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Speaker 1: What is up, fellow Sikos. I am Dana Valley coming

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

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co host, mister Grant Hughes. We are here to do

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the other half of the live podcast that got canceled

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last week. But we're gonna ask questions for every single

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Western Conference team as many as we could get to

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for all the teams entering trade season. We are now

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in it. We're past December fifteenth. We are here. We're

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in trade season. We've got questions, probably very few answers

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as per usual before we get started, and we will

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be going in order of reverse record order. Is that

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what it's called, Grant? Is it for best ending worst

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record to send ending record record. So we get to

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start with a team that is very tough to come

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up with questions for. But I do have one incredibly

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unassailably important question, Grant, how are you doing?

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Speaker 2: I'm happy to be establishing our brand as inquisitive because

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we do ask a lot of This is not a

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just asking questions. I don't know segment, I guess or episode,

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except the sort of is. And I like to ask

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questions better than I like to answer them. So this

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is gonna work out perfectly, and we will try to

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provide answers. I guess, but I guess the team we're

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going to start with is probably the hardest one to

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achieve that with because they sort of have all the answers.

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And it's very hard to formulate questions for the Oklahoma

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City Thunder, which is because we're going in order of

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descending record, that's obviously who we start with. I'll take

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the reins here and choose. I'm not gonna flip a

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coin this time. As fun as that.

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Speaker 1: Was, well, we wait, we do have confirmation. Some got

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ass on Twitter It is Eisenhower and the Liberty bell

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on the silver dollar, so you know your stuff and

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for anyone understand that reference, go check out our trade value.

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Speaker 2: All right, where do I want to turn here? We've

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got a couple options, you know what, Let's let's think big.

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Let's work big to small, just like we're working best

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record to worst record. Here, what is the Thunder's biggest weakness?

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Last year, this was easier to answer. What happens to

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the offense when shake guilds Alexander's not on floor? Is

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Jalen Williams good enough as a creator. We got kind

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of like, I guess it was like series by series

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in the twenty twenty four postseason, we or nope, what

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year is a grant? Twenty twenty five postseason, we kind

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of got some answers and then some more questions. They

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won the title, so obviously it's not the biggest concern

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in the world. But is that the issue now still

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or is there something like do you want to go

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outside the box and be like, how do they kick

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enough picks down the road to keep the dynasty running

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through twenty thirty eight? Like are we in that territory?

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Speaker 1: I don't have like a good weakness for them. You

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could look at their statistical profile and say, like, they've

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not been a great offensive rebounding team this year? What

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are they twenty ninth in offensive rebounding raiders?

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Speaker 2: Which, sorry, don't you think that's one of those things

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where it's like because if they want it to be,

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they could right like it. I don't feel like it's

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some structural flaw, you know, No, And it's also just.

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Speaker 1: Even if they're playing dual big, how how big are

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the other players on the court generally with them? I

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don't I think you could look at it and say,

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do you need someone that you trust to who's more

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of a high volume three point sniper that you trust

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to play more minutes than Isaiah Joe. But I don't

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know why you would ever go out and try to

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address that at this point. It's and everything with Okase

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is a straw man argument. By the way, I've seen

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a lot of like, oh, people want them to trade

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for Giannis and they shouldn't know. I have seen absolutely

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nobody who matters say that. I've seen nobody who doesn't

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matter say that they should trade for rh honest or

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make some big trade. This team is No team is perfect.

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I think their biggest your biggest criticism might be, you know,

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they are kind of still offensively one Shay Gildest, Alexander

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injury away from disaster, Okay, no ship. How many teams

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can we say that about with their their best player.

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So I if I had to gravitate towards something, it

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might be, you know, it would be pretty cool to

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have just a three point like bombs away guy who

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was better than Isaiah Joe, or they could play more

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than Isaiah Joe. But would they even play that type

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of like that has to be the bar for that

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is who?

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Speaker 2: Right? Right? Yeah, like if you had a struggle to

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come up with I don't know, like just like last

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year's Malik Beasley. Yeah, I mean great, like you're gonna

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make a trillion three, but like would he like is

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he on balance better than Caston Wallace or like yeah, you.

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Speaker 1: Might Joe set better screens anyway, right, or are.

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Speaker 2: You playing them over Wiggins who actually can create stuff

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sometimes just to just to put a point on it, uh,

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small samples obviously, because because Jada started the year behind

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with the with the wrist injury, two hundred possessions so

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far this season with Shay off and Jada on, the

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Thunder are winning those by almost ten points per hundred.

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Not because of the offense. The offense is like one

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hundred and fourteen and a half points one hundred possessions.

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That's below the league average, but they're winning those minutes

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by ten per hundred, So like if that's your biggest problem,

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and like, frankly, it still might be like that's just

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those that's just the I don't know, one of a

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thousand clear signs that the Thunder actually don't have problems.

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Speaker 1: You know, maybe it's they don't do any of them

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have more than ten fingers, because they're just gonna run

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out of room to put their championship ring.

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Speaker 2: The great, perfect Great.

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Speaker 1: I could go to this one. Should they be looking

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to trade for first in two thousand and thirty and beyond?

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And you alluded to this a little bit when it's

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saying get more picks to keep the window open, I'm

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just saying they have no extra picks grant starting in

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two thousand and thirty unless some of those Denver obligations

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trickle into there. And so if you're Oklahoma City, is

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that something that's back of mind to where it's, Hey,

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if we could trade, we've got extra twenty twenty six

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first if we could just scoop up some later first

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rounders in the coming years, we should go ahead and

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do that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we have talked about, I guess as

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part of like the made up Zubot's trade ideas where

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you're giving back more immediate picks for picks that are

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further down the road, when theoretically, like I guess, I

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don't know, the idea would just be to just keep

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optionality at a max for longer, because I don't know,

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maybe there's another guy coming down the pipeline that you're

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gonna have to pay a ton and you want flexibit,

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but like they're already paying Williams and Chet and Shay

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a bunch. So I don't know, Like if I guess

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maybe on the theory that if you like, let's use

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the guys they have now, like Topitch and like Sorber,

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you know, just guys they've drafted in the first round recently.

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Are they gonna play? So maybe the idea is, like

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do you want more guys that just won't have a

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chance to develop on the team now or can you

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kick that can down the road? Like it's a luxury

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obviously that they're even have that option, But that'd be

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the only reason to do that, right is just because

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like you just want to see if you can I

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don't know, not minimize certain guys that would otherwise get

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to play and then just have more freedom and optionality

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and flexibility like you know what seven years or six

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years from now as opposed to the next two or three.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't that's it. There's no, I guess there's no.

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But that's a real concern, right is you want to

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be able because if you get let's just say, with

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the Clippers pick, you get a top five prospect, how

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do you find minutes for him next year? If Topi

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is healthy, it's okay, not yeah Brooks, Thomas Sorber, but

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it's not like a need. And the only other one

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that I think we could have is do you just

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look to move usman Jang. He's it's not about oh

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he's coming up on r FA, we need to capitalize

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on his value. But what are we do or do

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you just keep him and maybe he gets a second

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championship brain that he can a lot for the rest

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of his life.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, just on the theory that he's probably

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not going to play a role like going forward, because again,

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they've got these other guys that are theoretically gonna get

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healthy that they've drafted after him that will They're not

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the same position, really, although Sober, I guess maybe the

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way that Jang has been used might be kind of similar. Yeah,

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I don't know. He's not helpful now and you're not

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going to pay him, so maybe you see if there's

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anything out there for him. But it's not like he's

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done enough to this point to there's not like a

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robust market for him. I wouldn't think although second draft

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teams like, let's just throw Brooklyn out there as the

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constant example. I don't know, why wouldn't you just see

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if this guy has something, if you actually gave him

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sustained minutes, which he just has never really had.

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Speaker 1: So our next team in second place, I believe you

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could correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be

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the Denver Nuggets. Do you want to pick their first

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question that we go to.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we just have to start with the defense,

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and it's pretty top line question. Is it's a championship

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caliber defense? There below the league averaged eighteenth and twenty

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ninth in forcing opponent turnovers, which when you watch him,

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that feels about right. But it is odd in some

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sense because it's not like Jokic Like a lot of

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times defenses that don't force turnovers just play like imagine

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like the brook Lopez Bucks schemes where he's just in

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a drop all the time, and it's just you're coaxing

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the types of shots you want, you know, the low

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expected value shots, but you're not speeding anybody up. You're

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not putting two on the ball that often. The Nuggets

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do kind of use Jokic differently in that he comes

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up to the level a lot. They do trap a

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fair amount, because just having Yokic in a drop is

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not the same as having Brook Lopez in a drop.

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That's not a good way to play defense. And yet

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they still don't force a lot of mistakes. So is

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that a good enough defense to win a title? Maybe

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they were, they were close to that level. They were

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seventeenth when they won it a few years ago. Uh

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and and you don't have your you know, I guess,

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are Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown the two most disruptive defenders.

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Speaker 1: In the rotation? Shots? And I mean Spencer Jones why

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erroneously called a rookie on Blue Sky the other day, I.

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Speaker 2: Say it all that's the two big guy that. I mean.

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Speaker 1: He played twenty games last year and I actually remember him.

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I skeedd about him having a possession on them. It

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was just a beat and I was looking at his

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basketball reference page. Yeah it was a mistakes.

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Speaker 2: Well, what do you think about this defense?

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Speaker 1: Where we do we care?

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Speaker 2: Is it? Is it a big enough deal to raise

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the flag?

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Speaker 1: I don't fucking care about anything. No, I don't care. No,

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I don't know. So I'm asking you Christian Brown and

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Aaron Gordon have now and Aaron Gordon specifically has now

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missed a bunch of times where if you even go

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through their most used lineups right now, Aaron Gordon is

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in so few of them, and so you can look

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at it and say, I think six of their seven

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most used lineups have a defensive rating of one hundred

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and twenty or higher. That's not great. Their most used lineup,

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which does include Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown, and it's

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the starting lineup, is in the seventy third percent isle

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of defensive efficiency right around there. That should be, in theory,

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good enough if you're going to be able to play

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the way that you do on offense where O Nicole

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Jokic is in the game, we'll just pencil them in

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for a cool one twenty seven, one thirty offensive rating.

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I don't is this a championship defense? Is such a

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loaded question. I would say no, but I think they

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clearly have more than enough overall, because you're looking at

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how good the offense can be and just some of

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the defensive talent where Spencer Jones is a guy and

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Peyton Watson's gonna play this way, and you get Brown

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and Aaron Gordon healthy. I think it's a I think

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for what their offense can do, the defense of personnel

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they have is enough.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think I think that's right, And I

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think it's it's gonna be the type of thing where

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a lot of this is gonna be on David Adelman,

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because the way that Denver's defense will be successful in

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playoff series is by being schematically like adaptable, and we're

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gonna need for Denver to win a championship. I think

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we're gonna need to at several points in its postseason

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run look at the defense and say, like Adaman, really

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like good scheme against this team, Like they're gonna have

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to be pretty adaptable. It's not like it's not like

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the Thunder. It's not like you know name, nobody's like

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the Thunder. But it's not like a team where they

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just play their brand of defense and the offense can't

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do anything. It's gonna have to be like series to series,

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game to game adjustments like that kind of thing. And like,

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say what you want about Jokic on defense, Like I

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think I think he's shown that, Like if you've got

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a scheme that makes sense he's gonna be able to

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be a helpful piece in it, but he's never gonna

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be the guy that's just like, oh, they can't score

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around the room. It's not it. They'll never be that

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kind of defense with him.

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Speaker 1: My other big question for them would be what is

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their biggest need to you and should they can they

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address it?

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Speaker 2: Uh? What is their biggest need? I? Well, I think

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it's probably another a guy who plays browns because it

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will just say a wing that is not going to

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get the Christian Brown treatment on offense, which is to say, like,

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if you you will lose this playoff series. If Christian

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Brown can shoot ten threes and make six every night.

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I think they need somebody that, not that it may

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not be a better player than Round on balance, but

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someone that doesn't give a defense somewhere to say, please

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beat us with this player right like that, because that

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feels like what we've seen in the past, and that's

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what we may see going forward. Even though Brown has

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come a long way as a shooter, it's still like

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that's just what defenses will do, don't you think?

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Speaker 1: No, I agree with you. I could see certain matchups

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to where they might appreciate having Tim Hardaway junior who

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just has that short term memory is gonna get threes up?

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Does he end up being better for them in some

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of their core lineups, saying Christian Brown, I do wonder though,

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to me, I wonder if it's just kind of more

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of a ball handler I don't like, rather than having

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to rely on a Bruce Brown like some sprinkling in

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some jail and picket there. We've seen Peyton Watson do

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more with the ball. They have a lot of guys

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that can you could pepper in things, but I'm wondering

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if and is there a way to check kind of

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multiple boxes at once. My favorite trade target for them,

288
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I think is Io Desunmu, if they can figure out

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a way to get him from Chicago where some ball handling,

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some positional maligeability on defense, I do think that posing

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defenses might treat him without the ball a lot of

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times like they would Christian Brown. I'm not sure that

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that is. I think Christian Brown is probably a better

294
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feit for this roster because of his off ball movement

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of what he can do getting inside the ark that

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when he's more physical, But just as a looking at

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the backup ranks behind their starting lineup. I just don't

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know who's your favorite ball handling on Maybe I would

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Assumer doesn't even provide enough of that. Maybe it's I mean,

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it Mayevrado makes more sense.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, right you're you're asking like behind this

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because I was gonna say, well, Aaron Gordon, he can

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bring the ball up and do stuff against certain matchups,

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but that's not answering the question of who outside of

305
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the main guys is. I think that's a good point.

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Like Bruce Brown in the past, you would have said

307
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can handle some of that, and maybe he can. But

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it does feel like, yeah, I don't know, now you're

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making me rethink the need being because Tim Hardaway does

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kind of do the type of thing I'm talking about

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instead of Brown as a shooter. But it may be

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that they need somebody else that can and ideally I

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would want that other ball handler. And maybe this is

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a discon more thing to be a second like point

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of attack. Yeah, put the offense on his heels kind

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of kind of guy.

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Speaker 1: I think.

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Speaker 2: I think you know, as you're we're asking a lot

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now now we want a guy that's kind of like

320
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really blow up screen and roll action on defense. And

321
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also handle the ball and also make shots.

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Speaker 1: I do wonder if of all the boxes that we've

323
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kind of list that they need to check, does he

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come the closest to checking all because you could go

325
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and say you want a wing who defenses might respect

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more from beyond the arc. But what they have is,

327
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like there's ball skills and can they do you want

328
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them defending at the point of attack or should they

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be on some of those bigger wing covers de shum

330
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Wu I think would be really good for this game.

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I'd wonder, yeah, that's a good fit. But I think

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the and the final question for them would be are

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you willing to give up Peyton Watson because that's probably

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their best asset unless you're considering seconds. And I'm also

335
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just wondering with the way that he played. The Nuggets

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are basically right at the second apron next season after

337
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giving the Christian Brown extension, and it's to eleven players,

338
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so that's without filling out their roster. Has is Peyton

339
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Watson on this team? Next? We know how restricted free

340
00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,120
agency works, but you're not gonna get like this is

341
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someone who's gonna get I don't know, around mid level

342
00:16:12,559 --> 00:16:14,559
money per year I would think, or even twelve million

343
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a year. Is that like if that might even be

344
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too low, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Well, and if he is, who isn't, right? Like, I

346
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think the biggest hindrance to Watson one being properly paid

347
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and two being on the Nuggets is someone like Spencer

348
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Jones can sort of come out of, you know, relative obscurity,

349
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and he's not as good as Peyton Watson, but he doesn't.

350
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He does. They're asking him to do somewhat similar things,

351
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or at least what they used to ask Watson to

352
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do in a more limited way, and he's doing a

353
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lot of them, and he's way cheaper and certainly's gonna

354
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be way cheaper than Watson is on his next contract.

355
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So yeah, I mean, And based on the Nuggets history,

356
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don't you think it's very plausible that they might say, like,

357
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I'm not sure we want to pay this guy, we

358
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,200
might need to move off of him, even if it

359
00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,480
makes us a little bit weaker. I don't know.

360
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Speaker 1: They also have the history of paying their own players too.

361
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Speaker 2: I don't want to. I don't want to proactively move Watson.

362
00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:07,759
I don't I don't want to move them at this deadline.

363
00:17:07,759 --> 00:17:08,720
I think, I'm I'm what.

364
00:17:08,759 --> 00:17:11,599
Speaker 1: If you can get what if it's Watson and Nausey.

365
00:17:12,799 --> 00:17:14,640
Speaker 2: Well, then then the benefit is you're getting off of

366
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Nause's money, which is like a become a bit.

367
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Speaker 1: You know.

368
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Speaker 2: At this point it's only what does he make seven

369
00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:22,440
and a half next year?

370
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Speaker 1: He's got two years and fifteen after this year left.

371
00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,079
Contract just feels like it goes on forever.

372
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,880
Speaker 2: Has there ever been like a relatively short smallsh contract

373
00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:34,400
that has seemed to have been on the books for

374
00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:35,119
longer than his?

375
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Speaker 1: Does Bryan Cardinal have like a seven year ridiculous dealer or.

376
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Speaker 2: Something I remember like Juwan Howard or something signed like

377
00:17:42,319 --> 00:17:45,319
a ten they we should look back.

378
00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,000
Speaker 1: Where they all Mavericks Eric Dan Pierre.

379
00:17:47,079 --> 00:17:49,400
Speaker 2: Let's just start just so many like ten year night

380
00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:53,319
seven year deals and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't

381
00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:57,839
know if you. I think the Nuggets are really good

382
00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,680
and might, as we've said before, might have the best

383
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,640
shot at giving the Thunder a run in the West.

384
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,000
And like, even if I'm saving fifteen million over the

385
00:18:05,039 --> 00:18:06,960
next two years by moving Nagi's deal, I think I'd

386
00:18:07,039 --> 00:18:09,319
rather just have Watson around as an option for this run.

387
00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,160
Speaker 1: I don't think high praise for mister Grant Hughes. I

388
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,720
don't know that I'm that confident I might honestly make

389
00:18:15,799 --> 00:18:17,359
that trade. I'm not gonna lie, and I like, I

390
00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,519
really like Peyton Watson, although I don't wish the balls

391
00:18:19,519 --> 00:18:24,200
on anyone, so that's not fair. Uh, Grant, We're onto

392
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,519
the Los Angeles Lakers, who are just can they be

393
00:18:26,759 --> 00:18:29,680
quietly in third place in the Western Conference? Because it

394
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,880
feels like they're quietly in third place in the Western Conference.

395
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,240
And the question that I want to pose is actually

396
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,599
a question that you came up with, What's who's their

397
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,359
best realistic three in D option? Because that's what they

398
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,519
need if you were building an ideal trade target. I

399
00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:48,240
think there's a bunch of players that can work, of course,

400
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,119
but it's no, they need guys who play both ends

401
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,400
of the floor because their best two way player right

402
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:59,039
now is Jake Lauravia. I'm not not I'm not even

403
00:18:59,079 --> 00:18:59,759
trying to be an a hole.

404
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,599
Speaker 2: No, it's so here's the thing, Like I so, yes,

405
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,839
everybody wants and the Lakers particularly want and need a

406
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,279
three and D guy. Don't you think that the defense

407
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,480
part of that should probably come first? Just because between

408
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:17,680
Luca and Lebron and Reeves. You know, all three of

409
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,279
those guys are players. The defenses will honor from three,

410
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,880
so it had but I don't think any of those

411
00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:27,240
I know that none of those guys are players you'd

412
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,319
feel comfortable with on like even other teams like second options,

413
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,599
let alone first. So you're banking on Marcus Smart or

414
00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:37,359
Jared vand Vanderbilt or whoever, or a good zone scheme

415
00:19:37,559 --> 00:19:39,759
to solve the def So I all, there's a long

416
00:19:39,799 --> 00:19:42,200
way to say I'm more concerned about the defense than

417
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,079
the three. The three is kind of a bonus. So

418
00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,079
that's why it feels to me like Herb Jones is

419
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,799
the guy that I would be fixated on if I

420
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:49,480
were the Lakers.

421
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,039
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's like the dude.

422
00:19:51,799 --> 00:19:54,039
Speaker 2: It's just like, I don't know even who I put second,

423
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:59,240
but it does feel like he would. You could live

424
00:19:59,319 --> 00:20:03,359
with him being someone you're not sure about his three

425
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,680
point shot at like the high volume it would probably

426
00:20:05,759 --> 00:20:07,880
need to be at in most of these lineups on

427
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,720
the Lakers hypothetically, But I do believe in the defense,

428
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,519
and I think he's someone that like anywhere from two

429
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:20,079
to four positionally, I guess four. You'd be like Okay, great,

430
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,640
he's gonna be able to handle that, and you probably

431
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:27,000
can't play Jared Vanderbilt in like huge situations. I don't

432
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,599
think because of the offensive stuff and giving defenses a

433
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:34,240
place to hide. But do you have anyone besides Herb Jones?

434
00:20:34,279 --> 00:20:36,799
I just I feel like it's just clearly him.

435
00:20:37,279 --> 00:20:40,759
Speaker 1: If we're gravitating towards the defense part of it, Naji

436
00:20:40,839 --> 00:20:42,759
Marshall would be a really good fit for this team.

437
00:20:42,799 --> 00:20:46,039
He's gonna do mostly downhill things on offense, but that

438
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:50,519
would be someone it would be interesting lower end guys.

439
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,880
I mean, if you're concerned just about defense of chaiyak Baji,

440
00:20:54,279 --> 00:20:58,279
the Raptors have made him available. He's cheap. I don't

441
00:20:58,279 --> 00:21:01,119
know who else springs to mind here, Yabuselli feel like

442
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:02,480
they should maybe take a look at him, or I

443
00:21:02,519 --> 00:21:04,359
think at all twenty nine team should be taking a

444
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:05,079
look at yea.

445
00:21:07,279 --> 00:21:09,880
Speaker 2: A little self serving, Mike.

446
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 1: Does anyone else spring to mind for you? Or if

447
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,519
you just decided that it is Herb Jones at this point.

448
00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:20,519
Speaker 2: The thing is like the types of players I would

449
00:21:20,519 --> 00:21:25,519
iduate next are like Vanderbilt, which they have, and it's imperfect.

450
00:21:25,599 --> 00:21:28,720
You know, It's like some Okay, can he guard three

451
00:21:28,839 --> 00:21:31,920
or four positions? And does he have length? Is he

452
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,880
gonna rebound? Can he play? Is gonna win the hustle

453
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,440
battle type thing? And that's just Vanderbilt. So unless you're

454
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,079
going for someone on Jones's level or better, and I

455
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,440
don't know how realistic it is that they'll put the

456
00:21:43,519 --> 00:21:45,759
kinds of offers on the table, you'd need to get

457
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,680
somebody better, which maybe dovetails with another question here. It's

458
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,160
hard to go outside of It's hard to go like, okay, well,

459
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,559
if not herb someone at this level, because then you're

460
00:21:55,599 --> 00:21:57,480
just talking about Vanderbilt and they have that guy.

461
00:21:58,839 --> 00:22:02,599
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask, though, should they consider leaning further

462
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,039
into I wanted to zig or zag where you were

463
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:10,039
zigging because Luca Reeves Lebron, I'm even RUI. They have

464
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,079
given the Lakers a very firmly a top seven offense.

465
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:15,799
There's room to grow there. And when you look at

466
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,039
the rosters specifically, they don't have that off ball sniper

467
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:25,079
who's putting a ton of pressure on defenses. You have

468
00:22:25,319 --> 00:22:28,160
Luca gets up threes. Reeves I think is even over

469
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,720
seven attempts per thirty six minutes. But they're not doing

470
00:22:31,799 --> 00:22:33,799
it in a way like the name that I would

471
00:22:33,799 --> 00:22:35,200
have that you would go this rout is you don't

472
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:39,119
want to complete defensive liability. But Dante DiVincenzo seems like

473
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,519
he might be available in Minnesota. You put him in

474
00:22:41,599 --> 00:22:43,119
and you're adding that three point volume. But all of

475
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:45,400
a sudden, it's we go from the seventh best offense

476
00:22:45,519 --> 00:22:48,799
to the third or the second best offense. And does

477
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,359
that really hurt your defense relative to where you're at

478
00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:54,440
right now? And I'm curious if I went one of

479
00:22:54,519 --> 00:22:56,640
two ways on this, I could see that element being

480
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,880
hyper valuable on this Lakers team. But then I also

481
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:03,160
look at the way that Luca wants to handle the

482
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,079
ball even with Reeves and Lebron sometimes does a movement shooter,

483
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,519
Like do we see a ton of like Dante DiVincenzo

484
00:23:10,599 --> 00:23:14,160
pinballing around hitting those ultra deep, difficult threes, which he's

485
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,440
still done this year. His shot quality on threes is

486
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,599
actually pretty bad. He's still shooting thirty eight percent on them,

487
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,480
and he's in the ninety nine percent tile of deep

488
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,279
three point shot making. So I like his fit on

489
00:23:24,319 --> 00:23:26,000
the team, and I just kind of wondered in my head,

490
00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:29,039
would it be easier for them to just elevate this

491
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,559
offense and just put more separation between them. And what

492
00:23:31,759 --> 00:23:34,559
is a league average or slightly worse defense than it

493
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,480
is to go out and get a herb Jones. And

494
00:23:37,519 --> 00:23:39,519
how much does a herb Jones even help their defense

495
00:23:39,759 --> 00:23:40,079
right now?

496
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 2: What's the example of this type of player in previous

497
00:23:46,599 --> 00:23:49,519
Luka doncic led offenses. I'm trying to think. I'm asking

498
00:23:49,559 --> 00:23:53,599
because I was like, like on some of those Dallas teams,

499
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,200
who was it hard away? That was like flying quote

500
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:57,359
like flying around?

501
00:23:57,599 --> 00:24:00,160
Speaker 1: It was hardway and then it was clay for a

502
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,319
minute or tried they tried to make a play for

503
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:02,759
a minute.

504
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,759
Speaker 2: I asked, because I don't know if like, yeah, you

505
00:24:05,839 --> 00:24:08,839
want movement shooters. But I think the way that Luca plays,

506
00:24:09,279 --> 00:24:12,880
which is so deliberate and so plotting and so get

507
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,160
to the middle and draw a second defender and they

508
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,880
hit a standstill guy that I don't know, it feels

509
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,519
harder to utilize a guy who's sprinting around and relying

510
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,400
on like what a series of well timed passes to

511
00:24:24,519 --> 00:24:27,440
get the types of shots we're talking about up. I

512
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,720
don't know if that's a thing in Luca offenses. You know,

513
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,480
I think it is still worth asking, like why not

514
00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:37,480
just lean into a strength, get another shooter to surround

515
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:39,880
because Luca will find that guy whether he's moving or

516
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,720
not right like, and can utilize him. And if you

517
00:24:43,799 --> 00:24:47,279
don't think that someone like Jones elevates the defense because

518
00:24:47,319 --> 00:24:49,319
by the way, like we're still talking about DeAndre and

519
00:24:49,519 --> 00:24:52,039
Jackson Hayes as like the anchors of your defense. And

520
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,079
so does another perimeter guy really solve the problem if

521
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:56,720
you're talking about like postseasons and.

522
00:24:56,759 --> 00:24:59,359
Speaker 1: Where, and also how does it work with a Herb Jones.

523
00:24:59,599 --> 00:25:03,079
It's so you have Lebron Big, Luca Reeves and Herb

524
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,079
or we guaranteed that that or would they prefer to

525
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,359
have Rui on the court anyway? And so you get

526
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,160
into how much do you want to give up for

527
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,480
Herb Jones if he's not definitely a part of your

528
00:25:12,519 --> 00:25:13,279
closing units.

529
00:25:13,759 --> 00:25:15,839
Speaker 2: So you could just get us a shooter, let's lean

530
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,519
into the strength. Maybe we're going to then be the

531
00:25:17,799 --> 00:25:20,079
third best offense in the league and the defense doesn't

532
00:25:20,079 --> 00:25:21,680
really get meaningfully worse.

533
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,440
Speaker 1: And it could be a different type of wrinkle for

534
00:25:23,519 --> 00:25:26,160
the playoffs. Just because we know Luca's been banged up

535
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,039
when he gets there. In the past, Lebron's older Reeves

536
00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:31,039
has proven that he can carry an offense, but like,

537
00:25:31,279 --> 00:25:33,920
how can he do it against certain playoff defenses? I think,

538
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,440
I want to be clear, I think I tend to

539
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:38,000
land where you are. I just sort of wondered. It

540
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:40,720
almost feels like it would be easier to get someone

541
00:25:40,799 --> 00:25:43,519
that would continue to augment what they actually do well,

542
00:25:44,039 --> 00:25:46,839
even if they're kind of veering away functionally, than it

543
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:48,880
is for someone to come in, because I think if

544
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:50,359
they want someone to come in and just oh, we're

545
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,480
all of a sudden in the top ten or eight

546
00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:55,640
ish defense, it probably needs to be at the center position. Right,

547
00:25:55,799 --> 00:25:58,559
don't think that they have the assets right now to

548
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,839
go out and get said player like Cleveland's not is

549
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,039
gonna sell incredibly low on Jared Allen right, also is

550
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:05,599
not that guy.

551
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 2: At the moment, I was gonna say, that's the exact

552
00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:10,519
name I was thinking of, and then I even immediately

553
00:26:10,559 --> 00:26:12,799
talk myself out of it, just like just as you did.

554
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,759
I do think we arrived ultimately at like at the

555
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,039
core of this, which is the Lakers can tinker on

556
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,640
either side of the ball, but ultimately they'll be most

557
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,640
limited by they don't have a great interior defender, and

558
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,440
like you just it's so hard to put together a

559
00:26:29,559 --> 00:26:34,000
defense that is gonna be meaningfully better than average, especially

560
00:26:34,039 --> 00:26:37,279
with the with Luca and Lebron and Reeves around, unless

561
00:26:37,279 --> 00:26:40,279
you just have a transformative guy in the middle, and like,

562
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:41,359
who is that?

563
00:26:41,559 --> 00:26:44,480
Speaker 1: Good luck and knowing that, so our final we have

564
00:26:44,519 --> 00:26:46,160
a bunch of questions left in Lakers don't wanna pick

565
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,480
one here? Should they be willing to move the only

566
00:26:49,599 --> 00:26:51,799
first round pick that they can move right now? Or

567
00:26:52,519 --> 00:26:54,279
if you're the Lakers, do you kind of look at

568
00:26:54,319 --> 00:26:56,880
what's that? Look everything we just talked about, the things

569
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,519
they could do, the problems that would remain. Do you

570
00:26:59,559 --> 00:27:02,000
sit there and say, this summer, if we don't move

571
00:27:02,039 --> 00:27:04,440
any first round picks, we can move whoever we take

572
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,079
it in twenty twenty six plus two thousand and thirty

573
00:27:07,079 --> 00:27:09,759
one and two thousand and thirty three. Having Luca diminishes

574
00:27:09,799 --> 00:27:12,880
the value of those out years considerably, But three first

575
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,640
round picks is a lot, and so almost I would

576
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,880
say almost that that's not Yannis level territory. It's not

577
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,240
if the Cavs decide to move on from Mobili. But

578
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,559
that gives you, I would say, the freedom to explore

579
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,920
a bunch of different can also because you will be flexible.

580
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,000
Now you might lose some matching salary because of how

581
00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:32,880
many expiring contracts you have. That would be another hurdle.

582
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,359
But I've gone back and forth because at one point

583
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,400
I'm like, well, you have Lebron, you have Luca, Just

584
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,359
go damn it if you can get her Jones for

585
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,400
the one first round pick. But I've I've galaxy brained

586
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,680
it sufficiently to think that I believe they might be

587
00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:48,480
better off by having the three first round picks in

588
00:27:48,519 --> 00:27:50,559
the clip for this upcoming summer.

589
00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:55,559
Speaker 2: I think I lean that way too, because that's the

590
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,359
way you get the next guy that it's it's Luca

591
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:01,880
and him right or whoever, that whoever. That is like

592
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,400
having that kind of asset package to put on the table.

593
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:08,720
But I feel like I made this argument surely after

594
00:28:09,039 --> 00:28:12,279
they got Luca, and must have been this past offseason

595
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:14,759
when we were having similar conversations about well, should you

596
00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:18,039
wait or should you do something? And it's basically like,

597
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,000
how sure are you that the the second best player

598
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,400
Luca plays with going forward? This is before Reeves turned

599
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,559
into it. Whatever, this is like like an all fringe

600
00:28:29,559 --> 00:28:32,599
All NBA, like offensive engine player. But the question was

601
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,839
just like, you really think you're gonna be able to

602
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,160
do better than this version of Lebron James as Luca's

603
00:28:38,359 --> 00:28:42,759
best running mate, Like that's so then if you're saying yes,

604
00:28:42,839 --> 00:28:45,960
it's like, then we're definitely getting a no questions asked

605
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,519
all NBA player because Lebron at this point, you know,

606
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:50,920
over the summer, was like, he's a fringe All NBA

607
00:28:51,039 --> 00:28:53,440
guy and he was last season, and it's hard to

608
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,640
be any better than that unless you're a true MVP candidate.

609
00:28:57,279 --> 00:28:59,039
So unless, as the Lakers, you think you can go

610
00:28:59,119 --> 00:29:02,359
get that guy, then you should be going for it now, right,

611
00:29:02,519 --> 00:29:05,799
like and now that Reeves is this good unexpectedly, like

612
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,119
you really should go for it now, because what are

613
00:29:08,119 --> 00:29:11,279
the odds you're gonna have these three players, a trio

614
00:29:11,319 --> 00:29:15,119
of players that are this good and then have the

615
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,079
ability to add I just like, I don't know. Sometimes

616
00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:20,599
I think teams make the mistake of thinking like, well,

617
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,480
there's always gonna be this chance to be even better

618
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,759
going for you know, two years from now, which maybe,

619
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,079
and that's why you don't make a move now because

620
00:29:30,119 --> 00:29:32,279
you want those three picks to go get Yannis or whatever.

621
00:29:32,839 --> 00:29:35,640
But like, it's pretty hard to have three better players

622
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,000
than this, and so why isn't the time now? Why

623
00:29:38,119 --> 00:29:39,640
why shouldn't you trade one pick now?

624
00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 1: Is there a player that they could target that would

625
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:44,599
make it easy for you to say, yeah, give up.

626
00:29:44,599 --> 00:29:46,160
They can give up one first round pick right now,

627
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,400
in thirty one or thirty two For the kids at home,

628
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,079
I know you know this, and so I think the names,

629
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,240
the two names that I've seen them linked the most

630
00:29:53,319 --> 00:29:56,960
to have been Herb Jones and Andrew Wiggins. Do either

631
00:29:57,039 --> 00:29:59,960
of those players move the needle you're sending out salth

632
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:02,200
plus a first and I think even the Pelicans could say, hey,

633
00:30:02,279 --> 00:30:04,119
that's not enough. And but you could throw a don connect.

634
00:30:04,119 --> 00:30:06,039
There's probably some seconds to be moved around. Don't know

635
00:30:06,039 --> 00:30:08,880
what their second round pick situation is right now. I'd

636
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:10,960
almost find myself wondering if I like Andrew Wiggins for

637
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,519
the first round pick better, even though he's more of

638
00:30:12,559 --> 00:30:15,519
a wild card, but he just does more things offensively,

639
00:30:15,559 --> 00:30:16,839
I think, where you can count on him to maybe

640
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,880
hit more threes. But I still I don't know, man,

641
00:30:20,359 --> 00:30:24,720
I might I might peel myself into thinking that three

642
00:30:24,759 --> 00:30:26,480
first round picks this summer, that's gonna get you a

643
00:30:26,519 --> 00:30:27,200
lot of mileage.

644
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:30,359
Speaker 2: I lean that way too, And part of it is

645
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,640
because even though I just went on the diatribe about like,

646
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:34,880
it's harder to have three better players than this, so

647
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,119
why not go for it? I don't. I don't believe,

648
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,680
and I don't think most people outside of Los Angeles

649
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,839
believe that the Lakers are actually as good as their

650
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,200
record and spot in the standing show right now? Don't

651
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,240
you feel like there's a lot of just general skepticism

652
00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:51,200
about how good this team actually is relative to its

653
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,559
record and where it is in the conference. So I

654
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,319
don't feel like they're close enough to justify because if

655
00:30:57,319 --> 00:30:58,720
you do that, if you if you give up that

656
00:30:58,799 --> 00:31:02,079
one pick, you're kind of taking yourself out of any

657
00:31:02,119 --> 00:31:05,240
semi realistic shot at like winning the sweepstakes for the

658
00:31:05,319 --> 00:31:07,640
next like Superstar, right because you don't have those three

659
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:08,759
picks to move anymore.

660
00:31:08,519 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: Unless you're thinking it happens in free agency at some point,

661
00:31:11,839 --> 00:31:15,640
which maybe if it's gonna happen, LA with cap space

662
00:31:15,759 --> 00:31:17,720
is going to be the threat that makes it happen

663
00:31:17,839 --> 00:31:21,920
to be fair, right, Our next team, the Spurs. Grant,

664
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,240
it's your turn to pick our first question.

665
00:31:24,559 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 2: Well, this may sound a little familiar, but it's just

666
00:31:27,759 --> 00:31:30,480
how aggressive should they be at the trade deadline? Because

667
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:32,759
I don't know how you felt, but that you know,

668
00:31:32,839 --> 00:31:35,559
and then they lost to the Knicks. But but that

669
00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,240
Thunder game really kind of opened my eyes a little

670
00:31:38,279 --> 00:31:41,480
bit to we've always toyed with this, like you have Wemby.

671
00:31:41,599 --> 00:31:44,720
Now he's this good? Now, why are you like not

672
00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:47,119
to say the Spurs are definitely doing this? But why

673
00:31:47,599 --> 00:31:50,160
why try to just like dial in twenty twenty eight,

674
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,000
here we go. That's when we're gonna really try to

675
00:31:52,039 --> 00:31:54,960
peak and this is all gonna hit. If he's this good, now,

676
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,240
shouldn't you just make some moves to take a run

677
00:31:58,319 --> 00:32:00,480
at it? You just beat the Thunder. Only one other

678
00:32:00,519 --> 00:32:03,519
team's done that, Like I don't know, it's it's it's

679
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,039
tempting to do that. And then the question is just like, well,

680
00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:09,519
what is aggressive at the trade deadline? Look like we're

681
00:32:09,559 --> 00:32:12,000
back to the Lakers thing of do you just go

682
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,200
get the one guy that you know fills a need

683
00:32:14,319 --> 00:32:17,000
and what is that? And or do you really get

684
00:32:17,039 --> 00:32:18,119
after the honest thing?

685
00:32:18,839 --> 00:32:21,079
Speaker 1: There is I think at this point, I'm willing, if

686
00:32:21,119 --> 00:32:24,559
I'm the Spurs, to let's revisit the honest situation over

687
00:32:24,599 --> 00:32:26,839
the offseason, and yes, you'd like to get two playoff

688
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,200
runs with him, but if you have to give up

689
00:32:29,279 --> 00:32:32,000
a Steph Castle or Dylan Harper to do it, push

690
00:32:32,079 --> 00:32:34,240
comes to shove and probably still giving up Steph Castle.

691
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:36,000
I want to go him and Dylan Harper been fantastic,

692
00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:37,839
but if it means Giannis and I don't got to

693
00:32:37,839 --> 00:32:40,160
give up Dylan Harper, but then you're also what you're

694
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,720
sending out as part of that deal. Harrison Barnes and

695
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,519
or Keldon Johnson and or Devin vesself all been good

696
00:32:45,839 --> 00:32:47,559
for this team, and so I might let it ride

697
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,240
this season. What I find fascinating with them, though, is

698
00:32:51,839 --> 00:32:54,240
they have layers to their aggression. Where the Lakers it

699
00:32:54,279 --> 00:32:56,440
is it's salary and do we include this first round pick?

700
00:32:56,799 --> 00:32:59,000
The Spurs can trade multiple picks, and they could also

701
00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:02,400
do something where it's the Kelly Olynics salary slot and

702
00:33:02,519 --> 00:33:05,279
picks who is the best player that and throw Jeremy

703
00:33:05,319 --> 00:33:07,359
Sohan's salary and they're stacking on top. We can bring

704
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,880
back a pretty expensive player at that point I think

705
00:33:11,279 --> 00:33:14,359
they're kind of obligated to at least say, hey, can

706
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:19,640
we upgrade the Julian Champennie Harrison Barnes minutes at the

707
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,880
very least, or augment them. And that leads me to

708
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,119
another question for san Antonio Grant, which is who is

709
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,160
Wemby's ideal front cor partner And if it's not a name,

710
00:33:30,599 --> 00:33:32,839
what is the type? Because the more I watch them,

711
00:33:33,079 --> 00:33:35,799
and the NBA Cup Final game against the Knicks drove

712
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,200
this home. And that's in part because Wemby's only been

713
00:33:38,279 --> 00:33:40,519
back for a little bit. But I think that he

714
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,160
needs to have just like a not someone who doesn't.

715
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:46,319
I would prefer that they space the floor, but it's

716
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,799
just more physical and bigger and stronger than a Harrison

717
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,960
Barnes or a Julian Champennie. And I don't know what.

718
00:33:54,559 --> 00:33:56,920
I don't know what player in a Trey Murphy doesn't

719
00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:58,519
fit that he'd be great on this team, but he

720
00:33:58,559 --> 00:34:01,359
doesn't necessarily fit that archetype he check. He definitely checks

721
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:04,960
another need and I couldn't figure out the name. I

722
00:34:05,039 --> 00:34:07,079
do you know what name I actually went to. And

723
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,400
it's just they shouldn't do this because the salary that

724
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,639
it would cost, but Domas the bonus would make a

725
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,360
ton because he's not gonna the defensive like the rebounding

726
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,880
will help you. Just the physicality on offense, and he

727
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:19,599
stretches the floor enough to where he won't always be

728
00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:22,039
in Wemby's way. I don't think he's the answer, but

729
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,360
that level of physicality is what I kind of started

730
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,000
thinking about. And I don't know who's the player that

731
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:30,320
would like check.

732
00:34:30,159 --> 00:34:35,320
Speaker 2: That box Isaiah Stewart. I'm just trying to think of

733
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:39,599
players defined principally by their physicality and like he jumps.

734
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,119
Speaker 1: Who could also be available? Was my other problem. I

735
00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:44,280
was trying to go through the list of right, right.

736
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: He's not available, he shouldn't be available. No, I do

737
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,000
think so this We've kind of had some version of

738
00:34:50,079 --> 00:34:53,159
this since Wemby was a thing where it's just like

739
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:56,039
what do you what do you put next to him?

740
00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:56,280
Speaker 1: Right?

741
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,800
Speaker 2: And a lot of times I my focus was always on, like,

742
00:35:00,079 --> 00:35:02,800
don't think. The way to view it is, well, Wemby

743
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,239
can do all this stuff, so you can use you

744
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,079
can add a player next to him that has like limitations,

745
00:35:10,519 --> 00:35:13,440
like a big that doesn't space or whatever, because Wemby

746
00:35:13,519 --> 00:35:15,760
does and and so that covers that up. I still

747
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:17,599
think the Spurs should be of the mind that, like,

748
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,639
we don't we shouldn't be making concessions. We should just

749
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,880
go get the ideal guy and should have really high

750
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:28,199
hopes for it and not have to feel like, well,

751
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,519
we can we can onboard this guy because Wemby covers

752
00:35:31,599 --> 00:35:34,079
up this deficiency. No, I think it's just like, go

753
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,480
get the the perfect player and don't make any concessions because,

754
00:35:37,559 --> 00:35:40,599
like you said, they've got layers to the trades that

755
00:35:40,639 --> 00:35:42,280
they can put on the table so they can be

756
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,079
really ambitious and searching for that player. I think the

757
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,519
number one quality does have to be, like, he's got

758
00:35:47,599 --> 00:35:49,679
to be a bruiser. He's got to be someone that's

759
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,400
gonna just easier said than done, but just doesn't allow

760
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,760
Mitchell Robinson to like effectively win a game because he

761
00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:00,559
can't be kept off the boards like that kind of thing. Awesome,

762
00:36:01,199 --> 00:36:03,960
quick aside, hang the banner, right, what are we doing?

763
00:36:04,039 --> 00:36:05,719
Why are we acting like no one cares about this?

764
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:10,159
Speaker 1: That's so stupid and honestly, I'm i am. I would

765
00:36:10,159 --> 00:36:11,760
have said I said the same thing probably when the

766
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,639
Bucks won. When the Lakers won. Fuck off with the

767
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,480
NBA Cup trolling. At this point, I get that it's propaganda,

768
00:36:17,559 --> 00:36:20,119
but the players actually seem to care. And you can't

769
00:36:20,159 --> 00:36:23,519
complain that the regular season means nothing and they're trying

770
00:36:23,519 --> 00:36:25,519
to do something to make it mean something. And it

771
00:36:25,599 --> 00:36:27,599
seems like the players actually care about it, but then

772
00:36:27,639 --> 00:36:30,280
make fun of them for celebrating. And then yeah, but

773
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:32,519
it's a no win. If the Nicks hung the banner,

774
00:36:32,639 --> 00:36:35,119
it would have been a meme. And so I just

775
00:36:35,519 --> 00:36:37,840
I don't there's give it and also give it time

776
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,559
to marinate. It's been three years. You can't. You can't

777
00:36:40,639 --> 00:36:42,880
just create this thing and expect it to have the

778
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,599
same meaning. And for anyone who says it will never

779
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:46,800
mean any why do you care about the number of

780
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,320
All Star selections or all NBA teams, then they are

781
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,880
completely meaningless unless you care about player contract incentives.

782
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,840
Speaker 2: I just like it's I obviously we agree. Just look

783
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,840
at like shockhole thing comes from like international soccer, right,

784
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:02,280
there's like various cups that happened throughout the course of

785
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,920
the season where nobody views it as all we won

786
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,039
the Champions League or we won our entire league. It's

787
00:37:09,039 --> 00:37:11,920
not on that same level. But it's like a thing

788
00:37:12,199 --> 00:37:15,639
and teams care and it's just and so, like they've

789
00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:17,320
been doing it a lot longer than the NBA has.

790
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,360
So this is the type of thing we're gonna look

791
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:21,519
back and be like that was dumb that we minimize

792
00:37:21,599 --> 00:37:24,440
the important. Like nobody's saying it's this, you should hang it.

793
00:37:24,679 --> 00:37:27,559
It should be of equal size and equally prominently placed

794
00:37:27,559 --> 00:37:31,239
as like as an actual championship banner. But like I

795
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,239
don't know, teams retire numbers, teams retire coaches' numbers, or

796
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,079
they put their names up there. There's all kinds of

797
00:37:37,079 --> 00:37:38,920
shit in the REP. It's not like a high school

798
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,599
gym where it's like, oh, we won the sectional track

799
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,960
championship in uh nineteen eighty four through nineteen ninety nine,

800
00:37:46,039 --> 00:37:48,280
Like it's not there's not a thousand banners up there.

801
00:37:48,599 --> 00:37:51,519
We could we could do the the Cup championship.

802
00:37:51,679 --> 00:37:54,280
Speaker 1: And I just I wonder why the propaganda of it

803
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,639
all bothers like that there's cores or that's sponsored by Emirates,

804
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:02,159
because everything about the NBA, like the jersey patches are propaganda.

805
00:38:02,199 --> 00:38:03,920
You have the last five minutes are brought to you

806
00:38:04,039 --> 00:38:06,119
by like so and so, and then you have people

807
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:10,239
like brand sponsoring like post podcast Loser Lounges is something

808
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,400
I'll never understand that do you really want your company

809
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:16,280
associated with that? So I just I get, you know,

810
00:38:16,519 --> 00:38:19,360
should they revisit, like do we need to have a

811
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:21,559
neutral site, especially if I know they're gonna move the

812
00:38:21,559 --> 00:38:24,119
semi finals. But I find myself the neutral site it

813
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,360
loses something with the fans there. I thought the fans

814
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,119
were pretty engaged in Vegas, but because the players were,

815
00:38:29,639 --> 00:38:32,320
the players were, That's why. But it would have been

816
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,639
cool to see like that OKAC Spurs game in either

817
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,440
San Antonio or Okay would have been insane. Yea, that

818
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:39,239
would have been insane.

819
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:40,000
Speaker 2: Yep, no doubt.

820
00:38:40,039 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 1: To bring it back. Oh here's a name for the Spurs.

821
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:44,960
I immediately went to Anthony Davis, who kind of make

822
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:46,760
a lot of sense. But again you get into the

823
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:48,920
pick equity is less than y honest. But if you

824
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
have to give up all that salary to get Anthony Davis,

825
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:56,320
you should just wait on Yannis. About Naji Marshall, I mean,

826
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:57,360
enough of what you're looking for?

827
00:38:57,719 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, not not quite? I mean he how much better?

828
00:39:00,079 --> 00:39:02,119
Or is he then Barnes and Champagnee Maybe a little

829
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,079
a different type of player, but I don't.

830
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 1: I'm not more offensively than so hand and more physical,

831
00:39:08,079 --> 00:39:10,360
but well, I mean, is that what they're gonna look at?

832
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:12,280
Though it doesn't feel like they're gonna futs and fiddle

833
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,320
on the margins rather than get Oh, this player might

834
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,320
close some games or be our like our sixth best player.

835
00:39:18,559 --> 00:39:22,280
Speaker 2: Honestly, like and I guess this tells you what I think.

836
00:39:22,639 --> 00:39:24,679
I don't know what this tells you. I don't want

837
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:28,639
to touch the Castle, Harper Wemby. I just want to.

838
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,559
I want those three guys to.

839
00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 1: Grow a touch Fox.

840
00:39:32,039 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 2: Though it sounded yes, I know I would, I would, honestly,

841
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:40,679
Like I I find me instances of times when Steph

842
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,400
Castle's compete level fell below one trillion. Never happened, There's

843
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,480
no visual record of it. Like I I'm after the cup.

844
00:39:49,519 --> 00:39:51,840
I'm just like and I felt like this about him

845
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,400
before that, But like I don't care about the shooting.

846
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,039
I don't care about it. He plays so fucking hard,

847
00:39:57,519 --> 00:39:57,960
he cares.

848
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:00,760
Speaker 1: Harper Harper is great.

849
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 2: I'm just talking about Castle singularly as like the effort

850
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,239
plays and just like the crazy athleticism, the defense. Like

851
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:11,079
I just I'm not trading Steph Castle period. I don't think, like,

852
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:13,519
if you tell me honest is on the table, I think,

853
00:40:13,599 --> 00:40:16,079
I okay, sure we have to have a conversation short

854
00:40:16,159 --> 00:40:18,039
of that, Like I don't want to mess.

855
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,519
Speaker 1: With So he's now of those three, he's now your

856
00:40:20,559 --> 00:40:22,000
most untouchable is what you're saying.

857
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 2: No, I mean him and Harper are equally untouchable. Like

858
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,000
I just I think a lot of people would put

859
00:40:27,039 --> 00:40:30,599
Harper higher just because castles shooting stuff. But like I

860
00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,039
I want no part of a trade that breaks up Wemby,

861
00:40:34,119 --> 00:40:36,320
Castle and Harper at this point, No, thank you about

862
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:37,559
trade box first, and.

863
00:40:37,599 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 1: Our question provides your own answers. We're kind of settling on.

864
00:40:40,079 --> 00:40:43,360
They should be a modest level of aggressive. Can't trade

865
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,119
any of their basic top six or seven guys they're five.

866
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 2: I just let him marinate for a little bit. I

867
00:40:48,039 --> 00:40:48,480
would say.

868
00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,800
Speaker 1: The next team we have up is the Houston Rockets,

869
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,960
and my first question is going to be what your

870
00:40:56,039 --> 00:40:58,079
first question was for them? Is what happens to the

871
00:40:58,159 --> 00:41:01,400
offense grant as they're shooting regresses, which it started to

872
00:41:01,639 --> 00:41:04,719
they're only eight in three point percentage since Thanksgiving, which

873
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,760
that's less than that's less than first or worse than first.

874
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:08,320
Excuse me.

875
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,880
Speaker 2: So, I think from the moment like that was one

876
00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,960
of the big stories of the season where we thought

877
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,519
the Rockets would have major offensive problems because no Van

878
00:41:18,639 --> 00:41:20,880
Fleet and what do you do with Thompson shooting and

879
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:26,559
Shanngoon shooting, And basically because they have made a ton

880
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,039
of the few threes they take, the offense has been

881
00:41:29,039 --> 00:41:30,760
pretty good. The real reason the offense is good is

882
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:33,639
because of offensive rebounding and they win the possession battle.

883
00:41:34,519 --> 00:41:37,760
But n Read Shepherd, but n Read Shepherd is sorry.

884
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,000
They don't so the shooting will not regress because all

885
00:41:41,039 --> 00:41:42,800
they have to do is have read Shepherd shoot more

886
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,400
and then it'll be fine. Uh.

887
00:41:45,079 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 1: I don't know.

888
00:41:45,519 --> 00:41:47,559
Speaker 2: I guess this is kind of a more of a

889
00:41:47,639 --> 00:41:51,960
thought exercise, right because you could say that the shooting

890
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,480
will regress, it has. It's still very good. You mentioned

891
00:41:54,519 --> 00:41:57,280
the post Thanksgiving numbers. They're still lasting a ten frequency.

892
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:01,199
They're third overall inaccuracy. I think the bigger tell is

893
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,039
that location based effective field will percentage just based on

894
00:42:04,159 --> 00:42:07,400
where they take the shots. They're twenty fifth that they

895
00:42:07,559 --> 00:42:10,199
should be expected to have the twenty fifth effective field

896
00:42:10,199 --> 00:42:14,639
will percentage in the league not good? Should they? I

897
00:42:14,679 --> 00:42:17,440
think if you're looking for, like what what should Houston

898
00:42:17,519 --> 00:42:20,079
target if it's going to make a trade, shooting just

899
00:42:20,119 --> 00:42:22,920
still has to be top a list. But I don't

900
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:24,880
know if part of me just thinks, like that's just

901
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,199
not what this team is and they're gonna be successful

902
00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:29,559
offensively because of all the other stuff that they do

903
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:33,199
well and really, like not joking anymore, the more reach

904
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:37,320
Shepherd plays and the more he's featured kind of addresses

905
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,880
a lot of the offensive problems that the Rockets have.

906
00:42:40,079 --> 00:42:42,719
Right Like the answer might just already be there. It's

907
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,599
a term. It's just a question of, like how much

908
00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:49,639
can you scale up Shepherd's role without taking away from

909
00:42:49,679 --> 00:42:51,199
some of the other stuff that Houston wants to do,

910
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:54,199
like playing big and glass crashing and all that stuff.

911
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,880
Speaker 1: Would you look at I mean, like I dotat what

912
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,599
does it take to get just to get some extra

913
00:42:59,639 --> 00:43:02,199
shooting in there? Maybe with size getting Sphiema Kaylea Luke

914
00:43:02,599 --> 00:43:05,000
from Utah who's having a nice season. He's so cheap.

915
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:07,480
The other one we already brought up his name is

916
00:43:08,039 --> 00:43:09,920
you do have some salaries. It does seem like DFS

917
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,159
might be nearing his return, but just between him and Compell,

918
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,440
you do have some filler salaries. A Dante DiVincenzo is

919
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:18,119
that someone who cracks important lineups for this team, because

920
00:43:18,159 --> 00:43:20,880
that's the if they're gonna give up. Like getting fee

921
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,039
is sort of okay, what you know, if he plays,

922
00:43:23,079 --> 00:43:24,880
he doesn't play whatever. But if you go out and

923
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:26,800
get someone who is used to playing a ton of

924
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,039
minutes on another team, are they good enough to be

925
00:43:30,159 --> 00:43:31,400
Now you could look at it and say, if Josha

926
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:33,880
Kogy's gonna play this much, then yeah, Dante ju Vincenzo

927
00:43:34,199 --> 00:43:37,599
could play, but Joshakogy kind of won. He shot well

928
00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:39,440
from three this year. But also he just fits like

929
00:43:39,599 --> 00:43:42,800
the style that they want to play too. Dante Devincenzo's

930
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,280
not that guy who.

931
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,519
Speaker 2: I think you you raised. I think one of the

932
00:43:47,559 --> 00:43:51,000
most important issues of like who cracks the lineup, you know,

933
00:43:51,079 --> 00:43:52,800
when they they need to win this game in the

934
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:54,880
last five minutes, Like there's seven there's a lot of

935
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,360
non negotiables, right, so how much room is there really?

936
00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,840
Like Shingoon one hundred percent on the Floorson's on the floor,

937
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:06,400
Jabari Smith, Right, I mean, Katie's a lock for me,

938
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,000
Jabari Smith is a lock because he does offer the

939
00:44:09,039 --> 00:44:12,079
shooting in the size and then and then reed.

940
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 1: Shepherd's right there. But could you envision is there a

941
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,360
scenario where I'll just use Dante ju intenso feels like

942
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:19,760
the best name that I mentioned. Is there a scenario

943
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:24,559
where he could close a game over Jabbari or read Shepherd?

944
00:44:25,159 --> 00:44:28,719
It feels offensively It might depend on the matchups. That's

945
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:30,039
not outside the realm.

946
00:44:30,599 --> 00:44:35,719
Speaker 2: No, that's possible. But because because it's possible and not like, yeah,

947
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:38,320
of course he would play over those guys, that should

948
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:41,480
limit the type of offer they're willing to make, right

949
00:44:41,559 --> 00:44:45,559
which which if that's the case, like Murphy from the table,

950
00:44:45,559 --> 00:44:47,159
who would be great on this squad.

951
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,760
Speaker 1: But it's sort of just like, I don't know, why

952
00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,239
are we going? Why are we consolidating that many? You know,

953
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,440
if they're giving up a first round pick to get

954
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:58,719
somebody and salary, okay, sure, but when you're talking multiples

955
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:01,800
there are another team to where it's if they decide

956
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:03,599
they need to make that move, which they probably are

957
00:45:03,639 --> 00:45:05,400
going to decide, they don't based off how good they

958
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:08,400
are right now. That'll happen over the offseason.

959
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:10,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, the more we talk about it, the more

960
00:45:10,519 --> 00:45:15,119
I'm convinced it's just between Smith and just more Shepherd

961
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,920
and Durant, And if Shingooon develops further as a shooter

962
00:45:20,119 --> 00:45:22,639
like that should be enough. And at that point it's

963
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,320
just shoot more. They just don't shoot enough threes.

964
00:45:25,119 --> 00:45:27,519
Speaker 1: Right the name that I actually like for them, but

965
00:45:27,639 --> 00:45:30,440
I haven't. I just don't. Knicks fans, I feel are

966
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:32,639
getting ahead of their skis when they propose what the

967
00:45:32,679 --> 00:45:35,159
offer would be. But with the emergence of Tyler Kohlik,

968
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:39,840
and if the Knicks trust Jordan Clarkson, is duce McBride

969
00:45:40,199 --> 00:45:42,480
available he becomes a free agent in twenty twenty seven,

970
00:45:42,559 --> 00:45:44,559
I don't think you can. You'd have to include other

971
00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:47,840
stuff to get Tarr Easton, and I don't. I'm not

972
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,000
giving up Tarry Easton. I love duce McBride, but like

973
00:45:50,079 --> 00:45:52,639
he brings not ball handling. He does have a little

974
00:45:52,639 --> 00:45:54,559
bit of a mid range game, but he's a defensive

975
00:45:55,119 --> 00:45:57,679
menace at the point of attack, and his three point

976
00:45:57,800 --> 00:45:59,960
volume has come a long way. And so if you

977
00:46:00,119 --> 00:46:03,280
can do something compensate the Knicks outside of giving up

978
00:46:03,639 --> 00:46:07,159
Tarr Easan, then that would be sort of the interest

979
00:46:07,199 --> 00:46:09,679
because it's someone who, all right, does he close over

980
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:12,079
Shephard if you go, or over even Jabari if you

981
00:46:12,159 --> 00:46:14,719
go smaller, maybe, but you don't have like even in

982
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,079
New York, he's not guaranteed to be in the closing lineup.

983
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,719
Speaker 2: I just wanted to December nineteenth, twenty twenty five, the

984
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:26,880
phrase the emergence of Tyler Kohlick was spoken on the look, who's.

985
00:46:26,599 --> 00:46:29,239
Speaker 1: Gonna have the better career? Colick, aj Mitchell or Jalen Wells.

986
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:33,559
Who's to say right now? It's too soon? It's too soon,

987
00:46:33,679 --> 00:46:36,239
That's all I'm saying. He I had two other quick

988
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:39,039
questions for Houston. Do you think you'll end up trying

989
00:46:39,039 --> 00:46:40,880
to duck the tax? And this could be a draft

990
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,400
night question, but they're like seven point seven million dollars

991
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,000
over and with getting more expensive deals kicking in, and

992
00:46:47,079 --> 00:46:49,360
you have to pay tar Easan this summer. They have

993
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:52,159
seventeen million in room beneath the tax next year as

994
00:46:52,199 --> 00:46:54,800
of right now. Without tarr Easan, he could eat up

995
00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:56,599
all of that space. And I'm just sort of in

996
00:46:56,679 --> 00:46:58,559
my head, if you have the ability to duck it

997
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:03,039
this season just to delay a repeater clock starting, you

998
00:47:03,159 --> 00:47:05,559
gotta be looking at whether it's does Fred van Fleet

999
00:47:05,679 --> 00:47:07,920
accept a trade somewhere since he has that puss no

1000
00:47:08,039 --> 00:47:10,639
trade you have Capella that gets you close. I think

1001
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,000
you're just dumping him. And then even the DFS, I think,

1002
00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:15,360
does DFS come back and you think that he's just

1003
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,360
gonna meaningfully move the needle for this team?

1004
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:19,639
Speaker 2: O don't know, that's what that's a Really, he's like

1005
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,320
a huge you know if we're doing like wild Cards

1006
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:24,719
for the second half or whatever, like he's got to

1007
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:28,360
be way up there because you would, I mean, he

1008
00:47:28,519 --> 00:47:31,519
would seem to if the shooting will tell right, if

1009
00:47:31,559 --> 00:47:33,840
he's gonna make threes, then then this is a much

1010
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:36,400
harder question, like who who does he take? Or it's

1011
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:39,239
much easier like yes he should play, of course, but

1012
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:43,920
like who's not playing because Phinney Smith needs twenty six

1013
00:47:44,039 --> 00:47:46,599
minutes a night, Like that's that's a tough call, Like

1014
00:47:47,119 --> 00:47:49,280
the fact that Easton again hasn't been playing a ton

1015
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:52,280
and has been a sort of similar story of his career,

1016
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:55,239
like what you know, maybe it would have been him,

1017
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:57,840
but I don't know what you count on there related

1018
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,800
questions should they just move Eastan? Like like is that

1019
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,840
because he's even looking at her, right, you have to

1020
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:07,079
look at it because he's one the just where he

1021
00:48:07,199 --> 00:48:09,800
is in his contract, right he's going into restricted free agency.

1022
00:48:10,679 --> 00:48:14,639
And two like it's it's easier to imagine where Finny

1023
00:48:14,679 --> 00:48:16,880
Smith would start stealing minutes from if he's gonna be

1024
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:20,360
a major offensive plus, like Easton is just kind of

1025
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:22,519
more of what the Rockets already have, right, Like he's

1026
00:48:22,559 --> 00:48:24,840
gonna defend, he's gonna hustle, he's gonna get offensive boards,

1027
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,400
all that stuff, Like they kind of got those bases covered.

1028
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:29,639
I would say, so, like, I don't know, it's not

1029
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:33,440
that easy to say where his minutes should come from.

1030
00:48:34,119 --> 00:48:36,519
And at this point, it just like if he's gonna

1031
00:48:36,559 --> 00:48:39,000
miss time all the time, like how much are you willing?

1032
00:48:39,079 --> 00:48:41,119
It's very difficult to decide what you're willing to commit

1033
00:48:41,199 --> 00:48:43,039
to him going forward. That's that's what I think.

1034
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,480
Speaker 1: When you have Amen, when you have Jabari Smith Junior,

1035
00:48:47,119 --> 00:48:49,559
and when you also have if Dorrin Phinny Smith, you've

1036
00:48:49,559 --> 00:48:51,599
even was that sort of a hedge against what does

1037
00:48:51,639 --> 00:48:55,559
it cost to retain Tarry Easton? I like, I guess

1038
00:48:55,639 --> 00:48:57,000
that if you were trying to make a deal, I'm

1039
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:58,480
trying to think about what what do you want for

1040
00:48:58,559 --> 00:49:00,840
Tory Easton? You're looking to get somebody back who could play.

1041
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:01,880
Is more cost control?

1042
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:02,480
Speaker 2: Is that?

1043
00:49:02,559 --> 00:49:04,239
Speaker 1: I don't know if a team's coming out of first

1044
00:49:04,639 --> 00:49:07,599
with you, given some of the mercurial injury history plus

1045
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,679
his restricted free agency, would you do as the Rockets.

1046
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:14,440
I'm genuinely asking here Deuce McBride and each of the

1047
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,400
Wizards's next two second round picks for Tari Easton, So

1048
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:19,639
you're looking at number thirty one thirty two, you would do.

1049
00:49:19,639 --> 00:49:21,480
Speaker 2: That as the Rockets? I do in a heartbeat. Yeah.

1050
00:49:21,519 --> 00:49:24,239
I mean Easton just like he's a weird player, Like

1051
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:27,000
he's just you know, he's he's a specialist. I don't

1052
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:29,320
feel like he's a starter. This is already his age

1053
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,000
twenty four season, so and he's like a hustle guy.

1054
00:49:32,119 --> 00:49:35,239
So I like, how much improvement and like skill development

1055
00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,000
are you pricing in? Like I'm not, you know, going

1056
00:49:38,159 --> 00:49:39,639
I don't see the curve going way up.

1057
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:43,800
Speaker 1: Well More's hottest take, one of his hottest takes has

1058
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:47,079
been that Tari Easan is better than Jabari Smith Junior,

1059
00:49:47,119 --> 00:49:49,039
and that's the guy they should look to move after

1060
00:49:49,119 --> 00:49:51,079
the season would be Jabbari I can't get there.

1061
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:54,800
Speaker 2: I can't get I mean, well, the difference is Smith

1062
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:57,000
is already paid. Uh, but I think that's a really

1063
00:49:57,079 --> 00:49:59,880
good contract for Smith, given just what he can do.

1064
00:50:01,039 --> 00:50:03,880
I guess in Easan's defense, like he's thirty six percent

1065
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:05,920
from three for his career, and he's made over half

1066
00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:08,719
of them this year, but like he has barely played.

1067
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,079
I just I guess I'm I'm open to the idea

1068
00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:15,719
that if Ethan were able to stay healthy and there

1069
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:20,920
was more like offensive skill development in there, mate, maybe,

1070
00:50:21,159 --> 00:50:23,559
but like as the Rockets, you're very good. Now, I

1071
00:50:23,639 --> 00:50:25,679
don't think you want to be in the business of

1072
00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:30,360
exposing yourself to the risk of having a sizeable, you know,

1073
00:50:30,519 --> 00:50:34,199
rookie scale contract given to someone that's just like one

1074
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:36,280
is kind of duplicative on the team, and two just

1075
00:50:36,599 --> 00:50:40,360
has not proven to be able to stay healthy. So yeah,

1076
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:42,079
I would, I would definitely look at moving.

1077
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:45,840
Speaker 1: Them our next team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. We don't have

1078
00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:47,360
to go. It's your turn to pick the first question.

1079
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:48,599
I just want to say, we don't have to go

1080
00:50:48,679 --> 00:50:50,679
in order that they're listed on our sheet. That was

1081
00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:53,119
just a that was just we've gotten kind of in

1082
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:54,920
order it could have been more like a draft. If

1083
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:56,960
the first question is the most important, want to go ahead.

1084
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:59,000
Speaker 2: I just wanted to think, well in this case to

1085
00:50:59,119 --> 00:51:01,559
me also because I was the one that put this

1086
00:51:01,679 --> 00:51:03,519
question out there, I mean, I'm sure you would have two.

1087
00:51:05,119 --> 00:51:07,679
How do they solve this late game offense? And is

1088
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:13,320
that solvable with what's I'm just asking questions as as

1089
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,400
everyone listening knows, all you have to do is answer

1090
00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:18,079
with the subsequent question, and that's what gets the discussion going.

1091
00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:20,960
And we don't solve anything. If these were easy to solve,

1092
00:51:21,079 --> 00:51:23,559
they wouldn't be uh, you know, it'd be really easy

1093
00:51:23,599 --> 00:51:27,840
to run an NBA team. Some of this with the Wolves,

1094
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:31,599
there are blown when you know blown games. They're late November.

1095
00:51:31,639 --> 00:51:35,119
There was Phoenix, who was the other one Phoenix and

1096
00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:37,280
then like three days later with somebody else can't remember.

1097
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:41,199
And some of it is just like the eye test

1098
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,920
of the the works just gum up. And the success

1099
00:51:45,079 --> 00:51:48,400
or failure of Minnesota's offense depends on like does Anthony

1100
00:51:48,559 --> 00:51:52,320
Edwards hit two of the six contested pull up sea

1101
00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:55,639
attempts or four? And that's just the line between winning

1102
00:51:55,639 --> 00:51:56,000
and losing.

1103
00:51:56,039 --> 00:51:59,039
Speaker 1: And it's been tough sledding without him of late, right,

1104
00:51:59,079 --> 00:51:59,679
that's the other thing.

1105
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,360
Speaker 2: Well, no shit, because that he's the only guy that's

1106
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:04,760
gonna do anything late in the game. And they're all

1107
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:07,559
difficult shots. And then there are numbers like they're dead

1108
00:52:07,639 --> 00:52:10,880
last in turnover percentage in the clutch, and like, yes,

1109
00:52:11,039 --> 00:52:13,199
that squares with the eye tests because the ball just

1110
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:15,719
moves side to side and nothing happens or sticks and

1111
00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:20,719
nothing happens. The ball handling issue has been apparent for

1112
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:22,800
a while, like before the season. It's like, well they

1113
00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:27,400
Conley's old, Dillingham's not ready, Devincenzo's not a point guard.

1114
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:29,960
Bones Highland, by the way, Bones Island is way too

1115
00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:32,239
important right now, which is another illustration.

1116
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,519
Speaker 1: Of usurping Dillingham, Conley and Joe and Clark in the

1117
00:52:35,639 --> 00:52:39,519
rotation is kudos to Bones Highland, but also, how are

1118
00:52:39,599 --> 00:52:39,960
we here?

1119
00:52:40,079 --> 00:52:42,119
Speaker 2: How do we get here? So you've been trying to

1120
00:52:42,159 --> 00:52:45,320
trade de Vincenzo several times already in this exercise. Uh

1121
00:52:45,719 --> 00:52:47,840
is he the guy you move or does that for?

1122
00:52:48,119 --> 00:52:49,920
And what's he gonna get you? If you're looking for

1123
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:51,880
a ball handler, you're kind of trading like for like

1124
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:56,199
at that point, you I mean, are you trading like

1125
00:52:56,239 --> 00:52:58,599
for like, if it's more of a ball handler though, well,

1126
00:52:58,639 --> 00:53:00,920
I guess. I mean, but you're another guard that can

1127
00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,960
only positionally, I guess, is what I'm saying.

1128
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:07,800
Speaker 1: And then, like I was gonna say, doesn't this square

1129
00:53:07,840 --> 00:53:10,280
away with? One of the other questions is what even

1130
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:13,840
is their trade target ceiling? And so our video editor

1131
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:16,800
Andrew had asked, like, what about some type of a

1132
00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:20,119
structure of Dante DiVincenzo for Kobe White? And I think

1133
00:53:20,159 --> 00:53:22,079
there need to be other stuff from Minnesota there who

1134
00:53:22,119 --> 00:53:24,559
cannot trade a first round pick? That got me thinking

1135
00:53:24,639 --> 00:53:27,679
as to what is their trade dead? Like could they

1136
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,039
maybe get Kobe White? That feels like the higher end

1137
00:53:31,039 --> 00:53:32,880
of the could they get iodussum MoU? Does he give

1138
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:36,000
enough of the ball handling? He fits their defensive motif

1139
00:53:36,119 --> 00:53:38,159
for sure, but does he give you enough of the

1140
00:53:38,199 --> 00:53:38,800
ball handling?

1141
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:39,079
Speaker 2: There?

1142
00:53:39,519 --> 00:53:41,760
Speaker 1: Are you looking even lower end? Should they be in

1143
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,960
on Dennis Shrewder, who I think he was dealing with

1144
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:46,760
a hip injury recently, but he started to play a

1145
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:49,719
little better and he'll get downhill at least should they

1146
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:52,199
be looking at this Jose Alvarado? Do enough of the

1147
00:53:52,239 --> 00:53:56,840
ball handling? And also how how far you're the Timberwolves

1148
00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:59,519
Grant and everything you just said is important, and you're

1149
00:53:59,519 --> 00:54:02,000
looking at some of their losses. How far are you

1150
00:54:02,119 --> 00:54:05,199
willing to go to? Because they've been linked this is hysterical,

1151
00:54:05,239 --> 00:54:07,280
they've been linked to Giannis and it's just okay, that's

1152
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:09,679
not that's that's a joke. But are you willing to go?

1153
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:13,000
All right? Devincenzo's on the table, nas Read's on the table.

1154
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,679
We have Tarren Shannon Jr. Maybe there is some second

1155
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:19,679
draft appeal to Rob Dillingham. We will give you swaps.

1156
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:22,360
Do you go out and are you trying to get

1157
00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:24,719
one of the disgrunt like a LaMelo on this What

1158
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:26,960
if you could put literally everything I just said on

1159
00:54:27,039 --> 00:54:33,079
the table, nas Red, Devincenzo pickswaps Dillingham and get LaMelo?

1160
00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:35,960
How far? Like? Is that the level that you're willing

1161
00:54:36,039 --> 00:54:37,840
to go to for this team because it feels like

1162
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,039
they don't need a player that good.

1163
00:54:42,039 --> 00:54:44,559
Speaker 2: I guess I kind of won. I think that's a

1164
00:54:44,599 --> 00:54:46,920
package you're putting out there for someone like Morant who's

1165
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:48,760
trade value is lower. I don't I don't think all

1166
00:54:48,840 --> 00:54:50,960
that gets you to LaMelo? Do you? I think if

1167
00:54:51,039 --> 00:54:53,199
Charlotte's gonna be like, we can do so much better

1168
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:53,800
for LaMelo.

1169
00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:55,800
Speaker 1: I want to make clear I would give up more

1170
00:54:56,440 --> 00:55:00,559
for LaMelo, But I have no idea that truck tricycle

1171
00:55:00,639 --> 00:55:03,119
of guards. I have no idea what they're no way

1172
00:55:03,119 --> 00:55:03,480
to go for.

1173
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:08,280
Speaker 2: So it's interesting. I guess that's that's a good question,

1174
00:55:08,440 --> 00:55:12,320
Like do they need someone that good? I guess probably not,

1175
00:55:13,079 --> 00:55:17,800
but they clearly need someone that does something different. They

1176
00:55:18,119 --> 00:55:22,800
need either a conventional playmaking pick and roll point guard.

1177
00:55:23,039 --> 00:55:25,840
What they need is like Mike Conley from twenty sixteen

1178
00:55:26,079 --> 00:55:29,079
or whatever like that. That's that, But that guy's basically

1179
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:31,280
like the best players to never make an All Star Game.

1180
00:55:32,079 --> 00:55:34,760
Speaker 1: Who'd you say, I'm just gonna name bulls Trey Jones?

1181
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,039
Speaker 2: I mean, is he better than Yeah? He probably is.

1182
00:55:42,119 --> 00:55:45,159
The thing I was thinking about is, well, what if

1183
00:55:46,119 --> 00:55:48,280
what if the issue with the late game offense is

1184
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:51,840
less about the guys handling the ball and the guys

1185
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:53,679
that are off of it. They don't have value. And

1186
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:55,760
that's like putting the crossairs on Rudy Gobert.

1187
00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:58,159
Speaker 1: Do you try to try his fifth Defensive Player of

1188
00:55:58,159 --> 00:56:01,360
the Year award right by by like just fundamentally altering

1189
00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:05,159
what your team is by trading him, putting nas red

1190
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:07,599
in its center, dealing with the defensive fallout of him

1191
00:56:07,639 --> 00:56:10,159
and Randall being your front court, and then you go

1192
00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:14,800
get someone that just the combined effect of having Read

1193
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:18,719
as the center in closing offenses and an additional playmaker

1194
00:56:19,159 --> 00:56:21,679
in the backcourt, probably which is in theory, that's who

1195
00:56:21,679 --> 00:56:24,800
you're trading Gobert for. Don't ask me who is out

1196
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:26,679
there clamoring for Gobert and is willing.

1197
00:56:26,519 --> 00:56:29,440
Speaker 2: To give up like a starting level, game changing point guard.

1198
00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:32,679
I don't know who that is. But that's just another

1199
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:36,039
way to approach the problem of your late game offense

1200
00:56:36,159 --> 00:56:39,400
is to just remove Rudy Gobert from the equation and

1201
00:56:40,159 --> 00:56:43,119
just bolster your backcourt playmaking, because like you will score,

1202
00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:45,280
You will absolutely score if Noz Reid is the five

1203
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:48,039
and you have Anthony Edwards McDaniels, Randall and a better

1204
00:56:48,079 --> 00:56:48,559
point guard.

1205
00:56:49,119 --> 00:56:53,760
Speaker 1: You're saying it, that's interesting too, because Jane McDaniels has

1206
00:56:53,800 --> 00:56:56,559
done more ball handling with ant out, but like that's

1207
00:56:56,599 --> 00:56:58,159
been a part of his game, Like he just has

1208
00:56:58,239 --> 00:57:01,840
more on ball wiggle. That's tough. I can't, I given

1209
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:04,519
how important he's been to the defense, I just can't envision.

1210
00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:07,320
Even if you put Rudy Gobert, even if there was

1211
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:08,719
a team out there that would give him a ton,

1212
00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:10,559
I don't think that I could do it as.

1213
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:15,039
Speaker 2: It would be like it would be like Mike Brown.

1214
00:57:15,159 --> 00:57:18,280
The discourse around Mike Brown replacing Thibodeau, like if you've

1215
00:57:18,280 --> 00:57:21,400
got a great offensive guard in there instead of Gobert,

1216
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:23,519
It's like, I'm not sure the Wolves are better, but

1217
00:57:23,599 --> 00:57:25,360
they're different, you know. It's like I'm not sure the

1218
00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:27,800
Knicks are definitely better, but they'll be different. And that's

1219
00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:29,800
kind of all we're going for because we know where

1220
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,960
we top out with with a Gobert centered team.

1221
00:57:33,679 --> 00:57:37,719
Speaker 1: What about Scottie Pippen r. Who's yet to play this season.

1222
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,920
Speaker 2: If we're mentioning injured Grizzlies point guards, there we go

1223
00:57:42,239 --> 00:57:45,679
drop Brett, the only kid they have.

1224
00:57:46,079 --> 00:57:48,360
Speaker 1: I don't know if he gives you enough playmaking, probably

1225
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:50,159
a touch more than dud But Cam Spencer, if we're

1226
00:57:50,199 --> 00:57:52,039
just gonna keep on the Grizzlies train, that that would

1227
00:57:52,039 --> 00:57:53,119
be another interesting name.

1228
00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 2: We'll just keep doing word association. Pat Spencer. He's available,

1229
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:59,880
I think, speaking of the speaking of emergences of white

1230
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:03,159
point guards, Pat Spencer let's go final question on the

1231
00:58:03,199 --> 00:58:03,800
Wolves grant.

1232
00:58:04,159 --> 00:58:05,880
Speaker 1: Do they just cut their should they cut their losses

1233
00:58:05,920 --> 00:58:07,199
on Rob dilling him at this point or is the

1234
00:58:07,239 --> 00:58:09,199
return on him likely to be so just as a

1235
00:58:09,239 --> 00:58:12,320
standalone asset. Is it likely to be so low that

1236
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:14,360
you would know we're gonna hold out and hope that

1237
00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:15,840
he turns a corner at some point.

1238
00:58:15,880 --> 00:58:18,159
Speaker 2: I think you have to go the ladder court, like

1239
00:58:18,440 --> 00:58:20,639
his value is so low right now that you would

1240
00:58:20,719 --> 00:58:23,199
just be moving off of a guy in his on

1241
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:26,920
his rookie scale contract that there's some pot committed element

1242
00:58:27,039 --> 00:58:30,239
to this too, where it's like you gave up way

1243
00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:32,719
too much for him to give to lose him for

1244
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:35,519
basically to just like say we're done. I think you

1245
00:58:35,559 --> 00:58:36,599
got to just ride it out.

1246
00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:40,039
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of what I'm just name again,

1247
00:58:40,039 --> 00:58:42,800
if you could get Io dessume move for Rob Dillingham,

1248
00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:44,280
you wouldn't do it, Then you're gonna hold out.

1249
00:58:45,199 --> 00:58:47,199
Speaker 2: I think I hold out. I think I hold out.

1250
00:58:47,239 --> 00:58:50,480
Speaker 1: I'm doing it. I'm over it, I'm done. I just

1251
00:58:50,559 --> 00:58:52,199
don't I don't see enough of it on defense. And

1252
00:58:52,239 --> 00:58:55,280
then like the finishing at the basket is just trust

1253
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:57,639
it at your own peril. I guess. I know he's young,

1254
00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:01,280
but they don't have they don't have the ability to wait,

1255
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:03,000
and that brings into question where they should have made them.

1256
00:59:03,079 --> 00:59:05,920
We applauded them making that leap in the moment, it

1257
00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:07,280
just doesn't seem like it's panned out.

1258
00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:09,079
Speaker 2: It has not panned out.

1259
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 1: It's funny that you mentioned Pat Spencer because I bet

1260
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:14,039
a lot of people think that the Warriors would have

1261
00:59:14,119 --> 00:59:16,000
the next best record in the Western Conference, but you

1262
00:59:16,079 --> 00:59:20,159
know what, Grant, they fucking don't the pH So my

1263
00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:23,079
first question for the Phoenix Suns is pretty basic, but

1264
00:59:23,159 --> 00:59:25,840
it's important. Should they be buyers or sellers?

1265
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:30,039
Speaker 2: I I think I actually have an answer to this,

1266
00:59:30,239 --> 00:59:33,280
and it's not gonna make Suns fans happy. I think

1267
00:59:33,280 --> 00:59:36,719
they should be sellers. I think why this is? This

1268
00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:40,039
is great, right, what's happened has been great. It's been refreshing.

1269
00:59:40,719 --> 00:59:44,360
Jordan Not's got everybody playing hard. They're like Dylan Brooks

1270
00:59:44,440 --> 00:59:48,320
undeniably like changes how your team operates, and he's like

1271
00:59:48,719 --> 00:59:52,079
just he's you know, he's I can't stand watching him,

1272
00:59:52,079 --> 00:59:53,920
but I have to respect what he does to your team.

1273
00:59:54,000 --> 00:59:56,639
Speaker 1: He did almost joke away the game the other night,

1274
00:59:56,719 --> 00:59:59,320
with the up five right inside forty seconds to play

1275
00:59:59,320 --> 01:00:02,320
have the flagrant. But he's just the level of shot

1276
01:00:02,400 --> 01:00:04,840
making he's given them this year. I'm at the point

1277
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:07,119
where I'm almost kind of sort of okay with him

1278
01:00:07,159 --> 01:00:08,440
wearing sung glasses indoors.

1279
01:00:09,719 --> 01:00:11,760
Speaker 2: I can't get there. I can't. It's gonna take more

1280
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:15,519
than that for me to get there. Uh, it's a

1281
01:00:15,599 --> 01:00:18,920
scourge on our side. So yeah, well that's part of

1282
01:00:18,960 --> 01:00:22,159
the argument, is that, like he just the sunglasses. Yeah,

1283
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:25,079
that's the entire argument. You have to trade him. I

1284
01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:27,639
just think he's his value is about as good as

1285
01:00:27,639 --> 01:00:29,280
it's gonna get at the moment. I think I don't

1286
01:00:29,280 --> 01:00:31,880
think he can play better than this, And I think

1287
01:00:32,559 --> 01:00:36,039
the Sons are sort of misreading where they are if

1288
01:00:36,840 --> 01:00:39,760
they think some of these performances that they've got, like

1289
01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:43,039
guys like Royce O'Neill have immense value, are playing really well.

1290
01:00:43,920 --> 01:00:46,199
Royce O'Neil's not helping Dylan Brooks to a lesser scent.

1291
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:50,159
They're not helping you, like navigate every It's that the

1292
01:00:50,360 --> 01:00:53,119
shitty rest of this half decade is still there. Like,

1293
01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:55,280
despite the fact that the Sons are fun to watch

1294
01:00:55,320 --> 01:00:57,679
and pretty good, I think you still need to be

1295
01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:01,360
concerned with, like, how are we gonna survive through twenty

1296
01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:05,159
thirty with no picks? You know, and just like a

1297
01:01:05,880 --> 01:01:08,960
zero flexibility Bradley Beal's dead money on the books, all

1298
01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:12,599
this stuff like it, it would be painful. And if

1299
01:01:12,599 --> 01:01:15,639
I'm a fan, to be clear, if I'm a Suns fan,

1300
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:18,079
I don't. I'm not thinking this way. I'm like, I

1301
01:01:18,159 --> 01:01:19,840
want to make the playoffs. This is fun. I like

1302
01:01:19,920 --> 01:01:23,119
this team. But if you're trying to like build a

1303
01:01:23,320 --> 01:01:27,000
championship operation, I think you have to look at where

1304
01:01:27,079 --> 01:01:29,480
you are right now as kind of found money, and

1305
01:01:29,599 --> 01:01:32,480
you need to flip guys like Brooks and O'Neill and

1306
01:01:32,639 --> 01:01:36,719
just virtually everybody just to soften the landing of the

1307
01:01:36,800 --> 01:01:37,800
next half decade.

1308
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:43,920
Speaker 1: Basically count me among the Suns fans then, because they

1309
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:45,960
don't need to, They don't need to buy to where

1310
01:01:46,039 --> 01:01:47,920
it's I mean, they can't. What are they going to

1311
01:01:47,960 --> 01:01:50,559
do to mortgage their future even more? Which would be

1312
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:54,159
the question, who are the players on this team not

1313
01:01:54,360 --> 01:01:57,599
Devin Booker Division, that are going to net you more

1314
01:01:57,719 --> 01:02:00,199
than the equivalent of one first round pick. Is that

1315
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:01,599
trade even out there right now?

1316
01:02:01,719 --> 01:02:05,440
Speaker 2: For Dylan Brooks more than the equivalent of a first

1317
01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:05,719
I'm not.

1318
01:02:05,719 --> 01:02:07,639
Speaker 1: Saying two first round picks, but someone's gonna like, would

1319
01:02:07,639 --> 01:02:10,280
the Lakers come in and offer their two thousand and

1320
01:02:10,440 --> 01:02:12,679
thirty two or two thousand and thirty one first round

1321
01:02:12,679 --> 01:02:15,159
pick for Dylan Brooks? I think one would.

1322
01:02:15,519 --> 01:02:17,599
Speaker 2: Lebron would vet to Lebron would say it's him or me,

1323
01:02:17,880 --> 01:02:19,400
and the Lakers would would.

1324
01:02:19,199 --> 01:02:21,280
Speaker 1: Probably choose Dylan Brooks. At this point, they would say,

1325
01:02:21,760 --> 01:02:23,880
you're not could you imagine them on the same team?

1326
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:25,559
That'd be great, It would be great.

1327
01:02:26,039 --> 01:02:30,639
Speaker 2: Uh I I do think Brooks right now could get

1328
01:02:30,679 --> 01:02:32,920
you a first don't you Because that's the type.

1329
01:02:32,760 --> 01:02:34,559
Speaker 1: Of what is like, what is the type of first?

1330
01:02:34,719 --> 01:02:34,760
Speaker 2: Like?

1331
01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:37,000
Speaker 1: What does that do for the Suns? Though? Is My

1332
01:02:37,119 --> 01:02:39,400
point is, just if you trade Dylan Brooks for let's

1333
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:41,679
say you get a first from I mean, and even

1334
01:02:41,719 --> 01:02:44,559
if you get that Lakers first, okay, cool, Like we're

1335
01:02:44,639 --> 01:02:46,840
just gonna half decade from an hour to be sitting

1336
01:02:46,960 --> 01:02:50,039
maybe pretty or that'll be the number twenty seven pick because.

1337
01:02:49,960 --> 01:02:53,519
Speaker 2: He's on the break. Grayson Allen maybe gets here.

1338
01:02:53,559 --> 01:02:56,039
Speaker 1: Just not Grace's not getting you a first round Like

1339
01:02:56,400 --> 01:02:59,199
I just he's he's so good. Now he dribbles now right,

1340
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:01,719
every other next year he'll probably be bad. So I

1341
01:03:03,119 --> 01:03:05,039
think that contract that he's on, you're not getting a

1342
01:03:05,119 --> 01:03:06,960
first for him. It's you're more likely to get a

1343
01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:08,920
first for cong Gillespie. At this point, I think.

1344
01:03:08,800 --> 01:03:11,280
Speaker 2: That's ironic because I feel like that deal was signed

1345
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:13,679
to be traded, like that's what we all thought. Him

1346
01:03:13,719 --> 01:03:16,800
and O'Neil both all they that's just matching money salaries,

1347
01:03:16,840 --> 01:03:17,400
and now they're.

1348
01:03:17,199 --> 01:03:20,360
Speaker 1: Both I'm closer here, Ryan Dunn, maybe get you a first.

1349
01:03:20,400 --> 01:03:23,960
I would even say probably not. The defense is intriguing there,

1350
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:27,280
the full floor running and stuff. But so if I'm

1351
01:03:27,360 --> 01:03:30,960
the Suns, I'm more looking at, Okay, what is my

1352
01:03:31,039 --> 01:03:33,840
biggest need if we buy? Because what what is buying

1353
01:03:33,920 --> 01:03:35,760
look like for this team is it can you just

1354
01:03:35,840 --> 01:03:40,760
get zion for contracts? Sign me up for that? Then well,

1355
01:03:40,840 --> 01:03:43,599
because they don't, they can't trade first round equity. And

1356
01:03:43,679 --> 01:03:46,159
if the Pelicans are just we can turn Zion into

1357
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:48,280
like Grayson Allen would be a good name here, it's

1358
01:03:48,320 --> 01:03:51,400
oh or Royce O'Neal. You're stacking contracts together. You put

1359
01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:54,480
shooting around to Jeremiah Fears and Derek Queen. If I'm

1360
01:03:54,480 --> 01:03:56,679
the Sons. I'm looking to do something like that before

1361
01:03:56,719 --> 01:03:57,639
I'm looking to sell.

1362
01:03:57,880 --> 01:04:01,400
Speaker 2: All right, here's here's the thing. The Suns are fifteen

1363
01:04:01,440 --> 01:04:03,679
and twelve as we record this just one of the

1364
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:09,000
most pleasant surprises of the season. They're in the middle.

1365
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:14,440
Basically like they're not the team I'm gonna invoke is

1366
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:17,199
in a slightly different spot, but is still very much

1367
01:04:17,280 --> 01:04:20,400
defined by its midness, and that's the Bulls. So like,

1368
01:04:21,239 --> 01:04:24,239
would you if the Bulls were the Bulls are eleven

1369
01:04:24,320 --> 01:04:27,719
and fifteen, not that different. Their net rating is way lower.

1370
01:04:27,800 --> 01:04:31,119
They're like just objectively a worse team. But this feels

1371
01:04:31,199 --> 01:04:33,880
like we're telling the Bulls to like, hey, let's try

1372
01:04:33,880 --> 01:04:35,679
to get a little better, let's go for it, as

1373
01:04:35,719 --> 01:04:37,840
opposed to like, strip it down. Man, there's nothing here,

1374
01:04:37,920 --> 01:04:40,719
there's no future with this group. You've got to like,

1375
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:43,960
you have to sell to me. That's the same logic.

1376
01:04:44,679 --> 01:04:46,519
The logic we've applied to the Bulls that they have

1377
01:04:46,679 --> 01:04:50,440
just disregarded forever is the same logic that's in play

1378
01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:52,280
with the Suns. You're in the middle. You do not

1379
01:04:52,440 --> 01:04:56,039
have a path to being great unless you strip stuff down.

1380
01:04:56,239 --> 01:04:58,519
And now if your argument is they don't have anything

1381
01:04:58,559 --> 01:05:01,639
that's gonna get them first, then all right, I guess

1382
01:05:01,679 --> 01:05:03,920
what do you do then? But I think you've got

1383
01:05:04,039 --> 01:05:06,599
to look at this as we're trying to be good.

1384
01:05:07,679 --> 01:05:09,639
We're trying to not be one of the worst teams

1385
01:05:09,679 --> 01:05:11,639
in the league or dead stuck in the middle for

1386
01:05:11,719 --> 01:05:13,599
the next five to seven years. I think that needs

1387
01:05:13,639 --> 01:05:14,119
to be the goal.

1388
01:05:14,920 --> 01:05:18,320
Speaker 1: Here's my problem. The Bulls have their own draft picks,

1389
01:05:19,079 --> 01:05:20,960
the Sons do not do. The Sons not have theirs,

1390
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:24,000
So there's just an incentive I'm not telling I think

1391
01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:26,559
what it almost feels like we might be. The argument

1392
01:05:26,599 --> 01:05:28,639
should then be if that's how you feel about the Sons,

1393
01:05:28,719 --> 01:05:31,639
just in general, not you specifically, then they should trade

1394
01:05:31,679 --> 01:05:34,639
Devin Booker because what is like I've thought that for

1395
01:05:34,679 --> 01:05:37,039
a long time, which is fine, but knowing they're not

1396
01:05:37,199 --> 01:05:39,519
gonna do that, I'm kind of just that that, like,

1397
01:05:39,760 --> 01:05:41,400
maybe it's an off season thing. I'm sort of at

1398
01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:44,039
the point where you're good enough this season to be

1399
01:05:44,159 --> 01:05:48,000
fun and frisky if you can do something like there's honestly,

1400
01:05:48,519 --> 01:05:51,440
there's nothing if you're not gonna trade Devin Booker or

1401
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:53,840
give him away, there's nothing that this team could give

1402
01:05:53,920 --> 01:05:56,960
up that would actually like count as a stupid move

1403
01:05:57,760 --> 01:05:59,760
at that, Like, what could they actually do that would

1404
01:06:00,159 --> 01:06:03,400
worse in their future? Outlook again non Devin Booker division.

1405
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,199
And so if you could use just Jayalen Green and

1406
01:06:06,280 --> 01:06:08,599
other salary, is that going to get you as just

1407
01:06:08,679 --> 01:06:11,199
a Zion? Why not swing and see what happens the

1408
01:06:11,239 --> 01:06:13,519
worst case scenario? Okay, just move on from Zion.

1409
01:06:13,679 --> 01:06:15,760
Speaker 2: Well, Zion is a special case, right because you can

1410
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:16,920
just move on if you don't.

1411
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:19,000
Speaker 1: If you don't you with the bonus, I don't fucking care,

1412
01:06:19,119 --> 01:06:20,079
like this is that's what?

1413
01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:23,360
Speaker 2: Well, that would make them worse they now you have

1414
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:25,880
the bonus on there with beals dead mind. Anyway, that's

1415
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:27,519
enough on the Suns that you think where should we

1416
01:06:27,599 --> 01:06:28,159
go after this?

1417
01:06:28,679 --> 01:06:30,440
Speaker 1: You might think, Grant that we're going to go to

1418
01:06:30,599 --> 01:06:35,199
Golden State, but not yet we are onto the Memphis Grizzlies.

1419
01:06:36,199 --> 01:06:38,840
Do you want to pick a question for them? Please? Uh?

1420
01:06:38,920 --> 01:06:42,960
Speaker 2: Yes? Well, let's see. I like this question a lot

1421
01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:44,920
because it kind of ties to all of the ones

1422
01:06:45,000 --> 01:06:48,320
we have here. Do the Grizzlies not yet have their

1423
01:06:48,360 --> 01:06:50,519
primary building block? Do they have off? So?

1424
01:06:50,599 --> 01:06:52,039
Speaker 1: John's an awkward question, right?

1425
01:06:52,639 --> 01:06:58,199
Speaker 2: Yeah? So John Morant was that guy beyond any doubt.

1426
01:06:58,239 --> 01:07:00,800
It's just not that guy anymore. For all the reasons

1427
01:07:00,840 --> 01:07:03,840
we've talked about all year, the injuries, the decline in

1428
01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:07,360
like ability, that seems like a relevant one. He's not

1429
01:07:07,599 --> 01:07:12,199
as good as he was anymore. Uh. We also have

1430
01:07:12,480 --> 01:07:15,880
the contract status, no extension for him. That's the type

1431
01:07:15,880 --> 01:07:17,519
of thing. If you do have a building block, you

1432
01:07:17,679 --> 01:07:22,000
extend that player. What else the off court stuff, obviously,

1433
01:07:22,079 --> 01:07:25,199
it's all just kind of this this one, uh, one

1434
01:07:25,239 --> 01:07:27,880
big mess. Jared Jackson Junior not playing so hot. I

1435
01:07:27,920 --> 01:07:30,719
don't know if anybody's noticed, not making his threes, fouling

1436
01:07:30,840 --> 01:07:33,599
more like he used to, still not rebounding.

1437
01:07:33,400 --> 01:07:35,840
Speaker 1: Touches are down, even those joted.

1438
01:07:36,719 --> 01:07:39,719
Speaker 2: Scott right, should shouldn't they be up? Shouldn't it be

1439
01:07:39,719 --> 01:07:43,599
a Jalen Brown situation where he's just like, okay, your ball? Uh?

1440
01:07:44,320 --> 01:07:46,519
Those are the two you'd point to. Zachi Edi too,

1441
01:07:46,639 --> 01:07:49,599
I lauded forever and immediately got hurt after we recorded.

1442
01:07:49,719 --> 01:07:52,800
Speaker 1: Immediately after you lauded him too. It was within minutes.

1443
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:55,400
Speaker 2: It was within minutes that the report game that he

1444
01:07:55,559 --> 01:07:58,239
was hurt. H So should we just not talk about

1445
01:07:58,320 --> 01:07:59,320
players anymore?

1446
01:08:00,119 --> 01:08:03,039
Speaker 1: Dre Cowhard's not really that I mean he's done. I've

1447
01:08:03,079 --> 01:08:06,239
appreciated he's a little bit more physical and like squishy

1448
01:08:06,440 --> 01:08:08,960
the on drives, even though the efficiency might not be

1449
01:08:09,039 --> 01:08:11,000
there yet on those looks. But I don't view him

1450
01:08:11,039 --> 01:08:15,960
as I view him as supplementary. Feels like I'm denigrating him,

1451
01:08:16,000 --> 01:08:18,159
but he's that's what he feels like, is oh, he's

1452
01:08:18,239 --> 01:08:21,960
your third, second or third most important player rather than

1453
01:08:22,039 --> 01:08:24,319
this is the guy around whom we structure our future.

1454
01:08:24,920 --> 01:08:27,880
Speaker 2: And so then if it's not, if it isn't Jaron

1455
01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:30,760
Jackson Junior, Like why isn't it, like are we because

1456
01:08:30,800 --> 01:08:33,439
I do think we have to mention he had a

1457
01:08:33,560 --> 01:08:37,239
tow injury, so surgery I think, and then also had

1458
01:08:37,319 --> 01:08:40,520
another injury prior to the season. Is this just he's

1459
01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:43,680
playing hurt and and in a way that's laudable because

1460
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:46,800
Morant has been not helpful and like he's out there

1461
01:08:46,920 --> 01:08:48,840
trying to do what he can for the team. And therefore,

1462
01:08:49,079 --> 01:08:52,039
like that is cornerstone stuff, you know, that is building

1463
01:08:52,119 --> 01:08:55,079
block stuff? Or is Jackson? And I can't remember did

1464
01:08:55,159 --> 01:08:57,279
we both have him as an All NBA player last year?

1465
01:08:57,840 --> 01:09:01,359
Speaker 1: If we didn't, he was for before he was disqualified yet.

1466
01:09:01,199 --> 01:09:03,000
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, he didn't qualify, but he was up there

1467
01:09:03,079 --> 01:09:07,199
for sure, and very much in the all the Defensive

1468
01:09:07,239 --> 01:09:08,920
Player of the Year conversation much of the year.

1469
01:09:10,039 --> 01:09:10,479
Speaker 1: Are we just?

1470
01:09:11,239 --> 01:09:13,760
Speaker 2: I mean, then again, inconsistency kind of year to year

1471
01:09:13,840 --> 01:09:16,520
has been a massive theme his career.

1472
01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:19,560
Speaker 1: He did qualify last year, I forgot. He only ended

1473
01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:20,600
up missing eight games.

1474
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:23,319
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think one or both of us must

1475
01:09:23,359 --> 01:09:24,359
have had him on All NBA.

1476
01:09:25,720 --> 01:09:29,000
Speaker 1: I'm starting to think I didn't because I said before

1477
01:09:29,079 --> 01:09:30,920
he got disqualified.

1478
01:09:31,479 --> 01:09:34,399
Speaker 2: Did you just think he was disqualified and erroneously cut off?

1479
01:09:34,479 --> 01:09:36,880
Speaker 1: He did have. The latter half of the year was

1480
01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:37,560
pretty tough.

1481
01:09:38,159 --> 01:09:40,439
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, right, because the beginning of the year, the

1482
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:42,920
story was look at all this isolation scoring and then

1483
01:09:42,960 --> 01:09:46,359
everything on the offense. Right right.

1484
01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:49,039
Speaker 1: As to why I don't think that you can build around.

1485
01:09:48,880 --> 01:09:50,039
Speaker 2: Him, oh okay, go ahead, is.

1486
01:09:50,039 --> 01:09:51,880
Speaker 1: Because when you look at what he does defensively and

1487
01:09:51,920 --> 01:09:54,800
also his flaws on defense, he's not this super physical player,

1488
01:09:55,359 --> 01:09:57,760
and so if you now put him into the one A,

1489
01:09:58,159 --> 01:10:02,399
one B offensive, that's going to take a toll on

1490
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:05,560
his body that was already kind of had scattershot availability

1491
01:10:05,600 --> 01:10:07,600
to begin with. But there are very few people who

1492
01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:10,760
can handle being the most important defender on their team

1493
01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:14,840
and then the best offensive option on their team. And

1494
01:10:14,920 --> 01:10:17,199
I just don't know that he is. I don't want

1495
01:10:17,199 --> 01:10:19,520
to say hashtag built for it, but just looking at

1496
01:10:19,560 --> 01:10:22,560
the way that he plays is if he was a

1497
01:10:22,960 --> 01:10:25,279
he's not used to being that physical of a player overall.

1498
01:10:25,399 --> 01:10:27,319
And if you insert the ball into his hands and

1499
01:10:27,359 --> 01:10:28,880
you look at the coverages he's going to see as

1500
01:10:28,920 --> 01:10:31,359
a result, and even the ISOs in him getting downhill,

1501
01:10:31,880 --> 01:10:34,680
that's physicality that he doesn't play with on the defensive end.

1502
01:10:35,039 --> 01:10:36,920
So why should we expect it to be okay on

1503
01:10:37,039 --> 01:10:37,840
the offensive end?

1504
01:10:38,359 --> 01:10:42,119
Speaker 2: Yeah? I just think, like I don't think Jackson's extension

1505
01:10:42,399 --> 01:10:47,399
is bad necessarily, but I also agree that, well, yeah

1506
01:10:48,039 --> 01:10:51,359
he's I feel really good about a team where he's

1507
01:10:51,359 --> 01:10:53,600
your second best player, Like I think that team's and

1508
01:10:53,680 --> 01:10:55,279
it has been the case, like that team has been

1509
01:10:55,319 --> 01:10:57,199
really good. It's been the Grizzlies a couple of times

1510
01:10:57,239 --> 01:11:00,199
when Moran was at that one A level and and

1511
01:11:00,520 --> 01:11:02,319
Jackson was kind of your one be or whatever.

1512
01:11:03,880 --> 01:11:05,640
Speaker 1: So what do you do?

1513
01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:07,600
Speaker 2: I guess, like, how do we tie some of these

1514
01:11:07,640 --> 01:11:11,119
other questions here? Like does that mean that everyone's on

1515
01:11:11,199 --> 01:11:13,760
the table to be traded because certainly Morant is and

1516
01:11:13,800 --> 01:11:15,880
are we extending that to Jackson? Are we extending that

1517
01:11:15,960 --> 01:11:18,279
to I don't know. Go down the list if you want.

1518
01:11:18,399 --> 01:11:20,439
Speaker 1: I think, if you're looking at it, maybe you just

1519
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:23,720
view semi untouchables. It's Cowhard and Edie just because what

1520
01:11:23,920 --> 01:11:25,560
value would you get for him with all these injuries

1521
01:11:25,560 --> 01:11:28,560
and he's proven to be so impactful on defense. But

1522
01:11:28,640 --> 01:11:31,399
I'm not hanging up the phone if someone calls about

1523
01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:34,600
Jaron Jackson. I know the Grizzlies have been friskier of late,

1524
01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:37,840
but it's just I don't think this team. We just

1525
01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:39,680
answered the question, do we think that they have their

1526
01:11:39,720 --> 01:11:43,319
best player of their next championship contention era on the roster.

1527
01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:46,159
If the answer is no, then yeah you should. It'd

1528
01:11:46,199 --> 01:11:49,000
be cool, like how many teams can work backwards from right.

1529
01:11:49,039 --> 01:11:51,199
We found our second most important player, let's go out

1530
01:11:51,239 --> 01:11:52,920
there and get the first right right?

1531
01:11:53,039 --> 01:11:56,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the hard part. I think I would listen

1532
01:11:56,600 --> 01:11:59,840
on Jackson. I wonder what I'm trying to think of.

1533
01:12:00,279 --> 01:12:04,920
He's like, theoretically, if you believe as an acquiring team

1534
01:12:05,039 --> 01:12:07,960
that the way he's played this season has more to

1535
01:12:08,079 --> 01:12:10,319
do with He's not fully back from the injury. Now

1536
01:12:10,800 --> 01:12:12,439
that cuts both ways because it's like, well is he

1537
01:12:12,600 --> 01:12:15,560
just is this what we have now? And the situation

1538
01:12:15,640 --> 01:12:20,880
in Memphis just doesn't seem great overall, Like what what's

1539
01:12:20,960 --> 01:12:24,159
the team that is? Like we are Jaron Jackson becomes

1540
01:12:24,199 --> 01:12:27,079
our second best player we were in.

1541
01:12:27,119 --> 01:12:29,920
Speaker 1: Bush second best. I don't know if he'd be their

1542
01:12:29,960 --> 01:12:32,640
second best, but I oh, maybe he's not a good

1543
01:12:32,640 --> 01:12:34,560
fit for the Spurs. He'd be interesting on the Spurs.

1544
01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:37,000
I would love him on the Pistons because you're gonna

1545
01:12:37,000 --> 01:12:39,319
have one of Duran or Stewart maybe both left over,

1546
01:12:39,399 --> 01:12:41,960
and so they're going to take care of your physicality

1547
01:12:42,079 --> 01:12:44,199
and so that would be something I could look at him.

1548
01:12:44,239 --> 01:12:45,560
And Detroit would be fantastic.

1549
01:12:45,960 --> 01:12:49,560
Speaker 2: M hm. Trying to think where else. I don't know Miami,

1550
01:12:49,800 --> 01:12:52,279
because we know that he was never better offensively than

1551
01:12:52,279 --> 01:12:55,279
when he was playing in the Laroche's system, and so

1552
01:12:55,399 --> 01:12:59,319
he maybe regains all of his offensive punch there and

1553
01:12:59,439 --> 01:13:02,600
then him and together I think actually does work. Although

1554
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:06,079
like you you don't have like Bam might be when

1555
01:13:06,079 --> 01:13:08,000
you were talking about how like well you asked this

1556
01:13:08,079 --> 01:13:10,439
guy to be your number one defensive guy and the

1557
01:13:10,520 --> 01:13:12,439
best he's gonna be his second option on offense. You're

1558
01:13:12,479 --> 01:13:14,920
kind of describing Bam too in that, so it's like, yeah,

1559
01:13:14,960 --> 01:13:16,920
two of those guys amount to I would like to

1560
01:13:16,960 --> 01:13:18,560
see it personally, but you might.

1561
01:13:18,520 --> 01:13:21,880
Speaker 1: Just there is there too much redundancy with Scotty Barnes

1562
01:13:21,920 --> 01:13:23,279
in Toronto for them to make sense.

1563
01:13:24,279 --> 01:13:27,119
Speaker 2: I think if you believe in Jackson's shooting, then no,

1564
01:13:28,399 --> 01:13:30,880
But I if you it's it's like just just year

1565
01:13:30,920 --> 01:13:32,920
to year with Jackson if he's gonna be a good shooter.

1566
01:13:33,079 --> 01:13:35,000
So I don't like, you may get into a situation

1567
01:13:35,119 --> 01:13:38,359
where we're like making the joke of how like just

1568
01:13:38,439 --> 01:13:41,439
another Toronto like fits perfectly into Toronto's idea.

1569
01:13:42,560 --> 01:13:45,079
Speaker 1: Zach Low had mentioned that the Calves were hoping to

1570
01:13:45,119 --> 01:13:47,479
get in on a Jaron Jackson junior sweepstakes. I don't

1571
01:13:47,479 --> 01:13:49,279
know if this is their scaling ahead to next summer

1572
01:13:49,279 --> 01:13:52,279
when they can aggregate salaries. I don't The fit of

1573
01:13:52,399 --> 01:13:54,279
him and Evan Mobley can make a lot of sense,

1574
01:13:54,359 --> 01:13:56,960
but I'm not sure that there would be a less

1575
01:13:57,640 --> 01:14:01,319
intimidating physical dual bit from Gourd in the NBA.

1576
01:14:02,039 --> 01:14:05,399
Speaker 2: Yeah right, I mean you would have to bank on

1577
01:14:05,600 --> 01:14:09,279
Mobili and now feels like the wrong time to raise this,

1578
01:14:09,960 --> 01:14:13,640
like continuing to get to get better offensively and continuing

1579
01:14:13,680 --> 01:14:15,520
to be more physical like that was the story this

1580
01:14:15,560 --> 01:14:19,000
time last year, is how physical Mobili was And you don't.

1581
01:14:19,039 --> 01:14:21,239
I don't feel like anybody's like over the moon about

1582
01:14:21,279 --> 01:14:21,800
that anymore.

1583
01:14:23,319 --> 01:14:25,319
Speaker 1: I will say as the Grizzlies very quickly, if they

1584
01:14:25,399 --> 01:14:29,119
were to buy, I'd just be curious to see, like,

1585
01:14:29,239 --> 01:14:31,840
could they stack salary like Anti Davis on this team

1586
01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:33,800
with Jaris Jacks year Maybe makes some sense if you're

1587
01:14:33,800 --> 01:14:36,359
invested in Zachi e. That kind of just shortened your timeline.

1588
01:14:36,359 --> 01:14:40,359
But is there a Jamerant anti Davis challenge trade out

1589
01:14:40,399 --> 01:14:42,520
there or framework there that could work. I wouldn't hate it,

1590
01:14:42,680 --> 01:14:46,399
as Mama wouldn't hate it. But we have arrived grant

1591
01:14:47,199 --> 01:14:50,439
the Golden State Warriors. What is the first question we

1592
01:14:50,439 --> 01:14:52,239
should ask about the Golden State Warriors.

1593
01:14:52,840 --> 01:14:56,000
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go I'm gonna skip the original first question

1594
01:14:56,079 --> 01:15:02,800
because uh, we'll get to it. Yeah, is is the

1595
01:15:02,960 --> 01:15:06,399
run over? And if it is, if they believe that, like,

1596
01:15:06,600 --> 01:15:09,439
what what do you like? This is the biggest of

1597
01:15:09,479 --> 01:15:12,279
big picture discussions. What do you do like? So, by

1598
01:15:12,439 --> 01:15:15,399
by the run being over, I mean like you just

1599
01:15:15,560 --> 01:15:18,760
you can't win a championship. You can't even realistically contend

1600
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:20,760
for a championship, which was a stretch coming into the

1601
01:15:20,800 --> 01:15:23,520
year when we were much more optimistic about them because

1602
01:15:23,520 --> 01:15:26,279
of the age of the core. If if that's where

1603
01:15:26,359 --> 01:15:29,880
we are and if you don't, I guess the one

1604
01:15:29,920 --> 01:15:31,960
answer is, well you trade free honest. Okay, well let's

1605
01:15:32,000 --> 01:15:33,880
take that off the table, like what is the move? Like,

1606
01:15:34,000 --> 01:15:37,279
are you how do you begin to deconstruct this thing?

1607
01:15:37,399 --> 01:15:38,920
And do you? I guess I'm putting it to you

1608
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:41,680
because like it's is is it over? If it is,

1609
01:15:41,760 --> 01:15:44,039
what what's your what are your next? Like three steps?

1610
01:15:44,680 --> 01:15:47,159
Speaker 1: So the question of if if is it over? I

1611
01:15:47,319 --> 01:15:51,239
think it dovetails with the other question of what is

1612
01:15:51,359 --> 01:15:54,600
the level of player they would have to get for

1613
01:15:54,760 --> 01:15:56,800
us to say that it's not, because as of right now,

1614
01:15:56,840 --> 01:16:00,159
if they make no moves, it's over. Yeah, you're not.

1615
01:16:00,479 --> 01:16:03,079
It's clear that this team is not winning a title.

1616
01:16:03,439 --> 01:16:06,479
So to sort of backtrack it, I'm just gonna throw

1617
01:16:06,520 --> 01:16:08,520
players at you. What is the level of player they

1618
01:16:08,560 --> 01:16:10,880
need to contend? Derek White?

1619
01:16:13,039 --> 01:16:16,680
Speaker 2: I mean, so that's not Obviously that's not enough. I

1620
01:16:16,760 --> 01:16:18,760
don't think right Like, so just the way I the

1621
01:16:18,800 --> 01:16:20,560
way before you give me another name, The way I'm

1622
01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:22,439
gonna approach this is to look at it and say,

1623
01:16:23,119 --> 01:16:25,399
when they traded for Jimmy Butler, who I don't I

1624
01:16:25,479 --> 01:16:28,520
think is a is there a player realistically that they

1625
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:32,000
could get that's better than that this season? Probably not,

1626
01:16:32,279 --> 01:16:35,520
especially with the way that he The way they played

1627
01:16:35,560 --> 01:16:37,279
after they got him was like, oh my god, this

1628
01:16:37,399 --> 01:16:40,000
team is The records were insane, right, it was like

1629
01:16:40,199 --> 01:16:43,239
fourteen and one with all three of Draymond, Steph and Jimmy,

1630
01:16:43,560 --> 01:16:45,560
and then that was still a second round out. Steph

1631
01:16:45,640 --> 01:16:47,439
got hurt, but that team wasn't gonna win a title.

1632
01:16:47,800 --> 01:16:50,279
So I think we'll go through some names, But like,

1633
01:16:50,359 --> 01:16:53,359
unless there's a player as good or better than Jimmy

1634
01:16:53,399 --> 01:16:55,920
Butler that you're adding to this core without removing Jimmy

1635
01:16:55,960 --> 01:16:59,560
Butler and obviously Steff, you know what I mean? Like that,

1636
01:16:59,760 --> 01:17:01,319
that that's the level it would have to be because

1637
01:17:01,359 --> 01:17:03,960
it wasn't enough last year with him, So you need

1638
01:17:04,039 --> 01:17:06,640
another step up of at least that size, which.

1639
01:17:06,520 --> 01:17:09,520
Speaker 1: Like I was that I think the uncomfortable truth might

1640
01:17:09,640 --> 01:17:12,319
be is maybe it's not about getting that player, but

1641
01:17:12,399 --> 01:17:14,279
are we at the point to where if you really

1642
01:17:14,359 --> 01:17:17,279
wanted to keep this window open, We're not just looking

1643
01:17:17,319 --> 01:17:21,319
at Kaminga and picks. What does Draymond and picks get you?

1644
01:17:21,640 --> 01:17:23,079
H Like, does that if you can use that, if

1645
01:17:23,119 --> 01:17:25,520
you can keep Jimmy Butler because the numbers the offense

1646
01:17:25,520 --> 01:17:27,039
isn't good when he plays without Steph. But I think

1647
01:17:27,039 --> 01:17:28,560
the Warriors are still like a plus eight per one

1648
01:17:28,640 --> 01:17:31,920
hundred in his solo minutes. If you get Anthony Davis

1649
01:17:32,760 --> 01:17:34,600
and you have Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler and Steph, or

1650
01:17:34,640 --> 01:17:37,479
you better off than you are with Draymond, Jimmy Butler

1651
01:17:37,560 --> 01:17:37,920
and Steph.

1652
01:17:38,359 --> 01:17:40,079
Speaker 2: I think, without question.

1653
01:17:40,119 --> 01:17:44,119
Speaker 1: You and that they're in. Like we could go through

1654
01:17:44,239 --> 01:17:47,680
names all we want, but therein lies the problem because

1655
01:17:48,039 --> 01:17:51,840
if the run is over, I'm okay that twenty twenty

1656
01:17:51,880 --> 01:17:54,680
two title I think changed. I still think that the

1657
01:17:54,760 --> 01:17:57,640
way that the Warriors publicly conveyed what they're doing and

1658
01:17:57,720 --> 01:17:59,880
have tried to go about their business, they're just they

1659
01:18:00,039 --> 01:18:01,760
haven't been on the same page. If they were, okay,

1660
01:18:01,880 --> 01:18:05,000
kind of just fading off into the sunset of like

1661
01:18:05,079 --> 01:18:07,680
we're gonna be relevant while Steph is still here, but

1662
01:18:07,760 --> 01:18:09,720
we're not gonna win another title after twenty twenty two.

1663
01:18:10,039 --> 01:18:13,560
I'm okay with that, But everything they've done it feels

1664
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:16,079
like it has been at war with themselves to where

1665
01:18:16,119 --> 01:18:17,840
they can't figure it out. And you want to give

1666
01:18:17,880 --> 01:18:21,199
the appearance that you're hashtag going for it. But at

1667
01:18:21,199 --> 01:18:23,000
this point, if you decide your run is over and

1668
01:18:23,079 --> 01:18:24,840
you don't want to put all these picks on the table,

1669
01:18:25,720 --> 01:18:27,920
I don't want to say I don't. I'm never okay

1670
01:18:28,000 --> 01:18:29,600
with it because it'd be fun to see Steph on

1671
01:18:29,640 --> 01:18:31,680
the biggest stage again. But if he's content and wants

1672
01:18:31,680 --> 01:18:34,079
to finish his career there where he won four titles

1673
01:18:34,079 --> 01:18:35,720
and turned into one of the ten greatest players of

1674
01:18:35,760 --> 01:18:38,960
all time, that's okay. Like the Warriors are still gonna

1675
01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:42,039
be a play in or slightly better team. That's kind

1676
01:18:42,079 --> 01:18:44,720
of is that? What does that do for you as

1677
01:18:44,760 --> 01:18:46,000
a Warriors fan? Though?

1678
01:18:46,079 --> 01:18:46,720
Speaker 2: Is there?

1679
01:18:46,800 --> 01:18:49,880
Speaker 1: Do you feel some sort of betrayal to the Steph

1680
01:18:50,039 --> 01:18:50,680
window or No?

1681
01:18:51,319 --> 01:18:54,640
Speaker 2: No, I think because the four Like, it's hard to

1682
01:18:54,680 --> 01:18:56,840
do better than four championships in a career. There's just

1683
01:18:56,880 --> 01:18:59,399
not a lot of situations that have yielded more than that.

1684
01:18:59,560 --> 01:19:04,760
So if that's it, that's fine. I you know, I

1685
01:19:04,840 --> 01:19:08,520
think the only sort of non negotiable for me is

1686
01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:12,439
that like, you can't whatever next iteration of this team

1687
01:19:13,239 --> 01:19:15,960
look whatever, it looks like Steph can't. It has to

1688
01:19:16,039 --> 01:19:18,399
involve Steph, I think. And maybe that means like he

1689
01:19:18,720 --> 01:19:22,520
plays next year and retires, but trading him would be

1690
01:19:22,640 --> 01:19:24,479
like as a fan, the blow that would be too

1691
01:19:24,560 --> 01:19:27,359
hard to take. Draymond is different one because you sort

1692
01:19:27,359 --> 01:19:28,960
of rip the band aid off on that front by

1693
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:32,279
by losing Clay, right, so, like we know Clay is

1694
01:19:32,760 --> 01:19:35,319
as much a as part of the core as Draymon was.

1695
01:19:35,800 --> 01:19:38,479
That was a different situation because Clay Anthony Slater and

1696
01:19:38,479 --> 01:19:40,640
Tim McMahon had a good write up of it. It's

1697
01:19:40,720 --> 01:19:44,079
just like he was offended, he was hurt by the

1698
01:19:44,119 --> 01:19:46,439
way things went, and so he wanted to leave. And

1699
01:19:46,560 --> 01:19:49,720
that's fine. Draymond doesn't seem to want to leave, but

1700
01:19:50,239 --> 01:19:54,359
you know that's like bearable. I guess Steph is just

1701
01:19:54,439 --> 01:19:58,800
a different category, Like he's just the Duncan Dirk Kobe, like,

1702
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:00,880
you can't. It can't be it that you can't be

1703
01:20:00,960 --> 01:20:03,600
in another Jersey type of thing. So if you want

1704
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:06,439
to just ride it out and not contend with him there,

1705
01:20:06,760 --> 01:20:09,439
as long as he's okay with that, which like quietly

1706
01:20:09,520 --> 01:20:11,800
he's not, but he's just not the type of person

1707
01:20:11,920 --> 01:20:15,800
to like make it ugly that I can deal with that.

1708
01:20:16,399 --> 01:20:18,000
But yeah, part of it is just like that might

1709
01:20:18,039 --> 01:20:20,520
be the only option because even if you do trade

1710
01:20:20,600 --> 01:20:22,560
Draymond and you get Anthony Davis, I still don't know

1711
01:20:22,560 --> 01:20:24,960
if that's good enough. Right, Like we're talking about the

1712
01:20:25,000 --> 01:20:27,520
Thunder and the Nuggets and the Rockets and whoever you

1713
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:29,359
think comes out of the East, the Knicks or Pistons

1714
01:20:29,439 --> 01:20:31,439
or Calves or whatever, Like, I don't know if they're

1715
01:20:31,680 --> 01:20:34,800
not better than all those teams, but.

1716
01:20:34,920 --> 01:20:37,439
Speaker 1: If you're going to so if that's the route that

1717
01:20:37,479 --> 01:20:41,760
they're being forced down, what do you do with Jonathan Kaminga?

1718
01:20:42,199 --> 01:20:44,399
What do you do with Brandon Prijemski? What do you

1719
01:20:44,479 --> 01:20:47,439
have these Geese Antos, Pat Spencer or Quinton Post. Do

1720
01:20:47,520 --> 01:20:49,920
you try to lean further in and you're getting a

1721
01:20:49,960 --> 01:20:52,399
little bit worse? Maybe, but it's what we're still trying

1722
01:20:52,439 --> 01:20:54,960
to plan or is it. I just don't know how

1723
01:20:55,039 --> 01:20:57,600
you juggle that aspect, because then what's the point of

1724
01:20:58,680 --> 01:21:01,560
trading Kaminga is do you get anything as a standalone

1725
01:21:01,600 --> 01:21:03,439
asset for Kamingo? I would argue at this point, if

1726
01:21:03,439 --> 01:21:05,119
I'm a team, I'm more interested in Brandon for Jamski

1727
01:21:05,159 --> 01:21:06,239
than I am Johnathan Aminga.

1728
01:21:06,359 --> 01:21:10,119
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean you might not be wrong. Pajemski

1729
01:21:10,159 --> 01:21:12,840
has quietly shot it well enough lately that like you

1730
01:21:12,880 --> 01:21:17,159
could see him as a starting level player again. Yeah,

1731
01:21:17,159 --> 01:21:19,199
I don't know. We had this conversation maybe a week ago,

1732
01:21:20,159 --> 01:21:23,159
and just to illustrate like how quickly things have always

1733
01:21:23,239 --> 01:21:25,560
changed in the cominga conversation. Now, I'm just like kind

1734
01:21:25,600 --> 01:21:26,960
of where you were, which is like, is he just

1735
01:21:27,000 --> 01:21:28,119
an expiring salary?

1736
01:21:28,279 --> 01:21:28,479
Speaker 1: Is that?

1737
01:21:29,000 --> 01:21:31,720
Speaker 2: Is that what you you're excited to get as the

1738
01:21:31,760 --> 01:21:36,159
team that trades for him, Like maybe, because the alternative

1739
01:21:36,239 --> 01:21:38,960
is you see enough in there to believe he's a

1740
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:42,199
twenty plus million dollar player with massive upside and you've

1741
01:21:42,239 --> 01:21:44,520
got this like free shot at looking at that next year,

1742
01:21:44,720 --> 01:21:46,279
and then you have to deal with his free agency

1743
01:21:46,399 --> 01:21:46,560
like that.

1744
01:21:47,039 --> 01:21:47,359
Speaker 1: I don't know.

1745
01:21:47,479 --> 01:21:49,279
Speaker 2: Maybe there's a team that thinks that way. It's hard

1746
01:21:49,359 --> 01:21:51,640
to it's hard to pick out who that would be

1747
01:21:51,840 --> 01:21:53,840
that would give up something of real value for that

1748
01:21:54,039 --> 01:21:59,560
for that opportunity. I think so the I don't know,

1749
01:21:59,640 --> 01:22:02,039
we're making this too long, but basically like I'd never

1750
01:22:02,159 --> 01:22:05,319
begrudge the Warriors for not like a lot of people are, like,

1751
01:22:05,399 --> 01:22:09,199
they've watched the cominga situation. They should There were fifteen

1752
01:22:09,239 --> 01:22:12,039
opportunities to move on from him where it was obvious

1753
01:22:12,079 --> 01:22:15,920
that they should have. I personally, you hurt, you lived

1754
01:22:15,960 --> 01:22:18,199
through it went back and forth a million times, and

1755
01:22:18,279 --> 01:22:20,720
I never now I feel like I have a like, Okay,

1756
01:22:20,880 --> 01:22:24,199
so he's just not going to be that player. It's

1757
01:22:24,279 --> 01:22:26,239
really hard to figure that out over the whole course.

1758
01:22:26,359 --> 01:22:29,079
And I sympathize with the Warriors being like and now

1759
01:22:29,560 --> 01:22:32,720
this was like certain factions of the brain Trust felt

1760
01:22:32,920 --> 01:22:37,720
very strongly, but differently. I think, you know, ownership believe.

1761
01:22:37,479 --> 01:22:42,680
Speaker 1: Chack Zach Staff did not. It does not. So it's

1762
01:22:43,680 --> 01:22:44,279
a disconnect.

1763
01:22:45,079 --> 01:22:47,880
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. I don't hold it against the Warriors, though,

1764
01:22:48,079 --> 01:22:51,800
to wrap it for just taking this long to realize like,

1765
01:22:51,880 --> 01:22:54,920
oh shit, yeah he's he, ain't it. We should have

1766
01:22:55,000 --> 01:22:56,600
moved them, because you could have moved them for so

1767
01:22:56,840 --> 01:23:00,239
much more, you know, a million at a million different

1768
01:23:00,279 --> 01:23:02,079
stops along the way to where we are now.

1769
01:23:03,520 --> 01:23:06,880
Speaker 1: Our next team up. It's almost surprising we're talking about

1770
01:23:06,880 --> 01:23:10,119
them already. But the Dallas Mavericks our first question I

1771
01:23:10,159 --> 01:23:11,760
think is the obvious question, but it's kind of two

1772
01:23:11,800 --> 01:23:16,680
and one. Is trading Anthony Davis grant the right move? Yeah,

1773
01:23:16,720 --> 01:23:19,800
And I think there are two legs to this. What

1774
01:23:20,000 --> 01:23:22,880
is Anthony Davis's trade value right now given how he's

1775
01:23:22,920 --> 01:23:26,239
played when he's been available. But also the other question

1776
01:23:26,399 --> 01:23:29,199
I'll bring back to the NBA this thing is has

1777
01:23:29,239 --> 01:23:32,119
their tanking went to Officially they're closer to just being

1778
01:23:32,199 --> 01:23:34,039
in the play in than they are having the thirteenth

1779
01:23:34,119 --> 01:23:37,600
record in the Western Conference, And so I'm starting to wonder,

1780
01:23:37,800 --> 01:23:39,960
is not that they should go out and try and win,

1781
01:23:40,159 --> 01:23:42,159
but is it all right? Let's just regroup and we'll

1782
01:23:42,199 --> 01:23:44,439
figure all this out over the offseason.

1783
01:23:45,600 --> 01:23:49,439
Speaker 2: So the first part of the first leg, I guess

1784
01:23:49,560 --> 01:23:51,800
is the one that settles it for me, which is

1785
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:55,399
like the question of his value, And I just don't

1786
01:23:55,600 --> 01:23:57,880
even with you know, I've had a couple injuries already

1787
01:23:57,920 --> 01:24:01,800
this year. One was fair protract like fourteen he missed

1788
01:24:01,800 --> 01:24:03,880
fourteen games with the cat whatever it was, it was,

1789
01:24:03,960 --> 01:24:07,399
it was a long stretch. Do you think Anthony Davis's

1790
01:24:07,520 --> 01:24:10,319
value is going up or down or staying the same

1791
01:24:10,760 --> 01:24:15,079
as time passes? Starting now? Down right, I think it's

1792
01:24:15,159 --> 01:24:19,359
down age if he has another little spat of injuries

1793
01:24:19,399 --> 01:24:22,640
this year, if he declined playing the five though.

1794
01:24:22,800 --> 01:24:23,840
Speaker 1: So maybe he wants out.

1795
01:24:25,279 --> 01:24:27,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe maybe he's gonna push for it because he's

1796
01:24:27,560 --> 01:24:29,600
he's gonna go to his grave saying he's a four.

1797
01:24:31,159 --> 01:24:35,079
That settles it for me. And like that's while acknowledging

1798
01:24:35,159 --> 01:24:38,439
that like the idea of Kyrie and Cooper Flag and

1799
01:24:38,520 --> 01:24:41,039
Davis and some role players that I generally like is

1800
01:24:41,119 --> 01:24:45,319
like kind of intriguing, like for next year, I guess,

1801
01:24:45,359 --> 01:24:47,760
because I don't think you get real Kyrie until next year.

1802
01:24:48,439 --> 01:24:49,800
Speaker 1: Again, I don't know how real it is. But like

1803
01:24:49,840 --> 01:24:51,800
they've come up. They just beat the Pistons. They've been

1804
01:24:52,159 --> 01:24:55,920
pretty in offense and defense since Thanksgiving. Like that's I

1805
01:24:55,960 --> 01:24:58,279
think it's an eleven games or non game sample size,

1806
01:24:58,279 --> 01:25:01,560
so it's not the entire season. But the temptation of no,

1807
01:25:01,640 --> 01:25:03,880
I'm not double I will not you do not double

1808
01:25:03,960 --> 01:25:06,840
down or reinvest in this roster anyway, shape or form.

1809
01:25:06,880 --> 01:25:09,439
But I get the not the allure, but sort of

1810
01:25:09,479 --> 01:25:11,600
the resignation of well, if this is where we are

1811
01:25:11,680 --> 01:25:13,600
in the standings right now, look at where we got

1812
01:25:13,680 --> 01:25:16,800
Cooper Flag from. Anyway, why why would you move Anthony

1813
01:25:16,880 --> 01:25:19,920
Davis is if even if you think he's gonna get worse, though,

1814
01:25:20,399 --> 01:25:24,119
do you think the offers get meaningfully different or worse

1815
01:25:25,199 --> 01:25:27,880
leading into February fifth versus over the summer.

1816
01:25:29,760 --> 01:25:31,720
Speaker 2: Well, it's kind of like the honest thing we talked about,

1817
01:25:31,720 --> 01:25:34,880
where I guess it's a little well, what's this contract.

1818
01:25:34,920 --> 01:25:36,800
So he's got the player option in twenty seven to

1819
01:25:36,840 --> 01:25:39,319
twenty eight, So if you trade him now, the team

1820
01:25:39,399 --> 01:25:43,239
that gets him gets this year the following year. Yeah,

1821
01:25:43,279 --> 01:25:45,199
it is kind of similar to honest, whereas if you

1822
01:25:45,239 --> 01:25:46,319
trade him next year.

1823
01:25:46,479 --> 01:25:51,079
Speaker 1: Sorry, if if Anthony Davis is threatening to decline that

1824
01:25:51,319 --> 01:25:55,960
player option, go ahead, buddy, go ahead. Who's giving you

1825
01:25:56,199 --> 01:25:58,239
sixty something million dollars away? Well?

1826
01:25:58,880 --> 01:26:01,399
Speaker 2: What's the eligible four though? I feel like I put

1827
01:26:01,479 --> 01:26:04,760
this in my notes somewhere. So he's eligible for four

1828
01:26:04,880 --> 01:26:06,319
years two seventy five.

1829
01:26:06,479 --> 01:26:08,520
Speaker 1: Not kidding you shouldn't get it. He should get it.

1830
01:26:08,800 --> 01:26:11,600
Speaker 2: He's gonna ask for it, and that's well, I guess

1831
01:26:11,600 --> 01:26:15,680
that doesn't answer the question of his values fluctuation going forward,

1832
01:26:15,720 --> 01:26:17,760
because that's just always going to hang over that's hanging

1833
01:26:17,760 --> 01:26:21,000
over it now and it will continue to right. I

1834
01:26:22,319 --> 01:26:24,640
don't think it's we could kind of. I don't think

1835
01:26:24,680 --> 01:26:28,199
it's more complicated than even if you don't think his

1836
01:26:28,359 --> 01:26:30,960
value is super high right now, it's highly unlikely to

1837
01:26:31,039 --> 01:26:34,319
me that it goes up as time passes, because what

1838
01:26:34,760 --> 01:26:36,399
like what would be the scenario is he just he

1839
01:26:36,680 --> 01:26:38,640
stays fully healthy the rest of the year and plays great.

1840
01:26:38,760 --> 01:26:41,520
I guess that's possible. I wouldn't bet on that though,

1841
01:26:42,079 --> 01:26:47,760
So like I guess to me, Cooper Flag just offers

1842
01:26:47,800 --> 01:26:50,720
you cover for anything, and like we did, we also

1843
01:26:50,840 --> 01:26:55,159
had the did is as the tanking window closed? I

1844
01:26:55,239 --> 01:26:57,840
mean yeah, maybe, but also this is the only pick

1845
01:26:57,920 --> 01:27:01,119
you got for a long time? Yeah, you might like

1846
01:27:01,920 --> 01:27:04,319
something better? Is like is there go ahead?

1847
01:27:04,600 --> 01:27:07,800
Speaker 1: Who has their Charlotte has their twenty twenty seven pick?

1848
01:27:07,920 --> 01:27:09,800
Speaker 2: Right, LaMelo, let's do it?

1849
01:27:13,039 --> 01:27:16,640
Speaker 1: No for what like Anthony? But like I mean one,

1850
01:27:16,800 --> 01:27:18,239
I mean that's the other question I had.

1851
01:27:18,319 --> 01:27:18,760
Speaker 2: Where is it?

1852
01:27:19,000 --> 01:27:19,119
Speaker 1: Is it?

1853
01:27:19,279 --> 01:27:19,399
Speaker 2: Well?

1854
01:27:19,439 --> 01:27:21,359
Speaker 1: Should they I won't throw that. Should they swing on

1855
01:27:21,439 --> 01:27:23,239
a young ball handler? Then if they're not going to

1856
01:27:23,319 --> 01:27:26,000
tam like Lamello would fall at the young ish or

1857
01:27:26,119 --> 01:27:27,399
do you is it should they be looking at a

1858
01:27:27,399 --> 01:27:28,000
second draft?

1859
01:27:28,079 --> 01:27:28,239
Speaker 2: Guy?

1860
01:27:28,840 --> 01:27:30,560
Speaker 1: I'm not I don't know what they should do, but

1861
01:27:30,640 --> 01:27:33,479
I default towards get what you can for a d

1862
01:27:33,760 --> 01:27:36,640
and you should lean into No, you're not gonna have

1863
01:27:36,800 --> 01:27:39,880
a record that's on the Nets or Wizards level, but

1864
01:27:40,119 --> 01:27:42,880
just lean into this being the developmental year. Don't bring

1865
01:27:43,000 --> 01:27:44,920
Kyrie back he's not or if you want to bring

1866
01:27:45,000 --> 01:27:46,880
him back, bring him back the last ten games or whatever,

1867
01:27:46,920 --> 01:27:49,560
if he's healthy enough, and you could recalibrate over the summer.

1868
01:27:49,600 --> 01:27:51,760
When you no longer own your you have to max

1869
01:27:51,920 --> 01:27:53,600
and if look, if you're not going to trade Davis,

1870
01:27:53,640 --> 01:27:55,920
shut him down that because I don't think he's gonna

1871
01:27:55,920 --> 01:27:58,560
do anything this season to improve his trade value.

1872
01:27:59,039 --> 01:28:01,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean how different. It's very different. But like

1873
01:28:02,079 --> 01:28:04,840
them and the Suns are both kind of like I

1874
01:28:04,880 --> 01:28:07,159
guess they're moving in different directions. So now I just

1875
01:28:07,239 --> 01:28:10,840
think you have Cooper Flag, you have this pick, and

1876
01:28:10,920 --> 01:28:13,680
you don't have other picks. I don't I'm not saying tank, yeah,

1877
01:28:13,760 --> 01:28:16,000
something like you're talking about, like, let's let's kind of

1878
01:28:16,079 --> 01:28:20,640
middle You can't you gotta trade Davis. I want to

1879
01:28:20,640 --> 01:28:22,239
circle all the way back to the original question. I

1880
01:28:22,279 --> 01:28:23,920
think you have to trade him that.

1881
01:28:24,000 --> 01:28:26,920
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get Arlette would be interested in Anthony Davis.

1882
01:28:26,960 --> 01:28:28,279
To the point that they would give you back your

1883
01:28:28,319 --> 01:28:28,760
two thousand.

1884
01:28:28,800 --> 01:28:31,760
Speaker 2: Well, there's nothing about Charlotte's recent transactional history that is

1885
01:28:32,039 --> 01:28:34,039
just there would at all be interested in someone like

1886
01:28:34,159 --> 01:28:34,920
Anthony Davis.

1887
01:28:35,640 --> 01:28:37,039
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know what else you could maybe

1888
01:28:37,079 --> 01:28:39,359
offer Charlotte one of your distant first that you still

1889
01:28:39,439 --> 01:28:41,239
have to get that back. But we've already shown that.

1890
01:28:41,520 --> 01:28:43,199
What if Cooper Flag's is just too good and Tanking

1891
01:28:43,239 --> 01:28:46,199
doesn't like I don't think he's the He's been among

1892
01:28:46,279 --> 01:28:47,720
the reasons that they're not the worst team in the

1893
01:28:47,800 --> 01:28:50,840
league right now but by next year. So yeah, maybe

1894
01:28:50,960 --> 01:28:52,640
not getting your own pick back I don't think is

1895
01:28:52,640 --> 01:28:54,079
as big of a priority as it might be for

1896
01:28:54,159 --> 01:28:58,600
certain other teams, just because of Cooper flag prediction. Very quickly, then,

1897
01:28:58,720 --> 01:29:01,600
does Anthony Davis get moved by the trade deadline.

1898
01:29:02,479 --> 01:29:04,520
Speaker 2: I'll say yes, Why not? That's more interesting.

1899
01:29:04,800 --> 01:29:06,399
Speaker 1: I will say yes, and it will not be to

1900
01:29:06,479 --> 01:29:09,600
the Pistons because I do not understand that even a

1901
01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:12,359
little bit. Here's another team we're going to talk about, Grant,

1902
01:29:12,760 --> 01:29:16,880
the Utah Jazz, And I think this is the cliche question,

1903
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:19,119
but we got to ask it again. Are they winning

1904
01:29:19,199 --> 01:29:20,439
too much? Once more?

1905
01:29:22,199 --> 01:29:26,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean just for statistical purposes, Yeah, Dallas getting

1906
01:29:26,319 --> 01:29:28,680
flag out of the last draft suggests that well you

1907
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:30,520
know who knows. But you don't want to rely on

1908
01:29:30,600 --> 01:29:33,560
the math that got the math slash vision that landed

1909
01:29:33,600 --> 01:29:37,439
Cooper flag in Dallas. If you're the Jazz again, though.

1910
01:29:37,600 --> 01:29:39,760
Speaker 1: Well you do when your pick might go to Okay, see,

1911
01:29:39,840 --> 01:29:40,520
because well.

1912
01:29:40,399 --> 01:29:42,279
Speaker 2: That's right, they will top eight, so they lose it

1913
01:29:42,560 --> 01:29:45,359
if they're too and that might be the biggest do

1914
01:29:45,399 --> 01:29:46,319
they have if.

1915
01:29:46,199 --> 01:29:49,920
Speaker 1: They have the eighth worst record of boy and we.

1916
01:29:49,960 --> 01:29:53,000
Speaker 2: Were promised, we were promised there would be no shenanigans.

1917
01:29:53,399 --> 01:29:55,560
Speaker 1: And the Bucks are coming for him fast, So.

1918
01:29:57,159 --> 01:29:59,479
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a disaster. If you lose the pick

1919
01:29:59,560 --> 01:30:02,640
out right, you've definitely the answer is you've definitely won

1920
01:30:02,720 --> 01:30:05,720
too much that like that can't happen, can it? You can't.

1921
01:30:05,760 --> 01:30:07,199
Speaker 1: I don't think we need to spend more. The answer

1922
01:30:07,359 --> 01:30:09,520
is yes, and it's been sometimes it's been fun. But

1923
01:30:09,560 --> 01:30:12,159
the answer is you need to figure out moving forward.

1924
01:30:12,479 --> 01:30:15,199
You don't want to embrace shenanigans. But you can't be

1925
01:30:15,359 --> 01:30:18,239
better than this many teams like you got. You gotta

1926
01:30:18,279 --> 01:30:20,760
figure out how to be worse than the moving forward

1927
01:30:20,880 --> 01:30:22,840
like but you know what's scary, Grant When you look

1928
01:30:22,840 --> 01:30:26,159
at the teams below them, Hornets, Nets, Kings, Pacers, Clippers,

1929
01:30:26,199 --> 01:30:29,880
Pelicans' Wizards. The Hornets feel like the only team that

1930
01:30:29,960 --> 01:30:33,640
could possibly be But maybe the Kings tricked themselves into

1931
01:30:33,720 --> 01:30:35,680
thinking that they could be better and do something at

1932
01:30:35,720 --> 01:30:38,920
the deadline. But yeah, that's where Utah gets iffy. The

1933
01:30:39,000 --> 01:30:41,760
one thing they could do, which is our second question.

1934
01:30:41,840 --> 01:30:44,520
We have to ask it, what does the Godfather offer

1935
01:30:44,600 --> 01:30:46,399
for Lowry market? And look like what is the you're

1936
01:30:46,520 --> 01:30:49,399
you're running the Jazz And just as a baseline, the

1937
01:30:49,760 --> 01:30:52,560
combined number of first round picks or prospects, just putting

1938
01:30:52,560 --> 01:30:54,640
a number like how many do you need to get?

1939
01:30:54,720 --> 01:30:56,800
And I think everyone just gonna point has the preface

1940
01:30:56,880 --> 01:30:59,000
to say it has been banying got four and if

1941
01:30:59,000 --> 01:31:00,840
the Jazz want to take back bad money, that needs

1942
01:31:00,880 --> 01:31:03,680
to be the floor. I just don't know, Like I

1943
01:31:03,720 --> 01:31:06,439
don't Detroit's the team everybody wants to mention, even san Antonio.

1944
01:31:06,479 --> 01:31:09,720
I just don't see those teams coming in with X amounts.

1945
01:31:09,720 --> 01:31:12,159
So it's twofold. What's the minimum for you that it

1946
01:31:12,239 --> 01:31:14,479
takes to even consider moving Lowry? And are you at

1947
01:31:14,520 --> 01:31:17,159
the point where not you move him for whatever, But

1948
01:31:17,279 --> 01:31:20,600
are you reaching def con tis to okay, like we

1949
01:31:21,039 --> 01:31:22,760
like if he's not okay, being shut down, like we

1950
01:31:22,840 --> 01:31:25,000
need to do something here because we are winning too much.

1951
01:31:25,239 --> 01:31:30,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting aspect of it. I I think

1952
01:31:30,520 --> 01:31:32,520
he's I think we talked about this early like he's

1953
01:31:32,600 --> 01:31:35,680
I think he's better than Baine. And so if there's

1954
01:31:35,800 --> 01:31:39,960
no CACP or Cole Anthony type contracts coming back, then

1955
01:31:40,000 --> 01:31:43,199
you could talk me into three or four ish first

1956
01:31:43,319 --> 01:31:45,560
round assets. But if they're and I don't know how

1957
01:31:45,600 --> 01:31:49,159
you structure this without some kind of bad money coming back,

1958
01:31:49,159 --> 01:31:52,399
probably because Mark Gonna makes so much, Like then we're

1959
01:31:52,479 --> 01:31:55,039
at five, then we're at the Baine level as the baseline.

1960
01:31:55,039 --> 01:31:57,159
And you know for sure that it's not just people

1961
01:31:57,239 --> 01:32:00,640
saying it's like that's what the jazz are gonna point to,

1962
01:32:00,880 --> 01:32:03,279
right like that, that's what the market says a guy

1963
01:32:03,399 --> 01:32:06,199
like this is worth or someone similar to this. So

1964
01:32:06,560 --> 01:32:08,760
I if you're sending me back bad money, I need

1965
01:32:08,880 --> 01:32:12,319
five first first round assets or the equivalent. Sorry. And

1966
01:32:12,439 --> 01:32:14,560
also I'm Danny Ainge, so I'm starting the bidding at eight.

1967
01:32:15,039 --> 01:32:17,119
And just because I know I got to anchor and

1968
01:32:17,199 --> 01:32:17,399
then you.

1969
01:32:17,439 --> 01:32:20,640
Speaker 1: Could talk about how you almost got right or whatever,

1970
01:32:20,760 --> 01:32:25,119
or I I'm probably a little bit more. It obviously

1971
01:32:25,199 --> 01:32:27,039
depends on the quality of assets. But I think if

1972
01:32:27,119 --> 01:32:29,920
someone's coming in and has four and you have to

1973
01:32:30,000 --> 01:32:32,520
take back bad money that's only on the books for

1974
01:32:32,560 --> 01:32:36,760
two more years or something, I'm having a discussion. I

1975
01:32:37,039 --> 01:32:38,840
just don't. I don't think that offer is gonna be

1976
01:32:38,880 --> 01:32:41,119
their mid season It feels more like an off season thing,

1977
01:32:41,439 --> 01:32:44,560
if anything. Which is my other question for them would

1978
01:32:44,560 --> 01:32:47,159
be should they sell high on any of the other

1979
01:32:47,279 --> 01:32:49,000
young guys. And you know how I feel about this,

1980
01:32:49,840 --> 01:32:51,399
because I would be looking at, hey, what could we

1981
01:32:51,439 --> 01:32:53,479
get for Cann't they George right now? I'd also be

1982
01:32:53,600 --> 01:32:56,399
looking Teller Hendricks has probably at as an idea. Unfortunately,

1983
01:32:56,439 --> 01:32:58,319
I love Taylor Hendricks. I don't know what to do

1984
01:32:58,359 --> 01:33:01,159
about Walker Kessler. They've reportedly been rebuffing interest even as

1985
01:33:01,199 --> 01:33:03,479
he's injured. I think the teams that were named were

1986
01:33:03,479 --> 01:33:08,920
the Lakers and the Pacers and the Raptors. I'm just

1987
01:33:09,000 --> 01:33:11,560
if I'm the Jazz, I'm kind of short of Ace Bailey.

1988
01:33:12,359 --> 01:33:14,520
I'm just open to anything at this.

1989
01:33:14,640 --> 01:33:17,119
Speaker 2: I mean, I think in theory I am too, But

1990
01:33:17,239 --> 01:33:20,079
with the So let's say, chanty, let's use George as

1991
01:33:20,119 --> 01:33:25,800
the example. If you're willing to move him, it's got

1992
01:33:25,880 --> 01:33:28,239
to be a pick focused package, I guess.

1993
01:33:28,319 --> 01:33:30,079
Speaker 1: And then the hope is this fact you like better?

1994
01:33:30,279 --> 01:33:33,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, well then that's the thing, like how many prospects

1995
01:33:33,319 --> 01:33:35,760
are you going to get? Who by? Is it year three?

1996
01:33:35,880 --> 01:33:38,760
It's year three? Like how many? Right? Is it three?

1997
01:33:38,880 --> 01:33:39,720
I can't even remember?

1998
01:33:39,880 --> 01:33:40,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's.

1999
01:33:41,920 --> 01:33:44,479
Speaker 2: Like how many guys are gonna be are gonna develop

2000
01:33:44,560 --> 01:33:48,039
into better players than Keant George? Yeah you're three right now?

2001
01:33:48,359 --> 01:33:51,359
Like that, Like we we agree he's an imperfect player.

2002
01:33:51,399 --> 01:33:53,479
We don't really know anything because the Jazz aren't. The

2003
01:33:53,520 --> 01:33:55,239
Jazz are better than expected, but they're not like a

2004
01:33:55,359 --> 01:33:59,439
good team. So what do his numbers really mean? A

2005
01:33:59,479 --> 01:34:02,279
lot of question marks? But like twenty four and seven

2006
01:34:02,640 --> 01:34:05,039
and it's like the main offensive guy other than marketing,

2007
01:34:05,199 --> 01:34:07,600
Like how many guys are getting their third year gonna

2008
01:34:07,600 --> 01:34:10,279
eclipse that? So if you're trading George, it's because you

2009
01:34:10,359 --> 01:34:12,920
think you're gonna do better than that with whoever you're

2010
01:34:12,960 --> 01:34:15,760
bringing back. Like that's I was one aking it. I'm

2011
01:34:15,760 --> 01:34:16,840
just saying that's a pretty high bar.

2012
01:34:17,359 --> 01:34:19,640
Speaker 1: Yeah that's fair, But like if it was something like

2013
01:34:19,760 --> 01:34:22,000
Tary Easan and you're getting a low end first round

2014
01:34:22,039 --> 01:34:23,479
pick for Aki.

2015
01:34:23,399 --> 01:34:26,039
Speaker 2: I'm just kind of deciding that I guess you're you're saying,

2016
01:34:26,119 --> 01:34:30,359
as the Jazz, like, we don't think George is oversimplification,

2017
01:34:30,399 --> 01:34:32,479
but like, this isn't like winning play. We don't believe

2018
01:34:32,560 --> 01:34:33,159
this translation.

2019
01:34:33,279 --> 01:34:34,680
Speaker 1: This isn't something that we want to I mean, the

2020
01:34:34,760 --> 01:34:36,680
numbers of twenty two and seven or whatever it is,

2021
01:34:36,760 --> 01:34:39,359
with some improved shooting and just decision making. We don't

2022
01:34:39,399 --> 01:34:42,640
want to invest thirty million dollars a year. We already

2023
01:34:42,680 --> 01:34:44,680
have Lowry, we have Ace Bailey. This isn't someone that

2024
01:34:44,720 --> 01:34:46,960
we trust and we're gonna pay Walker. That's the other

2025
01:34:47,000 --> 01:34:49,039
thing here, too, is that if you're planning on paying

2026
01:34:49,039 --> 01:34:52,199
Walker Kessler, who is fantastic room protector, you've paid Lowry

2027
01:34:52,239 --> 01:34:53,560
market if you don't want to get rid of him,

2028
01:34:53,800 --> 01:34:55,760
it's I don't care they want to pay them, go

2029
01:34:55,920 --> 01:34:57,479
right ahead. I just don't know where that's going to

2030
01:34:57,560 --> 01:35:00,560
leave them. So from the Jazz's perspective, I almost argue

2031
01:35:00,560 --> 01:35:03,039
this wasn't a question we had. But if you don't

2032
01:35:03,039 --> 01:35:05,199
want to do any of the uncomfortable things that we

2033
01:35:05,439 --> 01:35:08,680
just discussed it's time to get off the fucking pot, guys.

2034
01:35:08,720 --> 01:35:10,640
And then you go make a trade, go make the

2035
01:35:10,680 --> 01:35:13,640
consolidation trade. And it's like this season might be the

2036
01:35:13,680 --> 01:35:16,319
perfect It's well, you can't do that this season. Why

2037
01:35:16,479 --> 01:35:17,159
you might lose your.

2038
01:35:17,079 --> 01:35:20,359
Speaker 2: Break anyway, right, Yeah, the added bone, you might like,

2039
01:35:20,800 --> 01:35:24,600
whatever you trade for, you might want to just mentally

2040
01:35:24,960 --> 01:35:27,359
add in the pick that you aren't losing now, because

2041
01:35:27,359 --> 01:35:29,560
you're gonna be worse than you save that pick from

2042
01:35:29,640 --> 01:35:31,720
going to the thunder. And part of the package.

2043
01:35:32,840 --> 01:35:35,279
Speaker 1: Portland Trailblazer is Grant. Can you take us to a

2044
01:35:35,399 --> 01:35:36,159
question for them?

2045
01:35:36,319 --> 01:35:38,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just want to know if the return of

2046
01:35:38,079 --> 01:35:40,800
the guards solves things for them. Drew Holliday has been

2047
01:35:40,840 --> 01:35:43,279
out schoo Henderson has yet to play. Is a mother

2048
01:35:43,399 --> 01:35:47,119
of all hamstring injuries. Apparently they're the worst three point

2049
01:35:47,159 --> 01:35:50,079
shooting team in the league. Danny Avvia has ascended partly

2050
01:35:50,119 --> 01:35:52,840
out of necessity. And it's just like the on ball

2051
01:35:53,000 --> 01:35:56,800
star Now, I wonder if that's something that might look

2052
01:35:56,840 --> 01:35:59,000
even better if you had better point guard play with

2053
01:35:59,119 --> 01:36:02,079
the shooting improve There was a stat I had for

2054
01:36:02,199 --> 01:36:05,079
something else I wrote that they're they're like twenty fifth

2055
01:36:05,199 --> 01:36:07,159
in wide open three point percentage, So it may.

2056
01:36:07,079 --> 01:36:08,560
Speaker 1: Not just be that is that bad.

2057
01:36:09,079 --> 01:36:11,199
Speaker 2: It's not good, and it may not be that. And

2058
01:36:11,279 --> 01:36:14,760
what it says is that even it's just like generating

2059
01:36:14,840 --> 01:36:17,199
more open threes might not be the solved because they

2060
01:36:17,199 --> 01:36:19,319
don't make them even when they're open. So it's not

2061
01:36:19,479 --> 01:36:21,760
just the lack of guards setting up shooters, it's that

2062
01:36:21,880 --> 01:36:25,079
the shooters suck. Uh not not the worst, not the

2063
01:36:25,159 --> 01:36:26,159
least logical argument.

2064
01:36:27,720 --> 01:36:28,600
Speaker 1: So I don't know that.

2065
01:36:28,680 --> 01:36:30,920
Speaker 2: Maybe, yeah, that's the short that's the short question is

2066
01:36:31,199 --> 01:36:34,439
is the issue here just that they don't have enough

2067
01:36:34,479 --> 01:36:36,800
playmaking guards. That's why the offense is no good. That's

2068
01:36:36,840 --> 01:36:38,560
why the shots aren't falling in. And when they get

2069
01:36:38,600 --> 01:36:41,279
them back, the Blazers are what we thought they were,

2070
01:36:41,319 --> 01:36:43,279
which is way better than five hundred, and they haven't

2071
01:36:43,319 --> 01:36:43,520
been that.

2072
01:36:44,640 --> 01:36:48,039
Speaker 1: I mean this as a compliment relative to the trade deadline.

2073
01:36:48,199 --> 01:36:51,720
I find them so thoroughly uninteresting because I just need

2074
01:36:51,800 --> 01:36:54,600
to see the scoot element of it and if it's now,

2075
01:36:54,640 --> 01:36:56,199
if you if they want to sit here and say

2076
01:36:57,079 --> 01:36:59,159
because anything they do, it might be oh, what could

2077
01:36:59,159 --> 01:37:01,199
we get for Robert Lee was the third could we

2078
01:37:01,199 --> 01:37:03,920
get matist Thibel's expiring contract can we turn him into anything?

2079
01:37:04,600 --> 01:37:04,720
Speaker 2: Now?

2080
01:37:04,840 --> 01:37:06,560
Speaker 1: They want to be the team that goes out there

2081
01:37:06,600 --> 01:37:09,439
and says, we like LaMelo, Now you've got my attention.

2082
01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:12,439
But can you make that decision when one, Scoot's probably

2083
01:37:12,520 --> 01:37:15,840
in that package and two based off what you haven't

2084
01:37:15,880 --> 01:37:18,800
seen yet this year, and so I just need to

2085
01:37:18,800 --> 01:37:21,279
see Scoot Henderson play before I have. This team has

2086
01:37:21,279 --> 01:37:23,159
actually been pretty fun to watch. I know fans have

2087
01:37:23,239 --> 01:37:25,640
been pretty peeved about the way the defensive effort from

2088
01:37:25,920 --> 01:37:28,840
Tamani Kamara and Denny Avdia points. I think Denny Avvida's

2089
01:37:28,840 --> 01:37:31,520
offensive role is just almost too central at this point

2090
01:37:31,560 --> 01:37:34,000
to expect him to be a as good as he's

2091
01:37:34,039 --> 01:37:38,279
been defensively. I just want to see them, honestly, let's

2092
01:37:38,279 --> 01:37:40,640
clear some more minutes for young Hansom at this point.

2093
01:37:40,680 --> 01:37:42,720
I don't think that they need to be invested in

2094
01:37:42,800 --> 01:37:45,800
the season to the point that they're acting like buyers,

2095
01:37:45,840 --> 01:37:48,720
but I do need more information on them before I'm saying, well,

2096
01:37:48,760 --> 01:37:52,920
what should they actually like? They're in theory they're not

2097
01:37:53,159 --> 01:37:55,439
the toughest team to talk about, but just not having

2098
01:37:55,520 --> 01:37:58,640
the Scoot Henderson sample size is really bothering me, right,

2099
01:37:58,640 --> 01:38:00,159
because what are you supposed to tell them to do

2100
01:38:00,680 --> 01:38:03,319
at the trade deadline other than stay there because they're

2101
01:38:03,359 --> 01:38:06,479
not gonna They're not. I don't think they would go

2102
01:38:06,800 --> 01:38:09,720
consolidate into a bigger name. And then I also don't

2103
01:38:09,720 --> 01:38:12,119
think that they're gonna make a half measure move. And

2104
01:38:12,199 --> 01:38:15,199
then are they gonna like, oh, we're just gonna get

2105
01:38:15,279 --> 01:38:17,159
rid of Jeremy Grant. There's a team that wants him

2106
01:38:17,159 --> 01:38:19,760
all of a sudden. I don't know it, just this team.

2107
01:38:20,000 --> 01:38:23,079
The most critical question I think they might answer is

2108
01:38:23,359 --> 01:38:26,640
who even is their most likely player to be traded Grant?

2109
01:38:28,600 --> 01:38:31,960
Speaker 2: I mean, if Grant made a little less, it might

2110
01:38:32,000 --> 01:38:34,359
be him, because he's played so much better as a starter.

2111
01:38:35,319 --> 01:38:38,000
I actually think it is him. Do you think Robert

2112
01:38:38,000 --> 01:38:39,600
Williams is the name that comes to mind? Just the

2113
01:38:39,680 --> 01:38:42,960
salaries smaller, it's easier to you know, easier. You said,

2114
01:38:43,159 --> 01:38:45,359
r W three, that's the name I was gonna pick. Yeah, Grant,

2115
01:38:45,359 --> 01:38:48,159
I apologize, Yeah, I mean Grant. It's a lot easier

2116
01:38:48,199 --> 01:38:50,399
to imagine him being traded. Grant being traded this year

2117
01:38:50,479 --> 01:38:52,880
than last year when it was just like this. This

2118
01:38:53,000 --> 01:38:54,479
is one of the worst contracts in the league. Still

2119
01:38:54,479 --> 01:38:57,680
not a great contract, but he's he's he's been more

2120
01:38:57,800 --> 01:39:00,319
like we thought he would be. I think it is

2121
01:39:00,359 --> 01:39:04,000
Williams though, right, if not just because the salary. He's

2122
01:39:04,039 --> 01:39:06,640
actually healthy at the moment. I haven't like checked in

2123
01:39:06,680 --> 01:39:09,119
the last thirty seconds, but I've seen him play basketball

2124
01:39:09,239 --> 01:39:12,279
recently and he looked pretty good. So you might want

2125
01:39:12,279 --> 01:39:14,560
to strike while the iron's hot. There also, just you

2126
01:39:14,600 --> 01:39:15,000
have clinging.

2127
01:39:15,039 --> 01:39:17,399
Speaker 1: I sometimes I wondered if his dwop wreath in a wig,

2128
01:39:17,520 --> 01:39:18,399
but yeah.

2129
01:39:19,479 --> 01:39:22,800
Speaker 2: PLA's pretty different. I forgot, I almost got. I was

2130
01:39:22,880 --> 01:39:25,119
gonna start listing the other centers you want to play

2131
01:39:25,600 --> 01:39:29,359
in clinging and Hansen uh and I was gonna forget

2132
01:39:29,399 --> 01:39:32,239
wreath and I would have felt terrible about that. So

2133
01:39:32,399 --> 01:39:33,560
thank you for bringing him up.

2134
01:39:33,960 --> 01:39:35,720
Speaker 1: Do you know what that so regulator as Could they

2135
01:39:35,720 --> 01:39:37,800
get a first for Drew Holliday, I would say absolutely

2136
01:39:37,840 --> 01:39:40,560
not or any of the other veterans. I mean, who

2137
01:39:40,920 --> 01:39:44,159
can Denny Abby accounts as a veteran, They probably get

2138
01:39:44,199 --> 01:39:44,760
first for him.

2139
01:39:45,079 --> 01:39:46,600
Speaker 2: You get a couple, I would say, do you.

2140
01:39:46,600 --> 01:39:48,439
Speaker 1: Know what be the most uncomfortable questions? Do you think

2141
01:39:48,479 --> 01:39:50,399
that they have the center of the their center of

2142
01:39:50,439 --> 01:39:52,560
the future on the roster just looking at what don

2143
01:39:52,600 --> 01:39:55,840
Vin Klingen's offensive value is we don't know enough about

2144
01:39:56,039 --> 01:39:58,079
young Hansome to say no, But that would be the

2145
01:39:58,159 --> 01:40:00,079
uncomfortable question if you wanted to ask it.

2146
01:40:00,760 --> 01:40:04,159
Speaker 2: Klingon is a tricky one because I do think what

2147
01:40:04,279 --> 01:40:06,920
I think I've said in the past, like he's got

2148
01:40:07,000 --> 01:40:10,439
he's got a couple superpowers, but he's got some real deficiencies,

2149
01:40:10,479 --> 01:40:13,880
so I'm not sure about that. I think the main thing,

2150
01:40:13,920 --> 01:40:16,880
and you alluded to this, I would really like to

2151
01:40:17,000 --> 01:40:23,720
know what Avdia looks like with Scoot, like, because what

2152
01:40:23,960 --> 01:40:26,439
kind of player is Scoot gonna be in a situation

2153
01:40:26,520 --> 01:40:29,880
where like no, Ovidia should probably have the ball, like yep,

2154
01:40:30,319 --> 01:40:32,600
more than half the time if we're talking about initiating

2155
01:40:32,640 --> 01:40:33,159
the offense.

2156
01:40:33,399 --> 01:40:36,000
Speaker 1: And by the way, looming over all this, even if

2157
01:40:36,039 --> 01:40:38,720
we wanted them to go consolidate for veteran Florida Damian

2158
01:40:38,760 --> 01:40:40,800
Millard is gonna be playing basketball next season. I'm not

2159
01:40:40,800 --> 01:40:43,359
saying they need to structure their entire team around him,

2160
01:40:43,399 --> 01:40:45,680
but you can't be in the rotation though.

2161
01:40:45,880 --> 01:40:49,680
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Also they have those all those bucks picks too,

2162
01:40:50,039 --> 01:40:50,319
so like.

2163
01:40:50,399 --> 01:40:52,239
Speaker 1: They should be a honest team. That's what they should do,

2164
01:40:52,319 --> 01:40:55,960
is they should well, I mean, that's not the craziest idea,

2165
01:40:56,000 --> 01:41:01,720
but Gianness and Dame you reunite in Portland. But I'm

2166
01:41:01,800 --> 01:41:05,119
just saying, like they they've got that like just in

2167
01:41:05,199 --> 01:41:07,920
their back pocket, and those might end up being some

2168
01:41:07,960 --> 01:41:10,119
of the most valuable draft assets there are. And so

2169
01:41:11,319 --> 01:41:13,800
I guess the silver lining of not having any scoot

2170
01:41:13,880 --> 01:41:16,000
of via information is that, like you can kind of

2171
01:41:16,039 --> 01:41:18,600
slow play this for at least another year and feel

2172
01:41:18,600 --> 01:41:20,439
okay about it. You know who can't slow play it

2173
01:41:20,520 --> 01:41:23,239
because they don't know how the Sacramento Kings grant and

2174
01:41:23,319 --> 01:41:26,079
we haven't. This is like a lightning round situation for them.

2175
01:41:26,119 --> 01:41:27,680
So we're gonna go through the questions of just trying

2176
01:41:27,720 --> 01:41:30,760
to answer it's almost trade deadlines of perlatives for them. Okay,

2177
01:41:31,479 --> 01:41:35,720
So I'll start which veteran is most tradable, not most

2178
01:41:35,880 --> 01:41:38,119
likely to be tradeable, but what veteran on the team

2179
01:41:38,239 --> 01:41:39,279
is most tradable.

2180
01:41:39,640 --> 01:41:43,439
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty clearly Derozen just because length the contract,

2181
01:41:43,800 --> 01:41:46,479
what is it a ten million dollar guarantee for next season?

2182
01:41:46,640 --> 01:41:49,640
So and he's also the one that like is easier

2183
01:41:49,680 --> 01:41:52,800
to imagine being like even a bench weapon on like

2184
01:41:53,119 --> 01:41:58,000
a good playoff team. Sore more places to land, lower commitment,

2185
01:41:58,640 --> 01:42:01,560
lower asking price just makes him I think he's the

2186
01:42:01,640 --> 01:42:03,720
most tradable, easiest to move. What do you think?

2187
01:42:05,960 --> 01:42:08,119
Speaker 1: I think you might be right. I want to say

2188
01:42:08,159 --> 01:42:10,239
it should be Sabonus, but I think he's probably just

2189
01:42:10,359 --> 01:42:12,920
the best veteran. That doesn't necessarily make him the easiest

2190
01:42:12,960 --> 01:42:16,039
to move, so the only other The other nomination would

2191
01:42:16,039 --> 01:42:18,239
probably be I mean, do Kean Allis count as a

2192
01:42:18,279 --> 01:42:22,439
veteran in the league long enough? Malik Monk would probably

2193
01:42:22,439 --> 01:42:23,640
be my second nomination.

2194
01:42:24,039 --> 01:42:27,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, who's least tradable of those vets?

2195
01:42:27,560 --> 01:42:32,359
Speaker 1: I think it's honestly, I think it's Is it zach Lavine?

2196
01:42:34,079 --> 01:42:38,039
It's it's I think it's zach Lavine. But the caveat

2197
01:42:38,119 --> 01:42:40,479
here would be if zach Lavine is willing to decline

2198
01:42:40,520 --> 01:42:42,640
his player option kind of like Rudy Gobrett and then

2199
01:42:42,680 --> 01:42:44,720
sign a cheaper deal, I think he gets a lot

2200
01:42:44,840 --> 01:42:45,479
more appealing.

2201
01:42:46,079 --> 01:42:50,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, teams, he's an easier fit. Sabonis is like changes

2202
01:42:50,359 --> 01:42:52,279
how you play. Levine is just like, I hope you

2203
01:42:52,359 --> 01:42:54,439
make shots. We know he's not going to guard there,

2204
01:42:54,520 --> 01:42:55,039
you go right.

2205
01:42:55,880 --> 01:42:58,479
Speaker 1: Just if he doesn't agree, you've turned me into a

2206
01:42:58,520 --> 01:43:01,039
SA bonus defender on this podcas yes, which is incredible.

2207
01:43:01,359 --> 01:43:04,439
Speaker 2: It's been my goal all along. He's a great he

2208
01:43:04,439 --> 01:43:07,239
seems like a great guy. Like veteran. I think he's great.

2209
01:43:07,560 --> 01:43:10,199
Speaker 1: Which veteran should they want to trade the most.

2210
01:43:11,920 --> 01:43:16,000
Speaker 2: I think Sabonis because in theory, he gets you the

2211
01:43:16,079 --> 01:43:19,600
most in return, so like, if you're blowing it up,

2212
01:43:19,680 --> 01:43:21,479
you want the most picks and stuff back that you

2213
01:43:21,560 --> 01:43:23,760
can get. And I also think moving on from him

2214
01:43:23,840 --> 01:43:26,720
allows you to kind of build the team however you want.

2215
01:43:26,800 --> 01:43:28,880
As long as he's there, you're going to be built

2216
01:43:28,880 --> 01:43:29,439
a certain way.

2217
01:43:30,479 --> 01:43:32,199
Speaker 1: My issue with that is by trading him, you're not

2218
01:43:32,279 --> 01:43:34,880
really opening up runway for any of the guys that

2219
01:43:34,920 --> 01:43:37,399
you would want to see get more minutes. The latter

2220
01:43:37,520 --> 01:43:40,600
like Maxim Reina Sure, who's already playing while he's injured.

2221
01:43:40,760 --> 01:43:43,359
Speaker 2: I'm not making any moves with the idea of like

2222
01:43:43,439 --> 01:43:46,399
we've really like Nie Clifford and Keegan Murray and Reno

2223
01:43:46,520 --> 01:43:51,039
are interesting players that like getting them more minutes can't

2224
01:43:51,079 --> 01:43:53,319
be a major concern because none of them are are

2225
01:43:53,439 --> 01:43:55,520
stars or any like anything clothes.

2226
01:43:55,720 --> 01:43:58,159
Speaker 1: I honestly think they should want to trade DeRozan the

2227
01:43:58,279 --> 01:44:01,279
worst the most. I just don't I don't love the

2228
01:44:01,359 --> 01:44:03,640
fit there, and he's was shooting better from three this year,

2229
01:44:03,680 --> 01:44:04,960
but he still doesn't take enough of time. I know

2230
01:44:05,039 --> 01:44:06,760
he hit the clutch three against the game ban and

2231
01:44:06,800 --> 01:44:10,159
help losing anyway h versus Portland the other night. But

2232
01:44:10,239 --> 01:44:12,520
I think he's the player that they should want to move.

2233
01:44:12,600 --> 01:44:15,239
He just doesn't fit, Like what is he to them?

2234
01:44:15,359 --> 01:44:17,560
Especially when you have Russell Westbrook and Dennis Shrewder on

2235
01:44:17,640 --> 01:44:19,239
this team. I just I don't love it. If they

2236
01:44:19,239 --> 01:44:22,159
could move Russell Westbrook, maybe I would say him. Should

2237
01:44:22,199 --> 01:44:23,960
they be in the distressed star market? I think this

2238
01:44:24,039 --> 01:44:26,640
is our final question because or was it? Did I

2239
01:44:26,680 --> 01:44:27,119
skip one?

2240
01:44:27,680 --> 01:44:28,039
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah?

2241
01:44:28,079 --> 01:44:32,000
Speaker 1: How many picks will get them to move some bonus? Uh?

2242
01:44:32,199 --> 01:44:32,720
Two enough?

2243
01:44:33,279 --> 01:44:35,319
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think two twos plenty two might be the

2244
01:44:35,359 --> 01:44:37,239
most you can hope for because it's a big contract

2245
01:44:37,319 --> 01:44:39,159
and like I said, he's tough to build a rounds and.

2246
01:44:39,279 --> 01:44:41,600
Speaker 1: That's why I would keep him. Which means, should they

2247
01:44:41,640 --> 01:44:43,039
be in the distress, would you be mad if they

2248
01:44:43,079 --> 01:44:44,960
went out there and got a LaMelo ball?

2249
01:44:46,079 --> 01:44:48,159
Speaker 2: Oh No, not at all. I think that that would

2250
01:44:48,199 --> 01:44:49,439
be if they'd be one of the.

2251
01:44:49,640 --> 01:44:52,760
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six pick and get like a distressed star.

2252
01:44:52,880 --> 01:44:55,199
I don't love jaw there, I don't love Trey, but

2253
01:44:55,239 --> 01:44:57,279
if it's a mellow maybe even if it's Zion, I

2254
01:44:57,319 --> 01:44:59,800
don't really know what that looks like. But fuck it'

2255
01:45:00,840 --> 01:45:01,119
I think.

2256
01:45:01,359 --> 01:45:03,800
Speaker 2: And that's kind of on brand too, Like I mean,

2257
01:45:04,399 --> 01:45:06,920
like Levine and DeRozan are a little different, but like

2258
01:45:07,039 --> 01:45:10,039
they names matter. The size of the name matters for

2259
01:45:10,119 --> 01:45:10,680
sure for them.

2260
01:45:11,239 --> 01:45:13,520
Speaker 1: How many total vets should they aim to move over?

2261
01:45:13,680 --> 01:45:15,720
Under two and a half? And the answer is over

2262
01:45:16,039 --> 01:45:19,319
over right all of them? Do you trust them to

2263
01:45:19,439 --> 01:45:19,720
do that?

2264
01:45:20,079 --> 01:45:23,560
Speaker 2: Though more than I have in the past, But partly

2265
01:45:23,640 --> 01:45:25,520
that's just because the writing is so on the wall.

2266
01:45:25,760 --> 01:45:28,560
Like I think Scott Perrys, like, for whatever you think

2267
01:45:28,600 --> 01:45:30,560
about him, like he has to be seeing this clearly right.

2268
01:45:30,600 --> 01:45:33,079
Also he didn't. He's not responsible for any of this,

2269
01:45:33,239 --> 01:45:35,840
so he has the ability to kind of just say, like,

2270
01:45:36,000 --> 01:45:37,560
I'm cleaning up someone else's mess.

2271
01:45:38,439 --> 01:45:40,680
Speaker 1: Are you ready to take us to the Los Angeles

2272
01:45:40,720 --> 01:45:43,119
Clippers very quickly? Start? What's the first question or the

2273
01:45:43,199 --> 01:45:44,319
question he'd ask.

2274
01:45:44,479 --> 01:45:46,600
Speaker 2: Why not just trade Harden and Kawhi and be done

2275
01:45:46,600 --> 01:45:46,800
with it?

2276
01:45:47,479 --> 01:45:49,079
Speaker 1: Because you don't control your own draft picks.

2277
01:45:50,319 --> 01:45:52,720
Speaker 2: What if you could get him though, uh yeah, right,

2278
01:45:52,760 --> 01:45:54,760
I think that's the right answer. Let's move though to

2279
01:45:54,800 --> 01:45:58,359
the Zubots of it all, because that might be like

2280
01:45:58,680 --> 01:46:03,479
in the most and unimprobable versions of the future, how

2281
01:46:03,560 --> 01:46:05,920
you get one of those or picks back? Should they

2282
01:46:06,720 --> 01:46:08,720
be trading or looking to trade Zubots.

2283
01:46:09,920 --> 01:46:11,880
Speaker 1: I guess if you can get two first round picks

2284
01:46:11,920 --> 01:46:14,680
for Vita Zubots, I would do it. And it's sort

2285
01:46:14,720 --> 01:46:16,399
of just I know, who is the team that I was,

2286
01:46:16,520 --> 01:46:21,319
Why should the Sons do it? It's just like the

2287
01:46:21,399 --> 01:46:23,439
Sons don't have anyone that's gonna get you multiple first

2288
01:46:23,520 --> 01:46:25,199
round picks. And if you told me they got two

2289
01:46:25,199 --> 01:46:27,520
first round picks for Dylan Brooks, we're having a different conversation.

2290
01:46:28,039 --> 01:46:30,039
You can get two first round picks for Vita Zubots,

2291
01:46:30,720 --> 01:46:32,600
just do it, because you're building your team in the

2292
01:46:32,640 --> 01:46:36,119
image of flexibility anyway, And so the Sons aren't doing

2293
01:46:36,199 --> 01:46:39,319
that either. They're just married to whatever. It's like kind

2294
01:46:39,319 --> 01:46:42,079
of on the cap sheet until Kingdom come. At this point,

2295
01:46:42,920 --> 01:46:44,640
that's where I'm kind of at with the Clippers, and

2296
01:46:44,680 --> 01:46:48,199
I would absolutely be offering all of my late twenty thirty,

2297
01:46:48,239 --> 01:46:50,640
twenty thirty one, twenty thirty two, picks and zubots to

2298
01:46:50,680 --> 01:46:53,319
get my own picks back, if you can get any

2299
01:46:53,359 --> 01:46:56,279
of them back. I'm absolutely offering that. But is there

2300
01:46:56,359 --> 01:46:59,760
any name that could get you to say, you know what,

2301
01:47:00,000 --> 01:47:02,119
it's okay for them to they put they put first

2302
01:47:02,199 --> 01:47:03,960
round picks on the table to go after a name

2303
01:47:04,479 --> 01:47:05,760
that should not be on the table.

2304
01:47:05,840 --> 01:47:09,439
Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, yeah, because the quality of name that you're

2305
01:47:09,479 --> 01:47:12,079
getting with what they have to trade just isn't high enough,

2306
01:47:12,319 --> 01:47:14,159
especially as bad as they've been. They'd be like, what

2307
01:47:14,279 --> 01:47:17,000
are you? How is this guy gonna save us? Like

2308
01:47:17,319 --> 01:47:19,880
MPJ is a name that comes to mind, like.

2309
01:47:20,439 --> 01:47:22,600
Speaker 1: This might surprise you. Even if they could get LaMelo Ball,

2310
01:47:22,680 --> 01:47:24,720
I probably just said, no, I'm keeping the picks. Those

2311
01:47:24,760 --> 01:47:26,000
are so far and that's me.

2312
01:47:26,840 --> 01:47:29,359
Speaker 2: Right, that's But also at least at least he's young

2313
01:47:29,479 --> 01:47:31,279
enough to where you could pitch him as all right,

2314
01:47:31,359 --> 01:47:33,800
this is the tenth pole star going forward. Don't know

2315
01:47:33,840 --> 01:47:36,000
what we're gonna put around him, but you know, he's

2316
01:47:36,079 --> 01:47:38,920
different than I guess he's not that much younger than MPJ,

2317
01:47:39,079 --> 01:47:40,880
but like you know what I mean, at least he

2318
01:47:41,000 --> 01:47:44,640
gives it's a bleak future man like for them, So

2319
01:47:44,760 --> 01:47:47,479
at least he would give you something to market. You

2320
01:47:47,560 --> 01:47:50,039
could say he's exciting the local kid, all all the

2321
01:47:50,159 --> 01:47:52,600
all the good angles that teams throw out there when

2322
01:47:52,640 --> 01:47:54,399
they're trying to pacify a fan base.

2323
01:47:54,960 --> 01:47:59,159
Speaker 1: Who do you think would be of Kawhi Harden, Zubots,

2324
01:47:59,560 --> 01:48:01,920
who's most likely to get moved? Because I think if

2325
01:48:01,960 --> 01:48:05,000
you pick the most likely to get move player on

2326
01:48:05,159 --> 01:48:09,359
this team, it's going to be like John Collins or

2327
01:48:09,479 --> 01:48:12,199
Derek Jones of that ilk of the.

2328
01:48:12,239 --> 01:48:17,359
Speaker 2: Bigger of the big three names. Harden's tempting because he's

2329
01:48:18,119 --> 01:48:22,319
relatively speaking, he's pretty reliable and healthy and producing. I

2330
01:48:22,439 --> 01:48:26,880
still think it's Zubots only because that's the guy I

2331
01:48:26,960 --> 01:48:31,000
think you're getting the best stuff for just considering production, age,

2332
01:48:31,079 --> 01:48:32,680
contract everything like that.

2333
01:48:34,159 --> 01:48:37,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think you're right. It does doesn't

2334
01:48:37,720 --> 01:48:41,039
feel like James Harden might be easier to move than

2335
01:48:41,119 --> 01:48:42,119
Kuhi at this point or no.

2336
01:48:43,000 --> 01:48:47,479
Speaker 2: I think yes, just because you know what you're getting

2337
01:48:47,680 --> 01:48:57,520
to a greater extent, I'm that's such a I think.

2338
01:48:57,600 --> 01:49:00,600
I I don't know. It depends on that, because like

2339
01:49:01,000 --> 01:49:04,920
if you're adding Kawhi to an almost contender, it's like

2340
01:49:06,159 --> 01:49:07,920
this guy in a conference, Like what if we make

2341
01:49:07,960 --> 01:49:10,279
the conference finals? And we have like real Kauhi for

2342
01:49:10,439 --> 01:49:13,840
five of those games, like do we just win a title?

2343
01:49:13,960 --> 01:49:16,760
Like with Harden? You can't see that, right, So I

2344
01:49:16,800 --> 01:49:20,079
think for certain teams Harden, but for certain teams Kawhi.

2345
01:49:20,600 --> 01:49:22,239
You know, like, don't you think don't you think there's

2346
01:49:22,239 --> 01:49:25,239
a difference between Kawhi for sure?

2347
01:49:25,359 --> 01:49:26,159
Speaker 1: No, depending on the.

2348
01:49:26,199 --> 01:49:29,079
Speaker 2: Team, Like Harden might get you into the playoffs, like

2349
01:49:29,079 --> 01:49:30,800
because he's gonna be there every night and he's gonna

2350
01:49:30,840 --> 01:49:33,119
run your offense and you'll be solid, but Kauhi is

2351
01:49:33,199 --> 01:49:35,000
like the oh shit, like the variable.

2352
01:49:35,479 --> 01:49:38,119
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a terrible answer, but I think

2353
01:49:38,159 --> 01:49:40,640
it's the right one. James Harden's contract is just so

2354
01:49:40,760 --> 01:49:43,319
much more workable than Kauwhi. It's sure neither of them

2355
01:49:43,359 --> 01:49:46,199
are long, but James Harden only being partially guaranteed next

2356
01:49:46,239 --> 01:49:49,079
year and then also just not making I think, was

2357
01:49:49,119 --> 01:49:51,920
he twelve fifty million less than Kawhi right now? Yeah,

2358
01:49:52,119 --> 01:49:55,119
matching salary for Kawhi Leonard, who's like, okay, the sixers

2359
01:49:55,159 --> 01:49:57,159
with you all and be sure like now now we're talking,

2360
01:49:57,279 --> 01:50:00,399
But so many teams would struggle to get to that number, right,

2361
01:50:00,600 --> 01:50:04,880
that's fair? We have one team left Grant. Can you

2362
01:50:05,159 --> 01:50:07,279
give us a question for the New Orleans Pelicans?

2363
01:50:07,520 --> 01:50:11,520
Speaker 2: Why did they trade the Let's see, Uh, Derek Queen

2364
01:50:11,680 --> 01:50:18,600
really good, Jeremiah Fears really promising statements. Well, I'm preambling

2365
01:50:18,680 --> 01:50:24,039
to the question what kind of assuming they're gonna make trades,

2366
01:50:24,039 --> 01:50:26,359
which who knows what kind of players should they be

2367
01:50:26,399 --> 01:50:30,600
putting around them? And related, Uh, why wouldn't you just

2368
01:50:30,680 --> 01:50:32,800
keep Trey Murphy? Because I think I know what your

2369
01:50:32,800 --> 01:50:34,319
answer is gonna be to what kinds of players they

2370
01:50:34,319 --> 01:50:35,279
should put around those ways?

2371
01:50:35,359 --> 01:50:39,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just I'm loading up on shooting around those

2372
01:50:39,840 --> 01:50:43,600
two if I can get Michael Porter Junior, Corey kisper

2373
01:50:43,760 --> 01:50:46,720
Dante divend like it's do any who wants Zion? I mean,

2374
01:50:46,760 --> 01:50:48,399
I guess the Blazers don't have any, so that they

2375
01:50:48,520 --> 01:50:50,039
name them as a Zion? Who did I name is

2376
01:50:50,079 --> 01:50:54,520
a zion destination to Phoenix? Give me great? Give me

2377
01:50:54,600 --> 01:50:57,720
all your shooters? Yeah, and that's exactly like you would

2378
01:50:57,720 --> 01:50:59,039
prefer them to be all we want a bunch of

2379
01:50:59,079 --> 01:51:01,600
three and d But as a right now, just give

2380
01:51:01,680 --> 01:51:04,960
me all of your shooters, which does It's well, why

2381
01:51:05,000 --> 01:51:07,199
would you trade Trey Murphy? Then? And the fact of

2382
01:51:07,199 --> 01:51:11,159
the matter is you shouldn't What gets you to do that? Though? Grant, like,

2383
01:51:11,239 --> 01:51:14,199
what is the is it the is three first round picks?

2384
01:51:14,279 --> 01:51:17,119
Is that the benchmark of all right, we're having this discussion.

2385
01:51:17,680 --> 01:51:20,039
Speaker 2: I think that's that's where it starts. And I think, like,

2386
01:51:20,880 --> 01:51:24,800
isn't he the non super duper star that should have

2387
01:51:24,920 --> 01:51:28,199
like the best market because who who doesn't get better

2388
01:51:28,319 --> 01:51:29,760
with Trey Murphy and who's not.

2389
01:51:30,600 --> 01:51:33,520
Speaker 1: Probably him Ord Tyler Kohlich I think would be, but he.

2390
01:51:33,560 --> 01:51:40,319
Speaker 2: Loved Tyler Coleck. That's crazy, Why would you even say that? Yeah,

2391
01:51:40,399 --> 01:51:45,239
I think it's three youth relatively speaking, the shooting, the

2392
01:51:45,720 --> 01:51:50,039
possibility that, like I've always thought that his three point

2393
01:51:50,039 --> 01:51:52,680
percentage for his career never feels as high as it should,

2394
01:51:53,199 --> 01:51:55,680
just because like every shot he shoots seems like it's

2395
01:51:55,720 --> 01:51:57,359
going to go. And I think there's a scenario where

2396
01:51:57,439 --> 01:52:00,640
he gets somewhere else where shot creation better. It's just

2397
01:52:00,680 --> 01:52:03,079
a more functional environment, and he is a forty percent

2398
01:52:03,159 --> 01:52:06,960
shooter like consistently, which he actually hasn't been. Yeah, I

2399
01:52:07,039 --> 01:52:10,640
think everybody should want Trey Murphy, everybody like, and so

2400
01:52:10,840 --> 01:52:14,239
three first is what I think it should take. And

2401
01:52:14,359 --> 01:52:17,279
maybe that's just why the Pelicans shouldn't trade him unless

2402
01:52:17,279 --> 01:52:19,760
they can get four, which feels like, is anyone really

2403
01:52:19,800 --> 01:52:20,640
gonna do that? I don't know.

2404
01:52:20,760 --> 01:52:22,600
Speaker 1: Maybe over the offtion, but the mid season stuff is

2405
01:52:22,600 --> 01:52:24,760
always tough to kind of think, Okay, well, what are

2406
01:52:24,800 --> 01:52:26,680
they gonna do? The other question that I think needs

2407
01:52:26,680 --> 01:52:28,720
to be at well too quick, what's a fair return

2408
01:52:28,760 --> 01:52:30,760
for herb Jones? Are you expecting more than one first

2409
01:52:30,800 --> 01:52:31,560
round pick for him?

2410
01:52:34,279 --> 01:52:36,119
Speaker 2: No? Like if you the over unders should be said

2411
01:52:36,119 --> 01:52:38,319
at one and a half, because I think I think

2412
01:52:38,399 --> 01:52:41,640
it's probably under that. But there's no way they trade

2413
01:52:41,720 --> 01:52:44,680
him without getting a first right, like flip flip it around.

2414
01:52:44,720 --> 01:52:45,920
I just it's hard to imagine that.

2415
01:52:46,439 --> 01:52:48,359
Speaker 1: Maybe something I don't real the Cavs do this because

2416
01:52:48,359 --> 01:52:50,920
they have two picks they could trade and then Jalen Tyson,

2417
01:52:51,159 --> 01:52:52,960
is that like too rich? If you're throwing other oh

2418
01:52:53,000 --> 01:52:55,000
they're over the second aprin nevermind that doesn't work.

2419
01:52:55,279 --> 01:52:56,720
Speaker 2: Also, I kind of like Jalen Tyson.

2420
01:52:57,399 --> 01:52:59,840
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, Jaleen Tyson's kind of like the Jimmy Butler

2421
01:52:59,880 --> 01:53:03,159
of Caleb Martin's right now, that's and Karislebertz or whatever.

2422
01:53:03,279 --> 01:53:07,600
I enjoy it. Uh, I think I'm gonna go over

2423
01:53:07,920 --> 01:53:10,359
because if they trade him, I think that's why they

2424
01:53:10,439 --> 01:53:11,920
trade him, because if I'm going to be getting a

2425
01:53:12,079 --> 01:53:14,720
first round pick for Herb Jones, I might question why

2426
01:53:14,760 --> 01:53:17,439
I'm trading Herb Jones all like that. That offer will

2427
01:53:17,479 --> 01:53:19,560
be there in the summer because he's under contract for

2428
01:53:19,640 --> 01:53:20,000
so long.

2429
01:53:20,399 --> 01:53:22,279
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, the Zion ding.

2430
01:53:22,399 --> 01:53:24,199
Speaker 1: Are you just trading Zion for whatever?

2431
01:53:25,920 --> 01:53:28,560
Speaker 2: I mean? So hold on, I want to be precise

2432
01:53:28,640 --> 01:53:32,000
on this. So they cause I never remember the guarantee situation.

2433
01:53:32,159 --> 01:53:35,039
I think you can correct me if you know. So

2434
01:53:35,479 --> 01:53:38,640
zero dollars guaranteed for next year, which means they can

2435
01:53:38,960 --> 01:53:41,760
after this season just say we're good and he can

2436
01:53:41,880 --> 01:53:44,880
and wipe it off the books. So I think they

2437
01:53:44,960 --> 01:53:47,399
should it shouldn't they know? They should not just move

2438
01:53:47,479 --> 01:53:51,600
him for whatever, I think, because that flexibility matters. I

2439
01:53:51,720 --> 01:53:53,960
think that, and maybe you just re sign him for

2440
01:53:54,079 --> 01:53:57,680
way less, you know, after you don't pick up the guarantee.

2441
01:53:57,800 --> 01:53:58,079
That's not.

2442
01:54:00,399 --> 01:54:01,399
Speaker 1: See. I disagree.

2443
01:54:01,640 --> 01:54:03,479
Speaker 2: I'm just you can't, okay, let's let me let me.

2444
01:54:04,640 --> 01:54:05,000
Speaker 1: I don't.

2445
01:54:05,079 --> 01:54:08,000
Speaker 2: You can't just take back long term money for him,

2446
01:54:08,319 --> 01:54:11,760
like it can't. It can't just be like picks. Well shit,

2447
01:54:11,840 --> 01:54:13,279
I don't know, he's so why why?

2448
01:54:13,399 --> 01:54:16,479
Speaker 1: But first of what is the extra flexibility? I mean,

2449
01:54:16,520 --> 01:54:19,479
I know this franchise is notoriously cheap, but like, what

2450
01:54:19,680 --> 01:54:20,680
is this what is that.

2451
01:54:20,800 --> 01:54:23,359
Speaker 2: You're gonna pay Queen, You're gonna pay fears at some point?

2452
01:54:23,840 --> 01:54:26,640
Speaker 1: Okay that I'm all for looking ahead, but that's getting

2453
01:54:26,720 --> 01:54:28,319
like a little too out of the game. But I'm

2454
01:54:28,359 --> 01:54:30,479
just if you even if you're taking back bad money,

2455
01:54:30,520 --> 01:54:33,600
it's probably because someone gave you a pick or a player.

2456
01:54:33,920 --> 01:54:36,239
If I could get like I like, if you could

2457
01:54:36,279 --> 01:54:39,279
just get a stab in the dark prospect or draft pick,

2458
01:54:39,920 --> 01:54:42,399
just move him. You're not gonna be good enough anytime

2459
01:54:42,479 --> 01:54:44,920
soon to where whoa we just took on two extra

2460
01:54:45,039 --> 01:54:47,600
years of player? Why no, no, no, that's too. It's

2461
01:54:47,960 --> 01:54:50,680
it's time. And if he blossoms somewhere else because he

2462
01:54:50,760 --> 01:54:53,479
stays healthy or something, let's maybe look at the you know,

2463
01:54:53,640 --> 01:54:55,960
the medical department up there, like the strength and strength

2464
01:54:56,359 --> 01:54:58,720
like that might be something to dig into. I just

2465
01:54:59,600 --> 01:55:02,079
it's time, and it's I'm it's not because you know,

2466
01:55:02,199 --> 01:55:03,880
I think the world of Zion when he's healthy, but

2467
01:55:03,920 --> 01:55:05,640
it's over, Like this is over. So why are we

2468
01:55:06,479 --> 01:55:08,640
I don't see the value in just if you have

2469
01:55:08,800 --> 01:55:10,880
the ability to just get rid of him clean ties

2470
01:55:10,960 --> 01:55:15,359
for nothing over trading him for something anything, I'm taking

2471
01:55:15,439 --> 01:55:15,840
the ladder.

2472
01:55:16,239 --> 01:55:18,920
Speaker 2: So are you of the mind that if you're the Pelicans,

2473
01:55:19,079 --> 01:55:22,119
he cannot be on your team next year? However that happens,

2474
01:55:22,239 --> 01:55:24,439
Like so if you don't get because it's so like

2475
01:55:24,800 --> 01:55:28,079
the cutoff would seem to need to be positive value

2476
01:55:28,319 --> 01:55:31,600
of almost any measure, like just marginally, like if it's

2477
01:55:32,119 --> 01:55:35,520
three seconds and you gotta do the salary somehow, I

2478
01:55:35,640 --> 01:55:38,760
guess right, Like is that enough because you know you're

2479
01:55:39,479 --> 01:55:39,920
no matter what?

2480
01:55:42,359 --> 01:55:45,319
Speaker 1: Well, follow up question, have they traded the rights to

2481
01:55:45,319 --> 01:55:48,479
their twenty twenty seven first round pick? All who can

2482
01:55:48,520 --> 01:55:51,439
say I'm doing it Like it's I'm just doing it.

2483
01:55:51,560 --> 01:55:53,720
It's I'm trying to put is the contract out there

2484
01:55:54,119 --> 01:55:55,880
that would make you well, no, no, no, no, we're

2485
01:55:55,920 --> 01:55:58,720
not trading maybe Joel and Beads And that might be

2486
01:55:58,840 --> 01:56:02,199
the only one because it's well, if it's Paul, if

2487
01:56:02,199 --> 01:56:04,359
it's Paul George, it's you know, I think that's over

2488
01:56:04,439 --> 01:56:06,680
in two years. That's fine. He might decline his player options.

2489
01:56:06,680 --> 01:56:10,319
He doesn't want to be here anyway. There's just if

2490
01:56:10,359 --> 01:56:13,000
you're getting any sort of compensation, No, I'm not trading

2491
01:56:13,079 --> 01:56:16,119
Zion for Paul George straight up. That doesn't even technically work.

2492
01:56:16,159 --> 01:56:18,000
Maybe it works, who hell knows, but no, I'm not

2493
01:56:18,079 --> 01:56:21,000
doing that. But if you can get something, just do it.

2494
01:56:21,479 --> 01:56:23,600
Is that still the Nike slogan? Just do it? Oh?

2495
01:56:24,000 --> 01:56:25,479
Speaker 2: Just trade them? That's the new one right.

2496
01:56:25,680 --> 01:56:27,840
Speaker 1: Where is your favorite Zion destination? Is a question we

2497
01:56:27,880 --> 01:56:29,680
have from regulator very quick, Oh.

2498
01:56:31,560 --> 01:56:34,439
Speaker 2: San Antonio, why not just for fun see what it

2499
01:56:34,439 --> 01:56:40,560
would look like for this year? For me, I'd agree.

2500
01:56:42,079 --> 01:56:44,119
Speaker 1: Grant, Can you take us out of here please? We

2501
01:56:44,159 --> 01:56:46,039
apologize for rushing at the end, but we are pressed

2502
01:56:46,079 --> 01:56:46,439
for time.

2503
01:56:46,760 --> 01:56:49,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's on me. I had a heart out. Thanks everybody.

2504
01:56:49,560 --> 01:56:52,000
If we had a robust comment section, enjoyed it. Thanks

2505
01:56:52,039 --> 01:56:54,920
for commenting, Thanks for jumping on with us. Please everyone

2506
01:56:55,000 --> 01:56:58,600
listening watching rate Review, subscribe, Make sure that you are

2507
01:56:58,680 --> 01:57:00,279
checking us out. If you're checking us out on YouTube,

2508
01:57:00,319 --> 01:57:02,119
give us a thumbs up there, leave us a comment there.

2509
01:57:02,199 --> 01:57:04,039
High points. We love the high points. We don't know

2510
01:57:04,079 --> 01:57:10,439
what they are. We want all of them. Yea, join

2511
01:57:10,479 --> 01:57:12,920
our discord links for that and YouTube and podcast descriptions.

2512
01:57:12,960 --> 01:57:15,520
All your friends, so your enemies, shouts Franklin Lakina apologies,

2513
01:57:15,640 --> 01:57:15,920
jaredy