The Ringer NBA Show - Whose Future Timeline Is the Darkest? | Group Chat

Episode Date: April 4, 2019

We weigh the different bleak futures of some of the NBA’s bottom-feeders and try to determine who has the longest path back to contention (2:00). Then, with the playoffs on the immediate horizon, we go over the teams that are trending up and trending down, and whether that will matter for how they fare in their opening series (49:00). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Paolo Uggetti, Haley O’Shaughnessy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. April is a huge month for TV, and starting this weekend, the Recapables feed returns to give you in-depth analysis on your favorite TV shows, including Killingeev, billions, and many more. There will also be a special pre-capable series on the Recapables feed on the final season of Game of Thrones, where our staff forecasts what will happen every Sunday on the show. So make sure to subscribe now before the premiere of Killing Eve and Game of Thrones on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you can. at your podcasts. Basketball is very good. The Wizards underpaid John Wall. AD should resign with the Pelicans.

The Nets actually won the Celtics trade. Basketball is very good. Hello, hi. Welcome to the Ringer MBA show. This is the group chat. I am Justin Verrier and joining me as always. I'm going to start with one Palu Getty, our very own playoff P. Getting ready.

Let's go. He's ready. Also joining us. Haley O'Shaughnessy. Let me put my contacts in real quick. Yeah. This will be a lot better. As someone who has a slight stigmatism, I definitely feel for him.

Same. For Steph Curry is who we're talking about. I'm going to go get my eye checked because Steph had a slump, found out that he would shoot better with contacts in. What did he say, quote, it's a whole new world? Yeah, I'm wondering what he was doing like with his eye doctor beforehand. Was he just not seeing his health care providers? Yeah.

It sounded like from the story from the Marcus Thompson story that he had this basically condition that he'd never really like taking care of, I guess, where you can't even have LASIC surgery because that would even worsen it, I think, or something like that. So I don't really know. I just know that I'm very blind as well. So the eye is a complicated thing. I feel like that happens a lot with guys just who have been shooting poorly. They just always go to the eye doctor and all of a sudden they find like this slightest thing wrong with them and all of a sudden they have the proper contacts to wear then. I'm just wondering, like, what does the basket look like to you when you don't have... Like, can you not tell?

Like, I feel like that's one of those things. Like, I'm very blind and I can't, like, if I take my glasses, if I can't, like, read, like, the closest sign next to me. Imagine how accurate he is that he's been shooting this way without. It's like, he just sees the net and he's like, oh, I just chuck it up. Well, is he near-sighted or is he far-sided, you know? That's my biggest question. Yeah, well, the stigmatism, I think is...

I don't want to get this wrong, but I think it's near-sighted, but it could be wrong. That sounds about right. That's what I have. I'm far excited I'm perfect so today what was that laugh

about we're gonna have a conversation after this let's do this guys all right on today's show we're gonna talk about some teams that are

peaking and slumping before the playoffs playoffs start next week this is our last group chat before the playoffs guys wow what are our standings where are we

I think we're on on the, like the eighth seed bubble. Yeah, take the bubble. That sounds about right. We're the heat. We're just dying to get in. We lost Josh Richardson. I guess that's Chris.

Yeah. We'll also talk about some other stuff. First, I want to talk about the real winners of this week, the Washington Wizards, firing Ernie Grunfield after 16 years at the helm. 16 years. I'm trying to think of the last thing I did for 16 years. I don't think it's anything. Maybe put contacts in?

Yeah. Besides Lyft, yeah. Well, you could argue. One could argue. But we're going to talk about some other bad teams in relation to the Wizards. We're going to call them our futureless rankings. Basically, a ranking of all the bad situations in the league, which ones are the worst. But starting with the Wizards, who I would say have the bleakest outlook in the NBA right now,

simply because while they got rid of Grunfeld and they brought in Tommy Shepard, a guy who, as far as I know, is respected around the league, even though he spent a lot of his prime years underneath Ernie Grunfeld. It's just one of these guys that's known for being a little bit ahead of the curve. He's got his work cut out for him if he does indeed stay, currently the interim role. Just based on the salary they have in the books, John Wall's contract is probably one of the worst contracts of the past couple years, really getting Gilbert Arena's vibes, which makes it appropriate that this is happening in Washington again.

Does this seem like Haley, the worst situation in the league to you? So are we talking about teams that I would least want to take over? Sure, we can go with that. Okay. You're taking interviews for GM jobs right now, so. Okay, I mean, I didn't want to say it. I was going to break it to you guys privately. The Wizards are tough, but it's almost hard for me to say that they are the worst outcome right now

or have the least appealing future. because part of what made them so unappealing to me before was Grunfeld. And it seemed like he was never going to be let go. And so that was a major part of it. And, you know, we thought because of him, they would never be able to break up the big three, which they actually did. He traded Otto Porter before he was fired. But I think that that played a large part in it. Big three there is a little generous thing.

They called them the Big Three. I mean, Big Three can be so many things. Right. We could be a big three, one might say. Great point. Yeah, I mean, it's extremely flexible these days. They are capped out, but one of those players is Bradley Beal. Who knows?

Maybe the new guy will come in and tell Ted, like, you have to let me hinky this. They will completely blow it up. There are just possibilities now because we don't know who's going to take over. Now, a lot of people think that a lot of what Ernie did was really what Ted wanted. So maybe it'll just be more of the same with the next person. but no, I would not call them the bleakest. I would have before, but not anymore, because things could change. Yeah, I think I would agree with that in that they're not the bleakest,

but my reasoning would just be like Bradley Beale. Like, he's really good. He's the ultimate kind. Yeah. No, he's just been, I just think he's really good. And they have talent. And, you know, just by him alone, right? And that gives you some sort of hope to be,

I don't know what, right? But like Haley was saying, maybe the GM that comes in is a guy who comes and blows everything up. Now, it doesn't seem like that's the direction that they want to go in. No, because part of the reason why he said he decided to finally fire Ernie was that they didn't have the 50 win season,

which was their goal, and did go further in the wild. So I don't know what does that mean they're going to... Right. Yeah, sorry. So I don't know if they're going to try to do a version of like the Clippers rebuild where they didn't really rebuild. They just kind of restocked and re-up or whatever.

I don't know if that's going to work. that's obviously a very unique circumstance. But you really don't see that a lot. You really don't. And so, I mean, I think they probably should go the blown up route. But if they did go the Clippers route, then it would mean finding a home for John Wall, which is not, was not, would not nearly be as hard as, well, obviously Chris Paul force a trade. It's not as hard as it was to trade Blake Griffin.

And then also DeAndre Jordan was up by himself. Yeah. Now, because they also don't have a number of their future picks, I think they don't, they've given away every pick until 2024. It's a second round pick. First round picks, we'll check and I'll get back to you. But because of that, if they do decide, like, I think it's smart to honestly let Bill go. See, that's where I'm, that's hard to say that also because Washington is not somewhere that free agents go. Yeah, it's tough because you look at the Clipper situation and they've been able to kind of rebuild on the fly there.

I think we've gotten to this habit of just assuming that the next star player is just going to want out of it. But I think there is something to be said about just trying to make it work while they're there. I think Bradley Beale is a guy who could feasibly still make an all-MBA team. I don't know if they'll have the wins and he'll have the support for it. But I would try to do what I can to make it work. To Haley's point, Blake Griffin, even though he is often injured, is an all-MBA guy in himself, like when he is playing. I don't know if John Wall's ever going to get back to that. Right.

That's the issue. And so that's why to me, it's like they just have this millstone of a contract. It's one of the biggest contracts in the league that didn't even start. His extension part of it didn't kick in yet that comes this summer. And then you have most likely four more years. Last year is a player option. But who's turning down $46.872 million in 2020 and 23. One team that, like the only team I can think of that's even close to that would be the Lakers.

And again, a Gilbert Arena sort of move where. the magic seemed like they were on their last leg. They needed to make things work. They swung the deal for arenas. Just hoping that getting the talent in there would kind of elongate their window with Dwight Howard toward the end there. It seems extreme, though. It's just completely improbable, especially considering, like, worst case, Lakers probably can sign like a Chris Middleton or someone like that. I can't see any team trading for John Wall and not asking for other assets.

Yeah. Which is a problem because, A, the Wizards don't have them. And B, that's not how a future GEOC. Demmer president is going to want to start his tenure. Yeah, I'll say this about the Wizards. I don't think they've drafted particularly poorly. I don't have much of an opinion on Troy Brown. He's a young guy.

He's still 19. Maybe he turns into something. He's the type of wing guy you want. But when they were at the top of the draft, they didn't flub it. They weren't like the Hornets with Michael Kiddlest at number two. Bradley Beals is an all-N-Bay player.

John Wall, when he's healthy, an all-MBA player. Otto Porter, they overpaid to keep him. Probably not the best move, but still a very good player who I think has kind of made sense of the Chicago Bulls' roster a little bit, Satteransky also helpful. I don't know.

It's just... I think the worst of their worst was really bad, Bessly. And then also, it's just that they haven't kept and developed those picks either. Like the products of who they've drafted has... It looks so much worse because think about the guys that they've kept who they've drafted. I saw a tweet that was like since 2009. it's Satteransky and Brown because Kelly Ubrey was traded.

That's the issue with it. That makes to look way worse. The trades for Uri... But to be clear, they've had really bad draft picks. Yeah, the trades for Ubray... Well, in the past. I think recently they've dropped it pretty well. Yeah.

Yeah, I just think for safety's sake, like, so someone doesn't come here and, like, protest outside. We should just say that, like, the Wizards have drafted poorly in the past. In the distant past, I would say. I think Vesley is a mistake. I think some of the other ones are mistakes. But I would say that their drafting has been fine.

I think it's what they've done around their draft picks. And the development is really bad. Yeah. It's just what have they done in addition to just drafting players and signing them to the max available contracts? The pressure is also... There's no direction. Like, the reason they traded...

They let Uber go via trade is because... And they got Trevor Areza back? Like, what was that? For an expiring contract, right? And then on a porter you get Bobby Portis and Joe Roy Parker back. But it's like what, like what's the end game there? You know what I'm saying? There wasn't much of a plan.

I think that with the Porter contract, actually, I'm supportive of that trade because it was a mistake when they offered it to him. And for a team that's already so tight in what they can do, it was just too much money to pay him. He wasn't like materializing into a guy who was worth that contract. in my opinion, Bobby Portis is someone who's far cheaper, and I don't want to say the words more useful, but more useful compared to what you have to pay him. And it gives you the flexibility. Like, I always go back to the wolves, they're so lucky that Jimmy Butler wanted to trade because if they would have felt like they were forced into resigning him, it would have given them no flexibility. All of a sudden, they have a lot of flexibility, and they have players like Bobby Portis,

who are, you know, like Robert Cummington, it gives them more flexibility to choose a different future going forward. Yeah, I just think that they had something going there. There's a team that we expected to be on the rise with that core of Beal and Wall. Just a few years ago,

we thought that that's the team of the future. It's just everything that they've done since then has been pretty questionable to me. And it's just they got all this cap space assuming that they could sign somebody and when they didn't, they kind of panic and just signed everybody off the street that they could,

Andrew Nicholson and some of these other guys. Yamahini. Yeah, the KD sort of... Thinking Katie was going to come and then panicking afterwards. It's like you can point to every team that's in cap trouble. It's because they panicked afterwards. I guess that would be the reason for optimism is that they do have Beal. We'll see what happens with Wall.

If someone can have more of a clear directive, if Ted Leone's just the owner, can put someone in place there who has more of a vision or who can walk the line between being competitive and not buy. bottoming out totally. There's something there is what I would say. So perhaps that's the counter argument to saying that the bleak is place in the league. I think something else that should be mentioned is that this kind of goes along with development, but the culture is just really bad.

And, you know, I don't know how much that has to do with if that will end until, you know, wall isn't there anymore. I think that some things might be a little bit beyond repair. And when you're thinking like a major overhaul, maybe it's something. to overhaul more pieces than just the GM. Right. And that's the big part of a lead decision maker's role is to establish that culture, get the right coaches in place to carry it out.

You hear that a lot. I mean, Apollo just spent some time with Atlanta Hawks. You could just tell from some of the details you were describing in your story earlier this week up on the website. Just how there's something changing there. There just seems like everyone's on the same page. It seems like there's like this infectious joy that spreads throughout them. and that's something that, you know,

that can't really be, that's priceless. Yeah. I guess you sort of need somebody to, not just to manage, but to establish, if that makes sense, like, because everything sort of flows from that.

And obviously the Hawks hiring Travis Schenck from the Warriors and then him bringing in Lord Pierce, it was like, they were all sequential decisions that had a through line, right? And that's, I think, what's more important, where you can see that through line eventually, like,

blossoming into a, maybe not a, successful team, but what team that has a plan and that could have a chance of success because of the way they're building the foundation. I think the Nets are really comparable in that way. Like, I would text Apollo the other day when the, it seemed like the entire Nets team went to their G-League semifinals, and now they're going to the, their team's going to the finals. And Theo Pinson hit a last second buzzer beater and, like, D'Angelo Russell and everyone exploded off the bench. and something like that didn't necessarily

like that doesn't exist on the Warriors or sorry, that doesn't exist on the Wizards. Yeah. Although it doesn't really exist on the Warriors right now. Well, yeah, it's just a different type of team where like sort of all the young guys, you have some guys go up to the NBA team and back to the G-League team.

Like the Clippers have a little bit of that too with Cendaris Stornwell and a couple of the other guys like Jerome Robinson where they're on both teams. And you see sort of the connective tissue across the multiple teams. Whereas when I was in the Wizards locker room earlier season for the Thomas Satteransky story I did.

It was the most bizarre and quiet locker room I've ever been in. No one was playing music. No one was talking. Like two people were showing each other memes on their phone. Wow. Memes do bring people together. That's true. I just looked up their Wizards draft picks.

Since John Wall, their first run picks, Jan Vesley at six, terrible. Bradley Beale at three. Otto Porter at three. I forgot they traded all these first run picks. So I'm starting to walk this back a little bit. But they got Kelly Ubrae one year. I believe that was in 2015 when they technically drafted Jerry and Grant. I think a lot of people...

And Troy Brown would be this year. Also, thinking that their drafting has been so bad is because they've traded, which I guess their picks, which you can technically count as part of drafting, but also because of all the players now who are veterans that they passed up on. So they're seeing that, like, Steph Curry could have been with. the Wizards. Clay Thompson could have been with the Wizards. There are a number of guys that they passed on that who are still active dominant players. And I think that's what hurts because it's lingering. Yeah. So if not the Wizards, who would you guys say is the bleakest outlook? You know,

honestly, like... The darkest timeline. The Suns are very much like a young team and one that have potential to change course. It's not like they're super capped out or anything. But the culture, again, is just seems so bad there. And it seems like it starts from the top. You know, we hear reports about the owner, Robert Sarver, all the time, having a heavy hand in the decision making and not being very good with that decision making. And it just feels like that culture won't change unless he goes. I think for me, for just choosing themes that I think are futureless, if you will,

the hornets. The hornets take the cake for me. For so many different reasons, I just think that they're, I don't know what they're doing, and even if they... It's usually a bad sign. Yeah, bad sign.

But even if they do decide to throw, you know, the entire brain structure toward a Kemba, which like, sure, you want to keep your guy. It really underlines for me how much worse it is to... If you don't have a superstar, How much worse it is to try and just treat your star as a superstar?

You know what I'm saying? Think about this. Think about this. All these years on Kemba's contract, one of the cheapest for someone of his talent. Right. Through the last four years, they failed to surround him with any talent. Right. So now you're going to super max him.

Or they can just max him? Well, if he makes an NBA. Okay. He can be surprised. Whatever. You're going to give him as much money as you possibly can. Right. Which honestly, I don't disagree with because I don't see any other future for them.

and you're still going to have a hard, you're going to have an even harder time surrounding him with talent. Well, that's the thing that I'm trying to get at is if you do that, you handcuff yourself even more. So what's the alternative? Is it to try and do some sort of like six-risk processing, right? It's like, well, how do you even, you have so much money on the books?

There's like every avenue is a dead end unless you blow it up. That's the thing is that Kamba is someone that they got through the draft. And I think that they're thinking is that that's the only way that they're going to get people. Yeah, so right now, before they make a decision on Kemba this summer, he's an unrestricted free agent for the first time. They have $102 million on the books already. It's before Kemba even comes into play here. Nick Batum, Bismack, Beyondbo's player option, Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams' is player option, and Michael Kiddclis, his player option. That's 85.1 million.

This is someone who multiple times, sorry, this is a team who multiple times on this podcast, we've wondered who their second best player is. Not because it's like a stiff competition, but like by default. I have to say when the first day possible that guys could pick up their player options this season, there's going to be like a party at like the Bojangles in Charlotte with some of these guys. Because there are three player options that like I can't imagine they waste even a second. Like Bismack Beyondbows, who I believe is coming in around like 15 million for doing nothing. I will say this. Recently, you've started to see signs of the coaching staff starting to.

to deploy their guys in a little bit more of an interesting way. I think we talked about this briefly last week, and Kevin O'Connor wrote about it for the ringer, I think two weeks ago, just kind of what they've been doing and the obstacles facing Campbell Walker. But they're kind of leaning into some of these younger guys. You're seeing more Miles Bridges. You're seeing Dwayne Bacon a little bit more,

who's kind of like budget what Mink Monk was supposed to be. Right. And so there's this like chalk outline of a versatile, switchy team with like a rim protector and Bismack at the rim. still it does feel like they're trying. Like they're trying to do something. If you're going to pick something to put your hope in if you want, if you want to call it that,

it is sort of the coaching staff. And that new, you know, Jim Spragher coming in and sort of trying to establish a different kind of culture, if you will, and playing those young guys more. But again,

it goes a like, that crashes against the, everything that is on your pay sheet, if you will, you know? So it's like how do you do that and how do you consider the future of the team while also considering how Kemba fits into that? And I think that's obviously the biggest question for them this off season. But it doesn't sound like they're not going to offer him all the money.

It's just about whether he turns it down or not. They have a number of second round draft picks going out as late as 2021. But they also do have, they should have four coming in. There are like stipulations on both sides. But it's not, it could be worse. Yeah, and they haven't drafted particularly well over the course over the past few years. Monk, I don't have much faith in him. I don't know if you guys still do, but Kaminsky, another guy who's kind of dying on the vine there.

Leake Monk is going to come around. He's young. Mitch didn't draft them. Yeah. Put your faith in Mitch. In the Lakers situation. So I have the Charlotta too, actually, as my bleakest outlooks. I had the son's seven just because it feels like I agree with Haley.

But just a tanking team just has all this wealth of town. talent. And so you just hope if they get the right coach, that they can do something. But I totally agree that everything comes from the top down. It is hard to attach that to a team that's not monetarily stuck. Yeah. You know, I think that that's what makes the Wizards, even though they have the most talent out of the three teams we listed at the top, the most bleak situation. And you could look at the Tyler Johnson trade they swung at the deadline as is kind of like maybe understanding their situation a little bit, just that they have. cap space, but were they really going to sign anybody?

And do you really want it to disrupt the good that you've kind of fostered with Devin Booker, who's going off for, you know, 50 and 60 pretty much every night? We got hers. It's still losing. But it looks fine. At the end of the season, what do we think about the signings that they had at the beginning? So obviously they traded Trevor Areza. But like, they brought him in.

They brought in Ryan Anderson. Am I missing someone? That was pretty much the gist of it. I mean. Tyson champ. At the time, at the time, it was like, like, okay, they're trying to add veterans who

might help the growth process. You know, both of them came from a winning team. But, I mean, it didn't really work. Yeah, I think that signing, in addition to firing Ryan McDonough, as GM just kind of underscored, like, how their perception of what their team was just wasn't reality.

And we were saying this in the preseason, too. Like, at best, let's say all of their draft picks play well, they're still a super young team and young teams make mistakes. There's like in the West where like a team like the Kings can't even break in, it was impossible. They weren't going to make the playoffs regardless. And that's where the ownership and kind of what the directive is coming to play with some of these teams where even if you're doing everything right, even if Aiton becomes the next

shack, if you're not like if things aren't in order, if you're not deploying them properly, if you're not giving them the appropriate time, like that screws everything up, undercuts everything you're going to do. Well, and it's also the system. Like, you think about the hawks, like, we're so into their system. And that's, I think, why we're, you know, assuming that they're going to have, like, a bright future, maybe more so than, I mean, definitely more so than Phoenix. I think we're already seeing the guys used in ways that we like, which, whereas with Phoenix, it's, like, not necessarily true. Yeah.

So I had Phoenix at seven on my personal rankings. Number three on mine is the Detroit Pistons. It's a bit of a curveball because. I literally forgot they existed. or they definitely would have been too for me. Tough. Look for the Detroit, man. That's perfect then because it just feel like even though they are probably going to make the playoffs, and Josh Richardson just news came down that he might miss two weeks with an injured groin.

So it seems like the heat are functionally out of that race unless they can rally here. But the Pistons are 39 and 39 this season. And that's nice, but that's probably the best they're going to get with his current core. Blake has played like an all-MBA player, as we mentioned, but like he's already 30. It's truly such a waste of a healthy Blake season Which is so sad Well they're gonna make the playoffs I mean that's that's their ceiling to me

So it's not really I don't know if it's a waste It's just like this is just who they are I think it is a waste because Blake could be on a team that I mean could possibly get to a finals If he's surrounded by the right person Yeah he's seen that story before The Clippers Yeah he would be good

There are many variables that go into that Like how many years were one of them injured? That's the thing about the clubber. I'm just saying. It was never choking as much as it was, like, bad situations for me. I think he'd be interesting on a team that already has something in place. And if he was, like, the fourth guy, if you're a team like the Rock, it's a few years from now. And let's just say that you have the contracts in order to swing a deal for him. And the Pistons just want to dump his contract.

I feel like he would be the type of guy. Like, you put him in a winning situation. Well, they wouldn't trade for him because they have Chris Ball. But a team like them. The heat, for instance, let's say the heat. That's interesting. Just want to get a star in air quotes into their system. I think he's the guy.

He could maybe take a second step under Expulstra and that whatever they're doing in the gym there where everybody gets abs all of a sudden. Yeah. Magic. Yeah, just use the medicine ball or what do you use for abs? What do you use your abs? Crunches. Do people still do crunches?

Planks? Yeah. Okay, let's do some planks later. Summer's coming. Even next season, it's already looking bad because between Reggie Jackson, John Lourer, who's playing 10 minutes a game, and Lings and Galloway, they have $35 million on their books. The one thing is, like, Drummond's player option becomes a bit of a question because

he's a type of guy who could probably get money elsewhere. I don't know. How much does his player option worth? It's worth $28.8 million. Which is a lot. No. He is definitely option. into that.

It's tough. He's 25 right now. He's going to be 27. It is crazy that he is 25 right now. I guess the age could, you can make a case that he could get more than that. Yeah, but if he stays the same center,

it's interesting because this year they kept saying that he's going to, doing Casey, was like, no, he's going to become more versatile. His skill set will become more versatile on offense. But if he stays the same center, think of two more years of, you know, progressing this modern offense

of taller guys coming into the league and being able to offer more. He needs to stop shooting threes. Yeah, he's taking... Until the playoffs, and then he should pull it out. He's taken 38 total this year. He has made five of them. So, like, kudos for trying. You know, we all need self-improvement in our lives.

That's what the summertime is for. Vulnerability. He's showing vulnerability. Wow. I love it. Summer is for shooting in abs, yes. Paolo, who do you have on your personal ranking? Well, number one was the Hornets. but I think the Pelicans are in a weird spot too.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Because they don't have, like, you have the grizzlies on this list, which I'm sure we'll get through or whatnot, but they have a young player in Jaron Jackson, Jr. I don't know who the Pelicans have as much as I like Frank Jackson. Like, they don't have, like, that type of guy to sort of at least hold on to. Now, that might change with the Anthony Davis trade,

but it really depends on what they're looking for to get in that Twitter. Are they looking for a picks package? Or they're looking for a player package? Who are they going to hire as a GM? Mark Stein reported today that apparently David Griffin interviewed. So that's interesting. But again, it goes back to sort of the theme we were talking about. It's just like you need some sort of ideas, some sort of foundation, some guy to come in and be like, hey, this is what we want for Anthony Davis.

This is what we're going to go get. Yeah, because they have Drew, which is at least some. I mean, it's some stability. Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. They need to kill that trade, though. They need to, like, really, really be smart in that trade or else this is, they're going to... Do you think they can't? Like, that's the question.

It depends on the GM, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, and when we spend a whole podcast talking about, like, some of the difficulties they might have trading with the Lakers again, and then kind of the cascading effects of that, plus, like, if Kyrie leaves Boston, like, what are they getting in there? I assume they'll have some sort of promising young player or draft pick to come away with it. But, you know, it gets really interesting there. Drew's the type of guy who's young enough who's good enough where you could do a Clipper's style reboot

with him playing some sort of role but I do wonder if he's the type of guy who wants to waste his prime essentially not competing for the playoffs as a guy who's had lots of injury issues over the course of his career I don't know if he's going to want to waste some of his best basketball

just like trying to make it work with Frank Jackson Yeah I'm not sure but yes I'm not sure that I don't know this for sure I can't think of a certain quote but Drew strikes me as the guy who's like the Bradley Beal type who's like, no, I won't give up on it. It's fine. Yeah.

Yeah, I think you just want to play basketball. I think he would probably enjoy playing in L.A. because that's where he lives. But aside from that, I don't think it matters to him, really. Yeah. I'm sure he wants to win as much as the next guy, but, you know. He's a tough guy to figure out. I think if the situation was going well, he'd want to stay.

He did say amidst all the Anthony Davis, like kerfuffling. Carfuffling, is that a word? Curfuffle. Sure. Carefulful. You're just making, yeah. Let's do it. I'm doing your thing.

That's good. I'm innovative, you know. Yeah. That, one of the big reasons. Yeah, that's me. One of the big reasons he stayed was two years ago when he signed it, re-signed with the Pelicans was just in order to kind of play with Anthony Davis. And he did say that for sure.

He did. He also, I think, because I was still on the beat at that time, I think he was all but gone at the end of that season. I think the Mavericks were in pursuit. I think the Sixers were also rumored to have interest. that's why the pelicans paid them as much as they did. It's worked out for both sides, but that's kind of where they can go one way or another.

If not, they go full reboot. And I think it's probably better for them overall, but then you open up a world of questions. Like, are we going to hit our draft picks? Do we have the system in place? Do we have the scouting system in place in order to kind of like get these guys in? Are we making the right gambols on certain guys

like Kenny Hustle in there, you know? Yeah. That's our guy. So, I don't know, it's kind of a big question mark. I had them at four actually right underneath the pistons. I actually think that before, again, like same kind of with Washington, before the Davis request for a trade, I had, I would have had them higher. But now that they have flexibility again, I think that's like way more appealing to me

than a team that's stuck with a talent like that. Because you're not going anywhere. It's been proven for years you're not going anywhere. But the option that you could get a mix of young guys with a ton of potential and picks, okay, like if they don't pan out, you don't have to pay them. You can start over. You can keep starting over until you get a solution. And in today's NBA, it's so much more acceptable to tank and at least look like you're working towards something

than it is to be on the treadmill of mediocrity. Right. Yeah. And that's why I think the summer is so big because they have to nail the GM hire and the trade. And it has to be, if they want to go back to the playoffs, even. Like, that's the bar if they want to get back into the Western Conference picture, which is hard enough in itself at some point in the next five years, maybe. Like, they have to get those right. Yeah, in the next five years, like, that's realistic.

But if they are setting the – I'm not even sure that the Clippers had that expectation going into the season or even halfway through when they traded Tobias. I'm not sure, but it's very fortunate. It's worked out that way for them. I'm not sure the Pelicans could pull that off, but I also wouldn't, I don't think their fans should be upset if they don't make the plash for three years, but all of a sudden are building toward something

and going in a new direction, because this direction just didn't work. Yeah, I think much like Washington, there's a situation where you get the right guy in place there, you kind of have free reign to do something pretty significant. The way I had been, the Pelicans organization had been described to me pretty recently, it was just that they are so hands-off,

and while that works to their, detriment in certain ways. If you have someone like a David Griffin or one of these other people with track record and a vision and just kind of let them go, that's ultimately probably for the best of the organization. There's not a lot of oversight, I guess, and people kind of meddling in the situation with the suns. So that would be to the benefit of someone potentially coming in there. Haley, who else do you have on your list? I just want to briefly circle back to the Wizards because Something just came to me like a cloud from heaven, like a really, what I think is an interesting idea. Okay.

Who says no? John Wall for Andrew Wiggins. That's an interesting one. You fix the— Andrew Wiggins is the worst player, but you kind of start to fix the locker room a little bit. Maybe you, like, get in a new coach who you think could develop better. Now, with that being said, Ryan Saunders has, it seems like, inspired Wiggins. He's had quite a positive stretch as of late.

But the wolves need a point guard. That's true. They need a point guard. I don't know if they need that point guard. I mean, I'd rather have him than Teague. Yeah, TIG is on the books next year for a player option at night. Oh, I would not have team than TIG too. I'm just saying I don't know what that does to their path now.

I don't hate it. Yeah, it's not terrible. It's an interesting idea. Walt's not going to play for a year. I'm like pouring over their books right now. Which is good because then they could like tank again. To the wolves. Oh.

So your team would functionally be Wall when he's healthy, Covington, Dario, Towns. I guess why would that sounds great, but I would say the Wizards say no. I would say the wolves say no just because I don't know what Wall's going to be. Well, I guess they're getting rid of that contract and then taking on Andrew Wiggins' his contract is not that great. That's true. they would have to take on another problematic contract. I think that where I'm going with this is that I really believe that Wall is a problem with the other players. Yeah, that's right.

After Jimmy Butler, you'd be sticking talents with Wall. He's going to have major PTSD. But yeah, I think that they are kind of different players. And I think that Wall just appreciates a team that appreciates him. Mm-hmm. And I think that ever since Spiel got paid more at first, you know, he like, he's been a little resentful since all of that. I think he just needs a new situation.

I think the wizards need a new situation, even if it's a player that's, you know, obviously has never shown the talent that Wall's shown. Yeah. I just forgot that we were recording this on a podcast, so Twitter, don't make fun of me for this idea. Bobby Porta's Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker on the same team. Like, that's just like I feel like.

They can get rid of Jabari eventually. He's not, he's super temporary. Well, he's, yeah, you're right. he's, it was only one year deal, right? It's the same option for next year, yeah. And as Bobby chimes in here,

John Wallen, towns have the Kentucky connection. There you go. Kentucky Connectes. Immediately become Chris Ryan's favorite team right there. They've always, so gross. They've always said that

Wall really wants to team up with another Kentucky guy. They've, you know, they've like mentioned Anthony Davis, DeMarcus cousins. I say you just put them on

all one team, so I never watched that team. That would be okay. It's always, It's always weird to me when guys just want to play with guys who went to the same college. For like six months. Not even in the same years. Yeah.

It's just like they're not even really friends, but they have mutual friends. It's a family just. Their mutual friend is like Coach Cow. Right. But you never know. These guys could have recruited and that could be a special connection. You know, maybe like John Wall recruited another player who now wants to play with him because they remember that. Haley, who do you have?

Oh, for what number are we on? We're jumping around. Okay, yeah, I think I've like changed the order a couple times, but definitely the pelicans, definitely the piscontas, definitely the wizards. I would go next with the calves. Okay. I like Memphis's future more than I did. Again, more than I did when they had Gasol and it seemed like they had to go for it because they have him and Conley. I just like when teams open things back up when it's clear that's not working.

That's been the philosophy for the last few years And a lot of the teams that have Abided by it are now successful Or at least we're starting to see a path Where they could become successful It works Now lottery reform might change that Quite a bit

Which is important Because Memphis kind of has to trade For somebody or draft them So another place that's not going to get free agents But I think the calves are worse off than them Yeah I think Memphis the big thing of like working against them

is obviously the draft pick they owe to Boston. It's top eight protected this year and top six protected next year. So they've kind of backed themselves into a situation where they're going to be bad

for the foreseeable future because getting rid of Gasol kind of just solidified that and then potentially losing Conley will only make it worse. So they're going to give up a very good pick. It's just a matter of when

the uncertainty is a little concerning to me and just the fact that while they have Jaron Jackson not like almost losing a year of reaping the benefits of being bad, it might be crippling. You know? We're not talking about just like an instant reboot.

It's potentially a couple years down the line now. Yeah, this feels like... And while I think your point is right about teams being aware enough to be like, all right, it's not working on, let's change it. You could argue that Grizzly should have done this a few years ago. Totally.

I completely agree. And I think that's one may be coming back to bite them a little bit. And now that they have to take a sort of a longer reboot, that they have that talent, like Jared Jackson Jr., and sort of hope that they can draft another guy. You kind of get into a son's situation

where they have Devin Booker. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But what are you going to do with him? And is it going to take too long to establish? I do think the Grossie's culture might be better, and, you know, just a little bit better than Phoenix's. But I think in general, it is

a little bit tough to see how they do, how they build this, you know, because the other topics in the, in Jared's draft have more of a, you know, I don't know, a positive outlook. Like you got the Mads who brought in KP and the Hawks like we talked about. And even the Kings, right, they're probably going to be expected to make the playoffs next year. So I don't know.

It's just a tough situation. And it's a bummer that they can't sort of maximize, you know, it's probably going to come back to bite them in the sense that Jerry Jackson is going to eventually need to get paid once the team is actually maybe getting good. And that's, you know, another issue to sort of keep an eye on. Right. The timing is bad. Yeah.

Right now Memphis is sixth in the draft tanking race, which means they would keep their pick for this year. It doesn't seem like they're going to get any better, too, because Jonas Valencianus was just lost for the season. And I went to their game on Sunday. And they were playing guys I've literally never heard of before. Some guy named Dusty Hanas. Like, I follow the league really closely.

I'm going to pay for his personal trainer this summer. Because I need that name to be in the NBA. next year. Julian Washburn also got minutes. Like I looked out on the court and I'm just like, it sounds like a key and peel skit. Yeah, yeah. Dusty Hannah's is, wow, that's special.

I love that. But yeah, to Paul's point earlier, I mean, the Kyle Anderson contract just seems really weird now because they're paying him for three more years after this one. And that's the type of like mid-level contract that you don't just want to give out. Also trading for just a holiday. Not great.

So clearly this wasn't the plan. Yeah. They were trying to go for it and things were right. Something that Pat Riley said when fans were getting really frustrated this last summer that they didn't make any moves was that he wasn't going to just make trades to make trades. It was surprising because he's always someone who's pulled off these flashy trades. But you look at their team now, and I think they are in a better situation than they were in this summer, even with the same guys. Because we've seen significant growth in some of them. And now maybe they're better set up to make a trade.

They didn't rush into Jimmy Butler. I think I'm not really sure that he's the best they could get. And then they'd have to resign him and they'd be in a lot. I don't even know if they'd have the money to resign him. They would have had to, I mean, they would have gotten off, I don't know, maybe Hassan Whiteside contract. I don't know how they would have done it, but they would have had to give something up. So I think that's the argument for not signing guys just to sign guys,

even though he said trade. I think patience and being really bad for a couple years is better. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, so I think that's a good pivot to one of the next teams I have in this list, the New York Knicks, clearly cleaned the books this year. I think we all assume that they're going to get somebody at this point, but it does, it's pretty much... It's really hilarious if they did it at this point.

Yeah, well, there's that possibility. It's happened before, though. Sure. It's happened before, and then Howard Beck wrote a story. Bleach Report this week just how he talked to a few front office people and kind of ranking the big market front offices

of the Nets, Knicks, Lakers and Clippers because it's the first time really since the Max contract came into play that all four are going to be free agent players and the vibe basically was that the Knicks still have some toxicity looming over them. A lot of it because of James Dolan.

Now, it could be the sort of thing where people in the league recognize that and it's completely different than a Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving who can recognize that, but they also see the opportunity to play together in the biggest market in the league and under a good coach, under a good coach, and also doesn't Kevin Durant have a good relationship with someone in the front office? I believe he has. Or at least through Rich. He's connected to one of the assistant coaches too, I think. Yeah. I think if we. Justin, read up. Read more. Well, I think he knows Steve Mills, but I'm not.

Yeah, it's Steve Mills. It's Steve Mills. Through Rich. I think that's a great point that maybe the league looks at it that way, but maybe the players don't. Because if we're thinking about these guys as guys who want to be agents of their own future and think that they have this and really do have this power as players, they're probably thinking like we're going to go in there and transcend whatever the issues are because that's just the type of the level of players we are, you know? LeBonse is a perfect example. I wouldn't be surprised if they kind of have, if they have that self-confidence to be like we don't really care about. I mean, yeah, it might be problematic down the line if DOLN's still running Knicks. And that's an issue that comes up with, like, the players and whatnot. But I think if he wants to go there, if other players want to go there, I don't know if they're necessarily, they should.

They should look at the ownership. But I don't know how many are actually looking at the entirety of what the organization is as opposed to what they can make the organization. LeBron is the perfect example. He knew who was going to be in the front office before he signed. And he had to have known that they didn't have very much experience. Yeah. Yeah, and I have the Lakers ninth on my list and the Timberwolves 10th. I would say for the Knicks, it's interesting how many variables matter here.

Obviously, getting Katie and or Kyrie matters a lot. I think also it matters how the Warriors do in the playoffs. I think that if they lose in the finals, I don't think Kevin Durant is going. I don't think he's leaving. I think that the note that he left on last time when he left, really hurt him. I mean, obviously, like, he had Burner's account. I don't think that can be...

I seriously think that that might affect it. Kyrie, you never know what's going on in his head. I also think that Dolan's selling the team, or not selling the team, maybe out of resentment, also factors into this. Because maybe they do think about that. Or maybe other players do think about that. So I think there's actually...

It's interesting because there's a lot of factors going into it. I mean, we have the Clippers who are a great example of showing how good ownership can make a difference. So it's not like I would imagine it's something people think about. I just think that if Kevin Drian wants to go to New York,

he's going to go to New York. Like, you know, I don't know if that's going to deter him. I seriously do. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if I agree with. I think he cares a lot about his image

and leaving on a good note. I think he really was damaged after leaving. So you think that if they win, he's gone. He's gone. But if they lose, he stays. Right.

I don't know I don't know if I agree with that I just I think he might be gone either way I think the losing would also be like all right well this is it like can't win anymore so let's go or you know or the winning it's like well we won everything so let's go you know I don't know

you could frame it either way all right that's it we'll wrap that up for talking about some of these bad teams here but there are still some good teams playing with about a week to go for the regular season the bucks are playing the Philadelphia 76ers at 5 p.m. Pacific tonight on TNT We're going to call that our watch of the night here

We do this once a week It's pretty much the best game on the schedule Some other bad ones out there So this is definitely the one you want to focus on tonight It just still seems like The Sixers have a little bit of proof here Especially against some of the teams They're going to go up against in order to potentially make the finals

The Bucks are just like losing players left and right But are still kind of motoring through the end of the season here They probably won't get to 60 wins Although they're two out So that one would be interesting just because from the narrative perspective, Bud and Mike Bodenholzer, obviously had 60 with the Atlanta Hawks in 2014-15.

So it's always interesting to compare those two separate teams. So that's at 5 p.m. Pacific tonight on TNT. Remember, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com or your local cable or satellite provider. All right, we're going to take a quick break here and we're going to talk about some good teams who are either peaking or slumping.

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All right, we're back. We're going to talk about some good teams, at least in theory. The big game last night from Wednesday, I thought, was just that Rockets Clippers game. And it ended up being a blowout right from the start there. But the Rockets over the past couple of games have really acquitted themselves. I mean, it's so weird to think back and to look at some of the stat sheets. And you see guys like Carmelo Anthony and James Dennis and the fact that they weren't going to make the playoffs. And we're really teetering on the...

Archie's Chris. Yeah, some of these guys that are in there. They're essentially a new team here. But they blew out the Clippers last night. They blew out Denver a couple of games ago. And pretty much that's their path through the playoffs now. It seems like they're going to get locked into that three seed, Clippers with the six, Denver with a two.

So it's pretty good sign when the two teams you're going to face most likely in order to get back to the Western Conference finals or ones you've completely dominated over the last couple games of the season. I don't know. Do you guys feel the same way about them? Am I wrong to think that they're the most dangerous team in the NBA right now? No, I agree. I think it's funny that people always, there's been, you know, studies on whether the last 15, 10 games of the regular season in effect postseason plays,

the most of the first 10 or fifth thing, and the concept of momentum and whatnot. But I do think there's something to be said for a team figuring itself out through the course of the season and being at its best closer to when the games are going to matter, you know? And I think what the Rock is, you see that because of their defense. specifically and how good they've been. I think they're number, the third best defense since the all-star break. And they just seem to be so locked in on many different levels.

They know how to play with Hardin. They know how to fit around them. They know how to defer, but they also know how to contribute like Chris Paul did last night. And I don't know, obviously facing words is another conversation altogether. But as far as like everybody else in the West, there's nobody else.

I wanted to trust the thunder for a while, but they've fallen off. So I think there's nobody else that's more dangerous. Do you mean more dangerous to the most dangerous to the warriors or just the most dangerous in general? I'm not sure. I think definitely to the warriors. I want to say that they might be more dangerous than the warriors at this point. I'm cautious about saying they've figured themselves out than just they're in it, they're streaky and they're in another uptick.

I think that we haven't had this many good defenses on the east and in the west for the top teams in some years. kind of because of the calves. So it's exciting, and I'm glad that the rockets have a solid defense. And I think that that really matters if they can continue that in the playoffs. Yeah, I think that's most more important because we know what their offense is already.

Like, we know what Hardin does, what Worker's Popfids, what Capella does. It's all there. It's just about if they can take the advantage on defense offense somehow against the Warriors, which is very, it sounds unlikely, but it's possible that's maybe the key to making it another seven-game series.

I don't know. I've been watching this team pretty closely over the past couple days here. I think they might be better than last season, which is crazy to think just because they struck that balance between offense and defense so well and really dominated all of last year. They won 65 games. I just feel like we put a lot of stock in Trevor Arisa

as being the key to everything. And obviously they took a hit when they lost him, but it was more because of the guys they tried to use in order to fill the void. It was the mellows. It was the Michael Carter Williams's. It was the Marquis Christ's of the world. But they've slowly and steadily

just worked the fringes better than I think I've seen in a very long time. Like, Daniel House, I believe. It looked great last night. I think he's like a credible 3-and-D wing. I think he's shooting close to 40%. And he's the type of guy that is pretty much enough of what you want for Marisa.

It's basically you're trading off the certainty of Areza, a veteran who's been in those situations, who's been with the Rockets for a very long time, friends with James Hardin, to almost these dice role players like House, like Austin Rivers, Amon Shumpert, who they

got effectively just for getting rid of Brandon Knight's contract and a draft pick. So they have some guys, and I'm really curious to see what they could do in the playoffs. Well, I think they've also, you know, we've often talked about Hardin's defensive reputation, but they've

as he's gotten a little bit better on that and I think they've sort of been gotten emboldened if you will by him causing deflections or you know getting steel which which he has done a very good job of this season and

and taking on this sort of I don't know if I want to call it identity but of like kind of wreaking havoc a little bit and being that way on the defensive end because if you watch them against a couple of us last night they like suffocated them like they were they were you know deflecting passes forcing a lot of turnover us and

that's the way you want a team to look like if you're going to go up against the Warriors, I think. Hardin's been good on defense. Well, I wouldn't say good. I would say serviceable for sure. Yes, competent. So, yeah, well, I think, I mean, even in the beginning, a lot of it was just that he was lazy on defense.

It wasn't necessarily that it wasn't there. I think that his defensive abilities or lack of defensive abilities, like, I wouldn't even have called that true last year. There were many moments last year when people compare like Russ's defense even to Hardens and pretty often

Hardens is better. His post defense is also really good. I think if you look at the analytics. Yep. Paul just cramming those stats. Now it's funny to think though, like we talk about how so much has changed with that team but they really just their best five or the five they're probably going to use most often in the playoffs is still the same guys.

It's just Hardin, it's Paul, Derek Gordon, it's Concapella, it's PJ Tucker. Yep. So like we always talk about consistency being key to certain teams There is a degree of consistency. They've just been able to fill out the six through eight guys that they're going to need in a playoff series. So I'm really encouraged. I'd be surprised at this point if they didn't make the Western Conference finals again.

And I'm starting to think that they might even get. My one concern is that Hardin had a huge year. He had a historic year of scoring. And guys do get worn out. They're going to need that from him in the playoffs. and the first place that his energy will go is defense. And to that point, also, Chris Paul has returned from another hamstring injury, and he's been very good, he's been pretty good, but can he hold up, right?

Is he not going to fall into another injury trap in the postseason, which obviously would doom them again. So it's a very fine line. Yeah, I think Hardin's usage this season is second in history only to the Russell Westberg MVP season, which is a lot, and it's a lot of isolations. He's like, if you look at the frequency of isolation plays, it's like Hardin at like 40 percent in the next two, were rockets too and then everybody else falls out. It bangs up your body too. Yeah.

But I guess the flip side of what you're saying about Chris Paul would just be that they were right there. And if they had Chris Paul, if he does stay healthy, I think they win that. They probably win that series. They're up, you know, 3-2 with Home Court advantage. Up at half time. Up at half-time in game seven. They were up, I think, like 17 in game six. They lost by a statistical like anomaly, basically. The irony was quite perfect. But you know. Get some of those. LeBron no injury shots. Okay, let's move on here to our slumping team, which I can't think of a team slumping more than the Oklahoma City Thunder, much to playoff pee's chagrin here.

In the past 15, they're 6 and 9, in the past 10, they're 3 and 7, recently swept by the Nuggets. Not a good sign going into a playoff series where you're probably playing the Nuggets in round one. I guess that is kind of that playing the nuggets is the question about the Thunder, right? Where in the regular season, they were beat every time they played them, but is this team going to be any different in a playoff series? The Thunder just don't have enough offensive depths. Yeah.

You just don't to be good in a playoff series. And I think the news came out today that doesn't look like, like Andre Oberson was supposed to play some games with the G-League team, but he is now not able to because he's not but also the G-Leaks season ended. Oh, no. So they don't know what the plan is there. So that's not good. That's more on defense.

But I think you're right. Like, I don't know where else they are going to get that offense from. Well, I mean, often it will come from some player. Yeah, they'll have a good game. It'll be like one in three games. Yeah, Schroeder. It'll be like one in three games. And that's not consistent enough.

Right. Jeremy Grant. They have to fall back on the defensive identity. That's their strength. And then hope that Paul and George can score 40 points. tonight. Yeah. They were built

around Paul George being transcendent in a defense that was like bordering on transcendent and when Russ stresses out because nothing's going

right you know he kind of gets aggressive and in the wrong ways. I like you framing it as stressing out like he stresses out and that's how

that's what leads in I think that's how he reacts is that he goes very much like I'm going to win this game I have to win this game which is like you can't

you're not going to win this game by yourself right And also it seems like Paul George may be having a shoulder issue too, which is factoring to all of this. Yeah. It's always interesting when Rosa Westbrook has these kind of like statistical feats. He obviously had 2020, just I believe a day after Nipsey Hustle died. And it's like he made a big point of it and it was a nice moment.

But there's always that kind of nagging thing in the back of your mind like, why aren't you like this all the time? I think it would be exhausted. I think it's just like exhaustion. Yeah. Because he does have to pull a lot. lot of weight for the rest of this team. And, you know, their defense has been good all year. And that's also kind of exhausting. All right. Let's move on to a team that's peaking here, the Utah Jazz. In the past 12, they're 11 and 1. The funny thing is, though, I cannot have

envisioned an easier stretch of games than the Utah Jazz have played over the past couple. I'm going to read this off to you. They've had Phoenix, Minnesota, Brooklyn, Washington, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix again, Los Angeles, Washington again, Charlotte, Phoenix again. That's basically like, go get that four-season, go get the five-seat. Right. So I'm a little bit torn here. I think things are coming together, as they often do late in the season for the Utah Jazz. The problem is just, like, this is cake.

There's really nothing to be gleaned from here other than they're just kind of taking care of business. I think that that contrasts with the next team that we're going to talk about. about, which is the Nets, they've had a horrifically tough schedule. Yeah. And I've watched their games and, you know, the things that they have struggled with all season last night, turnovers and rebounds, it's tough when you're playing teams that are like that excel and are good in forcing those. But I think that they, it's not themselves that has slumped.

I truly think it's the schedule. It's been brutal. With the jazz, that does make me not trust them as much, maybe, because while I think may be coming together and improving, there's no, there's no barometer. Like, it's not a proper way to measure them. I feel like going into the pub. Now, getting to the five-seat instead of, you know, where they could have played Portland, like that's huge because then, I mean, Portland, obviously with the use of Nerkich injury,

they're very vulnerable. I will say with the Jazz, it is good to know that they are not a team that plays down and plays up to their opponent. And it's nice that they're consistent enough to win the games that they have to win. or they should win, I should say. Yeah, I'm a little wait and see on the jazz here. In terms of the Nets, the past 15, they're 7 and 8. As Haley mentioned, they do have a pretty rough schedule.

I guess for me, it was just the game against the Raptors only confirmed that they can only do so much against certain teams. And now the Raptors are probably a top five team in the league, if not higher than that, perhaps, top four. Just they have so much to throw at them. And it seemed like the Nets were trying to shoot them out of the game. but the Raptors would just keep going to either Kauai Leonard or more often Pascal Seacum in the post, just for these easy buckets because it was usually like a Spencer Dinwiddie because they were going with a three-guard lineup or someone like our guy Rodney Kierks. Yeah. Rodion's Kierks.

Kierks. That's enough. And or just Kauai Leonard in isolation. It's just like it was just a little too easy. The Raptors are so adaptable. It contrasted how much the nets aren't. But again, it's the same thing that I was saying with the schedule. Like, this is who they have been.

And I still think that's impressive. Granted, I don't think that's enough to like, if they do end up playing the Raptors, it's just not enough. It's a nice story for one. But it's also one that I thought with the right matchup could make an interesting first round series. Same. But the Raptors are not the right match. No, not at all. I think the Sixers would have been a nice matchup because they have trouble defending guards like DeAngel

Russell. And that would have been very interesting to me. I still think the Sixers would have won, but something like that, I think, could have pushed their season a little further. Yeah, it's just interesting because we talked about, I think it was last week, about just teams that can upset other ones. And it's interesting to think about in contrast to the NCAA tournament, just because, like, a lot of times, if you just get hot from three, then you're a 12-seat and you're all of a sudden in the elite eight. Minnesota, kill me. There you go. with a team like the Nets, you're going to have to beat them four times.

You're going to have to beat the Raptors four times. And it's just a tough matchup for anybody, let alone a team that doesn't really have a lot of size, is going to have to shoot you out of the game. So it's interesting to see. I think it's been a positive season overall here. We'll see, I guess, what happens in free agency going forward. That's it for me, I think. Anything else, guys?

Haley. Just going to put my contacts in. Yeah? Let's do it. Go out of here shooting. Any more shape? to throw anyone? At who?

Paulo, you want to talk some more shit? Meet you outside after this? All right, that's it for this week. We'll be back next week when we'll have some playoff matchups to discuss. Basketball is very good. Basketball is very good.