The Ringer NBA Show - Preseason NBA Power Rankings Part 3

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

Justin, Rob, and Wos continue their preseason rankings and discuss teams ranked 14-8. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre Associate Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I have some good news for you. The hottest take. It's back. Oh yeah. Monday through Thursday, four times a week. You hear from me, Chris Ryan, Sean Fantasy, Mallor Rubin, Wazdine Lambray, Van Lathan, Julie Lipman. Many other ringer staffers. You get one take. You got a defendant to the death. Sports takes. Pop culture takes. Food takes. Airplane takes. Oh, yeah. It's coming back. First episode drops. August 29th. To this special Friday edition of Group Chat. I am Justin Verrier joining me, Big Wise, Rob Mahoney. Wise, we have reached part three of the now annual preseason group chat power rankings. Are you excited? I feel like this is the final countdown in the song that played at damn near every college party I've went to is now playing in my head.

That's a song, right? The final countdown. The final countdown. Yeah, that wasn't bad. That wasn't bad. There you go. That's my next career. So as I mentioned at the top of part two, which you listen to on Wednesday, hopefully,

we are recording this one immediately after part two. And so if the vibes are a little frisky or they're a little deflated, we're not totally sure which will happen right now, but that's probably why. Rob, do you think at this age you're capable of doing back-to-backs or should we put you on rest here? We're going to find out, you know? I'm up for ranking some shit. So I think we can do it. The vibes are incandescent, Justin.

How dare you? That's right. Especially because we are going to start at number 14 on our list with a team that is probably one of the most interesting in the NBA. That is the New Orleans Pelicans. Should I just do my whole Pelican spiel? Yeah. Before here. Is it going to be hate?

Let it fly. Everybody in New Orleans knows you hate the pelicans, Justin. Right. Right. Yeah, I just hate them. I want bad things to happen to them. That's true. First, we should mention if this is your first check-in on the power rankings,

we have ranked every team, one to 30. We averaged out the rankings. Isaiah Blakely broke, our producer, broke the ties here, including for the Pelicans over the Lakers who are number 15. Basically, I asked them to pick one or the other, and that's how we broke the ties. We're going to go through every team, parts one, part two, have almost half the league,

if not more. And we are going to address them just in general. And then one essential question for each team. So we are 14 with the Pelicans. Here's my thing. I think going into this exercise and going into the preseason training camp portion, I was a little skeptical of the Pelicans

because the Pelicans hype train really went off the rails last off season. I feel like as soon as they beat the Suns one time, everyone was ready to anoint them the team of destiny, the team of the future. And I get it. I think last postseason they were a very fun story. Nobody really expected much from them. But I was kind of in the mode where, and this is what typically happens after the high

of the postseason and kind of goes away, is that the emotional response gives way to the actual questions and the more practical responses. And I think there were a lot of caveats you could apply to what they did in the postseason. And obviously they showed a spirit that I think a few teams have. And a lot of their young guys played above their heads in ways that I think a lot of people weren't expecting. But I mean, they still need to work Zion back in. You had to wonder if part of their success was a result of Paul George not being there for one play in game, Devin Boker not being there for another.

There's a lot of questions I think you can ask. And then I saw Zion Williamson show up to training camp last week. And good God, he looks incredible. And last night he played in his first preseason game. I think I'm completely turned around to the point where I wonder if this team could be way better than 14, if not just better outright. It kind of makes sense that that's all it took, though, because this is probably the biggest swing team in the league. Like, I could see them winning 55 games. I could see them winning 39 games.

And it's almost entirely because of Zion. Yeah. And what I like about Zion, honestly, the last time that he played for an extensive amount and, you know, where it got to the point where he was just. destroying every single defense that they put in front of him. His success is contextless. It's not really predicated on having the exact perfect pieces around him to complement what he does. I think he can operate in a vacuum.

And then you add, you know, somebody like CJ who can be a shot creation, pressure valve release, and also just straight up elite shooting at the same time. I think that's a big deal. And if Zion is healthy, he's going to be incredible. And I realize how big of a caveat that is. But I think he's going to be great regardless of what the circumstances of the team are so long as he's on the floor. So you basically figure they're going to be really tough to stop on offense because of Zion just by virtue of what his skill set is. And then, you know, it's like, will they be able to scrounge your round?

of defense. And I think, you know, we talked about the Hawks on the last episode and their lack of unity and commitment last year. I think there's a lot of positive juju around New Orleans right now, which makes me think they can be a connected type of unit that scrounges together decent stuff on defense, not a complete, you know, I don't know that they have the best defensive talent. I know everybody loves Herb Jones, including the boss Bill Simmons. But I don't think they have an incredibly talented defensive group, but I think because they're going to play hard, they're going to play together,

they're going to be decent at defense, man. They're not going to be a complete disaster effort-wise and execution wise. Well, I'm not as sold on the clear-cut fit as I think you are. I think Zion could be incredible, but I think my question is, does it take away from other people there and what happens to that?

Who are these other people? Well, I mean, Brandon Ingram, for one, who had pretty much come to become this, like, the spiritual leader of this team. If it wasn't CJ McAllen, Ingram had become the focal point number one guy in that team. And there was some, I don't know if there was clashing in Zion's last season with Ingram, but it wasn't as seamless as I think you would want it to. And then you add CJ in the mix. And so you have three guys who are at 30% usage rate all jostling for opportunities. I would assume CJ takes a back seat just because he is the veteran. It seems just within his personality to do so.

But I do wonder how that all works out. And defensively, I think that's probably the bigger question because you have those three guys. And I wouldn't say any of them at this point are plus defenders. Like that was basically Stan Van Gundy's whole thing. He was just going horse, basically saying that Ingram and Zion had to be key defenders for all that to work. And so if you have, you're closing with those three,

I think you have a lot of pieces to put around them. Herb Jones presumably will be the fourth, but who's the fifth? And can you get enough defense collectively with those two spots to make up for what you're going to sacrifice with the top three? Yeah, I think Waz nailed it in the sense that Zion is pretty context independent, but just by virtue of how good he is, he changes everything around him, right? Like people do have to adapt to him. And I think Ingram and McCollum are obviously the prime candidates for that.

The defense is going to be a big piece of that. And I mean, that's where I zero in on Brandon Ingram a little bit, because can he remember how to play defense again? He had moments early in his career when he was a good effort defender at least, and that has not been the case lately. Dude, effort and his natural gifts, like this guy's got a freaking wingspan

that stretches the damn Saturn. He's got good, decent enough foot speed. Like, you know, we're not going to accuse him of being Scotty Pippen or anything like that, right? But, like, he has, he's not some, freaking slug, okay? Like, he can move quick enough. If he's giving the right mindset on defense, he can be good.

If not, he's not going to be great or elite all NBA defenses, which I used to think he could. I used to be like, man, this might be the only guy in existence who could guard KD because he could give him enough space while still giving a great contest because of his length. Just get back to good, man. Like, please. And that'll be fine. And as far as on offense, there's got to be CJ that takes to.

step back. One, because you're the veteran, you got to do your thing, like you understand whose team this is. And two, CJ don't pass. And Ingram is just like, people wouldn't believe this because of their positions and their sides. Ingram's

a better playmaker than him. He's got, he's made so many strides in that regard as far as on ball, creation for others, operating out of the pick and roll. Over the last two years, he's way better at it than he used to So CJ, yo, we get it.

You a microwave type of guy? He don't give the ball up. He don't create for others. So he got to slide off the ball. Maybe he can anchor some of the more offensively in that bench units. And then he could get his, you know, his stack creation off. But I think the ball needs to be in Ingram and Zion's hands because they've shown, one, they're more likely to draw two defenders.

And two, Ingram is just a way better playmaker than CJ is. And when you start with ball handlerers who are that big, then you can do all kinds of like inverted pick and roll stuff with CJ setting the screen, flaring out, getting wide open. Like, what are you going to do with the Zion C.J. McCollum pick and roll when Zion has the ball? It's just, it's an unsolvable problem. Well, if we're already saying, though, that CJ needs to take a back seat and we're saying that it's going to be tough to be cobbled together, a good defense with all three of them,

is it possible that CJ was the right point guard for last season's team, but that he might not be the ideal version for this team? with a fully healthy Zion for a fully engaged Brandon Ingram. Like, I think it could work, but we're also talking about can this team ultimately contend for a title. And they've now signed CJ to an extension that's going to take him through 2025, 2026. So they're committed to him. And I wonder if ultimately that becomes the problem area. I really don't have a problem with it, though.

Like, I feel like everything we're talking about, CJ's game is scalable. Like he will take the shots to fill the void if they're there. He'll scale back and be a little bit more of like a mover and a spacer and a connector if that's what you need him to be. I feel like his game fits that really well. And the thing about this team is they really don't need that playmaking from him. They can use him in all these different capacities. Like I think when you have Ingram and you have Zion, you're going to want some kind of third star around them. We can talk about what kind of forms that would potentially take if you want to explore the trade market.

but I don't know that you're getting a better pure fit than a guard who can handle really well and take basically any like pull-up shot you give him shoots really well spot up, really flexible in terms of that kind of shot diet. That's the skill set you want next to those guys because you're not always going to be totally positive when you have two point forward kind of ball handlers

exactly where your shots are going to come from and the variability that CJ can work with I think is hugely valuable. Also, you know, they've been quote unquote stockpiling picks. these last few years, if they need to go out and do something they can, right?

If they want to put some money into it and take on some contracts and to get more talent in here, they have some draft capital to play with. I don't know if they'll go into the luxury tax. I think that's a big concern. But I agree. They do have flexibility.

I think the question, though, is like, do they need anybody else? If we're saying we're going forward with this big three and, like, we'll find the right guys around them. Maybe it's Nans, maybe it's... I'm saying if they don't like the way the McCollum part of this is not working, there's ways to address it if they want to.

And we'll see if that's the case. Maybe, you know, they didn't figure out... They didn't figure out the perfect chemical balance for these three and the sort of parts around them, and it's going to work beautifully, Justin. Who knows? You don't like Alvarado sliding into the starting lineup, just sneaking up on guys all the time?

he's a Queens guy, CHSAA guy. I root for Alvarado, okay? Saw him in Vegas was very pleasant guy, but, you know, he's five foot nine. What are we talking about? Yeah, I could do it with a little less sneakiness in my Twitter diet, I guess, going forward. Like, it was a nice story.

Like, it's one of those signature things that I don't think I've ever seen somebody do, like, let alone an NBA player, let alone an adult human do. But yeah, it would be nice if he played actual basketball sometimes. Well, that was the one piece of this. Justin, you brought up like, was there any kind of fluke element to their playoff run

based on guys being out of the lineup? I didn't really feel that way. And in part because I thought pretty much everyone, the Pelicans were playing, were playing some version of the role you would want them to play and a role they would be comfortable in playing. I think the one asterisk was Jose Alvarado, who was just a little in over his head

based on the circumstances. But moving him down the depth chart, No, like, that's not a problem anymore. Sure. Could we say Herb Jones, a guy who coming into the league was thought to have like, if not a broken shot, something that was going to be a work in progress, all of a sudden has been a plus three point shooter. I'm not sold, but I have to say, like, in the little preseason I watched yesterday when

they played the Bulls, like the shot still looks pretty good. I think it's those type of small sample situations that I'm concerned about. And then ultimately the health, because you do have not only Zion, but Ingram hasn't been a paragon of health and stability throughout his career. He missed 27 games last year. CJ's on the wrong side of 30. Nance played nine regular season games and they already gave him an extension while that could be like a good bet long term to get a guy like him under contract for a while.

I also think you have to wonder like how many games he's going to be available. And so like they do have a lot of depth and I do think they're equipped to handle a couple injuries, probably better than they've been in, I don't know, a decade maybe, probably not since Chris Paul. But if it's more one or two key guys, then I think you need to start asking some questions. I think that's true. Most teams, though, you know,

like anybody loses two key guys. You're in a tough spot. I think what makes the Pelicans interesting is they've shown what they can do without Zion, and it's still pretty impressive. And that's their best player by far, I think, in terms of what his on-court impact could be. So I just can't wait to see it in action.

Well, I'll ask you this. We have them at 14. I think we all had them around the same rank. It sounds like we're talking about a team that should be way higher. Why are we still putting them in this lower tier? I think it's because their three main guys have been below average defenders in the very recent past. Like, that's why. Like, the three heaviest minutes guys on their team in the very recent past have been, like, bad defenders.

And in the case of CJ and Zion, we're talking about some of the worst in the entire league, like at the bottom for their position. That's why I personally think that. And it's not as if they're surrounded by guys who, you know, it's not like there's some all-world defenders, aside from Herb Jones, who we love and we respect. But it's not like they're at the big position. They don't have some crazy rim protection.

I mean, Jackson Hayes, notwithstanding, you know, I think that's why I'm a little hesitant because their three main guys have been not just, oh, he's okay. Like he gives a good enough effort. He's Royce O'Neill. You know? Like, these guys have been horrific at it.

And so that's a reason for concern. We talked in the last episode about whether some of these lesser teams in the league could aspire to the seven seconds or less model of absolutely elite offense, league average defense. I think that's within play for the pelicans. Like, if you told me this was a top three offense next season and hovering around league average defensively, I think that's a good outcome. for them on the defensive side of the ball in particular. But it's right there for them to grab it. If guys like Zion can commit defensively, can buy in, can actually move and rotate, those possibilities are there.

Yeah, I'll also point out we made these rankings two weeks ago now. So we didn't get to see Zion show up to Media Day looking chiseled and smiling pretty much the entire time and talking about how he listened to Ready to Die and all of a sudden his mindset changed. Wads, I don't know if you had that same experience growing up in New York. Well, yeah, but I don't know if I've definitely not been able to couple that with a nice, fat new deal. So, yeah, I think the combination of those two things will probably have me smiling either

ear as well. Yeah, I have to say, like, nothing motivates a player more than money, one, but two, it seems like public shaming. Like, I don't advocate at all, but I think we now have multiple examples where people people have bullied guys into giving a shit again. Yeah. James Hardin was like, you,

I lost 100 pounds. Like, it's, it's great. I love it. It might be the only good thing NBA Twitter has ever done. The only thing it's ever accomplished is that.

Right. All right. Let's go to number 13. Another really interesting team going into this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers. We've talked a lot about them in recent weeks on this podcast network,

just about Donovan Mitchell, et cetera. Was, I don't know. Have you gotten your wax in there? Have you gotten your, your broad takes about the cabs with Mitchell? I mean, it's not different from anything people have heard.

I think this is an ideal match for Donovan Mitchell, because one, he's showed in Utah. He's not really good at being the primary playmaker, which that is completely covered here because Darius Garland is elite at finding people. He's not like, oh, he's a good play. He's elite. He's one of the best in the league.

He doesn't have the height of Luca, Hardin, and LeBron, and Yokic. So that gives them a natural advantage because they can see more things at their height. But as far as, like, vision and understanding defensive manipulation and what schemes are trying to do against him, he's up there with everybody. So you're taking that away from Mitchell, like, all right, that's not something you excel at. Take it away from him. Mitchell's defense, which was a problem, is now being. supplemented by two all-MBA level defenders in Utah, where he had one in Rudy Gobert to help him out.

Now he has two in Evan Mobley and Jared Allen. So his deficiencies are being mitigated, and then when he's off the ball, he can shoot it, right? Like he's going to do plenty of on-ball stuff. But when he's off the ball, this guy's made himself into a high-quality three-point shooter. So I think the fit is just incredible for Donovan Mitchell. It's just a matter of how good is Evan Mobley going to be on offense this year?

Has Jared Allen taken a step? Has Mobley's playmaking sort of, you know, is he going to be able to do this high-low or get the ball of Allen in close quarters? Because it feels like they're going to be working pretty close to each other on offense. So it's going to be like that kind of thing. But the Mitchell thing is a home run. Yeah, this is day one of a pretty interesting core that could really grow into each other

over the next three or four years if everyone decides to stick around and everyone's having a good time. Or in the worst case scenarios, like if you need to strip this thing down to Donovan and Mitchell and Evan Mobley, that's still a pretty freaking good place to start. You know, like if you need to make changes,

if you need to get bigger wings, if you need to kind of change with the construction of this, I'm not convinced you'll need to do those things. But if you really did, I think there's a lot of moves that could be made. And that's where Mitchell and that kind of positioning makes you really excited about the future of this team because that is that is a really dynamic offensive piece to put next to Mowgli. Are we sure that if they're stripping this down though that our boy Donnie is sticking around for the party after his contract comes up? That is the darkest timeline, right?

Sure. You have three years here. To me, they got two years. They got this season and next season to see how successful they can be with the guy. And if they want to, they can move them and get some stuff back for the. things that they gave away to get the guy in here. To me, like, this is a no-brainer type of move. And again, not only, and I didn't even mention, like, Garland is a great shooter when he's off of the ball, right? And I think, I honestly believe talent-wise, if the three of those guys

could put it in their minds how to best optimize each other's skills in relation to each other, this could be a championship type of unit. It's just Donovan Mitchell, I don't want to be down on him. He's a clear-cut all-star. But, like, he has shown that he's kind of like hammer-meat-nail kind of player. He hasn't been this flexible read-and-react. I don't want to say cerebral. I hate using that.

But, like, he hasn't shown himself to be an adaptable kind of player. So I don't know if they'll be able to reach the highest heights. because when you watch somebody like Golden State, it's adaptability. They're just fitting what they have to custom fit whoever's trying to attack them. I don't know that the Cavs players

are going to become that level of adaptable, but God knows they got the talent, man. Yeah, I think if this is a two-year window here to prove something, if we get to the end of the two years and they haven't won a playoff series, I would be pretty surprised by that. And so then the question is,

how high are we going? with this. Like how sustainable is this and what is the ceiling on it? Right. Yeah, three years is an eternity in the NBA. Russ will be on five teams in three years. So I think that probably brings us to our essential question for them because unlike those warriors, they have no small forwards or they have small forwards, but we aren't sure who is going to be starting or how the rotations are even going to shake out here. So Rob, I ask, who starts at small forward this season? Our participants. Isaac Acorro, former first round lottery pick, Dean Wade, who the D. Wade jokes have been flying for two years now, still don't know much other than that about him.

And one Karras Levert. Don't finish that last sentence. Gares Lever, who they traded for at the deadline last year, was supposed to be their big jolt, but unfortunately they moved past that pretty quickly. Or Darkhouse TK. Traded player TK. Do you like any of those options more than the other at this point, Rob? Well, I will say that that was a mercifully short list because J.B. Bickerstaff gave his list and there were like eight guys on it. You know, they were like, we're getting Lamar Stevens and Dylan Winler. He's like, anyone could be our starting small forward at this point. Oh, no.

So I appreciate that we're winnowing it down to, I think, the most realistic three guys on the roster. If I'm making that call, Okoro is that guy for me. And some of that is perspective in the way that I want him to grow into being that guy over. time and so we kind of have to give them a shot to do it. But also, I kind of like when you have Mitchell and Garland in particular, this is going to sound a little counterintuitive, but I kind of like when your three is a little smaller because my goal is, I want to put whoever's in that spot on whoever the most dangerous player is one through three. Because I just don't trust Donovan and Mitchell and Darius Garland to cover those guys. And so it's like, if we have to guard an elite

point guard tonight, I need to know that whoever my small forward is can do it. And I feel like Acoro is probably the best suited to the widest variety of defensive assignments, if that makes sense. Why, is you a big Dean Wade guy? Sure. Why not? He's as good as anything else they got in theory anyway. I know O'Coro has the pedigree of being, you know, a much higher pick, and there was

expectations placed on him at one point in his career. Like, it seems like those expectations have completely dissipated. But yeah, I mean, look, it's going to be wide open. I think here's the cool thing, right? In the regular season, most teams will not present adequate enough threats on the perimeter to make the calves get out of what they want to do on base defense, which is use their size, length, athleticism in the front court to just smother everything at the rim. Like most teams ain't going to be able to draw them out of that.

And so there'll be time enough to figure out who can best work around the strengths of what this defense is going to present. Now, you know, you play Golden State in the playoffs. Good night. Okay. Your big man has to leave the paint, okay? If they play Golden State, that's a great season. Right, of course. That's the finals.

But you know what I mean. Like, you play those kinds of teams that make your big man have to play out in space. It's a little bit different. but, you know, I'd like to see Jared Allen try to get out in playing space. Evan Mobley, in moments, looked like the best switching big in the whole fucking NBA at times last season. So, like, their defensive versatility is going to mask a lot of the deficiencies that they have in the back court defensively.

I think the answer is they have time. They at least have half the season to figure this out. Mobley buys them a lot of that time because he can already cover things up, even though he's going into his sophomore season, He is out for the first one to two weeks with, I believe, an ankle sprain, so we'll keep track of that. Donovan Mitchell also talking about rationing up the defensive intensity. I don't know if you guys are prepared for that and prepared for everyone to bring back about how we play defensive college and then stop playing defense for, what, five to six years since. But that's a thing.

But no, I mean, a quarrel, you got to give the first crack at it. Dean Wade was just signed to an extension. And if none of those options work, you could figure something out at the deadline, is how I would urge it. we can all agree Karris Levert is not the answer there just by virtue of like you want the creation off the bench instead he's redundant with what they do in the starting lineup

would not be interested in seeing that possibility I would be more interested in the Lamar Stevens Dylan Winnler decision tree than I would Karris Leverd as a starter just not what I'm into and not at the three he's just that's not what he does if you were lacking some kind of punch

in your back court for whatever reason and you just wanted you know, some level of secondary ball handling type of juice, then he, you know, it would make sense. He don't make sense in the lineup that got Garland and Mitchell. Those guys are more than enough when it comes to usage than is needed. So he's not some stick them in the corner or, you know, the type of guy who's going to run off of screens and attack the defense that way.

And like, no. So yeah, yeah, yeah, stay on the bench, brother. Okay. Yeah, I think we're all in a lot. agreement that the Kerala era probably is a short one in Cleveland. All right. Number 12 then appropriately is the Minnesota Timberwolves whom, Rob, you had quite high on your list.

I'm looking at it right now. You have them number nine, whereas Waz and I both had them at 12. So you're buying really, really big ball in Minnesota, is what you're saying. I think to a degree. And I think some of it is what are we measuring? because I think they're going to be a really good regular season team. And then the questions are going to come in a different way in the playoffs. And I'm really not sure how that part of it is going to go.

But I just, the floor here seems very stable, seems very high. Like what Rudy Gobert gives you defensively and what they already had offensively, that I think marries in a really intuitive way. And then the question is like, can we navigate the space of this sufficiently enough to really crack teams in the playoffs? I don't know. But as far as whether they, like, do they have the capacity to be a top three seed in the West? Do they have the capacity to win 50 plus games?

I think those things are more than attainable for them. And so that puts them into a different category than some of these other teams like the Cavs, who I think even in a good scenario for the Cavs, they're probably more in like the five or six range in the east. They're probably looking more in like mid to high 40s in terms of wins. The Timberwolves, to me, are in a different category in terms of a team that they might be ready to be taken seriously in a a different way. Yeah, I think the theory of what Rob is saying is that Rudy has produced basically top five offenses in his sleep over, you know, this last like five years of his career.

And so if Rudy just showing up, yeah, defenses, excuse me, sorry, if Rudy just showing up makes them top ten in defense, and last year with the bulk of this group, they were a top five offense as far as efficiency is concerned. And we got top 10 in both, right? And that's a damn contender. Like, there's no, that's a high quality regular season team. And that's a, you know, a contender matchup dependent when the playoffs come. Right.

And so I agree with what Rob saying on a regular season tip. I just don't know that I trust that all of this and how it needs to work is going to automatically come together when the season starts. Because there's a lot, I think, to figure out positionally what the roles and assignments are going to be on both ends of the court. You know, and so that's why I kind of was less bullish on their win total. But the potential to be, wow, high quality defense and high quality offense with Kat and Anthony Edwards is high.

you know and and i think as far as the trade is concerned i think they made a bet on anthony edwards that this guy is going to become one of the best players in the league bona fide and we don't need those damn assets because that kid will make us good period right um when he gets to his eye in maybe he'll be a d wade or you know upper echelon type of dean wade or is it dwayne wade dwayne wade upper echelon type of guy you know free throw match except can kill you from three that, you know, if he becomes that, if Anthony Edwards becomes that, then sky's literally the limit for this team. Yeah, it's kind of a fascinating experiment that they're running here.

Yeah, sure, sure. I mean, I want to talk about just the two bigs thing first, just because it's so odd. Even in recent seasons, last season in particular, you saw kind of the Twin Towers mode become back in vogue. But that was specifically designed to go all out on protecting the rim and to really make something out of a defense that probably wasn't there previously.

This is a little bit more traditional or more traditional being five years ago where you have an offensive-minded power forward who should be playing center, but you need to protect him with a defensive center. And this is just that the very, very rich man's version of

that. And so I agree with you guys. This is a very high floor team as a result There's just way too much talent and way too much competency just for this team to be bad. But I'm pretty concerned overall in the playoffs because you're basically saying you have two, I think Gober is on a max. You have two max guys who need to be on the floor together in an ideal world, but you're basically saying to towns you need to be guarding the mobile fours of the world. And I don't know how high you can get in the playoffs or even in the regular season standings that way.

Yeah. I mean, when we talk about them as a potential top. 10 team on both sides of the ball. That does sound good. And then you think about like, oh, they're playing the Clippers. Who is Carl Anthony Towns guarding? Like, chasing Paul George?

You're like, are you putting him on Kauai? You guys don't have the confidence that Carl Anthony Towns can be the Draymond Green to Rudy Gobert's Kavanaughan Looney. Y'all don't have the confidence that this could happen? Even like the Mavericks.

Like, it's Luca and whoever the hell they have on the court. Like, is that going to be a problem? I see those as being less of a problem. And some of it is like, look, they're going to have to figure out what they're running defensively. I think they're going to default to running a lot more drop this year. They were super aggressive last year. That's going to change.

But they're going to kind of toggle between stuff and figure out what it works and figure out what Carl is comfortable with and can actually execute to make a decent defense. They're going to have to figure that out. But when you look back at what doomed them against Memphis in the playoffs, Rudy is a pretty specific example for a lot of that. that stuff. Like it was rebounding. It was they couldn't stop anybody at the rim. It was Carling the Towns was in foul trouble

because he kept offensive fouling people and then they didn't have centers to put in his place. And it was decision making. And I think that's where we get to the Anthony Edwards part of this. It's like, look, Ant's going to have the ball in his hands a lot. DeAngelo Russell's going to have the ball in his hands a lot. Those two guys are going to have to navigate some pretty tight spaces now.

If you're going to have like a lot of size out there in this way, we'll see if they're ready for that or not. But that's a huge variable. The flow charts for both the Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards' decision-making are quite interesting, yeah. All signs point to shoot, I think, in a lot of cases. But I think that the D-Lo go, look, the D-Lo-Go-Ber pick and roll, I think is going to be a good thing for them. We'll see. We'll see how reliable in the highest leverage moments, Anthony Edwards has the ball.

I mean, I like that premise, but am I betting my season on it? My man, John Cresensky pointed this out recently and was like, well, Rudy, like, the screen assist shit is going to matter for DeAngelo Russell. He doesn't create advantages on his own. He needs a Hall of Fame level screen to get his stuff going. And, you know, he's just a better passer to guys that are rolling towards the rim than most people are, right? So I think that's a... Something Carl never does.

Yeah, he don't attack the rim. He just want to shoot threes because, remember, he's the best shooting big of all time. And so I think Might be true, but yeah. Yeah, I think there's some nice synergies going on with some of these pairings, right? And I think you'll probably see some of the the staggering go that way as well

where Aunt will play more with Kat and Delo will play more with Gobert. I think the fits are going to work. And, you know, I think the coach is smart and is good at coaching offense. I think they're going to figure the offense thing out and the defense thing. I don't think it's going to be that hard in the regular season. Yeah, they're talking a lot about the DeAngelo Russell, Rudy Gobert, pick and roll. And I get

it. Like, that is the best usage of probably Gobert and DeAngelo. It's just, it's weird that Anthony Edwards is somehow the, one of the most exhilarating young players in the NBA, but like, he's probably third on the checklist of what you're going to talk about with the wolves these days. And I, I wonder, yes, staggering solves a lot of it. Is he getting lost in the shuffle here to make this uneasy fit work? That would be the biggest concern. Yeah, I don't think so. And some of that is like, look, this is a very small, very anecdotal thing.

But when you hear players in the league talk about the Timberwolves, especially after the playoffs, it's very interesting, like the order in which they talk about their dangerous players. Because Anthony Edwards is the first name out of everybody's mouth. You know, and that's people coming to the wolves to play there. That's people on other teams. That's media people around the league, not that we matter. But like there is a very specific kind of reframing happening around that level of talent.

What that means, like, again, maybe that's a nothing thing. Is he going to put it together, right? Because I think what Rob is talking about is if you watch the series against Memphis, which I maintain they should have beat them, there were times where nobody on Memphis could do anything with Aunt Edwards as far as Keith. keeping him out of the paint, stopping them in transition. Like, he just looked like a force at times. And then there were times where he was stonewalling John Morant on the other end,

defensively. So, like, when you watch those two things together, that's a top five in the league guy right there. I'm stonewalling one of the most ridiculous, freakish talents, on-ball talents that we have in the game. And nobody can stop me when I got the ball in my hands. that's crazy. That's scary stuff.

Again, he's never shown it before that. And he didn't do it enough to a degree that they could beat Memphis in that series last year. But if you take those glimpses of him at his absolute best in the playoffs last year, he's like, damn, this team is going to be damn good. We need a running list of the Anthony Edwards, the Brandon Ingrams, the Zions, like,

give a shit watch on defense this year. Let's do some check-ins in a couple months and see where everybody is. I guess that's probably why he falls so low in my conversation topics with the wolves because the question is pretty clear-cutts. Is he ready to take the leap to absolute superstardom? And I think by and large the answer is yes. And I wonder if the answer to my question about,

does he get lost within the offenses like Anthony Edwards will never get lost in anything? And if anything, it's hard to take it by the throat. Yeah, exactly. All right. That brings us to number 11 on our list, the Brooklyn Net. a team that literally no one is looking forward to talk about or watch this season, including probably most of all their owner, Josai, who outright said he would rather watch a team that he can get behind

than some of the guys that are currently playing for him. But nonetheless, here they are at number 11. In part, I think, because if they could just figure their shit out, I'm not even saying, like, get along or this be, like, fun for anybody, if they could just all show up to work and do their job, like, let's say two-thirds of the time, this still might be the best team in the NBA somehow. Yeah, I don't agree with that. I don't think on the floor there that as good as people think.

I really don't. And I might be the most down on Ben Simmons person in the league, in our industry. I just don't think on the floor they're great, especially. And then, you know, that's before you consider K. probably is going to play 58 games this year, right? I just don't think on the floor they're this strong juggernaut of a team. And then Bill mentioned it the other day. Like, Kyrie stunk up the last, how many post seasons that he's been in.

He basically hasn't been good since they won the championship, you know, since 2016, essentially. So I don't see it with the Nets, right? I think getting Harris back is going to be a big deal. they have the potential to overwhelm people offensively, but there's a certain level of cohesion effort that they're going to have to put into it. I'm not sure that this group, with all the resentments that exist there,

are going to be able to put that together. And I know that's a constant theme of these power rankings, but like it does come down to teams that have a certain level of connectedness and teams that don't. teams that, and this team is actually, they got like a lot of continuity. Like these dudes have been, a lot of these dudes.

Okay. What is continuity in the form that they have? They've been there. Meaning they've been receiving paychecks from this organization for a long time, right? Like they have like a pretty high level of that. It's just, I don't see how they make this. Sure.

They've had cake with each other and talk about. other side checks, you know, like, they know, what's going on. They do have a lot of guys who have been living in Brooklyn, you know, they do have that. I would not say they have anything resembling like an identity, a style of play, like, what this team is within the context of itself. I have no idea. But I would be kind of charmed by the idea of the Nets, like, groaning their way to the Eastern Conference finals. Like, that would just be a hilarious outcome to this whole thing, winning in spite of themselves. but fundamentally I just

I still cannot believe I watched Ben Simmons playing an actual basketball game the other day I'm not at the level like it's it's incomprehensible that we've got back to this place was like I know you're down on him I've just been looking forward to arguing with you about how weird Ben Simmons is as a basketball player

versus whatever he wore on the bench the other night I mean listen he took a couple fadeaways in that preseason game with hook shot it's an improvement from he's back seeing ghosts when you're two feet from the basket. So, like, it's nice. He's working towards it.

It's just the amount of buying it's going to take, self-sacrifice is going to take to make this group work. Because it's not like the pieces fit completely perfectly. It's not like they have a complete team here. It's going to just, it's going to take sacrifice to make up for your teammates' deficiencies that, like, you see these guys,

doing that. Like, you see them sort of crowdsourcing of rim protection, right? Like, I certainly don't see how that's going to happen. You know what I mean? Like, do you see them crowdsourcing playmaking, meaning like, Chris Ball movement from all parties involved? Like, do we see that? Do we see a team that's going to live in transition? Which again, like, it takes energy. You have to will yourself to do that. Do we see that? Listen, they're not orchestrating a hit on bin Laden here, all right? Like, they just need to show up because they're incredibly fucking talented. And to the question about, like, identity, their identity is they're incredibly fucking talented. It's like being hot. You don't actually

have to have a personality because you are hot. You know what I mean? Like, I give all those points. I can see it on all of that stuff. They really need to like actually play together. and all this other stuff. But I'm saying, like, if they give, like, the bare minimum of effort, this, this works because they're just so good.

KD was second team all-MBA. He missed a third of the games last year. Kari scored 50 and 60, almost as if it was found money in his couch cushions. Joe Harris and Seth Curry are the third and fourth best three-point shooters in NBA history. Like, I get it.

But they really only need, like, about them as a title contender. That would be the counter. The counter is anyone involved has to actually want to be a title contender. I know, I know. And not to mention the coaching.

Again, Steve Nash has to massage this situation. He has to be an expert at making sure all of these people remain placated. Not just by their role. Also, they have to like, all right, like Ben Simmons is going to have a few nights where he's,

looking like a turtle, KD and Kyrie have to completely be like, all right, guys, it's completely fine. We're not going to make a stink. We love Ben. He's our teammate. He's figuring his way through this thing. Like, I don't have any confidence

that these dudes are going to be able to do that. Do we want to talk at all about the Ben Simmons self-defense on the JJ Redick podcast? Is his soliloquy about how, you know, like, I just didn't see. I didn't quite clock that the help defender in front of me and this meltdown of a playoff game was like six feet tall. Even when it's coming from jerseys that are a foot shorter than me.

Right. Right. It was like I actually thought he came across as very human in those things. He did. But his only point was while Joel snuck up the joint before in the playoffs. We don't seem to dwell on that. He's right. Yeah.

He's right about that. The way he explained it, I was like ready to buy in. I was like, oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense. But then you remember it was trekked. fucking young. Yeah. And that, like,

he's probably done this in basketball, what, a million times throughout the course of his entire life. Yeah. Yeah.

It really hinged on the, like, put yourself in my shoes situation, and it's like, no, you're a professional basketball player

who, again, should know how to read a rotating defense. You're a point guard. We were in his shoes and we decided that it was still

kind of bullshit. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's hard. I told you guys. Cut to your head, Justin.

What is this team to you this year? I think if they can get their shit together, they're the best team in the East. No. Wow. No. Just plain disrespectful. Again, this is the overcompensating, I'm saying.

This is crazy. This is a tougher, this is a tougher argument. This is a tougher argument to make than the Lakers. I'll admit. Do you think they were a Ben Simmons away from being better than a full strength box and the Celtics last year? You really think that?

The Ben Simmons that we last saw playing the NBA, they were that guy away from being better than those two teams? I think they needed more defense in a bench, which they might have gotten and they could easily trade their way too. Like everyone talks about that they got swept by the Celtics, and yeah,

it was pretty bad, but like it was close. All those games were very close. I think they're on the same tier of those teams. I'd probably put the bucks maybe on their own tier, just, but like the Sixers have their own problems. The Celtics very clearly have their own problems. Like, the Nets are just as talented.

They just have their own set of problems, which might include being on a different astral plane and all this other shit going on. Their problems don't have to do nothing with layups and jump shots, bro. Their problems go to like, their personal problems. I can see them as the three seed. I could see them in the play in. That is their range.

I'm just choosing to see the benefits because I'm an optimist. You think they're going to win a 55? games this year, Justin? I think they easily could win 55 games. Yeah. Wow. That's insane. It's Kevin Durant,

Kari Irving, and a lot of very good basketball players. Like, this isn't like something I'm just creating in my own, like, mine, I think. I mean, they really do have a shit ton of shooting. And so, yeah, if anyone cares, if anyone there cares, they could be a pretty good team. I'm just not so convinced that they're going to care. It's like the clippers back in the day post-bubble where we're like, is this team? irrevocably broken? Like, is there something just off here? Or can they just figure this out? Because it really is a chemistry question. And by and large, they figured it out. I mean,

quite got hurt. But like, they're now probably going to be one of the top teams we'll talk about in our last edition. But I'm choosing to be an optimist, I guess. And you know me. I love, I love looking on the bright side of things. I really love that for you. Yeah, thanks. It's a whole new season for me. All right. Number 10, the Dallas Mavericks, another team. I'm really struggling to get a sense of because on the one hand they did lose Jalen Brunson, their second best player,

a guy who buoyed the team when Luca was out last season. On the other hand, Luca is fucking incredible. Probably going to be the MVP favorite again this year. Seems to be a little bit more engaged. Seems a little thinner in Eurobasket.

And like, they really didn't change much from last year's team other than swapping out Christopps Porzingis for, I guess, Christian Wood at this point. and you're just hoping that THJ comes back healthy and is an approximation of Jalen Brunson.

So Rob, I'll go to you as our native Texan. Should I be optimistic about this team? Is the concern overblown? Are you really concerned about this team? I'm not really concerned. I'll say this. It does feel like there's a somewhat decent chance that we get to the end of this regular season

and Dallas is more or less exactly as good as they were last year. And the algebra on that on like, Takeaway Brunson, put in Christian Wood. Like, it gets a little bit messy, but I think it's possible that Luca is one of those stars who just sands down all the rough edges of the team around him if you give him like a baseline level of competence. They still have all of the fundamental components

that made them a good defense. They still have Luca Donchich. My concern would be like the games Luca doesn't play, the minutes when he's not on the floor. I'm not like super high on Spencer Dinwiddie and Tim Hardaway, Jr. you're to like really, really step up in those moments necessarily. But I think they're, they kind of will be in the same range that they were. And that team was good enough to get to the West Finals,

maybe maybe with some luck and the right breaks. But they feel like they're still in that tier to me. Yeah, my problem with the Mavs and their placement here is that I don't think they're better than the best version of the Nets, Timberwolves, calves, or even the Pelicans. I don't think so. That might be true. Yeah. And like, it's just we kind of know what they're going to be.

They're going to be a team with like an extremely great player who has nice complimentary pieces around him. And so they can get to a certain high level of play. But like they're just, at their very best, the talent around him is not on par with the best in the NBA. I don't believe that. I think they're either going to be incredibly good because Luca is that good and he can will any team. to be top five, eight, whatever you want to say, or they're going to be much worse than this.

Like, I think it's going to either or and somehow they've settled into the middle of that range on our rankings. I can't wait to find out the truth of what Jalen Brunson meant to that team because it seemed like he was incredibly valuable. Certainly in the playoffs, those games that Luca missed,

that's a vital, vital contribution to get in those kinds of huge moments and he absolutely delivered. But on an 82 game context, maybe they can kind of approximate it between Dinwiddie and Hardaway and Wood. Maybe there is enough there that it's just like you don't need to be that guy every night,

Christian Wood, but every third night, can you please contribute to this? And maybe he and those other two guys are capable of that. Yeah, does Wood plus a healthy Tim Hardaway, is that enough approximate juice that you lost in Brunson? I can see it. It's possible. It's definitely possible.

Not as reliable. I mean, if one thing, Brunson was incredibly reliable and healthy all the time and always seemed to like be there to pick them up when they needed to. But like, I don't know.

I think I'm talking myself into this team being about as good this season again. But I think Waz is on to something that like their values in the fact that they are a low variance team. Yeah. Right?

Like their offense is going to be what it is. We know exactly what it looks like. Defensively they hammer their principles. They're going to be in this zone. And they don't want, have much of a capacity to exceed it. If you want to power rank the Western

Conference team specifically, you can do the math on who we still have left to talk about. There's still a number of teams left. So you're not going to pick them to win the West, but they're going to be in the mix. Like, Luca puts them in that category, basically all on his own. Right. I guess the question then becomes

long term, because we're saying maybe they get by this season, but you're ultimately on a clock with Luca Donchin. It's one of the best players in the NBA. And the pathway to getting that second star seems more complicated that it's ever been for them. And whatever they decide,

either this season or in the offseason, it's probably going to dictate the fate of that franchise in Lucas's future going forward. I wonder, wise, do you think, in retrospect, it would have made sense for Dallas to jump in on the derbies for any of the stars

or lower level stars that got traded this offseason, Gobert, or Mitchell or Murray? Yeah, but it would, It would have 100% because I think in Luca, you have the type of player that guarantees competence, right? Like, at worst, it's like, oh, one year, Luca got hurt a lot, so we won 37 games. Okay, we can give that pick away, and it'll be fine, and we'll just move on with our lives. However, you know, when I think about the individual guys that got moved, when it becomes, you know, a Murray, a Gobert or Mitchell, the Rudy thing reminds me of Russ.

It's like, y'all just embarrassed this dude with the blueprint how to kill this guy. Why would you go and then trade for him when you prove the point of what this guy's major deficiencies are? You know, I wonder if they would ever want to get into an SGA, you know, sort of thing. Even though, you know, we know when GMs come out and say guys aren't on a trading block, that's gospel. Right? But that's been proven over and over again. Whenever a GM says a guy is completely. It's out of the question, what?

We're building with Donovan Mitchell. What are you talking about? Like, oh, no, we still believe in this core and all of that. Like, you know, doesn't mean he can't be trained. I think somebody like SGA, yeah, that would make sense. Because, you know, the type of player that he is, bigger perimeter type of oriented guy. And again, when you got Luca, you'll never completely bottom out. But, yeah, they need to figure out how to get the next guy in there.

Because it can't just be Luca. and again, like having a Moxie Kleber play the five, like that optimizes what Luca does and teams can't send two at them because, you know, they're playing this five-out style, but they need another person who is elite or dominant at something. Yeah.

I think the issue with the guys who are available to beyond Gobert is like whoever, whatever star you want to put next to Luca, I want them to be pretty defensive-oriented. Yeah. Or at least balanced, right? Like, Jean-Tie Murray might be a little. little too defense balance and Donovan Mitchell might be a little too offense balanced in a way that I kind of want someone who can strike the balance of those guys. Yeah, that's where I knit out as

well. Like, I don't think they missed an opportunity with any of those guys because that's not the right fit next to Luca. The question then becomes like, what is? And you're kind of banking on the next available guy, whether that's SGA, whether that's someone that we're not seeing right now, not only being a better fit, but also wanting to play in Dallas because ultimately those guys tend to have a say in where they end up. And then I think DeWaz's earlier point, like Dallas really only has future picks to offer. Is Oklahoma City really going to prioritize it seem like Dallas? You can only offer them. Why not?

It's the smartest thing in the world to do when you're a GM apparently. You can't make better moves than get draft picks that are in the future. Sure. So if they want 20 plus first round picks, they can go the Dallas route. But I would assume at that point when they have Chet and Webinjama and Giddy as their big three, they'll probably want actual human players. But who knows? But yeah, it's an interesting question because it really does seem like they need to figure that out now. And it's going to dictate a lot of the shape of the NBA going forward. Let's go to number nine, another team that probably needs to get into the trade derby. The Miami Heat, a team that I struggled to rank. or was. I don't know if you felt the same because on the one hand they did finish first in the east. On the other hand, we kind of knew that was a little bit fraudulent, if only because

a lot of teams that we expect to be above them just like struggled. And so I want to give them their due, but at the same time, I could see this going very bad, especially after losing PJ Ducker and essentially getting worse, not better, over the offseason. So where did you knit out on the heat? I think they're going to just basically

be a 50 win team again, basically be a strong as they were last year. And part of it is like, all right, they lose PJ Tucker. But when they're just inventing people like Gabe Vincent and Max Truce out of whole cloth, literally out of thin air, inventing rotational, like, solid role player NBA type of guys, then I can't doubt this team. You're seven.

He's back. You know what I mean? Like, they have one of the best coaches in the NBA, institutional stability. Their player development is second to none, essentially. I don't see why they can't be good again. I think that's a good case because I wanted to get our story straight for the fact that, look, it's going to be mid-January and the heat are going to be second place in the east again. And we're all going to be sitting here going like, what the hell happened?

That's just what's going to happen. Like, that's just the way this is going to go. I know. I joke, but there were literal things coming out of a preseason game like, could Bam and Jurt 7 play together? And I was just like, all right. I was literally making jokes about this guy as someone I'd never heard before who seemed like a COVID replacement around this time last year. And all of a sudden, he seems like a rotational center.

Just where your seven can kind of play a little bit. Exactly. You're saying things like that. Like, he can't. What happens? I'm not saying anything bad about your seven, but like this is just, it happens all the time. Like, they get a Martin brother and somehow that guy ends up being a potential starter this season. Whereas the Martin in Charlotte just like can't get off.

bench. It's just, it happens every year. The one thing we should probably talk about, which is probably the most interesting wrinkle other than like, can they trade for a star is what would they get out of Bam this year? Pat Rowley threw down the gauntlet in his typical pre-offseason press conference being like, we should get him 15 shots. Maybe there's a pathway to that. Bam chimed in at Media Day. He wants closer to 18.

I guess the question, Rob, is, do you see that as inevitable for him that, like, that leap is not only something that they need, but something that he can you? No, it is not inevitable. I mean, we've been having this conversation for a long time in terms of where can he be aggressive, where can he get more shots, how can he be a

more pressing offensive player, where can he kind of exert force in the same way that we were begging Anthony Davis to attack the basket, to exert force on the rim. Like, Bam is not really that guy. Like, you can lob to him. He's going to finish in transition. He's a great

athlete. Like, you'll get some pick and roll stuff, but by and large, Like, he'll do a little bit of driving to the cup. But I think one of the transitions this season is going to be, can they carve out the space and can they put him on the positions on the floor where it's not always top down every time, where he's not always on the perimeter having to go all the way to the cup? Like, is there a way to get him into more intermediate zones to start?

So then it's one, two step into finish versus having to just beat guys off the dribble and a rotation and finish with contact. That's going to be key for him in just terms of getting like the shot attempts up. But frankly, I'm going to believe it when I see it. Like, if Bam wants to take 18 shots a game, bless him. He'd have to do it himself. Yeah, that's the thing. He has to go out and make these shots happen.

It's not going to be the case where it's because, you know, some elite point guard or whatever is force-feeding him the rock in his optimal positions to score. It's going to be because he's shot hunting. And if he has the capacity to do so, then he'll go out and do it. But he hasn't shown that. I guess that's the case for optimism. though. If it is actually a mindset

change and that's the only thing that's holding him back from that, is that easier to achieve than someone who has to actually add a new dimension to their game. Not always. What we're talking about is something fundamental to the way that Bam reads the game, right? Like in terms of the

opportunities he's looking for he is a past first guy in some spaces on the floor. He's been very effective as an elbow hub as a handoff option. He has a lot of that in his game to the point that it has incentivized him to be that. And, like, again, the, like, unselfish part, the very democratic part of the heat offense has incentivized that.

Rewiring that stuff takes time. It can be very challenging for some guys. Like, look, coaches have been, coaches were trying to, like, rewire Mark Gassall for ages into taking more shots. Like, sometimes it's just, like, an uphill battle with guys. Sure. And so if that doesn't come through and they don't get that least, like what more are we counting on here?

Just like the same old stuff, better health from Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson figuring out how to play NBA defense again. I mean, I think the Kyle Lowry part would go a long way, you know? Sure. He was absent for a lot of last season.

Again, some for injuries, some for personal reasons. Just getting that guy on the court in a relatively healthy form would be huge. You know, again, all due respect to Gabe Vincent, but he's Gabe Vincent.

Like, you want the guy with the, the playoff level moxie with the the kind of threat construction of Kyle Lowry, someone who can attract that much attention. Like, they need that. Waz, are you excited for Jimmy Butler with braids? You can do this look? Jimmy's whole,

I'm gonna be a black man with absolutely no facial hair and hair extensions look is confounding. It's concerning. I hope his family is reaching out to him to make sure he's good because I am at a loss for work. I don't know what's going on there. with Jimmy.

Fake dreads and the completely shaving cop face. I don't understand what's going on there. I'm glad you brought that up. I do think the weirder part was not having

any facial hair. Strange. It's strange. It's strange. Well, we'll keep tabs on that one. I'm praying for that, brother. I'm praying for him.

Why, that's your next long form piece is getting yourself those brains and you're going to write about it? experiential journalism, you know? Oh, God. Investigative reporter over here, senior writer.

All right. One last team here, number eight, the Memphis Grizzlies, again, seem to be stockpiled with guys who are shaped like potatoes but have ball skills that you would not expect. One of those players will have to fill the void of one Jaron Jackson, Jr. And so, Rob, I ask, of the group that, including includes Santee Aldama, who has started the past two games, and people are already like, check this guy out. He's the new Yurt 7, but in Memphis, Zaire Williams, Brandon Clark, Jake LaRavia, Kenneth Woffton Jr. and Killian Tilly. I don't know if I got half of those names

right, let alone all of them, but do any of those guys jump out of you as the guy who can potentially fill Jared Jackson Jr.'s void? I don't even want to answer you because I'm going to get roasted. Like, I'm going to get roasted for being a hipster blogger for picking Santiago dey Aldama to be the starter for the Memphis really. Hell, yeah. This is how we end the podcast. Let's do it. Oh, Lord.

Have mercy. Has he started the preseason games? He's been starting some preseason games. Can I just say really quickly? Yeah. At first, I thought it was a typo in the box score that it was actually Stephen Adams because it's it's S.ldama. I was like, oh, that's Stephen Adams. They just started

it. But then there was two of them. but the Santee Aldama. If I can go full, like, prospect NBA Twitter brain, look, I know Santi Aldama's percentages are what they are. I actually think he can shoot, and I understand what those numbers are, but, like, he has a really fluid release. He's got really good touch in general.

I'm kind of buying it. And in terms of a guy who has some ball skills, can keep things moving, could potentially keep things spaced, that seems like the good option for me. And I think most importantly, I want to keep Brandon Clark on the bench, as much as possible because I just don't trust Stephen Adams in every situation.

I want to keep that as like, that's my backup five. I'm sure they're going to play together plenty. But that's kind of the arrangement I would be looking at is that. And then as far as like Zaire Williams, I think is a pretty compelling choice as well. But the Grizzlies low key, like lost a little bit of bench depth this offseason. And I kind of don't want to mess too much with like pulling threes into be fours if I don't have to. Yeah, but the only thing I will say, unfortunately, they've had. had a lot of practice with filling the Jaron Jackson void the past two seasons.

Like, he's missed a lot of time. So they've learned how to play without this guy before. It's just unfortunate because I feel like towards the end of the season and even moments in the playoffs, you know, there were strides being made by Jaron Jackson offensively as far as him playing with certain level of force, you know, being aggressive in ways that we mentioned BAM out of bio doesn't do enough. And he showed a lot of that in the playoffs and towards the end of the regular season. So that's whack that we're not going to see that.

But, you know, I think the Grizzlies are going to be fine. Like, I've talked, I've said the word effort so much in the last two podcasts. But this is a team that has that shit by the bundles. They play really hard. And in the regular season, a lot of times it's all it takes. You know, like playing harder than the guy in front of you. John Morant is really the anti-Trey Young in that regard. Like guys want to run through a wall for him in a way that is demonstrable.

Yeah, I think the bigger question is it seems like they have options. If I'll be an unproven ones to fill the void for Jackson for at least what, like half the season, whatever he ends up missing. The question is like, how much does it affect their overall ceiling for this season? Because you are getting rid of a defensive player of the year candidate from last season. This is the number two C, but here we have them at eighth overall in the NBA and pretty much, pretty lower than that in the West. So are we down on Memphis all told because of this injury? Is there something more?

Like, where are you just overall, Rob, on the Grizzlies? I think they were probably just like a little over their heads last season in terms of regular season performance. And so some of that has come back to Earth. Some of it is the Jackson injury. Some of it is the top of the West. Just much more competitive with the way it lays out with so many of these other guys for other teams coming back from injuries.

So I think they're just ultimately, I think they're going to get boxed out a little bit in a way that they didn't necessarily last season, but they're still really good. Like, this is still a really formidable team. And as was mentioned, when it's, like, the effort things are not questions. Like, the focus things are not questions. This is a team that is on top of it.

They just don't necessarily have everything that some of these other teams do in terms of, like, pure star power. Yeah. And the thing about Jaron Jackson, too, it's similar to, you know, KP's last year in Dallas. Like, is he going to become more than just the guy? Although defensively, he shows more than KP did.

So he's already ahead of the curve on there, but he has to show that I'm more than just a pink and pop dude. I'm going to be a guy that attacks mismatches. And not even forget just attacking mismatches. When my matchup is on me, I can attack him and score efficiently one-on-one and not just be reliant on the creation of others for how I'm able to contribute to the offense. And so that'll be the next step. If he does that, they're a serious, serious team.

West. Anything else you want to talk about with the Gris, Rob, John Morant, top 10 player, you buying that? Desmond He's pretty good, you know, still working on those bicep curls. Shout out to Desmond Bain, man. It's huge.

Yeah. Absolutely jacked. Really good player. I'm feeling a little guilty for putting the Grizzlies here. Like, should we have them higher? I think that's the question. It's like, so I have them fifth in the west, but I wouldn't change that. Like, I still think the four teams ahead of them are going to be better.

It's just a really tough conference. As a young team, you know, the reason why we would say it as we'd be like, well, they're going to show internal improvement because their best guys are really young. But what kind of improvement is Desmond Bain a six foot two, six foot three shooting guard going to make? You know, like, what is he going to ascend to that's going to make this team so much better than they've shown in the past? Right. I just don't see that for them. You know, I think that's why people aren't much higher. It's like, yeah, I think Jha can get a little bit better.

Not a little bit, but a lot better. Shot could improve. He could get better a little bit at the decision-making kind of stuff. But it is going to take Jaron Jackson to show that he can be a way more dominant player. I think an even better question is if they had Jaron Jackson, for the entire season, would you still rank them above the Sons or the Warriors or the Clippers or the Nuggets?

I don't like what's going on with the Sons. We might need to re-rank the Sons. I don't know. I don't like what's happening over there. So maybe the Sons. So maybe they would be four. Yeah, I could see the Sons being a lead fraud candidate because their best or second best player,

whatever you want to say about C.P. He's going to be worse. Undoubted, like he's 100% going to be. be worse, and might miss a ton of games, you know, because of his age and, you know, just the career minutes log. And the guy who's supposed to be in their top three is, I think, still pissed at everybody. That's not a good thing. But that'll be for us to tackle the next episode. Right. I just think that's what they're up against here. Like, I don't want to be the guy where it's like, oh, they need to trade for a third star, yada, yada, because they're a lot of fun and they're a great

success story. They've made a lot of good picks, et cetera. etc. But like it does feel like we're getting closer to that point where it's like you can be very, very good. But in the West, you have to be title contending elite in order to crack into a top four. And unfortunately, it's like it's also a good thing that they've reached that point that we could say that about them. But ultimately they face that crossroads eventually. But don't we all? You know, don't we all face that crossroads in life? All right. That's it for part three of the preseason power rankings. Not going with that one? No, I enjoyed that. That's funny. We will be back for part four next Wednesday to polish this off, your top seven teams in the NBA.

Thank you to Isaiah Blakely on production. We'll see you next time.