Hoops Tonight - Warriors right ship, Top 5 trade proposals, Lakers "Big 4," Celtics bulk up

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basketball doc over here today. We're starting this morning with a breakdown of voyeurs nets from last night for our Warriors fans, and then after that we're gonna hit on five teams with five trades that I would like to see this year at the deadline. And then later this afternoon, I'm actually recording with Chris Mannix and with Colin Coward separately, so we've got tons of other basketball talk coming out later this afternoon as well. Then we'll get back into

some game breakdowns tomorrow morning. Before we get into the trade deadline. On Thursday, we got fun night tonight of basketball. We have Orlando Miami. That should be interesting because both Miami needs a win, Orlando's playing really really well. And then we have Phoenix Milwaukee, which is going to be an awesome game that we'll be hitting in tomorrow's show. You guys have Joe fourget started. Subscribe to our brand

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All right, let's talk some basketball. So one of the beautiful things about the game of basketball, something that I've always really appreciated is when you have a bad day, you can typically turn around and fix it within a day or two you know, whether it's you know, you're playing in college and you have a bad conference loss, There's usually not a lot of time to think about it because you got to turn around and play another conference game usually two or three days later, right or

in the pros, or even if you just go down to the gym and you have a bad day playing pickup, you usually can turn around and go up the next day and make it feel better, right, just by playing better and righting those wrongs right. Well, the Warriors had a heartbreaking loss on Saturday night in Atlanta where they wasted a sixty point Steph Curry performance, and they righted a lot of those wrongs in some specific areas crunch time, execution,

getting some support for Steph. A big one was just getting better and sharper on the defensive end of the floor. That actually, ironically it was the bench that fueled this

win against Brooklyn. There was a kind of a strange line up there at the end of the third quarter that ended up springing the run as Brandon Pitziemski with Lester keinonez Gi Santos so another big forward that we haven't seen much of this of this year, that kind of just provided that size and motor, which is so incredibly valuable in the NBA some solid point of attack defense as well. Jonathan Kaminga was the offensive fulcrum of that run, pushing out in transition, drawing fouls. He hit

Kevon Looney on a cut to the basket. When the Nets lost him, they straight ioed him against McHale Bridges on the left block and he just went to that little left shoulder fade that he's been hitting. Once again all season long. We've been wondering whether or not Jonathan Kminga would slow down as like a post up kind of fulcrum weapon that they could go to, especially as just like a half court option that is in Steph Curry,

and he just continues to be efficient. And we're going to get back to that when we start talking about

trunch time. But like that, they ended up building a double digit lead, going up by ten points there in the early fourth quarter, and that just kind of changes the calculus of the way the end of the game is gonna go, because then when Steph comes back in, he's not in a situation where he's in a dog fight and he has to hit shot after shot after shot just to stay punch for punch with a Trey Young or punch for punch with a Deern Fox or whoever it is that they're going up against. Instead, he's

hitting stiff arm shots. He's hitting shots that are maintaining the lead and keeping that you know, distance or lower pressure. There's more margin for air. And that's the key because margin for air has been one of the biggest issues for the Warriors this year. They can't afford to really get into super close games late because they've struggled so much, particularly getting stops and getting offensive support outside of Steph.

And when you give yourself more margin for air, then when Roy O'Neil gets hot like he did there in that fourth quarter, he was the one guy for Brooklyn who really had it going. He just a guy that can get really streaky hot from the three point line right. And when Roy soneil got hot and made a bunch of shots, he never was able to actually get the game to the point where it was in danger. It was all just kind of stuff that kept the game somewhat in reach, right, And so that margin Farrer made

a big difference. So shout out to those guys again. Johnath kaminga leading the way with on the offensive end of the floor, and then everybody just playing really hard in that group, specifically down the stretch. Gi Santos and Brandon Pitziemski were super super active on both ends of the floor defensively in help, especially on the offensive glass. Those guys had five offensive rebounds, some huge ones. Gi Santos just was constantly right around the front of the

rim where he needed to be. Brandon pit Zemski got a contested offensive rebound. I actually clipped this play and put it on my Twitter feed where he was going up over a bunch of six ' eight six ' ten athletes and just rose up over everybody because he wanted the ball more and went to get it right. We talked a lot about this concept on the show, the difference between you know, talent and like discipline when it comes to a good defense, and both parts are

equally important. There are personnel limitations. You're gonna need Gary Payton back to be as good as you can be defensively, right, You're gonna need Andrew Wiggins in the lineup to be as good as you can be defensively. But if you do all the right stuff, if you're in the right spots, if you're committed to the details, if the communication is there, your basketball character as I always call it, if you

can get there, that's half the battle. And particularly in matchups like this against the Nets, a team that don't have like they're struggling in their own ways, right, Like McHale Bridges is a number one option, has some limitation. Spencer Dinwood, he's had a bad season. He once again last night driving into traffic and throwing up bs and missing shots and complaining to the rest while they're running

out the other way. He's just had a rough year, right, And like they got some young guards that like Dennis Smith Junior and Cam Thomas that can struggle with decision making and defense and stuff like that. So like in a group like that, if you do the right stuff, like if you just are in the right spots, you can go a long way towards pausing their offense to have issues. And then when you play against the best

teams in the league, that's where you need both. That's where you need the personnel strengths and the schematic strengths. But I thought last night was a big step forward just in terms of the commitment that the Warriors need to make to being a better defensive team and then down the stretch. I really really liked the versatility that Golden State went with in terms of their offensive approach.

We talked a lot yesterday about the idea of like Steph Curry just kind of hunting his shot, and when it's working, it's great, but when that starts to whether the defense starts throwing multiple bodies at him or whether

it's you know, him just starting to cool off. Like you know, jump shooting is a high variance thing, even for the best player in the world or what the best shooter in the world, I should say, right, So, like that's an important kind of like part of that process, and so adding a little bit more variety to their attack can go a long way to kind of maintaining their offensive success. I really liked that they did run

some pick and roll. There was a Draymond short roll that led to a Jonathan kaminga dunk when Steph Curry drew a blitz, but they didn't overdo that. One of the things that becomes a problem that we've seen this season is teams just start to blitz step super super aggressively and the Larriors that struggled a little bit to work off of that. And we saw this a little bit in the Hawks game where Steph started just going

straight ISO against the Johntay Murray. We saw a lot of that down the stretch, and then Draymond instead of setting a ball screen, he'd sit in the lane and basically like box out the help defender, like screen the help defender just so that he can't step over and help on Steph. And then he ended up icing the game with a floater that was an and one where

beat a guy in straight ISO. Then he was getting just kind of slowed down and waited for the back pressure to come, drew the fall and made the little floater. But the big kind of thing that stood out to me was there was a big possession down the stretch of the game where the Nets kind of because again the Nets kind of kept it close with those Roys O'Neil threes, where they Steph just straight up went to Jonathan Kaminga on the left block in a post up

against Roy O'Neil, and he drew a foul. And I thought a couple of different things, One like the trust that Steph was showing. And again we talked about this. I actually was pitching this in yesterday's show. But like like before, last night, Jonathan Kmingo was seven for thirteen in crunch time this season, that's over fifty percent. Again this season, a post up for Jonathan Kaminga has been worth well over a point per possession, and it helps in a bunch of different ways. It's rest for Steph,

but it's also it's also just variety. It's a different thing for the defense to have to deal with. And so I really really liked the just the overall kind of variety that Golden State brought to the table down the stretch in crunch time. They've got a couple of tough games on the horizon here, so we're gonna find out a lot about the Warriors in the next week and a week and a half. But I thought last

night was a big step in the right direction. You will not see Golden State on my top five trades list. They might end up making some type of deal, But Steve curR is right. The Warriors dead line basically amounts to guys coming back. I would put the Warriors deadline down to three things. You're getting CP three back to stabilize your bench units. You're getting Gary Payton back to

stabilize your perimeter defense. And then the rapid rise of Jonathan Kaminga is an influx of talent in his own way. At another twenty eight points and ten rebounds last night, we're now at a ten game stretch of him averaging twenty five points and seven rebounds on sixty one percent from the field, fifty four percent from three, and eighty percent from the line. He's getting to the line a

half dozen times a game this year. The foul drawing thing has been something that's been consistent, and that's what he did on that big late post up. He just went to that same left shoulder fade, but he could tell Royce was being physical with him, so he just elevated straight up and down and baited Royce into bringing too much contact to the table. It's starting to get a favorable whistle too. In a lot of ways. The refs know that that Jonathan Kaminga has these defenders out

of position. But really the only way you could truly substantially improve this roster is to trade Jonathan Kaminga, because he's the one guy who has the value that could bring back a truly you know, like a franchise altering talent, but then you give up his substantial long term potential

and that's just not worth it. And so at this point you're better off with the rise of Jonathan Kaminga and some reinforcements from guys who are injured with trying to make a run at that point, and then you can make a call based on how Jonathan Kminga looks as a number two option in this year's postseason, which I do believe the Warriors will get into that play in tournament at least have a chance to play seven games against a really good team, so you can get

a good read for how ready Jonathan Kaminga is to contribute in a championship context. All Right, So we're going to go through five trades that I would very much like to see this season. Trade Number one, the Suns get a wing that can play alongside their stars. The framework of this trade would be Rayson Allen and this here little with two second round picks for doriy and Finney Smith from the Brooklyn Nets. Now I know Suns fans are going to immediately be repulsed by this because

of the idea of losing Grayson Allen. And this is where I want to talk more about separating regular season results from the reality of your playoff matchups. And one of my long standing basketball philosophies, which is the most important thing for a basketball team is to have a group of five guys that you can trust to go down against the best teams in the league. This is an issue that I've dealt with a lot with Lakers

fans as it pertains to D'Angelo Russell. Like D'Angelo Russell has been vitally important to the Lakers this year as a playmaker and as a scorer in a lot of ways, especially as of late right, Like similar to what Grayson Allen has provided to the Phoenix Suns alongside their stars, that offensive firepower and shooting has Grayson Allen has been the best shooter in the league this year from three

point land right. So, like I understand the sentiment, and like that's thing, like when the Lakers lose D'angela Russell, if they decide to trade him in this deadline, they are losing playmaking, they are losing scoring is a it is a tradeoff. But what I've always said to Lakers fans is the simple reality that you cannot win the NBA title starting Austin Reeves and D'angela Russell or closing with Austin Reeves and D'angela Russell next to each other. Why because when you get to the best teams in

the league, not the eighty two games. You can go and play quality basketball over the eighty two games in against a bunch of random opponents. But when it comes to beating the Clippers four times out of seven, beating the Nuggets four times out of seven, beating the Timberwolves four times out of seven, beating the Thunder four times out of seven, I don't think that works. And the same thing goes for the Suns. Bradley Beal is six ' four. Devin Booker is six to six and is not particularly

strong or athletic. The Suns have struggled against the bigger front lines than the league this year. They struggled against quality opponents in general. They're zero to two against the Clippers. They're ow and to one against the Denver Nuggets. The Big I went through their schedule. The big front lines they played are Philly, Orlando, Minnesota, the Lakers, the Nuggets, and the Knicks. They're four and seven against those teams.

So it's been a consistent issue, especially when they run into bigger, more physically imposing teams that they haven't been able to win that battle in terms of like, let me outscal these guys as opposed to trying to match their physicality. And so, the way I look at it, do I think Grayson Allen, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal can all be on the same floor to start and close games against the very best teams in the league. I don't think so. I think it's a little too small.

I think it's a little bit lacking in that physicality. Dorian Finney Smith gives you a real option there. He can take primary point of attack assignments, he can really shoot the basketball. He increases the physical profile of your lineup. He's not gonna be as good offensively as Grayson Allen is, but they're a diminishing return and an off ball offensive role, and what you're gaining in the physicality area of the game goes a long way towards addressing that specific concern.

I also think it gives you a clear fit in your starting and closing five. So let's say, for instance, you need to go big against a team like Denver. I like the idea of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Dorian Phinney Smith yusif Nurkic. You have a big body that can bang with Jokic, you have a ton of offensive skill around him, and you have two giant forwards on the floor. I shouldn't say giant, but two big forwards on the floor that can help you in rotation

around use off Nurkic. Okay, you're playing against the Clippers. The Clippers sent zubots to the bench, and you want to go you want to size down with them. Instead of sizing down into a much smaller version of the Clippers with Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen and literally just

four guards next to Kevin Durant. You can go Kevin Durant, Dorian Finney Smith, Eric Gordon as a guard that sizes up a little bit with Bradley Beal and Devin Booker and just give yourself a more physically imposing version of that KD at the five group. And so I just think, I think again, it's when you look at the Sun's situation because they don't really have much draft capital aside from second round picks, because they don't really have easy salaries to swap around to make this type of change.

Grayson Allen, even though he's been such an important player for them this year, kind of turns into one of their more important assets. And so that's kind of the framework of that deal. And then for Brooklyn, you're getting two second round picks and a player in Grayson Allen that you can probably turn into more draft compensation. Grayson Allen has a lot of value around the league. For instance, these that affordable number best shooter in the league this year.

It's really that simple, and it kind of reminds me of this idea, kind of reminds me of what Portland did this summer, where like, you're getting draft compensation in these deals, maybe not as much draft compensation as you could get elsewhere, but you're getting another player that you can then turn around and get more draft compensation for. It's almost like a domino effect in that sense. So that's trade number one. Trade number two Boston gets porzingis insurance.

So essentially the way this would work is there is a trade exception from the Grant Williams deal that would be able to take in Andre drummonds entire salary this year, and so basically it'd be some form of draft compensation in the form of second round picks or swaps or something along those lines for Andre Drummond. Now here's the idea.

Chris hops Porzingis has actually been Boston's most important plus minus guy this year outside of Derek White and Jason Tatum, who are arguably their two best players depending on how you feel about Jalen Brown. Right, But ironically, it's not as much about the offense in my opinion, as it is about the defense. Kris hops Porzingis is the only guy on the roster that provides a real rim deterrent.

And again, as I've talked about so much on the show, when you actually combine perimeter defensive talent with aggressive with an aggressive approach to like just attacking the basketball, Basically, he forced guys to drive, and when you force guys to drive into length, real imposing length around the basket, it can be bothersome to to an offense, right, And I think we saw this a lot over the years with Robert Williams, Like there's no doubt that the Celtics

offense kind of had more free flowing driving kick potential with Al Horford at the five, but when Robert Williams was out there will they were able to reach defensive ceiling, especially in that twenty twenty two season that was higher than anybody in elite really. So the idea there is like when you really dig down into it, Derek White's been mostly healthy this year. Jayson Tatum has been mostly healthy

this year. Jalen Brown's been mostly healthy this year. I expect Trew Holliday to be ready to go in the postseasonsps Porzingis has shown the propensity to suffer little nagging injuries. His ankle's been bothering him a lot this year. There's just little things that have been botherings Porzingis, and with him going down, it's a pretty steep decline to Al Horford and some of the bench centers that they have. This is an example of like a margin for error trade.

You're turning basically some moderate draft compensation in a trade exception into a player that not only gives you some depth and some like I said, some insurance on chrisops Porzingis, but also gives you a real physical look. I covered Andre Drummond very closely when he was with the Lakers. Obviously, that was back when I was doing State of the Lakers. And what I remember about the Andre Drummond experience is like, he can't be someone you're leaning on really heavily from

a talent perspective, but he is truly physically imposing. He's inconsistent, but he can actually win you games with some of the strength and physicality that he brings to the table. He's actually like a surprisingly active pick and roll defender with his hands that can get deflection. Has always been a high steels guy for a center. This year, he's averaging eighteen points and nineteen rebounds per thirty six minutes. And again that doesn't mean he would get that if

he played thirty six minutes. It's just an indicator of how active he is within his minutes, active in his minutes as a thirty six minute player would be if he averaged eighteen and nineteen. Right. So, like I just think, when you really look down the roster, I see some other needs for Boston. Could they use a backup guard, Yeah, but that's a tough one to go after. And then also when you really look at the rotation, it's going

to be Derek White and Drew Holliday. At the end of the day, you kind of know what you have there, right. Could they use a bench wing, Sure, But the way I look at it, I expect Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown to be ready. The one real area of weakness in my opinion, that's a real vulnerability is like, what if chrisops Porzingis is just not able to play and

this just gives you an additional look there. You can lean on Al Horford, but if Al Horford doesn't have it, you at least have another high quality option you can go to in that spot. Have you, guys, ever had a bad ticket buying experience. Maybe you go to check out and ends up being way more expensive than it was when you clicked on it. Or maybe you go to your seat and then it's up being not what you expected when you bought it to begin with, or

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to put next to Damian Lillard. So the framework of this trade would be Marjon Bouchamp and a second round pick, specifically a second round pick they have from Portland that is going is projected to be in the upper half of the second round, so effectively is like a very late first round pick, if that makes sense. But the framework of the trade wuld be Marjen Bouchamp and a second round pick for Chris Dunn. Now Chris Dunn for those of you guys who have been following the league

in a more broad sense. This year with the Utah Jazz has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He's got super long arms, he's got like a six nine to sixty ten wingspan. He's very physical, he's very athletic, he's very active. He can actually guard up a little bit. But he's just one of the better point of attack defenders in the league. And he's actually been shooting really well this year. He's got one point twenty five points per catch and shoot jump shot

this year. That's outstanding. He's converting spot at possessions at one point to one points per possession, albeit not super aggressive, but if you leave him open, he has been making teams pay this year. He also has like a little bit of off the dribble pop where he like late light clock like rescue possessions and stuff. He's a guard. He can make a dribble combination into a bolt jumper if he needs to. He's actually had a pretty solid

offensive season at super super low volume. But the idea here is like that, that's what Chris Dunn does for a living. He defends this is an example of a player because, like you, when you look at Andre Jackson Junior and Marjon Bochamp and some of the other options that the Bucks have tried at the two this year, they're athletic wings that have potential to be outstanding options in those spots. But it's the classic trade off, and Doc Rivers has shown you he's not interested in playing

the young guys anymore. He wants to lean into the vets, right, So like, the potential that those guys have doesn't really match up with what the actual goal is of this team within this season. And so obviously you're giving up a young potential wing in Marzn Bolchamp, You're obviously giving up a pretty high quality second round pick, but you're putting yourself in a situation where you have a different look in your backcourt. To be clear, Malik Beasley's having

an amazing season, shooting the basketball ridiculously well. I personally have been impressed with this just level of commitment and trying to get the defensive end right, especially in the last month or two after it was a little dicey to start the year. And I'm not even necessarily saying that that won't still be your option that you go down with it. You may decide that you prefer the offensive upside of Malik Beasley over the defensive upside of

a guy like Chris Dunn. But the idea is you have a look like you might end up in a playoff series and find out pretty quickly that Malik Beasley doesn't have it, that the shots not falling, and you're in a tough spot if you don't have a reliable option you can go to there and like, I'm not sure Pat Conington is that I'm not sure campaign is

that right? But you can imagine a universe. We've seen before, by the way, the combination of like really active perimeter defense with rim protection with Giannis and Brook Lopez and we were just talking about this with the Phoenix Suns a minute ago, but like, excuse me, with the Boston Celtics a minute ago. But like real active perimeter defense combined with real rim protection can go a long way

towards disrupting an offense. And so that's an example of a deal that allows the Bucks to have a real option to go lean more into defense. At the two spot next to Dame, you might have to again, we talked about winning different ways. The Bucks can outscore people. We know they can, although their offense is faltered out of late. But the truth of the matter is is it'd be really helpful if you could win in the mud too, and Chris Don would just give you a

better chance to do that. All right, two more trades and then we're out here. Next one, the Lakers form a Big four, so that you guys have probably all seen the framework of this trade. It's been thrown around by a million people, but the basic gist of it would be Dangelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie and the Lakers twenty twenty nine first round pick to

the Atlanta Hawks, and Dejonte Murray to the Lakers. Now, Deonte has been playing pretty well as of late, so the Lakers might even have to throw more draft compensation on top of that. But basically the gist of it is draft compensation and D'Angelo Russell with the Nets fulfilling the third team role in that to take on D'Angelo Russell and send Spencer Dinwiddie to the Atlanta Hawks. But draft compensation is essentially what Atlanta is getting in the process.

So a couple different things. First of all, I actually think D'Angelo Russell's are really good players, having the best season of his career and specifically is good with offensive organization, which is a point of weakness for the Brooklyn Nets, And so at ways like, I actually just think Dangel Russell's a better fit for Brooklyn than Spencer Dinwoodie as a player that they've been pretty frustrated with this year for the Hawks, you get a highly valuable first round

pick to use in your rebuild around Jalen Johnson and Trey Young. Now, remember, for the Lakers at twenty twenty

nine first, that's after Lebron leaves. This is an organization that has we're gonna get into it today, but they they have really really screwed the pooch on this one in so many different ways over the course of the last you know, five years, between letting Brook Lopez go for nothing, letting Julius Randall go for nothing, letting Alex Caruso go for nothing, the Russell Westbrook trade, just the sheer lack of understanding or appreciation for how important quality

role players are alongside your stars. It's very possible that when Lebron James retires that this thing goes nose diving into the ground. I would imagine if you ask the general managers around the league that twenty twenty nine Lakers first is very, very valuable, and again especially if they can squeeze some additional draft compensation out of the Lakers

in lieu of how well de Jhontay Murray's been playing. Specifically, as of late, Dejontey's been a big time clutch shot maker, making a lot of big time pull up fifteen footers and things along those lines to tie games, to win games, to ice games. He's just been a really, really good late game shot maker, and I think that's added some value to him around the league. I think teams are seeing just how important it is to have guys like that,

that real firepower in the lineup right. So again like some highly valuable draft compensation to help you rebuild around Jalen Johnson and Trey Young. Jalen Johnson so exciting. He had tip dunk against the Warriors the other night, where like he literally dunked it with his arms like out in front of him like this, like his head was at the rim, and I was like, this is just a disgusting athlete that you're building around with Trey. So the idea for the Lakers de Jontay Murray would help

the Lakers improve in a bunch of key ways. Number One, he would anchor their perimeter defense. This is something that has been an issue for them all season, was an issue again in the next game when they were having trouble finding a body to throw Jalen Brunson. It's an even bigger issue now that Jared Vanderbilt out of the lineup. Jontay Murray is not the best perimeter defender in the world.

He hasn't been ass committed in those areas, but just in terms of actual physical tools for the position, he's way better than anything the Lakers have had there in a long time in the guard spot. So basically since Alex Caruso and so that to me is the first and biggest way to Jante Murray can help number two. You provide more reliable dribble penetration. Jontay Murray can actually stare eyed eye with some of the best perimeter defenders in the league beat them off the dribble, which is

immensely valuable in a bunch of different ways. One, it's getting the defense into rotation, creating advantage situations to rim pressure. We've talked about rim pressures of value before. That's what kind of opens up that second wave of athleticism with Lebron and with you know, some of their other active offensive rebounders like Anthony Davis, Jared Vanderbilt when he's healthy.

Things along those lines. You got to actually engage rim protectors to open up those opportunities, which is something the Lakers have not been very good at this year. The Lakers have been one of the worst teams in the league at driving to the basket. That most of their activity in the paint comes off of touches in pick and roll that go to the roll man and post ups and things along those lines. They're two of the most active teams in the league in those categories. They're

not a team that beats people off the dribble. De jon Tay Murray can help significantly in that area. Number Three, late game shot making. This has been a big issue for the Lakers over the years. Lebron has brought late game shot making to the table in a big way this year and it's been super, super helpful. We just saw that recently again in the Warriors game. But it is an issue where Lebron can be a little inconsistent

in that area. Austin Reeves can make some big time shots, but against some of the best perimeter defenders in the league is it's gonna be a little more challenging for him to create those looks. Anthony Davis can be inconsistent with his over the top shot making. De Jontay Murray and his ability to just hit those tough pull up fifteen footers, would go a long way towards just adding some margin for error in the Lakers clutch offense. And then, last but not least, he would get you a gigantic

step closer to a clear cut starting lineup. In a clear cut closing lineup, I personally would put Vanderbuilt in that group, but I even think you could get away with Torrian Prince in a bigger way. One of the big things I've noticed with Torrian Prince, and this is something I've talked about all season. My issue with starting Torrian Prince is gigantic minutes and playing him next to

two non athletes and D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reeves. I don't think Torrian Prince is not good enough to start in the NBA. I think I think it's one of those things where if he's very clearly your fifth best player, and if you can slot him properly, meaning like he's not guarding the other team's best perimeter offensive weapon but maybe their second best perimeter offensive weapon. If he's getting higher quality looks because you're generating more dribble penetration, a

lot of that can work. I even think we've seen that this season in some of the better moments for the Lakers, when you know that stretch right before the n season Tournament, when Cam Reddish was at the two, having a real athlete that could slot Torrian Prince properly. As of late, it's been Max Christie. Having Max Christie out there is a real athlete that can take those higher, higher difficulty of perimeter defense assignments. Slotting Tory Prince properly

is the biggest issue. Like he just was in a situation where next to D'Angel Russell and Austin Reeves, he's the guy that has to do all the dirty work and that's just not his strength. That's not something that he that's not what he gets paid to do in the NBA. And so to me, Dejontay Murray just kind of like balances so many different things for the Lakers. Lakers have won ten of their last sixteen games and things are starting to trend in the right direction again.

One of those losses was with Anthony Davis out of the lineup as well. The offense in particular is getting way better. It's really interesting about a month ago, I was just about all out on the idea of the Lakers five out offense. One of the big things that's kind of stood out to me over the years is like they prefer to play a real slow down, bullieball style of basketball. It's much more brute force offense than

you would think. And I always was I kept coming back to the same thing, like they move the ball around and play like some fluid basketball and then they just kind of like degenerate down into their brute force offense again. And so I was skeptical as to whether or not the five out would ever work for this group, simply because of the fact that they did not seem to be you know, wired like that, if that makes sense.

And a lot has changed on that front over the course of this end of January and early portion of February, Like it's starting to look like this team is actually comfortable moving the ball around a lot, staying in that you know, pass, screen, cut, drive, kick kind of like five out system, which is which which requires a commitment

to ball movement. And I've been impressed just with their kind of leaning into it in a lot of ways, especially Lebron James and Anthony Davis, because them in particular, I'm not sure that's the way that they've liked to play the most over the course of the last half decade,

but it's leading to some real offensive results. We're seeing some really high assist games for the Lakers there consistently getting these like thirty five thirty seven assist games that are just that just weren't happening early on in the season, and so a lot of encouraging stuff on the Lakers front. Again, like I said, I want to see a twenty five game stretch where they're truly dominant. Ten and six over

sixteen is good, but it's not good enough. They've got more work to do, and it could go a long way. You beat Denver on Thursday and you beat the Pelicans, I think it's on Saturday. Both of those games are

at home. You win both of those games. Now we're talking about a twelve and six stretch capped off by some real quality wins between beating Boston and Boston, beating the Nickson Madison Square Garden, getting the monkey off your back by beating Denver, beating that Pelicans team that just beat them pretty badly when they went down to New Orleans. That's what stands in front of them an opportunity to demonstrate a clear like we won sixty six percent of our games over the course of a month and a

half and beat a bunch of quality opponents. That to me is like one of those like checkboxes that you have to check if you want to really have a chance to win the NBA title. And I thought this last week was a good step in the right direction for the Lakers, And then last week my last trade for today's show, the Oklahoma City Thunder finalize their core.

So the structure of this trade would be something like Josh Giddy and Alexei Pokashevski plus some large amount of draft compensation, whether that's you know, five first round picks or four first round picks or whatever it is. But that's what I would offer if I was Oklahoma City for Lori Markinen from the Utah Jazz. So to me, the Thunder core is clear. Shake Yodess, Alexander and Jalen

Williams are your offensive initiators. They're your number one option and your number two option in terms of the guys that are gonna bring the ball up the floor and basically create that initial advantage. Right, lou dort Is the textbook three and D wing. He's as good an option in the league as you can find to throw out the other team's best player, and he's very good at

knocking down catching shoot threes in attacking closeouts. Right and then, chet Holmgren is the ideal stretch that can run pick and pop, which is one of the most difficult actions to guard in the NBA, while also providing you real rim protection on the other end of the floor. But what they don't have. The one thing they do not have on the roster is a big, athletic forward that can help them hold up better in the physicality areas

of the game. Even despite being the number one seed in the Western Conference, the thunder are still the second worst defensive rebounding team in the league. And so Laurie could not be a better fit. And to me, there are three reasons why. Number One, he does not need

the basketball. He's averaging twenty four points per game on sixty five percent true shooting despite only running one hundred and seven ISOs, post ups, and pick and rolls this year, So he's not a guy that is initiating the offense. He's doing almost everything as a play finisher, He's made three hundred and twenty five field goals this year, one hundred and fifty two of them, so basically half have

been catching shoot jumpers. Another eighty of his made field goals have been off of cuts in offensive rebounds, so like well over two thirds of his offense basically scoring off the catch, scoring off the cut, scoring off the offensive rebound. That's significant. He's only made thirty six pull up jumpers, floaters, and hooks all season. To me, what that means is he's super easy. Just to add into the mold, I wanted to shout out a buddy of

mine just to provide this example. So my buddy Chas Mac he played at Cornell and he plays with me and my men's league team on Sundays. And it's funny because our team has an interesting construct like me and this guy named Josh are basically the two primary ball handlers on the team. We both played in college. Josh is more of like a past first guy. I'm more of like a score first guy. So we compliment each other in that way. But Chaz is like a perfect fit for us because he never puts the ball on

the floor. He often leads our team in scoring, but it never disrupts the flow of our team because he only plays off the catch, and so he'll sprint the floor in transition every single time. So if you see him up the floor, you can push the bat ball ahead. He's gonna get a layup or hit a corner three while he's running in transition. If you are running pick and roll and you draw an extra defender over and

Chas's man SAgs, you throw the ball to him. He's gonna either knock down to catch the shoot three or is gonna be able to attack the clothes out. Oh, they run his zone against us. He's really good at just catching and turning and hitting shots at like fifteen feet. Oh, he can run the baseline and finish there too. He's got good size. He's like six ' four and pretty

big and strong. And like, it's so funny because I always talk I always compliment Chazz when I'm talking basketball with the guys around town, because like, I can't tell you just how much better he's made us, because he's just super easy to play with. He defends, he plays his role. He can score the shit out of the basketball, but in a way that doesn't disrupt the flow of your team at all whatsoever. And that to me is what Lorii Marknen can do for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He can help them in the physicality areas. He can shore up the defensive glass. Lourie averages nine rebounds a game and just thirty two point thirty two point six minutes. He's an excellent athlete. He's like seven feet tall, brings like real power and force to the position. But he also has the ability to just be a shoeing fit on the offensive end and make everything easy for them

on that end of the floor. I think you can also craft a pretty easy and achievable defensive role for him, Like you don't need him to guard on the perimeter. Lou Dorton, Jaylen Williams and Shay got that under control, right, Like you don't need him to anchor your pick and roll defense or protect the rim. Because Chet's got that

under control. You can give him a classic low man type of role, or he's always guarding the fifth best shooter, where he's always in that weak side, just stepping over to help whenever Chet gets engaged, whether that's cleaning up after a pump fake to block a shot, or that's cleaning up the defensive glass or rotating back out to the weak side. I think it's an obvious fit. And most importantly, he fits your timeline and you can afford him. You have the assets to go out and get him,

and again the case. So the last piece of this, and this is something that I'm sure a lot of Thunder fans have thought about, is like, yeah, but what about like the urgency element, Like do we need to overpay for Lori Markenen. We still have so much time with this core. They're still so young, we still don't know anything about what they're going to look like in the long run. And to me, it really comes down to this, He's literally perfect. He's the perfect player for

this position. And then two, the way I look at it, repetition matters, losing and building scar tissue matters. This year, the Thunder will have in all likelihood like they'll probably be favored in their first round series, so they're gonna get at least two weeks of playoff basketball, maybe four weeks of playoff basketball. That could be very, very important

to the development of this core. And to me, I would I'd prefer to have my core five guys available for that and rather than kind of like getting a playoff run in with this core and not knowing what the construct of the team is going to look like. I don't think there's a more clear cut five man group to run with long term than Shay, Jalen, lou Lourie,

and Chet. But those five together, let them start their battles now, let them start their awards, let them build their scar tissue, let them learn what they're made of. I think that, probably more than any other trade on this list, is the one I want to see the most, simply because I just think. I think it's one of those ones where it would be an overpay in all likelihood because Utah would have all the leverage, but the thunder have the assets. To me, they have the group.

There is no more question marks surrounding the team at that point. That to me is the direction that they should go. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. I will tweet out later this afternoon when whatever I record with Chris Mannix is finished, and then also this evening when me and Colin get our show out, I will tweet that one out as well. As always. I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you. Then the volume