Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right with Nick Right the best takes in moments from this week on the show. Enjoy. Let's get to Kevin Durant. He's headed to his fourteen in four years?
Is that correct? Thirteen thirteen? Sorry for the Rockets even they borrowed your strategy. It's the Landam that you pitched on your show.
I mean, it was my exact trade. Just to be clear, everybody was throwing out do they have to include Jabari Smith? Do they have to include Taris? And the trade that I put out on first Things first that was roundly mocked was Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks and Phoenix's twenty twenty seven first going back to Phoenix. The trade that just happened was Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks and Phoenix's twenty twenty five first going back to Phoenix plus some second rounders.
It was the exact trade. And for the record, the trade that I put out there for the Timberwolves to offer was Gobert, Devincenzo and Dillingham for Kevin Durant. What was reported today was the trade the Timberwolves offered was Gobert Devincenzo, Dillingham and one first round pick for Durant. I listen, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to infringe on Bill Simmons' territory of the Picasso of the trade machine. But you know, some are saying the torch
has been passed. Some are saying it like you just go go and check the archives of what the actual teams were offering and compare them to all the trades I came up with on first things, and see what other people were describing on their platforms, and just you know, let history be the judge, all right, but go ahead, sorry about that, since it's injury.
In twenty nineteen, he's won a grand total of two playoff series. Do you think the Rockets does sound like you think the Rockets are a real contender or do you think they'll end up like previous teams that he's ended up laying on, like nets of the Suns.
So listen, it's different situations, right the Nets, he was unbelievable In twenty twenty one postseason with the Nets Unbelievable lost a historic series to Jannisianis goes on to win the title. Since then, nothing's gone right and the Suns never were going to be a contender. It was a terribly built team. It was him and Booker and Beale never made sense. And listen, Katie is older, He's not the defender he once was, and his injury concerns are real.
With that, said Demonse, I think that. I think that right now, this moment, I'd pick the Rockets to win the West. Now that might change, most notably if the Lakers are able to handle their center situation. But your starting five is going to be Fred Van Vliet, I'm in Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith, Alpern Shinghoon off the bench.
You are going to have Terry Eesen, Steven Adams, who we saw Adams and Shangoon play really well in that two big lineup, Cam Whitmore, and Reed Shepherd, who was a top five pick last year that is a sniper from three and that Udoka just didn't play because he couldn't defend and was a rookie. So now you go from a team that didn't have shot making that has Kevin freaking Durant and potentially Reed Shepherd getting minutes. They are deep, they are well coached, they are great defensively.
Jalen Green was an abomination in the playoffs. Wait and now Kevin Durant steps in for him.
There was a trend. It was halliburden I can't I remember. I forget the other guy. But I mean, what if, what if Jalen Green turns out to be a star, like you know, if he just needed a little bit of a little bit of a trackway and he just ends up being I mean, Katie, what do you say thirty six years old?
He's thirty seven. I am not a Jalen Green, believe and so the I am.
Oh it was Sga. It was Halliburdon and Sga. Those are the two players because they think they traded him for old stars. As Paul Joyan, I think, oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
I got you. Yeah so I I think Jalen Green is a bit of an empty calories guy. He's a decent shooter, not a great shooter. From threes thirty five percent last year, thirty four percent for his career. He's not that efficient. Outside of his threes, he's forty two percent last year and the year before and the year before that. And I don't love when my young players aren't showing market improvement. He year two, Jalen Green twenty two a game, year three, twenty a game, year four,
twenty one a game. So I and I certainly don't see what Phoenix is like. Phoenix is just like they have one hundred guards and nothing else, but they don't know what they're doing. That's fine. It is a short term bet for sure, Demonse. But it's a short term bet that I could net them a finals. Now for Durant. Durant his last six years in Oklahoma City made four conference finals and one NBA finals. His three years in Golden State obviously made all three conference finals, made all
three NBA finals. He he then leaves there and as you mentioned, has won two series total and not been out around two. I would love to see Kevin Durant with one more deep playoff run. I would love to see Durant remind people how great he still is because he is man and all.
And I love that he went to the Rockets, the team that the Golden You know, the Rockets couldn't get over Golden State. Katie's like, I'm gonna help you guys.
That well, And and here's the other thing. The Rockets couldn't get over Golden State, and who are the Rockets trying to get over? Now Oklahoma City, Katie's old team, and so there is some nice kind of storylines there. I think it's a perfect fit. And they didn't give up too much. They kept their depth, they kept their flexibility. I think oddly they actually still if he were to come available mid season, might have the ability to still trade for Giannis and like that. I don't think that's
off the board. The who were you saying trade for your honest the Rockets? The Rockets. Yeah, I think let me, I can try to do this on the fly real quick, and then we're gonna have to move on. But I think I think we can make the salaries work because you so let me turn this off. Fred van Vliet
is forty four million, Giannis is fifty four. So if you if you were to send, for instance, Fred van Vliet read Shepherd, let me just see if that if that works, so the salaries I believe Fred van Vliet and Shepherd work, and then Houston would have to include all the Phoenix picks that they have twenty twenty nine and twenty twenty seven, the Brooklyn pick that they have in twenty twenty seven, Like you could make a trade, that is, if you are, if you're the Rockets, where
you are sending out Fred van Vliet read Shepherd and the following picks, you could send them the what picks would they probably want? Yeah, there we go. You could send them if I'm reading this properly, Fred van Vliet read Shepherd and Brooklyn's first in twenty twenty seven, Phoenix is first in twenty twenty seven, Dallas is first in twenty twenty nine, Phoenix is first in twenty twenty nine, and Houston's first their own first in twenty thirty. Those
are valuable, prime first round picks. And so my point is I don't think they're going to do that. But the point is it's not like by going for Durant they hunted on any chance at Yannis, and I think that's very useful. Let me tell you, guys, hotels in Vegas maybe books solid this weekend, but there's one vacancy left to be filled. At UFC three seventeen, a new
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Try to play through that injury obviously towards Achilles. You committed him on first scens first or playing through that is his injury in game seven. The single biggest story of the finals or the playoffs included.
No, I don't think so. The story has to be the champion. But the most memorable piece of this is his injury. And so I said almost all of this on TV, but I want to reiterate it here. It's two things. One is, you know I am not going to run from or pretend that after game six I didn't have real questions. No, I definitely hold on that that didn't happen. I did. At no point did I call.
Him, No, you didn't see You were like, if you're if you're moving around like you got to play in well.
And what I said was he didn't look hurt. That it seemed like like it was. I said that for a guy to have a calf strain and supposed to be out a month or a few weeks, which is what the reporting, was pretty much right to injure it and then play after the injury in game in game five, played twenty seven minutes after the injury, and then in game six was awesome. I said, like, is unlike any calf strain I've ever seen.
Now.
I actually was watching game seven with some active NBA players and when it happened, everybody all reacted the same, but I, I just said, I was like, how I was like, if it was that close to tearing, how did he move like that in game six? And what one player in particular said to me was said two things that I thought were fascinating. He said, in our league, the calf strain is the new torn MCL, like a
scary precursor of a potential devastating injury. And the other thing they said was the calf strain, it's not it's not like a hamstring, where it when it happens, you just simply can't save as well, right, right, But it's it's that he's like with a hamstring or a groin, you can see that impact it has. Because of how NBA players move, they can't move as well. They're like with a calf, you can move a lot of times
like okay, and you won't see it. But the only way to get it to heal it is to stay off it, right, He was, like, it has if you get a calf strained, it's got to be what I was he told me, was three or four weeks of nothing, of just flatly staying off it or else you risk that. And so I listen. I didn't know that. And so when I saw Hallie moving around like he was in game six, like the timeline of my Halliburton takes where game five I in Demon's disagreed with me on it.
I didn't really cut him a lot of slack for a zero field goal, oh for six performance, uh, because he was playing and in game six he was so fluid and so good. I thought, okay, like he's you know, dodge the bullet here. Of course he's gonna play game seven. Of course he was gonna play game six and then in game seven minutes and he tears his achilles. So all that happened right, and people can judge it however
they want, like that's fair, is fair? The here is my updated if you will opinion that maybe people will judge this as well. It's good that he played. He was supposed to play, he wanted to play, and he took a risk that he was supposed to take. When you and people were like, well, it cost them all.
It cost him and them all of next year. If the goal of team sports is to win a championship, games six and seven of these NBA Finals, Demonse had more championship equity attached to him the next season in its entirety for the Indiana Pacers, like when you are that close, like those games are worth more in your chance to win a championship than the entirety of next season.
They just are and the goal your mindset, and also just for your teams, like for the Pacers, the what Halliburton's performance in game six and even just the five minutes of game seven added more to the Pacers championship probability than him having a full all NBA season next year, because even if that happens, like you still have to get through the whole tournament and get there, and so they were there. So the only and qualifier I think that one would put on it is yes, that's all true.
The goal of team sports to win a championship, with the goal of anyone in what they do for a living is to make a living for them and their family. So if Tyrese Haliburton were in the final year of a rookie contract and hadn't been you know, re signed, then you do have to do some personal math on what this means for me and the people I care
about and all of that. But when you are Tyrese Haliburton and you are in the first year of a five year, two hundred and fifty million dollar contract and you can play and play well through the injury while risking catastrophe, which is what happened, playing is the right thing. He made the right call. It went terribly for him, but he made the right call. And by the way, I said this on TV yesterday and then he today
or last night tweeted this well, tweeted a lot. But one of the things he wrote is the following I'll just read you the whole thing. Man. Don't know how to explain it other than shock. Words cannot express the pain of this letdown. The frustration is unfathomable. I've worked my whole life to get to this moment, and this is how it ends. Makes no sense. Your heart breaks like for real, now that I've gotten the surgery of wish you could count the number of times people will
tell me I'm going to quote come back stronger. What a cliche. Lol, This shit sucks. My foot feels like dead weight, fam But what's hurting most, I think is my mind. Feel like I'm rambling. But I know this is something I'll look back on when I'm through this as something I'm proud I fought through. It feels good to let this shit out without y'all seeing the kid ugly cry. At twenty five, I've already learned that God
never gives us more than we can handle. I know all come out better on the other side of this, a better man and a better player. And this is the part that I speaks to what I was saying, And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don't regret it. I do it again and again after that to fight for this city and my brothers for the chance to do something special. And he goes on from there and everybody like people can check it out on Twitter.
That's right, that's right. And the point I made at the top of the show that Brew made yesterday that I think it was worth revisiting is I always go back to that quote and it's guy. It's from the guy who wrote The Road, never under who wrote the Road. The road author uh Cormack McCarthy, and the quote is, uh, never underestimate the awful luck that your bad luck saved
you from. And that has I That to me is like a very from like a mental well being standpoint, a very useful quote that I and for me as a parent, I I it has helped me a ton. The only really tough instance in uh my life since I've started really kind of leaning on that kind of mind frame that that didn't help at all with was last year when our friend passed. Because there's no there's no like silver lining to that. It's not like, oh well, because it's the sudden death of a friend is you know,
it's as rough as it gets. But I had some you know, anything bad that's happened to a loved one. I've thought, I've tried to use that as a silver lining or bad that's happened to me. And when I see when I'm bringing up with Halliburn, is.
This the the the road not taken for Halliburton is don't play keep the's intact and for the rest of your career, wonder what if and did you let your teammates down?
Did you let the city down? Did you was that your what would you have gotten through it without getting hurt? What did you leave your championship on the board? And when I say, never underestimate the awful luck your bad luck saved you from. Would that demonse have changed him fundamentally as a player, a guy whose rep for this postseason was the most cold blooded assassin at the end
of games? Would that decision tree have altered him? And while his achilles would have been intact, would have changed him forever? Maybe? Absolutely? Maybe so? I so I think that he clearly made the right decision, even though it was a tragic decision.
The MAVs took Cooper Flag with the first pick, so they extended Kyrie and Gafford. The question is if Kyrie ends up healthy. Do you think that Dallas's contenders for Dallas are contenders?
Do you think they are? Yes?
I do.
I knew you. I could tell just from the look in your face, So go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, I was just telling the guys this morning. The balance of defense and offense on that team also paired in with the way I know it's your guy, but the way that Luca was looking in the playoffs last year, it just kind of seems like Beakole might have had a grasp on the situation and what was going on over there. And I like that team, Like if Cooper flag pans out nicely, I hate that it worked out for him, and you know he got that they ended up with the number one pick.
But with that number one pick, that's a that's a squad right there. So so that let's go with a Nico piece of this and then we'll get to the team. Because Nico had a quote. Nico said, Fortune favors the bold and on behalf of MAVs fans everywhere. I wanted
to break a TV. You do not. You do not get to Trey Luca hold a press conference saying we did this for this year because we think we are better right now to win a championship this year or next year, and then end up bad enough that you're in the lottery and all lass backwards into the number one pick and then be like all part of the plan. If at that listen, honest to god, if at that press conference he had said, listen, we are all about championships.
I even though we thought last year's finals appearance was fool's gold, and we traded for Anthony Davis knowing he's injured and by the way, he's going to take some time to come back this year. This is not about this season, and we may or may not even be back in the playoffs this year. We're okay with this because this is a long term play. And then you end up with Cooper Flag then you can say, told you a part of the plan. Didn't expect number one pick,
but we were going to add an impact player. Fine, you don't get to be like we are doing this to contend right now. You fall into the and then be in the play in and be trying to win the play in, lose, fall into the lottery, get the number one pick, and be like Bang told you so. That's first of all, but they are where they are. Go ahead, Well, yeah, Just to be clear, I don't want to give Nico. I don't want to.
Give him any credit for this, like it, no, the Luca piece of it, Like I kind of can see he's a little bit on something. It was a crazy trade, but with it work painting out the way it did and then getting that first pick.
I think they have quite the squad on them right now. Okay, so that's the real question is do they And my answer to that question is I think right now they are more than a touch over rated. And here's why I listen. I heard and again this is not picking on him. I think other people thought this, but I heard this from I heard Stephen A yesterday say that they think that he thinks they could be Oklahoma City's biggest competitor. I disagree. And the reason I disagree is this, I do.
Not care.
How good you are, how what your profile is. In the modern MBA, in particular, rookies that have to be the focal point of a team's offense do not contribute to winning flatly. They just don't. Like I understand, Magic was great as a rookie, he was not the focal point of the team's offense. Kareem was lebron as unbelievable as he was. That Cavs team missed the playoffs. Michael Jordan as a rookie I think, averaged twenty eight points
a game. That Bulls team won thirty eight games. Okay, like asking rookies, hell take the MAVs with Luca that Luca's first year he was Cooper, Flag's not going to be better than Luca year one Luca. When year two Luki was First Team All NBA, they won thirty three games. Now, obviously those guys didn't have Anthony Davis on that on their team and eventually Kyrie Irving, but so they should
be better than those records. But the point that I am making is, as long as Kyrie is out and I do not think Kyrie, I think expecting Kyrie to be back before the All Star break is foolish. I think Kyrie Irving, given his you know, knee history and injury history and his size, in his age and you just signed him to an extension, rushing him back would be foolish. And until Kyrie comes back, you are going to be asking your primary ball handler and your primary
creator to be an eighteen year old. Like I love Flags Upside because of his age, but he's eighteen. He turns nineteen in December, and you know, maybe Clay as a bounceback year. He is not creating. Anthony Davis is awesome. He is not creating. Gafford and PJ. Washington and Derek Lively are all useful players, they are not creating. You traded away a guy who could create a bit in Quentin Grimes for reasons I don't totally understand to bring
in Caleb Martin. So like your secondary main creator is gonna be Max Christie, the other part of the A D trade until Kyrie gets back, and he is He's just not good at creating shots. No, I don't dinwitt Am I wrong? I thought Dinwitty was a free agent. Maybe I'm the I don't so. I think Dinwitty right now is the Uh maybe they bring him back, but he's so, He's not on the roster right now, so they I mean so, and Dinwitty is. I mean, there's a reason that Dinwitties last few last contract was for
the league minimum, you know what I mean? Like he he.
Can be a microwave offense, but he is it's if it's for the purpose of making it to where Cooper Flag isn't your main guy, then you know, if well Dinwitty's the alternative.
Sure something, and maybe that's something. And free agency hasn't happened yet, and they obviously will you know, add some some pieces. They will add something. I understand that, but I I do not think it is rational to expect the MAVs this next year with Kyrie playing. I don't know. I would say thirty games at best, and I would
take the strong under on that with Anthony Davis. And you know, if you if you right now as a MAVs and if you were like, hey, ad is gonna play sixty five games on the nose, you would be like take it, like you know, I'll sign up for that immediately. And with Cooper Flag being the youngest kid in this draft class and you know, having a lot on his plate, I don't think in twenty twenty this
coming season the MAVs are contenders. I do think that if Kyrie comes back from that knee injury and looks like he did before the knee injury, and Cooper Flag is the guy that a lot of people think he can be that in the season after this one, they can be really good. So I don't. If I am power ranking the West going into this coming season, I personally would power rank it thunder Rockets, Lakers with an asterisk. The asterisk being I'm assuming they are going to add
a major piece in the next ten days. Nuggets, Minnesota four five, Golden State six, and then Dallas alongside the Clipper Clippers seven eight. That's where that's where I think they will be for next year. Now, in two years, I think that could be different.