What is krack alackin Hardwood Knocks listeners, I am Dan for Valley coming out
you with the ever fit tabulous BS meter extraordinaire, Grant Hughes our division look
ahead train or it's a free agency look ahead train, because remember they're not
previews or primers, their look aheads. It rolls onward. We are onto
the Central Division. This is gonna be a fun division because all of them
have been fun. And you might be listening to your first podcast of a
two podcast day. That's how you know that we're nuts and we don't care
about ad revenue. We just want to get the podcasts out, Grant.
The most important question, though, is how are you doing? I mean,
ordinary people are doing fine and keep the world going around, but it's
the true legend that are whatever. I can't remember what Kyrie tweeted yesterday,
but it's my new favorite thing that I'm going to say. Just all that
I'm gonna fit it in all the time. I'm doing great. It's us
publishing two podcasts probably in the same in the same day. That's probably it.
That's probably what he was referring to. Right, normal people keep the
world going, but those who are dare to be different lead us into tomorrow
absolutely putting out two buckets the same day as the brief refresher here, and
for anyone who's new hasn't listened to the other ones, you should check those
out. Number one, we aim to do cabinets or less on each team
that has gone wildly off the rails with the Atlantic Division and also the Southwest
Division. It will not be happening with the Central Division because Grant and I
are committed to, you know, keeping this to under eight hours, So
we'll put ten minutes on the clock to talk about every team's free agency vitals.
I'll list those off, and we'll just get into a discussion about what
our biggest needs are, priorities, questions. Listen that end perspective targets,
which is what everyone wants to hear, because this podcast has already been aggregated
a couple of times with targets that Grant and I were thrown back and forth.
So there you go. That's look, do I need to quote where's
that quote again? Let me read it. Without targets. We're going alphabetically,
which we've been stellar at. We're gonna continue to live dangerously though the
Chicago Bulls are now on the clock. They are key free agents or Zach
Lavine, who is going to get a lot of money. Derrick Jones Junior,
they have early bird writes on him. Tony Bradley has not done anything
with his player option as of this recording, and he has until June twenty
ninth to do so. Troy Brown Junior is restricted, and they have non
bird free agents in Matt Thomas and Tristan Thompson. No notable non guarantees for
me on this roster. The most notable extension candidates are Nikolavukovich. I imagine
they will probably not give him one, but that's size point Kobe White,
and then they have the Daniel Tye trade exception which expires on July seventh.
It's worth five million, their best spending tool projects to be even with the
max penciled in for zach Lavine. The non tax player mid level exception value
to ten point three million dollars grand. What are you looking for from the
Bulls? What do they need? What are you watching? What is just
ruminating in your brain about it? Just like the thirty thousand feet view is
you know they're a playoff team and look like more than that at points last
year early on before it kind of went sideways, and that had a lot
to do with injuries and Lonzo Balls Still, I think they're not sure.
He's not looking great with that knee that was operated on. So you can
kind of look across the roster for what they need help with, and it
depends on how healthy Ball is and Caruso can stay healthy this year. They
have some decent guard depth if everything shakes out right, I think they still
need, you know, defensive forward helps some shot blocking and defensive upgrade on
Kolabuchevich, and shooting is always going to matter, and you know, depending
on what happens with Pat Williams development, they might need another kind of defensive
focused wing or big forward. So quite a few needs there. But obviously
the first thing, and you mentioned it, is what are we going to
do with Zack Lavine eligible for two hundred and twelve ish million. I think
over five years we've come a long way since we were making fun of the
Kings for offering him four years and seventy or whatever, and I vividly remember
that and boy, yeah, way wrong, way wrong on that. Buchevich
is also eligible for an extension, which is kind of funny to imagine that
that I don't think is going to happen. You know, you could galaxy
brain it and say they want to preserve a salary slot or whatever by keeping
him at a certain number. But I would look to trade him as as
the first option if I had to choose between extension and doing something else.
Yeah, I mean, they're they're gonna have like a decent number of targets
because if you're looking for defensive forwards and wings that you're not super concerned about
the shooting, you can find those. The reverse is trickier. So I
don't know if you want to get into targets deat or if you have some
more kind of big picture thoughts on the Bulls. I actually was wondering if
this team is a more important trade team for the reasons you're mentioning about foods
and even having Kobe White be extension eligible, And I think what hamstrings them
is they don't have all these future first to turn around and trade. Now
you can you have your I think the first allowable draft pick they can move
is in twenty twenty seven right now, and that's assuming the obligation to San
Antonio conveys, and so you could look at it all, right, well
there's the car driven off the lot thing, but dal and Terry is still
going to be interesting and he might bring some of the wing depth that they
need. But how big of a role do you expect a rookie to play
on a team that has aspirations? And so can you even build? Basically
is Patrick Williams have enough mystique to get you enough of an upgrade to where
you're a substantially better team. And I know this has been build as a
Rudy Gobert team. I don't hate the idea, but I don't love the
idea of Rudy Gobert and Demard Rozen in the same half court offense and demarc
Rosen's great, but the space and get a little wonky there, I would
think. And then you go through what else they would need. The other
thing is how do you go from Vouch? I guess is it easier to
get an upgrade at this point? Is that a misallocation of assets to try
and upgrade from Booch? At this point I would argue that you don't need
to go to the Rudy Gobert route. It's if you want to get a
different center, can Vouch be part of a larger trade or either breaking him
up into different players, or is there just a different archetype of player that
you like if they really wanted you know, this is just an example,
and the Kings don't need him, but Harrison Barnes and there's a three team
deal where you send out Vooge and then you could just send you could sign
a bigger big, like a big excuse me, you could sign a big
on the cheap. That feels like the route they could go. The trademarket
also doesn't feel conducive to them making a move like that, because, as
I mentioned, I don't love Rudy Gobert for Chicago. They're not going to
be a John's Collins team. They're not a Dejante Murray team. Maybe the
trademarket develops in some way that we haven't seen just yet, but they sort
of need like the not superstar, fringe star guy to become available, who
just makes a ton of sense for the roster. Yeah, I think you
know. First of all, in contrast to the art takes on the zach
Lavine his last deal, I feel like I was like right away and very
vehemently against the trade that brought Buchevitch over from Orlando, just because of the
pick equity they gave up, and it was like, let's get at a
six seed type of type of move. I was as well, and Bulls
fans were pretty livid with anyone who was against it. But I think they're
starting to and that's not a shot at Bulls fans like Bouche was a really
good player, but the amount they gave up for him was yeah, well,
and now here we are talking about like, well, how do we
do that on the spot, So I just you know, because we have
to send every center to the Hornets, like maybe and not that Bushevitch would
solve any of the Hornets problems defensively in the middle, but he would,
you know, be an upgrade over presumably plumbly and or playing rookies. You
could send him there. I think like something involving Kelly Ubre Ubre is the
type of you know, position and well need I think that would make sense.
But yeah, it just again like we're looking at ways to move the
guy that you gave up too firsts to get not that long ago, which
is a problem. The other thing you could do is vood plus smaller salary
X for Gordon Hayward. Yeah, I thought about that too. I mean
that plus Levine's commitments going forward at least for next year, makes it kind
of ugly salary cap wise, but but yeah, I mean, Hayward actually
would make more sense positionally, assuming you could backfill the Booch slot with like
a minimum. Guy is a defense focus center that wouldn't you know, would
be far less of a commitment. I also don't know it's tough for them
to get to the money now for more mid end trades since you're not going
to move Lonzo and then Vooge is making twenty two. But Marcus Morris Senior,
if he's not moved, maybe that's a name that they revisit in the
middle of year when presumably they have other mid end contracts. Before I get
ask you about for agient targets, what do you think Zach Lavine ends up
signing. I predicted the full five years with the player option is will get
Yeah. I think that's the most likely scenario, and they should offer They
don't offer that, like they just don't have Zach Levine's really good, and
there are teams that would give him a max deal right now. And if
I was just curious whether he might want to re explore free agency in twenty
five when the money t might supposed to hit. But he's coming he's had
injury problems in the past, and it's coming off left knee surgery. Now,
if I were him, I would take the full five years as well.
Yeah, I mean, I think they I wouldn't be surprised if they
started without the player option and he said, like, no, gimme it,
and that was a quick, you got it, you know, quick
negotiation that feels like a sticking point that it's so far down the line and
whatever. Teams always try to do that, I think or should try to
do that. But yeah, I think just I kind of always view this
level of signing through the prism of like, if you got to trade this
guy in two years, how tough is that going to be at that number?
And even with the you know, the decline and injury and athleticism concerns
that are all sort of baked in there together, I don't think. I
don't feel like this is going to wind up being you know, a Russell
Westbrook contract or like a you know, Tobias Harris Blake Grip like there's it's
not that level. I don't think of risk and he's still I mean,
Tobias Harris is young cube, like this is deal only takes him through his
early thirties. Any free agent targets that you thought about for them, I'm
trying to think of guys that sort of fit the bill of you know,
they're sort of like what they hope Patrick Williams becomes, and they're just like,
aren't that many guys because what they hope Patrick Williams becomes as an extremely
valuable player. But I you know, I want defense. I think that's
just gonna be important if you're gonna have Derozen in your front court essentially as
like a three slash four. So Kylie Anderson is someone I thought of Wantascano
Anderson of the Anderson targets just as like versatile defenders who are going to help
on that end. And both of those guys can play make a little bit
too, So I think I think that's like a nice added bonus if you
do end up having guard health and depth issues. Again, the other the
flips at pjt obviously I think makes a ton of sense, but I just
doubt, all things being equal, he's going to take the Bulls mL E
versus someone else's like Miami's or Phillies. The other two are more like just
let's get some shooting, and that's Brent Forbes and Malik Monk. I don't
know where all those guys would fit in the tax you know, assuming the
Bulls are just the full mL E team, if any of those guys justify
the full mL E other than Tucker, but they have that tool to use,
and you could you don't have to use all of it. So do
you think they would be an apologies if I missed him, you said,
do you think they'd be the TJ Warren team? I didn't mention him.
I think TJ. Warren, like if the money's right, is a good
risk for basically anybody, just because he's like a fringe star at one of
the most valuable positions there is. If it works and if you can get
him for ten ish million, then you know, yeah, So yes,
short answer, yes, I would love to see Chris Bouchet on this team.
But unless you're moving Vouch, I don't think you funnel the full mL
E to someone who he can play next to Booch, but he plays your
best, your best sent like you're for a backup center. You don't want
to spend that. So maybe a Dwayne Dedman or what does Mobamba cost?
Like these would be a good destination for them. It's tough to find wings.
I am wondering, and you made me think about this yesterday. I
actually given the setup and with who Memphis drafted is Kyle Anderson all of a
sudden in mL E candidate and like he doesn't bring the shooting, but like
you talk about someone you need to move around based on what happens with Patrick
Williams or what happens with Dale and Terry, like that is someone who would
work really well. I mean, Anderson and Rosen on the same team is
just like I can't even I don't know that I want to see that in
the half court. But since the Rosen's credit, even Anderson's, like they
always find these crevices of space, like the Grizzlies weren't booming with operating room
for Kyla Anderson what he did play last year. So I thought about that
name and they're just they're in a better position than most if you wanted to
go after the bigger mL E names, because you are supposed to be a
good team, but they probably need more guys who are like plug in play
like new Outlined, or maybe you go the I'm your Coffee route depending on
what he costs, or one of the Martin twins would work. It's just
the wing market is slim pickins, and if the bulls are gonna make like
a bigger play, it's going to probably have to happen on the trade market.
Yeah, I mean, you'd only do this if you could move voos,
but you could look at and again, I don't know if you want
to spend the full mL E on a center that is really there to do
limited things, But like I think Kavan Louey would make sense if you're trying
to shore up the defense and had some switchability that Boots just didn't have,
which is again a priority with someone like de Rosan where you're just kind of
putting out fires. Sometimes I think Nick Klaxton again, get some shop blocking.
Do you want to tie up and offer you know, your money in
an offer sheet? If if really it's like the mL E is sort of
all you have beyond minimums, So I mean there are definitely. I just
wanted to hit some of the defense first centers that we basically set our priority
but didn't didn't quite get to. That'll do it for the Bulls. That
brings us up to the Cleveland caval years. Their key at free agents are
Collin Sexton, he's restricted. They also have Rondo, who's a non bird
free agent. Lamar Stevens has a one point eight million dollar non guarantee that
guarantees on one seven to that guarantees on January seven, twenty twenty three.
My guess is they're just going to fully guarantee that deal because he gave him
some good minutes last year. Notable extension candidates include Darius Garland, Carris Lavert,
Kevin Love, Jetty Osman, and Dean Wade. They don't have any
notable trade exceptions. Their best spending tool I have it as a non tax
payer mid level of exception. That's assuming that Sexton gets like an eighteen million
dollars deal and in which case per year, in which case that's still going
to leave them like a little bit more than a million dollars beneath the tax
which isn't a ton of wiggle room with which to work during the regular season,
so they very well could end up being a team that doesn't spend all
of the mL E. But even after resigning Sexton, unless he gets way
more money than I think Context is gonna get, they should have that bigger
MLLE. I think the first thing to start with here, Grant is Context
in back in Cleveland, and what would you pay Context? And if you're
Kobe Alman, yeah, i'd view him. I'm glad we're finally talking about
him, because I think he would have made sense in hindsight for several teams.
But I would view him as like a high end scoring six man,
like really high end, because like he averaged you know, twenty four game
a couple of years ago on good efficiency. But to me, that really
just is what he does. I don't think he can be like a lead
guard that facilitates offensively. I don't think you can play him, you know,
at the end of games necessarily unless you've got really great defensive support.
So which which, yeah, which which they might So I think just in
a vacuum, I don't like the idea of going over like you know,
put it in the twelve to fifteen million a year range. I think twe
he feels like too much, But I do think Cleveland is a Cleveland isn't
isn't a good fit for him because you can't really play him with Garland,
which is a problem, but you could, like you said, get away
with him defensively because of all the length you have at other positions. So
I guess I guess they. I don't know. It's a coin flip.
I'll just say I don't expect him to be back. If there's the twelve
to fifteen million ish range, I think that's doable, just because if you
look around, I mean, we'll get to them in a minute. They're
like a team like the Pistons that just wants some supplementary scoring. Can just
spend on him, you know the Caps. You know, Orlando like doesn't
really have an efficient scoring guard on the roster. I'm like stepping on what
we're going to get to you later. But I think there are places that
could justify spending a little bit more than the Cavs might feel comfortable doing.
I would just pay him and figure it out later. I just don't know
who's gonna give him the offer sheet and I'm under the impression that will be
like, yeah, it might be eighteen. I think it'll be subtwine me
and it's probably shorter term. I would imagine that he might want to get
back into free agency sooner by like have the option of doing it. So
maybe it's like a two plus one or is it a three plus one?
Whoever gets him back for that twenty twenty five TV money. I'll probably a
little bit higher on his passing than you are. But I get like the
conundrum of you have Darius gone and Caros Lavert. Caros Lavert also might just
be gone after this year. You could trade him, and I would I
would rather extend Colin Sexton than Caros Lavert Like that is I'm choosing Sexton over
Lavert if that's the choice you feel like you have to to make. There,
Like the other stuff with this roster, that's that's super interesting. Is
they really need I don't know if it's interesting, but they clearly need shooting,
and so Sexton would take care of some of that. And also if
it doesn't work out or you want to move him, unless his ideal is
bonkers, he could become a trade asset. Like by the middle of the
year with the money's making. Do you expect Darius Garland though, to sign
an extension? I mean, if I'm the Calves, I think I would
do it. I think the numbers for him would be five for one eighty
one. Would you go, I, well, I'd do the same thing
where I'd try to lock it in for the full because he's young, for
you know, for for his draft class, I try to get the five
without the player option, and if he pushes back then maybe you know,
we can negotiate there. But like just the leap he took last year,
I think the way that he works for this team again because of really like
we haven't even mentioned his name yet, but I think Evan Mobley just sort
of allows for you to build with what would otherwise be kind of imperfect players
because Garland is undersized, but you could just sort of get away with a
lot of that because of the defensive potential that Mobley is going to bring in.
Like you know, Jared Allen's no slouch there either, So I guess
knee jerk, I would I would just go the full boat for him,
just knowing that, like you're gonna do that for Mobley too. Almost certainly,
and then there's your two guys basically, but I feel pretty comfortable with
that. I'm with you, and I would do what you did, try
and get it. Like I'm so confident in Garland, like I want him
for the full five years, I don't. I don't want that player option
if I'm if I'm the Cavs, and so I would just expect him to
sign one they do need. I think they're two biggest needs. And I'm
curious if you agree. Are they need I don't know why I've been calling
it this so much lately, but sort of an adult in the room,
playmaker to back up the Garland spot like they had with Rubio last year.
Maybe it's even Rubio again, although he probably doesn't come back to mid season.
And then just straight straight shooting. And I think they're in a position
with Mobley if you're not going to trade Jared Allen, then we know that
some teams kick the tires on him, where you can just do that irrespective
of what they are on defense, Like, just get straight shooting. If
it's a matter if you have to sign Wayne Ellington and throw them out there
and have him pinball around the half court, just just do it. Yeah,
I think Brent Forbes is like as one of the best shooters on the
market. That's definitely what I think about. But then you're you're small again,
so you know, if you bring back sexon or not, you're still
dealing with some undersize stuff. But for you could stagger him a little bit
and kind of figure out ways to make that work. Maybe you play him
more with Lavert. I don't know, there's there's plenty of shooting. I
actually did have Rubio coming back as one of my targets. I think that
just makes all the sense in the world for the reasons you mentioned. They
Yeah, like you get into trouble because you're not gonna you have Garland,
you have sex, then you have Lavert. You're not spending your mL on
that guy like that, that type of playmaker. And I don't even know
if anything's available on the trade market to them. Could they get like,
you know, like so you're not going to sign Tias Jones, like even
if he was willing to sign, he really spending that and then paying sex
in maybe they could get involved that the Nuggets are really trying to trade.
Monte Morris, you would be great fit for this rofter, but you know,
it was really fun. That actually doesn't address almost any of the concerns.
But would his Gary Payton just because the idea of him and Mobley and
Allan on the floor together be just like, I mean, what's your floor?
Is your floor? Like a top three defense with those two guys,
Like I don't I just think that the havoc that that would create would be
a lot of fun. But again, like Payton just isn't isn't that you're
you're adding strength to strength instead of filling up, you know, addressing weaknesses
with that kind of move, I want them to punt. Look, they're
gonna sign Rubio so that they're they're punting on a half season roster spot,
and then I want them to punt on another half season roster spot with Joe
Ingles would be absolutely fun on this team too. He would make a ton
of I mean, there's your shooting, in your your adults in the room,
playmaking all in one. Assuming he's, you know, anything close to
what he was when he comes back. I think my favorite free agent and
this is not an original thought. Well, obviously a mere coffee would be
my favorite free fit for him. I actually really think and the two that
I've circles, so Gary Harris, who probably fits everywhere, and he's they're
still small with him, and he's not long, but like he can defend.
He might cover a larger positional spectrum on defense than Isaac o Coro when
you're looking at what he does on the ball, and no, Core is
fantastic away from the ball already. And then I think, and I have
a specific one. I'm not just saying the Martin twins. I think Caleb
Martin specifically would be a great fit here if you're watching him defensively in Miami
and can he knock down continue knocked down enough of his threes? He doesn't
satisfy the lights out shooting. I don't know if Gary Harris does either,
because he had like that two or three season span where he was injured and
not hitting anything. But last year he looked really good. And so if
you're able to get like they are a team, I would roll the dice
on like a full mid level exception offer for Gary Harris. That seems high,
but it seems high just in general. But I do think you're right
that Harris is going to be a target for like basically everybody just because maybe
like maybe teams were offering him the MINIMLI and you're able to go seven like
it's not But I would not hesitate to do that if I'm Cleveland. Yeah,
another guy that the shooting is a little at least that volume is kind
of suspect. But depending on what happens with Sexton. If you bring sexon
and back, then no, But if you don't and you're not committed to
Lavert long term, I think Delon Wright makes sense just as another as a
bigger backcourt counterpart for Garland. And can you know, no, he feels
funny to call him like an adult in the room type like you said,
but you know dlhan right came in as a very old rookie and now you
know he's a he's a full on veteran now, so I think that would
be a decent fit there too. I kind of wondered if, like I
mentioned Wayne Ellington, but like, can you go get like someone who is
just going to come in and chuck threes? And I thought about Matt Thomas
is where I'm at, like and he didn't gonna go for down season,
But like if you're that's the minimum area. But are you that confident in
your defense where you can do something like that just someone's gonna come in and
and fire up looks because I feel like they do need that guy. Yeah,
I mean Ben McLamore, if you really want to go like further down
that road of someone that's just only going to come in and shoot, He's
more than happy to do that based on his time with the Rockets. Yeah.
So, I mean there's a bunch of different routes that they could go
there. It'd be really funny. They're gonna end up just signing like defense
first people. Those what's gonna what's gonna wind up happening? So there,
I think, look there, I know their fans were disappointed and how this
is some of their fans were disappointed. I went on a Cavs pod cast.
I did two of them. Actually, we were talking about how some
were calling for Brigger staff to get fired after that year. It just that
team overachieved, especially relative to injuries, and I think they have they should
spend the full minim of the full mL E. Excuse me, like they
have the means to get better. A trade is different. The final thing
I'll say is for trade targets I'm in big support of Like, is there
a Kevin Love Gordon Hayward framework there? I know that Kevin Love everything's good
and hunky dory in Cleveland. Now, Love doesn't fix anything in Charlotte except
for the fact that it's a long term salary cut. Since Hayward has two
more years left. They could also, you know, if san Antonio's really
tearing things down, Like, is there's something to build around to get Josh
Richardson here who fits in line with the defense, not too much off the
dribble work, but he can shoot well enough. Those are two names that
I have circled for Cleveland though as trade targets. Yeah, those are interesting.
I like both of those. Just I mean we shouldn't rule out like
could Kevin Love get an extension for you know, way less money just to
stay. I mean, he's eligible, so I want to be clear.
He was really good last year. But at the same time, it's like,
if you have Mobiley and Allen, you know, what is Kevin Love
costing you? Like if he's your backup big and then I'm almost curious,
like if you're gonna extend Kevin Love, like it's time to get a little
of Larry Marketing. I know he was playing a lot of three, but
in long term you want to get like a real wing in there. I
think Marketing sort of rebooted his value enough to where teams would be interested in
him at this number, or at least they're not going to view his you
know, he's got like three years and forty two million left on his deal,
or excuse me, fifty two million left where teams aren't going to view
him. A is like this huge net negative. Maybe they'll vie him is
net neutral. And also Jetty Osman is expired is basically an expiring contract because
his final year is non guaranteed. There are a lot of stuff that they
could do on the trade. And look, Karsi verts expiring, Like that's
someone who just might if you have sexed in and you think he's healthy,
that's might someone who would garner interest from other teams looking for that secondary ballhead.
Like if Dallas loses, Jalen runs and are they gonna come calling for
him? I don't know what you want. Yeah, Maxy Clebo would be
great, but they're not gonna give you Maxi Kleba imagine Cleba mobile and Allen
same offense, that's not same. We gotta get Gary Payton in there if
we're going to do that, and just go all four defenders with Darland.
So I think this is a sneaky team to watch in the trade market,
was my point. And I don't know which direction they would head, but
they're set up to do a bunch of different things if they want to.
Let's get into I feel bad sort of blowing through this team. But what
we said about them was dated. The Detroit Pistons. They went from having
like thirty five plus million dollars in cash space, so they eradicate most of
it by taking on Alec Burks and Neyland's Noel after having already taken on Kemba
Walker, and they will look they were going to get to the thirty five
million number after having Kemba Walker's money there, but you get to Newlands Nowell
who was making nine point two million this year plus Burke's that's nineteen something million.
They still like there. It's by the way, Troy Reaver says that
they're excited to have both of them there, and I think both those players
help and make things easier on some of the younger players, like not having
to put as much pressure on Jalon Durin upfront with Noel there burks a sort
of another shot creator and floor space or to help out with Jay and Ivy
and Kay Cunningham. I think if you want to keep those guys, that's
fine, but you have cap space to go out there now if you're Detroit
and continue to lean into shooting, maybe take some flyers on some wings.
You're not gonna be inflating offer sheets now at this point anymore. That's again,
that's perfectly fine. I think what they did really they had one hell
of an off season here. They picked up getting jolender In just sort of
a center of the future prospect in addition to having Ivy not having a trade
up to get Ivy, by the way, that is just absolutely huge.
So that's going to be that's going to be big time for them. I
think having those two players in place. I'm stumbling because I'm trying to read
something right now. But anyway, so Detroit is still above twenty million dollars
in cap space. I believe if they renounced the rights to Marvin Bagley,
who's restricted free agent, but they can still renounce him, I don't know
who that gets you like, it's twenty two million dollars getting Miles Bridges out
of Charlotte. Is it getting Anthony Simons out of Portland? I do not
think it would. But they still have They can still do what they just
did with the Knicks, where at this time it was only two seconds,
one of which was their own next year, I believe, So that's more
power to them. This was smart GMing by them. They didn't need a
ton of credit for what they did with Kay cunning Camp last year. They
got the number one pick. Congratulations. He was the no brainer selection in
my opinion to begin with. But they've shown some real shops this offseason alone.
The Jeremy Grant trade was kind of panned, but that created the additional
flexibility that allowed them to do all these things where you end up with,
you know, Jaalen Duran being part of an extension basically of that Jeremy Grant
trade because of the extra flexibility they had to take on Kemba. They already
would have had that flexibility. I get it. But they've just done a
lot of interesting maneuvering here and the fact that they still have capsphas after all
they've done. They've loaded up on seconds punting on that Milwaukee first, I
don't have a problem with you were getting a lottery pick now and in need
in the process with what was the consensus best center on the board in Duran.
I do know that some people thought Mark Williams was a little bit better
some New York consensus. It's top four pretensive Milwaukee. If Jannis is there,
like, they're gonna be incredible, So I'd default to that. You
didn't give up a ton of value and look the Newlands a well, Burks,
yeah, you're absorbing that money. Those are players you could use.
Burks is coming off foot surgery. That's fine. He is a very useful
player. He was overworked by the Knicks and still came up with some big
fourth quarter moments for them in twenty twenty twenty one. I thought fans were
too hard on him last year, just with the scope of his role and
then the makeup of the rest of that roster. I like his fit in
Detroit, and those are players you could turn around a plably move for more
second round picks, depending on what other teams could potentially want from them.
Like Neurland, Zowell was one of the most underrated players in the NBA for
twenty twenty twenty one didn't have as good of a season last year. I
think that has a lot to do with the way the Knicks run their front
court and Detroit's built to be a little bit different now. When you have
Ivy and Cunningham and Sadique Bay and even Burks in the fold, you can
play out around your bigs at this point. That helps the will, That
should help during excited to see this team. Even if Kelly Olynnick, if
you want to go a little bit bigger in the front court or he's going
to stretch the floor, they can also view him as a walking trade exception,
like as of right now, Kelly Olynik for Gordon Hayward would work and
what would the Hornets give you to do that? And there could be similar
thinking around if other teams are looking to get off of would Philly give up
if it meant getting off to Bias Harris in such a deal? He has
two more years after this one A little bit, No, No, he
only has. He only has one year after this. So thirty seven point
six million dollars this coming season, thirty nine point three after what would what
would do they have enough for ef equity to make that worth their while.
I'm just so super incredibly high on the Pistons future all I stayed all of
a sudden. I think Kay really put them on the map there. I
think the improvement we've seen with not improvement, but the willingness versus Deepbate to
delve into his ball skills. He's going to give you some positional valuability.
If we're looking at other free agents for them to target, they are sort
of light in just the true wing department. You got rid of a bigger
wing and Jeremy Grant, you still have Sadique Bay and Kag Cunningham. If
you want to call him a wing, he is the body of a wing.
If you're going to keep I'm really decline the team option on Frank Jackson.
I haven't seen anything on how to do Diallo yet. I'll love will
check that as we're recording this, because that deadline was actually tonight, so
they picked up his team option. So yeah, I have a du Diallo,
but he's not a six five, like, it's not this bigger wing.
So you could go that route or you should excuse me, you should
go that route. And so what you're set up to do. Now we
mentioned this the first time around, is can you inflate the value of contracts
for veterans that maybe want to go somewhere else but they won't to come for
you to one or two years because you can give them a windfall that's going
to exceed what they get for three or four from another team. Gary Harris
still on the smaller end, he would absolutely work here. I liked Victor
Oladipo for them at first. I don't really anymore. Following the acquisition of
Alec Burks. You could go, I mean, man, it's right for
Kellybridge Junior doesn't doing a lot for their shooting, but a mere coffee.
I would love him here. Can they be a TJ. Warrent team?
Now? He would be borderline perfect for this squad. Otto Porter Junior maybe
not enough of a true wing. That's another name they could look at.
I think I'd probably prefer Caleb Martin over Cody Martin for this team. Would
make a lot of sense. What does it take like would a Joe Engles
who won't play in the middle of next season at the earliest, or a
thirty five year old Wesley Matthews. Did they just consider joining the Fray with
a young team if you can guarantee them some playing time. The wing market,
again, to reiterate, is just so slim. But the Pistons are
built to do basically what whatever they want and like here and if they want
to skew all defense like and not care about shooting because they're just gonna bank
on the skill of Kade and Jade and Ivy, that's fine too. Maybe
do you take a look, like if Derek Jones Junior is available for the
minimum, you could go. You could go that route, but I think
right now they need to be looking thinking wings. PJ Dojer could be a
good one. I don't think they like they don't need to be a set.
They could be a second draft destination, but like a Kevin Knox Jared
Culver type jot, and you're still sticking with Josh Jackson, Like, that's
not going to do it for me if I'm them, I have wondered if
now do you have like just the requisite defensive juice or physical tools around where
you can skew so far all offense that you're looking at Jordan Wara, who's
probably better defensively than giving him credit for, or even like a Matt Thomas,
just someone who's gonna come in and straight chuck Utah wants an hobby.
If he's healthy, I would love him in Detroit. Like that's a bigger
wing. That's a great name for them to look at again, not someone
who should cost them a ton of of cap space either. They can go
so many more directions that they don't need a big like they talk about signing
a veteran big. You have noone's nowell Isaiah Stewart, Kelly Olnik and Joel
Enduring, like, you don't need to go after a big now, and
that free up to do everything. I would have liked Torrian Prince here to
begin with, but he is off the board. Kyle Anderson defensively, yes,
offensively. I'm just not sure. Could they be a team that gets
in the Kenrick Williams sweepstakes. They're not gonna. I don't really love a
reunion with Bruce Brown there. Lonnie Walker could be fairly interesting, but I
think he was more interesting if they didn't have an Alec Burks here. They
could still if you like, don't trust Killian Hayes or want more of a
veteran presence, like could they be a team that gets Tayas Jones. He
could be pesky defensively and he's going to give you some offensive pizzazz. Those
we are all names. I know we're regurgitating a lot of names here,
but such is the state of the free agency market, and I wouldn't rule
out the Pistons from Cholt Music in the chat says calling Charick Cover a negative
offensive player is a compliment coming from a Grizzlies fan. I just want to
point out I was so high on Jarick Colvern where he was coming out of
college. I didn't think there was gonna be an issue with him sort of
creating separation or getting his jumper down. I was. I have very much
missed on Jerick Colver. That was That was a bad one for me.
So yeah, But the Pistons, I think, look, we've probably they've
probably eliminated themselves. And the Athletic reported per James Edwards the Third that they
were never sort of in the let's go inflate the market for Aten's definitely off
the board. Now you could still think about Miles Bridges. You might be
getting Charlot a discount if you're offering him something like twenty three million dollars a
year. You can get to more money though, Like if you're willing to,
can you find a home for Burke Burkes or Noel evenn Kelly Olinik,
So you could still do that if you wanted assignments here who I wouldn't hate
post Jade and Ivy I wouldn't be in love with as much I liked him
with Kay to begin with, or if you wanted Miles Bridges. Again,
those are not names that I love for them, So they're not done and
they can they can take on more bad money. It depends on what the
market for that is. But they made out well and the Kemba Walker trade
and he was sort of if it's actual dead money, a player that you're
not going to keep or can't really play for you. He was an expiring
contract and they got quite a bit for him. Something I would like to
see them do. Can they go out and buy like act as a buyer,
are on the trademarkt now for a wing with not like you're not trading
a future first and you're not giving up a core piece like a Josh Richardson
for them? Is that someone who's just is he at all gettable in their
books and just to sort of just give you that other like truer pure excuse
me, wing in the rotation? Do you not know Kenrick Williams I've mentioned
him before. If Phoenix is looking at cut cost or they have to resign
Eton, or they're worrying about campaign's extension, could you be a Jay crowder
Destination. That's someone that I would potentially like here as well. I wouldn't
mind a Terrence Ross flyer again after the out Burk signing. They are different
players, but I think Outburst might be better than Terrence Ross defensively at this
point. So food for thought there. But is there is there that scenario
for them? They would be like they wouldn't be a good voice on Neil
team. You'd have to give up too much to get him. But like
you know, if you had a KCP reunion or Kyle Kosm like, I
would love one of them for this team. Those are players that you have
to give up actual value to get. I mentioned Kelly Ubride Junior before defensively,
like, yeah, for sure, he's not the best defender but can
be moved around the wing spots. What does it cost to get him?
If Charlotte's looking like, is it just a pick, like a lower second
round pick, or not a lower but a second round pick because Charlotte's gonna
cut payroll after signing Miles Bridges, that would be interesting. I also look
Kelly on lnake for Gordon Hayward, like if Charlott's attaching something to that,
I would I would totally, I would totally consider it. But the Kelly
Ubrid junior model is an example, So that's someone that maybe they they could
look at via trade. Houston needs to cut bodies, but they're sort of
lower on wings too, like you don't like a flyer on David Nwaba or
Sterling Brown. I don't know that that's going to do much for this team.
It would be funny if they were just someone if Houston wanted to offload
Eric Gordon and they decided to go that route. Indiana is treating Malcolm Broaden
like an asset. Otherwise you could maybe make the case for them. I
don't know if, like the Clippers aren't going to be offloading Marcus Morris senior
and not even know if the Pistons would want Marcus Morris senior. Let's face,
let's face that he yeah, he would be good, but like that,
and that's also just not sort of a true ring as well, and
it's sort of the how it's like it's been there, sort of done that
type deal. And unless I'm forgetting that he didn't play, no, he
did play, if he was there for two seasons good, I'm not misremembering.
That's why I was stammering. So, but the Pistons are set up
to do so much. I'm a lot higher on their future and I was
already fairly high just based off of having Kake cunning him there and showing just
the mechanisms through which they've traveled this offseason and still being so flexible after all
this, Like that's the thing, is there, still so flexible, And
there's just a bunch of different things that they could do if they really want
again, if you don't trust Killian Hayes and like New Orleans looking to get
off the money Graham, like do you take a flyer on him if he's
attached to a little bit of an asset, Like, there's just there's just
so many different routes they could go. I'm sorry to be so fascinated by
the Pistons now, but just a home run off season so far for them.
If we look back and we grade these teams and look at winners and
losers, they're going to be They're going to be one of the biggest winners
and probably get just one of the highest grades and look to round out the
podcast. The Knicks are expense expected to offer John brunts and a four year
deal in the range of one hundred and ten million dollars. So that is
not his max, but over four years you're looking at between twenty seven and
twenty eight a year. The MAVs were totally willing to go about five years
one hundred and ten. So where I was at was correct for our change,
I'm normally wrong. The Knicks are giving Brunson over four what the Mavericks
were willing to go essentially over five. That is a big difference for John
Brunts and get some more prominent role. Don't love the fit. Thank you
for everyone who Oh jolt music, oh Kuzma would be awesome for the Pistons.
Yeah, So I'm just what do you give up if you're the Pistons.
Maybe Washington's scared of his free agency. I think it's more likely if
there was a three team deal where they're trying to get somebody else and the
inbound team there doesn't want him or something. It's just I'm not giving up
actual, like a ton of value for these guys, which is why I
thought Josh Richardson might be more attractive, because I know how much the Spurs
or you want to value him. And it's also why Jay Crowder it seems
like Phoenix is all of a sudden. He's topsy turvy, but seems like
Phoenix is all of a sudden, like not as high on him. Just
reading between the lines there, I did think not a wing. Would you
hate Doug McDermott with the Pistons. I don't know that I would hate him,
Like there's maybe there's some overlap and there's not overlap with Kelly. Look
like you want a shooter, like a movement shooter and some guy who could
finish off cuts. He'd be interesting. I'm not sure if I'm that excited
to see how the Indiana Pacers offseason plays out. Key free agents Ricky Rubio,
TJ Warren, Jaalon Smith, and Land Stevenson, who's a non bird
notable non guarantees O Shaber said is a one point eight million dollar team option.
They should have picked that up eight years ago. Dwayne Washington Junior and
Terry Taylor basically have one point six million non guarantees that will guarantee in early
July. Notable extension candidates on this team Miles Turner, Buddy Healed, Goga
Beads has apparently been in the league for three years already. They have some
notable trade exceptions too that if they wanted to use cap space they need to
renounce. But Doug McDermott seven point three million expires July seventh, and then
the Jeremy Lamb trade exception ten point five million that expires February eight, twenty
twenty three, right around the trade deadline. Their best spending tool, if
they're willing to get rid of those trade exceptions, would be twenty five plus
million in cap space. They are not being talked about as a team that
could go out there and try and inflate the value of free agents, which
I do find not odd because in he's not a free agency destination. But
like you could make a case that Miles Bridges, DeAndre Ayton, or Anthony
Simons are all good fits there. Eighton predicated on Okay Well what's happening to
Miles Turner. The last note on them though, is there was a report
right around the draft, I think Woad said it that they're looking to reshape
the roster and actually rebuild with Rick Carlisle there, and so that means Brogden's
gone, That means Miles Turner should be gone probably as well, and that,
I don't know, makes it less likely that you use your cap space
to be aggressive on some of the younger guys in free agency. Maybe they're
more of a cap space dumping ground, but this feels like it's going to
be a highly active all season because they're a team with cap space that has
two to three players when you look at Buddy Healed that are almost guaranteed to
move if you're really going the wholesale rebuilding route. Yeah, they're a hard
team to figure out in a lot of ways. Some of what we said
about the Pistons applies to them because of the caps, cap space, because
of the options. That creates a difference though, is that, like you
said, there are some real tradable pieces that you know are on decent numbers
contract wise, with Turner, Brogden and Healed that you know you're not sweetening
those I don't think to get off maybe any of them. Maybe back and
forth on brock in three year sixty seven point six is like the idea that
he did, we're gonna get a lottery pick for him, like the Wizards
at ten, the Knicks at eleven. I mean, I know it's the
Knicks, but and I mean it's the Knicks, but I that's like,
what are you giving up from? I would give up expiring salary if I
really wanted him, sure, or shorter contracts, I guess, But would
you give up a first like let's say a top eighteen protected first rounder form
Malcolm Brockden. I mean it depends on how desperate I am for the help
at that position. I mean, the idea of Brockman went healthy is a
really good player. I mean, he's a starting caliber combo guard that just
if healthy has been Brocky went healthy. Yeah, the white like yeah,
the thing the thing though, like that relates to so it's hard to pin
down, Like, yeah, they've said they're leaning into the rebuild, and
like the Tyres Haliburton first, a bonus trade might make you think that that's
the direction it's going. But like that's just a good trade period because you
know, it's arguable that Haliburton certainly is a better use of your resources based
on contracts not but but like you could just make the case that this year
Haliburton will be a more helpful player to winning than Sabonis would have been,
Like that's not a ridiculous thing to say potentially going forward. So it's hard
to know like what direction they're signaling they're going. I guess for me,
like I'm sort of treating them like the Pistons in terms of, yeah,
whatever you want to do for a young talent acquisition, if that includes restricted
free agency, great, But in addition, you got to trade these veterans.
I think I think they're sort of a two pronged, you know,
offseason approach that they need to embrace. What do you think of I think
my most favorite Anthony Time's destination, aside from Portland, I'm not even sure
if Portland's my absolute favorite destination for him, but is San Antonio if they
keep de Jeante Murray, which our podcast nearly blew up on the Southwest Division
is after we recorded it because one Jake Fisher said that he's hearing the same
thing in the Hawks thing too close. I'm like, fuck, Jake Fisher
said, it's it's over the Pacers, Like, is that even if you
are rebuilding he's twenty three? Is that not enough? I consider Haliburton is
someone who can develop into a lead playmaker. But do you view Simon's and
Haliburton is not enough maybe lead ball handler, playmaking types to make that your
sort of backcourt of the future. Yeah. I mean Haliburton averaged over nine
assists when he was with the Pacers last year, so I think offense for
them was pretty good too. Yeah. I think I don't have any real
reservations about giving him the ball, especially if you're rebuilding and just like get
these reps and see what happens Simons. Simon's is a tricky fit, like
everywhere except next to Murray because there's your you know, your defensive counterpart just
fits perfectly. And so I don't know how much I like him and Haliburton
together, but like what I do, I actually do kind of like Haliburton
and Ben Matherin because you've got the off ball guy running around shooting that's super
athletic and strong and could project physical tools wise to be a really good defender
and halib and as you're like finesse shooter, playmaker. I've like on the
ball stuff. I like there. They'd seem to me as kind of the
lonely projectable cornerstones, you know, of the pacers that I don't want to
mess with, you know, do whatever else you wants to the roster.
But I like those two together pretty well. I'd probably steer clear of Miles
Bridges unless you're gonna keep Miles Turner. I just feel like you're gonna need
like a really good five. What have you made of the and there would
need to be other actually, there wouldn't need to be other moving parts involved.
What have you thought? And they're probably I'm sure Phoenius would want what
have you thought about the deandret and sign and trade for Turner sort of framework
that's been out there. Yeah, I kind of like it. I guess
I guess I have reservations about giving eight in the max if that's if that's
what we're talking about to do this, But in terms of like a return
for Turner, I don't think you're gonna do better, Like if the reason
he's still on the roster is you know, people were concerned about the post
surgery. We're gonna give up. We won't give up a first him.
I mean, getting the number one overall pick who's average a double double every
year of his career has held up, you know, against the switch heavy
demands of playoff basketball. I think, and the idea of Eton and Haliburton
together is very appealing to me as a pick and roll combo. So I
think if that if the eighten for Turner sign and trade is on the table,
I think that's probably the first place I'm looking if if i'm if I'm
the Pacers, are there any free agents who wouldn't cost a ship ton of
money that you think make make a lot of sense for the Pacers? That's
harder. I mean, I really did have them kind of going big fish
first and then kind of working the rest out later. I don't know,
like any really like t J. Warren coming back seems semi unlikely, But
depending on what kind of roster you're trying to build bringing him back in if
assuming the Pacers know more about his sort of medical prognosis than anybody, and
you could technically view him as if you're not going to save your cap space,
maybe as a human trade exception if you're spending it elsewhere and then you
have him on a short term deal and you know he doesn't fit your timeline,
but teams would want him if he's healthy. For sure. Yeah,
I think I think almost every guy they consider signing should be with an eye
towards what might we be able to flip him for at the deadline, just
because you're preserving your optionality if you want to add veterans that could help you,
you know, chase the eighth playoff spot or tenth I guess now,
or whatever, but preserve the opportunity to just like really really go full tear
down like part way through the season. So like someone like Gary Payton threads
the needle. I'm gonna just keep mentioning him because I like him next to
Haliburton. And then as long as he stays healthy, and if the Pacers
just aren't any good and they don't want to be any good, you could
definitely trade him to a playoff team because you just proved, like in the
postseason he's going to be able to stay on the floor and make a difference.
I had them like, I think they just probably need to whatever it's
without only what happens with Turner Broggden. It's so hard to pin because they're
gonna need a big yeah. And if they're moving Turner and it's not for
DeAndre and like, all right, who's that big? You have Isaiah Jackson
and Gogo Pazza, you're gonna need an other one. I had like Kyle
Anderson penciled in for this team. It's just like he's not gonna ruin your
timeline even though he's older for it. And you just need like a bigger
body to move about like the three in the four spots. I know he's
mostly a four now, doesn't provide much in the way of shooting for them.
But if Buddy Heeled is still on this roster and Brogden Halibert and and
Turner is still on the roster, if you're looking to just thread that needle,
like see what you like have for the start of next season, that's
the play and you have the cap space to be like, all right,
like fuck it, we can give him a little bit more than the non
taxpayer mL E over a short term. Maybe he takes it with the promise
of a bigger role. I just don't know. There the we went through
the restrictive free agents, but there aren't even like a ton of interesting,
cheaper young free agents in this year's class, Like I thought about Jordan Mora
for them would be like fairly interesting Jail Noel if Minnesota declines his team option.
I'm not sure what they're going to to do with that, but it's
just like that's how barren the market is right now. So they could be
that, you know, maybe I don't want to say a lower and Kyle
Anderson but better stop gaps. Could be Wantsasconna Anderson, who's just cheaper,
and you know that you could move him around the positional spectrum. I just
don't know what they're gonna I just don't. I feel like this is if
I had to predict, and this is kind of where I guess this conversation
needs to head. I think both Frog didn Turner will be traded this summer.
I think this is the off season that they take the stick of dynamite
in full. The Sabonus. I know there's been other reports, but the
Sabonus trade showed me that they're willing to do something seismic. Yeah, and
I think they follow through with it this offseason I think, I think I
probably agree. What do you think? I mean, this goes the total
opposite direction. But what do you think about a deal built around Gordon Hayward
and Miles Turner. Everybody loves the homecoming angle, but certainly Charlotte would I
think solve a lot of problems doing that. But is it just a question
of how much sweetener do you need coming from Charlotte? And because look,
Turner's expiring too, so it's not like you can really ask for the moon
just to take on Hayward's money. But do you have you have you thought
about that at all? Have you seen that? And what are your thoughts
on that? But yeah, I've I've thought about it, and I just
don't know what if Charlotte includes a sweetener at this point because the Hayward money
and there's a chance that he makes you too good to maybe be where you
want to be. But his fit on the roster is genuinely intriguing. And
then from Charlotte's perspective, and this is the problem, I ran into a
phoenix. They don't want to pay eighton and they don't seem like they want
to pay any big more than like twenty million. Turner is not necessarily gonna
be cheaper. He'll be cheaper than eight and I don't think he's getting the
max, but like that's probably someone who's still getting twenty plus, I would
guess unless something drastically changes. So I don't know how Charlotte would value him.
I think the more popular framework has been does Kelly Ubrid Junior, PJ.
Washington and something get you Miles Turner? And even then for Indie it's
like, well Ubray works, like could definitely fit. I don't know,
like Rick Carlisle, he's someone Rickcarlo might strangle, but yeah, you're doing
that trade for PJ. Washington and then the something And is that enough for
Miles Turner. Iven when he gets traded, I'll be fascinated to see what
his value is because it feels like that there's been division there with him for
quite some time. It's very much complicated by the fact that next offseason,
if Turner plays well, like we've all we already talked about him as a
big that fits a lot of places just because of the stretch and the shop
blocking, like you really might be renting him with the like the best outcome
being you're gonna have to pay him close to thirty million a year to keep,
because I do think that will be a pretty robust market for him if
he's not terrible next year. I will say I would love to see this
be like if they were willing to play him, and I don't think that
Rick Carlo would be Let's make this a Kevin Knox team just to grow him
out there someone. I just want someone to play Kevin Knox twenty five minutes
a game for like, you know, twenty five straight games, just to
see what happens. And I don't think the Pacers are that team, but
it seems like they're certainly gonna have the timeline flexibility to experiment with that.
Anything else from you on them, Jarrek Colver? Maybe like, is this
the second draft? Jarreck Colver? Team cover team? Any of these potential
rebuilders should all be the second second draft guys? I mean, like and
the injury question mark guys, PJ. Dozer, you know guys like that,
I think are all all in play. Troy Brown Junior would be possibly
interesting here, definitely not enough of a proven like his shot selection would probably
not be It's not great and he's an unproven shooter, but yeah, I'm
with you that they should be among the teams that are looking for these second
draft guys, the final team in the Central Division, which could end up
being like incredibly fascinating or not fascinating at all, depending on how you look
at it. Their key free agent Sergebaca. Bobby Portis has a player option
that I don't think he's decline is of yet, but they have early bird
rights on him and he's expected to return. Jordan mora early bird restricted free
agent. Wesley Matthews is the non bird, and so is Javon Carter.
Both of those guys, by the way, where players they should look at
bringing back. They don't really have any notable non guarantees. There's Luca Vildoza
one point eight million is non guaranteed the opening night, Ray John Tucker has
six hundred and fifty k guaranteed and then fully guarantees at one point eight the
last day of the moratorium. Notable extension candidate's Chris Middleton and Brook Lopez were
both eligible for extensions. The one that's more interesting to me, Pat Connaughton,
shocked everybody because we just we've been going through this wing free agency market
for quite some time now him opting into five point seven million, when he
could have gotten almost double that just based off the non taxpayer mid level exception,
maybe even more because the BUCKS can offer him more. He's extension eligible.
I would just predict that he's getting a four year extension that's worth it's
a one hundred and it starts at one hundred and twenty percent of the leaguest
average annual salary. Last year's average adgunmal salary in twenty twenty twenty one was
ten million, so that should be higher now or at least around there,
so he could get into the four year sixty million dollar range. Guaranteeing him
over the next five is five years, and like let's say sixty six million,
maybe that's more than he could have gotten. And it's definitely more than
he could have gotten in some on the open market. So I would expect
that that. I just thought when I saw him opted, I was surprised.
No notable trade exceptions. And their best spending tool is the mini mL
I have in parentheticals. The question of but will they use it? You
have to ask that question. That's tough. I hate that they look I
mean they I guess it's to their credit, they they finished inside the tax
this past year, but they're like as of right now, and yes,
there's they don't have a ton of roster spots actually filled on guaranteed contracts.
They are inside seven million dollars of the tax when you pencil in like the
minimum contract holes. That's a number. We talked about this with the Nuggets,
where Team governers are gonna look at and be like, well, you
know, like could we get could we get under that? And they have
these contracts that I'm sure they don't necessarily want where it's George Hill four million,
and then Grayson Allen feels like he was signed to be a trade piece
later on when you look at his nine point four million dollars number. But
they're putting on bringing back Bobby Portis and that's just gonna skyrocket your tax bill
anyway from there. So my guess is I'm prepared for them not to use
it because they're gonna look at, oh, well we're paying Portis and still
in the tax anyway. They absolutely this is without question, they absolutely should
use it. Yeah, I just I think they gotta because like just looking
at I don't think you can go in you know, Middleton's absence kind of
exposed a lot of things where if he's healthy for the full playoff run,
maybe maybe like we're just talking about the Bucks having repeated and it doesn't really
matter that much that like Wes Matthews, just the second he put the ball
on the floor, like the probability of a good outcome like went to zero.
Like Grayson Allen, I, you know, kind of got bumped out
of the rotation for defensive reasons like Connachton just can't be your only reliable reserve
rotation. I will say Wesley Matthew, he was probably too important to the
Bucks last year, but he held him a lot better defensively than I thought
someone who didn't begin the season on the roster. Shout out to the Lakers.
I don't know why they like why I didn't reside him, but please
carry on. I probably know that's just it. He was too important,
Like you can't that's not that's not what you want as a as a title
contender. Again, maybe it doesn't matter because everybody moves down the pecking order
of Middleton is healthy and you're not having to consider like, wow, we
really got you know, Alan and Matthew's out there together like this isn't this
is not a solid you know, title winning teams. So the tax pyramid
level, I don't know if it gets you the types of guys they need.
Like you're Gary Harris, You're you know, Daniel House, you probably
would get Auto Porter. Don't think so. Otto Porter is the like I
have his name written inside a heart for the Bucks and other teams. But
like Otto Porter is like the perfect free agent. If he's only costing the
mini MLI, the Warriors better be resigning him, but maybe I think they
can. I promised him a Biger role in Milwaukee. I also think you've
noted that Otto Porter's ideal role is not a bigger role. It's what the
Warriors were able to do with him this past season, right, yeah,
I think I think there is major downside risk with him, and positionally,
like Porter really is a four. So I love the idea of like Jannis
and Porter, you know, as a center, power forward combination. But
if you are going to commit quite a bit to Bobby Porters, I think
you can correct me. I think because they've got an early bird, they
can start a new deal at a round eleven million a year. So I
mean like that's a decent commitment. He's played well for them, unless you're
gonna trade Brook Lopez, which maybe we can talk about how likely that is,
how effective that will be in getting talent you need. It's kind of
harder for me to I love Porter almost everywhere. I think he would upgrade
the team, but like he's a four and I don't know if that's gonna
That doesn't feel replacing, say Wes Matthews with Auto Porter. I'm not sure
changes a ton just because I don't know how well Porter is gonna hold up
against some Wings defensively, It doesn't I think it improves your playoff lineup packages
to when you probably need to downsize more with Jannis, no doubt, no
doubt. What do you think about? Do you have other targets? Do
you want to talk about Lopez? Because if we're going to improve the roster,
be a trade, like he's pretty much the guy. Yeah, the
targets I had would be a mere Coffee was on there. I had Daniel
House as well. This would be a great t J. Warrant team.
I actually now I'm thinking about maybe you mentioned him, so, yeah,
that's it's like the same type of guys. I wouldn't mind if you were
looking for like the we're talking about the idea of Otto Porter, just go
for the minimum guy and watches Connoe Anderson. Let's just continue pillaging Warriors free
agents and we'll go with Damian Lee, who I just feel like the way
he moves off the ball and can shoot and is better defensively than a lot
of other minimum. I would argue minimum like he's gonna be better defensively now
than it Kemp pays more, is my point, So that like I would
look at that, But yeah, I think I don't think they would.
This dovetails with this. I wanted to know if one you thought they were
going to offer extensions to either Middleton or Lopez. I think Lopez. The
clear answer is no, Middleton is eligible for a three year, one fifty
two point five million dollar extension or four years and like two hundred million,
it doesn't have to be the full Would you offer the three year one?
I might do like a Kyle Lowry level thing from a couple of years ago,
where you're doing you're going three years, but you're staying under one hundred
million total. I don't think for three years one hundred million flat, Like,
yeah, I'm not offering Chris Middleton three a three year max extension.
I love Chris Middleton, but yeah, no, and his game theoretically should
age well because it's not really based on athleticism and he's always gonna be able
to shoot, so he does probably have plenty of leverage based off after he
got injured in the flat for sure. Yeah, there's no doubt that he
can go to them and say, look what happens when you don't have me?
And certainly I think at least with the big pieces, the Bucks have
done well to just like we're gonna spend, but there's everyone's got a limit,
and they are still a small, small market team and they've got the
ring already, so it's kind of like maybe there's less urgency. I don't
know. I think Lopez no no chance for an extension. I would like
it sucks for the continuity in the chemistry and you might just get you honest
saying you I will not allow it. But I think Lopez as a trade
candidate like makes perfect sense. I think if Charlotte wants to improve its defense
because Steve Clifford is the coach there now, even just for Kelly Ubre,
I think is not the craziest thing in the world. Probably Charlotte has to
give up a little more. But something like that where you just just get
me a wing. I know I can play that, can guard and do
stuff off the ball, and let me I'll just play you honest at center.
I think I'm comfortable with that going forward. So I think that that's
that to me, is like the clearest way for a team that doesn't have
a lot of avenues to get better. I had that exact trade mapped out.
Also the other the last target I had from Milwaukee. Daddy's young.
I would expect it he'll get more from Toronto, but if he falls into
mini Emily territory, not the perfect one, and it falls to how many
wings is he defending. But if you want to downsize, he's more valuable
than Bobby Portis. I don't even want to say downsize, but if you
want to go the non traditional center lineup rout, I have a couple other
though brook Lopez destinations. DeAndre Ayton leaves Phoenix, and I don't know what
the return is gonna be on him, But if they don't get a big
back, Brook Lopez for Jake Crowder. Oh, I like theeah, same
idea. I like that someone that's gonna I mean crowd or even at least
there need to be another shooting too. Does there need to be another moving
part in there? Let me check, No, there actually does not,
unless some way off on brook Lopez a salary of my sheet. No,
that would work. Yeah, so that could work the other one I had.
I don't know what san Antonio is doing brook Lopez for Josh Richardson just
exchanging expiring contracts and if you still have Yaka Purdle there, Like, is
brook Lopez a backup five is? I don't have a problem with that.
Yeah, No, I like that. Yeah, you just gotta go big,
big for a wing, which which is extremely hard to do anything else
for you on this team. I really well, I do think the depth
needs to come in the form of probably I want to see them get another
wing, but they could use like a backup guard who's the upgrade over George
Hill. Maybe that's just Jevon Carter. They just need depth, though,
to help them navigate any potential absences or minutes where they don't have their full
stable star power on the court. Yeah, I don't have any other specific
targets. I agree with what you said there. This was great. Thank
you for everyone who made it this far for listening. We did it in
under an hour, so we're kind of on the pace that we're supposed to
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next time. We'll leave with a shout out to the one, the only,
the free agent who actually wouldn't be a bad fit on any of these
five teams in the Central Division, Frankie Lakina.