Speaker 1: The volume. The NBA season is in full swing, and
Speaker 1: when I can't get enough of the action on the court,
Speaker 1: I spice things up by betting on DraftKings Sportsbook, an
Speaker 1: official partner of the NBA. Right now, new customers can
Speaker 1: bet five bucks and get two hundred instantly in bonus bets.
Speaker 1: I was looking at the lines for making the playoffs today,
Speaker 1: and you can get the Lakers at plus one point
Speaker 1: fifteen to make the playoffs, and the Warriors check this
Speaker 1: out at plus two oh five to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app with code hoops that's hoops.
Speaker 1: New customers can bet five bucks on the NBA and
Speaker 1: get two hundred instantly in bonus bets only on Draftking
Speaker 1: Sportsbook with code hoops that's hops. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www
Speaker 1: dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York
Speaker 1: called eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text
Speaker 1: hope and Why to four six seven three six nine.
Speaker 1: In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight
Speaker 1: eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or
Speaker 1: visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of
Speaker 1: Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Twenty one plus age
Speaker 1: varies by jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See DKG dot
Speaker 1: com slash basketball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and
Speaker 1: responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to hop tonight. You're
Speaker 1: at the volume. I hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having a great weekend. Today we're doing our mail bag.
Speaker 1: I have something like twenty four twenty five different mailbag
Speaker 1: questions that we're hitting in today's show. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time to put those mail
Speaker 1: back questions in. All of you guys have not just questions,
Speaker 1: but so much good analysis in the comments as well.
Speaker 1: It's been kind of fun to see the community of
Speaker 1: the show build towards just a group of a bunch
Speaker 1: of people or diehard basketball fans who love their team,
Speaker 1: who love getting into the weeds. It was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun this morning kind of reading through all of
Speaker 1: those comments. You guys are the drill before we get started.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channels. You don't miss
Speaker 1: any more of our videos. It would mean a lot
Speaker 1: to me if you guys would take a second to
Speaker 1: scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about
Speaker 1: our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLTS. You guys, don't
Speaker 1: miss any show announcements or any of the film threads
Speaker 1: that I do in the morning. And then, last but
Speaker 1: not Lea's keep dropping mail bag questions in those YouTube
Speaker 1: comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the season.
Speaker 1: All right, First question, I have two questions, this person says. First,
Speaker 1: many people say that Jokic's best attributes are his tough
Speaker 1: shot making. I believe it's his strength, which I view
Speaker 1: as his base from which he can use a lot
Speaker 1: of his other skills, such as his tough shot making
Speaker 1: and playmaking, because at the end of the day, at
Speaker 1: any time, he could back down anyone, even the biggest players,
Speaker 1: and pretty much just shoot right over them. All of
Speaker 1: this to say, do you think his strength is the
Speaker 1: most important part of his game or is it the
Speaker 1: tough shot making ability? Then the second question, who do
Speaker 1: you think would be the best player from any time
Speaker 1: period to slow down Yokic? One on one. As I said,
Speaker 1: I believe his strength is his best astribute, so I
Speaker 1: would go with the biggest player, Shack. As Jokic tends
Speaker 1: to struggle with players like Embid, I think Shaq could
Speaker 1: do something similar, if not more. However, I could see
Speaker 1: Shaq struggling in the Jamal Murray pickin' rolls who do
Speaker 1: you pick? So always I'm going to go with the
Speaker 1: strength and the base over the tough shot making. It's
Speaker 1: not to say the tough shot making doesn't matter. I
Speaker 1: just always view tough shot making as like a ceiling razor.
Speaker 1: It's a thing you use in rescue possessions, late clock situations,
Speaker 1: maybe at the end of a game when a coverage
Speaker 1: takes away all of the easy shots that are available.
Speaker 1: But more often than not, what's going to carry you
Speaker 1: through the forty eight or through the eighty two or
Speaker 1: through the seven game series is going to be your foundation,
Speaker 1: the thing that you use on more possessions than not.
Speaker 1: And to me, Jokic's strength and his ability to fight
Speaker 1: for position not just to catch the ball, but to
Speaker 1: get the spots closer to the rims that he can
Speaker 1: make shots, or to rise up through contact and still
Speaker 1: get good lift on those tough shots. It's all gonna
Speaker 1: come down to the foundation. That over the top stuff
Speaker 1: is just what kind of pushes him over the top,
Speaker 1: I should say, a ceiling razor. It's a thing that
Speaker 1: allows him to, you know, make something out of nothing
Speaker 1: every once in a while, which obviously, like that was
Speaker 1: a huge role in that Lakers series last year. Right.
Speaker 1: I don't want to pretend like that stuff doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: but it always matters more what happens over the course
Speaker 1: of the entire game rather than the small handful. It's
Speaker 1: why it gets really silly when we start talking about
Speaker 1: clutch shots as like only the final shot of the game.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, like in the fourth quarters, twelve minutes
Speaker 1: of basketball, there there might be twenty thirty possessions where
Speaker 1: you need somebody who can consistently generate good shots down
Speaker 1: the stretch of a game. And that's where your your
Speaker 1: actual bread and butter matters more than some of the
Speaker 1: more fancy stuff that kind of dresses it up. If
Speaker 1: that makes sense. As far as the best player to guard,
Speaker 1: you'll catch one hundred percent agree. I actually thought Shack
Speaker 1: as soon as I was reading your question. It's just
Speaker 1: one of those things where he can kind of like
Speaker 1: fight Jokic off of those spots and keep him from
Speaker 1: bullying closer to the ram. But as you mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: not as Yeah, it'd be great if the Sixers could
Speaker 1: just start a playoff series tomorrow to play against the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets and win the title, but that's not how
Speaker 1: it works. You have to be able to beat multiple
Speaker 1: different teams. Versatility is a very important part of the
Speaker 1: game of basketball. You have to be able to play
Speaker 1: and win different ways. And that doesn't just go for Shack.
Speaker 1: That goes for Joel Embiid as well. And so again
Speaker 1: when it comes to Nikole Jokic, just because a guy
Speaker 1: might be able to give him some more issues one
Speaker 1: on one doesn't necessarily mean he's a better player. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Shack all Time is a better player than Nikola jokicch
Speaker 1: And we'll see what ends up happening in the long run.
Speaker 1: With Nikoliokich. I don't mean to undercut him there. I'm
Speaker 1: just more talking about Embiid and the fact that he's
Speaker 1: able to guard Nikola Jokich. All right, next question, I've
Speaker 1: heard you say something before along the lines of Cleveland
Speaker 1: needing to make the tough decision of deciding between Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell and Darius Garland and Jared Allen and Evan Mobley.
Speaker 1: The small guard pairing in the back court doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be working at a championship level, and neither does
Speaker 1: the pairing of Mobley and Allen in the front court.
Speaker 1: Does this recent surge with Garland and Mobley out confirm
Speaker 1: that theory? Should Cleveland be going all in on the
Speaker 1: Mitchell Allen duo. Thanks love the show. First of all,
Speaker 1: thanks for the kind words. As it pertains to this lineup,
Speaker 1: there is some reality to like it just kind of
Speaker 1: slotting more into my kind of overarching basketball belief system. Right,
Speaker 1: like that group, the Jared Allen, Dean Wade, Isaacacorro, Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 1: Max Struz. They're plus twenty one point two net in
Speaker 1: about three hundred possessions this year according to Cleaning the Glass.
Speaker 1: And it's like Jared Allen is a versatile defensive anchor
Speaker 1: right that can guard in different coverages. That's that important
Speaker 1: piece that I always talk about. Dean Wade is a
Speaker 1: big forward. He's not as strong as I typically like
Speaker 1: that position, but he's a big forward that can switch
Speaker 1: that can help. He's good rebounder too, he gets about
Speaker 1: eight rebounds per thirty six minutes. Isaac Corro is your
Speaker 1: perimeter oriented forward. Obviously a little shorter than i'd prefer there,
Speaker 1: but he's a guy that can guard all the forwards
Speaker 1: in the league. And then Donovan Mitchell and Nextrus are
Speaker 1: a good combination of size, strength, athleticism and skill for
Speaker 1: a backcourt. They kind of both are a little bit
Speaker 1: of both, if that makes sense. They're both a little
Speaker 1: bit of a skill guard and they're both a little
Speaker 1: bit of an athlete guard, right, So it does a
Speaker 1: proper team construct. That said, I do think a big
Speaker 1: part of it is they're super fast, particularly Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 1: and Isaaca Korro. They're super fast and they play really
Speaker 1: hard all the time, and especially this time of year,
Speaker 1: that December January phase before the deadline, that's where you're
Speaker 1: gonna see the young fast teams kind of take a
Speaker 1: leap forward. It's gonna be a theme in today's show
Speaker 1: because it's gonna be something we talk about when we
Speaker 1: get to the Utah Jazz really young, really fast teams
Speaker 1: when the older, slower teams are kind of struggling in
Speaker 1: the grind of the regular season, that's where they rise
Speaker 1: to the surface. So again, like I don't think that
Speaker 1: this group is better than what the Cavs are like
Speaker 1: when they're healthy. I just think that's an explanation for
Speaker 1: how they're winning games. And as far as like being weird,
Speaker 1: because two small guards and two bigs is a weird
Speaker 1: kind of construct. If you're gonna be weird, it can
Speaker 1: be weird. In the NBA. The Nuggets are weird, the
Speaker 1: Warriors are weird. There are weird teas, the Kings are weird.
Speaker 1: But if you're gonna be weird, you have to be
Speaker 1: awesome at specific spots. Right, Like what makes the Nuggets
Speaker 1: being weird work is Nikol Jokich is the best player
Speaker 1: in the world. What made the Warriors being weird work
Speaker 1: was Steph Curry was a top two or three player
Speaker 1: in the world for the entirety of the dynasty. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like that's the difference, is like you're weird and you're
Speaker 1: not good enough. As you mentioned, it doesn't work at
Speaker 1: a championship level. And so from that standpoint, I would
Speaker 1: invest in the big picture. And so that's why I
Speaker 1: keep talking about kind of trying to lean more into
Speaker 1: that construct until you get the right guys. Again, like
Speaker 1: I always talk about, you want to find a number
Speaker 1: one first. Everything you do at first should be geared
Speaker 1: towards finding that number one, and then from there you
Speaker 1: kind of build out. And at this point it's about
Speaker 1: finding out whether or not Evan Mobley can be that
Speaker 1: number one. Next question, I don't have the foresure numbers,
Speaker 1: but when watching Pacers, it looks like Tyres and a
Speaker 1: lot of his assists in offensive dominance come from transition
Speaker 1: or fast breaks. Do you think when the playoffs come
Speaker 1: this will be an issue for them when the games
Speaker 1: get more physical and more possessions in the half court
Speaker 1: situations are where they still be able to consistently run
Speaker 1: on teams. By the way, Sowarrow is better than Sabino.
Speaker 1: Shout out Chas Mac too. Those are I went to
Speaker 1: Sabino High School and Souarrow is their big rival. So
Speaker 1: clearly this listener is from Tucson. Chas Mack is on
Speaker 1: my men's league team on Sundays. Him and I have
Speaker 1: won many many championships together. We've won four of the
Speaker 1: last five in that league. Chazz is a hooper, one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players. That I've ever played with, because
Speaker 1: he's just super super easy to play with. Like he's
Speaker 1: a guy that can get twenty points a game, but
Speaker 1: with like very few dribbles, which makes him a super
Speaker 1: easy fit along other good basketball players. I'd go to
Speaker 1: war with that dude any day. Shout out to Chas
Speaker 1: mac now on that front, Tyree Saliburn. The numbers will
Speaker 1: tell you that he's a great half court player too.
Speaker 1: He's an outstate. He's one of the best pick and
Speaker 1: roll ball handlers in the league including passes. He's one
Speaker 1: of the best ISO players in the league including passes,
Speaker 1: well over a point per possession in both categories. He
Speaker 1: can beat switches of any kind, like he can toast
Speaker 1: bigs off the dribble. He can drive by guards that
Speaker 1: are too slow to stay in front of him, and
Speaker 1: then he can beat every coverage in pick and roll
Speaker 1: right like if guy's duck under picks or die on picks,
Speaker 1: he can hit pull up threes. He's got a deadly floater.
Speaker 1: He can make every single pass in the books, skip passes,
Speaker 1: lob passes to backside cutters, lob passes to the role man,
Speaker 1: Like I just I understand that they do run a lot,
Speaker 1: and that's certainly part of it, and things will get harder.
Speaker 1: And also make no mistake that teams will wear Tyre's
Speaker 1: Haliburton down in a playoff series. I don't expect Tyra's
Speaker 1: Aliburton to go to the playoffs and just automatically be
Speaker 1: the best player in the world. This is a journey.
Speaker 1: He's on a journey that will take a half decade
Speaker 1: to get to that, like you know, when he's in
Speaker 1: his late twenties where he could potentially be one of
Speaker 1: the very best players in the league. But I'm not
Speaker 1: worried about his ability to get there. It's just going
Speaker 1: to be about learning the lessons and making the adjustments
Speaker 1: along the way. But he is an excellent half court
Speaker 1: player and I'm not worried about that at all. Next question.
Speaker 1: You have said a couple of times since the Lakers
Speaker 1: versus Nuggets Conference Finals that what separated those two teams
Speaker 1: during that series was the Nuggets late game execution, which
Speaker 1: I agree with. You commented that the over the top
Speaker 1: shot making ability of Yo Kitchen Murray was far better
Speaker 1: than that of Lebron and ad and that it's the
Speaker 1: primary factor as to why the Nuggets won and the
Speaker 1: Lakers lost. Based on that rationale, I do not think
Speaker 1: the Lakers need to make any roster changes prior to
Speaker 1: the deadline because Lebron and AD are shot creating much
Speaker 1: better this year, which in theories, should close the gap
Speaker 1: between the Nuggets and Lakers. I agree that the lack
Speaker 1: of point of attack defense is an issue for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: but I also believe that if you swapped this version
Speaker 1: of Lebron and AD with last year's version in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: the series would have gone six or seven. Do you
Speaker 1: agree or do you believe it is still not enough
Speaker 1: with their current roster construction. So, first of all, I
Speaker 1: agree with the premise of what you're saying in the
Speaker 1: sense that, like one of my big points of optimism
Speaker 1: this season is like Austin keeps getting better, is like
Speaker 1: pick and roll numbers just keep ticking up. He's one
Speaker 1: of only eleven players in the league to run at
Speaker 1: least five hundred at at least a point per possession.
Speaker 1: Lebron looks better than they did the last year. Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis playing the best basketball that he's played since twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: so I want to be And even though he's not
Speaker 1: making the shots, although he had a crazy shot making
Speaker 1: game against the MAVs. But even though his shot making
Speaker 1: isn't righte where it wasn't in twenty twenty, his playmaking
Speaker 1: is above that level. So you could argue AD's the
Speaker 1: best version that he's ever been and all of that
Speaker 1: is encouraging. And I do agree that if you swap
Speaker 1: all those guys out, it's a longer series with Denver.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the over the top shot making.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest issues was perimeter strength and athleticism
Speaker 1: and size, right like it was just Dennis Schroeder. Was
Speaker 1: there one guy fast enough to stick with people and
Speaker 1: he was too short to guard Jamal Murray, right like
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown literally took D'Angelo Russell out of the playoff series. Right,
Speaker 1: So they go to Ruey Hacha Mura, but he'd only
Speaker 1: be working in some matchups that played a certain style.
Speaker 1: Denver was one of the matchups where he was able
Speaker 1: to play. But to me, the problem is it's not
Speaker 1: just the over the top shot making, which is a
Speaker 1: positive trend for the Lakers. It's if you go into
Speaker 1: a playoff run with Austin Dilo and Torrian Prince you
Speaker 1: are way too skinny and slow on the perimeter. Just
Speaker 1: end of sorry, You're not gonna be able to contend
Speaker 1: for four series with that lineup. So I have a
Speaker 1: lot of encouraging things that I've noticed from the Lakers
Speaker 1: this season, but they still absolutely need some kind of
Speaker 1: trade to bolster their perimeter speed and strength and athleticism
Speaker 1: as well. Moving on to the next question, can a
Speaker 1: player that is a bad playmaker slash passer be the
Speaker 1: best player on a championship winning team. I feel like
Speaker 1: the scoring guard that can't pass is becoming less and
Speaker 1: less valuable archetype of a player, with most of them
Speaker 1: coming off the bench in the past few years. Also,
Speaker 1: is play making the second most important skill after scoring
Speaker 1: because of all the top players in the league are
Speaker 1: good to great passers and be this season is a
Speaker 1: way better player than he was last season, and he
Speaker 1: seems to have only improved his vision, but it allows
Speaker 1: him to beat double teams and face more single coverage
Speaker 1: because they are reluctant to double him as much. I
Speaker 1: love the show and I've watched for a while. Love
Speaker 1: your in depth analysis. Keep it up. Thanks again for
Speaker 1: the kind words. So here's the thing, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say it can't happen. I mean, we just saw Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard in twenty nineteen win the title as a well
Speaker 1: below avera playmaker at that point in his career, although
Speaker 1: he's gotten better since he got to the Clippers, but
Speaker 1: that was a freaking awesome team in like almost every phase,
Speaker 1: and he was a guy that like that team won
Speaker 1: fifty something games, so it was like fifty nine games
Speaker 1: or sixty games a year before, and then Kawhi just
Speaker 1: kind of pushed him over the top. Right, So like
Speaker 1: it's a little it's a little different. But as we
Speaker 1: go back, it's like last year Nikolay jokicch excellent playmaker,
Speaker 1: the year before that, Steph Curry excellent playmaker, Yiannis the
Speaker 1: year before that, huge playmaking leaps in that playoff run,
Speaker 1: right year before that, Lebron James, excellent playmaker. And then
Speaker 1: you go back and it's Stephan Kady, Stephan k Dy,
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Stephan k d Right. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's pretty obvious that the best player on your team,
Speaker 1: if you want to win, you certainly have a much
Speaker 1: better chance if he's a very very good playmaker. The
Speaker 1: reason why is really simple, and this is why I've
Speaker 1: always gravitated towards the big matchup, attacking playmaking forward in
Speaker 1: terms of my star archetypes that I prefer. It's because
Speaker 1: of the fact that any playoff series, everything that the
Speaker 1: coaching staff is sitting down in their meetings and doing
Speaker 1: is geared towards trying to slow down your best player. Right,
Speaker 1: Like I remember the ch match of the Lakers and
Speaker 1: Warriors last year. It's like the Lakers are just constantly
Speaker 1: trying things to try to slow down Steph and the
Speaker 1: Warriors are constantly trying things to try to free up Steph.
Speaker 1: Right Like that, That's where the game plan of the
Speaker 1: series goes around, Right, And so when you have to
Speaker 1: have a guy that can decipher everything that's happening in
Speaker 1: the five on five, that to me is a vital
Speaker 1: component of a championship leading superstar because that chess match
Speaker 1: is going to go a bunch of different directions in
Speaker 1: a playoff series, and that star has to be able
Speaker 1: to decipher and adjust to all of those things. Next question,
Speaker 1: why do you think Lebron has more success guarding someone
Speaker 1: like Kawhi Leonard than Kevin Durant? Really simple. He's thirty
Speaker 1: nine years old, but he's still strong as hell. And
Speaker 1: Kawhi is not as fast. He's more of a strength player.
Speaker 1: Lebron can match up with that. Kevin Durant is more
Speaker 1: of a speed player at this finesse and like kind
Speaker 1: of side to side finesse, like he's he's trying to
Speaker 1: get around you, not go through you. And he's very
Speaker 1: shifty and very good at deceptively kind of hiding his
Speaker 1: angle of attack, and that can cause some slower players issues.
Speaker 1: Next question is a Lakers question. What is making the
Speaker 1: version of the old starting lineup work when it struggled before.
Speaker 1: Is it simply Austin Reeves playing better defense or is
Speaker 1: there something else going on? A couple of different things.
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the year, the Lakers in general
Speaker 1: came out kind of flat in terms of their effort. Remember,
Speaker 1: even their wins, they would like wildly come from behind
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. Also, they were running
Speaker 1: a new offense last year. They were a four out
Speaker 1: one in spread pick and roll, spread post up type
Speaker 1: of team, like cleared side post ups, cleared side pick
Speaker 1: and rolls, that kind of stuff. Like they were very
Speaker 1: brute force and this year they're a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: Like they ran a lot of five out to start
Speaker 1: the year, then they went a lot towards four out,
Speaker 1: and now they're going back towards five out with their groups.
Speaker 1: Darvin's doing a good job job. I think of like
Speaker 1: running five out with his skill groups and then running
Speaker 1: four out with with his more power groups. Right. As
Speaker 1: for why it's looking so good as of late, it's
Speaker 1: a combination of they just have a lot more repetition
Speaker 1: in the in their back pocket from running five out
Speaker 1: this season, and they're desperate like the Lakers. This is
Speaker 1: what happened with the Lakers. They came out the year
Speaker 1: kind of a bad effort and focus team, and then
Speaker 1: they tried really hard and they won the Ncason Tournament.
Speaker 1: And then as soon as they won the Ncason Tournament,
Speaker 1: they completely relaxed and everyone just started kicking their ass
Speaker 1: for a few weeks, right, But it got so bad
Speaker 1: that they literally went two games below five hundred, and
Speaker 1: that was enough to kind of wake them back up
Speaker 1: to the point where they're desperate enough to kind of
Speaker 1: reapply themselves. Now. That does not make them good enough
Speaker 1: to win the championship right now, but that's why they're
Speaker 1: playing more like what I expected them to look like
Speaker 1: in this regular season, and honestly, that's the way to go.
Speaker 1: You lean that group if they're gonna play offense at
Speaker 1: that level, lean into that until the deadline. Reconfigure the
Speaker 1: rotation and lineups from there. Next question, I recently watched
Speaker 1: an old video you did right after the Warriors last
Speaker 1: championship about how strong their organizational structure is, from Joe
Speaker 1: Lacup to Bob Myers, to Steve Kerr to the players.
Speaker 1: In your opinion, what has happened to this team since then?
Speaker 1: They where they are and seemingly such a bad spot
Speaker 1: now that we are witnessing the end of a dynasty.
Speaker 1: Love the show, Thanks for everything, Thank you for the
Speaker 1: kind words. I really put it down to a couple
Speaker 1: of different things. Bob Myers just wanted to retire. I
Speaker 1: don't think Mike Dunlevy is incapable. I mean it's too
Speaker 1: soon to tell, obviously. I don't think Steve Kerr is
Speaker 1: unmotivated or lost his touch. I think it's just he's
Speaker 1: dealing with a lot of the personnel limitations of this roster.
Speaker 1: Everything to me comes down to just a couple of things.
Speaker 1: I don't blame Clay, he's getting old. That was super predictable, Right,
Speaker 1: It comes down to three things, in my opinion, Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins went from being the second best player on the
Speaker 1: championship team and one of the best three and D
Speaker 1: players in the league to a bad NBA player like that,
Speaker 1: like overnight, Like it just to the point now where
Speaker 1: it's like you're hoping he gets it together, but it's
Speaker 1: like he probably should be coming off the bench. Like
Speaker 1: it's like like he probably doesn't even belong, Like he
Speaker 1: probably doesn't belong in the starting lineup, right, So, and
Speaker 1: he has come off the bench for stretches this season.
Speaker 1: So it's like, like that's just a huge decline. How
Speaker 1: do you count for that? How do you count from like,
Speaker 1: like to take a really good team, take the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: What if Aaron Gordon went from being one of the
Speaker 1: most useful role players on a championship contender to a
Speaker 1: guy that wasn't good enough to start, and then suddenly
Speaker 1: they had to put Peyton Watson at the four, who's
Speaker 1: a very good player. But that'd be a downgrade, a
Speaker 1: significant downgrade, right, And so like that that's just difficult
Speaker 1: to account for. Secondly, Draymond Green removed himself from the
Speaker 1: team like like, Draymond Green took himself out of the
Speaker 1: lineup for more than half the season. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a thing that's going to hurt your basketball team when
Speaker 1: he's one of your most important players. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry just hasn't been playing like Steph Curry for
Speaker 1: a few months. And what a lot of times, like
Speaker 1: people focus on lineups and coaches and role players and
Speaker 1: all these different things, but it's like, is your star
Speaker 1: playing like shit? Because if your start's playing like shit,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard to win. And those three things
Speaker 1: kind of amount to why they look as limited as
Speaker 1: they have. I'm not worried about Steph. I think he's frustrated.
Speaker 1: I think he's annoyed, and I think he's not motivated
Speaker 1: by this group. But I don't think he believes in
Speaker 1: this group enough to like really apply himself at this
Speaker 1: point in time. And I think he'll re engage if
Speaker 1: they make a trade at the deadline. Draymond Green's back,
Speaker 1: so that'll be fine. You just have to find a
Speaker 1: way to replace Andrew Wiggins from a talent perspective, you
Speaker 1: have the means with which to do so with Jonathan Kaminga.
Speaker 1: Although we'll talk about it in a little bit, but
Speaker 1: missing out on Siakam is definitely a blow there. Next question.
Speaker 1: First off, I really respect the way you conduct to
Speaker 1: the show. This is my far my favorite basketball podcast
Speaker 1: because you actually give useful analysis that helps both fans
Speaker 1: and players. Secondly, what is a realistic trade the Sons
Speaker 1: can make using Grayson Allen and this here little who
Speaker 1: make it combined fifteen million a year? Obviously, the Sons
Speaker 1: could use a six to seven or above winging to
Speaker 1: play the three or the four who can defend and
Speaker 1: shoot the three point shot? The question to shoot? First
Speaker 1: of all, thanks again for the kind words that that
Speaker 1: stuff means a lot to me. Obviously, as you guys know,
Speaker 1: I get a lot of crap in the comments that
Speaker 1: on social media and stuff, and I always just say, like,
Speaker 1: the kindness from you guys outweighs that every single day,
Speaker 1: and that's why I never complain about it. As for
Speaker 1: the Suns, here's the thing. Grays and Allen's are a
Speaker 1: really good player and he's having an outstanding shooting season.
Speaker 1: I agree the Sons could use a forward. But you
Speaker 1: have to find a team that one has a lot
Speaker 1: of forwards, and two that needs shooting, and three that
Speaker 1: is close enough that they'd be willing to cash in
Speaker 1: a forward for a role player because they think that'll
Speaker 1: kind of push them over the top. And I literally
Speaker 1: can't think of a single one. I have three teams
Speaker 1: down here. I put Brooklyn because they have a lot
Speaker 1: of forwards and they could use some shooting. They're not
Speaker 1: a good three point shooting team. But if I'm Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: why am I moving a forward for Grayson Allen instead
Speaker 1: of a draft pick? Right? Then I put down the Thunder.
Speaker 1: The Thunder have lots of forwards, but they don't really
Speaker 1: have any need for Grayson Allen. They have their guard
Speaker 1: corps awesome, right. And then lastly, I put down the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks if they ended up being sellers, because they've
Speaker 1: got some forwards on the bench that they could give up.
Speaker 1: But if I'm Atlanta, why am I not moving for
Speaker 1: a like to get assets to get a better play
Speaker 1: Like if they move to Jontey Murray and Clint Capella
Speaker 1: and DeAndre Hunter and Cidique Bay or something like Casidique
Speaker 1: woud be a guy that i'd target for the Suns right,
Speaker 1: Like he's in a contract year, you might be able
Speaker 1: to get him for a Grayson Allen and or something
Speaker 1: like that. Like maybe in terms of like value, they're
Speaker 1: kind of like similarly valued players. But why would Atlanta
Speaker 1: do that? Why wouldn't Atlanta move Sadik Bay for a pick?
Speaker 1: Because with a pick they can package that and try
Speaker 1: to go get a star right to put next to
Speaker 1: Trey Young. So like it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: I don't really see an obvious option out there. Maybe
Speaker 1: it'll materialize at some point, but it's hard to find
Speaker 1: a combination of a team that would see value in
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen as a shooter and as a veteran guy
Speaker 1: that could start for them or come off the bench,
Speaker 1: and also has a plethora of forwards. Like it's just
Speaker 1: it's hard to kind of like find that kind of combination.
Speaker 1: And that's why I keep saying with the Suns like it,
Speaker 1: like it, they're almost better off just kind of leaning
Speaker 1: into being the best version of themselves that they can be.
Speaker 1: But maybe a buyout guy comes available, maybe Gordon Hayward
Speaker 1: becomes available, But like, is he fast enough as a
Speaker 1: as a defensive player, it's hard to say. Right. Next one,
Speaker 1: I think Kawhi is one of the most dependable jump
Speaker 1: shot makers in the league in the postseason, as we've
Speaker 1: seen every year before he's gone down with injury. PG
Speaker 1: and Harden can be can both be streaky, But does
Speaker 1: having both on one team offset the risk of one
Speaker 1: of them going cold with only one having a good night.
Speaker 1: I think they can overcome the other being off since
Speaker 1: Kawhi is so dependable, but maybe one being cold could
Speaker 1: throw off the other. So again, yeah, you're right, Like
Speaker 1: ever since the twenty twenty bubble, there's just been nothing
Speaker 1: but injuries kind of disrupting any ability to see that. Right,
Speaker 1: And Kawhi shot the ball really well last year in
Speaker 1: the postseason before he got hurt, shot the ball really
Speaker 1: well in twenty twenty one before he got hurt. But
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty when things went off the rails, Kui
Speaker 1: was missing too. Like Kui went cold. So like it
Speaker 1: is possible that a team like from the top down,
Speaker 1: bad shooting is contagious and good shooting is contagious. If
Speaker 1: you've ever played in a basketball game, you know that
Speaker 1: kind of thing, right, And just in general, I think
Speaker 1: The best way to confront shooting is to play good basketball.
Speaker 1: You play good good basketball, you get better shots. Get
Speaker 1: better shots, they eventually go in, right. But like at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like, do I think Kawhi
Speaker 1: is gonna shoot the ball well this year in the postseason? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like I think he can. And if he goes out
Speaker 1: and he shoots insanely well, that buys you margin for
Speaker 1: error for Paul Georgian and James Harden to be more inconsistent. Right,
Speaker 1: one hundred percent agree with that. The question marks that
Speaker 1: I have around that team center around just as a
Speaker 1: team who's getting the easiest shots, and if Kawhi can
Speaker 1: kind of make up for that, great, But that's where
Speaker 1: health becomes an important kind of factor in all this.
Speaker 1: But I do believe in Kawhi and his ability to
Speaker 1: make shots, and that's why I have the Clippers up
Speaker 1: at four. Only the Bucks, Celtics and Nuggets for me,
Speaker 1: are like safer bets to win the title this season.
Speaker 1: So I do believe. It's just the reason why I
Speaker 1: have them behind is when you factor in the defensive
Speaker 1: rebounding issues, when you factor in the leaning on the
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting, they just have some more question
Speaker 1: marks on that front. Next question, I love the optimism,
Speaker 1: but do you but do honestly believe the Warriors are
Speaker 1: one move away from turning their bottom twenty twenty fifth
Speaker 1: or worst defense into a top ten required of a
Speaker 1: championship team. Impossible to make a run this season. Personally,
Speaker 1: I feel like this season is gone, play it out
Speaker 1: with who you got make decisions once Chris, Paul, Clay
Speaker 1: and Kerr are gone or looking for extensions. So here's
Speaker 1: the thing. It can look really bleak right now. And
Speaker 1: I get that. Trust me, as a Laker fan last year,
Speaker 1: I can familiarize with the feeling. But the dead giveaway
Speaker 1: to me is like Steph's not playing particularly well, and
Speaker 1: I can tell everyone's just kind of frustrated and annoyed
Speaker 1: at the situation. So January in the NBA, motivation plays
Speaker 1: a huge role in the outcome of games, and you
Speaker 1: make the right trade, you get to re engage Steph.
Speaker 1: Everything kind of slots properly. Things can turn around like that,
Speaker 1: and then you start to look down the playoff field
Speaker 1: and it's like, if I'm Golden State, am I scared
Speaker 1: of Oklahoma City in a playoff series? If I have
Speaker 1: Steph and two really good players that I got back
Speaker 1: into trade, and Steph's re engaged, Like, no, I'm picking
Speaker 1: the Warriors right like you're gonna pick them over a
Speaker 1: lot of teams except for the really really big teams,
Speaker 1: right Like it's Minnesota, it's Denver, it's the Lakers that
Speaker 1: would concern you. But like, the Warriors still have a
Speaker 1: chance to beat just about everybody else in the field
Speaker 1: is currently constructed. And if they hit the if they
Speaker 1: get it, if I have a home run Warriors trade
Speaker 1: that I've pitched before, and I'm gonna mention again later
Speaker 1: on in the show, but like, if they hit on
Speaker 1: that trade, everyone gets re engaged and they go Like
Speaker 1: the Warriors are dealing with personnel limitations, no doubt, but
Speaker 1: they're also dealing with January basketball with a bunch of
Speaker 1: frustrated veterans, And that's what this can look like from
Speaker 1: time to time. Next question, Hi, Jason, I love watching
Speaker 1: the NBA and fan reactions to their team winning and losing.
Speaker 1: My question is why do we as fans, including me,
Speaker 1: overreact to regular season wins and losses at this part
Speaker 1: of the season. I understand overreacting to wins and losses
Speaker 1: close to the end, but to the middle and beginning
Speaker 1: reactions are crazy in my opinion. For example, a team
Speaker 1: like the Lakers are just won team two in a row,
Speaker 1: people are talking about them being amazing and saying maybe
Speaker 1: they don't need a trade. On the other hand, the
Speaker 1: Warriors who lost too and have fans begging for them
Speaker 1: to trade and saying they aren't contenders. Literally a week ago,
Speaker 1: the Lakers were the team that we're seeing who needs
Speaker 1: to make a trade in art contenders, and the Warriors
Speaker 1: were seen as contenders and didn't need to make a trade.
Speaker 1: Both fan bases want them to make trades, but they
Speaker 1: only seem to beg for them when they lose two
Speaker 1: games in a row or more. It's a long question
Speaker 1: and an interesting one in my opinion. If you've listened
Speaker 1: to the show over the last couple of years, you
Speaker 1: guys know exactly where I stand on this. No matter
Speaker 1: how bad things have got for the Warriors this year,
Speaker 1: I never took them off my list of contenders. Not ever, right,
Speaker 1: no matter how bad things got for the Lakers this year,
Speaker 1: never took them off my list of contenders. Like regular season,
Speaker 1: basketball comes down to so many factors. That go beyond
Speaker 1: just how good your basketball team is, and so it
Speaker 1: is it is possible to kind of get misled by results, right.
Speaker 1: I think part of the issue is is fans are emotional?
Speaker 1: What does fan mean? Fan means stands for fanatic, Like
Speaker 1: that's we're all emotional because we're fans, right, Like, that's
Speaker 1: just how we react. And then I think the television
Speaker 1: product is part of it too. So you know, the
Speaker 1: a lot of national NBA shows, especially on cable, like
Speaker 1: on ESPN and stuff like, they they have legit pressure
Speaker 1: from production staffs and executives to be like, hey, time
Speaker 1: to panic or not with Team A, or time to
Speaker 1: panic or team not with Team B? Or is you
Speaker 1: know a young team with a young player wins ten
Speaker 1: games in a row and plays awesome, and it's like,
Speaker 1: is this player the best player in the league? Is
Speaker 1: this team gonna win a championship? Right? Like that's kind
Speaker 1: of the that's kind of like the pattern of that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And I think that noise kind of
Speaker 1: colors the way we all see things. But more often
Speaker 1: than not, it's like like the Lakers play the Nets tonight.
Speaker 1: If there's a chance, I think the Lakers are gonna
Speaker 1: win that game. But if they come out and they
Speaker 1: played super Lackaday's goal and the Nets kick their butt, like,
Speaker 1: it's just not gonna change my opinion on that team,
Speaker 1: because in the regular season, so much of this stuff
Speaker 1: is like that, Like the the Sacramento Kings went out
Speaker 1: and got their ass kicked last night, Like they've lost
Speaker 1: four games in a row. They blew a twenty point
Speaker 1: lead against the Suns the other day, Like you, they're
Speaker 1: just going through the muck of January. They were one
Speaker 1: of the most impressive teams in the league over the
Speaker 1: first third of the season. They were going into opponents
Speaker 1: arenas like championship contenders arenas and kicking their ass. So like,
Speaker 1: this is just kind of part of that noise, and
Speaker 1: you kind of have to find a way to sort
Speaker 1: through it as best as you can. Next question, now
Speaker 1: that Siakam got traded to the Pacers, what big trade
Speaker 1: do you see the Warriors make and do you think
Speaker 1: it'll make any difference should they jeopardize their future to
Speaker 1: have a chance to win it once again now and
Speaker 1: in the coming seasons With steph Okay, I'll answer the
Speaker 1: second question. First, Yes, you can't win the title unless
Speaker 1: you have a top tier superstar. You have a top
Speaker 1: tier superstar. Unless you're under the impression that Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 1: is going to be which there's a chance, but it's
Speaker 1: a long shot at this point, then you this is
Speaker 1: your chance to win, so you gotta go for it.
Speaker 1: You owe it to Steph, you owe it to the fans, because,
Speaker 1: like I promise you, guys, if you trade Steph for
Speaker 1: a bunch of draft picks and you trade and just
Speaker 1: build around Kaminga, we'll look up two years from now
Speaker 1: and they'll be thirty two and fifty and you'll be like,
Speaker 1: but hey, Jonathan Minga is averaging twenty six. This is cool?
Speaker 1: Like it Like, don't forget that every team out there
Speaker 1: that doesn't have one of those guys desperately wants one
Speaker 1: of those guys. Yeah, you don't think Brooklyn would love
Speaker 1: to be like, hmm, what moves should we make at
Speaker 1: the deadline since we have Steph Curry on the roster
Speaker 1: right now? As far as which trade I think that
Speaker 1: they should make now that Seatcome's gone, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: really tough. But the one that I pitched on the
Speaker 1: show the other day that I really like is I
Speaker 1: would call the Nets. I'd offer Hi Jonathan Kaminga, I'd
Speaker 1: offer Moses Moody, and I think it's Andrew Wiggins was
Speaker 1: the third guy, if I remember correctly, and I'd ask
Speaker 1: for mckail bridges and Dorian Finney Smith, and I'd run
Speaker 1: those two guys out between Draymond, Steph and Clay. I've
Speaker 1: got two excellent perimeter defenders that can both shoot. Mckailbridge
Speaker 1: is one of the best role players in the league.
Speaker 1: And then I'd make another run at it with Steph.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if that deal is possible, but
Speaker 1: if I'm Brooklyn and I'm like, I can get Jonathan Minga,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about Brooklyn in a minute. As
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I'm gonna wait to kind of
Speaker 1: elect I'm just gonna wait until I get to the
Speaker 1: Nets on that front, because I did have a NETS
Speaker 1: question in there, Hi, Jason, with the d Lo and
Speaker 1: Ruie package as the base for the trade, if possible,
Speaker 1: would you rather get mckail bridges and Dorian Finnis Smith
Speaker 1: or Dejontay Murray and DeAndre Hunter. I lean a Brooklyn
Speaker 1: deal because I think Austin Reeves can be a much
Speaker 1: better pick and roll ball handler with enough reps. First
Speaker 1: of all, I agree about Austin. He's consistently getting better,
Speaker 1: and I think we're also seeing that he's really good
Speaker 1: in their flow offense when he's playing off the ball.
Speaker 1: I think he gets a bad rap for some of
Speaker 1: his on ball reps this year. He's, like I've said before,
Speaker 1: one of only eleven players in the league this year
Speaker 1: to have over five hundred pick and roll reps including
Speaker 1: passes and be over a point per possession. He also
Speaker 1: is like one point zero eight points per ISO. So
Speaker 1: for all the complaining about Austin on the ball, like,
Speaker 1: he's been one of the best in the league at it,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of high volume guys, it's just
Speaker 1: those lineups have so many other issues that it can
Speaker 1: look ugly sometimes, and offensive skill in a lot of
Speaker 1: those groups would be Austin Reeves out there with a
Speaker 1: bunch of unskilled forwards and he's just looking to hunt
Speaker 1: his own shot, right, So that's where it can get weird.
Speaker 1: As far as the Hawks package of the Nets package,
Speaker 1: the Hawks package just more realistic. Atlanta's most likely going
Speaker 1: to make a significant trade at this deadline Brooklyn. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure they even want to move McHale Bridges. They might,
Speaker 1: but they might not, right, And so that's where it
Speaker 1: gets a little bit more complicated with Brooklyn. That said,
Speaker 1: would I rather have mckail bridges and Dorian Finnis Smith
Speaker 1: or Dejonte Murray and DeAndre Hunter. Of course, I'd rather
Speaker 1: have mckel bridges and Dorian Phinney Smith. I think mckel
Speaker 1: bridge is one of the best role players in the league,
Speaker 1: and I think if you put him next to a
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis, I think that the Lakers
Speaker 1: would just be ridiculous. But it's just an unrealistic trade.
Speaker 1: And I think I think if I'm between the two packages,
Speaker 1: I just pitched, like if it was Ruy di lo
Speaker 1: in a first round pick, or it was Wiggins cominga
Speaker 1: and Moody like, I'm taking Kaminga. I want Kamena more
Speaker 1: than a twenty twenty nine first from the Lakers, right.
Speaker 1: I Mean, that's not to say that's not a good asset,
Speaker 1: but Jonathan Kaminga is a really, really interesting young player
Speaker 1: in this league. Next question, Whenever I questioned Lebron's defensive effort,
Speaker 1: I normally get told he has to conserve energy for
Speaker 1: the offensive end. This makes sense given his age and
Speaker 1: the offensive load he has always carried. But my question
Speaker 1: is always the same. Wouldn't Lebron be as productive, if
Speaker 1: not more so, if he turned the dials down on
Speaker 1: offense so that he can turn the dials up on defense,
Speaker 1: or is his offensive value worth too much sacrifice? I
Speaker 1: think he's turning it down on both ends right now. Offensively,
Speaker 1: Lebron has a physical exertion element that he can go to,
Speaker 1: a bullyball element that he can go to that he's
Speaker 1: just not really using right now, and in general, I
Speaker 1: think he's just kind of floating around. But he's got
Speaker 1: such a high basketball queue and is such a great
Speaker 1: passer that it can look like he's super engaged offensively
Speaker 1: even when he's not really engaging himself physically. Like he
Speaker 1: had twenty five eight to eight the other day against God,
Speaker 1: who do they just beat? Now I'm blanken all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, but he had twenty five other maps, He
Speaker 1: had twenty five eight Nate nat game and was like
Speaker 1: a nice connective piece in their offense just because he's
Speaker 1: so smart. But like it's when they get to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: where I see that being a thing if the offense
Speaker 1: continues to revolve around Anthony Davis the way that it
Speaker 1: has and they get it to John Tay Murray, or
Speaker 1: if they run Austin Reis and D'Angelo Russell, like the
Speaker 1: best version of Lakers will be Lebron James is a
Speaker 1: connective piece offensively who engages himself defensively consistently, and then
Speaker 1: for short stretches like Lebron is still one of the
Speaker 1: best helio centric guys in the league in short bursts
Speaker 1: when he's locked in where it's like ten possessions in
Speaker 1: a row where he spans a post up, or ten
Speaker 1: possessions in a row where he's like I'm attacking use
Speaker 1: of Nurkic and pick and roll or whatever it is, Like,
Speaker 1: he's still one of the best at that in small doses.
Speaker 1: You just can't do it for a full game. And
Speaker 1: so again, I do see that as the goal when
Speaker 1: they get to the postseason. But I actually think he's
Speaker 1: conserving energy on both ends right now. Next question, actually,
Speaker 1: so fast forward to Utah before I go back to
Speaker 1: this one, because I had two Jazz questions. Can you
Speaker 1: talk a bit about the Jazz incredible stretch lately and
Speaker 1: how they've been blowing out championship contender teams. Thanks. So
Speaker 1: it comes down to a couple of different things to me.
Speaker 1: First of all, my theory about young and fast teams.
Speaker 1: So like Colin Sexton and Chris Don are two of
Speaker 1: the fastest guards that we have, better athlete guards that
Speaker 1: we have in this league, and they both are outstanding
Speaker 1: defending at the point of attack, Like Colin Sexton is
Speaker 1: like this has this power downhill game that's like kind
Speaker 1: of intense, and then John Collins can run up and
Speaker 1: down the floor like absolutely crazy, and Lori Markenen is
Speaker 1: one of the best play finishers in the league. And
Speaker 1: then they do like a line shift approach where they'll
Speaker 1: like take all five guys out and then bringing all
Speaker 1: five guys on the bench, and then all of them
Speaker 1: are fast, and so it's just this like ridiculous, like
Speaker 1: crazy just onslought of speed. And I think that's actually
Speaker 1: a big reason why they've been so successful in December
Speaker 1: and January, right, because like this is the stretch of
Speaker 1: the season where if you're young and you're fast and
Speaker 1: you play hard, you can cause teams a lot of problems.
Speaker 1: I thought last night was a good indicator, like bringing
Speaker 1: another young, fast team who's just better and they'll lose,
Speaker 1: and they lose their first home game in ten tries, right, So,
Speaker 1: like it's fun and it's exciting, and honestly, the Jazz
Speaker 1: are going about the rebuild and we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: this when we get to the nets. The Jazz are
Speaker 1: going about their rebuild the way I think you should
Speaker 1: go about a rebuild. So compliment to the Utah Jazz,
Speaker 1: but the reason why they're winning right now in large
Speaker 1: part comes down to that, Like it's there is skill.
Speaker 1: Guys are playing really well, Collin Sexton, Soup and Lauri
Speaker 1: Market and soop and a lot of guys are hooping.
Speaker 1: But they're also just young and fast as hell, and
Speaker 1: they're defending and they're running right. So like that's what
Speaker 1: kind of ties it all together. Now, let me go
Speaker 1: back to the other Jazz question. Do you think Utah
Speaker 1: will still trade Lauri Marking in with the way they're
Speaker 1: playing right now. I believe they'll do the exact same
Speaker 1: thing they did last year, and they'll move some role players.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if they moved to Colin Sexton
Speaker 1: right that said, I don't know that. I haven't heard
Speaker 1: much buzz at all surrounding Lori markin In. I think
Speaker 1: if someone threw a Godfather offer at them, they'd move him,
Speaker 1: but I don't think it's something that they're actively trying
Speaker 1: to do right now. Next question, with the Kings playing
Speaker 1: terrible basketball recently, including the missed free throws and blowing
Speaker 1: a twenty two point fourth quarter lead, what would it
Speaker 1: look like for them to trade Barns and some young
Speaker 1: guys to Atlanta for dejontey Murray, along with throwing Herder
Speaker 1: and picks to Portland for Jeremy Grant. Murray could take
Speaker 1: more ball handling responsibilities and he's been shooting well, whereas
Speaker 1: the Aaron has been playing much better off the ball
Speaker 1: than he has previously. Plus, I think a pairing of
Speaker 1: Dejonte with more athletic guard would work better than him
Speaker 1: and Trey's fit. Grant is obvious and helps in so
Speaker 1: many ways, But would it makes sense for Sack to
Speaker 1: just throw in Dejonte? Throw in for Dejonte with a
Speaker 1: low asking price in a solid contract to see if
Speaker 1: he can help them since they've been abysmal lately, they've
Speaker 1: been so bad. I think some trades would show up
Speaker 1: their rotations a little better since Brown has been messing
Speaker 1: with them too much and ruining easily winnable games. I
Speaker 1: don't think this team can afford to miss the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so I think it makes sense to press the panic
Speaker 1: button a sap and get what they can. I'm totally
Speaker 1: I'm in a totally different spot with the Kings. I
Speaker 1: think they have a class. I'm thinking they're in a
Speaker 1: classic case of January basketball. Like last year they kind
Speaker 1: of fought through all this stuff because it was new
Speaker 1: and exciting, But now their team that's looking forward to
Speaker 1: April as well. I do not think they're going to
Speaker 1: miss the playoffs. I do not think they have any
Speaker 1: issues in the regular season. I think just struggling right now.
Speaker 1: A move for de Jontae Murray and Jeremy Grant would
Speaker 1: be a half measure in my opinion. First of all,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure Jeremy Grant even wants to go anywhere else.
Speaker 1: It's not to say they can't make that type of move,
Speaker 1: but for me, you need a four, you need an
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon esque type of four, and unless you find
Speaker 1: that guy, there's no reason to make a half measure.
Speaker 1: And like a pitching to Jeremy Grant that you want
Speaker 1: him to be the dirty work guy that he was
Speaker 1: in Denver, that he clearly has told everybody that he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be anymore, then I think I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily sure that he's the guy. Now. If Lori markin
Speaker 1: it was available, yeah, you throw throw the kitchen sink
Speaker 1: at it, you get a deal done. But like right now,
Speaker 1: you're better off just kind of like hanging tight until
Speaker 1: the right move comes along. To Jontay Murray to me, like,
Speaker 1: can you play Dejonte and Malik Monk and Darren Fox
Speaker 1: at the same time. No, if you give up Malik
Speaker 1: Monk in the deal, is de Jontay Murray that much
Speaker 1: better than Malik Monk. No, So, like it's a half measure,
Speaker 1: and so from there you're better off just like waiting
Speaker 1: and seeing if Kevin Herder and Keegan Murray become better
Speaker 1: players until you end up making some sort of all
Speaker 1: in move for that forward spot. Next question, Hey, Jason
Speaker 1: Love your knowledge on the game been my go to
Speaker 1: NBA show Slash podcast since I discovered you in early
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Thank you for the kind of words.
Speaker 1: Since there isn't a big market for Levigne and and
Speaker 1: if Lakers could get get him without giving up Austin Raeves,
Speaker 1: wouldn't he be a perfect fit as an off ball
Speaker 1: score ability to beat guys off the dribble, an excellent
Speaker 1: three point shooter. Sure, his defense isn't great, but with
Speaker 1: the athleticism he is, couldn't he be better if bought in?
Speaker 1: And he already and be hidden as they already have
Speaker 1: a bunch of defensive guys. They can call it the
Speaker 1: three star route. But as great as Lebron as he's
Speaker 1: too old to do it for eighty two games and
Speaker 1: he needs a perimeter guy who can carry help carry
Speaker 1: the load in the regular season. Plus Levin and Ad
Speaker 1: with Austin Raves is pretty good core going forward for
Speaker 1: the Lakers once Lebron retires or goes to play with Bronni. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, I agree that the Lakers need offense.
Speaker 1: This is something I've been on for a little while.
Speaker 1: It's working right now because Dlo is playing well, but
Speaker 1: it's just typically not like this right like Delo do
Speaker 1: this for stretches or for games, but the it usually
Speaker 1: depends on the matchup too. Like other finesse scoring teams,
Speaker 1: he can kind of hang and then when they go
Speaker 1: against brute force, physical teams, that's where Delo really starts
Speaker 1: to struggle. Right, But zac Lavine's not the guy i'd
Speaker 1: go after. Of all the names I've seen mentioned, I'd
Speaker 1: preferred to Rosen even over him. I'd prefer to Dante
Speaker 1: Murray over him. I probably even prefer a call In
Speaker 1: Sexton over him, because he's a really good athlete at
Speaker 1: the guard position on the defensive end as well. That's
Speaker 1: not to and then also Zaqulavine's hurt again. He twisted
Speaker 1: his ankle last night, so like I just and then
Speaker 1: we even heard from Brian Windhorse that there's a zero
Speaker 1: point zero percent chance that the Lakers make any sort
Speaker 1: of move for zach Lavine. So I agree with you
Speaker 1: in the principle of like where they need to go,
Speaker 1: I just don't see it think Levine is the guy.
Speaker 1: Next question, do you think the NBA has a problem
Speaker 1: with the lack of carrying or travel calls or do
Speaker 1: you think the game is in a good place for
Speaker 1: the entertainment product. I don't even care. Like there's the
Speaker 1: occasional missed bad carry or miss bad traveling call. And
Speaker 1: I get that they look ugly on TV, but they
Speaker 1: only happen every once in a while, and I don't
Speaker 1: think that there are any sort of significant impact on
Speaker 1: the game. To me, it all comes down to officiating.
Speaker 1: And there's another question about officiating later, and I'll give
Speaker 1: the second half of my answer when we get there.
Speaker 1: What would you do if I convinced Joe Side to
Speaker 1: fire Sean Marks and make you the next financially secure
Speaker 1: GM of my Brooklyn Nets? Okay, so fake GM Jason
Speaker 1: of the Brooklyn Nets. What would I do? So here's
Speaker 1: the thing. Four of their five core starter players are
Speaker 1: all twenty seven or older, right Like Spencer Dinwood's older,
Speaker 1: Michael mckel bridges is older, Cam Johnson is older. They're
Speaker 1: they're like they're not young. They're they're not a team
Speaker 1: where like like they're not the Jazz, Like they're not
Speaker 1: young and fun and fast and like, oh, we'll see
Speaker 1: what this guy can be and we'll see what that
Speaker 1: guy can be. Like all of these guys are really
Speaker 1: good NBA role players. They're a team full of really
Speaker 1: good NBA role players. Mckal bridge is for instance, the
Speaker 1: best player on that team. Right, if you ask any
Speaker 1: you know, random assortment of people probably vote Michael Bridges.
Speaker 1: Really like mckail Bridges. The mckail bridge is best player
Speaker 1: on a team or second best player on a team thing.
Speaker 1: It's it's just not gonna it's just not gonna work. Right.
Speaker 1: He's twenty seven years old. He is what he is
Speaker 1: at this point. He's a good scorer that can go
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five in a night, occasionally go for thirty.
Speaker 1: That's an excellent spot up shooter, excellent closed out attacker.
Speaker 1: But he's not a guy that you want to have
Speaker 1: as an offensive folkrum. So then from there, how do
Speaker 1: you remember I mentioned earlier I want to be more
Speaker 1: like the Jazz. So what I want to do is
Speaker 1: if I my number one goal is to get the
Speaker 1: guy right, And the only way I'm gonna get the
Speaker 1: guy is by taking in young lottery talents that teams
Speaker 1: bailed on. So guys in that like twenty two, like
Speaker 1: like the Lakers with Ruby Hotchimurav for instance, right, and
Speaker 1: then two through draft picks. And the only way I'm
Speaker 1: getting those two types of guys is by taking my
Speaker 1: value and turning it into that type of resource. I
Speaker 1: have all these role players that all of these other
Speaker 1: teams would love to have, Dorian Finney, Smith Royce, so
Speaker 1: Neil McHale Bridge is like all these teams would love
Speaker 1: to have these guys. Flip them for draft compensation and
Speaker 1: other really young players with some upside, and get a
Speaker 1: coach in there that, uh that will attack the regular
Speaker 1: season and build a play style that's fun and fast
Speaker 1: and and and be fun and fast and young while
Speaker 1: you're waiting to see what develops from your young players
Speaker 1: and your picks. They're in the worst possible place to
Speaker 1: be because they're They're a blow average team that has
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys in their mid to late twenties
Speaker 1: that everybody else wants, and they don't have a single
Speaker 1: piece that's like, oh this is interesting. Like I like
Speaker 1: Cam Thomas. He's a sixth man. I like Cam Thomas,
Speaker 1: but the best version of him as an NBA player
Speaker 1: is sixth man on a good team. Right, So, like
Speaker 1: like at a certain point, this is the this deadline
Speaker 1: is the time to do it, because there's all these
Speaker 1: teams out there that want these kinds of guys. How Like,
Speaker 1: how many teams are there out there, Like the Sons
Speaker 1: would love a six a guy who could shoot and defend.
Speaker 1: The Lakers would love a six eight guy that could
Speaker 1: shoot and defend. The Warriors would love a six eight
Speaker 1: guy that could shoot and defend. Like even a guy
Speaker 1: like Roy O'Neil might be able to pull some stuff back.
Speaker 1: So like they've got to They to me, the worst
Speaker 1: thing you can be is have a group of these
Speaker 1: guys where we already know what they are. Go get
Speaker 1: guys like you know, like I love the Jazz getting
Speaker 1: John Collins. It's like like, yeah, he was a bust
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, but like, why don't we bring him in
Speaker 1: here and let's be young, fun and fast and see
Speaker 1: what John Collins can do, and you know, and let's
Speaker 1: and then basically flip those guys at the deadline, like
Speaker 1: they that's what the Jazz do. Anytime they see a
Speaker 1: guy that has some value around the league that they
Speaker 1: don't see as a foundational piece, they just move them.
Speaker 1: And they get more picks back, and they get more
Speaker 1: young players back, and they just keep trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what they can get. Laurie marketing in with the
Speaker 1: Jazz is another great example of a guy that was
Speaker 1: a castaway in Cleveland or a guy that they didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily believe in, and suddenly he looks like one of
Speaker 1: the best young players in the league. Right, So if
Speaker 1: I was running the nets, that's what I would do.
Speaker 1: I'd flip all those rop this year for young, fun
Speaker 1: players and picks, and I lean into being young and
Speaker 1: fun until I found the guy. Once I find the guy,
Speaker 1: that's when I look for the second guy. Once I
Speaker 1: find the second guy, that's when I look for the
Speaker 1: role players that compliment those two guys. Next question, Hey, Jason,
Speaker 1: appreciate the content. Got a quick mail back question here.
Speaker 1: Do you think the Warriors and Lakers should do a
Speaker 1: trade surrounding Ruey Gabe in a first round pick for
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins and a second round pick. Feels like this
Speaker 1: might help the Warriors with size and isoscoring bursts, whereas
Speaker 1: Wiggins is the perfect addition for the Lakers. So I
Speaker 1: actually heard from one of my friends who covers the league.
Speaker 1: I heard that the Lakers, I guess called Golden State
Speaker 1: at some point and offered D'Angelo Russell for Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: which would have been super hilarious because, like the first
Speaker 1: of all, D'anngel Russell was with the Warriors, and the
Speaker 1: Warriors traded him and then slandered him on the way
Speaker 1: out the door, so that would have been funny. Also,
Speaker 1: I think you could argue that, given their contracts, d
Speaker 1: Angela Russell might be a better asset right now, which
Speaker 1: is actually kind of crazy just because of how poorly
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins is playing. But here's the thing, Andrew. If
Speaker 1: I could get Andrew Wiggins from twenty twenty two on
Speaker 1: the Lakers, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I
Speaker 1: just if you really start to zoom out from the
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins thing, it's like we viewed it as like, oh,
Speaker 1: he was here in Minnesota, and then okay, he's with
Speaker 1: the Warriors and he's going up and then it's like tank.
Speaker 1: But if you zoom out, it's actually a lot of
Speaker 1: this in the one spot that's up high, meaning like
Speaker 1: it's actually more likely than not that Wiggins is who
Speaker 1: he is and that twenty twenty two is an outlier.
Speaker 1: So it's an interesting trade idea. Ruy Hatchamura would help
Speaker 1: the Warriors a lot, so we Gabe, But I just
Speaker 1: think Rui's a better player than Andrew Wiggins right now,
Speaker 1: and so I don't think the deal necessarily works, and
Speaker 1: unless Andrew Wiggins can get it together, I don't in
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks. I don't necessarily think he
Speaker 1: has a ton of trade value. Next question, are there
Speaker 1: any rule changes you would implement in the NBA? And why?
Speaker 1: Just curious if you have any ideas. I thoroughly enjoy
Speaker 1: the show and appreciate your insight and takes on the game.
Speaker 1: So what I would do is I'd give the refs
Speaker 1: discretion to never call any sort of non basketball play.
Speaker 1: There was a play at the end of the Denver
Speaker 1: Nuggets game that I'll give you guys as an example.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid went up underneath the basket and clearly got
Speaker 1: fouled I think by Aaron Gordon if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: and he's complaining to the refs, and it was a foul.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent agree with Joel Embid that it was
Speaker 1: a foul. Here's the thing. They didn't call it. And
Speaker 1: Embiid was underneath the rim and had an opportunity to
Speaker 1: power up and put the ball in the basket, and
Speaker 1: instead he stuck his arms out and went like that.
Speaker 1: To try to go up to the basket and Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon came across his arms and they didn't give him
Speaker 1: the call. I would not give him the call either,
Speaker 1: because there's no place in the world where you teach
Speaker 1: a basketball player to do that. It is not a
Speaker 1: basketball play to put the ball out and deliberately expose
Speaker 1: it to get knocked away. They do that because they
Speaker 1: get calls. It's a non basketball play that grifters used
Speaker 1: to try to get to the line. And he's not
Speaker 1: the only one. I'm not targeting Mbiad. I'm just using
Speaker 1: that as an example. I would give the refs discretion
Speaker 1: any sort of non basketball play that you see in
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form, even if it's a blatant foul,
Speaker 1: just don't call it, because that would be what's best
Speaker 1: for the league. And I thoroughly believe that the ref
Speaker 1: watched him do that in that moment and made that call.
Speaker 1: I think he looked at it and was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is a nationally televised MVP showdown between Joel and
Speaker 1: Bid and Nikola Jokic. It's a close game late, I'm
Speaker 1: not giving him that bullshit like that. That's what I
Speaker 1: think that was and I think if the NBA did that,
Speaker 1: it would go a long way towards helping helping the
Speaker 1: television product. All right, Four more questions. Dream trade at
Speaker 1: the deadline for any team, favorite showing YouTube? Keep going, man,
Speaker 1: thanks again for the kind words. I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: that Warriors one for Dorian Finney Smith and mchal Bridges.
Speaker 1: I just really want to see the Warriors have one
Speaker 1: last shot at things and I think that would be
Speaker 1: the most fun trade that would kind of change the
Speaker 1: landscape of the league. Next question, It seems as if
Speaker 1: the standings are not as important as they used to be,
Speaker 1: and I just want to know why that is. It
Speaker 1: seems as if the young teams at the top and
Speaker 1: the veteran teams at the bottom. And the funny thing
Speaker 1: is that most NBA fans, including me, trust the lower
Speaker 1: seeded team more than the higher seeded teams. Now because
Speaker 1: of that, do the veteran teams do this on purpose?
Speaker 1: Or is it something else talked about this earlier in
Speaker 1: the show. But to make it simple, like, I think
Speaker 1: these veteran teams are just trying to get through to April,
Speaker 1: and I think that they love playing basketball, but that
Speaker 1: the grind kind of gets to them more. And these
Speaker 1: younger teams they love. They're not sick of it yet.
Speaker 1: They love the grind. They love being in the middle
Speaker 1: of January, Like, do you think the Jazz are bored
Speaker 1: right now? No, They're having a blast. And so again
Speaker 1: it's our job to just try to sort through all
Speaker 1: of that noise. Two more, out of the Suns, Warriors
Speaker 1: and Lakers, who are you more worried about. I'm more
Speaker 1: concerned with the Suns as a team they have as
Speaker 1: the team they have is what they have, whereas the
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Warriors can make trades to be way better.
Speaker 1: I enjoy this show and I just want your opinion.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting take as it pertains to the Suns
Speaker 1: not being able to make a trade. That said, the
Speaker 1: Sons have Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durrant and
Speaker 1: they I think they have the ability to play better
Speaker 1: than they have to this point in the season. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with the Warriors there just because since they
Speaker 1: missed out on Siakam, I think their job at this
Speaker 1: trade deadline gets significantly more difficult. And I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers are just better than both teams as currently constructed,
Speaker 1: I'd pick them over I'd pick the Lakers over the
Speaker 1: Suns or the Warriors in the series that started today,
Speaker 1: So I just think they're in a better position. That's
Speaker 1: not to say that I think all three teams are
Speaker 1: gonna make the playoffs, and I think the Warriors will
Speaker 1: find something to do. I just think they have a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a long shot, So I have
Speaker 1: them third in that group right now. Last question, what
Speaker 1: do you think of the recent trend of NFL guys
Speaker 1: saying the world revolves around the US and using American
Speaker 1: ratings to prove the NFL as lapping the NBA in popularity.
Speaker 1: As someone who's not American, it really bugs me because
Speaker 1: everyone outside the US knows that the NBA is far
Speaker 1: and away the most popular American league in the world. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, it's not necessarily a fair comparison, just
Speaker 1: because the NBA is a global game in a way
Speaker 1: that football is not. But I do agree with your premise,
Speaker 1: Like every time NFL ratings get brought up next to
Speaker 1: the NBA, I'm just like, who cares? They're fundamentally different products, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: every regular season game gets more views a lot more views.
Speaker 1: But like the NBA is an inventory product. They have
Speaker 1: eighty two regular season games. So even if they only
Speaker 1: get two million views per game on an ESPN game
Speaker 1: or whatever, like or whatever it is that they get, Like,
Speaker 1: there's just the you know, the Lakers on ESPN thirty
Speaker 1: five times or whatever forty times in a season. Right,
Speaker 1: So like like again, they're just so fundamentally different as products,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And even above and beyond that,
Speaker 1: they're just irrelevant. Like, the NBA is growing in popularity,
Speaker 1: So if the NFL is growing faster or is already bigger,
Speaker 1: who cares? They're over there. They're a different thing. The
Speaker 1: NBA is doing great, they have room for improvement. But
Speaker 1: the NBA is doing great, that doesn't It's not like
Speaker 1: the NFL is like pushing the NBA down. That's not
Speaker 1: what's happening. Right. It's like politics, right, Like these cable
Speaker 1: news stations, they're gonna crush everybody, especially this year with
Speaker 1: the with the presidential election, right, Like, who cares? Like
Speaker 1: they're a different thing. They're completely different thing. They don't
Speaker 1: actually affect the health of the NBA at all. To me,
Speaker 1: the global potential of the NBA is what makes it
Speaker 1: so healthy. I think if we fast forward fifty years,
Speaker 1: you could probably have franchises in other countries. I think
Speaker 1: the league in general is just going to be incredibly healthy.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even be surprised if we had NBA sponsored
Speaker 1: leagues around the world, kind of similar to NBA Africa.
Speaker 1: I think the NBA and basketball in general is just
Speaker 1: in a really good place, and I don't understand how
Speaker 1: the NFL applies to that at all whatsoever. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. As always, as
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. I will
Speaker 1: be back on Wednesday when I get back from Denver.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys, and I'll see you then. The
Speaker 1: volume