Speaker 1: The volume. All right, Well, good hoops to night here
Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all you
Speaker 1: guys are having a great week so far. I got
Speaker 1: a jampackshow for you guys today. We're gonna be reacting
Speaker 1: to some news around the NBA Donavan Mitchell four year,
Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy three million dollar extension. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about my thoughts there, as well as a
Speaker 1: brief update on the Lebron saga. I want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the Philadelphia seventy six ers, who
Speaker 1: are getting a lot of buzz in recent days, especially
Speaker 1: as Bob Myers went on the podcast with Rich Paul
Speaker 1: and Max Kellerman and essentially openly made his case for
Speaker 1: Lebron to go to Philly. As Lebron's kind of bizarre
Speaker 1: free agency continues to play out. I want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the Golden State situation with the
Speaker 1: leverage involving Anthony Davis. Then after that, I want to
Speaker 1: talk about Darren Peterson's first couple of games in Summerly.
Speaker 1: I think that that is a legitimate data point worth
Speaker 1: considering when we're talking about Darren in his long term development.
Speaker 1: He has looked amazing in a higher usage on ball
Speaker 1: roll playing for the Jazz in summer League. Then at
Speaker 1: to that as promise, we're going to get to eight
Speaker 1: mail bag questions from around the league. We're in bounce
Speaker 1: around with a bunch of other topics. You guys are
Speaker 1: the job. Before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops
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Speaker 1: It helps us a lot. This will be our mailbag
Speaker 1: for this week. We'll have another mail bag in about
Speaker 1: a week or so, so if you want to get
Speaker 1: questions into that mail bag, drop them into the full
Speaker 1: episodes on YouTube. Right, mail bag colon, write your question.
Speaker 1: We get to them in our mail bags throughout the
Speaker 1: rest of the season. A right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So details of Donovan Mitchell's contract four years, two hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy three million dollars and average, you will value
Speaker 1: over sixty eight million dollars. And I'm just going to
Speaker 1: essentially reiterate what I said after the Calves lost in
Speaker 1: the postseason this past year. I when it comes to
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell, this was my greatest fear for the Calves
Speaker 1: was you were staring down the barrel of this long
Speaker 1: extension and Donovan is you know, I think Donovan versus
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is actually a really good kind of framework
Speaker 1: to use when you have this discussion. When you're signing
Speaker 1: up to pay this much money for a player. I
Speaker 1: think there's a certain expectation that you're going to get
Speaker 1: a superstar, right like in a legit, bona fide superstar.
Speaker 1: But the reality is there just aren't that many guys
Speaker 1: like that in the NBA as of right now. I've
Speaker 1: got five on my list being just Yannis Jokich, Luca Shay,
Speaker 1: and Victor Weman Yama put him in whatever order you want.
Speaker 1: Debate that over the course of the summer, but those
Speaker 1: are the only five guys that I think are like
Speaker 1: bona fide top tier superstar talents in the NBA as
Speaker 1: of right now. And obviously we've got some young players
Speaker 1: that are up and coming and entering into that conversation.
Speaker 1: The reality is is that with the way the CBA works,
Speaker 1: there will be players that are off of that tier
Speaker 1: that sign these types of deals that kind of comes
Speaker 1: with the territory. I've kind of had a similar conversation
Speaker 1: when we were talking about Austin Reeves. Everybody wants Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves to not make forty million because they don't because
Speaker 1: they think it's going to tie up too much money
Speaker 1: and they don't think he's worth it. And then you
Speaker 1: forget conveniently that there are a lot of players in
Speaker 1: the NBA that make over forty million that just aren't
Speaker 1: that good, Guys like John Moran, Brandon Ingram, players that
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves are just like clearly better then, right, And
Speaker 1: that's just kind of the reality of the NBA is
Speaker 1: a lot of dudes get paid, and that extends even
Speaker 1: to the highest levels with these long term extensions. Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell versus Jalen Brown to me is an interesting example
Speaker 1: of when you're off that superstar tier or what caliber
Speaker 1: player am I looking for in terms of a person
Speaker 1: that I'm comfortable tying up this kind of money with,
Speaker 1: and when I look at Jlen Brown for all the
Speaker 1: flaws that exist in his game, and they're they're fair,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about them at length over the course
Speaker 1: of the last couple of weeks. He's an on an
Speaker 1: Island player. There's a lot of like parts of his
Speaker 1: game that can struggle over the short sample, right or
Speaker 1: over the large sample. Excuse me with the way it
Speaker 1: shows in the data in the in the sense that
Speaker 1: the team doesn't necessarily score super well when he's involved.
Speaker 1: But there are like two things with Jaylen Brown that
Speaker 1: are trump cards for me in that specific conversation. One
Speaker 1: and they both involve his his apex athleticism. One is
Speaker 1: the fact that no matter what the caliber of the
Speaker 1: defense is, I feel like Jaylen Brown can get a
Speaker 1: good shot for himself because of his physical tools. Right.
Speaker 1: So there's a certain amount of like his game because
Speaker 1: immensely valuable in tight space situations at the highest levels
Speaker 1: of the NBA playoffs, and I thought he showed that,
Speaker 1: especially in his finals MVP in Eastern Conference Finals MVP
Speaker 1: run in twenty twenty four. Then you look at it
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the four Similarly, one of the
Speaker 1: most iconic memories to me of Jalen Brown's career is
Speaker 1: picking up Luka Doncic full court in the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four NBA Finals and doing about as good a job
Speaker 1: as we've ever seen an individual defender do on a
Speaker 1: superstar talent in a high leverage situation like the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown brings enough alternative methods to impact winning and
Speaker 1: enough physical imposition on the game that I'm comfortable with
Speaker 1: paying him that kind of money, even though he's off
Speaker 1: the top tier of superstars. I thought that that was
Speaker 1: a relatively lame excuse from Boston in terms of moving
Speaker 1: on from him. There were cases to be made. That
Speaker 1: was one I didn't understand the life the financial side
Speaker 1: of it. I just think I think Jalen Brown's worth
Speaker 1: the money. Donovan Mitchell kind of tilts into a type
Speaker 1: of player that I don't think is worth this kind
Speaker 1: of money. His primary impact as an NBA player is
Speaker 1: as a shot creator. Once you get beyond that, there's
Speaker 1: not a whole lot else he brings to the table.
Speaker 1: He had a miserable off ball scoring postseason. He was
Speaker 1: ten for forty six on spot up threes in this
Speaker 1: year's playoff run, just barely over twenty percent. That was
Speaker 1: a huge problem for Cleveland throughout the playoffs. He is
Speaker 1: not a good defensive player, either on or off the ball.
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell doesn't bring a lot of impact beyond him
Speaker 1: being a shot creator. But then when you did dive
Speaker 1: into the shot creation data, he is a good not
Speaker 1: great shot creator, and there are a lot of like
Speaker 1: specific metrics with that that stand out, Like when you're
Speaker 1: talking about points per possession metrics. To me, the high
Speaker 1: volume pick and roll guys, I want them up over
Speaker 1: one point one points per possession including passes. I want
Speaker 1: a high level of efficiency from my primary shot creator
Speaker 1: and pick and roll Donovan Mitchell is a level below that.
Speaker 1: He's usually in the mid one point oh five territory
Speaker 1: as a shot creator and pick and roll including passes.
Speaker 1: I want strong on off data with the way that like,
Speaker 1: because again, what is the role of the shot creator?
Speaker 1: Like dating all the way back to the debate that
Speaker 1: I had between Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson back before
Speaker 1: their playoff series got what was that three years ago
Speaker 1: now when they faced off in the playoffs. The main
Speaker 1: thing that I was nitpicky about with Donovan Mitchell's game
Speaker 1: is that he's not a good game manager, meaning there's
Speaker 1: a job with a shot creator which goes deeper than
Speaker 1: the singular possession, which is it's not about can I
Speaker 1: score efficiently for myself or can I get a shot
Speaker 1: that I can make. It's more about I'm about to
Speaker 1: run or manage sixty to seventy possessions in this game,
Speaker 1: either by running ball screens or even just getting the
Speaker 1: ball to the floors versus ball pressure and getting the
Speaker 1: ball to the appropriate spot to start the possession right
Speaker 1: Like I am an offensive engine, I'm going to command
Speaker 1: three four dozen possessions every single game, and I need
Speaker 1: to be able to generate not just good shots for
Speaker 1: myself but for my team. And that usually manifests in
Speaker 1: those points per possession, including passes and pick and roll
Speaker 1: being higher than the rest of the players in the league.
Speaker 1: That manifests in strong on off data. And one of
Speaker 1: the things that is consistently flashed to the surface with
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell's game is that despite the fact that he
Speaker 1: typically hovers in that even in the postseason, in that
Speaker 1: twenty five to thirty points per game range and somewhere
Speaker 1: in the high fifties and true shooting, which is fine.
Speaker 1: He's not anywhere near as efficient as the upper tier
Speaker 1: scoring guards in the league, but he's fine. He's right
Speaker 1: around league averager above as is a high volume scorer,
Speaker 1: right like. Despite that, when he's on the floor, it's
Speaker 1: not generating good team offense. And that is the thing
Speaker 1: that has consistently risen to the surface this last postseason run.
Speaker 1: In the dating through first round, second round Conference Finals,
Speaker 1: the Cavs offense was eleven points better per one hundred
Speaker 1: possessions with him off the floor versus when he was on.
Speaker 1: The year before, when they went to the second round
Speaker 1: and lost to Indy, the Caves offense was fifteen points
Speaker 1: better per one hundred possessions with him off the floor
Speaker 1: versus when he was on. Now, there are some stronger
Speaker 1: data points as you go further back in his career,
Speaker 1: but now we're talking about a younger, more explosive player.
Speaker 1: He turns thirty in two months. You want to know
Speaker 1: why the Harden led offenses did better last year, and
Speaker 1: this is what a This is a guy in James Harden,
Speaker 1: who is it's not considered one of the great offensive
Speaker 1: engines in this league. But it's really that simple. Harden
Speaker 1: has always been a master of the game management piece,
Speaker 1: understanding the goal of fifty to sixty possessions that are
Speaker 1: under his command, and how important it is to make
Speaker 1: easy reads early in the clock that generate flow and
Speaker 1: get the defense in rotation and help generate quality shots
Speaker 1: for his teammates. That has been where Donovan Mitchell has struggled.
Speaker 1: And again, not every offensive engine has to be a
Speaker 1: hardened level Lukadancch level, high volume pick and roll guy.
Speaker 1: We've seen the likes of Shay Gilders Alexander as a
Speaker 1: scorer drive that level of offensive impact. But how by
Speaker 1: being surgically efficient like mid sixties true shooting percentage by
Speaker 1: the way, Shay struggled to do that in the postseason,
Speaker 1: but surgically efficient and they never turn the ball over.
Speaker 1: Those are the two things you need if you're going
Speaker 1: to be a score first guard to be one of
Speaker 1: the great offensive engines in the league. And so when
Speaker 1: I look at Donovan Mitchell about to turn thirty in
Speaker 1: two months, I'm talking about his scoring guard who's not
Speaker 1: particularly high volume or particularly efficient, who there's pretty strong
Speaker 1: data points that show that the offense functions better when
Speaker 1: he's off the floor, not to say that he doesn't
Speaker 1: carry any offensive value, just that his offensive impact doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily lead to the team scoring at an extremely high level.
Speaker 1: And then, beyond his shot creation talent, he doesn't impact
Speaker 1: winning in any other way that tilts to a level
Speaker 1: of impact that is below that Jalen Brown tier of
Speaker 1: like non top tier superstar, but a guy that I'd
Speaker 1: be willing to pay the thirty five percent max to.
Speaker 1: I think that this was a mistake. I thought that
Speaker 1: in his current situation, Donovan Mitchell was actually a pretty
Speaker 1: valuable asset because there are teams out there that would
Speaker 1: pay Donovan Mitchell and would pay you for his services,
Speaker 1: and his value will never ever, ever again approach the
Speaker 1: value he was currently holding before this extension. From this
Speaker 1: point forward, as he's a thirty year old, and as
Speaker 1: that extension starts to look more daunting, it will be
Speaker 1: harder and harder to move him. And again, this isn't
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown, This isn't a caliber of player where you go, man,
Speaker 1: I just think we need him to win. I don't
Speaker 1: think Donovan Mitchell is that level of player for Cleveland,
Speaker 1: so I thought they should have traded him this offseason,
Speaker 1: even in the context to Lebron, I think they should
Speaker 1: have moved him. I would have been Colin Dallas and
Speaker 1: been like, y'all want Donovan Mitchell, We'll take Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: I'm getting a better player with more financial flexibility for
Speaker 1: the future. I just I was really really surprised when
Speaker 1: I saw that deal. And I understand the idea of like, oh,
Speaker 1: we want stability, we want to demonstrate that we're building
Speaker 1: something here in Cleveland. I just think that Donovan falls
Speaker 1: below that kind of mandatory minimum level of talent I'm
Speaker 1: expecting when I'm tying up that kind of money, And
Speaker 1: with or without Lebron, you've put yourself in a really
Speaker 1: tough position in the future. Let's say Evan Mobley blossoms
Speaker 1: over the next couple of seasons and you want to
Speaker 1: make some sort of pivot two three years from now.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a hell of a lot harder
Speaker 1: to do when you've got a guy eating up seventy
Speaker 1: plus million dollars on your cap, who's a thirty two
Speaker 1: year old small guard who is years removed from when
Speaker 1: he was a inefficient shot creator. And so I was
Speaker 1: just really surprised by the deal. Today's show is brought
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Speaker 1: in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, or Tennessee quick update
Speaker 1: on the Lebron situation quickly. On the Cavs front, there's
Speaker 1: been some sort of like explanation that Cleveland actually stands
Speaker 1: to benefit more on the Lebron front with the Mitchell extension.
Speaker 1: I don't really understand that at all. I don't know
Speaker 1: why Lebron would care about Mitchell's extension in particular. I
Speaker 1: won't reiterate this any more than I already have, other
Speaker 1: than to just say everyone wants to say that Lebron
Speaker 1: wants a better role, a better opportunity to command the
Speaker 1: basketball and to be involved as a playmaker in the offense.
Speaker 1: And all I can think about is, like, I'm not
Speaker 1: one hundred percent sure Donavan Mitchell's better than Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: let alone Luka Doncic. And if Lebron was like going
Speaker 1: on podcast talking about how he's fine playing that role
Speaker 1: for now but not for long as it pertains to
Speaker 1: Luka Freakin Doncic in Austin Reeves, I don't know why
Speaker 1: he would suddenly be okay with doing it behind Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell and James Harden. I AM going to have a
Speaker 1: really hard time getting behind the Calves as a destination
Speaker 1: unless they can make some sort of substantial pivot to
Speaker 1: look like a different basketball team as as is, even
Speaker 1: if they like especially if they dump strew Some and
Speaker 1: Shrewder who like SHREWDERO I think are good basketball players.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Calves are particularly good with Mitchell, Harden, Lebron,
Speaker 1: Jared Allen, and Evan Mobley. I think they're just another
Speaker 1: good team in the Eastern Conference. Not anything that really
Speaker 1: moves me. On the Philly front, it's really the exact
Speaker 1: same thing everyone wants to talk about, how there's this
Speaker 1: open hole at the four spot. You've got Embiid, you
Speaker 1: got Jalen Brown, you got vj Edge Comb, you got
Speaker 1: Tyree s Maxey once again, Jalen Brown, as we've talked about,
Speaker 1: kind of plays on an island. Maxi and MBI. There's
Speaker 1: a two main game partnership there for the two of them,
Speaker 1: but it's a spread, pick and roll attack with people
Speaker 1: occupying the corners in the opposite wing. There is not
Speaker 1: like a rhythm and flow offensively that will come naturally
Speaker 1: with that group. I think it's a lot of like
Speaker 1: diminishing returns, right, Like every basketball player has a fit
Speaker 1: that will maximize their talent and a fit that kind
Speaker 1: of marginalizes their talent. And to me, Lebron going to
Speaker 1: a place where he can fill roles physically as a big, strong,
Speaker 1: athletic forward that that team doesn't have, there's a a
Speaker 1: like an enhanced return on that, right, that's like kind
Speaker 1: of like just a physical profile. So, yeah, does Lebron
Speaker 1: physically help the Philly at a position of need? Sure?
Speaker 1: Would he physically helped Minnesota at a position of need? Sure?
Speaker 1: Like those make sense to me physically, But then you
Speaker 1: look at his skill set again, Like, do I think
Speaker 1: Lebron will have a better jump shooting season next year? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But do I think if you envision him as a
Speaker 1: spot up shooter, I think you're gonna get diminishing returns.
Speaker 1: This is why I've been so keyed in on Denver
Speaker 1: and Golden State. Denver and Golden State are the two
Speaker 1: teams that can offer Lebron a role that specifically highlights
Speaker 1: his playmaking talent, or in a case of Denver. Want
Speaker 1: you want to know why I'm high on Denver. Denver
Speaker 1: can legitimately space out fives. Lebron has struggled to deal
Speaker 1: with rim protection for years now because he's played with
Speaker 1: bigs that can't shoot, including Anthony Davis, and somehow he
Speaker 1: still gets to the rim a ton and he's still
Speaker 1: super efficient when he gets there. Can you imagine a
Speaker 1: Denver situation where Jokic is constantly pulling the rim protector
Speaker 1: away from the basket and Lebron's able to drive with
Speaker 1: impunity and not have to worry about dealing with rim
Speaker 1: protection when he gets there, and they don't have another
Speaker 1: ball handler that is reliable beyond Jamal Murray, So like
Speaker 1: Lebron is literally your secondary ball handler from the perimeter,
Speaker 1: and they play with so much flow that Lebron's not
Speaker 1: going to spend very many possessions standing in the corner there.
Speaker 1: He's going to be involved in the offense. So a
Speaker 1: team like Denver can get an enhanced return for Lebron
Speaker 1: physically and an enhanced return from Lebron in his skill set.
Speaker 1: Same thing goes with Golden State. The Lebron would literally
Speaker 1: be the second best ball handler on the team beyond Steph.
Speaker 1: Steph does play off ball a ton Steve Kurz offense
Speaker 1: does involve high post playmaking in a variety of off
Speaker 1: ball screening action, and a ton of movement. Those are
Speaker 1: the only two teams that can benefit from Lebron, both
Speaker 1: physically and with this skill set. You go to these
Speaker 1: other teams and they can benefit physically. The Cavs would
Speaker 1: love to have a big, physical forward that can help
Speaker 1: them in a lot of ways. So would Philly, so
Speaker 1: a Minnesota. They can't benefit from the skill side of
Speaker 1: what Lebron brings to the table. There would be a
Speaker 1: diminishing return there. And frankly, that's the part that I
Speaker 1: think is being under discussed in all of this. I
Speaker 1: just can't imagine Lebron wants to go spend his final
Speaker 1: season in the NBA standing in the corner. Miami is
Speaker 1: the other team, and this is why I think Miami
Speaker 1: has to be taken seriously. They simil early Lebron would
Speaker 1: probably be be their most reliable ball handler. Like I
Speaker 1: legitimately could see universe where it's Lebron Jiannis two man
Speaker 1: game at the end of games and Lebron's either screening
Speaker 1: Foris or Giannis is screening for Lebron and they're dealing
Speaker 1: with switches. But I could see Yannis like straight up
Speaker 1: leaning on Lebron as a primary shock creator at the
Speaker 1: end of games, like that's a role where and they're
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to be really good with their interior
Speaker 1: passing because they're basically playing two big lineups with Jannis
Speaker 1: and Bam. So like Miami can benefit from Lebron's playmaking
Speaker 1: town it would be a little clunky just because the
Speaker 1: team construct, but they at least have a specific need
Speaker 1: for Lebron's skill set. That's a part that I think
Speaker 1: it's under discussed in all of this. Lastly, on the
Speaker 1: Lebron front, this Golden State a d piece of it,
Speaker 1: So it was It's been reported that Washington is asking
Speaker 1: for the kitchen sink when it comes to the Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis trade, and I totally understand that. And my whole
Speaker 1: thing is is like, if they're there is an understanding
Speaker 1: that Lebron's not going to Golden State unless they get
Speaker 1: ad it does put Golden State in a tough predicament
Speaker 1: because paying multiple unprotected first for Anthony Davis would be
Speaker 1: foolish simply because of the fact that that would be
Speaker 1: way more than Washington originally paid for Anthony Davis. That
Speaker 1: would be an overpay right, and you need to be
Speaker 1: subsequently situated to make additional deals for perimeter talent. If
Speaker 1: you bring in Anthony Davis and all goes well, there's
Speaker 1: a chance you're looking at February and you're like, shit,
Speaker 1: we're really good, but we need another guard and it
Speaker 1: would be really nice to have another first round pick
Speaker 1: to trade if you had to at that point in time,
Speaker 1: or another wing, you know, with Moses Moody being out
Speaker 1: and with Andrew Wiggins's departure a few years ago, Like
Speaker 1: Golden State doesn't have your stereotypical primary point of attack
Speaker 1: defender right like, they need to be situated for a
Speaker 1: subsequent deal, so they kind of have to hold firm.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, Washington has no obligation to
Speaker 1: necessarily get rid of ad and so I think really
Speaker 1: where the Golden State part of this comes in is
Speaker 1: there needs to be a line of communication essentially that
Speaker 1: we're gonna get this done, but we're gonna play a
Speaker 1: little bit of hardball because we need to make sure
Speaker 1: that we are situated for subsequent moves, and maybe there's
Speaker 1: a happy place to be found here where it's you know,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler an unprotected first and like two second round
Speaker 1: picks in a swap or something like that, where you
Speaker 1: can situate it in a way where you find a
Speaker 1: happy middle ground between the urgency of the situation, the
Speaker 1: leverage that Washington has, and the fact that they're gonna
Speaker 1: want to get a decent payday before they just ship
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis to Golden State. But ultimately, if you're Golden State,
Speaker 1: it's not trading draft picks for Anthony Davis. It's trading
Speaker 1: draft picks for Anthony Davis and Lebron That's what you
Speaker 1: have to keep in mind. Everyone shits on the Paul
Speaker 1: George trade, but that's because Paul George and Kawhi couldn't
Speaker 1: stay healthy and couldn't get the job done. The actual
Speaker 1: deal in and of itself, if you really think about it,
Speaker 1: get traded Shay Goods is Alexander and the four first
Speaker 1: round picks or whatever it was for Paul George and
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. That actually is a decent price tag for
Speaker 1: two of what at the time were the top six
Speaker 1: or seven players. In the NBA. Similarly, if you're Golden State, yes,
Speaker 1: I understand playing a little bit of hardball with Washington,
Speaker 1: but ultimately, you pay what you gotta pay if you're
Speaker 1: gonna get Anthony Davis or Lebron. If you're gonna get
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Lebron. And lastly, and this is the
Speaker 1: part that drives me the most crazy about it, if
Speaker 1: it's not a d make another move. I've never really
Speaker 1: seen anything like this with the team where they command
Speaker 1: basically the entire future of their draft, but they have
Speaker 1: multiple years in a row now where they've got a
Speaker 1: legendary superstar in his post prime that you seem uninterested
Speaker 1: in bolstering the talent level at all. And frankly, like
Speaker 1: I I understand why if you had like one or
Speaker 1: two picks left and you had made efforts and nothing
Speaker 1: had really worked, and you were looking towards the future,
Speaker 1: that's fine. You've passed on everything. You passed out Ogenna, no,
Speaker 1: but you passed on Pascal Siakam. The one deal you
Speaker 1: made was for a distressed star in Jimmy Butler, and
Speaker 1: you gave up one pick. There has not been a
Speaker 1: steady intentionality to improve the team to make them better
Speaker 1: while also having some control of your future. The whole
Speaker 1: point is is you're gonna be bad. I'm sorry, the
Speaker 1: Warriors are going to suck in the late twenty twenties guaranteed.
Speaker 1: I don't care if they never sell. I don't care
Speaker 1: if they don't trade a single pick and they let
Speaker 1: Steph rode off into the sunset, they let Lebron go
Speaker 1: somewhere else, they make start accumulating draft picks right now.
Speaker 1: They're gonna suck in the late twenty Twentiesante they don't
Speaker 1: have a single good player in their young core that
Speaker 1: can actually lead a playoff team or anything close to it,
Speaker 1: They're going to suck. So if you're going to suck,
Speaker 1: while you're sucking, you can take in assets by taking
Speaker 1: in bad money, and you can quickly recoup the draft
Speaker 1: compensation that you sent out to improve the team. Like,
Speaker 1: don't suck for no reason. When you suck is when
Speaker 1: you can start accumulating what you need to not suck.
Speaker 1: And what bothers me about this situation is there is
Speaker 1: a pathway where the Warriors can be very good. Now
Speaker 1: for like two years, you can be really good, and
Speaker 1: then while you suck. In a couple of years, you
Speaker 1: can recoup what you've sent out and build for the future.
Speaker 1: But what I what I'm worried is gonna happen here
Speaker 1: for Golden State, is they're going to be sitting in
Speaker 1: a situation where it's twenty two, twenty eight. Steph's retired,
Speaker 1: Lebron's retired, Draymond's retired. You suck, and it's gonna look
Speaker 1: really bleak, and then it's gonna look really bleaked the
Speaker 1: next year. And then it's gonna look really bleaked the
Speaker 1: next year, and you're gonna be like, man, why didn't
Speaker 1: we capitalize on that more? Why didn't we make a
Speaker 1: greater effort to try to make the most of that group?
Speaker 1: And like, even if you don't get Lebron, Like if
Speaker 1: you go get Trey Murphy and you don't get Lebron,
Speaker 1: you're better this year and at least you have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to have more joy and more opportunity in what
Speaker 1: is the twilight of one of the great eras in
Speaker 1: NBA history. I just hope they do something, even if
Speaker 1: it's not involving Lebron. Darren Peterson. So one of the
Speaker 1: things I said before the draft. If you guys remember,
Speaker 1: is that I picked AJ Devonsa to go number one,
Speaker 1: but a couple of specific things. I did say that
Speaker 1: I think Darren Peterson is a better basketball player right now,
Speaker 1: and I said there was a good chance that he
Speaker 1: would be a better NBA player than AJ Debonsa in
Speaker 1: the short term. And I specifically said, we could be
Speaker 1: having a conversation twenty thirty games into the season where
Speaker 1: we're talking about Darren Peterson as rookie of the Year
Speaker 1: and did the Wizards make the wrong pick and all
Speaker 1: of that kind of stuff. But then I said, I
Speaker 1: think that Darren Peterson's ceiling is somewhere in that like
Speaker 1: Devin Booker territory, whereas I think AJ Debonsa has a
Speaker 1: higher ceiling. And so as the years go by, is
Speaker 1: where AJ Debonsa could make his number one overall pick
Speaker 1: decision the right decision. I felt strongly that way, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that I'm not the biggest draft guy in
Speaker 1: the world, as you guys know, but I also am
Speaker 1: a big believer in don't overthink things, and I also
Speaker 1: trust my eyes, and I think that this Darren Peterson's
Speaker 1: summer league debut is like a real data point it
Speaker 1: moves me. Does that necessarily mean that he was the
Speaker 1: wrong pick to take a J Deabonson number one? No,
Speaker 1: AJ debonce hasn't played yet. That is kind of an
Speaker 1: important detail here, is like we're all kind of getting
Speaker 1: excited and getting all worked up, and Ajdabansa doesn't play
Speaker 1: until tomorrow. Jackson and I will be there in the
Speaker 1: arena to watch. But what I do think is important
Speaker 1: to acknowledge is that it has been a very long
Speaker 1: time and it is exceedingly rare to see a guard
Speaker 1: that is this comfortable as a primary shot creator running
Speaker 1: high volume pick and roll, high volume ISO at this
Speaker 1: phase of his career. Darren, the biggest difference between these
Speaker 1: Summer League games and what you shot Kansas was the
Speaker 1: sheer amount of time that they put the bast cantball
Speaker 1: in his hands and let him get into his spread
Speaker 1: pick and roll attack. If you dig into the numbers
Speaker 1: at Kansas, Darren only averaged about seven point seven pick
Speaker 1: and rolls per game, including passes, a lot of off
Speaker 1: ball work, a lot of catch and shoot opportunities. We
Speaker 1: haven't seen very many at all in these couple of
Speaker 1: Summer League games. He's not working off the ball at all.
Speaker 1: It's him live dribble, running ball screens from the top.
Speaker 1: I obviously don't have the exact numbers, but I'm sure
Speaker 1: he's running over twenty pick and rolls of games, so
Speaker 1: we're talking like triple the volume of on ball opportunity
Speaker 1: compared to what he got at Kansas. What is interesting
Speaker 1: there is it's allowed him to like really find a rhythm,
Speaker 1: and you could see it like he's dribbling the ball
Speaker 1: so much and he's getting so many opportunities that he's
Speaker 1: really comfortable. He's really settling in. He's not afraid to
Speaker 1: make a mistake. He had eight turnovers in the first game.
Speaker 1: Certainly as missus shrif shots. He looks comfortable and confident
Speaker 1: on the ball by virtue of the high usage and
Speaker 1: the many opportunities he's getting to work and pick and
Speaker 1: roll from there. There's been a couple of specific things
Speaker 1: that have really stood out to me. One one of
Speaker 1: my concerns when I was scouting him was his first
Speaker 1: step quickness, and like, is he going to be able
Speaker 1: to just like look at really good defenders and just
Speaker 1: get by them off the dribble, And we did see
Speaker 1: some of that. He had a couple of straight ISOs
Speaker 1: at the end of the game against Centric Coward that
Speaker 1: were really nice. One off of the right wing where
Speaker 1: he kind of got a hesitation dribble, got to his
Speaker 1: left hand, bumped him and shot a little floater, and
Speaker 1: he had another one where he shot a little turn
Speaker 1: around fade away in the lane. And I think Centric
Speaker 1: Coward's the kind of a classic, really good NBA perimeter
Speaker 1: defender talent, so like he certainly can do that, but
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to be I don't think
Speaker 1: he's going to be in Anthony Edwards esque, like you
Speaker 1: can't freaking guard me one on one type of talent.
Speaker 1: Where I was super impressed was how he worked in
Speaker 1: ball screens with like the timing of his attacks, the
Speaker 1: way he's set up defenders, the understanding of leverage and
Speaker 1: change of pace. If you don't have a great first step,
Speaker 1: that's the stuff you have to have if you're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to get to your spots. You have to understand,
Speaker 1: like when a defender is caught between steps and you
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to hit a gap. You have to
Speaker 1: understand when you can change pace. How if you like
Speaker 1: wait for the big to like if he's showing at
Speaker 1: the level, but then he recovers. You wait till the
Speaker 1: big starts backing off before the guard gets in, and
Speaker 1: then you can shoot the gap you had, like a
Speaker 1: little driving scooping layup on a similar type of shot
Speaker 1: off of the right wing. In one of the two games.
Speaker 1: He has this like combination of creativity and confidence but
Speaker 1: also an understanding of the angles and change of pace,
Speaker 1: where he was consistently just getting to his spots. Oh,
Speaker 1: I got you kind of trailing the action on the three.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna slow down so that you catch up. And
Speaker 1: you slow down, but then I'm gonna hit the poundurable
Speaker 1: sides and get plenty of separation and rise over the
Speaker 1: top like, Oh, I'm working you downhill on the ball screen.
Speaker 1: You're over pursuing towards my left hand drive. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stop on a diamond, turn over my left shoulder and
Speaker 1: shoot a little hook. Or I'm gonna turn over my
Speaker 1: left shoulder and shoot a little fade away in the lane.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bump you off with my right shoulder to
Speaker 1: get to space. Getting the little moves that help get
Speaker 1: the defender caught on the screen before he gets going
Speaker 1: downhill in the ball screen. There was just like a
Speaker 1: very natural feel for the pacing of an NBA pick
Speaker 1: and roll and how to get to his spots out
Speaker 1: of those actions. And then when you combine that with
Speaker 1: the shot making, and the shot making is ridiculous. And
Speaker 1: like I thought, one of my favorite shots was the
Speaker 1: dagger he ended up hitting in the I think it
Speaker 1: was in the game against Memphis where he gets a
Speaker 1: small on him and he dribbles off the ball screen,
Speaker 1: faces a hard hedge. The hard hedge pushes him way
Speaker 1: out to half court, but he ends up beating the hedge,
Speaker 1: and the hedge recovers and he's looking down at the
Speaker 1: dude and the dude is small as guarding him, and
Speaker 1: he just dribbles into a hesitation pull up because he
Speaker 1: knows I've got separation because of the hedge, so I
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about getting into a specific move.
Speaker 1: Let me just rise up over the top. The dude
Speaker 1: can't bother the shot, he's too short. There's just like
Speaker 1: a really good natural scoring Field've always talked about scoring
Speaker 1: talent to me as like it's a specific talent. We
Speaker 1: always think of individual basketball traits how well do you shoot,
Speaker 1: how well do you dribble, what's your footwork like? To me,
Speaker 1: scoring in and of itself is like a very natural
Speaker 1: trait that some people have. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: players that are great shooters that rep all the footwork,
Speaker 1: that rep all the ball handling, but they lack natural
Speaker 1: scoring feel. And again we've talked about all the time,
Speaker 1: the scoring feel is about creativity and audacity or confidence,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, and then skill is
Speaker 1: the third piece of it. That doesn't work if you
Speaker 1: don't have supreme confidence and your ability and the creativity
Speaker 1: to constantly be kind of reacting to the defense rather
Speaker 1: than telegraphing what you're doing. That's what that flow is.
Speaker 1: When they talk about a basketball player that's kind of
Speaker 1: found his rhythm or gotten into a flow, he's just reacting.
Speaker 1: He's not thinking, he's just playing, and there's a natural
Speaker 1: scoring talent that just kind of rises out of the
Speaker 1: player in the form of that creativity. When you get
Speaker 1: to that like tough left shoulder fade away over Cedric Coward,
Speaker 1: it's not like he drove into the lane and thought
Speaker 1: I'm going like at the start of the possession, like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drive at him and I'm gonna get to
Speaker 1: my left shoulder fade. No, he's just playing basketball. And
Speaker 1: when he makes that hard move to his left and
Speaker 1: he feels the defender over pursue, he knows he can
Speaker 1: turn over his left shoulder from there. It's a feel
Speaker 1: thing like, Oh, I've got a ton of space. I'll
Speaker 1: go to the hook like he did in the early one. No,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna actually need to get a little bit more
Speaker 1: separation here. Now I'm gonna turn and fade over my
Speaker 1: left shoulder with a little jump shot. It is very
Speaker 1: like impromptu improvisational and it requires a certain amount of creativity.
Speaker 1: And I just think that Darren Peterson's scoring talent was
Speaker 1: screaming off the screen in these games in a way
Speaker 1: that was like, Oh, this looks fundamentally different than it
Speaker 1: did at Kansas. And so again, I'm not no one
Speaker 1: should ever change their opinion about a player because of
Speaker 1: two summer leagues. Aj Debonsa hasn't even had his chance
Speaker 1: to play. But I also think it's important to acknowledge that,
Speaker 1: like what Darren Peterson showed in those two games is
Speaker 1: shit that really works in the NBA. And if you're
Speaker 1: a Jazz fan, you should be extremely excited because he
Speaker 1: looks a lot better in those two Summer League games
Speaker 1: than the guy we watched at Kansas last year. A
Speaker 1: lot of basketball to play. The challenges will continue to
Speaker 1: get tougher as the months go by, and as he's
Speaker 1: playing against real NBA competition, and when he's trying to
Speaker 1: share it, like, here's the thing, Kante George is gonna
Speaker 1: have the basketball a lot. How does that disrupt Darren
Speaker 1: Peterson's rhythm? I would argue that'll be helpful because he'll
Speaker 1: get more of those off ball opportunities too. But I
Speaker 1: just think if I'm a Jazz fan I am, there's
Speaker 1: a spectrum of how you could feel about a prospect
Speaker 1: between he's living up to expectations, he's exceeding expectations, or
Speaker 1: he's failing to live up to expectations. And through these
Speaker 1: very small, this very small data set, these couple of
Speaker 1: Summer league games, I think it's a strong data point
Speaker 1: that Darren Peterson looks even better than we could have
Speaker 1: hoped to this point as a prospect. All Right, We're
Speaker 1: gonna rip through this mail back quickly because I went
Speaker 1: long on the first part of the show. First question
Speaker 1: the financial return for a team. The financial return to
Speaker 1: the team would experience for just having Lebron on the
Speaker 1: team would be immense. I think the Warriors should mortgage
Speaker 1: a couple of first round picks to maximize Steph's final
Speaker 1: couple of seasons to acquire late twenties early thirties players
Speaker 1: who can be a transition leader heading into the post
Speaker 1: step era. That would also increase the odds of Lebron
Speaker 1: joining that roster would have an incredibly high stealing with
Speaker 1: a major risk of availability issues due to injury and
Speaker 1: load management. Still it'd be worth it. You only get
Speaker 1: Steph Curry once in a lifetime and Lebron is on
Speaker 1: the table. What do you think is the right balance
Speaker 1: for Golden State to invest their picks in capital now
Speaker 1: versus post Steph era? Put on your GM hat. I
Speaker 1: won't get too far into this because we just talked
Speaker 1: about it, but I would make a deal if your
Speaker 1: concern is the long term viability of the team. Don't
Speaker 1: get a d Go get Trey Murphy. Go get Trey
Speaker 1: Murphy at Dejante Murray, make some sort of splashy deal
Speaker 1: with New Orleans and again to your point, Like, I
Speaker 1: think there's this idea that draft picks lose their value
Speaker 1: as soon as you spend them. They only lose their
Speaker 1: value if you spend them on bad players. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: if you spend two first round picks on AD, you're
Speaker 1: probably not going to be able to turn around and
Speaker 1: trade AD for two equally valuable first round picks. But
Speaker 1: let's say you go get Trey Murphy. There's nothing stopping
Speaker 1: you from turning around trading Trey Murphy two years when
Speaker 1: Steph and Lebron retire and recouping some of what you
Speaker 1: sent out, especially if he looks awesome play alongside Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Steph Curry. If Lebron retires after a season,
Speaker 1: you train him in that offseason and you probably recoup
Speaker 1: a good amount of what you sent out. Just make
Speaker 1: your team better. Make your team better, because maybe it
Speaker 1: gets you Lebron, but if not, it just makes your
Speaker 1: team better. I think I think a lot of this
Speaker 1: has been overthought from the same point in the Warriors
Speaker 1: front office. Hey, Jason, keep up a good work with
Speaker 1: your content question. With the way that these superstars are
Speaker 1: getting paid three hundred million dollars, would the lower seeded
Speaker 1: teams are playing. Teams keep their superstars or trade them
Speaker 1: before they end up paying them three hundred and four
Speaker 1: hundred million. I don't think teams want to pay out
Speaker 1: massive contracts to just be a playing team. That goes
Speaker 1: to the conversation that we had early in the show
Speaker 1: as it pertains to the difference between like a Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown and a Donovan Mitchell. The main line of demarcation
Speaker 1: for me is like multiple areas of impact, and we
Speaker 1: talk about checking boxes on a basketball team on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. If I'm going to be paying
Speaker 1: guy at thirty five percent max, I want him checking
Speaker 1: a lot of boxes. The difference between a Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 1: and a Jalen Brown is with Donovan Mitchell, it is
Speaker 1: one box that he checks his offensive engine, and he
Speaker 1: doesn't check it very well, and there's nothing else that
Speaker 1: he provides. Is Jalen Brown a mediocre offensive engine? Two Yes,
Speaker 1: but he also comes with a lot of other utility
Speaker 1: as an athlete and as a defender on the floor.
Speaker 1: Even if he's not a perfect basketball player, he brings
Speaker 1: a lot of other value. And that's why with the
Speaker 1: guy like Jaylen Brown, he just kind of rises above
Speaker 1: what I'd be willing to pay versus you know, Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: I'm in a different kind of bracket there. What is
Speaker 1: Minnesota's case for Lebron that you want to Why is
Speaker 1: Minnesota's case for Lebron that you wouldn't want to see
Speaker 1: Lebron stand in the corner while LaMelo and Ant put
Speaker 1: up bad shots. LaMelo came to Minnesota to help facilitate offense.
Speaker 1: The addition of playmaking directly decreases the style of offense
Speaker 1: he just described. Between Rudy McDaniels, TJ. Shannon Bones, and
Speaker 1: Johan Barne. That's a good squad LaMelo and Ants. Gravity
Speaker 1: would help Lebron creatively attack off the catch, find pockets
Speaker 1: to shoot, or put the or put the ball on
Speaker 1: the floor to kick out. I don't see Lebron standing
Speaker 1: in the corner. I do believe that generation gap is
Speaker 1: a factor, so that's a fair point. Adding Lebron to
Speaker 1: Denver does not fix their core weakness size and athleticism.
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon's injury concerns aren't cured, and it's tough to
Speaker 1: say whether Watson will be retained. To be clear, I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily like Denver unless they can retain Watson too. Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's the whole thing, is lebron Ag and
Speaker 1: Watson kind of combine into the amount of front court
Speaker 1: size and athleticism that they would need the big difference.
Speaker 1: You know, LaMelo is an offensive engine, but he's a LaMelo.
Speaker 1: He's an offensive engine as a spread, pick and roll creator.
Speaker 1: He is not an offensive engine like Steph running around
Speaker 1: off the ball, or like Jokic inverting the gravity of
Speaker 1: ever inverting the rim protection of the defense to the
Speaker 1: perimeter and running a bunch of like dhos and keeping
Speaker 1: everyone involved. LaMelo is an on an island pick and
Speaker 1: roll shot creator. Anthony Edwards is literally a guy that
Speaker 1: loves to shoot over multiple defenders. So like to me,
Speaker 1: it's it's less like do I think that the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Timberwls have enough offensive talent? Of course they do. It's
Speaker 1: you're dealing with primary defensive players in Jada McDaniels and
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert and who are not necessarily the greatest feel
Speaker 1: for the game offensive players, and then two kind of
Speaker 1: on an island offensive guards that are not going to
Speaker 1: be playing in a style or way that's going to
Speaker 1: heavily incorporate Lebron James as a playmaker, So to me,
Speaker 1: it does relegate Lebron to like a Ruy Hatchamura esque
Speaker 1: staying in the corner and shoot a bunch of catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes and occasionally get to run a play
Speaker 1: when we're in our bench groups or when one of
Speaker 1: LaMelo or Ant is sitting out a game. But beyond that,
Speaker 1: I think, like when the Wolves are at their best,
Speaker 1: I think Lebron's offensive skill would be marginalized and from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, I just don't think it would be as
Speaker 1: much fun for him. Next question, Even though San Antonio
Speaker 1: made it to the finals this year, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a guarantee. Like many people say that they're going
Speaker 1: to be back a ton in the next five to
Speaker 1: six years. The league is constantly evolving and teams are
Speaker 1: getting better. Even though I a Knicks fan, think we
Speaker 1: can reach the finals, there's so many factors that come
Speaker 1: into just making the finals again that don't make it
Speaker 1: a guarantee. Injuries, more hunger to win it than other teams,
Speaker 1: bad matchups, and second apron could dictate whether a team
Speaker 1: wins it all or is the first round exit. So
Speaker 1: my question is, do you think teams should be changing
Speaker 1: rosters every year. What we see big star movement each
Speaker 1: year going forward, like this current offseason, based on each
Speaker 1: team's success in the postseason. Love the Show. I do
Speaker 1: think that there is a certain amount of like the
Speaker 1: parody in the league right now is what's instigating the
Speaker 1: heavy amount of player movement. So I do agree with
Speaker 1: you there as far as the like get getting back
Speaker 1: to the finals piece, Yeah, absolutely, there's no guarantee specifically
Speaker 1: for san Antonio. Like, okayse he's running it back and
Speaker 1: they've got a damn good team, and if Jadab is
Speaker 1: healthy and aj Mitchell's healthy, like I they're like san
Speaker 1: Antonio's got their own improvements to make in order to
Speaker 1: be able to survive that matchup. And yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: Like for the Knicks, there's just better teams in the East.
Speaker 1: This here, Toronto's gonna be better, Boston's gonna be better
Speaker 1: if Tatum can stay healthy. There's a like you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see if Lebron ends up going to Miami or Cleveland,
Speaker 1: like you're gonna have the Indiana's gonna be back, Like
Speaker 1: you're gonna have like real challenges in the East. And
Speaker 1: so no one has like an easy path to the finals.
Speaker 1: But the thing with San Antonio that I think is
Speaker 1: an important to understand is the best trade of their
Speaker 1: team is defense. Like, it's just really hard to beat
Speaker 1: the Spur four times out of seven when Steph Castle
Speaker 1: and Dylan Harper and Victor wemen Yama are all on
Speaker 1: the floor getting up in your jersey and funneling you
Speaker 1: into rim protection at the rim, and you also have
Speaker 1: the internal improvement, They're all gonna get a lot better
Speaker 1: over the course of this offseason, especially after an embarrassing
Speaker 1: loss in the finals. Like, do I think the Spurs
Speaker 1: are a safe bet to make the finals? No, but
Speaker 1: they're just I'm telling you right now, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: my championship favorite next year. Next question, Hey, Jason, Given
Speaker 1: Okase's offseason moves bringing in to a Deamara alongside Bennett
Speaker 1: Sturtz and Otega Away, how do you see Mark Dagnall
Speaker 1: adjusting Okaysee's frontline, defensive and playmaking geometry, specifically to counter
Speaker 1: the San Antonio Spurs. What do you think would be
Speaker 1: the lineups. I'm gonna be honest with you, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna look exactly like next year. They retained Isaiah Hartenstein,
Speaker 1: you still have Jay, Will you still have Chet Holmgren.
Speaker 1: That's your front line. I don't think a Damara is
Speaker 1: gonna be more than just a regular season guy who
Speaker 1: pops in when guys are missing time. You know, we
Speaker 1: could see Bennett starts with the loss of Isaiah Joe
Speaker 1: and Aaron Wiggins. We could see him crack into the
Speaker 1: perimeter rotation. And I think that okay See in general
Speaker 1: is favoring shooting a little bit more and being a
Speaker 1: little less dependent on just defensive minded players understanding how
Speaker 1: they need to space out a team like san Antonio, like,
Speaker 1: it just doesn't matter how good you are defensively in
Speaker 1: the regular season if you can't score against Victor women Yama.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a big part of why they're
Speaker 1: kind of exploring more shooting talent on the perimeter. But
Speaker 1: a Demara is not going to bump one of those
Speaker 1: three centers from the rotation for all intents and purposes
Speaker 1: next year's game. If okay See and san Antonio run
Speaker 1: into each other in a series, will we see some
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, Yeah, will we see you know, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe some Bennett starts or more j Dubb and aj Mitchell. Sure,
Speaker 1: But other than that, it's going to look exactly like
Speaker 1: last year. Guys. It's going to be a rematch. Those
Speaker 1: teams are basically more or less running it back in
Speaker 1: terms of their core rotation talent. Next question shout out
Speaker 1: to DNVR where I first saw you there. What roles
Speaker 1: could you see Nasried filling in Charlotte? I could see
Speaker 1: him taking a large or unexpected role. Totally agree. I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have a lot of jump shooting opportunities
Speaker 1: in the flow of just how much that team can
Speaker 1: space teams out, and just having a reliable catch and
Speaker 1: shoot guy at the four. But Nas is like a
Speaker 1: legit matchup attacking forward. He's got some real ball skill
Speaker 1: attacking matchups. And so when Charlotte runs into switching teams,
Speaker 1: and that was a problem for them at various points
Speaker 1: last year, when Charlotte runs into switching teams, doas Reed
Speaker 1: is a legitimate switch beater, which I think is a
Speaker 1: real asset. All right, Three more, I know you'll be
Speaker 1: doing your player rankings at some point. It's something I
Speaker 1: look forward to every year. I was wondering if you
Speaker 1: would ever do a ranking of your all time favorite
Speaker 1: players For me, those two lists vary drastically. Thanks for
Speaker 1: all the great content. I don't have time to watch
Speaker 1: many games, so I can catch every episode to keep
Speaker 1: up with it all. Thank you so much for supporting
Speaker 1: the show. So this is interesting question. Lebron obviously my
Speaker 1: favorite player is the one player that I have like
Speaker 1: an actual, real rooting interest in in terms of like
Speaker 1: the way you think of like a traditional fan. I've
Speaker 1: told the story of the show before. I won't tell
Speaker 1: it in full right now, but Lebron was the guy
Speaker 1: that got me to fall in love with basketball. I
Speaker 1: grew up in a baseball football family and I just
Speaker 1: randomly turned on the TV and saw Lebron playing in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference semis in two thousand and six, and
Speaker 1: that was what kind of got me into basketball. So, like,
Speaker 1: Lebron is always going to have like I'm going to
Speaker 1: have like a little bit of that like young, youthful
Speaker 1: emotional fan rooting interest there, and when Lebron retires that
Speaker 1: will fade. But like I have a lot of players
Speaker 1: that I've really grown to like as an adult basketball fan.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry is like my favorite natural became a fan
Speaker 1: as an adult type of basketball player. Probably my second
Speaker 1: favorite player of all time, behind Lebron. It's probably the
Speaker 1: biggest reason why Lebron going to Golden State doesn't bother me,
Speaker 1: because I just really like Steph, I really like Lebron,
Speaker 1: and I just want to see them play together. I
Speaker 1: think it would be a blast. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of players over the years that I've really liked.
Speaker 1: I won number fifteen in college because I was a
Speaker 1: big fan of Carmelo Anthony in his high post games specifically,
Speaker 1: and if you watch any of my college tape, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of like face up, jab step kind of
Speaker 1: mid post stuff. I did a lot of that kind
Speaker 1: of shit just because I was such a big fan
Speaker 1: of Carmelo Anthony. Anthony Edwards is a modern player that
Speaker 1: I've been a huge fan of. Kobe Bryant was a
Speaker 1: player that I became a much bigger fan of after
Speaker 1: he retired, really after he came back from his achilles.
Speaker 1: I just like had such an appreciation for the comeback.
Speaker 1: And you know how it is when you're a young fan,
Speaker 1: When you're a really young fan, you have your guy
Speaker 1: that you love and then you hate everybody that they
Speaker 1: compare him to. So That's why I didn't like Kobe.
Speaker 1: I didn't like Tim Duncan, I didn't like Steph. I
Speaker 1: didn't like KD when I was like young. But as
Speaker 1: I got older and I realized that, you know, actually,
Speaker 1: I just I'm a basketball fan and I love all
Speaker 1: these dudes. I became a huge KD fan. I became
Speaker 1: a huge Kawhi fan. I became a huge Kobe Bryant fan.
Speaker 1: Like Kobe. You know, I have a similar frame. I
Speaker 1: have long arms, and I'm six six, so like I
Speaker 1: play a lot of you know, high post, mid post stuff,
Speaker 1: and practiced a bunch of footwork that Kobe did just
Speaker 1: because I wanted to look like him, because I'm a
Speaker 1: fan and I just want to you know, it's just
Speaker 1: I just wanted. I just grew to love and appreciate
Speaker 1: all these basketball players for different reasons. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think that one of the most fun parts about
Speaker 1: being a basketball player is you can kind of pick
Speaker 1: and choose little pieces from everybody's game, and you can
Speaker 1: practice it and you can add it to your game.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I think is fun. When
Speaker 1: you watch any young up and coming NBA player, is
Speaker 1: they usually just look like kind of a collection of
Speaker 1: a bunch of previous players that came before them, because
Speaker 1: you can tell they watched those guys and they became
Speaker 1: fans of their games for various reasons, and they kind
Speaker 1: of implemented those things into their game. But yeah, like
Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is, is I I as
Speaker 1: an NBA fan. There are very few players that like
Speaker 1: I just don't like. I for the most part, end
Speaker 1: up finding things that I like about everybody's game just
Speaker 1: because I find their skill level so impressive. Two more,
Speaker 1: this is beside the point of the pod, but why
Speaker 1: aren't the Knicks considered first tier contenders? They just set
Speaker 1: a million records in one title. They went sixteen and
Speaker 1: three in the playoffs. They were so dominant that they
Speaker 1: set records that applied to the regular season as well.
Speaker 1: They should also improve next season since they can build
Speaker 1: off some of the offensive looks they stumbled upon in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. People criticize how easy their path was, but
Speaker 1: if you look at the seeding they had to beat,
Speaker 1: it's basically the same as previous champions. Definitely easier than
Speaker 1: the Celtics WHENU factor in injuries. Even though you could
Speaker 1: say the Spurs were a good matchup. Putting the Knicks
Speaker 1: in that tier would just form a rock scissors paper
Speaker 1: with the Spurs, okay see and the Knicks. So the
Speaker 1: big difference between the Knicks and a real top tier
Speaker 1: contender is the regular season. Like, how many of you
Speaker 1: guys throughout the season talked shit in the comments about
Speaker 1: how bad the Lakers were For various reasons, No one
Speaker 1: ever thought the Lakers were a top tier contender. I
Speaker 1: had best in March when they were fully healthy, thought
Speaker 1: of them as a second tier contender. The Knicks and
Speaker 1: the Lakers won the same amount of regular season games
Speaker 1: last year. Yes, did the Knicks face a relatively easy
Speaker 1: postseason run, Yes until the finals. Again, in their finals
Speaker 1: opponent was a team that I thought they matched up
Speaker 1: really well with. That's true. But yeah, Boston easy playoff
Speaker 1: run for the most part, okay see for the most part,
Speaker 1: easy fortunate playoff run. When it comes to injuries, denver
Speaker 1: relatively easy playoff run. You go down the line that
Speaker 1: most of these champions recently have had relatively easy playoff runs.
Speaker 1: The difference is is like Boston won sixty four games,
Speaker 1: okay see, I can't even remember how many games when
Speaker 1: it was in the sixties. Like, the difference between a
Speaker 1: top tier contender and a second tier contender is a
Speaker 1: top tier contender from day one of the regular season
Speaker 1: through the time that they hoist the trophy looks like
Speaker 1: a top tier contender. To me. The Knicks kind of
Speaker 1: fall more in line with like a Golden State, where
Speaker 1: they were more dominant in the postseason, but again, a
Speaker 1: big part of that had to do with their opponents
Speaker 1: that they faced in the Eastern Conference. They're more dominant
Speaker 1: in the postseason, but during the majority of the season
Speaker 1: they just looked like a second tier contender. I think
Speaker 1: that's the main difference. I think if you want to
Speaker 1: be viewed as one of the great champions NBA history,
Speaker 1: you need to win sixty plus games and then cruise
Speaker 1: through the playoffs. And by the way, that's kind of
Speaker 1: why that Thunder team isn't remembered as like super super dominant,
Speaker 1: because they were dominant in the regular season, but then
Speaker 1: they weren't dominant in the postseason. They won, but they
Speaker 1: scraped by and got some injury luck, right, Like, it's
Speaker 1: very rare that you see a team like Boston, for example,
Speaker 1: that has sixty four wins and then kicks everyone's ass
Speaker 1: in the postseason, and it's just a resounding top tier
Speaker 1: championship contender season. And I just didn't think the Knicks
Speaker 1: totality of a season rose to that last question, Hi, Jason,
Speaker 1: how would you assess Detroit's offseason? Trajan called out adding
Speaker 1: more ball handling, shooting, and shot creation prior to free agency,
Speaker 1: and thus he's so thus far he's only really addressed shooting.
Speaker 1: The Collins and Joe moves are certainly useful, but without
Speaker 1: that second initiator cough harrow, hero, I can't say with
Speaker 1: any confidence we've improved. The best way I've heard it
Speaker 1: described is that Cade's role will be easier given the
Speaker 1: additional play shooting and play finishing, but ultimately the usage
Speaker 1: remain unsustainably high as the only guy that can break
Speaker 1: down a set defense. Curious to hear your thoughts how
Speaker 1: we could proceed moving towards this free agency. Thanks as
Speaker 1: always for your content. So I've been actually pretty happy
Speaker 1: with the Detroit offseason in the sense that I really
Speaker 1: do like Isaiah Joe. I've been telling you guys, John
Speaker 1: Collins was my favorite power forward that was available not
Speaker 1: named Lebron, So they got my favorite power forward, Isaiah Joe.
Speaker 1: I think it is just a really good player. I
Speaker 1: think you guys are going to be impressed by him
Speaker 1: defensively as well. There's a lot that I really like there.
Speaker 1: To me, the one thing I would say about the
Speaker 1: ball handling piece is I don't mind them waiting as
Speaker 1: long as they eventually do something this season before the deadline,
Speaker 1: the trade deadline in February. Cauz Like Frankly, do I
Speaker 1: think Tyler Hero would help the Pistons? Yeah? But do
Speaker 1: I think Tyler Hero is the guy that elevates them
Speaker 1: top tier championship contender. No, So maybe they're holding out
Speaker 1: for a Devin Booker, Maybe they're holding out for a
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. Maybe they're holding out for a higher level
Speaker 1: player at that spot. For instance. The reporting is is
Speaker 1: that they put together a real offer for Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: I'm on board with that. I'm a huge Austin fan.
Speaker 1: Austin I think is a much better player than Tyler Hero.
Speaker 1: I think he'd be the kind of player that could
Speaker 1: actually elevate Detroit to another level. So, like to me,
Speaker 1: it's them kind of moving on the margins with savvy moves.
Speaker 1: But waiting to pounce on the right guard is the move,
Speaker 1: and from all indications, guys like Booker Kyrie they're not
Speaker 1: available yet, so like, as long as they eventually do something,
Speaker 1: I'm on board. I'd rather have them wait and do
Speaker 1: something more splashy before this deadline than them take a
Speaker 1: move on Tyler Hero right now and then not be
Speaker 1: good enough to win the title next season. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: that's all I have for today. Is always as sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting us in supporting the show.