Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoopsina I here at the volume
Speaker 2: Heavy Friday.
Speaker 1: Everybody.
Speaker 2: Hope all of you guys had a great week. Got
Speaker 2: a jam pack show for you guys today. It's Mailbag Today,
Speaker 2: Mailbag Day, and we got so many good questions from
Speaker 2: you guys. A lot of questions surrounding Kevin Durant and
Speaker 2: the Houston Rockets some of their big picture potential this year.
Speaker 2: I really want to do a deep dive into KD
Speaker 2: and the Rockets today. After that, I got a couple
Speaker 2: of really interesting questions surrounding Donovan Mitchell, including a question
Speaker 2: as to whether or not Donovan should be ranked ahead
Speaker 2: of a guy like Lebron. So we're gonna dig into
Speaker 2: that a little bit. There's some big picture stuff with
Speaker 2: like Lebron versus Steph in the recent history versus all time.
Speaker 2: We've got questions surrounding some theoretical Los Angeles Lakers trades,
Speaker 2: all sorts of interesting stuff to get into today. You
Speaker 2: guys know the job before we get started. To subscribe
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Speaker 2: and the last, but not least, if you want to
Speaker 2: get a question into this mail bag, all you gotta
Speaker 2: do is go to our full episodes on YouTube and
Speaker 2: in the comments drop mail bag with a colon and
Speaker 2: then write your question. You're gonna ask questions about absolutely
Speaker 2: anything to get into the mail bag. We're also highlighting,
Speaker 2: specifically in this series questions that are related to the
Speaker 2: player rankings list. I'm gonna try to get to several
Speaker 2: of those in here as well. So you disagree with
Speaker 2: where I have a guy ranked. You think he's too high,
Speaker 2: I think he's too low. Just tell me where you
Speaker 2: think you should be ranked, explain why, give a little
Speaker 2: elevator pitch, and we'll get into those debates in our
Speaker 2: Friday mail bags as well. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 2: So first question, I have been feeling that the Rockets
Speaker 2: aren't real contenders for an overly simplistic reason. KD is
Speaker 2: too old. When is the last time we saw a
Speaker 2: player as old as KD be the best player on
Speaker 2: a championship team. Lebron in twenty twenty was two years
Speaker 2: younger than KD will be by next year's playoffs. You
Speaker 2: have to go back over forty years to Careem Abdul
Speaker 2: Jabbar in nineteen eighty five to find a guy at
Speaker 2: least as old as KD is now so on a
Speaker 2: championship team, and it's two guys are widely considered to
Speaker 2: be two of the top three players of all time
Speaker 2: in Lebron in Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I just don't see
Speaker 2: KD being that third guy to accomplish this feat. But
Speaker 2: is this too simplistic? Also, you don't have him ranked
Speaker 2: as a top ten player, and it's exceedingly rare to
Speaker 2: win a chip without a top ten player. So this
Speaker 2: is actually a really interesting topic to me as it
Speaker 2: pertains to the age of Kevin Durant. How much can
Speaker 2: he help their offense really and is there any sort
Speaker 2: of precedent for this sort of thing?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: And I was actually getting in to the Rockets quite
Speaker 2: a bit. I was having dinner over at Adam Mars's
Speaker 2: house the other night. You know, he covers the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: And we just moved up here to Denver, and Adam
Speaker 2: and his wife have been super kind to my wife
Speaker 2: and I helping us feel welcomed as we moved to
Speaker 2: a brand new city. As you can imagine, it's kind
Speaker 2: of scary and a little bit lonely at times when
Speaker 2: you uproot your life and you move up to a
Speaker 2: completely different area, right, And Adam's just been Adam and
Speaker 2: his family have just been super kind to us.
Speaker 1: But it was fun.
Speaker 2: We were just sitting out on his patio and looking
Speaker 2: at the Rocky mountains and talking some hoops and we
Speaker 2: were shooting the shit about the Rockets. And one of
Speaker 2: the things that we were getting into is this idea
Speaker 2: of how good can the Rockets get on offense? Really right,
Speaker 2: because if you, on the one hand, if you follow
Speaker 2: a very simple logical pathway, this was an awesome team
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 1: And they were awesome.
Speaker 2: Because they were incredible on defense, and they used that
Speaker 2: defense to get out and transition to score enough on offense,
Speaker 2: and they did just enough.
Speaker 1: With Alpern Shangun and.
Speaker 2: Fred van Vliet to be able to win basketball games,
Speaker 2: and they lock down the second seed in an incredibly
Speaker 2: tough Western Conference. Their offense was abysmal in the half court.
Speaker 2: They ranked twenty second and half court offense last year
Speaker 2: according to Cleaning the Glass. That's kind of an insane
Speaker 2: stat if you think about it, for a team that
Speaker 2: was a two seed in that crazy Western Conference to
Speaker 2: be twenty second and half court offensive rating again according
Speaker 2: to Cleaning the Glass. So in theory, if you follow
Speaker 2: like a basic logical pathway, you add Kevin Durant to
Speaker 2: that situation, you substantially improve your biggest weakness and you
Speaker 2: become a much better basketball team.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: I mean, even if you look at the defense, and
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are rightfully talking about
Speaker 2: how Dylan Brooks is a substantial loss, but I think
Speaker 2: KD is a very good defender. He's different than Dylan.
Speaker 2: He's not a guy that you're gonna put on the
Speaker 2: opposing team's best player all game. But he improves their
Speaker 2: back line defense. He provides a level of length they
Speaker 2: don't really have in their starting lineup, and he can
Speaker 2: switch onto different positions as well, and is actually a
Speaker 2: very good perimeter defender. We were talking about in the
Speaker 2: KD ranking video how good he is defending on an island.
Speaker 2: So I think Houston is going to be an incredible
Speaker 2: defense again. So in theory, Katie makes them so much better,
Speaker 2: right because he addresses that need. But I do think
Speaker 2: it is a bit more complicated than that, for the record,
Speaker 2: for you any further, I still see Houston as a
Speaker 2: top tier contender in the Western Conference. In that group
Speaker 2: of three with Denver and Oklahoma City and Houston, I
Speaker 2: view them firmly in that tier. But the things that
Speaker 2: I'm about to explain are why I view them as
Speaker 2: a clear third place or a third like third most
Speaker 2: likely to actually get out of the conference because of
Speaker 2: the question marks surrounding them. Offense is a lot more
Speaker 2: complicated than defense continuity matters. You have to learn how
Speaker 2: to play together. Denver added some guys, but they're going
Speaker 2: to be playing the same style of offense with the
Speaker 2: same core players that they've been playing with for over
Speaker 2: a half decade now. Offense is going to come easy
Speaker 2: for Denver this year. Okloma City's offense has some cracks
Speaker 2: in it, sure, but they're basically running it back again
Speaker 2: with the same dudes play in the same way for
Speaker 2: the third consecutive year. And while I view Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: as one of the better offensive players in the league,
Speaker 2: he's not what I would call a traditional offensive engine,
Speaker 2: a guy whose specialty it is to just make five
Speaker 2: man offense flow and be super easy. He's a scorer.
Speaker 2: He's one of the very best ever. But he's a scorer.
Speaker 2: He's the guy who takes a good offense and makes
Speaker 2: it elite. And it's just about roles, right like that
Speaker 2: there's a certain diminishing return when you have offensive engine types.
Speaker 2: I've talked about this, like if you wanted to theoretically
Speaker 2: pair a Luca with a Chris Paul in his prime,
Speaker 2: or with a you know, with a Nikoli, Right Like,
Speaker 2: there's a diminishing return when you have multiple of those
Speaker 2: offensive engine types. But like a lot of those kinds
Speaker 2: of guys aren't gonna be the elite shot makers. That
Speaker 2: are the types of dudes that lift good offenses into
Speaker 2: elite offenses, Right Like, this is a unique trait that
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant has. He made the Golden State Warriors unbeatable
Speaker 2: when he was there because they already had an engine
Speaker 2: in Steah. They were already in a great offense, and
Speaker 2: he took them from being that to being all time great,
Speaker 2: like the possibly the greatest offense of all time. Right
Speaker 2: that that's what Kevin Durant did to that group. So
Speaker 2: like I do think Kevin Durant obviously makes the Rockets
Speaker 2: a better offense, the question is will he be able
Speaker 2: to improve their offense enough? Like this is more complicated
Speaker 2: than just KD graded offense equals Houston graded offense. I mean,
Speaker 2: guys like I see similar issues with the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 2: and they have substantially more offensive talent. They're not surrounding,
Speaker 2: you know, Luca with a bunch of defensive specialists the
Speaker 2: way that Houston is going to be surrounding Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: with the Lakers have a shit ton of offensive talent,
Speaker 2: and yet they went through extended stretches both in the
Speaker 2: regular season with Luca and in the Timberwolve series last year,
Speaker 2: or they didn't look like a good offense because it
Speaker 2: takes time and effort that continuity builds naturally for you
Speaker 2: to become a good offense even with high level offensive pieces.
Speaker 2: Houston does not have an elite offensive player. Now excuse me,
Speaker 2: an laite offensive roster. They added an elite offensive player.
Speaker 2: They added some shooting, like I think Dorian Pinney Smith
Speaker 2: is gonna help. But it's going to be a process.
Speaker 2: How all of this works out for Houston, how this
Speaker 2: season goes for them will depend on what level they
Speaker 2: can get to on offense. Does he make them a
Speaker 2: little bit better that's not gonna be enough. Does he
Speaker 2: make them a lot better. That's where they could end
Speaker 2: up reaching their ultimate goals and competing for a championship.
Speaker 2: I think a big part of the job is gonna
Speaker 2: be figuring out how to turn the attention that KD
Speaker 2: draws into easy offense for the rest of the guys. Essentially,
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is having KD function more as an
Speaker 2: offensive engine than as a score all the time.
Speaker 1: I think if KD.
Speaker 2: Just plays in the mud, one on one basketball against
Speaker 2: aggressive help, over and over and over again, I think
Speaker 2: that could lead to some disappointing results. But think about
Speaker 2: it from the perspective of opponent game plans, Katie's gonna
Speaker 2: draw a lot of attention. Like if you're coaching against
Speaker 2: the Houston Rockets, says here, what are you gonna do
Speaker 2: from the standpoint of your game plan. You're gonna overplay KD,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna overplay the paint. You're gonna try to
Speaker 2: get the ball out of his hands, and you're gonna
Speaker 2: try to concede decent catch and shoot looks to mediocre
Speaker 2: jump shooters. That's what every team is gonna try to do.
Speaker 2: So the key will be taking advantage of Kd's unique
Speaker 2: ability to invert spacing. Kade was the best jump shooter
Speaker 2: in basketball last year. We talked about that in his
Speaker 2: ranking episode. He's gonna come off of wide pin downs
Speaker 2: and he's gonna draw a second player to the level.
Speaker 2: He's gonna come off of ball screens on the ball
Speaker 2: and he's gonna draw two to the ball. And that
Speaker 2: sort of thing, that specific ability to bring multiple defenders
Speaker 2: out to the perimeter, that can be used to turn
Speaker 2: all of that overhelp into dunks not threes.
Speaker 1: If the big man.
Speaker 2: Think of it, just from a very basic basketball geometry,
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant comes off of a ball screen, the big
Speaker 2: man shows up at the level, you have two on KD.
Speaker 2: His man rolls out of it. Who's now accountable for
Speaker 2: that man? The lowman. Right, the lowman is typically guarding
Speaker 2: the guy in the weak side corner. He's going to
Speaker 2: be stepping over to guard that role man. Who's the
Speaker 2: next helper in that line? If they on ball, guy's
Speaker 2: on the ball and the screen defender is showing on
Speaker 2: the ball and the lowman is tagging the roller, the
Speaker 2: next guy in the rotation is literally going to be
Speaker 2: the guy up on the wing. It's it's easy to
Speaker 2: get behind that guy. There are dunks to be had there.
Speaker 2: That's what the Golden State Warriors have been doing to
Speaker 2: teams with high steph pick and roll for years and
Speaker 2: years and years, turning that two on the ball sequence
Speaker 2: into dunks. So now just this is where you gotta
Speaker 2: take advantage of a men Thompson's versatility, because now imagine
Speaker 2: whether it's shanng Goon setting the pick and him short
Speaker 2: rolling in a men Thompson working the baseline or a
Speaker 2: mental screening and rolling and Shangun working the baseline. It's
Speaker 2: going to be pivotal that they establish timing. And this
Speaker 2: is what is gonna take time. This is what the
Speaker 2: continuity brings. Through thousands of reps, you can get to
Speaker 2: the point where you have that timing down pat and
Speaker 2: you can try to set up the floor so that
Speaker 2: a men's working the baseline or Shangun's working the baseline,
Speaker 2: and the other is in the short roll spot and
Speaker 2: it's you know, someone like Dorian Phinney Smith on the wing.
Speaker 2: That's the kind of option where it's like, Okay, now
Speaker 2: we're using a men not spacing the floor, but as
Speaker 2: a dunker, we're using Shane Gun whoever it is. One
Speaker 2: of them is a dunker and the other as a
Speaker 2: decision maker in the middle of the floor. And the
Speaker 2: only three point shooter you can tilt it to is
Speaker 2: gonna be a you know, a Fred van Vliet or
Speaker 2: a Dorian Phinney Smith. Better options than in the past
Speaker 2: it was Dylan Brooks right Like, it's one of those
Speaker 2: things where that geometry setting up that flow, getting the
Speaker 2: timing down so that they can go bang bang bang,
Speaker 2: dunk bang bang bang, wide open corner three for Dorian
Speaker 2: Phiney Smith. You know, like that sort of that sort
Speaker 2: of sequencing is going to be what breaks this offense
Speaker 2: open into being elite again.
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna be.
Speaker 2: That's why I've been advocating so much for like a
Speaker 2: substantial increase in Kevin Durant pick and rolls this year.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, Kevin Durant's not necessarily the highest
Speaker 2: level pick and roll player in the world, but that
Speaker 2: allows him to draw his attention further away from the basket.
Speaker 2: In the event that you work more out of KD
Speaker 2: in the high post or in the low posts in
Speaker 2: ISO situations or post ups. In those situations, Kd's going
Speaker 2: to draw the double teams closer to the basket. The
Speaker 2: closer the double team is to the basket, the easier
Speaker 2: it is to force it to become a ree for somebody.
Speaker 2: The more double teams that Kadie draws twenty five feet
Speaker 2: from the basket, the more dunks and layups you're going
Speaker 2: to generate, which obviously are going to suit an athletic
Speaker 2: Houston Rockets team that doesn't necessarily shoot the ball super well,
Speaker 2: that's what's going to suit them more so, again, I
Speaker 2: think figuring out that progression, figuring out that timing, making
Speaker 2: sure that your off ball offensive players are playing in
Speaker 2: a spot where they're most comfortable rather than when they're uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: If you screw it up.
Speaker 2: To where men Thompson's catching more in the short corner
Speaker 2: corner wing that's going to lead to lesser returns with
Speaker 2: this particular offense. So yeah, I think the easiest way
Speaker 2: that I could explain it is Houston from a pure
Speaker 2: talent perspective is right up in there with that tier
Speaker 2: Denver and Oklahoma City you're on. But there are clearly
Speaker 2: some bigger question marks for them than there are for
Speaker 2: other teams, lighter range of potential outcomes for them on
Speaker 2: the offensive end of the floor, And where Houston ends
Speaker 2: up this year will come down to how those particular
Speaker 2: question marks pan out. Now to the other two parts
Speaker 2: of your question, though, how does Katie's age factor into
Speaker 2: all of this? It entirely depends on how they play.
Speaker 1: Again. If they play ugly, grind.
Speaker 2: Out basketball, and Katie kind of insists on playing more
Speaker 2: like he did in Phoenix, lower volume pick and roll,
Speaker 2: higher volume mid post, iso base up stuff that's brute
Speaker 2: force basketball, and I could see him wearing down a
Speaker 2: little bit just because they'll need so much of him
Speaker 2: in that spot in order to be successful in offense,
Speaker 2: and that's just a lot. But if they can figure
Speaker 2: out more ways to use the attention he draws to
Speaker 2: initiate offense again, more double teams further from the basket,
Speaker 2: or aggressive shows at the level coverages further from the basket.
Speaker 2: That's where you can find ways to kind of like
Speaker 2: turn the way he's guarded into points rather than forcing
Speaker 2: him to really physically carry that load. And I think,
Speaker 2: I think if they can figure that out, I don't
Speaker 2: think his age will be a problem. Why because this
Speaker 2: is a really young and athletic Houston team and they're
Speaker 2: going to anchor him with so much size and athleticism
Speaker 2: that you know, like even when we were talking about
Speaker 2: Katie's rim pressure, Katie's rim pressure is going to factor
Speaker 2: in for me when it comes to you know, the
Speaker 2: player rankings list when we're talking about in a vacuum basketball.
Speaker 2: But this team is going to generate so much rim
Speaker 2: pressure in transition, and a men Thompson through his through
Speaker 2: his ability to you know, just get by people and
Speaker 2: to get aggressively closer to the basket, Alprin Shangun's power game,
Speaker 2: like Newston is going to be fine on the on
Speaker 2: the rim pressure find it's more just like the greasing
Speaker 2: the wheels, creating advantages and making basketball easier for them.
Speaker 2: That's the thing that I think KDE's going to be
Speaker 2: able to help them with. It's kind of a unique
Speaker 2: fit in that sense. But yeah, like I'm whether or
Speaker 2: not Katie's age role is going to come down in
Speaker 2: large part to how they play. Minutes per game I
Speaker 2: think would also be a factor. Like Houston's an elite defense,
Speaker 2: so they're going to be able to sit him for
Speaker 2: sixteen minutes a game and still give themselves a great
Speaker 2: chance to win.
Speaker 1: That'll help in the regular.
Speaker 2: Season, but especially when they get to the postseason, how
Speaker 2: they play will be a factor because they will have
Speaker 2: to ratchet as minutes up. And lastly, the part about
Speaker 2: KDE ranking eleventh, when typically you need a top ten
Speaker 2: player to win, I just don't think that's necessarily true.
Speaker 2: I just think you need a superstar to win, and
Speaker 2: KD is certainly a superstar. He's just in that second tier.
Speaker 2: We're just in such a deep league now that if
Speaker 2: Kawhi and Joel and Bid are healthy, we got fourteen
Speaker 2: of those guys now. But I think KD is every
Speaker 2: bit as good as everyone else that I have on
Speaker 2: this list up to number five. That's where that kind
Speaker 2: of line of demarcation is so I think KD is
Speaker 2: plenty good enough.
Speaker 1: It's just about what heights the team.
Speaker 2: Can reach collectively, which is going to come in large
Speaker 2: part down to what style do they choose to play
Speaker 2: on offense and how well it all comes together on
Speaker 2: that end of the floor in terms of their continuity
Speaker 2: and how quickly they figure things out. Don't understand next question.
Speaker 2: Don't understand some of your Donovan Mitchell arguments. He played
Speaker 2: four less minutes per game than the year before, four
Speaker 2: and a half minutes less than two years ago. That's
Speaker 2: the main reason his total usage numbers were down. That's
Speaker 2: just an eleven percent decrease in his minutes, and his
Speaker 2: time of possession per game decreased by twenty two percent.
Speaker 2: So I don't care about the minutes going down. By
Speaker 2: all indications, even just watching the calves, Donovan Mitchell had
Speaker 2: the ball less. He was clearly in a different role.
Speaker 2: It wasn't simply just that his minutes were cut down.
Speaker 2: He literally dropped in time of possession by almost a fourth.
Speaker 2: That is a huge change and approach from Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: year over year.
Speaker 1: Next question.
Speaker 2: I'm as big of a Lebron fan as anyone, but
Speaker 2: I can't agree with him being higher on the list
Speaker 2: than Donovan Mitchell. You mentioned, Lebron finished sixth and MVP voting,
Speaker 2: while Mitchell finished hot five. Donovan Mitchell led his team
Speaker 2: to the number one seed and statistically the second highest
Speaker 2: rated offense of all time. Additionally, if this list is
Speaker 2: based on the player you want from October to June,
Speaker 2: then health has to matter. Spider played seventy one games
Speaker 2: last season, was healthy going into the playoffs, and average thirty.
Speaker 2: It seems unfair to blame anything on him regarding their
Speaker 2: playoff run last season, seeing as he was without his
Speaker 2: wingman and his secondary playmaker Garland for the entire playoffs,
Speaker 2: and he still had a damn near fifty point game
Speaker 2: and is a notorious playoff riser. Think back to the
Speaker 2: bubble again. I love Lebron, but he hasn't been fully
Speaker 2: healthy going into either of the last two playoffs, and
Speaker 2: you wonder if he can maintain the intensity as a
Speaker 2: primary secondary option for four series. It's tough to bank
Speaker 2: on a fully healthy Lebron season through the playoffs, whereas
Speaker 2: Spider is smacking his prime, So I'm taking him for
Speaker 2: health and availability. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Speaker 2: Best basketball in the game. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: the kind words. We're going to really dive into this
Speaker 2: one because I think it's an interesting debate, the rivalries,
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Speaker 2: slash audio. There are a couple things that I disagree
Speaker 2: with for you, like spite of playing seventy one games,
Speaker 2: was a little out of the ordinary. He typically does
Speaker 2: miss significant chunks of the season. That was one of
Speaker 2: the seasons where he played more than usual, and even
Speaker 2: though he averaged high scoring numbers, I didn't think he
Speaker 2: did an amazing job in terms of flow of the game,
Speaker 2: like floor management type stuff like we talked about when
Speaker 2: we were doing the Donovan Mitchell video, and even though
Speaker 2: he put up big scoring numbers the team, even though
Speaker 2: he was surrounded by a lot of shooting and quality
Speaker 2: role men talent, the Cavs did not put up good
Speaker 2: offensive ratings when Donovan Mitchell was in control of the offense. So, like,
Speaker 2: I push back on a couple of those specific things,
Speaker 2: but I want to dive into this because I don't
Speaker 2: see a large gap between the two. Anybody that I
Speaker 2: have ranked five to twelve, I could see a case
Speaker 2: for any player to be ranked above any player, Like
Speaker 2: there's absolutely a case.
Speaker 1: For Donovan Mitchell to be above Lebron.
Speaker 2: It'd be a harder case to make, but you could
Speaker 2: absolutely argue him above a guy like Anthony Edwards. It
Speaker 2: could be like he has more reliable short range scoring,
Speaker 2: He's got like better floater short range jump shooting. He's
Speaker 2: more attentive and disciplined off ball defender. Anthony Edwards makes
Speaker 2: a lot of mistakes on that end of the floor. Like,
Speaker 2: you could make the case. Again, it's not a case
Speaker 2: I would make. I think Aunt is clearly a little
Speaker 2: bit better than Donovan Mitchell. But the point is is
Speaker 2: like anywhere from five to twelve, you could argue anybody
Speaker 2: over anybody, Like, if you're gonna make a case for
Speaker 2: Lebron to be down at twelve, you're going to focus
Speaker 2: on some of the inconsistencies in the regular season with
Speaker 2: his effort or some of the stuff with his age.
Speaker 2: And if you're going to argue him up to five,
Speaker 2: you're going to be like, well, the guy that was
Speaker 2: playing in the first round against Denver two years ago
Speaker 2: looked like a bona fide top tier superstar, and like,
Speaker 2: when you have that, dude, you just give yourself a
Speaker 2: really good chance.
Speaker 1: Right, You're going to make cases either way.
Speaker 2: And again, the case against health or excuse me, the
Speaker 2: case against Lebron is health. As you mentioned, Lebron at
Speaker 2: his top end, the guy we saw in February, he's
Speaker 2: one of the five best players in the world, but
Speaker 2: there's no guarantee that he'll be at that level when
Speaker 2: you get to the playoffs. And you're right, I thought
Speaker 2: that in twenty twenty three when he had the foot injury,
Speaker 2: he wasn't even close. He was like more like a
Speaker 2: third tier superstar because he had this broken foot and
Speaker 2: he could barely move and it was affecting him in
Speaker 2: a bunch of areas of his game. I thought he
Speaker 2: was at that level in twenty twenty four. It was
Speaker 2: sneaky one of his better playoff series, just got nuked
Speaker 2: by a couple of Jamal Murray game winners, but they
Speaker 2: led the majority of the series. He averaged twenty eight points,
Speaker 2: seven rebounds, and nine assists on sixty four percent tru shooting.
Speaker 2: He hit clutch shot after clutch shot after clutch shot.
Speaker 2: It just the Nuggets did more on offense at the
Speaker 2: end of those games. It just wasn't enough to win
Speaker 2: the series. And again, Denver's one of the great teams
Speaker 2: of this era and they're defending champs at that point
Speaker 2: in time, right, and I thought he was fine against Minnesota.
Speaker 2: He was right at that second tier superstar level, certainly
Speaker 2: better than he was in twenty twenty three when they
Speaker 2: made the Western Conference Finals run, but not as good
Speaker 2: as he was in twenty twenty four. So to your point,
Speaker 2: it's kind of like a roll of the dice with
Speaker 2: Lebron as far as which player you're gonna get when
Speaker 2: you get to the postseason. But that's the first point
Speaker 2: that I have to hone in on here. Lebron's floor
Speaker 2: is just so high as a basketball player still to
Speaker 2: this day, Like injured foot Lebron in the Western Conference
Speaker 2: Finals run five points per game on fifty eight percent
Speaker 2: turre shooting. Again, not the thirty points per game on
Speaker 2: fifty seven percent ture shooting that Donovan Mitchell just put up,
Speaker 2: but still really good. Scoring twenty five points per game
Speaker 2: on fifty eight percent your shooting. Go look, just just
Speaker 2: go look at the NBA dot com website, sort by
Speaker 2: points per game and look at how many players were
Speaker 2: averaging that type of scoring on that type of efficiency.
Speaker 2: In this year's postseason run ten rebounds per game and
Speaker 2: seven assists per game. Ten rebounds per game is a
Speaker 2: huge foundational boost to a basketball team. And like say
Speaker 2: what you want to say about Lebron's regular season defensive effort,
Speaker 2: He's still a very good playoff defender to this day,
Speaker 2: while helping to anchor your defensive rebounding while becoming an
Speaker 2: excellent catch and shoot player. Last two playoff runs, he's
Speaker 2: eighteen for thirty seven on catch and shoot jump shots.
Speaker 2: It's forty nine percent. He can still generate offense, not
Speaker 2: at the level that Donovan Mitchell does now, but still
Speaker 2: really good at it because of his playmaking talent and
Speaker 2: his size and strength and like yeah, like Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: had a more impressive regular season. He led a kick
Speaker 2: ass Cleveland Cavaliers team to a phenomenal season, but it's
Speaker 2: important to acknowledge that that was an excellent Cavs team.
Speaker 2: Darius Garland's phenomenal ability to just beat people off the
Speaker 2: dribble and slice teams up in the paint made made
Speaker 2: things easier for everybody. Evan Mobley becoming like a legit
Speaker 2: awesome two way player, Jared Allen established himself as one
Speaker 2: of the better regular season centers in the NBA. They're
Speaker 2: insane depth of three and d off ball talent that
Speaker 2: Kobe Altman put together. It was an awesome team. That
Speaker 2: roster actually makes a shit ton of sense for Lebron James.
Speaker 2: A point guard who can break the defense down, elite
Speaker 2: defenders that can shoot, elite defenders in the front line,
Speaker 2: that anchor things that can handle some of the physicality,
Speaker 2: tons of high level off ball role player talent. That's
Speaker 2: literally why this summer, when Lebron and all the rumors
Speaker 2: around the Lakers started popping up, everyone's like hmm, what
Speaker 2: if he went to Cleveland because it just makes so
Speaker 2: much basketball sets And again, like Lebron, even on the
Speaker 2: low end of what you're gonna get in the postseason,
Speaker 2: his floor is just still so high and you might
Speaker 2: just get one of the top six or seven players
Speaker 2: in the league when you get there, which is a
Speaker 2: ceiling that I don't think Donovan Mitchell can reach. So like,
Speaker 2: I just still think Lebron's a better basketball player than
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell, even at his old age. And for the record,
Speaker 2: I believe if you swapped him right now, like right now,
Speaker 2: even with the Jankee lineup stuff, you'd have to move
Speaker 2: Strews to the two and play Lebron at the three
Speaker 2: next to Mobley and Allen. It'd be a little bit funky.
Speaker 2: I think that's a better team. Frankly, I'd make that
Speaker 2: team a gigantic favorite to win the Eastern Conference, and
Speaker 2: I'd give them a substantially better chance to win the title.
Speaker 2: I like, I think Lebron is a bit better than Donovan,
Speaker 2: but I also think the fit, the surrounding talent, all
Speaker 2: that shooting a point that can help break the defense down.
Speaker 2: Like I even think just in pure basketball fit that
Speaker 2: matches up better with Lebron in Cleveland than Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: does in Cleveland. So yeah, I again, that's just my take.
Speaker 2: You're not wrong for putting Donovan Mitchell above Lebron. Again,
Speaker 2: I think there's a clear case you can make. I
Speaker 2: think it's a defensible position. But I still think Lebron's
Speaker 2: a better basketball player than Donovan Mitchell. By the way,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be hitting him very soon, so it's not
Speaker 2: like I have him astronomically high. I just have him
Speaker 2: ahead of the guys that I have below him on
Speaker 2: the list right now. Next question, Austin Reeves and Jared
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt for Jaden McDaniels. I see this as a mutually
Speaker 2: beneficial trade for both teams. What are your thoughts. It's
Speaker 2: an interesting trade on the surface, especially when you view
Speaker 2: it through just a short term lens. Right, Like Austin
Speaker 2: Reeves provides secondary ball handling to a Minnesota team that
Speaker 2: desperately needs that kind of like skill guard off of
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards right, and Jaden McDaniels makes the Lakers Stantiley
Speaker 2: more athletic and gives them that starting caliber small forward
Speaker 2: that they desperately need. But it comes with a fatal
Speaker 2: flaw for both teams. For the Lakers, part of the
Speaker 2: reason why they value Austin Reeves is the proven pathway
Speaker 2: to success with Luka Dancic, which is another kind of
Speaker 2: like pound the ball type of shot creator that can run, spread,
Speaker 2: pick and roll with similar types of players that Luca
Speaker 2: plays with, and just run a reasonable fact simile of
Speaker 2: what Luca does to spell Luca when he's off ball
Speaker 2: and to carry the offense when Luca's off the floor.
Speaker 2: I think the Lakers view Austin Reeves as their Kyrie
Speaker 2: Irving or their Jalen Brunson in terms of being that
Speaker 2: secondary ball And now there's a much more complicated conversation
Speaker 2: we can have about whether or not Austin's capable of that.
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson is top ten on this list this year,
Speaker 2: and Kyrie Irving is one of the best number twos
Speaker 2: of all time as a guy who's literally won a
Speaker 2: championship in that role. And I don't think anybody's under
Speaker 2: any delusions thinking that Austin Reeves is better than Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 2: and I don't think any of us are thinking that right.
Speaker 2: So there's a complicated conversation you could get into, which
Speaker 2: is like, are the Lakers making the right decision betting
Speaker 2: on Austin Reeves being their number two with Luca?
Speaker 1: But I think that's what they see him as.
Speaker 2: I think that's what they see So I don't think
Speaker 2: they're going to make a move that trades Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: unless they're getting that guy back, the guy who's going
Speaker 2: to be Luca's number two, or unless they have a
Speaker 2: clear plan like, oh, this guy's gonna come sign with
Speaker 2: us or whatever. It might be some sort of intel,
Speaker 2: some sort of plan to replace that guy who's secondary
Speaker 2: off of Luca right when Lebron retires or before. If
Speaker 2: they don't have that, I don't think they're going to
Speaker 2: trade Austin. And then the second piece of it is,
Speaker 2: if you trade Jaden McDaniels, the Timberwolves suddenly have a
Speaker 2: gaping hole at the small at the small forward position.
Speaker 2: Like ar Vanderbilt, you included him in that deal. If
Speaker 2: he started next to Julius Randall, I think that would
Speaker 2: be a spacing disaster, especially with Rudy Gobert on the floor.
Speaker 2: I don't think Terrence Shannon is ready for a starting
Speaker 2: role yet. If you start Dante DiVincenzo, you're gonna start
Speaker 2: having size issues. I just think it would be plugging
Speaker 2: one hole but creating another hole in the process. So
Speaker 2: I just don't think it makes sense there. If the
Speaker 2: Lakers are going to make a move for like an
Speaker 2: elite starting two or three, somebody in the JD McDaniels,
Speaker 2: ilk even like Herb Jones, and they're not gonna move
Speaker 2: on like an Andrew Wiggins something along those lines because
Speaker 2: he's too old. I think they're gonna have to wait
Speaker 2: till the middle of the season. I don't see anything
Speaker 2: that makes sense right now, because again, they have to
Speaker 2: have a plan for a ball handler coming back, or
Speaker 2: they need to be able to get that player without
Speaker 2: including Austin Reeves, which then puts you into a different
Speaker 2: class of player right or at least a player that's
Speaker 2: not yet available that can drive the market price down.
Speaker 2: They're gonna have to wait till something takes shape elsewhere
Speaker 2: around the league, like oh, the Pacers fall out the
Speaker 2: gates and decide they're willing to get rid of an
Speaker 2: Aaron Nee Smith for example, like or like Andrew Nevhart
Speaker 2: would be like a pipe dream because he'd be a
Speaker 2: guy that could also be that secondary ball handler off
Speaker 2: of Luca. But like you're if you could get a
Speaker 2: player like that, it's gonna have to materialize at some
Speaker 2: point down the line, because I just don't think it
Speaker 2: exists right this right at this point, and I think
Speaker 2: it's probably more likely because of the Lakers are so
Speaker 2: hesitant to give up draft assets at this point, holding
Speaker 2: out for the superstar that they're gonna pair Luca with.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably more likely that they end up
Speaker 2: getting older options, like someone like a Conavious Callwell Pope
Speaker 2: out of Memphis right like on a buyout, or maybe
Speaker 2: you because CACP has a player option after this coming
Speaker 2: season for over twenty million dollars, So like maybe you
Speaker 2: ship out expirings guys like Gabe Vincent and Max Kliba
Speaker 2: and you just tell Memphis like, we're not giving you
Speaker 2: anything else, but we'll take CASEP and clear your books
Speaker 2: next summer and we'll take ACPs as a starting too.
Speaker 2: That would be the kind of deal that I think
Speaker 2: is more likely for the Lakers than something that's kind
Speaker 2: of splash year and bigger, because I just think that
Speaker 2: they're trying to play the slow game with Luca, which
Speaker 2: I think again the problem with playing the slow game
Speaker 2: with Luca is whatever you anticipate, you can get that
Speaker 2: big carrot that you're thinking about that's going to drive
Speaker 2: all the success in the Luka doncic Era. You got
Speaker 2: to also factor in that you're losing an All NBA
Speaker 2: player like Lebron is probably going to be an All
Speaker 2: NBA player this season, and that might be the last time.
Speaker 1: And whenever Lebron.
Speaker 2: Leaves, whether he gets hurt this year or the like
Speaker 2: gets hurt next year, or just decides to retire at
Speaker 2: some point, whenever Lebron's done, you're removing an All NBA
Speaker 2: player from this roster. And so that's kind of why
Speaker 2: I view the overcautiousness as a little bit of a
Speaker 2: flawed strategy. That's not to say that you need to
Speaker 2: go mortgage your future. As I've said, I don't think
Speaker 2: the Lakers need to go move Austin a first round
Speaker 2: pick and all these swaps and second round draft compensation
Speaker 2: and everything in under the sun to go get a
Speaker 2: thirty year old Andrew Wiggins. I'm not saying that I've
Speaker 2: said on the record, I don't think that the Lakers
Speaker 2: should move on Andrew Wiggins unless they can do it
Speaker 2: without including the first round pick, because I understand their situation.
Speaker 2: I would just include Dalton and maybe a swap and
Speaker 2: a second round pick and see if you can squeeze
Speaker 2: Wiggins out of them, you know, like, because obviously making
Speaker 2: a move for Wiggins is a win now type of
Speaker 2: move that doesn't have as much long term upside.
Speaker 1: But I am.
Speaker 2: Saying that if an elite let's say a Jaden McDaniels,
Speaker 2: for example, comes available, someone of that ilk Herb Jones,
Speaker 2: whoever it might be, and you can get that deal
Speaker 2: done with the first round pick and you keep Austin.
Speaker 2: I the Lakers would hold on to the first round
Speaker 2: pick because of their pipe dreams of Giannis, And I'm
Speaker 2: saying I think that a first round pick spent on
Speaker 2: a twenty six year old, legitimate, awesome three and D
Speaker 2: guy at the small forward position would be mutually beneficial
Speaker 2: to this era and the future.
Speaker 1: On the one hand, all of a sudden.
Speaker 2: You've got Lebron and Luca and this kick ass three
Speaker 2: and D player that you can go try to make
Speaker 2: a run with right now. And that guy's an asset.
Speaker 2: He's a three and d player in his twenties. He's
Speaker 2: worth while. He's worth something. So even if you decided
Speaker 2: to go make a move for a superstar down the line,
Speaker 2: he's a guy you can include in a deal like
Speaker 2: that that the other team is going to be like, well,
Speaker 2: we're getting back a twenty eight year old all defense guy.
Speaker 2: This is something I can sell to my fans, right.
Speaker 2: I think that the asset management piece and the lack
Speaker 2: of valuation from the lakers of super high levels starters
Speaker 2: as opposed to superstar talent. I think that lack of
Speaker 2: value placed on super high level starters is going to
Speaker 2: be a mistake in this Luca era. I think Luca
Speaker 2: is such a unique star. He's such an offense in
Speaker 2: and of himself that he's not as dependent on super
Speaker 2: super high level superstar support. That's why he can make
Speaker 2: get it done with Kyrie Irving or get it done
Speaker 2: with Austin and like or not with Austin a guy
Speaker 2: like Jalen Brunson, right, and by the way, like that
Speaker 2: Celtics team is an all time great. They lost Luca
Speaker 2: personally needed to make some improvements, especially as a defender
Speaker 2: and getting into better shape. There are checkpoints that Luca
Speaker 2: has to hit in order for that build to work
Speaker 2: in order to win a championship. But like, Luca kind
Speaker 2: of grants you the grace of not necessarily needing a
Speaker 2: top tier superstar next to him. Same with Jokic, Right,
Speaker 2: That's how Jokic won the title. He's such an offense
Speaker 2: to himself. He's such an elite, high end engine that
Speaker 2: he can win with really high level starters rather than needing,
Speaker 2: you know, to have Giannis next to him. Right, that's
Speaker 2: the unique thing that these ultra indomitable offensive engines bring
Speaker 2: to the table. And if Luca gets in great shape
Speaker 2: and he doesn't tire out at the end of games,
Speaker 2: and he gets better on defense, I do think he
Speaker 2: can win a title surrounded by super high level starters
Speaker 2: and a legitimate secondary creator the ilk of the Kyrie
Speaker 2: Brunson variety. Right, So, like that to me is the pathway.
Speaker 2: And so I think that's where I just differ with
Speaker 2: the Lakers, and they're kind of big picture like basketball philosophy.
Speaker 2: It's like, I don't think the Lakers have a big
Speaker 2: picture basketball philosophy, or at least if they do, it's
Speaker 2: being drowned out by the superiors. Like I know, there
Speaker 2: are really smart people that work in the Laker front
Speaker 2: office underneath Rob Polinka, and like I just I am
Speaker 2: not sure if the Rob Jeanie, you know, Kurt rambis
Speaker 2: craft out has the appropriate vision for what works in
Speaker 2: the modern him yet even under Luca. And so that's
Speaker 2: what kind of freaks me out a little bit, is
Speaker 2: like I don't I think if you ask them like
Speaker 2: what Herb Jones is worth, they would probably speak more
Speaker 2: like they would not be willing to spend as much
Speaker 2: as some of the smarter teams in the league would
Speaker 2: be willing to spend to get a guy like that,
Speaker 2: when the reality is is alongside Luka Doncic, when he
Speaker 2: would generate Herb a million butt naked corner threes and
Speaker 2: his ability to guard on the perimeter and funnel into
Speaker 2: a rim protector and all those sorts of things that
Speaker 2: Herb Jones can do in the context of Luca, that's
Speaker 2: worth more than even if you picked up Herb and
Speaker 2: put him somewhere else. Like, Luca is such a unique
Speaker 2: player in the way that he drives value for that
Speaker 2: type of role player, And I just hope that the
Speaker 2: Lakers value that sort of thing eventually, Jason, I don't
Speaker 2: know if this mail bag, if this is mail bag,
Speaker 2: but I've watched Curry and Lebron go at it for
Speaker 2: the last five years, and I've noticed that Curry tends
Speaker 2: to outplay him in regard to impact. A lot of
Speaker 2: people don't want to accept it, but I seriously think
Speaker 2: he's been better than Lebron for the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: A lot of general fans point to stats to show
Speaker 2: that it's close, but in my opinion, Curry's impact has
Speaker 2: been great, far greater than Lebron's, and I've noticed that
Speaker 2: Lebron's stats make him often better than he I can't
Speaker 2: this is what must have just been a type of
Speaker 2: it says make him out out to be better than
Speaker 2: he is. In the last three to four years. He
Speaker 2: slacks off a lot on defense, and his points seem
Speaker 2: to be a bit hollow or empty. Don't get me wrong,
Speaker 2: but he's still been a top five player the last
Speaker 2: five seasons. But I could I could definitely be wrong,
Speaker 2: but I was wondering on your thoughts about how about this,
Speaker 2: especially since most NBA fans don't watch games and just
Speaker 2: point to stats to show how close it is. So
Speaker 2: more or less, you're just saying you think Lebron or
Speaker 2: STEP's been better than Lebron for the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: You said far better. I don't think it's far better,
Speaker 2: but I actually agree with you. I think Steph has
Speaker 2: been better than Lebron over the last few years. Lebron
Speaker 2: is super old now and he's just more prone to
Speaker 2: injuries that makes it harder for him to.
Speaker 1: Reach his peak.
Speaker 2: His peak is still every bit as high as everyone
Speaker 2: else in the league. Like again, last year in February,
Speaker 2: there was there wasn't an NBA player playing better than
Speaker 2: Lebron last year in February, but then he got hurt again, right,
Speaker 2: And I mean, you guys are starting to see this,
Speaker 2: you Steph fans, like Steph has been a monster, but
Speaker 2: he just got hurt. He's thirty seven now, Like this
Speaker 2: is kind of what happens when you get into these years.
Speaker 2: And we'll see if that ends up being a fluke.
Speaker 2: And it was just because he had to carry such
Speaker 2: crazy load right in the run up to the playoffs,
Speaker 2: because of their predicament, because they waited so long to
Speaker 2: make a trade. And maybe Steph will be healthy from
Speaker 2: here on out.
Speaker 1: We'll see you.
Speaker 2: But like I do agree that Steph has been better
Speaker 2: in the last few years than Lebron has been. Like
Speaker 2: from i'd say twenty twenty two to twenty twenty four, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that stretch.
Speaker 1: He's been a more reliably great player.
Speaker 2: It's actually why it's so difficult to have these kinds
Speaker 2: of discussions with people. Everyone just focused on the wins
Speaker 2: and losses when basketball is just so much more complicated
Speaker 2: than that. For example, the Lakers led by Lebron, beat
Speaker 2: the Warriors in twenty twenty three led by Steph, but
Speaker 2: I thought Steph was a better player than Lebron in
Speaker 2: that series. Lebron was on a bad foot. He was
Speaker 2: struggling to score effectively. Lebron was great in Game six,
Speaker 2: especially like the Lebron was awesome at times in that series,
Speaker 2: and again in Game six, he was a fucking monster.
Speaker 2: But Steph was the better player in that series. But
Speaker 2: the Lakers were the better team and the better team won. Similarly,
Speaker 2: you'll hear Warriors fans constantly talk about how they went
Speaker 2: three to one against Lebron in the finals. I thought
Speaker 2: Lebron was the best player in all four of those series.
Speaker 2: The Warriors were just obviously. Similarly to the Lakers Warriors
Speaker 2: series in twenty twenty three, the Warriors were just obviously
Speaker 2: better teams. The twenty fifteen Calves were decimated by injuries.
Speaker 2: In that series, Kyrie and Kevin Love out, there was
Speaker 2: a massive talent gap, and then the KD Warriors are
Speaker 2: literally the greatest roster ever assembled in the history of
Speaker 2: the NBA. People were just being dense for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: at least among the Warriors fans that look back on
Speaker 2: that era. I mean, if the Lakers traded for Yannis
Speaker 2: tomorrow and Luca and Yannis knocked Jokic out of the playoffs,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean that Luca or Janis are better than Jokic.
Speaker 2: That's incredibly stupid logic. But for whatever reason, Warriors fans
Speaker 2: make that very case when arguing Steph over Lebron. When
Speaker 2: the second and third best players in the league at
Speaker 2: the peak of their powers played on the same team,
Speaker 2: they beat Lebron twice. So my take is for the
Speaker 2: entirety of Lebron's prime, Lebron was a better player than Steph,
Speaker 2: but Steph in his late prime has been better than
Speaker 2: thirty eight thirty nine, forty year old Lebron. And lastly,
Speaker 2: the gap in both of these cases is close in
Speaker 2: my opinion, which I think is a testament to the
Speaker 2: greatness of both of them. So, for instance, like I
Speaker 2: do think Lebron is better than Steph during that whole era,
Speaker 2: but Steph got close. He got close to the guy
Speaker 2: many folks consider to be the best basketball player ever.
Speaker 2: That's an incredible feather in Steph's cap. That's a big
Speaker 2: part of why I have Steph as the fifth best
Speaker 2: perimeter player of all time. He legit competed like Whent
Speaker 2: toe to toe and competed against the goat.
Speaker 1: It's remarkable.
Speaker 2: Similarly, Lebron's staying close to Steph and the stars at
Speaker 2: the top of the like it's close. Like Steph's been
Speaker 2: better than Lebron the last couple of years, but Lebron
Speaker 2: still made second team All NBA and was sixth and
Speaker 2: MVP voting last year, and like has definitively been right
Speaker 2: up there hanging on for dear life with those guys.
Speaker 1: That he like.
Speaker 2: It's he continues to make All NBA every year. He
Speaker 2: just got second team. It's a truly remarkable accomplishment for
Speaker 2: a forty year old basketball player. Him remaining at that
Speaker 2: level for as long as he has is literally the
Speaker 2: biggest part of why I view him as the goat.
Speaker 2: If I'm starting to franchise from scratch and I'm guaranteed
Speaker 2: a ten year stretch where he's the best player in
Speaker 2: the world and another decade plus where he's an All
Speaker 2: NBA player, I'm giving myself a lot of chances to
Speaker 2: build a championship team. No one's come close to that.
Speaker 2: And last little bonus, Steph topic here again. He just
Speaker 2: suffered that injury in the postseason, which kind of takes
Speaker 2: away from this, But he's putting together a sneaky little
Speaker 2: case for longevity on his own, like amongst small guards
Speaker 2: at his age, to make second team All NBA. Like
Speaker 2: most small guards fall apart rapidly in this phase of
Speaker 2: their career, and Steph just hasn't. I'm curious to see
Speaker 2: how long he'll drag out this level of play, because,
Speaker 2: like I still have him pretty high on the list
Speaker 2: this year, I have him above Lebron again, But at
Speaker 2: the same time, he just got hurt and he just
Speaker 2: missed a playoff series, so hopefully that isn't a sign
Speaker 2: of things to come.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping, Like I.
Speaker 2: Said that that was more to do with the Warriors
Speaker 2: waiting forever to finally get Steph a second star, and
Speaker 2: he wore his body down to the point where he
Speaker 2: had to play super hard at the end of the
Speaker 2: season instead of chilling and getting ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 2: So like, whether or not it was a fluke will
Speaker 2: play a big role in where I rank Steph next summer, right, like,
Speaker 2: if he gets hurt again this year, then like if
Speaker 2: he gets hurt again this year, or if he's dealing
Speaker 2: with the nagging injury that causes him to play below
Speaker 2: his peak when we get to the postseason, all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, those same cases you're making about Lebron and
Speaker 2: his health and his ability to stay at his peak
Speaker 2: now apply to Steph as well. So that's gonna be
Speaker 2: That's gonna be something I have an eye on this year.
Speaker 2: I am on Steph being healthy, and that's why I
Speaker 2: have staff as high as he is. You guys will
Speaker 2: see where he ranks on the list this year when
Speaker 2: we get there, But like, I'm gonna be keeping an
Speaker 2: eye on that because I think that's gonna play a
Speaker 2: big role in where ranks next year. Last question, non
Speaker 2: basketball question. So as a fan for years now, I'm
Speaker 2: happy for you and the misses as you guys embark
Speaker 2: on a new chapter in life and congratulations.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: However, and I don't even want to ask this, but
Speaker 2: I need to know, does this mean Two Sons podcast
Speaker 2: is dead? I love that channel, So some of you
Speaker 2: guys listen to my other podcasts that I do. It's
Speaker 2: just kind of like a passion project. On the side,
Speaker 2: I don't do it nearly as much. We only do
Speaker 2: like maybe thirty episodes a year, but I cover Star
Speaker 2: Wars in particular, but like all the big lore stuff
Speaker 2: like Lord of the Rings and Game Thrones, that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff, major TV shows and movies and stuff. With
Speaker 2: my best friend Luke, and we haven't done an episode
Speaker 2: in a while, in large part because I was in
Speaker 2: my busy season and right after that I immediately moved across
Speaker 2: state lines, so it was just like super like just
Speaker 2: a tough transition period. And Luke just had a new baby,
Speaker 2: so like he's been dealing with that too, so we've
Speaker 2: been kind of like not working for a while here.
Speaker 2: But to be clear, and we did, we covered and Or,
Speaker 2: but covering and Or was the last time that we
Speaker 2: did episodes, and so a couple of things. First of all,
Speaker 2: Luke's my best friend and me moving to Denver doesn't
Speaker 2: change that, and we're gonna continue to record. We got
Speaker 2: him set up with remote equipment and I'll just be
Speaker 2: doing two Sons podcasts from here and we'll do it
Speaker 2: over zoom calls. I think it'll be even funner, even
Speaker 2: more fun for both of us because it'll be opportunities
Speaker 2: for us to hang out again, because we'll obviously be
Speaker 2: hanging out less being you know, nine hundred miles apart.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we're gonna The main thing is, I'm actually
Speaker 2: trying to work out something with him on Tuesday or
Speaker 2: Wednesday this week because I watched the first two episodes
Speaker 2: of Alien Earth on Hulu and I loved it, and
Speaker 2: episode three is tomorrow night, and so I'm trying to
Speaker 2: get Luke.
Speaker 1: I think he's on board.
Speaker 2: But I think we're gonna do an episode here in
Speaker 2: the next few days that covers Alien Earth. So if
Speaker 2: you guys want to watch along with us and just
Speaker 2: kind of hang out on the podcast, we'll be keep
Speaker 2: an eye on my Twitter feed over the course in
Speaker 2: the next few days. And I'll tweet out the link.
Speaker 2: But if you want to find the channel, it's just
Speaker 2: two Suns podcast. It's a whole YouTube channel if you
Speaker 2: go back there. Like every Star Wars book we've read,
Speaker 2: we've done an episode on Star Wars movies, that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. Like We've done a ton of content over
Speaker 2: the years that I think, especially when you're doing TVs
Speaker 2: and TV and movie.
Speaker 1: Shows, that just still holds up.
Speaker 2: So you guys can check out the older content there
Speaker 2: and then again hopefully within the next three days or so,
Speaker 2: we'll have our new episode there. But Nicholas, thanks so
Speaker 2: much for supporting us and all of you guys that
Speaker 2: do listen to that show. Thanks and if you guys
Speaker 2: want to check it out, you guys know where to
Speaker 2: find it. But that's all I have for today is
Speaker 2: always as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and
Speaker 2: suporting the show. We'll be back on Monday with number nine,
Speaker 2: number nine, and I will see you guys no. Number
Speaker 2: eight because number nine is Jaylen Brunts and we just
Speaker 2: hit so I'll see you guys on my day for
Speaker 2: number eighth,