What is krack a lac in fellow thermonuclear a efforts? I am damned?
What did I say? Oh, I'm damned. Ravioli's joined by my THIRTI
five fantabulous co host mister grand Poos. How's that for the YouTube caption?
We are here to begin wrapping up our one goal or thing we're watching or
hoping to see or just monitoring for every NBA team from now until the end
of the regular season. We already did every single Eastern Conference team. Go
check out those two podcasts. We are onto the Western Conference now. This
will be a two part podcast boiler alert. This is what is it?
Part one? We can count the two before we get started. Just subscribe
or follow us. I'm over just the like We're just never It's it's a
few tal endeavor. Thanks for all the support we've been getting on Twitter.
I really do appreciate all the shout outs and kind of comments, but grant
the most important question before we get started, How the fuck are you doing
today? That's how the fuck are you doing? You're coming in with some
real energy and I love it. Uh, I'm doing really well because I
watched before we started recording Jumping around on League Pass, and I not only
saw Brandon Clark play in an NBA basketball game today for the Memphis Grizzlies.
I also saw one Mitchell Robinson, to whom we've apologized in the past,
so he's very much podcast adjacent. He was also playing NBA basketball games tonight,
so that was fun. I saw League Pass tonight. You see Andrew
Wiggins making positively impactful fourth quarter plays. Color me flappergast, fake news.
This is uh So, we're gonna go through this exercise and we'll start,
you know, we'll go back and forth. We're gonna try and limit ourselves
like five minutes per team. We are going to start with alphabet not even
looking at it. This is how I'm just on one tonight. I'm just
so, I'm so done. I'm in that type of a mood. The
Dallas Mavericks. How's that for the alphabet? You got it? You did
it? So I'll give you my goal? Why not? I bet it's
similar to yours? Is in fact, the goal of this podcast is really
give me your goal? Well, I mean what a goal of ours could
be to have discussed who should go first before this podcast. We do not
meet that goal. So I'm just gonna jump sustain the defense. Right.
So offense great, We've known that forever. If you have Luca, you
can figure it out with like four scarecrows like stationed at odd intervals around the
floor. Dallas has much more than that on offense. They have Kyrie Irving,
They have enough decent shooters that all works. They have a one oh
eight defensive rating this year with Daniel Gafford and PJ. Washington on the court
together. That's not like a world beating number, but man, that's awesome
for the maps, right, and that holds up big time if you can
score like they can. They been limiting their three point opponent three point attempts
and rim attempts way better with those guys on the court than they have,
like when you look at their full season numbers, So the types of shots
they're surrendering that has improved dramatically. They're like seventy eighth percentile in both of
those, which is which is good in terms like top you know, top
quartile. Basically in limiting opponent rim attempts and opponent three point attemp frequency,
they're like forty ninth and three point overall and sixty sixth in percentile at the
rim on the season, so big steps forward. They're seventeen and six since
February fifth, they got the number three offense. I said, their defense
has been seventh best. And it's not all shooting luck thirty six percent opponent
shooting from from deep. That's like it's not quite mid pack, but like
it's not the type of thing where you're like, oh, well, that's
why their defense is good. They're allowing like twenty eight percent on open corner
threes. It's not that. So some of it feels real. We've got
like a more than a quarter of a season sample that what I'm pulling these
numbers from, so hold on to that, and like, shit, I
mean they're gonna score in the postseason. So if you can just defend at
anything close to this level, you're really like it's the team you gotta take
seriously. Which I don't know how you feel about it, but I was
not gonna take Dallas seriously as a postseason threat just because of the defense the
way it looked for most of this year. But now I think I'm gonna,
you know, if this holds up, I gotta we gotta really re
evaluate some things. I was gonna take them seriously because I just luka,
Doncic is buying large and spectacul in the playoffs, and the chemistry that him
and Kyrie Irving has developed as far exceeded. I wasn't one of the oh
there's only one ball guys way back when. But their chemistry is just progressing
forward. Uh that is mind's like sort of tangentially related to yours. And
it's oh, by the way, the fact that their offense has been still
there. And then if you look at their four highest volume three point shooters
in the month of March, none of them are shooting better than thirty six
percent, and like one of them is PJ. Washington're shooting twenty seven percent
from three that much more, which is actually worse. He's already been on
a cold streak that is not well. My goal could be for PJ.
Washington to hit more threes. That'd be nice. I think they need to
find what is their what is their go to unit? And I think they've
started to figure that out. And it's very clear that the blueprint is gonna
be I mean, they start this way, but you know, the gist
of four players is gonna be Luka Dancic, Kyrie Irving, PJ. Washington
as you're four, and then a rim running big for the most part,
and that will probably be Daniel Gafford, it could be Derek Lively. And
then I'm kind of like, well, what is the fifth player archetype?
Here is it? Let's go with Tim Hardaway Junior. There do we want
to see Dante Exem in that spot? Does it? Derek Jones Junior?
Of course, isn't running for a healthy Josh Green could be there. The
thing I would like them to try, and I'm just saying I would like
them to try. That's my goal is what would it look like if you
played PJ Washington, Maxi Kleiba and then a rim running big. I was
just gonna ask you, like because you said, well, one of the
Givens is a rim running big, Like, don't don't do you think that
Kleiba is gonna be you know this skeleton key that they turned to, you
know, whether it's down the stretch this year to try some stuff out,
but then they used to do it in the postseason like he was the fix,
right if you needed somebody mobile that could block a shot. And also
theoretically space the floor, like, so you're saying him with another with a
big just I just want to see it, and to that end, we
have not. We've well, I guess we've seen it. I have not
seen it. They've played ten possessions, Yeah, with PJ and Kleeba on
the floor plus a big so like neither one of those two or the five.
What I'd also be open to, though, because you mentioned Kleeba as
a skeleton key, is well, is there a lineup with him as the
him and Washington is your front line? That makes enough sense to say,
yeah, we're fine with like Lively and Gafford being on the bench when it
matters mostly for large spots of time they are so far they are plus ten
point nine points per one hundred possession when Luca and Kyrie play with PJ at
the four, and so that's incorporating a whole different bunch of type big.
So I mentioned the ultra big lineup, I'd like to see just to I
ultimately don't know A lot would fall on PJ. Washington. I think in
the three big lineup, let's call it, And I don't I don't know
if he necessarily has the Jews to do that, and I'm already concerned enough
where well, if you can't use him in a ton of screening actions and
then you playing kleiba End who doesn't need to be involved in those, but
kleiba End a room running big, does that exacerbate that at all? Again,
I just want to see it, That's the goal. The other thing
I'd like to see them futz and fiddle with, though, is that if
you're gonna go with a I don't call it a smaller unit, but let's
say five out the Kliba Washington, Kyrie doncic Exum lineup would be one I'd
like to see a lot more of. I think I saw it like twice
so far this season. They've only played a few dozen possessions together. The
numbers on it are actually good. I'm not gonna get in them because they
don't matter, but I think that the Mavericks do need to kind of find
out still the extent of their lineup flexibilities that we get to a point where
I think we can look at right now and say, okay, you know
what this lineup, and maybe this lineup is a crutch, but can you
kind of find like one or two more that can be these postseason crutches.
Yeah, you know, it raises an interesting issue. Is the last thing
I'll say. I know, we got it. We're trying to be semi
brief here, but like I think I assume you agree, like Gafford and
Lively are two of Dallas's what like seven eight most valuable players you know,
and and ideally in a playoff situation, it's so impossible to avoid talking about
every team now in like context of the playoffs. But like, I'm just
not gonna fight it, uh, in a playoff scenario, like you you
can't play both of them together, and just because like they're so duplicative there,
you know, you can't play nobody's gonna play. It's not like that.
It's not Antonio and Dale Davis and Rick Smith. You want to see
four bigs? Is that where it's like a little bit of an issue.
And I think maybe that only underscores the importance of guys like Washington and guys
like Kleiba, because one or the other of them is just I guess Derek
Jones Junior is just gonna have to be the four because you don't get to
use both of you know, two really important guys, you can't use them
both at the same time. So that's just something that struck me as you
were talking. You want to lead the Denver Nuggets or you want to hear
my my goal for them, Uh, we can what you want to try
and alternate and see if we can keep up with that in the alphabet good
luck, sure lofty expectations. So there's an element here of and I wrote
about this, of just keep doing what you're doing with the Denver Nuggets.
What I basically want to see, and they are already doing basically all this
stuff that I'm mentioning was let's get away from ever seeing Jamal Murray and Reggie
Jackson play together. That is something that they're doing. But let's also kind
of fuz and fiddle with the Aaron Gordon at the five looks. And they've
started doing that. And one Aaron Gordon has played a lot more five this
year than he has last year, depending on whether you considered him or Jeff
Green the five and regular season units last year. That gets obfuscated a little
bit, but they're like a plus four or plus four point six. They're
plus four net rating this season when he's the five. That numbers actually dwindled
down. It was a lot higher. Is it a plus thirteen at one
point? I think because they're trying to explore when you look at some of
the different combinations and we've seen like, oh, Reggie Jackson and Christian Brown
will be in those units. Sometimes what I owe this is my guess and
I think we've seen it, but this is my ultimate guess, is that
what you need to do and the goal needs to be this. It's Aaron
Gordon plus the three other starters that aren't Yo Kic, so CACP, Michael
Porter Junior and Jamal Murray, and then find your preferred fifth. Maybe that
varies by matchup. Could it be Christian Brown, could it be Peyton Watson?
Those are the two leading candidates, and then you leave Jokic to uplift
even Jokic plus bench heavier lineups than maybe you would you would want to because
you know what, Frankly, he can do it. If you have Reggie
Jackson on the floor instead of Jamal Murray for some of those reps, they
can still replicate a lot of that dynamic, and you ensure that there is
another ball handler there because if you are playing Peyton Watson, Christian Brown,
you know, you know what, are they gonna break? There'll be other
guys. Caseyp might still be part of those minutes, my MPJ, but
you're losing a lot of ball handling juice. At least the off ball movement
around him will be stout enough. And I think I'm at that point with
Aaron Gordan at the five in large part because you don't it's not it's not
that we expect it. Look, Nicole Jokic when it matters most is gonna
sit if it's a real game that they didn't, you know, blow a
team out or get blown out in in the playoffs, he will play thirty
eight to forty two minutes a game, and so you're trying to fill ten
six to ten minutes if you can win or be ultra competitive to a net
neutral in those units. That's why Aaron Gordon at the five is so critical.
And I'm not saying you need to burn him out now by let's play
Aaron Gordon at the five for thirty minutes of games that we can see with
all these different combinations mixed and match. I ultimately think though you called kleeba
skeleton key previously, for the Mavericks, those units are their own skeleton key
because yes, your best player in theory is off the court, but if
you can survive, right a good amount of those minutes, if you can
find the lineup. And I'm at the point where and I think the Nuggets
are here too, so I understand my goal is I guess to not deviate
from or to lean into it further. It's you know what, it's Aaron
Gordon at the five with every single starter but Yokic. Yeah, so that's
we're very much aligned on what the issue is to figure out all and well
more so aligned on the fact that Denver doesn't really have any issues to figure
out, so we got to like find something. So mine was just figure
out the non yokch minutes, right, And the answer to that has often
been, which makes total sense, Well, Jamal Murray better fucking be on
the floor. Like, if you're not gonna have Yokic out there, you
have to have him. The Murray on Yokich off minutes are they're like a
minus sixteen, Like it's just like it's awful. The crazy thing to me
is, so I was like, okay, but what if you put Aaron
Gordon at the five, because that's like, that's the next logical thing.
Murray on the court, Aaron Gordon at five. Lineups are minus seven point
one. They're plus four with Gordon at the five just across the board.
But that includes some Reggie Jackson stuff, that includes some other like little used
line So I was like blown away that, oh man. But so I'll
give you the fifth guy that should be out there with the players you mentioned.
It has to be Peyton Watson because that lineup this look, we're thin
slicing it like nobody's business right now. These all these samples are too small
to draw conclusions, but we're looking for issues with the nuggets. So like
you just got to humor us a little bit here. If you have Murray
on the floor with KCP with MPG and Gordon at the five and Watson is
your fifth man, that is that lineup has a plus twenty point three net
rating. So there it is, like you can get real specific about it,
like is it Christian Brown? Okay? Maybe is it like do you
mess with Reggie Jackson somewhere else there? I don't know, But if if,
what you're really trying to do is figure out the non Yokic minutes.
That is your lineup those five guys, like that's it. Stagger do whatever
else you need to do. But the indications from the season so far are
like, we need to be messing with this lineup way more often. They've
played thirty eight possessions so far this year. I don't know why. It's
got to have something to do with like, well, if we're gonna take
Yokic off, I don't know. We don't like to go to the Gordon
at the five minutes with Murray on. We like to let Murray try to
carry the whole second unit, which like doesn't work. The numbers say it
doesn't work. So we got to basically your your goal raised the question that
my goal is like, oh, I have it. I have this lineup.
So yeah, I mean, the Nuggets are stupid good. That's great.
That's incredible that we were in lie I know, figure out the non
Yokic and it's just kind of obvious for the Nuggets, but the fact that
we kind of ended up in the same spot with it and without bouncing these
off each other. Yeah, he was good. And by the way I
understand it would be a heavier lift on Yolkic. If you're surrounding a g
at the five with as many starters as possible, they've only played it's sub
two hundred possessions with Jokic and no other starters. They've won them. They've
won them. I'm gonna say it's a heavy lift. He can do it.
Fine, you can do it. Not a problem, Yoki. Just
one rep max of carrying the lineup is like off the charts. He's it's
not an issue. All right. Uh that makes it my turn? Okay,
so perfect, we get we get my Golden ABC DFG Golden State Warriors.
This one is like, I'm so bad at this team because it's like,
well, which which of the first five thousand suggestions of mine would you
like? Uh? Because I'm just too close to it. We're the Fungebob
mean of the long paper. Yeah, just the the longest scroll of all
time. The number are the notes team, the Warriors are the all the
notes, copious notes. Yeah. So I went with spam as many Jonathan
kaminga as an integral piece of your offense, whether that's as a ball handler
or a screener with Steph Curry, spam those actions like two within an inch
of their life down the stretch of this season, because Mark's get ejected every
other day, right, because Raymond's getting ejected in fourth quarters again our first
quarters? Sorry, yeah, he's usually doesn't Wait, can I say?
Uh? I tuned into their game against Orlando in the second quarter and I
was like, oh, no, Kimming is not playing and he was you
know, Leftnie Sorenus whatever. It's like, oh, Draymond's not out there.
I wonder, oh is he sitting? It's like, somehow he got
ejected like four minutes into the game. Did not enter into my like spectrum
of possibilities, which is like, why wasn't that your first thought? Why
wouldn't you have assumed he got thrown out? Uh? Anyway, I just
think so. Marcus Thompson wrote a good you know, he's got his finger
on the pulse of this team like few other people do. And his take
recently was just like there's no number two here. You know, it used
to be Klay Thompson. Andrew Wiggins did it for a few months and it
helped him win a title. Kaminga looked like has looked like it at times
this season. But like, if you're going and if you're going to have
any success, and that that honestly, that shit may have sailed. Like
in terms of meaningful playoff success, Kaminga just has to be heavily involved,
if only by Like I think he's wildely talented. I think he's gonna be
a great player, But it's almost by default because you're not gonna rely on
Klay Thompson as good as he's been off the bench, You're not gonna rely
on on twenty twenty two, Andrew Wiggins coming back, Brandon Pajemski is struggle.
Like I mean, we're talking about rookies now, right, Like,
there's so it has to be Kaminga. And I wanted to give you a
stat so this I forget. I apologize. I saw this in more than
one place. So Steph Curry's true shooting percentage in clutch situations have you seen
this one this year is sixty nine point three percent phenomenal. The rest of
the Warriors team their true shooting percentage in the clutch is forty seven point six
percent. And that gap between Steph on the one side and the rest of
the team's true shooting percentage in the clutch is the biggest in the league.
So like to that point, somebody else has to be like a high usage
guy and just it's COMINGA is the only realistic choice. So maybe it goes
bad. He hasn't looked great lately, like or has been inconsistent. But
I don't know, you gotta run Steph and kaminga pick and rolls. Let
kaminga play with you know, lead the second unit and just take a bunch
of shots like you just you know it's a it's a low odds play,
but you got no other options that that's gotta be what the rest of the
season's about. Yeah, they're so before you get into mind there's in such
a weird spot because I don't know we could talk about, Yeah, you
need to maximize the staff window. I don't even know how they do that
anymore. So the answer is not on the roster. I don't know who's
the guy you say, will go get him via trade? That doesn't fit.
Like you could come up with players who are unrealistic, but it's just
like you still kind of need some of the other surrounding parts to hit.
And so i'd be with you there. Mine's a little bit simpler, and
I, by the way, I totally agree with the kaminga Steph stuff like
just I know they do it, but like do it more. I know,
maybe you don't want Steph screening as much, but you're limiting him to
under thirty games in the month of March apparently, then he can screen a
little bit more and then have you could also, I know you don't like
to run set plays, Kurt doesn't like to do that, but have cominga
screen for Steph more then, so I would agree with those. How about
winning at home? Yeah, they're just like you. I was digging into
the splits and they're just so fucking weird. They're ninth in points allowed per
possession on the road, twenty third in points allowed per possession at home.
It's not because of opponent shooting luck from three point range either. It's opponents
are shooting lights out inside the arc, but for mid range, not even
like at the at the rim. They're not great, but it's nothing like
seventy five percent or anything crazy like that. There are some players that have
some really, really really atrocious road splits. Shout out Kay Thompson and Andrew
Wiggins. They've just shot so poorly on the road. But then when you
go dig into like some of the home splits, well, Brandon Prijemski and
Chris Paul just don't hit jumpers at home normally apparently, so like those should
kind of offset. And so it's okay, well, let's win, figure
out a way to win at home? Or what's going on here? And
I used it as I'm using it as a launching point to ask you this
question, At what point is this less about Wow, it's weird what's going
on at home with the Warriors? And you could dig into who missed what
games? Steph has played a shit ton of games, so you've had Steph
for most of those home games. That's the that's the key ingredient. Are
we just at the point where it's no, this team just isn't very good
And that's why, because even mediocre teams are supposed to be better than under
five hundred at home basically, And my final thought there is the only thing
that I could maybe attribute it to. It does feel like Steve Kerr is
just certain for stuff within his rotation still, and that's a problem. And
so my other goal, which might be more realistical, is can we tighten
this up? And unless you just want to avoid the playing altogether at this
point and that's not not the goal. Well, it's interesting. We talked
about this a little bit last week, right or someone. It was maybe
the mail bag where somebody said, like what should the Warriors' rotation be?
And I think I listed like twelve guys because and Steve Kerr has gone,
you know, it just depends on the week. It's like Moses Moody might
be the guy that's playing like the sixth most minutes one night. Brandon Pajemski
was not playing then starting. Now Klay Thompson's starting again, like Trace Jackson
Davis overtook Kavon Looney and now but now we need like Keavon Loney's defensive communication.
Steve Kerr said he's the best talker, So Kavonloney's playing again. It's
just, it's all, it's all just they have a bunch of players who
are like good at a few things, and the reality is collectively they're just
the team just isn't good enough. The conversation ender that I have with a
lot of my Warriors fan friends, we like kind of like when we really
are gonna get real about it, it's just like they just don't have it
you know, it's like that, It's like that simple. They don't have
it. They don't. They're not good enough. Steph is just just diminished
enough to where he can't cover up all of this. And the weird thing
is like I really like a lot of their personnel, Like I think,
I mean Kaminga, you know, I love Kaminga. I think Trace Jackson
Davis is gonna like stick in the league, which is nuts for a late
second rounder. And Pajemski, I think is gonna stick around. He's flawed.
Like you go down the list, all these guys, you know,
Draymond say what you want, like he's still a really good defensive player,
a good passer, like he helps win, drive winning, like Clay's shot
it well. And then it's just like you look up and they're like Houston's
gonna catch them, you know, like it doesn't, it doesn't, It
doesn't add up, so or maybe it does, and we're just not being
honest about like, you know, these guys just to a man, just
aren't quite good enough. And and the record's gonna the record certainly, so,
so yeah, that's what we are. That's a tough team. Is
there a guy because you say you need a number two. And so if
you're trying to think of who might become available, is there a guy they
can go out there and trade for? And then because I can't even come
up with a name of all the players that we might even if it's Donovan
Mitchell, I just don't even think that's the answer here. My whole thing
is, then could you then also get this player and be much better off
after you probably just had to burn through some of the players that you discussed
who you believe can be a valuable part of your rotation moving forward. Here's
where they are now. They're in a position where what remains of the second
timeline in two timelines is like the only way forward. And it's for the
reason you're saying, like I don't think there's a guy out there that they
could realistically get that like meaningfully makes them I feel like I'm a broken record.
I've been saying this like for a long time, Like that guy's isn't
there. And so the Warriors, you know, becoming a real contender again
depends on one steph managing to be a you know, an all NBA level
guy into his late thirties. Now, it really depends on Kaminga becoming like
an all star level player. It depends on pajem Ski, Jackson Moody becoming
you know, the best role playing versions of themselves and then like Wiggins finds
it again and you know that like that kind of thing, like it's got
to be internal and so that's why it's like that, or they kind of
need to hope that they have a more of an iron stomach for this second
apron stuff than like the Clippers or the Boston if they want to look at
trading, I'm not say they fall short this year and as well, like
we want to we'll move Jayleen Brown like which there's no indication that that the
Warriors do have like a desire to great point to outspend. The indications for
several years have been like to the contrary that we're not gonna pull salary dump
actually hints at the contrary, yeah right, yeah, and then yeah,
so it's it's a it's kind of a weirdly for me, like a painfully
fascinating team to think about, because uh, it's it's hard to see a
way out of this that isn't just like the guys that are here get better
and or the guys that are here stay good for long enough for for for
those two things too. It's the two timelines for them to overlap. That's
just that's what it is, all right. You got the rockets, yes,
so mine for them. And this is just like they've been. They're
entering a harder portion of their schedule. But I've been very impressed with what
they did from the onset without Shang Gooon. I'm a little bit disappointed though,
even during this stretch, at the lack of Aman Thompson at point guard
reps. And I think you ultimately need to get there, and I know
that he's made a lot of progress. Is kind of just an off ball,
cutter, dunker type guy. That's great because that's a way too And
now I think even he and maybe Jalen Green have benefited from not having a
Shangoon on the court, just in the sense that not that he occupies the
same space, but the lanes are a little bit more open even with Aman
Thompson on the court, because you are going to play him higher up when
he doesn't have the ball to start. I want to see, though there
are fewer than fifteen percent of Amen Thompson's possessions this year have come without bowl,
Fred van Fleet and Al prinschan Gun on the court, and even during
those minutes, most of them are tethered to Jalen Green and like, that's
gonna be the guy that runs the show. And I understand now they're competing
for the plane. It's probably really hard to mix in more of this stuff.
And we've seen I won't make it clear, we've seen a little bit
more of it, but he is still at Can you guess, grant,
how many and I'm not saying this is the bread and butter, but just
how many pick and rolls per thirty six minutes aman Thompson is averaging this season?
Just take a stab? Is it even one? It's two point four?
Okay, two point four, which is just that's too low for me.
I want to get more information about this rookie. And I think you
can also get to lineups where now because you're playing Jabari at the five more
and if you don't want to have another non scho on the court with him,
you can like you can get to that where yeah, they're spacing around
aman Thompson picking rolls. I'm not saying spam them. Make that the identity
of your offense. I just I want to see more of it because this
dude is so much of a game changer on defense. You can see the
passing vision from him, but also what he's been able to do off the
ball as well. It's like, if he can actually work as a playmaker,
let's forget about the jump shot. If he can then work as a
non ball playmaker, what is the ceiling on him then? And it's I
wouldn't even dare to come up with one at this point. He's so interesting
because the way you're suggesting they figure out how to use him is to put
the ball in his hands more, which is one of the things you do
to sort of mitigate a non shooter's weaknesses. What the Rockets are doing instead
is like he's kind of playing more center than anything like he's doing the other
There's only two ways to go. You make him either play way out of
position for his size, and you can get away with a non shooter if
he's technically your center and your other biggest jubari smith who can shoot it or
plaim. At the point, I think that's I really I agree. I
think you got to kind of go one way or the other. But it
does speak to Thompson's like I'd like still like like lump of clay potential because
it's totally reasonable that like he becomes a weird like hybrid wing big that can
guard up and and and or run pick and roll as a point guard.
Like but no matter what, he's gonna defend the shit out of whoever's on
that. Like, Yeah, he's really interesting mine. Uh, I feel
like I need to address the Jalen Green in the room, uh, because
I wrote I did a piece for br about young players who might need a
trade. Forget what the total headline was, but the idea was like guys
that you know this that are good and have potential, but like this might
not be the place for you. And Jalen Green was one of the guys
I highlighted. And this was sort of more towards the beginning of what has
clearly been or I shouldn't say clearly what sure looks like a breakout this last
several weeks and really most of March. He's just you know, twenty seven
point eight points, five point eight ords, three point four assists over forty
percent from deep getting to the line, like you know, looks like the
guy that you would have taken where he was taken in the draft a little
bit. My goal for the Houston Rockets is to continue to keep an open
mind about Jalen Green, which is to say, you probably don't need to
you know, like a month ago you might have been like, I think,
you know, we got to extend Shangoon. We're not. You know,
Green's going to command a big deal. We might need to move him
because we also have Thompson and like you know, there's there's financial reasons and
just the offense only thing may not play here with Emmiodoka cut to now and
it's like, oh my god, let's Max. Can we max him now?
Like can we can we do this immediately? Like all this scoring punch
really matters on a team that I think wants to be built around defense other
than Shanggoon like that. So I think you need to kind of go down
the middle on this and at least you know, you still entertain offers like
the Bridges offer. I don't know how you felt about that one, but
the idea of Brooklyn getting what was it Green and two firsts for Bridges,
I guess there'd be salary in there. Too, and you know, I
don't know, man, that sound pretty good for the Rockets at certain points,
I think maybe this is more of like a goal for me as much
as the as it is for the Rockets. But like, don't get too
swayed by a hot march. Even though the Rockets are winning. All of
the stuff that Green did the last couple of years and earlier this year still
really happened. So don't get over the moon about his potential now. But
also like maybe pump the brakes a little bit on. He's not long for
the Rockets, so just kind of kind of, you know, play it
cool here. Yeah, I think if you were gonna make it binary and
you're saying they need to get rid of him, that's wrong. What I
will point out, and I actually posted this in Discord anecdotally in my head,
I want to go make sure that it wasn't just me imagining it.
This is what he does every single year. I've seen that point too,
where he had an April and like twenty two the time, like usually it
starts sooner actually where it feels like after the All Star Breakers slightly before he
go off. You need to start year stronger now in his defense. He's
just been a part of so many different ecosystems and flawed pecking orders. It
feels like so the semblance of consistency matters. I'm just at the point where
it's still very much TBD, and I think the goal is right, have
an open mind with him. I just don't like his is gonna be a
fat Do you just give him a MAX extension this summer? I don't think.
I don't think. I don't think you can. And if he wants
it, you probably need to let him go into a restricted free agency at
that point, see what type of a year he has next season, and
then just pay him his fit on this team. There's the potential for it
to really work. But that also kind of fits into the oh Man Thompson
discussion, where it's okay, if if you want Aman Thompson to do more
on ball stuff, how does that impact Jalen Green then? And so like
the way they're using Amen Thompson now is probably more conducive to Jalen Green sticking
around long term. So it's gonna be interesting how those pieces come together.
I think it's You're right, I'm not out on jailing. I was actually
I'm probably higher on Jalen Green than you are. To be clear, I
was put for a while. I am though, at the point where it's
I need to see this happen like in October, November, December, January,
because it just it's not and I understand that there are viable excuses out
there, but like we still need to That's that's tough information to Like,
this is complicated information to be working with when he's extension eligible this summer well,
And another complicating factor is I'm not saying this is the case, but
like you got to at least start looking at like how come we can't get
this Jalen Green with Shingoon Like you know, I'm not saying one or the
others at fault or any anything like that, but it's like you have to
think about how they're gonna what the synergy is gonna be between theoretically you're not
theoretically like your two best offensive players, Like why isn't it possible for both
of them to cook like this? Do you think it's like because I think
when he's had the ball during these stretches, Jayalen Green looks more methodical and
like there's a change of cadence there, But do you also think like because
when you want to maybe I would have to look at how many possessions their
or their average offensive possession time. But it's Shane Guon is gonna maybe inherently
slow things down and that's not the best fit for Jalen Green if he's not
gonna be on the ball as much. I'm I did not research that.
I'm just spit ball there, but I'm just no, It's it's something you
got to think about now, right, Like it's just because of Green is
going to do this, then suddenly it's not just like, well we got
Shanggun, so who cares what this other guy can. It's like, well,
wouldn't be nice to have both of them play like they can play like?
You know, and they're both young, they're both theoretically they should fit
and yeah, so that the Rocket's got a lot to think about. It's
definitely a file file this under good problems, I would say, though too
ultimately for the time being anyway, at this right all right, so being
Los Angeles Clippers are yours to start their mind? I have the Clippers,
Uh, their goal should be to get some stops softies. According to Toronto.
You were alert. I don't even just because then it'll streamline. I
have defensive consistency for them. I have stuff to back it up. But
if we are on the exactly, I mean, it's kind of I guess
you could say, like make make some threes because they are spinking in three
points per game. Actually I have that pulled up too. They've been outscored
since the All Star Break by one hundred and twenty points. From Beyond the
Arc, they're twenty fourth and made threes per game since the break. They're
nineteenth overall on the year. But that is not That was my backup issue
in case we matched up on the first one, so I didn't prepare a
third one. Sorry, I didn't think we would have a hive mind.
But yeah, the defense is eighteenth overall, twenty eighth since the All Star
Break. Like that's kind of baffling, right, Like it just with the
some of the personnel they have, you assume if you have Kawhi out there.
I know Paul George has been banged up too, but like that's like
that's hard to fathom. Oh the other Sorry, but I did have a
little bit more on the three point shooting thing like Harden got one three point
attempt up on Monday and in over thirty minutes of action. That's the first
time that's happened since twenty twelve. They only got one one up in over
thirty That was it twenty twelve with the Thunder or the Rockets? Like how
far back he would have to be the thunder, Like, there's no when
he was twenty twelve thirteen He was with Houston, so it could have been
might have been eleven twelve though, either way. That's why. So his
shoulder apparently is an issue. So I just wondered if he trained it when
he tried to block. Yeah. Probably. He did some milse the other
day too. That was weird. What did he like? Oh, who
are they playing? This is bad podcasting because I'm just trying to think of
the other one. I would like to say on while you're trying to figure
that out, I want to know. I wish we could give Kawhi truth
serum and find out what he thought about James Harden trying to instill positive vibes
by fucking with Kawhi shooting splits, Like, I honestly don't have an issue
with what James Harden was doing, but for that to be the player he
tried, like it's weird. Yeah, it's weird. Though I can't remember
he like kind of wrestled with someone or something. Oh, I think he
was like messing with Tyres MAXI. He was like put him in a little
like fake headlock or something during against the Sixers. That's what it was.
So Harden's acting up some. So the weirdnesses wants to go back to Philly.
Yeah, right, a get him he wants to go. Yeah,
Steve Baumer's a liar, let's get him back. So, like, I
don't know what the the issue is. I sort of wonder if, like
I don't know, you're you're built around a couple of like aging guys that
are that are not looking to get up and down the floor, and maybe
this is just age that like transition, their transition defense has been really bad
and that kind of maybe ties to these guys are just kind of worn down
defensively. But yeah, twenty eighth on defense since the All Star Break and
eighteenth overall, that's you know, rough hard to remember when these guys are
twenty five and five over that thirty game stretch with defense like that so that's
got to be the focus from now on. Yeah, and I would highlight
specifically their transition defense, which has been butt all year is like especially ass
right now, but as it's getting more people so on the year they are
twenty eighth. I believe in points allowed per one hunsions in transition that is
not that's not great, folks. I think I like you, you watch
them, and like you sense it, and it's like, well in the
half court and by the way, there's still top ten and half court defense,
but like the ball containment, it feels like has regressed coming off screens.
When they didn't have Westbrook, it did feel like they missed his rebounding
and physicality. I don't know, is it the personnel that puts them in
a transition pickle. I still don't think even when you want to look at
well, this team could stand to be a little bit more athletic. They
shouldn't be this flammable in transition or even on the glass, like this is
the casual list with which they can approach rebounding or getting back on the break
when you watch them, is just inexcusable and like, because you're not going
to make up in athleticism deficit there by getting back late. Like there's if
you go watch a bunch of these sets, it's like three to four players
on the Clippers are just out of frame while the other teams getting in to
their offense, and they've been especially burned because of that. Where it's I
would call them they're either transition threes or semi transition threes. They give up
a lot of early shot clock triples. And this is just like if teams
are taking early shot clock triples, it's not because you coax them into it.
It's because it's probably a higher percentage look and I don't know if they
have the perfect mix of personnel to address it, but it's like I find
when I watched them, it's there's too many instances of I don't want to
be the try harder guy. I'm the get the fuck back guy. Like
this is like you don't need to wait and see where this miss is if
you're not gonna hit the glass hard get back. And the fact that they
don't do either exceptionally well and a lot of their lineups is problematic to say
the least. So it's interesting. I don't think you have to be the
try harder or you know, even even to Ron Luke calling them soft as
kind of like it's pretty coach speaking. But this term I heard recently,
I love it. It's it's described exactly what you're talking about. It's when
you don't go hard to the offensive class and you all so don't hustle back
in transition. Coaches call it a stay, as in like you just stayed
where you were and like looked at the ball and didn't pick one or the
other. And it's like, we got to stop having so many stays.
I think it was Steve Kerr that was talking about stays. Uh so,
yeah, that they have. I would love to know if if we could
get like the tracking data, how many stays do the Clippers have work because
you can just picture James Harden, you know, thirty four feet from the
basket, not running to the offensive boards and not turning around to hustle back.
Like that's just that They've got to be high up in the league and
stays, so you have a real coaching term that you don't have to rely
on, uh, try harder, hustle run back, stop fucking staying.
Apparently more goes doesn't matter which God more ghos no more stays they are.
I should have looked this up. They got to be like in the bottom
vibe of defensive rebounding two since the All Star Break, Like, they got
to be overreall. Their eighteenth in offensive rebounding and twenty third in UH opponent
offensive rebound So twenty third in defensive rebounding. That's break overall. No,
that's overall. I guarantee you they're worse since the All Star Break. Yeah,
I'm looking at I'll look at just March because it's just easier to filter
very quickly. And they are. Oh all right, they're they're they're a
rock solid sixteenth. Congratulations to the to the Clippers. Transition defense is still
kind of ass though. We've gone from butt to flat out ass to just
kind of ass. I don't know what the next step is. We should
probably move on. We're gonna move on to the Lakers. Here. They
are my team. So this comes with the caveat. I'm talking more about
sustaining something rather than like adding something, and it's this can they maintain what's
happening on offense? They are grant fourth in points score per possession on the
offensive end. A couple of things are not gonna continue. I'll tell you
what's not gonna continue. They as a team will not shoot forty one and
a half percent on threes even they're still like bottom five and frequency that's a
whole nother issue, but that I'll get into in a second. We're also
shooting collectively seven twenty seven point two percent at the rim. I'm going to
tell you this that's not going to continue either, that you're not going to
shoot about eighty percent the rim. Now what I am noticing though, and
this is mind you, this is all happening with like a different type of
emphasis on the officiating where it's like, oh, it shouldn't be you shouldn't
be as efficient necessarily, I would say at the rim. This team,
specifically Austin Reeves, has been I'm gonna steal your term again, the skeleton
key, I think, to unlocking a lot of what they're doing on offense,
not just because of what he does as a cutter and a screener,
but he is finally getting his offensive volume up there. So prior to February
first, he was taking about five point four threes per thirty six minutes.
Since February first, he's up that to six point one and since March first,
specifically, that is now like at basically seven attempts per thirty six minutes.
He's shooting the hell out of it. But for a team that doesn't
get up a ton of threes outside of D'Angelo Russell. And if you want
to throw Lebron James in there, I do think his willingness to let her
rip and if they're not going in forty five percent of the time or whatever
their number is going to be, it opens up the floor in the half
court that allows you to get these higher quality looks at the rim that we've
seen from them, Or if he's more of a threat when he's running and
sprang out in transition, fanning out in transition, excuse me, that's going
to open up their offense those opportunities even more. That's something that they need
to figure out a way to maintain. And it's not I don't I'm reticent
to say, just tell him to keep chucking threes. But they seem to
have found a better balance among their I'll call it the core four with ad
Lebron, Reeves, d Lo, the spacing, the usage, how things
are working for them, and yes, there is some fluky shooting involved overall,
but they've been able to open up pathways to the basket, not just
for Lebron by the way, but for Anthony Davis Moore. And I think
that this version of DLO is absolutely critical, but it kind of feels like
he's fallen by the wayside is Austin Reeves. So I think it has gotten
better this season, and there definitely was a level of inflated Oh he plays
for the Lakers. This guy's going to be amazing. He's still on one
of the better value contracts in the league. And I never kind of understood
the whole why would teams want him if they were going to trade so and
so do the like the Dejontae Murray talk where it's like, well, they're
not gonna want Austin Reeves to pair of and it's like why not. One
of the most value contracts in the League's pill doesn't matter. So that's something
I'm going to be monitoring from them moving forward, because this team is not
going to take enough threes like to for either of us to just if they
do. We're talking about I mean like Ruy hotch More shot the three ball
well it's just not in high volume. That's not their game. That's fine,
you need to make the most out of your volume. But if there's
a player who can stand to continue boosting his volume, I think it's Austin
Reeves. Okay, I like that. I've thankfully I did not we would
have. We would have just had to end the podcast, like we already
don't disagree enough like for in podcastners. But uh so, you know how
we talk all the time, and by we, I mean just the NBA
discourse about you know, the Lakers. Their real conundrum is like, well,
you know, just pretend everyone's healthy. It's like we got to get
Jared Vanderbilt on the floor because he matters for defense, but like nobody guards
him. So okay, fine, Well D'Angelo Russell is really important to the
offense, but he falls apart defensively and gets attacked in the playoffs and like
on on down Cam Reddish, which I don't know which way Cam Reddish is
helpful, but like they seem to think he's helpful one or the other.
So all these one way guys and all, you know, what makes that
not matter? When Anthony Davis is like a top five player in the league.
See the title they won when he was that. So my goal is
for them to bottle the current version of Anthony Davis, who's real, real
close to that, to the bubble guy that was the best player on a
team that won a championship. So just so his last four games twenty eight
to fifteen and six, twenty three, nineteen four and four, thirty six
and sixteen. This last one is the ridiculous double overtime, but still thirty
four, twenty three and four blocks. He's played in ninety six of the
last one hundred of possible games for the Lakers. So like the numbers are
there, you can go advance too. This is Anthony Davis we're talking about.
By the way, his defensive rebound rate to day this year has never
been higher. This is one of the best rebounding bigs we've just ever seen.
Like he's he's this is the best he's ever been on the defensive boards.
It's technically tied with twenty sixteen seventeen when he was twenty three years old,
but that's still pretty good. Like a bunch of his advanced metrics,
he's in value over replacement player, this is the best he's been since nineteen
twenty when when he was incredible. If the Lakers have this version of Anthony
Davis, like just I don't know, you've got that, You're not gonna
fall out of the play in now because they've they've been good lately. Just
whatever you like, bubble wrap him, like put him in carbonite, like
do anything you can so that this guy shows up to the playoffs, because
if you have this guy, nobody gives a shit about Dangela. Russell's a
one way player. Nobody cares that, like, oh his Austin reeves good
enough. I don't know like we think, so nobody cares, Like none
of that stuff matters anymore because you have just like the I mean, short
of Jokic, you're gonna have the best, like game wrecking two way center
in the league. And who's also, by the way, I can't remember
if you meant, I don't think he did. In the start of March.
He's shooting like thirty nine percent from three on almost two attempts a game.
There there's bubble Anthony Davis. There is we found him. So yeah,
just like there and there are certain teams that Anthony Davis on defense is
just like an unsolvable problem because he just shuts the rim off and you can't
exploit him on switches either. So if you get this guy, like you
know, it's such a hot take thing to be like, the Lakers are
dangerous if you have this version of Anthony Davis not saying it's guaranteed to happen.
That's why their goal should be to like figure out how to keep him
playing this way your threats of just just about anybody, and you might even
be the guy who could give Jokic the best run, right, Like,
if that's that's the way through the West, Like, I don't know who
you think is gonna hold up against Yokic better than Davis, Like that's just
I mean, he's he's he's he's the guy. So keep this version of
man Thanny Davis should be the goal. I don't care how you do it.
Very quickly, who are the like players? What are the trustworthy players
they have for their playoff rotation? Because you mentioned cam Reddish and they're like
they've gotten away from cam Reddish lately, and so you have you have Lebron
Ruey d Loo. I don't even know that I trust Ruey, but he's
played well enough to like it's Ruey, It's Ruey, lebron A d d
Low, Austin Reeves, I guess, Princeton, Dinwoody. Like those have
been their seven most used players of late Is there even another guy like beyond
Oh, we're gonna sprinkle in Jackson Hayes because we need reserve big minutes.
I think I'm not even I don't trust all seven of those guys, but
like that's just the Yeah, it's not right, Yay Vincent ever plays like,
oh, even just coming back. Darbnham will come up with excuses anyway,
but that's a great point. Yeah, Gabe Vincent, don't imagine he
just comes back. Looks great. Talk about like a late season edition that
could swam them and Gave Vinson is is the Gabe Vincent from like two years
ago or something. Oh if you got that Gave Vincent, He's immediately like
it's lebron A d Reeves And then like Gabe Vincent is is like your next
most important guy if you get you know, Miami Heat playoff runs Gabe Vincent
for sure. We are on to our final team of this podcast, the
Memphis Grizzlies. Who are are they? They're my Memphis Grizzlies. I think
no, I think their mine because I did a d second for Lakers.
Yes, we almost made it through without screwing it up. You know,
I kind of forgot that we beca I was about to say, yeah,
you just did the Clippers and we just had to discussed about the Lakers.
Just write it off. Well, this, I mean, I don't know
if this is a good one to end on. This is a really hard
one for me. I guess you know, this team has just been beset
by injuries all year, and like there have been some good things that have
come out of it. Guys like Gig Jackson and Vince Williams Junior are like,
oh, got some rotation guys all of a sudden. That's fun and
they're young and that you know, maybe that's what we build our you know,
five six, seven, eight spots around some of the some combination of
them, and the guys will get back anyway. I think you got to
figure out where specifically Jackson is kind of the most interesting to me, like
where he's gonna fit rotation wise, who he might make sense with. So
like you get Clark back, and you know he has in the past played
like a fair amount of backup five against certain matchups, or you know,
he's just been the center. Can you figure out, like does Jackson make
sense with him? Does Jackson make sense with Jared Jackson? Does he make
sense with like both of them? Where does Zire Williams. You're not gonna
find this out because Williams probably isn't gonna play the rest of the year,
but like, where does he fit into the mix? So there's Santielle Dama.
I think is you know in March he's shot thirty eight percent from deep,
forty six percent from the field. Jackson has been cool in March,
like forty two percent from the field, thirty three from deep. But just
like that guy's a find. I think he's I don't know. I don't
think he's just gonna be empty numbers. Maybe Again, this is kind of
the like how much do we trust what's happening on a go nowhere team late
in the year? Greens assault all around? Just figure out, like which
of those guys makes sense next to the others, and then you can make
your your other decisions about the rest of the roster going forward, Like you
have Zion Williams extension eligible, like I don't know. I don't think you're
gonna pay him, but there was a time where you were like, this
guy's gonna be our fifth starter. So just kind of sorting out where the
kind of emerging players and the returning players need to fit in the next you
know, I guess really it's about next year because who cares about the last
few games here? I literally have written down terrible podcasting again provide a glimpse
into twenty four to twenty five, which is so hard to do about the
Grizzlies. It has to be about next year, and so Clark coming back.
It's are him and Jaron Jackson your front court? Or as you mentioned,
Santeel Dama's done pretty good as a passer this year? Is that the
answer? And then you would mention Gigi Jackson that is something like can he
be because he's played so much for it? Can you play him in Jaron
Jackson Junior together in the front court if you know how much time they have
spent as the front line, the four and the with Desmond Bain on the
floor. Oh god, Uh. Possessions, You want a possession count or
minutes possession count? I bet it's under one hundred possessions, it is under
five possessions. Okay, maybe check that one out, Fellas. Let's see,
you need to get that information. And Desmond not having John Morant Marcus
smart being banged up to high heavens, that makes it all difficult. But
now you have enough players where you're looking at like the fact that Desmond band
and Jaron Jackson Junior are there, Okay, we can get information about how
some of these guys will look like it like Desmond Bain's role is not gonna
change dramatically next season. They're gonna need him to run less of the offense.
But like when Marcus smartt was so bad at running the offense this year,
like deber Ban's not gonna need to be like the number two guy when
it comes to running the offense. Oh yeah, Aaron Jackson Junior is there,
So you need to find out that information. And then it's even kind
of like if you want to play if you find out okay, well,
like we can't play Gig Jackson at the four. Can you get by with
him at the three? Or does this team's search for a wing to continue
because Marcus Mart's not the answer quite Like that's what they found out and again
it's so hard because we didn't see there should be four best players basically available
together at all this year. But you need to find out as much information
now as possible. And I think Brandon Clark coming back is big to see,
well what can him and Jackson do together with Bain? And I think
it's working out from there is okay, you have your two core players in
Bain and Jared Jackson junior available, let's kind of shoehorn in different combos.
And I think it's most valuable at the four specifically, but again the three
as well, because that's still a kind of a huge question mark for them
moving forward to I mean, you might even get a look at like almost
the entire potential second unit for next year, because if you leave Bain out
there with backups, you might play him with Williams, Jackson and Clark and
and somebody else, like you could really get like how I don't know how
valuable that is because you're gonna go as far as your your best five man
lineup can take you, and like so many of those guys are out,
but I think it, I think there is value to be had probably if
if that's all you do for the rest of the year is like, Okay,
I don't know, maybe this is what we're going to look like in
the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, you know, in twenty twenty
five, Like, that's not nothing that you may as well try to glean
some information because you're not you know, you don't get any sense of like
the team's ceiling if your best players are hurt. But there's something there.
Yeah, for sure, do you want to take us out of here?
Do we do under an hour to get through a podcast here? For seven
teams? Though? That's a batter moment for us, So you can feel
free to take us out of here so that we keep it under an hour.
Still, no, no, I'm going to do a nine minute outro
just so we get over an hour for some reason. Everybody, thanks for
listening, Thanks for watching. Like Dan said at the top, please rate,
review, subscribe, Spread the news, Spread the good news of our
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resurrect this podcast? Oh that's so mean because of how yeah you want to
be behind the curtain. That's part of the reason I'm done. This podcast
I think is operating at its peak of quality, editing personality. It has
never been less popular than it is right now. I can't that's because I
haven't finished the outro. It's gonna be so good from here on out that
you're the subscriptions are gonna skyrocket. I'm just gonna thumbnails like Uber Driver sucked
me off to our podcast and see if that maybe what else join our discord
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subscription as is the route to some of our merch. Dan is supporting it.
He's always such a good, uh good supporter of the podcast. Have
some who's even saying Hardwood knocks on it, come on grand like unbelievable.
Uh, that's it. Shout out Frank. Apologies Jared Allen and Mitchel Robinson.
He's back, is bron unto both bas body apos