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What is krack Lakin fellow thermonuclear a
efforts. I am Dan Valley coming at

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you with my certified fantabulous co host
Grant Hughes. So much to get to

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today. It's going to be a
dead sprint as we talk about the NBA

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Finals, some offseason slop, and
then of course we're gonna get to our

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Atlantic Division free agency offseason outlooks very
very very quickly. Though. Please remember

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to rate, review and subscribe to
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That helps out a ton. Follow
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link to that is in the podcast
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to our Well, even if you're
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The link to that's in the podcast
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the show by by merch. Grant
is sporting the I'm Mitchell Robinson, I'm

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sorry shirt that has Jared Allen crossed
out. You could see it if you're

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watching, look at that. That's
just you're ready for fashion week with that,

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So go go cop pick up whatever
you want to call it. One,

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two, a dozen of those,
and yes we have loads to get

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to, but we do need to
ask the most important question of the day,

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Grant, how the heck are you
doing? I'm doing very well,

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Dan, how are you? I
am annoyed because we just recorded something before

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this that I forgot to hit record
on. We had to redo it,

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so I'm not a happy camper,
but you soldiered through it because you're you're

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an awesome podcast host and friends,
so I appreciate. Well now, I

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mean really, now, everything we
did was just better because we got two

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passes at it. So it's worse
or worse hard to say. It really

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is hard to say. So I
think we need to start with the most

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important thing is the heat clearly just
decided that they needed to turn na Kola

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Yokich into a score, and they
forced him to score. I'm trolling.

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I can't. You can't really convey
that. I just found that that was

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funny. That was the discussion afterwards. We are two games deep into the

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NBA Finals, they're tied up at
one. What is your biggest overarching thought

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about this or has anything you initially
said leading in to the finals. Changed

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after your your impressions of this series
after watching the first two games, I

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guess ultimately not a lot has changed
because I picked the Nuggets in six,

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so that by definition suggests I thought
that the Heat would put up a fight,

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which they've definitely done. I think, so overall, overarching, speaking

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in overarching terms, not a lot
has changed. But I actually had the

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thought after Game one that the Heat
could have won that game, and there

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were some of the shot quality metrics
out there that suggested maybe Miami was unlucky

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or you know, make or miss
blah blah blah, and then they did

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have the Heat did have in game
two. Everyone's talking about the defense,

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which is fair, but they did
have that game where they made half their

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threes basically, and we, you
know, we were talking about this series

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ahead of time, figuring there's gonna
be one of those if they get two,

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if they get too Jimmy Butler games, which they haven't gotten yet,

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really, then we're then we got
a series. So the Heat maybe could

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have should have probably more could have
one Game one and shot their way to

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a winning Game two. And the
defense stuff, you know, getting I

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take your point on like the how
we've it's become like a hack thing or

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Eric spols for bristles at the idea
of turning Yo Kitchen into a score.

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But the fact is that the Heat
did something defensively with that zone that that

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worked pretty well. So how whatever
that means that seems sustainable. You'd assume

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Denver will solve it a little bit. But you know, the Heat have

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kind of done a lot of what
if you were picking them to be competitive

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they would have to do so far. I don't think that should make them

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the favorites or anything close to that. But it's it's a series. I

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think it's a series, and we
both kind of thought that. I think

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I don't know if you've has anything
changed in your estimation. I just assumed

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it wasn't going to be not that
it wouldn't be much of a series.

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I like, I picked nuggets in
five as I'm stumbling through that, and

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I guess underestimated the Heat once again, like to their ability to just figure

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things out. And I really,
look, the defense has been fine.

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I do I respect what they were
doing a lot. In Game two where

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it's hey, let's play, Nicole
Yo gets straight up with mam at a

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Baio and like, yeah, you
sent some help with theirs. I can't

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even remember, was it like the
first quarter Secon quarter. Eric Welsher was

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mad that they sent a double at
Yokich, And I do think that can

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help take away some other stuff or
at least make it tougher on him as

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he's getting closer to the basket if
you're gonna send late help. So I've

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respected that. But like the Nuggets
have scored in this series, even as

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they've like even as the Heat have
done whatever, it's what it comes down

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to me. I guess two things
that's in as like you need I know

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Jamal Murray was a big reason towards
the end of that game, while why

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the Nuggets almost won in Game two, you need him to shoot better from

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three Michael Porter Junior, those two
combined, I think or eight of thirty

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two through their first two games.
And so like, you're gonna need that

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shot making to be better, and
you're gonna need to be better defensively because

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the Heat's offense, specifically in Game
two, Everyone's talked to death about how

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they lost Max Strusce early on in
those possessions where he hit was it four

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threes in the first quarter or whatever
it was, and on like two or

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three of those they were just like
egregious missus a lot of that. Fellow

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Michael Porter Jr. And he has
not looked great in this series, and

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we've you know, touted how good
like he's been throughout these playoffs and critical

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and so if he's not even gonna
be you know, he's not making shots,

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not being great defensively, that's going
to be an issue. I think

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I respect what and I wouldn't have
thought we talked about leading into the series,

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would this be a Kevin Love series. I thought it was smart that

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the Heat went to Kevin Love in
the starting lineup and like he didn't even

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shoot what was he like two of
nine or whatever it was from the four

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Yeah, the fact you have to
guard him on offense, whereas if it's

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Cody Zeller or you know, they
were kind of treating Caleb Martin weird and

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apparently he's been dealing with migraines.
So I don't know if that accounts for

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sort of his lackluster offensive performances.
You really have to give the Heat a

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ton of credit for the different buttons
they pushed I just I don't want to

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oversimplify this, but it's just like, if they're not going to shoot forty

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eight plus percent from three, I
don't know that this is necessarily a series,

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but the caveat there is because again
I was clearly wrong, like this

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is this series seems destined to go, like with the Nuggets rattle off three

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straight victories. Now, I'd be
not shocked, really fairly surprising after seeing

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how well the Heat have played in
both fourth quarters and like Michael Malone being

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frustrated that they took their foot off
the gas. I totally understand that,

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and so there's a lot of different
things to sort of harp on. But

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I think I'm I came away from
this more impressed with Miami's offense and then

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maybe more a little bit more concerned
about Denver's defense than like really anything else.

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There was just to me, it
felt like there was. And I'm

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not saying yo can do no wrong. It's just to me, there's been

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too much focus on like look at
what they've been able to do to yok

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It. It's just like he dropped
forty Like you could say, like you

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would prefer him to only have four
assists. But like, how many assists

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does he have if his teammates are
making shots and so yeah, I guess

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credit the Heat for making like difficult
on him, but I really think the

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bigger focus needs to be, Okay, well, what can Denver do defensively?

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And just look at what Miami was
able to do offensively in Gabe too.

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I think if I'm concerned, I'm
not really so, like I said,

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I'm not really adjusting any of my
priors big picture for the series.

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But if if I'm the Nuggets,
I'm a little concerned that the zone works

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like at all, that Miami zone
works at all, because in theory,

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if you just get Yokich in the
middle of the floor with some space,

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which you can do against most zones
and this one in particular, then like

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that's the Nuggets win that possession because
he'll just make the right decision or score.

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But the Heat have done so well
just denying him touches like in the

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middle of that zone that it's surprisingly
well. So I'm if I'm the Nuggets,

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I'm a little I'm not I'm not
shook, but I'm a little concerned

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that, oh man, it would
have been nice if as expected, like

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we would have just destroyed any zone
look that Miami threw at us, and

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that just wasn't the case. But
yeah, so I mean, if the

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Heat have another hot shooting game,
I mean, which is totally possible because

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they've just been continuing to do it, I might get a little concerned.

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But but yeah, nothing nothing crazy
yet. It's been a great series.

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Game Game two was like a ton
of fun to watch. Yeah, it

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was. It did seem like though, so at the beginning, the Nuggets

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come out or the Heat come out
like super hot, and then it was,

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oh, is there something here?
But then the Nuggets just they led

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by his Money's fifteen. You kind
of thought it was going to go off

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the rails from Miami there, and
I started my head. I was like,

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there were people I saw picked the
Nuggets in four, and I'm thinking,

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oh, they must be doing like
a mild victory lap at this point

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for the Heat to come. And
I even called their game one come back.

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It was it was like a fake
comeback. It felt like we were

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just sort of hanging around, hanging
around, and like even it just seems

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like so many red flags. Jimmy
Butler was definitely more aggressive, but like

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the Heat took. I think it
was three or four shots at the rim

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in the first half of the game
two, just like no free throws all

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game one two, Right, that
was right there, two of them whopping

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two of them. And they're not
a super rim heavy team to begin with,

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but like, even by their standards, it's like so rim light and

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so I don't know, you know, I'm I'm so I shouldn't be impressed

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by Heat at this point, Like
it's a wheel, Like they're a good

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team. This is not you know, everyone could go through how many undrafted

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guys that they have on their roster, like we do every single broadcast,

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YadA, YadA, YadA, But
like, yeah, there's gonna be And

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by the way, I found this
split weird, which is something to keep

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in mind. The Heat are shooting
forty one percent per cleaning the glass on

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threes when they're on the road,
they're thirty five point nine percent at home.

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That's weird, Right, that's weird. But I'm just like, even

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so Max Drew's comes out hot.
But then even like with Duncan Robinson and

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we've talked about him a lot during
these playoffs, him coming in and like

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the thread of his shooting, but
now he's just a reliable decision maker off

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00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,159
the dribble. I think Bam has
been big where he didn't need to be

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as aggressive because Miami shooters were hitting
shots. You didn't need to be as

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00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,600
aggressive from the in between rains.
He's been ranged. He's been fantastic this

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series, and like that's been huge. He's still been able to hit those

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in between looks that the Nuggets are
going to concede to him, and I

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think you look at this, you
said before we entered this series, and

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I'm one my my prediction hasn't changed. I might go to Nuggets and six.

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I still think that the Nuggets are
gonna win the title. That hasn't

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I want to make it clear that
hasn't changed for me one bit. But

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you said, coming too the series, the heat will get one game because

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Jimmy Butler will be the best player
on the floor. He's yet to be

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the best, but I would say
even close to the best. And kids

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playmaking in Game two for sure,
that was like awesome. But and they

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have one game, and so that's
what I can come. You said that,

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and I've been thinking about it ever
since. I'd like towards the end

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of Game one, I'm like,
oh, But then watching Game two and

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how it unfolded towards the end,
I'm going, wow, I want if

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I come away more concerned, then
then like, should the Nuggets be ultra

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concerned? And I default towards no. But I do think it's notable that

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you've gotten a victory on the road
without Jimmy Butler being I think you could

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even don't even say the best player
on the floor your best player, right

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00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,519
right. I think the last my
last thought on really the heat is that

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I feel like some part of me
and probably everybody has sort of been waiting

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for like when you know, whether
it's the hot shooting, whether it's like

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Martin and Struce and Vincent just playing
you know, way over their heads compared

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to the regular season, like just
kind of waiting for the heat to turn

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back into a pumpkin, like you
know, you snap your fingers and then

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suddenly they're back to the team that
got outscored during the year and couldn't shoot

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and all this other stuff. I
think it's clear now that that's not the

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way this will go. I think
if and when the Nuggets win the series,

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it will be because the Nuggets are
really good and they have the best

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player. But also just because the
Heat, even playing at you know,

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this elevated level, like aren't quite
good enough. I think that's the way

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it will go, as opposed to
you know, after the Milwaukee series,

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it was like, oh, that
kind of felt flukey, and then I

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you know, okay, well,
okay, they made it to the conference

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finals. Now they be It's like
it felt like, you know, the

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wheels would come off or they'd revert
to their true form quote unquote, I

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00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:22,480
don't think that's it. I think
it's just gonna be. The Heat can

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00:12:22,519 --> 00:12:26,600
do this. They can win games
by making half their threes. They've done

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00:12:26,639 --> 00:12:30,720
it all playoffs. Jimmy Butler's gonna
get you one. But ultimately the Nuggets

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are just better. But so so
like to anybody assuming that the Heat will

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flip the switch the wrong way at
some point and just be who they were,

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that's like that's off the table at
this point. That isn't gonna happen.

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A fluke is not a fluke if
it persists for like two months,

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yeah, it's we had to stop
framing it. I mean we even had

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a segment we're just like we're not
even going to try and explain the heat.

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Yeah, and I don't want to
because part of it's just like this

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is an incredible run thrown, but
there's they're just absolutely so good and even

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just right down into you know,
we've talked a lot about whether you look

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at how the supporting cast is it
depth in the form of optionality or depth

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in the form of uncertainty, because
like you have to talk all these different

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buttons and you don't necessarily know.
Okay, we have Bam, we have

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Jimmy, but like what's kind of
happening after that? We know what everyone

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can do, but they're gonna be
Spurts where no, Max Drews isn't gonna

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go oh of eighty from three,
but they're Mighty Knights where he doesn't isn't

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shooting too well. Now, Caleb
Martin, who was one of the finalists

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for the Conference Finals MVP, is
now again dealing with migraines, has not

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been a huge factor offensively in this
series. You have Hayward Highsmith plays a

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bunch of minutes in was It Game
one and I guess the game got out

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of hand at that point, but
then barely plays in game two. We

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kind of saw that towards the end
of the conference finals, where it's oh,

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Hayward Highsmith every other game, they
could just go to Kevin Love.

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I had written after Game one that
they needed to get away from trying to

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steal minutes with Cody's eeller against Yokich, and they came right back and tried

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to steal minutes with Cody's ller against
yo Kich. We'll see if those still

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stick in three. But I've come
away from this just endlessly impressed with Miami

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after already being endlessly impressed with them. And is there are you watching for

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as we, you know, wrap
up the finals talk here? What are

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you watching for specifically in game three
or what are you thinking about most heading

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into game through, like a change
you could see or something that you're going

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to be monitoring. I think a
couple of things. One, I'm curious

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what kind of shots the heat are
going to get because now sort of like

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it's all been laid bare that the
Nuggets have decided that they didn't play hard

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enough and didn't bring the requisite intensity, and that contributed to Miami getting some

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pretty good looks, like you mentioned
the struce looks in the first quarter,

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of game too, does that tighten
up? And then if and when that

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does, is that just the end
of it? Because if the Heat don't

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keep paced, I think the Nuggets
will continue to score, and that's how

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that game will go and how the
series will go. And then I'm still

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obsessed with the zone. I'm just
I'm blown away that it's been remotely effective

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because I just did not think that
was a real option, And I just

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under how much more Miami will use
it, what changes they'll make. Will

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they keep pressing? That's the other
thing. Before dropping into the zone,

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They've put on a bunch of full
and three quarter court pressure, and the

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Nuggets are getting into their stuff with
like, you know, twelve seconds left

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on the shot clock, which is
that matters. Can the Heat keep doing

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00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,080
that kind of stuff? That's That's
the other thing I'll keep watching because I

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think the Nuggets, you know,
all things being equal, we'll just find

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ways to score most likely, and
we agree they're the better team. But

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if Miami can keep making some of
this stuff work, then maybe that changes.

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And as you mentioned, Denver had
a one twenty five point six offensive

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rating in Game two, and so
like you could talk about Miami's but it's

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like they still figure it out ways
to score. I think what I'm going

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00:15:39,399 --> 00:15:45,360
to be watching is whether this and
the Miami's point differential during the playoffs skeewed

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very heavily towards Look what we do
in the fourth quarter? What are they

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going to keep this stuff up?
In the fourth quarter? They had This

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00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,399
was from John Schumann of NBA dot
Com. I actually didn't check it,

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but he had them at a one
eighty nine point five offensive radioyeah, it's

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like the highest of any quarter all
season basically, right it was. It

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was in like the top ten or
something like that, which is just like

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one eighty nine point five is monstrous, and so you can definitely need to

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criticize like what the Nuggets were doing
defensively, as Michael Malone didn't it.

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It felt like they just took their
foot. I hate framing it like that,

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but it felt like they kind of
let up. It wasn't hate that

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some teams don't know how to handle
success. Did you hear that on the

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prom Yeah? I hate that screaming
too, because it feels like dismissive and

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oversimplification, and it usually, oh, we weren't trying hard enough. Is

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like a it's symptomatic of something way
worse, like we've tuned the coach out,

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or like we hate each other or
you know, things like that.

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That's not the case with Denver,
but it always gives me pause when that

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is like the agreed upon explanation of
like we just we didn't bring it.

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It's like, what do we really
like? That's that's like two, that's

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not a thing. I don't know. You made Jeff Green mad though he

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was. He was like gets and
the other thing that we haven't talked enough

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about and they kind of fell off
to Christian Brown has a great game for

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mostly game, and I've been very
impressed with the benches, like the lineups

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where we're skewing Okay, it's only
Jamal Murray on the court, or it's

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only MPJA, but mostly just Jamal
Murray and then we're gonna just surround him

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00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:15,880
with defense. And like some of
the bench lineups that they've been able to

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00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:21,799
roll out defensively for Denver have really
been tone setters and they couldn't like they

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00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:25,279
didn't maintain it for all of Game
two. But this is a team that

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I think I trust to just be
like, hey, is this sort of

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00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,279
a wake up call, or is
this just looking at their performance over the

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course of the season, over the
course the entire playoffs to score as efficiently

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as they have despite not getting great
games, or even so, forget Michael

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00:17:41,039 --> 00:17:44,640
Porter Junior has not been great,
but you haven't even gotten full games from

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00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,640
like Aaron Gordon's hot in Game one
kind of fades, Jamal Murray up and

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00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,519
down as per usual. They haven't
put together a complete performance yet, and

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they're going to. Like that's just
the level of faith I have in them,

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and so I do expect this series
on the last longer than five games

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00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,200
now, though, which is fighting
from like just being able to watch it.

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00:18:02,279 --> 00:18:06,599
But I don't think it's changed my
impression overall. I was already very

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00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,640
impressed with Miami. I just I
think they're eventually going to run out of

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offensive firepower, specifically to hang with
this Nuggets team. I think that's a

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00:18:14,759 --> 00:18:17,359
great point to go out on.
We've spent all this time talking about,

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00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:18,720
like, well, what does it
look like, you know, for Miami

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00:18:18,759 --> 00:18:21,799
to win, Well, this has
to happen in one game, and this

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00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:23,880
has to happen in another. We
haven't talked about like Denver's just gonna play

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00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,039
a perfect game or two at some
point like that's just because they're just better.

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So so that's that's a good way
to go out by sort of focusing

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on Denver just has the capacity to
make this not a series if they kind

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00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,720
of get everything right. Do you
want to talk about do you have any

302
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,160
stray thoughts on I went into the
Monty Williams hire for Detroit, but that

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00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,960
was without you any thoughts on you
know, the Pistons decision to give him

304
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:52,920
the thirteen plus million dollars a year. I feel like he's the right coach

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00:18:52,039 --> 00:18:57,839
for that team where they are in
their developmental arc. It gives it makes

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00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,240
me a little concern that he basically
said no first, right, and then

307
00:19:02,279 --> 00:19:04,720
they said how about some extra money? And then he said yes. Is

308
00:19:04,759 --> 00:19:10,599
that a fair assessment of the sequence
of events? More or less we were

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00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,480
on here saying, oh, he's
not He clearly doesn't want a coach next

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00:19:12,519 --> 00:19:15,200
year. We said that, and
then two days later he was alright,

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00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,079
So I'm in full agreement with you. And so because I'm sure you talked

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00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:22,200
about it, they're paying him a
ridiculous amount of money over a very long

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00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:26,720
term contract for an NBA head coach, and so like if that was the

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00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:30,519
reason, I get it, Like, it's a job you go where they're

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00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:32,559
going to pay you a ton of
money, and in any other line of

316
00:19:32,559 --> 00:19:36,079
work you would never question it.
But like if he didn't want to and

317
00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,480
then the money swayed him, like
how in is he? That would be

318
00:19:40,759 --> 00:19:42,680
a concern I have. But he
is the right coach. I think he's

319
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,920
the pick I would have made if
you could anyone out there on the market

320
00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:49,400
to coach the Pistons, like he's
it. I think because he has you

321
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:55,359
know, he's well respected. He
is a guy that I think young and

322
00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,119
old players like and under and believe
in generally speaking, just because he's he's

323
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,240
played and he's had success everywhere you
know, most places he's been. He

324
00:20:03,279 --> 00:20:07,440
has some gravitas, like and the
Suns were really really good when he was

325
00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:11,839
in charge of them. So yeah, I mean he whether you're kid cunning

326
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,960
him or whether you're like boyam Bogdanovitch, I think he makes a lot of

327
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,720
sense for this team, as long
as it's not just the money that made

328
00:20:18,799 --> 00:20:23,240
him choose it. I do think
though, that hopefully this will this implies

329
00:20:23,319 --> 00:20:29,559
I think the commitment feels like it
infers they're really looking to make a splash

330
00:20:29,599 --> 00:20:33,599
immediately, but the length of the
contract is kind of like, Okay,

331
00:20:33,599 --> 00:20:36,400
well, he's going to be given
the runway to figure this out and this

332
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,079
is not going to be something that's
rushed. But I do think maybe the

333
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,119
draft, but more so how they
use their caps facing free agency might say

334
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:47,400
a lot about what their expectations are
for this season and maybe how available is

335
00:20:47,519 --> 00:20:49,839
Bogdanovitch and trade rumors he opens things
up. I'm not saying you need to

336
00:20:49,839 --> 00:20:53,160
move him, but I still want
to just make sure that this team is

337
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:59,200
in it for the longer haul rather
than Okay, we've been in this rebuild

338
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,599
for a few years, it's time
to you know, progress needs to come

339
00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:07,279
in the form of wins in the
standings rather than just these moral or functional

340
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,480
developmental victories. There's a lot of
teams this offseason that feel like, it

341
00:21:11,519 --> 00:21:15,119
feels like are kind of ready to
start skipping some steps, Like the Rockets

342
00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,920
are kind of the prime example of
that, talking about we're gonna make,

343
00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:22,839
you know, veteran acquisitions and we're
going to try to win. It seems

344
00:21:22,839 --> 00:21:25,640
like Detroit is kind of has kind
of been trying to do that for a

345
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:27,759
couple of years, Like with some
of their veteran signings. What do you

346
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,880
think about their like one foot in, one foot out approach, Like,

347
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,559
because I just default to just take
your time, Let's see what kid Cunningham

348
00:21:37,559 --> 00:21:40,240
and Jade and Ivy look like.
Let's figure out which big guys we want

349
00:21:40,279 --> 00:21:42,799
to keep, and let's not try
to win thirty eight games you know this

350
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,759
year. Yeah, I don't even
know if I'll classified as one foot in,

351
00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:48,240
one foot out, but it does
seem like they have one eye on

352
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:52,359
like the play in at all times, and I don't. I don't want

353
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,440
to see them indulge that. And
I do think I wasn't and he did

354
00:21:55,519 --> 00:21:57,920
play well once he got there.
I wasn't thrilled with the James Wiseman move,

355
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,559
but that's not a move that you
make thinking, okay, like we're

356
00:22:02,559 --> 00:22:04,559
gonna we're gonna compete. Next point, as you mentioned, you're trying to

357
00:22:04,559 --> 00:22:08,119
figure things out on the front line
with your trillion bigs and so that I'm

358
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,799
not saying that they're gonna rush into
this. I just do feel like you

359
00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:14,640
could view this a number of different
ways where it's well would you are you

360
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:15,599
really just spending that much on the
coach and be like, hey, like

361
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,720
for the first two or three years, like we need to, we're just

362
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,119
gonna be figuring things out. And
so I'm just and again the Bogdanovich like

363
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,160
getting him in the first place,
I just have my eye on them to

364
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:30,200
where it's okay, we know the
rockets they've been and they have an incentive

365
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,079
because of the picks that they owe
to Brooklyn but or excuse me, Oklahoma

366
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,920
City. But like the Pistons are
just sort of like the next up where

367
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,160
it's always what's the next most Like
well, Portland and Houston are up there

368
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,400
of teams that probably shouldn't trade their
lottery picks but are going to anyway.

369
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And then I kind of have my
eye on like the Pistons after that,

370
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,920
I don't think they'll trade their lottery
picks, just sort of in that bucket

371
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,319
of will they try and accelerate things
too quickly. The other coaching higher which

372
00:22:56,319 --> 00:22:59,680
we did not talk about, and
I didn't talk about either, Frank Vogel

373
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,680
to X Kevin Young, who was
a finalist for the job. He is

374
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,359
staying on as the highest paid assistant
the league now over two million per Doc

375
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,319
Rivers pulled his name out. Apparently
we're getting and this leaves no doubt my

376
00:23:11,319 --> 00:23:12,559
mind that Nick Nurse was never going
to get the Bucks job. That we're

377
00:23:12,599 --> 00:23:15,640
just doing faith. So anyone who
said I was wrong, you were right.

378
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,920
I was one hundred percent wrong when
I said, oh, Nurse pulled

379
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,359
out. Maybe he knew he wanted
the Sixers. No, we're just doing

380
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,200
the thing where if it looks like
a coaches Oh, he decided not to

381
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,839
be right and he can't fire me. I quit. I Before I throw

382
00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:30,079
it to you, I just want
to say, Frank Vogel is a great

383
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,640
defensive coach, and I think that
for what Kevin Young Young is known for

384
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,720
offensively in his relationship with Devin Booker, that could be a good partnership.

385
00:23:38,759 --> 00:23:41,559
My two very quick thoughts that I
want to throw to you, one to

386
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,880
get rid of Monty Williams and then
for it to kind of come down to

387
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,119
Kevin Young, Frank Vogel, and
Doc Rivers. It felt uninspiring. I'm

388
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:55,559
just And then my second thought is
while Kevin Young, I was gonna say

389
00:23:55,559 --> 00:23:57,799
Tylou, while Kevin Young and Tylou
could work well well, Kevin Young and

390
00:23:57,839 --> 00:24:03,279
Frank Vogel could work. There's something
inherently awkward about missing out on a job

391
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:08,160
staying on to be the top assistant
at the highest paid salary in the league.

392
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,400
I'm assuming Vogel was at least okay
with it, or was just told

393
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,720
that, hey, Kevin Young is
if he's staying, is going to come

394
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,039
with this job. I don't know
if it threatens to undermine him, but

395
00:24:19,319 --> 00:24:23,880
knowing that Kevin Young has like Devin
Booker in his camp, it just has

396
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,680
the potential to It could work.
And I know Suns fans are excited.

397
00:24:27,079 --> 00:24:30,240
That's fine. I'm not gonna say
that you shouldn't, but it's just a

398
00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:36,480
little awkward. That's the correct take. I think you can't. You well,

399
00:24:36,519 --> 00:24:40,119
you said, Tylu, you can't
talk about this situation without talking about

400
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:44,119
David Blatt and Tylou in Cleveland,
where it was he was the highest paid

401
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,400
assistant there the team and Lebron soured
on David Blatt, and Tylu was,

402
00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:51,640
oh, look at me, Hey, let's just move this guy over in

403
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,880
a chair on the bench and there
you go. I think that's very like

404
00:24:53,920 --> 00:25:00,200
if it goes bad with Vogel in
Phoenix and guess what, Kevin Young the

405
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,279
next head coach. It's like,
well, yeah, of course that's what

406
00:25:02,319 --> 00:25:03,519
happened. We'll be able to look
back, you know, and say this

407
00:25:03,599 --> 00:25:07,039
was obvious and you could see this
coming. I do think Vogel is a

408
00:25:07,039 --> 00:25:11,599
good coach that deserved another chance,
and like his defensive track record, just

409
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:15,039
it's kind of unimpeachable. Like wherever
he is, good defense shows up,

410
00:25:15,079 --> 00:25:19,000
and it's just to happen too often
for it to be a coincidence. I

411
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,759
don't know that he has the ability
to add like four rotation players to the

412
00:25:22,839 --> 00:25:26,559
roster, which is really what the
Suns need. But I think that's a

413
00:25:26,559 --> 00:25:30,759
totally fine pick. Even if I
would agree that going from Williams to him

414
00:25:30,839 --> 00:25:37,079
is kind of and factoring in it
could work. It could work, but

415
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,240
it's uninspired. I think I would
agree with it's kind of you kind of

416
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,160
shuffled the deck chairs a little bit. But if it's if the case was

417
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,559
that this team was just done listening
to Monty Williams, which seems like,

418
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,839
and the best players were chief among
them, then like, yeah, what

419
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,119
do you? What do you?
What else are you gonna do? The

420
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,839
final thing here is some people have
wondered whether this makes it less likely the

421
00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,079
Sun's trade Eighten because of like how
Frank Vogel likes to use his big and

422
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:04,319
have rim protecting bigs. I'm curious
what you think about that. I think

423
00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:07,839
it does make it less likely that
they trade him. It doesn't change again,

424
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,400
it doesn't change the fact that they
need depth in trading and is like

425
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,960
a great way, maybe the best
way for them to actually accomplish that.

426
00:26:15,559 --> 00:26:21,799
But I think I have to think
that some element of the decision just swap

427
00:26:21,799 --> 00:26:26,839
out Williams for Vogel is maybe we
get DeAndre in like back like all the

428
00:26:26,839 --> 00:26:30,720
way back in and he was a
starting center for a finalist and a team

429
00:26:30,759 --> 00:26:37,440
the one sixty whatever game. So
that's something you that's not like a an

430
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,759
insignificant factor in the decision making process
there. That's a great way to look

431
00:26:41,759 --> 00:26:45,759
at it. I still default too
if they keep him. It says more

432
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:48,519
about his trade market than what they
think you can do under French is kind

433
00:26:48,519 --> 00:26:52,039
of just wear Matt with three years
and one hundred plus million on a big

434
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:59,400
The last thing before we get to
our Atlantic Division offseason preview, there was

435
00:26:59,759 --> 00:27:03,000
a rumor, I don't know if
you saw it or report from Sham Sharania

436
00:27:03,039 --> 00:27:12,279
of The Athletic and christ Haynes of
Weaker report that Kyrie wants Lebron in Dallas.

437
00:27:12,319 --> 00:27:15,960
Just thoughts on that, thoughts on
the reporting and the details of it

438
00:27:17,039 --> 00:27:21,559
all. I hand the talking stick
to you. We both didn't want to

439
00:27:21,559 --> 00:27:23,319
cover it, but you I said
it, and you said you think it

440
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,720
needs to be covered, So well
I do. And I'm trying to channel

441
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:32,480
our off air discussion about it to
like get my get riled up a little

442
00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:38,079
bit about it. So like,
Okay, Kyrie would like Lebron in Dallas?

443
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:44,559
Uh huh? Like got it?
How are we doing that? And

444
00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:48,640
is it the way where Lebron gives
up ninety seven million dollars? Is it

445
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,720
the way where Dallas tries to concoct
a trade with nowhere near the assets it

446
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,319
would take to get Lebron? Is
it by Lebron, you know, deciding

447
00:27:57,319 --> 00:28:02,920
he no longer cares about playing,
you know, being around usc where a

448
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,119
soun's gonna play, you know,
being in La with Like, I just

449
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:12,559
I guess it could happen. I
just don't see any feasible way for it

450
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,920
to Like, we just shouldn't believe
that this is possible or probable, and

451
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:19,519
I'm annoyed that we're talking about it
when we're in the middle of the finals,

452
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:25,160
especially coming on the of like a
forty eight hour maybe longer than that

453
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,599
new cycle of Lebron Is he going
to retire or not? When again,

454
00:28:29,079 --> 00:28:33,000
yeah, he's gonna leave one hundred
million dollars on the table to walk,

455
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,160
Like you know, we talked about
that a lot, just how like it

456
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,079
was probably you asked the guy who
ran a bunch of marathons if he would

457
00:28:38,119 --> 00:28:41,079
like to run again, and that
was part of it. But now it's

458
00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:47,440
just like, do we I know
it's a transactionally based new cycle now and

459
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,279
everybody cares about this stuff more than
the games, but like, can we

460
00:28:51,359 --> 00:28:55,559
just watch the finals? Can we
watch two really good teams in an interesting

461
00:28:55,559 --> 00:29:00,359
matchup and not talk about just like
this is like a two K made up

462
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,920
like this, I'll throw it to
you because I'm like starting to trip myself

463
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,960
up. But like Lebron to Dallas
feels beyond pipe dreamy, Like it's just

464
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:12,160
the mechanics of it are so ridiculous, Like it's not literally impossible, but

465
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:18,039
it's close enough to where we shouldn't
even be like honoring this report leaked by

466
00:29:18,079 --> 00:29:22,559
a guess Kyrie's camp that he would
like Lebron on to debt, Like,

467
00:29:22,599 --> 00:29:26,119
that's just like, what is this? You know? Yeah, my thoughts,

468
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,200
So I saw this corrected wheel real
quick. It's just like, when

469
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,400
you're giving a platform to either these
teams or these players with these agents,

470
00:29:33,519 --> 00:29:37,240
you don't have to frame it as
the MAVs we're trying to make a run

471
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,920
at Lebron last season when Lebron couldn't
be traded, nobody looks good. There

472
00:29:42,119 --> 00:29:45,599
is that? Or the MAVs trying
to like showcase how little they know about

473
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:51,400
extensions and the collective Barcade agreement if
it was them, and even talking about,

474
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,359
oh, the easiest way to get
there is a buyout, just sort

475
00:29:53,359 --> 00:29:56,759
of run me the wrong way because
you mentioned he's gonna leave how much money

476
00:29:56,759 --> 00:29:59,839
on the table or the Lakers are
gonna have this huge dead cap hit.

477
00:30:00,279 --> 00:30:03,920
And the other thing to remember here
is he would It's the easiest way for

478
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,279
it to happen, by the ways, via trade. It's not via buyout,

479
00:30:07,279 --> 00:30:10,880
it's via trade. And the two
things that really get in the way

480
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,440
of that is Lebron has to say
I'm going to Dallas and you can't send

481
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,599
me anywhere else because I'm going to
retire. Trade me, right, and

482
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,480
which okay? Fair? Because Dallas's
best offer is salary filler plus Josh Green

483
00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:26,000
Jadeen Hardy and they can give up
the two first round picks, including the

484
00:30:26,079 --> 00:30:30,400
number ten pick in the draft if
you put Lebron on the open market like

485
00:30:30,759 --> 00:30:34,680
to trade him anywhere, which they
theoretically could do. I still believe you're

486
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:40,160
getting more way more right. Well, I did see there were people Mavericks

487
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:45,359
Twitter was like, why would we
give up the number ten picks? I

488
00:30:45,559 --> 00:30:48,480
just And the other thing is,
so if you max out Kyrie and then

489
00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:52,880
you trade for lebron salary and you
have Luca Donche's salary that is literally the

490
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,640
salary cap next year one hundred and
thirty four million dollars. Yeah, how

491
00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,680
are you flushing out the rest of
the roster as these like you're gonna lose

492
00:31:02,119 --> 00:31:03,480
your mid level at that point or
I guess like you would have one more

493
00:31:03,519 --> 00:31:06,759
season of maybe being able to use
it. But you're gonna flesh out the

494
00:31:06,839 --> 00:31:11,160
roster with eight minimums and then an
exception. I mean, and there could

495
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,960
be players left after whatever trade.
So it seems highly unrealistic. And I

496
00:31:15,039 --> 00:31:19,000
still if they're going to team up, I think it happens in LA because

497
00:31:19,079 --> 00:31:22,720
and I don't think it happens,
to be clear, and I don't think

498
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,680
it should. I don't think that
makes sense for the Lakers, no,

499
00:31:25,839 --> 00:31:29,039
because I do think they need depth
still. And the other thing here is

500
00:31:29,079 --> 00:31:33,240
like Kyrie the by the way,
the only way that it really anything like

501
00:31:33,279 --> 00:31:36,559
this happens would be someone's taking a
pay cut, and it would most likely

502
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,960
be Kyrie because guess what, he's
the actual free agent. It's great that

503
00:31:40,039 --> 00:31:42,640
Kyrie's asking Lebron to come to Dallas. Kyrie is the free agent. Yeah,

504
00:31:42,839 --> 00:31:47,559
And so this feels more like maybe
pressure could have even come from like

505
00:31:47,599 --> 00:31:51,519
the Lebron side of things at like, oh, let's put pressure on the

506
00:31:51,559 --> 00:31:55,279
Lakers to continue going after Kyrie,
or Kyrie putting pressure on the Lakers.

507
00:31:55,279 --> 00:31:56,839
Hey, you need to give me
a real offer. The Lakers can't max

508
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:01,680
out Kyrie because you get into the
issue of they can get between thirty and

509
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,640
thirty five million dollars in cap space. I think it's it's it's under thirty

510
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,079
five. Let's say they get to
the thirty million dollars number. That's just

511
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:12,799
getting rid of basically everybody. Everybody
you can't max that's Kyrie's max is forty

512
00:32:12,839 --> 00:32:15,440
six point nine. And even if
you do as sign in trade, you're

513
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:20,119
looking at, Okay, we're gonna
attack on Kyrie's forty six point nine if

514
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:22,200
you wanted to max him to Lebron's
forty six point seven. To Davis,

515
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:27,519
it's forty point six. That again
is the salary cap, and now you're

516
00:32:27,599 --> 00:32:31,440
going to be hardcapped. How are
you working within that to build a competitive

517
00:32:31,519 --> 00:32:35,839
roster? Joe says in the chat. Look how that worked out for the

518
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,480
Suns this year. I mean they
had Yeah, it didn't. They clearly

519
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,960
needed depth depth by the end of
the season. I don't know if you

520
00:32:43,279 --> 00:32:45,160
if they would regret that Kevin Durant
trade, though this feels a little bit.

521
00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:51,799
The machinations are just different here,
and I just I don't know.

522
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,480
I don't see it happening. But
if it does happen, it's overwhelmingly likely

523
00:32:54,519 --> 00:32:59,960
to happen in LA because like Kyrie
is the free agent, and it's good

524
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:01,680
end with someone probably taking a pay
cut anyway. I just don't think he's

525
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,559
going to take the pay cut.
Yeah. Yeah. If I'm the Lakers,

526
00:33:05,599 --> 00:33:07,759
give me give me the roster that
had the second best record in the

527
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,480
in the in the league after the
All Star Break, which you could just

528
00:33:10,519 --> 00:33:16,759
have by bringing all your guys back
over Kyrie Irving and like nobody else depthwise

529
00:33:16,839 --> 00:33:21,039
on the whole roster. I just, I mean, that's that's how simple

530
00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:24,680
it is for me. Are you
ready to move into the Atlantic Division off

531
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,880
season preview? I am. You
may have to keep us on a timer

532
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,759
here so we uh don't spend forty
minutes on the first team. Uh yeah,

533
00:33:32,799 --> 00:33:36,920
I won't. I will make us
move things along and everybody worry.

534
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,559
So we begin with we can alternate
going through the off season vitals. But

535
00:33:40,559 --> 00:33:45,079
I actually need to scroll up to
the off season vitals. So just we'll

536
00:33:45,119 --> 00:33:46,720
talk about these numbers. But the
cap next year is projected to come in

537
00:33:46,759 --> 00:33:51,279
at one thirty four million, the
luxury tax one sixty two million, the

538
00:33:51,319 --> 00:33:58,400
tax apron one sixty nine million,
which would make the second apron one seventy

539
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,759
nine point five million, seventeen and
a half over the tax threshold. We've

540
00:34:01,799 --> 00:34:06,200
we've we'll talk about teams, whether
they're going to have the bigger MLI or

541
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,119
the mini MLI, or what their
best spending tool is. I'll begin with

542
00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:14,440
the Boston Celtics. Key free agents
Grant Williams, he's restricted and Gallo has

543
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,480
a player option. He'll pick it
up. Key extension eligible candidates Jalen Brown,

544
00:34:17,519 --> 00:34:21,719
he's eligible for that supermax of five
years and two hundred and ninety point

545
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,719
three million. Their best spending tool, maybe it's the mini mid level,

546
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:30,559
but they could be up against the
second Apron if they keep Grant Williams.

547
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,360
So, Grant, what are we
what are you thinking about? Like,

548
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,440
what's your biggest overarching thought about the
Celtics their biggest need? What you're what

549
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,559
you're looking to see them do?
Is we head into their offseason. Yeah,

550
00:34:39,559 --> 00:34:44,400
we've talked about them a fair amount
in the context of the postseason,

551
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,880
and it seems to me that they
need someone that can kind of shake things

552
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,039
up or create a good shot,
whether that's by driving or passing when the

553
00:34:53,079 --> 00:34:59,320
offense just stalls, which is like
what got got the Celtics killed again.

554
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,920
You could also find another big maybe
if especially so, I guess we could

555
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:07,239
just get into like if you lose
Grant Williams, and restricted free agency totally

556
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:09,960
possible. You might need another big
to throw in there, especially as Al

557
00:35:10,039 --> 00:35:16,880
Horford ages, but I don't view
that as significant as as as big of

558
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:22,880
a need as just someone to make
a play offensively to like get a shot,

559
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,760
which is a weird thing to say
with Jason Tatum on the roster,

560
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:30,960
but that's just that's just what we
saw was a failing in whether it's the

561
00:35:30,039 --> 00:35:36,320
offensive scheme or the personnel. So
like you said it, if you yeah

562
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:37,880
right, as Blown says, that
was supposed to be Malcolm Brogden. Turns

563
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:42,880
out Malcolm Brogden is pretty tunnel visiony
and it's a good spot up Threa.

564
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,599
There have been some someone in discord
I'm sorry forgetting who said that they already

565
00:35:46,599 --> 00:35:50,440
have enough creators and they just have
a bunch of To me, it's just

566
00:35:50,519 --> 00:35:53,519
secondaries, like they don't have the
primary floor organizer. I think that's where

567
00:35:53,519 --> 00:35:57,519
the issue comes in. And the
bad news is, given the tools are

568
00:35:57,519 --> 00:36:00,480
gonna have, it'll be really hard, if not impossible, to find someone

569
00:36:00,559 --> 00:36:02,159
like that. And we should say
there's not a lot of like high end

570
00:36:02,159 --> 00:36:07,719
shot creators on the market to begin
with. So like I just so let's

571
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:12,039
start with, do you have an
upper limit on Grant Williams that you're willing

572
00:36:12,039 --> 00:36:15,639
to match and restrict your free agency? It feels like sixteen seventeen million is

573
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,079
about as high as I'd be willing
to go. Yeah, but it's just

574
00:36:19,119 --> 00:36:22,599
like, are they gonna use him? Joe Mazoula seemed very anti Grant Williams

575
00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:24,599
at points throughout the season. In
the playoffs, he was and apparently that

576
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:30,639
was that was a point of like
some frustration among the rosters because that was

577
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:34,159
the clulest hued offense. That was
a great piece to be athletic, by

578
00:36:34,159 --> 00:36:37,039
the way, with Jared Jared Weiss
and I forget Jay King. Yeah,

579
00:36:37,639 --> 00:36:42,400
uh yeah, So I would probably
go fifteen sixteen feels right. He's definitely

580
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,119
if he gets twenty from anyone like
he was starting wanted to at the beginning

581
00:36:45,159 --> 00:36:46,480
of the season. I don't,
you know, he doesn't give you enough.

582
00:36:46,599 --> 00:36:49,920
He's not just not big enough to
give you the raw ring protection and

583
00:36:50,199 --> 00:36:53,440
a ton of rebounding and play to
five by himself. So but I would

584
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,920
go if I'm I mean, what
else are you gonna do? Because you

585
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,880
mentioned the advantage creation the other thing, I'm kind of thinking about for them

586
00:37:00,119 --> 00:37:02,639
is do they need a big because
Al Horford, what if the aging curve

587
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,280
just kind of falls off? Yeah, he's good, he's getting older.

588
00:37:07,039 --> 00:37:09,559
And then you have Robert Williams a
third how many games is he good for?

589
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:13,679
And he was dealing with a sickness. I thought they were becoming like

590
00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:15,880
anti RW three towards the end of
that heat series, but he's apparently dealing

591
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:20,039
with a sickness. And then if
you're gonna lose Grant Williams, and even

592
00:37:20,039 --> 00:37:22,360
if you don't lose Grant Williams,
like you still kind of feel like you

593
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,280
need a big that you actually trust
to play where it's okay Blake Griffin seems

594
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,000
like he might have had a good
impact on the locker room, but it's

595
00:37:29,039 --> 00:37:31,119
not gonna be him. And you
know, Luke Cornette wasn't playing when it

596
00:37:31,119 --> 00:37:35,320
mattered, So I like, do
they need another big here? And that

597
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,239
to be fair, if they need
another big, it definitely gets harder if

598
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,400
you're losing Grant Williams in the process. But it's easier to find a big

599
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,920
using minimums than it's Hey, can
you just find like this other floor general?

600
00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:47,639
And whilst we have as the minimum
or the miniml lea to offer.

601
00:37:49,159 --> 00:37:52,280
Yeah, can I throw you some
like shot creator types that I was thinking

602
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:54,960
of as as potential targets. I
can't promise that I'll catch them, but

603
00:37:55,039 --> 00:37:58,880
please throw them out so they're all
they're all bad. I don't feel good

604
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:04,960
about it. So I mean just
just thinking of like someone that can just

605
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,519
will shoot it, you know,
when when it's reasonably open and the offense

606
00:38:07,599 --> 00:38:12,800
has gone to shit, like Lonnie
Walker, Terrence Davis. I mean,

607
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,239
if we're talking minimums, I don't
think that's enough to get either of those

608
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,559
guys. Trey Jones is a very
different type of player. May not get

609
00:38:19,559 --> 00:38:22,800
out of San Antonio at all,
but he may he'll be the floor general

610
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:27,679
type. I just don't know if
he's quite you know, up to that

611
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,480
task. Like he's he's kind of
a I don't know, like a stop

612
00:38:30,519 --> 00:38:36,280
gap. Really, I guess if
you went big, is naz Red is

613
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,559
the mini mid level enough to get
naz Reid? Like he's getting more than

614
00:38:38,599 --> 00:38:44,000
that, right? Uh? If
times for the mini mid level exception,

615
00:38:44,199 --> 00:38:47,159
he needs a fire his agent.
So that's all I got, Like,

616
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:51,559
I don't I think if really we've
talked about this before with respect to do

617
00:38:51,599 --> 00:38:54,079
you give Jalen Brown two ninety million? I think the best course for the

618
00:38:54,079 --> 00:38:58,840
Celtics is pretty much run it back
and just hope you get lucky on one

619
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:01,159
of these minimum signs, because yeah, add Frankie Lakina called a day.

620
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:06,679
Sure you're good. I've noted shot
creator frank Lakina. I've tried to figure

621
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,599
out other like like do you take
a flyer on Derrick Rose as the team

622
00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:14,960
option or go on Dragic like skew
Old that way, or like can you

623
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,079
you know, reinvent like is it
time for a DJ Augustine renaissance or something

624
00:39:20,159 --> 00:39:23,199
in the NBA? How many renaissances
have we had for DJ Augustine? Yeah?

625
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:25,599
I don't, And so what you
run. It's the issue of if

626
00:39:25,639 --> 00:39:30,039
they want the player we're talking about, it probably needs to happen. And

627
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,679
Blown says in the chat, I
feel like they need a consistent shooter.

628
00:39:35,199 --> 00:39:37,440
Yes, they I just feel like
I guess they could, but like you

629
00:39:37,559 --> 00:39:42,239
have enough shooting on this roster.
There's just variability because they take so many

630
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,239
threes, they are going to be
nights where it looks awful. They got

631
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,320
to generate different kinds of threes where
it's like into out instead of just swinging

632
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,760
it around the perimeter. Glad that
Glad that's somewhat appreciated my DJ Augustine.

633
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,880
I don't. And it's when you're
getting into trades. If you don't want

634
00:39:55,920 --> 00:40:00,280
to trade Brown and Tatum, which
I wouldn't want to, we're in the

635
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,920
camp. You're not trading these guys, so then it's okay, Well it's

636
00:40:04,039 --> 00:40:07,280
RW three and Smart and Brockden and
White on the table. I just don't

637
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:12,480
even know, like what the best
player you could acquire while not trading any

638
00:40:12,519 --> 00:40:15,400
of your real core pieces, like
what this team could really use and his

639
00:40:15,559 --> 00:40:20,639
team needs him now. So it's
not like Mike Conley and Boston make that

640
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,400
type of a player where it doesn't
have to be domineering for general. But

641
00:40:23,639 --> 00:40:27,559
I think that's what they need.
Do you think they need that more than

642
00:40:27,599 --> 00:40:30,320
they need another big And we'll wrap
it up there. I think it's recency

643
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:32,519
bias, although I don't know if
you can call it that if it's been

644
00:40:32,559 --> 00:40:38,440
a couple of years. I just
I just I want someone and maybe it's

645
00:40:39,199 --> 00:40:42,480
I don't know if it's a player
that's going to fix this. It may

646
00:40:42,559 --> 00:40:45,840
be a system thing. I just
want someone that's gonna make it so the

647
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,280
offense doesn't look like five guys have
just never played together before in like crucial

648
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,360
playoff moments. So I think I
focus more on someone that can pierce the

649
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:59,360
defense, create shots, or you
know, just conventionally generate offense that isn't

650
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,880
swinging the ball around the perimeter with
no like intention to do anything. My

651
00:41:04,039 --> 00:41:07,719
final thing before it dismounted the soap
boxes that people have become way too low.

652
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:09,880
In the Celtics, they just made
back finals and it's just like,

653
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:14,639
let's let's slow our role here.
Do you want to take us to the

654
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:15,480
next team or do you not have
the sheet open? I can. I

655
00:41:15,559 --> 00:41:20,199
got it open so alphabetically, because
we're very good at the alphabet on this

656
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,480
podcast. We've never messed it up. The Brooklyn Nets come next in the

657
00:41:22,519 --> 00:41:28,960
Atlantic Division. Very interesting team.
Blew up the roster at the deadline last

658
00:41:29,039 --> 00:41:34,599
year, so they have key free
agents. Cam Johnson is restricted, probably

659
00:41:34,679 --> 00:41:37,239
going to be one of the most
sought after free agents. Fits pretty much

660
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:43,199
everywhere. I know what I think
he deserves. I'm curious where you land

661
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:45,039
on that. We can get to
that in a little bit. Yeah,

662
00:41:45,039 --> 00:41:49,320
I can't wait to get to that. That's fascinated. Now slightly less uh

663
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,280
significant you to watch an abby good
defensive player. The Nets have his non

664
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:57,679
bird rights, can probably keep him
if they want to. I don't imagine

665
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:00,679
there's a huge outside offer coming for
him. Don't have any major extension eligible

666
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:07,039
candidates, their cap pictures or their
spending tools. Essentially like they have the

667
00:42:07,119 --> 00:42:09,920
mini mid level, which is kind
of contingent on how much Cam Johnson gets

668
00:42:12,039 --> 00:42:14,400
and could get to the full MLI, which we have. I don't know

669
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,880
if we mentioned minimd levels, looking
like it'll be about seven million a year

670
00:42:17,119 --> 00:42:22,400
with standard raises. I can never
remember the percentage of those raises. The

671
00:42:22,679 --> 00:42:27,599
full mid level starts at twelve point
two. That's the projection. So they

672
00:42:27,679 --> 00:42:30,880
have a trade exception the little under
five million from the Kyrie Irving deal.

673
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:35,920
They don't have to use that nill
February of twenty four and their biggest needs

674
00:42:36,119 --> 00:42:37,599
I don't know if you want to
kind of jump into that a little bit,

675
00:42:38,079 --> 00:42:42,840
but they also kind of need someone
that is an upgrade on say Spencer

676
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:46,320
Dinwiddie or the where did this come
from? Version of Michail Bridges who's an

677
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:51,800
offensive self starter and they could use
a big If you saw that series against

678
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:52,840
the Sixers, it was like a
joke what they were trying to do,

679
00:42:53,599 --> 00:42:58,000
and they did with you know again, I will I will maintain the Nets

680
00:42:58,119 --> 00:43:01,119
did pretty well throwing a bunch of
big wings at mbid and doubling and stuff.

681
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:05,280
Defensively, they have the potential to
be awesome. They just need someone

682
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,119
behind Nick Claxton with some size.
I think, So where would you like

683
00:43:08,159 --> 00:43:10,280
to take it from there? Do
you want to go targets? Do you

684
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:13,719
want to talk Cam Johnson? What
do you want to do with the Nets?

685
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,280
I want to hear your thoughts on
how much you think that Cam Johnson

686
00:43:16,559 --> 00:43:21,440
deserves in free agency. I just
think the floor is like four years,

687
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:23,519
one hundred million. I think if
he gets less than that, I'm surprised.

688
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:30,480
And that's based on there are not
a lot of combo forwards that are

689
00:43:30,599 --> 00:43:32,559
in the middle. He's an older
rookie, so he's like twenty seven now,

690
00:43:32,599 --> 00:43:37,039
so you're getting his basically his prime, like his mid to late twenties

691
00:43:37,079 --> 00:43:42,320
into his early thirty, like age
thirty one season maybe thirty. He's a

692
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,079
better defender than he was billed as
coming out of college. He has proved

693
00:43:45,119 --> 00:43:49,000
that. Like I forget the stat
that I had, but his defensive estimated

694
00:43:49,039 --> 00:43:52,400
plus minus not a perfect stat.
But I think we generally agree this is

695
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:54,440
the best of the catch alls.
He isn't like the ninety six percentile and

696
00:43:54,519 --> 00:44:00,280
defensive estimated plus minus first position last
year. So like he's not He's not

697
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:05,199
a spot shooter that has a low
ceiling like he was supposedly. You know,

698
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,320
I keep harping on the draft status, but this was like the son's

699
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,000
got killed for reaching for him.
I don't know if you remember all that.

700
00:44:10,639 --> 00:44:15,360
Yeah, I remember, I was
shocked. You remember his interview.

701
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:21,679
I think he fits everywhere. I
think the market should be huge because you

702
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,239
have all these rebuilders that could totally
justify spending big on him, Like this

703
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:28,639
guy's gonna start for us for the
duration of the deal we sign him to.

704
00:44:29,079 --> 00:44:31,719
Contender should want it like he just
the market should be he should be

705
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,440
as in demand on the market as
like, certainly more so than someone like

706
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:38,400
Grant Williams or Kobe White, another
restricted free agent you mentioned. I just

707
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:42,119
think you got to start him at
like twenty five a year. I think

708
00:44:42,159 --> 00:44:46,159
that's just what the market's gonna bear. I will be fairly surprised if he

709
00:44:46,199 --> 00:44:50,119
gets that much. I guess I
don't my trouble with him. He's a

710
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,599
very good player, and there's more
of a four game to him on offense

711
00:44:52,639 --> 00:44:57,440
than just shooting. Is he a
combo forward? He might be a four?

712
00:44:57,639 --> 00:44:59,880
He might be. That's what I
keep coming back, like, No,

713
00:45:00,079 --> 00:45:02,639
he's not as he would skew more
towards the perimeter where it's like John

714
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:07,559
Collins is four or five. He's
more three four. Can you give that

715
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:10,159
much money to a very much one
position player where it's like the one,

716
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:14,960
it's not like just point guard,
And that just makes it so harder to,

717
00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,119
you know, like use him and
maybe certain defensive lineups. Perhaps it

718
00:45:19,199 --> 00:45:21,320
doesn't matter, and he's a better
defender. I think he's credit with.

719
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,320
But if you start trying to put
him on like true wings, yeah,

720
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,559
I know he's gonna hold up all
that well. And so that would be

721
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:29,599
I think that. Plus you kind
of look at the teams that have cap

722
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:31,079
space. I'm not sure how many
of them will throw that much money out

723
00:45:31,119 --> 00:45:35,119
there, and maybe they're signing trades. I haven't considered yet, but I

724
00:45:35,199 --> 00:45:37,079
think that represses his value more than
anything. Is that I view him very

725
00:45:37,159 --> 00:45:40,639
much as sort of a pure four. I'm just well, I'm not I'm

726
00:45:40,639 --> 00:45:44,679
not sure on that point, but
I do think he's different. Like you

727
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,840
mentioned John Collins, he's like a
different type of player than John Collins because

728
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:52,679
he is just the lights out you
cannot lose him shooter. So if you

729
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,719
can do that and credibly defend a
position, I think that's you know,

730
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,920
that's not the same as being a
we're not talking. I'm trying to think

731
00:46:00,039 --> 00:46:02,559
of like who is the Quintessentially,
I guess Anna Nobi if Anna Obi were

732
00:46:02,599 --> 00:46:07,599
a slightly better shooter, like that's
the the upgraded version of this Johnson's kind

733
00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:12,079
of excuse more offense, I guess. But I think that. So you

734
00:46:12,199 --> 00:46:15,679
mentioned some of the teams like Charlotte
could do it, Detroit could do it,

735
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:19,760
Houston could do it, Indy could
do it, The Thunder could pay

736
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:22,400
him, even Orlando. Orlando's like
the last someone like him, but like

737
00:46:22,519 --> 00:46:27,880
they could do you know, Sacramento
could maybe trim a ton and get enough

738
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,880
money. The Spurt, Like there's
all these teams Utah, Like there's all

739
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,960
these teams that could really throw a
bunch of money at Cam Johnson. So

740
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:38,079
I just feel like the offer sheets
coming, the big offer sheets coming,

741
00:46:38,159 --> 00:46:43,840
and the Nets should probably match it, blown said Ben Simmons could fix all

742
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:47,760
their problem and their entire problems.
That's fucked up when we look at their

743
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:52,599
need for size or advantage creation,
and you had noted here that they might

744
00:46:52,639 --> 00:46:54,039
be the best team in the division
to pull off a big trade. I

745
00:46:54,079 --> 00:46:57,159
think I would agree with you.
The only team I would rival that is

746
00:46:57,239 --> 00:47:00,480
maybe because the Raptors may be bigger
as sellers but not as buyers in the

747
00:47:00,559 --> 00:47:04,199
Knicks too. That's why I have
a question mark in there in the dock

748
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:07,599
like that would be the only team. But when you're looking at free agency,

749
00:47:07,679 --> 00:47:12,480
I mean like if Dame becomes available, if Trey Young becomes available,

750
00:47:12,519 --> 00:47:15,639
I don't think those guys will become
available. And so when you move on

751
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,159
from there, it's a little tougher
you're not gonna solve. We just went

752
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,239
through, like what the point guard
market is gonna be. Can you let's

753
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:25,639
even let's say, let's just assume
they can open up the bigger MLI is

754
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:29,079
that like, you know, that's
not I don't even know if that gets

755
00:47:29,119 --> 00:47:31,920
you Trey Jones. I don't know
if you could poach him from San Antonio

756
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:35,800
at that point. I mean,
Iowa Dessum, it would be really interesting

757
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:37,400
for this team. I don't know
if he's floor general enough. Balls aren't

758
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:42,400
going to let him go for that. It feels like it'll be easier,

759
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,679
definitely thoughts on if you have any
like floor general types for them, It'll

760
00:47:45,679 --> 00:47:49,159
definitely be easier for them to invest
in size and even that. So I'm

761
00:47:49,159 --> 00:47:50,920
going through some of the names that
I feel like would make sense, and

762
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:52,920
it's like, well, Bismack Bimbo
is not actually that big, and do

763
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,000
you want to go like Paul Reid's
not that big, and do you want

764
00:47:57,039 --> 00:48:00,480
to go through the Andre Drummond experience
again, naz Reid would be a great

765
00:48:00,559 --> 00:48:02,760
offensive fit, but again and his
rim protection improved towards the end of this

766
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:07,679
year, he's not that big.
I kind of wonder this is the name

767
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:12,079
that's out there, and it doesn't
I think when you when you try to

768
00:48:12,119 --> 00:48:15,079
go through what they need, you're
gonna skew towards defense. But you have

769
00:48:15,199 --> 00:48:19,119
all these sort of wing types sloating
around and Dorian Finney Smith and Royce O'Neill,

770
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,079
would you trust and if you can't
get an advantage creator, would you

771
00:48:22,159 --> 00:48:25,360
trust if you could get him for
like the bigger mL E, christian would

772
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:30,199
here more shot creation some actual size. Is that worth taking a chance on

773
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:37,639
or just know I don't hate it
at the at the full am I don't

774
00:48:37,639 --> 00:48:39,960
know, I don't. I mean
I feel like you're posing it as like

775
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:44,000
we understand what christian Wood is at
this point, how do you feel about

776
00:48:44,039 --> 00:48:49,559
this? So? I mean that's
if I'm spending the full mid level if

777
00:48:49,559 --> 00:48:54,000
they can get there again, recognizing
the need for size, especially defensive size,

778
00:48:54,159 --> 00:48:58,599
which christian Wood really doesn't provide.
I think I'd rather take a shot

779
00:48:58,639 --> 00:49:00,840
at like Gabe Vincent or or someone
like that. If you think Vincent is

780
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:04,320
going to get the full mL E. You know, maybe he does,

781
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,199
maybe he doesn't, but you know
that or that level of money because none

782
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:09,920
of the bigs. Yeah, I
mean you talk about the point Guard market

783
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:15,400
being pretty bare and the big market
is is rough. Yeah. The it's

784
00:49:15,679 --> 00:49:19,320
just like, oh, are we
gonna like Alex Lynn? Like, I

785
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:22,519
just I don't know what would be
the I wouldn't be opposed to them taking

786
00:49:22,519 --> 00:49:25,159
a christian Wood flyer. But if
you could get Gabe Vincent using your mL

787
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:30,960
E, I would use it on
him rather than use it on I'm just

788
00:49:30,039 --> 00:49:35,039
trying to like alternatives, and you
could maybe it's easier for them to wind

789
00:49:35,119 --> 00:49:37,159
up trading for a big in the
middle of the season. I don't know

790
00:49:37,159 --> 00:49:39,039
who becomes available. They could maybe
even just look at filling him out with

791
00:49:39,119 --> 00:49:42,880
the minimum. Or it's like,
what does Dwight Powell actually cost you?

792
00:49:43,199 --> 00:49:45,599
That was the name that just jumped
out at me too. It's White Powell

793
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:47,480
as a backup. I don't have
any problem with Dwight Powell have like a

794
00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:53,639
lifetime contract under the table with the
Mavericks though, probably yeah. But I

795
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:58,039
think the final question here to wrap
up on them and keep us moving.

796
00:49:58,519 --> 00:50:00,519
Do you you don't do what I
don't want to put words about. Do

797
00:50:00,519 --> 00:50:07,599
you expect them to continue down this
path of we're not selling? I mean,

798
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,800
if it's true that they held onto
bridges in the face of like a

799
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:15,159
four first round pick offer, I
have to believe that they will continue down

800
00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:20,360
that we are not selling path.
I think, like I think the Nets

801
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:24,079
can afford to operate kind of conservatively
because they just went so wild for a

802
00:50:24,159 --> 00:50:30,599
few years with their with their whole
roster building plan that it rings pretty true

803
00:50:30,639 --> 00:50:32,920
to me, and I think they'll
have the leeway to just kind of let's

804
00:50:34,119 --> 00:50:37,400
let's take our time a little bit
with this. I think I'm with you

805
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:40,480
on that one, which will bring
us to our next team, which is

806
00:50:40,559 --> 00:50:45,480
the New York Knicks. Their key
free agents are only Josh Hart has a

807
00:50:45,519 --> 00:50:50,519
thirteen million dollars player option. We
all expect them to decline. Both Emmanuel

808
00:50:50,599 --> 00:50:54,400
Quickly and Obi Toppin are extension eligible. Those negotiations, insofar as they happen,

809
00:50:54,639 --> 00:50:59,880
will be pretty interesting looking at like
just a snapshot of their cap situation.

810
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:04,920
They should be able to carry Josh
Hart's hold and then use the bigger

811
00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:08,599
mL E. And that's assuming they
decline Derek Rose's team option. No notable

812
00:51:08,639 --> 00:51:15,000
trade exceptions for them. I have
their biggest need as shooting that cracks the

813
00:51:15,119 --> 00:51:16,880
closing lineup, which is we can
get into that. I feel like that's

814
00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:22,079
fairly more complicated than people credit or
just they needed top twenty player like they

815
00:51:22,159 --> 00:51:25,440
need a I don't want to say
that Jalen Brunson is so good. I

816
00:51:25,519 --> 00:51:29,679
still firmly believe I'll say they need
another star, but I actually think that

817
00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:34,199
they need another best player. So
what are you thinking about with this team

818
00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:37,480
as we head into their off season. I think that when I was trying

819
00:51:37,519 --> 00:51:40,760
to think of, well, what
do they need, what can they get?

820
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,000
I came back to like a bigger
question that I want to get your

821
00:51:45,039 --> 00:51:47,079
take on. I'm curious what you
think, so I'm gonna answer your question

822
00:51:47,159 --> 00:51:51,199
with a question. I guess.
Basically, it feels to me like,

823
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:54,519
yes, they need shooting that can
close, Like that's clear. I just

824
00:51:54,639 --> 00:52:02,199
wonder if the roster construction, specifically
having Releas Randall and I mean Mitchell Robinson's

825
00:52:02,199 --> 00:52:05,760
on a good deal. I'm wearing
a shirt that apologizes to him, so

826
00:52:06,559 --> 00:52:09,320
we don't have any there's no no
uncertainty about that. It feels like Randall

827
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:13,079
and kind of do a lesser extent. R. J. Barrett sort of

828
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:16,760
make it really difficult to upgrade the
team in the ways you'd want to upgrade

829
00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:22,360
it, especially on the shooting front, because like, could you just like

830
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:24,639
get this isn't gonna happen. I'm
just using it as an example because he's

831
00:52:24,679 --> 00:52:28,679
top of mind, Like if Cam
Johnson, we're in the Randall spot,

832
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:32,400
doesn't that doesn't that just make more
sense? Doesn't that work better? Like

833
00:52:32,559 --> 00:52:37,840
roster construction wise? I just I
feel like Randall being there makes it hard

834
00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:42,519
to build the type of the type
of lineup you want to close games.

835
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,960
So is that like an oversimplification?
Is that unfair? Is there another way

836
00:52:46,039 --> 00:52:50,199
you can get the shooter out there
that you need and that you want to

837
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:53,559
close games? In theory, if
TIBs was willing to feel the different kind

838
00:52:53,599 --> 00:52:57,400
of five, which is to say, could you try closing with Randall at

839
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,559
the five would be which I don't
love that. No, So that's a

840
00:53:01,639 --> 00:53:05,199
great point to think about. And
I kind of always framed it as well.

841
00:53:05,199 --> 00:53:07,760
When you look at who's guaranteed to
be in there, it's Julius Randall

842
00:53:08,199 --> 00:53:12,800
a big but Mitchell Robinson, let's
say, and then Jalen Brunson and if

843
00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:15,199
you technically have two spots, but
you also have Josh Hart and Quickly and

844
00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:19,320
RJ. Barrett and Quentin Grimes,
and it's you need someone who very clearly

845
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:22,960
is going to usurp those guys.
But I'm with you in the sense that

846
00:53:22,239 --> 00:53:24,480
yeah, he could, because if
you're not going to play Randall at the

847
00:53:24,519 --> 00:53:27,519
five, then the only thing you
could do is, Okay, well we

848
00:53:27,599 --> 00:53:30,119
need a floors basing rim protector at
the five, and they are like three

849
00:53:30,199 --> 00:53:34,599
to five in the league, like
legitimately, and we also know Tims doesn't

850
00:53:34,599 --> 00:53:37,400
necessarily like to play those types of
guys, which limit you even further.

851
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:40,880
That's why it's so tough though,
to get shooting that cracks, because I

852
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:44,719
do think that you could you know, we'll get into targets like, but

853
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,039
maybe you could swing a sign and
trade for Gary Trent Jr. And that's

854
00:53:47,079 --> 00:53:50,239
great. I think he would be
a good fit. I don't think he's

855
00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:53,239
gonna necessarily he's not gonna crack every
closing lineup. That's why I'm with default

856
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:58,159
to this team needs like that big
time a was. It's not going to

857
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:01,440
be anyone in free agency who does
that for them, because I feel like,

858
00:54:01,519 --> 00:54:05,199
yes, they could get someone who
will play and who can shoot,

859
00:54:05,719 --> 00:54:09,760
but will that player also be one
of their top five guys? Probably that's

860
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:14,199
the central problem, like because because
even Gary Trent Junior is kind of like

861
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,159
a reach right for in terms of
like what you could afford to go sign.

862
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:20,800
Yeah, for sure, they're like
it would have to be a sign

863
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:23,119
and trade. Yeah, right,
And he's not definitely gonna be the better

864
00:54:23,239 --> 00:54:28,960
option than like Quickly or Barrett or
even like Quentin Grimes night tonight, like

865
00:54:29,079 --> 00:54:32,400
some nights maybe, but like that's
not you don't stretch and you do a

866
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:37,000
bunch of crazy roster contortions to go
get a guy that like kind of just

867
00:54:37,079 --> 00:54:39,519
fits into that lump of well,
this guy could close if if he's running

868
00:54:39,599 --> 00:54:43,840
right and the matchups are favorable,
Like that's just you just need to get

869
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:49,679
the guy that against anyone and everyone
is in the closing lineup, and that's

870
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,960
that's a trade that that's just like
that's a blockbuster trade. That's what that

871
00:54:52,039 --> 00:54:57,599
has to be when you're getting into
actual free agency targets as anyone stand out.

872
00:54:57,639 --> 00:55:00,199
Again, we're not predicting anyone with
crack the closing lineup based on who's

873
00:55:00,199 --> 00:55:05,039
available and who they could afford,
but any fits. Yeah, well you've

874
00:55:05,079 --> 00:55:07,719
really swayed me with your their need
for a capslock shooter. And Seth Curry

875
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:10,199
I think, is you know,
his fifth all time among guys with a

876
00:55:10,239 --> 00:55:15,440
lot of attempts from deep he falls
into that same bucket of like he's not

877
00:55:15,639 --> 00:55:19,920
definitely closing over quickly or whoever.
So he's not a perfect fix. But

878
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:22,960
if you're just addressing the shooting,
he's the free agent that like jumps to

879
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:24,880
mind. I like him more than
someone like you know, other accurate guys

880
00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:30,199
like Ingles or you know, Kevin
Love or whatever. But like that doesn't

881
00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,119
seth Curry doesn't move the needle,
you know, I don't think so.

882
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:36,880
I'd be curious what you've got if
you've got a free agent, or certainly

883
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:38,119
if you've got a trade. I
would love to hear it. Oh man,

884
00:55:38,159 --> 00:55:44,039
we can get into trades like just
you should be well, my free

885
00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:46,800
agent target would be Max Struss.
I don't know is he gonna get more

886
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:51,159
than the mL E and I don't
I don't think. I wouldn't predict him

887
00:55:51,199 --> 00:55:53,880
to close games over, So you
would have to close games over let's say

888
00:55:53,960 --> 00:55:59,159
three of RJ. Barrett, Quentin
Grimes, Manuel Quickly and Josh Hart.

889
00:55:59,559 --> 00:56:02,480
I don't, no, it's not
it's not implausible that because he has size,

890
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:07,119
he's not the biggest shive on defense. And if he if his three

891
00:56:07,159 --> 00:56:10,119
pointers going, that's hyper valuable.
Yeah, but you kind of get into

892
00:56:10,159 --> 00:56:15,239
the one. I wouldn't guarantee it
in two twelve million a year. Whatever

893
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:16,760
ends up being is that does he
get more does he get less? Are

894
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:21,320
the heat less inclined to pay him
because they have Duncan Robinson. I just

895
00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:24,840
don't know whether he's in mle territory
like or above it. It's hard to

896
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:30,159
say. I think the dimension he
would bring, especially with his like movement

897
00:56:30,199 --> 00:56:32,239
shooting, would be really helpful for
the Knicks, I think. But but

898
00:56:32,360 --> 00:56:36,920
again, like, it's not like
he's a career like forty two percent three

899
00:56:36,920 --> 00:56:38,880
point shooter. He's he's you know, he has some rough nights, and

900
00:56:39,039 --> 00:56:43,199
that's we keep coming back, you
know, to the same idea. You

901
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:46,920
just he's not that he's not the
guy. He's not the star as good

902
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:52,360
or better than Brunson acquisition that I
think you've been on them needing for,

903
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:58,280
like since before the Brunson deal.
Really like, and what's so wild is

904
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:00,760
when you go through trade targets,
some of the ones that I think the

905
00:57:00,960 --> 00:57:05,199
capslock stars that are most like it
will become available. I don't know that

906
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:07,480
you sit out those negotiations that they
do become available, but they're no longer

907
00:57:07,599 --> 00:57:10,000
players that you're like, well,
the Knicks need to get them. If

908
00:57:10,039 --> 00:57:14,440
it's Karl Anthony Towns. I don't
like. You can't have Karl Anthony Towns

909
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:16,679
and Julius Randall on the same team, and so I guess you could be

910
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,039
moving Julius Randall's part of that deal. The other thing I'll say is,

911
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:23,000
even if they don't get a star, I would look at moving Randall.

912
00:57:23,199 --> 00:57:28,039
I don't think it's the Knicks are
gonna suck again if they don't trade Randall.

913
00:57:28,039 --> 00:57:31,000
I don't think it's mission critical.
I do wonder if for them to

914
00:57:31,119 --> 00:57:35,320
be a contender, whether he can
be a part of it. But if

915
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:37,199
they don't move him, I don't
think it's the end of the world.

916
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:39,400
I think it's gonna end up.
And I'll phrase it this way. I

917
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:44,079
would one hundred percent trade Julius Randall, probably for less than the Knicks would,

918
00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:46,679
but I'm gonna end the off season. My level headed approach will be

919
00:57:47,239 --> 00:57:51,880
I'll look back and say, I
wish they've looked more thoroughly at moving Julius

920
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:53,960
Randalls than they did. I won't
kill them for it, but I just

921
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:58,079
don't think they'll I guess that the
right opportunity comes along, but I would

922
00:57:59,119 --> 00:58:00,840
I don't like saying sell humans.
That's terrible. But I would trade julie'

923
00:58:00,880 --> 00:58:05,679
Jenold for a package that maybe isn't
as immediately focused, because I think that

924
00:58:05,719 --> 00:58:08,639
you'd be able to swing other moves
or a place a lot of what he

925
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:13,639
can do. And so I don't
think they're gonna do that though. And

926
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:16,639
but the names like Trey Young Dame
Lillard because Jalen Brunson's there, it's yeah,

927
00:58:16,679 --> 00:58:19,840
okay, I guess you could trade
Jalen Brunson for one of them,

928
00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:22,239
but are you you know, is
it enough of enough grade to justify Okay,

929
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:25,119
we're going to consolidate on top of
our best player. It's just a

930
00:58:25,199 --> 00:58:29,079
weird spot to be in. And
it's just like what other Yeah, okay,

931
00:58:29,119 --> 00:58:31,280
Paul George for the shroster would be
great. There's been no inclination that

932
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:36,400
he's available. Like things could go
off the wall to New Orleans with Zion

933
00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:37,320
Williamson and it's kind of like,
okay, well you have to look at

934
00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:40,400
it. But we just talked about
how they need all their shooting and like

935
00:58:40,559 --> 00:58:44,719
that's not gonna Zion Williams. So
that's, of course an extreme example.

936
00:58:45,039 --> 00:58:50,760
Are there any perspective available stars that
like even if if Pascal Siakam becomes available,

937
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:52,400
is that someone who would intrigue you
if you're you're in New York,

938
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:57,519
if there any big names that you
could see feasibly, like even not even

939
00:58:57,719 --> 00:59:00,239
super feasibly, but like within a
long shot hitting the open market where it's

940
00:59:00,239 --> 00:59:04,760
okay, like that's the guy the
Knicks need to go after, because everyone

941
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:07,760
will say, oh, Devin Booker
or shake Gil just Alexander, those are

942
00:59:07,840 --> 00:59:10,880
guys that do not even fall in
the million years bucket right now. And

943
00:59:10,960 --> 00:59:15,880
so that's what's so tough about this
exercise. No, I don't have any

944
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:21,199
I'm just trying to think, like, who's who's possibly trade? Well I

945
00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:23,119
did have like the flash thought of
like Clay Thompson. Maybe they're fine with

946
00:59:23,199 --> 00:59:25,440
paying him a ton of money for
one year, but then what are the

947
00:59:25,519 --> 00:59:29,280
Knicks sending to the Warriors that would
like I don't I just don't feel like

948
00:59:29,320 --> 00:59:31,760
he's gonna be traded. Gosh,
that's that's just I don't know. I

949
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:35,079
don't know. I don't have a
good answer. I guess you just wait

950
00:59:35,119 --> 00:59:37,239
for Donovan Mitchell to inevitably sign there
in a couple of years. It's funny

951
00:59:37,239 --> 00:59:40,639
because you've almost made it harder on
yourself by being this good or the way

952
00:59:40,679 --> 00:59:45,360
that your roster s you kind of
need a very specific type of star now,

953
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,280
I would argue they need to play
like the two, three or the

954
00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:52,239
four and like that's like what everyone's
looking for, right real quick? I'm

955
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:58,159
curious, I do you think either
quickly or top and get extensions? Because

956
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:01,719
this isn't like they're not fissing restricted
free agency? Like which is more likely

957
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:06,079
to get it? And what numbers
are you okay with? Uh? Quickly?

958
01:00:06,599 --> 01:00:09,239
I think probably between like fifteen and
twenty is fine for quick quickly?

959
01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:12,559
Right? Is that too high?
Would you go? I think I'd be

960
01:00:12,599 --> 01:00:15,239
okay with that. I mean he
plays like a premium position as in a

961
01:00:15,199 --> 01:00:21,679
concerning Yeah, Topping, though,
I think is as a tricky one because

962
01:00:21,679 --> 01:00:25,199
I'm not sure what his future is. I would be and I'm assuming you're

963
01:00:25,199 --> 01:00:29,960
in the same camp. I would
be shocked if Topping gets extended. I

964
01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:31,960
don't know what the what what would
be in it for the Knicks to extend

965
01:00:32,079 --> 01:00:37,880
him, Like I think he's still
because if he's repressing his value by staying

966
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:39,719
in a place where he's never going
to average like more than seventeen or eighteen

967
01:00:39,760 --> 01:00:43,519
minutes a game. Yeah, well, what does it take for him to

968
01:00:43,599 --> 01:00:45,519
say to accept an extension? Then, not that the Knicks would offer it,

969
01:00:45,599 --> 01:00:50,239
but like if he gets offered twelve
million a year, does he take

970
01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:52,159
it? Like? Is he doing
better than that in restricted free agency next

971
01:00:52,199 --> 01:00:57,480
summer? Probably have to take it
if you're him, right, I don't

972
01:00:57,480 --> 01:00:59,599
know. I just threw the number
out. It's somewhere in that range,

973
01:00:59,639 --> 01:01:00,960
I think because I couldn't. You
know, I'm not going to roll the

974
01:01:01,039 --> 01:01:04,880
dice if I'm not gonna take like
mini mid level money. But I don't

975
01:01:04,920 --> 01:01:07,840
know if twelve thirteen millions, if
mid level money is on the table,

976
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:09,559
I don't know how you turn it
down and bet on yourself when it's a

977
01:01:09,639 --> 01:01:14,559
team that you don't see a pathway
so long as Julius Randall's there to roll

978
01:01:14,639 --> 01:01:17,559
expanding when the team won't bet on
you, basically won't give you the opportunity,

979
01:01:17,960 --> 01:01:21,800
I will say I don't think either
of them are going to get extended

980
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:24,679
because I think that the Knicks are
gonna want to keep their trade options open

981
01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:28,880
throughout the season, and it's going
to get I think quickly. It will

982
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:31,639
probably appeal to more teams, but
it gets hard to move either one of

983
01:01:31,679 --> 01:01:38,039
them if they sign those extensions extensions. Excuse me, our next team is

984
01:01:38,119 --> 01:01:40,599
this mine or yours? I think
I'll take it. I'll take it.

985
01:01:40,679 --> 01:01:45,960
You had the Knicks because you're the
Knicks expert, thoroughly uninteresting. This team

986
01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:47,639
because it's just there's a fundamental question. Until we know the answer, I

987
01:01:47,679 --> 01:01:51,960
don't know what to talk about.
And it's the Sixers. They're key free

988
01:01:51,960 --> 01:01:54,920
agents. Maybe you've heard James Harden
as a player option, Jayalen McDaniels,

989
01:01:54,920 --> 01:02:00,960
Paul Reid will be restricted, Shake
Milton extension eligible, Harris Maxie. That's

990
01:02:01,079 --> 01:02:09,000
an interesting one. And all right, and and then and that's like Harden's

991
01:02:09,239 --> 01:02:15,559
Harden effects kind of everything. Their
cap situation is tricky too. They if

992
01:02:15,719 --> 01:02:19,760
Harden doesn't take doesn't get the max, they'll maybe have the mini mid level.

993
01:02:20,880 --> 01:02:23,960
The full mid level opens up if
he leaves, most likely so trade

994
01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:29,119
exception. They have a small one
from Mattisse Tibell. What's that that's bad?

995
01:02:29,199 --> 01:02:30,559
If he leaves, right, you'd
rather have James Harden than the full

996
01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:34,840
Emily I'm assuming. I don't know
how many years am I gonna have to

997
01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:37,440
pay him. It's hard to say, uh so, yeah, this this

998
01:02:37,679 --> 01:02:40,360
is like a one issue team right
now. Nick Nurse is the new head

999
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:45,159
coach. That doesn't really affect a
ton. He was very noncommittal. I

1000
01:02:45,239 --> 01:02:47,360
think when asked do you want James
Harden to be back? He eventually said

1001
01:02:47,519 --> 01:02:52,119
yes, but it didn't seem like
he was sure what was gonna happen.

1002
01:02:52,159 --> 01:02:57,320
I don't know that anybody is.
So how about this, Let's start with

1003
01:02:57,400 --> 01:03:01,320
this. If you're the Sixers,
what are you comfortable paying James Harden?

1004
01:03:02,199 --> 01:03:06,039
And is that going to be anywhere
near enough to keep him from signing with

1005
01:03:06,119 --> 01:03:09,559
Houston? And relatedly, is the
Houston thing total bullshit and the leverage play

1006
01:03:09,719 --> 01:03:14,480
or is there something? Is there
some fire or the smoke? There has

1007
01:03:14,559 --> 01:03:16,000
to be fire to the smoke.
I think that the ties to the city

1008
01:03:16,599 --> 01:03:22,519
are a big deal, and the
fact that Houston is not gonna be circa

1009
01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:24,880
And maybe you like the Lakers young
core more at this point, they're not

1010
01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:28,760
going to be Hey, let's bring
Lebron in. See what we can do

1011
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:30,119
with this young core for part of
the season. If you get James Harmon,

1012
01:03:30,159 --> 01:03:34,480
I guarantee you they're making just swings
because they don't own their draft picks

1013
01:03:34,880 --> 01:03:37,320
at that point, like so much
of their future drafts are straight away.

1014
01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:39,440
They have all these other first that
they can try and move around. So

1015
01:03:39,519 --> 01:03:43,800
I think there's real smoke there.
I would So I'll first say I predict

1016
01:03:43,880 --> 01:03:45,199
him to stay in Philly. Would
you agree with that? I ultimately think

1017
01:03:45,239 --> 01:03:50,440
that's where this ends up. I
think probably both because of the I mean,

1018
01:03:50,480 --> 01:03:52,760
the money should be close, and
because like if he really actually does

1019
01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:58,039
and as he said, care about
winning a championship like you can't, it

1020
01:03:58,119 --> 01:04:00,599
doesn't square with leaving the Sixers certainly
for the Rockets. Those are kind of

1021
01:04:00,639 --> 01:04:03,559
the two factors for me. I
would love for a dark horse suitor just

1022
01:04:03,639 --> 01:04:06,639
to come out of left field.
But that's the thing. I don't think

1023
01:04:06,639 --> 01:04:11,360
anybody wants to be in the paying
James Harden forty plus million a year business.

1024
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:15,440
Well, and so that's where would
you rather? So ideally I think

1025
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,840
it would end up at like four
years and one hundred and forty million dollars,

1026
01:04:18,920 --> 01:04:21,679
So thirty five million dollars a year
feels like it would be. I'd

1027
01:04:21,679 --> 01:04:26,119
be fine with that. Yeah,
would you be willing to just inflate that

1028
01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:30,000
number? Like, let's say to
forty, would you give him the max

1029
01:04:30,159 --> 01:04:32,280
if he was wont to sign for
like three years or like forty five million,

1030
01:04:32,320 --> 01:04:35,000
if it's so three years in one
hundred and thirty five, or would

1031
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:40,480
you rather have the four years one
sixty four years one fifty? I think

1032
01:04:40,559 --> 01:04:44,000
I just wanted to be a shorter
deal, like if it's close, So

1033
01:04:44,119 --> 01:04:45,960
I think one year max the one? Yeah, well can I if you

1034
01:04:46,119 --> 01:04:50,079
oh man that if can we just
do one plus ones indefinitely at the max?

1035
01:04:50,159 --> 01:04:56,159
Like I think I feel more comfortable
about that. I just it's so

1036
01:04:56,320 --> 01:05:00,559
hard to know, like what he's
willing to accept. It's so hard to

1037
01:05:00,719 --> 01:05:05,760
know what the sixers. It's just
every aspect that they got a new coach.

1038
01:05:05,800 --> 01:05:10,800
You've got Darryl Moorey there who just
loves James Harden. If you could,

1039
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:14,199
if you said three years, what
was your number? Three years for

1040
01:05:14,679 --> 01:05:16,880
like one hundred and thirty five,
so that I mean basically the max were

1041
01:05:16,880 --> 01:05:19,679
three years for one hundred and thirty
let's say, so it's over forty per,

1042
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:23,679
I'd do that. I think if
I'm if that's what it takes to

1043
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:26,519
keep him, I'd love to have
like you'd never get it. But like

1044
01:05:26,599 --> 01:05:30,199
a team option or an incentive,
you know, heavily incentive ized thirty years,

1045
01:05:30,559 --> 01:05:32,320
an option or a partial guarantee.
It's happening on the fourth year,

1046
01:05:32,760 --> 01:05:34,519
definitely, I have it on the
third year. I would think, I

1047
01:05:34,559 --> 01:05:36,320
mean, if you give me,
fine, if you want to call it

1048
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:39,719
a four year deal, James,
but it's a team option on the fourth

1049
01:05:39,760 --> 01:05:42,360
we can do that. We could
do that. That's fine. What is

1050
01:05:42,440 --> 01:05:46,079
your average ideal average annual VOT Is
it like a lot lower? I'm talking

1051
01:05:46,079 --> 01:05:48,079
about not even trying to be realistic, but is it? Oh, I

1052
01:05:48,119 --> 01:05:50,559
wouldn't pay him more? Are you
at? I wouldn't play more than thirty

1053
01:05:50,599 --> 01:05:55,159
million a year or something like fundamentally, what is he worth? Value wise?

1054
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:59,079
Basically, what do you make this
year? Like thirty six he opted

1055
01:05:59,159 --> 01:06:01,360
out and yeah, he took and
he took to his credit that by the

1056
01:06:01,440 --> 01:06:03,960
way, that is part of the
calculus. Year that's like you, we

1057
01:06:04,039 --> 01:06:06,199
didn't bring it up. That was
a great point by you. So he's

1058
01:06:06,239 --> 01:06:10,599
at thirty five point six this past
year he accepted like fifteen million dollars less

1059
01:06:10,599 --> 01:06:14,039
than he needed to or whatever it
was, And that's going to be part

1060
01:06:14,039 --> 01:06:16,440
of the calculus. There's a winker
handshake involved in that. I don't care

1061
01:06:16,519 --> 01:06:20,119
what the tampering investigation revealed. So
yeah, I mean, I think that's

1062
01:06:20,159 --> 01:06:25,239
a decent number, like thirty third, mid thirties for because he was,

1063
01:06:25,360 --> 01:06:29,039
you know, he he was a
good offensive player this year like he did

1064
01:06:29,079 --> 01:06:31,639
at thirty three this year. I'm
looking at his player options. It was

1065
01:06:31,679 --> 01:06:35,320
like twelve plus or fourteen plus million
last he accepted. Whatever, that's a

1066
01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:39,800
steal, I'm okay, And I
think he's probably worth He's not worth the

1067
01:06:39,840 --> 01:06:42,320
max. I don't think anything close
to that. But if you're in the

1068
01:06:42,400 --> 01:06:45,880
thirties, were like we could,
we could come to an agreement there.

1069
01:06:45,199 --> 01:06:49,239
And I wonder if the new CBA
has given teams cover in these situations where

1070
01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:51,360
you would default to, well,
this is the name. Look at what

1071
01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:55,880
he's done. He's gonna get the
max. But now it's gonna change how

1072
01:06:55,960 --> 01:06:58,719
ownership in front office is view team
building. And I think that this is

1073
01:06:58,760 --> 01:07:00,159
a consequence where yeah, I'm most
I think it's gonna trickle down onto the

1074
01:07:00,199 --> 01:07:03,719
mid level or less NBA players and
they're gonna get fucked. But could this

1075
01:07:03,840 --> 01:07:09,239
be a situation where aging stars they're
not going to sign shorter term deals because

1076
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:12,159
once they get out of them,
they're not guaranteed to get the full max

1077
01:07:12,760 --> 01:07:15,159
as as they as likely as they
were previously. Yeah, no, I

1078
01:07:15,239 --> 01:07:19,960
think that's an interesting angle. MAXI
extension we're doing him that starts at like

1079
01:07:20,039 --> 01:07:24,119
thirty six million, I think round
thirty five point nine. I think you

1080
01:07:24,239 --> 01:07:27,599
probably would have to to get him
to sign, don't you think like he's

1081
01:07:27,639 --> 01:07:30,480
not. I don't know that he's
signing for less. I don't know if

1082
01:07:30,480 --> 01:07:34,800
that answers That doesn't answer your question. If he was to get the four

1083
01:07:34,920 --> 01:07:41,840
year max, you're looking at like
four years and one hundred and sixty million

1084
01:07:41,880 --> 01:07:45,519
dollars or whatever it is. I'll
have to bring my max calculator up since

1085
01:07:45,519 --> 01:07:48,159
I have it in there. But
well, oh yeah, if I'm him,

1086
01:07:48,159 --> 01:07:53,920
I'm saying, what did Jordan Pool
get one? I mean one twenty

1087
01:07:54,079 --> 01:07:57,760
one forty, So that's we'll start
there. That's the floor. Did I

1088
01:07:57,880 --> 01:08:00,559
just flame out in the playoffs?
Like if I like that, I quit

1089
01:08:00,920 --> 01:08:02,840
through the year basically? Yeah,
so it's four years in one hundred and

1090
01:08:02,880 --> 01:08:08,880
sixty point two million is his max? I think i'd probably I would you

1091
01:08:08,960 --> 01:08:10,920
offer it? Or is it just
like well, we're gonna wait till restricted

1092
01:08:10,920 --> 01:08:15,760
free agency. Then it's I don't
know that he's worth that. Like if

1093
01:08:15,800 --> 01:08:19,119
you're just talking about value, he
might. If if Harden leaves, I

1094
01:08:19,159 --> 01:08:24,680
think you probably gotta do it right, like you just there's that's that settles

1095
01:08:24,720 --> 01:08:28,000
it for you. But I think
based on the market, like the Hero

1096
01:08:28,199 --> 01:08:30,520
contract, the Simons contract, the
Pool contract, those and Maxie those are

1097
01:08:30,560 --> 01:08:34,640
like the four guys we kind of
weirdly lumped together. I think he just

1098
01:08:34,720 --> 01:08:38,239
has to get more than all those
guys. And so that doesn't leave you

1099
01:08:38,319 --> 01:08:41,119
a lot of room short of the
max based on what some of those guys

1100
01:08:41,199 --> 01:08:44,399
got, So you would expect him
to get more than thirty million. I

1101
01:08:44,439 --> 01:08:46,119
think so. I think so.
And if Hardon leaves, there's no time,

1102
01:08:46,159 --> 01:08:48,720
there's no cap on it, like
he's just tolding what. Yeah.

1103
01:08:49,239 --> 01:08:54,159
So if Harden stays, what are
the biggest needs you're looking at for the

1104
01:08:54,279 --> 01:08:56,680
roster of any names? That's and
that's if he stays, that's I don't

1105
01:08:56,720 --> 01:08:59,079
even know how to tackle their offseason. We're gonna be done in thirty seconds

1106
01:08:59,119 --> 01:09:01,159
with this team because it's so confusing. If he stays, what do we

1107
01:09:01,319 --> 01:09:05,079
need here? I know you had
Nick Batoum as a as a potential trade

1108
01:09:05,119 --> 01:09:10,479
target, like another you know,
a bigger wing slash forward type. I

1109
01:09:10,600 --> 01:09:14,800
had de Vincenzo as a free agent
target. I get another one that I

1110
01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:17,000
really liked for this team. You're
gonna have to remind me because I never

1111
01:09:17,119 --> 01:09:20,880
remember what I say Trey Lyles.
Oh yeah, Trey Lyles to get you,

1112
01:09:23,359 --> 01:09:26,680
just to give you a different dimension, Like I don't now I'm remembering

1113
01:09:26,720 --> 01:09:30,399
what I said. Thank you for
the prompt. I don't know how successfully

1114
01:09:30,479 --> 01:09:34,199
you're going to get away with Lyles
at the five defensively, but I'd be

1115
01:09:34,239 --> 01:09:38,359
willing to try it because he would
give you some five out stuff if you

1116
01:09:38,439 --> 01:09:42,960
really wanted to. That might make
Maxie really scary with a you know,

1117
01:09:43,119 --> 01:09:46,600
totally empty floor. Just give you
some different looks, I think, I

1118
01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:49,520
mean, I don't know. I
think he's probably a much more than a

1119
01:09:49,560 --> 01:09:54,640
minimum player, So like that's that
makes it tricky. But I like the

1120
01:09:54,760 --> 01:09:59,840
idea of a really like different look
as a backup big as Blown's pointing out

1121
01:10:00,279 --> 01:10:03,479
again, I would love to see
like a Bruce Brown type on this team.

1122
01:10:03,520 --> 01:10:06,760
But they're gonna unless Harden leaves.
That's a no. So the two

1123
01:10:06,880 --> 01:10:10,800
names I have kind of are in
between, like the big and the wing.

1124
01:10:11,560 --> 01:10:14,399
You don't want an abbi like just
get someone's gonna drill corner threes,

1125
01:10:14,479 --> 01:10:16,920
move around defensively. And then he
was injured for most of this season,

1126
01:10:17,159 --> 01:10:20,680
but he's had a good run.
Javante Green can defend like pretty much almost

1127
01:10:20,680 --> 01:10:23,680
every position. At this point.
You use him as a back up big,

1128
01:10:24,079 --> 01:10:26,760
you use him as kind of wing
player. Will he hit enough of

1129
01:10:26,840 --> 01:10:30,359
his threes? That's certainly a question, But the threes you're gonna generate in

1130
01:10:30,439 --> 01:10:33,520
lineups if hardens on the court and
still playing the part of primary playmaker,

1131
01:10:33,880 --> 01:10:36,439
if they make a bigger splash though
it's happening on the trade market, I

1132
01:10:36,520 --> 01:10:41,560
just don't know how they make,
Like you have to bias Harris's salary,

1133
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:45,920
but you just don't have a ton
of pick equity here to move around.

1134
01:10:45,960 --> 01:10:47,399
And so there's even like I know
people floated like, well, would you

1135
01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:50,199
try to get like a Bradby Beal
or something. It's just I don't know,

1136
01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:54,560
can you get And if you are, you're giving up Maxie as part

1137
01:10:54,600 --> 01:10:57,640
of that. And so I just
the fun amount of question is will James

1138
01:10:57,680 --> 01:11:00,960
Harden be back and I think he
will be. That's where I'll land on

1139
01:11:00,039 --> 01:11:02,720
the Sixers. Yeah, I'll agree
with that. You want to take us

1140
01:11:02,760 --> 01:11:05,880
to the Raptors, our last team
in the division, Yeah, let's let's

1141
01:11:05,920 --> 01:11:11,039
do it. So the Toronto Raptors
key free agents Van Fleet and Gary Trent

1142
01:11:11,159 --> 01:11:15,319
Junior have player options and then Yaka
Peurdle extension eligible candidates. Two interesting ones

1143
01:11:15,359 --> 01:11:19,439
here to me, Ogna Nobi.
He's eligible for a four year roughly one

1144
01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:24,960
hundred and seventeen million dollars max extension. Pascal Siakam is about four years and

1145
01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:29,520
one hundred and eighty one point one
million dollars. Their tap situation is weird

1146
01:11:29,880 --> 01:11:31,680
because we're factoring in all these free
agents. I have them as a mini

1147
01:11:31,840 --> 01:11:36,439
MLI team. But if you keep
Peardle, Van Fleet and GTJ, depending

1148
01:11:36,479 --> 01:11:41,880
on how much they get, you
could run into some second apron awkwardness.

1149
01:11:42,119 --> 01:11:45,880
For sure, I'll stay there and
then no notable trade exceptions for them their

1150
01:11:45,880 --> 01:11:49,840
biggest needs. I actually my list
was actually pretty well for this team.

1151
01:11:50,319 --> 01:11:55,359
Shooting, ball, handling, advantage, creation and bench depths. All I

1152
01:11:55,399 --> 01:11:59,600
didn't new head coach as of this
recording last team with that one. So

1153
01:12:00,520 --> 01:12:02,399
what are you thinking about with this
team. I guess the place we have

1154
01:12:02,479 --> 01:12:06,159
to start is there. Do we
start with the extension eligible guys first,

1155
01:12:06,279 --> 01:12:10,039
or no, the free agents and
four more of what they're doing right,

1156
01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:13,319
Yeah, I think so. I
mean, this will surprise no one who

1157
01:12:13,359 --> 01:12:18,000
has heard me just you know,
be incredibly conservative in my roster building kind

1158
01:12:18,039 --> 01:12:24,840
of bent starting with Van Vleet and
Trent Junior. I think I think if

1159
01:12:24,880 --> 01:12:30,399
I'm Toronto, because the market sucks
and like I just replacing these guys through

1160
01:12:30,399 --> 01:12:32,760
free agency would be so difficult,
I think I'd bring them both backs,

1161
01:12:33,000 --> 01:12:39,199
so long as we're not assuming there's
just an absurd premium on especially Van Vleet.

1162
01:12:41,239 --> 01:12:43,520
You bring them back, you have
your backcourt set, you can trade

1163
01:12:43,560 --> 01:12:45,560
them later. Like I just think
preserving the asset kind of matters there,

1164
01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:49,319
and there's just not good enough replacements. I think you're committed to bringing Peartle

1165
01:12:49,359 --> 01:12:53,399
back, so you're kind of you're
running it back. And I think the

1166
01:12:53,479 --> 01:12:55,800
reason I'm sort of okay with that
is you're going to have a new head

1167
01:12:55,840 --> 01:12:59,920
coach. And I do think there's
a distinct possibility that whether it was nurse

1168
01:13:00,199 --> 01:13:03,119
fault, whether it was the roster's
fault, whether it was whatever, like

1169
01:13:03,680 --> 01:13:09,319
just a different mixture between coach and
team. Could you know, whether you

1170
01:13:09,439 --> 01:13:13,800
go position list, whether you go
conventional. I just think it's worth seeing

1171
01:13:13,880 --> 01:13:18,279
what this personnel could do if coached
by somebody different before you start like swapping

1172
01:13:18,279 --> 01:13:23,760
out a bunch of parts and really
doing things the complicated way. So I

1173
01:13:23,760 --> 01:13:27,319
don't know what my numbers are for
Van Vleet. I think anything over like

1174
01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:30,600
twenty six twenty seventy year feels a
little iffy to me. And he's a

1175
01:13:30,640 --> 01:13:33,720
little older too, so and he's
a small guard. They never age well,

1176
01:13:34,159 --> 01:13:38,239
so if you go full like four
years, that's that gets scary.

1177
01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:42,079
Trent is kind of more fungible,
like if you let somebody walk, it

1178
01:13:42,279 --> 01:13:45,720
would probably beat him. Like he's
the most likely of the three to leave,

1179
01:13:45,960 --> 01:13:49,680
right, Yeah, I think so, and weirdly he'd I mean,

1180
01:13:49,720 --> 01:13:53,680
I guess I don't know what Purple's
market would be, but I don't think

1181
01:13:53,720 --> 01:13:56,359
there's a super hot market for Trent, just because he's really kind of a

1182
01:13:56,479 --> 01:14:00,600
pure too, and like that's kind
of an out of favor position more unless

1183
01:14:00,600 --> 01:14:02,760
you're a contagious called will Pope and
you're just the best that being appeared to

1184
01:14:04,479 --> 01:14:06,520
Yeah, I don't know. Do
you feel differently about that, Like are

1185
01:14:06,560 --> 01:14:11,560
you because the alternative is you kind
of just you sign and trade, You

1186
01:14:11,720 --> 01:14:14,680
let these guys walk and you figure
out what to do on the margins to

1187
01:14:14,800 --> 01:14:17,640
replace them. Doesn't That doesn't strike
me as as good an option. No,

1188
01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:21,000
I feel like they're more likely to
do everything you said. And maybe

1189
01:14:21,039 --> 01:14:25,039
maybe something happens with Gary Trent Junior
or signed and trade or they let him

1190
01:14:25,079 --> 01:14:28,119
walk. And his number is interesting. I don't know that he'll get a

1191
01:14:28,239 --> 01:14:30,800
huge raise if he declines his player
options. We all assume is there a

1192
01:14:30,840 --> 01:14:34,079
team that's going to give him more
than eighteen point eight million. Maybe it's

1193
01:14:34,079 --> 01:14:38,479
just the same amount of money over
longer years. But I think you run

1194
01:14:38,520 --> 01:14:41,840
it back and if you need to
do something nuclear when looking at blowing it

1195
01:14:41,960 --> 01:14:45,279
up, that's a decision you can
make closer to the trade deadline or maybe

1196
01:14:45,279 --> 01:14:48,880
even next offseason when you're gonna have
another Well, it's a natural pivot point,

1197
01:14:48,920 --> 01:14:51,359
but it's maybe one you don't want
to get to because og and nobody's

1198
01:14:51,359 --> 01:14:56,000
an actual free agent and I don't
know if he signs his extension Siakam,

1199
01:14:56,079 --> 01:15:00,640
I think like that's what makes it
so their extensions starting with that ABI four

1200
01:15:00,720 --> 01:15:02,920
years in one hundred and seventeen million, I offer it. Do you think

1201
01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:05,720
he would sign it? I don't
think it's enough. I think I think

1202
01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:10,159
free agencies they're out for him because
I mean, that's it's not way too

1203
01:15:10,279 --> 01:15:15,920
low. But it's not if we're
being honest. And I don't like saying

1204
01:15:15,960 --> 01:15:17,199
this necessarily about players because it feels
over the group. But to me,

1205
01:15:17,319 --> 01:15:20,560
he's become one of the most overrated
players in the NBA, and so that's

1206
01:15:20,560 --> 01:15:24,159
a number i'd be comfortable paying him. I don't know how much high I'd

1207
01:15:24,199 --> 01:15:28,560
want to go. I just haven't
seen the offensive development from him. Enough

1208
01:15:28,640 --> 01:15:32,520
of it anyway. I think I
agree with you insofar as the like offensive

1209
01:15:32,600 --> 01:15:36,239
leap we were hoping for for like
three or four years running, I don't

1210
01:15:36,319 --> 01:15:40,800
think he is there. I think
he's a premium, premium role player and

1211
01:15:40,880 --> 01:15:44,319
as long as he thinks that,
which which there's some uncertainty about that,

1212
01:15:44,359 --> 01:15:46,640
I don't know. I don't know
if he accepts that he's not like a

1213
01:15:46,720 --> 01:15:50,800
guy that can clan a cannon should
do more offensively with the ball. If

1214
01:15:50,840 --> 01:15:56,439
he's okay with that, I think
a premium role player who can guard everywhere

1215
01:15:56,560 --> 01:16:00,159
and can make spot up threes like
that's that's probably worth close to thirty like

1216
01:16:00,399 --> 01:16:03,840
I have a year. You know, maybe if there's better spacing, he

1217
01:16:03,960 --> 01:16:09,159
does improve offensively, like they haven't
necessarily surrounded him with Christine spacing. Great

1218
01:16:09,319 --> 01:16:12,520
great point, Yeah, great point. No, So what about Siakam.

1219
01:16:12,640 --> 01:16:15,600
I think we agree that that's not
probably probably not quite enough for an and

1220
01:16:15,640 --> 01:16:18,199
Obi to accept, and we'll go
to free agency. Siakam is older,

1221
01:16:18,760 --> 01:16:24,920
h one eighty one. That's a
lot of money. I think I think

1222
01:16:24,960 --> 01:16:28,199
that's closer to being acceptable. But
I'm curious where you're at on that.

1223
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:30,319
I'd take it if I were him, if everything, give me the full

1224
01:16:30,359 --> 01:16:32,960
four year boat on it, because
like you said, he is older,

1225
01:16:33,319 --> 01:16:38,359
and I'm curious how his game ages, and so I don't know if I'm

1226
01:16:38,399 --> 01:16:41,600
Toronto, if I'm offering it,
it's just because then you're but with him

1227
01:16:41,640 --> 01:16:43,760
going into free agency. I don't
really want to risk it either, But

1228
01:16:43,840 --> 01:16:47,399
you're shoehorning yourself into this very specific
construct. So I think I would ultimately

1229
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:53,920
offer both these extensions. I think
Siakam's more likely to accept it. I

1230
01:16:53,960 --> 01:16:56,760
don't know if either of them accept
it though. Yeah, and I think

1231
01:16:56,760 --> 01:16:59,159
if you're talking about you were alluding
to this a little bit, looking for

1232
01:16:59,439 --> 01:17:02,560
like route out of this roster.
If you bring back van Fleet and Trent

1233
01:17:02,680 --> 01:17:06,680
and it just like it looks the
same. I think even certainly at both

1234
01:17:06,760 --> 01:17:12,279
of these extension numbers, and Anobe
in particular, I think Siakam and Anonobe

1235
01:17:12,399 --> 01:17:16,000
would be movable for like at least
neutral value, certainly Annaobe probably Annobe probably

1236
01:17:16,039 --> 01:17:19,119
for positive value. Siakam, I
think if you traded him early in this

1237
01:17:19,600 --> 01:17:24,439
deal, this hypothetical four for one
eighty one that we have, I think

1238
01:17:24,479 --> 01:17:28,520
he's probably getting you like, you're
not having to attach anything to get off

1239
01:17:28,600 --> 01:17:32,640
that. I wouldn't think, So
that's your way out if this doesn't work

1240
01:17:32,680 --> 01:17:36,159
well. And again, it's probably
better to have these guys. That's slight

1241
01:17:36,960 --> 01:17:41,159
for Siakam because we've agreed that an
Andobe, if you bring him back at

1242
01:17:41,239 --> 01:17:45,399
his extension number, you'd be totally
comfortable with that. But for Siakam,

1243
01:17:45,000 --> 01:17:48,640
like, I think it's better to
preserve the asset than to let him get

1244
01:17:48,680 --> 01:17:51,920
to free agency, because then that
just raises a whole new suite of like

1245
01:17:53,439 --> 01:17:56,880
not great possibility and there's probably the
argument for me that hey, Siakam is

1246
01:17:56,920 --> 01:17:59,960
more valuable to you as a trade
asset if he's on this longer deal.

1247
01:18:00,119 --> 01:18:01,720
Then if you have the movement of
mine and he's headed towards free agency,

1248
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:04,800
for sure, Yeah you're I mean, then then I don't know what you're

1249
01:18:04,800 --> 01:18:09,000
getting for him. If you're trading
him in like February of his expiring deal,

1250
01:18:09,119 --> 01:18:12,600
that's that's not going to bring back
nearly as much any free agents or

1251
01:18:12,640 --> 01:18:15,119
even if you want to go trade
target stand out to you is good fits

1252
01:18:15,199 --> 01:18:19,079
for this team. Give Yeah,
depending on what they do. I'll jump

1253
01:18:19,159 --> 01:18:24,119
to the trade idea, Like if
van Fleet's gone and you want to change

1254
01:18:24,159 --> 01:18:28,199
it up, I think there's a
real there's a pretty clear Anna Obi as

1255
01:18:28,359 --> 01:18:31,199
the principle for Anthony Simons, and
and maybe a pick or sharp or something

1256
01:18:31,319 --> 01:18:35,920
like between Portland and Toronto. There's
there's stuff you could get done. I

1257
01:18:36,000 --> 01:18:40,319
mean, And since we're always talking
about them in conjunction with each other,

1258
01:18:40,920 --> 01:18:45,000
like do the is Jordan Pool and
Jonathan cominga enough to get ann and Obi

1259
01:18:45,119 --> 01:18:49,000
and somebody? Do the Raptors even
want to do that? This all probably

1260
01:18:49,039 --> 01:18:54,239
presumes that van Fleet is gone you're
not trading for another small offense first guard

1261
01:18:54,279 --> 01:18:58,159
if he's still there. Probably,
But the free agent side of things are

1262
01:18:58,560 --> 01:19:01,479
is a little murkier for me because
this roster is so weird and we don't

1263
01:19:01,520 --> 01:19:05,199
know who's gonna be on it.
The trade possibilities are all over the place

1264
01:19:05,239 --> 01:19:10,079
though. For the Raptors, yeah, I'd be curious, Like if Molik

1265
01:19:10,159 --> 01:19:13,520
Beasley's team option gets declined in LA, I'm wondering where that ends up.

1266
01:19:14,000 --> 01:19:16,079
T J. Warren would be a
good fit for this team. Max Druce.

1267
01:19:16,119 --> 01:19:18,119
I don't know if they could get
to the bigger MLA, so that

1268
01:19:18,119 --> 01:19:20,920
would be tough, but he would
have been or would be a really good

1269
01:19:20,960 --> 01:19:26,800
fit for them. They could be
a Dario Charge team. I kind of

1270
01:19:26,840 --> 01:19:29,439
thought about, do you like want
another like kind of guy who could play

1271
01:19:29,439 --> 01:19:31,239
the four or the five coming off
the bench, and they just need bench

1272
01:19:31,319 --> 01:19:34,880
depth in general. So those are
kind of the names I have. They're

1273
01:19:34,920 --> 01:19:39,279
just all their splashes are gonna come
by retaining their own. For Naz Reid

1274
01:19:39,279 --> 01:19:41,239
would be a great fit too.
They just can't afford them. Maybe all

1275
01:19:41,239 --> 01:19:43,439
these players they can't afford. You
want to you want to hear more Raptor

1276
01:19:43,640 --> 01:19:45,920
free agents. The Raptors can't afford
grant. I've got a bunch of them.

1277
01:19:45,800 --> 01:19:48,520
I think their splashes will come with
retaining their own players, and if

1278
01:19:48,560 --> 01:19:51,880
there's any real fireworks, it'll be
on the trade market. They might be

1279
01:19:51,960 --> 01:19:56,199
the most interesting team in this division, though leading into the to the off

1280
01:19:56,239 --> 01:20:00,720
season they certainly have like some of
the most unsettled situation like no coach,

1281
01:20:00,800 --> 01:20:04,119
I don't know what your backcourt's going
to be. I don't know if your

1282
01:20:04,159 --> 01:20:08,520
two best forwards are going to be
traded or extended like it's it's all over

1283
01:20:08,600 --> 01:20:10,600
the place for them. Do you
want to take us out of here?

1284
01:20:11,119 --> 01:20:14,560
Sure? So that's your Atlantic Division
preview and a lot of other interesting topics.

1285
01:20:14,760 --> 01:20:16,399
Thank you everybody for listening, for
commenting, for checking in with us.

1286
01:20:16,960 --> 01:20:19,319
If you want to support us and
follow us, go buy some merch.

1287
01:20:19,439 --> 01:20:23,359
Dan and I are both sporting sweet
merch. I couldn't find my coffee

1288
01:20:23,359 --> 01:20:26,880
cup today, but I wore my
apologies to Mitchell robin T shirt. Mitchell

1289
01:20:27,119 --> 01:20:30,119
Robinson T shirt. Dan's got a
sticker on the mug. If you're not

1290
01:20:30,199 --> 01:20:31,960
watching right now, you just have
to accept my description of these things.

1291
01:20:33,159 --> 01:20:38,159
Follow us on our socials at Hardwood
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1292
01:20:38,399 --> 01:20:43,119
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1293
01:20:43,159 --> 01:20:45,399
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1294
01:20:45,479 --> 01:20:49,479
get your podcasts, Tell your friends
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1295
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:53,840
And as always, I'll take us
out with a shout out to and you

1296
01:20:53,880 --> 01:20:58,680
got mentioned this episode the one and
only Frank Millikina. And I will apologize

1297
01:20:58,680 --> 01:21:10,279
to Mitchell Robinson because I of a
T shirt. H