I welcome on to a special Monday edition of the dunked on basketball NBA podcast a guest that I have longed to have on the program and really excited for this one mark sign of the New York time to do mark mr. Duncan

I'm good. So you just got back from the Julie showcase one of my favorite events sadly not able to make it this year with have to be a little more cost conscious with a wedding going up later this year,

but at least we had you there to tell us what was kind of on everyone's lips here. It's a great networking event obviously with basically the whole league there at one point or another.

Yeah, I've never missed what I really love the G leak showcase and now with the moved up trade deadline. It's basically a month out before the trade deadline,

but not quite as chaotic as say summer league would be when teams are actually trying to make deals minute to minute. So I think generally executives from the various teams are pretty chatty,

pretty relaxed as relax as they can be. So I never miss it, especially these last two years in Toronto, which is one of my favorite cities. So I mean the buzz is that the showcase is actually going to be on the move.

And it's probably going to end up in Vegas next season and that'll probably make the teams happy, but it'll certainly it does not make me happy. I absolutely love Toronto, even in January when it's freezing. So I will I will miss Canada.

If that's what actually happens, but look, I think the reality is if you listen to the chatter out there, there's a lot of pessimism. People don't think it's going to be a fireworks late in deadline.

But the rule I always apply in these things, I think it's really hard to predict it and I'm as guilty as any reporter. I go up to these guys from teams and I ask them, so what do you think?

You think we'll see a lot of moves? Nobody knows. It's even even three, well, what are we three weeks away? It's still too soon to say how active or non active it's going to be. So even though there's a lot of talk out there that says, don't expect much. My advice is don't listen.

We don't know yet. Yeah, well, it's funny because you know, obviously the trade deadline was moved up and you get a sense here that there really isn't that much impetus for teams in either direction, right? There are teams. A lot of teams are kind of like, all right, you know, we're on the fringes. We're not ready to totally give up and sell everyone off yet, even pending for agents necessarily. And then on the other hand, you've got such great teams at the top of the league and those teams seem like they're pretty much have got the teams that they want to have.

Already so the impetus to really be a buyer and try to get into that, you know, that sort of talent isn't really available. It seems like. Yeah, look, I think generally teams are really happy about the moved up deadline. I've just. I've heard that over and over that. I need it.

The team just real that this is not something that lingers after the algebra. You know, when teams come back in the algebra, they want to know this is our team. And now they're going to be able to do that. Whereas before, you know, was this charade that you had to, you'll get together for that first practice, but you really didn't know if three days later that you might be shipping three guys out the door. So I think teams are happy about the deadline. I think it's more what you said about how top heavy the league is. Is there a move anybody can make that's really going to be able to do that?

It's really going to close the gap on the warriors in the West. No, realistically, no, there isn't now in the East Cleveland. I think we have to keep our eye on the calves. I do believe they will make at least one trade if they can because they know they're just not they're not good enough right now.

I mean, they can still get out of the East, but they're not beating the warriors as they're currently constructed. So I do think that the calves have the desire to do something. But, you know, I just did the power rankings in today's paper. First time I'll see you and I've done it. You know, I basically have it. I don't do it on a weekly basis anymore, but I decided, you know, let's do it as a as a midway kind of progress report because we just passed the actual midpoint of the season.

There's, you know, from from seven on down, you know, they're between eight and 20 in the league right now. It's just not good league. You know, there's just a the league is a wash in mediocrity right now. So those teams are not one move away from jumping into elite status. I think that's the problem. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I mean, you also have teams like, you know, you mentioned the casualty and they have this Brooklyn pick, but they have their own uncertainty with the free agency.

Of LeBron James. I mean, do you think there's any way that they would move that Brooklyn pick short of LeBron James saying, Hey, yes, I'm going to sign on, which of course we know he's not going to do.

Right. That I mean, that's the only scenario that I think they would be willing. You know, it would change their view on it. They they don't want to use the Brooklyn pick now.

Even though the net seemed determined to keep winning more than any of us thought and try to take the take the value out of that pick as much as they can.

But no, the calves, look, the calves would prefer not to use it and that's that's their big issue because they've got very limited assets if they don't use it.

But, you know, when you look at the players who are out there, you know, Deandre Jordan being at the top of the list does Deandre Jordan put the calves on the Warriors level.

And I think we would all say no. So.

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