NBA Mailbag: Will Steph Curry & Warriors make move, Clippers red hot, Draymond back | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: Will Steph Curry & Warriors make move, Clippers red hot, Draymond back | Hoops Tonight

What’s up everybody thanks as always for supporting the show it would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel and then follow me on social media on Tik Tok Instagram and Twitter

So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball hey Jason big fan of the show how do you think the Kings should handle the trade deadline it was already clear that an upgrade from Barnes was necessary but

Now herder struggles have added a new sense of urgency for a trade what do you think is the smartest approach to the second half of the season for the Kings so you know it’s interesting as I look at the Kings I I I want to like I really

Like the idea of more size in the lineup when you factor in deonis sabonis and some of his defensive limitations right we’ve seen this before with um we’ve seen this with the Pelicans this year we see it with the Nuggets this year and last year in the

Postseason when you have a really really good low man like a guy like kind of like what Brandon Ingram’s been doing for the Pelicans a lot this year uh kind of like what Aaron Gordon’s been doing for the Nuggets forever when your weak side Defenders have real length and size

In athletic tools it makes it so that you can bring your big man higher into your pick and roll coverages to be more aggressive where his inability to block shots is not as much of a problem and it’s more basketball IQ quick hands defensive rotation stuff that comes to

The surface which actually fits Sab bonus’ skill set more but you have to have a top tier athlete at the four that can really cause problems as a low man in help situations rotating back to the weak side and cleaning up the defensive glass so we know they went after seak

And that that deal fell apart probably because Kevin herder or not Kevin herder excuse me because Keegan Murray was being pulled from the deal and I totally understand that thought process Keegan Murray is a really exciting young player but the idea is if you can get a SE

Yakum type of player in at the four all of a sudden that raises your defensive ceiling substantially I also think people have underestimated Pascal sakam as a postup shot Creator which would add a kind of additional you know playoff entry point for their offense which I think is worth looking at the other

Thing too I think when push comes to shove you got to go down with Malik Monk and dear and Fox on the floor uh I think it just gives you the amount of dribble penetration you need to dissect playoff defenses and so a lot of that kind of

Entails if I’ve got Daren Fox and Malik mon Daren Fox can take High leverage defensive assignments and I actually think that that’s kind of the best version of the Kings is when dearen Fox is really locked in on the defensive end but if Malik monks your two I I really

Need three good forwards there right or two good forwards next to deonis sabonis and so like at a certain point you got to ask yourself like do you want to sit here and wait for Keegan Murray’s development and see if you can find some discounted forward to upgrade Harrison

Barnes or do you want to push your chips in and try to go at this thing and that’s a decision for the front office to make because there’s a version of this where maybe you package herder and Keegan Murray and you bring back a player like that and you slot Harrison

Barnes up at the three they’ve had some success with like sabonis Trey Lyles Harrison Barnes lineups that are just bigger this season those lineups are actually plus nine per 100 possessions and 91 possessions this year when Barnes is next to LY and sabonis and so like

Maybe you end up making a move like that and you have a sabonis sakam Barnes Malik monk dearen Fox kind of lineup that you can go down with in in the postseason but that puts off a lot of your long-term upside right because of what whatever Keegan Murray and Kevin

Herder can become so it’s tough decisions but at the end of the day like if you want to keep Keegan Murray and keep some of your longterm upside that significantly diminishes the caliber player that you can bring back in that four spot you know unless unless you can

Hold off and maybe you get lucky and you hold off until the deadline and then SE yakum does go without having to include Keegan Murray in the deal but I I do think it’s smart in the short term to wait until February before including a guy like Keegan Murray in a deal like

That but the point is I like sabonis hyper athletic versatile forward someone like aakam and then I like that dear and fox Malik monk backcourt when we get into the postseason next question the Warriors seem like they have a depth an issue with depth a depth people blame

Steve because he wants to play like nine guys but we have 12 that can play I think a good trade will be great for adding back a better player to while also adding a subtraction it seems like no one can get a rhythm since everyone’s

Minutes are ups and up and down do you think the Warriors depth will get better with the trade or Worse thank you for your uh thank you for the time you put in this show thank you for the kind words um I talk about this a lot with

The Lakers too because they have a similar issue where theyve got like a bunch of guys that can play they got like 11 or 12 guys that can be in the rotation my thing is like consistency is what matters it’s like yeah at the deadline you want want to make a

Consolidation trade is what you call that if you’ve got guys at the end of your rotation that are good enough to play more minutes but they aren’t playing more minutes because you don’t have room for them in the rotation then you’re getting less out of that contract

Than someone else could get which means it’s worth more to you as a trade piece than it is a rotation piece unless you’re planning in the long run right so a lot of this comes down to the Warriors decision-making as it stands uh like are

You going all in on the step era or are you trying to rebuild for the future and leaning into kaminga and Moody and Jackson Davis and Brandon pmy right and that’s decision number one but if you make the decision to lead into Steph then from there it’s a two-step process

Step one lean into a rotation we’re going to talk about this when we talk about Draymond uh here in a minute but there’s a specific lineup that I want to see the Warriors lean into until the deadline when you get to the deadline then it’s about a consolidation trade

You want to turn two or three rotation players into one or two better rotation players because it simplifies your rotation and raises your ceiling that’s the way that I would approach it when we get to the deadline this year we’re going to talk more Warriors here in a

Minute next question how come you never talk about the magic who’s been in top four in their conference all year long and how Palo Monero is already taking a superstar leap in year two I’ve never seen a number one pick get such little coverage as poo does um before these

Last two wins the magic had lost eight out of 11 and that was the main reason why we haven’t been talking a lot of magic they’re a young team I don’t view them as a serious Championship Contender and as you guys know this show is going

To take a much harder look at the top 10 teams in the league like there are NBA shows out there that have a more balanced approach to all 30 teams um that’s just not the way we do it here like I will occasionally talk about young players and rookie rankings and

Draft stuff and we will look at the teams in that 11 to 20 range occasionally but I’m primarily leaning into those top 10 teams and the magic have for stretches of the year been a top 10 regular season team but I don’t view them as a champ a top 10

Championship Contender they’re super young and they’re half offense is garbage so that’s the main reason why that that’s that’s why we don’t talk about him as much on that show but that said we have hit the magic at like a half dozen times this year it’s not like

We don’t talk about them and here’s the thing I think Pao is going to be awesome to put it simply Pao represents a type of player that I really really think thrives when we get to the later rounds of the postseason he is a bully ball forward and he’s actually more advanced

As a passer than I think a lot of people expected him to be at this point jumper still has a ways to go he’s going to have to get better at it he has shot the ball better this year than he did last year but that like there there’s room

For improvement there uh he’s better defensively than he was last year too I actually do see him as a guy that could take the leap to legitimate superstardom in the future but most importantly I just envisioned Paulo in an Eastern Conference Finals just in a rock fight

Of a game just playing Bully ball around the rim and generating uh open looks out of drawing multiple Defenders and out of just being bigger and stronger than everybody so I’m a huge fan of Paulo we’re going to talk in a little bit about Jaylen Suggs too when we talk

About role players so like it’s not so much that I dislike the magic or that we’re uh you know ignoring them on purpose it’s just kind of like the way the layout of the show works right like we’re going to heavy focus on the top 10 teams occasional focus on the middle 10

Teams going to hit the big markets your Celtics your warriors your Lakers they’re going to get the Knicks we’re going to do a lot of that kind of stuff because that’s just kind of the the the the layout of this particular show the NBA season is in full swing and when I

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Draftking sports book with code Hoops that’s H PS the crown is yours all right Draymond Green is back he uh has signed a multi-year extension with the uh the volume which I’m very very excited about I feel uh uh I’m proud to be under the same media umbrella as Draymond I think

He’s one of the great uh upand cominging media talents that we have in the industry I think he’s got a long media career ahead of him after he retires and I’m very very happy to have him on with the volume yesterday he released his apology podcast which needed to happen

As we know I thought it was super super uh um uh transparent and I thought he was being super vulnerable was something that I respected you know Draymond I I Draymond talked about you know how he got frustrated after what happened with all the people talking about how he

Needed help and I you know part of me kind of like saw where he was coming from in the moment too cuz like that’s the thing is like we see d a lot but we see him in these brief windows and like I could see how he would be like who the

Hell like why do you think you know me like why do you who have only seen these brief Windows into my my life think you know who I am as a human being and I I totally sympathize with that because it’s it’s the truth like I I I’ll just

Put it this way like I’m a lot better now in my early 30s but like if you only knew me on the basketball court when I was like 25 you probably didn’t like me very much I was I was a I was a hotthead I I didn’t really handle uh I I

Handle I didn’t handle my competent uh competitive energy really well I just I I had issues that that that I had to deal with on the basketball court off the court though totally different guy right and so like it wouldn’t have been fair to to judge who I was as a human

Being based on that now uh Draymond did have does have some on court issues and he specifically addressed them but I I did sympathize with his frustration there there were two things in the podcast though that I thought were were super super interesting as it pertains to Draymond like really taking a

Different approach to this one he said that he turned help from a negative thing into a positive thing and I thought that was really cool because he’s right like why is it that we suddenly look at the idea that you need help as a bad thing we all need help

Like you guys have no idea what my wife does for me on a daily basis to keep me sane right like that’s help does that like like that’s that’s that’s help that I need on a daily basis some people get excellent benefits out of therapy some people get excellent benefits out of

Specific relationships that they lean on for emotional support like that is not a weakness and and I thought it was cool that Draymond you know basically was like yeah like people I was hearing these people saying I need help and I was like screw you why are you saying I

Need help and it’s like actually no no no like help is a good thing help is not a negative thing why am I putting such a negative energy on that and then the the second thing that I thought was really interesting is he talked about how he

Always used his play as an excuse for his behavior right and Dron all the time would remember that big Instagram story that he recently had and he talked about how like yeah I I have uh always been wired this way and this is how I win and

Like I Channel this energy and that’s what makes me who I am and it’s a good thing right and it’s like part of who I am and like Draymond was like no that’s an excuse I was using it as an excuse for bad behavior and I thought I thought

Those were two really good examples of Draymond like completely changing his approach to put it simply the gobear thing he was making excuses and this time he wasn’t that to me is is a is a is a sign of a guy who’s like really looking in the mirror in in striving for

Self-improvement at the same time he said like I have not changed completely in three weeks like it takes a lot of time he’s like this is only the beginning of this process I thought it was really really uh uh uh I thought it was a really uh reflective podcast from

Draymond in terms of just him striving to be the best version of himself now the I want to move into our follow-up question is Draymond Green the key to unlocking the Warriors lineups featuring both kaminga and Wiggins personally I see that lineup as potentially devastating this is where it

Gets exciting because I actually think Draymond coming back now could mean a lot more for the Warriors than people think and there’s a couple of specific reasons one I think Draymond thinks he let his team down and I think that that’s going to cause him to approach this next couple of months

With an insane level of intensity as a competitor to try to make it up to his teammates two the Warriors are in some trouble they’re in some legitimate trouble in the standings and they got to figure some out right Steph went right back into a slump uh uh played

Horribly against the Raptors as they got thrashed they’re in some trouble they need to play really good basketball and so when you combine like the kind of personal feeling of of of wanting to make it up to his team with the urgency of the situation I think we’re going to

Get some incredible play out of Draymond Green over the next couple of months I think that that specific lineup that you’re referencing that Steph clay Andrew Wiggins Jonathan kaminga Draymond needs to start every game until a trade is made it needs to play major minutes and have a Long Leash until every game

Is played that is your five best players that is your best opportunity like I understand that Wiggins is not playing playing well but you need to try to push through that a little bit longer to see what you can get because you’re not going to be trading Wiggins in all

Likelihood so you’re going to be likely having to move some of these younger players so you need to lean into Wiggins getting back on track but I see switchability there I see drop coverage I I see the ability to run multiple different coverages defensively I see like uh with Draymond shooting the ball

As well as he has this year I look at a a lineup with a lot of offensive Firepower in terms of downhill athleticism obviously kuminga and Andrew Wiggins on the weak side and shooting could be an issue but that’s already been an issue in other lineups so why

Not have that but also be super athletic I think they’re going to be really physically imposing in that group that’s the one you lean into you lean into that five you see what you have there and then you make a call when you get into February and they get closer to the

Deadline next question I think the reason the Clippers have been relatively healthy this year versus the uh versus last year is because of the aggregate ball handling and uh taking pressure off of PG and kawhai do you think that plays a factor and do you think it will hold

Off in the playoffs honestly I don’t know uh I do think the aggregate ball handling has really helped in terms of just how good they look they’re more organized on offense James Harden just put it simply if had to put it down to one concept he gets the defense into

Rotation a lot which makes the game of basketball so much easier when you’re playing with guys closing out at you versus a set and loaded defense so I think it’s helped as far as the injuries go like your guess is as good as mine it

Could be luck it could be kawhai and PG just playing more and them just being more conditioned and therefore holding up better as they play like I don’t really know what it is as far as the health goes but I do know the ball handling has really helped the basketball product a

Lot next question Jason in your opinion who do you think is the most valuable player to their team I don’t mean who’s the best player it could possibly be a player that’s like the 50th best player in the league if you think they’re the most valuable to their team this is

Meant as a question that’s sort of more fun if you want to set aside versus obvious answers such as joic embiid jannis Luca K uh Curry Etc and pick someone you feel has a role on a team that is absolutely essential and Reliant to them having any team success no

Matter how small or large have had it all right great question by the way so the star guys the three guys that come to mind are embiid halberton and Luca donic those three guys I think have been doing the most with least in terms of the Superstar class this year some role

Player examples Aaron Gordon and kcp with cont callwell Pope as a primary point of attack Defender Aaron Gordon as a low man and as a guy that can guard the Kaw and the LeBron’s and the Kevin Durants I don’t think that you can do much uh more in terms of importance in

The winning context than what Aaron Gordon and Casey P do for Denver Derek white with the Boston Celtics here’s a crazy stat for you the Celtics are 14 points better per 100 possessions with Derrick White on the floor versus off the next closest Celtic is Tatum at

Plus4 so that goes to show you what Derek White does outstanding point of attack defense one of the best shot blocking guards in the league really really good offensive player gets a excellent passer gets the defense and rotation primary action that the Celtics like to run at the end of games is a

Dereck white Jason Tatum two-man game like his pull-up three-point shooting has been outstanding drick White’s just an awesome role player jayen Suggs in Orlando he was the hero of the end of that uh Denver Nuggets game the other night just with the job that he did on Jamal Murray to

Help shut down that uh yic Murray two-man game at the end of the game just an incredible point of attack Defender jump shooting comes and goes but I think his physicality at the guard position is immensely important to what Orlando does Alex Caruso in Chicago very similar concept Lou Dort in Oklahoma

City very similar concept like Lou Dort I I think is vitally important to Oklahoma City with the job that he can do as a primary defender on the ball um taking those specific assignments a lot of point of attack defenders in there that the having a guy that can guard the

Other team’s best player and and you know respectably fight over the top of screens and make things difficult and pick and roll is a hugely Val valuable con Concept in the NBA all right four questions uh left what other NBA content do you consume besides games do you ever watch

Thinking basketball videos on YouTubes player on YouTube player podcasts or other shows so I used to consume a ton of NBA content before I was doing this for a living um I was listening to a lot of Zack low I was listening to a lot of

Pete Zas with like her film room I was uh thinking basketball was a a channel that I spent a lot of time on there there were JJ reic I think is one of the very best in the business like JJ reck is the guy that I personally strive to

Be like when I think about like the guy who’s the best at doing what I do for a living I look at JJ someone that I respect a great deal he’s kind of like a role model for me so to speak in the industry someone that I look up to a

Great deal um but since I started doing this for a living honestly like I’ve been trying to find I spend a ton of time around the game so like I coach basketball at least twice a week I um play basketball in some capacity at least six days a week I my strength

Training is geared around basketball and then for this job like I literally watch like 30 hours of film a week at a minimum if not more and so as a result of that like I actually have been trying to find reasons to not do basketball

Related things and so it used to be I’m a big like I put in my airpods whenever I’m doing like weight training shooting workouts any sort of housework anything of that like that nature I like listen to stuff for like hour and a half a day um but that used to be basketball

Podcasts and now I’m using that as an opportunity to take a mental break from the game and so I still occasionally listen to those guys uh mainly just because I I I I’m a big believer in like learn as much about the game as you can

And I I learn about the game from guys like that I learn about the game from you guys in the comments they’re they’re about once a week twice a week I I’ll see a comment and I’ll be like I like oh that’s a really interesting concept that

I wasn’t thinking about a lot of you guys who are specific fans of teams it really means a lot to me when you guys take time to write out like your frustr like it’s if you’re a let’s say you’re a Pacers fan and you’re frustrated about a

Specific lineup thing or or you disagree with something that I’m saying when you like write out the basketball case for it in the comments I read those every single time and I learn about that kind of stuff like I have no delusions of grandeur to think that I know everything

About the game of basketball no like I consume as much of it as possible I try to learn as much as possible I’m constantly changing my basketball worldview based on new information and I don’t think there’s any person out there that can’t teach me something about the

Game and so I definitely still listen to those guys when every once in a while but but I I listen to a lot of Star Wars Star Wars audio books and stuff like that like I’m a huge Star Wars fan so I look for opportunities to I’ve just like

Just went through the new high Republic book that just came out I I’ve been listening to a lot of expanded universe stuff like I just it almost allows me to disconnect and so now when I’m you know doing the dishes instead of constantly inundating myself with more and more

Basketball I’ll take a break and I’ll listen to a Star Wars book and now it’s like I disconnect it’s almost like I’m relaxing in a different way while I’m working so hopefully that answers that question for you speaking of Star Wars uh Ryan Rumley our lead producer sent me

A a link to a new movie coming out that’s called the Advent I think it’s like the adventures of the Mandalorian and grou or the Mandalorian and Gru or something like that and he asked me my take on the movie and I I was I was looking at it and like the Mandalorian

Season 3 ended with grou and Mandalorian and Mando sitting on like a porch chilling and they did like the shrink circle thing on them and made it kind of seem like it was over and what kind of bothers me about this is it’s very much like classic Disney like let’s make a

Movie because this is popular and we can make money on it and I understand Gru’s got a big following and and a lot of people are fans of him my thing is I think the grou Mandalorian storyline has kind of run its course and so that means

That they’re going to force something to make a movie which it just to me is just a bad process like I understand the idea of like take something that’s there that already has a certain amount of public interest and then build around it and then you have a certain guaranteed amount of

Traffic from that but it may I think that approach has too much fear as it pertains to creating something new and Star Wars is so desperate to go out of this timeline and to make something different get out of this into I don’t care if it’s way in the past or way in

The future where they can build something new that can capture the old Star Wars fans and the new Star Wars fans but I think they’re just scared to do it and that’s a real bummer and I’m hoping Dave filon can kick that Trend over the course of the next couple of

Years next question we have two more why is the three and D player so rare in the NBA every team wants one but not all teams can find them it’s really this simple to me there’s a lot of guys that can shoot the three that aren’t really

Great Defenders and there are a lot of really great Defenders that can’t really shoot the three the guys that can do both make like 25 plus million a year and now you’re talking talking about a damn near Star level contract for a a guy that that that fills that three andd

Role player role and so generally speaking most of these teams are looking for the discounted mid-level exception veteran minimum by annual exception guys that can do one thing really well and are only okay in the other and try to build a lineup around that but the truth

Of the matter is it’s not so much that there’s not that many of them it’s just the ones that can do it are too expensive to really take up a significant Chunk on your roster especially if you’ve got multiple stars on your payroll uh last question you’ve had way

Too many or you’ve had too many basketball questions so let’s get weird have you ever thought about snowboarding so I ski personally I heard it was easier on your knees that was the main reason I decided it to begin with also most of the people that I go with do ski

So like I have two groups that I primarily go to the mountain with I go with my friends and I go with my wife’s family my wife snowboards and my wife’s brother snowboards but my wife’s other two brothers both ski and my wife’s father skis and my wife’s father is an

Excellent skier and he actually taught me how to ski and so that group largely skiers and then when I go with my friends I’ve got my wife who snowboards and one of my buddies who snowboards but then the rest of us ski and so it’s just

It just makes more sense to ski because I get better pointers it’s it’s it’s more camaraderie in that respect I also just heard it’s safer on your knees because your feet get anchored now my wife my wife’s an excellent snowboarder who’s been snowboarding since she was very young

And she just is like oh yeah I want to try skiing this year and I literally told her I’m like I don’t get that I’m like you’re my wife is like really good at snowboarding like she’s way better at snowboarding than I am at skiing and

Like I’ll be like you’re already so good at this why would you want to go on the mountain and be less good at something when you can just be continue to be really good at snowboarding and she’s great at it too like like how how are

You not just wanting to do more of that I know for me personally like I won’t try snowboarding because I’ve actually become a decent skier and I have a freaking great time when I’m skiing so I’d rather just ski uh that doesn’t mean I won’t ever try it but like it would

Have to be I’d have to like literally live on a mountain and ski 50 days a year for me to be like okay I’ll take five to try snowboarding just to see if I like it but like right now I’m skiing on average like 8 to 10 days a year and

So I’d rather just spend those 8 to 10 days doing what I’m already good at which is skiing you know what I mean I’m not like great at it by any stretch of the imagination but I can get down you know what I mean and I have fun doing it

Um I would say I was talking about this earlier today with a buddy of mine at the gym I’d say skiing is probably my I’m going to go with third favorite thing to do in the World Behind playing basketball and uh and playing Guitar

Jason Timpf discusses if Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors will make a trade deadline move to try and push for another NBA title. With Draymond Green coming back from suspension, one name that would be a perfect fit in Golden State is Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors. Jason then dives into the recent play from James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and the Los Angeles Clippers and how they’ve been red hot over the last month.

Timeline:
00:00 – How should Kings handle trade deadline?
04:20 – Do Warriors have to make a trade?
06:03 – Thoughts on Magic
09:10 – Draymond Green returns to podcasting
13:04 – Is Draymond Green the key to reviving Warriors?
15:20 – Key to Clippers success?
16:14 – Who is the most valuable player to their team?
18:42 – What other NBA content does Jason listen to?
22:02 – Thoughts on new Star Wars movie?
23:37 – Why is 3&D player so rare?
24:30 – Has Jason ever thought about snowboarding?

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