The Ringer NBA Show - 'Group Chat': Sixers-Celtics, What Ifs, and the Future of the Warriors (Ep. 190)

Episode Date: January 12, 2018

The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Justin Verrier are joined by Haley O’Shaughnessy and Jason Concepcion to react to the London 76ers-Celtics game (2:18), then they ask some "What if..." questions about the NBA in general (18:35), before speculating on the future of the Golden State Warriors (28:50). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of Group Chat is brought to you by Squarespace. Got any big plans for the New Year's? Squarespace makes it easy to turn your idea into a unique website. Showcase your work, blog, or publish content, even sell products and services of all kinds in just a few clicks. You can customize everything from the look and feel to settings and products using beautiful templates created by world-class designers. And there's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever.

Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use Offer Code NBA to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Basketball is very good. The Raptors are the best team in the East. Phil Jackson actually saved the Knicks. Mark L. Fultz will be an all-star next year. Basketball is very good. Hello, welcome to the Rigger NBA show.

It's group chat. My name is Chris Ryan. I'm going to be joined soon by Justin Verrier, Haleo Shonnessy, and Jason Concepcioni. This is a audio recording of the live video that we did after Celtics Sixers live from London on Thursday. It was a okay basketball game. We learned some things, I think. But we had lots to talk about. We went through this game.

We talked about some what ifs pertaining to the Celtics and Sixers. And then some what ifs for the league itself. We wound up talking a little bit about this rumor that's been floated out about Anthony Davis, possibly joining the Golden State Warriors. And we had a little bit of fun with that. So there was a lot to talk about, and you'll hear it all on this episode of group chat. Before we get into it, I just wanted to mention that some of you enjoy the group chat music courtesy of Isaac Lee, that Siri trap anthem that we have.

Here's the thing. We need more takes for Siri to spout out. So if you have any ideas, hit us up at the Ringer on Twitter, hashtag Ringer MBA, and we'll see it. And if you've got any, you know, Chris Paul, the Rockets are better without Chris Paul type takes. It's a democracy. Let yourself be heard. Now it's time to hear from Haley, Justin, and Jason, and myself. This was recorded right after Celtic Sixers.

We talked a little bit about that game and the NBA at large. Until then, talk to you next week. Hey, it's us. It's Chris Ryan, Jason Concepcion, Haley O'Shaughnessy and Justin Verrier. We are your NBA group chat show. This is the after party for Celtic Sixers. Great game. We just saw it.

You can ask us questions at hashtag Ringer MBA. You can send us comments at hashtag Ringer MBA. We're a little underwhelmed by the performance. What are you going to do? It's like those guys were out dancing at Fabric for a couple of nights. It's tea time back on the East Coast. Right.

I think that if I had one takeaway from the Celtic Sixers, Celtics 1-114-103, it's jet lag is real. For sure. Jet lag is real. It affects everybody in different ways. It affected Joel Embed slightly, I think. It affected Markell Fultz so much than you didn't even play.

Any other takeaways you'd like to put at the top there, Justin? I think it just shows when you have a good defense like the Celtics. I think you have something to fall back on when the environment isn't perfectly suited for you. Okay. Let's say. Man, it's like the Sixers could have really used, like, a perimeter guy who could create his own shoes.

I mean, that? Maybe, I don't know. Gailu Williams? Haley, it was the kind of game where, in the middle of it, we wandered off to ask you whether you'd ever heard of the rescue of baby Jessica McClure.

That's the kind of relevant game. The new thing is, like, have you heard of this, like, late 80s, 90s? Early 80s? Yeah. Mid-80s? Mid-80s? Shouts to her, though.

Yeah. She rolled with it. It was quite a tale. Oh, yeah. Oh, Jess McCleur. Yeah, yeah. The Celtics definitely could have used her. Maybe in the wing?

She's resilient. I do want to ask. Can climb out of a hole. You know, this kind of does. The reason why this game is so interesting in the first place is because these are two teams that I think we're going to be seeing a lot of going against each other over the years in the Eastern Conference. Well, I hope so. I hope so.

I think so. I think so. Also two teams that have a draft pick that's very much up for grabs right now, depending on what happens to the Lakers. I feel like you must feel much better about Boston, though, than you do about Philly. If you're watching this game, you're seeing Brad get so much out of so many different players here, whereas Brett Brown is essentially dealing with three or four competent players at a given time. I mean, it makes sense for the Sixers to be kind of peeking at a certain point, or they were peaking earlier in the season just because it seems like they're all kind of hitting a certain wall.

Embed is now just getting to the point where he's played a full rookie season. Ben Simmons is getting to the point where he's hitting the type of game load that he would have hit in his first season in college. Raquel Fultz hasn't had any games or any load or anything. So it just makes sense. This is my problem with the process that I've always brought up. They have their core now. But the whole problem is now they need two or three more years to, like, develop those guys.

Yes. Well, sure, but also this is what happens when you don't really have a great bench. and then you're at this point in the season. To your point, it makes sense that Reddick had a good game, this game. It's a red flag when JJ Reddick is the best player on the floor for the Sixers, but he's the vet guy. He's probably the best prepared. He's a veteran guy. He knows how to take care of his body. He's probably just like, can't wait to

get these live reads ripped off here. We have a couple questions. It's hashtag ringer NBA if you want to talk with us, if you want to hit us up with questions or comments. This one comes from Copkeek, I think, is what the Twitter name is the Sixers have a talented group with different skill sets that would appear to mesh as a unit but are the individual players

so one-dimensional, man, the two-fifty characters, so one-dimensional that the team as a whole is easy to game plan for on defense. Actually, quite a good question. I think that's... Interesting. To me, really, the problem with the Sixers is they just don't have that guy who

when everything breaks down can get his own shot. Yes. That would be, and I'm sorry to say, it would be Markell Fultz, in theory. His skill set is perfect for this team. But, I mean, you see it now. Ben Simmons can't shoot. Yeah.

And Bede is gassed, is shooting 29% from three now. Like, I... Doesn't really score down low as much as he would want him to. Who do they throw it to when they need a shot? J.J. is just out on the perimeter running around screens. So much of his offenses comes from getting separation from screens. Yeah. Right.

And just to the question that was asked, I might disagree slightly that most of it makes sense, especially when Covington is on. But I don't know if Dario is the perfect fit for what that starting unit does, just because he's pretty duplicative of what Ben Simmons has given you. He just doesn't stretch the floor. The shooting is a huge issue. I think he would be good as a Ben Simmons for like

a second unit of another team. I think also when you're saying they don't have that one guy, that's where like if your other guys are kind of inconsistent, then it really hurts you. And tonight we saw today, sorry, we saw Covington go one from five for three, Dario and Embed. So,

on any given night, you kind of either have to have that one guy or a bunch of guys who can back you out. Shouts to T.J. McCocaine, though. We've been having a lot of fun with the various drafting policies of these two franchises over the season, over the year at the Ringer. But I thought it would be fun if we did basically a lighthearted draft of the rosters that we saw today. Pool is the Celtics and the Sixers. Jason has the first pick. Okay. So of these Celtics and Sixers rosters... Hold on. So I have the last pick.

You can pick second. How is this decided? You can pick second. You have the catbird seat. Jason is the one who is ages. He could pick faults like you know you've never know. And like everything gets thrown off. So go ahead.

I'll take four. I will take. I'm going to take Jason Tatum. Ooh. Number one. Wow. For age and everywhere. Now let me, is it just how they perform in this game?

No, no, no. Is it there's moving forward. Starting today. Yeah, let's take Jason Tatum. It's moving forward. So we're accounting for their age, et cetera. Their injuries? Sure.

Okay. Are we counting contracts? Like the current deals that they are? It's pretty good. Yeah, it's tough to argue. Statum 1. Okay. That's kind of a curveball.

I'm going to go Embed still, though. I'm still going to go in Bid. This is a tough one because I probably wouldn't have gone in Bede there because of the injuries. I love Embed. Perhaps future coworker, given his skill set. I might go Ben

Ben Simmons I almost win with Kyrie I am going to pick Markle Fultz Yes The number one draft You're already tanking He's the number one draft

A I am from Philadelphia I know what I'm doing B I want to talk about this a little bit Okay so we've had Christmas Day he came out at Instagram He was like, I might have a Christmas surprise for fans.

It said he added two more hitches to his shot. Then he was reintegrated into team activities over the last few weeks. What does that mean? And then he was in London in a room with Joelle Instagram story and he said, could have a London surprise for you guys. And the surprise was... And no follow-up. There's no follow-up.

There's actually, there's no surprise. He doesn't seem to understand what surprises mean. I don't know what the surprise is. Well, okay, to be fair, he might have a surprise. Yes. Thank you very much. Hey, you know. Tweets and more want to know if I have seen the Fultz shoot-around video today, and is he okay?

I think if you mean, if I am okay, it's getting tough. It's getting a little rough out here. I actually said to Jason today that the footage of Fultz playing is like basically count as like opposition research. It's a false flag. Yeah, so that other teams don't know how to game plan for him when he gets back. When will that be? False. False. It's a cover-up.

That's 100% false. Like, when is he going to play? Does he play before the All-Star game? What's that? When will Fultz play? Before the All-Sarium? I think he plays before the All-Sar game. Yes, I think they let him get like one or two games

and then they're like, let's re-evaluate. It's a day-to-day thing. It's a day-to-day. Did you guys want to do one more round of this Celtic Sixers draft? Okay, so it's your pick. I just took Markelle. So Kyrie's still on the board. Kyrie, your ring.

Okay. All right. Pretty good. So let's see. There's Jalen, Al Horford, Gordon, Hayward. I don't need it. I don't need it. Pro GM.

I'm going to go with Jalen. That's a great pick. Yeah, contract age. This is tough. I might go with the Little Rock Covington. Great contract. Three and D guy when he can actually shoot a three, which is not recently.

Min is 25 from the floor today. That's fine. He's the second half player. The second half of the season player? Maybe. Okay. I'm gonna go with Gordon Hayward. You know, he's got the brakes off.

He's great of video games. So you're all taking. You have a hurt player and you have a player that is something else. You know, LeBron uses video games to train his mind. That's me. That's LeBron. I will take JJ Reddick, famed podcast.

Did we do two rounds? We've done the two rounds, but it's... Let's go deep. That could be your assistant. That's my flex guy. We do have another question from Periscope. Zugs Wang. wants to know

Megan Markle or Markel Fultz? Megan Markel Fultz? I'm going to take the future princess. Yeah. Well, one was in suits, right? Suits.

And one looks good in a suit. So, tough to say. It's going to be a... The hoodie suit combo is a little rough. Who do you think we'll have a better next five years? Oh. White collar.

Like, I get suits in white collar mixed up. More successful or easier on them. Ooh. Hashtag rigor Mb. if you guys want to ask us questions, we did our draft. Let's do some what-ifs. These teams are both a lot about future potential. A lot of things are yet to be determined with these teams.

So let me just go through some what-ifs, and we can look backwards, too. What if the Celtics and the Cavs had never made the trade between Kyrie and Isaiah? So we were out here and what, Isaiah had like a new deal. Maybe Gordon Hayward's out there. Where do you think the Celtics team is in these standings? Terry Rozier, starting point guard. Where's Isaiah? He's out. He's been out.

His back isn't magically healed if he didn't go. That's right. You know, I still think that they're probably the third seed right now, slotted somewhere in there, third or fourth. I still think they're a good team. Brad Stevens has proved that he can get a lot of mileage out of guys that you don't think he can get out of. Can you really stretch that roster as far as it can go.

I still think they're a good team, but without the kind of punch that you see them have now. Do they still have Gordon Hayward out? because wasn't Kyrie the one that threw the past that ended up with Hayward? That's right. Wow, we're really getting into the Cooper territory. That's right.

But I mean, if you look at the way they're constructed, it's about the system, and Kyrie is almost the guy that just scores enough offense and does enough stuff on that end to make it work. And Isaiah can do a good job of that, maybe not on the same level as Kyrie. All the great systems that we look at the NBA, whether it's like the Spurs ball movement system, whether it's the Warriors and the way that they play, they still have those individual scores that can make the huge difference

when games get tight or when something's not really going, they have Kawhi, they have Steph that have been able traditionally to get them victories. This is the one that's sort of been haunting the Sixers for most of the year. What if the Sixers never drafted Mark Elts Fultz with the number one pick? So basically, we're talking about a Sixers team

that's starting Ben Simmons, JJ Reddick, Jason Tatum, Robert Covington at Stretch 4 and Joe L&B at the center. That's insane. Yeah. Well, my question is, are we seeing this Tatum if he's playing... Is Tatum that good? Yeah.

I'm not sure. Here's my thing is Tatum is on the perfect team for him because Stevens has been so successful in implementing a college-style structure into the NBA with the large roster, a lot of guys, a lot of turnover, everybody playing a role. So I think Tatum wouldn't be quite as good on a Sixers team, which would be asking a lot from him.

But still, he's got talent that I didn't think he had. Like just his ability to play off the ball the way he looks like a veteran. That's the stuff that's really impressive to me. Yeah. Yeah. I want to say that having Jalen helps cover for him a little bit defensively

because he's still young and he's still building out his body. At the same time, having Embed back there on the back line provides so much more for some of those guys. Yeah, yeah. JJ isn't like as exposed as much on the wing when you haven't been there just to erase something. We'll be back with more NBA group chat after a quick word from our sponsors.

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and when you're ready to launch, use Offer Code MBA to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's Squarespace.com, offer code MBA. Haley, here's a one if for you. Okay. What if Gordon Hayward never gets hurt? Are we still talking about Jason Tatum in the same way?

If Gordon Hayward's playing 32 minutes a night? I'm not sure. Because the thing about rookies developing that fast, and yes, obviously he's super talented off the bat, is that is the minutes. That's it. Look at Donovan Mitchell, my favorite example. He's getting the opportunity to do this.

Will Ferrier on Facebook wants to know, what if Chris Ryan didn't devote his life to the 76ers? I have a lot of interests. I think that's something that people don't understand when they listen to group chat or when they're just watching something like this, I've diversified my portfolio. I love spy novels. Emotionally, like, I'm not exposed to the Sixers.

I am exposed to the Sixers. Twitter, even though Fultz is out, is he still eating like he's playing? Do they have Chick-fil-A in London? No, I think that probably they are making Nando's runs. That's my guess. What if his surprise was that he found a Chick-fil-A-Li-London? That's good. I wonder whether or not that would have got over well with Brian Colangelo.

You know, I guess that we could just go to some more general what-ifs here. What if the Sixers are drafted Christops, Przingis, instead of Jolot-Ockpur? That's the big problem with the process, right? If you're going to put all of your money in on the draft, you need to nail those draft picks. Yeah. And we're seeing not only them, but the Lakers with DeAngelo Russell. That was, like, a huge mistake. Although the flip side of that is Christops, I guess, needs naps after every game now.

He's anemic. Can Jesus cut him a break? Yeah. So then who did the Knicks take? Probably Frank Kaminsky. Devin Booker was that draft? Yeah, but I don't think he was in the mix there. I think it was...

No, yeah, he was taken like... It was a pretty locked in top three, wasn't it? They would have taken... It seemed like they would have taken Kaminsky or O'Core or something like that. That's just Phil Jackson, big butt theory. What would have happened to you? That's the big what if. It would be wandering the earth right now,

with a very long beard. We have a couple of questions. You can ask us at hashtag Ringer MBA on Twitter. You get to us on Facebook. Are the Celtics the best young... team in NBA history as Damon Durbin. I don't know what that means.

I think he's going off of Zach Cramm's wonderful article on the ringer.com. Yeah. I mean, I just don't know how it's been half-season. Are they technically a young team though? I mean, they've got two very young players. Collectively they are though, because he's a rookie.

But Kyrie's like wild young. Yeah, Besselli's a rookie technically. Yeah, that's true. You forget about that. They do have a lot of experience. But he also has a lot of experience. Yeah. So it's hard for me to slot him in this super young player. For sure. Haley,

here's a good one, a good what if. What if the Nuggets had kept the 12th pick and drafted Donovan Mitchell forming a back court trio of Mitchell, Murray, and Harris.

I actually did just engage Mitchell Murray and Harris in a lawsuit that I'm against him. Mitchell Murray and Harris. I got dinged at Gelson's parking lot. No, I'm just saying. Mitchell Murray and Harris

as the back court for the Nuggets. I think then automatically the Nuggets would be a couple spots higher. Even with the loss of Paul Millsap. Because I've, I've always thought like their back court is really their problem. Yes.

Is Mitch Murray and Harris the owners of the Glenn Gary Glenn Ross company? The one problem... It's Mitch and Murray. It's Mitch and Murray. I'm going to go to Mitch and Murray. And Harris. I think that would be a really, really cool backcourt. I think part of what's happening...

Better defense too. Yeah, what's happening with Donovan is that there has just been such an absence of offense on the jazz ever since that... He is the first option down the floor every time. They don't even throw perfunctory passes into Goberra anymore because he hasn't been playing very much. One thing I will say is Murray and Mitchell might be a bit duplicative. They're similar types.

What they need is more, they probably just need Jamir Nelson back, someone to kind of get everyone involved. Yeah, if they had like a Drew Holiday, I think they would be like they would be cruising right now. It would be good. Another one from Ricky Pop. What if the Nets actually had their draft picks from the last five years? Wait, does that mean? Probably be the Celtics.

So does that mean? Yeah, so does that mean that deal never happened? Yeah, so here's the problem with that question. The looper, the looper effect. The sliding doors there is that Atkinson and Marks then don't come to the Nets. Right. And you don't have a team of basically, I mean, the Nets are actually putting together a hell of a season. Yeah.

To certain of the fact that it's Dinwiddie, Lavert, and Ronee-Hollis Jefferson. And he's like, it's basically a bunch of scrap heap guys that no one believed to. We don't have Boston Spurs Light. Yeah. Paul Pierce just retired as a Celtic last season. Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean, I know Jeff Van Gundy, I was listening to Zach Lowe's podcast,

and he was talking about him for Coach of the Year. And I kind of am behind that take, because where would they be if they didn't have that whole system that he's put in place there? Some of these guys have really just played above where they were drafted. With our two-starred guards, too. Dean Whitty has been incredible. He is awesome.

We had a great piece on him today by Dietrich. Those clicks. Do you guys think Dinwiddie is an all-star? No. No. Shuper 9. This is one more, and this is one that I was thinking

about a lot this week because he's come under so much fire. It does feel like Luke Walton and Be on the fire happened like nine weeks ago now, just like the way time went this week. But Shupor number nine wants to know what if the Warriors have pulled the trigger

on the clay for Kevin Love Trade, what's the ripple effect? So you automatically, you know, you can make the argument that you would still see Cavs Warriors in the fire. Yeah, but they don't get Durant, right? So, yeah, you'd still see Cavs Warriors in the finals,

but I think you can make a case that the Cavaliers or the better team in that case. Well, but you lose the post-up game. Kevin has been spacing out okay, not recently, but you do have another three-point shooter, which they're missing. I also want to see one thing is, like, when Clay Thompson, when Clay Thompson signed his extension? Yeah, see, that's interesting.

Because I would just think that he would go to Minnesota for a year or two and then go to the Lakers, right? So he would be a Laker now. Or what if the calves made the same exact trade, but they trade for Clay Thompson instead of Kevin Love? So they trade Wiggins for Love, bring in Love. Oh, you guys are talking about back in Minnesota? Well, in 2014, there was a rumor that it was going to be Clay to Minnesota for Love and Clay and something else for love. And then the Cavs made the trade.

But you're saying what if Love got traded from the Cavs of the Warriors? Yeah, so let's say Love is on the Warriors now. Clay is on the Cavs with LeBron and Wiggins is still on the Wolves. I think that's an interesting one. That is an interesting one. I don't really, I mean, I think that LeBron, and when's the last time LeBron would have had a shooter on the level of clay? Mike Miller?

Ray Allen? Yeah, Reallon. You know, like, when his last time he's had a guy who doesn't need the ball, like, the way Wade has, the way Kyrie has, and there isn't that tension of, like, hey, hey, hey, but it's a guy who's literally, like, I just come under, like, a baseline screen pop up, and it's good. Corver's trying. Yeah, Corver's five years too late for that. Yeah, right?

Corver's 150 years old. Hashtag ringer NBA, if you want to ask us some questions. Anyway, there was a question about Luke Walton. What if Luke Walton had stayed with the Warriors? Who would be coaching the Lakers? Would they be better or worse? What would the roster look like? It would be an ex-Laker.

It would be Slava Medvedenko. What other trash ex-Laker could they just bring in there based on nothing but nepotism? Right, yeah. And the fact that they know him from like two years ago. It's like great. I don't know. You know, this Luke thing is really tough right now.

I was thinking about that moment where it was like, The warrior's job is between Kerr and Stan Van, and that Kerr was also thinking about going to the Knicks. And just, like, all the different things. Was he, though? He said that, he said on Bill's pot, I think, that he, like, they had kind of been like, here's the job.

Right. And he was like, let me think about it. And then the Warriors job opened up. They brought in a bag of dog poo and opened it up. Here's a job. Carries around. It's 20 million, though. Hmm.

Some more what ifs. Uh, Johan von Slayer wants to know. What if the refs weren't crooks? Yeah. And we got a Sacramento, New Jersey finals with those awesome squads. Who would have taken it J-Kid or C-Web? Yo-Han, what if the money is? Hang it on.

Just some interesting baggage here, my brother. Um, I do, you know, the reason the refs thing is interesting is because the reps have come up so much recently in the last couple of days with Draymond and I think of LeBron. This is Jemond's burner account. This is Jermon's burner. Hon von Slayer. That would be surprised.

Can we just look the refs live? Like, their lives must not be great. Like, they're just getting yelled at by dudes all the time. They're probably flying commercial. I don't know what they actually fly. Really? They're flying commercial. Remember, they had that scandal several years back

where the refs were, like, keeping their tickets and then reselling them. I can Google that, guys. Do they keep the points, though? Those are nice. That's such a quaint scandal. 2017 and 18 have proven that that is very clear. I pocketed the saltines.

Ian Place wants to know, what if Sam Hinky was still in Philly, would they have the success, thanks Ian, they've had this year. It would have been better off because Colangelo hasn't made any good moves. I don't think that they would have... I don't know that they would have

Amir Johnson and James Oredick on the roster. Here's the real question. Does an untethered Sam Hinky draft Chris Stapps? There's a lot of debate about who's picked that was. I think it might have still been. and Jalil. Really? Yeah. I think everyone wants to write that off. As like the owners made him do it.

Right. And I still don't know this for sure. I've heard that he was like, he was in on that. Plus there was the whole thing leading up to the draft where they wouldn't let Chris Stopsco work out for the Sixers. They would release his medical... When does that ever matter to it? Well, with Sam, his whole thing is about collecting as much information and just everything in general. He's like a hoarder,

essentially, which is great. I think the question is when Sam had done the Foltz deal. That's a good question. And I, there was part of him, that actually thinks he would have, because the whole point of the process was to take home run swings like this and to get in the mix to get these number one

draft pick kind guys. I also think, like, the whole Fultz thing, will he, won't he play, what's going on with the shoulder, it's just so strange. You can't game plan for something like this. Like, whatever Danny H. thought he was doing, he definitely was not thinking Fultz has either something wrong with his shoulder or is so wrapped up

in his own ability. or inability to shoot that he's going to miss the entire season essentially. Like he did, no one thought that this would happen. Counterpoint, though. Hang out with Markell Fultz for like five minutes. I would have been going the other way.

That's not, I don't, come on. No, yeah. Like, I'm getting bad vibes from this guy. Watch one or two Instagram stories. I mean, watch any Instagram stories. If you watch John Wall's Instagram story, you would think that John Wall's only friends are his dogs. I was insane.

Maybe. That's the good thing. There is like all of his dogs. Every Mark Kilfield's Instagram story is, like, what the best Chick-fil-A sauce is. Right. A couple more general what-ifs. Or just some general questions from Twitter and Facebook. Which top five protected pick would make the Celtic scarier next year?

So I guess this is the idea of two through five, right? So, like, Boston gets two through five, sixers get one or six through 30. That's that Lakers pick that they traded with the Tatum Fultz deal. I've watched a ton of college basketball this year. I am obviously getting Trey Young vapors. But I don't know. Haley, like, you probably watch a little bit more than us. I mean, like...

Sure, watch Louisville last night. And they won. So you want the Sixers to draft Louisville. Yeah, just as an entire team. I think Rick Metino is available. They want them on the coaching staff. It's still too. Porter would be the most Sixers pick

because he probably wouldn't play next year. Right. I think Stray Young has just emerged way past a corner of it. I don't know. And the sisters still doing that? I think, that's a thing. I think Donkich would probably be the one that people would be like, this is the game changer, right?

Yeah, he'd be an upgrade over what they don't have in Fultz right now, essentially. What are we once? We've got a couple other questions here. How would the Warriors do if you replace Draymond Greem with Prime Ron Artecest pre-Mallace that comes from hot takes? How do you in Reddit early right now? How are they doing? Like seven pages deep.

Where is this question going on? John, is that year? Sounds like, I mean it without knowing, and then I'm just like, I don't know how they would do. I guess they would have some of the same qualities. Sure. Same technical foul amount. I don't remember Ron having as good of a three-point shot,

even though Dremon isn't good as a three-point shooter. Draman's also like one of the best point guards in the league. Yeah, he's like, here's my thing. I want to know, Kawakami, Tim Kao Kama, and the Athletic this week, Yeah, throughout the Anthony Davis idea for the Warriors. That Anthony Davis is the next big target for the Warriors. This is very much like what big European soccer clubs were.

This is real Madrid style. Basically, like, speak it into existence. But the AD thing, adding another huge player like this, would necessitate the breakup of the Warriors as we have known them in this title-winning run. This, Steph, K. Clay, Dray, Dremon, And it would all, yes, but it was on the backstop back night of his career. But that clay Drayman thing. Do you think that that is possible?

Do you think that if you're the Warriors, are you like, we're just going to keep riding this until it sputters out down the line, whether it's, you know, disease of more or, you know, just injuries or people getting bored with playing this much every year? Or do you think Bob Myers is like, we have to refresh the mix here? Like, like keep changing parts is what you're saying, like one by one. Right. I have two things to say here. First, can we just stop it with Anthony Davis?

This is exhausting, though. I've been doing this for like two years of my life. I'm done with Anthony Davis trade rumors until this dude is literally like wearing shamrocks in his hair. Like, let's stop. Second of all. Is this the last episode of Tremay-Roy? Yeah, okay. I could just play on a bugle horn.

A bugle-hugle-hung. The other thing is, I wrote about this the other day. Anthony Slater pointed out how bad. that Andre Aguadal has been shooting lately. Yeah, yeah. I think, and Dremont also been shooting really poorly from three, I think those type of things creep up on you quicker than you think. And it's a similar idea where you want to be ahead of the downslide.

So I think actually doing that would make a lot of sense. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see them sell high on Dremont. I know he's, like, so important to their team spiritually. And he's the biggest competitor. He's the guy that counterintuitively steadies that team a lot of times. That said, you know, he likes a party. He's a guy who just, when he loses that half a step, it will... He's ironically like a short guard.

It will ripple through his entire game. So I would not be surprised to see them sell high on him. What do you think? I have something I think people are really going to hate. Sure. But it's more of a question than like what I think. How many injuries does Steph have to happen? If this keeps happening, it hasn't it?

happened. He was very durable for a long time. The trash ankles returned. He's, yeah, injured his right ankle twice this season. How many more times, how many games does they have to miss in the future seasons for it to be him who's the trade piece? I would say that Steph is the Warriors to me. Yeah.

And Curry said as much that everything that makes the Warriors, particularly, they're a great team. What makes them special is the way that Steph makes them play. Yeah, I agree. And this rise of this franchise and they're, basically probably for a generation of fans becoming the new Lakers, the way that we think about the Lakers and the Celtics is to what we kids think about

the Warriors now, I just don't think you can separate in front of it. I think that's like separating. I think that's bird or magic. As Michael Jordan once said, the ceiling is the roof, and I think that Steph is the ceiling for that team. Like, they live under the space that he creates. Yes, and that's, and to understand how galactically important he is, is like the idea that KD came into that team,

and willingly it was like, I'm, I'm here to score. and play off Steph and everything. You know, like, it was never a matter of, like, Steph just gives up control of the team to Canada, Duran. It's been his team. And to that point, Steph's plus-minus numbers and that reading, or, like, through the roof? Yeah, amazing.

Even though he's not shooting, like, as he was, like, two years ago, three years ago. If he could stay on the floor, I definitely think he would be in the MVP. Just the threat of him. Right. Yeah. I think the interesting thought experiment

this year with the Warriors is, what if they never got Kevin Duran? Like, where are they in the hierarchy of the league? I think the Rockets might be better. I think the calves might have pushed them more last year, obviously. Because it's like, would the rockets have made such aggressive moves? Right. Knowing Mori, probably.

Change the landscape. To go and get a guy like Paul who's only got two or three years of really like prime basketball left in him, if that is such a flex. And would Paul have thought it was okay? Maybe he would have thought, like, man, this threshold, I'm going to get crushed for this. But Katie just went to the best team in the league. Yeah. I think if the Warriors make another run through the playoffs like they did last year this year, I think you're going to see some wild move where a really great player takes maybe even less money to go to like a Rockets.

Like whether it's a Paul George, whether it's LeBron, whether somebody is going to be like there is no way to win unless the three or four of us are together. I think Chris Paul shaving his head added at least another season and a half to his peak. It's science. I mean, we've proven it out. Okay, so for Justin Verrier, Haley O'Shaughnessy, Jason Concepcion, I'm Chris Ryan. Thank you for joining us on the Ringer's NBA After Party. We will see you again soon. Basketball is very good.

Basketball is very good.