Tim MacMahon
01:23:27 Share

And now, The Low Post.

And that's just how incredible and brilliant and majestic Kevin Durant is and has been and continues to be. On November 23rd, the Nets had just lost to the Sixers in Philadelphia in the Ben Simmons return game. They were 8-10. Kyrie was back. Ben Simmons was starting to look Simmons-y again.

And I said on this podcast in a monologue like this, it's now or never for Brooklyn. I looked at their schedule, a bunch of easy mid-tier games coming up. The whole situation was teetering. Kyrie's suspension was a disaster. The Durant trade request was only rescinded a few months back. The vultures were circling. Vultures were absolutely circling. Durant, the Nets, even a couple vultures looking at Kyrie.

And even internally, you know, some people have been steadfast. Like we just need our team. We need to give Ben Simmons time. And by the way, I was on NBA today after the opening game, arguing with Kendrick Perkins saying that we need to all need to be a little patient with Ben Simmons after all this time away from basketball and everyone wanted to jump down his throat for how bad he looked in the opening game. And Ben Simmons still hasn't made a free throw in like two or three weeks. I think there's still,

a lot to dissect there, but it was, it was teetering and, and it was teetering, not just from the outside. I mean, there were people in there who were saying, I don't know how much longer this has. I mean, I don't know if, if this is it, this is year four and this is where we are. The suspension we're under 500. Like, is this all going to end now? It was now or never. And to the Nets credit, they are 14 and two since that moment.

14-2. They're up to third in the East, two games out of the loss column of first. First. They have the number one offense by a lot over those 16 games. Tenth in defense. That's really good for the Nets. And they are grinding on that end. Almost average defensive rebounding, which is about as good as they're going to get. And yeah, it was an easy schedule to begin with. But in their last two wins, blew out Milwaukee.

and beat Cleveland not easily, but relatively easily last night on the road. And that's setting aside destroying the Warriors before that. Milwaukee-Cleveland games, there was not one second where they looked like not the best team on the floor. The Nets.

And then you throw in like Boston hit kind of a roadblock. Now, I never worried about it. I said last week I wasn't worried about it. They've won two games in a row. They're fine. They're awesome. They're going to be great. The Bucs kind of sneakily 13-11 since starting 9-0.

Their offense is 18th still. Their half-court offense still is bad. Giannis is still taking like 10 bizarre jump shots a game. Why are they posting up Giannis? Why is he taking 18-foot fadeaways out of the post with 18 on the shot clock? Why is he taking these threes? Why is this still happening? Is it all Chris Middleton? I picked the Bucs to win the title, so I'm going to wait, wait until Chris Middleton plays consistently, wait until they get something out of Joe Ingles to really judge what this team is. But they certainly don't look like unbeatable for the Brooklyn Nets because right now,

The Brooklyn Nets look like a contender. And I can't believe I'm saying that sentence because I had them all but dead and buried during and after the Kyrie suspension. It just seemed the word I used was unsalvageable. And look, there's a long way to go. Do I trust it? I can't trust it. I can't. How could you? How could anybody? You're always waiting for the other shoe to drop with Brooklyn. Kyrie is still a free agent after this season.

Durant's trade request is still only five months old, obviously rescinded almost immediately, but still it's hard to trust it. But the team over the last 16 games, that's a championship contender. That's how good they've looked. And you can see the formula and we'll talk about the formula. I'm not ready to put them in that inner circle of contenders yet, because just let's just see what happens in a month with this team. You just never know. But if they, if they actually hold this together, uh,

There aren't many in-season turnarounds that dramatic. If we get to April and we're talking about them as a top two or three team in the East with a real chance to win the title...

Even though we all saw the talent on paper, there just aren't that many in-season turnarounds in recent NBA history that dramatic. When many, many, many, many, many people in the media, across the league, all over the airwaves were declaring, it's over. Blow it up. Trade Durant now. Trade him for whatever you can get. Get out of this era. It's a failure. It's four years of almost, almost, almost theoretical teams. Get out of it. Well, they're still in it and they're playing really well. You want to trust it?

Boy, it would be nice to trust it. But let's talk about Durant for a second. I was at game five of the finals in 2019 when Durant tore his Achilles. And that was one of the rare moments that I have been around where you felt the historic weight of what had just happened immediately. It wasn't, oh my God, the finals are hanging in the balance. It wasn't,

um what does this mean for Durant next season and Durant's free agency it was oh my god a borderline mythical figure a basketball giant a historic giant just crumpled crumpled and what does that mean for him for the sport for the game those were the thoughts that anyone who was there other than some Raptors fans I think who just wanted to win the title which is understandable I think those are the thoughts that any of us had because that's what this guy is and I remember writing after that game

You know, here's how big a deal Durant is. If he had just stayed healthy, this is again after 2019 game five,

Very well could be the number two all-time leading scorer in the history of the league with an outside shot because no one other than LeBron has an inside shot of passing Kareem as the number one scorer of all time at basketball. That's what this guy was doing. Setting aside the unicorn style of his game, the seven-footer with the jump shot, the moving off screens, the pick-and-roll game, the defense, which has been outstanding this year. That's what a giant this guy was. Well, here we are three years later, wherever we are, three and a half years later.

Durant's averaging 30 points a game. 30. Six and a half rebounds. Five and a half assists. Here are his shooting numbers. Again, we're talking about Kevin Durant. 56% from the floor. That's a career high. 37% on threes. 63% on twos. That's a career high. He just passed Tim Duncan last night.

to move into 15th all-time in NBA points. 18th if you include ABA players. Shout out to the ABA. But 15th on, I guess, the list that we've all decided is the list. 15th. If he averages 30 a game and plays 40 more games, so that's factoring in, you know, he misses a few eight or nine games, you know, whatever. That's 1,200 more points. That gets him to 27,716. He's at 26,516 now. 27,716. That would be 12th all-time.

Okay, that's amazing. He missed a whole season. If he plays the next four seasons, and here's what I'm just going to give him for the next four seasons. 60 games a pop. Okay, maybe optimistic, maybe pessimistic. I don't know. 25 a game, maybe optimistic, maybe pessimistic. I don't know. Again, he's going to age. He's going to be 38 at the end of these theoretical four seasons. 60 games, 25 points. That's 6,000 more points. Knock on wood.

That gets him in this scenario to 33,716 points. Guess who that gets him past? Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. And you may think those estimates are conservative. That gets him to fourth. Fourth all-time in scoring behind LeBron, Kareem, and Karl Malone. And he would have 3,000 more points to go to get past Karl Malone. And that's where that one missed season comes into play. But that's the kind of territory we were talking then about.

And we're talking now with this guy and zooming even just out from the numbers. We may not see more than one or two guys who can just do everything at the level this guy can do it on offense and on defense. Just as an example, I just looked this up today for fun. And I did this two years ago in the playoffs when he was just incredible against the Bucs. Incredible that whole season coming off the Achilles injury. Pick and rolls this season.

And boy, has he been splendid out of the pick and roll passing, shooting the whole thing. The Nets are scoring 1.19 points directly out of a Durant pick and roll this season. That means Durant shoots or he passes to someone and that guy shoots. Maybe it's Nick Claxton. Maybe it's Kyrie. Maybe it's TJ Warren, whoever. That's third.

In the entire NBA among ball handlers who like eclipse some minimum number of pick and rolls. That's the best figure of Kevin Durant's career. That's according to Second Spectrum. The best figure of his career. Isolations, a great iso player, right? He's seven feet tall. He can do it all. 1.125 points per possession directly out of KD isolations. That's typically like a top 15 number once you get through a whole season on par with what he's done in his career.

He's isolating, according to Second Spectrum, more this season per possession than ever in his career and still putting up those numbers. And he's doing that in part because when you have Nick Claxton and Ben Simmons on the floor, two guys who can't shoot, you're going to have to rely on your mid-range gunners to kind of isolate their way to a certain number of points. And he's doing it at that level of efficiency. Post-ups.

The numbers are just insane one after the other. 1.22 points per possession out of a Durant post-up. That's typically a top five number at the end of an NBA season. That's number two, number two in his career. Coming off screens, you want to know, he comes off a lot of pin downs and shoots and passes out of the pin downs, draws two, hits Claxton on the roll. 1.13 points directly out of a Kevin Durant running off a screen.

It's just every category. It's just like, oh, there's Durant top five, Durant top five, Durant top five, Durant top five. It's just ridiculous what he's doing. And I overuse the word with him, but it's just how I feel. It's majestic. Watching this seven footer do this is you just sit back slack jawed and appreciate the skill level and the craft level. And I wonder sometimes if he's

If KD is so sort of not defensive, but wants to remind you how skilled and how much he works on his craft, because people say things like, I just did the seven footer with the jump shot. There's just so much more than that. And my favorite thing about him lately, and if you watch that Cleveland game last night, Monday night, it stood out.

He's just making the simple plays on the pick and roll just beautifully. Cleveland was doubling him. And even before the double was getting there, like it was coming to him, boom, bounce pass to Nick Claxton in open space, trusting Nick Claxton to make the right play from there. And Nick Claxton, every shot off the backboard is going in these little jump hooks and spinning floaters and all that making the right play.

Next possession or two possessions later, here comes the double again. Oh, the pass to Claxton isn't there. I'll swing it over to TJ Warren on the left wing, and he'll deliver the pass to Claxton down the middle, and Claxton will finish that play. Just simple, simple plays. Five and a half assists a game. Defensively, he's been all the way in all season. Deflections, shot blocks,

challenging a bunch of shots at the rim switching communicating nets are still switching a ton the communication has been on point durant is the head of the snake for all that and i mentioned tj warren tj warren's averaging 10 points a game doesn't sound like much 20 points per 36 minutes on that basis like oh my god this guy's an elite scorer again 56 from the floor between tj warren

Royce O'Neal shooting 40%, 43% I think on threes, averaging four and a half assists a game. Like out of nowhere, Royce O'Neal is averaging four and a half assists a game. And you don't want an obby. Plus Joe Harris. That's four medium to big sized wings the Nets can roll out there in their lineups that have just one of Claxton and Simmons. Just one of their centers because Simmons is playing defensively.

essentially center when Claxton's not on the floor. When they go one non-shooter instead of twos, they can stack those lineups with Kyrie, Durant, and two really big wings, all of whom can shoot, assuming Watanabe's shooting this season is real, all of whom can make the next play, all of whom can defend. That's a formula for winning at a high, high level if they can defend and rebound well enough to do it. And...

You don't have to overplay Seth Curry and Patty Mills alongside Kyrie. Lineups that are just going to be too small. You can play them in short doses. Heavy ones against the Celtics, the Bucks, the Sixers. It's going to be tough. Those are small lineups. Kyrie, by the way, is shooting the hell out of it, and we'll just leave it at that. He's playing great basketball. And the Simmons-Claxton lineups...

In that 14-2 stretch, the lineups that I thought maybe wouldn't make or break their season, but they'd have to work. They'd have to be a part of their rotation because they're one of the only ways the Nets can have a functional defense, enough rebounding. And I was skeptical they could work offensively with two non-shooters, two guys who can't shoot free throws, at least one guy who doesn't want to shoot free throws. Those lineups are plus 17 per 100 possessions in that 14-2 stretch. They're now a solid positive lineup.

for the season, they're scoring 122 points per 100 possessions in that 16-game stretch with those two guys on the floor. That's like way beyond the best offense in NBA history. And part of that is because the Nets have really cleverly said, essentially, with some exceptions, the only time Claxton and Simmons are on the floor together, they're only on the floor together if both Durant and Irving are on the floor with them. We can only thrive offensively

survive is probably too strong a word. We can only thrive offensively with Simmons and Claxton. If we have these two all time, great isolation scores on the floor with them,

When it's just one of those two, they can rest Durant, rest Kyrie. And by the way, they're winning the Kyrie-only minutes this season pretty solidly too. Their last couple games when Durant has rested, you get this feeling he's so dominant, he's so good. Like the other team has got to win these minutes. The Nets just have to survive those minutes. Right now they're doing more than surviving those minutes. And I guess, you know, Joe Harris hasn't even been healthy. Seth Curry hasn't even been healthy.

And I said this on November 23rd. You could see the roadmap of this, the blurry outlines of it. Claxton Simmons working well enough. Lots of shooting around him. Lots of shooting around Durant and Kyrie. Two scorers who, if the spacing isn't great, they don't care. They'll just slither their way into the 14-foot range and make a ridiculous shot. That's what they do. They'll pull up for three in transition and make a ridiculous shot. That's what they do.

And all the big wings and all the switching, you could see the formula happening. It wasn't a secret. It wasn't a secret when they traded for Simmons, who, by the way, has been good. Simmons has been good in this stretch. He's making his little funky hook shots more than you expect. Great transition passer. Great transition passer. Still, you don't feel super comfortable with him in the half-court offense, but he's doing enough.

And the Nets aren't force-feeding him picking roles and post-ups and the stuff they were doing early in the season under Steve Nash. They've gone totally away from that, and he's been fine with it. He's doing enough. You could see the roadmap. You could see the outlines of it. But you just had no faith that it would sustain for 20 games, for 25 games, for 30 games. Well, for 20 games, it has. And for those 20 games, they look scary, scary good. Maybe someday I'll trust it, really trust it, like can win four playoff series trusted. I'm not there yet.

How could anybody be? There's always something with the Brooklyn Nets. But right now, I'm just sitting back and I'm watching the show. And the star of the show is Kevin Durant. And I just remember what it felt like that night in Toronto when Bob Myers was crying. Bob Myers was crying during a press conference. When's the last time you saw a GM weep during a press conference?

And that seemed apt that we all like everyone who was there. Sadness is not the right word, but you did feel a certain shock and a certain like, is Kevin Durant ever going to be the same again? This is kind of, it's kind of weird. Like Kevin Durant has been this constant other than the foot issue early in his career. He's been this just automatic roll them out. 30 points. Doesn't get any plays called for him. He just does this and that. Is he ever going to be the same again? But man, I just sit back and I watch it every night because he's not just the same.

he's as good or better than he's ever been. And that in itself is remarkable. And just watch the Nets. Watch the Nets. Their next three games, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Antonio, Chicago,

That could be four wins, even though three of them are on the road. They could be 26-12 going into games against New Orleans, Miami, and then Boston again. And Boston is one of the teams that has beaten them in this 14-2 stretch, beat them in the playoffs last year. That game's on January 12th on TNT, our friends at TNT. That'll be a fun game. But credit to the Nets. The world was telling them it was over, and they've decided it's not over yet. We'll see what happens the rest of the season. Let's bring in Tim McMahon to talk all things Western Conference.

This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required.

All right, let's bounce around the Western Conference as we near the halfway mark of the season. Tim McMahon, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. How are you? And howdy, partner.

I like it. I'm doing fantastic, Zach. It's good to see you, man. On the YouTube sensation Howdy Partners a couple of weeks ago, you mentioned chitter chatter, chittering and chattering about the possibility of a James Harden Houston Rockets reunion down the line. And this has been sort of whispered about.

mumbled about in the ether for almost since the moment he got traded off the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, who served as the nice middleman for the Philadelphia 76ers. And it was mostly in the vein of

Maybe he'll finish his career there. He would like to finish his career there. He has ties there. He loves it there. He's the man there. He had the key to the franchise, the key to the city. He misses that. It was unclear sort of how immediate that threat might be. And then he signed the one plus one with the Sixers last summer for the exact convenient price of one Daniel House and a P.J. Tucker thrown in as well.

And I said, why I kept Pelton on my podcast, not five days ago, I said, kind of feels like we should be talking about the fact that James Harden can be a free agent after the season feels like that should be a thing. And then bam, Christmas morning, Adrian Wojnarowski drops the bomb. James Harden is indeed interested in a reunion with the Houston Rockets. And do you know what my first reaction was to that? Mr. McMahon investing in some certain establishments in the Houston area.

I did not. I should have that. That might be a safer investment than almost anything that's available to invest in right now. If this news indeed ends up being true down the line at some point. No, my first reaction was bah humbug.

Bah humbug. I don't want to think about this. It's Christmas. Free agency doesn't start for like a million years in NBA terms. And side note, the Sixers are amazing and they have a chance to win the championship this year. And James Harden was just coming off, I believe, the first 20 plus assist game of his entire career, a 20 assist triple double. I want to talk about the Sixers and how the Sixers are awesome and how the Celtics were slumping a little bit and how the Bucs

But the Bucs are 13 and 11 since starting nine and other 18th in offense. A hardened Embiid pick and roll looks unstoppable. The Anthony Melton is making a case to start. Let's talk about the Sixers. But I did talk about the Sixers with with Kevin Pelton on that podcast. So let's game this out. Let's get Christmas, Joel Embiid. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, that's like.

It's one of the reasons this is a big deal. Yes. That's one of the reasons this is a big deal is because if this team falls short and then falls apart, or whatever you define your second best player leaving as, right? If maybe falling apart is too extreme. Epic disaster. Well, and everyone's sitting there wondering, like, who's the next guy? Who's the next star to ask out? Well, I said a year ago,

when the Sixers crapped the bed again. I shouldn't say the Sixers crapped the bed again. When James Harden crapped the bed again in an elimination game and the Sixers again couldn't get out of the second round. I said, maybe it's Joel Embiid. And that's why this is a potentially important story. But let's game it out. Because my friend and colleague Bill Simmons had a very pithy and Simmonsy tweet right off the bat saying, Houston should just release a statement right now. Thanks, but no thanks.

Game it out for me. Don't hold your breath for that. Don't hold your breath for that. Well, game it out for me. The Rockets are actually sneakily respectable 8-11 since a 2-12 start. They look more like a real basketball team now. They're still firmly in the bottom four for Wimbanyama, but they're above Detroit and Charlotte, and they're right there with San Antonio, who's now doing the bizarre thing of the Spurs have decided, we're just going to start our best starting five now and just see if we can win some games back.

Or do they need to trade Jakob Hurdle? They really got to trade him if they want to get any chance of Victor. Yeah, after all this messing around of like guys are out, Devin Vassell's coming off the bench, now they're starting the real lineup. Anyway, the Rockets have a nice infrastructure. They were a disaster for the first month. They're just kind of a regular below average team now.

Sell me on why this isn't a bad idea for the Houston Rockets. So I'm not going to sell you on why it's not a bad idea because I do think it is a bad idea for the Rockets. The one thing I can say is that, hey, I do believe that the Rockets need a true point guard, and Harden is much more of your prototypical pass-first point guard now than he is Houston James Harden, who's going to score 36 a night.

you know, like he's always been a brilliant passer overlooked because he shot so much, scored so much. He's always been a brilliant passer, but dude, this would be the ultimate, we got to be relevant again, desperation move for the Rockets. Okay. It would be. And I think the massive risk you're taking, if you're the Rockets and you do this is that you're going to

just blow up the development of Jalen Green. You're going to, you know, blow up the development of a Jabari Smith Jr., Al Perrin, Shingun, these young players who have a lot of potential. I think you're seeing them improve, especially in the case of the latter two, as the season goes. I don't, you know, I don't think it's...

whisper anything people don't realize that a James Harden might not be the best influence around some young impressionable NBA players. But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I don't think the Rockets would do this. Now, the people I've talked to in Houston acknowledge, well, hey, we'd have to have discussions about fit and if it's the best path, blah, blah, blah.

But the simple fact of the matter is Tillman Fertitta's patience is limited. This is the third year of what he anticipated and expected to be a three-year rebuild. And, oh, by the way, the benefits of being bad are gone after this year.

Okay. Unless they're really bad and lucky in the lottery because next year's pick top four protected. Oh, two. Okay. See from that Russell Westbrook. Hey, thanks for that part of gift. James Harden, you bleepity bleepity.

But, dude, they still – But now you see the genius of it from James Harden's perspective. Not only do I get rid of Chris Paul, who annoys me because he is a winner and wants to have a little bit more of a Democratic offense, and I've grown tired of his persnickety personality and his haranguing everyone at all times. Bring me my old friend in, Russell Westbrook. But now the genius of it is now they have an excuse to reacquire James Harden because they don't want to be bad again next year. They owe that pick.

through the james harden initiated trade for russell westbrook now this it's all coming together it's all coming back together oh that's all that is a long play you know he's you know he's three-dimensional chess you know there's all there's all all that was anyway listen say what you want about james harden the two things you can never ever ever question are smarts and skills

True. Everything else you can talk about. The man is brilliant, and he is one of the most skilled basketball players that we have ever seen walk the hardwood on an NBA floor. But to throw him in with a bunch of 21, 22-year-olds, man. And then, like, hey, you're supposed to be building around Jalen Green. How does Jalen Green feel if this happens? Is there going to be problems there? I just...

I think it would be awfully messy for the Rockets and the upsides mediocrity because we're not again, we're not talking about the James Harden that we saw in Houston for eight years. We're talking about Harden on the back end of his prime.

Right. And I think we're talking about a Harden who, if his team's going to be good, he needs to be the second best player, which, oh, by the way, he is clearly in Philadelphia. And as you mentioned, by the way, the Sixers are pretty damn good. Interesting to me, though, when Harden was asked about this after their Christmas Day win, he basically said, hey, things are going well in Philly. I don't know where that came from.

He didn't say it ain't happening. He didn't shoot it down. I don't know where it came from, man. I didn't want this out there yet. My first reaction other than Bah Humbug, let's talk about how awesome the Sixers are. My siren song team, the team I just cannot quit, the Philadelphia 76ers. My other reaction was similar to Bill Simmons' reaction and what you just outlined of a certain nausea just burbling up through my body at the idea of

Why do the Houston Rockets with...

Let's just say three young players who need the ball to some degree, not need the ball because they want it and they crave it, which is which they do, but also need the ball because like that's their NBA destiny is to have the ball to some degree in a functional NBA offense. Kevin Porter Jr., who I think the whole world degree should have the ball less than he does right now. Right. Jalen Green, who's going to have the ball a lot no matter what. And Alperin Shengun, who needs to have the ball a lot.

or some amount so that Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green don't just dribble it around all the time. And by the way, he's a really good passer. Kevin Porter Jr. I think-

Well, let's see when he starts putting up. Kirkland Jokic. Do you guys have Kirkland in Texas? Not to my knowledge. I think Kirkland is the Dwayne Reed knockoff. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. Kirkland is something. And Kirkland people now wear Kirkland like shirts.

So we have Bucky's, and Bucky's is high fashion around these parts. Bucky's is like the Jerry World of gas stations, but it's like they've got T-shirts and hats, pajamas. Hey, get the barbecue sandwich, great coffee, the cleanest bathrooms in the world. Anyways, let's get back to the talk. Andrea, our YouTube person who makes sure that my nose looks as large as possible when this thing gets broadcast to YouTube, informs me that it's Costco, that Kirkland is linked to Costco. Ah.

Okay. Anyway, I don't know. I don't even know what this is somehow related to Alper and Shen Goon's relationship to Nikola Jokic on the player hierarchy. Anyway, he needs the ball. So the other guys have it less. Kevin Porter Jr. led the league, I think, in catch and shoot three point shooting last year as a percentage. Let's let's do a little bit more of that. So why do I want to turn?

Those guys into PJ Tucker and Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon, while 35 year old James Harden dribbles the air out of the ball. And yeah, I get a one or two year blip of like, oh, look at the rock.

It's a great homecoming story. Wow, 44 wins. How about that? Second greatest player in franchise history. Yeah, second greatest. You want to argue he's the greatest? He revolutionized basketball? Absolutely. You want to be Daryl Morey and be like, he's a better scorer than Michael Jordan? Okay, Daryl, that's fine. We each have our own little takes, right? He's an incredible offense player. He literally revolutionized basketball. Some would say for worse. Others would say for better. Whatever. He's not the greatest racket of all time. No.

the chemo rocket of all time. End of story. Um,

Yeah, great. That's a nice short-term blip. But what am I getting out of that in the medium or long-term? What's the point of that? But let's game it out a little bit more, shall we? Because if we're going to talk ourselves into it, let's talk ourselves into an idea we know is bad with the same enthusiasm that the Philadelphia 76ers talked themselves into signing Al Horford for a gazillion dollars when they already had Joel Embiid on their team. Let's do it. Number one, they owe the pick.

That matters. That matters. They owe the pick. Number two, they have a bonanza of cap space. And if you look at the free agents... That's burning a hole in their pocket. And if you look at this summer's free agents, it's like Kyrie. Hey, listen, I'm just saying, don't rule that one out either. I wouldn't rule anything out. I wouldn't rule anything out with Kyrie or the Houston Rockets. That's a perfect storm of just don't rule it out. I'm not saying I'm rooting for it because...

I think these little peaks will zoom back if I'm having to deal with that on a regular basis. You see how bad Fidel looks these days. Oh!

Then you look at the other free agents. It's like Chris Middleton, Fred VanVleet. Are those guys really changing teams? And if they are, do they make sense? Jeremy Grant seems likely to sign an extension or re-sign with the Blazers. I think he'd be a great fit in Houston. Miles Turner, I think he'd be a fantastic fit with the Rockets, even though Shangoon is already there. Just give me some defense. Give me some stability. Give me some shooting. There's, I think...

it indiana and him will talk about or renegotiate and extend so maybe he doesn't become available either brooke lopez same thing i like that is like a shorter term less expensive veteran help around the fringes and ways that we need help although that is like it would be crazy to let him walk so so if none of those guys wait hold on hold on what about christian wood we're doing rockets reunions baby we're gonna get there we're gonna get this we're gonna get to christian wood

And then you did from there, you go to like second draft guys, restricted free agents who are really hard to get. I think Josh Hart, if he becomes available somehow would be a great fit there. But my point is,

If Harden's willing to come on a short-term deal, and there are a lot of whispers around the league that he wants to continue cycling through like one plus one kind of deals, you could talk yourself into it as the Rockets being like, well, I mean, like no harm, no foul. It's not like we're tying ourselves to him forever and ever, except then you think, well, if he signs with the Rockets again, even if it's a one plus one, I don't think the plan is to like bounce somewhere else and then bounce back to the Rockets to end my career. I don't, I just...

I don't like it. I don't think they should do it. I don't think it would be a terrible idea. It's just not the way that I would spend my resources. It feels like a emotional decision.

If there's emotional over here and basketball over here, it feels like it's too far toward the emotional end of the pole or pole of the continuum, even though there are basketball reasons for it. I mean, look, if they got into the playoffs, we've seen, oh, it's great to expose your young guys to winning and playoff games and all of that. I just would rather find like another way to put that scenario in play. I don't like I just wouldn't do it. Yeah.

I would call it emotional. I would also call it impatient. Impossible, I would not call it. Oh, no, they'll consider it 100% they'll consider it.

100%. And the other thing, like we're talking about cap space, you mentioned the free agents. We also understand that's not the only way you can use cap space. Certainly you can put that to good use in the trade market. I just, again, the patience for the kind of, hey, let's play this out. Let's develop these young guys. Let's rebuild that way. That's running out and there's the clock tick, tick, tick, tick, tick until you're

Hey, they owe the pick in 2024. Top four protected. 2026, they owe it. 2025, it's top 10 protected. They don't want to give lottery picks to OKC for a trade that basically just led to the franchise being blown up. Now, one other thing. Thanks, James.

Yeah, Darryl made that as he was checking out real estate in Philadelphia. One day I will tell the story, Tim McMahon. One day, one day of the scene in Las Vegas, Nevada at Summer League that I lived when that trade happened. One day, but that day is not today, and there needs to be a little alcohol in my system and a little more distance from the trade. So like next time Croatia does something in the World Cup? Oh, baby, I'm still coming down from it. I'm still coming down for it. You can't burst my bubble on that.

Can I just mention one quick thing that I think could factor into decision making? And that's where do the Rockets land in the lottery? Right. So and basically what I'm telling you here is if they land at number two, they're drafting Scoot Henderson. And then I do think that there's a little hate.

What do we do with Scoot Henderson if we're paying James Harden a bunch of money to come run the show again? You know, I'm not telling you I know for a fact that would change the decision making, but it certainly makes sense that it would factor in. Now, they land number one, they get Victor, then they're bringing James in and they think they're winning the NBA championship that year. And hey, maybe they could be actually really relevant again.

If I get Victor, I'm running all the way the opposite direction from James Harden. And if I get Scoot Henderson, I'm scooting all the way in the other direction from James Harden. I don't need to get James Harden. Scoot Henderson, they could have they could have the the dual scoot.

with him and old Scooter Porter. By the way, interesting. And, you know, I've, I've said this many times. I've had this conversation, you know, with folks, with the Rockets, they aren't a hundred percent convinced that Kevin Porter Jr. is a starting point guard in the NBA. You know, they acknowledge that. Of course they're not. Their extension for him is like, has all these ridiculous, you know, half guarantees, incentives, whatever the hell the language is. That's more for other reasons. Um,

But they telegraphed their lack of faith in him. It's not total lack of faith. It's a lot of money. If it all becomes guaranteed, it's a real investment. But they telegraphed like, we'll see. It's an NFL contract. It's a pay as you go. You can get out at any time. Basically, I do think it was pretty interesting, though, that this stuff is big news with Harden, right? And it's a major subject of discussion, certainly around the Rockets. Next game out.

old Kevin Porter Jr. goes for 36, seven rebounds and nine assists. Basically like, hey, I can be a dude too. So, you know, just something to keep your eye on there. I do. I've said it a hundred times. I think ultimately he's a, you know, he's a six man of the year kind of guy on a good team, but we'll see. Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing with that cap space instead. If I'm in the GM seat, I like the idea of Miles Turner, but I,

you know, the cost could be so much that I get a little queasy.

And then it's like, I think I would just trawl around then for younger shooters, younger defenders. Like even I got, I think I've heard Jay Sean Tate is coming back soon. He's a rocket. He's got a free agent to be clear, but I just, I like, they just need to like, I'm excited to see him back. Cause they need someone who doesn't really want to shoot and wants to pass and play defense and is kind of a connector. And yeah, they see him as kind of a mini Draymond. And again, I keep, I keep giving you these like elite players, but like, that's,

You know, or a Costco mini Draymond. How's that? Yeah, I wrote about Draymond at the beginning of the season after the punch, and I said, how many false next Draymonds have there been since Draymond became an archetype? Maybe Trey Lyles has a little Draymond green in him. Oh, you have to. I'm just saying Tate is, like you said, good passer, looks like a linebacker, tough, defends, you know. Sounds like P.J. Tucker.

And by the way, speaking of PJ Tucker's only pass is swing, swing. Hey man, they, the Sixers are awesome. They played tonight against the wizards. They'll probably lose, but the, the hardened and bead pick and roll looks unstoppable and beat and bead.

And beats, there are not many people, big, small, in the middle, whatever, who have like a 13-foot jump shot, like a 13-foot rise-up jump shot. And it's just automatic, and you can't switch that play or else you're dead one way or the other. And Harden is – I said last week, I don't really mind if they play –

what looks like too much your turn my turn as long as like 65 of the turns are in bead and 35 i'm good with it and and hard hard he's perfect when he's like he should have some 20 assist games and like 12 of them will be doing bead that's great maybe tucker should be the backup five for philly it's just start melting start three guards start melting and maxi

I do think Maxie will come off the bench to start, to start his injury, his injury return from injury. And then it, then the question becomes more interesting, but that's a thing for you on this. You're on the same side of that one as bond him. So it's always a little scary. No, no, no. I don't know that. I don't know that that should happen or will be permanent. I just think they will couch it for the first five games. It's like, well, he's on a minute's restriction. We'll bring them off the bench and we'll decide. Then I've already said that I would explore Harden, Maxie,

melton harris and bead potentially as the starting five but then you think there's no point in pj tucker if he's not starting the whole point of him is to guard the best players yeah um the other the other point of him is maybe he can solve this like endless backup five conundrum for the sixers but you could start and do that anyway enough sixers love the sixers one more real quick thing in the rockets

Are you going to say their Sonics uniforms suck? Because they're the Sonics uniforms. I wasn't going to say that, but I'm glad to give you the avenue to have that opinion. Although they are contributing greatly to the former Sonics success, getting back to the Russ trade. Anyways, we've been keeping an eye on Eric Gordon. Seems like forever in the trade market. If he's not traded...

And I think he's on the team next year. And I think that's an indication that they are going all in on Harden. Why is Eric Gordon an indication of anything?

Because Eric Gordon is a guy who Harden would want to play with. He's a guy who basically they haven't. It's a it's essentially a team options non-guaranteed for next year. Harden and Maury just to say, did they just want to play with the 2017 Rockets forever? Like what? At what point does James Harden not want to play with these guys anymore? Because there are better guys who aren't 37 years old. We don't want to play with Chris Paul.

Bring them. I mean, I sure. Fine. Eric Gordon and John Collins, you get a coffee the next time their teams play each other and just talk about guys who've been in the trade rumors forever. Can we, can we just call the league office and impersonate our respective GMs and, and like call in a trade where we're traded for each other? Somehow. Miles Turner too. Miles Turner's part of that. No, maybe not. Well, we'll see. I don't know. I don't know if that extension is going to happen for miles Turner. We'll see.

Let's talk about your Mavericks. We'll bounce around the West on the Mavericks on the in about a few hours from now. We're recording this four o'clock on Eastern and East Coast time on whatever day this is someday. It's a day. It's a day. It ends in a couple days after Christmas.

um the brunson reunion well whether brunson plays or not is a little bit up in the air but the mavs knicks game tonight in dallas will happen christian wood is now officially extension eligible and the mavericks after a nice win over the christmas over on christmas over the lakers who without anthony over lebron and a whole bunch of guys it's it's not it's not going great there um

It's not going great without AD. Are two games over weird up and down season for them? Let's talk Christian Wood likelihood of a Christian Wood extension between zero and 100 with zero being no chance in hell. What is it to McMahon? Somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the middle. And it's going to have the years will have to be somewhere in the middle. And so I'll just tell you this. He's eligible for four years, 77 million. He's they're not going to put four years on the table.

I don't know if he would be interested in two years. You know, just I don't know. I do know that there are

People within the Mavericks who have juice, who would be interested in two years. And you look at how that, you know, matches up with their future cap sheet, with their ability to be players in free agency going into that 2025 summer. That's really their next realistic opportunity. They want to preserve that flexibility. And, you know, let's just be honest. They don't want to have a long-term commitment to,

to a guy who has bounced around the league and has a reputation for being unreliable and, you know, chronic tardiness and, you know, effort on defense comes and more often goes and et cetera, et cetera. Having said all that Christian would, uh,

has been good for the Mavericks. Like the, they don't have very many players on that roster who can put the basketball in the hoop on a consistent basis. He can, and he does it efficiently. He can, you know, he can, and he does it in a lot of different ways.

He can pick and roll. He can pick and pop. You can dump on the ball in the post. You know, he can attack closeouts. He can make plays, you know, out of the short roll, whether it's kind of slithering to the hoop or, you know, hitting the guy on the weak side like he did. You know, he had seven assists in the game against Lakers. His passing overall has been a nice, I wouldn't say surprise,

But he's been a willing passer in Dallas and not just even on the short roll, but sometimes he'll extra pass it around the perimeter where I'm like, dude, you could probably just shoot that because you're open and you're a really good three-point shooter. And he'll just tap it over to Bullock or Dinwiddie or somebody else. He didn't make the extra pass with the game on the line in Cleveland, but, you know, hero ball happens. Hero air ball in that case. Anyways, so I don't...

This is what I know, because I asked Christian straight up on Christmas Day, walked out after he did the post-game press conference, and I said, hey, you're eligible for an extension. Basically, what do you think? And he smiled. He said that he's happy to be here. And then he said he's yet to have the conversation with Mark Cuban.

which he said he has yet to talk to Mark Cuban about it. Not that his agent has yet to talk to Nico Harrison about it, but I do think if this thing's going to happen, it probably is a Cuban to Christian Wood conversation. But he did say that he's open to it. I asked him, does it have to be for the full four years? He laughed, said he can't answer that, and walked away. And I asked that because I would be shocked,

if they gave them a four-year offer. I know that they would be interested early. So enough people within the Mavericks would be interested for a two-year deal to be realistic. And then I'll just ask you, if you are Christian Wood or if you're advising Christian Wood, let's say they, I think if you're going to go two years, you got to put as much on the table as you can. So two years, a little bit shy of 36 million. You're 27 years old.

You've bounced around the league. Would you do that if you're Christian Wood? Yeah, I would. I would. And I can hear Christian Wood's agents being like, are you kidding? He's playing like a max player. They'll cuss me out. No question about it. Have you checked his player efficiency rating? And by the way, Christian Wood's people, I picked him to be six man of the year before the season. 17 points a game, 54% shooting, 63% on twos. He's been...

As expected. And he's starting now partially because, or a lot of it because of injuries, especially to Maxi Kleber, which there's no point in bringing him off the bench if you can't attach him to Maxi Kleber anymore. Yeah. And look, he's only started six games. So the six-man eligibility is pretty, it's not ironclad, but it's going to be solid. He's got to start more than he comes off the bench to disqualify himself. But anyway, what was also predictable was that the coaches would be like,

Oh, my God. Do we trust this guy's defense? And the answer over and over has been no. No, of course. Now that they don't have Maxie, he was the guy closing games for them. So basically, they have to outscore teams now. And if you got to outscore teams, you got to have this guy on the floor a lot. No, I wrote this on Friday in 10 Things. If you're going to trade a first round pick for Christian Wood,

you have to give the wood at center lineups, some leeway, just some. And now they have no choice, but to see if those lineups sink or swim. And for the season, the last time I checked, which was before the Lakers game,

They were like plus four per 100 possessions with Luca and Wood and no other big man on the floor, which is like, that's fine. That's what you should do. I'm going to go lower than you and say on the zero to 100 scale that I made up, the likelihood of a Christian Wood extension is like a 15. I just, I don't know that they'll do the litmus test is.

Because this team clearly, I don't think, can look at itself in the mirror and say, oh yeah, we're good enough as is to just lock into this group. So the litmus test is, does this extension make Christian Wood more tradable, less tradable, as tradable as he currently is, and factor in that we could also just re-sign him in the offseason? Yeah.

probably not at much more than we would have to resign him now, unless he has some crazy play or extend them now, unless he has some crazy playoff run, I'm going to go 15 on, on the likelihood. But that does bring me to my next question for you, which was, we joked that this was team holding pattern before the season and early in the season that despite the fact that they can now trade a couple of picks, even though they owe that pick to, to the Knicks, um,

Despite the fact that they have a lot of mid-sized salaries This was a team that was going to hold its chips dear Hold them close to its chest To search for the theoretical number two guy That Porzingis was supposed to be but wasn't As Luka enters his prime And that's the thing, Luka's not just snipping his prime But if you want his prime You can't take steps back No, so, and I think

We called them team holding pattern, assuming all that stuff I just said, but also that the conference finals run was if maybe they

a little bit exaggerating of how good this team actually is maybe they're not a clear-cut conference finals team i don't want to say it was like a fluke i don't think i just don't believe in the fluke thing like everything broke right for them like everything broke right for the hawks two years ago what like things break all the time and a lot of teams don't take advantage of those breaks like the sixers things are broken right for the sixers every year and they can't get to the conference finals

I don't really believe in that, but even if you thought, okay, well, like, you know, maybe they're not a real conference finals team, that they're a strong, strong, solid playoff team. And this, this team has been for a lot of the year. So my question to you is this team holding pattern, all of a sudden feel some urgency to, to maybe not hold all the cards to see what some of those cards can get. Even if it's just like a short-term upgrade to placate Luca. I think that, uh,

So holding pattern can't be holding pattern and take a few steps back. And holy crap, we missed the playoffs in the first year of Lucas Supermax? No way.

That that's a disaster. That is a massive problem if that happens. So, yeah, I do think there has to be a greater sense of urgency than anticipated. But you have to be very, very careful to make sure that urgency does not create desperation. You cannot make a desperation move that ends up being a disaster that just expedites the process of what you're scared is going to happen, which is.

we're not good enough. There's no chance to contend. Oh no, Luca, please stay. Oh, don't, no, no, give us some time. That's what you're trying to avoid. So it's a, it's a tough situation and, you know, losing your second best score for nothing in two straight years would be a disaster. It would be. So if you don't get an extension worked out with Christian Wood,

I do think you have to explore the trade market for him. Now, listen, part of the problem and part of the reason, a big part of the reason you were able to get Christian Wood in the first place is because the Rockets spent a year exploring the trade market for him. And they found out they're in a whole lot of one. Like you said, hey, the Mavericks gave up a first round pick. To be clear, they gave up three guys who I think are all in the G League now.

The friendliest giant in the NBA, but a 15th man. And the number 26. Yeah. And the number 26. Everybody knows from this giant and the number 26 pick in the draft. That was a move that was as much about creating open roster spots. Now what they did with them as a different conversation, JaVale McGee, not exact promise to starting job held onto it for almost two weeks out of a three-year deal. Yeah.

But my point is, if the Rockets weren't able to get much in a trade for him after a year of trying, when he's got a couple months left on his contract, don't be so sure the Mavericks can get anything of value there. You mentioned this summer, can you re-sign him? Would they be signing trade options? But the other part here with Christian, and you say, hey, I'd pounce on two years 36th.

If I were him, if I were him. Yes. Right. Right. What's the market going to be for him in free agency? You know, there's a short list of teams that have cap space, including that short list are the Pistons and the Rockets. Well, he's been there. He's done that. I don't expect any happy reunions on either of those spots.

Now, hey, the Knicks didn't have cap space at this point last year. They created it. They got Brunson. I don't think that Christian Wood's value is nearly the same. I also don't believe his godfather runs a front office in the NBA. That's a game of chicken. I don't know that the Mavericks want to play even if they feel like the odds are much better for them this summer. Yeah. I mean, and the other thing is...

who are they trading for? If they indeed decide to put, whether it's picks, players, or both onto the market, like- Let me tell a hypothetical. The dearth of sellers-

you know, makes it difficult. I'm going to guess your hypothetical is Boyan Bogdanovich, but maybe I'm wrong. Give me your hypothetical. That would be an interesting one to, you know, bring a Balkan shooter to pair with Luka. That would be an interesting one. He was not my hypothetical. My hypothetical, I do believe would cost you a lot more than Boyan Bogdanovich.

And he's just a little bit south of Detroit in the Eastern Conference. A team that is... Well, nobody's south of them in the standings, so you must be talking about geography. Geographically. But they're not too far north in the standings. I'm talking about Zach Levine. Well, listen, there's obviously been a lot of talk about the Bulls and do they blow it up and how are things working with Levine there?

I just know that there are fans of him that hold prominent positions within the Mavericks. Again, I'm not sitting here and telling you like it's some great consensus. I think there's enough fans of him where I wouldn't totally rule it out. I don't know what the market would be for him given both contract and the knees. There's so much buzz about him wanting to be in LA. I don't know.

Put yourself in Nico Harrison's shoes. Let's say you've got to give up a couple of picks. Let's say you've got to give up at least Josh Green, and then you can figure the salary out. Tim Hardaway Jr. is probably in that deal. You hope not Dwayne Finney-Smith. Whatever. Is that something you're eager to do? So I think this is one of those ones where I think –

Both teams, if they even started thinking about it, would, to me at least, come to the realization, this is too much too soon for how confusing this all is. The vibe I get from the Bulls now, the Bulls, every time you think the Bulls are turning the corner, they lose to the Rockets by 18 points at home like they did last night. And it's like, all right, maybe the Bulls just...

I'm on team. The bulls just aren't good. And I've been on that team for a long time, but they are on that team as well. The bulls have talent. DeRozan has been outstanding. They're clearly, you know, built to win now. And they should like, they should be, when I say not good, I don't mean they're just bad. They should be about as good as they were at the end of last year, a 45 win team. Like that's not nothing that's worth anything.

supporting that's worth investing in um and so the vibe i get from them is we still think we're that team all this blow it up talk seems premature to us and so you know i don't know that they're even ready to have that discussion yet but if you were you'd be like all right what's the proper trade value for 37 million 40 million 43 million 46 million player option for 49 million

on a guy whose teams never seem to win. And he has problems. And now he looks more explosive now than he did a month ago. You see more of like the old Zach Levine going up as he gets to the rim, not like going down and praying this flailing layup goes in. But I, and then if you're down, it's so like Dallas only has so much to offer, right? Dallas can't do that. Four picks, three swaps, mega offer that by the way, every team,

whether the bulls ever decide to trade the beat or not every team is going to be like hey well remember the gobert deal you're not getting our guy for two picks whether it's valid or not right there's there's we have like a year left of that another year and that will fade as like a marker a benchmark people all agree it was ridiculous and the blah blah blah um

And I just don't know that Dallas has enough and Chicago is ready to just like, are we selling that low on Zach Levine? And I don't know that even if I'm Dallas, like, I don't know that that's what I, where I want to play. Well, you play, you play those cards. You don't get to play cards for a while. Exactly.

So, and Bogdanovich is interesting because I talked about the same reason would two-year extension would make sense for them from a long-term cap perspective. Bogdanovich matches up with that. He's absolute. He's not just a shooter, but he is a big time shooter. Like the idea of Luka feeding him wide open threes, I think he would really thrive.

And that Luca actually has a relationship with him. You know, obviously Croatia, as you know, border Slovenia, you know, he's all those Balkan guys are buddies. What would it what do you think it takes to get him? I think it takes a protected first. I think Detroit is posturing that we love him. We're going to keep him. Don't come to us with anything less than X, Y and Z.

I think that's just posturing. I think the whole point, not the whole point. I think protected first and expiring money or. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know that you're getting much more than that. I mean, they traded Kelly Olenek and like seconds for him. Can I interest you in Davis Bertans as part of that deal? The phone line just went dead. Hello? I know. How much? No. I said Davis Bertans. Yeah.

What? I thought you wanted to replace him with another shooter. Come on. Call him back. Yeah. Even a protected first, though, you get into the whole thing that we've talked about where the Mavericks at some point have to bundle picks together and get a bona fide co-star and tick, tick, tick goes the clock.

You got to pay off that pick to the Knicks this summer. Then you've got your full compliment unless you give one up before this trade deadline. It's tough. The Mavericks are in a tough situation. Like I said, there's urgency and the line between urgency and desperation is pretty blurry.

And you can talk yourself into anything in the Western Conference. It's like two weeks ago, we're talking about the Lakers. The Lakers are 8-2 in their last 10. The West is wide open. Should they trade all this stuff? You can view the West as wide open, or you can view the West as pretty deep in good teams, and we've got to beat three of them. We've got to give ourselves a realistic chance to beat three of them in seven-game series if we're going to actually do this, and that's easier said than done. I thought the Grizzlies already won the West.

Well, we're going to talk about them. Didn't John Moran announce the Grizzlies as Western Conference champions this year? You're not going to get me to say anything bad about John Moran or the Grizzlies. No, I love it. Well, let's do that. Let's do that now then.

Everyone is, but I love everything about everything that has happened in the last week to 10 days with the Memphis Grizzlies. I was on NBA today when that jaw interview happened and they told I was, I was on it. They had already recorded it and they told us what he said. And I was like, wait, wait, what? He said, I love this guy. He said, we don't need to worry about the West. Hey, he ain't ducking no smoke. He's fine in the West. Yeah.

And then they get rolled by the Warriors on Christmas right after that interview comes out. And the Warriors, proud champions, as they should be, as they should be. The Warriors, they love nothing more than to rub your face in the fact that you haven't won anything, whether it's the Suns and Devin Booker.

or the Grizzlies and John Morant. And yeah, you can, especially the guys who have won four of them. Yeah. You know, Clay Thompson has some pride for them bleepity bleeps. But like Dylan Brooks, you're talking about a dynasty. You ain't,

one yet and he's he'll tell you right to your face as you're on the floor and he just hit a jump shot and by the way i mean draymond talks trash just rolling out of bed you give him reason come on now you think draymond to draymond remember you like john moran's dad talks trash to john moran draymond's probably talking trash to his kids already um for sure for sure but but and by the way t moran talks trash rolling out of bed too by the way um

Talking trash to Dylan Brooks is no picnic. Like that guy, that guy can hurt me. And he's a pretty damn physical player. And Clay Thompson has won four rings. He did make all the threes in Oklahoma city to save their season and help them get to the finals. He has the cojones factor to McMahon a hundred times over. And if he wants to talk, if he wants to talk his talk,

in the face of this young up-and-coming team who's acting like they won something. I don't even like to say acting like they've won something. They have won something. They've won a lot of games. They got to the second round of the playoffs last year with John Moran injured, gave the Warriors some jabs and counter punches that were pretty respectable. It's not like the Grizzlies are...

the Pelicans and have won no playoff series. The Grizzlies have done stuff in the NBA and I liked that they have this attitude, but if I'm the Warriors, I'm rubbing it in your face all day long. You come in our house and you without Steph, without Wiggins, you get beat by Ty Jerome. And by the way, I like Ty Jerome, but you get beat by Ty Jerome. And if you get beat by a team that was the worst team, they've been statistically worse than the worst team in the league without Steph on the floor.

But going into that game, their net rating was minus 12 and change. I mean, they got blown out in Madison Square Garden. They gave up 91 points to the Nets in the first half. They've been playing like hot garbage, and they kicked your ass on Christmas Day for the world to see and let you know about it. And listen, the Warriors have absolutely earned a right to let you know about it.

And you can say the Grizzlies, whether they have or haven't earned the right, they're going to. They don't need your permission to flap their gums. They're really good at it, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. And that's why everyone fell in love with them. So you can't start knocking them now for getting too big for their britches, whatever the hell that means, because we all – everyone –

fell all over them ourselves loving how they talk they talk trash at lebron right in the last year it was it was it was they're they're so much fun but listen when you talk like that when you're barking on the floor when you're talking to malik and we're putting on nba today and all over social media and all you put a target on yourselves they base what they do with all their antics and i love them it's entertaining and it gives us great material i love it it's

It's so much fun. They also put a massive target. Teams are going to get up to play the group. There ain't going to be no sleepwalking in to see the Grizzlies. Teams, especially in the Western Conference, have every right to feel disrespected. If you're Denver, if you're New Orleans, obviously Golden State, you know, you're the Clippers. I'm fine in the West. You can just you think you're just going to, you know,

Kind of cruise through the Western Conference. So they're going to get a lot of bullets fired at them. But you know what? The Grizzlies will be like, cool. We're ready for it. That's what I was going to say. They don't care. That's what they want. And...

As much as Christmas is such a spotlight day for the NBA, what happens there is always magnified beyond what it actually means. So mock them now. Mock them now. Because what I'm reading into that game is zero. Zero. Nothing. Well, maybe one thing, which I'll get to. Desmond Bain was just coming back and missed a million shots.

And the Grizzlies track record is what it is. When they're fully healthy, they're as formidable as anyone in the West. That loss means nothing to me in terms of what it means about their team and all that. The one issue, though, the one roadblock that they're going to have to overcome, because I think this team can win the West this year, even as is, even though I have said already that

I think they should try to make a trade, a small trade to upgrade the mid to back end of their rotation, because I think they're good enough to justify it. The one problem is Jaron Jackson Jr. has got to stop fouling himself out of games. They cannot win three playoff series in the West. If he's playing 24 minutes a game and regularly just getting pulled off

pulled three minutes pulled four minutes pulled he's got to stop fouling and until he stops fouling they are not going to get out of the west that's the number one structural roadblock they have is he cannot stop fouling he might be per minute the best defensive player in the nba right now also averaging like 18 a game on good shooting he just i don't know what they have to do to get him to stop fouling he has to stop fouling otherwise they're just not going to get where they can go

Yeah. And part of it is he tries to swat everything. Now he's, he swats a lot of things, you know, but there's a, there's a line there. Um, but yeah, you look at, you know, they just got their butt kicked in Denver. He had five fouls and played 22 minutes. They got their butt kicked in, in Golden State, you know, in San Francisco, he had 5,000 played 21 minutes. Like you, like you said, there's a, uh, you know, in a lot of their losses, he's in foul trouble. Um,

And so that's a problem. I worry zero about Desmond Bain shooting. He couldn't know anything the first few games of the season. Then he lit the world on fire, got hurt, but he Desmond Bain is a top three or four shooter in the NBA catch and shoot off the dribble. The guy's going to hit somewhere in the mid forties on high volume from three. He's he's a,

I think he's a legit co-star. I think Jackson, as you said, he probably is a defense player that you're front runner despite missing the first month or so of the season.

But I can't I can't go there until he plays 30 minutes a game. I can't. I want to. I think I had him second or third on my ballot last year. I can't vote him number one in that award. OK, until he plays 30 minutes a game. Stop fouling. That's part of defense. Stop fouling. OK, that's fair. That's fair. That's fair. He is averaging over three blocks a game. You look at the, you know, the defensive rating numbers with him on the floor. He's incredible. Defensively without him.

Brooks was hurt earlier in the season and he was hurt. Brooks came back and say what you want about Dylan Brooks. He should be seriously considered as an all defensive player. And then Jackson is with those two guys back, like they are a damn good defensive team, but I, you, your, your concerns about Jackson foul trouble are absolutely legitimate. And I love triple J he's amazing. You just need to stay on the floor. Speaking of defense and big men, let's round out the West by talking about, uh,

the 16 and 18 Minnesota Timberwolves who have now lost three in a row to drop to, I believe one game under 500 since towns got hurt and two games under for the season. And the big headline of their loss last night in Miami to a heat team without, I'm going to close my eyes and try and see if I can remember Jimmy Butler, bam out of bio Dwayne Dedman. I'm missing. There's other people I'm missing. Even people beyond that, that are Dwayne way. Didn't play Shaq. Didn't play in that game. I mean, yeah, yeah.

And in the last six minutes of the game, now it's one game. I'm not going to read too much into it. One game, Chris Finch and his staff decided,

The guy we traded for draft picks for swap rights, by the way, including our pick this year where we are currently out of the playoffs, out of the play in seems dangerous. And our first round pick from the prior draft. And by the way, Jared Vanderbilt, Pat Beverly, Malik Beasley, who is like a top five in total made threes in the league. Yeah.

Yeah, I think we're better off not playing. Walker Kessler, who looks great. Yeah, I think we're better off not playing that guy in crunch time tonight against Orlando Robinson because Nas Reed's just out playing him. And it's only one game, and you do not want to magnify it beyond the importance of one game. But the Wolves are now minus five per 100 possessions when Gobert plays without Towns. That's according to Cleaning the Glass. Their defensive rebounding rate

in those minutes would be like bottom three in the NBA on a team level. The fact that one thing go bear consistently does is rebound. Nobody else on that team does. And it's been almost funny for me to, to see all the wolves fans and some writers who were super defensive of that trade when it happened, when, when a lot of us were, I mean, I voted Rudy go bear defense player of the year. I think twice I put them on all, like we all respect what the guy does, but,

But all of us were aghast at the price. The first thing I was on TV 10 minutes after the trade happened, I said, I'm sitting here in disbelief. That was the word I used. At the price period, but especially considering like, is this a fit? Yeah. We're going to get to that. But it's been funny to see all these people discover like, oh, wow, you really can't throw him the ball. Like, oh, yeah.

All the stuff that the people said that had watched him play a lot about how you can't throw in the ball in the post and his hands are a little iffy sometimes. Like, it's kind of awkward when you throw him the ball. And oh, that's that was right. Yeah, that was right. That was right the whole time. Oh, he can't punish small guys on on switches. That seems seems bad. But defensively, he hasn't been the same guy this year. And.

I'm not worried yet because when you watch him and there was all these highlights of the heat going right at him on the pick and roll and finishing layups around him, he looks to me consistently this season and everyone's talking about how his blocks are down.

He looks to me like a guy who's a little bit in his own head defensively in his own head. Like, okay. Like he's almost second guessing himself in a way that he should be beyond given what he has achieved. And you could see him last night in Miami being like, I don't know. They have this rim runner, Orlando Robinson can dunk these alley-oops. Maybe I should stay attached to him. Oh, Gabe Vincent just made a layup. Like that's not Rudy Gobert. I don't know if it's, he's learning the tendencies of,

the four defenders around him, the guys on the ball, if he's trying to be too perfect because he's in a new situation, but that indecisive, cautious,

Rudy Gobert allowing layups is not the guy that they traded for. I don't think that's him. I think he'll get better as he feels his way into the season, but a we're running out of season, not running out of season, but it's, it's not game 10 yet. And yeah, I know towns miss camp. You're running out of season when you're, when you're at the spot in the standings where they are. Well, towns was late early down there. They haven't played too much. I know all the caveats, but I said this from the beginning,

The underrated people were so aghast at the picks and the swaps and all of that and the fit with towns, the double big fit.

The underrated reason why I didn't like this trade from Minnesota, the one that got and people agreed on it, but it got shoved to the back burner of the discussion was Rudy Gobert is almost 30 and his contract is long and super expensive and not like a trade asset. And you're taking this team that should be oriented around Townsend Edwards, particularly Edwards age wise or somewhere in between there and putting in all these assets to trade for an almost 30 center on a bloated contract. Just that alone.

is dicey. And now you're starting to wonder, like, is he... I don't want to say he's... Is this an age thing? Is he aging? Is that what we're seeing? I don't think it's that, but it has sort of reminded me of those concerns. And the very worst thing this team could do, and they can't do it this year. They're lucky they can't do it this year because of the Supermax rules. The worst thing they can do is double down in the offseason or next year or wherever and say, okay, this isn't working.

What can we trade? Well, we can't trade Gobert because everyone's been watching basketball for the last two years. Can't trade Edwards because he's the franchise. I guess we got to trade Towns for draft picks or whatever else. You think that's the worst thing they can do? No, the worst thing they could do is if they do that and they do it in a way that brings back players, players, forget the picks, players, because it seems trying to win. You got to get players.

that are more on Gobert's timeline than Edwards' timeline. That's the doubling down in the age sense would be the worst thing they can do. Because if I'm Tim Connolly, and I've said this before, I'm calling Leon Rose and saying, hey, you want your CAA star? Put that Donovan Mitchell offer on the table. We'll take it. You'll get Cat. Give us those picks. Give us those swaps. Give us those players. Let's get it going. I would do that.

um you're committed to go bear you're not recouping that value with go bear you've got to make it work i think go bear i i look it's been a tough transition for him you know everything there are a lot of things were built around him on both ends of the floor uh in utah you know he is a he's a screener and he's a finisher other than that he's extremely limited on offense you know defensively um

I do think he is a better perimeter defender than people give him credit for. Yeah, much better. But the whole system was built around him being the best rim protector in the league. And it's been a difficult transition for him in Minnesota. But this was an all-in move for a franchise that wasn't ready to go all-in. And the fit was always weird. Yeah.

And Nas Reid's a good player. Like if you wanted to see Cat with a big, dude, how about going with this young guy that this franchise has developed? And like Nas Reid's a sneaky, interesting free agent this summer. Nas Reid's good. He's a good player. Yeah, but he's not a guy you can play with Gobert. Now look, look, this is all doom and gloom.

You never want to get too low or take a team at a low point. And it's not that low, but they have lost six of nine and say, well, that's the team. Minnesota is better than this. I thought they would win 50-ish games, 48 to 50-ish games this year. Doesn't appear that's going to happen. I think there's a good team in here once Towns gets back and all that. Doesn't change what I think about the trade. So you don't want to get too low, but they're 16 and 18.

Here are their next whatever games at new Orleans at Milwaukee home against the Pistons. Okay. Sure. Nice job by the Pistons, by the way, blowing a 14 point lead with three minutes left lesson against the Clippers B team. Well done. You'll be saying a nice job when, when Victor's finishing lobs from Kate Cunningham next year. True. Home against Denver, home against Portland, home against the Clippers. Then at Houston at Detroit, then, then we get Phoenix, Cleveland, Utah, like Denver,

The next 10 games, we got a couple easy ones in there and then they face the Rockets a couple more times, but

They got to start. They're not at risk of falling out or too far, but they got to start putting some wins together because this is not an easy stretch for them. And they just lost to Boston and Miami and Dallas as part of it. I'm just saying we could wake up in two weeks and they could be six games under 500. And then it seems really bad. So just TBD on that. What's the Jazz's best chance to get high end talent over the next five years? Is it the Minnesota picks?

We all thought it was going to be their own picks, but it might be Minnesota's pick. It's very likely that Minnesota's pick is a better pick this year than the Jazz. And, you know, maybe this year, maybe in 25, maybe in 27, maybe in 29. Like, if you're looking at the Jazz's trade assets right now, I think those Minnesota picks are pretty high on the list. By the way, and well, I would agree. And by the way, just because we hit them,

Clippers have been sort of a side story all year. Nobody cares. Everyone's out all the time. It's team science experiment. Quietly, they're now 20 and 15. Kawhi looks like Kawhi again. And I don't want to get into it because I'll do it later. But just two guys I just want to mention because the Clippers have so many guys. They have so many guys. Everyone needs minutes and all this. The more I watch them play,

We all know who the best players are. We all know that Zubats is irreplaceable for them, is the only center who plays. We all know Batum is glue guy, just apex glue guy. We all know that. The two guys, the more I watched them, who I just think they have to play and maybe play more than they play now, are Terrence Mann and Luke Kennard.

Just two guys who offer stuff that nobody else on the team offers, including some juice, some oomph in man's case, some rim attacking, and just all just great, great shooting and underrated passing. That's all I want to say about the Clippers. The more I watch them, the more I'm like,

those two guys need to be at the forefront and not at the, Oh God, we got to find Terrence man, 16 minutes. Not fringe rotation guys. They gotta be. Yeah. They gotta be mainstays, but that's a discussion for another day. Tim McMahon, second to none covering the Western conference has chosen the appropriate color for his office background. One that is very similar to mine. I will see you soon, my friend, but thanks for giving us a little time. I appreciate you having me. Adios amigos.