January 15, 2026 • 33 mins
Mort & Dan discuss the San Antonio Spurs, as they prepare for the 2026 NBA Trade Deadline.
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
https://www.fanduel.com/research/ncaab
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
https://www.fanduel.com/research/ncaab
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What is up Velasiko's I Am Dan Valley coming at
you with mister mort Jensen of the NBA Podcast, fame
of Yahoo Sports, fame of eh PO, Max Fame, and
of course OnlyFans celebrity. We are beginning our trade deadline
primers for every single team in the NBA. Multiple sources
(00:23):
have told Hardwoodknox that there are in fact thirty of them,
and so we will put out thirty of these. They'll
be combined on audio, individual clips on YouTube. Bounce around,
check them out, share them. We appreciate every single one.
We start with the San Antonio Spurs. But first, more,
how the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I am doing well, sir, doing well a little under
a month to the trade deadline, which means this is
my time to shine. I always do so much work
during this phase because trades are fun and roster construction
is fun. It's also one of the things that people
just lean into, which I think is wonderful. I'm not
(00:59):
one of those people who, you know, pooh pooh the
way people absorb in PA content. If you're into the
trade stuff, the roster construction stuff, that's just as cool
as being into the actual game stuff. So I love this.
I love this time of year. This is my sort
of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, let's talk about the Spurs.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So they're going to be one of the more fascinating
teams because I think they're much better than people expected.
And they're not only are they much better, people are
pegging them as the biggest threat to OKAYC already. And
this is a team that still has a boatload of
flexibility and assets and just to go through their vitals
to start their trade deadline vitals as we will call them. Uh,
(01:40):
they are five point seven million dollars beneath the luxury
tax and when looking at notable picks, they have swap
rights with Atlanta this year. They own Atlanta's twenty twenty
seven first outright. They have swap rights with Boston in
twenty twenty eight. There's top one protection on that. They
have swap rights with both Dallas and Minnesota in two
thousand and thirty, So they're basically just going to receive
(02:02):
the most favorable pick of their own Dallases and the
Wolves in two thousand and thirty. And I don't know,
this might be the crown jewel of their swaps. More
that twenty thirty one Sacramento Kings swap, and I keep
seeing before we kind of just get into what's next
for the Spurs, I keep seeing all this stuff about, well,
the Spurs trade offers might not be as strong as
(02:23):
you think because they're going to be so good with
Wemby and whoever they have, And look at Dylan Harper,
Steph Castle, Deearn Fox.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Their picks have no value.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
They've got swaps set up in basically every single year
that kind of mitigate the damage there. And before I
don't think I really fully appreciated it until I was
putting together their trade deadline vitals of no like they have.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
But no, not all of these are going to be
gold stars.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Boston could be great in twenty twenty eight, but all
you could talk yourself into any single one of these
just being somewhat intriguing. And so I think if the
Spurs want to do something, they have the ability to
go out and do it.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think that is so important to note.
That is why I keep having them as a Yanis
on Sotakumbo destination. I think that is.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Ooh, can we can we actually start there? Is?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Do you think that they should still be like Yannis
ad but more so Yannis, I think a lot of
people have just said, know they're out of it, They're
not going to trade Steph Castle or Dylan Harper, and
so that's going to be that do you view if
you're the Spurs and you're on like, do you look
at yourself and say, we're not making this decision mid season?
Maybe we were visited over the summer, because I kind
(03:35):
of I understand at this point why they would take
that as someone who said I would trade one of
Harper for Castle to get Yannis. I think a push
comes to shoven Giannice is getting moved. Now you're having
a conversation as the Spurs. That's It's not the front
office isn't considerate. They would considerate, but I understand the
impetus of well, let's just see what we have and
recalibrate for something like this over the off season.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So they are multiple facts to play here. First and foremost,
Daron Fox is getting a pretty heavy race going into
next season. There are also two major expiring contracts in
Harrison Barnes to Kelly Linnok that you have to take
account for because if you lose them, you're kind of
looking at that situation saying, oh, okay, we don't have
as many expiring money coming off the books, Like how
(04:19):
do we go about this? There's also this is this
won't affect things right now, but this summer, unless you know,
the Holy gates of Hell open up and everyone is
swallowed in. Victoriama is going to get a max extension.
So we're looking at some a situation where everything right
(04:39):
now they have some benefits that works on their behalf
going into the trade lapline. Do I think that they
are necessarily on the Giannis Antokumpo idea right now? Not necessarily.
I think they're open minded to it, because who wouldn't be,
But it's fair to wonder what is that package as well?
Like are they willing to give up Dylan Harper and
(05:00):
Stefan Castle given how good both actually look? Are they
instead going to make an offer that is primarily build
on expiring contracts and just a crapload of the draft
picture just riled up there. It's we'll see what happens,
But I think it feels like something is kind of
(05:20):
boiling there a little bit. It feels like they're still
like thinking about one last move before Wemby hit like
his extension kicks in, which will be twenty twenty seven,
And I wonder if they're thinking Giannis or they're thinking
a little bit small scale. That's but again it's the Spurs.
They keep things so close to their vest.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
We have no freaking glue, right, And I think that
kind of leads into what do you think their biggest
need is before getting into like the type of aggression,
because you could say it's I've kind of defaulted to.
It'd be cool to just upgrade the frontline partner minutes
for wemby Harrison Barnes has been great. Julian Champenni is awesome,
(06:02):
but do they need someone who's better in that spot?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, they need a wing big basically, they need someone
like So I'm just gonna use him as a placeholder
because i think I don't think he aligns h wise,
but I think his game would be perfect. They're like
an Ogan and Noobie type, a big wing who can
play the three the four, and it doesn't really matter
which of those two he plays like. He's just so
interchangeable in those things where he affects the defense. He
(06:30):
comes in with a high level of three point capability.
You know, you need someone of that ilk, and so
I would say the wing with the added notion that
the wing could be a four as well.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I also could see I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And I also kind of wonder if just I would
like to see this team index a little bit more
on shooting too. So you don't want it ideally, you
don't want that to come in the form of a
of a small guard to be fair, but someone like
he doesn't fit this defensive motif of what you were saying.
But if they were to be ultra aggressive, Trey Murphy
would be awesome here. But they could even go I
(07:06):
think if you're just looking at like that's the other
thing that they could do. Is you mentioned them maybe
going a little smaller, like not going after a marquee name,
whether it's a you know, you said og Anoobe type
or if it's Trey Murphy exactly do you just go
and look at, oh, is Boston looking to get rid
of a Sam Hauser? Like do you just want that
type of forward lever shooter to come off the bench?
(07:28):
Is that something they could do? I also thought, you're
not gonna like this one. But they were to go
all in route and I think this is the one
where it's picks and contracts you're not looking at giving
Dylan Harper Jared Jackson Junior makes some sense there, So I.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Know you're setting me up for something here, But honestly,
I think I've told you this before. That is probably
one of the teams where I wouldn't mind Jared Jackson
Junior all that much because when you think about it,
his front court partner and Whimpy, there saws a lot
of the issues that he brings to the table, Like
there's a real argument to be had that if some
of his weaknesses gets negated by someone else, you know,
(08:05):
he can really focus in on the things that he's
good at, three point shooting, help side defense, all these
things like the defensive front court there in Jaron Jackson
Junior and Wemby would be ridiculous, and the inside outside
capabilities of though those two offensively would also be super intriguing.
The rebounding issues for JJJ wouldn't be, as I guess obvious,
(08:28):
because you have Wemby there. You have a lot of
guards who come in and crist the class, like we've
seen Stefan Gassel have a great year on the glass
as well, like they have rebounders, so it's not something
I would hate. I think there are better solutions out there.
But if they go the JJJ route and they get
him cheap and they don't relinquish one of Dylan Harper
(08:50):
or Stefan Castle, that's where I think I would agree
with you that it becomes interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I've seen that mentioned a lot for lowry marketing, and
while the fit. If I'm the Spurs and I'm thinking
about making an all Inish type play, I don't know.
I guess if you said, oh, you can just get
him for contracts and picks, but I don't know if
that's the guy I want to burn those assets on.
I'd rather wait and see how the Yana situation whether
(09:16):
I want I want janis over the summer or wait
and see how that situation plays out. No question, he'd
be an excellent fit in San Antonio, but the cost
of getting him, I think for them specifically, I prefer
to go wait on Giannis or try to go with
the Trey Murphy route or something along those lines.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I even disagree with your Sam Houser thing because I
wouldn't go that route I want if I'm the Spurs.
I'm looking at Wempy and I'm thinking I have literally
a generational defender here. It would be, in my opinion,
it would be the best possible move to identify two
way players or players who lean defensively here because you
(09:53):
don't want to give Wempy more work, That's really what
you don't want to do. You want to maximize his
capabilities and then pair him with a lot of capable defenders.
That's what you want. If I'm the Spurs in under
no circumstance, do I go into the trade market and
look at guys who are defensively compromised? Is probably the
(10:15):
best phrase I can come up with.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You want someone you don't think.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That you I mean, just between Dylan Harper and Steph Castle.
Louke Cornett is there as well. You don't think that
they have a margin for error. If I mean, if
we're talking about go get Trey Young, or go get
Jordan Clarkson, someone who's just a complete like negative. But
I think they would have room for a shooter with
like Corey Kispert, just a shooter that would have size
(10:41):
to where that offset some of the liability that they pose.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It feels like this.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Team because you're just I know you don't want extra
work for Wemby, but if Wemby's on the court, and
especially if those minutes overlap with Steph Castle, that's just your.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Defense is top five during those minutes done?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
True? True, But I want to make it even easier
for them to actually have it. So I'm Spurs, I'm
thinking long term. I'm not just thinking how to get
into the playoffs. I'm not thinking about the first round,
the second round. I'm I'm thinking championships. I have to
be thinking championships. And if you have to game plan
your way out of having you know, primarily shooters on
the floor, or not primarily, but having a non defensive
(11:17):
shooter on the floor, then I think you're adding unnecessary
concerns to the whole thing. So again, you brought up
Trey Murphy, So I understand that Trey Murphy is not
necessarily a lockdown defender. He is someone who I think,
in this current concept of the current Spurs roster, would
elevate a pretty significant market defensively while also being you know,
(11:42):
a very potent spot up shooter. So like he's a
perfect example of someone who can come in not hurt
their defense and add to something offensively. So I'm not
saying you need to be Ochi and Anobi. He was
just a placeholder, Like you don't have to be that
good defensively, you just need to be someone one that
the opponent team can't really game plan around and say, hey,
(12:04):
we're gonna teck that guy again and again and again,
which I think would be the case with Sam House
and LRD Marketing. And by the way, we're I'm talking
down Sam House's defense. Actually think he's a little bit
underrated in that category.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That was the thing that called it wasn't even Sam
Houser's specific was if were trying to think of just
like what would like Buddy go get Buddy heal, Like
I could see your reservations there for someone right along
those lines. The other thing that I've kind of wondered
is and we haven't seen a ton of it, and
the offense hasn't been great during these stretches, but the
Wemby Cornett lineups are just I mean, opponents are shooting
under forty two percent at the rim when those threw
(12:38):
on the floor together. Have you given any consideration to
I guess Giannis falls in this bucket a little bit,
as would Triple J. But not really have you given
any consideration to, well, what if they just went out
and got someone who might like Lou Cornett skews more
of a center. But what if you upgraded from Lou
Cornett and thought about doing that? Or do you think
that marginalizes what Wemby does, what makes him such a
(13:01):
nightmare on the offensive en specifically too much?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh that's interesting. Uh, well, first thing is first, because
now I have an opportunity to just lay myself flat
down on the on the earth and say, yeah, I
was wrong about Luke Cornett. I thought that was an
overpay of a contract. Turns out wasn't.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Wasn't.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
He's been fantastic. I love the fact that you have
a guy who come in and started that capacity as
well when Wemp is out, because again, you know, we
don't know what his future holds in terms of injuries,
health concerns, whatever. So I think having a guy like
Luke Cornette who can come in and just absorb those
(13:38):
minutes is absolutely crucial. When you say upgrade from him,
I probably need a name.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I mean, like what Isaiah Hartenstein's not going to become available,
trying to.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Think about what if he that's a good shout though,
that's a good upgrade name.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay, so here's here's something. I mean, some of these
are all in bullets, some of them are not. But
if Bam is availed at the deadline, is that something
you investigate? Or what if Jared Allen stumbles on? He's
been playing better of late? What if he stumbles on? Yeah,
to the chopping block. I go back and forth because
it certainly depends on the play right. For sure, I'd
(14:15):
be more intrigued by Bam than Jared Allen for obvious reasons.
But Jared Allen also comes a lot cheaper when you're
looking at the asset opportunity costs.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So you saw my reaction when you said BAM. I
was like, Oh, that could be fun. But I'm only
thinking defensively. Now I started thinking offensively, and I look,
I love Bam as a player. I do think it's
fair to say offensively.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
He is.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So far below where he should be in terms of
like what he can do. I think like the he
takes so many off angle shots that are like off
the dribble, where I'm just constantly perplexed of a shot selection,
and I hate how he'll go in and out of
games just being completely passive, Like he'll have a stretch
(15:04):
where he averages like twenty four, then he'll follow that
up by seven games of averaging twelve. I just I
need someone who's at least a little bit more offensively consistent,
I would say, But defensively, Oh God, yes.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I do wonder though, in San Antonio, where you have
three sometimes four guards depending on what Devin Vessel's doing
that night, who just consistently can get defenses in rotation
two feet in the paint. Does that just make like
Bam doesn't have that in Miami right now? He's maybe
two of those guys in Norm Powell and Jimi Hawk's
Junior because that's not really Tyler Hero's game, and one
(15:39):
of them in himI hawk as Junior is just such
a paint like such a shooting liability, excuse me, right,
and then Bam and khalil Ware just have that. The
other thing you could point to, though, is Bam and
khalil Ware haven't exactly meshed offensively. Is there a reason
to believe that him and Wemby would do a lot
better and I think it comes down to you just
trust the guard play in San Antonio more than the
(16:01):
guard play in Miami, and I probably do, but again,
the amount of assets you need to expend to get there.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I totally understand your offensive qualms.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You just brought up, Devin Vessel. I want to have
this conversation as well. Is he someone who should be
open in terms of like as a trade candidate. I
like him a fair bit, but it seems like his
role over the past year and a half or something
like that has wobbled a little bit, and like he's
(16:29):
not earning that much money twenty seven million this year,
and I think he's actually on twenty seven million every
year with outside of the first year of Weepy's contract,
which was a smart play by this first by the way,
whereas contract decreases to twenty four point six, So like,
he's by no means expensive. But at the same time,
I'm wondering if he should be like one of their
(16:50):
primary scoring off guards or if you're looking at an
upgrade at that spot. Because I go back and forth
on this, Like I don't have a set opinion, so
I'm wondering what your perspective is.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, He's been pretty up and down.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It feels like since Thanksgiving for the most part, and
over the past month his efficiency has not been great.
Specifically I could see it, but that again feels unless
Yannis is on the table. Like I not that I
only view san Antonio's lens through Yiannis, but if you're
talking about one of the bigger salaries or bigger prospect
names in Harper, Castle, Vaselle and then Fox, those more
(17:25):
so feel like off season decisions to where you recalibrate
you get into the playoffs. He would all I mean,
Devin Vassell, has he even been in the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Before? We know? Fox has?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Castle, Wemby and Harper have not. And so I think
that type of decision unless you're talking about Giannis or
is there a big name that I mean, like, should
they be poking around the Anthony Davis sweepstakes? That'd be
intriguing Defensively, I don't love it. Offensively, I'm with you there,
I am.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, no, And I want to I want to just
say because I just today published something over at Joahoo
Sports about Anthony Davis and I basically said, whoever you are,
don't trade for him. There's just so many red flags,
the contract, the age, the lack of availability.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Just no.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
So whenever you bring up ad for every single team
they're work going to do together, I'm just gonna say no, no,
don't just do not trade for Anthony Davis. Let Dallas
deal with that, because then you know, to a certain extent,
here's here's one less team that we have to be
worried about.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
This will probably lead me into some more targets. But
you're running the Spurs. Yes, given everything you've seen this season,
knowing what's already in place, knowing what you think they need,
how aggressive are you actually being heading into this trade deadline?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So this what they've done this year isn't something that
has changed my mind at all in terms of being aggressive,
because before the season I actually said it wouldn't be
surprised Toy won fifty to fifty five games.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You know what to shout out to you, because to
your credit, I trolled the ever living hell out of
you for when you said it.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I might have been taking the Spurs on.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I don't know if it got high high enough for
me to take the under, but I didn't have them
as a top two threat in the Western Conference, and
they're within striking distance of doing just that. While by
the way they've been in net even this year with
Wemby off the floor, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It's and that I didn't anticipate, by the way, I
want to say that, but I did. I did think
everyone was sleeping too much on TIERN Fox and also
the development of Stefan Castle because everyone had sort of
taken the whole. Oh, he won Rookie of the Year
in a bad class, like he wasn't really that good.
I've been watching a lot of persons when we came
into the league because I decided, you know, I need
(19:36):
to follow this dude until he retires. There was definitely
another layer for Castle that he reached at certain points
last year, and I thought, you know, that's only going
to stabilize even more. But to your point, they have surprised,
Like I didn't see Kelton Johnson suddenly playing out of
his mind like this right, And I've said this before,
(19:57):
but it just it bears repeating to have someone who
he used to average twenty two points per game completely
embrace aventrol and lean into something like rebounding, just saying,
you know what, I need to become a much better
rebound with them. Yeah, it's like it's so important, it's
so important. I also think, and I hate saying this,
I think it's important to just get Jeremy Sohan out
(20:18):
of the rotation. He's I like him, I don't like
him for the Spurs.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, that's he needs to be on a team where
I don't even know what I'm trying to think of
the team. That would make a ton of sense. But
there needs to be fewer ball handlers inside that rotation too.
I think have like even just his I know his
play finishing is important. Maybe you don't want the ball
in his hands, but the structure of the Spurs offense
just doesn't doesn't job for him. I think a lot
(20:44):
of the things you say are why I expect the
Spurs to be opportunistic get the trade deadline rather than
aggressive to where you look at and say, all right,
what can we get if we put Jeremy Sohan attach
him to Kelly Olnik And now you're talking about we
could get a twenty plus million dollar player for that amount,
and so what can you poke around and do? Their
(21:05):
one of the targets and he's not being mentioned in rumors.
I don't think this team wants to trade him, but
I doubt he's completely off limits. You would be a
really good fit for this team. You're catering towards the future.
We're not talking about someone you go all in on.
But I think he fits the current and future structure
of the team. Jalen Wells will make a lot of
sense for them. YEA, throwing him on the wing. I
don't know what Memphis appetite for moving him would be,
(21:28):
but now they do have Cedric toward and their timeline
is just I don't under I don't really know what
Memphis end game is, to be honest with you, but
could they do.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I think that's a good question we should make. Maybe
we should ask them.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So I think that's what we'll kind of see them do,
is how do we kind of have it both ways
to where if they do, maybe they ultimately decide they
don't even need to make a bigger move because it
turns out there they go to the playoffs, they make
the conference finals or something. But right now, with a
little bit of room beneath the tacks, a linux at
what thirteen point four and if you put Jeremy Sohan
(22:01):
in that, I mean you're at twenty one million right there,
So you could take back someone making twenty five Does
that get you to Trey Murphy already?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If that was just the package.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Plus all the picks, so you could do something like that, yeah,
that would that would be.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Enough to get Grey Murphy. Yeah, do you even need
to add all the picks? It's silicans.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I do think that Trey Murphy is the one player
that they properly value, So there is that, but I
think that would be and it's probably not even both
of them, to be honest. It might just be, well,
what can we get for Jeremy so Han's number? What
can we get for olynux number? Because at this point
I don't even think they want to or will touch
the Keldon Johnson Devin Vessel contracts either.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It's there's a name out there that is no longer
And I don't think he was ever particularly like realistic,
but it's certainly less realistic now that they became better
this year. I have this thing where I wouldn't be
sure if the Spurs had made a play, if the
Raptress had been bad enough for Scottie Barnes, like someone
who could just come in and be you know, the
(23:07):
the that would.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Be a defensive terror next to.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Exactly, but like that is just so much on the
table now, right, But that was a guy that I
had for probably the last year or so, like just
in my mind circled at all this would be a
candidate that's going to come out of left field, and
like why not if like if the raptors were going
nowhere Messiah out of the door, maybe they were open
(23:33):
to it like I was. I was just not closing
that door.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
In terms of like in between names, just like do
you look at Royce O'Neill, do you look at just
trying to think of like what names bring to mind here?
Do you look at Sadik Bay Bay, look at us Simpatico?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, what you want to.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Be semi offensively and you talk about stretching the floor
around what they're doing. I think a lot of what
he does for his current he would translate to San
Antonio because of all the ball handling.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I don't hate the idea of Ruy Hachimora.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
No, why would you? Ruy's good. I mean, here's the thing. Defensively, yeah,
he's not a game changer, but offensively, when he gets
his feet set behind the three point line or just
generally speaking, when he's fed the ball in the right
times and at the right opportunity, he's a wicked off
ball guy. But you know, he's playing with Lebron, with Luca,
(24:30):
with Austin Breeves. He's sort of become a bit of
a forgotten player. I think Ruey is drastically underrated in
many capacities. I don't think he's an All Star or anything,
but in the right system where it's not overly ball
dominant around him, or there's a larger willingness to find
him specifically as an offensive play finisher, yeah, I wouldn't
(24:53):
hate that whatsoever. I think he's good.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
What about what about Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know what, I'm just, Yeah, the problem you have to.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Give up that's a Kel dinner Harrison Bars needs.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, I'm not giving up good vibes for bad white vibes.
I just I'm just know it's unfair. Yeah, I'm just
I don't think he is the type of player that
organization looks after or or desires in any way. I
think if the player, I think would be interesting. But
you know how the Spurs kind of work in that regard,
(25:30):
Like they they don't want all the off court things,
and I think they would if they could get Michael
Porter Junior without all the baggage. Sure, but I also
think they're realistic enough to know.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
That's not Michael Porter Junior without all the baggage.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I mean, so, I guess to a certain extent, but
I think I think, honestly, Michael Porter Junior might be
easier to implement, just of the off ball gravity and
the off ball explosion. I still think cheaper to write
he's not yet right here? Yeah, yeah, because of what
we just talked about there, You and I are pretty
we like there. We like a certain guy from Chicago.
(26:10):
Whenever we talk about trades, we usually use him, Iodosumu.
I wonder if we were talking about floor spacing in
San Antonio, he should come super cheap. Like, I know,
they have a ton of guards, but someone who's on
an expiring contract where the bulls aren't even sure if
they can retain him. You know, he's not really that,
(26:32):
He's not probably not gonna be that costly. Would he
be someone you could be interested in putting on that
roster and then sliding Castle a little bit to the
wing to sort of just make it a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I'd be interesting to see how Mitch Johnson games a
rotation that has Fox, Castle, Visell, Harper and a soon move.
And by the way, I would play all five of
them at once, just to see what.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
It's because I'm I'm kind of intrigued by Castle as
a wing a little bit. We haven't seen it a
whole bunch this year, but I want to see just
a little bit more of it. But to make that
just as tolerable, that was the word I was looking for.
You need to have another floor spacing presence there and
and someone who just plays calm under pressure and it's
good on Paul defensively and dossume, which just kind of
(27:18):
strikes the right note for me.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
If the cost was Jeremy Sohan for Io ASSUMEU you're
just would you take the stab in the dark. Their
salaries matchup almost pro Oh my god, immediately, I wonder
if Chicago could talk themselves into a flyer on so Han.
Feels like there would be some overlap with Modus boozellis there?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
What about so I'm just.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
If the Hawks are interested in Anthony Davis and they've
paid Jaren Johnson and Anthony Davis is gonna need an extension.
Doesn't Yaka Kongoo become available at all? How much are
you gonna invest in that front line? Because he has
two years left on his deal, but that'd be might
be semi interesting, but like his three point shooting has
been kind of insane this year.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
See, I'm not gonna answer that because after this episode
we're gonna talk about the Hawks, and I have the Hawks,
So you're gonna take all my talking points away. I'm
not gonna do that.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You want this, you were gonna send on Yaka to
the san Antonio, not specific.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
So you need to you need to get your get your.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Thoughts off in both spots, not specifically san Antonio. But
I'm just saying Onyeka is a guy who I think
should should get some some trade buss going. Let's this
is a teaser for the second episode.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Uh, anyone else bring to mind for you?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
For saying like the in between names where it's not
we think san Antonio's gonna be opportunistic rather than aggressive,
which I think, by the way, is the right call
given this season has gone for them.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I don't have.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Any of the in between names so to speak, because
I don't. Honestly, I don't know if this is an
in between name. You you might better be the judge
of that. And I think he's gonna put it difficult
to acquire because the pistons are as good as they are.
But I say as Steward is a guy who I've
teamly thought about, as you know, sort of a third
big type of situation in San Antonio. Could play the four,
(29:06):
can play the five. He has some floor space and capabilities.
He's a good defender, he's a good rebounder. There's just
a lots to like there. He's that very tough minded individual,
which I think they sort of lack in a playoff context.
Someone who will fight the everlasting shit out of you
if you need it to, but doesn't have locker room issues.
(29:28):
Is he a like a key acquisition or is he
kind of in that midsier we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I think he has well so you could get to
his number without giving up any core players. But I
think if you're in the realm of oh, we need
to give up multiple first round picks for him. Is
that still an in between name? Probably not right right,
just because and I've found Detroit it's kind of a
classic example of well, no, he's valuable to a bunch
of other teams. He's so valuable to what they're doing
(29:55):
now though even while he's playing not as many minutes
a lot of other bigs that I'm curious if they
even put two first round picks on the table. I'd
be curious if Detroit even considers it.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I don't think they would place less than a half
per game though.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I mean, I love him, but that is that is
hard to justify, Like at the same time saying well,
we won multiple firsts for it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
God, say san Antonio's first this year would be in
it and that's not going to be anything special. And
then he's going to get one of the flyers on
in Atlanta. Well, I guess they have swap rights with Atlanta,
so it could be special this year too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
But if you were just to.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Get Atlanta's twenty seven and then a pick this year,
is that is that enough for you to move isaias
like the Pistons are a top of the Eastern common.
That's a that that's the act of a team that's selling.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And that's why I prefaced it by saying that I
would be shocked. I would I would be truly shocked
if they went in that direction the Pistons. But that's
that's the type of guy I'm looking for. It's it's
very frustrating that certain team's got good because it took
a lot of the players I like for the Spurs
just off the freaking table. But but Stewart is one
(31:01):
I've I've kind of pigeonholed for a while.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
On a lower end for them. Shpiema Kai Luke could
be pretty good. He's got some nice size for a shooter.
They go get a Julian Champenny's brother, Justin Champagne, that
would be that'd be a home run.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
That's a good contract though. I would imagine the Wizards
would want something out of silence.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Right but like they also have they just have Keehan George.
I know he's heart right now, block cool BALI will
Riley can win when they just have a bunch of
wing Jamir Watkins there, Corey Kisberg.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Defensively, that man is yes, sick, yes he is, absolutely
But offensively there are questions, sir.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I'd be curious.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I know he's dealt with I think at the left
ankle is at the left ankle, but he's not had
the breakout year. I thought he was going to injury
related Terren Shannon Juniors.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I want to see some team take.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
A flyer on him if he's interesting. The other thing
is if my decided to sell his numbers pretty high,
so you would have to like Andrew Wiggins. I wouldn't
hate for this team, but if you have to go
from Johnson to Harrison Barnes, I'd probably like it a
lot less.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
John Collins doesn't do anything for me. The money's too
rich there.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, I think, Look, they're gonna be opportunistic and I
think that's the way to go, and I think their
need is pretty clear. But they also have it feels
like the rotation room to take sort of the I
don't want to called a random swing, but like the
name you mentioned where it's oh, did we get io
for Jeremy something like, yeah, let's just go try that,
like that just might work out for us.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Do you have anything else on the Spurs or are.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You ready to tell everyone where you can find they
can find you and all the great work that you do.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I think I'm pretty good on the Spurs, honestly, Well,
you can find my work or red Yahoo Sports. You
can listen to DMPA podcast. If you speak Danish or
understand Danish, you can listen to bus Reader or catch
me calling games on HBO
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Mex Until next time, and as always, weat with a
shout out to the one, the only, the indelible, another
San Antonio Spurs free agency target, mister Frank HeLa Tina
What is up Velasiko's I Am Dan Valley coming at
you with mister mort Jensen of the NBA Podcast, fame
of Yahoo Sports, fame of eh PO, Max Fame, and
of course OnlyFans celebrity. We are beginning our trade deadline
primers for every single team in the NBA. Multiple sources
(00:23):
have told Hardwoodknox that there are in fact thirty of them,
and so we will put out thirty of these. They'll
be combined on audio, individual clips on YouTube. Bounce around,
check them out, share them. We appreciate every single one.
We start with the San Antonio Spurs. But first, more,
how the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I am doing well, sir, doing well a little under
a month to the trade deadline, which means this is
my time to shine. I always do so much work
during this phase because trades are fun and roster construction
is fun. It's also one of the things that people
just lean into, which I think is wonderful. I'm not
(00:59):
one of those people who, you know, pooh pooh the
way people absorb in PA content. If you're into the
trade stuff, the roster construction stuff, that's just as cool
as being into the actual game stuff. So I love this.
I love this time of year. This is my sort
of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, let's talk about the Spurs.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So they're going to be one of the more fascinating
teams because I think they're much better than people expected.
And they're not only are they much better, people are
pegging them as the biggest threat to OKAYC already. And
this is a team that still has a boatload of
flexibility and assets and just to go through their vitals
to start their trade deadline vitals as we will call them. Uh,
(01:40):
they are five point seven million dollars beneath the luxury
tax and when looking at notable picks, they have swap
rights with Atlanta this year. They own Atlanta's twenty twenty
seven first outright. They have swap rights with Boston in
twenty twenty eight. There's top one protection on that. They
have swap rights with both Dallas and Minnesota in two
thousand and thirty, So they're basically just going to receive
(02:02):
the most favorable pick of their own Dallases and the
Wolves in two thousand and thirty. And I don't know,
this might be the crown jewel of their swaps. More
that twenty thirty one Sacramento Kings swap, and I keep
seeing before we kind of just get into what's next
for the Spurs, I keep seeing all this stuff about, well,
the Spurs trade offers might not be as strong as
(02:23):
you think because they're going to be so good with
Wemby and whoever they have, And look at Dylan Harper,
Steph Castle, Deearn Fox.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Their picks have no value.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
They've got swaps set up in basically every single year
that kind of mitigate the damage there. And before I
don't think I really fully appreciated it until I was
putting together their trade deadline vitals of no like they have.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
But no, not all of these are going to be
gold stars.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Boston could be great in twenty twenty eight, but all
you could talk yourself into any single one of these
just being somewhat intriguing. And so I think if the
Spurs want to do something, they have the ability to
go out and do it.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think that is so important to note.
That is why I keep having them as a Yanis
on Sotakumbo destination. I think that is.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Ooh, can we can we actually start there? Is?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Do you think that they should still be like Yannis
ad but more so Yannis, I think a lot of
people have just said, know they're out of it, They're
not going to trade Steph Castle or Dylan Harper, and
so that's going to be that do you view if
you're the Spurs and you're on like, do you look
at yourself and say, we're not making this decision mid season?
Maybe we were visited over the summer, because I kind
(03:35):
of I understand at this point why they would take
that as someone who said I would trade one of
Harper for Castle to get Yannis. I think a push
comes to shoven Giannice is getting moved. Now you're having
a conversation as the Spurs. That's It's not the front
office isn't considerate. They would considerate, but I understand the
impetus of well, let's just see what we have and
recalibrate for something like this over the off season.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So they are multiple facts to play here. First and foremost,
Daron Fox is getting a pretty heavy race going into
next season. There are also two major expiring contracts in
Harrison Barnes to Kelly Linnok that you have to take
account for because if you lose them, you're kind of
looking at that situation saying, oh, okay, we don't have
as many expiring money coming off the books, Like how
(04:19):
do we go about this? There's also this is this
won't affect things right now, but this summer, unless you know,
the Holy gates of Hell open up and everyone is
swallowed in. Victoriama is going to get a max extension.
So we're looking at some a situation where everything right
(04:39):
now they have some benefits that works on their behalf
going into the trade lapline. Do I think that they
are necessarily on the Giannis Antokumpo idea right now? Not necessarily.
I think they're open minded to it, because who wouldn't be,
But it's fair to wonder what is that package as well?
Like are they willing to give up Dylan Harper and
(05:00):
Stefan Castle given how good both actually look? Are they
instead going to make an offer that is primarily build
on expiring contracts and just a crapload of the draft
picture just riled up there. It's we'll see what happens,
But I think it feels like something is kind of
(05:20):
boiling there a little bit. It feels like they're still
like thinking about one last move before Wemby hit like
his extension kicks in, which will be twenty twenty seven,
And I wonder if they're thinking Giannis or they're thinking
a little bit small scale. That's but again it's the Spurs.
They keep things so close to their vest.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
We have no freaking glue, right, And I think that
kind of leads into what do you think their biggest
need is before getting into like the type of aggression,
because you could say it's I've kind of defaulted to.
It'd be cool to just upgrade the frontline partner minutes
for wemby Harrison Barnes has been great. Julian Champenni is awesome,
(06:02):
but do they need someone who's better in that spot?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, they need a wing big basically, they need someone
like So I'm just gonna use him as a placeholder
because i think I don't think he aligns h wise,
but I think his game would be perfect. They're like
an Ogan and Noobie type, a big wing who can
play the three the four, and it doesn't really matter
which of those two he plays like. He's just so
interchangeable in those things where he affects the defense. He
(06:30):
comes in with a high level of three point capability.
You know, you need someone of that ilk, and so
I would say the wing with the added notion that
the wing could be a four as well.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I also could see I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And I also kind of wonder if just I would
like to see this team index a little bit more
on shooting too. So you don't want it ideally, you
don't want that to come in the form of a
of a small guard to be fair, but someone like
he doesn't fit this defensive motif of what you were saying.
But if they were to be ultra aggressive, Trey Murphy
would be awesome here. But they could even go I
(07:06):
think if you're just looking at like that's the other
thing that they could do. Is you mentioned them maybe
going a little smaller, like not going after a marquee name,
whether it's a you know, you said og Anoobe type
or if it's Trey Murphy exactly do you just go
and look at, oh, is Boston looking to get rid
of a Sam Hauser? Like do you just want that
type of forward lever shooter to come off the bench?
(07:28):
Is that something they could do? I also thought, you're
not gonna like this one. But they were to go
all in route and I think this is the one
where it's picks and contracts you're not looking at giving
Dylan Harper Jared Jackson Junior makes some sense there, So I.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Know you're setting me up for something here, But honestly,
I think I've told you this before. That is probably
one of the teams where I wouldn't mind Jared Jackson
Junior all that much because when you think about it,
his front court partner and Whimpy, there saws a lot
of the issues that he brings to the table, Like
there's a real argument to be had that if some
of his weaknesses gets negated by someone else, you know,
(08:05):
he can really focus in on the things that he's
good at, three point shooting, help side defense, all these
things like the defensive front court there in Jaron Jackson
Junior and Wemby would be ridiculous, and the inside outside
capabilities of though those two offensively would also be super intriguing.
The rebounding issues for JJJ wouldn't be, as I guess obvious,
(08:28):
because you have Wemby there. You have a lot of
guards who come in and crist the class, like we've
seen Stefan Gassel have a great year on the glass
as well, like they have rebounders, so it's not something
I would hate. I think there are better solutions out there.
But if they go the JJJ route and they get
him cheap and they don't relinquish one of Dylan Harper
(08:50):
or Stefan Castle, that's where I think I would agree
with you that it becomes interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I've seen that mentioned a lot for lowry marketing, and
while the fit. If I'm the Spurs and I'm thinking
about making an all Inish type play, I don't know.
I guess if you said, oh, you can just get
him for contracts and picks, but I don't know if
that's the guy I want to burn those assets on.
I'd rather wait and see how the Yana situation whether
(09:16):
I want I want janis over the summer or wait
and see how that situation plays out. No question, he'd
be an excellent fit in San Antonio, but the cost
of getting him, I think for them specifically, I prefer
to go wait on Giannis or try to go with
the Trey Murphy route or something along those lines.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I even disagree with your Sam Houser thing because I
wouldn't go that route I want if I'm the Spurs.
I'm looking at Wempy and I'm thinking I have literally
a generational defender here. It would be, in my opinion,
it would be the best possible move to identify two
way players or players who lean defensively here because you
(09:53):
don't want to give Wempy more work, That's really what
you don't want to do. You want to maximize his
capabilities and then pair him with a lot of capable defenders.
That's what you want. If I'm the Spurs in under
no circumstance, do I go into the trade market and
look at guys who are defensively compromised? Is probably the
(10:15):
best phrase I can come up with.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
You want someone you don't think.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That you I mean, just between Dylan Harper and Steph Castle.
Louke Cornett is there as well. You don't think that
they have a margin for error. If I mean, if
we're talking about go get Trey Young, or go get
Jordan Clarkson, someone who's just a complete like negative. But
I think they would have room for a shooter with
like Corey Kispert, just a shooter that would have size
(10:41):
to where that offset some of the liability that they pose.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It feels like this.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Team because you're just I know you don't want extra
work for Wemby, but if Wemby's on the court, and
especially if those minutes overlap with Steph Castle, that's just your.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Defense is top five during those minutes done?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
True? True, But I want to make it even easier
for them to actually have it. So I'm Spurs, I'm
thinking long term. I'm not just thinking how to get
into the playoffs. I'm not thinking about the first round,
the second round. I'm I'm thinking championships. I have to
be thinking championships. And if you have to game plan
your way out of having you know, primarily shooters on
the floor, or not primarily, but having a non defensive
(11:17):
shooter on the floor, then I think you're adding unnecessary
concerns to the whole thing. So again, you brought up
Trey Murphy, So I understand that Trey Murphy is not
necessarily a lockdown defender. He is someone who I think,
in this current concept of the current Spurs roster, would
elevate a pretty significant market defensively while also being you know,
(11:42):
a very potent spot up shooter. So like he's a
perfect example of someone who can come in not hurt
their defense and add to something offensively. So I'm not
saying you need to be Ochi and Anobi. He was
just a placeholder, Like you don't have to be that
good defensively, you just need to be someone one that
the opponent team can't really game plan around and say, hey,
(12:04):
we're gonna teck that guy again and again and again,
which I think would be the case with Sam House
and LRD Marketing. And by the way, we're I'm talking
down Sam House's defense. Actually think he's a little bit
underrated in that category.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That was the thing that called it wasn't even Sam
Houser's specific was if were trying to think of just
like what would like Buddy go get Buddy heal, Like
I could see your reservations there for someone right along
those lines. The other thing that I've kind of wondered
is and we haven't seen a ton of it, and
the offense hasn't been great during these stretches, but the
Wemby Cornett lineups are just I mean, opponents are shooting
under forty two percent at the rim when those threw
(12:38):
on the floor together. Have you given any consideration to
I guess Giannis falls in this bucket a little bit,
as would Triple J. But not really have you given
any consideration to, well, what if they just went out
and got someone who might like Lou Cornett skews more
of a center. But what if you upgraded from Lou
Cornett and thought about doing that? Or do you think
that marginalizes what Wemby does, what makes him such a
(13:01):
nightmare on the offensive en specifically too much?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh that's interesting. Uh, well, first thing is first, because
now I have an opportunity to just lay myself flat
down on the on the earth and say, yeah, I
was wrong about Luke Cornett. I thought that was an
overpay of a contract. Turns out wasn't.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Wasn't.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
He's been fantastic. I love the fact that you have
a guy who come in and started that capacity as
well when Wemp is out, because again, you know, we
don't know what his future holds in terms of injuries,
health concerns, whatever. So I think having a guy like
Luke Cornette who can come in and just absorb those
(13:38):
minutes is absolutely crucial. When you say upgrade from him,
I probably need a name.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I mean, like what Isaiah Hartenstein's not going to become available,
trying to.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Think about what if he that's a good shout though,
that's a good upgrade name.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay, so here's here's something. I mean, some of these
are all in bullets, some of them are not. But
if Bam is availed at the deadline, is that something
you investigate? Or what if Jared Allen stumbles on? He's
been playing better of late? What if he stumbles on? Yeah,
to the chopping block. I go back and forth because
it certainly depends on the play right. For sure, I'd
(14:15):
be more intrigued by Bam than Jared Allen for obvious reasons.
But Jared Allen also comes a lot cheaper when you're
looking at the asset opportunity costs.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So you saw my reaction when you said BAM. I
was like, Oh, that could be fun. But I'm only
thinking defensively. Now I started thinking offensively, and I look,
I love Bam as a player. I do think it's
fair to say offensively.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
He is.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So far below where he should be in terms of
like what he can do. I think like the he
takes so many off angle shots that are like off
the dribble, where I'm just constantly perplexed of a shot selection,
and I hate how he'll go in and out of
games just being completely passive, Like he'll have a stretch
(15:04):
where he averages like twenty four, then he'll follow that
up by seven games of averaging twelve. I just I
need someone who's at least a little bit more offensively consistent,
I would say, But defensively, Oh God, yes.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I do wonder though, in San Antonio, where you have
three sometimes four guards depending on what Devin Vessel's doing
that night, who just consistently can get defenses in rotation
two feet in the paint. Does that just make like
Bam doesn't have that in Miami right now? He's maybe
two of those guys in Norm Powell and Jimi Hawk's
Junior because that's not really Tyler Hero's game, and one
(15:39):
of them in himI hawk as Junior is just such
a paint like such a shooting liability, excuse me, right,
and then Bam and khalil Ware just have that. The
other thing you could point to, though, is Bam and
khalil Ware haven't exactly meshed offensively. Is there a reason
to believe that him and Wemby would do a lot
better and I think it comes down to you just
trust the guard play in San Antonio more than the
(16:01):
guard play in Miami, and I probably do, but again,
the amount of assets you need to expend to get there.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I totally understand your offensive qualms.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You just brought up, Devin Vessel. I want to have
this conversation as well. Is he someone who should be
open in terms of like as a trade candidate. I
like him a fair bit, but it seems like his
role over the past year and a half or something
like that has wobbled a little bit, and like he's
(16:29):
not earning that much money twenty seven million this year,
and I think he's actually on twenty seven million every
year with outside of the first year of Weepy's contract,
which was a smart play by this first by the way,
whereas contract decreases to twenty four point six, So like,
he's by no means expensive. But at the same time,
I'm wondering if he should be like one of their
(16:50):
primary scoring off guards or if you're looking at an
upgrade at that spot. Because I go back and forth
on this, Like I don't have a set opinion, so
I'm wondering what your perspective is.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, He's been pretty up and down.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It feels like since Thanksgiving for the most part, and
over the past month his efficiency has not been great.
Specifically I could see it, but that again feels unless
Yannis is on the table. Like I not that I
only view san Antonio's lens through Yiannis, but if you're
talking about one of the bigger salaries or bigger prospect
names in Harper, Castle, Vaselle and then Fox, those more
(17:25):
so feel like off season decisions to where you recalibrate
you get into the playoffs. He would all I mean,
Devin Vassell, has he even been in the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Before? We know? Fox has?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Castle, Wemby and Harper have not. And so I think
that type of decision unless you're talking about Giannis or
is there a big name that I mean, like, should
they be poking around the Anthony Davis sweepstakes? That'd be
intriguing Defensively, I don't love it. Offensively, I'm with you there,
I am.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, no, And I want to I want to just
say because I just today published something over at Joahoo
Sports about Anthony Davis and I basically said, whoever you are,
don't trade for him. There's just so many red flags,
the contract, the age, the lack of availability.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Just no.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
So whenever you bring up ad for every single team
they're work going to do together, I'm just gonna say no, no,
don't just do not trade for Anthony Davis. Let Dallas
deal with that, because then you know, to a certain extent,
here's here's one less team that we have to be
worried about.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
This will probably lead me into some more targets. But
you're running the Spurs. Yes, given everything you've seen this season,
knowing what's already in place, knowing what you think they need,
how aggressive are you actually being heading into this trade deadline?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So this what they've done this year isn't something that
has changed my mind at all in terms of being aggressive,
because before the season I actually said it wouldn't be
surprised Toy won fifty to fifty five games.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You know what to shout out to you, because to
your credit, I trolled the ever living hell out of
you for when you said it.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I might have been taking the Spurs on.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I don't know if it got high high enough for
me to take the under, but I didn't have them
as a top two threat in the Western Conference, and
they're within striking distance of doing just that. While by
the way they've been in net even this year with
Wemby off the floor, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It's and that I didn't anticipate, by the way, I
want to say that, but I did. I did think
everyone was sleeping too much on TIERN Fox and also
the development of Stefan Castle because everyone had sort of
taken the whole. Oh, he won Rookie of the Year
in a bad class, like he wasn't really that good.
I've been watching a lot of persons when we came
into the league because I decided, you know, I need
(19:36):
to follow this dude until he retires. There was definitely
another layer for Castle that he reached at certain points
last year, and I thought, you know, that's only going
to stabilize even more. But to your point, they have surprised,
Like I didn't see Kelton Johnson suddenly playing out of
his mind like this right, And I've said this before,
(19:57):
but it just it bears repeating to have someone who
he used to average twenty two points per game completely
embrace aventrol and lean into something like rebounding, just saying,
you know what, I need to become a much better
rebound with them. Yeah, it's like it's so important, it's
so important. I also think, and I hate saying this,
I think it's important to just get Jeremy Sohan out
(20:18):
of the rotation. He's I like him, I don't like
him for the Spurs.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, that's he needs to be on a team where
I don't even know what I'm trying to think of
the team. That would make a ton of sense. But
there needs to be fewer ball handlers inside that rotation too.
I think have like even just his I know his
play finishing is important. Maybe you don't want the ball
in his hands, but the structure of the Spurs offense
just doesn't doesn't job for him. I think a lot
(20:44):
of the things you say are why I expect the
Spurs to be opportunistic get the trade deadline rather than
aggressive to where you look at and say, all right,
what can we get if we put Jeremy Sohan attach
him to Kelly Olnik And now you're talking about we
could get a twenty plus million dollar player for that amount,
and so what can you poke around and do? Their
(21:05):
one of the targets and he's not being mentioned in rumors.
I don't think this team wants to trade him, but
I doubt he's completely off limits. You would be a
really good fit for this team. You're catering towards the future.
We're not talking about someone you go all in on.
But I think he fits the current and future structure
of the team. Jalen Wells will make a lot of
sense for them. YEA, throwing him on the wing. I
don't know what Memphis appetite for moving him would be,
(21:28):
but now they do have Cedric toward and their timeline
is just I don't under I don't really know what
Memphis end game is, to be honest with you, but
could they do.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I think that's a good question we should make. Maybe
we should ask them.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So I think that's what we'll kind of see them do,
is how do we kind of have it both ways
to where if they do, maybe they ultimately decide they
don't even need to make a bigger move because it
turns out there they go to the playoffs, they make
the conference finals or something. But right now, with a
little bit of room beneath the tacks, a linux at
what thirteen point four and if you put Jeremy Sohan
(22:01):
in that, I mean you're at twenty one million right there,
So you could take back someone making twenty five Does
that get you to Trey Murphy already?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If that was just the package.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Plus all the picks, so you could do something like that, yeah,
that would that would be.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Enough to get Grey Murphy. Yeah, do you even need
to add all the picks? It's silicans.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I do think that Trey Murphy is the one player
that they properly value, So there is that, but I
think that would be and it's probably not even both
of them, to be honest. It might just be, well,
what can we get for Jeremy so Han's number? What
can we get for olynux number? Because at this point
I don't even think they want to or will touch
the Keldon Johnson Devin Vessel contracts either.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It's there's a name out there that is no longer
And I don't think he was ever particularly like realistic,
but it's certainly less realistic now that they became better
this year. I have this thing where I wouldn't be
sure if the Spurs had made a play, if the
Raptress had been bad enough for Scottie Barnes, like someone
who could just come in and be you know, the
(23:07):
the that would.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Be a defensive terror next to.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Exactly, but like that is just so much on the
table now, right, But that was a guy that I
had for probably the last year or so, like just
in my mind circled at all this would be a
candidate that's going to come out of left field, and
like why not if like if the raptors were going
nowhere Messiah out of the door, maybe they were open
(23:33):
to it like I was. I was just not closing
that door.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
In terms of like in between names, just like do
you look at Royce O'Neill, do you look at just
trying to think of like what names bring to mind here?
Do you look at Sadik Bay Bay, look at us Simpatico?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, what you want to.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Be semi offensively and you talk about stretching the floor
around what they're doing. I think a lot of what
he does for his current he would translate to San
Antonio because of all the ball handling.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I don't hate the idea of Ruy Hachimora.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
No, why would you? Ruy's good. I mean, here's the thing. Defensively, yeah,
he's not a game changer, but offensively, when he gets
his feet set behind the three point line or just
generally speaking, when he's fed the ball in the right
times and at the right opportunity, he's a wicked off
ball guy. But you know, he's playing with Lebron, with Luca,
(24:30):
with Austin Breeves. He's sort of become a bit of
a forgotten player. I think Ruey is drastically underrated in
many capacities. I don't think he's an All Star or anything,
but in the right system where it's not overly ball
dominant around him, or there's a larger willingness to find
him specifically as an offensive play finisher, yeah, I wouldn't
(24:53):
hate that whatsoever. I think he's good.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
What about what about Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know what, I'm just, Yeah, the problem you have to.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Give up that's a Kel dinner Harrison Bars needs.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, I'm not giving up good vibes for bad white vibes.
I just I'm just know it's unfair. Yeah, I'm just
I don't think he is the type of player that
organization looks after or or desires in any way. I
think if the player, I think would be interesting. But
you know how the Spurs kind of work in that regard,
(25:30):
Like they they don't want all the off court things,
and I think they would if they could get Michael
Porter Junior without all the baggage. Sure, but I also
think they're realistic enough to know.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
That's not Michael Porter Junior without all the baggage.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I mean, so, I guess to a certain extent, but
I think I think, honestly, Michael Porter Junior might be
easier to implement, just of the off ball gravity and
the off ball explosion. I still think cheaper to write
he's not yet right here? Yeah, yeah, because of what
we just talked about there, You and I are pretty
we like there. We like a certain guy from Chicago.
(26:10):
Whenever we talk about trades, we usually use him, Iodosumu.
I wonder if we were talking about floor spacing in
San Antonio, he should come super cheap. Like, I know,
they have a ton of guards, but someone who's on
an expiring contract where the bulls aren't even sure if
they can retain him. You know, he's not really that,
(26:32):
He's not probably not gonna be that costly. Would he
be someone you could be interested in putting on that
roster and then sliding Castle a little bit to the
wing to sort of just make it a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I'd be interesting to see how Mitch Johnson games a
rotation that has Fox, Castle, Visell, Harper and a soon move.
And by the way, I would play all five of
them at once, just to see what.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
It's because I'm I'm kind of intrigued by Castle as
a wing a little bit. We haven't seen it a
whole bunch this year, but I want to see just
a little bit more of it. But to make that
just as tolerable, that was the word I was looking for.
You need to have another floor spacing presence there and
and someone who just plays calm under pressure and it's
good on Paul defensively and dossume, which just kind of
(27:18):
strikes the right note for me.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
If the cost was Jeremy Sohan for Io ASSUMEU you're
just would you take the stab in the dark. Their
salaries matchup almost pro Oh my god, immediately, I wonder
if Chicago could talk themselves into a flyer on so Han.
Feels like there would be some overlap with Modus boozellis there?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
What about so I'm just.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
If the Hawks are interested in Anthony Davis and they've
paid Jaren Johnson and Anthony Davis is gonna need an extension.
Doesn't Yaka Kongoo become available at all? How much are
you gonna invest in that front line? Because he has
two years left on his deal, but that'd be might
be semi interesting, but like his three point shooting has
been kind of insane this year.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
See, I'm not gonna answer that because after this episode
we're gonna talk about the Hawks, and I have the Hawks,
So you're gonna take all my talking points away. I'm
not gonna do that.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You want this, you were gonna send on Yaka to
the san Antonio, not specific.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
So you need to you need to get your get your.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Thoughts off in both spots, not specifically san Antonio. But
I'm just saying Onyeka is a guy who I think
should should get some some trade buss going. Let's this
is a teaser for the second episode.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Uh, anyone else bring to mind for you?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
For saying like the in between names where it's not
we think san Antonio's gonna be opportunistic rather than aggressive,
which I think, by the way, is the right call
given this season has gone for them.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I don't have.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Any of the in between names so to speak, because
I don't. Honestly, I don't know if this is an
in between name. You you might better be the judge
of that. And I think he's gonna put it difficult
to acquire because the pistons are as good as they are.
But I say as Steward is a guy who I've
teamly thought about, as you know, sort of a third
big type of situation in San Antonio. Could play the four,
(29:06):
can play the five. He has some floor space and capabilities.
He's a good defender, he's a good rebounder. There's just
a lots to like there. He's that very tough minded individual,
which I think they sort of lack in a playoff context.
Someone who will fight the everlasting shit out of you
if you need it to, but doesn't have locker room issues.
(29:28):
Is he a like a key acquisition or is he
kind of in that midsier we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I think he has well so you could get to
his number without giving up any core players. But I
think if you're in the realm of oh, we need
to give up multiple first round picks for him. Is
that still an in between name? Probably not right right,
just because and I've found Detroit it's kind of a
classic example of well, no, he's valuable to a bunch
of other teams. He's so valuable to what they're doing
(29:55):
now though even while he's playing not as many minutes
a lot of other bigs that I'm curious if they
even put two first round picks on the table. I'd
be curious if Detroit even considers it.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I don't think they would place less than a half
per game though.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
I mean, I love him, but that is that is
hard to justify, Like at the same time saying well,
we won multiple firsts for it.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
God, say san Antonio's first this year would be in
it and that's not going to be anything special. And
then he's going to get one of the flyers on
in Atlanta. Well, I guess they have swap rights with Atlanta,
so it could be special this year too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
But if you were just to.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Get Atlanta's twenty seven and then a pick this year,
is that is that enough for you to move isaias
like the Pistons are a top of the Eastern common.
That's a that that's the act of a team that's selling.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And that's why I prefaced it by saying that I
would be shocked. I would I would be truly shocked
if they went in that direction the Pistons. But that's
that's the type of guy I'm looking for. It's it's
very frustrating that certain team's got good because it took
a lot of the players I like for the Spurs
just off the freaking table. But but Stewart is one
(31:01):
I've I've kind of pigeonholed for a while.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
On a lower end for them. Shpiema Kai Luke could
be pretty good. He's got some nice size for a shooter.
They go get a Julian Champenny's brother, Justin Champagne, that
would be that'd be a home run.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
That's a good contract though. I would imagine the Wizards
would want something out of silence.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Right but like they also have they just have Keehan George.
I know he's heart right now, block cool BALI will
Riley can win when they just have a bunch of
wing Jamir Watkins there, Corey Kisberg.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Defensively, that man is yes, sick, yes he is, absolutely
But offensively there are questions, sir.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I'd be curious.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I know he's dealt with I think at the left
ankle is at the left ankle, but he's not had
the breakout year. I thought he was going to injury
related Terren Shannon Juniors.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I want to see some team take.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
A flyer on him if he's interesting. The other thing
is if my decided to sell his numbers pretty high,
so you would have to like Andrew Wiggins. I wouldn't
hate for this team, but if you have to go
from Johnson to Harrison Barnes, I'd probably like it a
lot less.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
John Collins doesn't do anything for me. The money's too
rich there.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, I think, Look, they're gonna be opportunistic and I
think that's the way to go, and I think their
need is pretty clear. But they also have it feels
like the rotation room to take sort of the I
don't want to called a random swing, but like the
name you mentioned where it's oh, did we get io
for Jeremy something like, yeah, let's just go try that,
like that just might work out for us.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Do you have anything else on the Spurs or are.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You ready to tell everyone where you can find they
can find you and all the great work that you do.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I think I'm pretty good on the Spurs, honestly, Well,
you can find my work or red Yahoo Sports. You
can listen to DMPA podcast. If you speak Danish or
understand Danish, you can listen to bus Reader or catch
me calling games on HBO
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Mex Until next time, and as always, weat with a
shout out to the one, the only, the indelible, another
San Antonio Spurs free agency target, mister Frank HeLa Tina
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.