The Bill Simmons Podcast - The 2023 NBA Fake Trade Draft With Kevin O’Connor, Rob Mahoney, and Chris Ryan

Episode Date: February 2, 2023

In honor of the upcoming NBA trade deadline, The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Kevin O'Connor, Chris Ryan, and Rob Mahoney to throw out their favorite fake NBA trades for this season! Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Kevin O’Connor, Rob Mahoney, and Chris Ryan Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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they're all on Prime. Prime Monday Night Hockey. It's on Monday. It's on Prime. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. I put up a new rewatchables on Monday. Me and Ryan Russo and Chris Ryan did Deliverance. It was the last episode of one word movie month. This is a complicated, influential movie. We dove into it. So starting this month, normal movies again, movies that have all kinds of titles. So there you go. Hey, theringer.com is covering sports, pop culture, this basketball trade deadline, and has a piece for me because I came back out of retirement. It happened. I wrote a very, very, very, very long NBA trade value column. It had been a couple years. The process took a little longer than usual. I was happy with the end result, but man, I look back at the days

when I could just crank out 4,000 words in like four hours and I don't know what happened to that person. I mean, I can barely drive a car at this point, I'm old. But it was fun to throw myself back into it. It was fun to go through the editing process. The list was really, really, really

way harder to figure out than I can ever remember in any other trade value year. We have so many good players. The contracts, for the most part, aren't really that bad anymore. So it was like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle and then especially trying to figure out the last 12, 15. That was tougher than usual. So anyway, that's going to go up on theringer.com on Friday. Please check it out. It's part of our big rankings build that we did where we have the top 100 players, league pass rankings, the trade value. And then I'm going to start updating this probably like every couple months, not with like as many words as I wrote,

but at least trying to move the list around and see who went up and who went down. Because even I started working on this, I would say November and the list just kept changing. Guys just kept all of a sudden, you know, Jade and Ivy, you're out. See you later. Or Trey Young, you were in the late teens. Oh, you're moving backwards. So, uh, it is a living organism. It was very fun to write Friday, the ringer.com be ready coming up on this podcast. We're not going to talk about Tom Brady. He retired again. I'm not positive. I believe it. I think he ran out of options for now and we'll see where it goes, but I think he was waiting to see what Sean Payton was going to do. And there was a possibility.

Could Sean Payton go to Carolina? Who knows? Sean Payton ended up going to Denver, who already has a very expensive quarterback. So that was that. Doesn't seem like San Francisco is that interested in a Tom Brady reunion. And then Miami was the other place that I think was a possibility. And they committed to Tua.

So there you go. He ran out of teams. This is how it happens. This happened to Peyton Manning. If you remember a few years ago, Peyton Manning did not want to retire, but kind of ran out of teams that wanted an aging QB. And whether that just happened to Brady, I don't know. Will he pop on the Super Bowl? I don't know. But we did, the last time he retired, we did a whole bunch of Brady stuff. I'm not doing that again. And I don't totally trust that he's gone either.

I feel like he's like a boxer. What's he going to do? He's going to do TV? Like this guy's bred and built to just win football games. So we'll see. I could see him hanging around and waiting to see how this season goes, staying in shape.

And you're always one injury away from being needed. So anyway, great career. Certainly the most important football player I've ever passed through my life. Six Super Bowls, loved watching him. And I'm not positive he's retired. Coming up on this podcast, it is a very special NBA podcast.

We're doing a fake trade NBA draft to celebrate the trade deadline next week. Chris Ryan, Kevin O'Connor, Rob Mahoney. The big guns are here. It's all next. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, this is the first time we've ever tried this. It is a fake trade draft. We are going to go around the horn.

Rob Mahoney, Kevin O'Connor, Chris Ryan. We're going to throw out fake trades. The ground rules are going to be this. So if I make up an OG Ananobi trade and Toronto gets back three firsts and the contracts to match, that kind of structure is off the table for OG Ananobi. If you want to use him in another trade, you got to get even more creative. So part of the exercise for this guys is not only to try to make fun fake trades, but also we're basically ranking which trades we like the most. CR, you were the first person I asked to be in this. And I don't really know why. I don't know what made me think you were ready to establish your fake trade destiny here, but you immediately

accepted and you were excited. Yeah. This has never been my forte with you. So I appreciate you always looking for places. It's like a growth opportunity for me. After 11 years, you never cease to stop inspiring me. Yeah. I like to keep testing and testing you. KFC, you've been in the trade. You've been in the trade deadline mode really for a few weeks here you even started a couple new cycles with a couple of your fake trades are you surprised

we haven't had good trades yet not too surprised all indications where this is going to hold especially like the OG and OB stuff until next week so I think next week

will be fun but you know right now late the week before the deadline it'll be slow well we're taping this it is Thursday

one o'clock Pacific time. And we're just going to put the podcast up right after we're done. Because who the hell knows what's going to happen. Rob, what's the biggest surprise to you that hasn't happened yet?

Lakers. Yeah, I would have thought the Lakers would have moved on something by now. And especially since we're starting to see with Miles Turner getting his extension,

you know, that's complicating that situation. They already spent some of their seconds to get Rui Hachimura. Their options are just changing. And that was a team that has needed things all year. They'll be expected to be buyers all year. And yet, I'm sure we're going to talk about them in a lot of scenarios today because they just make sense for a lot of these candidates still.

Well, before we start the fake trade draft, none of us are Laker fans. If you were a Laker fan, objectively, like just this is your team. You've already traded all these picks for Anthony Davis. You won a title, but nobody was allowed to go to the games that happened in the bubble, but you really haven't had a chance to enjoy this team. And now you have 38-year-old LeBron in year 20, you have Davis who can't stay on the court, and you have LeBron pressuring them, you know, internally and externally,

we got to do something. This could happen. Is there a Laker trade KOC that would make you think this team could actually win the title? Because to me, I don't see it. Russell Westbrook, two future firsts, a second to the Raptors for Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., and Otto Porter.

Is that the move? So that was the one you tackled on your podcast a couple weeks ago, and I heard that. And I just didn't feel like that won them the title, Rob. I was like, that sounds good. That's an interesting team, but I still have a ton of questions and I still think there are multiple teams in the East that would be better than whatever they threw out. What did you think when you heard that? It gets them closer. I like the components

of that. Even just the Gary Trent Jr. trade is attractive for the Lakers for me, but I think there's too much ground to make up. The top of the West is so far ahead of them. They have such significant holes still. And most importantly, even if they completed a trade

like that, they still have significant holes. They still need front court help. They still maybe don't have enough length as far as traditional threes on the wing. They're in a really tough spot with a lot of needs. I don't know that this is the season they close that gap.

You have to think about what their expectations were or are for this season, and also what would constitute a successful season for the Lakers. I know that everybody talks title town here, but if LeBron breaks Kareem's record, which he's going to do, and they get a second-round playoff exit, it's not a successful season. Isn't that a head-held high season for them?

I'd say so. Is that what LeBron wants, though? I mean, the whole point of this is he's trying to win a fifth title. I think if he was trying to win that fifth title, he wouldn't have signed that deal the way he did. I think he's happy to be in LA. That's part of it, Chris. You're right. And I think for them, it's about what's the best path forward

for getting that title team. Is it making a deal now or is it waiting until the summer when they'll have the ability to trade three future first round draft picks rather than just the two they can right now? Because come summertime, they'll be able to trade their 2023

that they'll be getting from the Pelicans. So it's about the timing of when you make that move. I personally think if Van Vliet and Trent and Porter were to go there with all the depth they'd have at wing, the versatility at guard, if LeBron and AD were healthy,

it's always going to be a big if. It's going to be a big if as long as AD's there. I just don't foresee a better deal available over the summer unless there's going to be a top 30, top 40 player available that we're not thinking about right now. Well, the Laker game plan, right, always is pray for chaos. They are the team that always benefits from those situations. They are any kind of mystery suitor or star that asks out,

they are going to be first in line for those conversations. And so that's what's always so tempting about waiting. And that's why I think we've gotten to this point and why they didn't pull the trigger, whether it was on turn or in healed or any number of permutations over the course of the year. It's always going to be tempting for them to try to wait. Yeah, they got their chaos

because look at the Western Conference standings. One of the things with the Lakers, like LeBron the other night, he played the Celtic game, took the Monday night game off and then played the Tuesday night game against the Nets. So what we're seeing is like, he's been able to really succeed at, I think a higher level than any of us expected, but he's also been really careful about when he's picking rest and taking

games off and things like that. And you can't do that in the playoffs, right? We saw what happened to Chris Paul last year with the older player when it's just like that grind, especially when you get in a round three, you can play every other day. So you have that combined with Davis, who's, I just don't trust him to be able to play two straight months. If I was a Laker fan, I just wouldn't want to trade the picks. I would rather wait till this summer and I would consider this season like, look, this is the season. We had some bad luck. LeBron got to break the record, but ultimately we're not going to win the title. So we're bad luck. LeBron got to break the record, but ultimately like, we're not going to win the title. So we're going to avoid the entire 2020s. I don't really

understand the logic behind it, but it sounds like, you know, enough people who seem to know or have connections to somebody involved, whether it's the Lakers or LeBron, there seems to be this feeling like the promise was made with the extension that, and as part of this, we will do this. And I think that's why he's been so consistent about the pressure. All right. It's time to have some fun. We're going to do the fake trade draft. We're going to go, we're not doing snake draft. We're just going to go in a circle. CR, you go first. KFC, you go second. Rob, you go third. I'll go fourth. And we'll go clockwise. Do you want to trade the first pick, CR?

Yeah, can I trade the first pick? All right, KOC, you go first. Rob, you go second. I'll go third. CR, you go fourth. What do you got, KOC? Your first pick. All right, I think there might be a strategy to this

because you said, Bill, if it's OG for three first, then you have to come back with a more complicated trade. So I might be going with the complicated trade too soon here but my idea is to save the phoenix suns aiden and two first round picks in the future to the raptors for fred van vliet and og and anobi and then jay crowder and dario sarich to the Hawks, finally they were able to move John Collins. Wow. I like the layers to that.

You just double traded us? Three ways to start? That was your number one? Yes, that's my number one. A three-way deal to save the Phoenix Suns. All right, so Phoenix, they're shelling out Aiton, they're shelling out Crowder,

they're shelling out a bunch of picks and the Sarich contract. And they're getting back Van Vliet, Collins, and Oji Minobu. Wow, that seems like a lot. Do we think, Rob, do we think Aiton has that much trade value? Because I was just working on this trade value call

and I was going to Marr and I did not put him in my top 70. Spoiler alert. Because of 120 million. I think a deal like this to me on this trade value call and I was going to Marr and I did not put him in my top 70. Spoiler alert because of 120 million. I think a deal like this to me to hit would have to be a low point in the Fred Van Vliet

trade market. It's like the Lakers or the Clippers do other things with their point guard position. Maybe they just don't want to pony up the picks that the Raptors might want. And so then the Raptors start looking at consolidating their deals and saying what is the most aggregate value if Fred VanVleet

is not a part of our future plans and we're a little worried about this logjam at forward and we want to find something to do with OG. That's when deals like this come into play. That's when something like this starts to make sense. I like it because it seems like DeAndre Ayton would be the perfect high usage player on a tanking team in Toronto. And it seems like DeAndre Aydin would be the perfect high-usage player on a tanking team in Toronto.

And it seems like that would just be a really suitable home for him to kind of get his game back together. And you could also see Messiah Jiri being like, I'm betting on this guy. I think that there's more to his game than living under Chris Paul's thumb. And maybe it's just a coaching and situational problem,

not like his own talent. I think you're right on there, Chris. And plus, it's important to remember, Toronto liked DeAndre Ayton during his free agency. They weren't the team that was right there. That was the Indiana Pacers. But now with Indiana re-signing Miles Turner for a two-year extension,

if you're thinking about potential deals, there's been reports over the past month about the Suns like Fred VanVleet this past week out of TSN, the Suns like OG and Inovi. So if you're connecting dots there, perhaps there could be something to work out there. Even if, Bill, I agree with you, Aiton's value is diminished considering how poorly he's performed this year after signing that long-term extension um but at the same time like he's still young and and if you're the rappers maybe you're betting on him in a brand new situation and getting some draft capital back in return maybe you end up getting an extra pick in that too um but i think that type of concept works in the sun's favor because also john collins boy like how nice it would be for phoenix to have somebody who can actually dunk around the basket it'd be so awesome to have him paired with chris paul and Devin Booker rather than with Aiton, who as good as he is,

he tries to lay everything up soft around the basket instead of dunking it hard for a guy who's seven feet tall. John Collins reminds me of the TV that five of your friends have been offered by your sixth friend. They're like, you want this TV? We're getting rid of it.

And he's like, no, no, I'm good, man. And then like two months later, you know, this TV? We're getting rid of it. And he said, no, no, I'm good, man. And then like two months later, you know, we're still trying to get rid of that TV. Why doesn't he have value? It's like he makes a little too much money and has a little too much stature to just be given away, but yet nobody wants him. He's been in trade rumors for a year and a half. So is he overrated, underrated? What is he it i think underrated like john collins is a good nba player a versatile defender as kevin alluded to a good finisher but not only that has some ball skills can do some things off the bounce to me he plugs into a team like phoenix really easily that's a team that needs a little more dynamism that needs a little more spice to what they do

and so you know the thought of we're just going to roll out in the past Jay Crowder, now Cam Johnson in that fourth spot. Like I want someone who can do even a little bit more than that. I want someone who's more of a downhill threat than that. Collins makes all the sense in the world in that capacity. And even though he hasn't shot the ball well this year for the Hawks behind the arc, in the past, he's been a steady three-point shooter. And defensively, he's become somebody who, when he entered the league, was more of a

liability, slow-footed. But I mean, he's had so many plays this year. I remember against the Dallas Mavericks maybe a couple of weeks ago where he had this great help just to use the rule of verticality to help on a drive by Bullock late in the game, final minute that helped create an opportunity for the Hawks to score. He's had countless moments like that this year where it's like I almost don't understand how he hasn't been moved. I really do think it's a money thing that you alluded to there, Bill, because he makes over

$20 million. Maybe he's not quite that good, but for a team like the Suns where you're all the way in, he makes all the sense in the world. He reminds me of some of the guys, CR and I, in the early 2000s. When we were in the early digital, we were out there.

It's like The Last of Us, just fighting the zombies, trying to get comms and blogs up. But there were all those forwards back then, right? Like Juwan Howard, Sharif, Antoine. These guys, these expensive forwards. And it's like, this guy's definitely good,

but that's a lot of money. And they would just kind of move teams and move around. Keith Van Horn. And funnily enough, they all wound up playing for the Hawks at various points. Right. Because there was that era of the Hawks

where every dude on the Hawks was 6'8". And it was just like, you couldn't play. You couldn't be taller than that. You couldn't be shorter than that. If you wanted to play with Joe Johnson, you had to be 6'8". Rob, before you go, I have a quick Fred Van Vliet question. Are we sure he should be worth that much? He's going to definitely become a free agent this summer.

He just hired Clutch. Clearly wants a big paycheck. And I got to be honest, I don't think he's played that well this year. When I watched the Rapt honest, I don't think he's played that well this year. When I watched the Raptors, I, I don't, I think we, in our heads, because he's been in a lot of big playoff games and there's this sense like, Oh,

Fred Van Vliet, you know, he's been there. He's been through some wars, but like, I don't know. Is he ever, how many times in a game when you're watching like them against any other

team, is the other point guard better than him? Is he one of the 10 best point guards in the league? Probably not, right? You go, anybody they play, it's like, there's always a guard who seems to be better than him. So he's like good. And he's fine. And in that Laker situation, he'd be fine. But I don't think he's like a top three guy on a contending team. And I think that's one of the problems with the team that they built. They're eight games under 500, partially because he has the ball a lot.

Yeah, I think ideally he wouldn't be a top three guy on a championship team or a contending team at this point. But the reality of teams like the Lakers is he would have to try. He needs to at least try to flex up a little bit from where he's been this season. You're right. It's been a bad year for Fred VanVleet.

It's been a bad year for Fred VanVleet fans like myself. I love watching him play, but the shot hasn't been there. And that's even with an uptick in this calendar year. He's been playing better and he's still under 40%

from the year for field goal shooting. So it's a hard spot for him. But I would say in terms of this construction, I'm not sure that they are getting that much for him. I'm not sure that the Suns

are giving up that much in this kind of deal. Because if you have OG and Van Vliet coming back and Collins and all you're giving up is Aiton and two firsts as the core of that deal, that's selling low on Fred probably. That's a pretty

good one for the Suns. The two things that I found the most challenging aspects of this exercise bill is A, what the Goberin-Murray trades did to value in terms of like draft picks going back like i have no idea how many draft picks are supposed to go for somebody like pascal siakam or og and ob and the other thing is that i feel like the toronto raptors guys have all been in trade rumors for so long that like i don't even believe they actually play i just think that they

exist as dudes where it's just like, hey, everybody's talking about this and Masai's going to blow it up this year. I feel like I've been living this day for the last four years where it's like we're waiting for the Masai rebuild and these guys have all almost grown beyond their actual...

Their reputations have grown beyond their actual play because they're quote-unquote available. Do you know what I mean? because they're, they're quote unquote available. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Well, especially the Gobert trade. It reminds me of, you know, we live in, all of us live in California or three of us live in California. Um, when gas is just like $7 again, you're like, wait, why is gas $7 again? It's like, nah, it just is. And then it'll go down. It'll be like, now it's $5's like, why did it go down? Don't know. The Gobert and Murray things where it's like, nope, that's the price now.

Three unprotected firsts and two pick swaps. It's like, is it? Or is this just like a weird gas thing where it's like, maybe that actually shouldn't be the price. Maybe gas should be a bunch lower. Let's take a quick break and then Rob, you're going to go. The only app you need at your Super Bowl party is FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Download FanDuel now and use promo code BS so you can bet Super Bowl 57 with a no sweat first bet. You'll get up to $3,000 back in bonus

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You must be 21 plus and present in select states. First online, real money wager, only $10 deposit required. Refund issued as non-returnable bonus bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. See full terms at Fandle. It's game day. All the gang's here. You're tailgating outside the stadium. It's a great time for beer. Or how about when you're standing at the grill and the smell of sizzling burgers is in the air? Moments like that. Or when you want a light beer that tastes like beer,

that's delicious. You don't want to load up on those heavier beers and then you only have two of them. Then you feel tired. Your stomach feels full. Miller Lite, it's your friend. It just accompanies whatever else you're doing. You're super happy with it. Opening an ice cold Miller Lite can signal the beginning of Miller time. Miller Lite is the light beer with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. All right, we're on a hellacious pace in our fake trade NBA draft.

We've had one pick. We're at this 20 minute mark of the podcast. Rob, what do you got for us? First question, what is off the board? Like Kevin made that pick. What can't I pick at this point? Why don't you go and then we'll tell you. That three-team was so complicated

I think everything's on the board right now. I'm going to go real simple. I want to take some reaches later in the draft. I'm going chalk up top. OG and an OB to the Grizzlies. It's the example for a reason. This is a trade that I think a lot of basketball fans would love to see.

Just like what the grids look like with a wing like that, with a player like that sending out, you know, basically three firsts and Zyre Williams is the core of that deal. Danny green salary to make it work. That's a deal I would love to see. And one that, you know,

for the purposes of this draft, I think has to go pretty early. It just, it makes a lot of logical sense. Kristen. I felt like when, but that's the Wimbledonanyama of this draft, that trade. I had that at the top of my board too.

It's like, I want that trade to happen. It's a trade that makes sense for everybody. And I think also, do you guys feel like this... I wanted to ask about this New Orleans collapse, obviously without Zion, but they've lost nine in a row. Has it taken them out of the buyer's market? I wouldn't quite call them sellers, but everybody was talking about how the Pelicans and the Grizzlies

were the two most likely homes for Anadobi, and that was this competition for these guys. What does it do to this? Is Memphis bidding against nobody then in this case? No, because they're bidding against the Suns, because I think the Suns could just do the Cam Johnson, Sarich, and the three. The Suns have all their firsts.

They have a new owner. We know what happens with new owners. They want to come in. They want to make their big splash, wear their tank top, show their chest hair a little bit. So I feel like it's the Suns. And I agree with you.

I don't think New Orleans, they've fallen so far back. And then you read like Zion's going to be re-evaluated in a couple days. Like re-evaluated? That sounds like he's not coming back until March. So I don't know what they are. What have you heard, KFC? I mean, there was a conversation between Mark Stein and Chris Haynes today on their podcast about how the Pelicans and Grizzlies are bidding against each other or could turn into that. You know, the Grizzlies don't want the Pelicans to get them and the Pelicans don't want the Grizzlies to get them. And I think with New Orleans, yeah, granted, they've fallen apart. It's been because they don't have their two best players.

Zion's been out. Brandon Ingram is just getting back and he's not the same quite yet. He's working his way back. I mean, any team's gonna suck without those caliber players two top 20 guys zion was performing like a top 10 guy so i think in the case of new orleans yes it's worrisome that you know zion is just going to be re-evaluated in a couple days bill like you said but at the same time if you're new orleans and you're getting og and obi who's in his mid-20s for three of your 15

future first-round draft picks, it's not just about this season. It's about the next five years of building out a team that you feel confident can win around OG and Anobi, win around Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram with OG. Rob, I'm raising my hand. What you got? Am I crazy to think

New Orleans does need OG and Anobi at all? It's like the last thing they need. They're loaded with three and D guys. And I like Herb Jones. I like Trey Murphy. I think you have to think like, all right, I'm playing in an OB Ingram and Zion together. I still need a center. I don't like their point guards like that.

Like Jose Alvarado is involved a lot. If I'm trying to trade my assets for something, I actually like my 3 and D guys. I would rather try to get a guard that could, that was like a 40% three-point shooter. Like a better version of what Van Vliet's season

has been this year. What do you think of that? That's the question is, who is the better version of Van Vliet's season? Right? Like CJ McCollum is kind of that player.

You have him already. Going upwards from there. Oh, I didn't even mention CJ in that thing I just said. So yeah, so it would be CJ, Ananobi, Zion, Ingram, and a center. I'm winning a title with that? I don't know.

That lineup doesn't make sense to me. So this is my problem with the Pelicans is they have a lot of really good players. I've watched them a lot this season. They've obviously had guys in and out with injury. I have zero sense of what that team actually needs.

Like, there are nights where they need shooting. There are nights when they really don needs. There are nights where they need shooting. There are nights when they really don't. There are nights where they get beat up inside. There are nights where they look just fine and Valanciunas looks like a monster. I have such a poor read on that team in terms of those specific kinds of mechanics. And so much of that comes back to Ingram and Zion

and just how little we've seen of those guys on the floor together. Until they play more, it's hard to definitively like push your chips in and say like, okay, OG is our guy or this trade candidate. Multiple picks.

Like how do you make that call when you've barely seen your team play? Yeah, but they have 13 future firsts. If you get three for OG and an OB, you still have 10 remaining.

That's a fair point. Yeah, they could just blow the market out, couldn't they? Yeah, but doesn't Herb Jones have to be in that trade? He has to be. What am I getting an OG and an OB for, but I'm keeping Herb Jones and Trey Murphy?

That doesn't make sense to me. And if I'm Toronto, I'm telling them, I have to get Herb Jones back. He has to be in it. Maybe you do that. And I want three firsts and whatever. Now we're talking if I'm Toronto. If I can get Herb Jones back. He has to be in it. Maybe you do that. And I want three firsts and whatever. Now we're talking if I'm Toronto. If I can get Herb Jones back

and some picks and maybe one other piece. I mean, Dyson Daniels is another one. What is he? They're so loaded at that spot. The real issue for them is CJ McCollum. It's a little like the Fred VanVleet thing. CJ McCollum hasn't played well this year.

He's being paid as a guy who is like an all-star scoring two guard. And I just don't think he's totally gotten there. I agree with Rob. I would rather wait to see Zion and Ingram playing together, what that looks like before I decide what to do. Chris, you're on the board. Or you want me to go? Do you want me to go and you'll go fourth?

Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I really like this one. It's a three-teamer, guys. Sacramento, Detroit, and Cleveland. Cleveland gets Harrison Barnes. Detroit gets Karis LeVert and an unprotected Sacramento first. I know they owe one Atlanta for the Herder trade,

so we'll figure out what year that is. And the Kings get Bogdanovich from Detroit. And I like this trade because this is the old, this is the old theory of when you have a strength, double down on your strength. The Kings' strength is offense. They score the fucking shit out of the ball. They're really good.

They're really hard to play. They're explosive. Barnes is, you know, he's, he's fine. I think, I know he's a valuable clubhouse guy to them, but you would not call him an explosive score. He's, he's, is what he is. He's 13 and six. If I put Bogdanovich in there at every point in the game, I have offense. I have shooters. If you figure Sabonis is playing two thirds of the game, I have speed. I have shooters. If you figure Sabonis is playing two-thirds of the game, I have speed. I have spacing. Now I could maybe sneak out of the West, as crazy as that sounds, because the West is wide fucking open and everybody can beat everybody. And maybe I could just get hot for a couple of series. But if I'm them, I would look to upgrade Barnes to Bogdanovich.

So that's my case. What do you think, KFC? I think you might be giving up too much defense in that case. I mean, Bogdanovich is by no means a liability. He's solid on defense, good positionally, but Harrison Barnes is also like shooting the hell out of the ball since December after a slow start. He

still offers some offensive punch for you, or maybe what you lose. Do you trust him? I trust him. I trust him. You trust him in a game five? Yeah, I've trusted him since he was in Golden State. It's been a long time, including in the postseason where Barnes has been a solid player.

No, Cass didn't see game seven of the 2016 final. Sorry. I'll get you that tape after. Merry Christmas, Cassie. Cassie, I'll have that for you after the podcast. I'll watch it after we record. Rob, what do you think of the theory of doubling down on your strength? I'm for it. I guess my question is, if I'm Cleveland,

why wouldn't I just make this trade and get Boyan Bogdanovich myself? Why wouldn't I do Karis Levert? Because you don't have any picks. They're a little leveraged pick-wise. That would be the difficulties coming up with the draft capital for that. But if there's any way to I mean, they're a little leveraged pick-wise. That would be the difficulties, like coming up with the draft capital for that. But if there's any way to do that, I mean, I would prefer that from Cleveland's perspective. If you're Cleveland, would you rather get Jay Crowder than Harrison Barnes?

Could that be an option? Because I've heard Crowder's kind of a sleeper option for Cleveland. Really? I want to start a new podcast called NBA Amnesia, where people come on who have just forgotten things that happened. But only the NBA.

Like Jay Crowder was bad in the playoffs last year. He was like one of the reasons the Suns fell short and he didn't really do a good job in any round. And people are like, no, Jay Crowder, the missing piece. It's like, cool. So he went away for six months and kind of threw everyone off the scent of that. He didn't look good in the playoffs,

which is why he wasn't getting an extension. He's always been so streaky as a shooter. I'd rather have Barnes, just to be clear, than Crowder. But I do think it's a question worth asking from the Cleveland perspective. Would you rather have the more expensive Barnes or would you rather get Crowder, who's probably discounted it won't cost

as much oh I have a couple more Cleveland trades I think we all see the same thing with Cleveland they need the three guys people are just like cool who are you leaving in the corner we're gonna leave that guy open we're good we're about all your other dudes I wish it were more complicated than that like I wish we were talking about that all

season you know and we would love to see some some resolution at that position. The Miami game Tuesday night, Mobley was awesome in that game, but there was a big, it must have been like a minute and a half left, and he was just open in the corner for three, and he kind of had to take it

the way the defense was and the shot clock, and it was an absolute brick. But over and over again, it feels like their games come down to these two or three possessions. I think talent-wise, I'm a full believer in that team, but that one spot's just murdering them. CR, you're on the clock. Let's

go. All right. I think I'm going to go D'Angelo Russell to the Clippers for Kennard and Covington. Whoa! I feel like the Clippers need to shake up that log jam of pretty average dudes that they have going all the way down the end of their bench. When you go see the Clippers live,

you have actually no feel whatsoever for what the rotation is. And I can never tell like, oh, is this guy just getting DNP'd tonight? Oh, wait a second, he's playing the second half. It's like all this sort of random stuff. I know Ty Lue's juggling because he's got the load management all-stars, but D'Angelo Russell seems to have run out of runway in Minnesota. I think that they did

Carl Towns the solid by bringing him in. The Clippers could use a point guard. I don't know that John Wall or Reggie Jackson are really it. I don't think that D'Angelo Russell slows down Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, who to me are not particularly lightning-fast players in the first place. And I think D'Angelo Russell spiritually is a clipper.

So I'd like to see it happen. He's actually been pretty good the last six weeks for Minnesota. It's a classic contract run. You got to be careful of it. But Rob, I'm like a huge Luke Kennard fan. And I actually just think he's on the wrong team and I'd be trying to trade for him. But as weird as this sounds, I think I'd huge Luke Kennard fan. And I actually just think he's on the wrong team and I'd be trying to trade for him.

But as weird as this sounds, I think I'd rather have Kennard than D'Angelo Russell. Where do you stand on this? Whoa. I mean, I'm also pretty bullish on the season he's had, especially from Minnesota's perspective. Not only did they get Kennard, but Covington, who I think could punch up some holes for them

and give them just like an alternative look when Torian Prince isn't hitting or isn't really working for you on a given night or Kyle Anderson is getting left in the corner and you need like a little bit more of a threat I like what Covington could give to them but Kennard's playmaking has been really impressive like he's made significant

strides in terms of his ability to create space create his own shot create shots for others I don't know about like a lead point guard on a team that's trying to make the playoffs. That's where it gets tough. And so Minnesota has to figure out something else to do. But I mean, I like him for a lot of teams. He could plug in and play

and fit in almost any kind of system. I like that trade, CR. He's rhythm guitar to Anthony Edwards lead guitar. Is the way I'm thinking of it. It's just like we don't have two guys playing solos. Go ahead, Jimi Hendrix. You play. KOC, you're the tiebreaker. What do you got? I don't think it's a good deal for Go ahead, Jimi Hendrix. You play. KFC, you're the tiebreaker.

What do you got? I don't think it's a good deal for Minnesota. D'Lo's been playing too well since early December. It was a really bad start for him, if he fit with Ant, and maybe it does go sour, but D'Lo's been nearly 50-40-90 since early December. He's complimenting Anthony Edwards, willingly playing off ball more often,

with Edwards, taking more responsibility on the ball. So I think there's a deal to look for, for Minnesota involving D'Angelo Russell, because it's not a perfect fit. And he still has some real duds that are frustrating. Like that one, the other night against Sacramento.

Um, but at the same time, like I, I think they lose too much at guard without having, you know, a third team involved. They're getting one back or a guarantee of somebody who's going to fill that role next to Anthony Edwards. Because as great as Ant also has been around the same timeline since early December, he still also has room to grow as a lead playmaker too. So I think the concept makes sense, finding that versatile wing, a shooting guard like Kennard, but I don't like the pieces they get

back in it. I'm not a Russell fan, so I like the deal for Minnesota. Interesting. Good one. Some debate on that one, CR. Great job. I didn't get the KOC vote. Good job by you. Came up huge. This is huge, Jim. All right, KOC, you're up.

All right, let's go with the Knicks and the Bulls. Zach Levine to the Knicks for two 2023 first round picks a future firsts boby toppin the evan fournier contract and derrick rose homecoming for d rose going to chicago the knicks retain enough picks after giving up a handful here to set up for another move this summer. And they get Zach Levine, who MSG is going to love. Dolan's going to be all about it. Not going to be banning any fans because he wants everybody to come

to watch Levine and Brunson in that backcourt. And then they can flip R.J. Barrett this summer for Carl Anthony Towns. Wow. I like the parlay there. Yeah. A lot to work with on that one. So I'll ask you this. So Tibbs isn't

playing R.J. Barrett in a lot of these crunch times. How do you think he's going to feel about Zach Levine's defense? Not good. I don't think Tibbs feels good about anything, to be honest with you, though, Bill. What does Tibbs feel good about? Are we sure Tibbs is a good coach anymore?

No. I respect the hell out of the guy, but for the way basketball is played in 2023, would he be one of your first choices to coach your NBA team? Isn't the better question is, how is Zach Levine's knee going to feel about playing for Tibbs?

Right. Again? Again. No! No! I thought we were free! I actually like... I like what some of the stuff that Knicks have.

Like, I had three of them in the trade value out of the top 70. I like Barrett. I like Brunson. And Randall's been good this year. So what were you saying, Rob? I actually was working on a story on Zach Levine the last time he played for Tibbs.

And he was having a pretty good season at that time. But one quote that will always stick out to me is him saying I asked him about his off-ball defense and he said, it's literally the hardest thing in the world. And I was like, this is not going to go great here. This may not be what Tom Thibodeau wants to hear. Wow.

I don't think the price for Levine is that high, KFC. Although I guess they're making them take Fournier's contract back. So you got to factor that piece in. That was part of it with like adding the additional firsts. But I just don't like how many, like honestly, how many Levine suitors are there going to be at this point when it's $215 million for five years and a guy who's had two surgeries on the same knee and until really like mid-cember, didn't really start to look like himself.

I'd be really nervous trading for that contract. And if I'm trading for it, I wouldn't want to give up a ton. That's why I feel like they're going to be stuck with him. DeRozan is the one that, he's at 27 million this year and next year, playoff proven guy. And it feels like he would have maybe more suitors.

Listen, the Knicks doing anything would be super fun. The Knicks trading for a guy who's already had two knee surgeries. It's almost like the league should step in and ban it from happening. You guys can't do this. You've had too much bad luck over the years. Not allowed. Rob, what do you got?

I'm going to go off the board a little bit. Alex Caruso to the Warriors for James Wiseman. Oh, I had this one. That's great. I like it. I'm big on the like, let's see how we can improve the Warriors at the expense of honestly and frankly,

like any of their young guys at this point, like that team so desperately needs help. And if there's a taker for Wiseman on the board, a team that could invest in him and his future and be able to really see what he can do, it would be a team like Chicago. And Golden State is getting something they really need, which is just honestly another player they can actually

trust to put in these games. And Caruso would be so great for the way they play. Can we go Wiseman round Robin right now? Because the possibility is you could tell me Kelly Olenek for Wisemaneman which would make sense for utah you could tell me wiseman with moody for kuzma what do we think what do we think the

warriors actually need koc because i to me caruso has always made the most sense but is there another type of player that i'm missing? Probably more than Caruso, which is probably the wrong way of thinking about it, because I love the Caruso idea. That makes total sense for them. But it seems like for Golden State, they wouldn't want to sell on a former number two pick for

Alex Caruso. That's a bad way to think about it. I agree. So many people in sports in real life and business have made the mistake of thinking like well i i paid that or i that's what it cost three years ago so that's what it is now and it's like you know what shit changes and that was a really weird draft we think nobody was allowed to interview anybody nobody was allowed to um nobody in person workouts play really yeah it's like nobody's gonna hold this against you for the rest of your lives Nobody was allowed to interview anybody. Nobody was allowed to go to in-person workouts.

Nobody had seen this kid play, really. Yeah, it's like nobody's going to hold this against you for the rest of your lives that you turn the number two pick in Alex Caruso. It was a weird draft. Desmond Baden went 30th in that draft. They have a chance to win the title. They need another guy. And whether it's Caruso, whether it's Kuzma, Kelly Linick.

Kuzma, I was intrigued by because he could play two different forward spots for them. They go a little bigger, a little smaller with him. But I just think I want to see Caruso in a playoff series. And I don't think Golden State would be the only team

that should be kicking the tires on him. I think Phoenix should be involved and Milwaukee. Basically, any contender, he could play 30 minutes. Is Wiseman even enough for Caruso? That's a fair question. That's a how do we

see ourselves question, right? If Chicago's like, we're doing a soft teardown here, is embedding on a higher ceiling for a second overall pick, who could be your center of the future and then maybe get off Vooch eventually, that seems like

for Chicago, I would do it. It feels like if you're doing Caruso, then you also have to start sending some other guys out. Vucevic, I was trying to figure out how to get him to Golden State. He'd be the most fun warrior possible, but there's just no way.

Golden State's in that weird... The Celtics were in this situation a few years ago where they either have giant contracts or small contracts and they don't have the contracts that can get you to like the $22 million guy, but they can get... If it's much bigger, they can do it. That'd be really fun.

I'm sure Steve Kerr would be delighted to have Alex Caruso. All right. This one's for CR. Bradley Beal for Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey. Let's fucking call it in. Let's go. Brad's got to call it in, right? Brad, that Joel Embiid calls him.

Sweet talks him a little bit. Hey, man, we're 24 in our last 24. We add you. We're going to win the title. Come on over. It's Philly. It's right down the street from Washington. It's an hour Amtrak. Two hours? How long is Philly to Washington? Oh, it's like 90 minutes, two hours. Yeah.

Would you give up Maxie and Tobias Harris for Bradley Beal, Chris? Oh, man. Really? Jesus. I haven't seen you this upset. If you had asked me two months ago, yeah. But I just like the way they're playing right now.

I don't know that they can win the title as currently constituted. I have a bad feeling that they're going to make some skirt under the luxury tax move at the deadline here, but I kind of want to see this team in the playoffs. KFC?

I mean, you got to retain some future upside there if you're Philadelphia. That's what I'm saying, KFC. Maxie can get even better. I mean, that's tough. Beal's undeniably better right now. It makes you better today. It makes you better come playoff time. Maybe, does it? Are we sure about

that? Harris is overpaid, but he's not necessarily a negative player overall. He's been great over this 10-1 run that they've just had. It's just been like, I run right to the foul line and I take the shot. I feel like it raises your ceiling, but also maybe

lowers your floor a bit too. Not to mention the health concerns. Like Beal's long-term health when you already have Joel and at this stage of his career, James Harden on your roster. I honestly, this is such a strange place to be after our whole journey with Tobias Harris as a sixer.

I think he's pretty important for them. I think he fills a really essential role. I think he is hard to replace. I think at his size, he's pretty important for them like I think I think he fills like a really essential role I think he is hard to replace I think at his size he's giving you a dimension to that kind of 3 and D and also a guy who can create and do a little something off your second unit too in terms of generating offense

guys like that are either expensive or old and washed up or hard to come by like I I can't believe I'm saying it, but in addition to not wanting to give up Maxie, I don't want to give up Tobias Harris either at this point.

Whoa! Okay. Jesus. Wow. Would you do it if you were me, Bill? Like, if you were a Philly fan, would you want that? I actually wouldn't.

I thought it was a really fun trade on paper and we'd all go nuts if it happened, but Bill's contract makes me... It's just too much money for me. And I had Maxie ranked higher in the trade value list than Beal. So then you're throwing in whatever. But I think from a Philly standpoint, Harden can pull a hammy tomorrow, you know, and you always have this, how many more years are we going to waste from Joel? And I'm sure Joel is like, let's go all in, but maybe not with a trade like this. It's a really fun one though. Let's take a break and then see how you're up. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey. Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too. You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research. And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you could still walk or

run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way. Do great things this November. Sign up now. Just search Movember. When you ride transit, please be safe. Yeah, be safe. Because what you do, others will do too. Others will do it too. So don't take shortcuts across tracks. Don't do that. In fact, just don't walk on tracks at all. Not at all. Trains move quietly so you won't hear them coming. You won't hear them coming. fact, just don't walk on tracks at all. Not at all. Trains move quietly, so you won't hear them coming. You won't hear them coming. See? Safe riding sets an example. Yeah. An example for me. Because safety

is learned. It's learned. Okay. Give it up. Give what up? Really? Really, really. Ugh. This message is brought to you by Metrolinks. Alright, C.R., what do you got? I'm just gonna do something pretty easy here for the Sixers, which is Thibel, which has been getting talked about a lot. Basically, it's Thibel, Korkmaz, and House going to the Kings for Rashawn Holmes.

You know, bringing Rashawn home, he becomes the backup five that they need. It cannot be Montrezl Harrell in the playoffs. Is this a coming home video when he comes back? Do they play that in the first quarter? They definitely do. They keep that tape with the Harrison Barnes big game six game seven tape.

But it kind of helps both teams ultimately. I'm still a Thibel believer, but Doc Rivers is not. He plays seven to 10 minutes, sometimes 12 minutes per game. He gives Sacramento the perimeter defensive strength that they need. I worry that it essentially makes the Sixers Swiss cheese on the perimeter. You don't get any steal on the perimeter if you're the Sixers.

But we definitely need a backup five for Joel, even if he's playing 38, 39 minutes in the playoffs. And I just don't... I 38, 39 minutes in the playoffs. And I just don't... I cannot watch Montrez in the playoffs. What do you think, KC? I think it's a good concept. You have my wheels turning, Chris, for a similar

concept. I wonder if there's ways to get a wing back. If you're Phoenix, would you flip Crowder? If you get something back in there, is there another big out there instead of rashaan holmes i'm sure yeah and then i you also wonder whether or not like would any bigs hit the market in the buyout market because typically typically those guys become available i just don't know if there will be anybody better than harold which is really scary to contemplate. Rob, are you a Tybalt guy?

In small doses. I think I'm probably closer to Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers, yeah. The offense is just killer. He murders the flow of possession sometimes, which is really tough. Exemplary defender and I will say, can move

off the ball really well. The Sixers are not the ideal style for that, but you put him alongside Sabonis and you have him moving in that flow of how Sacramento's playing. He cuts really well. He's really good along the baseline. You can see how that would work. You can see the shape of how he could mean something more for them

than he ever could for the Sixers. Rob, I'll buy your Tybalt stock after the podcast. Okay. Feel free. We'll cut a deal. I'm buying up all the Tybalt stock after the podcast. Okay. Feel free. We'll cut a deal. I'm buying up all the Tybalt stock. He's going to have a moment. He's too good defensively. When somebody is that skilled, that one of the most important NBA things, it usually works out for that person in the end. And I just think he's on the wrong team. Putting him on a team where it's either you dump the ball to Embiid or hard to dribbles for 20 seconds. That's not what I want to see

him in. Sacramento would be really fun. I think he would be interesting on that team. KOC, you're up. I'm going to kind of piggyback off that deal there, Chris. This is a deal in the moment that I'm figuring out with the trade machine. Audible, you're not listening to the scouts. You're just

in the warm room. You're like Tony Ressler's son you know I'm in charge now let's go I got this how about something instead of you

getting Rashawn Holmes back in Philadelphia you get Mo Bamba and you get Jay Crowder and you give up Thibel and House to the Suns Harold and Korkmaz to the Magic and you get Jay Crowder and you give up Thibel and house to the sons, Harold and Corkmaz to the magic. And you'd get to give up one other salary, minor little baby salary for the like Milton or do you want to try and keep Milton in house? A very small one.

Like it could be Milton, um, deep off the bench. Like this is, this is probably way too much. The salaries are tough to match here, but knew you'd work Mo Bamba in this fucking podcast. I didn't plan on it until Chris mentioned Rashawn Holmes, another mismatched throwback name. The spirit

just moved you. You had to get Mo Bamba in here. I felt good about that, Chris. I was wondering if there was Mo Bamba Celtics potential as that last big guy in case they wanted. Remember they liked him forever? Yeah. Danny Ainge liked him. Remember that photo?

Maybe Utah will grab him. Yeah. What do you got, Rob? Where do we want to go here? Okay, here's a weird one. Kind of a challenge trade. Emmanuel quickly to the Nuggets for Bones Highland. For some reason, Emmanuel quickly and Bones Highland are on the trade market. I don't really get it.

Like both of those are good players. Clearly, there's something percolating in Denver as far as I mean, he's consistently in the rumors on the basis of the idea that do we trust this young point guard in essential playoff games, basically. And so you're trading him for a guy who is a little further along and a significantly better defender. And in the Knicks, you're getting a different

flavor of the same thing that, again, I don't really understand why Emmanuel quickly is on the block to begin with, but if you want to indulge yourself, let's see what we can do here. The Bones thing is so weird to me. That got announced during a Nuggets game, like a national TV Nuggets game. Yeah.

Why would you be in a rush to trade that guy? I don't really understand. The reports have said that there's friction with the coaching staff involving Bones. So that has definitely something to do with it. In the case of the Knicks, I don't understand quickly being involved in the market. I wonder when I talk to people around the league,

how much of this is just other teams putting this out there because quickly he's been damn good the last month or so i mean he's scoring the hell out of it scoring efficiently all year long like we talked about tibbs earlier how much he values defense quickly he's been so good on defense for them on ball and off ball so from the next side of things i don't understand quickly being involved in trade conversations unless it's a trade up for a star type player, whether it's a Levine-esque player or somebody like that. But that's the only way it makes sense in my mind to move

quickly. That would be an awesome trade for Denver. I watch a lot of the Nuggets. Bones isn't quite a Jokic fit, in my opinion. And there's been some moments, especially when Jamal Murray hasn't played, when Bones is like, I got this. And it's like, Jokic has a 25, 17, and 15 right now.

Maybe give Jokic the ball, Bones clear out. I just don't think it's... I think I could see him having one of those crazy, like Jordan Clarkson, he's 28, all of a sudden averaging 20 a game. But I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. I don't think it's going to happen for this Nuggets team. If they can flip him into a quickly type guy, that's a huge win for them.

They need a reliable two-way guard in that spot. I do think Christian Braun is going to potentially be that guy. Every time I've seen him get thrown out there, I'm always like, this guy, I really do like him. He's on some weird team with Pritchard and Nuwara and all these guys that when they get thrown out, you're like, whoa, that guy's pretty good. Why doesn't he play more? But yeah, that would be a fun one. I like that one. Am I up? I'm up. Oh boy. This is going to cause some

discussion. Are we getting weird now? You're getting a little weird. San Antonio has a really fun trade deadline wrinkle that I'm not sure I've heard people talk about properly enough. They're way under the cap. They're like $25 million under the cap. $24 million, something like that.

They can actually trade out stuff and get a bigger salary back. For instance, they could trade Jakob Pertl and Josh Richardson to the Brooklyn Nets for Ben Simmons. Here's your out. You can just get out of this now, guys. Here's a pretty solid center and another wing,

and you could save $20 million, $15 million. Purtle's like $9 million, Richardson's $12 million. So they'd save like $14 million this year, and you're out of the Ben Simmons business. No picks. We don't need anything else. It anything else perfect place for for ben we'll take him let us like let us pet his his head and fix his broken paws and fix his wings and just try to rehabilitate him in our log cabin here in san antonio wait wait which animal what animal multiple? I don't know. Multiple animals. I couldn't pick one animal to be rest as I stated. This centaur has claws.

His wings, his paws, his head. But I just like the concept of San Antonio getting Ben Simmons. And initially I was like, oh, it'll be Purtle and Keldon Johnson. And then I'm thinking about like, I wouldn't trade Keldon Johnson for Ben Simmons. That's insane. So then I eventually settled at Josh Richardson and Purtle. So they'd be selling low if you broke them. But on the other hand, you're in the mix and Ben Simmons, you cannot trust him really at all. KOC, your thoughts. There's only one thing that matters to me involving this trade bill. Are the Spurs going to make Ben Simmons switch shooting hands?

Chip's not there anymore. That's the problem. Ben Simmons gets in the door and he's like, man, I'm so glad to come to such a top-notch organization where I can get help with my jump shot. And they're like, Chip works in Oklahoma, brother. But Sohan is shooting 75% with the one-handed motion taken off the

guide hand. Brett Brown right there with other Spurs coaches. That's the next level take. It's not the wrong hand. It's too many hands for Ben Simmons. He needs one-handed threes, one-handed jumpers. Just go full one-hand. Just put the other hand behind your back. He had the best years of his career under

Brett. I can't remember what their personal relationship is, but yeah. I think he definitely needs a low-profile get-back-to-getting-double-doubles-every-night kind of situation. It's San Antonio or OKC for me. Those are the two teams. And OKC, I think,

is a really fun one, too, because they can kind of ease them in, although the problem with them is they're probably a little too good. I mean, they're actually in the playoff mix. San Antonio, their season's over. They have a couple of trade assets they can think about. But ultimately, I think that's a pretty good gamble for them and they have the money to do it.

So, Rob, can Ben Simmons be redeemed? You know, life is long. Hopefully he plays a long time and can figure some stuff out. But he doesn't look very redeemed at the moment. He looks like a stick in the mud of what they're doing on a lot of these possessions. And just not the player he was defensively, which is a concern for me. I really loved who he was before his injury,

all the different kinds of players he could guard, on ball, on point guards. He was just so incredible. He's not really that guy anymore. And so if he's not that, and he's not really a true big either, and really can't, like as a small ball five, I don't love him as that either.

I don't know. He's a hard guy to place. Sam Amick had a line from DeJounte Murray when he did that Hawks piece a couple weeks ago, and DeJounte was just talking about how loud it is in Atlanta and how distracting some of the off-court stuff is. But in San Antonio,

it was like you just never heard that stuff. Like there was just none of that stuff was ever a factor. And I just feel like that's, that's where Ben needs to be, you know, like someplace where it's not Kyrie is next to me. KD is not, not shaking my hand as I walk off the court kind of stuff.

I also see no world. And we're playing Nick Claxton and Ben Simmons at the same time when you can only play five people at once makes sense. And I think there's moments where if KD or Kyrie are lighting up, you can kind of get away with it. But in the playoffs, you can't. You can't.

Neither of them can shoot free throws and you don't have to guard either of them. So I don't see a world where they should even have both. I think they should seriously consider trading him. Presti's probably too smart to buy into it. But think they should seriously consider trading him. Presti's probably too smart to buy into it, but if you're San Antonio,

you don't, you know, you're going to be in the Wimbanyama chase anyway. You already are. You're going nowhere. Like, why not? Why not roll the dice?

What do you have, CR? So, can we just do a trade here that's just like, hey, I think my guy helps your team and your guy is helpful for our team

and just do Bogie Bogdanovich for Karis LeVert and get just like, hey, I think my guy helps your team and your guy is helpful for our team and just do Bogie Bogdanovich for Karis Levert and get a dangerous wing for the Cavs. Interesting. He's got a player option. Karis is expiring, I think, right? And they make about the same amount of money. I don't know necessarily that Bogdanovich is a huge upgrade over Levert,

but I think he's enough that it would be really interesting in the playoffs to have him and he has a little bit more of a playmaker side to him than Levert does. Yeah, I like him. KFC, you seem skeptical. I feel like I've been hard to sell you on my trades today. I mean, I love Bogdanovich. I think going back to overseas,

that dude's been clutched throughout his entire professional career. And if I'm Atlanta, I'd Bogdanovich. I think going back to overseas, that dude's been clutch throughout his entire professional career. And if I'm Atlanta, I'd like to keep him. I mean, I'm curious about why Levert for them from the Atlanta side. Yeah. Do you have to sweeten it a little bit? I think so. Yeah. Is

Robin Lopez too essential to the Cleveland experience? For the vibes. Grabbing straws. Bogdanovich is a guy who should be in more of the trade stuff, though. I've always liked him. I think he's a big game guy.

Is that true? Yeah. What do you offer the Hawks? They kind of have everything at every position but could want to upgrade most of the positions. I don't know what you offer the Hawks? They kind of have everything at every position, but could want to upgrade most of the positions. I don't even know what you offer them. Well, as a spinoff of that idea, they do have a lot of things covered.

They do have a lot of young guys still. I'm kind of curious why the Hawks haven't been more involved in the OG Ananobi Derby. That's the guy who feels like they could... He feels like a clear upgrade on the DeAndre Hunter archetype. And so if you could build a deal around Hunter and some

combination of Bogdanovich and Okongwu and Griffin, and you're going way out as far as picks at this point. They're so leveraged in terms of their draft equity to get Murray, but I kind of wonder if there's something like that for a Bogdanovich-type deal. No, you have to tell the Reif family to get Murray. But I kind of wonder if there's something like that for a Bogdanovich type deal. No, you have to tell the Reif family to do it.

What do you got for the next trade, Rob? All right, this is a complicated one. This is a complicated one? Yes, my most complicated one. So we had Alex Caruso for Wisemdale earlier this is an alex caruso deal that eventually sends him to the portland trailblazers so this deal would eventually land portland og in an obi jacob purtle and alex cruz i'm trying to save the blazers here increase their chances as much as possible to win with damian lillard the issue for portland

they're facing at the deadline, just to preface this, Neil Olshay traded a top 14 protected first round pick for Larry Nance Jr. that's protected since then through 2028. By rule in the NBA, they are not allowed to trade more than one first round pick in the future. That would have to be very protected by language. And so they're not allowed to trade more than one first at this moment. So they need to make a deal with the Bulls to alleviate the protections or change the language of that protection so they can then trade their future first. So if I'm the Blazers, for the same reason we talked about with Caruso being a fit for the Warriors, I'd want them for

the Blazers. So in that case, here's the idea. That 2023 first becomes unprotected for the bulls this year the blazers get caruso and dragic the bulls get the salary filler and yusuf nurkic vucevic might walk this summer nurkic could be their guy restore his value moving forward the blazers need an upgraded center in this case though so they send a future first to the spurs with josh hart and then andre drummond goes from the bulls the bla Blazers get Jacob Pirtle. And then to top it all off, they can send out a future first, multiple seconds, and Anthony Simons

to the Raptors for OG Ananobi. So then you'd end up with Dame, Ananobi, Caruso, Grant, Pirtle as your starting five with Eubanks behind Pirtle. And then Peyton Little, Winslow Sharp as your wings with Dragic as an option behind Dame. Maybe you have to add one more first in there to Toronto, depending on how they value Simons. But this type of mega deal, I think, addresses all of Portland's needs and improves their overall roster and gives them one of the best starting

fives in the NBA. So Toronto, they're trading in Anobi. They're getting back Simons. Simons in a future pick, at least. I'm trying to really scoop my brain up off the floor. I'm trying to figure out what this looks like. Well, there's one flaw in that trade.

This is where Picasso has to really come in and just kind of help you with the brush. Nobody wants Nurkic with that contract. I he's, I think he's 16 million this year and then he's got three years after this season. And I don't know.

I just wouldn't want it. I wouldn't, if I'm the bulls, I'm like, Oh cool. We get to get four years of Nurkic. Thanks. Can I push back there,

Bill? If we're there though, if that pick becomes unprotected this year, if you're the bulls, I'm like, oh, cool. We get to get four years of Nurkic. Thanks. Can I push back there, Bill? If that pick becomes unprotected this year, if you're the Bulls, you're betting that the Blazers still fall short and you end up with a lottery pick and a really good draft. That would be your bet. But I have to take Nurkic's contract though. If it's unprotected though,

in that case... Doesn't it eventually roll over and it could become unprotected down the road? Well, yes, but if you change change the protections it could become something where it is automatically the 2023 first this year so it would go to chicago outright no matter what and in that case if that were the language maybe maybe the blazers make a big deal and they still end up the the 13 seed in the west or the 12 seed and they don't even make the play in. And then you get the 10th, 11th best odds.

And every year with the new draft lottery odds, we've had a pick at least from seventh best odds or 11th best odds moving to the top four. So if you're Chicago, maybe you're like, yeah, screw it. We'll take NERC.

Increase our chances. Yeah. I'm going to read, this is a writer that I've read a few times on the internet named Kevin O'Connor who wrote on February 2nd, use of Nurkic has become the blazers weakest link. The 20. How did you have that?

His effort and intensity waiver to too. You agree with me. Who wants Yusuf Nurkic? He's not good. He's not good at all, but if you're Chicago, you're doing it for the draft odds in a year with Wemby. I'm going the other way. I think the Blazers should pack it in this year.

They don't have it this year. I would trade Grant. Dame's not going anywhere, which is great. And I would try to figure out how to put Grant and Nurkic in a deal together and get rid of both of them. And then I just have, and maybe trade Josh Hart too, and just do the one more reboot. And then I have Sharp, who I love, Dame, and Simons,

and then figure out the rest with some cap space versus like, what are they going to win three straight playoff rounds this year? I don't see that happening. So you're fine with, with let's say that you do all that. And this summer Dame's like, you know what? I showed loyalty to you.

I just had, you know, I averaged over 30 points. I had the highest efficiency of my entire career. I actually do want to be traded. You'd be okay with that path. Well, I don't think he would. He has too many quotes

over the last couple years of I want to win a title in Portland. And if you went and you talked to him, you're like, we're not going to win the title this year. Here's what we're thinking. You know, bring him into it, maybe. Rob, what do you think?

Is that team, that team is in the definition of no man's land. I would say they're even a little below no man's land because they're probably one of the 10 worst teams in the league.

They have one great player. I don't really understand the team. They don't have any rim protection at all. Well, they'd have Purtle. Yeah, but in that thing, somebody would have to take Nurkic for them

to get Pertl is the problem but you're talking about them right now and like they're currently just in general what am I looking at

if I'm a Blazer fan you're looking at something like this like you need an overhaul if you're going somewhere and either

that involves as you mentioning like a packaging grant a player who's been really good for them with other guys

to try to make things happen, or this kind of dramatic reimagining, which I admit is like trade machine bait. You know, this is the kind of thing we would love to see. It's like, what if you just changed out Damian Lillard's entire supporting cast and filled his roster with really good defenders? Like, I would love to see that.

You know, I think the stopping point for me is, how do we get Toronto enough for OG? Because right now it's Simons and potentially a first, I think, is what you have, Kev. So how can that compete with, if we're talking about the Pelicans and the Grizzlies,

having kind of a bidding war for him? Is that going to be enough? Right, and they could get Dyson Daniels and three firsts and other stuff. They could probably trump it. That's the tough part there. What's looming is a team like the Pelicans that can top any offer for any player whenever they want to, as long as they have those 13 future first round picks. It would largely have to depend on... I mean, think about the Toronto side when they landed Kawhi Leonard. They were fortunate that San Antonio wanted to keep winning and they wanted DeMar DeRozan and Jacob Pirtle. If you're Toronto, maybe there's offers out there with three or four picks and young players, but maybe they're like, you know what? We want 23-year-old Anthony Simons, who is trending up and fits perfectly with Scotty Barnes. we'd rather have him than two future firsts that might be in the 20s. So I think it would largely have to depend on how does Toronto value Anthony Simons

compared to those potential future picks. Can I gently point out that Ananobi isn't even an all-star? Like, is there much of a difference between Simons and Ananobi? He's going to get Virto flashbacks right now. He's going to get Virto flashbacks. He's not going to enjoy this conversation.

I really like Simons. I feel like they're pretty close in trade value. Really? Well, they're close. I don't think it's like Simons plus three firsts for Ananobi. No, no. Probably not that much. Ananobi definitely has more trade value.

But Simons, I really value value him I think he's good I really liked when those minutes that he played without Dame when Dame was hurt I was really impressed by some of his crunch time stuff can I ask a quick question here because there were a couple of fake trades that got stymied by guys not being available to be traded yet

you know contractually and I was wondering what you guys thought about the summer stymied by guys not being available to be traded yet contractually. And I was wondering what you guys thought about the summer and the summer market based on... And how that impacts whether or not New Orleans is going to give up this whole bag of picks. Is there anybody better waiting in the summer like a Carl Towns that people might be getting involved with so they would want to keep their powder dry during this trade deadline?

LeBron. Trae Young, Carl Towns. Trae Young, definitely. Yeah. And I think that factors in too, when we were talking about Zach Levine earlier and just like how big his contract is. Levine almost needs like another cycle of contracts

to come up and guys get signed to big deals that can then get put into trades to start making things work because some of these guys are making so much money now where at that weird

transitional point we're just making the math work is really hard at some of these deals. I kept trying to get Zach Levine to the heat and I had to restart my computer.

It's impossible. Trade machine just overheated my MacBook. KOC, what happens if Portland calls Toronto and says sharpen Ananobi for... Sharpen Simons for Ananobi? I think that's maybe too much.

I'd want to keep Sharp if I'm Portland just with everything he's shown this year. I do too. But I think that type of concept, if you're Toronto, you get to feel like that might be the best thing you end up getting. What about Sharp and Grant for Ananobi? That's worse, right?

Yeah, I don't want Grant if I'm Toronto. And I don't want to give up Grant if I'm Portland either. Grant's been really good for them. He's a great fit next to Dame. It seems like Sharp is off the table for them. Right. They're trying to do a patchwork, make the roster better without putting them on there. I see why, but like,

if you're actually trying to build something around Dame now, I think it's going to take too long to wait for Sharp, personally. I think that Sharp would be the biggest asset you have. Let's take one more break, and then we'll rip through one last round. All right, Rob, you're up. This is a trade I'm trying to will into existence, and it's, I think,

similar to Chris's trade, you know, trading Matisse-Thibault to the Kings. I want Jared Vanderbilt to the Kings for Davion Mitchell. Oh! Okay! Jared Vanderbilt, shockingly, younger than Davion Mitchell. So, if I'm the Kings, I'm thinking, Jared, Jared Vanderbilt, shockingly younger than Davion Mitchell. So if I'm the Kings,

I'm thinking like this is a part of our core. This is a big who could potentially play with Sabonis. Give us some of the defensive activity that we want out of that position. Obviously you're sacrificing some shooting in terms of making those positions work, but Mitchell is like a little bit awkward and redundant for them right now in terms of the place he fills on their roster. Whereas if you're Utah, I think you

could talk yourself into basically very few of our perimeter guys are very active defenders on the perimeter. Let's get someone who can get into the ball. Let's get someone who, while he fills a similar size profile to what we have, gives us a completely different thing than what we have now.

I really like that one. What do you think, SC? I'm into it. I think it makes total sense for both sides. CR? Yeah. And it's funny how Utah

has completely fallen out of the trade talk. I know you brought up a Linux, but they were supposed to be the all-you-can-eat buffet and they're still lingering.

So I'll be curious to see what they do in the next couple weeks. Guys like Walker Kessler make a Vanderbilt more tradable, too. Well, I also had a Vanderbilt trade. I might as well do it now. This is one of my favorite trades.

This might be my favorite one I've come up with. Jared Vanderbilt to the Boston Celtics. There we go. For two white guys. Peyton Pritchard and Luke Cornett. Who drafted Peyton Pritchard? Danny Ainge. Who's fucking good?

Peyton Pritchard. Peyton Pritchard's like, he had the quotes. He was on some podcast and was like, yeah, at some point I'd love to be a big piece of something. You know, it's fine now, but I think I'd love to be a big piece of something. It's fine now, but I think I'm ready. And let me tell you something. I watch a lot of Celtic games. He's good. He's going to have a moment getting 25 to 30 minutes for somebody. He knows what he's doing. He really plays hard, really good shooter. He's just a good basketball player. And it's amazing this season that over

and over again, he could just not play for a couple of games and then they'll have to throw him in because somebody's hurt or somebody's resting and he could just play 25 minutes. And if I'm Utah, they don't really have a guy like him. I know they have Conley, but whether Conley gets traded or whatever happens to him, but they don't really have a guy like him. And as I forget who pointed out, but the Kessler emergence has made Vanderbilt a little. Yeah. Rob just said that. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I like that fit. I don't know if the Celtics have to throw in like a second, but I do like the concept of it. What do you think, KFC? I think it makes total sense for

both sides there considering the age factor. He loved Pritchard. And for Boston, they wouldn't even technically have to give up Cornette in that deal to make it work salary-wise because there's exceptions involved there. Oh yeah, they have that trade thing. Yeah, you're right. So they could take in Vanderbilt there. Oh, keep Lou Cornette. Great. Just one white guy. Yeah. Ainge is like, no, I need

two. I need two white guys. Vanderbilt would be perfect though behind Rob Williams and Al Horford as insurance there. Plus, he can play with them, too. It's the thing they need. They're a guy short. Now, it's like the Gallo injury. They're missing one guy.

They're in a situation where they're going to be in a playoff game, and Brown and Tatum will both have three fouls in the first half, and all of a sudden they'll be like, wait, what are we doing? We're going to play four guards? Or they just don't have that other kind of three, four guys. So that's why I think they have to address that. What were you going to say, CR? I was just going to ask Rob how it felt to watch the Boston Sports Mafia in action.

I was going to ask before Kevin jumped in, like, Bill, do you believe this pitch you're giving? Like, the paying pitcher propaganda was off the charts there. Fair question. I think he's genuinely good. Like, I was mad when he only played six minutes in the Laker game. Yeah, one of the last two home games. Yeah, it was the Laker game.

When Missoula played Tatum for the entire second quarter and whole second half in the OT. And it's like, why are we doing this? It's January. It's the fucking Lakers. Pritchard, especially at home.

Like I, I think he's had some moments. I, I really like him. I think he's good. I think he's, he is a good NBA player. It's just like with Utah,

they've got not only Conley, but they've got Clarkson, they have Sexton. We'll see if they keep Malik Beasley. Does he play for them? Yeah. That would be the saddest possible outcome is for Peyton Pritchard to get traded to Utah

and get buried on the bench. It might not be enough. I do like Pritchard, though. I think he's a piece for somebody. What do you got, CR? I have one that was just a real brain breaker. And we can just end the Zoom or you guys can mute me or cut this out if you want to.

But I like Trey Young to the Clippers for Luke Kinnar, Reggie Jackson, John Wall, Terrence Mann, and Moses Brown. You didn't draw the line to Moses Brown? That wasn't too much? First of all, let me just tease it out here a little bit, right?

It's a little bit of Kawhi and Paul George insurance. Trey Young, younger star, very popular with the kids. You're moving into a new building. You want to throw a third billboard up there. Some cool thing like give no quarter and it's Trae Young holding a quarter. That's the Clippers slogan.

I just think that it allows Atlanta then to have this ton of players that they can just juggle, trade in the offseason and do a complete rebuild under the obvious visionary leadership of Tony Ressler's son. My nitpick would be, I think they could get more for Trae Young. Probably this summer when they trade him straight up for Carl Anthony Towns.

You think so? Straight up for Peyton Pritchard? More than John Wall and Moses Brown in a second? No, I did try to come up with some Trae Young trades, though. It's hard. A lot of teams are set at point guard, right? Or he makes $47 million a year, and I just couldn't figure out.

Did you kick the tires on Rob or KFC? Did you kick the tires at all on a Trae Young trade? He's got to be an offseason guy if he's moved at all like he becomes your situation so it's a hard thing to pivot to in the

middle of the year Chris I'd like to tell you planted that you planted your flag on it though for when it becomes a story like four

months from now that's like this that trade and my shout of Benedict Matherin should be the number one pick or my two greatest BS report calls of all time.

KFC, what do you got? Oh, I thought that was the last pick. Oh, well, can I give you guys like three others that I really liked? Give us some honorable mentions. Yeah. Why can't Kevin Love be traded? What is he just going to

be in Cleveland for the rest of his life? He's an expired contract makes 28 million and Cleveland needs a wing. What if what if they traded him to Dallas for Tim

Hardaway and Dwight Powell's expiring? To help him out in that shooter spot. Kevin Love on Dallas like he's only playing 20 minutes a game and Dallas gets out of the to help him hard away in that shooter spot. Kevin Love on Dallas? He's only playing 20 minutes a game and Dallas gets out of the hard away contract for the summer.

Kevin Love's too good of a fit next to Jared Allen or Evan Mobley. He's playing 20 minutes a game. Yeah. Solid though. Spaces the floor, provides size, rebounding. You just have to feel pretty confident about the wing

guy you would get if you're going to give up love to get one. The one I was toying around with was, would you give up Kevin Love for Jalen McDaniels and Gordon Hayward both? And who knows if Hayward can play? Who knows what role he can really fill for you? But

Jalen McDaniels, another guy I'm kind of mystified as to why he would be available. Like Charlotte should really look to keep him. But if he is, Cleveland is exactly the kind of team that should be trying to get in on it. I'm sure Gordon Hayer would be psyched to go back to Cleveland.

Legendary return. Maybe it'll turn out better this time. All right, next one. Oh, I had just a Miles Plumlee for Bones Highland. Or Mason. Mason Plumlee. Which one's on Charlotte?

I don't know where Miles is. Miles is somewhere, but it's not in the NBA. The good Plumlee. How about Marshall? But yeah, Highland to Charlotte and they get a backup center. I want Denver to get a backup center.

Two more. So Siakam to Sacramento, I was kicking the tires on. Whether it's definitely Barnes, Rashawn Holmes, they're a little limited with how they can trade their first, but they can get

two unprotecteds, I think, and then just multiple pick swaps. But then the question is, does Keegan Murray have to be in that trade? Does it have to be Harrison Barnes and Keegan Murray, and then it's less picks? But I was thinking like, man, if just on paper, you take the Kings team and instead of the Barnes-Holmes minutes, those are all going to Siakam. Are they better? And they're better. If you're the Kings, you're a top seed right now in the West. Why are you doing anything? Well, that could be the perspective.

But at the same time, are they actually a threat to make a big move, considering the circumstances that they're in? Nobody's really talking about the Kings. We're talking about the Grizzlies, theicans the suns all these teams in the west nobody's talking about the team that's in the playoffs for the first time what if they want more than just a playoff appearance could they be the team that overpays dumps future picks for an all-star caliber talent like siakam or an og and an ob it's just been something on my mind because you don't hear much about the Kings

other than looking for backups and fringe players. Yeah, and the GM got the extension, so maybe he's got a little bit more confidence. It's one of those funny situations where sometimes teams that are maybe overperforming get a little overly precious about their roster because they're like, look what we got here.

The vibes are immaculate. We don't want to mess with anything. Maybe we'll just do something on the fringes. But you're right. Maybe this is the opportunity for the Kings to be like, we're going to be good for the next five or six years. Yeah, I was looking at it like Vivek

is probably so excited they're going to be a playoff team. It's like, we could win the title. Let's go for this. What's our next trade? Here's my rule on the trade deadline. I think it's the same rule as when you're in a bar. It's not the guy who's super loud and seems like he's going to get into a fight. That guy usually doesn't get into a fight. It's always the quiet guy who just

punches somebody in the face. And the trade deadline's like that. The loud teams, those teams a lot of the times end up not making the trades. And then it's always like the quiet team. It's like, oh my God, the Kings did what? It's always the stealth ones. Like the Derek White trade last year, the Celtics made. There was not one rumor about that. There was not one tidbit mentioned that came out of nowhere. And that's usually how the trade deadline works. All right. I was really excited about this one. Phoenix gets Terry Rozier and Isaiah Hartenstein. The Knicks get Jay Crowder, Plumlee from Charlotte, Torrey Craig's expiring,

and the Hornets get Reddish, the Sarge Rose expirings, and a Phoenix first. And so Charlotte basically gets a pick. They get out of the Rozier contract and they get to roll the dice with Reddish.

And Phoenix gets a backup center and they get Rozier. And then the Knicks turn Hartenstein into Plumlee and they also get Jay Crowder. Only the Picasso

would go that deep. Thank you. That's a real having cereal for dinner kind of treat. Like, what are we doing? Listen, this is why I have the resume. I want Hartenstein off the Knicks.

It really bothers me how they use him. And I think he's, I just liked watching him on the Clippers last year. And I think Tibbs has just kind of ruined him. I would like to see him on a team where everybody moved the ball. Is there, last year, and I think Tibbs has just kind of ruined him. I would like to see him on a team where everybody moved the ball. Is there, last one, is there, did anyone try to get DeMar DeRozan to Miami? Why Miami? Because that's like the classic Miami move, where it's like, how the fuck did they get DeMar DeRozan?

But Miami's, like, the way that Miami's, like, wageozan but Miami's like the way that Miami's like wage structure is now is like they just have like a bunch of guys making 30 million and a bunch of guys making 1 million and it's so hard to fit get the trades right for them for me maybe I'm just bad at math but I could not make it work I'm trying to get somebody to Miami like Bojan Bogdanovic

I think could be interesting for Miami if they can get in on someone like him a shooter but like the idea of DeRozan and Jimmy Butler together is a little too Spider-Man meme for me. That's a little too much of the same flavor. Yeah, I was trying to figure out, because I think Jovich does have some value. I like him. But they really have no move unless Duncan Robinson's in the trade, who I'm sure he's been offered every team of the week.

He doesn't play. He makes $17 million a a year and he's got three years after this. And there's just no way to move that dude. I do wonder if they'd move on Lowry, if it was the right situation though. I don't know if D'Angelo Russell makes sense for them, but something like that where just a big contract, Jovich and Lowry plus some future pick way down the road for Blank. Could that go? As you guys know, I'm afraid of Miami, especially because

I poo-pooed them on a podcast like six weeks ago and I feel like I just you know, it's like in Last of Us when they're like, I'm just going to get out of the basement, see if there's any supplies and then you just get bit. That's what it's like to just be like, yeah, Miami, they're done. You watch them, and if it's a close game in the last four minutes, I just feel like they're going to win.

It doesn't even really make sense, right? It's like, oh, Gabe Vincent's out there in crunch time. It's like, ah, it doesn't matter. That Cleveland game the other night was very... It was like the classic bullshit Miami game. I have a friend I won't mention On a Celtics text thread Who Miami drives him crazy And he's just like look at this

They made every free throw in this game He just treats them like they're a bunch of zombies Which they kind of are There's an alternate universe where they have 10 less wins This season But they just over and over again They figure out a way to pull these games out and they're really confident. So I'm hoping they don't improve.

And plus with Bam Adebayo, like you saw him drop 30 against the Celtics a couple of weeks ago, Bill Bam has taken a leap on offense while still, and you know, being the total anchor of their defense, regardless of the scheme they're using. And they use every scheme because of Bam Adebayo. I think you know chris vernon said to me in the mismatch earlier in the year we're talking about is miami dead are they not a finals contender anymore

and he's like yeah but with jimmy butler you can't look at him taking 14 15 shots per game in the regular season he's up to 25 plus in the postseason they're a totally different team come playoff time. I'm with you guys there that Miami remains a threat. I just love the idea that, Bill, you're in a text thread that's just flipping out over Caleb Martin night to night. Just like, can I contain

his excitement over what's going on in Miami? I have a friend that Miami just drives him nuts. He just doesn't understand it. Chris, before we go Do you want to do Wayne Jenkins as the Lakers GM or no? Oh Sean Burks God damn LeBron

I didn't know you really wanted me to trade those picks I thought that was a handshake deal Before we go Who do you have in the west right now? I thought that was a handshake deal. Before we go, who do you have in the West right now? If you had to pick a team. Nuggets. Denver. KFC.

Warriors. Still. Okay. I have Denver right now, but I think the Warriors, it's easier for them to improve their team. Then they might be able to make two trades because they have the Wiseman trade, but they could also do like the

Moody with something else and patch a couple contracts together and they might end up getting two guys over the next week. Is there a wild card team that you're intrigued by? Out of curiosity? What about the Nets? Yeah, I was going to say. next week. Is there a wildcard team that you're intrigued by? Out of curiosity? What about the Nets?

Yeah, I was going to say. They've come up a couple times in this conversation, but they're a team that like, they don't have a lot to give. Obviously, they don't have a lot of their own picks, but it's like, can you get like Cam Thomas and the first you got from Philly and get something out of that? Can you leverage that into a rotation player

of some kind? I think they could be interesting. Like, they've put themselves in that position where they should at least be knocking on some doors. What do you want if you're them? Like, what's the most important thing at the top of the shopping list? Real wing length and defense.

Yeah. Like, they have so many small guards who are deserving of playing time and could fill out lineups but they feel like a Jalen McDaniels team to me.

Like if you can get that conversation going I could see that working out. Yeah it feels like you keep one of Seth Curry or Mills. I don't think Simmons can factor into the plans

anymore personally. Maybe some other people would be more patient with it, but it does feel like there's some bigger deal they could make. And I'd be really interested to see if they actually put Simmons on the table because it seemed like there was some frustration last week with whatever was going on with him. And just watching him during the games, all the bad habits seem to be resurfacing.

I don't know. This Kyrie resurgence, we'll see how long it lasts, but if they're going to have that happening at the same time as the way KD's playing, you have to kick the tires in every way you can. I just can't figure out what their best five is when I watch them, right? Because Kyrie makes it so hard to play a second guard next to him

because you just get killed on defense. You can't play Simmons and Claxton at the same time. You have the KDPs. But I just, I don't know who the right five is. I'm not a giant Royce O'Neal fan. I don't know how you guys feel about that one. And maybe that's part of that too. Maybe if you could put some pieces with him

and try to get a better wing. We'll see what happens. All right, guys. This was fun. First ever fake trade draft. What was your favorite fake trade? Just out of curiosity around the horn. Oh, I definitely Ben Simmons this first.

Oh, thanks, Chris. Yeah, you got it. What'd you have, KOC? That's a very good one. Of my own, the Suns-Raptors-Hawks one that we opened with on my list. Hard to beat that off the top. Just like trying to wrap...

Actually, no, I do love Kevin's four-team trade, too. The Blazers overhaul featuring the Spurs-Raptors. That was good. Incredible. Yeah. It was actually very like out of character for KOC because he's trying to save the

mediocrity of Portland. Yeah. Why do you care so much about Portland? I don't understand that KOC. I mean, I mean, I think with Portland,

you, the draft lottery odds changing, you know, change the entire equation. Like it's not 25% up top. You can win the lottery if you're in that 7 to 10 or

11 range at this point so that changed things and plus dame has been unbelievable and jeremy grant's really good like they i think they have portland has glimmers of what they've been missing with the the cj dame core for years it's just the simons dame core has a ceiling. And now if you can build with Grants and Dame and Gary Payton and Nasir Little, who deserves more minutes, by the way, there's something there. I love this for your second act, KOC. There's nothing wrong with finishing seventh. People need stuff to pay attention to.

Finish seventh. It's great. That would be a good podcast too, KOC. There's something there hosted by Kevin O'Connor where you're just trying to talk yourself into different franchises and different sports.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's something there. And then the podcast just goes, we never did an OKC trade. They're the silent guy at the bar. I'd like to put them in the silent guy at the bar club.

I want them to get Towns next year. Oh at the bar. I'd like to put them in the silent guy at the bar club. I want them to get Towns next year. Oh, interesting. Oh, Towns and Chet. That's interesting. Towns, Chet, Giddy, and Shay. Oh. And Victor, apparently. That's the frigging Beatles right there.

KFC, you have no intel on if the Thunder were kind of lingering that Chet, we might see him this year. They would never do that right I don't think so I'd be I'd be shocked if that happened all indications were they're going to rest him the entire season let him build his body back and bring him back next year for his rookie

season what a soft culture we're living now really they should make Tibbs the GM of the Thunder you're getting out there tomorrow you're playing 35 minutes. All right, guys. Thanks.

This was fun. All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to Chris Ryan, Rob Mahoney, and Kevin O'Connor. Thanks to Kyle Creighton for producing, as always. And don't forget, go to TheRinger.com on Friday for my gigantic 2023 trade value column. I will see you on this feed on Sunday with the very special Super Bowl Props podcast. Because it's out.

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