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Speaker 1: What is up, Fellowsikos, I am Dan for Valley, coming

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at you with the one, the only, the indelible, my certified,

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fantabulous co host, mister Grant Hughes. We have seen enough

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basketball to know that it's piece or panic time. We

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are going to go through a handful of teams that

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are either not meeting external or internal or both expectations

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and decide is it time for them to panic or

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is it time for them to hold serve? Everyone just

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take a chill pill. It's gonna be fine. They'll work

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out the kinks, whatever's going wrong will come to pass.

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We're gonna be right every single time like we always are.

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But first, we asked the question, and we want to know.

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Get into comments. We're doing this live, get in the comments.

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Let us know are you piecing? Are you panicking? Is

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there another team or player that you're thinking about that

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we're not gonna touch upon. We'll get to questions throughout

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if we have them, But our first question, mister Grant Hughes,

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how the heck are you? I'm gonna I'm gonna answer

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one question first. I'm at peace with your impending response

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to this panicking that it's gonna be bad.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'm piecing pretty hard just in life and

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about most of these teams. No, I don't know, we're

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gonna panic a little bit. I think this is this

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is always like a tricky We've built in enough outs

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because the way I'm thinking of this exercise is one

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like the core question is is what's happening right now

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with this team changing my priors like what I thought

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we're gonna be the pluses and minuses, the ceiling and

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floor coming into the season. And then this is where

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like the parachute is like could it turn around? I

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don't know. Maybe, so there's a little bit, there's definitely

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some equivocating that we can do. But that's that's how

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I approach it. Is that your general kind of uh,

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how you come at the piece or panic discussion of

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like and it's not you know, we're not gonna talk

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about teams that are doing terribly that we thought we're

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doing terrible, because that's not interesting. It's more just teams

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that have shown a side of themselves that is causing

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us to think like, oh, maybe I got this a

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little bit wrong to start the year, or like maybe

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based on their own internal expectations things are not going

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to plan, right, That's that's kind of how you get

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nominated into the piece or panic discussion.

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Speaker 1: Right. So a team that's a good example is the

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Pelicans are dumpster fire, but what we all got their

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internal expectations might have been. I'm assuming they were higher,

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but them, the Kings like those aren't teams we all

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knew what they were coming into this. The Suns even too.

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Speaker 2: Mm hmm. I mean, really, I'm very peaceful about the Suns.

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They're way better than I thought they would be. But

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they don't get to be in the conversation.

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Speaker 1: But Jalen Green coming back and just being absolutely sensational

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apparently all over the place up against that super athletic

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Clippers defense. That's a team that we might touch on.

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Do you want to take us through our first team, sir?

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Who's up?

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Speaker 2: We begin sort of alphabetically. No, not quite, because there's

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another team before them, the Dallas Mavericks. Stan. Their offense sucks,

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and we knew that was gonna happen, or at least

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strongly suspected it. They rank thirtieth an offensive rating, their

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sixth on defense also kind of foreseeable. That levels out

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to a net rating rank of twenty fifth. One stat

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to note here, the MAVs are shooting twenty eight point

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three percent on wide open threes. That's bad. That's also

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last in the league. The next worst team, which is

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the Blazers, are about four percentage points better. So that's

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a or four points better. That's an enormous gap. Bonus

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stat the league average in the restricted area sixty seven

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point four percent. The MAVs do not have a single

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non center. They also don't play very many non centers,

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so this stat is biased shooting league average in the

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restricted area. So I guess, like the starting point here

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is this was on the table as far as like

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the spread of offensive and defensive net rating ranks, I

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would like to get into a few more pieces of

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information to inform our decision. Here, Uh, they're two and six.

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We didn't mention that the NADER really for Dallas. I'll

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put it to you. Was it the opening night like

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destruction at the hands of the Spurs or was it

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the home loss of the Pelicans who were playing the

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second night of a back to back. Because one really

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was a like cold water and the other one was

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I don't know, just like objectively felt worse to two

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rough ones, which which made you more concerned.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's the Pelicans one, right, Has anyone actively

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watched the Pelicans to wear? Okay, Derek Queen at a

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good game the other night, job Jeremiah Fears has looked

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pretty good.

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Speaker 2: I like Fears, Why are you?

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Speaker 1: It's the Pelicans one. That's the one where it's okay,

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we're we're pretty down bad and it's we built. I

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know that they had very limited flexibility and the Kyrie

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Irving injury, but you look at this team and hey, Grant,

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the problem with it is the problem that everyone knew

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it was gonna be and you didn't seek to address.

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Signing D'Angel Russell to the minim he does not count

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as addressing it.

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Speaker 2: Here's here's why that's correct. They actually the Mavericks started

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Delo in that game against New Orleans, acknowledging Fellas. Yeah,

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Klay Thompson benched. He always responds really well to that too,

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So good luck there at Dallas. They respond, they said, hey,

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maybe we should get an actual ball handler on the floor.

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Dil goes three for ten, he's a minus eleven. Brandon

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Williams actually outplayed him in that game. That's the other

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nominal point. He actually I shouldn't say nominal. He's a

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point guard that's on the Dallas Mavericks. Maybe you've never

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heard of him because he doesn't play very much. So

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that you said it, this is how it was foreseeably

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going to go badly. Some mitigating factors. Anthony Davis has

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missed some time with a calf injury, Lively has been hurt.

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Positive sign the stupid starting lineup that they've used mostly

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since the opening of the season, which is Cooper Flag

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at the one plus Clay plus PJ. Washington plus Davis

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plus Lively actually has a positive net rating. The offense

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is terrible, so that you know that was the recipe.

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I guess, so on some level success that is what

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Dallas was going for. All lineups with Flag at the point,

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they're a minus eighteen point eight net rating with a

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ninety seven offensive rating and a sky high turnover rate

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and a horrible effective field percentage. All of this like

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at the bottom or bottom five in the league. Again,

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totally foreseeable. My sort of summation here, this has gone

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badly and exactly the ways you could have expected. The

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fixes quote unquote are D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Williams. That's

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not enough. Feels to me like a trade is necessary

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if you want to fix the offense. But in any

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hypothetical trade, you're probably giving up the better players in

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a vacuum. But you have to do that just because

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you're so over indexed on front court guys and have

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no guards and and the best move here to fix

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all this is probably trading Anthony Davis, which is the

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one they should have made sooner and the one they

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can't make because the same guys that traded for him

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are in charge of the team and you're pot stuck

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on Anthony Davis. So I'm telegraphing where I'm going here.

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I'd like to get some takes from you before we

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close the book on Dallas.

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Speaker 1: Is there any name though that you could? I think

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my dogs are barking in the background. They we know

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they their direction of it. Yeah, they know something. Is

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there any name? Because if you're gonna go out and

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make it upgrade, you could, I don't know if you

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would need you have some salaries to wear. Naji Marshall,

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Caleb Martin, Max Christy is a good player. Is there

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a name a realistic name, and I can throw some

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out to you that would say, oh, it's worth maybe

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giving up assets to try and make the most out

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of this season or no, it's very clear we need

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to kind of reorient this thing around Cooper Flag because

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I could, like just some examples of what I think

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are in the realm of the Dallas Mavericks is assets

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that they have at their disposal. Sneaky name of the Clippers,

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continue to think is James Harden. Yeah, reunite him and Kyrie.

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Let's go wrong shout out.

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Speaker 2: I will say Harden would solve a lot of your

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problems here because he would just completely commandeer the playmaking,

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which is what he's doing for the Clippers, which we'll

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talk about.

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Speaker 1: So I guess what is the level of player they

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would need for you to feel better about let's make

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it about this season? And is it it needs to

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be Austin Reeves or Tyler Hero Are either of them

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good enough? Does a Malik Monk or a Kobe White help?

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Could it be something? Are the Celtics willing to talk

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on Peyton Pritchard?

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Speaker 2: This is part of the reason you panic because the

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first class of names, the Reeves, the Heroes, that that

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would be pretty close to you. You still you're still

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just you don't you can't play two centers and two

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power forwards, like there's no point lead ball handler that

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like fixes all of that. But you need you'd need

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to swing that big, I think, to like really make

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a meaningful correction to what's gone wrong here. But can

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you do that if you know you have Kyrie Irving

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coming back? And as management, do you do that? I

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don't think you swing that big because you know you

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can say, well, this isn't the team. This is just

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the team until Kyrie comes back. And who better to

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solve all these issues than a guy like Kyrie? So

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why are we trading for reeves who's gonna get super

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expensive or maybe we lose them for nothing? Or hero

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if we know we just got to wait this out

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and trust the defense or whatever, we can sell that

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as the plan all along. And so then the alternative

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of the Kobe White tier of players, which maybe isn't

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that far behind like the Tyler heroes here, but a

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notch below you're like, well, what's the point of that?

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That's just a little band aid? Why give up anything

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again when we know we have Kyrie coming back. I

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think where you really run into trouble is if Kyrie's

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just not that good, and certainly this season, I don't

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imagine he's gonna that good.

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Speaker 1: Is my final question on this before getting to a verdict.

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Do you think on some oh, they're doing a disservice

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to the development of Cooper Flag here to where it's

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he's not going to be able to optimize himself on offense.

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And also because of what you kind of have him on,

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he's guarded a lot of on the ball on the

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defensive end, which does take away from that disruption, that

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play making away from the ball that he is supposed

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to bring. And then if you're talking if you're focusing

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on the defensive en okay, well, what's the player that

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would maybe allow him to slide into his natural That

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might be more of a front quart issue for the Mavericks,

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although if you got a Peyton Pritchard could probably come

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in and defend a bunch like some of these smaller

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players with the ball in their hands, that's another question

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they have to factor in.

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Speaker 2: So I think if you believe that Cooper Flag is

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as good as most people do, you're not doing like

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permanent damage. I don't think. I do think it's very

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obvious that he's not being put in the best position

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to succeed. I'm not panicking about him specifically, because I

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do think he's just if and when Dallas puts him

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in a spot that actually makes sense for his skills

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and experience, he'll be great. I don't think this is

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going to compromise anything long term. It is like it's

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not ideal what they're doing though right now, like because

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I just I don't like, is he gonna be a

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point guard ultimately? Like yeah, maybe a big wing slash

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forward that has a lot of on ball juice, But like,

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I don't see a world where Cooper Flag's best possible

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utilization is running the offense, Like don't. I don't think so.

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But I'm not worried about that. I am panicking about

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this season for all the reasons we've gone through, and

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I'm panicking for the long term because like, like I

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went through, like just the Nico Harrison of it all

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and the decisions that he's made that Like, again, this

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ties back to what I mentioned earlier, Like the thing

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to do is probably trade Davis, but that can't happen

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as long as Harrison is still making decisions, because that

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would be just admitting the failure that we all know

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the Luka Doncis trade was. And I just don't think

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executives are willing to make that kind of admission. So, like,

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the best decision Dallas could make cannot be made for

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reasons that have nothing to do with like what's actually

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best for the team, if that makes sense.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and also, I don't know what you would get

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in a trade package for Anthony Davis at the moment

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would be the other thing that would be complicated. But

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I have an agreement with you that if you're the Mavericks,

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this is a perfect panic. They need a panic this season.

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At least. I'm with you there, and I hope they

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shouldn't go chase throwing good money after bad though, because

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of the name where it's if you're in the think

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of first round picks to bring in someone, I know

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you have Cooper Flag. We're not insulated against being bad.

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Speaker 1: Our next team up is the Dallas Mavericks Grant, they

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have fixed everything on the offensive end, except just kidding, no,

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they have not. They are twenty fifth in offense.

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Speaker 2: You said, Dallas Mavericks, We just did them. We're talking

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You're talking about the Orlando Magic.

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Speaker 1: I apologize. The Orlando Magic have fixed everything on the

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offensive end, except they haven't. Twenty fifth in rating, seventeenth

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in defensive rating. That's concerning, twenty second overall in net rating.

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Notable stat the Magic Grant are twenty sixth in points

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allowed per possession off turnovers. They were sixth last year.

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As a bonus stat they were dead last in average

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offensive possession time last year. They're now the seventh fastest team.

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And a lot has just not changed. And so what

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I did was you go in, you dig into their

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shot profile. Desmond Bang taking fewer threes, that makes absolutely

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zero sense. Some of the things I might get better

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Franz Wagner shooting better from three is a really big deal.

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I still there's man, is there a more quietly divisive

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big name in the NBA than Palo Bank Caro Grant?

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That's not there.

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Speaker 2: Not At the moment, all my questions were about to

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be about him, so.

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Speaker 1: I looking at this team and the way that they

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are running their offense, there are I think two big

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conclusions people want to draw or will at least consider,

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is Palo Bank Cao isn't good enough or that's going

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to be a problem, or Jamal Mosley needs to go

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or both. I'm looking at the offense and I just

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they're playing faster with it seems like not having changed anything.

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So I went back and watched every single Orlando Magic

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turnover on the season. Shout out to Desmond Bane Travels.

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But the other thing is they're just dripped. Like their

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version of faster offense is okay, they're getting across half

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court faster. It's not really transition, although they are spending

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more time in transition, but it's they're just going to

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dribble into traffic and then make bad passes.

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Speaker 2: Appariently, can I jump in because No, I was aware

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of the the the stats that you cited or some

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version of them that like, No, the pace is up,

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They're they're they're moving faster and you in different ways

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that can be measured. And it's true that rubs completely up.

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That's the wrong way to frame it. That runs counter

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to what a lot of people like immediately we're pointing

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out with like this is the most deliberate station to

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station ass offense that you see in the modern NBA

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of like the ball doesn't change sides, the ball stops that,

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all that stuff, like all this this is maybe more

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of the Moseley side of the criticism. Is that something

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that leapt out to you? Did did you could? Can

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00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:52,039
you verify all the criticism of the esthetics of the

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offense of just like it's not nothing's happening off the ball,

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00:16:55,879 --> 00:17:00,200
it's super basic, it's slow, it's uninventive. Is that at

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00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,720
what your rewatch kind of confirmed or is that overblown?

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's overblown. I do think there was

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the game I can't remember. There was the game where

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they we saw more Oh, Franz Wagner was screening, and

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00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:14,960
like I just don't know why that's not like a

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00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,640
default of like let's just run a ton of picking

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00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,279
rolls with Palo bank Cao and Franz Wagner. But yes,

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00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,119
there's a lot of they're clearing out a side of

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00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:24,720
the floor and still going to work, but they're doing

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it faster, like those players are going to dribble.

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Speaker 2: They're starting it at seventeen on the shot clock instead

333
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:31,720
of twelve? Is that what that means?

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Speaker 1: Right? And the part of the problem is that all

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00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,279
of these guys, whether it's going to be Franz Wagner,

336
00:17:36,319 --> 00:17:41,359
Palo ban Cao, Desmond Baine, Jaalen Suggs, are all very

337
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,519
good secondary playmakers. And I don't know if like you're

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00:17:45,519 --> 00:17:47,759
gonna throw bodies at them in the paint because defenses

339
00:17:47,799 --> 00:17:51,279
still don't respect Orlando shooting and they respect it even

340
00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:53,279
like if Desmond Bain is the guy that's getting into

341
00:17:53,319 --> 00:17:55,519
the paint, they're going to respect it even less because

342
00:17:55,519 --> 00:17:59,319
of the players that are around them. How much do

343
00:17:59,319 --> 00:18:02,240
you trust them to react to There is all this traffic,

344
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,400
there is all this bodies. They might still need someone

345
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to organize the offense. That player grant and may surprise,

346
00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,359
you know, is not Tias Jones not having the cleanest

347
00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:12,799
start to the year there. Yeah, And I think they're sneaky,

348
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,839
just shallow where it's they have a lot of guys

349
00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,200
where okay, like Tristan de Silva, Okay, find like we

350
00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:21,920
like Anthony Black, like he could be pretty frisky on

351
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,240
the defensive end, but like you're running out. After that,

352
00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:28,160
it's all like, O do we trust no appenda? Like,

353
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,960
what's gonna happen if Tias Jones can't get minutes? Jase

354
00:18:31,079 --> 00:18:34,599
Richardson is someone who when you only get the playmaking specifically, okay,

355
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,079
sure could he help that, but he's a rookie. You're

356
00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:41,319
getting nothing from Jonathan Isaac. They're like, I don't know

357
00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,000
if their depth was given enough attention to. With all

358
00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:47,799
that said, though, they're like, starting unit is kind of

359
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:49,839
killing it, And if you wanted to hang your hat

360
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,559
on something, you could say it's early. They could still

361
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,559
change things. The turnovers, you would hope would certainly clean

362
00:18:55,599 --> 00:18:58,279
themselves up. Jalen Suggs should be able to play more

363
00:18:58,279 --> 00:19:02,680
minutes as time goes on. I just I find I

364
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,200
don't like putting it laying blame at the feet of

365
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,599
a Ooh, that's a great question from Andrew Willett. What

366
00:19:08,759 --> 00:19:11,839
a floor spacing center helps significantly? I mean they have

367
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:15,160
Wendell Carter Junior, who is, when you look at the percentages,

368
00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:16,920
is not going to be someone that you would necessarily

369
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,200
consider a floor spacing center. But short of getting a

370
00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:23,839
what Karl Anthony Towns or Christaps porzingis you're not going

371
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,039
to have like if Wendell Carter Junior shooting fifty percent

372
00:19:27,079 --> 00:19:30,240
from three on three attempts per game, right, how much

373
00:19:30,279 --> 00:19:33,359
better are you going to get from that? Realistically?

374
00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,480
Speaker 2: I think you're This is something that like we've hit

375
00:19:38,559 --> 00:19:41,680
on it when in other discussions about John Morant, like, oh,

376
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,240
it's hard to trade him because everybody's the point guard.

377
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,480
There's there's too many point guards out there. I kind

378
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,359
of think the opposite where some of these teams, Orlando

379
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:51,559
being one, that just don't have someone that breaks the

380
00:19:51,559 --> 00:19:54,759
paint as a ball handler that often and like causes

381
00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:59,240
the defense to shift. Like it's take I watched Clippers

382
00:19:59,279 --> 00:20:01,039
Phoenix last night and it's like neither of them had

383
00:20:01,079 --> 00:20:02,599
anybody on the floor that could do that, and it

384
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,359
was a real slog and like the team that made

385
00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:07,960
threes one because you're just swinging it around. Like I

386
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:14,160
think that offenses like Orlando's benefit more from someone who's

387
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,000
like I don't know. Again, I've watched some Pelicans late least,

388
00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:19,680
like Jeremiah Fears gets wherever the fuck he wants quickly,

389
00:20:20,079 --> 00:20:22,319
and that's often into the lane and the defense freaks out.

390
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,880
Someone like that seems to me more helpful to this

391
00:20:26,039 --> 00:20:28,640
Orlando offense than a floor spacing center. That's just that's

392
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:30,519
my take on. As someone that can do that.

393
00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 1: In fury, shouldn't that be Palo ban Caero.

394
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,799
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, he's he's a little different. Both of them

395
00:20:38,799 --> 00:20:41,079
are a little different in that respect. I don't know

396
00:20:41,079 --> 00:20:43,640
if you saw Michael Pinia's piece on the Ringer kind

397
00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,039
of dissecting the ban Caro of it all and talking

398
00:20:46,039 --> 00:20:48,440
about kind of one of the first questions you raised

399
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,160
of is this a Bancaro issue? Is it a Jamal

400
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,000
Moseley issue? And to ban Caro's credit, like he's getting

401
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,480
me to the ligne more. That's one of his real strengths.

402
00:20:57,599 --> 00:21:01,440
He does take a ton of awful early contested jumpers,

403
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:03,640
like by choice, Like that seems to be the kinds

404
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,920
of shots he likes to take. So if you are

405
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,680
someone that I don't Giannis is an unfair comparison, but

406
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,000
like all he wants to do is get as close

407
00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:13,039
to the basket as possible and if you foul him

408
00:21:13,039 --> 00:21:15,079
in the process, great, and if you don't, he dunks

409
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,759
Like maybe that if ban Cao operated that way and

410
00:21:18,799 --> 00:21:22,200
if Frands operated that way, maybe that gets you closer

411
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:24,880
to the type of change that we're kind of hinting at,

412
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,480
But it can't be just touching the paint. Is not

413
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,599
just touching the paint like you know what I mean,

414
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,759
Like ben Caro can get there, But the types of

415
00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:36,200
shots you're seeking in that effort I think matter, and

416
00:21:36,319 --> 00:21:37,920
Orlando doesn't quite get enough of those.

417
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 1: What's interesting about this team is they still could go

418
00:21:43,319 --> 00:21:46,119
out and make changes, but they are like a lot

419
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:47,720
of people and wondering if they're gonna actually try to

420
00:21:47,759 --> 00:21:49,759
duck the tack so they don't start the repeater clock.

421
00:21:49,799 --> 00:21:52,839
They're currently the way that they're playing right now, They're

422
00:21:52,839 --> 00:21:54,279
absolutely gonna have to go with that rap because it

423
00:21:54,279 --> 00:21:56,759
doesn't seem like they're good enough. Have you seen anything

424
00:21:56,799 --> 00:21:59,599
or do you what do you preach here? Is it actual?

425
00:22:00,039 --> 00:22:02,599
Because I think it's easy to default to patients, and

426
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,240
I ultimately that's where I'm going with because I believe

427
00:22:05,279 --> 00:22:06,839
in the top end talent on this team and the

428
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,480
numbers I don't know if I already said this on

429
00:22:08,519 --> 00:22:10,799
their starting unit are actually pretty good. And if your

430
00:22:10,799 --> 00:22:13,200
core lineup is still figuring out while not really necessarily

431
00:22:13,279 --> 00:22:16,720
popping just yet, you want to just let's give it.

432
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,359
Let's give it like twenty games or something. At the

433
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,960
same time, you went close to, if not actually all

434
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,720
in for Desmond Bane and so you only get to

435
00:22:26,759 --> 00:22:29,039
play the patient's card for this isn't something where you

436
00:22:29,039 --> 00:22:31,400
could just say, well, we'll give it the season and

437
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,519
then we'll fare No, like you've paid all of these dudes.

438
00:22:33,559 --> 00:22:37,240
Balvin Carroll's extension doesn't kick in until next year. That's

439
00:22:37,279 --> 00:22:39,599
where I think this is why so interesting to Orlando

440
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,440
is because they I think rightfully so, because we were

441
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,920
clamoring for them to make a move for what two

442
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,720
off seasons basically before they go and get Desmond Bain.

443
00:22:47,799 --> 00:22:49,880
But once you make that move, which is maybe why

444
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,559
they didn't in the first place, that the clock of

445
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:54,119
urgency really starts to tick.

446
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I lean patients too, But I think I think

447
00:23:00,279 --> 00:23:03,599
where I'm getting back to, if it's a Paalo question,

448
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,759
it's I'm just never gonna say, well, he's done getting

449
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better at this stage of it, Like there's no way so.

450
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Speaker 1: Illo ben Carro concern or criticism, criticism is warranted, but

451
00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,279
the whole like he can't play like this or he's

452
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I just I find that overblown it's way too early.

453
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,200
It just flickers and flashes of dominance in the playoffs

454
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,880
right in imperfect spacing within an imperfect offense. And that's

455
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:33,960
why it does seem to me that I would if

456
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:35,960
I'm the Magic I'm not firing Jamal Mosley. And that,

457
00:23:36,039 --> 00:23:37,440
by the way, that's the question we have to ask

458
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,920
here is even if you're not going to panic, you

459
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,960
could still say that Jamal Mosley doesn't feel like the

460
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,359
right coach for this team. And I think if we

461
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,359
get to twenty one games in, twenty five games in

462
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and the offense is still hovering around bottom ten, yeah,

463
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,200
it's time out of that conversation. Here's the problem I

464
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,880
have with that mid season. What's the play You're just

465
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,400
going to an interim coach? Do you really like The

466
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,319
only reason to me to fire Jamal a mid season

467
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,680
would be that there is a clear upgrade out there.

468
00:24:03,839 --> 00:24:05,880
You believe he's gonna come in and, for some reason,

469
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,400
with very little practice time, be able to implement a

470
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,240
more effective system, or he's lost the locker room, which

471
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,240
that's one thing it does not seem like is going.

472
00:24:15,079 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 2: Right in Orlando. I totally agree. I think you get

473
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,519
I I don't even think it's the twenty one games.

474
00:24:19,559 --> 00:24:22,559
I think you give Mosley this whole season too, And

475
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:24,720
and if this is what it looks like at the

476
00:24:24,759 --> 00:24:27,119
end of the year, and I don't care what percentage

477
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,279
Desmond Bain's shooting. If is still below his attempt rate

478
00:24:30,319 --> 00:24:33,440
of last year, that's like, dude, what are we doing?

479
00:24:33,759 --> 00:24:33,880
Speaker 1: Though?

480
00:24:34,079 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 2: What are we doing? I mean he's got to be

481
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,200
put in position to do it. And that comes back

482
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,240
to the offense, Like, I really do think you give

483
00:24:40,319 --> 00:24:43,240
him the year. And at that point if you fire him, Like,

484
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,480
what's anyone gonna say? It's like, yes, it's been the

485
00:24:46,519 --> 00:24:51,880
same problem for years. We've addressed it with aggressive personnel moves, Like, yes,

486
00:24:52,039 --> 00:24:54,480
it was never gonna be perfect. Baine wasn't gonna solve everything.

487
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,079
But it has to get like markedly better. And if

488
00:24:59,079 --> 00:25:01,039
it doesn't, then it's a very very easy decision. You

489
00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:03,599
need someone in here who's just gonna try something different,

490
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,680
and that's easy. That's much much easier to find in

491
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,119
the offseason than it is at any point mid stream,

492
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,039
Like you can't You're not gonna get the overhaul you

493
00:25:13,079 --> 00:25:15,039
want if you fired Jamal Mosley during the year. I

494
00:25:15,079 --> 00:25:18,079
don't like it just seems unrealistic to me, So patients

495
00:25:18,079 --> 00:25:18,359
for me.

496
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: But verdict verdict, collective verdict on the Orlando Magic, it's

497
00:25:22,759 --> 00:25:23,799
just no time up panic.

498
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 2: But my patients will have run out at the end

499
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,960
of the year. If if Orlando, like Orlando could finish

500
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,799
like fourth in the East, and I would still say, like,

501
00:25:35,799 --> 00:25:39,480
you probably gotta fire Moseley if their offense is still

502
00:25:39,599 --> 00:25:40,920
like lagging the way it has.

503
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,119
Speaker 1: I think if they make the Eastern Conference finals, we've

504
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,599
proven that coaches could be gotta get rid of Well,

505
00:25:45,839 --> 00:25:48,640
it's actually, this is a really good question. What if

506
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,759
it's maybe it's not trending in the right direction, ors

507
00:25:51,799 --> 00:25:54,359
trending in the right direction but not enough. Do you also,

508
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,079
like you have to give this personnel it's currently constructed

509
00:25:57,079 --> 00:25:59,680
the entire season two or are you futzing and fiddling

510
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:01,960
as you get closer to the trade deadline?

511
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,759
Speaker 2: I mean that would just look like going for more shooters,

512
00:26:05,839 --> 00:26:08,480
I guess, or looking for that paint breaking point guard.

513
00:26:08,559 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Rhett used to break the painting.

514
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 2: He did once the ones in a while, not anymore.

515
00:26:16,279 --> 00:26:18,920
Shot distance on average is getting farther away. Yeah, I

516
00:26:20,079 --> 00:26:23,000
don't know. I I'm inclined to think like you just

517
00:26:23,079 --> 00:26:25,920
let this group ride and and you'll really you'll know

518
00:26:26,079 --> 00:26:27,680
at the end of the year what they can do.

519
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,559
And the other thing too is like I think you

520
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,759
panic if you thought Orlando was going to jump into

521
00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:34,920
the Cleveland, New York tier of the East. But I

522
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,119
don't think either of us was really quite there except

523
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:38,359
for like, oh, they're a dark horse.

524
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,680
Speaker 1: It was always the It was the same thing with Atlanta,

525
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,440
which has also been third or four, but it was

526
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,799
never they could do this. But we don't know. I wouldn't.

527
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:47,559
I don't know that I would predict it right.

528
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 2: They could still easily finish third or fourth in the East,

529
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,279
Like that's that we're less than Do.

530
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,759
Speaker 1: You think they will finish top fifteen or better? Ultimately

531
00:26:55,759 --> 00:26:56,680
on the offensive end?

532
00:26:57,799 --> 00:26:59,839
Speaker 2: I'm not confident. No, I don't think so.

533
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,440
Speaker 1: Oh this is from Andrew Willich just go get job

534
00:27:03,519 --> 00:27:07,759
ran JJ has been paying around. Good bye them with

535
00:27:07,759 --> 00:27:10,720
the match. Actually I don't think I like that team.

536
00:27:10,759 --> 00:27:12,200
But who is next up?

537
00:27:12,319 --> 00:27:16,359
Speaker 2: Grant next in the piece or panic conversation are the

538
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:20,160
Atlanta Hawks first in the alphabet twenty, first in offense,

539
00:27:20,279 --> 00:27:24,279
twentieth on defense. Net rating is nineteenth they are allowing

540
00:27:24,319 --> 00:27:27,200
the league's highest opponent shot quality on offensive rebounds. The

541
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,559
rebounding has been a real issue from day one. Really

542
00:27:30,559 --> 00:27:35,279
here bonus stat, only Detroit and Boston are allowing larger

543
00:27:35,279 --> 00:27:38,359
shares of their opponent's offense to come on second chance opportunities.

544
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,039
So this is a total piece because if Atlanta just

545
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,079
gets some rebounds, we have no issues. Right just to

546
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,880
kind of recap how we got here, they had that

547
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,680
brute was Toronto that just kicked their ass on opening night?

548
00:27:50,799 --> 00:27:53,039
Is a twenty point loss, Like Toronto ran up and

549
00:27:53,079 --> 00:27:56,920
down the floor, got every rebound. Atlanta's also seen the

550
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,519
Thunder obviously lost that game. They've won three o their

551
00:27:59,559 --> 00:28:03,440
last four or three of those over to Magic, including

552
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,160
over the Magic. Three of those. I think they played

553
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,839
the Magic twice because I like spotlet Both of those games,

554
00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:09,880
it's like, well, we'll figure out who's the third best

555
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,119
team in the East tonight, won't we? Not so much.

556
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,599
Trey Young spraining mcl on the twenty ninth of October,

557
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:21,119
reevaluated in four weeks from there, just flagging he's extension eligible.

558
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,799
He's got a forty nine million dollars player option after

559
00:28:23,839 --> 00:28:26,920
the season. Gonna make it a little harder to get

560
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,279
good information on how he fits with the rest of

561
00:28:29,319 --> 00:28:32,000
this corps that we love so much. I do think

562
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:33,880
there's a silver lining which we can get to, just

563
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,279
again trying to parse out what the issues are here.

564
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,960
Who's been bad? Trey was bad before he got hurt

565
00:28:41,079 --> 00:28:43,599
eighteen points eight assists, thirty seven percent from the field,

566
00:28:43,799 --> 00:28:48,799
under twenty percent from three, Zacharsische averaging eleven and basically

567
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:52,039
nothing else forty four percent from the field, thirty three

568
00:28:52,119 --> 00:28:55,279
from three. Dyson Daniels was good, has been really good.

569
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,240
His best three games of the year have come as

570
00:28:57,519 --> 00:29:00,559
essentially the point guard in the time t Young has

571
00:29:00,559 --> 00:29:03,599
missed on. Yeka Kong has been good forty from deep,

572
00:29:04,359 --> 00:29:07,319
getting up almost just over three threes a game. Probably

573
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,400
needs to be more than that. Mixed bags for Jalen Johnson.

574
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,599
Alexander Walker has been good, hasn't hit a three, Porzingis

575
00:29:13,599 --> 00:29:18,359
has been okay. The rebounding has been kind of a like,

576
00:29:18,519 --> 00:29:21,519
what's going on here? Because there's a bunch of rangy

577
00:29:21,559 --> 00:29:23,960
wings and you're gonna have at least one center ish

578
00:29:24,039 --> 00:29:28,240
type on the floor all the time. I think what

579
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,799
I'm most interested in is what this team looks like

580
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,319
without Trey. The ball's moving a little more. It's been

581
00:29:38,319 --> 00:29:41,559
a small sample. Your defense is gonna be better, Your

582
00:29:41,599 --> 00:29:44,559
offense probably should be worse. But that's worse from like

583
00:29:44,599 --> 00:29:47,400
whatever your baseline of the season was. Not, Oh, they're

584
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,599
already bottom ten and it's gonna fall from there. I

585
00:29:49,599 --> 00:29:54,440
don't see that happening. This is sort of similar to Orlando,

586
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,480
where like, if you thought Atlanta was gonna jump into

587
00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,519
the top two, you're freaking out. But if you thought

588
00:30:00,519 --> 00:30:04,079
they were in the three to five range, nothing feels

589
00:30:04,119 --> 00:30:05,920
fatal yet as long as they clean up some of

590
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,119
the low hanging stuff on the boards, getting back in transition,

591
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,759
that kind of transition. Yeah, And and like why right,

592
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,799
Like it's not like they're an unathletic team. They're pretty young.

593
00:30:17,319 --> 00:30:22,119
They you know, Daniel's resische Johnson naw, like a Kong

594
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,400
Wo can move like it just I don't know, I'm

595
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,519
tipping my hand here a little bit, but I just like,

596
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,440
I think you need to view at least like the

597
00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:35,440
non Trey Young stretch that's coming up here positively because

598
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,680
near term, if it goes badly, you get info that

599
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,559
maybe Trey Young's worth more to you than you thought.

600
00:30:40,799 --> 00:30:42,799
If it goes great, maybe you realize, like, oh, we

601
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:45,279
could maybe imagine a post Tray world where we either

602
00:30:45,359 --> 00:30:49,559
move him or we don't extend him again. I'd feel

603
00:30:49,559 --> 00:30:52,799
differently if this were like a conference champion, you know,

604
00:30:53,279 --> 00:30:55,279
in waiting. I just don't think that's what the Hawks are.

605
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,559
This feels suddenly, this feels more like a gap year

606
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,079
if Young is on the one longer indo that timeline

607
00:31:01,079 --> 00:31:04,359
and is not quite himself coming back. What are your

608
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,519
what are your thoughts on Atlanta? I I I've just

609
00:31:06,559 --> 00:31:08,000
kind of been rambling.

610
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 1: I So my my thoughts are at Lanta as I'm

611
00:31:11,279 --> 00:31:14,160
concerned because I can't figure out like what the primary

612
00:31:14,279 --> 00:31:16,839
concern needs to be for this team. And so you

613
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,440
go through that whole list of stuff, and if you're

614
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,799
mentioning a gap year, are you then deciding, okay, well,

615
00:31:20,799 --> 00:31:23,519
then Trey Young is not a part of the future,

616
00:31:23,559 --> 00:31:25,799
because at that's pot you can't This needs to be

617
00:31:25,839 --> 00:31:28,720
an information gathering season unless you believe that Trey Young

618
00:31:28,839 --> 00:31:31,000
is gonna pick up his player option and he's gonna

619
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,200
play out next year on an expiring contract. And just

620
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,119
some of the things are just you know, they're like

621
00:31:36,359 --> 00:31:38,160
in the bottom five and the share of they are

622
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,480
three pointers that are wide open. And when you look

623
00:31:40,519 --> 00:31:43,279
at this team, when you have Trey Young when he

624
00:31:43,319 --> 00:31:46,480
was healthy, or Jalen Johnson or a Q Alexander Walker,

625
00:31:46,519 --> 00:31:48,680
even Luken like some guys who should be able to

626
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,480
get downhill, that's a little bit of a red flag

627
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,119
as well. The rebounding I think you always we always

628
00:31:54,119 --> 00:31:56,759
could have spotlighted as a concern because the primary bigs

629
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,160
in Johnson, A Kungun Porzingis are either not very big

630
00:32:00,759 --> 00:32:02,359
or like they're gonna spend a lot of time on

631
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,960
the perimeter, so your offensive rebounding was probably never gonna

632
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,640
be great. Porzingis has never been a great rebounder either,

633
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,200
despite being what is he seven to three? You mentioned

634
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,839
the offense without Trey They have a one to sixteen

635
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,039
offensive rating with Trey Young this year that is in

636
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,359
the fortieth percentile. They have one thirteen without him, so

637
00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:23,359
that's the thirtieth percent So there's a drop off, but

638
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,119
they've actually won the non Trey Young minute so far.

639
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,559
It's early, but this is there feels like a lot

640
00:32:29,599 --> 00:32:32,079
of things that have gone wrong here and I don't

641
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:34,759
know how much of it to just assign to this

642
00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:37,279
is new. It needs time with the magic. It feels

643
00:32:37,319 --> 00:32:41,920
like there's those very core crux issues that aren't necessarily

644
00:32:42,079 --> 00:32:45,039
ingrained into the fabric of the personnel. I'm watching the

645
00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:47,920
Hawks and it's how are they supposed to be better

646
00:32:48,079 --> 00:32:50,519
in all of these x amount areas? And a lot

647
00:32:50,559 --> 00:32:53,240
of it does come back to offensively anyway, Yeah, Trey

648
00:32:53,319 --> 00:32:56,680
Young does need to be better and healthier. Are they

649
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,319
gonna get to that point? It's and I look expected

650
00:33:00,359 --> 00:33:03,240
them to be better on defense even with you know,

651
00:33:03,279 --> 00:33:05,279
Trey Young on the court this year. I didn't think

652
00:33:05,279 --> 00:33:07,960
they were gonna float, you know, twentieth is probably Honestly,

653
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,519
I'm surprised it's so high.

654
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's a discussion to be had about

655
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:18,880
whether Trey Young is really anywhere close anymore to well,

656
00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,799
if he's on the floor, your offense is you know,

657
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,640
top five, Like that's just him him by himself. It's

658
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,000
been a while since you could really incredibly say that.

659
00:33:27,119 --> 00:33:31,559
I think so, I don't know. I think the most

660
00:33:31,559 --> 00:33:35,160
interesting potential outcome here is like they actually the Hawks

661
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:37,720
are just like not that much worse on offense and

662
00:33:37,799 --> 00:33:40,640
are great on defense. In the non Trey Young stretch here,

663
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,440
and it's like, so then what, like what do you do,

664
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,279
Like how important is Trey Young going forward? And like

665
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,279
unless Jalen Johnson really pops, like there's not really a

666
00:33:51,599 --> 00:33:54,359
first option star on this team, but maybe Young isn't

667
00:33:54,359 --> 00:33:57,079
good enough at that anymore and you can have a

668
00:33:57,119 --> 00:34:02,319
more balanced defense first team without him. I just I'm

669
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,920
fascinated to see, like what this next month looks like

670
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,360
and then how that informs what happens with Trey Young.

671
00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:13,440
It's way too early, they're four and four to to

672
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:18,559
like proclaim I don't know anything really to me, I

673
00:34:18,599 --> 00:34:20,880
think the next month is way more valuable than the

674
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,800
first two weeks to that end, right like that, because

675
00:34:24,079 --> 00:34:26,559
that's where the information gathering, as you said, is gonna happen.

676
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,280
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, are you concerned? I know you mentioned Reese

677
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,639
che kind of a topsy turvy star. Any concern with

678
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:34,280
him or do you think that that's something that's gonna

679
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,159
normalize because he was for like the latter what three

680
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,719
quarters or two thirds of last season he was really good.

681
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,760
Speaker 2: He shot it well. Yeah, And I just I don't know,

682
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:44,480
Like you go all the way back to the draft

683
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,719
scouting report of like, this guy's not a star. He

684
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,039
is probably a helpful two way wing. That's like that,

685
00:34:51,039 --> 00:34:53,159
that's where he'll top out, Like is he really that

686
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,800
far from from that status at the moment? Like that,

687
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,400
it's kind of like how we we decide Piecer panic

688
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,960
based on our priors for this team him, Like my

689
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,679
priors on Recesche weren't that high, so he's been moderately

690
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:06,519
underwhelming relative to those. But I can't panic yet because

691
00:35:06,559 --> 00:35:09,840
like unlike most number one picks, he's not Recesche is

692
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,239
not integral to the Hawk's future, which sucks, but like

693
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,199
that's just he was never going to be that guy

694
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,039
to me, So what's the verdict piece for me?

695
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,519
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go piece as well. This is no time

696
00:35:22,559 --> 00:35:25,599
to panic. You're welcome in Lana. I was on the

697
00:35:25,639 --> 00:35:27,119
fence about that one though, don't know how close you

698
00:35:27,119 --> 00:35:29,199
were to go in the other direction, but I was fence.

699
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just the note Trey is like, well, okay,

700
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:33,960
I guess we'll just check back in in a month.

701
00:35:35,079 --> 00:35:38,480
Speaker 1: Our next team up is your Memphis Grizzlies. They're actually

702
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,079
my Memphis Grizzlies, though rough start for them. They are

703
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,280
twenty sixth in offense, twenty fifth in defense, and that's

704
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,800
good enough for a twenty sixth net rating rank. Some

705
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,679
a notable stat here, Grant. Among every player with a

706
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,760
usage rate of at least twenty five this year, only

707
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,400
Shade and Sharp, Jeremiah Fears and DeAngelo Russell are averaging

708
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,199
fewer points shot attempt than John Morant. That might be

709
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,760
connected to some of the Grizzly struggles. I erroneously cited

710
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,679
this on a John Morant episode that's gonna go live

711
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,760
on Tuesday. I attributed to Trey Mann. I apologize to

712
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,199
Trey Man. It was D'Angelo Russell, not Trey Man. Bonus.

713
00:36:14,679 --> 00:36:18,559
They're starting five prefers, starting five a minus twenty two

714
00:36:18,599 --> 00:36:21,760
point one points per one hundred possessions with an offensive

715
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:26,960
rating in the zero fifth percentile. That is low. That's low, Grant.

716
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:27,920
Did you know that is low?

717
00:36:28,039 --> 00:36:30,639
Speaker 2: That feels like that should be a negative. With percentile

718
00:36:31,039 --> 00:36:33,199
now under one hundred is not so good.

719
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,159
Speaker 1: They're averaging zero point nine to four points per possession,

720
00:36:36,159 --> 00:36:39,719
which is not great this team. There's we did a

721
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:41,719
whole episode that will be dropping soon where we dig

722
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,760
deep into the John Morant situation. But that is of

723
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,400
course looming over this. He has games where it feels

724
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,000
like he was quietly quitting, and then it culminates in

725
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,000
his suspension. He comes back as we're recording this, he

726
00:36:54,039 --> 00:36:57,440
has not been great since his suspension. I think one

727
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,119
of the things, too, there's a cumulative effect of all this,

728
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:03,599
right grant that it's hard to envision when you're going

729
00:37:03,639 --> 00:37:05,599
through where they're on a four game losing streak, you're

730
00:37:05,599 --> 00:37:08,199
coming off to John Moran suspension. He's played so poorly

731
00:37:08,519 --> 00:37:11,079
when you're really in it, it's tough to imagine it

732
00:37:11,159 --> 00:37:14,360
getting better. But if we were to cite some positives

733
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,280
for the Grizzlies, I think you start with they are

734
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:21,760
so goddamn injured. It is just in they're bigs. This

735
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,920
is a positive because you're gonna get healthier, right Like

736
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,119
tyger Rome is gonna be healthier, Scotti Pippen Jr. Is

737
00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:31,639
gonna be healthier at some point, Zach Edi might be healthier,

738
00:37:31,679 --> 00:37:35,159
Brandon Clark, even Jared Jackson Junior might be healthier. I

739
00:37:35,199 --> 00:37:39,199
think the mother of all positives, Cedric Coward looks legit.

740
00:37:39,559 --> 00:37:44,199
He is taking on just all the tough defensive assignments.

741
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,039
So the results aren't always good. But the fact that

742
00:37:47,079 --> 00:37:49,719
you could just put him on Luca, try putting him

743
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,719
on Cad, try putting him on a Devin Booker, and

744
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:55,360
not need to throw a bunch of help. That's going

745
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,920
to help your defense overall in the long run, he

746
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,679
has he is shooting the hell out of the ball.

747
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,559
It's just that, like the numbers or I think they're

748
00:38:02,599 --> 00:38:05,880
one trillion percent from three, at this rate, he is

749
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,000
making stuff happen in transition, and he's not just scoring.

750
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:10,840
I think he's at like one point five points per

751
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:14,320
possession in transition, but he has the hot the second

752
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,440
highest foul rate among anyone to score as many points

753
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,199
as himself in transition. Only Palo Bancaro has a higher

754
00:38:20,519 --> 00:38:23,960
shooting foul rate. Drawn The other thing too that I

755
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,519
think matters, he has the highest net rating swing on

756
00:38:26,559 --> 00:38:29,440
the team. They're like twenty six plus points better per

757
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,159
one hundred posessions when he's on the court. Now you

758
00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,920
could say that he's coming off the bench and then

759
00:38:35,119 --> 00:38:38,519
thus working from a lower baseline. He's still getting plenty

760
00:38:38,519 --> 00:38:41,800
of minutes in general, and he's facing other teams as

761
00:38:42,159 --> 00:38:44,840
really good players. We know this because he is defending

762
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,159
them and so I assign real value to that net

763
00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,000
rating swing. I think if you look at Jalen Wells,

764
00:38:51,119 --> 00:38:53,400
the assumption could be, well, he's got to shoot the

765
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,880
ball better, right. You could also say the same thing

766
00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,440
about John Ran. He probably won't be like hovering around

767
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,599
sub twenty percent like this, closer to the single digits

768
00:39:01,639 --> 00:39:02,599
than the double digits of.

769
00:39:02,599 --> 00:39:04,800
Speaker 2: Who get up there to like twenty eight twenty nine,

770
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:05,719
no problem.

771
00:39:06,119 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 1: So you can look at all that, you can say

772
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,239
that the Grizzlies are gonna be fine, and I think

773
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,840
that's somewhat fair based on how early it is. I

774
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:16,280
don't know, though, this team.

775
00:39:16,079 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 2: Doesn't feel like that's what you're gonna say. Dan doesn't

776
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:19,159
feel like it to me.

777
00:39:19,559 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: I We've said this before. They had one of the

778
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,960
more confusing setups in the league, Yees of the Desmond

779
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:26,920
main trade, and you could justify it based off the

780
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,639
return what they're trying to do, But I just it's

781
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,840
where are they trying to go? Is the first question.

782
00:39:34,039 --> 00:39:36,920
But to me, it ultimately does feel when you're looking

783
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,280
at the landscape of the Western Conference, even if we

784
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,280
expect John Rant to get better, even if we expect

785
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,519
them to get healthier, even if we expect Jalen Wells

786
00:39:45,559 --> 00:39:48,760
to shoot better. They seem like they're kind of trapped

787
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,320
in the middle of nowhere, at least for this season.

788
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:54,239
And I think you can even see that illustrated when

789
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:58,119
you're looking on offense. John Morance touches way up. Jared

790
00:39:58,199 --> 00:40:02,320
Jackson Junior not the same offensive force, and we knew

791
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,000
that the level of self creation almost a luxury that

792
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,440
it didn't need to be there. He's not getting the

793
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,920
same number of front core touches, He's definitely not getting

794
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:14,000
the same number of paint touches. This team just feels

795
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:18,599
like a mishmash of IDK, that's what That's what it

796
00:40:18,639 --> 00:40:21,639
feels like for the Grizzlies. There's talent there, there's depth

797
00:40:21,679 --> 00:40:25,079
there when they're healthy, but it's like you could even say,

798
00:40:25,119 --> 00:40:27,519
isn't there a chance like Cedric Coward might get worse,

799
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,039
might run into or he might not make every single

800
00:40:30,079 --> 00:40:33,760
shot from the perimeter. So what have just your thoughts

801
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,400
been based on what you've seen from the Grizzlies so far?

802
00:40:37,039 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 2: So I think you are correct to point out the

803
00:40:41,039 --> 00:40:46,519
mitigating factors and with the injuries, the guys have to

804
00:40:46,519 --> 00:40:49,239
shoot better. The guys have to get healthier and the

805
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,960
like trouble spots of like, oh man, I just you know,

806
00:40:53,559 --> 00:40:55,719
maybe some of these guys won't shoot better? Is did

807
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,960
Jalen Well? Is Jalen Well's actually like actually he is

808
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,239
a second rounder and he just happened to be in

809
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:05,079
the right role last year. Here's where I land. How

810
00:41:05,199 --> 00:41:09,039
is it not panic when the face of your team

811
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:10,599
is quitting in games?

812
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:12,920
Speaker 1: Cam Spencer never quits.

813
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:17,559
Speaker 2: So they're fine, you know what I mean? Like it's reductive.

814
00:41:17,599 --> 00:41:20,119
I think you covered the relevant stuff, the numbers, the

815
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:25,960
the wonky like what's the timeline again? Trade kind of stuff.

816
00:41:27,639 --> 00:41:31,239
It's pretty straightforward for me, Like the story about Memphis

817
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,400
is now none of those things. It's now and we'll

818
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:39,400
do a lot of discussing this in another episode. But

819
00:41:39,519 --> 00:41:43,639
the story is now John Morant and one how badly

820
00:41:43,679 --> 00:41:46,119
he's played and two how little he seems to want

821
00:41:46,159 --> 00:41:50,440
to play for the Grizzlies, the leadership crisis, all this others.

822
00:41:50,639 --> 00:41:54,440
Like that's the story now and anytime that's the story

823
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,079
as opposed to like, well, you know there are three

824
00:41:56,079 --> 00:41:59,239
point stuff's going to regress and once they like that's

825
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,480
a panic, that's just a panic, and that's that's without

826
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:05,280
focusing at all on like how unavailable Jaw has been

827
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:09,719
in years past and the timeline stuff and everything else. Like,

828
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,519
I don't know, I don't get much past the guy.

829
00:42:12,559 --> 00:42:15,079
They need to be great and reliable and a leader

830
00:42:15,119 --> 00:42:18,400
and productive and as good as he's ever been to

831
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:22,760
do anything. Is none of is trending the wrong way

832
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,559
in every respect. So I don't know that. That's like,

833
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:28,079
that's a little first take ye of an answer, But

834
00:42:28,559 --> 00:42:30,880
you hit all the numbers and all the smart person stuff.

835
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,360
That's just kind of where my dumb brain is at.

836
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,719
Speaker 1: I have a few follow up questions. Please the John

837
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,400
Rant thing. What's interesting is do you think that there

838
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,360
could be value in them finally taking what feels like

839
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:46,559
a hardline organizational stance of this behavior a type of

840
00:42:46,559 --> 00:42:51,119
response to criticism is unacceptable, and that because Tamas Eastlow

841
00:42:51,519 --> 00:42:54,920
has those quotes of how he wants to be blunt

842
00:42:55,199 --> 00:43:00,239
with direct direct and it's a culture shock when you

843
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,519
look at how things have been run previously for the Grizzlies,

844
00:43:02,559 --> 00:43:05,320
or at least with regard to John Morant. Probably could

845
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,840
this be part of just the growing pains in that

846
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,199
transition and the team is ultimately better off for then

847
00:43:10,599 --> 00:43:12,880
having gone through this so earlier, and then as they

848
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,800
get healthy, as they we put time and space. We

849
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,079
know how the news cycle works. We're not even talking

850
00:43:18,119 --> 00:43:21,760
about carbon credits anymore. Grant like think time and space

851
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,039
heals all wounds. Is do you think that there is

852
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,719
that possibility here? Or do you think that that this

853
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:37,239
dynamic is so murky, so delicate, that there's almost no

854
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,199
coming back from it and it is going to cast

855
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:40,679
a pal over this entire season.

856
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:45,480
Speaker 2: Yes, there is that possibility. Uh, I'll flip. Would you

857
00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:47,400
bet on it? Would you bet on that outcome?

858
00:43:48,559 --> 00:43:49,599
Speaker 1: Legally or illegally?

859
00:43:50,119 --> 00:43:51,239
Speaker 2: Either way you choose.

860
00:43:51,559 --> 00:43:55,599
Speaker 1: I'm not betting on the outcome. Here's now, let's let's

861
00:43:55,679 --> 00:43:58,840
just assume that John Morant isn't going to get traded.

862
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:00,360
His values is add It's an idea, so you probably

863
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:00,920
wouldn't trade it.

864
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:01,639
Speaker 2: Hard to trade him.

865
00:44:02,559 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 1: What, Well, let's start here. Do you think the roster

866
00:44:06,039 --> 00:44:09,639
around him when it's fully healthy is built they're giving

867
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,400
him the ball more. You've talked about it a bunch

868
00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:16,760
in another episode. Is it actually built to optimize what

869
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,840
he is best at doing right now? At full strength?

870
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:22,000
So we haven't even seen it.

871
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,079
Speaker 2: Yet, I think you could make the case that that, yeah,

872
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:27,960
it's optimized, Like is it as good as it could

873
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,559
possibly be? I don't know, but it's just think of

874
00:44:30,599 --> 00:44:32,679
who they have. If Zachia he's healthy, there's your pick

875
00:44:32,679 --> 00:44:35,480
and roll partner, Jared Jackson spacing coward looks like he's

876
00:44:35,519 --> 00:44:38,000
going to be totally great as a three and D spacer.

877
00:44:38,559 --> 00:44:41,440
One of KCP or Jalen Wells will make shots eventually.

878
00:44:42,159 --> 00:44:44,199
So you have a space floor, a pick and roll partner,

879
00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:48,679
good defensive infrastructure around him. Yeah. Right, the pieces are

880
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,920
there if they're all healthy. So to your point, maybe

881
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:53,960
you can hold out like a sliver of hope that

882
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,599
when everybody's healthy and John Morant responds very differently to

883
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:04,719
Isilo's directness, this could turn in a positive way. I

884
00:45:05,199 --> 00:45:09,880
air not air. I lean towards there's been some damage done,

885
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:12,639
and I don't have a lot of faith that Morant

886
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:18,159
is going to reverse course on the way he's handling

887
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:22,440
that directness. That would be a pretty big surprise to me.

888
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,000
Speaker 1: Assuming everyone says that, yeah, they're assuming they get healthier,

889
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,480
what are they more likely to resolve the defense or

890
00:45:28,519 --> 00:45:29,440
the offensive issues?

891
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:34,199
Speaker 2: The offense is usually pretty good if everybody's healthy in

892
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:36,880
jaws there, right, you had. I think you mentioned they've

893
00:45:37,039 --> 00:45:39,719
they're kind of like seventh or better generally speaking if

894
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,199
he's on the floor. So there's a pretty good track

895
00:45:43,199 --> 00:45:46,079
record of the offense working regardless of whether you're setting

896
00:45:46,079 --> 00:45:48,440
screens or not. We saw kind of both things happen

897
00:45:48,559 --> 00:45:52,360
last year, so I guess I trust the offense. But again,

898
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,599
like this, if we're going with the hypothetical of everything

899
00:45:54,639 --> 00:45:57,920
works out, everybody's healthy, everybody's happy, the Grizzlies should be

900
00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:00,280
good on both ends, like the defense should be good too.

901
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 1: They and they've gotten a little unlucky when it comes

902
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:06,079
to some of the opponent three point shooting numbers. Opponents

903
00:46:06,119 --> 00:46:08,639
are shooting forty nine point three percent on corner threes.

904
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:11,719
They're also shooting seventy two point five percent at the rim.

905
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,679
That's twenty six. The Grizzlies still do a good job

906
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:17,920
of limiting them. And then when you're healthy, having Scottie Pippen,

907
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:21,360
having Zach Edy, and then of course Jalen Wells, Jaron Jackson, junior,

908
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:26,079
Cedric Coward should help your defense. This defense in transition

909
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,119
should be a lot better, and that would be something

910
00:46:28,119 --> 00:46:30,159
I tracked because that feels if there was like a

911
00:46:30,199 --> 00:46:33,639
moping metric, it would be are they getting back after

912
00:46:33,679 --> 00:46:36,119
they miss a shot? Are they getting back after they

913
00:46:36,159 --> 00:46:39,199
miss a shot at the basket? They're currently allowing one

914
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:41,440
point five to three points per possession after they miss

915
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,159
at the rim, and they have this is despicable, the

916
00:46:45,199 --> 00:46:48,880
sixth worst defensive rating after they make a shot.

917
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,800
Speaker 2: That's like the red flag there. I think again, if

918
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,719
you want to continue to be optimistic about it, you

919
00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:58,360
would say that, well, depth really matters for this team

920
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:00,400
more than most because of the way you still wants

921
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,159
to play, talking about like nobody's playing thirty minutes. We're

922
00:47:03,199 --> 00:47:05,800
gonna play super hard over short stints. So your depth.

923
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:08,519
Not having depth is like crippling in that regard because

924
00:47:08,559 --> 00:47:11,559
it doesn't allow the Grizzlies to put competent players on

925
00:47:11,599 --> 00:47:14,599
the floor to play their asses off for three minutes

926
00:47:14,599 --> 00:47:17,239
at a time and then come out and it maybe

927
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,800
takes a little bit to adjust to that kind of style.

928
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,159
Ja Moran certainly is having a hard time adjusting to it.

929
00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:26,280
So like, give them some grace there. I guess that's

930
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,079
the optimist case, is that once they're healthy and they

931
00:47:29,119 --> 00:47:32,199
get used to how Isola wants to play. The results

932
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,880
could completely change, like that's yes, that is on the

933
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:38,000
table again, not betting on that.

934
00:47:38,679 --> 00:47:40,559
Speaker 1: Miles Johnson says, if the price was low enough, I

935
00:47:40,599 --> 00:47:42,519
would really look at Jo. If I was the Wolves,

936
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,280
my counter to that would be I would not. I

937
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,239
don't love the Ja Morant Anti Edwards bit. I'm curious

938
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:50,199
as to what. I don't even know what constitutes a

939
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:52,559
lower low enough price for another team. Forget about the

940
00:47:52,559 --> 00:47:56,639
Grizzlies for a minute. We mentioned nas Read and Dante DiVincenzo.

941
00:47:56,719 --> 00:47:59,480
For Ja Moran is just up the baseline, and I

942
00:47:59,519 --> 00:48:01,480
think the great a Lease would want Are you getting

943
00:48:01,519 --> 00:48:03,360
Rob Dillingham? And now are you getting a pick Swab?

944
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:05,480
I think the Timberwolves might say no, that's like too

945
00:48:05,559 --> 00:48:06,360
much for us.

946
00:48:06,599 --> 00:48:10,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's I mean. Look, one thing we have

947
00:48:10,519 --> 00:48:12,840
in discovered and talking about is there is not an

948
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:15,960
easy Oh yeah, that's the spot for John Morant trade.

949
00:48:16,079 --> 00:48:19,599
It's it's it's like you're comparing a bunch of bad options,

950
00:48:19,639 --> 00:48:22,280
like kind of on both sides, which is hard to parse.

951
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,880
Speaker 1: So according to six out of five dentists, this is

952
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,639
a perfect ton to panic. Are you ready to take

953
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:32,519
us through our next team, mister Grant Hughes.

954
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:36,559
Speaker 2: This is the LA Clippers. They are twenty sixth on offense,

955
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,840
twenty fifth on defense. That's gonna shake out to a

956
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:43,559
number twenty six net rating. They are let's see here. Oh,

957
00:48:43,599 --> 00:48:44,800
I had a good quote that I'm gonna get to

958
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:47,440
in a second. They have a higher turnover rate in

959
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:51,599
transition than transition rate. That's bad. That's real bad. So

960
00:48:51,639 --> 00:48:53,280
they don't run and when they do they give up

961
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,480
the ball. Justin Russo had this. I just saw it

962
00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:02,280
this morning. Through eight games, Clippers' opponents have made twenty

963
00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:05,400
more threes, turned the ball over twenty three fewer times,

964
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:09,000
and attempted thirty seven more shots. That sums up the

965
00:49:09,039 --> 00:49:12,360
three and five starts, which is also the turnovers have

966
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:16,719
been like confounding for a team that I don't know, Like,

967
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,800
it's not like they're this wildly dynamic offense that's doing

968
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:23,159
a bunch of high risk stuff. It's a lot of veterans,

969
00:49:23,159 --> 00:49:25,679
it's a lot of station to station guys. So that

970
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:28,400
part has been very strange, just to kind of how

971
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:32,199
did we get here? Everyone remembers where they were when

972
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:34,239
the Clippers gave up one hundred and twenty nine points

973
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:36,719
to Utah on opening night, including seventy eight in the

974
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,960
first half. That was wild. It took a Kawhi Leonard

975
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,400
buzzer beater to knock off the mighty New Orleans Pelicans

976
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,880
the other day. The Clippers have also beat Phoenix in Portland,

977
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,320
but they trailed by huge amounts in both of those.

978
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:51,239
They scored seventy nine points in a loss to the

979
00:49:51,239 --> 00:49:53,960
Warriors and were six of thirty three from three, had

980
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,199
ten assists to sixteen turnovers in that one. There have

981
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:00,400
been some real lows. That seventy nine point was the

982
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:03,599
lowest scoring total Clippers have had in four years. I

983
00:50:03,599 --> 00:50:05,119
don't know if you know this, but offense has been

984
00:50:05,199 --> 00:50:09,440
trending up lately, so that's pretty rough to see. A

985
00:50:09,519 --> 00:50:13,119
couple more stats here. Twenty ninth in pace, twenty ninth

986
00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:16,280
in drives per game, twenty ninth in average speed on offense,

987
00:50:16,679 --> 00:50:20,199
thirtieth in turnovers. That was easy to see. Coming good news.

988
00:50:20,199 --> 00:50:23,840
They've been unlucky on opponent shooting almost forty one percent

989
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,039
from deep. That's number twenty seven. More good news, location

990
00:50:28,119 --> 00:50:31,400
based effective field goal percentage, Clippers are sixth, so they're

991
00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:34,679
allowing the right shot better, it's hang it to almost

992
00:50:34,679 --> 00:50:38,239
top five. One problem there as opponents are shooting seventy

993
00:50:38,239 --> 00:50:40,840
one percent at the rim, that's twenty sixth, and you're

994
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:43,800
giving up a lot of threes. Forty three percent of

995
00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:48,400
opponent shots have been threes. That ranks twenty eighth. There

996
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,360
are a lot of numbers you can point to that

997
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:54,760
are either a like, what like the turnovers for example,

998
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:56,920
or B well, that's going to regress, which is a

999
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:59,519
lot of the shooting stuff. I think if you're working

1000
00:50:59,599 --> 00:51:03,480
big with the Clippers. James Harden and both Harden and

1001
00:51:03,559 --> 00:51:06,199
Kawhi missed the Lost of Phoenix the night before. We're

1002
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:10,800
recording this on Thursday night, so whatever. Harden has been

1003
00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:14,079
basically as good as he was last year when he

1004
00:51:14,159 --> 00:51:17,239
finished tenth in MVP voting, like twenty three eight and five,

1005
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:19,960
forty seven percent from the field, forty two from three.

1006
00:51:20,039 --> 00:51:22,800
The turnovers are up, but like he's the only guy

1007
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:24,639
that can make plays, so he's on the ball a

1008
00:51:24,679 --> 00:51:30,679
ton it's baked in. Kawhi has been also like roughly

1009
00:51:30,679 --> 00:51:35,159
as good as he was last year. Now that's where

1010
00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:37,199
it starts and ends for the Clippers. If those guys

1011
00:51:37,199 --> 00:51:40,360
are good now We made a lot about the There's

1012
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:43,119
a lot made of the depth of like even I

1013
00:51:43,159 --> 00:51:45,239
was like, you could take this second unit with CP

1014
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,599
three and Bogdanovic and whoever else, and like, I don't know,

1015
00:51:47,599 --> 00:51:52,159
they'd win thirty five games. That's where the trouble is

1016
00:51:52,159 --> 00:51:55,599
is guys like Bogdanovic has been bad, Slash hasn't played

1017
00:51:55,599 --> 00:51:58,400
a ton, Chris Paul has been terrible, just has not

1018
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:02,239
made shots. Looks his age. Brook Lopez is making and

1019
00:52:02,239 --> 00:52:04,000
shooting a lot of threes, but not doing a whole

1020
00:52:04,039 --> 00:52:09,119
lot else. Bradley Beal has been terrible, looked awful in Phoenix,

1021
00:52:09,159 --> 00:52:11,760
was booed every time he touched it, and even like

1022
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,400
theoretically motivated to shut up the Suns last night, he

1023
00:52:14,519 --> 00:52:18,400
just couldn't do anything. So the bench is a problem.

1024
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,039
I should have included Zubots in the like work big

1025
00:52:22,079 --> 00:52:25,559
to small. I thought he looked totally fine. He dominated

1026
00:52:25,599 --> 00:52:30,320
stretches against the Suns. His numbers are somewhat similar. Offensively,

1027
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:32,639
he's playing a little bit less than last year. As

1028
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:34,840
I put that back up there, Daniel, that's that's where

1029
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:37,199
we might need to get to, or I'll do it.

1030
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:40,719
Miles Johnson says Zubots has regressed heavily on defense. Don't

1031
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:42,559
know what the numbers say, but the eye test isn't Yeah,

1032
00:52:42,679 --> 00:52:44,679
I would say that the eye test was not super

1033
00:52:44,679 --> 00:52:49,079
hot against Phoenix last night. He's still I'm not worried

1034
00:52:49,079 --> 00:52:52,920
about him defensively. I'm more worried about the personnel trying

1035
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:55,000
to keep guys out of the paint that are on

1036
00:52:55,039 --> 00:52:58,960
the front line and point of attack. Big to small

1037
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,199
again just the summer. The three most important players are

1038
00:53:02,199 --> 00:53:04,960
doing fine. It's the other guys, the older guys. Even

1039
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,039
John Collins hasn't been great that you might point to

1040
00:53:08,159 --> 00:53:12,159
as concerns, But it's it's hard for me to get

1041
00:53:12,199 --> 00:53:15,320
too worked up when the most important players are doing

1042
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,639
fine and you just need one or two of these

1043
00:53:17,679 --> 00:53:20,159
other reserves to figure it out. And you're probably not

1044
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:24,039
that far off from where we expected the Clippers to be,

1045
00:53:24,159 --> 00:53:26,840
like a mid to high forties win team. Any thoughts

1046
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:30,320
on do you is that your take that like, if

1047
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:32,199
Kawhi and Harden and Zubots are fine, what are we

1048
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:33,920
talking about or do we need to be a little

1049
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:35,440
more nuanced than that.

1050
00:53:36,039 --> 00:53:37,440
Speaker 1: I think we might need to be a little bit

1051
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:42,000
more nuanced, just because the overarching premise is fine, but

1052
00:53:42,079 --> 00:53:44,360
part of the idea, if you're mentioning the bench is

1053
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:47,280
a disaster, they could do things to what I think

1054
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,440
it optimized the bench to where it's okay. CP three

1055
00:53:50,519 --> 00:53:53,800
probably needs to play with a Kawhi Leonard or James

1056
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:55,960
Harden at any single time, like having him next to

1057
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,320
Bradley Beal or Chris Dunn, Like, I don't think that's

1058
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:01,719
going to do anything for the offense, but they are

1059
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,679
so you mentioned kind of the point of attack stuff.

1060
00:54:05,159 --> 00:54:09,440
It feels like they could struggle to field two way

1061
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:12,440
lineups that are going to check the boxes. That doesn't

1062
00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:14,280
it feel like if we're going to address one concern,

1063
00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:17,559
it's gonna come at the expense of somewhere else. If

1064
00:54:17,559 --> 00:54:21,320
you were trying to assemble the Clippers optimal lineup or

1065
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,320
what's the lineup that makes the most sense, it feels

1066
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:26,960
like we're constantly going to be pulling something significant or

1067
00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:29,719
someone significant away from one of their strengths.

1068
00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:33,920
Speaker 2: I think. I don't know if I totally agree with that.

1069
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,960
I do think and this is just a hardened thing.

1070
00:54:37,639 --> 00:54:40,559
If Harden's not on the floor and Paul is going

1071
00:54:40,639 --> 00:54:44,639
to play like this, you can't trust. Kris Dun's not

1072
00:54:44,679 --> 00:54:47,039
an offensive point guard. He's out there to defend and

1073
00:54:47,119 --> 00:54:51,360
just kind of be there on offense. Butgdanovich looks bad.

1074
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,159
What I think the issue is is when Harden does

1075
00:54:54,199 --> 00:54:59,599
not play, you're really there's not a lot that you

1076
00:54:59,639 --> 00:55:03,719
can do offensively outside of Kawhi making contested twos like that.

1077
00:55:03,719 --> 00:55:07,880
That so, but like so, what you're saying is optimal

1078
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:11,599
lineup sacrifices something. So that's your Your optimal lineup is

1079
00:55:12,039 --> 00:55:18,719
your starters, right like hard Derek Jonordan. But isn't that

1080
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:21,280
always wasn't that baked into the clippers of like, well,

1081
00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:24,519
availability is an issue, I think to me, as we're

1082
00:55:24,519 --> 00:55:28,400
talking about this, it does come back to we may have,

1083
00:55:28,519 --> 00:55:32,400
based on these early returns, dramatically overstated the importance of

1084
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:35,320
like all these veteran depth pieces that they added. Maybe

1085
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:39,559
that's where, like, long term, we need to reevaluate some things.

1086
00:55:40,559 --> 00:55:43,440
Speaker 1: John Collins having like three times as many turnovers as

1087
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:45,360
made threes obviously not ideal.

1088
00:55:47,199 --> 00:55:50,800
Speaker 2: That reminds me we need to make a rule that

1089
00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:54,800
if a player looks to have rejuvenated his career and

1090
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:58,880
or like hit a new level on a shitty team

1091
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:01,760
where there are no stakes aka John Collins in Utah.

1092
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:04,360
We cannot assume that that will carry over to a

1093
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:08,079
team that's actually playing meaningful games continue fair.

1094
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:12,719
Speaker 1: Enough, I guess my concern is just that it feels

1095
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:15,800
like in their quest to maybe diversify their offense, that

1096
00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:18,239
they've somehow just worsened it. Because now they're not a

1097
00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:21,840
transition team. Now they're not you're still not getting any

1098
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:25,719
rim pressure. They're twentieth in free throw attempts rate, which

1099
00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:28,519
I know that Kawhi's miss time, James Harden miss a

1100
00:56:28,519 --> 00:56:30,519
game against Phoenix, and Bradley BeO is banged up, But

1101
00:56:30,559 --> 00:56:34,000
if you have those three guys, what is the entire point?

1102
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:38,039
I just there feels like there's something more here to

1103
00:56:38,079 --> 00:56:41,079
me where it's not just about the fragility of the

1104
00:56:41,199 --> 00:56:45,400
roster that it's they may have over indexed on a

1105
00:56:45,440 --> 00:56:48,960
certain I guess age bracket of player, but in like this,

1106
00:56:50,039 --> 00:56:54,079
in this search to really playoff proof their offense or

1107
00:56:54,159 --> 00:56:56,960
just to make it more diverse, that they've it's somehow

1108
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:59,119
become a limiting factor for them. Is that because the

1109
00:56:59,159 --> 00:57:02,559
talents they surround with all have these Bradley beal for

1110
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:04,840
Norman Powell kind of on the way out the whole.

1111
00:57:05,199 --> 00:57:07,679
John Collins, you mentioned, rejuvenated himself. But if you're gonna

1112
00:57:07,679 --> 00:57:10,039
play John Collins and Brook Lopez, there is sort of

1113
00:57:10,039 --> 00:57:13,400
that functional tug of war between like like who do

1114
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:15,960
you want to be the primary screener in those scenarios?

1115
00:57:16,079 --> 00:57:19,320
It's there's it feels like they have so much depth,

1116
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:21,719
but that maybe it's more incoherent than we thought. That

1117
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:23,000
might be the best way to put is. I thought

1118
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:25,480
it was just gonna coalace in to this behemoth, and

1119
00:57:25,519 --> 00:57:28,039
now I'm sort of wondering does it pull them in

1120
00:57:28,079 --> 00:57:30,320
all these different directions and do they not have the

1121
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:33,400
I mean, do they not have the gear on defense?

1122
00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:35,639
Unless you're like, what is the what's their best five

1123
00:57:35,679 --> 00:57:38,199
man unit? To you? Forget about the numbers, but you're

1124
00:57:38,239 --> 00:57:40,239
building their best five man unit? What is it?

1125
00:57:40,679 --> 00:57:43,559
Speaker 2: So obviously Harden is in it because otherwise the offense

1126
00:57:43,599 --> 00:57:45,880
doesn't run. Kawhi is in it, Zoobots is in it,

1127
00:57:46,199 --> 00:57:48,119
and then you can round it out. I think Derek

1128
00:57:48,199 --> 00:57:50,000
Jones probably has to be in it just for point

1129
00:57:50,039 --> 00:57:53,920
of attack, defense and versatility and athleticism. And then that

1130
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,880
fourth spot is that I don't know, is it Collins

1131
00:57:58,159 --> 00:58:00,679
is it. I guess you could play like Chris Dunn

1132
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:04,719
for another defender. I don't know who that fourth spot

1133
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:07,519
goes to. Maybe that's I'm illustrating your point.

1134
00:58:07,559 --> 00:58:11,519
Speaker 1: The fifth bot you mean because you start, but that

1135
00:58:11,639 --> 00:58:12,920
is kind of the point. And then it's also so

1136
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:15,119
if it is John Collins, I don't know that him

1137
00:58:15,159 --> 00:58:17,960
and Zubots are the most intuitive of fits on the offense.

1138
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:20,280
And I also don't think if you have John Collins

1139
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:22,559
at that four spot. I know you have Kawhi, I

1140
00:58:22,599 --> 00:58:24,480
know you have Derek Jones Junior, but how much are

1141
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:26,880
you leaving of Itaza Zubots out to dry on the

1142
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:29,679
defensive end in those scenario rights. Yeah, if it's the

1143
00:58:29,719 --> 00:58:31,880
answer is Chris done, you're going to run into a

1144
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:34,519
spacing issue. I think Andrew Will might actually have the

1145
00:58:34,599 --> 00:58:38,599
right answer, which is concerning in Nick Nico Patum. Yeah,

1146
00:58:38,639 --> 00:58:40,719
like you don't want to be that rely and I

1147
00:58:40,719 --> 00:58:42,840
guess that's maybe what I'm getting at. But there is

1148
00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:44,960
a lot of early season noise, and I'll defer to

1149
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:46,719
you did the deep dive on them, but they've been

1150
00:58:47,119 --> 00:58:49,280
Maybe I was too high on them coming in because

1151
00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:51,280
you said this it was we were coming into the

1152
00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:54,239
season by saying you could just put their bench unit

1153
00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:55,679
on the court and have the fore seed in the

1154
00:58:55,719 --> 00:58:56,840
East or something.

1155
00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:00,639
Speaker 2: I think, I think, if you're gonna panic, it's that

1156
00:59:01,159 --> 00:59:04,119
this team is even more reliant on James Harden than

1157
00:59:04,199 --> 00:59:08,239
last year. And that's because the like Chris Paul and

1158
00:59:08,239 --> 00:59:12,599
Beale and Bogdanovich just may not be any good anymore

1159
00:59:13,639 --> 00:59:16,199
and Hardens a year older, and you just like that

1160
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:19,360
was always a precarious kind of way to exist, and

1161
00:59:19,400 --> 00:59:22,599
it's more precarious now. I still am of the mind

1162
00:59:22,599 --> 00:59:25,000
that if Harden is healthy, the rest of these numbers

1163
00:59:25,039 --> 00:59:26,840
are going to normalize and the Clippers can still be

1164
00:59:26,880 --> 00:59:30,760
a mid to high forties win team. But is it, like,

1165
00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:33,719
is it smart to say, well, as long as Harden's healthy,

1166
00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:35,079
Like that's that's scary.

1167
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:37,760
Speaker 1: And also, but what are all right, so if you're

1168
00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:40,239
a mid forties win team? Is so? Was that the

1169
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:42,840
endgame for this roster? Is that? How much of a placeholder?

1170
00:59:42,880 --> 00:59:44,239
We viewed the Clippers.

1171
00:59:43,840 --> 00:59:46,119
Speaker 2: As I mean, I'm as I said, mid to high

1172
00:59:46,159 --> 00:59:48,400
which maybe that's that's too big of a gap, but

1173
00:59:48,519 --> 00:59:51,519
like not a contender, probably not a playing team. That's

1174
00:59:51,599 --> 00:59:55,159
kind of how I viewed them. But and I don't

1175
00:59:55,159 --> 00:59:57,800
feel like they're that far off given the bad luck

1176
00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:02,079
and the like seemingly anomalous others like stats where they're

1177
01:00:02,119 --> 01:00:03,280
just at the bottom of the league.

1178
01:00:03,599 --> 01:00:06,480
Speaker 1: I you know what, I'll defer to Pete, like you.

1179
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:07,800
Speaker 2: Know you we could do both.

1180
01:00:07,880 --> 01:00:11,239
Speaker 1: Play both sounds okay. So Grant is going to go

1181
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:16,559
and Grant thinks that this is I believe that this

1182
01:00:16,679 --> 01:00:20,280
is a panic. And just the one thing that I'm

1183
01:00:20,280 --> 01:00:22,679
going to be tracking is, I know you can play

1184
01:00:22,679 --> 01:00:24,840
the whole as long as James Harden is healthy. Card,

1185
01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:29,480
but just the fact that the Kawhi without hardened minutes,

1186
01:00:29,599 --> 01:00:32,000
which the sample needs to expand your net rating in

1187
01:00:32,039 --> 01:00:36,440
those situations like minus eighteen or something in something insane,

1188
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:39,840
that's the it's minus seventeen. I was wrong. That's the number.

1189
01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:42,360
I'm gonna be try because as long as James Harden's healthy.

1190
01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:44,400
Even if James Harden's healthy, we know what happens to

1191
01:00:44,440 --> 01:00:47,079
healthy James Harden in the playoffs, and so that's all

1192
01:00:47,119 --> 01:00:48,239
going to be a ton of comfort.

1193
01:00:48,679 --> 01:00:50,760
Speaker 2: This isn't a we all know what's gonna happen in

1194
01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:51,880
the postseason. That's a gif.

1195
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,360
Speaker 1: Is is that as the Clipper externally if we viewed

1196
01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:58,079
them as a paper tiger. I came into the season

1197
01:00:58,119 --> 01:01:00,239
saying they could be a team that has a top

1198
01:01:00,239 --> 01:01:02,519
seven offense and defense, which that puts you in the

1199
01:01:02,559 --> 01:01:05,320
contender tier. And so this is the discussion we're having

1200
01:01:05,360 --> 01:01:08,280
about them. Now, that's the genesis of that's why you're pining.

1201
01:01:08,679 --> 01:01:10,360
You're right, it was too high on the Clippers. Now

1202
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:11,920
I'm not right to panic. I was. I was wrong

1203
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:15,480
to be excited about about the Clippers. We have another

1204
01:01:15,559 --> 01:01:20,800
team to get to here. They are the Minnesota Timberwolves. Grant,

1205
01:01:21,079 --> 01:01:23,559
whoof well, we gotta get some rankings from them. First,

1206
01:01:23,719 --> 01:01:26,639
they are as the fifth in offense. That's pretty good,

1207
01:01:26,920 --> 01:01:29,840
twenty sixth in defense. That is pretty bad. That's good

1208
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:33,480
for a net rating of eighteenth. Anthony Edwards has missed

1209
01:01:33,519 --> 01:01:36,719
some time. We could throw that in there, Grant. Here's

1210
01:01:36,760 --> 01:01:39,719
a notable stat. They have the fourth worst first chance

1211
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:43,639
defense in the NBA. They were the fourth best first

1212
01:01:43,719 --> 01:01:47,079
chance defense last year, so we filtered out any second

1213
01:01:47,159 --> 01:01:50,599
chance opportunities. Here's a bonus stat which is kind of

1214
01:01:50,639 --> 01:01:55,480
amazing and absolutely terrifying. Their defensive rating improves by thirty

1215
01:01:55,599 --> 01:01:59,559
nine point thirty two point nine points when Rudy Gobert

1216
01:01:59,599 --> 01:02:02,320
is on the floor, that is the second highest swing

1217
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:07,199
in the league, behind only mister Victor Wembenyama. He's pretty good.

1218
01:02:07,960 --> 01:02:10,639
Here's the you go through the numbers, the on off

1219
01:02:10,679 --> 01:02:14,480
numbers defensively for Rudy Gobert, they don't They kind of

1220
01:02:14,480 --> 01:02:16,639
don't align with the eye test at all. A lot

1221
01:02:16,679 --> 01:02:19,079
of the time. Opponents are getting to the rim so

1222
01:02:19,199 --> 01:02:22,039
much less, shooting so much worse when they're there. But

1223
01:02:22,079 --> 01:02:24,760
it still feels like the Wolves are missing some top

1224
01:02:24,800 --> 01:02:27,840
line year on defense even when he's on the court.

1225
01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:30,519
Dane Moore had pointed this out him and Kyle Tige

1226
01:02:30,519 --> 01:02:33,559
in one of their recent episodes, that Rudy Gobaert feels

1227
01:02:33,599 --> 01:02:36,079
like he's staying home more on the bigs and if

1228
01:02:36,079 --> 01:02:38,039
he can't play both sides of the pick and roll,

1229
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:42,559
you're really reliant upon your perimeter defenders. So now when

1230
01:02:42,599 --> 01:02:47,480
you have Anthony Edwards missing time and Jade McDaniels being

1231
01:02:47,559 --> 01:02:49,800
kind of feeling like up and down on this year

1232
01:02:49,880 --> 01:02:52,320
again on that he started kind of the same weird way,

1233
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:56,519
so maybe he normalizes you lost Nikhil Alexander Walker. You're

1234
01:02:56,519 --> 01:03:00,280
playing Dante DiVincenzo a bunch. Now teams are going after

1235
01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:03,079
I mean they're going after Rudy Gobert in pick and

1236
01:03:03,119 --> 01:03:06,559
roll ball handlers are finishing eleven possessions against him per game.

1237
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:11,400
The Wolves, not surprisingly, have been absolutely atrocious at defending

1238
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:14,800
the pick and roll. They're allowing one point zero four

1239
01:03:14,840 --> 01:03:18,000
points per possession against pick and roll ball handlers. Only

1240
01:03:18,039 --> 01:03:20,800
the Pacers allow a higher mark at the moment, and

1241
01:03:20,880 --> 01:03:23,239
just for reference, they allowed point eight to nine points

1242
01:03:23,239 --> 01:03:26,480
per possession last year. The rooty thing, I think there

1243
01:03:26,559 --> 01:03:28,440
might be something there. You could see it on offense

1244
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:30,239
a little bit too, but maybe he's shouldering too much

1245
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:34,599
on defense. Lowis defensive rebounding rate of his career. When

1246
01:03:34,639 --> 01:03:37,159
you're looking at teams like the volume at which they

1247
01:03:37,199 --> 01:03:40,920
go after nas Reed or Julius Randall, who pretty good

1248
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:43,920
on offense this year, very bad on defense this year

1249
01:03:44,239 --> 01:03:48,519
going after Dante DiVincenzo. You almost need Anthony Edwards and

1250
01:03:48,559 --> 01:03:51,760
j McDaniels on the court at all times to have

1251
01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:54,199
enough ball containment for you to feel confident in the

1252
01:03:54,199 --> 01:03:57,719
Wolves defense. With Rudy Gobert, I feel like, never mind

1253
01:03:57,719 --> 01:04:00,880
without him, this is there's some of the stuff the

1254
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:03,000
transition moments on defense, like this is a team that's

1255
01:04:03,079 --> 01:04:05,280
be playing better there. I think you can look at

1256
01:04:05,360 --> 01:04:07,719
I'll mention it a third time, the fact that Anthony

1257
01:04:07,840 --> 01:04:11,800
Edwards has missed some time. The Wolves should be fine there,

1258
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:15,679
but you probably wanted, like I would say, maybe you

1259
01:04:15,679 --> 01:04:18,239
didn't expect more, but when you trained for Rob Dillingham,

1260
01:04:18,239 --> 01:04:20,480
you probably wanted more out of him than you're able

1261
01:04:20,519 --> 01:04:23,239
to get at this point. The Mike Conley of it all.

1262
01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:25,320
Him coming off the bench, he's shooting well from three.

1263
01:04:25,679 --> 01:04:27,960
You've got to give some bone bones Highlands some minutes.

1264
01:04:28,239 --> 01:04:30,440
I think Jaalen Clark he's missed some time too, but

1265
01:04:30,519 --> 01:04:33,400
he's been what I think this is maybe the problem

1266
01:04:33,440 --> 01:04:36,199
when you're getting into their secondary rotation. Is he the

1267
01:04:36,239 --> 01:04:38,199
player that you just trust most?

1268
01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:39,599
Speaker 2: Yeah? So too important?

1269
01:04:40,039 --> 01:04:42,519
Speaker 1: That's yeah, he's too important. Arren Shannon Junior, I was

1270
01:04:42,639 --> 01:04:44,519
guilty here. I thought he was going to be so

1271
01:04:44,599 --> 01:04:48,039
good this season and just really hasn't been that on defense,

1272
01:04:48,320 --> 01:04:50,880
hitting an okay amount from three's just not getting a

1273
01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:53,519
ton of minutes. The three point volume isn't really there. Again,

1274
01:04:53,599 --> 01:04:56,199
thought he would be better defensively for them. This is

1275
01:04:56,800 --> 01:04:58,320
I go back and forth I think I'm kind of

1276
01:04:58,400 --> 01:05:00,880
leaning towards peace here. You look at the level of

1277
01:05:00,880 --> 01:05:03,599
this town. I think Jane McDaniels has made some strides offensively,

1278
01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:05,519
but it feels like he gets lost in the shuffle.

1279
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:08,320
How do you balance it with Julius Randall and Anthony

1280
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:10,679
Edwards when they're both healthy, we could talk about the

1281
01:05:10,719 --> 01:05:12,960
point guard of it all. With this team, I'm more

1282
01:05:12,960 --> 01:05:15,920
worried And yeah, it'd be nice to say Rob Dillingham

1283
01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:17,559
can do this, or that you have more of a

1284
01:05:17,559 --> 01:05:20,920
floor general, because right now you're too reliant on Anthony

1285
01:05:21,039 --> 01:05:24,360
Edwards the playmaker, just given how they fared on offense

1286
01:05:24,679 --> 01:05:27,360
and then looking what's happened on defense, That's where I'm

1287
01:05:27,360 --> 01:05:29,079
gonna focus on. And if you want the point guard

1288
01:05:29,159 --> 01:05:31,159
concerns to come from there, it's we want a different

1289
01:05:31,599 --> 01:05:34,639
point of attack, type of option, or just another perimeter

1290
01:05:34,760 --> 01:05:37,719
body that we could trust aside from Edwards or Jane

1291
01:05:37,760 --> 01:05:41,239
McDaniels and Edwards. Is he's guarding the level of assignments

1292
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:43,440
he's taking on the knixt game, he comes back after

1293
01:05:43,480 --> 01:05:46,239
missing times, is just defending Jalen brunchon upon some time.

1294
01:05:46,360 --> 01:05:48,480
I don't think you want him even if he's talked

1295
01:05:48,480 --> 01:05:51,039
about being in those situations. I don't think you want

1296
01:05:51,119 --> 01:05:52,880
him having to need to do that.

1297
01:05:54,039 --> 01:05:57,280
Speaker 2: You can't if he's gonna play real minutes and run

1298
01:05:57,639 --> 01:05:59,639
a huge share of the offense. If you can't do

1299
01:05:59,679 --> 01:06:02,360
that for full season, That's that's true. Wouldn't it be

1300
01:06:02,519 --> 01:06:06,400
nice if all we had to worry about here was

1301
01:06:06,599 --> 01:06:10,440
Mike Conley's old Devincenzo's not a point guard, Dillingham's not ready,

1302
01:06:10,480 --> 01:06:13,719
and the offense was the sole problem. Like that this

1303
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:17,199
I don't know. It's hard for me to get I was.

1304
01:06:17,280 --> 01:06:20,079
I was like skeptical that we should even include the

1305
01:06:20,119 --> 01:06:23,280
Wolves until the Knicks game when they scored a trillion

1306
01:06:23,320 --> 01:06:27,360
points in the paint against Minnesota, and I wondered if, like, oh,

1307
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:28,920
is that why Dan wants to do the Wolves for

1308
01:06:28,960 --> 01:06:31,639
this group. But like, I'm glad we're doing this because

1309
01:06:32,360 --> 01:06:36,119
the problems are kind of more widespread than I would

1310
01:06:36,159 --> 01:06:39,039
have thought, Like I just assumed that we'd have a

1311
01:06:39,079 --> 01:06:42,320
repeat of last year where we just questioned whether this

1312
01:06:42,400 --> 01:06:45,679
offense is playoff viable. The ball sticky, like there's the gears,

1313
01:06:45,719 --> 01:06:49,760
grind all that stuff, but the the seeming like I

1314
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:53,119
don't know, McDaniels had some very low effort plays against

1315
01:06:53,159 --> 01:06:56,440
the Knicks in particular, and I'm just kind of wondering, like, well,

1316
01:06:56,480 --> 01:06:59,760
what does this team look like if their wing and

1317
01:06:59,800 --> 01:07:02,559
point of attack defenders like Edwards because he's over taxing

1318
01:07:02,639 --> 01:07:06,639
McDaniels for whatever reason, just aren't good enough. And then

1319
01:07:06,679 --> 01:07:09,719
Gobert is just the only back line piece and he's

1320
01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:12,119
the numbers are what they are. I flagged some of

1321
01:07:12,119 --> 01:07:13,800
that too when I was doing something else on the Wolves.

1322
01:07:13,840 --> 01:07:18,960
The swings are just they cannot sustain the on off stuff.

1323
01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:23,440
For Gobert, it's like too extreme, but he's obviously vitally important,

1324
01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:27,599
and I don't know everybody kind of agrees he's slipped

1325
01:07:27,639 --> 01:07:30,719
from his pedestal, is like, well, he's a defense all alone.

1326
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:34,679
So yeah, I'm surprised we're at a point where the

1327
01:07:34,719 --> 01:07:39,159
defense is questionable. But maybe I don't know, Maybe should

1328
01:07:39,199 --> 01:07:40,960
that have been easier to see coming with the point

1329
01:07:40,960 --> 01:07:44,000
guard issues and with Randall now just he's playing a

1330
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:46,400
big role and nas Reed is gonna play a lot,

1331
01:07:46,480 --> 01:07:48,519
Like maybe we should have seen some of this coming.

1332
01:07:48,559 --> 01:07:50,760
It still feels it's hard for me to believe this

1333
01:07:50,800 --> 01:07:54,000
team is gonna be like if you told me the

1334
01:07:54,039 --> 01:07:55,719
offense was gonna be a problem all year, I could

1335
01:07:55,719 --> 01:07:58,679
buy it. The defense is harder, Like I just don't

1336
01:07:58,679 --> 01:08:01,920
really get how we got here or necessarily believe it'll

1337
01:08:02,079 --> 01:08:05,760
hold up, because the personnel still is pretty good and

1338
01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:09,079
at least three of the five starting spots in theory right,

1339
01:08:09,119 --> 01:08:13,039
and Devincenzo's like he's okay, He's not like a sieve.

1340
01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:16,039
He's some kind of disruptive off the ball as some value.

1341
01:08:16,439 --> 01:08:19,479
Speaker 1: I think what's tough is that it feels like there

1342
01:08:19,560 --> 01:08:21,840
might be more nights where to use the next game

1343
01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:24,840
as an example to where Rudy Gobert like he is

1344
01:08:24,960 --> 01:08:28,039
kind of a defensive system onto himself still, but it's

1345
01:08:28,079 --> 01:08:31,840
a narrower system. There are gonna be nights where drop

1346
01:08:32,079 --> 01:08:35,279
like drop bigs ball handlers aren't afraid of them anymore,

1347
01:08:35,319 --> 01:08:37,680
and like they'll be more comfortable getting to from float

1348
01:08:37,680 --> 01:08:39,760
to range and trying to score from there. And they've

1349
01:08:39,760 --> 01:08:42,720
actually scored pretty well from there against the Wolves. But

1350
01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:46,399
it's I think the the two concerns would be there's

1351
01:08:46,439 --> 01:08:48,720
gonna be more nights like that, and I think that's

1352
01:08:48,760 --> 01:08:51,119
more concerning in a playoff context than a regular seat

1353
01:08:51,159 --> 01:08:53,119
because if you get two nights like that in a

1354
01:08:53,159 --> 01:08:55,680
seven game series, that might be the sas to where,

1355
01:08:55,720 --> 01:08:58,680
oh that you got crushed on the glass with Rudy

1356
01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:02,479
Gobert on the court and were getting like out manhandled

1357
01:09:02,680 --> 01:09:06,359
with the second chance opportunities. The other the bigger concern

1358
01:09:06,920 --> 01:09:10,119
might be, do you think what I view as just

1359
01:09:10,159 --> 01:09:12,039
based off what I've seen from the Wolves, the ball

1360
01:09:12,039 --> 01:09:15,560
containment issues, some of the perimeter things, how much of

1361
01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:18,319
that do you believe is okay? Anthey Edwards did miss

1362
01:09:18,319 --> 01:09:20,319
some time, Jaleen Clark did miss some time. And when

1363
01:09:20,319 --> 01:09:22,600
you look at the names, let's say the core names

1364
01:09:22,600 --> 01:09:25,920
that I think would be associated Jalen Clark, Tarren Shannon,

1365
01:09:26,640 --> 01:09:29,640
Anthony Edwards, and Jade McDaniels, you think there's just going

1366
01:09:29,680 --> 01:09:33,319
to be enough there for everything to normalize. Even if

1367
01:09:33,319 --> 01:09:36,039
you're getting a version of Rudy Gobert that, while still

1368
01:09:36,079 --> 01:09:39,640
defensively effective, is probably not what is the word? Is

1369
01:09:39,680 --> 01:09:43,800
it as versatile or all encompassing as he was in years.

1370
01:09:43,600 --> 01:09:47,199
Speaker 2: Past, he was like transformative, like his presence alone meant

1371
01:09:47,239 --> 01:09:50,319
your defense was good, And maybe that's not true anymore.

1372
01:09:50,319 --> 01:09:53,479
As kind of you what you're like trending towards I

1373
01:09:53,520 --> 01:09:53,800
don't know.

1374
01:09:54,119 --> 01:09:55,680
Speaker 1: I think one of the numbers it would say that

1375
01:09:55,720 --> 01:09:58,720
it is. But they feel different to play than they

1376
01:09:58,760 --> 01:09:59,880
did even last.

1377
01:09:59,720 --> 01:10:02,279
Speaker 2: Year, and I think that's ball containment, and I do

1378
01:10:02,319 --> 01:10:06,399
think it will be better. Having said that, kind of

1379
01:10:06,439 --> 01:10:09,600
what we're landing on here is like both in a

1380
01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:13,079
playoff situation, which were I guess for them because at

1381
01:10:13,159 --> 01:10:15,439
least I thought they would be really good. This is relevant,

1382
01:10:15,439 --> 01:10:18,800
but but from a night to night perspective, there's now

1383
01:10:18,880 --> 01:10:22,760
like there's now more demonstrated ways for them to lose.

1384
01:10:23,119 --> 01:10:25,520
One was the offense will get clunky and they can't

1385
01:10:25,560 --> 01:10:29,439
score down the stretch unless Edwards runs super hot. Yeah

1386
01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,640
that was that's not new for them. But now it's like,

1387
01:10:32,760 --> 01:10:34,560
we can't stay in front of guys on the perimeter

1388
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:37,039
and we can lose games for that reason like that's

1389
01:10:37,479 --> 01:10:39,680
and or get out rebounded, and or give up paint points.

1390
01:10:39,720 --> 01:10:42,159
All that stuff like that's new, and that is a concern.

1391
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:47,920
I gotta believe that's gonna dissipate like that. That can't

1392
01:10:47,960 --> 01:10:50,479
be a full season trend. It's harder for me to

1393
01:10:50,479 --> 01:10:52,920
buy that. The offense I have, Yeah, it might be

1394
01:10:52,960 --> 01:10:55,279
an issue, but the offense has not been the problem

1395
01:10:55,359 --> 01:10:55,640
so far.

1396
01:10:55,760 --> 01:10:57,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, it's And the other thing that we could

1397
01:10:57,960 --> 01:10:59,479
point to. I meant to have this in my notes

1398
01:10:59,560 --> 01:11:03,720
is that the starting five of Edwards, Devincenzo, McDaniels, Randall,

1399
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:07,319
and Gobert opponents are are shooting forty seven point one

1400
01:11:07,359 --> 01:11:10,960
percent from three And there you go, including they're not

1401
01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:13,760
shooting well on non corner threes. They're at eighty one

1402
01:11:13,800 --> 01:11:16,960
point eight percent from the corners. So yeah, stuff like

1403
01:11:17,000 --> 01:11:19,960
that will normalize, and the rim protection stuff is fine

1404
01:11:20,359 --> 01:11:24,600
during that time. So for me, it's I'm like, I

1405
01:11:24,640 --> 01:11:27,000
need more time. I'm gonna say that this. This is

1406
01:11:27,039 --> 01:11:30,319
no time to panic. And I think that it seems

1407
01:11:30,319 --> 01:11:32,000
sounds like you're on the same page. But of the

1408
01:11:32,079 --> 01:11:33,399
teams that are good, yeah.

1409
01:11:33,479 --> 01:11:36,920
Speaker 2: I know I'm co signing that with with the I

1410
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:39,720
don't know caveat that. I thought of all the teams

1411
01:11:39,800 --> 01:11:41,640
we talked about today, the Wolves would be the best,

1412
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:44,479
and so like that's the only reason I have a

1413
01:11:44,479 --> 01:11:47,039
little bit of panic is because they're not playing like

1414
01:11:47,079 --> 01:11:50,520
a team that's gonna win fifty plus like that, which

1415
01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:52,399
is I don't think any of the I don't think

1416
01:11:52,399 --> 01:11:55,279
we had any No, yeah, none of these other teams

1417
01:11:55,279 --> 01:11:58,520
to me were fifty plus win teams going in. So

1418
01:11:58,520 --> 01:12:00,319
so that's the reason I'm a little concerned but still

1419
01:12:00,319 --> 01:12:00,920
not panicking.

1420
01:12:01,319 --> 01:12:03,039
Speaker 1: I think if I were to panic, he would be

1421
01:12:03,039 --> 01:12:05,319
because I'm more worried about how they're going to match

1422
01:12:05,399 --> 01:12:07,439
up in a playoff series than I am about the

1423
01:12:07,479 --> 01:12:09,680
regular season. And also last year. This is kind of

1424
01:12:09,680 --> 01:12:12,439
a theme with the Wolves is they've during this era,

1425
01:12:12,600 --> 01:12:14,399
it does feel like they've kind of made things harder

1426
01:12:14,399 --> 01:12:16,319
than it needs to be. Yeah, they've had these slow

1427
01:12:16,720 --> 01:12:20,359
starts and sometimes they're extended. Let's to see if they

1428
01:12:20,399 --> 01:12:22,920
fix it, but this is kind of they need to

1429
01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:25,119
figure it out with who they have right now because

1430
01:12:25,159 --> 01:12:27,960
there's not a move it would be I because I

1431
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:30,439
don't know. I think Randal we didn't really talk a

1432
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:32,239
ton about him, but he's been really good on offense.

1433
01:12:32,239 --> 01:12:34,800
From oh, we're getting the bully ball version of Randall

1434
01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:37,800
who's also making threes. That's really good for the offensive

1435
01:12:38,199 --> 01:12:40,399
version of Randall and it papers over some of your

1436
01:12:40,439 --> 01:12:43,119
other concerns. But what is the player because they don't

1437
01:12:43,119 --> 01:12:45,960
have picks to trade, where like, who's the player that

1438
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:49,000
they would feasibly move? And I think I look at

1439
01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:51,840
this team and say Anthony Edwards and Jade McDaniels are

1440
01:12:51,880 --> 01:12:54,319
the two players that they probably can't afford to move,

1441
01:12:54,399 --> 01:12:56,600
and the numbers say that Rudy Gobert is still one

1442
01:12:56,600 --> 01:12:59,359
of them. But it's who's the player aside from Anthony

1443
01:12:59,399 --> 01:13:02,479
Edwards that has no positive value to other teams on

1444
01:13:02,520 --> 01:13:07,600
the market, Devincenzo, j McDaniel Shore, But like Devincenzo, maybe

1445
01:13:08,079 --> 01:13:11,159
nas Red on his new contract. Maybe. And if you're

1446
01:13:11,199 --> 01:13:15,079
moving one of those guys, what is the priority is

1447
01:13:15,079 --> 01:13:17,359
if you move Na's Red, you're getting smaller then to

1448
01:13:17,640 --> 01:13:19,279
because you're not gonna get a center. Who's gonna like

1449
01:13:19,560 --> 01:13:22,760
you know, it's it needs to be with basically this

1450
01:13:22,920 --> 01:13:24,600
roster because I don't think there's a move out there

1451
01:13:24,640 --> 01:13:27,520
that could augment what is their biggest concern, which is

1452
01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:29,000
the ball Paul containment right now?

1453
01:13:29,479 --> 01:13:32,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think that's right. I mean, does Dillingham

1454
01:13:32,199 --> 01:13:35,079
have value to a second draft like younger team where

1455
01:13:35,119 --> 01:13:37,479
they can just let him go out and make mistakes. Maybe,

1456
01:13:37,479 --> 01:13:40,319
but that's not like that's not getting you back anything

1457
01:13:40,359 --> 01:13:43,479
other than a like a third point guard, you know,

1458
01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:46,079
which which might actually help. But but he I don't

1459
01:13:46,119 --> 01:13:47,720
think he's going to get you anything crazy?

1460
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:51,159
Speaker 1: What about like a he's not trade outs yet, like

1461
01:13:51,199 --> 01:13:54,399
a Cam Spencer. I made a joke about him in

1462
01:13:54,399 --> 01:13:57,319
in or or. This is not related to the comment

1463
01:13:57,359 --> 01:13:59,640
that we have but would would not be may have

1464
01:13:59,680 --> 01:14:01,399
to clip can pull off a deal for Io or

1465
01:14:01,439 --> 01:14:04,920
Kobe White the Clippers. I don't think the assets to

1466
01:14:04,960 --> 01:14:08,720
get a Kobe White deal done, but Io to soon

1467
01:14:08,800 --> 01:14:11,039
MoU that's someone who could be really good for them.

1468
01:14:11,039 --> 01:14:13,079
But do they even have the why The Bulls aren't

1469
01:14:13,079 --> 01:14:15,159
gonna want Rob Dillingham, so what is the ben You

1470
01:14:15,159 --> 01:14:17,239
can't trade persas, so what is the package? Just swaps

1471
01:14:17,319 --> 01:14:18,800
enough to get that done.

1472
01:14:20,800 --> 01:14:23,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not panicking though, that's the takeaway. Not yet.

1473
01:14:23,680 --> 01:14:25,520
Speaker 1: You're going to be fine, but it's in the moment.

1474
01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:28,520
It's the Rudy Gobert stuff is just because the numbers

1475
01:14:28,520 --> 01:14:30,239
are saying one thing and then you're watching and that

1476
01:14:30,359 --> 01:14:32,520
they just feel more vulnerable even when he's on the

1477
01:14:32,520 --> 01:14:35,359
court this year. That's the vibe. We're not going off

1478
01:14:35,439 --> 01:14:37,119
numbers es.

1479
01:14:37,399 --> 01:14:41,000
Speaker 2: It's like summer league analysis vibes. Only are you.

1480
01:14:40,960 --> 01:14:43,199
Speaker 1: Got anything else? Or are you ready to take us

1481
01:14:43,239 --> 01:14:45,119
out of here? Or we didn't have a Warrior's question, I.

1482
01:14:45,079 --> 01:14:47,079
Speaker 2: Think, oh yeah, we got to do that. Bill asks

1483
01:14:47,399 --> 01:14:49,800
should the oh there you go? Should Warriors fans be

1484
01:14:49,840 --> 01:14:51,560
worried that we're only going to get a limited number

1485
01:14:51,560 --> 01:14:53,840
of games where Steph, Jimmy and Draymond play together. Also,

1486
01:14:53,840 --> 01:14:57,600
as Al Horford washed not any more worried on the

1487
01:14:57,600 --> 01:15:00,279
first part, then we knew that we needed to be

1488
01:15:00,399 --> 01:15:03,239
coming in because that was always the defining thing is

1489
01:15:03,720 --> 01:15:06,000
they'll be good when those guys are there, except when

1490
01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:09,680
they're giving away games to the Pacers and Bucks, and

1491
01:15:09,760 --> 01:15:12,479
they'll struggle when they're not all there. The Horford thing

1492
01:15:12,880 --> 01:15:15,760
he's I mean, it does come down to missing or

1493
01:15:15,800 --> 01:15:18,039
making threes, and he has just not made any for

1494
01:15:18,119 --> 01:15:21,720
like a week, So everything looks worse when you're shooting

1495
01:15:21,800 --> 01:15:23,840
zero percent from three. I actually don't know if he's

1496
01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:26,000
made one, but it's felt like he's missed every three

1497
01:15:26,039 --> 01:15:29,640
he's taken in the last three games. Faith, I have

1498
01:15:29,680 --> 01:15:32,479
faith in Al Horford continuing to be a productive nineteen

1499
01:15:32,520 --> 01:15:35,079
minute a game player except for back to backs.

1500
01:15:35,560 --> 01:15:36,800
Speaker 1: Do you know what I think? I was on a

1501
01:15:36,880 --> 01:15:39,079
show the other day and they asked me about this

1502
01:15:39,119 --> 01:15:43,119
cool Do you know I was on this TV show?

1503
01:15:43,159 --> 01:15:45,319
The other day, Grant, they asked me about while I

1504
01:15:45,359 --> 01:15:48,239
was getting my makeup done, they're asking me about They

1505
01:15:48,279 --> 01:15:50,119
asked me about the Al Horford thing. Do you think

1506
01:15:50,119 --> 01:15:52,960
we're just sort of not accounting for the fact that

1507
01:15:53,000 --> 01:15:56,199
they basically signed him the day before the regular season started.

1508
01:15:56,359 --> 01:15:59,000
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, and that's why he's been Yeah, I mean

1509
01:16:00,199 --> 01:16:02,680
and his age though, with his experience, Like shouldn't he

1510
01:16:02,840 --> 01:16:04,920
just like his whole offseason is like he knows exactly

1511
01:16:05,000 --> 01:16:06,960
what he's doing every day and like he should hit

1512
01:16:07,000 --> 01:16:09,199
the ground running. But fair point. I don't know.

1513
01:16:09,880 --> 01:16:12,039
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm just not any more worried about the

1514
01:16:12,079 --> 01:16:14,399
Warriors than I won't. No, the only other team I

1515
01:16:14,479 --> 01:16:17,000
kind of thought about here was the Calves, and then

1516
01:16:17,039 --> 01:16:19,039
Darius Garland comes back in the offense looks like a

1517
01:16:19,079 --> 01:16:20,680
world beater, and so that would have been an easy

1518
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:21,399
piece for me.

1519
01:16:21,520 --> 01:16:24,680
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, yeah, all right, I think that's gonna do it.

1520
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:28,239
Thanks everybody for the comments. Also leave some comments on

1521
01:16:28,279 --> 01:16:30,479
the YouTube video here, Rate and review and subscribe, leave

1522
01:16:30,520 --> 01:16:31,840
us a thumbs up, give us you hip points.

1523
01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:34,000
Speaker 1: We're panicking about these teams.

1524
01:16:34,520 --> 01:16:36,960
Speaker 2: We're just yeah, well, I don't know, like, is there

1525
01:16:36,960 --> 01:16:40,840
a third category people would like to nominate. Just what's

1526
01:16:40,880 --> 01:16:43,199
a P word that's like not that's in the middle

1527
01:16:43,199 --> 01:16:49,239
of piece or panicing? Are you pacified? What play caated?

1528
01:16:49,640 --> 01:16:54,239
Pretty similar? Let us know what else? Join a discordantly

1529
01:16:54,279 --> 01:16:56,199
for that YouTube and podcast is scre Tell your friends

1530
01:16:56,199 --> 01:16:58,039
it tell your enemies for the next time shout out

1531
01:16:58,079 --> 01:16:59,880
frankling like me, apologies Jared Allen