The Ringer NBA Show - Big Questions for the Second Half of the NBA Season | Group Chat

Episode Date: March 9, 2021

Justin, Rob, and Tjarks are joined by Travonne Edwards of The Athletic to discuss which teams' first-half performances they're not buying as legitimate (02:00). Later, they discuss whether any teams in the East can stop the Nets or 76ers (18:00), as well as the best player who could be moved by the trade deadline (40:00). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Jonathan Tjarks Guest: Travonne Edwards Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They don't have guests. They have contestants. Ten Questions with Kyle Brandt is the perfect game show and talk show hybrid that you need. Check out 10 questions exclusively on Spotify. Hello and welcome to Group Chat, the ringer's weekly NBA group discussion where we always need quickly. I am Justin Barry. Joining me today, Jonathan Sharks. What's up, guys?

Rob Mahoney. Are y'all feeling refreshed from your several day break? I know this guy is, because, you probably know him as the internet's foremost water enthusiast. But he's also with the athletic and many other podcasts, BOMM and, you know, Compa Dangs, all those stuff. But he's Black Trey. What's up, my friend?

JV. What's going on? See, they don't know you by JV. We throw back to those. How far back do y'all go? Just to podcasting on ESPN back the day, True Hoop. But, you know, we're really, really brothers, you know? That's how I look at it.

Yeah. I don't think I've said Black Trey out loud before. I don't know if I've ever felt whiter. Oh, hey, I mean, I always look at it as when Wendy wouldn't refuse to say it one day or so. He just wouldn't not say it. Yeah, he was just like, I don't feel comfortable with it. Can I just call him Trey? And I'm like, no, my name's Black Trey.

And I'm just like, now I'm just messing with you. Go ahead, you can call him with Ray, man. But like, yeah, you know, I've evolved like a Pokemon to Trey. words. So you can actually know my name now. That's the business name. That's what they put on the business card. Or they just put Trey. Yeah, that's cool. All right. We're going to talk about the second half of the NBA season because somehow we have made it here. We're going to go through five or so of the biggest questions looking forward in the NBA. Let's start here and Trey, we can go to you first here

since you are our distinguished guest. Whose first half are you not buying good or bad? Utah. I like that they're on the positive end. They're the story, but they're complaining. You know, just they haven't been here before. This is new territory for them.

And then also the reason why I'm not buying because it doesn't result in the championship. This is very... Just because they don't have star players? Well, no, they do have star players. I won't, you know, although this is the anniversary of Rudy Gober, tapped into mics. he still

looks like he's going to be defensive player at a year it looks like they have a coach of the year and they also have six men in a year in Jordan Clarkson but this would not have them tasting champagne in June

so I don't you know I can't I can't buy this fully well Rob is the internet's foremost you try jazz enthusiast so he is just waiting here so I'll turn it over to him well honestly I think the complaining thing

has been interesting and I had never really thought about it in the context of what a playoff run for them would look like because you're going to have games where you're not going to get calls. You're going to have runs where things really don't go your way. I think the jazz have dealt with the type of adversity in the past. They've certainly mended the fences with all the Donovan Mitchell, Rudy-Gober stuff really well. They've managed some things on the fly chemistry-wise to make themselves a really feel good story. But if that's kind of where you are as a team mentally, and you can win with an us against the world kind of thing,

but you better hope the world doesn't come with some heavy artillery in a playoff series and kind of put you on your heels a bit. So, Trey kind of stole my answer, but I would say with the Jazz, this team hasn't won a playoff series in three years. So I don't think really the championship is like the bust goal.

If they could win one or even two playoff series, get to the conference finals, which is possible given that they have the number one seed, I think that'd be a heck of a year for them, even though I don't see a title either. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I just, look at it like the teams that tend to overcome the lack of having like a top five guys

they're usually helped in some way by the landscape right like the 2014 or so spurs whatever that team that got into the finals with the heat there like the west was a little softer than it needed to be there like you know thunder would have those injuries at the at the worst times opening the door for a team like them uh the piston's probably the biggest case of this where they're just like the defense just overcame a lot of what you know the individual parts there And I just don't see it, especially in the West, when you have to go through Kauai, LeBron, and all those guys. There's someone that's going to have like three games in a series, and that's going to be that. So I tend to believe or be in line with you guys, but it feels bad just saying that, though,

just considering how good they've been. And the fact that, like, their system is repeatable. They make threes and they take away threes. That's going to win games. I mean, here's the thing. If you're going to not believe in the jazz, I think that means. you have to believe in the clippers. And best of luck to you in finding peace in your soul,

really banking on that team when it matters. I think the clippers are really good. I think, you know, the top of the West certainly really formidable to your point, Justin. I still like, I mean, I still have a lot of faith in the jazz. We've covered them a lot. But, you know, I think more so you're looking at these other teams, whether it's Anthony Davis's injury and the potential long-term implications of that,

whether it's the clippers and their kind of well-traveled struggles in playoff series and crunch time. Are you really betting on the team that blew that series against the Nuggets to take care of business that they play against the team like the Jazz?

Well, Rob, I think the Clippers are a good comparison point because I go back to that Clippers Jazz game. Maybe it was like two or three weeks ago now. Fourth quarter of that game,

Clippers go small. They play Marcus Morris at the 5. They switch everything. And the Jazz didn't really have a great answer for it. They ended up putting Rudy Gobert on Patrick Beverly.

And I thought that was, like, okay, here's what playoff basketball looks like. We're going to downsize against you. We're going to switch all your screens. We're taking away your threes. How are you really going to punish us? Is it going to be Rudy Gobert posting up? Rudy Gobert in the offensive glass?

Because I'll live with that if I can spread you out and force Goberti to guard three point line. Trey, what did you think about Donovan Mitchell's just World Tour after Gobert and him getting kind of snubbed in the draft? It seemed like he was still thinking about it, even when he was being asked. after the All-Star game.

Like, is this a good thing that he has a chip on his shoulder or are we a little worried that this guy's gonna be on tilt? It's rent-free. But I will say that everybody's been picking on him. Everybody's been picking on the jazz all year.

So I understand it can be feeling a bit disrespectful, but when I see blog posts about them accepting a villain role, I can't do it. You know what I mean? And that's, you know what I mean? Like, again, I think this is a darling season.

You know, they've been compared to the spurs, the bucks of the east, teams that have really got it together and these guys really enjoy playing with each other. But the only reason why I'd still make this case about the whole buy thing is just because it's been so heavily loaded across the board on all basketball podcasts.

You can't not spend a week without talking about the jazz. I remember even me making a hot take that they were going to win 27 straight, you know, and just feeling like, just because chemistry is king, but they do not have a LeBron James. They do not have an Anthony Davis. They do not have a Kwai Leonard or a Paul George. And I can go down the line.

They don't have a Kevin Durant. You don't have it in B. You know what I mean? Despite the conferences or not, you still have to have that. And I just don't think that they have that on their roster. I think they can get out of the first round, which is a, that's embarrassing. If you've got the number one seed, you should be trying to aim as high as you can. Like go ahead and get a dojo coin.

That's what the jazz should be right now. Like to the moon. Their seat should be to the moon. That should be not an applaud effort. And I really, this is the thing. I said this on another platform about jazz fans being the most realistic fans in the NBA. They're like, yeah, we're. we're going to make the playoffs.

Yeah, I know you guys don't like assigning Gobert for 200 million, but he does this, he does that. Okay, and my argument is like, I want more for y'all. It's like experiencing being rich and then coming around your cousins and kind of showing them a little thing,

and they're like, yeah, I don't like that. I don't like that too much, you know what I mean? And that's how it is about championships. Like, you know, in the past 30 years, we've only had 10 champions. So for me to say that they're not going to win it, it's not a far stretch. You know, but my whole thing is why settle for short.

The jazz fans don't even believe they'll win. So I don't either. Jazz fans would be in on them if they were the worst team in the league. They would still be talking about where you go there, screen assists. And how they sprung Jordan Clarkson for 40 points at one night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yeah, no, I agree with you, though. Like, I do think that the wind streak almost put a spotlight on them. So we probably pick apart their, they're just like their flaws.

a little bit more, and it put a target on them. So if they don't make it to the finals, it looks like it's going to be just like a failure there. And so, I don't know, it just comes down to expectations, I guess. Okay, but I got to ask, how would the Jazz be villains? It's a bunch of nice guys. Exactly. I don't know.

Quinn Snyder's the biggest bill on their roster, probably. I mean, he did have a good role in Spider-Man. I will say that. That's true. Well, okay, let's talk about another team. Rob, so sharks had the jazz. Rob, did you have another team on this? I did.

I don't really believe in the Knicks, and I can't quite shake this feeling that they are more play-in tournament team than playoff team. You know, credit to them for buying it on defense, for playing hard, I think they've earned getting to this point, but they've also caught a lot of teams by surprise. They've gotten a little bit lucky,

and I wonder if we'll see some of that level out in the second half of this season. Now that the scouting report is out on how they play, now the teams aren't just bricking threes against them like they did to start the season, how are the Knicks going to hold up with that? And I'm a little bit skeptical. Yeah, I think this is the obvious one.

This is the one I first thought of when I wrote down this question. So here's where I ended up, though. So this is a stat I think I created from a John Hollinger column. The Knicks are leading the league and opponent three-point field goal percentage. So their opponents are shooting 33% against them. And the whole thing with that is teams don't really have control over what team shoot against them from three.

And so that would be a reason they're based on defense. I think they have the number two defense in the league. That's a reason to really doubt that they can continue this forward, especially since everything is based around Julius Randall and how much that's sustainable. I don't really know. The flip side of this is I think the Knicks are who they are. I just think the rest of the East is so bad that they've looked better. Like, they're currently number five in the East right now, like right a half game behind the Celtics for fourth.

I just think that, like, we think that they're actually overperforming when they're a 500 team, and that's not that great. Yeah, I think this is where some of those East teams start catching up. And when you especially look in the standings, Miami right behind them, finally getting healthy, they might be in the trade market, Toronto right behind that. They're on the come up right now. Atlanta, hopefully getting DeAndre Hunter back at some point,

and Nate McMillan, I think, will smooth out some of their rougher edges there. You have Indiana, you have Charlotte. A lot of these teams that I think are just better than the Knicks on balance. Also worth pointing out, the Knicks have the fifth toughest remaining strength of schedule by Tankathon, whereas Miami has the 27th remaining. So the odds of them catching the Knicks are probably pretty high. Trey, what are the streets of New York saying? Oh, I mean, it's fireworks, it's championships out here.

It's very delirious. I try to hold my breath so I don't get caught in that stuff. But I thought that was too easy. I mean, I was around picking on them, but it's like picking on them. You know, let them have fun. You know, so. Wait, what about wanting better things for a 500 team? We're running fireworks.

What happened to that? Yeah, I mean, the worst I feel in this situation with Coach Tibbs and direction is maybe a playing game, but I still think they're in the mix. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the feature is about, like, how they overcame adversity and how Leon Rose is just the savior that they need are already starting to pop up around New York. So, uh, they're getting in like the, the, the, the, the spoils of this recent success they're having. Um, but yeah, I'm a little if on, on where they're going to end up here. Uh,

for my pick, I wanted to pick Charlotte just because I've just loved the first half of the season. I think they're probably on top of my league pass list. Uh, and like, they have elements that you think would go forward. Like, Le Mello is a legitimate star, uh, Gordon Harwood's playing like that sort of connector that they've needed on this team. PJ Washington is good. They just have all these really good pieces and they're super exciting and I do wonder if that like that momentum will propel them a little bit when the the second half of the season gets a little bit, gets into the druthers a little bit. On the other hand, I don't know. It's just like the defense isn't there. You're banking on Malik Monk a little bit. You know, like you need a five because you're still playing

Bismack Biombo. The one thing I would say, you're going to in their favor is that they are the type of team where they look at their recent success and be like, oh, we need Nicola Vucevic and we need to pay the James Hardin Price for him in order to get him in and complete this team. That's what it'll take to get Vich out of Orlando

is the James Hardin Price. Where the magic do things. Right. So, Charlotte, I'm on the fence about I really want to believe in their, like, the good of them. But I ultimately pick the Hawks. And I pick the Hawks, if only because they've been so injured,

over the first half of the season that they can't get much worse and they're already like flirting with 500 I imagine this team is probably going to finish in the sixth or the seventh seed and they'll be fine but I don't think they're an abject disaster is where I stand on the Hawks

who to you is like the breakout player there like once they get everybody healthy and rolling who's the guy we're going to be watching on the Hawks who's like oh I really like how they fit there I think it's Bogdan like for one he's the only healthy guy coming back because it doesn't sound like DeAndre Hunter is coming back in the next two, three weeks at the very least. Cam Reddish just had this weird injury where, like, he had non-surgery, like a non-surgical procedure on his Achilles.

Yeah, what does that mean exactly? I don't know. Is that a massage? I think it's when the doctor taps your knee with that little hammer thing. What it kicks up? Yeah. So like the cavalry isn't really coming, but all they really need in order for this team to be halfway decent. as we've said, time and time again, is just to, like, shore up the backcourt.

Like, just don't give those backup point guard minutes to Rajan Rondo. Like, let Bogdan be Bogdan for that time. And then when we play him and Trey together, Trey gets to play a little off the ball. We get to see a little bit different dimension from him. Like, there's just too much talent on this team to be, like, bottom of the league. Like, we need to fire everyone bad. I think they're going to be fine. Trey, where are you on the Hawks?

With Lloyd Pierce being, you know, kind of getting to axe and, you know, bringing in Nate Mac, upgrading Nate McMillan, a guy who isn't really well liked in locker rooms most of the time. I don't know. I mean, I'm not high or low on these guys. There's nothing to me right now in this particular situation, you know. But hopefully, I guess, fast forward to the summer, they bring in a guy like Alvin Gentry or David Vanderpoo gets his, you know, his first look, you know, and they just do a culture reset because it's just a lot. They brought in, you know, I think it was an emergency break glass fix, you know, trying to bring in some random vets that did not fit this culture. And then you drafted really well and you didn't even get these guys a chance to like develop because you have a star who, you know, kind of similar to Michael Jordan would just run up the steps and say, hey, fix this now.

And that's how the situation goes. So I'm not losing any sleep, but I also don't wish any bad will on them. just in a tough spot, you know, and I'm going to just go for broke and say, hey, let's just start all fresh, you know, come next season. Do players not like Nate? I hadn't heard that. I just think it's his style. He challenges guys sometimes, you know, and, you know, he's old school and he does what he does.

I think they respond to him certain well, but I don't think Trey's going to respond to him like that. You need a coach that's going to coddle. I mean, he also, he plays very, very slow. I cracked me up their first game with Nate. It was 9480. Like, that's a name is known store right there for sure.

And that does not support the roster makeup of what they have, you know? So, I mean, like again, I'm all for having another black coach on the sideline, but yeah, I don't know. This is interesting.

Yeah. So they've got the 22nd hardest strut the schedule coming up. That's another reason just to be, to be bullish on them. So I'm going with the Hawks. Let's turn to the next question, though. So we're going to stay in the East because I think this is interesting. This is probably my biggest question going into the second half.

Can anyone stop the Sixers or the Nets from winning the East? And ultimately, I think this becomes a Bucks conversation, right? Because they're the clear contender there. Jarks, I want to talk to you first because we had this conversation earlier in the week where we thought things were changing in Milwaukee. They had this big win against the Clippers. you were going to write about them. I was like, let's hold off.

I want to see this actually happen. I don't want incremental progress anymore from this team. And then the rest of the week was a little shaky. Where are you on Milwaukee now after that week of play? I mean, with Milwaukee, so what they did against the Clippers, I was really excited. They played Janus at the five. They let him guard Kauai the whole time.

It was a very flexible, versatile lineup. It was like, oh, this is pretty cool adjustment they made. But ultimately, I don't believe in their coach. whatsoever. I don't believe in their depth. I think they have four good players. I think that's just going to be tough to win. And as far as the question, I'm just the Nets guy. I think the Nets, the way Hardin's playing, if Kady's healthy, to me, they're a cut above even the Sixers. I think they're the clear-cut favorite in the East, and I'm going to go with the Nets all the way. So I think no one's catching the Nets. Trey, where are you on the Bucks? I covered them closely last season.

and they got like tough love early on this season. I think they're going to up and up. I think they can catch these two teams. I mean, maybe because the Sixers are rolling, but with this whole hiccup of the All-Star, maybe they drop some games, however that's handled. But, you know what I mean?

Overall, you know, sure. I don't think they win anything, though. So, you know, but if the Nets get drumming, I mean, I think they, they kind of roll all the way up. Yeah. The Blake Griffin thing is interesting. Is he going to play more than five minutes in a big game for this team?

Probably, I don't know. I think they're going to slowly work here, man. You know, he's a second unit guy. Could run some pick and roll and free it up for Joe Harris, you know, and just kind of, he still can spread the floor and whatnot. So it works. It does feel like Jeff Green is kind of ahead of them, which is just funny. Like, Jeff Green is outlasted everyone.

He is. Yeah, now Jeff Green's probably the most important person. You know what I mean? He's probably the most important free agent also. You know what I mean? He's the leader in the locker room. He has been asked to be, you know, defend one through five. He's different things.

But then you also have to understand the growth of Claxton, Bruce Brown. Like, they have good problems right now. You know, and I think that's what not the world is paying attention to because the big three is such a, you know, a highlight. but I didn't expect the growth of Bruce Brown to just come in immediately. You know, he played a lot of playing in Detroit. And now he's playing Power Forward and just kind of putting his hard hat on and eating with his hands. He's like New Age of Amari Stodomier right now.

You know, right? I like eating with your hands, though. That's good because all he's doing is you to layups. Like, yeah, there's not a lot of, yeah, it's real basic stuff. Yeah, it's basic stuff. It's like, look, run the lane straight down. We're going to find you. If anything comes off the rim, put it back.

And a lot of, there's not too many bigs that do that anymore because they're going away and prima donna stepping away. And like again, I'm not one of these truthers of saying, hey, I like my bigs when the back was to the basket. No. But it's what works. This guy's getting sneaky 23, 25, 29 points because no one's boxing out. No one's acknowledging him out there. And he's able to just, Mike and drill his way through. I saw that he's basically replicating Jared Allen's production, like almost point for point, percentage for percentage on twos. Like, he's scoring exactly the same amount that a guy who's like literally a foot taller than him was doing. And while we're on this, while we're on the subject of Bruce Brown, Bruce Brown is listed at 6'4. I want a deep

investigative study into, you know, Bruce Brown's actual height. I mean, I think maybe generously 6-2 on him, which it makes what he's doing even more impressive. Yeah, I'm not sure he's taller than Steve Nash. But speaking of Steve Nash, I have to say, like, he's done an incredible job there, in part because he hasn't been afraid to really push the boundaries

on these sorts of things. Like, he immediately wanted to run fast with those guys. He had that pretty unique approach of, like, just giving Carouselvert the Levert time earlier in the season when he wanted to empower him to be kind of that Mononobloy type.

And he's really played around with the rotations, like, since they've made that big blockbuster trade for Hardin, like, he hasn't been afraid. to put Bruce Brown at center or throw Nick Clackson in there. Part of it's probably because he has to. He only has so many halfway decent players. But that would be my hope for Blake Griffin

is that Nash has really found a way to bring out some of the best of some of these spare parts. And honestly, he'll never get it just because of the talent on that team, but he has to be in the conversation for Coach of the Year at this point. Well, and to bring it back to the Bucks, you know, to what Charks was saying earlier about Boodenholzer, this would be such an interesting playoff matchup.

And a guy like Nash who's, been willing to throw a lot of things at the wall versus Bud, who I think is kind of against his, against his better judgment in a lot of ways, pushing himself toward, to get to that point, really, you know, dragging his heels to try to become more adaptive. I'm probably more of a Milwaukee believer than you guys. And some of that is, I just don't know what we could have reasonably expected from them to start the season after they reshuffled half the rotation after Drew Holiday's been out for as long as he has been, after they've really been at least trying to diversify what they do on spot nights. Like, they're not.

just sitting back in the low drop every time and content to roll with that into the playoffs. I think they are trying. And so if they are going to show flashes of what they did against the clippers, if they can be that team, if they're going to get at least good minutes from one or two supporting guys on a nightly basis, their three core guys are so good and so steady. I think they can really give the Sixers or the Nets to run for their money. I hope we get to see that version of the bucks, the one that's willing to at least try some new things once they get into the heat of a seven game series.

I would say a thing with the Bucks is like, where's there Bruce Brown? Where's their Nick Claxton? They've been so unimaginative with some of their filling out their roster guys. Like, you're going to have to ask Pat Conaton, DJ Augustine, Torrey Craig. Like, guys, you kind of know who they are, and it's hard to see them breaking out of that mold. They're just not, they haven't made a lot of good moves on the margins. I think they've got to do something at the deadline at the buyout, just to get two more quality players in there. I just don't see the, I feel like they're after top five.

It just is a freaking cliff. Well, and shout out to the Nets for doing that because I think they kind of walked the line between oh, we're going to have our DeAndre Jordans, we're going to have our Jeff Greens, but we're also going to have our Nick Claxton. We're also going to have these guys who we're going to give real chances to

to see if they can stick in the rotation and make a difference for us, and those have been some of their best role players so far. Yeah, a real conservative versus liberal thing playing out here. It should be fascinating. I think the bucks have two things going for them if we're saying we're a little lukewarm

on them being on the Nets and the Sixers level. One is the math. The math loves this team yet again. Like they think their second in net rating. They have the best point differential in the east. This was what it was like the past two season. Like even when the results weren't as what we thought they'd be like the math just freaking loves this team, which shows that there's probably something hiding underneath

there. And the other is Drew Holiday. I mean, they hadn't had him for what, a couple weeks there only because of health and safety protocols. And like you could definitely see the difference in this team when he's in there. He made that swing pass in that big play against the clippers where Jan has found him on like a short roll or whatever it was and that ended up to Janus getting that huge dunk

that sealed the wind. Like those are the type of things that Drew brings. And like I do think that three and I guess four, if you want to incorporate everyone there, like they have something there. And if they could just play them as much as possible and limit the amount of time that the Augustins and whatnot are out there,

I mean, they're pretty damn good. The Sixers just briefly just to talk about them. I do think like the nets are cut above them right now. And I know, everyone's talking about, like Lowry as if he's just going to walk into the facility tomorrow and just be there after the, uh,

the all-star break. But like until they get him, I still think they need someone like him, uh, to make that offense to work because they're kind of middling here. Like the turnover is at Kramer about this on the ring or like, there's a lot of turnover is happening. Uh,

and the spacing isn't exactly what you needed to be, especially when, um, uh, Joe and Ben are just like apart from each other. It's actually been worse than when they're playing together. So to me, they have been really good,

but they need something else in order to take that step to like Nets level, Lakers level, they're going to be in the finals tomorrow. I would say with the Sixers, I think the number, like the math with them, they're 28th and leading three-point attempts. And that's just going to be hard to overcome

against the Nets, just bomb and threes. They've got to find some one more player who can really get those kind of shots up. So that takes us to the next big question here. How many teams can realistically win the title? And so I'm going to run through the teams I have on my list, and then you guys tell me here, because it's kind of more jumbled than you'd expect. I think that's a large part because the Lakers' injuries make things a little less clear, but also a little more fun here. I have in the east and Nets, Sixers, and I squeeze in the Bucks here.

And then in the West, I have Lakers, Clippers, Jazz. Do you all agree, those six? I have four of those teams. So who don't you have? I don't have the Bucs or the Jazz. Okay. That would make sense. What are we considering a realistic chance?

That's a guaranteed stamp. That's going to be playing in WCF or the ECO. Yeah, see, that's the difference. Like the four teams that Trey's mentioning, like, for sure, clear-cut best teams, and then the other two are in that next tier. I would just incorporate that next tier because I think if things break right, those teams, I could see them getting there. That's my difference.

I was trying to think of it as teams that I could see plausibly making the finals. you know, like, because I think if you're in the finals, you got a shot. You know, like, you're an injury away sometimes if you're an underdog, but like you're there, you're close enough. And that's where I have the nuggets on my list. I think... You have like 20 teams, don't you? I'm a big tent contender.

So I've got the nuggets on my list. And I kind of want you guys to talk me out of putting the heat on this list. Because like they've not been good enough this season so far. But they're still fundamentally the same team that was in the finals last. year. They're, you know, Butler is getting back and rolling. Hopefully they'll get their fuller lineup, you know, rolling on a more frequent basis. I don't see a reason why they can't do it again, given the limitations of the Eastern

conference. You know, like, I think the Nets kind of put this, they shift this conversation a bit, right? Like, they're, they're such a different beast than anything was out there in the East last year. But I have a hard time kind of counting out the heat from at least being in this realistic conversation. I mean, the question is, was it injuries with them and COVID and all that? or is there something fatally just like not right with this team

and what they have in the second year after the finals here? I would obviously lean toward the former. I mean, the team looks fine in the games that they've had, Jimmy Butler. That's the big difference. I would point to two things. One, Gorin Dragich was a huge part with the last season in the bubble. He was freaking incredible. He's getting a lot older.

I don't really think Tyler Hero's gotten better. They try to point guard a lot in the first half of the season. That didn't really work. And then two, I'm not a huge Jay Crowder guy, but like that role is important and that role is missing. When I'm starting Kelly Olinick at the five with Bam at the four, you would think in a big series of Bam at the five. So who's your four?

They signed Mo Harclos. He's been Mo Harclos. They're running out a bunch of other guys. I don't even know they're very good. Like they need a four. I think they're a team that needs to make a trade, I think. That's a team I would say at that deadline's got to make a move. So who would that be?

Are there any obvious candidates for the heat to take the step forward? Because they're one of those teams in that mix where they were probably hoping for Janus. They signed all those contracts thinking they would just punt and then regroup in the offseason hoping to get them. Now they kind of have their druthers here. They can kind of pick somebody and go forward. Is there anyone that makes sense? What about Kevin Love? Oladipo.

Oh, Oladipo. He's the obvious one just because of how much time he spends in Miami. I was going to say like Larry Nance. like that's a hipster pick but like he gets you a four. Complete opposite of Victor Oladipo there where they need just like a versatile four. Yeah.

He was great before he got hurt and that's if I can get him a pretty reasonable price. He was shooting threes too. I almost wonder if Nance is too good or at least too highly valued by the Cavs. Like I think they really like him. Okay, now we're going full group chat here.

Larry Nance is untouchable. Well, I'm just saying for what the heat have to barter with here. Like, you know, when we're talking about the J. Crowder conversation, I think Larry Nance, they see him as a piece of what they're building in Cleveland. You know, like to pry a piece of the core away, I think would take something more than the heat are going to be willing to give up.

But Old Depot is interesting, though. I mean, he's going to be available. Does he fit into what they have concerned they have Jimmy and Non and some of these other guys? Well, he fits to Charks' point about kind of some of what they haven't gotten from Hero this season in terms of his development. They need a little bit of punch from guard. Like, I think those are the two spots, right? it's either you're looking at a big, preferably someone who can go between four and five or three and four.

I think they would love a more reliable backup for BAM there for playoff minutes beyond precious to Chua, or you're looking at guard punch. And so, you know, as long as you're servicing one of those needs, I think that's kind of where their market is right now. Well, I don't want to sidestep Denver here, too, because I think they're incredibly interesting. They blew out the box right before the break there. and they have these moments, especially earlier in the season, when they were on a bit of a tear,

where you're like, oh, the nuggets, man, they could just, like if Jamal Murray just plays well for an extended stretch, like a week, a week and a half, like this team looks like the team.

We thought they were in the bubble. I don't know. I'm just, they just have so much firepower there that if they just get their shit together, especially on defense, like I just, I find myself wondering

if they can make the way in this conversation. Trey, are you in on the bucks at all? Or am I just, convincing myself that Jamal Murray's good. That's the Nuggets. Oh, did I keep saying the Bucks? Yep. Milwaukee on the month.

Yeah, the Nuggets, I don't know. I mean, I don't, it, like Murray's too inconsistent for me. You want him to make that leap. You would have thought this season would have been its all-star year. And it's just been so rocky and Jokic can only do so much.

And you think, you look at this roster and you say, oh, MPJ and yada, yada, yada, you think like, oh, yeah, this is going to be the year that they actually take it to the Lakers or they take it to the Jazz or they take it to the Clippers. And yeah, they're a good playoff matchup, but I don't see them getting over the hump. You know what I mean? They're just good enough. They need consistency in that roster. I actually wrote about the Nuggets last week because Porter's been on a hot streak.

What's happened is they're playing him at the four because Millsap is out. And Michael Porter at the four and you have Yokach at the five, that's pretty much impossible to guard. because Porra is one of the best shooters in the league and you're leaving either leaving him open or Yokic is going one-on-one, he's going to score at will. So that I think was a pretty interesting move they made. And to me, I look at Denver like, if you can't punish them for going small up front,

they're so hard to guard. So like the Lakers, they can't guard Anthony Davis. But if I was Utah or Phoenix, I'd be very worried about Denver in a series because if you can't punish them for going Yokich-Porter, they're going to score a trillion points. The parallel here doesn't quite work. But I see them as almost kind of like the nets of the West in terms of just the firepower of their offense and the challenges that Yokic presents.

Like he's a totally different player than anything Brooklyn has. But if you can't, if you don't have the exact right matchup for him, you're just cooked from the start. You're on your back foot. That's why I'm kind of a believer that they could get to a conference final. And then it's just kind of like, can they really punch through even a Utah for example? Even if we're more skeptical of the jazz than we are the Lakers or Clippers. Could they really get through there? That's where I have a hard time believing.

But in the regular season, even after starting slow, they're so much better now than they were at this point last season. And so if they catch a little bit of fire again, or as we kind of spin into the second half of this question, which is asking which of these teams need a trade, to me, Denver is one of those teams. They're a natural consolidation candidate. They have so many guys that they don't really have minutes for everybody.

And really, as they're built now, I think they're banking on three things to be true at once. that Paul Millsap is going to be good every time they need him to be good. That's tough given his age, and right now he's out with a knee injury. You've got to be wary of that too. They're banking on Isaiah Hardinstein

to give them good backup center minutes, which they've been successful in those minutes. I remain highly skeptical that there's really any fire behind that smoke. And the third thing is that you're fully on board with the Will Barton experience. Because if you can play Will at the 3, that's what allows you to put Michael Porter Jr. at the 4.

So if you're on board with all those things, then bless you, you know, have a great rest of the season. I'm kind of in the zone where I'm wondering, how do we put some of these pieces together to get someone who can do a little everything, who can really, you know, give you a little more stability in the front court especially. Yeah, I mean, they're just such a tough matchup because as I'm thinking about it, who can guard Yokic? Like, who's the guy, okay, I have this guy in my team. I can guard Yokuch one-on-one. It's no one, right? He says unguarded both years in the NBA. Not a soul. Yeah. It's, I would say, I don't even think it's that. I think it's literally no one at this point.

Because he'll get the AD in a foul trouble. He'll get him in his chest. Yeah, his own situation would just have to be a bad shooting night or him being a lack of aggressive on his drive. Because we've seen games where we're like, well, he just didn't look at the rim. And he's cool with having 12 points, 13 rebounds and 17 assists. You're just like, you can't take a back seat. You're going to have to be the driving force, number one, every night, you know, just thinking because. Murray can go off and get 30 or 40 sometimes,

but it's not consistent enough for you to take a backseat. You can't go small against him either. He really kind of dictates the matchup. So who is it that this team needs? Let's just assume that Bradley Beale never hits the market. The Wizards are too good right now, which is a weird thing to say out loud. Who is the obvious candidate for what they need

if they don't want to break apart that like Murray, Yokic, MPJ, Corps? I mean, I'm wondering if they could be in the market for one of these kind of like bigger role-playing wing types. You know, like, so Jeremy Grant? The guy that they actually let slip away who can guard anybody for them. Every episode, we got, we got our mark today, Justin. Thank you for that.

I didn't want to be the one to say it. But yes, Jeremy Grant. No, I mean, I don't think it has to be even a player as good as Jeremy Grant. Like, they just need somebody who's not the size of Monty Morris, who they can put on the wing sometimes. You know, like, they're just a little bit small in terms of their perimeter rotation. And you know what's funny is they have kind of a, a glimpse of this guy right now.

And Charks, I'm curious of your take on Zeke Naji. And because he's, he's, like, again, we're going full group chat here, but he's become the kind of like six, nine stretch four type role player that, like, Michael Malone can't not play. Like, he's been so good you have to keep him on the floor

during the stretch where they've been injured. I wonder if there's any kind of playoff role for him or not. He's interesting. He's definitely got talent. But I don't know if he's ready to plug in it to three. Not a three, obviously. That's the question. Like, who you're thinking of as like a three? It's hard to get three.

Plus, I think Naji at this point is probably best known for nailing that three that Faku Campazo, you know, buzzed past Kyle Kuzma's face on that no-look pass. Like that, if that's your claim to fame right now, maybe we shouldn't be talking to you as like a linchpin for a potential contender. What do we think about Harrison Barnes? Not enough defense? That's interesting. Listen, I think HB's a nice guy. I, that's always the most damning start to... That's it, man, that's it.

I don't really have too much, man. I think what he's doing in Sack is just being a locker room guy is great. I don't think he just gives you a facelift and you're just like, oh, now let's go get it. You know what I mean? He's not just the Rashid Wallace of this trade. Well, he's definitely not Rashid Wallace. We can sure say that. I also, I don't think he's quite like kinetic enough for Denver.

he's not a flow offense type of guy per se. They don't need another inconsistent player. No. But I do think since we're just coming off the Miami conversation, I think he could make sense there. I haven't looked at the contracts to see how that lines up. But if you're talking about J. Crowder substitutes, I think Barnes makes a lot of sense for that.

That's a great call. He's a low X too. You know, you don't have to act too much. You know, knock down a three or two, drive, be athletic, somewhat defend. He coacher. you buy in. He's kind of like look left and right to see what everybody else is doing and get in line. HB could be one of those guys because he comes from, you know, he's a, he's a

dukey. I know he's a North Carolina guy. So, I mean, I almost call him a dukey. But just, you know, looking down the line, he's coachable and, you know, most guys respond to us both really well. Everyone criticizes him for what he was with the Warriors is exactly what some of these teams need now is what we're saying. Like if he could just. be that guy on that title team who could hit knock down shots from three and just like do a little bit in order to make things work. Like that would be a nice player for Miami. I mean, listen, if you, if you guys were going to replace me on the pod with Kevin Durant, I would allow, I would let y'all talk about me too. No, we, we, uh, we need a connector. We don't, we don't need more star power on this one.

Justin is the star. We're all, he's the yokech. We're all just in his orbit. I definitely occupy the ball way more than I should. I'm probably more of a composite. Okay, I've been messed around. Like, it's actually prized to find the Harrison Barnes to Miami trade with Myers, Leonard Avery Bradley, maybe have precious as a young guy or Kendrick Nunn and a pick. That I really like a lot. That's a guy like that trade.

All right. Let's move along here just because we're talking about trade stuff. Who will be the best player to be moved at the trade deadline? So the biggest name I'm talking about. It's weird because it's really only a handful of guys that are in the Rubber Mill right now, in part because of just everybody is in the mix for the playing tournament. And there really aren't a lot of teams that are looking to bottom out. Even like the wolves are out there probably thinking that they need to win a couple games,

if only to keep Carl Anthony Towns away from sending out the text saying that he wants to be traded. So, Trey, what do you think? Who's going to be at the end of the day the biggest guy getting moved at the deadline? Between Aaron Gordon and Oladipo. and then if you just want to look at expiring you just say Fornier So Gordon's an interesting one Yeah I mean he's been

He's been tangled for a long time And I think it's just His brand his course in Orlando You know Vucci Maine is all the way He's off limits Nobody, you know Can really

You might as well just chalk that one up But ideally I could see You know Gordon getting a fresh start I would love him in San Francisco With the Warriors And then also I would like go to Deepo in Miami or

in L.A. That'd be interesting. You know, because you can get THT and whatever you else you want to roll out with that. THT before he gets his max,

yeah, just like you don't want to have to pay him down the road. Yeah, you have to pay him. You know, just be smart and just take,

you know, take a bet that's going to get in line. You know what I mean? It's great to be a Laker sometimes. Yeah. It is great to be a

month of good play. Now you're a max guy. What's weird about that, though, is like I feel like Kuzman's been better than ever, and I hear about him less than ever.

Like, this is probably his best season and nobody wants to talk about him. Here's his this or that. Do you want to score a bunch of points or do you want to be a part of something special? And LeBron's great with breaking that down. I know. I think those things are related, right?

In terms of when he's bad, that's when you talk about the trade rumors when he's good. It's like, oh, this is maybe our third best player on a lot of nights. For this, though, I'm kind of trying to talk myself into Voochievich here. They love him in Orlando.

He is, again, very prized within that organization. They really respect what he does. But just given what the versatility of his skill set, could there be enough of a triangulated market here? And KOC talked about this in his power rankings, just the level of interest from teams. He listed the heat, the Celtics, the Hornets, and the Spurs as potential teams that were interested in him.

If you can get enough of those teams playing against each, other can we get to that level where there's the offer that they can't turn down anymore there's just you know an overwhelmingly favorable trade offer for a guy like vuch who again when you're a big who can pass and shoot and post you can put a lot of kind of garbage lineups around a guy like that and they can still be pretty competent as we've seen in orlando this season so what does that look like when he actually gets a good lineup around him I think he fits with a lot of really good teams I've been thinking about vuch and I don't think they're going to trade on

this year but the team I think I think would make a ton of sense for them is New Orleans. They've got like a trillion picks coming up. They can't even use all of them. And Vooch gives you that stretch five with Zion. If you can go Zion Vooch, you're going to score a bunch of points. That's why I think will eventually happen is, you know, I think of Orlando like five or six, like me three or four picks at least. And Norn's team that can burn three or four picks like it's nothing. Can you just play Nicola Melli, like more? Wouldn't that just give you like a form? There are levers of Nikolas, Justin. There are levels.

I'm just imagining Stan Van Gundy waking up in a cold sweat, thinking about the rim protection of a Zion Vucovic front court. Oh, I thought you were going to say we woke up in a cold sweat realizing that Melly is on the roster because there are times

where the dude just completely forgets that he's there. And he made the most sense for me in terms of a fit, especially if they want to lean into Zion as something of the primary creator there. Well, I want to go back to Gordon, though, briefly, because

I agree with Trey. He seems like more getable, especially because Vouchovic, if he's going to keep making all-stars, like at the very least, the magic can tell themselves on the fact that they have an all-star player on that roster. And also, Steve Clifford, like, I can't imagine he took a second of a break this all-star, and he's just like probably drawing up ATOs in order to get Nikola Vujavich like clean looks in order to win like 20 games this season. Gordon is an interesting one.

Charks has been waiting breathlessly for him to be traded for, five years now. The C.J. McCollum for Aaron Gordon blog post will go down in infamy. Where do we think, like, his best fit is, is it Dallas? Let me throw this out there. Is it Dallas? I think it's Dallas.

I'd be into that. He'd give you some front court defensive versatility. At this point, though, like, I'll believe Aaron Gordon's traded when it happens. It's been like five years now and it hasn't happened. So let's just, I'll put another name out there from Orlando as Terrence Ross. That's a guy

think if you get Terrence Ross on a good team, he'll get like 30 points in the playoff game pretty easy. I think he's a very underrated player in terms of his ability to get up a lot of points quickly. Oh yeah. I like that a lot. So I think he's very getable, pretty decent contract, probably one first round pick, Boston, Milwaukee, someone like that, he could be really good for them. The fact that we're beating around Orlando having a fire sale makes me think that none of these guys are getting traded again.

We've already named three guys, right? like when you have that many guys that teams are going to want at the deadline, like none of these guys are getting traded. So I think this brings us to the obvious question. Where is Kyle Lauer getting traded if he gets traded? Trey says no. Much. He's too expensive.

Ideally, I would love for him to be in L.A., the Clippers. That's interesting. And then I think he makes Philly a championship team if he gets there. But again, the axe is too high. I mean, I just don't see Toronto taken back unless they really, really wanted to help him out and say, you know what, Kyle, we love you this much. We're going to take back Mike Scott, you know, and some bench players and some future picks for this to send you back home as I just do.

I just don't see them helping out a competitor. Not that easy. I think Trey's right. Like, that's the big variable is what does Kyle want? because if he's reached that status with the Raptors with that organization where you do what you can to accommodate him if you're that team. And they want to get pieces back. They want to reshuffle and instead of their next era. But if he wants to go to the Sixers and there's a plausible deal on the table for that, I think they probably spring for something like that.

I just don't know if Philly can walk Lowry to that point, can get him to want to sign off on that. I think there's a universe in which Lowry just coast out the season with the Raptors and has a perfectly good time. and the Sixers probably end up more in conversations for flipping some of their future first for another shooter, another guy to come off the bench to fill that role. But it's tough with Lowry, between his contract,

between his wants, and kind of where he's leaning at a given moment, which can be very hard to gauge from the outside, not exactly the most forthcoming guy, but he seems pretty happy in Toronto, to be honest with you. Yeah, it is a little too clean of a fit. Like, everyone's already drawing up

like the Lowry to Ben Simmons plays out there, and putting his names on jerseys and whatnot when there is that whole element of like, what do the Raptors want long term with Lowry? And I think this is probably in Philly's favor. Like, what does Lowry want? Like, because he is going to be a free agent. So I do wonder, like, if he's not going to stay there,

I also think Maasai is, like, pragmatic enough to be like, as much as you mean to this franchise, we're just going to go and, like, get this fresh start early and, like, just kind of move on. And you go to a better place. You can compete for another title. So I think there is a time. timeline there where it makes sense for both teams. My question is like, what is enough to get him

with the Sixers? Is contracts plus Tyrese maxi enough? Because you get a young guard who, by the way, the Raptors aren't going to go away from the playoff series. Like, they're going to be using that guy against you. If not this season, then down the road. Or the Clippers, like, I love the Clippers, like, just idea, but it would probably Luke Conard. And that contract is, like, increasingly looking terrible. So I don't know. What's the price? How funny is that, though, that they pay Luke Kinnard all that money when they could have got a guard, that they need so

bad. They need so bad. Like, obviously, I was lobbying for Lonzo to be a Clipper, but he's playing too well. I don't see New Orleans letting him go. So it was like a gift and curse in that situation, because he would have been perfect for that Clippers team. I don't see any other suitors,

and I think that Clippers, that's going to be their fork in a row down the line when we're talking playoffs, and say, dang, we should have got us a point guard. There's too much Reggie Jackson, and I am worried that there's going to be a lot of... The Terran's man just took all of... I was minutes, so... He just jacked Luke Conard.

Yeah, in Toronto, there are only two games out of fourth place. That's the other thing, too. Ease is so jumbled this year. If you're Toronto, you can say, we can get to the second round and play Philly and we'll see what happens, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it's just long term. Like, they paid Fred Vindvie a lot of money.

And, like, I know that those guys work well together and whatnot, but Lauri's not going to be there, probably for the next Raptors title run, like I'm sorry to say. And I don't know, I personally think it makes a lot of sense for the Raptors to move on for them, especially if they can get like a maxi and maybe like a couple picks back there. That, that to me is like really interesting. But I guess we'll see what ends up playing out there. Let's go to our last question just quickly here. Who is the most intriguing player team of the second half or apparition or blockchain

collectible? Trey, is there any team or player out there eye in? Or is there any top shot that, like, you just want to spend your entire severance on? So last night, I actually, well, I got, and these are random players, by the way. I got Al Horford's dunk.

Okay. Is there one dunk that Alhorfer got that's like the dunk or something? Also, Trey, welcome to group chat officially. Once you buy Alhorfer and Top Shot, you're officially part of group chat. He's the number 7193 in the series 2. Sure. I got a three-digit Lamarcus-Aldry's three-pointer.

It's 283. And I got a Mike Conley layup. It was 4440. And then somebody gifted me a Stanley Johnson dunk. I said here, Rose, trying to get you in the game. So these are my random guys, but I like that there. the guys that I had were all former All-Stars. And, you know, wait, you spent $44 on a Mike Conley layup.

Is that what that means? No. No, it was like $13. Oh, wait, what is that number then? Is that just like the serial number? Of $4,400 of $15,000. I see. I don't know a damn thing about this.

So the lower the number, the more rare. I mean, the more it's valued. I see. So out of the most valued bunch right now, Lamarckis Aldrich's three-pointer is the most glorifying thing. Sure, we might not see another one ever. We might not. It's super rare, right?

But you also look at them as far as, from what I've noticed, is that these three guys, which I was tipped off on, are going to raise in value. the next couple of days just because of, you know, their accolades. Is this some insider top shot trading that you're describing here? I guess, man. I can't say I'm, listen, I can't say I'm a pro because I haven't scored on a pack yet. Those were just marketplace.

I had some money to blow. You know, I was, you know, I got my, I got my Stimmy. I got my Top Shop stimmy. And I just started blowing it on random players. So I think, I think Top Shots are kind of tough place because obviously we have our favorite players and you think ideally if you just want to support your friends like i mean i would personally just buy my friends cards but ideally i'm still learning the whole nfts game and i this this has every it has the world going crazy at this moment i'm trying to sell some tweets at this moment

well you know it's all about the transaction when they're selling lamarcus aldridge highlights this is purely a financial move no one's collecting enough to watch them i'm just glad i live to see the day that the unregulated commodity that you could insider trade on was a Mike Conley layup. Like that is we reached the pinnacle of society. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Charks,

what about you? Are there any top shots or actual players you want to, you are looking forward to in the second half? I will say this for the whole top shot thing. It's just talking top shot. I think it's just worth pointing out, it's just purely about money. It just cracks me up like NBA players are investing in this.

Like, y'all have got plenty of money. You don't need to go off for get rich quick schemes. Like, let's think about this logically for a second. Like, if you don't need more money, why are you just chasing money? Like, it's the most important thing in the world. I just want to get that out there. You're talking about the players themselves? Yeah, like Tyreys Halliburton and something like, oh, all over the internet talking about,

we can work more money this way. It's like, you're buying up their own, you're saying. Yeah. I need more. I assume they're just doing it because it's an NBA, NBPA sponsored product. Like I would be shocked if these guys aren't getting cut in on something. For sure. Tyrese Haller knows what he's doing.

You get a guy like Terry Rozier telling me like, you buy in his top shop and, you know, 50 grand. Like you can meet, you can have a VIP session with me. Which in COVID form. I want to know what that entails. I listen. In COVID in COVID since guidelines, you look at it like, what am I going to do with Scary Terry six feet apart in Charlotte. You know what I mean?

Like those are the things. What are you really given in this scenario? I think it's more that these guys are just bored as hell, and they're stuck in hotel rooms in Orlando in the middle of February, and they just don't have anything to do. Can, you know, if some of our listeners are out there bored, can you please make a super cut of Terry Rozier, Terence Ross, like all of the role players of the NBA who have had to go on camera

and try to explain what Top Shot is, please make a super cut of their explanations and tweet it at us. I would love to see that. I was going to say, to go back to your original question, I'm just looking at strength of schedule. So the three teams that jump out at the bottom of the list, Denver's 26, I'm running strength of schedule, Miami's 27, Dallas was 29.

I think all, I mean, all three of those teams should rise. My suspicion is, like, usually at the end of the year, the last month is pretty bad. Like, most teams are just not trying anymore. I could see this year that being even more the case. Because if you're on a really bad team, there's a month left in the season, you have all these COVID rules. It's like there's always games.

Let's just shut it down and go home. What's the point if we're like in 15th place, right? So I could see these really bad teams being really bad in the second half of the season. Rob, what about you? Anything you're keeping eye on? Yeah, I mean, we've already talked about them a lot, but I'm watching all the nets I can get over the rest of this regular season. We've only seen Kyrie and Durand and Hardin play about 200 minutes together so far.

give me all of that, give me all the Blake Griffin stuff, give me Jeff Green being a superhero. I want to see kind of what this team is because they have the most overwhelming combination of offensive talent in the league, and we just don't really have a full understanding of what they do yet. I am personally

waiting for the narrative to start in Detroit about how Jeremy Grant doesn't have enough help and how he's just like he's too good for that team. He needs the trade because he doesn't have another star player to play next to.

Did we not start this like three months ago? Like, I feel like we've been on this train. Yeah, we're pushing it. I think sharks did. No, but I want this guy to manufacture becoming a star and then leaving as a result of it in one full season. I think that would be quite a move there,

probably better than actually the one that he pulled off and going to Detroit. I think the Wizards are the most fascinating team going forward, especially ahead of the trade deadline. Like, if they keep ruling off wins here, like all of a sudden, Bradley Beal's not going to go push for the eject button anytime soon. It doesn't sound like he's going to anyway, but that certainly is going to make things easier.

But I also think if they lose every game from now into the deadline, if Russ gets hurt again, which is probably going to come at some point despite Beale, like just being in love with him as a teammate, it sounds like these days. I think like, you know, things get a little dicey. Like teams are going to get into his ear. You're going to start hearing more about like, oh, Denver is just willing to pay the hardened price for. Bradley Beal and then it's just going to be a little, it's going to be tougher. So for me, they're the most interesting team because like if Beal gets traded, the title race is completely different. We're talking about Denver differently or whoever gets him differently in the teams

that didn't get him differently. So that's an interesting one to me. Who do you think made the hard pitch to Beal over All-Star weekend? Oh, that's a great question. I did find it funny that someone, I forgot who was talking about this, that like the way that the draft was played out, the All-Star draft played out was like these guys consciously think about free agency when that happens, which I thought was really interesting. Well, especially LeBron. I mean, he's, he's always, you know, it's basically been a who's who of the new free agent list over the next couple of years, the guys he tends to draft.

Oh my God. The staff tweet was insane. It was probably Vucevic with Bradley Beal. He was just like, I just really need a second star in order to take some of the ball handling job now that Fultz isn't around. All right. Let's just end it there. Perfect end.

Can't pop that. There you go. Trey, man, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, man. This was great. Thanks, coming on.

We can catch all of your podcasts. Where? Tell the people. Yeah, you can catch all the podcasts. We have growing up the same on Count of Dings. We have the NBA Daily Ding and basketball. It's on athletic. You can find me on social at Trivon on Twitter

and at Travon Edwards on Instagram. there you go. All right. Thanks to trade for being with us. Thank you to John Kermara for production. Until next time, we'll see you then.