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Speaker 1: old hoops and I here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Oh, well,
Speaker 1: if you guys are having a great week so far, Well,
Speaker 1: we got our first couple of trades over this NBA
Speaker 1: offseason a couple days ago. Alex Cruso got traded from
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bulls to the Oklahoma City Thunder. We have
Speaker 1: not had a chance to react to that yet, so
Speaker 1: we'll be reacting to that at the tail end of
Speaker 1: today's show. But we're going to be starting with that
Speaker 1: massive deal from last night as McHale Bridges gets traded
Speaker 1: from the Brooklyn Nets to the New York Knicks for
Speaker 1: an absolute haul of draft compensations. So we're going to
Speaker 1: get into every angle of those trades from every team.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to get into it. You guys are the
Speaker 1: drip before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight
Speaker 1: YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason Lts. You guys
Speaker 1: don't misshow announcements. Don't forget about a podcast few where
Speaker 1: you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, and keep dropping
Speaker 1: mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep
Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the rest of this postseason. We're actually
Speaker 1: going to be doing a mail bag at the end
Speaker 1: of this week. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
Speaker 1: the first question everyone's going to be asking is was
Speaker 1: this an overpay? And the Knicks paid a lot four
Speaker 1: unprotected first round picks, one protected first round pick, one swap,
Speaker 1: and a second round pick, so by any measure, an
Speaker 1: absolute haul of draft.
Speaker 2: Compensation for McHale Bridges.
Speaker 1: Now, the interesting piece here is I don't necessarily think
Speaker 1: this is an accurate measure of where the market will
Speaker 1: be this summer, mainly because I think a lot of
Speaker 1: teams are going to be looking to trade some pretty
Speaker 1: high quality players, and so that kind of shifts the
Speaker 1: supply and demand dynamic. Right Like, go back to last
Speaker 1: year's deadline, there just weren't very many players available, and
Speaker 1: so it was kind of a seller's market. Guys were
Speaker 1: waiting to get blown away with offers. It didn't really happen.
Speaker 1: Right Like, this summer, I expect more player movement, and
Speaker 1: I expect there to be more deals that are kind of,
Speaker 1: let's just say, a lot less draft compensation than what
Speaker 1: we just saw. I think the backstory here it's important
Speaker 1: to keep in mind is the Brooklyn Nets are super
Speaker 1: high on Michale Bridges. They loved him, They viewed him
Speaker 1: as a franchise cornerstone. They did not want to trade him.
Speaker 1: This is one of those situations where the Knicks basically
Speaker 1: put Brooklyn in a situation where they couldn't say no.
Speaker 1: They had to accept this incredible haul and pivot into
Speaker 1: a rebuild, especially going into a really interesting draft next year,
Speaker 1: because the Knicks just put too much on the table.
Speaker 1: So was it an overpay? Yeah, technically yes, but this
Speaker 1: is what it cost to get a player that's unavailable.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of players around the league that
Speaker 1: front officers are not looking to trade, but if you
Speaker 1: call them and you offer just a ton of stuff,
Speaker 1: you might be able to pry him away. And this
Speaker 1: was a prime example of that. The Knicks knew they
Speaker 1: wanted this particular guy. I think there's a very we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into the basketball dynamics here in a minute,
Speaker 1: but I think there are some specific reasons why the
Speaker 1: Knicks really wanted McHale Bridges. I think they wanted a
Speaker 1: functional plug and play piece. I didn't think they wanted
Speaker 1: the risk of a higher powered star, if.
Speaker 2: That makes sense.
Speaker 1: And so McHale kind of fits that mold and just
Speaker 1: kind of view as an easy glue guy that fits
Speaker 1: the culture of the Knicks.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So there's a particular guy that they really wanted that
Speaker 1: technically wasn't really available. This is something I was hearing
Speaker 1: way back into last season. The Nets loved McHale Bridges,
Speaker 1: they did not want to move him, and so the
Speaker 1: Knicks just put it all on the table and they
Speaker 1: were able to pull it off right and again, now
Speaker 1: the Nets can pivot into a full rebuild from here
Speaker 1: heading into a stacked draft. So is it an overpay, Yes,
Speaker 1: but that is just what it cost to get a
Speaker 1: player that a franchise did not want to trade. Now,
Speaker 1: moving on to the fit with McHale Bridges on the Knicks,
Speaker 1: I want to start on the offensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna get into a bunch of details here.
Speaker 1: First of all, he's an excellent off ball player, excellent
Speaker 1: spot up player. He was seventieth percentile or better in
Speaker 1: points per possession converting spot up situations in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, and twenty twenty three. Had a little
Speaker 1: bit of a down year last year he was sixtieth percentile,
Speaker 1: just one point zero six points per spot up possession,
Speaker 1: but the spacing was pretty rough in Brooklyn, and he
Speaker 1: did still shoot pretty well in catch and shoot situations.
Speaker 1: He was thirty eight percent on catch and shoot jump shots,
Speaker 1: which amounted to fifty seven percent in effective field goal
Speaker 1: percentage or one point one four points per shot, which is.
Speaker 2: Still a really good number.
Speaker 1: As far as on ball stuff, he struggles like one
Speaker 1: on one with the defender squared up with him, but
Speaker 1: he's actually a pretty solid off screen player, so he
Speaker 1: gets zero point seven to two points per ISO when
Speaker 1: he was shooting last year for Brooklyn. But in these
Speaker 1: off screen numbers, they're he's not like amazing finny stretch.
Speaker 1: But again, you got to look at this in the
Speaker 1: context of the type of players he was playing with
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. Coming off of screens. He was zero point
Speaker 1: nine to four points per possession in pick and roll
Speaker 1: including passes. That's not bad. That's pretty average, right, one
Speaker 1: point one two points per possession when he shot coming
Speaker 1: off of screens, that's a really good number. So, like,
Speaker 1: he's one of those guys that when he's going against
Speaker 1: kind of traditional coverages, right, like a defender chasing over
Speaker 1: the top of the screen, and he's working against like
Speaker 1: a drop coverage big or some sort of like traditional
Speaker 1: screen coverage, he's actually really good at operating in that situation. Again,
Speaker 1: he was asked to do a ton of shot creation
Speaker 1: for Brooklyn.
Speaker 2: Is that the ideal role for him?
Speaker 1: No, So if you're like one of those guys that's
Speaker 1: like looking at his numbers in Brooklyn and you're like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: like you know, McHale Bridges is a pretty mediocre player, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: is he mediocre within the context of the star role,
Speaker 1: meaning like the guy that's taking on a ton of
Speaker 1: shot creation, the guy that you're depending on late in games, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gonna un orwhelm you in some of those areas,
Speaker 1: But there is real value to the experience that he
Speaker 1: got in Brooklyn. He just spent two years or a
Speaker 1: year and a half. He just spent a year and
Speaker 1: a half pretending or pretending is the wrong word, but
Speaker 1: practicing being that guy, right. And so as a result,
Speaker 1: he just got a ton of repetition coming off of
Speaker 1: dribble handoffs, coming off of ball screens, and just learning
Speaker 1: how to operate and generate advantages for his team. And like,
Speaker 1: I watched about one hundred of his most recent pick
Speaker 1: and rolls in Dho's at the end of this last season,
Speaker 1: and he's just gotten so much better at it over
Speaker 1: the course of the last twelve months. Like he can
Speaker 1: he can make the reads at a much higher level. Now,
Speaker 1: he can hit the pocket pass when it's opening ball screens,
Speaker 1: he can read the low man and make the skip pass.
Speaker 1: He takes advantage of the simple reads that are available
Speaker 1: to Like, this is something I've always appreciated about a
Speaker 1: good pick and role player. Like you come off a
Speaker 1: ball screen and a dude's helping down at the nail,
Speaker 1: just throw the swing pass because that guy now has
Speaker 1: a closeout opportunity. It's not going to be any different
Speaker 1: than if you walk into the lane and throw some
Speaker 1: super complicated over the top skip pass to the week
Speaker 1: side corner. It's still a close out opportunity for an
Speaker 1: offensive player. So like he'll come off those ball screens
Speaker 1: and if he sees nail help, he'll just throw that
Speaker 1: simple pass over to the wing. He's just become kind
Speaker 1: of like a steady ball handler.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Again, not the guy that you want to have super
Speaker 1: high volume on a great team, but these reps that
Speaker 1: he got in Brooklyn are valuable for him becoming a
Speaker 1: more versatile offensive player than he was when he was
Speaker 1: in Phoenix. Right, this is where I want to talk
Speaker 1: about the New York Knicks offense for a little bit,
Speaker 1: and we're going to we're going to try a new
Speaker 1: kind of like format here on the show today where
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to use like essentially a clipboard
Speaker 1: to demonstrate some of these concepts. But like before we
Speaker 1: go over to the clipboard, I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit surface level The Knicks ran five out concepts
Speaker 1: last year, but very much with a brute force finish.
Speaker 1: So they would like set up in some like five
Speaker 1: out kind of like sets to start possessions, but more
Speaker 1: often than not it would end with like a cleared
Speaker 1: ISO for Jalen Brunson, or a pick and roll for
Speaker 1: Brunson with Isaiah Hartenstein, or a guard guard screen at
Speaker 1: the top of the key. It's trying to attack a
Speaker 1: weak defender that's guarding the other that's guarding like Dante
Speaker 1: DiVincenzo or Douce McBride. You know, we saw a lot
Speaker 1: of that Indiandiana Pacers series for instance, for instance. Right, So, like,
Speaker 1: even though these are five out concepts for the Knicks,
Speaker 1: it's been just a steady dose.
Speaker 2: Of Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1: And one of the main reasons why that is is
Speaker 1: in order to run real five out concepts, like to
Speaker 1: get the biggest benefits of five out, which is ball
Speaker 1: and player movement. Right, it's ball and player movement, it's
Speaker 1: ball reversal, it's going side to side multiple actions in
Speaker 1: the same shot clock right. In order to get that,
Speaker 1: you need a certain amount of aggregate ball handling. You
Speaker 1: need lots of guys on the floor that can run action,
Speaker 1: lots of guys on the floor that can dribble, shoot
Speaker 1: and pass.
Speaker 2: And it's not that the Knicks didn't have that.
Speaker 1: They had guys that were capable, but not very many
Speaker 1: high level ball handlers, right, like the old the other
Speaker 1: guy that was really handling the ball that much for
Speaker 1: them was Dante DiVincenzo over the course that playoff front right,
Speaker 1: And like again, Dante DiVincenzo, if he's your second best
Speaker 1: ball handler, you don't have enough ball handling on the
Speaker 1: floor to really capitalize on the ball in player movement
Speaker 1: that you get out of five out sets. Right, If
Speaker 1: he's your third or fourth best ball handler on the floor,
Speaker 1: suddenly it becomes a more achievable goal. So I want
Speaker 1: to get over to the I want to get over
Speaker 1: to the clipboard here for a second so we can
Speaker 1: talk about some of these concepts in more detail. So
Speaker 1: what I have here is just a basic horn set, right,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna leave view number one here as Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1: So like this is a typical five out kind of
Speaker 1: start to a possession where what we would see the
Speaker 1: Knicks do last year is we would essentially see Hartenstein
Speaker 1: set essentially a cross screen for Brunson. He would come
Speaker 1: off into this area and this would be like Josh
Speaker 1: Hard or Dante de Vincenzo and then make an entry
Speaker 1: to Jalen Brunson here at the elbow, and then these
Speaker 1: guys would just clear out to the weak side.
Speaker 2: And Brunson would just work in iso.
Speaker 1: So it starts as like a five out concept, but
Speaker 1: it would end in essentially a just an opportunity for
Speaker 1: a brute force type of attack from Jalen Brunson. Or similarly,
Speaker 1: they would have like Jalen Brunton start down here in
Speaker 1: the corner and they'd have like a Horns type of
Speaker 1: setup where essentially they would have you know, a post
Speaker 1: entry here to Hartenstein and then Josh hart would come
Speaker 1: down and screen, and then Brunton would come up and
Speaker 1: Hartenstein would come up for the ball screen. He'd come off,
Speaker 1: but then once again it would just turn into four out.
Speaker 1: These guys would space to the corner. The Vincenzo would
Speaker 1: be on the opposite wing above the brick. Now we're
Speaker 1: just running Jalen Brunts and Isaiah Hartenstein two man game,
Speaker 1: and it'd be like rescreen and rescreen and rescreen, and
Speaker 1: they'd get what they'd want and it would just effectively
Speaker 1: function as a brute force kind of four out attack
Speaker 1: at the end of the possession in order to run
Speaker 1: true five out. And what I'm looking at there is,
Speaker 1: let's go back and set up in exactly what we
Speaker 1: were at the start of the possession, like a horn
Speaker 1: set is you want to be able to run multiple actions, right,
Speaker 1: So if Jalen Brunson's here in the corner, and let's
Speaker 1: say we just run more of like a Chicago action,
Speaker 1: So like Josh Hart just makes the post entry here
Speaker 1: to Hartenstegin and then Josh Hart sign down screens, Brunson
Speaker 1: comes up, and then we run a dribble handoff. You
Speaker 1: want to be able to flow into it so that
Speaker 1: if this doesn't work and Brunson comes down and runs
Speaker 1: into help, he can kick over here to Josh Hart,
Speaker 1: Josh Hart can dribble down. Let's say this is Mikale Bridges.
Speaker 1: Now McHale Bridges gets this dribble hand off, he comes
Speaker 1: off Hartenstein flows over to this side of the floor
Speaker 1: and sets another screen, and mchal Bridges comes into the
Speaker 1: to the lane from this side, and maybe he draws
Speaker 1: in some help and kicks to Jalen Brunston, and Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson could run a third action, or Jalen Brunson can
Speaker 1: attack a close out. It's being able to have multiple
Speaker 1: high level ball handlers so that you can flow from
Speaker 1: each side of the floor and get the defense like
Speaker 1: out of their strong side load up and into more
Speaker 1: of like kind of chaos right as you go from
Speaker 1: side to side. Doesn't even have to necessarily be horns.
Speaker 1: You can imagine a situation where they're in more or
Speaker 1: of like a pistol setup, where you've got guys on
Speaker 1: both wings and you have the big kind of operating
Speaker 1: out of the top of the key in Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: dribble handoff. Here comes Dante Devincenzo. Here comes a ball
Speaker 1: screen for hart and signed Devincenzo gets into the lane. Oh,
Speaker 1: there's Nail help. Let's kick over here to og annob
Speaker 1: og Anobi dribbles down and hands it off to Mikail Bridges.
Speaker 1: Mckel bridges comes off. Here comes Hartenstein to set the
Speaker 1: second screen. Mckail bridges comes into the lane. There is
Speaker 1: just much more ball in player movement that you can
Speaker 1: accomplish by virtue of having multiple high level ball handlers
Speaker 1: on the floor, and that, to me is what makes
Speaker 1: this concept so fascinating. You have to have a certain
Speaker 1: amount of aggregate ball handling. If you think of a
Speaker 1: lineup with Jalen Brunson, McHale, Bridges, Dante DiVincenzo ogn Andobi
Speaker 1: O j Anobi's your fourth best ball handler in that lineup.
Speaker 1: If that happens, that's where you can achieve some of
Speaker 1: the real upside that comes from five out offense. And again,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be force elements to it. You're still gonna
Speaker 1: have a lot of clearout ISOs for Jalen Brunson, You're
Speaker 1: still gonna have a lot of ojan Andobi playing bullyballer
Speaker 1: or Julius Randol if he's still there playing bullyball. It's
Speaker 1: not that you can't get to that more often. It's
Speaker 1: just there is something to be said about. I talked
Speaker 1: about this a lot in my five Biggest Takeaways video
Speaker 1: if you guys remember that I released earlier this morning.
Speaker 1: One of the big things I talked about is I
Speaker 1: am a big believer now in that every team needs
Speaker 1: to be striving to run at least five out like
Speaker 1: setups to start possessions, meaning like horn sets, like specific
Speaker 1: actions at the beginning of possessions before you get into
Speaker 1: your five out motion, just to give yourself more opportunities
Speaker 1: to break the set defense that you're going against. Again,
Speaker 1: when they're loaded up on the strong side and you
Speaker 1: run a pick and roll, it just makes things really hard.
Speaker 1: If you're running a ball screen on the third attack
Speaker 1: of the possession and there's been switches and there are
Speaker 1: guys that are out of position, and this guy's glued
Speaker 1: up on the weak side because he just was defending
Speaker 1: a guy running an action like that is where you
Speaker 1: kind of loosen things up against the set defense and
Speaker 1: give yourself easier opportunities. And to me, mckel Bridges is
Speaker 1: not another brute for Star, He's another cog in a
Speaker 1: more ball and player movement type of offense. And so
Speaker 1: to me, like in short, I view Bridges not just
Speaker 1: as an individual offensive upgrade, but as a massive increase
Speaker 1: in the team's aggregate shooting, dribbling, passing ability that should
Speaker 1: allow them to substantially raise their offensive ceiling. And to me,
Speaker 1: that fit is just so easy. And that's before we
Speaker 1: even get to the defensive end of the floor. Now,
Speaker 1: mckail Bridges was a bit lazy this year in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: Big part of that was the scheme, though Nick Clackson
Speaker 1: was a big who could switch, and in general they
Speaker 1: had a lot of wings, and so what Brooklyn did
Speaker 1: was just switch almost everything, and so mckaal Bridges didn't
Speaker 1: have to fight over screens as often in Brooklyn as
Speaker 1: he did in Phoenix. In Phoenix, though, I went back
Speaker 1: this morning and watched a bunch of tape of him
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two with the Suns. He is so
Speaker 1: good at getting over the top of screens. He has
Speaker 1: amazing length to bother guards with back pressure. He's actually
Speaker 1: really good in general at guarding, kind of like quick
Speaker 1: perimeter players because he has the quickness to stay with
Speaker 1: them and the length to bother their pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: He represents an archetype of defender that the Knicks just
Speaker 1: simply didn't have before this trade. I view Ognanobi as
Speaker 1: more of the big forward rather than the perimeter forward
Speaker 1: in terms of what he can do defensively. Yes, he
Speaker 1: can chase Tyres Maxie around and try his best. He
Speaker 1: can guard on the perimeter better than most big forwards.
Speaker 1: But ideally you want him battling with the big bully
Speaker 1: ball forwards, right. You want him battling kind of against
Speaker 1: the matchup attacking guy that tries to use physical strength
Speaker 1: as an advantage. That's where Ognnoby can hold up really
Speaker 1: well defensively. Ideally, you don't want him on the quickest guard.
Speaker 1: You want him on the biggest scoring forward. And so
Speaker 1: now you have a situation where if you can maintain
Speaker 1: or if you can retain ogn Andoby this summer, you
Speaker 1: have McHale Bridges to guard the opposing team's best guard,
Speaker 1: and then you have Dante DiVincenzo to guard the opposing
Speaker 1: team's second best guard. Dante de Vincenzo is an excellent
Speaker 1: perimeter defender, right, And then you have Ognnoby to guard
Speaker 1: the other team's best like big strong forward right. So
Speaker 1: like there's just a lot of defensive versatility you gain
Speaker 1: by adding a true wing long guard defender in Michael Bridget.
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Speaker 1: Looking back at the train, mckilbridges isn't a super splashy name.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the splash of a Kevin Durant or
Speaker 1: a Paul George or Lebron James in terms of like
Speaker 1: the hype surrounding him, and the Knicks did give up
Speaker 1: a ton to get him, and so I can understand
Speaker 1: how it's like, oh man, seven picks or six picks
Speaker 1: in a swap and we're getting this like kind of
Speaker 1: like smaller name. But he's a damn good basketball player.
Speaker 1: And I think he's gonna be one hell of a
Speaker 1: force multiplier.
Speaker 2: In this team.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna make everybody's job so much easier
Speaker 1: by slotting people more properly. You're turning Dante de Vincenzo
Speaker 1: into your primary perimeter defender into your secondary perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: You're turning o Jananobi from a perimeter defender into a
Speaker 1: forward defender, which is better. You're taking Dante de Vincenzo
Speaker 1: from your second best shot creator and turning him into
Speaker 1: your third best shot career. You're increasing the aggregate ball
Speaker 1: handling and shooting ability of the team. There's so much
Speaker 1: like in terms of just making the game easier for
Speaker 1: every other player on the team that is achieved by
Speaker 1: bringing mckaal bridges into this situation. And then lastly, the
Speaker 1: Boston angle. To be the best, you have to beat
Speaker 1: the best. Boston is going to have the same core
Speaker 1: as they just won the championship with, and as we know,
Speaker 1: Boston's a very different type of five out offense in
Speaker 1: the sense that they don't have a ton of interchanges.
Speaker 1: They will run screening actions, but they're more of a
Speaker 1: driving kick. They're more like a space you out beat
Speaker 1: you off the dribble and then play driving kick basketball. Right,
Speaker 1: the Nets or the Knicks are going to be different
Speaker 1: in the sense that Jalen Brunson and Jalen Brunson can iso.
Speaker 1: But Jalen Brunson and Chaal Bridges aren't like straight line drive,
Speaker 1: like toast you off the dribble type of guys, So
Speaker 1: they're not gonna beat you with that driving kick type
Speaker 1: of game. They're gonna beat you with five out player motion,
Speaker 1: lots of screening actions, right, so.
Speaker 2: Like they're different.
Speaker 1: But defensively, to guard Boston, the job comes down to
Speaker 1: containing in space. With Boston, you have to contain the basketball,
Speaker 1: flatten out drives so you don't have to help as
Speaker 1: hard so that you can bait them into pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots instead of letting them get easy drive and
Speaker 1: kick layups and catch and shoot threes. Right from there,
Speaker 1: that's where your aggregate foot speed, your aggregate length becomes
Speaker 1: an advantage. And again you imagine a lineup that has
Speaker 1: Dante DiVincenzo, that has Mikael Bridges, that has og Andnobi
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson can slide his feet. You know, when you
Speaker 1: have that much perimeter talent on the team, you can
Speaker 1: actually do a better job of containing dribble drive teams
Speaker 1: like the Boston Celtics. And so again, you have to
Speaker 1: beat Boston in order to get over the top, in
Speaker 1: order to get out of that Eastern Conference. This is
Speaker 1: a move that not only improves the Knicks in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of the NBA, but is specifically a piece
Speaker 1: that could help you with a Boston matchup. Now, would
Speaker 1: I pick this Knixt team over Boston in a series
Speaker 1: at this point, No, I think Boston's better than them,
Speaker 1: but they are certainly a lot closer. And we will
Speaker 1: see how all of this stuff gels together when they
Speaker 1: get into training camp and we start seeing this group
Speaker 1: play basketball together. So where do we go from here?
Speaker 1: As we mentioned earlier, for Brooklyn, they pivot full rebuild.
Speaker 1: You're hoping to get into the Cooper Flag sweepstakes as
Speaker 1: we had into next season. Right, the reporting looks like
Speaker 1: on the Knicks front that the Knicks are going to
Speaker 1: prioritize og Ananobi over Isaiah Hartenstein. Now that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Hartenstein is an awesome player, super valuable, and I think
Speaker 1: the Knicks are going to miss him, especially in some
Speaker 1: of their five out sets because Hartenstein was such a
Speaker 1: good passer. He was a guy that in a five
Speaker 1: out system his ability to read back cuts to function
Speaker 1: as a dribble handoff guy, a guy who can roll
Speaker 1: into the short area and make those floaters with his
Speaker 1: left hand at such a high rate. He's a super
Speaker 1: valuable offensive piece and the Knicks are going to miss
Speaker 1: that if they end up losing Hartenstein. But I think
Speaker 1: the overall increase in perimeter talent can go a long
Speaker 1: way towards making up for that. And then again, I
Speaker 1: think keeping og instead of Hartenstein is much more valuable
Speaker 1: within the context of a matchup with Boston. With Boston,
Speaker 1: you need as many of these long, quick wings or
Speaker 1: perimeter players that can contain on the dribble as possible,
Speaker 1: and so within the context of that specific matchup, I
Speaker 1: think I'd rather have og Anobi than Isaiah Hartenstein, and
Speaker 1: I do think that's the route to go if they
Speaker 1: can only afford to keep one of them. Right, the
Speaker 1: real question for the Knicks is where does Julius Randall
Speaker 1: fit in all of this, And honestly.
Speaker 2: He doesn't.
Speaker 1: He's not a great read and react player, which makes
Speaker 1: him a better fit in more of a brute force
Speaker 1: system than in a five out system, but they might
Speaker 1: also be able to play him at center in matchups
Speaker 1: with Boston. Imagine if Mitchell Robinson just for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: maybe against Boston switching he becomes a liability offensively, or
Speaker 1: if he struggles with health or whatever, it may be
Speaker 1: maybe a look where you put Julius Randall at the five,
Speaker 1: because again Boston is not exactly a super physically imposing
Speaker 1: front line, right, So like maybe in a matchup with
Speaker 1: Boston you look at it as like a Julius Randall
Speaker 1: at the with Og at the four, Mikhale Bridges, Donte
Speaker 1: Di Vincenzo, Jalen Brunson. That is a really good, like
Speaker 1: five perimeter player type of lineup that still has a
Speaker 1: good amount of physicality and Ogn Andnobi and Julius Randall
Speaker 1: on the front line. That would be an interesting kind
Speaker 1: of card to have in your back pocket for a
Speaker 1: matchup with Boston. But again it all comes down to
Speaker 1: what his value is league wide, because if you could
Speaker 1: flip him and get rid of Julius Randald and get
Speaker 1: back functional players that can help you another center that
Speaker 1: can run five out, maybe some depth at the guard position,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. That's where if you have the ability
Speaker 1: to make an upgrade using Julius Randall's salary, you have
Speaker 1: to at least consider it, right, because I do think
Speaker 1: the fit is a little clunky in terms of actually
Speaker 1: trying to achieve real ball in player movement. So I'll
Speaker 1: be interested to see whether or not there's any values
Speaker 1: surrounding Julius Randall and if the Knicks look.
Speaker 2: To move him.
Speaker 1: But I don't really have an idea at this point
Speaker 1: which direction that's going to go. But this is a
Speaker 1: fun deal and I'm really happy for Knicks fans. This
Speaker 1: is going to be a really fun team next year.
Speaker 1: Obviously the Villanova connections run strong. We're going to be
Speaker 1: covering the Nicks very closely next year. But hopefully that's
Speaker 1: a quick synopsis of how I feel about the trade
Speaker 1: and give you guys a better idea of the basketball
Speaker 1: fit there. All right, let's talk Alex Cruso to the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder. So this is a super interesting deal
Speaker 1: on so many levels. I want to focus on kind
Speaker 1: of the weird part first and then we'll get into
Speaker 1: the part that makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 1: So the weird parts it's bizarre to me that the
Speaker 1: Bulls value Josh Gitty so much that they didn't ask
Speaker 1: for any additional draft compensation in this deal. Like, Josh
Speaker 1: Gitty is an interesting player, but he kind of has
Speaker 1: to be on the ball to be effective, and he's
Speaker 1: not good enough at being on the ball to be
Speaker 1: a primary ball handler for a great team.
Speaker 2: Right. That really is the issue in my opinion.
Speaker 1: If I look at Giddy as the future version of himself,
Speaker 1: He's got to become a better shooter. He's got to
Speaker 1: become a better cutter, he's got to become a better
Speaker 1: just functional off ball piece in order to make himself
Speaker 1: be valuable as a secondary creator or a ter creator.
Speaker 1: In order for his value to make sense. I just
Speaker 1: think if you put the ball in his hands a ton,
Speaker 1: you're going to be a pretty mediocre team at this point,
Speaker 1: given some of his limitations, especially as a shooter.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, like, I don't really understand the value there from
Speaker 1: Boston or excuse me, from Chicago, but it's very clear
Speaker 1: that the Bulls just valued Josh Gitty because they did
Speaker 1: not ask for any additional draft compensation in the deal. Also,
Speaker 1: like Alex Cruzoe seemed from some of the reporting to
Speaker 1: be capable of fetching at least a good first round
Speaker 1: pick in the market, So they looked at Giddy over
Speaker 1: even first round draft compensation, which I think is fascinating.
Speaker 1: Also on the Oklahoma City front, Cruso is a little
Speaker 1: bit of a redundancy, right, Like, if you're looking at
Speaker 1: the lineup for Oklahoma City, you imagine shay Jad dort As,
Speaker 1: you're one, two three. When you think about what you
Speaker 1: know Oklahoma City really needs to do to get to
Speaker 1: the next level, you think about either a good, physical,
Speaker 1: bruising center that you can slot Chet Homegren at the
Speaker 1: four with, or a big, physical, bruising forward that can
Speaker 1: keep Chet at the five. Right, You're looking for something
Speaker 1: that can beef up the front court. So like going
Speaker 1: for Alex Caruso, especially at a position where you already
Speaker 1: kind of have a plethora of talent, seems a little confusing.
Speaker 1: So on the surface, the trade seems weird, But here's
Speaker 1: why I love it for Oklahoma City. Obviously, it's a
Speaker 1: discounted deal. You just traded a player that doesn't really
Speaker 1: fit with the idealized version of what you are, especially
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, for a guy who has started games
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals for the team that won the championship.
Speaker 1: Like he's one of the most highly regarded role players
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I, as a Lakers fan, rooted for
Speaker 1: this guy. I was devastated when Genie Bus let him
Speaker 1: go simply because of money. It was one of the
Speaker 1: many catastrophic mistakes that Genie Bus and the ownership group
Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Lakers have made over the course
Speaker 1: of the last few years. I promise you Alex Cruzo
Speaker 1: has always been this good. It's not something that just
Speaker 1: happened in Chicago. He's been someone that I've really valued
Speaker 1: and appreciated for appreciated for a really long time. And
Speaker 1: it's un fortunate hit that he made his way to
Speaker 1: Chicago to begin with. I promise you Thunder fans, as
Speaker 1: long as he can stay healthy, you guys are gonna
Speaker 1: love this guy. He's one of the very best perimeter
Speaker 1: defenders in the NBA. He's a proven effective playoff role player.
Speaker 1: But what's fascinating to me is like, if you actually
Speaker 1: look at Caruso and the way you want him to
Speaker 1: fit into a championship team, he's actually kind of better
Speaker 1: when you keep him down around like twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1: One of the main reasons why is this is a
Speaker 1: guy who plays extremely hard all the time. That doesn't
Speaker 1: say that you can't scale his minutes up if you
Speaker 1: want him to close a big game or play thirty
Speaker 1: two to thirty three minutes in a big playoff game.
Speaker 2: It's not like Alex is not capable of that.
Speaker 1: It's just that he is a guy that goes balls
Speaker 1: to the walls the entire time that he's in the game,
Speaker 1: and so keeping in that kind of twenty five minute
Speaker 1: range is a way to get really good effectiveness out
Speaker 1: of him in those twenty five minutes. Right, So the
Speaker 1: Thunder shouldn't have too much of a problem carving out
Speaker 1: a twenty five minute type of role for him, even
Speaker 1: with the talent that they have already in the backcourt
Speaker 1: with shay J.
Speaker 2: Dubb and Lou Door.
Speaker 1: Also, guys like Aaron Higgins are going to be a
Speaker 1: free agent next year. You're eventually going to have to
Speaker 1: pay him if you want him to stay on board.
Speaker 1: You're eventually gonna have to pay case On Wallace in
Speaker 1: the long run if he stays on board. Right, So, like,
Speaker 1: if you can lock up Alex Cruso on an affordable
Speaker 1: deal for four to five years. Then you can afford
Speaker 1: to lose an Aaron Wiggins to restricted free agency. You
Speaker 1: can afford to lose a case On Wallace in a
Speaker 1: few years if you have Alex Cruso to kind of
Speaker 1: fill that role as your first bench guard or bench
Speaker 1: wing that comes in and guards the other team's best player. Right,
Speaker 1: Cruso is also a better fit within this timeline. This
Speaker 1: team has real championship potential as soon as next season.
Speaker 1: If they can get a high quality front court player,
Speaker 1: I will be moving them into my top tier of
Speaker 1: championship contenders. That's how impressed I was in general by
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City and how well they fared against the Dallas
Speaker 1: Mavericks in that second round series, which by the way,
Speaker 1: they were this close to winning. If they don't foul PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington in the left corner in Game six, they're going
Speaker 1: home for Game seven, which statistically speaking, goes to the
Speaker 1: home team. That's not to say that it's a guarantee.
Speaker 1: The MAVs might very well have gone into Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: in one, but the thunder were very close to making
Speaker 1: it to the conference finals, right, So like they're like
Speaker 1: one piece away, and Cruso is a substantial piece, But
Speaker 1: the biggest weakness of the team is that front court
Speaker 1: athleticism and like and just kind of like, like, uh,
Speaker 1: just someone that can just be a pain in the
Speaker 1: ass on the glass. It was just kind of a
Speaker 1: hard worker that just kind of solves some of their
Speaker 1: dirty work issues on the front line.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: If they get that type of guy, and you add
Speaker 1: Alex Cruso to this equation, and you add a year
Speaker 1: of experience, a year of the pain and suffering of
Speaker 1: losing in that second round series painfully the way that
Speaker 1: they did, that's a team that I think is a
Speaker 1: top tier championship contender. So like Caruso fits within the
Speaker 1: urgency of your opportunity to win right now.
Speaker 2: Like he is a.
Speaker 1: Veteran piece, he's thirty years old, he brings championship level
Speaker 1: playoff experience. I love that fit. And so who's that
Speaker 1: front court piece. This is where I want to kind
Speaker 1: of tie everything back to the Brooklyn Nets New York
Speaker 1: Knicks trade. So in the as a byproduct of the
Speaker 1: New York Knicks trade, the reporting is that Isaiah Hartenstein
Speaker 1: looks to be the guy that the Knicks may not
Speaker 1: be able to retain. If Isaiah Hartenstein enters free agency
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City can.
Speaker 2: Jump on him.
Speaker 1: What a perfect piece that would be alongside Chet Holmgren
Speaker 1: at the four Several reasons why I like this First
Speaker 1: of all, in five out offense, as we talked about
Speaker 1: it earlier for the Knicks, Isaiah Hartstein is just such
Speaker 1: a good dribble handoff folkrum, such a good screener, such
Speaker 1: a good backdoor passer, such a good roll man right,
Speaker 1: such a good offensive reboundary. Does all of these things
Speaker 1: that can really unlock a five out offense. He's also
Speaker 1: just an absolute, an absolute star on the glass. This
Speaker 1: dude can crash the offensive glass with the best of them.
Speaker 1: He can clean up defensive possessions. If you put him
Speaker 1: next to Chet Holmgren, you fundamentally alter the physical file
Speaker 1: of your front line. Even next to Chet, you can
Speaker 1: imagine running a high drop coverage where, and this is
Speaker 1: a thunder team that likes to be aggressive, you can
Speaker 1: put Chet as the lowman. Now you can put Hartensteign
Speaker 1: on the other team's center. Hartenstein can come out high
Speaker 1: in a drop coverage and be active with his hands.
Speaker 1: Now Chet is the guy that is functioning as that
Speaker 1: lowman who can help at the rim and ball screens
Speaker 1: while also having the length to close to the corner
Speaker 1: and contest corner shooters on skip passes. This would be
Speaker 1: if the Thunder can get Isaiah Hartenstein. That to me
Speaker 1: or a similar type of player, but Isaia Hartenstein, to me,
Speaker 1: is my favorite kind of fit there. If they can
Speaker 1: get Isaiah Hartenstein, I would put them in my top
Speaker 1: tier of championship contenders. I would put them up there
Speaker 1: with Denver and Boston. That is how good I think
Speaker 1: this Thunder team can be if they beef up the
Speaker 1: front court. All right, guys, that's all I have for today.
Speaker 1: Only last thing I wanted to hit really quickly before
Speaker 1: we get out. I cover Acolyte. Episode five came out
Speaker 1: last night and it was just absolutely epic, just the
Speaker 1: Sith Lord just cutting down a dozen Jedi.
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
Speaker 1: I broke that down, that episode down with my buddy
Speaker 1: Luke on our two Sons podcast feed.
Speaker 2: That's this podcast over here.
Speaker 1: That's the one that I cover all like TV shows
Speaker 1: and movies and stuff like that. We also hit House
Speaker 1: of the Dragon episode two a couple of days ago,
Speaker 1: so make sure you Guys, head over there. If you're
Speaker 1: into non basketball content, we're gonna be back. If there's
Speaker 1: another trade, we'll be back tonight, but if there's no trades,
Speaker 1: we'll be back tomorrow morning to break down everything from
Speaker 1: the NBA Draft. I would imagine over the course of
Speaker 1: the next two days just a lot of reacting to
Speaker 1: draft trades, and then we're gonna do a mailbag on Friday,
Speaker 1: so don't forget to keep dropping mailbag questions in those
Speaker 1: YouTube comments. All right, guys, that is all I have
Speaker 1: for you guys today. I sincerely appreciate you for supporting
Speaker 1: the show. We will see you shortly, depending on what
Speaker 1: kind of chaos we see.
Speaker 3: The volume