The Ringer NBA Show - We Unironically Care About the Eastern Conference Playoff Race | The Corner 3

Episode Date: March 8, 2019

We start by taking stock of the incredible Thunder vs. Blazers Thursday-night game, which featured 51 points from Damian Lillard in a Thunder victory (2:00). Then, Danny goes iso in a special Dwyane Wade–jersey-swap-edition of "Huerter She Wrote" (20:03). Finally, we go long on the Eastern Conference playoff race, and all somehow agree that the Pistons are … good (21:40)? Hosts: Kevin O’Connor, Jonathan Tjarks, Danny Chau Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. I want to tell you about our new show. Can I still leave for a second? The Ringer's Guide to Colton's season, streaming now on Hulu. The show has an inside look into Colton Underwood Season of The Bachelor, starring Ben Higgins, Rachel Lindsay, Lauren Zima, and our very own Juliet Lippman. Make sure to tune in before Monday's finale

for never-before-heard insight into all things Bachelor Nation, streaming now on Hulu. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. This is The Corner 3. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and joining me here in gorgeous Los Angeles. Swinger associate editor, Danny. Glad to not be hosting. You did great last week, Danny.

You guys held down the fort and calling in from Dallas, Texas. Stringer staff writer Jonathan Charks. KOC is slumming with us again after his life is a big shot. Sloan was great last week, but they had to have podcast rooms there, and I was sad to not get to utilize him. Just timing was not able to work out. How many people came up and approached you? We were like, oh, I'm a huge fan.

Oh, my God. So it's kind of weird. You know, people approach. Is that what you're saying? Not a lot, but like, it's pretty cool that people really enjoy the site. And we're only like three years old right now, Danny. It's pretty cool. Not yet, actually.

The third, I mean, it's coming up. Like, the site officially launched in June of 2016. The newsletter was like much. Oh, the newsletter. I remember that. I mean, Charks was an OG writer on the newsletter. It's pretty cool. Up in college basketball takes.

I was thinking about that the other night when our Hulu Bachelor show launched. It was like, wow, we're only three years old. We're doing pretty cool stuff. Anyway, the quarter three is produced by Bobby Wagner, and we're recording at 9 a.m. Pacific on Friday morning. Today we're going to hit the race for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and John's piece on John Morantz. But before we get to that, we're going to discuss last night's nightcap or the Thunderbeat the Blazers 129 to 129 in overtime in what was a pretty awesome game. It felt like a playoff game last night. Yusuf Nurkich got into it with Paul George, got himself thrown out with his second technical.

Russell Westbrook was hushing the crowd early in the game. And Damian Lillard dropped 51 points. I'm sorry, what? Wait, so I was, unfortunately, I was out at a dinner. And I feel like this happens all the time when Lillard goes off for big games. I'm just not around to see them. So how the heck did he do this? He was special last night, wasn't he, sharks?

I guess they still won, but Russ can't say he's been. busting that ass for years anymore. It was a pretty awesome game, though. I think with Damien Lowe are just going off, he hit only three of his 10, three-pointers, just hitting some ridiculous, you know, pull-up jumpers, fade-away jumpers, getting to the rim at Willey.

He had 18 of 20 from the line. But despite all that, Oklahoma City still grabbed the win last night. Russell Westbrook, he is his shot since the All-Star break has been on fire. Is there any adjustment that you've seen him make charks or is just this a regret? to the mean for him.

He couldn't have stayed that low, right? Just the dead cat bounce. Like at some point it was going to turn. It was like the worst season of all time, right, before the All-Star break. So at some point, it was going to turn up a little bit. I think also with last night's game, Paul George, Oklahoma almost said he won this game. But with George, he's returned from his shoulder, rotator cuff injury for two games now. And just to be clear, 32 points, 14 rebounds, six assists.

He had a great game. But in those two games, he is only 5 of 12 from the rim, 5 of 13 from mid-range, five of 23 from three. He's not shooting the ball well since he returned. Danny, obviously, he didn't see the game last night, but with George, is there any concern moving forward with him that he may not be 100% healthy, or do you think there's just a little blip?

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a concern considering, you know, what we saw out of Paul George last year. He had an amazing first game of the playoffs last year against Jazz. And by the end of it, he was a husk of himself. Man, the great Joe Ingalls locked him up, man. Can't have that happen again? Yeah, Paul George last year in the playoffs. It was 36 points on 20 shots in the first game against the Utah Jazz.

Last game, two of 16. Right. Like we were all like, oh my God, playoff P is real. And then by the end of it, we were like, is this guy like worth, you know, should the Lakers be, you know, trying to sign him as like blah, blah, blah. I think with George, obviously the season he was having, he was in the conversation for both MVP and for most improved player of the year. right now the last two games

that has not been that same guy the shot has failed him whether that's the shoulder injury or just small sample size of 48 shots it could just be that however with the mystery surrounding that injury Rosgolde one day last night reported that

he's been lifting like a little five pound weights in order to regain the strength in his shoulders it seems like at least something is up and for Oklahoma City to maximize their odds in the playoffs and like they obviously have slim hopes of beating the Golden State Warriors, but to at least have a chance riding their elite defense, they need that two-way elite offensive production from Paul and George.

Golden State, whatever, they're right now in the Houston, Utah, Portland bracket. That's their concern. Golden State is way down the road for them. They got to get out of the first round. Yeah, and, you know, Oklahoma City went four and O against Portland this year. But right now, if the playoffs began today, they would have a first round matchup against the Utah Jazz, a rematch of last years. And Utah as a team since maybe around midseason, they have been really, really, really good.

Their defense has turned it around after a slow start. Donovan Mitchell has elevated his play as well. So yeah, for Oklahoma City, the playoffs are right around the corner and right now Paul George doesn't seem 100% right, but it goes out saying that he needs to be. Besides that, their team

overall still is stellar. Terrence Ferguson last night had an incredible play against CJ McCollum. He's really coming on. here, man. He's been good. Yeah, he's, he's been really, really impressive. Like, opportunity knocks for some of these young guys with Andre Robertson out. Ferguson steadily has continually getting better charts.

Yeah, for sure. And he's like exactly the guy. The other guy with Abranus, whatever happened with him this year, I don't even remember. He's like on the team anymore. And Ferguson's really stepped up and really locked on the starting two guard spot, giving them, you know, three points shooting and kind of defensive ability, too. He got cut for, I think, personal reasons. Yeah, they, they, they, they, they, It was like a mutual understanding that they came to just kind of.

Hopefully everything's okay there with them. One other note on Oklahoma City, it feels weird, like bringing up like concerns after the incredible win they had last night. But like Stephen Adams, it was one of his better games in quite a while. And even then, he still didn't seem totally right to me.

Like, he's gotten pounding on the boards. Granted to be like his role is boxing out. But I think go game by game. Even last night, Nirkich had seven offensive boards. Adams hasn't been quite the same towards the end of the season as he has been in the past. Yeah, I feel like part of that is kind of the Thunder running up against a pretty tough schedule.

Like they have one of the tougher schedules remaining and the past couple games. Yeah, it's kind of just the quality of competition has kind of risen. And the Thunder's defense as a whole is kind of steadily declined since, I think, January. Yeah. I mean, I still think you can call them a leader. overall over the full course of the season, but the past couple weeks or so, they have absolutely not been the same. And as you said, Danny, over their final 17 games, they have, according to Tankathon, the second toughest remaining schedule in the league. So for OKC right now in the playoffs, they are

only a half game up on Houston, one game up on Portland, just two and a half games up on Utah in the six spot. They could easily slide down, going down this stretch, as could Portland. They've lost two in a row. And in last night's game, it was another time. where C.J. McCollum just hasn't seemed to be able to string together a lot of consecutive plus games. Tarks last night, he had 25 points, but on 24 shots, and in his 45 minutes,

he had a zero assist. Yeah, I think they'd be more of a playmaker. They haven't played Evan Turner. He's been hurt recently. And I've been thinking for a while, like they should just, like, not play him ever. Like, to me, they're much better off when Damon's CJ take turns running the offense.

Like, I ran the numbers on it. So Turner, this year, they made a real goal. We're going to let Evan Turner be the second unit guy. We're going to keep Damon's Jee together. We're going to run the ball through Evan Turner. In those minutes, they're minus 7.8 with Turner, no Dame, no CJ. To me, he just kills them. And they need to play better and just turn out the rotation, I think.

I think that was probably one of the reasons behind signing canter. Obviously, he can't defend anything. He gets attacked. He just can't. He got attacked relentlessly last night. And he's going to get attacked every single game and pick and roll. anytime he's on the floor. But I wonder if maybe one of the reasons behind it

was to try to just add some pop to their offense off the bench. Can me and Danny cry about Zach Collins not playing anymore? I was throwing the alley-in for you guys to cry about Zaccolns. Here we go. Oh, my God. What is going on?

Scala B. Sierra had two seconds of playing time and Zach Collins was a coach's decision. Do you know why? Why? Oh, was this the NERCISF fight? Yes, the NERCIFEFAL. and poor Scow, who is not taking a free throw all season long, gets called into the game.

Oh, yes. Two clutch free throws, and he missed the first one. But he had a great miss in the second one leading to a foul. Wow. So that's like classic, like, Nick's heat, you know, 90s, old school. You get a flagrant foul and you have to bring in Chris Dudley to shoot the free throw. I mean, Nurkich, Nurkich in that moment, he already had a technical form earlier in the game. Nerkich has been so much better this season.

He's been so much more consistent. showing why my friend Dean Damacus called him the Bosnian Boogie, and now people call him the Bosnian Beast. But last night... Lousy and boogie doesn't sound that great honestly. Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's both a, it's a compliment, and, you know, it's also kind of a concern with him, too. Because last night, in a pivotal moment,

he couldn't hold his emotions, and he got the technical file, which threw him out of the game from pushing Paul George unnecessarily. And you know what? He was out of the game for overtime, and that ultimately was one of the reasons why I lost when you're placing him with cancer. Shippy rivalry, O KC Portland.

They seem to always be talking trash to each other. So you guys seem to feel for Portland to maximize their ceiling moving forward, the right move would be turning back to Zach Collins before the postseason. You have to. I mean, he's their most switchable big man defender. He's a way better shooter. They're a better shooter, too. Yeah, he's a way better shooter than anyone else in their frontline rotation.

I mean, Charks, like, look at these net rating numbers with cancer on the floor. This is so upsetting. So I couldn't believe it. It was so bad. So right now, Canter's on. They're minus 19.2. 32 minutes.

Canter off plus 16.3. 57 minutes. And like, that's a small sample size, but we know Ennis Canter. We've all watched him. We've seen him in the playoffs. It's not going to work.

Like, if they play Houston in the first round, how long does he last five minutes? Two minutes? Like, what's the point? Maybe zero. Like, how can you even put him on the floor against Houston?

The amount of pick and roll that they run and the amount of times, like they're going to try to get Canter on a switch or just attack him downhill. I just don't think you can play canter. You can't play Canter. Yeah, can't play Canter. I'm just worried that, you know, maybe Zach Collins had to like dog sit Terry Stott's dog and did a bad job. Because didn't he have that really big England's Golden State?

You remember that? Yeah, he had an amazing stretch. Yeah, he played incredible defense. He talked trash to Clay. It was a beautiful moment. That was three weeks ago. What happened? we're pouring it out for Zach Collins in this pod

This is upsetting because they need his confidence They need his confidence up for the playoffs Ultimately they do have Yusuf Nerkers though Who has been much better overall this season Charks You know from where Nerkich was prior to the draft And where he is now

What have you seen him done to become such a more Consistently positive player Well I always like Nerkich And but you know I feel like a big guy like that It just takes time not only like with his mentality, but just Justin's the NBA game, growing into himself, becoming more confident.

He's a really good NBA center. The question is, like, if they can advance in the playoffs, how much can the traditional center stay on the floor? To me, the guys I'm watching for them, it's Rodney Hood and Jake Lehman, which I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but like theoretically,

those guys do give them new elements to you on the wing, I feel like. The hope is that with those guys, you can kind of replace a lot of what Turner can't do. Like, fun fact, with Evan Turner, he hasn't hit a three in two months. Oof. Like, it's not his game, but he's only shooting 15% on the season from three.

And he hasn't hit one in two months. So, like, at some point, you're going to need guys who can hit that three. I mean, Lehman has kind of fallen off from his, like, hot, you know, 20 game streak where he was basically hitting like 40% from three. But, you know, you at least need the guys who project to have that ability down the line. Yeah, I mean, Rodney Hood, like, has been theoretically good for, like, six years. But I can give up on him because, you know, he's six foot eight. He can get off the dribble. He's pretty big.

He can switch screens. Like, to me, he is, it's a very low bar to clear, but he might be their most well-rounded wing in their roster. Which is saying a lot that he is. Ronny hood's solid. I want to really like him as a player, but he's just fine. He's on and off. Like, I mean, he had a 27-point game just a couple days ago or a couple of games. or a couple games ago.

And I feel like he's definitely one of those guys, like a Will Barton-type guy who can totally swing a playoff game. But he could also swing in the wrong way. Like last year, when he literally refused to get off the bench. And then it totally ruined his career. Because we know with Portland, right?

The game plans now for years. You're going to blitz the screen on Damon C.J. Make them get rid of the ball and make those wings, knock down three to secondary playmakers. Like, Ken Hood be that guy. And he's a free agent in the soft season. You can make a lot of money if you can.

For what it's worth, just to tie this back to Enos Canter, I looked at the numbers with Dame on the floor, with CJ on the floor, just to see if that helped him out. No. And 47 minutes with Dame without CJ, they get outscored by 23 points for 100 possessions. With CJ without Dame, 16 points for 100 possessions. And then without either of them, only 24 minutes, but 17 points for 100 possessions. So it has not been good for Cantor. and a limited sample size, but as we've seen over a very large sample over the course of his career, it probably will not get much better.

There was an interview with Yusuf Nurkich that Andrew Sharp at Sports Illustrated did a few days ago. And he asked about the additions about Rodney Hood and about Ennis Cantor. And Nurkich basically spends most of the time answering like, oh, yeah, Rodney Hood's great. And then he's like, oh, yeah, what about Cantor? He's like, oh, yeah, Cantor, yeah, Cantor's great too. I heard of the jokes, you know, the, what was it, Nurk and the Turk or whatever. And then he was just like, yeah, he's another guy. He's another scorer.

You know, teams can't play small against us because we have too much size. And I'm like, I don't know about that. Yeah, I don't know either. Danny, you didn't see the game, but did you see Charles Barkley predicted the Blazers were going to the finals before the game? No, but I can completely imagine him saying that. Yes, true story. He did.

And you guys do not subscribe to that. That's kind of a wild take after like seeing them get swept last year. Yeah, it's very wild. I'm curious, who do you all think would be their best matchup in the first round? If you're Portland, who do you want to see? And those like of those three other team of Utah, Houston, Oklahoma City. Well, not Houston for the reasons we just discussed. You know, it's funny.

Like with the Western Conference playoffs or do you want O-KC, do you want OECD, even though you went 0-and-4 against them this season? you at 4-0 last year. They were all fairly close games this season. It's not like you got blown out every single game. I don't think you won Denver. Well, they're not going to get Denver, right? Yeah, you'd have to fall, yeah, you'd have to fall two and a half games, which is possible.

I would love to see a jazz blazer series. That would be so NBA hipster, like the NBA TV, 11 o'clock Pacific Time game. I think there will never be on national TV. I think there are a lot of parallels there. Charks, you did write about the best playoff matchups that we're hoping for this season. Maybe one of them that we could get in the Western Conference finals could be the Warriors versus Nuggets, which brings us to the NBA Watch of the Night on Friday at 1030 Eastern, 730 Pacific on ESPN. The Golden State Warriors will host the Denver Nuggets.

Denver trails Golden State by only one game, and tonight, if they win, they'll take the one seed. Nuggets are one-in-one on the year versus the Warriors. I saw them in Denver. that was the game where Golden State had a 51 point first quarter against the Nuggets. Was that pre-Demarcus or post-Damarchus? That was pre-Dermarchus. That was mid-January. Charks, what's Denver's key tonight to win?

I mean, DeMarcus, man. So I'm doing a story on Chris Paul, and I went back and watched that Rockets Warriors game again. And it was so bad how often they attacked DeMarcus cousins. He looked so terrible. So to me, attack him every single time. Wherever he is, go at him. I'm fascinated by Denver. holding onto this, their record for so long.

Like, holding on to the, the fact that they can be the number one seat in the West heading into the playoffs is wild to me. It's nuts, dude. I think with this Denver team, Yokic has become one of my top five or six players to watch in the league. Like, you're just so fun. The thing with him, and I don't know if this is unprecedented, but like, we're talking about him in the MVP conversation.

Obviously, he's on the outside looking in, but like the fact that we can bring him up, and the fact that this team has not made the playoffs in five years, like that seems kind of wild to me that we all have kind of come to this consensus with him. I would be nervous tonight if I'm Denver after Golds-Said just laid an egg against Boston on Tuesday night. We'll see if Golden State bounces back or not. But anyway, I'm looking forward to that game tonight. If you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com or your local cable or satellite provider.

Before we get to the Eastern Conference playoff race, Let's hear word from our sponsors. Today's ring around VEA show is brought to you by Simplysafe. Here's something interesting. Studies show that security systems deter burglars. It's a fact. But they're still burglary every eight seconds in America. How?

Well, burglars don't give up just because some houses have security systems. They find a house that isn't protected, which is why securing your home is truly a necessity. So let me recommend this brilliant security system built by my friends at SimpliSafe. At Simpliceaf, they believe fear has no place in a place like home. So they made SimpliSafe ridiculously smart. Its sensors will protect every point of access to your home, doors, windows, garage, you name it.

If a burglar even tries to break in, an ear-shattering sign will let them know that the police are already on their way. Best of all, SimpliSafe's 24-7 monitoring is just $14.99 a month. And they'll never lock you into a long-term contract. More than 3 million people already know it feels good to fear less with SimpleSafe. So go with the only home security I trust SimpleSafe by going to Simple-Safe. dot com slash NBA. That's simplysafe.com slash NBA

for the home security I trust. Simplysafe.com slash NBA. And now back to the corner three. On Saturday night, the Nets take on the hawks, which Danny, just, I'm just throwing this to you. Time for a quick little segment of Hurtishero before we get these comments. Man, what a, what a special week for my guy.

Unbelievable. Obviously, Heter got the, the Dwayne Wade jersey exchange. treatment during their last game against the Hawks. There was a fun little story that Dwayne actually heard from a friend who told him about Hurtor's story. Basically, Hurtor wears number three because he idolized Wade growing up. And Wade was just like, all right, let's give this rookie a little surprise. And literally completely shocked the guy.

He looks stunned. He looked like usually he's kind of like an even keeled kind of guy. And he kind of was in that moment too. but you could tell in his eyes, he was just like, oh my God, this is like, for real,

I'm in the NBA kind of moment. Do the passing of the torch, Danny? You know, one can only hope. But another fun thing from Herder's Instagram that I saw is that apparently he filmed Alex Lenn

like playing with nunchucks and like Alex Lenn is actually getting pretty good at like tossing a nunchuck around. It's kind of great. I'm like, very much invested in seeing Alex Lenn become a better, like, ninja warrior now.

I wish this was podcast on video so you could just see the joy on Taney's face right now. It was beautiful. It was just like, big smile. Yeah, that's it. The Hawks are winning games. Unfortunately, they're not in the playoff rates,

but the Brooklyn Nets are. Right now, the Nets are tied with the Pistons for the six seed at 34 and 33. They have an incredibly difficult schedule. over the remainder of the season, the toughest in the NBA, according to Tankathon. Chark,

since Karris Levert returned, it hasn't been quite as smooth as it was early in the season for him, but pre-injury. Yeah, it's really seemed like when he was out, DeAngelo Russell kind of took control of the team. And now that he's back,

I feel like they're kind of having a little back and forth about how to mix their game together. And Levert, obviously, he struggled a lot. He's shooting 38% from the field, 31% from three. I mean, it was a tough injury.

And I think, that was a little underrated, how tough that he'd bring him back in this late in the season. Yeah, there are shades of kind of the Gordon Hayward, you know, growing pains of kind of reincorporating him into the system. And just the way he plays, you know, he's very much

like, very comfortable and very much, you know, he wants to be the on-ball presence. And so, you know, the team kind of moved on without him during the course of his injury and they kind of built their identity around DeAngelo Russell, which

led to his All-Star birth. So how do you see those guys fitting together, Danny? I mean, right now, it's kind of a dueling banjos thing, but like you would hope that it works out once Levert kind of gets a shot back, right? Yeah, I mean, I think Levert's been a little bit better

shooting from three this month at least, but overall over the full season, including pre-injury, is only at 31.1% from three, which is obviously not good. And only 33% for his entire career. I think with Lavert There's no doubt he can play make The difficulty is balancing the two with him As you mentioned I think with Russell

The one advantage with him at least Is he can play off ball Russell did that at Ohio State He can do it now in the NBA Can use him off screens and he can you know stroke from three Maybe that's it's about finding the right balance Between those guys moving forward ahead of the playoffs If they even make the postseason

Because with their difficult schedule There are a lot of teams right on their heels coming for that spot. They've already been passed by the Pistons, right? Yeah. Yeah. As you said, Charks, the Pistons have passed them in the standings. Granted, it's just by percentage points.

They're 32 and 31. Brooklyn is 34 and 33. But Detroit has been just really, really... Yeah, they've been great as of late. You know, Andre Drummond's on a tier, averaging 21 points, 16 rebounds, two steals, two blocks over the last 12 games, a 10-and-2 stretch. Luke Carnard has been really good.

Your boy! Yeah, I mean, Lou. Luke Knaar is really good, man. Yeah, he's been great since the Rogi Bullock trade. Wayne Ellington has been nice for them as well with the opportunity that's been provided. Yeah, like, Ellington, he's just a really good shooter, really smart player. Like, it's kind of amazing to me Miami couldn't find minutes for him, given their struggle shooting the ball.

And I feel like for Detroit, at some point they're like, you know what? Forget, let's just play shooters. We got these two great bigs. Let's spread the floor. Who cares? Get some shots up. Like, I think to me, like, playing Ellington and Conard together, that's, that's a lot. truly worked well.

And maybe a lot of it's just as simple as addition by a subtraction. Game run of Stanley Johnson, who can't save his life? Right. It's funny. This feels like a total Stan Van Gundy team, right? It does. It does. It's amazing how quickly it changed, too.

I think when they first acquired Blake Griffin, it's like, oh, two bigs that can't space a floor. Griffin, you know, it's a solid shooter. And Drummond has not become a three-bunch shooter at all. But his rim running has been really, effective for them. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it seems like watching them,

they are using him in more high pick and roll, just him rumbling down the lane. What has been behind the surge for Drummond Charks? Yeah, I just think it's the construction of this team. So, like, if your three best players are Reggie Jackson, Blake Griffin, and Andre Drummond, you had better have shooting other spots on the floor. Like, I think there's like a real, like, synergy effect

when those two spots are opening up the floor, because the other three guys really aren't great shooters. Even Fawn Makers helping them, and he's getting up threes. and also Bruce Brown, he's been good for them too as a rookie. He's kind of taking over that starting two guard spot. Looking at Detroit's roster, they have a lot of good players. They do.

I mean, you mentioned Brown, you mentioned, I mean, even like someone like deep off the bench, like Glenn Robinson, the third. They have solid players on the back end of their roster. It reminds me that, like, Chris Vernon always says, like, don't play guys who suck. They don't really play guys who suck. Stanley Johnson's gone now. Don't play guys who can't shoot. Yeah, I really feel like that's part of it.

now. Like, they are top 10 in attempts and makes from three. I mean, Blake Griffin, nominal four, five for the Pistons, takes as many threes per game as Chris Middleton. It's unbelievable. You know, that completely opens up everything. And like last year when Detroit kind of made their little run at the beginning of the season before everything fell apart, Drummond was kind of like, oh, I'm going to be a dribble handoff guy from the three,

from the three point line. And that kind of incorporated a new wrinkle. And then teams freaking found it out like two days later and just kind of like, you know, let that go to hell. But, you know, you can't really do that with Blake who is such a good playmaker who can shoot. He's 36% from three. It's opened up everything. I think one of the underrated aspects of this Pistons team is you mentioned how Blake can playmake. Drummond can too.

He's a good passer for a big man. Right now, Blake averaging 5.5 assists. And then Drummond only has 1.2. He's a good facilitator for his position. Big body can do those screen assists. Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at Detroit, and I just feel like they're the perfect example of why having like big shooters is so crucial, right?

Because we figured, okay, they're playing shooters are winning games. But when they get to the playoffs, like Ellington-Kinard, how are they going to guard like the guys in Philly or Boston? Right. I don't know. And they're both like, they both kind of have their weaknesses because Ellington is small for his position. Conard is a little bit bigger,

but obviously just doesn't have the foot speed to defend anyone one-on-one. Currently in the 8th seat, it's the Miami Heat. They're two and a half back from both Detroit and Brooklyn. Hassan Whiteside, his role has finally diminished.

It finally happened, man. Finally. How has that helped them? Or has it helped them? I think so. I think so. They've changed rotation a lot. They finally, okay,

we're going to play our best players. So they're starting right now, are starting Justice Winslow, Josh Richardson, Dionne Waiters, Kelly Allenic, Bam, out of bio. And there are right now plus five and 70 minutes

to starters. And Bam just better than Asan Whiteside, in my opinion. Which I think it's not a very controversial take. No, I don't think so either. But I feel like this,

so do you think this is going to be a permanent adjustment? I feel like this might be kind of them warming Whiteside up because of his injuries. But also, Whiteside has said the right things

about, like, wanting to, like, dominate the second units. I think he's been a good sport about it. And he had 18 points his last game. Yeah, he was great off the bench against Charlotte, Miami, one that came 91 to 84.

And maybe for Whiteside is just about readjusting the role. Obviously, in the starting units, he's had some issues. Maybe it's similar to canter in the sense that, like, you can maximize his offense bringing him off the bench and what he can bring on that end of the floor instead of worrying about his defenses or whether he'll bring consistency right out of the gate. And if he struggles, just pull him. Bam is somebody who, like you said, Charks, he's better than Whiteside.

I think he's a more reliable player. He's a better defender. I'm a more switchable defender. And like you just mentioned about having size, Bam's a big, but at least I think you can feel at least a little bit comfortable. He's much more mobile. Yeah, absolutely.

And you've got a Linux shooting the ball well on the front court instead of James Johnson who can't shoot either. And Justice Winslow, still, ever since he was named Point Guard in early December, has been good. He's been good overall over the course of the full season. It's nice to see that. He's only 22 years old.

I think moving forward, he still needs to improve his shooting consistency, shooting 38% from 3 on the year. But overall from the floor, that's something that still needs to be improved. But hey, man, the defense of versatility, the playmaking, the spot-up shooting is at least solid to have a baseline of core skills for him to have a long, successful career. Yeah, and you look at the starting five they have now. Like, theoretically it makes sense.

You have Winslow on the ball. Bam is the role man. Jay Rich, Olinick, Leaders can kind of spot up. Like it's just a well-built NBA lineup, but they really had trouble with this season. We mentioned the Charlotte game that Miami won.

Charlotte right now is two and a half. Charlotte is one game back from Miami for that eight seed. Charks, you have a Kemba Walker stat. This blew my mind when I saw. I couldn't believe. It's so ridiculous. It's really hard to believe. With these on-off numbers, I like to something look at like

the last 10 games, just to get a little snapshot how the team is playing, how each player is kind of in the rotation. Last 10 games, Kemba, when he's on the floor, plus 3.7 and 370 minutes. When Kemba's off in the last 10 games, minus 35.8 in 110 minutes.

I have never seen a spike up before. That's insane. But that also means like Kemba's playing every single minute of these games freaking much. Yeah. He has to. Because really, like, that's 11 minutes per game. Yeah, that he's not playing it. Yeah. over the full season for what it's worth

Kemba in the 2,229 minutes he's played or outscoring teams by 1.3 points for 100 possessions. In the 868 minutes without him, they're getting outscored by 6.7 points for 100 positions. So it's not as large of a difference over the full season. But man, like as up plate, that is just stunning to see.

Is that an indictment about their... How is that an indictment of their depth and Tony Parker coming off the bench for them charts? Well, I'm thinking it jumps out in their second unit. They're playing MKG and Beyond. Bongo together. Like, how is that ever going to work? I'm no idea.

It's like, I can imagine, like, two worst shooters together playing at the same time in the modern NBA. Mark Assault would have been really good for them, huh? Yeah. Too bad that didn't work out. What was that trade they would have given up for him? It had been a first? It was like, yeah, it would have been a pick in Bionbo and or MKG, some type of combination like that. Oh, that's a bad deal from Toronto, though, to get Dilan right.

And that was. Oh, yeah, no doubt. That Toronto deal is pretty good. for both teams, obviously. And then also tied with Charlotte right now and currently the nine seat is at Orlando Magic. Still hanging in there. They're hanging in there.

You know, one game back. Over the past 15 games, they're 10 and 5, they've really been going. And Jonathan Isaac, he's kind of started to blossom. Your boy, sharks. Yeah, like 13 points per game on 48% shooting from the field, 38% from 3 on almost 5 attempts per game, two blocks, almost a steel.

What a unique player. Unreal. Charks, this is what you've dreamed of. Yes. I mean, to me, like, he's the key to everything because he needs to space the floor, and he really can't score inside of you so skinny. So I look at the splits. When they win this season,

he's shooting 47% from the field, 40% from three. When they lose, he's shooting 40% from the field, 27% from three. And obviously, with Isaac, you know, even without the scoring, his defensive versatility has been just really, really impressive with him. I think the intensity is there and obviously the length and athleticism to defend multiple positions.

But that's been key for them. I think with, you know, with Mo Obama being out, it's at least allowed him to play his more natural NBA position. I'm not necessarily not necessarily knocking against Bomba. It's just the fact they had so many bigs. Well, Bomba, if you look at his minutes, not playing him has helped a lot, just getting him out of the rotation for now. Yeah, he's not quite,

ready yet for playoff time. With that said, there's those six teams fighting for the final three spots in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Right now, it's pretty tight between them with about a month ago, like I said, only three and a half games separating the six seed, Detroit, and Charlotte, the

10 seed. And Washington, you know, they're not quite really in there, but they can still throw them into the conversation. There are two games back from, three games back from Miami for the eight seed. Is there any hope at all for Washington Danny? Why even bother?

Okay. Just being fair, because technically they're still in there. They've won two in a row. Bradley Bale is... I feel like they might have a better shot at getting Zion, to be honest. That would be best for them anyway. But we'll put them in the conversation anyway. Of these six teams, Charks, who were the three that you would predict

end up getting into the East Conference playoffs? I think we can all agree Detroit's in, right? Like really it's five teams for two spots. Okay, so what's the final two we got? I'm going to, I'm going to go Brooklyn. Despite the tough schedule. Let me go that schedule. Let me get back to me on that.

I want to believe that the Nets can still make it. They're one team that I'm hopeful for. I think I'm going to go with the magic with the final spot. Okay. They have the third easiest remaining schedule. Although, honestly, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. or a bad thing because they can easily beat the Raptors and Warriors, but they can't beat the Cavs or Knicks.

So maybe that's not a good thing for them, but I'm just hoping they can figure out how to win against bad teams, you know? For Out Fort Worth, I'm just going to quickly run through Brooklyn's final games. It's going to just rattle off the teams. Atlanta, Detroit, OKC, Utah, Clippers, Kings, Lakers, Blazers, Sixers, Celtics, Bucks, Raptors, Bucks, pastures, heat. that is terrifying. And in the end, they have a long road trip during that, too, between March 13th and March 28th.

That's their stretch facing, OKC, the West, the California teams, then Philadelphia at the end of that trip. That is tough, man. That's a long time to be on the road. Yeah. And I really like this Brooklyn team. I really like how Kenny Ackinson has coached this team. But, man, it is going to be tough for them to stay in the playoffs. Five games against the four best teams of the East is not a great, not a great sign for them.

It is tough. You're still picking them, though. You're still hanging on to Brooklyn. Yeah, I just, I want to see them in the playoffs, is I guess what I'm saying. Like, I think I know what we can get out of the heat. Although, like, the heat, you know, their new and improved lineups kind of, you know, change things up a little. I don't know. I really want to see these nets.

Who do you got charts? you've scared me off. I'll score Orlando, Miami. You've scared me off Brooklyn with the schedule talk. Okay. All three of us have Orlando. I do as well. Yeah.

And I'm sticking with Brooklyn. I'm not sure it's for the best, though. Because right now, Brooklyn is only four games back from tonight's worst record. With the New Orleans Palicans, I know it's a lot of games to move up the lottery standings. But if they do struggle over this final stretch, may not be the worst thing in the world to get some lottery odds. I'm just saying.

I'm just saying they've already had their impressive season. Everybody feels good about the year they had. So you're basically saying they're due for a kind of nuggets-type glow-up next year, not necessarily. Yeah. This isn't their time. It's not a bad thing to get a higher draft pick. Yeah, why not? Increased lottery odds.

Anyway, shout out to Kevin Clark. We're right there with you. Terence Ross is the best player in the NBA. We got you, Kevin Clark. I think he's on vacation right now somewhere. I saw a photo with him and his wife on vacation. I hope Kevin Clark's doing while watching the Orlando match and make a playoff run. Two teams that are locked into the playoffs playing on Friday night are the Sixers and the Rockets.

Rockets have won six in a row now facing Philadelphia without Joe Lombie. Sixers are only four and three since the break. Tobias Harris is leading the Sixers in points at 22.6 per game. Butler is not taking on more of a scoring load despite the absence of Joe Ambide at 17.3 points and 14.7 field goal attempts. I gotta admit, guys, with Embed I'm a little bit worried right now. He's out with the sore left knee. The team is called it mild tendinitis.

That's an injury that's bothered him since December. It's a knee that underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in March 2017. I'm a little nervous. I am. I mean, it's hard not to be. You have a 7-2 center who probably weighs 275 at least.

Maybe more than that. Yeah, probably more than that with like a history of knee issues. There's no way you can't be nervous. And that's the thing. Like when one thing is injured, the rest of the body tries to overcompensate. And then other things start to, you know, yeah, it's, I feel like the Sixers are, the Sixers fans are used to this. They're like, they're always kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But you just kind of hope that this isn't a big deal. I mean, I think with Joel Embed, the knee issue that he has right now reminds me of Josh Hart, at some point the C. and mentioned how, I think he said he didn't like rest enough over the full summer or something like that or he didn't get the necessary rest over the course of the season

in order to prevent his tendonitis and his knee from, he's been really bad as of late for them. And I think it's partially due to the knee injury. And for the Sixers, you need to be as safe as possible with him, considering how fragile he's been over the course of his career.

I'm just worried, you know, less so for like Philadelphia, he's going to play in the playoffs and he's probably going to be effective. I just want this guy to last, man. Like, he's such a fun player and, like, seeing little things like this happen to him as as young as he is already. I just hope at some point all these little injury concerns go away. It's just I don't feel confident that they will.

And that's scary because of how fun he is as a player and how incredible he is as a player. He's having an MVP caliber season in a year filled with MVP candidates. It's just disappointing. And hopefully you can get back soon. he's kind of like he has to been the Tim Duncan plan at like 23 like when Duncan was like 35

you probably should be in that right now chill him out in the regular season gets the playoffs and that's the crappy thing about this man he's so young and already get the deal with that Texter's fans seem very disappointed with Brett Brown as of late could he be on the hot seat

yeah I think so I mean with their expectations on this team they're all on the hot seat like Philly's all in so that means everyone has to perform in the playoffs Well, you know, and that's, I think that's why the Butler trade was made and why the Tobias Harris trade was made, because with Joe and Lombie, like, you just, it's so easy to think he's going to last forever while he's dominating over the season. But he might not. So it's like you have to maximize the now when you have an MVP caliber player in him and all NBA caliber player and Ben Simmons. You have two legitimate superstars. So I think them being aggressive and adding two star players, it may hurt them a little bit down the line or a lot down the line. But, it at least gives him a shot this year in the really strong

Eastern Conference up top. I don't know, with Indeed being out, I've almost liked the deal more. Because knowing when he's back just how much better that they could be, you just have to maximize it now when you have those guys. I mean, this is probably there's probably no great answer for this, but like if you were to replace Brett Brown

with another coach, who would you, what kind of coach would you consider? Well, when it was Calangelo, the whispers were Jay Wright from Villanova. I'm not sure if that would be the case anymore. Yeah. But, I mean, he'd be, he's best coach in college basketball. How about you, Charks?

Who comes to mind for you? Well, the question is, like, is Eldon Brand, Brett Brown's boss, bross, really? That's like, Elton Brand. That's a weird thing. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not exactly sure how the power structure works there. Maybe it would have to be an ownership decision? I don't know.

I'm not sure, but they do seem invested in Brett Brown. He's gained power after the Calangelo fiasco. I don't know. I'm not sure who would be the one to make that decision. It's funny. Mike Levine of the Wrights-Ricky Sanchez Pod. Great podcast. I love that show.

This is my guest can do great work. He had a tweet, I think, last night about, you know, basically Brett Brown is an okay coach. And you look at the six previous coaches that the Sixers have, they're all bad. So, like, he's trying to put things in perspective. You know, he's a fine coach who players seem to like. that's in itself is worthwhile. Exactly. You know what I wonder?

Like, you know, who was a fine coach of players liked was Dwayne Casey in Toronto? And he didn't make the room in the playoffs.

He had to go, right? And you're on this level it's all about the playoffs, all about making adjustments in the series, all about making the right lineup moves.

And we'll see if you can do it in the playoffs. Tailoo. Or Lloyd Pierce, but yeah, he got hired by Atlanta. Doing a great job there. One of them in Philadelphia

you mentioned out of players like him. Jimmy Butler did not seem happy at the end of that game against the bowl saying, like this, This don't work, you know, sitting on the bench. I believe he was referring to them switching on defense, which does work. But I do wonder how much angst there may be in that locker room.

KOSC, you're not about Harris and Butler is interesting. So do you think at this point they want Harris more than Butler long term? Oh, yeah. If they're picking one of the two. He's just such a more versatile score. Yeah. You know, like, and I feel like that's, yeah, and younger. And that's kind of why he's leading them in points.

It's like when you have him as like a release valve for a lot of these other. star. It's like he can score in so many different ways. And he's on a high maintenance B level star. He's like Jimmy Butler is. He's a low maintenance, B level player. I think that's reason number one why Tobias Harris is probably the guy. If you can only pick

one of them, you'd rather have moving forward of your Philadelphia. If you're a different team, maybe you'd rather have Butler. But for Philadelphia's situation, I think it's Tobias Harris. I think Butler probably recognizes that too. It's not hard to figure that out. On Saturday night, the Celtics faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the middle of their

West Coast road trip. Danny, did the Celtics fix themselves this week during that long plane ride across the country? You know what? We talked about this for way too long on Bill's pot yesterday. Bill seems convinced something happened. Yeah, I mean, they're looking good. I really like what I'm seeing out of Jalen Brown recently. He's just kind of been playing within himself and basically he's become a second market smart for them, which is basically all they need from their wings right now. I mean, I think with Boston, they've had, like we talked about yesterday day. They've had these stretches where they've been horrible and then they've been really great and they look like they've been fine. So I'm not going to commit to say that they

fix themselves. Maybe. Maybe something happened. And this is another case where it's like we can't even begin to know until they actually get into the playoffs and do the matchups. It's a positive indicator for now. Yeah. Will it sustain? Who knows? I mean, it's so weird because your article on Monday, KOC, did not sound very promising. No. You know, and that's the thing. It's like chemistry was not good. doesn't mean it can't get better. Things change in an instant. Things can change in relationships and things can change for teams. Who knows, really?

I think my gut with this team says they're going to be a really, really tough out in the playoffs, and they are absolutely still a finals contender. I just can't let go of what Kyrie said over the course of the season multiple times. He's like, it doesn't matter. He said I'm sick and tired of talking about the regular season over and over and over again. All that matters is getting to the playoffs. And this is like a LeBron style mindset. he seems to have adapted.

And like, you're not LeBron, first of all. But, like, he's not wrong about the fact that this team, as long as they get in, at that point, if they buy into their roles and put aside their egos, they're going to be really, really tough when they have time to game plan for an individual series. Yeah, they just create matchup issues that other teams can't solve. Yeah. One team that has not been able to solve their issues is their opponent on Saturday, the Lakers. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported yesterday that LeBron will be put on a minutes,

restriction of 28 to 32 minutes per game and he'll sit back to backs possibly. There's three more of those remaining. And Haynes did also add that LeBron, Rich Paul, and the Lakers front office are all in agreement on this plan. Wait, isn't it the same thing, Kevin? They're agreeing with themselves, LeBron and Chris Paul and the LeBron and Rich Paul and the Lakers front office. The same thing.

Yeah, true. The Lakers front office agrees. It's just LeBron and Rich Paul texting. We'll get on that too. it's kind of amazing that like in today's league 32 minutes is like a serious drop-off in minutes like LeBron still like you look at it he's playing you know the fewest minutes he's played in a really long time

he's still playing like 36 minutes per game it's crazy it's funny looking at pulling up his numbers when he was a young player playing like 42 43 it's nuts man how much has the game changed in terms of player management for minutes I think they should just put him in the Anthony Davis plan put him playing for 22 minutes per game Don't play him for 28. Play for 20.

No, KOC, he's got in his numbers. That's not going to work. And one wants his per game numbers. Enough to lose because I know I always hit the tanking with these teams. But the Lakers right now, they're tied with the Wolves

as of Friday morning for the 12th best lottery odds, which comes with a 6.2% chance of laying a top four pick. There's only one game back from the Pelicans to triple their odds to 20.3%. It's not about,

winning the lottery for Zion, it's about just having a higher pick, whether it's for RJ Barrett or John Morant, a better asset that you can use in a trade the summer for AD. Blow up the season. Yes, blow it up. Can't you imagine? Whatever if they're like, you know what, LeBron, they win the lottery. We got Zion, we got Ingram. We're going to just build around these guys.

You can kind of be a part of it if you want to film your movies. Yes. Yeah. Here we go. Here we go. That's the plan I like the hair sharks. But to your point, though, Brandon Ingram has been really, really good over the past 20 or so games.

He's been playing the best basketball of his career. And I do wonder, let's say the Lakers luck out on lottery night and land. Let's just say the number four pick. Number four pick, that would allow them to give less strong players than the deal. Maybe that means you're taking away two future first round draft picks. Maybe it means you're not putting Josh Hart in the deal. Because if you have a higher pick and with Ingram playing better than he has in his entire life, I don't think that same deal

would necessarily be there for the Pelicans that was reportedly there prior to the deadline. And maybe that's okay because the first round draft would be better if it's a high pick. But maybe not too

depending on how you're feeling about this drafts. It's so weird because like the Pelicans made their odds worse but maybe the Lakers' odds better for a higher pick by not making the trade now.

Are we in agreement that it's best for the Lakers to lose right now? I feel like, I mean, there's something. people look at me like I have two heads when I'm like the Lakers should lose even though they have LeBron.

There's no real point in like they're so they can't make the playoffs. So yeah, I mean, this is the problem still with the lottery odds. Like there's incentive to lose still. So it's like I was talking to somebody at Sloan last week and it's like the lottery changes are positive. You know, it's helped a little bit because you don't have to be historically bad to have 25% odds. But it's like, yo.

you still have incentive to lose. Yeah. Like the lottery odds have allowed for something like this to happen. Something like the Lakers being like much worse than everyone expected, but not necessarily bottoming out, giving them a reason to start tanking. Which is like, all right, no, now that, you know, I wrote a piece earlier this week about how I hated.

That was a good piece. I enjoyed that. Yeah, how I hated, you know, the changed odds because, the Nick Sun's game, which was awful, meant nothing. But now, the Lakers might be in the run for Zion. This is great. I can't even lie. I can't wait until May 14th, night of the draft lottery,

and those envelopes come out, and then like the 10-spot, the Lakers don't appear, which means they'll be in the top four, and I can't wait for the hysteria that's going to happen on social media. Rigged. Everything else. Yeah, it's going to be a great night. Besides Zion Williamson,

one of the guys that teams will likely be drafting in the top four or five of the draft is Murray State point guard John Morant. Charks, you wrote a really tremendous piece that went up on the ringer.com about him today, basically outlying how he's a Russell Westbrook type of point guard, but whether that guy is best fit in today's league. Before we get to that, let's just run through who this guy is as a player. What are his best skills, Charks? I mean, he's just a really well-rounded player. I really broke down his tape watching him this week.

And number one, he's just a really smart player. He knows that he's athletic ability. He's a great passer. He gets to the rim pretty easily. And he's become a much better shooter. He's just a very well-rounded point guard. Sloth to improve as a shooter. But I think in the piece I tried to touch on as like he has more to his game.

Because this year he's been a Russell Westbrook type. But last year as a freshman, he was much more of a classic point guard. Like he's a very smart player. I think it's probably his best skill. Yeah, I think with Morant, it's interesting some of the conversation this year, and including in your piece, is about having a high volume scoring point guard that is not necessarily an efficient shooter, a guy who needs the ball in his hands to be as most effective.

But it's like you said, he can take on that traditional playmaking point guard role because his passing is really, really good. He sees the floor well. He's six foot three with a long wing span, an elite athlete. Not quite as quick as Deerrin Fox, as you know. noted Charks, but he, that dude can fly. He's had a lot of, you may have seen his dunks on. You may have seen him. Yeah. I mean, I know my buddy Mike Schmitz, DSPN, called them,

like the most exciting player in college basketball besides Zion Williamson. It's true. This dude's a lot of fun to watch. He just plays at Murray State. He's never on TV. We never see him. But I do think with him, Charks, to your point in that piece, in today's league, he is so lean at six foot three. I'm not sure. it's ever going to be fair to expect him to be a plus plus defender. Maybe he can be a plus defender when he's trying hard, but I don't think he's somebody who's going to be reliable on switches. And then with the shooting, he is shooting the ball well from the floor

better than he did last season, but he has a slow shooting. He kind of has a Leandro Barbosa two-handed release, which for me, Leandro Borbosso is one of my favorite players ever. So it's kind of endearing to see it come back, but it's a little challenging. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, it's like, well, you don't necessarily know if he's going to ever be a great shooter, you know? Yeah, and you know, the funny thing is, is like watching him early in the season, I'm obsessed with handedness. And I wondered earlier there, does he shoot the wrong hand?

Because he has a lot of lefty layups, a lot of lefty passes. How can you shoot with the wrong hand when you use both hands? Well, he's so much more comfortable going left with virtually everything. And then, in Mike Schmitz's piece, he said, I think I'm left-handed. But I just started shooting righty when I was young. And with him, like, he shoots great from the free throw line, which is usually, again, as you know, to Charks, a more positive indicator of future three-point shooting success than three-point percentages. But, like, it's different shooting from the line when you're set than it is from the floor. And he has a very set shot, which is why he's so much better in spot-up situations than off the dribble.

And, I mean, like, I'm not saying he should switch hands. But all I'm saying is that that's a reason for concern moving forward with his jumper, where maybe he's just, not as comfortable shooting off the dribble with his right hand. I don't know. I mean, I really like him. I don't love him. Where are you at with him, Danny? Yeah, I'm kind of along the same lines.

He, when you watch those highlight clips, he's so explosive off two feet, but he's not quite as dynamic off one. He's not. And so in that sense, like, his, the versatility of his athleticism is kind of limited. So, like, in space off one leg, he doesn't quite get as much burst.

which kind of limits that idea of him being like a Westbrook type player. A little bit of Donovan Mitchell in that sense. Yeah. Another guy who's an elite athlete in space, but off the one foot, not quite as close. Yeah. Mitchell's a strong body. Yeah. He's built like a wine batterer.

So what you're looking at with Moran is more of a guy who has like the DeAngelo Russell body type. Yeah. And so it's going to be really hard for him to be the type of player he is in college in the NBA. Who would you guys compare him to as an NBA player? Is there a, I mean, I know Charxie. mentioned Westbrook, you know, within the headline with the athleticism. Dearen Fox mentioned even though he's not quite as quick, similar lean body. Is there anybody else who comes to mind either in today's league or historically?

It's an interesting question. Like I don't know if there is like a one-to-one like template for his game. He does a lot of things and he has to for this Murray State team, which is kind of why it's almost hard to pin him down as a prospect. but I don't know. Like when I watch him play and when I see his body type and knowing just like he's not going to be able to be

this kind of Westbrook type player at the next level because of how, you know, Westbrook's just so much bigger. Yeah. He's huge. So I started thinking about guys like you know, Colin Sexton, except, you know,

their strengths are almost like flipped. Like Morant is such a better playmaker, passer. He can't shoot as well. But like that kind of ball dominant player is who I envision him being at the next level. Yeah, I like that as like a better passing version of Sexton. And the thing I could come back to as working this piece, which is comparing Morant to the point guards in this year's class.

And I feel like this year's rookie class of point guards, there's so many different types that I really kind of come on strong. And to me, like you have these two different, like you have the Trey Young type, right? This great shooter spreads the floor, shoots him 30 feet away, just really changes the geometry that. floor. And the other end, you have like, Sheig goes Alexander, six foot six. You can guard like three or four positions, can switch screens. To me, I almost would rather have one of those two extremes. And I feel like Jaws kind of in the middle. And I feel like the way the position is moving,

I think point cards are they going to become great, great three point shooters or these super-sized guys like Lanzo ball or S-J you can guard multiple positions. Yeah, I mean, to your point charts. I love the idea of John Morant, but I've yet to fall in love with the actual products. And even looking at his numbers, he scored 0.87 points per possession in the half court, according to Synergy, a 49% effective field goal percentage. He has not been an efficient player as a score in half court situations. And part of that's because of his role, part of that because he needs to do everything for that team. But without the jumper, as you said, in today's league, I would prefer somebody in that mold. But Rantz,

maybe in a best case scenario, he's like a Baron Davis type of guy who was an elite athlete younger younger in his career. Davis is a lot bigger too, though. Yeah. He was also really. Yeah. And that's like the tough part, you know, with the comp. Yeah.

And he's like, he's, he would be considered a fairly big point guard like 20 years ago. But yeah, like I, not in this league. No. No, point cards have gotten bigger. And I was thinking about it. I was thinking about with his, with the draft, to me, the team where he's going to go, it's probably Chicago, right? that's the perfect spot for him.

So you've got Levine, Porter, Markinen, all really good shooters. Carter can kind of be a fist filter at the five. And I need a ball dominant point guard. And I think he'd be a really good fit there. But I wonder if, like, down the road, that team has a ceiling on it, based on the lack of flexibility in their roster. Yeah, the Levine Morant backcourt

would be poor defensively. Yeah, I'm not sure what the best fit is for him. Obviously, with Cleveland, they already have sex in there. Atlanta, Trey Young, not a fit there. John Wall with Washington. maybe they'd try to draft the point guard behind him. New Orleans, if they, you know, maybe next to Drew Holiday,

that's an interesting fit. I like, if Charlotte, maybe, if they're worried about losing Kemba. Grizzlies? Grizzlies make sense as well. Yeah, I mean, there's some fits. He's going to be drafted highly.

I am curious, though, despite where he's going to go, do you guys have him as your number one point guard over Darius Garland or any of the other? That is the question. I have not watched Garland enough to say, honestly. Yeah, he played five games. KOC and I were at the USC Vanderbilt game

where he played fine. Like he showed off everything that, you know, he was advertised as. I don't know if he quite has like Tray Young range, but he does have a lot of creativity off the dribble and he can get to his spots like at will. How did he look size speedwise? Just in person.

Pretty small. Yeah, 6'3. Yeah. I mean, I think he's a little bit of a wider frame than Moran, but obviously not the same level at. athlete. Yeah. He is.

So, I mean, I think it balances out overall. He's, he's kind of like a kind of, uh, more spindly, uh, C.J.

McCollum. Like, CJ's not that thing either. He's like, he's, he's, he's built very compactly. You know,

he's built very compactly, whereas Garland is kind of a little bit more rangy. One last question on Morant. You mentioned in your piece charts how in today's league, there's so many larger ball handlers, you know, there's not necessarily a need for having a traditional sized point guard at six foot three.

Some of these other guys up top in the draft, including RJ Barrett, can playmake for their position. Zion Williamson as a big man can playmate for his role. I do wonder if maybe that ends up hurting Morant for where he gets drafted. I'm not sure how far you can actually fall this year. I think the floor for him is probably like five, something like that, five or six. I can't imagine him dropping any lower than that. But on your personal board, is that going to affect your evaluation and your ranking of him? based off the needs of today's league.

I think it has to. And the other thing I'm thinking about, like, you look at like Cleveland. I'd rather have Morant than Sexton. But they've already drafted Sexton. They've already used a year of investing in them. And I think that's the hardest part about it,

is once you draft a guy like this, you're really boxed in going forward. Yeah. I was just thinking to our conversation the other week where you mentioned, like, you have DeAndre Hunter ahead of, you know, Cameronish. So it's like if you have,

I would assume, will you also have, like, reddish ahead of Marantz or Barrett ahead of Morant. Man, it's so flexible right now. Like, after Zion 1, who knows? Yeah. Yeah, for me, I would rather gamble on potential

3-D wings or, like, creative wings who can play multiple positions and give you a little bit of that secondary playmaking than draft, you know. And it's funny because John Morant wouldn't have been considered a traditional point guard even five years ago. No.

Even three years ago. one last son of Morant I think the one thing with him is a guy who is not really recruited out of high school somebody like I said

Schmitz's a story on him really outlines who he is a person everything I've heard about Miranda is like he's a high character hardworking kid who loves the hoop

and I think if you're betting on somebody to maximize their potential whatever it is I felt confident that Jah will maximize his potential just a matter of

what level that actually is he was a he was Zion's teammate for a little bit you know maybe maybe that magic has rubbed off yeah man I think one thing too, like with Chicago,

maybe like if you're not trying to build a championship team, maybe just take the safe place, the safe point guard, he fits with our roster, we'll build a 45-50 win team call it a day. And super exciting. Yeah, they'd be really exciting to watch too.

Yeah. There's been a couple good, good stories on Miranda this year. Fader did want to bleach your report too. Yeah, Morant's a good guy. I do like him. He's somebody I'd want to bet on in the draft.

If you're after that Zion, on RJ spot. I think I'd feel good about him at three or four. I think he has the Simmons seal of approval too.

Yes, he does. Bill loves him. But it's all that we have time for today, guys. That was fun. Danny, John, looking forward next Friday. Absolutely.

Yeah. And thank you for listening to the corner of three. Please give us a five-star rating on iTunes, a thumbs up on YouTube. Tell all your friends about the show. Special shout out to Bobby Wagner

for producing the podcast. Thank you again for listening on Monday, John Gilesislew back. Pitchek, and on Tuesday it'll be me and Chris Vernon with the mismatch. Until then, have a wonderful weekend.