What is a fellow thermonuclear a efforts. Dan and Grant are back with our
final installation of NBA off season grades, which can only mean that these will
a either be outdated before they go live or be be outdated immediately after they
go live, because that would be absolutely how this works. But we're into
the Pacific Division very quickly. Before we get started, Please remember to subscribe
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checking us out now, but also consider staying with us long term. With
that out of the way, Grant, how the hell are you doing?
I'm good. I would just say that the audience really is going to owe
it to us, right, like we're we are to pick up listeners.
We're doing you all favor. Yeah, you're welcome. First of all,
I'm doing great. I'm excited to do to wrap this with the division that
I pay the closest attention to just by virtue of my h we don't have
to hide our fandom, right, everybody's listening long enough knows I'm a Warriors
fan. So yeah, I'm glad to do the Pacific. It's funny because
I do think you're in the same boat that I would argue at least the
majority of our listeners don't you know you're Warriors fan? And they're like a
majority of people. I'm sure a majority of this podcast knows. I'm a
Knicks fan, but like the way I talk about the Knicks or just cover
the league, everyone accuses me of being biased against the Knicks, and so
I'm like, that must mean I'm doing my job. Probably still poorly,
but at least correctly if they can't detect it. Because it's just funny when
I get accused of like why do you hate the Knicks, And it's just
like if you had any sort of knowledge of my background, it's just the
complete opposite. You hate them because they've hurt you so much, because you
care so much. Right, Yeah, I've consumed too much in my life
rooting for them, and hence my life is ruined. But criteria for these
as always, we don't care about Grant's fandom because he's just drowning in championship
rings and dynastic aspirations. At the moment, we are grading these teams to
this point as of Monday, August twenty second, even though you're probably listening
to this on Wednesday or Thursday of that same week. And also, these
are organizational grades, so we're not grading them from the player's perspective. And
finally, you know, don't get mad when people get be's and s or
cs here, don't get mad if they get a B. If anyone was
ever mad at a BE in school, I fucking hate you, like I
don't like I remember my mom being angry that I got like eighty eights like
if I didn't get like eighty nine and up, it was considered like a
disappointment. Don't hold people to that standard. That's unfair. A sea is
passing, a C minus is passing. So that's how we're doing this.
It's the Dason that asks you really have to worry about and there are certainly
questions when you get into the ce territory. With the criteria out of the
way, though, Grant and I'll throw it up on the screen for the
YouTube watchers. We begin with the Golden State Warriors and their notable moves include
drafting Patrick Baldwin junior at number twenty eight. They signed leicster Keonas to a
two way contract. They acquired Ryan Rollins number forty four from the Hawks for
Tyree's Martin number fifty one and two million dollars in cash. They signed Hollins
then to a three year four point eight million dollars deal. His first two
years are guaranteed. They resigned Covan Lady to a three year twenty two point
five million dollars deal. Seventeen point five million is guaranteed. The final season,
when he'll be twenty eight is his age twenty one campaign. Anyway,
there's only three million guaranteed. It fully guarantees if the team wins the title
in twenty twenty three or two and twenty four. They signed to Michael Green
to a one year vet minimum deal after the Thunder bought him out. They
signed Tonte DiVincenzo to a two year, nine point two million dollars deal most
of the mini mL there there's a player option on year two. They signed
Mac McClung to an Exhibit nine contract. They signed trevi On Williams to an
Exhibit ten deal. Notable exits. Gary Payton the second signed with the Blazers.
Otto Porter Junior signed with the Raptors, Damien Lee signed with the Suns.
Wantascano Anderson is projected to be part of the Los Angeles Lakers best closing
lineup this season, and Andrea Godala and Kuindari Weatherspoon remain unsigned. What grade
did you give your Warriors, ran and did we miss any of the transactions?
This is the team that you can't afford to have anything missing. Yeah,
I'm well they didn't do a whole lot, so yeah, no,
you got big is a big deal Mac. Yeah. Mc McClung rubling the
air out of the ball and trying searching for highlight passes in summer League is
was not one of my favorite things this This is a bee for me.
And the Warriors are kind of weirdly a hard team to evaluate because on one
side you have the well, how do they you know, why didn't they
just pay whatever it costs to keep Porter and Peyton? And there's some validity
to that because why do we care what the billionaire spends? At the same
time, like my personal opinion is like you gotta miss me with that stuff,
like or at least start somewhere else, because there are there are much
richer owners that are way tighter with their spending, So just start somewhere else
when you're going to complain about like why now not all of them are titled
or defending a title or trying to catch another get another one. But like
there's there's a little lower hanging fruit if you're going to complain about ownership frugality,
like this is not the place to start with that from my opinion.
So it sucks to lose Peyton, super important, played a key role,
was better than he's ever been in his career. Is not that Young sucks
to lose. Porter also played a key role, was better than he's been
in a couple of years. Perfect situation factored in for both of them.
I would love to have had both back from a fan perspective, but I
think to kind of backfill with Dante di Vincenzo, I mean on a to
me a bargain deal and to get Jamichael Green kind of into the Porter spot.
I think based on how hard it typically is to keep a championship team
together and not suffer a bunch of attrition, which the Warriors did. I
mean, you listed all the guys they lost. Most of them were not
significant minute players, but like they did lose Peyton and Porter, It's hard
to keep a team this good together, especially on the margins where guys are
going to go somewhere else and get more money or get bigger roles. So
I think all that factored in. The b feels right to me. And
that's and that's not even like really fact like looking at the Looney retention,
which I think is super important. And I do like the Baldwin pick because
this is sort of like once they when they when they got him, it
felt like I'm not drunk I'm not making this comparison, but it's a sort
of like a different version, a lesser version of a Michael Porter junior draft
pick, because Baldwin was like a top five depending on where you look,
top ten in his high school class. So like it was a weird situation
where he went to a school that wasn't a big deal. His father was
a coach, but similar in that, like, well, it's really just
injuries for him. He had a terrible collegiate season. It was short and
it was injury ridden, but like he's a big guy that can shoot,
and there's there there was at a point like this guy is one of the
five or ten best players of his age in the country. So getting someone
like that at twenty eight when you're the Warriors and you can just afford to
take home run swings with you know, major downside. I really think that
was the right pick for them. And the other thing that you have to
sort of for me consider here is they're just banking on a ton of organic
growth, which isn't an offseason thing. I mean, like unless we're going
to start factoring in like what's the player development staff doing. But I think
in light of the expectation that guys like Moody and guys like Cominga specifically and
even Pool are going to improve. I think it makes sense to go for
someone like Devincenzo, who like injuries are the issue for him. So there's
like there's a chance that he only gives you forty good games or something like
that. But that's okay because you're going to backfill that with guys that are
young and already on the roster and getting better. So even even the downside
risk of Devincenzo, which is for sure there because he didn't look like an
NBA player or a good NBA player for a lot of the last you know,
year two years, I think that makes sense. So it's still just
to be because they did lose key guys, but I think they did about
as well as they could without just deciding to have like a six hundred million
dollars, you know, roster cost. Yeah, I gave him a B
two, and I tend to lean towards they should have just kept I would
have picked GP two over Otto Porter Jr. Because of the Cominga stuff,
and I think they did with picking him to Michael Green, I think what
they've basically done this offseason. They've showed less faith in James Wiseman than they
did in Jonathan Cominga and Moses Moody based off how their off season went,
and that makes sense. But they also didn't go to the full route of
we're going to sign and has on Whiteside, because that would have showed like
no faith in James Wiseman. Probably, So I liked the Michael Jamichael Green
pick up and the thing with Otto Porter Jr. He wanted to be in
Toronto, and I firmly believe he took less than market value and that his
actual salary, like the Warriors wouldn't have been able, Like he probably had
richer offers from the rap than the Raptors, and the Warriors wouldn't have been
able to pay him that much. So and then the Devincenzo pick up like
sort of mitigates losing GP two, but again on a team that really doesn't
have like it's Moses Moody and Andrew Wiggins and Lay Thompson as your wings.
And so now you're depending a lot on I think Moses Moody might be ready
based off little we soft from him last season. Now you're kind of like,
well, Klay Thompson Andrew Wiggins are both just going to be really good,
and that's that. Offensively, Klay Thompson sure, having like now games
under his belt, maybe he continues to improve. Defensively, I'm just not
like Andrew Wiggins was just the second best player on their team during the finals,
Like that makes me wildly uncomfortable and very appreciative of Steph for that matter.
And that's like where I'm sort of like they couldn't have won something else
where, like if you have GP two. Yeah, he's smaller, but
at least that kind of beefs up your wing defense in the event of disaster,
if Moody's not ready, if Wiggins regresses, if Klay Thompson gets injured
again, I know he's smaller, but he can defend bigger. The Cavan
Loody signing, though, was a steal. A steal. You have JaVale
McGee getting about as much guaranteed money as Cavan Looney explaining that to me,
explain it, you can't do it explicable and so yeah, I do think
they should have paid one of them, but I can't quibble over it.
And the way you frame the Patrick Waldron junior pick almost made me want to
bump them up higher. But I still think they should have kept somebody and
like between GP two or but like they should have kept GP two because they
could have given him that money. Otto Porter Junior was more of just sort
of like like that was just if he territory there. And the other thing
is just like I guess he had the leverage because he was signing for less
than the Mini eml E. So it's a win. But now they can't
even keep Dante di Vincenzo if he's good, because he's not gonna stay because
he has the player option and he's not gonna play stay for the Mini MLI,
which would be the most that they could offer him effectively, So that
is it's not a loss, but it's just like I guess he had the
leverage for a player option, especially because they didn't give him the full Mini
Emily. I think it was a good off season and you had to bank
on organic growth if you want to keep Klay Thompson and Draymond Green long term
with the rest of this corps. I do wonder if the absence of extensions
for anyone the off season's not over yet, does that matter to you at
all at this point. I mean, I don't know how. It certainly
has the potential to change the grade, right like, because if they got,
say, if they've managed to reach in agreement with Pool just to take
one of them, and you're talking like Anthony Simon's money or less, then
I probably bump it up if it's got to be. If it's significantly more
than that, then maybe we're not changing it, you know, and who
knows what happens with Wiggins, what happens with Green, like it just there
is a little bit of an incomplete element here, But I really don't know.
It really would just come down to the how good these extensions are,
Like just if they extend or do not. If they don't do anything,
I can't really knock it because they just retain all the leverage anyway and nothing
really changes. And I don't think this is a team where it's like,
well, Jordan Pool's pissed off and he's not gonna you know, you can't
like this is a championship contender that's not going to fly in the locker room.
So the downside risk of not giving guys as much as you can right
away is not as severe here as it would be on another team, it
would be And I like don't have a feel for what they should extend to
any of these four guys. And I don't like Clay Thompson. I'm not
worried about because it's just like Clay's not gonna go anywhere if they want to
keep him. And Draymond Green is like, I feel like they shouldn't extend
him and they should make him opt out and play the market. But I
could also like if they do extend him, my guests would be that I'm
going to be surprised at how cheap it was because I don't know why the
Warriors would do it. Other I'm not saying he's not important, but just
like that's where I'm at with him. I have no feel for Jordan Pool.
I think Anfrey Simon's money feels about right, But to me, he's
shown he can do more when you look at his finishing specifically than Afrey Simons
on offense. But like Anfrey, Simons has done it in like a higher
leverage role because of the amount of time he was playing without Dame or even
CJ last year. But to go the other way, like Pool is,
Pool has performed really well against the best teams in the biggest games, and
Simons did it down the stretch for a team that was tanking. I don't
disagree with you, Like, no, you're right, You're right, we've
seen Simons do it. But I think we've seen Pool do it too.
I don't know. I don't know, like if I'm comfortable with Pool as
like Curry's successor right, like this is the guy who gets the keys in
five years or whatever it is. God, I hope it's five years,
five more for stuff. I hope it's I hope it's like twelve why as
long as you're rulling to give me. But I think in his role right
now, Pool is like just an absolute luxury. He has overqualified for,
like by a ridiculous degree for what like his actual responsibilities are on the team
right now. Yeah, and so my over work bars. I don't think
I could get mad. I guess the players extension I'd most likely be turned
off by, which is weird, might be Wiggins is if it, Depending
on what it is, I do think it would be awkward though, Like,
wasn't there that video of Jordan Pool and Andrew Wiggins congratulating each other on
getting the bag this off season and they just extend neither of them. That'd
be like, I forgive everything said within the within an hour of winning a
championship. You're not you're not in your right mind. That'll never hold up
in court, like they cannot be held to those statements. Uh yeah,
beings across the boarder and I think they only really have that. I can't
imagine them going down like it would have to be. They'd have to max
out Pool and declare him Curry's successor for me to be like whoa were like,
we need to like we need to just give give Draymond like the full
max. There's something totally in you know, crazy like that. Yeah,
so bas across the board for them, we are on too, and I
need to put it up on the screen. But we're onto the La Clippers,
which I have a feeling where we're both gonna go with this. They
signed a Beach Zubos to a three year to thirty two point eight million dollars
extension. He declined where they declined. I think he had a non garant
whatever. There was a the season that he had left in twenty two and
twenty three that option was declined as part of the extension. They signed Nicholas
but Tune to a two year, twenty two point six million dollars deal that
was not incidentally declared that they were going to investigate salary cap circumvention like the
Sixers and James Harden. They signed him her Coffee to a three year,
eleven million dollars deal fully guaranteed. They signed John Walld to a two year
at thirteen point three million dollars deal that was the mL and includes a team
option on the second year. They drafted Musa Diabata at number forty three and
signed him to a two way contract. They signed Xavier Moon and Moses Brown
to Exhibit ten deals. Notable exits. They waived Jay Scrub Isaiah Hartenstein signed
with the Knicks. I will note that the Knicks gave Hartenstein more than the
Clippers could physically offer. They were limited to their mini MLI, and Rodney
Hood remains unsigned. Rodney Hood just floating out. They remaining unsigned is like
kind of sort of interesting. Maybe perhaps not after what we've seen in past
few years. Anyway, Grant, what great do you give the Clippers and
why is it just a flat A well? I wanted to make it an
a minus because of well, I don't know if I had to choose between
Zubots and Hardenstein, I don't know what I do. I hate that they
lost Hardenstein. We've lauded the Knicks for getting Hardenstein, it's still just a
flat A because, like you said, it was a financial thing, and
like getting like Zubots's contract is still like a total bargain to me. And
I don't know how badly you need to conventional centers. So that's all.
That's all fine. I can't do. I just can't go less than an
A because like getting the team option on Wall, there's like I'm not saying
it's likely, but there's a chance that so that Wall plays like a guy
that you know, is he's getting thirty, he's got thirteen point three million
total over the two years. There's a chance he plays like a guy who
should be getting paid twice that this year. Like he right, you don't
know that he might really be that good. It's not like the time he
played in Houston not to pass. He's honest, he'd be like after you
were first rate, Like he wasn't terrible, he was good enough. He
was and with nothing around him, and now it's just like, look at
the transformation of the of the roster that he's playing with. So and the
best thing is like if it goes belly up, if he can't play at
all, it's like, oh, well, we were off the hook for
this next year. We spent six and a half million dollars or whatever.
It was like not a big deal and frankly like they don't need him,
like they're gonna be very good without him. So yeah, you're you're guy,
I'm your coffee. Totally reasonable deal, three for eleven, but toom
may feel a little bit rich, but I think he really matters on this
team still. I just yeah, it's a a I don't know. I
don't know unless you're unless like you had to have Hartenstein and you would have
cost you all this other stuff to keep him, but you know you couldn't
like he signed for more than that. He would have had to take Lass
to stay right, So unless you're gonna tell me he was gonna take Lass
and you wanted him over John, you know, Uh, this is my
only A plus of season because look, they hit everything like you got Nick
Betune back. They just have all the a mere Coffee was really good last
year. I couldn't believe they only got him for eleven million over three.
I was actively angry at basically every other single team in the NBA for allowing
that to happen. The Zoobots extension for starting five, that's like, that's
a number that it's not even Oh, it's okay that you're paying him that
even though he might not close some games. You bumped that up like five
to eight million a year and you would still be okay with that. He
is a better rim protector than he gets credit for, has real value for
what he does on the offensive end. For them, I think you could
dig them if you wanted to, to be like, well, the backup
big situation is kind of weird as Zoobots and Moses Brown and then oh is
Roco or Morris there primary like backup five? Okay? Good, Yeah,
that sounds great because you know what Reggie Jackson and John Wall, they're like
there are flaws with either player where if John Wall's not John Wall, then
you don't have a primary like playmaker on this team, like you have Kawhi
Leonard and Paul George, but you don't have like the floor general type pass
first guy. But then you get to go point guardless because of all like
your smaller ball options and the other thing that's probably just not receiving enough attention
to me and you met. By the way, the team option for John
wall is a home run for the Clippers. They have not been looped in
to the Kevin Durant trade talks at all. There's been no oh, they've
like with the Celtics and Jalen Brown, whether they let it out, whether
the Nets let it out, whether that's completely false, and let's face it,
it's not. There has to be a moticom of truth to it.
There's been nothing. Paul George is on the table for Kevin Durant. They
didn't even get the what we just saw from Shaan's Recently, both the Nuggets
and the Pelicans inquired about Kevin Durant. Like they've just steered clear of all
of that. And you can argue, well, there's still a combustibility with
the injuries to Powell and Kawai and Paul George like okay, like what like
what do you want them to do about that? They can't physically pay for
a magic wand that just rids Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Of all these
injuries, they had nothing to work with this offseason aside from talent retention in
the Mini mL E, and they turned that talent retention into a steal of
a deal from your coffee. I would say, like market value for Nick
Batoum, the way he's played over the past two seasons, maybe there's some
risk there at that number, but the cap is going up. And then
just like John Wall with a team option for the for the Mini mL E,
this was an A plus plus plus plus. I don't know how they
could have had a better off season again unless you told me Hartenstide said hey,
I'll come back for less than the mL E. But then at that
point I'm like, oh, well, then who are you signing to Maybe
be like the ceiling on John Wall is higher than the ceiling on Hartenstein.
Still no doubt, so that like, I can't even really fault that.
So it's an A plus and it's the only one I gave out this summer.
Yeah, I don't give a pluses, but this would have been right
in. I mean, I don't know who I whose off season is just
a cleaner like string of wins than this one. Mister. I don't give
out a pluses. You're one of those, all right, all right,
I like to save one and I try. I try to give one F.
I don't think I gave out an F this offseason though. M Well,
the Lakers next. Speaking of which the Lakers are up notable moves.
Russell Westbrook picked up his forty seven point one million dollar player option, Stanley
Johnson picked up his player option. Kendrick Nunn picked up his player option.
One Yan Gabriel's contract was guaranteed. I believe Lebron James signed a two year
ninety seven point one million dollars extension player option on year two, which is
two twenty four, twenty twenty five of note that money goes up if the
cap goes up. Signed Lottie Walker, the fourth to a one year deal
at the Mini mL Signed Troy Brown Junior to a vent minimum deal. Signed
Damian Jones to a two year, four point nine million dollar deal with a
player option on year two. Signed one to Scotty Anderson, a favorite of
Hardwood Knox, to a one year VET minimum. Signed Thomas Bryant to a
one year VET minimum. Drafted max Christie at number thirty five and signed him
to a two year, two point seven million dollar deal, signed Cole Swider
to a two way contracts signed Scottie Piven Junior to a two way contract,
and gave exhibit tens to Javonte McCoy, Jay Huff and Fabian White Junior.
Their notable exits include Malik Munt signing with the Kings. Kent Baysmore also signed
with the Kings, Dwight Howard Mellow, DJ Augustine, Trevor Reza why Ellington,
and Avery Bradley remained unsigned. I'm just laughed laughing at how many guys
were actually playing for the Lakers last year who just remained on side. Right
now, maybe that's not actually funny, but Grant, what move did you
give the Lakers? And I would like you to maybe answer this question first
before you give the grade. Did you price in at all that Russell Westbrook
at this moment is still on the team. I mean, yeah, that's
a factor. Like so, I think I think I had this as a
C minus in July and I've since gone down to a D plus, not
for any particular reason, but just looking at what the team projects to be
I'm just less less, increasingly lesson, decreasingly enthused, I guess would be
the right way to say that. Yeah, Westbrook still being there is not
a great look. I just but but again, like how much I mean
this is this is ultimately we should be penalizing them for having him on the
roster in the first place. We've that's been belabored forever. It's just he's
hard to trade, and he should be hard to trade. So it's a
factor and it's not helpful, but it's not like the end all be all.
The main thing is, like I don't think this team is better.
I think I think probably looking at it now, it's worse. Uh be
just even if you're just going the downgrade from Monk to Lonnie Walker, and
like you could defend the Lonnie Walker move, like he's just he's young enough
that you know he's had flashes of he's shot it great from three in one
season, and he was good after the trade deadline last year too, So
yeah, something is there. And I guess if you're gonna take flyers on
guys because that's sort of all you can afford to do, decent decent options,
So I mean it's still a D plus, Like it didn't fail him,
but like there's just no shooting on this team. Uh, there's there's
just not an nearly enough supporting talent. And like the really bad thing is
when you listed those guys that are unsigned, some of them started to like,
man, I think, well, geez a reason in Ellington, Like,
I think I might want those guys on the roster. And here's the
thing, nobody else does. Like they're unsigned. So the fact that looking
at the like discarded Lakers from last year makes me think, like those guys
could actually help. That tells me that the roster going in is not great.
Now. We love Toisconoy Anderson total agree there, but like he's not
a shooter, certainly not at volume. He's he's gonna be helpful in some
aspects. He's a great passer, he can play a lot of positions.
He had I think the highest one of the highest defensive versatility numbers on be
Ball Index from last year. He can guard everybody, but he's like I
mean you saw last year on a really good team, he's not going to
play. So that's just tells you where the Lakers are. So it's a
D plus. It could be lower if you really wanted to just kill him
for you know, not addressing the shooting. But you know, it's it's
not a good grade. It's it's spoiler. It's the worst of the division
for me by a considerable margin. I gave them a D plus and tried
not to bake in Russell Westbrook as much. Otherwise I would have given them
an F because the reality is is just like we can say, give up
the two picks for Kyrie Irving, we don't actually know if the Nets would
do that. That's just the assumption they wouldn't because if that were on the
table, don't you think that's done? Don't like it has to be done.
If the Nets said, hey, give us Russ and two picks,
you mean yeah, yeah, for sure. And I'll ask you about the
rust stuff in a second and see whether that could technically elevate their grade.
It does, I think, let's get that in a minute. I was
happy about the Lonnie Walker signing until I saw, like, oh, they
didn't even get a player option like a team a team option. Excuse me
on that or not guarantee that was that was bad? And I know they're
trying to conserve their powder. But then did you really have to give him
the full Emily? What was his market? He was a restricted free agent?
But like if a mere Coffee was three year, eleven million O,
like a mere coffee has shown more to me, like to trust, to
be part of a team, like to be part of a larger ecosystem than
Lonnie Walker the Fourth. So I did not love that. And like you
said, they failed to address the shooting. They could not And I'm not
digging them for losing Malikue Monk. They couldn't keep Malikue Monk. That's also
why when you're picking up distressed players as a team, I get why the
players roll the dice as a team get a team option, like and I
do think Lonnie Walker the fourth probably a situation where you could have had a
team option, uh, like and why Damian Lee player player option? Like
are we is this a is this a for real thing right now? Or
Damian Jones? I'm sorry. He showed a lot with the Kings last year,
some like from what I saw, like the and I didn't see a
ton of him, but like had some really nice offensive moments with them.
Why does he have a player option? Why? Why is he better than
some random minimum guy you could you could go get. I love the JTA
signing, and I think that's why I said it at the top of this
segment. I think that he should be part of their closing lineup, which
is also kind of harrowing when you really think about it. I thought the
Max Christy pick and then the subsequent contract was a good one for them,
But to just not have more shooting around Lebron where it's oh, who is
and don't include please don't include Lebron James and this I guess it's Kendrick Nunn.
But who's the best shooter on this team? I mean it would be
if I can't include Lebron and it's it's Nune. I think I just I
mean, well, in terms of guys that can actually get up enough shots
for it to like actually matter, because there's a there's a scenario where JTA
takes like point seven three is a game and shoots thirty eight percent or something
like that. Yeah, so that just doesn't matter. And just like the
I saw like people on linkers who are talking about Troy Brown Junior is like
a three in D like almost wingish type player. I'm gonna let you know
right now, that is not what he has even hinted at being in the
NBA. He's actually been better defensively than I could have expected. The three
ball has not been something that I've just been like trusting he could maybe do
stuff off the dribble, but hey, so can Russ and Lebron and Kendrick
Nunn and Lonnie Walker the fourth. Now I like that Thomas Bryant signing,
like, is he the best shooter on this team? I mean he has
been he or like the last year he has the potential to be one of
the more meaningful shooters. Yeah, so I might even bump this up to
a C minus because there were some like stabs in the dark they took,
but there was nothing done that inspired confidence in me yet. And you know
what, I'm gonna give him, because they got the Lebron extension, I
need to bump this up to a C or see I'm gonna go see minus
just because the Lebron extension extension I think provides a level of clarity that matters.
So, now, are you a little bit if they're more comfortable trading
their picks because Lebron's here for guaranteed two years instead of one? Sure,
why not? And so like what else? Really, who are they going
to sign for the Yeah, Bruce Brown Junior would have made way more sense.
Here was he willing to go to the Lakers who apparently didn't want to
give out like player options to good players like or something like, So I
I'll go see minus but and I'll throw this to you here, the Russell
Westbrook, if they move him, has the potential to shoot that grade way
up. We would be in agreement. And would you do so the deal
the Kyrie one is if it's if it's ross the two first for Kyrie or
you doing it? I'd like to throw other scenarios at you to see if
you would do it. So I think, I it's so hard because like
I just I'm so out on Kyrie Irving as a player I want on my
team. But this is a different This is like the circumstance where I could
it would check out logically to me. So, yeah, if if they
go rush in the twenty seven, it's twenty seven and twenty nine, right,
those are the first and they get Kyrie and I and like, I
don't know what that goes to. I'm probably going to like the B range
just just because who who can like this? If all you have is your
twenty seven and you're twenty nine, you're kind of already compromised in terms of
like your pick equity, so like and your way down the road. You
just extended Lebron like I think getting Irving in there, so then Kyrie Irving's
your best shooter, right, Like there's there's part of it that's okay.
Yeah, yeah, that's fine, that's addressed. So if they did that,
great, But like some of the other packages, I don't know,
it's hard to say if how. I'd feel it to be a case by
case thing. But just like the Rust thing's not gonna work, it's so
if they don't do it. If they do, there are things we said
immediately after the Russell Westberg trade happened immediately and like really loudly, it was
not it was very comfortable out on that limb, Like I did not have
any doubt that I that that was gonna flip on me. And Lakers fans
have started to push back at least towards this podcast by saying, well,
the Lakers were the championship favored after that trade. That has no bearing on
reality, that's just based off of the action that was geared towards the Lakers
championship odds. It's because of how many people make that exact argument that the
odds were what they were. It's like they're just trying to draw enough bets
on either side of the line. Yeah no, that's that's ridiculous. Yeah.
Well, so if say they do the Kyrie trade or something else,
like how high are you going? Probably plus, maybe in a minus because
the Lebron extension, Like right now, what I thought was interesting. Nate
Duncan pointed this out. Lebron signed it like basically the day after it ensured
he could not be traded next season, like because of the six month rule,
and so like you could argue, well, now you have no flexibility
because you can't trade Lebron where you don't have Kyrie. But all of a
sudden, that's not that's not unpalatable and you were never trading Lebron to begin
with, Like what is that? Like? Get even getting into that discussion
is just harrowing. So I'd probably give b plus a minus range because like
I'm still not in the spot, like I guess I could go a minus
because I like Damien Jones, where if you're gonna tell me that you don't
want to prioritize cap space next year because you have Kyrie Irving, I don't
care that Damien Jones has that player option, so I might go as high
as a minus. You alluded to these other deals. Let me throw a
couple at you to see what you would do. Are you doing the two
first and Russ for Buddy Healed and Miles Turner? Yeah? I am.
I think I am, because you're getting too You're getting to like legitimate starting.
I mean Healed. We can argue about, but two legitimate starters and
the and the shooting. Jesus Christ, the shooting would just change the team.
And I think people have argued that Miles Turner wouldn't be part of the
Lakers closing lineup, So why are you gonna have two first round picks?
One? He has a better chance of being part of good closing lineups than
Russy, And just like Anthony Davis, there's eighty two other games where he
doesn't want a place center and so like Miles Turner certainly matters the jazz scenarios
that are being mannied about what combination if it's let's say it's boy On mcdonovich,
Malik Beasley, and Patrick Beverley for Russ. Are you giving up two
first round picks for that? Those are all expiring contracts. Malie Beasley as
a team option. But that's harder. I mean, it's, well,
it's Beasley, Russ or Beasley, Bogdanovich and Beverly. I don't know if
that's quite it. I'm trying to get away with Russ and one of the
picks. I think. I think Bogdanovitch might be worth a first round pick
on his own, like a lower level one. I get this is into
the future, but like Malik Beasley helps them out more. I think the
one first round pick stuff only starts to fly if Conley's deal has become such
a net negative that teams have decided, Oh, that fifteen million dollars Marshall
guarantee in twenty three twenty four is a problem. And my whole thing is
that if I was the Lakers, I might still give up tw first round
picks that because my commy was good last year. People just have a sour
taste in his mouth because of the postseason. So if it was Conley,
Beasley and Modanovitch. I might still give up the two first. I think
it's less inspiring than some of the other packages for what you're trying to project
a headlong term, but you already hit on it. Fuck long term,
you have Lebron and right now, so I would do it. I don't.
I'm trying to think of scenario where you could give up one first round
pick and get better, and I think the scenario would be and it'd be
a negligible needle. But it's like Fourner and Randall for Russ, Like,
is that a deal you're doing no picks involved, or even doing that if
you're the Lakers. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I really
want Russ off this team so bad if I'm the Laker. So I mean,
what about is the Gordon Hayward stuff, Like there's just just to have
salary ballast? They're like, I don't know what you have to give up
with us to Yeah, Like what is Charlotte doing in that scenario? I
don't want to Charlotte doing. I don't want to. I don't want to
talk about the Miles Bridges thing in basketball terms. But like you're only then
doing that if you're trying to rebuild, right because you want to get off
long term money. They have not acted like a team that's trying to do
that, and so I don't know what they And my point on Bridges was
like, you kind of need Gordon Hayward now because obviously so well you need
them to do to do what to try to finish seven. But that's your
first of all, that's way too high obviously, like you need them to
do what you've always been trying to do, what you finish between eight and
eleven. Yeah, right, that's it. Those are the only teams that
I can like reasonably think, I guess, so the one I thought about
that's just not being discussed. Would you do one first round pick Russ into
San Antonio's cap space for Josh Richardson Russ a first for Josh Richardson. And
if you're the Spurs, like maybe the Lakers are throwing, you would swap
in twenty eight like this, But I wouldn't give up two first round picks
because you're getting one player. But if you're the Lakers, who run themselves
like a mom and pop shop, you're saving a boltload of money for this
season by going from Russ to Jay rich I think that's a hard sell to
like Lebron Anthony Davis, like the I think if Russ is going, they
gotta get some like Richardson's would start, right, But yeah, I don't.
I don't know that's well. The Spurs should be talked about just generally
more for any of these deals, like because they're just they can be the
dumping ground. What about Doug McDermott Josh Richardson for Russ and the first.
I think I'd do that, just give me some shooting, you know.
The shooting is a big I think the Lakers could argue they'd prefer to not
get McDermott so that they have the money off their books next year. But
I would do the one first. And if I'm the Spurs, it's like
I'm waving Russ immediately, but I don't have to get involved in the trade
deadline with anyone. I got rid of my cap space and we're all in
on Victor Woman Yama and Scoot Henderson. I kind of like that for both
sides. But there's going to be there will be people on Lakers in Lakers
circles that will be mad if they get up a first round pick for Josh
Richardson. I get it Lebron might be one of them, to be honest,
but well, yeah, that's true too. That's not good. The
Lakers are in trouble. I went to a C minus though you gave them
a D plus. The next team up is they're really kind of an interesting
team, even though technically they didn't do anything. Splash. Let's get them
up on the screen. The Phoenix Suns. Their notable moves include they resigned
DeAndre into a four year, one hundred thirty three million dollars deal by way
of matching Indie's offer sheet. No trade bonuses, no player option at the
end of this deal. Just a good piece of business for Phoenix, I
guess. Signed em And Booker to a four year, two hundred and twenty
four point two million dollars extension, ten percent trade kicker, no player options,
and believe it or not, this deal we'll take Demn Booker through his
age thirty season. That dude is so young. Signed Monty Williams to a
multi year contract extension not a contraction, which it says on the screen.
Signed Damian Lee to a one year minimum. Signed Josh Akogi to a one
year vet Minimum, signed ish Wayne Right to a two way deal, signed
Dwayne Washington Junior to do a two way deal. It's fun because the Pacers
waved Dwayne Washington Junior so that they could make room for the deontrate and offer
sheet, and then he ends up signing in Phoenix after Deandreton does, and
they acquired Jock Landell from the Hawks for cash. Notable exits Javal McGee signed
with the MAVs, Frank Kimitsky signed with the Hawks, Aaron Holliday signed with
the Hawks, and Elfred Peyton this is the biggest one. He remains unsigned
very quickly. I feel like we've had a lot of instances where when I've
looked at the notable exits exits, it's been this team lost two players who
signed with the same team. Like interesting, so just at least in this
podcast, like so the Lakers with the Kings, so that that type of
stuff. But anyway, what grade did you give the Phoenix Suns? This
is actually the one I've been dying to know about the next two teams.
Actually, I find you have had the most fascinating offseason, so I'm dying
to know what you gave the Suns. So this was a C in July
because they and stuff hadn't happened yet, and I moved it up all the
way to a B plus. And I don't think I don't know if the
Booker thing. I don't think the Booker extension was factored in. Start with
the Booker, Like the Booker extension is he's worth that money, there's the
and the Sun's basically get him for the rest of his early prime and he's
locked in. There's no options, like this is set, Your superstar foundation
is set. I think we I think we agree that Booker is at that
level. So that's great. And then the eight. The way that the
eight and thing played out, it like, look, this is the type
of thing that could just have ripple effects and he could be unhappy all year
and that could you know, throw a legit contender off course. But theoretically
he felt the same way last year. And the only difference now is he
has one hundred and thirty three million dollars, Like so if that's if the
type of gaming system set up, he could buy them just the I mean
think of the ergonomic chairs. I mean, no spare, no expense,
can you get like an Eames gaming chair of those like, you know,
five thousand dollars share. So but so, like teams don't really do this
that often. And this was an interesting circumstance because we're talking about a number
one overall pick that's playing for a contender that is still on his rookie deal.
Essentially when all this was happening, I kind of like how the Suns
did it. They basically said, like, go out and prove that there's
a market at a certain level for you. Maybe they weren't even communicating,
they probably didn't say this to him, but the implication was, go prove
what you're worth and then we'll decide if we want to do that. And
like immediately, immediately they decided, yeah, that's fine, and it's just
asset preservation. Whether they view Aiden as a key piece down the road or
not, it's clear that there is a market for him at this rate.
And that was with a small number of teams able to bid, So you
have to assume that with more teams able to had more teams been able to
pay him the max their four year maxes he would have had, there would
have been way more opportunities. So, like, this is what he's worth.
So you can trade him at this number, I think for value most
likely, like you can get back value. You're not attaching anything to get
off DeAndre Aden's money. So I just like the line. I liked that
they didn't do anything earlier than they had to. I liked that they said,
we'll just pay what we think you're worth and you go decide. You
let the market decide what that is. So it's like the roster didn't meaningfully
change, but just the way that the Sun's sort of conducted things. I
think they went about it the right way. And if the downside is you
pissed off Aden, I think he was already upset and like, that's fine,
you can trade him after the restriction expires very quickly. I forgot to
include that they resigned Bismack Biyombo two, which to a one year of fat
minimum, to not write it that actually matters because you let Javal McGee walk.
I'm with everything you said. So I flirted with giving them an A
minus and went with a B plot. But the Devin Booker extension is no
player option. Yeah, like, how is that that is such a huge
win for them? I think it's also I didn't factor this in but it's
a win that Kevin Durant wanted to come and play with Devin Booker first,
Chris Paul, now Kevin Durant. And I know people have been like,
well, think about everyone who says like they've wanted hooped with all these guys
who can score, and I'm like, saying, you want like Jamal Crawford's
act slock Hooper is different from being like, I want to go play with
Devin Booker. So that's a win for them even if they don't end up
with KD. I just like, why not just offered DeAndre eight and a
submax five year deal at the start of free agency, and I like to
leave it to chance. Just felt weird because if you offered this exact contract,
like you had to know deep down that there would be a team that
was gonna give them them, especially like when the Pacers were skulking around,
and I know at some point you were trying to keep your Kevin Durant trade
options open. I understand that, but it just feels like they could have
taken a lot Like I agree with the way that they played it, but
I feel like they still could have played it better because you have to know
like the way that free agency works, Like this Indiana interest did not come
out of nowhere, and so it's finally went out. But they so this
is a very ramy way of me getting to the point of it feels like
they treated this eight and contract as it's going to probably be a net negative
for them towards the end, even though the salary cap is going up,
even though he's young. I get not wanting to pay a non superstar center
that much money. DeAndre Ayton's a top ten center in the league. He
might he's like flirting around the like top five, he might be top five
already. Like if you're gonna tick off the ones that are absolutely better than
him, you get into Yokis, you get into a bead. Karl Anthony
Towns is still there. Uh. And then after that is like anyone who's
guaranteed, I'm sure I'm missing at least somebody, Like some people might say
Clink Capella, but it's probably DeAndre Ayden. You may be under selling it.
He's sure, but he's young enough, and like I think probably now
there's enough smoke for there to be fire with respect to like his professionalism and
like work habits and stuff. Like he's an adjustment in those areas away from
being even better than than we're saying he is, Like they're the there's still
like major, he's a number one overall pick, like any sort of by
all accounts is not super serious about basketball, Like that's that's bad, but
like that can change too. I just I don't even know if I buy
into that as much. This is just like some of the spin that's come
out. So but he and he was good and just like the way and
I also think there's like this it's deserved because you to go out in a
game seven like the Suns did, which was bad, and but like they
still won like a trillion games, and so they're a really good team.
I think they played this. I don't I think they played this well.
I don't think they played it optimally. Is really what it was with Etan?
Why not offer him a five year submax and if he doesn't take it,
then you kind of save face there. And if he does, now
you have him on like locked up on market value at worst for the life
of this contract with the cat going up. And I didn't ding them for
this because I don't know who they would have signed, but to not like
get like they didn't spend the Mini mL, and I don't really have a
problem with that looking at who they might have realistically had a chance at.
But they do need like someone different from campaign as the ball handler, preferably
someone bigger who puts more pressure on the rim. That being said, we're
you getting that with the Mini mL. So I'm at the point where the
Suns are at the level where it's like, well, you should just spend
it anyway, like if there's anybody out there who's even kind of sort of
worth it. But like they didn't need Bruce Brown, I guess if you
had Tory Craig, who's back. So I like, I didn't know how
to what to make of that. It was mostly the eight and stuff for
me, But I think the I like the extension for Monty Williams as well.
And I actually kind of like the I know he didn't play with the
I know he wasn't playing with the Warrior steadily towards season, but having Damian
Lee, I like that as a flyer on, like just a wing who
can shoot and move off the ball and also hold up defensively. So I
think it was a good offseason Kevin Durant stuff obviously looms over them. But
they could have played it better, but not much better, I guess is
what we're getting at. I'm asking because I don't know the answer. I'm
not sure what my opinion. Do you think that the way they played the
eight in situation was at least partially motivated by well, what if? And
maybe the Pacers were just the wrong team for this, But what if there's
a sign and trade out there that we're going to lose the opportunity to execute?
Uh if if we do the five year SUBMACS deal? Like I wonder
because the Turner thing always made sense that there were a bunch of like base
year compensation issues with trying to concoct eight in trades. But the Turner thing
actually, as I recall, actually worked like he you know, his salary
would have been You could you could have done it. You could have done
a sign and trade for eight with for the principles being eaten to the Pacers
and Turner coming back. I wonder if the reason they didn't just sign it
in sooner is because they were thinking, like, this is a possibility.
But but I don't know, I mean, does that make any difference to
you, do you think that was a factor? So you're saying something.
So you're saying the Suns didn't sign Eighten because they thought he could be involved
in the KD trade or just to turn that instead of him just signing an
offer sheet with Indie, they could have worked out a sign and trade.
So the reporting was that Indie wanted to work out assign and trade because he
signing that. Wouldn't that be better? Don't you think that'd be better for
the Suns? Yeah? Maybe it could. I mean, I do you
think Turner's a defensive upgrade over Eighten? I don't think he's appreciated enough defense
lean. He obviously spaces the floor, but what are you gonna pay?
I guess he'd be cheaper than Eighten. Moving forward to after this deal,
the rebounding gets worse for you and you're not going to be like, if,
now, who's your best rebounder without DeAndre mare is it? I guess
it would it be Miles Turner. And if it's not, that's that's an
issue. And as I think about it, I think I think maybe the
idea would would have been that what we can potentially get if we have to
trade a disgruntled Eton on this new deal is more valuable than Miles Turner in
the last year of his deal, and whatever we have to pay him.
And look, maybe maybe it was as simple as they were gonna offer eight
and something, but then the Kevin Durant scenario like that was they knew that
was deteriorating. They knew he'd be on his list, and they were like,
well, if we can reroute DeAndre and his part of this, Like,
no one's off the table aside for Booker and Chris Paul and everything that
we're talking about. So that's not even an insult to eight. And I
still just think, like I get why they didn't sign him to the extension
last year, And to be fair, it seemed like there was very much
one team that was gonna sign him to the max unless Detroit went after Durhin
in part because they thought that Eton and Indie were married to each other.
So as my workphone goes off in the background, uh, spoiler or it's
not about a Donovan Mitchell trade. But yeah, so I just I think
it was a good quality off season. I don't think they did anything wrong
or missed out on any opportunities. And even if you go through, who's
the best player who actually signed a mini midlevel deal this summer, it's either
Joe Engles or Lonnie Walker the fourth I think, And so it's like,
you know whatever. So yeah, I don't think they missed out on anything,
but the Sun's B pluses from both of us, I think. Or
do you give him an A minus? Not it's a B plus for me.
Let's move on to the final team, which was also fascinating, maybe
morbidly so, the Sacramento Kings. Let me throw them up on the screen
before I go through them. So they signed Mike Brown to a four year
contract to be their new head coach. They drafted Keka Murray at number four.
They trade number thirty seven, Jayon Hardy to Dallas for two second rounders
one two twenty four one. In two twenty eight, they traded Kevin Hurder
to the Hawks. Now, if you're watching this on the screen, I'll
change it live. They traded m No, they traded they acquired Oh my
god, myke typee. I'm fixing him when no one else is going to
see it. They acquired Kevin Hurder from the Hawks. Four Maurice Harkless Justin
Holiday and a twenty twenty four first round pick that is Lotto protected in twenty
twenty four, top twelve protected in two thousand and twenty five, top ten
protected in two thousand and twenty six, then turns into two, then turns
into a two thousand and twenty six second. Trey Lyles picked up his player
option. They signed the League Monk to a two year nineteen point four million
dollars deal. They signed Shima Moneke to a two year two point seven million
dollars deal. They guarantees on January ten, second year non guaranteed. They
signed Matthew Delvedova to a partially guaranteed one year VET minimum contract. They signed
Kemp Baysmore to a VET minimum contract. They signed Sam Merrill to a two
year three point eight million dollars deal that guarantees on July January tenth, excuse
me, second years non guaranteed. They signed Kazyak Pollo to a two year
deal. I could not find info on the exact cost. They signed that
he missed Kata to a two way contract. Notable exits. Damien Jones signed
with the Sons. Dante de Vincenzo signed with the Warriors. And Jeremy Land
and Josh Jackson remain on signed grant. What grade did you give your Sacramento
Kings? Your are Sacramento Kings. Don't saddle me with the Kings. They
would want me, though, because all they want are things and people that
are associated with the Warriors, So I would I would be very much on
their list. This is a C plus and I feel really uncomfortable with it
because the only move I definitely like is the Herder trade, and even that
has a lot of risk, although they basically if it's a really high pick,
the Kings will not surrender it. But the Kings, you could argue,
are a team that just should never be trading first round picks under any
circumstances. So I like the Herder trade. I think he's really gonna help.
I love the how much secondary playmaking this offense has now between him and
Sabonis in support of Fox, because I'm starting to think that Deer and Fox
might just be like, he's kind of a scorer first, I think,
and I think maybe if you can take the ball out of his hands,
not because he's a shooter, but get him on the move, get him
in advantage situations like create a Utah Jazz like offense where he gets it with
the head of steam. He's just more of a scorer, I think potentially,
So I like the theory behind that. I am uninspired by the Mike
Brown hire. I think I just think he has not impressed me as a
head coach. He's been a great assistant, like that's all I feel confident
saying about him, and a super good guy. And I think the Warriors
luster really mattered a lot for the Kings because they care about that. So
the Murray, the Keegan Murray pick looked way better in Summer League than I
thought. I'm still not ready after just a summer league session basically to say
that that was the right pick over Jay and Ivey. I'm always gonna want
to guard over a forward, and I just still have questions about Murray athletically
defensively, if he's more than like really going to be like a spot shooter,
I don't know yet. So it's a C plus basically because a hurd
monk is fine. But this again like zooming all the way out. This
offense could be very good and this team could be very exciting. This team's
defense has been absolutely terrible. Forever and they did nothing to address that.
So unless you're a top five offense in the league, you're not making the
playoffs. You're you're gonna get bounced at best in the first round of the
play in and you're done. So a big picture, they just there's just
like such a one way construction to this team that makes it almost impossible for
them to win more than they lose. I am them a B minus because
I feel like Mike Brown is going to at least care about defense and that's
going to help them in the long run with this personnel, and I like
that. I agree with you the long term vision. It just doesn't feel
aimless. They've decided let's surround some bonus and darn Fox with a shit ton
of shooting, and they are worse models to go. I'm a bigger believer
in Keegan Murray than you. I think the motion shooting is there for him.
I still don't know how I feel about him athletically on defense, and
they need him to be like good on like him and Harrison Barnes and Damian
Mitchell are like the backbone of their defense at this point. I also think
like the Kevin Hurder trade, I like, but I also don't like it
because never mind that you gave up a first round pick, it's protected so
long that you've now handcuffed your ability to go out and make other trades because
you haven't. And that's part of my issue with what they did this offseason.
You did not take a material step forward in either direction. I don't
think you got progressively worse. I don't think you got more than incrementally better.
And you're still like, who are the teams in this conference that are
definitely worse than the Kings this year? And I will I'll say the Thunder,
the Rockets, the Spurs, and I'll say the Jazz just because they
don't want to be better than Kings. That's it. And so you now
have to be that one other team aside from those four to make the play
in And I don't know if the path is as clear there. And this
is coming from someone who's like, I'm incredibly high on Darren Fox. Still
i'd like to see him put it together for more than just like three quarters
of a season. The other thing, I think we need to be not
just more cognizant of the Kings traded Tyres Haliburton in part because like they were
trying to maximize darn Fox, but they just weren't high on that perry.
Moving forward, we then wanted them to draft Jade and Ivy, who was
more of an because Haliburton, to me, was not an iffy fit alongside
Daron Fox. No, that was the wrong decision. Can we agree like
that? Trading Haliburton I think was objectively a mistake, especially for Sabonus.
I do think it was a mistake, but to me it doesn't and the
fit with Sibonus and Fox is better than I expected offensively, and that of
course doesn't come into play here. I'm almost saying like I couldn't even if
I thought Jay and Ivy is gonna be the better player, I'm honestly not
sure we would have like killed the Kings because they just got rid of Haliburton,
who was a cleaner fit next to Fox than Jay and Ivy ever would
have been. So I would have I would have killed them. I wouldn't
have killed them for because I think picking Ivy would have been the right decision.
I think they've just made the wrong decision twice in a row. Basically,
That's how I would look at and like, look, maybe Ivy IVY
could be a zero, like we don't know, like they're just it's too
early, like, but I just thought that like moving Halliburton was wrong,
and then not drafting Ivy was wrong. And I think I felt really confident
about the first one, and I guess we'll see on the second. Yeah,
so I even feel like a B minus. Maybe it's like too generous,
but I think that they didn't do anything nuclear, which is good to
get better. And if you had told me, my original qualm would have
been, well, if they did something nuclear to get worse and just start
this thing entirely over that, yes, I could give them a higher grade,
but at this point, like if you were ever going to do that,
Haliburton should have still been on your team, and there is to me,
there still feels like a lack of innovation here because I do feel like
they're show concerned with ending the playoff drought in any sort of context that they
would be satisfied with being ninth. And she's like, that doesn't do it
for me. When you traded something like Haliburton and there were I don't know
what other offseason moves they could have made, but I don't think I feel
confident in any of their moves panning out in their favor. Like Malik Monk,
I think is just very plug and play here and can fit. Does
he maximize this roster in the context of the playoff discussion. No, Again,
the Kevin Hurder thing very good. Can do some secondary stuff off the
dribble, good shooter that that's going to be valuable around Fox and Sabonus,
especially if you still get planning and getting out in transition. There's also just
like, why is Rashaun Holmes still on this team? Is this trade value
cratered? I know he was dealing with off court custody battle with his son,
and I hope his son is okay. I just like, and he's
a good player. Looking at the on the court stuff, he's really good.
And so you look at us, Oh, when Rashawn Holmes, you're
back up five, that's great. Why like Rashawn holmesbody's a starting center in
the league. So there does still feel like not an aimlessness, but failure
to put together something here. But I just like nothing was detrimental and relative
and there were stuff to like actually like or be like, I'm okay with
the Brown signing. I like the vision with Murray. I like that monk
just like can really give you that blast of shooting and just like even some
some downhill shooting, like not get to the rim, but the stop and
pops there. But I'm not high on them to make the playoffs next season,
which is why maybe I was too generous, but I ended up going
to be minus. No. I mean we're in the same range. We
both gave them an above average grade, right like they did better than average.
I just yeah, I mean a lack of a lack of a direction,
a lack of commitmental lack of a plan is like nothing new. That's
like the defining feature I feel. I mean, the plan is to like
try to try to finish. It used to be let's try to finish eight,
and now it's like let's probably still is like it's it's made the play
and I don't even think they can't be. Let's let's just very quickly because
we have to get out of here. The teams that are better in the
West than the Kings, without a shadow of a doubt, the Clippers,
the nugget to do the worst ones do the worst. I'm just saying,
But like I would say there's definitely six. There's the Clippers, the Nuggets,
the Warriors, the Sons. Uh. I would probably throw the Timberwolves
are definitely better than the Kings there at this point, my spiciest take might
be that the Kings have a better chance of being better than the Mavericks than
the Pelicans. So just to just to go through like so, I think,
depending on what happens with the Lakers, no question the Thunder, Rockets,
and Spurs will be worse than the Kings, and I would want to
do that. There is a question about the Thunder because I think that they're
the next title team, but please, you know what, that's actually not
crazy. I would say that it is like it is catastrophic if the Kings
finished behind any of those teams, just total disaster, unless Utah just decides
to trade for Kevin Durant with all the picks they got from the Golbart trade
and run it with Mitchell and they're really competing with the Lakers. What for
tenth in the conference? Is that what we're saying? Yeah, so,
and I will say this, King's fans who are spectacle clear by the way,
like Kings fans are very self aware, and they remain so passionate about
a team that the organization itself, the people in charge have seldom deserved it.
So I love them. They should want these grades to be worse,
I think, because I kind of feel like we're sort of like allowing them
too much of a curve here or too much runway, and I hope we're
not. But B minus C plus both above average grades. We've wrapped up
the offseason grades. This was spectacular. Follow Grant on Twitter at gt Underscore
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