If you were an NBA owner would you hire Lebron as a GM when he retires?
- That is tough because LeBron knows the game incredibly well and has some of the best instincts I have ever seen too, which seems like it would lend itself to him being a strong GM. Plus, he has been a part of a large organization in his off-court stuff so he has more experience running or at least being a part of something partially akin to a front office/org. However, it certainly appears that he was one of the driving forces behind bringing in Westbrook, a fit so flawed that it makes me wonder what I saw and he did not, especially compared to other options. So I think there is a distinct chance LBJ could be a good to great GM but if I were running the team, he would not get his first opportunity with me.
If you could do league pass commentary for any regular season game left this season, what would be your pick?
- It is hard to do a full search for these but on a quick look through things, Nets/Cavs on April 8 would be really fun, even if Kyrie presumably doesn't play since it is in Brooklyn
In what order would you rank the Knicks' young players in terms of a combination of highest ceiling/likelihood of hitting that ceiling?
The players I'm thinking of are: Barrett, Grimes, Reddish, Quickley, Robinson, McBride, Sims.
- I'll go Barrett, Grimes, Robinson, Reddish, Quickley, Sims. Won't count McBride because I have not seen enough of him to do a fair job.
Utah looks like a team that is falling apart recently. How much change should they make at the deadline to keep themselves as one of the top 3/4 teams in the West?
- This is definitely a strange, sort of surreal stretch since Gobert returned but my instinct is that an overreaction would do more harm than good because the Jazz are an extremely tough boat to turn, if you get what I mean. Look for upgrades on the wing but $ (now + long-term) is a challenge and you really do not want to sacrifice what this team does well offensively by bringing in someone opponents do not feel the need to guard when off the ball. As strange as this has been, the Jazz are still +16 in CTG NetRtg on the season when Conley, Mitchell and Gobert play together.
Do you think Eric Gordon would be a good fit for the Mavs and is there a realistic way to get him there?
- Really like Gordon on the Mavs offensively, as he can hit open shots but also do some creating when necessary, which is an underappreciated part of his overall game. My dream would be for Gordon to join a team that does a lot of switching because his physical strength makes him better than most guards at it but maybe the Mavs could have some specific combos that do that like Maxi Kleber at center or something. The trade logistics are tough because I'm sure Tillman would love to just save that $ next year but Dallas does not have enough expiring contracts. Maybe you try Powell + Jalen Green, which saves Houston some and gets them a young player with athleticism to try out.
Hey Danny - what does your podcasting set up look like for Dunc'd on and Real GM Radio? Apart from the podcast earlier this year at Oracle, do you and Nate ever pod in person?
- Never been asked this before. I will not take a picture because my desk is messier than I'd like to show publicly at the moment but the set up: Macbook Pro with a second monitor, Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones and an Audio-Technica ATR2100 mic and my Razer Kiyo camera for live shows. Some of the random mementos on there too: wood bison from Yellowstone, metal cow from a Köln Christmas market and a signed XKCD print I bought years ago. Quick story: I used to use a Blue Yeti but a few moves ago I was in a place with a little too much ambient noise. Nate and I did a bunch of research and realized scaling down to a less robust Cardioid mic actually worked better because it picked up so much less sound other than me talking. Also makes it a great travel mic!
Would you hold the line at a lotto-protected FRP for Eric Gordon? One trade bandied about here is a Spurs and Rockets 2nd + Rubio from the Cavs for Eric Gordon, which is probably the best two seconds you could get for him.
- As the Rockets? No, because I do not think the market gets particularly stronger for him in the offseason considering Gordon makes $19.6 million next season at age-34 and so few teams have cap space (and no one has a Trade Exception that big, I believe)
Oh, more serious question - If you were the GM of the Bucks, and had the reality of the Bucks market and owner - how would you balance one more year of a title chase vs keeping your job longer? Meaning, go all in for wins this year, but next year if you don't think you're in the inner-circle title favorites, would you see if you could trade any of the non-Giannis players for lower title odds but less likelihood of falling off a cliff due to Jrue/Khris getting too old?
Essentially trying to secure being a middle seed playoff team for several years.
(I know this maybe sounds absurd, but I think of the back end of some of these contracts and the arena being half full, has to be bad for job security)
- I am not as zealously "banners fly forever" as Nate but the Bucks are a damn good team right now and the window is more open than I expected with the Nets' ahem limitations and no one in the West looking like a juggernaut. An underrated subplot for Milwaukee is that Jrue, Khris and Brook are all in their thirties so that window might not be open for that much longer since it will be brutally hard to add starter-caliber players or better if/when they fall below their current standard.
Now that Lonzo Ball is out for 6-8 weeks and LaVine’s knee injury is a total unknown it looks like rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu is going to be playing full time minutes pretty much. He’s looked quite good in a couple games so far. Have you seen anything from him yet? What would you peg as strengths and weaknesses and what would Dosunmu need in his skill set to become a long term full time starting caliber guard?
- Yeah, I actually talk about Ayo a fair amount in a pod with Stephen Noh that should be coming out soon. Very impressed with his defense but also his ability to turn an advantage into something good (drive, pass, shot)- he is an NBA player to me and I'm hoping he looks like a clear rotation guy at the end of the year
Hey Danny, what do you think explains the evaluation gap between you/Nate and Seth Partnow on Ben Simmons? Partnow has said the Celtics should consider moving Jaylen Brown for a Simmons package, but I get the sense that you would find that idea crazy given your eval of Simmons.
- Man, Simmons is such a tricky player to describe - actually far harder to talk about cogently than evaluate, at least to me. I prefer Jaylen to Simmons for a few reasons but the biggest is that Brown fits in more seamlessly to a variety of team constructions since he is a more capable shooter and has plenty of experience outside the main action on offense. From a team-building perspective, Simmons has parallels to Westbrook (for a team with big aspirations) that you have to do very specific things to maximize him and that is tougher to swallow for someone likely best off as the second- or third-best player on a real contender. The other huge sticking point for me with Simmons is that he has awesome physical tools (people do not appreciate how BIG he is and how well he moves for someone so big) and talent but has not meaningfully improved on his weaknesses that have been obvious since he debuted as a high-end prospect years ago. That can be a work ethic issue or that there are significant structural problems that will take a while to fix. The difference between the two matters in terms of how to improve and the timeline but if it has not happened by now, I am not comfortable expecting it will.
Danny: if you were made King of the Kings, and your goal was to become at least a semi-plausible contender (so at least Denver level where maybe nobody picks them to go all the way, but if they were healthy and did nobody would be completely shocked) within the next 10 years, what would you do with the team? Not just roster, though definitely that in terms of trades / direction, but also if you want to think about organization / structure (e.g. if you need more scouts, more analytics, better player development staff, etc.). Assume that you'd be willing to pay some amount of luxury tax but not an insane bill like GSW / Brooklyn given the market you are in (but rather more this year Milwaukee level), and that someone froze Victor Vivek in time so he can't interfere and force you to make win now moves before you are ready to do so.
- There are a couple of big things: first, in the early days use the organization money that is not capped to bring in strong people to build out the structure/organization, including analytics and scouts to maximize each key decision point. In terms of on-court talent, there are three key elements: how good are we now, do we have an elite player (present or future) and can we truly tear down? The answers to those three will define the team's direction in the first few years, then the talent on the team at that point dictates the next few. One other thing: market would play a BIG role in terms of how I approached cap space. Far less interested in opening up space in anything other than a premium market/location.
Hey Danny, I know you are still a ways out from evaluating draft prospects, but was wondering if there's anyone (especially outside of Banchero, smith and Holmgren) who has caught your eye.
- Unfortunately, I have not watched any college basketball yet. Have a few games on my DVR but have not gotten to any of them yet. I'll (hopefully) get to see Holmgren in person in February but the guy I am most excited to watch on film is Jabari Smith
Hey Danny! Another question for you. What's your favorite part about having a basketball oriented podcast? Is it being able to watch NBA day in and day out, player scouting and evaluations, organization building/cap space talk, etc.?
- Over the years, a lot of people have asked me for career advice and the answer I have given them lines up pretty well with this: find something where you truly enjoy the grind. I am sure somewhere there is someone lucky enough to make a good living at something easy but my experience has been that almost every worthwhile job I've had (note the difference) takes a lot of mental energy so it is super important to find the one where doing that work takes the least out of you. A vast majority of the time, doing things like watching film, working through hypotheticals and providing CBA/cap analysis to other writers or podcast listeners energizes me in a way that my other stuff typically has not. My sister does a very different job and has largely said the same thing, so it absolutely does not have to be sports.
Copying from @John C | Hawks and thought it was a fun little question...If someone wanted to get into NBA basketball and didn't have a team, who should you want to be a fan of right now? General top teams were Grizz and then Cavs, with Warriors Bucks Hornets also mentioned.
- For me it would be the Hornets if that person is on the East Coast- games at a reasonable hour, typically fun games to watch and room to improve their roster (you know, a defensively capable center). Ja Morant is an easy sell (my mom's favorite non-Warrior by a lot, for example) for the Grizz and I like the Cavs too because Mobley/Garland in particular could grow in some super fun directions. All of that said, I'll fall back on what a friend told me once: watch a group of teams and see who has a style of play that interests them most. If you are trying to get invested and watching more than they have before, that matters so much.
If you were made Viceroy of the Warriors and you used your personal capital to include one or both of Poole and Moody in a trade what do you think that could fetch and who would you target in a trade?
- My instinct is that those two guys are not enough to get someone I am sure would be the clear-cut fifth closer over GPII, Iguodala/Porter and everyone else. Part of that is that other GM's do not appear to be as high on Moody as I was (he went later in the lotto than he was on my board) and Poole helps a bunch of teams but the high-end player the Warriors would be looking for is going to be really hard to find.
If the players you've way overrated (or that ended up far short of your expectations) throughout your podcast career were to all play to the level you expected of them, could a team of those players (plus mid-level or worse roster filler) win a title?
- A team of Peak Fultz, Peak Exum, Peak Hezonja, Peak Bender and Peak Wiseman (assuming Jaren Jackson Jr does not qualify) would be NASTY. May not be title-ready just yet but honestly they might be
Danny, what song does it look like Nate is singing here?
Considering Nate is from (close to) Chicago, I'll go with Everybody Needs Somebody to Love