What's up y'all is Drewski and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a
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and wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello everyone, and welcome to the
latest episode of Hardwood Knocks. This is Adam Framwell. Here is my fantastic
co host, Dan's Valley. We are deep in the midst of the first
weekend of the twenty twenty one NBA Playoffs. We've had a number of compelling
games so far. We're going to talk about those and all of the questions
that you, the listeners have submitted. But before we do that, as
always, how's it going, Dan, I'm doing well. How are you
doing? I'm already built a sandbox over the Weekend rumor is correct. Yeah,
we did it from scratch from my toddler. We still have to put
like a roof over it to protect the sand from the neighborhood raccoons and the
elements in general. But it was a shockingly long and arduous process. Well,
I'm sure your son will appreciate it. Did we already? I had
a speaker request before I made you the host? Do you still have it?
Did that go away? It went away because I think they left the
room, all right? They didn't want to ask that question offs right,
Yeah, I am always curious about the speaker request before we started recording.
But yeah, well, congrats to your son. What have you any quick
before we get to all these questions, and if anyone in the room has
a question, feel free to ask it in the chat or a quest to
speak. Any early playoff impressions play in tournament hot takes, since those were
flying around after the Warriors lost, I don't think anything surprised me that much
in this first set of games. It seems like the teams that had to
fight a little bit harder with a shorter rotation at the end of the regular
season suffered for it in the play in game namely the Golden State Warriors against
the Memphis Grizzlies, the Denver Nuggets against the Portland Trailblazers in Game one.
But I don't think any outcomes are truly surprising to this point, I'm kind
of with you. I think I might have missed on the Nuggets Blazers series
a ton though I had Nuggets in seven, but kind of watching the Blazers
offense and just a lack of bodies and then firepower on the Nuggets end outside
of Yokich, it does seem like Portland's very much gonna play. Yokis can
drop thirty something a night and be efficient for most of the night, and
we don't care. We're gonna make everyone else beat us. And I know
Michael Porter Junior won't shoot one of ten from three every single night. But
if you don't get Will Barton back in this series, or if you don't
get PJ. Doser back to help you defend McCullum and Dames, yeah,
I'm not gonna. I'll never back off my picks. But that's the one
I feel shakiest about at the moment. Well, that and I had Clippers
in five. That was a that was a terrible picks. I think the
biggest thing though, is just not taking too much away from Game one because
I think historically like the winner of Game one only wins the first round series
like fifty two percent of the time or something like that. I thought it
was in the sixties, but I haven't checked probably in two years. So
that's not don't don't go off me, but we do. You have a
first speaker request, so I'm going to assume that's a question here and I
will invite you to speak. Little Trey Wallace. How's it going today?
We'll go and get there's launching Lakers and Sons. Yeah, talk about an
interesting early start here with DeAndre Aden just going off. Deange is just tortunate
eighty right now. Yeah, So did you have a question for us?
Yeah, well, I'll talk about the game was yesterday. It books very
surround against the heat. Yeah, the Clippers are still the Clippers, and
the Blazers beat then gets in the nets destroy as Celtics. Yeah. Yeah,
we can definitely elaborate on those a little bit here. Dan. Did
you have any thoughts on the Bucks in particular? Yeah, Yo, the
Bucks are legit as hell, because I thought that more so going into the
playoffs to begin with. But you won a game where Yanni shoots ten of
twenty four from two, so that's forty one point seven percent six of thirteen
at the foul line. The Bucks as a whole were trash from the foul
line. They were were they five of thirty one from three, which was
the first time they shot under seventeen percent from three while taking at least twenty
attempts since twenty eighteen. Ironically, that game was also against the Heat and
the other thing that's just not being talked about Drew Holiday and Jannis. I
don't know if you saw when I tweeted this out, they combined for more
turnovers than assists. The Bucks still won that game. I know Jimmy Butler
and bam Adebayo struggled, right, That's what I was gonna say, is
like the Devil's Advocate. Here is that Butler shuck of twenty two and Tyler
Hero shot two of ten and bam Adebayo couldn't buy a bucket? Here's does
that negate itself? No, Because first of all, Tyler Hero, that's
going to happen. It happened a little bit last year. In the bubble
even though he was hot, and that's that's his game. He's going to
be up and down, and this year he's been mostly down, although he
had a nice close to the season. I'll also argue that Bam will be
better, but like Bam is not even when you look at his numbers,
Bam is not a scorer. They need him to be more aggressive and until
he gets to that point, like I'm not, I think Jimmy struggles are
the ones that will correct themselves and maybe you'll get a better version of Draggage
perhaps, But the fact that the Bucks were, you know, you still
have Chris Middleton. But that's sort of the point, is that now all
of a sudden, they have these closers galore where it's Janis and Drew and
Chris Middleton, and you have two players I think that you can resently put
the ball in their hands in the half court and Drew and Chris Middleton when
things are at a standstill and crunch time. And we saw that they went
to Drew a bunch. He wasn't great. Beat up some guys in the
post though, and that create opportunity and then Middleton was obviously the hero there
I picked the Bucks in five in that one. I don't know what made
me pick all these five games series. I must have been I don't know
if I was stoned when I did that podcast. But I don't feel terrible
about that pick. It's no MAVs, no MAVs and Clippers. Yeah,
I mean, I really am just playing Devil's advocate because my primary takeaways from
that game are all positive from Milwaukee, especially just looking at the rotations,
the fact that Mike Budenholtzer only played nine guys in that game, the fact
that he kept the starters on for the entire overtime period, and even more
importantly, Jannis played forty minutes and twenty seven seconds in regulation. When was
the last time we could say that in a postseason game. So it feels
like all of those critiques of the Bucks that helped explain these playoff shortcomings in
previous season in previous seasons, those are slowly being eradicated, and this Milwaukee
team is supremely talented and beating the heat is not an easy feat in the
playoffs when they're coached by Eric Bolster, despite the shooting woes of Stars.
And the other thing here, too is that I know, Jannis did not
have the greatest game and he looked like he tweaked is I don't know if
it was his hip or what happened. Is at the beginning of the game
or earlier in the game. He's going to have better nights, and I
don't think the Heat necessarily defended him particularly well. They went with Trevor Ariza
a bunch, but then they went with bam Adebayo when it matters. That's
where you missed Jay Crowder probably the most, is because he was the one
that defended Jannis primarily last year. So you could have Bam mucking things up
as the helper. If you have him on Jannis, it makes sense.
I'm not you know, you can't criticize Spoe if they go that route for
most of the game from now on. But then it takes him away from
doing a lot of the other things that not only make him great, but
makes the Heat defense so dangerous, right, yeah, I think. And
then with the other three games, I think I was a little bit surprised
that Brooklyn didn't win more easily, and the other two series, I just
I don't have a field for them yet. It feels like it could go
either way any given night, and kind of the same for Dallas in LA.
Yeah, we have questions on some of these series too, and let's
start with one that as of this recording, as you have to be played
at the Lions, King asked why are the Jazz being slept on as championship
contenders? I don't know. It's it baffles me because they're my pick to
win at all. I'm on the record with a Jazz Bucks Finals, with
the Jazz winning in seven games. Be sure, not Jazz sixers. I
confused myself because I've waffled between the sixers and Bucks, but it is officially
on the record. The corrected version is Jazz verse six I mean Bucks.
So yeah, you're the wrong person asked that question. I think the Jazz
are legit contenders, but the reasons, some of the reasons that they're being
slept on, most notably the gobet being played off the floor stance our bullshit.
That was multiple years ago. That season's team was I believe fourteen offensive
rating, so they didn't have that offensive juggernaut to fall back on. This
year's is fourth in offensive rating and third in defensive rating during the regular season.
This is a great two way team. But I think the other reason
is last year's shortcoming where Boyon Bogdanovitch was hurt, Mike Conley hadn't been fully
integrated into the rotation. Neither of those are issues. Now this is a
complete team and it's a dominant team. The two things that concern me the
most would be, and we've talked about this ad nauseum here, the absence
of that clear bigger wing defender Roy Sone was a little small. He'll help
you when you're going up against guards, for sure, anyone in the backcourt
really after that, Joe Angels can help you, But like, that's not
who you want checking Lebron or Kauai or Paul George that matter, because they
would be slated to meet the Clippers in the second round, which I think
is I say, it's a terrible draw, but the Clippers are the Clippers,
and I don't anytime you want to think you're going to trust the clip,
you end up not trusting the Clippers because the Clippers are the Clippers.
That's my justification there. The other thing, which I actually think is probably
more salient. I've seen people focus a lot on how their offense will fare
in the postseason. They're gonna be fine. Maybe they don't generate as looks
as easily, but we've actually seen them before. They were as talented as
this team generate high quality looks in the playoffs. They just weren't hitting them.
The players they have now are going to hit them. They were first
in the league during the regular season and affect a field goal percentage on pull
up drumpers. The actual concern at this point is Donovan Mitchell didn't play towards
the end of the regular season because of that s brand ankle, and now
he's gonna you know, maybe the rest does him well, but you are
asking him to come back all of a sudden in the playoffs. How long
does it take to ramp them back up? And the Grizzlies are gonna go
at you. Dylan Brooks is gonna try and be physical with him, and
will be physical with him. That's a matchup to really watch. They're not
going to lose to the Grizzlies. And I shouldn't dismissed the Grizzlies so easily,
because I did. When we were doing previews for every series. I
went right into Warriors Jazz and only spent like minutes on Grizzlies Jazz. The
Donovan Mitchell thing concerns me, I think because they're so much better than their
first round opponent, though it does give him that wee way to work himself
back into the action, even him and my Conley, who missed a bunch
of time towards the end of the year two. I kind of think it's
a blessing in disguise that it's not a more severe injury that he was able
to take it so easy at the end of the regular season and get more
rested up for this playoff run. Because the Jazz were another team that played
deep into the bubble season and didn't have as long an off season, and
I don't mind that that's the way the end of the regular season worked out
for them. I think it could be pretty beneficial. Sugar Ray, Leonard,
Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns legends whose four
way rivalry define one of the greatest errors in boxing history, relive their decade
of dominance in the new Showtime Sports documentary The Kings, a four parts series
premiering Sunday, June sixth, only on Showtime. Would you have a question
in the chat right now from long time Faithful listener Noah Otage. Yes,
what happens to the Hawks offense when Frank Natila Kina. I'm gonna keep saying
it like that for you, Dan effectively shuts down Trey Young And No,
I'm just confused by the question because when Trey Young gets shut down, they
don't have an offense. This year they did have a little bit more of
an offense with when Bogdanovitch coming on has been huge for them. I will
say if Frank Niela Kina does not play at least fifteen to twenty minutes per
game in this series, my prediction would be that the Knicks have lost it
because they don't have anyone else who makes sense to defend Trey Young. Maybe
Reggie Bullock maybe, but that's just I don't know. I don't think that
they should be starting Alfred Peyton. I would start Franknielickina or Alec Burks if
I were them. See I'm not even saying just Frank. I understand that
you want someone who can maybe get you into your offense. I personally think
that if you put someone like Nila Keen on the floor. It would force
RJ. Barrett to be more aggressive. But Nila Keena needs to play this
series. And I know Tom Thibodeau is like tiptoed around and saying he might
play him. I have two concerns there. These aren't questions so much as
just observations. I'm kind of tired of hearing Tom Thibodeau compliment Frank Nilikina so
much only to not play him. It just it bugs the hell out of
me. I'm not saying it's fake, but if you're if you have this
much faith in him, why not play him? And then two with that,
I've already touched upon this, I'm not I still don't understand Alfred Peyton
stuff. If you're not going to start Neil Kina, start Alec Burke someone
I understand not wanting to start Derek Rose because of what that could do for
your bench to him, and I Q minutes have been fire. It shouldn't
be Alfred Peyton and this is the series where that could come back to haunt
you. You give if Alfred Peyton is the one that winds up defending Trey
Young and you even do that till the six thirty six mark or whatever the
trademark minute is where you pull him. That's like five minutes of Trey Young
potentially just going bonkers, and that's you know, a lot of damage in
those five minutes. Correct. We also have a live update here. I
saw this around the podcast. You know, I don't I don't have the
Lakers soun's game on because we're recording here. I have it a pause to
watch later. But per Mike Traudell at Lakers reporter, looked like Chris Paul
heard his next slash upper back area by making contact with he make Cam Johnson
after landing trying to contest to put back lay up from Lebron, he just
walked off straight to the locker room. Sounds like he was in a lot
of pain on the floor. Players from both teams surrounding him. That would
be a disaster for the Suns. I don't think there's any way around that.
You have to you immediately waived Cam Johnson and yeah, I'm not trying
to make light of it, but they would they be fucked pardon my French.
Yeah, I mean we both picked the Suns in this first round series.
That immediately changes not making that pick Yeah, it's Lakers in three without
Chris Paul. There's nothing that you can do to replace those minutes. So
all the best thoughts to Chris Paul right now. Yeah, No, seriously,
and we want to see good series. And this was this I think
was shaping up to be would have shaped up to have been good one.
And I do have it on here. I saw him get injured him how
my fingers crossed? It wasn't serious, but it's on mute, so I
didn't know the context. Another playoff question from at Nugget one zero five.
Does Boston have any chance of winning? No, it's over And I think
Game one is almost a disaster in the sense you hold the Nets to under
one hundred and five points and you still lose the How do you score ninety
three points against that Brooklyn defense? Kemba Walker plays like not a very good
player. Jason Tatum. Life was made hell on Jason Tatum. That's where
they really missed Jalen Brown, and it like the defense. The Nets weren't
king in on Kemba Walker the way that they were Jason Tatum. You saw
Jeff Green and Kevin Durant defen Tatum a bunch but that was just like the
kitchen sink was thrown at Jason Tatum, and that they're able to do that
defeats the purpose of having Kemba Walker. And I do think after this series,
if Kemba Walker, no one expects the Celtics to win. But if
he doesn't have like two or three straight games of close to vintage Kemba performances,
there are so many conversations that need to be have about Kemba's place in
league overall and where the Celtics go from here. Here's two years left on
his MAX deal. They can't They're not gonna win anything with this version of
Kemba Walker. And I know he's been banged up this year oblique and knee
issues. Still like that's just the reality of Boston situation. They need Kenba
to be right now. He has to be their second best player, but
you have to look at this through the lens of can he even be our
third or fourth best player next year? I think players like Lebron James and
Chris Paul have kind of made us forget that. For primary ball handlers who
are tasked with initiating a lot of offense, thirty one is usually that magic
age where you see the sudden drop offs, and Kemba turned thirty one earlier
in May. It's not inconceivable that we've just seen the last of vintage Kemba.
Sad as that may be. But to answer the original question, like,
I'd be downright shock if this is anything more than a gentleman's sweep.
Yeah, I had I believe the Nets just sweeping them out right, because
Jaylen Brown means that much to them. I don't even like, what's the
bright spot for the Celtics, nest I guess Robert Williams he put on a
shot blocking clinic. I did see though, that only one of his nine
blocks resulted in the Celtics winding up with possession. The rest went out of
bounds or ended up in the in the Nets hands. That's I think that
does show that there's limited value to shop blocking. It's important, but steels
and forcing turnovers are way more important. There are shot blocking artists throughout NBA
history who were uniquely adept at keeping the ball in bounds or swatting into their
teammates. Bill Russell famously was able to start fast breaks off of his blocks.
Tim Duncan was an absolute master at keeping them in bounds. Shaquille O'Neil
loves swatting them into the fourteenth row of the stands. One of those things
is more valuable than the others. I will also say, though, that
Robert Williams looks like he got a lot better in one on one situations where
he held up on some switches. Maybe that's the bright spot is okay,
center of the future here, let's move forward. We have to trade kemba.
That's the discussion that's happening this year. That's all Hardwood Knocks nominee Robert
Williams. By the way, Oh yes, I forgot Congratulations to you,
Thank you. We have some other playoff related questions here at Karan k Hannah
or Karan Kana. I apologize if I butchered the hell out of that pronunciation.
Hi, can you find some data on eighties offensive efficiency and Lakers overall
driving, paid finishing when Drummond is on the court, And I can because
you ask so politely, you said, Hi, I really appreciate that.
So I brought up some numbers here because I'm assuming you don't have those off
of top of mind. Maybe you do because you're a genius. But this
season a D is taking a career low thirty two percent of his field goal
attempts at the rim and a career high fifty three percent are coming from mid
range. A lot of that I think has to do I mean even now,
but at the beginning of the season, and it was point blank said
he wasn't in the best shape after the championship run and he was injured.
I think that really contributed to the diminished volume at the basket. He is
still shooting like seventy five percent at the rim, and that's a career high,
so there is that to consider. He is shooting on those mid range
attempts though, forty three percent, which is tied for the second best mark
of his career, so at least that's not goes on with the attempts that
you want. But when he's not hitting threes at an astronomical clip, the
fact that he has that in his arsenal is huge. I do think they
need him to get to the basket more. And that brought me up to
a piece of trivia for you, Adam, concerning a DA. When is
the last time that rollman possessions accounted for at least twenty percent of Anthony Davis's
offense. I feel like there's a solid chance this is a trick question and
it's never happened. So I'm gonna go with his rookie season back in twenty
twelve, thirteen. It was twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, but it's been
and yeah, and look, it's been so a half decade. The thing
here is that he became such a great player. He didn't only have to
be a play finisher. So I get why that volume would dip this season,
and it was even last season, fourteen point seven percent of his offensive
possessions came as the rollman, not particularly efficient, shot fifty five point eight
percent on them, a lot more popping there. His affective field goal percent
was around sixty in these situations. That's that's great. And then last season
was kind of the same story twelve point seven percent, So it's only a
tick up. I don't know if this has to do with the Laker spacing
or what. I would love to see Anthony Davis involved in way more pick
and roll than he is now. I understand he's so much more than a
play finisher, but if you give him the wiggle room, to maneuver,
and I think when you're playing him at the four, he probably doesn't have
it as much, especially if the other big is Andre Drummond on the court.
I don't know. That just feels like you're leaving money on the table
by not easing him more as the diver. Look, I'm gonna channel my
my inner Charles Bark and Shaquille O'Neal here, which is like very deep somewhere
in the recesses of my psyche, and you haven't watched any of the games
and you slept through them, and you're going to give your opinions anyway,
Yeah, essentially, But anecdotally, I think Anthony Davis spends too much time
on the perimeter. And I'm in no way one of those people who's like,
oh, we need the traditional big man play, like bring back the
post of blah blah blah blah blah. But he does. It feels like
the Lakers use him just spotting up on the wings a little bit too much
and take him away from his strengths. I don't know if that's the scheme
that Frank Vogel has designed, if that's Anthony Davis just not wanting to play
the five, it actually reform maybe because I don't know if you have good
around the basket. I just you're taking away such a dangerous, devastating weapon
from that offense. I think part of it is out of necessity because he's
the second big on the floor and unless that other big is this season,
to look at Marc Gasol, if it's tres if it's Drummond, he can't
be that guy because they have to be that guy, right or they could
play him at the five, not have him be the second big, but
of the two. Really, you know, we never talked about that latter
point before. I used to think I was oversimplifying it by saying that players
need to stop with the I don't want to play this position in that position.
Until Modac Hill, former video coordinator for two NBA teams and the Australian
national team, I believe, told me that it is absolute bs and that
they should. You know, for Anthony Davis, there's I know he wants
to fly around the perimeter on defense. Is he really getting like he gets
banged up enough? He's on the floor all the time. Maybe if he's
guarding centers, he actually won't have to move as much and won't get injured
or whatever. But I he's gonna take shots to the face wherever he is
because he's Anthony Davis and that's his thing, right, So this is this
is like mellow not wanting to play the four way back when all over again,
really quickly on the Drummond stats. So the Lakers four point three percent
more of their shots come from short mid range when he's on the court.
One point four percent of their rim frequency drops. So the percent of shots
that are coming at the rim when he's on the court are are dipping by
one point four percent. I actually do think that's his fault a little bit,
just because he's going to bail out of some of his roles a little
too soon and throw up those junkie short mid rangers as we just alluded to.
When you're looking at the accuracy in those situations, Los Angeles is accuracy
at the rim drops by two point nine percentage points when Drummond is on the
court. The short mid range accuracy drops by four point nine percentage points.
Those are very not good numbers. Look, we just not good numbers.
This is going to be so dated, but for anyone who has not had
the update on Chris paul Or is listening live. He will return to game
one, so well he's available to return to game one. We don't yet
know if he will. Right, well, he better. I have sons
in seven, like, come on, CP three, let's go right I
do. We have two questions on the Warriors that I guess I'll save because
they are interesting. We have because it's the Hardware Knox podcast. We do
have a Nicole Yokis question. It wouldn't be an episode with that one.
This comes from at Cryptofer asks Yokich has been the best player in the league
this season and deserves MVP, but where would he rank among players overall?
I'd assume Lebron, Katie and Steph are still better, but it's hard to
say that with how the season has gone. There are two different ways to
look at this question. Before I hand you the talking stick, would be
this season specifically, where did he rank? Or if you were just doing
this heading into next year, where would you put him? I will throw
out these three number or I've looked at some of my favorite catchalls just to
see where he ranked this year in TPA total points added? Do you know
which website has that it's ESPN right, No, it's it's NBA Math.
Okay, do better next time. He ranks first, and total points added
in estimated plus minus from dunks and threes, he ranks first. In luck
adjusted real adjusted plus minus, he ranked second, and then in Lebron,
which I'm very of, but I really do love the Ball Index. I
just stats that are named after players always. I don't know if there's any
science on that, but when they're named after players, it's just it tweets
me a little bit. He ranks first in Lebron And the other thing I'll
say is, if you were going to do this as a multi year thing,
ad him. He is twelve in three year luck adjusted real adjusted plus
minus. So please first acide note that Chris Willis Reid Paul has officially re
entered the game. The way, the way I want to look at this
question. At NBA Math, we do the Crystal Basketball Rankings. Preseason.
We ask all the contributors to rank players and grade them and scale them based
on how we expect them to play for the upcoming season. After the postseason,
we ask them to grade how they played during the previous season. So
one of those is looking solely at the contributions and availability and everything from the
campaign in question. The other is more of a forward looking exercise that allows
you to be predictive and get a little bit bolder with your takes. So,
yeah, he's been the best player in basketball this season. We've seen
prominent outlets write about that and whether it's the case or if he's the MVP
despite not being the best player in basketball, just the narrative factors and the
availability factors and the quality of his team and all that. But I think
if you look at it from the perspective of the forward looking analysis, that
you're still putting him behind a few guys. I would be pretty surprised again
looking at like the Crystal basketball exercise, because I think it's a good way
to frame this question. If he finishes looking ahead to the twenty one twenty
two season, if he's ahead of Lebron, if he's ahead of Steph,
if he's ahead of Kauai, Donness probably too. Beyond those, I'm not
sure that you're going to have anyone else. Those would be the only names
I consider. Maybe Luca don Jich you might throw in there. I think
Luca is going to be one of those guys battling for fifth with him?
Is Kauai still in front of him? I think I'm letting the I don't
think he should be. I think he will be. I think I'm letting
the Clippers clipperiness cloud my judgment there because I do think he should probably be
in front of him. There's a chance maybe Lebron is the one that drops
off behind him when looking at just sort of that group, and Harden could
still be in the mix. But I do think the calculus changes for him
and n k D given how the nets are built now with all three of
those stars there would say, Stephan Yannas are the two guarantees. Yeah,
those are those are the only guarantees. I would actually say, yeah.
So hopefully that answered that question. More playoff questions we have here. Again,
if anyone as a question live, let Adam know because I made him
the hosts because he's the hostess with the mostess. Oh, this isn't power,
this is interesting. I marked it down and then did only minimal research
on it. At am Underscore Blaal thirty five asked which player who isn't well
known in mainstream basketball conversations will have a breakout playoff run. Wow, that's
a great question. I think Robert Williams probably counts. That's a good answer.
Not well known. I want to say Nicholas Claxton, but he's not
good enough minutes. Well, he brought that upon himself in Game one because
he fouled so much early on switches. But I don't think the Nets are
going to trust him anyway, so yeah, i'd write him off. Marcus
Howard is probably a good one in Denver due to Bridges. Okay, that's
fine. Please, I want to hear everything about Michael Bridges. I'm gonna
set my stop watch for sixty minutes and you need to use all of them.
I think we talked about how he might have moved out of the underrated
category during the regular season for people who are paying very close attention to the
NBA, But the Suns still haven't really broken through on the national scene,
despite being a primary talking point. When Chris Baul was being talked about as
a potential MVP challenger for Nicola Yokich, people talking about Devin Booker as they
always want to do. I don't think the nuances of that team are known
yet, and mckill Bridges now has one of the most marquee first round series
imaginable, where he's going to be asked to check Lebron James and Anthony Davis
and make his presence felt. And I think he's going to get a lot
more love from national audiences, especially if they win that series and then he's
tasked with either slowing down Luca don Chi or Kawhi Leonard in the next round.
That, yeah, I never know how deep cut to do with these,
Noah said in the chat TLC or Shammitt from the Nets, those dudes.
Shammitt needs to not be just so much of Game one was disastrous for
him, and TLC started off the season so well but ended off falling off
a cliff. But yeah, TLC would be a good one, just because
he sort of came on for the Nets in the last year when they had
their skeleton crew in the bubble, and he, in theory, is someone
the Nets could use if they want to play him a wing that can shoot
and make threes while playing off the ball and then and check some different guys
on defense. No one else really. I did mention Marcus Howard because the
Nuggets are throwing everybody out there and he is just an offensive lightning rod,
as we saw in Game one against the the Blazers. I don't know who
else brings some mindfire. You know what the problem is here is because a
lot of these guys are not going to see minutes in the postseason enough to
make that imprint. So let's just say it's naturally go to like those second
level stars like Tobias Harris. There's another name who comes to mind here that's
too He's I think that's too well known already because of the contract. I
think sure I'm looking at I think Bryn Forbes has a chance because Milwaukee is
so focused on diversifying their offense. They gave him some minute in Game one.
It helps that you can hide him on Trevor Riza defensively, and he
led the NBA. I think we've said this multiple times in points per touch
this season, and look, frank Niel Keena, He's gonna lock down Trey
Young. It's gonna happen. So to that point, I actually think Kevin
Herder is a good answer here, just to do everything guy. Where if
they actually do put Frankie Smokes on Trey Young throughout the game and force a
secondary playmaker to emerge. That that's a role that Hurd has capably filled this
season. That's a good point. Also, Frankie smokes, have we made
him to mainstream? I think we have on this podcast for sure. Hurder
is a good one though I was gonna say DeAndre Hunter, but I feel
like he sells his draft pick cache and he's really only under the radar because
he missed so much of the season, not because he's a bad player exactly.
This is Oh, that's a Grizzlies Let's save the Grizzlies. Oh,
this one's an easy one. At Rose on y t as, has a
one seed ever been swept in the first round? The answer is no.
They have lost five times. The two times it happened in the best of
five series it went the full five games. In the best of seven ERA
or any best of seven series, they've all gone at least six for the
other three. Do we believe Warriors over the Mavericks was six? Right?
Correct? Do the MVP question, Let's get out of the way. Let's
go to something else first. That I could find the the MVP question here
because I didn't have it marked down. I didn't know you wanted to do
it? So okay, this one from at Dario Underscore Rivero is CP three
MVP. He is in my book. Go ahead, That's all I got.
Just a sigh of just I'm resigned to this question always populating our mailbags.
That's all I got. I'm just sad. All right, Well that's
a little disappointing. So I haven't found the other question that you wanted just
yet. I would just say I don't understand the impetus to make it the
CP three MVP thing happen. Is it just we need to change the conversation
so much. I don't you know, if you want to throw him in
the top five, I think that's fine. I don't know how you make
a case for him over Yokich. I don't know how you make a case
from either over embiid steff Yannie. It's just m Lebron playing off this season.
I don't know. But like, isn't the argument fairly similar where it's
just about raising the level of a team, both with on court contributions and
leadership contributions. I mean, I suppose, I literally it is not showing
up in the replies. I'm gonna go back through our chat because I sent
it to you, so here it is if if at MVP World, as
if if every MVP vote from every single year of the NBA was cast at
once, including second and third place votes, who would be the all time
MVP and what would the next nine years look like? My file question would
be unless he's not including this year and wanted to get like just ended at
twenty thirty, why nine years that would bring us to twenty twenty nine.
I'm just I'm just very curious. I'm very confused about the nine years part
in general, like, are we predicting the next nine MVP? Are we
predicting who's going to get the most MVP votes over the next nine years?
Because if that's the question, it's probably going to be Luca don Chich,
Kake Cunningham. Maybe I'll allow it. I don't have an answer to well,
I have a pseudo answer, because there's no way that I have the
hours and hours and hours of free time necessary to compile all of the MVP
votes that are not in one place, especially because the ones from the sixties
and seventies. We don't have the full breakdowns immediately available. But we do
have something called MVP Award shares, which is a Basketball Reference creation and looks
at the percentage of the possible voting points that a MVP candidate received. So
when twenty fifteen sixteen Stephan Curry was unanimous, he got one full award share.
Everyone else who has not been unanimous is, you know, getting point
nine something award shares because they're still the runaway winner, but they're not getting
every single possible first place vote. We do have all time leaderboards for MVP
Award shares, so this is publicly available on Basketball Reference. But I'll just
run through the top ten and I guess see if anyone really jumps out at
you as being a surprising inclusion or being way too low. Number ten is
Kobe Bryant at four point two. Tim Duncan is four point three, Karl
malone is four point three, Shaquille O'Neil is four point four, Bill Russell
is six at four point seven, Magic Johnson is fifth at five point one,
Larry Bird is fourth at five point six, Kareem abdul Jabbar third with
six point one, then a gigantic jump to Michael Jordan at number two with
eight point one, and Lebron James at eight point eight. It seems like
I've always really liked this metric, just because it is a pretty good approximation
of NBA history. Just right off the cuff, I was gonna say,
I'm probably a bit surprised that Larry Bird was so high, not that he
was on the list. Yeah, I think I'm a little surprised Bill wasn't
higher. But some of the MVP votes back in Russell's era were kind of
strange, like the fact that Will Chamberlain didn't win MVP during his fifty point
per game season. That's always been weird. He might have he could have
won six Man of the Year though, if he was coming up at points
per game, even if he was starting, could have just given him six
minutes. Considering he didn't miss a single minute of a single game including overtime,
that year and played more than forty eight minutes per game, I feel
fairly confident that he would not have been eligible for six Men of the Year.
No no, I said, even though he started games. Clearly,
just give it to him, Okay, okay, give him the board.
I guess that's called the scoring title. So yeah, he got thrown a
bone somewhere at Karagan Holt asked, is this the year we get an answer
on the Donovan Mitchell versus Devin Booker debate, whoever goes further in the playoffs
is better? I would answer this question with maybe this is when we get
the answer. It's going to be based off who goes further in the playoffs.
Look at who these two teams are playing. Losing to the Lakers is
a lot different than beating the Grizzlies. If that's the scenario, that that's
the most likely scenario, is what I would say. Also, just don't
judge an individual off a team's success, right, which is and it works
both ways. It goes back to the Stephen Curry MVP to eight. I'm
not going to penalize him for what happens during the minutes that he's off the
floor. He has no control over those those unless he's just in foul trouble
all the time. But I'm also not going to reward him completely, or
rather, I'm not going to detract from the case of Jannis or Yokich just
because their teams are better built around him. Is it Yokich's fault that he's
not starting from a lower rock bottom than Stephen Curry? I think basketball kind
of naturally obfuscates this conversation a bit because the game is so fluid. So
the example I like to use is in baseball with Mike Trout. If you're
diminishing Mike Trout's accomplishments because the Los Angeles Angels are a cursed and incompetent organization
that cannot make it to the playoffs, Mike Trout has nothing to do with
that. He's doing absolutely everything that he can do in the field, on
the base paths when it's his turn to bat, but his teammates are not
doing enough to get them into the playoffs? Sorry, Like, what can
he do to control that? And I think it's similar, It just feels
a little different in basketball because it's more of a sport where the teammates are
working together fluently. I will say I think Donovan Mitchell has bridged the gap
this year, but that this wasn't necessarily a clear debate before. If you
just look at luck adjusted RPM over the last three years, Devin Booker ranked
seventy eighth overall, eleventh in offense in offensive rapm Mitchell ranked one hundred and
thirty fifth and then sixtieth on offense over the past three years. This season
again the gap has closed. Oh wait, I'm sorry those were This year
stats, Booker is eleventh on luck adjusted offensive RPM compared to Mitchell, who
is sixtieth. For three years, his overall rank is one forty five and
luck adjusted RPM. This is Booker and tenth on offense. Mitchell is one
hundred and twenty fourth on offense and then four hundred and eighth overall. Been
the better pull up shooter this season, but only by a hair. Booker's
been having a down year there forty eight point eight affective field goal percentage on
pull up jumpers. Donov Mitchell is forty nine point eight. When you look
at Donovan Mitchell has fewer turnovers this year, he's assisting on more of his
team's buckets. A lot of that does have to do with CP three coming
into Phoenix. With Booker in general, he is the player that is better
equipped to lead a team or lineups on his own. And we've seen that
far out in Utah, where when Donov Mitchell's on the floor, they are
winning those minutes and the offensive rating is through the roof, but they're only
a plus one per one hundred possessions it's on the court. Without Chris Paul,
the Suns have outscored opponents by plus six point six points per one hundred
possessions. I think it's close, and I caught a lot of shit when
I said Booker was better than than Mitchell when we had this debate previously.
It's close, and you could probably pick either player. But I do think
this is a season in which Gonvan Mitchell needed to bridge a gap because it
existed, and that gap probably no longer exists. If I may zoom out
a little bit to focus on the forest rather than the trees. These are
both twenty four year old basketball players. We're not going to have an answer
for who has the better career, who has the higher peak, or whatever
for a while longer. It is likely to go through some ebbs and flows
in both cases. That is not hot tachy enough. That was vanilla.
It was plain. I despised it. Thank you, You're welcome. So
we have two Warriors questions, which is fitting because their season ended dramatically and
disappointingly, though I am still excited to apply offs at lost run Ton nine
four five acts. How do you expect Klay Thompson's return to go after missing
two entire seasons, and it's it is two entire seasons, but he last
played basketball in June fourteenth, twenty nineteen. By the time he comes back
in when do we think the first game is going to be played next season?
Probably in November, right, they're not starting in October. I think
they'll start in October and so end of October, though, So let's just
get you know, that's another four months on top of the two. That's
like twenty eight months closer to two years and a half of not playing basketball.
He tore his left and then he tore he had the ruptured right achilles.
What are your expectations for him leading into next season at him, look,
I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't expecting a slightly diminished version
of Klay Thompson. It's really hard to recover from an achilles injury, much
less to do so with that amount of time off and to get back in
the swing of things. Achilles injuries affect your explosiveness. They affect your change
of direction ability. We've seen Kevin Durant overcome it because he's Kevin freaking Durant
and he can shoot over anyone. And he's just so ridiculously smooth and athletic.
Regardless, Clay Thompson's game is very much predicated on the ability to zoom
around the perimeter and find those marginally open spots where he can launch those catching
fire threes. He's always going to have that shooting ability, and it might
even be better from all the time that he's had to practice stand still shooting,
because what else has he been able to do for the last twenty eight
months or however long that timeframe has been to this point. He's always going
to have that ridiculously quick release. One of the things that makes him so
impressive is the ability to catch the ball while moving into his release, rather
than needing to gather and then fire, which just gives him that split second
advantage regardless of where the defense is, but locating to those spots. Being
able to play lockdown perimeter defense against a wide variety of matchups that requires lateral
quickness and the ability to switch on to these quick guards and take the matchups
that they don't want Stephen Curry having to face. I don't think that those
are going to be there to the same extent, So I think we're looking
at more of a spot up weapon, kind of in like that Joe Harris
mold than the all around weapon that he had become before these injuries. Can
you hear me now? I can hear you now? Awesome? I wrote
down basically the same exact notes. It does help that even when you date
back to the pre KD era Warriors, eighty plus percent of has made baskets
were coming off assists. But you outline the context of so many of those
baskets. When you're talking about him relocating for threes making cuts, those might
be more difficult for him to complete. Now, how fast is he going
to be able to run on offense? He did always kind of have an
intriguing post games, so maybe you could milk that more. His shooting will
sustain. On top of those concerns though, looking at how his points are
going to come even when he's off the ball, how many minutes do you
play him? Is he ever going to be a thirty minute ever? Again,
I don't want to rule you're shaking her head. No, I don't
want to rule it out, but yeah, I would be shocked if next
season, you know, where are they going to start him off at?
There's no way he starts off the year at just twenty five minutes per game,
right, Probably not, And let's not forget that he'll be thirty two
next February. We're not talking about a twenty six year old recovering from these
injuries anymore. And beyond that, like every every thirty year old has varying
amounts of mileage. How many thirty year olds have played checking notes here,
have played I'm on the wrong table on the basketball reference page, have played
four thousand, five hundred and seventy playoff mats. Like he's racked up a
lot of mileage because of how deep the Warriors have gone year in and year
out while he's been healthy. And that's why I think that you can't just
assume the Warriors they get this year's pick, maybe they get mini's pick.
James Wiseman comes back to the resigned Uber. Do they not think you can
keep this together, add your picks and be a contender just because Klay Thompson
is coming back. I think you can be better. There's probably a path
to being a fifty win team there. But if you want to be anything
more and maximize steps prom you need another star. So you need one of
those picks to pop or you need to move them, which leads me to
the next two warrior, the first of which is is from at Jim jen
h three one eight. Is Jordan Pool a solid A solid a player for
offense as he is for defense? Maybe is Jordan Pool a solid player on
offense end defense? Let's read the question that way. I think he can
be. I'm not sure that the consistency is there on the defensive end in
particular, Yet he seems to have some good instincts, seems to have good
hands, the ability to stay between his man in the basket. I don't
see the possession ending plays yet. I don't think that he is translating that
positioning, no how and understanding of this scheme into highly impactful plays. Yet.
Yeah, I think he improved a lot on defense this year, though
we saw it a lot off the ball. He's also for someone his size,
like he will block a shot from behind or at least contest shots around
the basket. You need his offense to come together more. Shot better from
three this year over thirty five percent, and we saw hints towards the end
of the season he could do some of this stuff off the dribble over seventy
four percent inside three feet to bat the basket. They need all that,
but you already mentioned at the top of this team to just be more consistent
all around. I don't know if he can be that player without more really
good players around him, which leads me my next question. This one comes
from at Dan for Valley. Would you do James Wiseman the Minnesota pick,
whether it's this year or two and twenty two and the Warriors two thousand and
twenty two first round pick for Shay gild just Alexander who says no to that.
I'm not sure either side says no to that one. The Thunder would
be more like I think the Thunder are more likely to say no. I
would do that in a heartbeat if I were. The Warriors might be even
more inclined to say that he has a better that he's better on defense right
now, maybe more maybe more consistent is probably a fair word there. Noah
said to my trade Sam Presty might say no. I agree that the Thunder
are most likely to say no. Interesting, they don't need more picks they
could use in theory. Sure, yeah, I depending on how you feel
about Moses Brown, they could use the big of the future and Wiseman and
this is this is going to be a higher end to pick unless you think
that if the pick doesn't convey for Minnesota this year and then you think they're
gonna be really good next year. That's where it gets dicey. What is
interesting for the Thunder though Shay Gillers Sander is extension eligible. I imagine Moses
Brown is better than James Wiseman easily. Noah says this season probably, but
long term, I think I think Wiseman would be more likely than Moses to
lead them to the Promised Land. Oh god, all right, moving on
from that, if you're the Thunder, are you at the point in your
rebuild where you want to already to invest max money and someone not that Shay
isn't worth it. But as soon as you give out that first max contract
and imply something timeline, I think you do still just because you have so
many assets in the war chest that we've said before, as soon as a
star becomes available, the Thunder are going to be a primary player for him,
regardless of who it is, because they don't have any established pieces except
for Shay, Gilis, Alexander who can fill either guard slot. So whoever
that star is, they're the organization that can throw eight hundred and forty three
first round draft picks happen. Does the Wiseman plus Minis pick plus a Golden
State pick in twenty twenty two or even this year's Minnesota's doesn't convey it makes
more sense to give them your lottery pick this year, unless it's number one
or something ridiculous, and then Minis next year. But does Wiseman plus those
two picks at least get Oklahoma City thinking? Probably just because those picks are
strong enough and because Wiseman is an intriguing enough prospect to spite the struggles during
this rookie season. I don't I still don't think they would do it,
but I think they would think long and hard about it. I'm probably with
you, but Shay would be. I was just trying to find like an
offbeat star for the Warriors to chase. That's not Bradley Beal or Zachodine or
Karl Anthony Towns. Let's wrap up with some quick ones here, or what
should be quick ones at Kiroroto Leo acts, who's the player with the best
offensive reading in the NBA and the worst. I don't like citing individual offensive
and defensive ratings, so I did a pseudo answer here and Adam, do
you know which site has offensive points added? I think that's NBA math,
right, yes, correct. Yokis led the league and offensive points added during
the regular season this year with four hundred and sixty three point zero four in
last place five hundred and forty if Isaac okorro at minus one hundred and eighty
five. Just not to be biased, I did look at luck adjusted offensive
RPM. Yokich was also first in that at two point nine three in last
and this was five hundred and thirty four NBA shot charts dot Com, which
is where I got get my ra APM stuff from tail. Maladone was five
hundred and thirty fourth at minus two point seven one. There's nothing really to
debate there. I guess the maladone one surprises me a little bit. Not
so much a Cooro, but maladone for sure. I think the only thing
I really have to add on the offensive points added stat is that because that's
looking at relative to an average player, it doesn't always have the worst offensive
players at the bottom so much as the least effective who play the most minutes,
because the worst offensive players don't play enough minutes to deviate far from zero.
So really, the worst offensive players in the NBA are going to have
like the single digit negative scores. I did that. Another really quick one.
Well, let's make these our last two. This one comes from at
hold Games. What are tables on off ratings? Again, just relay here
for this season, the Sixers were one point six points per one hundred possessions
worse on offense when he played, and they were point nine points prone hundred
possessions worse on defense when he played. I think the both of those numbers
are explainable. Where because he's not a high volume shooter on offense and doesn't
do anything else outside of take those threes, that his fensive upside is going
to be limited there. He found himself in a lot of venture heavy units,
and I would probably guess I did not look this up, but he
played a lot of minutes, more so than some of the starters did without
Joel Embiid, and lifting up some of those lineups is going to be difficult.
As we saw in their Game one victory against Washington, Joel Embid was
in foul trouble got slammed when they had their bench heavy units in there.
I also, this is the thing with guys who are so disruptive on defense,
especially when they're on the ball. Is it easier to neutralize them by
taking them out of the action. He doesn't feel like someone you could do
that with. But that would just be some of my off the cuff explainers
of why are the Sixers statistically worse on defense? It's the Avery Bradley argument
all over again, basically. But have you heard that this Matisse Tabel guys
get at blocking jumpers? Because I've heard that. I've the only player who
actually blocks jumpers is Chris Bouche, So no, I did not know that,
sir. Let's make this Our last question comes from Raoul Clement d with
me this one shout out to anyone whoever DM's questions. What do the Grizzlies
need to do to take the next step? Is it just a matter of
experience and health? Should they make a trade? I know Adam loves Dylan
Brooks, but last I looked the on off splits and VPM view him as
their worst rotation player out of Justice Winslow. Is there a wing score they
could trade for is an upgrade there. I feel like Zach Levine would be
perfect, but he's not available any realistic options. That was a hell of
a question, by the way it was. I feel like Zach Levine is
a good answer for a lot of teams, for a guy who could potentially
take them to that proverbial next level because he's such a good from a scratch
scorer who still manages to involve his teammates, and a lot of these more
mediocre teams need that offensive firepower. But that said, like, I'm just
gonna stick with my old answer here, which is I don't want to see
Memphis deviate from this core because I think the functional pieces are already in place
across the board. John Morant is capable of making that leap. Jonna's Valon
Junus is just incredibly impactful and an all around great player. Jaron Jackson Jr.
If he's available, can bring this team to that next level. You
have the role players, and Desmond Bane and Xavier Tillman, who's already had
a marquee game in a postseason environment. Now, there are so many good
pieces on this Memphis depth chart that I don't really see the need to go
chasing external help. Yeah, they could definitely go more mid end because they
do need they need more of a long term wing. It's not it doesn't
look like it's Winslow, not even in their rotation right now. Did not
play in that game Golden State, and I don't believe he's injured again.
That's probably something I should have checked. Even Brandon Clark got a DMP coach's
decision in that one. What I will say, and you could go more
mid end. I don't have names off the top of my head, but
like a you know, Will Barton would be great for this team if he's
healthy. Upside of his contract, they won't have The Grizzlies only have cap
space on very specific scenarios. Karen Jackson Junior stuff could be mildly concerning only
play fifteen minutes in that Golden State game. I know he's still ramping up
after that injury, missed most of the year, so I don't want to
downplay that. But his defense has not necessarily been as advertised. The movement
and mobility can be there, but you look at the rebounding. The fouling
is an actual problem. Not physical enough in general, whether he's on the
perimeter or around the basket, if you wanted to, because you have Joanna
valent Trunis, because you have Xavier Tillman, because you have Brandon Clark,
if I'm assuming you still believe in him, you could dangle Jarren Jackson Junior
and see if that gets you in a certain sweepstakes. Now, what I
will say is, and it would be the same thing with Oklahoma City and
call their assets. You need to pick a player that you know wants to
be there, whether it's or you need to go to someone who's on a
rookie scale deal who you know will resign with you and restricted free agency.
That this would be a great shake Gilji Alexander destination, even though maybe him
and John Wrent aren't a perfect fit. If Dylan Brooks isn't there, it
gets a lot easier. But if you want, I think they could.
You could in theory use Jarren Jackson Junior or not obliterate necessarily what you have
Bill because now in Church for sure. The other thing though, is like
the war chest has more than players in it from Memphis as well, Like
they're still owed a first round pick from the Utah Jazz that will not convey
this year, but is only protected for the top six spots in twenty twenty
two. They're still owed a first rounder in twenty twenty four from Golden State
that's protected for the top four selections. Who knows what that team is going
to look like a couple of years in the future. It's unprotected too,
right, it's only protected for the top four, it's only protected for the
top pick in twenty twenty five. It is entirely unprotected in twenty twenty six.
Then the second round obligations they have cancel each other out, the incoming
and outgoing. So this is a team with just a plethora of intriguing young
players, with depth at every single position, with multiple incoming first rounders,
could very well go out and acquire a star. I just don't know that
it needs to, but I agree, like, if if the Timberwolves,
like make Karl Anthony Town's available, then yeah, dangle Jaren Jackson Junior and
maybe that twenty twenty four Golden State pick and whatever else it takes, and
see what you can do with Townsend, Jonas valentcot Us on the court together.
Even if that's a deviation from the typical NBA stylings right now, but
go get that top end talent and then make it work. See, I'd
be against that because I'd be worried about that player leaving. If he's I
would want him signing a new carrent like a John Collins. What if you
like him next to Valentchot is better than I'm operating under the assumption that right
I'm operating under the assumption that that would be part and parcel here. If
you still believe in Jaren Jackson Jr. Which I do. I want to
want, especially on offense, I want to make that clear he's going.
I think he'll be fine next season. On offense, that's nothing to worry
about. More mid end like a Harrison Barnes from Sacramento, where you don't
have to give up core pieces to get him. I guess the salary match
and gets tough. If Boston were just looking to get off the money seek
Kemba Walker destination, I don't think that makes their backcourt small. But if
you wanted to roll the dice on Kemba, aren't giving up any core assets
to get them the money, then there's difficult. You don't like it,
but the focus should be on more of a wing player anyway, but like
a Harrison Harrison Barnes makes them exponentially better with in fury not knifing into sets.
Do you have anything else that you want to hit? Not particularly,
I think we covered a lot here we did. Apologies to everyone who's questions.
We did not get to thank you everyone for sticking with us in locker
room, especially with whatever technical difficulties that I was having earlier. Until next
time. We'll leave with the shout out to the one the only way better
than apparently Center in Oklahoma City. They're Center of the future. Apparently,
according to Noah Otage. Moses Brown, Sugar, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran,
Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns legends whose four way rivalry define
one of the greatest errors in boxing history, relive their decade of dominance in
the new Showtime Sports documentary The Kings, a four part series premiering Sunday,
June sixth, only on Showtime