SleepHawk Worldwide
SleepHawk Worldwide
Can Carolina Turn It Around? (Plus, the Biggest Trade in Sports History?)
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In this episode of the SleepHawk Worldwide Podcast, hosts Brandon Staton and Tyler Hansbrough dive deep into the state of the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team. They analyze the team's recent loss to Duke, discussing the Tar Heels' net rankings, performance metrics, and strategies for improvement.
Key topics covered include:
- Breakdown of the Duke game and the Tar Heels' struggles with turnovers and defensive rotations
- Challenges facing the team, including roster construction and the potential loss of key players
- Strategies for the upcoming games against Pitt and Clemson, focusing on better starts, reducing turnovers, and improving late-game execution
- Discussion of the shocking NBA trade that sent Luca Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers
As passionate Tar Heel fans, Brandon and Tyler provide insightful commentary and a realistic outlook on the team's current situation and path forward. Whether you're a die-hard North Carolina supporter or a college basketball enthusiast, this episode offers a deep dive into the ups and downs of the Tar Heels' season.
Don't miss out on this in-depth discussion of the state of the Tar Heels and the latest developments in the world of college basketball. Tune in now to the SleepHawk Worldwide Podcast for an engaging and informative episode.
College Basketball Analysis and Outlook
Speaker 1And now the SleepHawk Worldwide Podcast . Here are your hosts , brandon Staten and Tyler Hensbrough . What's up everybody ? Welcome to the SleepHawk Worldwide Podcast . This is Sleep Talk with the Big Hawk .
Speaker 2What's up everybody ? It's the Big Hawk . Yeah , we've got a pod , we'll break it down for you and , if you haven't already heard , analysis , we've got a lot to talk about sleep . So I'm glad we're in the lab and , yeah , let's get it .
Speaker 1Might be the best episode we've ever had . We're going to dive right in . I mean , golly guys , you saw it , we saw it , everybody saw it Wasn't a good look , but here we are right , so we're going to dive in . We'll do a little analysis of the Duke game . Talk about ask Big Hawk what changes you think we need to start making to win some games here . Lost four of the last five , so reeling a little bit .
Speaker 1But hey , as we always do here on SleepHawk Worldwide man , this is a silver lining podcast . We're going to look for the good in things . Too much bad going on in the world . Talk about the games we've got up . Next , pitt at home , clemson on the road dabbling in the Luka AD trade . I know you're going to get a big look . We've learned through the metrics . Not a lot of NBA fans . Okay , I'm the guy that was saying , hey , it's a great product , you should watch it . Ready to come out as the lowest ratings NBA have had in about , I don't know , four years . So , true to form , I wouldn't listen to a whole lot of things Both Sleep Dog has to say about it , but that was a big deal . I think a lot of people are real interested in that , so we'll talk about that .
Speaker 1Let's get it started with the state of the Tar Heels and the Dr Big Hawk . Professor Hawk , tell us about the Tar Heels and the state of things . Where are we at here ? Everybody knows we got our old ranch shackled here over the weekend , but where do we go from here ? Where are we at ? Where do we go All ?
Speaker 2right . So first of all , we're going to discuss the net rankings . Obviously , these are the rankings put out by the NCAA . This is what the selection committee uses to judge teams . We're at 45th and our net ranking is 45 . If you look at it overall , the positives of this ranking we have no Quad 3 , no Quad 4 losses . With that said , we have one Quad 2 loss . That said , we have one quad two loss , and I'm guessing that's Stanford , if I had to remember correctly , and they were one and nine in Q1s .
Speaker 2When you play this many quad one games , you would hope to get more than one . And here's the kind of the Mount Everest that we're going to be facing the rest of the year is we're not going to have many other quad one opportunities . We've had a lot of them . We had a tough schedule , pre-conference schedule as well , one of the toughest in college basketball . So the two remaining games right now that are going to be quad one games are at Clemson that's going to be a tough task and home against Duke . Uh , we'd love to get that one , but we know what we have to like . We saw what what Duke is about this year , uh . So , um , right now we're six and five in ACC play Uh and uh .
Speaker 2We have an uphill climb , but you know what it is , what it is . It's not the time to get emotional , cry about it or quit . We still have a lot of ballgames to play and obviously there's a lot of things to fix and there's going to be some chances to get some wins . If you don't look at it , if you're on this team and you get caught up in what other people are saying right now and you get a little emotional , things look bad now . They could look much worse if you don't handle yourself right . Things look bad now . They could look much worse if you don't handle yourself right . And if I'm in that locker room , I'm not listening to anybody on the outside because nobody's going to be positive at this point . It's been a disappointing year , but the year's not over and it could be much more disappointing if you don't handle yourself in this time .
Speaker 2So Sleep , we can look at it more . The ranking's not great . The metrics against the top teams in college basketball aren't that great , but yeah , that's where we are right now .
Speaker 1Well , look , here's what I'm going to do . I'll put lipstick on this pig . All right , I'm going to start off by calling a pig a pig . We're 39th in points , 74th in field goal percentage 273rd three-point percentage 63rd in free throws attempted , very un-carolina like . But we don't have a lot of bigs 255 in offensive rebounding makes sense . Don't have a lot of offensive rebounders 86 and rebounding 138 assists , 259 and steals . So we ain't playing much defense either .
Speaker 1And it's just like all these things you know , in these things like it's look , it's one thing if you're 40th , it doesn't feel right , right , but there's , there's 20 teams in there that you ain't never heard of . But when you start falling outside of the top 50 in any category or , like you know , categories like rebounding that that carolina sort of made its name on it's sort of like paints a rebounding that Carolina has sort of made its name on it , sort of paints a picture here that's subsidized by the net 45 was actually surprising to me . But when you go back and you actually think about , it's just hard to believe . The product we saw on the floor the other night lost four out of the last five doesn't look great . But then at the beginning of the year . We're playing Kansas close . We're playing a lot of these teams close to Michigan State and all that stuff . And here's what's interesting to me and this is again we're looking for the silver lining here . The team's not playing well by Carolina standards . Expectations were sky high in comparison to where we're at right now , but it is what it is . This is where we're at right now , but it is what it is . This is where we're at .
Speaker 1You go look on Saturday after we lose to Duke handily . I mean we lose by 17 and honestly didn't seem that close to me . But you go down the slate of top 25s and this is college basketball at this point dude . Iowa State at home loses the number three team in the country loses by 19 to a 10-11 . Kansas State . Florida loses Tennessee at Tennessee . Tennessee's a good team , florida , very good team , score 44 points . Houston loses at home to Texas Tech . Michigan State number seven in the country loses 13-8 . Usc Marquette , number nine in the country , loses 16-6 . Uconn UConn's a great team , right , great coach , all that sort of stuff . Kansas loses to 14-7 Baylor .
Speaker 1I'm just going down the list . There's a couple wins sprinkled in here . Kentucky loses to 13-8 . Arkansas 2-6 in the SEC Granted a little added flavor there with Calipari coming back right . Texas A&M gets pushed to the brink against 10-12 .
Speaker 1South Carolina , texas A&M 13 team in the country . 14 team in the country . 14 team in the country Mississippi State How'd that happen ? Lose to Missouri at home . You know , going down here , georgia Tech beats Louisville 10-12, . Georgia Tech beats 21 Louisville and Oklahoma dude . Almost every team in the top 25 lost , got upset . So it's like dude . Almost every team in the top 25 lost , got upset .
Speaker 1So it's just look , there's a lot of things I think that Carolina needs to change . What are they ? I got no idea , buddy . I peaked in middle school 18 , 8th grade , 18 basketball . So who am I to sort of throw stones ? I'm a Tar Heel fan through and through , so I want to see him figure it out and write the ship here .
Speaker 1But look , the fact of the matter is is we're on the downside of a weird year , right ? There's a lot of . There's two or three teams at the top that are the top dogs and then everybody else is mediocre . In my opinion , if you're watching any college basketball , buddy , there's three teams that are great and there's about 300 teams that didn't just any . There's no explaining it really . So you know , for me that's the silver lining , right ?
Speaker 1It's easy to sit here and look at Carolina and I do it Like lose four of the last five . We lost three in a row early in the season . We got all these expectations . This ain't playing well . This ain't playing up to standard . It's frustrating sometimes to watch these games , but at the end of the day I don't know if it's just a microcosm of a much bigger thing that's going on with college basketball . I don't know if it's the parody because of the NIL and if that's only going to get worse because you're seeing or not the game getting worse , the parody , I guess , becoming more prevalent .
Speaker 1And then again , I think we said this on the last pod I don't follow recruiting that much , but you feel like Carolina just cannot catch a break , cannot get over this hump , and then they get this kid as top whatever , top 5 , 10 recruit . I mean maybe that changes everything next year . I don't know , you don't know until they play , but at the end , those are the things I'm looking for . Dude , it's easy to see , it's easy to . At the end , I mean , those are the things I'm looking for is like dude , it's easy to see , it's easy to rag on the team Hubert , whatever . But look , I'm just looking for what are the positives here and that segues , I think , kind of nicely . And like you know , I mean what changes . We can either start with a Duke analysis and sort of pick that apart as if there's much to go to there , or we can just kind of say , hey , what changes do we need to make to win games this year ?
Speaker 2Well , I think if I'll touch on a little bit of my thoughts on the Duke game and I think that will kind of lead into the analysis . So first of all I'll just give you my impressions on the Duke game and I think that will kind of lead into the analysis . So first of all I'll just give you my impressions on the Duke game . And there's been a reoccurring theme and we've talked about on this podcast is early on in the year we started games in holes . You look at where how we started against Kansas , how we started against Michigan State , dayton we won that game by miracle . Uh got down big and we got down big a lot . And if you look at the duke game , we got down by 32 points and that to me is
Poor Start Leads to Duke Defeat
Speaker 2okay .
Speaker 2First of all , the way we started that game reminded me of early on in the year . We couldn't figure out why we're starting games , uh , not ready to play . And you know the . The upsetting part is we knew the gravity of this game and you knew how good Duke was and you knew the hype that they were getting and you knew how Carolina fans we were like , yeah , you know , even though we weren't having the year we wanted . As a Carolina fan , you know you build up some type of energy and you believe , hey , we're gonna like yeah , yeah , let's , let's go . And you know I was excited , I uh , you know I had this mindset we're gonna go into Cameron , we're gonna hand him an .
Speaker 2L ? Uh , but you know it's , the game was over as soon as the ball was tipped and Duke brought it , brought it to us right from the get . We get down 32 points . We dig ourselves a huge hole . And how did we get down by 32 points ?
Speaker 2We had unforced , lackadaisical turnovers to start with and I really felt like , you know , we kind of went out there , we tossed the ball around , we were a little bit lazy , a little bit casual . A couple quick turnovers and then Duke started really putting pressure on our guards . They were switching everything and then we started turning it over because we weren't prepared for their pressure . And then , all of a sudden , duke is getting out in transition , they're getting dunks , cooper Flagg's out leading the break , and you know , we were just weren't ready , uh , to start the game . And , um , I'll say this Duke is a they're contender to win the whole thing and , uh , you know what they have on that team ? We were not . You cannot start the game , uh , the way we did in Cameron , expect to win . First of all , you cannot turn the ball over like that . And even though Duke was switching , they were switching everything . Mal , you watch , was on RJ , he was on Trimble , he was on Cadeau and it just felt like you know as a young player , sometimes when you see that big on those point guards and you think it's a mismatch , it's not always a smart move to think you have a mismatch and then try to expose it . Okay , where you take advantage of the mismatch a lot of times is you put that big into defensive rotations and you work the ball around and you make him work because he's not used to guarding on the perimeter and then you can get him out of position and you can get easy buckets on that . You've got to move better . You just can't sit around and pound , pound , pound the ball and then pull the big out . We've got to have better spacing and movement in our half-court sets .
Speaker 2I would correct that and I said before the game how do we win at Cameron ? We've got to get out in transition and we've got to play with more tempo . The reason I said that is because Duke is the biggest team in college basketball . Now you watch 7-2 , cooper Flagg 6-10 , knipple 6-6 , proxter 6'5" , 6'6" . Their whole starting line is 6'6 and above . We are very small . Our backcourt is , you know , you could make an argument everyone's under , you know , 6'0" right around it and there's not a lot of size . So we don't want to get into that half-court set and try to , you know , finish around the around their length . So we'd have to get out , push the ball and make sure we got in transition . That way we can try and get some easy buckets .
Speaker 2And also I said this on the you know our , our , you know preview episode we've got to get to the foul line , which we didn't do . We didn't , I mean , get into the foul line is a great example of how you were attacking the rim . When you're , when you're aggressive offensively , it shows up in the free throw attempts and I really felt like you know it's . First of all , I'll say Duke has two losses , kentucky and Kansas and the common theme in those losses both Kentucky and Kansas got to the free throw line , they got fouls and they were offensively aggressive . And I really felt like that was maybe a little bit of a formula to try to get a win formula to try to get a win . And I will just say I felt like we settled for some outside shots not necessarily the best shots , but the first look and we kind of settled and I think we've got to get better looks . I've said this all year We've got to find ways to get better quality looks .
Speaker 2And what I take away from this game , if you're , first of all , analytically , when I look at all the numbers , I don't care what the numbers say for this game , and the reason I say that is because the eye test shows that at no point in this game did I think we had any chance at winning . I do not think that we that there was an aspect of basketball that we controlled against Duke , and I don't care . If you look at you know we rebounded . I just don't think that when I watched the game I wasn't like , hey , you know what we're rebounding with them . I felt like Duke could have got rebounds when they wanted and I felt like they got the tougher rebounds when they wanted . And I felt like they got the tougher rebounds when it counted In segments of the game when we needed to get stops and rebounds .
Speaker 2Duke got multiple opportunities . They got second chance points . And one stat I will throw out there because I said it's very important We've got to cut down on these turnovers and especially these unforced turnovers . Duke had 19 points off of turnovers . That's a huge margin . They capitalized on that , but Sleep . With all that said , the one positive I will say and I don't look at it as like we won the second half we didn't win the second half .
Speaker 2I really felt like they took their foot off the gas . Just a little bit , I will say I thought Drake Powell played aggressive late in the second and I think he got comfortable . I like seeing that from Drake . I thought at times he just said give me the ball , let me go to the basket and create something . And the reason I like that is because he does have length , he has athleticism and I really felt like he attacked the basket at times and he's one of those players that has athletic ability and the length to get shops up over the defenders that have , you know , duke , length and athleticism . So I did like that .
Speaker 2I thought Lubin showed a little fight at times . He had a spurt where he blocked a couple shots , got some rebounds , but outside that sleep , I really felt like We've got to start the game better and we've got to play . We've got to commit to some style of everyone being on the same page . We're going to run . We're going to be better in our defensive rotations .
Speaker 2I felt like Flag had a lot of open looks . We've lost him . When you're playing against a team that has somebody like a Cooper Flag , you've got to be aware of where they're at . I mean , he's the best player in college basketball . How could you leave him for open looks ? You can't allow that . But with all that said , you've got to start the game better than that and you've got to be more competitive . You just can't come out there . You've got to be ready to start games , and I really felt like we lost this one in the first five minutes of the game just because Duke came out . And they came out to kick our ass and they handed it to us from the get and we got in a huge hole . Heck , we can't climb back against a team like Duke .
Speaker 1They're too talented and they're too good . It's interesting because I was looking at the little win probability tool they have on ESPN and you mentioned five minutes . At just under five minutes they had a 96-plus percent chance of winning and it never got below that . I mean they spent three-quarters of the game 99% chance of winning the game . Now , this is just interesting . Right , doesn't mean you can't go on a run second half , I'm with you . It's interesting because they outscored us by 10 in the free throw line you mentioned it .
Speaker 1Get into the basket right , and they're a more athletic team , they're bigger . I think . Frankly , I think Duke's just a better team period , that's what I think . That's no question . It's miserable to say it's miserable , but one thing that a Carolina fan will be , that a Duke fan will never be , is honest .
Speaker 1And then you mentioned it , the points off turnover . So right there , there's 12 and there's 10 and there's 22 . And somehow that game was to your point . If there's 12 and there's 10 , there's 22 , and somehow it just , I mean that game was to your point . If there's any silver lining in it is to get down 32 and lose by 17 , I mean , to a team . That's that good .
Speaker 1I do feel like , uh , okay , like if . But if you go look at the team stats side by side , it's like you know a few shots , you know there's a big free throw disparity , rebounds , they out-assisted , out-stole . I just feel like it obviously got points off turnover . So those are the two things that really just jumped out to me . At the end , though , you can look at the stats all you want , but if you watch the game , it was never in question . Here's what occurred to me , and it's interesting because I think you know ian jackson's had a couple games where man he was playing great , and then you know he's had a couple games that he probably , um , wish you had back , isn't you know what I'm saying ? Like he just has , has had a couple games that are below the level he had back , isn't what I'm saying ?
Speaker 1Like he just has had a couple games that are below the level he had been playing prior . And it occurred to me of like the recipe that has worked for the Tar Heels in recent years , really since like the 17 . And I think even that 17 team , which is get some guys and keep them and keep them together and build a core over a long period of time . And so I think , if you look at it last year you had it with RJ , you had it with Baycott and a lot of the other guys um , you know , they were , like you said , in the last pot , they
Building Team Chemistry and Strategy
Speaker 1were one seed . Right now my attention turns to like hey , ian jackson was thought by a lot to be a one and done . Guy nil changes a lot of things right . Can you bring back jackson and drake powell ? And can you bring back um ? Know what is Washington is a junior , right ?
Speaker 2Who .
Speaker 1Jalen Washington Jr , right . Can you return your core group , build chemistry , bring in this kid you know that's by all accounts a star in the making right . And can you go into the transfer portal , right , and get some upperclassmen to play ? You know that if I'm a carolina fan , like trying to make sense of all this and oh , by the way , I am right , like it's a long game here , you know you got to think about it from the program standpoint . What can we do to ? The worst thing I think can happen is Carolina . These guys fly the coop or they go transfer or they go to the NBA .
Speaker 1I think the differentiator in today's college basketball is can you build a core unit and roll a team out there multiple years in a row and make that team and add the pieces that are missing ? Look , it doesn't tell you for why it happened . I don't know . I mean , maybe it was money , maybe it was whatever , but missing on Dickinson and missing on a lot of the bigs that were out there . I mean that would change , could literally change everything on this team . There's just not your traditional big physical presence inside . We have no size . Can you go get that and then you come ? That's just my two cents on . I really think that you got to start .
Speaker 1Look , the odds of this team making the tournament are , I'll call them , slim , and I hate to say it , but I just don't think . You know , I don't think it's going to happen . So you know I , I'm the biggest fan of you know , I'm big a fan , isn't he a big fan out there ? I want it to work . I want it to work with the people . Buddy , I cheer for him every single game . This is not a knock on anybody . This is just life . It just happens that way sometimes .
Speaker 1So my mind goes to like all right , you want to talk about what can we do to win games ? Well , I think it starts now as a matter of pride . It's like hey , let's go out here and remember who we are , why we came here . A guy like RJ . I think everybody on that team owes it to a guy like him to ride this out . And who knows , maybe you do get hot and win the conference championship . I don't know , it's possible , I just think it's unlikely . I don't know . For me it's more about like , all right , let's just be realistic , look ahead , look at what we've got to do , and I don't even know when that starts Like ? When do you even start looking for people in the portal ?
Speaker 2right . I mean you've got to know who's in the portal . Yeah , but , Well , sleep . Listen in Jackson . I do not see him coming back . I think he's going to go into the draft .
Speaker 1Kid's a great player . Yeah , Selfishly , I'd love to have him back . But yeah , I mean , kid's going to be a star .
Speaker 2I think we would be pretty hopeful , thinking he would come back and listen . I've seen some draft boards that has Drake as high as a top 10 pick . So you know I would . But now with the money .
Speaker 1That's my through Dude .
Speaker 2Your opinion is like so much more valuable than mine , but I just wonder the money .
Speaker 2I do not think that we're going to have NIL money to justify somebody not being a top 10 pick . That's most programs , unless you're the BYU kid , yeah , but Sleepy , I mean . One thing that keeps being a recurring theme is man , if we just had a big . There hasn't been a lot of consistent play from anybody on this team this year . I mean , we've all had , and I think that is just an excuse that people are kind of just regurgitating over and over . Listen , we can't put all the blame on not having a big . There's a lot of blame to go around .
Speaker 2Listen , having a big is not going to make you start games better . It's not going to stop us from having careless turnovers . It's not going to stop us from running at times and then just grabbing the ball and strolling down the court . If we want to be an up-style tempo team and we want to run , listen , we run after makes , we run after misses . The big gets the ball out of bounds . The guard better be clapping his hands when he gets the ball . He's leading the break and he's coming back down the defense back . Okay , you dunk it on us . Okay , big , get the ball out , pass it to the guard , get back . Okay , we're going , we don't care , we're going to try to get a good look . And you know what , if we don't get our option , then we start working around . Okay , we don't just pound the ball until it's out of air , we make the defense work . We're not going to settle for the first easy look , we're going to work it around , play team basketball and we're not going to turn it over .
Speaker 2If I'm looking how to correct this ship right now and try to get some good wins and try to build some momentum leading into the ACC tournament and build some type of confidence and belief that we can turn around , it's got to be with the starts and the turnovers . Okay , we've got to start games , and this has been a recurring theme and then we've got to commit to that upstyle tempo game . That's where I go at and that's that's how I can see us getting some wins . And listen , these next two games are big . Okay , pitt at home Okay , that's going to be big .
Speaker 2What did Pitt do late in the game against us when we should have won it ? They switched absolutely everything and they really put that defense into a sagging kind of a man little bit of zone action and we struggled with it . So we've got to prep and know that they're going to be doing that and we've got to be prepared for that . I would go over some late game execution stuff and try to figure out how we can get buckets when we need to . It okay , because we've had a lot of close games and getting buckets when we need it is going to be very helpful and maybe we can come out of some of these games where we've had some close ones we've won .
Speaker 2You look at the game against BC . We came back and won that one and we've got to find ways to score . And also we got to play better disciplined basketball . We can't have frustration fouls . We can't get upset because we didn't get a whistle , then make a , you know , an undisciplined or careless foul that puts other teams to the free throw line . That's where I would begin with . And listen , I know everyone's upset , but there's still a lot of basketball to be played and they can still get some good wins . I mean , there's not a lot of wins to really help your resume outside of Clemson and home at Duke , so I don't really care about that .
Speaker 2Right now . This team should be inside the locker room and worrying about how to win against Pitt at home , who they just beat us at Pitt . So you've got to have some type of steam . And also , you just got thumped from your rivals , so you've got to be extra motivated . You can't be down or upset because you just lost or you're feeling bad . No , you got to be hungry and uh , that's where I would start with . I would . I would really , I would really be happy for these guys if they came out from the start against pit and really brought it and they played hard the whole game and , uh , you know anything can happen and they pulled it out of wind . And you know anything can happen and they pulled it out a win . I would love to see that . That's how I'd start this sleep .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean it's look , it's just you're exactly right , like you talked about it almost all season long , getting behind that sort of stuff , and it's a great point about the big and getting out , you know , starting kind of slow and all that sort of stuff . I just , you know , I wonder if I mean it occurs to me that maybe it's not . You know , I think everybody goes like what's wrong ? What's the chemistry , what's the coach ? You know everybody's talking about all these things . What's the coach ? You know everybody's talking about all these things . But at the end of the day , you know , maybe it's none of that and it just doesn't work Right . Maybe you just got a roster construction , maybe you just got guys that you know , for whatever reason , the nuance of their complementary attributes just don't equate to winning basketball games . And I'm with you 100% on getting better starts and then the hustle . But it's not like I look at this team . I definitely feel sometimes like I look and I'm like , dude , it's nine seconds on the shot clock and we didn't borrow the ball inside the timeline , right , there's those things , right . But I never look at this team and I'm like they just quit . I don't look at that , I really truly don't they get a little shell-shocked ? And the Duke game was a prime example where it was like they're looking around , I'm like brother , these dudes are good . So I think that's the thing I try to keep in mind is like this team doesn't like piss me off , in the sense that I feel like they're not trying right and and maybe it's as simple as that , maybe it's just that , for whatever reason , it just it just isn't quite working the way everybody wanted it to . So look , man , I think you just I'm just looking at it game to game , like what happens next ?
Speaker 1I mean , reality is is we've won . You know , we had a stretch where I think we went like eight and two in the middle of the year . I think if we go eight and two from here , we're 21 and 12 . And it's weird to think about it right now because I don't even know if we got eight games left , but something like that One , two , three , four , five , six , seven , eight , nine games , right . Let's say we go nine and two , right , what did I just say ? That means we're 22 and 12 .
NBA Trade Talk
Speaker 1One of those wins has to be against Clemson or Duke preferably Duke and then at that point it's just insane . And then you win a couple games in the tournament . It's insane really , I think , at this junction to think about it .
Speaker 1But is it possible If you've got a net rank inside the top 30 and a 12-loss team ? I mean , look , what was it last year ? Somebody got in a play-in and wound up running . So look , anything's possible , certainly . You know , I don't know Just a ton of places to point blame and at the end of the day it's just like , hey , what can these guys change ? So , pitt , at home , you're right . At Clemson I'm not . Yeah , it starts looking like must win pretty quickly in some of these games . So anyway , speaking of unlikely I know this is a college , largely UNC slant .
Speaker 1We've done some NBA stuff in the past . Nobody really seems to care . But guys , this Luka Doncic trade , anthony Davis , trade buddy that shocked the world . Guys , sleep dog . I'm an NBA , just , I love the NBA . And you got Windhorse , old Windy dude . And you got Windhorse on Windy dude . He's like the storyline is . And I got a buddy . By the way , shout out to Weston from Oak City Sports Cards Okay . Wes is from Texas , dude . Absolutely . His favorite human being of all time is Dirk Nowitzki Okay . His second is Luca .
Speaker 1I mean I watched this guy meet Luka Doncic and he just melted like an ice cream cone right in front of me . The guy's like 40 . He's like my age , son's name , luka , all this stuff . He texts me at 1 o'clock in the morning and is like OMG , I thought he was talking about the Duke Carolina . All this went down the night of the Duke Carolina game . It was late at night . I wake up in the morning and it's like dude , luka Doncic just got traded and everybody thought Shams got hacked . My question for you , big Hawk , is this I mean I want to say the biggest trade in the NBA , but that's just easy , that's the easiest to me . The only trade that I could imagine being a bigger shocker than this is when Babe Ruth got traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees . Is there a bigger trade in the history of sports that you can think of besides this one ? Or a shocker ? I mean sure , like yeah . I mean I'll let my question stand .
Speaker 2No , it's not . And Sleep , didn't Dallas just go to the finals ?
Speaker 1Went to the finals , buddy .
Speaker 2And you know , Luka is 25 years old .
Speaker 1I think Luka looks like he's about 30 . Luka is 25 . Like I , could probably be Luka Doncic's father .
Speaker 2Sleep . Let me just say something , and the funniest part is the Mavs GM , nico Harrison , his press conference , where he's there with Jason Kidd , dallas Mavericks head coach , and he said I kept this from Jason . I know the type of player he likes . I don't have to discuss personnel . I know the architect , I know how to structure this roster with players that he likes and Jason Kidd just sitting there like Hat on , kind of backwards , all just like .
Speaker 1looks like somebody literally smacked him in his hat spun around .
Speaker 2Yeah , jason , listen , I think it honestly . I think it was an awful trade .
Speaker 1I think it was terrible .
Speaker 2Yeah , and the reason I say that is because I think Luka man AD's had a lot of injuries . He's older . Everyone says he's a great defender . I don't see the defensive hype that everyone associates with AD . I just don't get it . I think he's kind of soft a little bit at times . And I'm not saying that Luke is a defensive guy he's absolutely not , but I just don't like that . I think Luka just led his team to the finals . There's been some questionable moves from Dallas . I just think this is a horrible trade sleep and I know you're an NBA guy , so I'm waiting to hear what you think about this .
Speaker 1So here's my God's honest opinion . Okay , I think it's a bad trade for a number of reasons , but I wouldn't be here's . The thing about AD is with Kyrie . I think it's a bad trade for a number of reasons , but I wouldn't be here's . The thing about AD Is with Kyrie , with Klay Thompson . Honestly , with Max Christie like , max Christie's a solid young player . He's 21 years old or something like that 21 or 22 . Max Christie's not a guy that's going to be I'm not saying he's an all-star , but Max Christie's a guy that's going to play in the league for 10 or 12 years at least he's a good player .
Speaker 1My initial reaction was like . My initial reaction went to like well , I think I can understand this , not that it's not , but the fact of the matter is I think Luca is like dude . He really pissed somebody off . I don't know why . The front office , mark Cuban literally said something along the lines I'm paraphrasing that he would divorce his wife before he traded Luka Doncic . And when it comes to this man , it's like all right . First of all , you just got to be realistic . Whether you really like Luka as a player , whether you think he's a defensive liability or not , that dude is top five NBA period . Like to trade a top five dude , you better be real sure about it . To trade him for , I mean , you got to be trading him for somebody . That is like and here's the thing , they had one call .
Speaker 1All the reports say they only talked to the Lakers and that's what Windhorst said . I just wondered if they were going to trade him . Dude , could you imagine the players they could have gotten ? I mean , you could have traded him to I don't know the Magic and gotten Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner . You could have traded him to Detroit got Kay Cunningham and that's pretty much all they got . Look , detroit made the playoffs right . You could trade him to Houston and get assets right that are young and already sort of like the fact that they just had one phone call and traded him for AD .
Speaker 1And I'm with you on AD . I think AD is like I always had questions about AD , but then you watch him when he's healthy and dude , he's a top five guy . But he's just not like . And the Lakers basically said Palenka was like hey , when LeBron's gone , I just don't know that he can carry the team . Well , we know that Luka can carry the team and you're always going to be able to pull a second guy into LA , right , I don't think it's crazy to think that Dallas will be shitty because they still have Lively . This is the thing , though , I really don't understand . They have Gafford , they have Lively . This is the thing , though , I really don't understand . They have Gafford , they have Lively , and now they have Anthony Davis , they have Kyrie , but , like I just feel like Luka was a better slot for that team than AD is .
Speaker 1And I also wonder about the Lakers . I mean , I get where the Lakers are coming from . They're like , hey , man , lebron bails , we got Lakers . I mean , I get where the Lakers are coming from . They're like , hey , man , lebron bails , we got Luka . So we're going to make sure we're good . But , dude , for all the stuff people are talking about , the Lakers the Lakers are fifth in the West . Dude , they've been playing great , like they're going to make the playoffs easily and they look good .
Speaker 1They could have gone out and got Vujicic or somebody , or De'Aaron Fox , and been like not having to give up Davis . So I don't know , man , it's a puzzling . It seems like , honestly , from both sides . Dude , if you can get Luka Doncic , you give up , you get Luka Doncic , and that's what the front office Palenka said at LA . He's like , hey , it takes a lot to get a lot in the NBA . So I see absolutely why Somebody calls you up and is like , hey , you want Luka Doncic . You're like dude , who do you want ? Like if they had traded LeBron James , I think I might have been less surprised than if they traded Luka Doncic .
Speaker 2Anyway , I just think it's like it's the craziest trade I've ever seen happen . Yeah , and dallas's uh gm said it all started over a cup of coffee with rob palenka yeah and he said he brought it up , is like , hey , would you ever do this trade ? And he's like , well , let me think about that , and that's what kicked it all off .
Speaker 1I mean it's just . Hey , look , here it
NBA Trade Rumors and Musings
Speaker 1is . Bill Belichick is the coach of the Carolina Tar Heels and it ain't take the world but 30 days to come up with something even crazier than that which is Luka Doncic . Maybe that's a good argument to have is like what's crazier , Bill Belichick coaching the Tar Heels or Luka Doncic getting traded to the Lakers ? Anyway , I mean that's crazy , I can't , and they're both hurt , Neither one of them playing right now and I don't even know when they're coming back . There's so much to do about nothing .
Speaker 1But anyway , and Luka , the reason they got rid of him was he's been on them crab cakes , dude , he's been getting a little too sideways on Jimmy's crab cakes because he's a big boy . And you start looking at some of the , they start going through these highlight reels and you look at Luca now , buddy , Luca's got some LBs on him and they're talking about these little calf strains and all this sort of stuff . Like that's why they allegedly were pissed with him . But I mean , dude , weighs two , 60 and putting up triple double every night , I mean I'd I'd find a way to get over it anyway . Just crazy times . So coming is back in a week or two , that's all I care about .
Speaker 1I can't wait dude , you gotta go to the game with me . Sleep dog . At courtside , baseline , courtside I DM Jonathan Kaminga was like hey , listen , dude , long shot here , but let me see if he's gotten back to me . Ain't looking like it . He'll get back . Yeah , I'm sure he will . I sent it yesterday . The guy's busy , jk . If you're out there , brother , I just want to say what's up . The game probably won't get weird . You got anything else , big Hawk , stay safe , stay safe .