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Speaker 2: Slash baseball, all right, welcome to hoops today. You're at
Speaker 2: the vaul, you nail Bob. You guys are having a
Speaker 2: great week. As promise for getting to our mailbag today.
Speaker 2: I sent out a tweet this morning, and you guys
Speaker 2: left a bunch of questions and there a bunch of
Speaker 2: good ones. Obviously we can't get to all of them,
Speaker 2: but we're gonna get to a bunch of them, We're
Speaker 2: gonna talk about some Warriors where they go from here,
Speaker 2: some Lakers offseason stuff. We're gonna talk about what's going
Speaker 2: on with the Denver Nuggets and them not having done anything.
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk about what Jason Tatum needs to do
Speaker 2: to be revered as the best player in the world.
Speaker 2: Are the Orlando Magic poised for a leap. There's literally
Speaker 2: tons and tons of stuff that we're gonna get to today.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you guys for participating in the mailbag.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get too as many as we can. You
Speaker 2: guys are the job. Before we get started, to subscribe
Speaker 2: to the Hoops to Night YouTube channel so you don't
Speaker 2: miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter
Speaker 2: at underscore JSNLT so you guys don't miss ow announcements.
Speaker 2: Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your
Speaker 2: podcasts on Hoops Tonight, and then keep dropping mailback questions
Speaker 2: in the YouTube comments so we keep getting them throughout
Speaker 2: the rest of the summer.
Speaker 3: And then quickly before we get started, just.
Speaker 2: To give you guys an update on the schedule, We're
Speaker 2: trying to take the rest of this weekend off to
Speaker 2: give our team a little break over the holiday. Obviously,
Speaker 2: if any sort of significant trade or massive signing comes through,
Speaker 2: I will stop and get an instant reaction video out there.
Speaker 2: But unless something crazy happens, we will be done after
Speaker 2: this video until next Monday, just to give you guys
Speaker 2: a scheduling note. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 2: first question, do you think the Warriors should have bent
Speaker 2: to what Clay requested from them? Assuming it's difficult, but
Speaker 2: I doubt it's super difficult. They pay the player what
Speaker 2: they think the player can contribute to the future, but
Speaker 2: they shouldn't pay more to what they have done. So
Speaker 2: this is an interesting kind of dynamic with the Klay
Speaker 2: Thompson deals, like did the Warriors owe something to Clay?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Most of this has to do with timing, Like even
Speaker 2: just the difference between when Draymond renegotiate his deal versus
Speaker 2: Clay is massive and first of all, a couple different things.
Speaker 2: I think Draymond's a better player right now than Clay is,
Speaker 2: because Draymond is still one of the best defensive players
Speaker 2: in the world. Clay has taken steps back on both
Speaker 2: ends of the floor, right But even then, within even
Speaker 2: if we remove that context. Draymond's deal was negotiated at
Speaker 2: a time when the Warriors felt closer. They missed the
Speaker 2: playoffs this year. Out of fifteen teams in the Western Conference,
Speaker 2: they were in the bottom five. They allowed ten teams
Speaker 2: in and they didn't even make that list. In addition
Speaker 2: to that, Steph had a rough end of the season.
Speaker 2: For roughly the last third of the season, he didn't
Speaker 2: look like himself. He looked like a shell of himself.
Speaker 2: And now I think there's some context there. There was fatigue,
Speaker 2: wear and tear. I think he was a little banged up.
Speaker 2: I personally think Steph's gonna come into next season kind
Speaker 2: of on a little bit of a revenge tour. And
Speaker 2: I think Steph is going to look a lot like
Speaker 2: the old Steph next season. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: the ownership group in the front office, I think they
Speaker 2: view that as kind of like a risk element there.
Speaker 2: Then in addition to that, when you look at Klay
Speaker 2: Thompson in terms of loyalty, if I'm the Warriors, I'm saying, well,
Speaker 2: you know, remember when you got hurt and we paid
Speaker 2: you max dollars two years to basically rehab a back
Speaker 2: to back injuries, Right, like the Warriors extended him a
Speaker 2: massive olive branch and a massive demonstration of loyalty when
Speaker 2: he tore his ACL after the twenty nineteen finals, and
Speaker 2: so again like I don't necessarily think loyalty plays much
Speaker 2: of a role here. I think it was just an
Speaker 2: honest evaluation of the situation. I think the Golden State
Speaker 2: front office and ownership group does not think they're close enough.
Speaker 2: And I think their moves have demonstrated that letting Clay
Speaker 2: go for nothing, letting Chris Paul go for nothing, not
Speaker 2: using his salary, you know, turning down some sort of
Speaker 2: fringe aggressive deals. I think that that's an indicator of
Speaker 2: what the Warriors front office is telling us. They're telling
Speaker 2: us that they don't think this team is particularly close,
Speaker 2: and if they did, I think that we should we
Speaker 2: would see more aggression from them. We have some more Warriors. Actually,
Speaker 2: we'll get to this next Warriors question first and then
Speaker 2: we'll go back what is the realistic Warriors path forward?
Speaker 2: They effectively lost Pool and Clay for nothing, plus more
Speaker 2: considering the gave Pool plus assets to get Chris Paul
Speaker 2: Markenen is the only realistic obtainable improvement. But is there
Speaker 2: enough trust in Steph Andre to make one more run.
Speaker 2: So here's the thing, even if they don't do anything,
Speaker 2: you still have some high quality starters. You have four
Speaker 2: high quality starters. In my opinion, Steph ANDREYMND. I think
Speaker 2: the Anthony Melton's high quality starter. If he's healthy, I
Speaker 2: think Warriors fans are gonna love that guy. I think
Speaker 2: he helps in a ton of different way. I'm a believer, right,
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins I've view as a high quality starter. Obviously
Speaker 2: he's had his lumps over the last couple of years,
Speaker 2: but it's you know, he's one of those guys where
Speaker 2: like you start talking about Andrew Wiggins trades and then
Speaker 2: the players that come back in a deal like that
Speaker 2: are gonna have some flaws of their own, right, So
Speaker 2: you still have four high quality starters, right. So, Like,
Speaker 2: let's say that they do just slide kaminga in there
Speaker 2: and they just rock with that five, and they start
Speaker 2: the season thirty two and twenty two, like they just
Speaker 2: get off to a good start.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: In that case, then I think you could potentially convince
Speaker 2: the Warriors' front office to make a more aggressive deal
Speaker 2: at the deadline. And to be clear, there's not a
Speaker 2: lot of great options right now. You want to trade
Speaker 2: for Jeremy.
Speaker 3: Grant, Well, there's a little bit of a you.
Speaker 2: Know, Jeremy Grant's a guy that, like over the last
Speaker 2: few years, has wanted to play in smaller markets under
Speaker 2: low pressure and put up scoring numbers. The Warriors are
Speaker 2: gonna need him to score the basketball, but they're also
Speaker 2: gonna need him to do a lot of dirty work
Speaker 2: and buy into a five out system. Is more of
Speaker 2: a cog right, Like, is that a great back basketball fit?
Speaker 2: I have the same concerns about Jeremy Grant for the Lakers,
Speaker 2: Like I think it could work great, but I also
Speaker 2: think it could work poorly. Like, there's real risk there.
Speaker 2: Jeremy Grant's a risky pick. Brandon Ingram kind of a
Speaker 2: kind of a funky basketball player that's tough to plug
Speaker 2: and play because he needs to have the ball in
Speaker 2: his hands and he's a mid range pull up shooter.
Speaker 2: What about you know what about Zach Lavine, Well, all
Speaker 2: of the injury issues in his massive contract that he
Speaker 2: has moving forward, Like, right now, the options don't look great,
Speaker 2: but we don't know what the options are going to
Speaker 2: look like in February and So, honestly, like the most
Speaker 2: realistic Warriors path forward is they nailed the mL signing
Speaker 2: in my opinion, for okay, so let's take a look
Speaker 2: at the bigger picture. You release Chris Paul, you let
Speaker 2: go of Klay Thompson. Those pull you out of that
Speaker 2: second apron back into the non tax payer mid level
Speaker 2: exception that opened the door for you to go sign
Speaker 2: the Anthony Melton. Now, is that the best option? No,
Speaker 2: Obviously the best option would have been re signed Klay Thompson.
Speaker 2: Try to trade Chris Paul's contract for a star of
Speaker 2: some kind out They're a higher powered player out there
Speaker 2: of some kind, and you include Kaminga's the asset or
Speaker 2: draft compensation, whatever it is. Obviously that's the most aggressive move.
Speaker 2: But that's really over extending yourself with a lot of
Speaker 2: associated risk. Right, So the Warriors took a low risk,
Speaker 2: low expense move. They got out of the second apron,
Speaker 2: They get down into that non textpayer mid level exception
Speaker 2: range where they could get d Anthony Melton a high
Speaker 2: level starter in my opinion when he's healthy. The market
Speaker 2: on d Anthony Melton is low because he got hurt
Speaker 2: last year. But I look at the Anthony Melton as
Speaker 2: kind of like a rough approximation of Contavious Colwell Pope.
Speaker 2: He is a similar type of do everything, rock solid
Speaker 2: NBA starter at the two guard position. So you've got
Speaker 2: Stephan and d Anthony, it's really good one too, Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 2: Draymond Green three four, three, five, whatever you want to
Speaker 2: call it. You've got your kind of starting foundation there.
Speaker 2: You go into next season. If Steph plays like a superstar,
Speaker 2: if d Anthony Meltain is healthy, if those guys just
Speaker 2: have a good camp and Jonathan Comunica gets a little
Speaker 2: better for year over year, you go into the season,
Speaker 2: then maybe you can re invigorate the front office into
Speaker 2: believing in Steph Curry and Draymond Green as a championship
Speaker 2: potential core again. But like, I don't think we're gonna
Speaker 2: get a super aggressive Golden State move this summer. It
Speaker 2: just doesn't seem like it's on the tap. Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping they do. I want Golden State to be aggressive.
Speaker 2: I just don't love any of the options out there
Speaker 2: right now. I don't think they can afford LORI marketing.
Speaker 2: Maybe they can, we'll see, But like judging on the
Speaker 2: Michale Bridges deal, which is a similar type of deal,
Speaker 2: I don't know. And then also, like you set trade
Speaker 2: for marketing, you have to immediately extend him to a
Speaker 2: long term max probably in the department of four years
Speaker 2: and one hundred and sixty million dollars. So, like, there's
Speaker 2: just a lot that goes into an aggressive move right now,
Speaker 2: So I kind of understand it. But at the same time, like,
Speaker 2: I'd hate to see Steph go down with a mediocre team,
Speaker 2: and so from that standpoint, I'd like to see them
Speaker 2: eventually do something aggressive, but this just feels more like
Speaker 2: a deadline type of move.
Speaker 3: And here's the thing.
Speaker 2: If you go into next season and Steph looks like
Speaker 2: the same player he did at the end of last year,
Speaker 2: which is like a guy that's below the super star tier.
Speaker 2: If he looks like that, then that's kind of the
Speaker 2: writing on the wall anyway for where this whole dynasty
Speaker 2: was going to begin with, right So, like, I think
Speaker 2: that that's the route that's most realistic for that front office.
Speaker 2: It's what I expect. It's not necessarily what I prefer,
Speaker 2: but I think it's the direction we're going to see
Speaker 2: them go. And most of that the all in type
Speaker 2: of deal is more just me thinking like a basketball
Speaker 2: fan because I want to see Steph Curry compete for
Speaker 2: championships because he's one of my favorite players ever. Right Like,
Speaker 2: that's just a basketball fan opinion. Like in terms of
Speaker 2: the actual logistical realities of doing that. As a front office,
Speaker 2: it's just complicated. What is the Lakers' best move from
Speaker 2: here after missing out on their Plan A options and
Speaker 2: can they still do enough to have a chance at
Speaker 2: a title this year possible trades signees. So I want
Speaker 2: to start with the Demarta Rozen kind of rumors that
Speaker 2: are going around there, and I'm kind of skeptical about
Speaker 2: him to begin with, because this is not the first
Speaker 2: time Demarta Rozen is hinted at potentially taking a pay
Speaker 2: cut to go to the Los Angeles Lakers. I also
Speaker 2: have heard from Adrian Worganowski. He went on TV yesterday
Speaker 2: and said that Lebron's pro we're gonna take the full
Speaker 2: max now, which if he does, takes the Lakers out
Speaker 2: of the non tax payer mid level and puts them
Speaker 2: in the regular tax payer mid level, which is a
Speaker 2: smaller deal, which would make it even less likely for
Speaker 2: them to get Derozen. So I don't necessarily think that's realistic.
Speaker 2: I also don't love the DeRozan fit. To me, DeRozan
Speaker 2: presents a lot of the similar issues for that backcourt
Speaker 2: that Austin and D'Angelo Russell presented. It's like a pull
Speaker 2: up shooter score type. Who Now, DeRozan and de lo
Speaker 2: are very different players, but like the gap between DeMar
Speaker 2: Derozen and D'Angelo Russell is not that big in terms
Speaker 2: of their playoff impact, Like they are two guys that
Speaker 2: struggle in the playoffs. They're they're two guys that are
Speaker 2: like skill guards that are good playmakers that like DeRozan's
Speaker 2: more of a pull up mid range shooter. You know,
Speaker 2: Delos more of like an aggressive three point shooter. But
Speaker 2: they're both good playmakers. They've got like some similarities there,
Speaker 2: but they're similar in redundancy in the sense that, like,
Speaker 2: if Austin's gonna be your point, the two has to
Speaker 2: be a freaky, athletic, defensive minded guard. Like that's just
Speaker 2: the only star guard that I liked next to Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2: I know there's talk about Donovan Mitchell. I just didn't
Speaker 2: view Hims a realistic option. The only guy that I liked.
Speaker 2: There was Dejon Tay Murray because he brought real athletic traits,
Speaker 2: real defensive capability, even if he hasn't been that since
Speaker 2: leaving the Spurs, while also bringing some offensive upside. Dejonte
Speaker 2: was the guy that I thought made sense as a
Speaker 2: star guard at the two next to Austin. I would
Speaker 2: have viewed DeMar de Rosen as just another redundancy there,
Speaker 2: so from there, if you're gonna get a high powered option,
Speaker 2: I still think I leaned towards Jeremy Grant as a
Speaker 2: target at the three. I think that influx of offensive
Speaker 2: firepower would be helpful for the Lakers. I think that
Speaker 2: Jeremy Grant kind of brings the layer of athleticism to
Speaker 2: that front line with him Lebron and Anthony Davis. That
Speaker 2: could be really imposing. I like that fit a lot.
Speaker 2: I just I am not sure if they're gonna be
Speaker 2: able to get him. In the event that they can't
Speaker 2: get Jeremy Grant, that's where I would lean back on
Speaker 2: your role player types. A guy like Bruce Brown at
Speaker 2: the two is someone I'd really like. A guy like
Speaker 2: Dorian Finney Smith at the three is the guy that
Speaker 2: i'd really like, but no matter what I think, if
Speaker 2: you get Jeremy Grant, you can get away with playing
Speaker 2: a Max Christy at the two, or get away with
Speaker 2: playing a skill guard like a maybe even a Gabe
Speaker 2: Vincent at the two. But if I think, if you
Speaker 2: don't have that star power, and Jeremy Grant's not really
Speaker 2: a star, but he's like he's a fringe star, Like
Speaker 2: he's a guy who can get you twenty points in
Speaker 2: any given night, right, Like that's kind of what I'm
Speaker 2: getting at there. Like Jeremy Grant basically is basically is
Speaker 2: like a way better version of Ruby hot Chi Mura
Speaker 2: in my opinion. But like you get Jeremy Grant, there's
Speaker 2: a firepower element that would kind of counteract a lesser two.
Speaker 2: But if you don't get a guy with that kind
Speaker 2: of firepower, I think you need to upgrade the two
Speaker 2: and the three. And so that's why I look at
Speaker 2: it at like two separate deals for a Bruce Brown
Speaker 2: or for Dorian Finney Smith. In terms of the center position,
Speaker 2: I view that as important as well, especially within the
Speaker 2: context of what are you gonna do with Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: when he has to miss ten games here or there?
Speaker 2: That sort of thing. I think a center is important,
Speaker 2: but I view that is less important than the guards
Speaker 2: in the sense that you're not winning the title unless
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis stays healthy anyway, because you can't crawl down
Speaker 2: from the seven seed to win the crawl up from
Speaker 2: the seven seed to win the title. It's just too difficult.
Speaker 2: I think that it's the version of this story where
Speaker 2: the Lakers win the title is they start the season
Speaker 2: really well and healthy and they have all hands on deck,
Speaker 2: and then you're going down with Ad at the five
Speaker 2: next to Lebron. You're not going down with Ad at
Speaker 2: the four. So like again, I think the backup center
Speaker 2: position is important. I just think it's less important than
Speaker 2: upgrades at the two and at the three. What do
Speaker 2: you make of the large contract extensions that the Celtics
Speaker 2: have been handing out. Do you think that exceeding the
Speaker 2: salary cap by so much will come back to bite them?
Speaker 2: Do you see other owners following in the footsteps of
Speaker 2: Wick Gruspeck. I'm going to tail in a set like
Speaker 2: kind of put a second question on top of this,
Speaker 2: do you think the Boston Celtics will keep their starting
Speaker 2: five going into twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, when
Speaker 2: all the extensions kick in, they are projected to pay
Speaker 2: five hundred million in luxury tax that year because of
Speaker 2: the second Apron rules. I think Porzingis might be in
Speaker 2: another team that year personally. So let's start with the
Speaker 2: kind of looking forward piece. As we heard, the Celtics
Speaker 2: are looking to trade to sell trade. They're looking to
Speaker 2: sell the Boston Celtics with the finalization around the year
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight. What that means is the new owner
Speaker 2: ownership groups that are gonna be considering purchasing the Boston
Speaker 2: Celtics are gonna be groups that have an enormous.
Speaker 3: Amount of money.
Speaker 2: They have to be because you're buying that team under
Speaker 2: the impression you're gonna pay a massive luxury tax bill
Speaker 2: off the top, right. That goes without saying that's like,
Speaker 2: that's kind of a prerequisite. So like you're not gonna like,
Speaker 2: there's not gonna be anybody that's gonna be hesitant to
Speaker 2: pay that kind of money that's gonna take over ownership.
Speaker 3: Of the Celtics.
Speaker 2: In addition to that, they know that that comes hand
Speaker 2: in hand with championship contention. The Celtics are a substantial
Speaker 2: favorite to win the title next year. I think they
Speaker 2: will be again the following year. So like at least
Speaker 2: two years here you're looking at a team that's the
Speaker 2: championship favorite. Like there's like a I would say there's
Speaker 2: roughly a fifty percent chance that the Celtics get one
Speaker 2: of the next two. That is a really really high
Speaker 2: percentage chance of getting an NBA title. So it's like, basically,
Speaker 2: an ownership group can purchase the ability to most likely
Speaker 2: win an NBA title. That's that is that's an exciting
Speaker 2: proposition for any sort of ownership group.
Speaker 3: As far as the.
Speaker 2: Stuff goes with the with the Second Apron, all it
Speaker 2: really affects is your flexibility, not your ability to retain players.
Speaker 2: As long as you're willing to pay you can keep
Speaker 2: those guys together. You just can't. All of those restrictions
Speaker 2: have to do with tweaking the roster. And so I
Speaker 2: actually tweeted this last night and I mean it sincerely.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna be a second Apron team, it's for
Speaker 2: these five guys. It's for Derek White, Drew Holliday, Tatum Brown,
Speaker 2: and Porzingis. Now, if Porzingis continues to get hurt and
Speaker 2: it just becomes an obvious you know, kind of like
Speaker 2: liability in the sense that you're paying tons and tons
Speaker 2: of money for a guy who's just consistently unavailable. Then yeah,
Speaker 2: they might look to move Porzingis to try to get
Speaker 2: a less expensive, you know, more reliable in terms of
Speaker 2: health center option. But like again, it's about flexibility, Like
Speaker 2: do you want to be in the second apron as
Speaker 2: the Golden State Warriors with Stephen Clay and Raymond, like
Speaker 2: with all that money on the books and the potential
Speaker 2: to have to pay you know, Jonathan cominga in the future.
Speaker 2: Obviously not, which is why they made the moves they
Speaker 2: made to get out of that second apron. Why because
Speaker 2: they're looking at it like we're gonna need to make
Speaker 2: substantial roster tweaks in the coming years. Doing that out
Speaker 2: of the second Apron is damn near impossible. This is
Speaker 2: our way to get out of that situation. Boston. They
Speaker 2: have like literally the perfect starting five. So for them,
Speaker 2: it doesn't They're not in a position where they're gonna
Speaker 2: have to make substantial tweaks. And as long as you
Speaker 2: have those guys together at the top, like Porzingis is,
Speaker 2: like Derek White, Drew Holiday, Tatum and Brown. They all
Speaker 2: clearly have several years left and they all compliment each other,
Speaker 2: so well, like, that's just such a clean fit. It's
Speaker 2: just that center position that's gonna be tricky, and they
Speaker 2: have a couple of years to figure it out what
Speaker 2: they want to do, what direction they want to go there.
Speaker 2: But yeah, like as far as going into the second Apron,
Speaker 2: you just can't go into the second Apron unless you
Speaker 2: know you're five. So let's take the Thunder for example.
Speaker 2: Let's say the Thunder become a second Apron team. If
Speaker 2: they're a second Apron team, but they've got Shay Jalen Williams,
Speaker 2: Lou Dort or case On Wallace, whoever it is that
Speaker 2: ends up filling that position in the long run chet
Speaker 2: And let's say that they end up getting some forward
Speaker 2: in the long run where it's like a cleanly fitting
Speaker 2: obviously like easily mixed five players that fills all the
Speaker 2: needs of a basketball team. Then it's like, who care,
Speaker 2: we can work on the margins with the bench. We've
Speaker 2: got our five. You know, they're all on the same
Speaker 2: timeline that you know. That's what I think we're gonna see.
Speaker 2: I think teams that enter into the second apron are
Speaker 2: going to be teams that legitimately have sustainability with their
Speaker 2: core five guys into the future. The Celtics have thirty
Speaker 2: million dollars players that all play positions that kind of
Speaker 2: coalesce nicely into a five man unit, so it makes
Speaker 2: perfect sense. Hey, Jason, nice nobull hoodie. How do you
Speaker 2: like flag Staff? It's beautiful. I love it here. So
Speaker 2: flag Staff is about four hours up the road from Tucson,
Speaker 2: and my wife and I go there usually two or
Speaker 2: three three times a year. It's our favorite place for
Speaker 2: day trips to go skiing because we'll wake up at
Speaker 2: like four am, hit a McDonald's outside of Phoenix on
Speaker 2: the way up to town, gets some you know, mcgriddall's.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a little tradition for my wife and
Speaker 2: I and then we book it up to the mountain
Speaker 2: and it's always beautiful because the sun is always rising,
Speaker 2: like just as you're kind of coming through that valley
Speaker 2: up into Sedona and flag Staff. And for those of
Speaker 2: you guys who don't know what Flagstaff is, Flagstaff is
Speaker 2: a old volcanic area in northern Arizona, kind of near
Speaker 2: where the Grand Canyon is. But it's really cool because
Speaker 2: most of the mountain ranges in Tucson are like typical
Speaker 2: tectonic activity, I say Tucson. In Arizona, they're like typical
Speaker 2: tectonic activity. These are volcanic mounds in flag Staff. So
Speaker 2: they're like the they look like, you know, they look
Speaker 2: like the volcano UO see in the Cascade arc arc right,
Speaker 2: Like they're like Mount Rainier or you know Mount Baker
Speaker 2: or Mount Shasta, that kind of thing. They just look
Speaker 2: like giant like cones, right. And so as you like
Speaker 2: kind of come down into that valley right before flag Staff,
Speaker 2: you look out in the distance and it's like kind
Speaker 2: of flat everywhere except for you just see these giant
Speaker 2: like twelve thirteen thousand foot peaks. Well, they have this
Speaker 2: really nice like state of the art, a state of
Speaker 2: the art for a small facility, I should say ski
Speaker 2: facility there. They got taken over by a large ownership
Speaker 2: group a few years back. And so it's like for
Speaker 2: a single day where we can leave at four am
Speaker 2: and be back by eight thirty, we can get like
Speaker 2: a legit day of skiing in and my wife and
Speaker 2: I will typically go up on like a weekday on
Speaker 2: like a Tuesday or a Wednesday when there's just nobody
Speaker 2: on the mountain and we just cruise because it's a
Speaker 2: little bit on the small side. It's not the biggest
Speaker 2: ski resort in the world, but they've got really high
Speaker 2: quality skiing conveniently located next to us. That we usually
Speaker 2: do multiple like destination trips where we'll go to like
Speaker 2: Park City or like Tahoe or to Breckenridge or something
Speaker 2: like that, and then we'll have like several day trips
Speaker 2: where we go up to flag Staff. But Flagstaff has
Speaker 2: always been a kind of a special place for me,
Speaker 2: my friends, and my family. My favorite restaurant there is
Speaker 2: Pizza Collecta. They have a really good pizza and beer.
Speaker 2: We stop in town usually at the end of the
Speaker 2: day and get drinks there. Sometimes we'll stay there for
Speaker 2: multiple days, but it's kind of a getaway from the
Speaker 2: heat to being from Tucson.
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Speaker 2: Hey, Jason big Navs fan, here, are there any minimum
Speaker 2: signings out there that could move the needle for them
Speaker 2: defensively the way that Derek Jones Junior did. I was thinking,
Speaker 2: Dennis Smith Junior, if not schematically, how do you think
Speaker 2: the MAVs can orient their offense to compete with the
Speaker 2: likes of Oklahoma City in Boston. I did a massive
Speaker 2: deep dive into the Dallas offense and what I expected
Speaker 2: to look like in the future in yesterday's show, So
Speaker 2: make sure you guys get to a little bit further
Speaker 2: back in my feed yesterday when we were breaking down
Speaker 2: m clay Thompson Signing. I went into excruciating detail on
Speaker 2: the offensive fits. You guys can find that stuff there
Speaker 2: other like kind of like two way wings that they
Speaker 2: can look at that I looked at in the free
Speaker 2: agent market for like veteran minimum type of guys Alec Burks,
Speaker 2: Caleb Martin, Gary Trent Junior, Dennis Smith Junior. Some of
Speaker 2: those guys end up getting mls at other places, but
Speaker 2: they're at least potential veteran minimum guys, and they are
Speaker 2: guys that they can keep an eye on. What's your
Speaker 2: favorite PRS model? I think the Silver Sky, the Paul
Speaker 2: Reid Smith makes guitars. I think that the Silver Sky
Speaker 2: is my favorite model in terms of it's just the
Speaker 2: easiest to pick up and play. It's basically their version
Speaker 2: of a Fender Stratocaster. It's their signature model for John Mayer.
Speaker 2: But I think my favorite one that I own is
Speaker 2: probably my hollowbody two Pezo. It's that purple one that
Speaker 2: you've seen behind me sometimes. That one just has like
Speaker 2: a lot of versatility because it can do acoustic guitar
Speaker 2: stuff and it can do electric guitar stuff. And the
Speaker 2: fifty eight to fifteen humbuckers that they have on that
Speaker 2: guitar just sound absolutely beautiful. So that one, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: say is my favorite overall, the easiest to play, easiest
Speaker 2: to pick up and play. In terms of like the
Speaker 2: tactle nature of it, I'd go with the Silver Sky.
Speaker 2: What's the ceiling on this magic team for the upcoming season?
Speaker 2: Could we see an OKC twenty twenty three twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four type leap? So looking at their offseason, they upgraded
Speaker 2: Gary Harris to Contavious Callwell Pope while also resigning Gary Harris.
Speaker 2: They brought back Goga Bitadze. They brought back Wagner this morning,
Speaker 2: so they're basically running it back with an upgrade of
Speaker 2: a starting spot. I have to look at their draft picks.
Speaker 2: I mean I didn't even take a look at that
Speaker 2: for I pulled this up. But the East in general
Speaker 2: is gonna be better next year. So even though I
Speaker 2: expect Orlando to be better, I still kind of think
Speaker 2: they're going to be right in that four or five
Speaker 2: slot again. And I think they're probably gonna lose in
Speaker 2: the first round to one of Philly, Milwaukee, or New York.
Speaker 2: I think those are the clear top four right, Boston, Philly, Milwaukee,
Speaker 2: New York in some order, with Boston at number one.
Speaker 2: I don't think Orlando's ready to leap into that group
Speaker 2: yet this year. That said, I think they're gonna be
Speaker 2: a huge pain in the ass. I think they're gonna
Speaker 2: win a lot of regular season games. I think they're
Speaker 2: gonna be right up there in the mix. But I
Speaker 2: just I think there's still quite a ways away. They
Speaker 2: need so much improvement and offensive skill, and collwoll Pope
Speaker 2: is gonna really help as just a better version of
Speaker 2: Gary Harris. But I still think that that doesn't alleviate
Speaker 2: the main concern, which is there's just not enough perimeter
Speaker 2: shooting ability in their starting lineup. Now, if Franz Vagner
Speaker 2: and Palabankara both take substantial leaps as shooters, then we
Speaker 2: can have another conversation. It's just hard to believe at
Speaker 2: this point. You always said you'd be skeptical of the
Speaker 2: Nuggets if they lost any of their starting five. So
Speaker 2: with KCP gun, do you see a path of their
Speaker 2: starting lineup being just as good next year with Christian Brown?
Speaker 2: Although it would be different stylistically. Also does rust to
Speaker 2: Denver move you? So here's the thing. To put it
Speaker 2: very simply, the Nuggets are worse than they were last year,
Speaker 2: and last year they weren't good enough. Now I think
Speaker 2: they were better than they looked last year. I think
Speaker 2: KCP and Jamal Murray were both a little banged up
Speaker 2: by the time they even got into the Minnesota series,
Speaker 2: and that ended up being where one of their main
Speaker 2: areas of underperforming in that series. But despite all that,
Speaker 2: they were up twenty in the second half of Game seven.
Speaker 2: So like, I'm of the opinion that, like, yeah, losing
Speaker 2: KCP makes them worse. Yeah, them being banged up played
Speaker 2: a role last year. Yeah, they're a little bit vulnerable
Speaker 2: to specific matchups. But like, I still think, gun to
Speaker 2: my head. If I had to pick one team to
Speaker 2: be my favorite in the Western Conference next year, even
Speaker 2: with Christian Brown sliding into that starting two spot, I
Speaker 2: think I still lean Denver. I just I think Jokic
Speaker 2: is the best player in the world. I think they're
Speaker 2: gonna come into next season angry and motivated. Their margin
Speaker 2: for error is smaller. If they win the title next year,
Speaker 2: it'll be much harder than when they won in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. But I think writing them off is foolish,
Speaker 2: and they have some time. They have some time to
Speaker 2: figure some things out. Like my guess is that in
Speaker 2: the long run, this ends with them trying to flip
Speaker 2: Michael Porter Junior into two quality starters at some point
Speaker 2: in the future. But that Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, Nikola,
Speaker 2: Jokic corp. Is still one of the best three man
Speaker 2: corps in the league, and I think it'd be foolish
Speaker 2: to write them off. Does Russ to Denver move you?
Speaker 2: I here's the thing I've gotten in a lot of
Speaker 2: trouble with Russell westbrook fans. As a basketball fan, I
Speaker 2: loved watching Russell Westbrook when he was in his prime,
Speaker 2: but as he declined out of his prime, he became,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, one of the most unlikable players in
Speaker 2: the NBA, the amount of stupid stuff that he does
Speaker 2: in the mistakes that he makes. Like all I'm gonna
Speaker 2: say is, as somebody've covered him closely with the Lakers
Speaker 2: and now the Clippers don't want him either, Like Denver,
Speaker 2: do not make this mistake like this is It'd be
Speaker 2: really interesting too, because Lebron made the same mistake Yokich
Speaker 2: is about to make. Apparently all the intel is Yokich
Speaker 2: is kind of pushing for that behind the scenes, Like
Speaker 2: there's some elements that you like, right, Like, he gives
Speaker 2: you an athletic guard to put on the floor.
Speaker 3: He's a guy that.
Speaker 2: Brings dribble penetration, which is something that as we all know,
Speaker 2: Denver lacked last year. But just there's got to be
Speaker 2: a better option than Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook. It's just
Speaker 2: trust me, guys. For every good play he makes, he'll
Speaker 2: make at least one bad play and in the aggregate
Speaker 2: is going to be something that has a negative impact
Speaker 2: on the team. How big are you on the Grizzlies
Speaker 2: going into next season? What moves do you think they
Speaker 2: need to look at in the offseason? Cheers from India,
Speaker 2: Thanks for supporting the show. I'm really high on the Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: It's hard to say where they match up with the
Speaker 2: top teams in the league because it's just been so
Speaker 2: long since we've seen them all put together and playing that. Like,
Speaker 2: I want to see you a larger sample size before
Speaker 2: we start like ranking them.
Speaker 3: But here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Gigi Jackson and Zach Edy ad a bunch of athleticism
Speaker 2: on the wing and size on the front line. They're
Speaker 2: gonna have big looks, they're gonna have small looks. John
Speaker 2: Morant played like just a few games last year and
Speaker 2: looked like one of the best players in the world.
Speaker 2: So like, I think they're gonna be right there in
Speaker 2: the top of the conference next year, in the top
Speaker 2: four seeds. We'll see what they amount to as a
Speaker 2: playoff team. But I'm a huge believer in Memphis and
Speaker 2: I would be stunned if they didn't have a dominant
Speaker 2: regular season this year, and if they didn't, it would
Speaker 2: probably be.
Speaker 3: Related to health.
Speaker 2: I think Oklahoma City could have two to three championships
Speaker 2: in the next six years. They're a well organized franchise
Speaker 2: and they are for me, the top three best team
Speaker 2: in the league right now, behind Denver and the Celtics.
Speaker 2: To you agree, I do. I don't quite have them
Speaker 2: up on Denver's level yet, but I think they're clearly
Speaker 2: the second best team in the West, and right now
Speaker 2: I'd take them over any Eastern Conference team not named Boston.
Speaker 2: Originally I thought there was Denver, Boston and then a gap.
Speaker 2: I think a couple teams are gonna enter into that
Speaker 2: tier this year, but Oklahoma City's definitely one of them,
Speaker 2: and right now, before we see all this shakeout, because
Speaker 2: I want to see if Philly ends up arounding out
Speaker 2: their roster with like I want to see if the
Speaker 2: Lakers end up making some sort of trade. Like, There's
Speaker 2: a bunch of stuff that I want to see. But
Speaker 2: for right now, without having seen the rest of the
Speaker 2: player movement, Oklahoma City, to me is the third best
Speaker 2: team in the league. Hey, Jason love the pod. How
Speaker 2: big of a deal is Denver losing KCP With Okay
Speaker 2: See adding Hartenstein? Are they now the clear favorites in
Speaker 2: the West? As I talked about earlier, I still think
Speaker 2: I leaned slightly towards Denver. But that said, Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: adding Hartenstein gives them more resiliency against Denver. I would
Speaker 2: have given Oklahoma City a zero percent chance to beat
Speaker 2: Denver in a playoff series last year. This year, I
Speaker 2: give them a substantial chance even though I picked Denver.
Speaker 2: So that to me is a substant like a significant
Speaker 2: move in that direction. If Tatum were to become a
Speaker 2: good to great half court shot creator, would he be
Speaker 2: in the conversation for best player in the world. That's
Speaker 2: really the difference. He does everything else, so well, he
Speaker 2: just has to get a Like, I don't think playmaking
Speaker 2: is the weakness for him, it's his shot making ability.
Speaker 2: He just has to become a guy who can be
Speaker 2: a sixty percent true shooting, thirty point per game guy
Speaker 2: consistently in the playoffs in order to justify being in
Speaker 2: that conver station. There's just been too much inconsistency on
Speaker 2: that end of the floor. Again, like to put it simply, like,
Speaker 2: is Tatum as good a half court surgeon as shake
Speaker 2: Yill's as Alexander?
Speaker 3: No? Not, probably, not really close.
Speaker 2: Is Shae gives us Alexander as good a half court
Speaker 2: shot creator as like the Luka Jokic tier, No, not
Speaker 2: really close. So like I almost look at Tatum as
Speaker 2: like a third tier half court shot creator, and so like,
Speaker 2: from that standpoint, like, I still think he's got a
Speaker 2: ways to go to enter into those best player in
Speaker 2: the World conversations. What do you see the power rankings
Speaker 2: in the East being and do you see the redistribution
Speaker 2: of talent has made it a strong enough conference that
Speaker 2: Boston would now be equally or less likely than Philly
Speaker 2: or the NIXT to make it the finals. Still think
Speaker 2: Boston's a clear favorite. I think they're clearly number one.
Speaker 2: I think they're clearly better than the next group Nicks, Sixers, Bucks.
Speaker 2: It all depends on what Milwaukee and Philly accomplished over
Speaker 2: the next couple of months, But for right now, it's
Speaker 2: all up in the air. For me, I'd probably go
Speaker 2: Nicks too, Philly three, Milwaukee four, just because of some
Speaker 2: of the health questions surrounding Philly. But Boston's a clear
Speaker 2: number one, and we'll settle that out when we get
Speaker 2: into the end of the summer and we do our
Speaker 2: contender rankings. What do you think will be the next
Speaker 2: unexpected star to get traded because his team decides to
Speaker 2: throw in the towel to go into full rebuilding mode.
Speaker 2: The four guys that wrote down were James Harden, Brandon Ingram,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler, and Trey Young. Those are the guys that
Speaker 2: I think, in the next twelve months could become available
Speaker 2: for trade. Harden's on a discounted deal now like an
Speaker 2: affordable deal. Thirty five million. It's a lot of money,
Speaker 2: but it's not an absurd amount of money, and it's
Speaker 2: only a two year contract. And if Kawhi gets hurt again,
Speaker 2: I just think if you're the Clippers trade Harden as
Speaker 2: part of a rebuild, brandon Ingram is the odd man out,
Speaker 2: the weird fit in New Orleans, so I could see
Speaker 2: him getting moved. Jimmy Butler kind of feels like the
Speaker 2: end of the window. We're going to talk about him
Speaker 2: in just a minute. And then Trey Young. You know,
Speaker 2: like if Atlanta just decides that they want to move
Speaker 2: into a full rebuild, that's the guy that's obviously going
Speaker 2: to go. Thoughts on the Miami Heat consistently deciding to
Speaker 2: run it back a year after year instead of improving.
Speaker 2: At what point do we need to call out pat Riley.
Speaker 2: I've called that pot pat Riley every summer for the
Speaker 2: same problem. And the main issue here is now it
Speaker 2: doesn't even make sense to go all in. Last summer
Speaker 2: was the last summer where it made any sense, or
Speaker 2: last deadline was the last time it made any sense.
Speaker 2: They didn't get it done. Now, at this point, it
Speaker 2: feels like Jimmy's starting to kind of tail off a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 3: Bam.
Speaker 2: That doesn't seem like there's much more of a ceiling
Speaker 2: there than what we've seen, So like, at this point,
Speaker 2: it doesn't even make sense, and I think the window
Speaker 2: might be closed, and so it is what it is.
Speaker 2: There was an opportunity to be aggressive there, pat Riley
Speaker 2: never jumped on it, and I feel bad for Miami
Speaker 2: Heat fans. Jason, what do you make of the CBA?
Speaker 2: Are there any things you wish to see improved? And
Speaker 2: what do you make of the cap aprons? My only
Speaker 2: issue with it is, like I think that those restrictions
Speaker 2: need to be reconfigured to player movement rather than the draft. So,
Speaker 2: for instance, like I don't think you should have to
Speaker 2: pay the price for drafting a bunch of good players
Speaker 2: and having to pay them all. But yeah, if you
Speaker 2: want to go out into the open market and trade
Speaker 2: for players or sign players in free agency, there should
Speaker 2: be punishments for just overspending, right, just to try to
Speaker 2: level the playing field. But like, it's stupid to me
Speaker 2: that a team could just trade, could just draft extremely
Speaker 2: well and end up and end up getting squeezed out
Speaker 2: of retaining talent.
Speaker 3: Now there's caveats there. What about traded draft picks? Right?
Speaker 2: Like, Oklahoma City has a million first round draft picks,
Speaker 2: so of course they have a bunch of really good players. Right, Well,
Speaker 2: there's an easy fix there. You just make it for
Speaker 2: your own draft picks. Like if you draft to pick
Speaker 2: with your original team's actual pick that belongs to you originally,
Speaker 2: then that player should not count towards those sorts of
Speaker 2: sorts of cap exceptions essentially, Like imagine it as like
Speaker 2: a spending budget outside of your own draft picks.
Speaker 3: That would be the way that I would look at it.
Speaker 2: But right now, it just it seems like it was
Speaker 2: really heavily geared towards the teams that were big spenders.
Speaker 2: But those teams weren't even the best teams in the
Speaker 2: league really, They just had giant payrolls. And like I mean,
Speaker 2: the teams that had to get out of it, the
Speaker 2: Clippers and the Warriors, how much of a threat were
Speaker 2: they this season? They won two playoff games combined between
Speaker 2: the two of them, Right, So, like it's one of
Speaker 2: those things where, like I think it was kind of
Speaker 2: like a reactionary thing to some large payrolls, but it
Speaker 2: doesn't really serve the purpose of creating fairness around the league.
Speaker 2: What is do you see as then next step in
Speaker 2: Derek Lively's development is adding the three point shot realistic
Speaker 2: I think it's less about the three point shot. Even
Speaker 2: though I do think that Derek Lively has that capability,
Speaker 2: it's more about just becoming the quintessential five out fulcrum.
Speaker 2: I think Dallas is gonna shift to more five out
Speaker 2: movement next year. I talked about it a lot in
Speaker 2: yesterday's show, and there's gonna be a lot of pressure
Speaker 2: on Derek Lively to be a decision maker and a
Speaker 2: playmaker in that role. And there was a report I
Speaker 2: saw this morning from Tim McMahon that they're leaning towards
Speaker 2: putting Derek Lively full time into the starting lineup, which
Speaker 2: is another thing I talked about yesterday as an indicator
Speaker 2: of them shifting more towards five out. So like that,
Speaker 2: I think is going to be his main area of
Speaker 2: development as being more of like a fulcrum. Great guy
Speaker 2: for him to watch film of would be Isaiah Hartenstein.
Speaker 2: That's a player that I think he can learn a
Speaker 2: lot from. Favorite Star Wars character of all time. I
Speaker 2: would go with either Darth Baine or Darth Plagas I'm
Speaker 2: a big Sith guy. I find him to be the
Speaker 2: most fascinating entity in that universe. Darth bain And has
Speaker 2: three books that you can find in the Legends could
Speaker 2: continue him and then Plagas has one. Those are like
Speaker 2: four of my favorite books ever. Highly recommend you guys
Speaker 2: check him out. Thron is going to be my third
Speaker 2: place guy, Grand Admiral Thron. Those of you guys who
Speaker 2: have watched Rebels or read the Throng books will know
Speaker 2: why Thron is such a cool character. I also have
Speaker 2: a podcast where I talk Star Wars and not just
Speaker 2: Star Wars, but other TV shows, in media, in movies
Speaker 2: and stuff. It's called Two Sons. You can see it
Speaker 2: right down there. Two Sons have a YouTube channel as
Speaker 2: well as a podcast feed there. Me and my best
Speaker 2: friend Luke break all that stuff down. We just talked
Speaker 2: House of the Dragon yesterday. Tonight we're talking the Acolytes.
Speaker 2: You can find that on the feeds later tonight as well.
Speaker 2: How do you gauge which opinions are common in the
Speaker 2: NBA world when a lot of times the loudest people
Speaker 2: are a minority that doesn't always believe logic is a
Speaker 2: necessary ingredient in forming an opinion. This is one of
Speaker 2: the biggest things I've just learned in general since I
Speaker 2: got into this industry. Loudness on social media is almost
Speaker 2: always not the public opinion. It is the fringes that
Speaker 2: are the loudest. In addition to that, there's just not
Speaker 2: a lot of people on Twitter, for instance, there's just
Speaker 2: not a lot of people on Twitter in the real world,
Speaker 2: like a very small percentage of at least of Americans.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if it's like this in other countries,
Speaker 2: but a very small percentage of Americans are active Twitter users.
Speaker 2: So the idea that like, if you see some opinions
Speaker 2: on Twitter, that that's reflective of a specific, large, nationwide opinion,
Speaker 2: that that's just not the case. And so in general, like,
Speaker 2: I've had to work on not reacting, and it's still
Speaker 2: a weakness of mine that I'm getting better at, but
Speaker 2: I have to a not reacting to the loud fringes
Speaker 2: on social media. The last question, how do slash did
Speaker 2: you approach becoming a better ball handler for both yourself
Speaker 2: and your high school kids you work with. You've touched
Speaker 2: on this when covering Jabari Smith identified it as a
Speaker 2: pretty big weakness of his, but last summer you were
Speaker 2: really impressed with him.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 2: I know it sounds silly, but it's just about drills
Speaker 2: and the main thing specifically with the drills are like
Speaker 2: body language, Like the actual move of a crossover, behind
Speaker 2: the back move or behind the back dribble. The success
Speaker 2: of that move has way more to do with whether
Speaker 2: or not you actually sold that you're going the other
Speaker 2: way than how dramatic you whip the ball across a
Speaker 2: basic push cross where you don't do anything fancy but
Speaker 2: just kind of push the ball to the left. As
Speaker 2: long as you had your body geared up to the
Speaker 2: right and your eyes to the right and everything to
Speaker 2: the right, that's going to be more effective than a big,
Speaker 2: sweeping Allen iverson crossover and so like again, like the
Speaker 2: body language is a big piece of it, and then
Speaker 2: tight and under control, Like a lot of people think like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's about dribbling through cones, and you gotta dribble through
Speaker 2: cones as part of your skill development piece, Like that's
Speaker 2: how you become better at ball handling. But the major
Speaker 2: piece of it is can you protect the ball in traffic?
Speaker 2: Like real ball handling in real basketball games is about
Speaker 2: like when you make a move and the dude's riding
Speaker 2: your hip and swiping at your other arm, can you
Speaker 2: fend him off while dribbling with your left hand as
Speaker 2: you go into traffic, can you split two defenders and
Speaker 2: gather the ball strong before you make that next pass
Speaker 2: or dribble like the low gathers that you see guys
Speaker 2: like Tatum or Jalen Brunson use like, or Trey Young like.
Speaker 2: There are so many different like little intricacies of it,
Speaker 2: but most of it is about learning how to dribble
Speaker 2: in traffic. And so it's a good mix of practicing
Speaker 2: with cones but also doing ball handling against live defense.
Speaker 2: So like one on one drills where you tighten off
Speaker 2: an area and you make multiple counter moves. That's like
Speaker 2: your turn your man five times drill that you see
Speaker 2: sometimes in high school where you go from like the
Speaker 2: lane line over to the sideline and you just have
Speaker 2: to try to turn your man five times. The ball
Speaker 2: handler is working against ball pressure that way. But it's
Speaker 2: a good mix of against live defense and cone dribbling.
Speaker 2: And again it just guys, it's incremental. Just like jump shooting.
Speaker 2: You have to put thousands and thousands and thousands and
Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of reps in over the course of
Speaker 2: multiple summers to improve. It's a very painstaking process, all right, guys.
Speaker 2: It is all I have for today. As I said,
Speaker 2: we'll be back Monday unless we have some sort of
Speaker 2: major news release. Regardless of when that happens, I will
Speaker 2: see you guys. When I see you guys, The volume