NBA Mailbag: Steph Curry & Warriors new trade target? Luka Doncic to Nuggets? | Hoops Tonight

NBA Mailbag: Steph Curry & Warriors new trade target? Luka Doncic to Nuggets? | 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 all right let’s move on to our mailbag we have seven or eight questions today first question my friend and I got in a debate yesterday he said he would

Trade a few of the starting five for the Nuggets to get Luca on the team if hypothetically this was possible and he said he would fill the holes or at least Murray and Porter I disagreed and said you could do a one for one but it would

Be completely the wrong move just wanted your thoughts on it I know Luca and Nicole yic would want to be on the same team one day but neither of us have the illusion this is remotely possible in the near future when I heard you talking about hypothetical LeBron trades I

Figured you would weigh in on this as well thanks and love your content you’re right I love a good hypothetical and yes no there’s no chance in hell that Luka donic and Nicole yokich are going to play together here’s the thing I am a big believer in diminishing returns when

It comes to star power like in my opinion if you have two legitimate shot creators then it’s more important for you to have quality role players around them than to bring in a third legitimate shot Creator and there’s something to be said about the beauty of a fiveman

Basketball lineup like regardless of the fact that there’s no like true Superstar next to Nicole yic every single one of those players whether it’s Jamal Murray or canavis K pop Michael Porter Jr Aaron Gordon they’re all stars in their roles Jamal Murray is just a star shot maker

And so therefore is a perfect fit with Nicole yic in the two-man game because if you cover it you have to concede something and most teams will concede Jamal Murray isos and and and his ability to convert those especially against teams that switch that action

Goes a long way or that chase over the top and stay home on the rle man where he has opportunity to get separation from the screen that’s what teams are willing to concede and he continues to make those shots kcp just attacking off of dribble handoffs attacking out of

Spot up situations and defending the other team’s best perimeter defender or perimeter offensive weapon he’s awesome at that he is a star in that role Michael Porter Jr weak side shooting helps side defense defensive rebounding offensive rebounding when he’s being ignored he’s a star at that he’s one of

The best spotted players in the league right Aaron Gordon just the perfect shoe in forward to put next to Nicole joic because he brings the athleticism and defensive versatility that Nicole yic does not bring to the position he’s a excellent Wing Defender while also being an excellent help Defender while also

Being an excellent defensive rebounder and the perfect guy to run along the Baseline for their offense when Nicole yic is operating around the elbow and so again like it’s it to me that is a concoction I would never mess with until one of those four guys like and like if

If kcp in two years starts to show some kind of decline then sure you can look to to to make some sort of change but as long as those four that that fiveman grouping is all operating at this level you’re got to do whatever you can to keep them together because it’s very

Rare when you can capture real magic and a fiveman basketball lineup and that Denver group has captured that magic and I would try to maintain that as long as possible next question hey Jason knowing you read a lot of the comments I want to point something out in 2022 you prais

Jason Tatum for his commitment on the defensive end and I think based solely on it test Jaylen Brown has made a similar commitment this year he takes on the best matchups every night now and I’d like to know what you think if you take a closer look and rewatch some of

The games I hear people questioning who is the second best player and that is insane to me with jaylen’s offensive production combined with the defense this year it’s not close thanks so I agree in the sense that Jaylen Brown is in a vacuum the second best player on

The team especially when you look at talent and I agree is his ability to impact the game defensively while providing scoring production is legitimate the reason why it gets a little complicated is like sometimes there’s a difference between like talent and value and so for instance let’s look

At Derek white this this is a team that struggles with offensive decision- making and half court like real like real slow down shot creation from time to time is it pertains to decision-making so Derek white becomes immensely valuable for them as one of the guys that they can use to kind of

Dissect halfcourt defense and so that is why one of their go-to actions at the end of games is Dereck white Jason Tatum two-man game they do that because they trust Derrick White to have the basketball in his hands in those big moments so there’s something to be said

About the value of a Dereck white kristofh porzingis the same thing between pick and pop being the most difficult action in the league to guard and specifically the value of a real rim protector alongside all their perimeter Defenders there’s something to be about porzingis value by the way when you look

At the uh the uh onoff numbers for the Celtics according to cleaning the glass the three best onoff guys on the team are Derek white Jason Tatum and christops porzingis and so again I agree with you it’s not it’s not a question of talent like Jaylen Brown’s a better

Basketball player than Derrick White he’s a better basketball player than chrisop porzingis but what you when you look at this specific team in in roster needs Jaylen Brown’s a little bit of a redundancy next to Jason Tatum whereas Derek white and chrisop porzingis fulfill absolutely vital roles for that

Group to to put it differently like obviously you don’t want to see anybody get hurt but if Derek white got hurt I think it would hurt the Celtics more than Jaylen Brown getting hurt or vice versa with W with uh with christops porzingis and I think again that’s not a

Shot at Jaylen Brown it just is a a product of the roster construction next question hey Jason big fan of the show it’s a great place to expand my knowledge as someone with no background in the game two Warriors questions for you we’ll go one at a time what I

Understood from the evolution of your opinion regarding the Warriors front what the Warriors front office should do is that they should go all in on winning with Steph in addition they shouldn’t trade JK who will probably take a few years to develop into a good enough number two I don’t understand how those

Two goals go together considering all the Personnel problems the Warriors have and Steph turning 36 soon him being this good still is already an anomaly it would be great if he was still good in a couple of years to play with a developed JK but I don’t think it’s smart to just

Expect that for the record those were two separate opinions that I had so like I thought the Warriors should go all in on step and then JK had this 10 game stretch where he averaged 25 points a game on 61% shooting and it’s like oh

you got yourself a star here so now like you’re trading away a star a future star to to try to get back I don’t know high quality role players right and so that’s where it gets super convoluted like to me I agree those two uh concept

Are kind of opposed to each other right like there’s just it’s just not possible to go all in on step without trading Jonathan kaminga because Jonathan kaminga is your best opportunity to bring back quality players and so the reality is like the decision got Made For You by

Jonathan kinga’s rise and so now it actually makes more sense to do smaller moves on the margins and hope for your biggest influx of talent to be Jonathan kinga’s development over the course of the next couple of years next question you’ve smok you’ve spoken a lot about

The Warriors woes this season but one thing you didn’t mention is that Steph has has a negative net rating which hasn’t happened since his rookie season when the entire team was pretty bad what do you think is different this season that’s causing this and how can they fix

It I know them doing anything of significance this year is already a long shot but I’m pretty sure they won’t do anything if they’re already losing when they’re best players on the floor so the reasons are pretty simple Draymond Green is the second best player on the Warriors this season in terms of

Like two-way impact he’s he’s that’s he always just pairs so well with Steph on both ends of the floor with helping Steph generate quality looks while also anchoring their defense and I think he’s only played like what 21 22 games this year so like he just he’s been gone for

Most of it so that that’s a huge part of it Klay Thompson is experienc his first substantial decline as a as a veteran and then Andrew Wiggins just has not been the same player that he was in 2022 to put it simply that’s a massive pullback of talent the players that

You’ve been supplementing that with are young players young players bring inconsistency right so like that to me is the reasoning behind the low net rating the reason why I don’t think that should play a role in their decision making is is to put it simply like Steph

Is still one of those guys one of the special talents in the league and so like I mean the dude just dropped 60 the other night so like to the way I look at it basketball has basketball has a u we talked earlier about the Nuggets lineup

In the way that it kind of has like a a magic quality to it in my opinion like basketball I is not as simple as the sum of the parts so you might if you take away 20% of your talent that doesn’t necessarily amount to a 20% decrease in

Prod production if the 20% if the 20% of talent that gets pulled out of the equation is in vital areas of that lineup’s ability to be coherent then you could experience a 60% reduction in the lineup’s uh capability of contending in a in a basketball game right because

Like again like you take Draymond Green out of the equation they had a stretch there where they were the worst defense in the league for an extended stretch like like it the bottom falls out in a lot of these specific situations and so the same thing goes in reverse like I I talk

About this with all these teams it’s like it’s the Lakers last year it’s like oh they don’t have any forwards okay you bring in ruy Hur and Jared Vanderbuilt two castoff forwards that other teams didn’t watch and then all of a sudden they look like a way better basketball

Team because they have a position group that they did not have on the roster all of a sudden filled like that’s kind of the idea behind it is like the idea is you get Draymond back you know Jonathan Kinga plays a lot better you make one smart move for veteran forward and like

All of a sudden everything starts to make sense again and things can work so like don’t underestimate uh um don’t overreact I should say to that kind of statistical production involving a star like the Lakers this year have not been particularly good with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the floor but LeBron

James and Anthony Davis are actually having a better season than last year it comes down to the struggles of the skill guards Darin ham and the way he’s constructed the rotations the heavy leaning on tan Prince so you have a lack of perimeter athleticism right like the

The specific uh El weakness and not having a top tier athlete at the guard position like all of those things it’s not like LeBron and AD are negative players it’s not like Steph Curry is a negative player it’s just the basketball lineup is dipped below that certain mandatory amount of of fulfilling of

Responsibilities to be able to compete and so once you get down below that line it can it becomes a little bit dangerous and so again I don’t think it’s over for the Warriors I’m a big believer you get Chris Paul back you get Gary pton back you get the rise of Jonathan kaminga

Andrew wigin starts to play a little bit more like he did in 2022 it could pretty quickly rise back to being a a competent basketball team next question I have three left what do you think of if the Warriors tried to trade for Jonathan Isaac or possibly trade Wiggins plus

Others picks or CP3 to the Pacers for maybe Miles Turner or buddy heeld couple things Miles Turner is not going anywhere I don’t think uh he’s kind of a little bit of a foundational piece there in in in Indie and specifically as a stretch big he’s very valuable next to

Tyres salbert it’s one of their pet actions and then also next to Pascal yakum who can be somewhat streaky as a fourman having a shooting five is somewhat important for them there’s also a a problem with trading Andrew Wiggins in the sense that like how much like

What has a better chance of your team getting better flipping Wiggins for a different player or Wiggins just plays better like in my opinion you get through the deadline it becomes clear that Andrew Wiggins is not getting traded it give him a really clear spot in the rotation where his minutes are

Consistent you might get more consistent production and I personally think that he belongs in the starting lineup next to Jonathan kaminga and I give him consistency there and let Andrew Wiggins just kind of refind his confidence and i’ I’ve seen a lot of encouraging stuff

Out of him in the last couple of weeks too but I do think at a bare minimum they should be targeting some form of playoff playable forward at the deadline that could be a different type of U of contract swap whether that’s like you know Moses Moody and another one of

Their minimums or who knows what what how they would kind of kind of construct that sort of thing but I don’t care whether it’s a Dorian finny Smith or a kenri Williams or a PJ Washington I mean Jonathan Isaac would be amazing but he’s flashed some insane highlevel defense

Again this year so I don’t know if Orlando would be willing to get rid of him but maybe they would maybe with his injury history they’d want to sell high on him and maybe you can jump on a guy like that but then you’re taking on the

Risk of his injury history right so that gets a little tricky but regardless of what kind of guy it is just bringing in another veteran playable forward simplifying you know Steve K’s rotation decisions that could go a long way towards uh towards getting them back on

Track as well two more you say Tatum is going to figure it out and most players do around 26 27 years old but most good players get drafted to bad teams and it takes a while for them to go on deep playoff runs he’s been to multiple Conference Finals and one finals already

Shouldn’t he have figured it out yet the jumper he shot on kcp to finish the Denver game killed me he had plenty of time to drive it in my opinion kind of like LeBron on Paul George in 2003 13 It’s actually kind of an interesting idea because on that Paul George play

LeBron caught and then quickly pivoted over his right shoulder and went right to the rim and Tatum kind of did the same thing but right when he pivoted he went right back into that uh one leg fade away and so he didn’t even really try to be more physically aggressive on

The play and you’re right he did have some more time here’s the thing I agree with you that his timeline should be accelerated like 26 years old it’s time to start figuring it out that I agree that said I still think it’s way tooo soon to just say he’ll never get there

Because he is making strides and there have been encouraging moments and again like there just aren’t that many guys in the league that are as talented as Jason Tatum he’s got one of the most gifted physical profiles of a Ford that we have in the league can really shoot the

Basketball the handle is improving year by year I I do think that that that ceiling is still there but I guess I agree with you in the sense that it is discouraging that it’s taken as long as it has taken especially considering how much experience he has last question are

You coming to Indie for all-star weekend and have you ever considered a meet and greet so I’m not going to Indie for all-star weekend but I typically every year get out to summer league and that’s the best opportunity in Vegas uh for you guys to come out and and hang out we can

Meet in person and chat about the game a little bit uh I will be on Twitter letting you guys know exactly what dates I’m out there but I’m usually just in the gym I usually you know I just go up there and whatever the first game is and

I just hang out in the arena until until they’re done so you can always find me in the arena at summer league and if at some point in the future I end up traveling to more NBA events I’ll let you guys know but as of right now I’m

I’m pretty much just a cover the game from home kind of guy so we’ll we’ll see how it changes in the long run but hopefully I can see some of you guys in Vegas in July all right guys that’s all I have for today as always I sincerely

Appreciate your support borrowing a star trade this evening we won’t have anything tonight but we will have a live show right after the trade deadline tomorrow and then again live after Lakers Nuggets I will see you guys And

Jason Timpf discusses the upcoming NBA trade deadline and what the Golden State Warriors must do to give Steph a shot at making noise in the Western Conference Playoffs. Currently sitting one spot outside the play-in game, it is clear that the Warriors are not good enough, and need to make a move. Jason then dives into the thought of the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Denver Nuggets, and how a duo of Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic would be unstoppable.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/P_kUWs5MtLI

Timeline:
00:00 – Luka to Nuggets?
03:05 – Is Jaylen Brown Celtics 2nd best player?
05:19 – How Jonathan Kuminga forced Warriors hand
06:49 – Why does Steph Curry have negative net rating?
10:25 – Warriors new trade targets?
12:36 – Will Tatum ever “figure it out”?
13:59 – Are you going to All-Star Weekend / hosting meet-and-greet?

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