Hardwood Knocks

Y'all: Here's the mail. It never fails. It makes us wanna wag our tails. When it comes, we wanna wail MAAAAAIIIIIL! In this week's Hardwood Knocks mailbag, our deep dive into listener questions leads to hypothetical trades for the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks. (Spoiler: Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, Enes Kanter, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Marcin Gortat, Tyreke Evans and Tristan Thompson are all part of these imaginary swaps.) Oh, but that's not all. Andy and Dan talk about Avery Bradley's defensive reputation, and his on-off splits with the Detroit Pistons. And then they do the same for Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics. They also break down the race for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award as well. Is it Kristaps Porzingis? Aaron Gordon? Victor Oladipo? Could it be—protracted gasp—Andre Drummond? And by the way, if you find yourself wondering what's up with the Philadelphia 76ers, we spend ample time talking about them, too. Is Ben Simmons on course to be one of the all-time greats? Is he already better than Joel Embiid? How do the Sixers fare when Embiid, Simmons and Robert Covington all play together? Will they ever trade Jahlil Okafor? And where should he go? Chicago? Atlanta? And, finally, will Markelle Fultz play at all this season? All this, and so much more, is crammed into 73 legendary minutes of hoops talk.  As always, be sure to subscribe to and rate Hardwood Knocks on iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher and BlogTalkRadio. And as 50 Cent's biopic suggests: Follow Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey), Dan Favale (@danfavale), the show (@HardwoodKnocks) and NBA Math (@NBA_Math) on Twitter or die trying. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices