Speaker 1: What is up, Fellowsiko's I am Dana Valley coming at
you with mister mort Yensen of the NBA Podcast, fame
of Yahoo Sports, fame of Sports, fame of just general
celebrity Internet and Filter has a million plus subscribers on OnlyFans. Yes,
at least, yeah, at least yeah. I mean, you know what,
I'm not a sture to refresh your page. I'm not
up to date on the and I know you have
the different tiers in bands, so that makes it tough
to see how many of you have mort anyone who
knows Now it's crossover week here at the NBA Podcast
in Hardwood Knock's always a fun time of the month,
especially for Grant, who's like, I don't have to talk
to Dan as much does. He gets so excited.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you want to join and he's like, oh,
are you gonna be on it? I was like, well yeah,
and he was like no, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, what he doesn't tell you is she actually
pays me to take these.
Speaker 1: We're clearly making too much off of this podcast of
his half has the will income necessary to write before you.
We're gonna talk about though, the NBA trade deadline one
month ish, since we're a couple of days past the
one month mark later, which just a good time to
do it one month. See how these bigger names, or
some of the more consequential deals, how those are panning out.
Sorry to New Orleans Pelicans and Raptors fans, like, there
just hasn't been enough fallout from your deal. Had brandon
Ingram done more than sign an extension, maybe we would
have tackled both ends of the spectrum. But before we
get started, the most important question we will ask on
this podcast, how the heck are you doing more?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. I'm doing well. There's I was just
told that we're finally going ahead to redoing my office
a little bit, because it's been like every time I
go on webcam here, I feel bad because my entire
situation behind me looks like I'm a hermit, which just
like puts everything into one place and never does anything
with it. But we've had so much issue just getting
stuff into our place and buying the right cupboards and whatnot.
Things are looking up, Dan, So within the month, we're
finally going to get the hang of my office to
the point where I can actually feel presentable it's nice
look forward to me.
Speaker 1: Because the finished product is just going to be wall
floor to ceiling mirrors and then you will podcast in
the nude. Is that like the.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be the very very exciting backdrop of a
major closet, which I've had endless fights with my wife about.
But obviously she prevailed that's fine. I say, it's fine.
It's not, but it is fine for the sake of
my marriage. So I'll just have to accept that the
backdrop is going to be a very boring ass closet
and if it excites you, yes, I will take my
damn shirt off. It's fine.
Speaker 1: It's funny you're fighting with your wife. I fought with
my wife over the weekend because I said, after Nuggets
thunder on Sunday, I said to her, I was like,
why don't you love me with the intensity that Nuggets
fans go to bat for Nicole jokicch for MVP. Right.
She looked at me this like look of discuss washed
over a face, and she took that to me that
I was going to vote for SGA. And now we're
in the middle of divorce proceedings. There's just an innocuous question.
I haven't made my MVP pick yet. I thought that
was I thought it was a totally over the top response.
But here we are.
Speaker 2: That's fair. That's fair. Look look that that is the tree.
Maybe those that question should actually can be included when
you give your vows, like or when the minister is
like setting everything up, like will you cherish this person
as much as demmer Nuggets fans like their affection to
Nicola Jokic, And if the answer is like, maybe it's
not good enough. Sorry, you know what.
Speaker 1: To be fair, this isn't an I saw a nugget.
I think because they lost, like the team lost. This
is just like I want someone to defend me with
the intensity that fan and like their MVP pick. That's
basically what This isn't enough. I mean, this isn't Nuggets.
I've seen some pretty like like over the top responses
from Thunder fans and media as well. So I just want,
I just want someone to care for me and defend
for me like that.
Speaker 2: It's nice, like you gotta feel cozy. I think if
you have someone fighting for you like that and just
give you that amount of love too, like you, you
you'd be bulletproof mentally bulletproof going through the day.
Speaker 1: There's no natural segue to do this, but let's dig
into someone like the trade deadline fallout from this uh
and go check out More's Mort's piece on Somebody. He
talks a lot about a lot of these deals a
month later on Yahoo Sports, so go check that out
as well. But we will begin right the hell now,
we begin with the Atlanta Hawks. Key additions Terris Lavert,
Terrence Man, George Yang, key subtractions, Bo, Doug Bardanovich, and
DeAndre Hunter. I don't know how you felt about what
they did at the trade deadline, moret in the moment
or if there's one player in particular. I think Lavert's
the easy one here to focus on. I was not
kind to them at the trade deadline. How are you
feeling about them, about any of these specific guys one month?
Speaker 2: One month later, I'm feeling better because, like you, I
I was not a happy camper. I thought it was
I thought it was a weird, weird two weird trades,
and I thought, in particular the Hunter trade was puzzling
because it seemed like something clicked. I'm still not in
love with it. I'm still not to the point where
I'm like, oh, great trade for Atlanta. Like I'm at
that point where, Okay, Karas Lavert and George and Yang
at least is giving you the amount of production and
efficiency right now that makes you kind of okay ish
with it for now. It could get ugly down the line, though,
so I'm not necessarily ready to say, oh, this was
brilliant for Atlanta, but at least I'll give them this.
It's working out right now in terms of their individual
production at the very least.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, George Yang's been shooting the hell out
of the ball and absurd volume from three. I think
Karas Lavert it's only been had like thirty percent on
catching shoot threes, but shooting over fifty percent on drives.
I like the I think you can see the outlines
of what they're trying to build here more so than
I did in the moment, and like getting rid of
Hunter and Bogdanovich, I do think clear it's clear the
way of you even more minutes for Reeseche, who's been
shooting really well from three since the trade deadline, I
just I don't know, like like even some of the
stuff you like, like they've gotten some really good run
out of the Trey dice in Lavert Nyango Coongo lineups.
But they don't feel and I know Jalen Johnson's not there,
but like they don't feel big enough or dynamic enough
on the front court just now. But I think if
you squint, you can kind of see a right they're
trying to surround Trey with a bunch of defensive optionality,
which I guess would make a ton of sense. And
then the key there is kind of finding the secondary
ball handler that can fit within that. Uh maybe Lavert
is that the offense is in the eighty second percentile
when he plays without Trey right now, which is a
pretty big deal getting smoked on defense during those minutes,
though I don't know that. I guess I feel a
little bit better about it. Now. They have a ton
of room under the tax leading into next season forty
plus million dollars. They have to resign. Their only key
free agent is Lavert, so that money is you know,
they'll have plenty of wiggle room, I guess, is the point.
And if you're exchange like the Hunter and Bogdanovich money
from next year, maybe that factors into this. It just
sort of I don't like there there even since the trademark,
their tenth in offense and twenty fifth in defense, and
like three point shooting has been floating a lot of
that offensive structure. This is just a team where like
I said, if I squint, I think I see the
outlines of what they're doing, but I don't really still
understand their just direction full fold. And I think the
offseason will probably be pretty telltale of that. Not the
least of which, as both you and I have mentioned
a bunch of times before, Trey Young just has the
one more guarantee year left on his deal before free agency,
and so if they think that they're going to keep him,
and that's what I don't know if you read on
the trade deadline, was this even just looking at the
setup of their roster with you know, prioritizing someone like
man you have Dice and Daniels Resiche, it does seem
to me that they're really trying to make it work
with Trey Young long term. Do you do you have
that type of read from them at all, Like from
the trade deadline, I think.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna say that I think he's necessarily the
first priority like with a bullet, but I think he
is in their long term plans. It felt like to
me this was a move that kind of was tailored
around Jalen Johnson and Risa Cha moving forward, because I
do think those are their two most bendable building blocks,
like you can slide them up and down multiple positions.
You can't do that with Trey. So I think what
they're trying to do is basically say, Okay, let's let's
make sure that we have guys who can produce at
a certain level around these very these two very all
around level guys in Richoche and Jalen Johnson, and then
we have Trey Young as are not quite you know,
super elite quarterback, but like a quarterback who's good enough
to get you into the playoffs. And let's let's just
hope basically that the further evolution of Dyson Daniels, the
further evolution of Unego Kongbu, of Risha Chey himself, of
that matter, that's enough to take you up a level.
I think those are some of their thoughts that they've had.
We'll see, though. I still think they had to go
into the summer with a very open mindset in terms
of making roster alterations. I don't think they're done whatsoever.
Speaker 1: If you were to keep quickly before we move on,
if they want to keep say the bones of this
team in place, what do you think ends up being
their bigger need. Is it to kind of get like
a more of a front court upgrade, probably at the
five over in a Cungou Capella type setup, or is
it would it be like the secondary playmaker route who
doesn't compromise your defense, which LeVert is like he filled
that role in Cleveland. He can't, so in theory he
could be able to fill that role, but he is
a free agent. What do you think becomes more pressing
for them?
Speaker 2: To me? You said it the center spot. So like
I have admitted this for the past couple of months
because I was one of those guys who spent two
years banging the drum that hey On Yachokungou was just
too productive, too good to not start. But at the
end of the day, he's six 's eight, and the
league has pivoted back towards size. Capella is getting older,
he's he's very limited in what he can do. You know,
he's very He's a strong defender, he's a good rebounder,
he's a good rim runner. I'm not knocking that, but
outside of those three elements, there's not a lot to
you know, squeeze out additionally from from Capella at this
at this stage, so you're looking at giving Okongo a
six to eighth center more minutes, which kind of negates
the size advantage that you have in Johnson and Rische Like,
if you want to be a big team, you also
need to make sure that you're big upfront. So I
think center is the most pressing issue for them. They
can find Karis Laverte types in free agency, like they
can go out and make those signings within like the
mL feels like I haven't. I have not yet looked
at their roster and like what they're projected to do
next year, like financially, if they can actually afford the
non tax emily If they can, and I think you
can find someone like him, you can try to resign
him at at a lower deal. The center position to
me is the biggest one. Now how to upgrade that
one is also a big question mark to me because
do you have the assets to actually go out and
find someone I don't know the entry to that.
Speaker 1: They probably could cobble together the assets but it's also
it's weird because you mentioned a Kunglu like you're working,
you're trying to upgrade from what's a really good player,
it's just that good. I think that they have limitations
where it's you know, like use a Kungou Niang minutes
as an example here, Like you're still not even a
league average defensive rebounding team during those stretches and a
lot of those minutes are coming with you mentioned them,
Rees Daniel, So you are getting good positional size elsewhere
and it's not enough to offset it. And so I
think I would be with you there, especially because you
say they could find Karros Lavert types. They might just
have Karros Lavert like yeah, Avert money that they won't.
Speaker 2: Sorry you cut you fell out a little bit at
the end. Were you asking me a question?
Speaker 1: No, it was just more rhetorical, like where you said
they can find Karroslvert Laverse type elsewhere, but it's they
have Karros Lvert and who's gonna come in over the
top in free agency? And like give all this money
to Karris Lavert given that if they're not willing to
pay him non tax payer mL money, then then like
we can have a different discussion, and that would lead
to some you know, like more wholesale inquiries into their direction.
So I agree with you that I think it's the
front court. But it feels very weird to say because
a Congo is so good and like he's held up
playing over thirty minutes per game since the trade deadline,
so expanding his role has been fine. But I do
think they're always going to be there's like kind of
a cap on their defense. If if this is gonna
be your because even look, replace George and Yang with
Jalen Johnson, like you're gonna sell a lot of the
same limitations because Jalen Johnson is not the greatest defender either.
Speaker 2: M question before we move on, do you think there's
a world where in Kobe Buffkin comes in next year
and it's actually that Karslavert type player.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just we haven't seen enough of
him and so he needs to stay healthy. And then
if you if you do have Trey Young on your roster,
like what is going to be your stomach for development
at that level where it's okay, we have someone who's
techically two years into his career but hasn't played a
ton I like Kobe Buffin coming out of the draft
as someone who like play will play hard defensively, can
kind of be more of a steward on the offensive end,
not like a capslock playmaker, but maybe make some shots
get to the rim. But we just haven't we haven't
seen that, like with any em ones of consistency at
the NBA level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's only twenty seven games played over the course
of his career, but that that would that to me,
would be like a major boom for them, Like if
he comes in and gives you that off the bench hunch,
both in terms of like playmaking, scoring, defensive intensity, like
if he comes in and it's actually like a six
man caliber player, and let's say he is that even
after you've re signed Laverte as well, all of a
sudden you have a trade piece. All of a sudden
you can make additional moves.
Speaker 1: And also just the secondary playmaking stuff like if you
have enough spacing, Dyson Daniels can do some of that.
And then look, Jalon Johnson's just he's out for the
year and there were some growing bans with his ball handling,
but they might just like he is their second best,
Like I would say playmaker or just you want to
put someone on the ball to either score or make decisions,
Like he's their second best player at doing that right now,
even though he's not playing. Maybe Lavert has the edge
a little bit in that department, but you probably just say, well,
we'll piece meal together with Buffkin and Daniels and like
maybe rees I can do more with that in addition
to LeVert and and Johnson. Next up on the docket
in the alphabet is Mort's Chicago Bulls. We assign possession
of the Chicago Bulls to Mort on this podcast all
the time. For anyone who's watching, he's he's flipping off
someone who's not me. I don't know who it's. They
must be off camera. Key additions more Kevin Herder, Zach Collins,
Trey Jones, key subtractions, Zach Lavine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well look, this was always a god awful trade.
I understand why the Kings and Sons wow the spurs
of just the word in Chicago, because they knew they
could dump those contracts. I will say this, Sack Collins
has actually played pretty decently. Kevin Herder as well, for
that matter, Like it hasn't been you know, Sack Lavine
level production from any of them, but it's been you know,
Trey Jones has played probably to the extent that I
expected because he's always been pretty solid. It's always low
volume with him, but he's perfectly capable of running the show.
Herder's playing off of everyone like he's not hitting a
whole lot overall, but he is hitting the three ball. Finally,
Sack Collins is the big one for me. So I
wrote about this over at Forbes. Basically, the Bulls have
now been given somewhat fortunately a chance to do something
with that contract, which was otherwise going into the summer
as just like a big lumping nothing. Now you can
actually go into the summer and say, look, if you're
interested in a Sack Collins, we have some data on him.
Because he wasn't playing in San Antonio. The spurs extended
to him, and you kind of realized shortly after, like, oh,
there's actually no reason to do that because he doesn't
fit alongside Wemby. Now with Nikola Vucevich out, he's been
given a lot of minutes and he's producing at typical
Sat Collins fashion thirteen points, almost nine rebounds. He's playmaking,
he's hitting the three ball, like you can actually go
out if you're the Bulls and shop him. Now, knowing
the Bulls, you'll probably do it too late and you'll
end up with the cruso. You know. Josh Getty kind
of returned there. But at least it gives him some
optionality that I don't think they had before. So for
the Bulls is probably better than we thought. Still it
greaches all the same.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Kevin Herd her stuffs, but he just
has such like low lows. Now he's only shooting thirty
percent on catching shoot threes. He's done a lot of
his damage efficiently off of pull ups, like thirty nine
plus percent there. Since the trade, Zach Collins has been
weirdly okay, Like you said, they've won his minutes, shooting
like seventy five percent at the rim, fifty six percent
on twos that are in the paint but away from
the restricted area. I just I think I think with
Herder people still kind of undervalue like the ability to
maybe reboot his value if you want an expiring contract
or even if you're just trying to increase your flexibility
moving forward. It's not about like getting off of longer term, like,
you get Kevin Herder, who might be a useful player
for you, and also the Bulls could probably use him
if you're just looking at like even if you're rebuilding,
I think the skill set that I would overpay the
most or assign the most veteran value to as part
of a rebuilding team is good shooters, and I think
Kevin Herder can still get there. To that point, I
think I look at their trade deadline, though less favorably
than I did in the moment, because the zach Lavine
return was the zach Levine return. It just seems like
he was owed too much money and the way that
the league is and teams are reticent of the acquiring
these big contracts in the new Aprons era. But like,
how is that the only thing you did? And I
like Matus Buzzellis is playing a ton appreciate that. I
think Nikolo Vucevich, like his minutes can be pro tank
when he's healthy. Yeah, my whle thing is just how
is that the only thing you did? In hindsight, it
beats me.
Speaker 2: I am in full agreement with you. I mean, look
the fact that the Crowning Return was getting their twenty
twenty five draft pick back when they could have bought
him out and make sure that they kept it regardless.
That to me is again it shows a front office
that is lacking in imagination.
Speaker 1: I think my only counter to that, but this would
still be on the front office is if you kind
of look what's going on in the East, even if
they attempted to bottom out, they might just still fall
ask backwards into the play in tournament, and so having
control of that pick inshores they get to keep it.
At the same time, had this organization been run properly,
they never would have been in a situation where they
let's say they overachieved, they wouldn't have like they didn't
need to get to this point where we might too
many games or stumble into the play and like you
could have made up rebuilding or tanking ground. However you
want to frame it u earlier, which you should have.
So is there very quickly any of these players, I
guess it's Zach Collins of the three, Like you just
feel maybe a lot better about like with them since
the trade is that where you were basically not for
the ball.
Speaker 2: No. I just think I like the fact that they
now have a player who I think has been Upton
value a little bit compared to what his value was perceived, as.
Speaker 1: He's definitely been better for them than he was for
san Antonio. Next team on the board, I think we're
gonna say a lot more kinder things about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Key addition, nobody right, no key addition, DeAndre Hunter, key subtractions,
Karras Lavert, George Niang before I throw it to you,
I think one of the things that deserves more praise
than it has gotten is the Cavs' decision. I know
we all thought it was like a pretty good trade,
but to shake things up when they were still rolling
to the point where it's okay, you're gonna have the
one seed in the East, you're one of the best
teams in the league. It would have been very easy
and defensible by the way to just stan pat And
not only did they not do that, but like you
go after someone who, Okay, DeAndre Hunter hasn't started a
ton of games, but like he is a prominent part
of what you're doing. Like, it was a real shakeup,
And so I commend them for having the gall to
look at themselves and say, you know what, we're amazing.
We're gonna roll the dice on trying to be even
better than that.
Speaker 2: You know who I commend. I commend DeAndre Hunter for
an entirely different reason as well. He was going through
a breakout year. He was taking more shots, he was
more aggressive on the floor, like he was basically finally
coming into his own Like I would understand the motivation
of a player getting traded mid season of a breakout
to come into that new team and say no, no, no,
I'm not losing this momento. I'm still gonna jack shots.
He has been just a pillar of team oriented play
coming to Cleveland. Like he takes open shots, He'll take
open driving lanes and get to the cup. But he's
not forcing anything. Like I wouldn't have blamed him if
he came in and was like, no, no, I got
to look out for my stats. I got to look
out for me. I need to get up to that
eighteen nineteen points. But this dude just embraced this winning culture.
Who's like, yeah, I'm gonna ingrain myself in the right way.
My my personal belief in DeAndre Hunter coming into this
season before we knew of the breakouts now, just the
fact that we saw him break out first and foremost,
and now we're seeing this total team buy in. Like
I would refuse to hear anyone call him an overpaid
player again at this point right now, He's not. He's
just not. He is a major acid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would echo everything you said there fifty threes
since being in Cleveland, and they've used him a lot
where we haven't actually seen a ton of him with
the four other starters, they've only logged forty possessions together,
and they're killing it during that time because of course,
but so they're basically using him in a lot of
one of those one big setups. They are plus twenty
point four points per one hundred posessions with DeAndre Hunter
as the loan big and notably here too, and like
it's coming to span when Evan Mobley's three point shooting
is cooled off shootings, everyone was shooting seventy one percent
on twos when DeAndre Hunter's on the floor next to him,
like with no other big, they've opened up. Like I
know their offense was good to begin with, it's been
their first and offense since the trade deadline. Second in defense,
they haven't lost yet since the trade deadline. This team
is if if there were any holdouts on whether they're
a contender or not, like it's time to stop holding
out there. So and the other thing too with Hunter,
like he's been I think he's done exactly what they
needed defensively, and so like we're working with small sample
sizes because they've only played a game against the Celtics.
On possessions in which DeAndre Hunter has guarded Jason Tatum,
the defense is allowing point four to six points per possession.
Flip it to Jalen Brown, the defense as a team
again allowing point nine to three points per possession. Like that,
he's gonna be a very, very valuable body in the playoffs.
And I know that Luca was traded. I know that
there were some bigger names traded, but there's a chance
that this is the guy who warps the championship discussion
or outcome maybe more than anybody else who is traded
at the deadline. Yep, I think big time w from
the Cavs, who by the way, did not give up
an actual first round pick to get him either. As
another big deal here another team. More, I don't really
know what you're gonna say about the Dallas Mavericks here like, oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, at least Anthony Davis looked awesome in his
one game for the franchise.
Speaker 1: Just like the poetic I don't want to say it's
poetic justice, but just like the forma of making that
trade and then having Anthony Davis get injured in the
first game for the Mavericks, it really sucks for a
d but it's man. Nico Harrison and I just look,
Max Christie's looked really good for them too. We could
at least say that.
Speaker 2: We can say that, but but can we also like,
here's the thing to me, Like, obviously everyone's gonna talk
about the Luca trade. They also severely fumbled the Quinton
Crimes trade.
Speaker 1: That too, Well, did you see the reporting that he
asked for the trade, because okay, I didn't see it
at first either. It was related to us in our discord.
There's another reminder, that's why you should be in our discord.
Mort What the fuck?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really should. Yes, I have the time, obviously,
I only work eighty hours a week. Yes, I'll come to.
Speaker 1: Well that's it, you've cut down. Congrats. So he apparently
asked for a trade in the fallout of what happened
with Luca is how that's being framed. And I just
find that funny that the Luca Doncies fell out began immediately,
whereas players are looking at this organization and saying, what
the fuck is going on here? So they did fumble it.
I'm not saying like this doesn't give them any cover
at all, but no, mayd honestly look even worse.
Speaker 2: I mean, and that's a restricted free agent too, Like
he's like, think about it, if he went to a
team where he wouldn't play, for example, he would have
just murdered his own contract value. So this guy's was
This guy, apparently, as I'm just learning right now, was
so determined to get out of that situation. And he
was like, oh, screw the fact that I'm a restricted
free agent, I'm just gonna I'm just not gonna stay here,
Like he would have had an open path to like
twenty points per game. He could even have improved his
own kid by staying with the mask.
Speaker 1: And he was like, well, nope, nope, maybe not because
so I guess even if you assume that, yeah, there
definitely would have been more opportunity there, because you couldn't
have predicted that Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving would both
get injured. But you also could have predicted that Anthony
Davis would have been out at some point and the
offense needed right more options. Now, if you are Quenton Grinds, though,
if you just see what they did the Luca, even
if you think you up your value, you know how
valuable bird rights are and restricted free agency. Because no
one hands out offer sheets. You trust the Mavericks not
to completely low ball you slash play hardball because I
don't think anyone is gonna want to even maybe some would,
would they tie up their non tax payer level exception
in a Quenton Grinds offer sheet. I don't know. I mean,
he looks like a genius after that look.
Speaker 2: I I was high on him all year long. I
know the Knicks fans speak into the punch when he
came into the league, like I'm not saying that that
that they weren't on the ball there, but then he was.
He kind of became a journeyman and he was like
added additions to a train like he was he was
a throw in. Like people sort of said all like
this guy's never who you know who played for the Knicks.
This this he's done. I love how he's played in
Philly and it on a personal note, I take great
pleasure out of it because I don't like the way
the MAVs handfled the post trade of Luke and like
it's one thing to go in a different direction, but
to go on a two to three week Schmeer campaign
of fat shaming him and calling out like traditions and
like just how he is as a human being and
even alluding to issues. It's just it was so weak
that I greatly enjoyed watching them lose the Quentin Grimes
trade as well.
Speaker 1: Absolutely uh and look it looks even worse because not
only has Kla Martin not played, but like you needed
to adjust the parameters of the trade because the physical
was was so bad. But Max Christie is really what
should be the focus, Like the Mas lost the trade deadline.
It doesn't like it's what if you're any like something
that stood out to you about what he's doing. I've
definitely liked putting the ball on the floor and attacking
on drives more. I am curious and we're going to
see more of this as the season goes on. I
assume there's still limitations there as like an actual creator
wherever You're gonna try and have him run pick and roll,
which I assume his volumes up and it's going to
containe you to climb with all these injuries in Dallas,
I don't see it. Like and defensively still solid. I
still don't see if you're looking for him to be
a more dynamic offensive player than maybe someone who can
hit threes, get his own offense going downhill, but not
do much more. I don't know if he has a
higher ceiling than that, but I will say I didn't
think he was gonna play like that, like he became
the Lakers like go to perimeter defender by the end
of his time there, So I never would have predicted
that either.
Speaker 2: I'll say as much though, and I'm I like Max Christie,
but I also think the superlatives have become a little
too aggressive, because I'm I'm just gonna reach you. His
last eight games all right, eight and a half points
per game, thirty four point seven percent shooting from the field. Overall,
that's where we are. So he's falling back down to
earth to a point where you know, he showed this
leap on the radar immediately after being traded, which was
very encouraging, but I have taken note of the fact
that he has dropped down significantly since. So I'm like,
I don't want to put him in a situation where
I'm just praising him too hard so he goes into
like next season. Not that he would listen to what
I say at any point, but like, I just think
we shouldn't crown him too quickly here. We should perhaps
acknowledge he had a good first leap of the radar
after he was traded, and now he has to find
his sea legs.
Speaker 1: I you know, I honestly think though that might come
back to what I said, whereas he is so he
needs to be dependent on not just maybe others to
set him up with the threat of them. This is
someone who on the year is in the eleventh percentile
of self created shot making efficiency, and I don't think
he's just not in the best situation to optimize himself.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The driving though, for that's been something that I've been like,
the volume of it and some of the finishes there
that I've been fairly impressed with. So I found someone
who's lower on me than Max CHRISTI that makes me
excited let's talk Detroit Pistons. Mark go through all their
key subtractions at the deadline. Who did they lose that
They're just they're really missing.
Speaker 2: I'm actually surprised that you brought up the Pistons because
you know, I get it. It's it's Lindy Waters. That's
why it's it's a homage to to Grant. I get it. No,
they got Dny Shorter in there. That was nice. Do
I think this dramatically altered their season or their top
potential for this season? Not? Not specifically, No, I mean
Shorter has been fine ish.
Speaker 1: So can I counter that by saying I strongly disagree
with basically everything you're saying, except Okay, Denis Shooter individually
has been fine. If not, if you were to look
at it in a vacuum, say well, maybe it's a
little disappointing. You added someone who helps you now without
having to take on any long term money or give
up as yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so.
Speaker 1: You increase your ceiling while also then increasing your or
maintaining your ceiling for flexibility moving forward. The biggest difference
for me, though, when you watch the Pistons, kid Cunningham
getting to play off the ball even more. We've seen
the share of his buckets that are coming off assists
go up dramatically. When he's playing with Dennis Shrewder mort
he is shooting fifty three percent on twos and forty
seven percent on threes. Shrewter as someone if you're going
to play him without Kaid, he's going to struggle offensively himself.
But the Pistons have won those minutes mostly with defense,
some good three point shooting, and transition. I think that's fine.
So I think this is like a big deal to
have someone who can take the ball out of Caid's hands,
Like during your top end lineup minutes, you're in the
ninety nine percent tile of offense with the two of
them on the floor right now. So I think that
they've I guess the thing I would disagree with the most.
I think they've probably materially changed their ceiling this year
because they see more dynamic with Kid on the floor.
And if you're talking about just eating innings during the
regular seat or trying to buy a little bit of
time in a playoff series, you have more competent non
cab lineups, And this is all like coincided with I
don't think Dennis Shuder has been a driving force of this,
but they have the league's best defense since the trade deadline.
If you were sort of to nitpick where they feel
still offensively like vulnerable, they're like bottom five and turnover
eight during this span in their defense. A lot of
I think if their defense success excuse me, and I
don't think this has received enough attention. A lot of
it's like predicated on they need to be set, and
it's like if you're committing turnovers, like their defense is
not going to be set, and they've been getting blasted
in those situations.
Speaker 2: I think that's fair. I think you raise some very
fair points there, especially because they didn't relinquish anything and
you're play basically playing with house money in many ways.
With Shorter, I think, to me, it's because I've seen
this movie before. I generally do not trust any Shorter
unless it's like a feed of competition, because that just
seems like that's where he's best wired. It seems to
me that in NBA context, he'll have these moments where
he goes in, has this positive influence for about fifteen
to twenty games, and all of a sudden, something just
kind of happens whether it's his intensity, it's his energy,
it's his commitment, it's its devotion, whatever you want to
call it, something slips. So I generally come into this
with a much lower opinion of Dennis Schroeder than most
other people. I've also watched a ton of him just
kind of messing up the Terman national team. Like, I know,
they won the World Championship. I'm not going to sit
here and say they don't. But you have guys literally
saying I'm not going to join the national team because
he's there. So like there are issues, like he has
locker room issues as well. We've heard that ever since Atlanta,
and some of these issues just persist on the national level.
So whenever I hear like the name Dannis Schroeder and
upgrade in the same sentence, I'm just immediately like, for now, sure,
for now, it's fine. Ten games from now, fifteen games
from now, I guess.
Speaker 1: I guess My point though, is even if Dennis Schreuder
is bad, the malleability it gives them to use Kate
Cunningham in different ways, even provide him in game breaks,
and then it's yeah.
Speaker 2: That and that's the one. That's that's the I actually
agree with you on that one, because you're right the
fact that they don't have Jade and Ivy, for example,
available because he's out for the year, then you need
someone else to handle the ball because who who else
is out there to really do that on the perimeter, Like, yeah,
Jalen Juran is a good passer, not necessarily from the perimeter,
Like he's a good interior pastor, like he'll find people
at the like at the elbow or in the post
and whatnot. User Thompson has some potential as a playmaker,
but not quite there yet, Like who do you really
trust with the ball in his hands? A whole lot?
Like I personally, I probably would have tried out Marcus
Asser a little bit more, but I understand that he's younger,
he's not at that level yet, and frankly he might
have been a little overrated based on what he did
last year. So you're kind of at a point where
it's totally fair to wonder who the hell is the
offense gonna flow through when it's not Kate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm excited to see them in
the playoffs, and they're like within striking distance of fourth
place in the East. Now it's this is just freaking
wild one of them. There's always like those big disconnects
for me, at least of impressions you have of a
team going into the season versus where they end up.
This is going to be like if they finished I
don't know, like fifth or fourth in the East, this
will be like one of the all time just biggest
disconnects that I've ever had.
Speaker 2: I was hoping that they would actually end up with
trade Jones at the trade A line. I was sitting
there hoping that they'd make like a play for him
after he came to Chicago, because then they could have
traded him as a singular contract. That was the player
I was looking for there for them, who I think
would have made a ton of sense'll do.
Speaker 1: Why do you trust him more? Why do you like
him more than a Shrewder.
Speaker 2: More more composed, more composed player? I think I think
he's far more disciplined in his game. I think he
is more intentional as well defensively, like he knows what
he's going for. Yeah, he's short of stature, and I
know that that Schroder is quicker, like more athletic. In
that regard, Jones is stronger. I think he's smarter. I
think his screen navigation is significantly better. I like his
his his playmaking more as well. Like shorter you can
you can, you can sort of painted like this Schroeder
high end Schroder is a lot better than Trade Jones.
The question is to me, how often do we get
that version of Dinnis Shroeder, and I don't think it's
very often, whereas some with Trade Jones. I believe his
floor is fairly high, Like you get a level of
consistency there from game to game that you won't necessarily
get with Dennis ten or fifteen games. That's fair.
Speaker 1: I was rooting for them to get a shooter because
I pitched it so much on the podcast, Oh nicely,
That's why I was rooting for them to.
Speaker 2: Get that sure fair congratulations then thank you.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors who traded for Jimmy
Butler and who knew putting good players around Steph Curry
can go a long way. There no no offense to
Andrew Wiggins, but there was a lot of the amount.
I'm not the type of people who would basically subscribe
to the thought process of people forgot who Jimmy Butler
was but the pretzel twisting that went into trying to
prove why Andrew Wiggins would be more valuable to Golden
State than Andrew Wiggins. Why Jimmy Butter be less riable
to Golden State than Andrew Wiggins. I just can never
get behind. And they've look, they have Jimmy Butler. They'
of course lost Kyle Anderson, Denis Shooter, Andrew Wiggins can't
forget Lindy Waters. The third either would have been your
impressions of the Jimmy Butler experience in Golden State so far.
Speaker 2: It's been when I think most of us anticipated that
here comes the guy who is an extraordinarily gifted to
a player, and youre giving that to Steph Curry to
wrap up the last couple of years of his career.
Like you're making them competitive? Do we think it's, you know,
championship level competitive. I hesitate to go that far, but
you're at least getting a guy in there now who
is the secondary playmaker who gets you to the free
throw line, which, if memory serves, the last one who
could really do that at great lengths was Kevin Durbrant,
and not the.
Speaker 1: Same like you want like rim pressure too, like write
your shot profile a little bit like they've when's the
last time like Johnathan Aminga comes close, But it's just
not nearly as dynamic as you know who it is.
Speaker 2: It's Cory mcghetty.
Speaker 1: That's that is a throwback name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's that's probably the last time they had
a guy that good at actually just getting to the
foul line. So so it's like we're not breaking news here.
Jimmy Butler coming onto this team was was good for them.
The fact that he's like he's actually struggling with his
shots a little bit, and and that only gives me
even more, you know, reasons to be optimistic moving forward,
because if there's a guy who will always find a way,
it's Jimmy. We know this, We've seen that historically. So
when his shooting percentages are going to increase and when
he like feels a little bit more relaxed in that system,
more comfortable, I could definitely see them level up a
little bit more. Again, I really hesitate to like call
them a championship contenter over the next couple of years.
Maybe they surprised me. I am not there, but I
do think they're like the super low.
Speaker 1: So I have them. I wouldn't have them as Tier one,
but like, I probably view them as close to as
like as like they're on the Knicks Nuggets tier.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 1: I think they're a contender. If honestly, if you made
me rank my top five contenders, they probably come out
like I have. It'd be Denver, OKAC, Cleveland, and Boston
in some order for the top four. I probably have
Golden State fifth. Right now. I think I would echo
most of what you said. It's been interesting too, like
they've played generally so well with him, and you mentioned
him struggling within his shot. There's just been games where
feels like he's settling and not getting to the basket
as much and taking shots that you don't necessarily even
want him to take. You have to imagine that that's
not gonna be every single game. And I think you
mentioned the free throw stuff. They are second in free
throw attempt rade since the Jimmy Butler trade. They're in
the ninety nine percent tile of generating free throws when
Jimmy Butler's on the floor. That is just the dynamic
of this team where he's going to be even when
he's not at his best, probably give you a more
consistent floor on offense and even defense than a Jonathan Kaminga.
And I think, look, this is big. I know it
may not matter as much in the playoffs, but you
know what, at the same time, small samples matter in
the postseason even more because of how short the postseason is.
They are destroying opponents. When Jimmy Butler plays without Steph
Curry right now plus seventeen per one hundred, that is
an element. There were points during the Kevin Durant era
where like those numbers were still even murky. So to
have someone in Jimmy Butler who gets there's you the
ability to get Steph braks by one displacing him from
the ball even more when he's playing, but to actually
navigate minutes without him, I don't know that we can
overstate the importance of that, and the reason I would
be hesitant if I was to try and undermine my
own point to loop them in as a title contender.
And I don't actually mean this as disrespect to Jonathan Kaminga.
How does this all work out when he's playing a
bigger role? Can he and Jimmy both be plug in
play at the same time when you're gonna have Draymond
or like another big on the court and so you're
not gonna have that spacing. I am way more optimistic
about it though than I was, just based off how
well they've performed since the trade deadline. And look, part
of that is Quintin Post being able to open up
the floor for minutes, but like that matters. Getting Brandon
pujemski Is three point percentages is now dipped, but he's
been playing better since he came back from injury. I
think that this team, I don't know more, there's just
something here, and I framed it as at the time
of the trade, they've definitely increased their lightning in a
bottle potential and I'm not even saying they found it.
I think that they've they've elevated their floor in the
playoff conversation, I think a lot more than even optimists
like myself said they would at the time of the deal.
Speaker 2: Before the season, did you ever think you'd make like
a legitimate Quintin Post point about like an NBA team, Like,
oh yeah, like his spacing opens up. It just came
out of nowhere. I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, even Key Santo's like giving him a
good minutes. So like I did not think, I probably
could have predicted I'd be mentioning Key Santo's at some point,
just because I had I have a track record of him.
But Quinton Post, no, no, I would have been if
someone would have mentioned that to me, I would have
I try to not be condescending when I disagree, but
I easily would have laughed someone off. You know, keep
an eye on Quinton Post.
Speaker 2: It's fantastic. I love I love those success success stories.
Speaker 1: And by the way, just the value going out because
we're gonna get into the heat in a second, perfectly
reasonable value for Jimmy Butler because I Dennis Shuter like
to then use his salary as part like it. Maybe
you could have cut out a step had you said, like, oh,
let's not give up three seconds for Dennis Shooter and
make this trade. But like Detroit was just willing to
take Dennis Shooter, they wouldn't have been able to do
that with danfey Melton because he's injured for the rest
of the year. And I think Wiggins was good for
this team. But what Jimmy Butler gives you on offense, specifically,
is just so much more dynamic, even if you like
Andrew Wiggins at this point better as your primary on
ball defender.
Speaker 2: One final question before we move on, what do we
make of Tray Saction Davis his future moving forward? I
can't figuring him out. We're one hundred and twenty games
into his career now, I'm still I can't figuring him out. Dan.
Speaker 1: I so part of me thinks that he's gonna need
to be on a team that has better spacing in
the front court if he's ever gonna make like a
true impact. But I also just think that stuff with
him is going to come and go, and he'll have
these small burths when you look at his size and
where he's best suited positionally. So he sort of like
he has a lot of different skills that are worth plumbing.
But I don't know that he's ever gonna have a
like a skill set that you can market him for.
Speaker 2: No, He's he's extremely like when you think about it, right,
you know, excellent shot blocker, high efficiency player. He really
knows when to like take the right shots. Like, for
fox sakes, he shot seventy percent from the field in
his rookie season. He says he's a surprisingly good passer,
is especially like from the short role situation, strong ass rebounder,
Like all those elements together should should give you something
even in today's league, and yet it's mob up beauty.
I just wonder what the hell is missing. If it's
between the ears, if it's like motivational stuff, it's like
that occasion, I don't know what it is. I just
don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I would even
call him a fantastic rebounder. And I don't think that
the shot blocking he has ever necessarily translates to like
deterrence or actual rimt protection too. And I wonder if
he would be if you could say that your power
forward or maybe even your center, and you're like, you
can't play him with Clinton posted on again, but if
there was more room to open up, Like it feels
like he needs to be on a team that is
going to have someone alongside him in the front court,
maybe two people when you're looking at that three spot too,
that needs to open up the floor for him to
have his true impact. And even then, do you think
that he could be a classic case of like there's
value in versatility, but Just because you're versatile doesn't mean
that you're valuable, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 2: It does? You know he really is his father? What
you think about it? Dale Davis just a complete non shooter.
Just everything around the rim, everything is like they are
one to one in so many ways. It's actually quite interesting.
God damnit, Dale, why didn't you teach your son to shoot?
Speaker 1: Why is it on him? How many levels of basketball? Like,
wasn't he busy being an NBA player? There should have
been a coach or something that helped him with the shooting.
Speaker 2: I don't care's responsibility absolutely.
Speaker 1: At this point. Yeah, it was definitely blamed Dale Davis.
There's the there's the shout out everybody was waiting for
on this part. Some some some Dale Davis slander. Next
team up and really player the Clippers so key edition
both on Bogdanovich key subtraction, Terrence Man. I mean they
did add Ben Simmons. That was not a trade deadline move.
I am all over the place on this team on
both Boardanovich on where this team is going moving forward?
Where are you at here?
Speaker 2: Same same? I like, I I do understand that they're
going forward right like they got older here and on paper,
booked on Bogdanovic is the better player. He had a
rough start to the season in Atlanta, which was you know,
he he had some injury concerns. I believe after the Olympics, right,
there was something there. There was something that limited him,
because after coming off the Olympics he looked fine. I
was like, oh, oh, it's gonna be one of those years.
And it turned out to very much not be that.
But in an optimized world where with an optimized booked
on Bogdanovic, that's an upgrade yep in and of itself.
And I don't know if it's the age. I don't know,
if it's just a bad year that he has to
wash away over the course of summer. I don't know
what the hell it is. But he hasn't looked the
same throughout all of it. If that changes within the
next fifteen twenty games going into the playoffs, then all
of a sudden we're looking at a clipper seam that
could be quite dangerous. But you got to have booked
down up of that level where he's averaging fifteen seventeen
points per game, shooting a ton of threes and hitting
them at thirty eight to forty percent. Like this level
of player you're getting right now, where he's not getting
to the line, he's not making up for it from three.
He's not making up forward with efficiency, like he's not
making up forward with playmaking. You're just kind of he's
kind of there right now. It's not good enough. You
need more.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see kind of what he looks like
in the larger context of there team now that you
know you're gonna work. I think, look getting him what
was kind of Loki huge is just like I don't
know if anyone understood how much time Norman Powell was
gonna end up missing in the aggregate. I think in
Fury he's exactly what they've needed. He looks way better
in La than he did it in Atlanta. I think
there's still the yelement of is he trying to get
his sea legs back or still? But it looks like
he's moving better. I think the shot it's there, what
oh no, but there the shot. I don't think it's
like all the way back because there's that inconsistency there.
But he's had some it feels like higher end performances
and that there's been at least kind of more of
an equilibrium than he ever found in Atlanta with a
shot making this season fifty five percent on drives, shooting
fifty plus percent on twos when he's playing without James Harden,
and I think like that's kind of the key there
is when you're dealing with We know a Kawhi Leonard
can be at points just hits a game winner the
other night, but like when you're dealing with some of
the like Norman Powell. He's improved a bunch, but there's
some semblance of like deficit there, especially when you're looking
for playmaking. Can you get more out of that from Bogdanovic.
I think he's gonna end up opening the floor a
bunch for this team. He's at thirty eight plus percent
on his pull up threes in La. You mentioned they're
in on now and they got someone who fits that
motif without having to give up assets that really say
they're all in. I do not know though, how valuable
he becomes to them in the playoffs, where if we
assume Kawhi, Norman Powell and Harden are all available, he
might fall by the wayside in certain matchups, but I
think that he could become critical to maybe some of
those smaller stretches, shorter stretches, excuse me, in the postseason,
where it's all right, James Harden is on the bench,
you might you definitely like him more in those minutes
than like Norman Powell if you need to put the
ball in someone's hands as a as a playmaker. And
then on top of like if all of a sudden,
now in those minutes and that's like, by the way,
that's what he is gonna live a lot of the time. Now,
it's different when it's like Norman Powell without James Harden
and then Kawhi Leonards was injured, like a lot of
the stuff we saw at the beginning of the season.
It's so much different if it's, oh, James Harden's on
the bench, and you know what, like we could play
Kawhi ed Bodanovich and Norman Powell if we wanted. And
so look the Clippers so far with Bugdanovic on the
floor and no James Harden plus nine per one hundred
and they're not winning those minutes with defense either, which
to me suggests that their ceiling is still higher if
everything hits. It's just this is the consummate team where
I don't think you can count on or even predict
whether everything is gonna hit. Loved that pickup, though, by
the way, might have been one of the more underrated
moves for me at the trade deadline. This move insane
this team, this move insanely underrated. Clearly more the Lakers
added Luka Acic and Maxi Kliba and they lost Anthony
Davis and Max Christy.
Speaker 2: How are you nothing to talk about there? Obviously that's
just you know, they they found some in an international
scrub with weight issues.
Speaker 1: Apparently, who's not even like Luka Danci is shooting forty
five percent on drives under thirty two percent on three
since being in LA and you could still just tell
like this was a bonker's move by the maver. It's
not that you ever would have been able to justify it.
But Luca's not even close to peak Luca Josh yet.
I wonder if we get that during this point of
the season. But I think like they're killing it in
the minutes he plays without Lebron, And so if you
want to kind of find silver linings to Lebron's injury,
I mean the off the on off splits have been
all sorts of wonky with Lebron this season. But like
if you need to navigate time without Lebron and you're
worried about it, Luka Doncic is going to help you
do that more than anthy Gavid.
Speaker 2: He might be the perfect Yes, that's the perfect guy
to that responsibility.
Speaker 1: Only Jokic would be the only like if you were
to name another player, whereas we can only have one star.
But we're trying to figure out a way to survive
on offense, it's k Luka Tatcic, and that's it.
Speaker 2: You know what's the really telling story here, It's it's
when Luca has struggled shooting the you know, from the field,
like efficiency wise, like you said, he's not where he's
usually at, Like he's still coming.
Speaker 1: Still at like seventy five percent at the rim, which
because those Lakers have these not something I guess we
should have predicted it looking at their center rotation, but
they have this like small ball combos that become killers.
And it's now Luca who does not look nearly as fast
or athletic as he was like what three years ago
or something. It's just get into the rim more.
Speaker 2: But like the fact when he struggles, you have MAVs
fans just like putting in excuses for him, which is
like fair, but like that was just interesting to me
because I thought there would be at least some fans
who would be like, yeah, like he's gonna struggle like that,
maybe this deal was like good enough anyway, like just
trying to talk themselves into it.
Speaker 3: Mass fans have been like the biggest Lucas supporters ever
since he made it to the Lakers, which in some
way makes me sad, like the fact that this fan
base is so lost right now that they're just gonna go, well,
you know, let's let's just watch our eternal enemies from
Los Angeles and let's root for the guy who was
sent there.
Speaker 2: I it's just it's the weirdest season I can remember
when he comes. Like player acquisitions.
Speaker 1: Bizarre for sure, And I still I just feel for
MAVs fans and I really don't like it's just you know,
you know, we're laughing at this, but it's like for
the fans, this really does suck. When you're and you're
looking at you can't win, Like Kyrie gets injured, Anthony
Davis gets injured, and Quenton Grimes goes off in Philly.
They just they can't win. Like Lakers specifically, though we
did a contender or pretender exercise U shortly after the trade,
I don't even know if Luca had debuted at that point.
I said the Lakers were not contenders. You try to
correct me. It seems like you were right. The two
questions I have the defense, like do you view this
as this? They are third in point slab per possession
since the trade deadline, but they're basically first since like
the middle of January. They You look at the activity
on defense and it is there. I still just want
to look at the center situation. I'm like some of
the lineups they need to rely on. I can't see
that sustaining. But I don't have reasoning beyond that. To point,
you could look at their schedule and say, Okay, it's
not like they're playing a top ten offense every single night, right.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I don't think it's gonna rate as
well moving forward. But I mean, look, JJ Reddick is
a maths guy. You know, He's a guy who understands
we need to give teams the shots that we want
them to take. So like, if we think that player
X who loves to get into the mid range area
and take a pull up. If we want to live
with that shot, let's give it to him. And so
that's part of it, right. Also, I think we've seen
a change with Lebron. I think what we've seen and
this is a coaching change as well, like with with
Reddick actually implementing something. So we all agree that Lebron
is not the same defender that he used to be.
That right now he plays more in spurts defensively than
he does like over the course of a full game,
Like he might have five minutes total in a game
where he just goes like old Lebron, like not old Lebron,
because this sould prime Lebron defensively. But under Darvin Ham,
those moments were pretty random. I think under Redick it's like, no,
we're gonna choose those moments with more care. Like he
and Lebron, you can see them just talking constantly. The
Denver game. I don't remember the specific play, but like
eventually he ended up on Jokic and he's at least
initially and then I think he rotated off, but like
you could see there was a communication between him and
JJ Reddick, where Redick was kind of like, now now
is the time you go, whereas under Darvin Ham, I
don't think he ever realized when that time was. So
Lebron himself kind of had to guess all the time, like, oh,
I'm gonna have to exert myself on Dorian Finney Smith
before he became a Laker obviously, So to me, it
seems everything is more purposeful, everything's like with more intent.
So now JJ reraay come into this situation, he knew,
all right, I might have five to seven good minutes
of Lebron defense every at my exposal, every single thing,
I'm gonna try to make sure I get the most
out of those at the right time against the right
matchup to set the tone. Whatever his lodgy is, That
to me matters a shit ton to just if basically
make Lebron a way more efficient defender in the minutes
that he knows that he has at his disposal. Like,
I'm not gonna sit here and say that's going to
fix the center situation, because it's not what I do think.
Having a coach who understands that the game plan, who
understands how to relinquish this quote unquote right shots and
understanding when to trigger his superstar into like assert himself
at the right times is invaluable.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you say the right shots too, because I
think one of the things they're allowing sub thirty two
percent shooting from three while conceding a ton of threes.
There's only like three teams allowing more. That's not gonna sustain.
But I am sufficiently intrigued by It's basically the Lebron
at the five lineup where you have downy Phinny Smith
and Ruie plus Luca and Reeves. That lineup has defended
way better than I ever would have expected to. And
like the Lakers half court defense has been a monster
since the trade deadline. It's like a big part of
what they're doing is like if they're gonna be able
to avoid someone like the transition situations, that probably gives
them their best bet of sustaining this defense. But I
do think there's been like this noticeable uptick in Lebron,
which how much of it? And I apologies if I
just missed you saying this is also right, Like we
have Luca to put the ball in his hands on
top of Austin Reeves like those are really two options
that you could go to other than Lebron, and so
you're finding ways to get him more like in game
breaks while he's still playing on offense, which is just
not a luxury you've ever had, like since what they
could do that with Cleveland and Kyrie. But like when
you're looking at Reeves and Luca, like that's just a
different level of optionality there. But yeah, i'd like it's
tough for me to I think the defense is gonna slide,
but and I know the Luca Lebron minutes, I'm not
necessarily been a killer, and now Lebron's gonna miss some time.
But like just having to face these two in a
playoff setting, if the defense is even competent overall, that's
not a matchup any any team should feel comfortable.
Speaker 2: And that was the point I was making, was an idiot?
Speaker 1: Did I call you an idiot? No?
Speaker 2: You didn't know? You didn't don't.
Speaker 1: I was like, I thought I told everybody else you
were an idiot off air that you didn't hear.
Speaker 2: I thought it was about that was certainly true, and
that's honestly, that's a fair point to make. Like every
single day of the week, just outside of that particular
day that we apparently recorded.
Speaker 1: You were right there. The Lakers are gonna be good
with Lucaspicy take who knew?
Speaker 2: I know? Right?
Speaker 1: More Miami incomes Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins. Out
goes Jimmy Butler, CEO Big Face Coffee, I think because
as the founder of Big Face Coffee.
Speaker 2: Both maybe yeah, uh treasurer as well. I guess.
Speaker 1: So how you feeling about this team?
Speaker 2: I mean they're there, yes, no here. Look, my opinion
of the heat hasn't changed. I think they should go
for it this year to make the playoffs because of
the draftic situation that we've talked about before. They will
relinquish their unprotected twenty twenty six if they don't make
it and will give up. This year's a lot of
reprotected if they make it, so like that should still
be the aim. And then immediately after they've done that,
I think they should blow it to bits because I
am not seeing what the hell? Where is this team going? Like, yeah,
sure you can run it back next year with Tyler
Hero and Bam and a bios. You're leading men, where
does that take you? And now? Ah you've got Andrew
wickins cool. Wiggins has played well, not efficiency see wise,
but like he's actually I like the way he's moved.
He's gotten to the club a lot more than I thought,
Like he's driving well. Defenses is where it should be.
I still don't see what like where this team is
ultimately going to end up, Like if they returned this
roster next year, what like what is the highest high
they can go to?
Speaker 1: A right, like maybe sixth in the East maybe, And
like I think that's the stretch when you look at
like Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee isn't blowed up, you have a
Nick Celtics and Calves, so maybe eighth, And I think
what is the to kind of make it more of
a macro thing? When you look at what they've done
since the trade deadline, how Wiggins is fit them? Using
Davey on Mitchell, Kyle Anderson, the whole nine, it's very clear.
I think that they're bigger problem. Their biggest problem is
coming on the offensive end. Right, Like Tyler Herroll has
been good this year, but his job has gotten a
lot harder with this current makeup of the roster, and
so you've seen even his efficiency decline we saw like
Khalil Ware three point shooting fell off a cliff. Bam
Adebayo's got like he's been better on that any shoot
thirty six percent from three since the trade line. They
have the worst crunch time offense in the league, one
of the worst fourth quarter offenses overall in the league.
I just don't like you have Tyler Hero and bam
Adebayo are your most dynamic offensive players, and I think
when you're looking at at that as a driver of
offense for others specifically, that's incredibly problematic in ways that
Kyle Anderson Andrew Wiggins, like those guys aren't gonna address that.
We know that, Like in so far as Terry Rozier
ever could have, this version of Terry Rozier did not.
Speaker 2: What has Okay, look, I know this is like a
post traded line pod. What the hell has happened to
taro O shere? Like it's not even it's not even
that he's just struggling. It's that some of his decisions
are just like it greatious. It's like the will he
will like, okay, look jump past this, are cool. Kaitlin Cooper,
I don't disagree with that, but not when they come
from Tarot Sheer, because Taro Sheer will spin in the
year for no apparent reason, turn the ball over and
not get back on defense. Like he'll be completely I
don't know what it is, like out of sorts, out
of whack, like no flow whatsoever. In his own game,
he'll air ball open threes, even from the corner, like
this is so far removed from Charlotte version. Terrot Sire,
I have no rational explanation, like it's fit. It's fine
that a player regresses to a point, it's just just weird.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you bring him up because I actually think
that he's kind of a symptom of their situation where
that was a move that a lot of people panned
in the moment last year when he made it. But
if you were to give up the draft pick that
you did to get him when you if you didn't
think that things were coepathetic with Jimmy Butler, like you
had to have some inkling that stuff was gonna come
to a head over this past offseason then leaking into
this year, and you then give up because you mentioned
they need to tear it down after this year, like
mort at this rate, they're gonna keep their pick and
then it just they oh unprotected picks basically in twenty
twenty six and twenty twenty eight at that point, So
how do you justify tearing it down like the Terry Roseier. Now,
if you didn't have that pick headed to Charlotte, maybe
it makes your decisions like a little bit easier from
here moving forward. So I still that seemed like risky
at the time, just because you viewed it as getting
off of an expiring contract in Kyle Lowry and saving
money like immediately off the bottom line, while in theory
getting a helpful player. But if you didn't have the
Jimmy Butler situation, like you weren't completely in tune with it,
like to make that move is so egregious and it's
not a benefit of hindsight thing. It's there's no way
you got from Jimmy Butler, like James hardening his way out.
I mean, I guess he's Jimmy butlering his way out
of somewhere. Like it didn't just happen overnight because pat
Riley said something in a press conference. That's not something
that happens overnight, is my point. And that's kind of
a symptom of where they're at right now, Like, yeah,
the Jimmy Butler return was fine, and I think I
think Andrew Wiggins will make more s for Suan Myamy.
That is something that will absolutely happen. I'm still look
Hayward high Smith, Duncan Robinson like they've cobbled together some
good campaigns, but this team feels stranded. Mm hmm, like
they're like they feel there are there I guess marginally
better off than the Bulls, and the Bulls at least
control all their own picks moving forward. So are they
better off than the Bulls? Well, they're smarter, so that's
all heroes good. They have useful players that that was
an extreme and.
Speaker 2: They can relinquish a lot of draft picks this summer
if they give.
Speaker 1: Up Bam who owns their picks, So you have OKC
and I mean Charlotte. You can probably get your pick
back from Charlotte if you wanted to throw Bam at.
Speaker 2: A Baio on and more.
Speaker 1: Probably and more I'm saying. But normally it's like there
is a limited downs there is a limited upside to
tearing it down if you can't get back your own picks,
Like if you if you owe picks in twenty six
and twenty eight with very loose to no protection on them.
Oh my god, like what like imagine trading Bam Adebayo
not getting even one of those beat And that's.
Speaker 2: That's where you call Charlotte. I'm guessing and you're telling Charlotte, Okay, look,
we want some of our picks back. We want the
twenty twenty six one two, So like you get BAM
if you get that pick from okay, se Like, do
you say that's interesting?
Speaker 1: That's an interesting way to look at it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know who they have that would get I.
Speaker 2: Mean, okay, see we'll give them the middle finger and go. Look, Charlotte,
you have no one of interest to us.
Speaker 1: Well if you so, let's say Charlotte might get a
top five pick. If you're Charlotte, would you give up
a top five pick to get BAM out of Bio.
You probably can't, right like, just at this point in
your rebuild, or you're gonna do that.
Speaker 2: I mean no, I wouldn't, but for it seemed like them.
I also understand why they would look at BAM and
go that's a known commodity, like right to some extent.
Speaker 1: I guess the problem is is that so they have
that Miami Heat pick. But like, so let's say, I
like what you say, go out and get our twenty
six first round pick. Do you have a value to
go get, like to give to like? Okay, so he's
not gonna want Lamello, I don't think. And at that point, like,
so we're moving LaMelo to get We'll keep our top
five pick this year and then rebuild around that in BAM.
I don't with Brandon Miller. I don't know that you're materially.
Speaker 2: Not No, because they have Jadubb like it man, the
heat are I don't want to say they're screwed, but
this is this is not looking pretty.
Speaker 1: No, it is not. I mean I think it's more
likely that they end up trading another first round pick
than getting back both of their own first round picks.
I think that that's pretty clear.
Speaker 2: So Joy, Joy, have you liked.
Speaker 1: Just because any of the players have you liked or
any observation like Davii, I'll Mitchell has been hitting threes
in Miami. Maybe that's something like Pip try to find
a silver lining.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, no, no, but I will say that despite
the efficiency concerns from from Wickens. I do think he's
playing with more freedom than we've seen, and that's said
that's wild to say, because he did play with a
lot of like open and flair responsibility in Golden State.
But it seems like he's been given the ball and
sort of being trusted to make more decisions now and
I'm not hating the decision making process from him. So
there's something definitely encouraging here. As for Davion Mitchell, Yeah, look, historically,
I've just seen too much of him, like break Three's
to the point where this is this is a Josh
Ginty thing for me. Right now, he's on a hot streak.
He's like on a you know, February March hot streak.
I'm not going to go into the summer thinking Davion
Mitchell is anything close to like a good shooter. So
this doesn't have any effect on me whatsoever. And Kyle,
I'll be completely honest with you, I haven't even paid
a lot of attention to Kyle, Like I've registered when
he's been on the court, but I haven't really like
paid attention to him specifically, like, oh, I'm gonna watch
Kyle Anderson, right now, it's just like no, I mean mad.
Speaker 1: He's playing like under fifteen minutes a game, so I
think you could forgiven if you're not feeling him. I
just this team is. I don't love it offensively, and
I've seen a lot of people criticize Eric Bowelster even
more than normal. And if you're following the Heat on
a day to day, you probably have more of an
in tune there, But you know, criticizing him for not
adjusting enough down the stretch of games. Why aren't they
playing more zone defense as an example? And I just
I look at the personnel of them, and I'm wondering, like,
what are the adjustments that you want coach Spoe to hit.
I'm not saying he's been perfect, and you're probably to
be fair, they are better built to make actual defensive
adjustments than offensive adjustments. But I view the offense as
just their crowning limitation right now. And I don't know
how he's supposed to adjust much there if it like
if at all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, good luck Miami Heat fans. At least Andrew Wickins
is playing decent right now until he's probably traded in
the offseason.
Speaker 1: The Milwaukee Bucks pulled off probably just one of the
more controversial moves of the deadline. Incomes Kyle Kuzma. They
also got Jack Samson, Kevin Porter Junior out goes AJ
Johnson and Chris Middleton. Thoughts feels impressions of the Milwaukee
Bucks and the Kyle Kuzma era.
Speaker 2: So Kusma has been a little bit better lately, just
in terms of like efficiency wise, he seems like he's
finding some of his spots offensively. And that's about the
end of the extent that I'll go to in being complimentary,
because I still don't think he plays within the flow
of the offense. I still think he's an odd fit.
I understand I think their logic and we wanted to
get a player in who could carry forty four forty
five minutes per game as opposed to Chris, who is
the better player but can probably only play about twenty
three twenty four minutes. So they were looking just to
squeeze out more talent in the minutes department. I probably
would have gone just with retaining Chris and gone that
route instead. And if had that had been twenty three
minutes per game, yeah, I probab one would have just
gone with that instead. I don't think Kuzma is adding to,
you know, the the list of problem solvers there. I
understand that they played better recently Milwaukee, but I also
think that's because Jannis is Yannis and Dame is still
around like it's I don't put that at the feat
of Kyle Kusma. I am. I am struggling to see
the long term benefits here. I do think in the playoffs, yes,
it'll be nice to have it as the big player
who can produce, but he's not the shooter that you need.
And you need floor spacing for Giannis, you need floor
spacing for Dame. That's where a guy like Chris Middlesons
still been good. So I get what they were trying
to do. I'm not a fan of it yet, and
I don't think I ever will be.
Speaker 1: He's been to me better defensively than I would have expected,
and so maybe that's okay. You hit the play better button,
the defend a better button. Excuse me, when you go
Towaukee from Washington. That was always on the table. I
think he's what's interesting, and Eric Nam had pointed this out,
I think like a week or two ago, having him
and I guess to a lesser extent, uh well, not
to a lesser extent, but also Kevin Porter Junior. It
hasn't boldened Doc Rivers to change up his staggering patterns.
Where you've seen a little bit more of Dame and
Yannis being on the bench together so that you can
more firmly tether their minutes as a tandem. And the
Bucks have won the minutes that Kyle Kuzma's played without
the both of them, and if they if you know,
you mentioned, I do think Kyle Kuzma moved on. He's
moved off the ball, I think pretty well. But I
agree that is this someone who's ever you're gonna look
at an offensive flow and say he's a perfect fit
within it. So if you're separating him and he could
become more of a focal point and you're able to
like survive or tread water during those minutes, it becomes
a big deal. I still think, and I'm not saying
that had they not made any of these moves, I
would have felt the same. I just don't trust this
team yet. The defense has been a lot better overall.
They have these like they can go to this jumbo
size lineup now with Kuzma and Prince and Giannis and
then Brook Lopez and so you could play that with Dame.
But the offense is just it feels like it should
be better than this, and I think that it comes
down to look Giannis hitting the mid Rangers. I think
that's also opened up more of his playmaking. But you
need another kind of i'll use the word traditional or
conventional initiator. Aside from Dame, Chris Middleton for even twenty
twenty five minutes a game was your best shot at
having that, And I wonder if it's going to potentially
break them in the playoffs just because their crunch time
offense is still not great. Their fourth quarter offense overall
on the year is still not good, and you can
see just slip ups if like they're situations where should
there have been a pass there, there's turnovers that could
been avoided. I just don't trust them, and I don't know,
actually don't know how much of criticism though that is
at this point, because I don't know that having Chris Middleton, yeah,
would have made me trust them in certain situations more
w I've trusted Chris Middleton to be healthier the Bucks
to get to those situations. I don't know they've been
I'm probably a little bit more optimistic about what they
did at the deadline than I was at the time,
but I don't think it's been enough to say that
it's moved the needle for me to be like, oh,
I definitively trust them more than New York and Indiana
and in Detroit for that matter.
Speaker 2: And then there's another pattern emerging that has me concerned.
Last year they had leak Beastley, didn't unleash him in
any way, didn't find any greater ways to get him open.
You know, he I think, pardon.
Speaker 1: I said he made shots anyway, though he.
Speaker 2: Did, but like you didn't, like they've failed at getting
him the ball enough or getting him enough shots. Now
we're seeing that kind of get copied over with Gary
Trent Junior as well, someone who is in a similar role,
Like I think Milwaukee is not emphasizing, prioritizing whatever you
want to call it, shooters enough because that's where you
get additional points, that's where you get optimized floor spacing,
that's where you get, especially in playoff contexts, those crucial,
like I said before, extra points, and if they just
cannot figure out how to get those two guards involved
more to actually lift up their offensive responsibility. Then you're
going to have a lot of time where you're playing
four on five basketball offensively, which Giannis is a superhero.
Dame is still Dame. But those are odds that you're
just not gonna win with in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I'm curious too whether, like what do you think ends
up being their best five man unit? And I think
four of the spots are kind of set in the
stone by default, but would you do you like seeing
Torian Prince kind of that jumbosales lineup or do you
think that they should lend themselves to more. Maybe it's
AJ Green or Gary Trent Junior who has played well
since a very poor start to the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so definitely someone who has the potential to
go off, because they I think that's where the fear
is from other teams, right, Like even if you have
a stable shooter. That's why I never went fully in
on the PJ. Tucker train. Like here's the thing. I know,
he won a title, I know, but.
Speaker 1: He's about to save the Knicks too, so you buy it.
Speaker 2: Right, But like you always knew he was not gonna
pop off for fifteen or twenty or twenty five like
that was just not that was never in the cards.
So I would say that last final member of that
lineup has to be someone who can put the fear
of God into the opponents. Be that as a shooter,
be that as a slasher, I don't care. Just someone
who where teams know, oh in this random ass game
for this guy can go off for twenty five, He
can create stuff, He can get something going which allows Giannis,
which allows Dame to play off of that. Who is
that guy? Is that Aj Green? I'm not sure? Is
it Gary Trent theoretically, but like I don't know if
trust the Bucks in finding out how to use Gary
Trent Julo directly.
Speaker 1: I think he's been really good and he's my answer.
I want to like the Jumbo Saze lineup with Tory
and Prince, and they've done just enough offensively, but there's
still just a lack of three point shooting there. That
unit is sub thirty five percent, and when you have
Damian Lillod and Brook Lopez as part of that unit,
that is that's concerning. So I think the answer is
Gary Trent. And I was looking before we started recording
this that lineup, so like Kuzma, Lopez, Giannis and Dame
with Gary Trent has played five possessions since the trade deadline.
It's just like that's I'm just surprised they haven't gone
to it more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I that number actually blows me away. Yeah, that's wild.
Speaker 1: So I think that's gonna end up being the answer.
But I will say I, like you mentioned, I think
at the top, this is what it comes back to
before we move on. They did acquire someone who, in
theory will just eat more minutes even in the postseason,
like you trust him to be more there, and we'll see.
That's the gamble. It feels like they made and we'll
have to see whether it pays off. Shout out to
Jericho Simms, though true superstar of their trade deadline. The
Philadelphia seventy six ers. We already talked Quentin Grimes. They
have Quentin Grimes, they got Jared Butler as well, then
they lost Caleb Martin and kJ Martin were the most
notable subtractions in their effort to duck the tax. And
it like looks better just because Quenton Grimes has been
really good. But the season is gone, so off the rails.
I you know, we know what we feel about Quentin Grimes.
I am curious just the stuff we're seeing from him
on offense. How much value does it have if the
plan is eventually to have Joel Embiid and Paul George
and Tyrese Maxe next year. But for sure I think
that he's he's someone who fits more next to those
guys than Jared McCain is going to. Just because Jared
McCain and Tyres Maxie could end up being like real
defensive problems together in the backcourt, I agree.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to add to that. The Sixers
right now are just in such disarray. I did an
hour with Keith Smith on their situation where we basically
after an hour just kind of just raise our shoulders
a little bit. We're like, fuck if I know, like
this team is just it's so out there. We can
sit here and talk all day long about how Quentin
Grimes has looked, and he's looked amazing by the way.
I fully fully support that trade. I have no idea
where they go from here, Like Jared Butler has played
well as well, and that is, after all, who the
two guys that we have to talk about right now,
but like right now is just putting lipstick on a pick, right,
It's just you have no idea where this team is
going long term. The injury patterns are severe. They're probably
probably gonna shut down PG pretty soon, which they probably
should have done some time ago. Everything is bleak. So
I guess good on them that they found a Quinton
Rhymes like Tyree's Maxi Quinton Rhymes and Jared McCain as
like your future three guard lineup. I don't hate that.
That's got some juice, maybe your draft pick plus your
draft pick. But then you have the Paul George and
Joelenbee contracts where I'm just like, fuck if I.
Speaker 1: Know, I think if you could tell me that you
can get like fifty games of Joel Embiid next year
and he'll be even what we've seen in the playoffs before.
So I'm not even saying getting peaked Joel in the playoffs.
I really am not as low on the six er
future as everybody else. I don't think the Paul George
contract is gonna, you know, devolve into maybe this offseason,
but there's a way, like, remember Chris Paul, how poorly
that contract was you before he was traded to Oklahoma City,
like Houston had to compensate Oklahoma City as part of
that Russell Westbrook trade. Like Paul George is plugging play
enough that if you had healthier talent around him, Like,
I just don't think. I think the criticisms have been
largely fair. I also think they've been exaggerated because of
just how melt much else has gone wrong in Philly.
Speaker 2: Well, I think I think part of it is also
he got a freaking player option. Who the negotiating against here?
Who were they bidding against?
Speaker 1: Like to me, that was the Warriors trying to figure
something out. Then the Nuggets try and get involved there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean then then you let them have
it then, because that player option is going to be
that was such an unnecessary inclusion, And I think that's
where people, especially Philly fans, are like, like, what are
we gonna do with here? Because if he was going
to enter this summer and then he had two years left,
you sort of like if you squint, you can sort
of see the light at the end of the sundel
there like one year later, you can actually flip him
as an expiring if that's what you wanted to do
in some capacity break that deal up in whatever means.
The fact that it goes to twenty eight though, that
is that is nasty business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yes, especially given what we know now. But
like that was kind of a cost of poaching him
in free agency. And I think I'll speak for myself here.
We lauded the Sixers for their even the Caleb Martin side,
like we thought they were creative and they had a
hell of an offseason, and it's, yeah, you could have
seen this stuff, I guess turning in this direction because
we all know about the Joel and beat injury risk,
we all know about how agent curves work in general
with players. I just like, I don't know. I guess
I don't fault them, like you then have to fault
the plan to just build around Joel Embiad in general,
I guess, is my point. And if that's where we
were at last year, like, if that's the stance you had,
like then totally fine. But as of right now, like, yeah,
the Paul George contract looks worse, and I think everyone
we acknowledge this. I'm sure you did. Like the latter
two years were always gonna be iffy, probably and it
looks worse now because you've burned just one of the
two good years to guaranteed years you thought you were
gonna get. I just I don't think they're in this.
The way they're in an navigable situation is if Joel
Embiid is just cooked, and that would have always been
where they're going to end up, regardless of whether they
didn't give Paul George a player option or not.
Speaker 2: No, So those are two distant Those are two distinct conversations.
I agree with you. I like em Bed signed a
three year, one hundred and ninety million, one hundred and
ninety three million dollar extension last fall, which was also
when we heard of that. I remember my first thought
being that was optimistic, Like I thought they wanted to
see more of him this year before they made that call,
Like he was obviously pushing for that money. So I
also understand not wanting to piss off your star. So
there are some politics involved there. But like I was
never a fan of the Paul George contract, Like I
understood the logic behind it, as you said, you had
to go do something if you're the Sixers, you had to.
But I also thought Darren Moriych chose a really weird
summer to clear all that cap space because there weren't
a lot of options out there, like free agency is
in many ways not what it used to be. And
for him to go out in the market where you
could make an argument that Paul George at least unrestricted
rice and was viewed as one of the main guys
that to me was always associated with a great, great
level of risk, and considering the amount of risk you
already had in Joel just being Joel with his injuri,
in his injury history, I thought it was a little irresponsible.
But I'm also Danish, like I'm wearing seatbelts on everything, Okay,
I'm mist for safety.
Speaker 1: Well you could, Yeah, last summer wasn't the summer to
have cap space, but we would have said the same
thing about this summer. What summer were they supposed to choose?
Speaker 2: Well, maybe they shouldn't have chosen that direction. Then maybe
they should have done something else.
Speaker 1: Which then makes the Cardinals saying could they have done
anything differently in the James Harden trade? And that's tough
because it seems like they were dealing with the market
of one team.
Speaker 2: Yep. Ironically a deal I also did not like when
they made it. But like I hear you, I just
think they've been in a very tough situation for a
while now, and I don't think they've made life easier
with themselves, is basically my point. I don't think they
Their course of events over the past year and a
half has just not filled me at any point with confidence.
Speaker 1: And I think that's fair. I think the Joelle embiid
the lack of transparency behind how they were handling him,
because it's easy for us to say they should have
shut him down like well before they did, which that's
probably the case, but just the lack of transparency behind
what they were doing a failure, and then their reaction
even to that failure of just like it is wildly
unspectacular that kJ Martin, who you signed to be a
human trade exception to get you someone you then had
to like attached stuff to to dump in service of
ducking attacks the Caleb Martin situation, I thought that was
a good signing he has that hip injury. Do you
ding them for that or then give them kudos for
figuring out how to get Quentin Grimes out of the
Kleb Martin contract. It's really all over the place. Feels
like there's pass not traveled. I guess with James Harden,
but it feels like this all comes back to if
your impressions of the seventy six ers are down, it's
the fact that they elected to hitch their wagon too
Joel Embiid, and I think that, like the hesitance over
the extension is Yeah, sure, I totally agree with you,
because they have played hardball and said, let's see what
you do this season before we go that direction. I
just don't know if Joel Embiid was their present and future,
I just don't know what else was the more appealing path.
It felt like they would have needed to have done
something even more nuclear, which I think would have been
unrealistic to expect any executive controlling the Sixers to do. Well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's very reasonable. I do remember last
summer I race this point to our mutual friend Ryan Sapporik.
I don't remember if I did it on a podcast
or I did it privately what I did race, Like
the question of should the Sixers actually pivot towards like
building more actively around MAXI instead and like in a
way where Embiad is still featured what in a way
where you don't structure everything around him. But that again,
like hindsight is twenty twenty, right, Like I'm not gonna
sit you're in and say, oh, Darryl Mory is a
bad general manager because A, B and C. Like No,
I just I will not.
Speaker 1: But I do think what's fair though about the way
you're looking at it as it was? Definitely if you're
it's if you're concerned about Joel Embiid's career moving forward,
that's not a novel concern. Like you could have very
well felt this way like a year and a half too,
like four years ago, even like he was not that
he was always a taking time bob, but there was
always that level of risk there. I just don't know
what if the answer was moved Joel Embiid sooner, do
you think that they're maybe because he has the injury history. No,
But if you would have traded Joel Embiid like two
years like coming off the MVP season, wouldn't the reaction
have been similar to what Dallas fans were doing.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean yes and no, because I think even
at that point people were very much aware of the history.
I think I even pitched that at one point on
the pod.
Speaker 1: And also, although rebuilding is not really his style, but
like you would think that Darryl Morey might have had
more of the foresight to be like, well, we're not
going to target like players and hopes to get better,
We're going to rebuild this thing from the ground up
more appropriately.
Speaker 2: So I don't he should have gone after Cyclovine though.
That was one of the things I said last summer
before like with the cap space, because at that point
in time, we know that Levine was talked about, as
you know, a bad contract, and I basically made the
assumption that if Philly called up Chicaguin said well we'll
take him into cap space, interesting, that would have been
something I think that would have beaten the alternative.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting road not traveled direction because it's it's okay, Well,
then how does that impact the rest of their offseason?
How does that affect that Jared McCain breakouts where I
know he had an injury, but if you have Zach Lvine,
do you know how Jared McCain is this asset either
on your team or as a trade chip like viewed
it's that's fascinating, but you are. I do think that
I think you can say, even in the moment, would
have been the debate between would you rather just take
Zach Levine right or give Paul George the fourth year?
That would that would have been a real debate in
real time. So that that's definitely fair to say. Our
next team, speaking of teams that confuse the ever live
in hell out of me, the Sacramento Kings. They got
Zack Lvine, Jonas Valentnis, and Jake Laurabia, all of whom,
by the way, have been super helpful to them. No
misses there. They lose dearon Fox, Kevin Herder, Zach Colvine's
been balling. What is he? What is he up to?
Ninety seven percent shooting from three in Sacramento?
Speaker 2: Is that he's he's He's at fifty forty ninety since
becoming a king.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been great. The King's overall, they've they're dealing
with the domas a bonus injury is kind of a bummer.
He did look a little, I don't want to say
out of sorts, but like he was trying to figure
out his place with kind of the new offensive world
order Sacramento. As ever, you look at the Vitals, and
they're like, all right, seventh in offense, eleventh in defense,
and they're eight and four since the trade deadline. Malik
Monk has been meh since then, Keith and Murray's hitting
his three since then, DeMar DeRozan shooting forty percent from
three on nearly five attempts per game since the trade deadline.
Jake Laavia causes like a special kind of bedroom defensively
when he's on the court, and I fucking love it.
And I still just look at this team moving forward,
and I'm just I don't like anything. I shouldn't say that.
I like Zach Lavine there, I like del Masa Bonis there.
I love Keith and Murray. I just don't feel I mean,
we all know how I feel about Keon Ellis too.
There's just a lot of individual players and developments that
have happened that should make you feel good, and I
just don't feel good about the Sacramento Kings' future. Can
you explain? Can you reason it for me? So?
Speaker 2: I think the biggest issue here is so I'm actually
for years, like Alvin has obviously been a talking point
for years because of the trade chatter and whatnot. Like
I just mentioned earlier about the six Ers, for example,
that I wanted to send him there. There was a
point in time where I also wanted to send him
to Sacramento, not in at Iron Fox deal, because the
idea would be to pair him with the Iron Fox.
So I think the Kings are actually pretty close to
having a very interesting dynamic product now. They just need
a quote unquote real point guard. What I mean by
that is, yeah, you can hide Malik Monk as a
pseudo point guard only for so long. You can also
run the offense. There's a bonus, sure, but you need
someone to initiate actions at a great, great level on
the perimeter from someone who's just not on the roster.
With all due respect to Mark kill Folds, if there
is a guy out there who you can sort of
implement on that team, Oh.
Speaker 1: They gotta go back to the Bulls. Well for Kobe White,
that's just keep saying you're.
Speaker 2: Gonna hate this, and it's fair, but just just give
me a chance to go to explain this one. Okay,
Ties Jones, So why is that? Come on, like that's
not a big name, Like, come on, that's all right,
But I'm glad I'm glad you were with me on
this one. Fine Ties Jones, a past first point guard,
who's low turnover, who sets the tone, who is a
much better shooter than people seem to realize. There's a
guy who you can reasonably expect to get, I believe,
financially speaking, who can be installed as your starter right
off the bat. So you have him, Saclovin is running
off of him. Sabonus is your secondary creator. You have
a leak mong As you're super six man. I think
there's something there that grows within that unit. Because I
agree with you. Right now, everything is like good player here,
good player there, good player everywhere, without every any type
of cohesion. Tyas Jones is the glue. He is the
cohesion connector. I think there's a there is a solution
to this if you get a guy like that in
there who can sort of just calm everyone that fucked
down and run the show. Now, am I gonna say
that they're gonna be a championship considered? No? Am I
gonna say that they should still consider training Demartin Rosen. Absolutely,
But that would go a long way in getting these
Kings to a place where it replaces individuality with cohesion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, one of my stances had been I
feel like they have two major If we entered this season,
they had two major holes to fill where it's like
you need kind of another more dynamic type of player
on the wing or that you can play next to
the bonus, particularly on defense, and then you needed, like
I was probably gonna say, like a backup big and
now if you've started for the trade deadline, you keep
that front line wing thing, and it's they kind of
need a floor general because I just don't think Malik
Monk was the answer and that their offense I think
in the regular season can get by, but when you
look at them at full strength, I think they have
four players in DeRozan, Monks, Sabonis, and Levigne who you
feel great about if they are your second best playmaker,
as your first best playmaker not so great. And maybe
you would have felt the same way with di Iron
Fox too. That's that's fair, But I feel comfortable enough
based off Okay, now you have Jonus Valanciunis with Keegan Murray,
with Keon Ellis, with Jake Laavia. If you figure out
a way to keep him, I know they're limited in
what they could offer. It does feel like they might
be all right. The addition of an actual floor general
away from being something special. The thing that I would
disagree with is I think that player needs to be
appreciably better than a Tias Jones to get.
Speaker 2: That's that's why I thought knew you were gonna hate it.
I know you're not hating.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to look at how do we make
this team better without giving up anyone? Like they what
is Sacramento like twenty five million dollars under the tax
next year they'll be able to get Tyas Jones without
bust like whatever version of the mid level or however
the like he's not even gonna be with the season
he's had in Phoenix. I don't even know if he's
gonna get Maybe he'll get mini mid level money. I
don't think he's gonna get the full non tax players
mid level from anybody. So that's like a like a
pretty good situation to be in, I guess, But I
just don't think that them using what flexibility they have
for free agents and maybe keeping La Rabia is gonna
necessarily get them there. And it feels like it needs
to be. Like I'm looking at what can I attach to,
preferably Derozen, but maybe Malik Monk and then go out
and get more of a higher end option. The problem
is what is the name? Like I don't think Colin
Sexton's not gonna do it, Like that's too to Malik
Monk adjacent there for sure, Trey Young on this team
would be just a disaster defensively for them. So what
name is going to become available? That kind of Kobe White?
I think you need a better playmaker than that. And please,
I made a joke before, but do not go back
to the bulls well Kings, Like we've seen enough of
that and that would be like Woul LaMelo ball, Like
that's probably too big of a swing. And then you're
worrying about like the defense there as well.
Speaker 2: Like how do you even get him? Though? That's the
thing right.
Speaker 1: Well, I think if you were willing to move Monk
and de Rosen and picks like, you can get a
lot of interesting salary matching material there. But there needs
to be a realistic name and to that, which is
why it bugs me because you said it at the top,
like dearon Fox on this team right now instead of
Jamata Rosen like it would be super interesting.
Speaker 2: I just that's that's the one. That is the one. Like, seriously,
I have had and at least five hours collectively on
the Danish podcast talking about Fox Lavine some bonus as
the primary trio with Keith and Murray playing like a
fourth option, that would rule. That would be the funnest
team in the NBA to watch on a night to
night basis.
Speaker 1: So I have a couple of questions, just as like
theoretical names, none of which I'm endorsing, which is why
does he could be a free agent? Could happen via trade?
Does Fred van Fleet do anything for you on this scene?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a table center. What I would be concerned
about is his offensive efficiency, which historically has been not great.
So like, but is that on a team where that
effect is minimized? I would argue yes, Like if he
can come in and just kind of focus on taking
the spot up threes, you know, being the point of
attack defender, playing primary playmaker on the perimeter at least, Yeah,
that does a lot for me. I don't hate that.
Speaker 1: Should they be a team if he becomes available again,
if John Moramp becomes available, should they be an oh.
Speaker 2: Of course. Of course, Again it depends on what you
should give up, Like you you have to have an
idea of one time of team you have afterwards. Like again,
I think what the Kings need to do right now
is at least stick with the Levigne bonus pairing and say, okay,
what can we add to those two to enhance them
as a unit and actually add to it, because if
you break those two up as well, he's kind of
starting a little bit over. Like you need an off
ball wizard like Levine, you really do the way that
heches Bend's defenses. That is the key. So if you
get a guy like jam Moran in there and you
actually retain Levine and you retain some bonus that that's
a fun team. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Two more names for you, all right. This one's a
free agent who in theory they could probably afford. I
don't know if he'd want to play for them, Chris Paul.
Speaker 2: Oh, that'd be fun. Yeah, I would say yes to
that too, because even though he's on, you know it's
gonna be forty right in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: That's a table setter, Like he's basically an older version
of Tis Jones. At this point, just more seasoned and
more determined. So yeah, I don't hate that.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they would trade him this offseason,
but I wouldn't call him untouchable Andrew Nemhard.
Speaker 2: Is he a point guard? Though?
Speaker 1: I think he can be. I would have questions about
if I'm trying to up the quality of assaying from
Malik Monk and even de Rosen. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say no because we don't know that that's
that's too risky.
Speaker 1: For me, So I'll throw another name out there. Then
let's just say this team flames out in the playoffs
and maybe someone else requested trade and that leads to this.
Speaker 2: But oh, you're gonna throw Dennis Schroeder at me right now?
Speaker 1: Okay, No, I said he wasn't a free agent. Oh sorry,
Damian Lillard?
Speaker 2: Oh man, I mean yes, I think that's a lot
of shots though. But like if the bonus is, if
it's the bonus, Lavine and and Dame, your big three,
SA Bonus is not a hungry shot taker, No, you can.
You can probably absorb that and the dripple handoff actions
for SA Bonus with both Levine and Dame on the floor. Yeah,
you know what, I'm rolling the dice on that for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's my favorite fit, by the way, would be
Dami Lillard if things go bad in Milwaukee, which I
don't know that I do that too, but that's my favorite. One.
Would be funny though, if they signed him just because
they then facilitated like his exit from San Antonio, be like,
well they have dearon Fox and Steph Castle the word
like he's not going back there.
Speaker 2: I I the things one is fun I like that
he's older, but like that seam is also kind of
built to.
Speaker 1: But then if you have some then if you have
Sabonis and Levine, like you're built to kind of right,
you're expensive with those three, but like not for a
long time when you look at the length of the
Lillard and Levine contracts, But like that team is then
built infery at least with Sabonis and Levine to kind
of let Damian Lillard, I would say, age more gracefully
than Milwaukee even ken at this point.
Speaker 2: Right, And if memory serve, I'm just gonna double check
Levine is extension eligible next this summer, so you can
even lock him in at a lower number.
Speaker 1: So you get him to decline. You're saying, decline his
player option to lower that twenty six number.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you have to. You have to make with
Minnesota this year, right, exactly, like you make up for
it in years.
Speaker 1: That'd be really smart. Isn't Dame Extension eligible this summer too?
Couldn't he do the same thing?
Speaker 2: Let me just check, you have to.
Speaker 1: Look, maybe I'm wrong on I that was off the
cuff there, but I mean he will.
Speaker 2: It doesn't wow spot track. It doesn't even say.
Speaker 1: Well, he could just not be Extension older than I
thought he would be. But I might be wrong there regardless.
I mean, if Levine's enough to balance out the long
term books, if you extend one of them, right and
there by the way, there will be pressure this we
know we haven't spent a ton of time on the
trade deadline, like Lavigne is well talk about though they
and they by the way, they vought like you wonna
sound chun It's like they've all helped and Jake Laavia,
I like, if you're the Kings, not that you need
to keep him, but like you hope he doesn't command
more than his team option money. I don't think he
will because I think he like he can be really
good for them. He's not hitting his threes at the
clip he was when he was as I'm choking here,
as he was before the trade deadline, But like, that's
someone who could be like between him and Ellis and
Murray might just have enough perimeter defense cobbled together. And
by the way, I haven't even mentioned Devin Carter.
Speaker 2: I was just about to say, Yeah, there's Devin Carter
who's probably gonna have a good year next year.
Speaker 1: Do you think he's just you're just penciling him for
a good year next year.
Speaker 2: I thought very very highly off him as a prospect
as well well. And I yeah, I will.
Speaker 1: Say if you feel that way internally, like not not
just you, but the King's organization, you should have less
pause about getting rid of one or both of DeRozan
and Malik Monk in service of the type of upgrades
that we're talking about. Agreed, Let's move on to I'll
give you ownership of this team, your San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 2: That's better.
Speaker 1: I will say, I think their biggest trade deadline acquisition, Yes,
they got darn Fox, you get rid of Trade Jones,
Zach Collins. I feel like their biggest trade deadline acquisition
was Steph Castle's shot making.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, my god, that look. I don't want to
spend too much time on this team. This was just
we called it at the time. Great trade Fox. Yeah,
like his his percentage just a down a little bit.
He's also playing with yeahs. You can if you're watching
this on YouTube, you can see it on the spinker
uh dislocated right if memory serves like he's even considering
some surgery, I believe. But even if you shut him
down for the rest of the season, this trade is
still a plus because that's not a long term issue thing.
He can come back fully healthy next year with a
full training camp under his belt, with Wempy healthy, feleet
knock on Wood, everything goes smoothly there. They'll have draft picks,
they'll have optionality and free agency or just on the
trade market. I don't hate it. This is what they've
done right now, is they've stayed the course. They didn't
over invest in Tierrean Fox like you said previously, Dan Like,
they didn't give up a ton for him. This was
a very modest return for Daron Fox.
Speaker 1: Do you and I know you wrote about this, which
is why I'm asking you, do you have any level
of concern about the way that darn Fox has like
made shots or not made shots while he's in sanate
during his time in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: Not concerned whatsoever yet. I mean this, this guy has
just spent what seven and a half years, eight and
a half seven and a half, seven and a half
years in Sacramento, So he was kind of uprooting his
entire life. He came from an organization that we didn't
even cover that with the Kings, which we probably should have,
Like the ownership situation and like the order of power
therein is super odd and super weird. So for him
to come to an organization that, for all intents and purposes,
is way more streamlined, professional whatever you want to call it,
that is going to take an adjustment. That's going to
be an adjustment for him. Not having to look over
his shoulder and think what likes the owner's daughter all
of a sudden gonna have influence on roster decisions like So,
I'm just not worried about him right now. As well
as the injury, like Wemby went out so shortly after
his arrival too, that I think he was sort of
like having to adjust to that on the fly, because
he was just getting used to playing with a seven
to four guy who is the most unique big man
arguably in NBA history, and all of a sudden instead
it's like, oh hi, bismcbiumbo, I now have to play
with That's that's an adjustment as well, right, So I'm
not worried, not nervous.
Speaker 1: I'm with you too. I think it's a lot just
some of the threes are gonna start to fall. Like
the quality of threes like that he's been missing. I
think those are, even by his own shooting standards, will fall.
He's actually shot almost forty excuse me, almost fifty percent
from mid range in San Antonio. That's fine. If you
were to be concerned about anything, it'd be the finishing
at the rim. But I think you just laid out
in part why that is on the decline, Like the
spacing elements, Like even if Sacramento floor balance wasn't perfect,
he has familiarity there, and then just it probably was
better floor balance than you're seeing in a lot of
the lineups in San Antonio. The thing that I guess
does worry me is like the minutes he's played without
Wemby have just been a disaster. But again the lack
of familiarity there. The offense at least creeps close to
league average during those minutes, and you could look at
some of the you know, like the most used combinations
where it's okay, he's playing with Castle and Champagnee and
Keldon Johnson and so hands at the five in those minutes,
or you're playing with Beyambo and Chris Paul so you're
like an off guard. But the spacing is all sort
of off. I'm not too too worried, but that is like,
even regardless of what you gave up to get him,
because he's making so much money, the idea should be
that we have someone to float us finally in the
non Wemby minutes, and we don't necessarily have evidence of that. Again,
the sample size is so small that you could chalk
it up, but that will be something that especially after
he gets to go through a training camp with them,
like I'm gonna monitor that like a hawk.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's fair. I mean again, also, the finker is
on his shooting hand, Like I'm not gonna put that
aside and say, oh that doesn't matter, Like that obviously matters.
Speaker 1: There's three point shooting specifically, when you're talking about that, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Like I'm just not worried about that. I
get the finishing though. That's a fair point. Yeah, I
look that this roster minus Wemby, Like if you just
isolate the Aaron Fox and just puts him outside the
window for a second, it's not it's not fantastic. Like
Devin the Cell has struggled mightily this year compared to
last year. This has not been a good year for you.
Likes and Barnes love him. Still a bit on the
older side, like definitely a fifth option in a starting lineup.
So hand has made some major improvements, but has been
in the in and out of the lineup like constantly.
He's this year, he's just been picking up injury after
injury after injury. I'm not sure what the fuck is
going on with Calton Johnson. That's also been a weird
year for him. So like there are some issues that
the Spurs have to clean up with worth the summer. Like,
I don't think Calton Johnson is back next year. I
think he's gonna get moved. I'm not sure what other
moves they're gonna make or they're basically going to say, look, Jeremy,
so hang, you're gonna get another year. They're gonna sell
you're gonna get another year. Like let's have some level
of patience here. But a guy like Kelton Johnson, I
would be pretty surprised if he's back. So we'll see
It's basically my my end point here. I think we're
gonna see a drastically different foster coming up.
Speaker 1: Back then, yeah, I thought Facelle was gonna have an
easier time kind of fitting into the New World Order,
and that'll be something like he's getting less shots ever since.
The trade, like the usage just changes when you're integrating
someone like d Aaron Fox and you're worried obviously about
Steph Castle. But I would have made the trade that's like,
oh yeah, I'm out of ten thing. But if you
were hoping that this was going to be more of
a seamless transition, I think both with him without Wemby,
then it's been a little bit disappointing by that regard.
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's more than that. So I you know obviously,
you know me, I watch way too much Wemby. So
the cell has been on my radar a lot over
the past two years, and what has changed this year
is his lack of willingness to take tough shots. So
last year he was one of the best tough shots
makers in the NBA. This year he's sort of like
not even dared. It's like when he's coming off the
initial screen and he's strippling into like the mid range area.
Before if he had a seven to one guy just
rushing out at him, last year, he would shoot that
boy that boy, and he would actually hit it at
a pretty good clip. This year, he's like hesitating. He's
passing up even like semi open shots that he wouldn't
even think about twice last year. He's passing up like
this is the season to forget for him. Next year,
if they retain him, it has to be with a
different mindset. If he pulls this level of season again,
they're gonna have to make a very different call on him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair and just I think spending. I think
some of the tough shot making too. If you look,
he's probably spent more time off the ball, and I
wonder how much of that impacts in there. But this team,
I still think just the bones of it. When you
have Fox and Bissell and Wemby and Castle of course,
like there's really something there and you might have we'll
see where they land, Like they have Atlanta's pick this year.
They have their own pick still this year. Yeah, they
have their own and then I mean if they want,
they can make stuff happen on the trade market. And
they're they're still far enough beneath the luxury tax that
they could they'll have like a mid level exception that
they could use. They're like almost the other forty almost
forty five million under the tax. Next year's like maybe
they get someone good with a non tax payer mid
level and as we just I saw with Fox, they
have someone who everybody apparently wants to play with.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, look, it's funny because we're sitting here
talking about, oh yeah, they have these options, like theories
have chance that they over the next what eighteen games
for how many of games they have left of the season,
they just go completely into the basement and they move
up the draft ranks, Like this could be a scene
that walks away with Cooper Flag or a Dylan Harper
or in Ace Bailey or in VJ. Edgecombe, Like that's preposterous.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that if they end up winning the lottery,
that'll be.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's it. That's it, just like sixteen franchises, just
full years.
Speaker 1: Even if they shoot into the top four, that just
becomes like, oh shit, yeah, all right. You wanted to
talk about this team, the Phoenix Suns, owners of the
NBA's worst defense since the trade deadline. Nick Richards shoot
almost seventy percent from the floor. They have Cody Martin Vasamisich,
They got rid of use of Nurkic and Josha Koge.
We all know about that first round pick trade twenty
and thirty one to Utah for three less favorable first
round picks. What like, yeah, what are your thoughts on
this team? Prost trade deadline? More so, I.
Speaker 3: Wanted to trade I wanted to talk about them solely
because Nick Richards was a pre trad trade deadline deal.
Speaker 2: Like, he wasn't traded near the trade deadline. He was like, Luka, Doncic,
timing guy. He's been playing well, Like these sons have
been grotesquely disappointing this year, but we at least got
to give them credit for identifying accurately. So Nick Richards
getting him into the fold. He's played well I've really
enjoyed watching him play. Like, yes, the numbers are you know,
ten points, nine and a half rebounds, so it's not
like it's all star caliber numbers or anything, but you
can tell that the motivation level of just getting out
of Charlotte was huge. Like he's he's in, He's like
involved in every single play. He's way more focused. I
just love how he's looked there. Unfortunately, the rest of
the roster, for whatever reason that we probably won't really know,
has not found a way to win games. That's obviously tough,
but I'm just gonna want to I want to give
Nick Richards his flowers. I think.
Speaker 1: Fair does not make a difference because this team is
depressing as hell, and even more depressing Cody Martin has
never even played for them because of a abdominal injury,
which I'm just gonna blame that on the Suns too,
even though he clearly did not suffer it with the team.
Shout out con Gillespie, though he's had some good minutes
for them. No, you're just staring at me like I'm
an idiot, not a Congo Leespie fan. Might have saved
their their season and future.
Speaker 2: No, look if we're at that point then then we
know shit hit the fan.
Speaker 1: Well, well that was fun. Would you be able to
tell our fine listeners and viewers subscribers in general, they
can find you more than all the fantastic work that
you do.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you can find me over at Blue Sky, at
MSJ n b A. If you want to go find
my articles, you can find them over at Yahoo Sports
or at four. So I'm taking a break from SI
these days. If you speak Danish, you can go catch
Buzzer Beater, or you can go to the NPA podcast
if you are a native English speaker instead.
Speaker 1: I echo everything he said. More does great work, does
a fantastic job covering me entirely. You have a Danish
word for me of Dan learns.
Speaker 2: Dangers and I've even added props.
Speaker 1: Oh he's got props. If you're watching on YouTube, that
is a spoon.
Speaker 2: That is indeed a spoon, and that is called eski
escape sk sk skate skate skate sk There we go.
That was a good one.
Speaker 1: So it's like, is it it's skate? I still like
Nihla sucks the beck.
Speaker 3: I'm so amazed that that's the one you remember. I
thought for sure that was the most complicated one, and
you're like, yeah.
Speaker 1: Incompetent, Like, isn't that incompetent?
Speaker 2: That? God, damn Dan, that's good. That was very good.
Oh my god, I'm very proud of you right now.
Speaker 1: You know the one I forgot, but I know I
can't say it when you came up with the one
for hat, I keep getting it wrong.
Speaker 2: Kiskit eskit? Was that not the one? Yeah, kiskit kis kit.
Speaker 1: That's the one that I can't get right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was it. You actually pronounced it pretty well.
Speaker 1: All right, there we go. But I will always know clippers,
so we need to care about nail clippers specific specifically.
Speaker 2: Sure it's gonna benefit you greatly when you miss opiated.
Speaker 1: Until next time, and as always, I leave you with
a shout out to the one, the only the indellible
still floating around out there and can say your favorite
NBA team season two if they just let him, mister
frank Ila Keina