What is crack a Lack and fellow thermonuclear a Efforts. I am a Damp Valley coming at you with a solo podcast, but it's going to be a mailbag podcast. Grant and I want to do a hot or Not episode when we do our live stream on Wednesday at two pm Eastern times, so be sure to check that out also before we dive into this mailbag and I think i'll two up for this week. I'm gonna try and keep this one a little bit short since it's very late and I'm trying to do better with my sleep. Spoil alert, I'm sucking at it. I'm trying remember to rate, review, Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcast if you haven't done so already, Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, the Whole Mine YouTube. Subscribe like this your first time checking us out, please make us a regular listen or watch on YouTube or Apple, Spotify, whatever. Finally, if you've done those things, don't tell people about us. Retweet us on Twitter, shout us out, pull quote us. Those are always fun to see. Join our discord as well the only too that is in the podcast and YouTube description, and follow us on all the socials TikTok. We're closing it on three hundred followers. Help us get there at Hardwoo Knocks on TikTok and Twitter and then Instagram at Hardwood Underscore Knox. I don't have anything else for us. Let's just get to We had a lot of fantastic questions here. I'm going to start with one that's kind of fairly topical but also a little It's all sorts of I did. I wanted to address it on the podcast, but I don't. Let's just get here. Jake from State Farm as I'm sumbling through this, So this may not be two NBA related, but what are the potential ramifications we could see from the league's investigation into jaws Instagram video with all the reports and his strained celebration after Desmond's mains three the other night. Is he trying to be this generation's AI? What should Memphis do moving forward, especially with just all the chaos going on with the team. Clark's out for the season, he has that achilles injury. Brooks already on his sixteenth tech jaw, not just now but in the future. So this is really tough for me to comment on. I hate the idea of me being just this like white dude commenting on the lifestyle or any disciplinary action that has to go towards this black twenty three year old kid, because there's a twenty three year old kid, and I think we forget myself included a lot that these players are so young and they're in the public eye, that we almost aged them up and expect them to act differently or more responsible or prop them up to be someone they're not, in the sense that twenty three is still twenty three, regardless of the situation your income that you're in. With that being said, no, it's absolutely unacceptable. All the reports that came out in the WOPO report. If you didn't read that yet, you should probably check it out. Just about him punching a teenager. He's claiming self defense, but his like I think it was an agent came out like the rebuke of that, which is very half assed or soft saying even though he struck first, it was self defense or no charges were file outs, or pointing that out. The whole finish line incident where he apparently came up with like nine people or a total of nine people after his mom got into argue with a finish line employee that he's talking ship to the security guard. There's also that, And I don't think this was made a big enough deal. It just kind of came out of the athletic that the NBA tried to investigate whatever laser pointer, whateverthing was pointed at the Pacers after a Grizzlies game, and they couldn't corroborate anything. And that's just kind of like that was the last thing we mentioned mentioned about it. And then now this where he has the Instagram live after a loss holding a gun up in the video it appears, and now there's an investigation being done by the Colorado Police. Colorado is an open carry state, but some parts are not. It's also did he have a license for it? And also you're per this is ESPN. I believe you're not allowed to be carrying a gun the NBA's protocols while on team business. So where does that qualify as Rant is going to be away from the team for at least a total of two games, which is what has been announced so far. I don't know if there's going to be further disciplinary reaction. I do not know what that disciplinary disciplinary reaction should be. I thought Bemani Jones had a great thread on this. I am it's it's sad and it's depressing. And I don't want to use John Morand's age as sort of this shield to defend him, because it is unaccept at least twenty three, he's not spent let's say, twenty percent of his life as super rich and having access to resources that only people could dream of. And he's old enough and in this situation where he should know right from wrong and that this ship that we're hearing about is clearly wrong and it's troubling and it's not an okay reaction to stress or has he put it, I believe in his announcement at the same time, just some of the things being said or just super awkward here where you're making sweeping judgments about his character, uh, you know, long term scaling ahead as as a man, as a person like you can make like and I'm not excusing these mistakes, but like, these are not as nothing I have heard is irredeemable, something that he can't atone for. And I would also argue that, you know, there's the reports. I think Mark Stein mentioned it to mc mahn mentioned it on the Hoop collective. There's been shit going on for about at least a year, over a year that the Grizzlies have been concerned. This is a failure on their part as well. If this shit was happening for over a year and they didn't take more steps to address it behind the scenes, and now it's sort of, oh, it's in the public eyes, We're gonna do something about it. There was also the report from Shams that Steven Adams had kind of said that not a kind of sad but in a player's only meeting, had said that the Grizzlies need to have more discipline on the road essentially, and that everyone new said meeting and comments were aimed at John Morant like, okay, he's still he's like, first of all, Steven Adams told me to do anything. I'm like, I'm gonna do it at full attention. That would scare the shit out of me. So I am concerned here. I don't think. I don't know if Jaw is doing this on purpose. I don't know if this is the result he's trying to be some sort of renegade as Jake from Safe for Much, and he's trying to be this generation's AI and I didn't really look at it like that. I also don't know if this warrants, you know, think pieces in the form of like does he need to follow the route of Carmelante when he kind of got that stern warning from I can't remember who was Mark Jay Spears just wrote about this for Endscape, so check that out. I'm really just I'm not I refuse to write off job because of this like that, Like everyone knows how to feel about the Grizzlies who listens to this podcast. I don't think that they're contenders. I think the team really messed up when you're looking at a talent perspective of not filling holes that they needed. But the team also seems like they messed up here too as to why was this not taken more seriously behind the scenes at least it seems until now, until it gets to this point, and I'm concerned, like, like for a job like this is just the twenty three year old who yes, like he's been given this intense amount of privilege, and I'm you can't again, you can't excuse this, but I want everyone to just be okay, Like that would be the ultimate goal goal here and where this comes from a human interest perspective. It's absolutely unacceptable. It's indefensible at this point, and I would not excuse it. But also just like some of the things that are being said are just wildly uncomfortable, And my guy said, even spending five minutes, seven minutes on this for the podcast, I just I hate being like the white dude that's going to be on a soap box. And so I think that's all I'll say about the human aspect of this is that I hope, I hope John is okay, and I hope that his behavior does slip around. But I don't think it's also just like, oh, he's super young, and we need to you know, there needs to be a level of empathy here, But this goes beyond just being super young. I don't care that he frankly, I don't care that he was at a strip cluble he was on the road, Like that's just that's going to be the NBA lifestyle at points, and he's twenty three and with money. I don't know what you expect. But when Monti pointed out, we can say all we want about the people he's surrounding himself with. There's comments made about his father and how he needs to step in and do a better job. Like I'm not going to infer anything about his you know, his dad or his friends based off everything that I've read and heard and now seen. It's just like it's been John Morant that's doing this stuff, and so it's it falls on him, and he's an adult and it should fall on him. But I think we need to stop pretending anyone who is pretending like or anyone who's saying that this is irredeemable or hinting at it, or if there's just some you know, there's there's racist undertones to what they're saying, like this is that that is gross, like that that's absolutely grows. This isn't something Jaw can't come back from and hopefully that he will return and it'll be smooth sailing from the Grizzlies from there on out. Or and also like it matters more than for just the Grizzlies. It matters that this is a twenty three year old kid who I hope he's just going to make smarter, better, safer decisions moving forward. And that's like that's the first and foremost concerns. You don't want to see anything this lead to anything worse, and then basketball is kind of secondary for me from there. And it's also super this is like that's kind of wrapping up the jaw stuff. But to see, uh, there was the tweet from Sean's or he had the report about the Grizzlies player only meeting, and then you have been online responding to that tweet saying we have odds on John Moran's return. And it's just like I understand the world today and I don't have a problem with people who who bet on sports. I personally do not. I used to when I was younger, before it was legal throughout the United States, but like, it just doesn't it doesn't necessarily do anything for me to eat their own Like we don't have to fucking have odds on everything. And so there's just like a level of grotesqueness to having odds on whether John Moran is going to return, because again, there's a there's a major human element to this. We're talking about someone's like livelihood is that say, grow life is just in play here, and then there's also the livelihood of those around him, just because if he's if he has if he actually does have a gun, or if they're like the whole red lacers thing, that's just not behavior that is going to if it keeps up long term, I would imagine lead to anything productive and could lead to something tragic. But again, I'm not going to infer all these things about Jaw as a person and a human and his future just because at the age of twenty three, he's really fucking up. And we've all made major fuck ups when we're around that age. I know, I know I did. It just didn't happen to public eye. And again there's a different scale to this. I want to make that clear. I also wasn't going around pointing lasers at people. We don't know if that was JO also definitely wasn't going around with a gun. I'm just saying, let's not write off John Rant long term, and let's be careful about what we say. I'm even like, even as I'm saying this right now, as I thought about this a ton, I almost want to go back and listen and like edit out stuff that maybe I stumbled through. So I didn't say anything wrong. I like, we probably need to approach it with a level of caution that even supersedes that. So I hopefully that answers your question there from j State Farmer. Where it comes to the Grizzlies, like Brandon Clark's super important to them, especially if you're gonna have you know, Jaren Jackson junior not playing even thirty minutes per game, which I think is probably gonna harshest defensive player of the year case. And then there's gonna be certain matchups in the playoffs, specifically where you can't fly with Steven Adams. I would imagine we did see it a little bit last year, so that's definitely and it sucks for him. Achilles are tough to come back from, and he's you know, I'm glad he's not an extension too, because a lot of what he does is pride it on on bounce. Dylan Brooks, I would imagine that he'll probably watch himself after this suspension to where you're not gonna, you know, another two tech and get suspended again. I imagine he's not gonna want to put himself in that position. But I just look at the Grizzlies as a team with or without jaw that doesn't that doesn't have the championship that their record suggests. And even as we record this like they are in danger of falling out of the number two spot. And I don't know if anything that happens with jaw aside from him being out for an extended period of time if he comes back, I don't know if that has any sort of impact whatever in the locker room. I would imagine not that the intangibles are overrated, but we do tend to I think overrate maybe how much, like just because of what the public perception of John might be at the time and how frustrated teammates might be there. This is not gonna be a situation where they're going to shun him where just completely ruins the team chemistry will be my guess once he returns, although we tend I tend to say, well, players are like warmer and like each other more than we try to make this out to me with rivalries. And then we have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is not acknowledging each other during the Sun's Mavericks game on Sunday. We'll say it was like a slight comfort to me for maybe Kevin Durant to show like the slightest disdain for Kyrie Irving because it was just what kind of fucking blind loyalty did he have to that guy that he put up with it whatever ship was happening in Brooklyn for so long, but not even semi related to the topic. And so yeah, that's where I'm at on the Grizzlies. Brian c as if you were the thunder GM. So just consume he's talking about Sam Presty here and you got a top two pick, So a top two picks Scoot or Wemby would be the selection. Would you go on in immediately? By this they don't mean trade the pick, but they mean target someone else. And who would it be based on the assets that okay se has and the roster they have. And he also Brian asked do they have enough to get to og McHale Bridges level players. So to answer the second part of this question, first, I would think that they could get two of and like if they wanted to, I think they could go out and say, hey, we're not trading Shay, we're not trading Chet, and we're not trading this year's first round pick. Everyone else is on the table, though, Josh Giddy, j Dubb and you could go out and get both O Gene mcale, just as like I wouldn't do that. You have food doort. But let's just but you could get two of those type of players, and how would it change for me? One would I go all in? I probably wouldn't go all in, but I would definitely go more in than I know the thunder would go. If they let's just say they have wemb or Scoot and then Chet Homers coming back, They're gonna want to see what they have with the roster before they make any major moves. And they're not. They're a franchise that thinks very deliberately, methodically, takes their time, and so there would be a graduality to what they do. And you know that they have Shay underlock and key long term, and unless he becomes disenchanted with their direction, which maybe if they're losing again next season, that's something that would be a risk. But I think you would have to look at the roster and say, Okay, look at the improvement we made this year, and we're gonna get Chet and a top two pick next season. That being said, if you do get scooted, that does open up being able to trade Josh Giddy a little bit more, who showed a bunch of offensive improvement this year, and I don't know what player I would target. I will tell you exact name. I will say right now that that player needs to shoot the offensive. Okasey has gotten a lot better, and they've been hitting their threes overall the past couple of months. But you look at the roster and there's just no one aside from Isaiah Joe who's like this caps lock shooter. And so I would like to see them get someone probably a bigger on the wings who's going to have dysfunctional touch, and Michael Bridges would would probably be perfect for them. But I also think that if you're gonna go all in it, it does suggest going after a star. And so if it's Scoot, like you want that star to come your Scoot and you have SGA and let's just let's leave it there, like if you know you have Chet, but like if you're getting Scoot or Wemby and then you have SGA, I think you look at it as okay, Chet and Wemby or Scoot and then SGA or just your primary building box. Like you you don't make Josh Giddy untouchable in that scenario. You don't make j dub untouchable. You don't make even lou Dort untouchab. Those are players that you would preferably keep around. But I think immediately even even I would say it now like Chet and I guess you throw Josh Gey in here just looking at the makeup of a roster, but I really look at Chet and Sga, it's just like, Okay, this is the bold text nucleus of this Oklahoma City roster is No, are they actively looking to move guys like Ushmanjang, who I still remained very high on or Kendridge Williams, who's gonna have a statue outside and okay, see one day I would imagine no, absolutely not. But like, is a lou Dort untouchable if you're if you're actively deciding to go in on a star trade. No, it's just the question of, okay, would they decide to go in on that type of a deal. And so you could look at it like if you have even if you Scoot or Wembat, do you consider looking at a Joel and Beat if James Harden leaves and he becomes this enchanced inner Philly that someone who could absolutely fit with, whether it's Scoot or it's Wemby. I guess if you have Wemby, Chet d mbid could get at awkward, but Wemby's basically a wing and we know that Chet just based off his play style archetype can play alongside another big I would even say Pascal Siaka, whether it's wember Scoot as well. Definitely if it's Scoot, but if it's Wemby, you could you could go with him too. I wouldn't mind, you know, if we're gonna throw, like Mikhail Bridges or og And and nobody are probably the lowest. They're not the lowest tier of players, but like if we're talking about going all in on someone, that's who I'm really thinking of, Like that's the lowest tier of an all in play I would make. And that might be a little bit of an insult to Michael Bridge, but certainly og and a Nobi. It's not all let's go all in in a Gary Trendju your sign and trade, and you also don't need to do that because you have caps based this year, Gary jer might actually be pretty good fit for Ross, though I wouldn't be a Bradley Beal guy for this team. Siakam and abiad or the two names of keeping an eye on. If it's Scoot, not know for zach Lavine, if it's Wemby. Would I consider zach Lavine depending on the cause, just because he's a little bit younger than Bradley Beale, I ultimately would say no, someone who is older if they became available, though, and you don't have Scoop. This is a this is a Wemby thing. Damian Lillard would would be super interesting. Okay, c with Sga, Dame Jet Holmgren and Wemby, that's a core. This is so wild too, because okay, cys just not I'm spending all this time. Okaycs just not gonna get a top two pick because they're gonna in the end should be too good. Statistically, brand Ingram make a lot of sense if New Orleans New Orleans decides to shake things up or he becomes disenchanted there, I don't I don't know what you need to do to move brand Ingram New Orleans. I wouldn't just do it for future equity. They have a future equity. They're another team that needs to make an all in trade. But I'm just sort of sort of spitballing there. Look, these are all names that whether okay, see like they're getting checked back and they're gonna have maybe another lottery pick or at least one other first round pick and another Okay, Ushman, Jang and Jdubb will have more experience under their belt. They're a team that could justify, especially with the cast base they have in all the future draft equity. Yeah, there's not a ton of incoming players this year, or you gonna have to start thinking long term. We can't house all of these guys. So even if you don't get a top two pick, like I'm the thunder, like I'm opti tunistic here and I'm thinking, all right if it's not, Yeah, it's different if you get the number one or two pick, maybe you're more inclined to go all in or does that make you more patient? I could see a case for both that if I were the founder, though I've already been a record like I am buying, like I'm using my cap space this summer. So you know what, if Paul George or Quai Leonard becomes available, I don't know that they would reunite with Paul George, even though that seemed to end on fairly rosy terms of what they got for him, But I think Kawai would probably dictate where you would want to go, and you don't really want to open yourself up to the injury here, Stee. There's a difference between accelerating your timeline and then maybe making it a little too flimsy that you need someone though like that three four, whether it's even even if you get Wemby that feels like it would be the ideal, and even Wenby's more ideal because it feels like he gives you more positional flexibility in your trade targets then Scoot. But yeah, like those are all the names that I mentioned there. If this is just like you would have to make the all in trade and be like, hey, he's gonna hit free agency or you're sure he's gonna resign to his incoment team right now, and be like like, could you get John Brown? And my guests would be no, But like, those those are the names I think realistically or path that I could see, I like Pascal Siakam, brand Ingram and then Joel and be just like if the James Harden stuff blows up, because that Houston noise is just so damn loud right now, and they can even just like you know, straddle the line and go with John Collins just because he won't cost anything to really get any Davis would be kind of fun too if the Lakers decide to blow it up, but I don't think that happens either, So there are a lot of different grounds they could go. If I identify one player, let's trying to balance being realistic with that will be available, because we we all know this is because the Thunder won't make the all in trade that I think would make a ton of sense for the Thunder. I really want to be like Spicy here and say Joel and b but it would just be Siaka, like monitor him and if you have him and chat and then wemby or scoot with SGA and like whatever else is left. Like that's a pretty fucking awesome, core fun question. I'm just worried that I'm just hoping to Thunder use their cap space and try and go be Okay, let's drum up the market on Graham Williams's offer sheet or even PJ. Washington's, Like, let's see if you could poach one of those guys. But yeah, this one, we have a lot of Raptors questions, which is always fun. The Raptors are a fascinating team. This one comes from demos quoal what kind of contract is FVV hoping to get in free agency being so after being so bad with his shot this year? Yeah, I will say, you know, that's like a less than ideal contract year for Fred van Fleet. Right now, we've seen the areas and which look he's looked. He's looked like more of a live wire off the dribble since the Yaka Purtle trade, where it's like having someone who's actually screening and rolling that that goes a long way for what he's able to do, and I think it's made him more dangerous as a passer. But the shooting is really yet to come around for him. He's and like, look overall, he's still in the seventy and this is what is so troubling, and it's to the most his point seventy fourth percentile picking le scoring efficiency and he's turning a ball over on a smaller share of those possessions around ten percent than he did last year, which is fourteen percent. And like I said, he looks like more of that live wire playmaker since the arrival of purple purtle off the dribble put the outside shooting, though, it's just like, my god, He'll have stretches or games of really high efficiency and then there's like a two of seven or worse clip from deep. Van Fleet shot thirty seven point nine percent from three last year, and he was a thirty eight point two percent career shooter entering this year. He's now comfortably under thirty four percent for this season. And what's also awkward is that the drap of is coming where he's statistically been most successful, and that's on catching shoot threes. He's hitting under thirty five percent of a spot of triples, which is down from forty three point three percent last year and thirty eight point one percent in twenty twenty one. Could last year been the outlier relative to what we know, perhaps, but you could also will say, well, maybe this isn't really a concern at all. If he's shooting this poorly for this long and a contract year, it will eventually come back, right because that's his strength. Or is this devolution maybe a little bit more permanent. He's not like super young, and you kind of want to believe this isn't the new normal, But then what if it is. I tend to just lean towards this is not the new normal. He's actually been a little bit higher on his catch and shoot threes over his past fifteen or sixteen games over thirty five percent. Not a great number, but a better number. I don't think the Raptors offense is always conducive to getting him the most quality looks either. But you know, there are long term implocations here, and just like if we're talking about, you know, a team that wants to go all in on someone this summer, it helps that for Everyonely, this is going to be a top five free agent no matter what. He's twenty nine and so next year will be his age twenty nine season, but he will turn thirty in February. At the same time, could rebuilding teams still look at him and say, oh, this is someone that we're willing to give near max money to, which, by the way, his max, which is the seven to nine year max, is in the forties. I don't think he's getting forty point two million. I don't think he's getting that from anybody, but I think he gets And if he declines his player option, it's because he believes that he's going to get comparable to the twenty two point eight million that he's on the books for next year, or at least a crap ton of more money over the longer term. I know a lot of people think that Kyle Lowry's past deal or is like three and ninety or three and one hundred might have been his target. I think that we'll see him get If I had to take the over under on thirty million per year on an average annual value, I'm gonna take. I think I'm gonna take the under, even with the salary cap going up, unless he just goes on a heater for the rest of this season. That's just a lot of money to invest in frevudently. Even if it's thirty million against the one hundred thirty four million dollars salary cap twenty two percent of salary cap of bred band Blee. Maybe I might need to restructure this over under thirty million. Let's go over under thirty one million. I'll take the under just to leave open the idea that maybe someone gives him thirty And if he does get thirty, I don't think it's gonna be a four year deal. And maybe players will want to sign shorter contracts anyway to get back into free agency once the new cap or TV money he's infused into the salary cap. But yeah, I don't know what type of deal he's going to get. I will say that he's not getting. I'll be shocked if it's under twenty five million and something like four of one hundred or maybe three for like eighty eight or something. Feels like it would be in his wheelhouse based off the season he had. But that's also that just might be undervaluing his defense. And so there are teams that I think could come in. The Raptors being one of them because you're losing him for nothing would be a catastrophe after not trading him at the deadline. But if you're a team like looking at the squads that have cap space, I don't think that you have Jay Nivy and Kay cutting him and Killion Hayes and maybe school at that point in Detroit. So they'll have money, but you would have to move a lot of other pieces around. Houston could use an adult in the room on offense, but I don't wish them on Fred van Fleet and they might be in the James Hornsbee's sakes, that's a team though that I could see that. Kay Here's thirty to thirty five million a year to come play for us. The Pacers will have money, and he would actually really fascinate with Tyree Halibert Tyrese Halibert, and but they have Benn Nick Mathern already and the Pacers need to get to too much room there. They're sub thirty okay, See could have over thirty million dollars in cap space, so could Orlando. Orlando's definitely more likely to use it. The Spurs could get the thirty five plus million. U Tak should have about fifty plus million. That's assuming they wave a link, which I don't think that that would be a given, but they'll have more than max room. I can't see either of them going after him, and so just like it feels almost as if it'll be Houston and Orlando that would take a look at him. I guess Charlotte could have money, but LaMelo ball is going to be there, and you have thirty rose years, so that doesn't make much sense. And then sign and Traser of course always on the table. If I had a guess we should use instead of using the just thirty million Kyle Lowry's contract that he signed with the Heat. If I'm not mistaken, what was that three years and it was eighty five million? That's actually it had I didn't realize it had. I won't know why I thought it was more. I think it's gonna be more than the Kyle Lowry deal on an average annual value that was about twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine point seven in the last year. I'm gonna say, oh, that was his previous deal that I'm thinking of, is that was the three in the ninety nine or whatever. I could see. I'm not gonna I could see him getting that. If I had to take the over under on thirty three, I would definitely take the under thirty ones a little bit tougher, just because it could be a short term winfall there. But yeah, this season's not ideal. I ultimately don't think it cost him too much money. If he was hoping to get a max contract, even in the short term, like a three year, one hundred and twenty million dollars deal or something, I think that is absolutely out of the question at this point for him. Let's move on to this next question, which I believe is also about the Raptors. Oh no, it's not. This one comes from Glad. What's a bigger detriment to a team in the playoffs a defensive ace with no offensive game or a pure bucket that is an absolute liability on defense. Look, so much of my being wants to say, it's the human bucket who can't get a stop on defense. I believe as you phrase it, let's go back to there a pure bucket as an absolute liability on defense. But like we've seen Jordan Pool play some pretty high leverage minutes in the NBA Finals, and I think, just you know, it doesn't always have to be this stark of a discrepancy, which just look how sort of how much of a non entity guys like Tony Allen were in the past, or even Andre Robertson more recently in Atis Libel in Philly. And so if you can't shoot in the playoffs, it feels like you're going to be less likely to play than even if you play top tier defense. Then someone who is able to just get buckets. And it's just you likedon Pool that from scratch creation is a big deal, and so now it becomes a little bit different. If you're just someone who who who shoots and you don't have any sort of on ball juice, no, no playmaking chops, then I could see it being okay, like, well we would rather have the defensive specialist then, and it look a lot of it just probably depends on the makeup of your of your team. If you're just so skewed toward offense and you're going to play you know, three the four players who are defensive liabilities, you're just not maybe not going to care as much about shooting if they can all space the floor create for themselves. It's just like, look at it this way, and this is just a bad example. But if the Nuggets, let's change their roster up a little bit. If the Nuggets had Yokich, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. And then like Aaron Gordon's good on defense, it's I'm trying to think of like what would be h what would be like a good and then bones Highland. Still, No, that's too mean, Like if you had those three someone else who is just good on off like and wasn't good on defense. It's why I'm not using Gordon KCP or Bruce Brown are you gonna care more about putting batist thible in if you had him on the roster, You're gonna care about someone who could shoot more. Yeah, it's important to space the floor around Yokis because you already have three other shooters around Yokich on the court than four including Yokich himself. It's definitely gonna It's definitely going to depend on the makeup of the team, I believe, But I think that in the end, offense is more important, specifically shot creation is more important. So that's why we would see guys and hire demand like if it was a prime Lou Williams, then we would someone who was like on Andre Robertson or Tony Allen at point where yeah, it was cool that he could defend Kevin Draant, but it got to a point where if he didn't even have his athleticism and wasn't moving well off the ball and defense has just completely ignored him. That makes it easier to cover everybody else, and you were essentially are playing four on five then offensively, and that's really tough no matter how good your offense is. If teams were able to pack the paint or just readily double your best player. So yeah, I I think it's everyone can't let me know if they disagree, But I think if it's between having a bigger having a defensive aase with no offensive game, or pure bucket that's an absolute liability on defense, I'm going with the pure bucket. Who's an absolute liability on defense? Again, that's in, that's in the playoffs, and I guess in the regular season too. I think you just get away with it a little bit more in the regular season, but when teams have time to game plan, I think that the it's more important to have the pure bucket. This is assuming again that this is just not like you know, Steve Novak, who all he can do is hit, just like three pointers, can't put the ball on the floor. How's that for a throwback? This next question comes from a hopeful oh one TTF. Has Pascal Siakam improved as a playmaker this season? My answer here would be, and I think, look, the stats are going to agree with me. The answer is yes. You look at his assist for thirty six minutes, those are up. His current overs for thirty six minutes those are down. That really does show progress as a playmaker. He's assisting on a higher percentage of his drives than he was last year, while also coming turnovers on a fewer percentage of those plays. And I think when you dig into the film, which is I did do that for this. I also happened to watch most of the Raptors Nuggets game tonight before recording this. When you look at his passes, there's like the Raptors offense feels too sloggy at points where like they have guys who can create, but they're in like these very trying, overly scripted stick in the mud types of you know speeds where yeah they can get up and down in transition, but in the half court it's just so boggy. So that can be tough to watch. But Pascal Siakam, there's definitely more speed to his handle and changing directions than there ever has been. You're looking at some of the passes he throws, he's like turning his body on more of them, throwing less obvious passes. It's not just the you know, the shuttle passes to an open shooter is just an entry assist doing just more off on the move. When it comes to his assists overall, and the decision making feels quicker where he can pick up his dribble and like that he might have gotten rid of the ball or maybe he just determined that he was going to get to the basket by that point and so there's less sort of having to stop and think. And maybe some disagree just based off the how much Toronto's offense has struggled in the half court. But I think you watch him and this is someone who we haven't done our All NBA team yet. Well, I've been being asked about them pretty frequently. When you look at the forwards, they're going to be really fascinating, and I think the only forwards who are guaranteed to make it over him. And because I don't know when I do All NBA versus MVP, because of the value word in MVP, I am gonna wait minutes playing games missed. When it comes to All MBA, I'm still gonna wait that where you know Zion for me gonna play in fewer than forty games at this point, it looks like it's hard to really put him in there. But All NBA, I think you can get away with playing a fewer minutes because I'm just looking at flat out who was the best when they were on the court, and then they at least play enough to where it's okay you scale forward to you know, if they only played in I don't like it's arbitrary, like fifty five or something, and so I would have Kevin Durant, Jason Tatum and Janis as Loss over him, and then the discussion just gets super crowded. After that. You have Lebron does he probably make it, Pascal Siakam, Julius Randall is certainly gonna be mentioned there. Larry markin Kwai Leonard has been a beast this from like a really long time at this point, So what type of what type of consideration is he going to get? And he's been you know, this is yes, we made the Clippers that think we make the load management jokes, but he's been more available now for quite some time, and so it's just not He's not going to fade out of that discussion to miss anyone. Jaylen Brown I think will qualify as a guard, so that's not a problem. Andy Davis will be probably eligible at center. But if look they do weird ship with the positions we're in. Bed and Yokich have been eligible forward too, and so that could also maybe not so much this year worth making center it's eligible for forwards, because I think you could pretty easily go with well not even then, because it's just like you have Yokich, you haven't Beide, you have Anthony Davis, and you have Sabonus, you have bam At a bio. Like, if you're gonna have the ability to get four of those guys on people might take it like relative. I'm not saying that's right, but like you have the factor kind of those names into there depending on where they're eligible. That that's what makes all MBA so tough. So I think Pascal Siakham is gonna be on one of my all NBA teams, and I feel like that's gonna eventually wind up angering it's gonna come at the expense of like probably Julius Randall or is it a Kauai. At that point, I'll see who's eligible. It's that's gonna be. That's gonna be tough. But yeah, I think Pascal Siakham has gotten made huge strides this year as a playmaker, and I think over like the the Raptors had been like a dim spot, but he's been like a bright Light the basically the entire year that we have another Raptors question from Paul, what do we make of the Raptors? And look, Paul, I wish I had a better answer for you other than I don't fucking know. But I don't fucking know. I don't know what to make of this team. Uh. They on paper it looks like they should be better, and yet they are just still a little too top heavy, even after the Yaka Pearl trade. At the same time, they make a lot more sense after the Yaka Pearl trade as someone who can set screens, having someone who can set screens and roll the rim, someone who's going to give them a backline rim protector. And they you know, they played the Nuggets before collapsing. They play like the Nuggets, well for like forty six minutes of forty eight. There's no moral victories there. But they're not six and four since the trade deadline, and that's at least, you know, somewhat in encouraging you look at that time though they're they're still having some issues on the offensive end. They are twentieth and point score pro possession during the stretch, but they're twelfth in defense. And I think a lot of it back to them like this is I don't know how to say it, like it's just no surprise. It remains their half court attack. They are twenty or twenty fourth, excuse me, in efficiency in the way I'm sorry, that was actually I'm looking at the wrong the wrong thing pulled up for them. But since the trade deadline, they are twenty fifth in half court efficiency, and so that's I think that's right about where they've been all season, and that's a you know, that's I'm not I'm still looking at the wrong thing for the Raptors. Apologies. Here they are twenty sixth in half court efficiency. That's not great, Bob. And you still look at this team and yes, the lineups they run, they can absolutely positively space the floor because there's like they play foe four out or five out lineups, depending on who's the big. If it's Chocolate Purtle, it's it's clearly not the big. But it's not like a real authentic five out. This is still a team that ranks in the bottom four of three point percentage on the year. They're also on the bottom two, bottom three, excuse me, in mid range and so just the perimeter game is not there, And I think you look at this team and you have to wonder, did they make a mistake not selling at the trade deadline, capitalizing on guys and Fred VanVleet and Gary Trench Jr. Who were going to be free agents this summer both have player options, or should you have looked deeply at moving o Gianna Noby who's probably not going to sign an extension just because of the extension rules and the money that he could get by hitting the open market in twenty twenty four? Do you want to pay Siaka a crap ton of money in his extension assuming he signs one when he's seven years older then Scotty Barnes and that makes it really difficult to pinpoint their future. They deal a first round pick shows me they're pretty invested in making this work, and so I'd expect them to bring back close to everybody. Maybe they explore some sign and trade scenarios. That being said, a lot of people pammed the twenty twenty four draft class, and so giving up a top six protected pick might not really matter to them. I still think a top six protected pick is a top six protected pick, and so I think when you look at this roster, they're talented enough and especially excited to see we saw more at Chuwa Yaka Purdle minutes for in Toronto Denvers. I'm wondering if that becomes a staple. I think that's something that could work well for them. Just as a random aside, I think when you look at them on paper, they get a little hot offensively, and we've seen it from Ojiana Nobi and Scottie Barnes and Fred van Fleet certainly before they could be a team, it's like, oh, you don't want to face them, especially if they're the Tennessee in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But I don't. This is not the year that I expect them to be that irritant. That This is after me saying in the preseason that I absolutely expect them to be that irritant. I thought they were gonna be great. I think their win total was like in the high forties and I smashed the over, so I was clearly wrong on that one. But this doesn't feel like the year. And so you go into this offseason. You've now hamstrung some of the picks that you can trade, but you need to get functional, like functional shooting. I guess I would call it that. It would be nice if, like you preferred, if the guy could dribble, so like someone like a Kevin Hurd, who should not be he's been playing well for the Kings, but like Kevin Hrder type player, feels like he would make all the difference in the world for them. Maybe even they might even need someone higher end than that who could dribble even more. I mean, Michael Bridges would be absolutely perfect for them, even though he's not like the highest volume three point shooters, he's just so good as a cutter and a floor space or getting out in transition. And now you know, we kind of seen his butting off the dribble game for a couple of seasons, but it's really just, uh, you know, it's really coming along at this point. So like that would be a name I don't like. If you could go even more nuclear where it's like, well, is this a team that should be in on they should have been on Donovan Mitchell In my not so humble opinion, at this point, is this a team that's just like, oh, Zach Lavie becomes available, do you kick the tires on that? If they mean Lillard became available, certainly certainly him. Could this be a team like if the Clippers the side to blow it up Paul George or Kwhi Leonard, Let's bring back Kawai. He's familiar with Toronto, but like it could be that level of player. Do you look at it even a I wouldn't. This is brandon Ingram was just like two like in between heavy for me. I just I overall I trust Kawhi Leonard is an outside shooter more than branding or whether that's fair or not at this point, but you need to be in the market for just like if it's not going to be that type of a star, would say, like Kevin Herder type will go a long way here, a Malik Beasley type. You also already have Gary Trent Junior, and so like that's sort of what makes it weird is you're just so deep at the top. You could still fit in any one of those guys, but are they going to make a material difference compared to Gary Tren Junior if you're also acquiring that player while he's leaving. And so it also makes keeping Gary Trent Junior fairly in my not so humble opinion, again, fairly important and look, let's get to let's do one more question here, since I've already went longer than and I actually wanted to, and it's on the Raptors. Joshua asked, what should Gary Trent Junior's new contract look like. He has an eighteen point six million dollar player option that he is expected to decline, so it is sort of a fascinating It is a fascinating question. It's so what would he get on the open marate? Will he wants to stay in Toronto? He's represented by Clutch Sports. If he wants to get his money and end up on a really good team, sign and trades would happen, or maybe he would just stay in Toronto thinking that's a really good team. He's at over eighteen points per game this season thirty seven percent from three still over twenty four are still only twenty four excuse me. He does get tunnel vision a little bit on draws, but he also kind of has like a pull up game where he could take you just baseline and fade away and knock shot shots down off the dribble. And I think the age factor is a big thing here because you I don't know why Garret Turner feels like he's been in the league forever, but he's still only twenty four. That's super young, and so some comparisons to consider money wise, looking at the shooting guard ranks, and he's sort of a pure shooting guard. You can steal time with him at the three in certain matchups, and he's aggressive enough away from the wall or maybe that works, but he's more of you kind of look, I feel like those pure twos. And he's on page two. If he keeps this salary, which is eighteen point six million dollars, he would be the seventeenth highest paid salary as of now with that player option. Do you think he's better than the seventeenth best shooting guard in the league. Probably when you look at the names that or would be making more than him, Joe Harris and Buddy Healed, they're both making a little between nineteen and twenty million dollars next season, and that kind of feels like the bare minimum would I've been sort of wondering more is just like, is RJ. Barrett's extension sort of a good approximation for what GARYT. Tren Junior could get. There's look, this is a serious question. I know R J is supposed to have the higher ceiling. We've seen him take on traditionally tougher defensive assignments. Overall, not so much this year. Garret try Jerry has been better than r J Barrett this year. Gary Trent Jingor is the bettle basketball player right now. You might think RJ. Barrett has the higher on ball ceiling as a I guess rim attacker and facilitator, but like we have not seen that consistently enough this year. And so RJ signed a four year, one hundred and twenty million dollars deal. One seven million is guaranteed, and so like that is is Garry Kraker, You're gonna get four and one hundred. I just we're talking about like twenty five plus million a year. You know. RJ. Barrett's at twenty six point eight guarantee million a year. I had to guess I'm going to take man, maybe I'll be too conservative. I'll take the under if we're going to RJ Barrett money that he'll get less than four one oh seven. But I'm also kind of like not so sure I would feel comfortable paying him between twenty and twenty two lane because I do think he's better than a Joe Harris or a Buddy Healed, both of who I think Buddy Healed the better shooter, just the different ways that you can use him. But I would trust Gary turn Junior a little bit more off the dribble. He's gonna give you a little more rim pressure in the lane as well more on ball jet fuel there. But like, and I can't stress, he's only twenty four, and so it wouldn't shock me if just like a team came over the top here. Maybe it's even a you know, a contender who's just won't to pay him, but there's gonna be some sort of sign and trade with Toronto because they don't want to be the team that pays him. So I'm going to say he gets more than twenty million dollars a year, and I will be I don't know if I'll think the contract is a steal, but if he's not making more than Joe Harrison Buddy Heal next year, I'll be surprised. And like, the thing to remember about this is fifteen percent of the projecting salary cap next year is over twenty million dollars, and so like there are teams that will allocate fifteen percent of the salary cap to me, to Gary Trent Junior, and so I will take the over of twenty million dollars what's fair to me? I think I'd be willing to go like twenty two, twenty three and just a new cap climates he less than twenty percent of the cap, which is basically what you know RJ. Barrett is going to be taking up. I believe yeah, he's He's at almost exactly twenty percent of the cap, So less than twenty percent of the cap, but more than fifteen percent of the cap. How is that for an answer? At Joshua Hope everyone enjoyed this. I'll be back with the second half of this. We still have an other great questions to get to, but I'll be back to the second half of this mailbag on you'll listen to it on Wednesday, and you're listening to this on Tuesday. 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