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What is krak a lacing fellow thermonuclear
a efforts. I am at Dana Valley,

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back from vacation, and we're ready
to podcast, going to do some

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news and rumored catch up, trying
to get to a mailbag at the end

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so that Grant and I can focus
when we start recording again, I think

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it's probably time for like an awards
check in on our part, that we

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don't need to focus on some of
the stuff that happened since we last recorded.

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I hope everybody enjoyed our positional Ranking
series. If you haven't already checked

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it out, go check it out. The response was actually pretty positive,

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I would say for the most part, some good debates, good discussions.

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Wasn't really surprised by any of the
maybe some of the compliments. Wasn't really

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surprised by any of the It wasn't
a lot of vitrol did find it.

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The only thing that kind of surprised
me is the number of people that even

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though we noted, yes, we
know positions are kind of obsolete, they're

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thorny now, that people still kind
of complained about that, or you know,

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noted on Twitter, my DMS or
in the YouTube comments about that.

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Or noted. Why would you just
do bigs wings guards again? Open for

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We knew all this going in Grant
and I, as much as anyone,

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understand how positions have changed. We
thought it was a fun exercise and it

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made for a good discussion. We
might shift it when we do it again

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next time. I think we're gonna
do some crowdsourcing at some point if we

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do it over the off season or
same time next year. But go check

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it out if you've not done so
already. So let's get into some news

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and notes. I'll do what I
can for the news and notes, and

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then get into some as many mail
bag questions as I as I can after

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that. In the time allotted,
let's start with where do we want to

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start here? Let's just begin with
Mitch Kupcheck leaving. Well, he didn't

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leave. He is transitioning into a
consultant's role with the Charlotte Hornets. Long

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time coming. It felt like this
was sort of inevitable. Letting him go

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through the trade deadline not so problematic. There's other people in place, and

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the Charlotte Hornets had a really,
really good trade season just because Terry Rozier

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was moved before the trade deadline to
get to very loosely protected post twenty twenty

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five first round picks for moving PJ. Washington, for moving Terry Rogier,

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that's a big deal. I thought
the value on Gordon Hayward was perfectly fine.

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I think based off how you've seen
some of these people, some of

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the new faces playing kind of shows
you how bare bones they were at the

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time they've been. They looked they've
been. The Ross have been pretty banged

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up as well, not just LaMelo
Ball, but like Mark Williams, is

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he gonna play again this season?
So I liked their the actual business,

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the value they got was good,
and cup Check leaving I think is also

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another signal in a line of many, which is what the bigger deal was

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to me, Even more so than
the value, is that this team is

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thinking bigger picture under new owners Rick
Nall and Gay Plockin. Who Gay Plockin,

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you know he was part of that
Melvin Capital business with game Stop.

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I actually just recently watched Dumb Money
because we had to cut our vacation,

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our trip short by like four days. Nothing was terribly wrong, but we

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didn't need to cut it short.
So I had a little bit of extra

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time on my hands. Rest ashured
I was working again. As soon as

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we got home. My wife was
just so angry. She knew it was

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gonna happen. But hey, we
try to unplug. I can't do it.

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I think we're all kind of the
same in this day and age.

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But yeah, so Gayplokin in Dumb
Money, he's not No, he's not

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a he's not a protagonist. I
would say in that, in that movie,

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or in that whole game, stop
business. But the direction of this

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franchise, I think you can appreciate
where it's headed and you kind of look

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at the bones now in place,
you have some extra first round equity,

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you have LaMelo Ball. Hopefully Mark
Williams is going to be healthier moving forward.

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Brandon Miller, he's comfortably I think
at this point, given some of

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the slippage from Jaime Hawks, he's
just moved into the Rookie of the Year

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pull. I haven't gone through it, but we know there's wemb and chat

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on one level. Brandon Miller to
me, you have to pencil him in

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his number three. They are probably
still cases to be made, and we

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have a whole quarter of the season
to go through, but you have this

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asset base. You have some extra
first round picks, so you're gonna get

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another high lottery pick this year.
They're actually projected to have the number one

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pick as of as of right now, but they will they will land in

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the top three, top four.
That's a big deal, and you can

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have a ton of cap space this
summer. And I'm not saying they should

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go out and try and sign free
agents. A lot's gonna have to do

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with the Miles Bridges free agency sweepstakes, or even gonna call it that.

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Do they keep him? But if
you get rid of his hole to renounce

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him, you could be working with
thirty million dollars about in room. And

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that's not money. I would say, hey, go spend. Yeah,

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you want to take a shot on
a younger guy or restricted free agent that's

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going to intrigue you, sure go
ahead do that. Otherwise, that's money

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that can be used to facilitate other
moves, taking on some unwanted money.

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They can also go that route sort
of leading into the draft. If teams

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are looking to kind of cut last
minute tax money. You have that Davis

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Berton, you can fuck around with
the he's I think partially guaranteed like five

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million or whatever it is next year. You can fuck around with that so

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that you can accept more inbound money
for him and help alleviate in other team's

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bill. There are a lot of
things that they can do, and I

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think the bigger thing here is that
they appear willing to do them, to

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be a little bit more creative,
to not think outside the box, but

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to take the more gradual approach understanding
that, Yeah, there'll be rumblings about

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La Melo Ball's future because that's how
it works with small markets, which really

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sucks. But you have him,
he signed his extension. You don't need

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to rush this, you don't need
to show undue urgency. And so I

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appreciate, you know, Mitch kupcheck
him transitioning into a consult role. That's

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just another proof of concept that things
feel like they're going to be different.

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I don't know if the end result
will be different, but it feels like

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the end game, the planned endgame, is different than it was under Michael

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Jordan, and that's a good thing. Let's see who they wind up filling

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filling that role with full time moving
forward this offseason. Let's see what happens

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the head coaching situation. I think
for where they're at, unless he's completely

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miserable or just not resonating with the
players, and you're gonna have so many

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new faces in there that I don't
even think you can use this season as

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evidence one way or the other.
I'm fine with Steve Clifford being in Charlotte.

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I love Steve Clifford, and he
does generally in the past, has

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gotten guys to defend hard and we'll
gobble up a lot of the low hanging

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fruit on the defensive end. So
if you need him as a placeholder for

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another year or so, given where
you're at, I don't think that's the

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end of the world. If you
want to go out and get somebody different,

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fine, totally understand that. But
Mitch Kupchak transitioning into that consultant's role,

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which is just basically like a save
face type of thing for both both

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parties in general, I just feel
like that's, you know, forget about

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cup Check's body where Look, he
had a good trade deadline. You have

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to give him at least some credit
for that. So I'm more about just

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the overall bigger picture of Charlotte.
I don't know that I felt this good

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about the franchise's direction since they kind
of had like and it was you kind

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of knew it was fleeting a fremerle
at the moment with you know, Al

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Jefferson, Kemba Walker, that team
that really pushed Miami to the brink in

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the first round. That was a
teamas high on the halcyon days of Marvin

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Williams and even when Nicholas Batoum was
still good and not maybe trying to get

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his way to LA Although was that
pre Nicholas Batom It might have been I

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can't remember. It was so long
ago, but I haven't felt this good

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about the Charlotte Hornets over arching direction
in over a half decade, closer to

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a decade at least. Another personnel
note, the Brooklyn Nets fired jacque Vaughn

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dismissed Jaquvaughan whatever immediately after the All
Star Game. Not surprising based off the

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results you've seen from this season.
You've had mchel Bridges kind of bristling publicly.

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Even Cam Thomas has had like not
the most flattering comments about it,

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and he's had more agency under jaqu
Vaughn, but they've butted heads in the

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past because of his role the lack
of consistency, the lack of volume behind

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it not as much of an issue
this season, but it didn't seem like

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everything was hunky dory there. You
look at the personnel, you look at

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their record, where they are in
the standings. I don't know what jacqu

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Vaughn was supposed to do differently.
If he really was trying to plan around

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Ben Simmons for the offense, that's
something that's just a flaw at this point,

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that that's a bug that's not even
close to a feature because you can't

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bank on Ben Simmons being healthy enough, sitting twelve games under five hundred and

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outside of the play though, I
think you can argue that they have underachieved

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and even their defense is just their
offense. It always felt like it could

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be weird with the lack of patented
primary creators where it's okay, like Michal

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Bridges can do stuff, Cam Thomas
can do something, and you had Spencer

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Dinwiti at one point, but there's
no one that can do everything be the

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primary score and also primary playmaker.
That person does not exist on this team.

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Even Cam Thomas has gotten a little
bit better as a passer in recent

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stretches. That's just not like the
offense. It just felt like there was

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no true I don't want to use
the word coherence, but or even philosophy,

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but maybe I like identity underlying identity. It felt sort of empty and

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hollow. And then just the defense, when you look at their personnel,

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it feels like they should be just
a lot better in that category. I

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know they've had some injuries, but
mostly on the front line, so I

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don't have an issue with them making
this move now. People were maybe taken

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aback by the timing. There are
a variety of reasons you do it now,

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and I think the primary one is
you want to see You want to

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give Kevin Alie a real tryout,
like an extensive sample, without really committing

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to him long term, and so
this allows you to do that for a

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little bit more than the quarter of
the season. So that's something that will

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make a lot of sense. As
my lights are flickering behind me, there

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might be a ghost in my office
right now for anyone who's watching on YouTube.

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The other reason you do this is
I don't know if it kind of

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signals that Sean Marks is on the
hot seat now, because you would argue

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well, why would you let him
go through the trade deadline and then this

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make the coaching change now rather than
make everything at once. Maybe you want

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to because there's not progress he can
make with this roster like transactionally, if

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there's anything that they do on the
buyout market, it's just nothing he is

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going to do that Sean Mark can
do right now is going to sway you

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on whether he alongs in Brooklyn long
term. Now there are reports that he

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still has the trust of Josi.
I still believe that. I'm not sure

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how married he was the idea of
bringing in all those superstars to Brooklyn,

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but that's not to display he was
culpable and once they came there, just

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not handling things and turning over way
too much the franchise to them. So

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not absolving him of any blame.
But you put Kevin Allie in this position

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because you want to evaluate him.
And I also think you make this move

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now because it shows that maybe you
do don't hold me do this. Maybe

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they get rid of Sean Marks over
the off season, but I think you

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almost do it now to prove or
it shows that you have faith in Seawan

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Mars to make this higher. He's
gonna go about the evaluation process with Kevin

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Alie see what he has in this
roster as well to where well, maybe

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it wasn't just a Jacques long Von
thing. It was more about the faults

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and foibles of the roster. And
then you not only build out your coaching

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search from there, but then you
build out how you're gonna handle yourself over

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the off season when it comes to
not just addressing needs in free agency and

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as part of trade acquisitions, but
well do we can selling doesn't need to

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be a bigger move, you know, in parlay some of this Dallas draft

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equity Phoenix draft equity into getting a
someone who is better than McHale Bridges.

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At the bare minimum, I would
argue, you need probably two someone's that

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are better than McHale Bridges. I'd
probably one someone is fine as long as

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they're like top ten, top fifteen
material. But mckel Bridges I would still

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think I'm holding out hope for him
to be a number two, but he

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might be closer to a two point
five or a three. So that's going

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to inform all of this. And
so I understand why you make this move,

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and you're it's sort of it's not
low stakes. It's getting out in

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front of something that was kind of
deemed inevitable. I think Jock von though

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he had quite a bit of guaranteed
money left on his deal, like in

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terms of years and money, so
good for him. He should still he

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should still get paid and he's performed
well and just in Brooklyn, like in

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various, I know that they didn't
close the season that it was everyone was

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caught up in look at what Michal
Bridges is doing, and the nets still

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kind of slipped put the body of
work beforehand fueled their their place, cemented

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them into that sixth spot. But
he's he, you know, I think

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he handled just some less than ideal
circumstances during his time in Brooklyn. This

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season was just unimpressive. I don't
fault him specifically for it. If players

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were unhappy with how the offense is
being run, or just what's going on

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with the lineups, of the direction
or the identifying philosophies, then yeah,

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that's a big that's a big issue
for sure, and this is just a

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team to monitor moving forward. They're
super interesting except when you really watch them

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play, like there are just moments. This is not a team that I've

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enjoyed watching this season. It'd be
cool if Ben Simmons was healthier. You've

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seen kind of flickers and flashes of
what they could be, especially in the

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open floor, and Cam Thomas has
been fun. Everyone knows how I feel

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about Nick Claxton. I still really
like mchal Bridges, even though his defense

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has slipped and we haven't seen him
make the offensive leap or even really take

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on the same offensive role that he
had for half of last year. Just

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a team to watch now, though, because of the situation that they're in

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of well, Houston owens our draft
rights, but we have a ton of

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our own Phoenix picks. Could we
make a consolidation train of our own could

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be look at selling and maybe get
some of our own picks back from Chuston

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itself. They're approaching it feels like
a variety of potential pivot points over the

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next six months or so. Other
news here before we get to the mailbag.

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What else did we miss? Well
while I was gone, I'm sure,

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I'm sure it'll spring to me.
Well, look, we should wait

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into the All Star discourse. I'll
give my two cents very quickly. I'll

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try and limit it to five minutes. I know people don't want to hear

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more about this, and I am
recording this. You'll get a previews snippet

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of it. I'm going to talk
a little bit about Timberwolves shortly, but

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I am recording this before I now
have a string of family obligations, including

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a wedding. So this is being
recorded on a Friday and it will be

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released on The full episode will be
released on a Monday. But the All

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Star stuff clearly outdated by then.
I'm just I'm not really I understand that

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the game needs to be more competitive, and I didn't watch it. It's

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one as soon as they move the
All Star Game to after the trade deadline,

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under the trade deadline before the All
Star Game. That freed people like

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myself up to maybe take some time
off the middle of the season. I've

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always done a really bad job of
doing that. This year I did it.

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I didn't watch any of the I
didn't watch any of the you know

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All Star Saturday Night. I missed
the dunk contest. I didn't see Sabrina

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versus Steph. Did see in retrospect
that that was great. I didn't watch

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any of the game. I saw
the score clearing two hundred points for the

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ease. Congratulations to them. I
saw Adam Silver get big mad than people

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were complaining about it. How do
we get players invested? I saw some

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people talking about will give them more
money? They get paid already for more

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money, and just like it has
to be commeasure it with you know,

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the n season tournament. They got
paid more, but that like included more

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obligations. And then Dan Feldman of
dunked On kind of noted in his Daily

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Dunks that when you pro rate it
that the All Star Game is actually kind

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of worth more like in a vacuum, than it was to go through the

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play in tournament. These guys are
making so much money, especially when you're

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dealing with running about entire teams.
Now we're dealing with the cream of the

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crop. I don't know that money's
ever going to be an incentive. And

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you have players, media members,
the league itself worried about it being competitive.

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You have we've heard that there have
been conversations Andre Gadala talk to players.

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I think Joe Dumars was worried about
it and they thought there was going

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to be buying. Then you talk
about players or players talk about how it

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needs to be competitive, and then
they come out after and say, yeah,

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it wasn't competitive, we wish it
was, but we're happy that nobody

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got injured, and like, I
get it. And so it's just you

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don't want to see someone suffer an
injury. You don't want to see,

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you know, granted Paul George was
playing from tm USA at the time,

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but something catastrophic like that leg injury
or even something is you know, like

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when we had the broken Nos fiasco, like how many years ago. As

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a ten plus at this point,
you don't want to see that happen in

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the All Star Game. And I
do. I honestly think the demands on

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the players during the weekend make it
so that it's never even a rest for

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them, and so then they're trying
to squeeze in their rest and they're going

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to travel immediately after. And we're
even seeing it now where Lebron's going to

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miss the Lakers first game back,
and you know it's because it's, yes,

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he's listed he has an injury,
but it's actually because they're going to

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extend as All Star break is basically
how I'm viewing it. And we've seen

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that happen before. I believe,
so I don't know how to fix it.

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I think there are things you could
do to make Saturday night more interesting.

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Let's see more of the Steph versus
Sabrina stuff. That was really cool.

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I am among the throng of people
that want to see the Shooting Stars

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come back. I always really enjoyed
that. I really liked the three point

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contest in general. I think that's
still good. You could take it or

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leave me with the skills challenge.
Maybe we could adjust it to speed it

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up a little bit would be nice. When it comes to the game itself,

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I'm not a fan of I've seen
people also proposed, well, the

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winning team the winning conference gets home
court advantage in the NBA Finals. We

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have people complaining enough that the regular
season doesn't matter, and so we're gonna

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kneecap it even further by taking away
the importance of having the top seed or

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the better record among the two remaining
teams when it comes to the finals.

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I just can't get there. I've
wondered, like, can we just extend

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me All Star break? And I
guess that would increase the back to backs,

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or you have to extend the season
a little bit more like let's make

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sure even the players participating get like
a real week off or something and there's

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more of a mid season break in
there. Would that leave them more inclined

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to try harder? Maybe not the
other thing you could do and it would

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be in the same vein as the
nd season tournament. And this is the

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one I haven't I've thought a lot
about it. The logistics of it would

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probably be hell, but like,
can you leave vacuums in the schedule when

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you're coming back to where one conference
is going to have to return sooner and

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you have these days bookmarks, so
it's gonna be a day or two where

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all these teams are just playing each
other, And it's like that needs to

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be baked into the schedule where the
winning team, like of the All Star

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game that conference, those teams get
x amount of days extra off to where

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it does them ount to a full
week for even the guys who participate,

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where it's like an extra three or
four days off where games are returning on

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on Thursday February twenty second. Now, let's say, okay, the East

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one, Like would there have been
a way to push it until Monday?

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At that point, like you'd have
to bake it into the schedule and there'll

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be a lot of nuanced then I'm
wondering if that would incentivize the players,

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because then you're not just kind of
fighting for extra rest yourself, but you're

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gonna have to deal with your teammates
and like just the rest of the conference

295
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in general. So could you do
that? I just this is not something

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the NBA alone is dealing with.
And I do remember when I was younger

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that the NBA All Star Game used
to mean something. Even when I first

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started covering this league, I never
would have dreamed of skipping it. Part

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of that was because you had the
trade deadline coming up, and so that

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was like a big rumor season.
We even saw Boogie get traded mid mid

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00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:36,359
All Star Game once to New Orleans. That was that was actually honestly riveting

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00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,319
and funny. I remember writing about
that good times, so I remember it

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00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,839
mattering. For the NBA and Major
League Baseball more, it's always been kind

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of a I don't really know what
where hockey lands on it to I'm so

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und you know, plugged from that. Football. The Pro Bowl has just

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been an issue since like the dawn
of time, it feels like, and

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they haven't even pretended like to care
about it, and because they have a

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scarcity of product during the regular season
in playoffs, they don't need to worry

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about it as much. I don't
know what you do with with the NBA.

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I don't have any answers, and
I think that's kind of the bigger

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00:19:06,079 --> 00:19:08,759
problem here is people claiming to have
the answers are complaining about it without providing

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solutions. I'm not going to complain
about it. I'll welcome the time off

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that I'm going to take from moving
forward. I also recognized that that might

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be part of the problem, is
I should view this as an event that

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maybe I should be asking whatcher report, Hey can you send me this year,

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rather than be like, yeah,
I'm gonna take some time off.

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I'm tired. But like, that's
how players are probably viewing it as well.

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I do also realize that's a big
fuck you to the fan experience,

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which is really important to prioritize.
And I don't know how you make that

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00:19:33,319 --> 00:19:38,519
resonate with the players like in real
time. I do think to their credit,

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they're dealing with burdens that players of
era's past did not have to.

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00:19:44,599 --> 00:19:48,839
When you're just looking at the twenty
four to seven three sixty five exposure to

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00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,359
social media and the access there,
and just like the criticisms of that's why

324
00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,799
players like a Jaylen Brown normally wouldn't
participate in the dunk contest. Yeah,

325
00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,680
it'd be cool to get better names, but you're gonna hip or meme or

326
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,799
criticize them for not jumping over someone
who's who's taller, and that has to

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00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:08,160
be mentally exhausting, and on some
level that then becomes physically exhausting. And

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so I believe me, I understand
where they're coming from. But I understand

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that the fans want to see a
better product. And for those that are

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00:20:15,599 --> 00:20:18,400
kind of just choppering in and you
know, the NBA season begins for them

331
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:19,519
at the All Star break, they
might be like, oh, so this

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00:20:19,559 --> 00:20:22,799
is what people are talking about when
they're complaining that there's no defense in today's

333
00:20:22,839 --> 00:20:26,079
league, And it's like, well
no, but if this is your first

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00:20:26,079 --> 00:20:30,000
exposure to the NBA, you understand
it. I don't know that there is

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00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,880
fixing it though, just because I
think and Zach low had made this point

336
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,559
too, I had always thought of
it as too many of these players and

337
00:20:37,559 --> 00:20:38,759
this isn't a bad thing, but
so many I should say so many,

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00:20:38,799 --> 00:20:42,119
not too many. They just know
each other from these AAU programs, and

339
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:47,079
just like you have easier access to
players now, and it feels like the

340
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:49,839
NBA is more of there's more camaraderie
and more of a brotherhood even when you're

341
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:56,079
on the court where it's not as
adversarial. And then I think the AAU

342
00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:00,839
circuits probably a big part of that. And even just like the the international

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00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,279
stars, because there are so many, do they relate to one another?

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And then it's also just like you
still kind of face these guys in one

345
00:21:06,079 --> 00:21:08,720
vein or another, or you've been
exposed to them since they were younger,

346
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,759
even when you're again you're not coming
up in AAU but a zach Low also

347
00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:18,480
pointed out players move around so much
that you're not kind of like the experience

348
00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:19,680
is not the same, and so
these guys were there are a lot more

349
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former teammates. And also there's just
like the if you're switching conferences fairly fre

350
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:26,960
not frequently, but if it's happened, like you're not going to necessarily feel

351
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:33,039
a loyalty or returning sort of head
to head matchups, and so it all

352
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:36,880
just kind of coalates into exacerbating this
issue of well, how do we make

353
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:41,640
the game matter? And I do
think that there should be a sense of

354
00:21:41,759 --> 00:21:47,440
responsibility among the players more than there
is. I get wanting to protect themselves

355
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,960
as an asset, protect their team's
future by not wanting to get injured.

356
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:57,039
But like the All Star events drive
revenue, and that's going to be part

357
00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:02,400
of the collective bargaining agreement's basketball related
income, and that in turn is going

358
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,039
to be part of well, this
is how the salary cap gets. Calculating

359
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,519
this how it This is how it
helps increase the top end salaries, specifically

360
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,880
the salaries of these players who are
you know, most of them, they're

361
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,920
gonna be max contract guys. And
the fact that they have that there is

362
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,559
a max contract that might rankle some, but to me, in order to

363
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,559
keep that value, the percentage of
it is of the cap as high as

364
00:22:21,599 --> 00:22:23,680
possible, or to keep the cap
as high as possible, like the All

365
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:29,799
Star events matter, and so like
the revenue that's being that's being driven there,

366
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that matters, and so players should
feel more of a sense of obligation.

367
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But I also understand that it's not
a rest for a lot of these

368
00:22:36,519 --> 00:22:40,319
guys and the obligations they have there
leaning into it and the constant exposure of

369
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:42,200
social media, and you can't tell
them to ignore it. It's I get

370
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,720
a kick out of when I see
people saying, oh, so and so

371
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,599
really starts their name on Twitter,
And it's like human curiosity gets the best

372
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,519
of you at points. If you
know people are talking about you, you're

373
00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:56,559
having a really bad day, Like
it's it's normally another thing that you do

374
00:22:56,599 --> 00:22:59,000
out of little I want to see
what people say about me. That's nice.

375
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:00,799
You could just be having to bad
day and you know, kind of

376
00:23:00,839 --> 00:23:03,559
doom scrolling or sinking further into your
pit, and you're just gonna search your

377
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,880
name to see like it's self harm, sure, but it's done. It's

378
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,119
it's like that's human nature at that
scale. Like if I search my name

379
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,319
right now on Twitter, I'm sure
i'd find a bunch of shit about people

380
00:23:15,319 --> 00:23:18,279
criticizing me. I can't imagine dealing
with it on a meaningful, larger scale.

381
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So I don't have any of the
answers. Here is all to say.

382
00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:26,680
And I think that we need to
acknowledge more of that that this this

383
00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:29,480
is hard, and so Adam Silver
can be cranky. All he wants is

384
00:23:29,519 --> 00:23:32,400
handing out the awards. You come
up with a fucking way to fix it,

385
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,240
then, Adam Silver and it can't
just be able to players promised,

386
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,799
like everyone here is going to be
responsible in doing it. And again,

387
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,519
I don't know what the answers are
here the next thing that might be worth

388
00:23:42,559 --> 00:23:45,720
talking about, and I don't know
how many people actually care about this,

389
00:23:45,799 --> 00:23:48,240
but sort of the discourse where I'm
not gonna talk about Doc Rivers, I

390
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,519
missed that whole thing. I mean, aside from just dude, like some

391
00:23:52,559 --> 00:23:56,799
of these unsolicited responses, my god, like everyone like you don't need to

392
00:23:56,799 --> 00:23:59,960
deflect that degree or come off as
I didn't really want the job for me

393
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,599
and Griffin we like, this is
just there's thirty of these NBA head coaching

394
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,720
jobs. You're gonna invariably step on
someone's toes. And I don't really think

395
00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:10,720
just because the Bucks usually as a
consult no one was attributing Doc is you

396
00:24:10,759 --> 00:24:14,759
know, scheming and plotting behind the
scenes to get Adrian Riffin out of Milwaukee.

397
00:24:15,079 --> 00:24:18,359
But JJ Reddick talking about you know, not just Doc Rivers and calling

398
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,960
him out but then using it as
he had effectively said, I had this

399
00:24:22,039 --> 00:24:26,359
breakdown of the Pelicans how they've been
using Zion that got fifty four thousand views

400
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,480
on YouTube for my podcast, I
say something on ESPN about Doc Rivers calling

401
00:24:30,559 --> 00:24:33,720
my former head coach, and it
gets millions of views and engagements, and

402
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,559
ESPN uses it across his programming for
for days. At this point it becomes

403
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:41,680
a subject, and then he questioned
whether fans want to be educated. JJ's

404
00:24:41,759 --> 00:24:45,519
not wrong about what cells where it
comes to yes, if we look,

405
00:24:45,759 --> 00:24:48,319
we do it on this podcast all
the time. If I post a video

406
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,640
like even our our long form podcast, I'm sorry, they're taking off my

407
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,119
humility hat, which I'm not wearing
anyway. The minute we're granted really fucking

408
00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:00,039
good at what we do, and
the long episodes we put out, our

409
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,279
commitment to putting out content well not
having it. Look, there's the dunked

410
00:25:03,279 --> 00:25:07,079
on guys or on a different level
with the amount of content they turn out,

411
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,359
most of it's behind a paywall.
I don't know of another independent podcast

412
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:15,359
with the same host that is putting
out more content than us, or is

413
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,599
more committed to try and covering the
entire league. Our long form stuff just

414
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,720
doesn't that doesn't sell. But if
I throw up a short like that might

415
00:25:22,759 --> 00:25:26,359
go viral, and that's gonna get
us fifteen subscribers per thirty second video,

416
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,720
sometimes even shorter than that. That's
the stuff that gets shared the most.

417
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,680
That is the climate we live in. And now there are a bunch of

418
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,640
different ways to look at it to
say that there's just no hope. Now,

419
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:42,000
how much of that falls on media
outlets, content creators like Grant and

420
00:25:42,039 --> 00:25:47,119
myself to get people engaged. We've
seen look the dunked on excuse me,

421
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,759
the Dunker Spot, guys nikaias Duncan, Steve Jones like they're huge, and

422
00:25:51,839 --> 00:25:55,960
JJ Reddick's podcast they're huge and they're
really going into the weeds. So there

423
00:25:56,039 --> 00:25:59,960
is a market for it. So
is it on the responsibility of the esp

424
00:26:00,279 --> 00:26:03,279
of the Bleacher Reports to have this
higher brow, educational stuff. I think

425
00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:07,079
the league could do a better job
of marketing it, that's absolutely for sure,

426
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,119
having you know everything blacks in our
discord, plug join our discord to

427
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,920
have those discussions pointed out. ESPN
could do a better job of putting together

428
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,599
shows where the hosts have actual chemistry
and knowledge of the sport. But there's

429
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:25,000
also and look when you look at
the way programming works ESPN specifically, there

430
00:26:25,039 --> 00:26:27,200
also needs to be and this is
another layer to it. I'm gonna jump

431
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,200
around here a bunch. The other
layer to it is we need to adjust

432
00:26:30,279 --> 00:26:34,279
our expectations based off what we're watching
and if it's not or consuming or listening

433
00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:37,440
to, if it's not our cup
of tea, then let's not consume it,

434
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,960
and I go different places. For
me specifically, there are things that

435
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:45,759
are not my cup of tea.
I also go different places for different things,

436
00:26:45,839 --> 00:26:48,240
like I'm not necessarily going to Steve
Jones and the Kayus Duncan for collective

437
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,680
bargaining agreement talk or trades. I
want to go into the basketball weeds when

438
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,519
I'm listening to them, I'm gonna
go listen to Brian to Pork or I'm

439
00:26:56,519 --> 00:27:00,200
gonna go listen to Keith Smith or
Reed Keith Smith. When it comes to

440
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,160
the CBA and the trade stuff,
you want to serve as many different It's

441
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,720
okay to dabble too, which is
the other thing this podcast. We specifically,

442
00:27:07,759 --> 00:27:11,359
maybe we're trying to do too many
things, but we consider ourselves versatile,

443
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,559
and versatility is good to where you
want to talk about some of the

444
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,240
more nuanced stuff, but you also
want to do things like player rankings or

445
00:27:18,279 --> 00:27:22,359
have mail bags, or be light, lighthearted and not get into the nitty

446
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,000
gritty x as and no's because I
do think that there are people who don't

447
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:30,720
view the educational or into the weed
stuff as a form of entertainment or escapism,

448
00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:34,279
and that's an important part of sports
in general, pro sports in general,

449
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,480
or even playing sports like you don't
necessarily want to get bogged down all

450
00:27:37,519 --> 00:27:41,640
the time in why like what are
these plays called? What are they running?

451
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,200
So you have to service that part
of fandom. And this is where

452
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,640
I take issy with what JJ said, not all like, not all fandom

453
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,960
needs to be the same, don't
And I'm sure I've done this, probably

454
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,440
when I was going on my joyt
on b Rant a few weeks ago.

455
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,799
I've probably told people they should be
rooting or following the game, and that's

456
00:28:00,839 --> 00:28:03,759
not necessarily okay, as long as
like rooting or following. I think some

457
00:28:03,799 --> 00:28:07,160
of the stuff with Joelle embiid was
actively toxic. As long as it's not

458
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:11,880
toxic stuff that's happening, let people
fan how they want to fan, and

459
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,680
don't discount something else. Just because
you believe this needs to be this way.

460
00:28:15,799 --> 00:28:21,000
Yes, there are elements of NBA
coverage right now that are absolutely toxic

461
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,799
and bad and they need to be
improved upon, regardless of what walk of

462
00:28:23,839 --> 00:28:27,240
coverage you're talking about, whether it's
you want the drama human element of it,

463
00:28:27,279 --> 00:28:30,359
whether you want the trades. I
mean, like the reporting, the

464
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,400
way we do on trades needs to
just change, Like let's get actual details,

465
00:28:33,599 --> 00:28:37,720
Let's be better about the way news
and rumors are disseminated there, whether

466
00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:41,079
you're talking about the x's and o's, and can you also if you want

467
00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:45,880
to, if you want to try
and tap into more of the nuance,

468
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,960
more of the nitty gritty x's and
o stuff presented in a way where it

469
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,319
can be entertainment and be prepared to
invest in it even when it's maybe not

470
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,559
drawing as many eyeballs. So those
are things that can be improved upon.

471
00:28:56,559 --> 00:29:00,519
But we also need to recognize that
we don't just exist in our Hardwood Knox

472
00:29:00,559 --> 00:29:07,599
bubble or our NBA Twitter bubble.
That is not representative of the larger population

473
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,119
of sports fans. I think a
lot of them, especially if you're just

474
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,039
a casual NBA fan and you're trying
to root for the NFL, M the

475
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,480
NBA, and MLB all at once, you're not going to go or if

476
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,359
you want to even cover the entire
league, you're not good or excuse me,

477
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,200
follow the entire league. You're maybe
not gonna want to care about play

478
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,599
breakdowns of the Charlotte Hornets. You're
gonna want more of a of a general

479
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:33,079
snapshot, or you're gonna be attracted
to more of the transactional aspect or just

480
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,000
the the macro human elements, some
of some of the dramatics. And if

481
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,559
that's why you follow the league,
I like, that's fine. Like I'm

482
00:29:40,559 --> 00:29:42,759
not gonna criticize you for doing it
that way. And we also need to

483
00:29:42,799 --> 00:29:48,359
adjust. It's not just accepting all
different types of fandoms and different types of

484
00:29:48,359 --> 00:29:51,920
covers that are again not I don't
want to like misogynistic coverage and all that

485
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:53,319
shit. There's toxic coverage. I
don't I don't want to see any of

486
00:29:53,359 --> 00:29:56,480
it. And that's the stuff you
call out, But it's you also have

487
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,119
to adjust your expectations based off what
you're consuming. Yes, you might not

488
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,799
like what Steven A. Smith has
to say about the NBA or what these

489
00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:07,960
halftime shows have to say, and
that's look the NBA halftime show for ESPN.

490
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,720
If you take issue with them saying
so and so just wants it more,

491
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,079
that's something to take issue with.
If you're mad that steven a is

492
00:30:15,119 --> 00:30:18,960
not going on first take and doing
a play by play breakdown of the Chicago

493
00:30:19,039 --> 00:30:22,720
Bulls' half court sets. When Demarta
Rosen is on the bench, when you're

494
00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:29,279
cast with and will use steven A
Smith's level responding or commenting on everything in

495
00:30:29,319 --> 00:30:33,960
sports, the level of nuance is
going to be diluted and you need to

496
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:38,599
adjust expectations accordingly. Whether you should
ever have someone commenting on all sports that's

497
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,039
a separate discussion altogether. But let's
use this podcast as an example. And

498
00:30:42,079 --> 00:30:45,279
I get into this when I'm having
debates. Sometimes it's happened in discord,

499
00:30:45,359 --> 00:30:48,160
Sometimes it happens on Twitter, It
definitely happens on YouTube all the time.

500
00:30:49,079 --> 00:30:52,279
As someone who covers and follows all
thirty teams, I'm not going to have

501
00:30:52,319 --> 00:30:56,599
the same level of insight into the
Charlotte Hornets as someone who covers and watches

502
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,440
all evy two of their games.
And that's something you just need to accept

503
00:31:00,519 --> 00:31:03,319
so you can accept that you know
more about the Charlotte Hornets than me.

504
00:31:03,759 --> 00:31:07,839
You in turn should accept that I
know more about the entire NBA at large

505
00:31:07,839 --> 00:31:10,920
than you do. And that's just
not There are people who know more about

506
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,000
the NBA than I do. I'm
not saying that I'm the barometer for that,

507
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,039
but we need to get to that
level. And also there's when it

508
00:31:17,079 --> 00:31:21,000
comes to JJ Reddick. Kind we
need to accept that JJ Redick knows more

509
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,680
about the game of basketball and is
more him specifically too, because he is

510
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,200
a good podcaster. He is more
apt, more adept at explaining those things,

511
00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:33,880
breaking them down, just like with
Kaitln Cooper, there's no one better

512
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,799
in the game, and not only
recognizing these things in real time, but

513
00:31:37,079 --> 00:31:41,039
distilling these very what I would consider
complicated sets that I can't recognize in real

514
00:31:41,119 --> 00:31:45,400
time, distilling them down to a
form of content, to a form of

515
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,400
knowledge that is entertaining and that you
can understand, making it accessible. JJ

516
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,279
Reddick, I think is really good
at doing that. You know what,

517
00:31:52,359 --> 00:31:56,119
JJ Redick needs to recognize He's not
the best interviewer. I just don't.

518
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,359
I mean, when you look at
some of the players and interviews, like

519
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,000
I don't. I don't necessarily to, Like there have been clips that come

520
00:32:01,039 --> 00:32:04,400
on Instagram. He's a great editing
team and I have all the respect in

521
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,000
the world for what he's doing.
A lot of the conversations are just vanilla,

522
00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:10,200
and like when you want to get
to beyond the stuff of a player's

523
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,960
shooting form or why they're doing this, like as a former player, providing

524
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:16,960
some insight into not what this play
is called or how they're being used,

525
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,319
but why are they doing this?
Like what goes into the Eric Freeman had

526
00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:24,640
a great thread on this I posted
in our discord. You go google Eric

527
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:29,359
Freeman on Twitter or probably google Eric
Freeman on Twitter. Wow, search Eric

528
00:32:29,359 --> 00:32:34,640
Freeman on Twitter and it might come
up. But like, can you get

529
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,759
behind, like provide a peak behind
more of the curtain as to why this

530
00:32:37,799 --> 00:32:40,119
is happening or why it didn't happen, and not just pointing this out,

531
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,480
Well, look what they just did, Like let's get into like not so

532
00:32:44,599 --> 00:32:47,640
much diagnosis but more prognostication. And
I look, he's had some very good

533
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:52,319
conversations with players. There was I
think he was it Cam Johnson. The

534
00:32:52,319 --> 00:32:54,400
interview he did was really good,
But like the one he did with Christops

535
00:32:54,440 --> 00:33:00,599
porzingis that's bad? I thought not
bad. It wasn't good. Let's get

536
00:33:00,599 --> 00:33:02,839
to the heart of like, like, don't give him the softball questions about

537
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,559
him and Luka Dontrich And if you're
going to be an interviewer and have him

538
00:33:06,599 --> 00:33:08,680
on that podcast as a former player, can you ask about the stuff that

539
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:13,359
went on in New York where he
was apparently credibly accused of rape and have

540
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,640
those allegations and we just don't hear
anything about them. Now, JJ's not

541
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,799
the only one who didn't ask him
about those So it's not to call him

542
00:33:17,799 --> 00:33:22,960
out specifically, but I'm not a
fan of people and this is when I

543
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,039
do it, call me out on
it. I'm not a fan of people

544
00:33:24,079 --> 00:33:28,279
telling other people how to fan or
even cover the league, especially when it's

545
00:33:28,319 --> 00:33:31,359
not toxic and the state to where
we just can't recognize that there are all

546
00:33:31,359 --> 00:33:35,119
these different balls in the air.
And yes, there's a problem with coverage,

547
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,640
there's a problem with the media industry, but like a lot of these

548
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:44,319
companies are responding to what gets the
most engagement, and so that is like

549
00:33:44,359 --> 00:33:47,599
that's going to be more representative of
interest trade articles that you're like, yeah,

550
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,720
you could think they're just farming those
for empty engagement. Well, you

551
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,039
know what, They're farming those out
because they work and because people are interested

552
00:33:54,079 --> 00:33:57,559
in that shit, and so you
need to accept that and build it out

553
00:33:57,559 --> 00:34:00,319
from there. Is there a way
to incorporate more of these ex's of and

554
00:34:00,359 --> 00:34:02,640
trade stuff. Yeah, there is. When there's a rumor dissect how player

555
00:34:02,839 --> 00:34:07,599
X might fit on that new team
or go into what's not working with his

556
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,119
current team and why, and there's
not enough of that, they're just like

557
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:15,480
kind of regurgitating the rumors. Or
again, you do I understand that you

558
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,199
get on first take and you're seeing
some surface level analysis on the NBA specifically,

559
00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:22,760
if you don't have JJ Reddick or
on any any TV programming, if

560
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,119
you're not gonna have you know,
Tim Legler on there, or there are

561
00:34:25,119 --> 00:34:29,039
some podcasts that might do it that
way, you are able to curate your

562
00:34:29,039 --> 00:34:31,320
own content and consume what you want. I'm not saying that that excuses a

563
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:35,719
lot of these other people, but
it's okay that there are different types of

564
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,400
fandoms and different forms of content,
and I don't think it's fair to put

565
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,440
the onus on fans if they don't
want to be super educated about the x's

566
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,199
and o's of the games because they
like, Look, I don't find a

567
00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:50,519
lot of educator like I like documentaries, and I do like reading certain books.

568
00:34:50,559 --> 00:34:52,760
I'm like, you know, like
I was big into the I won't

569
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:57,440
even get well, Like I went
into the whole. It was the the

570
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,000
painkiller I don't want to call epidemic. Let's say of kind of started in

571
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,599
the nineties and it's still really out
there. So like I read books and

572
00:35:02,599 --> 00:35:07,840
researched on that. I read books
and watched documentaries on the housing crisis.

573
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,079
That stuff. It wasn't escapism.
It was a form of entertainment. But

574
00:35:10,079 --> 00:35:14,000
I wanted to educate myself on more
of this. I found it compelling.

575
00:35:14,039 --> 00:35:16,639
Not everyone's gonna find that stuff compelling
when it comes to just you know,

576
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:22,000
elevant like the Spain pick and roll, just to do something basic like no

577
00:35:22,159 --> 00:35:24,280
or scram switches and so not everyone's
gonna want to be interested in that.

578
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:28,079
That's okay, And you don't put
the onus on the fan that they don't

579
00:35:28,119 --> 00:35:31,599
want to be educated when your outlet
specifically is not even attempting to do that

580
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:36,960
on a regular basis or even in
a mainstream capacity. That's where I land

581
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:37,880
on it. I'm probably wrong on
a bunch of stuff. I don't have

582
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:43,039
solutions to it. I just don't
know that the media industry is broken.

583
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:49,039
I'm just not sure if the level
of coverage is as broken as people lead

584
00:35:49,079 --> 00:35:53,760
to believe. And maybe it comes
from sort of warring where have national programs,

585
00:35:54,360 --> 00:36:00,960
podcasts been reticent or hesitant to accept
like the more localized content as being

586
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:06,480
super valuable and not recognizing more of
the independent creators. Maybe that's where some

587
00:36:06,519 --> 00:36:07,920
of the disconnect comes from. And
I think a big part of is a

588
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:12,000
lot of fans are creators. Even
if you cover the entire league, you

589
00:36:12,039 --> 00:36:14,599
might identify as a fan of one
team, and so there's gonna be stuff

590
00:36:14,599 --> 00:36:19,880
that you're just inherently more passionate about
which will then incite like a different level

591
00:36:20,039 --> 00:36:23,440
degree of response. And so that
to me doesn't mean that anything is necessarily

592
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:29,440
broken. I just think that the
inability for all the different types of content,

593
00:36:29,639 --> 00:36:36,199
content like in different ways to follow
cover fan over the game. They

594
00:36:36,199 --> 00:36:39,159
should be able to coll lace better, harmonize better, synchronize better than they

595
00:36:39,159 --> 00:36:44,199
have currently. And that's the aspect
of covers that I think is probably broken

596
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:47,559
the most aside from if I get
to a mailbag question on it, it's

597
00:36:49,039 --> 00:36:52,519
does the league not market like are
re marketing players too much rather than teams?

598
00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:55,559
And is that? How does this
fuel all of that to where people

599
00:36:55,599 --> 00:37:00,679
aren't a fan of teams? It
feels like general NBA fans aren't a fan

600
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:02,239
of They've kind of recognized, Oh, I'd rather root for a person than

601
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:06,679
root for laundry type deal, which
I can't fall again. I'm not going

602
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:07,880
to tell you how to fan the
game, but could you market it a

603
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:14,440
little bit differently? So all sorts
of just nonsense there, but I felt

604
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,679
compelled to get my I guess that
was more than two cents. It might

605
00:37:16,679 --> 00:37:22,239
have been like fifty cents or something, So let's get into we'll call it

606
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,119
a quasi mailbag question. But someone
had said something in Discord to me about

607
00:37:25,159 --> 00:37:30,960
the Timberwolves and how I guess I
said something on the podcast with Brian to

608
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,400
Pork where I said they're gonna break
it up. I don't remember being that

609
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:36,639
definitive, but I say so many
things. I probably was that definitive,

610
00:37:37,599 --> 00:37:39,280
and I can't remember who. I
remember the name of Discord, but I've

611
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,320
had a lot of conversations with Timberwolves
lately, and the coverage does kew that,

612
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,159
oh, this is impost Mike comedy
extension, which was a bargain two

613
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:50,159
years. That's the other news we
missed. Were kind of hitting that now,

614
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,400
well we are hitting that where oh
two years, twenty two million.

615
00:37:52,599 --> 00:37:55,679
Basically, there was some weird reporting
about him having a no trade clause.

616
00:37:55,719 --> 00:38:00,360
That's allegal. That can't happen unless
the details the contract are different and he's

617
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,719
signing just like a one year deal
rather than the two. But he hasn't

618
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:07,079
been with the Timberwolves long enough to
get a no trade clause, and if

619
00:38:07,079 --> 00:38:10,039
it was a under the table no
trade clause, the fact that that got

620
00:38:10,039 --> 00:38:15,159
put out there probably not great for
the Timberwolves as that actually happened. But

621
00:38:15,559 --> 00:38:21,880
his extension is a bargain, and
people have still said, though, Okay,

622
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:23,159
well let's look at the finances.
This team is going to need to

623
00:38:23,199 --> 00:38:28,239
break up. Now. The Timberwolves
do not like let's preface it with this

624
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,119
whatever I title this might be the
preview one, whatever I end up titling

625
00:38:30,159 --> 00:38:35,360
it as the hook. The Timberwolves
they can be here to stay. They're

626
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,840
not going to be disbanded over the
offseason. You have until the end of

627
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,360
next year to get out of or
not get well, to get out of

628
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,360
the luxury tax, or just cut
your taxi bill. So this isn't a

629
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:50,119
matter of what they have to move
downs. They have to move Jane and

630
00:38:50,159 --> 00:38:52,480
McDaniels. We know they're not going
to move Anthony Edwards. That's a decision

631
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:57,000
that can be punted until the deadline, until around the twenty twenty five draft.

632
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,719
They can wait on that. I
also think we need to wait and

633
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,840
see the playoffs before we decide what
this team does. And I mean that

634
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,800
on both sides of the fence.
To me, the Mike Conley extension doesn't

635
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:08,440
mean well, yeah, they're prepared
to pay like a you know, nine

636
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,880
figure tax bill. I mean maybe
or they just saw, well, this

637
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,679
is a good deal. It can
be moved if we needed to. He's

638
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:19,480
super valuable to our team as connective
tissue. Someone who's faces the floor,

639
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,599
who can play make for someone his
age who's just like could be so much

640
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:27,559
worse defensively, Like, this is
a good deal for that type of a

641
00:39:27,599 --> 00:39:30,039
player, and they it affords them
optionality to know, Okay, well this

642
00:39:30,119 --> 00:39:32,320
is the number we're at right now, We're gonna get in the numbers.

643
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:37,840
Folks. Don't you worry that it
was just good business to do that extension,

644
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,519
whether you think that you're gonna eventually
need to cut costs after this year

645
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,920
or not. So I view it
as, let's look, this team is

646
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:45,800
really good. I think when you
look at and for anyone who's oh,

647
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,199
another conversation about how the Timberlves need
to be broken up rather than what's happening

648
00:39:50,199 --> 00:39:52,760
on the court. We have talked
a lot about what the Timberwolves have done

649
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:54,559
on the court this season. I
did a segment with Brian Taporak on who

650
00:39:54,559 --> 00:39:58,880
we trust between them and the Thunder. We've talked about them. Grant and

651
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,719
I consider them a Caps contender.
They're a very good team, and I

652
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,400
would say i'd probably predict they keep
them one seed. Just when you look

653
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,719
at the number of home games they
have remaining this year, I would be

654
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:12,559
most I could see Denver probably won't
put its foot on the gas to catch

655
00:40:12,599 --> 00:40:14,280
them, but like, okay,
see he might catch them. That is

656
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,519
something that could actually happen. This
team's a contender. Let's see how the

657
00:40:16,559 --> 00:40:20,960
playoffs unfold. Though, when I'm
not getting into just the dual big stuff.

658
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,039
There's all sorts of different concerns.
I'm just more concerned in general than

659
00:40:23,079 --> 00:40:27,760
about the dual bigs on defense.
I'm just more concerned about the offense in

660
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,119
general. Whereas, yeah, I'm
happy with the way Karl Anthony Towns is

661
00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:32,199
being used overall for the most part, But can we get him to space

662
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:36,679
out more? Or can you get
more dependable space outs from your wings?

663
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,519
Like that's probably been an even bigger
issue for the Wolves this year than anything

664
00:40:39,519 --> 00:40:45,719
to do with Karl Anthony Towns is
three point volume now. But whatever happens

665
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:50,000
in the playoffs is gonna inform,
I think and instruct a lot of what

666
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,039
they do over the offseason. Is
it, well, we don't want to

667
00:40:52,159 --> 00:40:54,920
pay as large as a tax bill, or we're willing to pay a tax

668
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:59,159
bill, or is something more wholesale. But if you go into the first

669
00:40:59,199 --> 00:41:01,679
round and you get waxed by just
the Lakers, let's say they get the

670
00:41:01,679 --> 00:41:05,320
eighth seed. Maybe if it goes
to seven games, or if it's the

671
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,840
Warriors, they end up coming out
of the plane in the eight seed,

672
00:41:07,199 --> 00:41:09,039
but you lose to them, Like, yeah, you're gonna take a look

673
00:41:09,079 --> 00:41:12,960
in the mirror and decide some stuff
and expenses are going to be a part

674
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,920
of that. But I can't.
I don't know why we would assume that

675
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:20,480
they're just going to disband if I
had to guess, I want to make

676
00:41:20,519 --> 00:41:23,000
this clear. Of their top six
players, just because I love NAZRII is

677
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,280
gonna be in there. I don't
They're gonna trade at least one of them

678
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:29,440
before the twenty twenty five draft.
That's where I land. I honestly think

679
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,719
that's gonna happen. When you get
into the numbers. There's been some discrepancies

680
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,920
over people said, well, look, I mean Alex Charriguez and Mark war

681
00:41:36,079 --> 00:41:38,639
they've had to go out and raise
more money. Part of that was to

682
00:41:40,119 --> 00:41:44,880
kind of not to capitalize on the
rising value of the franchise that maybe they

683
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:49,320
could foot a steep luxury tax bill. They bought it at an evaluation of

684
00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:51,760
whatever it was. It was under
two billion, and now it's over two

685
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,199
billions. So you've been able to
sell stakes in the team at evaluation of

686
00:41:55,920 --> 00:42:00,559
that was higher than when you first
than when you first agreed to purchase a

687
00:42:00,599 --> 00:42:04,679
majority stake. So that is just
could just be good business overall. Could

688
00:42:04,679 --> 00:42:07,679
be you gearing up to swallow the
pill for at least one year, and

689
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:10,920
I'm not ruling out that they just
see it all through and they're gonna pay

690
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,719
whatever next year, because this team
is really fucking good. And at the

691
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:16,880
Edwards. We're looking at the Edwards
and I know Jane McDaniels has been uneven,

692
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:21,360
but you have two of your core
six players you'd throw Nasriez young enough

693
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:22,719
to be in there. They're only
gonna get better, and so maybe that

694
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,440
mitigates any drop off you see from
Rudy Gobert, who is of now is

695
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,000
still a lockdo win Defensive Player of
the Year and is moving as well as

696
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:31,360
I've ever seen him on defense.
The team is really good, so you

697
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:35,000
could make a case that, well, if the playoffs go well, you

698
00:42:35,039 --> 00:42:37,679
win a series and you're convincing in
the second round, then hell yeah,

699
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:42,320
you keep this team together. The
problem with the finances comes down to the

700
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,320
limitations you will incur as you get
into the second apron And so next year,

701
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,880
the salary cap right now projected to
be one hundred and forty one million

702
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,760
dollars, the tax lines at one
hundred and seventy two million, dollars.

703
00:42:52,039 --> 00:42:55,639
The first apron is one hundred and
seventy nine million dollars, and the second

704
00:42:55,639 --> 00:42:59,960
apron is at one hundred and ninety
million dollars. Following the commy extent,

705
00:43:00,119 --> 00:43:02,920
and I had this wrong. I
set it off the cuff and discord.

706
00:43:02,159 --> 00:43:07,679
The Wolves are above that second apron. Now when you look at there,

707
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,559
that's not including anything for Kyle Anderson
or Montey Moors. They are projected to

708
00:43:10,639 --> 00:43:15,440
be above the second apron. And
so their tax bill really if they spend

709
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:17,760
let's just say they add like kind
of another minimum. Guy, they're looking

710
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:22,599
at a tax bill like of about
forty five million dollars. I'm just gonna

711
00:43:22,599 --> 00:43:27,119
I'm estimating, I will lower some
other estimates to try and give you like

712
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,800
an accurate number here of what they
could be facing. So you're just at

713
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:35,519
a forty five million dollar tax bill
on top of having one hundred and ninety

714
00:43:36,159 --> 00:43:40,719
two million dollars one hundred and ninety
plus million dollars in salary. So you've

715
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:45,639
like kind of skyrocketed pass that apron. Now forty five million dollar tax bill.

716
00:43:45,679 --> 00:43:47,599
Okay, let's just say that's where
they end up. That's not including

717
00:43:47,639 --> 00:43:51,880
like if you make any other additions. And there's the other thing looming over

718
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:53,800
this, Andy Edwards. If he
makes all NBA, his max salary is

719
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,320
going to go up by a little
bit more than seven million dollars next season.

720
00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:00,639
If you think he's not gonna make
first team, they could be hard

721
00:44:00,679 --> 00:44:02,480
pressed to make second team. He
probably is a pretty good shot at making

722
00:44:02,559 --> 00:44:06,079
third team. Again, I haven't
gone through it just yet. If you

723
00:44:06,199 --> 00:44:08,800
tack that on now, you're looking
at a point you're basically in like the

724
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:14,159
last tax band, and I do
believe the new tax bands don't kick in

725
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,719
until twenty five, twenty six,
and so the Timberwolves have that going for

726
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:22,800
them. But if his salary goes
up by seven million dollars for next season,

727
00:44:22,039 --> 00:44:24,360
okay, well, now all of
a sudden, you're going to see

728
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:29,719
your tax bill kind of explode here, because that's gonna be like it's basically

729
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:34,559
almost four dollars you're in that tax
ban for every one dollar that they're spending

730
00:44:34,559 --> 00:44:37,360
on Anthy Edwards. And so you
get to a point where this team is

731
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:43,679
going blowing past two hundred and twenty
five million dollars total. When it comes

732
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:50,039
to salary and tax bills, it's
it's a it's a lot like you're just

733
00:44:50,079 --> 00:44:53,880
looking at like you're looking at maybe
one hundred million dollar tax bill if you

734
00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:59,400
decide to keep Monte Morris or Kyle
Anderson or even one of those guys.

735
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,320
So like all this that we're calculating
right now where your tax bill just goes

736
00:45:02,679 --> 00:45:07,840
through the roof is before even considering
bringing back Monte Morris or Kyle Anderson.

737
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:14,119
That's like, that's really prohibitive.
And the issue here, though, is

738
00:45:14,159 --> 00:45:16,079
why you might see them make a
move, is that if you decide you

739
00:45:16,159 --> 00:45:21,599
need something more significant once you're in
this this isn't about ducking the tax entilery.

740
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,199
It might just be about covering inside
that first apron one because it's it's

741
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:29,840
cheaper, Like your tax bill just
comes down, but you have more flexibility

742
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:34,000
to where if you're gonna be a
second apron team, like you just can't

743
00:45:34,079 --> 00:45:38,119
use exceptions beginning next year. It
just becomes so punitive. Your your draft

744
00:45:38,119 --> 00:45:44,519
pick seven years out becomes becomes frozen. And also you're kind of starting the

745
00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:46,519
repeater clock where if you're in the
second apron three out of five seasons,

746
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:51,400
your first round pick will automatically move
to the end of the round beginning next

747
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,840
season. And so no, you
don't have to worry about that imminately,

748
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:58,280
But do you want to start the
clock on that. You can't use your

749
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,639
trade exceptions that you created up in
the prior year. You can't use cash

750
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:07,280
in trades, you can't use even
the taxpayer mid level exception. You've become

751
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,960
so limited that you can't improve your
team. And that's what this issue is

752
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:16,559
with the Timberwolves actually, is that
you're going to lock yourself into that second

753
00:46:16,559 --> 00:46:21,199
apron. You've decided, well,
this team is done, it's finished.

754
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,400
We will fuz and fiddle with minimums
on the margins and we're going to be

755
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:28,719
fine or good enough to win the
title. You might be. That is

756
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,280
absolutely something that could happen. But
that's why the second apron is a concern.

757
00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:36,719
And so it's not about This is
where I think the big misconception comes

758
00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:39,920
in among people who are covering the
league, not even necessarily the team.

759
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:45,239
It's not about moving Karl Anthony Towns
like. He just seems like the He

760
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:47,280
seems like the piece because he makes
so much and because the whole dual bigs

761
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:51,159
thing, and because Nasrid is cheaper. But if you want to figure out

762
00:46:51,199 --> 00:46:53,239
a way to stay out of the
second apron, just to have as many,

763
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,519
not as many options as possible,
because the way to have that is

764
00:46:57,519 --> 00:47:00,599
to stay out of the first apron
altogether, but to give yourself flexibility to

765
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:06,320
maneuver you do it like that's why
you would drop down from the second apron

766
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:07,559
to the first apron. It's not
just about they need the ducks, the

767
00:47:07,679 --> 00:47:10,400
tax and tilery. They can't afford
it. Maybe they can't afford it.

768
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:13,480
This is not I know it's a
new ownership group, but this is not

769
00:47:13,519 --> 00:47:15,960
a team that is just you've been
spending out the wazoo like a Golden State

770
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,400
Warriors team. Now they can look
at it as an investment of we're gonna

771
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:23,119
drive in more fans, get more
nationally televised games that will drive revenue.

772
00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:29,280
Again. I'm not I do think
there is something I think to Mark Lars

773
00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:32,559
and Ale Trariguez the ownership group,
that's something that we do need to consider.

774
00:47:32,639 --> 00:47:35,599
Just because they're new, we don't
know how they're gonna react. Just

775
00:47:35,599 --> 00:47:38,719
because they've given out these contracts,
co signed to these other transactions extensions,

776
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,400
that doesn't mean they're gonna pay it. That is something to monitor. The

777
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:46,559
bigger thing is it's not about being
able to afford this team or biting the

778
00:47:46,559 --> 00:47:51,880
bolt for one year. It's that
by going that deep into the second apron

779
00:47:52,039 --> 00:47:54,199
now more than ever, because this
season, teams can still aggregate salaries and

780
00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:58,960
trades like the Clippers if they wanted
to can't do that anymore. You can't

781
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:01,679
even you're enough to take back dollar
as well in treys moving forward, like

782
00:48:01,719 --> 00:48:07,159
you can't take back more money than
you're sending out that. The extent of

783
00:48:07,199 --> 00:48:12,960
those limitations can be crippling if you're
not a cap slot contender. And so

784
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,880
it's not about cutting the tax bill. It's about keeping as many options open

785
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:17,719
as possible in the event that you
don't win the title this year, which

786
00:48:19,519 --> 00:48:22,159
statistically speaking, you're not going to. And that's when it comes down to

787
00:48:22,199 --> 00:48:25,840
the Timberwolves. With all that being
said, I do think they're largely here

788
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:30,480
to stay. If they move someone
I would kind of be. The playoffs

789
00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:32,880
would have to go very poorly for
it to be Towns. I really don't

790
00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:36,519
think it's gonna be go bare because
of how important he is the defense and

791
00:48:36,559 --> 00:48:38,239
what you gave up to get him. It's not gonna be Anthony Edwards.

792
00:48:38,519 --> 00:48:43,400
It's probably too early to say.
Jaden McDaniel's uneven season, Maybe you think

793
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,119
you can approximate his value with a
player you're getting back as well as some

794
00:48:46,159 --> 00:48:50,719
first round equity. It feels like
it would be a nosebreed situation, Like

795
00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:52,119
that's the guy I'm circling, where
if you can get a good first round

796
00:48:52,119 --> 00:48:57,159
pick or just two whatever picks and
maybe a cheaper like rotation player and a

797
00:48:57,159 --> 00:49:00,440
pick, that's something they could look
at if it's going to help help them

798
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:04,280
either get you know, are they
gonna get to a point where they can

799
00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:08,239
duck that second apron and stay you
know within the first apron, or where

800
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,360
it's well, we decided that we
need to pay it's not gonna be coylin

801
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:15,119
Aarers, but we need to pay
Monte Morris instead, and like we're gonna

802
00:49:15,159 --> 00:49:19,800
replace that, like or is it
just you want cheaper labor because you are

803
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,559
trying to cut cost. It's if
we get a rotation player and a first

804
00:49:22,639 --> 00:49:24,119
round pick for nas Reed, which
I think you could, like you look

805
00:49:24,119 --> 00:49:28,679
at Okac san Antonio. They've got
some extra first that they'd be willing to

806
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:30,239
part with. And then maybe just
a player that can help you. San

807
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:34,480
Antonio doesn't have as many of those
guys. Okay, see certainly does.

808
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,840
Other teams could get involved. They
might just be saying, Okay, we

809
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,280
can get more bang for our buck
by splitting nas read up into two salary

810
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:44,519
slots. Let's say one of whom
is cost controlled because he's a first round

811
00:49:44,519 --> 00:49:46,519
pick, or a trade asset because
they're a future first round pick. That

812
00:49:46,599 --> 00:49:50,320
is a scenario I could see happening. I wouldn't predict it at this point,

813
00:49:50,519 --> 00:49:52,639
at least not before the trade deadline. So there are two big misconceptions

814
00:49:52,679 --> 00:49:57,039
here. The Timberlves don't need to
bust it up this summer. They don't

815
00:49:57,039 --> 00:50:00,239
even need to bust it up before
the twenty twenty five trade deadline. But

816
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:04,280
the bigger misconception is if they busted
up or trade one of their top six

817
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,800
guys, it's not necessarily because they
want to cut costs or they can afford

818
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:13,119
it. It might be it's more
about keeping other doors open that are otherwise

819
00:50:13,199 --> 00:50:17,320
going to be closed. Should they
stay in that second aprit territory. That's

820
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:20,760
where I'm at on the Wolves.
And if I said differently in the past

821
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:23,079
that they were definitely gonna blow it
up. I will have a more definitive

822
00:50:23,119 --> 00:50:27,679
take on what happens after we watch
the playoffs, and I think everyone involved.

823
00:50:27,679 --> 00:50:30,480
Whether you think that they should keep
it together, that this team has

824
00:50:30,519 --> 00:50:34,159
constructed is worth paying what could be
one hundred million dollar tax bill, or

825
00:50:34,159 --> 00:50:36,719
whether you think they need to break
it up. I honestly think that we

826
00:50:36,719 --> 00:50:39,320
should watch the playoffs and then we
can go from there. How's that first

827
00:50:39,360 --> 00:51:01,280
plaice? Take the Wolves the man's
small