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Listen to The Dusone with Drewski on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you
listen to podcasts. Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Hardwood
Knocks. This is Adam from Will here with my fantastic co host Dan Favallei,
and we have a mailbag episode for you. We've solicited questions from all
of our listeners via Twitter and wherever else you're listening, and we have plenty
of questions. We did not have to send out the desperation please for questions
that we've had to do in some of the previous mailbag episodes, So shout
out to everyone who submitted a question for this specific mailbag, even if we
don't end up getting to it today. Before I ask Dan how he's doing.
A couple of announcements to make. One is that we're going to start
making these Monday mailbags a more consistent thing, So just start expecting questions to
be submitted over the weekend. If you think of anything throughout the week,
just let us know via DM via tweet at us. However, however,
you can get our attention. We will do our best to pay attention to
it. And also we wanted to encourage everyone to follow the entirety of the
burgeoning Sports Math Network, which is the parent site for NBA Math. We've
we've started to do more at a number of different Twitter accounts, so if
you're interested, go ahead and give them follows. We have MLB Math,
which is MLB underscore math. We have NHL Math, same format. We
have QB Math which is the same format, and then the overall Sports Math
Network, which is the underscore sports underscore Math. And with all that out
of the way, how's it going, Dan? I am just in awe
of how good that introduction was. That's how it's going. How about yourself?
I practiced it exactly zero times. Wow, that's a lot. That's
more than usual. I know it is. I too was overwhelmed. I
sent out the first mailbag solicitation and like late Saturday night, thombest thing ever.
I'll start to do that during the week, although we might we have
like three mail bags worth of questions here. So the response on the morning
I sent them out on or afternoon on Sunday was great. I will be
better about the bad times when people are probably actually on Twitter maybe looking not
well. I think the key is that I didn't even make an effort too
like I had nothing to do with the that's a big deal elicitations, which
is why people actually responded, that's a big deal. Yeah, we're gonna
go about like lowering my workload. It's great. We're gonna look, we're
gonna try and be super efficient with these because we have so many questions,
gonna tackle the ones that came from hardwood knocks or via DM because I did
have a DM one before I even said about the solicitation. So let's start
there. Long time listener Raoul Clements, and I hope I didn't butcher the
pronunciation too bad. I'm just gonna assume I butcher every pronunciation. But he
asked, but what about a bletsoe for Luke Canard trade. I guess you
throw in lou Will to make the money work, or a bunch of they're
smaller salaries. I bet the Clippers already regret the Luke Kenard extension, given
that he's racking up DMPs letsos a little bit more of a point guard than
Beverly and Conard could replace JJ's role once they trade JJ. I don't have
a firm grasp on Knard or Bletso's value, but I would think it's not
super high for either guy. I'll just seize this and answer it. Luke
Kennard is incredibly difficult to move because he signed an extension and so he's just
operating under that poison pill provision. So he's going to count as a huge
not I don't want to get into like the super granular nuance of the poison
pill provision so that you guys already do to now, I mean I do,
but I'm not going to. But just as like a as like a
promer, he's going to count as a huge incoming salary for the other team,
but he's gonna count as a different outgoing salary for the Clippers, and
that just makes them unless you have you know, the Knicks are floating out
there, so you have a team with cap space to take on additional salary,
so you can make this work. But it's just it's incredibly difficult for
them to do so if you want, and I don't know that Bletso is
the best fit for the Clippers because of his own salary, they it does
feel like they need someone who can defend point guards better. Just I'm not
sure Patrick Beverley is there. A lot of people have mentioned this. It
does seem like he's more equipped to go after bigger guys now, and it'd
be nice if they could get someone else who could put pressure on the rim
for them. And the name that I've kept coming back to is de Lan
Right. And I don't know if you want to give up Lou Williams and
Terrence Mann to get the lawn right, I personally would, just because I
think of what Delan Right does defensively, and he's been hitting his set threes
this year in Detroit, so my assumption would be he could do more in
Los Angeles that he could also get to the rim a little bit more with
the way that they're spacing works. But you know, Bletso theoretically would be
a good fit, but he's proved to be too much of a zero on
offense in the playoffs, where if you got a Deln Right who's making essentially
half of what Eric Bletso is making, you could maybe live with having to
work around that a little bit more. Yeah, I mean, if we
are able to avoid the poison pilled provision and the financial nuances of this trade,
and just look at the two players in a vacuum, like I think
it does make sense for both teams. Bledsoe might not be the ideal addition
for the Los Angeles Clippers, but he would certainly still be a helpful one
just because of that point of attack defense, the ability to get to the
rim kind of be a steadying ball handling force, which the Clippers do need
occasionally, just since they are pretty reliant on some jumpers and some isolation sets
and all that. And Luke Kennard really would be a great fit for New
Orleans given how they've started to play recently. With Zion Williamson handling the ball
far more frequently both than transition and running pick and rolls, He's gotten so
much more comfortable taking control of possessions and hitting kickout opportunities when the defenses compresses
around him and route to the rim. So I do think adding another young
shooter like Kennard who can also put the ball on the floor out of those
those catch and dribble situations would make a lot of sense. But as Dan
mentioned right at the top, like the money is hard to figure out there.
Yeah, and the Pelicans just the luke Ar's not gonna do anything for
their defense, which is where they need the most help. But they just
need guys who are like between sixty seven and six eight at this point.
There's just like that glaring lack of stuff there. But I don't know,
you know, do you want him to fill the JJ Reddick role when you
barely want JJ Reddick to fill the JJ Reddick role right now? He's just
not playing a ton So that is interesting. And I don't think it's like
either is an ideal fit, But I think Kennard makes more sense for the
Pelicans than Bloods does right now, and vice versa. Correct, and Rabel
and I went back and forth. The DM's actually about other targets that people
could look at. This one comes from Miroslav Schuk, who is the last
number one pick who won a championship not assisted by another number one pick.
Yeah, we thought this was going to be a lot harder to research than
it actually was. The answer is Andrew Bogit on the twenty fourteen fifteen Golden
State Warriors, because as stacked as that team was, with Stephen Clay Thompson
and Draymond Green. There weren't any other number one picks on that on that
squad, so yeah, they that that would be the surprising answer to me.
And if you go back a little further, the next number one pick
to win a championship as the only number one pick on the roster would be
Lebron James with the Miami Heat. Greg Odin did not come around on those
two championship rosters, so he it was smooth sailing for him in that regard,
even though Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh together probably exceed the value of a
typical number one pick. Yeah, that was that was interesting, and a
lot of guys from the twenty two thousand and three had him, And yeah,
I'm like looking at the rosters now and I don't think we missed anyone
there. So that's it's it's really shouldn't be Boga because he didn't necessarily win,
like he wasn't the best player on that Warriors team, But it is
bogit And then, as you said, it's it's Lebron when you look at
it through the other context, were you surprised that it was that you didn't
have to go back further or were you surprised that it was not sooner.
I think I was surprised. I didn't really consider boged until we were through
the number one picks. Lebron didn't surprise me too much, just because you
know, we know that as stacked as those teams were, that there weren't
other number one picks. But then, like I'm just looking at the list
of top overall selections and I think the next one and I'm just eyeballing this
right now, it would be Tim Duncan probably who didn't he won later in
his career without any fellow number one picks, because I believe David Robinson earlier
in his career for his first title was a number one pick back from nineteen
eighty seven. Beyond that, like I would, I would have to look
and see if Shack played with any like number one picks who were just sitting
on the bench or something for those Lakers teams or the Heat team that won
a title with him, I think that he would probably be another answer.
So I guess, I guess I'm surprised that there are so many, just
given how few number one picks historically do win titles, especially with the teams
that drafted them, and none of those none of those answers aside from Duncan
answered the question with the franchise that selected them. I think I was surprised
that it came so soon. I guess because in the Super Team era you
just assume that more stars are congretting together, so that this answer might have
been tougher to figure out. But did the number one pick? Sample size
is just so small relative everything, so even if you're coming up with another
star, they did never be taken at the number one pick, and not
every number one pick would comes to star, So that was a very interesting
question. Hey everyone, before we get into today's pod, I want to
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To apply, go to BW hustle dot com slash join. That's BW hustle
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Five G built right from America's most reliable network, most reliable based on
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vary. Award is not an endorsement Brian College and friend, Brian, how
do you pronounce his last name? Toporek Am I getting it wrong? To
Pore Brian Toprex, Sorry, I definitely to poor X Sorry, I've definitely
miss been miss pronouncing that for way too long. Who is the MVP at
the mid season mark? And why is it Jo Well Embide? We had
other questions on this mailback too that I was asking, when is the media
going to acknowledge that Nicola Yokich is the clear MVP? I don't. I
don't want to be like the like the Debbie Downer here when it comes to
not providing concrete answers. I can't. It's a tough MVP race. But
if you were to vote for Lebron or Yokich or Embiide right now, I
don't have a good argument to say that you're wrong for any three of those
guys. I might push back on the Lebron one, like I get why
there's been such a momentum shift in his direction, just because it feels like
he's not going to have that many more opportunities to win MVP. I say
that before he plays for like another twenty years at a high level. But
just the slump that the Lakers have found themselves in without Anthony Davis available is
pretty telling. So like he's still not lifting that team quite as much as
we would want from a true MVP frontrunner. So like, I get the
argument, I just might push back a little bit on that one. Specifically,
when you look at their half court offensive numbers without him, I might
push back against your pushback there. I think, Oh, I mean,
they're terrible without him, but like he's not elevating them to the level of
a title contender single handedly right now, which it kind of feels like is
the assumption, given how much credit he's been receiving in these MVP conversations lately.
I still think it's between Yokich and Joel Embiid, And I'm willing to
put Janie's name in there again. Oh you're you're You're of the mind that
James Harden belongs in there too, aren't you. No? I mean,
I don't think that he's played enough for the team that he's on right now.
I would also argue that the first nine or ten games of the season
needs to matter. I think that's my old head yelling at cloud thing.
I don't actually mind the way he went about getting out of Houston, but
I don't know that you can do that and then win the MVP Award in
the same season would be my only grape. My pick would be indeed right
now, by the way over Yokich And I think it's just because of his
dominance at both ends of the floor, which kind of leads us into this
next question. This one comes from Rodrigo Race. Oh no, I'm sorry.
We'll get to yours in a second. But this one comes from t
JR. What chance does Yokis have to be the first center to ever lead
the NBA and steals should still be considered a horrible defender by I test Twitter,
I feel like he doesn't have a very good chance of leading the league
in steals. So I mean, like he's third right now, Like he's
averaging one point seven per game, which puts him behind t J. McConnell
and Fred Van Vleet on significant digits among qualified players. But like I just
I guess I have trouble believing that he's going to maintain that pace for the
rest of the season, considering he had not averaged more than one point four
prior to this season and was at one point two for his career and last
season. So I'm just not sure that the Nuggets really want him to be
playing big enough minutes with a movement heavy enough off defensive role to actually get
there. But if he did happen to win like yeah, like, he
would still be perceived as a weak defender who led the league and steal somehow.
I guess like monte Ella style. Maybe as strange as it might be
to compare those two players, I don't know where the perception of Nikolayoki or
where the actuality of Nikoliokich is on defense anymore relative to like the discourse,
because he does have really good hands for a big man, and I think
I think we tend to get like a biased view of that discourse too,
just because the TPA graphs that we put out at NBA Math, Like we've
said multiple times, I try to answer that kind of question like at least
once every other week, that yes, it is inflating his numbers because he
has interaction effects between assists and rebounds and the way the defensive portion of the
metric is calculated is by looking at overall value, which is a pretty solid
calculation, an offensive value, which is a pretty solid calculation, and then
assigning the defensive value to the difference, which is problematic. So his defense
in all of those pictures and those graphical representations is overinflated. So there tends
to be pushed back against that. But at the same time, like,
he's not a bad defender, and it doesn't take long watching the nuggets to
realize that, so long as you're watching the right way. Because he's weak
at the point of attack, he's not a great rim protector, but he
does so many good things in between those two terminuses of a defensive possession,
not to mention that he's a great defensive rebounder prevents second chance opportunities, which
I personally think should matter more than it typically does in defense conversations. Is
he a great defender? No? Is he a bad defender? No,
Like he's he's a good, passable defensive big. And with as we see
with so many conversations, it's it's hard for people to accept that the middle
ground is actually the correct answer because we tend to veer so far towards extremes
with almost every topic. Yeah, I'm totally with you. There's the middle
ground. I don't think he's terrible. I don't know that I would go
as far as good or passible, because I do think you want your big
like him, who's not going to, like you said, be this lockdown
guy from the point of attack. It needs to be more. I don't
want to say, he needs to be more consistent around the rim where he's
not going to get burned by an extra pass. And look, the numbers
are going to bear that out. The Nuggets have had trouble defending the rim
this season, and you have to put some of that on there. They're
starting big man, and I do again, I think he has great hands
you talked about is defensive, rebounding, and I do think there are certain
situations where he's can be an okay rim protector, like if he doesn't have
to, you know, react or pivot as you know, I guess it's
instantaneously to make those reads, it ends up being huge where he ends up
being fine there. But if you're going to have a big who's going to
anchor an elite defense, it's just I don't know that it's going to be
him. I think you can build a very good defense around him. I
just don't know that he's ever going to be like one of the three most
important anchors of that defense in any given line up. From a positive perspective,
that doesn't change anything he does on offense. And I do agree with
you that there's just this people think that he gets cooked all the time on
defense, and it's just and when you watch him, it's really just not
like that, because even if he defends high, sometimes he can make plays
up when he is really high. No, you don't want like he's not.
I'm trying to think of what, but who do you want him to
be? I guess as a big man will be like, no, he's
not Anthony Davis. And he's definitely not Rudy Gobert. But not everyone's going
to be Rudy Gobert. And there are people who argue that Anthony Davis is
a bad defender because the bed off splits. So I think ultimately he's better
at like elongating possessions and forcing the offense to have to make a few extra
decisions and settle for a marginally less effective shot than he is at just like
straight up ending a possession or making a turnover forcing play like we see Rudy
Gobert who's so good at recovering and Anthony Davis who can cover so much ground
and operate from the weak side and come over to help. And Yokich doesn't
like do any of those highlight worthy plays very frequently. It's just it's more
that he makes these subtle, correct decisions that make the offense's job harder,
and I think there's value in that. And there's also value in him just
being in the right spots too, when he's even getting burned around the rim.
It's I think it's probably more so of a physical limitation. It's not
any it's not all the time where he's doing something. I mean, you
even said he's not making these incorrect decisions, so it's not There might be
an element of physical limitations here where he's just not going to have the same
pivot quickness or lateral quickness in those situations where there is the extra pass.
So yeah, I don't think he's a terrible defender. It's it is I
guess the the eye test versus stats twitter though I don't. I guess I
never see those debates on whether Yoki just is a is a bed offend,
right. I feel like it's just stated that they happened in the NBA math
mentions a lot. I need to read the NBA math mentions a little bit
more, apparently, but I agree with basically everything you just said. This
question comes from Zach Williams. What do the Kings do about Buddy Healed?
I still think they've got to move him, Like this core just isn't gonna
work, and his shooting alone has so much value that you're going to be
able to find a home for him and commit long term to a backcourt of
darn Fox and Tyres. However, like you have those pieces in place,
Healed is a luxury item for a good team. He shouldn't really be a
centerpiece on a rebuild. And yeah, I mean, I think the only
answer is is that he's eventually going to get moved out of Sacramento for a
value. Probably. I was just very distractive because I was thinking about our
Yokich conversation. I hate that we get whenever there's an MVP discussion, we
get put in a place where we're like discrediting what's one of the five to
seven best players in the NBA. It leaves me distraught. I want to
make it clear to I think Kola Yoki is spectacular. I'm sorry, I
can't. I've been struggling with that. Whenever we do awards talk or you
know who, would you rather that we end up like sort of putting down
really good players Buddy Heeled For me, though, I would agree they need
to move him. He's shooting over his past fourteen games, He's going through
at thirty point two percent from three. I think they just doesn't look interested.
They've tried playing him with Halbert and Daron Fox together. It's just not
working. And I don't know that can ever work long term. What's interesting,
though, or I guess difficult here is I don't think that you can
just he has three years and sixty two point five and left on his deal.
I don't think that you can just move him for the sake of moving
him. I still think because shooting has value, and of how important he
theoretically could be to your team as a shooter if you get better, because
look, he's going to shoot better from three, Like he's not shooting sub
thirty one percent from three for the rest of the season. He's too good
of a shooter. The statues bear that out. He's been one of the
elite three point weapons over the past few years. I just think that can
you trade him for like a you know something? I was thinking, like,
would you do Buddy Healed for Gorgy Jang and Justice Winslow if you were
Memphis or Sacramento right now? And maybe that's tougher because Justice Winslow is barely
he just started playing for Memphis. But if you're you know, can you
do Buddy Healed for Buddy Heal for Aaron Gordon? Essentially be interesting framework,
right. I think as long as you're getting back a shorter term contract,
then you should be interested from Sacramento, especially if those wheels are greased with
like a second round pick or two just to get something. Yeah, I
look like you can't expect to get something Stanchiel back And I think that whoever
ends up landing Buddy he'll too, just based on the history of his three
point shooting, Like he's going to play better than he is right now,
most likely when he's motivated on a good team or even a more capable one
than Sacramento has been this season. Like whoever lands him is going to get
good value. Next question comes from Rodrigo Ray this time, and I hope
I'm not pronouncing that too poorly. Why are the Celtics so poor without Smart?
Is it something like the Warriors without Draymond Green. Yeah, I think
there's something to be said for losing a player who is both important on the
stat sheet and is an emotional heartbeat of the team. You know, Draymond
Green motivates the Warriors so much with his play and with his passion, And
it's similar for the Boston Celtics with Marcus Smart, like just you know how
hard he's going to play on both ends of the court whenever he is healthy
unavailable. And I do think it's hard to overcome that kind of loss,
even if he isn't one of the team's most important players. From an x's
and O's perspective, they haven't had the defensive weaponry on the perimeter to really
account for that loss, and it hasn't helped that Kemba Walker hasn't been what
they need either, Like they need aggression and the ability to get to the
rim. And when the defense is only mediocre without Smart, like that's that's
ultimately too big of a shortcoming for the Celtics to remain in that upper echelon
of the East as we've seen. Yeah, and I don't know that it
helps. I mean it looks smart. It's such a smart defensive player where
it's just like he can be in so many places at the right time,
and he's really going to make sure, you know, he's not going to
help off of guys if in me, you know, he's not going to
help off of the wrong guy. And you can look at that when the
Celtics are allowing a you know, a ton fewer corner threes when he's on
the court, and he's going to put more pressure without getting burned than some
of these other guys. And I don't know how much you know this necessarily
isn't a smart thing. But there is also the element of high variants to
Boston's offense, which is tenth in points scored per possession when you factor out
garbage time. But they only the Blazers take more pull up jumpers per game,
and they're twenty eighth in the frequency with which their shots come at the
rim. So when you're relying at heavily on jumpers, you're just going to
have those high variance, high leverage nights, and it opens you up now
without Smart, where there might be multiple ways that you get burned. I
think with Smart, though, they're probably a substantially better team than we'd seen.
But I still view them they're probably more than one player away from being
a genuine title contender, right, I think so. But I also think
that there's enough potential for internal improvement that that player might be on the roster.
It wouldn't surprise me if Kemba started playing more like the Kemba Walker we
saw in Charlotte. That's true, and that was enough for them to reascend.
If Peydon Pritchard starts to look like he did at the beginning of the
season, if Grant Williams has a sudden breakout at Tristan Thompson starts figuring things
out, or they give more minutes to Robert Williams the third and he starts
to stay out of foul trouble and make more of a positive impact around the
rim. On a more consistent basis, it feels like the Celtics are more
than one piece away, and yet they still have the internal ability to fill
those holes without needing to go on the trade market and let Danny Ainge do
what Danny Age wants to do, which is almost make a trade and then
claim it was closer than it was. He's made moves, but they typically
come in the offseason. He's just the master of not of like fake midseason
stuff. No last question coming from a hardwoo Knox account itself before we get
into others. Noah Odage, are you ready to stop doubting and believe in
the Knicks as a true playoff team. I'm assuming that's aimed at me,
I would think so. I feel like you've been more outspoken about the Knicks.
I mean, yeah, Like we're thirty four games into the season,
they're five, They're playing five hundred basketball, They've scored more points than they
allowed. There are still signs of possible regression. I opponent three point shooting
eventually needing to regress to the mean or progressed to the mean here, But
this is clearly a better team than we assumed at the beginning of the season.
Yes, and look, the defense has been great for them. And
I'm gonna have to do a make cultla here. I think because I had
a filter on of cleaning mcglass when I was looking at the Celtics stats that
said that they were tenth in offensive efficiency, they are actually thirteenth in point
scored per possession, and the defense is still holding strong at fourteenth and points
allowed per possession. But they've definitely been on the down swing without Marcus Smart.
The thing with the Knicks is just that they're twenty fourth in offense.
They don't take a ton of threes, even though they're hitting them at a
reasonable clip, and so you know, we can look at the defensive aggression
where I don't view them as a top three defensive team, but maybe this
is the season where that happens. Because the third best defensive team is allowing
one hundred and eight point one hundred and eight point four points per owners possessions,
and the Knicks are watchable, They are eminently watchable, and maybe the
fan, the deatingly disenchanted fan in me, is distraught that in a season
where the twenty one draft class is expected to be so good, the Knicks
are just, we'll say, wonderfully mediocre, to the point that yeah,
okay, maybe they end up with a lottery pick, or maybe they don't
end up with a lottery pick, but now you're missing yet another chance to
get that blue chip cornerstone because I don't think they have him yet. And
it's I just the way Mettell Robinson plays when he's healthy. I think he
can be a really good player, but not someone you build around. The
endgame with Julius Randall is temporary. That's just Julius Randall has been in.
He deserved to be an All Star this season. That's totally fine. I
don't. I guess it's too soon to write off R. J. Barrett,
but he needs to like and it's too soon to write off or J.
Barrett, but that's the really the only guy. I don't know if
it's quickly where you look at and saying, oh, we're going to rebuild
around him, and so that's maybe it's hard for me to separate that in
the East though, just relative to what's happening, I guess you can just
say, at this point, should the Knicks be considered like they're going to
finish you know, tenth, they're better at this point if we want to
consider the plan because all likelihood, yeah, they're still too close to dropping
out for me to be like, oh, they're going to finish sixth.
And absolutely get a game in the first round. I still want to go
there. They're currently what is it? Yeah, I mean it's only two
and a half games that separate them from the Atlanta Hawks, who I think
we have to assume are going to improve as the season progresses, if only
because they get healthier. The Wizards have been coming on strong. They're tied
with the Hawks and the standings right now despite playing two fewer games. So
yeah, I mean like the Knicks aren't by no means like safely in the
playoff lock picture, but yeah, I mean they deserve to be strongly considered
and probably favored for one of those top ten spots. This is a good
lead in to another Knicks question, how does Alfred Payton start? And this
comes from Marek Barnett. I will Alfred Payton is not currently starting because he's
injured. I don't know if this is just a Tibbs wants to, you
know, maintain continuity. But I will say one of the effects of Quickly
not being the starter is we've been getting to see some like Quickly Frankie Lakeena
minutes, and I gotta say those make my heart warm and fuzzy. I
don't know, why are they trying to showcase his value? What would be
the argument against You know, I think everyone's gonna be like, hey,
just start quickly. I actually won't really get too bent out of shape about
that, but why wouldn't you start, you know, Derek Rose at this
point, get over Alfert Payton again. Alfort Payton has not started the past
two games for the Knicks because he has a hamstring injury, I believe.
So do you have an argument for why Alfred Payton should start over Derek Rose
or Emmanuel Quickly? I got nothing there aside from the fact that Tom Thibodeau
as the coach and he's done a fantastic job. But Tibbs is still gonna
TIBs, and you know that he loves his veteran players, and he is
a stickler for being stubborn within the same season, and because Alfred Payton has
been starting all or Alfred Payton is probably going to continue starting while he's on
the roster because that's what Tibbs does. And the argument is if he was
shooting lights out from three, where it's like, you know, we can't
really trust Derek Rose to do that, but you're gonna trust Derek Rose just
more to play alongside I think Julius Randol and Barrett, or maybe he just
looks at it as hey, Peyton is the most accomplished playmaker that they have,
and you want to make sure that you know you have Julius Randol there
too, but you don't want to make sure that someone's cannibalizing too many possessions
from Barrett. I don't know. I don't know the samples big enough with
the Derek Rose era, and then we don't have a ton with you know,
the Neil Keena Quickly stuff. But I would argue that Alpha Payton should
not be finishing the season on this team, but the next again they're they're
tied for fifth, fourth in the East. Whatever. It is, a
five hundred, So Tibbs knows a lot that we don't. Tubbs as I'm
just laughing at the name. What is Colin Sexton's efficiency from ten how fish
is context and from ten to fifteen feet out? I used ten to sixteen
feet just because it was easier to look up with on Basketball Reference shooting fifty
four point three percent from ten to sixteen feet Bonus, that is the fourth
highest clip from ten to sixteen feet among thirty nine players with at least fifty
such attempts this season. Would you care to venture? Can you guess any
of the players that are in the top three? I guarantee you're not going
to get two of them. Yeah, I mean my my immediate instinct is
to go with Chris Paul, Nikola Vukovic and Chris Middleton. Okay, you
got exactly zero. I thought you would have gotten Kevin Durant. He's the
other two. You weren't getting Tias Jones fifty seven point nine percent between ten
to sixteen feet. This one, this one got me, but it shouldn't
have. Rishawn Holmes seventy one percent. That little push shot and it's definitely
not coming from ten feet out all the time, but shout out at least
like high on the leaderboard. No, oh cool, awesome? Let me
who who is your guest? First guest was Chris Paul? Ye fooch was
is seventeen at forty seven percent, and that was your highest the guesses,
So I am that's you know, Chris Paul's at forty four eight Chris Paul's
at forty four point eight percent. But he only likes to take like those.
He's probably shooting astronomically high from like unlog mid rangers, So that's what
it's gotta be. That's still a good clip ultimately, But I mean I'm
still like a little concerned about that Colin Sexton stat Like it's great that he's
hitting those. I don't really love that he's shooting a higher percentage of his
shots from both ten to sixteen feet and sixteen feet to the three point line
this season than he was last year and more than he did as a rookie.
Also, like, that's not really the way we want to see those
shot profiles trending as good as he's been this season, Like that might be
a valid knit to pick at, Yeah, and I don't. It's come
at the expense of mostly looks at the rim. And I don't if he
was taking more threes that would bother me as much. But his three point
at tempt rate is down. Still He's still a good shooter, mind you,
But I totally agree with you. That is something to to sort of
watch, But I remain I will continue to buy Colin Sexton stock. Oh
yeah, this is this is very much like a minor gripe like Sexton has
been fantastic, would you. So before we get into some of the other
questions that have to do with TPA, gavy ash Canazi ask what's t PA.
I feel like this might be the question for the founder and editor in
chief of NBA, math Adam frommel I don't know about you, though,
Yeah, I'm just like not entirely sure how to approach answering that it stands
for total points at it. It looks at a player's contributions relative to league
average production based on how many possessions they've played, such that an average player
slightly above average player who spends a lot of time on the floor is valued
highly, as is a guy who's way above average and a smaller sample.
So ultimately, it's a way of blending together per possession efficiency and volume to
have a single number, single number metric. We do not typically recommend using
it as the end all be' all, as gospel or anything like that.
The defensive portion of the metric is particularly shaky and should always be blended with
the eye test. But yeah, I mean, like, the beauty of
TPA is that we can calculate it all the way back into the early nineteen
seventies, which is not the case for many of the catch all numbers.
So we're sacrificing a little bit in terms of accuracy for that historical element that
was It's almost like you've invented the stat It's like that, that's how good
the explanation was. This is going to tie into it. And so it
look if you want to make the call of Yoka, just MVP case,
it's coming right right now here we got Anthony Anthony Moore. Latchie asked how
many teams have entire combined tpa's less than Yokich by himself. So I didn't
know what to expect what I dove into this question just because summing all of
the t pas on a team isn't something that we typically do, just because
there are like weird interaction effects and all that with that process. But I
did it any way to answer this question, and like the results. They
passed the sniff test. You know, like if you look at the bottom
five teams by summed TPA of all contributors, both the ones who are on
the roster now and who are on the roster earlier in the season, and
we're traded, et cetera, et cetera. The bottom five are are the
Minnesota Timberwolves at minus three sixty six, the Orlando Magic at minus two seventy
one point nine, the Cleveland Cavaliers at minus two forty nine point eight,
the Oklahoma City Thunder at minus two forty nine point three, and the Sacramento
Kings at minus two twenty six, which I think you would agree, like,
those are the bottom feeding teams this season, right right, Yeah,
So the top five we have the Brooklyn Nets just barely missed out. I
would assume they'll move into the top five as they get even more out of
their Big three. But the Phoenix Suns at one twenty point five, the
Los Angeles Clippers at one twenty six point eight, the Los Angeles Lakers at
one fifty five point five, the Milwaukee Bucks at two sixteen point zero,
and the Utah Jazz at two sixty four point zero. Can you just say
the number one team again? That would be the Utah Jazz. Yeah,
just wanted to at two hundred sixty four joints three. Sorry, but Yokich
has two hundred and seventy seven point seven TPA, which would mean that he's
out producing every team in the league. Now to follow that up even with
his contributions. The Nuggets are seventh in these summed individual contributions because the rest
of the roster has been so ridiculously negative, So their sum is eighty three
point four including his two seventy seven point seven. So yeah, Yokich single
handedly has more TPA than every team in the NBA. Second place in individual
TPA is Jannis at one seventy eight point five, So only the Jazz and
the Bucks, which obviously include his contributions, are ahead of him. So
it's not like just Yo, I think we're going to see that kind of
thing with a lot of stars. I was just surprised to see how those
numbers worked out. We have another stat related question, Chris as Why does
defensive point saved say Dylan Brooks is a bad defender when he's a great on
ball defender. Yeah, Dan and I talked about this one before we started
recording, just because it is such a good question. I think it's similar
to what we've seen in the past from guys like Avery Bradley and Klay Thompson,
where their statistical profile just doesn't necessarily lend itself to sterling defensive metrics because
they aren't producing steals and blocks at an elite rate. They're not really strong
defensive rebounders, and so much of their best work tends to come in on
ball situations and the result of a good on ball possession is usually a pass
so that somebody else has to take a shot, and that's just not going
to be captured by these metrics. Plus, like the Grizzlies have been a
mediocre defensive team, so he's not going to benefit from any like team effects
in this particular metric. So I think it's pretty clear that if you watch
him, you see how physical and how relentless he is, and how many
good on ball skills he has. It's just not being reflected in those stats
because these catchall metrics aren't going to capture anything. And it's just yet another
reason that you know, the eye test and stats are not these polar extremes
that are in constant conflict. There pieces of the same toolbox meant to be
used together, and in this case, like you can create a nice balance
where like Dylan Brooks isn't doing enough to be viewed as an elite defender,
even if he might look like it on some possessions, But the eye test
is also making it pretty clear that like the numbers that says one of the
worst offenders in the league are obviously wrong. Yeah, and look, he's
an important part of what is the twelfth rank defense right now, and so
you can call that mediocre, but to be with the injuries that they've dealt
with too in Memphis or the lack of availability and the lack of availability for
them to be purely from a statistical standpoint, like I would consider anything close
to fifteen like mediocre. And look, opponents are averaging and I know this
isn't perfect. Just point seven seven points per possession against him in isolation this
season, an incredibly small sample size, but that is in the seventy fifth
percentile. If you were looking for some Dylan Brooks love. That doesn't for
the TPA questions, are you said a little bit? I figured, but
I'm willing to move on Jaden McDaniels. We have a question about Jaden McDaniels.
This is from Colin Matisse Krause give us Jaden McDaniels content. So the
question is, what's Jaden McDaniels the ceiling. Now, I'm not trying to
insult anybody or make a joke here, but for anyone doesn't know, Jay
McDaniels plays with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and they've been all over the place this
season. Uh you know they did just they just hired Chris Finch's coach like
three seconds after they fired Saunders as the Ryan Saunders as they're their head coach,
their their defense. They've barely had Karl Anthony Towns this season. He
and Daniel Russell, by the way, fun fact, I've played in just
five games together since the trade, which was over a year ago, and
I know a lot of like weird stuff has happened, but that's just an
incredibly low number for them. Anyway. Their weakest point, their weakest position
or spot in the rotation, I would say, is that four spot.
Jade McDaniels has given them someone who can fill it capably on defense for sure,
like that. This guy's just all over the place for someone who is
only us only you know, six, nine is still pretty big. His
block rate is absurd and he makes like real plays. When I saw I
did actual research for this question. I went back and watched a lot of
Jade McDaniels. He can break up plays from behind, He doesn't need to
be set to make these plays without failing either. He does. He can
have really good hands at points too, but really just a you know it
can as a helper or just someone who's gonna make a play at the rim
absolutely huge for them. I would say, a pretty good rebounder for his
position into the swing. Skills for him is gonna be what is he gonna
do on offense? And he's shooting thirty five point one percent from three on
five point two attempts for thirty six minutes, which is fine. They're not
going to need him to do stuff off the dribble a ton, but it's
forty one point nine percent on two's is troubling. He's only shooting forty eight
point one percent inside of three feet. What gives me maybe hope for him
is I think it was the game against a game against Chicago where he's put
the ball on the floor and made some plays where like guys have bounced off
his shoulder and he was able to create separation. And so if he can
do that, I would think he'll eventually become a better finisher around the rim.
I don't know if he'll ever be someone you could trust as an off
the dribble shooter, per se, but as someone who could put the ball
on the floor and score at the rim and then knock down standstill threes and
then be let's say you like your second best defender of really good in really
good lineups, if you want to say your best defender. So what his
ceiling is? I couldn't think of like a good comp because some of the
stuff he does on offense happens in really slow motion, and so I'm trying
to think of like who would make a lot of sense for him, and
I just I couldn't come up with anyone. So I thought of like a
like a straight to DVD version of Ogn and Obi maybe, And that's not
me just trying to be cruel. I just don't think he's going to have
like the one on one chops that that Og does, and we've seen a
lot more from Og on offense that app also might just be a terrible comparison
overall, So there's a chance that he's going to be pretty good and for
the Timberwolves who have scooped him up and people forget he was drafted twenty eighth
overall in twenty and twenty. He was by the Lakers technically had that pick,
but like he's this is not like someone who's I would say he's still
coming out of the blue. But he was a first round prospect, which
certainly matters. So I do think if you want to say three and D
with a little bit more on offense, I think there's absolutely a chance he
can turn into that type of a player. I think the comparison, and
it's one we saw a lot before the draft is Jonathan Isaac. I think
he can shoot better than though would just be probably so. And the way
I view McDaniels, he was coming into that twenty twenty NBA Draft as probably
the single rawest NCAA prospect in that draft class, Like the tools are there,
the consistency, the IQ they aren't, which we saw flash a lot
at Washington where he just he was not as impactful as he was supposed to
be as a freshman. He did not have a lot of success there whatsoever.
But like if you ask me, can Jaden McDaniels be a knockdown shooter?
Yeah? Can he create for himself off the dribble? Yeah? Can
he guard all sorts of different positions? Yeah? The question is like whether
he's going to be able to mesh those skills together. I think he's He's
probably one of the better examples of like a really low floor, really high
ceiling prospect, and we just have no way of knowing without seeing what he's
what he's doing on a day to day basis and practice and shoot arounds and
all sorts of stuff, which of those extreme outcomes he's going to hit,
because it does feel like the bottom and the top for him are further apart
than they are for almost any twenty year old. This is way too early,
but if you look at the trade details of how the Timbers required him
on draft night this past year, just the four team deal, it was
a three team deal. Excuse me, who would you rather have? And
there's so much more moving parts here. Ricky Rubio was involved, But would
you rather have Jane McDaniel's long term or Alexey Pokashevski. Probably McDaniels, just
because the wing, those oversized two way wings tend to be the most valuable
commodities in today's NBA. And I think just even though there's a high range
of outcomes, those top end results, if they're achieved, would be so
much more impactful, and I think it's okay to talk about fit when you're
out of the lottery in that case, and while Polcu might just have he's
gonna he should be more dynamic offensively if he fills out, because even when
he was inefficient in the NBA and he's had better moments in the G League,
he was still interesting. You have Karl Anthony Couns, and so I
don't know what poker was doing for you. Where Jane McDaniels can absolutely play
alongside Karl Anthony Towns. This question comes from is their name next to this
account? AJ? Can you do net ratings since the hardened Brooklyn trade?
Adam? It turns out we can because I already did. How about that.
I'm proud of you, that's all. I'm always proud of you.
So just particularly right now, let's start with So, let's start with Houston
before the trade was nine games and so the way I set this up,
by the way, is I did it for Brooklyn. When we get to
what I did it for the first game since that James Harden actually played,
it wasn't the first game since the Traders. I think he missed two.
Maybe I'm actually off on that it was at least one, so I tried
to filter that out. But Houston before the trade minus four point three points
per one hundred possessions was their rating. Houston since the trade minus three point
four points per one hundred possessions. I will say though their offense was twentieth
before Harden left, it has been twenty eighth since, and it looks like
it belongs to be twenty eighth since the Christian Wood injury has obviously impacted that
a little bit. Brooklyn, But I mean we've we've always said that,
you know, the problem with Houston was was James Harden. Yeah, it
makes sense that they've been slightly better without them. The nets this is before
the James Harden trade plus five point four points per one hundre possessions. They
were six and six at the time. If if you guys care about that,
they are fifteen and seven since since the first game Harden played again,
want to make that clear, plus six points perne hundred possessions. Their offense
has gone from seventh at one hundred fourteen point seven points perne hundred possessions.
They are second over this ban at one hundred and twenty two point four points
perne hundred possessions. Everyone cares about the defense, as they should. They
were thirteen before the Harden trade one on nine point three defensive they are a
rock solid twenty fifth since then at one sixteen point four. The thing we
haven't seen enough of is Irving Durant and James Harden playing together. And this
is the last thing I looked up, because I'm sure people care about this.
They've logged three hundred and eighty three points or three hundred and eighty three
possessions together. Their offensive rating is one twenty six point four and there their
defensive rating during that time, by the way, one thirteen point three.
And so if your offensive rating is going to be creeping up on one thirty,
you can have a defensive rating closer to one fifteen. And it's okay,
Yeah, I mean, I don't really have much to abb there because
it feels like that's like exactly what we were expecting. It's the decision they
made, and I'm just going to be interested to see whether they do anything
to beef up their defense at the trade deadline. Right, do we have
to follow up on that before we move on to the next question, like
we did we did see that. You know, Spencer Dinuity is being floated
as a potential piece to be moved four in season help. So I think
it's it's clear both from our perspective and from the next perspective that there will
be a move made so to bolster that defense. I have a question,
and I think I know he's coming up an ac L injury, but I
view his bird rights as valuable if you're a team that doesn't have cap space.
You know, if you're Orlando, isn't he kind of sort of exactly
what you need in the backcourt against faults? I would, yeah, I
would can definitely consider acquiring him if I'm a team. It does seem pretty
shitty to want to move someone who was instrumental and like getting you to where
you were a pre k d Kyrie and then while he's injured. But from
the callis perspective, I think Spencer didnwod he can help a lot of teams
when he's healthy. Here's a question. Also, my sense from the outside
too, is just that like Dinwoody, probably more than a lot of other
players understands like just how much of a bit of business the NBA is.
So I think, like if you're going to do that to anyone, I
think he would at least understand do you own Spencer Dinwoody Bitcoin? Do you
own Spencer dinwod He staff. I don't understand any of that stuff, and
I'm not going to pretend to. We can get into that. Maybe maybe
we can get into that on another podcast. Uh, this is funny that
I just brought up a question and then closed it out because apparently I'm an
idiot. But so this one, this is an easy question to answer.
Lima's uh handle master underscore red with two d's. Why do analytics prefer running
to the three point line on a fast break over cutting to the basket?
I just want to point out before they don't. They don't. Yeah,
this is I'm assuming the simple as that the Jamal Murray Michael Porter Junior gaff
to end the Nuggets game, I messed up like it's it's as simple as
that. I do want to know why Jamal unless he was expecting Porter like
he was getting ready to throw a pass. I don't know why he picked
up his dreads exactly what it was, so that was probably think he was
just he was so convinced that one of the two guys, especially Porter,
who was in position to do that, was going to cut towards the hoop,
and it didn't happen, and he had to adjust from there, just
like after his teammate made an incredibly boneheaded move. But yeah, I mean,
like there's don't assume that analytics just means shoot more threes. Like that's
no one has ever said that, Like, yes, teams should be shooting
more threes, but they should be taking the right shots. And unless you're
like an open layup at the hoop, an uncontested open layup is going to
yield two points per possession, right like NBA players are not going to miss
that shot, which means disagrees. But carry on. If you if you
think that you should take a three pointer over a layup to improve your expected
points per possession, that means that you're expecting that three pointer to be made
sixty seven percent of the time, and like that doesn't happen. So yeah,
like nothing in analytics says that you should be taking three pointers over uncontested
layups. And I don't think that players you would there's would be a question
for them. But let's say at Draymond Green, I think quite often we'll
pass out of what looks like an open two to an open three point shooter.
It's either instinct, maybe they know who to shoot is maybe he trusts
Stephen Curry. And also if you're going through a slump or Draymond Green just
seems really hesitant to score on offense. That might be more about the way
a player is wired than or than the wave. I don't think he's in
real time being like, oh, this is analytically a better shot from Kelly
obray Junior in the corner. If it's Steph, maybe it's a debate between
a Draymond you know, floater and his Steph three. Or also, like
you just said it like it's a Draymond floater, it's not yet lay Like
he's not turning down wide open paths to the basket. He's turning down like
slightly contested shots because he's not the greatest finisher. He's also these are these
are player based decisions. He's also turned down some pretty wide open looks.
But I agree for the other thing, it's like, yeah, analytic probably
errors too far on that side. Analytics also does not say don't shoot mid
range jumpers. Do you think someone's analytics also doesn't say anything analytics information that
people who are assessing said information then decide what it says, right, And
no one's telling Chris Paul or Kevin Durant to shoot less from the mid range.
It's that if you're going to be a catch and shoot guy, it
makes more sense for everyone else on your team for you to stand behind the
three point line, because one, those shots are worth more points, and
two you're clogging the lane for others. So this is I'm and this was
a question I think from Master Red. I'm not even trolling them. I
think people actually believe this, and it's just not you know, And I
don't think anyone should only be looking at the numbers either. We're all there's
analytics and the eye test need to work in concert. And I don't know
why this is still like a thing. And that's not to insult the question
asker. That's just this. The entire debate just really is. It's tired
at this point. And one of my two biggest pet peeves on this topic.
One is just the assumption that more threes is always good, regardless of
the situation and the circumstances, and the other is that like thinking that analytics
have created this like homogeneous play style, Like, yes, every team takes
a lot of three pointers now, but if you watch the games, like
you see how differently they work to get those three pointers. Like it is,
even if the end result of a possession is the same across the board,
it doesn't mean that the basketball played to generate that attempt was even remotely
similar. Let's get to this was a fun betting question. Which team this
comes from Colton Johnson? Which team has been the best against the spread this
year? Would you care to take a guess before I reveal the results?
I genuinely have no idea. This is I never pay attention to the betting
stuff, so one thought would get the dark here. It's the Utah Jazz.
They have covered against the spread seventy three point five percent of the time
twenty five and nine. If you want to as a favorite, which has
been pretty incredible for them, they are twenty third. Techi second because Okoma
City is one hundred percent against the spread as a favorite because they've only been
favorite once and they won that game. Dude has twenty three and eight against
the spread as a favorite. If you look at as an underdog, just
to quickly wrap this up, the Phoenix Suns have the highest cover percentage as
the underdog, It's seventy five percent. They're six and two. San Antonio
is second eleven and five against the spread when when they're an underdog. So
for all, for all you betting knicks out there, I just found that
interesting. The Jazz would have been the team I think that I predicted it,
else it actually might have been Phoenix, But I feel like I have
a fetish for the Suns at this point, So that's probably based on that
information. And again, like this is coming from a place of total ignorance
with all the betting stuff, Like, does that mean that the Lakers are
probably the worst against the spread as a favorite, just because it seems like
Utah is the small market appeal and people have trouble get grasping that they are
as good as their record is indicating. Whereas like I can see how the
betting lines might take advantage of people's willingness to ride the Lakers, and betting
lines are I believe, at least to some extent, like a reflection of
the action as well. So I think so, but I don't want to
say that definitively. The Lakers are fourteen and eighteen against the spread as favorites,
and I think that tells you all you need to know is that,
Okay, this season, the Lakers have now played what are they up to?
In games played? They've played thirty four games and they've been favored in
thirty two of them. Is that right? Yeah? So thirty two of
thirty four. But yeah, I mean that's there's an element of that in
there. But I did Utah as the favorite. Technically I'm going to view
them as one instead of Oklahoma City just because they never get to be the
favorite. That's cheating, But I don't care. Shout out to the Jazz
this season killing it. Hey, look, speaking of my fetish for the
Suns. We're gonna get well, we're gonna wrap up soon here. We're
gonna get through twenty questions on this podcast in about an hour. I feel
like that's called efficiency. Fred asked, is Devin Booker the most overrated player
in the league? If not, who is? Now? The thing I
just want to point out here is that Devin Booker is absolutely just not overrated.
And anyone who listens to this podcast knows how we collectively and at least
I personally feel about Devin Booker is an incredibly undervalued passer, even this season
when you're looking at the turnover problems he had at the beginning of the year.
Someone who can score from pretty much every level by creating for himself,
getting guys on his hip. He is just he is so good. And
I think it's been downplayed a little bit because of how good Chris Paul has
been. And if you want to argue Paul has been more important because of
his crunch time performance, I'll listen to it. But Devin Booker is a
top twenty five player in this league and its hands down for me. And
I think I left him off my All Star ballot. That was just the
All Star ballots are wild this season, That's all I can say. Do
I regret it, I don't know, but I'm happy he got in.
And look, I'm not discrediting anyone for getting in as an injury replacement.
By the way, it is his second time in two times being an All
Star. But you know, Donovan Mitchell was not. Excuse me, Darren
Foxx is up for that spot. Mike Conley this year, You're not he
beat out those guys. That's actually an important distinction. So my personal opinion,
I don't think Devin Booker is overrated. Does anyone spring to your mind?
Do you think he's overrated? And do you think? Oh? I
don't. I don't mean any offense to the question asker here, just personally,
I don't really love questions about players being overrated, because how do we
determine how rated they are in the first place? Like that baseline is so
important to this question, So if I have to answer it, I think
it's typically going to be a younger guy who the general perception is that they
are more valuable and further along in their career growth than they are. So,
like, the first name that came to mind is like Tyler Hero,
because he had like so many impressive rookie season moments during the Heats run to
the NBA Finals and just has not managed to live up to that. And
I'm not sure that perception has adjusted accordingly. But even then, like,
it's really clear that Hero has a future as a star in this league,
and there are so many good things that he does, so it's not like
saying he's overrated now it means he's always going to be yeah, that I
don't have now that I'm not writing, and like more in the editing world
and the podcasting world and the stat based world, like I don't have to
answer at the overrated questions as much, and I'm glad about that. I
don't know that I've given I don't know when the last time I've given the
thought to the the overrated question was And people seem to just regurgitate the same
names. Again, This isn't an insult to the person who asked the question,
but it's it's Zach Lavine, it's Devin Booker, it's Trey Young,
it's you know, I don't know that it's all relative. Untila Russell might
be another answer. I almost feel like perceptions probably skewed two four. If
you have a guy who can hit off the drible jumpers, like forty two
percent from pull up three S four's injury this year, I have to think
that that matters. Like you could also go towards like the viral moment people
where it's like that they like there was a point where he's so now this
is actually but I'm not even gonna say it. I can't risk gard down
or podcast being down. Voted again, and I'm not even sure that I
meet it. But Tyler, here might be an example where there's a rush
to coordinate, and we might have been there with Devin Booker at one point,
Jason Tayum at one point, where there was this rush to view them
as something they weren't ready to be, and that's probably the genesis of a
lot of the issues here. In some ways, it's like almost a compliment
with these younger guys, where like the expectations exist for a reason. It's
not like those just came out of nowhere, like they did something to generate
those expectations, and even if they haven't been able to meet them consistently,
like they still got there. It's kind of like how you know, Skip
Bayliss likes to criticize Lebron James or like missing a clutch jumper or not being
willing to take one or something without acknowledging that there wouldn't be a clutch opportunity
if not for Lebron James's work in the first forty seven minutes of the game.
Yeah, it's a good point. Let's get to a rosier question.
It's another Sun's question though, because like I told you I have a Sun's
fetish. Kaid Horneck asked which player in the buyout market would help the Sons
the most. I'm willing to open it up to trade targets because the buyout
market has not fully developed at this point. If you want to pinpoint maybe
someone that you think could be bought out or someone who's cheap on the market.
I just want to cut you off first and say that this is like
the most dan Fa Valley question imaginable, to the point that I'm questioning if
this is one of your burners, like a buyout slash trade question about the
Phoenix Suns. Yeah, that is my brand. You wrote this right.
Look this awesome to say is this Twitter profile has photos and everything on it.
So shout out to k if you're asking a great question. So I
don't. It's tough because they don't have guys that you can just move there
when you look at what would tenderly be their best salary matching anchors. You're
not moving Paul or Booker. You're not giving up on eight and this point.
Can you move Jay Crowder nine point three million? Can you move Dario's
Arch nine point three million? Sure? But why do you want to who
are you getting back in those moves that makes you want to move those guys
Starch at the five line ups have just been annihily opponents this year at both
ends of the floor. That does lead me to who would be my trade
target for them. I think a lot of people want them to sort of
lock down the guard position a little bit. But it's hard to get a
George Hill just because if you're not willing to give up Jail and Smith,
then the money matching there just gets incredibly tough, and you're talking about like
a four for one. Basically. I do understand the thought process of,
well, you know, do we trust Cameron Payne and his performance this season?
You probably should, but it's worth considering. I thought about PJ.
Tucker just because I think DeAndre Eaton has been incredibly good on defense overall.
But if you need someone who can maybe defend higher or if you want to
if you have to go up against lineups that are super diversified or smaller,
and you definitely can trust PJ. Tucker more than Dario Sarch in that role.
Probably get to reunite him with Chris Paul and it's probably a package where
it's like Javon Carter still an excellent defender, but he's not really hitting his
threes this year, and then abdel Nader, maybe you have to include a
second But like that package for PJ. Tucker feels like it really solidifies a
team where I don't know that the front court rotation is their biggest weakness because
that really depends on how you much you trust campaign. But I also have
a problem investing real equity in the backcourt right now when you have Chris Paul
Devin Booker on your team, where it's like, you know what, let's
just ride the Cameron Payne wave. And so that's a guy that stood out
because maybe you don't trust John Smith or you shouldn't. He's just, you
know, I don't even know what the Sun's planned for him is at this
point. He's not going to be the one that tips the scales in your
favor. But Tucker doesn't also only have to play the five, and yet
he's cheap enough to where you don't feel obligated to close him. And with
teams like that are deep, like the Suns and the Jazz, I'm not
just trying to overcompliment the Sun's here. You know, you can look at
a Lakers team and be like, oh, I could identify, like maybe
there's someone that can be in their closing lineup with the Suns or the Jazz
whoever you require is just probably not going to be in a closing lineup most
of the time. And so Tucker, yeah, he could be in some,
but he's someone that you don't necessarily have to feel obligated to close with.
H Yeah. I think the only thing I would add is like more
generic buyout candidates who could make sense for the Suns, just as add a
depth like Trevor Areza, JaVale McGee, like just those those typical, like
role playing names who would be good on any contender at this point, Like,
I don't think that they're going to fill a specific need with this year's
buyoup market. Yeah, and like, no one's really going to buy out
a guard that could be you know, serviceable, right either if Jeff t
comes on the market or brand wannamate, Like that's not that that's not going
to be it for them. Yeah, I'm with you there. Next question
comes from Morpheus. Is the salary cap going down next year? You're gonna
ask me if this is my burner too. Next year's salary cap is set
as at this point for one twelve point four million. My guess is going
to be that it just comes down because the revenue is going to be down.
I don't know how salary caps based on VRII, which is almost certainly
going to go down as we continue to not have ticket revenues. Well.
At the same time, the teams there's like more than half the league does
have fans coming back to capacity. So I know they baked in the change
for these projections. I'm just curious how heavily they did and what ends up
happening. You know, we're not we're not out of the pandemic yet,
so there are there gonna be missed games. How many teams don't play seventy
two games, what happens during the playoffs, all that stuff matters. So
my guests would be that it goes down. I don't know, but I
think they're gonna do They'll do what they did this year if it comes to
that drastic I don't think they're gonna drag it below the one on nine point
one. It'll be smoothed out if it needs to be, just because the
NBA knows the teams operate on multi year plans, so you can't disrupt strategies
too much by having like gigantic cap swings. This will be our final question
and our twentieth question. That feels like a pretty good number to get through.
This is a little bit more topical. This comes from Andrew Blake,
who was the biggest All Star snub. Oh, it's Chris Middleton about a
doubt. It's it's between him and BAM for me, and Devin Booker might
have been up there too with someone who didn't put him on his ballot.
Though him can I call him a snub? But he made it eventually.
Bam has been so good and I couldn't believe that he didn't make it.
So those two feel like the right answer. Chris Middleton, I guess because
he cooled off a little bit, but he is. He's just fantastic.
And even if you think he's we made the Middleton case on earlier episodes.
But I think to me it comes down to like team record too, Like
Miami is still below five hundred, even if it's gotten better as the season
has progressed. Milwaukee is pushing for the number one seed in the East again
and like Middleton has been a huge part of that, it would be between
those two For me, I'm not sure who would I mean, I think
i would lean Chris Middleton just because I'm probably always going to value just the
wings that can create. So if you think he's overrated on defense, that
could scue it because bam is you know he's a fantastic defender. So and
I would say that like Trey and Conley are probably the next tier of snubs.
Yeah, I would agree with you there. That will do it for
this mail bag, we will. We were inundated with questions. Maybe we'll
do a second one at some point this week because we had a lot of
questions that we did not get through. So apologies to anyone who's listening at
the Nether question answered please please, pretty please. I'll remember to rate,
review and subscribe to us wherever you are getting your podcasts iTunes, especially even
if you don't use us rating interviews there help us out a ton. These
mailbags are going to be weekly on Mondays, and I guess in this case
maybe we could potentially throw in a second one. Will we will, We
shall see, But until next time, I'll leave you get the shout out
two to one, the only every single member of the Phoenix on his team
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