0:01

Welcome back to another episode

0:03

of Open Floor. I'm Rohan. Not gonna

0:05

be joined today by my good friend Sports

0:08

illustrated senior writer Snake

0:11

Wrangler, New York

0:13

Times best selling author

0:16

of the book Blood in the Garden,

0:19

Chris Harring. Chris, how's it going, buddy?

0:21

I'm great, Rohan, how are you? And

0:24

I complain just got back from

0:26

a work trip that I'll talk about

0:29

this podcast certainly at some point, because

0:31

I have a lot to say about it. Um,

0:34

so keep an eye out for that. Uh,

0:38

Chris, not always?

0:41

Are we gifted blessed with

0:44

such an easy topic to discuss

0:47

every now and then we got to come up with something.

0:49

Figure out what again? How are we going to talk about

0:51

the league this week? Not

0:53

today? Because it

0:56

started with Kyrie Irving requesting

0:58

a trade, which

1:01

was already pretty hilarious, and the

1:03

Nets obliging him did

1:05

a full forty eight even hours even pass

1:08

before they decided on this trade. Kyrie

1:11

Irving headed to the Dallas Mavericks along

1:14

with Markis Morris. Poor Markis Morris.

1:17

He has forgotten to be mentioned almost every

1:19

single time people discussed this trade.

1:23

Uh, Luca and Markeys. Morris headed to outs

1:25

in exchange for Spencer Dinwitty, Dorian

1:28

Phinney Smith, two

1:30

second round picks and

1:33

unprotected first round picks.

1:35

Chris, let's dive into

1:37

it. Your reaction to this

1:39

trade, UM

1:42

A little bit surprised, Like you said that it happened

1:46

before the trade downline, not

1:48

not before, but so quickly.

1:51

I guess how quickly it came together. There

1:53

was obviously a market for Kyrie.

1:57

UM. Not terribly

1:59

surprised, as Alice. It was a team

2:01

that Um,

2:04

even over the summer when this stuff came up,

2:06

made sense for him to land

2:08

with, largely through

2:10

their own fault, you know, through

2:12

the fault of the Mavericks for not resigning Jalen

2:15

Brunson. UM,

2:17

My first thought is not

2:20

terribly sure that this moves the needle.

2:22

From the standpoint of respect

2:25

to Jason Kidd for saying that this gives them championship

2:28

aspirations, I'm not sure it does. That

2:32

there's a defensive price that they pay

2:34

here for this move. Um.

2:37

You know, they were already looking to deal Dorian Phinney

2:40

Smith, so maybe they had already come to terms with that. But

2:42

I'm just not sure in watching this team

2:44

like they needed a second guy. Clearly,

2:47

UM, they also need

2:50

defense that was closer to what last year was

2:52

than what they've shown this year, and

2:54

and I don't think this gets them closer from that standpoint.

2:57

So if the option is just score

2:59

more, that's great, But at some point

3:01

I'm kind of convinced they're gonna need to play more defense

3:03

than what Kyrie provides. So from their standpoint,

3:06

that's how I feel. Obviously,

3:09

you jump at the chance to add someone, um

3:12

who can do the things Kyrie does offensively.

3:15

Um, we haven't even had a conversation yet

3:17

in terms of the

3:20

other things that you maybe consider. Do you want

3:22

someone like that around your team? Do you

3:24

want someone like that, um

3:27

dictating things? Uh? In

3:29

terms of you know, do you want someone the potentially quits

3:31

on your team, which is a question that you have to ask

3:33

with him. Uh. So there's

3:35

all that to consider too, which okay,

3:38

if Dallas wants to take that gamble, that's

3:40

fine. Um,

3:42

I'm just not sure on on the

3:44

basketball fit, which is a weird thing

3:46

to say, considering that you jump

3:49

at the chance to to get someone that takes

3:51

the ball out of Lucas hands a little bit, but

3:53

this takes the ball out of his hands a lot. Um

3:56

I would think it does, so,

3:59

so we'll see what will have to see on that front.

4:01

Um, if you are the

4:05

Nets, I think you probably would have wanted a little

4:07

bit more. Um.

4:09

I thought just looking at it that the Clippers and what

4:11

they might have been offering might have been a better deal for

4:13

them, Um, if they wanted to go for a title

4:16

right now, Terrence Man,

4:18

uh, you know

4:21

some of the some of the things they could

4:23

have gotten back from the Clippers. I feel like we're maybe more

4:26

appealing here than Luke Kenard,

4:28

you know, would have been someone that they could use to

4:30

shoot the ball even more than they do with spacing.

4:33

But um, you know, it was a trade

4:35

that had to get done. If you're Brooklyn, like I

4:37

guess, you could have held on know them, but you want to get something

4:40

back for the guy. And they did accomplish

4:42

that. They can realistically look you in the face

4:44

and say they're still trying to contend with this.

4:46

So I understand that Spencer Denwity is someone that's

4:48

been in the organization before, but they

4:50

were also trying to add on to the trade to get a third

4:52

team involved. And I think that's big s climbs about

4:55

the fact that they probably wanted a little bit more here. Yeah,

4:59

so I graded this deal. I

5:01

was, as I mentioned, I was on the road and I was waiting

5:03

to interview the

5:05

main person I was speaking to for my story,

5:08

and this broke and I was like, Oh my god, what

5:10

am I gonna do? And I started writing something up on

5:12

my phone, just praying that this

5:14

person would take longer than they said they would in the

5:16

training room so that I could finish

5:18

writing something up real quick. I

5:22

gave them mAbs a C in my

5:24

grade in the moment, and the more I

5:26

sit with it, the more I wish I had the courage of my

5:28

convictions to give them a D. It.

5:31

It feels a little bit mean

5:34

to assume Kyrie is going to ruin this.

5:36

At the same time, his history would tell you

5:39

he's unequivocally going to ruin this.

5:41

Is he is not left a team

5:43

and anything less than an acrimonious manner.

5:46

Whether it was Cleveland people,

5:48

remember he had the thing where he was maybe threatening to get surgery

5:50

if they didn't trade him and miss time, and obviously

5:54

we saw it forgot Boston. Yeah,

5:56

now we have this situation. You

6:00

know, I don't think the MAVs are going to go any further

6:02

than they did last year. I thought they were Fluke

6:05

is too hard of a turn. We need something one

6:08

level below Fluke. But that's what I thought

6:11

They're run to the questern Conference finals. Was they

6:13

just sometimes you catch the exact

6:15

right playoff breaks. You

6:17

know, they get a

6:19

Jazz team that's imploding, they

6:22

get a a Phoenix team that

6:24

just got old, like the week before

6:26

that series. I also, you know that

6:29

Game seven is also credit to Luca.

6:31

He was incredible. He took the will of that

6:33

team in that game. I also think

6:35

that Game seven is it was

6:37

not a normal Game seven, you

6:39

know, and then they get kind of gentlemen

6:42

swept out of the West Finals.

6:47

I don't I don't see them making the Western Conference finals

6:49

with this team. They maybe are

6:51

going to move Christian Would still ahead of the deadline.

6:54

If you play Kyrie, Luca and Christian Would

6:56

together, your defense is going to get shredded.

6:59

It's gonna be you know, Dorian

7:01

Finney Smith was their best road defender. And I understand

7:04

that they need to go out and it at Star and he is an attractive contract,

7:06

etcetera. But he's

7:08

someone who I'm trying very hard

7:10

to not have to give up in

7:13

a trade. I'm trying to move din Witty hardaway.

7:15

I mean, point being that's

7:18

the exact type of player they now need

7:20

to put around Luca

7:23

and Kyrie and try out.

7:25

To Nikai S. Duncan, who wrote about

7:28

their on court basketball fit, we both love

7:30

Nicais and have a lot of respectives work and

7:32

he wrote about some sets and ways

7:34

Kyrie and Luca can play off of each other. I think

7:36

in theory there's ways for them play a two man

7:38

game. In practice, this

7:41

is a massive change for Luca dontets

7:43

to undergo in the middle of the season. At

7:45

least when you bring in someone like Porzingis, for

7:47

example, you can run picking

7:50

rolls with him. That there's a natural

7:52

fit between kind of a wing and a

7:54

big that I

7:57

think this is gonna take time. You know, even

7:59

Katie and kay Red when they were

8:01

doing a little bit of your turn, my turn thing, there's

8:04

a friendship there, a history they share

8:07

as friends that I think makes that a

8:09

little bit easier. This is a huge change for them to

8:11

undergo. Again, defensively,

8:13

I mean, teams are already targeting Luca. Now

8:16

I'm gonna be targeting Kyrie and

8:20

multiple reports. I think Tim McMahon mark

8:22

Stein have all said the MAVs

8:24

have not promising him an extension,

8:27

him being Kyrie, and that's

8:29

a double edged sword. On one hand, teams,

8:32

it's funny they're kind of doubling down on

8:34

the Brunson mistake. They could have had Brunson, they

8:38

mess that up, and now they kind of double

8:40

down make this trade to kind of make up

8:42

for that. And so

8:45

on one hand, it would be smart to not extend

8:48

Kyrie right away. Don't do that, make him prove

8:50

it. At the same time, if he

8:52

does leave for quote unquote nothing

8:54

in the summer, let's say it ends poorly, there's

8:56

a first round flame out, he

8:59

gets into an argument, cetera. You've

9:01

now traded a player who

9:03

was playing really well for you in Spencer Dinuity, shooting

9:06

outstanding from three, doing

9:09

a pretty good impression of a number two

9:11

guy, your best heard or defender,

9:14

and a future pick that's gonna

9:16

be pretty valuable. Even

9:18

have traded that for a two month rental that

9:20

didn't get you far in the playoffs. Um,

9:23

I just I don't see the window of this working

9:26

really really well, and maybe this wall

9:28

sound really embarrassing In two months but I

9:32

don't love it from a basketball standpoint,

9:34

And then when you factor in everything else, the fact

9:36

that he just messes

9:38

up every single situation, He's ink,

9:42

why would you want to put Luca anywhere

9:45

near this guy?

9:47

Yeah? I mean

9:50

I guess part of what you started out

9:52

with this is what I think about. Does

9:54

this turn out more successful or less

9:56

than the Porzingis

9:58

deal that the Porzingis pairing, which

10:00

obviously didn't get them far enough.

10:02

They had moments where they were close and they almost

10:05

beat the Clippers. Um, but

10:09

I just I

10:11

think the point you raised about Dorian Finney Smith is

10:13

the one I'm still sitting with is that you're

10:15

gonna need more defense than you have. Uh.

10:18

If if your top three guys are going to be your

10:20

top three guys here, um,

10:24

is it? Is it worth it? If you're only gonna have

10:26

Kyrie for a few months, which

10:29

I think the answer has to be know from what you

10:31

just gave up. But if you have them long

10:33

term, isn't that scary than only

10:35

having him for a few months, because

10:38

it's just the unknown of that is just we

10:42

will see. But when you talk about

10:44

the assets, you really just can't mess up.

10:47

Uh, Luca we're

10:50

sitting here on the cusp

10:52

of Lebron breaking the all time

10:54

record for points. Luca

10:57

is really one of the guys that

10:59

I think if you look up fifteen years

11:01

from now, you could be looking at saying that he

11:04

was one of the guys that took up Lebron's mantle

11:08

going forward. Now, does that mean he's he will be as

11:10

great as Lebron? Probably not, Um,

11:13

given what we know. You know, I just wrote a

11:16

newsletter column about how Lebron, I

11:18

think pretty and arguably is, has

11:20

shown himself to be the best all around superstar.

11:23

That's the same as the best player, different whatever.

11:26

I don't really care how you want to argue

11:28

it, you know, I think there's a little bit more to

11:31

it than that. But just as far as the versatility,

11:33

the different things he can do, lukea is not

11:35

that guy where we're talking about how their defense

11:38

is going to suffer with a group of like this. Um,

11:41

you can't afford to have some

11:44

of the other stuff that Kyrie says.

11:47

I'm just trying to start a conversation. I'm just trying

11:50

to use my platform. You can't

11:52

afford for that to bleed into

11:56

your your superstar. That is

11:58

like a top three four play are in this

12:00

league going forward. For I

12:02

mean, how old is Lucan out twenty?

12:06

I think, yeah, I

12:09

mean it's it's also risky from that standpoint, although we've

12:12

seen Kyrie, you know, playoff of Lebron

12:15

before and and be a great teammate

12:17

from that standpoint, until he then decided he didn't

12:19

want to be teammates with Lebron anymore. So

12:21

what we'll see we will see. I mean,

12:23

it's you know, it's interesting

12:25

from the standpoint of Rondo

12:28

being a really talented point guard

12:30

that just really couldn't get along with

12:32

certain people, were certain coaches,

12:35

So it has the potential to be interesting from that standpoint

12:38

that Kyrie might be that times four,

12:41

uh in terms of just scoring ability,

12:43

but also um,

12:45

you know kind of I won't even say a sand papery

12:48

personality. I don't know how difficult

12:50

he is with teammates. It might not be a teammate

12:52

thing as much as it's just organizationally. Pliers

12:54

certainly seemed to love him, like

12:57

he's just got that Hooper vibe

13:00

umbrella above him that

13:02

players love. Can I just say

13:05

that it even

13:07

if that's the case, and I'm

13:09

not gonna try to assert

13:12

this suggestion that I understand more than

13:14

the players do. They're they're in the locker room more

13:16

than we are. They're on the team.

13:19

But and

13:22

I thought it was a really great question

13:25

and response um

13:28

from from my friend Jamal who

13:30

asked this question of Jacqual, like

13:34

do you do you think Kyrie's quitting on

13:36

the team? And he was like, oh, I don't

13:38

want to get into what the players think. He's like, no, I'm asking

13:40

what you think. And

13:42

he was like, yeah, I just

13:45

know that I have a job, and I come to this job

13:47

and I do my job, kind

13:49

of suggesting that, like, you know, I expect

13:51

that of my players won the seventeen Kyrie

13:54

just hasn't done that. And and and even you know,

13:57

vaccinations status thoughts

14:00

side. Even if

14:02

you want to

14:04

credit Kyrie for you

14:06

know, doing what he truly believed in, okay,

14:09

what he truly believed in was something that was

14:12

leaving his team short short

14:14

handed, um, you know, ultimately

14:16

for something that uh again

14:19

beliefs a side. Uh, it left

14:21

his team at a disadvantage of unraveled the stuff

14:24

with pardon um

14:26

and now pretty much the

14:28

exact same problem from before, where

14:31

it was something where Durant got hurt and

14:33

the season went off the rails because of it, because

14:35

all of a sudden you're giving the keys to Kyrie,

14:38

and uh so we've seen it happen now

14:40

two years in a row on the same team. People

14:43

fell into the Charlie Brown, you know, football

14:47

situation of you

14:49

know, thinking that, oh, they play well, they've

14:51

got enough talent to do it. The Nets are like

14:53

a dark horse pick because they have

14:55

as much talent as anybody. There's still

14:58

the Ben Simmons questions, which, by the way, it sound like

15:00

he has no trade value right now, um

15:03

which is a total aside. But um

15:05

I just I feel like it would

15:07

be a Charlie Brown football situation to say that

15:09

Dallas is a real legitimate

15:12

contender, knowing the questions we've got about their defense

15:15

and knowing the questions that we're always going to like

15:17

at this point, Kyrie could be you

15:20

know, when the Citizenship

15:22

Award and the NBA for the next five years, and I would

15:24

still have questions about whether,

15:27

you know, the Walter Kennedy worred about whether or not

15:29

you know he can just coexist with

15:32

a team with an organization. Um

15:34

So we'll We'll have to see. We'll have to see.

15:36

But I I don't know that anybody

15:39

one here. You know, if you're Dallas

15:41

and you just needed a jolt to try

15:43

to do something 'ch over the top, I get it, But

15:46

I don't know how likely it is to do that given

15:48

some of the questions we have. Just

15:50

think about it this way, Chris, Like, I

15:54

know, I'm sure Kyrie and Katie didn't get together

15:56

and say, you know what, we love Shawn Marks, We're

15:58

going to pick the Brooklyn Nets. You know, a lot of reasons

16:00

went into that signing. At the same time, Kyrie

16:03

had hand picked his best

16:05

friend to play with, they picked the city

16:08

they wanted to play, and they even got

16:11

a coach fired didn't

16:13

like, and then got a handpicked coach that

16:15

wasn't Jack Von. I mean, where would this team

16:17

have been if they just simply hired Jock Bond Coming

16:21

out, they're going into the bubble

16:23

as opposed to doing the Steve Nash higher.

16:26

But Katie and Kyrie wanted Steve

16:28

Nash.

16:30

It was. It's difficult for an NBA player

16:33

to have exerted more control over the situation

16:35

than Kyrie's exerted. Get

16:37

it into this Brooklyn situation. You

16:39

know, they signed DeAndre Jordan's, they trade

16:41

for Harden, They're they're doing everything these

16:43

guys want and yet he's

16:46

still unhappy. And listen, people are upset

16:48

at their jobs. Blah blah blah. We get it. But you

16:51

mentioned like there's a team dynamic to this. Like

16:53

sometimes people ask like, and I'm

16:55

you know, I'm pro labor, I'm pro union,

16:58

I'm part of our union of the side. I

17:02

even see sometimes people are like, why is this guy

17:04

playing through injury? Why is this guy

17:06

risking his next contract? You know why

17:09

guys do it, like a lot of times because

17:11

they love their teammates. Well,

17:13

they love the group that they're a part of. They

17:15

want to be they want to be part of something bigger. They

17:17

do believe in sacrifice. And yeah,

17:20

there are times when maybe like a dream

17:22

is being sold to you that shouldn't be sold to you. But

17:24

a lot of times, like no, like a

17:27

lot of players love to compete. They love to be a part

17:29

of a team. Um.

17:32

I think about Gore and Drag giving it

17:34

a go in the NBA

17:36

Finals when his foot was clearly not right. That

17:39

was a dream come true for him. He wanted to be in the finals.

17:41

He loved that group, he loved that team, and

17:46

Kyrie is just the opposite of that. He's the

17:48

complete opposite of that. Um.

17:52

You know, he said that, and I just immediately thought

17:54

about that meme with the I've been seeing so

17:56

many of those X rays lately with the little dog, and

18:00

you got that dog in him. But I'm not sure Kyrie

18:04

has that. And it's it's

18:06

weird because I'm not an advocate of

18:08

guys playing through stuff,

18:12

you know, when they shouldn't be. I'm actually

18:14

the opposite of that, even

18:16

though I've written a book about the nineties Knicks,

18:19

who were literally the epitome

18:21

of that. You know, I grew up and lived

18:23

in Chicago during a time where

18:25

the Bulls had you know, Derrick Rose

18:27

for a lot of those years with those

18:29

teams that you know, Tom Thibodeau

18:31

was coaching them, So I mean, everybody was playing injured all

18:33

the time. Uh. I

18:35

don't necessarily advocate for that, But it also

18:38

doesn't matter when I advocate for because players are gonna

18:40

do what they want to do. Um. I'm

18:42

all four players marching

18:44

to the beat of their own drum. But

18:46

I'm also for calling out when it seems

18:48

like them doing that seems detrimental to the

18:50

team as a whole. And uh, like

18:53

I said, that's where maybe there, I think there's

18:55

a disconnect at least for me understanding

18:58

how people rock with Kyrie

19:00

so hard when he

19:02

is, you know, with his teammates included, um,

19:06

when he's making it tougher for them to

19:08

go out and do their jobs. Um,

19:11

so so we'll see. I mean, it's

19:13

not me wishing ill on him. It's

19:15

not mean seeking to call him

19:17

out. I don't particularly care

19:19

er. Um, I think he's done a

19:22

lot of good things too that you know. I I've credit

19:24

in columns before, behind the scenes work that

19:26

he's done and things that he's advocated for. Um,

19:29

it's not me trying to be a hater. It's me actively

19:31

saying I'm not sure again,

19:34

I just kind of see a disconnect there, and

19:36

maybe it's not for me to see, but um

19:39

that you know, he has not been team

19:41

first. And I think here and

19:43

I think that's what jack Van was speaking to is like

19:47

there's that also that meme of like you know NBA

19:50

has gone zero days without chaos. Um,

19:53

Kyrie has like one of those constantly

19:56

going seemingly, because it's like they

19:58

will be fine for a while. They finally kind of

20:00

gotten out of a little bit of a rut um,

20:02

kind of figuring out how to play with with Kyrie being

20:04

the guy, not Katie. Um,

20:07

and now it's you know, it's like he had an alarm

20:09

clock set to be like, Okay, we're gonna discuss my deal

20:11

now, or also I'm leaving. You

20:14

don't hold a gun to the

20:16

head of a roster that actually

20:18

does have a shot of getting this done once Katie gets

20:21

back. But um, kyrie situation

20:23

comes first, seemingly, And uh,

20:25

so he got a new situation. Will see what happens

20:27

with that. I'm curious. I'm as curious as anybody else is.

20:30

I think they're gonna have games where they look

20:32

incredible. That's some problem. Is so I'm going

20:34

to the Clippers game on Wednesday night. I

20:37

was about to say something so entitled. For a

20:39

second, I was about to be like, oh,

20:42

Chris Man, I'm really annoyed. I might have to go to Stables

20:44

Center three nights in a row to see lebron

20:46

chased the scoring record and Kyrie make his

20:49

mast debut. Just realized immediately

20:51

how stupid. I would have it pretty cool man. Yeah,

20:54

and it's

20:56

pretty sweet, but you know, like him

20:58

and him the first like Kenlen

21:00

Luca are gonna go out for forty one night and

21:03

everyone's gonna be like, oh my god, greatest

21:06

offense ever. First of all, let

21:08

me say a couple of things. I think we're both skeptical. I'm

21:10

also not even gonna. I'm not even gonna. I'm

21:13

not convinced yet that Luca

21:15

and Kyrie, this is something to keep an

21:17

eye on the rest of the season, will post

21:19

a higher offensive rating together in

21:22

their in their lineups, then Nuggets

21:25

your kitch lineups. Let's keep an eye on that.

21:30

Like I haven't checked resenty yr Kich

21:32

had the Nuggets at like a one two

21:34

offensive rating when he's on the floor, Lucas

21:37

at like one twenty. Can Kyrie

21:39

give them a two points forumpsibly?

21:43

But so that's so that's the angle. Yeah, for

21:45

a minute, I was like, I don't know that they have to exceed

21:48

what the Nuggets are. The Nuggets are on fire. But

21:50

if you're saying that he won't improve them

21:52

so much to where they see a tangible difference,

21:55

A tangible addition by Kyrie

21:57

being there. I hear what you're saying. Yeah, so let's

22:00

especially when their defense will get worse directly.

22:02

Yeah. Here, so we'll see about

22:04

that. It's gonna be very interesting. But I think it's

22:07

safe to say we're both skeptical about this trade on

22:09

and off the court, and it's

22:11

gonna be thrilling when Luca Dontrit

22:14

signs with the Miami Heat in three years. Uh,

22:17

I suppose going to coach him up. He's gonna love

22:19

the culture, you know, really

22:22

really get into shapes that he can be out on South

22:24

Beach. Um. Yeah,

22:27

I saw that, Brian Wynhorse. Now why would they

22:29

do that? The trade that

22:31

the Heat just made. Did you talk

22:33

about the Dwayne Deadmond shocking demon somewhere?

22:36

Basically the Heat up to something.

22:38

I mean, for Dwayne Dedmond I could do thirty

22:40

five minutes on Deadmond right now. If you want to pivot,

22:44

I'm gonna I'm gonna politely pass just

22:46

his Heat career. Um,

22:49

shout out to Dwayne Deadman. Shout out to

22:51

my guys at Miami Heat Beat. By the way,

22:53

Chris, I don't think you're aware of this, but I'll tell

22:55

a quick Duyne Deadmond story. Not at thirty five

22:57

minute one. The guys

23:00

at Mine heat Beat or a bunch of heat fans who

23:02

started a podcast together. Um

23:04

launched the careers of some people. Shout out to Greg

23:06

Sylvander, who's an insider. Now, Greg's

23:09

wonderful. But they

23:11

started calling Dwayne Deadman the mechanic

23:14

Um because of the way he would just kind of like amble

23:16

off the bench there like this guy walks like a mechanic

23:20

um, and the

23:22

nickname stuck. Like eventually

23:24

it got back to dead Men. He started

23:27

wearing like a mechanic T shirt. He

23:29

appeared on the Mine heat Beat podcast.

23:31

The team refers to him as the Mechanic, and

23:34

social media post teammates refer to him as the

23:36

Mechanic. It

23:38

was like a beautiful thing. I think it a

23:40

mechanic One

23:45

Halloween, him and his son dressed up as mechanics,

23:48

like he had a full I think it. Unfortunately, it

23:51

maybe ended in some kind of mild

23:53

legal drama involving an agent or something.

23:56

But for a while it was a very beautiful

23:59

um yeah, something

24:02

about maybe T shirts or something. I

24:04

don't know, Yeah, but it was

24:06

a very like, yeah,

24:09

well, I guess legally that's

24:11

the point of the law and lawyers

24:14

and agents is taking all the fun out

24:16

of stuff sometimes. But yeah, it tends

24:18

to get very not fun since that

24:20

happens. But shout out to Dwayne

24:22

Deadman the mechanic, Chris, Let's

24:24

talk about this deal from the Brooklyn side of it.

24:28

Um, Immediately things went

24:30

all over the place here. Uh,

24:32

should they trade k D? Should they go

24:34

for it? Should they move din

24:37

Witty in another one for

24:39

one deal? Um?

24:42

Another thing I've written on my outline is could you argue

24:44

the nets got better? What would you

24:46

like to tackle first? What would you like to tackle

24:48

first? Well? And

24:50

I think the katie part of it, we can probably

24:52

tackle quickly. Should they

24:56

maybe? Probably? But

24:58

really but but is it? But is it realistic

25:01

that they can do it? And I think the answer is no. And

25:03

so you know, probably a little bit of a letdown based

25:06

on what I just said. Uh,

25:08

you know, if you think that they got better than the

25:10

answers, no, that that you would

25:13

you would just go for it. And and even

25:15

even if you think they got better, the answer probably

25:17

still should be known just because um,

25:22

you're likely to get a bigger haul for him.

25:24

Like I don't know that teams are going to trade on short

25:27

notice for the guy. UM right

25:29

now, you could probably get more of

25:31

a captive market the

25:33

way you did the summer teams not to plan

25:36

for it. Also, you might get

25:38

teams that are kind of operating off

25:40

of a really emotional Oh

25:42

we were this close. We need

25:45

you know, a guy that just as a killer

25:47

score, what have you. You're

25:50

not trying to integrate mid season. There's

25:52

a lot of reasons for that. UM

25:55

not to mention that, if you're Brooklyn, maybe you want

25:57

to give it one last go here with Katie.

26:00

UM, I will say this one thing

26:02

about Katie and then move on. Uh.

26:07

If the reports are to be believed, I

26:09

can't remember it was Mark Stein or someone else that reported

26:11

at first that the

26:14

Nets and Joe Sish specifically kind

26:16

of looked at what the Lakers were offering

26:18

and we're like, this is an acceptable offer,

26:20

but no, because you're the Lakers and we're

26:22

not giving Karbee anything he wants here. UM.

26:26

In light of that, it will be interesting to see

26:28

the whole Katie thing because at

26:30

a certain point, UM

26:34

teams normally don't play with that level of

26:36

fire because they realize that they're being watched

26:39

by other players throughout the League. They don't want to

26:41

be seen as like the evil you

26:44

know, step mother franchise

26:46

that doesn't let players, doesn't

26:49

facilitate players desires basically.

26:53

So it will be interesting though to see,

26:55

like how they handle that with Katie. He obviously

26:57

has not necessarily been mu

27:00

in all this. Obviously, he you know, kind

27:02

of gave an ultimatum right before the

27:05

season, um or

27:07

you know, during the off season about Nash

27:10

and the management and everything, and the idea that he

27:12

was gonna say he wanted out. Um

27:14

if they didn't, uh, you

27:16

know, if they didn't let those two go. So

27:19

we'll have to see where it goes. Now,

27:21

um has him playing at an m VP

27:24

level engendered

27:26

enough good will since? Then? Um,

27:29

does he get them to a

27:31

real contender status even

27:33

without Kyrie? Now? Uh?

27:36

Does that mean anything long term? I'm not

27:38

sure, But I don't

27:40

think they should trade him like I should they

27:43

at some point probably should

27:45

they do it now? No, I

27:47

just don't think it makes sense to do What What do you think

27:49

from that standpoint? I definitely don't

27:51

think they should turn him at a deadline. That's a huge

27:54

note for me. No chance, no

27:56

way, zero, not not

27:58

gonna happen. At least in my opinion,

28:00

I would not do it. Secondly, I do think

28:03

their relationship with Katie has to be in a much better

28:05

place. Ultimately, he came back. Whenever

28:07

he's played, he's been incredible. And

28:09

to his point, he said, I wanted out

28:11

of here because I thought the standard was too low. And

28:14

I think Jacque Bond has raised that standard. And

28:16

I think that they seem to have a good

28:18

relationship. And

28:21

Durant was a huge, the biggest reason

28:23

for their success this here. When they went on that eighteen

28:26

and to stretch, he was playing at

28:28

m v P Durant level. He was fantastic.

28:31

And beyond that, the

28:33

Kyrie trade we saw like mid season, it's hard

28:35

to gauge what his value is, etcetera. Like

28:37

that Lakers package. I know Joe Sigh is

28:40

talking, you know the reports

28:42

there. Josiah was playing hardball the

28:45

Lakers. I never saw the Lakers

28:47

acquiring Kyrie in a two team

28:49

trade. That was never gonna be. They

28:51

always needed a third team in all It's funny, Chris,

28:54

I pitched an NBA exact on one

28:56

of my fake trades last week. This is not something I

28:58

do regularly, id it

29:00

just so happened. I'm speaking

29:02

with someone and I was like, hey, let me run a fake trade by

29:04

you. And I pitched them on this

29:07

Lakers Hornets Nets three teamer and

29:09

they were like, no way.

29:12

But but

29:15

their point was kind of like, I don't know if the

29:17

Nets are gonna accept kind of spare parts.

29:19

Ish I had Terry Rosier, Kelly

29:21

you Bray, and Mason Plumley going to the Nets. The

29:26

the Nets kind of did a version of that trade. I

29:28

think din Wittie and Phinney Smith are better than new

29:31

Bray and Rosier, although scary

29:33

Terry did a hell of a job in filling

29:36

in for Kyrie with the Celtics. Started all

29:38

nineteen games for Boston that year. They got to Game

29:40

seven of the East Finals. I think we're

29:42

maybe like I think a Rosier could be good on a

29:44

good team. Yeah, it's

29:46

been it's been a rough year for him. He's

29:48

been better in Charlotte just generally speaking.

29:51

Then he gets credit for um

29:54

so I'll give you that. Yeah. So

29:57

I think they have a really solid team. I think

29:59

they were least solid team. I think a din

30:01

Witty Royce O'Neill,

30:04

dfs, Durant, Claxton

30:06

lineup, It's a fantastic lineup.

30:09

Like Dorian, Phinney Smith is a huge upgrade

30:12

over Ben Simmonsmith. He's a

30:14

very very solid defender. You can throw him on any

30:16

wing in the league, will credibly guard them,

30:19

and he's at least willing to shoot

30:21

the ball, not to mention, can also make

30:23

threes. That that's a huge

30:25

upgrade for them to have. I don't think Ben Simmon

30:27

should start anymore. I think he clearly should come off the bench

30:31

behind Royce and Phinney Smith. Like that's

30:34

those are like two really rangey,

30:36

good wing defenders to having a playoff series.

30:39

Um, you think about how they'd match up with Boston

30:41

now, to have O'Neill and Phinny Smith to put

30:43

on Tatum and Brown, that's really

30:45

good. Uh yeah,

30:48

yeah, I don't. I don't dispute that. I think

30:50

that now the focus is that you've become

30:52

more of a a team

30:54

that now is going to try to win more games

30:57

off your defense. Quite frankly, I think Phinney

30:59

Smith is the best hall for them.

31:01

Din Witty is is no slouch certainly.

31:04

Um, even when he plays

31:06

well, I do worry sometimes that he his

31:09

floor is a lot lower. He

31:12

can he can you know, he can have

31:14

a bad night he you

31:17

know. And I think this was kind of a Dallas thing generally, because

31:19

I think Luca complains a lot too, but I think he has a

31:22

tendency to kind of complain, and I

31:24

think it can snowball on him a little bit where he's

31:26

expecting calls, um

31:28

and doesn't feel like he gets enough of them sometimes.

31:31

Uh, but he I mean, he's been solid,

31:34

really and I think, you

31:36

know, even last year when Luke was out, had

31:38

some games along with Brunson where it was like, Okay,

31:40

this guy is capable of holding down a number two

31:43

roll. Certainly when he first got to the Dallas

31:45

last year, he was hitting game winners

31:48

if I remember correctly, So

31:50

he's capable. Um. I

31:52

just think that the floor is lower, and that's

31:54

that's why you like to have legit bona

31:58

fide stars, because you know, the

32:00

floor is normally a lot higher. The

32:03

ceiling is also a lot higher, just because

32:06

the respect level that you get from defenders

32:08

of how far out they're gonna come to contest your

32:10

shot, what have you. Um.

32:13

But I mean it it's fully possible

32:15

that Brooklyn transforms

32:17

a little bit and just decides, Okay,

32:19

like we've got Katie, this

32:21

is the guy we're gonna roll all our faith

32:24

into. And in the meantime, Katie

32:26

included, we're just gonna defend the crap out

32:28

of you know, by the way we can roll Ben Simmons off the bench.

32:30

It's not the worst thing. That's why I think again

32:33

the best logic here is

32:35

to just go for it. This year, it's very

32:37

clear again that Brooklyn did probably want

32:39

a little bit more, which is completely

32:41

fair to want and expect when

32:43

you're trading someone like Kyrie Irving.

32:46

If you take in it obviously, if we're fifth,

32:48

we don't all be drunk. But um,

32:51

if you take Kyrie's

32:55

shenanigans, I don't want to reduce some of what he

32:57

said and done this year to shenanigans, but like if

32:59

you take you know, kind of

33:01

the off court stuff and you

33:03

know, just the constant frustrations

33:06

with him out of it statistically,

33:08

age wise and everything else, um,

33:11

you would have gotten a lot more for Kyrie because

33:14

he's he's a guy that is pretty

33:16

much as efficient as they come. Um,

33:19

you know, a twenty

33:21

seven point per game guy who is basically

33:23

a candidate every year

33:26

Um, you as a second guy,

33:29

you always take that, and and I think

33:31

all the teams that were interested in trying to pick him up, we're

33:33

trying to get him as either a second or a third guy. So you

33:35

would have expected more, but you knew what it

33:37

was when you're trying. The reason you're trying to trade him is

33:39

because it's just not tenable anymore,

33:41

so you we weren't going to get full value for him. He's

33:44

also not under contract beyond

33:46

this year, so, um,

33:48

you know, Brooklyn did well here. I think they could

33:50

have done a little bit better under normal circumstances,

33:53

but it's enough to realistically

33:55

look us in the I say, we're still going for this thing,

33:57

particularly once Katie gets back. Yeah,

33:59

I think they could be really I saw people

34:01

saying maybe second round ceiling. I'm

34:04

not putting anything past the way Durant was playing

34:06

this year, and I think that they have a

34:08

really good team to put around him. You

34:11

mentioned Ben Simmons. They

34:14

have to find a way to convince

34:17

the Spurs to take a chance on him. I think,

34:19

and see if you could get like a Josh Richardson

34:22

in return. I mean, you give simmons

34:24

is two years on his deal left after this one.

34:26

I'm literally trying to pull up the trade machine as we

34:28

speak right now. But if you did

34:30

Ben Simmons the Dallas

34:33

first UH

34:35

for Josh Richardson, maybe

34:37

you need a small contract in there just to

34:40

account for the dead man thing. But the Spurs are so

34:42

far under the cap that they can

34:44

acquire someone like Simmons this

34:47

year and not uh.

34:50

I think still stay under the cat. I

34:53

think they try to. If you try to do something like

34:56

that, I don't know. I just want

34:58

to see one team with one superstar that

35:00

just has enough of the right pieces around

35:02

them that we're not so like. And I understand

35:04

what you're saying. I'm not saying this is your fault. Historically

35:07

it's not work. But to

35:09

me, as a basketball fan, it would be nice

35:11

to see the idea that you could build a

35:13

team that just fits so nicely around

35:15

one star that people aren't

35:18

getting caught up in, oh, they

35:20

don't have another All Star, whatever

35:22

you want to call it. Like, I just think the Nets

35:24

have a chance to build a team that's so good around

35:27

k D, with shooting, with

35:29

defense that it could still work

35:31

at least. And that's that's wishful thinking

35:33

on my part, But that's what I want to

35:35

see Dallas Mom. Yeah,

35:39

that would be cool to see, particularly in

35:41

this generation of the league where everybody's

35:43

got two or three guys, So I'd love to see

35:46

it. Do I think it's likely

35:48

did this season? No? Do? I think it's

35:50

possible. Absolutely, Like injuries

35:53

happen, Katie happens, Um

35:56

you know, Dinwoodie has a hot streak, the

35:59

defense to clamps down, Jacque Vaughan

36:02

levels things out the way he always has. It's

36:04

possible, and I think that that's really all you

36:06

can ask for when you're kind of being

36:08

forced to trade Kyrie. It's kind of the way I would

36:10

put it in my mind. I mean, they really do

36:12

have a chance to be a fantastic

36:15

defense with Dorian Phinney

36:17

Smith in there. I mean, didn't what He's also an upgrade

36:19

over Kyrie. Um

36:22

Flaxton has been outstanding all year when

36:24

Derange is healthy. I'm

36:26

really interested to see that defense.

36:29

But yeah, I think overall, I think the Nets, under

36:31

the circumstances, did a really good job getting

36:34

a pick, getting two very useful

36:36

rotation guys, guys that can be part

36:38

of a good playoff team. We've seen them both perform

36:41

in the playoffs and stay on the floor do a good

36:43

job. It

36:45

will be very interesting to watch. I hope

36:47

Durant's able to return soon. I know he wants

36:49

to play in the All Star Game, so hopefully

36:52

he gets a game or two in here before

36:54

then. But yeah, I think overall,

36:57

I thought they did pretty well.

36:59

And I'm with you if if the thing

37:01

does come where you really need to trade Durant, you

37:04

you do not do it until the

37:07

summer, where I think you get a mass of ball. And I think

37:09

this was the point I was trying to make earlier, and I think

37:11

I never ended up finishing it. But in

37:13

that situation, I think Joe Sigh is

37:15

going to take the best deal available. No matter what. You

37:17

can't play hardball. In that situation,

37:19

I think that they will probably be more amenable.

37:22

I don't think they're gonna draw a line in the sand with Katie

37:25

like they allegedly did with Kyrie

37:27

with going to the Lakers. I think they'll

37:29

go wherever the Lakers. I

37:32

don't think they were ever getting this trade done unless they got a

37:34

third team involved, like Chicago

37:36

or Charlotte or someone, and it looks like Chicago is

37:38

not blowing things up now, so Zach

37:41

Lavine would stay put. But that was a guy maybe

37:43

I thought could head to Brooklyn. Um,

37:46

let's talk a little bit about the Lakers aspect of

37:48

this. I know, again,

37:51

like people are probably sick of the Lakers, but I

37:53

thought they were the only team that made sense for

37:55

Kyrie, because a they're the only ones that should

37:57

be desperate enough. Lebron is thirty

38:00

eight, Davis is healthy.

38:03

You're not playing for the future in any

38:05

semblance of

38:07

of the word. And Lebron

38:10

is the only guy who I think. I

38:13

know people are like, but he loved Katie and he already

38:15

left Lebron once. But there

38:17

is just a different thing that Lebron commands

38:21

that if it was going to work with anyone, that's

38:23

the guy I would better talk. And

38:25

instead they don't get him. I wrote. I

38:29

know people are like, we only think the Lakers can

38:31

be a contender because they're Lakers and blah blah

38:33

blah. But I just look around the

38:35

West and I'm like, who

38:37

is going to Lebron gonna be scared of in a

38:39

playoff series? Who are

38:41

Lebron and eight is a duo gonna be scared of

38:43

in a playoff series if they can upgrade

38:46

the roster even a little bit, and I think they need

38:48

to be really aggressive and trying

38:50

to get off lest broad. Yeah,

38:54

I mean, I think that's the right mentality,

38:57

it's the right answer. And

39:00

I can't help but think even as Russ

39:03

has played better in a six man

39:05

role then he was as

39:07

a starter, and then he was, you

39:09

know, projected to play before the season,

39:12

I feel like we've got no point where it's

39:14

been beating a dead horse to criticize his

39:17

play, to criticize when he has bad games, and

39:19

because of it, we've started kind of grading him on a curve

39:22

um. And I think that's the reality of

39:24

it, is that you can get guys

39:27

that would come in and help this team.

39:29

Uh. Kyrie obviously would have

39:31

been an upgrade from that point. Russ wasn't always

39:33

giving you all that much defensively. There were nights

39:36

where he did UM

39:38

and and certainly he just wasn't enough

39:40

of a shooting threat. UM.

39:43

Kyrie would have upgraded that obviously,

39:46

just because he's such a shooting threat. He's

39:48

such a scoring threat, it's such a playmaking

39:50

threat. UM. So that was obvious,

39:53

you know, not to you know,

39:55

pop a hole in his balloon on

39:57

the night where he might break the record. Lebron's

40:00

y me maybe it's me tweet

40:04

was just epic. I thought, Bro,

40:06

that was me in high school trying to get attention

40:08

from the girl. I liked, like,

40:11

I'm on Facebook making coldplay

40:15

lyrics my Facebook status. That was that vibe.

40:17

I mean, I thought I thought it was legitimately

40:20

like a spoof tweet.

40:22

I like, how to check to see it was actually Lebron's account

40:25

because it was a Twitter blue You were like, this gotta

40:27

be Twitter. So, I

40:30

mean, there are there are things outside of that I

40:32

think that can help them. You you mentioned

40:35

off air that you were somewhere reporting this

40:37

week. Uh

40:40

you taught to me makes just enough

40:42

sense for the Lakers. It

40:44

depends on where Utah is at if

40:47

if they decide, look, this was cute

40:50

for a while. Now they're

40:52

basically at the very bottom of the playing

40:54

conversation, which changes day by day

40:56

in the West. Even now, you know, I think

40:58

the big conversation was like Step

41:01

is out for a couple of weeks. I feel like it's flown under the radar

41:03

because of the Kyrie stuff. It's

41:05

actually a huge deal. So

41:07

you know, maybe that speaks to exactly what you're saying

41:09

about, like who is Lebron really afraid of? Who's

41:11

a d really afraid of? Looking at

41:13

this Western Conference slate? But the

41:15

Jazz might be looking at and saying like, Okay, we had

41:17

a really hot start to the season. Uh,

41:20

certain guys have cooled off. You know. The

41:23

things that made us special to start this

41:25

season now are fading into the background

41:28

a little bit. Um,

41:30

maybe this isn't worth really going forward

41:32

to finish. Is like a lower seated

41:35

like playing team, or or even a

41:37

sixth seed where you avoid the plan. It might

41:39

ultimately be worth it unless you feel

41:41

like this is the group you want to go with. Um,

41:44

if they decide that it's really not and that

41:46

they're willing to trade some of their

41:48

talent. Two. You

41:50

know, if we're making the point that we think Russell

41:53

Westbrook isn't really conduce some twinning

41:55

on some level, we're saying that he might be helpful

41:58

for losing. Uh. If

42:00

that's the case and you swap out of Mike Conly,

42:03

uh A, Jared vander Vanderbilt and Milike

42:05

Beasley, all of a sudden,

42:08

it's the Jazz slide a little bit. You would

42:10

imagine that the you know, the Lakers

42:12

get some real talent and talent and fusion

42:15

and that they move up. Does it make them,

42:18

you know, real true contenders. I'm

42:22

not completely sure, but it pushes

42:24

them closer towards that certainly,

42:26

if it doesn't make them contenders. Um.

42:28

And if you're just rolling the dice on the idea like we

42:31

have to do something for the sake of lebrons

42:33

age and everything else, and and also

42:35

just to try to keep them happy to

42:38

try to make a run at this this year, is opposed

42:40

to drawing this out, dragging this out more, Uh,

42:43

then it's worth it on some level and it might

42:45

be the most feasible thing that's really left.

42:48

Um. So we'll see. But to me,

42:50

that one makes a little bit of sense. Uh.

42:52

Like you said, Kyrie made all the sense in the world

42:55

for them, But I'm not sure that

42:57

that was ever the most appealing packaged for

43:00

Clint. Like, what what does Brooklyn get out of

43:02

that? They still have Kevin Durant. They're gonna want to contend now,

43:04

so anything that has to do with Westbrook

43:07

was gonna be a non starter. And like you said, they were gonna need

43:09

a third team there, So, um, this

43:11

might be a one to one for the Jazz, and maybe

43:13

not one player to one player, but um,

43:16

one team to one team that they might be able to get

43:18

this done. They're gonna have to throw on those picks.

43:21

Those picks might work on a little bit more of a

43:23

timeline of what the Jazz are talking about working with

43:25

anyway, so there might be a team

43:27

that it actually works with. And the

43:29

thing about the Jazz is they can keep

43:33

a lot of guys and still

43:35

make this trade. Like even if they move Mike

43:37

Conley, who's been there for he's the elder Statesman.

43:39

Now they move on a leak Beasley.

43:42

I think they have their core. Marketing has been fantastic.

43:44

He's a young player. Walker Kessler

43:46

has been a revelation. They could still

43:49

keep Colin Sexton, they can still keep Jordan

43:51

Clarkson. They don't have

43:53

to move Kelly Olynnick for example,

43:55

Like they have options. To me,

43:57

what's interesting is just how many

44:00

players can the Lakers get? How can

44:02

he cow many can they extract from Russell's contract.

44:06

Um that

44:08

the Jazz are still getting enough picks that the juice

44:10

is kind of worth the squeeze for them.

44:13

Um, you know, let's say

44:15

they traded, which this is a

44:17

fake trade that I'm I'm literally got pulling up

44:19

on my phone right now. But you could do

44:21

Westbrook and Lonnie Walker

44:24

together and get Conley, Beasley

44:26

and a link back. Now do the

44:28

Jazz want to do that? Is two picks enough

44:31

for them to do that? That's gonna be the

44:33

question. But then you got a really solid

44:35

backup big in Olynic. He gives you a

44:37

different look than Thomas Bryant, even though Thomas Bryant

44:39

is shooting some threes. Yeah,

44:43

and then you get Beasley and Connley. Conley would

44:45

be Conley has been really solid this season. He'd

44:49

be a massive upgrade over Westbrook, certainly

44:51

at point guard. You could play him and Shrewder

44:54

together. You can bring Shrewoter off the bench. But and

44:56

Beasley. Although Beasley has shortcomings,

45:00

his shooting next to Lebron becomes

45:03

such a such

45:05

a bigger strength. Not

45:07

to mention, Connlee is a much better shooter than

45:10

any of their current guards. I

45:13

just think that they can't sit on their hands like they

45:15

have to go for it. I I know that I go

45:17

on and on about this, but the actual the asset

45:20

fetish, the asset fetishists,

45:23

the people the Michael Penas of the world

45:25

who just judge everything in draft picks and

45:27

future draft picks and thirteen year olds

45:29

we don't even know exists yet,

45:32

even though the only time the Boston Celtics

45:34

have won a championship in the last thirty five

45:36

years is when they traded draft picks for

45:38

stars. Um,

45:42

we just get, we just get these

45:44

these media types who are so just

45:47

I don't know, the draft pick lobby is so

45:50

strong, like Big Draft just has this

45:52

stranglehold on NBA media.

45:57

Big Draft. Um,

46:00

give me, give me players,

46:03

and we're gonna help me in a championship today, especially

46:05

when I have Lebron and a d on

46:07

my team. And again, I

46:09

don't know that a matchup of the Jazz

46:11

and the Lakers gets you there, but it gets you a hell of a lot

46:13

closer than just these Lakers do. The

46:15

Lakers have been treading water all season

46:18

from like the third team spot, and

46:20

it's just like, you know, I

46:22

understand people who are frustrated with Lebron kind

46:24

of whining and kind of you know that

46:27

maybe it's me the whole

46:30

What what was the quote that he gave to uh,

46:33

was it Sam a maker someone

46:35

else. That was very clear, like you know what

46:37

the f needs to happen, Like, it's very

46:39

clear what he's intimating. It's very clear what he

46:41

wants. UM. And it's

46:43

not even about like do you give into

46:46

what Lebron wants. It's like, well, if you have

46:48

Lebron on your roster, this is kind of what you've

46:50

said you're signing up for is to go

46:52

for it right now. You have a pretty

46:54

fragile other superstar

46:57

on your team. You need to go for it right now. This roster's

47:00

not good enough. It was clear before the season the

47:02

roster wasn't good enough. And so how

47:05

many more games do you have? Like, if I'll

47:07

put it this way, if the Lakers have

47:09

happened what the Warriors just had happened, their

47:11

season's over. If Lebron goes down

47:13

for another two weeks, their season is over no

47:15

matter what. And the reality is that could

47:18

still happen. Um, at any

47:20

point in the season, you need to get guys

47:22

that help you talent wise, and UM,

47:25

it's been abundantly clear the whole season

47:28

U this trade would do that. UM.

47:30

Your question is a fair one of whether that's even

47:32

enough to make the jazz bite um,

47:35

because we know Danny James will hold out if feels

47:37

like it's not but h to me, I feel

47:39

like they might be in a precarious enough spot

47:41

now and their own playoff run of

47:44

just saying like, you know what, it's fine

47:46

for us to kind of let go of the rope here just

47:49

to pick up these assets, um, what could

47:51

be very good assets from the Lakers

47:53

long term. So I could understand

47:56

if they did that. I wouldn't be surprised if they

47:58

did that. But we'll see a

48:00

as it stands. Right now, we're recording this on a

48:02

Tuesday afternoon. The Lakers

48:04

are three games out of the

48:06

seventh seed Warriors, who are missing

48:08

Steff and they play the

48:10

Thunder tonight. The Thunder a half game ahead of him, so it's

48:12

a big game for both teams. But I

48:15

just look at it and I say this, as the biggest Nuggets

48:17

fan, we need to see your

48:19

kich be He'll

48:21

hold up defensively for three playoff rounds in

48:23

a row, four playof rouns in a row. Memphisis

48:26

sliding, Sacramento is great

48:28

at number three. I don't think they scare anyone,

48:30

and I'm I would the

48:33

Clippers have been up and down all over the place. Dallas,

48:35

we're talking about their defensive issues. Phoenix,

48:38

we haven't talked about Phoenix. I'm

48:40

fascinated to see how things shake out there now

48:42

that Chris Paul has probably heard, presumably

48:45

heard he was offered up for Kyrie Minnesota,

48:48

New Orleans, Utah. Like, I'm

48:50

not saying that the Lakers are better than these teams,

48:52

only that Lebron

48:55

and eight healthy plus playoff

48:58

caliber rotation play years. It's

49:01

just the West feels so wide open that I think

49:04

this is the year you go for it. Before we

49:06

head out today, I did we

49:08

want to talk about Lebron as

49:11

again. We're recording this before the Thunder game, so

49:13

he's I think thirty five points to tie, thirty six

49:16

points to pass. He will pass it

49:18

by the time I think we record next. Even

49:20

if we do a trade deadline thing, we're gonna be so focused

49:23

on the trades. I don't know how much

49:25

we'll get to talk about the scoring record. But is

49:28

this an important award for you? Like, how do you feel

49:30

that this, you know, thirty eight year record

49:33

or whatever it is, is about to fall.

49:36

I mean, of course, it is just on

49:38

on a base level, UM,

49:40

no one will be able to say they've scored more

49:42

than this man. UM. And

49:44

that's also without knowing how

49:46

long it will stand for, because it's gonna take out

49:50

scoring someone that is essentially scored six

49:54

a year every year since his rookie season.

49:57

That with the exception of when

49:59

he played with Star Team, It's could have gone out and scored

50:01

thirty anytime he wanted to. Basically,

50:03

UM who wasn't injured

50:06

significantly at all

50:09

until he really hit the age of thirty five

50:12

thirty six, to where he was missing

50:14

weeks at a time, UM

50:18

who is still averaging

50:20

more points now than he did in his

50:22

prime. UM.

50:24

I like, good luck out scoring that. So it's

50:26

a huge deal from that standpoint. I think you

50:28

know again, my newsletter specifically

50:31

was at least seating the idea

50:33

that, like, we've never had a superstar that could do

50:35

as much as this guy does at this high

50:37

level. He's the only guy that

50:40

is in the top five and

50:42

assistant points UM,

50:45

And you know, the

50:47

defense has been off the charts to UH.

50:50

I think you know there was a period

50:53

of time towards those late calves

50:55

runs back through two thousand eighteen

50:58

where it was like, Okay, Bron's not playing defense

51:00

either of the calves. I was a little bit disheartening

51:02

to watch since he's become a Laker. Um,

51:05

certainly the year they won the championship, but other

51:07

years too. He's been playing

51:09

more of the four and the five the last two seasons.

51:12

His rim protection numbers are really good,

51:15

like his room protection, and he's holding opponents

51:18

eight nine points beneath their league

51:21

you know league there's averages at

51:23

the rim, which is kind of more essentially

51:26

what you'd see out of like Anthony Davis than Lebron

51:29

if you have to really think about it. Um,

51:31

he's still been good on that end of the floor. That's

51:34

not even the mention. You know, when he was locking

51:36

down Derek Rose along the perimeter

51:38

in Eastern Conference finals. Uh.

51:40

The guy, his just his versatility,

51:43

his i Q, the

51:45

fact that he's kept himself as healthy he has,

51:48

it's just a huge testament to who he is. And

51:50

I think when you're talking about

51:52

um,

51:54

you know, and I thought Chris Mannox

51:57

obviously had a great piece on his evolution. I

51:59

thought Zach Low had a really great piece too, in which he

52:01

got Lebron. It's like hard to believe he got him

52:04

for his piece. But he was sitting there talking to le

52:06

Bron about what he was most proud

52:08

of, and he was like, look,

52:10

I've I've been so many people

52:12

have said that, like I'm not a pure score Like

52:15

you really can't make that claim anymore. When

52:17

the guy owns the scoring record, um,

52:20

regardless of how he got there, but I mean

52:22

he got there and he's probably gonna

52:24

hold it for some time now. So UM,

52:28

when this many records fall, on this many

52:31

um milestones fall, it

52:34

has to mean something. But certainly when you're talking

52:36

about someone that is at

52:39

worst the second third best player

52:41

of all time, I think now

52:44

it's it's even more legitimate to say that he's just the

52:46

best player of all time. And if if longevity

52:49

is the reason that someone reaches that conclusion,

52:51

fine, but no one's done it. Even

52:53

Kareem who played for twenty years, was

52:55

not playing at this level still.

52:57

You know, he wasn't having career high

53:00

and scoring average at thirty

53:02

seven thirty eight years old. It's just insane

53:04

what Lebron is doing. And uh so

53:06

yeah, I absolutely think it means something. And

53:09

if he's able to do this for like another to three

53:11

years. He might realistically

53:13

put the the number that he's going

53:15

to set out of reach for for people, for

53:18

anybody else for a long long time, which would

53:20

be something. Yeah. I

53:22

know that in the lead up to this, some people

53:24

have been like, how come this hasn't been Obviously

53:27

it's become a big deal because it's Lebron and we heard

53:29

on every podcast, But people like, how

53:31

come this record was never a big deal before? Is

53:33

it just Lebron? I think people just never

53:35

expected this record to be

53:37

broken. I think it was one of those ones we

53:40

went through multiple generations of players

53:42

where Nowe even came close, and I

53:44

think the consensus best player ever,

53:46

at least by the time he was hired, Michael Jordan's like, he

53:49

didn't come close. We just had

53:51

so many greats come through after

53:53

Kareem that I think people just

53:55

assumed no one's ever gonna be able to do this, even

53:57

with the three pointer, etcetera. And

54:02

who knows the way the game is changing, the way offense

54:04

continues to explode, and the way

54:06

I'm gonna sound so older, these kids love shoot

54:08

these threes. You know, maybe

54:10

someone

54:16

plenty of time for someone to break the scoring

54:18

record of Christ plenty of time

54:20

here. Um uh.

54:23

You know, maybe someone's they want to make the math work in

54:26

their favor, but I

54:28

think it was just no one talked about it because we just assumed

54:30

like if so many great players never came close, no

54:32

one's ever going to. It's pretty

54:35

cool you mentioned like all those

54:37

things about him. No one

54:39

thought he was a score for so long. All

54:42

I know is like when I was nothing

54:45

but a young lad in South Florida and the heat

54:47

needed a basket, I wanted the ball

54:49

in Lebron James hands. You know what I mean? I

54:51

wanted I wanted Lebron James attacking

54:53

the rim in the fourth quarter of Game six

54:56

of NBA Finals because I

54:58

trusted him to score

55:00

rarely step the right thing. Also, you

55:02

mentioned how good he was

55:05

defensively, especially in his prime. I

55:07

remember Zach Low writing a story for Gran grant

55:10

Land about teams using

55:12

like the

55:16

teams use like you

55:18

know, software that will show and

55:20

and in this software, it would it would show like it

55:22

would have dots on a half court and

55:25

the dots rotate based

55:28

on what how the team wants the

55:30

ghost. That was one

55:32

of my favorite. Yeah,

55:35

so you know, right, so when teams are coming

55:37

up with strategy or you know, working on defense or

55:39

whatever. It's like they have these ghost defenders

55:41

on a fake half court, and the ghost defenders are

55:44

rotating based on whatever algorithm,

55:47

and Lebron James was beating the ghost

55:49

offenders. They were tracking games

55:51

where Lebron James was rotating

55:54

faster than what a computer

55:56

hit idealized. It's the best rotation.

55:58

That's the level this guy was on. Um

56:01

just was that much of a level

56:03

athletically above every other NBA

56:06

player in his prime. It's

56:09

yeah, I'm very fascinating to see what it's like

56:11

when he breaks it. I'm hoping he breaks it tonight

56:14

and does not save it for deadline night because

56:16

it's going to be a crazy day enough already.

56:18

But it really is just a it's

56:21

a remarkable achievement, and I wish

56:23

it was just happening in a season that mattered

56:25

more for him. Frankly, yeah, I

56:27

mean, but there's no one to blame for that.

56:30

Well, I don't know. Somebody

56:32

would say that Lebron was partially

56:34

to be I think there's a lot of people to blame, and I think Lebron

56:36

is no, no, no no, no, no no, I'm sorry. I didn't I

56:39

wasn't done with the smell. I said, there's no one. I was gonna

56:41

say, there's no one to blame for that other than the Lakers.

56:43

But you I mean again, there

56:45

are people that would contest that Lebron

56:48

can be blamed partially for that, and I think

56:50

maybe that's fair. Doesn't mean that you have to sit

56:53

with that decision forever. I think it was pretty evident

56:55

before that they should have made something happen

56:57

with Westbrooks contract. But um,

57:00

you know, yeah, there's still

57:02

hey, there's still time for them to make

57:04

a deal to which this could all

57:07

matter a little bit more very soon for

57:09

him. But I mean, I think,

57:11

honestly though, that's what I find most

57:13

fascinating about this pursuit.

57:15

And uh, maybe it's me tweet

57:18

that he sent is that he's

57:20

still very much wants to win. Uh,

57:23

Like this record certainly means something

57:25

to him. If you didn't think that before all

57:28

these sit down interviews that he's done all of a sudden,

57:31

whether it's with Zach low, um,

57:34

it looked like he might have given Joe Vardin some

57:36

material over the athletic he sat down

57:38

with Mike will Bon. Obviously

57:40

there will be more stuff to come out and in

57:42

the days to come, they're gonna stop the

57:44

game. I would imagine when when this happened. Certainly

57:47

if it's a Lakers home game, UM,

57:49

which is the next two I think are so

57:52

it'll happen at home for him.

57:55

Uh, he's very proud of this, but

57:57

it's very clear that you know, and

57:59

it's cliche to say like that doesn't

58:01

matter to him as much as winning does in

58:04

this case where it's like, you know, the window

58:06

is closing for him even though he's playing

58:08

at this level, he won't do it forever. Um,

58:11

he wants to win. And when

58:13

you have, UM,

58:16

it was Kyrie top seventy five a

58:19

few last year did he make I don't think.

58:22

Okay, so it wasn't top seven five, But I mean he's a guy

58:25

that has been a perennial All Star who

58:27

you know, even like him, dislike him

58:29

for all this stuff earlier this season and just generally

58:32

speaking, UM,

58:34

he's one of the four or five, certainly

58:37

five or six best point guards in the league, maybe

58:39

higher than that. UM

58:42

for a team that just has a hole there a

58:44

player that isn't the most productive all the time,

58:46

most efficient all the time. Very

58:49

clearly that would help them. So, like, I don't

58:51

blame him for being upset it It shows that the

58:53

guy cares about

58:55

more than just and into his credit. Also,

58:58

he didn't go for the scoring crown was

59:00

a year or two ago against him beat or whoever it was,

59:03

because he's like, no, I'm not gonna We're

59:05

not in a playoff race at this point. I'm not just gonna

59:07

go out there gunning for points when I've got

59:09

a bumb the ankle. Like he cares,

59:12

but I don't think he cares so much to where it blocks

59:14

out other stuff for him. I think he genuinely

59:16

wants to win. Um. I

59:18

think he genuinely wants to stay in l A too.

59:21

But you know, l A could go a long

59:23

way and showing that they wanted him to stick around

59:25

and want him to have more milestones

59:28

with them by going out and making a

59:30

deal here that they should have made before the season't

59:32

even started. It's

59:36

a it's

59:39

just a it's gonna be

59:41

weird when he retires, Chris, It's gonna be really weird

59:43

when he retires. Uh.

59:47

I'm glad that he's playing at this level because

59:49

I also even the thought of Lebron

59:51

being like a fifteen point per game

59:54

role player is weird. I don't

59:56

think he's one of those guys that can do a Vince

59:59

Carter, Carmel Anthony or Dwayne Wade and

1:00:01

kind of sunset in a different role. I

1:00:04

think he went as long as he plays, he's going to be

1:00:06

this guy. And yeah,

1:00:09

it's funny, you know. I mentioned yeah, I mentioned

1:00:11

like, oh, it's you know,

1:00:13

it's it can be annoying to have to go to

1:00:15

these games back to back to back, and

1:00:18

I'm very excited to be in the building when he

1:00:20

breaks the scoring record. Enjoy that, man, It's

1:00:23

it's a very enjoy

1:00:25

that. Um Like it's

1:00:29

it's it's a comment, you know, as far as how

1:00:31

often you see you know, and to be

1:00:33

there for it, to be there for it in

1:00:36

l A specifically at home. Um,

1:00:39

I don't know that, you know, I'm not totally

1:00:42

sure we'll see that again in our lifetime. And it's it's

1:00:44

very like you don't wanna not

1:00:46

that you are here. You caught yourself, so you know

1:00:48

you're not taking it for granted. But um,

1:00:50

I do think that to some extent,

1:00:53

Lebron has been so healthy for so long

1:00:56

that I think that a lot of fans have kind of taking

1:00:58

it for granted. And I think, you know, just the dislike

1:01:01

that some people have for the guy. Um,

1:01:05

a lot of people and and this is taking it

1:01:07

a little maybe too far. So I don't mean for it to go too

1:01:09

much in that realm. People did that with Kobe

1:01:11

be a little bit too, you know, as far as just like

1:01:14

Kobe always beat your team. So you

1:01:17

know, people were kind of uh, really

1:01:19

enjoying when he struggled towards the back end of his career

1:01:21

after the Achilles injury. Um,

1:01:24

you don't always have those guys one, you

1:01:26

know, now Kobe is not there, but to

1:01:29

just like someone that wants to compete, and you

1:01:31

can still see there's a fire there that he really gets disappointed

1:01:34

over a call, maybe too disappointed over a

1:01:36

call. He really gets disappointed

1:01:38

and dejected when there's a trade out there that they

1:01:40

don't make. Uh. He's still playing

1:01:43

at at thirty eight and seven level as

1:01:46

a thirty eight year old like

1:01:48

like that alone, I understand the league gets

1:01:50

sped up. I understand that the take foul is

1:01:52

no longer there, so the pace is higher.

1:01:55

It's still wild to see someone doing that on

1:01:57

good efficiency um, when

1:01:59

this is essentially like the most he's averaged

1:02:02

ever in his career. UM,

1:02:05

So he's really defied a lot of things. So I hope

1:02:08

people can appreciate it for what it is. I hope

1:02:10

we get a few more years of this, which

1:02:12

might be asking too much, Like we've already slowly

1:02:14

kind of seen him slip from being the most impactful

1:02:17

player in the league. UM.

1:02:19

And I mentioned that in my column today

1:02:21

that he might not even be one of the five most impactful

1:02:23

players in the league right now. As far as the night tonight

1:02:26

basis, certainly have you got honest

1:02:28

certainly yokich emdeed, I

1:02:31

think you'd put there. And then you've got

1:02:33

a couple of other guys Luca that you could make an argument

1:02:35

for. UM.

1:02:37

So, so you know, he's already slipped out of that,

1:02:39

and it based on that, like it's not

1:02:41

beyond the realm that he could slip

1:02:45

even further and you know, just slip to where he's not

1:02:48

a great player anymore. And so you

1:02:50

know, definitely enjoy it while we can. We might only have another

1:02:54

um where he's just kind of holding

1:02:56

on to play with the sun, which is a different

1:02:58

sort of thing at that point if that's the only reason

1:03:01

he's really out there, if it's not about winning anymore.

1:03:03

But he's already kind of said at some point, I just want

1:03:05

to play with my son. If he's not as

1:03:07

relevant or good at that

1:03:09

point anymore. It really just enjoy while

1:03:12

he's still great, because it's he's thirty eight years

1:03:14

old. He's not supposed to be um.

1:03:16

So you know, even if this is all there is

1:03:18

and the Lakers are just bad for the rest of the season

1:03:20

and don't make the playoffs, enjoy this because this

1:03:22

is you know, I'm gonna be watching very

1:03:25

excited tonight just to see the record come down. It'll

1:03:27

be cool. Absolutely. On

1:03:30

that note, Chris, that will do it for

1:03:32

today's episode of Open

1:03:34

Floor, Man.

1:03:37

I keep bumming out. We're doing

1:03:40

one episode week. We're getting somebody good email. It's kind

1:03:42

of the Thaddius we sent one the other

1:03:44

day. We're gonna do mail mail bags, won I promise,

1:03:47

um. But that will do today's episode.

1:03:49

Keep those emails coming open for mail at gmail

1:03:51

dot com. And until

1:03:54

the trade deadline, everyone continues to enjoy

1:03:56

the NBA season. Yes

1:04:04

who Yes, what

1:04:07

what what what