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What The Pascal Siakam Trade Means For The Trade Deadline · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Two of his 13 made field goals were in the paint.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Seven footer makes zero sense.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: All three levels.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Buckets after buckets after buckets.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beachum podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Trade season is officially here.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: One of the biggest dominoes is finally falling.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal Siakam is a part of the Indiana Pacers.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We got to talk about whether or not that makes the Pacers contenders.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: We got to talk about the ending of the Pascal era in Toronto because it was definitely, it was definitely something.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about one of the best matchups we can ask for.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: The two best centers in ball going head to head, Jokic versus Embiid.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, we have my favorite segment, hashtag AskKB on today's show.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: We got a lot.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Leave a like, subscribe, and let's get into it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've been living under a rock, here are the details of this trade.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Indiana Pacers acquired Pascal Siakum and they sent out Bruce Brown, Jordan War with three first-round picks.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: One of those first-round picks they're owned for 2024.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Another one of those first-round picks is a heavily protected that is the worst of like a Clippers, um, Houston, Utah, and OKC pick, which is basically like the 25th to whatever pick.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then a 2026 pick, too.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Three first-round picks, a good player.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And Bruce Brown for Pascal Siakam.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the assumption is that Pascal Siakam will resign in Indiana.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And as long as that is the case, I really do love this deal for the Indiana Pacers.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I've talked about it quite a bit on my other channel, Kenny for real.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to belabor it too much, but I think the main question I was asked after this deal on Twitter or on Instagram was does this turn the Indiana Pacers into contenders?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: The short answer, no.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: But but it gets complicated because I think it puts them closer to where they want to be to eventually become contenders.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think they have already done the hard part.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And the hard part for them was finding a person to build around.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: That is something that every single franchise tries to do when they're in this stage.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Who can we catch ourselves to to eventually get a player that can help us raise a Larry O'Brien trophy?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to remind you, Indiana Pacers fan, close your ears, but you know this all too well.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Pacers have zero NBA championships in their trophy case.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So they've been searching from this guy.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was Reggie Miller, and Reggie Miller helped them make an NBA finals appearance.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was Paul George for some time.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Paul George got them into the conference finals.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think I want to say twice in his era.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then people thought it might be Victor Lodipo.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, he dealt with injuries, but right now the young Tyrese Halliburton has blossomed so much that most people believe that he is a for sure building block piece for an organization.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, you're not the best or you're not the starting point guard, the lead facilitator, the system of the best offense of all time, and not have people talk about you in that certain way.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he has done that.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the question is now that we have this building block, what can we do to make those pieces around him better?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I've talked about this before.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just looking at just the raw talent on these rosters, the Pacers are not a team that has enough talent to put them in a position where they are right now.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: At least you don't think so on paper.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: But obviously they've been able to win a bunch of tough games.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: They got all the way to the finals of the in-season tournament.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then they had a little down period outside the in-season tournament, just like the Lakers did.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I guess the Lakers one is still currently active, but they had a little downtime where they lost a few extra games.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then since then, they have been ramping it up, playing better and better and better.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they have Tyrese Halliburton, who looks like a guy that might be a 10-time All-Star when it's all said and done.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: What can we do?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a couple different options.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: We can draft a whale, which I would I would say they they've been okay.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're definitely not towards the top of the league, if you ask me, in their draft ability.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: But also, if you look at their rotation right now, a lot of the people in their rotation were not people they drafted, but rather they traded for.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Taris Halliburton, they traded for Buddy Heal, they traded for in the game.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: We might talk about in a second, they might trade Buddy Heal too down the line or something.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um we saw uh Miles Turner is pretty much the only guy outside of like Nim Har and Benedict Matherin that were like drafted with this team.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: The rest is just making good move here, good move there, and boom, you have this roster.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Getting back to the original question, does it make them a contender?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: The answer is no.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now I have my Eastern Conference teams in different tiers, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: We have the A plus tier or the S tier.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: These are the teams that I believe are the favorite to win the conference, and that would be the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: The Bucs have had a ton of up and downs this season, and their defense is not as good as I want them to be.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: If I look at a seven-game series and I'm seeing Damian Lillard and Yonzatekumpo, it's gonna be hard for me to pick against that team, no matter what the advanced stats really say about the defense, even though it has been better on paper.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I guess the eye test hasn't really showed that too much, but those are my top two teams in the Eastern Conference as far as winning a championship goes.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Then we have that tier number two, and these teams could definitely make some noise.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if things work perfectly, whether they get some injury luck or get a good matchup, these are teams that could compete for a conference finals.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And or, I mean, I guess if you're in the conference finals, you have a chance to win.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is are the 76ers.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some of y'all like Henny, how are they not tier eight?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna talk about that later in the show, on the Miami Heat, who I'm just giving the utmost respect to because I've watched them do this over the last couple seasons.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And though when I watch them, I may not necessarily believe that they've done enough for me to give them the benefit of the doubt in this moment in time.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: We have the New York Knicks, specifically after the OG Ananobi trade, though they've lost a few games now, they look significantly better.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: The advanced stats, the eye test are saying that the OG Ananobi, uh OG Ananobi acquisition has been as good as you can imagine.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then the Cavs, who I have a question mark in my notes because I don't know what to make of the Cavs.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: They lose Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for a significant amount of time.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And when that happened, I remember exactly where I was because those things broke like back to back.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Darius Garden is out with, I think, a broken jaw, and then Evan Mobley's gonna have to have orthoscopic knee surgery.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh man, this is awful.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess it's time to trade Donovan Mitchell.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I that's where my head always goes, and I need to be better at that.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always thinking about player movement when I shouldn't be.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but since that moment, they have been a phenomenal team.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: They've won way more games than I could have even imagined.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of that is Donovan Mitchell being the star player that we know he can be.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of that is Jared Allen stepping back up and looking like the all-star caliber talent that he was a few years ago, and just all of the surrounding pieces stepping up.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like Sam O'Reilly went from Mr.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Irrelevant, and the only reason I call him that because he was the 60th overall pick in his draft class, to now he's like playing real rotational minutes.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the they played against the Bulls recently.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah, I know I watched a lot of Bulls games, even though I probably shouldn't.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the last time he played against the Bulls, right after Christmas or right before Christmas, Craig Porter Jr.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: looked like Andre Miller, and the Bulls lost their game.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: No Darius Garland, no Donovan Mitchell, no Evan Mobley.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: The Bulls lost their game.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then now they played against each other again.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they have been playing so well that Craig Porter Jr., the guy that looked like Andre Miller the last time we performed against each other, he got a DMP coach's decision.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like this don't look like a team that should be winning these games, but they have.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm putting them in my tier two because I don't really know what to think about them.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And now, after this trade is where I put the Pacers.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that this tells me though, the the aggression to trade for a 30, a near 30-year-old forward tells me that they're going forward within the next three to four seasons.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I understand that Pascal Siakam is not under contract for the next three or four seasons just yet, but again, I'm under the assumption that he will eventually uh re-sign.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that tells me when you have a 30-year-old forward and not knowing exactly how he'll age, even though I'm pretty confident that Pascal will age gracefully, not saying that he's gonna be LeBron at age 39, or he's still gonna be the same player at the age 39, but I don't look in this early 30s of 31, 32, and 33 and think that this is a player that's gonna fall off a cliff.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So with him being this good right now and his next contract being a three to four-year contract, and them giving up the pieces that they did give up, tells me that they're going to be ultra-aggressive.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, ultra aggressive aggressive can mean a couple different things.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: It can mean that there's maybe more trades on the horizon, not necessarily this deadline, but maybe in the offseason or at next year's deadline, or that can mean like, hell, uh, some of the players that we deem to be untouchable, which was Jaris Walker and Benedict Mathrin, y'all might not be as untouchable in a in six months.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Just just just look out for it.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just look out for it.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that was one of the reasons why I really did like this trade for Indy.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: They pulled off a trade that I thought was pretty impossible.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: They traded for an all-star caliber talent in Pascal Siakam without giving up one of the young pieces that they really like.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Think about this Ijax, Jalen Smith, Andrew Nimhart, Benedict Mathrin, Jarrus Walker, all five of them were safe.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you didn't trade away any actual on-court talent that you believe to be a part of your long-term future.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Bruce Brown has been uh not the three-point shooter he was the last couple years, but the numbers say that when Bruce Brown was on the court, they were just a better, better team.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: But the contract you gave him was a$20 million this year with uh a team option on the next year.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't really, you didn't really sign that man thinking he was about to be here for the next couple of years.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like you welcomed it if things work perfectly, but it's not like he was one of the staples in Indiana Pacer culture.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like he was one of the young guys that you want to completely invest in and watching them grow.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: All it cost you was three first-round picks.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, on the surface level, me saying all it costs you were three first-round picks, don't even mesh.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you look at the value of those picks.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's their own 2024 first-round pick.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, right now they're with the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: And now that they add a Pascal Siakam, I'm just gonna say, even though we don't know exactly what the world is what the world is gonna have in a couple months, because even uh you look at last year, the Dallas Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irvin and then completely missed the play in.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know some of that was by design, but they ended up being number 11 because things weren't looking necessarily perfectly.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a team or trade that made you think, yes, playoff team.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then they started off relatively slow and they decided to fold the cards.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't know exactly what it'll look like, but I'm gonna say safely that this should be a team that is in the playoffs.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that pick, end of the teens, maybe early 20s, right?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: The second pick I've mentioned to be a least valuable of a Houston slash OKC slash Clippers slash Utah, and that's probably gonna be 23 to 30.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then the 2026 first-round pick.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now I've seen conflicting things, and I don't know by the time this comes out, can we get a definite, definite answer?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I saw one report that said it was completely unprotected, and one report said that it was top four protected.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: So either way, you assume based on them having Tyrese and them having Pascal, hopefully for the next couple seasons, that's another pick that is outside of the lottery.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I gave up three non-lotter, or three non-lottery picks in theory, and a player that we didn't know if we even wanted to re-sign next season to get Pascal Siakam sounds like a dub to me.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not just a pure talent play, because I think the pure talent is that, right?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: That this is a team that even though they've won a bunch of games, you look them lined up against some of the teams they're surrounding, they lack the talent.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal is an obvious improvement in that aspect.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes teams make deals strictly to improve the talent, and sometimes they make deals to improve the fit of the pieces.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And Pascal fits both.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: He's an upgrade on talent, and he fits like a glove for the things that they do.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of the highest-powered offenses of all time, the highest powered offense of all time.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: They get on the break, they run.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I remember all of the memes during the 2019 NBA Finals.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if y'all remember it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: You got to close your eyes and maybe reminisce to Twitter back in 2019.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: There were a lot of memes.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the number one meme was Drake after the Kevin Durant ACL table of how upset he was.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Wink wink.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the number two meme was about Pascal Siaka and how he runs on the break when he sees a shot go up.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: This man is leaking out, and nobody in transition can keep it even catch up.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And though he's not the same transition player as 2019, he's still in the top uh 92 percentile.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's that nice on the break, and they have some of the best, I've mentioned this before, the best point guard core in all of basketball.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: With Reese Nimhart, who they again they kept, and then TJ McConnell, there'll never be a minute of Pascal Siakam playing basketball for the rest of this season where he doesn't have an adequate point guard.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that was not the case this season so far.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: This season so far, you know, Dennis Schroeder, ups and downs.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: They tried Scotty Barnes to point guard, ups and downs, but ultimately he's played a lot of minutes where he didn't have a guy that can set him up.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal Siakam, another one of the best cutters in all of basketball.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: This is a system that will empower him to do that way more.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, no, I do not believe that this puts them into contention right now, but it sets them up for either next year or the year after that, because though Tyrese right now is an all-star and maybe an all-NBA caliber player when it's all said and done, who knows if he's gonna get even better.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's a scary thought if you're uh an Eastern Conference team.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: That kid can get better, and he's still a kid, if you ask me.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: No disrespect.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a little bit older, I'm near 30.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that kid can get better, yes.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna be very interested to see exactly what type of lineups they throw out because their most used lineup and their most successful lineup right now has been Halliburton, healed, Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin, and Miles Turner.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, they gave up Bruce Brown, and because of Obi Toppin and Pascal Siakam playing the same position, Obi's probably sliding over to the bench.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm guessing Benedict Mathrin slides up.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a not necessarily this season again, because I don't think they're contenders, but this is a lot of pressure on Benedict Mathrin.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I mentioned earlier that maybe he's not as safe in a year down the line as he is right now, as they try to figure out exactly who he is as a player.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's been a league average three-point shooter, not a crazy amount of volume.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's actually a guy that puts a ton of pressure on the rim, which I think uh opens the game up a lot more for the people around him.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but eventually you want to see that three-point shot become better because he's not necessarily respected out there yet.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: And when you think about some of the pieces that are playing around him, Buddy Healed gets the utmost respect from every single team across the association because he's one of the greatest high-value three-point shooters of all time.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Miles Turner doesn't get a ton of respect, but he is a stretch guy.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Halliburton obviously gets all the respect in the world, and they need that the other guy to be respected because, again, it opens up the game so much more for Pascal Siakam.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: So only time will really tell.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think I graded this an hour after the trade happened, and I still feel pretty confident in my my uh evaluation on this as being an A and A under the assumption that he resigns.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the the I saw some people on Twitter asking why trade from now when you they would have had the cap space to potentially pursue him in the offseason.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is getting his foot in the door right now can only benefit them in terms of uh trying to figure out where his priorities lie.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: You get a couple months of playing under or with Tyrese under Rick Carlisle, he might fall in love with it.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: When you're going on these free agency visits, you don't really know exactly what's gonna happen.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: You don't know exactly how you would fit with these things, even though the people across to the table are pitching to you, oh yeah, um you with Julem Bede are gonna be perfect.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: You with um Cade Cunningham will be perfect.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: You would, I'm just trying to think of people with cap space.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: You with this team will be perfect, and now they can say, hey, we don't need to sell you a pipe dream because you've played it for the last couple months.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Get familiar with the city and re-sign.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what you have to do when you're a smaller market team because signing a player like Pascal Siakam and free agency when you're going against some of the bigger markets in the 76ers or Detroit, which I think is a mid-tier market, but I don't know much about the population of cities in the United States, uh, mere tier to higher tier, it's just going to be objectively harder when you are in Indianapolis.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: But now, foot in the door, when you look at um Tyrese Halliburton, Paul George signed an extension, pretty much every star that they've had there has signed an extension or multiple extensions where it feels like it's well ran over there in Indy.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Paul George said conflicting things.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he did mention that part of the reason why he was straight away from OKC was he wasn't um uh sure whether or not the ownership would try to take the next step.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so maybe conflicting things about how things are ran, but this trading three first-round picks regardless tells you that this team, this front office slash this ownership team is dedicated to continually staying competitive and potentially going for that first official Larry O'Brien trophy.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let's transition over to the Toronto Raptors.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um initially, when you see three first-round picks, you feel really damn good about it.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal Siakam, an expiring contract.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: I get three first-round picks.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds amazing.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why when Shams tweeted it out about uh 24 hours, or I'm sorry, 16 hours before the actual trade happened, I was like, oh, that trade will happen because three first-round picks for an expiring is a haul.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then you start to realize, oh, this pick is maybe not as valuable as you thought.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: This pick is not as valuable as you thought.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: But three first-round picks nonetheless.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh, I was I was okay about it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then I took a step back after I filmed my initial video and then shot another part of the video where I was like, I don't love it as much as I did before him.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I got some pushback from that from Raptors fans.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Understandably so.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: You just traded one of the what top five players in your franchise history, and you want to feel as though you got back adequate pieces behind it.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And again, on surface level, three first-round picks, expiring contract, dub.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm thinking about the bigger picture.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about the bigger picture.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because these rumors of Pascal, OG Anobi, Fray Van Vleet were at the 2023 deadline, where objectively they would have got more on this trade.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I went back to look through the archives because that's one of my favorite things to do.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Just going back one year, because I don't remember it too well.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know Kevin O'Reilly trade just changed everything in my mindset about uh what I remember, what I don't remember.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I went back through the archives, and these were the things that were being talked about with the Toronto Raptors at the deadline last season.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Siakam, Freddie, OG, and Gary Trent Jr.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: were all people that were on the market and were expected to be traded until 48 hours before the actual deadline.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then at the actual deadline, OG Ananobi, according to Mark Spears and Chris Hayes, said that um for OG Ananobi, the Pelicans and the Grizzies had a bidding war revolving around draft compensation.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the Pelicans and the Grizzies weren't very comfortable with giving up actual solidified pieces.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that means no Trey Murphy third.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: That means at that case, um in that moment in time, it was no uh Desmond Payne, obviously, but they had a ton of draft picks.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: The Pelicans had 12, and then uh the Grizzlies had seven.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: They were willing to throw fours.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And in these two, just the reports from Chris Hayes and Mark Spears, these two teams were bidding against each other.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually, the Raptors, like, you know what?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna carry it into next season.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, that turned into RJ Baird, that turned into Emmanuel Quickly.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: You could decide at home what would you rather have three to four for I don't know how many first-round picks, or would you rather have RJ Manu quickly and stuff for interpretation?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they also tried to field offers for Fred Van Vliet, and there were multiple teams that were interested.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this report, again, does not say exactly who those multiple teams were, but they're just saying that multiple teams picked up the phone and instead of trading Freddie for anything, they believed that they could resign him in the offseason.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I I want to give them a little bit of wiggle room there because I don't think they saw the fact that the the Houston Rocks would throw Freddie$40 million annually.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like Freddie might have wanted to stay in Toronto, but if anybody knocks on my door and says I got$40 million for you, I'm saying yes.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care where the organizations are, I don't care how loyal I've been to a city for the last seven years.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: $40 million annually is$40 million annually.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to give them just a little bit of wiggle room there because they couldn't have expected that.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe they could have.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal Siyakam, another person that was high on people's priority list from reports.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: The Golden State Warriors were very interested in Pascal Siakam for the last two seasons.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that's going to this deadline and last deadline, um, and not to materialize.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, part of this is Maasai asking for a little bit too much, according to reports.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm reading it, uh, draft capital in order to make it happen.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now the Warriors are like, hell, we don't want to give you a bunch of draft capital.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right now Kaminga's untouchable as well.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: You determine who was winning, who was not winning that.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I just wanted to let you know that there were teams that were actively interested in these people.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of trading them when their value was still a season and a half, they traded both of them with half a season under their belt.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, the teams that traded for Ojanninobi's uh camp, but we we believe he'll resign with the Knicks.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: We believe that Pascal Siakam will re sign with the Pacers, but only time will really tell because who knows?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like Freddie got off of$40 million.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: The the Pistons, as desperate as they are, might be willing to throw so much money to a top free agent on the market.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't really know.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of actually trading the pieces away, this is the interesting part about all of this.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of actually trading all the pieces away, they acquired Jakob Pertle.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I believe that the 2023 trade down for the Toronto Raptors trade deadline is one of the turning points in their franchise history.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know how we'll play out.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know if Emmanuel quickly will blossom into the player they believe he could be.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know if the streak of RJ Baird of him averaging 19.9 points per game on 50, 40, whatever, will continue.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know who they would who they would draft with those three first-round picks, but it is a pivotal, pivotal year because they neglected to make the trades when a lot of people believe they they were going to.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they also gave up a first-round pick to get Yaakka Purdle.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now that pick is top six protected.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the mindset behind it was everybody is saying that the 2024 draft class is awful.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I I I've subscribed to a bunch of newsletters, some of those being like actual draft newsletters or people that I don't get to watch a ton of college basketball.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: So there are people that That I trust their college basketball.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I had not read up on these prospects.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I ain't seen a single person that tells you or telling anybody that this is one of those draft classes.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Only time will tell we don't know where these careers are gonna go.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Even like the 2013 draft class was looked that way too.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: That was the Anthony Bennett year.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was also the year of Giannis.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, it may not be top heavy, maybe there's a diamond in the rough.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: We don't really know.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: But they traded away this draft pick for this season, top six protected, because they believe that this draft class was ass.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: So if this draft class is ass, Masai.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you just acquired two picks from this draft class, it's just the math ain't mad then.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now they feel obligated to maybe be really bad now.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Is this the turn of the tank season?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Scotty Barnes's net rating without Pascal Siyakam this season is a minus 10.46 and 447 minutes.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let me remember, let me say that again.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Scotty Barnes's minutes without Pascal Siyakam as his running mate is a net rating of minus 10.46.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, that's awful.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: But also, the Raptors aren't a very good basketball team in the same sense.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not saying it's a Scotty problem.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying in general, the success that they had seen, because when they were playing together, they had like a net um neutral.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a zero point something, something.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the success that they had seen was those two players playing together, and now we're not going to get that.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's by design.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because with their pick being top six protected, they kind of needed to end up in that top six.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And right now they're sitting perfectly at six when it comes to odds, but you know the odds are flattened.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Six odds don't mean you getting the sixth pick.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: It could mean you get a top four pick, for all we know.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: But we have teams like Detroit, San Antonio, Washington, Charlotte, and then the Blazers.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the five teams ahead of them.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And at least four of those five teams are submits themselves is awful.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then now they got the Memphis Grizzlies on their butt, and the Grizzlies have lost everybody.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: John Morant, uh Marvin, nope, no, I was at Marvin Bagley, Marcus Smart, Steven Adams has been out, Brandon Clark is gone.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like they have lost Desmond Back, they've lost everybody.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to GG Jackson, he's been amazing.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love watching Gigi Hoop.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um but that's a team that could end up with a worse record than you.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you kind of need that pick to hit.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because now if you keep the pick and it ends up being top six, then that pick conveys to next year completely unprotected.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like no matter what, that pick is gonna convey to the Spurs.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, actually, I might be willing.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Whoa, it's not in my notes, but I'm just thinking, I might be willing to give up this year's pick.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Our own at least.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, you have two more coming in, even though they're gonna be in the 20s or the late teens.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because the 2025 first uh 2025 draft class has people like Cooper, Cooper Flag, and a couple up other people that maybe not generational, but people can see being stars in his league.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: And while the 2024 class may not have that, I might be like hell.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Keep the pick.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want it to fall a seven because next year we might be extremely awful, and now we got the first pick.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Only time will tell again.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Only time will tell.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, that that that deadline, that 2023 deadline, in six years, we will look back um and we will say, man, they fumbled, or man, Messai is a is playing his own game, and we just a part of it.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um the last thing I kind of want to talk about with this trade is the the weird ending of the Pascal Siakam era in Toronto.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, I mentioned that Pascal is one of the maybe top five players in your franchise history in no specific order.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: You got Vince Carter, you have Cal Laurie, you have DeMar DeRozan, you got Barn.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want Barnani on that list?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you do.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Chris Bosch, oh my god, Chris Bosch, I'm sorry.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Bosch is on that list, and then you probably have Pascal Siakam being the second option on the championship team.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I went back and uh looked at some of those numbers from the 2019 run.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal was phenomenal.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like they were like third and kind in like duos to score the most amount of points in an NBA finals.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like they were like third or fourth, and that might that has might might have changed because game were talking 2019.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, here are some things that happened in the last just a couple months of the ending of the Pascal Siakam era.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is when Masayu Giri was um introducing Ryakovic to the media.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Masai said this: we do believe in Pascal.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: We believe that a lot of our players didn't play the right way last year, and we want to see them play the right way.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: He also said, We were selfish and we didn't play the right way.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you were watching Raptors basketball games last season, you absolutely know that Nick Nurse had to go.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was a stagnant offense.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was not very pretty, and and and Darko Riyakovich is a guy that has been known as a free-flowing, um, European-minded coach, where it's like, we're gonna pass, we gonna cut.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that you can see that this season, unfortunately, they don't really have the personnel to kind of fit Darko's mindset just yet.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe this is part of them building that team around his mindset.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they said, Masai said, that the team plays selfish, right?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, they raised some eyebrows across the association because you mentioned Pascal Siakam in the beginning, as far as you believe in him.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and the thing that prompted this is they were talking about him potentially getting an extension.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: So he's asked about extending Pascal.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yeah, we love Pascal.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: But, but you know, a lot of people were selfish last year.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people were selfish.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now, he didn't actively say Pascal is one of those people, but it raised an eyebrow enough for Pascal Siyakim in himself to say, I'll speak for myself.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I will speak for me personally.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've never been a selfish player in my life, always played the game the right way, and that's from the first time I started playing basketball.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all at home know I'm I have dyslexia.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Reading is a nightmare, and that is why I'm afraid to do like live TV that has a teleprompter, because it is it is cooked.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um, all the things that I do on the basketball court is about our team, and I've always done that my whole career.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that was Pascal Siakam right after Masai was talking about what he was talking about.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, oh, um, okay, okay.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I think Pascal kind of backed that up because for the first half of the season, he has been the number one scorer as far as points per game goes.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: But everybody recognizes that this has been Scotty's team this whole season.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: And he's been maybe not cool with it, but he's played that role effectively with the idea of either A, I'm getting traded, or B, they're gonna give me a lot of money, or C, I just really want to see this team be successful.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if you tell me that the team will be more successful with me playing secondary option, hey, I'll do it.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: That game against the LA Lakers where they lost and they shot two free throws to the Lakers, 23 free throws.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Pascal hit, I think, three really, really big baskets.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Three of them, all three of them being three-point shots, two of them being just standing in the corner.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was Scotty's war, and it was a kick out.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the normal Pascal we know, because catch and shoot, three-point shooting has never been a strong suit.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: But that is the role they needed him to play, and he was playing it.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when he goes to Indiana, um, who knows exactly what Carlisle's gonna do with him in the offense, but I'm I'm excited for it.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it definitely was a weird end.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I even asked the guys, how much do you value?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, we don't really know where Pascal's mindset was.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of conflicting reports um about him only wanting to re-sign with the with the uh uh the Raptors and that he wouldn't sign an essential anyone else.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how true or how false those claims were, but those were reports nonetheless.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I asked the guys, how valuable is that?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: When you think about a team like the Toronto Raptors, where it's one of the bigger markets in the association, but again, it's not a place that is going out there and signing big name free agents traditionally.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: So you have a guy that has made multiple All-NBA appearances, multiple time all-stars that might be saying to you, hell, I know things are not looking great right now, but I want to stay here for a very, very long time.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: How much do you value that from the perspective of an organization that is not known to get$100 million in cap and go get LeBron, Chris Bosch, and Dwayne Wade?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the consensus was, at least to my guys, was we appreciate the stuff that Pascal has done for the organization, but at the end of the day, we gotta think about the future.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I I guess I feel that um I guess you just kind of hope that one of the people you drafted, or either RJ or Emmanuel quickly, ends up being as good as Pascal Siakam was or has been for the Toronto Raptors.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully, if they do end up being that, they're more of a fit for Scotty.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, as good as they could have been, again, we're talking about a net rating of about zero together.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there obviously was some things that needed to be changed there.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: So again, I don't necessarily love it for the Toronto Raptors only because they waited too long.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if you get past that fact, you just think about three first-round picks plus Bruce Brown, it's cool.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Just maybe not as good as I thought.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the first game outside of the Pascal Siakab era was tonight.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as of right now, as I'm filming this video, they're up by 30 on the Miami Heat.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: And if I'm not mistaken, the Miami Heat are as healthy as they can be.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Heat.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: The Heat are never healthy, healthy, but as healthy as they can be.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Jimmy Butler, bam, and Tyler Hero playing.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the young, the young Toronto Rafters are up by 30.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Will they keep this lead?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: But some promising stuff.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: RJ's looking good, Quick is looking good, everybody's looking good.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: But they have another game tomorrow, and that is against my Chicago Bulls.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: The second night of a back-to-back against my Bulls.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it got me thinking, and how good this game can really be.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: As of right now on FanDuel Sportsbook, the Bulls are a two-point favorite in this game.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And originally I thought that line was clean.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: But now that I'm seeing them beat the Miami Heat by 30, it maybe want to flip that and say that the Raptors are the favorite.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because both of these teams have not played very well for the past two weeks.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, huge adjustment uh for the Raptors trying to figure out, okay, how do we divvy up these extra shot attempts that Pascal Siakam left behind?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the Bulls are a two-point favorite at the moment in time.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt pretty good about that.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: But if they looking like this offensively, oh man, I don't really know.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna stand put and support my guys at the Chicago Bulls and say a two-point spread is right in their their way to win.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I would take that.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would take the Bulls minus two against the Raptors tomorrow.
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• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for my favorite segment.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is the hashtag AskKB.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is go to Twitter or you can go to the comment section of these episodes and use the hashtag AskKB, A-S-K-K-B, and I try my best to answer a handful of your questions.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: The first one comes from Jinky.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: After seeing how Dante Exum has made his way back to the NBA, is there a player you like to see return to the league?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm sorry, Jinky, because I'm not really answering your question.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is just an opportunity for me to talk about people like Dante Eksum or Duab Reef, who spent what the last five years and of his career bouncing around, getting cut from summer league teams and going overseas and doing this.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: And now, again, I don't know what his future holds, but he is a part of an NBA roster actively and starting a bunch of games.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: But the poster boy for this this season, and though Dante Eksum has looked incredible before his injury, I can't wait for him to get back.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Chris Dunn, Chris Dunn, I have always been a Chris Dunn believer from 2017 to 2024.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel vindicated.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: On my old podcast that used to be, used to be known as uh Through the Wire, uh a year or so ago, or maybe two years ago at this point, I said Chris Dunn is an NBA player and it makes no sense that he's not in the league.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: And though the rest of my guys on the panel didn't really care enough about that statement, they thought that was just Bulls bias because I've been a Bulls fan all my life.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, nobody else cared on the panel, but the comments was Chris Dunn, the answer is yes.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Dunn is an NBA player.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: So to see him go play overseas for a little bit and get an opportunity in Utah with his old teammate Larry Markin is incredible.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: They have a net rating of 11.38 together and the 400 minutes.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like this was this is a dream.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I love to see guys because these are Dante Eksum and Chris Dunn careers look pretty damn similar.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: You think about it, drafted as high as they were.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think were they both number five pick, number four, number five pick.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um ended up on an organization that wasn't very good.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Dante Eksum, of course, being Utah, and then Chris Dunn ended up in Minnesota for a year, then Chicago under Jim Boylan.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't really have the opportunity to be the players that they could have been.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Both of them went on alternative routes, ended up overseas.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: And Dante Eksum, before he came back over here, they were saying he was looking amazing.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I don't get to get a chance to watch a bunch of Euro League basketball, but they were saying he was looking phenomenal.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I trust the people that were saying that.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: They was like, when he comes to the league, he's gonna be an impact player.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's not gonna be the Dante Exum that a lot of people thought they were gonna get when he was drafted, but as far as being a real rotational piece and helping uh a team win, he's been that.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And they told me he was gonna be that.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: And Chris Dunn being back is just phenomenal.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: I wish him nothing but the best.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he got another contract, it's just so great to see.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I guess the G League is kind of this as well, and maybe less of a success story.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you look at G Leagues, you see a bunch of former NBA players are just trying to get it back.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, oh, Lance Stevenson just had a triple-double two nights ago in the G League.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, Lance is still trying to give it a go.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: He is.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and maybe some team gives him another opportunity.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: Austin Copeland says, uh, everyone dunks on the Pistons, but as a Wizards fan, I feel that we're really the worst team in the league.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing to look forward to, and we're just we just really suck and we chose the wrong year to tank.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: Without Ted selling the team, nothing will change.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hashtag ask KB.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um hey, head up.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the reason we dunk on the on the Pistons is not because they're bad, because every year we have bad teams.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, they're right now historically bad, but we have bad teams every single season.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: It makes the league go.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna need teams to get punched in the face on a nightly basis.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: We don't make fun of the pissers for being bad.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's part of it, but we make fun of the pissers for being bad in year four or five of their rebuild.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: You are bad right now on year one.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: And right now, that's that's something.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're bad in year one of your rebuild.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Most teams are, right?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the fact that you guys have decided to do the rebuild is like something nobody ever saw coming.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to rub this in your face, but I've talked about this before that in the Anthony Edwards draft when the Minnesota Timberwolves had the first overall pick, the Timberwolves did not want to draft Anthony Edwards.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Not that they had anything against him, but they wanted to go get a guy that was already facilitated or already established in the association.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: They called up the Washington Woods and said, hell, we got the first overall pick for Bradley Beal.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that regime said, hell no, click.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: And now you're past that.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: You've traded Bradley Beal for a lot less than Anthony Edwards, but you traded him nonetheless.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: And a guy like Kyle Kuzma is gonna have value eventually.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, is he getting traded this deadline next year?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna have value.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Being bad right now is the best that you could do, even though this draft class isn't good.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: It ain't like y'all about to spend a bunch of money this offseason to be better next year.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the Cooper Flag year, you're probably gonna be bad too.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you give Koulibaly a bunch of time to get used to the NBA, just just give it time.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know things ain't perfect.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all might be moving.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I don't love it, but again, the fact that y'all decided to turn the page is a thumbs up, if you ask me.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: The next one comes from King Max.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: What is the most important thing when watching basketball?
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to do what you're doing with sports, and I'm trying to start with basketball and football.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to talk about sports, but I feel like I'm too much of a casual.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: How can I fix it?
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I do want to say King Max, there is nothing wrong with being a casual.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has a casual with this negative connotation.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that if you ask me, being I'm a casual at majority of things in life.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love uh soccer now.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Super casual.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love baseball, casual.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm enjoying football.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: Casual.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with being a casual.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if your goal is to go above and beyond that, what are the most important things in watching?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that changed my life as far as my viewing experience to make me feel like I'm more knowledgeable about the game, is not watching the ball.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's very easy for you as a fan of the sport to be like, the ball is where things happen.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: The ball in the hands of this player, that is where the sport lies.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: But it's not.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's what's happening around the ball, it's what's happening off of the ball.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I watch, and I don't do this in real time because I think it's really, really hard to do when you're trying to watch four to five different games at the same time.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you go back to re-watch some highlights, you rewatch moments in the game.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things I try to figure out is watch a possession and see the ending of it and say, how did they get there?
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Did the defense do something to make them take a bad shot?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did they draw something up that failed?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do we get to that spot?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think once you start looking at the game that way, it opens up your mind a little bit more to what players are really good at versus what players are really bad at.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: Is this this this big actually is not very good at setting these down screens?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, when when Paul George is coming off on the right side, he traditionally likes to dribble three times straight to the basket before floating, like these just random little nitpicking things.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it helps you understand the game a little bit more.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: As cool as it is to watch the ball and carry over, go do do do do do.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's also equally important to see what the hell is Josh Green doing over there?
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: What is Dwight Powell doing as a guy sat in a screen?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Is he rolling?
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: What are the people on the outside doing while the main action is happening?
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Are they screening for each other or are they just standing around?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the things that kind of elevate it.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would also say consume the game outside of your eye, like outside of watching the game.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Find some respected writers and reporters that you like.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Go get some subscriptions to some of the numbers places.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: And though I don't believe that advanced analytics is the end all be all, they they help you a little bit when it comes to talking about the sport and being more familiar with the sport.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Go listen to there are some X's and O's podcasts that will change everything.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uh The Dunker Spot with Steve Smith and Nikaius Duncan, one of my favorite podcasts.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: They talk about the game in a way that I would never be able to, right?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: They understand the X's and O's of the game.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: They watch the game a lot different than I do.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I respect the way they talk about the game that they watch.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Where even if there's times where I don't agree with their take, I'm like, oh, I know he didn't just pull out his ass.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know Nikaias and Steve are watching as much basketball as anybody, you know?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: And those kind of things really help you get that next step.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Good luck on your journey, though.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Getting into sports media is really, really fun.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy it.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: So earlier in the episode, I was talking about the tiers, the Eastern Conference tiers.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned Boston and Milwaukee up top, and I mentioned the 76ers, Heat, Knicks, Pacers, and Cavs in the second tier.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a lot of y'all might be looking at me and like Kenny, the 76ers are not tier one.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: And personally, for me, as of right now, no.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna talk about why.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: The other night we saw the matchup of Nicola Jokic and Joe Well Lem B.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, um, I every single year I'm really excited for this matchup.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, we got another phenomenal game.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: The second one didn't happen because I want to say Joel Lam B missed the game in Denver.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's played all of the games in Philly, and well, not all of them, most of the games of Philly when they these two teams match up against each other, not many of the games in Denver.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is a matchup I could not be more excited for.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because of the way the game really goes, until you get a good old-fashioned center versus center, it's kind of rare that the star player is guarding the star player.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: When you see like a um, at least in their respective primes, a Russell Westbrook Steph Curry matchup.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: There will be times that they're guarding each other, but we got people, we got Andre Roberson.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Go guard Steph Curry.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: We got Clay Thompson or I don't, I don't really know, HB.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: Who the hell was guarding Russell Westbrook when they were going against each other in those those playoffs or in those regular seasons?
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, you just don't see the stark player being guarded by the other stark player because you have other people that you delicate that role to.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because how am I gonna be the best player on the floor when I'm inserting all this energy on both ends?
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta guard your best player and do my thing.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a small percentage of people that can do both, but normally, unless we get two great bigs, and I mean big, like true bigs, you don't really get the matchup.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I was excited for it.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then I tune in and These brothers and they didn't have times guarding each other, but it was like a it was a coaching chess match where sometimes Jokic was guarded Joel and B, and that happened very early in this game.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: But eventually they decided, ah, maybe not the best matchup.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: Go get Aaron Gordon.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: And now Nicole Jokic is guarding the corners, and that allowed Joel Lambi to end up this game with 41, 10, and 7, 10 assists, kicking it out to the shooters.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because Nicole Jokic is trying to play this Romer role, but he also is more slow-footed than the traditional Romer.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: So once the kick out ended up being to Tobias Harris in that corner, he just can't cover enough space to get out there.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this was another super, super dominant Joel Embiid game.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't need to give you the whole conversation about it because I mentioned it a few episodes ago that Joel Embiid is one of the best scorers I've ever seen with my own two eyes.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I gave you 10 minutes of that, so you can go back and watch me give you the rationalization behind that.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: But this is another example of that where it did not matter who was guarding him, what coverages he saw, he ended up with 41.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look at his shock chart, think about 41 points, and that he shot a 14 or 15, 16 free throws.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: So a good amount of free throws, but it's a Joel M B game.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get a lot of free throws.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at his shot chart, he scored two baskets in the paint, two of his 13 made field goals were in the paint.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: Seven footer makes zero sense.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: All three levels buckets after buckets after buckets, and then he went on a couple personal runs, one of them being in that fourth quarter when they started to pull away.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, man, I understand the people again that don't like the grift thing and the fouls.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I respect that.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: I respect your opinion on that.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: But just looking at the pure basketball, Joel Embiid is just ridiculous.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: And again, if it wasn't for the games played, because I think that's gonna be a problem for him, he is my MVP, you know.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, games play matter a ton.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: But in this game, Jokic ended up with 25, 19 rebounds, three assists.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, was a good Jokic game, not the great, not the great Jokic game.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he got outdued by Joel Lemban.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: But even Joel Embiid himself said he talked to uh Jokic in the end of it, and he said that Jokic is the best player in the world.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he told him.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that we have this mutual respect because even I don't know if Jokic said anything about this matchup, but historically, uh Jokic has been very um, I don't know, positive towards Joel L as far as respect to his game and stuff.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: The super cool part, this is from ESPN stats and info.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: This is the second time in the last couple years, and I think they mean literally two.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um you remember Nikola Jokic is an Iron Man, by the way.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we're talking hundreds, a hundred plus games, and this is including playoffs too.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is the second time where an opposing center has scored more points than Jokic in a game and assisted more than Jokic in a game.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Only the second time.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: The other guy to do this was some people, some people's Jokic light, and Al Prince should go.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: And now we have Joel and B.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the matchup lived up to the hype completely.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was super excited for it.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for the next matchup, but it gets me to the conversation about why I don't believe that they're a 1A contender in the Eastern Conference to what to win a championship because they are so very reliant on Joel Embiid and Tyrus Maxie.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, traditionally, to win a championship, you need to be reliant on your star player.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Trust me, trust me, I understand that.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I believe that they're maybe a little bit too reliant on them compared to other champions in the past, right?
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: Jamal Murray and Nicole Jokic both had stellar playoff runs.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe, again, the sample size of Jokic, I'm sorry, of Joel Lambi in the playoffs tell me that maybe I shouldn't believe this, but I believe that we could get a nice run between Joel Lambiad and Tyrese Maxie.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: But three through, let's say eight or nine, depending on what type of rotation they really run.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have as much confidence in them as I did in Aaron Gordon and and Contavius Caldwell Pope.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, and even Bruce Brown.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love Nicholas Batum's role on this team.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: He has been one of my favorite role players for a very long time.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love his role on the team.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: They even had to play in the corner, where it's the end of the shot clock, he gets the pass all the way up here.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's the no-dip king.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: No matter where he catches the ball, he could get it up there and get it in.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't really trust Tobias Harris, even though he's having a good season.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't trust anybody else.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: While the other teams to compete for championships slash win championships may have the two top stars up top, but their tier two players are also really reliable.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I just don't feel like they have that just yet.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Schamps said on running back, friend of the show, Schamps, said the 76ers will be active at the trade deadline, but they're not pursuing the big names of DeJounte Murray, Zach Levine and Pascal Siakam.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, this is before Pascal got dealt today.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that just made me very interested.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because I didn't think they needed to go get DeJounte or they needed to get Zach Levine, but they did need to elevate their team nonetheless.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they got me thinking, if they're going to be active with their two first-round picks that they acquired from the Clippers, who could those players be?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're kind of running out of time, if you really think about it.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: They've been saying that they've been wanting to sit on the salary that they've acquired or the lack of salary they've acquired because Batoum, uh Mook Morris, uh, Robert Covington, these are expiring contracts and they potentially can have a max contract spot this season.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Boom.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just try to compete right now, and then we go sign a free agent, and next year is our year.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: Will Kawhi Leonard just sign his extension?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Paul George is in heavy talks for an extension.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: You're not bringing back, James.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Pascal Siakam just got traded to Indianapolis, and again, we don't know just yet, but they seem to be confident they can resign him.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: So this free agent class is getting worse and worse by the day.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to save this salary cap to go get DeMar DeRozan, to go get uh Gordon Hayward, Klay Thompson.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, if you're gonna use a max spot, you wanted to be one of the guys that I just mentioned, and they're those guys aren't it.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: So now that we're not thinking about keeping salary cap, then maybe we can go get a player that's no longer on an expiring deal.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked across the league, I scoured the association of people that could potentially be gettable with two first-round picks plus salary filler, even if that means that next year we don't have, or this offseason, we don't have as much money.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: Here are the names I came up with: Terry Rogier.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I mentioned um I do I do not like small backcourts, and Terry Rozier and Terry's Maxi will be one of the smaller backcourts in all the association.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: But Terry Rozier is having such a good season, and having another creator for himself and for his teammates on this team goes a very, very long way.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, again, I don't think it's a perfect fit because he's undersized and so is Tarys Maxie, but I like it.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe Terry Rozier is not a starter, even though you might have some trouble convincing him of that because he's having a phenomenal season for his standards.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: The next guy is Malcolm Broughton.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: Malcolm Brock is like one of the swing players for me.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: If he gets traded to the Knicks, I feel really good about the Knicks.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: If he gets traded to the 76ers, I feel really good about the 76ers.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: He is taller and bigger than Terry Rozier, but he also has experience with being an off-the-bench player where just having another ball handler outside of Maxi slash uh Patrick Beverly goes a long way.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's obviously been a good defender in his career.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's been a great catch-and-shoot player and just an overall great vet.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the last one, even though this guy has been rumored to not be on the market, is Boyan Bogdanovich.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: He is actually an expiring, if I get this right.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so maybe you could trade for Boyan Bogdanovich and also keep that cap space for somebody else.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: But the the it's it's kind of dry out there.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you're thinking about a guy like Alice Caruso, who's making only$9 million annually, but the Bulls have expressed that they're not trying to trade him.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you'd really, really have to throw a nice trade together for him.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if acquiring him puts you over the top.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, he has been one of the better catch-a-shoot players in all the basketball this season.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: He does act as a secondary ball handler, but does he put you over the hump enough to feel as though that that is a worthy trade to do?
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's only making like$9 million,$10 million next year, so saves you a little bit of money.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I do believe that they could use another creator.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: And with them being active and Daryl Morey being the madman that he is, I think that they're gonna get somebody.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a matter of who it is and at what price.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: So before we get out of here, we gotta have Greg's eye test takes.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I read through all of the comments.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna start tallying how many people agree with Greg and how many people agree with me on these takes.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: But let's get Greg in here.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: First one Boyan Bogdanovich could be the third option on a championship team.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: At this age, I'm gonna say no.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: If we just talk of 2018, hell yeah, I'm with you.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: I I just I guess I can't look at him being um a big piece on one of the worst teams of all time and think that he can switch over to another team and be the third option and be the swing.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also in the last segment, I just mentioned I kind of like him with the 76ers, which will put him as the third option.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm I'm gonna just say a tentative no.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do think he's a dynamic scorer.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's an underrated passer.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: He's maybe pass, he's definitely passed his prime as a defender.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the series versus the the Cavaliers back in the day, where he had the LeBron assignment.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: And though LeBron is LeBron, it was a lot of possessions there.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, okay, Boyon.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: But again, I think I'm gonna have to disagree.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: CJ McCollum is the best player still actively playing to never make an all-star game.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that's the that's the case.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: As long as we're getting rid of like the guys that are in year two or year three that haven't had opportunity.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: But if we're talking like actual veterans, yes, I think that CJ McCollum, when it's all said and done, because no disrespect, I don't think he's gonna get one before his career is over.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he will go down as one of the top three non-all-star players of all time.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like for a long time, that was Mike Conley, and then Mike Conley got his shout out to Mike.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now it's CJ.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: He has been a 20-point per game scorer for like seven straight years, as consistent as can be.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: And his role has shifted from when he was with the Portland Trailblazers to now being an elite ball handler and a playmaker for the Pelicans.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when he's healthy and he's playing, they're usually pretty good.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I can 100% agree with that.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: The last one, there's been a lot written on this subject, uh, a lot of podcasts, a lot of articles.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, in my opinion, the NBA should ban the act of taking charges.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, keep offensive fouls, but remove the act of sliding under an offensive player, putting your hands over your nuts, and falling over.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a dangerous play and it's not a natural basketball play.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: 100% agree with you on this one, Grant.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_01: I have I have set this for years upon years upon years.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: And every single year, it feels like we're losing somebody for a big amount of time for this exact reason.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it be a high flyer that is 16 feet in the airfield, John Morant trying to jump over somebody because somebody slid through and now he has a fractured arm.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm sorry, fractured hand.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: It I agree with you that it's not a natural basketball play.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of the times it doesn't result in the effect that you really want.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, you get you can get the actual call and then it's a turnover on the play, but I I would never, and this is why I'm probably not a coach.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think there's instances where charge can be valuable, but in most cases it's more detrimental to like the players, if that makes sense.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, too many freak accidents just happened for me.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: So hell, if my if if if you get beat, you get beat and you just gotta give up those two points at the at the rim, man.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Stay in front of your player.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know that last was gonna be a controversial one, but it's always a fluid conversation.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: You let us know in the comment section what you believe about that, what you believe about the big trade that happened, the Jokic versus Joel Embiid, any of the ass can be.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always in the comment section and I'm always reading.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate y'all, man.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you in a couple days.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's another trade.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: We don't really know.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: I guess we'll see when we get there.