What is krack a lack in Hardwood knocks listeners. I am Dampa Valley coming
at you with some mail talk. Do we have another mail bag? It's
gonna be the first two mail bags this week. I might start doing two
mail bags per week. I always want to shoehorn all the questions into one
episode, but multiple episodes is probably better this time of the year. And
also I get such good questions from discord. Are discord members that have me
searching for answers or thinking about this for hours and prepping that they deserve their
own mail bags? So that's what this is. We have a ton of
fun, interesting questions on this one before we get started. Please please,
pretty please remember to subscribe to us however you're consuming us. If you're on
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And even Adams around these parts still friends. We're all friends around here now
time though, let's cannonball into it. Just want to begin with some very
quick and disheartening news items. Obviously. First one up is Miles Bridges is
facing three felony domestic violence charges after being accused of assaulting his girlfriend in front
of their two children last month, per the Los Angeles County District Attorney on
Tuesday night. The only reaction to this for me is I feel bad for
his son. We saw that he was on the video talking about daddy choking
mommy. That was absolutely gut wrenching. And also to Michelle, his girlfriend,
the mother of their two children. I hope that she's okay. I
hope that you Ldren are okay. That's the only reaction to have at this
point. There are implications for the Hornets and Miles bridge is future. They
just don't they don't matter compared to this. Domestic violence is a real issue.
We can wait and see how it plays out. I don't want to
hear people if all of a sudden, you know, the charges are dropped
or he's found quote unquote, you know, if the charges are dropped,
there's gonna be a terrible discourse. The charges he's officially been charged at this
point, it's a serious matter. And again, my only reaction, the
first reaction, second, third, fourth, fifth reaction to this is I
hope that Michelle and the two children involved in this are all going to be
okay. Jemichael Green agreed, you will buy out with the Thunder not surprising
just given that there was a roster crunch for them. They had like eighty
players under contract and still might have seventy nine and they need to clear that
up. You know, you can carry twenty in the offseason, but you
need to windle that down in time for the regular season. So there are
still names to watch there. Because see what happens, maybe some more consolidation
moves. Jamichael Green will be joining the Golden State Warriors because they're going to
need someone to take the minute Jonathan Cominga and James Wiseman, who will be
in Brooklyn next season following the Warriors trade for Kevin Durant. That was a
joke. If I got anybody, awesome, But I liked the Jamichael Green
signing. He can replace the elite of minutes, maybe some of the auto
quarter minutes. He's definitely taken a step back the past few years. But
in theory he is someone who can guard the four of the five and is
going to hit some threes. Far from his heyday when he was in Memphis.
But I like to pick up by Golden State. And look, we're
talking about a lot of injuries in age here. Kavan Luney has not been
the healthiest player until the past two seasons. But more so than that,
Draymond Green is getting up there, and then Wiseman his injuries, and then
just the inexperience of both Wiseman and COMINGGA. Do you want to have You're
going to need veteran reinforcements in the front court. So I like getting Jamichael
Green here. I was kind of not hoping, but I was curious whether
Miami he was going to show any interests after losing PJ. Tucker. They
just might view playing him alongside bam at a Bio as untenable, or perhaps
he just really wanted to Golden State. Wanted to go to Golden State.
Who knows there, But I thought Miami might have been able to offer a
little bit more of a prominent role for him. It is time to belly
flop into this mail bag. We will begin with Ian forty two asking understanding
based on the way the Blazers played in Summer League watching the defense switch into
pressure zone off Missus, which is weird to begin with, but a high
pressure and recover system. What are the chances that Damian Little returns his twenty
eighteen form after the surgery last season and actually plays good defense and the Blazers
are actually better on that end of the floor next season. The look the
press off Missus was interesting. I had to go back and watch some of
it because I don't think I saw enough Summer League to pick up on that.
I am curious whether it's going to translate with a personnel that they currently
have on the roster. Does it and I'm talking specifically off of Missus here,
If they're going to send two or three guys, you know, two
after the ball, have one man that passing leads in the back court,
does that eventually leave use of Nurkic out to dry in any situations? I
do not know. Are you going to us doing that? When Damian Lillard
Nanfrey Simons are both on the court at the same time, can you trust
them to just make those reads? I think when you're changing it up or
knowing off of which missions you're going to do it or which situations specifically,
it's going to take a lot of defensive IQ. Do they have that in
you know, the Damian Lillard Anfrey Simons back court, which would theoretically play
fairly substantial part in executing that. I do not know. Overall, though
I like the defensive talent on this roster, and I did go back and
look the players have had a top ten defense twice since Dame entered the league.
In two thousand and fourteen two thousan fifteen, they were tenth in points
allowed per possession per cleaning the glass, and then again in two thousand and
seventeen two and eighteen they were seventh. During the twenty fourteen twenty fifteen season
they had that was the year they had Nick Patum Wes Matthews. I believe
that was the season he tore his ACL towards the end. They also had
Robin Lopez there. Twenty seventy eighteen, they had range defenders like Harkless,
a mean new turner. Pat Connaughton was on that team as well. I
don't want to say this year's team is sort of a fac simile of that
twenty seventeen twenty eighteen team because it's not. But they have some similarly valuable
versatile can defend in pressure situations. Players on the perimeter. Josh Hart,
Jeremy Grant, Gary Payton the second a fantastic pickup. Let's not forget about
the flyer they've taken on. Justice Winslow, cannost Little stay healthy, He'll
be huge for them there. And then if anyone didn't watch Keyan Johnson towards
the end of last season, they should go back and do that a little
bit. Physical tools that are just off the charts. This is a team
that I feel like could maybe force a lot more turnovers than meets the eye,
and not just because if they're gonna run a defense that is prided upon
this aggressive pressure, I think they have the talent on the perimeter in certain
lineups to make that work or just be really good. Do they have enough
to cover up for Dame Lillard and Anthony Simons. I don't know how much
better we can expect Dame to defend at this point in his career. To
rewind the clock, I guess Ian saying that twenty seventeen twenty eighteen was Dame's
best defensive season. I don't really know that offhand, but I could I
see a pat First of all, there's almost nowhere to go but up for
the Blazers this season. But when you're looking at the half court, specifically,
Nurkics is more than capable of holding his own there. And so if
you're gonna surround him and Dame in general, and you're you're going to stagger
Anthony Simons to some degree, and you have these options like Josh Hard,
Jeremy Grant, Gary Payton, the Second Justice, Swinslow, Even Osloo,
and Keyan Johnson to two lesser extents there, I definitely think that you're going
to be able to to help your defense a ton. I think some questions
though, need to be asked here, and one is, when Shandon Sharp
is healthy, how many minutes is he getting Because a rookie on defense,
you're probably going to have to deal with a lot of learning mistakes, a
steep learning curve there. And then the second dairy big man rotation, just
the big man rotation in general. You don't look at it and say,
oh, this is a great setup of defensive bigs. I think Drew u
Banks is underrated and I didn't like the Spurs got rid of him. I
thought the Raptors should have kept him when they acquired him. In that from
I think it was the Spurs that they got him from the time whatever.
But I like du Banks, Trent and Watford's had some good moments and he
played a ton of center last year. And then you have Nurkicch that's a
little bit uninspiring. Still, I think in the aggregate you have the personnel.
I don't know you can have a top ten defense, but I think
the Blazers can get to Lee average or better. So yes, I do
expect them to be a lot better on the defensive end this season. If
I had to guess, let's set the are they going to be better or
worse than let's say fifteenth in defensive officiency? I know it's a cop out.
That's a really tough line for me to take. I might just lean
worse because of the talent that's in the Western Conference. But I think they'll
be closer to Lee gaverage, if not better so than not Asriel PC underscore
pc as. What are the odds that the Pacers now become a third team
in the Lakers Brooklyn deal to get Russ out of LA and Irving two LA.
I listened to your previous pot, and I'm still interested in knowing what
the framework for Lakers nets Pacers three team deal would be for this mail bag.
So it feels like and unless Brooklyn warms up to sort of a full
on rebuild as part of any Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant trade, and these
are all linked, I don't think they'll move Kyrie Irving unless they move Kevin
Durant and so under in this scenario, Kevin Durant is leaving. Are you
still prioritizing remaining competitive now because you've mortgaged so much of your future to Houston
as part of that James Harden deal. If you have, you're going to
be You're going to want third and fourth teams to help make any trade with
the Lakers work. And you're sort of shoehorned into a deal with the Lakers
right now because they seem like they're the only team interested in Kyrie. I
mentioned on the last podcast, maybe we could see Dallas sneak in there.
But so you're operating under that circumstance. If you don't care about that,
and you're just interesting getting picks. Then if I'm Brooklyn, you take on
Russ. Westbrook get twenty seven and twenty nine first from the Lakers, assuming
they're offering it, which they should be, and you wave Russ or buy
him out and just go from there. Indie is intriguing because the Nets really
want to remain competitive, it seems, and Indie and the Spurs have a
ton of cap space. And I think you could throw the Jazz in as
a team just because they are going towards that full tilt rebuild. They would
be willing to acquire the one year of Russ if it meant getting draft equity.
So looking at what are the odds, Let's say Kyrie's going to the
Lakers, what are the odds that Russ ends up with the Pacers as part
of a three team deal involving the Nets and the Lakers as well. I
might pay get at better than twenty five percent at this juncture. And if
we're if we're guaranteeing it's going to be a three team deal, they're really
only three teams. Where I feel like it could probably work, and I
don't know if it'd be too difficult to fold Utah into this as part of
like a separate like is the Donovan Mitchell trade a part of that as well?
I think Indie, if we're just saying that Russ is going to a
third team in this deal, and I've essentially just narrowed it down to the
Spurs, the Pacers, or the Jazz, I'd give Indie the largest share
percentage share of that. Likely it's not split evenly, thirty three percent,
thirty three point three, thirty three point three, thirty three point three.
Let's say if we're operating under that assumption, I'd say forty five to fifty
percent chance if again, that's the scenario. If not better, I'm gonna
move it up fifty fifty five to sixty percent chance that it would be the
Pacers that go that route. Maybe I'm sort of underselling how conservative the Pacers
typically are, but hey, they're they're living on the wild side. They
gave out an offer sheet to Deandreat, and even though it wasn't a very
inventive one, it was designed to get matched. Essentially, I think they're
just among they are in that rebuild, and I've some people on our YouTube
comments wanted them to keep Russ. I think he would drive Rick Carlisle up
mad, and I don't want to see him just take touches away from Benne
mcmathin, Tyrese Halibert, and Chris Duarte at this point. Now, the
structure of a three team deal, what makes the patients are interesting. They
have over thirty million dollars in cap space, or can maintain more than thirty
million dollars in cap space, so they can effectively. You know, I've
seen all the scenarios where it's oh, Miles turn around, Buddy Healder going
out. I guess if you're getting both the Lakers picks in twenty seven and
twenty nine, sure, if you're only getting one, my question would be,
why are you giving up both of those players? Unless you really view
Buddy Healed? Is this net negative? When he has two years and more
than forty million left on his deal? I don't think he's that supremely of
a net negative. And so the framework I came up with is the Lakers
would get Kyrie, the Nets would get Buddy Healed, and a twenty twenty
nine Lakers first Indie would get Russ and the twenty twenty seven Lakers first.
Now Brooklyn and Indie can swap first there, I think Brooklyn should get the
first that is deemed more favorable. I'm just zooming as far out as possible
and thinking twenty twenty nine would be more favorable if twenty twenty nine is going
to be protected. If you just think that the Lakers are more likely to
bottom out earlier on and then pick up the pieces really quickly, then have
twenty twenty seven go to Brooklyn. But I'd have Brooklyn and Indie each getting
a first round pick. I think if you want to fold Miles Turner into
this deal because you're worried about carrying more money on your books and you kind
of want to go, it wouldn't be dollar for dollar, but you would
only be taking on an extra like seven million bucks with Russell Westbrook. If
you traded both Turner and Buddy Healed, I get it. If you want
to go that route in your Indie, are you getting both first round picks
here? You could like almost There's there's a scenario in which the Lakers straight
up could end up with Kyrie Irving and Miles Turner because they would be able
to send out a town Horton Tucker in this deal, so they can take
back that much money. I just don't unless you're getting both Lakers picks,
which I would think it's very It would be borderline impossible to do here,
because what are the Nets getting for Kyrie Irving? So it's not borderline possible.
I just don't think they would give up. They would punt on all
the Lakers picks, just they don't have to take on the one year of
Russ. I don't really buy into that. So that was my framework there,
and then I know, all of a sudden, the Nets have Buddy
Healed and Joe Harris and Seth Curry. Look, and plus let's not forget
Patty Mills. If you just have Ben Simmons and a ship ton of shooting,
there are worse ways to go about your business. Again, that's only
if you don't want to take on Russ. I would say, take the
picks that the Lakers are giving and be willing to take back Russ. Now
you could work it. So are the Pacers keeping Turner and or keep excuse
me, keeping Healed and then sending Turner to Brooklyn? I just I think
Turner has more value than Healed still, even going into the finals year of
his contract and the Nets. You know, they just paid Nick Claxton.
Granted he's very cheap. Do you want Turner who is going to be a
free agent next season. I guess if you're trying to compete immediately, you
have him for this year, you think about resigning him in free agency during
the twenty twenty three off season. Sure, I just if I'm Indie and
I'm taking back Russ and I'm giving up an expiring contract, I don't know
if the one first round pick does it enough for me. So, and
you're also obliterating basically all of your capspacing that model, because Buddy Healed makes
more than than Miles Turner, so you know, and there's also other ways
to work this where they can send out Daniel Tye as well as part of
this deal, Like do you send Daniel Tye back to the Lakers force them
to take back something else? They have the ability to take back a ton
more money. So even just doing Buddy Healed straight up would obliterate most of
your cat flexibility that's remaining. Maybe they want to save some leading into the
trade deadline, but they have other salaries that they could fold into this deal.
I think they probably value TJ. McConnell even coming back from injury.
I don't love that contract right now, but it is only two fully guaranteed
years and then basically a half guarantee on that third year. But you could
put him or Tye into this deal. You can put both of them into
this deal very easily, actually sending them to Brooklyn or sending them to LA
I would almost argue that if you're Indie, you should be rooting for maybe
the Kyrie scenario to come off the table in Brooklyn. I said that I
would give up he Turner for both those Lakers first round picks. I'd maybe
be like a little bit leery of doing it. And hey, look,
maybe the Lakers just don't even want Healed because they want all expiring contracts coming
off their books. I think that'd be fucking stupid. But if they're willing
to, you know, you get to keep Healed still Again, if you
don't humor as an asset, I understand why you wouldn't want to just give
up Turner and then a McConnell or a Tye. So and I really don't
know what McConnell's value is. There's He's a really pesky defender in your face
and can be an okay game manager, fairly dangerous sometimes when he gets close
enough to the basket, which is not doesn't help you stretch the floor.
Don't like him playing off the ball alongside other ball handlers. So a lot
of moving parts there. But I went through the setup of what I think
a three good three team framework would be. If I'm the Pacers, I'm
trying to broke or something straight up, and I would see if I could
get both those Lakers first for Buddy Healed and and Miles Turner. Darkwing Duck
asked who's handling aging in the NBA less gracefully, Russell Westbrook or Allen Iverson.
My odd Russ, if he gets traded again, as Johan Buha noted
at the Athletic, will have played for more teams over this, you know,
age thirty one to thirty four span of his career than Allen Iverson did.
My answer to this question I haven't written in my notes is geez,
I don't fucking know. After really thinking about it, Russ has actually been
more efficient from his age thirty one to thirty three seasons than Allen Iverson.
Was a shot better on two pointers. They're sister turnover ratio was virtually the
same. I think they were both probably equally as stubborn when it came to
changing their game. The difference to me is Westbrook is healthier then Iverson was
at that point in his career, and healthier in the sense like he is
playing more prominent roles. He's appeared in more games during the stretch of his
career. For whatever reason it is, I think that emboldens him to think
he's I think that he thinks how about that for phrasing. I do believe
that maybe that emboldens him a little bit more than Alan Iverson. But I
man Alan Iverson was one of the most confident players in the NBA of all
time. And if anything, I'm just gonna answer with Westbrook tentatively because we're
living in the age of social media and Iverson definitely didn't have that. When
you're talking about you know, him in Detroit and him and Memphis, even
him in Denver, and it also felt like But on the flip side,
I do feel like Russ has at least tried to adjust within very strict confines.
And I had this discussion with someone on Twitter who said that I wasn't
giving Westbrook enough blame for the Lakers dilemma just because we saw him adjust a
little bit in Houston with Harden and then somewhat in Washington alongside Bradley Beald during
the second half of the year. He was still a very ball dominant player
in those settings, and we never saw him revert into an off ball player,
be willing to play top tier defense or even smart defense if his offensive
role was dwindling. And I don't even think we could say he didn't do
that because we've never actually seen an attempt at that. We've never seen a
team be able to get Russ moving off the ball on use him as a
screen or a bunch. ESPN put up a stat that Russ was very inefficient
when he was coming off when he was being used as the screener last year,
But the only set fifty seven ball screens that was also per second second
spectrum. That's not high enough volume to sort of draw any drastic conclusions.
So maybe there's been more of an effort there, and recency bias is probably
kicking in. Like I am, so I was young enough to where I
probably didn't understand what was happening in real time with Alan Iverson back then.
I honestly don't know. I still feel like AI had better offensive highs than
Westbrook is having right now, but maybe the Laker season is just tattooed into
memory at the moment because he had a wild hot stretch to close his time
in Washington, and the same with Houston. What I will say is it
did feel like teams adapted to Russ more than we saw with AI. Houston
legitimately just traded its starting center and Click Coppel along with the first round pick
to go all into small ball and maximize the shooting around Russ model. We
saw the Wizards give Russ adequate control over the offense when he was healthier with
them as well. The Lakers. They didn't counto to Russ's functional whims as
much, but they also didn't like not do that. They didn't try and
force him into the role that they needed or wanted from him, and maybe
there was pushedback when we know there was pushed back from him behind the scenes
based off his exit interview. His own exit interview and how do you frequently
bench forty plus million dollars in salary it's almost impossible. I don't have a
great answer to this question. I'm going to say Russ, just because we're
living the age of social media where everything is magnified times a thousand, and
you're also in a situation where when you were when you saw Ai in Denver,
it almost felt like they brought him in to be their second best player,
and they just seemed like he was a little bit more open to the
possibilities of Detroit and Memphis. Unless I'm misremembering, so I'm going Russ.
It's really close, and that's probably why so many comparisons are being drawn between
the two. Christopher asked, will you offer an official apology to the Kings
if they somehow managed to make the Western Conference or NBA Finals. I don't
really know what I have to apologize for. I came on the podcast and
said people were going to slam the Kings no matter what this decision they made
on draft night. I've not that I've come around on Keegan Murray. I
understand the Keg and Murray draft pick. I just did a YouTube segment and
it was also a podcast segment where I talked about the value of Kegan Murray,
how good he looked in Summer League how perfect he might be for this
team. And we're actually gonna have a little Kegan Murray riff in just a
second. But I don't know. I begged the Sacramental Kings to choose a
direction, which I don't a concrete direction. I don't think they've done that,
to be honest, this a bonus trade was sort of like an all
in play that got you nowhere. In my opinion, Let's see how this
season plays out. I'm not I don't think unless they make other moves that
I don't on the trademarks that dons coming. I'm not picking them to make
the playoffs this year. I'm not picking them to make the plan either,
I don't think. And so if they if they exceed those expectations of mine,
then yes, I will offer an apology to the Kings if they make
the playoffs. Outright, how about that? If they are one of the
top six teams in the West, I will big apology. If they make
it into the plan and then out of the plan, and then I will
also apologize. But I wanted them to angle for something that was higher than
play in territory, either by starting a new or like or even just resetting
around Fox and Haliburton or go all in in a clarifying way that made me
think, Okay, they have a realistic shot at being a top six team
next year. I don't view them as having a realistic shot at being top
six again failing any major complications with other teams or a big time move from
the Kings to close out this offseason. Demost Quol asked what's the ceiling for
the top five rookies and what's their floor? Can Keegan Murray be compared to
Tatum or is it just too soon? I want to hear your most blasphemous
comparisons demos. You're going to get me into trouble with this. I respect
it. I'm going to answer the questions anyway. I'm taking this quite literally.
I am going the at least when it comes to best case scenario for
the top five picks, I'm going to go the absolutely bonkers route and as
high end as I can possibly think. I wanted to be like within reason,
and when I did best case, I decided to I don't like assuming
that there are these like direct comparisons, so I combined players for the most
part when looking at these best and worst case scenarios. Some of these worst
case scenarios, I think because I'm so high on all five of the top
five works at this point, they're probably not spicy enough. But I tried
to go spicy as hell in the best case scenario. So let's start with
Palo bank Caro, who I'm in love with. I see a lot of
the Blake Griffin comps. I see Pistons Blake Griffin, though, where he
wasn't playing above the rim as much and he had a lot more of an
off the dribble game facilitation game. So Palaban Caro prime Pistons Blake Griffin,
which I guess existed for a year and a half, and then Aaron Gordon
on defense. I thought it was a fair comparison. Like he there were
some moments one on one, even switching in Summer League, where I didn't
understand why people were so concerned with him guarding at this level. We'll see
how it pans out. My worst case scenario for him was actually a lot
of people's present NBA comps for him. I think the worst case is just
Julius Ramble, where he's all over the place, up and down, inefficient,
jumper still kind of a useful player, but he can't really be used
as a complimentary player that much, or he fancies himself more than that.
That's my worst case for polo, which I think speaks to how high I
am on polo. Chet Homegrin my best is and these are in my notes.
What if Nick Betu, Andre Carolinko, and Marcus Camby were the same
player? Just what I mean you have a little bit of off the dribble
juice baked in than that. It's not necessarily explosive, but there is quickness
there with Andre Carolinko. There's the methodical, solid passing with Carolinko and Batum.
The defense, the rebounding, the shot blocking of a Marcus can be,
the floor running of a Marcus can be. I'm not I didn't want
to gravitate. I tried to steer clear of ones that I've seen too often
or that I thought were borderline cliches. So I'm not gonna go with like
the Kevin Durant meet Gianna's attend to Kupo. Maybe there needs to be like
a little bit of the Karl Anthony town sprinkled into this three player combo.
But a Nick batoum Andre Carolinko, Marcus can be hybrid, which some people
might take as an insult. Insult because none of those players are superstars.
But together you're talking about three players who at their peaks were kind of at
that level. They're going to be mega stars for sure. Someone on Reddit,
by the way, I saw said gen z Ralph Sampson, and I
laughed and can't get it out of my head. Worst case I think it's
fair when people say bowball is what they see. I think it's more like
Tayshaun Prince, and I know he was a great defender. I think that
home grin, even if it proves that he's not strong enough or you can
get thrown around, we'll still be a good wing defender or disruptor, and
that you can count on him to make simple plays on offense, whether it's
an open space just passing out or stroking threes off the catch. Maybe Tashaun
Prince is like, I'm not trying to insult Tashan Prince, is my point.
Let's say Tashan Prince on offense, then for a worst case there,
a Bulbo would be straight out his worst case scenario. Jabari Smith Jr.
Who I am all in on his defense now that I think is just far
outstripped his offensive potential, and I don't think that was made enough of leading
into the draft based off what I read and watched. But my best case
for him is Chris Middleton and Kevin Garnett merge DNA makeups. That is why
I have written down. There's like that positionlessness of what that player would be
in Chris Middleton and KG on defense that I really respect, but you also
have the where Middleton's not too disruptive or anarchic on defense, KG brings that
controlled chaos and that disruption, and then I can just see it on offense,
where, yeah, are you going to have him in the post,
like a KG working from the working from the high post, working from the
elbows, spotting up off the catch, running some high screen and pops.
I could see that with him, But I could also see him doing like
real efficient off the dribble, jump shooting like a Chris Middleton, living in
the mid range, doing some like really tough wingy fadeaways, and then of
course still hitting enough of his threes, running these secondary pick and rolls.
He's like, he's definitely bigger than Middleton, which is why the KG compering
so true. I just think his offensive game could techinitely be more expansive.
I'm not saying as dominant, but it could be more expansive as kg's where
he started out as like having like as a wing but without wing responsibilities because
he played so much of the three earlier on in his career. I could
see j Barie Smith being in one of the big men's spots, but he
has these wing responsibilities. My worst case is just no von Ley because I
could kind of see him being like someone who just never leaves a dent on
the game. If his shot selection doesn't prove, if his shot creation or
shot making off of those creative situations doesn't get a lot better, and then
also maybe he's just a flop on defense or he's only intermittently good and it
proves that maybe the NBA game is too fast like to process him on defense.
This is someone that I feel like. I know a lot of people
said that he might have the highest floor of the bunch of the top three.
I kind of feel like he might have the lowest floor. Now I
could be wrong there, but the best case scenario should at least make Rockets
fans excited. Please just don't be mad at me. Kegan Murray, I
don't see the Jayson Tatum comps. I just don't think he's We're ever going
to see him have the variable on ball skills of a Jason Tatum. And
I know even then it was hard to imagine Jason Tatum having those skills when
you look at his rookie year and how he was used. I just don't
see the same from Keegan Murray. I look at him more as this like
really high end shot relocator who's gonna knock down looks. And maybe there's some
self creation there, but it's it's very basic, sometimes forceful, or maybe
it's just a matter of him shooting and rising over the top of players.
So my best case for him is Harrison Barnes on defense and then like a
Danilo Gallinari on offense. I thought about going Michael Porter Jr. I saw
a lot of people compare him to that. I just don't know. I
get it because like Michael Porter Jr. Wasn't this detonative player even pre back
injuries. But he doesn't even have the same size as MPJ to rise up
and fire over people. I could see the definitely like the relocation and the
cutting, like I could see that translating. But Gallow, there's more of
like this girthy self creation too, where it can almost happen in slow motion.
It's a little bit physical. It doesn't always look pretty, but it
works and it gets you to the free throw line. So Gallow on offense,
Harrison Barnes on defense, maybe a little bit when we're looking at shot
relocation, Michael Porter Jr. On offense. My worst case scenario I think
is Marvin Williams just in general, but he was he was rock style defender.
So it's say Gallow on defense and Mark Williams on on offense. Uh
for Keiga Murray there he of the four feels like he could technically have the
highest floor so far, Jay and Ivy best case is I have this written
down and it feels kind of cheap. But after watching what little we saw
of him in Summer League, I get the comps that I saw, so
I have year three John Morant fucks with twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, Victor
Oladipo. I think there's definitely concerned about, oh, could he be as
good as a passer as Morant, I think the decision making after he leaves
his feet is there. We saw him throw some nifty passes and then just
a couple of the even dating back to his time in school, and then
some of the plays in summer league there might be more like of a perimeter
threat, a more like not just John Morant, oh, finally making defenses
pay for going under screens. I'm talking off the dribble three, not just
a floater game, but like a fire off on a whim mid range game.
And that's where Oladipo sort of comes in. And then there's that all
defense level. I'm just kind of baking in his physical tools there. If
you wanted to go with someone more like a Gilbert Arenas or Baron Davis prime
one of those, rather than a John Morant, I would get it.
I think those probably Gilbert Arenas is more apt. Just that's someone who's not
appreciably worse as a passer, but someone who's not going to be known for
his playmaking first and foremost, like John Moran can be where it feels like
his scoring and playmaking are almost on equal levels. But if we're just trying
to envision the best best, best case scenario for Jay and Ivy. It's
John Moran, fucks with all NBA. They throw a depot that's sticking to
it. His floor. Worst case scenario feels like a Dennis Shrewder. This
should it should be someone who's always very solid on the offensive end, but
always leaves you wanting more on defense and then you can't always count on him
on the offensive end. Maybe that's too high a worst case scenario, but
we're going about Dennis Shrewder, still under the age of thirty, one of
the final free agents remaining at this point. He went from having a very
lucrative was an eighty ninety million dollars extension on the table from the Lakers last
season to playing out the mid level this pass on the minim level of this
past season, to being flipped by the Celtics at the trade deadline, to
now he currently doesn't have an NBA team. Let me know what you think
about that in the comments. The YouTube comments are get at me on Twitter.
So since the podcast or the discord, this was a tough exercise.
I spent way too much time on it. So I hope that at least
shows and it came from a good place, even if I'm completely wrong.
Cosmic Raccoon asked question from a Rockets fan, I think our coach Paul Silas
is I think our coach Stephen Silas is one of the worst coaches in the
NBA as somewhere outside of Rockets fandom, do you have thoughts on Silas as
a coach Personally, I'm really looking forward to him being released and the order
moving on hopefully during the season. I didn't ask cosmic Raccoon a follow up
question of what specifically he was talking about, and he went into I'll talk.
He gave me, they gave me, excuse me, a very extensive
answer that was great. The highlights included he consistently prioritized giving minutes in touches
to vets even though the younger players behind those vets are performing better, and
he also can give they can also give a lot of examples from the last
two years of that that he never holds the Vets accountable for a lack of
effort, selfish player, bad mistakes, and there doesn't seem to be a
angible style on offense that I will say. And he brings up the usage
of Christian Wood and shanegun where they had Shane Goun spotting up for Wood rather
than the other way around, because shanego is not as good as a shooter
and is a lot better of a passer. My whole thing is, I
don't know that the Rockets were talented enough or have enough options to judge Silas
in that manner. I think we've definitely yes, and so the notes that
I have here is I think that it took too long for them to explore
Josh Christopher. I don't know how much of an organizational decision versus Silas decision
that it was to not use Usman Gruba ever, but that was a little
bit disappointing. I just don't know what you know. The Rockets tried to
take options away from him by benching John Wall. Now they've traded Christian Wood,
so maybe there's an element of concern there for themselves. Are they is
in a rush to trade Wood if they don't have one of the top three
picks and know they're going to get another Front Corps player. I honestly have
no idea. I think he deserves more of a grace period this season,
and I want to see do they have an offensive identity. I appreciate that
they continue to focus on getting to the rim and three point frequency. I
also you have to question how much of that is the front office edict from
Raphael Stone and others who were under Daryl Morey. This is a team that
I know Shane Goon can slow things down, but you have Jalen Green,
you have Kevin Porter Jr. Even Josh Christopher, having Jason Tait, having
Kenyan Martin Jr. Let's see them run. They didn't push the ball enough
last season off of Missus. I looked this up and was just surprised that
even though I thought they didn't get out and transition enough, they were dead
last in transition frequency. That doesn't always translate to efficient offense, but it
is a way to sort of paper over a lack of not offensive talent,
but offensive direction in the floor form of a floor general. And without John
Wall last season there was just never a floor general. You had KPJ masquerading
in that role. You did have Josh Christopher. They really milked Jalen Green
the second half of the season. That was great. They probably lead too
much on Dennis Shrewder once he came over from the trade deadline, that's fair.
Did they move Daniel Tice at the trade deadline not just because that contract
was weird in the first place, but to take him away from Steven Silas
his playing time had decreased though to that point. My point here is I
need to see the Rockets have a coherent season first before I judge Steven Silas,
and I think now they have enough options and just infrastructure on paper to
where okay, we can judge him. Is he the right guy for the
rebuild? Are you giving him a half season, a full season? Whatever?
Are we going to see him still catered events? Like? How many
minuts is Eric Gordon getting if he's still in the team next season, does
he all of a sudden fall in love with David Nawaba? Is Usman Garuba
still not getting burned here? We know that Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Junior
are going to get adequate adequate run, But how are you going to use
Jabar Smith Junior, an Oupert and Shanegun together. That's something we need to
watch. You're still at this point you're gonna want Jabar Smith being the one
that plays off of Shane Gun. That's still going to be that should be
the clear mandate there or the clear concept is that going to work? I
also want to know, Look, Terry Eason, is he gonna get plenty
time? And more to the point, I'm not a believer in KPJ.
I think he can be a really good, valuable NBA player. I don't
view him as someone who can have the ball in his hands and is tasked
with setting up the rest of his teammates are running the offense. I saw
it towards the end a little bit of twenty twenty one. I didn't see
it a ton last year. And I'm looking at you, look at the
roster now, excuse me, and even just having by virtue of having thy
thy Washington like, I want to see him get a chance to really run
this team. So that's going to matter. And so how much does he
use him or does he give him a chance to captain the offense along with
Jalen Green even Jabari Smith Junior. Are you putting him in lotus where he's
going to be forced to create? I want to see a lot of experimentation
with the kids, more creative lineups for sure than we saw last season.
You know, rap like the Rockets fans are gonna know more Consack Racoon specifically
is gonna know more about the nuts and bolts of their night to night rotation
than I ever could when I'm catching games of the Rockets at a time.
But I think it's fair to say that you're disappointed in the lack of discernible
identity for this team, especially on the offensive end. That being said,
it was a combination these past two seasons not only going off the rails,
but of exploration that didn't really have I think enough viable options to explore,
is my point. And there are mistakes, and the wood Shane gun one
specifically is great, but now I think they have enough of the youngsters in
here to where even if you don't view Tie Tie Washington as the solution as
a potential floor general, like, are we at least getting weird with the
lineups at this point? Or is this no he's still in love with and
look who's going to remain on the books to the Rockets lady in the season.
I don't know, But are we going to see, you know,
too much of Trey Burke all of a sudden, or like I said,
David Nuaba, does Bobon get minutes if he's still on the roster. I
don't want to see that personally, and I actually think Sterling Brown could still
be real goodness league. I want to see, you know, go point
guardless at this point, give me Jabari Smith junior with Jay Shawn Tate,
Jalen Green, kJ Martin and then someone else who's not a big like,
let's get weird. I do think though, to some extent, when you
have a veteran like Eric Gordon, you're almost obligated to try and play him
so you can continue to prop up with trade value. But you are in
a situation where it's the front office. If you think this is the way
Silas is gonna coach, you're not gonna get rid of him. You kind
of have to do what the Knicks just did with Tibbs and they got rid
of Taj Gibson, And can you get rid of Eric Gordon? Now move
him so that Silas doesn't have the options playing him, and it's more trial
by fire for some of the youngsters. But I do think this is a
season where it's fair to pass more wholesale judgments on the Rockets direction overall,
which I deem pretty promising when you look at their personnel, and then Stephen
Silas specifically that was a great question and something now that I hadn't considered.
But I'm gonna be paying attention to even more during the regular season, So
thank you, Cosmic Raccoon JT Alexander. I really found Adam Silver speaking about
G League players versus draft guys and one of the recent pods interesting. Oh,
Adam s I really, I really found Adams Vanilla speaking about G League
players versus draft guys on one of his recent pods interesting. Are there any
guys currently in the G League you can see playing a role for someone in
the NBA? Ali Gallery? Peyton a second. So I tried to steer
clear of the names that have been regurgitated to this point, and I came
up with three. One of them actually might be considered an obvious one.
He won G League Rookie of the Year. Mac McClung. Smaller, but
he's got shifty footwork, handle, nice touch. Played for the Dubs in
Summer League. Hit some pretty nice like I don't want to call them circus
shots, but they were just buttery difficult shots. Would any team give him
a shot? He's not expected to make the Dubs roster. I think the
Pacers could be fun just like I feel like they need another It doesn't be
a smaller ball handler, but like someone who profiles maybe as a league guard
type, even if if it's a super reserve and you want that guard to
score more than t J McConnell. I don't know if mcclong is the good
enough passer to fulfill that role, but he is someone I would keep.
You know, if you can have nice touch, especially off the dribble,
getting a lane, be physical, finished through contact there even further away from
the basket. Doesn't feel like he bails out from the rim a little bit
too much based off what I watched from him. Another guy played for the
Pistons in Summer League. He is currently on a two way. Braxton Key
is the jumper there because he was pretty disruptive. Like on the defensive end,
he can defend some really bigger players. Man passing lanes, finish some
like tough angled layups or not even lay ups, but just difficult shots around
the rim. I would love to see a team that's wing decimated or doesn't
have a pure three on the roster, like a Utah, a San Antonio
or Mini to get a hold of him and then finally familiar name around these
parts, and it might be a little bit more aprop to Gary Payton in
the second, except that he was He is a former first round pick,
but he is twenty seven. Justin Jackson played last year with the Texas Legends.
He was with the Boston Celtics in Summer League. Six foot eight,
shot forty five point seven percent on threes in the G League last year.
He in Summer League specifically looked a lot more comfortable working with the ball,
like you could almost trust him to come around screens, grab the ball and
then make quick reads in space. Is he continuing to dribble an attack or
is he just throwing these really quick pocket passes. I thought, oddly enough
that Sacramento would be a good fit for him because they still kind of need
wings. There is there too many bad memories. He started his career with
the Kings. The Lakers could really use to give him a shot. Are
they more? Are they gonna be willing to give someone who's just older,
has some MBA experience, some run alongside Lebron and and ad and however else
they're gonna flesh out their their best units I actually really wouldn't mind that fit.
That would be a very creative flyer by the Lakers to me. The
Pacers are they? Cleveland was another team I thought of if you really trust
in his three ball, and then someone who I still think it could be
really good on defense, especially away from the ball there, and then Utah
because they're wing decimated. I hope that's the type of answer you were looking
for, JAT, and I hope that I caught you off guard with some
of the names. Like I said, the Justin Jackson Reclamation project would be
would be pretty fun to see specifically. And then after that, if I
had to ranked these three guys, I think I have Jackson filed by Braxon
Ke then Mac McClung. Actually, let's get to this. Let's get to
this one first, because from Glad Glad, you always have a way of
asking questions that make me spend like at least thirty to forty five minutes thinking
about them. So thank you for that, but also I'm kind of angry
with you for consuming so much of my time. Just kidding there, who
do you think are the top ten defenders of all time? And where does
Gobert stack up all time, and that also is Tim Duncan low key number
one or is that spot reserved for her team. So I'm not going to
give you definitive ranking because it was too hard. I do have ten players
and then some toughest Cutton and current players that I think could still crack that
I think if you want to look specifically at I'll answer the last two questions.
First, I have go Bet in my top ten already. This guy
has been a defensive system unto himself for a half decade, guaranteeing yourself a
top ten, guaranteeing his team a top ten defense, and it looks like
his prime is gonna wind up stretching longer than Dwight Howards, or at least
the fact that he's going to be more plug and play I think ends up
helping him compared to the longevity that Dwight Howard has now displayed in the the
league. But it was also sort of cut short, like he's been around,
but like the longevity is sort of tainted a little bit. So I
have Gobart in my top ten just one of those dominant ring protections i've i've
ever seen. And I would also say, you know, the Dwight Howard's,
the DeAndre Jordan's like those kind of bigs from his era, even Clinck
Cappella. They never held up as well in space as he did. Is
Tim Duncan number one? I think he could be number one. I'd probably
put Bill Russell there, I would have there's a chem in David Robinson.
I think all four of those guys have a case to make a number one.
I think I'm so in love with Tim Duncan. He could be my
number one. But Bill Russell was maybe dominant in ways both numeracle and functional
anecdotal that perhaps Tim Duncan was never like that loud, in your face player.
His longevity on defense too, was was incredible. But my players that
I have in the top ten in no order, They're just listed this way.
Tim Duncan, Bill Russell, David Robinson, Hakim Malajuan, Scottie Pippen,
Kevin Garnett, Rudy Gobert, Draymond Greene, Ben Wallace, and Kareem
abdul Jabbar. Filling out full disclosure. Karema dual Jabbar was my last inclusion
here. Came down between both him and Ben Wallace were sort of the ones
that I was debating to cut, and my toughest cuts were, and I
think I might diverge on one of these. Gary Payton. I don't think
many people have him this high. Dikem May Mutumbo and Dennis Rodman and active
players who I think have a chance to get into the top ten all time.
Kauai, if he just stays healthy, he might already be there for
some And then YA attent to Coopo. Of course, I don't know if
you can put them there just yet, but it certainly feels like he might
be tracking in in that direction. Mile High Hoops asked, who are your
dark horses for all the major awards next season? This is interesting. The
way I set it up was I did go look at betting odds and I
said that anyone I picked couldn't be laying I didn't want to set just a
specific payout. They couldn't be laying one of the ten best odds. I
wanted people who were outside of that. So let's start with Coach of the
Year. I think Willie Green with the Pelicans. I'm not sure if he's
dark horse enough, but with Zion coming back, he was. He was
my first pick that was the one I gravitated towards with Zion coming back,
the progress the Pelicans showed on defense last year after their slow start, specifically
in transition, even the fight they put up against Phoenix to start the playoffs.
I think this is a team that could be a top four squad in
the West if they get enough games out of Zion Williamson. I'm not even
seventy five to eighty, but like sixty plus. I also considered Mark Dagnelt
with the Thunder and for anyone who cares, Willy Green is sixteen to one
right now to win Coach of the Year. I have Mark Dagnel, Jamal
Mosley. They are both one hundred to one to win Coach of the Year,
and then Rick Carlisle is eighty to one to win Coach of the Year.
At the moment, I think the most interesting coach there is probably Rick
Carlisle, just he might have oh, I don't know, Dagnelt with Oklahoma
City. They can catch people off guard, and even Moseley, like now
you have Palo Ban Caro, Wendell Carter Junior, Jalen Sucks Friends Vader,
There's like a real base for a team At that point. I don't want
to have to pick between those three. Those are the four immediately thought of.
If Willy Green is too high end, he would be my pick.
If you consider Willy Green too high end, I'm going to go with Mark
Dagnelt of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I might just be too high on them.
With chequelas, Alexander Ludore, Kendrick Williams coming back, and then chet
home Grin. Of course, next up will be Rookie of the Year.
Most interesting ones to me. The single most interesting one to me actually is
ty Ty Washington of the Rocket. I just think he can wind up getting
more minutes immediately plays bigger than he actually is. They still don't have to
me their point guard of the future in Houston, and if you give him
real run, I could see him putting up numbers necessary to be in the
discussion. Marjehan Bowchamp plus five thousand stood out as well. I don't know
if he gets minutes with Milwaukee, but they don't have a ton of wings,
and the Chris Middleton injury now throws a wrention of the plans. Maybe
he sort of surprises everyone. We don't typically see a player from a team
back good end the discussion. I'd also have Bryce McGowan's from Charlotte at plus
ten thousand. I don't know if they're gonna play him, but that dude
can score in all sorts of ways, and I was incredibly intrigued by him
coming into the draft. And then I routed out Jake la Ravia with Memphis
at plus six thousand. I'm assuming they're going to plan on giving run to
him, in addition Tozy Williams just looking at there, you know, and
David Roddy as well, just sort of looking at them letting Kyle Anderson go.
So the Jaren Jackson junior injuries to start the year, those are the
names that popped up to me. I wouldn't make any of them. My
first pick. Ty Tay Washington, though, would be the player from that
group. I'd single out most dark horse to win sixth Man of the Year.
I have Bones Highland with the Denver Nuggets, who, just to just
so we're clear, was not one of the top ten odds layers. He's
at plus three thousand. I get that he might be too high end for
some since the Nuggets are going to be good, and he just had a
standout rookie campaign. But you have Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior coming back.
How much are they actually going to trust him, I'd argue a whole
bunch after trading Monte Morris. There's also going to be times where maybe Michael
Porter Junior's injured or Jamal Murray has to miss some time too, and so
you have to entrust him with a ton of offensive responsibilities. So I'm really
I like him as a dark horse pick to win sixth Man of the Year.
You also go back and like only three times over the past decade and
a half as a sixth Man of the Year averaged under fifteen points a game.
He's someone that I feel like could come in maybe only play you know,
twenty minutes or something, and pump in that many needed to to win
the award. And we are your voters. Excuse me, do gravitate towards
the volume scores in those situations. I also have in this discussion. Pressus
Chua with Toronto did a great job on defense last year, showed a hint
of a three point shot and being able to do some things around the rim.
He's plus five thousand. Another dever nugget, Bruce Brown plus eight thousand.
If he comes in and really changes their defense and continues to hit the
three ball and maybe works sweet sweet magic in the two man game with Nikolayokich,
I could see him getting some love. And then Otto Porter Junior at
plus twenty thousand for the Raptors is also intriguing. Their bench was decimated last
year. You probably can't count on OPJ to play more than twenty to twenty
five minutes. But if he's sitting his threes and really preserving the Raptors positionless
defensive integrity, keep an eye on him. Finally, I don't know whether
I don't know what the thunder rotation is going to look like, but Alexey
Pokachevski I felt like his game at points last year really started to come together,
and this could be a higher end prospect than people really consider. If
he's coming off the bench, absolutely keep an eye on him. For six
Man of the Year Most Improved Player, I'm gonna hand to God Tyrese Haliburton
was my pick. He is the second. He's laying the second best odds
at plus twelve hundred. I guess I didn't realize how high nationally people were
on him. I just assume that many thought he'd fall short of, you
know, being a player who can make that superstar leap. I'm glad that
they don't. I have my other choice here. My top choice is gonna
be Kelton Johnson with the Spurs at plus four thousand. The extension I think
shows they are invested in him, and that means they're probably gonna let him
explore more on ball offensive stuff. I like the progress he made as an
off ball offensive contributor. If he can add more directionality to his drives,
just look out for that, and he does give you a ton of defensive
valuability. I also have Alexei Pokashevski here too at plus eight thousand. On
Nyekakagoun Atlanta at plus thirty three hundred. I think they need to trade Cling
Capella or John Collins to sort of pave the way for that to happen.
But that guy is really good and the way that he can defend bunch of
different positions really he's very He's very portable that end the floor, and there's
more to him on offense then I think people view him as, yeah,
he's a play finisher, but he has kind of like might have a little
floater game can make these one or two dribble reads as well, in addition
to doing all the usual rim Runner stuff. And then finally, I have
cam Reddish here just this is a shot in the dark because I would like
Cam Reddish to pan out. He's a plus twenty five thousand Akonglue by the
way, he's plus thirty three hundred. But the Knicks, I don't know
how much depth they're gonna end up trading for Donovan Mitchell, but there might
just be more minutes for him if the Knicks trade Grimes, especially if they
trade RJ. Barrett. I don't know if he'll ever get the on ball
opportunities to maybe juice his odds in this discussion or juice his candidacy in this
discussion, but the uncertainty surrounding the Knicks and how his role could either grow
within New York or maybe if he's traded to Utah, who definitely need wings
and then they give him a crap ton of reps on the ball. I
just have him circled here. Defensive Player of the Year my top choice,
and he is so my tops actually wasn't listed. He is off was Aaron
Gordon. Just you have KCP Bruce Brown in Denver. Now he's going to
be in a more fitting role for himself. I could see him being viewed
as the primary anchor of that Nuggets defense, even though he's not defending at
the point of attack as much. And if they end up having a really
good defense, I would just watch him. I settled on Herb Jones since
we're warming up to these stymying perimeter defenders. He's at plus six thousand.
He's just fantastic. He's everywhere all at once at the same time incredible.
If the Pelicans wind up having a substantially above average defense, which I think
is possible, he's going to be cited rightfully so as the primary reason why.
And then also just don't Gieaobi felt like he took a step back as
a team defender with Toronto last year. Can still do some dirty, dirty
things on the ball, and I think when he's going to be healthier and
have just more succession to his game where he's it's not a stop and start
as this past season was for him. With his availability, that goes a
long way too. So he's at plus eight thousand. Herb Jones at plus
six thousand, and then Aaron Gordon's off right now, maybe he is odds
somewhere or else, but go looking for them and tell me what they are.
Finally, most valuable Player my pick. Anyone who's watching on YouTube can
tell by the thumbnail Pascal Siakam is at plus ten thousand. I'm actually surprised
the odds weren't longer. We don't know for sure if he's going to be
in Toronto, but I think you can bet against the Kevin Durant trade at
this point, or at least say he'll still be in Toronto if they do
acquire Kevin Durant. I think the Raptors could contend for a top three seed
in the East. There's the Celtics in the Bucks for me, if everyone's
at full strength, and then it's wide open everywhere else. I am getting
close to like being incredibly high on a full strength six ers team. Though
Pascal Siakam all NBA player like this is someone who really improved his playmaking,
the directionality on his half court offense, where he's just a lot more unpredictable
if the threes are falling in a reasonable clip and he continues to play the
type of defense that he did last season, and the Raptors are really good.
I think he'll end up getting a ton of shine in this discussion.
I also have Paul George at plus eight thousand I have and then I have
Sga shake Old Soxander plus fifteen thousand, just to tell you how high I'm
on him. If he's gonna have agency, complete agency over the Thunder offense,
if they wind up being like a playing team or something, I just
wonder if there's the oh, should we consider him? And it is similar
Vein. This is just to show you how high I am on Kake Cunningham
plus thirty thousand. I don't think the pistons of the Thunder are ultimately good
enough for them to be in real consideration with the way that MVP votes work
out, but I'm just I'm incredibly sky high on those two players. And
I also have Rudego Barrett plus fifty thousand. If the Timberwolves wind up being
a dominant regular season team on the back of a dominant defense, he might
get a lion share of the credit, more so than an Anthie Edwards or
Carling Anthony Towns. And just when you inject a new player into that type
of situation and you see that material, that wholesale change, He's going to
have that anecdotal bump, and that does matter in the MVP discussion. One
quick note on the m IP, I should have mentioned this before. I
steer clear second year player. And so if anyone was looking for a Kid
Cunningham or never Mobile your Scotty Scotty Barnes, there some of those guys.
One we're not dark horses, but I just tend to steer clear of sophomore.
So those are my dark dark horse picks. I'll wrap him up.
I'll wrap them up very quickly. My top choice for each category coach in
the year is I'm gonna stick with Mark Dagnel. I don't think Willie green
is. It's Mark Dagnel or Willy Green. I'm already off the rails.
Those will be my top two. Rookie of the Year, ty Ty Washington
of the Rockets, six Minute of the Year, Bones Thighland of the Denver
Nuggets, Most improved Player, Kelton Johnson San Antonio Spurs Defensive Player of the
Year. I settled settled on Herb Jones of the Pelicans, and then m
VP Pascal Siakam of the Raptors. Last question comes from Mountain Dew seven twenty,
a less serious question. Dan Favalley gets to change journalism careers from one
NBA season, including off season and free agency. What new type of job
would he enjoy the most or find the most exciting local beat writer for favorite
team, breaking news personality like wode shots, supervisor of team media in stadium,
encore personality, national sports anchor, et cetera. Stuff like that one.
I appreciate what people ask questions about myself. It makes you. It
makes me feel like everyone here cares about me when they're listening to my ram
links. And I've had some very nice compliments thrown at me from Discord,
direct messages and YouTube lately. I appreciate them all. And it's really cool
that Mountain Dew seven twenty, Even if he's just trying to grease my ego
and ask a question like this, it does make me feel valued and makes
me feel like we're really building this community here. My pick would be I
want to be I can't even say an assistant GM just because of the way
titles work now. I want to be the guy right underneath the guy and
having more intimate knowledge of the Knicks, Like give me brock Aller of New
York, who's just below Leon Rose, and he's doing a lot of the
and friend Kats of The Athletic recently noted this, he's doing a lot of
the trade negotiations. I want to be the person that's in that room haggling
over the minutia of the deal, knowing what other offers were out there,
knowing actually how many phone calls in and out. I want to be passing
out information by design to reporters who think that they're actually plugged in, but
they're being used as mouthpieces. What's a quick rat there? It's just I
have all like the game is the game at this point, however you feel
about Shams and Woad. But I also feel like the reaction to the Knicks
not allowing non in house media to Joleen Brunson's introductory pressor was fucking lame.
And I did see a lot of not uproar Knicks Twitter, but just reaction
like, oh now people are going to complain about this when it really doesn't
matter. It's tend to be viewed as do you need access to cover this
team? And then also, what are they going to tell you in that
press conference. They're never gonna give away trade secrets or real answers. I
saw a lot of people say too that there just would have been a lot
of Donovan Mitchell questions at the Jalen Brunson introductory pressor. I don't care.
Access needs to be part of the business, and I do think that as
someone who doesn't think access is the end all be all, depending on the
way you cover the league. I just feel like there are people that cover
specific teams or roots specific teams that don't realize how they're used by certain sources
of those specific teams, or from agent player agents or player parties to further
agendas, and they think that they're plugged in and that they've done something on
this almighty level. I'm not. This isn't even a subtext at anyone,
a sub brant and anyone in particular. But it is notable that the Knicks
actively don't seem to want the media to cover them. It's or have access,
and it's just shameful. It doesn't I agree they're not going to give
away anything substantial at the press conference. Force them to face the questions,
though, because you know what the people who attend those press conferences or who
we're going to ask those questions, they're at least gonna there are people even
if you don't like to ask the tougher questions, they won't be fluff or
yeah, okay, is there do some media outlets. I don't think anyone
actually has an anti Knicks agenda. They're probably people that are very hard and
low on the organization and just myself included with how they operate, even though
I've been impressed with a lot of their transactions under the Rose regime. But
there should absolutely be access to an introductory pressor like that, and they should
have to face the Donovan Mitchell trade room of discussions because that's going on right
now. They should have to face the tampering questions, even if they don't
give you an answer. That's a process that should be gone through. And
just because you've asked questions via zoom or talk to people within the organization or
close to players before, like, that's not the same thing that is not
access. There's like that's like quid pro quo on the lowest end. So
it's that bugs me, but more of the story, I would be an
assistant GM I guess we would call it or just a person who is maybe
the salary cap expert who is going to do a lot of the trade calls,
gonna come up with a lot of the trade package and like haggle over
pick protections and stuff like that, and also just having the intimate knowledge of
what's out there as someone who reacts to trades, who grades trades. I
do think a lot of times people myself, including forget that teams aren't actively
taking inferior offers. I'm sure it's happened where they have pre existing ties with
someone from another organization. But the Rudy, like the Minnesota Timberwolves deal specifically,
like they didn't give up that many first round picks just because they wanted
to. They gave up that many first round picks because that's what it took
to get Rudy Gobert. And we could phrase it as well, what was
the second best offer they had to give up for that? Well? Is
it really that or is it just the Jazz made it perfectly clear, knowing
who's in charge of them right now and Danny Ainge, they were fine keeping
Rudy Gobert. I want to know the stuff that's never gonna get reported behind
that or the stuff that's gonna get reported, you'll you'll tell it's very clearly
one sided unless we get like this, this real tell all. So yes,
I would be thank you for that question. That was fun, but
that's what I would be, And preferably I would be that assistant GM or
the trade negotiator, salary cap expert for a team that an expansion team in
San Diego because that is one of my dream places to live. There's everything
you didn't ance for ask for. Thank you everyone for sticking with me through
this mail bag. If you have not already, please subscribe to us with
the like and subscribe buttons on YouTube and find us follow us down on very
episode wherever you get a podcast. Until next time, and as always,
I will you with a shout out to the one, the only, the
indelible, Frank Neil Tino