Who fans, you know what time it is.
It is FRPC hoot.
It is Saturday, day late.
We had some technical difficulties yesterday.
Our Wi-Fi went out and it was just horrific all day.
So now we're back.
We're up and running and we have hoops for you.
Unfortunately, the Canadian bomber.
The Canadian Shaman.
The Canadian Bill Simmons.
And for this podcast, the Canadian Zach Lowe will not be in attendance.
Unfortunately, our schedules because of what has happened yesterday,
we're not able to link up today, so it is me and we are going to get through all
of this and we got a pretty good show for you today and I'm excited about it.
Now,
what is going on in March Madness is really interesting to me on a lot of levels.
And the reason why I want to start here is because this has specific draft
implications that I kind of want to talk about right now.
Did you know that there is not one
suggested lottery pick left?
And this was out of the sweet 16.
I know we're now in the final in the elite eight.
But there's not one lottery pick amongst the teams that are left in the elite eight.
I'm going to say that nine times out of ten, this is bad.
And the reason why is because some of the kids like Scoot Henderson,
Alman Thompson, or Soor Thompson are not going to college.
Scoot Henderson in the G League probably has a better window into what the NBA
looks like with his couple of years there.
Now, as far as a sore and Alman and Thompson, they're playing against high
school kids and things of that nature now, they can be elite high school kids.
I've seen some of the games, their skill level.
I wouldn't even put it with like like college basketball, like even mid mid
major.
Is the NCAA in trouble is the first question.
Do the lack of stars and the lack of prospects last couple of weekends of
college basketball, does it enhance your your fandom?
Does it take away from your fandom?
Does it make the madness less or is it still the same old madness to you?
Hit us up on front runner PC on Twitter and also
at Nico F.R.P.C. on Twitter and let us know about that.
Congrats to Yukon's freshman.
Jordan Hawkins, who is probably the highest rated prospect that is still in the
tournament, you can swing man Jordan Hawkins is a flamethrower.
OK, this guy is a competent marksman.
He shoots it from deep.
He has a very, very quick release.
He's a movement guy.
The ball doesn't stick to him.
He plays very good defense for somebody who doesn't have like all the quick twitch
skills that you look for in a defender.
He knows how to slide his feet.
He seems to do a lot of scouting on his own on tendencies and things of that
nature, he picks up things pretty quickly.
But the one thing that he can do is shoot.
Now, he's not just a shooter.
He does have I wouldn't call him an on-law initiator.
What I would call him is he's able to take a couple of dribbles and be able to
location his shot or relocate, you know, sidestep and hit a shot.
But if you're asking him to be like a
secondary initiator, it's really not his gig.
But he's a guy that you can sit there and just know for for a fact that he's going
to hit threes for you at a pretty consistent level.
He's a he's just he's incredible.
I like this kid a lot about six foot five, about one ninety five right now.
Those are a those are the measurements that we have.
Obviously, as we get closer to the NBA
combine, we will probably have better, more realistic numbers for you on that.
But at right now, he is listed at six foot five and about one ninety five.
So if you're looking for a guy to kind
of hone in on and one of your favorite teams can get on this kid,
Jordan Hawkins out of Yukon is a guy that you want to look at.
Now, getting back to the madness, there's not a number.
There's not a number one seat left in this tournament.
OK, we have the likes of Florida, Atlantic, Creighton, San Diego State.
Then you mix in your Texas and your Yukon's and and what have you.
And you Gonzaga's of the world shots out to Gonzaga, who has now broken my heart
twice, as you know, I'm a UCLA fan and yes, Thursday was not a great day
for the mighty Bruins, but you know what?
If that's what's going to beat us in the in a tournament,
you know what you all you have to do is tip your cap and keep it moving.
I'm proud of the guys effort.
I'm proud of Jaime High test, Junior
Tiger Campbell, David Singleton.
Dylan Andrews, Will McClendon.
A damn boner who did not play
Jalen Clark, who did not play.
I'm proud of the UCLA Bruins this year.
They play very well, they play tough and honestly.
You know, with the injuries in that shot, I mean, that's it.
You know, it's a one and done tournament.
So you win, you survive, you move on.
You lose and that's it.
You go home, you wait till next year.
So with that being said, I can't be upset at UCLA at all.
I'm really just excited for the future with them.
And Mick Cronin in his recruiting prowess has picked it up a notch.
He is the cover is not there just because
how many Hawkins Jr. might be going pro to the NBA.
David Singleton played his last game as a UCLA Bruin and Tiger Campbell also as
well, but they got kids that played this year.
They got vital experience and they have more kids coming in next year.
And who knows?
We don't know what we're going to get out of the transfer portal.
So fours up, eight clap all day, still stands, still applies.
We don't lose.
We don't leave our team just because they get bounced from the tournament.
And if they didn't play well, I would let you know.
But on the effort that they gave and that game was just great all the way through.
You knew Gonzaga was going to make a run.
You knew that they had they'd been tested,
battle tested in some of these tournaments earlier in the season,
even though they don't play in probably the highest stakes of conferences.
But Mark Few, really good coach,
settled his team down, drew team to me.
His leadership was also a determining factor.
And Strother just hit the shot.
Julian Strother just hit a shot.
So shots out to Julian Strother in his.
What? 35 footer?
I mean, this thing was he had a logo shot.
What are you going to do with that?
There's nothing you can do.
So that is the end of me crying about UCLA.
I know people are like, damn,
students crying about UCLA again.
The other thing that I want to get to is
the other guy that you want to kind of look at, he's late first rounder,
early second rounder, it's Creighton's Kogi Jones.
He's a six foot six guard.
He looks like his play style looks a lot like Andre Miller.
If you remember Andre Miller, he played on Utah,
Cleveland, he played for a lot of teams, but Andre Miller kicked around the NBA
probably for about 16, 18 years, somewhere in there.
He was like a six foot, two, six foot, three point guard, not really fast,
but he was a floor general.
And he got it done.
And Kogi Jones kind of reminds me of a taller version.
Of Andre Miller, a lot of people have him
looking like Malcolm Brogdon of the Celtics.
Malcolm Brogdon, you can shoot.
So Kogi Jones is a OK shooter, not a great shooter.
He definitely has some work to do on that end.
But at six foot six, as far as a bar
distributor, a offense initiator, he can handle that.
He probes the pain at his own speed.
You know, nothing speeds him up.
You can't.
He doesn't pick up his dribble just because there is traffic.
He's a heavy, relentless defender.
He uses his angles in his body,
his body type to help him defend off quicker guards and what have you.
And he is a 50, 50 ball monster.
He is.
College version of Dylan Brooks.
Without.
Some of the just the combustion that you get with Dylan,
but he's not afraid to stick his nose in there and he will challenge.
Your good.
On ball initiator or your wing that's getting hot,
he will take the defensive challenge and go get that dude.
And that guy will probably be sick of him
playing by the end of the game because he will.
He will fight over screens.
He will make sure that he stays with his man.
He also can play off ball a little bit
in the sense of an off ball defense where he can anticipate the passing lanes.
He knows angles, he gets a lot of deflections.
He's really good on that end of the court.
On the other end of the court, as far as getting you a bucket
or getting your open, getting your shooter open because he can probe the lane.
And because of the fact that he has the ability to not pick up his journal
when it looks like he's in tight quarters.
He's going to look and find the open man.
So if you start to converge on him, he'll just kick it out to the three.
And, you know, you're looking at.
You know, you kind of looking at knockdown shooters,
so that's what you cons game is.
And that's what Kogi Jones of not you, a Creighton.
Sorry, that's what Creighton does.
And.
Kobe Jones is going to be a intriguing prospect because if he can shoot it a
little bit better is a chance of being a real.
Like rotation piece for a for a playoff team, I think he has that in him.
Defense can get him on the court.
His ability to handle the ball in his ability not to turn the ball over will
keep him on the court.
And then as far as his his long standing career is concerned,
his shooting will just have to elevate.
But those are two guys that you can look
at as you look at some of these games or go back and look at some of these games.
So Creighton's Kogi Jones.
And you cause Jordan Hawkins are the two guys that you want to kind of look at.
We lost everybody, man.
So just just Walker, the Duke kids.
So Filipowski, Lively, White side.
You know, we lost all we lost the Dukes.
UCLA is gone, so you don't have to worry
about Amari Bailey anymore, you know, have to look at that type of situation.
Alabama's out, so we don't have to worry about Brandon Miller anymore.
All the guys that were at the top of the
draft board that were outside that are not outside the United States and who not
playing for G League in night or overtime elite, they're all gone, man.
And it just goes to show you that teams
that are who have maybe like a nine or a 12 in front of their
as far as their seeding sign, you got to understand these teams
have been together for two, three, four years.
You know, some of these guys are 23 years of age, you know, they're going up against
grown men and you saw as games got tight.
You saw the familiarity of teams who had been through the wars together over the
years.
Not panic and get the job done and move on.
So that's one of the reasons why we do not
have any number one seeds left in this March Madness.
So what else can we talk about?
Well, in a longstanding tradition here at
FRPC, because Nico is not here and he cannot talk about his beloved Houston
Rockets, I will take this time to talk about my beloved Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers are now at five hundred for the first time this year.
Anthony Davis scored thirty seven points
and fifteen rebounds last night to help his team for the first time.
Get to five hundred now
as Laker fans, we are actually pretty excited about being at five hundred.
And actually, it's been four hundred and twenty four days
since the Lakers have been at five hundred.
Think about that, four hundred and twenty four days since the Lakers has seen five
hundred.
You know, it just baffles the mind
that they are there, they're there in this situation.
Well, here they are.
We've talked about some of the moves in a nauseam.
We have a
a trade deadline show that's two parter.
So if you want to go back and hear our
thoughts on what we thought of some of the moves at the time.
Now that we have a couple of weeks to kind of reflect and see.
And this trade is trade that brought them D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley,
Jan Vandeville.
This trade was phenomenal for so many reasons, and also the addition of Ruri
Patra more earlier, previous before the trade deadline.
Even though D'Angelo Russell did not play last night,
the one thing that you are seeing is you're seeing the best version.
Of D'Angelo Russell at this point.
He seems to be playing within inside himself.
He seems to.
Down some peace on the floor a little bit.
Now, I'm sure he's still gunning for his contract, because you know what?
You got to secure the bag first and foremost, right?
But I like the energy that Vanderbilt has given.
Malik Beasley is all of what he is.
He is a streaky shooter.
He'll get incredibly cold.
Or he'll get hot.
Now, his.
Importance to the team is that he continues to take those three point shots.
But he's been in a terrible slump for a while now.
He had a couple of good games early on after the trade deadline, after he got
to the Lakers, but lately it's not been great.
Last night he was two of six, and actually we were really kind of pumped up as Laker
Nation that he was to six because we had some bad ones.
But the emergence of Austin Reeves has kind
of helped that situation where it hasn't been as glaring of a war as it could be.
Austin Reeves seems to has elevated his game over like the last, I say, last seven.
He seems to be being able to initiate
contacting and draw fouls at a better clip.
His handle is actually a little bit better than what I thought it was.
And I've been watching him.
He's been working.
You can tell.
The only thing that I ask of Austin Reeves is to be a little bit more aggressive or
hunt his shot more, and you've seen that over the last two weeks,
maybe a little bit more, maybe two and a half, three weeks.
But it hasn't been long.
That was my only gripe with Austin Reeves.
Is it the one thing I do know is that he's going to play the game right.
He's going to find open shooters,
but I was hoping for his aggressiveness to kind of pick up a notch.
And it has can't be mad at what Austin
Reeves has been doing even last night on an off game.
Look how he looked at the look at what he did with the stat sheet.
Filled it up pretty good at six rebounds and nine assists.
Played defense.
And it was important.
All of it was important last night because of the fact that the Lakers do not have
a margin for error, they just don't at this point, they have to continue to win.
Steph Curry in the Golden State Warriors at 39, 36, they are now the 60.
They're chasing, they're trying to chase down the Phoenix Suns.
And Phoenix is trying to chase down the Clippers.
But Minnesota and the Lakers are tied at 37 to 37.
And right now, Minnesota has the tiebreaker.
They are sitting in the seventh seed as the Lakers sit in the eighth seed.
So everything ends today.
The Lakers are in and then they would go to Minnesota and play that game.
So the Lakers have eight more games left to go.
And it is time to put the foot to the pedal and see if you can get beyond
the Minnesota Timberwolves and see if you can maybe creep yourself up to that sixth spot.
That's where everybody's trying to get to.
The reason why they're trying to get there is because.
The Sacramento Kings are going to make the playoff latest in the season.
The Kings are going to make the playoff latest in German.
And the great thing about that is shout out to the Kings.
Shout out to
coach Mike Brown, who obviously former Laker coach, but also
I'm just glad that he was able to get another chance and really be able to put
his imprint on this team, as you can see.
This is a this is phenomenal.
This is a phenomenal situation, you're talking about 16 years.
Of non winning basketball.
Do you know this time last year?
That.
The Sacramento Kings were.
Like their record was basically flipped,
I think it was twenty four and forty eight at this time last year.
And now they're forty four and twenty nine.
Kudos to them.
The one guy that I want to kind of highlight
is he doesn't get a lot of love, but it was the acquisition that they made
from Atlanta in the offseason, Kevin Herder.
Kevin Herder, her his per thirty six, he's averaging eighteen point five points.
He's shooting forty eight point eight percent from the field on 14 attempts.
He's also shooting forty one point one percent from three on eight point two
attempts.
He has a net rating of a plus four point nine, so almost five.
His effective field goal shooting is sixty one percent in his true shooting is sixty
two point three percent.
On usage, on a usage of 19 percent, just just so you know, so.
He's improved.
All his vital numbers over last year.
And you wonder if this was a.
Change of scenery or was it more the play style fits him better?
I'm going to go with the play style fits him better.
Memo to ATL.
Fans and also the Atlanta Hawks.
You got to find a way.
With Quinn Snyder in the building now.
You have to find a way to get Trey Young off the ball.
For a decent amount of time during the game.
I think it will help the offense tremendously.
I think guys touching the ball helps.
You know, Ryan Wasillo says something in his podcast and he says there's nothing
fun watching a dude dribble basketball for 22 seconds and then at the last second
he throw it to you and go, OK, take a shot.
There's no there's no fun in that.
Where's the fluidity?
Where's the movement?
And it's really going to be up to Trey Young to augment his game.
To allow his his teammates to have a chance to touch in the basketball and
actually maybe make his shots a lot easier for him.
And maybe he becomes a more efficient scorer because of it.
Very young is a brilliant point guard, excellent shooter range out.
Well, I was going to say something, but
he is a ton of range.
But I will tell you that his shot selection is terrible.
His unwillingness to give up the ball, even with DeJante Murray in the building,
it's kind of alarming.
They've had to stagger those guys because they are finding it hard to play with one
another.
I hope this is a real wake up call for
Trey Young, but I wanted to spotlight Pevenherter for two reasons.
One,
we talk about here on FRPC hoops holistically.
We talk about what can you do as a front office to make your team better?
What can you do to get your team to that next level?
And these are the type of things that the Sacramento Kings did.
OK, we go back to the trade deadline
a season ago.
And the much
the much talked about the much discussed
Tyrese Halliburton to Indiana for a DeMontes Sabonis.
Here's the thing.
I did not like to trade at the time.
I'm a huge Halliburton fan.
If I thought there was a guard to get rid of, I thought it was going to be Dearon
Fox. I will I will humbly humbly eat that
those words.
Dearon Fox has been a absolute animal this year.
His crunch time numbers is
are just so unfathomable right now.
He's doing just brilliant things and he is an absolute closer in the fourth quarter.
He's got the most four quarter points
in the NBA this year, and he has the most crunch time points in the NBA this year.
But you also look at the percentages and you look at the shooting.
They're also up there as well.
But the reason why I want to talk about
the Sacramento Kings, because we are we were supposed to have a long discussion
about the Kings and what they're doing and whatever, and we might say that till
next week, I just want to hit on them a little bit.
Now, I wanted to highlight Kevin Herter for this specific reason.
One, when he left Atlanta, it was literally a salary dump.
It's not like they really want to get rid of them.
But these are the type of guys that can.
Even though they're not the superstar,
they can make subtle changes within their in your team and make you a whole lot
better very quickly.
Because Kevin Herter does the one thing that we need in the NBA, he can shoot.
And he has socks.
And he's a willing defender.
So if you put all those three things together and also here's the other thing,
his second side creation is not bad.
He will not just follow the ball off his knee all the time.
He's a capable, capable handler of the basketball.
He can get you into pick and roll action.
He's a good all around player.
And for teams that are now
starting to reassess where they are, you know, we're getting to the close
to the end of the year, so your teams that are on the bubble or,
you know, maybe they had a bad injury and, you know, they're kind of floating
around the 11th, 12th seed, things of that nature.
You know, these are the type of guys that you don't have to spend crazy amounts of
money on. You don't have to give up tons and tons of draft equity to get.
But if you can pinpoint and be right about these type of guys,
it can elevate your team to a point where, like I said, Sacramento hasn't been
in the playoffs for 16 years, it's been since 2006, and they're going to end this
drought this year. So light, the freaking beam
shouts out to Sacramento Kings and sacra
shouts out to Kevin Herder in his tremendous season.
And I look for nothing but better things for my guy, Kevon.
You know what I'm saying? We love Kevon.
Here's a stat.
From.
At DM Grubb on Twitter.
I wanted to give him a shout out because when I saw this note, I couldn't believe
it.
You know, it's been 146 days since the Pelicans won a road game against a team
that had a winning.
Record.
A hundred and forty six days since the New Orleans Pelicans won a game on the road
against a team that has a winning record.
It almost seems impossible to believe.
Now, we are also watching Golden State have one of the worst road records for
defending reigning champion.
So it shouldn't be too crazy to see New Orleans go one hundred and forty six days,
which is.
Darn near half a year or almost there one more month and we'll be at a half a year.
Injury update on Zion.
He has resumed.
On court activities, but still will be reevaluated into the three weeks.
The Pelicans are a prime candidate for a lead guard, either through the draft
or through agency or through create an offseason.
Yeah, the problem is, is where they are in the draft.
I do not think they would be able to get the caliber or lead guard without making
a move up, get it.
And their plans of having the Lakers.
Be have a worse record than them has kind of fallen to the wayside at this point.
But right now, as they stand, I think they're like 13th, like 13, 12, 13 place
somewhere in there for like if the lottery shook out exactly.
The way it's supposed to.
They're looking at like 13th with their pick.
That is definitely not in the situation to get Scoot Henderson, because you want
to be at like you have to be top three at least get that guy.
The other thing is, is that when they do go look for a lead guard.
Because I do believe a lead guard could
help this team even without Zion right now.
A lead guard would just be able to get them into the set, get them comfortable.
But the other thing that you're going to need from this lead guard, if you're
keeping CJ McCollum, is that lead guard is going to have to provide you with some
height and also he's going to be able to he's going to have to be able to play
defense.
If CJ CJ.
Cries on defense, he's just not really good at it.
A name to keep in mind for Pelican
fans, because it might be in your range, is Nick Smith Jr.
Now, personally, I will tell you.
He's been hurt this year.
He hasn't played a lot.
I haven't seen enough from him to make a decision on, oh, yeah, this is definitely
the guy you got to get, but if you're looking at just the draft models
and you're looking at some of the scouting reports on him,
he looks like a guy that would kind of fit the bill.
The only thing is, is that.
The Pelicans need a lead guard that they know can do it.
This guy has crates.
Nick Smith Jr. has treats.
We don't know if he can necessarily do these things in NBA.
Focus still out. We have to wait and see and watch.
But if I'm the Pelicans, I got to make sure
that that's something that I get cleared up or we're waiting on Zion to get back,
get healthy and we get point Zion back.
A low point, Zion.
It was one of my favorite things to see,
see somebody darn near 300 pounds, six, six, just doing just getting into the paint
whenever he wanted to and kicking it out to shooters.
We'll see what the Pelicans do.
But I thought that 146 days since they beat a team on the road that had a winning
record was eye opening, to say the least, with all the talent that they have on this
team, even with Al's I look at a situation when you have Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum.
Jonas Baluchinis, Trey Murphy, the third.
They got enough guys that they should be able to eat out wins.
Listen, you play Houston every once in a while.
You play Charlotte every once in a while.
You play these teams.
You should be able to come up with a victory.
And for me, well, that's not a win.
I'm saying, but I would think that this team is good enough to be, you know,
every once in a while, sneak up on one of these teams that even a lower level 500
team, like if you got one of the East teams that were just about, you know,
like one, two games over 500, almost it's almost impossible for the
Pelicans to not win a game against a team that is over 500.
But this is the year that we live in.
Speaking of the Dallas Mavericks, Maverick fans, I'm not going to talk about your
boy Cuban going off on the rest and the bad cause and whatever occasion be.
I don't even want to get into that.
The one thing I do want to get into is how
discounted Luka looked after that loss.
He said the game.
Wasn't fun.
It's been a very difficult year for him.
Yeah, because you don't have Jenning Bronson.
Now, everybody's talked about it.
We're not going to kill it.
We're not going to kill Dallas.
It's over.
And now we've got to just do better.
But this offseason looks to be critical
in the future of what the Dallas Mavericks are going to look like in three years.
Do you keep Kyrie?
What other pieces that you could put
around Luka to give him a better shot at winning?
Do you need a big?
You definitely need a wing defender
that can shoot.
Maybe even two wing defenders that can shoot.
But just to look on his face,
just his his whole demeanor during that press conference.
If I am Maverick fan.
I might start be I might start getting worried a little bit.
Like, is this dude here for the long haul?
It's just or is he just tired of carrying this team?
Only time will tell.
Usually the foreign guys don't leave just because.
But I wonder if.
We get through next season.
That's a long way off, so there is there isn't a lot of let's get Luka out of Dallas.
Talk here. OK, I want Luka to stay in Dallas,
but you have to be certain if you're a Maverick fan.
After seeing that press conference,
just a little bit, you have to be a little bit nervous.
Speaking of nervous.
I have just a quick question from my from my partners in the Bay Area.
Do the defending champs have a run in them?
That road record is abysmal.
And the thing about it is, it's not just a record.
If you look at the numbers, if you look at the just the stats, it's terrible.
There are plus seven point seven at home net rating.
They are negative point six point seven.
On the road.
Net rating.
Well, people ask, well, why is that?
Why are they so drastically different?
It's part of the problem.
Steph Carey has played 49 of the possible 75 games.
Now, I know all those games weren't on the road and all those games,
you know, you didn't just sit out row games, but.
You have a guy who is.
Basically 50 percent from the field, 43 percent from three and 90 percent
from the free throw line. Now, this is not unusual.
This is something that step does.
But to be doing it at age 34, going to age 35.
And also, if you look at like the true
shooting numbers and the effective field goal percentage.
Sixty two percent effective field goal
percentage and sixty six point three true shooting percentage.
This is one of the great Steph Curry years that he's ever had.
And.
I don't want to say that they are wasting it.
But if there is championship DNA still
left, if Kerr has been saving a vial of championship DNA.
Or whatever, for this time, it is time to go get that bad boy from the safe.
If you have a retina scan to open up that safe, go ahead and use that.
If there's some sort of biometric
tech to get it out the safe, you would need to go ahead and do that.
And you need to go ahead and get that vial of championship DNA out as quickly
as possible, because we are running out of time
and they are trying to chase down the Phoenix Suns for the fifth spot.
I don't know if they get there even without Durant.
Report is that Durant might be back.
Towards the end of the year, well, hell, we're there.
We're at the end of the year.
We got eight games left.
I understand there's a couple of weeks left, but I don't see.
I think the early if you're going to see
Durant, maybe he plays the last two games of the year, maybe.
Or he might just come to the playoffs.
I think that's what we're going to see from LeBron James.
I don't think LeBron is going to play.
I could be wrong.
We're seeing a lot of, hey, we we evaluated him.
We need to reevaluate him in two or three weeks with all of them.
Durant, LeBron.
Everybody has an ankle injury.
I'm saying.
Our guy, Anthony Edwards in Minnesota,
coming back soon, so so excited to see that team fully together.
And see what they can do.
Minnesota is 7th, 7th right now in the standings, and they are looking to try to
get out of that plan.
I don't know if they have enough time, but we'll see.
Question for the nation, do you really believe that there is a switch that they
can turn on from what you've seen this year?
From Clay Thompson, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole.
We have no idea when Andrew Wiggins is getting back, if he's getting back.
The reports of supposedly he's.
Taking care of someone else's kid or whatever is such an erroneous rumor.
Checked in on that.
Couldn't find any validity to those statements, so we're going to say
allegedly, but he seems to have something going on that is not allowing him to play.
And it's severe enough to keep him away from the team, so we just hope that he
gets back, we hope that he gets back and he's he's fully him.
And we don't know if it's going to be this year.
We have no idea.
But the dove needle, Golden State needs him desperately if they have any chance
of making a real legitimate run to the Western Conference Finals.
And then the the last piece of news that we're going to talk about today
is the Jalen Brown situation.
And if you're not up on this,
I don't know how you're going to get to the bottom of this.
I don't know how you couldn't.
If you're listening to this podcast, you probably listen to Zach Lowe.
You probably listen to when horse, you probably listen to other people.
But we do appreciate you listening to us.
So I have a little different spin than those gentlemen.
But we're going to go over the particular first.
Jalen Brown is.
In a point of his contractual
situation where we kind of need to talk about this.
The reason why is he's coming off his he's
getting close to the end of his working extension.
OK.
Where it was four years and I believe it was one hundred and six million.
And that ends in twenty, twenty four years, the problem.
The way the contract is structured.
If he doesn't hit like all NBA team or wins
a league MVP or whatever case would be.
It will lose him just to opt out of his contract.
And not sign extension.
Because the Celtics could give him a little bit more money,
but if he opts out, he can get way more money.
Now.
I don't know anybody who can sneeze it,
an extra thirty two mil, but that's what we're looking at over the years.
If he opts out, he can make approximately forty four million.
If he decides an extension, he can make about thirty six a year annually.
So if you sign a four year deal.
And you're eight off, so eight times four, thirty two.
That's where we come up with the thirty two.
So basically how this works is that.
The Celtics are hoping for Jaden Brown to make a all NBA team.
Here's the problem.
Jason Tatum is definitely going to make an all NBA team.
Now, it depends on whether you look at Jalen Brown as a forward or guard,
because if he's looked at as a guard.
There is little to no shot that he has any chance of getting into all NBA.
Even with some of the injuries that have happened over the years,
injuries that have happened over the season to step currying people like that.
Because new new guards have emerged.
Tyrese Halliburton is one.
Jim Bronson is another.
Along with your other cast of characters,
your Devin Booker, your Donovan Mitchell and everybody else that's usually in
these talks, if Jalen Brown is considered a guard, he's not going to make all NBA.
And he doesn't make all NBA.
The Celtics have a real issue on their hands.
The other thing is that.
As Logan Murdoch from the ringer recorded and shots out to my guy,
Logan Murdoch, from the real ones.
He had an interview with Jalen Brown and he did a story on him and he interviewed
a ton of people, and the one thing that he kept on saying in some of the podcasts
that I listened to about his actual story is that he he intimated that Jalen Brown
it's not like he has an issue with the Celtics at all,
but he has an issue with some of the dealings that they've had.
OK, you got to understand it from his point of view.
Dylan Brown is 26 years of age.
OK.
He's probably one of the best
handums in basketball was.
Brown and Tatum together.
The Celtics made the NBA finals last year and really were a.
One less nuclear game from Steph Curry,
probably from winning that game from winning that series.
So my question is, why is Jalen Brown's name coming up in every trade rumor?
And here's the thing, it's not every trade rumor, it's every significant trade
rumor. He was in the 80.
He was in the KD talks, the Kevin Durant talks this this last offseason.
You were also in the Anthony Davis talks when he was up.
So his name has been floated out there
many a time, and I don't think that Jalen Brown really appreciates it.
Jalen Brown is one of these guys who
does a lot of activism in his community.
He doesn't in Boston as well as his hometown of Atlanta.
That little dust out with Kanye and Jalen
have more to do with the school aspect than it did with Kanye.
He was trying to see if by keeping his name
involved with Kanye, could he save the school as he was more he was more worried
and concerned with those kids, those inner city kids, you know, getting the education.
And the Donda was also a school that was kind of like a prep school,
kind of like your IMG Academy, the Sierra Canyons of the world.
So
he was concerned with the with the athletics and he was concerned with these
students just not being left out in the lurch.
That's why he wasn't just, oh, I'm out on Kanye because he is a loyal dude.
And his work means a lot to him.
He's not just going to go with the crowd and just go, OK, because you said so.
I'm going to just go ahead and kick this dude to the curb.
No, he wanted to read up on it.
He wanted to make sure that these things were being said.
He wanted to make sure that these inflammatory comments were really coming
from Kanye and also desperately trying to see how he could still help those kids
and help those those those students to reach their goals.
Because the one thing that Jaylen Brown does stand for is.
Basically, getting education to those
and resources to those who usually have an issue with ascertaining those resources.
Poor communities, you know, I'll say it like that.
People who aren't as affluent as some of the other people out here in the world.
So that's why Jaylen Brown didn't just cut Kanye off right away.
Because he was trying to do something right for the kids.
With that being said,
Boston has a good character guy, is a good, great player, great defender.
And doesn't feel necessarily
offended or somehow wrong by being the number two guy in Boston.
But the one thing he does care about is he cares about being respected.
He doesn't feel like he has a partnership
with the front office and the the leadership of the Celtics.
This is all basically from Logan Murdoch's piece on the ringer.
I suggest that you read it.
It's very enthralling.
I read it and then I listened to Logan on
some of the podcasts that he was going on about this particular story.
But these are the things that are important.
So Boston fans, how do you feel about your guy?
Is he going to make one of these NBA teams?
You kind of really need him to make one of these teams.
You want to make sure that he's a forward and not designated as a guard.
So then he can make one of these teams,
because, like I said, if he's a guard, there's no way he's going to make it.
And it's just going to set up for a really interesting offseason.
If it couldn't get more spicy,
what all the other things that I think might be going on this offseason?
But for the teams out there, you know, I'm saying, like.
Is this the next guy?
Is this the guy that makes pull the trigger on?
Nor New York City, where you at?
Where you at, New York?
Is this the guy that you pull the trigger on?
6667 combo wing.
We know that Cleveland doesn't have the money to get them.
Does he go home to Atlanta?
What's that look like?
I know one thing he's not going to be putting up with any BS from Trey Young.
I'll tell you that they would have to work some out.
If the word something out on that.
Be interested to see where Jalen Brown ends up, you know,
if for some reason he doesn't make it all in the 18, I'm really
excited to see what happens in the offseason.
But Boston fans, how do you feel about your guy?
How do you feel about this rule?
Does the new collective bargaining agreement kind of.
Fix this little court that's in the.
In the bylaws.
Because that's another thing that could save the Celtics if for some reason,
the CBA kind of fix this so they can sign their own guy.
It's all going to be very, very interesting.
So with that being said, we're going to get up out of here because this game's
for us to watch, we will be back Monday.
Hopefully Internet stays open.
We're going to be back on the same day.
We will be back Monday, hopefully Internet stays up.
And I believe also on that situation, you can.
You can put in 10 that Nico Miotello,
the Canadian bomber, the Canadian shaman, the Canadian Bill Simmons.
And for this podcast, the Canadians,
that will be attendance on Monday.
So for myself and Nico, we wish you a good weekend.
And we'll see you back on this feed on Monday.
And I hope that this Hoops Talk solo mission was good for you again.
Please download us, please subscribe to us.
Please tell a friend to listen to us.
I hope this has been, you know.
Kind of a journey for you guys, as it's been for me,
if you listen to any of the pods over the last couple of weeks,
you know that my mother has been in the hospital.
She has returned home.
We are going to have.
Some sort of.
Nurse come into the home to have her
checked out, probably a couple of times a week, we'll be looking in on that.
Possibly Tuesday, that's what it looks like.
That's the earliest we can get.
But I want to thank everybody who sent their will, well, which is in the text,
things of that nature, it's meant a lot if you DM me and things that if you DM me,
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for your your thoughts and your concerns.
And for all the people who have checked in on my mom,
I just want to let you guys know, rest assured she is all resting comfortably.
And we are taking it day by day.
So with that being said, we can go ahead and sign off now.
But I want to hit you with that little good news before I did.
And we'll be back on this feed on Monday.
So again, you guys have a great weekend.
Enjoy the Elite eight.
Enjoy the the the last games of the regular season in the NBA calendar,
because I'm going to tell you right now, if you have not had not kind of capped
in yet, you're waiting for the playoffs.
Don't wait for the playoffs because the playoffs are here now.
You're seeing playoff basketball right now.
The intensity level is at an all time high.
Some of these dudes don't like the other dudes.
You can tell it's getting testy and you can tell like these teams are starting
to see some desperation and they're getting after it.
So do not wait until the plan or playoff basketball.
Get in on it now.
Start checking out these storylines that are going on.
Who's going to win the MVP race?
Is it going to be Jokic?
Is it going to be Janice? Is it going to be indeed?
Who's going to be who's going to win the defensive player a year?
Is it going to be Jaren Jackson Jr.?
Shout out to Memphis.
Shout out to job, Morant.
And by the way, shout out to John Morant.
And I say that with a lot of reverence,
but I hope I hope this young man has found himself.
I hope that there is a clarity to his thinking now.
I hope that the redemption story is real.
I hope that we look back on this and we just go.
We chalk it up to youthful.
Behavior.
Without a lot of discernment.
I hope that's what we chalk this up to.
I hope that we are not talking about this again in six or seven months.
I hope that John can stay out of the news for derogatory reasons.
I hope that he can just be him, be the electrifying player that he is.
And also
the kid that came out of Murray State, I don't think he's too far gone.
And I just I'm I'm hoping for that city.
You know, because, you know, they don't get a bunch of free agents that go to Memphis.
They just don't.
And when you have a guy that is literally lurking
as one of the few difference makers in this league, because.
Albeit I respect Nico in his opinion,
I do not believe there are 15, 16 guys that move the needle.
Like if they change the franchise, if they change from one franchise to another,
it automatically makes them, you know, a conference.
Finalist believe that there's a handful of guys, but I do believe that John Moran
is on the outskirts looking in.
He's making a beeline for one of those spots.
So my hope is that.
There were.
Some talks, there were good, strong discussions about what he needs to do.
I hope he did go to counseling, get some counseling for whatever LL.
And I hope that we just see job for the next 10 to 12 years doing what he does,
doing what he loves and entertaining us.
So sorry, we I'm sorry.
I had to get that in before we got off the air.
But again, I thank everybody for listening.
And again, tell a friend, tell a male person, tell gas attendant,
tell cousins you haven't talked to in five years.
And also, again,
I think we talked about this last time.
If you haven't.
Like.
Talk to one of your main people in a while,
you know, one of your inner circle.
Shoot that person a phone call and just say, hey, I'm thinking about you.
You never know.
You never know when your time gets called.
You just do not know.
And this is more for.
You know, everybody who's lost somebody, you know,
I lost my sister.
Well, wow, what is the five years now?
Yeah, January 3rd, 2018, I lost my sister.
And her birthday actually just passed a couple of days ago on the 22nd.
And, you know,
we're thinking about her from time to time and
we said that things could have worked out differently for her.
But, yeah, if you have a person that you haven't spoken to in a minute and you
always say, hey, you know what, I need to give him or her a call.
Go ahead and do so. Break that phone call off now.
Or if you're in the if you have the
capability of seeing that person, you know, they don't live too far away or
whatever, you know, jumping your car, they'll see that person, have a chat,
you know, love, know that you care.
So with that being said, we're going to sign off again.
My name is Vince Carter.
And for Nico Miotelo, we'll see you on the seat on Monday.
And you guys have a great rest of your weekend.
And I am out.