The Ringer NBA Show - New Year's Resolutions for All 30 Teams | The Corner 3 (Ep. 360)

Episode Date: December 28, 2018

We ring in the new year by giving 2019 resolutions for every team in the league — from the lowly Knicks and Hawks to the high and mighty Warriors. Hosts: Kevin O’Connor, Jonathan Tjarks, Danny Chau Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's Corner 3 is brought to you by Yahoo Daily Fantasy. Yahoo Daily Fantasy had such a great year. They are giving you a taste of what 2019 looks like with hundreds of prizes in fantasy basketball daily competition. Not a bad way to end the year. Don't miss this contest. Go to Yahoo.com slash Daily Fantasy and use promo code Yahoo 25 when you make your first deposit for $25 in free play. Now it's time for the Corner 3. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show.

This is DeCornor 3. I'm Kevin O'Connor and joining me today out at Ringer Studios in Los Angeles. It's Ringer Associate Editor, Danny Chow. It's me and Isaac. Me and Isaac Against the World at Sunset Gower Studios. We're the only ones here. And out in Dallas, Texas. It's Ringer staff writer Jonathan Sharks.

What's up, guys? Hope you all had a good Christmas. As Danny mentioned, today's podcast is being produced by our guy. Isaac Lee, you're back. Hey, hey, hey, good to be back. I mean, technically, I never left. Like I was always, you know, into slacks. No, Isaac, you left for sure.

If you're on this podcast, you definitely left. This is where I'm really madden. I've been calling you producer emeritus. You're a man of many nicknames, Isaac. Oh, my goodness. Ice, man. I love it. We're still recording this on Thursday afternoon, though. And so that means we're not going to be able to react to tonight's games.

But with the new year right around the corner, and this being the final, Ringer NBA show of 2018, we're going to deliver our... Put your riders up. Yeah. We're going to deliver our New Year's resolutions for every NBA team. Isaac, what order are we going to do this in?

So we decided let's do this by the net rating of each team as of right now. And we'll go starting from the Bucks and ending with the Cleveland Cavaliers. These net ratings are as of Wednesday morning. So there might be some subtle differences from the time you listen to this. But we're going to start with the Bucks who are number three in offense, number four in defense, number one in net rating. My resolution is for Yana Synthioupo. And that's simply to keep on rising. Don't become complacent.

Janice right now is the MVP favorite one-third through the season, and the odds are he's going to win it. He had the number four selling jersey last year behind Kari, LeBron, and KD. He's up to 3.6 million Instagram followers. He has a signature shoe with Nike that's supposed to come out this fall. Janus is a worldwide star, but there's still room to grow. He can get better as a shooter.

He can get better as a playmaker. and what made LeBron LeBron was that he never stopped getting better even after he was already on top. And for Janus, as his stardom grows, I hope he continues improving as a player because when LeBron declines, Janus is the guy who could become the next face of the NBA.

Yeah, KOC, he hasn't mounted the first round of the playoffs yet. He's already a big star. So this is just beginning. We're on the ground with fours of something really big right now. I'm also kind of looking forward to his shoe because if you think about it, when we think about, you know, signature shoes,

big men don't really sell those types of product. So I'm excited to see what his, what his signature shoe looks like. What size feet does he have? Like, size 20 or something? It's probably like abnormal. Like, considering how big his, Achilles tendon is.

Shout out to Kevin Arnivitz for that piece. I always reference how big Janus's Achilles tendon is. It's so odd, though. He is big, and yet for some reason, I don't feel like he's thought of as a big man even though he plays like one because he has the ball in his hand so often. So I wonder if that will impact his shoe sales in a positive

manner, Danny. Yeah, like him and KD, they're not really categorized as big man, even though they're both pretty much seven footers. Yeah, they're the next great centers. It's crazy. With Yannis at his current level, which is an MVP level, are you guys buying them as a finals favorite in the East? I don't know about favorites. I still think at full capacity, at full health.

I think the Raptors probably have the best chance of basically figuring out every kind of matchup that can be thrown at them. But I think certainly when you have a guy like Janus, you're definitely in the conversation.

Yeah, I did a piece on the Bucks last week and I was thinking about it. Like, if Yonis plays 48 minutes in a game seven, like that's going to be tough. He could play the entire game if he wants to and he can really just take over a game seven. The Bucks might have the best

net rating in basketball, but the Raptors have the best record at 26 and 10. What's your resolution for Toronto charts? I mean, to me, it all goes back to my favorite lineup. You got OG, Pascal, and Kauai Leonard, 368 forwards. It's the lineup of death. They've only played 27

minutes to carry this season, and I think that's the lineup they need to get to the NBA finals. I'm going to call that the T-800 lineup. It's just Terminators all over the floor. I love this. I love this idea. I think you would pair them with a Danny green and then just another shooter

and you would have like five plus defenders capable of switching and capable of all kind of hitting shots and making plays I think that's beautiful. Did you say only 27 minutes for that group charts? Yeah, because they're playing their center so much this season. They only had to run

that lineup out there. It's remarkable that's only been 27 minutes. That seems like the type of lineup though that Nick Nurse will unleash in the playoffs to maybe change the, if he's trying to set a tone in a game to pull Joe Illandib off the floor and make things hard for Joe Al-N-Beed. I think that's maybe when you see that lineup a lot.

Also seems like kind of a Celtics buster. Could be, absolutely. Celtics seemingly have underwhelmed this season, Danny, at 20 and 13, yet somehow they have a top two net rating right now. When we did these rankings, they were three. Now they're two. What's your resolution for them, Danny? I think they just need to find some consistency to put around Kyrie.

I think all the talk entering the season was about, oh, how would they balance all a star power on their team. Kyrie, basically playing the best ball of his career, has basically changed the tenor of that conversation. And now it's really about finding players who compliment him whenever he's on the floor. So, you know, they've made the adjustments to put Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart in the starting lineups.

I think some of their best lineups involve having guys like Marcus Morris, guys like Jason Tatum around him. And now you're just kind of waiting for guys like Jalen Brown and Gordon Hayward to start. are hitting their threes. And once that happens, I think they're, they're right there and at the top of the east. Do you think those Marcuses stay in the lineup in the playoffs, or do you think they'll move back more towards Hayward and Brown, if you had to guess? I think if

Brown gets his jumper back, like, the thing about last year and the, the reason why he was so effective last year was because he was basically shooting 40% from three. He was stroking. Now he's like, he's down to like 31 and that's after a surge. Like, he might be down to like mid-20s percent three-point shooter right now. now. So it's been rough for the kind of the swing men readjusting to their lives. You know, hopefully in the second half, one of them or two of them finds their shot. And we can get back to kind of playing the five theoretical best players that the Celtics have. One of the other things about Carrie Irving, Danny, to circle back to him, he's playing better defense this season than he has probably since the 2016 finals.

And he's credited that a lot to his conditioning this year. He said recently that, he's in better condition than he's ever been throughout his career. So he needs to continue doing that, as does Russell Westbrook for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But one thing Westbrook hasn't had this season, and this is my resolution for him, find your shot, Russell Westbrook. He's shooting 24.8% from three this season, 61.2% from the free throw line. He's been more willing to off ball, which is something when I first got hired at the ringer. That was like the first or second article I wrote about was Russell Westbrook, play more

off ball, cut more, and he's been giving more touches up to Dennis Schroeder and Paul George. And yet his shot has failed him at a time where overall, Russell Westberg is playing very well this season, playing a better defense like Kyrie Irving is for Boston, playing more off ball, but the shot has failed him at this point. Yeah, KEOC, he's shooting the lowest free throws of his career right now by a significant margin at 61%. That's just unfathomable. Like, I mean, is DeAndre Jordan still out there? I believe DeAndre Jordan is ahead of Russell Westbrook right now.

That's why. I believe he is. DeAndre Jordan is shooting 71% from the line right now to 61% for Russell West. Russell shot 85% as MVP season. So this shouldn't be happening. Next up, we get the Nuggets. They're 21 and 11 this season near the top of the West. I'm glad you got them charks after your great preseason piece that you wrote on a non-Nicoli Yokic.

What's their resolution? To me, you've got to keep playing Monti Morris. He's been one of the most pleasant surprise in the league this year. He's their best pure point guard. He gets Shokich to ball. He's shooting 46% from three this year. He's playing pretty good defense for his size, and he's never turning it over.

To me, even when Isaiah Thomas gets back, they got to find a way to give Monta Morris in the rotation. What about Will Barton, though? He'll still play at the three. There's still room for him. To me, I tease the guy who has to kind of, sorry, buddy. There's no room with him. I mean, has there been any update on Isaiah Thomas's status?

He was supposed to return this month. I think that was reported maybe in early November, but there's been nothing reported this month as far as I can remember coming out of Nuggets Media. Nothing has been reported as far as I can remember, which is very odd. I expected him to be back this month. So here's something that Jamal Crawford is reporting via the Boston Globe. Jamal Crawford thinks Isaiah Thomas is going to be a monster when he returns from injury. What say you, Charks?

I mean, do they need a 5'9 and Jamal Crawford on their team right now? I don't think they need that. There really is no room for IT. They barely have room for the guys that they have. I mean, they're freaking stacked right now. Especially when all their guys are healthy. I think with Denver, when you're looking forward with that team,

what is a move that you would like to see them make to build effectively around Nicole Yokish-Johnn? I just think, let's see what these young guys have. I mean, I think you've got to see what Wancho can do Malik Beasley. They've got a lot of really interesting young pieces, and they just got to play these guys out and see it in the playoffs.

To me, this core is really good already. Paces are up next, Danny. Yep. Get Miles Turner involved early and often. I think this Turner versus Subonis debate is going to be a big question hanging over the franchise for a few years now. But really, Turner's been really impressive of late.

Over the past 15 games, he's averaging a double-double, shooting 50% from three on two attempts per game, and averaging three blocks. It's just, he's never going to be that kind of high usage, second option Pacers fans thought they had, but his skill set is still one of the rarest in the league. And when you can get a guy who can rim protect

and hit threes at a high clip, you have to maximize that skill set as much as you can. Danny, here's what I'm wondering. So Brooke Lopez is taking eight threes a game right now in Milwaukee. What would Miles Turner look like if he was taking even like four or five and just launching threes? Honestly, I don't know because I mean, he would probably look like Sharon Jackson.

I want to see that. That's what I want to see, getting miles involved more often because, like, he can shoot threes at the very, even he's not going to be a big shot creator. It's funny with Indiana. They're a team that I think absolutely needs to shoot more threes. And, like, Turner takes too many deep twos.

That's the issue. It's not mid-range jumpers necessarily. It's those deep twos early in the clock when he's picking, popping. Yeah, like, what's the point of that? It doesn't make any sense. I mean, he's a longhorn, man. It's, it's, it's the Lamarcus Eldridge DNA in him.

And yet, right, despite saying that one of the, like when we talk clippers and spurs, I was looking at them, it's like, geez, these teams take just about as many or more mid-range jumpers than anybody else in the league, yet they both have top five offenses. Indiana dozens. In fact, they wrecked 19th. They're a team that I think there's good, at least, statistical reason for them to start shooting more threes, especially with Turner shooting the ball as well as he is right now. Next up, speaking about mid-range jumpers, we have to go on. State Warriors. I believe they take the third most mid-range jumpers in the league so far this season. They've basically just kept their shot distribution flattened ever since Steve Kerr took over his head coach. It doesn't matter. They still dominate. But the one thing that they've lost is joy.

I would love for the Warriors to rediscover joy this season. And that's regardless of whether Katie leaves or not this summer, but this team just doesn't feel like they're having as much fun anymore. I mean, do you guys remember just the joy they played with during their 73 win season in the year prior to that? Every game was a show. Can they get back to that though? Or is like, is the past in the past now, right?

Look, this is what, year five now? Like, I think at a certain point, the thrill is gone. I want to rekindle it, Danny. Come on. There's got to be, can they? Can they rekindle it if Katie leaves? And like, let's say Katie goes to the Lakers and he becomes that

super villain joining forces with LeBron, I think that mere choice would suddenly make the Warriors interested in actually trying in the playoffs, which would make them a fun team to watch again. I mean, would it, is it still gone, though? I don't know. Would it change Clay Thompson's shot distribution? Because this year, he's taking 44% of his shots from 10 to, from 10 to deep two range. Like, what is going on here?

And the other thing, too, like, before KD was here, remember it was like strength and numbers? They'd play like 10 guys. they have like four good players now. Like if Katie leaves, they're looking kind of thin. Yeah. They're in a very interesting spot if Katie leaves. And if you look at the cap situation

with Clay Thompson getting paid this summer, then Draymond possibly getting paid next year, it's still going to be a very expensive team with not a lot of wiggle room to add guys. It's not like when they cleared space with that trade with the Mavericks, John, to trade Harrison Barnes there to make the space for Katie. It's not going to be like that.

They need to hit on some draft picks. which they really haven't in recent years. Yeah, Jacob Evans has been terrible for them. And I don't know, maybe DeMarcus cousins can find them joy. Maybe that's what we've come to now. I don't know. That's always what boogie's brought throughout his NBA career for sure. Next up, we've got the Philadelphia 76ers, the number four team in the east.

What do you got, John? I got a take for you all. I think they got to trade Ben Simmons. I feel like it's not going to work long term. This is the best resolution so far. Why, John? I'm just thinking about it because, like, you've got Jimmy Butler, you've got Joel and Bede, they want the ball, Ben can't play off the ball, Ben needs the ball.

It's like a pretty simple equation. And to me, this year in the playoffs, when Jimmy and Joel have the ball, no one's going to guard Ben Simmons, and people are going to sour on him really fast. I think Ben's very, very talented, obviously, but I think he needs his own team. So you would like to see Ben in a Janus type of situation, but for Philadelphia, what would you like to see them trade him for? Put it this way. I think just as many shooters.

Right now, Sixers fans are getting angry at hearing this, thinking that it's a big overreaction. Like, what's a reason for them not to turn off the podcast right now and be like, huh? My lovely voice. Come on. No, I'm just saying, like, if you got Joel, you've got Joelle and Jimmy Butler, right? Those are both two top 10 players when they're going. And they need the ball. So you got to put guys who can shoot around them.

That's just the reality. So Ben Simmons for Robert Covington and Dario Starch. they'd be a better team. I don't even think that's, I think they'd be a better team with that. Look, I think with Ben Simmons, it can work.

And I think it has worked with Joelle and Bede and Jimmy Butler. And those guys also just need more time to develop chemistry with each other. I think one of the things is Ben needs to show a willingness. And Brett Brown also needs to empower him as a pick and roll screener. I think you can put Ben in that role where he's screening for Butler and he's rolling down the lane. He can do the Draymond Green thing on the short roll. He can score with finesse or he can score with power like Blake Griffin on lob attempts. I would love to see a bit more of that, but the Sixers just don't run a lot of pick and roll.

And that's been frustrating. Also, those two have shown the willingness to shoot. You know, I feel like that is just such a huge impediment to Simmons's game that, you know, until he shows that willing to shoot, those lanes aren't going to open up. And even if Simmons is the screen man, if MB's on the floor, it's going to be clogged. running pick and rolls with Ben Simmons as a screener. There's no room. That's fair. By the one last thing of Ben Simmons.

I just have, this has been on my mind a lot this week, especially with Rondo having a couple of good games since returning to the Lakers. And with Ben Simmons, he was called Tall Rondo prior to the draft. And a lot of Sixers fans and, you know, just fans of the NBA took that as an insult.

But it was, I always thought it was actually a compliment for Ben Simmons. Because Rondo and his prime was devastatingly effective. on the offensive end of the floor. Like he had that 44 point game against the heat in the Eastern Conference finals. He had a number of really impressive two-way performances and triple doubles. Like Rondo, Rondo and his prime was an elite two-way point guard at the highest levels

against the best defenses. And Simmons right now isn't that guy. He can become that player at some point if his shot becomes at least average, but right now he's not that guy. And if you're in Philadelphia, I don't think you trade, I don't think you trade him, but he does need to become that tall Rondo. KOC. So you're saying, are he saying he's more skinny Boris Diao than tall Rondo?

Is that? Skinny, muscular, athletic Boris Dio. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it feels like Boris Dio on creatine more than skinny, skinny Boris Dio. Yeah, I like that. The L.A. Lakers are ending this year without LeBron James, who was the guy Ben Simmons off and gets compared to. So it's going to be fun to watch the Lakers to close up this year.

Danny, what do you have for the Lakers? Yeah, I just feel like, you know, even when he comes back, I think you need to ease up on his minutes for as much as possible. I think LeBron's groin injury, however minor it is, however minor he's saying it is, should be a reminder of how, you know, fickle the nature of this business is. Like, LeBron is turning 34 in a couple days. Any kind of mechanical issue he has with his body at this point is going to be compounded by the fact that he's old.

You know, so the Lakers kind of sticking to the script against the Warriors and blowing the on Christmas was a great sign of maturity for both the coaching staff and the players, but they kind of have to keep that up. I think LeBron's playing the fewest minutes he's ever played in his career, but, you know, they were trending up before the injury. So, you know, you have to keep in mind that he's played 56,000 career minutes. You know, any extra rest they can give him is huge. And we've been talking for a while on that about Brandon Ingram.

This is kind of his chance to show what he can do without LeBron in there. I'm pretty interested to see what that looks like. It's kind of shocking that 34.6 minutes per game is LeBron's career low. Yeah, he's a machine, man. It's unbelievable. Next up, we have the San Antonio Spurs. I was thinking a lot about this one. And, you know, at one point I was thinking, you know,

I would love to see them modernize and shoot more threes. And yet I didn't feel like that's an appropriate thing to say when their offense is ranked fifth right now in the NBA. And they're just as good as they've been lately. I still feel that way, but it's not their resolution. What I want to see is a one-on-one sit-down interview on camera between Greg Popovich and Shea Serrano. Oh, that's my resolution for us at the ringer and for the Spurs. And the reason why I want to see this is because, A, I think it would be a joy for Shea. I think it would be really cool for She to have this experience.

But also, I think the content that would come from would be pretty interesting. You have these two drastically different types of personalities, and yet there's commonalities here, both very involved in charity and giving to people. Popovich is quite quiet about it. Shea does it on Twitter, and he rallies people to give and all that. And I think they would find common ground there. And then also, just they could talk about the history of the Spurs with Popovich near retirement and Shay being a Spurs superfan.

I think there would be a lot of interesting and inspiring things to come from that conversation, and I would love to see it happen. To be honest, when you said that, the first thing they came to mind was the Chris Farley show on Saturday Night Live, where Chris Farley is just like, he'll interview with celebrity and he'd just be like, oh yeah, that's awesome. That was awesome. That's a great reference. I feel like that's Shay.

She's just going to be like, hey, do you remember Sean Elliott's shot on Memorial Day? That was awesome. There's a lot of people listening to the podcast who don't know right now but I highly recommend after you listen to the show not right now.

Don't pause the podcast but after you listen to the show go to YouTube or search that on Google. Check that out. It's very funny. But right now we have the Charlotte Hornets

who are in the playoff bubble in the East. What's your resolution for them, Jonathan? This is kind of selfish for me. I just want to see them play Miles Bridges more.

He's one of my favorite my favorite rookies in this class. I love guys who are really athletic, who are really smart, who can shoot threes and dunk on people.

And like, I like watching them play. They're kind of a boring team besides Kemba Walker, and I would probably watch more games as Mounters played more on. Sounds like a dating profile looking for someone athletic and smart. Shout out my wife.

Good genes. Charks, I'm just saying, this isn't draft class anymore. Isaac isn't throwing out grades. You don't have to shout out Miles Burgers all the time, you know? Who else on this team

are we going to shout out, though, honestly? That's fair. I mean, Kemba's great, but the other players are not really entertaining. What did you guys think about that defense,

the Brooklyn Netsies against Kemba, the box and won. It was pretty effective, surprisingly. Why, they got to play Miles Bridges more, man, he can hit threes. Yeah, I mean, if there's only one player you need to really concern yourself with, sure, do anything. Next up, we have Utah Jazz,

who have the number two defense since Thanksgiving. They seem to have fixed things on that end of the floor. What's their resolution, Danny? I think just keep experimenting with Rudy Goberra on defense. I think the jazz have been kind of letting him guard out in space a lot more lately. And he's looked a little bit more comfortable doing it. I think in the long term against the elite teams in either conference, it probably won't make a

difference. But there's no real harm in exploring just how much more defensive potential he has. Because the truth is they just need him on the floor. He's what makes them tick on both ends of the floor. Their offense completely falls apart when he's off the floor. So keep him in there. Let him guard in space. Let him see how much better he can get on that, in that respect.

Next up, we have the LA Clippers. Isaac, we're swinging to you for this. Oh, sure. I stand by what I wrote in my season preview piece. They need to become an appealing free agent destination by being good. And they are a solid team right now. As of recording, they are 20 and 14 after what looked like was going to be a resounding win last night against the Kings, but ended up being kind of edging it out type of win. They have a lot of cap room this summer, this upcoming summer, and they have not made it a secret. they want Kawhi Leonard and or Kevin Durant. And now they'll obviously be losing some players that fortifies this team already. But I'm going to list to you the guaranteed contracts on the roster next year.

Danilo Galanari, Lou Williams, Montres Herald, Shea Gilgis Alexander, my large Canadian son, and Jerome Robinson. Outside of Robinson, that's an extremely solid core for a start to play with. So if Kauai and KD look around and say, hey, where can I go? where I'm going to compete. I'm going to be in a good location in Los Angeles, obviously. They might look to the Clippers, and the Clippers have a good organization.

They already have Jerry West, Steve Balmer, whose wallet is wide open, and all of the things that they're doing right now is building towards a successful free agency summer. I hesitate to be this optimistic publicly, but I think that's where this team is right now. They just need to continue being good. They can't slide.

They can't do that. They can't drop six of seven games like they did a couple weeks ago. They can't become the Clippers again. Come on, KOC. You can't. Isaac is a new team. Yeah.

This is a new organization? Isaac, are you believing this? Like, is this really, are you like being cautious? Are you saying what's this is going to happen? It's the Clippers. So I'm never optimistic. I say, speak politics.

I get to say that. Kevin, I get to say that about the Clippers. You don't. I get to say that. But, yeah, I don't necessarily believe it. because there's so many destinations for these regions to go to, including the Lakers. The Lakers have LeBron and they have Capspace this summer. They can just kind of sign any of these guys outright.

But here's hoping, honestly, cross my fingers. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, with how things are going and how we expected going into the season, they're nailing this audition. Yeah. Listen, they have the same record as the Lakers right now. The Lakers have LeBron James. The Clippers have

Gallo is probably the star of this team And You're some of the Tobias Harris? He's a star. I think Gallo's the star of this team Because he takes the tough shots He takes the shots when it counts The team looks to him When there needs to be a bucket

They also look to Lou But I think Gallo is the one who Really is leading on the court Tobias Harris, they call him the machine for a reason He's just an efficient player A smart, smart player Who's going to take the shots That he knows is going to go in

and helps the team in an overall way. But Gallo is really that leader. The Clippers are going to have cap space. And if they want to this summer, they could resign Tobias Harris and then still have the money to bring in Kevin Durant or Kauiland. So it'll be interesting for them.

Next up, one team that doesn't have cap space is the Houston Rockets. Entering Thursday, they've won seven of their last eight. And James Harton is averaging over his last seven games. 39.9 points. 9.1 assists. 6.7 rebounds with a 63.1 true shooting percentage.

That's outrageous. He's a complete monster. He is. They're ending the year on a high. What's their resolution to keep this ruling? See, to me, like, the resolution is Tillman Fertita. Like, you've got a 29-year-old James Hardin. You might never have a player this good the rest of your time in Houston.

Open up the checkbook. Like, they're spending $136 million. Okay, she's 147. Golden State's 146. That $10 million is another wing they need. And there's no time to not spend money now. It's now or never. Open it up, get some players, make a run.

Golden State's vulnerable. Let's go for it. Don't be spending not enough money when you have a great player like this. Their team owner did have a quote earlier this season where he mentioned if they're in the luxury tax and they're not a contending team, it'll be time to find a new general manager. Right now, with the way this team has advanced over the past couple weeks, do you consider them again a finals contender in the West John.

See, I think it's more like if you have James Harden at his peak, you have to think of yourself as a contender. Like you can't waste these years by not spending all the money you can. I'm with you. The Pelicans are 15 and 20, 14 seed in the West. They've lost five in a row. Danny, it's not looking good for the Pelicans. No.

And my resolution is just don't do anything you might regret two seasons from now. I mean, you know, it feels like they're going to dump another first rounder for another potential impact player. It's kind of written in the stars. But, you know, with all the noise surrounding AD and with all the losses that are piling up, they had to start looking at contingency plans. So I don't know how prudent it would be if, you know, they just kind of kept doing the same thing they've been doing for the past three years.

But at the same time, it's AD. Like, what do you do? I mean, the fans in Seattle want a good team when they move there. Oh, no. Come on, man. I say just go for You're leaving anyways You're not lying about that

I mean that's the last thing Any Pelicans fan wants to hear But I mean it's it's the truth Which is disappointing I don't think they're gonna move I think team ownership is from New Orleans They want to keep it Yeah but are they gonna sell it aren't they

Because the Benson died Now it's the wife I believe Gail Benson said She will not sell the team Earlier this year We'll see what happens We'll see what happens But we're talking about a team

That's 26th in attendance right now this season, 21st in capacity attendance filling up their arena. Look, if they lose AD, they're going to be in a situation that they've really never been in before. They had Chris Paul from early on when the franchise started in the early 2000s, and then essentially once they lost him, they got AD. They've never, for the most part, been without a superstar player,

someone to give them hope. So if they do trade Anthony Davis this summer, hopefully they're able to get a top draft pick, whether it's Zion Williamson or someone else, to give this team and this franchise and this entire fan base hope, because if they don't have that, I'm not sure what they do have.

They have Miratich coming back. That's what they have. Yeah, Meritich, Julius Randall. Let's not forget Alfred Payton. When Alfred Payton was there, they're like four and oh. One thing I'm curious about on the Pelicans. I had an article about Anthony Davis today on the ringer, and one of the points in there

was about how, even if the Pelicans entered this summer, and Anthony Davis is telling them that he's going to leave the following year, even if Anthony Davis is going on TV and doing on-camera interviews saying that he wants out, even if that happens, the Pelicans don't have to trade him. It could be a situation like in 2009 when the Raptors knew that they probably were going to lose Chris Bosch, but then they traded for Hito-Turkeglu anyway, and they ran it back. it didn't work. Bosch left and he joined LeBron James and he joined Dwayne Wade in South Beach.

New Orleans could always try to do that. They could try to spend money in free agency. They could try to chase like a Chris Middleton or even like a Ricky Rubio type and be like, yeah, this is it. We're going to push for the playoffs. Try to have another year. They could, they could always try to run it back. That makes sense to me because I look at like when Milwaukee

traded Kareem and they needed 40 years till Yannis came. How often do they're Anthony Davis in your roster, like realistically? Maybe never. I used to just go for it. You would run it back. I think so. I mean, what's the point of having a team if you have Anthony Davis in prime? You don't use him, right?

If you lose him for nothing, though, if Anthony Davis were to just walk in 2020 and you got nothing back when there will be offers on the table this summer to get you either top draft picks or good players in return, I think that is a risk that's far too much unless he gives you a really, really strong indication entering the summer. You know what? If we do this or we do that, I'll stay. But unless he does that, I don't know. Would you dangle Ben Simmons?

Ooh. There's an interesting wrinkle. I'm into that. It's funny, Danny. In the article, I mentioned, like, if the Sixers, if the Kings pick ends up number one, it conveys to the Sixers. So they would have that as an asset if they wanted to try to get Anthony Davis.

I wanted to put Ben Simmons in there as, like, a name. Ben Simmons and Gentry system would be kind of fun. Like, he'd be playing super fast. I'd be into that. That's pretty much exactly the type of system you were referencing earlier that you would like for Simmons, right, John? Yeah. Next up, we got the Dallas Mavericks.

My resolution for them, it's pretty simple. And we've talked about this before. It's get Luca Donchich and tip, top shape. I mean, already he is having one of the best rookie seasons that we've seen in our lifetime, and one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history. He is already a real, you know, really, really good player. But one of the things that he still needs to get better at is scoring efficiency.

And I think if he's in a little bit better shape, it'll improve his athleticism finishing around the rim. It'll improve his scoring efficiency. He'll be even better at drawing files and absorbing contact and finishing through contact. It should help his defense. It should help him sustain this play over a full season as well if he's in tip-top conditioning. That's pretty much it for Luca. What I'm thinking for Luca, I think for the Mavs, it'd be very helpful.

to get into the playoffs so he can see it firsthand, like the level he has to get to athletically, right? Because I think right now the regular season is dominate without having greats in shape, but in the playoffs, it'll come back to buy them. I think that would be important to see it with his own two eyes. It's pretty much the same thing with Yokic. Yeah, you got to see it for yourself. That brings us to the NBA game of the night. The Pelicans and Mavericks, the Mavericks beat the Pelicans on Wednesday and they play again on NBA TV tonight, Friday. That's our NBA game of the night. Jonathan, what were the keys to that Dallas win on Wednesday and what must they do to win the second game of this home and home?

So they had a really interesting lineup. Dennis Smith was still out. So they played Luca at point guard and they inserted corner three favorite Maxie Kleber and the starting lineup. So they went like West Matthew 6-5, 6-8, 6-8, 7-foot, 7-foot. They were just huge. And they had that massive front line. And then they had on their bench, Beret and Harris killing the Pelicans' Pelicans bench. It was really interesting lineup. I want to see that again tonight. And remember if you want to watch every NBA game, game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com, Amazon,

or your local cable or satellite provider. The mining heater having a health or scalter season once again, what's their resolution charts? Well, I think first off, they're doing an interesting thing at the point in Justice Winslow. Haley had a good article today about that in The Ringer. I think for me, let's just kill Hassan Whiteside.

No more of this. Let's play BAM at the 5, Alenic at the 5. Like, Hassan doesn't help the team, and like, it's time they moved past him. Yeah, to be honest, just, I'm so thankful that Eric Spolstra has found his light and is just like, all right, I know exactly how to play Justice Winslow. They've been really fun, and Miami's just a really fun team when they can have four playmakers out on the floor and either a rim runner or a floor spacing five out there. That's basically what they're doing.

Like they don't have, they don't have a star necessarily, but you have, when you have that many playmakers on the floor, good things happen. Yeah, they just kind of keep being funky. no traditional lineups for them, because traditional lineups just not good enough. They got to keep kind of funky lineups out there. Danny,

you and I have long loved Justice Winslow, and I feel like I betrayed my love about a month ago on the Ringer NBA show with Chris Vernon. I trashed Justice Winslow, and I feel just so heartbroken.

Kevin, you got to have a next take mentality. Don't even worry about it. I know, I know, but Justice Winslow has long been one of my favorites tonight.

It's not that I gave up. It's that I, just gave up within the situation of Miami and it's working out now, though, ever since then it seems. I mean, there were some, you know, Michael Kid, Gilchrist Funk on his, you know, on his playing career. So,

it's understandable, but I've been a fan of his game since high school and he's just way too smart and way too, you know, he just does too many good things on the floor for me to have given up on him. Well, here's the thing. He's got to play point, right? So when Dragich comes back,

what happens? That's the question is, are they, that committed to Winslow, they'll de-emphasize someone like Drag H to let Winslow do his thing. Yeah, it's not that I gave up, it's that I was just extremely concerned about his scoring. The playmaking was there and the defense is still there. It's always been there. Even the leadership

and then intangible factor has always been something that I've been drawn to with Winslow. It's just the scoring was horrible. But that's improved in that playmaking role, though. Do you think his three-pointer over the past two seasons is a fluke? He's looking real confident taking them. Yeah, yeah. I

I think his three-pointer is at least improved, but it's everywhere else in the floor where, you know, at the rim, he was struggling, uh, mid-range he was struggling. Uh, three-point range, it seems like it's for real.

But that seems like it does. That free throw percentage makes you wander, though. He's still only at, uh, 67% from the line. And that tends to be the leading indicator. Yeah. It does. Next up, we get the Grizzlies, Danny.

Yeah. So my resolution for them is, let's ramp up Jaron Jackson Jr.'s minutes. You know, he is, corner three. I love it. He is, is a foul magnet, I get it. I think per 36 minutes, he pretty much fouls out. But he is a historically

unique player. You're looking at a guy who takes 2.4-3s a game. If you bump that up to per 36, I think it's up to like three and a half. And when you pair that with his rim protection numbers, which are absolutely bonkers, so the shots that he's defending right around the rim, he's allowing only 48.7%, which is behind only Javelle McGee among players who defend at least four shots around the rim. So he's an elite rim protector. He's an elite big man three-point shooter. And when he scores over 20 points a game, the grizzlies are like five and one. And I think with Marcus All struggling as he has been over the past like 12 games, this is the time to really see what you have in this, in the youngest player in the NBA, pretty much.

Man, did you and Charks coordinate this to praise the Michigan State guys just because I'm on this podcast now? Well, no, I mean, I mean, Jared Jackson's matured for years. Yeah, this is true. I don't know if he was at Alcorn State. Great. I mean, I think worth pointing out for the Grizzlies. So right now, they're 18 and 16 and they're a plus zero net, that even differential.

They're like the 10th best team in the West. They need a push to get back to that top eight right now. It's only to do it possibly. Donchich and Aiden are the only two rookies who average at least 30 minutes per game. I think Jaron Jackson's around 24. You can bump them up a couple more minutes. I mean, they got joking Noah, though, Danny. They got to make sure he gets out there.

Got to give minutes to Noah, of course. I think that's the real key, Danny. It's giving Noah 36 minutes per game, not Jaron Jackson. Yeah, only kidding. Pray for Noah's heel. I thought he already got hurt. Yeah. I really just want Chris Vernon to get driven nuts.

That's all. Another team that needs a push is the Portland Trailblazers, which is why my resolution for them is just trade C.J. McCollum, break it up. Break up the back court. Yeah, please, something new. I'm with that. This team is good. It's a very, very good team.

But one of the problems is for them, C.J. McCollum since the 2015-16 season has not really made a leap since then. When he was 24 years old, he turned 27. in this season, he's not really that different of a player. And if anything, I would argue that his playmaking has gotten worse since then. When it seemed like he was about to be making a leap as a passer, like Damian Lillard has over the same time frame, McCollum's gotten worse, averaging only 2.6 assists, the season down from 4.3 in that 2015-16 season. He's been chucking a lot of shots early in the clock.

It's been frustrating to watch more than he ever has before. And McCollum's a good player. And I think for another team, if he's empowered and enabled as the number one guy, I think you could maybe see some improvements as a playmaker. But it's not happening and important. And I think it would be wise for them to use him as an asset, maybe for a wing type of player or forward. It's hard to find somebody that makes sense.

So I'm curious if there's anybody that comes to mind when it comes to training C.J. McCollum for you guys. Well, I've been saying for a while, CJ for Aaron Gordon. I think that's kind of like for both teams that makes sense. I'm into that. That's solid. I think that at the least they need to shop him

and see what's out there. He's locked up. I think too, with CJ, what's happened this year is they've moved him away from that stagger where they'd play either Dame or him all the time. And they pretty much give an Evan turn to the second unit

and made Cid adjust to two guard. And he's just less valuable in that role when he's so small. Yeah, that was a strange adjustment. I mean, you've got to give Evan Turner the ball, Danny. You know this, king of the midrange. We got to... The midrange is the future.

I love AT and guest host of NBA Nestop as a very much-chpinning episode. A ringer friend of the company. Absolutely. That's great. The Nets have won nine of their last 10 games and they're up next charts. What do you got? I mean, I got to give some shout out to my guy, Rodion's Curricks. So he's a rookie from Spain, second round pick.

And pretty much as soon as he went to the starting lineup, the Nets started winning games, they are six and one since he was a starter. And right now he has a plus seven net rating, which the next best plan rotation is plus 1.5. I think Kyrricks could be a really interesting young player, and he kind of fills out their lineup. He could be the kind of, he's like a six nine guy. He can shoot, play defense.

I think he's really good. I'm really into him. And I think he should play him even more minutes going forward. More important to him on the nets is how much he's impacting my fantasy team. Man. Now we're talking to the real subject here. He is fantastic. Kurtz, I love him.

All right, that's all I got. Are you guys surprised he's as good as he's been as a rookie? I think the big thing is just the fact that he can be a two-way player. They've had such bad wing play this year because they're either playing guys who can't shoot at all, like RHJ or guys who can't defend at all like Joe Harris and Allen Crab. And just that like base line of competence makes everyone else around him better. I mean, when you look at him, in 2017,

if he declared he would have probably been a lottery pick. It's just he waited a year, and as Charks has mentioned a couple times before, like, this is a guy who got into a contract dispute with Barcelona, and they kind of basically low-balled him and brought him down to the B team. So he got less exposure and everything, but the talent was always still there.

He's like a really athletic 6-9 combo forward who can shoot. Like, that's what you need in this league. Yeah, I heard a funny story about that at the showcase. the G-League Showcase. As Scott was telling me, basically, Barcelona was like, look, man, you're not bigger than the team,

take this bad contract and be locked in for a while. And he's like, no, I'm a bet on myself playing the NBA one day. I'm not going to do that. Like, that's confidence. You got to respect that.

That made him really hard to evaluate last year, too. I believe we all had him ranked either in the mid-30s or even low 40s or something like that. And like you said, he maybe would have been

a lottery pick or at least a mid-to-late first-round pick the year prior. I liked them a lot. It's just it was so hard to evaluate him with that B team on Barcelona that it made it a little bit harder to draft him

but it worked out for the Brooklyn Nets anyway. Next up, Danny, we have the Detroit Pistons. Yeah, this is kind of hard, but my resolution for them is just dig around and see if you can get anything for Reggie Jackson. He has the worst net rating of any rotation or any rotation player in the roster. He only has a year remaining on his contract.

The Pistons are clearly in playoff mode. They're clearly trying to get. get there. Can they package him a young player and a first rounder for some kind of impact point guard? Anything? What happened to him, Danny? Because it seemed like understand Van Gundy two years ago, he was back. Like, you know, he figured things out. Back to one. Suddenly he's just falling off a clip. I mean, back to at least a solid guy, a solid player. He, man, his first year in Detroit, he averaged 19 points per game. Last two years, he wasn't anything special, but he was at least solid. This year he's just falling off a cliff. What happened to him? I mean, I think it's just

the rash of injuries that he's had over the past year, like, over the past two or three years. It's just completely changed, I don't know, the rhythm in which he kind of played with to start off with the pistons. I think that was his entire thing. He wasn't like the most explosive athlete, but he was confident in the pick and roll because he had like this kind of internal clock, and that internal clock is just like completely out of whack now. Yeah, I mean, he just needs the ball. And, like, who wants to hear of Red Jackson the ball really on a good team? I've made the joke a bunch of times.

Like, last year, Schrooter, I thought was probably the worst starting point guard in the league. But is Reggie Jackson up there this year? I mean, there's some, who's starting in Chicago? These, like Archie Diakano or something? Is it Chris Dunn? Is Chris Dunn coming off the bench? I mean, he's down there, though, whatever the list is. Trey Young's out. He's down at the bottom, whatever it is.

Yeah, Chris Dunn is starting now. Yeah. Next step, we have the Minnesota Timberwolves, and my resolution for them is empower Carl Anthony Towns. He has been better on defense this year, finally, but he's been worse on offense, averaging only 15.5 shot attempts per game. I would love to see Kat shoot more threes. I would love to see him get fed the ball more often. I would love to see him demand the ball more often, and one of the things that he needs to do is carve out space more aggressively on the post. He's done that a little bit more lately, but I still think back to pre-Jimmy Butler that last season before that trade happened, where Kat closed that year, averaging like 28 and 13 over the last 41 games of the season.

And over the first couple seasons of his career, one of the most efficient scoring big men in the league. That guy is still there, even though his numbers are a bit down right now. And I would just love to see the wolves and towns work back towards that player who's just driving. dropping near 30 points per game with 12, 13, 14 rebounds and see if he can also maintain his improved defense to become a two-way star that they need. See, KOC, I know what you're saying with the man the ball, but I hate that as like a big man myself. Like, I demand those guards know who the best player in their team is.

Just give them the ball. Like, demand the ball in the post. You know what the best player is. Come on. Let's be real. Ford of Worth, Towns has been better at that the last month or so. I know Zach Lowe had a nice blurb about that in one of his temptations. things I like or don't like.

Pretty recently, Towns has been better. I mean, he's beaten up on people on the post, but I, there's just a little things Towns can do better. Yeah, you know, point blank, he is a great three-point shooter. And everything we'd talked about earlier about how, you know, what if you gave Brooke Lopez's attempts to Miles Turner? What if he gave Brooke Lopez's attempts to Carl Anthony Towns? Absolutely.

He's shooting 38.7% from three this season, but that's also his career percentage. Like, let him shoot seven-threes a game. I say yeah, turn CAD to a 7 foot 250 pound guard, a volume shooting three point. I want to see that. That's the kind of player I think can make them a legitimate team pretty quickly. Anyway, that brings us to the pick of the day presented by our friends over at Yahoo! Yahoo Daily Fantasy had such a great year. They're giving you a taste of what 2019 looks like with hundreds of prizes and fantasy basketball competitions.

The Wolves host the Hawks on Friday night in the last time Atlanta played Cat Scores. 46 points against the Atlanta team last season. That's why he's going to be today's Yahoo pick of the day. Because Carl Anthony Towns needs to get fed the ball, and hopefully on Friday night, they're going to be feeding him the ball again. Don't miss this contest. Go to yahoo.com slash daily fantasy.

Use promo code Yahoo 25 when you make your first deposit for $25 and free play. Anyway, moving on. The Sacramento Kings are one of the NBA's biggest surprises so far in the season. They face the Lakers on Thursday night, so we're not going to be able to react to that. But what do you get, Charks for the Kings? I think with drafting Bagley, I want to see Bagley at the five. Could it be like Amari Stademeyer if he's playing with four shooters and like the Aaron Fox swan him lobs? Just say, forget defense, put him a bunch of stats.

If you have Bagley, let him do what he does. And that's good buckets. They kind of already have said forget defense. Yeah, so. at this point. I thought I want to see them maximize Baglick. I mean, if he's at the five,

they're going to be the fast team and even faster than they are now. There aren't any illusions that they're keeping Willie Colley Stein, right? I don't know what there aren't. I mean, he's a strict of free agent. They might. I don't know.

I don't know. It's hard to say. It really is. Do you think they should keep him? I mean, he definitely fits their format, but like, look, you've made your investment in Bagley. I want to see it. Collie Stein is, to me, one of the more frustrating guys in the league. You see those flashes from him where he's playing

with energy and flying around the floor in the defensive end and how athletic he is and how long he is and how much space he can cover. But then there are moments, it's kind of like a early career Javille McGee disease where he just falls asleep and just stops trying. Colley Sine needs to put it together consistently for me to feel comfortable paying him. Yeah, he feels like a future maverick. I don't know how to feel about that. I don't know. As long as he costs less than DeAndre Jordan. Well, that's true. Danny, up next we have the Washington Wizards.

Yeah, so we're getting to the depressing part of this podcast. Oh, yeah. You know, my resolution is just make it to the end of the season without burning Capital One Arena down. They are shockingly bad. And shocker, landing Areza did nothing to help. Yeah, they're one in four with a minus nine net rating since that trade. You're telling me, Trevor Residence, solve all their problems.

He didn't solve a single one. The one thing I'd like to see is, like, they would actually pretty good with Jeff Green at the Five, and they just haven't used that lineup enough. Like, try the stuff that actually works. Jeff Green, aka LeBron James Jr. That's what it's come to, folks. Jeff Green can save this season, or he can't.

One team that's been said as of late, but they had some happy moments early was Orlando Magic. And a lot of those happy moments were due to Nicola Vucevich, who's dropping 20, 12, and 4 this season, shooting 39% from 3. But my resolution for them is sell high on Vucevic. He's going to be a free agent this summer. And you have Mo Bamba, Jonathan Isaac, Aaron Gordon.

Do you really want to pay Vucevic? Do you really want to pay him? I don't think so. I think he's a guy you have to try to sell high on. Where could he go, though, KFC? What do you think he'd be a good fit on a playoff team? This is obviously always the question. I look at a team that is,

trying to maximize this single season. Even the first team, this has been, you know, someone reported this, not reported this, but as mentioned this before, even the Lakers, if they wanted to add a begman to close out their season. I kind of like that as a stretch five with LeBron, yeah. Yeah, something like that. I mean, I'm not sure if you're Orlando, would you rather have KCP in a future pick than Vucevich?

I don't know if that's the type of deal I'd want to accept, but it's that type of construct that be looking for with a wing rather than having Vucevic. I mean, they're falling off pretty fast lately. They might be out of the playoff hunt soon if they keep this up. They're three and seven in the last 10 games. They're now 14 and 19 and 10th place in the east. One team that is far, far out of the playoff race. And that's New York Knicks, one of the saddest teams in the NBA to watch the season.

But they do have cap space this summer. They could land the number one pick. There's reason for optimism, Charks. Yeah, KOC. I was reading your article today about Anthony Davis. check it out, Theringer.com. And yes, the thought occurred to me as you're talking about with the Knicks. If they could get the number one pick, trade that pick for Anthony Davis, then sign Kevin Durant,

triple tower, people. Oh, yeah. Let's do it. Lady KPKD and nine G League guys. I don't care. That'd be fun of a sec to watch. The funny thing is, is it's actually possible. Right?

Yeah. Let's do it. They could work that out in a perfect world. It could work. some NBA 2K franchise mode level fantasy stuff, but it could work. I think most importantly is it takes two of the, what, three, four best players in the world over to the east. Let's get some competitive talent balance here.

It'll be balanced for sure. I mean, that's like three of the best centers in the league and they all shoot threes. Or it's just crazy. That'd be wild. Danny up next, we have the Hawks who are tanking away. What's your resolution for them? We basically talked about this in last week's podcast, but look, let's get more Kevin Herder.

I'm here for it. Let's go. Let's do it. I want to see him in all kinds of actions. You know, John Collins has been the best on-court net rating, has the best on-court net rating of any of the Hawks rotation players, which is not saying anything at all. They're still getting outscored.

But Herder has the best on-off differential. So when he's in the game, the Hawks are getting outscored 1.6 points per 100 possessions. When he sits, they're getting completely blown off the floor getting outscored by 13.6 points per 100 possessions. Danny, how good is he on defense, do you think? I think he's solid. Like, he definitely can move.

He can move, and he's one of those guys where it's like, he can get a chase down block every once in a while. And it's kind of in that... So he's deceptively athletic, did you tell him. Gordon Hayward-esque kind of like, oh, all of a sudden he makes like this wild defensive play, and you're like, oh, wow, I wasn't even expecting that, but that's a cherry on top.

Danny, I love your love for Kevin Herder. It's a great, I just want to say that. I love it. It's a good bit. Look, man, he's one of their biggest rays of light in like a lost season. Let's get as much of him as possible. Let it rip. I think you love Kevin Herder more than I love my bright future sons. And that's the next team we have up.

My resolution for them is don't fall too in love with Point Devin Booker. And the reason why is this. Point Booker is awesome. He has been killing it. I mean, it's working right now. Oh, it is really working well. The Suns are playing their best basketball of the season. They've won five of their last seven games. A lot of that is thanks to Devin Booker and his performance. He's putting up James Hardin numbers. However, as awesome as Point Booker is, off ball Booker running off screens and spotting up and cutting is also pretty awesome. And I think to maximize the Phoenix Sun's future, it's going to require some balance. is going to require a complimentary presence as a ball handler. Maybe that guy comes in the draft, whether it's Zion and R.J. Barrett, or maybe it's another star that comes in free agency or trade sometime. But don't fall too in love. Or maybe DeAnthly Mountain.

Hey, here we go. Absolutely. It's about balance. That's why I'm saying don't fall too in love with Booker in this Hardenroll. Well, can Aiden be that guy, KOC, even though he's not really a quote unquote ball handler? Can he be like a primary option of Booker plays off of eventually? Yeah, I think he's one. of the guys that they need to empower and develop as a guy who plays as a playmaking,

as a playmaking center. I think he's one of them, but they still need another guy too. And that's why just don't fall too in love with Booker. Fall in love, but don't fall head over heels because he still needs to play off ball too. Next up, we have the Bulls. The Chicago Bulls have been asked this season, but they have a lot of young talent. What's their resolution charts? Yeah, I think when I look at their roster, I like Levine, I like Lori, I like Wendell.

I think they've got to find someone who can pass those guys to ball, whether that's in the draft or free agency. They need a good young point guard or even an old point guard, someone who's going to run the offense, get them all easier shots. I'm not really loving the Chris done a point thing anymore. I think it's time for a fresh new page on that one. Finally, to finish things off, Danny, we have the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yeah, my resolution is, look, it's easy to fall in love with Zion Williamson's tape,

but watch more than just him. part of me feels like it's fate that we're just going to get some sort of frozen envelope action where the calves get Zion in exchange for losing LeBron. But they obviously can't bank on that happening. I'm still kind of intrigued by Bull Bull on the calves, whether they get rid of Kevin Love or not. He's kind of like this bizarreo, sharp-shooting version of Nicola Yokic. He's really fluid for his size and really fluid for like how much he plods around the floor. I mean, the dude's shooting 52% from three. He's seven, too. Like, that's amazing. Do you guys

have any resolutions? Let's wrap this up. Do you guys have any resolutions heading into the new year? Oh, that's a good question. Keep being awesome. That's all I got. Okay, I like that one for you, Charks. How about you, Danny? Just got to stay hungry, man. Stay hungry. I like it. Just like Janice, got to stay hungry, right? How about you, Isaac? Any resolutions? I just want the NBA show to continue being the best show that it can be and help develop it. Not to be all serious, here, but I love being back here with the corner three. Isaac's the man behind the man. And now he's all growing up.

He's now he's making big money moves. Way past us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's a celebrity now. We're just podcasters and bloggers. Speaking of which, can I call out Charks really quickly, just because I have this public forum. Charks. Always. When I went to Dallas to sing Halaluka, you know who wasn't in the audience? Was Jonathan Charks?

Yeah, I do feel bad about that. I'm holding a bit of a grudge. I know you were closing on a house. And I know you had other more pressing matters to tend to. But I was still a very disappointed. It was a mistake for sure. I should have been there. Maybe they'll be a part two someday.

You know, John, my New Year's resolution is something that could have allowed for you to be there. Because I want to get better at scheduling things. I look back at the year 2015 and that was one of my best years, I think, in terms of, you know, getting stuff done. I was freelancing for like four or five different places and doing my draft guide. And I just scheduled things out a lot. I had like an Excel sheet where I just blocked time off to do like Scuddering Report here, write article here, watch game here and all that.

And I've kind of fallen away from that a little bit. I'm good at getting my things done. Can you see. You're getting old, man. You're out in California now. It's hard to have that schedule. You're a big time movie star. I get it.

Can I know California. Yeah, yeah, I want to, regardless of living in California, regardless of whatever, whatever's supposed to change in New York, California. Yeah, whatever, whatever all that is, I want to have a tighter schedule. And I think I got to use Google Docs or Google Calendar or something like that. I'm going to use that a lot this year. You know, as your editor, I really appreciate that. Anyway, it's all we have time for today, guys. It was a fun year.

I'm sad as the last one in 2018, but I'm really looking forward to 2019. Thanks, guys. Of course. And thank you for listening to the Corner 3 and for listening to the Ringer NBA show. Please give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Tell your friends, tell your family about the show. That'll make us so happy. It's good for us so we can keep doing these.

It makes us really happy if you do that. Special shout-out to Isaac Lee and to Bobby Wagner for producing the podcast. And shout out to my good friend, Elon, for always listening to the show. Thank you again for listening. We'll be back next Friday. Have a happy new year, everybody. Happy New Year, guys. Happy New Year.

Thank you.