S11 Ep. 15 "Post Deadline Life"

Keith and Dave wrap up the trade deadline and give their immediate reaction to the new look teams. Plus: could the Blazers and Nets make the playoffs?

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Episode 790 (S11 Ep. 15)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, and welcome to Fast Break Breakfast MBA podcast.
My name is Keith Parrish and I'm here once again
with my buddy through the miracle of computer phone. I'm
here with Dave Devour. Dave, it's February eleventh. How is

(00:27):
everything going in your world? Uh?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Great, except it's February eleven. It feels like.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
One of your least favorite of the calendar Christmas. Oh yeah,
you know. If you if you take those eleven at
number the one and the one, then if you add
a little line to the top of them, that becomes
a seven and a seven. Yeah, that's seventy seven stands
for Luka Doncic making his debut on the Lakers. No,

(00:55):
I don't want to start with the Luka doncicnamors. Although
it's it's it's one of the greatest debacles of sports history.
The MAVs keep digging themselves deeper in the grave. However,
we have to we have to have some decorum, some
order around here. Our listeners demand things like our breakfasts.
They want apologies, they want us to do some couissant questions.

(01:18):
So we're gonna do it on today's episode. But before
we do Dave, I want to start with Daniel Tye.
I think this would be near and dear to you.
Daniel Tye was traded on you know, trade deadline day
as the Pelicans got under the luxury tax. Congratulations to
all teams who got under the luxury tax. But Daniel
Tye traded waived lots of immediate speculation. Hey that's a

(01:39):
that's a world champion center. He can maybe help some places.
Maybe some other trades in the NBA have been rescinded.
Teams need centers. But no, Daniel Tye has left the NBA. Dave,
have you seen this news? Has it come across your
news wire?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Ah, of course it has.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
He's going to Monaco. Yeah, and you always say, Dave.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
My buddy Manu, Hey, my buddy Manu is actually one
of the assistants there in Monaco.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So yeah, he's gonna go play. Mike James.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I love imagining the scenario where Daniel Tye's agent presented
Daniel some options. It's like, hey, man, there's you know,
buyout market in the NBA, A couple of teams graded
roster spots. Would you like to go live in Memphis
for three months? What about Monni Carlo. Do you want
Tony money, I'll take Monny Carlo. Thanks. That sounds good. Yeah,

(02:33):
there's there's more basketball than the NBA, and there's a
certain quality of life aspect, and also the money. He's
probably pretty decent when you're talking about, Yeah, you've already
made your guaranteed money this year. Congratulate.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
He's not gonna be that far from home, you know.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, congratulations Daniel Tye. Sorry Lakers and other teams. You
got to find a different center. Anyways, Dave, what breakfast
have you had? Have you had any good breakfast? Still?
Is it? I mean, the seasons they changed? Is this
a pumpkin oatmeal?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Pumpkin oatmeal? Okay, protein shake?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Same old, same old? You know, decision making? Why do
I need to make decisions in the morning.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
It's I understand that my my children, my daughter started
doing this. She started laying out her school clothes on
a floor. I mean she was the night before, lays
out her entire outfit, which is not much because it's
there's a school uniform you have to wear, like a
T shirt that has the school's name on it or
a collared shirt and so, but still she still lays

(03:32):
everything out and you know, the alarm goes off, she
just hops out of bed, puts it on. She's fully dressed.
No decisions in the morning, So yeah, I respond that
I also have trouble thinking in the morning. But my breakfast, Dave,
very outside the realm of normal breakfast acceptable foods. I

(03:53):
had a steaming hot bowl of gumbo. Whoa at nine
thirty am today.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
So a couple of things. One, my parents have been
spending most of February. They're renting a place on the Gulf,
you know, like thirty a somewhere on the Panhandle. But
my mom has a lot lot of medical tests has
to come back based from Mexico. Yeah, golf of mix
Oh yeah, golf. Yeah, what else would I call it, Dave,

(04:22):
I'm not an idiot, Uh they uh so that they
drive back every now and then to see a doctor.
Everything's going basically okay. But it was my birthday last
week and they know I'm a gumbo fiend, so they
brought me some gumbo. Very sweet of them. You know,
they drove back, dropped it off. Uh. It was either
freeze it or eat it. It was my situation when
they brought it over yesterday afternoon, so I had a

(04:44):
late lunch of gumbo on Monday. Tuesday morning, I felt
kind of hungry. I felt a little peckish. Also, we
had to get the kids up early, a little earlier
than normal. My son auditioned to play a xylophone part
in a Black History month rorman s at his school.
That's right, he played hislo phone. No, but he he

(05:05):
knows piano sort of. He's I'm teaching him piano. But
he auditioned. He got the xylophone part. Rehearsal was at
seven fifteen am, which is forty five minutes before school starts,
which I was mortified about. So now we're to wake
up even earlier. Just not our thing. So everyone laid
their clothes out, even my son laid his closed up
the night before. I laid my clothes out the night before.

(05:25):
I get up an extra half hour early. But then
come nine thirty, I'm kind of hungry, and I'm like, well,
I gotta finished his gumbo off. So I polshed it off.
Dave a nice minting, funny bowl of gumbo.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
I make a lentil soup every week.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's right, you do.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
I like it for lunch. I almost had a bowl
of that for breakfast.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Well there we go, Well there are.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
This week's batch is really good.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Not the most traditional breakfast food breakfast, but we've fulfilled
our obligation to the listener to know what we had
for breakfast. Now, Dave, after our breakfast.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Flipped it into a live stream the other day.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
By the way, yeah I got some feedback. I got
some Hey. Not only has the Athletic copied the vibe
with the orange breakfast theme, now Dave is doing his
actual breakfasts on the NBA Trade Deadline live stream. It's coate,
it's an homage. I respect it.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Well, yeah, I just don't do that pot at eight
a m.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, y'all had an all day. Y'all had an all
day trade deadline live stream. Y'all were gracious enough to
let me drop in, shake things up, offer some pushback
to the normal narratives. Also react to Marvin Bagley becoming
a Grizzly. What a moment? Just what? What? What? What
a great time Dave thinking thinking about Marvin Badley to

(06:41):
the Grizzlies. I know a lot of people criticized the
Raptors acquiring brain and Ingram, but like, let's let's review
The Raptors traded Bruce Brown and a first round pick
and a second round pick and got braindon Ingram. You
could say, why are they doing that? But also you

(07:01):
got back a talented guy. The Grizzlies traded Marcus smart
Sire Williams, the first round pick and a second round
pick and got back Marvin Bagley. So there's like two
ways you can do it. I don't know if I
literally like the way the Grizzlies did it anymore. But anyways,
after our breakfast, I was going to say, we were
to our breakfast in bed. Apologies. This is my chance

(07:24):
to make right what I might have gotten wrong on
a previous episode. I will say I think this was
on the normal episode. I think this was on last
week's episode. It might have been on a Patron exclusive thing.
But we were talking, were we not talking about like
the hornets? They had a mascot about they had a
mascot and I couldn't remember exactly what it was, but
like Hugo, of course it is the is the hornet,

(07:46):
But like I was like, they have a humanized version,
and I was like, what is it? And then I
started looking and like, oh, maybe I confused this was
MAVs Man because MAVs Man is the weird human. But no, no, no,
there's super Hugo and I and I was like googling
this kept going Hornet's mascot, but then I wanted to
say not Hugo, but that wasn't working either, you know,
and I couldn't figured it out. So, like most men

(08:08):
my age, I have a text thread of Hornets fans.
I assume everyone else does. And I dropped it in
my text threat of Hornets fans. I'm like, hey, you
guys used to have like a weird person mascot, didn't
you or did I dream this? And they're like, yeah,
oh yeah, that's super Hugo. So Super Hugo was in
fact a dunking blue Man, not to be confused with
MAVs Man. So I was unclear about that. Happy to

(08:31):
get that correct. Also, Dave, on last episode we were
we were asking the question does defense win championships as
Nico Harrison has claimed Defense price Championships, and I was like,
is that true? And I was asking, what's the what's
the worst offensive team to win a title in the
last fifteen years? I guessed the Bubble Lakers. It's it's

(08:54):
not true. I looked this up. Inquiring minds wanted to know,
so I have the answers now, Like most teams win
the title, let's say, let's say since the Mavericks last
won the title fourteen years ago. Most teams that win
the title are awesome at offense. They're the best offensive teams,
the Celtics, they were number one in offensive rating last

(09:14):
year they won the title. But the worst offensive team
to win a title in the last fifteen years it's
the Warriors from three years ago. Of course I forgot. Yes,
they were number one in the NBA in defense, their offensive, offensive,
their offensive rating. In the regular season they were seventeenth,
so very remarkable. They are the only team in the

(09:36):
last Okay, they're the only team in the last fifteen
years to be worse than eleventh. But like, here are
the offensive ratings of our last fifteen champions Celtics, first, Nuggets, fifth, Warriors,
as mentioned, seventeenth. There's your aberration Bucks eighth. The bubble

(09:56):
Lakers were eleventh. They were third in defense, but then
before that the Raptors fifth in offense. Before that, the
Warriors third in offense. The Warriors team before that first
in offense, the Cavs team before that third in offense,
the Warrior team before that second in offense, Spurs seventh
in offense, heat second in offense, Like you go up
all the way back. Being great at offense has typically

(10:18):
been the formula. You want to be amazing an offense
with a strong defense. Being amazing a defense with an
okay offense hasn't really been the formula so much so
there are I think the actual factual answers for that information.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, but of course, since.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
This Mavericks team, they could have done it right until
until Anthony Davis got hurt.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
They oh, yeah, well they were going to have you know,
who knows what they were going to do. They were
probably gonna win the title.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Keith, So let's let's do a brief brief bit on
as the Mavericks world turns, as things come spiraling apart.
I don't feel like anything that's happened in the past,
so I don't know three days has slowed down conspiracy theorists.
It's getting worse and worse. I feel like in that situation,

(11:07):
they seemingly reported that there were death threats to Nico Harrison.
They set up a large police presence outside of American
airlines for the first game host Luca. Anthony Davis at
the very least delivered an incredible performance, but then injured
himself badly. Now there's some thought and I kind of

(11:29):
feel this, did they rush back Anthony Davis? Was Anthony
Davis rushed back his return to play? I mean, maybe
you couldn't avoid the injuries, but that isn't making things
any better then. In their very exhilarating loss to the Kings,
where there were multiple strange plays down the stretch, DeMar

(11:51):
DeRozan almost blew the game after having an incredible office performance,
but DeRozan hits the game winner. The Mavericks throw out
a fan, eject the fans, two fans, multiple fans, Okay,
multiple fans for two futhing fire Nico. This has again,
it's spiraled out of control.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
I would just say Jason Kid didn't didn't address the
media right.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
No postgame for Jason Kidd. I don't know if any
of the conspiracy theories we mentioned last time most of
them have been debunked. Yeah, and the team has come
out like vociferously objecting to any kind of talk that no, no, no,
We're like We're not doing this to move the team
to Vegas doesn't make any sense. We're for the long term.

(12:36):
But the way they're treating everything, it's just like, well,
if if you had nothing to hide, why are you
trying to silence all dissent in this new dictatorship world
we live in. It's upsetting.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Also, Oh, there's a lot of parallels Keith, Yeah, yes,
there if we trade the Statue of Liberty to Russia
for a future first round pick, I'm gonna I'm just saying, like.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I saw someone under one of the biggest social media
posts that went viral of the fan getting ejected. Someone
replied like, what is this North Korea? It's like, no,
it's America. Yeah, are you not paying attention? No? But
the funniest thing also that I think was correctly pointed out,
like Haralbob waidh In Haralbob. Of course, Bob vulgaris who

(13:21):
was briefly employed by the Mavericks and like has some
steak in interest in Luka Danciic, always one of the
Luka Doncic's biggest fans and supporters. I mean, he pointed
out correctly, like, how do they release a public statement
talking about wanting someone with strong work ethic, and they
don't mention Dark Noavisky when Dark Navisky is on your
court and you have a statue in front of the

(13:42):
basketball arena. The basketball arena is on Noavitsky Way, it's
the name of the street. And meanwhile, you mentioned Shaq,
who's known for not having a great worth work ethic,
who is the most casual basketball fan name you could
pull out, Like all of it's horrible, And again, Dirk
went to La goes to the Lakers game to support.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
They've lost Dirk.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
They've they've lost Dirk. And again, all of this points
to are you intentionally trying to destroy the franchise? Because
we sat here eight days ago, Dave, and we're like,
it seems like they're trying to intentionally destroy a franchise.
How could you ever come to this basketball slash business decision? Meanwhile,
watching the Lakers, and I'm like, how in the world
did they get this going down? But let's go let's

(14:31):
go a little deep in that. I don't is there
any more about the Lakers or the Mavericks need to say, like,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Even know, it's I don't know, it's bad for the
league that this happened. I agree, it's kind of very
nihilistic and it just I don't know.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's bad to the league, except Dave. Last night, I
excitedly tuned into a Lakers game, which I don't normally do.
And maybe I'm not the correct avatar of every human
being or casual NBA fan. I'm like, I gotta watch
Lake Lakers Luca and uh wow, I mean it was
the Jazz, but still it was delightful. But Dave, let's
take a break and then we'll come back. We actually

(15:06):
have a lot of the NBA trade deadline to recap
and some other interesting playoff phrases to get to that
don't involve the Mavericks destroying their fan base and their franchise.
We'll do that, right for the short break, all right, Dave,
I said we were done with the Lakers, but I

(15:28):
do feel like we have to hit the one trade
from NBA trade deadline. Oh yeah, that's not done because
the Mark Williams trade, the Dalton connect and multiple firsts
and Cam Reddish for Mark Williams trade was rescinded by
the Lakers days after the trade deadline. There is no

(15:50):
recourse or usually there's no recourse if a trade if
someone fails or physical if it's done at the deadline.
So the Lakers like, no, no, no, no, we're sending Mark
Williams back. Now. The latest news, Sean Charny is reporting
that the Hornets are looking for a recourse to dispute
the doctor's findings, disputing the medicals, saying this Mark Williams

(16:15):
trade should in fact go through. Should Hornets fans? Who
wants this trade to go through? The more the Hornets obviously, right?
Or do the Lakers actually want the trade to go through?
I feel like they don't, But what do you think?

Speaker 3 (16:32):
So that's the thing is I wonder if the Lakers
just got you know, they don't want this to go through, right.
I don't want to say they got cold fat.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Pretend to know anything about what's happening inside the situation.
But also, yeah, like obviously they got cold feat teams
trade for injured guys all the time. Either he actually
has an injury that is a huge red flag to
their medical staff, or there's enough that they can make
a case to get out of the trade. But yeah,

(17:06):
I don't know, man, I kind of if he's healthy.
I like the trade for the Lakers. Obviously it's a
great trade for the Hornets.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
So I was more of the opinion, and I like
to I should spell out I can't even pretend to
be a Mark Williams expert. I mean, the guy's only
played eighty something games. Yeah, so like, how many of
those have any of us seen? Like, I feel like
I've seen six of them? One, you know, like you
got every day. Yeah, but even when I watch basketball
every day, you're telling me I caught of those eighty

(17:38):
games over the last three years, Like you know, it's
it's all a lot of theoretical, like right, does he
actually feel like on every possession? What's what's he doing
out there? But I will say, with that caveat aside,
the acquisition costs for the Lakers, I felt was really high.
I'm like, well, this is your this is your last
bullet so to speak, like, of course you won the
Luka Donc's trade. You now have saved your friends. But

(18:00):
then I was like, oh, the last thing you do
here is send out these two picks for this guy
who's hurt, who even when healthy. I'm like, okay, good player,
but also he plays the position for me, that's the
most readily available the lob catcher. And it's like how
many orders of magnitude better does a big have to
be than Jackson Hayes for it to be worth your

(18:21):
final Like first round, there's first rounders you have in
the cupboard to trade. So for that, like I didn't
like the trade for the Lakers, I'm like, oh, you
can find I assume you're gonna try to get a
Nick Claxton or also like what was the what was
the extuition cost for like Daniel Gafford? And again because
of the draft pedigree, maybe people think Mark Williams is
greater than that and he's like yo, a difference maker.

(18:44):
But like for me, the the lob catching center is
the most readily available archetype of player out there, and
especially in free agency, these guys don't get paid usually.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
So Andre Jordan caught a lob last night.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
The Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
I mean, jack Sa Hay's called three in the game
last night.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
My thing was that, you know, unless people.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Really believe in that defensive upside for him, Yeah, and
in which case, look, I mean I know a lot
of draft guys who really do think Mark Williams is
going to be a great center. I just think, yeah,
they probably feel like they gave up too much.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
So so then when the when the trade was initially rescinded,
the Hornets put out a nice team statement saying, you know,
we love having Mark in the building. We're happy to
have him back, but when this aggressive offer came, we
felt like it was in the best interest of the team.
But now, of course, I mean they haven't publicly said anything,
but now that it's come out through league sources that

(19:44):
they're trying to figure out, what exactly did we not
tell you like this? You know, there was the other
trade with with Caleb Martin from the Sixers with the
MAVs where they somewhat curiously traded I mean, it was
a future money issue with trying to resign Quinton Grimes.
But they trade the younger version of Caleb Martin and
the second round pick for Caleb Martin, and then they

(20:04):
got Caleb Martin, uh, and it turned out that he's
maybe he's more hurt, so then they had to Yeah,
they amended the trade. That of course happened because it
occurred before the trade deadline. With the Mark Williams thing,
I think the Hornets are saying, what do we not
represent about his issue? Like we showed you all the raticles.
We told you we were very above board, Like you
knew what you were getting. You were getting a guy

(20:25):
who had played X number of games over three years
and is going to be needing a contract in another year.
You knew all that and you made the deal. And
they're probably saying what we're saying, where I feel like this,
this feels like you you read your trade grade online,
then you got cold feet, and then you're like.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Wow, maybe it was the A plus after after being
skipped a bunch of grades yep on the luka doncis
trade you can't get you know, a C or whatever
they got. Yeah, it's to me it was more or
weird that that was the go to right right now,
was to make that move Like you said that don't

(21:07):
connected and that twenty thirty one.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Or I think it was twenty thirty.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
One, the twenty thirty one unprotected Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, those are your bullets. Yeah, and you fired both
of them. In my opinion early.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
I thought they were going to get a placeholder guy.
They you know, balance Schiunis. Maybe, like you said, they
get Mitchell Robinson, which they'd have him for a little bit,
but I didn't expect them to go and try to
make the move for the guy that's going to.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Be there for a few years.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, you know, within days of getting Luka Dancic, I
assumed it was going to be so And I.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Don't know what kind of resolution we could even hope for.
I mean, you're talking about is Adam Silver just supposed
to does the CBA say the commissioner just makes a ruling,
Like you can't take it to an arbitrator, You can't
you can't go Glenn Taylor versus Lore and Rodriguez because
this is like is the Connects I'm supposed to play

(22:01):
until this is resolved? And so I don't know, I
mean talk about awkward plane rides and awkward like I
assume because like Dalton Connect flew out there and I
assume Mark Williams did his physical out in LA So
like this is it's weird stuff, but like it's funny.
The biggest I mean, maybe the biggest loser of the
trade was going to be Dalton Connect, right, you know,

(22:24):
where like you're the you're the movement shooter playing off
of Luca and Lebron and now you're going to a
clown show where LaMelo Ball is just buwling up from
thirty feet and uh, yeah, I don't know. That's it's
wild beyond that neck.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Actually, Dalton Connect, if he winds up staying with the Lakers,
Dalton Connect playing with Austin Reeves, Lebron and Luca is gonna.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, you'd think. I mean, part of part of me,
part of me appreciates the Lakers maybe selling him at
his high point, Like there's Alton Connect might not be
any good. You know, he's had issue he can shoot,
and he's had some moments. But I'm just saying, like,
obviously he's older than Mark Williams. He's a very old
rookie and we don't know what the future holds for him.
A lot of times these teams who like you know,

(23:11):
refuse to trade their young guys like, oh he could,
he could turn out to be great. It's like the
odds are he's not going to turn out to be great.
But anyways, the biggest deadline move beyond Luca, what do
you think it? What is it for you? Dave? League wide?
Do you think the biggest move was that happened.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
I mean, the Jimmy Butler trade is pretty big for
the Warriors.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, it seems to.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
They look different, They look much different, So I think
that that one's pretty big. But they just they don't
feel like serious contenders. And you know, I don't want
to be the guy who's like podcasts every day and says, well,
you know, the most important trade was DeAndre Hunter, but kind.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Of yeah, like DeAndre Hunter to Cleveland. Really it solves
a lot of problems for.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Them, you know, that that wing issue that they've just
had for years where they just didn't have a who
could d up and also shoot.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
So I don't know's it's definitely Jimmy Butler.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
But I don't think it's also I don't think it's
podcast or Brain if you want to couch it with
which deal most effects or could most affect the title? Yeah,
because like the Jimmy Butler trade, of course is a
bigger trade, bigger name, bigger star, but like the Cavaliers
are in the inner circle of title contenders having an
unreal season. Yeah, and that's a guy, you know, that's

(24:29):
a team that could be in the finals and picked
up help as far as an offensive boost there. And
even if he has the defensive limitations, he's got size
and you can throw him out there, and it's like
we're talking about, well, is he better defender than like
George's Yang was? You know.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
So it's like, and he can that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
He can slide, he can play the three, he can
slide up play the four when they play just one
of Mobley or Allen. I just he completes a lot
of the puzzles for them, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yep. I do think the Warriors acquiring Butler is huge
in this sense that it didn't end up being that
massive of an acquisition cost. I mean, speaking of podcast brain,
I feel like I could pull it on and make
an argument that Wiggins is more important or a better fit.
But after two games of Jimmy Butler, by the way,

(25:18):
averaging fourteen and a half free throws per game on
the Warriors, after two games of that unethical basketball, it's
like Butler, who seems like, oh yeah, you just gave
me my my I care about basketball meter is now
filled up again, and you're like, oh yeah, Jimmy Butler's amazing.
So like just having that for the price of Wiggins

(25:39):
and Kyle Anderson in your first round pick this year
plus a couple of seconds, Like that's that's no big deal.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
As far as the return for the heat, ooh, it's
not much.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I don't know, But I do like Wiggins. I mean
the heat the heat shot thirty three last night, Yeah,
which is like, all right, that's not gonna happen again.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Cutting a side.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, they were doing stuff and Wiggins actually really works
for them in.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
A lot of ways.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
I love Wiggins, Bam and where And I think when
you know, with Tyler Hero out there stirring the drink
a little bit, I mean Wiggins.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
So it was it's kind of sad.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Wiggins had the ball on the wing and Bam sets
up like at the elbow and the high posts, and
Wiggins makes the pass to Bam and he starts to
set like to make a cut, to set a flare
screen for someone, and nobody's coming, and it's like he
stopped and had a moment where he realized, oh, I'm
not in Golden State anymore, and then he just goes

(26:38):
and tries to figure out what to do. But I
think what honestly, I actually think some of that mindset
is going to be good for the Heat because they
didn't really have a lot of guys who would the
way that their offense works. I just don't think that
they've had guys like Wiggins who's willing to go, Okay, hey,
you know what, I.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Could take this off the dribble.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
I can pull up from three, I can pull up
from three in transition like he's just he's a willing shooter,
a willing screener, and and then again gives you that
their end too.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
So I just think having a normal guy there makes
them so much better.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, I mean, obviously having a Wiggins over. I checked
out Jimmy Butler, huge improvement there. Yeah, I do. I
do like the fit. I mean I'm a big Wiggins fan,
and so I do like the fit. And as far
as like them just turning whatever this headache and this
big money a Butler getting off that money. Now you
have the much cheaper Jimmy Butler, and now they're just

(27:30):
I mean, the much cheaper anger Wiggins, and now you're just, yeah,
you need more I think guard play shooting on that squad. Also,
by the way, I love my favorite guy SloMo, who
it was really up in the air there for a
while where Kyle Anderson was going. It seems like he
was headed to the Raptors and he's like, no, I'm
not doing that, and so they're like, Okay, cool, you're

(27:50):
coming to the South Beach. Him wearing the Vice City jersey.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
Is there an issue with maybe is Monday night? Is
Chinese passport?

Speaker 1 (27:57):
That's what I hadn't thought of that, that's kidd man.
No uh hey, speaking of passports, Dave, I was watching
the new look Sacramento Kings like your face. No, I was.
I'm watching the new look the new look Kings, who
are playing They played Valentunis and Sabonis together going down

(28:19):
the stretch of that Mavericks game. No, I was thinking,
those guys need to make Jake Laavia an honorary Lithuanian.
They need to get Jacob.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
La him on there.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
They got to get him a passport.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
You got to get him a passport. Also, he was
doing he was doing all kinds of back cuts and things,
and it was like, oh, the Kings don't do this,
and he's like running around, you know, every time he
gets the ball, he's attacking and swinging and then like
cutting back door and like they're like, we don't we
don't move the ball that quick, brother, It was oh.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Man, you know there was another moment like that. That's
actually this is low key.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
One of my favorite things post trade deadline is that
when they throw the guys out there.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
Uh so it was in the Laker game, Luca Lebron
and yeah, everybody else is on the court. So Lebron
goes to drive and basically has nowhere to go and
gives the ball up and then doesn't move, and Jackson
Hayes is just also in the lane and so now
you've got this this next drive coming and it's just

(29:20):
like these guys just hung out in the paint because
they're just so used to somebody just all right, the
ball's got to go up. Yeah, they're not used to
having another guy out there who's going to try to
do stuff.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
So yeah, this stuff is so funny to me.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Speaking of teams, they just throw the guys out there.
I mean, I don't know what else they were supposed
to do. But I was watching League Pass on Monday
and like the Hawks where I'm like, when I first
turn it on, I'm like, who are these guys? And
then I'm like, oh, that's Karris LeVert and Terrence Mann
and all of a sudden it's their team and they're
playing all the time, and you're like, oh, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
The Hawks and then they beat Orlando.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, the Hawks trade deadline kind of weird because they
traded DeAndre Huna and then they traded bogged and Bogdanovich
who's had a horrible year. But like they took on
more money going forward for Terrence Man and they ended
up not netting really picks, like they traded DeAndre Hunter
for picks, but then they use those picks to move

(30:17):
So it's kind of weird, but I mean they're still
they're still competing. By the way, congrats Tree Young getting
names of the All Star Game, like we said he
should have been. And again every every year thirty guys
make the All Star Game. So it's gonna be uh,
it's gonna be fine. I'm looking through the other Oh,
so we hit the Raptors trade, which is like, okay,

(30:39):
you got brandon Ingram again.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
I mean, you got to do that.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
If you're the Raptors, you think they they can't sign
free agents, and it's like it's one way to have
an asset, and I hate to even think about it,
like have an asset. But it's also one way to
have a good player, because brandon Ingram's good, you know.
I don't know what Toronto was gonna do, like, but
they can't take forever. At some point people are going
to get fired, and so they have to put out

(31:03):
a competitive team of some sort.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Is Massia Jujerie going to get fired?

Speaker 2 (31:08):
I don't know, you, Like, they haven't done anything for years.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
They're constantly in this weird, you know, morass of will
they tank?

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Won't they tank?

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Maybe because they keep trading first round picks for the
Fattius Young's and Kelly Olynox of the world.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Can they trade yaka pertle away and then trade back
and give up more?

Speaker 2 (31:30):
I just don't know, man.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
So you have to do it because you're not going
to sign free agentsy So you have to get like
guys like brandon Ingram on deals like this and hope
it either works out or you flip it for you know,
more picks or whatever.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
It's a whole asset play at this point for them.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Would you rather have if you're the Raptors, would you
rather have what you have now brain and Ingram em
Manuel quickly RJ Barrett and be multiple first round picks
or would you rather have those first round picks back
and Pascal Siakam and og Ananobe.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah, I'd rather have them.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
So it's like we're like, you're like one of those
things like, well, we don't maybe Siakam's overpaid or Anonoby
we got to pay him, So let's bring in guys
who make less but also make a lot Archie Berrett
a lot, and maybe the fit. You're like, oh, the
fit with Scottie Barnes and Pascal and og it is
not workable. Yeah, it could be because those guys are
all better basketball players.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
The thing is, really it's it's a real bummer.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
You know whenever a team trades away their best player
and then they and they trade away him and og Ananoby.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Right, so, and the.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Pascal thing is, you don't put a competitive team out
there on the court. You're again the same the same issues.
Why would people want to stay?

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Right, Like, why would you want to stay in that situation?
I just don't. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Man, they should have just given Pascal the Supermax Yeah,
because he's a super Max player.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
For them.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, I don't, Yeah, I don't. I don't know the
right answers, but I'm I'm hard pressed to feel like
this brandon Ingram trade is the right answer. I mean,
great job by the Pelicans getting a first rounder back
just when they like they kind of had to get
out of the brandon Ingram business. And this goes to
so many trades We're like, what's where's the how did
you get leverage out of this? Right? How did you

(33:24):
make this happen? I mean, think about Jimmy Butler. Incredible
leverage play. That man made seventy million dollars by being
a headache for months. It's like that man knows what
he's doing. Like that he did it again. Incredible job.
I made this joke actually on the Athletic live stream
and I've thought about it now for four days, and
I don't think it was a joke where I said,
like the trade deadline winter was was the Wizards. I

(33:46):
think the Wizards did incredibly well.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Oh yeah, I think the.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Wizards they did amaze. They got multiple first round picks
for sort of trash.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Well, they did exactly what you're supposed to do with
the deal, like Valanchnis. Yeah, right, when the bad teams
sign the veteran players to the tradable contracts and then
don't trade them.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah right, it's infuriating.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah. So you know, so they've flipped valanchownas for two seconds,
but like they they have acquired so many second round
picks and then they started swinging out all these second
round picks to other teams to pick up first rounders.
They kept moving up. That's so they did in the
Marcus Smart trade. They also, by the way, got Marcus Smart.
Maybe he's good for culture. I don't know, but like
maybe that's good for the Wizards as they begin. So
I think the deconstruction's over now, Dave, Right, so we

(34:29):
had we had the life cycle of the Wizards when
they're like, are we haven't even begun the breakdown? So
you said they're further ado on the breakdown.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Oh, they're just breaking out the tools for the tear down.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Okay. I felt like they're scooping back up because like
they legit got they got Marcus Smart. Not that it's
gonna help you on the court that much, but like
he's not gonna hurt you. And also you got a
first round pick you moved up a second rounder into
the first round for that. You also picked up a
late first round pick from the Sixers in twenty twenty
six to help them out up their luxury tex issues,
so you swap some picks around there to get in

(35:00):
another first rounder. You also got a pick swap and
Chris Middleton for sending Kyle Kuzma to the Bucks. I
hate what the Bucks did. I mean the Bucks. It
was all about getting under the second apron and convincing
yourself Kuzma's gonna help you more than Chris Middleton. I
don't care that Chris Middleton had double ankle surgery and
we've been making fun of it, like Middleton will help

(35:20):
you win a basketball game better than Kyle. Kuzma is
way more coy kuz We can't do it, and I
don't care are he? So maybe he's not gonna shoot
fifty five percent from the foul line all year, Maybe
he's not gonna keep up that box plus minus of
like negative five point five or whatever it was, Like
he's been one of the most harmful players in the
NBA this season, Like he's not what you need, especially

(35:41):
when they didn't. I also thought when they brought in
Kya Kuzma. They're like, all right, so now they're gonna
trade Bobby Portis, right, They're gonna trade Portis and Connaton
for something to make the whole fit make more sense.
Like I I mean, I think Portison content you could
have matched brandon Ingram money. I've always sad brandon Ingram
was one of the good was one of the one
of the only fits for me that made sense in
my head was playing him alongside Giannis. And it's like,

(36:03):
all right, so maybe Lopezan's is not there all the time,
but like it sort of maybe fits getting Kuzma and
keeping Portis and that being it. I was like, oh,
that is gross, Like I am not a fan at all.
Is there what's the pushback that Kuzma will be more
dynamic of a player and more available in.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
No, okay, they ducked attacks.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, I think beyond that, I don't have any big
I don't have any big takeaways as far as like.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
There were a lot of trades. There were a lot.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Of trades, but so many of them were just tiny
financial transactions.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
And I will say the administrative league, here's the one
thing maybe my Before moving to some Coroissant questions, My
biggest surprise outside of things we've already talked about, was
just maybe the lack of movement for some players that
I assumed, would you know.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Be on her way out? I thought, I mean like
the Bulls. Okay, so the Bulls didn't really surprise me
because they do this every year, right, But it was like,
you didn't trade.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Any they extended Lonzo.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
The extending Lonzo when moving south, the Grizzlies were offering
that pit. I mean, the Grizzes apparently were offering Marcus
smart In the same first round pick for Lonzo Ball
and they're like, no, we have Lonzo Ball and no
first round pick. But also they signed up for a
cheap extension. So okay, but what's the point. Also, I
don't think I would assume it was even available. Maybe
they listened on Kobe White and things. They did not

(37:31):
find a taker for Vusovich. Maybe the Warriors pursuit of
Durant and Butler kept them from getting Vusovich. But by
the way, the Warriors don't need Vusovich because they got
that Quentin post guy. Oh my lord, let's let's let's
take a let's take a quick break from trade deadline
recap to talk about Quentin Post who looks like Brook Lopez. Guys,

(37:54):
the guys's been playing amazingly recently. Anyways, that by the way,
that also speaks to the fact that random centers show
up all the time. It seems like the easiest thing
to find. Play it with Steph Curry makes life easy.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
It does like what if it What if Jared Jackson
had Steph Curry.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
When he he wouldn't be seventh in the MVP race
where he currently is.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Six.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, I think that Basketball References has some six or
seventh in MVP probability. No, the Nets, the Nets Dave
have more talent right now than they started the year with.
Was that on purpose? Like I understand no one met
your Cam Johnson asking price, and like when you hit

(38:40):
it out of the park with the Mikhail Bridges asking price,
maybe you're good like I don't. I don't have to
hit every trade. You got some stuff for Dennis Shrewder,
but like D'Angel Russell is still there. Nick Claxton didn't
go anywhere. You have Cam Johnson, You got rid auditioned
by subtraction. Ben Simmons is out the door. I think
the Nets have more talent. They started the year with Dave.

(39:02):
I can't even find a sports book right now that
has odds where you can bet the Nets to make
the playoffs. They're only three games back, and they have
more talent.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
They're very well coached.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
They're better. I think they're better than the Bulls. The
Bulls lost at Lavine. They're only three games behind the Bulls,
and look, the Sixers are a tire fire. They're the
worst disaster this side of Dallas.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
All right, and Philly, we're waiting. Something's brewing in Philly.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
What do you mean?

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I have no inside info, but I just feel like
we're gonna get bad news.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Well, I mean, the biggest news I saw out of
Philly was Joel Embiid saying that he still needs another
surgery and rest recovery time to be healed and behole again.
And this directly contradicts things the team has said Philly.
Right now, they're a game and a half behind the Bulls,

(40:05):
but also only a game and a half up on
the Nets.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
That's what I'm saying, Brooke, I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
I'm saying right now. I'm saying, right now, I think
the Nets should be like plus three hundred to make
the playoffs, which is like all right, but like I'm saying,
notebooks even offer that. I'm saying, like I feel like
like they're not even on the board. Also, you know
who's on the board, Dave, the Trailblazers. The Trailblazers. You

(40:31):
can't again like all these places have like, all right,
Mavericks are like minus one hundred is did not fall
out of it. The Spurs have fallen to plus four
hundred to make the playoffs. But I'm talking about like
the Trailblazers are playing better than the Spurs.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
The Mavericks playing better than a lot of teams.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
The Mavericks have lost Anthony Davis for who knows how
long they lost. I mean, Lively and Gafford are both out.
They played a center I'd never heard of. I'd heard
a Quinton post Ye's. They had a guy playing on Monday.
I'm not ashamed to say it. No clue who he was.
But like the uh, the Trailblazers, I mean, they're further back,

(41:09):
and also the teams are chasing. It's it's a competitive
tight race right now. The Mavericks, the Kings, the Warriors
and Sons all have twenty six losses and the Trailblazers
have thirty one loss so, like their odds should be
astronomically low, but like I still should be able to
wager on it, Like I think, I think they're playing

(41:29):
better than the Spurs, and like I mean the Suns
and the Mavericks, I'm not feeling great about either one
of those situations. I still maybe having Sons denial. Katie
was saying all the right things after the trade deadline,
and like Katie's amazing, Like I'm, yeah, it's a pro
and I'm I'm still surprised with how underwhelming they've been

(41:53):
even when healthy. But like I could see the Warriors
having a catastrophic injury or a catastrophic just kind of
like things just don't work, Jimmy go sideways, although maybe not,
maybe they'll they'll stay scrappy and fighting to the end.
But it's the Mavericks. I mean, Kyrie did everything he could.
I mean, Kyrie played so well, but they've lost all
these close games. It's gonna be a tie race. I think, Yeah,

(42:16):
were there any other trades that we missed? I mean,
the Sons didn't move like they did a salary dump
with Nurkic.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, there was. Again, it was a lot of financial moves.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
A lot of financial moves. Actually, yeah, let's not move
to the courossant questionnaire because we have some questions specifically
about a move the Sun's made. So these are some
listeners submitted questions. The croissant question.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Nah, any questions? Yes?

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Are you going to finish that croissant?

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Knock yourself out?

Speaker 1 (42:49):
All right, Dave, I love this question from Owen Lopez O'Neill,
which Martin twin trade will have a bigger impact on
the Western Conference playoff race. So you had the Mavericks

(43:10):
go get Caleb Martin in the Nurkic salary dump. The
Sons picked up Cody Martin, which Martin twin trade will
have a bigger impact on the playoff race in the West.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Dave, and Caleb is more hurt, right.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
He's much more hurt. They're both hurt.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Yeah, well, all right, I'll just tell you right now
because I'm looking at you know, I'm looking at the standings,
and yeah, two teams, like we talked about two teams
out of the Clippers, Wolves, Mavericks, Kings, Warriors, Suns and
Spurs yep, are out right, They're not gonna make it.

(43:48):
I feel like the Sons are one of those teams,
and the Mavericks, with the way things have gone here recently,
feel like they could easily be one of those teams.
I don't I don't know, could we say neutral, No,
you got to be I I'll go with I'll go

(44:08):
with Cody and Phoenix because I just think that they
just need a guy like that, you know, I feel.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Like I feel like that's how I feel. I mean Cody,
So I've seen him play more than I've seen Mark
Williams play, and he's just he's just one of those
He's just one of those like helpful three in d
guys who of course is always injured on and off injured.
And it does seem like he's a big upgrade on
the the Josha Cogy types who he was traded for.

(44:34):
And maybe there's not a spot in the rotation with
like with Royce O'Neill there, and they're they're they're getting,
you know, the minutes to the rookies Ryan Dunn and such,
but like you knows, as a three who can come
in not knock some shots down, maybe play some shooting
guard anytimes like Grayson Allen's out or Bradley Beal's out. Yeah,
I feel like maybe he could make a bigger impact.
But also I think he's less hurt, like you said earlier.

(44:56):
So I'll say, uh, I'll say, Cody Martin is the
is the one there? Uh? Keith Eggleston asks, this is
not me, this is a Patreon supporter named Keith. How
hyped was Keith? Now you're talking about me? How hype
was Keith? When Nate Duncan called the Grizzlies front office cowardly, Well, Keith,

(45:19):
this was tipped off to me in the Patreon slack.
Someone's like, hey, dunked On talked about it. They call
it cowardly, and I'm like, ooh, and so I went.
I went and listened excited about it, Like I go
back and rewatch, you know, you rewatch highlights from like
the sometimes the losing team audio. You want to see
the Darius Garland buzzer beater, you know, from the from
the away teams response. So I would say I was

(45:44):
quite hyped. I did not. I mean, I feel like
the Grizzlies have have kept making moves that helps them,
that helps them, sleep better at night, as opposed to
maybe let it hang out a little bit and risk
some stuff to try to go win a playoff series
and go to win a first round series, like, yeah,
win a playoff series, or go win the title. Like

(46:04):
they're saying, you know, we understand that Jared Jackson Junior
is the most sought after free agent probably in twenty
twenty six. That's the real thing. And they're saying, well,
he's probably gonna make all NBA, but if he doesn't,
then we won't be able to extend him. So maybe
we should trade away a bunch of salary and not
keep Jake Laavia and also trader on our first trade

(46:24):
away our first round pick, so we could possibly next
summer attach more picks to move even more salary to
give us another way to retain him on an extension
by creating some cap space. And I'm like, or you
could try to win a title right now because you're
second in the West and Jared's amazing, and you could, oh,

(46:46):
I don't know, retain him when he hit free agent, like,
there are other options. There are options to go and
try and win basketball games. There are options that have
been available the previous seasons. So I don't know, like
if you'd package all your stuff years ago and traded
for a guy instead of being like, oh, our windows
not really open, and it's like, oh, we want to
create a long term flexibility and long term success. It's like, yeah,

(47:10):
you could still do those things. Those things were not
they're not mochie.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
You've been doing that for a long term.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, and it's like you you could have used I
don't know, you haven't used your midlevel exception in like
since Kyle Anderson. And it's like those five years ago,
six years ago, it's like sign some.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Probably could have could have gotten Kyle Anderson.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Well, I think that that uh, that ship left, that
ship saled the uh I mean they like Santellbauma. Their
front court's fine. Yeah, It's just like, man, you you
really said we're better off without Marcus Smart. We have
Jalen Wells. And then in the first game after the
trade deadline, you're playing the thunder in Jalen Wells is

(47:49):
guarding Shay and by the way, did a fine job.
She had a terrible shooting night. More on that in
a second, But like, you benched Jalen Wells two minutes
into the second half, you benched Zach Edie. You're starting
two rookies again, you're starting two rookies, you bench them
two minutes into the third quarter the game after the
trade deadline, when you're like, we don't need Marcus Smart,
We're better without them. So yeah, I enjoyed it hearing

(48:11):
Nate stand up for the Chris's people. Also, final question,
Dave Major Rich wants to know. He says, should they
add an incentive to winning while in the luxury tax
or the first or second apron? That the further you
make it in the playoffs, the less restrictions you have.
So there's no excuse, he continues, Right, for good teams

(48:34):
anymore to get under like the first or second apron
without making them look cowardly.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Okay, so that's a slippery slope, right, because then then
you have just the rich will buy championships daily. You
wind up with baseball, because you would you would essentially
not have a salary git, which the NBA doesn't really
have a salary cap because of a tax strucker structure.
They have this fake hardcap. Right, but the Suns have

(49:06):
a four hundred or had a four hundred and eight
million dollars payroll. I don't know what it is right now,
but if they won the title, what do you say, Hey,
your tax bill is.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
A third of what.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
It was, then it's probably worth it for them to
just pay that tax and or not pay the tax,
but to go into the thread of that tax and at
least try to win the title financially, it probably makes sense.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
So I don't know. I don't know what the solution
is to like getting teams to spend.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Can I say it is sad though, to watch teams
just get broken up for financial reasons and like Karl
Anthony Town's getting traded away was a money moves, a
money move, not a basketball move. And so to watch
that team that we thought they were gonna be good
for the next few years. And Keith, I don't know
if you watched Timberwell lately, but it ain't great and.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
They really can't slow down Ty Jerome.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
Yeah, it really like through a wrench in the team's
entire plan for the next few years.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
So I just for me, I don't like the draft
as it is.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
There's a lot of stuff I think they could fix,
but I think they'd have to change the.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Entire system to get it right.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
I don't know if you can add this incentive to
winning to eliminate the tax ball. I just think it
would get so it would get so crazy with the
money being spent.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
I do think a lot of people have suggested the
idea of retaining your own drafted players, that those things
would not count against either a luxury tax bill. That
would have been a way for the Timberwolves to pay
Carl Anthony Town's the money that he's over. Yeah, he's your.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Own guy shouldn't be considered a luxury.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, And it's like, why is this but I can't
keep all these guys And you're going to see this
coming up with the thunder. This is the reason the
Grizzlies are so cost conscious because they got to pay
Jaren maybe a super Max or something close to it.
But however, like you said, Dave, it's sad that this
is a question and I just like to point out that,
uh to get to get on my pulpit here major

(51:19):
riches question that starts off should they add an incentive
to winning? Where it's like that's what's so, that's one
of this It's easily the most screwed up thing about
the IBA actually where there's so many things where like
you are not incentivized to win, and it's that makes it,
that spells out how it's an entertainment product and barely

(51:40):
a sport. Sometimes when it's like, yeah, like why should
you have to add an incentive to winning? Winning should
be the incentive. And also I think financially you should
be rewarded for winning. But like teams don't want to
do like a purse payout based on where you finish
in the standings. They want everyone to get the same
cut of like TV revenue.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
The NBA socialism, right, like so more than the luxury
text that's what we have.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
How do we not have nbas?

Speaker 3 (52:02):
I mean, there's got to be a way where the team,
I don't know, the money is from a pooled pot.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
This is what Jim's don't mean so mad about all
the NBA socialism. You're taking my money and giving it
to the poor people.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
It's the only way to have any sort of competitive balance, right,
But it would be eliminating individual team ownership. I think,
like you know what I mean, Like you go into
this huge centralized thing.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
I just the current system as it works. I mean
this new CBA in particular, I think is just it's
pretty harsh.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
But I would say this, there aren't a lot of
teams going into the tax that aren't trying to win.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
I don't think like they don't.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
Yeah, it would be great if they felt like, hey,
you know what, my investment was worth it. But these
guys they don't. It's not like they hate money, so
they're not Like the Sun's owner is not spending four
hundred million dollars.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Number one that he doesn't have.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
And number two that he doesn't feel like he can
recoup on value of the team or if they win
a title or whatever. Hisiggest problem isn't that he's scared
to spend money. His biggest problem is you know, they're
spending dumb money.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Yeah, he spent it in the wrong place. Well, anyways,
thanks everybody for the questions. If you want your question
to be answered on air or as part of a
bonus episode, you have to be a Patreon supporter. Do
that a patreon dot com slash Fast break Breakfast. Also,
if you joined up over there, you can join the
listener slack channel. So support the show. Patreon dot com

(53:24):
slash Fast break Breakfast. All right, Dave, it's now time
for the awards segment of the program, the International Stackhouse
of Pancakes Award given to the worst performer in a
box score. We have several honorable mentions. Jalen Wells, excuse me,
Jalen Williams. Not the good one. Was zero for nine.

(53:49):
D Angela Russell, I can't remember, yeah, ju or Jay,
I can't remember. Trade, not on trade, the good one,
no trade, good one. Scotty Barnes and Jordan Poole both
had a four for eighteen game. Tyler who was six
for twenty two. Shay Gildess Alexander against the grizz was
in a comfortable, dominant blowout win was eight for twenty

(54:10):
six though. Anyways, our three nominee nominees this week, we
have Tajan Salon and a loss to the Pistons. The
Pistons comfortably in sixth shoutout Pistons man. Pistons picked up
Dennis Shrewder for nothing. They're just They also got a
Lindy Waters for nothing. Just hanging out with that existence.

(54:31):
Nice Pistons doing a real nice job, real nice season.
But uh Tijan Salon struggled against them. Was one for
twelve from the field eight points, seven rebounds, four assists,
zero turnovers, one personal foul. He's a big dave. One
for twelve Wow. Timani Kamara in a loss, excuse me,
in a win against the Kings was two for thirteen

(54:52):
four points, fourteen rebounds, to assist, one steel, one block,
one turnover, four personal fouls. And then Adam Flagler. This
is the secon scond time he's been in the I shop,
which is amazing since he barely plays Adam Flagler in
the thunders blo out whenever the Bucks was one for eleven,
one for eleven, two points, no rebounds, no assists, two steals,

(55:12):
no turner vers, zero personal files. He did this in
twelve minutes.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Oh my god?

Speaker 1 (55:17):
So uh what? So we haven Salon one for twelve
eight point seven rebounds, Timani Kamara two for thirteen, four points,
fourteen rebounds, and then Adam Flagler one for eleven, two points,
two steals.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
The things that happened in NBA games. Once I've decided
all right, this is a blowout, I gotta move one.
That's insane.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Okay, Flagler, Yeah, I think he got this.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Flagler. By the way, record Adam Flagler on the season
is eleven for fifty two from the field, which is
twenty one percent. He basically only plays in garbage time blowouts.
And yeah he got he got up eleven shots in
the fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
How many? How many total minutes?

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Is not that many. I don't have it pulled up
any Oh, I do have it pulled up. Let's stick
it out. I still have that, Uh that window open.
He's played eighty eight minutes this year. Eighty eight minutes
and fifty two shots. Man, do your thing, Do your thing?

Speaker 2 (56:14):
What is that?

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Like?

Speaker 2 (56:15):
A shot? He's taken a shot.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Every like one point six minutes. Pretty good, Like, yeah,
two shots every three minutes. Yeah, good job, brother, you
keep it up. Yeah, no, that's that's incredible stuff. Anyways, Uh, Dave,
I think we did it this week. I think I'm
most excited about just that Western Conference race. Also for
like the the Nuggets are sort of leveling up. Speaking

(56:40):
of fourth quarter blowouts, Jokic never plays fourth quarters anymore.
He's just like, I'm done. I did it. Jokic is
breaking stats once again. Never I like, I know, Shay
has been unbelievable. He had another fifty point game in
the last week. But like, I don't know, I'm a Yokic. Man. Look,
he's a bar in the world by a good.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Stretch, and I think Shane is probably gonna win MVP. Yeah,
and it's one that we can argue. But when you
have the team excellence that that the thunder have had,
I am fine with this. Like, I actually think that
this is This isn't one where you're taking a guy
who was, like, you know, on the sixth seed, who

(57:20):
put up some crazy numbers. I mean they are they
are the story of the season. I think Shae, if
he does ultimately win MVP, I think.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
It'll be you know, well deserved.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
That being said, Jogic somehow, for the last five years
has just put up the best season anyone's ever done.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Every year, Like, yeah, he's he's gonna he's gonna have
the highest peer ever this year. Also the funniest, most random,
useless stat. Owen Phillips supposted this because he's taken and
made so many heats this year. Yeah that right now,
Jokic has, on average, the longest three point attempts for
any player in any season in the NBA history. On

(57:58):
average is three pointers or twenty one feet. It's like
that's yeah, I mean actually the Thunder I mean absolutely
a story of this season them delivering. They finally got
chet Holmgren back and they keep just dominating. But another
story of the season, of course the Cavaliers, like we've
talked about, so good. The Celtics now have the league's
best road records. Like the Celtics, you know, they they
sleep walk because they can and they know it doesn't

(58:20):
matter right now. I think it's funny looking at the
at the Eastern Conference standings, where some of our preseason
predictions like it took a long time, but now it's like,
oh yeah, the Pacers are fourth in the East, like
they might have home court advantage despite being real bad
for a while. Haliburton's playing great. Of course, Siakam arguably
their best player. He's been so good. The return Orlando

(58:43):
finally tumbled down. I'll just say Aaron Nesmith also, his
return I think has really helped the Pacers. Then some
defense on the wing, and then the West, the Rockets
fell apart briefly. They now they finally got another win,
but you know, they're in that race with the Lakers

(59:04):
because the Lakers haven't lost in a while. Invigorated by
the trade, then invigorated by the by the rescinding of
the Mark Williams trade, now they get another readinvigoration whatever
happens after that. Anyways, thanks everybody for listening. From sport
to show do that at patreon dot com slash fast
break Breakfast, You guys are the best. Remember breakfast is

(59:24):
the most important thing.