And now the low welcome to the low post podcast Monday afternoon the Sun is shining It's April 3rd. There is a week left actually less in the regular season before the play in tournament We have the dribblings of a new collective bargaining agreement that will stave off any potential labor issues for the next six to seven years hallelujah We had zero Western Conference playoff series set in anything like stone not even limestone as we head into the last week of the season With four teams count them four tied at spots five six seven and eight with 38 losses two of them play each other in the last week of the season Bobby Marks, how are you Jack? Oh, man. I'm good and the match of three and one.
How about that? I told I told a couple buddies this weekend There will be a year where I reinvest emotionally in the New York Mets. It is doesn't appear like it's gonna be this year But it's gonna that's good right. I thought someone got hurt like celebrating in the world baseball class I think it's a disaster.
We don't we don't talk about that. We just look at the standings right now What's all we'll worry about all right? Let's start we're gonna do a bunch of stuff today Yeah, two to two biggest and best races that I wanted to get into with the bucks Celtics and sixers not quite locked into one two and three But pretty close and one to five in the East is getting pretty close to being done even six and seven And similarly one two three almost four in the West we have the aforementioned race for Five to eight in the Western Conference five get you Phoenix likely in the first round Of course seven and eight get you in the play in in the first round And then we have the race for eight in the East between Chicago Toronto and Atlanta And I kind of like by the way one of the concerns with the play in when it first happened was well There's like a great race for the eighth seed It's gonna kind of get ruined because they're all gonna be in the play in tournament I think the opposite is proven true like that race for eight and a spot in the upper half of the play in bracket between these three 500-ish teams is actually kind of fun like going into the season at the end of the season at Chicago and Atlanta play each other this week in a Game with the kind of tiebreaker implications that make my brain hurt as we get to the end of the season But let's start in the West because this is just crazy after the events of the weekend the Clippers 41 and 38 currently in the fifth spot their tiebreaker over the Warriors hurts my brain I shouldn't say over it just is it exists They have won the tiebreaker against the Lakers lost it to the Pelicans the Warriors go to Denver No, Nicole, Yolkich and lose they are 41 and 38 currently sitting in sixth the Lakers who baby 40 and 38 14 and 6 in their last 20 With Austin Reeves LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the floor in 307 minutes. They are plus 119 plus 14 per 100 possessions kicking ass is what that translates to their new starting lineup makes a lot of sense They're non-vander built a we need better spacing options are working and And they play the Clippers this week In what might be the biggest Lakers Clippers game of all time as I talked about last week and I was sort of saying it half Is this week facetiously having not done the proper research?
I think it actually might be and then the Pelicans quietly with nobody watching Nine and four in their last 13 games none of which are featured Zion Williamson Obviously, he's played 114 games in four years. That's like you just never play but he's ramping up always and forever ramping up never ramping down Never ramping sideways always ramping up and they have just played tough ass basketball Brandon Ingram is on the best stretch of his entire career doing it all with very little spacing at all Especially if you just put one of C. Jim McCollum and Trey Murphy on the bench He's got no spacing to work with and he just lightened people up those are four teams And here's how tight it is Bobby looking at a couple of sites that I like to use playoff status calm Here are the current percentage chance each of these teams finishes with the 60 according to the according to playoff status calm Clippers 21% Warriors 30% Lakers 22% pelicans 22% basketball reference current current chances of finishing With the six seed Pelicans 22% Clippers 22% Lakers 21% Warriors 30% that's how close it is for all of these seeds Whoo, where do you want to start? I don't even know where to start?
This is just this is and again This is you can play Phoenix all of these teams if they're away for them to pay penance to the basketball gods and somehow get the six seed That's all of them would want that We might get to the very last day of the season and somebody on that day has the ability to manipulate the standings to that effect But right now I just read you all their records There ain't no manipulation to be done because as juicy as that six seed looks and as ugly as that fifth seed looks not ugly But just the sons are the sons right now not not really even clicking but still winning every game with the ran Even the fifth seed and facing Phoenix in the first round is still better than a chance at the seventh seed and facing Memphis in the first round But you might not even get there because it's the play and where do you want to start or should we start outside of this with the disaster unfolding in Dallas? And Minnesota well, let's start with the Lakers just because they can control right they control things as far as I guess They're destiny here and you look at I mean what they've got they're at Utah right then They've got the clipper game on Wednesday and then Phoenix and Utah again. That's their four games there I mean they very easily could run the table here and you could be staring out of Phoenix Lakers first round match in the four five I mean that's that's what we're in that top bracket of the playoffs is basically like the group of death right because you got Denver Up there also and whoever they play in that one eight matchup I mean that's no offense to Sacramento or Memphis here, but the bracket the top part is Awfully awfully tough here So I think we got to start with the Lakers here as far as what they've been able to do as far as what this roster And I think yeah I'm getting to five or to six is a lot better than being at seven and having two cracks to get into the playoffs It buys you extra buys you what an extra week of rest. So you got LeBron You get a D who you know, he's got you know, he's got an ankle, you know in the game Two ankles Bobby like most like most people get to one that he was a little bit hindered in that Minnesota game here But I and you've got the angel Russell dealing with a sore foot So you it buys them an extra week.
So if I was a betman a week out from the you know from the season ending I think we we we we it's funny. We talked about the Lakers She's getting into the plane. I think we could make an argument for Lakers being in that five hole Well again at Utah quote unquote at Clippers home to the Suns in the jazz They could get the JV versions of three of those teams Utah twice although Utah has been frisky And they've been playing marketing for the most part and Phoenix could be locked in to four at that point and decide for whatever reason And we don't we don't feel we don't feel like playing it like Phoenix Phoenix hasn't even started clicking like I talked about them a lot So I'm not gonna do much more of it here But it's still kind of stationed to station figuring it out not a ton of flow But the flow is starting to trickle in and even just that is so powerful with those three dudes on the floor at the same time And eight and two's got to be included because the pressure he puts on the rim They're just not gonna be very fun to face I think the Lakers are look Anthony Davis in the last month has been for the most part dominant Anthony Davis in the last five games Four of them. He's gone over 37 points or more LeBron does not look all the way back as we would expect you know Everybody but the LeBron defeat that he consulted with told him that he would need surgery So we should not expect him to look like peak freight train all the time LeBron looks pretty damn good all things considered I think they're a legitimate threat people want to know what that means I don't know the percent chance that I put on them winning the West because all of these teams can beat each other And so by default all of them have sort of like a not very good chance to win the West I think they have a chance to win the West.
I think the Lakers if they say healthy could actually make the finals Yeah, I agree I mean I think Legitimate chance is not being one of these like you know We had talked about them as being a team that was the ninth or 10 seat, right? Now you got to win basically two games and then you're faced with Denver I mean that is that's a tall task I mean based on what happens next what would have happened next week and then you got to go on the road and There's no like they're still gonna go on the road for plug game, but if there's a big difference I said going from a playing team not a 7-8 team But a play in team to a top five team in the Western in the Western conference LeBron Durant in the first round would that would be just them meeting again? You know conjuring up the images of Durant hitting that pull up three over him in the first Warriors Cavs finals in game three You think that's the five o'clock NBA TV game on Saturday? No, but without Without the Pacers in the playoffs.
That's why it's sort of open It's kind of the Hawks to lose if they get a Toronto, right? Don't don't don't you dare besperch the city of Toronto the nation of Canada and the team that was named because Jurassic Park was popular when it was formed We do still have Toronto what we're talking about I just I'm going to repeat this until the NBA decides to do it Where the hell is this in the collective bargaining agreement with the play internment Denver's not dominated the West But it's been comfortably ahead of the West the whole year They're kind of loaf loaf into the finish line resting yolkach all this They the number one seat in each conference should get to pick its opponent from between the two teams that come out of the play Internment because I mean all of these teams are gonna be dangerous to Denver I think New Orleans is the least dangerous in Les Zion comes back in Zion comes back at 90% and is all of a sudden like Oh my god, we've got to play Zion in the first round But I just stylistically they would probably like to avoid the Warriors after what happened in last season's playoffs That's that's my that's why is that not even if I know why it's not a thing I think the NBA doesn't like that idea I think the play and has made that a better idea than it even was before I was even thinking like and I agree with you there I was even thinking and this is another can't wear him shares is that the mid-season tournament winner Automatically gets a bid to the playoffs no matter what happens for the rest of the season No, that's crazy talk That's you know what happened the load management effect that we spent everyone's trying to curb You'd have guys basically in like in Cabo for March and able getting ready for the playoffs I'm not ready to talk about the mid-season tournament yet. Um, the David Stern cup Let's zoom out for a second. The Dallas Mavericks are 37 and 42 They currently have the tenth worst record in the NBA They owe a top 10 protected first round pick to the New York Knicks via the Kristoff sports In a straight of many eons ago the last price they've got to pay for that They are just a half game ahead of the Utah jazz and they're already rumblings from the athletics Shems training it today that they might shut down Luca Donchich and Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season The goal obviously being can we flip flop with Utah and have the ninth worst record and have a really really good chance of keeping our pick And kicking that obligation down the road which has its own which has its own penalties for them to in terms of like limited trade Flexibility because that doesn't immediately convert this year right that rolls over if they keep it.
Yeah 24 and 25 So that's not ideal, but it's just a pretty good draft to give yourself the ninth best odds at whatever at the Victor Wimba yama Whatever it ends up being. Um, I Honestly didn't think they would reach this stage. I didn't think they would I just thought it would be too embarrassing for them too Too offensive to Luca who has been so frustrated with their losing and by the way his body language and incessant whining is Probably in some way contributing to the completely poisonous environment around there. Um, I Just think if that's what they end up doing And again, they're a game out of the thunder But they're really two games out with three to play because the thunder who have been trying to give not trying but who have been losing and giving Dallas every chance to get back into this and Dallas cannot take advantage of any of them What an embarrassing what an embarrassing turn of events for the Mavericks and not an indictment on Kyrie and indictment on just the half hazard roster Construction over years and years and years and years that ends with you Playing javail McGee and Christian wood at the same time one guy who's against Atlanta in overtime trying to win one guy your mid-level exception splurge But now the rotation the whole year other guy you traded a first round pick forward a trade that I liked again I liked and he's just never Christian would be able to earn the trust of Jason kid And I don't know if you saw any of the Dallas Miami game I think it was on Saturday or Friday.
I can remember which one of those one of those strange games Where like Miami just goes up by 12 early in the game and because the Mavericks just can never get any stops for any consistent period of time Just the game was like a ten point game the entire time who was never six It was never 15 days could we just trade in baskets trade baskets and we all knew their defense would be a disaster after the straight After trading Finney Smith and and and just making yourself so small across the board such a bad rebounding team But man, I mean you just I just didn't see a scenario where they would ever be this far under 500 and this far down the standings with Luca being healthy Well, I mean even the Atlanta game on Sunday night I mean the Hawks I mean there was a point where it was a lay-up line after lay-up line and since I think since the The Irving trade and this has nothing to really kiree But you know Dallas is what 2019 the league and giving up lay-ups and dunks as far as percentage wise It was there was a lay-up line in the Atlanta game. However, there was a stretch where the Hawks basically Eloud dows to come back in this because their next nine possessions were all threes So that's why the Mavericks kind of crept back into this thing here and you went with yeah I mean you went with the javelm gee Christian wood kiree luka I don't know who the fifth was out there Bob Josh Green got screen line up last night and you look at you look at the standings like They've got sack Chicago San Antonio. That's your next three all at home, right? Like you you go two in one in Oklahoma City Goes they can go in three Golden State at Utah Memphis who knows who's playing what you know Who knows if any of these you know like Golden State game is huge stuff like that They might they could get in by like the fall almost but the wild card as you open this is about Does Irving and luka get shut down to preserve that pick from a front office perspective Zach?
It's in the best interest of the organization to keep that pick. Oh, there's no question. It's just that There's the optics stink right the optics stink But you mean you basically have already gone down the we already lost we already lost Bronson for nothing We have limited assets. We have no second round pick we can trade we broke one of two thousand twenty nine first We owe his conditions on you know on this New York pick that's top ten This draft is a lot better than next year projected wise Keep a the ninth pick and a draft or the 10th pick and draft to keep or move in another deal because let's face it your options This offseason are retaining Kyrie Irving Or my son is just exploring sign and trades with him or like we they've talked about cap space and all stuff Like I had news for you like you got like what $30 million cap space You can go out and try to retool with eight guys under contract You've got no Irving Christian Wood Dwight Powell that whole group here and you basically are you're basically that we say like You're at the ATM machine right and there's just like you've got limited left on your debit card right now as you said all they If they shut them down all they're doing is what the incentive structure of the NBA says that they should do at this point I just remember two weeks ago.
We were on I was in LA doing NBA today We were talking about the Warriors Mavericks game the one that's under protest and I said today This is the biggest game of the entire season because it's gonna decide to tie break between the two of them I think they were like in six and seven at that point They're one and six since that game and I think it just that game just started this spiral for them that they've been unable to I just never I just never imagined they would lose to everybody all the time and find themselves here The other big loser of the weekend the Minnesota Timberwolves have lost have not lost three straight games after looking decent in cats first couple of games back Lakers lost the Lakers just better than them for them to lose to the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday at home in Minnesota a blazers team playing Zero of five starters zero They are playing backups in this game that I had to look up a couple of guys that they are playing in the game And I watched the second half this one I got I got a watch release after this game already watched a couple games I got the I got to see what happened their transition defense was so abominable the entire game and Carl Anthony towns I don't know if you see the box or yeah, it's a three shot He was hurt three two of them were within the first two and a half minutes of the second half And I'm like he took one other shot the entire game if you lost if you watch the last five minutes of that game He's in foul trouble a lot of it if you watch the last four or five minutes when he's in the game He's half of it. He's literally standing just standing arms at his sides He could be a statue They could have just put a statue on the floor for these offensive possessions and it would have functionally been as involved as Carl Towns other than a statue wouldn't have been able to catch the ball and the event that it randomly ended up being flung in his direction Just an all-time disaster loss and this illness that has been going through their team people puking feeling horrible Apparently it did run its course and that was just like a straight-up loss that takes them I mean, it's gonna take a miracle now for them to get out of the 910 bracket and that's Whoo, that's a tough pill to swallow That's a tough pill to swallow when you make the kind of moves they did well I mean and you're all in I mean like you look at where they are I mean, you're right. I mean at West they had a good stretch of they had a great win in Golden State They had a great win was in LA in one of the LAs before that You're right the the Laker lost height Lakers They turned it on in the third quarter and fourth quarter here But for a team that's playing out string in Portland And now you're you're this is you basically dug out of the hole to put yourself in positions You have to be at seven and eight and now you've taken a step back and you're at Brooklyn at San Antonio Orleans That's your next that's your three here and then you know like we could talk all season only one But this is kind of this is who they are right like this is kind of like you're basically at the end of day You're gonna have three players that are gonna be you're gonna be tied into making I don't know 120 million dollars Edwards go bare in towns in the future like that. This is this is who they are right now I mean I said the day they traded for go bare That the way out of this and it's not the optimal way It's just the obvious way is they're gonna They're gonna have to trade cat if they if they do and eventually want to extricate themselves not extricate But just open up another path for their team.
That's the that's the only that's the only big way to do it Just that is a I think I heard on TV this morning the blazers were 19 and a half point under dogs in that game And that made it the biggest outright upset of the year in the NBA I someone put a stat out there from Minnesota They're what are they number one in the league and 10 point digit loan leads 10 plus this year nice I think Chicago's like right behind them right now, but I mean but goodness gracious wouldn't put that one at the front of the game The PR game notes know the wolves Alright, let's go back Clippers 41 and 38 They play the Lakers the blazers at the Suns in their last three games of the season They they are missing Paul George Eric Gordon missed the game over the weekend Russell Westbrook is playing the best he's played in a long time What have you noticed about the Clippers in the last week and what are you looking at at them going forward? They could still I mean they are fifth right now Yeah, I mean the you know, rewind it a little bit the Memphis game They won, you know the first game they won it reminded me a lot of Westbrook With the Lakers a year ago that Charlotte Friday I don't remember that Friday. I know Charlotte where they had nobody right like it was basically him on an I won by himself And he like basically like exploded and that was kind of like, you know that Memphis game They had he was basically like him and a bunch of role players, right? So you split that I mean at the end of the day comes down to Wednesday it comes down to the Laker game, right?
Like that's what it comes down to as far as hanging on for Because you've got the Lakers Portland at Phoenix like that Phoenix name likely probably doesn't mean much for the Suns I don't think it does and You've got you got quite I mean, it's basically you're just you're in survival mode right now, right? Like that's that's how I see it for for the Clippers I just I watch their Pelicans game on Saturday Pelicans beat him 122 1 14 kind of going away in the end Kawai and BI were on like an old school mid-range duel Kawai ended up with 40 I think and I know that a lot of this is because Paul George is injured right and so you're missing 38 minutes in big games 40 minutes in big big Games of Rock solid two-way superstar level production that you pin in but it just struck me watching that game You know, they closed the game with I think three guards I think it was man less broken Powell with Kawai at the four and Zubots So that's about as small as they get when they're not playing their five out lineups Which they've essentially just gone away with since acquiring Mason Plumlee They play a center almost every second of the game and then earlier in that game They were playing super big lineups where Kawai is I guess kind of the two maybe it was Russ Kawai But to him a Covington who's suddenly been resurrected out of out of the out of mothballs and Zubots And so that we they have both Covington and Batum on the floor at the same time Covington's now playing with their traditional centers Which is something tylu was reluctant to do the whole idea of Covington was he was supposed to be there Small ball center and it just like you watch them toggle between these layoffs and again Gordon was out and Paul George was out And so they're missing a couple of key components for second They still kind of don't know quite what they want to do and when they want to do it Morris is out of the rotation now Just kind of just kind of chaotic and then you have the thing where Kawai played the first half against Memphis on Friday Didn't play the second half and then Russ after the game told reporters this is according to LA times Yeah, we didn't know that Kawai was gonna do that We found out, you know when when everybody else did and first I could see the Clippers moving like Russ I know you're new here. You're not supposed to say stuff like that But not supposed to say stuff like that. But Kawai just leave it be but like really they didn't know the other players Like what are we doing here?
What's happening? Well, I mean and that it comes down to I mean this has almost been a theme the whole year It's been a theme the whole year and now you just have different faces now You have you know Gordon Plumlee bones Highland added to the mix here where you basically haven't had the same whether it be lineups Whether it be load management whether it be there's always something here that you know You're you're hoping that your goal was you were going to get to the last two weeks of the season and you're going to find out Like who you are what your identity is you know That's kind of where your strength is and then you throw the Georgia injury into the mix here and you're basically It's almost like studying for a test like the night before finals here and man when you go all in you better hope you get the right questions Are gonna be on that test for you? Yeah, well, you know, it's almost like they've been studying for the same test four years in a row now and here We are warriors 41 and 38 they finished versus Oklahoma City at sack at Portland They go three and oh and that's in play because the thunder is struggling the Kings get kind of been man for the last couple of weeks And our feeling the sort of okay we did the hard work of our regular season now kind of phase of there I mean when you lose to the Spurs at home with the Dominic Barlow playing crunch time and it's among others You've reached that point of your season so they are actually that's why to me They have the slightly better they have the best chance of all these teams according to some of these protection systems So at least staying out of the play and if they could slide to six loads reported today Andrew Wiggins is Scheduled to return this week to the team and they need him everyone say really is defense defense defense defense Yeah, they need that Because they're kind of papeering over his absence by playing three guard line-ups starting coming go when they need a guy to defend big wings Like Brandon Ingram etc, but it's not just his defense. It's his spot-up shooting It's his cutting he fit it's his offensive rebound like he fit right in he didn't fit right in But after a year or so playing for them He figured out how to find his spots offensively in that system and he throw in his defense They're just there are one team with him and one team without him and if they have him and they have him at something like flow go I still think they could win the West particularly if they land in that six spot I'll tell you right now apologies to Kings fans if it's full-strength warriors against full-strength kings I'm picking the Warriors well and you know people can make I know their road record is You know what it is what it is nine and thirty I can't you know what just not alone I'm now regretting already preemptively picking the Warriors in a series that might not happen They're not even 30 on the right.
I just don't understand anything that's going on with them I give up all you need to do is steal one That's all you need to do Split the series split the two games to start that's all you need and I think you go into Sacramento If that's what's safe, that's what it is in a three six matchup first game in 16 years in Sacramento I think I think this the Kings team will probably be a little bit a little bit tight I mean shoot I'm just rewind a clock back and looking at in 2002 in New Jersey that team had no playoff experience and that Indiana team rolled in And we were as tight as can be and why not losing game one so Hey, you get wiggens back and we'll see where he is. He probably won't play what they're Tuesday They play right is that go Oklahoma City? I think If you see where he is in that sack and Portland game here, but if he's back he gives you you know It's it's a different team if there was no wiggens here I would say that the likelihood is that you know This team doesn't get out of the first round which is incredible to think about and right now They are losing the tie break to the Clippers the Lakers and the Pelicans They have already lost the Lakers and the Pelicans tie breaks They can win the Clippers tie break by finishing with the same division record as the Clippers Which is still in play and then it would pivot to conference record and they're gonna be ahead of the Clippers and conference record But right now they are behind in all three tie breaks and just there's no consistency to them at all but When they have everyone I keep saying it the numbers and even the eye test for at least you know like three string games here Two-shade games there suggests to me. They know how to flip a switch at least at home I mean I just can't believe that I still just don't have any understanding other than They foul a little bit more on the road and opponents on the road are shooting like a gazillion percent from three Well, I mean if you go back to that was the New Orleans game You know from the mid third I guess mid third quarter of the fourth quarter I mean can you put together you know four quarters of that right?
Can you put together four quarters consistently like that? That's I mean that's your kind of your little bit of body of work there and that was without Wiggins New Orleans Pelicans 40 and 38 Their last four games are home against the Kings home against the Grizzlies home against the Knicks now the Grizzlies And then all three of those teams a week and a half goer like boy They might urgently need those games and now that may not be the case anymore And then at Minnesota who may urgently need that final game and may not need it at all Maybe just ninth at that point ninth with a instead of a bullet And they've had a hellacious schedule the Pelicans have for the last month and there was there was about a 25 30 games stretch They were one of the worst offensive teams in the league even when BI came back CJ McCollum's and bothering them all season Obviously no Zion they have they have not just righted the ship They've like righted the ship and flipped all the motors on and they are playing really really well I mentioned Ingram Trey Murphy at the beginning of the season It was he was clearly an improved defensive player like he's like offering legit help and sometimes blocking his own guys shot And it was the Eric Gordon like 28 foot threes that he was making you know the super spacing outries now It's like he can kind of run you a secondary pick and roll pump and go off the dribble against closeouts and make a floater Like his off the dribble game is starting to come and I think an underrated run one is other than getting some guys back healthy Is in the last couple of weeks? Either they have made a renewed focus on getting Jonas found Chunice involved or he has said give me the goddamn ball Cuz I'm Goliath and if I'm Goliath against someone who's not my equal I can Goliath my way to like 20 and 15 If you just give me the damn ball and he's gotten it and he scored and by the way, they're tied for fifth in points allowed per possession effort coaching talent, I don't know what it is it's all those things but Willie Green's done a great job keeping this team steady and If they got if they ever got Zion back and he were ready to actually play in the postseason At at full blast they're scary and they haven't had Alvarado who's a big part of their team They have zero shooting when one of McCollum and Trey Murphy is on the bench I mean they're playing like Ingram and four total non-shooters and they're making it work and they're they're they're they're also fun to watch Like I didn't see this run coming I Didn't write them off But I they faded to the back of my brain like three four weeks ago and they've just roared right back and again if they got Zion back like I want to face them well I mean and things really could have gone south you know they had that that whole that away series in Houston You they lost the first game there And now and things were like like is this team is this game even gonna make the plan or they haven't fun anymore? And then they go out and win that game and they they're basically and this is without a sign They're all they're like the team that we saw in that Phoenix series that not last year But that little mini series back in I don't know when that was December.
It was like a Friday So you know the Zion windmill broke the you know the unwritten rules record as far as that like that was that's the team That looks like right now because there was a 25 game stretch when he got hurt where this team looked like Like a they weren't having fun. They lost their identity. They lost their edge a little bit here and now we're You know as far as they're I mean you're right 1438. I mean they could at the minimum, you know could host You know at least one game here And they have the tiebreaker over the Clippers.
They have the tiebreaker over the Warriors. They do not have they've lost the tiebreaker Against the Lakers so they're actually not in bad shape either and I read you their last games like three of those games are at home They're good at home really good story How can working at your local teams take you further? Sure? You can level up your team work skills You also get a chance to receive its importance scholarship award ready for what's next apply today at careers dot Tim Hortons dot CA Let's transition to some CBA talk because you were at the forefront of our reporting on this over the weekend on Saturday morning at 2 o'clock I have agreed on a new revised collective bargaining remit that will last for another six or seven years depending on opt-outs and all that Which is great news for fans the number one great news for fans I think the headline of it is probably this second apron above the current apron I'm calling this the lead apron the apron where you the apron they put on you at the dentist office when you're getting your Teeth X rate and it's like oh my god this thing is heavy this new thing is the lead apron and It's currently set it's going to be set I guess 17 and a half million dollars above the luxury tax and the clear target is the Warriors and the Clippers and the nets the three teams Who have been outspending everybody and not really getting a lot of bang for their buck at least this year the Warriors did win the title I sure and we're still learning a lot and none of this is final yet I mean the term sheet is gonna come out we think soon, but none of this is final But the idea is if you spend over that amount you don't just get taxed a Gazillion dollars for every dollar you are gonna now have really extreme roster building restrictions placed on you Among those are no mid-level exception now currently they have the baby mid-level exception which is the Dante de Vincenzo Joe Ingalls It's like six million bucks a year.
It's a real thing No, you don't get that you don't get to trade first round picks as far out into the future as other teams You don't get all these other goodies that other teams are gonna have to build their rosters that we're gonna talk about You don't get to send cash in trades, which is a big deal because that's a nice lubricant and although The players are keeping 51% of all basketball related income Although they are getting an additional almost 200 million dollars thrown into that pie the overall BRI pie from various from the league's licensing stuff Which they did not have access to before so that's like eighty ninety million dollars going to the players So they're getting the same amount in the in the percentage. They're getting the same percentage of a bigger pie Nothing has changed in terms of the sort of total pool of money. This is meant to distribute it differently and It's not a hard cap. It's not a what was it upper spending limit?
Yeah, it's a it's a harder soft cap I think the fear articulated by dream on green over the weekend is this will almost act like a hard cap because the roster building Limitations are so punitive That that maybe will act like that. What is your reaction to that? Well, you also have to include that the likelihood is that you won't be able to take that additional salary in a trade You know as far as so if you sent out a player that's making 35 million You can't take back a player making 40 so like the James Harden trade to Brooklyn in 2021 likely doesn't happen in that manner Right like kind of the the parts there so that restricts that it's basically kind of you know Hunt basically a hundred percent. It's got to be dollar for dollar.
You can't sign a buyout player either player That's bought out of contract. That's another one there. I think yeah I was my response about it. Oh There I think yeah I mean I saw dream on quotes and I think there is an overreaction to it because this is all gonna be phased in This is not like starting on this July 1 like all of a sudden like you know the clamps come down on the second apron It basically is gonna allow you to the lead apron the lead This is gotta be what it's called the lead apron as far as it's gonna allow you to kind of get your house in order So who knows two years from now?
We're Golden State's gonna be a dream is on the roster or clay Thompson's on a roster or the guys and with the Clippers Kawai and and Paul George that players there But it's basically it curbs spending outside of your own players your own players that you've drafted The your own players that you might have traded for your own players that you have signed as free agents that when you get to a certain level Which is the lead apron which is basically 17 and a half million above the luxury tax and the luxury tax is going to increase significantly with media rights with the additional revenue coming in here that You can't you know you can't you can't sign a mid-level a tax-man level guy I mean at the end of the day I know that's being eliminated the tax-man level on average I think it was 2.5 players were signed per year to the tax per amid level in that right? D'Vincenzo is probably the best named John Wall Joe Ingles it would hurt Milwaukee Joe Ingles would not be in a Milwaukee uniform here So I understand it from the perspective of you know from the league I think from the perspective of the player's association, you know the trade-off is that everything else increases the regular mid-level exception increases But for this for this here like there was listen from what was initially proposed I mean I mean I can call it can talk to Andre Guidot I mean the likelihood is that with the league proposed was a hard cap true hard cap which was going to be basically a little bit North of what the tax what the luxury tax was this year which was 150 million dollars like that That's what you were facing and then basically what happens there is the teams like Oklahoma City and Orlando and all these other teams That are filling through the draft you're gonna be used to get to a point you got to pick right my pick in Jan Williams My pick in Josh Giddy. Well, you just nailed my number one concern because you know I remember going through this in 2011 with the big lockout Yeah And when there was also talk about hard cap and asking economists this sort of like what is what why what is the mega objection to the hard cap By and I was playing devil's advocate But it was also curious if players are guaranteed as a whole it was then 57% became 51% of all basketball-related income They're getting that money regardless the cap and tax system governs to some degree how it is distributed amongst the membership of the players You know, but they're getting the same pool of money Why is the hard cap such a non-starter and I kind of do some of the answers But a lot of the economists told me at the time because the harder it gets the firmer it gets the more teams are just gonna say We need to prioritize our stars and save up our cap flexibility to retain and or get more stars And the middle class is the one that will end up losing the harder the cap is We'll see if that ends up being the case here That's kind of what your mind is getting at to some degree The other thing is I just still think there need to be you know I would five years ago now I wrote this story Maybe four years ago about the supermax and just how the supermax is so so If it goes bust it just becomes such an albatross for your team But what are you supposed to do like not resign this homegrown superstar to a supermax like we're talking about John Walrus Westbrook like Griffin on and on like Revan get a supermax But you know Jimmy Butler the bulls didn't want to give Jimmy Butler the supermax that was sort of my poster case of it It's like the bulls just voluntarily got out of the Jimmy Butler business in part because they didn't want to pay I'm this big contract guess what Jim Butler is still freaking amazing five years later And the bulls are 39 and 40 trying to get into the play internment well into the play internment trying to up their seating in the play internment And I you brought Oklahoma City and it's nice that the players are getting all these wins that we're gonna talk about It kind of an exchange for the lead apron, but I look at a team like them I'm like man that lead apron could still come into play for them if they resign Shay Giddy jail in Williams Chet Holmgrin if he becomes awesome Lugans or is already gonna make 18 20 for the next few years and I just think there should be Some tax relief for teams who resign their own guys. Maybe you have to limit it to max contracts I just I don't think that was my I mean I put all sorts of crazy I mean you should get an amnesty provision for a 35% supermax 20 year players if he gets injured or you want to get off the contract I just some sort of I would have liked to have seen some sort of provision Preventing a team from having to break itself up because the tax payments to keep it together And I know they didn't draft Shay But they drafted all these other guys and they acquired Shay after one year I just would have liked to have seen something like that and I think and I think they could have and I wrote about it back And I think it was like November as far as you know putting a tier in where you know instead of Based on if you were drafted you're not charged to full amount towards the tax.
I think there could have been still a lead apron where account 14 salary, right? You can't if you see that then all these restrictions that we talked about come into place However for luxury tax standpoint the penalty that you are making if you're $50 million over luxury tax Well instead of being charged a certain amount that number that was it for you know whatever $4 for every dollar Is now decreased because you draft a step or you drafted clay Thompson loony Dremon, you know you wouldn't get relief for Andrew Wiggins you wouldn't have gotten relief for You know Gary Payton this you know those type of players But I did think there was a way to kind of balance it out where you put that you know that that second that lead apron second tier in there And still give teams still some some tax relief here with the restrictions as far as the inability to add additional salary In trades the tax pyramid level you can eliminate that and still balance it out Let's talk about some of the wins for players I don't know if there's a winner player some of the the increased flexibility for teams that are not over the lead apron Which is 27 of the 30 teams currently you mentioned the mid-level exception the big the big mid-level exception That's gonna get bigger We don't know the specifics of it is gonna be bigger Yeah, you guys reported over the weekend you and was restricted free agency I think is is gonna be the qualifying offers are gonna be higher Yeah, 10% and the matching period is gonna be shorter. Yep a day one day one day one done Yep, I think this this to me is one of the big ones going just into the tax by a few million bucks Or even eight million bucks ten million bucks whatever ends up being is gonna be so much less punitive Yeah, the rates are gonna go down once you get right again the specifics are not out yet But the rates right now it's like every as soon as you get over at every dollar is a dollar 50 And you don't get the reimbursement that you get that the under-tax teams get that 150 is gonna be lower whatever It is gonna be much lower to encourage teams to spend into the tax a little bit if their team merits it But also not to do these like well, let's just stay right under we got a duck right under limbo under So there's that and we don't know the specifics But this is the other big one and you have been agitating for a long time right now your tax rate goes up every five million dollars You spend over the tax I don't know what the new figure is gonna be but it's gonna be bigger than five million the increments are gonna be wider That's a big deal and the cool the one of the cooler ones to me that we're gonna learn details about going forward is We mentioned all the ways that the lead apron teams can't make trades anyone below I don't know if it's gonna be anyone but some subset of teams below that the big apron are gonna have much more freedom to make trades Then they do now the salary matching is gonna be wider So you can have bigger differentials between what goes in and what comes out and I heard this today And I think you've heard the same if you don't use your mid-level exception You're gonna be able to trade into it like it's a trade exception right now if you don't if you don't The mid-level exceptions is kind of dead money if you don't use it as a free as a free agent signing mechanism that could I could see a team or Two being like let's not use our mid-level exception and free agency this summer to keep it alive Depending on how our season goes as a trade weapon that that's a little bit of a chilling effect I guess but that's gonna give teams more flexibility. That's kind of cool That's cool because the mid-level exception is gonna be probably north of twelve million dollars So it's basically a trade a twelve million dollar trade exception to either sign a player or trade into I think the big thing that teams always use that exception was for was for signing second round picks Right you use you sign a player to a three or four year contract that money comes out of your your your Non-tax mid-level exception so what the league is done now is they've had a second round exception into this where it's a separate exception to whatever Everything else you have so if you sign if you draft John Smith with a 30 second pick and a draft You can sign that player to a four-year contract starting with with a salary at $2 million for the first year that amount does not come out of your Your your non-tax mid-level exception you can sign a player with three-year deal for $1.7 million and that goes for anyone So if you're you know three years from now Golden State payroll is continually blowing through the roof and you're that led apron team You're allowed to still do that you could still retain because in the past what would happen is you had your You know your non your not your tax mid-level exception you restricted as far as what you can sign that player for so this second round exception now adds You know some more value as far as retaining these players, but also having your big exception to whatever however way you want to use it there's also the players are going to be able to buy equity in teams and when that first got reported and this is kind of the danger of this stuff Come out in drabs a little bit is I thought oh my god That seems that seems rife with some pretty obvious conflicts of interest like across the board And I think the way it is going to work from what I've heard is there are these private equity funds who buy pieces of multiple teams And players are going to be able to invest in those funds So there's like a layer separating the players from the teams and I think again, none of this is out yet None of this is officially that I think they're only going to be able to invest in funds that own pieces of multiple teams at the same time So it's not just a fun that has a piece of one team So you're almost directly having equity in that single team same for the WNBA players are going to be able to invest in WNBA teams But I don't think they'll be able to if the WNBA team is owned by An owner who owns an NBA team as well like Josiah owns the New York Liberty and the Brooklyn Nets.
That's interesting I'm kind of TBD on the conflict of interest part of it and whether I see an issue there But it's an interesting way to do it and a big and a win for the players who From what I've heard proposed so much more aggressive methods of reaping the benefits of say a governor like Robert Sarver buying the sons for Or selling the sons let's say for an evaluation of like 10 times what he paid for them I think there were some aggressive proposals for how the players could share in those profits, but those were not did not get far Yeah, I think How the players association looks at things, you know moving forward I mean we're in a different age in 2023 than we were in 2011 You're treating 450 players or even more as like entrepreneurs right as businessmen that can make more make money outside of what their contract States so if you're a player and you want to invest in a team and put $25 million in that that is now allowed the same with WNBA team, you know We talked about gambling can't all these other the all these entities that you weren't allowed So you're able to now make money off the product that you were playing in or in another another endeavor So that comes off you know the handcuffs of that comes off and I think that's you know For the player's association you get that but then you have to then you make a trade right? I mean that's what negotiations is that's what something they've fought for that's something that C. J. McComb wanted in the group there But then you trade you know then you make a trade worth something else that you have to give back the other one is the liberalizing of extension rules and so currently Veteran players can be offered contract extension starting at 120% of their current salaries up to the max right?
That correct? I'm a good. Yes, correct and this new deal is going to reportedly Increase that to a hundred and forty percent of your current salary The idea being that players like Zach Levine in the past in jail and Brown now who for whom it makes zero sense Even if they wanted to stay with their current teams forever and ever and they love the city They love the market. They love the coach everything just makes no financial sense when they do it and the longer extensions go Unsigned the more the relationship between player and team can grow complicated in ways that maybe do neither good But certainly are harder to repair if over time who knows what happened This gives teams greater ability and players greater ability to design Major lucrative contract extensions and sort of get forced all any trade drama or free agency drama Jalen Brown is gonna be the test case and there was a media reaction and ball among Boston fans I like this is a great this is a great deal for us because Jalen Brown at the end of his deal is deal expires next year makes 30.7 120% of that you start off at like 36 million under next contract 140% of that you start off at 42 million under next contract That's the max now is the max.
It's a max. It's not the max And so the max would be 35% of the cap. Yeah, that's forty nine million dollars a year 140% doesn't get you there making all NBA this season puts that into play and probably ends a lot of drama in Boston If he doesn't make all NBA it's somewhat of an awkward situation where they don't have the 35% max to offer him they have this 140% max to offer him and He may want to let it ride and try to make all NBA again the next year and see what happens Yeah, I mean the brown the brown situation is I would have loved for and it wouldn't have really impacted Jerm I'm Jalen. I would have loved them just eliminated You know, I know they went from 120 to 140 eliminate the rule the extension rule where you're allowed to extend the player for whatever The percentage of the cap is based on their years of service I would have and I'm my friend our friend Kevin Pelton disagree with me on that But I think because what happens is with subonis still so he's it's 15 million dollars more than what the 220% is There's not a mary.
He's not signing extension in Atlanta for 140 for one for you not for 140 You know So with Jalen as you mentioned Yeah, I mean, that's it means I'd like it's almost like you were in a situation way beforehand you were in a suit for the Seltier said well, hey, this is the most we can do all right four four one sixty five now when you pump it up to whatever Four four one ninety, which is the max under non the max but not a super max now. You're saying wait a minute This is some acts contract so now you put yourself in a little bit more of a predicament here and You know the one thing the interesting thing too They added with the extension rules too is that teams or players were always restricted if you acquired a player in a trade Or if you had signed a player to an extension You were restricted as far as the increase all right So if you if Christian wood was acquired by the Mavericks last offseason They were only allowed to extend them for an additional two seasons and a five percent increase now that's changed now Now you can extend the player for total four seasons So three more years and a hundred twenty percent off your salary or 120% off the average player size basically the current rule that we're in right now Which adds a little bit more, you know, there's a little bit more appeal So you won't have to be in that holding pattern, you know six months waiting, you know Jeremy Grant in Portland who still you know In sign extension, but you know those type of players who you trade for you're able to kind of extend right off the bat So Kyrie for example like if this was next year like Dallas would have been able to extend Kyrie for more than two for 76 Right they could have gone three four. I don't know what the number three for a hundred and twenty for example Which you might take if you're Kyrie Let's talk about the 65 games played. No, that is now going to apply to Major awards all awards.
Do we know how many awards it's gonna apply to this is this is according to you? And what I would think it's you know, I mean certainly all in the a I think certainly defensive player the year I think the main the main awards that you got that we have votes to deep, you know most improves, you know things like that Well, certainly probably all you know, I think all rookie all NBA all these different MVP I think there would be a list of things here I think that I think the interesting thing with 60 everyone here is 65 games is that it's not like we're gonna look at the box Go or to I mean the John Marantz games play tomorrow and be like oh man, he's six games short He's not gonna make it well We have to go back into the body of work of his whole year was there was there suspension? Was there were they resting him down the stretch? So it's not cut and dry as far as you know, just because a player misses a game The you know the league and the player association are going to have conditions on here as far as what what you know What counts as a game and what does it so that's what I was gonna ask you?
I don't know I didn't know if you were getting if you were implying that it won't be a black and white you either get to 65 You don't so like someone like take Damien Lillard Yes, who's at 58 games and won't get above 58 games and had the best season of his career It is a pretty strong candidate to me for 13 all NBA I don't know if I'll go any higher than that for Damien Lillard if he even makes one of my three all NBA teams So you're saying and he won't get to 65 because his team made the decision to shut him down You're saying there could be conditions that say okay, you we're gonna count you as like a 65 game player basic Correct that is correct now if Damien Lillard plays in New Orleans one night and they've got a second night of a back-to-back in Dallas and he decides He's going to take the night off because it's a back-to-back You know that you know that comes into play as far as that would count right like that You know, that's that's a game missed you know if the now that the team and Lillard wanted to play in that game and the team says no the data says that your body needs to show You know that you need to rest but your workload now that takes into it now That that's another kind of something that both sides PA and legal look at yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of Complications to that 65 game thing if you're gonna start carving out Yeah, I think they should to be clear But if you're gonna start carving out well those games don't count and those games don't count and that games miss don't doesn't count It's like we're gonna go to arbitrate. It's almost like you're in arbitration right like so if you're at 60 games And you're short of five you're almost gonna take the stand and be like well I wanted to play in these three or four games. This would have got me to 65 I think the interesting thing is I went back and looked at the 11 players at signed Supermax contracts We're using 65 games and the only guy that would not have been eligible was Joel and beat he played 51 games that year He would have been he would have met the criteria the following year, you know when he when he heard hearing all NBA Well think about the impact it would have just on LNBA this year if we were a hard as a rule Steph out Dame out Moran out harden out like just cross them off You don't get to consider them. Yeah, even like how about you take him off right 16 book or 51 right Anthony Davis out LeBron out Kawhi out Durant out just out like you don't get to consider them They're out.
Yeah, and I saw some comments about this. Well voters want their lives made easier This is about the let me let me just assure people whatever the voters do and do not want was not the subject of one second of discussion In the boardroom between the players unit there was no they don't give one crap about voter concerns There was no third committee that was made up of media that was sitting in the hall during these negotiations They said you know what we're gonna be the medium to have their their thoughts on what we're gonna negotiate No, like we were not part of all this I do I do think there should be some awards where I don't want there to be a 65 game thing I Think I mean even 13 all NBA to me is just a free for all for like all right Let me just pick who the best guys are who with some obviously every voter has their own sort of threshold of misgames But I remember the rookie of the year whatever year it was when in beat and broughton went one two and rookie of the year There were a lot of people who voted for in beat I think he played 30 something games that you're I voted for broughton because of games miss But I was totally like if you want to vote for Joe and beat because he's like by far the best rookie per minute I respect that vote and like most rookies are just not positive impactful players I could see there being a guy who deserves rookie of the year having played 45 games but be that what the other thing that I thought we'd get and you and I have talked about this is some and The players would have made this not if not quite a blood issue a big issue some sort of if you sign a super max Yeah, and then you demand a trade You get traded. That's fine. You lose the 5% of the salary that you got by signing this deal with this team It would be the Ben Simmons rule or we could go back and find other people I thought I didn't even really hear like a was there I didn't really hear like even a peep about that Oh, and I dug in on that because you know, I had I'd been asked by a couple teams about that and it wasn't even like You know if there was two hundred items, you know that we're gonna be you know talk about and stuff like that That wasn't that wasn't you know, that wasn't I mean it's hard it's hard to prove right like unless the agent comes out I mean you really have to dig deep as far as a player that has to be traded because publicly will never come out and say it I mean we'll have to come through their agent and then the team, you know, basically It's like almost as I said, you're like you're going arbitration is basically he said she said All right, enough CBA.
Those are any other CBA thing you want to get into? No, I mean, we'll get the term sheet I mean, there'll be I mean the big thing that people have to realize that like I said earlier like this is going to be phased Right like we'll get some of these rules in place this offseason We'll get more next offseason We got a lot the tax stuff to 2020 2025 26, but this is all going to be phased in while we're clear understanding when we get the term sheet Certainly we'll write about it more and say oh the one rule We don't have to I know you'll appreciate this that we want to worry about is that the limit on designated rookie and veteran exceptions anymore As far as guys who signed super maxes so the bench as we another bench image rule that you can't have two players that required via trade So that impacts Cleveland because they had down at a Mitchell who was acquired who had signed a superman You know supermax they had Garland who had signed one this past offseason and then you've got Evan Mobley up next next offseason They would not have been able to sign Mobley to that big contract now They're able to do it because that restrictions is gonna be lifted Let's talk very briefly about the last remaining big race in the playoffs very briefly because I know you have to go very likely 90 to 100 percent certainty across the board one two three four five and six and seven are all set in the east Although Miami has a little bit more work to do to get seven We shouldn't say that but I'm just for the sake of my brain I'm saying that that's where they end up and by the way credit to the nets They fought and scrapped and have sort of gradually looked more like a team with an identity and not a thrown together Collection of parts the ashes of a failed super team fought and are gonna make the playoffs Let's assume Miami gets seventh and wins the what are they the Southeast Division? So they so then they get all the tiebreakers there So then the Hawks don't get any tiebreakers in this scenario we're talking about Hawks Raptors bulls Are eight nine ten. I have been told that The Bulls and the Hawks play each other this week.
This is straight from the NBA if Atlanta beats the Bulls In the event of a three-way tie the order goes Atlanta Toronto Chicago if Chicago beats the Hawks Then it's Chicago Toronto Atlanta So that game in the event of a three-way tie Determines who's first and who's third in the three-way tie break anyway Atlanta's 39 and 39 remarkably They've been within one game of 500 in either direction since January 13th every single day just a living at 500 the Raptors are 39 and 39 They have lost the tiebreaker to the Hawks and Nick nurse made some Candid slash disturbing slash shocking comments over the weekend about his longevity Or potentially lack thereof with a raptor scene that is 13 and 8 and it's last 21 games plus 10 for 100 possessions with Perdall on the floor their team is pretty good right now and the Bulls 38 and 40 but 9 and 14 in their last 13 games being eighth is a big deal Give me a quick take on any one of these teams that you want to talk about I just trust I don't know I trust Toronto more than the other two teams I mean, I still I don't call me crazy I still like you know the start in five in Toronto with that group there in a big game in a playing type game because it's like Yeah, we've harped on, you know, certainly there you know their bench and basically Nick's gonna roll out six guys You know for playing I mean, that's gonna be he's gonna play you know these guys 40 minutes What's which their condition to do and I think man? I just I don't trust Atlanta You know, I you know Chicago the same thing I mean certainly that game with with the Hawks will determine a lot but Toronto's got at they're at Charlotte at Boston at Boston I've lost him a walkie. That's their next four in terms of head-to-head tie break I think although the Bulls are only two one against the Hawks with a game to play So the Hawks could even in it too. I believe just a head-to-head tie break leave the Raptors out I believe the Bulls already have that because if they tied and they were too too head-to-head By definition given their schedules the Bulls would have a better conference record and thus win the tiebreaker no matter what I'm with you on the Raptors I think they're I think they're the best of these three teams particularly if they get Gary Trent back who's now kind of They're six man and you put him in Boucher and a Chua off the bench I feel like I have enough they're starting five makes a lot of sense And a nobody has been on fire for a month That's a big deal because he was his shot was a little wonky he had a wrist injury And I just love the way Scotty Barnes has adjusted to perdles presence because Pertle took his place as kind of the main screen setter on the team and he's really good at that And he's rounded out their team but Scotty Barnes had to kind of adjust like how do I pick my spots in transition Posting up mismatches cutting backside for layups and dungs when Yaakov has a ball at the nail and he's really done a nice job They've been they've been pretty good their schedules at Hornets twice at Boston against the Bucks to wrap it up They might have some university games to play the Hawks Their shot selection is finally starting to Quinn Snyder a fight a little bit.
They're getting to the rim a lot more The Andre 100 has been hurt Boy on Yaakov Kong if you play more minutes. I get a lot of six-man consideration. He's been outstanding for them. I just Feels like a transitional year for the Hawks.
They just can never get it together I don't like watching them play very much just as a spectator experience. It's just like Trey young floater John de Murray floater. Trey young floater. Do not the Murray floater.
Okay, you take a floater I'll take a three don't like watching it, but they have talent and the Bulls credit to them and fifth in defense fifth in defense So big deal this race for eight any any hot takes on the Hawks or the Bulls? No, I mean, I think you're right. I would land I mean especially when when Quinn took over and you know right after the all star break It was almost like and I don't want to say throw a year But like the last 25 games was gonna be an audition as far as what he wanted to keep and what you know what worked and what didn't work here So I think you know they'll be in the playing I mean, I think certainly for them to get out of the plane I think they're gonna have to stay in that in that eight hole All right I mean like when it's you game is not easy like same with Toronto like the wind yeah Hey, you get a home game and then you got to go on the road and win a game that that is not easy So I think you know any of these teams, you know getting to eight is certainly going to be the priority No, and and you know Toronto's a tough place to play the Bulls have been playing pretty well of late I like they're starting five with Caruso and Beverly and Kobe White and Pat Williams off the bench has been good the Derek Jones and Drummond kind of splitting back up centers I'll tell you man. I've never been a big Zach Levine guy I mean I put him on my all-star team a couple seasons ago I think he's a very very good player with some obvious flaws That that the number like for a lot of score first guards who who are minuses on defense the numbers kind of don't add up to as much winning impact as you'd like but I think he's averaging 25 four and four on 49% shooting 38% from 3 56% on 2 I Don't I just think kind of people are sleeping on his season a little bit after he got off to such a slow start with any injury He's he's still just a shot maker extraordinaire.
No one's even mentioning him and I don't think he should be all NBA I'm not gonna have my NBA He's like not even on people's long lists for all NBA de Rosen is he's not I think he's just kind of become a little underrated I think he's played the second most games out of all guards as far as the right behind Anthony Edwards as far as for you know This pool of all NBA guards that were that we're talking about here I think that's the reason why like you know people call for Chicago to eventually pivot or retool this roster and stuff like that guys Like that are hard to you know take out the price tag and what the cost is like guys like that are hard to find this league And I'll tell you Chicago if they get that Hawks win that gets into 39 and 40 at Milwaukee They could get the backup bucks at Dallas They could get the backup mabs home to Detroit if they get that Hawks game They could run the table in B42 and 40 and be in that 7 8 bracket and given all the trauma all the trade rumors all the disappointment All the Lanzo stuff and how sad that is 42 and 40 you get into the playoffs It's not a great outcome, but it feels it feels better than it then it looked like it was gonna feel a month ago Now having said that now that I've said that they'll probably lose to the Hawks by 20 and lose to the Pistons on the last day The season even though the Pistons might be playing three guys in an effort to just end their season None of these teams particularly are expiring but to me Toronto with the way in an obia shooting the introduction of pertile If they get Trent back, that's the team that if I'm I mean, it's gonna be Milwaukee or Boston so they don't really care But that's I mean, it's not pleasant, but it's gonna be a win. I think if I'm a walkie I would rather have Chicago. I you know, Toronto's I mean, nobody feisty. Yeah, I'm not in Chicago You can take up you can take a bus right from Milwaukee to Chicago hop on a couple of luxury buses drive down there They beat the Bulls.
I mean they deliver this series and the playoffs already last year. Oh, the Bulls were totally injured That's those are the last remaining Moments of suspense thankfully Bobby the CBA suspense is not the day ever was any I was for the last two of these I've been on team no one is gonna touch the Golden Goose, but it's nice to just have it done, right? Thank goodness, right? We do not want to be doing this in late June No, Bobby Marks indispensable and will be especially indispensable this week in the next couple weeks because a when you get more details I assume you will get some more Bobby Marks analysis up to CBA and be in an annual tradition unlike any other What is the master slogan a tradition?
Every team that gets eliminated Bobby watch my brother will have your obituary ready next month So so let's see you can already get ready Detroit say I already got nine written I already got ten written The wizards the wizards have a little e-next to their name now I already got ten written they're ready to fire now It's the matter of who that tent is going to be is it going to be Dallas gonna go to the city like it's you know? Bobby Marks, thank you, sir. Thank you. See ya