HYPOTHETICAL Giannis-Spurs trade, Mavs’ rookies shine & Rockets keep rolling | Howdy Partners

HYPOTHETICAL Giannis-Spurs trade, Mavs’ rookies shine & Rockets keep rolling | Howdy Partners

Howdy partners. Welcome to the weekly YouTube show where we take a look at the league through a lonear lens. Bam McMahon with my compadre Michael C. Wright. Mike, how you doing? I’m good. Good morning. Where are you, man? Well, I’m out here being California cool again. I’m I’m out in LA doing a little bit of TV. Going to rejoin the Mighty Mavericks. The suddenly Mighty Mavericks, I should say. Going to rejoin them uh for Friday night’s game in Oklahoma City. They’ve won three straight. If if if the winning streak continues in Bricktown, I’ll be really impressed. Uh you my friend, we find you in Houston. Is that correct? Can’t you tell this is the spot? And I just Hold on, man. My my dang light my light. So I got this hotel room set up, Mike. And I got like the light propped up on a a holy book here. And no, the holy book didn’t support the light to it. Well, here we go. Oh, look at that. It’s supposed to be the light. Oh, I tell you, we’re gonna have to go lightless here. We do what we can. The things flopped. I thought I had I thought I had it all figured out. But anyways, look, let’s focus on the NBA. Uh where the light is shining on the Lone Star State these days. Um look, man, the Spurs. We’re gonna start with the Spurs. We’ll get to the Rockets and then those uh rolling red hot mass rookies. Uh the Spurs keep stacking up wins while Wimby and Stfan Castle are uh are recovering from their injuries. This is this is a pretty impressive indication that they might have a chance to do something serious this season. I think that’s the ultimate indication. But yeah, they’re seven and two without Victor Winyama. And I would say probably the biggest contributor to that is De’aran Fox, man. Like I was skeptical when you know because there had been a lot of talk about the Spurs potentially going and getting him. I’m like well he can’t shoot. And I hope Dear isn’t watching this but that’s what I was thinking like he can’t shoot. And man the guy’s averaging like 38% from three. 38.6. I think that’s would be like a career high for him. And he’s shoot he’s shooting like six a game. but he’s really figured out just sort of how how to move all the pieces, how all the pieces work around him. And I just can’t wait to see him and Victor together again because you remember they only played five games last year and they didn’t really get much time together, you know, before Vic went out this time. So, I’m really interested to see that. But Darren Fox, that’s the thing. And then it’s also guys around them sort of accepting their roles and sort of like, okay, let me excel in this role. Julian San Penney. He’s a lot like Danny Green to me, but he’s gonna be better than Danny was. And Danny was pretty good. I think he’s gonna be better than Danny Green. I like Champini. That That Hold on now. That’s a little bit bold. I think he’s going to be better than Danny. I’m telling you. Okay. Okay. He’s younger, you know. He He’s super young. He’s got He’s huge. Well, he’s younger now, obviously, but Okay. I like Champini. And it’s an interesting comparison. You got Kell Johnson right off the bench crashing just crashing the boards. He’s bringing that energy yelling and screaming. You should have seen him in the locker room the other night in Denver after they clinched the group. The dude was hype and we’re talking about like the Spurs schedule. And we were like, you know, it’s going to be a brutal schedule, but you know, if it come, you know, if you guys go to make it to Vegas and everything, he’s like, I don’t care. I will play in a back to back to back to back. I want to run through the wall for that 500k. And so, you know, he he was real hype about that. And they would like to buy their teammate David Jones Garcia a car at some point. So, he doesn’t have a car, huh? No, he’s Ubering. He’s Ubering all around. So, I think that that’s an objective. You know, get to Vegas and if you make it, you might as well go try to win it. Uh, can I tell you a little secret? That that’s an admirable goal in pursuit of the NBA Cup. But I bet you if those guys pulled their money together, their spare change, even their PDM on a road trip, I bet you they could afford to get them a car right now. Not the kind that they like to drive though. You know what I mean? Maybe my car, but but yeah. So, you got that going on. And then also I feel like especially with the cup stuff, they were playing in important games because they hadn’t they had over the years they haven’t played in in many big games. So they were playing in important games where the stakes were high and in a lot of ways that’s sort of muscle memory to build for when it really counts, you know, when you get a chance to go to the playoffs. So I think that the Spurs really found value in that. And then I asked Mitch about it. I said, “Is there like some kind of benefit to really not having Steph and Victor around?” Because, you know, you get younger people that get a lot more experience and everything. And he said there is a benefit. He’s like, you get to see these people that normally wouldn’t play like a Carter Bryant. Carter Bryant is going to be a really good player, bro. I don’t know if you’ve seen him up close and personal. He looks a lot like Kawhai in terms of his body build. Like, he’s got an NBA body right now. So, so they got Danny Green and Kawhai. I don’t know if he’s I don’t know if he’s Kawawaii. I don’t know if Cu’s Kawawaii yet, but you know, he’s gonna be a pretty good player, but if Vic and Steph weren’t out, Carter Bryant wouldn’t even be playing right now. He’d be in the G- League probably. And Mitch actually me mentioned that. So, there’s a benefit in a way to those guys being out because now you get to see more of your pieces and then like how you can incorporate them. And I think the Spurs are still not to the point where they feel like everything, you know, how like they they they kind of narrow the lineups and rotations and stuff as you go along. And I think they’re going to be still experimenting for a little while. And look, none of this is possible if they didn’t go out and sign Luke Cornet. You know, the idea there was to make sure the defense didn’t drop off a cliff when Wimby uh was off the floor, but they have a starting caliber uh backup center who’s filling in right now. And he came up with the game saving SWAT in uh in Orlando and he had a little he had like a little Vince Carter type of celebration there. But you started off you started off, Mike, talking about De’ar Fox as as the engine to this run without the uh you know the other stars. And Darren Fox was the first time in forever, maybe ever, that the Spurs made a massive trade deadline swing, right? Mid-season trade swing. Well, it certainly seems likely that a certain fella of Greek descent up in uh Milwaukee is going to try to push his way to the trade block. Now, talking about Jiannis and Koopo, you know, had a calf strain last night. You know, hopefully that’s not a serious issue. We’ll see. It also, hey, we saw a uh perennial NBA player traded while he had a was recovered from a calf strain last season. Let me ask you this, Mike. How aggressive do you think the Spurs might be or might not be in pursuit of a Giannis? Well, to go get a Giannis, that is going to cost you a lot of your assets. And the Spurs have plenty. They they’ve got plenty to to swing deals. I’m really not sure because let me say this. Over the summer, I talked to some people within the Spurs organization and about Giannis. And at the time, they just didn’t believe he’d ever leave. And and obviously now the circumstances are different. So, that’s something I’m going to have to make some calls on and talk to some people about because, you know, when you it’s just a different thing when he’s actually available and you’re trying to kick the tires and see if he might be available. So, I don’t know, man. you’d have to give up a lot. And then let me let me just throw let me just throw stuff out there. They’ve got a ton of uh assets. They’ve got a ton of expiring contracts. I’m just going to throw a deal out here. You tell me if you think it’s realistic or not. Okay. There’s going to be a bonanza picks package. I’m gonna say something like this year’s pick which has a swap with the Hawks, next year’s Hawks pick, Spurs and 29 and the Spurs pick in 31 which that one’s juicy because it’s got the Sacramento swap. So there’s your picks package. That’s a strong picks package. Devin Bell, Harrison Barnes who’s expiring. Um, and if I am sitting in in John Horse seat as the Milwaukee Bucks general manager, I say, “You got to give me Dylan Harper.” That’s what I I So I that’s what I imagine the uh the response would be from uh from Brian Wright as a Spurs general manager and RC Buford and the Spur. But so Harper or Castle, could you do you think those guys will be just hey deal breakers? Those guys are totally off the table. I think those guys would be off the table because they are very much a part of sort of this this foundation is core group that they’re trying to put around Victor Womenyama. I think Vel is is more likely. You know, Deon Vel has been around for a while. Um, still young, still sort of in my mind still sort of an ascending player. like I think he’s going to get even better. I think that’s who I would include. Um, everybody always talks about Kell because of his contract. It’s a very scraable contract, but man, I think if you did that now, you’re kind of pulling some of the glue off the team. like the you know he’s the connective tissue in a way because well I I’ll say this to get a guy to get a two-time MVP guy who’s had 50 and 15 in a finals clinching game you’re going to have to give up some some stuff you really like right you would you know I I tend to agree with I don’t know that the Spurs would be willing to go Harper or Castle just because those are guys you envision as 12 to 15year pieces core pieces alongside window where obviously if you’re trading for Giannis, you know, you’re hoping for a 5year uh window, but there’s a lot of different ways, you know, you could throw in a Sohan and a Bryant. Uh there’s a lot of and I don’t know if that would be rich enough for the Bucks. You know, obviously that’s a situation we’re going to keep our eye on. Uh you know, Giannis has made it clear he would prefer New York. You know, Sean reported uh probably made it clear through Sean’s reporting. Um Sean’s reported yesterday this won’t be a one team deal. I would imagine the Spurs would at least be a situation that he would consider intriguing. So absolutely like could you imagine how big they would be with Vic and Giannis? Oh my god. And Vic’s ability to space the floor would work really well with Giannis uh you know getting downhill. Um, I’ll be honest with you. I I started to also look at potential Houston deals and the the Rockets aren’t nearly as well positioned. Um, it they’re right up on the second apron. It’s just a lot more complicated. Um, my my brain started hurting. You know, I I decided not to bother Bobby Marks. He’d been working all day. And also, right now, this summer, I I think there’s a lot more possibilities. right now. I couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t have Alpie Shingun in it. And you know, and and and I just wasn’t Yeah, again, you’re going to have to give up good stuff to get Giannis, but I I just I I don’t think that’s I’m not sure that’s something the Rockets would be interested in doing. But hey, uh the Rockets, you know, had a little hiccup in in Utah, but for the most part, rolling right along. Uh you you’re there. Uh you almost saw KD hit 31,000 point milestone. You should see it on Friday night when Houston welcomes back Dylan Brooks, who who I just saw in LA, let me tell you, is as entertaining as ever. U you know what, Mike? So, actually out here in LA uh years ago, this is when KD was early in his career for uh on the on the Thunder before he had the Jones fracture where he basically missed an entire season. and uh Eddie Seco with the Dallas Morning News at the time, now is uh in the Mark Cuban semi-retirement sports writer home, uh working for the Mavs. Um you know, we we’re having a few surveys talking hoops and uh I made a bet with Eddie. I bet $1,000 that Kareem or I’m sorry, KD would pass Kareem on the all-time score in this. Now, I was very specific because I said LeBron will too. I’m not saying he’ll become the all-time leading scoreer. uh kind of shook the cobwebs out in the morning and negotiated that down to a $100 bet. I was about to say a,000. I I was a little over my skis and negotiated down to $100 in the morning and he let me out of it. Uh but how high do we think KD can climb? Do is there still hope of me cashing in and uh you know getting a cote from Mr. Sephco? Wait now but KD’s 37. Okay, so here’s the math I did. They’ve got 63 games left this season. I’m going to say let’s I’m going to hope he plays in 50, which will get him to 67 when we make him all and be eligible. Let’s knock on wood that he’s got a relatively healthy season. Uh at 25 points per game, that’s going to put him right around 3250, which by the way, I mean, you talk about I doing some historic stuff. That would be passing Will Chamberlain 31419. That would be Yeah, that would be passing Dirk Nitzky 31560. That would be passing Michael Jordan 32292. So I got him at 32250. I’m going to give him, you know, I’m going to say 1,500 points next season. Okay, that’s uh what 33 750. That’s uh that’s passing Kobe. Okay, I’m going to say I’m going to be optimistic and say another 1500 points the following season. So, I’m got him at like 35, I think. 250. Uh, not pass anybody there, but a solid fourth on the list. I’m going to need KD to play into his 40s. Yeah, that’s right. But from what we’ve seen, would you think he can’t? That’s the thing. I don’t Look, man. I mean, obviously, you know, he’s got to hopefully have some injury luck and avoid anything more uh, you know, any more major injuries. The guy’s 37 and there’s not been decline despite the fact that he’s come back from an Achilles. There really hasn’t been much decline. He’s always going to be 7 feet tall. He’s always going to be able to to shoot over guys. You know, it’s funny. I really thought that KD kind of at this point in his career would kind of become kind of uh transition into like the mid30s version of Durk, you know, where Durk was still a very good player, but obviously wasn’t putting it on the floor a lot, but you know, Katie’s got that one leager, you know, uh and you know, the ability to be a spot up shooter. Um Katie really hadn’t made that transition yet. like he’s still he’s still an elite ISO scoreer attacking guys off the dribble and and efficient doing that. He blew by the uh was it rain for uh Sacramento and I was just like whoa he’s 37 doing that still. I mean that is a a rookie big man but yeah he’s blown he’s blown by a lot of dudes. Yeah, he’s he’s still a like dude he’s still a pretty devastating force when he gets out in transition. Yeah. But you know what else? He cares about this stuff. Oh, yes. Like I asked him last night about it. I said, you know, you like when you’ve been in the league as long as you and sort of produce at such a prolific rate, you keep hitting all these milestones. I said, does this stuff still move you? He was like, hell yeah, it does. went into this long, you know, answer about how like a lot of it is like it makes him think of like all the teammates that helped him get there. He mentioned Russell Westbrook last night, Stephen Adams, just guys that helped him get those shots. And so like for a guy that loves it as much as him, like I have not seen his love for the game Wayne any, but also the fact that he appreciates and understands his place within the game and sort of his legacy and where he wants to be. I don’t know, man. I think he can I think he’s going to rise, but I just don’t know how how high. Well, KD KD loves hoop and I think he has a a great appreciation for the history of the game. And again, this season, it’s not just feasible, but pretty likely certainly he’s going to probably pass Wilt, you know, unless there’s an injury. He’s going to pass Durk. You know, Durk is a guy who KD played against. You know, some parts of Katie’s game are modeled after Durk. Um I’m I’m blanking on the name of the guy that he’s trained with uh right now unfortunately, but he was a disciple of Hogwinder who’s Dirk’s longtime guru/mentor. Um like a lot of a lot of if you want Katie, if you got tickets to Rockets game, get there early. How early is KD’s? He’s one of the first ones he’s one of the first ones out. Yeah. So that’s a that’s a strenuous workout, but it’s it’s it’s also fascinating. He does very interesting things like spin around on one leg at the free throw line. Yeah. And and take shots. There’s some very non-traditional stuff that he got from Durk. Anyways, you know, so passing Durk, there’s I think that’s pretty meaningful. Um and then I mean Michael Jordan, come on. And that’s top five all time. Like that is some unbelievably hallowed companies. So yeah, I I would imagine that would mean a ton for him. And the fact is, you know, the last couple years he was on a team that was just bluntly one of the most disappointed teams in NBA history, and by the way, that was coming from another team that was maybe higher on that list. So, the fact that he’s able to do this now for a Rockets team that, you know, I mean, OKC is far and away above everybody else, but the Rockets are in that pack of teams has a, you know, chance to be a challenger, you know, so I we can call them contenders to be able to do this, playing really competitive basketball. Um, I’m sure that’s that adds to the enjoyment for him. Yeah. You know, it’s funny, too. He didn’t even know last night until I told him. And then he was like, “Well, damn. I could have done it tonight cuz he could have he could have easily got there four points.” You know, it is interesting though cuz like the round numbers, it’s kind of like birthdays. We’re at the age now, Mike, where let’s be honest, man. It’s just every decade the birthday matters. Other than that, it’s like, you know, we’ve had a bunch of them. I’ve been 29 for about 10 years. 29? Yeah, I’ve been 29 forever. You’ve been 29 for 20 years if my math is correct. Okay. True. So have I. Um but you know 31,000 okay it’s a nice round number but passing Wilt at you know passing Durk passing Jordan. Now it’s about who you’re passing to me more than the actual numbers. Yeah 35 is a sweet one. Obviously if he can get to 40 that’s that’s I don’t know if he’s going to be able to get there but Kareem’s at 38 387. So, he’s got, you know, 8300 and change. I hope he plays into his 40s. I hope he makes me some money, baby. Money will, man. All right, talking about uh let’s go kind of to the other end of the spectrum. From a 19-year vet to an 18-year-old, Cooper Flag and his rookie classmate have got the Mavs. you know, it’s it’s it’s a three-game winning streak, but man, it’s it’s their first winning streak of the season. Um, and you know, they they’ve actually beaten a couple of good team like, hey, let’s just be honest, beating the Clippers, who, you know, just before the Clippers decide to dump Chris Paul and that thing’s a that’s a sinking ship. Uh, okay, you know, Cooper did have 35 in that game. That’s awfully impressive. Youngest player ever to do it. But then you beat the Nuggets, you beat uh the Miami Heat. Like those are quality wins and they’re and they’re, you know, AD is playing well, Klay Thompson is actually shooting the ball well, but these the these wins are being driven by these rookies. Mike Ryan Nimhard, undrafted rookie on a two-way contract. Uh, and he’s Jay Kids plugged him in the starting lineup and I believe that he’s going to keep that starting job until Kyrie comes back whenever that might be. Um, as a starter, Ryan Nimhard listed at 5’11 might be a wee bit generous. I was just about to ask you that because might be a wee bit generous. I I I believe he’s the shortest player in the NBA. There’s two listed sub6footers, him and uh Jordan Mclofflin. Anyways, Nimhard’s four starts, 17 points per game, shooting at 65% from the floor, 67 from three-point range, 7 and a half assists, and only 1.3 turnovers. Now, the shooting numbers, obviously, those aren’t going to be sustainable. Yeah, but dude, these last two games, again, wins over the Nuggets and the uh and the Heat, the man’s got 43 points, 23 assists, and one turnover. Yes. The only rookie ever to do that in a in a twoame span. Not undrafted rookie. The only rookie ever to do that in a twoame span. And you know, obviously Cooper Flag is is the franchise moving forward. Um but Cooper Flag needs a point guard, right? Yeah. And we saw the first seven games of the season, the Cooper flag at point guard experiment was a was a rough way to start his career. Okay, he can do some point guard type of things to have him as your point forward point whatever without another big-time ball handler on the floor. That’s especially at 18 when he’s never done it before. In the month though, Mike, since they’ve put a point guard on the floor with him, a point guard in the starting lineup, he’s averaging 19 points a game, shooting 51% from the floor. Three-point shots not there. Um, but Cooper Flag is is having the kind of season that people thought he could when he was as hyped of a number one overall pick uh as any American since maybe LeBron. So, you know, there’s some again, it the Mavericks aren’t close to being contenders or not going to be contenders this year. You got to view this franchise through the prism of building around Cooper flag. His development and then finding Nimhard. Some pretty encouraging developments here. Undrafted too. What do you have? 13 dimes his last game. 13 D. And in in Denver, 28 points, 10 assists, no turnovers. I It was just a masterful performance. That’s not easy to do against that team. I just saw Well, the the Nuggets are the Nuggets are stinking it up defensively. got hurt. But still, it’s an NBA team on the road, you know. And the thing about it, yeah, and AD’s playing well, and you know, we’re going to see how things develop before the trade deadline, but AD healthy. AD playing well. Um, certainly is a good thing. um and you know can help a market develop or you know the Mavs might they might just be too good for their own good and end up kind of in this never never land where they’re a 10 seed again and uh but hey fortune favors the bold maybe maybe two years in a row maybe they can go from 11 to one but this is considered a load to draft a top six draft and a critical draft for the Mavericks for the simple fact that they don’t control their own pick in until 2031, you know, 27, 28, 29, and 30 either either swaps and swaps to good teams, OKC and San Antonio or outright or uh are other teams. But that’s what that’s part of what makes them hard critical. If you’re not going to have a bunch of your own picks, you’ve got to man, you got to hit on some of these uh you know, either second rounders or or undrafted, you know, and like hey, there’s some undrafted guys who’ve had amazing careers. I mean, you’re sitting in Houston right now. Fred Vanble Vleet, by the way, ain’t no way Fred Vanble’s six feet. He’s listed a way. I thought that when I walked by him, I walked by him last night and I was like kind of sizing myself up to him. I’m like, I don’t I don’t know if he’s six foot. Yeah. But, you know, that he’s kind of the epitome of that undersized, undrafted uh, you know, four-year college point guard. Um, who’s had an amazing career. Lord, the same type. Yeah. Alex Caruso. I mean, we we can go on and on. Austin Reeves, I’m sitting in Los Angeles. That guy’s having an allNBA type of season. So, you know, you can hit if the and I I don’t know. I don’t want to put too much on them hard. Um, but I think he’s at least going to have a long successful NBA career as a high quality backup. Uh, at the minimum, you know, the thing he is tiny like I mean he’s like Van Fleet is short, but Van Fleet is stocky and and a pitbull. Nimhard is small. He ain’t he ain’t scared, you know? He’s he’s you know, his older brother’s kid brother. Um, and obviously Andrew Nimhard’s having a heck of a career for the Indiana Pacers. Um, but but Andrew is listed at 6’4. You know, Ryan’s listed at 5’11. Um, the other question about him was like, is he going to be like, can he shoot the three? And honestly, a lot of these threes he’s getting are like dare you to shoot him, he’s knocking those things down uh on a regular basis. So again, whether he is ends up being a a long-term starter or just a quality backup, I do think that the Mavericks have have found them something and that’s uh again critical just given the handcuffs they have in place trying to build around a Cooper flag. Sure. I mean, and that scouting staff and the de developmental people, they got to make their money like especially with the, you know, everything’s hitting the way it is and, you know, so many teams have built these huge uh scouting departments and personnel, I mean, you know, like player development programs, like whole programs now. That’s what it’s for, man. like you, you know, sometimes you get handcuffed by what you have in terms of assets and stuff like that. You have, you know, you give up all your picks or whatever to do whatever you were trying to do and you’re left with nothing. So now you got to go find players and develop them into something. And I don’t know much about the Mavericks in that department. Like are they traditionally good at finding and developing young talent? No. No. that is that has not been a great strength. You know, look, Luca was pretty developed and then, you know, but that’s different. It’s it’s a different thing finding guys early in the lottery. Uh but no, they haven’t had a lot of success um at least in in recent years. But look, Ryan Nhard, consider him a parting gift for Nico Harrison. And can I’m sure Nico would rather you consider Nimhard the parting gift than uh D’Angelo Russell with the player option. Oh yeah. Oh, and I I’m curious as to how cuz Klay Clay’s coming off the bench, right? Yeah. He’s been coming off the bench for that when when they put a point guard in the starting lineup, they brought Klay off the bench. And look, man, Clay’s shooting at 39% from three during that month. And and better than that lately. You know, I told, you know, we talked about this on the Hoop Collective, but like out here in LA, he played against the Lakers, his knees sore. You know, Clay’s old man, he’s 35. His knees sore. So, the injury report comes out the next day, and he’s he’s listed as out. It’s in injury management. Just, you know, a night off and old Clay took a ride on the Stallion, jumped in the water, and got wet. Stallion, he named his boat. I know what the stallion is. He named it Stallion. Yeah. But took Mega out on the water, you know, jumped in. Then he said that that ocean water kind of has his healing powers. Gave him some energy, you know, gave the mans a holler, say, “Hey, no, I’m good to go.” He went from out to available. And Mike, the fourth quarter that night, the man had 17 points and hit the go-ahead three. He hit four threes and it was vintage clay. Like some of these threes, it’s like he’s running to the ball, catching the thing, and he’s he doesn’t see the rim until he’s up in the air with the ball caught. Woo! Woo! Woo! hit the game, winning three that and it was it was good to see and and uh you know post game you know Klay gets in these very kind of reflective states and he was in one of those that night and that was the night Cooper had 35 fresh off of it was pretty impressive weekend for Cooper 11 assists in LA the most ever against the Lakers the most ever by an 18-year-old they lose the game then he goes for 35 you know being guarded by Kawawaii and Batum 35 to in a game beating the Clippers that is uh he was the youngest ever to score 35 beat LeBron by I think it was 5 days. Um but a heck of a LA back to back especially he had struggled in previous second nights the back to back. So kind of getting over that hurdle and then Clay you know he’s telling us about the boat story and jumping in the water and all that but he’s also he he referenced a clip uh Byron Scott when Bcott was an old head uh Kobe’s rookie year. There’s a clip out there of Byron Scott saying, “Hey, this kid is going to be awesome. You know, he’s going to be amazing.” And, you know, Kobe was just coming off the bench, singledigit score, you know, but he was hyping him up. And he said, “I’m not saying Cooper is going to be Kobe, but I kind of feel like B Scott. like you see all the talent, you see all the potential, you you know, you see the work ethic, and Clay’s just like, man, you know, kind of just pouring himself into trying to help this kid any way he can and just really enjoying watching Cooper and and uh you know, watching the way he goes about his business and as he says, you know, we’re going to we’re going to witness this for a long time. So, you know, Clay, given the circumstances and what he thought he was signing up for in Dallas, kind of Instagram versus reality, I think he’s in a really good place, hasn’t pouted whatsoever coming off the bench. And I’m telling you, man, Clay’s hooping right now. So, say maybe this is a better role for him, you know. Oh, it is. Yeah. So, as long as as long as his pride can handle it and he’s been just fine with that. And again, he’s and you know, Clay’s on he’s like, “Hey, I’m in the Twilight. I’m in the twilight of my career, but you know, still feels like he’s got something left. And uh part of what he’s got left is, you know, trying to give something back to uh not only Cooper, but the other rookies on the team, you know, Ryan Nimhard being one of them. Uh hey, Musa Cece. Uh he’s got some minutes as a dig. Another guy on on a two-way contract. No idea what he’s doing, but NBA bought and he plays hard. Hey, that’s that’s all you need. Like when you’re young, just play fast and make all the mistakes. I mean, there you go. You’re going to I mean, you hear coaches tell players this. As a matter of fact, I think Miss Johnson was just telling the Spurs that uh you know, a couple games ago, like and you know, that’s not a super young team, but he’s he’s just telling them to relax and play and, you know, we’ll figure it out on the fly. So, I mean, that’s what these players need, man. like you know and Cooper same thing and I have not if you just Google Cooper flag and kind of look at all the news sources or whatever like you never hear hear anybody say anything negative about him like it’s always you know how gonna be and when I talk to people around the league about him like other GMs yeah the first thing they bring up is like his makeup like his competitive character and you know I think Nimar’s got a lot of that too. Nimar’s just got it in a in a in a tiny little body. All right, Mike, we’re getting the two-minute war in before our uh our Zoom uh goes kapoom on us, you know, poof and and disappears on us. So, we’re going to have to wrap this up. Shout out to Nate Craft, our producer. He’s he’s rushing us off. He’s wearing an ugly shirt, but he’s doing a heck of a job. It’s a nice shirt, Nate. It’s a nice shirt. It’s it’s it’s a terrible shirt, but but we’re working for it. Mike, I appreciate you joining us. Uh we will do this every Thursday uh throughout the season and appreciate you folks watching and listening. Adios amigos. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Today on Howdy Partners, Michael C. Wright and Tim MacMahon take a look at NBA news & storylines from a lone star lens to talk all things Texas basketball.

0:00 Lamp malfunctions
1:09 San Antonio stacking up wins without Wemby & Castle
6:42 Hypothetical Giannis-Spurs trade
11:26 KD looming close to scoring milestones
20:36 Flagg & Nembhard lead Mavs to 3W streak
32:35 Adios amigos

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