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Speaker 1: You're at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week. We are continuing
Speaker 1: our trade deadline series today hitting three more teams. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit the Phoenix Suns as well as the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. We did a pack
Speaker 1: of three teams last week. We covered the Bucks, the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and the Nuggets. We're gonna be hitting throughout the next
Speaker 1: two weeks. Just these little kind of like three team
Speaker 1: sets where we kind of talked about what they should
Speaker 1: do as they come up on the trade deadline. You
Speaker 1: guys have the job before we get started. Subscribe to
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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns. What if we got Jimmy Butler over there?
Speaker 1: This is a trade that's been widely reported, a trade
Speaker 1: that Phoenix would very much like to do. They conducted
Speaker 1: a trade yesterday with Utah Jazz where they turned an
Speaker 1: unprotected first into three first round picks, a nice little
Speaker 1: symbolic gesture that demonstrates the gap in value between a
Speaker 1: unprotected first and a protected first that has less potential
Speaker 1: to net you a high level talent. Right, So the
Speaker 1: Suns get their three first round picks, which should give
Speaker 1: them some more flexibility. Who knows what they have to
Speaker 1: send over to Miami. Maybe it ends up being two
Speaker 1: of them, and then you can attach another one to
Speaker 1: use off nurkics to try to bring something in. But
Speaker 1: we're going to zoom in specifically on Jimmy Butler for
Speaker 1: this specific segment. So the way that a trade like
Speaker 1: this would work is it would be Bradley Beal for
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, and probably a minimum contract could be Alec
Speaker 1: Burks could be a couple other guys, but a minimum
Speaker 1: contract coming back. But the gist of the deal would
Speaker 1: be Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy slots perfectly into
Speaker 1: the Ryan Dunn spot in the starting lineup. I look
Speaker 1: at Ryan Dunn in a similar way to the way
Speaker 1: I look at Max Christy for the Lakers, and for
Speaker 1: the record, not comparing them as players, they're very different.
Speaker 1: I think Ryan's much better defensively at this point in
Speaker 1: his career and Max is much better offensively at this
Speaker 1: point in his career. But I think they both project
Speaker 1: in the big picture at their specific position groups to
Speaker 1: be two way role players, guys that you can eventually
Speaker 1: depend on to take on a substantial defensive role while
Speaker 1: also being a useful offensive player. I think they have
Speaker 1: similar like kind of like long term trajectories in that respect, right,
Speaker 1: But they both are playing on teams that have the
Speaker 1: ultimate like win now pressure, right, and ideally you don't
Speaker 1: want to rely on them in your best five man groups.
Speaker 1: I was watching the Cavs Suns game earlier this morning,
Speaker 1: and it's like, it's a couple of wide open corner
Speaker 1: threes from Ryan Done that miss. This year, he's making
Speaker 1: about a third of his wide open catch and shoot opportunities,
Speaker 1: And so it's one of those things where like you
Speaker 1: want Ryan Done to get reps. Him starting has been
Speaker 1: fine for his overall gaining experience journey, right, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like, ideally, you don't want
Speaker 1: to depend on him in a big spot. Same goes
Speaker 1: with the Lakers for a guy like Max Christie, Right, So,
Speaker 1: like Jimmy Butler gives you this rock solid veteran presence
Speaker 1: with real superstar upside that slots into that role in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup, but still leaves you with plenty of
Speaker 1: minutes available for Ryan Done off the bench to make
Speaker 1: sure that he continues to get the reps that he
Speaker 1: needs to grow. The starting lineup after that sort of
Speaker 1: deal would look like Tys Jones at the point, Devin Booker,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant with Nick Richards. So immediately you
Speaker 1: get a more shoe in fit in terms of a
Speaker 1: star that can actually play alongside Devin Booker and Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant without too much redundancy or without an inability to
Speaker 1: take on dirty work. Right, Jimmy Butler can take the
Speaker 1: same sort of defensive assignments that Ryan Dunn took, and
Speaker 1: when he's really locked in, I think he can do
Speaker 1: nearly as well as a guy like Ryan dunnef not
Speaker 1: a little bit better when he's really locked in. I
Speaker 1: don't think you'll get that level of effort consistently in
Speaker 1: the regular season, but Jimmy is a playoff weapon defensively,
Speaker 1: is a real asset to have in the bag, and
Speaker 1: he gives you a really good combination of both off
Speaker 1: ball talent and on ball talent on the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. He's a guy who can set screens
Speaker 1: for guys like Devin Booker and KD and roll out
Speaker 1: of it and make plays when Kevin Durant's throwing the
Speaker 1: ball over the top, when they get blitzed or things
Speaker 1: along those lines, or if they switch. He's got the
Speaker 1: ability to punish Smith's He's been hitting unguarded catch and
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots at over a fifty percent clip in
Speaker 1: the last few years, albeit at low volume, so like
Speaker 1: he's not a guy you can just leave wide open.
Speaker 1: He's a very good cutter, and then he also is
Speaker 1: a very very good on ball player. He is a
Speaker 1: much much better on ball player than a guy like
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's a better playmaker.
Speaker 1: He's a real switch beater. His last playoff run in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, he ran over five hundred pick and rolls,
Speaker 1: ISOs and post ups in that playoff run and was
Speaker 1: well over a point per possession in all three play types,
Speaker 1: including passes. He's just a massive talent upgrade and the
Speaker 1: kind of guy that immediately makes the Suns a much
Speaker 1: more physically imposing group, especially with the Nick Richards' upgrade
Speaker 1: at the center spot, and it's been a little bit
Speaker 1: of like mixed results with Nick in the early going.
Speaker 1: Just absolutely dominated in his first appearance, just benefiting on
Speaker 1: all the attention that the stars were gathering, but had
Speaker 1: some moments against Jared Allen where he looked really physically
Speaker 1: overmatched and didn't get as many of those high quality
Speaker 1: role man opportunities. But still I think he's a center
Speaker 1: upgrade compared to what they had in house, So like
Speaker 1: you're changing the physical in position of the group. Just
Speaker 1: to put it really simply, going from Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: use Off Nurkic to Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Nick Richards,
Speaker 1: It's just a completely different type of physical imposition that
Speaker 1: you bring to the table as a team. I think
Speaker 1: his ability to attack in a different way than Devin
Speaker 1: Booker and Kevin Durant will be really useful. The Sun's
Speaker 1: offense has been falling apart in their losses in the
Speaker 1: last month. In their eight losses, they've posted a one
Speaker 1: to ZH three point nine offensive rating. It's just not
Speaker 1: resilient enough. The Cavs game, for instance, it's tie twenty
Speaker 1: seven to twenty seven. Late first quarter, they didn't score
Speaker 1: for three and a half minutes, zero points. For three
Speaker 1: and a half minutes, they gave up a nine to
Speaker 1: zero run. Right it's fifty nine to forty eight. At
Speaker 1: one point, they didn't score for two and a half
Speaker 1: minutes as they gave up an eleven zero run. It
Speaker 1: was eighty two sixty eight in the late third quarter,
Speaker 1: only a fourteen point game, very much still in reach.
Speaker 1: They scored two points over the next six minutes and
Speaker 1: completely lost control of the game. There's a certain amount
Speaker 1: of like the Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can go
Speaker 1: through these stretches where they get a little sloppy with
Speaker 1: the ball and they start missing jump shots and the
Speaker 1: offense can fall apart, or when the talent off of
Speaker 1: the attention they garner is unable to capitalize and their
Speaker 1: offense can fall apart. Jimmy Butler has a more resilient
Speaker 1: offensive approach. He can attack from the post like we
Speaker 1: talked about, but as a bully ball player rather than
Speaker 1: as a shot maker, which is more resilient. He's not
Speaker 1: going to be as dependent on make and miss when
Speaker 1: it comes to the jump shooting side of things. He's
Speaker 1: also much better at getting to the foul line than
Speaker 1: both Kevin Durant Devin Booker, but much much better than
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal is. And again, you're just turning You're just
Speaker 1: turning Bradley Beal into a much better offensive player while
Speaker 1: also being a much better defensive player. It's just a
Speaker 1: massive talent upgrade. And when the Suns are trapped in
Speaker 1: the situation that they're trapped in, they don't really have
Speaker 1: a ton of flexibility. This is the kind of aggressive
Speaker 1: move that they could make that has real upside for
Speaker 1: them within this season. I think he's just a much
Speaker 1: better player who's a much better fit than Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: with this group. I think it's the kind of move
Speaker 1: that the Suns should seriously consider. Number Two, how would
Speaker 1: I revamp the Lakers? So obviously I prefer a guy
Speaker 1: like Brandon Ingram. I just don't think that's going to
Speaker 1: happen under the circumstances. So I was trying to come
Speaker 1: up with the deal out there that best addresses the
Speaker 1: three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers have outside of trying
Speaker 1: to pursue a high level, star level offensive player. Okay,
Speaker 1: if we remove that from the equation. So take Brandon
Speaker 1: Ingram out, take Zach Lavine out, take any of those
Speaker 1: big name star type of players. How would I go
Speaker 1: about revamping the Lakers? And I came up with two deals.
Speaker 1: One I would call it the Utah Jazz. I'd offer
Speaker 1: them Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt for Colin Sexton and
Speaker 1: Water Kessler. In order to make the deal work, I
Speaker 1: think you'd have to remove the protections from the pick
Speaker 1: that you got back in the de Lo trade, and
Speaker 1: I think you probably have to add another first round
Speaker 1: pick that is lightly protected. Okay, so effectively, if you
Speaker 1: account removing the protections, that's roughly worth Again, if look
Speaker 1: at the Sun's trade, the Suns Jazz trade is a
Speaker 1: clear demonstration an unprotected first round pick, it's worth quite
Speaker 1: a bit more than protected first round draft compensation. So
Speaker 1: removing protections also amounts to a form of draft compensation. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like you get removing protections and adding a first round pick,
Speaker 1: and you're getting back Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. Then
Speaker 1: I would separately call up the Toronto Raptors and I'd
Speaker 1: offer them Ruey Hachimura, Jalen Hoods, Schafino and Cam Reddish
Speaker 1: with the other first round pick, because remember, they have
Speaker 1: two first round picks to trade for Bruce Brown and
Speaker 1: Jonathan Magbo for either deal. If they had to, they
Speaker 1: could include additional second round draft compensation if the negotiations
Speaker 1: get tougher, but I think they have the draft compensation
Speaker 1: to make both of the those deals happen. Those two
Speaker 1: deals successfully addressed the three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers
Speaker 1: have with their roster at this point, separate from anything
Speaker 1: having to do with star talent. The three biggest weaknesses
Speaker 1: were one, the backup center position, where they just have
Speaker 1: an inability to maintain a really high floor when Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is off the floor. They've been getting killed all
Speaker 1: season long in the eighty off minutes. They've had some
Speaker 1: success in games where like they won a game recently
Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis sat, but like for the most part
Speaker 1: in recent Lakers history, they've struggled when Anthony Davis has
Speaker 1: been out. So a rock solid backup center would go
Speaker 1: a long way towards one, giving you a higher floor
Speaker 1: and giving you maybe a more legitimate two big look,
Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a minute. Two, they need
Speaker 1: a higher floor option at the two guard spot. Right.
Speaker 1: I talked about this earlier with Ryan Dunn with respect
Speaker 1: to the Suns. You want Ryan Dunn getting his reps,
Speaker 1: you want Max Christy getting his reps. I have big
Speaker 1: belief in those two players in the long term, But
Speaker 1: for either the Suns or the Lakers to be depending
Speaker 1: on those guys in their final five, like in the
Speaker 1: five that they would go down with in a big
Speaker 1: playoff series, I think is a mistake. That's not to
Speaker 1: say that you won't find yourself in a position where
Speaker 1: a Ryan Dunner, a Max Christie is feeling good in
Speaker 1: a big playoff game and you end up riding him out,
Speaker 1: But you just don't want to be in a position
Speaker 1: where Max is, you know, two turnovers and two bad
Speaker 1: miss threes in the first quarter of a pivotal playoff
Speaker 1: game and he's your best option at the two because
Speaker 1: he's freaking out a little bit under the stress and
Speaker 1: pressure of the moment. Right. Totally expectable for a young player.
Speaker 1: There's just too many examples in NBA history of young
Speaker 1: players struggling when they get into that setting. So a
Speaker 1: higher floor option at the two guard spot I view
Speaker 1: as an important upgrade for the Lakers, and then lastly,
Speaker 1: backup ball handling. Ever since the D'Angelo Russell trade, the
Speaker 1: you know, the Lakers have been in this predicament where
Speaker 1: once you get past Austin and Lebron, who's your next
Speaker 1: best ball handler. It's Gabe Vincent. Right. It's just not
Speaker 1: a lot of talent in terms of perimeter ball handling
Speaker 1: because you sent d Low out in that trade for
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith, who plays a very different type of position. Right,
Speaker 1: So if you don't get a star, the three holes
Speaker 1: they needed to patch were backup center, an upgrade at
Speaker 1: the starting two guard spot, and backup ball handling. Just
Speaker 1: somebody that can handle the basketball and take on a
Speaker 1: higher usage roll on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: I think those two deals accomplish that by bringing in
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton, who is a legitimate guard ball handler that
Speaker 1: can take on usage, and getting a Bruce Brown, who is,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a starting caliber two guard in this
Speaker 1: league if he's the fifth best player in your lineup,
Speaker 1: which he would be in that case. And then three
Speaker 1: a backup center in the form of Walker Kessler. So
Speaker 1: here's what you'd be left with if the roster and
Speaker 1: all the dust settled, you would have a rock solid
Speaker 1: core five Austin, Bruce Brown, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis. And for the record, you could start
Speaker 1: Max if you wanted to keep him in the starting
Speaker 1: lineup and keep him getting reps and just close games
Speaker 1: with Bruce, if that's what it came down to, but
Speaker 1: just for the sake of laying out the roster, because
Speaker 1: I think Bruce right at this second is a better
Speaker 1: player than Max, even though Max will obviously have the
Speaker 1: ability to pass him in the long run. Austin Bruce,
Speaker 1: Doran Phinney, Smith, Lebron and AD that is a good
Speaker 1: core five. I like that as a core five that
Speaker 1: can the Lakers could go down within a playoff series
Speaker 1: because Bruce and Dorian are guys that have the ability
Speaker 1: to function within a five man group offensively while both
Speaker 1: being really useful defensive players at their position while bringing
Speaker 1: different abilities to the table. I think Bruce is better
Speaker 1: guarding guards. I think Dorian Finney Smith is better guarding forward,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of like a natural, kind of like
Speaker 1: pairing between the two of them. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Dorian can slide his feet a little bit. Bruce can
Speaker 1: bang with the larger players on the floor as well
Speaker 1: a little bit, right, So like there's some switchability there
Speaker 1: as well. And then you've got your Austin Lebron Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis and it depends on those three guys to carry
Speaker 1: things offensively. But that was gonna be the case regardless
Speaker 1: if your goal was to win the championship, you were
Speaker 1: gonna need Lebron ad In Austin to a play great. Right,
Speaker 1: then you'd have depth at key position groups. So Austin
Speaker 1: has a clear backup in Colin Sexton after that type
Speaker 1: of trade, Bruce Brown and Max Christy with regardless of
Speaker 1: depending on which one you end up starting with, one
Speaker 1: of those guys is a clear backup for the other. Right. Now,
Speaker 1: backup forwards, it gets a little finn there, right, you'd
Speaker 1: have Dalton Connect Jonathan Magbo coming back in the Raptors deal.
Speaker 1: Just a kind of a young athletic forward. It does
Speaker 1: some things well does He has a lot of weaknesses,
Speaker 1: but he can just be a depth piece for you
Speaker 1: at the forward spot. Christian Wood if he can come
Speaker 1: back healthy, and then Bruce Brown. I think there's a
Speaker 1: case to be made that Like, that's another upside to
Speaker 1: the Bruce Brown trade is like, if you need to
Speaker 1: find more minutes from him, I think he can play
Speaker 1: a little bit at the small forward, which can keep
Speaker 1: Max's minutes up, but supplements you in terms of depth
Speaker 1: at the forward position. But again, the whole point of
Speaker 1: this trade is that you're swapping forward depth to anchor
Speaker 1: your core five and for a rock solid backups. When
Speaker 1: you have a rock solid backup center, a guy like
Speaker 1: a Walker Kessler, it anchors you physically in a way
Speaker 1: that allows you to be smaller at other positions. Remember,
Speaker 1: like Walker's just like one of the most physically imposing
Speaker 1: players in this league. He at this point in time
Speaker 1: is leading the league in offensive rebounds per game at
Speaker 1: four point three offensive rebounds per game, and he's second
Speaker 1: in the league in blocks behind Victor wembin Yama despite
Speaker 1: playing less than thirty minutes per game in both of
Speaker 1: those categories. Right, So, like a really big, physical player
Speaker 1: that creates an easier physical responsibility down the roster. Right, So, like, yes,
Speaker 1: there's you're trading to address those weaknesses. You're creating a
Speaker 1: new thin spot in terms of forward depth. But I
Speaker 1: look at it more in terms of playoff rotation. In
Speaker 1: regular season rotation, right in the playoffs you can scale
Speaker 1: up minutes. Do I think that the Lakers would have
Speaker 1: an eight man rotation that could all be reliable? Libel
Speaker 1: is a hard word, but like, at least be playable
Speaker 1: playoff players. Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron, A D,
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton, Max Christy, Walker Kessler. That's your eight guys
Speaker 1: right there. You got a wing, a guard in a
Speaker 1: center off the bench. You could see so like in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you can see a playoff rotation take shape.
Speaker 1: You start the game. Let's say let's say you start
Speaker 1: with Max. You start Austin, Max, Dorian Lebron, and a D.
Speaker 1: When Lebron checks out, you can have a Lebron off
Speaker 1: group that's like Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, and then
Speaker 1: a two big look with Anthony Davis and Walker Kesler.
Speaker 1: When Ad comes off the floor, you can see a
Speaker 1: Lebron led group that has Walker Kessler with Lebron at
Speaker 1: the four, with Bruce Brown at the three, Max Christy
Speaker 1: at the two, and Colin Sexton at the one. You
Speaker 1: can see how they can piece together lineups where even
Speaker 1: your your ad off group with Lebron and a guy
Speaker 1: like Walker Kessler. That's a really big front line. Bruce
Speaker 1: plays bigger than he is at the three. You're going
Speaker 1: against bench groups with that lineup two, so like you
Speaker 1: can kind of see a playoff rotation that makes sense.
Speaker 1: And then there's still a closing five there, which is like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's a big spot. We're on the road at ok See,
Speaker 1: it's game two. It's ninety five ninety five with five
Speaker 1: minutes left in the fourth quarter and we're down one zero,
Speaker 1: but we have a chance to steal home court advantage. Here.
Speaker 1: You have a guy like Bruce Brown that you can
Speaker 1: go to in the closing group that is a higher
Speaker 1: floor veteran experienced playoff player that's won a championship that
Speaker 1: you can slide into that spot. But then in the
Speaker 1: regular season you have depth options. Like that's the upside
Speaker 1: to getting a guy like Magboback because he's a guy
Speaker 1: that can play some ford minutes in the regular season.
Speaker 1: Christian Wood when he gets healthy, can play forward minutes
Speaker 1: in the regular season, even next to a guy like
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler. Dalton Connect is a guy that can play
Speaker 1: minutes in the regular season that can carry you through
Speaker 1: those stretches. You just have more a better playoff upside
Speaker 1: in my opinion because of that rock solid core five
Speaker 1: and a big look. That is an important flexibility for
Speaker 1: specific matchups in the playoffs. Like, let's I want to
Speaker 1: like kind of take a little bit of a step back,
Speaker 1: and I want to zoom out and I want to
Speaker 1: look at what this move really creates for the Lakers
Speaker 1: in terms of their playoff upside. Right, So, like we
Speaker 1: can all acknowledge that this team isn't winning anything unless Lebron, James, Austin, Reeves,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis are all playing at a super high
Speaker 1: level on offense. It goes without saying we just have
Speaker 1: to acknowledge that, right, we kind of removed the possibility
Speaker 1: of a superstar trade. Once you take that out of
Speaker 1: the equation, It's like, if this team's going anywhere, Lebron, Austin,
Speaker 1: and Ady have to reach a certain level offensively. I
Speaker 1: think they can. As recently as last year in the
Speaker 1: playoffs in that first round series against Denver, I thought
Speaker 1: they were playing at that level. It was the surrounding
Speaker 1: talent around them that let them down. They struggled tracking shooters,
Speaker 1: they struggled rebounding. There were a bunch of like specific
Speaker 1: issues with role players. That's where I really liked the
Speaker 1: idea of Bruce Brown. He will embrace a bench roll,
Speaker 1: meaning if you want to start Max, you still have
Speaker 1: that option. He's a monster rebounder for his size. It
Speaker 1: gets seven rebounds per thirty six minutes so far the season.
Speaker 1: He's averaging six point one rebounds per thirty six minutes
Speaker 1: in his career, so at his size, a very good rebounder.
Speaker 1: He's good at defending opposing guards, but he has some switchability.
Speaker 1: He's actually hit five out of ten on guard to
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jump shots so far this year. Again
Speaker 1: that's a low sample size, but he's a I think
Speaker 1: a guy that can be functional on the offensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. So you're bringing back a playoff rotation
Speaker 1: piece in Bruce Brown for a guy in Ruey Ho.
Speaker 1: Chamurro really struggled in the Nuggets series last year, so
Speaker 1: it's kind of a swapping a less reliable playoff player
Speaker 1: for a more reliable playoff player. Walker Kessler, though, is
Speaker 1: the option where I see a real upside in terms
Speaker 1: of playoff optionality. Right, So when you look at the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and you look at the types of teams that have
Speaker 1: massive front lines, whether it's the Nuggets with Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: and Nicola jokicch with Michael Porter Junior, or it's the
Speaker 1: Clippers just with how big zoo botches right and what
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard can do, the Grizzlies who run a lot
Speaker 1: of two big looks, the Timberwolves who run a lot
Speaker 1: of two big looks. There are specific teams that you're
Speaker 1: run into in the playoffs where you might have to
Speaker 1: match up with size in physicality. Some of those teams
Speaker 1: have centers that Anthony Davis has struggled with straight up.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has struggled with Zoobot straight up, He's struggled
Speaker 1: with with nikolea Jokic straight up right. So like, by
Speaker 1: having a bigger look, by having the ability to put
Speaker 1: together frontlines of Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Walker Kessler together,
Speaker 1: you at least give yourself an option in those settings
Speaker 1: to match physicality for physicality. You may be better off
Speaker 1: going small, but at least you'll have that optionality. An
Speaker 1: example that I would give you is like, do you
Speaker 1: remember when the Lakers tried putting Ruey Hachi Mura on
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokic, and Jokic has dealt with the center guarding
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon before, and he's dealt with that well. So
Speaker 1: I want to sit here and pretend like it's some
Speaker 1: sort of magic fix for how to deal with the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets. But Jokich was just too good at shoving
Speaker 1: Ruey Hachimura wherever he wanted to get to and just
Speaker 1: scoring on right, if you try Walker Kessler in that
Speaker 1: spot and Walker Kessler is on Jokich, he's gonna have
Speaker 1: a better opportunity to fight Yokich off of spots with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and help on the back line. It's a look.
Speaker 1: It's about having a look. But Walker Kessler also provides
Speaker 1: that optionality in the regular season, right, like the ability
Speaker 1: to rest Anthony Davis. Walker Kesler can be a starting
Speaker 1: center in this league. He immediately gives you a better
Speaker 1: floor in the regular season when you rest ad, which
Speaker 1: brings me to the final piece of this. There's a
Speaker 1: real regular season upside, especially when you factor in the
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton edition. So Colin Sexton is a guy that
Speaker 1: can step into a high usage roll. He gives you
Speaker 1: a better chance to win if you give Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: a night off or if you give Lebron James a
Speaker 1: night off. So if I look at these two deals
Speaker 1: in the short term, in the regular season, we need
Speaker 1: to get to April mid April with Lebron and AD
Speaker 1: and Austin ready to go. I needs a night off,
Speaker 1: Lebron needs a night off, Anthony Davis needs a night off.
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler give you a substantially better
Speaker 1: option to win on those nights when you're giving guys
Speaker 1: a night off. Fast forward to the postseason. Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: gives you a clear closing five when the shit hits
Speaker 1: the fan, and Walker Kessler gives you a big look
Speaker 1: that you can use against some of the massive frontlines
Speaker 1: around the NBA. So again, it anchors the core three, Austin,
Speaker 1: Lebron and AD with the best possible group of role
Speaker 1: player talent that you can within the short term, because
Speaker 1: this might be your last best chance to win a title,
Speaker 1: and right now it looks like a very very slim chance.
Speaker 1: Right this might be your last chance that anchors those
Speaker 1: three with solid role player talent that puts the outcome
Speaker 1: of the season in Lebron Ad in Austin's hands. It's
Speaker 1: on them to figure it out at that point. I
Speaker 1: think that's the responsibility that the front office has here,
Speaker 1: is that least put the out come in their hands,
Speaker 1: and with the giant holes in role player talent, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really feel like it's in their hands. This is
Speaker 1: a way to appease that now. I would rather have
Speaker 1: had this sort of deal done last year when Lebron
Speaker 1: and Ad looked like better players, but better late than never.
Speaker 1: I suppose number three are third trade of the day.
Speaker 1: What if the Houston Rockets got Zach Levine, The way
Speaker 1: this deal would look is Fred van Vliet for Zach Levine.
Speaker 1: Straight up, It shouldn't take much of anything in the
Speaker 1: terms of draft in the way of draft compensation, just
Speaker 1: simply because Fred van Vliet has one fewer a year
Speaker 1: on his deal. But even if the Rockets did have
Speaker 1: to include some draft compensation, they just have so like
Speaker 1: I think they have ten first round draft picks between
Speaker 1: now and twenty thirty one, so they could throw in
Speaker 1: some secon around draft compensation, or maybe a heavily protected
Speaker 1: first or something like that if that's what they wanted
Speaker 1: to do to make something like this happen. But I've
Speaker 1: talked all this year about how the Rockets have a
Speaker 1: shot creation problem. I think they're a bit closer to
Speaker 1: legit championship contention than people realize. They're so big and
Speaker 1: physical on the perimeter, and that's just such an important
Speaker 1: part of playoff basketball. Pressuring the ball, being physical, rebounding,
Speaker 1: all those sorts of things are what carries you when
Speaker 1: you get into the postseason and things get really ugly
Speaker 1: and physical. The Rockets are the third best defense in
Speaker 1: the league. They are the very best rebounding team in
Speaker 1: the league. All of that translates to the upper levels
Speaker 1: of competition. They're eleven and four this year against teams
Speaker 1: that are in the top ten in point differential. That
Speaker 1: ranks just second in the league to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: They have the second best record in basketball against the
Speaker 1: top ten teams in the league. They're top five in
Speaker 1: both offense and defensive efficiency in those situations. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of upside, but there's one big downside. Their offense
Speaker 1: has had a tendency to break, especially in clutch situations.
Speaker 1: They are twenty fifth in fourth quarter offensive rating and
Speaker 1: eighteenth in clutch offensive rating. They've dropped nine games in
Speaker 1: the clutch this year, and in those nine losses, they've
Speaker 1: had just a ninety four offensive rating in clutch time
Speaker 1: in those games. There's been a pretty consistent through line
Speaker 1: with their offense between the success of Fred van Vliet
Speaker 1: and Jalen Green and whether or not they can win games.
Speaker 1: When Jalen Green scores thirty or more points this year,
Speaker 1: they're undefeated. I think he has eight thirty point games
Speaker 1: this year. Just look back through their recent losses. When
Speaker 1: they lost to Detroit, Fred van Vliet and Jalen Green
Speaker 1: thirty nine total points on thirty six shots. The loss
Speaker 1: of Sacramento, Fred van Vliet didn't play, although that was
Speaker 1: more of a shootout between those two teams. The loss
Speaker 1: of the Boston Celtics, fred van Vliet only had eight points.
Speaker 1: The lost to Miami, fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green
Speaker 1: combined for thirty five points and thirty seven shots. You
Speaker 1: guys get the point. This is an elite, physical, playoff
Speaker 1: built roster, but they have shaky perimeter shot creators, especially
Speaker 1: when things show slow down at the end of games.
Speaker 1: A Zach Lavine trade accomplishes two very important goals for
Speaker 1: the Rockets One. It capitalizes on the short term opportunity
Speaker 1: while also maintaining the long term flexibility. In the short term,
Speaker 1: Zach is just a much better offensive player than Fred
Speaker 1: van Vliet. Fred is averaging fifteen points per game on
Speaker 1: below forty percent from the field field goal percentage fifty
Speaker 1: two percent true shooting. Zach Lavine has thirteen thirty point
Speaker 1: games this year. That is four more than Fred and
Speaker 1: Jalen have had combined. This season. Fred's had won, Jalen's
Speaker 1: had eight, Zach Levin's had thirteen. He's averaging twenty four
Speaker 1: points per game on sixty four percent true shooting. How
Speaker 1: many players in the league this year do you think
Speaker 1: there are better? Averaging at least twenty four points per
Speaker 1: game on at least fifty percent from the field and
Speaker 1: at least forty percent from three pretty low parameters. Twenty
Speaker 1: four points per game fifty to forty. There's three guys
Speaker 1: in the entire league, Nicole Jokich, Karl Anthony Towns, and
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine. He is the type of offensive threat that
Speaker 1: could give this group, this elite defensive and rebounding group,
Speaker 1: real championship upside, especially in the context of how well
Speaker 1: Jalen Green's been playing as of late. He's averaging twenty
Speaker 1: nine points per game on fifty two percent from the
Speaker 1: field forty nine percent from three to ninety two percent
Speaker 1: from the line in his last nine games. Give Zach
Speaker 1: and Jalen that type of group of athletes that defend
Speaker 1: in that rebound and you have some real upside in
Speaker 1: the short term, the same upside that we've seen manifest
Speaker 1: in this regular season as they've been beating a lot
Speaker 1: of really good teams this year. So I really like
Speaker 1: it as a short term gamble, but in the long run,
Speaker 1: you're still staying committed to the long term potential of
Speaker 1: this group. You're not trading Jalen Green, who's been playing great.
Speaker 1: I talked about him the other day. Like Jalen Green,
Speaker 1: to me, represents the kind of player that's really difficult
Speaker 1: to give up on as like a bigger freaky athlete
Speaker 1: show creator. There's this thing where like these small freaking
Speaker 1: athlete guards that have a certain ceiling when they get
Speaker 1: into the NBA. But when you're like Jalen Green, like
Speaker 1: when you're over six ' four and you're freaky athletic
Speaker 1: like that, it just comes with another layer of the
Speaker 1: ability to get free from elite NBA defenders. And that's
Speaker 1: really the thing that I noticed when I watch it.
Speaker 1: When things get really tight, Jalen Green can get to
Speaker 1: his spots, and he's got the ability to make shots,
Speaker 1: as he's demonstrated in this recent stretch right and throughout
Speaker 1: the season from time to time. Right. So, I like
Speaker 1: Jalen Green as a guy that the Rockets should continue
Speaker 1: to take a bet on, But you're giving up a
Speaker 1: guy in Fred van Vliet that does not fit into
Speaker 1: the long term potential of this group. Now, I've heard
Speaker 1: some talk behind the scenes from people that think that
Speaker 1: it's more likely that Houston tries to re up with
Speaker 1: Fred at a discounted deal something in that like twenty
Speaker 1: million dollar range for a certain number of years, and
Speaker 1: maybe that's the direction they decide to go. I think
Speaker 1: that's just as punting on this season. What I like
Speaker 1: about the type of a deal that exactly deal does
Speaker 1: for you is, yes, you take on one additional year
Speaker 1: of salary over what the Fred van Vliet deal has,
Speaker 1: but you might be able to first of all, you
Speaker 1: might be able to negotiate a similar type of extension
Speaker 1: with him that you could with Fred van Vliet. And
Speaker 1: then secondly, you're not giving up any sort of big
Speaker 1: picture asset that's going to alter the long term potential
Speaker 1: of this team. So you're not including one of your
Speaker 1: really nice young players like a Men Thompson, You're not
Speaker 1: including massive amounts of first round draft compensation. You still
Speaker 1: have the flexibility to make a home run trade for
Speaker 1: somebody like Kevin Durant or something like that down the line. Hell,
Speaker 1: you might be able to use Zach Lavine's salary to
Speaker 1: pull that off if you end up in that position.
Speaker 1: It is an instant upgrade that gives you the ability
Speaker 1: to win in the context of this season while maintaining
Speaker 1: the big picture flexibility you have as a team that
Speaker 1: has a ton of potential, a team that's the second
Speaker 1: seed in the West, with a ton of talent and
Speaker 1: a ton of draft picks in the hopper ready to
Speaker 1: go in the time incomes. I like that as a
Speaker 1: deal that capitalizes on the short term potential while maintaining
Speaker 1: the long term flexibility. All right, guys, that's all I
Speaker 1: have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back
Speaker 1: tomorrow with some really good game reaction content, several really
Speaker 1: interesting NBA games on tonight. The Celtics are on the
Speaker 1: road in Los Angeles against the Clippers. I think the
Speaker 1: Warriors are on the road in Sacramento against the Kings.
Speaker 1: I want to say it's Calves Rockets is another one
Speaker 1: that we got. Like, there's a lot of really good games,
Speaker 1: So we're going to switch back towards game reaction content tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But that's all I have for you, guys. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I'll see you tomorrow the volume. What's up guys? As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.
Speaker 1: They would actually be really helpful for us if you
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