January 22, 2025 • 31 mins
Jason Timpf highlights the biggest trade deadlines rumors surrounding LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant's Phoenix Suns, and Jalen Green's Houston Rockets! Jason discusses the two trades he would target if he were running the Lakers to help JJ Redick build a championship contender around LeBron and Anthony Davis. Would Phoenix acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat or Houston landing Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls turn either the Suns or Rockets into title contenders?
Timeline:
4:00 - Introduction
5:00 - Jimmy Butler to the Suns
11:45 - How to revamp the Lakers
31:30 - Zach Lavine to the Rockets
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Episode Transcript
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You're at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of
you guys are having a great week. We are continuing
our trade deadline series today hitting three more teams. We're
gonna hit the Phoenix Suns as well as the Los
Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. We did a pack
of three teams last week. We covered the Bucks, the Warriors,
and the Nuggets. We're gonna be hitting throughout the next
(01:56):
two weeks. Just these little kind of like three team
sets where we kind of talked about what they should
do as they come up on the trade deadline. You
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them in our Friday mailbags throughout the rest of the year.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with the
Phoenix Suns. What if we got Jimmy Butler over there?
This is a trade that's been widely reported, a trade
that Phoenix would very much like to do. They conducted
(02:39):
a trade yesterday with Utah Jazz where they turned an
unprotected first into three first round picks, a nice little
symbolic gesture that demonstrates the gap in value between a
unprotected first and a protected first that has less potential
to net you a high level talent. Right, So the
Suns get their three first round picks, which should give
(02:59):
them some more flexibility. Who knows what they have to
send over to Miami. Maybe it ends up being two
of them, and then you can attach another one to
use off nurkics to try to bring something in. But
we're going to zoom in specifically on Jimmy Butler for
this specific segment. So the way that a trade like
this would work is it would be Bradley Beal for
Jimmy Butler, and probably a minimum contract could be Alec
(03:22):
Burks could be a couple other guys, but a minimum
contract coming back. But the gist of the deal would
be Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy slots perfectly into
the Ryan Dunn spot in the starting lineup. I look
at Ryan Dunn in a similar way to the way
I look at Max Christy for the Lakers, and for
the record, not comparing them as players, they're very different.
I think Ryan's much better defensively at this point in
(03:42):
his career and Max is much better offensively at this
point in his career. But I think they both project
in the big picture at their specific position groups to
be two way role players, guys that you can eventually
depend on to take on a substantial defensive role while
also being a useful offensive player. I think they have
similar like kind of like long term trajectories in that respect, right,
(04:03):
But they both are playing on teams that have the
ultimate like win now pressure, right, and ideally you don't
want to rely on them in your best five man groups.
I was watching the Cavs Suns game earlier this morning,
and it's like, it's a couple of wide open corner
threes from Ryan Done that miss. This year, he's making
(04:25):
about a third of his wide open catch and shoot opportunities,
And so it's one of those things where like you
want Ryan Done to get reps. Him starting has been
fine for his overall gaining experience journey, right, but at
the end of the day, like, ideally, you don't want
to depend on him in a big spot. Same goes
with the Lakers for a guy like Max Christie, Right, So,
(04:46):
like Jimmy Butler gives you this rock solid veteran presence
with real superstar upside that slots into that role in
the starting lineup, but still leaves you with plenty of
minutes available for Ryan Done off the bench to make
sure that he continues to get the reps that he
needs to grow. The starting lineup after that sort of
deal would look like Tys Jones at the point, Devin Booker,
(05:08):
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant with Nick Richards. So immediately you
get a more shoe in fit in terms of a
star that can actually play alongside Devin Booker and Kevin
Durant without too much redundancy or without an inability to
take on dirty work. Right, Jimmy Butler can take the
same sort of defensive assignments that Ryan Dunn took, and
when he's really locked in, I think he can do
(05:29):
nearly as well as a guy like Ryan dunnef not
a little bit better when he's really locked in. I
don't think you'll get that level of effort consistently in
the regular season, but Jimmy is a playoff weapon defensively,
is a real asset to have in the bag, and
he gives you a really good combination of both off
ball talent and on ball talent on the offensive end
of the floor. He's a guy who can set screens
for guys like Devin Booker and KD and roll out
(05:51):
of it and make plays when Kevin Durant's throwing the
ball over the top, when they get blitzed or things
along those lines, or if they switch. He's got the
ability to punish Smith's He's been hitting unguarded catch and
shoot jump shots at over a fifty percent clip in
the last few years, albeit at low volume, so like
he's not a guy you can just leave wide open.
He's a very good cutter, and then he also is
(06:12):
a very very good on ball player. He is a
much much better on ball player than a guy like
Bradley Beal. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's a better playmaker.
He's a real switch beater. His last playoff run in
twenty twenty three, he ran over five hundred pick and rolls,
ISOs and post ups in that playoff run and was
well over a point per possession in all three play types,
including passes. He's just a massive talent upgrade and the
(06:35):
kind of guy that immediately makes the Suns a much
more physically imposing group, especially with the Nick Richards' upgrade
at the center spot, and it's been a little bit
of like mixed results with Nick in the early going.
Just absolutely dominated in his first appearance, just benefiting on
all the attention that the stars were gathering, but had
some moments against Jared Allen where he looked really physically
(06:55):
overmatched and didn't get as many of those high quality
role man opportunities. But still I think he's a center
upgrade compared to what they had in house, So like
you're changing the physical in position of the group. Just
to put it really simply, going from Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant,
use Off Nurkic to Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Nick Richards,
(07:15):
It's just a completely different type of physical imposition that
you bring to the table as a team. I think
his ability to attack in a different way than Devin
Booker and Kevin Durant will be really useful. The Sun's
offense has been falling apart in their losses in the
last month. In their eight losses, they've posted a one
to ZH three point nine offensive rating. It's just not
(07:36):
resilient enough. The Cavs game, for instance, it's tie twenty
seven to twenty seven. Late first quarter, they didn't score
for three and a half minutes, zero points. For three
and a half minutes, they gave up a nine to
zero run. Right it's fifty nine to forty eight. At
one point, they didn't score for two and a half
minutes as they gave up an eleven zero run. It
was eighty two sixty eight in the late third quarter,
only a fourteen point game, very much still in reach.
(07:57):
They scored two points over the next six minutes and
completely lost control of the game. There's a certain amount
of like the Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can go
through these stretches where they get a little sloppy with
the ball and they start missing jump shots and the
offense can fall apart, or when the talent off of
the attention they garner is unable to capitalize and their
offense can fall apart. Jimmy Butler has a more resilient
(08:20):
offensive approach. He can attack from the post like we
talked about, but as a bully ball player rather than
as a shot maker, which is more resilient. He's not
going to be as dependent on make and miss when
it comes to the jump shooting side of things. He's
also much better at getting to the foul line than
both Kevin Durant Devin Booker, but much much better than
(08:41):
Bradley Beal is. And again, you're just turning You're just
turning Bradley Beal into a much better offensive player while
also being a much better defensive player. It's just a
massive talent upgrade. And when the Suns are trapped in
the situation that they're trapped in, they don't really have
a ton of flexibility. This is the kind of aggressive
move that they could make that has real upside for
(09:02):
them within this season. I think he's just a much
better player who's a much better fit than Bradley Beal
with this group. I think it's the kind of move
that the Suns should seriously consider. Number Two, how would
I revamp the Lakers? So obviously I prefer a guy
like Brandon Ingram. I just don't think that's going to
(09:23):
happen under the circumstances. So I was trying to come
up with the deal out there that best addresses the
three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers have outside of trying
to pursue a high level, star level offensive player. Okay,
if we remove that from the equation. So take Brandon
Ingram out, take Zach Lavine out, take any of those
(09:43):
big name star type of players. How would I go
about revamping the Lakers? And I came up with two deals.
One I would call it the Utah Jazz. I'd offer
them Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt for Colin Sexton and
Water Kessler. In order to make the deal work, I
think you'd have to remove the protections from the pick
(10:06):
that you got back in the de Lo trade, and
I think you probably have to add another first round
pick that is lightly protected. Okay, so effectively, if you
account removing the protections, that's roughly worth Again, if look
at the Sun's trade, the Suns Jazz trade is a
clear demonstration an unprotected first round pick, it's worth quite
a bit more than protected first round draft compensation. So
removing protections also amounts to a form of draft compensation. Right, So,
(10:30):
like you get removing protections and adding a first round pick,
and you're getting back Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. Then
I would separately call up the Toronto Raptors and I'd
offer them Ruey Hachimura, Jalen Hoods, Schafino and Cam Reddish
with the other first round pick, because remember, they have
two first round picks to trade for Bruce Brown and
(10:50):
Jonathan Magbo for either deal. If they had to, they
could include additional second round draft compensation if the negotiations
get tougher, but I think they have the draft compensation
to make both of the those deals happen. Those two
deals successfully addressed the three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers
have with their roster at this point, separate from anything
having to do with star talent. The three biggest weaknesses
(11:11):
were one, the backup center position, where they just have
an inability to maintain a really high floor when Anthony
Davis is off the floor. They've been getting killed all
season long in the eighty off minutes. They've had some
success in games where like they won a game recently
when Anthony Davis sat, but like for the most part
in recent Lakers history, they've struggled when Anthony Davis has
been out. So a rock solid backup center would go
(11:34):
a long way towards one, giving you a higher floor
and giving you maybe a more legitimate two big look,
which we'll talk about in a minute. Two, they need
a higher floor option at the two guard spot. Right.
I talked about this earlier with Ryan Dunn with respect
to the Suns. You want Ryan Dunn getting his reps,
you want Max Christy getting his reps. I have big
belief in those two players in the long term, But
(11:56):
for either the Suns or the Lakers to be depending
on those guys in their final five, like in the
five that they would go down with in a big
playoff series, I think is a mistake. That's not to
say that you won't find yourself in a position where
a Ryan Dunner, a Max Christie is feeling good in
a big playoff game and you end up riding him out,
But you just don't want to be in a position
where Max is, you know, two turnovers and two bad
(12:20):
miss threes in the first quarter of a pivotal playoff
game and he's your best option at the two because
he's freaking out a little bit under the stress and
pressure of the moment. Right. Totally expectable for a young player.
There's just too many examples in NBA history of young
players struggling when they get into that setting. So a
higher floor option at the two guard spot I view
(12:41):
as an important upgrade for the Lakers, and then lastly,
backup ball handling. Ever since the D'Angelo Russell trade, the
you know, the Lakers have been in this predicament where
once you get past Austin and Lebron, who's your next
best ball handler. It's Gabe Vincent. Right. It's just not
a lot of talent in terms of perimeter ball handling
because you sent d Low out in that trade for
(13:01):
Dorian Finney Smith, who plays a very different type of position. Right,
So if you don't get a star, the three holes
they needed to patch were backup center, an upgrade at
the starting two guard spot, and backup ball handling. Just
somebody that can handle the basketball and take on a
higher usage roll on the offensive end of the floor.
I think those two deals accomplish that by bringing in
(13:24):
Colin Sexton, who is a legitimate guard ball handler that
can take on usage, and getting a Bruce Brown, who is,
in my opinion, a starting caliber two guard in this
league if he's the fifth best player in your lineup,
which he would be in that case. And then three
a backup center in the form of Walker Kessler. So
here's what you'd be left with if the roster and
(13:44):
all the dust settled, you would have a rock solid
core five Austin, Bruce Brown, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron James
and Anthony Davis. And for the record, you could start
Max if you wanted to keep him in the starting
lineup and keep him getting reps and just close games
with Bruce, if that's what it came down to, but
just for the sake of laying out the roster, because
I think Bruce right at this second is a better
(14:06):
player than Max, even though Max will obviously have the
ability to pass him in the long run. Austin Bruce,
Doran Phinney, Smith, Lebron and AD that is a good
core five. I like that as a core five that
can the Lakers could go down within a playoff series
because Bruce and Dorian are guys that have the ability
to function within a five man group offensively while both
being really useful defensive players at their position while bringing
(14:29):
different abilities to the table. I think Bruce is better
guarding guards. I think Dorian Finney Smith is better guarding forward,
so it's kind of like a natural, kind of like
pairing between the two of them. But at the same time,
Dorian can slide his feet a little bit. Bruce can
bang with the larger players on the floor as well
a little bit, right, So like there's some switchability there
as well. And then you've got your Austin Lebron Anthony
(14:50):
Davis and it depends on those three guys to carry
things offensively. But that was gonna be the case regardless
if your goal was to win the championship, you were
gonna need Lebron ad In Austin to a play great. Right,
then you'd have depth at key position groups. So Austin
has a clear backup in Colin Sexton after that type
of trade, Bruce Brown and Max Christy with regardless of
(15:12):
depending on which one you end up starting with, one
of those guys is a clear backup for the other. Right. Now,
backup forwards, it gets a little finn there, right, you'd
have Dalton Connect Jonathan Magbo coming back in the Raptors deal.
Just a kind of a young athletic forward. It does
some things well does He has a lot of weaknesses,
but he can just be a depth piece for you
at the forward spot. Christian Wood if he can come
(15:33):
back healthy, and then Bruce Brown. I think there's a
case to be made that Like, that's another upside to
the Bruce Brown trade is like, if you need to
find more minutes from him, I think he can play
a little bit at the small forward, which can keep
Max's minutes up, but supplements you in terms of depth
at the forward position. But again, the whole point of
this trade is that you're swapping forward depth to anchor
(15:57):
your core five and for a rock solid backups. When
you have a rock solid backup center, a guy like
a Walker Kessler, it anchors you physically in a way
that allows you to be smaller at other positions. Remember,
like Walker's just like one of the most physically imposing
players in this league. He at this point in time
(16:17):
is leading the league in offensive rebounds per game at
four point three offensive rebounds per game, and he's second
in the league in blocks behind Victor wembin Yama despite
playing less than thirty minutes per game in both of
those categories. Right, So, like a really big, physical player
that creates an easier physical responsibility down the roster. Right, So, like, yes,
(16:38):
there's you're trading to address those weaknesses. You're creating a
new thin spot in terms of forward depth. But I
look at it more in terms of playoff rotation. In
regular season rotation, right in the playoffs you can scale
up minutes. Do I think that the Lakers would have
an eight man rotation that could all be reliable? Libel
(17:00):
is a hard word, but like, at least be playable
playoff players. Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron, A D,
Colin Sexton, Max Christy, Walker Kessler. That's your eight guys
right there. You got a wing, a guard in a
center off the bench. You could see so like in
the playoffs, you can see a playoff rotation take shape.
(17:21):
You start the game. Let's say let's say you start
with Max. You start Austin, Max, Dorian Lebron, and a D.
When Lebron checks out, you can have a Lebron off
group that's like Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, and then
a two big look with Anthony Davis and Walker Kesler.
When Ad comes off the floor, you can see a
Lebron led group that has Walker Kessler with Lebron at
(17:43):
the four, with Bruce Brown at the three, Max Christy
at the two, and Colin Sexton at the one. You
can see how they can piece together lineups where even
your your ad off group with Lebron and a guy
like Walker Kessler. That's a really big front line. Bruce
plays bigger than he is at the three. You're going
against bench groups with that lineup two, so like you
can kind of see a playoff rotation that makes sense.
(18:05):
And then there's still a closing five there, which is like, oh,
it's a big spot. We're on the road at ok See,
it's game two. It's ninety five ninety five with five
minutes left in the fourth quarter and we're down one zero,
but we have a chance to steal home court advantage. Here.
You have a guy like Bruce Brown that you can
go to in the closing group that is a higher
floor veteran experienced playoff player that's won a championship that
(18:28):
you can slide into that spot. But then in the
regular season you have depth options. Like that's the upside
to getting a guy like Magboback because he's a guy
that can play some ford minutes in the regular season.
Christian Wood when he gets healthy, can play forward minutes
in the regular season, even next to a guy like
Walker Kessler. Dalton Connect is a guy that can play
minutes in the regular season that can carry you through
those stretches. You just have more a better playoff upside
(18:50):
in my opinion because of that rock solid core five
and a big look. That is an important flexibility for
specific matchups in the playoffs. Like, let's I want to
like kind of take a little bit of a step back,
and I want to zoom out and I want to
look at what this move really creates for the Lakers
(19:10):
in terms of their playoff upside. Right, So, like we
can all acknowledge that this team isn't winning anything unless Lebron, James, Austin, Reeves,
and Anthony Davis are all playing at a super high
level on offense. It goes without saying we just have
to acknowledge that, right, we kind of removed the possibility
of a superstar trade. Once you take that out of
the equation, It's like, if this team's going anywhere, Lebron, Austin,
(19:33):
and Ady have to reach a certain level offensively. I
think they can. As recently as last year in the
playoffs in that first round series against Denver, I thought
they were playing at that level. It was the surrounding
talent around them that let them down. They struggled tracking shooters,
they struggled rebounding. There were a bunch of like specific
issues with role players. That's where I really liked the
(19:54):
idea of Bruce Brown. He will embrace a bench roll,
meaning if you want to start Max, you still have
that option. He's a monster rebounder for his size. It
gets seven rebounds per thirty six minutes so far the season.
He's averaging six point one rebounds per thirty six minutes
in his career, so at his size, a very good rebounder.
He's good at defending opposing guards, but he has some switchability.
(20:15):
He's actually hit five out of ten on guard to
catch and shoot jump shots so far this year. Again
that's a low sample size, but he's a I think
a guy that can be functional on the offensive end
of the floor. So you're bringing back a playoff rotation
piece in Bruce Brown for a guy in Ruey Ho.
Chamurro really struggled in the Nuggets series last year, so
it's kind of a swapping a less reliable playoff player
(20:36):
for a more reliable playoff player. Walker Kessler, though, is
the option where I see a real upside in terms
of playoff optionality. Right, So when you look at the playoffs,
and you look at the types of teams that have
massive front lines, whether it's the Nuggets with Aaron Gordon
and Nicola jokicch with Michael Porter Junior, or it's the
Clippers just with how big zoo botches right and what
(20:58):
Kawhi Leonard can do, the Grizzlies who run a lot
of two big looks, the Timberwolves who run a lot
of two big looks. There are specific teams that you're
run into in the playoffs where you might have to
match up with size in physicality. Some of those teams
have centers that Anthony Davis has struggled with straight up.
Anthony Davis has struggled with Zoobot straight up, He's struggled
(21:19):
with with nikolea Jokic straight up right. So like, by
having a bigger look, by having the ability to put
together frontlines of Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Walker Kessler together,
you at least give yourself an option in those settings
to match physicality for physicality. You may be better off
going small, but at least you'll have that optionality. An
(21:41):
example that I would give you is like, do you
remember when the Lakers tried putting Ruey Hachi Mura on
Nikola Jokic, and Jokic has dealt with the center guarding
Aaron Gordon before, and he's dealt with that well. So
I want to sit here and pretend like it's some
sort of magic fix for how to deal with the
Denver Nuggets. But Jokich was just too good at shoving
Ruey Hachimura wherever he wanted to get to and just
scoring on right, if you try Walker Kessler in that
(22:02):
spot and Walker Kessler is on Jokich, he's gonna have
a better opportunity to fight Yokich off of spots with
Anthony Davis and help on the back line. It's a look.
It's about having a look. But Walker Kessler also provides
that optionality in the regular season, right, like the ability
to rest Anthony Davis. Walker Kesler can be a starting
center in this league. He immediately gives you a better
(22:25):
floor in the regular season when you rest ad, which
brings me to the final piece of this. There's a
real regular season upside, especially when you factor in the
Colin Sexton edition. So Colin Sexton is a guy that
can step into a high usage roll. He gives you
a better chance to win if you give Austin Reeves
a night off or if you give Lebron James a
(22:48):
night off. So if I look at these two deals
in the short term, in the regular season, we need
to get to April mid April with Lebron and AD
and Austin ready to go. I needs a night off,
Lebron needs a night off, Anthony Davis needs a night off.
Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler give you a substantially better
option to win on those nights when you're giving guys
(23:11):
a night off. Fast forward to the postseason. Bruce Brown
gives you a clear closing five when the shit hits
the fan, and Walker Kessler gives you a big look
that you can use against some of the massive frontlines
around the NBA. So again, it anchors the core three, Austin,
Lebron and AD with the best possible group of role
(23:32):
player talent that you can within the short term, because
this might be your last best chance to win a title,
and right now it looks like a very very slim chance.
Right this might be your last chance that anchors those
three with solid role player talent that puts the outcome
of the season in Lebron Ad in Austin's hands. It's
on them to figure it out at that point. I
(23:55):
think that's the responsibility that the front office has here,
is that least put the out come in their hands,
and with the giant holes in role player talent, it
doesn't really feel like it's in their hands. This is
a way to appease that now. I would rather have
had this sort of deal done last year when Lebron
and Ad looked like better players, but better late than never.
(24:17):
I suppose number three are third trade of the day.
What if the Houston Rockets got Zach Levine, The way
(24:38):
this deal would look is Fred van Vliet for Zach Levine.
Straight up, It shouldn't take much of anything in the
terms of draft in the way of draft compensation, just
simply because Fred van Vliet has one fewer a year
on his deal. But even if the Rockets did have
to include some draft compensation, they just have so like
I think they have ten first round draft picks between
now and twenty thirty one, so they could throw in
(24:59):
some secon around draft compensation, or maybe a heavily protected
first or something like that if that's what they wanted
to do to make something like this happen. But I've
talked all this year about how the Rockets have a
shot creation problem. I think they're a bit closer to
legit championship contention than people realize. They're so big and
physical on the perimeter, and that's just such an important
part of playoff basketball. Pressuring the ball, being physical, rebounding,
(25:23):
all those sorts of things are what carries you when
you get into the postseason and things get really ugly
and physical. The Rockets are the third best defense in
the league. They are the very best rebounding team in
the league. All of that translates to the upper levels
of competition. They're eleven and four this year against teams
that are in the top ten in point differential. That
ranks just second in the league to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
(25:46):
They have the second best record in basketball against the
top ten teams in the league. They're top five in
both offense and defensive efficiency in those situations. There's a
lot of upside, but there's one big downside. Their offense
has had a tendency to break, especially in clutch situations.
They are twenty fifth in fourth quarter offensive rating and
eighteenth in clutch offensive rating. They've dropped nine games in
(26:08):
the clutch this year, and in those nine losses, they've
had just a ninety four offensive rating in clutch time
in those games. There's been a pretty consistent through line
with their offense between the success of Fred van Vliet
and Jalen Green and whether or not they can win games.
When Jalen Green scores thirty or more points this year,
they're undefeated. I think he has eight thirty point games
(26:29):
this year. Just look back through their recent losses. When
they lost to Detroit, Fred van Vliet and Jalen Green
thirty nine total points on thirty six shots. The loss
of Sacramento, Fred van Vliet didn't play, although that was
more of a shootout between those two teams. The loss
of the Boston Celtics, fred van Vliet only had eight points.
The lost to Miami, fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green
combined for thirty five points and thirty seven shots. You
(26:52):
guys get the point. This is an elite, physical, playoff
built roster, but they have shaky perimeter shot creators, especially
when things show slow down at the end of games.
A Zach Lavine trade accomplishes two very important goals for
the Rockets One. It capitalizes on the short term opportunity
while also maintaining the long term flexibility. In the short term,
(27:16):
Zach is just a much better offensive player than Fred
van Vliet. Fred is averaging fifteen points per game on
below forty percent from the field field goal percentage fifty
two percent true shooting. Zach Lavine has thirteen thirty point
games this year. That is four more than Fred and
Jalen have had combined. This season. Fred's had won, Jalen's
(27:38):
had eight, Zach Levin's had thirteen. He's averaging twenty four
points per game on sixty four percent true shooting. How
many players in the league this year do you think
there are better? Averaging at least twenty four points per
game on at least fifty percent from the field and
at least forty percent from three pretty low parameters. Twenty
four points per game fifty to forty. There's three guys
(27:58):
in the entire league, Nicole Jokich, Karl Anthony Towns, and
Zach Lavine. He is the type of offensive threat that
could give this group, this elite defensive and rebounding group,
real championship upside, especially in the context of how well
Jalen Green's been playing as of late. He's averaging twenty
nine points per game on fifty two percent from the
field forty nine percent from three to ninety two percent
(28:20):
from the line in his last nine games. Give Zach
and Jalen that type of group of athletes that defend
in that rebound and you have some real upside in
the short term, the same upside that we've seen manifest
in this regular season as they've been beating a lot
of really good teams this year. So I really like
it as a short term gamble, but in the long run,
(28:42):
you're still staying committed to the long term potential of
this group. You're not trading Jalen Green, who's been playing great.
I talked about him the other day. Like Jalen Green,
to me, represents the kind of player that's really difficult
to give up on as like a bigger freaky athlete
show creator. There's this thing where like these small freaking
(29:03):
athlete guards that have a certain ceiling when they get
into the NBA. But when you're like Jalen Green, like
when you're over six ' four and you're freaky athletic
like that, it just comes with another layer of the
ability to get free from elite NBA defenders. And that's
really the thing that I noticed when I watch it.
When things get really tight, Jalen Green can get to
(29:24):
his spots, and he's got the ability to make shots,
as he's demonstrated in this recent stretch right and throughout
the season from time to time. Right. So, I like
Jalen Green as a guy that the Rockets should continue
to take a bet on, But you're giving up a
guy in Fred van Vliet that does not fit into
the long term potential of this group. Now, I've heard
some talk behind the scenes from people that think that
(29:46):
it's more likely that Houston tries to re up with
Fred at a discounted deal something in that like twenty
million dollar range for a certain number of years, and
maybe that's the direction they decide to go. I think
that's just as punting on this season. What I like
about the type of a deal that exactly deal does
for you is, yes, you take on one additional year
of salary over what the Fred van Vliet deal has,
(30:06):
but you might be able to first of all, you
might be able to negotiate a similar type of extension
with him that you could with Fred van Vliet. And
then secondly, you're not giving up any sort of big
picture asset that's going to alter the long term potential
of this team. So you're not including one of your
really nice young players like a Men Thompson, You're not
(30:26):
including massive amounts of first round draft compensation. You still
have the flexibility to make a home run trade for
somebody like Kevin Durant or something like that down the line. Hell,
you might be able to use Zach Lavine's salary to
pull that off if you end up in that position.
It is an instant upgrade that gives you the ability
to win in the context of this season while maintaining
(30:49):
the big picture flexibility you have as a team that
has a ton of potential, a team that's the second
seed in the West, with a ton of talent and
a ton of draft picks in the hopper ready to
go in the time incomes. I like that as a
deal that capitalizes on the short term potential while maintaining
the long term flexibility. All right, guys, that's all I
have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys
(31:10):
for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back
tomorrow with some really good game reaction content, several really
interesting NBA games on tonight. The Celtics are on the
road in Los Angeles against the Clippers. I think the
Warriors are on the road in Sacramento against the Kings.
I want to say it's Calves Rockets is another one
that we got. Like, there's a lot of really good games,
(31:30):
So we're going to switch back towards game reaction content tomorrow.
But that's all I have for you, guys. Appreciate it.
I'll see you tomorrow the volume. What's up guys? As always,
I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.
They would actually be really helpful for us if you
guys would take a second and leave a rating and
a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
(31:52):
but if you could take a minute to do that,
I'd really appreciate it.
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(01:35):
You're at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of
you guys are having a great week. We are continuing
our trade deadline series today hitting three more teams. We're
gonna hit the Phoenix Suns as well as the Los
Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. We did a pack
of three teams last week. We covered the Bucks, the Warriors,
and the Nuggets. We're gonna be hitting throughout the next
(01:56):
two weeks. Just these little kind of like three team
sets where we kind of talked about what they should
do as they come up on the trade deadline. You
guys have the job before we get started. Subscribe to
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(02:16):
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them in our Friday mailbags throughout the rest of the year.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with the
Phoenix Suns. What if we got Jimmy Butler over there?
This is a trade that's been widely reported, a trade
that Phoenix would very much like to do. They conducted
(02:39):
a trade yesterday with Utah Jazz where they turned an
unprotected first into three first round picks, a nice little
symbolic gesture that demonstrates the gap in value between a
unprotected first and a protected first that has less potential
to net you a high level talent. Right, So the
Suns get their three first round picks, which should give
(02:59):
them some more flexibility. Who knows what they have to
send over to Miami. Maybe it ends up being two
of them, and then you can attach another one to
use off nurkics to try to bring something in. But
we're going to zoom in specifically on Jimmy Butler for
this specific segment. So the way that a trade like
this would work is it would be Bradley Beal for
Jimmy Butler, and probably a minimum contract could be Alec
(03:22):
Burks could be a couple other guys, but a minimum
contract coming back. But the gist of the deal would
be Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy slots perfectly into
the Ryan Dunn spot in the starting lineup. I look
at Ryan Dunn in a similar way to the way
I look at Max Christy for the Lakers, and for
the record, not comparing them as players, they're very different.
I think Ryan's much better defensively at this point in
(03:42):
his career and Max is much better offensively at this
point in his career. But I think they both project
in the big picture at their specific position groups to
be two way role players, guys that you can eventually
depend on to take on a substantial defensive role while
also being a useful offensive player. I think they have
similar like kind of like long term trajectories in that respect, right,
(04:03):
But they both are playing on teams that have the
ultimate like win now pressure, right, and ideally you don't
want to rely on them in your best five man groups.
I was watching the Cavs Suns game earlier this morning,
and it's like, it's a couple of wide open corner
threes from Ryan Done that miss. This year, he's making
(04:25):
about a third of his wide open catch and shoot opportunities,
And so it's one of those things where like you
want Ryan Done to get reps. Him starting has been
fine for his overall gaining experience journey, right, but at
the end of the day, like, ideally, you don't want
to depend on him in a big spot. Same goes
with the Lakers for a guy like Max Christie, Right, So,
(04:46):
like Jimmy Butler gives you this rock solid veteran presence
with real superstar upside that slots into that role in
the starting lineup, but still leaves you with plenty of
minutes available for Ryan Done off the bench to make
sure that he continues to get the reps that he
needs to grow. The starting lineup after that sort of
deal would look like Tys Jones at the point, Devin Booker,
(05:08):
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant with Nick Richards. So immediately you
get a more shoe in fit in terms of a
star that can actually play alongside Devin Booker and Kevin
Durant without too much redundancy or without an inability to
take on dirty work. Right, Jimmy Butler can take the
same sort of defensive assignments that Ryan Dunn took, and
when he's really locked in, I think he can do
(05:29):
nearly as well as a guy like Ryan dunnef not
a little bit better when he's really locked in. I
don't think you'll get that level of effort consistently in
the regular season, but Jimmy is a playoff weapon defensively,
is a real asset to have in the bag, and
he gives you a really good combination of both off
ball talent and on ball talent on the offensive end
of the floor. He's a guy who can set screens
for guys like Devin Booker and KD and roll out
(05:51):
of it and make plays when Kevin Durant's throwing the
ball over the top, when they get blitzed or things
along those lines, or if they switch. He's got the
ability to punish Smith's He's been hitting unguarded catch and
shoot jump shots at over a fifty percent clip in
the last few years, albeit at low volume, so like
he's not a guy you can just leave wide open.
He's a very good cutter, and then he also is
(06:12):
a very very good on ball player. He is a
much much better on ball player than a guy like
Bradley Beal. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's a better playmaker.
He's a real switch beater. His last playoff run in
twenty twenty three, he ran over five hundred pick and rolls,
ISOs and post ups in that playoff run and was
well over a point per possession in all three play types,
including passes. He's just a massive talent upgrade and the
(06:35):
kind of guy that immediately makes the Suns a much
more physically imposing group, especially with the Nick Richards' upgrade
at the center spot, and it's been a little bit
of like mixed results with Nick in the early going.
Just absolutely dominated in his first appearance, just benefiting on
all the attention that the stars were gathering, but had
some moments against Jared Allen where he looked really physically
(06:55):
overmatched and didn't get as many of those high quality
role man opportunities. But still I think he's a center
upgrade compared to what they had in house, So like
you're changing the physical in position of the group. Just
to put it really simply, going from Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant,
use Off Nurkic to Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Nick Richards,
(07:15):
It's just a completely different type of physical imposition that
you bring to the table as a team. I think
his ability to attack in a different way than Devin
Booker and Kevin Durant will be really useful. The Sun's
offense has been falling apart in their losses in the
last month. In their eight losses, they've posted a one
to ZH three point nine offensive rating. It's just not
(07:36):
resilient enough. The Cavs game, for instance, it's tie twenty
seven to twenty seven. Late first quarter, they didn't score
for three and a half minutes, zero points. For three
and a half minutes, they gave up a nine to
zero run. Right it's fifty nine to forty eight. At
one point, they didn't score for two and a half
minutes as they gave up an eleven zero run. It
was eighty two sixty eight in the late third quarter,
only a fourteen point game, very much still in reach.
(07:57):
They scored two points over the next six minutes and
completely lost control of the game. There's a certain amount
of like the Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can go
through these stretches where they get a little sloppy with
the ball and they start missing jump shots and the
offense can fall apart, or when the talent off of
the attention they garner is unable to capitalize and their
offense can fall apart. Jimmy Butler has a more resilient
(08:20):
offensive approach. He can attack from the post like we
talked about, but as a bully ball player rather than
as a shot maker, which is more resilient. He's not
going to be as dependent on make and miss when
it comes to the jump shooting side of things. He's
also much better at getting to the foul line than
both Kevin Durant Devin Booker, but much much better than
(08:41):
Bradley Beal is. And again, you're just turning You're just
turning Bradley Beal into a much better offensive player while
also being a much better defensive player. It's just a
massive talent upgrade. And when the Suns are trapped in
the situation that they're trapped in, they don't really have
a ton of flexibility. This is the kind of aggressive
move that they could make that has real upside for
(09:02):
them within this season. I think he's just a much
better player who's a much better fit than Bradley Beal
with this group. I think it's the kind of move
that the Suns should seriously consider. Number Two, how would
I revamp the Lakers? So obviously I prefer a guy
like Brandon Ingram. I just don't think that's going to
(09:23):
happen under the circumstances. So I was trying to come
up with the deal out there that best addresses the
three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers have outside of trying
to pursue a high level, star level offensive player. Okay,
if we remove that from the equation. So take Brandon
Ingram out, take Zach Lavine out, take any of those
(09:43):
big name star type of players. How would I go
about revamping the Lakers? And I came up with two deals.
One I would call it the Utah Jazz. I'd offer
them Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt for Colin Sexton and
Water Kessler. In order to make the deal work, I
think you'd have to remove the protections from the pick
(10:06):
that you got back in the de Lo trade, and
I think you probably have to add another first round
pick that is lightly protected. Okay, so effectively, if you
account removing the protections, that's roughly worth Again, if look
at the Sun's trade, the Suns Jazz trade is a
clear demonstration an unprotected first round pick, it's worth quite
a bit more than protected first round draft compensation. So
removing protections also amounts to a form of draft compensation. Right, So,
(10:30):
like you get removing protections and adding a first round pick,
and you're getting back Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. Then
I would separately call up the Toronto Raptors and I'd
offer them Ruey Hachimura, Jalen Hoods, Schafino and Cam Reddish
with the other first round pick, because remember, they have
two first round picks to trade for Bruce Brown and
(10:50):
Jonathan Magbo for either deal. If they had to, they
could include additional second round draft compensation if the negotiations
get tougher, but I think they have the draft compensation
to make both of the those deals happen. Those two
deals successfully addressed the three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers
have with their roster at this point, separate from anything
having to do with star talent. The three biggest weaknesses
(11:11):
were one, the backup center position, where they just have
an inability to maintain a really high floor when Anthony
Davis is off the floor. They've been getting killed all
season long in the eighty off minutes. They've had some
success in games where like they won a game recently
when Anthony Davis sat, but like for the most part
in recent Lakers history, they've struggled when Anthony Davis has
been out. So a rock solid backup center would go
(11:34):
a long way towards one, giving you a higher floor
and giving you maybe a more legitimate two big look,
which we'll talk about in a minute. Two, they need
a higher floor option at the two guard spot. Right.
I talked about this earlier with Ryan Dunn with respect
to the Suns. You want Ryan Dunn getting his reps,
you want Max Christy getting his reps. I have big
belief in those two players in the long term, But
(11:56):
for either the Suns or the Lakers to be depending
on those guys in their final five, like in the
five that they would go down with in a big
playoff series, I think is a mistake. That's not to
say that you won't find yourself in a position where
a Ryan Dunner, a Max Christie is feeling good in
a big playoff game and you end up riding him out,
But you just don't want to be in a position
where Max is, you know, two turnovers and two bad
(12:20):
miss threes in the first quarter of a pivotal playoff
game and he's your best option at the two because
he's freaking out a little bit under the stress and
pressure of the moment. Right. Totally expectable for a young player.
There's just too many examples in NBA history of young
players struggling when they get into that setting. So a
higher floor option at the two guard spot I view
(12:41):
as an important upgrade for the Lakers, and then lastly,
backup ball handling. Ever since the D'Angelo Russell trade, the
you know, the Lakers have been in this predicament where
once you get past Austin and Lebron, who's your next
best ball handler. It's Gabe Vincent. Right. It's just not
a lot of talent in terms of perimeter ball handling
because you sent d Low out in that trade for
(13:01):
Dorian Finney Smith, who plays a very different type of position. Right,
So if you don't get a star, the three holes
they needed to patch were backup center, an upgrade at
the starting two guard spot, and backup ball handling. Just
somebody that can handle the basketball and take on a
higher usage roll on the offensive end of the floor.
I think those two deals accomplish that by bringing in
(13:24):
Colin Sexton, who is a legitimate guard ball handler that
can take on usage, and getting a Bruce Brown, who is,
in my opinion, a starting caliber two guard in this
league if he's the fifth best player in your lineup,
which he would be in that case. And then three
a backup center in the form of Walker Kessler. So
here's what you'd be left with if the roster and
(13:44):
all the dust settled, you would have a rock solid
core five Austin, Bruce Brown, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron James
and Anthony Davis. And for the record, you could start
Max if you wanted to keep him in the starting
lineup and keep him getting reps and just close games
with Bruce, if that's what it came down to, but
just for the sake of laying out the roster, because
I think Bruce right at this second is a better
(14:06):
player than Max, even though Max will obviously have the
ability to pass him in the long run. Austin Bruce,
Doran Phinney, Smith, Lebron and AD that is a good
core five. I like that as a core five that
can the Lakers could go down within a playoff series
because Bruce and Dorian are guys that have the ability
to function within a five man group offensively while both
being really useful defensive players at their position while bringing
(14:29):
different abilities to the table. I think Bruce is better
guarding guards. I think Dorian Finney Smith is better guarding forward,
so it's kind of like a natural, kind of like
pairing between the two of them. But at the same time,
Dorian can slide his feet a little bit. Bruce can
bang with the larger players on the floor as well
a little bit, right, So like there's some switchability there
as well. And then you've got your Austin Lebron Anthony
(14:50):
Davis and it depends on those three guys to carry
things offensively. But that was gonna be the case regardless
if your goal was to win the championship, you were
gonna need Lebron ad In Austin to a play great. Right,
then you'd have depth at key position groups. So Austin
has a clear backup in Colin Sexton after that type
of trade, Bruce Brown and Max Christy with regardless of
(15:12):
depending on which one you end up starting with, one
of those guys is a clear backup for the other. Right. Now,
backup forwards, it gets a little finn there, right, you'd
have Dalton Connect Jonathan Magbo coming back in the Raptors deal.
Just a kind of a young athletic forward. It does
some things well does He has a lot of weaknesses,
but he can just be a depth piece for you
at the forward spot. Christian Wood if he can come
(15:33):
back healthy, and then Bruce Brown. I think there's a
case to be made that Like, that's another upside to
the Bruce Brown trade is like, if you need to
find more minutes from him, I think he can play
a little bit at the small forward, which can keep
Max's minutes up, but supplements you in terms of depth
at the forward position. But again, the whole point of
this trade is that you're swapping forward depth to anchor
(15:57):
your core five and for a rock solid backups. When
you have a rock solid backup center, a guy like
a Walker Kessler, it anchors you physically in a way
that allows you to be smaller at other positions. Remember,
like Walker's just like one of the most physically imposing
players in this league. He at this point in time
(16:17):
is leading the league in offensive rebounds per game at
four point three offensive rebounds per game, and he's second
in the league in blocks behind Victor wembin Yama despite
playing less than thirty minutes per game in both of
those categories. Right, So, like a really big, physical player
that creates an easier physical responsibility down the roster. Right, So, like, yes,
(16:38):
there's you're trading to address those weaknesses. You're creating a
new thin spot in terms of forward depth. But I
look at it more in terms of playoff rotation. In
regular season rotation, right in the playoffs you can scale
up minutes. Do I think that the Lakers would have
an eight man rotation that could all be reliable? Libel
(17:00):
is a hard word, but like, at least be playable
playoff players. Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, Lebron, A D,
Colin Sexton, Max Christy, Walker Kessler. That's your eight guys
right there. You got a wing, a guard in a
center off the bench. You could see so like in
the playoffs, you can see a playoff rotation take shape.
(17:21):
You start the game. Let's say let's say you start
with Max. You start Austin, Max, Dorian Lebron, and a D.
When Lebron checks out, you can have a Lebron off
group that's like Austin Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, and then
a two big look with Anthony Davis and Walker Kesler.
When Ad comes off the floor, you can see a
Lebron led group that has Walker Kessler with Lebron at
(17:43):
the four, with Bruce Brown at the three, Max Christy
at the two, and Colin Sexton at the one. You
can see how they can piece together lineups where even
your your ad off group with Lebron and a guy
like Walker Kessler. That's a really big front line. Bruce
plays bigger than he is at the three. You're going
against bench groups with that lineup two, so like you
can kind of see a playoff rotation that makes sense.
(18:05):
And then there's still a closing five there, which is like, oh,
it's a big spot. We're on the road at ok See,
it's game two. It's ninety five ninety five with five
minutes left in the fourth quarter and we're down one zero,
but we have a chance to steal home court advantage. Here.
You have a guy like Bruce Brown that you can
go to in the closing group that is a higher
floor veteran experienced playoff player that's won a championship that
(18:28):
you can slide into that spot. But then in the
regular season you have depth options. Like that's the upside
to getting a guy like Magboback because he's a guy
that can play some ford minutes in the regular season.
Christian Wood when he gets healthy, can play forward minutes
in the regular season, even next to a guy like
Walker Kessler. Dalton Connect is a guy that can play
minutes in the regular season that can carry you through
those stretches. You just have more a better playoff upside
(18:50):
in my opinion because of that rock solid core five
and a big look. That is an important flexibility for
specific matchups in the playoffs. Like, let's I want to
like kind of take a little bit of a step back,
and I want to zoom out and I want to
look at what this move really creates for the Lakers
(19:10):
in terms of their playoff upside. Right, So, like we
can all acknowledge that this team isn't winning anything unless Lebron, James, Austin, Reeves,
and Anthony Davis are all playing at a super high
level on offense. It goes without saying we just have
to acknowledge that, right, we kind of removed the possibility
of a superstar trade. Once you take that out of
the equation, It's like, if this team's going anywhere, Lebron, Austin,
(19:33):
and Ady have to reach a certain level offensively. I
think they can. As recently as last year in the
playoffs in that first round series against Denver, I thought
they were playing at that level. It was the surrounding
talent around them that let them down. They struggled tracking shooters,
they struggled rebounding. There were a bunch of like specific
issues with role players. That's where I really liked the
(19:54):
idea of Bruce Brown. He will embrace a bench roll,
meaning if you want to start Max, you still have
that option. He's a monster rebounder for his size. It
gets seven rebounds per thirty six minutes so far the season.
He's averaging six point one rebounds per thirty six minutes
in his career, so at his size, a very good rebounder.
He's good at defending opposing guards, but he has some switchability.
(20:15):
He's actually hit five out of ten on guard to
catch and shoot jump shots so far this year. Again
that's a low sample size, but he's a I think
a guy that can be functional on the offensive end
of the floor. So you're bringing back a playoff rotation
piece in Bruce Brown for a guy in Ruey Ho.
Chamurro really struggled in the Nuggets series last year, so
it's kind of a swapping a less reliable playoff player
(20:36):
for a more reliable playoff player. Walker Kessler, though, is
the option where I see a real upside in terms
of playoff optionality. Right, So when you look at the playoffs,
and you look at the types of teams that have
massive front lines, whether it's the Nuggets with Aaron Gordon
and Nicola jokicch with Michael Porter Junior, or it's the
Clippers just with how big zoo botches right and what
(20:58):
Kawhi Leonard can do, the Grizzlies who run a lot
of two big looks, the Timberwolves who run a lot
of two big looks. There are specific teams that you're
run into in the playoffs where you might have to
match up with size in physicality. Some of those teams
have centers that Anthony Davis has struggled with straight up.
Anthony Davis has struggled with Zoobot straight up, He's struggled
(21:19):
with with nikolea Jokic straight up right. So like, by
having a bigger look, by having the ability to put
together frontlines of Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Walker Kessler together,
you at least give yourself an option in those settings
to match physicality for physicality. You may be better off
going small, but at least you'll have that optionality. An
(21:41):
example that I would give you is like, do you
remember when the Lakers tried putting Ruey Hachi Mura on
Nikola Jokic, and Jokic has dealt with the center guarding
Aaron Gordon before, and he's dealt with that well. So
I want to sit here and pretend like it's some
sort of magic fix for how to deal with the
Denver Nuggets. But Jokich was just too good at shoving
Ruey Hachimura wherever he wanted to get to and just
scoring on right, if you try Walker Kessler in that
(22:02):
spot and Walker Kessler is on Jokich, he's gonna have
a better opportunity to fight Yokich off of spots with
Anthony Davis and help on the back line. It's a look.
It's about having a look. But Walker Kessler also provides
that optionality in the regular season, right, like the ability
to rest Anthony Davis. Walker Kesler can be a starting
center in this league. He immediately gives you a better
(22:25):
floor in the regular season when you rest ad, which
brings me to the final piece of this. There's a
real regular season upside, especially when you factor in the
Colin Sexton edition. So Colin Sexton is a guy that
can step into a high usage roll. He gives you
a better chance to win if you give Austin Reeves
a night off or if you give Lebron James a
(22:48):
night off. So if I look at these two deals
in the short term, in the regular season, we need
to get to April mid April with Lebron and AD
and Austin ready to go. I needs a night off,
Lebron needs a night off, Anthony Davis needs a night off.
Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler give you a substantially better
option to win on those nights when you're giving guys
(23:11):
a night off. Fast forward to the postseason. Bruce Brown
gives you a clear closing five when the shit hits
the fan, and Walker Kessler gives you a big look
that you can use against some of the massive frontlines
around the NBA. So again, it anchors the core three, Austin,
Lebron and AD with the best possible group of role
(23:32):
player talent that you can within the short term, because
this might be your last best chance to win a title,
and right now it looks like a very very slim chance.
Right this might be your last chance that anchors those
three with solid role player talent that puts the outcome
of the season in Lebron Ad in Austin's hands. It's
on them to figure it out at that point. I
(23:55):
think that's the responsibility that the front office has here,
is that least put the out come in their hands,
and with the giant holes in role player talent, it
doesn't really feel like it's in their hands. This is
a way to appease that now. I would rather have
had this sort of deal done last year when Lebron
and Ad looked like better players, but better late than never.
(24:17):
I suppose number three are third trade of the day.
What if the Houston Rockets got Zach Levine, The way
(24:38):
this deal would look is Fred van Vliet for Zach Levine.
Straight up, It shouldn't take much of anything in the
terms of draft in the way of draft compensation, just
simply because Fred van Vliet has one fewer a year
on his deal. But even if the Rockets did have
to include some draft compensation, they just have so like
I think they have ten first round draft picks between
now and twenty thirty one, so they could throw in
(24:59):
some secon around draft compensation, or maybe a heavily protected
first or something like that if that's what they wanted
to do to make something like this happen. But I've
talked all this year about how the Rockets have a
shot creation problem. I think they're a bit closer to
legit championship contention than people realize. They're so big and
physical on the perimeter, and that's just such an important
part of playoff basketball. Pressuring the ball, being physical, rebounding,
(25:23):
all those sorts of things are what carries you when
you get into the postseason and things get really ugly
and physical. The Rockets are the third best defense in
the league. They are the very best rebounding team in
the league. All of that translates to the upper levels
of competition. They're eleven and four this year against teams
that are in the top ten in point differential. That
ranks just second in the league to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
(25:46):
They have the second best record in basketball against the
top ten teams in the league. They're top five in
both offense and defensive efficiency in those situations. There's a
lot of upside, but there's one big downside. Their offense
has had a tendency to break, especially in clutch situations.
They are twenty fifth in fourth quarter offensive rating and
eighteenth in clutch offensive rating. They've dropped nine games in
(26:08):
the clutch this year, and in those nine losses, they've
had just a ninety four offensive rating in clutch time
in those games. There's been a pretty consistent through line
with their offense between the success of Fred van Vliet
and Jalen Green and whether or not they can win games.
When Jalen Green scores thirty or more points this year,
they're undefeated. I think he has eight thirty point games
(26:29):
this year. Just look back through their recent losses. When
they lost to Detroit, Fred van Vliet and Jalen Green
thirty nine total points on thirty six shots. The loss
of Sacramento, Fred van Vliet didn't play, although that was
more of a shootout between those two teams. The loss
of the Boston Celtics, fred van Vliet only had eight points.
The lost to Miami, fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green
combined for thirty five points and thirty seven shots. You
(26:52):
guys get the point. This is an elite, physical, playoff
built roster, but they have shaky perimeter shot creators, especially
when things show slow down at the end of games.
A Zach Lavine trade accomplishes two very important goals for
the Rockets One. It capitalizes on the short term opportunity
while also maintaining the long term flexibility. In the short term,
(27:16):
Zach is just a much better offensive player than Fred
van Vliet. Fred is averaging fifteen points per game on
below forty percent from the field field goal percentage fifty
two percent true shooting. Zach Lavine has thirteen thirty point
games this year. That is four more than Fred and
Jalen have had combined. This season. Fred's had won, Jalen's
(27:38):
had eight, Zach Levin's had thirteen. He's averaging twenty four
points per game on sixty four percent true shooting. How
many players in the league this year do you think
there are better? Averaging at least twenty four points per
game on at least fifty percent from the field and
at least forty percent from three pretty low parameters. Twenty
four points per game fifty to forty. There's three guys
(27:58):
in the entire league, Nicole Jokich, Karl Anthony Towns, and
Zach Lavine. He is the type of offensive threat that
could give this group, this elite defensive and rebounding group,
real championship upside, especially in the context of how well
Jalen Green's been playing as of late. He's averaging twenty
nine points per game on fifty two percent from the
field forty nine percent from three to ninety two percent
(28:20):
from the line in his last nine games. Give Zach
and Jalen that type of group of athletes that defend
in that rebound and you have some real upside in
the short term, the same upside that we've seen manifest
in this regular season as they've been beating a lot
of really good teams this year. So I really like
it as a short term gamble, but in the long run,
(28:42):
you're still staying committed to the long term potential of
this group. You're not trading Jalen Green, who's been playing great.
I talked about him the other day. Like Jalen Green,
to me, represents the kind of player that's really difficult
to give up on as like a bigger freaky athlete
show creator. There's this thing where like these small freaking
(29:03):
athlete guards that have a certain ceiling when they get
into the NBA. But when you're like Jalen Green, like
when you're over six ' four and you're freaky athletic
like that, it just comes with another layer of the
ability to get free from elite NBA defenders. And that's
really the thing that I noticed when I watch it.
When things get really tight, Jalen Green can get to
(29:24):
his spots, and he's got the ability to make shots,
as he's demonstrated in this recent stretch right and throughout
the season from time to time. Right. So, I like
Jalen Green as a guy that the Rockets should continue
to take a bet on, But you're giving up a
guy in Fred van Vliet that does not fit into
the long term potential of this group. Now, I've heard
some talk behind the scenes from people that think that
(29:46):
it's more likely that Houston tries to re up with
Fred at a discounted deal something in that like twenty
million dollar range for a certain number of years, and
maybe that's the direction they decide to go. I think
that's just as punting on this season. What I like
about the type of a deal that exactly deal does
for you is, yes, you take on one additional year
of salary over what the Fred van Vliet deal has,
(30:06):
but you might be able to first of all, you
might be able to negotiate a similar type of extension
with him that you could with Fred van Vliet. And
then secondly, you're not giving up any sort of big
picture asset that's going to alter the long term potential
of this team. So you're not including one of your
really nice young players like a Men Thompson, You're not
(30:26):
including massive amounts of first round draft compensation. You still
have the flexibility to make a home run trade for
somebody like Kevin Durant or something like that down the line. Hell,
you might be able to use Zach Lavine's salary to
pull that off if you end up in that position.
It is an instant upgrade that gives you the ability
to win in the context of this season while maintaining
(30:49):
the big picture flexibility you have as a team that
has a ton of potential, a team that's the second
seed in the West, with a ton of talent and
a ton of draft picks in the hopper ready to
go in the time incomes. I like that as a
deal that capitalizes on the short term potential while maintaining
the long term flexibility. All right, guys, that's all I
have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys
(31:10):
for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back
tomorrow with some really good game reaction content, several really
interesting NBA games on tonight. The Celtics are on the
road in Los Angeles against the Clippers. I think the
Warriors are on the road in Sacramento against the Kings.
I want to say it's Calves Rockets is another one
that we got. Like, there's a lot of really good games,
(31:30):
So we're going to switch back towards game reaction content tomorrow.
But that's all I have for you, guys. Appreciate it.
I'll see you tomorrow the volume. What's up guys? As always,
I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.
They would actually be really helpful for us if you
guys would take a second and leave a rating and
a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
(31:52):
but if you could take a minute to do that,
I'd really appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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