The setting is February 2008. The Memphis Grizzlies have reached their peak with Pau Gasol. At their best, they are a middle of the pack team in a dominant Western Conference. At their norm, they are a surefire lottery mainstay. 
Producer A: I have an outrageous idea for a new movie. Have you read that book Moneyball by Michael Lewis? 
Producer B: About the Oakland A’s? Yeah, I’ve read it. Pretty interesting.
Producer A: Well, I was thinking, what if we made a movie about that stuff, but we make it about basketball?
Producer B: Oh boy, I don’t know. I don’t think anyone would believe it. Basketball can’t just be analyzed through numbers and statistics…
Producer A: Well, how about this? We make a movie about two really crummy teams in the NBA. I’m thinking small market bottom feeders without much going for them.
Producer B: Go on…
Producer A: Well, we take those bottom feeders and we make them do some really outrageous things. Like, jeez, I don’t know, say, give a max contract to an unproven center. Or, maybe, we can have one of the teams trade its best player at the deadline for a few role players and consequently get better out of the trade.
Producer B: I really don’t know about this. It sounds like you’re really stretching for some ideas…
Producer A: I got it! We’ll have the two teams be the Grizzlies and the Pacers! Memphis? Indiana? Can there be a more random two teams in the league? I mean, yeah, Pau’s a good player and Jermaine O’Neal looks like he can still be a solid once he gets healthy. But man, those teams stink!
Producer B: So what’s your plan? We have Pau and O’Neal lure other stars to play alongside them?
Producer A: No. I’ve got something much better. 
You know how Pau has a younger brother named Marc playing in Europe right now? Well, take my word for it, he does. And Marc’s overweight! It’s hilarious. He huffs and puffs up and down the court. And here’s the best part: you know how Pau is like the smartest big man in the league? Well, his brother tries to play like Dirk! He shoots from the perimeter even though he has to be around 300 pounds. His touch isn’t great either! Also, he also can’t rebound the ball very well.
Producer B: So you’re saying we get Marc to play alongside Pau in Memphis?
Producer A: No, I’m thinking crazier. How about we get Pau traded from Memphis for Marc! Can you imagine that? A brother swap! Coincidentally, Marc’s draft rights are owned by the Lakers. How about we give Kobe a guaranteed ring or two by essentially handing the Lakers Pau on a golden platter.
Producer B: Stop it! No way. I understand that Chris Wallace makes some questionable decisions but do you really expect anyone to believe that he’d just give the Lakers Pau freakin’ Gasol for his overweight brother?
Producer A: You’re right, let’s make it look less suspicious. How about the Lakers give the Grizzlies Kwame Brown’s expiring contract and a few picks. That way Wallace can sell the trade as a move for the future to his fans.
Producer B: I guess that’s palatable. I mean, it’s still a really lousy trade. Let’s have it go through under the provision that we can get Stephen A. Smith to do cameo in the film and give us a Kwame Brown rant on live TV. That way, when the movie tanks, we can try to spin it off as a comedy.
Producer A: Deal.
Producer B: So the Grizzlies get a bunch of garbage and the Lakers win a championship. What good does that do for your Moneyball idea?
Producer A: Well, how about this? What if Marc Gasol comes to America and actually becomes good. Like, really good. Like better-than-Pau good. He loses tons of weight and proves that he can run the floor. Let’s have him develop a funny but reliable set shot from eighteen feet away. Let’s have him turn into a point center! He can average like five assists per game!
Producer B: I don’t know…
Producer A: Let’s turn him into Dirk! It’ll be like Like Mike. He’ll have wished he was Dirk for so long and one day, he’ll lace up his sneakers and voila, he’ll have a lethal three point shot. Did I mention that he’s like 7’1”?
Producer B: No, we can’t have that. No one would believe it.
Producer A: Fine. I’ll settle on him just becoming one of the best defenders in the NBA. We won’t be able to prove it to old school executives who solely rely on blocks and steals as indicators of good defense but we’ll have our Moneyball statisticians help show his value. I mean, he is 7’1”, the least we can do is make him an enforcer down low.
Producer B: Fine. I guess that makes sense. 
Producer A: But here’s something to consider. What if we did the exact same thing in Indiana????
Producer B: Jesus, you just keep pushing it, don’t you? So now you’re going to say Jermaine O’Neal has a little brother?
Producer A: No. What are you, crazy? Jermaine O’Neal’s been in the NBA for like forty five years. And he’s only like 29.
Producer B: So what then?
Producer A: Well, let’s do this. Let’s have Larry Bird trade O’Neal to the Raptors. We’ll have him explain to the media that O’Neal was too injury prone and that this was way to get a young point guard like T.J. Ford before O’Neal’s stock plummeted.
Producer B: Wait, I think I’m missing something. What do T.J. Ford and Pau Gasol’s little brother have in common?
Producer A: Wait for it… how about we get the Raptors to also give the Pacers a first rounder or two in the trade. One of them can be a seven footer.
Producer B: Do you know of any good seven footers in the upcoming draft? Wait, how about Robin Lopez!! It’s perfect. He is also the lesser of two brothers. We can have him mature and, someday, he can fit the bill as an elite defensive anchor. It works, I think …
Producer A: Eh. I was thinking more obscure. How about that giant goof from Georgetown?
Producer B: You mean Hibbert? Roy Hibbert??? The guy who legitimately couldn’t run on a treadmill when he first got to school? The seven footer who averaged 5.9 rebounds for his college career? You want to make him an elite NBA defender?
Producer A: Yeah, why not? 
Producer B: Why not!!! (Sigh. Shakes head. Chuckles.) For Christ’s sake, I mean, we already made Pau’s little chubby brother great, I guess we can exaggerate Hibbert into becoming good…
Producer A: Ok. So this Hibbert guy is thrown into the Jermaine O’Neal trade. The Pacers will look bad for a while but at least they’ll have Danny Granger shooting the lights out to keep them from becoming the worst team in the NBA.
Producer B: Well, how about we give Gasol and Hibbert some years to develop and think of other ways to make the teams better aside from just those two.
