Hi Danny,
I was curious about your guys’ continued listing of Marcus Smart as a shooting guard on the player rankings. Marcus obviously thinks of himself as a point guard, and he’s played there this year, with the Celtics being 90th percentile in offense per cleaning the glass with Smart running the point. He also has always defended point guards primarily (obviously, he also defends everyone else, especially this year). So I guess, what else would Marcus have to do to convince you that he’s a legit starting point guard who can run a quality nba offense? Sort of relatedly where do you think you would have tiered Marcus if you had considered him a point guard? Thanks.
- I will refrain from my frequent rant about the term "point guard" leading to problems (especially offline, once got into a polite argument about it with Michael Lee at an airport during a flight delay) and say that for me, position is almost exclusively about who you defend rather than offensive role. Harden's base assignment is never the point of attack and Smart changes around a lot but spends a ton of time on wings either by switching or just where the Celtics want to start. Luka is a particularly great example here because the FO has both Finney-Smith and Bullock in part to ensure that Luka's main assignment is not a point guard.
danny!! you tweeted an ainge gif after utah's umpteenth late game collapse. if you were running the team and you were told you had to trade rudy gobert by your petulant star that doesn't even want to play for you, what would your goals for the trade be? maximizing this mitchell contract? acquiring easily movable and valuable future assets? what do you think is the best player or asset they could get for gobert?
- To me, the next stage of the Jazz is probably giving a real shot to building the team around Mitchell as the focal point. In my eyes, that is not only moving Gobert but also sending away Conley so they can have a second guard that is more viable defensively. I have not gamed everything out for best return but my emphasis would be a youngish player with potential to be the second- or third-best player on a very good team unless someone sees Gobert's contract as big positive value
Hi Danny, the Spurs have 3 firsts and the Lakers second in the coming draft. As adding 4 rookies to their current roster looks unlikely, should they focus on using those picks to trade up or trade for roster upgrades in case they don't leap to top 4 in the lottery？
- A challenge for the Spurs is that moving up significantly in the lottery is really difficult and the history of those trade-ups is usually a bad value proposition (though it would look different if the Kings drafted Mitchell or Bam in 2017). I would talk to everyone above them to see what it would take but drafting the best prospect available and/or shifting one pick into either a future first or someone a few years into a rookie scale deal would work.
Hey Danny, there's a gun to your head, and the attacker is forcing you to pick in the following trade value death matches:
(Factor in contract + age + league consensus...but this is about to whom YOU would assign more trade value as a GM)
Franz Wagner vs. Jonathan Kuminga
Scottie Barnes vs. LaMelo Ball
Rudy Gobert vs. DeAndre Ayton
Jordan Poole vs. Desmond Bane
Evan Mobley vs. Cade Cunningham
- Kuminga (really close call- Wagner has impressed me this year), LaMelo, Ayton, Bane, Cade (brutal decision too!)
Danny, as someone who is married, any advice for me who is currently engaged?
- The three big things that came to mind are
- 1. communicating openly and honestly
- 2. listening well enough that you can do small things to make them happy more regularly
- 3. making sure you take the time to do things together that the other person truly enjoys (for example, watching The Bachelor with my wife even though it is far worse than the glorious nonsense of UK Love Island)
Do you have any preference for a player or coach to retire, the coach k / Kobe celebration tour, the Dirk call it quits with a few weeks left in the season or the Tim Duncan ,ride off in to the sunset with no fanfare.
- Not really- I just want them to do whatever makes them more comfortable. If I were a high-end player, my preference would be to go the Tim Duncan route as long as the organization knew and was not left in a lurch but I totally understand and respect those who prefer a farewell tour. One other note: those farewell tours are typically fun to cover, especially since those are often players who have gotten super comfortable talking to the press. Kobe's in particular was a joy.
amazing reality TV take
- True story: my wife has been pushing me to try to get on The Ringer's Bachelor pod because my analysis of romance reality shows is pretty much the same level of rigor as my sports stuff. If you all want a detailed ranking of shows in the genre, I'm happy to do it
How bad is Bjelica going to be in the playoffs? Verejao going to cringe watching or is there a chance he’s viable?
- Kerr is really going to need to pick his spots and have a quick hook with Bjelica, which are not often his strong suits as a playoff coach. The good news is the Warriors will need very little at C beyond Looney and Draymond if they are remotely healthy
How can the Cavs get their hands on a quality starting 3? Could a package. centering on sexton get them one? Is there anyone they should be targeting?
- It is going to be tough since SF is such a scarce position around the league. My thought is probably take a few bites at the apple with draft picks and the MLE, praying that one of them works out. Very hard to get significant value for Sexton in a sign-and-trade (return for non-stars is very limited: hello, Lonzo!) but the other interesting path is retaining Sexton if the price tag is reasonable, then moving him at the deadline or 2023 offseason for a SF
If you were Charlotte, would you offer a first and an expiring salary for Daniel Gafford in the off season and if you were the Wiz, would you take it?
- I like Gafford but do not think he has first-round value right now unless the pick is heavily protected (and the Hornets do not really have a good option, especially with that weird obligation from the Kai Jones deal). The big challenge is that Charlotte presumably needs a center capable of being heliocentric defensively to be a Conference Finals-level of team and there just are not that many C's that good who ever shake loose.
Not really a question, but: I don't know if it's already been brought up, and I don't know how you would release this to your audience, but a video of you and Nate doing a round of Poeltl (https://poeltl.dunk.town/) would be amazing
- I was actually doing today's Poeltl right before starting the chat (got it in 3). No idea if Nate has gotten into it yet.
Cantaloupe or Grapefruit Danny? I hope you have a wonderful day
- I truly hate grapefruit so that is an easy choice. Also, fresh cantaloupe is so much better than the version in fruit salads because it dries out and loses what makes it tasty.
Danny, the Top 10 Players lists aren't up on Supporting Cast yet. It's not too late for you to change back to having Jokic a tier above LeBron. I know you know there's no argument for a 37 year old who has averaged 56 games played and has had 1 healthy playoffs in 3 years versus one of the league's most durable big men, who is about to win his second straight MVP and is currently breaking several player value models. Do the right thing, Nate doesn't even have to know.
- Earlier today, I looked at Denver's DefRtg during Jokic's minutes in their last five playoff series. (2020 and 2021). It was a useful reminder of why I feel comfortable with that placement.
danny i am totally with you man, me and my gf do a bachelor/bachelorette fantasy draft and make boards and watch all of the youtube breakdowns. i didn't know about the ringer pod i gotta get on that for a competitive advantage. love is blind or love island?
- OK, full rankings (criteria: personal enjoyment minute-to-minute) of the romance reality shows I know well enough to include:
- 1. Love Island UK
- 2. Flavor of Love
- 3. Temptation Island
- 4. Love is Blind
- 5. Bachelor in Paradise (far closer to the top 4- actually pretty fun)
- 6. The Bachelor
- 7. The Bachelorette
Hey Danny, if you are looking for a good breakfast / brunch spot up in North Beach give https://www.hildaandjessesf.com/ a try.
- Thanks! I will put it on my list of places to try, which is uncomfortably long at the moment (like 30 places just in SF/Oakland that I have never been)
Over/under 11 titles for Lebron if he had Masai Ujiri as his GM from the start and "LeGM" wasn't a thing
- So he gets an elite GM for his entire career? It is well under 11 even though LeBron stayed so healthy during his absolute prime but would have been a whole lot of years they were at least the favorites going in.
Given your different voting criteria for All-NBA and MVP, in a hypothetical scenario last year if Embiid had been way better than Jokic in the minutes he played but Jokic had played alot more minutes and thus provided more value due to a minutes disparity would you have been able to have Jokic and MVP and 2nd team All-NBA center?
Basically I'm asking if your voting philosophy leaves a potential loophole for the MVP to finish on the second team similar to the All-Defense teams with Noah and Gasol in 2012 and 2013
- I had Jokic as my MVP and second-team behind Embiid (my per-minute MVP) last year so yes, 100% possible
Hi Danny. Can you please power rank the N Duncan’s in NBA media, now that you have podded with them both
Also, I petition that while Nate is on leave, we change the name of the pod to Larioux’d on
- I have zero concept of how to change a podcast name (though I almost definitely would not even if I did). The brand is strong.
What 3 things do YOU think should be at the top of the Raptors laundry list heading into 2022/23
With the raptors being within reach of the 5th seed, do you see a trade that could vault them into top tier contenders within the next 2 season like the Kawhi trade did for the franchise the championship year
- Kawhi trades do not come along that often so no, I do not see something like that happening. That is a part of why I have been so interested in how Ujiri feels about this team's place in the hierarchy for more than a year: totally reasonable to prefer this to the alternative but getting from here to there is very, very difficult
How would you handle the Lakers seemingly bleak outlook for next year given their cap/draft/trade capital situations? Thoughts on the smoke going going around about a potential AD trade?
- Hard for me to imagine an AD trade, partially because his value is the lowest it has been in a long time and also his potential role on an actually decent Lakers team (you, know, conceptually). I have little faith that Pelinka will build competently around LeBron but have confidence that their roster will be better than this season, mostly because it is hard to be worse.
At what point do you start to worry about PJ Tucker's offense? Since the allstar break he's massively struggling to provide any semblance of spacing or usage on offense. In the 18 games since the break, he's hit a total of 7 3 pointers while shooting 23.3% from 3. He's taken a total of 7 FTs, averaging 5 points a game and just 5 rebounds.
- Oh, I have been worried the whole time. My love for PJ is well-known but the guy hasn't had a USG over 10 since 2017-18 and shot unsustainably well to start this season.
What should the Grizzlies do with Steven Adams in the playoffs? Last year, JV was a major weakness in the Jazz series, and while Steven Adams is a more capable defender than Jonas, he is still a not especially mobile big. Is it worth it to try and make him a fit a playoff defensive scheme given his rebounding and screens on the offensive end, or should they reduce his minutes in favor of more mobile players like Brandon Clarke and Kyle Anderson?
- Depends on the opponent and situation but my inclination would be that he should start but not finish games most of the time. Even though they can be inconsistent, the JJJ-at-C lineups are more intriguing against high-level competition.
Who do you think moves teams first - Westbrook, Dame, Mitchell?
- Westbrook. Other two start and likely finish next season on their current teams.
Danny, You guys keep saying Embiid has never had a good playoffs. Its become a dunc'd on mantra. He averaged 28/10 on 63% TS last year, had a 104 team D rtg while on the court, and the sixers won his minutes handily.
"He had a disappointing PS because his team lost" is an unfair and reductive criticism, especially in light of yours and Nate's hand-waving away Lebron's poor play "because he was injured." Embiid was injured too! And still the best player in that series.
Yes he had a lot of turnovers, his point guard was actively double-teaming him.
In conclusion please stop saying Embiid has never had a good playoffs because it isn't true and hurts my feelings. Also if you could stop doing his and Jokic's segments in the tone of someone describing how a ponzi scheme works it would make the yearly top 10 pod much more enjoyable.
- Are you really counting a series against the Wizards? Also, Embiid went 4/20, 12/20, 9/24 and 11/21 in the last four games of the Hawks series, three of which were losses and three of which (not the same three) he was even or slightly negative in +/-
Danny, I have often heard you and Nate say that Durant outplayed Giannis in the semifinals last year. I would like ask why this is consensus.
1. The bucks are often said to have had a poor offense this series, which is correct. However, i can hardly blame this on giannis, who was 32/13/3.5 on 59% TS, 34 usage. These stats are basically identical to KDs. However, Jrue holiday had 43% TS / 20 usage, while Middleton had 52% TS / 28 usage. Put simply, Middleton and Holiday's shot making was completely abysmal this series, and giannis was a consistent efficent scoring option on par with Durant.
2. KD had several games at 55% TS or below (game 1, game 3, game 4, game 6) whereas Giannis only had 1 (game 2). KD had higher highs with great game 2, 5 and 7 performances, but that was about it. Giannis outplayed him (only considering the offensive end) in 5 of the 7 games.
3. THis isnt even taking into account the defensive value of Giannis which is on another level than KD
4. I understand a degree of difficulty argument, but given that the Jrue and Kris performance i dont think Giannis had THAT much easier of a time. Especially considering blake griffin shot 41% on 3s, jeff green went 64% including 7/8 in an elimination game, and landry shamet shot 43%. On the other hand, the only person on the bucks that shot over 40% from 3 was brook, at 40%. Middleton had 36.5% and Jrue a westbrookian 26%. Tucker 30%, Pat Conn 29%, Brynn Forbes 27%, etc.....
Basically, it seems that we are taking a couple of excellent offensive games from KD, plus complete lack of shotmaking from anyone on the bucks, and spinning it as KD outplaying Giannis. This is ignoring KDs 4 poor games in the series, whiile giannis was as consistent a high level performer as is possible.
Thanks, Ill hang up and listen
- Apologies! I thought I went back to the last chat but apparently did not. To me, it is more a degree of difficulty argument than anything else- the Nets were always weak outside their stars and then lost two of their stars but stayed afloat because of one guy (and some incredible three-point shooting from support players, as you noted). TS understates the role KD had to play within the offense: volume scorer AND lead creator for others, while doing so against a great defense. Never argued Giannis was bad in that series, only that KD was better and he was.
Hi Danny, not a question but hoping marriage has been treating you wonderfully
- It really has. I am hopeful and confident my wife will handle the early playoff push well (it is a big challenge for spouses) but married life has been truly wonderful.
- OK- I've got to get moving. Some Hoop Summit practices to watch and a gamer to record with Nekias tonight. Thank you all so much for subscribing and participating!