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Speaker 1: visited by FANDOL here at the volume. Happy Sunday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys are having a great
Speaker 1: week end so far. We had a whole show planned
Speaker 1: for today where we were gonna talk about basketball. We
Speaker 1: were gonna talk a little bit about Steph Curry's injury,
Speaker 1: but then we're gonna talk about the Bucks and Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton getting going and Jamal Murray getting going for the
Speaker 1: Nuggets as they've been clicking, and the Lakers having another
Speaker 1: basketball collapse against the New Orleans Pelicans. We had all
Speaker 1: this basketball to talk about, and then literally a few
Speaker 1: minutes into me recording the video, we find out that
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks in
Speaker 1: exchange for Spencer Dinwoodie, Dorian Phinney Smith, two second round picks,
Speaker 1: and a first round pick. So that's gonna be what
Speaker 1: we focus on today. I promise you guys, especially as
Speaker 1: we get past this deadline, we're gonna lock in down
Speaker 1: the stretch and it's gonna be a ton of basketball.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be deep diving into all of these teams
Speaker 1: as we prep for the playoffs. But for today, we
Speaker 1: are just going to focus on the Kyrie news. You
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Speaker 1: lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 1: you know, Dallas was second on my list in terms
Speaker 1: of teams that would be desperate enough to go after Kyrie.
Speaker 1: I was looking at Dallas, Miami, and the Lakers, Lakers
Speaker 1: being the most desperate. I had read a bunch of
Speaker 1: intel that the Lakers were primarily concerned about the long
Speaker 1: term structure of kyrie salary after the season, wanting to
Speaker 1: get him to a two year extension so that they
Speaker 1: can line it up with Lebron rather than doing that
Speaker 1: four year deal that Kyrie wants. I would imagine that
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, Dallas has made some sort of inclination
Speaker 1: to Kyrie that they intend to sign him to that
Speaker 1: type of deal, being that they were willing to give
Speaker 1: up this type of asset. It's super interesting on a
Speaker 1: bunch of different levels. So the way I want to
Speaker 1: look at this is we're gonna start by looking at
Speaker 1: it from Dallas's perspective, Then we're gonna look at it
Speaker 1: from Brooklyn's perspective. Then we're gonna look at it from
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers perspective as they now have to
Speaker 1: pivot to other options before the deadline. So for Dallas,
Speaker 1: I love this fit. Now. The reason why I didn't
Speaker 1: love it as much as I did for the Lakers
Speaker 1: is I thought it over mid overnight made the Lakers
Speaker 1: a championship contender when you look at everything else that
Speaker 1: they had on the roster. Kyrie being I would say,
Speaker 1: he's probably been like the seventeenth or eighteenth best player
Speaker 1: in the world this year. He's having a damn good season.
Speaker 1: I went over his numbers yesterday. I'm not gonna do
Speaker 1: it again. So adding him to what Lebron and a
Speaker 1: d do, the way they all complement each other, the
Speaker 1: way Kyrie specifically impacts their weaknesses. I thought it made
Speaker 1: a ton of sense and it was a team It
Speaker 1: was a move that actually put them over the edge
Speaker 1: in my opinion, so I thought it was worth the
Speaker 1: assets for Dallas. I look at it more as a
Speaker 1: long term play. Kyrie's skill set compliments Lucas perfectly because
Speaker 1: he's more of a professional shotmaker from all these different
Speaker 1: spots of the floor. Lucas more of an offensive engine
Speaker 1: type of player. We've seen that specific partnership work before
Speaker 1: with Lebron James, and one of the big reasons why
Speaker 1: it's been working with Kevin Durant this season is Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant is having an underrated offensive engine type of season
Speaker 1: as a pick and roll shot later and drawing double
Speaker 1: teams and allowing the team to play four on three
Speaker 1: off of them. Kyrie in a lot of cases has
Speaker 1: been a guy that they've gone to at the end
Speaker 1: of games as that type of shot maker. Now you're
Speaker 1: gonna see Luca's usage drop. I've been talking about this NonStop.
Speaker 1: Everybody's been jumping to conclusions with Luca as a young
Speaker 1: kid in his early twenties about the type of player
Speaker 1: he is, that he's the kind of guy that you
Speaker 1: know wouldn't play well with other stars, and all he
Speaker 1: does is dribble the clock out and take bad shots
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah. You know, the bad, the the unfair,
Speaker 1: unrealistic picture that a lot of people that don't like
Speaker 1: Luca paint of him. And what I kept saying was
Speaker 1: that we've never even seen him try. This isn't James
Speaker 1: Harden playing James Harden ball alongside Chris Paul. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit different. He's gonna be allowed
Speaker 1: to be more selective, He's gonna be allowed to work
Speaker 1: off the ball more. They're gonna allowed They're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to add wrinkles to their offense that they haven't
Speaker 1: had in the past. Most importantly, when you limit that usage,
Speaker 1: it allows Luca to be more selective about taking bad shots,
Speaker 1: and it allows you to lighten his workload, which will
Speaker 1: allow him to have the legs necessary to be effective,
Speaker 1: especially at the end of games. So the fit I
Speaker 1: like a great deal. Defensively, it's gonna be a little tricky,
Speaker 1: and that's where we're gonna I'm looking at the future
Speaker 1: because giving up Dorian Phinney Smith their best three and
Speaker 1: d Wing, the guy that in a series would guard
Speaker 1: a Lebron James, the guy that in a series would
Speaker 1: guard a Kawhi Leonard. Losing him is going to be
Speaker 1: devastating to them in the short term. I think Spencer
Speaker 1: Dinwoodie it's more of a kind of a similar swap
Speaker 1: for Kyrie's skill set in roles, So it's not that
Speaker 1: big of a deal. But Dorian Phinney Smith is a
Speaker 1: big loss. And this is a team that already is
Speaker 1: suffering with front court depth with Maxi Cleland being out
Speaker 1: with the muscle tear and and JaVale McGee just hasn't
Speaker 1: really worked out for them this season. They are thin
Speaker 1: on the front line, and so they're gonna be at
Speaker 1: a massive physical disadvantage in every single series that they
Speaker 1: play this year, and I don't think they're capable of
Speaker 1: winning the championship as a result, especially with the type
Speaker 1: of teams are gonna have to go throughout West that
Speaker 1: have massive physical front lines that are going to be
Speaker 1: a pain in the ask for Dallas to deal with.
Speaker 1: But in the long run, we've been talking about how Dallas,
Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of teams that are in
Speaker 1: their predicament where they have this young star that's too
Speaker 1: good to get high draft picks. You end up having
Speaker 1: to find weird like methods to obtain another star. We
Speaker 1: saw this with Lebron the first time around in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: He was winning too much for them to build through
Speaker 1: the draft they have with some of the other teams
Speaker 1: that we've seen in NBA history, But they went and
Speaker 1: got a guy. So now this summer they can focus
Speaker 1: on building out a roster that complements those guys in
Speaker 1: their place style. They can work on finding the physical
Speaker 1: workload carriers that will allow Luca and Kyrie's otherworldly offensive
Speaker 1: talent to carry them. So don't get too disappointed if
Speaker 1: Dallas loses this year. I would expect them to with
Speaker 1: those physical disadvantages. But if you're a Dallas Mavericks fan,
Speaker 1: you should be very excited about this because you now
Speaker 1: have a perfect complementary co star. It was only thirty
Speaker 1: years old with Luca. That brings some specific skill that
Speaker 1: that that even Luca isn't particularly great at, and I
Speaker 1: think that that's a great foundation. They just need to
Speaker 1: build out the front court around them to be a
Speaker 1: realistic championship contender. But this was step one and they
Speaker 1: got it done. So tip of the cap to the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. A bunch of teams got cold feet. The
Speaker 1: Lakers had a chance to put three top seventeen players
Speaker 1: together and they got cold feet. Dallas didn't, so they
Speaker 1: get the good player as a result. Now, looking over
Speaker 1: at Brooklyn, my guess is Kevin Durants not super pleased
Speaker 1: about this. Now, you can make a case that you
Speaker 1: know these were this was as good of a win
Speaker 1: now deal as they could have gotten, right Because like
Speaker 1: roy O'Neil's basically their primary three and D type of defender,
Speaker 1: but he's a little bit undersized. Dorian Finney Smith gives
Speaker 1: you a longer defender. So when you're going against the
Speaker 1: Kawhile Ennards and Paul George's of the world are out east,
Speaker 1: it's more of the Jayson Tatums and the uh Jalen
Speaker 1: Browns of the world that like to shoot over the top.
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith is gonna be able to bother the
Speaker 1: guys more than, you know, than Royce O'Neil can't, So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of benefit there. He can shoot the
Speaker 1: basketball pretty well. He's a little streaky, like a lot
Speaker 1: of role players are, but I like that fit really well.
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwoodie perfectly fine complimentary ball handler. But what made
Speaker 1: Brooklyn so good was the pairing of Kyrie Irving and
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in the way the two of them together
Speaker 1: could consistently break down the defense. The ceiling, the ultimate
Speaker 1: ceiling of Brooklyn was both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: And now you have turned them more into like the
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen Calves, where Kevin Durant is at the
Speaker 1: top of his game, might be the best player in
Speaker 1: the world, just like Lebron was in two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 1: And they're gonna be able to beat a lot of teams,
Speaker 1: but eventually they're going to run into somebody that has
Speaker 1: just has more shot creation and more talent, and they're
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to handle it. You know, if
Speaker 1: they run into a physical matchup like uh, like the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks or the Boston Celtics, they will not win
Speaker 1: the physical matchup. But if they had Kyrie and Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: they could hope to potentially over come that with supreme
Speaker 1: offensive skill. And the Nets lost a lot of offensive
Speaker 1: skill in this trade, So I don't know if it
Speaker 1: happens before the deadline. Likely not because we haven't heard
Speaker 1: anything about it, but we'll see over the course of
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. But my guess is this
Speaker 1: leads to another Kevin Durant trade demand after a disappointing
Speaker 1: playoff exit this year. They'll be fun, they'll be interesting,
Speaker 1: but they're not beating the Bucks. They're not beating the Celtics,
Speaker 1: they're not beating the Sixers without the high end offensive
Speaker 1: talent that they had with both Kyrie and Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: moving on to the Lakers. I feel bad for Lakers fans.
Speaker 1: I thought this was a huge missed opportunity. Yes, in
Speaker 1: a vacuum, you could make a case that they dodged
Speaker 1: a bullet, but this is not in a vacuum. This
Speaker 1: is Lebron James in your twenty the Russell Westbrook problem,
Speaker 1: the pull up jump shooting problem, the backcourt offensive skill problem,
Speaker 1: all wrapped up into one with the urgency of Lebron's
Speaker 1: rapid aging. And so you have to take on abnormal
Speaker 1: risk to solve your abnormal predicament that we're in. And
Speaker 1: whatever that risk was, I thought was mitigated by the
Speaker 1: fact that you'd be piecing together a top seventeen player
Speaker 1: in the NBA with Lebron James and Anthony Davis with
Speaker 1: a skill set that compliments them extremely well and a
Speaker 1: good set role players around them that makes sense, like,
Speaker 1: for instance, like Trey Brown Jr. Hard working guy that's
Speaker 1: not super offensively skilled. When you in Gabriel, you know
Speaker 1: Ruy Hutcher, Murmer, these kinds of guys, Dennis Shrewder, Patrick Beverley,
Speaker 1: these these kind of guys in this roster, the offensive
Speaker 1: limitations become very apparent. But if Kyrie Irving's on the roster,
Speaker 1: suddenly you don't care that they don't have the offensive
Speaker 1: skill because you want guys like that that are just
Speaker 1: impacting the game with their effort and their physicality and
Speaker 1: what they do on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: Because Kyrie brings this supreme offensive skill and he's a
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooter. What do I always tell you
Speaker 1: guys about pull up jump shooting. Spacing doesn't matter because
Speaker 1: they're shooting over the top of the defense. So I
Speaker 1: thought it was a massive missed opportunity. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was just Genie Buss trying to get out
Speaker 1: of the luxury attacks. I don't know. If it was
Speaker 1: Rob Polink being incapable of piecing together a three team
Speaker 1: deal that sends the requisite pieces to the nets. I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened, but given that they only got
Speaker 1: two seconds and a first, I feel like the Lakers
Speaker 1: botched this and that's unfortunate because it was a big
Speaker 1: missed opportunity. Now what do they have to do. They
Speaker 1: have to do something, They have to pivot. They still
Speaker 1: need that offensive skill in the backcourt. I still look
Speaker 1: at Toronto and something involving Gary Trent Jr. I I
Speaker 1: really like the idea of a professional jump shooter or
Speaker 1: someone who shoots off the dribble, someone who can run
Speaker 1: ball screens and get the guard, the defensive guard to
Speaker 1: chase over the top, which will allow that guard to
Speaker 1: get downhill and open up things with the four on
Speaker 1: three on the back end. I hope that they find
Speaker 1: somebody like that before the deadline. But it's concerning because
Speaker 1: if they weren't willing to shell out the necessary picks
Speaker 1: and compensation and things along those lines for Kyrie, what
Speaker 1: makes you think they're gonna be willing to do it
Speaker 1: for a lesser player. And so that's really discouraging. But hey,
Speaker 1: we got you know, three or four days here, and
Speaker 1: Rob Polink has got a piece something to get there,
Speaker 1: because you saw once again last night down the stretch
Speaker 1: of that game, that lack of ball handling and shooting
Speaker 1: in the backcourt continually becomes a problem. Dennis Shrewder. I
Speaker 1: like him. He's had a good season for the veteran,
Speaker 1: for a veteran minimum contract, he's been fantastic. But you know,
Speaker 1: down the stretch of that game, he made a bunch
Speaker 1: of key mistakes, turnovers, in ability to finish around the
Speaker 1: rim that position. Being upgraded to a real offensive weapon
Speaker 1: changes the dynamic in the geometry of the Lakers in
Speaker 1: a way that makes them a lot more dangerous in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Right now, they're just like a puncher's chance
Speaker 1: team if Lebron and a d just go on another
Speaker 1: worldly run. But if they bring in a legitimate backcourt
Speaker 1: weapon that has the that offensive skill that they need,
Speaker 1: that's when they become a serious championship contender. So I'm
Speaker 1: disappointed that they couldn't get it done with Kyrie, but
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to get it done with somebody here
Speaker 1: in the next couple of days. Al Right, guys, that's
Speaker 1: all I have for today. Like I said, I promise
Speaker 1: when we get back and when we get past the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, it's gonna be all basketball down the stretch.
Speaker 1: We're gonna learn about all these teams and I'm hoping
Speaker 1: from one hell of a playoff run. As always, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys rocking with me, and I'll see you
Speaker 1: guys when I get back in. Down the volume.