Speaker 1: What is up Pelasiko's I Am Damna Valley coming at
you with a break from our NBA team look Ahead
series and some of the wrap up stuff that Grant
and I will do to talk with the one, the Only,
mister Mike Sheer of the Basketball Poetry Newsletter. You should
subscribe I can't talk today. The link to it will
be in the podcast and YouTube description as well to
the social media machine which his handle is at b
ball is poetry spelled exactly as it sounds. Him very
easy to remember first time guests, So Mike doesn't know
what he's getting into just yet, but I'm excited to
talk hoops with him. He is so good at what
he does. So again, I just want to echo, subscribe
to the Basketball Poetry Newsletter. It's dope, Mike. How the
heck are you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. You're just filled with good advice for
people already. It's a good start. I'm excited to be here.
Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm excited that you came on to do this topic
that I wanted to do, which is we're gonna talk
about potential hidden gems from every or not every NBA team.
We've alternated, We've each picked like seven players. We will
go through them. Uh, these are We're not saying they're
gonna be breakout stars or anything. These are just sort
of names that might be off the beaten path a
little bit that we think are worth monitoring into next season,
and of course beyond your list, So you had each
other's list in advance. Your list did not disappoint. I
knew there was gonna be some deep cuts on there,
so I'm excited. Like some of these guys I just
don't have a great feel for, So I'm excited to
hear you and watch you drop buckets of knowledge on
players that I don't even have strong opinions on just yet.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm here for. And when you say we're
venturing off the beaten path, we are venturing way off.
So well, we'll see. I think it's gonna be a
lot of fun and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: All right, let's begin, and it's your We'll start with you.
You're the guest of honor here. Who do you have?
Speaker 2: All right, We're not venturing off the beaten path at
all with our first one, which is gonna ben Nick
Mathern Right, we got we gotta keep you guys hoped somehow,
So I think in in the end and there's to
be two guys you commonly see referred to as breakout candidates,
and they're going to be Andrew Debard and Benedict Maden.
I think that there's a strong case to be made
for both of them. But I'm really excited to see
what matherin to do can do given a full starting spot,
no questions asked. He's going to be given a lot
more leash, I think because he has just frankly going
to need their offense from somewhere. I saw a really
interesting interview with Rick Carlyle on Kaitlyn Cooper's excellent YouTube channel,
so you should check that out. But he had a
really can we.
Speaker 1: Call her newsbreaker Kaitlyn Cooper now that we know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's adding more like honorifics after her name with
like every passing day, it seems like so. But she
had a really good interview with Carlisle where Carlo said
that when Benedict Matheren came into the league, he saw
a path to greatness that was outdated, specifically citing like
Kobe Bryant, and I thought that was such an interesting
insight into his initial mindset, right, and it's like it's true.
Back in the day, it's like you were expected to
be a great shot maker, a difficult shot maker in
order to become a superstar. Nowadays, it's all about trying
to find the easiest looks. Like, yeah, it's awesome if
you make the hard one, someone has to do it.
But like, you want to try to get these efficient looks.
You want to try to get these high expected value attempts.
And it's taken mather In a little while to kind
of figure out how to work within a system where
that's the end goal. Carlile also cited Pascal Siakam is
a guy who kind of underwent a similar, similar evolution
throughout his career and has improved dramatically because of it.
And he thinks that Mathern has improved in this way
and he's getting better. You know, you look at Matherin analytically,
there's a lot of things to like. He's good to
drive free throws, he's good at getting the rim. He's
quietly improved as finishing the three pointer is a little mediocre.
Stubbornly mediocre is the way I say it. But it's
it's definitely a proof of concept is there. He can
make three pointers. He just needs to be a little
more consistent with it. The defense is a problem. The
defense is going to have to be better, particularly off ball.
I think Carlisle is somebody who has had sort of
a short leash for that in the past, but might
not have a choice year. I think so, well, let
me pause here for a second. I have a question
for you, Dan, do you think you can teach feel?
I think Matherin is somebody who has had to develop
feel on both sides and feels too often used is
like are you a good passer? And feels a lot
exterer than that. I think right like, feel, I think
is like can you fill in the gaps in the
game that contribute towards winning on both sides? And I
think that's something that Madin came in with not a
lot of and is slowly trying to add to it.
But do you think that's a thing that you can
that you can teach?
Speaker 1: I think there's probably layers to it. If it's a
feel for like, how do I toggle between what I
need to do based off what my team needs on
a given night? I would think that's something that like
because if you're Ben mcmatherin this season, Indie needs something
from you that they're not gonna need when Tyrey's Haliburton
is back next season. And so I could see you
developing that type of feel my guests would be And
I'm just not savvy enough when it comes to the
intricacies of NBA defense. That's a lot harder to do
on the defense eve end. And I would just point
to like Karl Anthony Towns as an example like that
is just like you talk about if you want someone
to maybe learn defensive feel, it would be him, and
just like he doesn't have it, And so I don't
know how you would impart that necessarily on to somebody.
Speaker 2: Now I think you're right. Like to me, it's like
you can kind of teach field maybe to get somebody
from bad to adequate. I don't know that you can
do it to get from adequate to great on either end.
But I think this is going to be a year
where we see if you can teach field. Because this
is gonna be Matheren's fourth year, He's going to be
expected to show these major improvements if he wants to
claim the starting spot that Carlo Lets said outright is
his right now? Yeah, so I think like Matheren is
a guy who's primed for a breakup. I do have
one last interesting fact before I turned it back over
to you, which is that Mathern actually had the highest
dunk rate of his career last season, in his third year,
and that's very unusual. Most players typically peak their dunk
rates in their first and maybe second year, and then
it just declines almost universally. And I think there's something
to him playing with a little bit more force that
I'm hoping to see carry over into this season. So yeah,
he's going to have the opportunity. I think the skill
sets have been building towards something great. I'm not sure
of it, but I think it's there and I'm excited
to see what he does.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's any just I don't know if
the word is concerned, but because of what I mentioned before,
where it's you're gonna need like functionally, one thing from
him this season is just as a shot creator, even
just for himself, I would assume they're gonna lean on
that more. They might even be happy with like some
of the gimmicky stuff he does to try and draw fouls,
but then like, Okay, now you have to scale it
back again from when Tyres Haliburton comes back the following
season if you're the Pacers, or just like based off
you're like, how do you juggle something like that? Or
is it just very much like we need this now
and we're gonna have to like because he's gonna be
I'm assuming he doesn't get an extension. Maybe he does,
but if he doesn't, now you're trying to figure out
how much you want to pay him moving forward without
maybe knowing Okay, is he the right fit for the
context of our full strength ecosystem?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think you have to be focused on the
here and now in the hopes that like when, when,
and if Caliburton comes back at full strength, the things
that are most important for Matheram will naturally rise to
the surface, right Like coaches obviously come in and they
give players explicit roles, explicit things they're supposed to do.
But there's also sort of a pecking order in an
NBA offense that arises naturally based on position skill, and
there are times players can throw that out of whack,
for sure, and I think Matheren has had a history
of doing that at times in the past. But I
think as players get older, as they mature, they have
a better understanding where they're supposed to fit in. And
I think Matheren knows this is his year to go
show out and get paid, as you pointed out, and
if and when he gets extended, I think it'll be
a little bit easier for him being like, hey, I've
proven I can do these things now that Haliburton's back,
like I can go back to playing a more natural role.
Speaker 1: He'd be an interesting like most improved player pick, just
because if you think that he's going to have the
volume there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had that in my notes that I think,
like Nemhart, I think is the odds had them as
like very high.
Speaker 1: I want to say, when I looked a couple I
haven't looked at any of that stuff that I.
Speaker 2: Looked a couple of weeks ago, and Nemhart was really high.
Wasn't that much further down? And truthfully, I think just
Matherin's mindset of like I'm gonna go out there and
get buckets. He's already scored call it sixteen points per
game for his career or something along those lines, but
very easily it hit the twenty, which I think is
going to be a sticky number for voters looking at MIP,
maybe more so than some of the stuff that nem
Harden might prove like his assistants. So I absolutely think
that's in play if he comes out and plays to
his potential.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to what'll be my first pick. So
I was debating whether or not to include this player
because I was looking at it's Atlanta Mogay, the acquisition
of Christaps porzingis. You have Jalen Johnson there, you have
on Y Echo conglu Ason. Newell's there as well, but
like the Hawks are. I'm very high on the Hawks,
but their front line could be a little bit shakier
when you look at the time that porzingis traditionally missed
and then like whatever was going on with him last season.
Jalen Johnson ever since entering the rotation has not really
been a billboard for durability dealt with a bunch of
shoulder stuff. It's like they might need Mogay, And I'm
really intrigued by the idea of Mogay, someone who like
can slide between the four and the five. Opponent shot
eight percentage points worse within six feet against him last year,
He's averaged over two blocks per thirty six minutes for
his career. He took like a lot, Like the share
of his shots that came from three last year was high,
it was like almost fifty percent or whatever. He does
not make them is the other problem. There's also like
real potential for him to do stuff around the basket,
but again, the finishing is an adventure and their percentages
aren't great. But I think like as someone who can
play next to any other big that you basically have
on Atlanta's roster, there might be an opportunity there for
him to get some good minutes, especially if they don't
want to give Newell minutes at the four spot at
any point right away, because if Porzingis and Jalen Johnson,
if one of them doesn't miss time, that's gonna be
like one of the biggest shots in Atlanta for next season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And Gay's funny man because he I can't
prove this, but I swear he takes the biggest strides
in the NBA. Like when he's caught out a position,
he's trying to ca and make a block or get
back to where he's supposed to be he can cover
an insane amount of ground, like Yiannis levels amount of
ground with one step. Yeah, like I think the other
like he's he's willing but not quite able to make
the three pointer. And I think that his fit as
sort of a stretch forwards a little more theoretical than
actual right now. I like him and like, you catch
him on the right night, and you'll see him do
all these things that look like a legitimate, like first
big off the bench type stuff, which I think is
probably his ceiling on the Hawks. The problem is it's
hard to get him to do all those things every night.
You kind of have, you know, you might see him
hit a couple threes one night, and then the next
night you might see him get a couple of steals
or have a block. I think the defense is probably
his biggest skill right now. He's the defensive playmaker right
Actually being a strong space defender is something he's still learning,
which is fair because he's played like fifty NBA games
or something. Even last year, when he was a starter
for much of the year, he played less than half
the season. So it's hard for me to disentangle what
Mogay is now versus what he could be one hundred
years further into his career. But I do think your
point about the Hawks is right. They have a very
peculiar front court. There's a surprising amount of like flexibility,
I think in a lot of their players, including Gay.
But what that also means is like roles are very
versatile right now, there's a lot that could happen that
it's hard to pin down until we see what these
guys look like in action, particularly given the injury concerns
of the Porzingises and the Johnson's, who I love. Yeah,
so I'm interested in Gay. I truly, he's only played
fifty games. It's tough for me to say with confidence,
like where he's going to fit in them to this
team if they're all fully healthy.
Speaker 1: The other I don't know if it's a concern, but
you mentioned like to him as a theoretical stretch for
do you feel okay with him at the five, because
one of the other qualms I would pick is just
there's not a lot of physicality to his game, and
it feels like that's why they even up to the
share of his minutes at the four. I mean, some
of that was roster construction stuff. Don't get me wrong,
but it's that if you don't trust him to necessarily
hold up is someone needs to get stronger. Do you
see the potential for him to get more physical? I
remain just decidedly undecided in that arena as to what
position he'd be best at, Like, yeah, breaking case of
emergency at the five, but I think almost like he
might have to be better off at the four, Like
if he's he at least needs to finish better through
contact on the offensive end if you want him to
be able to play like the five role, maybe like
set the stronger streams there. So, and I just don't
know where most of his minutes are gonna come this
year when you look at the makeup of the roster,
because if Jalen Johnson's just healthy, thirty five minutes per
game at the four, just gone right off, right, yeah.
Speaker 2: And that's about work because I think defensively, I like
gave best as sort of like this roamer lurker Jared
Jared Jackson type where he can just like run around
and cause havoc. Right, Like, I don't know that his
gifts are maximized as a five. He is big enough theoretically,
but to your point, like, he has to be a
little bit more forceful if they want to hold up
with him in the middle for more than a minute
or two at a time. He's young enough, in inexperienced enough.
I'm not going to write it off as a lost
cause yet, but right now I think it is closer
to break class in case of emergency. But then again,
like the Hawks of kind of gotten away with that
in the past, Like I don't think when Yako Kongwu
was capable of playing center for the first few years
of his career either, and he developed to a player
who can do that now. I think there's a lot
of similarities sort of in their progression so far through
their careers. I think he has kind of followed him
those footsteps to some ex step. So it's there. I'm
not optimistic, but I'm not going to shut the door
on it either.
Speaker 1: Who do we have for your next pick? Uh? Well, yeah,
I'm excited about this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I went with nimiyash Keda. Hopefully I got
that right. For any Portuguese listeners out there, Keava is
a guy who's kind of flashed for a long time,
but he's never been given enough opportunity to really make
it stick. I think he's somebody who is quietly going
to really benefit from just having a guaranteed twenty minutes
or so a night coming forward. I think there's a
lot that once he settles down a little bit and
he feels more comfortable and he's not going to get
yanked after every foul, like I think he's actually his
strengths are going to shine a lot brighter. And truly,
you could pick almost any Celtics center for this spot,
right Like, like I know you're a Chris Buchet fan
who's on the team now, I think like Luca Garza
is going to have a random night where he scores
twenty one points and people are gonna lose their minds
in Boston. But to me, like kenn is the guy
who's like he's got legitimate NBA center size. He's the
biggest amount of court more often than not, and he
uses it well, like he sets some massive screens. He's
a great offensive rebounder. I think he's got pretty good
hands for some of his size. It's not necessarily his
calling card, but this is not going to be a
team that has a lot of amazing passers necessarily either
in Boston, Like, I don't think they're gonna be throwing
these crazy no looks that he catch him off guard.
You know, when he catches his pass, it's going to
be like a system pass that was expected to be there.
He'll be able to turn and mash on somebody. So
it's not that I think Kada necessarily is going to
have this sudden like growth and skill set so much
as he's finally going to be given a chance to
go out there play really hard, which he's good at.
He's improved his valorid over time. That's always been his
big you know, Bugbear is like he just fouls the
crap out of people. He does that slightly less. I
think he's still learning the intricacies of being a shot
blocker versus being a rim protector, and he leans more
towards the ladder, and their Celtics are slowly trying to
move him towards the former. But I'm hopeful that just
this is just a guy who just really needs to
have twenty games with twenty minutes, and I think he
will be so much more comfortable in that role.
Speaker 1: I think the dearth of other options is really gonna
help him. I would assigned. But if he's not, like
what's gone wrong in Boston? If Cata or I guess
what's gone right? Like who's the breakout Keddy with Katea
is not getting minutes, I'm curious how he'll be impacted
by I guess they still do have plenty of spacing.
If you throw Jalen Brown in there, you have Derek White.
Sam Hauser can shoot the hell of a Peyton Pritchard
because like, generating the rim pressure will be important to
what he does on offense. I am intrue he's got
like almost fifty percent from float to range. Last year
on it was think it was like forty plus attempts
to So that's semi interesting. But they just need bodies
on the front lines. I'm open to anyone, but like
you can tell me they signed someone off the shop, like, well,
that might be a breakout candidate, cause is gonna get
minutes on the front line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Someone has to compile center statistics, right there's
a certain number of points and rebounds that just go
to any center on any NBA team, And I think
that he is the one most deserving of them on
this Celtics team right now, that I'm not super high
on the Celtics for next year, but there's certainly a
possibility that they overperform in a relatively weak Eastern Conference, right,
And I think that if they do, I think it's
because he is surprisingly competent in a starter role.
Speaker 1: What's like, what is the the date at which the
Celtics will begin forfeiting home games and substituting in the
town watch parties at TD Garden because it seems like
they're headed in that direction. I just I thought they were.
They still have White and Brown and like, it's not
like they sold off Sam Hawser or Peyton Pritchard. Yeah,
but like they've just entered coupon clipping mode here with
the amount of money they shed. So I don't even
have a great feel for what their aim is because
you could argue Keita is like great because he kind
of fuels you don't want to call the stealth tank,
but a gap here. So it's like, yeah, we're just
trying to develop and see what we have moving forward
in some of our cheaper players. But if you're going
to play brown and White, and even to a lesser extent,
Pritchard and Hawsar is Anthony Simon's we're going to be
on this roster when the season starts. They're talking about
they'd like to bring out Horford back still, which I
wouldn't expect them to. I still, I think the Celtics
just sent kind of a clear message. I might be
getting too wrapped up in the well Derek White and
Jail and Brown are still here of it all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually am totally on the same boat as you.
I had a half written Celtics article. I just discard
him because I just didn't know what to make of
these guys. It's like they did. They they're trying to
kind of, you know, run this middle road where they're
not quite tanking into a gap year, but they're not
quite remaining as competitive as they could be. And I
don't really know where that's going to leave them. It's
the East is just going to be so hard to
predict that for the top couple teams. At some of
these teams, maybe Boston, maybe Miami are gonna end up
being better than we think, and some and it might
be the exact same teams, some are going to be
way worse than we think. And it's really hard to
tell right now, at least for me, Yeah, so it's
going to be It'll be telling this see if they
do something to bolster or subtract from their center rotation,
you know, midway through the season.
Speaker 1: My next pick comes from a team that is not
going to struggle to find its identity next season, the
Cleveland Cavaliers and Sam Merrill, which I think is like
kind of on the Benedict Mathren level, maybe not quite
as much of just Okay, people know who this guy is,
but do they know how good that he can absolutely be?
And I think just some of the reaction to him
getting four years and thirty eight million dollars in free
agency made me feel okay about putting him here to where, like,
this dude can shoot and it's like an anomalous combination
of volume and efficiency. The stat I have pulled up
for him is among everyone who is tallied at least
as many minutes as him. Over the past two seasons,
Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Dante DiVincenzo, and Malik Beasley are
the only players to average over ten threes per thirty
six minutes while hitting them at at least a thirty
eight percent clip. That's insane when you look at the level. Yeah,
when you look at the level of difficulty on some
of his looks, what I think is just I have
shaate the various methods in which he can just bombs
away like it's coming around screens. He can do the
stuff from a standstill. He has the escape dribble to
his game. He doesn't take a lot of twos, but
it seems like he's improved it dribbling away from aggressive
closeouts and can spray the ball out to other shooters
if he gets moving. I like him as just this guy.
Your offense of possessions will never stall out because of him,
and I think I don't want to say he's good,
but there's like a serviceability to the way that he
plays defense, like he just he will try to fight
through screens. He's not super big, but there's like a
toughness there. And I'm wondering if that in a relatively
crowded Cleveland rotation, even without Ti Jerome, you have Lonzo
Ball coming in here. If Dean Wade and DeAndre Hunter
are all healthy at the same time, if Larry Nance
Junior is healthy as well, this might be the year
we see some Jalen Tyson minutes like as a sophomore,
even Craig Porter junior, Like, when you lose Tai Jerome Orre,
you gonna want the half court dribbling element that he provides.
I'm curious to see where his minutes end up, like
in just this gaggle of options from Cleveland. But I'm
going to assume, because they paid him, that he might
be in line for like a fairly prominent role with
this team, more than we've seen over the past couple seasons.
I think that that's going to end up being really
good for the Caps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big Sam Marril guy, Like I think
the calculus and I'm oversimplifying here, but if the calculus
for Cleveland was Lonzo Ball and San Marril or Ty Jerome,
and I guess maybe Isaaca Korro, I think that they
probably made the right call. I think Merrill Is, as
you pointed out with their stat is one of the
legitimately bet like greatest shooters the NBA has today. And
these are not just like I'm going to stand in
the corner and shoot three. So though there is lots
of that, Like this guy is zooming around right like
this is a real honesty goodness movement shooter, which is
a rare skill in the NBA. Then I think people
realize the only hesitation I have with him here and
is that he was playing, you know, twenty minutes a
game for them last season, which is kind of a lot.
It's unless he becomes a starter, it's gonna be hard
for him to find like too much more than that,
So I think there could be some I think surface level,
his stats might not change all that much. But I
agree with all the things you said, and I think
we'll see more from whom in games that matter because
it won't be Jerome playing twenty eight minutes down the
stretch anymore. They're gonna have to find a way to
get some of that offense somewhere else. And Meryl can't
do the drill draft stuff that Jerome did, obviously, But
he can shoot even better than Like he's a better
movement off ball shooter than Jerome for sure. And I
think he's a better defender as you point it out,
Like he's pretty tough. He's not a defensive playmaker, but
he's strong in the chest right, Like, he's pretty good
at hitting his chest in front of the ball handlers
and taking the blow and not getting knocked back, and
that's all you have to be when you can shoot,
Like Sam Meryl, do you worry at all?
Speaker 1: This is like more of a Caz Macro question, But
it seems like the thing they might miss most about
Ti Jerome that you're probably not going to get from
Sam Merril or Lonzo Ball is just someone who could
come in if you're not if you want to have
Donovan Mitchell off ball, or if there's no Garland or
Mitchell and we know that Garland gets hit in the
face like eighty times per game, so he can time.
Do they have that half court playmaking element there in
that third guard? Because I kind of when I look
at their depth chart, I find myself wondering, is Craig
Porter Junior like the best option is like if you
were looking for someone because that's never been Lonzo's game, Like,
let me come in and run the half court offense.
Speaker 2: Right. A lot of Cavaliers fans would disagree with me,
I suspect, but I still think that there's some untapped
playmaking potential in Max Struce. I would like to see
him get the handle him a little bit more in
like a secondary role. This is something he did a
little bit more often with the heat, I'd say, when
in dire times when other people were injured and Struce
was not featured in this role by any means, but
when he had the chance, he usually did pretty well
with it. And I think that there could be a
little untapped juice there. I don't think Merril's going to
be necessarily running a pick and roll like to your point,
and they are going to miss that for sure, but
I think they are hoping that they can just make
up for it with better all around health and maybe
more well rounded players compared to Drome and you. I
believe you mentioned you know, we might see some Jalen Tyson.
That's something that he hopefully could do a little bit
up too, So hopefully they can kind of fix sit
together in pieces and patches.
Speaker 1: They probably could stand to have Evan Mobley run more
picking rolls too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I would love to
see him be a little bit more of a ball
handler up top. Just try it out.
Speaker 1: If nothing else, this team is so good. I kind
of feel like I'm gonna pick the Caves to win
the title this year. I'm not gonna lie like that's
where I'm at.
Speaker 2: Every year, I get super hyped about the Calves, and
so far that has not gone well for me. So
I'm trying to hold my enthusiasm and check that's me.
Speaker 1: I get super hyped about the Pelicans. I think this
is the year that I finally won't get super hyped
about the Pelicans. Though they've Troy Weaver and Joe Dumoores
have sufficiently killed that.
Speaker 2: Yes man tough, And I know some Pelicans fans and
they are down bad. They might be down the worst
of any fan base in the league right now. Even
Dallas at least Alas can talk about Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 1: So your next pick is we have back to back
Raptors coming up. So your next pick is Jacobe Walter.
Can you talk to me a little bit about him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Jacoby Walter is not necessarily like a tiny name,
per se was the first round pick just last year, right,
But it feels like nobody paid attention what was going
on and north of the border, just through for injuries,
through like the general Toronto malaise. Like I feel kind
of bad because there was a lot of very interesting
players and developments that happened on this team that were
just lost because the team season was so just aimless.
But Walter is the kind of guy that usually I'm
not a huge fan of, kind of more of a
shot taker than a shot maker, not a ton of
positional flexibility as a two guard. But where he's different
than a lot of the other players that archetype is
that he turned out to be a pretty good on
ball defender, and he had this reputation in college to
some extent. I believe I'm not a huge I'm not
a scout, I'm not a college guy. I think he
came in and people were like, he should be pretty
good in the NBA. But there's a lot more like
dot dot dots and question marks after statements like that
than I'm comfortable with. But he ended up being one
of their best perimeter point of attack guys, at least
in like isolation settings. There's a little bit of young
I want to say, there's a little bit of young
Jalen Brown almost in Jacoby Walter's game, where like he
checks out of somebody who should be eventually a pretty
good score in a variety of ways as somebody who
should be a pretty good on balld but like young
Jalen Brown, there isn't much else besides that yet, like
there's no passing, there's no I shouldn't say there's no passing.
He's an okay passer when he wants to be. There
is no decision making in a positive direction, and uh,
he's gonna have to work on just all the other
parts of the game. But I think if you're starting
off with a guy who has showing the ability to
hit some threes, which he ended up at thirty five
percent from deep on the year, but it was forty
percent in the second half of his year. Not that
many rookies get better at shooting from long range and
the season goes on. So I found that encouraging. He
did a good job of gett into the rim. He
just couldn't finish when he was there. But finishing in
the rim is something that rookie guards always struggle with
and almost always improved. So I like the outline of
a guy who's just starting from a base of like
being a pretty good three point shooter, pretty good on
ball defender. Can he get better at the other stuff?
I'm hopeful he can. The counterpoint to this would be, well,
Toronto has a weird number of guys who kind of
need the ball to be good. You have Skytie Barnes
and made it quickly, and RJ. Barrett and Brandon Ingram,
And it is very possible that Walter just find him buried,
not even on the depth charts. I do think he's
gonna get minutes, but he's just buried in like the
offensive pecking order, like even behind the players like Grady Dick. Right. So,
I think his two way upside is actually pretty significant
from what I've seen. I don't know that he's gonna
get the opportunity, but I'm kind of just hopeful that
his ability to fill in some of these other gaps
will rise to the surface and get him kind of
the quote unquote breakout we're looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like I mean, and please tell me
if you think it's overly reductive, but for him to
kind of stand out in the context of their rotation,
it might just come down to what I said, because
I was worried about him scaling down when he was
coming into the league. I'd asked samson Folk about this
during the Raptors look Ahead. I believe then he comes
in last year, over three quarters of his baskets came
off assists. He shot a good enough clip on catch
and shoot threes when you look at what they need around,
Like I know Emmanuel Quickly like can use the ball,
but like it's r J. Barrett, Ingram and Barnes. Those
are the guys that you're like, I think most want
the ball. Maybe Quickly wants it as much, but he
can work off it better than all of those guys,
I would argue, So Kobe Walkson just come in and
drill threes, like whether they're off movement or whether they're standstill,
and Kenny do like some of the catch and go
stuff on his drives, and like, I think that might
be his quickest path because they have enough defensive upside
on the team, Like they can build some really ridiculous
defensive lineups. So I know the data wasn't always there
last year, but just between like John and Mobo and Calin,
Murray Boyles and like you have all these like even
Scottie Barnes can defensive play make Emmanuel quickly. I think
he's better defensively than what we've seen in Toronto so far.
Jamal shed is probably gonna get some minutes. I just
think that Walter's path to like certified playing time might
be we really need shooting around our primary guys, and
especially if Grady Dick is still kind of up and down.
I was all in on Grady at the start of
like he was just flame throwing and doing all this
stuff aside from shooting. So if he's sort of having
it up and down year, I wonder if there's like
a pocket of space for Walter to kind of sneak
in there is I don't think he was build as
a three and D archetype coming out of school. You
could correct me if I'm wrong. It felt like he
was someone who was always gonna want to have the ball.
But if he can like progress into that where it's
even just the three part of that, that'd probably be
pretty huge for Toronto right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you make a good point, which is
kind of a lumber because I actually think like his
likeliest path to playing time on a neutral team, like
a random team is just him becoming like this awesome
perimeter defender with a six to ten wingspan, so a
little bit of switchability, hopefully a little bit of defensive playmaking.
But I think you're right on this particular Raptors team,
he's just really gonna have to keep shooting the three
ball well, which, like you and I said, like he
did do particularly towards the end of the season, but
it's got to be consistent over a bigger sample size,
I think to really stand out from everybody else fighting
for kind of time and touches on this team.
Speaker 1: We're gonna stick with the Raptors here and go to
ignore the type of want screen Jonathan Mobo. I'm fascinated
by him, and defensively I just kind of have no notes.
It's just he can do everything. He could be super disruptive,
he's super switchable. That is great, and that fits into
just like it seems like what the Raptors want their
identity to be on defense when you kind of look
at the players they've Ascendled Yako Perl notwithstanding of course
on at that front line. But like, I don't know
what to make of him on offense, and it feels
like him hitting corner threes is going to be mission
critical to him, not even just getting minutes on this
Raptors team, but sort of maybe staying in the NBA,
but for this Raptors team specifically, I don't know that
like they're ever gonna have enough space to maximize what
he could do around the rim, because I don't know
if he's someone who's gonna have a bunch of all
these complex finishes, Like he seems most comfortable in the
open floor. He's an absolute terror, and so they will
do stuff like that. Will there ever be the spacing
for him to like kind of get to the basket
unimpeded or with minimal obstacles in the half court with
the current personnel, I'd vote against. No, I don't have
I don't know what to make of him on offense,
but when you watch him on defense, like, if you
just watch him, you're going to feel him for like
x amount of like eight out of ten possessions, You're
just going to feel his presence, it seems like. And
so I find myself wondering, what can that player become?
But then also on this Raptors team that has all
these like non spacing like fours and fives, at this point,
are they gonna continue to try and develop him? Is
he just gonna get shoved down the pecking order? Because
if Scottie Barnes is healthy, if Ingram is healthy, if
you're gonna plan on playing Colin Murray Boyles. I don't
know where that puts him in the pecking order. I'm
like very close to like hashtagging free Jonathan Mobo, but
I'm not there yet. I'm intrigued by him overall, I
just don't know about his long term fit in Toronto.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm a little bit lower just because he
reminds me a little bit of like Jeremy Sohan in
San Antonio right where he has these funky skill sets
like Son, He's like a good passer, it's a great
switchy defender. But also like Sohn, the scoring touch isn't
really there, like the corner three you mentioned is something
that he needs to find. But he also just needs
to make his layouts, like he was not a great finisher,
as I recall, which is gonna be if you can't
really score from anywhere on the court your offense, you
have to be so good on the other end to
make up for it. And he's just so undersized and
it's not a question of effort, like he tries so hard.
He's very fun to watch, like he is somebody who,
like I definitely would put on an All Heart team.
I don't know that that is necessarily gonna get him
a massive contract after this. So I like the idea
because I like the switchiness. It reminds me of Bam
out of Bio at its best in Miami. Although again,
So's probably a better compet because he's a little bit
smaller like Mogbo. But poke hands love that. He's not
a great screener either, so you can't use him as
like sort of like a pick and roll lob threat
kind of guys. The jumper's not there, the finishing's not there.
He's just so far to go to make an offensive
impact right now, even if I love what he's doing
on the other side, and.
Speaker 1: Is there, like do you even view just like their
like and now they have Mamu in the mix as well,
it was probably like their only floor spacing like four.
I mean, Scottie Barne should probably count there. But I've
just I was almost hesitant to put him. I'm fascinated
by his defense, and I was hesitant to put him
on this list because I was trying to find guys
who might have a chance at having a role next year.
I think if the Raptors want to be good, I
don't know that like Mobo is like factoring in like
are they gonna get would they be more inclined to
play even Shamhay than him right now? And again there's
the CMB of it all to they just said they
have so many this roster makes no sense, and yet
I'm wildly intrigued by it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of guys that you're like, oh,
this guy definitely needs twenty minutes to night, and then
you add it up and you have two full teams
a night playing instead of one, and you're like, oh, oh,
somebody's gonna get hurt real bad by the roster crunch
in Toronto, unless we should say, unless it's like last
year and there's just injuries up and down the roster.
I think MOBOI really thrived sort of at the end
of last year when they gave him a bigger role
and he was able to do a little bit more stuff.
So I don't want to ever say that there's no
chance he's able to like break out, but things to
your point, things will have to go wrong for the
Raptors if Mobo has a breakout, I.
Speaker 1: Think your next potential hitting gem is Brandon Williams, one
of the players I have the least amount of feel
for in this exercise. In case anyone's carry us.
Speaker 2: Well, I would say you are not alone in that brand.
Williams actually was in the NBA a few years ago
for Portland briefly, and then he went and played i
think overseas for a year and then he came back
and he was part of that like ragtag Mavericks group
when they were rationing out they are two way players
because they were about to literally run out of bodies
and then they'd have like fourfeit games. Theoretically it was.
It was a crazy situation. But what that meant is
for like somebody like me, who I'm just trying to
like learn as much about guys. Ever, Like there's a
lot of guys playing for the Mavericks. I'm like, I'll
probably never see this guy again, but just in case,
let me watch a few games and take some notes
and Williams. If there's one thing you need to know
about Williams is that this guy cannot be kept away
from the Rim. I think there's forty eight percent of
his shot attempts came at the Rim last year, which
for a smaller guard is an insane number. This is
an insane number for almost anybody, but particularly smaller guard.
Two six three on a good day, he's six three
if you're you know, generous with the measurements. And he's
not like a super like strong, like run you over
kind of guard either, Like he's just like insane. His
nasty handle, he's got a killer step back. One of
my favorite things about him, this is like a weird
quirk of his game, is he loves these sideways finger rolls.
So nine percent of the finger rolls you see are
somebody running straight at the hoop and finger rolling it
up from directly in front of him into the basket.
He goes past the basket, reaching over and shoulder and
then finger rolls it with no backboard into the rim.
It's very odd, doesn't seem like it should go in.
But he actually was a pretty good finisher, so I
guess it's working out for him. Yeah, Williams is not
like a great defender. His three pointer has been kind
of inconsistent. It was okay last year. We'll see if
that sticks. I don't know, but he gets a lot
of steels, pushes really hard in transition, and I just think, guys,
who are you know, like rim seeking missiles deserve a
spot in the NBA on a Mavericks team that doesn't
have any other point guard besides D'Angelo Russell. I think
that he'll have an opportunity if he can keep up
his finishing from last season. So that's what I'm hoping for.
Speaker 1: They kind of tested the boundaries of his finishing when
you look at some of the spacing in those laps,
and I would argue that there's a chance it gets
worse this year. So he's really gonna like he'll have
d lo and Klay Thompson, but you're you're almost gonna
be playing two non shooters at the four and the five.
If Anthony Davis is your four, and that it's Nauji Marshall,
what is like PJ Okay, Fine, there's PJ. Washington. It's
just their offense is gonna be weird, and so someone
who does like there should be just his player type
until Kyrie Irving comes back, like they need someone to
soak up those minutes. So I'll have the opportunity. I
just it's another guy where I think last year, okay,
what was he had sixty four to sixty five percent
at the rim within that spacing that was around him.
That is fantastic. I just wonder if like this spacing
around him somehow gonna get worse this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's also not going to be necessarily a
great fit at point guard. I think he's a point
guard size, which is why he's probably gonna get slided
in there, and just because, like you said, the lack
of other bodies. But truthfully, he's probably better off as
a two. There's a little bit of overlap there with
Jayden Hardy, not necessarily in the way they play, but
positionally in size wise. That could you know, make for
a battle for some spot minutes. But yeah, I mean
you just look at this team. It's like Naji Marshall
was playing point guard for them last year and probably
will play some this year. They're gonna run Cooper Flag
at one or two according to Jason Kidd, So the
spacing will be a problem. But I'm confident that Brandon
william will at least get to the rim, and if
he can make sixty percent of his field goal attempts
from there, the more power to him.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I mean, if he's gonna shoot, he was,
He shot pretty well from three last year, right so
if he's gonna be able to hit his threes, like,
he can certainly play off of whoever they want their
primary ball handler, whether it's Cooper Flag or if it's
de Lo or somebody else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not a super aggressive three point shooter. I
think he might end up having to take more just
because of you know, how clogged it's gonna be in
the middle. So if he's able to make more than yeah,
that'll open up his offensive game even more, of course,
but that's just never gonna be his bread and butter
skill because that's not how he's wired, right, Like it's
one of them. There are some guys who's like, no
matter where you put him that he could be playing,
you know, pick up somewhere, he's just gonna get to
the rack every single time. And that's William's sample.
Speaker 1: There's I've always said, and I used Marcus Smart as
the comp for this, is that there's value in the volume.
Like the percentages do matter. But like Marcus mart had
some seasons where he could be a scorcher, but was
never a great three point shooter. But the fact that
he takes them, the fact that lou Dort takes them
like it just puts an extra layer of pressure on defenses,
even if you're not a five alarm fire from beyond
the arc. So I have it's good that I have
no feel for Brandon Williams, because I have like no
feel for what the like the Dallas. They're just all
over the place. They're they're so huge, they have like
all these veterans, but then they don't have Kyrie. But
then this rookie Cooper Flag who's supposed to be this
transcendent talent, is just in there they want to do.
That team is gonna be like a morbidly curious league pass.
Speaker 2: Washed for me fun. Yeah, and I think there's gonna
be nights where if you catch them up, like if
a couple of other guys can hit from outside, there's
gonna be nice for the Mavericks look like bona fide,
you know, playoff contenders. It's not gonna happen very often, unfortunately,
But to your point, they are so big. I do
wonder if, like Williams, is just relentless rim pressure will
give them a lot more offensive rebounding opportunities too, So
there will be some trickle down positive effects to the volume,
even if the accuracy doesn't stay as high as this.
Speaker 1: My next pick is pelleam Arson of the Miami Heat.
I am like mad, I want them to I want
them to trade people just to make sure that he
gets a ton of minutes. He sold me. I like
the outlines of his game last like going into this
season and then watching him in Summer League really have
sold me. And I know the efficiency is not always there,
but this dude just make things happen when he gets downhill,
like getting defenders on his back hip, like putting pressure
on the defense if he can get to a slower
or get to the basket. He averaged like a shake
Gilgess Alexander in like nine to three Folow attempts per
game in Summer League. The pace at which he can play.
He's not like super fast, but there is like sort
of a change of speed to his dribble. Doesn't need
to get by guys to make things happen. I don't
know the three pointer hasn't necessarily popped yet, but I
think it's trustworthy enough to play him and just have
someone who's like can be a pretty good playmaker at
his size, can just be a luxury. And I'm wondering
if playing on a team, can you get to lineups
where Norman Powell and Tyler hero on him around the
court at the same time, just to okay that spacing
is then maximized, or you're gonna need some of your
other guys to hit their threes, especially if Heywood high
Smith misses any time in the regular season following his surgery.
I also think what will help him some one of
them my takeaways from some league would be once he's
playing alongside Biggs, who can catch the ball a little
bit more concier instantly. I think that'll go a long
way for him too. I just I don't I won't
go as far as to say that I think he's
going to be this starter in the NBA, but I
think there's like a lot of upside here in Larson,
to the point that moving forward, I'm slightly I don't
want to say it this way, but like I he's
more of a mystery box to me than Jimi Hawk
is at this point, and I know that we've just
seen less of him, but there just feels like there
might be something he's elite at, whereas Heimi Hawk is
just feels like at his best he might kind of
sort of fill a bunch of these different gaps. But
maybe I'm also just poisoned by that was kind of
a down sophomore year for him.
Speaker 2: So the most famous Pella Larson play is at least
in heat Twitter Circles, of which I was a part
of back in the day, was sometime halfway through the year.
I don't even remember who they were playing, but he
poked the ball out from behind somebody in the back court,
like as the team was trying to inbound dough on
the floor, wrestled with two of the other team guys,
kind of squirted out some heel lars and picked himself
backup and threw himself on the floor again ten feet
further away, was scraping for the ball, scored it out again,
and then he like kind of like wall climbed on
the floor, snagged it with one hand, and like tossed
it to Terry Rogier and then he hit a three pointer,
and so that was it was three. I was about
to say, imagine how good of a passer you are
to have Terry rose Yer make a shot off your pass.
So yeah, sorry for the straight Terry, but not really anyway,
Larson's uh scrappy is definitely an appropriate term. He's the
effort level is insane that results naturally in a lot
of fouls, so that Miami has not necessarily discouraged. They
have a higher tolerance for that kind of thing than
a lot of teams. I think to see Duncan Robinson
for an example. But yeah, Larson is a lot of fun.
There's a lot of skill there. There's a lot of toughness,
which is something that we know Sposter loves. High Smith
is injured to start the year, Terry year is pretty useless.
I think Larson's ability to fluctuate between the two and
the three will do a good job of getting him
some minutes. I will say Supposter tried to play him
at the four a little bit last year. I can't
remember who they were watching in this one either, but
he got back down about thirty feet in about three seconds.
So he's not quite at like Kyle Lowry stoutness in
the post. But there's definitely at least some potential for
him to be some uber classic Miami uber duper super
small ball four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am. Do you do you think that he'll
get like real looks this year? Is there a chance
that they're going to be more invested in, like casperus Ys,
you know, playing more minutes, maybe off rep.
Speaker 2: I think his his chance will be in the beginning
of the season. If we don't see him in the
first ten or fifteen games, I think it's gonna be
a long season for Larsen because I do think like
Miami typically does not rush rookies in. You know, you
could you saw it with Kilolaware last year. It took
a while for him to earn his spot out there.
I think That's been true for a lot of rookies
in Miami's past, even some of the you know, more
highly regarded ones. And like I said, with high Smith injured,
I think there is a path for him to stand
out in training camp and earn some minutes there and
if he can make a good initial depression, Sposer will
definitely give him a look. Sposer gives every look at
some point. That's that's one thing you can say about him.
Other people would say he's inconsistent and e leads to
confidence issues with his players sometimes. But I think if
you're at the twelfth man on Mammy, which lessons not
but even if you were, you're going to get a
look at some point on a Smolster team, So I
think he will get a chance. I think it'll be
the first few weeks of the season, and if he
can take it, he'll establish himself.
Speaker 1: We're up. I'm up again because we're gonna lead into
your next pick as well. I have Terren Shannon Junior
from the Timberwolves, who has been deemed too good for
Summer League in consecutive summer leagues at this point, and
just as I feel like you very rarely see somebody
who can generate like the type of pressure that he
can on defenses, but is also oh, maybe this guy
can can hit his threes as well, and that's what
he feels like he could be on the offensive end.
And I think, like right now, just the defensive intensity
that he's going to bring, and he's just like such
this strong dude. I feel like he was one of
the not that this maybe would have mattered. Perhaps he
leaves anyway, but this feels like one of the biggest
reasons why the team was okay quote unquote losing Nikil
Alexander Walker. I know they're different plays, but it feels
like they just trust that he can slide in play
a bunch of minutes for them finally, and if you
know the the summer league evidence this year, is any
indication like yeah, he certainly can do that. And so
I'm curious to see, like what does this look what
does this do look like? When he's playing in this
larger ecosystem? Is he gonna continue to shoot thirty eight
percent from three? We're dealing with very very small sample
sizes there, So I think that's gonna be when you
look at Minnesota's offense, like even more so than his
finishing at the basket, Like they're probably gonna need that
that shooting element as well around Anthony Edwards, are around
Mike Conley or are they gonna try Rob dilling Hammett
as a ball handler there their offense for some not
for some reason. I think there's legitimate reasons. But that's
what I have the question marks for because we know
what they can do on defense, especially with Rudy Gobert,
and I think we kind of know what Shannon's going
to bring on that side of floor. But if he
can give you some like consistent offensive production and quick
decision making like catch it drive or catch it and shoot,
like this is someone who I think could be like
General some pre insanely inflammatory takes by the end this season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this might be the player that you picked
that I'm highest on. I love Terrence Shannon. I go
to Summer League in person, and I have to say
that Shannon in person is even more impressed, in impressive
than when he's off the screen, because his athleticism, his size,
his ability to translate like potential energy into kinetic energy
faster than anybody else in the court really pops when
you're actually there and watching him. I had him. It's
interesting that you bring up a Summer League performance because
I I'm glad he didn't steal my stat, which was
he had four assists in all of his Summer League
games last year, four games, so one per game. He
had nine assists in his first Summer League game this year.
I'd always pegged him a sort of like a best
case scenario would be three in D and D, so
like you know, three is and and defense and dunks
kind of guy. But if he can actually add some
secondary playmaking in that Nikhil Alexander Walker Vane, I think
the ceiling on him as a player is so much higher.
I was really impressed with his court vision. I was
really impressed obviously with a three point act and aggressiveness.
This year, I think he had twenty six and three
gameson Shannon is a guy who looks like he could
be a real force. I don't want to get too
crazy here, but I'm like, there is serious potential for
him to be a major player, a major starter in
the NBA. I think there's very few I should I
should back up. He played three hundred and fifty minutes
in the NBA last season, right, So I don't want
to get too crazy here.
Speaker 1: But you look at sixty eight not garbage time minutes too,
so it's like even which is wild?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So im I can hear him pretend like he's
proven anything. But if you're going purely by feel and
anecdotal evidence and you know the things that you've seen,
there aren't that many weaknesses to his game for what
he's looking to be. So that said, he hasn't done
anything that league yet. We will see what he can
do this year because I do think he will be given,
as you said, that kind of first look in the
Nikhil Alexander Walker role spark plug off the bench both ways,
he plays with a ton of force, a ton of energy.
If he can keep hitting us threes, if he can
keep showing off this playmaking ability that I'd never before,
I'm really excited to see what he can do with it.
Speaker 1: We have another kimber Wolf coming up from you, though
not and is not Jalen Wells of the Memphis Grizzly. Surprisingly,
as I had a little bit of a mix up
twice before he recorded this podcast.
Speaker 2: There's just too many Jalens in the NBA, now, I
think is the problem. But no, my guy here is
Jalen Clark. And it's so funny because I told you
before we started recording, I'm like, hey, I want you.
I wanted you to do Terarren Shannon first because I
think that's the bigger name, and I think that's the
more likely breakout candidate from just an opportunity sense. And
then I went and looked at numbers a little more closely,
and Jalen Clark actually played more minutes than Shannon did
last year. So my default it should be Shannon coming
for Clark's minutes, not necessarily the other way around. But
Clark is super fun. If you're somebody who likes defense
and just relentlessness. Like Clark was a defensive player of
the Year in college. Then he tore his achilles, I
believe on the last day of the Raylar season back
in twenty twenty three, spent nearly eighteen months recuperating from it.
Made his debut in the NBA last year in January,
and then he played every game from February at least
garbage time minutes. And he's out there to do one
thing and one thing only, and that's just like create
havoc in the back court, and he's very good at it.
He's got long arms, he's got a lot of physicality
in the way that he was able to get away
with in the NBA. You'd always see that with young
guys sometimes they try to be handsy in the back court,
rest calm from fouls, eighty feet from the hoop, and
they get benched right and Clark there was a little
bit of that with Clark, But he was able to
like steer guys a lot more aggressively than the most
players of his age. So the defensive instincts, the lateral
quickness and anjili are still there post achilles, which is
promising for a lot of different fan bases right now.
But I think the thing with Clark is that there
was very little offense at all last year. So if
you're looking for reasons why he can't break out, it's
because he basically didn't play offense. It's not even that
he was bad. He shot like forty percent from deep,
give or take, and the problem is his usage was
eleven percent, which is non existent. That's like the guy
sitting on the bench who catches an errant pass every
once in a while kind of usage. You know, I'm
worried that he just is never going to be forceful
enough on that end to be able to earn the
playing time. But I hope he does because there's a
lot of surprising amount of question marks, i'd say on
the perimeter for the Timberwolves. Will the clock finally turned
Mike Connley into a pumpkin? Maybe Rob Dillingham never pans out,
and maybe he can't hold his own defensively enough to
withstand his to this point theoretical offense. Maybe Terrence Shannon
doesn't pop the way that you and I both think
he will. There's a lot kind of of unproven fits
back there. So if Jallen Clark does start playing big minutes,
then something probably went horribly awry for the Timberwolves. But
that's the way it goes when you're the you know,
tenth e level, the guy on a roster, right Like,
tragedy ahead of you is generally what gives you your opportunity.
And that's kind of how the way it is with Clark.
That doesn't mean I don't want to see him, because
I do.
Speaker 1: Well, don't they like they need the Wolves? And I'll
say Capslock need one of Jalen Clark, Tarren Shannon Junior
or Rob Dillingham to pop this year, right, Like there's
just how do you now, Like even with how Mike
Conley was last year, I don't know, he's not If
he gets better from last year, it's not gonna be
a lot better. And so if we're sitting here, you
lose gnaw and we're saying none of these three guys
are a regular or reliable part of the rotation, I don't.
I don't want to overestimate how that would impact the Timberwolves,
but like, no, they need one of these guys to
be a real impactful rotation player next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And I that said, like I think we've
seen that Edwards and Gobert and Read and I guess
now Julius Randall are a very solid core in regular
season and playoffs like two straight conference finals. I don't
know that Clark or Shannon or Dillingham are necessarily instrumental
to them repeating that sort of thing. But if they're not,
their margint payers basically zero health wise, right like everybody
else will have to be healthy and common would have
to still be good. And I'm not convinced that's realistic,
So I think you're probably right. In a realistic world,
you've got to have at least one, and preferably two
of those guys doing something, and I think they would
prefer it to being Dillingham and Shannon. But I just
want to keep Clark out there as an idea because
when this guy, when they unleash this guy, it's a
lot of fun for a couple of minutes at that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've just the dialing camp stuff is fascinating. He's
not part of the podcast, but I don't like if
he's not playing a regular role for them next year.
I don't understand what the plan then becomes for him
to give up what you did to get him. He's
drafted eighth overall, and it's you know, I understand that
he's younger and you're trying to contend for a title,
but if you weren't going to give him a real
first year, okay, whatever, But now it feels like you
almost have to give him real runway to understand what
you have, Otherwise you get into the discussion of al
is it ever gonna happen in Minnesota? So and like,
I still kind of like the shape and like scope
of his game, but I don't know that I've come away,
like blown away by anything that he's done since he's
entered the NBA. Either.
Speaker 2: I would never understand trading up to draft a player
who will have a weakness that is always a playoff liability,
you know, like if Dillingham had fallen to them naturally,
then sure you take a fly out of it and
hope he turns into enough of an offensive force to
be viable in the playoffs. But he's just always going
to be so bad on defense. I think I can't
see a future where he's like not being relentlessly attacked
in the playoffs, and you can be good enough on
offense to make up for that is possible, but it
is hard. That is a high bar to clear, and
I'm just not convinced he can ever get there. I
never understood that pick. Like, he's fun, he does some
cool things. It's not that he's a bad NBA player,
but it was a big price to pay. It was
their last big shot I think really to add us
kind of a star ish level guy before you know,
during this like ant phase, I didn't like where they landed.
I had not seen enough around to be convinced he's
part of their like long term solution at point guard.
Speaker 1: I also don't remember the last like contender who. Yeah,
you see stuff like Christian Brown with the Nuggets where
it kind of comes in. He's playing a very sort
of niche role. But like, who is the last like
featured youngster to be on a Contender and like develop
according to well Or while within that title contention timeline,
I don't.
Speaker 2: I've reck we say the entire thunder team that counts fair.
Speaker 1: That's good there. I mean I guess even Houston too
would be a good like counter there. But you run
into the camp whitmore problem like they did. It's just
like can you carve out minutes for these guys to develop.
So he's he's going to be a polarizing player too.
We have back to back picks for you. We're on
the Bay. Who's who's gonna play basketball this year?
Speaker 2: Right, Mike, Let's hope you know Sadekba is kind of funny.
He was never like one of my guys necessarily as
a three and D who is sort of mediocre at
both those things, I'd say, but he's missed a year
with his ACL so that's probably not a good thing.
New Orleans so desperately needs a kind of three, kind
of D guy with a little bit of size. Like
you look at that New Orleans front court and it's
Zion and Queen and Looney and me Si and that's
four guys who cannot shoot a lick. And like Bay
isn't great necessarily as a power forward, but he has
experience doing it. He's a stocky, stocky six seven. He's
a good rebounder when he's not playing power forward. He's
just good enough that you can treat yourself with the
thinking he can play the four. He's just good enough
of a shooter that he'll stretch the defense a little
bit as certainly compared to any of those guys. And
let's be honest, the Pelicans are gonna be playing a
lot of Jeremiah Fears and a lot of Herb Jones,
and those guys aren't stretching the defense either. So they
just desperately need somebody with With Sadik Bay even being
just sort of okay at both those things that I
think he's going to come in and just weasel his
way into like a lot of minutes that nobody saw coming.
So this is purely this is a fairly known commodity.
Sadeek Bay. He shoots a lot of threes, he makes
some of them. He's a pretty good offensive rebounder. He's
like had moments of pretty good defense that you know,
have been increasingly fewer and further and further between. But
Pelicans need somebody so desperately. Even with Sadeek Bay's most
scene skill set that I have to think he's going
to get an opportunity and he's always produced play fantasy
numbers when you you know, have give him a chance.
So we'll see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they say it's weird, I think. So
they have Trey Murphy, they have Sadig Bay, they're just
like there still feels like there's a dearth of shooting
on this roster because we know a healthy Derek Queen
and Jeremiah Fears aren't going to provide enough of it.
I guess Jordan Poole had a bounce back here last season,
But I still don't even really understand the theory of
Let's as the one of the cheapest organizations in NBA history,
deciding let's give up this expiring contract to add forty
million dollars of money for twenty twenty six, twenty seven.
But like, Pool is just I've never been a Pool guy,
but I recognize what his offensive value was last year. Like,
I think he's probably a better like passer or pick
and roll player than people give him credit for. But
there's also just the peaks and valleys from him were
so turbulent. I was just so you're relying on just
it's another weird brew of players, and I'm probably struggling
to untether myself from what they did in the draft,
which was just completely irresponsible in my Like, even if
Derek Queen ends up being the right pick, you still
like fucked up the move because like you're not gonna
be look at the West, what is the pathway to
them being with a deep Bay averaging twenty five points
a game, I'm purely three point shooting. It's like, that's
not it gonna get you a top six spot in
the West. So and I hope they play. You mentioned spacing.
I said I was gonna shoehorn his name in here,
like on court Carlo Makovic at some point, like you
want someone in the front court alongside Zion or Derrek
Queen or even even me Si to just space the
floor like he could do that more alongside Zion, I
would argue would be ideal. And I think he's got
like he's got more pop to him. I'm not gonna
say he's going to be a good defender, but I
want to see Zion with as much floor spacing around
him as possible. And if you're also trying to blend
the well, we also want a big man who does
big man stuff that's not Trey Murphy, that's not Sadik Bay.
Like it feels like Makovich would be the best bet there.
So this team has a ton of questions, but I
do agree with your overall sart of Sadeek Bay that
they need him to play a ton of minutes, especially
because they're trying to be good apparently, I assume.
Speaker 2: They better hope they're at least okay Bay is. One
thing I'll say about Bay is that he actually does
have a decent amount of positional flexibility. You know, I've
been kind of like sounds like I'm damning with faint
praise kind of because I am. But Bee is capable
of playing anywhere from the two to the four. And
the Pelicans, actually, if you look at the roster, are
very positionally inflexible. There's just not a lot of guys
who can slide up or down more than one position.
And I think Bey is somebody who can has proven
that he can go anywhere from the two to the
four and he'll just find his way into land. So
there's need somebody who can be go rebound, which they
are terrible at, go defend a little bit, which like
they're terrible at. But he's not gonna be worse than
Jordan Hawkins, you know. So I yeah, we'll see where
he just slides at. But I low key I'm like
kind of interested to see how Sabek Bay does on
the Pelicans.
Speaker 1: My next pick is going to be a Champenny listeners
that this podcast will not be surprised that is justin Champenny, though,
of the Wizards, not that either of them are what
you would call a known quantity at this point, but
I don't think even I sometimes forget or don't fully appreciate,
like the breadth of the defensive work that they've had
him do in Washington, like blave kolabally is going to
defend a lot of the toughest assignments, but the kind
of after him when you're looking on the perimeter, at
least to this point, like Champagne has done a lot
of the heavy lifting there. And he also is just
for his size and like his his position, like he
does some stuff around the basket. He was in like
the eighty fifth percentile of rimpoints saved per one hundred
possessions last year. And this is all just a guy
who doesn't eat up offensive usage, like on the ball
offensive use. He's just gonna come in, He's gonna take
and hit his threes. Who's at forty two percent of
his spot up threes last year. I just have an
appreciation for those guys who come in and play those
types of roles on offense and then are still just
really going to ferry a lot of or a very
heavy defensive workload and it's not always gonna work out.
The Wizards surprisingly were not a good defensive team last year.
Who could have seen that coming? But just someone who's
sponging up those reps in the regular season. I think
he's someone who helps you streamline the development of all
your younger players. But if and when you're trying to
be good, like the Wizards probably will be after this
coming season, when you look at the way they've structured
their books, that's also someone who could be a part
of it. And while this doesn't factor in, he's gonna
average one point five percent of the salary cap through
like the next three years.
Speaker 2: That's insane good value, pretty good value. Yeah, you know
what I like about Justin CHIMPENNI is like he plays
like a guy who knows that how to keep a
job in the NBA. Like he's never gonna be a
superstar in a so but he'll have random night where
he can go off. And I'll always be fond Champenny
because I wrote a nice blurb about him in like
late December after he'd strung together a couple of games,
and like a few days later he'd scored thirty one
against the Knicks, and I was like, ah, I love
when guys make me look smart. It happens so infrequently,
so when they do, I always keep it in the
back of the head. He's like, yeah, shampegny, that's a
good guy for me. But he's he knows how to
work without the ball. He's a good off ball cutter.
He's a really good runner in transition, just like running
to the hoop or but it's not there running to
the quarters. He doesn't deally dally, he doesn't get in
the way of whoever has the ball. There's a bit
of a I don't want to say this in a
bad way. Mechanical sounds bad. That's not what I mean.
What I mean is like he just goes to the
right places every time without thinking, and that's really important
for role players. But he scored twenty plus five times,
including that Knicks game. There is a little bit of
upside to him. If you just need somebody to eat
a couple of shots for a quarter or two, like
I think he can provide a little more offensive versatility.
Then he typically allows him stuff or maybe is typically
allowed by his role on the team. And yeah, I
love Julian sa. I was really pumped to see his
brother who so the record, Justin is a lot more
emotional than his brother too, Like I think if Julian
is a pretty calm and collected dude, in Justin's like fiery,
like yelling and pupping his mists and stuff like that.
So I always have a weird fascination with the Wizards.
Every year they reinvent themselves into something even stranger than
the year before. Somehow, so I end up watching more
of them than professionally I probably should. There are other
teams that, frankly deserve more attention, But I like the Wizards.
I like Justin Champagne. I was pumps so you put
them on here.
Speaker 1: My question with him was, I don't know, I'm curious
what his role is going to look like when the
Wizards just have a lot of these like perimeter dudes,
all of whom either as projects or veterans. When you're
looking at a Chris Middleton or CJ. McCollum just deserve minutes.
And so it's like Middleton and went Moore and Keishaw,
George Corey Kiss, Purple Out, Kolabali aj Johnson is there.
There's just I mean, Will Riley too is someone else
who I like. I don't know how married they are
to all of the We know that McCollum and Middleton
won't be there much longer most likely, but if they're
on the roster, you're presumably going to play them, So
I'm curious to see how his minutes and role get impacted.
But he's also the kind of guy and you kind
of alluded to this that if you need him to
scale up, which I don't think they do, yeah, okay,
maybe theoretically could, but if you need him to scale down,
like his game is still gonna fit within the context
of your team.
Speaker 2: Yeah. If I'm some other team, I'm looking hard if
I can just get him for like a second round
or you know, something real cheap, because I think to
your point, the Wizards probably have too many other names
with overlap on him that theoretically have more upside. And
I even sure that's true, right, Like a lot of
the Wizards guy I like, but we don't know what
they're gonna look like. Champetny is a guy who I
think is better served on a team trying to win
than on a team that's trying to build from the
ground up like the Wizards, because I just think he
has that veterans game already in him. He's ready to
go in there and do his part and be a
ninth man who can He can be your sixth man
on some nights, you know. And I would like to
see him sort of in a higher leverage situation than
what he's going to be in Washington.
Speaker 1: So I have a I've had a hypothetical trade I've
been sitting on for a while, but I.
Speaker 2: Have evolving justin Champenny.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I haven't proposed I haven't proposed it because
I think that people most people will hate it, and
I think I think both fan bases will hate it.
But are you familiar with the protections on the Wizard's
pick to New York.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to lay them out for me again.
Speaker 1: So there, it's only for so right this season it's
down to top eight protection and if it's not conveyed,
this is the final year it turns into a twenty
six second and a twenty twenty seven second. Right, if
you're the Knicks and the Wizards and The trade is
the Knicks just offer you that pickback, so it's either
you get your two seconds, which, because they have control
top eight protection, they could keep it if they want.
So the Knicks say, here, you could have this pickback unencumbered,
just in case you're better than you expect, and we
get justin Champenne. There has to be there't need to
be money going out, but the Wizards are ultra flexible.
It can work. Is that insane?
Speaker 2: It's very creative. I'm very pressed by it. It makes
sense to me. I mean, I think Champenne would be
a huge pickup for the Knicks, who just really are
still trying to bolster their depth. They helped a little
bit this, you know, this offseason, but there's gonna be
a lot of nights where you'd rather have Champagne out
there playing minutes than you know, Jordan Clarkson or whoever.
And two seconds I think for Champenne is more than
the Wizards would reasonably ask for from you know, in general,
just because I don't think his name carries that kind
of weight.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's why I think Knicks fans are gonna
call me like an asshole or something.
Speaker 2: Well back around as Knicks fans are known to do
and apologize to you in a few weeks afterwards when
they realize.
Speaker 1: Most of my takes don't warrant an apology after that
for ready.
Speaker 2: Go, No, that's good, that's and you know, I will
say that the Knicks have a very clever and creative
front office that does seem like the kind of thing
that they would try to do.
Speaker 1: They can also use someone who's that cheap when you
just look at how their books are going to be
moving forward with it.
Speaker 2: And the positional flexibility, like I feel like the Knicks
are always looking for guys who can kind of run
the big wings to small wings, like you know, I
think I think Champennie is able to move around the
lineup a lot. And now I'm being on flexibility is
you've probably picked up on. Like I think it's important
for players, role players specifically to be able to plug
and play in different spots, because if you can only
play one position or one and a half positions, you're
not going to have you're not like to have these
big opportunities. It's it's it's just your team and your
benefit if you can scale up and down the positional spectrum.
Speaker 1: Some it feels like everyone's least favorite players now are
just the pure twos or the pure fours, which would
support your point there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that goes back to my Jacoby Walter issue
I think a little bit too right, Like, I think
he is basically just going to be a peer two
for his whole career, which is not something I typically.
Speaker 1: You don't think he might have more defense than like
it is typically associated with pure twos to.
Speaker 2: Be guys like one hundred percent, that's what it's not like,
who's a good example. I don't want to pick on
Cam Thomas right now, but I think that's certainly how
people think of Cam Thomas right is, like he's the
score first, score second. That's all I do kind of too,
and that is not Jacoby Walter. I think Walter's got
a lot more defense than that. But but he is
not a guy who's gonna be playing a lot of
point guard or a lot of small forward and power
forward either.
Speaker 1: So your next pick fascinates me because it implies to
me at least that you don't think Jalen Green should
be considered the point guard over Devid Booker. In Phoenix.
You have Colin Gillespie. How do you feeling about him?
Speaker 2: So let me start by saying that for my last pick,
I almost went with Gi Santos on the Warriors, not
necessarily because of any one thing he has or hasn't done,
but because they have about four players under contract, and
like anyone who's on the Warriors right now is in
line for four hundred minutes a night. But I ended
up with Caln Gillespie and a guy that I think
really came on at the very end of last season.
And March basketball is such a fascinating time because you
have to throw out the team results entirely. The question
is what of the crazy player outlier performances that you're
seeing have some meat to them and what are just
pure fantasy, right, And that's always the difficult part for everybody,
like from coaches to media, people like ourselves. So I
Gillespie came out, He did his damage at the end
of the season when he finally got a little bit
of burn after one years, a kind of lightly used nugget,
and I just really liked what I saw from him.
There's a lot of Tias Jones, former teammate tst Jones
in his game, mixed with like maybe a little bit
of TJ. McConnell's nastiness. But Gillespie came in. He was
a great game manager, very high four point six turnover
to us sister turnover ratio, sorry, which is right in
between Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry for context, unbelievable shooter
from outside both off the dribble and off the catch.
We're still talking very small samples even across two seasons,
but the States back to his college days, like the
dudes always drilled it from beyond the arc when he
gets the ball, when he gets a shot up, and
just like you said, without any true point guard on
the roster, I think like the backup point guard spot
should be his basically by default. I think Devin Booker
will probably be the point guard you know traditionally, which
I actually pretty high on. I think Devin Booker is
very underrated for his point guard.
Speaker 1: Yes, but I lot that take thank you.
Speaker 2: Wait back right after Chris Paul left and Booker played
point guard for the first time, I wrote a whole
article about that was comparing all the tricks he had
picked up from Chris Paul during their overlapping tenure. That
that was really fun and really interesting to see Booker
evolve in that way. But I don't think Booker even
likes playing point guard full time.
Speaker 1: You know, It's like I would agree, But isn't it
like kind of when I saw I was just making
fun of the Jaalen Green thing because it just feels
like semantics to say that Jalen Green is the point
guard because there are positions like I don't know how
how much value I ascribed to the actual designations of
them anymore, but like you're gonna try and tell me
that you want Jao and Green running the majority of
your offense over Devin Booker. I just you can't. Like
it feels like starting hit point. Yeah, fair enough. That's
why the extension for Devin Booker felt like hush money anyway,
please carry on? Sorry to throw up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I the Glesbie, Like I said, he only
played kind of like scamp minutes across fifteen games, So
we're talking like sample size is so small as to
be random noise basically, But for narrative pushing purposes, I
am obliged to mention that he was ninety nine percentile
on synergy as a point per possession in the pick
and roll as a ball handler. So that's if nothing else,
in his tiny, tiny opportunities, he made the most of them, right.
But he's got a pretty quick trigger from outside, which
you have to be when you're six to one in socks.
The defense is not good, but it is not complete
doormat either. He will do those like pesky little guard
things where he'll be poking out balls from behind. He'll
kind of be leading with his chest and try to
pull the chair. He'll be doing all the things that
at least make the offense have to think and work
for a half second before the health defense behind him,
which theoretically might exist in Phoenix next year, we'll see
can coalesce than something to help him out. So I
think a ceiling was shown when he had a twenty
two point ten assist game with both Devin Booker and
Kevin Grant on the court, and it kind of showed
like what the absolute best you can do, and that's
not nothing like I think that a guy who can
do that when he's on a court with future Hall
of famers, you know, it's showing the ability to take
advantage of an opportunity and not to be scared of
the moment, and I'm excited to see what he could
do given some real runway next year, hopefully leading the
backup unit and maybe even playing a little bit with
Booker and Green if one or the other is sitting.
So we'll see.
Speaker 1: If you're the Suns, what do you are targeting more
in quote unquote point guard based on the makeup of
your roster, where it's something like Colin de Leusbie's skill set,
or would you rather have he's six' five but he
can defend like the other team's point Guard Jordan. Goodwin,
like what is do you think is more value to
them when you're considering their like primary lineup.
Speaker 2: Context, well ideally you'd get. Both it'd be A lonzo
ball situation right, right, like but that's obviously hard to.
Find AND i think this team is just not going
to be a good enough defensive. FORCE i think probably
to make any noise no matter who's at the point
of attack for, Them so they really have to lean
more into the offense if they want to be able
to realize whatever aspirations of success they, have Which i'm
not high on The suns, whatsoever BUT i think their
path to being relevant in The west comes through them
just being a top five, offense which is hard for
me to. See but having a point guard who can
take the pressure Off booker And green knock down every
three pointer given to, them and also you, know run the,
offense streamline things is probably more important to them right.
Now BUT i mean they need a lot of. Things
let's be On shoenix needs a lot of. Things so.
Speaker 1: He also he did. WELL i don't know if you
remember The game Of apology if you already mentioned he
saved their season at one, point remember that was the.
NARRATIVE i can't remember who they were playing. On i'm
SURE i posted about it in the moment where it's,
like oh, congreless we just say everyone after it was
like maybe The sons have really turned a Like Congo
lespie came it and pumped in like whatever was like
fifteen or seventeen points or. Something so kind of have
that in him, too and it feels like he's probably
gonna play LIKE i don't when you're looking at aside
From green And booker in terms of guards who can
handle the, BALL i, mean Unless Jared butler shows something in,
CAMP i don't, know like who else is gonna be
or like you're not Putting Dylan brooks Or Grayson allen
in that type of.
Speaker 2: Role, Yeah AND i do think that he has the
kind of like feistiness that coaches like that, bring you,
know the, energy the energy LIKE i mentioned McConnell, Before
AND i think this is where the comparison, is like
he unless he doesn't have Like Tyas's, jones like mid
range craft his for some, reason it's no floater. Game
he prefers take these like eight foot pull ups instead
of just like a one handed, floater and he cannot
get to the rim at. All that's not gonna be
as necessary on a team that, has you, know the
two stars at guard. Already BUT i completely lost the
threat of what your question. Was i'm SORRY i got. Distracted,
oh just.
Speaker 1: That he's it feels like he's in when you're just
kind of looking at After green And, booker like who
else are you gonna trust to generate any type of
offense for themselves or, brothers like he's their best ball.
Handle so unless you think That Jared butler is gonna
pop in camp or that you want to See Dylan
brooks are grace now and in that. Role AND i
think we all. Know the answer that question is, no
it don't feel like he's in line unless they change
something about their backcourt personnel in line for a pretty
big role this, year which is WHAT i think makes
it's a really good. PICK.
Speaker 2: Yep that's why this is when we, say you, know
this is titled breakouts or hidden gym, breakouts, right and,
like these are guys who are gonna need a lot
to go right for them to fulfill. That but we're
not tying breakouts like these guys are becoming all. Stars
we're not even tying breakouts in some, cases like these
guys are going to become starters like breakouts for most
of the league is going from FRINGE nba player to
SOLID nba. Player that's what most of the players are
trying to. Do that is a breakout for, them and
it should be for us.
Speaker 1: Too my final pick in our final player actually kind
of like. Bookend we're bookending this nicely to where it
might be too high profile at this point with the
way that he also played In Summer. LEAGUE i will
never FORGET i had to do a redraft of the
twenty twenty four draft a month after the season. STARTED
i believe maybe it was two MONTHS i had Aj
mitchell going in the lottery and people were just so.
Mad this dude can just, Play And i'm convinced like
he might be the player who single handedly helps keep
their big three together longer than people. Anticipate because he's
on a cheap deal, now the role he's gonna have
is gonna continue to repress his price, tag kind of
like A Kenrich williams. Situation he defends with just an
intensity that is incredible for someone at six to. THREE
i like the way he navigates the, floor whether he's
trying to fight screens or if he's defending away from the.
Ball can provide some help when you're looking at him on.
OFFENSE i think he showed a lot more self creation
and playmaking And Summer league that's SOMETHING i don't know
how much Okay se is gonna tap into when you
look at like the scope of their team right. Now
but he also just like he moves really well without the.
Ball he can probably hit just enough of his threes
can be a little mid range heavy for, me but
the fact that he's comfortable getting to those. Spots this
is just like the fact that the thunder have him
And Cason wallace And Jaylen williams And shade like this
is just Like Blue dor like their depth of just
guys who are too small to be considered. Wings, basically
it's just even THOUGH i Know Jay dubb's wing, whatever
it's it's just insane to. Me like it's just absolutely,
insane AND I i would bet on any OTHER nba,
Team like he's probably just in the top seven of
the rotation right. Now maybe. NOT i don't want to
get Matt eshbi and say twenty nine other teams would start,
him BUT i think maybe in half the, league like
he'd be worth like one of your top seven or
eight rotation spots pretty.
Speaker 2: Clearly, yeah he's another guy WHO i think came in
really early and just knew how to thrive in his
SUPPORTING nba, role which is pretty rare for. Rookies But
mitchell comes in and like you said my notes On
mitchell early in the, year like this guy's pretty good at. Everything,
no no more, notes that's. It that was. It like
whatever you want to say AN nba player at his
size and positions should be able to, do he can
do pretty. Well that's.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry go, AHEAD i thought you PAUSED i thought
you were just just, done and when, no please go.
Speaker 2: ON i really don't have too much more in. That
it's Like mitchell's. Cheap he's. Good he's good at almost.
Everything he will be able to fill in for whatever
gaps the thunderneed from their back, court which might not
be anything next. YEAR i almost wonder if to your,
Point mitchell isn't a better candidate for this next year
or in two. SEASONS i, suppose because next year there's
still going to be so many, incumbent bigger names on
the roster than. Him but that, said like he still
was able to scrounge out a couple of minutes even
in the, playoffs even after coming back from a long injury.
Absence we know Coach dagnold's going to play pretty much
his whole roster a few minutes to, night, right like
he is a pretty generous minutes distributor towards the end
of the. Bench SO i Like mitchell a lot as a.
PLAYER i don't know exactly what his long term role
is right. Now he's almost so amorphous it's hard for
me to see, where like what his final shape will look,
like if that makes. Sense BUT i think he can
be a lot of Different he can wear a lot
of different hats and that's.
Speaker 1: HELPFUL i also don't. KNOW i know he's a bigger,
player but like, Now nicole A topitch is presumably going
to be in the, fold and so did Aj. Mitchell
did we already see or at least looking through the
lens of next, season do you already see Aj mitchell's
role kind of tap out when the thunder we're dealing
with injuries at the beginning of last. YEAR i, mean
even playing as many minutes as he did on a
title favorite as a rookie that was on a two way,
contract that was more than just oh injury disaster kind
of struck. Them So i'm curious to see how that,
impacts like when they get when it gets down to
like a normal rotation in the regular season and guys
aren't injured or don't have a night. Off i'm curiously
where he factors, in because they do have more equity
and theory invested In Nicola topics than they would Aj.
Mitchell BUT i think Aj mitchell is going to be
way better at filling the defensive, gaps and it is
probably just the he's the better off ball offensive. PLAYER
i think it was a thirty seven percent on his
above the break cripples last. Year and even like his mid,
rangers they do tend to come in within the flow
of the offense.
Speaker 2: Too, YEAH i, mean do you Think presty's somebody who
and Dang ark somebody who really cares about like your
pedigree up to this point, though you, know LIKE i
hear all the things just SAYING i, agree BUT i
almost feel like they are very much a what can
you do for me right now? Now because we're trying
to win championship right now, Organization, LIKE i don't think
that too much we'll get a special treatment. NECESSARILY i
think that If mitchell comes out and he's playing the,
best he's the guy who's gonna get the most.
Speaker 1: Minutes that's probably. Fair, uh there's just so many guys
on that.
Speaker 2: Game they're so it's crazy to. THINK i will tell
you that my, deepest darkest fear as AN nba writer
is we're about to enter this golden era of thunder.
Basketball not BECAUSE i have any dislike towards thunder, basketball
BUT i remember the narratives when it was Like warriors
and And cavaliers and the files every single. Year AND
i wasn't necessarily writing about basketball back, then not like,
this but it was just like that sense of inevitability
doesn't matter as much to people who are watching basketball
just for the love of the, game but it matters
so much for the discourse around the season and what
like the average fan who turns in to watch a,
game you, know THE tnt game once a, week is
Watching AND i just think, that, like if we're gonna
enter a period where The thunder win three of the
next four, championships it's gonna be tough for THOSE i
think it's gonna be tough to come up with like
interesting storylines throughout the year. Basically so that's my kind
of like What i'm most worried. About And i'm worried
that mitchull will be a contributor to my downfall as
AN nba.
Speaker 1: WRITER i, MEAN i guess that's a good, Point but
it seems like we're still set up to have like
some real mystery going on in The Eastern conference for
years to, come just because The knicks aren't really, young
The cows aren't super, young and they're getting, expensive so
and who knows how The celtics rebuild. Themselves you could
become an Exclusively eastern CONFERENCE nba. Writer isn't that? Exciting
that's what we all dream?
Speaker 2: About More Chicago bulls. Content?
Speaker 1: Please oh, god, no please, No, mike this was really.
GREAT i appreciate the. Stuff your content is. Amazing this
was amazing to finally get to talk to. You are
you able just to tell our listeners where they could
find you at all the fantastic work that you.
Speaker 2: Do, Yeah So i'm kind of all over the. Place
you can find some of my stuff at Hoopsipe Center,
hub a few other. PLACES i. Think the main, one,
THOUGH i want you to focus, on, please is basketball,
Poetry so check that. OUT i write two to three
times a week. There i'm also at Bee ball's poetry
On twitter basketball, poetry it turns out is one character
too long for A x, Handle so At beeba is,
poetry and At nascal poetry blues. Guys so, Yep i'll
just keep saying those words until it subliminally entices people
to go online and google me and go from.
Speaker 1: There, well the links are in the YouTube and podcast
you bet as, well so you can find him that.
Way and the work he puts out is incredibly in.
Depth so once again this was. Great thank you for
giving me so much of your time doing just eighty
minutes on this exercise was a blast to get to
chop it up with you and rest a. SHORT i
will be pestering you again down the, line so until next.
Time it as, always we moved to shout out to the,
one the, only the, indelible the real hitting gem where
we couldn't pick him because he hasn't signed His MAX
nba contract just, yet Mister Frank HeLa kina