What is up, fellow thermonuclear A Effers, Grant and Dan are coming back
at you with another batch of offseason report card grades. We are on the
Northwest Division, which I'm going through the the outlines that Grant and I set
up, or if it's wrong, I set it up myself. If it's
right, both Grant and I set it up. It took me forever.
This division was fucking annoying, but I am wearing my pokumon shirt for the
occasion. If anyone who's watching on YouTube, shout out to the homies at
the Uncontested Podcast for sending me this. This division is going to be a
hum dinger. But before we get started, Grant, how are you doing?
I'm doing grade. I'm very excited to hand out some high grades because
we have had some rough ones and this is gonna be a lot of positivity
at least flowing from my end of the great sheet. So I'm excited.
Just a pluses across the board. I don't really give out a pluses.
I've done it before, but it's very rare. A plus to you for
putting these transactions together. By the way, as you alluded to there,
Yeah, I wish people could see the sheer length of this Google doc with
the Northwest transactions. Dude, the Northwest was over a thousand word recap,
Like fuck these teams for making and like we don't even know what's happening with
don Van Mitchell yet, but very quickly to recap the criteria. Homers need
not listen to this podcast. There will be some I guess not for this
division. Homers feel free to listen to this podcast specifically, like this is
your podcast. But we're grading teams relative to the tools that we're at their
disposal. We're not going to say nice things all the time. We're also
not trying to unjustifiably destroy teams. If there's a move that we dislike,
we are going to name what we thought they should have done instead, and
players that we thought they could have targeted. Again, that's really just irrelevant
to this podcast, and and just a reminder again really matter for this podcast.
But C is good, like C is, they had an average offseason,
maybe if it's a C plus slightly above average, So don't take those
personally. I know that no one will probably even pay any mind to this
recap of that or description of how the grades work. But if It makes
me feel a little bit better knowing it's out there. We are going to
begin with the Denver Nuggets, and I'm just looking at this list of transactions
as harrowings, but we're off notable moves. They signed to Coal Yokas to
a five year, two hundred and seventy million dollars designated veteran extension. He
has a twenty seven twenty eight player option. It's worth sixty one point four
million. At the age of thirty two, Jeff Green picked up his player
option for four point five million. The Nuggets traded Jamichael Green and at twenty
twenty seven first which is top five protected through twenty twenty nine, then turns
into a twenty and twenty nine second for the number thirtieth pick in this year's
draft, which was Peyton Watson, and a two twenty three second rounder,
which is the most favorable of Washington, Miami, Dallas, and OKAC,
and then a twenty twenty four second under more favorable of Charlotte, Minnesota,
which they then traded to Portland. They also created a traded player exception as
part of that deal. They used more than half of it already. They
have a little over three point six million dollars remaining. They drafted Christian Brown
at number twenty one. I actually think that he is a chance to play
for this team. They acquired Contavious called Loo, Pope and Is Schmith for
Will Barton and Monte Morris. They created a nine point two million dollars traded
player exception in the process. For Morris, they signed KCP to a two
year, thirty million dollars exception extension. Excuse me, the final year of
that extension, twenty four twenty five, is a player option. They signed
Colin Gillespie to a two way contract. They acquired center Ishmael Comagte at an
at number forty six from Portland for twenty twenty four second rounder. That was
the more favorable of the Charlotte Minnesota pick that they acquired from Okay seeing the
Jamichael Green trade. They signed Bruce Brown for the MINIMLI two years thirteen point
three million. That final season is a player option. They signed DeAndre Jordan
to a one year VET minimum deal. They resigned black Chanchar to a three
year, six a two million dollar deal. The final season is a team
option. They signed Avonrid to a two year, four million dollar four million
dollar deal. The final season is non guaranteed. They promoted Calvin Booth after
Tim Connolly left for Minnesota. They signed a Donna's Arms and Kelln Grady to
an Exhibit ten deal, and they also signed Jack White to a two A
contract. Their notable exits include Austin Rivers and Brent Forbes, who both went
to the Wolves, and then DeMarcus Cousins and Marcus Howard remain unsigned. Holy
fucking shit, Grant, what Greg did you give the Nuggets? Should I
talk for like five seconds and make you start talking and after Yeah, I'm
like, my watch is tracking my heartbeat. I'm like in cardio mode at
this point. This is an A. I'll start with the arguments I think
I'd be willing to hear for knocking it down to an A minus. Losing
Connolly to Minnesota. You know, I think it was initially reported he got
ownership steak or something, and then maybe it's like, well, I don't
know it. Just if you've been critical of the Nuggets for being too cheap,
for being a really good organization that's owned by a very rich owner,
that losing Connolly to another team potentially over money, you know that might rub
you the wrong way. And then the DeAndre Jordan's signing. It's a one
year veteran minimum deal. I think it's a dumb signing, but it's like
it's not fatal, Like it can't kill a veteran minimum signing. Like whatever
they'll find, go find. Let's talk about Hassan Whiteside again, Like,
go find somebody else out there if you need a backup center for the like
four minutes of playoff games that Yogic doesn't play. So it's an ay,
the Yoga extension great, locked in awesome. I think Ksep fits perfectly.
I just I've seen him play in finals games on a title winner, and
like that's kind of a reductive way to think about it, but he fits
exactly. I think what this team needs at the two. I love Bruce
Brown and the defense both him and KCP. The defense that they're going to
get out of those two are big upgrades I think with Aaron Gordon being back,
So just the idea of this team now if you have Murray back,
and you have MPG back, and you're you know, you've got like you've
got options, and this roster just feels like every every edition they made made
sense. So I mean, I'm not going to go through all the smaller
things like the Jamachael Green trade fine, just to move that money off.
I think a lot of people, like Christian Brown, I can't profess to
know enough about that to have a real strong take on it. Plus,
this team is so good. I don't think he's going to be a factor
at least this year. I just think they got the big moves right.
You know, extending KCP was also like, I think that's a solid move.
So big moves, small moves, like theory of the team, addressing
needs just kind of just ticked all the boxes as you go down them.
So I think this is one of the best I mean, it's an A.
It's one of the best offseasons in the league to me. So we
diverge from this pretty substantially. I gave them a B. And this is
kind of someone who might pick the Nuggets to win the title, like if
I was forced to choose right now, I think they had a good offseason,
But I think it's an excusable to let him Connelly walk over money.
I know that there's some sort of like equity type incentive that they gave him
but the fact that he was even in a position to leave in the first
place speaks to where they've skimped on executives. Just in general, it feels
like, dating back to Massa Jerry Calvin Booth team is more than capable.
From what everyone around around the league says, that's great, It's still just
the optics are just I don't know, that's uninspiring. Yes, they now
the Yokis contract, they now some of like the other move. I love
the Bruce Brown signing. It might have been my favorite like free agency fit
one of them of the off season. The Casey P. Tree was great
for them. I think the extension is absolutely fine too. But just like
giving up a twenty twenty seven pick and that's your Michael Green dump, I
know that they got number thirty Peyton Watson better be really fucking good, just
because I'm not in favor of giving up a distant first round pick that's protected
so far out. You've limited if you wanted to go make other mid seasons
like you've kind of now tethered yourself to a certain level of transactions, or
you have to start talking about, like what we do we need to take
a swing by putting bones Highland in there. This team may be already finished,
so I'm not trying to say they need to make another big trade,
but that's just I don't like trading distant first round picks in to get off
like an expiring contract and to get back the number thirty pick and some other
second rounders. It just felt like a that was weird, and to me,
I thought it was just like incautious like it was. It was just
a little bit reckless. And then yes, they nailed most of the big
moves, but why are you signing DeAndre Jordan, Like because it's solely for
the locker room presence, and you also you just gave two guaranteed years to
Lacko Kanchar, and I know that he's tight with Nicole Yokich, but like,
you gotta do one or the other at that point, because I know
you have Yokich. But your front court bench rotation is still just like their
bench might be better than last season by virtue of just them being healthier and
maybe having a little bit more better fitting talent. At the same time,
you just look at their backup big right now and it still is sort of
uninspiring, is it? Jeff Green playing a lot of small ball five.
You have Zeke Naji as well, Are you actually planning on playing DeAndre Jordan
because then that's that's absolutely terrifying. So just like missing on those small moves
in addition to trading a twenty twenty seven pick in a non blockbuster deal that
didn't let you any significant assets, and then on top of letting Tim Connolly
leave, I just don't think it was a perfect offseason. And I get
that some people will probably be higher. I think there might even be some
people who are lower than this, but they've also I believe in Bones Highland,
but like going from Monte Morris and Bones Highland as backup guards to fucking
Ish Smith now is in like, that's a that's a huge downstreade. You
have Bruce Brown in there too, so that's not that didn't factor in.
But I don't think this was by far and away a home run off season.
I think they got the biggest thing right, and that's the Nicola Yoket's
trade and then Bruce Brown signing I loved, and the Casep trade while it
was in effect they were dumping money, it's won that addressed one of their
bigger weaknesses. So I'm better than okay with it. I like it,
but to miss on some smaller moves on the margins or give up that long
term pick. And then again, I think connolly leaving has to be a
part of this grade as well. You've talked me down to an as because
because the flat A implies like they got everything right, and I did already
listed the Connolly thing, which is not nothing, and the Jordan using a
roster spot on Deanry Jordan is also not nothing. So I'm gonna go a
minus. But I still I still like it a little better than you,
I think overall. They also did use the mini mL when a lot of
people were concerned that they wouldn't, So maybe maybe I'll book mine up to
a B plus like later, but they look they had a very above average
offseason regardless. But yeah, so I'm gonna stick with my B. You
want with an A minus. The next team up, the Minnesota Timberwolves,
did some stuff too. They hired Tim Connolly as president of basketball operations.
They signed karl anthy Towns to a four year two hundred and twenty four point
two million dollars million million dollars extension. He has a twenty twenty seven two
twenty eight player option valued at sixty two point one million dollars that will be
his age thirty one campaign. They traded Jake Lavia the number nineteen pick two
the Memphis Grizzlies for Walker Kessler the number twenty two pick and ty Ty Washington
the number twenty nine pick. They then traded thy Ty Washington two thousand,
twenty five and two thousand and twenty seven seconds, both unprotected, for Wendel
Moore junior number twenty six. They traded for Rudy Gobert from the Jazz and
exchanged for Malite Beasley, Patrick Beverley Leandrol Balmarro, Walker Kessler, Jared Vanderbilt,
a twenty twenty three first round pick unprotected, twenty twenty five first round
pick unprotected, and unprotected, twenty twenty six first round swap at twenty twenty
seven first round pick unprotected, and then a twenty twenty nine first round pick
top five protection. Minnesota also created a four point four million dollar traded player
exception for Vando. As part of that deal. They traded Bryce McGowan's the
number forty pick to Charlotte for Josh maynot the number forty five pick, and
the Knicks is two thousand and twenty three second rounder. They signed Kyle Anderson
to a two year, eighteen million dollars deal. They signed twenty and Prince
to a two year fourteen point six million dollars extension. The second year is
non guaranteed. They signed Bryn Forbes and Austin Rivers to one year veteran minimums
deals. They signed Nathan Knight to a two year, two point eight million
dollar deal. It fully guarantees on January tenth. He can also vi to
a trade LOL. That second season is a team option. They picked up
the options on Jail and Noel and naz Reid. They signed cj Ellaby to
an Exhibit ten deal, and they signed A. J. Lawson to a
two way contract. Notable exits include Joshua Kobi, who signed with the Sons
and Jake Layman as I now remains unsigned. Grant, what great did you
give the Minnesota Timberwolves. So this is a bee for me. I think
that we get caught up, and I maybe I shouldn't say we, but
I think in general, you know, we look at as you're reading it,
all those firsts and all is how many times you sat unprotected and like
you know, you're talking about at least one, two, three rotation guys
that went out for Rudy Gobert. Like it's just a lot, and it's
time. You're the team that everyone talks about as like you reset the market
in terms of what a first rounder is worth. Like you've done, you've
you've been, you've operated boldly, Like let's put it that way at least,
and maybe that's the nicest thing you can say about it. But I
just think for this particular franchise where it's at, I'm okay with it.
I think the Gobert contract is there's like four for about one seventy left on
it, and like, yeah, the last couple of years of that might
be ugly. I just think he has. The upside is big. The
potential for Gobert to turn the Wolves into one of the league's best defenses.
It's very real because he's sort of just if he's on the floor, that's
just the situation is that the defense is elite. So yeah, the two
big thing, I don't know, but if you're gonna fit another big next
to Car next to Gobert, like it's great that he's the best high volume
three point shooting big guy of all time. Like, so Kat is gonna
have trouble guarding guys on the perimeter, it's less of any with Gobert behind
him. All that said, like the playoff picture for this team, I
don't know because all the same problems that Utah had might manifest and this just
doesn't work in the postseason. This is the Timberwolves. They just like they
have They jump on the table when they win playing games right like this is
this is a franchise that if you're gonna take a swing, I think I
think it's okay. I think it's okay to have done this, and like
it cuts against how we evaluate almost every other team. And I don't know
if that's it's not logically consistent, it might not be fair, But just
getting Gobert in there, I'm okay. I'm just okay with it. It
costs more than it should have, but I love the swing. I love
the truck, and it also as a as a as a bigger picture thing.
It feels like the Timberwolves are ready to start operating as like a franchise
that's gonna do some stuff. The Connolly Higher is another piece of evidence to
that end. I think the ownership changing. I think the pockets are deep
and they are open. I think there's just it feels like the Timberwolves are
getting serious and and maybe this will blow up and it was a huge mistake,
and like we could talk about Brent Forbes and Austin Rivers and whatever else
or I don't know. I just that's not that big a deal to me.
It's just the Gobert thing. I just I like what it signals.
I like the the called borderline recklessness felt like the right time, and and
like we haven't even I didn't even talk about, you know, getting Kat
on that new extension, which I'm just fine with. I guess this is
all about the Gobert trade. It's so I give that a B. The
downside is massive, but I think the upside for this particular franchise is high
enough that that I just I like, I gave him a B plus.
And I'm with you on the Gobert trade. And the only things I would
add to it are, there's an outcome. Because you mentioned the downside,
you mentioned the upside. The upside is you have three all NBA players on
your roster all of a sudden, because the Anthie Edwards looks like he's on
that trajectory, and so why not go in on a move like this because
the highest and outcome is championship contender, and I think they're going to be
a dominant regular season team. My question which is why I don't think you
give them an A minus or an A plus. The two biggest ones I
have from this trade. What does it look like in the playoffs? We
saw Steven Adams get played off the court against the Wolves specifically, but then
he was also on the court against the Warriors, and hey, we just
watched in the finals the Warriors and the Celtics played with they predominantly started to
you know, Kavan Ludi and draymondri and aren't like Biggs, but Biggs,
so I'm okay with this. And also carl Anthy Towns and Rudy Gobert,
they compliment each other well on offense because if Towns is shooting his ball handling
from the outside in and Rudy Gobert such a devastating screener and roller and finisher
above the rim, and you can stagger their minutes during the regular season yes,
there are questions about crunch time. The downside is there, but it's
like I said when we were talking about the Hawks and Jean Ty Murray,
I want franchises that are not the Lakers, the Knicks, the Bulls,
the Heat, the Warriors. I want them to take these ricks when there
is even if it's a three percent potential outcome of them being like an actual
title contender, take that swing because of what it signals. And that's what
they did with Tim Connolly. The other question I do have, which is
also why I didn't go a little higher, is one I love the Kyle
Anderson signing, like do you have enough shooting on this team? I also
thought you must really trust that you're still gonna be good in twenty five and
twenty seven, that you gave those picks up to get Wendell Moore Junior,
who I actually like, if his three point shot from his final season at
Duke is real and when he shot over forty percent on like I would say,
semi modest volume like that helps you have like a three Indie wing type
in there. But Jane McDaniels, the whole spin has been they gave up
somebody picks, so that they could retain him. I am very high on
Jane McDaniels. If you told me that the Jazz were willing to let you
keep the twenty twenty three pick and then the swap if they took Jade McDaniels,
then yes, I would throw those in there now. If they were
willing to take back the twenty nine pick or the twenty seven pick, that's
where I would have considered it. But my guess is that the Jazz wanted
those picks over Jane McDaniels. And also, so I'm viewing this as if
you include Jane McDaniels, maybe you save your twenty twenty three first, then
that swap, and you know what, I'd rather have Jane McDaniels just flat
out if it was those distant first round picks, then we can have that
conversation the other reason they had to pay. And I'm not you know,
I'm not someone who's gonna bow with the author of Danny Ainge. He made
it very clear, just based off the lack of other offers that were out
there, that they were just going to keep Rudy Gobert. And so if
you needed to get Gobert of Utah this was the price, like if they
actually over this isn't about what was the second best offer, because it was
probably dog shit because teams needed to value Rudy Gobert more than the Timberwolves did,
and they clearly did not. If we're talking about an overpay. Could
they have fought hard to keep Walker Kessler. Could they have fought hard to
keep Jared Vanderbilt? Maybe, But like neither of those players matter. When
you have Kat and karl anthy Towns on those Cat and Rudy Gobert on your
team, so instantly they become a little bit more expendable to the Wolves than
people are viewing them in those terms. The one criticism I could give to
this is that if without knowing whether this is gonna work, you could have
gone for much cheaper than Miles Turner route and effectively done a lot of the
same things where you just have two floor spacers and Turner isn't as good as
a rim runner. But Rudy Gobert is a generational defender who has enjoyed much
better health than Miles Turner and Mike. I said, your highest end outcome
now is you have three all NBA players on your roster for the next Rudy
Gobert another what two to three years of prime Gobert at this even if it's
two and look, there's a chance that he opts out of the final year
of his contract. Day Moore pointed this out on his podcast, and I
think we're not pointing it out enough. It's stuff, you know, but
it's not acknowledged. Forty six point seven million dollars in twenty five twenty six
might be something like the thirty if the fortieth, highest paid player in the
NBA, And so maybe he opts out, in which case this is a
three year deal and if disaster strikes, you can just move on. So
I'm not just eminently Okay, I love it, and I acknowledge that there's
a risk there and what I personally have given up that much me personally,
I am too risk averse to do it. But I appreciate what they did,
and I think they, you know, not, I don't want to
make this all about the Gobert trade. I think they you know. I'm
I don't really love, like I said, the Wendelmore junior trade, but
I like him enough to where giving up the two seconds in there, Okay,
whatever. I like Austin Rivers for this team. I think Grin Forbes
helps. I think Tory and Prince folding him into a wing who can actually
shoot, or just some trade ballast, salary ballast is good for them.
I think that they made some nice, complimentary moves on the margins and they're
most gaping hole. I think it depends on how you feel about Jallennell at
this point is do they have enough like playmaking outside of the starting lineup,
which maybe they don't, but they can stagger mints so creatively here. I
liked what this offseason was for this team, even if they overpaid and maybe
skewed too far like towards non shooters or you know, are not like if
there is a playmaking deficit on the roster. I two two things and made
me. You made me remember my very first thought about this trade when I
was trying to because my initial gut was like, wow, good for the
Wolves, But then you worry about all the picks. The thing about Gobert
having a player option, like if he gets to that point where he's essentially
an expiring deal, or even if you get two years down the road and
he might be picking that up. I still think there's a scenario where you
can move him and maybe you're getting you're still getting positive value, and so
like it doesn't work right, the fits bad or just he doesn't get along
with with Anthony Edwards or something the second star guard that he can't see i'd
eye with. You can move him and get maybe you get a first back,
maybe you get a first and another protective something like that. His value
is maybe high enough just on the market that you're recouping some of the stuff
you gave up. That's one thing I think that's a reasonable possibility if it's
just you know, we get a little ways down the road and it doesn't
work. The other thing is if Edwards is that guy, which I think
we agree and I think consensus seems to be that, like it's not even
fair to call him like a dark horse superstar, you know, as soon
as next year. I just think everyone's sort of agrees that there's a list
of guys that might pop and might just be who we talk about for the
next ten years as like franchise cornerstones. Great chance that he's that guy better
than almost everybody. Then the first rounds, first rounders, you give up
don't really matter that much because you've raised the floor on what those are going
to be. You're you're talking, You're not talking losing. You know,
unprotected picks are terrifying. I just think if he's anything close to the type
of player we think he is plus kat is lockdown, now the Wolves are
not gonna be like a thirty win team. I think, you know,
I think if you're conveying those unprotected picks, you're probably talking about late teens
twenties. If things don't go well, if things go really well and they
just kick ass in every regular season for the foreseeable future, which seems very
likely to me. Now you're like twenty four or twenty five, who cares
like those guys maybe make you know, maybe signed second contracts. I don't
know. So so those are the two things that sort of mitigate the risk.
To me, I'm sticking with a Bee just because that's just so much
to give up. But I wouldn't. You could not talk me into going
lower. You could definitely talk me into going higher. Love it that brings
us to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who I'm repping with my Poku mon shirt
on right now. Notable moves Derek Favors picked up his ten point two million
dollar player option. They drafted Chat home Run. At number two, they
acquired Jamichael Green, who they bought out and he gave back two point three
million dollars and the Denver nuggets twenty seven first round pick, top five protected
through twenty nine before turning into one second round pick. They gave up in
that deal to number thirty pick Peyton Watson and a twenty twenty three second rounder
and a twenty twenty four second rounder, neither of which are their own.
Drafted Jawn Williams at number twelve, they acquired Uzman Jang, the number eleven
pick from the Knicks, in exchange for Denver's twenty twenty three first Latta protected
through two thou twenty five, then two seconds Detroit's twenty three first. That's
top eighteen for the next two years protected. Then it's top thirteen protected in
twenty five and top eleven protected in twenty six, top nine protected in two
twenty seven. Then it turns into a twenty seven second if it is not
conveyed, and they also killed Washington two thousand and twenty three first round pick.
It's lotto protected for the next two years. Top ten in two thousand
and twenty five, Top eight in two thousand and twenty six turns into two
seconds, so effectively they viewed Usmanjang worth the three conditional first round picks.
They drafted another Jaalen Williams at number thirty four. They declined new doors one
point nine million dollars team option, then signed him to a five year,
eighty two point five million dollar deal. Only sixty four point eight million is
guaranteed of that number, and there's a team option on the final season,
which, by the way, he will only be it will only be his
age twenty seven campaign. They signed Kenrick Williams to a four year twenty seven
point two million dollar extension, team option on the final season when he'll be
entering his age thirty one campaign. They signed Mike Muscala to a two year,
seven million dollar deal after declining his team option, and he has a
team option on the final season of this deal. They signed Eugene Omery to
a two way contract, and they signed Sacha Kalia Jones to an Exhibit ten
deal. Notable exits They waived Isaiah Roby and NBA Twitter was incredibly mad about
it when it happened. Grant, Well, great, did you give the
Thunder? This is an A. Uh, it's it's a flat A.
I was about to talk myself down to an A minus because I'm not sure
about the Jane trade, but like you said, three conditional first for a
guy that is a typical lowcacy product like we project. We just like the
upside is through the roof, is a ten percent chance of reaching it?
Like I love the big swing. Fine with that. I think getting Homegren
at two. You know, we've just gushed about Paulo bank Caro on the
last pod that we recorded. I think home Gren is just right there the
way that he might transform that defense, Like if he led the league in
blocks this year, would you I wouldn't be surprised. And then you've got
all this other ancillary offensive stuff that he looks like he's gonna be capable of.
If you didn't like the Jamichael Green move for Denver, you have to
like it for the Thunder, even though he you know, he was just
essentially bought out. But I think that's a fine trade. So Jalen Williams,
I went to Santa Clara and I have a text thread with a lot
of Santa Clara people I went to school with, including him, even you
know, he's not on it. Even that thread did not was not as
there was a lot of hyperbole on that because Santa Clara doesn't have NBA prospects
almost ever. And even on that thread, nobody foresaw this the way that
he rose up the draft boars and the way that he looked in summer League
like Hunt, that's a two way big wing that can make plays with him
without the ball, and it looks looks like he's going to defend, finish
athletically like this just was kudos, okay see forgetting him at twelve because this
was it, I mean, wasn't even wasn't even like a first round thought
really for the vast majority of the season. So and it looks like they
really hit on that. The dort deal awesome, especially when you knock off
all the money that's not part of the guaranteed salary. It's just like a
great deal. Maybe the Kenrick Williams one is even better because we all we
were obligated to love him and that's just a bargain. So I just I'm
looking really hard for moves that knock this down from an A and I just
I'm having a hard time finding him. I'm curious if you were as high
on this as I was. I an A and the only thing that you
really can argue against, and that's why I considered an A minus B plus.
Did they give up too many picks to get Usman Jang? They don't
fucking need all those twenty three first round picks like those move in the roster
spots immediately, and you're at a point where like you have actual players that
you just drafted now that you just can't create all these roster spots. You
have Josh Giddy, and you have chat Homegrin, and you Shay Gillens,
Alexander signed. You're not just gonna give away Kendrick Williams like he's a veteran,
but he's good. So it was people already mad you cut Isaiah Roby,
and hey, that's not going to be the last cut they make.
Their favors is probably next Tail Maldon might be on there because they have so
many they still need to cut down their roster. I liked that they went
all in on Usman Jang, who I actually liked it just seems like a
very smart player. Who's gonna keep the ball moving on offense defend his butt
off, and like if the oh, hey this hired, I didn't mention
this, Chip England. Yeah, I can't believe I didn't even mention that.
So that I'm sure there'll be people who don't listen to this entire segment
going by the way, okay, see signed Chip England, Like if you
trust anyone to not just like I'm not saying rebuild, but help Ushman Jang
with a jumper, or hey, Josh Giddy working with or like just chet
home Grid all of a sudden to have this like much quicker release or something.
It was an a through and through and look, you don't we have
to stop being hypocritical. And if it happens inadvertently, I get it,
But we can't be mad if Okasey is tanking and then get mad when they
take swings like trading three first round picks into Ushman Jang. And look,
there's a chance that I would say, there's a chance at least one of
those picks they gave up doesn't convey I don't know which one I'm kind of
staring at right now is most likely. I guess, like the Wizards,
I might build is the one that's least likely to convey. But like none
of those picks, profile is like these top end assets. And so maybe
if you thought that, oh, well, none of these are going to
convey into that in twenty three, well Denver's is going to It's like they
gave up a late twenty three first round pick if you thought, like Detroit's
and Washington was gonna spill into the bitter end, and you know, you
have a chance of getting a lottery pick. If you want to just mark
them down a bit for that, I get it. I like the fact
that they recognize someone they like now. Also, they look they signed in
the past year plus three good players to keep when you look at Shaykill just
Alexander the extension and Kendrick Williams extension, the Ludwort deal, which by the
way, when you break it down, it's like four years and sixty four
million a season without the incentives and that team option. That is anyone who
thinks that's too much for a wing who just defends his ass off. Maybe
a little small for a wing, but he's built like a fucking brick house
and he can really get to the rim there's some directionality on his drives,
and hey, he's not afraid to shoot threes, you know, if they're
not always going in. And I'm a big believer of there's value in the
volume as well as the accuracy. So I don't know how you dislike their
offseason. I just don't know what there is to hate. And look that
I just criticized the Nuggets for giving up the twenty twenty seven first round pick
can the J Michael Green trade. That's sort of a nice rainy day asset
because what if something goes wrong in Denver? It's only top five protected.
So I thought this was a home run off season for them. I don't
think they instantly become good, but like, this is a team that and
I thought this last season we definitely they deserve to be slaughtered for the way
that they were actually slaughtered by the Grizzlies, but that was not reflective of
their rebuild, which has had a rhyme and reason and direction for longer than
people have credited. If you want to, you know, if we fast
forward months and they're shutting guys down again, I can get being frustrated at
that point, what are we doing here? But like they're doing actual things
to build up the immediate player base. I loved this offseason from them,
and I think the chet home Grin pick, when you're looking at the two
players that were back on the board, is there a chance to borrow Smith
Junior is better than him? Sure? But chet Holmrin is going to be,
I think, a monster and if he gets stronger, like he's going
to be the quintessential complimentary offensive player. I think. But if there's a
chance that his ball handling skills develop and he's given that agency over the offense,
and then he's getting even stronger on defense, we're talking about someone who
himself could be a very transcendent town agree, nothing to add. This is
just the flat a. I don't know why it was someonem passionate about giving
the thunder and ages there. I'd spittle flying off my mouth into my microphone.
The Portland Trail Blazers they signed general manager Joe Crone into a four year
deal. They acquired Jeremy Grant and the number forty six pick for number thirty
six Milwaukee's twenty twenty five first, which was top four protected, and the
twenty twenty six second, the most favorable of Portland or New Orleans. They
then traded number forty six to Denver for a twenty twenty four second rounder more
favorable of Charlotte, Minnesota. That was actually I thought a good deal for
them the Nuggets. Excuse me as I'm like burping over here, Ishmael Comagte.
That's who the nugget of the Nuggets took with the number forty six pick,
or that's who was taken there that the Nuggets got. The Blazers drafted
Shaden Sharp at number seven. They drafted Jabari Walker at number fifty seven,
and then signed them to a three year, four point eight million dollars deal.
The final two years were completely non guaranteed. They signed Gary Payton the
second to a three year twenty six point two million dollar deal, the final
season as a player option when he will be aged thirty two. Signed Efrey
Simons to a four year, one hundred million dollar deal no options. This
takes him through his age twenty sixth season. Signed use Off Nurkics to a
four year seventy million dollar deal no options, takes him through his age thirty
one season. Signed Drew you Banks to a one year veteran minimums deal,
signed Damian Lillard to a two year, one hundred and twenty one point eight
million dollars extension. He is now signed through his age thirty six season,
and he will be slated to make sixty three point two million dollars in that
campaign. They waved and stretched to Eric Bletzo's partial guarantee, so there'll be
one point three million dollars in dead money on their books through twenty seven.
Twenty eight. They signed Jared Rodin to an Exhibit ten deal, and then
they signed Isaiah Miller and Norville Pell to Exhibit tens as well. Notable exits
include Joe Ingles who signed with the Bucks, Cjlab signed with Minnesota. Bletsoe,
Elijah Hugh's and Ben McLamore all remain unsigned. Grant, what was your
grade for the Blazers? I gave him a B plus, And the lockdowns
for it were the Lillard extension, just the sheer cost of it, as
you outline, and the fact that like he's got was it three more years
on his existing deal. I just like we didn't. It didn't feel like
we needed to do this, clearly, Portland felt differently. That's just kind
of a different situation there where the loyalty between the franchise and Lillard, you
know, needs seems to seems like they need to project that as strongly as
they possibly can in both directions, just to keep everybody, you know,
from trade speculating or whatever. That's a little rich. The Nurkics deal I
really didn't like at all at first, but you know, the CAP's going
up. It's just I don't know. I guess four for seventy is for
like an a guy who's I mean, he's also younger than I is.
This takes him through age thirty one, he's still in is he's twenty eight
right now. So yeah, but to me, he's he's average at best
on on both ends. Uh. And I if the Blazers intend to play
meaningful playoff games, I have questions about how they'll hold up there. Clearly
they do intend to do that, But everything else I was good with.
I just I like the Grant trade. I think he really helps. I
think adding him and Peyton together finally in a meaningful way changes the way that
this team can hold up against good offenses. Because this, you know,
just every year, every year, for as long as Lillard has been there
with like maybe a blip in there when you know Herkless and Aminu were in
their primes. Defensively, the defense has been terrible, so I think just
getting those guys in there, certainly Peyton to a greater extent than Grant at
this point in his career, can really change the game defensively. I think
that matters. I think the numbers are fine for Peyton specifically, Simon's iffy
because you're building a team around two small guards again and you're really crediting him
for some meaningless games. I love his potential. I think athletically there's like
he should just be such a better finisher. All the three point shooting he
can do. I think that's real. Now it's been off of dribble stuff,
has been there since day one. Yeah, it's large enough that's that
doesn't seem like a fluke. So I think backing up, Portland wanted to
put as good a roster as possible around Lillard. I think they did that.
I think that doesn't mean that this team ceiling is any higher than like
the fifth seed in the West potentially, but I think they're relevant. I
think they're competitive, and then you kind of you back all that up with
shade and sharp who There are some people, I think who believe that maybe
this guy, if we'd seen more of him, would have gone first.
Now there's also people that think he would have gone twenty fifth if we'd seen
more of him. But I love the upside swing. I love that they
kept him. The injury sucks that he got hurt in Summer League, like
right away basically, but I like it was very shade and sharp of him.
Though it's like fading away, like difficult over a defender on the baseline,
I like that. I like the potential for that to give them a
guy who in a couple of years is ready to like be a rotation guy
or a starter. I think I think the upside's there. So I get
it if you hate the Lillard thing or you think Nurke could is overpaid.
But I think on balance, the Blazers like and they were active, Like
all the moves you listed. This team had as many like consequential moves as
anybody else over the summer, and I think they hit on most of them.
Yeah, I know. Look, I'm fine with a Simon's contract if
you I gave them a B I don't like I think I liked an arkish
contract less than you do. I would say he's decidedly above average on offense
and probably average on defense, but I have questions about how that's gonna hold
up for them in the playoffs. And it was just like, what was
the center market here? Yeah, viewed in comparison to Mitchell Robinson getting four
years and sixty million dollars for no fucking reason. Yeah, this deals okay.
I thought it was a slight overpaid, but nothing that was too sinister.
Again, the cap is going up, and even Lillard's deal, I
thought it was unnecessary. But like someone's gonna if the Blazers need to pivot,
someone's gonna give you value for this contract, because they're gonna look at
Lillard and say, look at the many years he guys left on this deal.
And again it's sixty three million dollars. That's probably not even gonna be
the ten highest paid player in the league at that point with the way the
cap is scaling right now. So I wouldn't have done it. I think
that was probably the most reckless thing that they did. But the like is
Damian Lillard, so there's the there's the cache there with use of Nurkis.
I'm kind of like, but I like the Grant trade for them, and
if things go belly up and you don't think he's coming back, you could
still move him. I know you mentioned them building around two small guards.
Again, I think Simon's is a different level of off the dribble shopmaker that
it works, and then just athletically, you would hope that he becomes better
defensively than Cheezie McColl him there. But they've also insulated them more than ever,
at least since like Wesley Matthews was there with pre Achilles tear By,
having Gary Payton a second Josh Hart, Jeremy Grant, and you are a
little smaller like I like that. I like I want to see and look,
frankly, we should when you look at their backup bigs, I like
Drew eu Banks, but they don't really have like a true blue backup five
or at least the battle tested one. Jeremy Grant at the five with Josh
Hart, Garret Payton the second, Simon's and Lillard why not why not go
that small and be super dynamic? Did they need to give Garret Payton the
second a player option? Like that's questionable, But I don't think anything they
did was detrimental. There are things that I think there are a bunch of
things that I'm just sort of harping on, which is why I go scale
it down to a B for them. But Shayden Sharp is big here,
and I just don't know if I'm accounting for him enough just because I didn't
see enough of him, And I'm curious as to how they bring him along
if he's healthy, given what their immediate aspirations are. Is he more trade
fodder than actually a future peace? Does that become reckless by moving someone like
that? But you functionally done for now? Is have that upside in the
bank and still got better. It's like you didn't mortgage a huge party of
future. And you mentioned this on one of your the podcasts we did.
The trades that were floating around for Jeremy Grant was like number seven for Jeremy
Grant and other stuff. It wasn't even close to that. So I don't
think there was anything. I think there are things to maybe dislike. There's
nothing to hate or that seems unforgivable about their off season. I think if
the fact that they extended Lillard is probably the biggest risk or the most reckless
thing they've done. There are far worse, most reckless things to do.
And like you said, their ceiling seems captain immediately, but you have Shane
Sharp in the bank and so like, if we're projecting forward, this is
a team that like they're not tethered to one direction anymore. And there's a
difference between what CJ. McCollum was getting paid and he was going to be
extension mails well this summer and getting up there in age to now Anthony Simons
is on this four year deal that might be below market by the end of
it, and he's only through age twenty six. The final thing I will
say, though, it probably would have been nice to see them like if
you trust in nas little I get it, and like you want to play
them all all the time. It would have been nice to have seen them
figure out a way to add like other or another bigger wing if you consider
Jeremy Grant one bigger wing, like someone who's bigger than Josh hard or Jared
Roden here or at least like, could we have gotten a more inspiring backup
big rotation than like, Okay, if it's not little Jeremy Grant, you're
gonna downsize sign. But if it's Drew U Banks and you know, CJ
LB or whatever, you're gonna run out with that. That's something. And
look, there's there's an easier way to get like impact centers on the cheap,
and so that's something they definitely could have addressed. But this was a
good offseason for them, especially it seemed like they were tracking towards disaster at
one point last season. Yeah, credits to them. They I mean,
yeah, like you said, it was bleak, it was. It didn't
look it did not look like there were a lot of outs here, and
they I mean, this isn't a rebuild per se, but it's a pretty
quick pivot, I think, and a good one. And they also just
have like Keyan Johnson and uh Justice's Winslow like floating around on this roster out
there. Those are players that if Keyan Johnson pans out with his figgles physical
tools and Justice's Winslow can hit a set jumper in addition to defending like he
did. Those are hey, look you found you your wings. That I
was just you know, sort of right. Winslow could play like if Winslow
is the best version of himself which we've seen, Like then suddenly is now
your rotation looked real interesting because you can you can have him and Grant at
the four or five and really get some stuff done. The thing I wanted
to see them do when they were never going to do this, because even
as of right now, I think they're they're in the tax, I would
imagine they're going to get out of it. So I'm not going to compliment
them for going into the tax after a catastrophic season. I wanted them to
keep Eric Bletzo was a human trade exception, just guarantee his salary and then
flip them. But that's not something to actually knock them for B for me
on the Blazers, B plus for you our final team, the Utah Jazz,
Donovan Mitchell. The stuff is looming over all of this, so I
kind of caked in the fact that, like they're going to move Donvan Mitchell
at one point, but it was just tough to do this team anyway.
Quinn Snyder resigned. They then signed Will Hardy to a five year deal.
Trade they traded Royce O'Neil the Nets for a twenty twenty three first round pick,
it's the least favorable of Houston, Brooklyn's or Philly selections. They created
an eight point eight million dollars traded player exception in the process. They used
most of that on Balermo and Vando. They traded Rudy Gobert to the Wolves
for Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Balermo, Walker Kessler, the number
twenty two pick Jared Vanderbilt, a twenty twenty three unprotected first and unprotected two
thousand and twenty five first and unprotected two twenty six first round swap, and
unprotected two thousand and twenty seven first round pick, and a top five protected
two thousand and twenty nine first round pick. They also created a nine point
seven million dollars traded player option is part of that deal. They signed Johnny
Jus to a two way contract. They signed Simone Fontechio to a two year,
six point nine million dollars deal that is fully guaranteed. Their notable exits
include Daniel House left for the Sixers. They waved one Herning Gomez. He
ended up with the Raptors. Trent Forrest signed a two way with the Hawks.
Eric Paschcal signed a two way with the Wolves and Assan Whiteside remains unsigned.
Grant, well, great, did you give the Utah Jazz. It's
an a. I almost don't even care what happens with Mitchell because keeping him
is good and then getting three or four first, I guess, which would
be the market right now, would also be good. We both like the
Gobert trade for Minnesota. I think you have to love it for the Jazz,
like this isn't new. That's just such an incredible haul for a player
that you're gonna pay a lot of money to that the the the sand had
run through the hourglass on the Gobert Mitchell pairing, and so a great way
to put it. You know, you're right, it's I've been considering it,
and it's just so it's it's not quite like saying you got this incredible
haul of picks and like some useful players too, which you could flip or
keep for a guy that had no value to this team. But it was
like they were they were going to move him, or they were the change
was happening. So it's like he wasn't going to be on the roster.
It didn't seem like and so I think clearly they got the absolute best possible
package, imaginable beyond imagination, uh for for Gobert, and so everything else
is secondary. I think it's kind of it's a type of thing where we
are we are so guilty all the time of like you're either you're either trying
to build a title winner or you gotta strip it down and you got to
start over, and there's like nothing in the middle is okay, and we've
I think cut against that by a lot of these teams, and Blazers are
a great example being more in the middle is okay sometimes. But what I
love about this is the Jazz just just did it, like there wasn't you
know. Danny Ainge comes in and like suddenly we are starting over, and
nobody can be mad about it because everyone agrees we just absolutely reeled in the
biggest hall that could have possibly been foreseen. So I love that they just
pulled the trigger and did it. It sucks lose Quinn Snyder, but I
think maybe that's another situation where you know, the time was just up,
and he saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to coach a rebuild.
So that's fine. I think bringing in Will Hardy on a five year
deal feels feels kind of like a Brad Stevens type of thing with with that
Celtics pedigree. So yeah, and just like ancillary stuff, getting a first
for Royce O'Neill. What how how did that happen? I can't believe that
that was the market rate for that. That's great, So I don't know.
I guess the Mitchell thing could make it an incomplete if we were trying
to be like really, I don't know attention to detail on this, but
the Goberty trade was just such a such a coup for for the Jazz that
I can't really do anything less than an A. I give him an a
minus because they ruined my fucking summer by leaving on. I gave them an
a minus, like to sort of account for the incomplete that it's you need
to follow through with this rebuild and that if it's not trading Dono and Mitchell,
it is balancing out the roster to have fewer guards and actual wings on
the team. But the Gobert trade home run Quinn Snyder leaving that was the
circumstances were so weird. But it's like you said, was it just sort
of time for everything to blow up and he prefers to be the next guy
in San Antonio and pop leaves and coach that rebuild. Then whatever the Jazz
are doing. It's also he had clashed with This is a different front office
regime, but there have been like weird stuff behind the scenes with Quinn Snyder
and the Jazz for a while. So I'm ultimately okay with that because they
are rebuilding. If you were trying to make the most of this roster going
getting like seeing Quinn Snyder leave that that's hard to get what they did for
Gobert when I don't think even if we went to the second best offer that
there was ever a trade package anywhere close to that. I get why the
Wolves did it, but for the Jazz to actually get that much is huge.
And I know people say, and it's typically when you're talking about national
writers or podcasts or whatever like ourselves, that we romanticize draft picks and rebuilds.
I get that. Sometimes this doesn't feel like that situation. This Jazz
Corp had very much run its course. There was discord sewed behind the scenes
for a while at this point. And the other thing here is just like
don't police fandom or what you value in a team. If you if you
want to root for a team that's just gonna flirt with contention or never get
there or get all these second round exits or first round exits, that's fine.
As someone who covers the league and like likes watching the league, I
want to see teams strive for a championship. And if you don't have the
clearer path to the title that, I'm fine with you starting over. Could
they like bump up my grade to a flat out A depending on the Mitchell
trade or what they do with the other players. Absolutely, could it go
lower? Probably not, because you're not gonna lose the Mitchell trade when you're
looking at you and you won the go Bar trade by such a high margin
that you have like room for error elsewhere. I don't know, like the
I think the only way you could absolutely despise the off seasons if you thought
that there was an avenue to them acquiring a fringe star big with like could
they have given up their twenty twenty six pick and gotten Jeremy Grant And would
that have actually elevated them to title contention if it cost you, let's say
Jordan, Let's say you're able to keep Boye Mardanovitch, but it costs you
Jordan Carson and other stuff. That might be a fair criticism, But I
also like the idea of you were existing in sub contention, because that's I
do think the peak Jazz when they were in the bubble, we're title contenders,
but since then it's been like sub contention. I respect that you blow
it up and you're starting pretty much anew This grade could go lower if they
just sort of let everything drag out to where you have so many veterans on
this team, you don't move them and you keep Mitchell that you're not good,
You're not bad enough to maximize your pick. I just don't see that
being the case, even if they let this league into the regular season,
where you could argue that maybe they're banking on the Nicks starting slowly and upping
their offer or another team coming out of their woodwork. I think the deal
donno Mitchell moving ultimately gets done, and the fact that they didn't on their
own terms rather than anyone asking for out, rather than anyone going into the
final year of their Looking at Mitchell and Gobert specifically, I think that's great
for the franchise as well. These decisions are tough to make, even if
you're new like Danny Age and operate as this detached executive in the past,
like you did in Boston. To just get rid of to just not junk,
but to annihilate a team that was dominant in the regular season for the
past half decade plus, that's a hard call to make. You made it.
You got a ton of value for Gobert, and I totally respect it,
and I think it was a fantastic outcome for them because now the band
aid's finally ripped off too. They didn't like half ask their way into this,
you know what's happening, and no one's talking themselves into some illusion of
something else. The other thing, too, is is there's so much room
for them to collect more future assets because you know, we talked about Bogdanovich.
You might get a first for him, I don't know, a future
protected first. You're definitely getting something, sure, why not? So,
I mean Conley probably doesn't have any value, but like there's a scenario where
you know, the Jazz collect two three more first, I mean just for
Mitchell, and then maybe one or two more elsewhere. And now we said
it for the Spurs when we did them. Like you're kind of in the
wimban Yama and sweepstakes if you really go all the way down and suddenly you
start to look like the thunder of the last couple of years with all these
incoming picks and you're bad. But like the turnaround is ready to happen like
asap. So I think there's actually you know this, the rebuild could stop
now and they'd be and the Jazz would be in great shape even if they
kept Mitchell and like had a gap year and tried to really put it together.
But the rebuild could just like I mean, this could be like this
is like two or three off seasons of rebuild work done in one so and
it's not done so like there could be even more stuff coming in. So
the Jazz are just I mean, this is how you do it. This,
this is really how you do it. And like you said, the
key was they did it on their terms. They didn't wait until they were
over a barrel. They didn't wait until, you know, they felt like
they were losing leverage. They just they just went And so I mean,
I think that should be a lesson to a lot of teams. Is if
it's not working and you know it's not gonna work, just just go for
it. And also, even giving will Hardy a five year deal, let's
say that it's only first four that are guaranteed. You've given yourselves runaway for
this rebuild. Now it's not operating on a shorter timeline, and so I
think that's easy to appreciate as well. Yeah. Agree, let's recap these
grades on the Northwest Division a very rosy podcast. I gave the Denver Nuggets
a B. Grant gave them an A minus. I gave the Minnesota Timberwolves
a B plus. Grant gave the Minnesota Timberwolves a B. I gave the
thunder an A. Grant gave them an A as well. I gave the
Blazers a B. Grant gave them a B plus, and the Jazz got
an A minus for me and an A from Grant. If you have not
done so already, follow us on the socials. Grant is at GT Underscore
Hughes. I'm at Damp Valley. All the podcast socials are in the podcast
description the YouTube description. Join our Discord podcast and YouTube description as well.
It's located in there. Please subscribe to us on YouTube and wherever you get
your podcast. Layers do it at both mediums. That helps us out a
ton and leave maybe like nice or pleasant or at least positive, not positive
reinforcement, but like constructive comments and likes help us out a ton on YouTube,
and some of the comments on YouTube get a little a little dark,
I would call them until next time th and like always grant, and I
leave you with a shout out to the one, the only, the indelible,
the legendary Frank Nelotino.