The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Trade Deadline Reaction:Luka SAVES Lakers, Durant DENIES Warriors, Fox to Spurs, Williams to Lakers

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Jason Timpf starts with reacting to the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Mark Williams with the Charlotte Hornets. Jason breaks down why Williams is a perfect fit alongside Luka Doncic and LeBron James ...in the Lakers' offense and why LA has the pieces in place to make a run in the NBA Playoffs. Then he discusses Kevin Durant turning down the opportunity to reunite with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and the Golden State Warriors. Will KD regret this decision as he stays with the Phoenix Suns? Jason also breaks down his thoughts on De'Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers, De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs to join Victor Wembanyama, Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, the Milwaukee Bucks trading Khris Middleton for Kyle Kuzma, and the Toronto Raptors acquiring Brandon Ingram! Timeline: 4:15 - Introduction 5:00 - Details of Mark Williams trade 6:45 - Lakers all-in on offense 15:00 - Mark Williams is NOT a good defender 24:15 - Cavaliers acquire De'Andre Hunter 29:00 - De'Aaron Fox to Spurs 35:45 - Zach LaVine to Kings 37:30 - Bucks trade Khris Middleton 48:00 - How Lakers saved their season & future 53:00 - Kevin Durant turns down Warriors 54:45 - Marcus Smart to Wizards 55:15 - Pistons get Dennis Schroder 56:15 - Bojan Bogdanovic to Clippers 57:00 - Suns make a move 57:30 - Heat acquire Davion Mitchell 58:15 - Brandon Ingram to Raptors #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.
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Starting point is 00:04:09 I did want to take like 10, 15 minutes right now to just talk about the Lakers getting Mark Williams. You guys are the Joe before we started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast fee wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front.
Starting point is 00:04:28 We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where you can follow us for content throughout the year. And then keep dropping mailback questions in the YouTube comments so that we can hit them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season. So the Lakers get Mark Williams. Here are the details of the trade. Charlotte is getting Dalton Connect. Cam Reddish, by the way, for your Hornets fans,
Starting point is 00:04:45 Dalton Connect, you'll like him. Really good movement shooter. I think he hasn't shot the ball overly well this year, but his rotation minutes have been super inconsistent and he hasn't been very prominently featured in the offense. I think that Charlotte's going to give him much more of that kind of opportunity. The dude can shoot the ball.
Starting point is 00:05:00 He's a complete mess on defense, and there's a bunch of stuff that has to get worked out there, but he's super young, and he's big and he's athletic. So he should be able to, at least in the long run, and become a serviceable defensive player, who's a movement shooter, a guy who can run action, a transition weapon. You guys will like Dalton Connect.
Starting point is 00:05:16 He just wasn't somebody that fit into the Lakers timeline. You guys let you Laker fans who follow the show, you'll notice, I didn't spend a ton of time talking about Dalton Connect in my big picture Laker stuff this year because I just didn't think he was ready. It's no disrespect to Dalton. He's just a young player that needs to have some stuff worked out
Starting point is 00:05:31 and the Lakers aren't a more urgent timeline. So within Charlotte, I actually like Dalton Connect much more as a player that can develop into the high-level offensive player that he can be on his own pace and learn how to play defense over time. Cam Reddish also is in the deal. The Lakers' 2013 unprotected first-round pick. Those 2029 and 2013 first-round picks were more valuable before Luca came to town, but still here in the year 2025, that's six years from now. A lot can change by then. So an unprotected Laker 31 first-round pick is a good piece of value, and they're getting a swap with the Lakers in 2030 so they can get the better of those two draft picks.
Starting point is 00:06:09 The Lakers in the deal get Mark Williams. This is a move to go all in on office. Lakers could have gone several different directions with the center spot. They could have gotten like a big bruising guy, someone who's mostly unavailable like a Walker Kessler, someone like a Yaka-Purdle, Jonas Valenthunis ended up going to Sacramento, but like that kind of guy, you could get like a bigger-bodied bruising center.
Starting point is 00:06:29 You could get a defensive anchor, someone like Nick Claxton. This is the direction I thought they would go. Considering just the reality of some of the limitations of Luca Donchich and just LeBron being older and losing Anthony Davis and some of the stuff we've learned in MBA history about how your ability to protect the rim and the front court is such an important part of playoff defense. I thought that would be the direction they would go. Now, to be clear, I want to get a little further into the Lakers on defense later on in the show because I do think the Lakers are going to be better defensively than people think. But we'll talk about that in a minute. They didn't go either of those directions, though. They went with the dynamic screen and roll threat.
Starting point is 00:07:07 They gave Luca and LeBron one of the best young screen and roll prospects in the NBA. This is the first part of Mark Williams that Lakers fans need to familiarize themselves with. He is just an awesome weapon in the screen and roll game. He sets good screens. He seeks out content. He makes good hard hits on people in screens, but he also has a good feel for one to slip out of screens when the action dictates that, when that's the read
Starting point is 00:07:31 in that situation. He has absolute magnet hands, catches everything in traffic, doesn't turn the ball over very much for a center. He provides a huge vertical spacing window, which is just a vital part of what Luca and LeBron do in pick and roll. I talk about this a lot, but there's like a progression in ball screens. I'm going to do a full breakdown of it in a minute, and one of those important reads in that progression is that vertical spacing window in the lot, like a lob as you're coming downhill in the ball screens. And Mark Williams just perfectly fits into that mold. He's got like a super high standing reach. I think it's like nine feet, nine inches and change just gets, but he also can catch everything. It's not just dunks either. Like if it's a little bit of a bad pass, he can kind of
Starting point is 00:08:14 guide it into the basket at a really high level. No matter what you want to talk about with Mark Williams, even when you started to get into his defensive limitations, which we'll talk about in a minute, the dude is an incredible offensive weapon. And he's going to make life easier for the Lakers on the offensive end. So let's zoom in on that for a minute. We'll get to the defensive stuff in a little bit. If your goal was to make the Lakers completely unguardable on offense, this was the kind of move you had to make. Because in order for a Luka or LeBron-led offense to be unguardable, you need several things. I have four things on this list. One, ideally, you need a legit number two so that Luca or LeBron don't have to do everything so they don't wear down over the course of games
Starting point is 00:08:54 and over seasons. Well, I'd argue LeBron and Luca together complement each other. in that way, giving each other the ability to rest, take it easy when the other is on the floor and they need a break. And with Austin, they have plenty of depth in that regard. I'd argue they're the best shot creation trio in the entire NBA right now. When you get down to it, Austin for weeks now
Starting point is 00:09:12 has been like 20 points per game on 50, 40, 90. That's what you're complimenting LeBron and Luca with. Secondly, you need a legit vertical spacing threat. A dynamic above the rim kind of thing that the defense has to account for. Here's why. The vast majority of teams are going to guard LeBron and Luca up at the level because they don't want to let them get downhill.
Starting point is 00:09:32 Even when they don't, the role man is going to have to, or excuse me, the screen defender, the guy guarding Mark Williams, is going to have to come up to at least account for LeBron and Luca as scores. You guys have all seen it before. If you let Luca have the defender chase him over the top of the screen and he can pin him on his backside. And if you let him just methodically roll down the lane, he's going to get to one of those little five to seven foot push shots
Starting point is 00:09:54 that he just never misses, right? So like you have to account for Luke on the role. And LeBron is like the downhill threat. If you let Mark Williams screen for LeBron and you let LeBron go screaming downhill, he's going to break your defense down. So you have to account for LeBron by meeting him up high so that he doesn't get ahead of steam. You need LeBron to come off of those ball screens slowly, right? And the only way you're going to do that is by bringing a big up to the level so LeBron doesn't see a runway to go downhill.
Starting point is 00:10:23 Right? So in those two situations, if the screen defense. has to account for Luca. If Mark Williams' defender has to account for Luca, if Mark Williams' defender has to account for LeBron, now Mark Williams is open, rolling to the basket in that lob window, right? How do teams account for that?
Starting point is 00:10:40 They account for that by bringing a guy over from the weak side to tag the roller, right? But the only way they're going to do that, the only way they're going to account for that role man is if they view him as a real vertical spacing threat. So that's the second most important part to making a LeBron or Luca-led offense unguarded.
Starting point is 00:10:58 You've got to have depth of shot creation. You've got to have a vertical spacing threat so that you can throw the lob when the screen defender comes up. Thirdly, you need to have guys who can finish plays by capitalizing on the advantages that are created as the defense
Starting point is 00:11:14 shades towards LeBron and Luca and towards Mark Williams, right? So imagine we have a guy who's guarding Rui Hachamura in the weak side corner. That guy is going to come over and basically box out Mark Williams so that he can't roll to the rim for that easy lob dunk, right? This is where those skip passes are open.
Starting point is 00:11:34 Two of the best passers in the history of the NBA in ball screens to that skip to the corner are Luca and LeBron. You have to have guys that can score the basketball on the weak side of the floor, and this team will constantly have when Luca has the ball. LeBron off the ball. Austin Reeves off the ball. Dorian Finney Smith, who's knocked down three-point shooter off the ball. Rui Hachamura, a guy who can score the basketball. Even Gabe can both hit shots but can put the ball on the floor and make extra moves in the mid-range,
Starting point is 00:12:05 scoring in close-out situations, right? Like when you play playoff defense, a really good playoff defense, it's not a lot of catch-and-shoot jump shots. It's not a lot of easy stuff at the rim. It's a lot more of like you get an advantage. This guy has to score. This guy might have to put the ball on the floor and hit a mid-range jumper. This guy might have to put the ball on the floor and make that next re-de-firm. further break down the defense. This is a strength on this roster now. The Lakers always had these guys
Starting point is 00:12:30 that can do a little bit more offensively, guys like Austin, guys like Rui, guys like Gabe, but they couldn't create good enough advantages for them consistently. Now because LeBron is slotted as your second best shot creator, because Austin is slotted as your third best shot creator, because you have the lob threat, the legitimate lob threat that Mark Williams brings to the table, you are going to provide guys like Rui, guys like Austin, guys like LeBron, even Luca when he's off the ball, guys like Gabe, you're going to be providing them really high quality advantage situations as defenses have to account for Mark Williams on the role. And if they don't, if that low man doesn't come over, if they stay glued up to Rui, Austin,
Starting point is 00:13:11 LeBron, whoever it is on the weak side, Mark Williams is going to get a dunk every single time down the floor. Every team in the NBA is going to have to make a decision with how to guard the Lakers because that's the last piece. If first it's depth of shot creation, second, a vertical spacing thread, third weak side scoring. The last thing is what if they switch? If they switch, you got to have guys who can beat a switching defense and Luka just puts you into much better position to handle that type of defensive look.
Starting point is 00:13:39 You will have more favorable matchups all over the floor as defenses have to account for Luca. What decision are you going to make as a defense guard in the Lakers? Do you want to let LeBron and Luca just pick on your weakest defender? and switches, that's probably not going to go well. Do you want to let LeBron and Luca get downhill in ball screens and pick you apart? That's probably not going to work. Okay, so then you're going to have to come up to the level. That's going to open those skip passes and lob passes. Or you're going to have to
Starting point is 00:14:05 double when they're picking on switches, which is just going to lead to more of those advantages, which the Lakers have guys to capitalize on. I think this team has the potential to be the most resilient playoff offense in the NBA, aside from maybe the Nicola Yokic Denver Nuggets. I think they're on that tier now. Yokic, I think, is the best tight space playoff shot creator in the NBA, but Luca is right there at number two, and they have LeBron James, and they have Austin Reeves.
Starting point is 00:14:35 And so, like, I don't even want to overthink things. This team is going to score the basketball. But let's talk about defense. Mark Williams is flatly not a good defensive player right now. He produces statistically. He's very good rebounder. We'll talk about that in a minute. It's an important part of defense.
Starting point is 00:14:50 he does block a good amount of shots. He blocks 1.7 shots per 36 minutes, which is not bad. It's not great for a guy his size, but it's not terrible. But he's not particularly good at anything on defense. He has really bad technique on the perimeter. He does a lot of opening his stance. So he'll try to contest shots by going sideways, which just leaves his stance open so guys can drive by.
Starting point is 00:15:10 He leaves his feet on ball fakes and gets out of position. Really, really bad on the perimeter. So Charlotte tried to account for this by just exclusively using Mark Williams in like a super deep drop coverage, meaning like as the ball screen was taking place, he would just sit back in the paint and try to keep him around the rim. And he does have some value there again.
Starting point is 00:15:28 Like, he's a great defensive rebounder. This is a Laker team that has struggled to rebound at times this year. He has good length. He's going to be an asset down there. But even around the rim, he goes for ball fakes, he gets out of position. He's not a good defensive player right. So like, whether or not Mark Williams can be a high level rotation piece for the Lakers
Starting point is 00:15:46 will come down to JJ Redick's ability to find a way to make Mark useful on the defensive end of the floor. But I just think when we're having that conversation, we have to at least acknowledge what he brings on the offensive end. And that's why I actually look at this trade as more of a way just to give the Lakers a different configuration that they can go to. We saw this team look really good playing small ball in the last week. Without Anthony Davis, they did have Max Christie in the Knicks game,
Starting point is 00:16:12 but they didn't have Max Christie in the Clippers game. Against the Clippers and against the Knicks, they executed their small ball looks. really well. A lot of like LeBron, Rui, Vando, Dorian, Finney Smith, just these big, rangy, 6-8, 6-9, big strong forwards all over the floor that are switching and swarming around and rebounding and doing all the things they need to do that jump. I talked a lot early in the season about how like JJ Reddick switching scheme can work. The Lakers just weren't doing it. Well, they're, they've been doing it in the last week. I actually think this team will have small ball looks that
Starting point is 00:16:48 can defend. There's a lot of. to talk about like, how are the Lakers going to get any stops? They've been getting stops with the same guys over the course of the last week. I don't think the Mark Williams looks are with, like, the lineups with Mark Williams and Luca on the floor are going to struggle to guard. That's going to be a problem, but they're also going to score really, really well. There are good defenders in the rotation. LeBron James, when he's engaged in the last week, has been an excellent defender. Dorian Phine Smith, good defender, Jared Vanderbilt, excellent defender. Gabe Vincent, good defender. They have good defensive players in this rotation. And I just kind of see them.
Starting point is 00:17:19 having these different configurations. I think they'll have small ball looks primarily anchored by LeBron, where it's LeBron in a bunch of forwards and they're guarding and they're doing everything that they did against the clippers and the Knicks. And then they'll have these other looks, especially like Luca on the floor, LeBron off, where it's like, hey, let's just try to outscore teams. It's going to be Luca. It's going to be, you know, Austin. It's going to be Mark Williams. It might be Rui Hachamura and that look and maybe Jared Vanderbilt to guard the other team's best player, something like that. They're going to have looks for all of these different parts of the game. And you're right. Like, there might be a time when it's like, oh, shit,
Starting point is 00:17:54 we can't play Mark Williams against these guys. He's getting absolutely fried on defense. They can go to small ball looks. They have the personnel for that now, because instead of having a bunch of small guys, they've got six or seven dudes that are between six eight and six nine and, and, you know, 240 pounds plus. Like, they just have a lot of bodies to be able to defend in small ball looks to be able to rebound in small ball looks in a way that they didn't earlier in the season because of bringing in Dorian Finney Smith because of the health of Jared Vanderbilt. I think having multiple looks is a good thing. The main concern that I have is like, are they going to be able to hang with like a team
Starting point is 00:18:32 like Denver? And that's where it's going to get tricky. Do they need to get in the next seven minutes here? Do they need to try to get a bigger center that can bang with Yokic a little bit and give them at least a little bit more matchup of versatility in that regard? But as I look out from the Mark Williams thing, this team has the potential to be the most unguarded playoff offense in the NBA.
Starting point is 00:18:54 But they're going to have defensive holes that they have to fill. Let's just acknowledge that they have more good defensive personnel than I think the public opinion would lead you to believe at this point. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called,
Starting point is 00:19:13 Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name,
Starting point is 00:19:26 Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.
Starting point is 00:19:43 I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.
Starting point is 00:20:09 Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Dave. and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.
Starting point is 00:20:27 Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman,
Starting point is 00:20:48 catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferrari's and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion-dollar fraud.
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Starting point is 00:21:38 This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the
Starting point is 00:21:54 source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. On the IHeart Radio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-12 in the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Cleveland Cavaliers get D'Andre Hunter in the arms race in the Eastern Conference.
Starting point is 00:22:46 Details on the trade. The Cavs get DeAndre Hunter. The Hawks get Karras Levert, Georges Nying, three second round picks and two swaps. I love this deal for the Caps. The Caves had hit a little bit of an offensive lull. They're eight and six in their last 14 games. and there have been games where the offense looks great, but in the six losses, they only logged an offensive rating of 113.13.
Starting point is 00:23:08 And cooled off a little bit from three, they were only 34.5% on catch-and-shoot threes in those six losses. DeAndre Hunter represents two value ads for the Cavs offense. First of all, he's just a knock-down catch-and-shoot guy. Shoots 45% on unguarded catch-and-shoot three. So that will help in that specific regard. But he's also just an overall talent ad on the offensive side of the ball. You can shoot off the dribble really well. It shoots 46% field goal percentage on pull-up jump shots when you wait for threes.
Starting point is 00:23:36 It comes down to 1.07 points per shot. As a matter of fact, out of the 93 players in the NBA this year that have attempted at least 100 pull-up jump shots, DeAndi Hunter ranks 11th out of 93 in efficiency. So I got a little bit of off-the-dribble pop. He has a decent floater that he hits at about 42%. And he's just got some real scoring chops. He's run 133 pick-and-rolls, ISOs, and post-ups this year, right at about a point per possession, especially good shooting out of ball screens as the handler.
Starting point is 00:24:04 And so what I think about when I look at this deal is the reality of breaking down playoff defenses. This is a concept I've talked about a lot over the course of the last few years, which is like, during the regular season, you're going to get a lot of wide open catch and shoot threes. You're going to get a lot of layups, things like that out of defensive breakdowns. But then what ends up happening inevitably is you get into a playoff series, the intensity and the quality of the opponents you're playing goes up. And you're not getting those super easy transition opportunities as often. The defensive breakdowns aren't happening nearly as often.
Starting point is 00:24:31 The rotations are super sharp. The game planning is so intense. The best you can hope for a lot of the times is a little bit of a advantage on the other side of the floor. Like maybe we can get this skip pass because they load up on the ball screen on Garland or Mitchell or whoever it is and they're loading up on the roll man. And we whip the pass across the court and we can get a guy a chance to catch with a defender sprinting at him. A good elite playoff defender. sprinting at him. And that's where it helps to have scoring chops off the ball. And the Cavs do have a lot of guys that can shoot, that can knock down catch and shoot threes. But DeAndre Hunter is a guy that brings just another layer to those advantage creation situations where he's going to be able to hit some of the playoff shots. He's going to be able to do more off the bounce on the skip than a guy like Dean Wade. He's going to be able to do more off the bounce off the skip than a guy like George's Neing was able to do. Right. And so it's just a talent at it.
Starting point is 00:25:28 It gives them another guy that with more offensive firepower to break down playoff defenses. I was literally talking about this on the – I appeared briefly on the athletics, big trade deadline special today. And I was talking about it there. Like, you – your aggregate ball handling, your aggregate skill, your aggregate shooting ability, your aggregate scoring chops. I was talking about scoring as a separate category from shooting because scoring to me is about, like, audacity and confidence, the willingness. to take tougher shots and then having like the creativity, the footwork and the dribble combinations and the tweaking your release angles and shooting with a little more arc, a little less arc, whatever it is you need to do to make a bucket happen in kind of a weird fluid situation
Starting point is 00:26:15 that's not like just you standing still or doing some sort of basic drill. That's scoring, in my opinion. And so aggregate scoring, aggregate shooting, aggregate passing, those things matter more now than they used to because of the way defenses have gotten so good loading up on the strong side, taking the ball out of your primary ball handler's hands. So to me, DeAndre Hunter is just an influx of talent that gives them a better chance to survive as things get tougher in the postseason. He also gives them more size on the perimeter, which will help them match physicality with teams like Boston. That's really what this was to me. They're trying to close the talent gap with Boston as much as they can. And this was a big
Starting point is 00:26:51 step in that direction. I like Niang. He did some stuff, but DeAndre Hunter is just better. and the emergence of Ty Jerome as one of the best backup guards in the league made Carus Lavert a little bit redundant. And I like Carus and I thought he had some value, especially like I thought he was the best Cavs defender on Chegildes Alexander in the matchups that they had.
Starting point is 00:27:11 And so yeah, if they got to the finals, that could be something that is a little bit of an issue. But it's just such a small little bit of utility in the big picture that I actually think this was a smart trade. Cleveland is approaching this season with some real urgency and I like it. They have a five-game lead on the Boston Celtics. If they can maintain that, they'll have home court advantage in the conference finals,
Starting point is 00:27:30 and they'll have their chance to eliminate the Celtics. The second trade we're getting to today, Deeran Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. I've been asking for this trade ever since Sacramento got off to such a terrible start the season. This is like a half-dozenth time we've talked about it, so I won't go too into detail. But I've been hung up on this specific concept, which is that San Antonio has a lot of young developing talent, but that one of those guys is just so far ahead of his teammates in that development trajectory that you can't afford to just let them slowly grow together. By this time next year, Victor Wenyama will probably be a consensus
Starting point is 00:28:03 top six player in the NBA. Yokic Lukai Yanis, Shea, Tatum, and Victor, some order. And some folks might even have Victor higher than six when the time comes. And you can't just let a hyper-competitive, super-talented dude who's one of the top six basketball players in the world just sit around and wait for his young teammates to slowly improve. I thought Deer and Fox was the perfect player to address that conundrum for three reasons. One, he's older than Wemby, but he's just starting his prime.
Starting point is 00:28:32 I think he has at least five years left playing at the level that he's currently at. That is a good, long window to justify this type of investment. Two, he's legitimately good enough to be Wemby's number two. I had Deer and Fox in my top 25 this summer. I think his combination of downhill speed and over-the-top scoring ability. And again, he hasn't shot as well from the perimeter this year, but he's got such good short-range shot-making ability, those short lean-back jumpers, floaters, things along those lines.
Starting point is 00:28:58 It's just such a devastating combo. To be able to be a real threat downhill, but to always be able to stop on a dime and shoot over the top, it's just a devastating combo. There are a lot of fast guys in the NBA. There are a lot of guys who can make shots. There are very few that can do both at an extremely high level. And even with his shooting being down a bit this year,
Starting point is 00:29:17 he's still over 40% on pull-up jump shots. He's still over 50% on floaters. on high volume. And he logs, in terms of the downhill ability, he logs the same amount of drives per game as John Morant to give you guys some perspective on how much Deer and Fox can get downhill. Which brings me to the third reason that I liked Deer and Fox for the Spurs. The basketball fit is utterly perfect. The ideal fit for a pick and pop big is a downhill guard. Wemby obviously does a lot on ball for the Spurs.
Starting point is 00:29:46 They'll run action for him around the foul line where he'll catch and turn in face, you know, 18, 20 feet from the basket, ISO, that kind of stuff. But when he's operating as a screener in action, he's almost always popping out to the perimeter, right? Like, that's what he does. He's a pick and pop big in terms of his utility in the flow of the office. The reason why a downhill guard is so valuable with a pick and pop big has to do with the way that speed can break down traditional ball screen coverages. For starters, you can't switch, right? Like, if you switch with a downhill guard and a guy like Gwembe, the best thing that you can do when you're a big switching out
Starting point is 00:30:22 onto the perimeter onto a guard, is to force him to settle for a jump shot. And there are a lot of skill guards in the league that will get Biggs on switches, and they'll settle for jump shots. And don't get me wrong, sometimes they go in. But there's a good amount of variance there. The death sentence for a big on a switch is speed,
Starting point is 00:30:39 because they really struggle to move laterally and contain the ball. Deere and Fox can beat Biggs off the dribble for much more reliable offense beating switches. So that's a bad idea. And putting a small guard on a shot maker like, Victor Wemba is not a good idea either, right? Now, let's take a look at a traditional coverage,
Starting point is 00:30:57 meaning the defense does not switch. If you use the screener's man, so Victor's man to contain the ball, which you have to, right? Because if you're not switching, and Wemby sets a pick on the guy guarding Dearen Fox, and Wemby's man doesn't help at all, Deeran's going right downhill.
Starting point is 00:31:13 He's flying downhill and your defense breaks. So you've got to have that screen defender there to contain the ball, right? But here's the problem. As Victor pops above the break, that defender who's containing the ball now has a close-out. He's got a close-out from where the ball handler is all the way back out to Wembe where he's popping. This is where the downhill element of Deeran Fox's game is so valuable. The longer that close-out is for that screen defender to get back to Wemby, the better opportunities that Wembe is going to get, right? The more athletic the guard is, the further he gets.
Starting point is 00:31:51 it's downhill, the more it forces the entire defense to drop back to contain, the even longer that closeout's going to be, right? A skill guard who kind of meanders off the ball screen and pitches it back to Wemby, might only be a 10, 15 foot closeout. But if Deere and Fox comes screaming down that ball screen, and the guy's meeting him more by the semi-circle instead of up by the top of the key, that's an extra 10 feet that the big guy has to close out. And so I just imagine like just a ton of these really, really open looks and high advantage situations for Wembe in a wide open top of the key type of situation.
Starting point is 00:32:31 I just think, I think it's just a perfect fundamental basketball fit in two-man game to have a guy like Victor Wembe Njama that can pick and pop with a devastating downhill guard like Deer and Fox. And he's also a very complimentary defensive fit. I've talked about this a lot over the course of the season. Fox is an attacking, aggressive, disrupt the ball type of perimeter defender rather than the sit back and contain the ball type of perimeter defender. Containing is most important when you don't have strong rim protection. Attacking can actually be really useful with strong rim protection because ball pressure usually forces the ball handler to speed up. It forces them to drive because that's how you beat ball pressure. You beat ball pressure by driving.
Starting point is 00:33:10 If you try to retreat, they're just going to keep pressuring you until you lose control of the basketball. you attack ball pressure. And so in those situations where you force them to drive and you pressure well and you rush them, they go downhill without a plan. And that's where mistakes can happen. Cleaning up that type of dribble penetration is a thing that Wemby's better at than literally anyone
Starting point is 00:33:30 that's ever played the game of basketball. So like I viewed as a really complimentary defensive fit as well. So you got a player who, one, is good enough to help Wemby compete for championships right away, but is also young enough to fit the longer term Wemby timeline, while also being the perfect basketball fit on both ends of the floor, and you did it without having to give up any of your most exciting young players. I think it's an absolute home run move for the Spurs. That's why I've been pushing for it all season.
Starting point is 00:33:55 I haven't watched their debut. I think they played for the first time together last night. I've been so focused on the deadline. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. But super, super, super, for all these guys, by the way, super excited to dive into in the next couple of weeks, the basketball of these dudes playing on their new teams. That's why you've got to come back to Hoops tonight on the daily basis.
Starting point is 00:34:11 We do a lot of game breakdowns in the mornings. after these games. Zach Levine to the Sacramento Kings. I really like Zach Levine, but I think this was probably by far the most boring place for him to end up. Like, Zach's really good. He's athletic, can get to the rim.
Starting point is 00:34:27 Excellent jump shooter with real scoring chops. He can create shots for himself out of many different types of footwork, dribble combinations. He's a bucket getter. He's got solid playmaking chops. He's been an efficient shot creator in every play type this year.
Starting point is 00:34:39 And he's healthier than you would think. His reputation is that he's never healthy. He had a really bad year last year, but he played like 77 games the year before. But it's boring because we already know what it looks like. We've literally seen a team led by Demard de Rosen and Zach Levine as their two primary shot creators. I talked about this two years ago. The Bulls had a year where Levine, DeRosen, and Vucevic were healthy all year long, and they were bad. If I remember correctly, their starters had a negative net rating, even though they had super fortunate health that year.
Starting point is 00:35:07 We've seen what this looks like. Now, I know that DeMontas Sabonis is a much better player than Nicola Vusuf. and that they have Malik Monk. I know it's not a perfect comparison, but it's also a tougher conference at West. But at the very least, we do know that DeMarrozen and Zach Levine is not enough offense to be a truly elite game-breaking offense.
Starting point is 00:35:28 And we also know that this King's team is never going to overwhelm teams with defense. Not with lineups spilled around Sabonis, Zach Levine and DeMar de Mar de Rosen, you're not. So, like, I don't need to see much or to overthink this to know that the King, just continued to maintain their mediocrity. This felt to me like the Kings just trying to remain relevant
Starting point is 00:35:48 while also acquiescing the Deer and Fox trade demand. And they'll be fun. The Kings will go on some win streaks. On some nights, they'll look really good on offense and they'll beat really good teams. But they're going to accomplish anything of significance, and that's why I thought this was the most boring destination for Zach Levine. The Milwaukee Bucks get Kevin Porter Jr., Jericho Sims,
Starting point is 00:36:10 and Kyle Kuzma for Marjohn-Bochamp, Chris Middleton, AJ Johnson, and a pick swap. And I think the Bucks also might have gotten a second round pick back in that deal as well, if I remember correctly. I saw a lot of negativity surrounding this trade from Bucks fans. And I get it to a certain extent. Like, Chris, when he's at his best, is a better basketball player than Kyle Kuzma. But Chris Middleton hasn't shown his top end in a long time.
Starting point is 00:36:33 His ball handling has been valuable to the Bucks this year. In the half court, he's been able to create advantages and just kind of grease the wheels for them in their offense. but he's been back for 23 games and he's averaging 12.6 points per game. This is not the same 20 point per game Chris Middleton anymore. He had a couple 20 point games in the last couple of weeks but they were in like losses
Starting point is 00:36:51 where the team didn't look good or I think he had one in Utah as well. Like this is not the same Chris Middleton that was such an important part of the championship team a few years ago. Now whether or not this trade makes any sense will come down to what Kyle Kuzma turns into. The Bucks need to be able to convert Kyle Kuzma
Starting point is 00:37:09 back into their winning culture because he's been playing losing basketball down in Washington for a few years now. In Kyle Kuzma's last year with the Lakers before his trade to Washington, he had actually turned himself into a really good role player. First of all, he's a very good rebounder.
Starting point is 00:37:25 Towards the end with the Lakers, in the last year or two, he had become so good off ball, playing passing lanes, rotating, and just being such a good defensive rebounder that he actually had turned himself into, a really useful role player. The key will be bringing that out of him again.
Starting point is 00:37:44 That's on Janus. That's on Brooke. That's on Doc Rivers Dame and all the leaders of that team to refocus Kyle Kuzma's energy in the directions that made him such a useful player for the Lakers towards the end. He's got good size. He is a good athlete. He can win contested rebound battles.
Starting point is 00:38:00 He can fly around in rotation and play passing lanes. He's big. This is a size move for Milwaukee. That Kuzma, Yannis, Brooke Lopez front line is just way more physically imposing than a, even than a Bobby Portis, like too big kind of look because Bobby doesn't move as well as Kyle Kuzma does. But like certainly like Tori and Prince is a bad rebounder. Like this is a big size athleticism, off ball defense and rebounding upgrade for the Bucks
Starting point is 00:38:31 if they can bring that back out of Kyle Kuzma. Which again, that's the big kind of variable here, right? And then on offense, Kuzma's an interesting case study in how little efficiency actually matters relative to your reputation in the league. Like how Kuzma's an inefficient offensive player. His best shooting year was actually his last year with the Lakers
Starting point is 00:38:53 and he only shot 36%. He's a career 54% in true shooting, which is nothing to celebrate. But he is constantly aggressive. It's actually funny how aggressive he is. He's a career, 17 field goal attempts per 36 minutes in his career. Even his last year in L.A. when he was in his smallest role there, he still took 14 shots per 36 minutes.
Starting point is 00:39:17 This is an aggressive score. He averages seven three-point attempts per 36 minutes in his career. He shoots so much and he always has this threat that he might go off. Obviously he's been more of a scoring role with Washington, but even going back to the Lakers, any given night, he could go for 20. any given night he could go for 30. The threat was there. He has 97 career games with over 25 points. He has 11 career games with over 35 points. This has led to, and this stood out to me in such an interesting way when he was with the Lakers. This led to teams accounting for him on the scouting report the same way you would for a more efficient score. The way he's guarded is like that
Starting point is 00:40:02 of a more efficient score. So his value on offense is greater than his efficiency would lead you to believe because teams will account for him. I think he slots in really nicely as the starting three. Increases their size and rebounding ability, gives them more scoring pop. The big variable here is can they get him to commit back to playing winning basketball? The Bucks also got Kevin Porter Jr. He's just a bench bucket getter, nothing too crazy there. He has all the footwork and dribble combinations to get his own shot,
Starting point is 00:40:29 but he just isn't particularly good at making shots for whatever that's worth. Jericho Sims is just a hyper-athletic center who plays really hard. but isn't really good at anything on either end of the floor. I do think the buck's got a little better in this trade cycle. It certainly would have been better if they could have pulled off something like a Jimmy Butler deal or a Zach Levine deal, but they didn't win in those bidding wars. And so they ended up having to pivot to something else. And again, like with the urgency surrounding Dame's age and Janus's commitment to the franchise,
Starting point is 00:40:59 like you had to do something. It's not perfect. There's risk involved. Kyle Kuzma shares a certain amount of variability here with his commitment. to winning, but you had to do something. And this is, this at least has the potential to bring real upside for the bucks. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news.
Starting point is 00:41:18 What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.
Starting point is 00:41:31 But this one's extra special. So how did we, how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call. about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers.
Starting point is 00:41:50 This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, for people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.
Starting point is 00:42:06 Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple, podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smyl and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:42:45 Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the. the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people score board watch life becomes about wins and losses steve burns dustin ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust
Starting point is 00:43:29 i want you to just really be a good person join me kear gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast Learn the Hardway. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hard Way and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up
Starting point is 00:43:47 in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.
Starting point is 00:44:02 Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is, one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?
Starting point is 00:44:25 The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. We have a new segment that we're debuting today from our new partner, Microsoft. So let's get into that. Welcome to course correction, brought to you by Microsoft.
Starting point is 00:45:06 Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy, responsible AI. When you're in the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In this segment, we're going to be exploring the challenges faced by teams or star players and how they can turn things around.
Starting point is 00:45:35 Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week, we're discussing the challenge faced by Rob Polinka and the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Palinca and the Lakers were in a little bit of a bunch of a bar. They were built around a 40-year-old LeBron James and a soon-to-be-32-year-old Anthony Davis, who's a little older than his age, would lead you to believe.
Starting point is 00:45:56 And they looked like a team that clearly did not have a championship ceiling. In large part, because of mistakes that this front office made, the catastrophe of the Russell Westbrook trade, roster imbalances, brought by a failure to prioritize motor and athleticism around their aging stars. It looked really bleak.
Starting point is 00:46:16 But at the same time, the team this year, year was showing some real promise. The Lakers are 17 and 8 in their last 25 games. It's a seventh best record in the league over that span. They've shown some real promise with their small ball groups on both ends of the floor. Impressive wins against the Boston Celtics. The Knicks without Anthony Davis, a small ball group, the Clippers without, they beat the Clippers without Anthony Davis or without Max Christie, a lot of small ball groups in those games. LeBron has looked fantastic. But then Nico Harrison calls with an opportunity involving Luca Duff. This is where I thought Rob rose to the occasion and turned a challenge into an opportunity.
Starting point is 00:46:54 It started with self-awareness. Everything in life starts with you being willing to admit what you're good at and admit what you're bad at. There was a moment there where Rob had to take a look at this and realize that they're not good enough, even though they've been playing well, even though it looks like there's an upside, even though you could argue that team might have been a trade away. But it was about looking at that and making a tough decision with self-awareness. about where this team was actually going.
Starting point is 00:47:21 This was a high point in Lakers history, this recent stretch of games that they've been playing in recent Lakers history, I should say. There was a lot of optimism floating around. But the reality was they weren't good enough to beat OKC, they weren't good enough to beat Boston, they might not have even been good enough to beat Denver. So first, Rob makes the big decision.
Starting point is 00:47:41 We're moving on from Anthony Davis to Luca. But from there, he had to navigate the massive problem that presents for the rest of the roster. when you send out Anthony Davis and you don't even have a viable replacement at center. From there, Rob did a really nice job of negotiating with Nico Harrison, holding on to his 2031 first round pick, holding on to Dalton Connect.
Starting point is 00:48:01 Those are two assets that you could argue Nico Harrison should have just demanded. Like, Dalton should be a MAV. That pick should be the MAVs. And Rob held his ground and hung on to those picks. That gave him the ability to make another trade, to find the center of the future in Mark Williams. And to top it all off, you manage to clear a roster spot in the process, which is huge,
Starting point is 00:48:22 because I think the Lakers are going to be the premier buyout destination in the entire NBA in the next month. Any center that signs with the Lakers can get a pretty much guaranteed rotation spot. Any wing or swing man that can play some defense and shoot has guaranteed minutes available. They are the premier buyout destination, and they cleared out a roster spot. One of the things I always talk about on this show with respect to players is the idea of just making a play. It doesn't matter how bad of a game you're having. It doesn't matter how bad of a season you're having. If you just start playing better, then your circumstances will improve.
Starting point is 00:48:54 And it's been a really rough tenure for Rob Polinka as GM of the Lakers. But he just pulled off the unthinkable. He just reopened a championship contending window, one that seemed almost shut. And now it could be open for the next decade. Now as basketball fans, we get to do the fun part, which is watching LeBron James and Luca Donchich play basketball together. So shout out to Rob Polinka. He made a play, so to speak, and now he's completely rewritten the story of his tenure as general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Starting point is 00:49:24 That's it for this week's course correction. Remember, Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to help you drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions in reaching new possibilities. visit Microsoft.com slash challengers to learn more. All right, guys, before we get out of here, we're going to do a rapid fire segment hitting through a bunch of other stuff around the league. First of all, Kevin Durant refusing Golden State. I wanted Kevin Durant to go to Golden State.
Starting point is 00:49:58 I straight up think he would have had a better chance to win there than he did in Phoenix. I talked about this in the Jimmy Butler show yesterday, but I think there's a misconception about the Warriors that they're bad when really they're just horribly imbalanced. Even after that Jimmy Butler trade, they still have like 11 rotation players that can play meaningful basketball, at least within the context of the regular season. And they were able to bring in a guy in Jimmy Butler
Starting point is 00:50:18 that immediately balances the roster out. You don't need 15 guys that can play minutes in the NBA. You don't need 15 of them. You can do it with 11 and give yourself more firepower off the top, right? I thought KD would have very cleanly kind of slotted into that Jimmy Butler type of role that we talked about last night. Same concepts that I talked about last night with respect to playing alongside Steph. I did have a worry, though.
Starting point is 00:50:43 Even when all that buzz was kind of building on Tuesday this week, I've just heard from so many different sources, like that Kevin Durant really didn't like the way the whole Golden State thing went down. And that he looks back at that era with a little bit more contempt than people are willing to realize. And so I was hoping that enough time it passed and, you know, like maybe it would have been able to, like I'd heard a report to that, like, Phoenix was coveting Draymond in that deal.
Starting point is 00:51:13 Like I thought maybe there was some way to work it out towards Kevin Durant going that direction. But he stepped in there and he said, I don't want to do it. I don't want to go back to the bay. And I do think that that comes down to the way everything went down when he left. And so it's kind of a bummer. And now Katie's stuck on that son's team, which I mean, I guess we're going to talk about it in a minute. Maybe they got a little bit better bringing in Cody Martin. But like I don't see anything really substantial there that looks like an opportunity.
Starting point is 00:51:39 So at least Kevin doesn't have to move, I guess. But it was interesting the way he stepped in and nixed that deal from taking place. Mark is smart to the Washington Wizards. Kind of crazy that they traded two picks, two first round picks to get him and then had to pay another first round pick to get off of him. It's a weird sequence for a front office
Starting point is 00:51:55 that's otherwise been excellent. But the upside for the rest of the league is that if you are not in the first apron or second apron, you could potentially get Marcus Smart in a buyout if he gets bought out before the end of the season. And I think he would be a really interesting buyout. guy to raise this healing for a team. Golden State would be an interesting spot for Marcus Marte becomes available.
Starting point is 00:52:15 Detroit, the Pistons, get Dennis Schroeder. I actually really like Dennis Roder. He had a little bit of a rough go there with Golden State, but he was miscast as like the secondary star on the team. Dennis Roder, to me, is an extremely useful player in that he can guard point guards from the other teams. He is a savage competitor, like legitimately just gives it his all every single night. I loved rooting for that guy.
Starting point is 00:52:36 Pistons fans, you will love rooting for him. he just needs to be in a position where he's not depended on to a great deal to run offense. Now, within Detroit, because of the injury to Jaden Ivy, he is going to kind of be in that position where he's expected to do a lot. There will be a lot of highs and lows for Dennis Schroeder on the offense of the end of the floor. You need to be aware of that. But I do like the idea of at least just giving Kate another guy that can help.
Starting point is 00:52:58 Another guy that can help handle the ball, another guy that can handle ball pressure, another guy that can just carry shifts when he's off the floor. Again, you didn't want to do anything too crazy because you don't want to do it. anything to mess with Detroit's timeline. But at the same time, this is like a nice, inexpensive move that just gives you a little bit more firepower to get a more interesting look at Detroit when they get to the postseason. The Clippers get Bogdan-Bed on McDonovic for Terrence Mann and Bones Highland. Another shot creator for the Clippers. That's a team that's light on shot creation, any injury that takes place all of a sudden Norman Powell's your secondary shot creator,
Starting point is 00:53:30 and he's been great this year. But getting ball handling there is definitely an ad for the Clippers. Terence Man had been kind of pushed to the edge of their rotation, which is weird. I actually really like Terrence. But he fits Atlanta's goal really well, which is Atlanta's been trying to surround Tray Young with athletes, young athletes that can cover for his size and limitations and benefit from his playmaking talent. That is a nice get for Atlanta there. The Sons turned Yusuf Nurkich and a first round pick into Cody Martin, Basilid J. Mischich, and a second round pick. Now, Mietch probably won't play with the point guards that they already have. But Cody Martin is a useful wing athlete on a team that doesn't have many useful wing athletes, and Yusuf Nerkich was useless.
Starting point is 00:54:13 So it cost you a protected first, but it was a nice moderate improvement, and there was some real urgency here. Again, it's better than nothing, I guess, but I still don't feel like the suns are going anywhere. The Miami Heat turned PJ Tucker into Davion Mitchell, a guard who can really defend. And again, this always brings value in the modern NBA, the ability to guard the ball. I like Davion is like a kind of guy that you can deploy that just changes the flow of a game. You get into a game and you're playing against, you know, the Nuggets or something like that. Or I'm trying to think of like just, let's just take any team in the Eastern Conference that has high level guard play. So let's say Milwaukee.
Starting point is 00:54:50 You play Milwaukee and Damien Lillard just lighten up your starters. Like he's killing Terry Rozier, he's killing Tyler Hare on switches and it's not looking pretty. And you just need to do something to change the flow of the game. you take Davy on Mitchell out, you put him out there, and you say pick up Dame full court. It can change the tenor of a game. It can disrupt rhythm. Again, he's not the kind of guy that's going to be in your closing five. He's not the kind of guy that you want playing 30 minutes a night,
Starting point is 00:55:13 but it's a useful rotation player as a guard who can defend, a kind of guy that can come in and bring ball pressure and change the flow of a game. And last trade we're getting into today, Brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors. I actually really like Brandon Ingram. I've talked about this before, but I think he is at his best when you put the ball in his hands and you allow him to run a lot of spread pick and roll. He compared to most forwards in the league is actually a really gifted passer. I think he's a guy that can raise your offensive floor to a great extent.
Starting point is 00:55:41 He actually fits really nice next to Scotty. I look at Scotty as like the hammer to the Brandon Ingram's scalpel, so to speak. Scotty, it's interesting because he's just so physically imposing at times. I was watching which game was I watching the other day? I think it was Toronto or Chicago and he was doing a lot of work like posting mismatches. He had a run in the third quarter
Starting point is 00:56:06 where he like scored bucket after bucket after bucket attacking from the post. But like he just can run into a little bit of a wall on offense sometimes. He has a tendency to settle for fadeaways in the post quite a bit. Like I think bringing in Ingram to make Scottie's life easier on offense
Starting point is 00:56:22 is at least a worthwhile endeavor for Toronto to try. And then guess what? You can decide at the end of this year if you want to re-sign Brandon Ingram to some sort of long-term deal. And whether or not the deal makes any sense really comes down to what you end up signing Brandon Ingram too. It depends if you get him at a fair deal or if you end up having to overpay.
Starting point is 00:56:39 And time will tell in that regard. The team isn't going anywhere, but it's certainly a hell of a lot more fun after this. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. I am very excited to get back into it, breaking down some games, talking about these players on their new teams. As of right now, we might be going live tonight after Warriors Lakers, depending on whether or not Steph plays.
Starting point is 00:57:02 So keep an eye on my Twitter feed. We might have another episode tonight. If not, we'll be coming out tomorrow. Then we always have our mailbags like we usually do on Friday. And then time to start breaking down games. We plan on covering the Pacers Lakers. Luca Donchich, his debut on Saturday. I'm looking forward to that as well.
Starting point is 00:57:16 Again, I really appreciate you guys for rocking with me, and I will see you either tonight or tomorrow morning. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys. I appreciate you. I'd take a minute to do that. I'd really appreciate it. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.
Starting point is 00:57:47 We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends.
Starting point is 00:58:14 Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:58:39 Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of the. those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert
Starting point is 00:59:14 tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day. seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your heart is hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit.
Starting point is 00:59:29 Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. IHeart Radio. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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