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Speaker 2: dot co slash audio. All right, welcome to Hoo's tonight
Speaker 2: here at the volume heavy Sunday. Everybody, hope all of
Speaker 2: you guys are having a great weekend.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I am in Breckinridge on vacation, and Luca Dots has
Speaker 2: just got traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and all
Speaker 2: hell is breaking loose, and I wanted to make sure
Speaker 2: that I got you. You guys are a reaction to
Speaker 2: this deal from the perspective of both teams. You guys
Speaker 2: know the drill before we get started. To subscribe to
Speaker 2: the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
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Speaker 2: It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and
Speaker 2: a review on that front. We also have brand new
Speaker 2: social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where you
Speaker 2: can get content throughout the year. Make sure you guys
Speaker 2: follow us there and the last but not at least
Speaker 2: keep ropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments so
Speaker 2: we can get to them on Fridays throughout the rest.
Speaker 1: Of the year.
Speaker 2: So I had a kind of a late flight into Breckenridge.
Speaker 2: Wasn't supposed to be southwest to later our flight four
Speaker 2: hours a couple of months ago for like no reason,
Speaker 2: and so we ended up getting in pretty late, and
Speaker 2: we finally settle down for some dinner. And you know
Speaker 2: how it is when you're traveling on a ski trip.
Speaker 2: You're bringing bags, you're bringing skis, you're running cars, you're
Speaker 2: shuttling everywhere it's just a logistically very complicated process. And
Speaker 2: so we finally sit down for some dinner at Ali's
Speaker 2: here and Breck it's a pub, and the trade comes
Speaker 2: down right when we're finally about to relax, and I'm
Speaker 2: just like, you've got to be kidding me, And Paul
Speaker 2: sent me the text Messageaul's our lead producer here, and
Speaker 2: I just assumed it was a hack, right, and then
Speaker 2: Sham's the second tweet is like, yes, this is real,
Speaker 2: which is like exactly what you would say if you
Speaker 2: hacked Sham's account, right, So I'm like, Okay, this is
Speaker 2: definitely fake. And then all of a sudden, I start
Speaker 2: getting a couple more text messages. I see a couple
Speaker 2: other reports, and it's like, oh my god, this is
Speaker 2: actually happening, And I couldn't think straight the rest of
Speaker 2: the night. It was funny. I was watching I'm in
Speaker 2: this like kind of chaotic bar, and I'm seeing Brian
Speaker 2: Winhorse's face. I can't hear his voice, but I see
Speaker 2: him up there working and I'm like, what do you
Speaker 2: even say right now? Like I needed time to process this.
Speaker 2: It's so funny. Even if I wasn't completely exhausted and
Speaker 2: out of position to work last night. I still probably
Speaker 2: would have waited for this morning because I just needed
Speaker 2: time to process this, get more information before I could
Speaker 2: really give any sort of strong opinion about what happened.
Speaker 2: And it still is quite possibly the craziest thing that
Speaker 2: I've ever seen in my time as a sports fan.
Speaker 2: For the Dallas Mavericks, less than eight months away from
Speaker 2: them being in the NBA Finals, three wins away from
Speaker 2: hoisting the trophy, Trading a consensus top three NBA player
Speaker 2: to the Los Angeles Lakers, I just I can't believe it.
Speaker 2: I still am barely wrapping my brain around this, but
Speaker 2: I have some thoughts about both teams. I want to
Speaker 2: kind of get into it from a bunch of different angles.
Speaker 2: I want to start with the idea of MAVs bailing
Speaker 2: on Luca. According to all the reporting I've seen, the
Speaker 2: company line here is that the MAVs were concerned about
Speaker 2: Luca's inability to stay in shape and they did not
Speaker 2: want to commit super max money to him. Now, upfront,
Speaker 2: I have shared many of the same concerns on this show.
Speaker 2: I thought his defensive performance in the NBA Finals last
Speaker 2: year was the most embarrassing defensive performance I've ever seen
Speaker 2: from a star in a playoff series. I talked all
Speaker 2: summer about how Luca is trending in the wrong direction
Speaker 2: in terms of taking care of his body. He needs
Speaker 2: to get that right. I do stand by all of
Speaker 2: those things, but it still makes absolutely no sense for
Speaker 2: the MAVs, regardless of those factors. And here's why. So
Speaker 2: your alternative to building around this guy that you don't
Speaker 2: think has the ability to stay in shape and keep
Speaker 2: his body in position to give you his best every night,
Speaker 2: so you build your future around Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 2: two guys that aren't exactly the hallmark of availability. Now,
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis is a lot more available than his reputation
Speaker 2: would lead you to believe, but he does miss time
Speaker 2: and he's kind of an inconsistent motor player, which is
Speaker 2: something we'll get into in a little bit. And then
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving hasn't played in more than sixty games in
Speaker 2: a season since twenty nineteen, so I don't see if
Speaker 2: that was the thing. I need a more reliable, more
Speaker 2: dependable franchise cornerstone. This direction doesn't make any sense. And
Speaker 2: as for Luca, regardless of his issues with conditioning, regardless
Speaker 2: of his physical health. He is twenty five years old.
Speaker 2: He's twenty five years old, and he just led his
Speaker 2: team to within three wins of an NBA championship eight
Speaker 2: months ago. So like, regardless of your concerns, it's just
Speaker 2: way too soon to give up on him. I don't
Speaker 2: know about you, guys, but I wasn't exactly a super
Speaker 2: mature and disciplined person when I was twenty five years old.
Speaker 2: None of us are. It's totally normal for people to
Speaker 2: take a little bit of time before they learn how
Speaker 2: to better take care of themselves, how to better reach
Speaker 2: their potential. Is this somewhat of an extreme case, sure,
Speaker 2: but it's not as bad as some other cases. There
Speaker 2: are worst cases like Zion Williamson, like joe El Embiid,
Speaker 2: and those teams are still hanging on to hope. And
Speaker 2: aside from that, even a fat, out of shape Luca
Speaker 2: is a bona fide top five player in the NBA
Speaker 2: and you just gave him to the Lakers. I do
Speaker 2: not get it. All this really accomplishes for Dallas is
Speaker 2: it creates a really interesting, imposing defense that is a
Speaker 2: threat to upset some teams in the West. But does
Speaker 2: not have the offensive ceiling to win the title, to
Speaker 2: win four playoff rounds, and you just shortened your window
Speaker 2: because instead of being built around a twenty five year old,
Speaker 2: top tier superstar, you're built around older, more fragile maybe
Speaker 2: not more fragile than Luca, but more fragile compared to
Speaker 2: other franchise cornerstones, guys that have a much shorter window
Speaker 2: here for you to capitalize them. Anthony Davis turns thirty
Speaker 2: two in March, and he's an old thirty two. He
Speaker 2: doesn't move nearly as well as he did when he
Speaker 2: joined the Lakers. Just go watch highlights of Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: in the bubble when they won the title. I'm a
Speaker 2: huge believer in Anthony Davis's talent, and we'll get further
Speaker 2: into that here in a minute, but I don't view
Speaker 2: him as a long term solution as a foundational superstar.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I've talked on my show
Speaker 2: about how if the like I thought, the Lakers after
Speaker 2: Lebron retired, should trade Anthony Davis because he's not the
Speaker 2: kind of guy you should build around at that point
Speaker 2: in his career, in his mid thirty so you get
Speaker 2: rid of your championship upside and you shorten your window
Speaker 2: to content. I just don't understand it, and frankly, I
Speaker 2: think there's no case for it, and I think MAVs
Speaker 2: fans have every right to be very upset about this.
Speaker 2: I legit feel terrible for MAVs fans. I am sorry, guys,
Speaker 2: this is absolutely crazy. I can't even imagine what you
Speaker 2: guys are thinking. On that note, I want to take
Speaker 2: some time to go through what this means for both teams.
Speaker 2: Let's start with the Lakers. So they did pay a
Speaker 2: pretty penny in this deal, not enough really for Luca Donschitz,
Speaker 2: but they did give up a lot. They lost one
Speaker 2: of their two first round picks that they have tradable
Speaker 2: this year. And they lost Max Christie, who just played
Speaker 2: a great game last night against the Knicks, and MAVs
Speaker 2: fans like he is a I think he projects to
Speaker 2: be a high level two way starter in the long run.
Speaker 2: I think he's a few years away from being super
Speaker 2: rock solid as a playoff player, but I think he's
Speaker 2: a high level two way role player. You guys are
Speaker 2: going to like Max Christy. Lakers give up Max Christy.
Speaker 2: He just had a great game against the Knicks last night.
Speaker 2: That the funniest thing about all of this. I was
Speaker 2: watching the Knicks game as we were driving from Denver
Speaker 2: into the Breckenridgeeria last night, and I was literally thinking
Speaker 2: to myself, like, this team is becoming fun for me
Speaker 2: to watch again. It had become a miserable team for
Speaker 2: me to watch earlier in the year. And here, right
Speaker 2: when they're starting to play some of their best basketball,
Speaker 2: right when I'm really starting to enjoy watching them, they
Speaker 2: blow it all up. It's just super bizarre. But like,
Speaker 2: let's be clear, they did give up a lot, giving
Speaker 2: up Anthony Davis, giving up Max Christy, giving up a
Speaker 2: first round pick, even if we all agree that that
Speaker 2: shouldn't be enough for Luka Dunggich. My first thought last
Speaker 2: night was, if you follow a path of rational thought
Speaker 2: through to conclusion, you should trade Lebron now. Right he's
Speaker 2: forty years old. You need to keep Luca happy in
Speaker 2: LA by surrounding him with talent, and Lebron might be
Speaker 2: the best short term solution, but he's not the best
Speaker 2: long term solution because of his age, and when he
Speaker 2: retires or when he ages to the point of decline,
Speaker 2: he has no trade value at that point. But there
Speaker 2: were two things that made me think a Lebron trade
Speaker 2: would never happen. One, Rob and Jeanie are just much
Speaker 2: more Hollywood than they are competent. And I'm sure they're
Speaker 2: just giddy about the idea of partnering Lebron James with
Speaker 2: Luka Doncic. I'm sure they'd love to just tell everybody
Speaker 2: about that, So, like, I have a feeling they'll keep him.
Speaker 2: And then two, Lebron is forty. He probably doesn't want
Speaker 2: to move across the country. He does have retirement leverage.
Speaker 2: If Lebron decided he wanted to stay with the Lakers,
Speaker 2: him and Rich could just call the other twenty nine
Speaker 2: teams and be like, hey, if you trade for Lebron,
Speaker 2: he's going to retire. I think Lebron has enough leverage
Speaker 2: to stop that from happening. So I just had a
Speaker 2: hard time believing that was the direction that they go next.
Speaker 2: And then we ended up getting a report from Chris
Speaker 2: Haynes today that Lebron wants to stay with the Lakers. So,
Speaker 2: as far as I'm concerned, Lebron's staying with the Lakers
Speaker 2: unless some sort of magical trade materializes. That Lebron would
Speaker 2: actually want and would benefit the Lakers, but I view
Speaker 2: that as very very unloe. So we can move forward
Speaker 2: with Lebron staying. That leaves the roster as Luka, Doncic,
Speaker 2: Lebron James, Austin Reeves, Ruey, Hachi Mura, Dorian Finney Smith,
Speaker 2: Gabe Vincent, Jared Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleiba who came back in
Speaker 2: the deal, Dalton Connect, Cam Retis, Jackson, Hayesen, some end
Speaker 2: of the bench guys. A bunch of things fundamentally change
Speaker 2: about the team. One, you suddenly go from a very
Speaker 2: weak shot creation team relative to the top teams to
Speaker 2: possibly the best shot creation team in the league. You're
Speaker 2: not doing better in half court initiation than Luka, Doncic, Lebron, James,
Speaker 2: and Austin Reeves anywhere in this league. But there are
Speaker 2: other problems, right, I would say another upside is that
Speaker 2: you're super deep at forward.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You have Lebron, Luca technically is a forward on defense,
Speaker 2: Ruey's a forward, Dorian Phinney Smith is a forward, Bando
Speaker 2: is a forward, Maxi Kleeba is a forward. That's a
Speaker 2: logjam there. You have six forwards, right, But this opens
Speaker 2: up holes elsewhere. You're now sooper thin. In terms of
Speaker 2: guards who can defend on the perimeter, Austin and Gabe
Speaker 2: are basically the only two you have. Both of them compete,
Speaker 2: both of them do their jobs. They're good game plan
Speaker 2: discipline guys, but both of them both of them have
Speaker 2: physical limitations. Austin's a little skinny and not overly athletic,
Speaker 2: and Gabe is short right. Not to be clear, Jared
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt can be deployed as a perimeter defensive guard. Cam
Speaker 2: Reddish can, but he shouldn't really be in an NBA rotation.
Speaker 2: I view him as like a break glass in case
Speaker 2: of emergency guy, like an end of the bench guy.
Speaker 2: So they could definitely use a piece in terms of
Speaker 2: a guard who can defend on the perimeter. And now
Speaker 2: you're god awful at center. Jackson Hayes, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: isn't even good enough to be a backup center on
Speaker 2: a serious team. Christian Wood is more of a power
Speaker 2: forward to me, and he's always hurt. I think Maxi
Speaker 2: Kleba is fine as a backup center or small ball center,
Speaker 2: but he can't be your starting center, so that has
Speaker 2: to be addressed. And I'm just a tiny bit worried
Speaker 2: about off ball play finishing because assuming they use Ruey
Speaker 2: in a trade for a center, they don't have much
Speaker 2: in the way of spot up shooting. Beyond the stars.
Speaker 2: You have Dorian Finney Smith, you have Gabe Vincent, who's streaky,
Speaker 2: and you have Dalton who probably can't be in a
Speaker 2: playoff rotation because of his defensive shortcomings right now. So
Speaker 2: you have a dire need at the center spot. You
Speaker 2: really need a guard that can defend on the perimeter
Speaker 2: and just guys that can in those two spots finish
Speaker 2: plays on the offensive end as Lebron, as Luca as
Speaker 2: Austin create advantages. So I would be looking around at
Speaker 2: guys like Robert Williams. I would be seriously considering trying
Speaker 2: to facilitate that Miles Turner deal from the Pacers that's
Speaker 2: been kind of floating around in the ether, and like,
Speaker 2: it's one of those things where it's difficult to find
Speaker 2: something that addresses all of the flaws. So more likely
Speaker 2: than not, it's gonna be one of those things where
Speaker 2: Rob does the best he can, but we still are
Speaker 2: looking at some flaws on this Lakers roster. When it's
Speaker 2: all done. I tried to find a deal that makes
Speaker 2: some and here's just one example that I came up with.
Speaker 2: What if you call the Pacers and the Bulls, and
Speaker 2: the Pacers we know are looking for a center that
Speaker 2: doesn't want a long term deal like Miles Turner, right,
Speaker 2: they want just like a different center option that's cheaper.
Speaker 2: I like the idea of you calling up the Pacers
Speaker 2: and Bulls and you offer Austin Reeves and Dalton connect
Speaker 2: to the Pacers. In return, you get Miles Turner and
Speaker 2: Aaron Nesmith from the Pacers. So you get a starting
Speaker 2: center who is an excellent play finisher, a guy who
Speaker 2: can run, pick and pop, a guy who can finish
Speaker 2: on the roll, a guy that will help them on
Speaker 2: the offensive end finishing those advantages. And Aaron Nismith, by
Speaker 2: the way, is a guy who can really defend on
Speaker 2: the perimetery, can knock down, catch and shoot shots. That
Speaker 2: kind of solves those two roles, and both guys can
Speaker 2: be play finishers. You give up Boston Reeves, so now
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you need a ball handler. But
Speaker 2: that's where you could look at the buy out market,
Speaker 2: Like let's say San Antonio does pull off a deer
Speaker 2: in fox trade. That's where a Chris Paul trade or
Speaker 2: excuse me, Chris Paul could get bought out, and then
Speaker 2: you could be looking at Chris Paul as your backup
Speaker 2: point guard that you sign at the veteran minimum pro
Speaker 2: rated for the end of the season as your backup
Speaker 2: point guard right now. In order to make all this
Speaker 2: deal work, you'd have to send a center to Indiana,
Speaker 2: so you'd call up the Bulls and you'd have the
Speaker 2: Bulls send Nikola Vusovich to the Pacers. Nikola Vusovich has
Speaker 2: two years left on his deal right around twenty million dollars.
Speaker 2: He is older, so he's much more likely to take
Speaker 2: a discount after this deal, and he's a legitimate pick
Speaker 2: and pop big that will maintain the integrity of Indiana's
Speaker 2: offense as they move forward with their goals. The Bulls,
Speaker 2: in order for this to work, would get Ruy Hachimura
Speaker 2: from the Lakers, and they get Ben Matherin from the Pacers,
Speaker 2: so every team kind of gets to shuffle the deck
Speaker 2: a little bit. The Bulls would get Ruy Hachimura and
Speaker 2: a guy in Ben Matherin who's twenty two years old,
Speaker 2: and who keeps getting better. He's at fifty eight percent
Speaker 2: for shooting this year. Ben's on the You get a
Speaker 2: talented young player if you're Chicago. If you're Indiana, you
Speaker 2: get Austin Reeves. That's a really good player to bring
Speaker 2: in at a discounted contract. Now, in order to make
Speaker 2: the deal work, you'd either have to include a minimum
Speaker 2: contract with a draft pick, probably that first round pick,
Speaker 2: or you'd have to include Dalton Connect in the deal
Speaker 2: and you just leave that up to Indiana. Would you
Speaker 2: rather have the first round pick? Would you rather have
Speaker 2: Dalton Connect? You can figure that out. If you didn't
Speaker 2: send Dalton, you'd send someone like a Christian Wood to
Speaker 2: facilitate that deal. Right, So the Bulls would get Ruytcha
Speaker 2: Mura and Ben Mathn, the Pacers would get Austin Reeves,
Speaker 2: either Christian Wood or Dalton Connect, and they get Nikola
Speaker 2: Vusovich from the Bulls, and then the Lakers would get
Speaker 2: a guy like Miles Turner and an aaron Ne Smith.
Speaker 2: That's just an example of a trade. To be clear,
Speaker 2: it's extremely unlikely. It's a long shot. I think it's
Speaker 2: more likely that the Lakers end up having to patch
Speaker 2: one of those holes. If you have to patch one,
Speaker 2: you patch the center hole. If you have any opportunity
Speaker 2: to get a guy like Robert Williams, if you can't
Speaker 2: make some sort of larger deal, you've got to take
Speaker 2: that Robert Williams opportunity because then it's like you can
Speaker 2: at least patch things up with what you've got in house. Okay,
Speaker 2: we might have to use Jared Vanderbilt as a perimeter
Speaker 2: defender more often. Right, we're gonna have to stagger things
Speaker 2: so that we keep shooting on the floor as much
Speaker 2: as possible. Right, there's a bunch of different things that
Speaker 2: get complicated in that process. But if you're gonna patch
Speaker 2: a hole, you gotta patch that center hole as best
Speaker 2: as you can. And then if you can get a
Speaker 2: guard that can shoot and defend on the perimeter, that
Speaker 2: is the best way to go about trying to maximize
Speaker 2: this roster in the short term, regardless of what happens.
Speaker 2: The Lakers had to do this again. It's hilarious because
Speaker 2: they were starting to play well. But if the Dallas
Speaker 2: Mavericks call you up and they offer to give you
Speaker 2: Luka Doncic, you have to take that offer and just
Speaker 2: figure out the rest later, even if you end up
Speaker 2: losing this season in the process, and the last thing
Speaker 2: I'll say about it on the Lakers front as a fan,
Speaker 2: I'm really curious to see what it's like rooting for Luca.
Speaker 2: I have had the same concerns with Luca that Nico
Speaker 2: Harrison has had. I've been very critical of Luca. I'm
Speaker 2: interested to see what it's like rooting for him and
Speaker 2: getting to know his game on an even more intimate level.
Speaker 2: In that way, I'm hoping that he takes this embarrassment
Speaker 2: from the franchise that drafted him dumping him. I'm hoping
Speaker 2: he takes that as a wake up call and goes
Speaker 2: out for revenge this year. That would be the most
Speaker 2: fun outcome. That's what I'm hoping to see from.
Speaker 1: Him onto Dallas.
Speaker 2: I want to start by just giving you guys my
Speaker 2: personal impression from rooting for Anthony Davis over.
Speaker 1: The last half decade.
Speaker 2: Eighty ceiling is still every bit as high as the
Speaker 2: best play in the world. He is still even though
Speaker 2: he's not as fast a devastating defensive player, I think
Speaker 2: he's the best defender in the world when he wants
Speaker 2: to be. He's got excellent ability to switch, and he's
Speaker 2: got excellent ability to come up to the level of
Speaker 2: the screen. He can run a deep drop coverage, you
Speaker 2: can protect the ram. He's an awesome defensive rebounder. Eighty's
Speaker 2: just a monster. Don't let anybody tell you differently. He's
Speaker 2: the best defender in the world when he wants to be,
Speaker 2: in my opinion. And he's a very useful offensive player.
Speaker 2: There are certain types of guys that he can absolutely
Speaker 2: fry in one on one situations. Look at that forty
Speaker 2: point game he had the other night. And then if
Speaker 2: in ball screens, if teams leave him open in the pocket,
Speaker 2: he can destroy teams just as like a vertical spacer.
Speaker 2: He's got a great floater in the lane. Like He's
Speaker 2: just a really useful offensive player there. He's great at
Speaker 2: drawing fouls there. He's got a lot of upside there
Speaker 2: on the offensive end. But there are two things that
Speaker 2: lead to his inconsistency. The reputation Anthony Davis has of
Speaker 2: being inconsistent comes from these two things. On offense, he's
Speaker 2: a bit matchup dependent. There are certain types of front
Speaker 2: court players who are both big enough to not be
Speaker 2: overpowered by ad but quick enough to prevent him from
Speaker 2: getting around him. In those situations, ad has to shoot
Speaker 2: shots over the top, like hooks, step back jump shots,
Speaker 2: things along those lines, and he's inconsistent as an over
Speaker 2: the top score. Some nights you'll catch him and he
Speaker 2: looks like Kevin Durant. Other nights he can't make anything.
Speaker 2: The other thing on offense is he does struggle to
Speaker 2: handle double teams in the post. That's something that just
Speaker 2: never really came together for him as an offensive player.
Speaker 2: And then on defense, he's always just been a very
Speaker 2: weird motor player. Like when he's going, he's just absolutely devastating,
Speaker 2: even on the Knights when he doesn't have it on
Speaker 2: offense and he only has seventeen like I've seen games
Speaker 2: with Anthony Davis where he has seventeen points, fifteen rebounds
Speaker 2: and he completely dominates the game. The offense is just like,
Speaker 2: when it's there, he looks like the best player in
Speaker 2: the world. When it's not, it's matchup dependent. It is
Speaker 2: what it is. But when he's going on defense he's devastating.
Speaker 2: But he will have many nights where it just kind
Speaker 2: of looks like he's going through the motions. All Laker
Speaker 2: fans will tell you this, which is why it's hilarious.
Speaker 2: Of all the guys that Nico Harrison wanted to bail
Speaker 2: on Luca for that, this is the guy they that
Speaker 2: they chose. But to be perfectly clear, I think Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis at his best is a clear top ten guy
Speaker 2: in the league, and he makes for a very interesting
Speaker 2: MAVs roster, even though I don't think they have the
Speaker 2: same Even though though I don't think they have the
Speaker 2: same offensive ceiling they had with Luca, it's a very
Speaker 2: interesting team with a really interesting defensive set of personnel.
Speaker 2: They have the potential to be pretty frightening on defense.
Speaker 2: I've talked a lot about the too big dynamic with
Speaker 2: the Lakers. One of the things that's happened in recent
Speaker 2: NBA history is teams have gotten really good at bringing
Speaker 2: their ball screen defender up to the level of the
Speaker 2: screen to do a better job of containing ball handlers
Speaker 2: and putting the onus on the playmaker to be able
Speaker 2: to make that skip pass to the corner or to
Speaker 2: thread the needle to the role man in the middle
Speaker 2: of the lane. But teams are bringing the lowman over
Speaker 2: and they're tagging that guy. It's just a really difficult
Speaker 2: job to come over into the lane and tagger roller,
Speaker 2: but also have the athleticism and ground coverage to get
Speaker 2: back out to the corner. The two big look what
Speaker 2: makes it appealing is you put Anthony Davis instead of
Speaker 2: as the ball screen defender. You put him at the
Speaker 2: four on the back line. So now you can imagine
Speaker 2: a scenario with Derek Lively coming up to the level
Speaker 2: of the screen, but Anthony Davis is the guy that's
Speaker 2: running that bracket, splitting the difference between the role man
Speaker 2: going downhill and that skip pass to the corner. I
Speaker 2: couldn't even imagine a better option for Ady to work
Speaker 2: with in that sort of context as a role player
Speaker 2: than a guy like Derek Lively. Both guys can switch
Speaker 2: when they need to. They should have a devastating defensive
Speaker 2: connection between those two guys, and they won't be a
Speaker 2: slouch offensively because of the work that Nico did this
Speaker 2: summer to bring in extra ball handling, something I've talked
Speaker 2: about a Ton bringing in Spencer Dinwoodie, bringing in Naji Marshall.
Speaker 2: Even they're off ball guys, guys like Quinton Grimes, guys
Speaker 2: like Klay Thompson that could run action coming off of screens.
Speaker 2: They are a lot deeper in their ball handling than
Speaker 2: they were in years past. And as we know, Kyrie
Speaker 2: Irving is a damn good basketball player who specifically thrives
Speaker 2: in tight spaces. That's the kind of upside that I
Speaker 2: see in terms of the ad Kyrie fit. In order
Speaker 2: to thrive in these tight space situations, you have to
Speaker 2: be an excellent pull up jump shooter, and Kyrie is
Speaker 2: the front court Spacing won't be pretty. It will be
Speaker 2: hard to get to the rim with this group, which
Speaker 2: is why a guy like Kyrie becomes more valuable and
Speaker 2: is over the top shooting, and they will have a
Speaker 2: ton of stops with their defense that buys them margin
Speaker 2: for error on offense. I think they need to be
Speaker 2: hunting ball handling before this Thursday. The trade that I
Speaker 2: found that I really liked this morning was from the
Speaker 2: Utah Jets. I'd call them up and I'd offer Daniel
Speaker 2: Gafford and Nauji Marshall for Colin Sexton. I believe they
Speaker 2: have too tradeable first after this deal. If I'm reading
Speaker 2: the tea leaves properly, and they could probably get this
Speaker 2: done for a lightly protected first. Colin's playing really well.
Speaker 2: He's everaging twenty two points and six assists per game
Speaker 2: on forty eight percent from the field, forty one percent
Speaker 2: from three to eighty nine percent from the foul line.
Speaker 2: In this recent chunk of games, it's like fifteen games
Speaker 2: or so that he's been playing at this level. So
Speaker 2: I think he would be a little bit expensive, But
Speaker 2: I think he's gettable, and he addresses a very specific
Speaker 2: need in terms of shot creation on this team that
Speaker 2: can really guard. I think that type of team has
Speaker 2: real upset potential in the Western Conference. Their defense will
Speaker 2: overwhelm certain teams. They would give major problems to a
Speaker 2: team like Minnesota, for instance, when they can pack the paint,
Speaker 2: they'd be dangerous versus like an Oklahoma City, a team
Speaker 2: that has struggled against teams that have packed the paint
Speaker 2: before when their shooters go cold. But I don't think
Speaker 2: that Dallas offense is capable of reaching the level necessary
Speaker 2: to win four playoff rounds, and that ultimately is what
Speaker 2: makes this trade so absurd. It doesn't feel like there's
Speaker 2: a championship ceiling anymore with that team. I've talked a
Speaker 2: lot about this MAVs roster this year. I was really
Speaker 2: excited about what this team would look like post deadline.
Speaker 2: Luca comes back, they make a run at it because
Speaker 2: they have so many useful, talented role players anchoring two
Speaker 2: of the best advantage creators in the league, and Luca
Speaker 2: and Kyrie. I wanted to see it, and that's why
Speaker 2: I mean, it's gonna be fun. I'm excited to watch
Speaker 2: the new look MAVs. I would encourage you guys to
Speaker 2: give Anthony Davis a fair shake on the nights when
Speaker 2: he's got it. You will love that guy. But I
Speaker 2: just don't understand why they did it. I totally get
Speaker 2: why MAVs fans are super upset. I would be two.
Speaker 2: I feel bad for you guys. I'm genuinely sorry that
Speaker 2: this is happening. We're gonna cover it every step of
Speaker 2: the way. I'm gonna try to take a take a
Speaker 2: break now and decompress a little bit before I get
Speaker 2: back in town on Wednesday. If something else goes down,
Speaker 2: I got my stuff. I'll make sure that I'm here
Speaker 2: and we will cover these things in detail on Wednesday
Speaker 2: and Thursday surrounding the trade deadline again. I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 2: you guys for rocking rocking with me and supporting the show.
Speaker 2: If anything else happens, let you guys know, just keep
Speaker 2: an eye on my Twitter feed and then if not,
Speaker 2: I will see you guys for an episode either on
Speaker 2: Wednesday or Thursday. I'll see you guys then.
Speaker 1: The volume. What's up guys.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 2: Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 2: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 2: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 2: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 2: do that, I'd really appreciate it.