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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to Hoop tonight. You're at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday. Everybody happy. NBA trade deadline day. It was
Speaker 1: kind of as we expected, a bunch of really small moves,
Speaker 1: but nothing truly significant. What we're going to do today,
Speaker 1: I have six different traits that I want to touch
Speaker 1: on briefly, and we'll kind of go rapid fire through those.
Speaker 1: Then I want to talk about the Lakers doing nothing
Speaker 1: and what that means, and we're gonna actually go into
Speaker 1: much more detail about that tomorrow because we have Jovan
Speaker 1: Buja from the Athletic coming onto the show to break
Speaker 1: down in detail the Lakers deadline strategy and what they're
Speaker 1: looking at in this summer and then I want to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Spencer Dinwoodie was one of
Speaker 1: the more interesting buyout candidates that you'll see in recent
Speaker 1: NBA history. A bunch of teams, I think are going
Speaker 1: to be looking out for him on that front. And
Speaker 1: then we have three instant reactions from last night's games
Speaker 1: that we're going to get to at the end of
Speaker 1: the show. We got Pelicans Clippers. The Pelicans went into
Speaker 1: LA and kind of man handled the Clippers last night.
Speaker 1: It was an interesting game. Then the Warriors got to
Speaker 1: blow out win in Philly against the Sixers, obviously without
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid, and then the Boston Celtics and kind of
Speaker 1: a little bit of a dogfight with the Atlanta Hawks,
Speaker 1: but they pulled out, pulled it out late in the
Speaker 1: game to get the win. So three instant reactions and
Speaker 1: a bunch of deadline stuff. You guys are the joe
Speaker 1: forour We get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: I mean a lot to me if you guys would
Speaker 1: take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcasts under Hoops tonight. It also is super helpful for
Speaker 1: us if you leave a rating and a review on
Speaker 1: the podcast feed. Don't forget about our Twitter feed at
Speaker 1: Underscore Jason lt That's where I put film threads like
Speaker 1: the one I did this morning on Pelican's Clippers, as
Speaker 1: well as show announcements. And then, last but not at least,
Speaker 1: keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that
Speaker 1: we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So the first of
Speaker 1: our six trades that we're going to talk about today
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley to the Milwaukee Bucks. So if you guys
Speaker 1: remember in the video that I did on Tuesday where
Speaker 1: I talked about the five trades that I wanted to
Speaker 1: see around the league, there were three specific ones that
Speaker 1: ended up getting addressed, just in different ways today. I
Speaker 1: wanted the Suns to kind of try to get some
Speaker 1: more defensive oriented wings and forwards right. I wanted the
Speaker 1: Bucks to get a new kind of point of attack
Speaker 1: defender to help them in the backcourt. And then I
Speaker 1: wanted the Celtics to go get a backup center. And
Speaker 1: we saw all three of those over the course of
Speaker 1: the last twenty four hours, starting with Patrick Beverly to
Speaker 1: the Bucks. So Patrick Beverley, in my opinion, he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys where as long as he's focused into
Speaker 1: what he's good at, he can be a really useful player.
Speaker 1: It's when that kind of expands outside of his kind
Speaker 1: of wheelhouse that you can start to see some diminishing
Speaker 1: returns there. For instance, when he was with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: I thought he did a really good job guarding guards
Speaker 1: and then struggled when he had to guard bigger forward.
Speaker 1: Some of that was like he had a reputation as
Speaker 1: being a guy who could guard bigger forwards, but the
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is is that just was never
Speaker 1: really a good option, right and that is extended through
Speaker 1: this season. I think he's done a really good job
Speaker 1: on guards. I thought he did an amazing job in
Speaker 1: that big win against the Denver Nuggets on Jamal Murray.
Speaker 1: It was Joel Embi kind of denying Nikole Jokich and
Speaker 1: then Patrick Beverley just harassing Jamal Murray all over the floor.
Speaker 1: So I think there's some trickiness to it with the
Speaker 1: Bucks because with Malik Beasley, he's playing with a ton
Speaker 1: of confidence right now and he kind of has that
Speaker 1: starting spot locked down, and I will be curious to
Speaker 1: see if they keep Patrick Beverley on the bench for
Speaker 1: that specific reason. But what I really like is it's
Speaker 1: an option that you can go to, Like I said,
Speaker 1: in the event that especially given on the matchups, so like,
Speaker 1: for instance, against teams like Boston, where they're gonna be
Speaker 1: doing primarily most of their initiation from the wing, you
Speaker 1: might be able to get away with playing Malik Beasley,
Speaker 1: But then you know, if you're playing a New York Knix,
Speaker 1: then you may feel better off putting a guy like
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley into the starting lineup to start games on
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson and spend more time just ball pressuring and
Speaker 1: kind of hawking the basketball right. And so it gives
Speaker 1: them an option now that they can go to. They
Speaker 1: can go to a Dame Malik backcourt that's more offensively oriented,
Speaker 1: or they can go to a Patrick Beverley backcourt where
Speaker 1: they can give Patrick Beverley a high leverage point of
Speaker 1: attack assignment, which I still think he's capable of, especially
Speaker 1: against these smaller guards that we have around the league
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the end of the floor.
Speaker 1: With Patrick Beverley, he's one of those guys that I
Speaker 1: think in more of a brute force style where he's
Speaker 1: getting kind of wide open catch and shoot looks, he
Speaker 1: can have some value. It's more when there's a ton
Speaker 1: of motion involved in an offense that he can be
Speaker 1: an issue because he's a little bit of a ball stopper.
Speaker 1: He's a little bit of a guy who likes to
Speaker 1: catch and jab step and pump bake before he really
Speaker 1: does anything. And so like, I actually like the offensive
Speaker 1: fit with the Bucks because I do think he'll get
Speaker 1: wide open catch and shoot threes. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: the story with him. He's forty one percent on unguarded
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jumpers twenty eight percent when they're guarded.
Speaker 1: So like, to me, with Milwaukee, he's gonna get some
Speaker 1: really good looks that to me is is a good fit.
Speaker 1: He also has he's got a little bit off the
Speaker 1: dribble pop. He's got like a decent little he'll kind
Speaker 1: of dribble to the left and stopping to pivot back
Speaker 1: over his left shoulder for a hook shot that he
Speaker 1: can make. And then he's also got a decent floater,
Speaker 1: So he's got a little bit of that higher level
Speaker 1: close out attacking stuff. But the offensive end of the
Speaker 1: floor leaves a little bit to be desired with Pat,
Speaker 1: but I still think he's one of the better guard
Speaker 1: defenders in the league. And so the Bucks, without having
Speaker 1: to give up anything of significance, found and upgrade there
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. Our next trade, the Knicks
Speaker 1: finally get off the Evan forty eight contract, as well
Speaker 1: as Quinton Grimes and a little bit of draft compensation
Speaker 1: for Boyan Magdonovich and Alec Burks from the Detroit Piston.
Speaker 1: So I really like the boy On Mgdanovich fit, especially
Speaker 1: in the short term because you're dealing with the situation
Speaker 1: where Julius Randall is going to be out for a
Speaker 1: little while. And I think specifically alongside in ogn and
Speaker 1: Obi as a as a really strong athlete at the three,
Speaker 1: you can get away with having a lesser athlete at
Speaker 1: the four, and boy On Mgdanovich she brings a lot
Speaker 1: more scoring pop to the table. Very very good, kind
Speaker 1: of like second side creators. Fifty five percent effective agle
Speaker 1: percentage on pull up jump shots this season, excellent closeout attacker,
Speaker 1: one point one to nine points per possession, eightieth percentile
Speaker 1: shot creation day is a little iffy, but everybody in
Speaker 1: Detroit struggled with a shot creation that with exception of
Speaker 1: Alec Burks. Actually we're going to talk about here in
Speaker 1: just a second, but I think he's just going to
Speaker 1: help provide an offensive option there at that four spot
Speaker 1: while Julius Randall is out. He's also going to bring
Speaker 1: kind of a similar approach to Julius Randall in the
Speaker 1: sense that to me, Boy and Macdonovitch is your textbook
Speaker 1: matchup attacking forward. He's the guy that can pick on
Speaker 1: a smaller guard and take him down to the block
Speaker 1: and get to a little short right shoulder fade or
Speaker 1: a little bank shot over his left shoulder or something
Speaker 1: along those lines. He can get offense out of mismatches,
Speaker 1: which is a big part of the way that New
Speaker 1: York attacks, and it brings a physical imposition to the
Speaker 1: position as well because he can attack smaller players, which
Speaker 1: I think is something that is part of the theme
Speaker 1: of what the New York Knicks do. And the other
Speaker 1: thing too is he's got a non guaranteed nineteen million
Speaker 1: I think next year, which the Knicks can guarantee, and
Speaker 1: they can just as easily use as salary filler as
Speaker 1: an expiring just like they would attempt to use Evan
Speaker 1: Fournier as if they had kept him. So to me,
Speaker 1: this is a great example of a deal kind of
Speaker 1: similar to the Ogn Andobi deal that gives them some
Speaker 1: increased flexibility with their rotation in the short term, while
Speaker 1: also maintaining their long term flexibility if they want to
Speaker 1: make a bigger deal. Alec Burks once again kind of
Speaker 1: a solid second side initiator. He's more of an on
Speaker 1: ball guy than Quinton Grimes was, but he is a
Speaker 1: very good catch and shoot player. He's getting one point
Speaker 1: twenty five points per catch and shoot jumper this year.
Speaker 1: He's also a really good athlete at the position. It's
Speaker 1: actually funny. I can't remember exactly where I saw it,
Speaker 1: but I remember a couple of years ago I saw
Speaker 1: someone say, I think on Twitter that Alec Burks looks
Speaker 1: like if you were loading an NBA Superstar two guard
Speaker 1: and then just stopped at eighty percent. Because like, if
Speaker 1: you watch him on the right night, he literally can
Speaker 1: look like some of the better two guards that we've
Speaker 1: seen in the league. He just has never been able
Speaker 1: to maintain the consistency in his NBA career. But to me,
Speaker 1: like a just a good basketball player that you're bringing in,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and upgrade of Quentin Grimes in that
Speaker 1: deal also shot for forty one percent on pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots this year. His creation data in Detroit was
Speaker 1: actually pretty solid, ironically enough, one hundred and seventy seven
Speaker 1: pick and rolls, ISOs and post ups leading to one
Speaker 1: point er excuse me, one hundred and eighty eight points,
Speaker 1: which is one point zero six points per possession, so
Speaker 1: good comfortable amount over a point per possession. That's quality
Speaker 1: second side shot creation. So you brought in two really
Speaker 1: good basketball players, you maintained the salary filler element that
Speaker 1: you need. An upgrade of a key rotation player in
Speaker 1: Quenton Grimes never had to give up any sort of
Speaker 1: truly significant asset. The excellent season from New York. Upgrading
Speaker 1: on the margins continues. Our next deal, Xavier Tillman and
Speaker 1: Jaden Springer to the Celtics. So, as I talked about yesterday,
Speaker 1: or I should say on Tuesday, in my opinion, the Celtics,
Speaker 1: we from what we had heard, had been doing some
Speaker 1: digging on a backup guard. They'd been doing some digging
Speaker 1: on a backup wing, and they had been doing some
Speaker 1: digging on a backup center. And one of the things
Speaker 1: I said was I viewed the backup center position of
Speaker 1: the biggest important So I just have a better feeling
Speaker 1: about Derek White, Drew Holliday, Jaylen Brown, and Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: being healthy for a playoff run than I do. Al
Speaker 1: Horford and Christops porzingis that, to me, is where they
Speaker 1: needed a little bit more margin for air. Xavier Tillman,
Speaker 1: I obviously he's not as good as an Andre Drummond,
Speaker 1: but in my opinion, a very solid backup big to
Speaker 1: go to. This is a guy that slides his feet
Speaker 1: pretty well and as good anticipation guarding bigger, stronger forwards
Speaker 1: around the league. So, like, I think he's an option
Speaker 1: that you can throw at the likes of bam Adebayo
Speaker 1: or Jannison Tenakumpo or Julius Randall for maybe a couple
Speaker 1: of minutes a half just to kind of give yourself
Speaker 1: a decent option in that specific situation. He's one of
Speaker 1: those guys too that like like not a high percentage
Speaker 1: three point shooter, but will take him and a guy
Speaker 1: that can make them. And so I just thought it
Speaker 1: was a solid backup option, a more steady backup option
Speaker 1: than some of the other options that they've gone to,
Speaker 1: and brings a real like size and physicality to the
Speaker 1: position that I think will be valuable to them in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Jayden Springer outstanding athlete at the guard position,
Speaker 1: one of the better perimeter defender prospects that we've seen
Speaker 1: from the guard position in a long time. Really limited
Speaker 1: offensively and has a lot to gain on that end
Speaker 1: of the floor, but he's only twenty one years old.
Speaker 1: But the defensive end is what is exciting. Last night
Speaker 1: against Steph Curry, from the opening tip, just bal denial, aggression,
Speaker 1: physical all over the floor. Did a great job kind
Speaker 1: of taking Steph out of the offense. Now, it was
Speaker 1: a team wide scheme from Nick Nurse, which we'll talk
Speaker 1: about in a little bit, but I thought it was
Speaker 1: a really impressive individual performance from Jaden Springer. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing. I don't think Jayden Springer is going to
Speaker 1: be some sort of significant weapon for the Celtics this season.
Speaker 1: But for basically a second round pick to bring in
Speaker 1: a twenty one year old guard prospect that has the
Speaker 1: potential to be an awesome defensive player, I really like
Speaker 1: the move so good. Couple of upgrades for the Celtics
Speaker 1: David Roddy and Royce O'Neil to the Suns to more
Speaker 1: physical and defensive minded players to give them a different
Speaker 1: look on the perimeter. David Roddy is huge and has
Speaker 1: a lot of versatility defensively on the front line. Once again,
Speaker 1: big forwards in the conference that it's just a good
Speaker 1: thing to have on the roster, which was something that
Speaker 1: Phoenix didn't really have. When you're gonna run into a
Speaker 1: team like Denver that's gonna you know, we saw it
Speaker 1: with Miami last year that they just were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna go to Aaron Gordon on the post
Speaker 1: every time because they don't have a guy who can
Speaker 1: guard it right. And so like you're gonna see teams
Speaker 1: like Denver attacking the post. Need to have a big,
Speaker 1: strong forward as an option there, right. Teams like the
Speaker 1: Lakers gonna attack in the post, need a big, strong
Speaker 1: forward that you can go to as an option there,
Speaker 1: even like something like a Kawhi Leonard, having a guy
Speaker 1: like a David Roddy that just can hold up better
Speaker 1: under some of the physical approach of a Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 1: it's a good option and then Royce O'Neil, he's your
Speaker 1: Textbook three and D guard. It's an excellent catch and
Speaker 1: shoot player when he has space, kind of similar to
Speaker 1: a lot of the guys on this list were like,
Speaker 1: when they're unguarded, they're really good, but then and they're contested,
Speaker 1: the percentages take a dip. But he has a one
Speaker 1: point two seven points per possession on unguarded catch and
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots, which is excellent in general attacking close
Speaker 1: out sixty seventh percentile one point one to one points
Speaker 1: per possession. So again, you've given yourself options here. The
Speaker 1: Suns didn't really have a guard that could credibly defend
Speaker 1: while also credibly spacing the floor. Now they have that
Speaker 1: as an option. They didn't have a forward that had
Speaker 1: some real girth to be able to hold up against
Speaker 1: some of the bigger forwards in the conference. Now they
Speaker 1: have that as an option. So a couple of smart
Speaker 1: upgrades from the Phoenix Suns. Next PJ. Washington to the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. This is a super athletic wing once again,
Speaker 1: kind of like some of the other guys who talked
Speaker 1: about on this list, can shoot the ball when he's
Speaker 1: given all day, He's thirty nine percent on unguarded catch
Speaker 1: and shoot jump shots, but any sort of close out
Speaker 1: he struggles against zero point eighty eight points per possession
Speaker 1: in spot up situations, which is in the second twenty
Speaker 1: second percentile, so pretty bad on that front. The Hornets
Speaker 1: used him a lot as a screen and role player,
Speaker 1: caught a lot on the short role, and so I
Speaker 1: could imagine them using him like that, with Luca essentially
Speaker 1: setting ball screens, rolling into space as an athlete where
Speaker 1: he can make some decisions, and just next to Derek
Speaker 1: Jones Junior, now they can I kind of view those
Speaker 1: two guys as a little bit of a redundancy, but
Speaker 1: like now they can bring some athleticism to the table
Speaker 1: alongside their core guys. So I thought that was an
Speaker 1: interesting little upgrade. I know the Dallas was pretty frustrated
Speaker 1: with Grant Williams in general in the way that he
Speaker 1: had played this season. All right, our last trade Gordon
Speaker 1: Hayward to the Oklahoma City Thunder. So this is an
Speaker 1: interesting example of a stopgap move in the sense that,
Speaker 1: like it was clear that the Thunder didn't quite have
Speaker 1: their closing five worked out because Giddy's the odd man
Speaker 1: out in a lot of ways, and it was clear
Speaker 1: that they needed a bigger forward, but it was also
Speaker 1: clear that they weren't ready to make some sort of
Speaker 1: all in move, like to call Utah and offer them
Speaker 1: six first round draft picks for Lori Markinen or something
Speaker 1: along those lines. Right, So I also had heard that, okay, see,
Speaker 1: really just wanted to see what this group can do
Speaker 1: in the playoffs before they decide what they need. I
Speaker 1: kind of think the need is obvious, but that was
Speaker 1: their approach. They wanted to make a one year run
Speaker 1: at it and then kind of zoom out and make
Speaker 1: a decision from there and so on that perspective, Gordon
Speaker 1: Hayward makes a ton of sense because he's a veteran.
Speaker 1: Now you actually bring a real I should I don't
Speaker 1: want to say adult, because those guys are adults, but
Speaker 1: like in terms of veteran, actual experience in the NBA,
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward brings that to the lineup, and he's just
Speaker 1: a better option as a fifth guy in the lineup
Speaker 1: than Josh Skitty. He's a dead eye catch and shoot guy,
Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoot jump shots one point four points
Speaker 1: per possession, which is insane. Also pretty good at the
Speaker 1: rim this year sixty six percent at the RIM. And
Speaker 1: so I'm I like the idea is just like, now
Speaker 1: you go into the playoffs, you have Chet, Gordon, Jalen, Sga,
Speaker 1: and Dort basically is your core five at your games
Speaker 1: with a little bit more experience and and and like
Speaker 1: Gordon Award has played in the playoffs before, so just
Speaker 1: gives you a little bit more experience on that front.
Speaker 1: I thought it was an interesting option. And guess what
Speaker 1: we will learn. We will learn from Okay, see this
Speaker 1: year what they are capable of on that stage in
Speaker 1: a big way, and then we will find out this
Speaker 1: offseason whether or not they need to do something more substantial. Okay,
Speaker 1: two more quick notes on the trade deadline before we
Speaker 1: move on to games the Lakers doing nothing. I don't
Speaker 1: want to go too far into this because we're covering
Speaker 1: the Lakers tonight after Lakers Nuggets, So we'll talk about
Speaker 1: it a little bit more in the instant reaction after
Speaker 1: the game, and then, like I said, we have Yovann
Speaker 1: Buja coming on the show tomorrow. Here's all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 1: I always feel a little bit of reticence when it
Speaker 1: comes to criticizing front offices for what they do in
Speaker 1: terms of trades and free agency, because we don't really
Speaker 1: truly know what was available. There's a ton of smoke
Speaker 1: this time of year. Reports that serve purpose, serve the
Speaker 1: sole purpose of basically tweaking the public kind of perception
Speaker 1: of value, and it's a lot of gamesmanship going on.
Speaker 1: So like it's really difficult to be like, oh, why
Speaker 1: didn't the Lakers do anything. It's like, we don't even
Speaker 1: know if they actually reach agreement in principle on a deal,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, obviously, I think it's
Speaker 1: safe to say that judging by some of these price points,
Speaker 1: how they put a first round pick out there, they
Speaker 1: could have gotten something gotten something back. But it's hard
Speaker 1: to tell which players exactly would be willing to would
Speaker 1: have been achievable with that first round pick. And then
Speaker 1: once you take that first round pick off the table,
Speaker 1: it does limit some of their ability to do something
Speaker 1: this summer. So I want to be clear, we don't
Speaker 1: know what actually was on the table that said. I
Speaker 1: do know this, I know that the Lakers do not
Speaker 1: have a single starting caliber two or three that can
Speaker 1: both credibly defend and is a positive offensive player. They
Speaker 1: have very one dimensional guys like they have. You know,
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt is a guy who can defend on the
Speaker 1: perimeter but has some offensive limitations. You know, Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: and Dangelo Russell are both excellent offensive players, but they
Speaker 1: have defensive limitations, right Like Torrian Prince is kind of
Speaker 1: considered a two way guy, but in terms of perimeter defense,
Speaker 1: he is very much on the average to slightly below
Speaker 1: average side, not the above average to elite side. So
Speaker 1: they don't have anybody on the roster that they can
Speaker 1: throw at a Steph Curry in a playoff series, that
Speaker 1: they can throw at a Jamal Murray in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: that they can throw on a James Harden in a
Speaker 1: playoff series. They don't. They just don't have any options
Speaker 1: on those fronts. And so basically, like I said before
Speaker 1: the season, I said this from the very beginning, I said,
Speaker 1: the Lakers are a contender because they have Lebron James,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, and Austin Reeves, and they are poised for
Speaker 1: a mid season upgrade to address their needs. They did
Speaker 1: not make any sort of mid season upgrade to address
Speaker 1: their needs. And so we're gonna do a kind of
Speaker 1: a revamp of the contender tiers that I do right
Speaker 1: probably right around the All Star break, during that week
Speaker 1: off that we have. I have something specific in mind there.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna get Sam Vassini on and kind
Speaker 1: of dive into it contender by contender, but I have
Speaker 1: to drop the Lakers off of that legitimate title contender tier.
Speaker 1: It's just that, like NBA history tells us that you
Speaker 1: have to have these certain boxes checked, not just on
Speaker 1: the roster, but also in terms of your approach to
Speaker 1: the regular season, And not only did they not address
Speaker 1: those roster needs, but they also have their twenty seven
Speaker 1: and twenty five. So like at this point they are
Speaker 1: what we can't completely write them off with Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis, but they are just an extreme long
Speaker 1: shot at this point. And the last thing I'll say
Speaker 1: about it is I think it'll be a little bit
Speaker 1: easier to kind of look back on and evaluate fairly
Speaker 1: when Lebron James retires. But here we are five seasons
Speaker 1: into this Lebron James Anthony Davis thing, and I would
Speaker 1: argue two of the five seasons they straight up just
Speaker 1: didn't have a chance to win kind of like closer
Speaker 1: to three out of five pretty much everything after the
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook trade. And so given the Lebron James Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis Foundation, which I maintain they've been top ten players
Speaker 1: over the course of this entire stretch, at a minimum,
Speaker 1: top fifteen players. To have two, let's just call it
Speaker 1: top fifteen. To have two top fifteen players on the
Speaker 1: roster and to not be able to maintain a championship
Speaker 1: contending roster around them is a damning indictment of the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers front office and ownership group starting from
Speaker 1: the beginning. Letting Brook Lopez walk, letting Julius Randall walk,
Speaker 1: letting Alex Crusoe walk, the Russell Westbrook trade just a
Speaker 1: complete and total lack of understanding or appreciation for the
Speaker 1: way that role players can impact winning specifically athletes that
Speaker 1: can compete on both ends of the floor. Is it
Speaker 1: has been a pretty depressing job, and as a result,
Speaker 1: the second best player of all time, Lebron James, spent
Speaker 1: most of the tail end of his prime fighting uphill
Speaker 1: with rosters that weren't capable of competing with the best
Speaker 1: teams in the league. And it's just it's just sad.
Speaker 1: It is what it is, and it's not over yet.
Speaker 1: They have access to three first round draft picks this summer,
Speaker 1: and they have some salary filler that they can package
Speaker 1: into a deal, and maybe they'll go get somebody. But
Speaker 1: if you look around the landscape of the league, if
Speaker 1: a real somebody becomes available, who who are the Lakers
Speaker 1: out bidding? They're not out bidding the Knicks, but not
Speaker 1: outbidding the thunder Like They're just way there are way
Speaker 1: more teams out there that have way more to offer
Speaker 1: in the trade market than the Lakers do. And so
Speaker 1: to me, like like, it's just it's looking like once
Speaker 1: again that we're going to head into another offseason where
Speaker 1: the Lakers are going to struggle to find two way
Speaker 1: players to put next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: And by the time they actually figure it out, Lebron
Speaker 1: might be too old for it to matter. And and so,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's just sad. And and again like
Speaker 1: we don't really truly know what was available. But in
Speaker 1: a big picture, when you zoom out, I've got five
Speaker 1: seasons of Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Twenty twenty, they
Speaker 1: were a top tier contender, won the title twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: they were top tier contender, injuries undercut them. Then they
Speaker 1: traded for Russell Westbrook, and it's been a lot of
Speaker 1: mediocrity ever since then. They're right around this five hundred
Speaker 1: mark fifty games into the season seemingly every year now,
Speaker 1: and it's just not easy to do that when you've
Speaker 1: got foundational pieces like Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and
Speaker 1: so again, just not a good look for the Laker
Speaker 1: front office. One last note, there is a potential saving
Speaker 1: grace for the Lakers. Spencer Dinwittie is going to be
Speaker 1: available in the buy out market, and the Lakers, as
Speaker 1: a first Apron team, will be able to sign him.
Speaker 1: And I would imagine there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: teams that are going to be in the running form,
Speaker 1: specifically teams that could use a backcourt athlete. Spencer Dinwittie
Speaker 1: is far from the ideal type of athlete for this
Speaker 1: type of role, specifically the three and D role that
Speaker 1: the Lakers so desperately need. He's a guy that has
Speaker 1: a lot of athletic tools, but doesn't really truly commit
Speaker 1: himself to the defensive end. Of the floor on offense,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of it's a mixed bag. You catch
Speaker 1: him on the right night and he looks like an
Speaker 1: All Star, but like really struggles to finish around the rim.
Speaker 1: His general rim decision making is questionable. So like he's
Speaker 1: a flawed player. But for a veteran minimum pro rated
Speaker 1: end of the season buy out signing, you typically can't
Speaker 1: do much better than a Spencer Dinwiddie. And so he's
Speaker 1: a guy that if the Lakers could get I think
Speaker 1: would be significant. He's a guy that several teams out
Speaker 1: there that I think that could use some perimeter athleticism
Speaker 1: should be looking at all. Right, let's get into our
Speaker 1: instant reactions from last night. So we're gonna start with
Speaker 1: Pelicans Clippers. So the Pelicans just absolutely jumped the Clippers
Speaker 1: early on in this game. They actually won the first
Speaker 1: quarter thirty six to nineteen, and pretty much stiff armed
Speaker 1: him the rest of the way. There's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a comeback, like kind of a semi comeback in
Speaker 1: the early fourth quarter, but the Pelicans immediately extended the
Speaker 1: lead again. They put Zion Williamson on Kawhi Leonard to
Speaker 1: kind of match his strength which I thought was really
Speaker 1: smart from a matchup perspective. It also to me is
Speaker 1: like as a defensive assignment where you can get some
Speaker 1: high production out of Zion because it's very singularly focused.
Speaker 1: They put Brandon Ingram on Paul George to match his length,
Speaker 1: and then that allowed them to put Herb Jones Herb Jones,
Speaker 1: I should say, on James Harden. And you know, typically
Speaker 1: James Hardy can catch some pretty good matchups in in
Speaker 1: these in his specific role as the third best perimeter
Speaker 1: player on the team. But the Pelicans have the bodies
Speaker 1: to kind of go body for body with these guys,
Speaker 1: and they put Herb Jones, Herb Jones on I always
Speaker 1: call him herb Jones, it's Herb Jones. They put herb
Speaker 1: Jones on Harden, and he just killed him on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor to start the game. Was locking
Speaker 1: him up at the point of attack, forcing turnovers, applying
Speaker 1: really good pressure on him, and pick and roll to
Speaker 1: make those cross court passes to like Terrence Man difficult.
Speaker 1: I clipped a couple examples of this. But when you
Speaker 1: put when you're defending in pick and roll ball pressure
Speaker 1: is so so so important because you know, especially on
Speaker 1: a team like the Pelicans that's gonna bring deionas Valanchuniz
Speaker 1: so far out in the coverage out to the perimeter,
Speaker 1: there's going to be openings on the weak side. And
Speaker 1: so if I can get that pass over the top
Speaker 1: on time and on target, on a rope to the
Speaker 1: shooting pocket, my defense is compromised, and Terrence Man's either
Speaker 1: gonna have a wide open catch and shoot three, or
Speaker 1: he is gonna be able to drive and kick out
Speaker 1: of it, and they're gonna get great looks. But if
Speaker 1: I can pressure the basketball and I can force a
Speaker 1: looping pass or a deflected pass, it buys me a
Speaker 1: chance to rotate. And Herb Jones is just so good
Speaker 1: with that active hands, high hands, getting those deflections and
Speaker 1: bothering those over the top passes. He was also beating
Speaker 1: Harden on the other end of the floor just by
Speaker 1: running his lane in transition, getting out in front of him,
Speaker 1: hutting back door, just really really active early in the game.
Speaker 1: Dominated that matchup with James Harden, which went a long
Speaker 1: way to the early lead for the Pelicans, and then
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor, just really high
Speaker 1: level driving kick basketball from the Pelicans. I cut a
Speaker 1: lot of examples of high level closeout attacking from the Pels,
Speaker 1: and I want to Giveon Williamson a lot of credit
Speaker 1: for this one, because they were using a combination of
Speaker 1: pick and rolls in Zion ISOs to basically pull the
Speaker 1: Clippers players down into help, and when they would pull
Speaker 1: them into help, quick on point swing passes and then
Speaker 1: quick decisions attacking closeouts ended up generating the offense. CJ.
Speaker 1: McCollum was particularly great early in the game attacking closeouts.
Speaker 1: Larry Nance Junior even had one against plumb Lee where
Speaker 1: he drove and kicked to Trey Murphy in the left
Speaker 1: corner for three. They converted twenty six spot up opportunities
Speaker 1: in this game into thirty points. That's one point one
Speaker 1: five points per possession, which is obviously amazing. They're at
Speaker 1: one point one for the season, which ranks sixth in
Speaker 1: the NBA, So it's typically something that they are great at.
Speaker 1: And like again, Zion Williamson, just his ability when he's
Speaker 1: kind of bringing the ball down the floor with some
Speaker 1: verve and get it into those in and out dribbles.
Speaker 1: How it just kind of causes everybody to kind of
Speaker 1: coalesce around him, and like there was a specific play
Speaker 1: where Zion brought the ball off the floor in semi transition.
Speaker 1: He's right at the top of the key and I
Speaker 1: think it was Paul George sinks all the way down
Speaker 1: to the nail because it's part of the you know,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what you have to do against a
Speaker 1: real downhill athlete. You have to build a wall, so
Speaker 1: to speak. And when you build a wall, you generate
Speaker 1: closeout opportunities, and that specific slot closeout is really important.
Speaker 1: You can imagine ball handler on ball defender helper at
Speaker 1: the nail. So this guy here not only does he
Speaker 1: know he has a closeout opportunity, he knows where the
Speaker 1: angle of the closeout's coming from. Paul George is going
Speaker 1: to be closing out to his left hand side and
Speaker 1: trying to chase him off the line because he's a
Speaker 1: good shooter. So that is a read that you have
Speaker 1: to make as the spot up player to quickly catch
Speaker 1: and rip to the right. And if you watch the play,
Speaker 1: and I clip this one and put it in my
Speaker 1: thread this morning, he Zion Williamson makes a swing pass
Speaker 1: CJ's he already loading up for the writ before the
Speaker 1: ball gets to him and then he catches and racks
Speaker 1: to the right. Paul George has no chance to keep
Speaker 1: him in front because he's so far out of position,
Speaker 1: and CJ drives right into the lane. Zubah steps up,
Speaker 1: but he just stops and pops like a little floater
Speaker 1: in the lane. That's really high level, closed out attacking,
Speaker 1: reading the help defender, knowing where your angle is, stopping
Speaker 1: short instead of over penetrating, getting an offensive foul, challenging
Speaker 1: a rim protector or something stooping like the stupid like that,
Speaker 1: the high level finish, which is the high soft floater.
Speaker 1: But Zion was causing a lot of issues for the
Speaker 1: Clippers with them loading up on him. He had ten
Speaker 1: assists in that game, and he kind of closed the
Speaker 1: deal because the Pelicans won up thirty six to nineteen
Speaker 1: after the first quarter, and they kind of stiff armed
Speaker 1: the Clippers until the second half when they made it
Speaker 1: a little bit of a run. They actually got it
Speaker 1: back down to four, and then Zion had back to
Speaker 1: back and once against plumb Lee underneath the basket, and
Speaker 1: then Jose Alvarado hit a three in the right corner.
Speaker 1: It was like bang, bang bang. Next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: they're up double digits again and the game is over.
Speaker 1: So really really impressive two way game from Zion Williamson.
Speaker 1: The Pelicans have won four games in a row. They
Speaker 1: had dropped three in a row before that, to the Thunder,
Speaker 1: the Bucks, and the Celtics, and they didn't really compete
Speaker 1: in those games either, and that's been kind of a
Speaker 1: theme this year, like they just kind of have been
Speaker 1: getting blown out by some of the better teams in
Speaker 1: the league. They're three and six before last night against
Speaker 1: the teams that were in my top five list of contenders,
Speaker 1: and last night was a big step in the right
Speaker 1: direction on that front. They went into La and dominated
Speaker 1: the Clippers really good on both ends of the floor
Speaker 1: during this four game stretch. A one to twenty three
Speaker 1: offensive rating, a one oh seven defensive rating, outscoring opponents
Speaker 1: by sixteen points per one hundred possessions. So really impressive
Speaker 1: stretch of basketball from the Pelicans. On the Clippers front,
Speaker 1: super sloppy. They were getting beat down the floor in
Speaker 1: transition multiple times. Earlier in the game, Kawhi Leonard got
Speaker 1: ripped in the back court for a pick six, James
Speaker 1: Harden got ripped in the back court for a pick six.
Speaker 1: This is all in the first quarter too, and then
Speaker 1: on defense they were overhelping and losing sight of man
Speaker 1: and ball. And like, here's the thing, this is this
Speaker 1: happens in the NBA. It just does. No team is
Speaker 1: immune to it. Like like like every every team that
Speaker 1: comes out the gates and kicks everyone's butt, they always
Speaker 1: have a stretch where they really struggle. The twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Warriors, what they start fifteen to one, and they
Speaker 1: were what one or two seed most of the season,
Speaker 1: but even before Steph got hurt, they had a stretch
Speaker 1: where they dropped a bunch of games in a row.
Speaker 1: It happens, you know, like the U. I remember the
Speaker 1: Lakers in twenty twenty they started what twenty four and three,
Speaker 1: and then they literally right around Christmas lost four games
Speaker 1: in a row. So like it, it's just just about
Speaker 1: guaranteed to happen. Because you play eighty two games, there's
Speaker 1: an inevitable you know, kind of ebb and flow with
Speaker 1: your effort and focus and in things along those lines.
Speaker 1: The key is not letting it happen. Very often. This
Speaker 1: is one of those things where it's a completely acceptable
Speaker 1: thing to happen, but you just want to avoid it
Speaker 1: happening in mass You want to avoid it happening too frequently, right,
Speaker 1: Like that kind of thing can happen. I want to
Speaker 1: give the Pelicans credit too, Like they just came out
Speaker 1: from the opening tip, brought a ton of physicality at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, a ton of length and athleticism.
Speaker 1: They can really bother you on that front, and they
Speaker 1: had a really smart offensive game plan and got a
Speaker 1: big win. All right. Moving on to Warriors sixers, So
Speaker 1: kind of a classic Nick Nurse game in the sense
Speaker 1: that from the opening tip he takes Jaden Springer and
Speaker 1: just tells him to faceguard Steph Curry. All over the floor.
Speaker 1: They were doing really physical handoff switches to where like
Speaker 1: Jaden's like hands on Steph as he's moving around, and
Speaker 1: then if there's a screen that he gets caught on,
Speaker 1: it's like he's almost like passing Steph to the next
Speaker 1: guy who's immediately got his hands on him. And like
Speaker 1: they're just being physical all over the place. And as
Speaker 1: a result, like there's just a ton of space for
Speaker 1: the Warriors to play four on four basketball off of him,
Speaker 1: right and like it like and again, like Nick Nurse
Speaker 1: is always into this like kind of janky defensive scheme
Speaker 1: where he's super aggressive, throw the damn kitchen sink at
Speaker 1: your best player, and just kind of live with the
Speaker 1: results on the backside. This was kind of a textbook
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse Knight in that regard. But they were blitzing
Speaker 1: him on ball screens. They were just forcing anybody else
Speaker 1: to beat them, and they did. I thought Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Kaminga sprang the biggest run of the game
Speaker 1: there in the late second early third quarter. They just
Speaker 1: bring wave after wave of athleticism to the table. Like
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga was just beating him up the floor for
Speaker 1: transition dunks, Andrew Wiggins a pushing in transition with the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands, being active around the rim as
Speaker 1: a cutter and as an offensive rebounder. And then it
Speaker 1: just that group brought the beginning of the run there
Speaker 1: at the end of the second quarter, and they came
Speaker 1: out in the first quarter and they just like just
Speaker 1: completely blitzed the Sixers and it was a blowout in
Speaker 1: no time. And honestly, it's just a really athletic group
Speaker 1: when you have those two guys out there, And this
Speaker 1: is something I've been preaching preaching on pretty much all
Speaker 1: all season after as we were approaching the deadline, like
Speaker 1: lean on Draymond Green, Jonathan Kaminga Andrew Wiggins as your
Speaker 1: frontline because it's your best combination of athleticism and physicality
Speaker 1: to give you your best bet at contending in the physical
Speaker 1: areas of the game, because you are not going to
Speaker 1: be some jaw dropping offense when Steph Curry's really your
Speaker 1: only reliable offensive option, like consistent reliable offensive options. So
Speaker 1: like you need to win games with athleticism, you need
Speaker 1: to win games with perimeter defense in physicality and speed,
Speaker 1: and that lineup gives you your best bet. And it
Speaker 1: was interesting because Steve Kerr had mentioned earlier in the
Speaker 1: season that he didn't like Kaminga Wiggins front line and
Speaker 1: that they had struggled in the numbers and he wanted
Speaker 1: to try to make it work, but that it hadn't
Speaker 1: worked to that point in the season. Well, over the
Speaker 1: course of the last ten games, we have one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty nine minutes of Jonathan Kaminga, Andrew Wiggins and
Speaker 1: Raymond Green as the front line. They have a one
Speaker 1: to twenty five offensive rating, which is off the charts.
Speaker 1: Good and a ninety seven defensive rating, which is off
Speaker 1: the charts good. And like, here's the thing, There's going
Speaker 1: to be moments where Andrew Wiggins has a tough offensive
Speaker 1: night and Jonathan Kaminga is just not quite as sharp
Speaker 1: as he usually is, and the offense will be able
Speaker 1: to grind down a little bit. That's going to be
Speaker 1: baked into some of the limitations of that lineup, but
Speaker 1: it gives them the ability to really grind out games
Speaker 1: in an ugly way. This is a team that needs
Speaker 1: to get stops in runout in transition, this is a
Speaker 1: team that needs to bring real downhill forced to the
Speaker 1: rim to try to just muck things up and win
Speaker 1: ugly with with matchup attacking and I'm just bigger and
Speaker 1: faster than you type of stuff, right that, Like, they
Speaker 1: don't have a legit number two option, and so they're
Speaker 1: not going to be some crazy consistent offense the way
Speaker 1: that like a Denver is going to be. And so
Speaker 1: I think that lineup gives them their best opportunity to
Speaker 1: kind of bring that that that athleticism and defensive end
Speaker 1: of the flour into the equation more frequently. And again,
Speaker 1: like one hundred and thirty nine minutes is a substantial
Speaker 1: sample size. That's that's that's again it's in a ten
Speaker 1: game span, but like they've been kicking people's asses with
Speaker 1: that group, and that's something super encouraging, and like, honestly,
Speaker 1: the next step here is like Kurrs leaning on it
Speaker 1: more in general as a lineup, but I think he
Speaker 1: needs to lean on it in crunch time too, because
Speaker 1: we've seen that the Warriors have had trouble maintaining their
Speaker 1: their success when they get into close games late. That's
Speaker 1: been a consistent stint issue throughout the season. What are
Speaker 1: they lost eighteen games this year that have been within
Speaker 1: five points with less than five minutes left, So it's
Speaker 1: been a consistent issue, and I think sticking with that
Speaker 1: group longer gives their best chance, gives them their best
Speaker 1: chance to contend in the short term during this regular season.
Speaker 1: I also thought it was pretty encouraging games from Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson and from Kavan Looney, both of them have been
Speaker 1: struggling a lot here in the middle portion of the season.
Speaker 1: Looney was super active on the glass and just his
Speaker 1: usual kind of like physical, groundbound game, and Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: just a really under control game took the right shots,
Speaker 1: contended in the physicality areas. It was a really encouraging
Speaker 1: night all round for the Warriors. And by the way,
Speaker 1: they've won four of their last five games, and they've
Speaker 1: won for their last five games, with that one loss
Speaker 1: being that lost to Atlanta where they fell apart in
Speaker 1: crunch time and had all the issues that they had there,
Speaker 1: So like there's a lot to be encouraged about on
Speaker 1: this front. I still think they have a really good
Speaker 1: chance to get into the play in They are only
Speaker 1: one game back of Utah. They're like, I want to say,
Speaker 1: three and a half games back to get into that
Speaker 1: eighth spot to where they can only where they get
Speaker 1: two chances to win one game, which is just a
Speaker 1: better position to be in in the play in tournament.
Speaker 1: So big step forward for the Warriors last night, all right,
Speaker 1: last one before we get out of here. Celtics and
Speaker 1: the Hawks, so it's kind of interesting games. Drew Holliday
Speaker 1: was out and John tim Murray was out, so some
Speaker 1: kind of funky versions of both teams. Celtics went big
Speaker 1: with Al Horford, Derek White, and Jalen Brown I thought
Speaker 1: were the story of the game, particularly setting the tone
Speaker 1: early on Trey Young, just bringing a ton of physicality
Speaker 1: and back pressure and extra efforts in rotation. You can
Speaker 1: tell with Trey Young when he's struggling, when some of
Speaker 1: the drop off passes to Biggs are a little bit
Speaker 1: off target, and when he's missing his floater, because like
Speaker 1: when he starts to rush his floater, that's when you
Speaker 1: can tell you're really bothering Trey Young. And they did
Speaker 1: a really nice job on him. He had just twenty
Speaker 1: points on twenty five shots. They forced him into four turnovers.
Speaker 1: Atlanta got some solid contributions on the wing. Sadik Bay
Speaker 1: and Jalen Johnson were both great. They combined for forty
Speaker 1: four in this game. I just kind of kept things close,
Speaker 1: but then late in the game Jason Tatum and Derek
Speaker 1: White helped them pull away. Tatum was it was interesting
Speaker 1: because it was kind of a microcosm of some of
Speaker 1: the stuff you've seen from him this season down the stretch,
Speaker 1: because it's like he gets Sidiq Bay on a switch
Speaker 1: and he late in the clock ends up settling for
Speaker 1: like a tough pull up three, and you're like, like,
Speaker 1: why didn't he drive to the basket, And then on
Speaker 1: the offensive rebound, he gets back out to him and
Speaker 1: he has Trey Young on him, and he immediately his
Speaker 1: eyes light up and he just rips through into the
Speaker 1: lane and just bounces off all these bodies, gets his
Speaker 1: left handed scoops out. Probably a foul too, like probably
Speaker 1: deserved free throws on that one as well. And then
Speaker 1: I thought the most encouraging sign was he got an
Speaker 1: Yekakongu on a switch on the left wing. A few
Speaker 1: possessions later, and you could see as he was mixing
Speaker 1: up those side to side dribbles, he wanted so bad
Speaker 1: to take that pull up three, but he was. He
Speaker 1: didn't settle, He drove left to got right past the congo.
Speaker 1: Probably should have gotten anan one on that one as well,
Speaker 1: scooped it in. And then late in the game once
Speaker 1: again uh less. It was about thirty seconds left and
Speaker 1: he had Sadik Bay again on the left wing, and
Speaker 1: instead of settling or on the right wing, excuse me,
Speaker 1: instead of settling, just put his head down and tried
Speaker 1: to get downhill, kind of turned the corner a little
Speaker 1: bit to the left and drew in Christops Porzingis's man
Speaker 1: and made a swing pass back out to the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Hit Christops, he knocked down the three that basically iced
Speaker 1: the game, and again, like it's just gonna be it's
Speaker 1: just gonna be a vital importance for that those types
Speaker 1: of developments to take place. For Jason Tatum, Like the
Speaker 1: frustration I thought was encouraging. He was mad when he
Speaker 1: got that and one after he missed the pull up three,
Speaker 1: and he was yelling at the refs, and it's like, dude,
Speaker 1: get frustrated, get irritated. Bring that physical imposition to the game.
Speaker 1: You are one of the best forward athletes in the league,
Speaker 1: and when you bring that, you make your team that
Speaker 1: much harder to guard. And had a good playmaking game too.
Speaker 1: We had two really nice driving kicks to Derek White
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, really high quality three point shots. Again,
Speaker 1: that's the name of the game for the Celtics. You
Speaker 1: can play the volume three point shooting game, or you
Speaker 1: can play the quality three point shooting game. And if
Speaker 1: they play the quality three point shooting game, I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna win the title. That's how good I think
Speaker 1: they are. But like, there's it's getting rid of some
Speaker 1: of the early clock, semi contested threes for only OK shooters.
Speaker 1: Those are the ones that they have to kind of
Speaker 1: get out of their system. And then for Tatum, just
Speaker 1: in particular and his matchup attacking using the step back
Speaker 1: three more as a counter like this guy's on his
Speaker 1: heels and giving me space rather or like late clock situation,
Speaker 1: I don't have time to drive, rather than as the
Speaker 1: shot that he hunts in the drive being the counter,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. And then a couple other things.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, I thought his matchup attacking early in the
Speaker 1: game because Jason Tatum was in a little bit of
Speaker 1: a funk early, little aut rhythm. Jalen Brown was bringing
Speaker 1: that just like mid posts ISO attack that kind of
Speaker 1: carried them offensively earlier. And then he brought a really
Speaker 1: good defensive effort and had some really good possessions on
Speaker 1: Trey Young, which is part of their success in that game.
Speaker 1: And then I really liked these Avier Tillman and Jayden
Speaker 1: Springer editions. I thought that they were a good example
Speaker 1: of a team that understands like it's so easy to
Speaker 1: sit there and be like we're the best team, and
Speaker 1: it's so easy to sit there and be like we
Speaker 1: have the best record in the league. We don't need
Speaker 1: to go out and do something. We have our core
Speaker 1: five nailed down. It's gonna be Porzingis, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: Derek White, Drew Holliday. Those are the five guys, right, So,
Speaker 1: like it's so easy to just be content there. And
Speaker 1: I've always had an appreciation and respect for teams that
Speaker 1: pushed their chips in in the sense that they want
Speaker 1: to buy as much margin for error as possible. It
Speaker 1: is really hard to win an NBA championship. A lot
Speaker 1: has to go right for you. This team, in particular,
Speaker 1: already is up against it in the sense that Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum will not be the best player in a series
Speaker 1: with Milwaukee. He will not be the best player in
Speaker 1: a series against you know, like a like a Miami
Speaker 1: right like we've seen. Although I feel a little bit
Speaker 1: uh iffy about that one because I think I think
Speaker 1: Tatum's gone toe to toe with with Jimmy Butler more
Speaker 1: than once in his career. But like, he's not gonna
Speaker 1: be the best player in a series against the Denver
Speaker 1: Nuggets if they get out of the conference. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna be the best player in a series against the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Clippers, right, So, like you need to buy
Speaker 1: them as much margin for error as possible and getting
Speaker 1: a higher quality backup center that's got a little bit
Speaker 1: more playoff resiliency. That's a good option for you. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a I thought it was an example
Speaker 1: of a failing to be content of of of truly
Speaker 1: going after the best possible title odds that you can
Speaker 1: get within the scope of this season. So shout out
Speaker 1: to the Boston Celtics. All right, guys, that's all I
Speaker 1: have for today's show. When you're going to be back
Speaker 1: later tonight for an instant reaction after Lakers Nuggets live
Speaker 1: on YouTube, I will see you guys there. The volume