What is up, fellow thermonuclear a eppers. I am dan Va Valley coming
at you with a Saturday podcast, apparently because I am wired from taking caffeine
a little bit too late in the day and I feel like there were stuff
to talk about that we caught behind on a little bit with the three mail
bags we put out. I hope you guys enjoyed those of you have not.
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I haven't putting an effort to put original content, polls and stuff up on
all of those platforms. Let's begin with the Al Horford noos in Boston.
He signs a two year, twenty million dollars extension. That's a I want
to call it a steal because yes, this is going to be his age
thirty seven and thirty eight seasons and he'll turn thirty nine and that pen ultimate
one. But two years and twenty million, that's less than what the mid
level is going to be if it's about ten million a year, like the
mid level is going up the non taxplayer's mid level to eleven. Again,
I know he's getting older, but his is a game that should age really
well. It's never been pride on explosion and the things he does are more
IQ and finesse and craft than anything else. Did you know having that half
season off and okay, see to his body so well that now it's like
extended his career. Not sure, but that's huge for the Celtics, I
think, not just because he's a good fit and for him. I get
it, he probably could have gotten more elsewhere. Maybe it's only over one
year, but it wouldn't have shocked me with the cap going up if some
team was like, we want Al Horford for our locker room, and here's
two years and like the twenty eight million or something like that. As timoc
Mann pointed out, he's gonna have made almost three hundred million dollars by the
time this next contract is up. So if he wanted to just prioritize winning,
and the Celtics are the best team in the league as we record this,
even after they're they're lost to the Miami Heat. I get that.
I don't like, you can't fault that, and it just seems like a
good fit. He seems happy there. But it's it's huge for the Celtics,
not just because he is good, but like the Robert Williams the third
seems like he's nearing a return, but he's injured all the time. You've
gotten good minutes out of Luke Cornette this season. You have Grant Williams he's
good, but he's going to restricted free agency, Like your front line isn't
necessarily settled, like yeah, one through four when you're Jalen Brown, Jason
to Him, Derek White, Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Sam How's are
lighting it up this year? Even Peyton Pritchard playing really well, Like you're
all kind of set you're looking at like the big man spots the four and
the five, Horford being able to play next to RW three, or just
being the soul big himself. Just having someone who has proven durable relative to
RW three and is not a flight risk anymore, like Grant Williams and restricted
free agency this summer. I think that that's that had to factor in a
huge deal for this I what I also do find interesting and I don't like
doing contracts in this context, but I feel like Corford's taking a little bit
of a risk in the sense that that final season feels like he could just
be traded because you have that expiring number at a tidy like ten million dollars
or whatever will end up being do they scale down, do they scale up,
We'll have to see. So like that's just like that's a contract that
feels like it's built to be moved. Maybe he's just too good and so
you're not getting rid of him anyway. But that's just something that's weird.
So I do think it's worth keeping an eye on. But this is a
it's a home run for the Celtics. Not again, Horford is good and
valuable to them, but I think he's even more valuable than he was last
season when you're kind of scaling ahead to what they're front court rotation might look
like. The next thing that we have to talk about at this point is
the I'm gonna go with the Chicago Bulls here, and they are not good.
They are Their defenses has impressed me. But Woje was on ESPN and
I'm going to play the clip for everybody, actually, but talking about how
Chicago could wind up being sellers at the trade deadline. So here's Woge on
ESPN. I think for the Lakers, a lot of teams in this league,
they're gonna be watching what happens. One of the teams we have playing
tonight, the Chicago Bulls. Do the Bulls pivot at some point this season?
Do some of their players become available. That's not the case now,
but I think for the Lakers between nine and February ninth. Are there some
high end talent that is not available now that becomes available closer to we speaking
of a certain guy who just has paid two hundred and fifteen million dollars in
its front selling California. Might his name come up? Zach Lavine, Damar
derozen Nikolausevic. I think those are all players people in the league. Teams
are waiting to see will any of them be available by the trade deadline?
Right now? This is a Chicago team that wants to make the playoffs,
wants to get a healthy Lonzo ball back. They're not ready to concede yet.
So the Bulls are not going to blow it up, And I get
why people think that they might, and I don't. I want to make
it clear, I don't think trading Voukovich would constitute blowing it up for them.
I just don't know, you know, long term, especially how valuably
is the Bulls. They've underachieved this year. Their offense has been on a
lot of nights. Dog shit. I don't understand why you're trying to build
a team around vouch, Lavigne and Rozen with very few athletic defenders and then
guys who don't get up three point volume. The Bulls are in the bottom
five of three point frequency, and I believe three point percentage as well.
I haven't checked the stats after their game with the Warriors. That's an issue.
A lot of it is Lonzo Ball is out and he's valuable to them
at both ends for three point volume and for just the you know, the
defensive disruption. I think this team they've surprised me with a number of turnovers
they've still been able to force. They are in the top ten of points
a lot per possession, so they've overachieved there and some of their lineups really
working, but the offense has been more of a slog than it should be.
How much of that is just Lavigne not really inform yet. He's shooting
like sub thirty two percent from mid range. Not his three point shooting is
dipped, but like he's still shooting a pretty high clip on his you know,
non corner threes, which I think is is a big deal. So
there feels like there's something off. Patrick Williams is sort of not being high
volume enough on offense even when he has those good nights, Like it is
their value in going to a four three or four from three. I'm not
talking about his O of eight performance from the field against Phoenix, of course.
Like but it's so low volume. So you look at this team and
it feels like they have so many that they're searching for so many things.
You see them change their starting line up against the Warriors where they're inserting Javonte
Green and Crusoe coming back, and so there's so many questions, and I
think a lot of people believe that, oh, maybe maybe they would blow
it up. We've seen the demard rose into the Laker scenario prop up.
Bill Simmons had talked about it. I didn't listen to the pod, but
I saw it get aggregated or at least thrown on Twitter. Zach Low mentioned
it on his pod that the Lakers have at least they have not ought made
an offer, but that there hasn't been in a discussion in Lake a Land
about oh, would we go after Vooch and the Rosen. I don't know
if that constitutes blowing it up. De Rosen's really good. I don't know.
Wooch's value of this team moving forward is complicated. I think he's probably
been better offensively overall. Than he was for much of last year, and
like, okay, good, there's there's value in that. And ideally,
when you're gonna build your offense Aroundomar Derosian, like, yes, it's he's
shooting thirty four percent from three good enough on that type of volume. Four
and a half attempts per game, and he's shooting almost fifty five percent on
his twos. I still believe even when Voch isn't good, he's just a
very effective connective passer. But look, the Bulls, they're not going to
blow up. They have that pick. They ower the magic with top four
protection. And so if you if you make a move to bottom out this
season, and I would constantly I think if you trade de Rosen kind of
knowing that Lonzo Ball might not play this year with that knee injury, that
would you know, you come pretty close to that. That would almost be
worse, you know, if you're gonna bottom out, bottom all the way
out, because if you have let's say top if you finished with one of
the three worst records, and we'll get into that in a second, you
have fifty two point one percent chance of getting a top four pick. So
yes, it's more than a coin toss. But it's basically a coin toss.
And so if you finish, you know, like your fourth fifth in
the order, excuse me, Like you could send like this prime time pick
two Orlando that you didn't need to so there's no value in bottoming out this
season. You could try it, like if you're getting a like a caps
Lock draft pick haul for Lavigne order Rosen and you really want to start over,
you could try it, like you could because you don't you look at
this as a sunk cost and then you just move forward with the picks and
maybe prospects that you've accumulated, and who knows if you finish with a you
know, one of the top lottery I was like, maybe you're able to
keep that pick. It's just look there, there's plenty of season left to
play. But you look at the Bulls and they're too close to the middle
to do that effective tank if you want to call it. They're six games,
six losses, excuse me, in front of the Orlando Magic and may
excuse me, it's five losses in front of the Orlando Magic. Okay,
fine, but like you have to tank your ass on like the Hornets.
What's going on Flamelo ball and they're they're just bad. The Thunder behind you,
And is there a point where they're gonna not play Shay as much if
they if they lose enough, they've been frisky. I will say that,
like the Thunder have been good, especially when she's on the floor. Does
that hold all season? The Rockets, Yeah, they beat the Suns on
the road, like that's cool and fun, but they're bad. The Spurs
they're awful. They might be. They've definitely been the worst team in the
league since they started the season, like Gangbusters, the Pistons. Kade's injured,
we don't know what he's coming back. They're going to be terrible.
They did beat the Mavericks though, but that's sort of an indictment on the
Mavericks. Oh Killian Hayes might be a superstar. And then the Magic are
just like they've dealt with a slew of injuries in the backcourt to Palap and
Caro as well, so they might like they're and there's a base there,
but we're talking about like you have to let's assume the Lakers leap probables right
now, Okay, fine, whatever, the Thunder, the Hornets, the
Rockets, the Spurs, the Pistons, the Magic Those are six teams that
you're in front of right now, and you have to out bottom out four
of them to have one of like the the top lottery odds in the equation.
So and then like, yes, it's it's it's it's likely that you
wouldn't be sending it's mostly likely that you wouldn't be sending Orlando like number five
or number six if you're finishing with the you know, one of like the
bottom two record or bottom three record instead of the absolute worst record, if
you finish the absolute worst record, like you can only send them you know
you'll be in the top four or you'll get number five, Like you can't
fall lower than five. But that would almost be more of a disaster.
Like it's you send them the seventh pick, because let's say you have the
third worst record, it's all right, Like what if you send them the
fifth pick? You just I don't think you can justify bottoming out in that
vein. And every everything we've seen from their front office is geared towards the
exact opposite. Is like they've tried to tread water, either in the middle
or just they read too much into I mean, when they went after de
Rosen in the first place, it's not a matter of it. But they
didn't necessarily double down on last season. They didn't make any huge moves,
but they were better than expected for part of last season. But the angle
was getting a lot better than people thought they should have, quicker than they
should have. They go and they trade for Voog and then you bring in
Lonzo Bong, You bring in Demartar Rozi, bringing an house Caruso Cruso signing
I thought was great. Signing Lonzo Ball turned out to be a good signing
force health that used the Rosen's making his money. So they haven't made any
franchise mal practice moves. Maybe the trade for Vouch when you're looking at the
opportunity cost here, especially with what Wendell Carter Jr. Has turned into.
So I get it. I get the criticism and I get the inclination too.
Yeah, someone comes along, it's gonna blow you away with an offer.
Who's blowing you away? For an offer for Demartar Rosen, Like,
yes, he is really good? Would you do that for the Lakers two
unprotected first round picks? Again, I guess you consider it because the rosen
Is in his age thirty three season. Excuse me, but like you do
risk then you're gonna send this high pick to Orlando. And I think that
this is going to be a franchise at least until the off season. They're
going to try and it might even be for the next couple of seasons,
because when you look at their pick commitment to Orlando, like, it's not
just okay, after this season, it's over, We're done with It's cool.
You owe a top four protected pick this year, and then it becomes
top three protected, So like you have two years now where that's a very
loosely protected pick. Tanking doesn't guarantee that you keep it. Like that's too
precarious of a situation to be in, because okay, you keep your pick
next year. This year, fine if you're if you're bad enough, but
then are you gonna be good enough to ensure that you maybe don't send another
prime time pick in twenty twenty four. No, And so it just doesn't
feel like the right timing of a rebuild when you're looking at the aim of
this organization and also the pick constraints that they're now up against, and like,
lookay, this kind of matters too. You're twenty twenty five pick is
o top ten protected to the to the to the Spurs, but two years
after that could be twenty twenty six depending on what happens with the Orlando pick.
It's just they're not set up to tank, which is bad. You
could again, if you're getting enough picks. Zach Lavine is going to be
the guy that gets you the most picks. Our team is willing to roll
the dice on him where it's yeah, he's got four years left on his
contract, which is an assets. He's nowhere near considered old, like this
is someone who is still in the heart of his prime, or since this
is age twenty seven seasons, he's just entering his prime. But all the
knee stuff in the rear view that has to be concerning. And so unless
you're getting bowled over with the Rudy Gobert type or Donovan Mitchell type return,
you're not going to blow it up. And so it's way more likely that
the Bulls, just knowing how loosely protected their first round or is the next
two seasons, you want to convey it now like it gets easier too if
you convey it this season then it's just it's over. It's done with,
and then you can start worry about, oh, it is maybe the time
to bottom out, because you can ensure that you don't send a top ten
ten protect to pick to San Antonio. And so this is more of a
question for the Bulls over the off season doing it now. Look, if
the Lakers came calling for two firsts and you think that you could tread water
enough without Dmarda rozen to just pick up the Lakers late first round picks,
so you have those in your chamber, I think you could go that route.
But we're not gonna see even if you're including both Votchin de Rosen,
do you think that the Bulls aren't going to be appreciably worse. Maybe they're
still not. If that, if you're gonna play zach Lavine, if Lonzo
comes back, if Carusoe stays healthy, if you know iotas soon moved,
this gives Patrick Williams some extra reps like, maybe you're I would still say
you're too good with zach Lavine to be one of like the worst teams.
But you're still in a position to where you might be sending Orlando a better
pick than you would want Again, that shouldn't be the entire factor, but
you have to at least safeguard yourself against the bottoming out part, And so
zach Lavine, specifically to me, would be off the table once he's trained
eligible. I just I don't see the value in doing it now unless you
are getting that return. But regardless of what they do, if they're sellers,
it's going to be more half asked to me than not. If they
went that route, which again I don't expect them to. It's not going
to be this full scale tear down because they just can't afford to do it.
And like the public relations nightmare would look if you're sending a very high
lottery pick to Orlando, now you could wind up doing that anyway. I
think that's the other argument here is like as of right now that you are
not even in the Eastern Conference playing tournament, Like yeah, you're hovering around
that territory, but you're behind the Knicks' you're in twelfth, So that can
be a factor. Oh we're still going to send them a lottery pick anyway.
But I do think the optics are going to matter to this franchise,
and they should what they shouldn't do. I would say, is doubled down
and like, oh, can we have technically that Portland pick this year?
If it you know, if it conveys, we have Patrick Williams. Is
there a team that's interesting in Kobe White, like you know we have Alice
Caruso. Is a team want to buy a unlnz of ball while he's injured?
I don't want to see them. I don't think this is a team
that should double down now and try and get noticeably better. If an opportunity
arises where the cost of entry for a player who really helps your team,
Like, is it someone who's really going to sling up your three point volume
or just give you more of an athletic defender on that type of a scale.
Yeah, absolutely do it. And again there's a team that's really in
love with Routovich. I don't I don't think losing him would be this blow.
I think you'd probably still be good enough to hover around play in territory.
Absolutely, but I don't think that you can make any wholesale buy or
sell moves here. And by that I mean you're certainly the Derosian is like
the middle ground. I would still mean against the team entertaining it. But
if the Lakers came calling with two picks, you have to I'm talking about
it. It's the Zach Lavine demarcation line getting rid of him. It's just
it's not happening, and he's not young enough to be part of rebuild.
But he's young enough to where like you can wait until the summer. Nothing's
gonna happen with value and maybe you retink or the roster feel better about it
with him, or that's when you make this decision. After you've conveyed you're
loosely protected pick to Orlando, so it's you're not gonna go to that extreme.
But you also can't be like, you know, this isn't one of
the teams that should be trying to sneak in and get into John Collins sweepstakes.
For interest, I'm just throwing name out there. Or if Bradley Beale
becomes available, that's a more feasible name that feels like they could become available,
Or if they heat really just keep sucking even though they just beat the
Celtics and Jimmy Butler wants that, like you, that's a bad example because
I don't think Jimmy Butler want to go back to Chicago. So like,
you just shouldn't be the team that's going to be an extreme buyer or an
extreme seller. You're kind of I think the Bulls are trapped here for now.
Just I don't think you want to put yourself at risk of sending Orlando
to Glitzie of a first rounder this season. So I would expect them to
be And so if we're talking about like medium buyers or sellers, I would
still lean that I think they'll be buyers over sellers, if not stam patters,
but that is something to monitor. I just don't think teams waiting for
Zach Lavine around the league. And maybe we're just talking about the Lakers here,
because that's such a delusional organization. It's not going to happen. Let's
go into the Lakers, who there was some news in Laker Land, because
this team is a speculation factory first and then a basketball team second. At
the moment, multiple sources told The Athletic that the Lakers are weighing three different
paths to noticeably improving their roster. They are Path one, trade Russ plus
a pick or two for a star or multiplayer hall. Path two, trade
some combination of Patrick Beverly, Kendrick Nunn and picks one first and or multiple
seconds for role players who better address needs and upgrade the rotation. And then
there's path three, which is doing both of those, where it's trade one
pick one first round pick with Westbrook and then another first round pick using Beverly
or none. I don't really know what's I think the all in path just
makes the most sense. If you're gonna trade both first round picks, like,
really do it and see if you can do Russ plus two first?
What does that get you? I don't love Path two. Trade some combination
of like Beverly and Nunn and maybe at first that that's half assed. And
I don't know who you're going If you have to give up a first round
pick to get an he wanted if it's just them and seconds, yeah,
sure, that's that's half ass. But you're not giving up any really glamorous
equity. But if you do attach one first, I'd rather see what I
could get for both, just because like, what are what are you doing
at that point? With all this said, though, I came up with
trade ideas, some one of which was at least a refinement of previous talks
that we know they've had for all of these scenarios that I'm gonna go through.
So I have one I trade idea for each one. I'll throw it
up on the screen for any YouTube watchers. We'll go with path number one,
the Star route. That is it's it's with the Pacers surprised. So
in this deal, I have the Lakers getting O'shaber set, Buddy Healed,
Miles Turner Cleveland's twenty twenty three first round pick, it's lottery protected and then
turns into two seconds if not conveyed. And then the Pacers get Damian Jones
Russ Chicago's two and twenty three second which you know that could be in the
thirties, and then the Lakers two and twenty seven and twenty nine first round
picks unprotected. This was not a trade. I think both sides were kind
of just like Lakers fans were not amused by this. They don't think that
you they don't think that you give up two first round picks to play to
get a player who plays Anthony Davis's best, albeit his least preferred position.
At the same time, Turner is the closest acquisition to a star the Lakers
can reasonably chase without almost as shortly getting out bid by other teams. They
can dangle swaps in twenty six and twenty eight on top of twenty seven and
twenty nine those unprotected first, and it is a lot, but other teams
will offer more. If it's a name like Bradley Beal or Zach Lavine,
maybe that package gets you into a theoretical Beal sweepstakes since he has a no
trade clause and can very much control where he goes, but neither he North
Washington Wizards have given any indication that they wish to dissolve the marriage once he's
eligible to be traded on January fifteen. That's what you would be waiting for.
By the way, I do think it, Jimmy Butler trade a man
could be interesting for the Lakers. He's thirty three three seasons left on his
deal one hundred and forty six point four million, that final years of fifty
two point four player option. Both are prohibitive numbers if you're prospective suitors.
And while I think the Lakers would gladly go all in for that, another
team might still come over the top and beat their best offer of an expiring
contract two swaps and two unprotected first I also just feel like that ventures too
far in the land of make believe. I don't think that Jimmy Butler wants
to leave Miami right now. There's also the Kyrie Irving trade scenarios. They
loom, but the nets are back above five hundred and moving. Kyrie risks
alienating Kevin Durant, who is one absolutely annihilating opponents on offense and two already
requested a trade once himself. That's why I settled on Turner. He's having
his own monster season. His scoring has never looks fiffier post ups having accounted
for such a high share of his offensive touches since he was a rookie,
and that was in twenty fifteen twenty sixteen. His one point two one points
per post up possession. By the way, that's tied for Brook Lopez for
the most among every player who has used as many post ups as Miles Turner.
Turner's also downing almost thirty eight percent of his triples on It's like okay
volume a little under five attempts for thirty six minutes, and we've seen him
just drop in some nice running layups or tough looks off drives. He,
by the way, just continues to ruin lives around the basket. This is
the third consecutive season in which he's averaged more than three blocks per thirty six
minutes, and he ranks tied for third in total shots contested at the rim,
even though he doesn't even rank in the top one hundred and fifteen minutes
played. Figuring out how the Lakers hash out this deal, though, is
incided so much back and forth. Why would the Lakers give up their two
best trade ships for someone entering free agency who, like I said, plays
Anthony Davis's best position. I do think the offensive fit would be rather seamless
thanks to Turners three point shooting. And if you're getting rid of Russ in
the process, you are opening up Miles Turner centric touches inside the offense.
If that's going to be an issue for him, surrendering both first to me
is still tough pill to swallow. The Lakers have to pay Turner this summer,
and that's assuming he wants to stick around. And though Heeld's functional shooting
is a breath of fresh air for one of the clumpiest offenses in the league.
His nineteen point three million dollars salary next season makes it harder for Relay
to operate as a meaningful cap space team and free agency this summer at this
same time, waiting for the Pacers to drop their asking price to one first
round pick just doesn't make sense. It gets it gets easier for them to
swallow Russell westbrook salary now that we're so late into the season. But that
number forty seven point one million is so gargangeou it hamstrings their ability to do
anything other than wave him or broke or a buyout. They should absolutely assess
an opportunity cost tax even though he's a temporary cap hit. That's why I
expanded the deal. So send o' shaber set and the Calves First to Los
Angeles for the Pacers. They might push back on that, but that Cleveland
First, if it conveys, is going to be in the twenties and recess
playing time is waxed and waned with this team. The Pacers should prefer to
me the chance to short the lakers long term future over keeping a low end
first and a player on an expiring contract who's just not going to be part
of your team long term, A long term I get that this takes a
special kind of vision. Crown jewels and a trade typically aren't picks that don't
convey for five and seven drafts. But the Pacers aren't drowning in extra first
rounders after the season. They have Boston's in Cleveland plus their own in twenty
three, and that's it. This is a chance to deepen that assets that
asset Chest and the Lakers first could be gems that the Pacers draft and develop
or highly covered a trade assets they reroute down the line when they're really good.
Forking over Cleveland's first, to me, is also a negligible add on.
When Indie has that Boston pick, Can you include the Boston pick instead
of Cleveland's. There's a difference between number thirty and number twenty two to me,
and if I'm the Lakers, I'm pushing for Cleveland also by trading Turner
and Healed that even Brisett, you're juicing up the value of your own draft
pick this season, which I do think is important because you're still in for
as good as you are or as you know is. I do think that
their offense is more real than not. This is a team that I think
will pull back a little bit, especially when you look at their point differential,
but like, you still should be in talent as young talent acquisition mode.
I know Turner is an ancient, but is paying his next contract ashming
he wants to stay. Which is the other element of all this. What
if he doesn't want to stay India no matter how much you offer. That's
that's a possibility given how much he's been in trade rumors. People pointed out
to me that this is not how the Pacers operate. It's this is the
closest they've come to operating like that. Though we saw them sort of lean
into the tank or bottoming out last year with the Sabonis trade. I know
they were playing Tyrese Halibert up until the end like they were still pretty bad,
and they embraced it. So you do this if you're the Pacers,
to me, you're not giving up any long term assets. And if you're
the Lakers, you probably want more of a surefire all star. But did
you get at least another first round pick that you can reroute later or maybe
draft this summer? And then Brissette has quietly nailed forty one point four percent
of his three since mid November, and he maintained positional flexibility on defense,
which is something they really need on the perimeter. Let's go to path two
here. So path two is the None Beverly and one first round pick route.
It's my favorite route, but I have a deal for it because that's
the rules. This one is the Lakers get Yaka Peardle and Josh Richardson,
the Spurs get Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Chicago's twenty twenty three second,
and then the Lakers twenty twenty seven first round pick. Some Spurs fans will
no doubt ins his Peartle is worth more than a singular first. That's a
tough case to make if we're talking about two lower end first perhaps, but
an unprotected pick a half decade is shout not so much. And also,
san Antonio isn't absorbing Westbrook as part of this package. That matters. Teams
are supposed to charge for that service. The Spurs are evading it all together.
None and Beverly, by the way, that's not players the Spurs will
be interested in. They can be routed or eventually, if not immediately,
become buy out candidates. Peartle's overall value is further complicated by his functional limitations
and upcoming free agency. He is a crafty decision making near the elbows,
great screen center, and savvy rim protector who's overstretched. When he's been healthy
within the context of San Antonio's like weird defense this year, it has not
been good. He's also a crunch time liability because of his free throw shooting,
and his entry into free agency this summer renders him a flight risk.
He's suffering from a quad injury right now. I don't know if that impacts
his value either. The Lakers aren't going to value him anywhere near as turn
as much as Turner, and that's what they should do. His offensive fit
next to a D isn't as squeaky clean, and he's unlikely to be part
of the Lakers go to closing units. Still, the things he does well
will help, especially given that Damien Jones and Thomas Bryan It failed to make
an impact. Richardson is mission critical wing death. He can be matched up
defensively with everyone from guards to power of wings, and he subsists basically on
catch and shoot threes at this point, which he's downing at a forty percent
clip traveling this path overall, though fields half baked. Like I said,
it allows the Lakers to straddle two lines in theory, but it's also a
vote of half confidence in practice. If they want If if that's what they
want, then so be it. This trade makes them better, doesn't entirely
bankrupt their first round pick stores, and preserves their capacity to dredge up thirty
plus million in caspace over the summer because both Richardson and Peartle are expiring contracts.
I would would I do it? If I'm the Lakers. This is
not the trade I would actively pursue, But there are worse deals to make.
But the fact that Russ would still be sitting on this roster afterwards,
you probably really can't play him in Peartle together, and you certainly can't play
him Petle in a dgether at the same time. Now we get though to
the to the exciting one. That's the path three, the multi deal route,
which I swished into one trade. But there's there's three teams here,
so let's go through it. The Lakers received Boyard Bodonovitch, Alec Burke's,
Malik Beasley, Mike Conley, and Kelly Olynok. The Pistons get Patrick Beverley,
Rudy Gay, the Lakers twenty twenty nine first round pick. The Jazz
get Damian Jones, Kendrick Nunn, Russell Westbrook, Chicago's twenty three second two
and twenty six first round swap from the Lakers, and then an unprotected two
and twenty seven pick the Jazz in this scenario, so you're you're sending out
if you're Utah, Malik Beasley, Mike Conley, Kelly Olynok, Rudy Gay.
So you're sending out those four players and you're getting back three expiring contracts,
Chicago's two thousand and twenty three second the swap for the Lakers in two
thousand and twenty six, which is far enough away that they might use it,
and then that Lakers unprotected pick. So you're trading those four players that
I just outlined for the Lakers first round pick in twenty seven, that swap
in Chicago's twenty twenty three second round. Like that's the that's the value're getting
is those three assets. The other value you are getting, though, is
you're escaping the final year of Regae's contract. He has a player option and
then Mike Conley. He's been good this year, but he has that huge
guarantee, So you're really cleaning up your books by bringing in all these expiring
contracts. There's value in that from a flexibility standpoint. Even if you don't
expect Utah to be free agency players, which you shouldn't. I you know,
if I'm the Jazz, I do this. They the Conley guarantee.
It's not bad money, but it's not an asset. And I think if
you believe in this team and you just want to stamp pat and see it
through, that's one thing. But to add another unprotected first round pick in
the distance to your cachet at first round picks, that's huge. That's that's
honestly huge. And look, if you want, I'll point this out.
If you want the Lakers twenty twenty nine first round pick, Detroit should be
amenable there. If I'm Utah, I prefer twenty seven, even though they
have mean they have picks in both years. They have two extra picks in
twenty seven right now and two extra picks in twenty nine, I believe.
But when you're going out to two twenty nine, that's just that's too long
for me because the Lakers, like, maybe they stumble into a free agent
or something like a star free agent because free agency. Yes, stars don't
leave right now, but maybe they do within the new CBA when the you
know, the cap spikes up. So you get two twenty seven, where
again you have Cleveland and Minnesota's first round picks. But those teams feel,
especially Cleveland, feel more likely to be good them than the Lakers, So
I would choose two and twenty seven. The question is are you doing this
for the one first round s the one first round pick? Again, I
would because there's that swap in there. So the Lakers are truly bad and
you're better than them. You do control two of their first round picks,
and I don't think giving up Kelly Olynok been useful for them this season will
be useful for the Lakers, by the way, but he's not part of
your long term pickus like you have Walker Kessler there Jared Vanderbill who Walker casts
already taking minutes for So like you don't need Kelly Olneck and you're probably not.
Maybe you resign him. I shouldn't say never, but like he's not
mission critical to your future. Again, Mike Conley you have Jordan Clarkson,
you have Colin Sexton, so you're not light on guards. Malik Beasley is
the tough one here. I think this trade comes down to basically, how
much do you value Malik Beasley on that team option so you control him through
next season if you want. He's really he's shooting like forty almost over thirty
nine percent from three attempts per game. There's a ton of value in that.
But I would prefer if I'm the Jazz, Like I'm not, this
is not a tank move. I want to make that clear, like,
yeah, you're leaning further into the rebuild, but I want that those control
those two Lakers picks, and then you're you are probably juicing up the value
of your own pick this year, so and again you're getting off the Rudy
game money and but the fact that you're getting out from under Mike Conley's partial
but huge guarantee that's going to give you more flexibility moving forward. Maybe they
push for both first. If I'm the Lakers, I just I leave that
on the table. From Detroit's perspective, you're getting you have to eat the
one year of Rudy Guey. That's fine. Patrick Beverley, buy him out,
wave him whatever, reroute him done, and just to get an unprotected
pick down the line, and you're giving up Alec Burks and Boyan Bogdanovitch.
Now maybe you get you're not getting a first for Alec Brooks on your own.
I want to make that clear, like it's just not happening. He's
been pretty good, but when he's played, he started the year injured.
But you're not getting a first round pick for him. You might get one
for Boyan Mdonovitch. I'm gonna tell you right now, it's not gonna be
one that's seven drafts out, which if you're Troy Weaver, are you thinking
that long term? Maybe not, because you might not be the one running
the team, and it's hard to sort of justify the crown jewel being this
pick that conveys seven drafts from now. However, that's a massive chip to
get for Boyan Magdonovitch, who, Yeah, he's useful to you, but
with Kade injured and you're not really headed anywhere this season. He's under contract
for one more year guaranteed after the extension, and then another year after that
if you want to keep him. So there's value in that for the Lakers,
but he's not going to be part of your bigger picture. So to
give up Burks, you're basically you have to go a Burks and Bogdanovitch and
then eat one year of Rudy Gay at under seven million dollars to get the
Lakers twenty twenty nine first round pick. You do that, I don't even
think that's a question. If Pistons fans were listening to let me know what
you think there, and I hope I'm breaking. I know three team trades
are to complicated, so I'm trying to go through what the teams are giving
up. So if you're the Lakers, now, you're giving up Russ,
Damien Jones, Kendrick Nunn, Patrick Beverley, so all those players firing contracts
gone. I think that's fine. You're giving up the Chicago twenty twenty three.
Second, you're giving up both the first round picks in addition to the
swap. So the only thing you have left, like right now to Deechnley
trade would be a twenty twenty eight swap, which you could include that to
Utah. They prefer that over twenty twenty six. By the way, I'm
just saying, are you doing that when you get back? This is the
Lakers hall Boyanmogdonovitch, Alc Burks, Blik Beasley, Mike Conley, Kelly Lynnick
I would do it. I like, you're not getting a star, but
Conley's an expert game manager. You have Malik Beasley, like I said,
slinging it from three helps out a Tony. You can get some wing minutes
from him. Boyobodonovitch gives you someone on one creation if you need it.
But we'll also his three point shooting is ticked down since the K County cam
injury. Maybe that's related, but it'll come back up, like he's gonna
be teed up from Lebron James and Mike Conley here, who he's already played
with, by the way, so there's some familiarity there. Like you're you're
all of a sudden like you have a ton of shooting, Olenik, Conley,
Beasley, Burks, Butdonovitch, those are five above average shooters on a
roster that just barely has any right now. The only thing you can argue
is, oh, do we have sort of a death like a surplus of
that now? Because Lonny Walkers on this team and all of a sudd Now
we have molliek Beasley and Mike Conley and Boyobodonovitch Alec Burks, you're getting rid
of Kendrick Nunn and Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley is part of this. So
like there's not two. If there's an evenness, fine, it's better to
have a surplus of shooting and even guys who can create for themselves rather than
a deficit of shooting with guys who can create for themselves but not efficiently.
So those five players for two, let's just look the assets are. If
you're the Lakers, the two first one swap for Bogdanovich, Burke's, Leek
Beasley, Mike Conley and Kelly Olynik. I'm doing it, and you're punting
on cap space next year. Because Conley has that fat partial guarantee it checks
in at fourteen point three million in his age thirty six season, you probably
just guarantee the full twenty four point four at that number and work with it
if you want to trade him later. And then Malik Beasley has that team
option for I think he's it like sixteen. That's you know, sixteen point
five. You probably picked that up and then Boyomardanovich has another left on his
deal, you can reevaluate then in twenty twenty four free agency when when,
depending on like what happens with the salary cap, you might just have more
flexibility anyway, And so I don't think that needs to be a big deal.
And these are all players that they'll be on expiring contracts and then you
can move down the line. Kelly Olyny can play next to Anthony Davis.
He can also just be your five. So I I don't I understand why
you wouldn't do this because you want a star for those two picks, and
like now you're just playing your best hand. But like this, I think
this is my favorite trade for the Lakers, and I don't think I'm fucking
over any other team. I saw some jazz fans in my comments because I
wrote about this, who don't think it's realistic for Utah. I'm just saying,
you have to really, like, what is the prime time asset you're
giving up here? You're if you're looking at it, we're not getting enough
because we're taking on Russell Westbrook. I get it, but at this point,
if this trade happens after December fifteenth. It's it's like a half season
of Russ's salary, and so your I guess your value there is, Well,
we're sending the Lakers two players in Commy and Beasley who are under contract
for next season. That helped them, But like, Commy's not going to
be desirable money. I think he's at it like anything a net. I
think he's a net negative at that number next season. I'm gonna be honest,
but maybe a net neutral. And I love my Commy. Anyone who
listens to the podcast knows how big a fan of his game. I am.
But like, you're still getting off of the Rudy Gay money, and
you're getting control over two of the Lakers first and like you don't need any
imminent first round picks right now, and maybe you know and like again the
twenty twenty three Chicago second rounder, that's like sort of nice and nifty if
you weren't getting off of Rudy Gay, if you weren't getting the swap,
I get it, But I think this is it toes the line of just
enough. Now, if you want to push for Austin Reeves, like would
the Lakers give him up in this deal? Like does that do it for
you, Jazz fans. I'm honestly asking. I'm not trying to be an
asshole here. I hope we don't have commenters on YouTube who just attack and
say I don't watch basketball or that I suck. Always happy to have discussions,
but I get so frustrated when we put so much effort into this podcast
and the YouTube commenters just like trash it by saying we suck and that we
should stop, or that we don't watch games. It's I don't know why
it bothers me. It shouldn't, but I think because I look at YouTube
comments sins, I want to respond to people like I want to people feel
like the ones that are watching us consistently they're part of a community. So
hopefully people at least take this understand I'm not trying to fuck over the Jazz
I know, or discordant joint artist Chord Wink wink. They'll understand where I'm
coming from. Maybe it's not enough, you can let me know, but
I think this is my favorite deal for the Lakers. I love it for
the Pistons, and if I'm the Jazz, look you're getting give them the
pick of the litter. They can have a twenty twenty eight swap and the
twenty twenty nine first Like they can pick one of the swaps twenty six or
twenty eight and then one of the first round picks and then the other first
round pick will go to Detroit. I think that comes pretty close and if
it, if it doesn't, like you can rework the deal I supposed to.
Where are you not giving the Lakers Kelly Olinok? Would you prefer to
give him Jeff Vanderbilt at this point? Also, the other thing I need
to know to hear is the Lakers luxury jacks bill skyrockets as a result of
this, if they cheap out, I think the easy thing to do is,
like you can rework it so it's basically the same structure. But Alc
Burks isn't going to Los Angeles. Does he end up back in Utah?
Like that would be something that we would have to maybe look at. He
could also just stay in the Detroit Like that structure would work as well.
I can rework the deal and I did to where Alec Burks is just not
a part of it. So the Lakers want to cheap out, their bill
is still gonna go up anyway. But this I think, Look Lebron,
ad boy E, Madonovich, Alec Burks, Malik Beasley, Mike Conley,
Kelly Olynik. Those are seven really good players right there. You have Austin
Reeves, assuming he's not part of this deal on your roster. That's like
all of a sudden, a real eight man rotation. And it's oh hey,
like we have Lonnie Walker, the fourth is still doing things for us.
So like nine guys like nine, like all of a sudden, going
nine good like above average let's say seven to eight above average NBA players deep,
I don't know why you wouldn't do it. And the other the other
note would be if one of the other teams wants Thomas Bryant instead of uh
Damien Jones, then yeah, just like flip them out there. They're interchangeable
there, so does it make them contenders? I like if lerondor healthy,
like, there isn't a team in the West that would scare me. I
stuss roster. You can ask whether they're good enough defensively, but like it
might not matter with how well a D is played. And you have Austin
Reeves, so like you have those two as your baseline defenders and Mike Conley
at his age is still probably pretty underrated for what he does. Malik Beasley
not like very great. So you know, like you have defenders you can
trust, maybe including Lebron. At this point, I would say, like
there wouldn't be a team. The Nuggets and the Suns and the Pelicans all
stick out the Warriors, Like, yeah, those are teams that I might
still pick ahead of the Lakers. But this is going in and you're deepening
the roster. Ton, So let me know what you think about these deals.
Until next time, please want remember to subscribe to a sub on YouTube
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I'll give to chat out to the one the only the answer to all
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Frank Nila Keena