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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody, O ball. If you guys are having
Speaker 1: a great week, We have a jam packed day of
Speaker 1: basketball doc over here today. We're starting this morning with
Speaker 1: a breakdown of voyeurs nets from last night for our
Speaker 1: Warriors fans, and then after that we're gonna hit on
Speaker 1: five teams with five trades that I would like to
Speaker 1: see this year at the deadline. And then later this afternoon,
Speaker 1: I'm actually recording with Chris Mannix and with Colin Coward separately,
Speaker 1: so we've got tons of other basketball talk coming out
Speaker 1: later this afternoon as well. Then we'll get back into
Speaker 1: some game breakdowns tomorrow morning. Before we get into the
Speaker 1: trade deadline. On Thursday, we got fun night tonight of basketball.
Speaker 1: We have Orlando Miami. That should be interesting because both
Speaker 1: Miami needs a win, Orlando's playing really really well. And
Speaker 1: then we have Phoenix Milwaukee, which is going to be
Speaker 1: an awesome game that we'll be hitting in tomorrow's show.
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Speaker 1: gonna have our mail bag for this week intomorrow's show.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So one of the
Speaker 1: beautiful things about the game of basketball, something that I've
Speaker 1: always really appreciated is when you have a bad day,
Speaker 1: you can typically turn around and fix it within a
Speaker 1: day or two you know, whether it's you know, you're
Speaker 1: playing in college and you have a bad conference loss,
Speaker 1: There's usually not a lot of time to think about
Speaker 1: it because you got to turn around and play another
Speaker 1: conference game usually two or three days later, right or
Speaker 1: in the pros, or even if you just go down
Speaker 1: to the gym and you have a bad day playing pickup,
Speaker 1: you usually can turn around and go up the next
Speaker 1: day and make it feel better, right, just by playing
Speaker 1: better and righting those wrongs right. Well, the Warriors had
Speaker 1: a heartbreaking loss on Saturday night in Atlanta where they
Speaker 1: wasted a sixty point Steph Curry performance, and they righted
Speaker 1: a lot of those wrongs in some specific areas crunch time, execution,
Speaker 1: getting some support for Steph. A big one was just
Speaker 1: getting better and sharper on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: That actually, ironically it was the bench that fueled this
Speaker 1: win against Brooklyn. There was a kind of a strange
Speaker 1: line up there at the end of the third quarter
Speaker 1: that ended up springing the run as Brandon Pitziemski with
Speaker 1: Lester keinonez Gi Santos so another big forward that we
Speaker 1: haven't seen much of this of this year, that kind
Speaker 1: of just provided that size and motor, which is so
Speaker 1: incredibly valuable in the NBA some solid point of attack
Speaker 1: defense as well. Jonathan Kaminga was the offensive fulcrum of
Speaker 1: that run, pushing out in transition, drawing fouls. He hit
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney on a cut to the basket. When the
Speaker 1: Nets lost him, they straight ioed him against McHale Bridges
Speaker 1: on the left block and he just went to that
Speaker 1: little left shoulder fade that he's been hitting. Once again
Speaker 1: all season long. We've been wondering whether or not Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kminga would slow down as like a post up kind
Speaker 1: of fulcrum weapon that they could go to, especially as
Speaker 1: just like a half court option that is in Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: and he just continues to be efficient. And we're going
Speaker 1: to get back to that when we start talking about
Speaker 1: trunch time. But like that, they ended up building a
Speaker 1: double digit lead, going up by ten points there in
Speaker 1: the early fourth quarter, and that just kind of changes
Speaker 1: the calculus of the way the end of the game
Speaker 1: is gonna go, because then when Steph comes back in,
Speaker 1: he's not in a situation where he's in a dog
Speaker 1: fight and he has to hit shot after shot after
Speaker 1: shot just to stay punch for punch with a Trey
Speaker 1: Young or punch for punch with a Deern Fox or
Speaker 1: whoever it is that they're going up against. Instead, he's
Speaker 1: hitting stiff arm shots. He's hitting shots that are maintaining
Speaker 1: the lead and keeping that you know, distance or lower pressure.
Speaker 1: There's more margin for air. And that's the key because
Speaker 1: margin for air has been one of the biggest issues
Speaker 1: for the Warriors this year. They can't afford to really
Speaker 1: get into super close games late because they've struggled so much,
Speaker 1: particularly getting stops and getting offensive support outside of Steph.
Speaker 1: And when you give yourself more margin for air, then
Speaker 1: when Roy O'Neil gets hot like he did there in
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter, he was the one guy for Brooklyn
Speaker 1: who really had it going. He just a guy that
Speaker 1: can get really streaky hot from the three point line right.
Speaker 1: And when Roy soneil got hot and made a bunch
Speaker 1: of shots, he never was able to actually get the
Speaker 1: game to the point where it was in danger. It
Speaker 1: was all just kind of stuff that kept the game
Speaker 1: somewhat in reach, right, And so that margin Farrer made
Speaker 1: a big difference. So shout out to those guys again.
Speaker 1: Johnath kaminga leading the way with on the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, and then everybody just playing really hard
Speaker 1: in that group, specifically down the stretch. Gi Santos and
Speaker 1: Brandon Pitziemski were super super active on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor defensively in help, especially on the offensive glass.
Speaker 1: Those guys had five offensive rebounds, some huge ones. Gi
Speaker 1: Santos just was constantly right around the front of the
Speaker 1: rim where he needed to be. Brandon pit Zemski got
Speaker 1: a contested offensive rebound. I actually clipped this play and
Speaker 1: put it on my Twitter feed where he was going
Speaker 1: up over a bunch of six ' eight six '
Speaker 1: ten athletes and just rose up over everybody because he
Speaker 1: wanted the ball more and went to get it right.
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about this concept on the show,
Speaker 1: the difference between you know, talent and like discipline when
Speaker 1: it comes to a good defense, and both parts are
Speaker 1: equally important. There are personnel limitations. You're gonna need Gary
Speaker 1: Payton back to be as good as you can be defensively, right,
Speaker 1: You're gonna need Andrew Wiggins in the lineup to be
Speaker 1: as good as you can be defensively. But if you
Speaker 1: do all the right stuff, if you're in the right spots,
Speaker 1: if you're committed to the details, if the communication is there,
Speaker 1: your basketball character as I always call it, if you
Speaker 1: can get there, that's half the battle. And particularly in
Speaker 1: matchups like this against the Nets, a team that don't
Speaker 1: have like they're struggling in their own ways, right, Like
Speaker 1: McHale Bridges is a number one option, has some limitation.
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwood, he's had a bad season. He once again
Speaker 1: last night driving into traffic and throwing up bs and
Speaker 1: missing shots and complaining to the rest while they're running
Speaker 1: out the other way. He's just had a rough year, right,
Speaker 1: And like they got some young guards that like Dennis
Speaker 1: Smith Junior and Cam Thomas that can struggle with decision
Speaker 1: making and defense and stuff like that. So like in
Speaker 1: a group like that, if you do the right stuff,
Speaker 1: like if you just are in the right spots, you
Speaker 1: can go a long way towards pausing their offense to
Speaker 1: have issues. And then when you play against the best
Speaker 1: teams in the league, that's where you need both. That's
Speaker 1: where you need the personnel strengths and the schematic strengths.
Speaker 1: But I thought last night was a big step forward
Speaker 1: just in terms of the commitment that the Warriors need
Speaker 1: to make to being a better defensive team and then
Speaker 1: down the stretch. I really really liked the versatility that
Speaker 1: Golden State went with in terms of their offensive approach.
Speaker 1: We talked a lot yesterday about the idea of like
Speaker 1: Steph Curry just kind of hunting his shot, and when
Speaker 1: it's working, it's great, but when that starts to whether
Speaker 1: the defense starts throwing multiple bodies at him or whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, him just starting to cool off. Like
Speaker 1: you know, jump shooting is a high variance thing, even
Speaker 1: for the best player in the world or what the
Speaker 1: best shooter in the world, I should say, right, So,
Speaker 1: like that's an important kind of like part of that process,
Speaker 1: and so adding a little bit more variety to their
Speaker 1: attack can go a long way to kind of maintaining
Speaker 1: their offensive success. I really liked that they did run
Speaker 1: some pick and roll. There was a Draymond short roll
Speaker 1: that led to a Jonathan kaminga dunk when Steph Curry
Speaker 1: drew a blitz, but they didn't overdo that. One of
Speaker 1: the things that becomes a problem that we've seen this
Speaker 1: season is teams just start to blitz step super super
Speaker 1: aggressively and the Larriors that struggled a little bit to
Speaker 1: work off of that. And we saw this a little
Speaker 1: bit in the Hawks game where Steph started just going
Speaker 1: straight ISO against the Johntay Murray. We saw a lot
Speaker 1: of that down the stretch, and then Draymond instead of
Speaker 1: setting a ball screen, he'd sit in the lane and
Speaker 1: basically like box out the help defender, like screen the
Speaker 1: help defender just so that he can't step over and
Speaker 1: help on Steph. And then he ended up icing the
Speaker 1: game with a floater that was an and one where
Speaker 1: beat a guy in straight ISO. Then he was getting
Speaker 1: just kind of slowed down and waited for the back
Speaker 1: pressure to come, drew the fall and made the little floater.
Speaker 1: But the big kind of thing that stood out to
Speaker 1: me was there was a big possession down the stretch
Speaker 1: of the game where the Nets kind of because again
Speaker 1: the Nets kind of kept it close with those Roys
Speaker 1: O'Neil threes, where they Steph just straight up went to
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga on the left block in a post up
Speaker 1: against Roy O'Neil, and he drew a foul. And I
Speaker 1: thought a couple of different things, One like the trust
Speaker 1: that Steph was showing. And again we talked about this.
Speaker 1: I actually was pitching this in yesterday's show. But like
Speaker 1: like before, last night, Jonathan Kmingo was seven for thirteen
Speaker 1: in crunch time this season, that's over fifty percent. Again
Speaker 1: this season, a post up for Jonathan Kaminga has been
Speaker 1: worth well over a point per possession, and it helps
Speaker 1: in a bunch of different ways. It's rest for Steph,
Speaker 1: but it's also it's also just variety. It's a different
Speaker 1: thing for the defense to have to deal with. And
Speaker 1: so I really really liked the just the overall kind
Speaker 1: of variety that Golden State brought to the table down
Speaker 1: the stretch in crunch time. They've got a couple of
Speaker 1: tough games on the horizon here, so we're gonna find
Speaker 1: out a lot about the Warriors in the next week
Speaker 1: and a week and a half. But I thought last
Speaker 1: night was a big step in the right direction. You
Speaker 1: will not see Golden State on my top five trades list.
Speaker 1: They might end up making some type of deal, But
Speaker 1: Steve curR is right. The Warriors dead line basically amounts
Speaker 1: to guys coming back. I would put the Warriors deadline
Speaker 1: down to three things. You're getting CP three back to
Speaker 1: stabilize your bench units. You're getting Gary Payton back to
Speaker 1: stabilize your perimeter defense. And then the rapid rise of
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga is an influx of talent in his own way.
Speaker 1: At another twenty eight points and ten rebounds last night,
Speaker 1: we're now at a ten game stretch of him averaging
Speaker 1: twenty five points and seven rebounds on sixty one percent
Speaker 1: from the field, fifty four percent from three, and eighty
Speaker 1: percent from the line. He's getting to the line a
Speaker 1: half dozen times a game this year. The foul drawing
Speaker 1: thing has been something that's been consistent, and that's what
Speaker 1: he did on that big late post up. He just
Speaker 1: went to that same left shoulder fade, but he could
Speaker 1: tell Royce was being physical with him, so he just
Speaker 1: elevated straight up and down and baited Royce into bringing
Speaker 1: too much contact to the table. It's starting to get
Speaker 1: a favorable whistle too. In a lot of ways. The
Speaker 1: refs know that that Jonathan Kaminga has these defenders out
Speaker 1: of position. But really the only way you could truly
Speaker 1: substantially improve this roster is to trade Jonathan Kaminga, because
Speaker 1: he's the one guy who has the value that could
Speaker 1: bring back a truly you know, like a franchise altering talent,
Speaker 1: but then you give up his substantial long term potential
Speaker 1: and that's just not worth it. And so at this
Speaker 1: point you're better off with the rise of Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 1: and some reinforcements from guys who are injured with trying
Speaker 1: to make a run at that point, and then you
Speaker 1: can make a call based on how Jonathan Kminga looks
Speaker 1: as a number two option in this year's postseason, which
Speaker 1: I do believe the Warriors will get into that play
Speaker 1: in tournament at least have a chance to play seven
Speaker 1: games against a really good team, so you can get
Speaker 1: a good read for how ready Jonathan Kaminga is to
Speaker 1: contribute in a championship context. All Right, So we're going
Speaker 1: to go through five trades that I would very much
Speaker 1: like to see this season. Trade Number one, the Suns
Speaker 1: get a wing that can play alongside their stars. The
Speaker 1: framework of this trade would be Rayson Allen and this
Speaker 1: here little with two second round picks for doriy and
Speaker 1: Finney Smith from the Brooklyn Nets. Now I know Suns
Speaker 1: fans are going to immediately be repulsed by this because
Speaker 1: of the idea of losing Grayson Allen. And this is
Speaker 1: where I want to talk more about separating regular season
Speaker 1: results from the reality of your playoff matchups. And one
Speaker 1: of my long standing basketball philosophies, which is the most
Speaker 1: important thing for a basketball team is to have a
Speaker 1: group of five guys that you can trust to go
Speaker 1: down against the best teams in the league. This is
Speaker 1: an issue that I've dealt with a lot with Lakers
Speaker 1: fans as it pertains to D'Angelo Russell. Like D'Angelo Russell
Speaker 1: has been vitally important to the Lakers this year as
Speaker 1: a playmaker and as a scorer in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: especially as of late right, Like similar to what Grayson
Speaker 1: Allen has provided to the Phoenix Suns alongside their stars,
Speaker 1: that offensive firepower and shooting has Grayson Allen has been
Speaker 1: the best shooter in the league this year from three
Speaker 1: point land right. So, like I understand the sentiment, and
Speaker 1: like that's thing, like when the Lakers lose D'angela Russell,
Speaker 1: if they decide to trade him in this deadline, they
Speaker 1: are losing playmaking, they are losing scoring is a it
Speaker 1: is a tradeoff. But what I've always said to Lakers
Speaker 1: fans is the simple reality that you cannot win the
Speaker 1: NBA title starting Austin Reeves and D'angela Russell or closing
Speaker 1: with Austin Reeves and D'angela Russell next to each other.
Speaker 1: Why because when you get to the best teams in
Speaker 1: the league, not the eighty two games. You can go
Speaker 1: and play quality basketball over the eighty two games in
Speaker 1: against a bunch of random opponents. But when it comes
Speaker 1: to beating the Clippers four times out of seven, beating
Speaker 1: the Nuggets four times out of seven, beating the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: four times out of seven, beating the Thunder four times
Speaker 1: out of seven, I don't think that works. And the
Speaker 1: same thing goes for the Suns. Bradley Beal is six ' four.
Speaker 1: Devin Booker is six to six and is not particularly
Speaker 1: strong or athletic. The Suns have struggled against the bigger
Speaker 1: front lines than the league this year. They struggled against
Speaker 1: quality opponents in general. They're zero to two against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: They're ow and to one against the Denver Nuggets. The
Speaker 1: Big I went through their schedule. The big front lines
Speaker 1: they played are Philly, Orlando, Minnesota, the Lakers, the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: and the Knicks. They're four and seven against those teams.
Speaker 1: So it's been a consistent issue, especially when they run
Speaker 1: into bigger, more physically imposing teams that they haven't been
Speaker 1: able to win that battle in terms of like, let
Speaker 1: me outscal these guys as opposed to trying to match
Speaker 1: their physicality. And so, the way I look at it,
Speaker 1: do I think Grayson Allen, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: can all be on the same floor to start and
Speaker 1: close games against the very best teams in the league.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think it's a little too small.
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit lacking in that physicality.
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith gives you a real option there. He
Speaker 1: can take primary point of attack assignments, he can really
Speaker 1: shoot the basketball. He increases the physical profile of your lineup.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna be as good offensively as Grayson Allen is,
Speaker 1: but they're a diminishing return and an off ball offensive role,
Speaker 1: and what you're gaining in the physicality area of the
Speaker 1: game goes a long way towards addressing that specific concern.
Speaker 1: I also think it gives you a clear fit in
Speaker 1: your starting and closing five. So let's say, for instance,
Speaker 1: you need to go big against a team like Denver.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: Dorian Phinney Smith yusif Nurkic. You have a big body
Speaker 1: that can bang with Jokic, you have a ton of
Speaker 1: offensive skill around him, and you have two giant forwards
Speaker 1: on the floor. I shouldn't say giant, but two big
Speaker 1: forwards on the floor that can help you in rotation
Speaker 1: around use off Nurkic. Okay, you're playing against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: The Clippers sent zubots to the bench, and you want
Speaker 1: to go you want to size down with them. Instead
Speaker 1: of sizing down into a much smaller version of the
Speaker 1: Clippers with Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen and literally just
Speaker 1: four guards next to Kevin Durant. You can go Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith, Eric Gordon as a guard that sizes
Speaker 1: up a little bit with Bradley Beal and Devin Booker
Speaker 1: and just give yourself a more physically imposing version of
Speaker 1: that KD at the five group. And so I just think,
Speaker 1: I think again, it's when you look at the Sun's
Speaker 1: situation because they don't really have much draft capital aside
Speaker 1: from second round picks, because they don't really have easy
Speaker 1: salaries to swap around to make this type of change.
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen, even though he's been such an important player
Speaker 1: for them this year, kind of turns into one of
Speaker 1: their more important assets. And so that's kind of the
Speaker 1: framework of that deal. And then for Brooklyn, you're getting
Speaker 1: two second round picks and a player in Grayson Allen
Speaker 1: that you can probably turn into more draft compensation. Grayson
Speaker 1: Allen has a lot of value around the league. For instance,
Speaker 1: these that affordable number best shooter in the league this year.
Speaker 1: It's really that simple, and it kind of reminds me
Speaker 1: of this idea, kind of reminds me of what Portland
Speaker 1: did this summer, where like, you're getting draft compensation in
Speaker 1: these deals, maybe not as much draft compensation as you
Speaker 1: could get elsewhere, but you're getting another player that you
Speaker 1: can then turn around and get more draft compensation for.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a domino effect in that sense. So
Speaker 1: that's trade number one. Trade number two Boston gets porzingis insurance.
Speaker 1: So essentially the way this would work is there is
Speaker 1: a trade exception from the Grant Williams deal that would
Speaker 1: be able to take in Andre drummonds entire salary this year,
Speaker 1: and so basically it'd be some form of draft compensation
Speaker 1: in the form of second round picks or swaps or
Speaker 1: something along those lines for Andre Drummond. Now here's the idea.
Speaker 1: Chris hops Porzingis has actually been Boston's most important plus
Speaker 1: minus guy this year outside of Derek White and Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: who are arguably their two best players depending on how
Speaker 1: you feel about Jalen Brown. Right, But ironically, it's not
Speaker 1: as much about the offense in my opinion, as it
Speaker 1: is about the defense. Kris hops Porzingis is the only
Speaker 1: guy on the roster that provides a real rim deterrent.
Speaker 1: And again, as I've talked about so much on the show,
Speaker 1: when you actually combine perimeter defensive talent with aggressive with
Speaker 1: an aggressive approach to like just attacking the basketball, Basically,
Speaker 1: he forced guys to drive, and when you force guys
Speaker 1: to drive into length, real imposing length around the basket,
Speaker 1: it can be bothersome to to an offense, right, And
Speaker 1: I think we saw this a lot over the years
Speaker 1: with Robert Williams, Like there's no doubt that the Celtics
Speaker 1: offense kind of had more free flowing driving kick potential
Speaker 1: with Al Horford at the five, but when Robert Williams
Speaker 1: was out there will they were able to reach defensive ceiling,
Speaker 1: especially in that twenty twenty two season that was higher
Speaker 1: than anybody in elite really. So the idea there is like
Speaker 1: when you really dig down into it, Derek White's been
Speaker 1: mostly healthy this year. Jayson Tatum has been mostly healthy
Speaker 1: this year. Jalen Brown's been mostly healthy this year. I
Speaker 1: expect Trew Holliday to be ready to go in the
Speaker 1: postseasonsps Porzingis has shown the propensity to suffer little nagging injuries.
Speaker 1: His ankle's been bothering him a lot this year. There's
Speaker 1: just little things that have been botherings Porzingis, and with
Speaker 1: him going down, it's a pretty steep decline to Al
Speaker 1: Horford and some of the bench centers that they have.
Speaker 1: This is an example of like a margin for error trade.
Speaker 1: You're turning basically some moderate draft compensation in a trade
Speaker 1: exception into a player that not only gives you some
Speaker 1: depth and some like I said, some insurance on chrisops Porzingis,
Speaker 1: but also gives you a real physical look. I covered
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond very closely when he was with the Lakers. Obviously,
Speaker 1: that was back when I was doing State of the Lakers.
Speaker 1: And what I remember about the Andre Drummond experience is like,
Speaker 1: he can't be someone you're leaning on really heavily from
Speaker 1: a talent perspective, but he is truly physically imposing. He's inconsistent,
Speaker 1: but he can actually win you games with some of
Speaker 1: the strength and physicality that he brings to the table.
Speaker 1: He's actually like a surprisingly active pick and roll defender
Speaker 1: with his hands that can get deflection. Has always been
Speaker 1: a high steels guy for a center. This year, he's
Speaker 1: averaging eighteen points and nineteen rebounds per thirty six minutes.
Speaker 1: And again that doesn't mean he would get that if
Speaker 1: he played thirty six minutes. It's just an indicator of
Speaker 1: how active he is within his minutes, active in his
Speaker 1: minutes as a thirty six minute player would be if
Speaker 1: he averaged eighteen and nineteen. Right. So, like I just think,
Speaker 1: when you really look down the roster, I see some
Speaker 1: other needs for Boston. Could they use a backup guard, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that's a tough one to go after. And then
Speaker 1: also when you really look at the rotation, it's going
Speaker 1: to be Derek White and Drew Holliday. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you kind of know what you have there, right.
Speaker 1: Could they use a bench wing, Sure, But the way
Speaker 1: I look at it, I expect Jason Tatum and Jaylen
Speaker 1: Brown to be ready. The one real area of weakness
Speaker 1: in my opinion, that's a real vulnerability is like, what
Speaker 1: if chrisops Porzingis is just not able to play and
Speaker 1: this just gives you an additional look there. You can
Speaker 1: lean on Al Horford, but if Al Horford doesn't have it,
Speaker 1: you at least have another high quality option you can
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Speaker 1: Trade number three the Bucks get a two way guard
Speaker 1: to put next to Damian Lillard. So the framework of
Speaker 1: this trade would be Marjon Bouchamp and a second round pick,
Speaker 1: specifically a second round pick they have from Portland that
Speaker 1: is going is projected to be in the upper half
Speaker 1: of the second round, so effectively is like a very
Speaker 1: late first round pick, if that makes sense. But the
Speaker 1: framework of the trade wuld be Marjen Bouchamp and a
Speaker 1: second round pick for Chris Dunn. Now Chris Dunn for
Speaker 1: those of you guys who have been following the league
Speaker 1: in a more broad sense. This year with the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz has been one of the best perimeter defenders in
Speaker 1: the league. He's got super long arms, he's got like
Speaker 1: a six nine to sixty ten wingspan. He's very physical,
Speaker 1: he's very athletic, he's very active. He can actually guard
Speaker 1: up a little bit. But he's just one of the
Speaker 1: better point of attack defenders in the league. And he's
Speaker 1: actually been shooting really well this year. He's got one
Speaker 1: point twenty five points per catch and shoot jump shot
Speaker 1: this year. That's outstanding. He's converting spot at possessions at
Speaker 1: one point to one points per possession, albeit not super aggressive,
Speaker 1: but if you leave him open, he has been making
Speaker 1: teams pay this year. He also has like a little
Speaker 1: bit of off the dribble pop where he like late
Speaker 1: light clock like rescue possessions and stuff. He's a guard.
Speaker 1: He can make a dribble combination into a bolt jumper
Speaker 1: if he needs to. He's actually had a pretty solid
Speaker 1: offensive season at super super low volume. But the idea
Speaker 1: here is like that, that's what Chris Dunn does for
Speaker 1: a living. He defends this is an example of a
Speaker 1: player because, like you, when you look at Andre Jackson
Speaker 1: Junior and Marjon Bochamp and some of the other options
Speaker 1: that the Bucks have tried at the two this year,
Speaker 1: they're athletic wings that have potential to be outstanding options
Speaker 1: in those spots. But it's the classic trade off, and
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers has shown you he's not interested in playing
Speaker 1: the young guys anymore. He wants to lean into the vets, right,
Speaker 1: So like, the potential that those guys have doesn't really
Speaker 1: match up with what the actual goal is of this
Speaker 1: team within this season. And so obviously you're giving up
Speaker 1: a young potential wing in Marzn Bolchamp, You're obviously giving
Speaker 1: up a pretty high quality second round pick, but you're
Speaker 1: putting yourself in a situation where you have a different
Speaker 1: look in your backcourt. To be clear, Malik Beasley's having
Speaker 1: an amazing season, shooting the basketball ridiculously well. I personally
Speaker 1: have been impressed with this just level of commitment and
Speaker 1: trying to get the defensive end right, especially in the
Speaker 1: last month or two after it was a little dicey
Speaker 1: to start the year. And I'm not even necessarily saying
Speaker 1: that that won't still be your option that you go
Speaker 1: down with it. You may decide that you prefer the
Speaker 1: offensive upside of Malik Beasley over the defensive upside of
Speaker 1: a guy like Chris Dunn. But the idea is you
Speaker 1: have a look like you might end up in a
Speaker 1: playoff series and find out pretty quickly that Malik Beasley
Speaker 1: doesn't have it, that the shots not falling, and you're
Speaker 1: in a tough spot if you don't have a reliable
Speaker 1: option you can go to there and like, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure Pat Conington is that I'm not sure campaign is
Speaker 1: that right? But you can imagine a universe. We've seen before,
Speaker 1: by the way, the combination of like really active perimeter
Speaker 1: defense with rim protection with Giannis and Brook Lopez and
Speaker 1: we were just talking about this with the Phoenix Suns
Speaker 1: a minute ago, but like, excuse me, with the Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics a minute ago. But like real active perimeter defense
Speaker 1: combined with real rim protection can go a long way
Speaker 1: towards disrupting an offense. And so that's an example of
Speaker 1: a deal that allows the Bucks to have a real
Speaker 1: option to go lean more into defense. At the two
Speaker 1: spot next to Dame, you might have to again, we
Speaker 1: talked about winning different ways. The Bucks can outscore people.
Speaker 1: We know they can, although their offense is faltered out
Speaker 1: of late. But the truth of the matter is is
Speaker 1: it'd be really helpful if you could win in the
Speaker 1: mud too, and Chris Don would just give you a
Speaker 1: better chance to do that. All right, two more trades
Speaker 1: and then we're out here. Next one, the Lakers form
Speaker 1: a Big four, so that you guys have probably all
Speaker 1: seen the framework of this trade. It's been thrown around
Speaker 1: by a million people, but the basic gist of it
Speaker 1: would be Dangelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie
Speaker 1: and the Lakers twenty twenty nine first round pick to
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks, and Dejonte Murray to the Lakers. Now,
Speaker 1: Deonte has been playing pretty well as of late, so
Speaker 1: the Lakers might even have to throw more draft compensation
Speaker 1: on top of that. But basically the gist of it
Speaker 1: is draft compensation and D'Angelo Russell with the Nets fulfilling
Speaker 1: the third team role in that to take on D'Angelo
Speaker 1: Russell and send Spencer Dinwiddie to the Atlanta Hawks. But
Speaker 1: draft compensation is essentially what Atlanta is getting in the process.
Speaker 1: So a couple different things. First of all, I actually
Speaker 1: think D'Angelo Russell's are really good players, having the best
Speaker 1: season of his career and specifically is good with offensive organization,
Speaker 1: which is a point of weakness for the Brooklyn Nets,
Speaker 1: And so at ways like, I actually just think Dangel
Speaker 1: Russell's a better fit for Brooklyn than Spencer Dinwoodie as
Speaker 1: a player that they've been pretty frustrated with this year
Speaker 1: for the Hawks, you get a highly valuable first round
Speaker 1: pick to use in your rebuild around Jalen Johnson and
Speaker 1: Trey Young. Now, remember, for the Lakers at twenty twenty
Speaker 1: nine first, that's after Lebron leaves. This is an organization
Speaker 1: that has we're gonna get into it today, but they
Speaker 1: they have really really screwed the pooch on this one
Speaker 1: in so many different ways over the course of the
Speaker 1: last you know, five years, between letting Brook Lopez go
Speaker 1: for nothing, letting Julius Randall go for nothing, letting Alex
Speaker 1: Caruso go for nothing, the Russell Westbrook trade, just the
Speaker 1: sheer lack of understanding or appreciation for how important quality
Speaker 1: role players are alongside your stars. It's very possible that
Speaker 1: when Lebron James retires that this thing goes nose diving
Speaker 1: into the ground. I would imagine if you ask the
Speaker 1: general managers around the league that twenty twenty nine Lakers
Speaker 1: first is very, very valuable, and again especially if they
Speaker 1: can squeeze some additional draft compensation out of the Lakers
Speaker 1: in lieu of how well de Jhontay Murray's been playing. Specifically,
Speaker 1: as of late, Dejontey's been a big time clutch shot maker,
Speaker 1: making a lot of big time pull up fifteen footers
Speaker 1: and things along those lines to tie games, to win games,
Speaker 1: to ice games. He's just been a really, really good
Speaker 1: late game shot maker, and I think that's added some
Speaker 1: value to him around the league. I think teams are
Speaker 1: seeing just how important it is to have guys like that,
Speaker 1: that real firepower in the lineup right. So again like
Speaker 1: some highly valuable draft compensation to help you rebuild around
Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson and Trey Young. Jalen Johnson so exciting. He
Speaker 1: had tip dunk against the Warriors the other night, where
Speaker 1: like he literally dunked it with his arms like out
Speaker 1: in front of him like this, like his head was
Speaker 1: at the rim, and I was like, this is just
Speaker 1: a disgusting athlete that you're building around with Trey. So
Speaker 1: the idea for the Lakers de Jontay Murray would help
Speaker 1: the Lakers improve in a bunch of key ways. Number One,
Speaker 1: he would anchor their perimeter defense. This is something that
Speaker 1: has been an issue for them all season, was an
Speaker 1: issue again in the next game when they were having
Speaker 1: trouble finding a body to throw Jalen Brunson. It's an
Speaker 1: even bigger issue now that Jared Vanderbilt out of the lineup.
Speaker 1: Jontay Murray is not the best perimeter defender in the world.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been ass committed in those areas, but just
Speaker 1: in terms of actual physical tools for the position, he's
Speaker 1: way better than anything the Lakers have had there in
Speaker 1: a long time in the guard spot. So basically since
Speaker 1: Alex Caruso and so that to me is the first
Speaker 1: and biggest way to Jante Murray can help number two.
Speaker 1: You provide more reliable dribble penetration. Jontay Murray can actually
Speaker 1: stare eyed eye with some of the best perimeter defenders
Speaker 1: in the league beat them off the dribble, which is
Speaker 1: immensely valuable in a bunch of different ways. One, it's
Speaker 1: getting the defense into rotation, creating advantage situations to rim pressure.
Speaker 1: We've talked about rim pressures of value before. That's what
Speaker 1: kind of opens up that second wave of athleticism with
Speaker 1: Lebron and with you know, some of their other active
Speaker 1: offensive rebounders like Anthony Davis, Jared Vanderbilt when he's healthy.
Speaker 1: Things along those lines. You got to actually engage rim
Speaker 1: protectors to open up those opportunities, which is something the
Speaker 1: Lakers have not been very good at this year. The
Speaker 1: Lakers have been one of the worst teams in the
Speaker 1: league at driving to the basket. That most of their
Speaker 1: activity in the paint comes off of touches in pick
Speaker 1: and roll that go to the roll man and post
Speaker 1: ups and things along those lines. They're two of the
Speaker 1: most active teams in the league in those categories. They're
Speaker 1: not a team that beats people off the dribble. De
Speaker 1: jon Tay Murray can help significantly in that area. Number Three,
Speaker 1: late game shot making. This has been a big issue
Speaker 1: for the Lakers over the years. Lebron has brought late
Speaker 1: game shot making to the table in a big way
Speaker 1: this year and it's been super, super helpful. We just
Speaker 1: saw that recently again in the Warriors game. But it
Speaker 1: is an issue where Lebron can be a little inconsistent
Speaker 1: in that area. Austin Reeves can make some big time shots,
Speaker 1: but against some of the best perimeter defenders in the
Speaker 1: league is it's gonna be a little more challenging for
Speaker 1: him to create those looks. Anthony Davis can be inconsistent
Speaker 1: with his over the top shot making. De Jontay Murray
Speaker 1: and his ability to just hit those tough pull up
Speaker 1: fifteen footers, would go a long way towards just adding
Speaker 1: some margin for error in the Lakers clutch offense. And then,
Speaker 1: last but not least, he would get you a gigantic
Speaker 1: step closer to a clear cut starting lineup. In a
Speaker 1: clear cut closing lineup, I personally would put Vanderbuilt in
Speaker 1: that group, but I even think you could get away
Speaker 1: with Torrian Prince in a bigger way. One of the
Speaker 1: big things I've noticed with Torrian Prince, and this is
Speaker 1: something I've talked about all season. My issue with starting
Speaker 1: Torrian Prince is gigantic minutes and playing him next to
Speaker 1: two non athletes and D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reeves. I
Speaker 1: don't think Torrian Prince is not good enough to start
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I think I think it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where if he's very clearly your fifth best player,
Speaker 1: and if you can slot him properly, meaning like he's
Speaker 1: not guarding the other team's best perimeter offensive weapon but
Speaker 1: maybe their second best perimeter offensive weapon. If he's getting
Speaker 1: higher quality looks because you're generating more dribble penetration, a
Speaker 1: lot of that can work. I even think we've seen
Speaker 1: that this season in some of the better moments for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, when you know that stretch right before the
Speaker 1: n season Tournament, when Cam Reddish was at the two,
Speaker 1: having a real athlete that could slot Torrian Prince properly.
Speaker 1: As of late, it's been Max Christie. Having Max Christie
Speaker 1: out there is a real athlete that can take those higher,
Speaker 1: higher difficulty of perimeter defense assignments. Slotting Tory Prince properly
Speaker 1: is the biggest issue. Like he just was in a
Speaker 1: situation where next to D'Angel Russell and Austin Reeves, he's
Speaker 1: the guy that has to do all the dirty work
Speaker 1: and that's just not his strength. That's not something that
Speaker 1: he that's not what he gets paid to do in
Speaker 1: the NBA. And so to me, Dejontay Murray just kind
Speaker 1: of like balances so many different things for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Lakers have won ten of their last sixteen games and
Speaker 1: things are starting to trend in the right direction again.
Speaker 1: One of those losses was with Anthony Davis out of
Speaker 1: the lineup as well. The offense in particular is getting
Speaker 1: way better. It's really interesting about a month ago, I
Speaker 1: was just about all out on the idea of the
Speaker 1: Lakers five out offense. One of the big things that's
Speaker 1: kind of stood out to me over the years is
Speaker 1: like they prefer to play a real slow down, bullieball
Speaker 1: style of basketball. It's much more brute force offense than
Speaker 1: you would think. And I always was I kept coming
Speaker 1: back to the same thing, like they move the ball
Speaker 1: around and play like some fluid basketball and then they
Speaker 1: just kind of like degenerate down into their brute force
Speaker 1: offense again. And so I was skeptical as to whether
Speaker 1: or not the five out would ever work for this group,
Speaker 1: simply because of the fact that they did not seem
Speaker 1: to be you know, wired like that, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: And a lot has changed on that front over the
Speaker 1: course of this end of January and early portion of February,
Speaker 1: Like it's starting to look like this team is actually
Speaker 1: comfortable moving the ball around a lot, staying in that
Speaker 1: you know, pass, screen, cut, drive, kick kind of like
Speaker 1: five out system, which is which which requires a commitment
Speaker 1: to ball movement. And I've been impressed just with their
Speaker 1: kind of leaning into it in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: especially Lebron James and Anthony Davis, because them in particular,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's the way that they've liked to
Speaker 1: play the most over the course of the last half decade,
Speaker 1: but it's leading to some real offensive results. We're seeing
Speaker 1: some really high assist games for the Lakers there consistently
Speaker 1: getting these like thirty five thirty seven assist games that
Speaker 1: are just that just weren't happening early on in the season,
Speaker 1: and so a lot of encouraging stuff on the Lakers front. Again,
Speaker 1: like I said, I want to see a twenty five
Speaker 1: game stretch where they're truly dominant. Ten and six over
Speaker 1: sixteen is good, but it's not good enough. They've got
Speaker 1: more work to do, and it could go a long way.
Speaker 1: You beat Denver on Thursday and you beat the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: I think it's on Saturday. Both of those games are
Speaker 1: at home. You win both of those games. Now we're
Speaker 1: talking about a twelve and six stretch capped off by
Speaker 1: some real quality wins between beating Boston and Boston, beating
Speaker 1: the Nickson Madison Square Garden, getting the monkey off your
Speaker 1: back by beating Denver, beating that Pelicans team that just
Speaker 1: beat them pretty badly when they went down to New Orleans.
Speaker 1: That's what stands in front of them an opportunity to
Speaker 1: demonstrate a clear like we won sixty six percent of
Speaker 1: our games over the course of a month and a
Speaker 1: half and beat a bunch of quality opponents. That to
Speaker 1: me is like one of those like checkboxes that you
Speaker 1: have to check if you want to really have a
Speaker 1: chance to win the NBA title. And I thought this
Speaker 1: last week was a good step in the right direction
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, And then last week my last trade
Speaker 1: for today's show, the Oklahoma City Thunder finalize their core.
Speaker 1: So the structure of this trade would be something like
Speaker 1: Josh Giddy and Alexei Pokashevski plus some large amount of
Speaker 1: draft compensation, whether that's you know, five first round picks
Speaker 1: or four first round picks or whatever it is. But
Speaker 1: that's what I would offer if I was Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: for Lori Markinen from the Utah Jazz. So to me,
Speaker 1: the Thunder core is clear. Shake Yodess, Alexander and Jalen
Speaker 1: Williams are your offensive initiators. They're your number one option
Speaker 1: and your number two option in terms of the guys
Speaker 1: that are gonna bring the ball up the floor and
Speaker 1: basically create that initial advantage. Right, lou dort Is the
Speaker 1: textbook three and D wing. He's as good an option
Speaker 1: in the league as you can find to throw out
Speaker 1: the other team's best player, and he's very good at
Speaker 1: knocking down catching shoot threes in attacking closeouts. Right and then,
Speaker 1: chet Holmgren is the ideal stretch that can run pick
Speaker 1: and pop, which is one of the most difficult actions
Speaker 1: to guard in the NBA, while also providing you real
Speaker 1: rim protection on the other end of the floor. But
Speaker 1: what they don't have. The one thing they do not
Speaker 1: have on the roster is a big, athletic forward that
Speaker 1: can help them hold up better in the physicality areas
Speaker 1: of the game. Even despite being the number one seed
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference, the thunder are still the second
Speaker 1: worst defensive rebounding team in the league. And so Laurie
Speaker 1: could not be a better fit. And to me, there
Speaker 1: are three reasons why. Number One, he does not need
Speaker 1: the basketball. He's averaging twenty four points per game on
Speaker 1: sixty five percent true shooting despite only running one hundred
Speaker 1: and seven ISOs, post ups, and pick and rolls this year,
Speaker 1: So he's not a guy that is initiating the offense.
Speaker 1: He's doing almost everything as a play finisher, He's made
Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty five field goals this year, one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty two of them, so basically half have
Speaker 1: been catching shoot jumpers. Another eighty of his made field
Speaker 1: goals have been off of cuts in offensive rebounds, so
Speaker 1: like well over two thirds of his offense basically scoring
Speaker 1: off the catch, scoring off the cut, scoring off the
Speaker 1: offensive rebound. That's significant. He's only made thirty six pull
Speaker 1: up jumpers, floaters, and hooks all season. To me, what
Speaker 1: that means is he's super easy. Just to add into
Speaker 1: the mold, I wanted to shout out a buddy of
Speaker 1: mine just to provide this example. So my buddy Chas
Speaker 1: Mac he played at Cornell and he plays with me
Speaker 1: and my men's league team on Sundays. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because our team has an interesting construct like me and
Speaker 1: this guy named Josh are basically the two primary ball
Speaker 1: handlers on the team. We both played in college. Josh
Speaker 1: is more of like a past first guy. I'm more
Speaker 1: of like a score first guy. So we compliment each
Speaker 1: other in that way. But Chaz is like a perfect
Speaker 1: fit for us because he never puts the ball on
Speaker 1: the floor. He often leads our team in scoring, but
Speaker 1: it never disrupts the flow of our team because he
Speaker 1: only plays off the catch, and so he'll sprint the
Speaker 1: floor in transition every single time. So if you see
Speaker 1: him up the floor, you can push the bat ball ahead.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get a layup or hit a corner three
Speaker 1: while he's running in transition. If you are running pick
Speaker 1: and roll and you draw an extra defender over and
Speaker 1: Chas's man SAgs, you throw the ball to him. He's
Speaker 1: gonna either knock down to catch the shoot three or
Speaker 1: is gonna be able to attack the clothes out. Oh,
Speaker 1: they run his zone against us. He's really good at
Speaker 1: just catching and turning and hitting shots at like fifteen feet. Oh,
Speaker 1: he can run the baseline and finish there too. He's
Speaker 1: got good size. He's like six ' four and pretty
Speaker 1: big and strong. And like, it's so funny because I
Speaker 1: always talk I always compliment Chazz when I'm talking basketball
Speaker 1: with the guys around town, because like, I can't tell
Speaker 1: you just how much better he's made us, because he's
Speaker 1: just super easy to play with. He defends, he plays
Speaker 1: his role. He can score the shit out of the basketball,
Speaker 1: but in a way that doesn't disrupt the flow of
Speaker 1: your team at all whatsoever. And that to me is
Speaker 1: what Lorii Marknen can do for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: He can help them in the physicality areas. He can
Speaker 1: shore up the defensive glass. Lourie averages nine rebounds a
Speaker 1: game and just thirty two point thirty two point six minutes.
Speaker 1: He's an excellent athlete. He's like seven feet tall, brings
Speaker 1: like real power and force to the position. But he
Speaker 1: also has the ability to just be a shoeing fit
Speaker 1: on the offensive end and make everything easy for them
Speaker 1: on that end of the floor. I think you can
Speaker 1: also craft a pretty easy and achievable defensive role for him,
Speaker 1: Like you don't need him to guard on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Lou Dorton, Jaylen Williams and Shay got that under control, right,
Speaker 1: Like you don't need him to anchor your pick and
Speaker 1: roll defense or protect the rim. Because Chet's got that
Speaker 1: under control. You can give him a classic low man
Speaker 1: type of role, or he's always guarding the fifth best shooter,
Speaker 1: where he's always in that weak side, just stepping over
Speaker 1: to help whenever Chet gets engaged, whether that's cleaning up
Speaker 1: after a pump fake to block a shot, or that's
Speaker 1: cleaning up the defensive glass or rotating back out to
Speaker 1: the weak side. I think it's an obvious fit. And
Speaker 1: most importantly, he fits your timeline and you can afford him.
Speaker 1: You have the assets to go out and get him,
Speaker 1: and again the case. So the last piece of this,
Speaker 1: and this is something that I'm sure a lot of
Speaker 1: Thunder fans have thought about, is like, yeah, but what
Speaker 1: about like the urgency element, Like do we need to
Speaker 1: overpay for Lori Markenen. We still have so much time
Speaker 1: with this core. They're still so young, we still don't
Speaker 1: know anything about what they're going to look like in
Speaker 1: the long run. And to me, it really comes down
Speaker 1: to this, He's literally perfect. He's the perfect player for
Speaker 1: this position. And then two, the way I look at it,
Speaker 1: repetition matters, losing and building scar tissue matters. This year,
Speaker 1: the Thunder will have in all likelihood like they'll probably
Speaker 1: be favored in their first round series, so they're gonna
Speaker 1: get at least two weeks of playoff basketball, maybe four
Speaker 1: weeks of playoff basketball. That could be very, very important
Speaker 1: to the development of this core. And to me, I
Speaker 1: would I'd prefer to have my core five guys available
Speaker 1: for that and rather than kind of like getting a
Speaker 1: playoff run in with this core and not knowing what
Speaker 1: the construct of the team is going to look like.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a more clear cut five man
Speaker 1: group to run with long term than Shay, Jalen, lou Lourie,
Speaker 1: and Chet. But those five together, let them start their
Speaker 1: battles now, let them start their awards, let them build
Speaker 1: their scar tissue, let them learn what they're made of.
Speaker 1: I think that, probably more than any other trade on
Speaker 1: this list, is the one I want to see the most,
Speaker 1: simply because I just think. I think it's one of
Speaker 1: those ones where it would be an overpay in all
Speaker 1: likelihood because Utah would have all the leverage, but the
Speaker 1: thunder have the assets. To me, they have the group.
Speaker 1: There is no more question marks surrounding the team at
Speaker 1: that point. That to me is the direction that they
Speaker 1: should go. All right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for today. I will tweet out later this afternoon when
Speaker 1: whatever I record with Chris Mannix is finished, and then
Speaker 1: also this evening when me and Colin get our show out,
Speaker 1: I will tweet that one out as well. As always.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you. Then the
Speaker 1: volume