What is krack Alac and fellow thermonuclear afs. I am Dana Valley coming at
you without my co host Grand Hughes, but I am joined by the equally
certified, fantabulous and thermonuclear AF friend of the podcast, coworker of mine at
Bleacher Report, where he's a multi platform editor. He also covers the NBA
at Forbes, covers the Sixers at Liberty Ballers, and hosts the fantastic NBA
podcast called the NBA Podcast. Follow them on Twitter at the NBA Pods spelt
exactly as it sounds you know by now. His name is Brian Taporek.
Follow him on Twitter as well at b t poor K. That's at b
t op O r e K. We are here to talk about the biggest
questions we have remaining for the NBA season following the deadline, getting into just
a lot of like what's going on on the court now that we've moved past
the transaction stuff. This is being recorded on Friday, February ninth before I
begin my quite frankly well deserved vacation. But we have a ton of content
coming out for you. In the pipeline we have banked. There will be
a total six podcasts coming out while I am gone, and so we did
not short shrift you on the content. BT was kind enough to come on
and go through this exercise. So if anything major happens, If Ogan andob
announces that he's leaving the Knicks for the Charlotte Horneton free agency early, we
won't be able to cover it or react. I apologize if that becomes outdated.
If a team is smart enough to pick up Franknelkina off the waiver wire
and start him and then win the title, I won't be able to react
to it. Brian first and foremost, how the heck are you doing?
I'm good, Dan, thank you for having me. I'm glad I can
fill the BR quota. We need two BR people here at all times.
So happy to fill in for Grant and congrats on surviving another trade deadline,
big news as always for all of us. I was up till one thirty
last night, so I apologize if my brain is putting today, but we
will. We will do our best to make it through you. So I
slept from and this wasn't purely trade deadline related, but I slept for about
three thirty in the morning until seven in the morning, so my brain might
be putting as well. Uh so, and look, Brian and I behind
little peep behind the curtain. Brian was my editor for the Live Grades,
which is just so having like a true sicco of the NBA beer editor during
that makes the process so much easier because it's a it's a frenetic time,
like he's feeding me details that I'm not seeing. So he's a he's a
heavy lift, so he deserves all the credit, but also any criticism for
stuff that you that you disagree with, so he just directed all towards him
as well. But no, seriously, he makes that a lot easier and
a lot more enjoyable. And I said to him, I want to know
how many what were we There was one point We're talking about something so stupid
and like, oh yeah, I knew, And I was like, how
many people who are doing the same exercise, like at the other outlets you
think are having this exact conversation right now? And we settled on like maybe
Kevin Pelton with ESPN. Yeah, yep, I think it Pelton, Hollander,
I don't even remember, but yeah, I'm glad we could rage together
yesterday at the News Breakers who were slopping it up ever so steadily trickling out.
Oh, by the way, the Dicks traded two picks and Quentin Grimes
for Alec Burks. I don't want to belabor this because I yelled about it
on the live streaming afterwards. Sean's just stopped mentioning players that Phoenix trade and
was like, Phoenix creates two roster spots. It's like, motherfucker, who
are they sending out? Okay, you're like, wait mechich is in here?
Hours later? Oh, just just a crap show. However, it's
in the past and now we look towards the future. So what is the
first question that as a guest that you have, whether it's team big picture,
what do you got for me? Maybe I'm channeling my casco hosts Mortin
Jensen on this point because he used to be a Chicago Bulls fan until they
broke him. And I think a lot of Bolts fans are rapidly reaching that
point because I think my biggest question coming out of the deadline is what the
f are the Chicago Bulls doing here? I mean, I don't know if
you saw the quotes coming out from our tourist Kona Shovs's press conference yesterday.
Will Gottlieb of CHDO Sports was sharing them on Twitter, and it was like,
honestly, a nice palette cleanser after the deadline, because you know,
you are so frenzied and trying to gather all these details and then you're seeing
this guy talking about a team that's now two games under five hundred. He's
like, I don't know if it's it's too early to say if this season
was a success or a failure. I just want to keep us competitive.
It's like, what are we talking about competitive here? You want winning a
damn thing. You would be lucky to be a top six seed. You
will be lucky to make the playoffs, and if you do, you are
going to get annihilated in the first round. So were those two games of
home playoff revenue worth keeping Andre Drummond through the deadline when you are likely going
to lose him for nothing this offseason? What happens if Demarth de Rosen walks
this offseason? You lose him for nothing? Like they are clinging to this
mediocrity that I just do not understand, And I mean I would be horrified
right now, Like as I was reading those quots yesterday, I was just
like, if I was a Bulls fan, that would be my breaking point,
that would be my joker moment. I'd be out. I would just
be completely out hearing the guy who is running this team talk about them in
this way. Yeah, I just And then you saw there's the report from
Yahoo that Tomato Rosen says he's open to returning to Chicago if the money's right,
And so you get into this weird tug of war where it's they could
lose these players for nothing, but they have Andre Drummond's early bird rights,
they have Tomorta Rosen's bird rights. What's to stop them from just paying these
dudes and running back as is and being either worse because Demarta Rows is older,
wi Lonzo Ball be healthier next year, Zach Lavine could be healthier next
year. But then you also remember, well, like Royds Dwarf, is
it, you know, the most spendye owner, And so you look at
their like financial situation moving forward, it's well, are they really gonna pay
Patrick Williams's extension eligible Andre Drummond deserves. I don't think he's gonna get a
ton of money, but he'll get a raise, I'm assuming, and then
damar to stick around even in a comparable number. The finances start to get
a little bit scrunchy for a team that is as spend thrift as they typically
are. And it also bugged me a little bit of those comments that you
saw from Aka was him saying no, like, if he's covering for them,
that's his job. But if it's true that he has the green light
to rebuild and is actively chosen not to, like, that's malpractice on the
part of just like you're like, it's malpractice, Like it's not fair to
the fans because what are you spinning your wheels towards And they're not even in
a position because of Okay, so they're gonna convey a pick to uh,
the Spurs have their twenty twenty five pick, and then they they're like pick
neutral after that, right in terms of first you don't even have the equity
though to like if you wanted to double down, and that's the danger here
is but what if they do that? What if they create another two first
round picks to try and get player X. I don't I don't know who
player X is. And so this season I'm just I don't even know what
to watch for. Like Zach Lavine is gone. People have argued that they're
better off done for the year. Excuse me, people argue they're better off
without him, but they kind of started to find their momentum with him.
Kobe White has been a good story. I think I a'a assume who's been
a pretty good story. Javon Carter's worked out like they have a lot of
Andre Drummond. I think he's Their environment is to me, uniquely built to
insulate Andre Drummond's worst tendencies on defense, not so much on offense at times,
and I think that's why he looks so good. And then there's you
know, he's grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds because they're not the best offensive
team either. But like there's all these in events my good things like Demarta
Rosen has still been as efficiency overall, and the clutches is really good,
and the defensive pressure they can bring is great. To what end and you
just outlaid it a first round exit? Is this team ceiling? And so
I don't know the pathway if they're not. You know, as people who
cover the league at large, I do understand that we can over romanticize or
exaggerate the idea of its title or bust, but like you need to have
if you're somewhere in the middle, that's fine, but you then need to
have a path forward to get out of it. And I don't see Chicago's.
I don't like wodor is Kobe White needs to develop into an All NBA
player. Is it? We're just banking on Lonzo Ball's knees to suddenly not
be made of jello. And that's not a shot at him. It really
sucks what happened to him because he was really probably the key ingredient to that
entire team, just based off his skill set and what he did not only
defensively but as a ball mover offensively. So I don't understand the path forward
here for them to get better. And this just feels like like to not
rip it down just and I understand the zach Lavine injury through a wrench in
the plans, but this is now three years since the Boots trade. They
haven't done jack shit, like to really just rejigger the roster mid season,
and they're just treading water in not even the middle but the sub miiddle.
And it's just a very uninspiring and I would argue hopeless place to be.
Yeah, I mean I think it probably stems from ownership. As you said
rhyin Storf. You know, I can't imagine he's going to pay the tax
for the nine seed and okay, maybe they're the six seed next year.
Like, I still don't think the Bulls are going to pay the luxury tax
unless they look like an absolute hammer lock to make it to like the conference
finals at least. So not only do you have this you're stuck in the
middle because of the roster you've assembled, but you don't have an owner who's
going to help spend your way out of it. If I remember correctly,
I don't think they've spent their mid level exception this year, which you know,
okay, fine, you know who who on the market could have made
a huge difference for them at the MLLE. Oh actually, sorry, it
looks like they Yeah, they gave part of it. They had I think
they used Davon Carter got most of it. So they've got six million dollars.
They didn't use the injury except like that's a more aggressive owner might have
been like, hey, we have this disabled player exception I'm gonna figure out
a way to use it. I know those things don't get but like you
knew as soon as that came in the bills, bills aren't going to use
it. Like that's not happening. Yeah, And I mean this is like
you're absolutely right, you know. I would almost compare them to the New
York Knicks in that way, Like after they got Julius Randall, they were
also, I don't want to say, like suck in the middle, but
it was hard to see the path. How do we get from here to
championship contender. Then they get Jalen Brunson and then they just start chaining together.
These just really solid moves, the Josh part, that Dante DiVincenzo now
og Anobi and what they just did at the deadline, and now you know,
the dust settled after the trade deadline and everyone's like, oh my god,
the Knicks are a legitimate title contender. So maybe that's the Bulls plan
is just changed together a couple of hits in a row and something good is
going to come of it, or maybe Lonzo does come back. But it
is just really hard to see the vision, especially when you have a front
office executive who is saying, you know, we are trying to remain competitive,
and we are not willing to embrace taking a step back to take two
step forward later. It's just we're gonna continue running back the same core and
hope it gets better one year, I guess, which doesn't really feel like
a plan to me. And the difference with them too is that and I
didn't agree with everything the Knicks did during this time, made that clear,
but like they made that KP trade and put themselves in a position to where
they were pick positive not pick negative like the Bulls are. But you mentioned
the Knicks, which is for my first question, and it's more of a
macro one, but I used it as a focus on the Knicks who is
and this encapsulates a lot. The second best team in the Eastern Conference.
I think the best team is clearly Boston. I just recorded a long podcast
with Carter Rodriguez of the Chase Down Pod. The Calves are just on fire
and people were overblowing like the fit issues between Evan Mobley and Jared down.
I think it's more of a question in the playoffs than anything. Darius Garland
back and taking more threes. You have the Bucks who are just like I
understand they're not playing well yet under Doc Rivers, but they have Patrick Beverly
now and just like they're still a really good team. And then you also
have the Sixers. I'm sure we'll talk about a little bit so we don't
have to, like I'm talking more about the Knicks here, but like,
you have the Sixers and it's well, Joelle Embiid comes back, why wouldn't
they be. They just got Buddy Heald, who was a really good pickup
despite what local media and fans fan thing. So uh. And then there's
the Knicks. Who would be my pick I think at this point with Cleveland
looming, I'm not gonna lie and I don't and Milwaukee just makes me.
I'm just saying that I would pick every team, but the Knicks would I
think would be my pick at this juncture if they were healthier. And that's
what's fascinating to me is that race for second is okay, the Calves have
gotten healthier, the Bucks are. They're fairly healthy, even though Chris Middleton
doesn't look the same on defense, And then we know the Sixers aren't healthy
because of they've also they've been banged up like six ways towards eight ways towards
Sunday. But the Knicks og Ananoby is gonna miss time, like a week
or two past the All Star break is when he's laid to be reevaluated.
Julius Randold's kind of on that same timeline with his dislocated shoulder. Mitchell Robinson
is going to resume on court activity soon, I think over the All Star
break, and so when is he coming back? Isaiah Hartenstein's been dealing with
stuff, Jalen. Everyone's dealing with stuff this time of year, but Jalen
Brunson has been banged up. And so you look at this team and it's,
well, if they're at full strength, like they might be the answer.
And you have to like everything they've done. And Chris Herring had a
great piece on ESPN about how og Ananobi has impacted their offense and it's drifted
back a bit, but he's missed time, and now you've random missing time
getting rid of a two higher usage players in a manual quickly and r J
Barrett or if you don't even want to say higher usage people who prefer to
operate on ball, and then also r J Barrett, Jalen Brunson and Julius
Randall, who all want to operate from the same side of the floor.
It just opened things up for them, and so there's so much more intriguing,
like not only defensively but offensively. And they're even more intriguing now because
Berks can be a little hijackie of points, but like he's a good offensive
player. And then Boyon just fits everywhere. And if you have if one
of your bigs is healthy because of who they are and Hartenstein and Robinson and
because of the I understand he's a frustrating defender, and I would say,
on balance, not a good defender, but Julius Randall like covers actual dudes,
like really good players, and so because of the assignments he lifts,
you can actually just say, hey, we'll play og Julius Randall a big
and then Boyanc can be on the court with Jalen Brunson too. That's something
you could do. The caveat to all of this is when are these guys
gonna get healthy? What do they look like? And I'm curious is to
as someone who follows the Knicks intimately just because I'm in market and I grew
up a Knicks fan. This is not I think this is a typical national
media slant, but I'm throwing it to I'm having this as someone who is
following him it Intimately, I've almost wondered, is it a blessing in disguise
that like, these guys are going to be spared from Tom Thibodeau's workload through
part of January and February. And I'm not I'm not trying to be facetious
there. Yeah, And so it's like having Julius Randall get a breather,
having o Gananoby, who's always dealing with something. I can't remember who tweeted
this. It was someone from Raptors Twitter. I apologize, but they were
just like, you have to be prepared with anything for Ogiananobi falls on the
floor, Bruce's elbow goes against acl or something. So it was. And
so I'm just wondering, like, does this almost set them up better or
is it like, well, we kind of need to have a conversation about
they're missing a lot of the ingredients right now and we don't know what they're
going to look like or necessarily when they're going to come back. Yeah.
No, I think it's health permitting. Assuming the Knicks enter the playoffs with
all of those guys, including Robinson, I would lean toward them as the
second best team in the East right now. The Calves are a close close
third, and I you know, the Bucks still have time to turn it
around, but they're screaming who they are at this point, like they are
now whatnot one in five under Doc Rivers, And I know guys have been
in out of the lineup, so I don't want to overreact to a six
game sample side. We'll get Patrick Beverley in there, But I mean Doc
Rivers is not exactly known as the best playoff coach of all time. Would
someone tweet two? Did you see that? Has any coach ever taken over
a job, gotten hired on a multi year deal mid season, then gotten
fired at the same time Doc could make history? That might be his plan.
Actually, he wasn't satisfied with sixteen million dollars of golf money from Josh
Harris, so it was like, you know what I got it, I
got some international tras. So yeah, I mean the Doc stuff and just
the Bucks defense in general has me concerned. I mean, the Knicks defensively
are great. Offensively as you mentioned, OGI has really juiced them up,
and Boyan and Burks I think are only going to do favors for them on
that of the floor, especially in the absence of OG. And you know,
like not only to your point about those guys not getting the Tibbs minutes
in January, February and whenever they come back in March, but now the
Knicks are so legitimately deep of NBA caliber playoff caliber rotation players that I would
hope at least that Tibbs doesn't play his guys forty minutes per game, especially
in the regular season, but possibly not even in the playoffs, like there's
a chance that they can go a legit eight nine, even potentially ten deep.
So I feel like point, you know, usually, I feel one
of the knock on Tibbs teams is that he plays his guys so many minutes
during the regular season that there isn't like this level that they can scale up
in the playoffs. And I think that Knicks have given him so much depth,
but now he definitely should not be playing guys once they're all healthy,
definitely should not be playing his normal like thirty eight minutes per game, but
he might not even need to in the playoffs, So maybe the Knicks will
have an ability to level up that they haven't had in the past under hips
for that reason, Like if they do need to play Brunson forty minutes a
night, they could still lean on that, but now they also have all
these other guys who can initiate the offense for them or you know, if
Brunson needs you know, gets banged up or whatever, like they've got they
have enough insurance basically at every position that I mean, are we sure that
they're not going to win the East? Is this crazy to think that they
could at least potentially beat Boston. I don't. I don't think it's crazy
at all. And this is a quick tangent and had like Jonathan Macree of
Nicks Film School and anyone who listens knows love the work that him Andrew Claudio
do over at Nicks Film School was talking about kind of the fall from the
trade inline how all the national media and podcasts were complimenting the Knicks and they
weren't used to it. Yeah, I know, fansn't necessarily care about it,
like the Leon Ros for Executive of the Year, like Bandwagon probably needs
to like if it hasn't departed already, it needs the part now. And
what you mentioned is interesting because that is still kind of my concern is just
like Burks can initiate, not the best passer though, and then Boyan mcdonovich
can run. He's run picking roles this year, He's not like going to
facilitate, and so I worry about their secondary playmaking behind Runson, behind Randall.
Now that you don't have Quickly or Barrett, but like you have enough
just ball movers, maybe not traditional initiators and Josh Hart and Dante e Vincenzo
that I think, as you said, you've given yourself optionality. My almost
bigger question would be what version of Julius Randall do you get in the playoffs?
And that's where the Bowion, Bardonovich and Alec Burke's acquisitions come up huge
from the pure shock creation standpoint, is if Julius and maybe he'll be better
because he's never been to the postseason with the Knicks and not had RJ.
Barrett with him as well, so like opening that up could help him.
And also he'll be coming off a season in which he played a lot fewer
minutes this year. But if he doesn't have it, you now aren't relying
on you know, quickly was small. It was we saw how the Cavs
kind of frustrated him and what happened to his floater game. And then RJ.
Barretts has always been up and down, like if he's not get any
of the basket, and he was always a wild card once he got there,
and the Knicks, to be fair, it never felt like they were
good at getting him ahead of steam, which the Raptors have done off the
ball when he's played a good amount. So but now that you've replaced that
with someone either guys who are more reliable four spacers or just more reliable creators,
that's kind of the That's the wild card to me is will Tibbs pull
that lever of bonion at the four and Julius Randalls minutes are coming down if
Julius Randall's playing like he has in the playoffs in the past, and I
would say there's also the caveat though, like Julius Randall Jalen Brunson because of
the shots that they're taking and creating boy and Bardonovican al Pers are not taking
those same shots, and so these two players are still ultra central to the
Knicks offense, and so that is still where my question lies. But to
your point about can they come out of the East, the answer is yes,
it's just would you predict it? And once you get into the playoffs,
Like I think it's easier to answer this question for the regular season and
just say Calves or Nicks and move on. But once you get to the
playoffs, that's where Milwaukee just gets a little bit more interesting because of Dame,
like the top end talent of dam and Giannis, even the Calves,
if they sort of figure things out, are they still staggering the way they
do? Does Isaac Occorro have a longer leash as he hit in his threes?
And if he's not our Sam Merril and Max Struce are they getting heavy
enough minutes to open up the floor anyway? But I think my answer right
now would be in net who's the second best team needs or the second most
likely team to emerge from the East. I think it might be the Knicks,
And I'm not sure if this is prisoner of the moment stuff, and
I'm like you, I almost have the Calves above the Bucks right now,
but I will default to the Bucks because of just the top end talent there,
and that's just like, I don't that's not a great answer. Then
I don't know what's going on in Philly, and maybe that's the good.
I'm assuming you have something on the Sixers moving forward. They're they're the biggest
will I'm talking about the Nicks as a wild card. They've kind of entrenched
themselves as something. The Sixers are just a huge wildcard for the rest of
this year. Yeah, they're taking Miami spot from last year. At the
mentioned how far Miami has fallen. We don't even mention them. I know.
Well, I mean we got to have one team from the play in
make it to the NBA Finals, and that maybe this year because yeah,
they are as you mentioned, they are hilariously injury ravaged right now. And
not only MV but Melton has been out for a while with a lumbar spine
issue. Nick Batoom has been in out of the lineup with a hamstring.
Tobias Harris has been in out with multiple illnesses now with Tyrese Maxie has an
illness and as you mentioned, we're recording this on Friday, February ninth.
It is unclear whether he's gonna play against Atlanta tonight. Like that, the
Sixers Legit if Buddy Heal and Campaign can't play, Legit will have nine healthy
players. That includes includes Maxie, who did not look healthy the last game
out. So all Star break, can I get here soon enough for the
Sixers? And then coming out of the All Star Break, I think their
schedule is like Cleveland, New York, Boston, Milwaukee is the first four
games, so well, New York might not be at full strength, won't
be at full strength at that point. So there's that that's true, Okay,
I mean I think it's gonna get worse before it's gonna get better for
the Sixers. But like after the calendar flips to March, there's a chance
that they go on a late season run and maybe secure one of these top
six seeds. But yeah, I mean, it all comes down to does
Joel Andbi come back this year, And I would imagine part of that will
depend on where they are in the standings. Like I don't know if he
needs to rush back if they're the nine seed by the time he comes back,
because that means at best you're getting a first round matchup against Boston.
That you're probably gonna lose. So if they stay in the top six,
and depending on who they face in the first round, I mean, they'll
be live against anyone potentially. But you know, the vibes were certainly better
a couple of weeks ago than they are right now, and it is fair
to wonder. You mentioned the mixed reaction to their trade deadline, and we
were laughing about it yesterday as we were doing these live grades, because you
know, you were pretty in favor of what they did. I heard,
you know, the live stream that you and Grant did yesterday. You guys
seem to like what they did. Kevin Pelton gave them a ton of good
grades for his trade grades. Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports had them as a
winner. And meanwhile, you know, I'm in the Liberty Baller slack trying
to talk everyone off the edge yesterday like they were. It was just a
Daryl Morey mutiny waiting to happen. So, you know, I think it's
hard to say what they're going to look like because we don't know when these
guys are going to get back to full strength, if they're going to get
back to full strength this year. But the Sixers have been one of the
worst shooting teams in the NBA this season. Buddy Healed is one of the
best shooters over the past decade, honestly, so he was going to address
a major need. And you could certainly imagine, you know, the dribble
handoff actions that Embiid and JJ Reddick or Embiid and or theF Curry used to
do, and even the two man game with mb in Maxie this year.
You know, Healed is not as dangerous off the dribble as Maxie obviously,
but I think there can be a lot of two man chemistry or even three
man chemistry with Maxi, Embiid and Healed. So I'm excited, you know,
hopefully we see this year because you know, he will be a free
agent this summer, So it'd be bummer if they make this trade and beat
never comes back and Heal leaves a free agency. Yeah, in theory,
a really good fit next to those two guys. There are concerns about him
holding up defensively in the playoffs, but if you know they have the Toom
and Melton, then Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubray, if all those guys are
healthy, they don't necessarily need to rely on him if there's a certain matchup
where he's getting picked on. So I think you're right to insulate him with
Melton, Tobias Harris and like and Joel Embiid if he's out, Like the
Pacers couldn't insulate him. I feel like the Sixers couldn't. I was gonna
ask you that's kind of I mean, like the big question for this and
maybe this gets dated by the time this goes live on Monday, but will
Joel and be play again this season? And I tried to read into what
they did at the deadline, It's like, well does this I find it
what they did at the deadline because it was Buddy healed. I oftmately think
the opportunity cost was just so low and impact their long term plans that they
would do it even if they knew and Beid wasn't gonna play this season.
But when you do tie that to the way that it's been reported, like
there's just this mystery about his injury and what he even had done that it
leads me to believe that they're that the door actually is still open for him
to play this season, and so they were still trying to straddle those lines,
and that's the I mean, did you mentioned it in jes But like
that's a huge wild card because what if they are playing team I don't really
like they have somewhat of a cushion, and I'm just I'm so annoyed with
Orlando for not doing anything, so I'm just not gonna trust them, and
like, maybe Miami catches them, but you're still four games ahead in the
lost column. If e Bead's gonna come back this year, you have time.
But if he's gonna come back and you're in the play and you might
just like that's all of a sudden, imagine pulling that matchup as Boston and
it's just like, no, you wouldn't predict the Sixers to win it,
But you go through all this to have the one seed and then you just
get a fully healthy Sixers team with Buddy heels gravity entering the postseason. Yeah,
if that Bean comes back, it's gonna be a bad beat for whichever
one of these for Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, whichever one
I then gets the Sixers in the first round, that that's gonna suck for
them, for sure. I have a question for you Okay, which team
do you trust more like for the rest of the season, But looking at
playoff stock now that we're past the deadline, they can't make moves beyond buyouts
the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Oklahoma City Thunder Ooh, I think for Oklahoma City.
Actually, maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't know that it's particularly close
either. I mean, okay, see adding Gorton Hayward like flew under the
radar because he's always hurt and he hasn't played in over a month, and
I do I do respect that the Hornets were clearly holding him out so that
he couldn't nuke his trade value. I don't know if he saw the quotes
room, but he was just like, yeah, I'm ready to go.
And so it's like, oh, Charlotte. Charlotte wasn't fucking around. They
were like this body eventually cooked. So when I saw because he hadn't played
in December, and I was like, yeah, he must be on the
verge of a return. Otherwise, why are you giving up anything for him?
And I guess they were just like, buddy, we're putting you in
caution tape and bubble wrap and we know what's going to happen if you play
more than twenty five games, absolutely not go on vacation for a month.
That's interesting. Okay, well that makes me feel even better about it.
Okay, see you. But you know, with all due respect to Trey
Man and Mechicic and Bertan's like, none of those guys were key contributors,
especially to their playoff rotation. Now you added Gordon Hayward, who I think
at least could be if healthy, and gives them an out in case opponents
are just not respecting Josh Giddy on the perimeter. So I really like that
as an upgrade for them. I mean, Minnesota's been great all year.
I don't want to take away from what Minnesota does. It's not me saying,
don't worry, I'm about to after you're done. I'm about here.
So yeah, I'm not necessarily saying they're going to lose in the first round,
but I do have you know, their offense bogs down, especially late
in games during crunch time, and that I have some concerns about that.
You know, the double big lineup is very effective against a lot of teams,
but all it takes is one bad matchup for that not to work as
well as it has. And I think Oklahoma City, based on the personnel
it has, has more variability. They can alter their like shape shift more
based on their matchup than Minnesota, where you know you're you're not gonna like
Bench Karl, Anthony Towns or Rudy Gobert. I don't think at all.
I mean, i'd be sure. I'd be shocked if they're down like two
to one in a series and that's their big mid series adjustment. I think
they're just gonna have to go down with the ship. Whereas you know,
again, if Josh Giddy is a disaster, okay, we're going Gordon Hayward,
or you know, we can go with Cason Wallace or like, they
have so many different guys they can turn to outside of their big three,
all of whom are just terrifyingly good and still so young that they're only going
to get better. I think I would agree with you. I might think
it's a little bit closer because I am a big believer in what the world
and I'm saying you're not. You're not, But I am a big believer
in what the Wolves have built. I just with the Thunder and I saw
people. What makes you feel a little bit better about Thunder is you mentioned
the option atonality they now have with a Gordon Hayward, and it does seem
even before the trade, it was very clear that it was, well,
if we got to push the you know, the rip pull the ripcord on
Josh Giddy and or lou Dort crunch time minutes, we're gonna do it.
And so the fact that they are doing that, it just makes you feel
better by default, because I also don't think in as everyone got caught up
and we probably even got caught up a little bit on this podcast about well
they need like size or heft or bounce up front to pair with Chad.
Playing time out is so important to what they do. Like this team utilizes
drive and kicks and flinging the ball around more than any other team in the
league. It's not even you look at drives per game, it's not even
close. They lead it by like a monster margin, and so I feel
better about that. Minnesota's defense definitely has a higher ceiling when you're looking at
the guys that are there between Anthony Edwards and the way Rudy Gobert has played
for much of this season, and Jade McDaniels. My thing with the Wolves
though, is there's the turnovers. Of course, everyone's belabored how important Mike
Conley is to the team to the point that it's unsettling. Guess what,
like you've lost the minutes Mike Comley plays without Anthony Edwards. Anyway, It's
like, what does Montey Morris actually change for you? He's not a high
volume three point shooter, which is someone that I think they need, Like
I would liked to have seen them been in on a Luke Kennard or been
more aggressive and said, hey, like maybe we'll trade Nasri to go get
Malcolm Brogden. I know that was unpopular amongst Wolves fans. They've been great,
so you don't trade one of your six best players just because I understand
that notion, and they are better off they have a game manager now,
But there's something off about their offense in the sense of it's not just the
turnovers, but are they just there's not a willingness to try new things.
I feel like and maybe having Montey Morris changes that, but I don't think
it will. And so you watch them. It's gotten more pressed recently,
but like they've had struggles keeping big leads this year. And the thing I
feel like I noticed on offense is just like a hat tip to Dane Moore
of the NBA podcast. Do you know how many corner threes Karl Anthony Towns
has made this year? I do not seven outside of garbage time that was
on cleaning the glass. I think he might be at eight. For the
year, he's made seven corner He's seven of twenty nine I think from the
corners outside of garbage time. So it's not he's just not there. And
then you have Rudy Gobert with his comments, and this is like a big
deal because Gobert is not the one taking these shots. He's not even the
one setting up these shots. Aside from his his verdict, like his his
role gravity can help create them. He was talking about the other night how
important it is for Minnesota to shoot the three ball, and so it's like
he's not even the dude who's taking the shots. If he's he said,
I'll take a three pointer over a two pointer any day, and it's just
like this is someone who's actively like that would by him saying that he would
to a three over a two he's not talking about himself. He's actively saying
I wouldn't need the ball as much or I don't want to score as much,
and I know that's not his role anyway. So it's just like there's
something off there about is and I'm not blaming it on Towns. I do
feel like this is more of a Chris Finch issue, or maybe it's just
the lack of outside of Mike Comley. Like, yes, Anthey Edwards is
a good passer, he's not a great passer, and so maybe that comes
down to that a little bit. There's also a spacing issue, where like
against this team, you don't need guys to one. They either don't care
about some of your shooters and so they will roam off the corners, or
maybe they just don't feel the need to roam off the corners because it's just
everyone's within enough proximity of everybody else. Their offense is just like you can't
hover around the bottom ten of points per possession and then just go win the
title. That's just not how it's gonna work. And I just don't know
if they have the tools to a lot of what you see with Okloma City.
They don't have the tools to be a better rebounding team. That's just
not gonna happen. But like defensive rebounding issues versus total offensive issues, it's
not like that's almost what it comes down to for me when we're discussing these
two teams. And I still remain high on Minnesota. I think that they
are legitimately they could win it all and it wouldn't shock me. But there's
just something off about their offense that I don't know if it's fixable. And
you could just say, well, Karlathon Town's needs to be in the corner
more or just take more threes in general, we're like, specifically with this
group, we're now in season one point six y five of singing that same
song. I mean, he wasn't really playing last year, so that was
part of it. I just I don't know that there is there's a way
for them to be better than they've been now, but I don't know if
it's much like can they be much better than they've been out over not just
a sustained period of time, but a sustained period of time in which these
teams have like they're focusing on just you in the best of seven set,
and that's the biggest difference between playoff basketball is the rest and the preparation time
and focus. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean we've seen you know,
Cobert against certain matchup really struggling in the playoffs in past years. I
honestly, I'm not worried about kat A Mattress and I am Gobert. I'm
not gonna like I'm just worried at general. Like I just the two big
thing is working really well for them in the regular season, and I think
that was basically what they're doing this year in the regular season is what we
expected out of them last year. Like I when people when they when they
made the trade, it was pretty well received. It was like, Okay,
that was a lot to give up for Rudy Gobert and that you might
we loved it that around that, but it was like, you know,
the Timberwolf should be an easy fifty win regular season team. The concern was
not the regular season, it was what does this look like when the playoffs
come around? And I know Denver has said Minnesota was the toughest matchup that
they had in the playoffs last year, and that was with no Jaden McDaniels,
and you know, like they and Karl Anthony Towns out for half the
year, so this is a better version of that Timberwolves team. But yeah,
I think there are reasons to be concerned about them. I'd say probably
there are more reason to be concerned about them than there are okay see,
Like, okay see, it really feels like just youth and inexperience is the
biggest issue, and we're more forgiving of that by like default, But I
also think there is and that might be coloring the way that I view it
and maybe even the way you do it, is there's an urgency here because
no one wants to hear about this, like they're going to be the second
Apron. They're coming up towards it and like, oh, they have to
break this team up after this. Yeah, and they have until the end
of next season to do it. It's like everyone, but it might happen
over the like if they flame out in the playoffs, which I honestly think
that their defense is going to hold up a lot better than people think in
the postseason. It's just their offense and the the The bigger difference from okay
se is you framed it perfectly, Like with the youth in the experience,
you could be more forgiving of that. It's also just they have more modes
to toggle between than I think this Wolves team does right now, even though
they are deep, Like Kyle Andris has not had a good year, but
it's still Kyle Anderson. And now you add someone in Monte More's who be
a part of your playoff rotation, and like, yes, Jordan McLoughlin's had
some nice moments, but him usurping Shake Milton and joy Rod Jeringier in the
rotation was okay, good for Jordan McLoughlin, but that's not ideal. And
that's so. But you have Monte Morris, you have an to kill Alexander
Walker. That's someone who can play in the playoffs. I feel good about
this team, but I felt great about them like a month month and a
half ago, and I think that I was just kind of blind to some
of these offensive issues where like, and what I think is frustrating about it
is to use Cleveland as an example just looking at their bigs. I know
Evan Mobley's embracing the three ball a little bit more since he's come back from
injury, and he's hit like four or five of them, and it's like,
wow, he could just do that, Like it's them. Remember when
Giannis in the beginning used hit those pull up triples. It's like he just
hits like one or two of those a game, Like it's over for everybody.
So all there with Ben Simmons, It's gonna happen at some point.
But like the Wolves feel like they actually have the tools within their top end
unit to open up the floor more. But Karl Anthony Towns might and he
is so good. I don't think that he should have made the All Star
team necessarily. I would have if you had to give it to a Wolf,
it would have been go bare for me. But like they have the
ability to open up the floor or steady the offense a little bit more,
and they're just they're not. But I also recognize that it does feel like
they have a playmaking directional ceiling on that end too. Yeah, I think
it's a smart point to bring up about them feeling the urgency or maybe us
all being aware of the urgency. And I don't know, I mean people
have been talking about it, writing about it, you know, It's been
a theme throughout the year. I don't know how many Timberwolves fans are like
really fixated on that right now. Would imagine most of them are. That's
a problem for later. They've played the like there's no Tomorrow card, which
I actually think is that's the smart way to view it. I questioned whether
the organization because if there's a no Tomorrow card, like you couldn't have given
up, Like was there way to give up more and get Tias Jones in
Sada Monte Morris or like I said, the no Tomorrow card would have been
nas reading Kyler Anderson from Malcolm Brogden, does Portland actually turn that down?
Yeah? Yeah, I mean that's the concern is that this core is just
financially unsustainable beyond this year. And I think you're absolutely right about that.
So you know, it makes me ner of risks going into the playoffs.
And I would imagine the players are aware of this more than anything, Like
they know NBA players are smart and they understand how I would imagine they're looking
around the league now, especially and once we get to the AUF season,
it's going to become very clear of like, oh, we are in a
very different landscape than we were a year ago thanks to this new CBA so
how is this going to affect Like our team's going to be willing to shell
out these massive luxury tax building more and be over the second apron. No,
I don't think they will unless they are, you know, like Denver
might because they just won championship and very well could win another one this year.
But unless you are a top tier championship contender, which you know,
Minnesota is in the conversation. But if you look at you know, title
ades right now, it's Boston, Denver, Clippers, Milwaukee, Big Gap,
and then you know Phoenix, New York. Okay, see Cleveland at
least on vanduel Minnesota's ninth right now, like I do, just because that's
a reflection of the market. I just feel like there are not enough people
who care. I'm not playing that anyone who listen to this, I don't
care if you watch the Wolves are don't or if you're a Wolves fan and
are mad at what we're saying. That feels like a lack of just like,
the Wolves are really good, and it's funny you mentioned this already because
of what they did last year, So we feel better about the thunder to
come out of the West. But like the Timberwolves are clearly much better suited
to beat the Nuggets than this there are Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
know. It's honestly, I'm surprised the thunder that high. I'm pleasantly surprised.
I think, like, I think the thunder just one of the better
stories of the NBA just because even Sam Presty company of the season was like,
I don't really know how good we are, Like that's I think that
was one of the surprises of the trade deadline with them, you know,
cashing in a couple of chips, not big ones, but cashing in some
chips for Gordon Hayward was like he said he wasn't gonna do this type of
thing early heading into the season. And it's not an all in move.
I mean they are they are still locked and loaded for whenever that type of
move comes along. But it is the most sam Pressy thing ever would be
that by the time we finished recording this podcast, they've signed Gordon Hayward to
an extension. That would be the mostsion. The most sam Pressy thing is
that he's somehow finagled another Pickswow that broke at like three h five yesterday and
no one heard about it until right now? Uh, do you have more?
You have another question for me? I do I do I have?
I think maybe two more one? How much better did Dallas get at the
trade deadline? Don't do this? Oh, we already had so many man
Mavericks fans in the live stream, but they did have one of the most
divisive deamlines. Look, the answer is I don't. I think they're better
than they were because Daniel Gafford is good like he He's shown some mid range
touch and he'll also it's not what peak for Shaun Holmes used to do,
but it's like he will flip up shots outside of the restricted area, which
gives you optionality on the like the roles, and he is the type of
big that should thrive alongside Luca and or specifically Luca, but also Kyrie,
so they are better and PJ Washington, even this season with some uneven stuff
from the outside, he has been better than Grant Williams. He has more
of a floor game on offense, he makes the most out of his pain
touches. I think he's actually better equipped to defend like bigger bigs than Grant
Williams is, who just feels like he's ultra switchable. But you played all
of your best chips to get are they ten percent better fifteen percent better?
And is ten to fifteen percent better enough to win the title? And because
you have Luca, and because of the way Lucas played in the playoffs and
because the way Kyrie is played in the playoffs previously, maybe you could talk
to yourself into saying yes. But the opportunity cost of I think not materially
improving your championship odds, which is that's the standard. I'm not saying it's
title or bust, but when you're playing kind of the last of your first
round assets, that is the standard. No, they're not much better off.
And one of the comments we had, and I actually did respond,
I don't think they ever got back to me, was well, why can't
Dallas just get more first round picks? They did it over the offseason with
the salary dump from like you know, the Kings, and I'm my question
to them was those opportunities aren't always available, and now you don't have a
lot of this dispensable money just to throw around. And then I also asked,
who is the player outside of Luca, outside of Kyrie? And outside
of Derek Lively that you could trade this offseason and get Dallas more of a
first round pick. And then who's also someone unimportant enough that you won't miss
them? Right, There's there's no one. There's not even like because I
think Daniel Gafford was only worth a first round pick because you were sending out
Rashaun Holmes in that deal. I don't think Daniel Gafford met you a first
round pick in a vacuum as a reserve big who can definitely start for you
if Derek Livey's dealing with nasal stuff, but like he can't. So I
didn't feel great about their deadline. I know a lot of MAVs fans appreciated
that they kind of undid the summer mistake. But we talked about this during
the trade deadline. Just you used your last chips and aside from that,
its you now turned your twenty thirty first round swap, like forget about the
seconds, because they had some inbound and outbound ones for your twenty thirty first
round swap and your twenty twenty seven first round pick into Daniel Gafford or or
excuse me, into PJ. Washington. And so it's like that's underwhelming,
and I know that PJ. Washington, I think could be better than he
was shown in Charlotte, and people will probably pay more attention to him alongside
Luca. He will get better three point quality looks with Luca and Kyrie teeing
them up. I think he could be really good for this team. But
like, the gap still between their third best player and their second best player
is a chasm. It's a galaxy at this point. And yeah, there's
some teams who are title contenders that are probably the same way, but there
there's also not just like I mean, look at the Thunder, look at
the Timberwolves, look at the Nuggets. There's not that huge gulf between like
your top two guys and maybe Milwaukee, but like you still kind of have
Middleton and Lopezan's like that gap is still going to be smaller than what's existing
in Dallas. Yeah, that might be another good follow up question. Who
is even the third best player on the Mavericks right now? Well, it's
sort of like by committee. It could be PJ. Washington, it could
be Derek Lively, it could be Tim Hardaway Junior. Legitimately that's the person.
It could be Josh Green. Am I missing anyone? It can't be
Max in cleeband anymore. That doesn't you know, No, I could not
know. Yeah, I think those are the big ones. So do you
think that how where you land on them? Yeah? I mean I I
asked that question because I do think it's worth like separating the context of the
move, which you know, I think it's right to criticize it in totality
because to make that type of a move and the cash in one of your
few remaining chips, it really does need to vault you into the Denver OKC
Clippers here, and I don't think it did for Dallas. You know,
does it push them above Sacramento? Does it push them above New Orleans?
Potentially? But I mean if this all ends with a first round knockout or
even a second round knockout, it's just you're playing a very dangerous game if
you're the Mavericks, because you're trading these you know, distant distant picks,
and you know you had to trade the twenty eight picks wop just to get
the pick from oka See to send for Gafford. Luca become a free agent
in twenty twenty seven. Now, they'll probably, you know, he's very
likely as long as he plays sixty five games he'll make all NBA. One
of these next couple years, he'll become eligible for a super max, they'll
sign him to one and whatever. So like, I don't necessarily think he
is definitely going to leave the Dallas Mavericks by twenty twenty six or by twenty
twenty seven, but there's at least that possibility, and only the top two
protection on the pick that they sent for Washington, and then, as far
as I know, it's a fully unprotected swap in twenty eight. There is
just a ton of long term downside. And I think the Mavericks' counterpoint to
that would be, that's fine, you're absolutely right, but we have Luka
Danci. Do we need to maximize his time here? So what did you
want us to do? And I don't have a better answer to that question
because I don't know what else was available. And I'm sorry interrupt my Yeah,
I think they could have because Luca, you could worry about the contract
stuff, but you have Kyrie under contract, Luca's still young. They were
the team more so than the Lakers, or even more so than maybe the
Warriors, but like those teams still made the decision. You could have just
done nothing and had yourself more AMMO to use over the offseason and gotten someone
better that Like I'm not right now, I don't know what they could have
gotten by giving up let's just say that swap and that first round pick.
I don't know what the better they they also clearly wanted, Like let's just
say, for instance, had you given up that swap and that pick,
that you would have been able to get Jeremy Grant. They may have made
the action I would have maybe I probably would have done that, even though
he wouldn't have helped their rebounding a lick And I look, I would argue
that I don't know that PJ. Washington or Daniel Gafford helps him on the
glass that much either. But they made the act decision, well, no,
we need two guys in the front court, which is fine. But
the other move was and we saw them make it last season. It was
granted, it was more nuclear of just kind of bowing out of the playing
conversation towards the end, But they, to me, more so than even
the Hawks, just by doing nothing, because what if Trey Young requested trade,
and you've now traded future first round equity. But like, definitely more
so than the Lakers and the Warriors who did stamp pat you could have just
said no, like we're gonna we can find something better in the offseason.
And so even if you're telling me there was an option of well, they
could have gotten Jeremy Grant, or it was PJ. Washington and Daniel Gafford,
or it was Kyle Kuzma, those were not your only three options.
You could have sat tight, opened up. What could they have trained the
off season? Three first round picks, three first swapped in still would have
had two more swap three and two swaps right where now it's one swap and
that's it is what you can move. So they could have waited, and
I know people would have been frustrated by that. I just can't talk myself
into the immediate ceiling with PJ. Washington and Daniel Gafford versus like I would
have taken the road not traveled, or the road of what what could have
been? And so to me, it's not even just a matter of what
else are they supposed to do with this trade deadline? It's well, what
else could they have done this offseason, and there's definitely a scenario on which
they could have gotten someone or someone's collectively better than Daniel Gafford and PJ.
Washington. Yeah, totally agree with that. I have you mentioned them.
I have three teams, but if we only get to one or two,
this team is my kink. I think about them at night, trying to
figure out what they are. I can buy into them as a pseudo title
contender on one night, I'm depressed about their future. The other night,
how good are the New Orleans Pelicans? Oh that's a good one. Yeah,
please don't do. Our guy who does a great job covering the Pels
was mentioning basically like Point Zion, it's gonna determine the second half of their
season, which I think is a very fascinating. He's back too, like
they finally they get away from it, and I can't remember who else listening
to mentioned this and I thought it was good, Which is why I'm interrupting
you. Is that do they just not trust that Zion will be available when
it matters most, and that's why they get away from Point Zion so much.
But I agree with you and Sumid that point Zion is definitely going to
define their ceiling. Yeah. I mean it's interesting just because they are in
this mix of top six seeds, and it does still feel like they're still
kind of trying to figure themselves out a little bit and figure out their hierarchy.
So the answer to your question is, I have no idea how good
they are, and I honestly don't think they even know either. I think
they are still working through a lot of like which combinations of players work best
with one another. And I mean that if there's the fundamental question of who
should be our primary ball handler fifty games into the season, that means we've
still got a lot to figure out over these final thirty games before the playoffs
begin. Yeah, they they confuse the hell out of me. And then
you and like, I appreciate that they've tried some stuff where it's like,
Okay, you've seen Larry and Junior start second halves and they've been like,
the starting un up isn't good, but they've been good in first halves and
not so much in second halves. And then it's you want to say,
there's Zion in Brandon Ingram and first some of this season it was true they're
just functionally hard to build around as your two players. But then you think
of the data, it's like Zion's efficiency is just a lot better this season
with both Zion and Valanchunis on the floor than with one or both of them
off, And yeah, he might get to the rim a little bit more.
But so like that confound you like in totality, and then the other
thing that's confusing as hell is just how good they are on the margins.
And this was the problem with them when you tie it to the trade deadline
is and I didn't see a lot of people calling for them to make a
move. There was a very clear we talked about this in our discord plug
join, our discord links in the podcast and YouTube description that there was they
had a clear need, but there was no one who And it's rim protection
that came with one or both of role gravity or like outside floor spacing.
Those players are not available and drove, so you weren't going to find them.
But if you were going to find them, they needed to be better
to either one force you to move one of your guys who are really good,
or to usurp these guys in the rotation who are really good and there's
so much to like about them though, and they've had like so ever since
they dropped to I think it was twelve and eleven, they're one game over
five hundred. They were injured that, you know, not that to say
the sky was falling, but like the vibes weren't great. Since then,
they are top five in net rating with a top five offense and a top
five defense. Herb Jones not all the data supports this. He's better on
offense, like he's hitting the corner threes those clips in the volume I have
gone up. He's just I have never seen him perform this well in transition
as a decision maker, as sort of a finisher. That's been huge for
them. And then like Trey Murphy, you know, he goes through these
sort of peaks and plunges. But then it's like you look at what he
does as a shooter, an off ball mover, as even a guy who
can keep the ball moving when he gets going downhill, and you look at
their individual pieces and it's Jonas Valentunas can carry them on a night and outplay
Alpern Ching gout against the Rockets in part because Zion Williamson is not playing,
so you're able to feed him more. There's all this functional overlap that works,
but it doesn't like can you reach your peak with it? And then
what is the best version of yourself actually looking like? Again we both and
schmidt As pointed this out time again that it's with points Ion, but like
that's not necessarily maybe brandon Ingram's best bet, but then it also works at
time we're not at times like we've seen it work to a high degree.
And you love so many of the individual pieces on this roster and you can
go to and they could probably do more of this. The Zion plus all
shooters lineup when you're gonna stagger him and brandon Ingram, so you do have
that button to press. There's so much and then also just the defense just
belies their personnel at this point. I know Herb Jones is good, Trey
Murphy solid, CJ. Mccollm's been good this year. They've done a great
job in slating him, but he's made great decisions when he's kind of defending
those weak side corners. But like you look at this team and it's okay,
Zion Ingram, Jonas, Awn Chetas and CG. Mccoum are playing absurdly
heavy minutes. Dyson Daniels can't always stay on the floor because of how raw
he is offensively. No, they're just like an elite defensive unit. Statistically,
It's like, there's there's so much to love about this team, but
they actually I'm wondering if they have Maybe this was the question to ask you,
do they have the highest range of outcomes among teams in the league this
season where you could say they dipped it down towards the plan or they lost
in the first round, but oh, Pelicans came out of the West.
But yeah, yeah, if you're like discounting the sixers for injury reasons,
because yeah, probably, but I mean otherwise, yeah, probably. So
like you could absolutely talk yourselves into Pelicans get hot, go on a run,
figure out which guys work best together. I mean, you brought up
a Trey Murphy. He's only shooting thirty five point three percent from deep this
year. You shot thirty eight point two as a rookie forty point six last
year. Like, if he bounces back to the high thirties or even low
forties, what does that do for a Pelicans team that you know one of
the more efficient teams from deep shooting thirty seven point nine percent. As a
team, which ranked sixth in the NBA, They're only twenty thirty three point
attempts per game. I know. It's something that drives Schmidt absolutely bonkers.
Is he just wants to see more shooters around Zion and Bi or just Zion
or just b. I like, if you can, you know, have
guys who can fire shoot, just get them up. Yeah, shoot shoot
efficiently and shoot in volume like your high volume, high efficiency shooters. That
it's really they gotta up. Yeah, that's right, that's right exactly.
So yeah, I'm I'm curious to see how everything coalesces over these final thirty
games where they end up in the standings. And you know, I mean,
they just beat the Clippers the other night, and the Clippers have been
one of the best teams in the NBA over the last two months. So
like that's the stealing is they can beat the best teams in the NBA.
It's just can you get make it to April in one piece with Zion in
particular, and then if so, which of these guys are going to be
in the playoff rotation? Because they frankly have too many guys that they play
and not all of them are going to play in the playoffs. They're they're
so maddening and it must be mandening to cover them on a day to day
basis of just like, well, why isn't Zion? Why is it?
Why is Zion at? What is Zion as your point guard? Not coming
drips and DRAMs but like you know, like fade in, fade out type
deal. And then also it has to be for you're always you mentioned with
the Zion injury. It's kind of a cliche talking point, but it feels
like you're always waiting for the other shoot to drop. With this team,
well, something gonna go wrong with Bi or CJ or Zion. Even it's
a lot of people who want to see Larry Nance get more minutes. It's
like, I don't know, Larry NaN's locked twenty minutes. Somebody can his
knees take that type deal? And this team is so fascinating and infuriating it
the same like I said, they're my kink. They're the team that just
like keeps me up. I'm so high on them, but they can they
can toy with my emotions. The dial can fluctuate from zero to eleven on
just any given moment, any given possession. Yeah, they're you know you
brought up Minnesota earlier as a team that how long is this course sustainable for?
I know Schmidt has been all over this as well, but you know,
valentierness is up after this year. They're already I think like one hundred
and fifty thousand or one hundred and fifty million on the books for next year,
if not more. I'm just basing that off the spot track. So
once you re sign JV, that alone might put you either at the tax
or even over the tax. And are are the Pelicans willing to pay the
tax or how deep are they willing to go into the tax or do they
need to make some sort of consolidation move this summer? So I think these
thirty games in this playoff run is going to be pretty instructive because yeah,
I know Schibid has been banging the drum of like all three of the Zion,
BI and CJ are probably not sustainable long term. So which two of
them or which guy is the absolute we have to keep him? Is it?
Zion? Because the ceiling is so high even though you know, highest
ceiling of the three but lowest four because of the injury risk, or do
you play it safe and go with like Bi, it's your league guy,
and can he be the league guy on a title team. I think these
are all fair questions. We're going to find out a lot of answers about
the Pelicans in the next couple of months. I saw some people were frustrated
too that since they didn't make a move at the deadline, again, just
what was the move that would have made an impact? Like, honestly,
it just when you look at this rotation, but that now they don't necessarily
have tradable salary without dipping into the core and you mentioned like kind of the
core element of that is that was never gonna happen, Like, yes,
if the perfect deal came along, that they could have used Jonas Valentunas and
picks and you know, Jordan Hawkins or like another smaller salary. If they
make a meaningful change, it's gonna involve Zion brand ingram Merced McCollum. That's
just like that's how you're going to upgrade at this point, And they still
have like between if they really wanted to and didn't care about expenses, they
have there's one they're signing trades with Jonas Valentnis, but there's also between Larry
Nance and then step laddering your way with Dyson Daniel's money and Jordan Hawkins money
if that deal comes along. But like you said there at one fifty eight
is what I'm seeing before the yonis valentoonis Capole, and so if he even
gets the same salary, they are into the tax. And this playoffs is
also going to determine not just this team ceiling where they bow out, how
they out will determine like, well, are we willing to go into the
tax for this core and if you're not, or even if you are,
what type of change needs we made to continue furthering our progress here. There's
just there's so much at stake for them. I don't know if it's maybe
they don't have the most. I haven't gone through that, but like the
teams that have the most at stake just this year, it might it might
be them. Yeah, they're up there. I mean, there's a lot
of teams in the same boat of like it's it's not necessarily now or never
for their entire core, but for the way they are currently constructed. It
is hard to imagine that a couple of these teams are going to be built
the exact same way next year, or that their core is going to be
built the same way next year, like Minnesota is definitely one, New Orleans
is one. Cleveland as well. As they're playing, there are going to
be some major questions that they faced this summer, and how they fare in
the playoffs will determine the answer. In Atlanta, the Bulls would like to
be included in this conversation, even though they don't belong in it. The
ball would love to be make the playoffs, win a playoff series, and
then you can be involved in this conversation. Until then, go back to
your treadmill of mediocrity. Please, you said you had one more I do
Are we overlooking the Phoenix Suns? Ooh? I mean, first of all,
and they might dovetail just because of the move they made with the one
of the other teams that had my list. I kind of feel like yes,
it just like you look at the issues they've had and they're real issues.
But like the turnover stuff when you have your big three, it's not
as prevalent through most of the game. Fourth quarters have been in issues.
We've seen defenses blit them, blitz them, but you know, it's been
a bigger issue for them in fourth quarters. Nobody hits a wide open jumper.
They still generate them, but they shoot. And I've mentioned this now.
I think like three times they have an effective field goal percentage of above
sixty three on wide open jump shots outside ten feet. Through the first three
quarters, that number drops to dead last and the NBA at about forty six
in the fourth quarter. That's like Grayson Allen turns into a pumpkin, like
Bradley Beal has struggled at points. But I look at this team, everyone
not everyone. A lot of people thought they needed a point guard. I
think they picked Royce O'Neil's not super athletic. I think they picked the right
need, which was let's get another someone who, like, look, let's
be honest, usef Nerdic has been good, Grayson Allen has been good.
Eric Gordon has had his moments. But there's a chance that we look back
at the trade deadline and say, did the Sun just acquire their fourth most
important player, Like that's how good of a fit Royce O'Neil is. And
so I think they just checked that the right box, and so like,
are we overlooking them in the sense of could they win it all? I
think we are because if the caveats just well, are their three stars need
to be available? Well, no shit, And so it's just like we
can't write them off because of that Caveat other rise, we'd be writing off
the Clippers right now, right right. I mean, Beal has missed so
much time this year, and even Booker and Durant missed a couple of games
here or there, so we haven't seen them at full strength all that much
this year. It's gotten much better as of late. But you know,
i'd say, really for the first couple of months of the season, it
was like, Okay, Balds back, but Kg's out, Kg's back,
Bookers out, Bookers back, Beals out. So it just felt very inconsistent.
But I mean, they are only five games back of the one seed
right now. Over the last month, I think there are twelve and three
yea, and they you know, they're playing like they played the Blazers,
the Bulls, the Nets, the Wizards, so woohoo. I'm not gonna
go celebrate that. But they've also beaten in that stretch the Sacramento Kings,
the New Orleans Pelicans, the Indiana Pacers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami
Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks. So no, yes, I'd like to see
them prove it against the top tier contenders they've got. Okay, see in
Denver in a three and four night stretch Houston and then okay, see the
back to back and then then at Denver two nights later at the beginning of
March. So that'll be fun. But like that might be a good litmus
test for them. But I mean yeah, I mean, like, if
you have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker alone, we saw how potent those two
guys could be in that series against Denver last year. Now you add Bradley
build of the equation, you add these other guys, Like, yeah,
they they lost some of their depth that they acquired this offseason in the trade
to get Royce O'Neill. That's okay. I mean, we knew from the
moment they went with this big three cGy they were going to be very very
top heavy and they were gonna have to lean on you know, they're probably
gonna cut to like a seven or eight man rotation in the playoffs. And
that's they just got someone who's definitely gonna be a part of it too,
which you could not say about any of them, like you don't want an
Ibby already wasn't really playing, so like you couldn't say that about anyone that
they sent out. Yeah, like Kiddibates job is probably the best one of
the four, And I mean I think they got joshakhiy at home. They
have the offensive liability wing defender there, you go, right exactly, and
now yeah you have a right so O'Neil who should be a plug and play
fit there. So you know, I think they it's similar to Okay,
see, like their move is gonna fly under the deadline because everyone's so busy
falling over themselves trying to praise what the Knicks did and trying to make fun
of the Chicago Bulls and the Lakers and the Warriors. But I think the
Sun's got notably better yesterday. And you know, there's this focus on Minnesota,
Denver, Okay see Clippers because the standings are all still bunched at the
very top of the conference. But Phoenix is just lurking there, like,
hey, guys, you do remember that we have Kevin Durant, Devin Booker,
and Bradley Beal Right, like we are still a championship kid Dender as
well. And there's there's two variables that I think once in favor of the
Suns, and one isn't like the one that's in favor of them is like
Bradley Beal has and this because he missed some time and I think he was
always going to be the player that needed to adjust more. He's had to
make more adjustments and he struggled at points, but to his credit, he
hasn't really tried to like from the script, and there are just moments when
you can see it work and see it clicking and how this is all supposed
to collaise together so they're gonna get better, So they might get better on
offense, is my point. A team that over their last thirty games I
think has is like fifth in offense, or their their fourth in offense or
their last thirty games, and I don't remember what they were overall on the
season. They're sixth for the season. Now. The one that I have
questions about and you watch them and you don't understand it. You dig into
the data and you start to understand it, and then you wonder if it
holds up in the playoffs. They're just hovering around league average on defense despite
not necessarily having the personnel to do so. And then you start to look
at it, it's like they haven't really gotten too lucky on opponent three point
shooting. They haven't gotten like teams aren't hitting mid range jumpers against them.
But that's like not the hugest deal. And then you look, you look,
it's like they're not a good defensive rebounding team overall. Some of their
lineups can be, but just overall, they're not their backup. Big situation
is traditionally a mess like Drew Eubanks might decide to play well for two or
three games at a time, but that's about it. And yet they're a
team. And I think we people started to come onto this with the Denver
Nuggets last year. If your league average defensively put your super ultra elite on
offense, you can win the title. My issue with the Suns, and
they address is a little bit with Royce O'Neill, just just a little bit.
Is Denver always had, like some of the individual defenders, Aaron Gordon
specifically, they had Bruce Brown last year and now they have you know,
Peyton Watson in sort of a stay. You look at them and said,
like they could you could see the theory of what they were gonna do on
defense at the highest level. And then you also got you know, Jamal
Murray turns it up a notch. And the Sons have that with Devin Booker,
like they're kind of like Jamal Murray. He'll kick into the next year,
especially in one on one situations. The Sons don't have their Aaron Gordon.
They don't even have their Michael Porter Junior, who during the playoffs last
year, like and you don't need to listen to his opinions on the WNBA.
I'm talking strictly about it. Like he comes in and crashing the glass,
He's defending his ass off, He's like making good help rotations. I
don't see that on this team necessarily, And so I sort of question whether
when they're going up against teams that are and I'm not smart enough to know
the answer to this, I'm honest, I'm genuinely just asking this question.
When teams are gonna be able to game plan for them in a best of
seven series, do we see some pullback from a defense that I would say,
overall and especially relative to the personnel that they have, has overachieved and
is in a spot where you're like, like, if you just take the
defensive returns at face value, which again, there's nothing that stands out that
said you can even One of the things I thought about watching them is their
offense is so good. They get set like that helps, but like they
get back after committing a turnover or missing a shot like, so they have
that in them. And so you look at these results and if you told
me they're just the fourteenth or fifteenth or sixteenth the best defensive team in the
league and that that'll hold up in the playoffs, we are absolutely sleeping on
the Phoenix Suns. I'm just wondering, and I think we overall are sleeping
on them. I'm just very curious to see whether that type of league afferags
play can hold up in the playoff crucible. Yeah. Absolutely, And I
think even if it can't, there is low hanging fruit for them to address
on offense. But it's fair to wonder if they're ever going to do it.
That they are twenty sixth and three pointers attempted per game, they are
twenty fourth and three point rate. I mean, four of their five best
shooters are shooting thirty eight percent or higher from three point range, the one
exception being Bradley Beal who's at thirty six point two percent. So they have
five very good three point shooters on the team and yet they are taking the
fifth fewest three point attempts per game. So even if the defense does backslide,
I'm not saying they need to be the Boston Celtics and fire up almost
fifty three to night. That's like, but I think there is a better
balance that they can find between the mid range shots that especially Kadi and Bookers
so lethal line and can we stretch the floor a little bit more? And
I think Royce O'Neil might help in that regard as well. Yeah, he
definitely will, because right now they only have one player attempting more than six
three pointers per thirty six minutes. And that's just like even Grayson Allen's under
six attempts per thirty six minutes, and that's like Grayson Allen buddy, Like
that should probably be on a permanent basis, that should be up near ten.
I feel like like you're almost from three guy, like this is your
only role on offense, and I will say, there's room, and we've
seen it. I think for Devin Booker's volume to climb there because I think
I mean, he's when you look at it, just like three points splits
for his career. He's definitely like first team. All his shooting form makes
you think he's had a forty five percent from three season when he really hasn't.
But like I do think the extra volume is probably gonna need to come
from a bal or a KD just because like they're so low. They're barely
a kitty's not even at five attempts per thirty six minutes. And look,
it's an oversimplification, but we just went in detail and all this other stuff.
The math. Sometimes the math is gonna matter. Yeah, And so
when you're you're a team what I think is good about them, We'll see
if it holds in the playoffs. Okay, you're a team that, despite
not putting a ton of pressure on the basket, like you're going to get
to the foul line, they're actually second in free throw attempt rate on the
season, which is you know, when you consider where they rank as a
team when it comes to the share of their shots that just come at the
rim. Uh, they're actually seventh. I didn't realize they were that high
up. My reading that wrong. Oh that's accuracy. I knew I was.
I was like, uh, maybe you don't watch anything. They're twenty
fifthpresive. Okay, Yeah, they're twenty fifth in the share of their shots
that come at the rim. And so if that holds into the playoffs,
is it harder to draw the shooting fouls when it's coming from the perimeter.
The guys are talented enough that maybe it doesn't matter. But that's also a
fair question as well. But you're right, Roy, don't Neilli at least
help with the three point volume for sure? Yeah, I mean, like,
I'm not saying I'm picking the Suns to win the West by any means,
but I heard aggregators. There you go, there you go. But
I mean it like if you held a gun to my head and said it's
Minnesota versus Phoenix in the second round of the playoffs, I don't know your
face just said at all. Yeah, it's tough for me to pick against
the team with Kevin dur Devin Booker. Maybe it's too simp like maybe I'm
just lizard braining this, but and they would definitely. I think they would
try to like style the shit out of the series and just say, you
know what, Kevin Durant's gonna play more five and we're gonna see what that
does to their dual big set up. Yeah, it goes back to my
concern with Minnesota. Like all these other teams, I think are going to
have a little bit more ability to change their identity, and I think Phoenix
will be one of them where Royce O'Neil especially is going to be a very
interchangeable piece with any of their big three. My final team, I was
going to talk about the Atlanta Hawks, but they've gotten enough shine on this
podcast because of the actual trade deadline. This is a team that has been
neglected. Not being neglected. We've talked about them, but they've been I
think neglected on like a national scale, and then they neglected to do anything
of consequence at the trade deadline. Criminal Kings. I what is the pathway
to the Sacramento Kings being more dangerous this season this playoffs than they were last
year? Does it exist? I mean, Keagan Murray pulling up in the
last thirty games more than he already has. Yeah, and I thought they
were a team where you talk about the options that were out there, and
I actually think we speak of a neglection. I don't think we noted this
as well in the you know, you're reacting in real time and trying to
do four or five minutes a team. You could say, well, what
were they supposed to do? You don't give up two picks for Kyle Kuzma,
and I don't. We don't know that Jeremy Grant would have worked.
If one would, the Plazers have traded him and his two picks were and
worth it. But like we just covered the Suns, you're gonna tell me
that you could cobble together enough second round equity to rival or exceed that offer
to get Royce O'Neill, who would have helped you. So it's just like
they they have more than one biggest need. I think everyone focuses on the
perimeter defense. And I've tried to drive this home because I do believe it.
Darn Fox and Keithan Murray have gotten better enough that I think you could
have said, well, we need a rim protector who could ideally maybe play
alongside some bonus, but then you're just starting to run into the same issues
as the Pelicans, where it's oh, yeah, we just need like this
guy with role gravity or who will floor space and then also just protect the
basket. You also could have just focused on because your offense has not been
spectacular this year, like your your highest end lineup with your starters that has
killed it by and large, and it's hovered around league average defensively, that's
those those are good signs. You've outscored when you have Fox Herder, Murray
Barnes and Sabonus on the court, you're plus eight points per one hundred possessions.
But like you, there's like there is a void of like wanting that.
Malik Monk is more of a downhill guy, and Kevin Herder not much
of a shock creator. He's gone through some peaks and valleys this year,
but his his three points stuff is coming around. Barnes is just not the
same player. He's serviceable, but he's just not the same player. And
so you needed more of a multi level score if you wanted to. And
they prioritize nothing, and I look at them and I still think the offense
could just do damage in the playoffs. The Sabonus stuff is over sold.
Grant and I have disagreed on this. I honestly think, like what happens
if like his shooters are hitting more wide open threes against the Warriors last year.
I don't think it was just a Sabonis thing. However, when you
look at them defensively, they I don't want to use the word sell out,
but like they are so concerned with limiting opponent looks at the rim because
Sabonis is not a good rim protector that it leaves them very vulnerable on the
perimeter. Even with this improvement from Kegan Murray dearon Fox, they are among
the worst teams in the league at defending spot up jumpers because they're trying to
shoot these large gaps on closeouts and you just don't have this ultra explosive winger
guard who can either shoot those gaps or really just stick with anyone through any
type of coverage, which is why I think a lot of people want it,
and including myself, wanted them to go after Alex Caruso. We both
know the Bulls were being delusional as fuck when it came to that. I
hope the King at least like gave a real offer for him. And I
look at this team and I just don't see, like, yes, they
have seven guys that you could like when you get into Malik Monk and then
Trey Lyles like as part of their reserves, and after that, it's just
sort of like who do you feel good about and how do they up it
in the playoffs? Maybe they reached the level of defensive intensity that they did
last year, which a big part of that was get your offense set after
or get your defense set after the offense scores, but you were still at
this just physiology or athleticism deficit when it comes to what you're doing on the
perimeter. And I think you could have looked at getting more because of the
way you move Keegan Murray around at the one through four spot, It could
have been anywhere. And to not have that or even like the fact that
they just weren't. They were mentioned among like Pascal Siaka more than they were
oj Ananobi. I don't know if he telegraphed he didn't want to go there,
but like he was the perfect addition for them. I'm not saying they
could have outbid the Knicks or should have and it's clear if you're not willing
to trade Keegan Murray and the Raptors want players, well, then you can't
really offer the Raptors anything. So I'm not saying that they missed the boat
on that, but like that's to not even hear them linked to a type
of player that, like to even they could have let it leaked that,
hey, they offered two first round picks for Alex Caruso when the Bulls turned
it down, that probably would have put the fan base in a little bit
of ease. I the Kings are a really good basketball team, but I
think between the combination of their I'm more worried about their flaws on defense still,
and then just that coupled with how much more dangerous the Western Conferences this
year, because you like, I think there are three, there might be
four. Two where it's okay, the Thunder and the Wolves were not this
last year, The Clippers were not this last year, which is to say
healthy, and then even the we just talked about the Pelicans like so,
and it's just like you know the Suns too, but the Sons they were
there last year having a round. So now you're just dealing with four threats
in addition to the Nuggets and the Suns that you didn't have to cope with
last year, and who has fallen off enough that you don't have to worry
about them The Warriors. Okay, sure, and then like I guess the
Lakers, but like did anyone they made it to the conference finals last year.
Yeah, so those drop off, but let's just like you're still I
would say, let's ask me that at plus two more threats that didn't exist
last year, and that's Look, what if the Warriors and the Lakers hit
a stride, like the Warriors since Straymond Green has come back and figured out
a way to play Comingo Wiggans together, I don't. I don't believe in
them as a title threat this season and did over the Lakers, but like
their absolute peaks, or if you catch them in the right seven or they're
on the Kings and the wrong seven game series, I'm gonna tell you right
now, if the Kings face the Warriors again or the Lakers, I'll still
pick the Kings to win that series. But it's relative to the West and
their deepest, darkest, most glaring flaws. It's I just don't know how
to feel about them, But I don't know whether that's unfair or not.
Yeah, I mean, you know, right now the Warriors are tied with
the Jazz, but given what the Jazz did at the deadline, I think
it's fair to assume a Warrior is it or Rockets will leap the Jazz and
finishes in the play in tournaments. Right now, you know, Sacramento is
the seventh seed, would be playing Luca and Kyrie in the seven to eight
game if they lose that and they and by the way, they count as
a threat because they'd actively decided not to enter the race last year, right
and then you know, if Golden State or Houston jump up into the ten
and we've got Lakers in one of those two teams the nine to ten,
then Sacramento has to play them just to get into the playoffs. Like that's
a really scary proposition, I think. So they need to really prioritize getting
into the top six. And you asked, you know, you're right,
I think they're top seven. You can at least talk yourself into being a
solid playoff rotation. What else do they need beyond Keegan Murray continuing to level
up? They might just need one of their other young guys, whether it's
Kean Ellis or Davion Mitchell, maybe, uh, one of the I think
you need, like Damion Mitchell and Harrison Barnes to fuse together into one player
flash player. Yeah that would help. Yeah, yeah, that would help.
Yeah. I mean, I think they're just like one piece short,
and I don't know if they off the top of my head, if they
have an open roster spot. But even if they do, it's not like
they're gonna be a priority place for buy out signings to go. They might
be, but at the end of the day, it's a buyout signing too.
Yeah. Yeah, it's rare for those guys to make a real impact.
So yeah, I mean, the fundamental problem with the King this year
versus last year is last year their offense was like historic, all time great.
This year it's just kind of run of the mill, middle of the
pack. And when your defense, like if you're building around Fox and to
bonus, you're never going to have a top five defense. You are making
that trade off willingly, and you are saying like the you know you just
talked about the Nuggets last year, like it's you can live with an average
defense if your offense is that good. But if your offense is not that
good, we run into the problem of, Oh, this team. Darren
Fox and Sabonis are both incredible players. I think both had a legit All
Star case this year. It's not to take anything away from them. I
don't want to get caught in the cycle of, like, can't build around
Sabonis. He's not a playoff winner because he can't defend the rim. But
you're right about, you know, trying to pair him with someone of that
ilk well, like that, we just run back into the problem that Indiana
did building around him and Miles Turner like it. There are complications with him
as your center. For as good as he is offensively, you know,
what he doesn't provide defensively makes you build your team in a certain way.
And the Kings did a really good job of that last year, and unfortunately
this year, I think a couple guys hurt Her in particular, are not
living up to what they did last year, and it's caused kind of the
whole team to backslide offensively. So if they can get back into that,
you know, I don't know if they're going to get like top five offense
again, but even top ten, top eight, I feel a little better
about them. But if they can, if they stay in this like fourteen
fifteen, sixteen range, it gets harder to map out the pathway for them
to not only make the playoffs, but actually went a playoff series, especially
if you know Denver is their first round opponent. And it is a little
bit of a bummer when you look at it in the context. If I
agree with you that if you have Fox and Sibonis as your two main guys,
you're not looking at a top five defense. But I'm also a big
believer to get to that point where your average or better. I think Fox
and Keegan Murray specifically have gotten a lot better on defense this year to the
point that that should be feasible. And the fact that you didn't even like
over the all, and this isn't just about the trade deadline, by the
way, like you went through an entire offseason where you actively decided that getting
to the play and look, it's fine to kind of catch a beat and
not overreact, but like now you kind of we went through the trade in
line and you know, okay, this is what we still need. And
to your point about the offense. One of the biggest differences too, aside
from just the individual backslides, is last year Sibonis without Fox was plus three
points per one hundred possession. This year's like minus seven, and so like
that's a huge difference for them to not have, like to not be able
to navigate both sides of the one star minutes as well. Last year was
remember at the beginning of the everyone was where like, well, Fox can't
play the minutes without the bonus, and then that kind of that normalized as
the year went on. But the s bonus without Fox minutes of just not
And I think that's a big reason why their offensive ceiling is. Yes,
it's you know, you mentioned top five, top eight whatever that still exists
when you have the core members of your team on the court and the offense
has still been like I don't even know what the offense has been like,
like the actual raw numbers when some bonus it hasn't been good. It's in
the twenty eighth percentile. It just looked it up. It's like to lose
that is just bad. And I don't know how to feel about them,
but I think I find myself this might have more to do say about the
rest of the West, but I definitely feel worse about them this time right
now than I did this time last year. Yeah. Absolutely, And I
think you're totally right to point out the West has just gotten better. And
the Clippers were not the scary last year. The thunder were not scary last
year. Timberwold or not fit scary last year. So there, you know,
the standard of excellence is higher this year in the West than it was
last year. And it's not the takeaway from anything the Kings did last year,
because the Kings were a very, very good team last year, and
they gave Golden State one hell of a series that could have very easily swung
in either direction. But you know, you need to continue to build because
all of these you know, Clippers added James Arden, the Phoenix Suns added
Bradley Beal but okay, see didn't technically add chet Holmgrid but chet Holmgred was
not playing for them last year, ye for them this year. So you
know, all of these teams have added major pieces. And Sacramento understandably it
said, look, we had an incredible team last year. Let's run this
back and see if we can continue to develop continuity and more chemistry, and
that's great, but the ceiling is maybe not as high as a result since
they have not added one of these big marquee pieces. Brian, this was
fun as always. Thank you for giving me about ninety minutes of your time.
I really appreciate it. Are you just able to tell our listeners where
they can find you and all the mega ultra fantastic work that you do?
For sure? Thank you for having me as always. You can find me
on Twitter, as Dan mentioned, at B to pork b t O p
O r e K. You can find sixers coverage at Liberty Bollers, do
some Sixers stuff and just some general CBA capped nerdiness stuff at Sports Sports and
then the NTA podcast dram Podcast. Thank you so much, BT, I'll
be talking to you very soon for sure. Enjoy the bank, my man,
your vernon. Thank you, sir,