

357
00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:38,559
going to be infected with COVID nineteen. It means that if you are,

358
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,160
you, first of all, you
have a lower chance of that transmission.

359
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,480
But even if you do, the
effects are more minimized. Right, we've

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00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:51,039
see we don't see the deaths or
the hospitalizations that are associated with the illness.

361
00:25:51,079 --> 00:25:55,640
But it is not an indication that
the vaccine doesn't work that somebody tested

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00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,039
positive after being vaccinated. I agree
with everything, and you said mostly because

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00:26:00,039 --> 00:26:04,319
it's it's true. That's a large
part why I agree with you. And

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I don't want to conflate the injuries
with this, so let's sort of start

365
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,960
with the injuries. It's just it's
it feels like they're determining these playoffs more

366
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:17,079
so than usual, and I'm just
we're watching Game five between the Clippers and

367
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,960
the Jazz unfold now, assuming Kauai
is out for the rest of the series,

368
00:26:21,839 --> 00:26:23,920
do you give them a chance of
actually winning this series. And I

369
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,000
know the Jazz might be missing Mike
Conley for the rest of the series,

370
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:32,240
if not year as well. They
just Kawhi Leonard in Mike Conley. It's

371
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,240
just it's a big difference. And
Kawhi, by the way, he spent

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00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:37,559
the most time if any Clipper garding
Luka Doncich in round one. He spent

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00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:42,519
more time than anyone entering Game five
on the Clippers guarding Donovan Mitchell's that's who

374
00:26:42,519 --> 00:26:47,759
you're losing, in addition to everything
he's done offensively, which is everything.

375
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,359
I'm probably not the right person to
ask that question just because I had the

376
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,279
Jazz winning at all before the playoffs
started, and I'm not deviating from that

377
00:26:56,319 --> 00:26:59,960
opinion. Now. My son's title
pick is looking mighty dicey at the moment

378
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,599
with less Paul is able to return, which we just really don't know how

379
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,640
many times has that looked. And
I'm not gonna, you know, do

380
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,599
a victory lap for them getting this
far, because I believe on the podcast

381
00:27:11,599 --> 00:27:15,400
we did, I had sons sixers
in the finals with the Sun's winning.

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00:27:15,519 --> 00:27:18,720
I've definitely wavered on that a bunch
of times and Chris Paul has thrown me

383
00:27:18,759 --> 00:27:22,480
for like eighty different worlds this postseason, the shoulder injury, him not really

384
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,359
shooting. I really just hope he's
okay from the COVID. It just sucks

385
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:32,160
that it feels like injuries or having
such a a staunch impact on these playoffs

386
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,319
more so than usually. I know
the NBA came out with a statement that

387
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,680
there's been the injury rate was similar
to the past three seasons we have not

388
00:27:38,839 --> 00:27:41,000
had. We will have to go
back. When's the last time we had

389
00:27:41,039 --> 00:27:45,440
eleven All Stars? I think it
was never miss games in the playoffs.

390
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,759
We've already seen that sited as the
most that we've had in NBA history.

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00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:53,039
But to answer your original question,
without Kawhi Leonard, I don't think the

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00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:57,440
Clippers stand much of a chance here. Maybe that ages poorly because Paul George

393
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:03,880
is remarkably talented and has been shooting
the lights out, and with uneven greener

394
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,119
light without Kawai taking shots, maybe
he shoots his way through this series.

395
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:12,440
It's definitely possible, but the talent
disparity is huge. Even without Mike Conley

396
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:18,359
on the court, this Jazz team
remains so good on both ends of the

397
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,880
floor. You know, Boyan Bogdanovich
currently has twenty three points on seven of

398
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,279
nine shooting from downtown. They've scored
fifty six points with just under six minutes

399
00:28:27,319 --> 00:28:32,079
left in the second quarter, and
Donovan Mitchell has taken two shots. And

400
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:36,680
we can't forget about the defense because
there are so many quality defensive pieces on

401
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,400
this team. With Rudy Gobert protecting
the back end, Joe Ingles is able

402
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:45,279
to thrive in virtually any defensive situation. Royce O'Neill just hustles his ass off

403
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:49,640
on every single possession and it just
keeps going from there. This is a

404
00:28:49,799 --> 00:28:53,839
really good team, and I feel
like we keep saying that, and there's

405
00:28:53,880 --> 00:29:00,200
still so much hesitance to accept that
the Jazz are a legitimate title. And

406
00:29:00,519 --> 00:29:04,839
we're probably going to be dealing with
a similar conversation in the Western Conference finals

407
00:29:04,839 --> 00:29:07,920
should they eliminate the Clippers, because
then it'll be like, oh, like,

408
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,880
would they really have gotten by the
Clippers if Kawhi Leonard had been healthy,

409
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:18,119
Yes, they probably could have there. That's why from here in Milwaukee,

410
00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:21,599
I know you're missing Dante Devincenzo,
but all your best players are healthy

411
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,400
that we know of and just wild
circumstances. I am Hawks got all their

412
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:30,519
injuries out of the way during the
regular season. That's why they're having success

413
00:29:30,519 --> 00:29:33,960
now. And I'm from DeAndre Hunter
and Cam Reddish. This team still isn't

414
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,359
at full strength, right, No
one's if no one's ever full strengthechnicly in

415
00:29:37,359 --> 00:29:41,000
the playoffs, but like they are
missing DeAndre Hunters, their best wing defender,

416
00:29:41,319 --> 00:29:45,680
and it's not really all that close. So that's monstrous for them too.

417
00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:51,640
I on these injuries. We had
the shortest offseason in sports history for

418
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:55,000
the NBA. The back half of
the schedule was brutal for a lot of

419
00:29:55,039 --> 00:30:00,640
teams. Did you see what Lebron
James tweeted about everything today? I'm curious

420
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,319
this is to where you land on
that. And since I didn't tell you

421
00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:03,279
I was going to ask you,
I will preface it with my and they're

422
00:30:03,319 --> 00:30:10,000
actually quick thoughts. There is a
duality here because I am going to say

423
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:14,519
this was collectively bargained and I find
it very hard to believe that perhaps the

424
00:30:14,559 --> 00:30:18,680
best player in NBA history didn't have
his voice heard throughout all this. When

425
00:30:18,799 --> 00:30:22,680
the Christmas the vice president of the
Players Association, right, is he not

426
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,720
the actual president. I'll google that. I don't know why I'm getting confused,

427
00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:30,559
but regardless, I'm pretty sure Chris
Pas also the gods of one of

428
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,640
Lebron's kids, So the god,
the godfather of one of Lebron's kids,

429
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,519
and the president of the players Association. Lebron didn't have his word heard,

430
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,599
and this was collectively bargained, So
I want that out the players. They

431
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,279
had a financial stake in this,
just like the league, just like the

432
00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:52,119
teams did. The duality here comes
into play where just because these are millionaires,

433
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,799
that doesn't mean they had all this
leverage. Their window to make money

434
00:30:56,039 --> 00:31:00,039
is incredibly finite, and there are
players that don't make as much as Lebron

435
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:03,079
James like these. There are guys
that might only be in the league fewer

436
00:31:03,119 --> 00:31:07,599
than five seasons. There are guys
they are making less than they're making a

437
00:31:07,599 --> 00:31:10,319
couple million dollars a year, which
again that's a lot of money, but

438
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,799
they're in their limited window to make
that, and so there's going to be

439
00:31:12,839 --> 00:31:18,920
the urgency there. And regardless,
you don't have the same leverage as billionaire

440
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,000
owners who are going to wield most
of the control in these situations. So

441
00:31:22,039 --> 00:31:23,680
I understand both sides of the thing. I also people have tried to point

442
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,440
out that Lebron has been a hypocrite
with this. I believe he was in

443
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,400
favor of canceling the season when they
were in the bubble, that that was

444
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:32,279
something he tried to do, and
he didn't want to play in the All

445
00:31:32,279 --> 00:31:36,440
Star Game even though we did so
He's been consistent in that messaging. I

446
00:31:36,519 --> 00:31:40,759
just find it very hard to believe
that he wasn't heard, given his stature

447
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,160
and his relationship with Chris Paul.
So there is it has to be noted

448
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,480
this was collectively bargained. But the
reality of the situation here is this is

449
00:31:48,519 --> 00:31:53,200
millionaires versus billionaires, and the billionaires
are going to have more influence over the

450
00:31:53,279 --> 00:32:00,759
decisions than these millionaire let's call them
what they are, employees. I don't

451
00:32:00,799 --> 00:32:04,799
have that much to add beyond that. I mean, we've seen that there's

452
00:32:04,839 --> 00:32:09,160
a correlation between shortened off seasons and
increased levels of soft tissue injuries. At

453
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:14,799
the same time, it is important
to acknowledge that a lot of the most

454
00:32:14,839 --> 00:32:21,000
prominent injuries that we're seeing are occurring
with players who have lengthy injury histories.

455
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:25,880
Kawhi Leonard has had a lot of
issues with his lower extremities dating back to

456
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:30,839
his time with the San Antonio's First
James Harden and Kyrie Irving have not been

457
00:32:30,839 --> 00:32:34,920
perfect pictures of health. The list
goes on and on. Chris Paul like,

458
00:32:35,039 --> 00:32:39,960
when has he ever been healthy for
an entire playoff runs? It's impossible

459
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:46,440
to infer causation from correlation here,
and that applies to both the injury histories

460
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:53,160
and the shortened off season. So
it's it's easy to immediately criticize the league

461
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,839
for kind of viewing this whole season
as a blatant money grab by wanting to

462
00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:01,519
fit in the full scale duel and
have a jam packed schedule. But I

463
00:33:01,559 --> 00:33:05,440
just I don't think we have enough
information to truly know. And it does

464
00:33:05,519 --> 00:33:09,039
matter that it was collectively bargained,
but even that doesn't mean that there was

465
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:15,000
unanimity among the individual sides. You
know, for all we know it was

466
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,240
a fifty one forty nine split among
the players to sign that to sign and

467
00:33:19,319 --> 00:33:22,720
ratify that agreement. We don't have
that data, and there's just a lot

468
00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:27,160
of information that that you and I
just aren't going to be privy too that

469
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,160
would help inform this conversation. I
do think it This is, you know,

470
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,799
the NBA is just not different from
any other business. Not not saying

471
00:33:32,839 --> 00:33:38,480
this is acceptable, but they are
going to operate in their find They're going

472
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:44,559
to operate with their financial interests in
mind first and foremost. That that is

473
00:33:44,559 --> 00:33:46,200
just going to happen. I'm not
supporting that. I feel like that's the

474
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:51,039
reality of the situation. I don't
know what in a perfect world, Yeah,

475
00:33:51,039 --> 00:33:53,079
this would have been spaced out,
maybe the season gets spread out longer

476
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:57,799
or there's fewer games. But they
needed seventy two to get the regional network

477
00:33:57,799 --> 00:34:00,440
TV deals. That's why we had
the bubble regular season in the first place.

478
00:34:00,519 --> 00:34:04,240
The bubble suns don't happen if they
didn't have to meet that requirement.

479
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,359
There are a lot of factors at
play here. I don't know if there

480
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:09,880
was a feasible because we can,
we can map out the ideal solution to

481
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:17,280
all this, I just don't know
how realistic that is. So it's it's

482
00:34:17,559 --> 00:34:21,599
a shitty situation. I hate to
see all these injuries. I will say

483
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,639
the NBA coming out with that injury
data just seems like wildly ill times,

484
00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:29,559
like you needed to read the room
there that was that was pretty poor form

485
00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:32,440
in my book. Agreed. Agreed, we can move on to and I

486
00:34:32,519 --> 00:34:36,360
look the thoughts on the Suns without
CP three. Whatever time they have to

487
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:37,840
navigate without him is going to be
a problem because they're either going to be

488
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,679
facing if they face the Jazz,
it's a huge problem. If they face

489
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:45,679
the Clippers without Kauai, maybe that's
more of an even fight at that point

490
00:34:45,199 --> 00:34:50,400
would take. But it's it's again, it's hard to speculate on this one

491
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:54,000
without more information because we have no
idea if he's going to miss time,

492
00:34:54,039 --> 00:34:57,360
and if he's going to miss time, how much is it going to be.

493
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:04,159
It's pure speculation at this point.
Let's get to the coaching changes and

494
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,920
the front office change in Dallas Washington. I think we can blow through fairly

495
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:13,400
quickly. Scott Brooks, it felt
like his days were numbered there. And

496
00:35:13,559 --> 00:35:15,840
I'm not sure if all the other
moves around the league where you saw stan

497
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,320
Van Gundy being fired after his first
year, sort of expedited the situation because

498
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,079
he wanted to put his name in
one of these openings before they're all scooped

499
00:35:22,159 --> 00:35:27,840
up. But it felt like he
just given that. I don't know where

500
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:29,760
you know, I'm sure people are
going to have him in there. If

501
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,159
we Power rank coaches, he's probably
bottom five around there. People don't think

502
00:35:34,159 --> 00:35:37,840
he's very inventive on either end of
the floor. You look at the situation

503
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,840
the Wizards are in, Bradley Beale
can be a free agent in twenty twenty

504
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,639
two player option. They'll try and
extend him this summer. Don't know if

505
00:35:44,639 --> 00:35:46,360
it'll work. If you're the Wizards, you're probably not gonna give him a

506
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,679
long term come in because you don't
know what's gonna happen with Bradley Beal.

507
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,880
I don't know what he's done during
his time there that would make you want

508
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:53,800
to give him a raise off of
his seven million dollars salary. If you're

509
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,320
Scott Brooks, you don't want to
accept a short term deal because you want

510
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,599
security in the event that this all
goes to ship, which it might do.

511
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:04,199
And Bradley Beal situation and his agent
morn Lagarry, that's very much how

512
00:36:04,199 --> 00:36:07,280
he operated. When you even just
look at Mike d Antonian in Houston,

513
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,239
and I think John Hollinger put it, there's like very high silist potential in

514
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:15,280
the wizard's job. Just like the
Blazer's job, So that one I don't

515
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:20,360
really make anything of it other than
I'll be curious to see who they get

516
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,599
to have interest in that job,
because unless it's a first timer or someone

517
00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:25,800
with not a lot of NBA head
coaching experience, they're probably going to have

518
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:30,880
to back up the brings truck in
years and annual salary to get them to

519
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,440
commit. Without knowing what Bradley Beal
is going to do. That calculus of

520
00:36:35,519 --> 00:36:38,480
course changes should Bill sign an extension
or declare that he's going to come back,

521
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:45,880
I wholeheartedly agree. I don't think
that's going to be a particularly appealing

522
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:52,280
job for virtually any candidate except for
the first timers and those internal promotions that

523
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,519
we could see. But the writing
was on the wall with Scott Brooks.

524
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,559
We criticized it when he was hired, and we've criticized him a lot since

525
00:37:00,599 --> 00:37:06,159
then, and the ceiling was limited
with him in place, and it dates

526
00:37:06,199 --> 00:37:08,320
all the way back to his time
with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where I

527
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:13,519
think the reason he had that job
in the first place was because Kevin Durant

528
00:37:13,519 --> 00:37:16,800
and Russell Westbrook were really good.
But even then it felt like the decision

529
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:22,239
making, the the exes and os, the application of analytics, just everything

530
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,880
was lackluster at best. So I'm
not I'm not surprised by this, and

531
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:31,639
I think he's he is what he
is as a coach, which is probably

532
00:37:31,679 --> 00:37:35,960
better suited for more of an assistant
role that can be focused on player development,

533
00:37:36,559 --> 00:37:40,039
and that Wizard's job is going to
be an interesting one and monitor because

534
00:37:40,079 --> 00:37:45,039
I feel like it might be the
most likely of the many, many openings

535
00:37:45,079 --> 00:37:52,159
to result in somebody who is just
a totally off the radar candidate. The

536
00:37:52,199 --> 00:37:57,079
stan Ban Gunni firing was was very
surprising, very surprising. I don't think

537
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:00,679
I don't think he did a particularly
good job with Pelicans. There were things

538
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:04,960
that he did well. He was
the one who saw that you could unleash

539
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,039
sign On Williamson as a point forward
and really open up his game and the

540
00:38:08,079 --> 00:38:15,079
offense in general. But he was
billed as a defensive minded coach and was

541
00:38:15,159 --> 00:38:22,039
not able to build a quality defense
in his one season in New Orleans.

542
00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:23,599
That said, a lot of the
blame has to rest with the front office

543
00:38:23,639 --> 00:38:29,920
because this roster composition never made too
much sense. So I didn't think that

544
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,239
he in any way deserved to be
fired, and I was surprised that he

545
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,559
didn't get the second year with this
team. But we also see the reports

546
00:38:37,599 --> 00:38:44,960
about him and brandon Ingram chafing a
little bit, and there wasn't the progress

547
00:38:45,039 --> 00:38:50,400
that we expected to see. So
I'm also not totally shocked by it.

548
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,559
After I had a little bit of
time to process, I actually am,

549
00:38:53,599 --> 00:38:59,639
because I mean the stuff with him
not vibing it seems with New Orleans is

550
00:38:59,679 --> 00:39:04,360
too most important players in Zion and
brandon Ingram makes sense. Also, it

551
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,480
does seem like I think this was
from Rog's reporting that the front office were

552
00:39:08,519 --> 00:39:14,599
the ones pushing to put the ball
in Zion's hands. This roster made very

553
00:39:14,639 --> 00:39:17,360
little fucking sense, very little sense. The blame has to fall out the

554
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:22,039
author of the front office there.
I know a lot of Pelicans sans thought

555
00:39:22,079 --> 00:39:27,400
the spacing upfront trope was overrated.
You need to have a better front court

556
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,239
player to compliment Zion wings, and
you also need more wings on this team

557
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:35,920
who were the wings for the Pelicans
for most of the season. I'm not

558
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,960
even looking at you know. It's
it's Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram, is

559
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:45,199
what I'm getting at. There towards
later in the year, Like, yeah,

560
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,840
it was great to have the Naji
Marshall story, but like West of

561
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,679
One dude was on the payroll of
I'm a big West One due guy,

562
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,719
and like that was only for part
of the season. There's just weren't a

563
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:59,159
ton of wings. It was Josh
Hart brand Ingram and that's it. And

564
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:02,079
why did you sten Steven Adams?
What was that trade made for? And

565
00:40:02,199 --> 00:40:06,960
ultimately what's going to be interesting about
this team moving forward? If you're the

566
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,480
Pelicans, you should want to bring
back line to the ball and Josh Hart.

567
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,400
But if you pay them what their
cap holds amount to, which is

568
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,079
about a combine thirty six million dollars, and I would argue that's eminently possible

569
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,000
they cost that much because of the
offer sheets. I think Lonzo could get

570
00:40:20,039 --> 00:40:22,079
in restrict to the free ency.
You're all of a sudden at the tax

571
00:40:22,079 --> 00:40:23,440
line. And so if you get
yourself in a situation where you either want

572
00:40:23,519 --> 00:40:28,360
had to grease the wheels of a
trade for Blzo or Adams by giving up

573
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:30,480
assets to clear money because the Pelicans
aren't paying the tax it's just not happening,

574
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,159
or you let one of those guys
walk for nothing or are forced to

575
00:40:35,199 --> 00:40:37,719
sign and trade them. That's just
bad form too, and so I don't

576
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:42,199
put that blame on Stam MCGNUNTI I
don't know how much better he was supposed

577
00:40:42,199 --> 00:40:46,920
to coach this roster again, If
he wasn't resonating with their most important players,

578
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,679
that matters. And if there was
a resistance to putting the ball in

579
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,800
Zion William's hands, that doesn't really
make a ton of sense because that was

580
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:59,519
clearly their best route and if there
were still resistance, effort was working.

581
00:41:00,079 --> 00:41:02,280
I do think the novelty wore off
a little bit because of the Pelican spacing.

582
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:07,639
That's still a roster. That's a
cosmetic issue that falls at the feet

583
00:41:07,679 --> 00:41:09,960
of the front office. So that's
why I was surprised the other thing here,

584
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:14,400
And I think this is probably a
good sign. He had three years

585
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,480
left on his deal, and so
the fact that they're willing to move on

586
00:41:16,519 --> 00:41:21,000
from what they deem a mistake,
if that's what the front office deems it

587
00:41:21,119 --> 00:41:24,159
now, and early props to them
for making that call instead of doubling down

588
00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:28,840
or just feeling uncomfortable going in the
next year and delaying what might be inevitable

589
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,119
I'm not ready to pat them on
the back for making that call just yet,

590
00:41:31,119 --> 00:41:34,840
though. Let's see who they hire, because are they going to try

591
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:38,039
and cheap out now because they're paying
another coach for an additional three years and

592
00:41:38,079 --> 00:41:40,480
we've seen I don't want to get
into the names mentioned because there's been a

593
00:41:40,519 --> 00:41:44,760
ton already, but their assistance are
supposed to be part of the equation,

594
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,920
including Teresa Weatherspoon. I will say
that it's the NBA like it's time,

595
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,559
like there needs to be a female
head coach. I'm not advocating which one

596
00:41:51,599 --> 00:41:54,280
it needs to be. It has
to happen already, and I hope that

597
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,920
there's always that suspicion of I hope
that these teams, you know, Becky

598
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,000
Hammond's linked to interviews in the past, We've seen Carol Larson. I think

599
00:42:01,039 --> 00:42:06,440
Tan gentially linked to the Celtics.
This shouldn't just be for like appearances.

600
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,559
It shouldn't be an interview aesthetic.
These are brilliant basketball minds. I hope

601
00:42:09,599 --> 00:42:14,480
they receive a legitimate consideration. It's
time for the NBA to have a female

602
00:42:14,519 --> 00:42:16,639
head coach. It's it's a long
past due. I just don't know what

603
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:21,880
direction they're going to go in with
a head coach now because of one their

604
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:23,800
timelines wonky just because Zion's ready.
He's so good, he's ready to win

605
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:28,280
now. And John Hollingers mentioned this
that there's stuff in New Orleans that he's

606
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,039
unhappy. A lot of it apparently
had to do with the spacing, which

607
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:34,679
I don't blame him. The other
part was injury management, but I think

608
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,880
just his health to kind of close
the year, you know, I don't

609
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:39,559
know that just might be an issue
of a young kid wants to ply and

610
00:42:39,599 --> 00:42:42,960
they're trying to be overcautious. I
don't know how much the fault them for

611
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,000
the situation is just weird, and
I'm very interesting what direction they go with

612
00:42:46,079 --> 00:42:51,119
their head coaching spot after they got
rid of stan Van Gundi won so quickly,

613
00:42:51,159 --> 00:42:53,639
but two with three more years left
on his contract. I will say

614
00:42:53,639 --> 00:42:59,280
that I hope stan Van Gundi does
whatever makes him happy, whether that's coaching

615
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:00,760
a team or not. But I
really hope we get to see him in

616
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:05,400
the broadcast booth again soon, because
that man is a treat when he broadcast

617
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:08,559
basketball games. They need. That's
what I want out of this situation.

618
00:43:08,639 --> 00:43:13,719
Like and I know many other people
said the same thing on Twitter at elsewhere

619
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:17,679
immediately in the aftermath of the firing. But let's get him behind a microphone

620
00:43:17,679 --> 00:43:24,039
again, because there are some people
who are just ridiculously good at being eloquent

621
00:43:24,079 --> 00:43:29,480
in a way that's informative and entertaining, and he checked those boxes. I

622
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,400
would love to see. I know
people don't love Jeff Van Gundy, but

623
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:35,440
I'd love to see a dual Van
Gundy game called. That's something I would

624
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,920
tuot him for as well. I'm
gonna plead the fifth on this one.

625
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,480
Look, any Stam van Gunny game
is great. I just think that would

626
00:43:40,519 --> 00:43:45,800
be it would be it would be
an improvement over Mark Jackson Jeff Van Gundy.

627
00:43:45,599 --> 00:43:50,840
Yeah, but that's not exactly the
best bar to set there. Let's

628
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:52,079
get to this last thing, man, unless you have anything else to add

629
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:54,960
here. Not really, the Pelicans
need to improve, like they need to

630
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,679
make changes to their roster. I'm
gonna stay flat out you should want Lonzo

631
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,480
and Josh Hart back. But it's
as I mentioned, if those if you

632
00:44:01,559 --> 00:44:05,199
lose those guys for nothing or forced
to sign and trade them or use asss

633
00:44:05,199 --> 00:44:07,679
the clear money to keep them,
that's not stamming Gunny's fault. Spacing was

634
00:44:07,679 --> 00:44:12,599
not standing in favor of bringing Lonzo
Ball back, and I think we've we've

635
00:44:12,599 --> 00:44:15,760
made that clear in the past,
but you've got to do something to get

636
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:19,320
a little more stretching miess out of
your front court. And that Steven Adams

637
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,679
extension is just looking worse and worse
by the day. But as for the

638
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:29,000
last piece of news with Donnie Nelson
fired from, it was a mutual parting

639
00:44:29,039 --> 00:44:30,840
of the way, ual parting of
ways, whatever it may be. He's

640
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:37,960
no longer there after two plus decades. And I will admit that, given

641
00:44:38,119 --> 00:44:44,400
the plethora of news items that we
were inundated with all day, that I

642
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:46,639
have not read up on this one
as much as the others. So I

643
00:44:46,679 --> 00:44:52,760
think I've seen some hints that,
like Luca was pissed about the decisions some

644
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,719
people were saying on TV appearances in
the aftermath, and that this had been

645
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:02,800
planned since Sunday. So it was
a response to the expose from from Tim

646
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:07,960
Cato and co at The Athletic about
the shadow GM in place in Dallas.

647
00:45:09,159 --> 00:45:14,000
Redacted, so we'll call him redacted. Yeah, So I just I don't

648
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:20,000
I'm still processing this one. There's
also been stuff that Luca hasn't spoken to

649
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:22,079
anyone, so we don't know if
he's upset. He's expected to speak with

650
00:45:22,079 --> 00:45:25,920
the media tomorrow when he announces his
intention to play for the Slavinia national team,

651
00:45:27,039 --> 00:45:29,440
so we can wait by the time
this podcast is out, maybe he'll

652
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,960
have said something by then. But
Mark Cuban doesn't get to call that report

653
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,800
bullshit and then have this happened a
few days later. That doesn't get to

654
00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:43,440
happen. No, there was one. I mean, there's clearly some structural

655
00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:46,920
thoughts on that topic, a lot
of which I'm gonna I'm gonna keepholstered.

656
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:54,719
Well, that's disappointing their search for
a new head of the front office because

657
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:59,920
all these titles are you know,
give him team president, general manager,

658
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:05,199
you know, head executive vice president
about whatever you baskeb operations, whatever you're

659
00:46:05,199 --> 00:46:08,000
gonna want to call them. I
wonder what type of interest this job will

660
00:46:08,079 --> 00:46:13,320
draw because for a little Donnie Nelson
has been with the Mavericks forever and I

661
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,599
someone mentioned this on a podcast that
I listened to. Cuban hasn't run this

662
00:46:16,599 --> 00:46:22,039
team without a Nelson in charge over
the past quarter century. Whatever it's been

663
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:25,880
and I think the impression around the
league is that he can be difficult to

664
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:30,760
work with because he's so involved,
or if there is a situation with redacted

665
00:46:30,199 --> 00:46:37,800
where he's allowing redacted to have so
much say or influence in this like ambiguous

666
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:43,039
role I would call the title of
redacted was just so bizarre. I am

667
00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:45,639
curiously like if Massi U Jerry is
looking around, and I would argue all

668
00:46:45,679 --> 00:46:51,400
indicators, most indicators are that he'll
stay in Toronto unless he has political aspirations

669
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:55,719
that draw him away from basketball,
which is totally possible. There will be

670
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:59,320
people that want the matter. There's
Luca Donchers is there. This is huge,

671
00:47:00,159 --> 00:47:02,639
But I'm just curious with what type
of names that's gonna draw, or

672
00:47:02,639 --> 00:47:07,159
just with direction they go in overall, because this is a new situation for

673
00:47:07,199 --> 00:47:12,599
them, they've had that steadiness in
the front office aside, well, I

674
00:47:12,639 --> 00:47:15,320
don't want to say aside from it's
not in aside, there've been stuff going

675
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:20,760
on behind the scenes, including the
sexual harassment stuff that was exposed or really

676
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,280
two years removed from that that was
just a wild stories more than that now,

677
00:47:23,559 --> 00:47:29,480
But just to be clear, those
are the pervasive cultural issues around that

678
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:35,119
the Cuban was somehow unaware of despite
being super hands on in every other area.

679
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,119
That's the one we're talking about here. That was just and even when

680
00:47:37,119 --> 00:47:39,920
I was disappointed when he went on
I can't remember it was the jumper ESPN

681
00:47:40,119 --> 00:47:44,559
and like the questions were just they
felt like softballs there too about that.

682
00:47:44,679 --> 00:47:46,079
But like there have been issues,
I'm saying there have been issues. I

683
00:47:46,119 --> 00:47:49,880
want to make that clear in Dallas, and you laid it out like these

684
00:47:50,519 --> 00:47:53,480
they're not cultural wars. There's something
worse. They're issues of morality here and

685
00:47:53,519 --> 00:47:57,840
basic human decency. They're also just
haven't been a lot of changes and maybe

686
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,880
that's been part of the problem in
Dallas. I don't know basketball wise,

687
00:48:01,079 --> 00:48:05,480
is when I'm looking at now,
how they're going to handle this search and

688
00:48:05,559 --> 00:48:07,880
who will be interested in it.
There will be interest because Luca dontch is

689
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:13,159
a top five basketball player. The
other thing that's come out of this is

690
00:48:13,159 --> 00:48:15,960
there's been no extension talks between Luca
and the Mavericks just yet. Look,

691
00:48:17,039 --> 00:48:21,559
maybe Luca's unhappy because he was close
with Donnie Nelson, with the relationship I

692
00:48:21,599 --> 00:48:25,639
believe that existed before he ever came
to the NBA. I don't doubt that

693
00:48:25,679 --> 00:48:30,800
maybe he's upset he's signing an extension. He's taking him with the guarantee two

694
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:34,920
hundred million dollars. This is not
the season's been over for a second.

695
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:40,400
He can't sign that extension yet.
Anyway, there's let's just he's not leaving.

696
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,440
This isn't gonna be the impetus for
him to leave. If he used

697
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:45,920
his leverage to be like, no, I'm going to sign my qualifying offer

698
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:49,559
and then I'm gonna leave, he'd
be the first player of his caliber to

699
00:48:49,599 --> 00:48:52,199
do that. We saw Greg Munroe
do it and it kind of sort of

700
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,360
worked out for him, but not
really. He did get money from Milwaukee.

701
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:59,079
Christos porzing Is threatened to do it
and the Knicks took it seriously.

702
00:49:00,199 --> 00:49:04,559
Highly doubt that he would have sign
the qualifying offer coming off an ACL there,

703
00:49:04,599 --> 00:49:07,760
But that's just my I'm just guessing
there. It's not going to happen.

704
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:09,840
And so I do think the magic
the Mavericks. You're on the clock

705
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:14,400
with Luca because he's so good and
you want to create this unrest and because

706
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:19,599
the process of pre agency now it
happens or unfurls two years in advance.

707
00:49:19,599 --> 00:49:22,519
Of free agency instead of just one. Yeah, you're automatically on the clock

708
00:49:22,519 --> 00:49:23,840
because Luca is just amazing, and
you want to get to a point where

709
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:28,119
two or three years down the road
he made me tries to exert some premature

710
00:49:28,159 --> 00:49:32,360
leverage or anything along those lines.
This is not I will be flabbergasted if

711
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:36,760
this is an impetus for him deciding
to try and leverage his way out from

712
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:39,599
Dallas early. Let's not make it
about something it's not going to be.

713
00:49:40,519 --> 00:49:45,840
I'm right there with you on that. It would be unfathomable for him to

714
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:50,480
turn down that kind of extension,
especially since we've seen in this player empowerment

715
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:54,440
era just how easy it is for
players after signing those extensions to still force

716
00:49:54,480 --> 00:50:01,000
their way out if they so choose. So that feels like making something way

717
00:50:01,039 --> 00:50:06,039
more of this story than should exist. But at the same time, like

718
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:13,440
I just, I'm continuing to lose
more and more confidence in Cubans governorship of

719
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:19,519
this team. I just it frustrates
me to no end that, you know,

720
00:50:19,599 --> 00:50:25,599
after four years of him being very
being a very outspoken critic of Donald

721
00:50:25,639 --> 00:50:31,280
Trump and his relationship with the fake
news media, that he's engaging in those

722
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:37,840
same tactics, you know, just
the immediate calling of bullshit of the the

723
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:43,039
Tim Cato and the athletic story and
then and apologist. I'm slightly misconstruing this

724
00:50:43,119 --> 00:50:46,199
since I don't have screenshots or anything, but like he posted a second response

725
00:50:46,639 --> 00:50:51,760
to that story that was that said
something along the lines of him never being

726
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:53,679
asked to comment on it, or
only asked to comment on it after the

727
00:50:53,679 --> 00:50:58,280
story was published, and then quickly
deleted that and amended it to say that,

728
00:50:58,719 --> 00:51:01,079
you know, he wasn't even much
of an opportunity to or something that

729
00:51:01,159 --> 00:51:05,880
was a little bit more toned down
but providing no specifics. And we've seen

730
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:12,159
it throughout his tenure, whether it's
the denying of the pervasive sexual harassment culture

731
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:16,079
that existed within the organization that he
was so apparently hands on with except that

732
00:51:16,119 --> 00:51:21,960
he didn't know that that was happening, or on a far less impactful level,

733
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,639
him talking about how when they didn't
want it, when they didn't manage

734
00:51:25,679 --> 00:51:29,239
to sign one of the many free
agents that they've missed out on, that

735
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:31,840
oh, we didn't really want that
player anyway, you know, like whatever,

736
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:36,519
he was never really a pursuit,
even though all the reports indicated to

737
00:51:36,519 --> 00:51:42,480
the contrary. It's just it's harder
to believe that anything that he's saying on

738
00:51:42,559 --> 00:51:47,639
these topics is genuine. There's always
the great assault too, when team governors,

739
00:51:49,199 --> 00:51:52,599
front office executives, players are commenting
on their own team, that they

740
00:51:52,679 --> 00:51:55,719
have to take the approach of oh, this isn't happening, or it's more

741
00:51:55,719 --> 00:52:00,599
positive than pictures painted. But this
was just like the time of it all.

742
00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:02,800
You don't you don't get you don't
get to play that card. The

743
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:06,039
last question I want to ask you
that's not related to this, but it's

744
00:52:06,079 --> 00:52:10,039
quick and definitely more lighthearted. What
is the most attractive coaching opening right now

745
00:52:10,159 --> 00:52:23,320
between Portland, Washington, Milwaukee,
Orlando, h Boston, New Orleans and

746
00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:27,800
which one am I missing? I'm
missing anyone on an Indiana excuse me?

747
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,920
If Milwaukee is available, that's the
answer, just because you have the most

748
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:39,239
premier talent who's locked up with a
lot of complimentary secondary talents. Other than

749
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:45,760
that, Portland, I think if
we're I mean, Boston is going to

750
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,360
be a coveted job just because it's
the Boston Celtics and they have such an

751
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:54,519
indelible legacy within the NBA history.
But Portland still has Damian Lillard and C.

752
00:52:54,639 --> 00:52:59,000
J. McCollum, and whether you're
building around that core or using mc

753
00:52:59,079 --> 00:53:06,360
collumns trade base for another star,
that probably gives you the highest immediate upside.

754
00:53:06,599 --> 00:53:10,199
New Orleans probably gives you more long
term upside with Zion Williamson and Brandon

755
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:15,800
Ingram, but there's still a lot
to parse out With a roster construction that

756
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,559
doesn't make any sense. Portland's at
least makes sense, even if the upside

757
00:53:19,599 --> 00:53:22,440
is a little bit more limited.
I don't want to touch Washington or Portland

758
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:24,880
with a ten foot poll if I'm
a coach, just because of the teardown

759
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:29,400
potential there, and I know Dame
has another four years left on his deal.

760
00:53:29,679 --> 00:53:34,000
That would it be a teardown in
Portland or would it be a restructuring

761
00:53:34,159 --> 00:53:37,280
because I don't think you're trading the
column for prospects and picks. No,

762
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:44,719
you're trading him to build something different
around Lillard. My concern would be Damian

763
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:49,719
Lillard getting frustrated after next year and
causing some waves. I'm not saying he'll

764
00:53:49,719 --> 00:53:52,840
do that because he's always said he'd
rather Basically, he's rather said rather lose

765
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:58,199
in Portland than win somewhere else,
but losing this much has a way of

766
00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:00,880
changing things. Sorry that I wouldn't
want to touch that. With the Bradley

767
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:07,239
Beale seven Washington, it might be
Indiana. They're like a good team if

768
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:08,880
they're healthy. It'd be Indiana or
New Orleans for me, just because you

769
00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:14,039
have Zion Williamson, who's a transcendent
talent. It's just do you trust the

770
00:54:14,079 --> 00:54:16,119
flexibility there on the front office to
put the right talent around him. How

771
00:54:16,119 --> 00:54:19,840
do you feel about BIS as a
number two? I would feel pretty good,

772
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,760
but it be between New Orleans and
Indiana for me. I'm not basing

773
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:25,159
this off of Milwaukee, by the
way, just because Mike Gwinholser is still

774
00:54:25,199 --> 00:54:28,559
the coach, but if they lose
against the Nets, you could definitely throw

775
00:54:28,599 --> 00:54:31,000
them into the mix. Yeah there, that doesn't for us. We did

776
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:34,079
this in under an hour. It
might be a little bit over an hour

777
00:54:34,199 --> 00:54:37,360
once we bake in some ads there, but this was fun. As always,

778
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:40,320
everyone, remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us wherever you're

779
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,800
getting your podcasts. Please please pretty
please on top. Also subscribe to us

780
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,880
on YouTube, YouTube dot com search
Hardwood Knox. We will come up.

781
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:53,079
Follow us on Twitter at Hardwoo Knox
as well. Spe exactly as it sounds.

782
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:55,960
Until next time, we leave you
with the shout out two to one,

783
00:54:57,440 --> 00:55:02,880
the only they're driving four behind.
An amazing come from behind victory for

784
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:07,639
the Atlanta Hawks, Sweet Lemon,
pepper Loo