0:01

Welcome back to another episode

0:03

of Open Floor. I'm Rohan not gonna

0:06

joined today by my good

0:08

friend sports illustrated senior

0:10

writer in New York Times, best selling

0:12

author of the book Blood in the

0:14

Garden, Chris Harrying.

0:16

Chris, how's it going? My man? Well, it's good, mag

0:19

How are you? If

0:21

I wanted you to text Mike Lee right

0:23

now and was like, hey

0:25

man, when you put in the

0:27

opening credits of Inside Man, that

0:30

was a huge moment for my people. You I'm

0:32

not saying I want you to do it, but you could do it

0:34

right, I could do it.

0:36

He probably wouldn't respond right away. He's,

0:38

uh, I'm pretty sure he's working

0:41

right now. What day is it? He's

0:43

he's probably teaching a class right now. I came

0:46

out to a class he was teaching at

0:48

n y U. It was on a Thursday, like

0:50

right around this time. So he's probably

0:52

in his office right now getting ready to sit

0:54

and watch movies with the students. But once

0:56

he's out, he would get back to me when he could. There

0:59

we go. Imagine he put he put like a

1:01

super popular hindie song in

1:03

front of Inside Man, and I went to the theater and

1:05

I was like, I was like, what's

1:07

going on? This is crazy. I'm gonna

1:09

watch it again. I don't I

1:11

kind of remember that just very very

1:13

briefly. But those opening scenes

1:15

from Inside Manners super memorable. Uh.

1:18

I love that movie and now you're making me. Yeah,

1:22

I've rewatched it like three or four

1:24

times this year, and now it's all I think about.

1:27

What's the name of the dude that always gets mad when

1:29

we when we spend the first two minutes of the podcast, that's

1:31

all my basketball d Darryl Swenson.

1:33

Yeah, he's gonna like pimp slap

1:35

you at some point, like guaranteed, Like

1:38

he comes across you on the street, like guaranteed

1:41

or me for that matter, probably

1:44

more likely be Um

1:47

Chris. I know that there's a lot of

1:49

basketball stuff we're gonna get today. I just want to shout out

1:52

your Michigan Wolverine. Speaking of pimp

1:54

slaps Um, just absolutely

1:57

taking it to Ohio State in

2:00

Columbus. Nothing is better than

2:02

beating your rival on the road. Like

2:04

it's it's cool when you're at home and you get to see it,

2:06

but on the road just absolutely

2:08

thrilling. I cannot even imagine how

2:12

just disgustingly buck

2:14

you were getting in New Orleans watching that game. Man,

2:18

my girlfriend and I shout out to her

2:20

for you know, like

2:22

getting ready pretty early that

2:25

day. We were sleeping in after you

2:27

know, after that Friday night and

2:30

uh, you know, it was pouring

2:32

rain in New Orleans. So I was like, okay,

2:35

how do we dress for this? And also

2:37

it was like, all right, so you're getting ready,

2:39

and you know, women oftentimes, I won't

2:41

say all the time, but oftentimes take their time getting

2:43

ready. Um, so she's like,

2:45

all right, I'll be ready by eleven. I'm

2:47

like, can you be ready by like ten forty five so

2:49

that we can like get somewhere

2:52

by the time the game starts. And then I'm trying to think like

2:54

which places will have TVs? You

2:56

know, believe it or not, there aren't like a ton

2:59

of sports bars always the places you can go,

3:01

but you want to be somewhere that you can sit for like three and a

3:03

half hours for a game, not

3:05

just like a horrible place. And French

3:08

quarters is not always spelling the grade. So anyway, Um,

3:11

the only place I knew of was a place that we had

3:13

brunch earlier in the week. So I'm like, okay, we're

3:15

gonna go back there if it means we have

3:17

to have the same meal twice whatever. Uh,

3:20

And we went, and I was acting an entire

3:23

fool because the thing is, no

3:25

one expected Michigan, Like maybe

3:28

some people thought are expected that they could win,

3:30

but not by twenty two points on the road

3:33

with four touchdowns of forty five yards or

3:35

more, three of whatever it was, sixty five or

3:37

more. Um. I will say

3:39

this, though I'm extremely proud of them,

3:42

happy for them, was giving thought to go into

3:44

the title game this week the conference title

3:46

game this weekend in Indianapolis. Um.

3:49

Literally two minutes before this podcast,

3:51

there's a story breaking about one

3:53

of their star players, a guy that will get drafted

3:55

presumably, who apparently

3:58

got arrested in October

4:01

and there was just no news of it and maybe

4:04

it was sealed and he did not sit out any

4:06

games, which it's really difficult.

4:08

I'll say this and then I'll like log off. But as

4:12

I was reading that, I'm

4:14

just thinking about like how Michigan football,

4:16

along with maybe Jesus and Merrill while they lasted,

4:19

were like the only two things that I felt

4:21

like unbridled joy about from

4:23

like a fandom standpoint, and how

4:26

much it sucks even with that,

4:28

just like too you want

4:31

to have like a moral faith and belief

4:33

and ethical faith and belief in things,

4:35

and it's like even

4:38

football, obviously football, but

4:40

like even the things. You know, I have one or

4:42

two things in my life that I'm like that about outside

4:45

of my family, outside of the people I

4:47

care most about, and it's like those things

4:49

will occasionally let you down to and it really

4:51

sucks even from a high like that. It's

4:53

like, should this guy even be playing on felony gun

4:56

charges? Um? And the answer is probably

4:58

no, obviously innocent until

5:00

proven guilty. But it's pretty frustrating

5:03

to read that um, which all

5:05

you know, obviously allows people to call in a question

5:08

the character of the program, the coaches,

5:10

the people that run the school, all sorts of stuff

5:12

that like Michigan coach

5:14

was sitting there calling for Michigan States players

5:16

to be essentially charged,

5:19

and they did get charged in big numbers, I think

5:21

seven of them. You have someone on

5:23

your own roster that had felony gun

5:26

charges and you didn't sit him out

5:28

at all, not even once. This happened

5:30

the day before a game in October. UM.

5:34

So it's just it's a bad look anyway. Frustrated

5:36

about that, But anyway, let's move on. Before

5:38

was his name? Yeah, I'm glad

5:40

you got to get it off your chest. Listen, anytime

5:42

you peel back the layers of something like college

5:45

athletics, there's often not a lot of things

5:49

in there. Yeah going on, but

5:52

um, a lot I want to get to on today's

5:54

show. I want to start talking

5:56

about a team that you and I actually

5:59

both in sedentally wrote about this week. We didn't

6:01

talk about this. He wrote about them

6:03

in your newsletter, which I

6:05

deeply encourage everyone to subscribe to The

6:07

Playmaker. I literally

6:10

like, it comes in my inbox and I'm like, hell yeah,

6:12

new Harry just dropped. Um,

6:16

you wrote about the Miami Heat. You

6:18

wrote about them being kind of one of the more confounding

6:20

teams so far this season. Um.

6:24

I had a story come out yesterday

6:27

that I really hope everyone gets a chance to check

6:29

out before the season. Flew down to Miami

6:31

to interview bam At a bio and Eric

6:33

Smolstra and Udonis Haslem just

6:35

about kind of the expectations

6:38

for bad this season and the pressure that's

6:40

put on him from the outside to kind of be a

6:42

better scorer Um,

6:45

you know the gist of the stories. Bam does everything

6:47

for the Heat, it's not just scoring. At

6:49

the same time, he he has

6:51

worked on that part of his game, and I think he's becoming

6:53

kind of the player people of hoping for

6:55

him to be, which is just a consistent twenty

6:57

point a night guy. Last night against

7:00

Boston and what was kind of a crazy game considering

7:03

the Heat didn't have Jimmy Butler, high

7:05

scoring game. Another twenty point effort

7:07

for Adebai, who played really well, particularly in the first

7:10

half. Um, I want to start

7:12

here with the Heat. Again. We haven't really talked much

7:14

about them this year. I talked about them a little

7:16

bit before the season started

7:19

about how I was just disappointed in their off season.

7:21

They didn't really do much. They stood mostly

7:23

pat as other teams in the East of seemingly

7:26

passed them by. We've seen that to an extent so far this

7:28

season. Cleveland has been really good. Philly

7:31

has also been dealing with injuries with their ahead

7:33

of Miami and the standards, obviously we have Cleveland

7:36

and Boston as well. UM,

7:39

what have you made of their season so

7:42

far? Harring, do you feel like it's this

7:44

is an injury ridden team that just needs

7:46

Jimmy Butler to come back, or are you like just

7:50

U'm kind of over this whole era? Um,

7:55

I think that they

7:58

look I'm I'm holding out hope,

8:00

expectations, whatever you wanna call it, until

8:02

Butler's back. I mean that the numbers, granted,

8:05

at this point, he's only played about half

8:08

I guess maybe you know sixt of

8:10

the season season. Um,

8:13

their offense has been great

8:16

when he's there. It's been really

8:20

really really bad, like worse than the NBA

8:22

bad when he's not on the

8:24

court. So that's

8:26

concerning, not just because you

8:29

know, for the obvious reasons, but also

8:31

like he's not gonna play forty eight minutes

8:33

a game for you. UM. So

8:36

my highest hope for them

8:38

if and when Butler is not there is is it

8:40

all often is with with teams. And I have the

8:42

same hope for Minnesota. Now the towns is

8:44

gonna miss considerable time. It

8:46

gives other guys a chance to grow. But

8:49

I do worry, as I always do with with Miami

8:51

type teams that play the way they play,

8:54

that guys are potentially gonna get hurt.

8:56

Kyle Lowry in particular, with all the minutes he's

8:58

playing. I worry about UM

9:01

at age thirty six, So you know, I

9:04

see room and I see certain guys growing. Caleb

9:07

Martin is among those guys putting

9:09

the ball on the floor more. Um. His scoring

9:11

has been up lately. Bam

9:13

has certainly taken, you know, a

9:16

step forward as far as his aggression and

9:18

that little kind of flippy floater

9:21

jumper that he takes from right at the

9:23

top of the paint that looks really good for him.

9:26

UM. But look, if Butler

9:28

were to miss considerable time this year, like

9:30

going forward, they're not doing

9:32

anything like this team doesn't have enough offense.

9:35

It's very clear that they don't. Um.

9:37

They get exploited defensively

9:40

when they're in anything other than a zone, UM,

9:44

which is leading to them playing

9:46

the most zone we've essentially ever seen in our lifetime

9:49

or at least you know, in modern you know, modern

9:51

times, since you and I've been covering the league.

9:53

Uh, they're just getting slapped up,

9:56

uh relentlessly.

9:59

Some of has to do what they're switching. So I

10:02

don't trust this team a whole lot without Jimmy.

10:04

Even with Jimmy, I think that there are some

10:06

things they need to figure out defensively,

10:09

Um, maybe they'd be better at point

10:12

of attack. Maybe they could play man more often

10:14

with Jimmy there. But there's some stuff that

10:16

I don't see him fixing quite frankly, And

10:19

you know, he's a great, great player, but like

10:21

if they're expecting him to fix all the and

10:24

I can't imagine that that's the hope, even

10:26

like I don't even think Grex Bolster has that expectation.

10:28

So there's some stuff that's wrong with them beyond

10:30

Jimmy Butler that you

10:33

know. I'm not used to having to say that about

10:35

a Miami Heat team, certainly not a

10:37

Miami Heat defense. Yeah,

10:40

you mentioned, you know, their half court offense last year

10:42

was a slog. I don't think anyone expected to be better

10:44

this year, but you know, they

10:46

want a lot of games. Last year, even when Jimmy was hurt, Band

10:48

was hurt, they had a

10:50

incredible three point shooting stretch last

10:53

year in like December January their

10:55

three point shooting, they led the league in percenteal last

10:57

year. They've kind of fallen off a cliff there, Tyler

11:00

Hero, who's had his own injury issues. Like

11:03

Hero has been weird. I think he was

11:05

like shooting under thirty on catch and

11:07

shoot threes, which is kind of shocking.

11:09

Like I know that there's a lot of discussion and I've

11:11

made a lot of jokes about here on this podcast, but that's

11:14

an area of his game that's never been issue. I mean, the guy can

11:16

shoot um and there's you

11:19

can do what's normally going to be that, you know, Yeah,

11:21

and you know obviously, like I followed team pretty closely

11:24

from from South Flora. We haven't made any

11:26

we even hid that on this podcast. Something

11:29

that's that's crazy to me about the heat.

11:31

You mentioned the amount of zone. It's a double edged sword.

11:33

On one hand. You know, up until this

11:35

Boston game Wednesday night, they had crept up

11:38

top ten defensively, as you mentioned,

11:40

playing a ton of zone like it's been incredibly

11:43

effective. Cooper moorehead who

11:45

who works with the team, writes

11:47

about the heat. It does a fantastic job almost

11:49

after I love Coop man and after every

11:51

game, but basically UM tweet out

11:53

the points for possession versus the zone, versus

11:56

man, and every night the zone is

11:58

frankly dominant. But you mentioned

12:00

it, the fact that they can't play

12:02

man. It's like sometimes

12:06

I watched the team and I respect SMO,

12:08

and it shows his competitiveness

12:11

that he's willing to play zone as much

12:13

as he is, Like he literally is like whatever

12:16

it takes to win a single game, I

12:18

am going to do it, whatever strategy

12:20

thing it is. But you watch

12:23

them and you're like, how is it that

12:25

a team with the Bama

12:27

to Bio with Kyle Lowry, with

12:30

Tayla martin is

12:33

is so theoretically weak defensively

12:35

at these other spots that they're playing this much zone.

12:38

It's like they're going on a team like the Houston

12:40

Rockets or the Detroit Pisions, like or

12:43

the Denver Nuggets. I mean, granted these teams,

12:45

I guess they don't have good defenses, but like

12:49

the idea that the heat are their personnel

12:52

is so bad that they can't man up. It's

12:55

kind of crazy to me. It's like you watch

12:57

the games because it's like you can't wait, you

13:00

really can't play man defense, Like that's how

13:02

bad it's gotten. Yeah,

13:04

I mean, and here's the thing, because I understand

13:07

it theoretically if

13:09

you've got your whole roster there,

13:11

and and also let's be honest, like they

13:14

were struggling on defense more before they

13:16

resorted to going to zone and they're going for clarity.

13:19

They're going zone thirty percent

13:22

of the time. Yeah. The

13:24

next closest team as recently as

13:26

I looked was Portland's which was going zone

13:29

of the time zone team,

13:31

Like they are a zone team. Like they're playing

13:33

zone at times half the game.

13:36

Uh and and like you alluded

13:38

to, the numbers are so stark.

13:40

They're basically like a top three or four

13:43

defense in the league went on

13:45

zone possessions. They're like a bottom

13:47

two or three defense in the league when they play

13:49

man. So that's the challenge

13:51

here. You would think that you could get away

13:54

with playing man more frequently

13:56

because of them. Um.

13:58

I this morning, as I we're gonna podcast

14:00

about Miami, was thinking, like how

14:04

aggressively highly in the you

14:07

know, the defensive player of the Year conversation,

14:09

can you have someone like Bam

14:11

If you can't play man and like

14:14

succeed playing man, you've

14:16

got to play some man like even just to kind

14:18

of make the impact. A lot of times that you

14:21

want a player like that to make you have to play man. And

14:23

the truth is, I think teams are excited

14:25

when the Heat played man because

14:28

you're going to switch, You're gonna have

14:30

to switch to just avoid guys taking advantage

14:33

of some of the guys defensively with Miami. So

14:36

Bam ends up kind of switched on to somebody

14:38

else and it leaves you know, if he's at the top of

14:40

the key, Um,

14:43

it leaves the backside wide

14:45

open, and nobody is really

14:47

afraid of anybody else on their

14:49

defense to try to shoot over. UM.

14:52

So it that causes problems. But still

14:55

for a team that hasn't even necessarily

14:58

had Duncan Robinson out there, a whole lot heroes

15:00

missed what eight nine games, Uh,

15:03

Robinson's missed the last like six or seven. The

15:06

guys that would be easiest to pick on on this defense

15:08

have not even been fully healthy. So like, that's not

15:12

it's not those two guys alone, whereas

15:14

like the last couple of years you could have kind of pointed

15:16

to that, Um,

15:19

Duncan Robinson, even when he does play, is not

15:21

playing thirty five minutes a game. So it's

15:23

it's it's really puzzling, UM,

15:26

you know, and make an effort to try to listen to podcast read

15:28

around. It's been really interesting too to

15:30

hear how many people that cover the Heat have kind of

15:32

felt like, uh, maybe

15:34

suppose not getting through the way he always

15:37

has or that guys like you

15:39

know, I don't know if it's not that they're not playing as hard.

15:41

It's really interesting though, because we've seen

15:44

the Heat land in the top ten defensively

15:46

now I think six out of the last seven

15:48

years, and maybe they

15:50

get there this year. But if you have to do it by playing

15:52

zone almost half the time, it's,

15:54

uh, it's just a weird. Again. I know Butler's

15:57

out. I know Butlers a very good defender. I

15:59

know that certain things can and will

16:01

improve in some ways. But uh,

16:04

it's it's really strange. It's

16:06

just an unusual sort of problem to see

16:08

it for the Heat. It is. It's just

16:10

it's a weird team. It's a really weird

16:12

team. I mean, Heywood high Smith, the

16:14

roller coaster Heat fans have been on with Heywood

16:17

Highsmith, who hit a bunch of shots last night

16:19

and for a time was looking like the worst

16:21

offensive rotational player in the NBA. UM

16:24

Drew Smith this playing major minutes

16:26

in a game against the Hawks, like getting fourth quarter

16:28

minutes. He's a two way guy. Judonis

16:30

has him plays last night. Um

16:32

Gabe Vincent, who's a really important reserve for them,

16:34

has missed a bunch of time. He finally came back in

16:37

the Boston game, so it's really just been a cobble

16:40

together team.

16:42

I do think Jimmy helps a lot, you know. I

16:44

think one thing heat fans were point to. It's like Jimmy

16:46

Butler, Caleb Martin and Bam at a Bio

16:49

that trio. You know, there's a lot

16:51

of focus on Caleb Martin this year. He's kind of the p J.

16:53

Tucker replacement. He's been really

16:55

fantastic, and you mentioned the opportunity for Faim

16:57

to grow. I think he was really sees these

17:00

last a couple of weeks without Butler and

17:03

has become you can see the growth of him as a

17:05

player. You mentioned off the ball transition. The

17:08

Butler at of Bio Jimmy

17:10

trio has been really good. I think they're like a plus

17:12

seventeen net. That's a positive. You

17:14

look at that and say that's really good. On the other

17:16

hand, it's like, yeah, most teams, even

17:18

the bad ones, have like a good trio.

17:21

Like your best players should play

17:24

really well together. Um,

17:27

but yeah, sorry.

17:34

Former friend of the Poda emphasis

17:37

on former took a sledge

17:40

hammer to the Bulls. Like I think he was a

17:42

little overly critical in

17:44

spots, but like by and large,

17:46

and I mean, people have been saying an other prominent

17:48

podcasters have been saying it, if

17:51

you can't perform well with your three

17:53

best guys, which you know, granted,

17:55

like the Lakers are obviously another team that

17:57

has had this conversation. Stuff has looked better lately,

18:00

but like, you really don't have much

18:02

chance at contending for anything and

18:04

probably even comfortably contending

18:07

for a playoff spot if your best three guys

18:10

cannot play together or don't play well

18:12

together. So you know, Miami that

18:15

when their whole, if they were

18:17

to still be struggling this way, um,

18:20

you know, spo to to give you a sense of what

18:22

it's been up until recently, and I

18:24

also mentioned this, they've had their last

18:26

seventeen games now, they've like

18:29

lost two and then come back and one too,

18:31

and they've been really streaky one three

18:33

and then you know, lost three, you know,

18:36

lost three and then one four. Um,

18:38

it's been like that now for seventeen games in a

18:40

row. I don't think that they've had you

18:43

know, like that, they've traded off games

18:45

one and then the other one result and

18:47

then the other Uh, so stuff

18:50

will level out. But I mean, it's it's it's a

18:52

little bit crazy. Even with all the injuries

18:54

and everything to hear about Spo having his first

19:00

as as coaches, it's really weird

19:02

to see them be a team that is one

19:04

of the three or four worst at guarding man, you

19:06

know, and man, uh, the offense

19:09

is really bad, which uh

19:12

is granted again with Butler, but they

19:14

did plug Tyler Hero into their starting lineup

19:16

to give them more of an offensive punch. So

19:18

it's, uh, it's been a weird year

19:21

and uh, stuff will level out a

19:23

little bit. But I even if

19:25

Butler is really good, which I imagine

19:27

he will be if and when he you know, comes back

19:29

and he's healthy, Um, but I

19:32

I would caution against the idea of thinking

19:34

that like he's a fix al I don't think he is. You

19:37

know, you mentioned the man thing. It is interesting and you

19:39

you touched on this. I wrote about this part

19:41

of the things you mentioned. They switched so much they

19:44

kind of had to get away from that to keep

19:46

Bam involved defensively,

19:48

teams have gotten really smart about getting Bam

19:51

out of the play. You see perimeter scores going

19:53

away from him not calling him into switches.

19:55

If they get Bam on a switch, they go I'll

19:57

start with the ball. One thing that the zone

20:00

has done is it keeps Bam in the paint um,

20:02

it keeps him engaged defensively. They started

20:04

to mix in a little bit right before Jimmy got hurt,

20:06

mixing in some drop. They were playing drop against

20:09

the Suns, which was a nice win for them, and it looked

20:11

like it could have been a turning point. Then they go on this road

20:14

trip without Butler and kind of the whole

20:16

team falls apart. So it's

20:19

interesting. I do think they

20:22

they seem to be competing. I mean,

20:24

they're they're They're also in a ton of close

20:26

games. They lead the league in clutch games, yeah

20:29

you know, yeah there ten and twelve,

20:31

and like, I think they're close to clutch

20:33

games and that's typically

20:36

how it should be. But you look at you know, if they sneak

20:38

out that overtime win against the Wizards

20:40

or that Wolves game is really close, Like they have

20:42

a couple of games that you know,

20:45

with really barren squads, you

20:48

know we're talking playing the majority

20:50

undrafted and two A players. If

20:52

they squeak out a couple of those, I think the whole

20:54

tenor of the season looks different you're looking at So the

20:56

Heat are twelve and ten, but they've missed Jimmy

20:59

for all this time. So right, it's

21:01

a very good point. I do think it's interesting,

21:03

by the way, I mentioned this in my piece that

21:06

uh, I mean as of right now, and again

21:08

I haven't looked at certain stuff in the last day or two

21:10

since I wrote that piece. But um,

21:13

the fact that the Heat now are

21:16

two and nine I think it is, or two and eight

21:18

or whatever it is on the road. And the fact

21:20

that of the other three finalists, you've

21:22

obviously got Boston conference finalists.

21:24

You've got Boston, who's like wrecking the league, but

21:27

then you've got Golden State, who has the worst

21:29

road record than Miami. And

21:32

um, and obviously we've got Dallas, who also

21:34

I think has the worst road record than Miami.

21:36

So it's really strange that you've got three contenders

21:40

at least from last season. You know that literally the

21:42

conference finalists, and three of them are

21:44

all like five six games seven games

21:47

under five hundred to start a season

21:49

on the road. Um, three of the last

21:52

teams to win a road game essentially

21:55

in the NBA. So it's it's been a really

21:57

strange season. Also, just look at the road records

21:59

in league this year. You've only got

22:02

like what eight

22:04

or nine that have winning road

22:06

records so far, Like most teams are just

22:08

abysmal on the road. So

22:10

it's been a very, very very strange season

22:12

so far. Yeah, you know, I touched on this in the

22:14

Monday Show. It's just also been a weird season.

22:16

And I feel like I still have not been able to

22:19

get my bearings or make sense of what's real or

22:21

what's not real yet. Um taken

22:23

a little bit longer this year. It feels like it is it is,

22:26

And you know, I do think the

22:28

Heat generally, I don't think they're going to be

22:30

a great team necessarily. I think they'll be pretty

22:32

good if and when Butler returns, although

22:34

you do have to have some fear about

22:36

that knee holding up the knee that maybe bothered him

22:39

in the playoffs. Yeah,

22:41

he's getting up there. But I mean he was having again,

22:43

I think, another fantastic season this year before

22:46

the injury. Um, you know, he had that great

22:48

block on Devin Booker and it really looked like it was

22:50

going to be kind of that spark plug

22:52

moment for the team. Victor Oladipo,

22:54

who knows what they can count on from him, but he's

22:56

practicing fully now. UM

22:58

it's just crazy to think like between

23:01

that's you know, they've already missing

23:03

years of in they were counting on him all the depot.

23:06

They've had games where they've missed Hero,

23:08

Vincent Robinson, Jimmy.

23:11

You're like, they're down six NBA players

23:13

and it's like that Washington game you pointed

23:16

out they had seven guys and ran out

23:18

there with seven suited up seven guys, played

23:20

all seven of them and lost by one on the road.

23:23

So it's your you you raised

23:25

a good point to say they've had a lot of close games.

23:27

Um I had the number in my story that they've had.

23:30

They um had

23:33

the second most guys like lose

23:35

games to injury. Um. I think

23:38

only Orlando has had more so far. So it's like

23:40

there there is reason for optimism. And

23:42

I just again think that you don't

23:44

want to lean so heavily on oh

23:47

because we were missing this and this, that you don't have

23:49

other problems. This team has some

23:51

problems that spoke. Miami

23:53

Spo teams have not really had

23:55

UM so it'll be interesting to see how they worked their way out of it.

23:58

And to that point, I want to get to this because I think

24:00

we both agree like their ceiling is better

24:02

than what they are now. At the same time, they're clearly

24:04

a cut below Boston and Milwaukee,

24:07

and I think we all thought

24:09

Boston was better than them last year at the same time

24:11

we saw Miami push them in a playoff

24:13

series. We saw them pushing a little bit Wednesday night. But

24:16

I think the gap is widen. You know, Miami

24:18

was I think of a much more serious right to make the finals last

24:21

year than this year based on what we've seen so far. Um,

24:25

is there a player you know? I'm

24:27

not saying, yeah, let's add Bradley Beal to

24:29

this team. I'm putting you on the spot a little bit

24:32

here, But is there a

24:34

type of player or a player that

24:36

you think they can add that

24:38

could help close the gap a little bit?

24:40

You know? Is it? You know? I

24:42

like, I went on a Heat podcast and I was

24:44

like, God, they gotta be kicking themselves.

24:47

They didn't like maybe trying to figure out a way to get

24:49

Jeremy Grant in the summer. I mean, every

24:51

team, every team looks he's

24:54

awesome. But you know, is

24:56

there you know, is does

24:58

Jay Crowder move the needle? Is there anyone who

25:00

you think that they can. What's the type

25:02

of player they should be looking for in your estimation?

25:05

That's who I was going to mention. I mean a

25:08

Grant or somebody like that over the summer.

25:11

Um, I would have moved

25:13

the needle. I think for a lot of teams. Hell,

25:16

we've said that about Portland's

25:18

for years now, that like that sort of player

25:21

could move the needle for them. And

25:23

all of a sudden you took Courtland and you had

25:25

a team that was probably

25:27

not athletic enough, certainly defensively,

25:29

not long enough. They

25:32

had to give up a painful piece

25:34

of their core and

25:36

and um, you know, to

25:39

really make that roster look different. And C J.

25:41

McCollum, they finally did it. They

25:43

went out and got Jeremy Grant and like the whole

25:45

team looks different, they still have some

25:48

of the same problems. Anybody that watched them

25:50

the other night saw if any Simon's just get

25:52

lit up and not look have

25:54

a great game. You know, offensively

25:57

hit a bunch of threes, but just not you

26:00

know, he's not well rounded. Enough by himself

26:03

to run the show all the time, or at least,

26:05

you know, defensively. Dame's not great

26:07

defensively either, but like he's not as

26:09

poor as in some ways anyway, Jeremy

26:12

Grant was a great pickup. I think Crowder

26:14

gets you back to some of the stuff that you

26:16

could do that frankly now

26:19

is lost with them not having p J. Tucker. And

26:21

it's weird to kind of harp on that given

26:24

the PJ Tucker. You know it's

26:27

you hear Twitter accounts dedicated

26:29

to asking J. Tucker score tonight. They're

26:32

they're probably Twitter accounts dedicated to whether he's

26:34

shot the ball on giving them. It's like he

26:37

took a shot last night and everybody's like, oh, he

26:39

took a shot, and then the next time the ball came to him

26:42

he was arguably even more wide open than

26:44

the time before and still found a way to pass it

26:46

off, so and and and keep in mind

26:48

that's for a team that is

26:51

lacking like two of its three best scores.

26:53

Um, so he might not. You know,

26:56

maybe we're harping too much on like what p J Tucker

26:58

was last year. He's starting to get older too,

27:01

but um, you still need

27:04

somebody with like that rugged nature

27:07

who can play some four occasionally

27:10

some five for you. And you

27:13

know, Crowder, I don't know he's gonna play a lot of

27:15

five, but he could give you some of that rugged for he's

27:18

you know, we all know at this point he's overrated

27:20

as a shooter, but like he's a good enough shooter. His

27:22

threat level and the NBA in terms of way

27:25

he's perceived is good enough to where he could

27:27

you know, he could help you, um,

27:29

if he's healthy. Uh

27:31

So, I'm frankly a little bit surprised

27:33

that no team has really made I'm sure

27:35

they made the call, but to actually

27:37

do something, um,

27:40

but you know, well, we'll see what happens. Maybe

27:42

we're we're harping on this too much given the butler's

27:45

not there, But I do kind of feel like that's

27:47

an area where they could benefit because they've

27:49

been playing uh Yovich

27:51

and and a lot of other people that just there, like

27:54

you were saying about Highsmith, a lot of guys

27:56

that like are either very

27:58

young or guys don't really have

28:01

just not ready. They're not ready, but

28:04

they're not ready, and they've done this. You

28:06

know, I kind of get it because Miami.

28:08

If there's one team in the league that has thrived

28:10

off that or not playing guys

28:12

that aren't ready, but playing guys that have like no

28:15

NBA seasoning, it's Miami. Who

28:18

If you look back at that game that we're talking about

28:20

against Washington, they had seven guys. Five

28:22

of them were undrafted. I think,

28:25

uh, and you know these are guys that now

28:27

have real roles with them, whether

28:29

we're talking about Strews or Martin or Vincent.

28:33

So they've made

28:35

it work before, but it's after a while, it's

28:37

like, how do I put this? If

28:40

you can kind of rig stuff and kind

28:42

of Jerry Riggs stuff in your apartment for long

28:44

enough, maybe you're gonna feel like you don't eventually

28:46

have to go to the store to buy something, but

28:48

like, at some point you have to buy something

28:50

because like your stuff is gonna fall apart,

28:53

and particularly if Jimmy

28:55

Butler is not there, And that's kind of that's

28:57

kind of how this feels, uh,

29:00

when you have to use them thirty percent of the time

29:02

because man is feeling that offense, that's

29:04

kind of how this feels. For

29:06

sure. Um, I want to move on, but

29:08

real quick before we do, I just want to ask, because

29:12

you know, I did write about it, and I think the one bright

29:14

spot has been Bam, who's been

29:16

fantastic. Um. You know,

29:18

he's turned into a guy which I think

29:20

people have been waiting for and waiting for. The

29:22

unassisted shots are way up. I mean I

29:24

was really surprised to see him. Have you know Anthony

29:28

Davis sor exam, he's more unassisted makes an Anthony

29:30

Davis or percentage wise more Anthony

29:32

than Anthony Davis is here, which to

29:35

Anthony Davis's credit realizing, Hey, wait, why

29:37

am I taking these stupid jumpers when I can dominate

29:39

in the pick and roll and at the free throw line.

29:42

But um,

29:45

you know we've seen kind of that next offensive

29:47

evolution for Bam. I had so much

29:49

fun talking to him. I told him the block on to Atum

29:51

was one of the best nights of my life. Um,

29:54

what have you made of his play? Specifically?

29:58

I feel like there's always this weird

30:01

like, oh, is he good enough to be the second gun

30:03

on a championship team? And you

30:05

know, first of all, he was on a team that made the

30:07

finals last year's team. I don't

30:09

think it's an indictment of him that

30:12

they didn't make the NBA Finals, Um,

30:16

and just defensively everything

30:18

that he does for the it's it's

30:20

hard to measure the amount of things they asked me him

30:22

to do on a given night. Um,

30:24

I honestly think few players in the NBA I asked

30:27

you more. But what do you make of him? And kind

30:29

of the offensive improvement you've seen so far this season?

30:32

I mean, it's looked solid, and it's crazy because

30:34

I don't think like I have to

30:36

look. I don't think it it's clearly

30:38

clearly spelled out in like the big bold

30:40

traditional counting stats. Necessarily

30:43

you'd have to watch the games to see where

30:46

he's taking the shots from, how often he's doing

30:48

that, some of the moves, the counters,

30:51

UM. And not just that, but I think also

30:53

recognizing that UM Miami

30:56

was such a three point dependent team

30:59

that Lee hasn't shot well this year.

31:02

They were at the top of the league and handoffs,

31:04

you know, handoff efficiency when

31:06

you look at guys like Duncan Robinson and all

31:09

the you know, all the undrafted guys we've talked about

31:11

that really thrive shoot

31:14

from three that just aren't doing that, and

31:16

so how how

31:18

much more difficult that theoretically makes

31:21

BAM's job. If those guys aren't hitting shots,

31:23

he's got way less room to operate with. Not

31:26

to mention that Butler hasn't been there putting

31:28

up those stats. Without Butler being there, without

31:31

Hero playing well, without you know, all

31:33

these things, there's a huge accomplishment,

31:35

um and it speaks a lot to

31:37

his aggression, which I think again,

31:41

Jimmy, if Jimmy didn't play

31:43

another game this year, they wouldn't

31:45

go very far. But uh,

31:47

I do think that it would. You know, his

31:50

progression is probably the best thing

31:52

to come out of this for the team, And

31:54

I actually think for other guys too, as I was saying earlier,

31:57

but but mostly for Bam, because

31:59

I actually think some of what he's doing it's

32:01

not even necessarily like, you

32:03

know, could he be a second guy on a championship team

32:07

at some point. You know, he's young enough where he can still

32:09

develop into like the best score

32:12

on that sort of team, just with

32:14

a different collection of players and

32:16

a team that you know, that had a little bit more offense

32:18

around it. That's how he's starting to

32:20

look to me, which maybe that's overstating

32:23

it just a little bit, but he's he's that good.

32:25

He has no keep going, keep going. I

32:28

just I just want to say an honestly, I love

32:30

Bam. I love the

32:32

competitiveness man, and and talking to

32:35

you know, I told you the story now, I'll just When

32:38

I interviewed Erik Spossor for this story, he

32:41

made it very clear that he was like, not a

32:43

lot of people get it with Bam,

32:45

and it's just it's the franchise is

32:47

very protective of him because I think they see, like

32:49

the people focus so much on his scoring,

32:51

and the point they try to get across is just how

32:53

important he is. I love Bam, I love

32:55

my I love how much the disdain he

32:57

asked for the Celtics. He told me, you know, before

33:00

Game three of the Eastern Conference Finals,

33:02

he had one of the best games of his career. He was like, I don't

33:04

know if it was all the bleeping green, but I was pissed,

33:07

like, uh, just last

33:09

night he gets the tech or when you got to tech

33:12

at the end of the game. Yeah, he said, he

33:14

called the refs decore him unprofessional.

33:17

So he's act but this is good. He's acting

33:19

like a number one guy. I always tell

33:21

this sort. There's just show on Netflix called

33:24

Sacred Games and it's

33:26

a it's a Hindi TV show, and the

33:28

bad guy in it is this Indian guy and he's

33:30

like a gold pistol and he's like a drug

33:32

dealer. And I'm like, they've never let us do this on

33:34

TV before. This is sick. He's

33:37

acting the part. Bam is acting

33:39

the part this year, and I really, I

33:41

really enjoyed that. Before we

33:43

get out of here today, there's one more team.

33:46

I'd like to talk about this, a team

33:49

both of us have written about a lot the last couple

33:51

of years. A team that I also wrote about

33:53

this week. So I'm just I realized

33:55

I'm just plugging my stories today. I appreciate

34:00

with um, but I wrote I

34:02

reported this story last month about

34:05

the Denver Nuggets, and

34:08

I just I thought the moves they made in the

34:10

off season, bringing in Bruce Brown, bringing

34:12

KCP, we're home

34:14

run moves. And I was excited

34:16

to write this piece because they've

34:19

worked like k c P is.

34:21

Do you know what what is three point percentages? I don't

34:23

think you'd get to know the exact number of the time of your head,

34:25

but you want to take a guess, I

34:27

actually don't know, and I point

34:30

five. I was gonna guess two.

34:33

But he is basically

34:35

doing what he was doing that we talked about last

34:37

time. Yeah, he is shooting

34:39

almost fifty from three. Bruce Brown,

34:43

dude. Contenders should have been lining

34:45

up to sign Bruce Brown in the summer, and I think teams

34:47

reached out, But he should have been a priority

34:49

for teams like the Lakers, the

34:52

Warriors. I mean, you name it shooting

34:55

yea nets, No, that's true. You

34:57

know everyone thought his three point shooting. He's

35:00

in wide open shots. It's a flute this year,

35:02

higher volume over three times

35:04

of games. Still shooting from three

35:07

exactly the same as last year or

35:10

three. Yeah, And I could

35:12

tell he was excited when I talked to him. He's like, I get to

35:14

play guard again. You know, he said he

35:17

said that to me in October. This week he said, I'm

35:19

sending a message to a lot of nbahms that I

35:21

could play guard. I've already seen chatter,

35:23

you know, local Denver Riders shout to Mike Singer.

35:26

They're worried they're not going to keep Bruce Brown past

35:28

this year. They think he's already outplayed his contract.

35:31

He is a player option, has an option.

35:33

I forgot about that. For

35:35

him. Yeah, I mean Michael Malone called

35:37

him a Foxhole guy, like they love him. They're

35:40

they're starting lineup. This is really where it gets

35:42

interesting, Herring. They're starting lineup

35:45

out of all line up that played a hundred and seventy

35:47

minutes together. So far this season, the

35:49

Nuggets starting five is the best defensive

35:52

rating in the NBA YEP of

35:55

seventy minute. Yeah,

35:58

the second best um net rating

36:00

overall, behind only the Warriors starting five.

36:03

You know, the defense overall still, frankly,

36:05

hasn't been very good. It's good enough with your

36:08

kitchen the floor. Um.

36:10

I think part of that has to do with, you

36:12

know, figuring out the right lineups. I think Jamal

36:14

Murray has been a step slow. I think as he improves,

36:17

their defense is going to improve across

36:19

multiple lineups. But I

36:21

was big on these moves. Their second UM

36:24

in the West, one game out of first place. I

36:26

believe their number seven in net

36:28

rating the West

36:31

is weird when we've talked about them quite a bit, but the

36:33

top of the West especially still does

36:35

not make a lot of sense. Where

36:37

do you where do you feel the Nuggets

36:39

fit into that hierarchy? Do you think

36:41

this is the Joker's best chance to make the

36:43

finals. Um,

36:47

I'm gonna say yes. Actually,

36:50

that's a good framing of the question. I'm

36:52

gonna say yes partly because

36:55

they the numbers kind

36:57

of show that, but I'm gonna

36:59

say more so because there's not like another

37:01

clear cut team outside

37:03

of maybe Phoenix, who obviously,

37:06

for obvious reasons, we don't trust Phoenix

37:08

that much just yet. Uh,

37:10

you know, it's hard to trust anything that you

37:12

know does what they did in Game seven

37:14

last year. So I'm gonna

37:16

say yes based on that, I'm gonna say

37:19

that I've still got plenty of questions for them.

37:22

Um, I'm gonna say

37:24

that they need to be really serious about the idea

37:26

of trying to make a move to bolster the roster

37:28

further. Um, to take advantage

37:31

of the fact that there's no reason they shouldn't finish as

37:33

a top two seed in the West. I understand

37:35

the seeding isn't everything. I understand that, you

37:38

know, Golden State could make it as a plan and they

37:40

would still be, you know, one of the

37:42

teams that everybody's afraid of here are thinking

37:44

about in the back room mind after last year. Um,

37:48

it's gonna be a weird year though, based on the standings

37:50

where if Kauai and Paul George

37:53

start playing every night, once the

37:55

playoffs hit and the Clippers

37:57

roll, guys kind of find a rhythm. Um

38:01

all of a sudden that the seating stuff doesn't

38:04

matter much. But I will say that

38:06

the Nuggets have the stuff.

38:08

They certainly are gonna have enough off before.

38:12

Right, they have more than enough

38:14

offense to do it. And that's again

38:16

with certain guys knocking off the rust and

38:18

and really starting to look that way too. By the

38:20

way, um the defense

38:23

is putting up good enough numbers. I I there

38:26

are certain certain things that I think there are certain

38:28

matchups that are much better for the Nuggets

38:30

that even at full strength, I don't love

38:32

them against Golden State. You

38:34

know, maybe maybe Golden States changes

38:37

will make it a little bit easier for the Nuggets, and

38:39

and and the Nuggets changes maybe make it a

38:41

little bit easier for them to compete in a series like that. But

38:44

there there is like a mover too I'd like to see them

38:46

make that I think would bolster them a little bit

38:48

before we you know, we talked about them as

38:51

the team out of the West or one of the teams out of wise.

38:54

That's interesting. Yeah, I do think that they

38:56

are better equipped than ever before. I start

38:58

of asked for ground. I was like, you know, I remember

39:00

the Rockets a few years ago built

39:02

their entire team around defending

39:05

the Warriors. Do you think you need to do something the same,

39:08

something similar? And he was and they were playing the Warriors

39:11

that night, I believe, And he's like, you know, we're not there yet.

39:13

That's not really our goal, like we want to you

39:15

know, they're a new team. They kind of good answer,

39:17

Bruce. You do remember him? Uh

39:21

was it? It was? Was it last year the Celtics?

39:23

It was this summer.

39:25

I've yame, I love

39:27

it. I loved it. Robert

39:30

Williams out, we're gonna take advantage

39:32

now what Bam? Shut up? Like

39:35

you don't. You don't get to say that. Your kids wouldn't

39:37

get to say that. You don't get to say Katie. And

39:39

I think Katie even said right after he's like Bam,

39:42

hush. So I mean

39:44

shout out to him taking not the

39:46

high road but giving the a little more

39:48

diplomatic answer. But he's right

39:51

though that they should wait a

39:53

little bit. But but but point being a you know,

39:55

they beat Golden State in the second game of the season

39:57

without Jamal Murray. Bruce Brown started that game.

39:59

I'd do you think they have more guys

40:02

to throw at Steph now? They're they're better.

40:04

You know, those three guard lineups absolutely blitz

40:06

Denver. They haven't been as good for Golden

40:09

State this year, but the Nuggets

40:11

themselves are better equipped to deal with those kinds

40:13

of groups because of Bruce Brown, because

40:15

of KCP, in a way that they weren't in

40:18

years before. And I mean you

40:20

mentioned a team like the Clippers. I don't think the Clippers

40:22

are certainly gonna be an easy outright. They think they could

40:25

certainly beat the Nuggets in a playoff series. I do think

40:27

Denver again is the best

40:29

position they've been to deal with a team

40:31

like the Clippers. You know, the fact that they

40:33

can play Brown, Aaron Gordon, and

40:36

KCP together on the wing now, I think

40:38

it's gonna make a significant for difference for them come

40:40

playoffs. I mean, of that group defensively has not

40:42

been great so far this season, I still

40:45

think it is potential in a playoff series. It's

40:47

interesting, you know, part of my framing

40:50

going to the story was Yoki just one m VP two

40:52

times in a row. The only guy to

40:54

have one other player to have won

40:56

at least two m vps and never make the finals

40:58

is Steve nash. Um

41:01

think about guys like Janice Lebron around

41:03

this age, they're all either making and

41:06

or winning titles. Um,

41:08

you know, Calvin Booth told me he's like, I'm not necessarily

41:10

feeling that pressure. I think, you know, the players

41:12

of a more difficult job than I do. But

41:15

I do think that they kind of and

41:18

so far they are doing it take advantage of the

41:20

fact that they have a talent like Yokich you

41:23

mentioned that you think they're still a move away. What what kind

41:25

of what do you what do you see? What do you feel

41:27

like maybe they're lacking still? You

41:29

know, one of the most interesting players

41:32

in the league this year to me, and not even

41:34

just this year, but I think the last couple of years has

41:36

been Yaka Pearle, who he's

41:38

played for a couple of different teams. Now he's

41:41

with the team now that's in the middle of a rebuild

41:44

that frankly, at

41:46

this point, I think we're all of the opinion like

41:49

anybody could potentially be on the table

41:51

after we saw them trade to John T. Murray,

41:53

who normally would be the kind of guy you would

41:56

build around. UM, so

41:58

if you're not in, you're you

42:00

know, you're trading him away for the sorts of asset

42:02

as they got back Yaka

42:04

Pearle could be had. Presumably

42:07

he's been one of the best rim

42:09

protectors in the league for a while. He's

42:11

been scoring a little bit better this year. I think he

42:13

had a thirty point game, thirty some point game

42:16

last week. Um, he's an efficient

42:18

player. I mean, he does have laws.

42:20

He can't shoot free throws. Um.

42:23

You know, there are probably certain types of centers

42:25

in the league that could take advantage of him. But just

42:27

the fact that, um,

42:29

I think, you know, some of the problems that we've talked about

42:32

with Denver, I'm

42:34

sorry, some of the problems we were talking about with Miami in

42:36

terms of the way that if you play them a

42:38

certain way and forced them to rotate a certain way

42:41

and kind of throw multiple

42:43

passes or kind of swing the ball, and

42:45

Yoki comes up as high as he does. Defensively,

42:49

Yokich is a much better defender than he's

42:52

been given credit for in the past. I think now

42:54

we're kind of there, maybe it's gone in the other direction.

42:57

But there are also matchups that are bad for him,

42:59

like Golden State exactly. And

43:01

so with that in mind, I kind

43:03

of wonder if Peardle is the sort

43:05

of big that you could probably play with Yokich,

43:08

but also the kind of big that could back him up.

43:11

Um. I mean again,

43:13

I think Peardle would cost a

43:15

decent amount now compared to two

43:18

years ago. He probably could have been had for

43:20

you know, if you go back and look, I think

43:22

he was part of that coat trade at this point.

43:24

So he's been he's been um,

43:27

you know, in San Antonio for a while now, but

43:29

he I think his perception of a player as a

43:31

player has improved, and I do wonder what

43:33

it would take to get him. But I think a player

43:36

like him could really fit that team. I also don't

43:38

think that uh DeAndre Jordan is

43:41

gonna be, you know, a guy that you really want to

43:43

run out there too too much in the playoffs. So I

43:45

think that for that reason, Peartle could be a player

43:47

that would make a lot of sense for them. I also think

43:49

that they might you know, be another wing player,

43:52

you know, having another solid wing player

43:54

as part of their rotation could be helpful

43:56

to m Yeah, I will

43:58

say that Deando

44:01

Jordan today not exactly make my peace about

44:04

Denver's offseason, even

44:06

know that they were excited to bring in and I

44:08

think he's had I do think in ways he's

44:11

probably looked better in Denver than he has in some

44:13

of his last other few stops. Um.

44:16

But yeah, man, it's

44:19

interesting. I do think that Pearl. You

44:21

hear his name attached to a lot of contenders,

44:23

and rightfully so. He's one of the more underrated

44:25

centers in the league. Absolutely could

44:27

work for them defensively. I mean, he'd be immediately

44:30

be the best backup center in the league. I think

44:33

it's like him and Hartenstein um

44:36

doling it out for that. But I think, and you

44:38

mentioned, I mean the beauty of Yokis is he can really

44:40

play next to a variety of bigs.

44:42

You know, to worry about spacing, I don't think you have to

44:44

worry about your offense as much. Um,

44:46

He's absolutely someone who I think could play alongside

44:48

himself. I think that's very interesting if they

44:50

were looking for a size, more

44:53

size or a different look. Um.

44:56

Yeah, I'm just excited. I'm glad that they

45:01

they very clearly recognize what they needed

45:03

in the offseason. I thought it was interesting Calvin Booth

45:05

saying he's like, the formulas

45:07

not complicated. He's like, it's a copycat

45:09

league. And it's like he's right. It's like, you

45:12

need shooting in defense around

45:15

your stars, and you need and you just

45:17

need those guys to have shooting a defense

45:19

in a way that fits around your best players.

45:21

Right. So the Bucks, they have shooters, they have defenders,

45:24

but you know, they might need more ball handling

45:26

next to your honest so he can be setting screens. You

45:28

look at the Warriors, they need shooting a defense,

45:30

but they need guys who know how to move the

45:32

ball and cut and play an

45:35

emotion offense. That's not you know, standing

45:37

in a quarter waiting for impacts. And

45:39

I think the Nuggets were like, we need guys

45:41

who are ready to there there catching shoot,

45:43

second best catching shoot team in the league. It's

45:45

like, we need guys who are ready to you know, playoff

45:48

joker um and

45:50

and defend, you know, make up for some of his defensive

45:52

limitations. And I think that they've they've

45:55

done a better job of that this year than in the past.

45:57

It was part of what made to me like I

45:59

still say I know I said this that week

46:02

of free agency, and I would still stand

46:04

by it. I think he was the most sensible

46:07

signing value signing

46:09

that I saw in the entire league

46:11

during the offseason, because if

46:13

you wanted to roll the dice on the idea that his shooting

46:16

was real as far as the improvements that we saw

46:18

last year, okay, that

46:20

that was a worthwhile gamble on its own, maybe,

46:23

but just the idea of fitting

46:25

your personnel someone that is

46:28

just a devastating cutter and

46:30

a really smart player who

46:32

kind of fits into these crevices and kind

46:34

of you know, backcuts teams that aren't

46:36

paying enough attention. I mean, somebody

46:39

like that playing with yokich Is

46:41

just can have a field day and has

46:43

had a field day with that offense. Um.

46:46

And that's not to even mention the idea that

46:48

he Um can handle a

46:50

little bit. You know, probably not someone

46:53

you want to really as your primary guy, but

46:55

Um can defend the way that

46:57

he does. And for a team that desperately needed

46:59

more defense, UM, particularly

47:01

with with Michael Porter and Jamal

47:04

Murray coming back, you needed that. So it's,

47:06

uh, it doesn't surprise me that they've looked solid.

47:09

Um. I don't think that mission is accomplished

47:11

yet, you know, and I don't think they would say that either, But um,

47:14

they're they're intriguing. And this is what you

47:16

were hoping for if you were Denver's, to at

47:18

least be in that conversation as a

47:20

team the quarter of the way halfway through

47:22

the season, to kind of at least allow you to figure out

47:25

how in this are we, um,

47:27

as far as how we look and where we're at.

47:29

And Murray has certainly started to come around,

47:31

and you know, and

47:33

Michael Porter obviously always

47:36

has that jump shot, you know, regardless how much you struggling

47:38

on defense. So they're they're looking a part,

47:40

um, and I'm curious to see what happens

47:43

now as we get through the last parts of this season. We

47:45

know MPJ love certain shots. Um.

47:51

Took me a second to catch that.

47:53

We love certain shots. We know there are other ones who

47:55

doesn't like as much. Um. Yeah,

47:58

But I'm

48:01

I'm high on the Snuggets team as I always am,

48:04

UM, and shout out to their front office because I

48:06

think that they recognize

48:08

the improvements that need to be made and even if they're a mover

48:10

to away like their willingness. Um.

48:12

You know, I'm sure it was not easy training guy like Monte

48:15

Morris or you know, they've moved Gary Harris in the past,

48:17

but I think they've taken the right

48:19

swings at making the scene.

48:21

And I think the west is wide

48:23

open while while the west is wide

48:26

open. That closes today's

48:28

episode. I don't know if that. I don't know if

48:30

that segue fully works. Wow,

48:33

yea brother, even

48:36

if even if that doesn't close today's episode,

48:38

that should close today. That that was horrible. That

48:41

rough. That

48:43

that was as bad as me not picking up on the Michael

48:46

Porter Jr. Him liking

48:48

shots are disliking. I didn't

48:50

pick up on that for like two minutes. That

48:52

that was equally bad. I'm sorry, all right. I'm

48:54

glad that we both had major, awkward

48:57

and comfortable mistakes on

48:59

this podcast. Chris. That'll do it

49:01

for today's episode. Always great

49:04

to chop it up with you, my man. Uh

49:06

shout out to our producer Shelby. We will try to

49:08

get you guys a rip City Royston

49:10

reports suit. I know people have been clamoring

49:12

for it in the emails. Please keep your emails

49:15

coming open for mail at gmail dot

49:17

com and until the next episode. Please continue

49:19

to enjoy the Nbass Whoa,

49:27

whoa,