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Hello everyone, and welcome to the
latest episode of Hardwood Knocks. This is

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Adam from We'll here with my fantastic
co host Dan Favalley. We're midway through,

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well, I guess potentially midway through
the twenty one NBA Finals between the

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Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. But
we've already done a number of mailbags and

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covered that pretty extensively to this point, so we're kind of shifting gears and

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moving into off season mode a bit. We want to talk about fake trades,

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both how we generate them, the
potential pitfalls, the tools that are

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used, what to look for,
what to avoid, and then, of

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course, because he's Dan, Dan
has some fake trades for us. But

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before we jump in any of that, how's it going, Dan? I

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am doing well, and as you
know, I love talking fake trades unlike

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you, and I've gotten better at
recognizing the human element of it. I

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will preface any single trade article or
podcast I write saying we are hypothetically relocating

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people's lives and family, so I
don't necessarily take it lightly. But trades

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are part of the business, and
I do think they're an interesting part as

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much as you loathe them. But
how are you doing. You are back

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from a vacation. I'm sure our
listeners were like, WTF, where's Adam

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the past ten days? You're You're
back though, How is your vacation or

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you refreshed? It's great? I
was. I was all over the state

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of Washington, as north as you
can get in the state without going to

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the islands. I went to the
Olympic Peninsula for a little bit. I

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saw my wife's family, took a
week off work. I'm relaxed and recharged,

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so it was great to get away. Did you actually did you unplug

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from work? Though? That's the
key I recommend. Ever, can you

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did you actually unplug unplugged? I
did not bring my work computer. I

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did not check in. I still
did the NBA math updates because I can't

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help myself and because I want to
serve you the listeners, even if I

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didn't record with Dan while I was
gone. Yeah, I heard you were

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working on some MLB math stuff on
your flight too from you. That my

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source is but I found that after
your sources reliable. I do love that

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flight was great though. The flight
was great because my wife, my two

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and a half year old son,
and I all flew back together, and

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we with like an hour to go
until boarding. We were told that we'd

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all been upgraded to first class,
which sounds great until we looked at the

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seat numbers and my wife was in
row four, my son was in row

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five, and I was in rows
seven. We were like, well,

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this sounds great, like for us, it sounds great. For the people

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who are going to be next to
a toddler without his parents, that sounds

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miserable. So we went to the
gate attendant and they got my wife and

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my son to sit together, and
we're like, we can't get all three

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of you together. And I was
like, oh no, that sucks.

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And then I enjoyed sitting by myself
on the plane and it was one of

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the best parts of the vacation.
I really felt for you when you told

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me that you were going to be
sitting without child. And it got even

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better too, because the flight was
entirely full except for one seat and it

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was right next to me. I
had no one on the row with me.

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It was so great. You did
something larmically. You were rewarded.

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I don't know what it was.
It wasn't providing good basketball takes, because

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that was a terrible they've been terrible. I'm glad you were able to unplug,

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though I love telling other people to
unplug and just being the biggest hypocrite

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of all. But we need to
we need to start a self care segment.

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What have you done to self care
for yourself lately? Listeners? Let

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us know self care is important.
So we're talking about fake trades though,

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So what do you have for me
here? You have questions about the process.

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Do I do it just to troll
fan bases and get them mad at

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me and purposely drop fake trades and
be terrible at my job? That should

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fire me After every single trade piece
that I write. I think so often

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we see on Twitter that the fake
trades that get noticed are the ones that

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are just terrible. It's usually like
the Los Angeles Lakers fans who have decided

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that their role players have immense value
and they're going to land yet another star.

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And it's not just the Lakers,
it's every fan base. They're all

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guilty of it. But you know, I've I never really loved doing those

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I get why people enjoy reading them
and all that, but I know that

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you have a different perspective and it
shows I've always thought that, and I'm

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biased here, but I always thought
that you were absolutely in the top tier

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for generating compelling, reasonable fake trades. And they're always met with comments and

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backlash because that's just the nature of
the business, but to anyone who really

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dives in, it's beyond clear,
like how much time and effort you put

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into generating those. And I thought
it could be a good exercise leading into

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the offseason where a lot of people
listening to this are sure to go play

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with the trade machines and try to
figure out what they can do to improve

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their teams. To just kind of
talk through how you initially come up with

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the ideas first, and then we
can kind of dive into the more granular

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details about how pick swaps and pick
protections and what you do to balance it

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and make sure that you're accounting for
everything just what goes into that process.

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Yeah, what I'm initially doing them. A lot of times there's the initiation

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of so and so is tied to
a specific rumor or a specific team,

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and so you atomatically look that way. But if you're just generally trying to

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come up with offseason trade ideas,
my goal specifically is to either put a

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unique spin on the rumor mill that's
already out there, or just come up

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with stuff all my own that hasn't
been written about or talked about extensively,

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Maybe finding a good destination that hasn't
been talked about for a player that's already

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on the market, and then trying
to make it as equitable for both sides

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as possible. And I think a
lot of and I've written this way too,

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where it's I'm proposing a team a
trade from Team Ex's perspective to team

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why that can happen, But like, that's not how I try and write

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the trades. I want to know, Okay, well, what's team why

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is most likely response going to this
going to be? And I'm a big

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fan of pulling other people. I
have confidence that I just trust, like

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fellow writers in the business that I'll
pull if they're league wide. I'll talk

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to people who cover the team that
have or have a vested interest in the

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outcome of the trade to see if
I'm completely off or if someone wrote specifically

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about a certain player in his market. So I will pull tons of people.

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I'm pretty much every deal that I
write about, and that's how I

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come up with my framework, because
there's a lot of back and forth there.

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You've been the people on the other
side of the trade talks that I'm

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having, and I will ask,
you know, who says no to this,

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or is this fair for both sides? Sometimes they'll you'll have to ditch

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framework completely, or sometimes it'll be
a tweak here or tweak there. It's

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talking about and we'll get into this. But like I'll go as granular and

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like commentors don't appreciate this a lot. They say, like, this person

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just wants us to know that he
understands how pick swaps and pick protections work,

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and it's not that it's I will
go down to those details because I

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want people to digest the trade with
as open mind as possible. And that's

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the level of thought I'm putting into
these And I think, save for characters

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who are paid to be characters,
no one, I would argue is writing

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these trade proposals with the intention of
being bad. And the reaction makes it.

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You know, I enjoy writing about
fake trades, I hate the reaction

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to them. And I'm you know, bleacher report your former employer and my

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current employer. They do push you
to interact with commentss. I do think

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it's important to interact with your readership, But everyone just wants you to be

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fired after you're writing them because they
think that it's you're doing this lazily,

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or they don't agree with it,
or they don't know who a certain player

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is, and that can vary.
Someone was mad at me because they're like,

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why would anyone ever give up a
first round pick for Jonathan Isaac?

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Who is that? So there's like
different levels to them. But I try

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to take into the account like this
might be the wrong way to approach it.

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How do I make people at the
least amount of angry as possible.

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I'm when I'm doing these trade proposals, and I think that does help comp

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with more balance takes. But it's
I do exhaust myself and that's not a

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brag, Like I will overthink these
where a lot of people probably think they're

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easy pieces to write about and they
are fun, I will overthink them hours

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shifts worth of work. I'll be
in the middle of a workout and be

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thinking about a trade idea I just
wrote about. I'm like scrap it later

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on because I'm like, you know
what, this doesn't make sense for shar

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or something I've always felt and the
backlash is inevitable when you're talking about these

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trades, just because that's the nature
of that territory. But I always felt

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that you truly succeed when you craft
a fake trade proposal if both sides criticize

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it. And it's the same way
if you're like ranking a player, you

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know, like player X, we're
putting him at number eight. Oh that's

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way too high. Oh that's way
too low. Well then I'm probably just

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about right. So I think that
always led me to really try to approach

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it from both teams perspectives, and
I think that's the biggest pitfall that you

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see with a lot of the ones
that circulate on Twitter. I don't think

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that people who are working at,
you know, the big publications and the

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big websites are trying to put together
fake trades just for the sake of ginning

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up controversy. But I do think
that as a fan, where you're not

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necessarily operating from a true league wide
perspective, that it's easy to forget that

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you shouldn't just think about the value
of the players and the assets included in

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a vacuum, but you have to
consider the team situations as well, Like

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if you're sending a point guard to
a team with an overload of initiators,

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that's not going to be as valuable
to them, even if on paper,

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devoid of team situation, it looks
like an even swap. So when you're

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when you're crafting these, are you
just looking at depth charts? Are you

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looking at contract situations? What goes
into that part of the process. I

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think I start with the cap sheets
because you want to see is team X

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in the cap? Do they have
contracts that can match easily? If we're

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doing offseason trades, cap space can
be a big part of that as well.

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And that's, by the way,
that's an asset. If you don't

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have to take money back, that
is part of the asset. The other

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maybe less of an asset. It's
less of an asset, yes, But

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I'm just saying if you're getting off
a fat deal or a longer term deal

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without it, that's part of the
that's part of the appeal there. I

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will look at depth arts. You
don't want to have over I mean,

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look, there's you don't want to
send right now a big to Cleveland if

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they're keeping Jared Allen, Kevin love
is still there. You have Larry Nance,

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and I think technically could wind up
with Evan Mobley at number three,

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So like that's something that would have
to be in consideration. That being said,

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when you're it also depends on the
team's timeline, where if there's a

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team that's not as interested in competing, now, I'm not going to care

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as much about the depth chart fit. It's okay, what level of asset

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is coming back. And so if
you're trading, let's say a guard to

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Oklahoma City right now, they don't
need another guard. But I would urge

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people, and I know Twitter when
they provide screenshots, some of which are

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for my articles. I've had my
articles aggregated, which I pity anyone whose

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job it would be to aggregate me
of all people, Like, that's just

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a terrible existence. So you're not
going to see or read the justification or

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the reasoning behind it. I would
urge people to actually look at the reasoning

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because it might just be a matter
of, Oh, I get why they

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would take this player because they're getting
this compensation, but I disagree with how

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much they would need more compensation.
And so the other thing that I'm big

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with is what would be the response
from Team Mex's fan base, because I

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want to make sure that I'm not
angering them as much as possible. But

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the other pitfall here, and this
is not a shot at people that root

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for or cover one team. My
knowledge on you know, Sacramentos on Sacramentos,

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you know, fourth straight, like
Robert Woodard is just not going to

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be what it is for people who
write about the Kings. At the same

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time, if you're specifically covering the
Kings, my job as a national writer

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would be I have to have a
better hold of league wide value of players

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than you would. And so you
see these trades. This is not Kings

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specifically. That was just a team
that came to mind for no apparent reason.

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I have no idea why came.
And Robert Woodard is great and going

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to be a future rotation players,
so let's find a better example two way

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wing. But like you're he's not
going to be the centerpiece of a Damian

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Lillard trade, and why not.
I think the disconnect exists when fans or

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even people who cover one team look
at it just from their team's perspective.

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Oh, that's too much for us
to give up, and then they'll counterpropose,

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and I've looked at comments, I've
gotten feedback on articles from people that

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I trust, and I'll take it
into consideration. A lot of it I

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take into account, like, yeah, you know what, maybe I had

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the Warriors give up too much for
zach Lavine. But I've also not taken

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into account the feedback because I'm like, well, that's just not going to

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happen, because I'm not saying that
the Bulls have to trade zach Lavine at

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all, or do the Warriors,
nor do the Warriors have to be the

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team that acquires him. But if
this is the trade I'm going to write

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about because I like the fit,
like this is going to be the price

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point set because I think the Bulls
need this and I think the Warriors are

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allowed or should be comfortable with giving
up this much. And that's also the

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genesis of a lot of trades,
is I'm not always reacting to the rumor

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mill per se when it comes to
specifically available players or even specific destinations that

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are linked to I'm looking at And
this I guess goes back to depth charts,

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but like fits is, like,
you know, if you were talking

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about a Damian Lillard trade, I
want one hundred yet one hundred percent understand

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people are going to be like,
well, he's gonna go to the Knicks,

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or maybe the Warriors will get involved. But it's kind of fun to

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think about. Well, Baby and
Lillard in New Orleans makes a lot of

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sense. And so if you want
to come up with the perspective package for

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that. That's not a novel concept, by the way it's been discussed,

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but that's just an example of where
a genesis of a certain trade might come

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from. When I was officially trying
to come up with the fake trade proposals,

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it was never my goal and I'm
curious if your approach differs from mine

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here, but it was never my
goal to predict what was actually going to

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happen. It's more of an exercise
to showcase the value of those primary assets,

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to highlight team needs and how they
could go about improving those needs or

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getting rid of a surplus of talent
at a certain position, or whatever the

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case may be. And that's why
I think your point about responding to that

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reader feedback when it's constructive is the
most salient one, because these trades aren't

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supposed to be perfect. If they
were perfect, they'd happen in real life,

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and typically they don't because we do
learn from them, and we do

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consider new pieces of information that might
not have been considered at the start because

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you're so focused on so many different
elements of constructing these in a way that's

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legal and compelling and makes sense and
it actually improves both teams. But because

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these aren't supposed to be entirely predictive, I think that it allows for more

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of that. Yeah, I'm there's
if you're covering a specific player where you're

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trying to come up with as many
trade packages as possible. For Ben Simmons,

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yeah, you want to tackle the
realistic destinations, the ones that have

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been linked. But I would just
go back to like fit or you know,

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there have been trades that I haven't
published out of fear for what the

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reaction will because the player has not
been talked about as a trade prospect.

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We need an example now, Well, so I'll use one that I actually

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did write about, and I think
I received the least critical feedback of anyone

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who wrote about a Shy Guilt Just
Alexander trade. I understand he's not available,

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We've both said on this podcast while
talking about his trade value that Oklahoma

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Station not trade him, but I
don't would have to help the exact framework.

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But it was og and number four
for Shay Gilges Alexander and I think

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number sixteen or whatever it was.
And you know, I didn't get I

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had some people were mad in the
comments, but like it didn't go on

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Twitter and get people big mad.
I won't promote most of my trade packages

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either on Twitter because the bleacher reports
app luckily for us. For me,

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you don't work anymore. Is a
machine. So like I'm in a position

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where I don't have to do those
and they'll do their its own level of

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engagement. I really don't want to
make people mad. I'm not trying to

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hide from my trade proposals, but
I don't go out of my way to

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throw them out there. And but
yeah, I'm not trying to predict what

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that and the look that's a no
win proposition, predictions before the season about

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things like a player performance stats,
teams who finish where, But like,

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we're not news breakers, we don't
have that insight. Anything I hear is

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like and that's not saying I hear
a lot, Like there are things I

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heard because I am friends with writers
who've heard stuff or heard stuff from other

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people who told them. They tell
you things that are going on. I

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would never one relay it, and
two I would never write about it because

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there's no value in it. The
chances that you're right are slim, and

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if you are right, no one's
gonna remember. I don't think people are

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gonna pat me on the back for
predicting the Phoenix Suns to win the title

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before the postseason ever started, so
like that is a different type of ledge

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to step out on, but I'm
not. There's no to me, there's

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no real reward unless you're a woad
and you're breaking the trade itself. There's

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no real reward in predicting the exact
destination. I think I wrote about a

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trade to get Pja Tucker to Milwaukee, and the framework was basically identical to

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what it ended up being. They
just had that creative pick swat where they

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swapped their first rounder for Houston's second
rounder, and that's not I don't think

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that Milwaukee's trying office read my article, but I people said that that's not

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enough to get But people said that's
not enough to get PJ Tucker, and

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it ended up the framework basically was
No one was like, oh, you

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called it, and I'm not going
to take a victory lap for it.

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So I would never be in the
business of predicting it, nor do I

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set out that way to do it. Not When it comes to trades anyway,

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Yeah, they're mostly for informative purposes
and a little bit entertainment as well,

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because that's the business. I think
one thing I always appreciated about writing

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the trade proposals for Bleacher Report,
and you know, I know this applies

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to you now, is that I
was and you are encouraged to write about

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each piece within the trade structure.
Now, there's no such thing as an

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irrelevant throw in, even if it's
just having a fourth string or listed for

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salary matching purposes. That player is
included for a reason. And I think

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that that is often lost when people
are scanning through an article that might have

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ten or a dozen trade proposals,
where like, yes, every piece of

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this was crafted for a reason.
It wasn't just drawn out of a hat

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like our you know, our player
rankings totally drawn out of a hat,

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but the trades definitely not right.
So, and that comes back to I

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do think it's important to read you
also have to understand that, and that's

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I do think. I will say
it forces I'm sure you and me to

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critically think about trades more, knowing
people are either going to scroll past it

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and only look at the framework,
So you want to make it as equitable

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and appealing as possible just to that
initial glimpse, because some people aren't going

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to read. And I don't know
how much my justifications are going to sway

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people that are against it from reading
the framework, but you do try and

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be specific, and I know what
I specifically do Appleacher Report and just overall

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exists to feed the machine. I'm
not under any illusion that I am writing

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content that is changing the world and
it interests me. I will never write

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something that I fundamentally don't want to
or don't agree with, or don't think

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you should be written. And that's
a luxury I'm sure other people don't have.

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But I am going to try and
provide a level of depth and detail

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and voice that makes it distinguishable and
what I think better than cookie cutter,

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regardless of the concept. And so
that's how I approach it, is how

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do you get initially what does this
look like without context? But then to

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provide that context for the people who
actually read so that they can understand where

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I'm coming from, because I don't
want to be constantly not only getting yelled

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at, but I don't want to
have to, you know, I don't

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want to be wrong all the time. And I want people, if they're

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going to tell me I'm wrong,
like, come and tell me like,

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oh, you wrote this, but
it's just not true, Like that's that

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fit is just not going to work. And I think it allows for if

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you read it, a more thorough
or more valuable conversation to both parties of

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it. And I think if you
actually read what I write, whether you

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agree with it or not, you
can at least tell the thought I've put

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into it. And it was the
same thing with you when I would read

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your articles, or if you would, you know, you would send me

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stuff that you wrote before you submitted, be like does this make sense?

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And it's not always about trades.
Even if I didn't agree with like the

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like the title that you came up
with or the conclusion that you were setting

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up, I would read you and
be like, all right, I get

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where he's coming from. And some
a lot of the times, because you're

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such auld right, it would sway
me. So that's where that's where I

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land there. I just don't think
you mentioned a player rankings at the top

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of this question too. That trades
maybe anything in particular like it just doesn't

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lend itself to people doing that anymore. And that's I want to be clear.

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It's not just the reader the audience's
fault. That's why I said it's

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important that you try and come up
with the best package where even a pursory

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00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,279
glance will make it people can at
least understand the reasoning. It shouldn't be

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something that's so far fetched that people
look at it and no amount of reading

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or justification that you provide, no
context you deliver, will help your case.

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What is the biggest piece of advice
that you have for people who are

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listening to this and are inevitably going
to generate fake trade proposals of their own

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during the offseason. My answer,
just to give you a second to think

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about it, since you didn't know
that question was coming, would be to

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remember that you are interpreting the value
of a player or asset included from both

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perspectives. I think that it's it's
important to remember that you know let's use

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Damian Lillard as an example. Portland
is going to be expecting a gigantic return

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from him. Not every team is
going to. Are you saying, like

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Kuzma and number twenty two? Or
will Portland have to send something to Los

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Angeles other than day They might need
to include like a future pick swap or

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something. But you know Portland,
Portland wants a big return, but not

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00:21:23,519 --> 00:21:27,039
every team is a going to be
capable or be you going to want to

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00:21:27,039 --> 00:21:33,160
give up a sizeable return because everyone
has differing levels of desire and need for

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00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,039
Damian Lillard. And this is a
top ten player in the league, top

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00:21:37,079 --> 00:21:38,519
fifteen player in the league, wherever
you want to put him. I don't

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00:21:38,519 --> 00:21:44,160
really want to make that a centerpiece
of this conversation. But no matter how

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00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,640
good he is, you know,
like the Atlanta Hawks with Trey Young who

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00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:52,000
is so ball dominant, are going
to value him very very differently than the

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00:21:52,039 --> 00:21:55,839
New York Knicks who need a player
like that. Yeah, and you have

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to start there, And so I
don't I'm not going to repeat anything you

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00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,079
said. I agree with one hundred
percent of it that I do think that's

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particularly valuable, Like if you're not
if you're writing about trades and not thinking

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00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,079
about it from that perspective, there's
no obvious problems. So if you're writing

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00:22:07,079 --> 00:22:11,319
it as a I'm just throwing it
random team out here, I'm trying to

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00:22:11,319 --> 00:22:14,640
throw out different teams. If you're
writing this as writing something as a Raptors

347
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,039
fan, like, try and consider
what that looks like from the wizard's perspective

348
00:22:18,559 --> 00:22:22,400
if you're trying to get Bradley Beal. I also think the other thing that's

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00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:27,160
important is like make sure that these
trades work. They have. ESPN's trade

350
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,839
machine is valuable. I don't know
how often it's updated, but there is

351
00:22:30,839 --> 00:22:34,799
the the NBA other trade machine out
there. I have my own spreadsheet of

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00:22:34,839 --> 00:22:41,039
salaries, nothing anywhere near like a
actual salary cap expert has, but that

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00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,079
I will. I don't even use
the trade machines anymore. I'm like calculating

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00:22:44,079 --> 00:22:47,200
it myself because you don't want to
throw out framework that one doesn't work.

355
00:22:47,279 --> 00:22:52,240
And I also think that Lucy Goosey
framework is kind of a cop out in

356
00:22:52,279 --> 00:22:56,319
certain instances like oh if we could
figure out a way to get Ben Simmons

357
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to you know, Denver, and
it's like you don't mention that, oh,

358
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they're probably gonna have to trade Jamal
Murray in that's an area. So

359
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,759
and then you're talking about or even
I've seen it with the Timberwolves would be

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00:23:07,799 --> 00:23:11,680
a great example. A subset of
Timberwolves fans, writers, bloggers. It

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00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,559
wasn't everyone, but when Ben Simmons
was linked and they were like, wow,

362
00:23:14,559 --> 00:23:18,839
imagine what De'angelo Russell, Karl Anthony
Towns, Ben Simmons, Anthony Edwards

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would look like together. And in
my head, I'm like, okay,

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00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,039
well, they didn't include Leek Beasley, but some of them included Jane McDaniels.

365
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,960
And you also need salary other than
Lee Beasley to go out, and

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De'angelo Russell will probably be one of
those salaries. If you're getting Ben Simmons,

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there's a chance of Philly might even
demand Anthy Edwards, in which case,

368
00:23:36,839 --> 00:23:37,400
if you're in Minnesota, you hang
up the phone. I want to

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00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,519
make that clear, but it doesn't
work like that. And it's even with

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the Knicks and Dame. There are
people that are This might be a bad

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example because I do think there's a
scenario, since RJ. Barrett's entering year

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00:23:49,599 --> 00:23:52,920
three that if I'm Portland I'd probably
prefer extra picks then I would RJ.

373
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Barrett. But like, you can't
just assume that you're gonna get Damian Lillard

374
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without giving up r J Barrett.
If your breaking point, you won't give

375
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,359
up r J Barrett for Damian Lillard, I understand. But that has to

376
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:07,839
be part of the conversations, not
just oh, imagine what Dame Quickly Randall,

377
00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:11,920
RJ Barrett, top in Mitchell Robinson
would look like all those players aren't

378
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,000
surviving those trade talks. And so
that comes back to the perspective that you

379
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,319
also said. But then I do
think you also want to make sure the

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00:24:18,759 --> 00:24:22,640
framework is feasible, and that comes
back to make sure that teams have these

381
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,559
picks to offer real GM catalogs them
exceptionally. Well, you can look at

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00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:33,279
commitments. Understand also, and this
goes into context, is like you can

383
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,559
technically trade consecutive first round picks.
It's just that you can't trade future consecutive

384
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:41,119
first round picks. And so,
like an example that I would use is

385
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,400
the Lakers. I think, oh, they're twenty twenty two first round pick

386
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,200
to New Orleans, and they can
still trade their twenty twenty one first round

387
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,960
pick number twenty two as an actual
salary thirty days after they sign him.

388
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,799
It'll happen after the draft. It
could be agreed upon before the draft.

389
00:24:57,839 --> 00:25:00,640
During the draft. They can make
that selection on New Orleans' behalf. They

390
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,640
did that with on their next team's
behalf. They did it with DeAndre Hunter

391
00:25:04,839 --> 00:25:11,319
essentially, like that pick was made
on the Pelicans behalf before the Anthony Davis

392
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:15,279
trade, like was officially finalized.
I believe. So no stuff like that,

393
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,839
and I'm something my words there because
I don't actually know if that was

394
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,319
the scenario with Anthony Davis. That
feels like a half decade ago. But

395
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,880
my point stands where the Lakers can
trade the Nets can trade their first round

396
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,400
pick this year after the draft,
after they made this selection because it's no

397
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,839
longer a future and pay attention to
second round picks, like a lot of

398
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,519
teams have traded all of the second
round picks away and so you have to

399
00:25:33,519 --> 00:25:37,640
go pretty far out into the distance
too for them to convey those, and

400
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:41,960
like just stuff little things like that
I think can help separate them. I'm

401
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,119
not pretending to be a fake trade
savant in that regard, but I do

402
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,440
think being accurate there and even coming
up with the details like, oh,

403
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,799
a pick swap, which is not
the same as a first round pick.

404
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,640
That was the other thing that it
seems that commenters or people who've read my

405
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,880
stuff don't like, why would you
know, why would Dallas give up two

406
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,960
first round picks to get off of
Dwight Powell and Christops Porzingi's contract, And

407
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,279
it's like they didn't give up any
first round picks. It was two first

408
00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:11,119
round swaps. I ultimately decided that
was too rich of a price for them

409
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:15,920
to pay. But you know,
try and understand and implement things like those,

410
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,599
I do believe is important. I'm
sure I even still make mistakes,

411
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,799
but at least if you're seeing like
you know and write about those things,

412
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,920
if you think that, you know, sending out if the Clippers sending out

413
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,200
one of Detroit's second round picks has
actual value. Because people write off second

414
00:26:30,279 --> 00:26:33,880
round picks so much. Explain why, Yeah, Detroit's getting Kaid Cunningham,

415
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,319
but they're twenty twenty four second round
pick. There's a chance that it still

416
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,759
might be semi good where it's in
the thirties or the early forties. The

417
00:26:40,759 --> 00:26:41,759
hope is that it's not, but
they're a team that you look at and

418
00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:45,279
go, oh, that second round
pick could be early, or a team

419
00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:48,920
like Washington where you don't know what's
going to happen with Beal. I think

420
00:26:48,799 --> 00:26:52,960
do the Bulls or own some of
their like future first I can't remember,

421
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,319
maybe it's even the Clippers that own
it. But if you own some of

422
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:57,279
Washington's future first round picks, second
round picks, excuse me, that are

423
00:26:57,279 --> 00:27:03,000
imminent, those can have value.
Just just write about why. With respect

424
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,720
to the legality of trades too,
I would just recommend that everybody check out

425
00:27:06,759 --> 00:27:11,960
cbafaq dot com. It's a resource
that Larry Kuhn, who literally teaches classes

426
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,440
about the salary cap and the Collective
Bargaining Agreement, has put together one hundred

427
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:21,240
twenty seven hyperlinked table of content portions. Frequently ask questions. If you have

428
00:27:21,279 --> 00:27:26,039
a question about the CBA, whether
it's the Steppian rule or when you can

429
00:27:26,079 --> 00:27:30,480
trade picks, or the Lautery tax
scale, or whatever the case may be,

430
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,920
the answer is going to be in
there, and it is important to

431
00:27:33,039 --> 00:27:37,799
understand the nuances of those pieces if
you're constructing trades that are both compelling and

432
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,400
legal. Yeah, and he's great
and I think like a big one about

433
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,480
like the salary matching too, is
where he has the it's a convenient table

434
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,839
set up and then he goes into
detail like I do think some people just

435
00:27:48,839 --> 00:27:52,039
assume that it's always one hundred and
twenty five percent of the outgoing salary can

436
00:27:52,079 --> 00:27:55,599
be taken inbound, and it's like, no, you get to a certain

437
00:27:55,599 --> 00:27:57,000
amount plus one hundred thousand dollars,
do you know that, Yes, you

438
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,359
get to a certain point where the
salary level that's all you can say back.

439
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,039
But across the board, that's only
true for the tax paying teams where

440
00:28:04,079 --> 00:28:07,000
it's you know, certain teams,
And I'm not going to go to the

441
00:28:07,079 --> 00:28:08,359
nitty gritty on the numbers here because
I don't think that relays too well in

442
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,759
podcast for him. But it's like
some of them, if it's low enough,

443
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:14,720
they can take back up to just
five million more or it's one hundred

444
00:28:14,759 --> 00:28:18,720
and seventy five percent of the outgoing
salary. So stuff like that can be

445
00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:22,359
valuable when you're built because if you
forget that, like if five million dollars

446
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,559
ends up being more than one hundred
and twenty five percent of the salary,

447
00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:27,359
and if the salaries are low enough, then yeah, it's it's going to

448
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:33,759
be a useful asset that can be
part of your justification behind the trade because

449
00:28:33,759 --> 00:28:36,319
you're saving another team money. I
think, like you mentioned at the top,

450
00:28:37,319 --> 00:28:40,039
that's not going to be the primary
asset. I guess in some cases

451
00:28:40,079 --> 00:28:44,599
it could be where if you just
send Yeah, if the Spurs, let's

452
00:28:44,599 --> 00:28:47,640
just say the Pacers want to avoid
the tax this season and they want to

453
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,279
keep keeaching McConnell and Doug McDermott.
They can't do both. That would be

454
00:28:51,319 --> 00:28:53,359
my projection, at least with what
McConnell McDermot. They could send Jeremy Lamb

455
00:28:53,359 --> 00:28:57,039
into san Antonio's cap space for a
fake second or whatever. Like that's something

456
00:28:57,119 --> 00:29:00,680
that could happen. And the asset
is san Antonio is providing you with they're

457
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,880
releasing out flexibility. Essentially, they're
giving you flexibility, but it's not it's

458
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,960
it's like a it's like a I
don't want to say it's to throw in,

459
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,559
but it can be part of the
discussion you're having about the fake trade,

460
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:12,880
right, Do you have anything to
add on the topic before we move

461
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,559
to some actual fake trades? No, I don't think so. I just

462
00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,720
hope that you can find a time
where maybe you enjoy them a little bit

463
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,160
more again, or hopefully at least
enjoy hearing me me vamp about them always.

464
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,920
I feel like this. These are
the episodes where I just like,

465
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,880
sit back, take a little nap, you know. I typically do that

466
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,079
when we get to segments about Frankie
Smokes, because I know that long monologues

467
00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:40,200
are coming. Just get a couple
of z's in then. But these episodes

468
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:41,920
are usually pretty good for that too. Oh, I guess the last piece

469
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,960
of trade advice would we pay attention
to who's a free agent? Because you

470
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,880
can't just trade them. There's a
sign and trade which you can you can

471
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:55,000
obviously propose, but understand that you're
working with three parties there, the incumbent

472
00:29:55,039 --> 00:29:57,680
team, the player, and what
would be his new team. That's just

473
00:29:59,119 --> 00:30:03,559
and again they're people who I think
are I'll just a lot better at this

474
00:30:03,559 --> 00:30:07,519
than I am. You know,
nikaias Duncan is just absolutely fantastic at this.

475
00:30:07,519 --> 00:30:11,160
The level of detail he puts into
discussing the trade packages he comes up

476
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,720
with is great, and everyone knows
he's a fantastic ex As and Nose writers

477
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,519
Brian to pork Over at four Sports
and the NBA podcast does a great job

478
00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:22,960
of doing this. So I don't
think that I'm an expert on these.

479
00:30:23,079 --> 00:30:27,200
I just I know that I'm doing
them. And this is if anyone I

480
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,599
think you're an expert on these,
well that's all that counts. I appreciate

481
00:30:30,599 --> 00:30:33,920
your low bar for respect, but
if anyone is happening to hate, listen

482
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:38,559
to us right now. I'm just
hoping that you understand where I am coming

483
00:30:38,599 --> 00:30:44,799
from because my soft, fragile shell
of an ego cannot take all the all

484
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:48,359
the lampooning. I just want everyone
to like me, or at least not

485
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,359
hate me as much as you did
thirty one minutes ago. It's true.

486
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:53,559
You should just see the text message
history that I have with Dan. It's

487
00:30:53,559 --> 00:30:57,599
basically just him like sending me one
screenshot of hate comments after another, just

488
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:02,559
like you after because don't want you
to be mad that I'm texting you.

489
00:31:02,559 --> 00:31:03,799
You'd think, after a decade in
the business, that he'd have like,

490
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,720
at least partially thick skin. It's
still like pretty translucent. It is pretty

491
00:31:08,759 --> 00:31:12,400
translucent. I will say what sucks
about and there are people who get it

492
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,160
worse. They have bigger platforms than
I do. They are also people of

493
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,119
color females. They get it way
worse than I do. Some of the

494
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,759
comments will still stick with me after
all these years. Isn't that kind of

495
00:31:21,799 --> 00:31:25,000
incredible that that can happen. I
will say, I have like it's not

496
00:31:25,079 --> 00:31:29,079
teflon, but I definitely let stuff
bounce off me or I won't respond like

497
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,480
I used to. But it's funny
that after all this time, some of

498
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,599
the ship will still hit really totally
get that, I mean we I have

499
00:31:37,599 --> 00:31:41,839
a number of friends who still like
cite hate messages that I've gotten and shared,

500
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:48,319
like the hashtag saw off Adam Framwell's
neck that has stuck with me.

501
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,200
I was once called a fruity anorexic
panda bear, which is just some vivid

502
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,480
imagery that I'll never forget. And
every fourth of July I get reminded with

503
00:31:56,519 --> 00:32:01,319
my Facebook memories of all the Kobe
Bryant related hate tweets that I got,

504
00:32:01,759 --> 00:32:07,480
and those those were aggressive. I
remember if somebody wanted me to choke on

505
00:32:07,519 --> 00:32:12,480
either a hotdog or a hamburger,
just like drastically underestimating my appetite. Another

506
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:15,240
person wanted me to get hit by
a bus and tear my Achilles and I'm

507
00:32:15,319 --> 00:32:21,559
unprofanity ing these. Yeah, if
you're write about Kobe or Derek Rose,

508
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,000
those are ones that get bad and
then they'll they'll seek you out, like

509
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,319
not in the comment sets of the
article, but and not just Twitter.

510
00:32:28,599 --> 00:32:30,759
I don't use my Instagram. I
don't really use it period, but like

511
00:32:30,799 --> 00:32:35,119
I use it for like fitness stuff. I want to be fitness junkie over

512
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,519
here. So I've had comments about
that on articles from those so they find

513
00:32:38,519 --> 00:32:43,599
you there. What's funny is that
you always get like one or two people

514
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,759
who are like I found them.
This is their handles, like no shit,

515
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:52,519
like it was linked in the article
congratulations on your detective work, Sherlock

516
00:32:52,559 --> 00:32:57,759
Holmes. I will say there are
one really quickly. I'll appreciate the ones

517
00:32:57,799 --> 00:33:01,119
that are super specific and like,
like someone once told me that I looked

518
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:06,440
like I'm not I'm actually not going
to censor this, but it looked like

519
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:12,160
Frankie Moonez fucked Bert and then got
a job as a waiter at Sonic in

520
00:33:12,319 --> 00:33:16,279
roller Skates who only worked Tuesday through
Thursday or something like that. It was

521
00:33:16,359 --> 00:33:20,680
so specific, but that was the
gist. I was like, I respect

522
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:22,160
that, and I liked the comment
because you can hit the final like.

523
00:33:22,799 --> 00:33:27,119
The only inaccurate part I think is
like the Tuesday through Thursday, Like you're

524
00:33:27,119 --> 00:33:30,400
definitely a Monday through Wednesday guy.
Yeah that was. And look, I'm

525
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,759
not wearing roller skates. I'm wearing
roller blades. So that's the other thing

526
00:33:34,839 --> 00:33:37,119
is I used to I'll make people
feel uncomfortable when I can, and I

527
00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:42,599
don't mean to be too tm I
here, But there was once someone tweeted

528
00:33:42,599 --> 00:33:45,920
at me, I hope your mom
gets cancer and dies. So I remember

529
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:50,319
this one my mom. I was. I was so mad on your behalf

530
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:52,000
that day. I think, first
of all, you're the I can't get

531
00:33:52,039 --> 00:33:55,359
I'll get hurt by stuff. I
can't get mad at stuff that I should

532
00:33:55,359 --> 00:33:58,880
be mad. So sometimes I will
tell you those just so I know that

533
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,200
someone will be mad on my behalf. But if this isn't funny and I

534
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,519
don't need to pay his tragic But
like my mom died of cancer when like

535
00:34:06,599 --> 00:34:10,199
just after I turned seventeen, and
so I quote tweeted and I put the

536
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,239
screenshot on Facebook. I was super
young at the time, and I remember

537
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,920
my family members like comment. It
has like like one like on Facebook after

538
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,280
all these years becau people probably thought
it was so morbid. I was,

539
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,519
like, my mom did get cancer
and died just after I turned seventeen.

540
00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:25,840
And in case you want to focus
on another family member, my dad left

541
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,880
right around my fifth birthday. I
never saw him again, and he died

542
00:34:30,079 --> 00:34:34,239
just after I turned eighteen. So
I tried to make it uncomfortable like that,

543
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,559
but then I sort of realized that
that air is like a level of

544
00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:38,360
your own I don't want to say
dirty laundry, but personal life that I

545
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,440
don't necessarily like discussing. But that
is one route that I've taken. I'll

546
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,800
make people super uncomfortable by relating like
that actually happened to me or I have

547
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,000
found And I know I don't have
the stomach for this all the time,

548
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,159
and I understand why people wouldn't if
you actually kill them with kindness or try

549
00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:59,320
to have a discussion. I've gotten
a lot of apologies too, Like not

550
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:05,000
everyone the Internet who's trolling is unequivocally
a jackass. I don't. It's amazing

551
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,639
how quickly they can realize that there's
a human being on the other end.

552
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,760
And look, without these people,
we wouldn't have jobs or an industry,

553
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,519
because there I do find myself thinking, why are people so impassionate about this?

554
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,360
I will never get so mad at
a fake trade idea. But that

555
00:35:19,519 --> 00:35:24,559
reaction, whether it's too incendiary or
not, is part of why sports is

556
00:35:24,599 --> 00:35:28,199
so popular. I still think people
can tone it down and we can have

557
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:30,440
constructive conversations when we disagree, I
think. I think the other thing,

558
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:35,679
too, is that it's just easier
for people to send negative responses than positive

559
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:37,880
responses. And part of that is
societal where we're just a little, in

560
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:43,360
my opinion, too hesitant to give
compliments when they're deserved. But it's it's,

561
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,880
you know, the person yelling fire
in a crowded movie theater. You

562
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,920
know, if there are two hundred
people in the theater and only one person

563
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,559
is yelling, which one are you
going to notice? You know, how

564
00:35:52,599 --> 00:35:58,119
many of your articles have gotten one
hundred thousand reads and twelve nasty comments?

565
00:35:58,119 --> 00:36:00,400
Like if you look at the percentages
there, it's pretty low percentage, but

566
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,960
they still stand out because of this
vociferousness, because of the negativity, And

567
00:36:06,039 --> 00:36:08,760
I get it, Like I remember
when I first started writing, it was

568
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:15,639
with Bleacher Reports internship program all the
way back in twenty ten and part of

569
00:36:15,679 --> 00:36:19,440
the responsibilities in that internship, on
every single article, we were required to

570
00:36:19,519 --> 00:36:22,519
leave at least ten comments, you
know, whether they were just promoting conversation

571
00:36:22,599 --> 00:36:30,000
or responding to people. And it
killed me if one person had even the

572
00:36:30,079 --> 00:36:35,119
smallest level of criticism, it was
like, oh it was it was always

573
00:36:35,159 --> 00:36:37,719
just a disaster, Like I put
so much effort into this and it's not

574
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:43,000
perfect to everyone. Whatever will I
do? And like that was a genuine

575
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:47,239
reaction, Like I lost sleepover thinking
that one person had a negative reaction to

576
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,239
something that I wrote. And I
think it's something you just kind of become

577
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,760
a bit inured to. I mean, I don't think you ever want to

578
00:36:53,800 --> 00:37:01,000
stop caring that people disliked something,
because even if it's irrational feedback, it

579
00:37:01,079 --> 00:37:05,920
is an opportunity for growth, is
an opportunity to improve your craft. But

580
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,440
I do think that you develop a
lot less sensitivity to it, right,

581
00:37:10,519 --> 00:37:14,920
And I do think that that's why
a lot of writers, though, don't

582
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,920
engage with their general audience. And
even myself, if I'm promoting articles on

583
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,639
Twitter, there will be some I
don't get it again, modest account,

584
00:37:23,639 --> 00:37:28,320
maybe small account I don't get like
always a ton of engagement. But I've

585
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:34,719
had articles that will be fairly somewhat
widely retweeted or liked. But the promotions

586
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,039
that don't mean that much is if
it's a writer, fellow writer that you

587
00:37:37,119 --> 00:37:40,000
respect, or person that you follow
that retweet your work, and at the

588
00:37:40,079 --> 00:37:45,880
end of the day, that necessarily
shouldn't matter. Like it's cool that I

589
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:47,559
don't want to drop any names because
I'm I'm sure there are just too many

590
00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:51,400
people I respect. But if you
know, if you're retweeting my article,

591
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,760
that means a lot to me,
and you're like the you know, at

592
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,800
this point you might feel obligated to
do it. But that's why it might

593
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,159
mean more to me than if random
person que just likes it or retweets it.

594
00:38:01,199 --> 00:38:05,320
But technically they mean more because you're
not you typically want to avoid the

595
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:10,039
cues, right, all right,
it's a random person is like they're who

596
00:38:10,039 --> 00:38:15,960
I'm writing for actually though, like
you're not You're not my you shouldn't be

597
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,280
my target audience, Like I'm not
writing just for the people who write or

598
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,079
my colleagues or peers, right or
people who I consider peers. They might

599
00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:23,679
not consider me a peer. You're
supposed to be writing for the audience.

600
00:38:23,679 --> 00:38:29,039
But I do think the negativity that's
attached to this in general. But to

601
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:31,599
loop this back to trade ideas,
the trade idea discussion, or definitely player

602
00:38:31,679 --> 00:38:37,239
ranking specifically, it definitely factors into
why people value with that way. And

603
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,239
I do think, look, there
are sometimes rankings are presented without or trades

604
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:45,039
without context. That is one percent. I think what people need to remember,

605
00:38:45,039 --> 00:38:49,599
like, that's not a writer decision. That's if someone's coming up with

606
00:38:49,639 --> 00:38:52,199
the trade, they want to write
about it, trust me, That's all

607
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:55,079
I'll say on it. It's not
their choice, and you should not get

608
00:38:55,119 --> 00:38:58,639
pissed off at them. You can
get met about the idea, but maybe

609
00:38:58,639 --> 00:39:00,599
try and have a discussion with them
first. It's the same thing with rankings.

610
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:05,400
I one thousand percent know that if
they're only given fifty words to justify

611
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,639
why player acts as ranked as the
twelfth best player overall, they probably wanted

612
00:39:08,679 --> 00:39:16,119
at least ten times as many at
least at least all right, so to

613
00:39:16,159 --> 00:39:19,800
get to some specific deals, which
is why these will be just a weird,

614
00:39:20,119 --> 00:39:22,920
weird episode here. I've enjoyed it. I hope people listen to this

615
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,519
and don't just skip ahead to the
time stamps of the fake trades. We'll

616
00:39:25,519 --> 00:39:30,800
try and go through some here.
I have trades for every single team.

617
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:32,559
So are there teams that you want
to hear trades for? Or is there

618
00:39:32,559 --> 00:39:37,159
a player that you want to hear
a trade for. Let's let's just host

619
00:39:37,199 --> 00:39:42,039
with Let's start with the big names. I think you know everyone wants to

620
00:39:42,079 --> 00:39:45,679
know where Ben Simmons, Damian Lillard, and Bradley Bealle are gonna end up,

621
00:39:45,079 --> 00:39:49,760
because those are the three big ones. Yeah, well, here's the

622
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,199
question. Do you think Ben Simmons
gets traded? No? I don't either.

623
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,960
I don't don't think any of those
three get traded. I don't know

624
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:00,480
why you would move him at the
nadir of his value. First all,

625
00:40:00,559 --> 00:40:01,960
Damian Loward, we feel like it
least a year too early on right,

626
00:40:02,559 --> 00:40:07,000
at least a year. I don't
know. And again, like I think

627
00:40:07,039 --> 00:40:10,639
it's always important to provide the caveats
that we don't have the sources that a

628
00:40:10,639 --> 00:40:15,400
lot of writers and reporters do.
So this is purely from an outside perspective,

629
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:22,039
but I've always gotten the sense from
Damian Lillard's social media activity, from

630
00:40:22,079 --> 00:40:30,159
the way he's comported himself in postgame
press conferences and media availability sessions that he

631
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,679
wants to play in Portland forever because
that's just kind of how he's wired.

632
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,000
That he started his career there,
you know, coming from you know,

633
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:44,159
a lightly recruited high school player to
a we were State standout to a rookie

634
00:40:44,199 --> 00:40:47,199
sensation to a superstar that he wants
to finish what he started in Portland.

635
00:40:49,559 --> 00:40:52,480
Yeah, I do feel like that
stance is loosening, just based off the

636
00:40:52,519 --> 00:40:55,559
report from Chris holl Chris Haynes.
So it would not, but it just

637
00:40:55,599 --> 00:40:59,440
seems like even if he wanted out
right now, he would have to be

638
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,159
super mess see about it to get
them to move him with four years left

639
00:41:02,159 --> 00:41:07,039
on his deal. It feels like, so I agree with you there with

640
00:41:07,119 --> 00:41:09,480
Simmons, I would say specifically that
if I'm the Sixers, I'm trying to

641
00:41:09,519 --> 00:41:13,800
reboot. If you want to move
him, I wouldn't be surprised if we

642
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:15,360
saw a mid season trade for him, just not an off season one.

643
00:41:15,559 --> 00:41:19,159
And it's not even just Ben Simmons
is a better regular season player than he

644
00:41:19,159 --> 00:41:22,960
is in the playoffs, even though
that's to this point. But you put

645
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:27,800
distance between yourself and the most recent
memory of him just becoming this total and

646
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,920
complete off season built up with this
offensive liability. Excuse me? Can I

647
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:36,480
push back there, though, because
like I get that, I get that

648
00:41:36,519 --> 00:41:40,079
he was an offensive liability during the
fourth quarters because he couldn't touch the ball

649
00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:43,960
and they were going to follow him, and he wasn't attacking because he was

650
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,239
he was afraid to go to the
free throw line. Just the antithesis of

651
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:52,719
the honest mentality. But I feel
like there's been too much marginalization of his

652
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:59,280
talent because his passing impact and his
ability in those first three quarters was still

653
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:04,000
pretty spec tacular. I mean,
the TPA numbers from NBA maths still have

654
00:42:04,119 --> 00:42:07,960
him as a positive offensive presence,
but that doesn't take into account him not

655
00:42:08,079 --> 00:42:13,239
touching the ball, because you know, he didn't rack up any negative stats

656
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,000
while not touching the ball, obviously, so I think that's a little bit

657
00:42:15,039 --> 00:42:22,800
misleading. But he still did provide
a good bit of value. Yes,

658
00:42:22,159 --> 00:42:27,440
but looking at the conference finals specifically, if you have someone who you want

659
00:42:27,519 --> 00:42:29,480
to put the ball in his hands, and it didn't seem like the Sixers

660
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,480
always wanted to at all. For
any point during the game, they need

661
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,880
to be a threat to score,
and he has Oh. I'm not saying

662
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,360
that he's the right fit for Philadelphia
or anything like that, just that I

663
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:49,599
I don't like just completely all encompassing
value down to he was a liability oh

664
00:42:49,639 --> 00:42:52,320
in trade talks for sure, Like
I would give up more for Ben Simmons

665
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,480
than I think the average fan would
at this point. And you know,

666
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:59,719
I get like, looking at oh, he attempted seven or fewer shots in

667
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,800
five games against the Hawks. I
think it was, yeah, five or

668
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,199
seven, which is I know we
went to line in some of those,

669
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:08,320
but you know those line trips included
a three of ten night and a four

670
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:13,519
or fourteen night, so that is
a problem. But I had this discussion

671
00:43:13,559 --> 00:43:15,119
with Terabo and Biggs when we talked
about the Blazers. I asked whether she

672
00:43:15,159 --> 00:43:20,480
would do CJ. McCollum and Robert
Covington's for Ben Simmons, and she thought

673
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:24,360
that was and Anthony Tolliver would be
involved to guarantee his contract for money purposes.

674
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,519
She thought that was a bit of
an overpay for Ben Simmons. And

675
00:43:28,639 --> 00:43:30,639
I get it from the Blazer's perspective
of why would we give up these two

676
00:43:30,679 --> 00:43:36,239
really good players for Ben Simmons when
his value seems to have hit rock bottom.

677
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:38,639
But if I'm Philly, like I'm
not even sure I do Robert Covington

678
00:43:38,679 --> 00:43:43,320
and CJ. McCollum for Ben Simmons, I would consider it. I don't

679
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,559
know if that if that's the trade
that i'm you know, if it's that

680
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:49,559
or going to the regular season with
him, I might just pick going to

681
00:43:49,599 --> 00:43:52,880
the regular season. I agree,
I do think that it would be a

682
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,960
fair trade at this stage. But
and I'm probably a little lower on Robert

683
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,840
Covington than most people. I'm just
here a question the consistency of the shooting.

684
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,239
And I mean you've heard me talk
about it before. A great help

685
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,960
defender, off ball defender, not
necessarily great point of attack defender, which

686
00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:14,440
you increasingly need against wings in today's
NBA. So I think that's a fair

687
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:19,519
package. But if I'm Philadelphia,
I know that I can recoup more value

688
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:22,480
if he shines during the regular season
and we're reminded, hey, this is

689
00:44:22,519 --> 00:44:28,960
a defensive player that you're contender All
Defensive first teamer, potential All NBA threat

690
00:44:29,119 --> 00:44:32,719
because of his passing in defense alone, Another Ben Simmons, try them for

691
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:37,840
you to munch on. Jante Murray
Devin Vassell and the number twelve pick for

692
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:44,639
Ben Simmons. I don't think I'm
as intrigued if I'm Philly because I don't

693
00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:47,519
know what Dejante Murray is yet.
If I'm looking to replace Ben Simmons from

694
00:44:47,519 --> 00:44:52,360
Philadelphia's perspective, I need more shooting
and Vassell looks like he could very much

695
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:55,840
be that three and D guy.
I don't trust Murray enough at this point,

696
00:44:57,519 --> 00:45:00,760
and you need that guard who can
create. I trust Murray to be

697
00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:05,320
an upgrade offensively from Ben Simmons.
Shown he can hit some standstill threes and

698
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,199
he's shooting. He just shoots more
than Ben Simmons. And from further out,

699
00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:10,000
I think I don't think it's a
bad fit. I just don't think

700
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,599
it's quite enough. It just given
what he can do defensively, doesn't have

701
00:45:14,599 --> 00:45:15,920
the same range, but he could
have been on defense this year. In

702
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:20,440
my opinion, I think what would
turn me off if I'm Philly And maybe

703
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:22,760
you know, maybe san Antonio just
doesn't want to go this route either.

704
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,320
We should mention, but like Devin
Vassell and number twelve is a little bit

705
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:29,639
too mystery box when you have dwell
embid wanting to win. Now do you

706
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:34,760
have like, is there another train
lined up where you're parlaying those into somebody

707
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,639
else that helps you immediately. But
that was one where I thought, if

708
00:45:37,639 --> 00:45:39,519
the Spurs wanted to swing the swing, you know, take a swing,

709
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:44,880
and I actually really do like Murray
in Philly and then Vassell, I think

710
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:46,960
he'll shoot better from three his time
goes on. He's already really just a

711
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:52,320
defensive workaholic that way. I want
to be clear that I do like Murray

712
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:58,199
in Philly, just not necessarily enough
to want to take that package. Right

713
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:00,719
now, do you want a trade
idea that you already know what I wrote

714
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:07,599
about for your in Atlanta Hawks,
big gass blockbuster, it's huge, Bring

715
00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:13,599
it on. The Hawks receive Avery
Bradley. The Hawks receive Avery Bradley,

716
00:46:13,599 --> 00:46:17,320
who has a team option, and
Daniel House. The Rockets get Chris dunn

717
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:21,039
who was a player option that I'm
assuming he'll pick up. And then Oklahoma

718
00:46:21,079 --> 00:46:24,760
City's twenty two first round pick,
which is lottery protected, and then it

719
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:28,719
turns into two seconds. I'm just
going to go out on a limb and

720
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:30,800
say that pick is going to turn
into two seconds. So it's Chris Dunne

721
00:46:31,159 --> 00:46:37,960
and two Oklahoma City seconds for blockbusters
here. So yeah, I mean I

722
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:42,800
would do it just because houses wing
defense is more valuable as is Avery Bradley's

723
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:45,920
feigned attempt at wing defense these days. But Chris Dunn, like if he

724
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:52,760
wasn't going to play in the most
important postseason games because he was either still

725
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,559
recovering from injuries or wasn't a part
of the rotation, that was one of

726
00:46:55,639 --> 00:47:00,599
the more disappointing offseason acquisitions. In
my mind. I was excited about that

727
00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:06,119
that acquisition and it just did not
pan out whatsoever. So if he's not

728
00:47:06,199 --> 00:47:10,400
going to be that standout sterling defender, then I would just immediately say yes

729
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:15,679
and take the wing defense upgrade,
because ultimately that's what Atlanta needs. The

730
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,760
offense is fine, the defense is
what needs help, and they are set

731
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,800
up if they want to take if
they want to go splash year. Just

732
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:27,920
having Clink Cappella or on Yeko Kongolu, who might make Clink Cappella expendable in

733
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:30,039
the next year or two, looked
real good. In those brief spurts during

734
00:47:30,079 --> 00:47:34,639
the postseason. You have Kevin Herder, Cam Reddish, DeAndre Hunter, John

735
00:47:34,679 --> 00:47:37,960
Collins sign and trade scenarios are probably
on the table. I just think after

736
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:42,599
making the Conference finals not being really
healthy, just I virtue of not having

737
00:47:42,599 --> 00:47:45,639
DeAndre Hunter at when you needed him
most Cam Reddish, you didn't have him

738
00:47:45,639 --> 00:47:47,800
for a bunch, then he flashed
stuff in game six. That's great.

739
00:47:49,079 --> 00:47:51,679
I'd like to see them more at
full strength. And so with you know,

740
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:54,000
Lou Williams entering free agency, you
have Tony Snow and Solomon Hill entering

741
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:59,199
free agency, can you kind of
deepen the perimeter rank safeguard yourself against more

742
00:47:59,199 --> 00:48:01,960
injuries to Reddish or Hunter, but
also maybe some guys who are comfortable putting

743
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,519
the ball on the floor. Not
Daniel House, Avery Bradley's more likely to

744
00:48:05,519 --> 00:48:08,119
do that, not higher end.
But I don't necessarily want to I don't

745
00:48:08,119 --> 00:48:12,320
want to say bust up. But
if I'm Atlanta, unless the perfect name

746
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:15,280
becomes available, I don't necessarily want
to consolidate this core just yet. I

747
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:19,400
agree that might be something you look
at next summer. I do think that

748
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:23,079
in theory, Chris Dunn is the
best asset in that group and still makes

749
00:48:23,079 --> 00:48:27,280
a lot of sense. But if
he wasn't going to play much in this

750
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,800
postseason, when is he going to
right. I think just Daniel House didn't

751
00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:32,239
shoot two well from three this year, but knowing what he'll shoot next to

752
00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:36,719
a Trey Young offense, and even
John Collins being there, plus you already

753
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:42,000
mentioned his wing defense. Okay,
so here's one that I found interesting.

754
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,960
Spencer Dinwoodie signed in trade from Brooklyn
and it involves the Lakers, who would

755
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:50,440
be hard capped after this. So
keep in mind that doing this probably means

756
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,440
they don't pay Dennis Shrewder one hundred
and eighty nine million dollars whatever he's asking.

757
00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:00,079
So the Nets receive Montrez Harrold,
who is a player option I'm expecting

758
00:49:00,159 --> 00:49:05,760
him to exercise, and Kyle Kuzma
and the Lakers get Spencer Dinwoody in a

759
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,679
sign in trade. I don't know
about Tread's picking up the option these days.

760
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:15,000
I don't know how much to read
into the into the social media comments

761
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:19,400
and stuff, but it seems like
he's throwing Frank Vogel under the bus a

762
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:23,159
bit, and that does not point
towards a return in my mind. Well,

763
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,199
in this in this case, he
wouldn't be returning. He would have

764
00:49:27,199 --> 00:49:30,920
been shipped to Brooklyn. Yes,
correct, Look, so the framework would

765
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:37,400
be Kuzma and salary for Spencer Dinwoody, because Kuzma makes thirteen next year,

766
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,000
so that's a nice number. Maybe
it's enough to get you Spencer Dinwoody on

767
00:49:40,079 --> 00:49:45,239
your own. I included Tread's basically
because the Lakers need more wiggle room under

768
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:46,920
the hardcaps. You'd rather get off
that money. And technically, if you're

769
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:52,320
Brooklyn, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, Blake Griffin are all free agents,

770
00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:57,480
DeAndre Jordan's not playing anymore or shouldn't
be playing, you could use some downhill

771
00:49:57,559 --> 00:50:00,840
juice at the five. It's very
offensive, it's all very centric and he's

772
00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:04,960
not shooting, but he's not unusable
on that team, depending on which Biggs

773
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,920
come back. But I sense too, Yeah, Who's was perfect for them

774
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:12,440
just based off his improvement as a
positional defender. And I assume you know

775
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:15,159
it'll be the same situation with the
Lakers. You're not going to see him

776
00:50:15,159 --> 00:50:16,679
work on the ball as much.
The last time he did that was as

777
00:50:16,679 --> 00:50:21,599
a rookie basically, but I'm assuming
he'll knock down, catch and shoot threes

778
00:50:21,639 --> 00:50:24,119
when you have Kyrie and James Harden
and Kevin duranteing them up for you,

779
00:50:25,079 --> 00:50:30,360
and look I forget who said this, but I know some prominent figure said

780
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,280
that he could be a twenty five
point per game All Star. Do you

781
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:38,280
remember who I'm taking the fifth year? I think it was it was Kuzma.

782
00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:42,880
It was Kuzma said that. Kuzma
himself said that I believe, all

783
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:45,440
right, well he's not really I
need to fact check this since you weren't

784
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:46,760
aware of it, but I feel
like he said that recently. I'm but

785
00:50:47,039 --> 00:50:53,079
regardless, I do like it because
that that defensive improvement look legitimate. Just

786
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:59,400
the effort level was there, the
discipline was more present than we'd seen in

787
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,760
any prior season. And if he's
going to be able to buy into that

788
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:07,119
kind of role, knowing that he's
operating alongside three ball dominant scores and can

789
00:51:07,159 --> 00:51:12,079
be that coordinary option, then so
be it. Are you ready? I

790
00:51:12,079 --> 00:51:15,719
know you love you some Charlotte Hornets. How about a Charlotte Hornets trade?

791
00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:19,679
I'm always ready for that. So
this one has gone through multiple iterations,

792
00:51:19,679 --> 00:51:21,719
and I talked to a bunch of
people about it, and this is the

793
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:25,400
framework I ended up with. The
Rockets get PJ. Washington the number eleven

794
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:30,599
pick and Boston's twenty twenty two second
round pick, and the Charlotte Hornets received

795
00:51:30,639 --> 00:51:37,320
Christian Wood. Run that by me
one more time, PJ. Washington number

796
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:42,719
eleven and Boston's twenty twenty two second
for Christian Wood. Who. So I'll

797
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:46,039
note this because it is important to
me. He has two years left on

798
00:51:46,119 --> 00:51:51,559
his deal at a wildly underpaid number, which unfair to him. He did

799
00:51:51,599 --> 00:51:54,519
sign the contract but for Charlotte's purposes
two years and twenty eight million dollars.

800
00:51:54,559 --> 00:51:58,840
So my justification here from giving up
that value, as you might say,

801
00:51:59,079 --> 00:52:00,679
well, hey, why don't they
just cap Space and sign a big they

802
00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:04,679
could, but if they want this
type of an upgrade, you're probably giving

803
00:52:04,719 --> 00:52:08,239
fifteen or sixteen million a year to
Rashaun Holmes. And you can still kind

804
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:12,800
of act as a cap Space team
if you send out another smaller money deal

805
00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:15,119
in this like you can bring in. You could spend your cap Space and

806
00:52:15,119 --> 00:52:19,440
then go in a choir. Christian
would. So that's what And look,

807
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:22,280
Christian Wood was also really good.
That's my point here, and I would

808
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:25,400
do it in a heartbeat just because
of that. And I think both of

809
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:29,800
us don't want to speak for you, but I think we've talked about this

810
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:31,719
before. I think both of us
view him as an All Star level talent.

811
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:37,400
Yeah, at his position, probably
close to it. He has,

812
00:52:37,559 --> 00:52:40,239
he has a nice floor against twenty
and twelve unreasonable for him. I mean,

813
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:43,719
look, he did it in Detroit
after Drummond was traded, and then

814
00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:45,280
he basically did it all of last
year. It'd be nice to see him

815
00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:47,880
do it for an entire season where
he doesn't get injured. And then I

816
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:51,599
think he run at the issue of
a why would Houston want to trade him?

817
00:52:51,639 --> 00:52:53,360
And it's just like, by the
time they're ready to be good again

818
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:55,920
and this might not even it might
even be before then, he's gonna need

819
00:52:55,960 --> 00:53:00,440
to be paid a lot of money. Good for him. I don't think

820
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:02,960
that lines with whatever window they're working
with, right, And just to circle

821
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:07,119
back on Kuzma, I was correct. It was from an exclusive interview with

822
00:53:07,199 --> 00:53:12,360
Bleach Reports Tyler Conway who asked if
he could see himself as a player capable

823
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,039
of averaging twenty five points per game
and reaching All Star heights, and Kuzma

824
00:53:15,079 --> 00:53:19,320
said, I definitely can. I
definitely believe that too. I don't really

825
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:22,440
care what nobody thinks or says.
I know myself and I know my ability.

826
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:25,400
It's hard to be consistent in an
inconsistent role. I'm excited for a

827
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:30,519
more consistent space next year. Good
for Kuzma. I don't know how I

828
00:53:30,559 --> 00:53:32,559
missed that, especially because he came
from Bleacher Report. I'm not a good

829
00:53:32,559 --> 00:53:38,760
teammate, so kind of like Kyle
Kuzma. Why is he bad teammate?

830
00:53:39,599 --> 00:53:43,519
I don't know, just some of
some of the things he said about his

831
00:53:43,639 --> 00:53:47,960
role in the past, someone we
shied away from talking about. We've talked

832
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:51,840
about how we like him, but
he's officially kind of in the rumor mill

833
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:55,039
now. Colin Sexton, I still
hate that he's in the rumor mill.

834
00:53:55,559 --> 00:53:59,519
It's I think it should get it, but it's dumb. It's by virtue.

835
00:53:59,559 --> 00:54:02,280
I think we'll probably no more after
the draft. They have to see

836
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,400
who is available at number three.
But there's a chance you end up with

837
00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:07,760
Jalen Green or Jalen Suggs. Then
you have Sexton, then you have Garland,

838
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:10,599
and Sexton's about to get paid a
lot of money. Garland will be

839
00:54:10,639 --> 00:54:14,599
right behind him. Is there too
much overlap there? I think would be

840
00:54:14,639 --> 00:54:17,880
fair to ask a trade that I
came up with. I don't know how

841
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:23,119
I feel about it. Cleveland gets
Drag and Andre Goadala, who have just

842
00:54:23,159 --> 00:54:27,760
team options, so they're expiring contracts
if they were picked up, and then

843
00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:34,880
Tyler Hero they send Miami Kevin Love
Colin Sexton, So you're getting off Kevin

844
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:37,559
Loves money and you're getting Tyler hero
Is another year on his rookie scale.

845
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:44,039
I feel like you need so much
more than that, though. Sexton's potential

846
00:54:44,159 --> 00:54:47,559
is still through the roof, and
I've soured so much on Tyler Hero.

847
00:54:49,639 --> 00:54:52,679
It very much feels like he was
a bubble product, where like that style

848
00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:58,920
of play was conducive to his game. We saw so much backsliding this year,

849
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:01,719
so little grow within virtually any aspect
of his game. I'm not sure

850
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:07,239
that he's ever anything more than like
a low end starter Sexton. Sexton can

851
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:10,199
be way more than that. So
yeah, there's there's a benefit to getting

852
00:55:10,519 --> 00:55:15,800
Kevin Love's salary off the books,
to getting those two team options where you're

853
00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:17,440
sure to free up cap space.
But what are you left with, Like,

854
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:22,159
are you are you really happy moving
forward with the core that is built

855
00:55:22,199 --> 00:55:28,519
around like Jared Allen, Isaac accorro
Garland and Hero and whoever you pick at

856
00:55:28,599 --> 00:55:32,280
number three? Like that just sounds
like you're perpetuating the rebuild. I was

857
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:37,599
iffy on it. I just if
you like Tyler Hero having him under team

858
00:55:37,599 --> 00:55:42,320
control for the extra year, and
I think I kind of like his off

859
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:45,280
the bounce potential more than a context
in it. And I also like his

860
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:47,960
ability if you want someone to be
not a point guard, because I don't

861
00:55:47,960 --> 00:55:51,320
think that's con Sexton's roll. I
don't think it's Tither Hero's role. But

862
00:55:51,320 --> 00:55:55,039
if you want someone to be the
second primary playmaker, I think Hero is

863
00:55:55,039 --> 00:56:00,360
a better chance of becoming that than
Colin Sexton. So this is po on

864
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:02,559
the fence about But you need to
value flexibility and getting off of Kevin Love,

865
00:56:04,159 --> 00:56:06,840
and I don't know that they do, because Kevin Love is still in

866
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:08,880
Cleveland to begin with, I would
I would assume they could have gotten expiring

867
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:13,480
contracts for him already. I believe
this was two years ago, so it's

868
00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:16,400
different. Portland offer just expirings for
him and they refused it. I think

869
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:20,880
that was per the athletic. I'm
sure they've had the opportunity since then to

870
00:56:20,880 --> 00:56:22,920
move him for just expiring money.
I think this is a little different because

871
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:27,800
if you're that worried about paying Colin
Sexton, which it does seem like they

872
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:30,960
are. I'd just be curious if
they consider it. But at the same

873
00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:37,000
time, in general, I'm less
intrigued by teams acquiring more cap space when

874
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:42,800
they're so clearly in the beginning stages
of a rebuild. I don't know who

875
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:46,039
was going to want to sign with
the Cavaliers if they're torn down yet again.

876
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:51,400
So to me, that kind of
feels like you're creating an asset that

877
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:54,679
you either can't use or you're going
to use on an overpay to get someone

878
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:57,880
to town, and then you're going
to regret it down the road. You're

879
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:00,960
almost like creating potential problems for self
and you will have to pay Tyler hero

880
00:57:01,119 --> 00:57:04,840
in two years as opposed to paying
context and in one. So I think

881
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:07,199
i'd agree with you if I'm Miami. I'm not offering any more than that,

882
00:57:07,239 --> 00:57:10,400
though, would also be my stance
because Kevin Love's deal is laborious for

883
00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:15,639
them, especially with Bam and Jimmy
on the cab sheet this one. The

884
00:57:15,719 --> 00:57:20,840
feedback was mixed. I People on
Denver's side loved and hated it, people

885
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:23,480
on Boston's side loved and hated it, So it was like four different levels

886
00:57:23,519 --> 00:57:30,599
of responses. Denver gets Marcus Smart
and a twenty twenty three second most favorable

887
00:57:30,679 --> 00:57:35,400
via Dallas, Houston or Miami.
The Celtics get PJ Doger, Monte Morris

888
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:40,639
and the number twenty six pick.
I mean that feels wildly inadequate for Monte

889
00:57:40,679 --> 00:57:47,320
Morris, who is clearly the centerpiece
in this deal, right, No,

890
00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:53,760
I I like that for both teams. I think I think that seems like

891
00:57:53,920 --> 00:58:00,400
a fair swap that builds on actual
needs for the team. I mean,

892
00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:06,039
we can't overlook the improvements that Marcus
Smart has made as a shooter, and

893
00:58:06,079 --> 00:58:08,760
I'm sure that playing with Yokich would
open up even more opportunities for him on

894
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:13,559
that front. But he's a point
of attack defender, which is what Denver

895
00:58:13,679 --> 00:58:19,840
needs. Boston needs more shock creators
beyond Jason's Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown,

896
00:58:20,559 --> 00:58:25,760
especially with Kemba Walker you know,
just not there anymore. So yeah,

897
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:31,760
I'm game for that one. The
issues here are Boston probably wants to keep

898
00:58:31,800 --> 00:58:36,679
Smart, but they can extend him
at a max of seventeen point two million

899
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:40,519
starting in twenty twenty two twenty twenty
three. If he refuses that and thinks

900
00:58:40,559 --> 00:58:44,800
he can get more that might make
them rethink or if they don't even want

901
00:58:44,800 --> 00:58:46,079
to give him the seventeen point two. I think that's why you look at

902
00:58:46,079 --> 00:58:52,159
moving him for Denver. It's you
are giving up stuff for someone who's a

903
00:58:52,159 --> 00:58:57,760
fantastic defender, and I think keeps
your title window open without Jamal Murray because

904
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,000
he can't do something. He's hit
a lot of pull up triples over the

905
00:59:00,039 --> 00:59:05,280
past three years, can do some
initiation at the same time. You're going

906
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:07,320
into next offseason. Potentially, it
depends on what Will Barton does this year

907
00:59:07,320 --> 00:59:10,840
with his player option. Will Barton, Marcus mart Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter

908
00:59:10,960 --> 00:59:16,360
Jr. Are all free agents.
That's a pricey offseason for sure, but

909
00:59:16,920 --> 00:59:22,599
championship caliber teams are supposed to be
pricey. I do think also that Fukundo

910
00:59:22,639 --> 00:59:27,760
Composo's emergence makes this easier to stomach
if you're Denver, because you can give

911
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:32,239
up Monte Morris more easily knowing that
you do have Campozzo. Yeah. I

912
00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:36,880
liked it for both sides, but
the response was split four ways. This

913
00:59:36,920 --> 00:59:40,039
one was riffed off of Zach Low
saying that he thinks both Los Angeles teams

914
00:59:40,039 --> 00:59:45,360
are gonna go after Kemba Walker.
I had the Clippers doing it. They

915
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:49,159
get Kember Walker and ken Ricks Williams
from OKC. Okay, see he gets

916
00:59:49,159 --> 00:59:52,199
Sergeibaka if he picks up his player
option. That's a little reunion there,

917
00:59:52,559 --> 00:59:57,360
Luconard Rajon Rondo, who's on an
expiring contract, Number thirty, and then

918
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:01,119
I had them also getting Detroit's twenty
twenty four and twenty twenty five second round

919
01:00:01,119 --> 01:00:06,400
picks. I wasn't sure if that
was an overpay for Kemba Walker or not,

920
01:00:07,159 --> 01:00:10,440
but I think we think it's an
overpay for Kemba given how much he

921
01:00:10,559 --> 01:00:15,719
declined. It definitely looks like his
All Star days are a thing of the

922
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:21,599
past. But I'm more on board
with it because I still believe that ken

923
01:00:21,679 --> 01:00:25,639
Rick Williams has a future. I
don't think that's just a throw. I

924
01:00:25,679 --> 01:00:30,760
think what's tough and what I struggled
with, and I didn't think Kenrick william

925
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:36,440
wasn't involved in this initially, but
it felt like Abaca, ard Rondo and

926
01:00:36,480 --> 01:00:39,960
number thirty weren't enough because Kennard is
entering the first year of his It's like

927
01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:45,360
a three year guaranteed extension at a
fairly steep price point, and so he's

928
01:00:45,440 --> 01:00:49,320
kind of a nice fit in Oklahoma
City. But he has a four year,

929
01:00:49,360 --> 01:00:52,519
fifty six million dollar extension, the
final of which is a team option.

930
01:00:52,840 --> 01:00:55,920
I don't know if that's viewed as
positive value, and so if you

931
01:00:55,960 --> 01:01:00,599
know, if it can be Abaca, Kenard Rondo and number thirty and for

932
01:01:00,719 --> 01:01:02,800
Kemba is the framework. The other
thing I ran into there is with Oklahoma

933
01:01:02,800 --> 01:01:07,320
City specifically, four for one is
incredibly tough, and I assumed that the

934
01:01:07,360 --> 01:01:10,039
Clippers would still want to keep Patrick
Beverley because you can get this done with

935
01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:15,199
fewer players. If you use Patrick
Beverley, that felt them like too much.

936
01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:17,360
So that's where I kind of landed
on here. If you can keep

937
01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:21,800
one over both of the Detroit seconds, I'd probably like it even more for

938
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:24,840
Los Angeles because while Kemba has those
knee issues, I do think you have

939
01:01:25,039 --> 01:01:28,920
I don't want to say a margin
for error because Kawai is his own injury

940
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:34,000
history, but it also increases the
likelihood that you have two stars available in

941
01:01:34,039 --> 01:01:37,559
the postseason when it matters most.
And even with Reggie Jackson playing out of

942
01:01:37,559 --> 01:01:42,159
his mind, this postseason, like
you still kind of ran out of firepower

943
01:01:42,199 --> 01:01:45,400
towards the end. There. All
of that makes total sense to me,

944
01:01:46,159 --> 01:01:50,039
So yeah, I think that's another
one I'm on board with. Let's wrap

945
01:01:50,079 --> 01:01:52,599
up here really quickly to see if
I have any ones that I really like

946
01:01:52,719 --> 01:01:55,559
that I need to get off my
chest right here. Okay, let's do

947
01:01:55,639 --> 01:02:05,800
two more Minnesota Minnesota relieves. Minnesota
receives Jonathan Isaac and Terrence Ross. The

948
01:02:05,840 --> 01:02:10,239
Magic receive Malik Beasley, Jared Culver, Jade McDaniels, Jake Layman, and

949
01:02:10,280 --> 01:02:15,639
a top eight protected twenty twenty three
first round pick. I feel like the

950
01:02:15,679 --> 01:02:22,159
protection needs to be a little bit
more on that one for Minnesota or Lusen

951
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:30,800
for Orlando in Minnesota's favor, just
because as as talented as Isaac is coming

952
01:02:30,840 --> 01:02:37,400
off multiple major injuries where he was
just starting to emerge and we still aren't

953
01:02:37,480 --> 01:02:43,280
quite sure if his offensive development is
as legitimate as it looked. So I

954
01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:47,199
think baking in that risk, they
have to be able to have less risk

955
01:02:47,280 --> 01:02:52,360
on their end. So would you
say LOTO protected, Probably so maybe even

956
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:55,280
like top twenty I do that in
harpeat if I'm Minnesota. I want to

957
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:59,000
make that clear. Because I'm that
high, and Isaac can imagine him and

958
01:02:59,079 --> 01:03:02,639
talents together in the front. It's
a great combination. And if Jonathan Isaac

959
01:03:02,679 --> 01:03:07,679
looks like the pre injury Jonathan Isaac, then you win that trade with ease.

960
01:03:07,800 --> 01:03:10,280
But I don't know how much we
can guarantee that's what he looks like.

961
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:14,199
I have a more fascinating question for
you, though, and I want

962
01:03:14,199 --> 01:03:16,199
to know which side would be more
likely to say no to this you remove

963
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:21,639
all protections or maybe it's top one
protected or something. On twenty twenty three,

964
01:03:22,199 --> 01:03:25,559
and then Minnesota, I guess to
keep Jade McDaniels. If you're Orlando,

965
01:03:25,599 --> 01:03:30,280
would you prefer the heavily protected first? And Jayden? If you're Minnesota,

966
01:03:30,360 --> 01:03:35,519
would you prefer unprotected in keeping Jaden? Or closed to unprotected very loosely

967
01:03:35,559 --> 01:03:40,119
protected. Let's say I think I
would prefer the pick protection if I'm Minnesota.

968
01:03:40,639 --> 01:03:45,679
McDaniels is intrigue game. He's so
good. Yeah, but how scalable

969
01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:51,239
is it? His game is?
It seems extremely plug and play. I

970
01:03:51,280 --> 01:03:54,480
guess there's the yeah, is he
is he a star or is he a

971
01:03:54,519 --> 01:04:00,599
star role player? And it's one
year obviously. Yeah, So if you're

972
01:04:00,679 --> 01:04:03,679
Orlando, you would prefer getting Jayden
and the pick protection, or you would

973
01:04:03,679 --> 01:04:08,400
prefer getting the very loosely protected twenty. I would prefer getting a very loosely

974
01:04:08,440 --> 01:04:13,159
protected pick. Interesting. That would
just be something I'd be ruminating on if

975
01:04:14,039 --> 01:04:15,719
if I was them. Do you
have for our last one? I have

976
01:04:15,760 --> 01:04:18,920
so many here, but we've already
gone an hour. Is there a team

977
01:04:19,039 --> 01:04:25,400
you'd like to see that we haven't
done yet? You called him out earlier,

978
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:30,440
so let's let's do the Sacramento Kings. I don't like this king's trade.

979
01:04:30,480 --> 01:04:34,079
Where was my other king's trade?
That might have been a have that

980
01:04:34,159 --> 01:04:39,000
written? Okay? Okay, how
about Dallas because it feels like Dallas needs

981
01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:43,719
to make a move to be to
maximize the dawn Chech impact. You're not

982
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:48,119
gonna like my trade idea for them? Man? I have Will Barton?

983
01:04:48,239 --> 01:04:53,519
Is it Luca for Trey? Because
that would just cause the internet to break?

984
01:04:53,599 --> 01:04:59,239
Why would at Lanta do that?
I have no idea exactly. I

985
01:04:59,320 --> 01:05:00,920
might have two day once for them, But the one that I have pulled

986
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:06,519
up immediately is they get Will Barton
and Denver gets Josh Richardson. And this

987
01:05:06,599 --> 01:05:11,440
is assuming both of them opt in
Tyrell Terry at a twenty twenty two second.

988
01:05:11,679 --> 01:05:15,159
Now, my thoughts here are,
will Barton gives you some on ball

989
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:18,280
juice that you need besides Luca that
Josh Richardson did not this year? Getting

990
01:05:18,280 --> 01:05:23,280
that secondary playmaking is important. The
fact that he'd be expiring it keeps you

991
01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:26,760
flexible and then maybe it prevents you
from overspending in free agency on someone you

992
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:30,639
shouldn't. It also kind of allows
you to keep Tim Hardaway junior if you

993
01:05:30,639 --> 01:05:34,039
think Barton can come close to running
some units, maybe with Jalen Brunson if

994
01:05:34,079 --> 01:05:38,800
you're the Nuggets, even if Josh
Richardson's offense never comes back, and it

995
01:05:38,880 --> 01:05:41,239
might in Denver, I know,
we thought Aaron Gordon was going to be

996
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:45,880
spectacularly there on offense and was not
the defense. While it was still not

997
01:05:45,639 --> 01:05:50,039
pee j rich this year, they
need exactly what he brings there, and

998
01:05:50,079 --> 01:05:54,119
so that was just sort of my
reasoning is like hitting a double here,

999
01:05:54,280 --> 01:05:58,119
for either side trying it. I'm
curious why you thought I wasn't gonna like

1000
01:05:58,199 --> 01:06:00,840
it, because I do for both
sides for exactly the reasons you listed out.

1001
01:06:01,679 --> 01:06:04,559
Yeah, it's just maybe I thought
you wanted something like a little bit

1002
01:06:04,599 --> 01:06:09,920
splash here. Noah, that's all
good, then all. I think that's

1003
01:06:09,920 --> 01:06:13,519
another like circling back to the beginning
beginning of the podcast, I think that

1004
01:06:13,679 --> 01:06:17,320
people make mistakes by trying to make
trades too splashy. If you look throughout

1005
01:06:17,400 --> 01:06:21,920
NBA history, the vast majority of
trades do not involve a star player.

1006
01:06:24,159 --> 01:06:28,280
So it's totally acceptable to work on
the periphery. It's not as exciting,

1007
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:32,119
it's not as engaging, But I
think incorporating those trades lends even more validity

1008
01:06:32,159 --> 01:06:36,639
to the star generated trades that you
do have. That's a great point.

1009
01:06:38,039 --> 01:06:40,840
I want to lie and throw this
final one at you because I think it's

1010
01:06:40,840 --> 01:06:45,159
a thinker and I actually already teased
it when we did that pod with Tony

1011
01:06:45,199 --> 01:06:48,400
East, that surprise pod with Tony
East. Oh yes, so get your

1012
01:06:49,519 --> 01:06:53,760
We need you pay attention to channeling
my inner Tony. It's a twenty nine

1013
01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:57,800
team trade. No, it's a
three team trade. The New Orleans Pelicans

1014
01:06:57,800 --> 01:07:02,719
receive Miles Turner, The Indian of
Pacers receive Nikkil Alexander Walker the tenth overall

1015
01:07:02,719 --> 01:07:09,239
pick. San Antonio takes Steven Adams
into cap space and just for anyone to

1016
01:07:09,239 --> 01:07:12,960
know he has two years and thirty
five million on that extension that he signed.

1017
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:16,440
They also get the number thirty five
pick and then the two thousand and

1018
01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:21,519
two and twenty two first round pick, the least favorable or most favorable.

1019
01:07:21,559 --> 01:07:27,679
If you think that swings it from
the Lakers or the Pelicans, I like

1020
01:07:27,760 --> 01:07:30,960
that You're expecting me to retain all
of that, So I think I have

1021
01:07:31,079 --> 01:07:34,880
flawed the creativity and effort that went
into crafting that trade, and I think

1022
01:07:34,920 --> 01:07:39,239
that because you generated it, that
it probably makes a lot of sense.

1023
01:07:39,599 --> 01:07:42,480
Here's I think here's the fund amount
of question. If you're the Spurs,

1024
01:07:42,719 --> 01:07:45,480
is number thirty five and a first
round pick in two and twenty two enough

1025
01:07:45,519 --> 01:07:49,760
for you to take on Steven Adams? I think that's the I think I

1026
01:07:49,800 --> 01:07:55,239
think it is because Adams is not
necessarily like a liability. He wasn't a

1027
01:07:55,239 --> 01:07:57,639
good fit for New Orleans, but
that doesn't mean that he's a bad fit

1028
01:07:57,719 --> 01:08:00,280
everywhere. He's still a good rebound
under, a good screen center, a

1029
01:08:00,280 --> 01:08:04,679
good interior defender. He has a
more offensive value than people think because of

1030
01:08:04,719 --> 01:08:11,960
his passing. There is value to
plumb there, and we don't really know

1031
01:08:12,079 --> 01:08:15,559
what the next iteration of San Antonio
is going to look like in the first

1032
01:08:15,559 --> 01:08:17,880
place. So if I'm the Spurs, sure I will. I will take

1033
01:08:17,920 --> 01:08:24,520
on a talent that might be overpaid
in his current location without giving up too

1034
01:08:24,600 --> 01:08:27,640
much. And I think the other
thing that allows them to do this is

1035
01:08:27,680 --> 01:08:30,920
that there are two main centers at
this point, Drew Eubanks and Yaka Purtle

1036
01:08:31,039 --> 01:08:33,800
aren under twelve million between them next
year, so you don't all of a

1037
01:08:33,840 --> 01:08:40,680
sudden have too much money funneled into
your center position. Yeah, I'm down

1038
01:08:40,760 --> 01:08:43,760
with that one. This was fun. I have many more trade ideas if

1039
01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:45,399
anyone wants them, I'm sure we'll
do another podcast, or I'll bring someone

1040
01:08:45,439 --> 01:08:49,000
else on so that Adam doesn't have
to suffer through it. As always,

1041
01:08:49,039 --> 01:08:54,119
please please Putty, please remember to
rate, review, and subscribe to Hardwonox

1042
01:08:54,159 --> 01:08:58,359
wherever you're getting your podcast, and
we are everywhere Spotify, Google Podcasts,

1043
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:02,079
Apple, iTunes what it's called at
this point. Find us on YouTube as

1044
01:09:02,079 --> 01:09:04,479
well, Hardwood Knox. Go to
YouTube dot com search Hardwa Knox. When

1045
01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:08,800
you're there, we are on Instagram. We implore you to follow us on

1046
01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:14,079
Instagram at Hardwood Underscore Knox. They're
going to be some YouTube and Instagram exclusives

1047
01:09:14,239 --> 01:09:16,640
coming, so get on, get
on the train and jump it. Be

1048
01:09:16,720 --> 01:09:20,520
one of the first ones there for
it. Instagram at Hardwood, Underscore Knox.

1049
01:09:20,800 --> 01:09:24,840
YouTube is Hardwa Knox, and we're
on Twitter as always at Hardware Knox.

1050
01:09:24,960 --> 01:09:27,840
Follow Adam at Framo z or nine. I'm at Dan fa Valley,

1051
01:09:27,960 --> 01:09:30,279
fav A l E. There's so
many social media platforms right now, I

1052
01:09:30,319 --> 01:09:33,479
just want to get that off my
chest, and I'm managing too many of

1053
01:09:33,479 --> 01:09:36,000
them at the moment. Until next
time, we leave me with the shout

1054
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:42,079
out to the one, the only, the centerpiece of the Marcus Smart trade,

1055
01:09:42,760 --> 01:09:47,159
Monte Morris. What is krack lacking? Order Knox listeners, I am

1056
01:09:47,239 --> 01:09:49,880
Dan Valley, came we out you
without my co host Adam promo because this

1057
01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:54,119
is a quick reaction to the Kawhi
Leonard news. If you're listening to it

1058
01:09:54,159 --> 01:09:57,359
on the podcast, it has been
placed at the end of our Wednesday or

1059
01:09:57,399 --> 01:10:00,439
Thursday podcast, not sure what day
that's going to be, but if you're

1060
01:10:00,439 --> 01:10:03,119
listening to it on YouTube, it's
basically a YouTube exclusive. It came out

1061
01:10:03,159 --> 01:10:08,119
there first. Welcome. This is
not really the matter though, that we

1062
01:10:08,159 --> 01:10:12,520
want to have to react to immediately, the Clippers announced that Kawhi Leonard underwent

1063
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:17,159
surgery to repair a partially torn right
a cl he injured. He suffered that

1064
01:10:17,239 --> 01:10:21,880
injury pretty much a month ago at
this point, during the Clippers second round

1065
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:28,640
series against the Utah Jazz. And
it's just an injury. The implications are

1066
01:10:29,279 --> 01:10:32,039
expansive and they don't have a timetable
for his return. When you look at

1067
01:10:32,079 --> 01:10:39,199
other ACL injuries they can take really
the average timelineingwhere between eight and twelve months.

1068
01:10:39,319 --> 01:10:43,479
It seems this is partially torn.
Maybe it's different, but the fact

1069
01:10:43,479 --> 01:10:45,840
that you need to have surgery means
maybe it's not. This is also Kwai

1070
01:10:45,960 --> 01:10:49,760
Leonard we're talking about. You look
at the right quad injuries that he dealt

1071
01:10:49,800 --> 01:10:55,479
with before leaving San Antonio, how
much he's been load managed since then.

1072
01:10:55,479 --> 01:10:58,159
It was dealing with dealing with some
me stuff, even during the twenty nineteen

1073
01:10:58,239 --> 01:11:02,760
NBA Finals with the with the Toronto
Raptors. It makes you wonder whether the

1074
01:11:02,760 --> 01:11:06,920
Clippers and Kauai are going to take
the ultra cautious route and sit him out

1075
01:11:08,359 --> 01:11:11,840
all of next season, and certainly
just at this point he's going to miss

1076
01:11:11,880 --> 01:11:15,079
You would think a huge chunk of
next year, and so if you're the

1077
01:11:15,079 --> 01:11:17,239
Clippers, there's the what do you
do? Element? But I think first

1078
01:11:17,920 --> 01:11:20,560
this it sucks her. Kawai hope
he's able to make a full recovery.

1079
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:25,119
Just turned thirty. One of the
five to seven best players in basketball.

1080
01:11:25,760 --> 01:11:29,159
Torn acls are not partially torn acls, especially, they're not supposed to be

1081
01:11:29,199 --> 01:11:35,039
these hugely adversely impactful injuries that they
were in the past. You are,

1082
01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:41,319
I would say, above average,
having above average level of concern when it

1083
01:11:41,319 --> 01:11:43,920
comes to Quai, just because of
his past, and again he is over

1084
01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:46,680
thirty, But this is someone who's
not relying on explosion a ton to begin

1085
01:11:46,760 --> 01:11:49,439
with, and as long as he's
able to rest and get a full recovery,

1086
01:11:49,479 --> 01:11:53,640
he should still be I would estimate. I'm not a doctor and I'm

1087
01:11:53,640 --> 01:11:56,560
not an injury expert. The hope, though, from a fanner, just

1088
01:11:56,600 --> 01:11:59,880
a media perspective, would be that
he comes back and he is close to,

1089
01:12:00,159 --> 01:12:02,720
if not exactly, the same player. But this is this just absolutely

1090
01:12:02,760 --> 01:12:06,439
sucks, and it's you know,
this is someone who's been meticulously looked after

1091
01:12:06,560 --> 01:12:11,159
when it comes to his health over
the past three seasons or even four.

1092
01:12:11,319 --> 01:12:15,399
He didn't he played only nine games
during his final season with San Antonio eighteen

1093
01:12:15,479 --> 01:12:17,600
twenty nineteen, he missed his twenty
two games with the Raptors basically load management

1094
01:12:17,640 --> 01:12:20,880
there. Last year, he missed
fifteen games in the seventy two games season

1095
01:12:20,880 --> 01:12:25,039
and ends up missing twenty games in
the seventy two games season this year,

1096
01:12:25,079 --> 01:12:28,119
and it just it sucks. Hopefully
he gets better. He does have a

1097
01:12:28,159 --> 01:12:33,079
player option for free agency worth thirty
six million dollars. I would think this

1098
01:12:33,159 --> 01:12:38,399
makes it more likely that he declines
it and then signs a long term deal.

1099
01:12:39,039 --> 01:12:41,520
He could go the one plus run
route and then try and get the

1100
01:12:41,600 --> 01:12:44,560
you know, the mega contract eventually, but that would be taking a big

1101
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:46,880
risk unless you know you're going to
come back and play next season, which

1102
01:12:46,920 --> 01:12:50,079
is why if you don't know,
you certainly opt out and take the long

1103
01:12:50,199 --> 01:12:53,880
term deal you're sure to be offered, because I would assume the market for

1104
01:12:53,960 --> 01:12:58,520
him doesn't change leading into twenty two. But if you just play out next

1105
01:12:58,560 --> 01:13:00,960
year on the thirty six million dollars
salary and then enter free agency after not

1106
01:13:01,039 --> 01:13:04,479
playing for an entire season, who
knows what type of shenatigans could be up.

1107
01:13:04,479 --> 01:13:08,920
He could suffer a setback in his
recovery and his market value could be

1108
01:13:08,960 --> 01:13:12,319
neutered. From that perspective, he
is a player where he probably still gets

1109
01:13:12,319 --> 01:13:16,239
the maximoney anyway, But just looking
at what's the smartest decision financially, I

1110
01:13:16,239 --> 01:13:19,600
would certainly expect him just opt out
and sign a longer deal, whether that's

1111
01:13:19,600 --> 01:13:24,600
a one plus one or two plus
one at this point because he's writing off

1112
01:13:24,640 --> 01:13:27,159
next year, or just a full
on four year deal, and he can

1113
01:13:27,199 --> 01:13:29,640
sign with Los Angeles because they can't
offer from a five year deal. They

1114
01:13:29,680 --> 01:13:33,680
only have early bird rights on him
right now. The rest of the roster,

1115
01:13:33,800 --> 01:13:38,439
though, this is just if you
don't think that Kauai is going to

1116
01:13:38,520 --> 01:13:42,439
play most of, if not all, of next season. They just have

1117
01:13:42,520 --> 01:13:45,760
a lot of I don't even know
if it's decisions, but they just have

1118
01:13:45,840 --> 01:13:48,800
some tough calls to make. This
season, they were basically a net neutral

1119
01:13:48,880 --> 01:13:54,279
during the minutes that Kawai was off
the floor minus zero point one points per

1120
01:13:54,560 --> 01:13:59,399
one hundred possessions. They ranked fifty
eighth percentile on offensive efficiency, and they

1121
01:13:59,439 --> 01:14:02,520
were fiftieth per centile on defense.
If you include just the minutes that Paul

1122
01:14:02,600 --> 01:14:08,119
George played without Kawhi Leonard, they
were a little bit better plus one point

1123
01:14:08,119 --> 01:14:12,439
five points per one hundred possessions.
But the really big trade off here is

1124
01:14:12,479 --> 01:14:15,319
that because Kawhi is just not playing
for whatever stretch of time, they are

1125
01:14:15,359 --> 01:14:20,119
going to be you know, protracted
periods where both Kawai and Paul George aren't

1126
01:14:20,119 --> 01:14:23,760
on the court. And the Clippers
came close to treading water there too,

1127
01:14:23,840 --> 01:14:28,640
six offensive rating in the sixty third
percentile per cleaning the glass in nearly fifteen

1128
01:14:28,720 --> 01:14:31,039
hundred possessions without both of those guys
in the court, minus one point seven.

1129
01:14:31,079 --> 01:14:34,640
Overall, they gave up nearly one
or sixteen points per one hundred possessions

1130
01:14:34,640 --> 01:14:38,399
on defense during those minutes. Again, not an end all be all,

1131
01:14:38,479 --> 01:14:41,960
but I would wonder, and this
is a team that entering the off season

1132
01:14:42,039 --> 01:14:45,279
it's most expensive spending tool free agencies, the mini midlevel exception, and you're

1133
01:14:45,399 --> 01:14:50,119
not going to get just a hugely
impactful player with that, certainly not a

1134
01:14:50,159 --> 01:14:56,720
primary shot creator that you trust Kawatity
and you're already kind of down one of

1135
01:14:56,760 --> 01:15:00,000
those guys. Reggie Jackson helps there, but one can even bring Reggie Jackson

1136
01:15:00,039 --> 01:15:03,560
back. He is an early bird
free agent. So given just the rules,

1137
01:15:03,560 --> 01:15:06,720
they're gonna be able to offer him
the league average salary, which is

1138
01:15:06,760 --> 01:15:11,159
I think gonna be between like ten
point one and ten point four million dollars.

1139
01:15:11,159 --> 01:15:14,079
That's more than the non tax player
mid levels. So maybe it's enough

1140
01:15:14,079 --> 01:15:16,479
to keep them, especially if they're
willing to give him three or four full

1141
01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:19,880
years. But there's also the chance
that he gets an inflated, you know,

1142
01:15:20,199 --> 01:15:23,760
one or two year deal from another
team and is willing to sign that

1143
01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:26,560
for a more prominent role. Not
having Kawai, though, I think,

1144
01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:30,439
sets him up nicely to have the
prominent role in Los Angeles, But overall,

1145
01:15:30,439 --> 01:15:33,319
he just becomes more mission critical to
stay. But if let's assume you

1146
01:15:33,439 --> 01:15:36,520
resign him, use I don't know
who you're going to use the mini mid

1147
01:15:36,600 --> 01:15:40,880
level on at this point, you
might need to use part of that on

1148
01:15:41,000 --> 01:15:43,600
Nicholas Batum. You don't have bird
rights on him. He's still getting he's

1149
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:46,760
still getting paid by Charlotte, and
the fit in Los Angeles was clearly great

1150
01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:50,319
for him. He led them in
total regular season minutes. That is just

1151
01:15:50,399 --> 01:15:53,720
a It makes sense when you look
at all the injuries they're dealing with,

1152
01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:57,880
but that's just a bonkers thing to
consider that Nicholas Batum in the twenty twenty

1153
01:15:57,920 --> 01:16:03,960
twenty one season led the loss angelist
Clippers perceived title contender in total regular seat

1154
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:06,720
as minutes played. It's just it's
uncomfortable. It's also kind of a fun

1155
01:16:06,760 --> 01:16:11,359
fact. But you're gonna have to
bring him back, and who's is he

1156
01:16:11,560 --> 01:16:14,880
just going to come back for you
on an afterthought? Dealing might not And

1157
01:16:14,920 --> 01:16:18,640
so if you need to use your
best spending tool to retain talent, it

1158
01:16:18,720 --> 01:16:21,199
puts you in even more of a
bind. And I think even if you're

1159
01:16:21,279 --> 01:16:25,840
not going to, you know,
even if you don't need it to resign

1160
01:16:25,840 --> 01:16:29,720
inca between even if you're able to
spend that elsewhere, maybe on a superior

1161
01:16:29,720 --> 01:16:31,000
player, I don't think he's going
to be on the player that the type

1162
01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:34,439
of player that you need. I
still think this is a situation where the

1163
01:16:34,479 --> 01:16:41,960
Clippers are going to need to use
the trade market to boot to beef up

1164
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:45,000
their rotation and find somebody. I
do wonder if this makes it more likely,

1165
01:16:45,439 --> 01:16:49,600
and maybe not just because you'd be
going from one injured star to another

1166
01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:54,880
injury prone star, but doesn't make
it more likely that they try to go

1167
01:16:54,920 --> 01:16:59,119
after a Kemba locker trade it just
they can get there with the salaries.

1168
01:16:59,359 --> 01:17:01,199
It depends on who they're going to
give up. I would argue you definitely

1169
01:17:01,199 --> 01:17:04,439
can't give up Patrick Beverley on his
expiring deal now. He was good towards

1170
01:17:04,479 --> 01:17:08,479
the end of the playoffs, also
has an expiring contract, and he's just

1171
01:17:08,520 --> 01:17:12,920
going to shoulder a higher workload defensively
now with Kawai out, and so that

1172
01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:16,479
leaves you looking at something like the
Sergebaca opt in after his back injury.

1173
01:17:16,560 --> 01:17:23,159
And if so, you're probably using
Luke Kennard and then Rondo as your salary

1174
01:17:23,199 --> 01:17:26,359
filler there, or are you looking
at Rondo to kind of help initiate your

1175
01:17:26,399 --> 01:17:30,880
offense now more than ever, even
though he wasn't a pivotal role in the

1176
01:17:32,239 --> 01:17:36,600
didn't play a pivotal role for them
in the postseason. But Kema Walker seems

1177
01:17:36,600 --> 01:17:39,920
like it. He might be gettable. And if you're willing to throw in

1178
01:17:40,439 --> 01:17:44,560
your this would be after the draft. Of course, for any Stepian rule

1179
01:17:44,720 --> 01:17:48,880
sticklers, you can send your two
thousand and twenty one first, which is

1180
01:17:48,920 --> 01:17:51,600
at number twenty five, after the
draft to okayc is that enough? You

1181
01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:56,600
do have some Detroit seconds that you're
sitting on twenty twenty four and twenty twenty

1182
01:17:56,600 --> 01:17:59,159
five. I believe those are enticing, but you have to look at the

1183
01:17:59,199 --> 01:18:00,560
fact that, Okay, well,
Kema Walker was just dealing with his own

1184
01:18:00,640 --> 01:18:04,640
knee injuries and he was below all
star level in Boston. But you wonder,

1185
01:18:04,640 --> 01:18:06,800
if you know, were there any
other things that could have been going

1186
01:18:06,840 --> 01:18:12,000
on there. This was the first
season he shot under thirty five percent of

1187
01:18:12,039 --> 01:18:15,640
his pull up threes since I think
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, and he still

1188
01:18:15,720 --> 01:18:17,640
hit them at thirty four point nine
percent. Clip. You need someone who

1189
01:18:17,640 --> 01:18:21,319
can help you with the off the
dribble offense here, and you already arguably

1190
01:18:21,319 --> 01:18:26,199
needed that. Just someone to attack
a defense is coming out of conventional pick

1191
01:18:26,239 --> 01:18:29,800
and roll. I know that all
the left knee stuff that Kema dealt with

1192
01:18:29,880 --> 01:18:32,920
this year and just his play overall, he seldom put together many great,

1193
01:18:33,479 --> 01:18:38,560
prolonged stretches of basketball. It's a
red flag. But if the opportunity cost

1194
01:18:38,680 --> 01:18:42,439
really isn't too high for you,
I just don't know what the alternatives would

1195
01:18:42,439 --> 01:18:45,359
be. I mean, if you
go to the free agency route, you're

1196
01:18:45,560 --> 01:18:48,199
for what You're like, You're not
even gonna be in the Derrick Rose mix.

1197
01:18:48,319 --> 01:18:51,000
I would assume you're definitely not gonna
be in the DeVante Graham mix.

1198
01:18:51,720 --> 01:18:55,960
You plan not even in the TJ
McConnell mix, like Reggie Jackson's the best

1199
01:18:55,960 --> 01:18:58,159
point guard. I think that you
could sign and then they drop off from

1200
01:18:58,159 --> 01:19:00,239
there? Is how much does is
Schmith help you? Does does go on

1201
01:19:00,319 --> 01:19:03,239
dragage? If the heat declined his
team option? Think about taking a pay

1202
01:19:03,239 --> 01:19:09,119
cut for the promise of maybe a
bigger role in Los Angeles. Maybe are

1203
01:19:09,119 --> 01:19:12,479
there cheaper options that you could look
at on the trade market. You know,

1204
01:19:12,800 --> 01:19:15,279
absolutely you're at a point now though
I think you have enough wings to

1205
01:19:15,359 --> 01:19:19,279
get by with Terrence Mann, Paul
George, Marcus Morris looking at the defense,

1206
01:19:19,319 --> 01:19:23,239
so I don't know that you need
to care where the off the dribble

1207
01:19:23,319 --> 01:19:25,680
offense comes from. This isn't the
situation you look at and say, okay,

1208
01:19:25,680 --> 01:19:28,119
well they need to trade four and
sign another wing. If you have

1209
01:19:28,119 --> 01:19:30,520
a two who can make quick second
passes as well and handle the ball a

1210
01:19:30,560 --> 01:19:33,159
little bit if he comes back,
that puts you in good shape. But

1211
01:19:33,279 --> 01:19:38,479
just looking overall at like who could
they realistically trade for? Like Thomas said

1212
01:19:38,479 --> 01:19:41,960
a Ranskeet, is he moved the
needle for them at all? Could they

1213
01:19:41,960 --> 01:19:45,439
get into the Eric Gordon sweepstakes?
You know he shot fifty eight percent on

1214
01:19:45,560 --> 01:19:47,800
his drives, shoots ultra deep threes, just someone who could put the ball

1215
01:19:47,800 --> 01:19:51,600
on the floor. Ode I think
thirty seven point six million guaranteed over the

1216
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:55,000
next two years. He's not going
to have the third year on his contract

1217
01:19:55,039 --> 01:19:58,840
unless his team wins wins the finals, So can you get involved with that?

1218
01:19:59,039 --> 01:20:01,359
Again? You have the rematching tools
when you look at Obaka and Rondo,

1219
01:20:01,439 --> 01:20:08,399
and then what's the Is Houston just
happy to get off of the Eric

1220
01:20:08,439 --> 01:20:12,000
Gordon contract at this point as possible. He's also working his way back so

1221
01:20:12,239 --> 01:20:15,800
from his own injury. I think
he injured his I don't remember WHI knee

1222
01:20:15,800 --> 01:20:17,039
it was, but I believe he's
working off a knee injury. I'll double

1223
01:20:17,119 --> 01:20:20,039
check that as I'm speaking. So
that's just something else to consider. And

1224
01:20:20,079 --> 01:20:23,479
it's the same thing with Kema Walker. He definitely have the higher ceiling than

1225
01:20:23,560 --> 01:20:27,840
Eric Gordon at this point, though
Gordon can give you more quality defensive minutes,

1226
01:20:27,880 --> 01:20:30,119
like he's been put on wings before
and kind of held his own and

1227
01:20:30,159 --> 01:20:32,600
it was he had right groin issues
is what ended his season, then he

1228
01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:36,319
dealt with in addition to that left
knee problem. So I was twenty five

1229
01:20:36,359 --> 01:20:39,800
percent right, fifty percent right,
whatever you kind of want to say.

1230
01:20:39,840 --> 01:20:44,279
There they But again, when you're
the Clippers, and yes, you have

1231
01:20:44,359 --> 01:20:45,840
the contracts to go out and maybe
bring back someone's making a ton of money,

1232
01:20:45,840 --> 01:20:47,920
you just don't have the sweeteners.
If you're looking at this year's first

1233
01:20:47,960 --> 01:20:51,199
round, pick those Detroit seconds unless
you will want to give up a Terrence

1234
01:20:51,199 --> 01:20:55,840
Mann or an Avicha Zubox, which
I wouldn't recommend at this point because you're

1235
01:20:55,880 --> 01:20:58,920
not exactly flushed with centers and I
know that he had some issues in the

1236
01:20:58,960 --> 01:21:01,760
playoffs. You don't know what Sergebaka
will look like with his back, and

1237
01:21:01,800 --> 01:21:04,000
that's assuming he opts in. He
might opt out, and then you decide,

1238
01:21:04,039 --> 01:21:06,880
well, is one hundred and twenty
percent of this year's salary enough to

1239
01:21:06,920 --> 01:21:10,920
keep him? I'd probably guess yes, But then what is he gonna look

1240
01:21:10,960 --> 01:21:15,039
like? So questions galore really for
them, and you can feel free to

1241
01:21:15,079 --> 01:21:18,760
add me on Twitter or at Hardwood
Knox or and then there's at Damp Valley

1242
01:21:18,760 --> 01:21:24,760
IVLI if you have any what you
think are realistic trade targets for the Clippers,

1243
01:21:24,800 --> 01:21:28,680
but Kemba and Eric Gordon are probably
the best highest end ones, most

1244
01:21:28,720 --> 01:21:31,159
realistic that's bring to mind I can
come up with, unless they decide to

1245
01:21:31,159 --> 01:21:36,399
go the route of surrounding you know, Paul George's with as much shooting as

1246
01:21:36,439 --> 01:21:42,039
possible, Like if they can pick
up Terrence Ross for you know, packing

1247
01:21:42,079 --> 01:21:45,279
peanuts or something from Orlando, like
just basically matching and then a very little

1248
01:21:45,319 --> 01:21:47,840
sweet and attached. Do they look
at that? I don't. I would

1249
01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:51,920
argue that that's not something they do. Could they? I think you know

1250
01:21:51,960 --> 01:21:57,520
the problem here is too you could
probably open up sign and trade possibilities if

1251
01:21:57,520 --> 01:22:00,840
you're looking at a Spencer Dinwitty looking
at what he's going to make, But

1252
01:22:01,039 --> 01:22:05,319
then you're hardcapped at one hundred and
forty three million dollars. I don't know

1253
01:22:05,560 --> 01:22:12,600
that you the Clippers have the money
below the apron with Kawai's next salary around

1254
01:22:12,600 --> 01:22:15,399
there, I think they're just above
the apron without you know, putting if

1255
01:22:15,399 --> 01:22:20,119
you pencilan Serge Ibaka's player option,
yeah, they're they're comfortably above the apron

1256
01:22:20,199 --> 01:22:25,359
by about I have them over nine
million, between eight and nine plus million

1257
01:22:25,359 --> 01:22:29,439
above the apron. In that scenario, with Abaca opting in and just Kawai

1258
01:22:29,560 --> 01:22:33,000
getting his max salary in free agency, you can look at shedding salary and

1259
01:22:33,119 --> 01:22:36,359
staying under the hardcap, but then
you're leaving yourself with very little wiggle room.

1260
01:22:36,359 --> 01:22:40,119
You're certainly not going to be able
to resign Reggie Jackson, resign Nick

1261
01:22:40,159 --> 01:22:43,840
Patoum, and then stay under the
apron. So sign in trades, I

1262
01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:46,279
would guess, are mostly out of
the equation, or they would be super

1263
01:22:46,319 --> 01:22:49,840
complex. You're trimming a lot of
salary in that scenario, and so trade

1264
01:22:49,920 --> 01:22:55,399
is probably just the most realistic path
for you to do anything substantial. I

1265
01:22:55,439 --> 01:22:58,239
also just wonder if they have the
guts or the impetus to do that.

1266
01:22:58,760 --> 01:23:00,600
I don't think when you have Paul
George and you've given up so much draft

1267
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:03,920
equity to get Kawai plus shake jojis
I was Andrew, mind you, who's

1268
01:23:04,039 --> 01:23:09,159
one hell of a player. When
you've given up that much to maximize Paul

1269
01:23:09,159 --> 01:23:12,680
George and Kahi Leonards window and you've
already resigned to Paul George, you can't

1270
01:23:12,680 --> 01:23:14,960
just say it right. Next year
is kind of this gap year, like

1271
01:23:15,039 --> 01:23:20,840
you're not working towards anything there you
already owe you your pick to okay see

1272
01:23:20,920 --> 01:23:26,720
in twenty twenty two, So I
think that it's like you're you're not fighting

1273
01:23:26,760 --> 01:23:30,680
to keep that pick. So this
isn't a gap year. You're trying to

1274
01:23:30,720 --> 01:23:33,680
win. But do you when you
don't have Kawhi Leonard? It is kind

1275
01:23:33,680 --> 01:23:36,079
of weird to say, all right, well we need to go out and

1276
01:23:36,119 --> 01:23:40,560
we're going to I don't think giving
up on Luke anard four year, fifty

1277
01:23:40,600 --> 01:23:44,000
six million dollars deal. The first
three years are free, are guaranteed,

1278
01:23:44,319 --> 01:23:45,840
and then they have the team option
on the fourth and there they're incentives bake

1279
01:23:45,880 --> 01:23:48,960
into there. I think can bring
it to four years and sixty four million.

1280
01:23:49,520 --> 01:23:53,399
I don't think that stings. And
then giving up on Rondo Tobaca,

1281
01:23:53,399 --> 01:23:55,359
I don't know that that's things either. You can probably pick up a big

1282
01:23:55,359 --> 01:23:57,720
on the chief. The Marcus Cousins
has a really nice minutes for the Clippers

1283
01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:01,520
in the playoffs, so maybe they
are to bring him back on a cheaper

1284
01:24:01,520 --> 01:24:06,319
deal. You have him and Zubots. You still have Marcus Morris and Nicholas

1285
01:24:06,319 --> 01:24:10,159
pet two if you bring him back
to use if you really want to downsize

1286
01:24:10,319 --> 01:24:13,159
having Kawai though, it was kind
of important to those situations too. You're

1287
01:24:13,239 --> 01:24:15,039
just had so much size on the
wings and just wing talent in general.

1288
01:24:15,319 --> 01:24:18,439
You can envision yourself downsizing more often
in certain matchups, and that's what helped

1289
01:24:18,439 --> 01:24:23,079
to give Utah the problem. So
I'm not writing off the Clippers completely next

1290
01:24:23,159 --> 01:24:25,920
year. I'm just curious as to
what are they going to get for.

1291
01:24:27,000 --> 01:24:29,960
I think players that other teams aren't
going to you as the actual assets.

1292
01:24:29,960 --> 01:24:31,840
Maybe Okay, so he would be
intrigued by Luke Nard or Houston because they're

1293
01:24:31,840 --> 01:24:35,159
at the early stages of a rebuild. Are those players enough though, just

1294
01:24:35,239 --> 01:24:39,640
to get you the other players you're
targeting in this case and I'm just looking

1295
01:24:39,680 --> 01:24:42,079
at Camera or Eric Gordon. I'm
not tied to this at all. There's

1296
01:24:42,119 --> 01:24:44,439
a way for the you know,
you can send out a similar package bringing

1297
01:24:44,439 --> 01:24:47,239
back Harrison Barnes. I don't think
he brings enough of the shot creation aspect,

1298
01:24:47,319 --> 01:24:51,479
but he really does preserve a lot
of your defensive structure and would help

1299
01:24:51,479 --> 01:24:55,920
you retain access to those super small
combinations. So you could look at that,

1300
01:24:56,039 --> 01:24:59,239
but just are is salary filler enough
to get you anyone? And there

1301
01:24:59,279 --> 01:25:02,439
might be some unique opportunities where it
is. This is the nuclear scenario though,

1302
01:25:02,880 --> 01:25:06,239
if Bradley bls out of Washington,
no, the Clippers can't get him,

1303
01:25:06,279 --> 01:25:09,840
but they wouldn't. Or if the
Clippers decide a trade Bradley beal,

1304
01:25:09,880 --> 01:25:12,359
which is possible if he doesn't indicated
on to sign extension. I don't think

1305
01:25:12,359 --> 01:25:15,479
that's a situation that needs to harp
on a trade request. Do you look

1306
01:25:15,840 --> 01:25:19,279
at bringing in Russell Westbrook like that's
someone I would assume that Washington in that

1307
01:25:19,319 --> 01:25:26,479
scenario would probably only care about saving
long term money on I would prefer if

1308
01:25:26,479 --> 01:25:30,359
I were them just to go after
Kemba Walker. Russell Westbrook was much better

1309
01:25:30,439 --> 01:25:35,399
last season, and now we're finding
out that he played through that that quad

1310
01:25:35,439 --> 01:25:40,760
injury, so I'm not trying to
write that off. And maybe he maybe

1311
01:25:40,800 --> 01:25:43,520
he has the higher ceiling in they
both have two years left on his deal.

1312
01:25:43,840 --> 01:25:45,760
His is just more expensive. It's
two years and ninety one point three

1313
01:25:45,760 --> 01:25:48,319
million compared to Kemba Walker, who
was about two years and I think it's

1314
01:25:48,319 --> 01:25:54,279
like seventy six and change left on
his deal or seventy seven around exactly.

1315
01:25:55,520 --> 01:25:58,399
That's just a huge commitment. And
then you have Kawai, Paul Gewards,

1316
01:25:58,439 --> 01:26:02,279
and Russell Westbrook in twenty twenty two
and twenty three making just a crap ton

1317
01:26:02,279 --> 01:26:04,199
of money. I don't know how
you feel about that. At the same

1318
01:26:04,239 --> 01:26:08,560
time, maybe you look at it
as if you truly do believe that Russell

1319
01:26:08,560 --> 01:26:11,600
Westbrook is still an All NBA caliber
player, especially for a team he's already

1320
01:26:11,600 --> 01:26:14,439
played with Paul George and OKC and
it worked out fairly well for them until

1321
01:26:14,439 --> 01:26:17,279
they got to the playoffs. You
know, are you going to feel that

1322
01:26:17,399 --> 01:26:21,359
much better about paying Kemba Walker thirty
seven point seven million dollars in twenty twenty

1323
01:26:21,359 --> 01:26:26,920
two twenty twenty three then playing Russell
Westbrook and forty seven point one in that

1324
01:26:26,960 --> 01:26:29,960
same season. If Kemba is Kemba, I would say yes, But that

1325
01:26:30,319 --> 01:26:32,279
matters, but he is the new
stuff he's dealing with. Russell Westbrook also

1326
01:26:32,319 --> 01:26:34,960
isn't a billboard for health at this
point. The fact that he played through

1327
01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:39,680
a quad injury this year is certainly
impressed. But he really did pick up

1328
01:26:39,680 --> 01:26:41,399
towards the end of the year.
He was a huge part of why the

1329
01:26:41,399 --> 01:26:45,039
Wizards really turned their their season around. But then you still need a confluence

1330
01:26:45,039 --> 01:26:47,239
of circumstances in this case to tilt
in your favor, which is one the

1331
01:26:47,319 --> 01:26:53,800
Wizards entering a rebuild, and two
that entails them wanting or being forced to

1332
01:26:53,840 --> 01:26:56,920
move off Bradley Beal, and then
three not wanting actual value for Russell Westbrook

1333
01:26:56,920 --> 01:27:00,800
because the best you can offer is
number twenty six attached a salary filler,

1334
01:27:00,800 --> 01:27:02,520
and it's much harder to just get
to his money than Kemba's. By the

1335
01:27:02,520 --> 01:27:05,920
way, you might be looking at
scenario where you have to include Patrick Beverley

1336
01:27:06,199 --> 01:27:11,079
unless you're gonna go the five for
one route, your pick plus four plus

1337
01:27:11,119 --> 01:27:15,800
four players and there for us.
Just that's some things to consider. Very

1338
01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:19,359
very sad to see this happen for
Kawhi Leonard. It has a huge impact

1339
01:27:19,359 --> 01:27:23,560
on the championship playing case in the
Western Conference next year. I wonder if

1340
01:27:23,560 --> 01:27:26,680
it emboldens you know, the Lakers
are teams are always going to be there,

1341
01:27:27,760 --> 01:27:30,479
but doesn't embolden other teams that are
maybe on the fringes to think,

1342
01:27:30,520 --> 01:27:32,960
Okay, the Clippers are kind of
out of it. Next year, you're

1343
01:27:32,960 --> 01:27:35,239
not going to view them as a
title contender unless you think Kauai is going

1344
01:27:35,279 --> 01:27:38,600
to come back and just be Kawhi
right away, but whether he comes back

1345
01:27:38,600 --> 01:27:41,560
out late in the season, what
does he look like after you know,

1346
01:27:42,640 --> 01:27:45,800
let's say eight months at minimum.
I would argue closer to ten, like

1347
01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:48,079
months of basketball. And you know, if we're going if we just say

1348
01:27:48,319 --> 01:27:53,880
from the moment he got injured,
Kawhi Leonard will return ten months from that

1349
01:27:53,960 --> 01:27:58,199
day, you're looking at April sixteenth, that's like right around the start of

1350
01:27:58,199 --> 01:28:00,640
the playoffs. So I don't know, it's basically the entire regular season if

1351
01:28:00,680 --> 01:28:03,479
it's If it's eight then yeah,
okay, then it's a lot earlier.

1352
01:28:03,520 --> 01:28:06,920
I just with Klyai can't wrap my
head around it being that much that much

1353
01:28:06,920 --> 01:28:11,720
sooner. So, but just other
teams and maybe maybe not just because you

1354
01:28:11,760 --> 01:28:15,800
know, the championship hierarchy in the
West, it's almost kind of set.

1355
01:28:15,880 --> 01:28:18,359
You knew the Nuggets, even though
they don't have Jamal Murray next season,

1356
01:28:18,880 --> 01:28:21,600
weren't just going to fall out of
it. But maybe they would be more

1357
01:28:21,600 --> 01:28:25,680
aggressive this offseason, and especially if
Will Barton NOPs out in kind of just

1358
01:28:25,680 --> 01:28:28,199
looking to add talent if they had
Jamal Murray. So they're another team that

1359
01:28:28,239 --> 01:28:30,000
could be sort of just okay,
well, we're gonna keep not gonna do

1360
01:28:30,039 --> 01:28:32,479
anything too DRAFTSI because we're not going
to have our team at full strength.

1361
01:28:32,479 --> 01:28:35,520
We're not gonna be able to reap
the full benefits of this for at least

1362
01:28:35,560 --> 01:28:38,880
another season. A lot of people
think Jamal Murray will be back by like

1363
01:28:38,880 --> 01:28:42,159
December January, because he's Jamal Murray. Maybe that's part of their calculus,

1364
01:28:42,239 --> 01:28:45,119
But just you know, you have
you have the Lakers, you have the

1365
01:28:45,159 --> 01:28:48,880
Suns, assuming that Chris Paul comes
back, you have the Jazz, the

1366
01:28:48,960 --> 01:28:56,000
Mavericks, and the Blazers are like
those fringe teams the Blazers will Does this

1367
01:28:56,039 --> 01:28:59,279
make them more inclined to swing a
big move a trade? Most likely,

1368
01:28:59,399 --> 01:29:01,439
I would argue know because it would
be Damian Lillar's future that does that.

1369
01:29:01,479 --> 01:29:04,319
If you if they weren't going to
make this huge move before at this gamble,

1370
01:29:04,359 --> 01:29:08,560
they wouldn't. They wouldn't. Now
Dallas is in is like kind of

1371
01:29:08,600 --> 01:29:12,680
the similar position. They just changed
their coaches and Luca doesn't seem like he's

1372
01:29:12,680 --> 01:29:15,399
too happy with how their seasons have
ended, so maybe you're a little bit

1373
01:29:15,399 --> 01:29:18,279
more willing to do something drastic.
The Warriors would be the team that I

1374
01:29:18,319 --> 01:29:23,640
look at and go okay the Clippers. If you just don't Penncilman is the

1375
01:29:23,640 --> 01:29:27,279
true title contender next year, That
theoretically makes a championship race a little bit

1376
01:29:27,279 --> 01:29:31,600
easier. Are you now a little
bit more likely to consider going hard after

1377
01:29:31,920 --> 01:29:36,239
a fringe star in a trade using
some combination of James Wiseman, number seven,

1378
01:29:36,319 --> 01:29:40,960
number fourteen and then other stuff be
a future first rounders or are Andrew

1379
01:29:40,960 --> 01:29:44,920
Wiggins? I don't know either way
as of right now. The Western Conference

1380
01:29:45,279 --> 01:29:47,520
championship pecking order, it's just it's
a little shallower and it's a little bit

1381
01:29:47,520 --> 01:29:50,239
more murky, and it was already
a little murky. There are questions that

1382
01:29:50,319 --> 01:29:54,399
need to be answered with what do
the Nuggets look like without Jamal Murray four

1383
01:29:54,720 --> 01:29:57,359
let's say a lion share of the
season at least, And now we're asking

1384
01:29:57,399 --> 01:30:00,239
the same question of the Clippers.
You had the teams hovering aroun on the

1385
01:30:00,239 --> 01:30:02,039
Fringes and the Mavericks and the Blazers. We assume the Lakers will be right

1386
01:30:02,039 --> 01:30:05,960
there if they're healthy. The Warriors
were our v team. Maybe that this

1387
01:30:06,039 --> 01:30:08,800
impacts the most. I don't think
you're going to see the team. I

1388
01:30:08,840 --> 01:30:11,640
think Grizzlies be like oh Quais injured, we need to go out and trade

1389
01:30:11,640 --> 01:30:14,520
for Zach Lavine and Bradley Beal.
I would love that. I love seeing

1390
01:30:14,560 --> 01:30:16,560
small market's non glamor markers act in
that fashion. But I don't think we're

1391
01:30:16,560 --> 01:30:19,479
going to see that from them,
or or the Pelicans all of a sudden.

1392
01:30:19,840 --> 01:30:24,000
More all of the story this sucks. I do think that this really

1393
01:30:24,039 --> 01:30:27,000
does force the Clippers into a quasi
gap here where No, you can't afford

1394
01:30:27,000 --> 01:30:29,359
to treat next season like a gap
here, but I don't. I wouldn't

1395
01:30:29,399 --> 01:30:32,359
put them in the upper echelal hunt
of of title contenders. I think if

1396
01:30:32,720 --> 01:30:36,960
we're just accounting for full health of
all the players who are available, you

1397
01:30:38,039 --> 01:30:41,119
have the Lakers there, you have
the Sons there. If Chris Paul comes

1398
01:30:41,159 --> 01:30:44,680
back, you throw the Jazz in
there. If if my Comedy come back,

1399
01:30:45,239 --> 01:30:46,319
that's kind of it for the first
tier. There'd be a bunch of

1400
01:30:46,319 --> 01:30:49,840
wild cards after that. Nuggets,
Clippers, Mavericks, Blazers, Golden State

1401
01:30:49,880 --> 01:30:54,359
Warriors. We'll see if anyone else
can sneak in there. Thank you all

1402
01:30:54,399 --> 01:30:59,119
for listening. Please please, pretty
please remember to subscribe to Hartloo Knox.

1403
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Please throw us ratings and reviews on
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Follow us on YouTube, subscribe their
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1407
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If you're listening to this on YouTube, If that subscribe button right now,

1408
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I like it, comments we look
at those two will respond as well.

1409
01:31:18,279 --> 01:31:23,399
We are on Instagram. There will
be i G. Exclusive content that is

1410
01:31:23,439 --> 01:31:27,439
posted as well at Hardwood Underscore Knox, and we are on Twitter also at

1411
01:31:27,479 --> 01:31:31,159
Hardwood Knox spelled exactly as it sounds. Until next time, I leave you

1412
01:31:31,199 --> 01:31:35,159
with the shout out to the one, the only, Frank Nilikina, but

1413
01:31:35,199 --> 01:31:40,920
also Kauie Lewars who are we at
Hardwin Knox are wishing a speedy and mega

1414
01:31:41,520 --> 01:31:47,720
super duper effective recovery