And now the Lowe Post. Welcome to The Lowe Post Podcast. It's Monday morning. It's Trade Deadline week. We are four days from the NBA Trade Deadline and the week started, opened with the somewhat expected but somewhat not somewhat. Very sad news that Joelle and Bede is going to have surgery to repair or fix or address something in his left
meniscus, which has bothered him for years and will miss some period of time. Wode reported the door is open and perhaps wide open for Mr. Embiid to return sometime this season. It will depend from what I've heard on what they find when they get in there and what kind of things they actually have to do to his meniscus. So we will learn on the timetable. I have many thoughts on this but welcome into Tim MacMahon. How are you sir?
How do you partner? It is a pleasure to be here. How are you? I'm good man. You know, I did the Embiid big picture stuff last week. We all know what this dude is and why this sucks. I mean sometimes injury analysis is really complicated. You can't get a whole column out of this sucks and it's really sad and we all know this dude was, you know, I wrote in a column once and as someone who watched one of these guys up close, I would
be interested in your thoughts on this. I wrote without hyperbole that this season averaging 36 points a game which is like that's not even a real thing. But it is a real thing on really efficient shooting in averaging 1.05 points per minute of NBA action, which is
number one all time including the world chamberlain video game number seasons. Number one ever period greatest greatest permanent scoring season ever which means you're in the conversation for greatest season at putting the ball in the basket at a sport that is called basketball. Greatest scoring season of all time you're in the conversation. I wrote a column a few weeks ago that on those nights when he's just rolling and he's got the jumper which is
just effortless. Just no one can touch that thing. And he and he'll mix in the post moves, the balletic, the balletic post moves, the dream shake post moves. And then he'll mix in the like I'm just going to put you in the basket right now because I'm just angry and cranky and I didn't get a call the last time and I'm just going to shove your ass under the basket and dunk. He honestly dis sounded hyperbolic when I wrote it and then
I wrote it and I was like it's actually kind of fitting. He looks like some kind of unholy combination of Dirk, Hakeem Alajuan and Shaq on the nights that he's rolling like he's got the power to put not quite Shaq, no one is Shaq. Like the youngsters, the young people just don't have any idea what Shaq would do to other human beings. It was just absolutely impossible to guard him but he could you see a little bit of the I'm just going
to shove you under the basket, stanchion and dunk on your face. Alajuan we know they share the footwork and the fakes and everything and like the jumper it's it looks different. It's not as soft and silky and the one legate and the fading and all that stuff but the accuracy and the ability to dominate a game from 15 feet away is Dirk is Navitskyan and it's just such a bummer. It's such a bummer and all that said like you know we know what
the guy is. He's an MVP's a first ballot hall of fame and when you consider that he entered the league with a broken, navicular bone in his foot which is a death sentence for a lot of big men and a stress factor in his back which is sounds horrible. His career is A plus plus and we like I'm just hoping I hope in three days whenever the surgery happens
two days, one day, five days we get the press release. It's like oh my god like minor cleanup he'll be back in two months and like should be weight bearing in a month and let's make an honest run at this but you know I guess we'll see what was your first what
was your first reaction. I mean the obvious reaction is what a bummer and not just because of how dominant that he's been and I agree with you that I'm not sure we've ever seen this type of blend of power and finesse you know of just being able to bully people but also dominate with a soft touch and with the skill with the footwork but man this was this was supposed to be the season that imbede got the right to have a full healthy playoff
run. Got the right to show. Hey this is what I can do given a chance it healthy. I mean the season started with people wondering is imbede gonna force his way out holy moly fillies of mess James Hardins really put the sixers in a binder Darrell Moore if you want to put blame on him whatever whatever the case may be an imbede says hey we're good
Tyrese Maxx he's a rising star in his league and he was absolutely right about that. I'm the reigning MVP the 76ers are going to be just fine and he was right and he was proving himself right every single night that he was on the floor and it's just you know his career
like he's a hall of famer right now but his career is also one of the great what ifs because there like you said there's just been so many injuries from literally the day that he stepped into the league and he hasn't been able to have that playoff breakthrough health
has been one of the primary factors in that and unfortunately it looks like that's going to be the case again this season I think even the best case scenario you're not getting the full historically dominant version of joelle and be again this season even if he is
able to come back. Yeah we're gonna see the timetable you know it again to your point like he missed his first two seasons in the NBA because of his foot like that's how bad the foot and the reoccurrence of the foot and all that stuff was what he's been able to accomplish in that body is nothing short of a short and to your point you know like I'm not I'm hesitant to say too much before we know the timetable but you know there's gonna probably be a period of time where he really can't really do
anything so he'll lose some conditioning maybe lose some strength whatever and then he's gonna ramp up and whatever time he come I mean it's fit it's almost all star now you know if let's just if he missed six weeks or two months which feels which feels positive you're
right at the playoffs by that point and you're ramping up in the playoffs is no joke especially now I mean look I don't mean to be like Debbie Downer but they're fifth in the east and I think their primary concern other than Joel and Beads health both this season and long
term because I think it's pretty clear that this is something they're gonna have to manage for the rest of his career this knee is gonna be an issue probably forever and for his personal life you know perk had a whole thing last week on TV about like playing with your kid
in the driveway like that's for big guys like this that's a real thing and his professional life this is gonna be something that's gonna be managed going forward but look they're fifth and they've had tied for the easiest schedule in the whole league so far you know
who they're tied with by the way in terms of opponent winning percentage for easiest schedule I don't Washington do you know how hard it is to have the easiest schedule when you're the wizards and you can't play yourselves maybe they may be their counting and her squad
scrimmages from training camp in that in that form I mean I haven't looked at the wizard schedule they may not win another game the rest of the season if they played the easiest schedule so far so the sixers and Tobias Harris is missing games recently meltdowns been
out for a while but tombs missing games recently like it's not just mb now the good thing they have going for them is they have a five game cushion on number six but look five that six seven eight they're all coming in the east I mean Miami will see if they can write
the ship a little bit they lost to the clippers last night the clippers just never lose anymore like they should be safe from the plan like no matter how injury riddled you are five games with 30 to go is a pretty big cushion but man they get the rest of these guys
healthy soon or else that could be if that we could wake up in three days and that lead could be three games and like you're going to be an underdog in the first round and you're going to be ramping up like ramping up to play the nicks or the calves or whatever in the
first round like that's that's a that's a tough that's a tough road and like look beyond that I mentioned managing it for for the rest of the rest of his career like I just think that that means what it sounds like that means like he may never play 65 games again and
that's and that's got to be okay with the sixers and everybody despite what it means for all NBA and MVP and all that his legacy as an individual player is secured but I have some thoughts on that to make me I would like to hear those thoughts I listen my thing
is this with MVP if you don't play 65 games I can't make the case that you're the most valuable player in the league because I always say as dominant as imb was 75% of joeil and beat is not more dominant than 90% of the kool yoke it's or shake you'll just out
xander this season or y'all know some tater kupo all NBA is the one where listen man if imb is on the court for whatever you want to say and it won't be this year but in future years if he plays 60 games and he's putting up you know 34 11 and 6 and and anchor in a
defense I still think you can make a pretty strong case that's one of the 15 best players in the NBA the 15 most impactful players in the NBA you nailed it I think we need to the union and the league needs to rethink both for super max purposes and for all NBA
purposes the 65 game limit for third team all NBA I think third team all NBA should be treated differently than first team and second team because I as a voter in the past have done on third team NBA I have put guys on like I've done it with Kevin Durant and Lebron
James and probably others that I'm forgetting guys who play 55 58 games but have incredible seasons and it's one of these things like we all know that this is the best guy and it's like it comes down to like a good juillious Randall season over 78 games and an unbelievable
Lebron season over 58 games like I'm going to put Lebron on third team all NBA because it's third team it's not first team which is an incredibly high on or it's not second team which is an incredibly high on or still a very high on or but it's the least high
of the high oners connected to that I think they need to tweak the super max rules so that third team all NBA does not qualify you for the full bump or even maybe any of the bump I mean that would be subject to negotiation 26% 28% because what's going to happen is
all these older guys are going to miss the 65 game limit and we're going to have younger guys make it who are like good but their teams are going to be like miss super max for this guy like that doesn't seem right so I think we need to read like if you make second
team first team you've had the kind of season where you're probably a super max player we see every year third team there's like one or two spots like oh boy candidate pool kind of got pretty thin here I think third team needs to be changed because I'm totally
fine with guys playing 50 55 games and making third team all NBA that's that's my idea that's my I think that's an interesting concept I agree with you as far as the unintended consequences of the 65 game rule bumping guys out and then getting new super max candidates
in that's the sense what you're doing you're getting guys who would not have qualified for super max basically saying hey I qualified show me the money and if the whole point of this is to try to maximize the opportunity for teams particularly small market teams
to continue building around their own players you know the guys that they drafted developed and all that kind of stuff if the whole point of it is that you don't want to put those franchises at odds with their very good but not great players to the point where they
say hey he's technically eligible but if we give him that we we are completely just killing ourselves from the salary cap perspective and I think you'll find yourself in situations like Kimber Walker with the Charlotte Hornets where you're essentially expediting the departure
of some of these guys from their from their home franchises and it also can cut the other way where a team someone may become eligible for the super max that catches the team by surprise but the and it puts them at odds as you say like it didn't like there's all of a sudden
a little bit of attention there and the team may be the one that misplays it by not really understanding how good the guy is that he actually is this good and the the sort of story of that one to me is Jimmy Butler with Chicago when the bulls were like I don't know like
can we build a contender around him making X percent of the cap and yeah it turns out Jimmy Butler is amazing and you guys have been team play in turn of it ever since then basically and currently this year the fight in Bulls are ninth and hell bent on staying
ninth it appears the other next lately the nicks are very good yes I watched the next one how's Jan and Bronson doing he is he is the mayor I think of New York City now I think he's been appointed mayor and is just jab step in and up and under in and shoulder check
in and mid-range in guys to death he's making Mike Breene loses mind on television every single night now they lost the Lakers and LeBron played some like peak LeBron defense on him and they doubled him and AD swatted everything at the rim but yeah Jellin Bronson
is good and you know we'll talk about the Mavericks later but let's just say the Mavericks gonna run and Kyrie's ball and Kyrie's been ballin all season like that Gary's been ball always play when he's played yes fair and if if things go sunny and Dallas the Bronson
thing will gradually recede from our memories or from the memories of everyone who's normal and not a die hard like that is a pivotal blunder that lingers forever for the next 10 years in terms of what you have to trade what your cap shoot looks like all of it even even
though you might forget it sometimes okay speaking of trades look a wage is reported this I've heard the same thing that the Sixers are still operating as a team that has a healthy joe and beat in the playoffs in terms of like we have these picks that we got
from the James Harden trade we had expiring contracts that are big and we can send them out hunting for players who can help their team now even though they also have 50 plus million dollars of cap space coming up this summer and and you know well the timing of
the surgery is actually relevant it's it's not clear when it's gonna be if I'm the Sixers that like it to be soon because if something happens in that room and he's out longer than expected I got a pivot into like let's keep our chips totally intact for the summer
when we go up to five tradable first round picks according to Bobby Marx and all that cap space I think probably and look that's what the Sixers should be signaling like we're still a win now team we're still gonna do this in that I have to believe that at their core whatever
percentage of them was dialed towards win now has dialed back a little bit at least and that they're gonna air a little bit more on trying to thread the needle of if we get players that are good and we expend draft capital to get them let's minimize the draft capital let's make sure either because they're on expiring contracts or because they're on contracts multi-year contracts that are small enough that they do not impact our cap space too much for
the summer even though mr. McMahon as you all know the potential list of targets for that cap space has dwindled and dwindled and dwindled with every trade and every extension and I don't know what's going on with the Paul George extension talks but my expectation based on what I've heard
is that sometime whether it's during the season after the season whenever I would bet pretty heavily that the Clippers get that deal done and that he's not a functional free agent either so it's an interesting position for them to be in it just just sucks I don't know if you have any
six or straight deadline thoughts well I think that it's reasonable to look at this agency class and honestly just the general concept of free agency in the NBA like Jaden Brunson might be the best player to move in free agency for a while and and say okay you're saving that cap space
for who having said that cap space is not just about free agency if they are to make a trade this summer the ability to take a player into that cap space for make a lopsided financial trade you know that that can make things much easier so but I don't necessarily think that you go into it and say
we have to save that cap space we have to save that cap space it's you have to whatever move they do that impacts that cap space you have to really like that for next year yes going forward into the future if it's a pre agency type of deal that's great as long as you feel like hey this
is going to also significantly bump up our chances of winning a championship next season as well yeah either it's a player like or players like Alex Caruso who's on a multi-year deal at less than $10 million a year doesn't need up that much cap space and he's obviously he's a fit on
any team from what I've heard the bulls continue to say we're not for whatever offers you got out there not good enough for us to trade Alex Caruso we love him we want to keep doing whatever it is that we're doing or a Bruce Brown or even a DeMar de Rosen which nobody is so I can't believe
how little buzz there is about DeMar de Rosen maybe it signals that there's just not much of a market for DeMar de Rosen on an expiring contract and the bulls in a position where like we there have to extend them or I'm sorry we signed them in the summer or lose them for nothing
they should be looking to trade them in my opinion but maybe if there is no buzz it means the bulls will have some good leverage over DeMar de Rosen in free agency the market won't be super robust but a guy on an expiring that you wink wink think you can resign at a number Bruce Brown
that doesn't necessarily impact your cap sheet so you have 25 left over for that lopsided trade or 30 left over for that lopsided trade just a bummer for Philly and you know look that race for number two in the east pretty wide open between Milwaukee Cleveland and the Nix and
it's going to be an interesting last 30 games in the eastern conference yeah yeah and the bugs listen it's been a struggle I personally witnessed live with my own eyes doc rivers to the point that we're talking right now his lone win with Milwaukee Bucks and that was coming back from 25
points against the Dallas Mavericks led by Luca Donchridge on a bad wheel with a whole bunch of key guys sitting over there in street clothes so the Bucks have some some things to figure out for sure yeah when we get off this podcast I'm going to watch their at least a second half of their
game against Utah last night and have a chance to see that but I saw you tub blew the doors off them the fourth quarter yeah the fourth quarter is a site to see and you know second game we'll back to back and out to do all that but you know it's it's it's been tough sledding for doc rivers and
first of all first of all it's it's Eastern Conference All Stars head coach doc rivers let's get let's get it right the middle the least I'm pretty confident the least amount of wins ever for an all star coach it is begrudging Eastern Conference All Star Coach doc rivers I would say oh
shucks oh I wish I could give Adrian Griffin the bonus oh shucks oh and the and the all scoring I get a feeling Adrian Griffin might tell him to put that all star ring somewhere else the low post is brought to you by progressive insurance whether you love true crime or
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pick less it's that easy let's talk about trade deadline real quickly just I don't want to get too well whatever um I mentioned the sixers and five first round picks in July versus three now that's true of a lot of buyers potential buyers and most of the league in the universe of the play
in tournament is buyers even though even like the hawks who are 10th and have been one of the more depressing teams in the league this year there are a four game winning streak despite clink of hell and now being out for a bit and they're 22 and 27 point differentials like okay
um like I'm not sure they're afraid of anyone catching them for 10th like our the Brooklyn that's gonna catch fire their 11th and after that it's just a morass of crap in the east like the hawks may just say like we so we get into the play in who are we scared of in the play in
why not take our chances and maybe we get in maybe we get seventh maybe we get the aforementioned Milwaukee bucks or whatever and like we're two two in the first round and like everything's great maybe we don't trade Dejante Murray anyway on the picks thing sixers we mentioned
your hometown Dallas mavericks will have three tradable first round picks in July they have one now the bucks will have two tradable first round picks in July they have I believe zero now the lakers will have three tradable first round picks in July they have one now the heat will have
I didn't do the calculation on the heap but it will be more than they have now and what's interesting about that is that the teams who are selling and specifically sell or would would be classified let's say as sellers and are specifically holding players on multi-year contracts like say Kyle
Kuzma for instance or or Dejante Murray for instance can look at those sellers and say well we have these guys under control through beyond next season why why are we gonna trade them to you now when you have so little to trade when we can hold them to July and then we can really bid you
off against each other when you have a lot more stuff to trade us and I think that's interesting and what it does is it maybe shifts everybody's focus to the guys on expiring contracts on those teams who they cannot hold into July and next season and get that pick bounty or at least get that auction
of a pick bounty for that's the interesting environment I think that we're working with and by the way one of the one of the potential trades mega trades big trades I don't know that there's a Zach Levine trade anymore now that he's out for the season you would want to say if you're
Detroit and you want Zach Levine well why do you care that he's injured it's not like you're doing anything this season but maybe you want to see how he recovers from that injury given he's been injured here and there all season and also you'd like to win 10 games and you don't want to you don't
want to make him be a history anymore and be a history I should say and they look like semi-competent recently a Sarthompson set a couple big games I want more a Sarthompson in my life so that's the environment we're talking about yeah the the NBA today five-hour trade deadline special a headline
by maybe not even the Dejante Murray trade is going to be a fun five hours or whatever it's going to be but there's always something there's always something that pops up well you know it's you you mentioned the Kuzma's where hey maybe you can get more to summer but then there
and or expiring but then there's a guy like Andrew Wiggins right and I don't know that Andrew Wiggins is a guy you're getting more for this summer and if you're the warriors you know maybe there is a a deal where I would look like a team friendly contract when he signed it no longer
does and you can get out from under that and minimize the financial pain that is amplified times you know whatever the math is because of the luxury tax and look in the specific case of the maverick some month or so ago I was saying I don't feel the same sense of desperation as last year
to make a trade upgrade it's been a very rough month it's been a rough month from a hell standpoint it's been a rough month from a running Luca into the ground standpoint he's been spectacular individually I have numbers that he's putting up are absolutely ridiculous but they are sinking
in the standings they are in danger of falling into the bottom half of the plan I don't think we need to you know really have a whole lot of discussion about what a disaster of being a team that doesn't make it out of the plan would be for Dallas to not make the playoffs for two straight years when
you have a perennial all NBA first team player you know an MVP candidate and you know there's no question that the mavericks are being aggressive exploring upgrades at the power forward despite the fact that their biggest swing this summer aside from landing dareclive at the second of the draft
which has been huge for them in a great move their biggest swing in terms of free agency slash sign and trade was getting grant Williams who for a month but click a great fit and it has been rough since then um boy I thought I thought he was going to be a really good fit I like the edition
I thought the 23 swap rights they sent to San Antonio and that three team deal were terrifying and I still think the latter the former as far as the great fit there's reason for concern they're big big big time concern all that being said you know they're looking you know they're
in the conversations you know you hear them with Kuzma you hear them with PJ Washington Andrew Wiggins is one to watch there because I think that's one that maybe that can happen without sacrificing draft capital or at least first round draft capital I'm not sure
why I don't mean to be in flip about this I'm not sure why any team would trade for Andrew Wiggins right now um he has 26 million 28 million and a 30 million dollar player option on his contract and just has shown not very many signs of being the player he was two years ago in the playoffs
for whatever reason now he's even like lately when he's had a little bit of an uptick here and there in this new starting five with Dremond at the at the five in Kaminga and Wiggins step in clay um then he will have like a one of four plays 19 minutes and it's not a lot it's not a ton of money
in the scheme of the new contract landscape but it's like I'm not I don't know that I'm like getting ahead of myself to trade for Andrew Wiggins even if the price is cheap and on the flip side if I'm the Warriors it's awesome that this Wiggins Kaminga green thing has worked that doesn't
change my calculation on Andrew Wiggins at all right I can get out from under that contract I'm doing it well and and I share your concerns about Andrew Wiggins and you know the simple fact is as awesome as he was during their championship run and the Maverick saw that first hand he did
his good job defending Luca and you know frankly anybody has um he was rebounding he was you know a really good offensive player during that run he was a great player during that championship run and the much larger sample size of his career is what we're seeing right now or similar to what
we're seeing right now um having said all that you know the Mavericks are in a situation where I think they are exploring every option and I think there is a you know there are deals that could be put together where I think they would go ahead and take the risk of of trying to have Andrew
Wiggins revitalize his career in Dallas I think they'd have to you know they'd have to move out and just looking at their cap sheet you know they're going to have to move out some longest term money regardless um I don't think it's something where again if you're giving up a
first round pick you're only first round pick to move right now to get Andrew Wiggins that is wreaking yeah I'm not I'm not there's no chance on doing that exactly by the way if I'm the Warriors I'm like you don't even offer me that much salary relief for the next two seasons like I've got to
take Roshan Holmes was a 13 million dollar player option for next year I've got to take Kleebo who finally had a good game over the weekend at 21 points he's got two more years at 11 a pop and like it's unclear if you can ever stay healthy like I'm not yeah even from the Warriors
perspective like I'm not psyched about about that trade or or grant Williams and maybe if you're the Warriors you know what that's fine with me yeah I don't mind that's a small contract it's it's funny one of the issues with the grant Williams is you know he he you look at him as a 3 in D
player he shoot 37% from three for the season you say wow that's not bad well about a month then he was shooting 50% it's been it's been subpar for a good you know two two and a half months and then he has not made the Maverick's defense better Zach you and I talked about I think we both written
about a month or so ago hey these Mavericks are getting feisty defensively well the three D's of all missed some time since then I'm talking about their Clive of the second Derek Jones Jr. and Dante XM they're all three banged up right now those are the three main reasons that their
defense was drastically improved we can talk about Lucas after and all that you're also getting in the running in the ground of Luca conversation there it's hard for him to play hard defensive when he's logging 44 usage minutes um but he wears the minutes on his feet like he he's got scratches he's
got the cup marks he's got he's very sweaty like Luca Luca does not look like a guy who's like wow he that's an effortless 44 minutes for Luca no his ankles banged up you know he squeaked that again the other night against Milwaukee and the Mavericks have sunk back down to 25th in defense of
efficiency so the Mavs are four and eight in their last 12 games 26 and 23 for the season they have a pretty easy schedule left but they owe five road games they have five more homing than road for the season they have no lineup that has played more than 99 minutes for the season which is
absolutely crazy for a good team to put that in perspective there are only two teams that don't have any lineups that have played 100 minutes yet other than Dallas Charlotte you might they're not very good and Memphis Memphis might set the record they don't have a lineup that has played
more than 68 minutes this season 68 Zach Sunday in Boston the grises had 13 guys out due to injury 13 that's more players and used to be on a roster in the not too recent that is a Gigi Jackson took 24 shots in that game um there they'll go for it go for it go for a Gigi their entire
available roster consisted of Luke Knard could be an interest in trade and by and by the way can Luke Knard use these games to take like 25 threes like why are you three of five from three or whatever it was just freaking shoe somebody's got to pass it to him Luke Knard David Roddy three two ways three 10 day hardships that's big body up there big body David Roddy one of my favorites you know back to your point the like the Mavericks have had 20 something starting lineups and we they
haven't even played their 50th game yet they played their 50th game Monday night here in Philadelphia now if you want sunny side up Kyrie Irving after missing six games due to a sprain right thumb getting a couple practices in you know he's getting his feet under him should be ready to roll
in Philadelphia Monday night and boy do they need him if nothing else just to get Luke his workload back to a somewhat honestly manageable manageable I might try to get Luke at a sit a couple of games with Kyrie back and just sort of just can you just sit and chill because it's been crazy
his workload on Kuzma you mentioned power forward in the bags I think I think do need one more guy at the three preferably the four who can like do some stuff on offense he mentioned PJ Washington which is one of my favorite names I I've said the words PJ Washington more on this podcast
that is frankly reasonable since since like August I'd be trying to steal that guy not to be these great but I just think he's a good player at a good contract in his young Kuz is interesting Kuz is interesting um I've always had a saucewap for Kuz I think he's getting um sort of smeared
with the wizards brush right now is like oh is this guy can can you play a real basketball again I think he can he defends okay when he wants to he's a good cutter he's a very good rebounder mm-hmm he looks like a good catch and shoot three pointer three point shooter and and the numbers
say that is not the case right he's 33% of his career on threes and not much better than that in most seasons on catch and shoot threes which is what if you're the mavericks that's what you're looking at I want to dig down and and see what are you going to look like shooting threes off
luka passes now he has shot much better from the corners than he has above the break and I think the maps could tell themselves throw away all those numbers um he was not a great shooter when he came into the league and now he's just what at whatever's this Washington thing is is a mess um he's
wildly overstretched there he's gonna get wide open shots from one of the best passers in the history of the NBA um we think he can hit 40% on catch and shoot threes if that's the case I like I'm okay with the fit like his contract declines from like 26 ish to 21 like it's it's a good value contract
that you can flip again if you decide that's where you want to go it fits in any trade honestly like I don't know what watching it is going to do it would not shock me if they just hung on to kuzma for the reasons I expressed right when we started talking about the trade that allowed
the bulls straight him in the summer and they they also like legitimately think he's a good player it wouldn't even shock me way would it would surprise me a little bit if they hung on to tis Jones uh who's on an expiring minnesota has been mentioned with tis Jones a lot I I'm not sure
there's a path there um from what I've heard but again nothing would surprise me I just I'm not sure that's going to be the tis Jones team um the wolves are also pretty close to the luxury tax uh so they have to be careful there um but the the the wizards are sending out and should be sending out the signal that we'll just rescientize Jones and trade them later like the same deal now he's expiring I'm not sure that's the case they do need someone to organize life for balal kulabali
and denny obdia who's also been kind of a name in the trade ether I don't I'm not sure that's really there um so it the the wizard in interesting spot it should also be mentioned kuz has a 15 percent trade kicker which is which is big and um some unlikely bonuses in his contract that count
toward the second apron or count toward the apron if the maps end up approaching the apron so you know I don't if I can get them for for just the pick maybe like the pick in the the one pick they can trade in the salaries maybe if i'm Washington am i am i doing that and i'm not
uh he's an okay fit i don't i don't know well how do you how do you think the mavericks feel i think he's an okay fit i think there's internal discussion about just how good of a fit he is uh is it worth it if it's a pick plus you know some kind of of younger asset you know
a Josh green you know honestly jaden hardy's a guy who had more trade value going into the season uh then he does right now he's not had a great sophomore season so far um and you nailed the the three point shooting i and you know you really would like to have a an above average three point
shooter to put on the floor with with luke and and kairi and the rare occasions you actually get those two guys together um so the question is does his shooting is is that an an issue as far as the fit and really the main thing you're trying to do is improve your defense and i don't know the kyle
kuzma does that i think he's i i would rate him as like average for his position when he's really dialed in which again is like is that really moving the needle well he's one of the wizards best offenders he is a top half of the wizards roster defender uh but you mentioned the contract is
nice and then look a lot of times as jason kid says the mavics are playing advantage basketball because luke gets doubled trapped all those kind of things more than anybody else in league and it's not close and if you get kuzma in a situation against a scrambling defense can he capitalize on that
that's where you start talking yourself into yes he does make sense for the map yes see that's what i was going to say but where you can over index on shooting a little bit at the expense of can this guy do off the dribble when we kick him the ball and maybe there's a good closeout like can
he keep it moving also can he score one on one where then when there's six on the shot clock and they've doubled luke and like the possession is kind of dead he can do that stuff and they need somebody else who could do that stuff which is like i think he's an okay fit there
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clickgranger dot com or just stop by another team that you follow closely are the Houston Rockets um i talked a little bit about jail in green last week with shaneu gloomake um there's been a lot of a lot of reporting out there about um the rockets making a run at mcale bridges and i
think most of their reporting has been they offered the nets all their picks back from from the hard-in trade um picks and swaps and that would be valuable for the nets because it's hard to rebuild when you don't control your picks and the nets are you know kind of a rebuilding team
where are the rockets in general and specifically on jail in green from what you've heard yeah so the rockets this has been a year of great progress for them you know the start of phase two i would say is off to a very good start you know they they have a culture in place they have
kind of the the spine of what you can see becoming a pretty good team in place and then if you talk about the young talent on the roster let's be honest jane and green is it's been a roller coaster type of season if we're ranking the young players on the roster in in terms of what they've
shown so far uh we're gonna we're gonna put a few guys ahead of him at least you know clearly shingoon uh you know with uh jabaris midjunior um something lately it should be said jabaris midjunior since it's come back from injury has been quite quiet right but you you see how he fits and oh
i'm a huge fan he's a winner right and he's a defender and that's like email doca it's not hard well it's hard but it's very simple to get on email doca's good side be a really good defensive player jane green is not that um he's he's taking a step back he's been he's had a really good run recently
offensively season as a whole he's taking a step back um you know and if he's not moved and i you know i'd i'd say the odds are probably that he's not moved just because you know i would agree by i would agree i don't know what percentage chances but i i would it's below 50 in my opinion right
right i'm not saying it won't happen i'd say the odds are probably against it i think it's setting up to be a very interesting extension discussion uh season with him i'm not sure that he's a long-term fit in he used it i don't think the rockets by any stretch of the imagination are sure
and it they are sure that they are interested in acquiring you know proven star or you know have what you want to define my cowbridge is like star types of of players you know hypothetically say a uh a don of a Mitchell might be on the trade block this summer i think the
rockets would be very aggressive going after him they they want the kind of player who can vault them into what they would consider phase three which is we are a playoff team we we're a team that is is going to be playing in in late april how many phases are there well i don't know they're
just there there are there are you see the power point is there a power point all right if everybody now click click so over this is phase five has anyone ever enjoyed a powerpoint presentation is any person ever actually paid attention to a power you know my favorite thing is when people
are doing the powerpoint presentation and it's just a list of bullet points and all they do is read the bullet points and i'm in the room i know how to read you are providing less than the minimum amount of like plus added value by reading the god damn powerpoint presentation powerpoint
stinks and everybody stinks at power point power points that's what the the term i like to use for guys like the broad jame because he's like a powerpoint guard that's the only kind of power point that dot that i enjoy it's it's relevant though that you mentioned down in the Mitchell and look
calves the calves and their fans don't want to hear that this and i completely agree with them the calves have been awesome done but Mitchell has been awesome Evan only played three threes in a game over the weekend which is like oh my god if we could see a little bit more of that that changes
everybody's life one game Jared Allen has been awesome and you know i'm not trying to steal Brian win horse gig is the Jared Allen should be an all star campaign manager but he's been really really good hey look like i'm not putting Jared Allen in the all-star game again until he gets a
defensive rebound in the playoffs like when we get when we get he's been unbelievable he was on my short list of all star quote unquote snubs which is a term i reject but he's been unbelievable this year if they get the nix again in the first round and Mitchell Robinson for get Mitchell i say heart
and the steams getting every offensive rebound like i need to see Jared Allen get some defensive rebounds but so the and the calves have no intention of trading down eventually they don't want to trade down eventually they want down to be sure to be a cab forever and maybe he will be maybe
don't be so good that he'll be like my new york dreams my i'm from the northeast my dad word for the mats the whole thing like i'll put those aside but brooklyn is another team that is theoretically setting itself up for a pursuit of a player of that ilk of that caliber they have a
bunch of extra draft picks from phoenix and i think that's kind of where the rubber hits the road on mc kill bridges because in theory in the nba doesn't live in theory and offer in which the nets get all their picks and swaps back is very very valuable to them and might be actually worth
mc kill bridges who's a very good player has not made the next leap this season that i think the net's hope to you would make nor has cam johnson by the way and sort of so the kd trade return doesn't look as pretty as it did a year ago i actually think that's i think they did great in
that trade i still think that to get all the phoenix sons draft assets but if you want to pursue a player of that caliber you need other players that he wants to play with on your team and if they don't have mc kill bridges maybe they resign neglectston like i'm not sure that's enough
to like i'm like super excited to be i mean the one of the reasons why cleveland made this trade for dynamo Mitchell was like here here's an awesome team you're just stepping in to a really good nucleus of players so i think that's an interesting name to bring up in in this respect and i don't
know what the nets are going to do i think they should probably trade during finney smith and roysel niel and i would bet over 50% that both those guys are on different teams in five days but i think the rocket stuff is interesting to me i've already said this i'm holding i'm not doing anything rash
no if i'm the right no but you're you're exploring you and you know you're aggressively exploring you're not doing anything rash but you're aggressively exploring and i think you know the fact that they are being persistent with the nets is interesting because hey maybe if it's not before this
this deadline maybe there is a point where the net say you know what hey we are a team that is going nowhere but has no benefit to being bad and a trade with the rockets would give them that that trade with the rockets where they're getting their draft capital back and they're giving up
their best player it would give them benefit to being bad right you're hey here is the route to rebuilding we are delivering it back to you and taking your best player return and you know mcalbridge has happens to be the net's best player who would be such an email you doke guy
and could you imagine a defense that has mcalbridge's and dill and brooks just howling people on the wings jibarri smith junior at the four who's a really really good young defensive player i mean the you know you 100% see exactly why the rockets have that level of interest and you see why that
deal would make sense for the net's but the nets are not to that point they are not to the point of saying we're going all in on a rebuild that's exactly what a that trade would signal you know how in the simpsons at the nuclear power plant where his home or what's called at the nuclear
panor plant or something they had to sign that's like one day without a safety issue or something like that they would keep crossing it off i want dill and brooks can we just have like it's February 5th all start we're gonna have a week off for all start no games can we get to march
first without a dill and brooks incident can we can we sit can we just take baby steps like 10 games without a dill and brooks incident that Jared Vanderbilt thing and i realized that's not how a Jared Vanderbilt got hurt and by the way Jared Vanderbilt's injury is a huge deal for the
lakers a huge deal that Jared Vanderbilt thing was dangerous and irresponsible and they're lucky everyone involved is lucky that he did not get hurt on that shoved dunk because you know Andrew Bogas career was like not ruined but changed forever by that same play so i want to i want to start
to dill and brooks days without an incident you know sign so i'm looking at their schedule for the rest of the month oh no they are going back to Memphis i'm valentine's day there's no one there for him to have an incident with it doesn't even know anybody that's playing for the grizzlies it's
dill and brooks going back to Memphis there's going to be something uh they play the stuns twice and they play the thunder twice so what i'm saying is there's some you know marquit matchup type they also play the hawks uh with trea young i just i don't like your odds on that he is good at
making himself the protagonist of every story he's the center of every you know teams win because of him teams lose because he's gone he's he's very good at that oh no listen he told us during the playoffs last year one of the last times that he talked because he didn't talk after any losses
uh he he told us then that it's just the media portrays him as the villain the man who's nicknamed that he once embraced and i think has again is dill and the villain but it's the media's portrayal it's not it's not reality so you stop doing that portraying please dill and the villain sounds like um
a cartoon that my daughter would watch like oh another episode of dill and the villain is on like an hit like now and by the way all that said he's a very good player when he makes shots and he's made shots this year he made shots for candida he was unbelievable okay i had enough dill and brooks
i have no idea what else i was going to say about the rockets uh good luck to them at the trade deadline and good luck to the brooklyn nets as well um another team you know well the you tall jazz uh up and down since since they kind of roared back into the play internament but they are 25
and 26 got a win last night over the bucks as we mentioned um you know look they made they they uh punted on their season last year with the calmly trade um i have i i think they should do everything they can to get into the play internament this year
i think would be great for their young players to experience it um and i in that that said i don't know that there is a mic calmly style trade that just torpedoes their entire season i think they could afford to trade one guy from their rotation whoever it is and survive it um there's definitely
teams that are interested in a fontechio i don't know what the jazas plans with fontechio is at this point and olinik is obviously the name that's going to be really really bandied about an expiring contract as as we have talked about and there was some buzz over the weekend that you tall has
signaled now this is just buzz i've heard it could be wrong so i have you on the podcast uh signaled um an increased willingness to move kellyll and it got the right price uh i had one gm of another team say at this point i'd be surprised if they don't move kellyll and it can this is from a team
who would like to get in on something with kelly olinik what have you heard about the fight in newtod jazers well i i think last year gives a very clear indication that the jaz aren't going to go all in for the play and they are trying to build a contender as quickly as possible it's exactly
what dany angian jess and zana can ryan smith told me last year nothing has changed there if they land in the play and great but that is not going to be their goal that is not going to be what guides them in the days leading up to the trade deadline um now i do think if we're going to
talk about the jaz like we we should note they owe their first round pick to the Oklahoma city thunder from the derrick favor satter dump that is top 10 protected i also do not envision a scenario where the jaz they'd have to do some pretty serious tanking to to get in and out i don't think
that's going to guide anything that's just something to note there um you know they could end up sending the twelfth right now if they had d12 or 13 that they would send Oklahoma city um they can also buy by the way everyone's telling talking about the jaz as a seller they could do both they could
do they could trade olinik and then trade some stuff for another player and they've looked at guards all over the league for the past year i think less so recently than they did in the offseason but they're interesting in that regard too well and again a buy would not be about
foot on the foot on the pedal to the play and a buy would be about hey can this guy help us next season the season after that the season after that everything they do is going to be with a long-term view nothing's going to be about okay hey these next couple months
kelly olinik for the reasons you laid out expiring contract you know the type of versatile big man that really every good team could use he's absolutely going to generate or is generating a lot of discussion as somebody with the jaz told me everybody wants kelly olinik is somebody willing to
pay the price it'll take to get him and i don't know exactly what that price is i just you know i think dany hane has a pretty strong track record that would uh tell you that he does not take discounts if you can get a first round pick even a bad first round pick even a first round pick
that's probably going to be 25 or lower for kelly olinik on an expiring contract or the equivalent of that in seconds i think you just have to do that trade yes even though it hurts your team it hurts your versatility it hurts your your your back up unit maybe i can keep fontekio and turn
him into the olinik of my bench unity's not as good of a passer but he can shoot and it's kind of a ball mover i just think you have to do that trade whether they get that i don't know but if enough teams are interested i could see like a very very heavily protected bad first that conveys
quickly being maybe available to i think you just have to do that yeah and then you know you mentioned guards they do really like kiaute jorge the rook he should he was starting for wild he's coming off the bench now they see him as a potential as their potential lead guard of the future
um colon sexton since he's been in the starting lineup has really put up some numbers he's playing well you know they he's not a point guard right he he's a six foot two or whatever he is bucket getter um you know play hard guy who's not a great defender it wouldn't shock me if they sell
high if something comes along on on colon sexton your jordan klorisens name you hear a lot of it was a unique extension that he signed whereas basically a balloon payment this year and then it gets back down to the next couple years middle-levelish type of money you know how many teams in the
league could use a six man of the year candidate coming off their bench generating offense um yeah i want to put percentages on either sexton or clerks in getting moved but i you know there will be phone calls about those guys for sure i may be too bullish on colon sexton
i've always had a sauce spot for him if that same equivalent offer that i mentioned for kelly and it comes across the board to bad first and that's it and filler the filler salary you need i don't think i'm doing that for colon sexton on his contract i think i want to learn a little bit
more about how he fits what i'm trying to build in utah he's good he's got his flaws he's good what he's good at he's bad at what he's bad at i like colon sexton will artists develop a self spot for him and you know will has been very honest about he had to stop focusing on
you know intel from previous uh you know maybe some previous coaches who'd worked with him and stop focusing on colon sexton isn't x y and z he isn't a point guard this that and the other and start focusing on hey here's what he is and he's a guy who
upbeat attitude works his butt off and puts the ball in the basket on a pretty consistent fairly efficient basis uh real quickly um i want to hit a couple teams at the top of the west uh i've mentioned the clippers as a team that i think will kick around one more guy
preferably a power forward or a center because they're a little small at what particularly when kawai is off the floor old linnick would be on my list of people i've mentioned finny smith pj watch it all the same names i think they have interest in all those guys the problem with them is if
they they have one pick to trade and they're going to be in the second april next year if they have hard and enjorge on the team which i would suspect they will um in which case they're they're 2032 pick would be frozen so if they trade 2030 which is the one they have to trade now
they have no picks at all available to trade no first at all nothing to do and i think they're probably a little wary of that so it's going to have to be a home run deal for the clippers to put that pick in i think and so i'm not and i'm not sure what they can get absent putting that pick in
with pj tuckers expiring and unless they want to trade out of their rotation which i don't think they should do i don't believe pj's expiring oh that's right he's got player option you're right 11 million player option for next year i'm gonna go ahead and uh yes he'll pick that one up and yes and by the way you know look they had the one loss in cleveland uh last week they just keep on winning and they you know they've looked at washing the Detroit they are 33 and 15 they look unbelievable
they're 25 and five since they've gotten their feet out of the map of the hard trade you could argue they've won 25 of their last 30 games as we speak right now you can make a strong case and our pal perk has that the clippers are the best team in the NBA right now and i think you can you know make a pretty foolproof case that this is the best chance the clippers have ever had to make a championship run yeah obviously not which is why i expect them to be pretty aggressive looking around for one
more guy and if it costs them that first it's going to be some uncomfortable conversations internally with the clippers is this guy worth it and i talked about last week it could the clippers are in the stratosphere now with boston and denver milwake is a whole different thing they need to do
something to get one more bench guy there um where they oakle homicidie minnesota maybe who's been pretty active of yeah even if we're not sure this guy is one of our top eight players that we're getting we just need another guy in case paul george sprains his ankle in his out for two
weeks we still have two stars that's the benefit of the three star model right we can survive there but like just someone to stop up minutes and maybe we do get into a playoff matchup where he's a perfect guy to play for 18 minutes a game um i would keep an eye on bones highland i i think there's
some bones highland for some second round picks deals out there for the clips to to sort of i'm serious to like get some picks in the door by the way i mean i hear you but there wasn't much of a mark for bones highland last year which is how we ended up on the clippers that's true um so
joe lmb is not going to be in the mvp conversation look at donchich i the maps are just going to are going to have to win a lot more games for him to win to win the mvp he's going to be on ballots and he should be right but to win you can't be ath and right now right now he is a
a fringe candidate for the simple fact that they're in the plan yeah you can't you can't be ath and win in a year when yo catch his healthy and putting up the numbers and he's putting up in shea guilt just saying Alexander is healthy and putting up the numbers he's putting up
and yannis who for some reason has not been talked about as an mvp candidate much because the bucks have been a strange mess for a lot of the year um although their second and east is putting up he's uh i'll just 31 and 11 six assists a game like that's probably a career high for him i
think i just watched the man have 48 10 and five a menace on defense uh i'm not sure i can quite go this far i i don't that's a very good top three they've all been healthy yo catch yannis shea whatever whatever order you want to put them in they've all been healthy
not sure i can put this guy over those three yet i'm not sure there's been a better player in the NBA for the last month in koai linard it's it's just terrifying how good he's getting again on defense he's everywhere he's now doing the thing again where he just takes the ball from people
like very like the thing he used to do in san antona was like oh you have the ball you might not even be dribbling it would you mind if i just took it out of your hands and what the other way because i'm gonna do that um he's averaging 24 points uh six rebounds for
a sissy game so the numbers are never gonna jump off the charts compared to the other guys um but he's shooting 45% on three is 53% overall he's almost at 50 40 90 um and he defensively you know between him and yannis pick who you think he's been better this year but he's at he's at peak
koai making plays and just enveloping people on defense and i heard jj right i talk about this during the game last night against my amy where you know it's gonna be hard to vote him mvp because he has two other stars on on his team to do a lot of the heavy lifting which is you know when the warriors got derand it's like well they they kind of disqualified everybody from mvp i would push back a little bit on that because koai just kind of does everything like he's the only
one of the three that does everything defensively he's even better than paul jorge and way better than harden uh who is bought in by the way hardens playing pretty well defensively for them um offensively
he can orchestrate the offense when hardens on the bench and sometimes when hardens on the court when they have mismatches when they want to play that way and he's an incredible spot up three point shooter um he just does everything and he's people are worried about him every single possession i
again i can't those three guys are putting up incredible numbers but koai's getting into the conversation koai's getting into the upper echelons of the conversation and that should terrify everybody in the mba jj said it last night this is the last thing i'm sorry
said this looks like koai from 2017 in sanatonio you said this is this looks like koai in sanatonio vintage koai yeah i think this is the now he had a run like this late last season and into the playoffs in phoenix i think this is the best he's looks in sanatonio i think that's absolutely accurate
i think the reason it's difficult to say koai is a top shelf in vp candidate is just because yogicch, shea, yannis are like the numbers they're putting up for teams that are winning although the bucks are that's a separate box they're winning the bucks are winning they're a mess
but they're well they're not winning recently but they're in the aggregate winning point being like those guys the numbers they're putting up are just insane for teams that are winning now if the clippers end up with the best record in the western conference i think you can make a case
for koai at that point i think that's a very realistic possibility i also think that if you're going to make the case for koai at that point i hear all the shouting from new england right now from boston hey if you can make that case for koai what about jason taedom who's average in 27,
8 and a half and 4 and a half what can i tell you why you can because at at full health and that's obviously the caveat and it's always going to be the caveat for this team and this player he's better than jason taedom i just think koai is better and i love jason taedom he was my
preseason pick for mvp and he koai has been better this season but i love jason taedom i have no problem with him butting into this conversation he's incredible he's the best player on the team with the best record i honestly think if you went to a hundred coaches in front of his executives and
said who'd you rather have in a playoff series or who would you be more frightened of in a playoff series shake gilder salegs and or koai Leonard i kind of think koai might win that poll despite yes for the simple fact that you've seen it you've seen the guy's good and this is going to sound
this is going to sound blasphemous not to channel steven a if you pulled that same pool of executives instead of sum full health for everybody sum full health full health same question koai are honest koai are imbied i think those polls are pretty damn close
why are joker i think it's joker i think joker fresh off the title run as wins that pool hand may be as funny thing is i think last year might not have been well last year's last year in the playoffs to me is like there's no argument against it i'm just like that's how good
this guy is obviously health and availability matters right like that's just about a wine but given imbied's track record in the playoffs which is just okay by his incredible standards and yannis is yannis and yannis is like if yannis wins that poll i had no problem with that you mentioned
joker i want to talk a little bit about denver because i think i saw a quote last night that michael mullon said he doesn't think calvin booth is like lighting up the phone lines trying to upgrade the team at the deadline despite all the attention that has been placed on yokeuch's incredible plus
minus numbers which indicates that the benches again hemorrhaging points benches young and untested the muri regi jackson combo which kind of has to play no matter how you juggle the rotation has to play a little bit is small their minus six for the season those two together um and i
kind of agree with michael mullon i don't sense that the nuggets are like urgently worried about their bench i've said all season i kind of like all their bench players paton watchin is getting real interesting right now really is close some games for them to get real interesting
i stothers injury is a big deal because he was emerging is like this guy is a knockdown shooter on the move which is what they need christian brown i like i love that michael mullon gave him kind of a pep talk in the media this this week saying he's like better than he's shown jackson does what
he does and the deandre jordan's eeknodgy double headed center is not great but whatever you're just you don't don't do that don't do that to make man no because last year we worried all my gosh where they can go to backup center and then it's it's they're not going to play well this is what i
see your plan air and gore in the backup center when it matters they've done that some recently so like let's not worry about their backup center we saw it last year in the playoffs air and gore in their backup center so we've seen it a little more recently right we've seen them start
in games where they're like you know what let's care about this game for a half uh when yoke its rests instead of a full bench mob or muri plus a full bench mob where to go muri gore in and three subs with gore in at the five or we'll go muri michael port of jr and deandre at the five
we're going to load up these reserve units and see how it goes and guess what it goes pretty god damn good for the season i looked this up today on cleaning the glass muri and air and gore in without any of the big men without yoke joker naji uh dj so air and gore in at center that's a good proxy
for like jimal muri no yoke at your air and gore in at center they've only played about 75 minutes together for the season and they're even in those minutes and i just think the nuggets are kind of on cruise control and if they're healthy to me like they've owned the clippers for years now
now this is this is the best clipper steam that they're gonna have ever have faced if they do face them at any point i just think they're better than phoenix phoenix is is been pretty good they feel very small to me um in when they have their main lineups on the floor um and maybe it doesn't
matter their offense is so good they have a couple trade exceptions that are are gonna burn a hole in their pocket ones about five million ones about six million and and when they're in the apron next year they won't be able to use those trade exceptions because of the new rules that
are so esoteric i only kind of understand them so i don't i don't know what they're gonna do they have nissier little salary i think they'll probably find one more guy in the next week they'd like to add some athleticism to the wing which gives them something in common with every other team in the
NBA yes i just i still think the road to the finals goes through Denver now seating is gonna matter like like who has home court um you know uh who has home court who has to face the sons in the four five matchup like you probably want to avoid that matchup Denver's we saw the power of their home court advantage in the playoffs last year they lost one game i that's gonna matter but to me it the road still goes through Denver despite by the way congratulations to christenche sincerely
coaching the all star game uh for the wolves number one in the west right now another alarming fall from ahead lost against the magic over the weekend with another clunky fourth quarter that's to be figured out but to me as long as yoghatch and muri are healthy like the road to the finals goes through them that's the best two-man game in the league there are no answers for it and yoghatch is the best player in the league 100 percent agree and then air and goren's one of the best role players in
the league and just such a perfect fit for that group agree with you on paint and Watson you know going back to last year during the playoffs they were very confident hey they knew they knew the odds of keeping Bruce Brown were minimal they were very confident payton Watson was going to be able to
step in and be a quality rotation player that's proven itself and again the whole thing about their bench gets down to this for eight or ten minutes of gaming the playoffs can they survive while joker catches his breath they certainly did last year with gordon playing those minutes at the five and
i anticipate that they'll be able to do that again okay last thing to mcman we're gonna have no jewel and be likely for the all star game and maybe to probably know Julius Randall for the all star game um you which means we need two injury replacements i want to know who your injury
replacements picks are for the eastern conference i'm planning to give my good pal Adam's over a phone call and suggest something very controversial let's take those injury replacements from the western conference because there are a lot more deserving players in the western conference
then there are in these two conference so i don't hate the idea and it's look if we had a whole time when we picked teams we can put two guys from the west on the east team i don't hate that idea to mcman so would you nominate i'm going to give one nod to my guy go bear go bear the wolves tied for first place in the western conference they've already got old finchie going and edwards carlian finny towns no offense to cat i thought go bear should gotten the nod over him that the number
one defense and the league that's the primary reason they're the tied for number one team in the west and then man i've got to choose one of the kings at that point and that did you choose to just pick two guys already didn't you no go pick go just go bear okay go bear and then one of the kings
okay flip i probably go subonus i mean the guys leading the league in rebound an average like 21 points and eight assists per game and is not an all star for a team that's winning wow so you cheated and i respected yes i followed the rules which who knows why there are rules by the
way why did we take the eela mending out of the all star game what was what what was that too fun like i don't i'm still trying to figure out the whole rising stars format so the rising stars the poolian we need her kia sprite taco bell rising stars game i don't understand it i don't
care about it it's not watchable um but i like the eela mending and i kind of thought it worked in the all-star game and i guess we just don't want the all-star game to be good um i picked Derek white and treyong in that order is my all-star replacements but i respect you break it rules and
speaking of the kings mic brown i'm putting on blast uh-huh luke mic brown okay none of the kings made the all-star team as you just documented to our ants to escapes mark spears mic brown says quote it's clear to anyone who watches the nba and kings basketball
that the air in and demand this should have been selected for this year's all-star game blah blah blah every year there are deserving players left off the team but to me this is truly a glaring wrong doing it's not just a glaring wrongdoing it's truly a glaring wrongdoing so mic brown you have
violated the first rule of all-star discourse which is i don't care if you're the coach of the team i don't care if you're just trying to pump your guys up in the media and you feel obligated to do it you are required to tell me who comes off the 12-man roster to put your two guys on the team
because i got bad news for you coach mic brown eleven of those spots are locked in and spoken for and i went through it in my column i'm not gonna go through it again here there was one not solid rock solid locked in spot on the western conference 12-man all-star team and it went to carl
Anthony towns on my ballot which accounted for nothing it went to dearen fox so don't yell at me coach mic brown i picked dearen fox by a hair over de Montesobonis but you got that's the rule so who's it gonna be he should have to come out and say i think de Montesobonis is better than
carl Anthony towns bulletin board material come out and say it don't don't wag your finger don't wag your finger at us it's the same thing by the way lebron going to bat for trea young clutch clutch clutch double clutch double clutch same same thing who you taking off the team who and
and and and by the way i think the players voted trea young sixth among eastern conference guards i think i'd have to double check that but like you might want to talk to so many guys in the locker room about how they voted by the way the player balloting is a complete joke i mean
i look at some of the guys who give votes i wish that we at least would see the voting tally for the coaches now you don't have to put the names i understand the the reasons you're not going to put the names next to votes i at least wish we would see the voting tally because some of these
coaches like if you listen there are pregame press conferences i think they vote for like 18 reserves each year if you just believe what they say um by the way my real answers in these would have been trea young and christopps for zingas those would be the two guys if i have to go east that i would
plug into those spots it's nice that no one player hater timmick man still has some fun feelings toward former Dallas maverick christopps for zingas it's nice that's that's sweet listen it didn't work out for persingas and Dallas honestly always enjoyed my conversations with him i think that he
has been humbled and learned a lot i also think that a guy who was one of the most inefficient post players in the league during his time in Dallas you can chicken an egg the confidence of your you know impact hundred confidence of the coach telling you get the hell out of there
but he's become one of the most efficient post-up players so he's a little bit of a different player i think he he and someone is benefited from the route that he's taken to Boston but there's no there's no question that and i was skeptical about the trade there's no question that
he has made a massive impact the team has got the best record of the NBA well said trade young was indeed six in the player vote among eastern conference guards six behind tyrie's halibur and tyrie's maxi damian lilyard jalen brunson and donovan Mitchell all right so make
so make the argument for me king james timmick man we got a busy week ahead get to work thanks for spending some time on the low post podcast you know where to find timmick man he's on the hoop collective all the time we got uh you know he's writing stuff for dot com all the time he's on television we've got a microphone in his hands talking at games it shoot around he's everywhere timmick man thank you sir always a pleasure thanks for having me and i'll see you guys