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Now, Ryan Rosillo talking a lot of.

NBA a little march madness, too.

First, our friends from Pearl Jet saping.

This a little after 630 Pacific time West coast time. We wanted to wait until after Warriors Timberwolves, figuring there would be some subplot that came out of that game. And a subplot did because here come the Houston Rockets ROSillo we would not have guessed this one week ago. We would not have guessed this two weeks ago. There is a scenario now where the Rockets catch and pass the warriors and Steph Curry is not in the playoffs. Neither is Draymond Green or Chris Paul or Clay Thompson or Steve Kerr. And Houston, who loses Shangoon two weeks ago and has been undefeated ever since he left, has now become the out.

Of nowhere story in the league. I don't even know where to start. Where do you want to start with this?

Well, it's funny, I liked watching them even though they weren't a good team.

We talked about that, what, three weeks ago we did a whole Rockets thing. We were like, what is this team?

Yeah.

When I started thinking about the league, past stuff where, I mean, there's the automatics, it's mostly the contenders. Certain nights you're like, oh, would they play each other in the playoffs? You're going to learn anything from it. But I go, you know, I'm just really interested in the, you know, the unfortunate thing about what's happened is Shangoon goes down and then Whitmore's out for a eastern.

Easton was already.

Yeah, yeah. So when they had this Cam Whitmore stretch of, like, him coming into the game and just going crazy and all this athleticism flying around, and at that point, Eason was already kind of out of the mix. So now all these guys go down and they're awesome. So I guess you could point to it being a little scheduley, but they're playing Jabari at center and now Jalen Green. Maybe it's like a better version of Kaminga where you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting. And I think Jalen's sophomore numbers were just. He got to take 20 shots a game, but now he's 40% from three from floor in March at like nine attempts a game. So I don't know if that's going to hold up at Van Vliet. They're shooting the ball well. They're running like crazy and they've actually, since the stretch, if you dig into the numbers, number two on offense and number seven on defense.

Ten and one in their last eleven.

Second in net rating over that stretch. And there's so many places to go. But I mean, we should start with Jalen Green because he wasn't finishing games for them. He was in some stealth trade rumor stuff where it was like, it's hard to tell. Would they actually think about moving on from him? Could somebody make a godfather offer? There was a nets Rockets rumor that I never fully believed.

With Mikhail Bridges, Shangoon goes out red as green's blossoming.

And it's not just the three point stuff. It feels like they have more space because like you, I found myself watching more of the Rockets than maybe I expected this year and putting Jabari at the five and even Jacqueline. It just feels like Green has more space to do stuff and he's starting to attack the rim. I'm going to say this very carefully.

And I know what's at stake and.

I know he's not going to be this person, but when I watch him, he reminds me. This version of the attack in the rim and then the jump shooting reminds.

Me a little of young Kobe. Not like three rings in a row.

Kobe, but that late 90s Kobe, where he's like, man, there's a lot here. What's going on here? And watching him the last couple of weeks, it's like, man, if you were just drawing a two guard from scratch, from a scoring standpoint, what kind of move or shot doesn't he have?

Well, I think that's the frustrating thing about it, is that when it's right athletically, you go, oh, my God, this guy's doing stuff that just few people can do. The week Aaron Gordon had that tip dunk off the rim in game from the baseline against Boston. And then when you're watching league pass and they'll have the NBA tv top ten dunks of the week. And these are things I don't normally get mad about anymore since I'm no longer being a teenager. But they had 6th.

Yeah.

And I was at home going like, are you fucking kidding me? How is that 6th? And then they showed the Jalen Green dunk from that week. I went, okay, never mind. Yeah, okay. At least that one. I still don't think Gordon should have been 6th, but Jalen Green had that one where he just went at everybody and look that layup he made the other night. I don't even know how you try something like that. But it's really about the shooting, Bill. I mean, 40, 41% from three, then that changes everything because before it was a lot of bad. When it's bad, it's a lot of bad shots and just not enough of them go in. And I always wondered if they wanted to just van Vliet and Brooks in there to just take the ball out of his hand so that he wasn't just going high screen and roll and not really playing basketball, just trying to figure out how he could go know he's he's had games prior to this year where you go, okay, well, this is why somebody goes this. But like, when I ask you, like Kaminga felt like at the point, okay, see what he's worth at the deadline because it's not working.

Think.

Do you think whether it's Kaminga or Jonathan Isaac, who we want to talk about later, who's a different case because he was cheap and had been hurt all the time. So I don't really know what the market was for him. But I think this is why teams just go, well, the last thing we want to do is give up on him. We'd rather take way too long than give up.

It's a great point because he's only.

22 years old and he would have.

A game every once in a while.

Where you would say, oh, exactly.

Okay, Jalen Green had 37 points last night.

What?

And then he would go three for 50 in the next game and get benched by Eme. There's an eme piece of this that.

I just can't think as a coincidence.

Because we watched this happen in Boston two years ago. Boston two years ago. People forget this, but they're 25 and.

25 after 50 games.

And they went on this 26 to.

Six run down the stretch.

And a lot of it was like, he really coached those guys hard. He would get mad at them. He would get mad at Tatum and Brown, he would get mad at Marcus. Smart shot selection. And I think he was tough.

Loving it a little with green in a good way.

And it's ironic that it started paying off right around the same time.

Right. The Rockets started at 18 and 16.

They go seven and 18 over the next 25. So their record was 25 and 34.

And then they've gone ten and one since.

And you mentioned the schedule. They beat the spurs twice to beat Washington twice, to beat Portland.

They beat Utah.

Well, they also beat Sacramento twice, and they beat Phoenix, and they beat Cleveland. They have a couple more easy games.

And then it gets hard in the last week, but it does feel like.

The light bulb has clicked. It's a surprisingly feisty team.

Like, if you think of all the.

Altercations, they just had another one. They had the DeRozan and the thing and Dylan Brooks.

But I wrote down all the different things they had. I had that somewhere.

Oh, Jabari against Chris Dunn. That happened this weekend. That was the second time those guys have gone at it. Brooks, DeRozan, Whitmore had a thing with Devin Booker. Thompson had one against Sohan. And then Eme did the thing with LeBron when he got thrown out at the LeBron game, where he's basically like, who the fuck are you? And called him soft. And the ref was like, you can't say that to LeBron. Kicked him out.

But there's like a roll up the.

Sleeve spice in this that I think their fans really like. I know a couple of Rockets fans, and they're all like, this is our favorite team since 18.

It feels like the pivot had been the player friendly guy. Now the personalities are different. Younger players, you can't just tell them what to do. You have to tell them why they're doing it. And this not tough love, it's just this really soft, deferential thing where no matter what, you're just deferring to them over and over and over again. And that's just not who he was in Boston. I used to die laughing when they sucked that first half of the season where they would screw stuff up. And sorry to swear again so early in the pod, but he would just look at the team going, what the fuck are you guys doing?

Remember he would do the thing where he would turn to the crowd and he'd be like, what the fuck? Oh, my. He looks like an angry dad, right?

It's just so rare. So it makes me wonder if this is what. Look, there's not 30 email docas, but you wonder if a younger team, I think a lot of gms or ownerships would have gone, hey, we need somebody that's going to. It's kid gloves. It's kid gloves. And unfortunately for Stephen, Silas was there before. His personality is more subdued and he's somebody who thought he was inheriting a completely different team. And then it turns, it's like Chauncey Billups. Like, wait, what are we doing? So you got to have the right guys to respond to probably, you know, having some vets. Here's another thing I'm going to ask you, because this is part of it. I'm almost to the point where I don't know if there's a bad free agent signing anymore with the short years, but these aren't even that short for Van Vliet Brooks. It's not like it's a Jabari Parker deal, but when I look at the cap space for the bad teams, because when you see the sticker shock of, like, van Vliet, you're like, what? And then you're like, Dylan Brooks. People are making jokes about, hey, learn chinese, budy.

It's like, or 80 million. I think this is kind of what it is now, is that there's just going to be somebody who's a free agent, who's maybe not even a top 50 player, and these bad teams are going to go, we just need a couple of guys in here who have been playing in the league a bunch of years because you can't roll the ball out there with 522 year olds anymore.

Are you trying to prepare Cerudi for when Orlando spends 130,000,000 on Malik Monk?

Is that what that was?

I was wrong about the DeRozan Bulls contract. I was just wrong about it.

Okay.

And now you go, well, what's wrong? What are you doing? If you're this terrible team and you're like, what are we supposed to do? Keep the powder dry for an all star?

I think where it goes wrong is when the spurs extend Zach Collins for.

Like 17 million a year.

It's that kind of price range that goes wrong. If I'm overpaying for a guy who's a top 80 guy in the league and can start a Kuzma Jeremy grant.

That price might not be too high.

If I get Jeremy Grant for five years, 160, it's like, oh, man, that's too much money. Then you think, well, he is like one of the best 80 guys in the league.

Maybe that's worth it from a warriors. I mean, I'm sorry. From a Rockets big picture standpoint, they.

Have this Jalen Green situation. His last twelve games, he's 28 points a game. He's 52, 42, 80 post all star break. He's 24 a game.

And there's a Shangoon piece of this.

Where Shangoon, I think, had turned it, you would have said hands down, is the best asset on this team. He's discount.

Yokich, love this guy.

But then the team kind of falls into place as soon as he goes away.

In some ways, you think, like, now.

We'Re going to play GM conciliary later with another team.

But if we were GM conciliar for the Rockets, and they're like, hey, man.

Do you think we should just make Jabari a five? Do you think we should shop Shanghun this summer? I think we would at least say, yeah, let's at least talk this the. Let's do the pros and cons of this whole thing, because maybe this is the team you should be. You have so many athletes. You have so many scores. Maybe you need space. Like, maybe you just need space and athleticism. Maybe that Shangoon guy is weighing you down a little bit. I would at least want to have the combo.

Yeah, I thought about that a lot the last couple of days, like, with Cleveland and mean, they got destroyed today by Miami. That hasn't been great offensively, and that was just an ass kicking. So you're like, okay, what if they took Mobley out, like, 450 into the game, right? And then they get the shooters out there. You're like, okay, the offense is slowing a little bit. And granted, Mobley just came back, so I have no idea what the rotation is going to be there. But this isn't even. It's kind of back to, like, the Jalen Green thing of like, okay, what do we have? What do we have? And then you start to look at Cleveland and you go, would they get weird this know, would they get weird about, like, do we have to figure ourselves out here if we want to keep Mitchell or if we decide, like, we're so worried about Mitchell? And just. It plays back into your singoon point about, first of all, I'd have to see more than not even a full month of, okay, so maybe we should bring that up.

Jaylen Green, can you keep this going?

Right, so let's see how it goes. I don't know, a few more games.

For this, but it would have seemed.

Inconceivable three weeks ago to even have the combo.

Don't you think it still might be, though?

Yeah, well, the fear would be if he is out of Jokic pad, there's no way.

I guess it depends what kind of team you are, because the kind of player he is, what kind of team makes sense to put around somebody like that? And you have all these different assets that I think we both really like.

What's the best version of all those assets together?

That would be my question because I really do like when Jabari, when they go a little smaller with Jabari at.

The five, there's only, what, five guys.

In the league maybe you don't want him defending.

You know, if he's your defensive big.

How many times are you really going to like, I watched Chet today just get annihilated by Giannis and I think Chet's really good. But there's going to be some teams that are just like, it doesn't really matter who your center.

And I'm a big guy, you know, he's a rotational big. He just is.

He's been good lately, too.

For whatever reason, you like him more than Tyce, right?

Yeah, he gets hit in the face way less. So from a future standpoint. They have Shangoon and Green and Jabari.

And Thompson and Whitmore and Eason, six young dudes.

They also have Van Viet and Brooks.

They have Steven Adams coming back, your.

Guy, Jeff Green, who they can opt in on another contract.

Then they have the top eight nets pick this year.

We'll be somewhere in the top eight. They also have the 26 nets pick, and they have two swaps in 25 and 27. And they have some expirings if they want to get kooky this summer. This team is in awesome shape. Which leads us to the retradables, because we got to revisit the harder trade. Today's retradables brought to you by Nissan SUv if you ever wonder what's around the next corner, what happens when you push further, what's over the horizon? You need a Nissan SUV. The 2024 range includes the Nissan Rogue with class exclusive built in, Google, the Pathfinder and the Armada. Go find your next adventure with the Nissan SUV. Learn more@nissanusa.com. So here was that hard to trade.

January 2021, Brooklyn gets James Harden. Cleveland gets Jared Allen. Indy gets Caris Lavert.

Houston gets OLED depot.

They get some expirings.

They get two swaps in 21 and 23 that we enjoyed a great deal.

They were not exercised. They got Brooklyn's 22 pick, which became.

Terry Easton, number 17. They got Cleveland's 22 pick, which was number 24, Marshawn Bochamp, which they used.

To get rid of PJ Tucker. They still have two swaps and two firsts unprotected. So this trade hasn't even really blossomed for them yet.

And the big mistake, I guess, would be just that. They threw Jared Allen in there. I think that wasn't great.

But for the most part, I was.

In the moment saying, I can't believe they're not trying to get Ben Simmons for Harden. I just think he's the best asset. Think about that. January 2021, Ben Simmons versus now. He's the worst asset in the league. So thank God they didn't listen to me. When you think back at that trade.

What do you think?

I always was like, wait, Cleveland end up with Jared Allen and all this? Because I was looking at it again on basketball reference. I'm like, am I missing something? I mean, there's a first that they moved out later on, and then they ended up with, which was. Which is interesting, but I just thought it was, like, a great move by Colby Altman to just be involved in it because I was going through some of the trades today because we have all this protected, unprotected stuff that I know you want to get to a little bit later. And there is so much traffic, man, trying to source through it all where it's like, no, Oklahoma City has four picks, but actually they have two picks, but they might only get one pick. And if that doesn't convey, then it actually never conveys. And you're like, what is going on? Anyway, the point is that I just think the best gms were like, what.

Are you guys doing?

What's going on? You need another landing one.

Yeah, they needed a landing spot for Allen and one more pick for the trade, and Cleveland raised their hand.

They're like, we're right here. What do you need another pick done?

And Brooklyn's looking at it from. We're adding harden to this group. So Jared Allen is as much of a, you know, looking back on mean considering what went out for Jared Allen versus what you would get for him now. Know, I know he's not perfect, but I really like that part.

Let's be meaner about this, because part of it was they wanted to keep DeAndre Jordan on Brooklyn because he was.

Friends with those guys and what they.

Should have done is put DeAndre Jordan.

In the trade because the salary would.

Have worked the same way. But.

Cleveland, I don't know what happens.

I just would have rather kept Jared Allen if I was trying to win the title versus Jordan, who I don't.

Think had been relevant for at least.

Two years before that. What was the last good on the Knicks when he had that little Knicks free agent run?

It's a while ago.

It's a tough one.

But I think to your other point, like I would ask you, this is just how quickly, whenever you're watching a player and it's not working out how rapidly the value can change for a player. Months. The Ben Simmons thing, it's not like, oh, it's three years later. This is too long. Because it immediately was just something that the next time he was moved. I mean, think about it from like, think about how Philly salvaged an impossible situation and the nets are like, could we have done better than this?

Yes, Simmons was on par as an.

Asset with Halliburton and healed together at that time. And then it flipped. That's it for the retradables.

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Cterms at sportsbook fanduel.com so there's a Warriors piece of this, too.

I can't believe I brought up is it time to start thinking about maybe trading Shangoon? No, I just wanted to talk it out. I didn't think it was a good idea. I just wanted to have the conversation over some appetizers, you know?

Here's what I think we'll learn is that they have this note. They can play now when he comes back, but I'd still rather have a big that I can run my offense like all the great things that Shingoon does. I just feel like there's too many teams, especially in the west, where it's like, do you even have another option based on the matchup? And it's to your OKC point, which I'm sure we'll get to today because Milwaukee just swallowed them up.

Well, if you're the Rockets, you're thinking.

Well, this is great now because we.

Can play this style, the non shangoon.

Style, and then we can play with the Shangoon style depending on who we're playing.

But I do wonder, with all the.

Picks they have, is there some sort of godfather move? Because we know that NBA players like.

Living in Houston, this has been a disaster for the warriors, where they're now twelve, I think.

Twelve and nine in their last 21 games. In their last 20 before today, they were 19th in net rating. Curry has not had a good march.

Since he came back.

And even though they're getting, I think Kaminga has out kicked his coverage this year.

Would you agree?

Definitely getting a bigger kaminga season than we ever expected.

Yeah, pod Zemsky, no question, has been.

Better than they ever could have expected. And Jackson Davis has been better than.

They ever could have expected. And this team is still barely 500 and they're paying. I think it's one of the foremost.

Expensive rosters in the league. Curry at age 35, not a lot of great couriers left and it's panic time. I was thinking they could get the nine seed and host the play in a game against the Lakers. Now you have the Rockets just coming on like a freight train and you have an old team in the Lakers, of an old team in the warriors with just enough games left that if one of the old guys gets hurt.

And misses a week, the Rockets could.

Pass either of those teams.

There was this stretch there where Golden State had put together a pretty good record.

Yeah.

And I don't know, was it 13 and six over that time? I'd have to look it up again.

But with good numbers.

And then rotation was figuring itself out. Like, Looney is not part of the rotation. There were times there where other guys were out, where I'm like, how many touches is charge going to get? Like, what's going on here? You get gp two back. Pojemsky is terrific just because he can play without having the ball, because just the rebounding and all the hustle stuff, and he's a smart player. And then finally Kamiga kind of like, oh, wait, this is the reason why you're taking this guy in the top ten. But Curry, prior to today, like over a 14 game stretch, his shooting numbers were terrible by his standards. He was a little better today. Clay looked like he was like, he couldn't have continued to be that bad. I just refuse to believe, like, all of a sudden Clay Thompson's just going to suck at shooting. And they ran the last play for him tonight, and Curry was kind of the decoy on that, but it was still kind of a tough. You know, when I look at today, they don't seem to have the second guy they can trust offensively. You just leave Curry in these spots.

So I think the important thing about the Houston part of this is if you look at the remaining strength to schedule, Golden State has the easier schedule. 22nd toughest Houston's 11th toughest. Golden State goes back out on the road again for four. They come back and play Dallas, and then they go back to Texas for a couple. So this is still a tougher stretch for an older team with a lot of travel. Even though it's an easier schedule on paper than what Houston faces, I don't.

Love the new rules for them either.

I think they've been a new rules.

Casually because teams are just, you can.

Be more physical with Steph and then they play Minnesota today, and that's.

I think Minnesota swept them this year.

That's a worst case scenario team for them. They just have multiple 656867 guys that they can throw at him and just bother him, push him around. I thought the Pacers loss on Friday night was pretty alarming. That was just a game. I thought the warriors were going to win, especially because Halliburton hadn't been playing that well. And it just seems like you're home, it's Friday night, you're going to get this one.

And Steph sucked.

He was six for 18 from three.

It was just weird.

Indiana got, Indiana was 42% from three, but just got shots that they liked the whole game. Do you watch that game?

I didn't catch all that one because I was at the tournament on Friday.

Yeah, it just was a pretty convincing indie win.

And that was when I think every like Raheem did a thing this weekend about how Houston was plus 800 to.

Make the play in, which are crazy ods. And this was before all the stuff.

That happened the last two days. But yeah, something seems amiss and it made me. I was watching it today and I was just thinking like, I've been here.

Before with great teams, right, where you.

Kind of know they don't have it anymore. And I feel the same about the Lakers, too.

Not that the Lakers were a great team, but it's just so hard for them to be good like the warriors.

When they're playing a team like Minnesota, they just need Steph to be awesome, basically. And when the Lakers are playing any good team, they kind of just need LeBron to be awesome. Or they need some crazy DeAngelo Russell game. When you look at the ease of a team like the Celtics, like a younger team, or like what the Bucks are starting to put together now, where the infrastructure of the team, you could just be up 15, you could be up 18. And I think it's really hard for these older teams to do it.

The leagues also way better. But I think with the warriors, what.

Do you do if you don't make.

The playoffs this year?

You don't make the play in. If you're an eleven seed, what do you do?

Yeah, but what are they? If they're a ten seed or a nine seed anyway, it could still the.

Same, but you could at least say.

All right, we just wanted to get in the tournament and now we're in it and we just got.

You're lying to yourself a little bit because if they're the eleven seed and they miss it by a game, oh, now we have to tear it down. But if you're the 9th seed and say you make it losing one eight to Denver, OKC or Minneapolis, what are.

You tearing down though?

I should say Minnesota? I don't know.

I just said that because you got.

Clay and as, as expiring contracts.

No, I'm telling you that the to do list is the same. It doesn't matter if they're officially a playoff team or outside of the playoffs.

So you're saying this is a done.

Deal, this is a rebuild after the season, either way.

Well, I don't know that it's a just. I guess what I'm asking you is, are you doing something where the NCAA tournament. The guy will be like, yeah, I made it. It's a middling power five program. Like, oh, we've been to the tournament five of the last eight years. Okay, but what are you talking about?

Well, I guess I'm saying more.

I'm confused. Say what you're saying, because I don't think I understand.

So the warriors had the season from hell, right?

Draymond, how many games did he get suspended for? I think he missed.

Ended up being 1010 plus for the second one.

Drama the whole first two months of the year, right? They lost Chris Paul for a bunch of time. Wiggins disappeared for a bunch of time.

Curry just got hurt.

And you're thinking if you can get to, like, 45 wins and you're the.

Nine seed, you could talk yourself into like, all right, this was the season from hell, but we're here. All of our guys are healthy. Let's go. But all their guys have know pretty.

Healthy for all March, and they seem like they're going the other way. And I think that would be more alarming to me. The point of the season where I would have thought, all right, all this shit's behind us.

We're here. Chris Paul's back. We got our rookies a taste. Let's go.

Let's make a run.

And they're going the opposite way.

So if I'm looking at that, if I'm writing the checks, I'm like, what am I writing the checks for? Maybe we should rebuild. Maybe this is just, we'll ride out Curry for the next five, six years. We'll let Clay go, or we'll try to get him at a cheap price.

We'll let Chris go.

I'm not spending $300 million on my roster every year anymore. And we're moving into a different phase of the Warriors. I don't think they were there even thinking about that until probably today.

I guess what I was saying, because now I'm on the same page, is that even if you had lost a competitive first round playoff, I don't think it really changes who you're ceiling as a team for 24, 25. With this roster, the biggest problem is you just wouldn't like. Steph's gone through his slump, and he has to be normal. Steph with this group offensively, because Wiggins will still disappear. Draymond is a differential player. Clay, it felt better. He wasn't good tonight. CP got it going a little bit when he was hunting his mid range. Like, you could just see with him going, all right, I need to be more aggressive. But he had a wide open three late. He needed to take it and then he kicked it. He swung it. And as great as the Jackson Davis story has been that you found this rotational guy so late in the draft, he just needs to be better with the ball in his hands. So I think they get stuck. I think they get stuck hoping Steph is going to save them. And there were games earlier in the year where I felt like just Steph took tougher and tougher shots because he knew, like, all right, we don't really have much of a chance.

And I think Kerr is trying to manage Steph. He's 6th on the team in fourth quarter minutes since the all star break.

He played less minutes than clay tonight.

Played 30.

Yeah. So I imagine Kerr, that's always been, it's changed a little bit, but the standards usually because they've been so good, he just comes in with six to go to close out the game. So I don't know if you should have brought him back in earlier tonight. I don't know. I'm not going to question Steve Ker on that one, but I think the writing is kind of on the wall from this team. Even if with these younger players had put together a nice little run, get through the play in. But I wasn't going to pick them to beat anybody in the one eight.

We were pretty honest about that.

I just thought they'd at least be.

Fun and who the hell knows? And I think that window has closed.

Now, too, and it's supposed to. This is what happens, I guess.

But when you're spending $300 million on your team, you kind of want to be one of the top ten teams in a conference. You would think so, but it's also pretty devastating.

But that was what lake up was always about. Like, nothing's going to get in the way. We're never going to worry about it. We're just going to go and go and go. And he kept all the pieces. And if they felt like they had, they won a title two years ago. So for the most part, this has worked it.

By the way, they don't have their.

First round pick, top four protected going to Utah. So there's that, too. Well, flipping it toward which west team would you want to be for the next six years? Which would take us through the love.

That it was six years.

Six years, 24 through 30.

Would it have changed if it were only five years.

I went six. I thought it was sexier as a tease. What's each pick? We'll go in order, but you could.

Be any west team. You could have their future for the next six years.

Who would you pick?

Okay, this isn't a draft. We're just going to kind of go back and forth.

It's Denver.

Yokich is 29, Murray's 27, Gordon's 28. Michael Porter Jr. Is 25. And Yokich. And Yokich is going to age well.

That was also my pick. I'm signing up for Yokich Murray, Aaron.

Gordon and whatever they add to this team year to year. And I bet they'll be able to get some free agents who want to.

Be part of this. Number two is where it gets interesting, though. Who'd you have?

Oklahoma City. So they've got a top five player already in Shay. They have cap space, major cap space this summer, which is part of the we'll see Hayward thing. Yeah, we don't know, but they got to spend something. And they have potentially 15 1st round picks. It could be nine. It depends on the protections and how all this all plays out and the brilliance of some of the other stuff, and I was digging into it with prestige, is like, he'll lose some picks this year, but it's the 24 draft and they already have these young guys.

Like that sneaky Dallas trade he did where he gave away the pick they had, but all of a sudden now.

He can swap with them in 28.

Yeah, I'll push that one back if.

You'Re really into it. He's got between, I think, 21 and 27 2nd round picks. There's one year on the books now they have six that are just theirs. There'll be six second round picks. I mean, again, I think people overrate those quite a bit. Those are the hinky stands that just love second rounders that wrote about it over and over again. I like ant more, but I can't argue that he's a better statistical player than SGA. So there you go.

I had OKC third.

Okay, make your number two case.

I took San Antonio. They have all their own firsts.

They have Atlanta's 25 and 27 unprotected first. They can swap with Boston in 28 and Dallas in 30. They have some other picks, too, but.

They also have Victor Wambanyama, who I've.

Been watching more San Antonio than I did in the first part of the.

Year instead of just following Wembia on social media.

I think the thing I like about him the most, other than the fact that he's a fucking alien, is seven foot five and he has five plays a game that you're like, I've probably never seen that for.

He's got like a really nasty side to him. He's really competitive.

I feel like the guy hates losing. It's like this is probably like the worst year of his life. It fucking drives him crazy to be.

On a bad team with teammates that aren't very good. And if they can figure out how.

To put a good enough team around him, I would just rather have that than whatever OKC comes up with. Because I don't know how you're going.

To stop this guy.

This is the worst he's ever going to be right now. And he's like 20, 212 and six blocks. This is like the fucking basement of.

Where we are with this.

And the thing that I was most worried about with him was the health. You watched. Even Yao in the earliers are like, oh, man, I don't love how he runs. You watch some of the big guys like, I don't love he. I like the way he moves.

I feel like he's going to have.

I'm going to knock on wood. I feel like he's going to have.

A nice little run here. Where?

I don't know. I don't know why I trust it.

Are you trying to guarantee a non injury stretch?

I'm not trying to guarantee anything. Some people are lighter on their feet than others, and I think he's surprisingly light on his feet for how fucking tall he is. I don't really fully understand it, but he's just very comfortable and coordinated and moves at a certain pace that he's.

Not clumsy at all. At all.

So I would bet on him second over OKCs, him and the picks and whatever. They could potentially do it. But it's like a two a two b thing for me. I think he made a good case.

With OKC because, OKC, you have SJ.

You have Jalen Williams, you have Chet, and they're all young and on the way up.

I'm not positive that team is going to spend money.

I'm still dubious of that part. What happens when you actually have to keep dudes together and have a $220,000,000 payroll? We've just never seen them do it.

But they have to kind of do it, though. This is the Orlando thing, right? But you have to spend this money while you still have everybody on the rookie scale, other than SGA and some of the other contracts. But like, Dortz had a really good number. So this is usually what you do is you spend that now and then you worry about it later.

I didn't like the trade deadline. We didn't like it when it happened. And Hayward to me looks like he's.

Just on the other side of the mountain. I don't know how that was their trade. I just don't get it right.

We didn't like it because they didn't go for Gafford and they were part of facilitating it. But the Hayward thing cleared up all the extension on, so, and it wasn't working out. Like, for whatever reason, he just wasn't playing that well with him and he was basically like an afterthought. So I thought it was just another way of being like, hey, what if there's somebody this summer that we can add that is in that 30 to 40 range? I don't know who that player is. You worry about them getting in the way of what they do offensively and duplicating some of the stuff. But usually the teams, when they have this kind of talent with so much of it on rookie scales, they'll spend the money now and then kind of worry about it a little bit later, and they got to be to the floor anyway. So the second apron, I'm not exactly saying that here. I'm just going, I like the player part of this because I think there's probably a lot of people that would say, hey, give me the thunder because of all the picks. And it's like, oh, first of all, I'll just take Yokich, take the top, and you guys can figure out the rest.

All right, so I have Denver, San Antonio two way and OKC two b.

Basically. Who do you have as your third?

I had Minnesota because it is right. Look, there's some bad money stuff coming. At some point you wonder how that's going to go because when they redo cat and ant with Rudy's $47 million player option, they're going to be at like 140,000,000. If you look at the estimates for.

Three guys, we know how it's going to go. Towns will be traded, right? And all the eventually go.

This is the bigger part of like, okay, the Rudy thing has been awesome this year, and he was incredible tonight. Now, granted, that's an advantage for him because of the lack of size, but he had a play where he basically helped off a Draymond on a Steph drive. So Steph kicked it back out to Draymond, who's taken more threes and he found a way to recover to Draymond and still get out and contest it. Like give it a good contest. And I had to rewind it and being like he was shading Steph on the drive and a guy that size turned back around to contest Draymond. So the picks.

Hold on on Gobert. Yeah. Why can't Rudy win most improved?

Because people, Maxi is like the prohibitive.

Favorite right now and I don't know.

Couldn'T we have predicted that if Harden was going to get traded from Philadelphia and Maxi was going to have the ball all the time, his stats are probably going to be better.

I know he's better, but is it dramatic or is it in line with.

A guy who averaged 20 points a year last year who's now averaging 26? We're going to talk most improved. You got to go into what Jalen Green's been doing the last month of the season or even something like Rudy, who seemed like his career was over and he was part of the worst basketball trade of this century, now becoming this disruptive defensive force again.

Well, if he wants to get any most improved momentum, he's got to go on SportsCenter and do an interview where he cries like Kyle Anderson. We fought now we.

And Kyle and I cried together.

You have the voiceover. It's like by March of last year, Rudy knew he was the least cool player on the team and now he's considered one of the coolest. And one friend downloaded Babel to speak his native tongue. Anyway, so I'm a Kobe white guy, I think.

Was that a babble ad?

Yeah, I think we had a Babel sponsorship.

We did.

We like to take care of them even if they're.

Fandel has maxi -230 Kobe White plus 160. Who's another one? Kobe White was a bench guy last year and now is this guy last year. Offense, end of games.

Other than his second year, he's been a bench player his whole career. And now he started basically the whole season. He's averaging 20. Granted, it's more shots, but when I.

Watch him 22 and six for four months.

Now back to our patience theme.

Yeah, Jalen Williams is like 100 to one and Kaminga is 100 to one.

But I think it would have been.

Funny to just put Cobert in there. But that's how dramatic it's been from last year to this year. And I agree with you, the warriors. And it's weird, like watching this version of Draymond, too, because you remember that early in the year of Minnesota Golden.

State they played and Golden State, Minnesota had like a fight.

I do remember that.

It was twelve games, by the way.

Draymond was out and doc said, doc.

Was on my pod and he was like, this is actually an important moment that this happened, because this means Golden State's afraid of Minnesota. Like, you don't fight with a team unless, you know, like, they're on your corner now.

And since then, now I think how the roles reverse, they get swept for the series.

You watch at the end of the game and they're all hugging each other, and it just feels like this version of the warriors is done in a lot of ways anyway.

Did you ever ask him, is that why Kevin Johnson tried to take him out?

Who was the guy who came off.

The bench in street clothes?

Greg Anthony had like a tight fit from structure. It's an unbelievable fit.

Anyway, you have Minnesota third, and I.

Support it because of the Edwards piece. I had Minnesota fourth. So does that mean you had.

Fourth?

No, no. You know, I can't quit the Pelicans.

Oh, the.

Wow. Over.

So you don't have Wembenyam in your top four for team you'd want to.

Be for the next six years.

I struggled with all the Texas teams. I wrote all three Texas teams down because I knew that the exercise, like, maybe not you, but I thought if other people did this, I think they would just fall so in love with Oklahoma City's draft stockpile that they would just pick them first. And I'm like, yeah, I don't really think that's the, like, I feel bad leaving Luca out.

Yeah, I'm trying to win titles, right?

Like, I get Luca and I'm still going to name five teams ahead of them. Where Houston. This has been fun, but come can't. I can't put them fifth. Even if the cool part of them is you have all these young guys. We all like where it's like, what if one or two of them pop? Where San Antonio feels like they have the one guy that's more valuable, clearly, than anybody in Houston, Lucas, the better player than Wimbanyama today. But San Antonio probably says no for that. I did. I did the Pelicans because I really like what I've seen from just. This has been an unbelievable zion turnaround from where we were, the in season tournament in December, where it felt like the national media was really focused and he played like crap and he looked awful and it was like, is this really how it's going to end? And he's responded big time. I know Ingram's out. You know, the problem is it's the injury history stuff with those guys that you could argue against me. They have a ton of picks. They have all this depth. They can play a bunch of different ways.

And San Antonio still has so much work to do around Wimbanyama. But this one, I might be willing to be wrong. On the first three, I wasn't.

I had Houston fifth, I had Minnesota.

Fourth and Houston fifth because so no New Orleans.

I had New Orleans as a runner.

Up at six because the thing that.

Surprised me about New Orleans, and I really do like them, I thought Houston versus New Orleans was a great argument. The picks that New Orleans has aren't as great as I think we felt they were going to be four or five years ago. Now they're going to probably punt on.

That Lakers pick for this year because.

They have their choice of 24 or 25.

You punt this year because the draft sucks.

25. Now you have your fingers crossed, like, hey, who knows?

That's going to be the most loaded draft of the decade. Maybe we'll get lucky in some way.

The Houston, I just like the guys.

In the team and I love the Brooklyn picks.

It's ironic how that played out where now those Brooklyn picks look amazing and you never ever in a million years.

Would have thought that.

And Brooklyn took that big chance by trading Durant, hoping maybe the Phoenix picks.

Would kind of cancel out the picks.

That they were losing to Houston.

And they bet wrong. That was a bet they're going to.

Lose because I think anybody would rather have the Brooklyn picks and the Phoenix picks. Dallas, I couldn't get there because of. They just don't have a lot of outs with this roster. They are locked in now in all different. They, they've traded away a bunch of picks.

They have losing swaps in three of.

The next couple years. They're tied to basically Luca and Kyrie and a bunch of role players. And unless lively can turn into somebody awesome, I don't really see how the ceiling goes up with this team.

Unless Luca just goes bonkers.

Well, I don't know. Is there another level beyond who this guy is now?

That's what I'm saying. Could he be a 40 1010 guy?

I don't know.

I don't know if he can be any better. And that's why I flirted with them ahead of New Orleans, because Luca is healthy. But then I had to have assurances, like, what if I guarantee you two more stress free Kyrie seasons? Does that change? Is that something I could interest you in.

I still would have him 7th.

In Utah I had 8th just because.

Of all the picks.

We need to take a break. We'll come back and got to hit the Clippers.

All right, so we're doing a best.

Defenders alive draft in a little bit. Just wanted to tease that so people don't be like, I'll just listen to half of the podcast and move on.

I went to Clippers sixers today, a 1230 game, which 1230 Sunday in a.

Half empty crypto, staples, whatever the hell it's called now. You know, one team's not showing up. It's a coin flip. The Clippers were, I think, nine and.

A half point favorites, which is just nuts.

Nobody should ever be a nine and a half point favorite in a 1230 Sunday crypto game. But philly came out, made a bunch of shots and the Clippers just look.

Generally semi lethargic, like they really have.

Over and over again. Over the last 20 games they are ten and eleven.

In their last 21 they were ten and ten.

They went 22 and five and they.

Had 19 nine plus point wins in that 22 and five stretch.

In their last 23 games they have four nine plus win. They were killing teams. Now they just don't kill teams anymore. In their last 20 games for today, they were 19th in net rating. And this is no longer like a little bit of a skid. This is one fourth of the season now.

Rosillo, what is this? What are we watching?

Not the team that went 26 and five and destroyed Boston. Boston was rested and at that time was as impressive as anything I've seen a team do for one night all season long, although I put Milwaukee up there with what they did against Oklahoma City. But when you looked at how the Clippers have been playing and the biggest thing that jumped out, I know we've talked about that game a few times, is that was a staggering impression. Mean, how did you feel when you watched that?

I hope I don't see these guys in the finals because we're going to have trouble chasing everybody around.

Just everybody locked in, in sync defensively. Then you start wondering, like, is quiet going to be first team? Does quiet get MVP votes? Like what's going on? And so now they're ten and eleven over this stretch. And the crazy thing in March, Bill, is PG has only missed one game, Kawhi's only missed one, Harden's only missed two. And if you look at some of their normal stats, you're like, all these guys are all right. Like Kawhi's three point shootings dipped here a bit after it looked.

That was the only one I noticed was the Kawhi three point down. Other than that, it seems they don't play defense.

That's the point. And I don't know if it's one of those regular season tricks where this team has been around so long, or at least the guys individually have been around so long where they're like, okay, we know what we can do over 30 games because we did it, and now we don't care because their offense is okay since the all star break, but since that same timeline is kind of how I sort it when I update these for every Sunday. They're 26 now in defense since the all star break, and it shows and.

With some teams that aren't trying anymore. Yeah, I'll tell you, I sat in a suite tonight.

Must be nice.

And was able to watch them not run back on defense a bunch of times and jog back.

I was like, oh, my God.

Fucking mailing from the clips.

So, okay.

Isn't that the question, though? Which version are we going to fall for?

This isn't James Harden's history, though. He's been the most reliable, competitive guy in the league. Expected more. Expected more from Kawhi.

If it were a different team, I'd go, okay. I guess that was like, the fluky. Two of the guy didn't know what to do with Cleveland when they went 17 and one, and they were missing the other guys for a good chunk of that. And I was like, all right. And now you're like, all right, we'll see how it plays out in the first round matchups. I don't know if I was more tricked by 26 and five or if I write them off. If they lose, the Pelicans are chasing them. Does it matter? Okay, so it's a four or five. It's New Orleans.

Well, there's one variable has changed, though. Anger.

New rules.

New rules. Bad for the quippers. I would say. They're top three new rules. Not great for a team.

Half of James Harden stuff doesn't work.

Anymore, and they're a little undersized. Anyway, listen, I was saying this at.

The game, and I said this to you the last time we talked about them, and I really feel strongly about this.

They miss Westbrook.

Westbrook is really helpful for them. A game like today is the perfect example of where you need Westbrook. They're dead. Crowds dead. They're down ten early. And Westbrook would just come in and run up and down. He'd get rebounds. He'd one man fast break stuff. He'd do, like, the dunk and then stare at the crowd thing, and he just gave them an energy that when you watch these guys altogether, when they.

Don'T have him, it's a pretty passive team.

It's not like the most demonstrative group of know.

And Westbrook, at least was the one.

He was like, the one crazy guy in your friend group. We're like, oh, we're bringing Bob out tonight.

Oh, yeah, Bob's coming.

We're going to let him drive.

Like, wait, why doesn't he have a.

Credit card with him? Bob's out of jail.

Is that a prepaid Mastercard? I completely agree with you.

Thank you.

You felt it today in person. I'm telling you, it was the classic Westbrook coming in and just igniting the game, and they just didn't have them.

Now, I don't know if he's going.

To solve all their defensive problems. And when I look at those numbers and when you watch them, like that game where they came back against Houston, that first half, I was like, what is, this is a while ago, but you're watching. You're what? What are you guys doing? And since they came back, I don't know. I don't know if it's a team that's like, hey, we know what we can do. We've already proved it, and now we don't care. And it's the four or five, so we're not really chasing anything. We're not really avoiding or anything.

But I think they do care, though. I think Tyler cares.

He was really upset during that game today.

He was really mad that they weren't.

Playing well and playing hard, and he.

Called a couple timeouts, and he was doing like the pissed off did not. I think he wants them to get.

Going, and it's just not happening. Okay.

So would you pick the Pelicans in.

The first round over the Clippers? I think I would, because I've watched them with size and energy and effort.

Kind of pull away some of the Clippers advantages.

I think I would take them. What would you?

I guess it depends on when Ingram comes back.

But I assume he'll be back by the time we get to the playoffs, right?

It's supposed to be reevaluated, so that can always scare you a little bit. But they've got the wing defenders, or at least they've got the size. And if you're getting this kind of Zion, it just changes everything for the Pelicans, and they've done things where they're going to play Larry Nance at center, it looks like a little bit more if they feel like that's a better matchup for them. So if the clippers think that they're going to solve it by going small against, and the pelicans may be like, cool, let's have Larry Nanser around out there at the five the whole time. And then that means that everything's clear, instead of just having that big body. I mean, imagine if they're going to try both things. Like, hey, let's have just a big body just around the rim to prevent some of the stuff from Zion. Because when you go small against Zion, now, all of a sudden you're like, okay, who the hell's supposed to stop any of this stuff? But the Trey Murphy thing has been huge for him. The Ingram thing definitely scares me. But as I remind myself and the listeners all the, like, all the times, the regular season can kind of trick you because you know how different it is.

I don't know which version of the Clippers to fall for.

Also, the Pelicans are fucking annoying.

To play.

In a seven game series. That's Alvarado. They'd be like, hey, every time you're in, just bug the fucking shit out of James Harden.

He's like, done, got it.

I'll go 94ft with him. I'll try to take annoying, dumb charges against him. Najee Marshall I really liked how the Pelicans played against Miami the other night.

Where they had had an incident the last time.

Butler talked some shit after, and the Pelicans waxed them on Friday and then talked shit after. And this was the day after they lost to Orlando. But even their social media account was talking shit to Miami. But I think that team's got a little juice. I feel the same about the Rockets. It was like what we were talking.

About earlier, another team that has some juice. We ready to believe in the Bucks yet, at least as the second best team in the east?

Well, they're definitely the second best team, and they're probably closer to Boston than the standings would say. And Dame wasn't even good today. They were so good defensively.

Today you're giving me the definitely the.

Best, second best team in the league because Cleveland. Cleveland would have a been right there all year with way more injuries.

I pick Milwaukee, and it's always so funny when it's five or six. Like you say five, you're like, whoa, smoking them. And then it's six. It's like, oh, a tight series. I would pick Milwaukee with a lot of confidence because I'm not sure if Cleveland knows exactly what they're supposed to be. And I know Mitchell is out with the nasal fracture and apparently there's a knee contusion on top of that as well, so you've got to worry about that. But Cleveland's been going into the playoffs here, where it feels like very little time to actually know what they're supposed to be, and they may abandon some things in the playoffs quickly. Milwaukee has. When I go through the starting five stuff, and I know we touched on it last week, but it just depends on kind of how you sort it. But if you go with the most minutes played, five man group, Milwaukee Starters are, I think, better than any starters technically, but then you can change it to like, okay, but what if a team's played with these five, like 200 minutes, 300 minutes? It's crazy. I think this is right. Going into today, Miami's most consistent five guys together had played 79 minutes.

I was like, how is that even possible? I mean, they're just a mess on offense when you talk about being tricked again from the regular season into the playoffs. But yeah, I don't have any concern. Look, Dame wasn't even good tonight and it didn't matter. They housed them. And another Oklahoma City rebounding night, even though they've been better rebounding since the all star break. From some of the dismal numbers comparison over the entire season, I think Milwaukee was plus 15 by the time when the game was over. With four minutes to go, I was like, let me check this. And I think it was plus 15.

OKC is in a hole now where if they play Minnesota, Denver, Milwaukee or.

Boston, they basically are prisoners of whether they made threes or not.

They're just not winning unless they shoot like 40% from three. Like they didn't make threes today. They have no chance against a team with real size. If they're not making threes, there's no plan B. Milwaukee did about as good of a job of limiting SGA as I've seen this year, too.

He did not have a good game.

When I looked at it because I was watching both games at the same time. Let me double check here. Yeah, they held shade. He was five of twelve, but before that was worse, and he took only.

Three free throws and he just couldn't get to spots. And he loves to live in the paint and around the key. And that's one place where Milwaukee's got a lot of size to throw. It was not an encouraging game if you're buying OKC stock.

It also reinforced the possibilities of Denver is now in the lead by a half game, Minnesota is a game back and Denver getting the one know home.

Court throughout the playoffs, basically until they get to the finals. Meanwhile, Milwaukee looks like they're going to.

Get the two seed now, which is.

Almost definitely going to be Miami versus.

Philly in the seven eight game. Want to do an ESPN segment?

Can we just touch on that? Oklahoma City does have the season series three one against Denver has to beat.

Them by a game, right?

So that's why when you look at the standings and they had the same record, they had the tiebreaker as the one seed. Yokich did miss one of those. So I'm not going to sit here and say, hey, they're definitely better than Denver, but I just think it's at least because I think you and I are guilty of kind of writing them off in certain matchups against all this size because we've talked about it so much.

I'm super guilty. I don't see it. I don't see it in a seven game series. I don't think they have enough size.

I don't.

There's another thing they do because I was trying to find more clippers reasons and if you look at contested shots and then close outs and then open and then wide open, like wide open is known within 10ft of you and then completely uncontested is like a range of four to 6ft closest defender and it's all the tracking stuff that they use. Oklahoma City is like the best in the league. They find ways to get more open shots because you have to figure out a way to build the wall against SGA. He could be another one with the new rules. Where you gonna. Because I think he was always a little craftier at getting free throws because once you get a guy up in the air, the ref's never going to give the defender that, even if you're initiating the contact. But when I looked at the Clippers, it depends on which one you'd look at. But they in one of those categories had the least wide open attempts of anybody. But with Oklahoma City, I wonder like in the playoffs, does that mean teams are just going to close out that much harder? So some of those like does that tick down?

Are they rolling through everybody in the regular season with all this great shooting and this awesome offense around SGA, will that end up becoming something they can't bank as much because guys just try that much harder to go out and contest after they help off a drive.

Here's the other thing I would worry about if I was them.

Shays played 68 games. Jalen Williams 62. Chet 69. Josh Giddy 68. Dort 67. Isaiah Joe 65.

Wallace 69. Teams, like, been unbelievably, incredibly healthy all year, right?

So whatever their record is right now.

Which is 49 and 21, great stuff, but with the best health situation of.

Anyone in the league, it's a little like what happened with Sacramento last year. Remember Sacramento?

I think just if I remember this.

Correct, I think Sacramento was pretty healthy last year.

I think they're five.

It played the most minutes of.

They just.

And sometimes that's worth five, six.

Um, we gotta take a break.

And when we come back, I am throwing a Hacky ESPN segment at you, and then we are going to do our all defense draft.

All right, hacky ESPN segment time. If you're the Milwaukee Bucks, are you more afraid in the first round of the Miami Heat, the team that beat you last year, or the Philadelphia 76.

Ers with the rested and healthy Joel.

Embiid Ryan, who do you got? All right.

I told myself I would never do this again, but I think I'm going to do it.

Uh oh. What is it? You going against Miami? Yeah.

I'd still rather play that offense than.

Have any.

If you have any kind of personal pride, if you have anything in you, you would want to play Miami again.

And be like, okay, we need to.

Get back at these. What? That might be the most motivation any team could have in a potential first round matchup.

I know thanosis wants another crack in him.

I don't know what I'm getting from Embiid, but everyone I've talked to about this, who knows anything about anything, was.

Like, yeah, he's going to be fine.

It's a six to eight week injury, or six, seven weeks, whatever it was. And he's practicing and he's going to be back. And now we have budy healed and.

We have campaign and we have, who's the other guy they added? Then they add a third guy, just.

Buddy healed and campaign.

Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry.

So we're a little better than when he left. And by the way, when he left.

We were number one in net rating.

And we were like 1516 games over 500.

So, yeah, don't count us out yet.

Because I did a segment on Thursday.

In the pod about like, would you.

Just, if MB is not 100% healthy.

Should you just shut him down?

And the sixer side is like, look.

He'S recovering from an injury but he's.

Going to be recovered when we bring him back.

I wouldn't shut him down because of his injury history. I'd go, okay, he's healthy. You get a chance to go into the playoffs and adding the pieces that you mentioned when we were getting ready for a defensive draft, I did notice that preseason ods listed campaign as a potential defensive player of the year option at plus 4000. I was surprised he was even on.

The list on that one or no.

I was going back getting ready for the defensive team draft, and I'm like, wait, are you serious? Why was he even on this list and some book had him listed. Maybe there's something I don't understand.

Do you think I've earned enough weight to make the case against Miami considering.

I'm the most afraid person of them?

Well, if it's stats, I don't think they matter. I mean, hero hasn't been playing and it's desperate that they get him back. They started Patty Mills and Jovich again today. And as much as I love Yovich's ceiling, as a big guy who can pass, I don't know what the latest numbers were, and they were awesome today, by the way. I mean, they absolutely put it on Cleveland, but they've been basically a 500 team since the break. So are they just tricking us all again? And they're going to be offensive? I mean, is Caleb Martin going to turn into Durant again for the Eastern Conference finals?

So that would be the case against Miami?

Would be.

Are they getting that Caleb Martin from the Eastern finals again? The second piece would be Roger with a lot of weight on him. We haven't seen him in a playoff series really since 2018.

Let me read you.

And Butler turns into Jordan.

Yeah.

Will that ever happen again?

Right. Let me read you, Hawkez. Three point shooting by the month starting in October.

37.5.

Nice.

39.2.

November, pretty good.

We dipped a little in December, 32.4.

Not great.

Oh, no, we're still going down 25.9 in January.

We're not going to get worse than that, right?

Oh, I guess we are.

February, 20% from three and this month he is 30%.

This is somebody that, a couple of months ago, I think we felt like, holy shit, what an asset this guy's. And he's still a good bench player and he's had a really good rookie season.

But I still wonder with them, who's.

Their five going to be? Because the east is much better than it was last year. Celtics are much better. Milwaukee is going to be healthy and Giannis won't have fallen on his. Broken his back, basically. But the first, I think Middleton looks.

Good, by the way, whatever, getting him back to recovery, and I know Doc mentioned on the broadcast day, kind of kidding around, being like, he must have been playing in pickup.

Yeah.

Because there was a matchup earlier this year where I watched him was like, I don't think he's moving all that well. So I didn't know what to expect. And just like, from a movement standpoint. Yeah, we totally agree. Keep going.

Yeah.

You want to stay on, Hawkez, because I'm going to share something with you.

I just don't know who their finishing five is at this point because they've been all over the map with their lineups and I don't know where they're going to land, especially when we haven't.

Seen hero in a while from a.

Shot creation standpoint, hero, even though that's the weird byproduct of last year where it was like, was the dirty little secret that they were actually so much better defensively because they didn't have hero. But I also thought you got like, incredible kind of out of character offensive stretches from players. When you go back to those Caleb Martin game logs in the playoffs, you're like, what was this? And then as soon as the NBA Finals started, he was like, the worst version of him. So there's that. But I'd have to think, like, hero had so many times this year where I watch him, like, man, he is like, he's really good at getting his stuff on his own. And to survive in the playoffs, you're going to need that when Butler's not getting calls or there was a play against Herb Jones, or Herb Jones just was like, I'm not going up in the air against you, dude. I know. Everybody does it. And you kind of have that second pump off the first one that gets everybody. I'm not falling for it. Great advanced scouting work by Herb Jones, and he blocked Butler on like a fade away grant.

He's not going to have to worry about Herb Jones unless it were the NBA Finals again and we're all sitting here eating our words with Miami. But if there's no right, there's no Miami Stat, though, that you go, okay, well, this is a bad stat. So now I don't think they're going to be good. I mean, that's what I was doing last year. I was like, hey, this offense is terrible. Like, give me a break. This isn't going to happen. And hell, they almost didn't even get out of the playing game part of it, but you'd have to figure its hero. I don't know if you can go, Caleb. Is that the five?

Because that's the five. And is that enough size against Milwaukee and against Boston?

It isn't.

And they don't really have any other options. And Thomas Bryant, who's out there chucking threes a day, and the Hawkez point that I think is worth bringing back up. This is why he lasted this long in the draft.

Okay?

Four years at UCLA. He only shot it well once. One season from three. So Miami saw stuff that other teams didn't. But when I was talking to other know, you go through all the guys, you're like, I don't really know what he like. Is he going to be able to do some of this kind of old man post up stuff or is he going to. He's not a great athlete. He doesn't really shoot it that well. What is he? He's going to be a decade long NBA player like he absolutely is. But the shooting decline is alarming because there was more samples of him throughout his career not being a three point. If he was 37, 38% from three, then he goes a lot higher.

Yeah. All right, it's time. We're doing a defense draft, and we're.

Stealing a page from Sean Fennesey's big picture. Podweed does the movie drafts. We have positions. Rosilla and I are just going to draft the team. You have to draft a center, you have to draft two forwards, you have.

To draft two guards, you have to draft a six man, and you have to draft a white guy, and you.

Can draft them in any order. So with the first pick in the draft, if you wanted to take the white guy and just get him off the. So because you feel like there's levels of white guys and you're like, I want to get this white guy right now. I don't want Bill to get him.

You can take that with your first pick.

So I'm going to give you the.

First pick because you're the guest.

I appreciate that, bill. Yeah, it's a really good point because I was prepping for my 18th annual fantasy draft where I do the solo show and I make the poor audience have to listen to that monstrosity as I go 26 rounds deep or so. I was doing a little prep and I went, ooh, might want to take a second baseman a little higher than he's going because I'm worried about the depth. So in this case, it could be the white defender, because I just don't know how much depth is there. But I think I'll get my guy if you don't take him.

All right.

Okay, so I have the first.

Uh.

I'm going to do this in honor of saruti. Watching Jonathan Isaac just wreck games. I'm going to take him as my 6th man.

God damn it.

Were you going to take him first?

I was.

I was going to take him first. How crazy is that?

We both had the same first pick and it was a guy who plays.

15 minutes a game.

I said to cerudi on Thursday night that it was what I imagined. If Bill Russell came from the 1960s in a time machine and just guarded.

Zion for 15 minutes, this is what.

Isaac looked like on Thursday night.

All right, so you have Isaac.

He had 25 in the loss against Sacramento. That was a good one for Sacramento.

See, the draft's already gotten hard because.

There'S so many guards.

I'm going to take Herb Jones as a forward.

Excellent pick. Thanks.

I'm just continually.

He has these little plays during the.

Game that aren't things that you'll see.

On Twitter, but it'll be plays like.

Somebody will inbound the ball, be 5 seconds left on the shot clock, the.

Ball will be out of bounds and.

Somebody will throw it into somebody 25ft from the basket.

Herb Jones will know, oh, this guy.

Has 4 seconds to take a shot.

To get a three off, and he's.

Going to do some sort of upfake.

And then shoot it.

I'm not going to fall for the upfake and he's going to know that I'm going to challenge and the guy.

Will just be like, frozen for four.

Of the 5 seconds and then he'll finally throw it off the shot clock because Herb Jones just kind of knows what the dude is going to do. I'm constantly in love with that guy as a role player, as a defender.

As just a weapon in the playoffs.

I feel like he's going to be a 35 minutes a game guy.

Rosillo, I love him, love him.

I mean, the Paul George block alone, that block doesn't happen in NBA games. I don't know if I already talked about it with you. I probably talked about my podcast. I'm stuttering now because I'm still so shook by it. But somebody at Paul George's height, wide open, three at the top of the key, that shot doesn't get blocked. It doesn't get blocked like that. And he flew out contest it and blocked like nobody ever thinks you would just reset it and dribble and whatever. So George is like, I got this and he didn't. Okay, great pick. I think some people would be confused by going like, wait a minute, how is Rudy Gobert? How does Rosilla's guy won by Yama? Did you see the highlight the other day of two guys declining invitations to layups? How are you not doing this? But where is the lack of depth? Where do I need to go?

I can't believe Isaac's gone.

I'm going to stay in Orlando. I'm taking Jalen Suggs.

He was the other one I was looking at.

It's a great pick.

Can he win defensive player of the year for you?

He won't, but let's say he won. Would you be upset about it, not.

Watching him snake through screens? But I just don't know how any guard could ever be as valuable as somebody at the rim. I just don't think you can be. And that's why I still don't think Marcus Smart should have won.

That's fine.

You go.

I think I swung the momentum that year. I did the first.

Why can't Marcus Smart win the defensive.

Player of the year segment? You were the first.

I got the boat going, some people hopped on, and then we took off.

For defensive player of the year island, I am taking Victor Wembanyama at center.

Okay, no problem.

Because he's now routinely blocking six to.

Eight blocks a game.

Let's see here. I feel like the problem with these.

Segments is we're both competitive and there's just long stretches of silence as we try to figure out the best team possible.

So I apologize to the listeners.

This is why I've been on one movie draft with Sean, and I was terrible at it because I got too competitive.

That's fine.

I just didn't contribute to the podcast for like, ten minute stretches.

No, we're okay, because I'm looking at my debt.

So, so far, you have Suggs and Isaac and I have Wemby and Herb Jones.

This is a battle.

Yeah. But I think if I play my cards right, I'm going to be in good shape. I'm going to take Drew holiday.

Okay.

Now, did you see that clip that made the rounds last week of him doing like four different things inside of the same possession?

Yes. Okay.

I sure did.

I think because they've been so good this year that you haven't had to see drew play, like, some of the on the ball stuff as intensely as he has at other moments. But that was the granted, a lot more goes into who you're voting for with all this stuff in that clip. But, like, seeing that clip and the brilliance of what he does and the different times he's been asked to take on centers, I just think he's an incredible weapon at that position. That's why everybody always loves having this guy on the roster.

I love him.

Part of the reason this team is going to end up with like 65 to 66 wins is because all he wants to do is win games and could care less how many shots he gets.

It's one of the many, right?

The shots doesn't care.

Somebody.

Yeah, he doesn't care.

He just wants to help out and do winning stuff.

All right, well, I'm going to take Giannis at my other forward spot.

Giannis always gets overlooked in this all defense stuff.

I would say worst case scenario, if.

He'S healthy, he's one of the best four or five defensive players in the league.

Year after year after year.

Doesn't get the four blocks a game.

But teams are afraid of him.

Nobody likes to drive and see him.

He's incredible in transition and he's Yanis.

When he's showing on his. It's not like, not like that many people are ever switching into him, but nobody's like, oh, cool, I'm going to dribble this guy now, right? I'm really glad you did that. I thought you were going to fall into my trap now. The momentum may have swung the other way with that pick because he just gets overlooked all the time. I'm pretty sure I'm voting him second for MVP this almost. I had like a couple of weeks stretch where I was going to vote him MVP last year. I'm not voting SGA ahead of him. I'm not.

You'll get no argument from this guy.

Okay. All right.

So if you watch him versus OKC today, I don't think you would say SGA is the number two MVP.

All right, I'm going to take Lou.

Dort at guard or six man small forward. Small forward. All right, that's fine. Lou Dork got nailed in the face today and bled all over the court. That was worried about for OKC.

We need more information.

I love.

Still. So I have Wemby, Herb Jones and Yanis. I have all my guard spots left.

I can't believe how long we're taking.

Which leads me to the one, the only, Alex Caruso.

Okay, so you've got your white guy.

Yeah.

You know what? I am going to take him at.

My white guy spot. I think he could be part of.

Your regular spot, too.

Yeah.

You know what?

It's going to be a TBD. We'll see.

One of the values of Caruso is he's a swing guy. You can swing him at guard. You can swing him into the white guy spot.

He's eligible in two positions.

That scares me a little bit because then I have to take the next other white guy in the conversation, and that's Hardenstein. So I can't have you take Caruso and then take hearts because then I don't even know what to do.

Wow, what a time for our, the.

Depth for our people is not great right now defensively.

Okay. I got a spot for a guy who I think gets no credit for.

How good of a defensive player he.

Is, but he's fucking awesome.

And he hops into passing lanes, I think, as well as anybody in the league.

Shay Gilgis Alexander. I'm putting a guard reach.

He made his bones on defense.

I still think he's really good at it.

I don't think guys like going against him.

And he's my first guard because I.

Think I'll be able to get my other guard.

Basically, you only have center and forward left.

Yeah, see, I felt like I had to go guards early because I liked the forward depth better. But when you went, I'm.

We agree that there's one awesome forward left.

There is, there is.

And you're going to take him right.

Now or are you going to wait on Gobert?

No, I'm taking Jaden McDaniels now.

Yeah. Okay.

How about his jumper today? I was like, are you seriously with. Got a. He's got one of those in him. Like every tight game where he's like, I'm shooting this. Like, you know, I'm shooting this.

He's their no yes guy.

Yeah, he had one today.

I've changed my opinion on Minnesota a couple of times this year. Cool. I think defensively, where I've landed now.

On March 24, I think defensively, I could see them getting there.

I don't think anyone's beating Denver, but.

I do at least feel comfortable enough in their backbone of defense. And what I've seen from Edwards, which we didn't talk about today, Edwards in.

That Golden State game, wasn't like an.

Unbelievable stats game for him, but he's just making better passing decisions over and over and over again in these just. There's a sophistication that he has since towns went out that I don't remember seeing before towns went out.

Is that fair? Yeah, but I think he's had very.

Early on, it was okay. He's driving and thinking about making a play still, and that's rare with the young scores that are that good. Like, hey, I'm getting to the hoop, and I'm supposed to be thinking about somebody else. And just think the level he'd be at statistically if he flopped all the time.

But he doesn't.

He had a play today where Tech in the fourth quarter, he had a play.

He was driving hard on the left, and I feel like a year ago.

He just would have surged in and tried to get a layup off or a runner, and instead he just kind of kept going, rode the baseline and found the dude in the corner and.

Got a. I just.

I don't think he would have done it six months ago.

And by the way, Alexander Walker's defense, too. You throw him into the mix, and I thought, like, nazared. Part of the reason why he wasn't drafted is people thought like, okay, what is he laterally like? And he carried him in the first half today. I know Ant had the second quarter, but Nas, some of the help defense that he's showing now, that cat's not out there.

Yeah. So that's a lot to ask because.

I wonder how much teams are just going to absolutely load up on Edwards, but it means that Kylie Anderson was the guy golden state chose to ignore today. And at times I was like, okay, this is going to win Golden State the game. And it wasn't. So I'll take. I'd like him to cut down on some of the one or two awful fouls a game, but he's so good against the best players on the ball, it looks like to me.

I'm going to take Derek White, who probably should have gone a little bit sooner than this.

I've never seen a guard protect the rim like him since, like Dennis Johnson going back to the 80s. He's always in the right spots.

He's just a really smart, all around team defender. He can guard a bunch of guys.

He can guard bigger guys. And him and Drew together has been a joy to watch and a huge reason why this team is so good.

So, Derek Waite.

I'll take Rudy Gobert.

Okay.

Can I get a Tari Easton ruling for my 6th man?

He's out for the year. Can I still take him?

He was under 20 minutes, right?

Was he under 20? Oh, shit.

That was your rule. Yeah, I know.

I can't take him then. Shit. Oh, man. Take Grant Williams.

Grant Williams under.

He's.

Is he under 20 minutes again?

No, he's like 30 now for Charlote. I would allow it, though. I would allow it only with him, though.

Yeah.

I think Tari's close enough.

If I have to go under 20 minutes.

Would you laugh if I took Alvarado?

Under 20 minutes is tough. I probably should have made under 25 minutes. I'm taking Terry Easton. He's hurt anyway. Makes my team look better.

All right, so you have Gobert McDaniels, Lou Dort, Drew and Suggs, Isaac, who's.

The pick of the draft, and then our more pick, and Hartenstein. I have wempanyama, Herb Jones, Giannis Sga.

Derek White, Tarise, and Alex Caruso is my white guy. And now we bring in Steve Saruti, who's going to tell us who won. And it's not going to be a.

Shocker since you took both Orlando magic.

Cerudi, who won the draft.

I mean, this is a pointless exercise.

I think you got the two best defenders that aren't centers in the league.

And Suggs and Isaac. And I'll rest my case there.

Isaac going one, though, is wild. I don't even know that I probably would have done it because I'm a huge homer, but I don't even know if it's the right pick. But I love that you went there.

Well, for the six man spot, the distance between Isaac and whoever, the number.

Two six man, was massive.

That's why when you told me I had the number one pick, like, I wrote down my board and I was like, I need to get Isaac first because I figured you would take him. Because the 6th man thing, to be able to plug that guy in. Because I look at my list, here I go, hey, could I be a little small with Jaden as my power forward and Dora is my small forward, and Suggs and drew, like, wait, what if. Could I be. Oh, wait, I'm bringing in Jonathan Isaac to destroy souls and putting him in front of Rudy Gobert.

I like my team. I could have the wemby, Herb Jones, Yanis, and then my sga white and Alex Crusoe.

Three three guard, backcourt. Feeling pretty good about that. No, I gotta be honest.

Wemby's, I might even vote for bills.

I gotta be honest.

If you take away think.

I think Bill might have had the better team.

I think SGA is a little overrated defensively.

Really?

What's the case for that? I just said it.

I think there will be some questions on Dean Wade not being selected. Was he on your white guy board? Because technically, right now he's the number one defensive rated player in the NBA.

Dean was not on my board. He was on my board of guy who beat the Celtics by himself and.

Then scored zero points three nights later. He was on that board.

He's on a different board. A board I'm still trying to figure.

Out what I really would have GM'd you up with is if I had taken Harnishtein and Caruso together, and then you.

I would take Chet. Yeah, you take Chet. Okay, let's take a break. All right. We're going to talk Brooklyn really quick.

So you mentioned earlier about what a draft pick nightmare 2024 is. It's a nightmare for a bunch of reasons. One is it's going to be one of the worst drafts we've had this century. Teams that don't have a 2024 1st Brooklyn, it's going to Houston. Houston, it's going to OKC. Indian, it's going Toronto Golden State, it's going to Portland. Unless somehow they win the lottery.

Clippers going to OKC might not have a first round pick.

Toronto top six protected, goes to San Antonio.

Lakers. New Orleans can take it.

Dallas, they're probably keeping it.

Hawks top four team protected. They might lose it.

OKC is rerouting a couple of picks, as you mentioned. It's so complicated to figure out. I'm not even going to go through it. And then we have some swaps, including Washington can swap.

Well, they're not going to get the Utah pick. So whatever the Utah pick is, Utah is going to be fun.

Right?

New Orleans can swap with Milwaukee and Washington can swap with Memphis, which I.

Think is a pretty interesting wrinkle because.

That might be like one and two.

Or two and three or somewhere along the lines.

But we bring all this up because.

Brooklyn.

I think Brooklyn is the number one team you wouldn't want to be.

Right now in the NBA. And we're going to play who's the.

Only other team in the conversation because I think there's only one other team.

Who do you think it is?

It's Washington.

But they're at least going to get.

The number one pick in this draft.

Or a top three pick, right?

It's a better asset than anything Brooklyn has.

Unless you want nothing.

Kale Bridges, there's nothing exciting about Washington's roster.

There's nothing.

And it's expensive.

That's a good point. Well, Kuzma wants to be there. Cool.

The Jordan pool extension is like another 95 million because some of the language in there is the incentives. So this was the first year, the extension. So that's three more years. Kuzma's contract goes down by like a million or two.

No, but Kuzma is three more years after this.

You know, I think Denny's okay. I think there's been a couple of kispert moments, but at least with like, I know I've got somebody that's kind of in that top three where last year you were like, wait, he's probably not a one, but is he a two? And then this year, I don't know what the hell they're doing. He's probably more on a three of a really good team, but there's at least that stretch where he was with the Nets last year where he initiated so much of the offense and he started scoring. You're like, man, when this guy has a little bit more freedom, there's another ceiling to his offense. So I think that that's still in there.

But turned out maybe there wasn't a ceiling.

I think Washington has to be in the debate because there's just nothing about that roster that you're excited about.

Brooklyn started out 13 and ten.

They are 13 and 35 since from.

An asset standpoint, they have Bridges and.

Cam Johnson, who they just overpaid with.

An extension, and Cam Thomas, who I'm.

Not even sure is a winning player.

He can score, man, but I just don't understand what they're doing. I don't understand. Is this what you guys wanted to do? Just let Cam Thomas take a million shots?

They have Nick Claxton as a free agent.

They have Ben Simmons is expiring next year at 40.3 million. They have Finney, Smith and Schroeder on.

The roster next year.

They have Phoenix's 25 and 27 1st round picks.

They have the best two of Brooklyn, Phoenix and Philly. Top eight protected in 28 in 29.

They have their own first, Phoenix's first and Dallas's first. So that's the positive.

They have picks down the road coming on the negative side.

They're giving their 24 and 26 unprotected first to Houston in 2025.

They're in a Houston OKC Brooklyn swap.

Where they get the worst of the.

Three picks and then in 27, Houston.

Can swap with them. What would you do if Brooklyn's GM called us and said, I need a GM conciliary.

I love the podcast. I need some help.

What would you do if you were me?

What would be the first thing you told him?

I would say check in on bridges and see where he's at because he's what up in two years? I know everybody just be like, oh, they stink now, so just tear it down and rebuild it. But my thing is like, what? And then get draft picks and hope you draft a Mikhail bridges or you get really lucky with a pick that the protections lessen from 25 to 28 and then you're in business in 2028. Very few gms are going to be like, yeah, that's cool. Hopefully I'll still have my job in 2028 while we stink for three years because everybody on paper always loves those plans until they have to sit through it, be like, wait, we're not very good. And be like, no, I told you this when you made me the GM three years ago. We're going to do this. So I would guess you might even say it right. Like, are you saying that you would tell Brooklyn if they called you up? Joe Size says, all right, I'm cleaning house bill, I don't know that I can hire you as GM, bit of an ego, but I'd like you to just give me some advice.

What would you do? I want you to answer this question first instead of because I feel sometimes we go back and forth.

I would tell Joe you don't have.

Any of your picks for the next.

Four years, so trading Mikhail Bridges and.

Rebuilding makes no sense because you can't rebuild.

With that said Mikhail Bridges, making 25 million a year is an incredible asset.

For a couple of these teams that can actually overpay for the asset. You have New Orleans, you have Utah and you have Oklahoma City, all three of those teams. He might be worth 140 cents on.

The dollar to any of those teams because they have all these assets. It might be worth it for them just to overpay for them.

So at least kick the tires on all those teams before you figure out whether they want to keep them. I would look at that Ben Simmons.

Expiring and try to do my version.

Of what Phoenix did with that Bradley Beal trade last year.

Where you're like, all right, like Zach Levine, right?

Somebody like that. Where you're like, oh, nobody wants this guy. Well, he did score 25 a game last year.

We'll take him.

We'll roll the dice with him. Because ultimately you're trying to patch together either other teams mistakes or underappreciated assets that are underappreciated because of the price tag. You don't care about the price tag because you don't have anything anyway. But you do have the Sims expiring that you could flip into something. So I would think about it that way. Or could you flip them in a.

Sign and trade for a fridge and.

Attach something with that and try to get somebody back? I would be more proactive than rebuild, but what I think they can't do is just be like Nick Claxton 150,000,000 and then now you're just shelling out money for a shitty team anyway.

They have to decide this summer how shitty do we want to be?

I think would be my first question, what's our appetite?

And then second, how's it going to.

Look to our fans when this is.

Like the best draft we've know all decade and we don't have a pick.

Because we traded it for James Harden four years ago who fled us know.

A year and a half, they're in.

A really tough spot. It's brutal because the good thing for Houston is they recouped all the picks that they had lost. So the funny thing is you could make an argument prior to these last couple of weeks of like, okay, well, this team's hurt. They're going to like, the funny thing that's happened this year is you have teams that don't have control of their own picks that are just like, well, we have no reason to tank and this draft know, like Detroit is still trying to figure out who they have on their roster, right? Like Detroit is a roster that's a completely different conversation than say Washington. Even though the record is the same. Where I go there's four guys on this team, maybe five that I'm really interested in and seeing where this can.

Many, how many guys are you interested.

In on this nets roster? I like really have your interest.

Cam Johnson like, okay, I'm completely with you on that. Normally I'd say we're just going to pay Nick's clax and whatever. I don't know, man, there'd be a limit. I do not want to do those deals with him where I'm like, as soon as we sign this, we hate this contract because I think he's okay. I know there's some defensive numbers that you tell you, oh, he's a lot better than that. When I watch them a lot because for whatever reason they're just kind of on early and it's ugly. I mean, it's really bad and maybe that's why I'm not as into him, but I just am like, what am I paying for here? Like am I paying, hey, our center position is now solved for the next four years. I don't think he's that.

Would you want to keep the team in Brooklyn?

Wait, you're thinking about moving them?

Yeah.

It went from trading bridges. I'll tell you what they could do.

I wouldn't bring that up in our GM conciliary meeting. Like, if we have 2 hours with.

Joe, I wouldn't bring it up during.

The appetizers and I probably wouldn't even bring it up during the entree. But when desserts are coming, I might.

Be like, hey, Joe, you ever thought.

About maybe just not staying in Brooklyn.

As somebody who spent 11 hours inside of that arena on Friday, but then in between sessions I had to leave and then go back. I would say, whoever designed it, did you go to Wrigleyville and say, okay, when we put the Barclays center here, let's have the opposite feeling of going to a Cubs game outside of it. And yes, I know. I remember Big Daddy Kane and Bismarckey. I remember how I've heard I didn't hang out there. I know that area was not the most desirable real estate in the five boroughs, but you leave and I had to walk around and I was like, there was nowhere to go. I guess there's this one little stretch because I ended up at the James Madison after party.

There's one stretch, but if you don't go toward the direction of that stretch.

You kind of don't really know where you are.

Yeah, but there's nothing right around it where you're like, okay, this is perfect. I mean, I guess I go to model's and drop Kyle's name. I said model is very fancy. I feel like I'm not serving your exercise the way you would want me to, but would you? I guess there's a price for bridges, but then you stink. And now your picks that you're giving away are going to be that much better. How many picks is it again?

I mean, they basically don't have control.

Of their own pick until 2028.

They're going to get lesser versions of the pick because of swaps in 2025 and 27.

Right. And the Phoenix picks, you never know, but doesn't feel.

I think we don't know.

Unless Devin Booker says, get me the.

F out of here and Durant gets.

Hurt would be the two variables for that, which I don't think either of those are realistic.

Yeah, for a couple of years, those picks are probably going to not be.

That valuable if we think the two.

Expansion teams are worth 5,000,000,004 and a.

Half billion or 5 billion and 5 billion. The numbers I've been hearing are between.

Nine and 10 million with people saying.

Bet on the nine and a half to ten range for both billion.

You mean combo 5 billion?

Yeah.

Right.

One going for four and a half. One going for five or just both.

Going for five and you're Brooklyn. Would you be like, well, wait a second. What if we move to Vegas? I know he owns the arena.

I know this is never happening.

I'm just trying to think, like, did.

This work out well for the nets? Because I don't think anyone in New York cares about the nets. And I don't think it's ever happening. And I think if anything, the Knicks, that whole foothold has been emboldened.

And it's just like, did this work? I'm going to say it didn't.

I saw something the other day. Can you believe? Mean, when you think about, imagine if you were on tv after they get Kyrie and Durant and you're on first take and you go, this is the best thing that could have ever happened to the Knicks, right? I mean, it's amazing how life works. Hey, guess, like, you didn't get Kyrie, you didn't get Durant. It's going to be the best thing that could have ever happened to you.

I still think if they had gotten.

Durant and not Kyrie and just like.

Durant had signed there and he wasn't attached to somebody, that still could have.

Been a good outcome for them. The combo, probably not. I don't know the answer to this one.

I usually feel like we can solve stuff. Like even Washington. It's like, all right, Washington's been doing this for 30 years. They just need to get lucky in a draft and at least they're right doing it.

The problem is it's Rashawn Holmes, Bagley Kuzma and Jordan Poole for like $90 million next year. Like, that's a lot.

If we ever ran a team, I.

Promise Rosille and I would not be spending like the 15 to 17 million a year on 10th men.

That would be one of my rules.

It's like what you said before.

I wouldn't mind overpaying somebody who's actually a good player.

But I think when you over, it's the Davis bertains type contracts that are.

Just the murders, the Zach Collins.

When you're paying somebody 1718, 19 million.

A year who isn't going to be.

In crunch time for you.

That's where I draw the line.

All right, so we don't really have answers for?

Yeah, it depends on what you think of bridges.

And you did bring up a good point, because imagine if there weren't the trade restrictions with draft picks.

Would somebody.

Trade ten first rounders?

I think.

Would Ishby just have kept going?

New owner syndrome man.

Who knows ishpiece like Zach Levine.

Tell me about him.

Could we give up our 2038 1st round pick?

Try to get a top four protection on that one.

Here's my last topic for you. Unless you have anything, why can't Joe Missoula win coach of the year?

I'm just curious. As you know, I'm not like the most giant fan.

I just want to talk it out.

Why can't he? Probably because people have been listening to you for two years.

It's not my fault.

I don't sway coach of the year voting.

They're 57 and 14 and they have the fourth highest net rating and scoring.

Differential in the history of the league. He's managed the roster kind of perfectly.

I got to hand it to him. Like, guys just rest on the perfect things. Hauser will pop in. He'll be awesome. Luke Cornette will be awesome. Pritchard.

Pritchard was unbelievable the other night.

Yeah, I was really worried about that dude last year, playoffs and then started this year where it seemed like his confidence was gone. It's back and then some. And this is a team now that.

No matter as long as they have.

Like five of their best eight playing.

They'Re just beating whoever, at least in.

The regular season, they've mapped this out perfectly.

The best two guys really give a shit.

Play super hard every game. Everybody is bought in.

What am I missing? He's not even really being mentioned.

It never goes to that guy.

Like, Jamal Mosley is probably going to.

Win at this point.

I think when I look at what happens over the course of the season, I think Dagnall has moments where like, man, like, they have their premise. He finds ways to kind of like, even though everybody's played the whole time, I just think there's such a well coached team throughout it. I mean, sometimes I'm tempted to just be like, why don't you just vote for SPO every, like, from now on, for the entire time I ever have a vote, which I do, obviously. I'm just going to vote SPO coach to the year.

You don't know who to vote?

No, no.

I'm just going to vote for him coach of the year every single year. And then the conversation will start at number two. But the reason Missoula won't win, it is because those guys don't. The guy with the best team never wins this right. It just never happens.

Dagnald is a minus 420 favorite right now.

Mosley is plus 550. The sun, Fanduel and Missoula is twelve to one. The Celtics have a chance to go.

Like 66 and 16.

They're going to have like an eight to ten game lead over everyone else.

In the league and they've completely bought in and they have.

I just don't know what other check.

Marks they can hit.

I don't know if he should be coach of the year, but it's weird.

That it's not at least an argument. But I get it. OKC's young.

They've done a nice job with kind of an underman roster. They still have a chance to get a one seed. I get it, Mosley.

It's usually to the surprise team.

That's usually all it.

Uh, yeah, but they're not potentially winning.

The west could be a four seed.

I just don't think voters do that.

Yeah, I'm done with this topic. All right, we'll finish with March Madness, which as a product just gets worse and worse every year. And I appreciate that people enjoy it.

But when I watch a game like.

OKC Milwaukee today or Minnesota versus Golden State and then I'm watching Grand Canyon.

Against Alabama, like, I'm sorry, it's just not for not. I'm not judging. If people love it, that's great.

I've certainly watched some games. I had a good time. I watched the Oregon game last night. But bad coaching and erratic basketball is.

Not my cup of tea.

I also didn't go to a school that know in the final four every year.

So I might have a different outlook.

On is somebody from your women's team punch Caitlin Clark today?

That was yesterday.

It wasn't a punch. She was just trying to cut through a screen.

How dare you talk about the lady Seders that way. We covered. By the way, congrats.

38.5 underdogs covered easily, only lost by 26.

I went on Friday. I went to see UVM take on Duke and my guys. John Becker, one of the best coaches in the country. I was hoping he would get it. They got the game from Duke that they needed, but UVM just didn't play well enough. I think once you get past your issues, which I would say I agree with because you're just like looking for a couple guys that can just take over a.

Know and you kind of.

Selfishly want it to be like a top NBA prospect, too. I watched Castle of Yukon play and they were, I think, 40 to ten on Stetson, and I almost drafted him in our defensive player draft. The effort that he was playing with was so off the charts. What he was doing off the ball, what he was doing on the ball. There was a moment where a guy had his three point stance and he was trying to mirror where the ball would be in the stance with his own hand. So I know people could say like, oh, that's what everybody does. Not when you're up 40 to ten on Stetson, okay? And he still played with that kind of intensity and he's supposed to be a lottery pick. And yet I'm like, if you're not looking for him, you may not even notice it because he's not a great shooter. And by the way, Yukon has like a million different ways they can attack you with their offense. So what you do is you sign up for the drama, you sign up for the pageantry. It's why I love Saturday so much college football that as cool as their northwestern game was and Yukon blew them out.

So it didn't really matter. I was into it. And for a place like Vermont that doesn't have this great, amazing tradition, I enjoyed that game. It made me feel like I cared about something again, which I just don't have enough of in sports anymore. But when I was in there for James Madison, Wisconsin, my man, it was on fire. Now, Wisconsin, really, fans are some of the best fans in the country. They're my favorite Big ten campus. They're my favorite Big ten fans. They're absolutely the best people. And the women get after it too, in a very wholesome way. A lot of sweatshirts, but wholesome but not afraid. I had no idea about James Madison's whole vibe. I didn't know anything about it. And of course, pft was like, look, I'm going to be in Brooklyn that night. He's like, why don't you meet me and we have an extra seat? Because I had my seat for the earlier session. So I sat with PFT, who shows up in a tux ready to go, like full blown James Madison. And Wisconsin played terrible. James Madison from the tips in control. Maybe a moment there in the second half.

And so James Madison's experience of first turning that place, Bill, I'm telling you, like, the electricity in that building for like two straight hours from this rabid fan, James Madison impressed the hell out of me. My awareness of the Dukes prior to that, Kelvin, I mean, couldn't be lower and now after that, they were on fire the whole time. And that's kind of what you have to remind yourself of what this tournament really is, because for all the, you know, they're used to it, they're numb to it. Their expectations are through the roof. Kentucky wants a new coach, but for a place like James Madison or a place like Oakland, for a night beating like, that's what you're hoping, is that this place, like, if I'd got a Vermont Duke win, I'd be like, man, that was like, my moment. I know they're going to make it to the final four, but I finally got one of those moments. So then you have to turn into what was way more aggressive because I had no understanding of James Madison. These were aggressive younger kids that were really feeling themselves against a place like Wisconsin that's certainly had a lot more success.

And I go into the bathroom after the game is over, and these James Madison guys are just heckling the shit out of this older Wisconsin guy. And he was older, and he just comes right out from the urinal, doesn't unzip, and he's like, I remember my first tournament win, too. Unless the guys have it, which the young kids, you can't combat them with more energy because they just feed off of your energy. And then I think someone yelled, his dick is out. And then somebody else yelled, now you have to show your dick. And it turned into a massive show him your dick chant that went on for a good five minutes. And the old guy was like, I don't want to do that. And they were like, it's too late, it's too late. So it got really aggressive.

It sounds like some march madness.

I wish there was somebody that I could still talk to right now that was there for the chant, because I'm, like, watching it going, oh, my God. And I thought like, hey, if these young guys swing on this old, like, you can't let that happen, right? And the old guy was, like, ready to fight everybody, so he didn't need any help.

You're like Dalton and Roadhouse. You might have to be the cooler of the situation potentially.

Well, you made a very compelling point.

It is fun when it becomes the Oakland situation. Know what we had last night with? Guess, like I was talking to some friends about it.

About what?

Just growing up at the tournament, when you got to know the guys over the course of four years, and the basketball in some ways felt like it.

Was as good as the NBA because the guys have been around.

I just don't think I'll ever get used to. Like, even today, watching Duke, Duke was great today, and Duke's the team I bet on to make the Final Four. So those are the games I've been watching. And Jared McCain was awesome in the.

Game and he was the best player.

In LA for the previous two years. Like, he just had an awesome career.

And went to Duke.

So it's been fun to watch him. But just watching that and then thinking like, oh, man, he's definitely going to.

Come out in the draft now. He'll be like a top seven pick, but if he just stayed one more.

Year, now he's going to play with Cooper flag and that will be fucking amazing. But he's going to leave because all these dudes leave. And that's the problem. I mean, it's great for them because they're starting their professional career faster. But you don't have those moments like what we grew up with where it's.

Like, he stays, then maybe he plays.

Three years and flag plays two and they're together for two years. And now I have some history with those guys. That's what the women have going. I knew most of the Iowa players from last year, watching when Iowa played holy Cross. I saw most of those players last year and now they're together again. It's like, can they get by South Carolina?

So it's like women's college has usurped.

Some of the stuff that we grew up loving about men's college basketball.

And that's going to be the secret.

We'll see what happens with the ratings when we get to the final eight.

But I think it's going to be.

Interesting to see where America goes.

I don't know if the women's thing is now permanent, right? Like, hey, this is what it is now, but it's really impressive. But the basketball itself, if you get caught up in that as an NBA guy, you're ignoring being there on that Friday and seeing the tension of a single elimination deal, and you're flying these people in from all over the country, right? And that moment, like, it was a couple times on that Friday night, especially the last game where I was, this is, this is like as intense a basketball arena and it's not even a home arena.

Well, think about it, right?

Think if you're a Kentucky fan, you're like, all right, we'll go down Wednesday night.

I got us rooms. So we're playing Thursday and Saturday and.

You think this is going to be like a five day trip and then your team's out, you're watching them go down in flames on a Thursday night. You're like, oh, my God. I paid for my hotel room for three more days. Our plane reservations, we don't leave until Sunday.

Good lord, you're right.

There is like a single elimination tension in the building. I don't know if it translates as well on tv. Also, like single elimination, it feels like more omnipresent in all of our viewing these days.

Everything feels like, I'm glad I went.

It'd been a while, and I was glad. I was like, you know what?

This rejuvenated.

Good reminder. Yeah, I'm big, big college hoops guy next year.

Harlan did a great job.

Harlan and Iron Eagle just lights out. Really enjoy those guys. All right, that's it. Hey, Kyle, pop on for a second.

Who are you rooting for right now in March madness?

It's Yukon. It's Yukon. Big east is back. And I think chesty Dan Hurley is the best thing we got going.

So Yukon. Okay, there you go. That was Kyle Creighton.

He helped produce his podcast.

So did Steve Saruti.

Rosillo, great to see you. You got two podcasts this week. I am terrified that the Patriots are going to trade down. Now, I forgot to mention that to.

You during the podcast, but it just.

Feels like a foregone conclusion. They're trading backwards. And I really am terrified that Drake May is going to haunt the next 15 years of my life. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

I don't. Okay.

I'll see you next week.

On West.

I never I don't have you.

On the wayside. On the first.

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