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FRPC Hoops - March Madness? · Front Runner Podcast Collective

0:00
Who fans, you know what time it is.
0:27
It is FRPC hoot.
0:29
It is Saturday, day late.
0:31
We had some technical difficulties yesterday.
0:35
Our Wi-Fi went out and it was just horrific all day.
0:43
So now we're back.
0:44
We're up and running and we have hoops for you.
0:49
Unfortunately, the Canadian bomber.
0:53
The Canadian Shaman.
0:55
The Canadian Bill Simmons.
0:59
And for this podcast, the Canadian Zach Lowe will not be in attendance.
1:06
Unfortunately, our schedules because of what has happened yesterday,
1:12
we're not able to link up today, so it is me and we are going to get through all
1:19
of this and we got a pretty good show for you today and I'm excited about it.
1:24
Now,
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what is going on in March Madness is really interesting to me on a lot of levels.
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And the reason why I want to start here is because this has specific draft
1:40
implications that I kind of want to talk about right now.
1:44
Did you know that there is not one
1:48
suggested lottery pick left?
1:51
And this was out of the sweet 16.
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I know we're now in the final in the elite eight.
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But there's not one lottery pick amongst the teams that are left in the elite eight.
2:07
I'm going to say that nine times out of ten, this is bad.
2:10
And the reason why is because some of the kids like Scoot Henderson,
2:16
Alman Thompson, or Soor Thompson are not going to college.
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Scoot Henderson in the G League probably has a better window into what the NBA
2:29
looks like with his couple of years there.
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Now, as far as a sore and Alman and Thompson, they're playing against high
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school kids and things of that nature now, they can be elite high school kids.
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I've seen some of the games, their skill level.
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I wouldn't even put it with like like college basketball, like even mid mid
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major.
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Is the NCAA in trouble is the first question.
2:59
Do the lack of stars and the lack of prospects last couple of weekends of
3:07
college basketball, does it enhance your your fandom?
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Does it take away from your fandom?
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Does it make the madness less or is it still the same old madness to you?
3:21
Hit us up on front runner PC on Twitter and also
3:27
at Nico F.R.P.C. on Twitter and let us know about that.
3:34
Congrats to Yukon's freshman.
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Jordan Hawkins, who is probably the highest rated prospect that is still in the
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tournament, you can swing man Jordan Hawkins is a flamethrower.
3:51
OK, this guy is a competent marksman.
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He shoots it from deep.
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He has a very, very quick release.
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He's a movement guy.
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The ball doesn't stick to him.
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He plays very good defense for somebody who doesn't have like all the quick twitch
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skills that you look for in a defender.
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He knows how to slide his feet.
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He seems to do a lot of scouting on his own on tendencies and things of that
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nature, he picks up things pretty quickly.
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But the one thing that he can do is shoot.
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Now, he's not just a shooter.
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He does have I wouldn't call him an on-law initiator.
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What I would call him is he's able to take a couple of dribbles and be able to
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location his shot or relocate, you know, sidestep and hit a shot.
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But if you're asking him to be like a
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secondary initiator, it's really not his gig.
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But he's a guy that you can sit there and just know for for a fact that he's going
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to hit threes for you at a pretty consistent level.
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He's a he's just he's incredible.
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I like this kid a lot about six foot five, about one ninety five right now.
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Those are a those are the measurements that we have.
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Obviously, as we get closer to the NBA
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combine, we will probably have better, more realistic numbers for you on that.
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But at right now, he is listed at six foot five and about one ninety five.
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So if you're looking for a guy to kind
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of hone in on and one of your favorite teams can get on this kid,
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Jordan Hawkins out of Yukon is a guy that you want to look at.
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Now, getting back to the madness, there's not a number.
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There's not a number one seat left in this tournament.
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OK, we have the likes of Florida, Atlantic, Creighton, San Diego State.
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Then you mix in your Texas and your Yukon's and and what have you.
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And you Gonzaga's of the world shots out to Gonzaga, who has now broken my heart
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twice, as you know, I'm a UCLA fan and yes, Thursday was not a great day
6:11
for the mighty Bruins, but you know what?
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If that's what's going to beat us in the in a tournament,
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you know what you all you have to do is tip your cap and keep it moving.
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I'm proud of the guys effort.
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I'm proud of Jaime High test, Junior
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Tiger Campbell, David Singleton.
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Dylan Andrews, Will McClendon.
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A damn boner who did not play
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Jalen Clark, who did not play.
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I'm proud of the UCLA Bruins this year.
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They play very well, they play tough and honestly.
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You know, with the injuries in that shot, I mean, that's it.
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You know, it's a one and done tournament.
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So you win, you survive, you move on.
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You lose and that's it.
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You go home, you wait till next year.
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So with that being said, I can't be upset at UCLA at all.
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I'm really just excited for the future with them.
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And Mick Cronin in his recruiting prowess has picked it up a notch.
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He is the cover is not there just because
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how many Hawkins Jr. might be going pro to the NBA.
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David Singleton played his last game as a UCLA Bruin and Tiger Campbell also as
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well, but they got kids that played this year.
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They got vital experience and they have more kids coming in next year.
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And who knows?
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We don't know what we're going to get out of the transfer portal.
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So fours up, eight clap all day, still stands, still applies.
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We don't lose.
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We don't leave our team just because they get bounced from the tournament.
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And if they didn't play well, I would let you know.
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But on the effort that they gave and that game was just great all the way through.
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You knew Gonzaga was going to make a run.
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You knew that they had they'd been tested,
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battle tested in some of these tournaments earlier in the season,
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even though they don't play in probably the highest stakes of conferences.
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But Mark Few, really good coach,
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settled his team down, drew team to me.
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His leadership was also a determining factor.
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And Strother just hit the shot.
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Julian Strother just hit a shot.
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So shots out to Julian Strother in his.
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What? 35 footer?
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I mean, this thing was he had a logo shot.
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What are you going to do with that?
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There's nothing you can do.
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So that is the end of me crying about UCLA.
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I know people are like, damn,
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students crying about UCLA again.
8:56
The other thing that I want to get to is
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the other guy that you want to kind of look at, he's late first rounder,
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early second rounder, it's Creighton's Kogi Jones.
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He's a six foot six guard.
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He looks like his play style looks a lot like Andre Miller.
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If you remember Andre Miller, he played on Utah,
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Cleveland, he played for a lot of teams, but Andre Miller kicked around the NBA
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probably for about 16, 18 years, somewhere in there.
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He was like a six foot, two, six foot, three point guard, not really fast,
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but he was a floor general.
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And he got it done.
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And Kogi Jones kind of reminds me of a taller version.
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Of Andre Miller, a lot of people have him
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looking like Malcolm Brogdon of the Celtics.
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Malcolm Brogdon, you can shoot.
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So Kogi Jones is a OK shooter, not a great shooter.
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He definitely has some work to do on that end.
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But at six foot six, as far as a bar
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distributor, a offense initiator, he can handle that.
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He probes the pain at his own speed.
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You know, nothing speeds him up.
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You can't.
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He doesn't pick up his dribble just because there is traffic.
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He's a heavy, relentless defender.
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He uses his angles in his body,
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his body type to help him defend off quicker guards and what have you.
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And he is a 50, 50 ball monster.
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He is.
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College version of Dylan Brooks.
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Without.
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Some of the just the combustion that you get with Dylan,
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but he's not afraid to stick his nose in there and he will challenge.
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Your good.
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On ball initiator or your wing that's getting hot,
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he will take the defensive challenge and go get that dude.
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And that guy will probably be sick of him
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playing by the end of the game because he will.
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He will fight over screens.
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He will make sure that he stays with his man.
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He also can play off ball a little bit
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in the sense of an off ball defense where he can anticipate the passing lanes.
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He knows angles, he gets a lot of deflections.
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He's really good on that end of the court.
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On the other end of the court, as far as getting you a bucket
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or getting your open, getting your shooter open because he can probe the lane.
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And because of the fact that he has the ability to not pick up his journal
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when it looks like he's in tight quarters.
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He's going to look and find the open man.
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So if you start to converge on him, he'll just kick it out to the three.
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And, you know, you're looking at.
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You know, you kind of looking at knockdown shooters,
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so that's what you cons game is.
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And that's what Kogi Jones of not you, a Creighton.
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Sorry, that's what Creighton does.
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And.
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Kobe Jones is going to be a intriguing prospect because if he can shoot it a
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little bit better is a chance of being a real.
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Like rotation piece for a for a playoff team, I think he has that in him.
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Defense can get him on the court.
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His ability to handle the ball in his ability not to turn the ball over will
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keep him on the court.
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And then as far as his his long standing career is concerned,
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his shooting will just have to elevate.
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But those are two guys that you can look
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at as you look at some of these games or go back and look at some of these games.
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So Creighton's Kogi Jones.
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And you cause Jordan Hawkins are the two guys that you want to kind of look at.
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We lost everybody, man.
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So just just Walker, the Duke kids.
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So Filipowski, Lively, White side.
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You know, we lost all we lost the Dukes.
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UCLA is gone, so you don't have to worry
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about Amari Bailey anymore, you know, have to look at that type of situation.
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Alabama's out, so we don't have to worry about Brandon Miller anymore.
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All the guys that were at the top of the
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draft board that were outside that are not outside the United States and who not
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playing for G League in night or overtime elite, they're all gone, man.
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And it just goes to show you that teams
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that are who have maybe like a nine or a 12 in front of their
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as far as their seeding sign, you got to understand these teams
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have been together for two, three, four years.
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You know, some of these guys are 23 years of age, you know, they're going up against
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grown men and you saw as games got tight.
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You saw the familiarity of teams who had been through the wars together over the
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years.
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Not panic and get the job done and move on.
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So that's one of the reasons why we do not
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have any number one seeds left in this March Madness.
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So what else can we talk about?
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Well, in a longstanding tradition here at
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FRPC, because Nico is not here and he cannot talk about his beloved Houston
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Rockets, I will take this time to talk about my beloved Los Angeles Lakers.
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The Lakers are now at five hundred for the first time this year.
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Anthony Davis scored thirty seven points
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and fifteen rebounds last night to help his team for the first time.
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Get to five hundred now
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as Laker fans, we are actually pretty excited about being at five hundred.
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And actually, it's been four hundred and twenty four days
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since the Lakers have been at five hundred.
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Think about that, four hundred and twenty four days since the Lakers has seen five
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hundred.
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You know, it just baffles the mind
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that they are there, they're there in this situation.
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Well, here they are.
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We've talked about some of the moves in a nauseam.
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We have a
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a trade deadline show that's two parter.
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So if you want to go back and hear our
16:12
thoughts on what we thought of some of the moves at the time.
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Now that we have a couple of weeks to kind of reflect and see.
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And this trade is trade that brought them D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley,
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Jan Vandeville.
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This trade was phenomenal for so many reasons, and also the addition of Ruri
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Patra more earlier, previous before the trade deadline.
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Even though D'Angelo Russell did not play last night,
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the one thing that you are seeing is you're seeing the best version.
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Of D'Angelo Russell at this point.
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He seems to be playing within inside himself.
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He seems to.
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Down some peace on the floor a little bit.
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Now, I'm sure he's still gunning for his contract, because you know what?
17:14
You got to secure the bag first and foremost, right?
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But I like the energy that Vanderbilt has given.
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Malik Beasley is all of what he is.
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He is a streaky shooter.
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He'll get incredibly cold.
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Or he'll get hot.
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Now, his.
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Importance to the team is that he continues to take those three point shots.
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But he's been in a terrible slump for a while now.
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He had a couple of good games early on after the trade deadline, after he got
17:58
to the Lakers, but lately it's not been great.
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Last night he was two of six, and actually we were really kind of pumped up as Laker
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Nation that he was to six because we had some bad ones.
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But the emergence of Austin Reeves has kind
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of helped that situation where it hasn't been as glaring of a war as it could be.
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Austin Reeves seems to has elevated his game over like the last, I say, last seven.
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He seems to be being able to initiate
18:38
contacting and draw fouls at a better clip.
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His handle is actually a little bit better than what I thought it was.
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And I've been watching him.
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He's been working.
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You can tell.
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The only thing that I ask of Austin Reeves is to be a little bit more aggressive or
18:57
hunt his shot more, and you've seen that over the last two weeks,
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maybe a little bit more, maybe two and a half, three weeks.
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But it hasn't been long.
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That was my only gripe with Austin Reeves.
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Is it the one thing I do know is that he's going to play the game right.
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He's going to find open shooters,
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but I was hoping for his aggressiveness to kind of pick up a notch.
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And it has can't be mad at what Austin
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Reeves has been doing even last night on an off game.
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Look how he looked at the look at what he did with the stat sheet.
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Filled it up pretty good at six rebounds and nine assists.
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Played defense.
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And it was important.
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All of it was important last night because of the fact that the Lakers do not have
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a margin for error, they just don't at this point, they have to continue to win.
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Steph Curry in the Golden State Warriors at 39, 36, they are now the 60.
20:03
They're chasing, they're trying to chase down the Phoenix Suns.
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And Phoenix is trying to chase down the Clippers.
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But Minnesota and the Lakers are tied at 37 to 37.
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And right now, Minnesota has the tiebreaker.
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They are sitting in the seventh seed as the Lakers sit in the eighth seed.
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So everything ends today.
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The Lakers are in and then they would go to Minnesota and play that game.
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So the Lakers have eight more games left to go.
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And it is time to put the foot to the pedal and see if you can get beyond
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the Minnesota Timberwolves and see if you can maybe creep yourself up to that sixth spot.
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That's where everybody's trying to get to.
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The reason why they're trying to get there is because.
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The Sacramento Kings are going to make the playoff latest in the season.
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The Kings are going to make the playoff latest in German.
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And the great thing about that is shout out to the Kings.
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Shout out to
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coach Mike Brown, who obviously former Laker coach, but also
21:19
I'm just glad that he was able to get another chance and really be able to put
21:24
his imprint on this team, as you can see.
21:28
This is a this is phenomenal.
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This is a phenomenal situation, you're talking about 16 years.
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Of non winning basketball.
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Do you know this time last year?
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That.
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The Sacramento Kings were.
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Like their record was basically flipped,
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I think it was twenty four and forty eight at this time last year.
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And now they're forty four and twenty nine.
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Kudos to them.
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The one guy that I want to kind of highlight
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is he doesn't get a lot of love, but it was the acquisition that they made
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from Atlanta in the offseason, Kevin Herder.
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Kevin Herder, her his per thirty six, he's averaging eighteen point five points.
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He's shooting forty eight point eight percent from the field on 14 attempts.
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He's also shooting forty one point one percent from three on eight point two
22:39
attempts.
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He has a net rating of a plus four point nine, so almost five.
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His effective field goal shooting is sixty one percent in his true shooting is sixty
22:55
two point three percent.
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On usage, on a usage of 19 percent, just just so you know, so.
23:06
He's improved.
23:09
All his vital numbers over last year.
23:14
And you wonder if this was a.
23:19
Change of scenery or was it more the play style fits him better?
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I'm going to go with the play style fits him better.
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Memo to ATL.
23:34
Fans and also the Atlanta Hawks.
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You got to find a way.
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With Quinn Snyder in the building now.
23:44
You have to find a way to get Trey Young off the ball.
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For a decent amount of time during the game.
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I think it will help the offense tremendously.
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I think guys touching the ball helps.
24:00
You know, Ryan Wasillo says something in his podcast and he says there's nothing
24:06
fun watching a dude dribble basketball for 22 seconds and then at the last second
24:12
he throw it to you and go, OK, take a shot.
24:19
There's no there's no fun in that.
24:21
Where's the fluidity?
24:24
Where's the movement?
24:26
And it's really going to be up to Trey Young to augment his game.
24:32
To allow his his teammates to have a chance to touch in the basketball and
24:38
actually maybe make his shots a lot easier for him.
24:43
And maybe he becomes a more efficient scorer because of it.
24:47
Very young is a brilliant point guard, excellent shooter range out.
24:53
Well, I was going to say something, but
24:57
he is a ton of range.
25:00
But I will tell you that his shot selection is terrible.
25:05
His unwillingness to give up the ball, even with DeJante Murray in the building,
25:13
it's kind of alarming.
25:15
They've had to stagger those guys because they are finding it hard to play with one
25:20
another.
25:22
I hope this is a real wake up call for
25:25
Trey Young, but I wanted to spotlight Pevenherter for two reasons.
25:30
One,
25:32
we talk about here on FRPC hoops holistically.
25:36
We talk about what can you do as a front office to make your team better?
25:40
What can you do to get your team to that next level?
25:45
And these are the type of things that the Sacramento Kings did.
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OK, we go back to the trade deadline
25:54
a season ago.
25:56
And the much
25:59
the much talked about the much discussed
26:02
Tyrese Halliburton to Indiana for a DeMontes Sabonis.
26:06
Here's the thing.
26:08
I did not like to trade at the time.
26:11
I'm a huge Halliburton fan.
26:16
If I thought there was a guard to get rid of, I thought it was going to be Dearon
26:19
Fox. I will I will humbly humbly eat that
26:26
those words.
26:27
Dearon Fox has been a absolute animal this year.
26:32
His crunch time numbers is
26:36
are just so unfathomable right now.
26:41
He's doing just brilliant things and he is an absolute closer in the fourth quarter.
26:47
He's got the most four quarter points
26:50
in the NBA this year, and he has the most crunch time points in the NBA this year.
26:58
But you also look at the percentages and you look at the shooting.
27:03
They're also up there as well.
27:07
But the reason why I want to talk about
27:10
the Sacramento Kings, because we are we were supposed to have a long discussion
27:14
about the Kings and what they're doing and whatever, and we might say that till
27:17
next week, I just want to hit on them a little bit.
27:21
Now, I wanted to highlight Kevin Herter for this specific reason.
27:29
One, when he left Atlanta, it was literally a salary dump.
27:33
It's not like they really want to get rid of them.
27:35
But these are the type of guys that can.
27:42
Even though they're not the superstar,
27:44
they can make subtle changes within their in your team and make you a whole lot
27:49
better very quickly.
27:53
Because Kevin Herter does the one thing that we need in the NBA, he can shoot.
28:00
And he has socks.
28:03
And he's a willing defender.
28:06
So if you put all those three things together and also here's the other thing,
28:11
his second side creation is not bad.
28:15
He will not just follow the ball off his knee all the time.
28:20
He's a capable, capable handler of the basketball.
28:23
He can get you into pick and roll action.
28:27
He's a good all around player.
28:30
And for teams that are now
28:34
starting to reassess where they are, you know, we're getting to the close
28:38
to the end of the year, so your teams that are on the bubble or,
28:44
you know, maybe they had a bad injury and, you know, they're kind of floating
28:48
around the 11th, 12th seed, things of that nature.
28:53
You know, these are the type of guys that you don't have to spend crazy amounts of
28:58
money on. You don't have to give up tons and tons of draft equity to get.
29:07
But if you can pinpoint and be right about these type of guys,
29:12
it can elevate your team to a point where, like I said, Sacramento hasn't been
29:18
in the playoffs for 16 years, it's been since 2006, and they're going to end this
29:22
drought this year. So light, the freaking beam
29:28
shouts out to Sacramento Kings and sacra
29:31
shouts out to Kevin Herder in his tremendous season.
29:35
And I look for nothing but better things for my guy, Kevon.
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You know what I'm saying? We love Kevon.
29:52
Here's a stat.
29:55
From.
29:57
At DM Grubb on Twitter.
30:02
I wanted to give him a shout out because when I saw this note, I couldn't believe
30:05
it.
30:06
You know, it's been 146 days since the Pelicans won a road game against a team
30:13
that had a winning.
30:15
Record.
30:18
A hundred and forty six days since the New Orleans Pelicans won a game on the road
30:26
against a team that has a winning record.
30:30
It almost seems impossible to believe.
30:34
Now, we are also watching Golden State have one of the worst road records for
30:41
defending reigning champion.
30:46
So it shouldn't be too crazy to see New Orleans go one hundred and forty six days,
30:54
which is.
30:55
Darn near half a year or almost there one more month and we'll be at a half a year.
31:05
Injury update on Zion.
31:10
He has resumed.
31:13
On court activities, but still will be reevaluated into the three weeks.
31:27
The Pelicans are a prime candidate for a lead guard, either through the draft
31:35
or through agency or through create an offseason.
31:41
Yeah, the problem is, is where they are in the draft.
31:44
I do not think they would be able to get the caliber or lead guard without making
31:50
a move up, get it.
31:54
And their plans of having the Lakers.
31:57
Be have a worse record than them has kind of fallen to the wayside at this point.
32:03
But right now, as they stand, I think they're like 13th, like 13, 12, 13 place
32:12
somewhere in there for like if the lottery shook out exactly.
32:19
The way it's supposed to.
32:20
They're looking at like 13th with their pick.
32:24
That is definitely not in the situation to get Scoot Henderson, because you want
32:29
to be at like you have to be top three at least get that guy.
32:36
The other thing is, is that when they do go look for a lead guard.
32:42
Because I do believe a lead guard could
32:43
help this team even without Zion right now.
32:50
A lead guard would just be able to get them into the set, get them comfortable.
32:54
But the other thing that you're going to need from this lead guard, if you're
32:58
keeping CJ McCollum, is that lead guard is going to have to provide you with some
33:03
height and also he's going to be able to he's going to have to be able to play
33:07
defense.
33:09
If CJ CJ.
33:13
Cries on defense, he's just not really good at it.
33:22
A name to keep in mind for Pelican
33:24
fans, because it might be in your range, is Nick Smith Jr.
33:30
Now, personally, I will tell you.
33:33
He's been hurt this year.
33:35
He hasn't played a lot.
33:38
I haven't seen enough from him to make a decision on, oh, yeah, this is definitely
33:43
the guy you got to get, but if you're looking at just the draft models
33:47
and you're looking at some of the scouting reports on him,
33:50
he looks like a guy that would kind of fit the bill.
33:53
The only thing is, is that.
33:56
The Pelicans need a lead guard that they know can do it.
34:01
This guy has crates.
34:03
Nick Smith Jr. has treats.
34:05
We don't know if he can necessarily do these things in NBA.
34:10
Focus still out. We have to wait and see and watch.
34:16
But if I'm the Pelicans, I got to make sure
34:19
that that's something that I get cleared up or we're waiting on Zion to get back,
34:23
get healthy and we get point Zion back.
34:29
A low point, Zion.
34:31
It was one of my favorite things to see,
34:33
see somebody darn near 300 pounds, six, six, just doing just getting into the paint
34:40
whenever he wanted to and kicking it out to shooters.
34:44
We'll see what the Pelicans do.
34:47
But I thought that 146 days since they beat a team on the road that had a winning
34:56
record was eye opening, to say the least, with all the talent that they have on this
35:00
team, even with Al's I look at a situation when you have Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum.
35:09
Jonas Baluchinis, Trey Murphy, the third.
35:15
They got enough guys that they should be able to eat out wins.
35:19
Listen, you play Houston every once in a while.
35:23
You play Charlotte every once in a while.
35:26
You play these teams.
35:28
You should be able to come up with a victory.
35:32
And for me, well, that's not a win.
35:34
I'm saying, but I would think that this team is good enough to be, you know,
35:39
every once in a while, sneak up on one of these teams that even a lower level 500
35:44
team, like if you got one of the East teams that were just about, you know,
35:49
like one, two games over 500, almost it's almost impossible for the
35:54
Pelicans to not win a game against a team that is over 500.
35:59
But this is the year that we live in.
36:03
Speaking of the Dallas Mavericks, Maverick fans, I'm not going to talk about your
36:09
boy Cuban going off on the rest and the bad cause and whatever occasion be.
36:13
I don't even want to get into that.
36:16
The one thing I do want to get into is how
36:20
discounted Luka looked after that loss.
36:26
He said the game.
36:29
Wasn't fun.
36:31
It's been a very difficult year for him.
36:36
Yeah, because you don't have Jenning Bronson.
36:42
Now, everybody's talked about it.
36:45
We're not going to kill it.
36:46
We're not going to kill Dallas.
36:49
It's over.
36:50
And now we've got to just do better.
36:54
But this offseason looks to be critical
36:57
in the future of what the Dallas Mavericks are going to look like in three years.
37:03
Do you keep Kyrie?
37:06
What other pieces that you could put
37:09
around Luka to give him a better shot at winning?
37:19
Do you need a big?
37:23
You definitely need a wing defender
37:26
that can shoot.
37:30
Maybe even two wing defenders that can shoot.
37:36
But just to look on his face,
37:38
just his his whole demeanor during that press conference.
37:43
If I am Maverick fan.
37:46
I might start be I might start getting worried a little bit.
37:50
Like, is this dude here for the long haul?
37:54
It's just or is he just tired of carrying this team?
38:02
Only time will tell.
38:04
Usually the foreign guys don't leave just because.
38:11
But I wonder if.
38:15
We get through next season.
38:18
That's a long way off, so there is there isn't a lot of let's get Luka out of Dallas.
38:25
Talk here. OK, I want Luka to stay in Dallas,
38:28
but you have to be certain if you're a Maverick fan.
38:33
After seeing that press conference,
38:35
just a little bit, you have to be a little bit nervous.
38:41
Speaking of nervous.
38:43
I have just a quick question from my from my partners in the Bay Area.
38:50
Do the defending champs have a run in them?
38:58
That road record is abysmal.
39:02
And the thing about it is, it's not just a record.
39:04
If you look at the numbers, if you look at the just the stats, it's terrible.
39:13
There are plus seven point seven at home net rating.
39:18
They are negative point six point seven.
39:23
On the road.
39:25
Net rating.
39:31
Well, people ask, well, why is that?
39:32
Why are they so drastically different?
39:36
It's part of the problem.
39:39
Steph Carey has played 49 of the possible 75 games.
39:45
Now, I know all those games weren't on the road and all those games,
39:50
you know, you didn't just sit out row games, but.
39:56
You have a guy who is.
39:59
Basically 50 percent from the field, 43 percent from three and 90 percent
40:06
from the free throw line. Now, this is not unusual.
40:11
This is something that step does.
40:14
But to be doing it at age 34, going to age 35.
40:19
And also, if you look at like the true
40:24
shooting numbers and the effective field goal percentage.
40:27
Sixty two percent effective field goal
40:30
percentage and sixty six point three true shooting percentage.
40:36
This is one of the great Steph Curry years that he's ever had.
40:41
And.
40:43
I don't want to say that they are wasting it.
40:47
But if there is championship DNA still
40:50
left, if Kerr has been saving a vial of championship DNA.
40:58
Or whatever, for this time, it is time to go get that bad boy from the safe.
41:05
If you have a retina scan to open up that safe, go ahead and use that.
41:13
If there's some sort of biometric
41:17
tech to get it out the safe, you would need to go ahead and do that.
41:23
And you need to go ahead and get that vial of championship DNA out as quickly
41:28
as possible, because we are running out of time
41:32
and they are trying to chase down the Phoenix Suns for the fifth spot.
41:38
I don't know if they get there even without Durant.
41:42
Report is that Durant might be back.
41:48
Towards the end of the year, well, hell, we're there.
41:52
We're at the end of the year.
41:54
We got eight games left.
41:55
I understand there's a couple of weeks left, but I don't see.
42:00
I think the early if you're going to see
42:02
Durant, maybe he plays the last two games of the year, maybe.
42:10
Or he might just come to the playoffs.
42:12
I think that's what we're going to see from LeBron James.
42:15
I don't think LeBron is going to play.
42:17
I could be wrong.
42:20
We're seeing a lot of, hey, we we evaluated him.
42:24
We need to reevaluate him in two or three weeks with all of them.
42:30
Durant, LeBron.
42:33
Everybody has an ankle injury.
42:35
I'm saying.
42:38
Our guy, Anthony Edwards in Minnesota,
42:41
coming back soon, so so excited to see that team fully together.
42:49
And see what they can do.
42:53
Minnesota is 7th, 7th right now in the standings, and they are looking to try to
43:00
get out of that plan.
43:02
I don't know if they have enough time, but we'll see.
43:19
Question for the nation, do you really believe that there is a switch that they
43:24
can turn on from what you've seen this year?
43:28
From Clay Thompson, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole.
43:33
We have no idea when Andrew Wiggins is getting back, if he's getting back.
43:39
The reports of supposedly he's.
43:43
Taking care of someone else's kid or whatever is such an erroneous rumor.
43:53
Checked in on that.
43:55
Couldn't find any validity to those statements, so we're going to say
44:01
allegedly, but he seems to have something going on that is not allowing him to play.
44:08
And it's severe enough to keep him away from the team, so we just hope that he
44:12
gets back, we hope that he gets back and he's he's fully him.
44:16
And we don't know if it's going to be this year.
44:18
We have no idea.
44:20
But the dove needle, Golden State needs him desperately if they have any chance
44:27
of making a real legitimate run to the Western Conference Finals.
44:34
And then the the last piece of news that we're going to talk about today
44:39
is the Jalen Brown situation.
44:43
And if you're not up on this,
44:46
I don't know how you're going to get to the bottom of this.
44:49
I don't know how you couldn't.
44:51
If you're listening to this podcast, you probably listen to Zach Lowe.
44:54
You probably listen to when horse, you probably listen to other people.
44:58
But we do appreciate you listening to us.
45:01
So I have a little different spin than those gentlemen.
45:03
But we're going to go over the particular first.
45:11
Jalen Brown is.
45:14
In a point of his contractual
45:17
situation where we kind of need to talk about this.
45:21
The reason why is he's coming off his he's
45:23
getting close to the end of his working extension.
45:27
OK.
45:29
Where it was four years and I believe it was one hundred and six million.
45:37
And that ends in twenty, twenty four years, the problem.
45:42
The way the contract is structured.
45:47
If he doesn't hit like all NBA team or wins
45:51
a league MVP or whatever case would be.
45:56
It will lose him just to opt out of his contract.
46:01
And not sign extension.
46:05
Because the Celtics could give him a little bit more money,
46:09
but if he opts out, he can get way more money.
46:14
Now.
46:17
I don't know anybody who can sneeze it,
46:20
an extra thirty two mil, but that's what we're looking at over the years.
46:26
If he opts out, he can make approximately forty four million.
46:29
If he decides an extension, he can make about thirty six a year annually.
46:36
So if you sign a four year deal.
46:41
And you're eight off, so eight times four, thirty two.
46:45
That's where we come up with the thirty two.
46:49
So basically how this works is that.
46:52
The Celtics are hoping for Jaden Brown to make a all NBA team.
46:59
Here's the problem.
47:01
Jason Tatum is definitely going to make an all NBA team.
47:06
Now, it depends on whether you look at Jalen Brown as a forward or guard,
47:12
because if he's looked at as a guard.
47:15
There is little to no shot that he has any chance of getting into all NBA.
47:24
Even with some of the injuries that have happened over the years,
47:29
injuries that have happened over the season to step currying people like that.
47:35
Because new new guards have emerged.
47:41
Tyrese Halliburton is one.
47:44
Jim Bronson is another.
47:48
Along with your other cast of characters,
47:51
your Devin Booker, your Donovan Mitchell and everybody else that's usually in
47:55
these talks, if Jalen Brown is considered a guard, he's not going to make all NBA.
48:02
And he doesn't make all NBA.
48:06
The Celtics have a real issue on their hands.
48:18
The other thing is that.
48:21
As Logan Murdoch from the ringer recorded and shots out to my guy,
48:26
Logan Murdoch, from the real ones.
48:31
He had an interview with Jalen Brown and he did a story on him and he interviewed
48:36
a ton of people, and the one thing that he kept on saying in some of the podcasts
48:40
that I listened to about his actual story is that he he intimated that Jalen Brown
48:49
it's not like he has an issue with the Celtics at all,
48:52
but he has an issue with some of the dealings that they've had.
48:57
OK, you got to understand it from his point of view.
49:00
Dylan Brown is 26 years of age.
49:03
OK.
49:06
He's probably one of the best
49:08
handums in basketball was.
49:11
Brown and Tatum together.
49:14
The Celtics made the NBA finals last year and really were a.
49:22
One less nuclear game from Steph Curry,
49:26
probably from winning that game from winning that series.
49:33
So my question is, why is Jalen Brown's name coming up in every trade rumor?
49:40
And here's the thing, it's not every trade rumor, it's every significant trade
49:44
rumor. He was in the 80.
49:47
He was in the KD talks, the Kevin Durant talks this this last offseason.
49:52
You were also in the Anthony Davis talks when he was up.
50:00
So his name has been floated out there
50:02
many a time, and I don't think that Jalen Brown really appreciates it.
50:10
Jalen Brown is one of these guys who
50:14
does a lot of activism in his community.
50:17
He doesn't in Boston as well as his hometown of Atlanta.
50:26
That little dust out with Kanye and Jalen
50:30
have more to do with the school aspect than it did with Kanye.
50:36
He was trying to see if by keeping his name
50:40
involved with Kanye, could he save the school as he was more he was more worried
50:46
and concerned with those kids, those inner city kids, you know, getting the education.
50:51
And the Donda was also a school that was kind of like a prep school,
50:58
kind of like your IMG Academy, the Sierra Canyons of the world.
51:04
So
51:06
he was concerned with the with the athletics and he was concerned with these
51:10
students just not being left out in the lurch.
51:13
That's why he wasn't just, oh, I'm out on Kanye because he is a loyal dude.
51:22
And his work means a lot to him.
51:23
He's not just going to go with the crowd and just go, OK, because you said so.
51:27
I'm going to just go ahead and kick this dude to the curb.
51:30
No, he wanted to read up on it.
51:32
He wanted to make sure that these things were being said.
51:36
He wanted to make sure that these inflammatory comments were really coming
51:43
from Kanye and also desperately trying to see how he could still help those kids
51:50
and help those those those students to reach their goals.
51:55
Because the one thing that Jaylen Brown does stand for is.
52:02
Basically, getting education to those
52:06
and resources to those who usually have an issue with ascertaining those resources.
52:15
Poor communities, you know, I'll say it like that.
52:18
People who aren't as affluent as some of the other people out here in the world.
52:25
So that's why Jaylen Brown didn't just cut Kanye off right away.
52:32
Because he was trying to do something right for the kids.
52:36
With that being said,
52:40
Boston has a good character guy, is a good, great player, great defender.
52:47
And doesn't feel necessarily
52:52
offended or somehow wrong by being the number two guy in Boston.
52:58
But the one thing he does care about is he cares about being respected.
53:03
He doesn't feel like he has a partnership
53:08
with the front office and the the leadership of the Celtics.
53:14
This is all basically from Logan Murdoch's piece on the ringer.
53:19
I suggest that you read it.
53:20
It's very enthralling.
53:22
I read it and then I listened to Logan on
53:26
some of the podcasts that he was going on about this particular story.
53:31
But these are the things that are important.
53:32
So Boston fans, how do you feel about your guy?
53:35
Is he going to make one of these NBA teams?
53:38
You kind of really need him to make one of these teams.
53:41
You want to make sure that he's a forward and not designated as a guard.
53:48
So then he can make one of these teams,
53:51
because, like I said, if he's a guard, there's no way he's going to make it.
53:54
And it's just going to set up for a really interesting offseason.
53:59
If it couldn't get more spicy,
54:02
what all the other things that I think might be going on this offseason?
54:09
But for the teams out there, you know, I'm saying, like.
54:15
Is this the next guy?
54:17
Is this the guy that makes pull the trigger on?
54:21
Nor New York City, where you at?
54:25
Where you at, New York?
54:26
Is this the guy that you pull the trigger on?
54:31
6667 combo wing.
54:37
We know that Cleveland doesn't have the money to get them.
54:42
Does he go home to Atlanta?
54:45
What's that look like?
54:47
I know one thing he's not going to be putting up with any BS from Trey Young.
54:53
I'll tell you that they would have to work some out.
54:58
If the word something out on that.
55:03
Be interested to see where Jalen Brown ends up, you know,
55:07
if for some reason he doesn't make it all in the 18, I'm really
55:12
excited to see what happens in the offseason.
55:15
But Boston fans, how do you feel about your guy?
55:18
How do you feel about this rule?
55:21
Does the new collective bargaining agreement kind of.
55:27
Fix this little court that's in the.
55:31
In the bylaws.
55:33
Because that's another thing that could save the Celtics if for some reason,
55:38
the CBA kind of fix this so they can sign their own guy.
55:45
It's all going to be very, very interesting.
55:47
So with that being said, we're going to get up out of here because this game's
55:52
for us to watch, we will be back Monday.
55:55
Hopefully Internet stays open.
55:58
We're going to be back on the same day.
56:00
We will be back Monday, hopefully Internet stays up.
56:04
And I believe also on that situation, you can.
56:09
You can put in 10 that Nico Miotello,
56:13
the Canadian bomber, the Canadian shaman, the Canadian Bill Simmons.
56:18
And for this podcast, the Canadians,
56:21
that will be attendance on Monday.
56:25
So for myself and Nico, we wish you a good weekend.
56:29
And we'll see you back on this feed on Monday.
56:32
And I hope that this Hoops Talk solo mission was good for you again.
56:39
Please download us, please subscribe to us.
56:43
Please tell a friend to listen to us.
56:47
I hope this has been, you know.
56:51
Kind of a journey for you guys, as it's been for me,
56:54
if you listen to any of the pods over the last couple of weeks,
56:57
you know that my mother has been in the hospital.
57:01
She has returned home.
57:04
We are going to have.
57:09
Some sort of.
57:12
Nurse come into the home to have her
57:15
checked out, probably a couple of times a week, we'll be looking in on that.
57:20
Possibly Tuesday, that's what it looks like.
57:22
That's the earliest we can get.
57:25
But I want to thank everybody who sent their will, well, which is in the text,
57:30
things of that nature, it's meant a lot if you DM me and things that if you DM me,
57:37
I really appreciate it.
57:39
Thank you for your your thoughts and your concerns.
57:42
And for all the people who have checked in on my mom,
57:45
I just want to let you guys know, rest assured she is all resting comfortably.
57:50
And we are taking it day by day.
57:53
So with that being said, we can go ahead and sign off now.
57:56
But I want to hit you with that little good news before I did.
57:59
And we'll be back on this feed on Monday.
58:02
So again, you guys have a great weekend.
58:05
Enjoy the Elite eight.
58:07
Enjoy the the the last games of the regular season in the NBA calendar,
58:15
because I'm going to tell you right now, if you have not had not kind of capped
58:20
in yet, you're waiting for the playoffs.
58:23
Don't wait for the playoffs because the playoffs are here now.
58:27
You're seeing playoff basketball right now.
58:29
The intensity level is at an all time high.
58:32
Some of these dudes don't like the other dudes.
58:34
You can tell it's getting testy and you can tell like these teams are starting
58:39
to see some desperation and they're getting after it.
58:43
So do not wait until the plan or playoff basketball.
58:48
Get in on it now.
58:50
Start checking out these storylines that are going on.
58:53
Who's going to win the MVP race?
58:56
Is it going to be Jokic?
58:57
Is it going to be Janice? Is it going to be indeed?
59:00
Who's going to be who's going to win the defensive player a year?
59:04
Is it going to be Jaren Jackson Jr.?
59:06
Shout out to Memphis.
59:07
Shout out to job, Morant.
59:09
And by the way, shout out to John Morant.
59:14
And I say that with a lot of reverence,
59:16
but I hope I hope this young man has found himself.
59:19
I hope that there is a clarity to his thinking now.
59:25
I hope that the redemption story is real.
59:29
I hope that we look back on this and we just go.
59:34
We chalk it up to youthful.
59:38
Behavior.
59:40
Without a lot of discernment.
59:43
I hope that's what we chalk this up to.
59:45
I hope that we are not talking about this again in six or seven months.
59:49
I hope that John can stay out of the news for derogatory reasons.
59:56
I hope that he can just be him, be the electrifying player that he is.
1:00:02
And also
1:00:05
the kid that came out of Murray State, I don't think he's too far gone.
1:00:09
And I just I'm I'm hoping for that city.
1:00:14
You know, because, you know, they don't get a bunch of free agents that go to Memphis.
1:00:20
They just don't.
1:00:21
And when you have a guy that is literally lurking
1:00:27
as one of the few difference makers in this league, because.
1:00:34
Albeit I respect Nico in his opinion,
1:00:37
I do not believe there are 15, 16 guys that move the needle.
1:00:40
Like if they change the franchise, if they change from one franchise to another,
1:00:45
it automatically makes them, you know, a conference.
1:00:51
Finalist believe that there's a handful of guys, but I do believe that John Moran
1:00:58
is on the outskirts looking in.
1:01:02
He's making a beeline for one of those spots.
1:01:08
So my hope is that.
1:01:10
There were.
1:01:12
Some talks, there were good, strong discussions about what he needs to do.
1:01:20
I hope he did go to counseling, get some counseling for whatever LL.
1:01:26
And I hope that we just see job for the next 10 to 12 years doing what he does,
1:01:31
doing what he loves and entertaining us.
1:01:34
So sorry, we I'm sorry.
1:01:37
I had to get that in before we got off the air.
1:01:40
But again, I thank everybody for listening.
1:01:43
And again, tell a friend, tell a male person, tell gas attendant,
1:01:48
tell cousins you haven't talked to in five years.
1:01:52
And also, again,
1:01:55
I think we talked about this last time.
1:01:58
If you haven't.
1:02:00
Like.
1:02:01
Talk to one of your main people in a while,
1:02:05
you know, one of your inner circle.
1:02:08
Shoot that person a phone call and just say, hey, I'm thinking about you.
1:02:12
You never know.
1:02:13
You never know when your time gets called.
1:02:18
You just do not know.
1:02:20
And this is more for.
1:02:24
You know, everybody who's lost somebody, you know,
1:02:29
I lost my sister.
1:02:32
Well, wow, what is the five years now?
1:02:36
Yeah, January 3rd, 2018, I lost my sister.
1:02:42
And her birthday actually just passed a couple of days ago on the 22nd.
1:02:47
And, you know,
1:02:49
we're thinking about her from time to time and
1:02:54
we said that things could have worked out differently for her.
1:02:58
But, yeah, if you have a person that you haven't spoken to in a minute and you
1:03:04
always say, hey, you know what, I need to give him or her a call.
1:03:07
Go ahead and do so. Break that phone call off now.
1:03:10
Or if you're in the if you have the
1:03:12
capability of seeing that person, you know, they don't live too far away or
1:03:16
whatever, you know, jumping your car, they'll see that person, have a chat,
1:03:20
you know, love, know that you care.
1:03:22
So with that being said, we're going to sign off again.
1:03:26
My name is Vince Carter.
1:03:27
And for Nico Miotelo, we'll see you on the seat on Monday.
1:03:31
And you guys have a great rest of your weekend.
1:03:33
And I am out.