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What is krack alacin fellow thermonuclear a
efforts. I am Dan Valley coming at

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you with my certified fantabulous dripping with
fantabulous miss co host of the best podcast

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in the business, or so says
Steph Curry, number one to every single

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episode Hardwood Knocks. Grant Hughes,
you're the co host that podcast makes sense

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just I know you and Stephford tights. It makes sense that he would listen

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to every single episode. So we
showed up on second I believe, on

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his Spotify rap list. So that's
really that's really cool shout out there.

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I hope, I hope people get
the bit. We're here to talk winners

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and losers of the twenty twenty four
NBA Playoffs so far, emphasis on so

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far. We recognize this can change, but we played almost a week's worth

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of basketball. Grant and I have
watched exactly zero minutes of it, but

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we figure we're going to deliver some
takes and fakes on it anyway. But

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first and foremost, before we hop
to it, Grant, are you doing

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just happy to be number one?
You know? Uh, just really number

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two on Steph's Spotify raptless We need
to. But yeah, but those aren't

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those numbers. They change all the
time, like like you say, oh,

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our winners and losers may change,
like it will be number one there.

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It's just kind of inevitable. Yeah, it's nice to just another episode.

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Another this is We haven't even put
this one out yet as we're recording

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it obviously, but I've heard people
are saying people are saying that it's going

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to be probably our best one ever. So which is excited about that?

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The bar is high because our last
episode was our best one ever according to

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a bunch of people. And actually
the love on that episode was great,

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except there were some people. I
like when people are in the comments,

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so we did for anyone who don't
listen to it. Yet. The one

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thing that we got wrong about each
NBA team, and there was this one.

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It was a shocker. It was
a Pelicans fan in the comments that

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said, yeah, you did get
this what you said that you got wrong

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about the Pelicans? They said,
yeah, you did get that wrong.

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Like yet thanks chief. We agree? We agree, Hey, look common

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ground, that's how we bridge bridge
divides. We agree on something, let's

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work from there. We are recording
this as grant mentions though before the games

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on Thursday. So anything we say
about Nick Sixers, Calves, magic and

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Lakers nuggets. I guess it's technic
subjects to change. But these feel,

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with the exception of Philly Knicks,
like these series just feel kind of over

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and we know how the tenor of
it is is going to go. But

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I'll let you guide us. You
want to go winner loser, it's it's

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it's dealer's choice, Okay, I'll
take a winner. I thought this was

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more true after Game one of this
series, but it's still he was good

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enough in Game two that I think
it holds. I think Damian Lillard is

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a little bit of a winner here, and that's based on well, like

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the narrative all season, which was
like, I feel like narrative gets such

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a bad rap now because people use
it as like a way to I don't

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know, it's like a derogatory term, like, oh, you're caught up

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in the narrative. It's like,
well, it just means like the story

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that people care about about a team
or a thing. The narrative was,

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yeah, you know, the the
y honest dame chemistry hasn't really been there.

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Where's all the pick and rolls,
like, why isn't this working?

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Why does it feel my turn your
turn never clicked right? And so Yannis

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being out that's obviously objectively bad for
the Bucks chances. It's why we both

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picked the Pacers, I think in
large part in addition to some other things

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with the Bucks. But this version
of Damian Lillard that we've seen in games

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one and two is like, I
know that guy that's familiar, that worked,

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that worked for a long time.
Like he built a Hall of Fame

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career around some spread, pick and
roll, slash, pick and pop,

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you know, get downhill if you
can pull up for three, if there's

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a drop coverage, spray some passes
around to open shoot, Like that's Damian

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Lillard's game, and he's really good
at it. And it was good enough

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to basically end Game one at halftime
because he had thirty five in the first

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half and just was daming all over
the place. And the in game two

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he had another what thirty four?
I think I should have the stats right

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in front of me. Yeah,
thirty four points on twenty one shots.

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So made some threes, made some
free throws, was really good again,

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played thirty nine minutes, Like,
yeah, the defense isn't great from him

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or the Bucks generally speaking in Game
two, but like, this is a

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Dame we know in love, and
it's kind of nice when as a fallback

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plan for the Bucks, like,
oh, you know what, we don't

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have Giannis at all, but even
if we did, some of the chemistry

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just isn't quite there. But like, as a plan B to have Dame

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just do the things that he's done
for his whole career effectively, Like that's

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a nice fallback option. So it
makes Dame look good. I think it.

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It doesn't like, I don't know
if it changes what we think about

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this series. We could talk about
that, but it's just nice to see

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like a version of Lillard that still
exists that we didn't really get to see

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a ton of this year helping the
Bucks kind of at least split those first

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two games. There's just a weird
element where I look at what he did

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this season and maybe I don't know
how much of it has to do with

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just the awkward synergy it felt like
this team had, But a lot of

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it just comes down to, okay, well when his jumpers are falling,

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because he's like he's put a lot
of pressure on defenses for them and even

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open the floor obviously when he doesn't
have the ball, just by virtue of

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being the threat that he is doesn't
give you any pause though that this is

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kind of like this second time it
feels like in the past couple months where

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it's Damian Liller's a winner because Giannis
Attemakopo's not playing. Yeah, I mean

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that's part of the problem like that
with this whole team's construction. So it

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gives me a ton of like long
term big picture for the Bucks, like

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this is not a good thing necessarily
when Dame kind of looks and feels better

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by himself out there. But yeah, I just like for this series because

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he is all they have or you
know, they don't have Giannis, so

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this is gonna have to be how
it goes. The fact that they did

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get one of those games because as
Dame was really good, like you know,

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it's not wasn't their plan, but
but it's a positive I think in

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some sense. But big picture,
yeah, like the fact that they never

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really clicked is not a great sign
or the rest and the fact that the

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whole team didn't never seem to really
catch a rhythm that felt there. It

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feels like there's a roster construction flow
there, but I still would remain ultra

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confident if nothing nuclear happens, which
depends on how the playoffs ends. We

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can't say it won't. Johannis and
Dame are gonna figure it out even more.

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But it's just if you give them
another training camp together. I honestly

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think that if we if they're together
next season, I think we're gonna look

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back on it like maybe it'll have
a Timberwolves like feel to it. Yeah,

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I love that call. I think
too, like based on the way

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that Adrian Griffin had them defending to
start the year, like how much faith

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do you have in him? Like
putting the right offensive stuff in place for

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Damon Giannis going into the season.
So maybe it's just like, you know,

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I think the larger concern is actually
trying to change in are out the

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pieces around them, because it's just
like they're just gonna be so inflexible as

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a team that is, you know, taxed out to the to the high

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heavens. But immediately, no,
I'm with you that Dame's been playing great,

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which he tends to do, and
like that, like he even had

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Dame time moments with the bucks this
year is a ton, but you want

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to see him playing at this level
consistently when Jannis is also available. Yeah,

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and that's hard to do, right
because if Dame is doing this,

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it kind of reduces It's fine if
it's brook Lopez or Bobby Portis or whoever

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setting those screens and kind of like
getting out of the way, But like,

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you want Giannis to do more than
that for this car really work.

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Can he also and I'm not even
trying to be like funny here, but

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can he actually get out of the
way Because it's like Bobby Portis and Brook

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Lopez have a stretch to them that
Jannis doesn't quite have, and so he

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deserves credit for cleaning up his shot
diet, the stuff with the passing.

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But like so, but I again, I think those two, if you

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give them, if they're gonna be
together next season, I'm not sure to

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insinuate anything sinister there. I think
we'll look back on maybe not this and

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think it's a joke. But I
just think they'll be infinitely better off than

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they were at this. Yeah,
I'm with that. I agree with that.

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I will take us to a loser
and this is not one you kind

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of knew what I had planned,
but I don't think you knew that I

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had this one planned. It's about
to go on a little bit of a

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rant right here, let's do it. Losers are people who complain about officiating

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costing them games. You're objectively a
loser if you're doing that. I'm not

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singling out Joe el Embiid and the
Sixers specifically, except I am the whole

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officiating thing. We've seen this with
the Lakers before, or the Lebron was

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griping about the officiating. You have
forty eight minutes of the game, if

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there's no overtime to figure it out. They're not missing every single call.

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Human error happens, and like that's
part of the game. And I very

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much believe you can look at the
Lakers free throw disparity relative to opponents if

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you want to go there. This
stuff just balances out. And I'm gonna

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use the Philly Knicks game as an
example. In Game two, the six

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Ers were in the lead for most
of that game and stuff went wrong during

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the final minute and the NBA comes
out this is another loser, is the

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two minute report? Because oh cool, there's transparency that you're admitting your mistakes.

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Nothing comes from it, Nothing comes
from it, Like it's just gonna

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make fan bases angry because nothing's going
to get resolved. But I'm still of

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the mind and I honestly don't understand
what it is about fandom that some people

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can't discconnect from this. There was
forty seven minutes of that game where they

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could have built a bigger lead or
not blown the lead they had, they

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didn't. That wasn't all down to
officiating. And so yes, errors happen,

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and they're going to be spotlighted,
and they're going to be gutting when

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it's in high stakes moments and you
don't want those to happen, but there

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will never be You can't look at
this say, oh man, those five

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calls cost us the game. It's
like, well, what happened during the

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other forty minutes of the game,
And that bugs the shit out of me.

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Also, a loser people that leak
the grievances that are filed to not

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the people who are reporting, but
the teams that are disseminating that information knowing

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it'll get out. And this is
like Daryl Morey's calling card. What the

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Sixers just did is not actually unique. It's unique that we just don't hear

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about it all the time, and
the framing is just it's tired. It's

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what are you trying to like,
what are you actually trying to win here?

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Public perception or you think it'll influence
what the officials are going to do

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moving forward. I understand officiating is
not perfect, and I understand that maybe

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this league has an officiating problem.
There's certainly we've talked about it, the

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way that they just shifted the way
they were calling things without ever publicly acknowledging

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it, but then denying it but
then also acknowledging it at the same time.

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I'm not saying, like the officiating
in the league is perfect here,

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but just enough is enough. There's
never one or two or three calls that

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you unless you're going back and forth
and it's a one possession game, the

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entire game, oh one, two, three calls is actually going to be

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the reason that you lost. I'm
just so I never understood and I will

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never understand that part you want to. I get it in the moment,

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like this is a miscall, this
sucks, But are you, like,

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do you ascribe any validity to this
idea? That the officials can like turn

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game like like that these one,
two, three call misses are just unforgett

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there, as Adam Silver might say
that their cardinal sins. I think like

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a couple of things I got.
I have more patience, which I still

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I agree with you, like I'm
sick of it. I don't want to

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hear any more of this. I
have more patience for like the player at

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the end of the game who is
exhausted is like in a place where maybe

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they're being more emotional than rational and
they do things like Joel Embiid did where

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it's just it's unacceptable, like head
down, like upset, like, yeah,

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you're not your best self in those
moments, Like you definitely might say

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some things that you know, if
you were like had your breath back and

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had some time to like decompress and
let the adrenaline subside, you might be

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more rational about it. To me, that's very different than a front office,

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and particularly because it's Daryl Morey and
the Sixers, because they did the

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same shit with the Rockets all the
time, like just sending just I don't

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know, I imagine that him just
like spamming the league office with like look,

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at this wrong call, look at
this one, look at this one,

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and here's what we lost this many
games as a result, like all

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these measurable things, Like I have
way less patience for that because I feel

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like that comes from a place of
if anyone is out there seeking marginal advantages

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wherever possible, it's it's it's lead
executives like Moriy where it's like, what

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are the market inefficiencies we can exploit, like in every possible area. Hey,

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maybe complaining to the league office is
a market inefficiency we can exploit and

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somehow down the line, like you
said, it influences referee behavior somehow to

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our advantage. Like there's no downside
to us. They're not going to like

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find us for complaining or or whatever, as long as we do it within

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the rules. But it's like it
feels to me like it comes from a

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place that's like kind of it's it's
hyper competitive, but it's also like a

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little bit of bullshit because you're just
trying to like find some edge that you

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don't deserve. So that rubs me
the wrong way. The other thing that's

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wild to me is that, like, Okay, whether you're a player or

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an executive or an organization, you're
complaining about the officiating costing you games,

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like it's because the referees made mistakes, and unless you're gonna say these mistakes

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are not mistakes and are instead motivated
by some bias against us, which is

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this is where fan bases lose their
minds and say like they want the Lakers

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to win because of the TV money
or whatever, Like unless you're willing to

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say, like, hey, here's
why these mistakes are happening. We think

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the league wants certain results and is
influencing officials. Like Okay, if you're

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gonna go out and say that,
then like I'm listening now, because that's

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like a real accusation. You're like
saying a real thing. But if it's

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just complaining about mistakes being made,
like fuck off, I don't care like

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players misshots, coaches don't call timeouts
at the right time, coaches don't like

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everybody makes the ref's job is hard, like they're never gonna get it all

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right. Nobody shoots one hundred percent
from the field every night. Like if

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anyone could identify with like this is
a difficult thing to get right all the

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time, it should be players,
coaches and executives like that's that's the name

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of the game. So I just
unless you're willing to describe like some nefarious

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like motivation like enough like I don't, I don't. I don't want to

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hear it anymore. I love That
is the closest you have come to like

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00:14:30,799 --> 00:14:33,159
being my rate of this podcast.
I love it, And you didn't make

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00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,320
a great point. I have actually
more patience for what Joelle Embi did And

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I don't know if he was upset
or sick with his head down, and

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I wasn't trolling that in the slightest, but I respect it when you know,

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if as the team leader, you're
gonna come out and say that,

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so it's not this uh you know, defeatist mentality where it's no where the

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rep we're gonna win this series.
I respect that. I like it when

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coaches like kind of suck up the
fine and they'll completely that stuff. I

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totally understand. It's the actual belief. It's mostly from fans, like the

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players aren't coming. I'm like,
man, we would have won like four

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more games this year if the officials
didn't have it out against If you honestly

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believe that there's an agenda against your
team specifically or in favor of every I

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just I don't have patience for that
stuff. I'm kind of with you there,

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I'm not kind with you. I
am I'm a thousand percent lock step.

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Stop complaining. This is this is
the this is the podcast where complaining

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is not allowed, although I'm sure
all we do is complain a lot of

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the time. We're complaining about people
complaining, and yeah, that you can

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do. I want to pick a
winner here, and uh, I'm gonna

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00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,279
get on your corner a little bit. Again, I think Tom Thibodeau's unorthodox

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00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:45,360
methods or just like his approach in
general, I'm obsessed with this idea has

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been like a winner. It's always
fun to me when uh, like,

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I don't know a team building approach
or like a coaching approach or a playing

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00:15:54,879 --> 00:16:00,200
style or whatever that's supposed to not
work that the rest of the league.

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Like again, Thibodeau was in that
player poll, like the coach that you'd

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least like to play for. Again, like he owns that category. Like,

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oh, he plays guys too many
minutes, the rotations are too short.

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He cares too much about the game
in front of him and not the

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00:16:11,399 --> 00:16:15,879
big picture, Like that's that's a
hindrance. Nobody else operates that way.

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I love it when that like looks
like it's working and is also maybe creating

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like down the downstream benefits somehow.
Like this is all just sort of me

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00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,919
putting, you know, beautiful minding
things and like putting things together that maybe

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aren't there. But like, and
I just thought about this earlier today,

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like the de Vincenzo shots right to
win Game two, missed the first,

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made the second. This is a
guy that was not a high volume three

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point shooter, and like he became
one, right, Like there's lots of

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reasons for that, but I just
think the idea that he succeeded. And

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I know I've talked to you about
this, I've talked to everybody that will

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00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,320
listen about this. Like him just
shooting that second three after he missed the

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first is my favorite moment of the
playoffs so far, cause a lot of

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guys won't shoot that, And like, I didn't think he would shoot that

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because I watched every game he played
for the Warriors last year, and that's

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not a shot he would take because
it's like, oh, someone's got a

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better one. This is the wrong
time I'm going along on de Vincenzo,

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I'll circle back to the TIBs thing, But like he was empowered to shoot

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that shot, Like, that's not
a shot you shoot unless you believe your

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00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,920
teammates and your coach or whatever are
confident that you should shoot it and that

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you'll make it, and you let
it fly and he hit it. And

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so you tie that sort of empowerment
to like Josh Hart playing every minute and

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the Knicks just killing everyone on the
offensive boards and all these guys overperforming Duce

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McBride, like what like where did
this come from? That he suddenly like

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a guy you know in the playoff
series hasn't been playing as much as the

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end of the regular season, but
still like Jalen Brunson leveling up and just

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carrying an offense, like all this
stuff where it's like, well, what

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if playing everybody forty two minutes a
night gets them a bunch of extra reps

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And it's just like they're more confident
with each other, they understand how each

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other played better because like maybe other
teams that are staggering minutes and pricing in

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rest days and this and that and
the other, like you get half the

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reps by the end of the season
with with a certain set of teammates,

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and maybe like playing all those minutes, if you can hold up like conditions,

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you better to hold up against like
playoff intensity. Like maybe short rotations

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00:18:17,519 --> 00:18:19,440
are the way to go if you're
really trying to Like there's all these things

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that Thibodeau has done that get like
criticized because they're outside the norms and outside

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the trends, and it's like,
yeah, generally you want to be kind

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of going with the majority, but
like it's really fun when the sort of

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out of step, like when the
zag really feels like it's working. I'm

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not saying it's going to continue to
but I'm just so into the idea that

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Thibodeau is like succeeding with all of
his like firmly held principles that nobody else

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00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,960
believes in anymore. Like that's that's
a fun angle to me. Yeah,

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And I mean look to his credit
though also, and part of this it

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00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:57,200
feels was born from necessity. He's
more flexible than he ever was, Like

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look at the look at how small
they just play at the four. Even

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00:19:00,319 --> 00:19:04,720
during the non Julius random minutes when
Randall was healthy, trying out three guard

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lineups, the way they've used Isaiah
Hartenstein, just the three point volume in

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general, like with the Vincenzo on
previous iterations of Tom Thibodau specifically have had

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the green light that he does with
New York and he answer is no.

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So that's a really big deal.
And it's it's funny because I thought they

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needed to fire Tims. It was
like seven or eight games into last season,

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not this season. And I think
there are some people that still might

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believe he's not the coach to get
them over the humper to maximize. But

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you're also looky and everything you just
laid out is it's inarguable at this point,

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And you know you mentioned that player
poll. It's sort of is he

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like the Patrick Beverley of head coaches
in the sensor? Maybe Patrick Beverley's not

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00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,720
thereat, but like everyone seems to
dislike him from the outside or have gripes

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00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,440
of him from the outside, but
then when you're playing for him or playing

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00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,559
with him, Like I'm trying to
think of what the player analog would be

305
00:19:56,599 --> 00:20:02,400
here, where it's everyone seemed Draymond
Green from the outside, but if you

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00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,000
play for him, you would die
for him almost, although the Warriors have

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00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,119
seemed fed up with him at point. I think of what they've put up

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00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,920
with, Like your point is right, Like you don't put up with that

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00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:15,279
for anybody else, right, And
so that's interesting. And part of it,

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00:20:15,279 --> 00:20:18,000
you could say, is well he
has players, which is true,

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00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,240
that kind of embody his ethos where
it's like Josh Hart's just a psychopath,

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00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:23,759
right, But dude, it's just
I don't know if he's ever gonna come

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00:20:23,799 --> 00:20:26,200
out of a game. I mean, I guess we'll know on because they're

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00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,680
playing after we record this. But
so like in Jalen Brunton, is just

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00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:37,200
you know, I don't I do. There's a gap in NBA coverage right

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00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,319
now. Oh here comes another very
quick rant. But where it's we've been

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00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:48,240
we've been so conditioned to think that
while talking about transactions is wrong and we

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00:20:48,279 --> 00:20:52,319
need to focus on the game,
that it also it has in a way

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00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,920
helped dehumanize these players a little bit. And so what I mean by that

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00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:00,160
is when you're focusing solely on the
x's and o's and the nitty gritty of

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00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,279
the coverage, I missed the like
and we still get this, like thank

322
00:21:03,319 --> 00:21:06,680
God for me or Fader at the
Ringer, who's just like able to put

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00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,759
out these fantastic but I love those
piece member Howard Beck, He's one of

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00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:11,400
my favorite writers forever, and like
all of a sudden he's bouncing around.

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00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,519
He still does this great work,
but it doesn't feel like we're as interested

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00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,599
or that type of coverage gets a
lot of shine. These Knicks are that

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00:21:18,759 --> 00:21:22,480
type of coverage. There's just I
had written about this the other day and

328
00:21:22,519 --> 00:21:26,279
I'm not necessarily one to hang my
hat on the way to frame this,

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00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:29,240
but at what point do we look
at these Knicks, at these Thibodeau,

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00:21:29,599 --> 00:21:33,799
at Tom Thibodau specifically, and stop
saying like, oh, the Knicks are

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00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,599
kind of existing on the margins when
you look at well, he's playing Josh

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00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,720
Hart too many minutes and they only
have this one star and just except that

333
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,759
maybe they're just deep, have the
right mix of talent and there's a connectivity

334
00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:48,000
there that like you can see it
with the Thunder in some of their postgame

335
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,039
interviews, and so like, this
Knicks team is special in the sense that,

336
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:53,880
no, I don't expect them to
come out of the East, but

337
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:57,799
and yes, some things have broken
right for them, But they've also dealt

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00:21:57,799 --> 00:22:00,519
with injury in turn over it at
the top of the roster all year that

339
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,680
other teams, even relative to the
injuries everyone's dealing, turn over everyone's dealing

340
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,400
with I kind of exceeded that,
and I just don't Yeah, you could

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00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,519
say Thibodau gets the most out of
these situations. I just don't think I've

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00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:17,279
ever seen a more malleable or I
hesitate to use the word innovative, So

343
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,079
let's just flexibility is the one.
I've never seen a more flexible, flexible

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00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:22,759
version of Tom Thibodeau I than I've
seen right now. I mean, I

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00:22:22,799 --> 00:22:26,720
think to his credit too, this
is just another way to frame what you're

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00:22:26,759 --> 00:22:30,359
saying. Is like he's got what
he's got in terms of personnel, and

347
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,720
so he's been like willing to just
say, like, all right, well

348
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,119
what is the best way that this
group of guys can play it? And

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00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,559
it's like, well, Josh Hart's
never going to come out of the game.

350
00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:44,359
We're going to shoot a ton of
threes. We're just like, what

351
00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,400
we got are some offensive rebounders and
guys that hustle, and we can shoot

352
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:48,920
a lot of threes, and like
that's what we'll do if the roster were

353
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,079
different. I'm fairly confident because he's
coached very different rosters in the past,

354
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,920
like they would play differently. Like
that's that's I mean, we talk about

355
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,480
this all the time, Like one
of the marks of a really good coach

356
00:22:59,599 --> 00:23:03,759
is willingness to just like make the
best out of what your roster happens to

357
00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:07,160
be and not try to like shoehorn
or roster into a style you prefer.

358
00:23:07,519 --> 00:23:08,920
So, I mean that's a credit
to him. I want to ask you

359
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,279
though, like, because I'm about
as non local to New York as it

360
00:23:12,319 --> 00:23:15,519
gets, like I'm on the other
side of the country. You being closer

361
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:22,279
when I'm watching specifically in Game two, but throughout the series and definitely during

362
00:23:22,319 --> 00:23:26,400
parts of the regular season. It
there's something that feels to me like I

363
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:32,599
can't remember since like thirty years ago, watching maybe some of those like early

364
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:37,119
twenty tens like Mellow Teams with Jason
Kidd there and like like really the last

365
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,400
like semi successful stretch for this franchise, But you got to go back to

366
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:47,359
like the nineties to where Madison Square
Garden is really like buzzing. There's there's

367
00:23:47,519 --> 00:23:49,559
like this. The fans are like
all in on this team, and I

368
00:23:49,599 --> 00:23:53,559
think it's partly because of how gritty
the team is and like how hard they

369
00:23:53,559 --> 00:23:57,759
play, and just like the identity
feels like it just feels right to me

370
00:23:59,039 --> 00:24:02,160
that like there's a NIX team that's
playing this way. Is it being embraced

371
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,400
that way or do you Is that
just like me from too far away trying

372
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,000
to like impose something on a fan
base. No, No, I don't

373
00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:11,400
think you're super imposing anything over them. I will say this definitely feels different.

374
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,319
But there was also that kind of
feeling during the Julius Random Most Improved

375
00:24:15,319 --> 00:24:21,119
Player campaign to where it's like,
not that this team was free from this

376
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,799
is That's what's interesting is that team
did not have the same expectations that this

377
00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:27,680
team did. And that's what makes
this NIXT team also special, is that

378
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,000
there was expectations coming off of what
they did last year where they they overperformed

379
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,359
relative to expectations, and now it's
you know, there was people like me

380
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:38,640
who were kind of pumping the brakes, like, hey, progress isn't linear

381
00:24:38,759 --> 00:24:41,359
unless they're gonna make a big trade. Don't expect them to win more games.

382
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:47,680
They won more games anyway while being
dealt like a less ideal availability hand

383
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:52,680
overall. So no, you're absolutely
right that there's just it's it's embracing just

384
00:24:52,799 --> 00:24:55,839
kind of the the essence of this
team, but also the fact that it's

385
00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,519
happening after last season when they were
already good and created it laid the groundwork

386
00:25:00,559 --> 00:25:06,400
for these immediate expectations that that now
they haven't just met, but they've arguably.

387
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,200
We'll see how the playoffs end,
but it seems like they're they're exceeding.

388
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,119
Yeah, I'm into it, So
you gotta I don't want you to

389
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,240
have to keep picking losers. I
feel like, if we're all a winner,

390
00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:18,480
so why don't you go to your
first loser? Hmmm. I don't

391
00:25:18,519 --> 00:25:22,319
want to go with a loser here. I like being I like being positive.

392
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,200
Dan, all right, I'm gonna
say, Okay, this is kind

393
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,559
of a roundabout loser, and it's
gonna it's gonna turn out being positive anyway.

394
00:25:30,039 --> 00:25:34,119
Anthony Davis feels like a bit of
a loser to me because uh,

395
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,400
he's had two really good games against
the Nuggets, and it's just like and

396
00:25:38,559 --> 00:25:42,160
and I think we talked. I
think I said before this series started that

397
00:25:42,559 --> 00:25:49,119
like there's a possibility we'll emerge from
this uh Nuggets versus Lakers series having seen

398
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,799
the Nuggets sweep the Lakers, and
we can still say, like Anthony Davis

399
00:25:53,839 --> 00:25:57,200
is the best possible guy to throw
out there against Denver. Like that's it's

400
00:25:57,559 --> 00:26:02,440
nothing about getting swept would change that, I don't think, and like that's

401
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:07,400
that's where we're going, because Davis
has been amazing and is overmatched like at

402
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,279
the same time, and it's just
kind of like demoralizing for the Lakers for

403
00:26:11,319 --> 00:26:15,160
sure, but for Davis, I
imagine in particular because it's like, what

404
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,440
you know, I was surprised he
was not a top three Defensive Player of

405
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,680
the Year candidate or a finalist,
and he certainly could have been. He

406
00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:29,039
wasn't, right, he didn't make
the top three Rudy, Yeah, which

407
00:26:29,079 --> 00:26:34,000
is top three, So obviously that's
obviously that's correct. But like, I

408
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,960
think Davis is just as good as
you can hope for as someone to throw

409
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,559
at Jokic and the Nuggets in general. And it's just like it's not good

410
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,960
enough because Jokic can just back him
down if he needs to. Uh.

411
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,279
He and like as as influential as
Davis is around the basket on guys,

412
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,720
you know, trying to finish layups. It's just it's not enough. It's

413
00:26:52,759 --> 00:26:56,240
not enough, and and that,
like I can't get over feeling sort of

414
00:26:56,279 --> 00:27:00,599
bad for him, even though he's
been incredible, like what was fourteen and

415
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,359
nineteen in game two or something ridiculous
like that, like thirty two and fourteen

416
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,359
in game one, with like four
or five, he just like playing great.

417
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,519
I saw people, and I don't
you know, I don't have a

418
00:27:11,519 --> 00:27:14,799
problem when players necessarily do this where
he's talking about how have I never won

419
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,039
Defensive Player of the Year type deal? I mean, it's it's a little

420
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:19,680
odd, but when you look at
who else has won it, has there

421
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,720
been a defensive Player of the Year, So Marcus Smart maybe is the one

422
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,279
you point to, Like just during
recently, it's like, well, could

423
00:27:26,279 --> 00:27:29,960
that have gone a different direction?
It's like, well should Davis? I

424
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,680
don't even know how many games he
played that year. So I don't have

425
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,519
an issue though with what he's saying. But then he goes out and like

426
00:27:36,559 --> 00:27:41,480
people are trolling him with that quote
when Jamal Murray hits a ridiculously tough game

427
00:27:41,519 --> 00:27:44,519
winners, what was it? What
else was ad supposed to do. And

428
00:27:44,519 --> 00:27:47,880
I'm sure there could be a well, because we live in the well actuallyest

429
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,680
world of all this, well,
well, if his hips were turned like

430
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,559
twelve more games, it was like
perfectly contested seven feet tall, Like that's

431
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,119
that's just it's a microcosm of the
series. Like he did everything you could

432
00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:03,279
ask him to do, and it
just wasn't an So it's like that's you

433
00:28:03,319 --> 00:28:07,599
gotta miss me. I didn't see
the criticisms of like, oh we got

434
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,640
you got cooked on that game.
It's like I didn't see it. Like

435
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:14,200
there was a few quote tweets of
the screenshot of his comment about the defensive

436
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,039
players the year with Jamal Murray or
that, and like I even made the

437
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,079
joke, but it was it was
more of a compliment to did you see

438
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,640
the Darvin Ham quote where he was
just like was like, fuck, I

439
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,839
don't know what to do, so
I said Anthony Davis guarding Jamal Murray on

440
00:28:29,839 --> 00:28:33,319
that final possession And but that's like
it was meant more so as what else

441
00:28:33,319 --> 00:28:34,720
are you supposed to do? What
do you do? Yeah, it's it's

442
00:28:34,759 --> 00:28:37,440
like, you know, you don't
see a lot of these a lot of

443
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,480
teams and players as good as Davis, and the Lakers just kind of looking

444
00:28:41,559 --> 00:28:44,720
like, I mean they all they
barely lost Game two, right, Like

445
00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:48,599
it's as close as margins get and
it's just like the banner you can't you

446
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,279
can't do anything. You can't like
you can't do anything, and oh man,

447
00:28:52,359 --> 00:28:56,759
I don't want to focus on so
I'm I haven't of all my like

448
00:28:56,799 --> 00:29:00,519
pre prepared stuff. I'm about to
deviate again because you said something that I've

449
00:29:00,519 --> 00:29:03,039
been kind of thinking about for a
while, and I've even alluded to it

450
00:29:03,079 --> 00:29:07,359
a little bit on the podcast A
Loser in all this? Do you think

451
00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:14,759
it's these star heavy teams, like
top heavy teams to where I'm not saying

452
00:29:14,759 --> 00:29:17,319
depth all of a sudden matters in
the playoffs, where Mark Dagnel's is gonna

453
00:29:17,319 --> 00:29:21,400
empty his bene even when it's not
a blowout. But I'm looking at the

454
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,240
Lakers with and it's it's not even
necessarily a payroll thing. They made some

455
00:29:25,279 --> 00:29:29,400
missteps building out the roster around Lebron
and ad But if you can't just have

456
00:29:29,599 --> 00:29:33,279
these two let's say top ten guys
or even three, like top twenty five,

457
00:29:33,279 --> 00:29:37,000
I mean, Beal's not a top
twenty five player anymore. But my

458
00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:40,680
point being, look at these teams. Look at the teams that have invested

459
00:29:40,759 --> 00:29:44,400
like heaviest in the top, where
it's the Bucks. I know Giannis is

460
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:48,559
absent right now, where it's the
Clippers, where it's the Lakers, where

461
00:29:48,559 --> 00:29:51,720
it's the and maybe it invested the
wrong word because some of these are missteps.

462
00:29:51,759 --> 00:29:55,599
Where's Phoenix as we're recording is exactly. None of these teams are leading

463
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:57,880
their theories at the moment. And
you could chalk it up to well,

464
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:02,759
Kuhimeist like Game one of the Clippers, Well that's the game that the Clippers

465
00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:03,680
won. So it's just like,
well, like what are we doing here?

466
00:30:04,319 --> 00:30:07,119
My whole thing is just do you
look at it now? And this

467
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:12,000
is not a like this almost predates
the because we haven't really felt the implications

468
00:30:12,039 --> 00:30:15,079
of what. I love that Keith
Smith's of'spow track caused this the super tax

469
00:30:15,359 --> 00:30:18,799
fuck the second aprin I love the
super tax term. It's not just a

470
00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:22,759
super tax thing. It's that if
we kind of as the league so talented

471
00:30:22,079 --> 00:30:26,359
coach is so creative to where it's
like, okay, you can have these

472
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:27,839
really high paid guys in your roster, but if you're not gonna have the

473
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:33,240
right and I wouldn't even say right, but ideal supporting cast around them,

474
00:30:33,279 --> 00:30:37,039
tailored to their needs, or to
at least optimize the collective that you just

475
00:30:37,119 --> 00:30:41,440
can't get by not being able to
do more inventive stuff to where they're even

476
00:30:41,519 --> 00:30:44,759
more. Let's use the Suns in
Timberwol series as an example, where it's

477
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,119
Kevin Durant as a fail safe and
it's just like, eh, okay,

478
00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:52,319
whatever, and like you shouldn't it
wouldn't it be cool if Phoenix was able

479
00:30:52,359 --> 00:30:56,440
to do more creative shit to take
more threes? And people are so inclined

480
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,000
to blame coaching a la Frank Vogel, but it's like, you look at

481
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:03,680
these players and if it's one,
they're not taking the right shots, or

482
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,680
just you don't have the right personnel
around them because they're so shallow because you

483
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:11,119
went all in, or you just
made missteps in team building. I get

484
00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:14,680
that. I'm kinda I don't mean
to make this well, like good teams

485
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,160
are better than bad teams, like
teams that were built. What I'm saying

486
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:22,440
is it feels like the stuff on
the margins matters more than ever did before

487
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:27,279
and the people who are so invested
in the idea that these two or three

488
00:31:27,359 --> 00:31:33,480
guys can get us by and overcome
either a lack of functional flexibility, which

489
00:31:33,119 --> 00:31:37,880
you know if when you have Kevin
Durant on offense as dynamic as he is,

490
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,799
he's not limiting, but like it's
very clear that like you're not gonna

491
00:31:41,839 --> 00:31:45,039
use him in all these different like
wild off ball actions, and even if

492
00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:48,839
you do, it's kind of not
with a lot of movement type deal.

493
00:31:48,319 --> 00:31:52,559
And I'll wrap it up here,
I promise, Like, do you get

494
00:31:52,599 --> 00:31:56,240
that sense that this is like that
model is kind of not that these players

495
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,400
are going to be devalued, but
it becomes more paramount to Okay, if

496
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,359
this is the guy, then we
need to hit on the supporting cast to

497
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:06,000
make sure that we're as malleable as
possible elsewhere. Am I just kind of

498
00:32:06,519 --> 00:32:09,039
no jumping the shark here? No, I think there's a couple things working

499
00:32:09,079 --> 00:32:12,880
here, one of which is,
like I think we would both agree that

500
00:32:13,039 --> 00:32:19,720
like you still need several like superstar
level guys and certainly a top five guy

501
00:32:19,759 --> 00:32:22,440
to win a title. Like that's
like that's not going to change, but

502
00:32:22,519 --> 00:32:25,519
I think it I do take your
point and I think it's interesting to think

503
00:32:25,519 --> 00:32:30,720
about. Like, so if you
pull together Phoenix is the example. I

504
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:36,079
guess probably that's top of mind.
You pull together three guys that are different

505
00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:38,880
players, but ultimately like you're playing
kind of fantasy basketball a little. It's

506
00:32:39,079 --> 00:32:43,839
as how it feels is like let's
get you know what, Let's just say

507
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:45,279
Bill as a top twenty five player. I don't think he is, either,

508
00:32:45,519 --> 00:32:50,440
but it's like, let's get three
top twenty five guys and we'll figure

509
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:55,359
it out. Like okay, that
one, Like you cost yourself the depth

510
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,000
of talent that you need, especially
in the playoffs, to some extent.

511
00:32:59,079 --> 00:33:00,319
Right, you don't need a twelve
guy in the playoffs, but what you

512
00:33:00,319 --> 00:33:04,400
do need are guys that can't be
exploited, guys that don't have clear weaknesses,

513
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,039
because those are the guys that playoff
teams hunt, right, Like I

514
00:33:07,039 --> 00:33:08,799
think Bob Myers a couple of years
ago said, like, you just need

515
00:33:08,799 --> 00:33:15,759
someone who doesn't give the other team
like an obvious flaw to exploit, Like

516
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,319
he doesn't have to be great anything, but he can't be bad at something

517
00:33:19,559 --> 00:33:22,880
like that, because in the playoffs, that just can undo an entire scheme,

518
00:33:22,039 --> 00:33:27,119
right, or like give another team
an opportunity to just like negate your

519
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,640
talent advantages elsewhere. So that's one
thing I think the Suns are a great

520
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,400
example of that, Like in addition
to the three guys just not really like

521
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,240
fitting well together and having been thrown
together fairly recently and not having a lot

522
00:33:38,279 --> 00:33:42,920
of reps like all that stuff.
In play you got a minimum salary guys

523
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,920
like playing playoff minutes, and they're
gonna have more because Grayson Allen sprained his

524
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:50,000
ankle again. So like just the
roster construction side of it, I think

525
00:33:50,079 --> 00:33:53,799
is just harder because you can't fill
out a roster unless you get really lucky,

526
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,359
like you just you'd have to hit
on so many, you know,

527
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,799
six, seven, eight ninth guys. So I think that's part of it.

528
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,000
I think too maybe your point about
like coaching is just better and like

529
00:34:06,079 --> 00:34:09,440
the tactics are smarter and teams are
more willing to exploit every frailty in the

530
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:14,320
playoffs, like so that just makes
it harder to to sort of compete if

531
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,320
all you have are those top guys
and you're kind of thin elsewhere. So

532
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:21,599
it's all kind of of a piece. But like I definitely I mean,

533
00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:23,719
I'm just I get we all go
into the Suns as a loser here because

534
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,760
I think it's it's logical to kind
of tie them to it. We break

535
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:34,480
it up with with some winner talk. I mean, I just I'll piv

536
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,559
you. No, do you have
anything to add? I think I think

537
00:34:36,559 --> 00:34:39,000
you're right. I think, like
the the top heavy thing, it feels

538
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:43,239
flimsier than it has in a long
time. We should have framed it as

539
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:49,079
these teams that have depth are winners. Just kind of looking at or that

540
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:53,440
like that have complimentary pieces and that
have guys that don't give you an opportunity

541
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,360
to exploit them like that. That's
another way to talk about depth. I

542
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,239
do have a winner that will lead
us into the suns. Okay, my

543
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:07,840
winner is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Just
in some I think, look, they're

544
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,760
to me proof of concept was not
a burden they ever should have needed to

545
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,119
ferry entering the playoffs. They just
won fifty six games, They had the

546
00:35:15,159 --> 00:35:19,440
league's best defense, inspent the majority
of the year, a top the Western

547
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,320
Conference. Now they didn't finish the
top the Western Conference, and this core

548
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,400
fully healthy, is new to the
playoffs, so there's still that level of

549
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:30,360
curiosity, but to look at them
when they just had the league's best defense

550
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:35,320
by basically a mile, and have
this doubt and look at Phoenix and say,

551
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,159
they're built to stress test their defense
because of their shot makers, because

552
00:35:39,199 --> 00:35:42,639
of the shots that they want to
take the timber Wolves are going to give

553
00:35:42,679 --> 00:35:45,039
them and they You were the one
that pointed this out to me, and

554
00:35:45,079 --> 00:35:47,280
the piece is not live, so
I hope that you were correct. But

555
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:52,119
like the Suns entered that series as
fait, the series is favorites correct,

556
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,039
like the odds on favorites, and
it's well, the Timberwolves offense can come

557
00:35:55,119 --> 00:35:58,840
up and look at the turnover issues
and Karl Anthony Towns is coming back from

558
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:06,039
a meniscus injury. We just saw
eighty two games of the Suns like showing

559
00:36:06,119 --> 00:36:10,280
us who they were, which is
talented at the top, shallow everywhere else,

560
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:15,119
the league's pre eminent explorers of both
extreme peaks and desolate valleys. But

561
00:36:15,199 --> 00:36:20,519
we decided the Timberwolves, who just
had more of an higher end, equal

562
00:36:20,559 --> 00:36:22,559
liberri room even when things weren't going
to go, even when Karnthie Towns went

563
00:36:22,599 --> 00:36:25,400
injured and they were still pulling out
victories. It might have been imperfect,

564
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:30,239
it was happening. Now you're up
to Zho on the team that was just

565
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,960
almost universally considered the less than ideal
matchup for you. And I'm not saying

566
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,199
people did not have a point about, well, Phoenix might be able to

567
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:44,440
do this, but this like lingering
doubt that the Timberwolves were anything but a

568
00:36:44,559 --> 00:36:47,559
legitimate threat to come out of the
Western Conference, Like, weren't they just

569
00:36:47,639 --> 00:36:51,800
the team that the Nuggets said,
I'm not even describing my own thoughts here

570
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,960
that the Nuggets said were the toughest
out they had in the West last year.

571
00:36:55,480 --> 00:37:00,400
And so now to come in and
you know what, Corinthy Towns has

572
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:02,800
been chaotic at points, like he's
done the thing where he throws the passes

573
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,960
and you have no idea where it's
gonna go. Questionable decisions you have,

574
00:37:07,039 --> 00:37:10,159
nas Reed, you've seen him cool
off on the offensive end. Guess what

575
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:15,000
you have, Nique, Alexander Walker? You have after I'm yelling about Jane

576
00:37:15,039 --> 00:37:17,320
McDaniels and then he goes and hits
every single two pointer known to man,

577
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,000
creating off the dribble. Shout out
to we had a few Timberwolves fans they

578
00:37:22,119 --> 00:37:25,320
I think they commented. Someone added
me on Twitter, someone dm me thanking

579
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:30,119
me for going out to Jane McDaniel's
ramp because he clearly heard it and the

580
00:37:30,159 --> 00:37:34,159
podcast the podcast was recorded like before
he had that game, so I don't

581
00:37:34,199 --> 00:37:37,880
think he heard it. But I
love when fan bases are that self aware.

582
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,559
It's all I'm saying. So that
was really super cool. But you

583
00:37:39,559 --> 00:37:44,280
have Anthony Edwards who is just this
like he is on the court, he

584
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,880
is just it, someone who can
go toe to toe at both ends with

585
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,280
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and emerge
as the one that looks better off for

586
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:57,239
it. You have Rudy Gobert,
who still moving as well as I've ever

587
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,199
seen him. But oh it's Rudy
wasn't a liability ever in the playoffs so

588
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,280
much is he just had no perimeter
defensive talent around him. Now you give

589
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,039
him a bunch of perimeter defensive talent
around him, and look at what's happening.

590
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:13,199
And so the Wolves are huge winners
here. And I'll also say this

591
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,719
is why too, not just because
like in theory, the third place team

592
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:22,079
shouldn't gain anything from beating the sixth
place team, just emotionally or any equity

593
00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:25,400
there. But here's what's going on
in the background, the battle for control

594
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:30,519
of the franchise, and then this
financial sustainability of the cores that is going

595
00:38:30,519 --> 00:38:35,079
to be an issue depending on how
that plays out, or an issue regardless.

596
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:37,079
People want to continue talking about that. And here are the wolves,

597
00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:40,280
and by the way, we've talked
about the supertask concerns with them. So

598
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:45,559
I'm not excluding us from maybe being
part of the problem. We haven't focused

599
00:38:45,599 --> 00:38:47,400
on it, I don't think as
much as others. So that stuff is

600
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,760
happening and you're just coming out and
taking it like that could that's a legitimate

601
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,119
distraction to me if you're like if
I'm if someone was if we had a

602
00:38:55,159 --> 00:38:59,880
producer who was talking about maybe like, oh, can we afford both DA

603
00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:02,920
grant and with your salary demands when
you poop pooed that eighty million dollar contractor

604
00:39:04,039 --> 00:39:07,320
probably not? Probably so I'd be
you know, I'd have an existential crisis

605
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,119
if like, there's just we're still
tasked with doing the job, but you

606
00:39:10,159 --> 00:39:14,079
know that it could be. I
get that it's happening at a scale where

607
00:39:14,079 --> 00:39:19,320
it's not as mission critical as someone's
necessarily livelihood. But they're just taking care

608
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,920
of business here, and I think
they're massive winners through it. On also

609
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:27,519
a big aside, we're not a
side winer, but like Tim Connelly having

610
00:39:27,519 --> 00:39:30,840
the option of like getting out of
his deal with like he's a huge winner

611
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,280
now because look what he did with
this roster, and he doesn't he has

612
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:36,840
like phantom equity in the team.
That was the other report that came out,

613
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:38,920
so he might not actually have like
a ton of equity, so he

614
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,880
might be more willing to leave,
which gives him leverage if they want to

615
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,599
keep him around. So I think
the Timberwolves, though immediately just looking at

616
00:39:45,639 --> 00:39:50,719
this postseason trip, are huge winners. I think that's right. I would

617
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,039
say too, like what's happened in
these first two games and the way the

618
00:39:54,079 --> 00:39:59,960
Wolves have looked and the way that
like none of what we sort of priced

619
00:40:00,079 --> 00:40:05,679
into a Sun's potential upset has happened
really makes me look it's it's so easy

620
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:07,639
in any series, like when the
first couple of games go a certain way

621
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:13,760
to just be like every prior I
had is clearly wrong and like none of

622
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,360
that was gonna hold it. But
like for this series in particular, I

623
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,440
think you're right that it's just like
it got overthought, and not just by

624
00:40:20,519 --> 00:40:22,920
us, but by like everybody,
because well, do you pick? Did

625
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,480
you pick the Sons? I think
I picked the Sons? No, you

626
00:40:25,519 --> 00:40:28,679
picked the Sons. I picked the
Timberwolves. And I think, out,

627
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:34,199
you're fine then, because they're probably
gonna win in four. You're a better

628
00:40:34,199 --> 00:40:37,760
shape than I am. But for
me and for everybody else and the odds

629
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:40,599
makers that made the Sun's favorites,
it's just like, maybe just trust the

630
00:40:40,639 --> 00:40:45,320
bigger sample, maybe maybe just don't
overthink the matchups and all this other stuff.

631
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,840
Now, next year probably will have
a situation where the reverse will be

632
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:52,199
true, and we all we didn't
think hard enough about the matchups and how

633
00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:53,920
this team is good at X and
the other team is bad at why and

634
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,960
that means they can't you know,
like it'll flip. But for now,

635
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,800
it just feels like we overthought,
Like why are we taking a lower seed

636
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:05,119
over a Wolve's team that was just
better all year and just didn't have the

637
00:41:05,159 --> 00:41:07,679
lows. So I want to talk
about the Suns a little bit more.

638
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,599
I know we're kind of picking on
them, but like, let me,

639
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:15,719
let me start with a question the
Sun's in Mattishbia is specifically the Sun's owner

640
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,280
is going to come out of this, I think looking like one of our

641
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:25,320
postseason losers. When you think about
like the example of Man, do you

642
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:30,440
remember when they put this team together, like how bad it seemed at the

643
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:35,039
time and how catastrophic the downstream effects
were going to be, Like what do

644
00:41:35,079 --> 00:41:37,159
you have a go to example?
I can give you mine that I like

645
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:42,079
you and that a lot of people
kind of like pull to mind when trying

646
00:41:42,119 --> 00:41:47,000
to talk about like what a catastrophe
that whole like team building era was like

647
00:41:47,039 --> 00:41:51,880
I go, I go, like
the Brooklyn Nets when they traded for Garnett

648
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,159
and Pierce and Darren Williams and like
gave up their draft future for a bunch

649
00:41:54,199 --> 00:41:57,800
of old guys that like you know, and then just set the team back

650
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,360
for years and years until they just
landed Superstar. Do you know what I

651
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:01,519
mean? Like, do you have
another example of that that comes to mind?

652
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,400
No? I mean, like there's
smaller scale stuff like I still want

653
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,679
a book to be published on the
Carl Carmelo Anthony trade negotiations in twenty eleven,

654
00:42:10,679 --> 00:42:14,079
where the mix just kept throwing stuff
at the Nuggets, even though Mellow

655
00:42:14,079 --> 00:42:16,159
didn't want to go anywhere, yeah, other than them, But like,

656
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:20,519
no, I don't think on I'm
trying to. I mean because even the

657
00:42:20,559 --> 00:42:24,519
Nets when they got the like the
way that ended with Kyrie, Durant and

658
00:42:24,599 --> 00:42:28,559
hard and that was different because one, they were able to recoup value on

659
00:42:28,599 --> 00:42:30,800
two of those guys on the way
out. And also they didn't have to

660
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,239
give up a ton to get Kyrie
and Kevin Durant in like it was cap

661
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,360
space and they were able to keep
like Caro Slvert and Jared Allen were still

662
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:42,239
on that team when they signed those
guys. So so I think you're gonna

663
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:46,039
have one soon because you're gonna reference
the Suns that we're currently watching as that

664
00:42:46,079 --> 00:42:50,440
team. This is this is not
new information. You know this, everybody

665
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:53,760
else knows this. To put this
roster together, they grossly overpaid for Kevin

666
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,639
Durant, gave up all all these
picks McHale, Bridges, Cam Johnson,

667
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:00,679
this, that, and the other. They are the only team willing to

668
00:43:00,679 --> 00:43:04,599
take on Bradley bial so they give
up all the rest of their swaps and

669
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,719
they take on this contract that still
I think is among the worst in the

670
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,199
league. Just because of the note
trade and because of the money left,

671
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,960
and because of the type of player
that Bill is at the stage of his

672
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,840
career. They don't control a draft
pick till twenty thirty one. They are

673
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,440
in the Super Tax, they don't
have the ability. They're going to be

674
00:43:20,599 --> 00:43:24,880
heavily restricted by like all of the
new teeth that come in with second Apron

675
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,800
teams in terms of like who you
can and can't trade, whether you can

676
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,480
aggregate salaries, like all these things
are going to further hinder them building rosters.

677
00:43:32,519 --> 00:43:35,880
That's part of the reason I think
Grayson Allen got that extension, and

678
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:37,880
it's like, well, we don't
have resources to do anything else, so

679
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,880
we got to just keep this guy. And maybe they do that with some

680
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:45,840
other players with extensions, but like
there aren't any outs here. Things look

681
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:50,719
really bad two games into this series. If you're saying it'll be fine next

682
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,559
year, when Kevin Durant is a
year older and Bradley bial is a year

683
00:43:53,599 --> 00:43:59,440
older and you don't have the means
to bring in the type of supplementary talent

684
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:01,519
you need to avoid what's happening here. And even if you do, it's

685
00:44:01,559 --> 00:44:07,760
also possible that these three players just
don't make sense together in the biggest games.

686
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:12,360
So like this all happened, Dan, They were in the finals in

687
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,519
twenty twenty one, they won sixty
two sixty four games in twenty two,

688
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:20,559
and then Ishbia kind of takes official
control at the twenty three trade deadline,

689
00:44:21,079 --> 00:44:23,480
and now look, and now here's
where we are. Like Devin Booker is

690
00:44:23,519 --> 00:44:27,159
like the only guy left from those
good teams. Maybe you had to break

691
00:44:27,159 --> 00:44:30,159
them up. Maybe nobody was listening
to Monti Williams anymore. Maybe you don't

692
00:44:30,159 --> 00:44:32,280
want to hang on to Chris Paul. Maybe DeAndre Ayden is not someone you

693
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:37,440
build around. But to go from
that to this and then looking at the

694
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,559
next seven eight years and like seeing
no light at the end of the tunnel

695
00:44:40,599 --> 00:44:44,519
other than we trade Devin Booker and
get a bunch of picks back at some

696
00:44:44,599 --> 00:44:49,480
point, like this is gonna I
think this is gonna be one of the

697
00:44:49,519 --> 00:44:55,360
most like most cited examples of like
how an ownership group comes in and like

698
00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:00,000
can just wreck a team with short
sighted moves and like try to make splashes

699
00:45:00,079 --> 00:45:05,079
and not thinking about like well,
how do other smart teams operate? Should

700
00:45:05,079 --> 00:45:07,280
we do that? No? No, no, We're gonna do this,

701
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:08,679
and here's where we are, Like, I think the Sons are going to

702
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:13,880
be that example going forward. Uh, I think you're right because I would

703
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,880
even get and I think he was
like pinpointed exactly because I've seen the baits

704
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:20,800
about would you rather have use of
Nurturic or DeAndre Ayton right now? And

705
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:22,239
it's well, you got Grace and
Allen as part of that trade, so

706
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:25,480
and I know he's injured, but
and I've seen the whole like, well,

707
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:30,559
if this wasn't with like the Bradley
Beal stuff, the issue was the

708
00:45:30,639 --> 00:45:34,159
Kevin Durant trade, right, that
is on that the whole time. You've

709
00:45:34,159 --> 00:45:37,400
been right about that all along.
Just would I have done it? Would

710
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:43,119
I have traded for Kevin Durant?
The answers fuck yes. Now the Sounds

711
00:45:43,119 --> 00:45:45,320
were negotiating against themselves at one point. Would I have done what they did?

712
00:45:45,599 --> 00:45:47,920
I would like to think no,
and I'm pretty certain that I would

713
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:52,920
have said no. But like that
is what this is, that's gonna be

714
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:54,559
the genesis of everything. You could
point to this stuff. Well, they

715
00:45:54,599 --> 00:45:58,239
didn't get as much traction out of
the minimums as they needed to, And

716
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:00,760
it's like, well, do you
know why they needed so much much run

717
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:05,800
from the minimums because this is decision
situation they put themselves in. And I

718
00:46:06,119 --> 00:46:07,519
think I'm totally on board with you. I tend to see where it's like,

719
00:46:07,519 --> 00:46:12,920
well, let's just see because I
really believe that. Now here's some

720
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,480
things that I think you I'm just
adding to what you said. Your pigeonholed

721
00:46:15,519 --> 00:46:19,960
because it's Bradley Beal's trade value is
nuked because of the no trade clause.

722
00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:22,199
Forget about the money, forget about
yea, there's a world where Bradley Beal

723
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:24,559
is still an All Star. There's
there's a world where but he has a

724
00:46:24,599 --> 00:46:29,960
no trade clause and he makes a
ton of money. And then it's Kevin

725
00:46:30,079 --> 00:46:34,679
Randswer requested trades before. Why why
would this stop him now? And you

726
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,159
mentioned the Devin Booker stuff. At
what point if they get if they don't

727
00:46:38,199 --> 00:46:40,599
come back in this first round series, ify don't even make it a fight.

728
00:46:42,119 --> 00:46:44,440
He has so much time left on
his deal. I wouldn't expect it.

729
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,519
What does he become the guy who
he's just watched that core that was

730
00:46:47,559 --> 00:46:51,920
around him, McHale Bridges, Cam
Johnson, DeAndre Ayton, even Chris Paul

731
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,239
if you want to count him just
gone, just absolutely gone. And he's

732
00:46:55,239 --> 00:47:00,519
gonna be sitting here realizing how barren
they are, knowing that the he's going

733
00:47:00,519 --> 00:47:04,280
to be viewed as at least tied
to playing in meaningful games and potentially winning

734
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:07,960
them. At what point does he
just ask for out forget about Kevin Ram

735
00:47:08,039 --> 00:47:10,480
but like he is the best player
and most important player on their team.

736
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,159
I do believe that this is headed
towards disaster for sure. And like just

737
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:21,079
to I know, I tagged Ishbia
here at just what you said about like

738
00:47:21,639 --> 00:47:23,639
would I have done it for the
price to talking about the Durant trade?

739
00:47:23,679 --> 00:47:27,719
Probably not. You know who else
probably wouldn't have done it. Based on

740
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:31,679
all the reporting James Jones, like
it was like they kept coming back and

741
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,800
Ishbia kept saying, like do it, do it? Do it? That's

742
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,280
what all the reporting says, is
like this was not a true The Durant

743
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:43,760
trade was not one that Phoenix's like
actual basketball people thought was like worthwhile in

744
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,079
terms of the assets they were giving
up. And then ownership has the final

745
00:47:46,119 --> 00:47:51,360
say, and ownership pushed that trade
through. And I think that the fact

746
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,519
that his thumb print is his fingerprints
are on that deal just and that's I

747
00:47:54,559 --> 00:47:59,599
think we agree that that was kind
of the the Beal thing is so bad,

748
00:47:59,639 --> 00:48:01,880
but like that was just swaps and
you're just stuck with a bad contract,

749
00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:06,519
Like the price you paid for Durant
is the reason you don't have outs

750
00:48:06,559 --> 00:48:10,199
anymore. So I think that does
just fall at ownership's feet. And so

751
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:15,079
I mean, I just can't get
over and I want to go back now

752
00:48:15,119 --> 00:48:19,360
and read about like how toxic or
how bad was it at the end of

753
00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:22,079
that last run with the previous cores, because like they had the ugly playoff

754
00:48:22,119 --> 00:48:25,440
bow out, and it's just like, what if they just kind of tweaked

755
00:48:25,599 --> 00:48:30,360
instead of going you know, full
full full restart with with a bunch of

756
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:35,119
new guys I don't know, or
if they how about this, what if

757
00:48:35,119 --> 00:48:37,719
you held the line in talks with
the Nets a fine hold on to Kevin

758
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,760
Durrant until the off season, then
right, he still wants to come to

759
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:45,559
Phoenix. Yeah, someone's blinking.
I mean maybe May yeah, maybe Brooklyn

760
00:48:45,599 --> 00:48:46,760
just blinks. We don't want to
go through a full year with this with

761
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:50,679
this guy being unhappy. It's totally
possible. We got to get off the

762
00:48:50,679 --> 00:48:52,480
sun though, you gotta you gotta
take us somewhere else. I'll take us

763
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:58,760
to Indiana, where I think Pascal
Siakam is just a major winner here.

764
00:48:59,159 --> 00:49:02,599
He has been through two games versus
the Bucks, the best player on the

765
00:49:02,639 --> 00:49:07,000
Pacers, and he's at like the
numbers. And I know it's only two

766
00:49:07,039 --> 00:49:08,559
games with thirty six point five points, twelve rebounds, four and a half

767
00:49:08,599 --> 00:49:13,239
assists, sixty seven point five percent
shooting on twos, and I'm not they're

768
00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:16,079
not. These are not layups and
just like open space drives, he's hit

769
00:49:16,159 --> 00:49:21,159
some turnarounds. He's just scored in
traffic. He's shooting fifty percent from deep,

770
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:23,679
only four of eight. I think
more important, though, well,

771
00:49:23,679 --> 00:49:29,320
there's two things. Is the manner
that in which he's playing, this way,

772
00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:34,320
where it's operating is both a co
star and a lifeline, depending almost

773
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:37,400
on the possession. So Tyree's Haliburton
still a tone center on offense, and

774
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:42,239
then Siakam is just going to continue
to carry it. And yet he's also

775
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:46,079
kind of distinguishing when to adjust,
if not overhauled entirely in the half court

776
00:49:46,159 --> 00:49:52,239
wherever necessary. Striking that balance is
so hard to do, and it's even

777
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:55,039
harder to maintain when you're so critical
to what your team's doing defensively, I

778
00:49:55,159 --> 00:49:59,679
recognize Giannis isn't in this series.
I question how much time he'd be the

779
00:49:59,679 --> 00:50:02,000
primary defender on him anyway, But
like they turned to him in game two

780
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:06,360
specifically, like, hey, we
need someone to kind of like go after

781
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,280
Dame for a minute. And he
did it. And so I'm looking at

782
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:14,920
this and this is all happening in
advance. There's there's two things that's sent

783
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:21,239
out here let's focus on in advance
of free agency. There's he's thirty years

784
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:23,800
old. And there's something to be
said about when the team that knows the

785
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:28,599
most about you in the Raptors,
that wanted a high level with you,

786
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,480
and I know he wasn't this player
when they won the championship in twenty nineteen,

787
00:50:32,079 --> 00:50:37,079
deciding that you weren't worth paying as
sours. Things got behind the scene.

788
00:50:37,079 --> 00:50:39,400
That seems to be where things went
wrong, as they decided we don't

789
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:44,639
want to pay Pascal Siakam Maxi money. And now he's playing like this.

790
00:50:45,079 --> 00:50:47,000
So he's going to get to free
agency and yes, his age is not

791
00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:52,039
going to change, be weird if
it did. And he's going to oh,

792
00:50:52,079 --> 00:50:55,480
he's getting younger. Holy shit,
he'll be eligible with the Pacers to

793
00:50:55,480 --> 00:51:00,320
sign a four year one hundred and
eighty nine point five million dollar max or

794
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:04,280
five year two hundred and forty five
point three million I think max it is.

795
00:51:05,079 --> 00:51:08,119
I would be shocked at this point
if he doesn't get the four year

796
00:51:08,159 --> 00:51:12,559
full vote, I would be my
fearly. If it's close, we quibble

797
00:51:12,599 --> 00:51:15,159
over dollars and cents there the decimals, I'd be pretty shocked, though,

798
00:51:15,159 --> 00:51:17,639
I'd be shocked to be left.
And that was always kind of the implication

799
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:21,599
of well, Indiana gave up three
first round picks to get him, which

800
00:51:21,599 --> 00:51:24,480
isn't nothing. And that's the other
thing here, which it makes the Pacers

801
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:30,719
winners by extension, but also siak
him as well. The idea of trading

802
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:34,960
for him has just been validated because
you've needed to if you were gonna get

803
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,159
rid of Buddy Healed, you need
to experiment with Tyr's Haliburton off the ball,

804
00:51:37,199 --> 00:51:40,360
and he's just gonna need some offensive
alleviation in general, as we've kind

805
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:44,960
of seen time and time again.
And so you go out and you get

806
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,079
this guy who's giving you exactly what
you need, and it gives you.

807
00:51:47,119 --> 00:51:50,920
It's not just about this postseason run. I know he's getting older, but

808
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:54,719
it's as you project forward to the
version of the Pacers that is not just

809
00:51:54,760 --> 00:52:00,639
this darling irritant but a mainstay contender
near the top of the East. Like

810
00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:05,800
the blueprint is now laid. You
have the two guys around which to flesh

811
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:09,679
out the rest of your roster moving
forward. And I understand Tyres Halbert is

812
00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:15,039
the single biggest driving force of that, but now you just he established Tyres

813
00:52:15,079 --> 00:52:19,480
Halbert established that last year, so
a year ago, eighteen months ago,

814
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:23,360
and now you've already found the second
guy. Like to have that groundwork laid,

815
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:27,480
that is huge. And the fact
that Siakam's doing it again. I

816
00:52:27,519 --> 00:52:30,440
know Giannis isn't playing like this is
real shit, Like this is this is

817
00:52:30,519 --> 00:52:34,679
real shit, and the stuff he's
doing I can't. And Samson Fok actually

818
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:37,239
wrote a fantastic piece for Basketball.
She wrote, go check that out about

819
00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:40,440
what he did, and I think
it was Game two specifically, But like

820
00:52:40,519 --> 00:52:44,440
watching him this series, seeing this
type of shots he's hit, even the

821
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,199
passes that he sprayed out on the
move, This is a massive win for

822
00:52:47,199 --> 00:52:51,159
seat because if there is any doubt
and I'll boil it down to this before

823
00:52:51,159 --> 00:52:52,760
I throw it to you. If
there was any doubt that this guy's a

824
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:57,199
max player in the NBA, it
should be gone by now. And I

825
00:52:57,199 --> 00:52:59,880
get you want to quibble about what's
the back end of that deal gonna look?

826
00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:04,480
Like, I'll go as far as
this. I feel comfortable with the

827
00:53:04,519 --> 00:53:07,239
first three years of wherever deal he's
gonna sign, and that's at least sixty

828
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:13,840
percent of the contract, which which
like is all you should really because every

829
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,159
anytime someone's even in like their late
twenties, the back end of the deal

830
00:53:16,239 --> 00:53:20,599
is always kind of iffy, and
you're just that's just like a it's priced

831
00:53:20,599 --> 00:53:22,519
in. It's just that's just what
it's gonna be. You know how many

832
00:53:22,679 --> 00:53:27,440
It's rare for a guy his age
to sign a deal. And like at

833
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,320
the end of I'm trying to think
of who examples would even be, Like

834
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:32,840
I guess Kyle Lowry or like someone
like that that like in their early to

835
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:37,840
mid thirties, like still is just
out there, like he's gonna get a

836
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:39,559
deal that pays him as much or
more annually than the one he just finished.

837
00:53:39,599 --> 00:53:43,920
Like that's just how it is.
And really, like holiday apparently jew

838
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:49,039
holiday a million dollar deal till he's
fifty, it seems like. But for

839
00:53:49,199 --> 00:53:52,599
the Pacers specifically, like Hellburn's quite
a bit younger than than Siakam, So

840
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:58,400
like maybe if you're really hypercritical of
Siakam as a second guy, it's like,

841
00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:00,719
oh, it's too far apart the
timeline. It's like, no,

842
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:04,880
no, you need someone likes Siakam. Or let's just say you need Siakam

843
00:54:05,039 --> 00:54:07,199
for like the next two three years, right, and then you can just

844
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:12,960
rejigger the like line up around Haliburton
as he gets into his mid late twenties,

845
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,519
like you just you need you need
Siakam now, like this is the

846
00:54:15,599 --> 00:54:20,559
right piece for right now. And
like nothing's promised beyond two or three years

847
00:54:20,559 --> 00:54:23,280
for any team anyway, so like
who who cares? So I do think

848
00:54:23,639 --> 00:54:28,480
I don't think he's getting the five
year just because Indiana doesn't have to do

849
00:54:28,519 --> 00:54:31,199
it, but they do just have
to go max out the four year because

850
00:54:31,199 --> 00:54:34,920
it's like eight what is it,
like nine million more total? Then another

851
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,519
team can give him on a four
year deal, So you can't you can't

852
00:54:37,559 --> 00:54:39,719
mess around there. You just have
to immediately go full four year max.

853
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:44,719
And just like for him taking a
deal from somebody else is just like leaving

854
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:46,880
money on the table, which even
if he's not super happy about not getting

855
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:51,119
the five years, like he's getting
the most he can possibly get. So

856
00:54:51,199 --> 00:54:54,000
maybe there's like somewhere is he signing
well below the max but it's over five

857
00:54:54,079 --> 00:54:58,360
years so it's more guaranteed money,
but the annual values lower. Yeah,

858
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:00,360
by the way, very clear.
The other thing that this is do is

859
00:55:00,519 --> 00:55:01,880
kind of proving that when you go
out and kind of find because they still

860
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:06,280
need like a wing that's not Aarony
Smith. Maybe someone whould play Whitney Smith

861
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:09,800
like Siakam just kind of reinforce like, oh that wing needs minimal creation talent.

862
00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:15,400
Yeah, I'd do right. All
right, I'm gonna pick a winner

863
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:20,599
here too. My winner is Luka
Doncic, mainly because now I know,

864
00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:23,880
like so mainly because of his game
two defensive performance, Like that's a game

865
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:28,400
that Dallas wins by three to get
a I mean, was more than actus.

866
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:30,000
Paul George hit a late three that
made it look even closer than it

867
00:55:30,039 --> 00:55:36,039
was, but gets a split in
LA, which, like I picked the

868
00:55:36,039 --> 00:55:37,760
maps to win this series. I
was feeling real nervous after game one.

869
00:55:38,119 --> 00:55:42,559
I think everybody was really down on
how Dallas played in that game. Don

870
00:55:42,719 --> 00:55:46,159
just played awesome defense. Tim McMahon
tweeted out a stat just about like everybody

871
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:51,599
went over other than James Harden made
one shot against Luka Doncic in individual defense,

872
00:55:52,559 --> 00:55:55,039
held held his held his match to
two of seventeen. Now, people

873
00:55:55,079 --> 00:56:00,519
that watch the MAVs and know what
Luca's limitations are and or not, we'll

874
00:56:00,519 --> 00:56:04,119
say, like he's actually always been
like pretty good or not always, but

875
00:56:04,199 --> 00:56:07,039
has been pretty good in isolation,
Like he can move his feet enough,

876
00:56:07,039 --> 00:56:09,119
he's really strong, like you don't
you know, He's not an easy guy

877
00:56:09,159 --> 00:56:14,519
to score on per se. So
the fact that he's holding his Clipper matchups

878
00:56:14,519 --> 00:56:17,280
to like ridiculously low shooting percentages because
they're attacking him is like, well,

879
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:22,320
he could always do that. I
gotta push back, Like every team's approach

880
00:56:22,519 --> 00:56:25,920
is to go at Luca as much
as possible. Let's wear him out,

881
00:56:27,079 --> 00:56:29,800
Let's at least just make him move
and work, because Dallas loves to just

882
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:32,079
stash him on guys that don't move. And like the if you look at

883
00:56:32,079 --> 00:56:35,880
b Ball Index, they have like
these player cards you can put together and

884
00:56:36,519 --> 00:56:39,400
categories every category you can imagine,
it will give you a percentile letter grade.

885
00:56:39,519 --> 00:56:44,840
Luca's like Miles run on defense is
like in the first percentile, Like

886
00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:49,800
he just doesn't move. So to
hold up physically and really perform defensively answers

887
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:52,800
a lot of questions, albeit in
just one game, but like, for

888
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:57,320
how long was the story on him? He wears down within games, he

889
00:56:57,360 --> 00:57:00,639
wears down within weeks, within months, within seasons, within series, Like

890
00:57:00,679 --> 00:57:04,639
he physically doesn't hold up to bring
it in game two and get that split.

891
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:07,480
Not saying he's going to be able
to do it on both ends every

892
00:57:07,559 --> 00:57:13,599
game, but like if he can
summon that level of defensive competitiveness like a

893
00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:15,280
couple times in a series, that
might be all it takes. Like and

894
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:20,360
to get that game in La I
think is indicative of that, because now

895
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:22,480
you go back to Dallas, maybe
you get a couple there and you're you're

896
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:25,679
just in the driver's seat, even
if Luca doesn't hold hold this level,

897
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:30,199
just to do it when he needed
to, and in a way that was

898
00:57:30,239 --> 00:57:32,960
like really conspicuous, Like you couldn't
watch that game and say and like not

899
00:57:34,119 --> 00:57:38,480
notice how much he was competing.
I think it's it's weird, like the

900
00:57:38,519 --> 00:57:45,280
full like referendum on Luka Doncic,
like defensive ability is like it's not it's

901
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:49,199
not done yet, but this is
this is a question answered. I feel

902
00:57:49,239 --> 00:57:52,079
like at least in a small way, so that that was a big positive

903
00:57:52,079 --> 00:57:54,679
for me. It feels like also, so he's doing all this while also

904
00:57:54,719 --> 00:57:59,840
having just played faster this year and
played differently, and so we just can

905
00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:04,000
take used to answer these questions and
it's creating further separation from Trey Young,

906
00:58:04,079 --> 00:58:07,119
who he's already better. Then we
still have the questions about Trey Young,

907
00:58:07,119 --> 00:58:10,440
where how can can he fit better
into the larger context of a team,

908
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:15,599
And Luka Doncic is proving that he
can while also still being kind of the

909
00:58:15,679 --> 00:58:20,039
central point of everything. And I
think I saw some of the halftime show

910
00:58:20,079 --> 00:58:22,280
of that game was saying that there
was too much Luca and like he needs

911
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:25,559
to play off the ball more,
and it's like it's it's not necessarily.

912
00:58:25,559 --> 00:58:29,119
First of all, he did this
year, but it's not necessarily that.

913
00:58:29,199 --> 00:58:31,159
It's the fact that he plays at
different cadences. And then you mentioned the

914
00:58:31,159 --> 00:58:36,360
defensive stuff. Yeah, he's like
a he's a huge like winner in all

915
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:38,280
of this and like the MAVs kind
of come off looking like winners in general

916
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:43,519
too. We'd see how the series
ends, but will you know, with

917
00:58:43,599 --> 00:58:45,719
the work that PJ. Washington has
done for them, and then like the

918
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:49,599
gaffer keeps getting injured every single game, I don't know what's up with that.

919
00:58:49,679 --> 00:58:52,039
But were they smart too? We've
had this debate over and over again.

920
00:58:52,079 --> 00:58:55,119
It seems like they were smart to
make those midseason trades, but we've

921
00:58:55,119 --> 00:59:00,760
still made them Looking ahead up the
way Luka is playing though, like it

922
00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:02,639
it's both it gives you confidence and
then it also rattles you because it's,

923
00:59:02,679 --> 00:59:06,400
well, this dude's like so good, Like this stuff needs to happen now,

924
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:09,400
and now you can't if they did
lose this series or if they eventually

925
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:13,320
bow out in the playoffs. I
feel like it's overwhelming clear that it's not

926
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:15,960
gonna be like, man, his
play style just the grades and it's only

927
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:17,639
gonna get you. So he's not
even gonna be I'm never saying he would

928
00:59:17,639 --> 00:59:21,000
have been, but like it's just
very clear that he is not going to

929
00:59:21,119 --> 00:59:23,679
be a part of any issue.
Maybe game to game, the defense will

930
00:59:23,719 --> 00:59:27,920
fluctuate. He might complain a little
bit more but I'm absolutely with you on

931
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:32,119
that. Yeah, so let's do
a loser. Who do I got here?

932
00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:36,400
Oh? Man, we have to
let me. Let's do a quick

933
00:59:36,440 --> 00:59:42,880
loser. I'm buddy. Healed averaging
before Game three a whopping fewer than thirteen

934
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:47,440
minutes per game, and he was
traded from the Pacers because he wanted a

935
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:53,039
bigger role long term and the big
ass bag that comes with it. Then

936
00:59:53,079 --> 00:59:57,960
the Sixers acquired him because I get
it, the cost was low enough he

937
00:59:58,000 --> 01:00:01,400
fits into their cap space plan,
but also presumably so that he could open

938
01:00:01,519 --> 01:00:07,920
up the floor for Tyrese Maxi and
a healthy Joel Embiid and then maybe establish

939
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:13,039
himself as someone worth keeping around long
term, faster over to the playoffs.

940
01:00:13,039 --> 01:00:16,039
And he's look his minutes fluctuated with
the Sixers, but like this is a

941
01:00:16,039 --> 01:00:21,480
different level of its borderline or rature. He's logging fewer than thirty minutes per

942
01:00:21,480 --> 01:00:23,159
game, as I said, and
he's not giving Nick Nurse a reason to

943
01:00:23,199 --> 01:00:28,360
play him more. He's what is
he two of six from three in this

944
01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:31,000
series, so he's not taking shots
at a high volume. And now there's

945
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:35,800
a deal. There's always a defensive
trade off to playing Beal that the Sixers

946
01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:39,679
specifically are no longer built to cover
up when you won have Jowell and been

947
01:00:39,679 --> 01:00:44,679
playing on one leg and to know
the Anthony Melton and so you're sitting here

948
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,199
and someone is gonna pay Buddy Heieald
Anyway, he's a career forty percent shooter

949
01:00:47,239 --> 01:00:51,679
from deep on over seven and a
half attempts per game, that volume in

950
01:00:51,719 --> 01:00:55,119
efficiency, it sells. But he's
thirty one and he's gonna be looking for

951
01:00:55,159 --> 01:01:00,480
what will probably be his last long
term deal, and long term deals getting

952
01:01:00,639 --> 01:01:05,440
harder to secure as non stars,
it feels like. And to now be

953
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:07,800
at a point where you're watching the
Sixers and you're saying, well, Kelly

954
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:13,960
Oubrey and thirty eight year old Kyle
Lowry and even the shell of Tobias Harris

955
01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:17,519
are more valuable at both ends than
Buddy held right now. Just it's it's

956
01:01:17,639 --> 01:01:22,000
a mini subplot to this. Maybe
the Sixers just aren't invested in him working

957
01:01:22,039 --> 01:01:24,960
through it because they know he's not
gonna stick around. But like interesting to

958
01:01:25,039 --> 01:01:30,280
go from how important he was with
the Pacers. Remember were of part of

959
01:01:30,280 --> 01:01:34,239
the reason that Tobias Tobias Harris,
that Tyres Haliburton was struggling. Was they

960
01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:38,599
missed Buddy Healed and like to just
be sitting on the Sixers mention this playoff

961
01:01:38,639 --> 01:01:42,599
series with the Knicks for most of
the game. Yeah, it's it's funny,

962
01:01:42,639 --> 01:01:46,159
like it's almost one of those situations
where it seemed it was too easy.

963
01:01:46,239 --> 01:01:49,599
It was too easy to say like, oh my god, Buddy Healed

964
01:01:49,639 --> 01:01:52,760
with Joel Embiid getting doubled all the
time, just running around loose, like

965
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:55,320
imagine, it's gonna be perfect,
like what could go wrong. It's gonna

966
01:01:55,320 --> 01:01:59,639
be the ideal fit. It's like, I guess it's just not that simple

967
01:01:59,639 --> 01:02:02,360
son time times. And the other
weird thing is it's like it's not like

968
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:06,880
the Sixers and Embiid and Maxi and
I guess Harris and some of the other

969
01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:10,719
guys are like unfamiliar with a Buddyheel
type because JJ Reddick was there for several

970
01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:15,719
years and it's like, I mean, Reddick had much more of a like

971
01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:19,199
inside the Arc game, I guess, like with the handoff stuff with Embiid,

972
01:02:19,239 --> 01:02:22,840
But like they're they should feel pretty
comfortable with a guy with just an

973
01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:25,960
ace shooter flying around off pin downs
and stuff like it's not like a new

974
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:30,599
concept, and Nick Nurse has played
with, as you know, fashioned all

975
01:02:30,679 --> 01:02:34,840
kinds of different offenses and has tinkered
very successfully over his career. So it's

976
01:02:34,880 --> 01:02:37,559
like, I just don't understand why
he's not having as big of a role.

977
01:02:37,599 --> 01:02:43,400
But I think that's interesting what you
just said of like maybe because they've

978
01:02:43,400 --> 01:02:45,239
already decided like he's not going to
be a big part of the future,

979
01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:50,079
they're just like, what's the point
of using him? And maybe I don't

980
01:02:50,119 --> 01:02:52,480
know, maybe he is like a
unique enough player that it's hard to hard

981
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:54,760
to like figure out where he likes
to get the ball and how to cover

982
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:59,960
for him defensively and all. Well, clearly he just didn't practice with Embid

983
01:03:00,079 --> 01:03:02,480
ever because of the NBA, and
then you're also in the postseason crucible,

984
01:03:02,559 --> 01:03:05,840
so I don't know how much of
that is a factor. But either way,

985
01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:08,280
and it's not I don't I think
he's someone's gonna pay him. He's

986
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:14,199
a he's an incredibly talented shooter.
But that's not ideal to go from thinking

987
01:03:14,280 --> 01:03:16,960
like, you know, the grass
isn't always greener type cliche right now,

988
01:03:17,199 --> 01:03:22,199
because it's you had like a certain
maybe the people didn't fully appreciate how important

989
01:03:22,199 --> 01:03:24,880
you were to the Pacers, and
the Pacers are doing things right now without

990
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:29,440
him, but it took them so
long to kind of find themselves without him

991
01:03:29,440 --> 01:03:32,239
that it's, I would say,
to less than ideal development for him as

992
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:36,480
he's preparing to enter free agency.
Cost it's costing him money for sure.

993
01:03:37,199 --> 01:03:39,360
I have a small I don't have
any like big picture ones anymore, but

994
01:03:39,400 --> 01:03:43,119
I have a small one that I
just feel like we have to talk about

995
01:03:43,639 --> 01:03:46,719
a small winner here. Did Miami
Heat won a game against the Celtics?

996
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:52,119
And I know it happened because they
shot four trillion threes and made two trillion

997
01:03:52,159 --> 01:03:55,480
threes, uh, and just played
some weird zone that Boston seemingly equipped to

998
01:03:55,480 --> 01:04:02,280
handle at times, though that should
have been seen. No team that I

999
01:04:02,320 --> 01:04:09,079
still view as a massive, prohibitive
underdog makes me think just a little bit

1000
01:04:09,679 --> 01:04:12,239
about like, oh, are they
gonna do this than the Heat? Right?

1001
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:15,599
It's like we joke all the time
about we can't rule them out,

1002
01:04:15,679 --> 01:04:18,559
they can't be killed all this other
stuff. It's like, even though I

1003
01:04:18,599 --> 01:04:23,320
had no confidence whatsoever and still have
no confidence that Miami can win this series

1004
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:26,920
or even like make it competitive,
just the fact that they won a game

1005
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:30,840
gives me just like just enough doubt. And I can't think of a better

1006
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:35,880
testament to Eric S. Bolstra and
the whole hashtag geek culture thing than that

1007
01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:40,400
feeling, than a feeling where it's
just like, oh, no, are

1008
01:04:40,480 --> 01:04:42,840
they going to do this? They're
not. They're not, They're not.

1009
01:04:43,519 --> 01:04:46,360
But it's but no other team winning
a single game can make you question yourself

1010
01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:50,079
like the Heat can. That's why
they it's small time winners. I'm gonna

1011
01:04:50,079 --> 01:04:53,920
take it a step further because I
had them as a winner too. They're

1012
01:04:53,960 --> 01:04:57,079
big time winners here. They have
people talking about, well, it's clear

1013
01:04:57,159 --> 01:05:01,199
that the Blazers should have accepted their
package for Dame. Look at what Nikola

1014
01:05:01,239 --> 01:05:04,119
Yovich is doing on defense as a
passer. Look at the game that Tyler

1015
01:05:04,159 --> 01:05:08,679
Hero just had. I want to
ask you about Eric Bolster specifically though,

1016
01:05:08,719 --> 01:05:12,199
because the guy is like a mad
scientist when it comes to this stuff,

1017
01:05:12,639 --> 01:05:16,360
knowing how to use Nikola Jovic,
like just knowing like kind of the right

1018
01:05:16,440 --> 01:05:21,320
levers to pull there and grace from
the What's in a Game podcast. I

1019
01:05:21,440 --> 01:05:25,159
pointed this out on Twitter that you
know, you mentioned the Heat and the

1020
01:05:25,159 --> 01:05:27,760
way they were defending, but like
Boston has not been like one of the

1021
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:31,559
better, just like from that specific
where most of their jumpers came and missed

1022
01:05:31,559 --> 01:05:35,239
from inside the arc. They've been
like among the top ten offenses in the

1023
01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:39,480
league, one of the worst from
those areas anyway. And so it's just

1024
01:05:39,559 --> 01:05:44,960
like these genius shit from Eric Spoulstra
do you sort of get vibes of just

1025
01:05:45,079 --> 01:05:49,400
kind of like remember how Tim Duncan
is universally considered like maybe one of the

1026
01:05:49,480 --> 01:05:53,599
three to five best defenders of all
time, but never won Defensive Player of

1027
01:05:53,639 --> 01:05:56,920
the Year. And Eric Felsher is
just universally considered the best coach in the

1028
01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:00,519
NBA, but he's never won Coach
of the Year. That's just like,

1029
01:06:00,599 --> 01:06:02,400
it feels like something weird like that
is sort of at play here. But

1030
01:06:02,440 --> 01:06:08,400
the heat become winners because Eric Swellscer
exists, but also because it's like did

1031
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:12,079
most people even like people are worried
about the Celtics after Game two, even

1032
01:06:12,119 --> 01:06:14,320
if you thought that heat would steal
a game, you probably thought it would

1033
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:16,760
come in Miami. Would they get
lucky and Jimmy Butler would play to have

1034
01:06:16,840 --> 01:06:20,519
that type of game so early in
the series, and to like what Bam

1035
01:06:20,599 --> 01:06:24,719
was doing from mid range. And
then also I think the bigger thing,

1036
01:06:25,000 --> 01:06:29,039
maybe the biggest thing was just yeah, okay, Boston will play better on

1037
01:06:29,119 --> 01:06:31,400
offense, but they've had bogged down
issues before, and the Heat were absolutely

1038
01:06:31,440 --> 01:06:38,000
playing a role in the types of
shots they were coaxing or forcing the Celtics

1039
01:06:38,039 --> 01:06:41,599
into. They did that in Game
two, Like so it's like, now

1040
01:06:41,599 --> 01:06:45,280
you have the Celtics on til for
even if you lose this series four to

1041
01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:47,519
one, it was one to one
at some point, like you went back

1042
01:06:47,519 --> 01:06:51,079
to Miami having stolen home, they're
massive winners. To me, it's the

1043
01:06:51,159 --> 01:06:57,000
alien shit at play all over again. It is. I feel like it's

1044
01:06:57,280 --> 01:07:02,079
more panic inducing because of the nature
of Game two's win because it came with

1045
01:07:02,119 --> 01:07:05,480
like a three point barrage that like
the Heat just their offense sucked all year.

1046
01:07:05,519 --> 01:07:09,199
They just they don't have Jimmy Butler
to create shots, and they didn't

1047
01:07:09,199 --> 01:07:12,400
take or make a lot of threes
in general. Like it's almost like you

1048
01:07:12,960 --> 01:07:16,679
it's panic inducing because it like it's
like, well, this is just chaos

1049
01:07:16,719 --> 01:07:19,760
now because none of our assumptions about
this series were correct. If they're gonna

1050
01:07:19,760 --> 01:07:24,840
win a game that way, like
then it's like, well, what possible

1051
01:07:24,920 --> 01:07:28,159
use was there and trying to forecast
this series because obviously we don't have any

1052
01:07:28,199 --> 01:07:30,880
idea about what they're willing to do
or what they can do to be successful.

1053
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:33,760
It's like you, I don't know. It's like I don't know anything

1054
01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:38,320
about MMA. But it's like if
you went into a fight knowing a guy

1055
01:07:38,599 --> 01:07:42,719
was a really good boxer, and
you prepped the whole time to fight a

1056
01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:45,880
boxer and then he just like took
you to the ground in the first like

1057
01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:48,280
five seconds. You're like, what
is this. I'm not prepared for this.

1058
01:07:48,280 --> 01:07:53,199
This is uncomfortable. I don't have
a game plan. Like the Heat

1059
01:07:53,280 --> 01:07:57,519
can't make twenty three out of forty
three from deep in every game, but

1060
01:07:57,679 --> 01:08:00,320
doing it once just throws everything off
its axis. And now it's like,

1061
01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:03,480
well, what are they going to
do in game three? Like play four

1062
01:08:03,559 --> 01:08:08,440
corners offense for the whole game?
Like are they gonna like are they gonna

1063
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:11,679
do the vivekron a DV thing and
like leave someone down the other end of

1064
01:08:11,679 --> 01:08:15,000
the floor and cherry pick like anything
is on the table. If the Heat

1065
01:08:15,039 --> 01:08:18,399
can beat the Celtics by shooting and
making more threes, like that's just it

1066
01:08:18,479 --> 01:08:23,039
upends everything, and that's why that
is why I think it's so disruptive.

1067
01:08:23,359 --> 01:08:26,760
Well, what's also disruptive is that
they so they have the personnel to Phoenix

1068
01:08:26,760 --> 01:08:30,439
probably wishes that they could make the
active decision just to take oh we want

1069
01:08:30,439 --> 01:08:32,720
to shoot more threes, and our
players will actually do it, right,

1070
01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:35,359
So the Heat having that personnel for
them to actually do it. But then

1071
01:08:35,399 --> 01:08:40,319
that person did you see that Duncan
Robinson was defending his ass off yea in

1072
01:08:40,359 --> 01:08:43,720
that game, And so it's just
I first of all the other thing too,

1073
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:46,439
you know who's a winner and he's
always a winner. Caleb Martin's free

1074
01:08:46,439 --> 01:08:51,239
agency just continues to Oh boy,
watching game one, watching KYLEB. Martin

1075
01:08:51,319 --> 01:08:56,039
shoot on the on the way down, like every time, it's like that

1076
01:08:56,079 --> 01:09:00,039
guy with the like spasmodic like leg
kick on on his threes. It's like

1077
01:09:00,279 --> 01:09:02,960
I was thinking, like that guy's
never gonna make another shot in his life.

1078
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:06,399
It's not possible. And then in
game two it's just like that guy's

1079
01:09:06,399 --> 01:09:11,840
never gonna miss another show. Like
good. Caleb Martin completely changes everything about

1080
01:09:11,880 --> 01:09:15,960
the Heat because he's like the defensive
intensity and the willingness to push the ball

1081
01:09:15,039 --> 01:09:18,239
and like just all the the way
he's like, I don't know, it's

1082
01:09:18,279 --> 01:09:23,279
like when he's sliding into like a
help rotation, it's like he's on hot

1083
01:09:23,319 --> 01:09:27,000
coals. His feet are like moving
so quickly. The good version of him

1084
01:09:27,079 --> 01:09:30,800
changes everything. But like, I
can't believe he looked so bad to me

1085
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:33,079
in the first game, and then
the second game it just sees a different

1086
01:09:33,079 --> 01:09:35,479
person. I don't know what the
Heat are doing. I don't know how

1087
01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:40,560
they get these performances out of these
guys. Yeah there, if they go

1088
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:45,279
up two to one, could you
imagine just emergency pod, emergency pod if

1089
01:09:45,279 --> 01:09:46,479
they go out, I'm gonna hold
you to that. Okay, all right,

1090
01:09:46,560 --> 01:09:50,920
if they when did they play?
Is it Saturday? Eggs? Doesn't

1091
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:57,560
matter, It doesn't matter. So
I keep feeling like I'm negative Nancy here.

1092
01:09:57,600 --> 01:10:00,399
But so I'll go to a loser
this one, and well, how

1093
01:10:00,399 --> 01:10:08,199
about a combination winner and loser?
Okay, so the Thunder winners because this

1094
01:10:08,479 --> 01:10:13,039
idea that like Jonas Valentudis can punish
them on the offensive glass and like New

1095
01:10:13,159 --> 01:10:15,319
Orleans, I feel like might have
been a compelling matchup of Zion. We're

1096
01:10:15,359 --> 01:10:20,880
healthy, hot take, but just
like they're just handling it it's they've turned

1097
01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:27,079
yonas Valentutis into even more of a
defensive liability. And I like this team

1098
01:10:27,079 --> 01:10:30,319
when you look like Jade, I
mean, Shay is Shay but Jay,

1099
01:10:30,479 --> 01:10:32,399
I don't know what else to say, Shay is sha check calling him.

1100
01:10:32,399 --> 01:10:36,039
That team is just so connected to
Like that's another one where if you had

1101
01:10:36,039 --> 01:10:39,800
to give out, like the Synergy
Award, well, actually, I don't

1102
01:10:39,840 --> 01:10:42,000
know. The Nuggets might have it
in the West, the Knicks definitely have

1103
01:10:42,079 --> 01:10:45,560
it in the East. But anyway, they're they're just I think they've reinforced

1104
01:10:45,600 --> 01:10:48,720
that like, Okay, like maybe
experience might matter once you get to the

1105
01:10:48,720 --> 01:10:51,640
finals or something, but like,
this is a team that's a threat to

1106
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:54,960
beat anyone in the West, including
the Nuggets. I wouldn't pick them to

1107
01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:57,479
do it, but they're just the
winner for kind of reiterating that, well,

1108
01:10:57,560 --> 01:11:00,720
yeah, fuck, we are amazing
the case of just come in to

1109
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:02,960
fend his butt off whenever we want, We're gonna we're gonna push that button

1110
01:11:02,960 --> 01:11:06,920
when we need to, I will
say, and this is it's a stretch

1111
01:11:06,960 --> 01:11:11,439
if you're basing this off of just
one game, which I am not.

1112
01:11:12,840 --> 01:11:15,960
Josh Getty is a loser and I
know he played better in Game two,

1113
01:11:16,039 --> 01:11:20,680
but that game was just it was
superficially not a blowout at one point and

1114
01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:25,239
then it just turned it like the
devolved into one. My point is there

1115
01:11:25,319 --> 01:11:29,680
was zero High States minute played in
game two. In Game one, seven

1116
01:11:29,720 --> 01:11:33,720
players for the thunder logged crunch time
minutes. Josh Gitty was not one of

1117
01:11:33,720 --> 01:11:40,399
them. He was out basically the
entire fourth quarter. The Pelicans are guarding

1118
01:11:40,479 --> 01:11:43,720
him exactly as you would expect them
to guard him when he doesn't have the

1119
01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:45,760
ball, which is to say they're
not guarding him at all. And he's

1120
01:11:45,800 --> 01:11:48,680
two of six from three, so
he hasn't made them pay. And I

1121
01:11:48,720 --> 01:11:55,279
get there are moments, there are
stretches when his live dribble passing the float,

1122
01:11:55,359 --> 01:11:59,119
thread of the floater, the decision
making there can put defenses on tilt.

1123
01:11:59,399 --> 01:12:02,960
He has value. They are just
that though they're stretches, they're temporary.

1124
01:12:03,079 --> 01:12:08,359
They're a fremle. It's obvious like
maybe under a different team where you

1125
01:12:08,359 --> 01:12:12,199
give him more control over the ball, he's going to have more intrinsic value

1126
01:12:12,239 --> 01:12:15,800
to you. There's no reason to
do that on this team because you have

1127
01:12:15,920 --> 01:12:19,800
Shay, you have Ja Dubb and
I'm looking at this and he's extension eligible

1128
01:12:20,199 --> 01:12:25,199
this summer and his place and this
this dates back to the regular season.

1129
01:12:25,279 --> 01:12:28,800
Mark Deagnold fucked the rent, well
fucked it. He fused around, He

1130
01:12:28,840 --> 01:12:31,359
fights around with the closing lineups.
And I think now you can legitimately make

1131
01:12:31,399 --> 01:12:36,319
the case that you're closing a game
for matchups. Be damned, grant you

1132
01:12:36,359 --> 01:12:41,560
are closing a game. We know
Casan Wallace is ahead of you in the

1133
01:12:41,560 --> 01:12:45,239
pecking order now of options, probably
Jo Else is probably ahead of you,

1134
01:12:45,479 --> 01:12:50,199
Isaiah Joe, Yeah, Aaron Wiggins, that's Kendrick Williams out there. I

1135
01:12:50,239 --> 01:12:54,239
mean, put big Jalen Williams out
there. They're like, yes, you

1136
01:12:54,279 --> 01:13:00,319
can get it, you can get
get him in there. So I just

1137
01:13:00,359 --> 01:13:05,039
feel like he is a very talented
basketball player who will probably still get paid.

1138
01:13:05,560 --> 01:13:09,479
And we've always kind of said that
his future with this team is in

1139
01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:14,680
doubt. But Game one drove home. I feel like what the underlying message

1140
01:13:14,720 --> 01:13:19,119
has been all along, and that
is he has never been on shakier footing

1141
01:13:19,199 --> 01:13:25,840
when you're looking at his long term
value utility to the Thunder, and the

1142
01:13:25,880 --> 01:13:29,800
playoffs were a chance to kind of
flip that script. And I will say

1143
01:13:29,920 --> 01:13:31,279
this, Wu's make the thumb.
This is what makes the Thunder a winner.

1144
01:13:31,279 --> 01:13:34,319
They have a lot of playoff basketball
left to play because they're really good

1145
01:13:34,399 --> 01:13:38,680
and they're gonna make a deep run. But yeah, I have Josh Giddy

1146
01:13:38,680 --> 01:13:42,039
as a You can call him a
tentative loser if you want, but that's

1147
01:13:42,079 --> 01:13:44,119
what he is, then, a
tentative loser kind of just like he can

1148
01:13:44,159 --> 01:13:48,159
tentatively sometimes hit wide open threes.
I just right it doesn't want to shoot

1149
01:13:48,199 --> 01:13:55,560
him. I just keep watching the
Thunder continue to play him even though it's

1150
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:59,840
diminishing, and think like how good
is this team going to be when they

1151
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:03,000
were place that that spot in the
starting lineup? Like even if it's like

1152
01:14:03,199 --> 01:14:06,880
I don't even mean if it's just
Wallace that that eventually takes that spot over,

1153
01:14:06,920 --> 01:14:11,319
he's the logical guy. But like
what if the what you know,

1154
01:14:11,800 --> 01:14:14,760
all we talk about is that all
this Trova draft picks they've got to trade,

1155
01:14:14,800 --> 01:14:17,560
like they have the assets to go
get anybody. Like what happens when

1156
01:14:17,560 --> 01:14:21,800
they turned that spot into like a
six' nine wing that can do everything?

1157
01:14:23,039 --> 01:14:25,840
Like what like, what how good
is this team gonna be? Like

1158
01:14:25,920 --> 01:14:30,560
if it's a Paul George type or
whatever like that. Just it's I mean,

1159
01:14:30,600 --> 01:14:32,840
the Thunder are just they could lose
their they could lose this series,

1160
01:14:32,880 --> 01:14:36,920
and I would still just think of
them as like, there's this future is

1161
01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:41,119
so bright, it's so bright,
like all this is just gravy right now,

1162
01:14:41,119 --> 01:14:44,439
which is crazy because they like,
why won't they make the conference finals?

1163
01:14:44,560 --> 01:14:45,920
To be clear, I don't think
that this issue with Josh, and

1164
01:14:45,960 --> 01:14:48,800
I'm not you weren't saying this,
the issue with Josh Giddy isn't really an

1165
01:14:48,800 --> 01:14:53,279
issue for a Thunder. The Thunder, no, specifically Josh Giddy is the

1166
01:14:53,279 --> 01:14:57,960
loser here because the Thunder have proven
that they don't need him and might be

1167
01:14:58,199 --> 01:15:02,000
at this point the more menacing team
without him, if you're being brilliant,

1168
01:15:02,039 --> 01:15:04,640
like, honestly, you're right,
I'm not gonna hedge anymore. The Thunder

1169
01:15:04,760 --> 01:15:09,479
going to be a better team without
Josh Giddy. Whether that's right now,

1170
01:15:10,119 --> 01:15:12,920
fine, make it arguable, Well, task forward two or three years,

1171
01:15:12,960 --> 01:15:15,720
like the best version of this team
is not going to include Josh. Kidding

1172
01:15:15,800 --> 01:15:18,479
No, and I think you're seeing
it now where Like I feel like in

1173
01:15:18,520 --> 01:15:21,720
a lot of the pre series analysis, you know, how does New Orleans

1174
01:15:21,720 --> 01:15:25,600
win this series, Like what are
the ways right? And by the way,

1175
01:15:25,920 --> 01:15:28,399
should have won game one. Gotta
feel like they let Game one get

1176
01:15:28,399 --> 01:15:31,199
away. That's like devastating to not
get that one. What you would say

1177
01:15:31,239 --> 01:15:33,880
is, well, you're gonna have
to involve Giddy defensively. You're gonna have

1178
01:15:33,920 --> 01:15:35,960
to go at him. You're gonna
have to sag like you're gonna have to

1179
01:15:35,960 --> 01:15:39,720
sag off him and make him shoot
threes and take and make the Thunder,

1180
01:15:40,119 --> 01:15:42,880
you know, go away from their
normal plan. Not that they would,

1181
01:15:42,920 --> 01:15:46,760
but like that's the blueprint you would
draw up against the Thunder if you're the

1182
01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:50,399
New Orleans, like exploit the weeklink. Giddy's the weeklink on both ends and

1183
01:15:50,439 --> 01:15:55,119
if part of the conversation is like
maybe they shouldn't do that so that Giddy

1184
01:15:55,439 --> 01:16:00,039
stays on the floor like that,
Like you don't say that about a lot

1185
01:16:00,079 --> 01:16:03,239
of players. It only comes up
in playoff series where it's like you've got

1186
01:16:03,279 --> 01:16:06,239
to go at the guy, like
just enough to get an advantage, but

1187
01:16:06,319 --> 01:16:10,239
don't spam it so that they just
take him out of the game and put

1188
01:16:10,239 --> 01:16:13,319
in caseon Wallace, who's just better, Like you have to like find that

1189
01:16:13,439 --> 01:16:16,840
right balance, Like that's pretty that's
pretty telling that that was like an often

1190
01:16:16,880 --> 01:16:21,560
discussed aspect of this series. Can
we do the other side of this series

1191
01:16:21,560 --> 01:16:25,479
where I think I'm going to step
on a lot of probably what I've iterated

1192
01:16:26,039 --> 01:16:30,319
in the past, But the Pelicans
are losers and no one expected them to

1193
01:16:30,359 --> 01:16:36,239
win this series. I totally get
that. But we're now going into their

1194
01:16:36,319 --> 01:16:42,840
second actual playoff push of the Zion
Williamson era, and he will have appeared

1195
01:16:42,840 --> 01:16:47,399
in exactly zero of those games.
And now you're at the point where you're

1196
01:16:47,399 --> 01:16:49,840
in I don't want to call it
a no win situation, you're in an

1197
01:16:49,840 --> 01:16:57,279
impossible situation though. Waiting is just
no longer like an option because this team

1198
01:16:57,319 --> 01:17:01,880
has had multiple chances and it's just
never been healthy enough available enough to see

1199
01:17:01,880 --> 01:17:04,720
them all together when it matters most. So, now you go into the

1200
01:17:04,800 --> 01:17:10,199
offseason and I saw this on Twitter
that a lot of people and I don't

1201
01:17:10,199 --> 01:17:14,199
disagree with the actual sentiment, but
it's when your first reaction is, here's

1202
01:17:14,199 --> 01:17:18,640
hoping the Pelicans can diversify and improve
the center rotation. No, it's not

1203
01:17:18,720 --> 01:17:21,600
like yes, yes, so yes, I agree with you. You know

1204
01:17:21,640 --> 01:17:28,920
what they need first a driver of
their offense, because you can't rely on

1205
01:17:29,039 --> 01:17:31,279
Zion Williamson's body, which, by
the way, that's what makes this so

1206
01:17:31,399 --> 01:17:35,399
it's both gutting and jarring because Zion
was playing the best defense of his career

1207
01:17:35,439 --> 01:17:40,079
this season. He was in the
best shape of his career. He was

1208
01:17:40,119 --> 01:17:42,840
transcendent. He was having one of
the best or it's not the single best

1209
01:17:42,840 --> 01:17:46,560
performance of his career when he got
hurt. But his body just keeps portraying

1210
01:17:46,640 --> 01:17:49,720
him. So I'm not blaming him. I saw some people I don't know

1211
01:17:49,760 --> 01:17:53,800
if he saw the clip of him
yelling. I don't think he was like

1212
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:56,720
being rude. It was like he
was like kind of coaching up his teammates

1213
01:17:56,760 --> 01:17:59,720
on the sidelines, and I guess
somebody should, but like they were just

1214
01:17:59,720 --> 01:18:00,680
like, well, I saw the
comment saying, well, maybe he should

1215
01:18:00,680 --> 01:18:03,800
be healthy enough to This is not
a Zion Williams an issue anymore. This

1216
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:08,560
is this dude's body is an anomaly, and it seems like he's done everything

1217
01:18:08,560 --> 01:18:11,880
he could. And as the Pelicans, you have to have the self awareness

1218
01:18:11,920 --> 01:18:15,760
to say it's like, maybe it
comes together for a few seasons, but

1219
01:18:15,840 --> 01:18:19,159
we can no longer bank on it, or we can no longer build our

1220
01:18:19,279 --> 01:18:23,760
team in the image of this is
the only answer. We need a viable

1221
01:18:23,800 --> 01:18:28,199
contingency, and that leads into the
brandon Ingram discussion to where he's got to

1222
01:18:28,279 --> 01:18:30,479
go. You have to upgrade from
that spot or if you're gonna keep him

1223
01:18:30,680 --> 01:18:33,439
and try to figure that out when
you get natural floor general in here.

1224
01:18:33,880 --> 01:18:39,800
Fine, but like the biggest issue
for the Pelicans now is a creator who

1225
01:18:40,279 --> 01:18:43,880
can drive the offense on their own. And yes, preferably work with Zion

1226
01:18:43,920 --> 01:18:46,720
Williamson. But like it's it's over, Like you can't you can't sit still.

1227
01:18:47,000 --> 01:18:51,159
You're talking about brandon Ingram's next contracts
coming up, Trey Murphy's next contract

1228
01:18:51,239 --> 01:18:55,159
is coming up. You got lucky
on the Herb Jones deal. If you

1229
01:18:55,199 --> 01:18:59,079
want to keep Jonis Valenciunis, or
if you want to pay somebody, or

1230
01:18:59,079 --> 01:19:01,760
if you want to like you have
tax concerns already, and this is not

1231
01:19:01,800 --> 01:19:03,279
a team. I know they're fans. Like, well, they said that

1232
01:19:03,279 --> 01:19:06,000
they'll pay the tax. I'll believe
it when I see it. That's fine,

1233
01:19:06,199 --> 01:19:11,600
but you need to make this call, which maybe you always needed to

1234
01:19:11,640 --> 01:19:15,199
make it, but it would be
a lot easier, more palatable to make

1235
01:19:15,239 --> 01:19:19,039
the call to go the nuclear route
or decide we have to you're one time

1236
01:19:19,479 --> 01:19:25,840
deviating from brandon Ingram and also the
Zion It point model or Zion as lifeline

1237
01:19:25,880 --> 01:19:30,000
model, which is very uncomfortable when
you've never seen those two an action together

1238
01:19:30,399 --> 01:19:32,319
in the playoffs. But you have
to do it now. It's just you

1239
01:19:32,359 --> 01:19:35,760
can't. And this was you know, I you leave open the idea because

1240
01:19:35,760 --> 01:19:40,239
they almost won Game one and they
won it, and like, if they

1241
01:19:40,239 --> 01:19:42,399
won this series, then it's,
oh, there's time for him to come

1242
01:19:42,399 --> 01:19:45,119
back. Who knows if he actually
would have that's not happening. Now you're

1243
01:19:45,119 --> 01:19:47,079
gonna lose this series. Another season
is gonna be over. You've yet to

1244
01:19:47,119 --> 01:19:51,279
finish in the top six during the
Zion Williamson era and now you have to

1245
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:56,560
move on from so many different aspects
of it. And it just it sucks

1246
01:19:56,920 --> 01:20:00,199
because like you never got to see
it all in full. But that's that

1247
01:20:00,600 --> 01:20:04,399
the I'll phrase it like this.
The clarity for the Pelicans is in the

1248
01:20:04,439 --> 01:20:08,920
absence of it with their current nucleus, and that's just the point that they're

1249
01:20:08,960 --> 01:20:13,119
at. Yeah, I mean,
I'm not gonna I can't get behind what

1250
01:20:13,159 --> 01:20:16,439
you're saying about brandon Ingram not quite
being up for it because I've only ever

1251
01:20:16,479 --> 01:20:19,199
said good things. But do you
know it's like a bit now where like

1252
01:20:19,239 --> 01:20:24,439
everything I say about brandon Ingram is
at best like a backhanded compliment. Yes,

1253
01:20:24,479 --> 01:20:28,399
I posted a meme about it in
discord. Yeah, no, it's

1254
01:20:28,439 --> 01:20:31,479
my I didn't ever think this would
be like my one of my things because

1255
01:20:31,479 --> 01:20:36,319
I think, like what, I
don't know, brandon Ingram is a eighty

1256
01:20:36,399 --> 01:20:40,640
fifth percentile NBA player, Like I
thought you were going to say, like

1257
01:20:40,640 --> 01:20:45,399
a top eighty five, no,
no, whatever, top forty maybe something

1258
01:20:45,439 --> 01:20:48,399
like that, like with him,
and I don't know how much of this

1259
01:20:48,520 --> 01:20:53,760
is necessarily him, but like there's
a different if you look at other stars.

1260
01:20:53,800 --> 01:20:57,880
You phrased it on the last podcast
when you said that what he does

1261
01:20:57,960 --> 01:21:01,399
is hit these tough shots. He
makes bad shots he's really good at,

1262
01:21:01,520 --> 01:21:04,800
but he really gets them in one
way where it's like there's not necessarily different

1263
01:21:04,880 --> 01:21:09,960
levels to his scoring. He's not
taking more three point attempts or he never

1264
01:21:10,039 --> 01:21:13,199
is taking enough for a long enough
stretch, and then like you're not and

1265
01:21:13,279 --> 01:21:15,079
I don't This might be a Willie
Green thing, a Pelicans thing, but

1266
01:21:15,680 --> 01:21:18,920
like you can't run things with him
away from the ball to free him up

1267
01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:24,720
or try different things with him as
the decoy. And it's just you can't

1268
01:21:24,760 --> 01:21:27,800
that can't be your second best player
when Zion is your first best player.

1269
01:21:28,439 --> 01:21:30,800
Like that's just the reality of this
situation, and you just have more sensible

1270
01:21:30,800 --> 01:21:34,239
alternative, Like I think Trey Murphy
and Herb Jones. I know Shaman Dua

1271
01:21:34,439 --> 01:21:36,600
has said this in the past.
I don't know if he still thinks so,

1272
01:21:36,720 --> 01:21:41,680
but like those are your guys,
Like I mean, obviously Zion is

1273
01:21:41,720 --> 01:21:45,079
your guy, but you've made I
believe the correct points about like you cannot

1274
01:21:45,079 --> 01:21:48,760
build a firm foundation with Zion,
Like it's just always gonna be a flimsy

1275
01:21:48,800 --> 01:21:54,039
operation if he is like the thing
that's holding everything up with Like Murphy and

1276
01:21:54,119 --> 01:21:58,239
Jones are like give those guys forty
minutes every night in any playoff series,

1277
01:21:58,279 --> 01:22:01,520
Like they those guys are out out
there like locks, like no problem and

1278
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:04,640
and both have upside, both have
improved, both will continue to improve.

1279
01:22:04,840 --> 01:22:06,520
I don't know if either of them
is going to be an All Star,

1280
01:22:06,600 --> 01:22:10,680
but Herb is obviously like one of
the best defensive players in the world,

1281
01:22:11,079 --> 01:22:14,359
and Murphy just is the perfect role
player as long as you don't need him

1282
01:22:14,359 --> 01:22:16,760
to dribble. Maybe he learns to
dribble, like that's like he's he's not

1283
01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:20,039
like he's thirty. Maybe you don't
like kind of plant him still so often

1284
01:22:20,039 --> 01:22:26,640
when shooters in the NBA, just
like on the Ingram thing, whatever else

1285
01:22:26,680 --> 01:22:29,279
you can get for Ingram great because
you have those two guys that are going

1286
01:22:29,359 --> 01:22:31,520
to play the same position like that, you're you're set there. They make

1287
01:22:31,560 --> 01:22:35,239
more sense with Zion anyway. So
so just like you're ready to call and

1288
01:22:35,279 --> 01:22:38,680
I can set, you're ready to
call. In the tray Young trades like

1289
01:22:40,239 --> 01:22:43,119
these are my These are my two
things butting up against each other. I

1290
01:22:43,119 --> 01:22:45,760
want to trade brandon Ingram and I
don't want Trey Young on my team.

1291
01:22:45,800 --> 01:22:47,479
I don't know how to answer a
better fit for this team brand Ingram or

1292
01:22:47,479 --> 01:22:50,600
Tray Young. Oh, Trey Young, that's easy, but but I still

1293
01:22:50,640 --> 01:22:56,640
don't like it. Do you have
any you have another winner? Together?

1294
01:22:56,720 --> 01:23:00,479
Exhausted my supply of winners and losers, I have I have a quick winner,

1295
01:23:00,800 --> 01:23:06,359
okay, Maleakue Monk because the Orlando
Magic or exactly who we thought they

1296
01:23:06,399 --> 01:23:12,800
were. Yeah, and they need
cap flock shooters plural and helpfully creators.

1297
01:23:13,039 --> 01:23:15,840
I don't view Monk as a creator. I mean a shooter, excuse me,

1298
01:23:15,319 --> 01:23:18,920
like a capslock shooter, but relative
to what the Magic have because like

1299
01:23:18,920 --> 01:23:21,640
even Cole Anthony has not been like
they're not playing him a ton in this

1300
01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:26,760
series against the Calves. Yeah,
like they're a team, they're gonna they

1301
01:23:26,800 --> 01:23:28,880
can have caps space, Like they're
just gonna go out and pay the league

1302
01:23:28,920 --> 01:23:31,199
Monk because he makes a lot of
sense there. This is more of a

1303
01:23:31,199 --> 01:23:35,359
commentary on the Magic to where it's
sort of like they're not losers or winners

1304
01:23:35,439 --> 01:23:39,359
because they this is there, like
this is of course first time in the

1305
01:23:39,399 --> 01:23:43,680
playoffs, but they've reached the playoffs
and everything that's wrong with them is exactly

1306
01:23:43,760 --> 01:23:46,000
what you would expect to be wrong. Maybe they need to drop the starting

1307
01:23:46,119 --> 01:23:50,079
Jonathan Isaac Bitt too is something that
they should probably look into. Uh,

1308
01:23:50,119 --> 01:23:53,439
But Malik Monk comes out as a
winner because he's all of a sudden,

1309
01:23:53,479 --> 01:23:56,000
like the player everyone's identifies, Like, oh, the Magic just need to

1310
01:23:56,000 --> 01:23:59,039
pay that dude. I kind of
disagree. I think they need to go

1311
01:23:59,119 --> 01:24:02,399
tray for Anfrey Simon, but he's
gonna end up being a winner. Yeah,

1312
01:24:02,600 --> 01:24:05,560
No, I think that's right,
I like, I mean, maybe

1313
01:24:05,640 --> 01:24:09,960
you make the Kings a loser because
they just like four years seventy eight is

1314
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:12,439
not gonna be enough and that's the
most they can pay Monk, And like

1315
01:24:12,760 --> 01:24:15,920
you're right about he's not a like
to use your term, a capslock shooter,

1316
01:24:16,640 --> 01:24:19,920
but teams are gonna guard him like
he's not gonna get the Oh thank

1317
01:24:19,960 --> 01:24:25,039
god. It's like Cole Anthony has
taking an open three successful defensive possession.

1318
01:24:25,079 --> 01:24:27,960
We're good with that. Like Monk
is gonna be true. Plus, Monk's

1319
01:24:27,960 --> 01:24:30,760
gonna be on the ball a ton
wherever he lands. I assume, like

1320
01:24:30,079 --> 01:24:34,439
I'll be fascinated to see if a
team kind of fancies him as like I

1321
01:24:34,439 --> 01:24:38,079
don't know, you wouldn't start him
at point guard, but like he's what

1322
01:24:38,159 --> 01:24:41,199
he showed with the Kings this year
suggests like you could. You could spend

1323
01:24:41,199 --> 01:24:44,560
a lot of time with Malik Monk
as your main creator and look pretty good

1324
01:24:44,600 --> 01:24:47,000
offensively. So yeah, I think
if especially if like Paalo Bang Carrol's on

1325
01:24:47,039 --> 01:24:49,880
her, they could start shooting area. It depends on the true because you're

1326
01:24:49,880 --> 01:24:54,880
gonna start Palo and Franz and I
would say a real let's say Wendell Carter

1327
01:24:55,000 --> 01:24:58,279
Junior. And then if you're gonna
start Suggs, Sugs and Monk, you're

1328
01:24:58,319 --> 01:25:00,359
good. Like I'm saying you could
start Monk, and that that scenario would

1329
01:25:00,359 --> 01:25:03,439
be that makes just a ton of
sense. I don't love for the money

1330
01:25:03,439 --> 01:25:06,840
he would cost. I would just
prefer Monk is the better passer, especially

1331
01:25:06,880 --> 01:25:12,159
going downhill. But like Anthony Simon's
is just the level of shot maker that

1332
01:25:12,239 --> 01:25:14,840
and they're in a situation where they
might not have they get both. They

1333
01:25:14,880 --> 01:25:16,520
just trade for Simons haveing a league
Monk on their team. That's fine too,

1334
01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:18,920
sure, Yeah, well, I
mean like, based on how they've

1335
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:21,680
scored in this playoff series and how
they scored all year, you probably do

1336
01:25:21,760 --> 01:25:25,920
need more than just one of those
guys. If you're gonna really amp up

1337
01:25:25,960 --> 01:25:30,840
the scoring. The other quick winner
might be or the like is Darius Garland

1338
01:25:30,840 --> 01:25:32,600
and the Calves a quick winner here. They're taking care of business against the

1339
01:25:32,640 --> 01:25:36,600
Magic Garius Garland looks okay? Or
are you? Are you still? I

1340
01:25:36,640 --> 01:25:42,399
mean what, we definitely had some
questions about the Calves. I wonder if

1341
01:25:42,479 --> 01:25:47,399
just like I'm gonna need to see
Cleveland perform against another team just because Orlando's

1342
01:25:47,399 --> 01:25:51,680
weaknesses are so pronounced that, like
in the playoffs, you don't really know

1343
01:25:51,720 --> 01:25:56,039
what you're learning other than like we're
I don't think we're learning anything. We

1344
01:25:56,119 --> 01:25:59,319
didn't know like you said about Orlando, and I'm not sure we've learned anything

1345
01:25:59,399 --> 01:26:02,640
yet. For so about the Calves, just because when a team can't score,

1346
01:26:03,319 --> 01:26:06,239
there's just like so many easy ways
to guard them. I don't know.

1347
01:26:06,319 --> 01:26:09,720
I don't know if you're not the
Calves are not really having to strain

1348
01:26:09,800 --> 01:26:13,840
themselves like tactically or personnel wise.
Yet Okay, I have one more too,

1349
01:26:14,000 --> 01:26:17,439
and I was gonna should like shelf
this take for a minute. Are

1350
01:26:17,479 --> 01:26:24,800
you getting, like, I don't
know, like dynastics spursyan vibes from the

1351
01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:30,199
Denver Nuggets at all when you watch
them. So here's my thing. I'm

1352
01:26:30,239 --> 01:26:33,159
like, I don't even want to
unbottle this because I feel like I'm gonna

1353
01:26:33,199 --> 01:26:38,840
end up it out like this might
be too Yokic centric. And I don't

1354
01:26:38,840 --> 01:26:41,520
mean to insult Jamal Murray, who's
one of just I guess, the most

1355
01:26:41,520 --> 01:26:45,159
proven playoff performers in the game at
this point. But look at where the

1356
01:26:45,239 --> 01:26:50,920
Nuggets kind of are, and like
you kind of look at teams that have

1357
01:26:50,960 --> 01:26:55,800
reached this level where we think that
they have a chance of repeating. Has

1358
01:26:55,840 --> 01:27:00,840
there ever been like a larger gap
between the best player and then sort of

1359
01:27:00,840 --> 01:27:03,359
the second best player. And I'm
using like maybe the Spurs were a bad

1360
01:27:03,399 --> 01:27:08,319
example because even they were all more
of a collective at that point where it

1361
01:27:08,359 --> 01:27:11,800
wasn't Tim Duncan wasn't you know,
the post twenty ten Spurs, like Tim

1362
01:27:11,840 --> 01:27:15,000
Duncan wasn't the fifth best player in
the NBA or whatever it is. But

1363
01:27:15,039 --> 01:27:18,399
you look at the Nuggets and how
they play collectively, and it gives me

1364
01:27:18,479 --> 01:27:25,399
sort of just like the Spursian vibes. And but they also have this megastar

1365
01:27:25,520 --> 01:27:28,800
that maybe the Spurs didn't have.
And so I'm just looking at them and

1366
01:27:28,840 --> 01:27:31,800
I'm like, they keep this together. What is it that derails them?

1367
01:27:31,840 --> 01:27:35,479
Because Murray will keep get Like,
no, he's not gonna get anything worse.

1368
01:27:35,520 --> 01:27:39,760
And like I said, I'm not
trying to denegrate his value, but

1369
01:27:39,920 --> 01:27:42,079
look what he just did. Anthony
Davis, who's the worst defender in the

1370
01:27:42,119 --> 01:27:45,640
league, because he couldn't stop that
Murray shot. Really, so I just

1371
01:27:45,760 --> 01:27:46,880
I don't know. I don't mean
to say the Nuggets are gonna be a

1372
01:27:46,960 --> 01:27:51,479
dynasty. But it's not just about
going back to back. It's just I

1373
01:27:51,640 --> 01:27:56,279
watch them. You see the chemistry, the synergy, the connectivity, the

1374
01:27:56,279 --> 01:27:59,239
way that they can flip a switch, try these different things, and now

1375
01:27:59,239 --> 01:28:01,119
you have like, oh well,
the Christian Brown and Peyton Watson element being

1376
01:28:01,119 --> 01:28:04,520
in the pipeline is like gonna be
really beneficial. Dude. You just get

1377
01:28:04,560 --> 01:28:13,279
like, are we watching something not
like sustainably transcendent here that we're not ready

1378
01:28:13,399 --> 01:28:16,920
yet to admit because it's only one
championship old. I think I wrote after

1379
01:28:16,960 --> 01:28:20,600
they won it last year, my
take was like this is not going away

1380
01:28:21,720 --> 01:28:27,319
for all the reasons you said,
Like the superstar they have is like I

1381
01:28:27,399 --> 01:28:29,920
don't know, it's easy to say
this now and maybe this will be proved

1382
01:28:29,920 --> 01:28:33,000
wrong, but he's like who seems
more aging proof than Jokic? You know,

1383
01:28:33,399 --> 01:28:36,000
Like the counter is like, well, if you don't have a step

1384
01:28:36,039 --> 01:28:39,880
to lose, and you do lose
that step, it means a ton because

1385
01:28:39,920 --> 01:28:44,199
you know, he's just not athletically
dominant, but like he's always going to

1386
01:28:44,279 --> 01:28:45,680
be big, He's always going to
have the same vision, he's always going

1387
01:28:45,760 --> 01:28:49,079
to have like he's his command over
like the proceedings on the court are on

1388
01:28:49,279 --> 01:28:53,840
is only going to improve as he
just gets more reps, right, like

1389
01:28:54,359 --> 01:28:58,039
we think like maybe this is the
peak of like mental basketball processing. It's

1390
01:28:58,039 --> 01:29:00,479
like, well, what's he gonna
look like three three years from now when

1391
01:29:00,479 --> 01:29:04,279
he's just had more I mean so, and like the way that the league,

1392
01:29:04,520 --> 01:29:09,119
that the collective party agreement works,
like the Nuggets can just keep all

1393
01:29:09,159 --> 01:29:12,560
these guys like they like, it's
not a situation where if you if you

1394
01:29:12,640 --> 01:29:15,560
need to overpay to keep KCP or
Aaron Gordon or whatever, like you're gonna

1395
01:29:15,560 --> 01:29:18,079
have bird rights on all these guys. You can if they're willing to go

1396
01:29:18,119 --> 01:29:21,520
over the cap. Like there's no
reason this team should change fundamentally, at

1397
01:29:21,600 --> 01:29:26,479
least among its top guys. So
like yeah, and the thing is like

1398
01:29:28,199 --> 01:29:32,439
the Spurs with Duncan were like three
or four different teams over that over the

1399
01:29:32,520 --> 01:29:38,680
length of that run, and Duncan
was the constant. But like it's and

1400
01:29:38,760 --> 01:29:43,079
so looking at that as an example, why can't Jokic be the constant?

1401
01:29:43,159 --> 01:29:45,840
And like what like what style of
play would not work with Jokic at the

1402
01:29:45,840 --> 01:29:48,520
center of it? You know,
like, hey, anything is gonna work

1403
01:29:48,560 --> 01:29:50,720
if he's there, He'll find the
way. He'll find a way, so

1404
01:29:50,760 --> 01:29:56,399
you can build it if for whatever
reason, some of these core support pieces

1405
01:29:56,600 --> 01:29:59,840
change, Like I don't know,
none of them have been all stars,

1406
01:30:00,079 --> 01:30:02,479
so it's by definition is not going
to be that hard to replace some of

1407
01:30:02,479 --> 01:30:05,199
them. And if you play differently, then I trust Jokic to figure it

1408
01:30:05,239 --> 01:30:10,319
out. So as long as injury
doesn't come in or like cheapness from ownership,

1409
01:30:10,640 --> 01:30:14,880
Like why why wouldn't the Denver thing
just go on for a long time?

1410
01:30:14,960 --> 01:30:17,479
Right? Yeah? And it was. It was weird because the Spurs

1411
01:30:17,479 --> 01:30:21,119
weren't a perfect analog, maybe because
I was focusing too much on the back

1412
01:30:21,199 --> 01:30:27,680
end of that sort of run.
But like it's almost feel like they're a

1413
01:30:27,720 --> 01:30:31,000
blend of like the Kevin, like
the the the Dynastic Warriors, and then

1414
01:30:31,079 --> 01:30:35,119
like the Spurs at once because you
have the megastar at this point. I

1415
01:30:35,119 --> 01:30:38,479
know Tim Duncan might have been that
at one point, but I'm just like,

1416
01:30:39,319 --> 01:30:42,279
if they went back to back titles, the comparison feels like it'll hold

1417
01:30:42,319 --> 01:30:45,159
up even more and like that,
I don't, I don't, I didn't.

1418
01:30:45,199 --> 01:30:48,159
I wanted to wait until least Prob'm
just like watching this team and I'm

1419
01:30:48,159 --> 01:30:51,720
like, who is stopping this over
the next half decade And we know how

1420
01:30:51,760 --> 01:30:56,800
team building works. Ownership isn't gonna
want to pay as some of these guys

1421
01:30:56,800 --> 01:30:59,800
come up on their new deals.
But you mentioned it with Jokic still in

1422
01:30:59,840 --> 01:31:02,119
his prime, able to optimize everybody, and they have that spursy and thing

1423
01:31:02,159 --> 01:31:05,479
to where you know, the Warriors
tried the two timeline thing. It ended

1424
01:31:05,560 --> 01:31:12,680
up sabotaging the not not sabotaging,
but it wasn't able to They didn't sabotage

1425
01:31:13,079 --> 01:31:15,000
like the initial timeline, but they
didn't prop it up either because they were

1426
01:31:15,039 --> 01:31:18,399
focused on the second timelines where they
couldn't down things to augment the first one.

1427
01:31:18,479 --> 01:31:23,359
And like the Nuggets aren't in that
position yet because the age of everyone

1428
01:31:23,640 --> 01:31:27,039
and there, so you can juggle
the two timelines without and I mean,

1429
01:31:27,239 --> 01:31:30,560
this is boiling down to two players
unless you think, like Julian Strath or

1430
01:31:30,640 --> 01:31:32,560
jail and Pick it is going to
like be a huge part of the team

1431
01:31:32,800 --> 01:31:36,479
two. I don't. I'm reticent
to say anything is sustainable in this league

1432
01:31:36,520 --> 01:31:39,760
right now, but I'm just looking
at the Nuggets and trying to find the

1433
01:31:39,800 --> 01:31:44,239
reason that this thing would bust up, break up, devolve, regress in

1434
01:31:44,319 --> 01:31:47,760
the next like three to five years, which is a lifetime in NBA years,

1435
01:31:48,159 --> 01:31:53,079
And I can't find it. I
mean, there's a reason we've watched

1436
01:31:53,079 --> 01:31:56,760
the Celtics win sixty four games and
have you know, relative to the rest

1437
01:31:56,760 --> 01:31:59,439
of the league, one of the
best NET ratings we've ever seen, and

1438
01:31:59,479 --> 01:32:02,680
still said, well, yeah,
but the Nuggets, it's like, there's

1439
01:32:02,800 --> 01:32:06,079
just like there's just something about you
know, not every team that wins the

1440
01:32:06,079 --> 01:32:10,079
title makes you feel this way.
Like some of those Warriors teams were like,

1441
01:32:10,119 --> 01:32:12,399
well, this is just this is
the real deal, you know,

1442
01:32:12,800 --> 01:32:15,720
and and like the Nuggets win last
year, people can talk about who they

1443
01:32:15,720 --> 01:32:18,680
did and didn't, be like,
it just feels like a different type of

1444
01:32:18,760 --> 01:32:23,720
championship. It's not a one off
situation. You don't have that they have

1445
01:32:24,039 --> 01:32:27,399
to me, they have not that
same feeling of inevitability as the Warriors,

1446
01:32:27,760 --> 01:32:30,800
but there does seem to be inevitable
an inevitability to them. That that's those

1447
01:32:30,840 --> 01:32:35,800
Spurs teams never felt like they had
and so like that's why I was struggled

1448
01:32:35,800 --> 01:32:39,520
to making that. But it's just
I think as like in terms of the

1449
01:32:39,600 --> 01:32:45,119
collective and then like juggling multiple different
agendas when it comes to your timeline.

1450
01:32:45,119 --> 01:32:47,479
It once, I'm just maybe,
I'm maybe, I'm not just what did

1451
01:32:47,520 --> 01:32:50,319
I say last time? I'm not? You were You weren't sipping the kool

1452
01:32:50,319 --> 01:32:54,680
aid. You were you were dry
scooping d scoop, you were mixing.

1453
01:32:54,680 --> 01:32:57,640
You weren't even mixing it. You're
maybe. I'm dry scooping the nuggets kool

1454
01:32:57,640 --> 01:33:00,439
aid and I've dry scooped pre workout
before. It is not. I don't

1455
01:33:00,439 --> 01:33:02,439
know why people do it. It's
not pleasant. I don't understand it at

1456
01:33:02,439 --> 01:33:06,239
all. It's I've been I'm dress
scooping too, and it's delicious. Like

1457
01:33:06,279 --> 01:33:11,800
there's just no the I just can't
get past. You don't even have to

1458
01:33:11,840 --> 01:33:15,800
think that much beyond like that.
Starting five is perfect, Like everything about

1459
01:33:15,800 --> 01:33:17,600
it is perfect. All the pieces
fit, everybody knows what to do,

1460
01:33:17,680 --> 01:33:21,840
everybody's good at the things they're asked
to do, and it's just like no

1461
01:33:21,920 --> 01:33:26,399
other team is that way, even
the Celtics aren't quite that way. It

1462
01:33:26,600 --> 01:33:32,279
just didn't feel that way because we
have evidence that like that, Bert unhappy

1463
01:33:32,279 --> 01:33:35,359
with the Nuggets tick. Sorry buddy, Yeah wow? Is he a Celtics

1464
01:33:35,359 --> 01:33:40,920
fan I think he had a bad
dog dream. That was Uh was that

1465
01:33:40,920 --> 01:33:44,279
Bert's first appearance on the live podcast? Yep, he's right here. He

1466
01:33:44,359 --> 01:33:46,680
was sleeping under the desk and he
made his presence. Felt shout out to

1467
01:33:46,680 --> 01:33:51,319
Bert, who has just one of
the best barks in the world. He's

1468
01:33:51,439 --> 01:33:56,000
very rattled right now. I didn't
realize he was a Celtics fan. I

1469
01:33:56,039 --> 01:34:04,760
guess yeah. I love to change
that stat padding time. Grant, we

1470
01:34:04,800 --> 01:34:08,239
have a couple we have well,
we have like a ton of guests of

1471
01:34:08,239 --> 01:34:12,640
players obviously, but I also have
questions for you that I would like to

1472
01:34:12,640 --> 01:34:15,640
see if you could answer correctly.
Are you Are you ready? I'm unfamiliar

1473
01:34:15,720 --> 01:34:20,479
with this process, but I will
do my best. Grant which NBA player

1474
01:34:20,720 --> 01:34:28,840
has the higher career scoring high in
the NBA playoffs. Wilt Chamberlain or Michael

1475
01:34:28,920 --> 01:34:35,000
Jordan. Michael Jordan correct sixty three
to fifty six. Jimmy Butler or Donovan

1476
01:34:35,039 --> 01:34:43,279
Mitchell. Ooh, I think they
both have fifties. I'll say Donovan Mitchell

1477
01:34:43,720 --> 01:34:47,640
that is correct fifty seven to fifty
six. Charles Barkley or Alan Iverson to

1478
01:34:47,760 --> 01:34:55,039
Philly Legends. Barkley correct fifty six
to fifty five. Lebron James or Nicole

1479
01:34:55,159 --> 01:34:59,920
Jokic. Give me Jokch that is
correct. Fifty three to fifty one.

1480
01:35:00,199 --> 01:35:01,359
That was a nice by you.
I didn't think you're gonna get that one.

1481
01:35:01,880 --> 01:35:06,479
Damian Lillard or Jason Tatum. I
don't know if Dame's got fifty.

1482
01:35:06,560 --> 01:35:10,760
I know Tatum does. I'll go
Tatum. That would be wrong. Fifty

1483
01:35:10,760 --> 01:35:15,399
five for Damian Lillard, fifty one
for Tatum. Kobe Bryant or Dirk Novitzky

1484
01:35:15,960 --> 01:35:24,039
Kobe correct fifty to forty eight.
Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. I'll go

1485
01:35:24,159 --> 01:35:28,119
KD. That is incorrect. Russell
Westbrook had fifty one. Kd's is fifty.

1486
01:35:29,000 --> 01:35:34,840
Devin Booker or Steph Curry. Curry
correct fifty to forty seven. Kareem

1487
01:35:34,880 --> 01:35:44,359
abdul Jabbar or Hakeem Olajawan. I'll
go Hakeem correct forty nine to forty six.

1488
01:35:45,159 --> 01:35:50,359
Luka Doncic or John Morant Luca incorrect. John Morant forty seven, Luca

1489
01:35:50,439 --> 01:35:58,720
forty six. That hurts. Vince
Carter or Tracy McGrady McGrady incorrect. Vince

1490
01:35:58,760 --> 01:36:04,560
had fifty McGrady at forty six.
Steve Nash or Shaquille O'Neal. This feels

1491
01:36:04,600 --> 01:36:11,319
like bait uh. I'm gonna say
Steve Nash, but I'm not sure I

1492
01:36:11,319 --> 01:36:15,000
believe it. You are correct forty
eight to forty six, amazing. James

1493
01:36:15,000 --> 01:36:21,520
Harden or Trey Young Harden incorrect?
Trey Young had forty eight. James Harden's

1494
01:36:21,520 --> 01:36:28,239
career highs forty five. Ray Allen
or Paul Pierce. Oh, I'll go

1495
01:36:28,319 --> 01:36:30,560
Pierce. That is incorrect. Ray
Allen had a fifty one spot. Paul

1496
01:36:30,560 --> 01:36:35,479
Pierce topped out at forty six.
Oh Giannis attended? Koopo or Derrick Rose

1497
01:36:36,239 --> 01:36:45,359
Jannis correct fifty to forty four.
Carmelo Anthony or John Rondo? What Carmelo

1498
01:36:45,119 --> 01:36:49,359
incorrect? Rondo had forty four.
Melo's career highs forty two? Did it

1499
01:36:49,359 --> 01:36:53,720
a couple of times? I want
that game film studied in a lab somewhere.

1500
01:36:54,680 --> 01:37:00,880
Magic Johnson or Kyrie Irving. Kyrie
incorrect? I just had forty three?

1501
01:37:00,039 --> 01:37:06,000
Or Vegas is forty two? Larry
Bird or Anthony Davis. I'll say

1502
01:37:06,079 --> 01:37:14,720
Davis correct forty seven to forty three. Jamal Murray or Isaiah Thomas modern era

1503
01:37:14,880 --> 01:37:18,119
Isaiah Thomas the five foot three inch
Isaiah Thomas. What was that like triple

1504
01:37:18,159 --> 01:37:25,319
overtime. I'll say Thomas that is
correct, fifty three to fifty Kawhi Leonard

1505
01:37:25,399 --> 01:37:31,000
or Dwayne Wade Kawhi incorrect, Dwayne
Wade forty six to forty five. Ouch.

1506
01:37:31,800 --> 01:37:34,239
I think you got more than fifty
percent of those pretty close. I

1507
01:37:34,279 --> 01:37:38,399
had. I started hot and I
really tailed off there. The back end

1508
01:37:38,439 --> 01:37:40,960
seems like it was tough for you. I have impressed you got the lebron

1509
01:37:41,079 --> 01:37:43,920
Nikola Jokic one though, nice job. I feel like that was from a

1510
01:37:44,000 --> 01:37:48,199
previous question where I said Jokic didn't
have fifty or something and you you told

1511
01:37:48,279 --> 01:37:54,720
me he did. So I'm learning. I think we'll see. Uh.

1512
01:37:55,479 --> 01:37:58,159
Do you wanna you have a guess
a player for me or anything? I

1513
01:37:58,279 --> 01:38:00,880
do I have a or anything.
I was just like, you want to

1514
01:38:00,920 --> 01:38:04,520
talk about your day? Yeah,
how's it going? You know? All

1515
01:38:04,600 --> 01:38:10,920
right? I have one here from
Mike. Uh, only well eleven clues,

1516
01:38:10,960 --> 01:38:14,479
but this is a short set of
clues, uh for Mike. So

1517
01:38:14,840 --> 01:38:18,600
uh, you either will get this
easily or you're in big trouble. Clue

1518
01:38:18,680 --> 01:38:23,640
number one. I was in the
lottery in two thousand and five after four

1519
01:38:23,760 --> 01:38:28,920
years at the University of Arizona.
Why can you read that back? I

1520
01:38:29,079 --> 01:38:32,079
was in the lottery in two thousand
and five after four years at the University

1521
01:38:32,079 --> 01:38:39,319
of Arizona. I will never not
love them giving you college based clues?

1522
01:38:40,960 --> 01:38:46,920
Yeah, who who went to Arizona? Channing fry in Arizona? Dad,

1523
01:38:47,439 --> 01:38:51,279
you one shot at it? I
would one shot killed you did, say,

1524
01:38:51,359 --> 01:38:56,680
Channing fry Right, Yeah, that's
correct, friend of the podcast,

1525
01:38:56,800 --> 01:39:00,800
Channing Frye. Unbelievable. He's a
friend. I think you've on Twitter.

1526
01:39:00,960 --> 01:39:03,760
Oh okay, well he knows we're
the number one podcast. Sorry, Mike

1527
01:39:05,479 --> 01:39:12,640
Dan studied up on his college of
all hold on, everybody went to Arizona.

1528
01:39:12,720 --> 01:39:15,720
How is Channing Frye your first guess? Well, you gave me the

1529
01:39:15,840 --> 01:39:17,720
year right, two forties, But
I mean, I don't know it could

1530
01:39:17,760 --> 01:39:20,199
have been. I guess it's too
late for Richard Jefferson, I guess,

1531
01:39:20,279 --> 01:39:24,199
and Bibbie and my all right,
Hey, you just named a whole bunch

1532
01:39:24,239 --> 01:39:26,760
of guys wh I had no idea
what to Arizona. That's what I mean.

1533
01:39:27,840 --> 01:39:30,319
How did you do? Okay,
I guess I'll read some clues now,

1534
01:39:30,600 --> 01:39:33,319
just because we owe it to Mike. Clue number two was I played

1535
01:39:33,760 --> 01:39:39,760
sixty I wish we could, like
see if you would have gotten it without

1536
01:39:39,840 --> 01:39:43,159
clue number one somehow, but we'll
never know. Clue two. I played

1537
01:39:43,159 --> 01:39:45,880
sixty five games as a rookie before
messing up my knee in a game against

1538
01:39:45,880 --> 01:39:47,800
the Raptors. Despite that, I
was named first team All Rookie You know

1539
01:39:47,960 --> 01:39:51,520
seven. Traded alongside Steve Francis for
Zach Randolph, Fred Jones, and Dan

1540
01:39:51,600 --> 01:39:56,680
Dickow. Started twenty one games with
the Blazers over two seasons, not doing

1541
01:39:56,800 --> 01:39:59,239
much of note, after which I
signed a two year, three point eight

1542
01:39:59,319 --> 01:40:02,920
million million deal dollar deal with the
Suns. A year later extended for five

1543
01:40:02,960 --> 01:40:06,279
and thirty. Twenty twelve, I
was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. You

1544
01:40:06,359 --> 01:40:11,479
might have got it there. Probablyuld
have got that one Clue seven. On

1545
01:40:11,560 --> 01:40:14,960
July fourteenth, twenty fourteen, signed
with the Magic for four years thirty two

1546
01:40:15,560 --> 01:40:17,680
disappointing season with the Magic on the
court average, my lowest point in rebound

1547
01:40:17,720 --> 01:40:21,520
totals deadline the following year. Traded
to Cleveland for Jared Cunningham in a future

1548
01:40:21,560 --> 01:40:25,920
second Yeah, I was part of
the twenty sixteen title winning Calves. You're

1549
01:40:25,920 --> 01:40:30,600
definitely getting it there. Traded for
Isaiah Thomas, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance.

1550
01:40:30,359 --> 01:40:34,399
With Isaiah Thomas for Clarkson Larry Nance. No Knicks clues, no Knicks

1551
01:40:34,439 --> 01:40:38,760
clues? Do you give you an
Arizona clue? Not a Knicks clue?

1552
01:40:39,359 --> 01:40:43,119
I probably, honestly that would be
about I probably wouldn't have gotten it to

1553
01:40:43,880 --> 01:40:46,600
until you mentioned the Calves one.
And then there's also the trade for Jordan

1554
01:40:46,640 --> 01:40:50,079
Clarkson and stuff. That's probably when
I would have got it. Can I

1555
01:40:50,159 --> 01:40:53,680
give you Mike? Also, while
I have the doc open has a couple

1556
01:40:53,760 --> 01:40:58,399
of who is Bill Walton talking abouts
that we haven't used yet? And I

1557
01:40:58,479 --> 01:41:03,000
want to give you like I'm gonna
do three of them just because they make

1558
01:41:03,079 --> 01:41:06,920
me laugh? Dan, who is
Bill Walton talking about a number one?

1559
01:41:10,119 --> 01:41:15,079
He's like a forearmed to Kimbe Mtumbo
out there? Is he talking about to

1560
01:41:15,199 --> 01:41:19,840
Kimbe Matumbo? Which would be the
best possible answer? Uh, Francisco Elson,

1561
01:41:20,359 --> 01:41:28,880
Rashid Wallace, Tony Batti or Vin
Baker Tony this part doesn't even matter.

1562
01:41:29,039 --> 01:41:34,079
It's it's Rashid Wallace, Like who
cares? Uh? Two Blank's legs

1563
01:41:34,159 --> 01:41:39,399
look like they were sculpted by Microsoft. A couple of questions. A couple

1564
01:41:39,560 --> 01:41:45,039
questions. Microsoft have a sculpting arm
that we don't know about, or they

1565
01:41:45,079 --> 01:41:48,840
have an architectural firm. Uh,
who's whose legs look like they were sculpted

1566
01:41:48,880 --> 01:41:56,199
by Microsoft? Deshaun Stevenson, Hassan
Whiteside, Raife LaFrentz, Yao Ming Latrell

1567
01:41:56,239 --> 01:42:03,520
Sprewell, Yao ming with Charles pretty
Well, Ryfla Franz, Deshaun Stevenson or

1568
01:42:03,560 --> 01:42:09,199
Hassan Whiteside. I'm gonna say,
Rafa friends, it is. It is

1569
01:42:09,279 --> 01:42:14,159
in fact Yaoming just loves love do
it? Or bad legs though I don't

1570
01:42:14,159 --> 01:42:16,680
really know what that's the thing.
No one knows. No one knows how

1571
01:42:16,720 --> 01:42:20,640
good Microsoft sculpts legs. I guess, all right, one more here?

1572
01:42:21,319 --> 01:42:25,520
Which one do I want to do? Here? Okay, I'm gonna do

1573
01:42:25,600 --> 01:42:28,399
this long one because they're so funny. I hope I didn't do this one

1574
01:42:28,439 --> 01:42:32,800
already. Uh. This is on
a player acquired by Phoenix, So I

1575
01:42:32,840 --> 01:42:38,640
don't know if that's going to help
you, Canny Fry, this is the

1576
01:42:38,720 --> 01:42:42,359
perfect spot for him a symbol if
you will, it's perfect. You know,

1577
01:42:42,520 --> 01:42:45,520
fifty thousand years ago, a meteor
hit what we now know is the

1578
01:42:45,560 --> 01:42:48,640
state of Arizona. That's what this
represents, or that's what he represents.

1579
01:42:48,760 --> 01:42:53,279
I think of the Grand Canyon,
a beautiful, broad, majestic land in

1580
01:42:53,399 --> 01:42:59,039
the city of Phoenix. Louis Scola, march In Gortat, Shaq Germaine,

1581
01:42:59,039 --> 01:43:02,760
O'Neill, Marcus Banks. It could
be literally any one of those guys.

1582
01:43:02,880 --> 01:43:06,760
I'm gonna say Martine Gortat. It
is, in fact Shaq, which is

1583
01:43:06,840 --> 01:43:12,319
almost like it almost makes sense because
he's talking about the Grand Canyon, and

1584
01:43:12,399 --> 01:43:16,680
Shaq is just like the hugest guy
ever. But I just these I don't

1585
01:43:16,680 --> 01:43:19,800
want to. Oh, man,
I have one more. I just saw

1586
01:43:19,880 --> 01:43:27,000
one more. Ahem. The Rockets
are dealing with a fully aroused blank.

1587
01:43:28,479 --> 01:43:33,359
Michael Finley, Nick Van Exel,
Kobe Bryant, Michael Doliac, Gennaro Pargo.

1588
01:43:33,680 --> 01:43:38,159
Before you guess, Mike, the
names you come up with to put

1589
01:43:38,199 --> 01:43:42,039
in here are just like they're so
great. Michael Doliac. When's the last

1590
01:43:42,079 --> 01:43:44,720
time you thought about Michael Doliac.
I have no idea, But now I'm

1591
01:43:44,720 --> 01:43:46,039
not gonna pick him because I'm assuming
Mike put that in there. He's not

1592
01:43:46,159 --> 01:43:53,000
the answer. So Michael Doliac,
I forgot everybody, Naro Pargo another deep

1593
01:43:53,159 --> 01:43:57,720
cut? Uh, Michael Finley,
Nick van Exel, Kobe Bryant. I'm

1594
01:43:57,760 --> 01:44:00,840
just gonna say, Nick van Exel, it is a fully was Kobe Bryant?

1595
01:44:00,199 --> 01:44:04,079
Damn it? Man? These are
so just a delight. I don't

1596
01:44:04,079 --> 01:44:06,840
know. I gotta save the last
couple for another time because there we need

1597
01:44:06,960 --> 01:44:12,520
to cut that up into like we
need to do like an actual either episode.

1598
01:44:13,279 --> 01:44:15,319
Who's Bill Walton talking? Maybe we
should? Who is Bill Walton talking

1599
01:44:15,319 --> 01:44:19,439
about episode? Put together your docs? Discord members, go join our discorder.

1600
01:44:19,439 --> 01:44:24,239
You can come up. But Mike
killed it. My favorite part about

1601
01:44:24,359 --> 01:44:27,159
well, I love it all,
but one of my favorite parts about the

1602
01:44:27,439 --> 01:44:30,720
whole bit is like, I'm not
going to fact check these. I don't

1603
01:44:30,039 --> 01:44:33,039
like maybe he did say. Maybe
Mike's making these up. I don't care

1604
01:44:33,319 --> 01:44:36,439
like that he is. If he
is, Mike, get a comedy writing

1605
01:44:36,520 --> 01:44:42,119
job, yeah, get a pulletzer
or something like that. But they're just

1606
01:44:42,439 --> 01:44:44,720
it's so much fun. Okay,
do you want to give me a guess

1607
01:44:44,760 --> 01:44:46,119
a player? I have another one
I can give you after No, let

1608
01:44:46,159 --> 01:44:48,319
me give you two and then we
can get out of here. I have

1609
01:44:48,439 --> 01:44:54,600
one from rubikscal for you. Are
you ready? I'm ready. I Clue

1610
01:44:54,600 --> 01:44:57,720
one. I received the key to
the City of Oakland at the two thousand

1611
01:44:57,840 --> 01:45:02,680
All Star Weekend. Hmmm, I
really want to one shot this two thousand

1612
01:45:03,079 --> 01:45:12,640
key to the City of Oakland.
I'll give you a bonus clue. They're

1613
01:45:12,640 --> 01:45:15,680
an NBA player, Thank you.
I'm just trying to think of guys from

1614
01:45:15,760 --> 01:45:24,279
Oakland two thousand. I'll say Gary
Payton. That is incorrect. Clue too.

1615
01:45:24,800 --> 01:45:27,319
I was the first NBA player to
hit ten threes in a game,

1616
01:45:27,520 --> 01:45:30,319
though I never hit more than five
threes in a game. Again, it's

1617
01:45:30,319 --> 01:45:33,399
actually pretty wild. That's a really
good clue. Ten threes in a game.

1618
01:45:33,840 --> 01:45:39,479
Never hit more than five after that? Oh, I think I kind

1619
01:45:39,520 --> 01:45:47,199
of know this about give me the
answer then. I'd love to never made

1620
01:45:47,279 --> 01:45:54,119
more than five after that. First
player to hit ten. Yeah. I

1621
01:45:54,159 --> 01:45:56,800
didn't fact check this, so I'm
just gonna say yes. It's like,

1622
01:45:56,920 --> 01:46:00,399
why do I want to say,
like Michael Adams is that that's probably way

1623
01:46:00,439 --> 01:46:03,479
off? Okay, I don't have
it yet. It's not Michael Adams.

1624
01:46:03,560 --> 01:46:09,439
Yeah. Clu three. I logged
nine hundred and forty three games playing in

1625
01:46:09,600 --> 01:46:13,760
both guard positions and made ten plus
points per game in only two seasons,

1626
01:46:14,159 --> 01:46:18,399
averaged six plus since six plus assists, excuse me only once. Obviously,

1627
01:46:18,520 --> 01:46:25,399
my intangible contributions as a teammate far
exceeded my counting stats. Oh, that's

1628
01:46:25,479 --> 01:46:31,880
interesting, tangible contributions as a teammate. So it's a combo guard the fact

1629
01:46:31,920 --> 01:46:35,359
that, like now I'm hung up
on who would have been an All Star

1630
01:46:35,479 --> 01:46:40,880
in two thousand, But clearly that's
not this guy because he averaged what he

1631
01:46:40,960 --> 01:46:45,079
averaged ten points a game? He
said correct only once? Or was it

1632
01:46:45,640 --> 01:46:49,119
was it? It was averaged ten
plus points per game in only two seasons?

1633
01:46:49,159 --> 01:46:54,640
It was twice? So who made
ten threes? Never made more than

1634
01:46:54,800 --> 01:47:00,199
five? Yeah, I don't know, clu four. My only we had

1635
01:47:00,239 --> 01:47:02,560
coaching stint in the NBA was not
a success. But I am a highly

1636
01:47:02,640 --> 01:47:06,560
respected assistant coach. I have two
rings as an assistant to go with three

1637
01:47:06,560 --> 01:47:16,000
as a player. Oh man,
he won three titles. Highly respected assistant

1638
01:47:16,079 --> 01:47:21,520
coach. Oh, I'm on tilt
right now. These clues are so there's

1639
01:47:21,600 --> 01:47:27,720
so such a diversity of information coming
through here. So key to the city

1640
01:47:27,760 --> 01:47:33,479
of Oakland. Ten points a game, made ten threes once but never more

1641
01:47:33,600 --> 01:47:42,000
than five and an assistant coach.
But it was a bad head coach.

1642
01:47:43,159 --> 01:47:45,560
God, that could be so many
guys. All right, I don't have

1643
01:47:45,680 --> 01:47:49,560
it. Clue of five. I
am one of two people who have played

1644
01:47:49,560 --> 01:47:53,680
at least one hundred and fifty games
with both the Lakers and the Celtics.

1645
01:47:55,680 --> 01:47:58,640
That is a good clue. So
we got a guard that hit a bunch

1646
01:47:58,680 --> 01:48:02,319
of threes, played for the Lakers
and the Celtics two thousand. Key to

1647
01:48:02,439 --> 01:48:11,159
the city. H I mean,
who's hitting ten threes for either of the

1648
01:48:11,319 --> 01:48:17,199
Well, I guess it, HM, Lakers and the Celtics. I mean

1649
01:48:18,920 --> 01:48:23,479
getting a key to the city in
two thousand. I don't have it.

1650
01:48:23,560 --> 01:48:26,680
I don't know. Well, you
have a couple more clues, you might

1651
01:48:26,720 --> 01:48:30,520
get it. Who's six? I
am half of arguably the coolest named basketball

1652
01:48:30,600 --> 01:48:34,199
duo ever. The nickname was given
by the other half of the duo A

1653
01:48:34,279 --> 01:48:45,760
Hall of Fame Center? What Hall
of Fame center? Is this? A?

1654
01:48:45,000 --> 01:48:47,079
Do you know? The nickname?
Is this something? You know?

1655
01:48:48,399 --> 01:48:51,399
Uh? No? Okay, Well
that makes me feel a little better.

1656
01:48:54,039 --> 01:48:57,319
All right, I'm gonna need the
last clue. Well, there's two more,

1657
01:48:57,520 --> 01:49:00,960
Okay, great clue seven. I
was there when Trell Spree when Latrell

1658
01:49:01,039 --> 01:49:05,800
Spree Well choked PJ Carlyssimo, an
incident I talked about on Paul George's podcast.

1659
01:49:09,439 --> 01:49:15,159
Oh this is Brian Shaw correct.
The final clue was I reportedly dated

1660
01:49:15,239 --> 01:49:17,199
Madonna back in the nineties. Oh, would not have got that one.

1661
01:49:17,800 --> 01:49:21,600
Oh okay. He accused like the
Nuggets when he was coaching them, of

1662
01:49:21,720 --> 01:49:28,720
trying to lose on purpose. Well, was that the like Iguidalas is like

1663
01:49:28,800 --> 01:49:30,720
a mole. Was that part of
the same thing, And it was like

1664
01:49:30,800 --> 01:49:34,640
in twenty fifteen or something, it
was like he suspected his players were trying

1665
01:49:34,640 --> 01:49:39,079
to lose or it was like we're
going out there with guys who are competing

1666
01:49:39,119 --> 01:49:42,039
and we're not competing back ors.
I think it was the most bizarre thing.

1667
01:49:42,439 --> 01:49:44,680
God, now on all the clues, believe it or not, Now

1668
01:49:44,680 --> 01:49:46,960
all the clues makes sense. The
key to the city because I think he

1669
01:49:47,039 --> 01:49:50,600
is from Oakland. The Lakers said, okay, man, good one.

1670
01:49:50,760 --> 01:49:55,960
That was a good one. That
is a sufficiently obscure player with also correctly

1671
01:49:57,159 --> 01:50:00,560
escalating and EA's clues. You're gonna
get it, but it's gonna get your

1672
01:50:00,680 --> 01:50:02,960
work for it. Good one.
Good one. Are you ready to get

1673
01:50:02,960 --> 01:50:06,439
into the mind of a psychopath?
Oh, let's see, I am now,

1674
01:50:06,800 --> 01:50:10,920
I'm ready. He abbreciated this is
gap, by the way, which

1675
01:50:10,920 --> 01:50:13,600
I didn't realize our guest a player, we could have the acronym for gap.

1676
01:50:13,840 --> 01:50:17,600
Okay, so we should not fall
into or don't finish my sentences.

1677
01:50:17,640 --> 01:50:21,000
I guess we're not on that sage. We just dropped from number one on

1678
01:50:21,079 --> 01:50:25,479
the chart worldwide probably number two,
thanks lock RT. I was in the

1679
01:50:25,560 --> 01:50:28,880
mind of a psychopath, not a
good yes and improviser. It can't both

1680
01:50:28,920 --> 01:50:31,880
at the same time. Clue number
one. I was a first round non

1681
01:50:32,000 --> 01:50:35,479
lottery pick in two thousand, drafted
by a Western Conference team. My pick

1682
01:50:35,640 --> 01:50:41,159
was traded four times before I was
actually drafted. I got nothing there.

1683
01:50:42,039 --> 01:50:45,520
Clue two. In my thirteen year
career, I was a sub forty percent

1684
01:50:45,640 --> 01:50:49,359
field goal shooter. In other news, I was never an all star bad

1685
01:50:49,399 --> 01:50:56,079
shooter. Drafted in two thousand.
Okay, Clue three. My best season

1686
01:50:56,239 --> 01:50:59,840
was my fourth, when I averaged
seventeen points six rebounds to a s.

1687
01:51:00,520 --> 01:51:06,359
I finished thirteenth in the Most Improved
Player voting. Is this Quentin Richardson?

1688
01:51:06,800 --> 01:51:13,800
Correct? Nice job? Other clues
this one was This one's wild My top

1689
01:51:13,880 --> 01:51:17,319
four most similar players are Adrian Smith, Aaron Aflalo Roja Bell, and Gerald

1690
01:51:17,399 --> 01:51:25,920
Henderson. This clue is purposely unhelpful
success that is very unhelpful. The other

1691
01:51:26,039 --> 01:51:29,319
three were with the seven seconds or
less suns. I averaged eight attempts from

1692
01:51:29,399 --> 01:51:33,279
three per game across seventy eight regular
season starts. Second to last clue,

1693
01:51:33,319 --> 01:51:36,399
I finished my career with a bang, playing one regular season game for the

1694
01:51:36,439 --> 01:51:40,920
Knicks twenty nine minutes and going one
of eleven from the field in those twenty

1695
01:51:41,039 --> 01:51:44,840
nine minutes. I was most likely
wearing a headband while doing so. And

1696
01:51:44,960 --> 01:51:47,279
then final clue, I share the
surname with one of the greatest three point

1697
01:51:47,319 --> 01:51:55,079
shooters in Santa Clara Santa Clara intramural
basketball history. I'm not going to dignify

1698
01:51:55,159 --> 01:52:00,199
that with the response Bill could really
shoot it. I don't know that is

1699
01:52:00,279 --> 01:52:04,439
that is factual excellent three point shooter
Quentin Richardson. I feel good about that

1700
01:52:04,520 --> 01:52:08,399
one. I feel like I got
that three. That was that was efficient,

1701
01:52:08,840 --> 01:52:12,840
great, that was that was a
good rendition of gap. I can't

1702
01:52:12,880 --> 01:52:18,840
wait to fall into the gap next
time. Do you want to take us

1703
01:52:18,880 --> 01:52:21,920
out of here time by us anyone. Why I don't know what happened,

1704
01:52:21,960 --> 01:52:26,359
Like, hold on, I want
to up my life just because why not?

1705
01:52:27,119 --> 01:52:29,840
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe
some cloud cover there. That's now

1706
01:52:29,880 --> 01:52:31,399
it feels like I'm really in the
dark. That doesn't help you, like

1707
01:52:31,520 --> 01:52:36,319
disappeared, Yeah, I mean that's
you know, when you get into the

1708
01:52:36,359 --> 01:52:41,359
mind of the psychopath, things get
a little. That ship got really emo,

1709
01:52:41,520 --> 01:52:44,680
real fast, dark in a hurry. Thanks for the guests of players,

1710
01:52:44,680 --> 01:52:48,000
Thanks for the the just the all
of the bonus stat padding content,

1711
01:52:48,119 --> 01:52:54,560
Bill Walton things especially. Please remember
as always, rate review, subscribe,

1712
01:52:54,600 --> 01:52:58,800
tell your friends about this podcast,
show them clips on YouTube, play them

1713
01:52:59,479 --> 01:53:02,800
me FA link to pick up the
fall into the Gap that Dan laid out

1714
01:53:02,840 --> 01:53:06,239
for me and say like they're still
trying to get better. So there's upside

1715
01:53:06,279 --> 01:53:12,079
for this podcast. If you are
interested in our merchant joining our discord links

1716
01:53:12,119 --> 01:53:15,039
for that or in the YouTube and
podcast description, that's going to do it.

1717
01:53:15,359 --> 01:53:17,119
We will have something else coming this
week, I think, or maybe

1718
01:53:17,159 --> 01:53:20,840
early next week. I don't want
to make any promises, but as always,

1719
01:53:21,279 --> 01:53:24,800
shouts Frank Millikan an apologies Jared out