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What is track lack and fellow thermony
Here a effort high and damn valley coming

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00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:25,879
out. You went my certified van
aapolist co host mister Grant. Here's we

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are beginning the offseason grade Trek,
starting with I thinked the Southeast Division.

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We did not clear this before we
really read into the podcast. This is

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a terrible prep, even though we
both put in a bunch of prep for

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it before we get started. The
usual reminder, please remember subscribe if you

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have not already, hit that sub
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Love us back, leave reviews and ratings

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you've done both those things, tell
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media. Share an episode, whether
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linked to people who you know like
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Joined our discord. The link to
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merch The link to that store is
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Grant, how the heck are you
doing so good? Dan? I'm

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happy to as usual, Like I
sort of forgot everything that happened in the

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draft and free agency because it was
so so long ago. So this is

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always helpful for me and to get
to talk to you and doing it is

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Is it just a nice added bonus? Are you ready to carry the multiple

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podcasts that we're recording today as I
run on fumes congested fumes. Yeah,

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feel like I'm adding a D to
everything I say. Like internally, I

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just feel being added to everything I
say. Well, speaking of should we

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start with the Atlanta Hawks in the
Southeast Division, Yes, I wanted to

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go over the criteria that we used. Really, I don't know if I

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just threw random grades on there.
See people get mad. C is considered

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a passing average grade, and it's
I don't know how many cs are ultimately

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gonna goll out collectively. Don't get
mad if your team gotta see and I

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think I graded it relative to what
I thought within reason, they could have

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done, where it's okay if you
don't like that. The Houston Rockets,

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who are not going to appear in
this podcast, signed fred van Fleet,

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who what is the move that they
missed out on by doing that? And

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then the other thing I struggled with, and we mentioned this at the top,

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is how do you handle teams that
did fundamental things and made these organizational

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decisions that we don't necessarily agree with. Where the Bulls, who will not

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be on this podcast either, everything
they did in a vacuum was kind of

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solid, but you thought that they
should have torn it down, like do

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you ding them? Did you ding
them in your grade for that? I

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think for me, like part of
what makes this tricky is that ultimately it

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kind of comes down to how closely
did what the team actually you know,

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how closely did the team's decisions align
with like what I would have done if

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I were in charge, you know, which is that presupposes that I have

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any idea what I'm doing and I
know how to run an NBA team,

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which is not the case. But
like that's kind of the starting point,

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right because you're just grading it against
that that price is in all the well,

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what could they have done, how
much should they have paid this guy?

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Should they have paid this guy at
all? That's just you know,

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you're basing it on like the overall
NBA market and like what other players went

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for and things like that. But
it ultimately is just kind of like would

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I have done this, you know
how and how much does this deviate from

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what I would have done where I
in the position of the you know,

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head decision maker. So like that's
that's the big grain assault here, I

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think for the grades. But yeah, it really it does for me and

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encompasses like what were the team's opportunities, what's the team trying to do as

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nearly as we can discern that,
and then in terms of like are they

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trying to get better? Are they
tearing it down or are they trying to

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make you know, a run from
a playing team to the sixth seed or

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whatever? Are they contending like,
and then you try to minimize like how

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much you think their direction is like
good or bad or right or wrong,

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and then kind of frame the decisions
and grade based on like, well,

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if that was the goal, how
well did they you know, sort of

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pursue it. That's kind of I
mean, that's long winded it, but

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that that's sort of how I went
about it. But again, but like

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you, a sea is not a
bad grade. A sea is like this

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is you know, not the meme. But like this is fine. You

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you did, you did well.
Nothing's on fire. Most likely nothing's on

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fire if you got to see anything
below that, like you might have some

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issues. But yeah, I think
I think we approached it pretty pretty similarly.

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And unlike last year, we're not
going to list off every transaction.

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We're trying to talk about the big
bullet points or someone. If we think

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the other person forgot something, we
will do that. And if you think

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we forgot something, you're free to
get at us. On on socials,

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do you want to you want to
start us off with the Southeast Atlanta Hawks.

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Yeah, so just the basics here, uh, in no particular order.

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Drafted Kobe Buffkin at fifteen, Traded
John Collins finally mercifully to the Jazz

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for Fruity Gay in a future second, which okay, we'll talk about that

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some more trade exception they're not going
to use. You can mentioned that.

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This is why, this is why
we need you to chime in, because

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I did not put the trade exception
on my some it's to be fair.

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I think it's immaterial because they're not
they're not going to use the twenty three

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million dollars traded players. In some
cases that would be material. That's a

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big you know, that's that's not
not for not for the Kings of we're

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going to pay the tax, but
not really right, We're going to pay

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the tax, but not really uh
s being of paying signed to Jean Tay

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Murray to an extension four years.
The range is like I think I'm looking

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at it as like one hundred and
fourteen million, but it can go a

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little higher. There's a player option
on the last year there they had.

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The Hawks had a complicated multi team
trade where they got a bunch of guys

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tight Ty Washingtons, Mangaruba. Ultimately
they ended up with Patty Mills. Basically

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is what you need to know from
all that and unless like that's that's West

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Matthews. They signed for the minimum. Anything I missed there that you would

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you know, label as noteworthy.
You kind of directed us towards sort some

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of the like broader issues that we
should probably discuss about the Hawks, like

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what's the plan, how how willing
are they to spend and like where do

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they where do they think there they
are in the East, and did they

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do enough to you know, get
there. We know they botched the John

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Collins situation, and this was all
done in service for the most part,

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getting out Even if you think John
Collins is deals in that negative, which

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is fair to believe at this point, as much as we have conviction that

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he is still a good basketball player, this was all done in service or

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just ducking the tax, and that
always rubs me the wrong way. Now,

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are they good enough to pay the
tax? I don't know. I

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do think they hit a home run
with the Jon Murray extension. However,

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because of that extension, you're now
sort of rolling these same problems in the

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next offseason where it's all right with
Trey and Murray making a little bit more,

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and we have Bargdanovitch on the books, and we have we have Clint

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Cappela, and there's gonna be DeAndre
Hunter too, And what's gonna happen with

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some of these guys who are are
extension ledible that will be thinking about their

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next deals. This feels like a
team that's going to be straddling the luxury

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tax line, trying to play that
game a little too long. And it

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feels like I look at this roster
and believe so all they've kind of done,

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is kicked the can and next summer
we'll be talking about, oh did

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they dump Clint Capella because like they
have on Yaka Kungu coming up. I

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that all aside. I'm not the
whole John they boxed the John Collins situation.

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I don't if you want to look
at the the TPE is like this

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massive win for them to if they
want to make an acquisition at the beginning

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of next summer. Maybe not,
it probably won't be this season. Sure,

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I don't think that they are any
better right than they were at the

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start of this asset. And you
really have to believe that Kobe Buffkin is

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gonna come in and be great,
and I do like his abilities to finish

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her at the rim. Where does
he fit in to this guard rotation?

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Just so you have Trey Young and
de Jontay Murray and a Bardanovitch. So

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I was thoroughly unimpressed with their offseason. I don't know what moves they've left

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on the table, but for them
to identify that their biggest goal was to

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not get better, but to upkeep
their books. If I'm a fan,

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it's just really disappointed because they didn't
even chase upgrades and then the final thing

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I'll say is this the maybe saving
grace is they've been linked to Pascal Siakam,

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and so it seems like they're willing
to give up Adrian Griffin, AJ

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Griffin, excuse me, and DeAndre
Hunter and stuff to get Siakam. Maybe

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that would change the context of the
grade, although it would be you know,

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they would be sacrificing a lot of
floor spacing there for a team that

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has to work on its outside shop
profile already. How much so the John

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Collins thing is interesting to me because
you know, that was his market value

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turned out to be at the time
they decided to trade him, or at

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the time they decided you know,
they were able to or had to not

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very good Like Rudy Gay in a
second, that's that's not great. How

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much do you hold the fact that
like Collins was even on the team long

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enough for his value to decline to
that point against the Hawks for this offseason,

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because you know what I mean,
like, there was a time where

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probably they could have traded him for
a first or more than that, and

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they didn't. And this will come
up in a lot of other teams too.

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It's you know, did the did
the move they made with Collins this

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you know, this past month,
like that's that's not a good move,

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but it looks way worse because of
what theoretically they could have traded him for.

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I just don't know how to kind
of weigh that. So I wonder

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how you think about it. I
think because we're talking, at least to

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some extent about a previous front office
regime that decided to marginalize him with some

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of the talent that was coming in. I don't know how much you hold

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it against them, but this front
office definitely had a strong voice during the

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middle of the season, and so
to not move John Collins at the trade

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deadline and then settle for this where
it was a salary dumb like it was,

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it was just a straight salary dumb
for them. I feel like that's

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a pretty big with on there,
and they didn't have as much time,

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but they had the same information that
Travish Lank was working with for all these

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years, and they just the Hawks
kept putting people on top of him in

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the offensive pecking order, which has
never made sense. Yeah you want to

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get to the grade for this team, Yeah, where'd you end up?

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With them? So the Hawks were
five hundred last year. They to me,

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they did not get better. You
said this, so it's a D

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plus and I think it's probably it
could be lower if not for the Murray

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extension, which is, you know, that's not a it's not an insignificant

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amount of money, but I think
it's it's less than I didn't think a

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Murray extension was realistic, and we've
talked about this a little bit. So

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to get it done, and get
it done at a number that you know

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is at least reasonable and might actually
be like an objectively good deal like value

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wise, that bumps them up from
what could have been a D or you

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00:10:54,039 --> 00:10:58,000
know, a D minus even I
think to me, yeah, I went

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with a D plus as well.
I wanted to go lower, but I

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00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,840
like, I think the Buffkin pick
was reasonable because I like him. I

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just don't know his path to succeeding
in Atlanta, which sort of muddied it

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00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,919
for me. But I really like
the Jante Murray session. Like like you

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00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,600
said, I did not expect that
to happen. I just assumed he was

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going to hit the open market.
Yeah, Wichard, bring us to the

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Boston or not. The Charlotte Hornets
staying in the division. The big notes

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00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,960
for them, drafted Brandon Miller at
number two, drafted Nick Smith Junior at

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number twenty seven. They Miles Bridges
signed his qualifying offer. He'll now be

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00:11:31,759 --> 00:11:35,840
at unrestricted free agent next summer,
and he has an implicit no trade clause.

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His bird rights will not transfer if
they decided to trade him. They

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00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,679
did trade number thirty four, number
thirty nine for number thirty one James Naji,

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00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,080
and they signed the mellow. Despite
the reporting on this, it's a

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00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,679
five year, two hundred and five
point nine million dollars extension. There are

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00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:56,279
no player options, and there is
language that can bring the total value to

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00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,519
thirty five percent of the cap,
but it is not worth thirty percent of

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00:12:00,519 --> 00:12:05,279
the cap right off the bat,
as was initially reported. The other notes

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00:12:05,519 --> 00:12:09,120
on them is sort of what's yet
to be done. Kelly Ubray Junior remains

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00:12:09,159 --> 00:12:13,679
unsigned, and then PJ. Washington
RFA he remains unsigned. And then in

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00:12:13,759 --> 00:12:16,919
so far as this matters, I
don't think it can, but it's a

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00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,320
note. Michael Jordan sold the team
to Gave Plotkin and Rick Stall for about

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00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,279
three billion dollars, so he is
no longer the majority owner of the Charlotte

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00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:30,320
Hornets, any sort of prevailing themes
for you coming off of their offseason.

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I don't know about prevailing. I
mean, it's kind of disappointing, I

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00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,240
guess is the word that comes to
mind. I do think. I think

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00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:41,000
the sale of the team is a
you know, ownership is such a big

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deal, and what we know from
the last you know, several years is

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00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,519
that Michael Jordan as an owner has
not presided over a team that has won

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00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,919
a lot of games or made a
lot of decisions that people around the league

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00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:54,200
would say, oh, you know, they really got like look what they

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00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,919
did there. There's not a lot
of praise I don't think for sort of

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00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,720
any managerial aspect of the Hornets for
as long as he's been in charge.

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00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:07,759
So I think that's a real positive
potentially, even though you don't have any

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00:13:07,799 --> 00:13:11,759
idea about the willingness of the new
ownership Rick no on gay Plot can I

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00:13:11,759 --> 00:13:15,480
forget if you mentioned them to spend
or like who they're going to bring in

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00:13:15,519 --> 00:13:18,120
to make decisions. That's all kind
of up in the air. But when

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you know that the status quo is
as bad as it is, like almost

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any change feels like an upgrade.
Just by default, So that's about the

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only and I think just tracking back
up through some of the real big points,

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I'm okay with the LaMelo extension.
I just don't know what else they

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were going to do there. It
seemed like that was just going to be

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the going rate. And he's been
an All Star, he hasn't had much

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around him, you know, supporting
talent wise, so it's hard to be

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sure this is a great deal.
And I think the other problem is he

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will probably continue to not have a
lot around him in terms of supporting talent,

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so you might get one or two
years into this and still really not

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be sure that that was worth it. But you're kind of stuck with that,

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so no problem there. Drafting this
is super risky and stupid because rookies

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00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,120
in the draft is who knows what's
going to happen. We won't get answers

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00:14:05,159 --> 00:14:07,559
forever. But I think drafting Brandon
Miller at two is a massive mistake.

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00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,799
I think Scott Henderson was the pick
there. I don't care if LaMelo is

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on the team and you've committed to
him with this level of years and dollars,

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so I won't get to the grade
yet, but I'm disappointed in like

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the main move, which was the
draft. Disappointed that this team does not

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project to be like much. I
guess they'll be better because Bridges will be

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back and LaMelo maybe will be healthy, but like not in a meaningful way.

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So this kind of left me pretty
empty their offseason. The Miller thing,

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again is just that that's just there's
people. The knock on him is

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there's not superstar upside, and I
think Scott Henderson just like he's got superstar

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00:14:46,679 --> 00:14:50,919
superstar upside, like falling out of
his pockets, like he's just it's everywhere.

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I think that's the biggest thing to
dig them for at this point.

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I think the LaMelo extensions fine.
It's probably a win for the team that

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00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,360
they didn't get a player option in
or that Romelo didn't get a player option

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excuse me. And you're gonna be
happy to pay him the full boat if

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he qualifies for the thirty five percent
max, because that means he's everything that

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you need him to be. I
also, you know the Miles Bridges stuff.

235
00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,399
He has ten games left to serve
on his suspension for pleading no contest

236
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to Helpy domestic violence charges. I
don't know what from the just the strictly

237
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basketball perspective, as callous as that
sounds, to make that transition, I

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don't actually know what else they were
supposed to do with him. How do

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00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:33,080
you pay him real money after he
wasn't with your team in the previous year.

240
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And so I don't know that I
actually could fault them for not having

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00:15:35,879 --> 00:15:39,559
Miles Bridges on a long term deal. And now they're are we's going to

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be a UFA and they can't really
get value for about the trade market.

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So I didn't factor that in too
much. And even the PJ. Washington

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delay, I don't know what necessarily
the weight is. What's the number being

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00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:54,840
tossed around. That's there's a level
of incompleteness to their off season, But

246
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,039
I think that the meat and potatoes
of their off season was making the decision

247
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to choose brand and mill Or over
Scoot Henderson, who might be a better

248
00:16:02,559 --> 00:16:04,639
fit. But when you're at that
position to the draft, when you're at

249
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this position to your development, you
don't go with the better depth chart fit.

250
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:12,919
You go with the player who has
higher upside, and that Scoot.

251
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And so I was pretty harsh on
them. I gave them a D for

252
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,879
my grade because I'm that big of
a believer that Scoot Henderson is going to

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00:16:19,919 --> 00:16:23,200
be this generational point guard for it. Like if you told me right now,

254
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,960
I could have John Morand or Scoot
Henderson, Like I'm gonna go with

255
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,120
Scoot Henderson. That's how much of
a believer. And so there's very much

256
00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:32,600
eye of the beholder stuff going on
here, and I don't I want to

257
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:37,960
make it clear the free agency process
any trades. I don't think they missed

258
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,240
out on anything. I don't think
they whipped on anything in the free agency

259
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,799
market yet. But the fact that
the PJ. Washington stuff is still floating

260
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,399
around out there and they're playing either
playing hardball or what are they waiting for?

261
00:16:48,559 --> 00:16:51,919
Here? Are they exploring side in
trade scenarios that we haven't heard about.

262
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,759
I just it's a D because they're
so unfinished. And I think the

263
00:16:55,799 --> 00:16:57,919
big thing here for me is that
Grede a loan is basically you should have

264
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,120
went with Scoot. Yeah. I
don't have a lot different to say other

265
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than I originally had it as a
D minus than when you said D,

266
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and I switched it to a D
as I was thinking about the ownership thing,

267
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which is a positive, and then
I went back to D minus because

268
00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:14,839
you said D just to be different
from you, So we're very much in

269
00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:17,680
the same in the same range there, So D minus for me, I

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would just go I will say,
this will be and we'll eventually do our

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It'll probably later, since I'm gonna
try and take some time off in a

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00:17:23,559 --> 00:17:26,559
little bit. It'll be fascinating to
go back and look at how this team

273
00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:30,720
does in our regrades next offseason.
I mean, it's very That's that's the

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00:17:30,759 --> 00:17:33,559
thing. That's the risk, right
is like maybe Brandon Miller is just really

275
00:17:33,599 --> 00:17:37,680
good right away and and Scoot struggles
a little bit, Like this is the

276
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,839
thing. This is probably the well
we've only done two but for quite a

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00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:45,400
while, this is gonna be the
grade that I'm gonna feel like least comfortable

278
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:49,359
about because it's based on like such
an unknown, which is the quality of

279
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,880
a rookie drafted one spot after another. Just like we're not gonna it's it's

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00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,519
risky, all right, Miami Heat, that's our next team in this division.

281
00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:03,359
The basics here. Drafted Heimahawk as
junior at number eighteen. Treated Victor

282
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:08,559
Oladipo to the Thunder for a couple
of future seconds salary dump essentially lost Max

283
00:18:08,559 --> 00:18:14,680
Strews to the Calves structured as a
sign and trade for a future second lost.

284
00:18:14,759 --> 00:18:18,240
Gave Vincent to the Lakers for was
like three and three for thirty three

285
00:18:18,319 --> 00:18:22,319
basically or three for thirty two,
So lost two starters there. Kevin Love

286
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,160
is back two years just under eight
million with a player option, got Josh

287
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:33,119
Richardson for the minimum and Thomas Bryant
for the minimum notably. And then we

288
00:18:33,279 --> 00:18:36,279
just don't know what's going to happen
with the Damian the Lord stuff. So

289
00:18:36,319 --> 00:18:38,559
this this we've said a little bit
of incompleteness for the Hornets, but like

290
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,519
this entire thing is incomplete for the
Heat right now, because if they get

291
00:18:42,599 --> 00:18:45,480
Dame then everything changes. But that
that's where they are now. That I

292
00:18:45,519 --> 00:18:51,359
miss anything there or anything that you
want to you want to hit on as

293
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,160
like, uh, you know,
just jump right into you know what you

294
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,960
think the big issues are for this
offseason. You mentioned gay Vincent left for

295
00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,359
three years and thirty three, right, I didn't hear that one. Yeah,

296
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,200
yeah, I mean this is it's
it's a level of incomplete but as

297
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:04,920
of right now, so yes,
there's an incomplete A TV D. Let's

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00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,559
see how that Damian Lillard stuff goes
here. And I don't want to spoil

299
00:19:08,599 --> 00:19:11,799
the plots much, but how do
you give this team anything more than a

300
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:17,319
D minus right now? Like I
like Kimie Hawks a lot, but they

301
00:19:17,799 --> 00:19:19,240
cut costs by looking at what they
did with and that's fine. Oldip was

302
00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,119
probably not gonna play the way that
package was structured. Though. By the

303
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,440
way, it's just like, oh, they gave up twenty nine and thirty

304
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,319
second round picks. It's like,
are you paying an advanced fee on adjusting

305
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,920
the protections on that first round pick
that's owed? Okay see with the Damian

306
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:40,440
Lillard trade goes through just because the
value that okay see got for Davis Bertad's

307
00:19:40,519 --> 00:19:44,240
taking on his money is like,
I think it's worse than the value they

308
00:19:44,279 --> 00:19:47,720
got for taking on not like the
one guaranteed year of Victor Oladipo to get

309
00:19:47,759 --> 00:19:52,400
those distant seconds. And so I
just you lost two players who were monster

310
00:19:52,559 --> 00:19:57,799
parts of your playoff rotation. You
can say that Duncan Robinson's offensive renaissance during

311
00:19:57,839 --> 00:20:03,759
the postseason helps you offset Max Strus's
departure. You're not a team that was

312
00:20:03,799 --> 00:20:07,599
like an exceptional floors basing team to
begin with, even though you're shooting,

313
00:20:07,599 --> 00:20:08,599
did kind of take up towards the
end of the year. And Max Shrews

314
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,880
is a better defender than Nuncan Robinson. So you've put strain on that part

315
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:17,400
of your rotation. Now you've also
put strain on probably your offense and then

316
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,640
your defense by like, Okay,
gave Vinson is gone and there's Kyle Lowry's

317
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,640
there. He's getting older. Tyler
Hero is gonna be healthy. You haven't

318
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:29,680
alleviated I would say the burden on
Jimmy Butler and bam Adebio at all defensively,

319
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,400
let alone when we're looking at offensive
creation. That's still the fact that

320
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:34,680
they have Tyler Hero. That doesn't
bug me as much. And I think

321
00:20:34,759 --> 00:20:38,039
Kyle Lowry kind of in turn it
on, but like he wasn't this train

322
00:20:38,079 --> 00:20:42,720
wreck for all of last season.
The Josh Chrichardson deal that was actually probably

323
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,920
my favorite part of their offseason.
I can't believe they got him for the

324
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,799
minimum. I just I look at
this team. They were a playing team

325
00:20:48,839 --> 00:20:52,480
to begin with. They had to
strike lightning in a bottle, and good

326
00:20:52,519 --> 00:20:56,079
for them, they clearly there.
We joke about it but they are hashtag

327
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,359
built different. When you get to
the postseason, that's all great. You

328
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,559
still need to eat innings in the
regular season, and you weren't good enough

329
00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:04,319
to win the title this year.
That was very much clear when you went

330
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:10,119
up against the Nuggets. Again,
it's an incomplete but you've bet a lot

331
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:15,039
on the idea that this player who
is not yours yet is going to be

332
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,000
yours soon. And the money that
they let these guys leave for was money

333
00:21:18,079 --> 00:21:22,079
they could have paid, and it
was eminently reasonable from a team perspective.

334
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,359
And again I wanted to give them
an F just because you just made the

335
00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,920
finals and now there's like this huge
pullback. But I actually like him hockeys,

336
00:21:30,039 --> 00:21:33,240
and I really think I don't know
how much you can wait. This

337
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:34,759
be like Josh Richardson at the minimum
is one of the best signings of the

338
00:21:34,759 --> 00:21:37,400
summer. Yeah, I think that's
all fair. I did give him an

339
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:41,880
F, but it's F slash incomplete
just because if Damian Lillard is on this

340
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,279
roster and it doesn't cost you anybody
that you really project to be a huge

341
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:51,559
rotation piece other than I guess Tyler
Hero. Actually, I mean, I

342
00:21:51,559 --> 00:21:53,759
don't know how high I don't know
how about this as a thought exercise,

343
00:21:53,839 --> 00:21:59,319
say they get Damian Lillard for the
rumored package, which is they get a

344
00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:02,000
bunch of picks to get other they
move Hero for another pick, and then

345
00:22:02,079 --> 00:22:03,920
that's the package. You give up, Yovitch, you give up who else

346
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,039
is going? I can't even remember
what the what the parameters are like if

347
00:22:08,079 --> 00:22:11,759
if they get Damian Lillard in a
packt you know, for what is the

348
00:22:11,759 --> 00:22:17,160
basic idea of what we think that
trade will eventually look like? Where are

349
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,720
we are? We? Are we
at a B? Are we at an

350
00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:22,000
A? Are we? Because the
team is? I mean you've bled if

351
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:27,839
you so theoretically you add Lillard,
you've lost Vincent Strus and Hero probably right,

352
00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,920
I mean Almoll definitely those You're not
getting the other two back and Hero

353
00:22:32,039 --> 00:22:34,319
seems to have to go to a
third team to get this done. You're

354
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:40,759
definitely better on the top end.
But man like Josh Richardson agree great signing.

355
00:22:40,759 --> 00:22:45,880
Suddenly Josh Richardson is like really important
for the right Like he's does he

356
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,440
I don't know if he starts,
but he's gonna play. He's in their

357
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,440
top eight for sure, and that's
I don't know that's that's that's tough.

358
00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:55,680
I doubt what I guess. What
I'm saying is if you get Dame,

359
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,359
I'm not sure you get an A
for the offseason still, you know,

360
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,440
because like you could have. I
mean, in theory, there was nothing

361
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,279
stopping you from keeping these guys and
then turning around and training for Dave.

362
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,640
This was this was a cost cutting
maneuver. That's why they for the most

363
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,960
part, I would imagine let those
guys go. That's why you paid to

364
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,799
get rid of Victor Oladipo, is
that you wanted the flexibility. What are

365
00:23:15,839 --> 00:23:18,640
they What do we have about relative
to the to the tax next season?

366
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,759
I should look at that, But
like that was just a severe cost cutting

367
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,119
maneuver by their part. And maybe
it all works out because you have Dame.

368
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,400
But there so there were they seven
minute seven million into the tax.

369
00:23:30,599 --> 00:23:33,799
I think it looks like are by
looking at the wrong season, I got

370
00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:37,680
a thirty four million over the cap
team salary of one seventy with the tax

371
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,359
line at one sixty five point two. So yeah, they're five five million

372
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,920
plus into the tax based on what
I'm looking at. So they didn't want

373
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,119
to pay a high tax bill for
this team, which is that's their prerogative.

374
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:49,519
I just that's a fair question.
I didn't even think of that.

375
00:23:49,559 --> 00:23:52,000
Is what happens if and when they
do pull off the Damian Millar trade.

376
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,599
Maybe a lot of it goes into
are you not giving up as many picks

377
00:23:56,039 --> 00:24:00,279
or swaps as we're talking about,
or are you keeping him hockeys? Perhaps?

378
00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:03,640
But yeah, I would say,
based on the package that we think

379
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,319
it would take to get them,
I think you could elevate them to like

380
00:24:06,319 --> 00:24:08,000
a B plus. Maybe you can't
just give them a flatta for that though,

381
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,039
I don't think they can get there. Do we want to move on

382
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:18,200
to the Orlando Magic? Yes?
Cliff notes on them, They drafted Anthony

383
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,359
Black att number six. They drafted
Jet Howard at number eleven. They traded

384
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,720
number thirty six Andre Jackson Junior to
Milwaukee for cash in a twenty thirty second

385
00:24:26,759 --> 00:24:30,400
rounder. They signed Joe Ingles to
a two year twenty two million dollar contract

386
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,759
that'll be a team option on year
two. And they resigned Moe Wagner to

387
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:38,319
a fully guaranteed two year, sixteen
million dollar contract. They also did,

388
00:24:38,559 --> 00:24:42,319
as far as anybody cares, they
waved. They waved bull Bull's got punched

389
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:47,000
to everyone except Phoenix Suns fans,
What are you thinking coming out of their

390
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,279
off season? Grant again, like
we've just been killing these teams. But

391
00:24:51,519 --> 00:24:55,400
I don't. I don't love Anthony
Black at six. I don't love Jed

392
00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,960
Howard at eleven. I think this
is a harder one for me, though,

393
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,880
because the counter I'm not giving this
team a good grade. I'll just

394
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,799
say that the counter is like what
should they have done? Or like what

395
00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:12,079
opportunities were there that they didn't pursue? And that's a harder question to answer,

396
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,720
So I'll concede that this is a
little I don't know, maybe I'm

397
00:25:15,759 --> 00:25:19,480
asking too much, but this was
a team that had to me, and

398
00:25:19,519 --> 00:25:23,359
we've harped on this forever, like
pretty clear needs you need shooting from some

399
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,440
of your guards. Anthony Black does
not do that. Jet Howard I think

400
00:25:27,519 --> 00:25:32,640
can. But I mean again,
like he was the number eleven pick,

401
00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:36,519
how much is he going to play? Almost certainly he's going to be like

402
00:25:36,519 --> 00:25:40,599
a net negative contributor to winning.
And this is a team the magic I

403
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,599
think that we both believe, just
based on the talent that's already in place,

404
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,400
should definitely be like in the playoff
mix. I think we both expect

405
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,319
them to get better. Tell me
if you disagree. So I just I

406
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:57,279
was uninspired by almost everything they did. You can talk yourself into Ingles being

407
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,559
someone that may make sense as like
a pick and roll operator that will make

408
00:26:02,599 --> 00:26:07,680
open threes. I'm not sure,
you know, that's just not the same

409
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,279
thing as finding like where were they
on VanVleet. You know, maybe that

410
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,079
just they just weren't going to get
there with the with the salary. But

411
00:26:14,599 --> 00:26:18,319
they don't need a point guard,
even though they drafted one. They they

412
00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:22,519
need they all they need is someone
like six five or under that can make

413
00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:26,279
an open shot. That would be
that would be my uh my advice.

414
00:26:26,759 --> 00:26:30,400
So I'll I guess i'll I'll just
say this is another D for me.

415
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:36,279
I just don't think a team that
had every reason to try to get better

416
00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:41,880
in very obvious areas, I just
don't think you can reward them for not

417
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:47,240
doing that. So if if Black, you know, streamlines a shot,

418
00:26:47,559 --> 00:26:51,920
and he's obviously super talented at like
basically everything else, but if he comes

419
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,240
comes along more quickly than I expect
or of Howard is just like a knockdown

420
00:26:55,279 --> 00:26:59,799
guy, then maybe that changes,
but as of now, the Magic just

421
00:26:59,799 --> 00:27:02,880
to me, it did not get
meaningfully better. And I think, you

422
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:04,279
know, they were one of the
teams that had the opportunity to do that

423
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,799
because they did there was you know, time there where they had cap space

424
00:27:07,839 --> 00:27:10,759
and there were not a lot of
teams with that, and they had pretty

425
00:27:10,759 --> 00:27:14,279
clear needs and they didn't they didn't
use that space to fill them. Maybe

426
00:27:14,279 --> 00:27:17,680
I'm gone soft. I went with
a c here. I actually really like

427
00:27:17,799 --> 00:27:19,759
Anthony Black. I hate his fit
in Orlando, But as I talked about

428
00:27:19,759 --> 00:27:23,880
with Charlotte in the in an attempt
to be semi consistent, is are the

429
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:29,039
Magic at the point where they should
be drafting for fit at that point?

430
00:27:29,079 --> 00:27:30,440
I mean, who was the pick? I actually really like Taylor Hendricks,

431
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,480
maybe even more than Anthony Black.
You already have all these other forwards,

432
00:27:33,599 --> 00:27:37,079
but I've gone with Taylor Hendricks.
If I'm them, I would have considered

433
00:27:37,079 --> 00:27:40,079
it. But I think he Black
has the higher upside as someone who profiles

434
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,039
as this ball handler and look shooting. You can get it later and you

435
00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:47,599
can surround him with shooting. And
you do have Mark kel Faults going into

436
00:27:47,599 --> 00:27:49,079
the final year of his deal.
You only know what the future is gonna

437
00:27:49,079 --> 00:27:53,759
hold col Anthony. I think he's
extension knowledgeable this summer, so I'm open

438
00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:56,680
to the idea that maybe it works. So you don't have a lot of

439
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,440
wing size players on this team,
like true wing size players, and Black

440
00:28:00,519 --> 00:28:03,400
is one you could mix and max
some of those positions and what he's gonna

441
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,599
bring for you defensively to a team
that was basically they were like eleventh in

442
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,880
points thought per possession for most of
last season. When you filter out garbage

443
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,720
time, that's a big deal.
I don't know how much better the offense

444
00:28:12,839 --> 00:28:17,160
gets with Jet Howard. Right away, I will say I would have went

445
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:18,559
with Grady Dick. I was just
gonna ask you that, like, why

446
00:28:18,599 --> 00:28:22,160
not Grady Dick there? When you're
shooting needs are so pronounced that I consider

447
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,680
going C minus D because I actually
thought, get the shooter that has some

448
00:28:26,759 --> 00:28:29,279
size there. I even thought about, is this a team? And I

449
00:28:29,319 --> 00:28:30,680
don't know if I'm kind of letting
what we saw from summer league color this

450
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,119
from me? Is this a team
that should have if they wanted to go

451
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,960
to guard route like Cason Wallace would
have made a lot of sense here,

452
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,519
but he didn't have a great summer
league performance and if you wanted someone with

453
00:28:40,559 --> 00:28:42,880
more size. I don't know what
they missed out on, so it's like

454
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,559
it's based purely off the draft.
They did nothing. I don't think to

455
00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:49,720
move their needles substantially, at least
in the immediate term. Long term,

456
00:28:49,839 --> 00:28:52,400
I'm open to this idea that,
Wow, Anthony Black would be really good.

457
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,680
They'll surround him Frauds and Pala Bay
Carol with a bunch of shooting.

458
00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:00,400
Or is it even a matter of
those three players Wendell carter Ye, who's

459
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,759
probably about a plush shooter at his
position, throw one more shooter on the

460
00:29:03,759 --> 00:29:04,839
court, Withever. That lineup is
just going to hum. It's not gonna

461
00:29:04,839 --> 00:29:08,759
be faults. It's not gonna be
Gary Harris in that instance. So maybe

462
00:29:08,759 --> 00:29:12,720
it's jale and Suggs who develops as
a shooter. They did not inspire me

463
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:15,960
this offseason, but I don't think
they missed out on anything, and I

464
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,720
like the idea of Look, Joe
Eagles won't lease space the floor. He's

465
00:29:18,759 --> 00:29:21,559
probably overrated as a picket role player
at this point. He will turn the

466
00:29:21,559 --> 00:29:25,160
ball over a lot in those situations. But it's a one year deal and

467
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,920
even though I saw some people were
just like nepotism of under He got sixteen

468
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,680
million guaranteed. He was really useful
for them for a lot of last season.

469
00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:34,640
I think that's a tick overpaid.
But if you want this team to

470
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,759
eventually make this wing, you need
some of these salaries that you can stack

471
00:29:37,799 --> 00:29:41,880
together. And if you want to
look at it through that vein, nothing

472
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,359
they did inspired me, and I'm
so curious to see how Anthony Black fits

473
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,680
in right off the bat. I
just don't think they did anything damning.

474
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,000
If there was a move where it
was, oh, Fred VanVleet would have

475
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,920
gone to the Magic for X.
Like I, this is not the team

476
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:56,880
that I would have said, give
Fred VanVleet the two year max because they

477
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,240
didn't have that cap space available.
They would have had to create it,

478
00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:03,000
and so no one within the numbers
that they had. Of consequence, seems

479
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,640
like they were going to go there. Yeah, that's fair. You're you're

480
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:07,480
making me want to move this up. I'm gonna move it up to a

481
00:30:07,559 --> 00:30:11,039
D plus. You've sold me,
so you're at a D plus marking these

482
00:30:11,039 --> 00:30:15,920
down. We're trying to hold ourselves
accountable this time next year, all right,

483
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,039
As a favor to you since you're
sick, I would all do the

484
00:30:18,039 --> 00:30:22,599
Washington Wizards summary here because there's a
lot going on. If we're ready to

485
00:30:22,599 --> 00:30:26,119
move on here. Yes, it's
also your turn to be fair. I

486
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,160
appreciated I said Dan as a favor
to you. We're gonna leave it as

487
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,519
that. Not that I forgot already
what order we're going in. Okay,

488
00:30:33,599 --> 00:30:37,960
busy offseason for the Wizards. I
guess you'd start with they fired Tommy Shepherds

489
00:30:37,079 --> 00:30:41,000
and they changed the top decision makers. It's always tricky to gauge. This

490
00:30:41,039 --> 00:30:45,279
is a little easier for me than
judging like what an ownership change means,

491
00:30:45,319 --> 00:30:48,319
but it's still kind of like what
what does this really suggest? Although the

492
00:30:48,319 --> 00:30:53,559
Wizards definitely started acting very differently once
they had a new person making decisions,

493
00:30:53,559 --> 00:30:57,559
Michael Winger is that man. So
Bradley Bill gone to the Suns for four

494
00:30:57,599 --> 00:31:03,000
first round swaps, six second Chris
Paul Andry Shammont, and some cash.

495
00:31:03,119 --> 00:31:06,079
Paul then flipped to the Warriors for
Jordan Pool, Patrick Baldwin, junior,

496
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,839
Ryan Rawlins, and a like joke
of a twenty thirty first round pick that

497
00:31:08,839 --> 00:31:14,680
has the top twenty protections that one
of the worst first round picks to be

498
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,079
acquired in Like, what's I'm trying
to remember what was the last top twenty

499
00:31:18,119 --> 00:31:22,559
protected first round pick that was traded. I'm terrible or remembering this stuff,

500
00:31:22,559 --> 00:31:26,079
but it's there can't have been many
that were like less valuable. I put

501
00:31:26,119 --> 00:31:27,000
them in my trade articles all the
time, and I'm like, let's just

502
00:31:27,039 --> 00:31:30,400
top twenty two protect this to make
it seem like it's a real I don't

503
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,160
remember the last one that was So
if anyone remembers, get at us,

504
00:31:33,319 --> 00:31:37,119
because well, because this can't roll
over because it's so far in the future,

505
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,559
so if it doesn't convey, it
turns into seconds or just goes away.

506
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:45,079
So like the Hornets had that top
eighteen protected one at one point,

507
00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:48,240
but I think that kept rolling over
and the picks were, like other protections

508
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:52,799
were loosened a little bit. So
this is exceedingly worse. Also, a

509
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,680
twenty seven second round pick, which
is I think probably objectively a more valuable

510
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,759
asset somehow than a top twenty first
round from twenty thirty also traded. Chris

511
00:32:00,799 --> 00:32:07,200
aps porzingis essentially got back Tias Jones, uh den't Old Gallinari and Mike Muscala

512
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,039
and then number thirty five pick.
Then traded Monte Morris to Detroit for a

513
00:32:10,039 --> 00:32:14,559
twenty twenty seven second rounder. Love
that on Detroit side. We'll talk about

514
00:32:14,559 --> 00:32:20,079
that at some point. UH drafted
Bilal Coolabali, sold number fifty seven to

515
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:22,839
the Warriors for two million dollars.
That's a good piece of business. UH

516
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:27,319
resigned Kyle Kuzma to a four year
deal that I'm calling ninety million, just

517
00:32:27,359 --> 00:32:30,759
because it seems like some of the
escalators and other incentives can move it higher.

518
00:32:30,759 --> 00:32:35,640
But it's it's at least going to
be ninety So very busy offseason for

519
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,519
the Wizards. Revamp the entire team, change directions. UH much overdue,

520
00:32:39,559 --> 00:32:44,960
but finally did it. I love
this offseason for them. Did I miss

521
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,480
anything? Do you feel differently?
Is there? Does the Kuzma contract bother

522
00:32:49,559 --> 00:32:52,559
you? If that's the only like
negative thing you could really point to.

523
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,240
I think, in my opinion,
if they have the negative? Did we

524
00:32:54,279 --> 00:32:58,720
have the Monte Morris trade in there? They did so much for a twenty

525
00:32:58,759 --> 00:33:00,839
twenty seven second to the pick.
I thought they sold a little low on

526
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,519
him, and I know they have
some really nice size traded player exceptions floating

527
00:33:05,519 --> 00:33:07,799
around now. They created a nine
point four one for Monte Morris, they

528
00:33:07,839 --> 00:33:12,200
created a twelve point four million dollars
one for Persingius. They got a I

529
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:14,720
think like a five and a half
million dollars one or something out of Bradley

530
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:16,839
Beal trade. I just thought Monte
Morris, I know, Wizards fans didn't

531
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,599
really like him, like I thought
he would be worth more than just like

532
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:22,680
this second round pick. So I
thought they sold a little low. The

533
00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:27,200
Kuzma deal is fine. It's four
for ninety with twelve million dollars in incentives

534
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,559
that could bring it up to one
oh two. He is not. Is

535
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,599
Kyle Kuzma on this team past the
February trade deadline? No, And that's

536
00:33:32,599 --> 00:33:36,880
why it's kind of fine for me
because the numbers totally tradeable and he's still

537
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,960
had a We talk all the time
about asset preservation like this is this to

538
00:33:40,039 --> 00:33:43,799
me? Is what that is?
Like? They can definitely move him.

539
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,480
You get a first for Kuzma like
at that number, I think pretty easily.

540
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:52,359
So I loved even down to swinging
on Balah Kolabali. Whereas hey,

541
00:33:52,559 --> 00:33:55,200
here in the emfaty of your rebot, go with the he's raw on offense,

542
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,119
which he showed them real flashes in
Summer League. And if he hits

543
00:33:59,119 --> 00:34:00,759
like he might be your north star, he might be. I don't know

544
00:34:00,799 --> 00:34:06,839
that you could have said that about
Jaris Walker or Taylor Hendrix was still the

545
00:34:06,839 --> 00:34:09,559
board at that point. So I
applaud basically everything they did. And I

546
00:34:09,559 --> 00:34:13,639
know some people were taken aback by
how little they got for Bradley Beal,

547
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,159
sending him to a team that had
no first round picks to offer. That's

548
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:21,920
on Tommy Sheppard and Ted Leonsis to
be clear who was ragging about that no

549
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,599
trade class for Bradley Beal. That's
what forced their hand to make the decision

550
00:34:25,079 --> 00:34:29,639
to go this route. There was
real value in there, and I think

551
00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:31,920
some of the stuff we could quibble
over did they give up too little Vermonte?

552
00:34:32,039 --> 00:34:36,039
Like did they get too little Vermonte? Morris? Okay, even porzingis

553
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,079
that last front office held on to
him for too long, like you just

554
00:34:38,119 --> 00:34:42,159
weren't in the I don't know who
was gonna pay him this summer if he

555
00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:45,039
had opted out, It's like maybe
they could have played hardball a little bit

556
00:34:45,079 --> 00:34:46,679
more there. But if you don't
view him as part of your program,

557
00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:51,239
and then there weren't better offers out
there. But I could say I could

558
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:52,760
you couldn't wonder, Okay, well, why didn't they kind of play a

559
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,800
little bit more difficult there, like
why was he just given up so readily

560
00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,239
for such a low price point?
I guess you could also say, as

561
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,519
someone who is not high on Jordan
Pool, would you've been better off just

562
00:35:02,519 --> 00:35:07,000
with Chris Paul's expiring contract? You
want the bite at the apple of Jordan

563
00:35:07,039 --> 00:35:08,880
Pool for a fake first round pick, Caledo. If the Warriors can made

564
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,519
that first round pick pole teams,
we'll be happy because it means that the

565
00:35:12,519 --> 00:35:15,039
Warriors are still good all the way
out. Then then the Wizards get this

566
00:35:15,119 --> 00:35:17,960
extra first round pick. So I
went with a B plus for what they

567
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,000
did, just because there were some
minor quibbles that I had, But this

568
00:35:22,119 --> 00:35:24,000
was a I could even be talked
into an A minus. This was a

569
00:35:24,039 --> 00:35:30,679
caps oft fan pastic season for the
Wizards because of what it just says about

570
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:35,400
what they're doing, and that's finally
rebuilding, doing something other than angling.

571
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,559
For you know, the seventh or
eighth or ninth best record in the Eastern

572
00:35:38,599 --> 00:35:42,840
Conference, and that's a that's a
big deal. Yeah, so I did

573
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,119
one thing I did neglect to mention
they hired Will Dawkins as general manager.

574
00:35:45,199 --> 00:35:50,840
So this is just like, this
is like an okay, see minded front

575
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,079
office just up and down, which
I think is pretty pretty clearly a good

576
00:35:54,079 --> 00:35:59,039
thing to be in terms of how
you're gonna run your team. So this

577
00:35:59,079 --> 00:36:06,079
is an a minus for me,
and that is I don't have any any

578
00:36:06,159 --> 00:36:07,920
quibble with your point about like,
yeah, that seems like a little bit

579
00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:14,519
you know, light for a return
for Monte Morris. You know there were

580
00:36:15,519 --> 00:36:17,599
there were like moves they could have
made sooner, but again that's not on

581
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,920
this offseason. It's just like,
well, yeah, to be clear,

582
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:23,760
that didn't factor to buy No,
it was I would have just been like

583
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,239
while at Monte, I don't care
how many guards I have. Let Monte

584
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,880
horse roll into the season and see
if someone else gets desperate. And I

585
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:35,000
think this will shock nobody. I
think I think it's worth it to take

586
00:36:35,039 --> 00:36:39,960
a crack at Pool just because even
though that contract might be whatever, over

587
00:36:40,079 --> 00:36:46,239
SGA forever right forever, he you
know, he'll be better in Washington than

588
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,840
he was in Golden State. I'm
pretty confident of that I don't know if

589
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,440
that's the same thing as saying he's
a winning player all of a sudden,

590
00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:55,119
especially like he's gonna cook this year, like he is going to have a

591
00:36:55,199 --> 00:37:00,280
lot of time on the ball and
that'll bring to the four all the good

592
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,320
and bad of the whole Jordan Pool
experience. So it's an A minus for

593
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,480
me just because the macro stuff,
like, oh my god, finally we're

594
00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:13,679
like operating in a rational way.
We're mimicking what smart teams have been doing

595
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,440
forever and we're not just you know, obsessed with mediocrity and really what's been

596
00:37:17,559 --> 00:37:22,400
like sub mediocrity and paying through the
nose for it. So it's an a

597
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,480
minus because I think they just got
the big stuff right, and like none

598
00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:29,440
of the trades they made were perfect, Like you know, there's there's room

599
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,840
to criticize all of them, but
they made the trades so that that that

600
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,119
does it for me for them,
gets them there. So I got a

601
00:37:35,119 --> 00:37:37,280
whole bunch of like d's and terrible
grades and the Wizards come out with an

602
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:39,679
A minus for me in this division. Or did you have any issues with

603
00:37:39,679 --> 00:37:43,480
the Kuzma contractors because you asked me
about it before No, I was just

604
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,199
curious because it does. I mean, it's the only the only guy they

605
00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:50,400
brought back really and and it wasn't
cheap. But I think I'm not the

606
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,800
biggest Kuzma fan, but I think
that's a totally reasonable number for what he

607
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,639
is and what his value as a
trade chip would be, which is how

608
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,559
how I view him, because like
is, he's very much at which one

609
00:37:59,559 --> 00:38:01,519
of these things doesn't belong if you
just line up their roster, he doesn't.

610
00:38:01,599 --> 00:38:05,760
He's not going to be on this
team for very long. We did

611
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,920
the Southeast and under forty minutes.
I don't feel like every division is going

612
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,440
to be that efficient for us.
But do you want to take us out

613
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:15,599
of here? Yeah? Seems unlikely. As as always think everybody who listen,

614
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:20,639
who is commenting, who's checking in
on Discord, all that stuff,

615
00:38:21,039 --> 00:38:24,800
Please remember to rate, review,
subscribe wherever you consume this podcast, especially

616
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,360
on YouTube. You can comment there
too, buy our merch. I don't

617
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,440
know if we mentioned that Dan's wearing
a lovely Hartwo knock shirt. For those

618
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:36,920
of us who are watching and not
just listening, throm a nuclear af what

619
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,400
else? Meaning of that? Officially? Right? Because I accidentally sent you.

620
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:45,719
They don't know that. They're unaware. I will do how about this?

621
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,719
If they ever ask, I'll just
say, here's Dan's number. You

622
00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,079
can ask him what it means.
That's hey, that's still gonna be your

623
00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:57,800
problem after we get off the phones. Really just punting, fantastic. We

624
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,639
could we could spit it as that
right, they'll buy that. Follow us

625
00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:05,000
on the socials by the merch.
Tell your friends and enemies. Oh this

626
00:39:05,079 --> 00:39:08,280
is this The first podcast were recorded
since uh since the one and only Frank

627
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,719
Millikina, who I'm shouting out right
now found an NBA team. I put

628
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,760
up a mail bag, but he
is. It's you don't like that didn't

629
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,760
factor into the Hornet's great We didn't
mention it that. That's a straight a

630
00:39:19,159 --> 00:39:22,400
plus hornets got him. You got
a real winner. Wow, that's terribly

631
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:25,719
off brand that we didn't even mention
Franky Okina though I was still trying of

632
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:30,199
ip sick. I think they'll apologize. I got no excuse other than Frank

633
00:39:30,199 --> 00:39:32,280
Millikina. It takes up way more
brain space in your head than mine.

634
00:39:35,199 --> 00:39:37,559
But then, last, last,
but certainly not least, apologies to Jaredan