What is krack alac in fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan fa Valley
coming at you with an incredibly unplanned podcast. I guess not unplanned. There's
part of me that, no, we might have to do this. Whoa
is my mic goes all over the place. M gonna talk about the Bradley
Beal trade that happened while I was in the middle middle excuse me of a
Father's day gathering with my in laws. And I thought I was gonna have
to write initially, and then it turns out apparently I don't, although I
might have to leave any second now do that. And so I'm hopping on
with you all, which lead me to before we get into this, subscribe
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Yes, I'm stumbling because the trade has me all over and I'm trying
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I think that covers it. Though. Oh by merch too. I'm wearing
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the fun stuff. The link to our shop is in the podcast and YouTube
descriptions as well. So let's talk Bradley Beale getting traded to the Phoenix Suns.
It's shocking because I don't think anyone thought the Suns would be among the
finalists heading into this offseason. We all knew Bradley bill could get traded.
The fact that he's got traded to the Suns, it's fairly surprising when you
look at with the package was going to be or is going to be load
reports it's Landry Shammitt, Chris Paul, several second round picks and pick swaps.
Now the Suns can offer pick swaps, I believe in twenty twenty four,
two thousand and twenty six, and they can't offer it in two thousand
and thirty, because I would assume they could technically they could offer a swap
in twenty thirty if they're gonna stay under that second apron. But that's what
makes this interesting for them, and we'll probably start with them. Is there
sort of this dark horse suitor and I think Bradley Beale using his leverage here
because this package is they didn't even have to give up DeAndre Aten. They
add when you look at what's Chris Paul's full salary could have been, not
as partial guaranteed, not if they waved and stretched him. They're adding like
six and a half six point seven whatever million bucks to the payroll. I
have them at with seven gut seven players. I have the MESSI me to
have under contract now at one hundred and seventy six point eight million dollars,
and that is very close to the second apron. That's for Kevin Durant,
Devin Booker, Bradley Beale, DeAndre Ayton. Actually it's only it's actually it's
it's only six players. Excuse me, So Kevin Durant, Devin Booker,
DeAndre Ayton campaign, I'm assuming they're going to guarantee him now, I have
ish Wayne right there. And it's not only five that's a that's a ship
ton of money. It has to be six players. Yeah, da dada,
one two three. I might have my salary sheets messed up here,
but whatever, they're going to be near the second apron and they have that
this much money tied up in what amounts to five players right now, so
they're gonna have to only have minimums to flesh out, and their best card
left to play here will be let's trade DeAndre Ayton. He has at thirty
two point five million dollars salary for next season. Can we break him up
into a bunch of smaller players? And I think it's telltale one. Kudos
to Bill and his agent Mark Bartlestein for sending him somewhere, while also entering
that they didn't give up and bankrupt themselves of their best assets, because had
you given up eight and in this deal, and who knows if washing didn't
even want if him, they have KP. They have Daniel Gafford. He
did not have a great year last year. I think it points just relative
to his pay grade. How lass he'son unfolded was catastrophic, So maybe they
didn't want him, but in fury you can still move him and break him
up into maybe two or three smaller contracts, and that's how you flesh out
your depth here. And you could still look, you have early bird rights
on Bismock Bimbo, you will have early bird rights on Tory Craig as well.
So like if you want to continue to pay through the teeth for this
roster, you can do it, and you keep some of those guys together,
But to flush out the rest of this rotation you need I would argue
you need to trade DeAndre now because you are so top heavy at the moment
where Bradley Beale has never been the most durable player. We know Duran is
no longer the most durable player here. And yes you still have Devin Booker.
But to be reliant on just those three guys and then plus Eton and
Campaign and ish Wayne Wright and a bunch of minimums and maybe you bring Breck
Bismock, Biombo and Tory Craig, it's it's untenable over the course of an
entire regular season. Because if let's say you go forward with this roster just
for the playoffs and you can guarantee everyone's at full strength, and yeah,
it might work, we have to get to that point first, and you
can't get to that point without putting wear and tear on these guys. And
so you now have to have to have to have to look at moving DeAndre.
And it's not even look at you have to move deandret in my book,
I honestly mean that. I'm not even maybe this is an overreaction in
the moment, but you could have argued that you needed to make that deal
in the first place, that sort of divestment where you're turning DeAndre into two
or three contracts, and I think now more than ever, you just have
to because you shortened your rotation by one player. You could say whatever you
want about CP three, that they were going to release him anyway, and
that Landry Sham it wasn't that great. You're turning two players into one here,
and you were already kind of shallow as it was when you look at
the dynamic on the court. I think a lot of people are underestimating and
it probably took me too long to get here. We should have started.
We should have started here, and we'll break down other implications as we go
go forward. But the fit is going to be fine. This is just
people are looking at Bradley Beale's had his dipping three point percentage. The shots
are going to be easier in Phoenix when you have when you have Devin Booker
and Kevin Durant beside you, even having one of those guys in the lineup
with you. Look at how long it's been really since he had a peak
point guard playing next to him, just like a peak point guard, and
those shots are going to get easier. And in the meantime, while you
can criticize, while you can criticize maybe some of his efficiency, he I
don't want to say reinvented himself, but he definitely established himself as this sort
of I don't want to say he's not an A plus playmaker, but he's
someone who can be the engine of what ends up being a good, too,
really good offense on the floor. And yes, you can look at
the wizards vitals and say, okay, overall they weren't great, but like
during his minutes, a lot of the times over the past three seasons or
whatever, the offense wasn't by and large the issue. He's turned himself into
just a wizard. Beyond the arc, he can get off shots at all
three levels. I think when you look at the current even you look at
the current iteration of the Sun's yes, but you look at the previous iteration
of the Suns where it's Chris Paul and Kevin Durant really just not guys that
get to the rim on or off the ball. Even Bradley Beal actually increases
your rim pressure on this team, I would argue, there's still not enough,
and that's something that you're gonna need to look for. And you know,
I think specifically moving when you trade him Michael Bridges, his transition,
his volume in transition, and just his ability to move off the ball and
get towards the basket. They certainly could miss that from complimentary players. You're
gonna want to look for an element of rim pressure and you're I guess you
can hope you get it from beyondre Ayton, but he's always sort of been
that that bailout type of big and so it really it really And I'll get
to questions as we have them in the chat as this goes on, a
little bit of just trying to give you my thoughts, initial thoughts dump here
on everything the offense is going to be fine, and I think that you're
gonna see Bill's efficiency skyrocket. And when you look at the fragility of Kevin
Durant's availability, just he's had these problems creep up every single season since he
tours Achilles without fail. Having that second guy who wasn't Chris Paul, who
is, Yes, Bradley Beal's about to turn thirty or is thirty. He's
still a lot younger than Chris Paul. And so you're gonna get you now
just have more contingencies on the offensive end. And you can never have too
much shot creation, especially when it comes in the form of I'm going to
argue that all three of these guys will hit above average clips from three next
year, and so to have them all be above average three point shooters,
let's just assume there, that's going to be huge. And I've seen people
say that they're trying the sunder, trying to recreate like sort of this B
plus version of what they might have had in Brooklyn. Maybe, but like
that's not a bad thing. That team, if they were healthy, might
have just won a title or two if they had stayed together as well.
And so there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, it's do you have the infrastructure
around them to ensure that you're not going to get absolutely cooked defensively and that
you know your depth isn't going to be ruined here and their death has been
ruined in the meantime. And I don't know who they hit on with minimum.
You know, guys like I just you know you target. I think
here you need properly sized wing players, which is I mean, it's just
so easier said than done. That's to get properly sized wing players on the
minimum is like can you get a Utah wants an Abby from Brooklyn? Like
those are the names are gonna be looking at. You're not gonna be unless
they go lose their mind, Like you're not gonna get up Bruce Brown,
Like you don't even have that mid level of use. You could look at
can you bring t J. Warren back? I don't really know what his
market's gonna be able to assume it'll be above they're gonna give him a slight
raise of what they had of for last season, but maybe not, And
so you could look at him. I don't think there's a team not now.
They need to be able to defend and like that's not necessarily warrant strength.
But he did make progress there theoretically when he was an indie, and
so you automatically remove guys like you know, Will Barton, But like,
those are the names that are gonna crop up. Do you take a flyer
on Wantiscano Anderson? Do you try and at this point take a flyer because
you need kind of fours and I guess fives and wings, Like the front
line really needs to be fleshed out here. I would argue, like,
do you take a flyer on Jamichael Green? Not a wing player, but
do you bring him over? I don't know what the minimum market is necessarily
going to look like for them. I will say, when you have these
names in place, it is going to give you an opening to maybe players
that otherwise wouldn't have signed minimums with other teams. Perhaps. I just but
that's that might ring hollow. I mean, if you get Saddie as Young
because he's waived by the Raptors, I mean, cool, that's a good
minimum signing. Is it going to be enough? And so you need to
probably hit I would say hit where we look back and say, wow,
I can't believe that they got him. They need to hit on probably two
of those leading in the next season, and so there are very real challenges
there. But I don't have a problem at all with the offensive fit.
And I think you could also argue as a borderline necessary safety net to know,
not go get a player on a Supermax, but you needed, again,
not an upgrade, but just this contingency for not just Kevin Durant getting
injured, but to safeguard yourself against Chris Paul's own aging curve. And he's
been banged up in every single postseason, including this past one, and now
that's less of an issue. And if you don't feel great about deals availability,
I would still argue over the past couple of years, had the Wizards
been better, that he probably appears in more games. I've just been interested
to see how the discussion with Bradley Beal specifically feels like not I guess not
by and large, but in certain circles it feels like it's been unable to
detach his oncourt value from his overall value. This is someone who just averaged
twenty three plus points, five plus assists, shot fifty five plus percent from
twos. That's a career high from two point range, by the way,
and still hit thirty six point five percent of his three pointers and over four
attempts per game. And again, those looks they should get easier in Phoenix,
even if they're not going to run a lot of creative offensive stuff.
If you're just getting kickouts from Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, you're golden.
I mean, bial and Booker running pick and roll with maybe Kevin Durant as
a screener, or you could go I mean, Devin Booker's pretty strong,
Bradley Beals really strong, like you could run if you wanted to, just
a bunch of you call them inverted pick and rolls with Drants the ball him.
You can do whatever you want with that. And I think Devin Booker
specifically, you make this. You can make this move because of how infinitely
scalable his offensive skill set is. And we said this on the podcast when
Kevin Durant came over. I would say it again, no matter who comes
over, he is. Even if Bradley Beale for some reason, let's just
say his off ball offense deteriorated, he needs to dominate it a little bit
more. I would argue that you need Devin Booker to basically be your point
guard now. And I've been campaigning not to be confused with Cam painting to
see more of that in staggered units for the past few years. You're going
to get it in some vein if like right from the jump, even maybe
now, and that's like he's he's your best pastor now, yeah, he's
your best past So that's not even a spicy take. He's now your best
passer. That's fine. But the fact that he's able to work so well
off the ball, moves so well off the ball. I also think the
fact that he's come a long way defensively, and so you look at this
the skeleton of this roster, and let's assume that they don't make any other
changes, which they're gonna make, they have to again, I think you
need to trade Deandrean if Eaton can have a bounceback defensive year. Kevin Durant
was for the most part when he was healthy, like maybe not towards the
talent end of the season, but he was pretty fantastic defensively, really brought
some good secondary room protection. And then Devin Booker, he's improved I think
overall, but certainly as a as a one on one guy and someone who's
gonna bring maybe not consistent energy in every situation, but like if he wants
to match up or has to switch against these really tough wings players, like
he's going to be able to do it, and you don't want to ask
him to do that more again, you want to, like it'd be good
at this point. You get Joshua Koge back if his market is pretty stale,
Like that's someone that you could still really use. Even Tory Craig,
who I thought was probably underutilized in the playoff series against the Nuggets, but
it did see Mike Phoenix was very much searching there. So I very much
a believer in this offense, in large part because I have that much faith
in Devin Booker. You could talk about having the absence of a floor organizer.
We've criticized Boston for it, not in the past, but like we're
doing it currently because they go through these stretches, they bogged down, they
get nudged off of their offensive process. They're committing turnovers. They have to
go to a Jaylen Brown he's dribbling off his foot or losing his handle.
Jason Tatum's bailing out too much. They're telegraphing their pasts, is throwing bad
pass is not even getting passes off, taking too long on the shock clock.
This is different because if you like you're looking at Bradley Beale, Devin
Booker, Kevin Durant, like those are guys specifically Kevin Durant and Devin Booker,
they're not going to be super high turnover in those situations. And we've
seen this team just sort of make it work independent of having that floor organizer
at points, because you would need to stagger invariably without Chris Paul and even
predating the Kevin Durant tray, like you were able to run units where okay,
if campaign was in there, like that's just not He's not what you
would call the an optimal floor organizer anyway. So I think there's going to
be way too much concern. There's gonna be bloated concern over the offensive fit
here and you just you don't need to have it. You could wonder was
this a smart allocation of your payroll, because now you're going to pay you
know, between just Bradley Beale, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant, Like
you're looking at a hundred, Like, that's almost a salary cap between the
four of them because Durant and you're gonna let's say forty eight for Durrant,
forty six for Bradley Beale. That's ninety four, and then thirty six for
Devin Booker, which is you know, that's the last year of course extension
kicks in. That's a freaking steal. So you're at one hundred and thirty
million dollars between those three guys. The salary cap next year is one hundred
and thirty four. We have even gotten too yondred eight and thirty two point
five million salary, yet you're extremely top heavy. Was this the best way
to, you know, allocate spots on the roster? You could say no,
but I think you have to look at the value proposition here. Bradley
Beale is making substantially more than Chris Paul moving forward. I think you could
argue that the next, you know, the next four years for Bradley Beale,
he's had two hundred and seven two hundred and eight million dollars over the
next four years. Those are going to be more valuable years on the court
than if you were to have Chris Paul for the next four and certainly for
just the next If you were to keep him this season, then I've gotten
rid of him after last year. You didn't have Like you didn't use your
best trade chip here. You didn't use DeAndre Ayton, who is still your
best trade chip. You use swaps and seconds. I'm still waiting on the
details of the swaps. You can get at me in the chat if you
if you see that, they come up, but I have not seen anything.
I'll check my text messages though and slash just in case I get notifications
on that. So, like, that's the opportunity cost here, aside from
the actual cap implications and how much it's going to hamstring your roster building moving
forward. It was relatively low, especially for this season, because I was
very much against waving Chris Paul or and then either stretching the you know,
his fifteen million over five years or just eating it for a season. Yes,
you would have been a little bit more flexible moving forward. You wouldn't.
There's just the fact of the matter, because Chris Paul could have just
came off the books after next year, but you wouldn't have been able to
fold that salary slot into a player one of his caliber or two making anywhere
near the same. That's what you effectively did here is you rolled the talent
of Chris Paul's prime Chris Paul's contract into that number. Again, it's more
expensive, but you did get a better player, and so you're faced with
the same issues. But I guess the outcome to me is probably a little
bit more palatable when you're just looking at their absolute ceiling over a longer term,
even if you're not as high on them next season. The key to
all of this would be when you're looking at their title aspirations aside from durability,
all those questions, how are you flushing out the rest of the roster?
And that would bring you back to the point of what can you get
for DeAndre eight? Is there a team that's going to be willing to you
know, could you do in eighten for healed and Miles Turner trade? I
think there need to be more stuff there. I don't know if Indy does
that. My guests would be Indy doesn't do that. Even if it was
Turner for eight and straight up, which they could do, I don't know
that they do that. Could you send eighton to Dallas still? Are these
Western Conference rivals willing to help out each other? I just what are you
getting? Could you get Maxi Kleiba in that where it's like Tim Hardaway junior
Maxi Kleiba? And then are you gonna have to take back to Abvis Bretons
in that deal with they give you Reggie Bullock. I mean that would be
they probably shouldn't. I look, Cleveland, Bullock and Josh Green are they're
three best perimeter defenders right now. If we assume that they hate Frankie Lakina
and they won't bring him back, that's mostly a joke except them dead ass
serious. You're not gonna trade and I say perimeter with Cleveland. I could
use that loosely, but they've thrown them on some tough assignments to the past.
You're gonna given way two of your three best let's just say, three
best defensive options for DeAndre Ayton, who Okay, he handles the back line,
but your perimeter depth was already weakened by sending out Doreen Finney Smith and
then substituting that with a Kyrie Irving Luca don Chich back court. I don't
even know if you get that much for DeAndre if you could, yeah,
Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway Junior, and Max and Cleband And look, if
it's just Reggie Bullock and Maxie Cleveland, give me Davis Bretton's and I'll do
that if I'm Phoenix. So maybe maybe that's more palatable to Dallas. You
could build permutations where it's okay, would they do Davis Burton's, Tim Hardaway
Junior and number ten? Do you do that just? And then what are
you doing with number ten? You still need to fold that into someone else?
Is it easier because you're working with two digestible salaries? What does Burton's
plus number ten get you? I did see some people mention a potential Kuzma
sign and trade with the Suns. Now, No, that's not gonna happen.
Like, I don't think that if the Wizards wanted eight, and we
probably would have heard more talks about that into the Suns. They can't.
They can't sign and trade. They can't acquire someone via sign and trade right
now because they're going to be hardcapped and there's no way for them to take,
you know, another big money player in and stay under that hardcap.
They're worried about if they want to be they're worried about staying under the second
apron, and I just don't, Like, there's no point I'm even staying
under the second apron. I guess unless you want to use part of the
mini m leaks, you're not going to access the full brunt of it.
You just can't unless again, if you flip DeAndre Aton into something, you
know, let just as an example, DeAndre Eton for Telden Johnson, you
could do that and then maybe that gives you access to part of the MINIML
league. I think you would still be over that first ap and that which
then eats into your MINIMLI a little bit. So that's something they could look
at. But you have to figure out a way to do something other than
add minimums now on top of this, And the only way to do that
is to just trade unless someone just really fixed in for campaign and like,
can you roll his number into to someone better? So like, or are
you super high? I'm bringing Darius basically back and restricted free agency even though
he was like he barely played for you after he was traded to Phoenix.
So like, I'm so fascinated because this is I understand why this was done
now because the trade rules are changing. I was annoying that it was done
on Sunday, Like we couldn't have just waited until Monday, or you could
have pulled the trigger on actual Saturday when this was leaked, and my I
don't want this won't be final thoughts because we'll get to questions, but I
want to talk about the Wizards. Kudos to Bradley Beale for using his no
trade costs properly, because as I was stammering through the intro of this podcast
before, what I was trying to say was, even if it was just
the Suns in the heat, and let's say the Heat weren't willing to go
up Tyler Hero, and maybe the Wizards didn't want Tyler Hero. Who knows,
they were just willing to go with the Lowryola Depot route or some combination
of Robinson and Lowry, or like I guess they could have gone a Hero
and Robinson. Let's just say they're unwilling to include Tyler Hero, and we're
unwilling to include a ton of first round first round equity, which you didn't
get any first round equity if you're the Wizards right now. So it's it's
wholly reasonable to assume that the Wizards weren't gonna get that in the first place,
but the heat in theory even their worst offer was better. I would
think then then the Sun's best offer for the most part. And the fact
that Bradley Beal this is the value of the no trade clause. You were
not only able to pick your destination. But I have no doubt even if
you weren't interested in Eton, I think you would probably view them as the
more of a trade asset here, even though yes, you can still part
ways with Chris Paul save a ton of money now this season. Unless you
believe that Aton was really that hard to trade where you were trying to take
back bad money or not gotten something from him, I would have to believe
they would have wanted eight just for the trade value and the fact that they
didn't get it. That's the no trade cause at work. And it was
even Chris Hayden's Bleacher Report colleague tweeted this yesterday that Bradley Beale basically only wanted
to go to the Suns if they were able to keep DeAndre and I don't
think that anything to do with Deandred himself so much as he understands, you
can't have them bankrupt their assets and be unable to improve their team. And
then there's also just the matter of look at how uneven incongruent that roster would
have been if you had Chris Paul, Bradley Beale, Kevin Durant and Devin
Booker, I mean just Devin Booker, Bradley me on Chris Paul and campaign
whatever. I mean, he's absolutely no, although he yeah, if you
would include the Chapman, just so many guards, and even if you would
have waived Chris Paul at that point, you would have been so limited.
So yes, there was an element of the roster construction to it, but
he was able to get somewhere where they did not give up any They gave
up some assets, but their best asset is still in place. And so
even if you do go into next season with DeAndre and the hope can still
be if he rehabs his value, does another team come calling and actually want
him? And I think I don't know what DeAndre and Jalue is here.
Look, I just ran through some hypothetical trades that I don't even know if
those you know, I focused on what was a Dallas and Indiana specifically.
I don't know if they would consider that. A lot of people at the
Spurs for Kelvin Johnson, they do Eton and Wemby and so went in the
front court. I wouldn't I wouldn't hate that. Are they a team that's
gonna be interested in him? But you're looking at the teams that actually need
bigs and that's kind of few and far between. I don't think Brooklyn they
have Claxton, who's he had a better season than DeAndre. I don't know
who needs to hear that or if anyone needs to here. They had a
better season than DeAndre. But if they wanted them with a little bit more,
you know, girth to them not gonna play with more thrust because Claxton's
gonna play with more thrust. Maybe, but his name wasn't really linked to
the Kevin Durant trade at all. Charlotte has Mark Williams now and if you're
gonna go for a big i'd rather see it be someone who spaces the floor
like a Christops porzingis there Chicago? Okay, we get a little interesting there
if Chicago doesn't want to have Voodge. But what is Chicago going to give
you at this point, I yes, like, you don't want Damart rossac
Lavine on this team and Lonzo Ball is not playing at the moment, and
so how do you even build that package? It would have to be a
three teamer where de Rosin is going somewhere, I guess, and then maybe
you're getting back Caruso. So that just feels like a blah destination. Detroit
has all the bigs in the world. Denver doesn't need a big We already
went through Dallas. Golden State, I'd be interested. I'm just let's just
say Draymond Green wanted to leave and what opt in? Could you build something
around Eighten for Draymond Green? And is there money that Golden State wants to
get rid of? They do have Looney there, but I think Eighton's upside
is going to be or his high point is going to be should be higher
than Looney's high point. And so if you're looking at to replace Draymond's money,
if he wanted to opt in and really leave, that would be mega
interesting. Who else could Golden State send out there? Is there money they're
not happy with? No? Not really, I mean, I guess you're
not going to figure out a way to fold Jordan Pool into this. So
it almost have to be Looney or GP two to make that math work.
And I don't think you'd want to give up maybe Looney, but he's eighten.
If Draymond says he wants out, are you doing Looney and Draymond for
DeAndre Eton? If if it's your prerogative, your choice. Absolutely not Houston.
I think some people can make the case they need it big, but
they have Shaneghu and they have Jabari Smith Junior. I'm not about it.
The Pacers are to run through the Clippers. No, they have zoobots,
and just would they be willing to give you two of their just like two
to three of Batumb, Covington, Morris, and you don't need Powell.
Maybe Gordon's thrown in there, I guess, but like you have zoobots.
I don't think this is not a roster that needs to spend thirty plus million
on a big My point. The Lakers absolutely not, the Grizzlies absolutely not,
the Heat absolutely not. Milwaukee absolutely not, Minnesota absolutely not, the
Pelicans absolutely not, the Knicks absolutely not. Okay, see sure eight and
Eton and home Grin would be interesting have Jalen Williams, SGA and Getty there,
But what are you even gonna get Dort for Eton? Like you could
do that if you're okay see Dort for Ayton. I just don't know if
you would want to, and you would be saving makes a bunch of money,
but you have the cap space later on this summer to do Dort for
eight and I wouldn't do that if I'm okay. See, that's just That's
where I'm at. Orlando, No, Philly, no Portland. Portland's interesting,
but you're gonna probably have to take back NERK as part of that deal.
And then what you're getting Simons like they don't they don't have like the
big enough. That's the other challenging because you need teams that have two to
three contracts that make it work, and they're not gonna give you the sign
trade for Jeremy Grants to have a question because that's just not gonna work.
Sacram I don't know. The Spurs maybe just maybe if they want if you
get Zach Collins and Kelton Johnson for DeAndre Ayton, I would I would hit
yes on that button right now. Maybe you get that fake Charlotte first rounder
that's protected until Kingdom come. It's gonna become two seconds eventually. Probably.
I just that even feels like it might be steep freight in Toronto if they
parted ways with Peartle maybe Utah, No, they have, they have Kessler
and then Washington. It's just you could still go. I mean, Porzingis
is a much better fit for this roster. So if Porzingis ops in,
you could build something around eight and for him, And yes, you could
trade for who's muff he opts in. He's not. He's not picking up
the thirteen million dollar player option if anyone's suggesting that. So this is on
topic, we'll get to the questions and we're gonna move into Wizards talk too.
From Thomas Scott, trade eight to Houston for kJ Martin and J Shawn
Tate. They do have the cap space to do that, and I guess
if they don't, if they don't have if they don't hit on any other
free agents, because they can get up like sixty plus million to spend this
year. Sure, it's just I like Shane Goon, I like Jabari Smith
Junior. Still, I guess it's not the end of the world having three
bigs there. But if you end up with Amen Thompson in this draft,
you're dealing with a lot of non shooters on this roster all of a sudden.
But if I'm Phoenix, do I do that? I don't. I'm
throwing this back up there. Eight. Oh sorry, Boston Celtics, this
is Thomas Scott. Get back to your first one. Trade eight to Houston
for kJ and Jay Shawn Ta. They could really use kJ Martin's room pressure.
I'll tell you that much. I just and that saves them a boatload
of money and that would be able then they would be able to access I
believe the mini MLLE in that scenario. I just Jay Shawn Tate was pretty
banged up last year. That's for me. It feels like it's weird because
I understand why that Houston would do it, but I don't love the resulting
roster for them. But it also feels like, if you're Phoenix, you're
selling too low, unless if he's that much of a negative value, then
yeah, look at it. We want our miniml We believe we can approximate
seventy to ninety nine percent of eight in his peak on the cheap then yeah,
go ahead and do that. Those are tap would give you some defense.
Martin probably needs to be better defensively, but some nice rim pressure and
can be moved around a bunch positionally, and I think he's probably a good
enough stand still shooter, just you know, catch feeds from these other guys
on the roster. Thomas Scott also said Boston Celtics have a front court of
Eton and Williams. Please no, I don't. I don't want to see
that. If you can get Robert Williams the third for eight, and you
might as well try it and see like, is Derek White or Marcus Smart
or Miacole Bragden Brogden involved in that deal. I just can't see Boston doing
that. Thomas says eight and for Al Horford, Boston gets younger. Yeah,
you have to put more money in there though, and so Horford's only
at ten million, and I just don't you don't want to have like the
eight and Williams dynamic is weird? Is our W three just your permanent bench
player? I guess that's fine. Where's the other money coming from for Boston
though? Because they gotta get to Eighton's number. So Horford's at ten million.
Brog didn't get you there, but like because I'm I'm not giving up
Marcus Marter Derek White for DeAndre and at that point. So I'll make that
very clear. Throw your questions in if you're still watching Suns Wizards rest of
the NBA, I will answer them here. I will try and stay about
forty five minutes because they do have other stuff to get to and I'm worried
that I'm about the you know, I'm operating on borrowed time when it comes
to my actual job. And we got this from Woad. Part of the
reason for holding up full completion of Wizards Suns. They will be allowed Washington
to field offers from third teams that would give Chris Paul a chance to land
with a contender. I don't know what contender is paying thirty million dollars for
Chris Paul. Let's get into that in a second. But blown first comment
the Wizards are allergic to being a normal team. He also said they said
I feel bad for Vogel, like coaching the Lakers. Again, I don't
feel bad for Vogel. This is still a good job. You've Devin Booker
and Kevin Durant I think he's going to be fine now the Wizards, so
this is I want to make this clear. The process that led the Wizards
here is catastrophic. Oh and look, Chris Paul is now headed to the
Clippers, per class Chris Haynes. How's that for some breaking news. The
Washington Wizards are likely to reroute Chris Paul in a trade, and the Los
Angeles Clippers are expected to pursue a reunion with the future of Paul. Oh,
he's not going to the Clippers. That was I jump jumped the shark
there. I don't that's gonna be a four teamer. Then let's Wizards first.
My god, it's happening people. This is all happening live. This
is live podcasting for you on your own too. Hashtag I missed grant us.
The process that led the Wizards here, and I don't say this lightly
was catastrophic. They did not trade Beal anywhere near his peak value. Then
they gave him a Supermax with a no trade clause and a trade kicker.
Then by extension, they missed the chance to optimize this year's pick at a
time when I think people think there are four transformative players in this draft.
When you're looking at the upside of Amma Thompson Brandon Miller, who I might
you know, the more I think about it, I might have Ama Thompson
ahead of him in my big board. But yeah, I'm not the draft
expert Scoot Henderson. Of course when Banyama and yes, now you can maximize
next year's draft pick, which is still technically over the Knicks I think is
never going to see the lighted day in New York. Apologies, Knicks fans.
Maybe the Wizards get accidentally good before then. Anyway, So like the
twenty twenty four draft, I still think it's too soon to say that,
but everyone says that it's not good or at least in comparison to this.
But you missed the opportunity to get let's say two or three a crack at
two or three transcendent players in this lottery, and then you traded Bradley Beale
for what amounts to mainly cap relief. Mainly cap relief. So none of
this, by the way, I'll make clear, is on the Michael Winger
led basketball organization. It's just on the process that led here. This is
so long overdue, and you put yourself into a position where the best you
could do for Bradley Beale is just getting that cap relief. And look,
you look at the Wizard's cap situation, and because I the projections are so
fluored, I won't get into exact numbers, but I will tell you,
as of right now for the twenty twenty four offseason, the only guaranteed money
the Wizards have on their books are Daniel Gafford will say, this year's pick
and next year's pick. So three players under guarantee tea contract. You could
say, Okay, yeah, they're gonna pick up the player option for Corey
Kissbert. Do they pick up the excuse me, the team option for Corey
Kissbert? Do they pick up the team option for Johnny Davis. That'll be
interesting the monitor. They could resign Monte Morris or Delan right, I'd imagine
both those guys are getting moved. Maybe they resign Porzingis and Kuzma. My
guests would be and we have to get into that what happens with these two
now? I think the most likely outcome is they resigned Kuzma and try to
move him later and Chris stops, Porzingis opts in and then either gets immediately
traded, we can sign an extension because the new extension rules are pretty favorable
on his number, it could be one hundred and twenty percent. I think
after he's traded, which off of his thirty six million dollars number, I
don't even think you need to go that high. So I guess I would
be Christops gets traded after opting in and Kuzma. There's either gonna be a
sign in trade, which they're they're tougher negotiate, or they're just gonna offer
him the most money and hope they could trade him later. But I could,
I really could, honest to God, see this front office just letting
him walk if the number is big enough. Like I'm trying to think of
what would be the team when you're looking at cap space squads. But let's
just say Utah comes in, Kuzma as roots in Utah, maybe him and
Clarkson want to team up again. Let's just say Utah came in and offered
him twenty four million dollars a year or something in one or front line of
market in Kessler and Kuzma. Is that a number that the Wizards would just
match. I'm not sure. Maybe the Pacers, they get involved here,
they can get their exact cap number. I think they'll be at like twenty
seven if they want to be twenty seven plus. Let's say they come in
over the top. Are they willing to I could see I could. I
mean, if it's the Pacers, they'll they'll offer to make it assign and
trade because that's just what Herb Simon does. I kind of I kind of
love that, but I also sort of hate it a little bit. So
there's there's not maybe a lot of cap space teams. There's not a ton
of cap space teams to begin with. I don't know how many cap space
teams would throw money at him. I don't think Detroit would. I don't.
I guess Houston just could. Don't rule Houston out of anything, but
he'll have offers there. So if I had to rank the outcomes, I'm
gonna say the most likely is going to be assigned and trade. Second most
likely is they resigned him and then look to move him in the middle of
the season, that it's a number they're fine with and they think that they'll
be able to reroute him. And then third would be they let him walk
for nothing. It would just not shock me if third ends up being like
the most likely outcome where it's hey, we're just we're cleaning house here.
We had a comment from Mike Herischan got traded for the bride by ot trade
for the mystery stuff you find cleaning out the fridge. Yeah, I mean
Chris Paul is not a mystery, but like for sure, that's a one
percent. It's just it's odds and ends here. Dale Mucus sons in four
what do you mean four players and their five players starting lineup? I would
agree with you. We have some more questions. He let me see if
I can go through as many as I can. Oh, here we go,
glad on a moon thirty four? Are you projecting more bial or Bookers
the primary initiator for the offense? I did mention this before. It has
to be Devin Booker in my book. I think he's the best passer on
the team right now. And it just makes the most sense. I thought.
I saw, Oh, it's in our discord we had the about west
Unsel being a sitting duck coach in Washington. I'm not gonna lie. I
know it was kind of a It was a it was a prerequisite to take
this job. I think was to give him some time. But I would
agree with you. I would be I'm not even saying mildly or moderately.
I'd be pretty substantially surprised. If West Unselled is the coach in two twenty
four, twenty five next season, maybe there's not a lot of damage done
since it's a year of transition and you don't have you know, you could
look at and say, well, what about player development? We have the
number of pick coming in, you just don't have enough of your future asset
base in place to say, Okay, we wasted a year on the wrong
coach, or are the coach we didn't prefer developing these players? Thomas Scott
does Dame go to Miami? I think, look the heat not being more
in on this, or maybe Bradley Beal really preferred Phoenix. I doubt it,
but maybe he really preferred Phoenix first and foremost. I think that's what
they're waiting for, is a better opportunity and that they believe Damian Lillard is
it. And look, if Damian Lillard wants to be in Portland. I'm
not going to tell players what to do with their career. If everyone in
that organization is okay with well, we're gonna take the number three pick.
We're gonna play the number three pick, and Shaden Sharp, we're gonna resign
Jeremy Grant. We're gonna try and be as good as possible, basically while
fuxing and fiddling on the margins. And Dame's happy with that. That's okay.
What you What I'm tired of hearing is that they're willing to make a
big move only did not make a big move and saying that they're planning to
maximize Dame's window. They haven't done that right now. And so if you're
not going to part with Jayden Sharp or number three pick, and I'm not
saying just rush into something, but if you're if you look at it and
say, oh, well, like Siakam's not enough to even move one of
those guys, then you know what, then it's time to kind of I
don't think I actually respect envy admire agree by being picky with the let's say
the number three pick. If you're not willing to move the number three pick
in a package for Pascal Siakam, then it's time to move Damian Lillard unless
he's Okay, just waiting for lightning in a bobble. Maybe he really likes
Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson, or maybe you think that eventually they'll they'll be
able to pull off a trade big your trade for some reason. But it
seems like there's this weird game of chicken happening in Portland right now, and
I want to get back to Washington. I don't want to short shrift them
on this. I just Dame has talked about how he wants to compete.
The Wizards are clearly they don't seem interested in just making a move for the
sake of making a move, and that's that's a responsible organization. But there's
this dichotomy then in aimes, from Damian Lillard and the Blazers, and I
do think it's going to end, maybe not this summer, but sometime soon
in a trade. It just feels like one side waiting for the other to
blink first. And I don't know if it's a matter of the Blazers are
going to go through the draft process, free agency and see who they're able
to get with the number three pick or whomever they draft at number three,
and go back and say, Okay, look like we weren't able to get
a quality of player we believe is gonna fold us into contention with you,
what do you want to do? And that's how it ends. But you
kind of want to make the decision fairly soon, just because you don't want
to be looped into a Jeremy Grant contract that you can't turn around and move.
There was the report that the Blazers and him are locked into a deal
at one hundred and twenty million. If that's four years one hundred and twenty
million, that deal will be movable. If it's three years one hundred and
twenty million, because his max is in the fourties, I think his max
starts it. I'll check it really quick in our max contract calculator here.
His max next season is forty point two million. So if it's three years
in one hundred and twenty then it's it's a different story. Maybe teams can
appreciate that as shorter term, but the Sun Wizards could have traded bial two
seasons ago and got a better deal. Thomas Scott app and are tanking for
Bronnie, which which by extension, means they might be tanking to get have
the right to have forty one, forty two year old Bron James on the
roster. Yes they should have, but the Wizards under Tommy Shepard should have
already made this decision, and the fact that they didn't or couldn't or wouldn't
was a failure on their part. And then they turned around and they like
you had turned around and gave that negotiation. I can't. I'm trying to
think of another organization that ever lost a contract negotiation that thoroughly. And it's
not I don't like counting players money, so to speak. I think players
are too often boiled down to a number. And I even just said that,
I think it's really unfair that we haven't figured out how to detach like
we have figured out how to detach players on court value from their contract number.
It's twenty twenty three, Like let's be let's be better than this,
so that number is still the terms of it. We're still huge, Like
if you're gonna give us Supermax out, it really should be to one of
the now, especially with the new sort of cat penalties, like it needs
to be. It can't be a top twenty five, top thirty guy anymore,
Like it just it can't be that, and I think we're gonna see.
Yeah, there could be weird seasons where you have these because of the
new rules in place about the game's minimum for all NBA, we might have
some weird circumstances where someone qualifies for a max contract makes a couple all NBA
teams, but they're not gonna get it. Teams I think are gonna up
the standard relative to the players that they're giving those contracts too, because they
have to when you look at how punitive and limiting the new CBA is.
And I just even in the moment though before you knew that about these new
CBA repercussions, it was just the no trade clause, Like, you gave
this guy everything, and it's not like he had this other market proved that
he was gonna leave. Yeah, there's a level of loyalty, but you
put yourself in a situation where you couldn't. I bet you. I firmly
believe this, and I was wrong. By the way. You want to
call me out for being wrong, here we go. I like to try
remember to admit admit when I'm wrong. I said, if we set the
over under on one point five first round picks in prospects like the equivalent of
those for Bradley Beal. I would take. I would take the over I
underestimated how toxic the no trade clause on top of that contract was, which,
by the way, the language in the CBA is fuzzy, as Dan
Fellman of Dunktown pointed out, But I do believe Bradley Beale's no trade clause
transfers. So that was also another hurdle in this deal, because you're acquiring
him knowing that he can veto any deal if he wanted to move him later.
And I think was it Bobby Marks or Zach Low made this comparison.
Think about how much harder it would have been for the Lakers to move Westbrook
this season if he had a no trade clause. His expiring number was large
enough. Now he could have just gotten to a point where he knew he
was going to get bought out. And maybe it doesn't really matter, but
yeah, so you got the fact that they had to accept this little that's
a failure on that contract negotiation, not of Michael Winger. You can argue
that he should have gotten more. I just I want to know what they
were offering and whether they whether they walked out at the next second, so
or at the last second. Excuse me, But if he didn't have that
no trade clause, I firmly believe that they would have hit the over on
picture process because then teams know it's easier to move him later just because he
can't beat it anything, and they could have sent him anywhere they wanted.
And that is the real loss, is that there might have been a team.
And Matt Moore of Action Network tweeted this out where apparently, based off
what he's here, there's gonna be a lot of stupid shit by teams this
offseason. There's always someone willing to take on a contract. And Chris Haynes
reporting now Miami's focus is Portland superstar Damian Lillard, with a genuine belief that
could be the off season veteran guard seeks a change of scenery. Yeah,
I just I think I would trust that intel, just because it seems like
Portland and Damian Lillard are engaged in this weird game of a chicken. As
I already mentioned before, the no trade clause though, ends up biting the
Wizards. But let's talk. Let's what I'll say, good, and then
we need to talk Chris Paul here what we need to give the Wizards.
I barglove TV put a shit emoji if you're probably talking about me since I'm
rambling live. But hopefully it's just about this trade anyway. At least the
Wizards are now finally headed in this direction, and that's what you look at
as encouraging. They've really made their roster flexible after next season. We have
to see what happens with Kuzma, KPP, Kate Wow KP. Also would
do they keep Monte Morris to long right? But like everyone's on a short
term deal. There is no one I mean, like the longest player under
contract is going to be their number eight pick as of right now in twenty
twenty five, So scale ahead two off seasons. No one that's currently on
the roster has guaranteed money. There's oh wait, excuse me, I'm looking.
I'm looking at my wrong sheet. They have Daniel Gafford is the only
player two off seasons from now with guaranteed money. Yeah, there could be
Johnny Davis there. We don't know who they're gonna sign. But they're so
flexible moving forward, and you could argue now they've set themselves up to make
that design freefall where Okay, you don't trust next year's draft class or whatever,
but you can be bad and hopefully you're able to get picks or prospects
out of the KP or Kuzma circumstances, maybe be able to get something.
For Denny Afia. I think his extension eligibility suddenly becomes fascinating. It was
beforehand because he's not this front office is guy. It's even more so now
because why would you depending on what I guess it depends on the number,
Why reinvest in someone when you're gonna when you're gonna have to pay that second
contract as you're going down this rebuilding route. I think it's encouraging that it
shows ten the ass really did give Michael Winger and company the autonomy to do
this tear down. What is a little discomfity is you look at what they're
gonna be left with as their starting point, and it's kind of the number
eight. And I love Denny Afia, but I just don't think he's that
blue chip like guiding light. Unless you're able to get real value out of
Kuzma and Porzingis in the trade, you are starting from this completely blank slate
in the sense of it's your own picks that you're going to be rebuilding through.
You can hope to hit on some flyers second draft guys, but like
there's no other like I end first round pick coming your way. You're not
getting, you know, like a premo Houston Rockets pick from UH from OKC
for Christops porzingis rcock. Like, you're not gonna get Houston's not gonna give
you one of the primo Brooklyn picks or this. There's not gonna be a
team that comes in and gives you unprotected picks, is what I'm getting at.
For kp probably not even for I would argue maybe a contender, but
like for Kyle Kuzma. But so you're and you don't have all these other
pre existing young, promising young players in place. I think Corey Kisbert made
some strides last year. The jury's still out, I would say on Johnny
Davis, I'm not sure the Wizards knew how to use them. We'll see
if they know how to use them this this season. But like that's like
Daniel Gaffer, okay, cool, like but that that's it. It's a
number eight pick really, and Denny Ava if we want to stretch it out
that far. So this is very much going to be a long, arduous
process in Washington, which is not like that's not great to think about,
but it also is encouraging that they're willing to travel down this path because they've
needed to travel down this path for like, I don't know, probably since
two nineteen, Like how many years is it is this long overdue and let's
be like, let's be kind about It's where maybe you talk to yourself and
you're like, yeah, they they should have given it the like I think
even before they acquired Russell Westbrook, you kind of just knew they had that.
It was in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, they had a thirty two
win season. The writing just kind of very much felt on the wall there.
They've been to the playoffs once during the past five year span. They
got bounced in the first round. They haven't won in this five year span
more than thirty five games in a season, or the equivalent of thirty five
games, although they won thirty four in that seventy two game campaign. So
congratulations to the Wizards were being four games under five hundred. This is long
overdue, and I would say by at least I'm gonna say it like,
this is something that probably should have been looked at in twenty twenty. Maybe
the circumstances made it hard to self evaluate because of the pandemic. It's at
least two seasons that I would it's at least three seasons overdue. And I
think about what you could have gotten for Beal two or three, two or
three seasons ago, it would have been a lot more than this. The
other note on this is, so where could Chris Paul go? The Clippers
were mentioned, but I like, I what does Washington want out of what
the Clippers can give them? They can guarantee Eric Gordon's contract. That's a
good starting point, and then I don't know who else you would be offering
in that scenario would be another one of their like mid end expiring salaries.
Is it Eric Gordon and Marcus Morris? Eric Gordon and Robert Covington? And
what do the Wizards want with either of those players? I don't know if
there's a team that's gonna want Eric Gordon on that guaranteed money at twenty point
nine million dollars to move him. Robert Covington, Yeah, I guess there's
teams that would want him. He's at next season, he's at eleven point
seven million dollars. You could certainly move him that's expiring, if it was
gonna be. And I don't know how badly you want Chris Paul, but
if it was, if you went Marcus Morris instead of Eric Gordon, if
you're getting a guard to give up guard, so I would guess it would
be Eric Gordon and then Morris or Covington maybe, but toom depending on what
other team is interested. What are you you know? Are you you're not
getting number thirty? I wouldn't think if you're Washington, unless is there bad
money you're taking back like you have. The Clippers decided that Norman Powell's bad
money all of a sudden, with the three guarantee years left on his deal.
He's at about eighteen point five million per year. That's the average.
It's at eighteen and then nineteen three and then twenty five, twenty point five.
I don't think that's egregious money if you're worried about his health, but
I like he can give you some rim pressure in shooting. Not big enough
to defend a lot of threes. And not particularly long. But I think
he's a great fit for this roster, especially when you look at how about
the lack of a velvity with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. So I just
there would be a fourth team if you're opening up this deal, because I
don't think maybe Washington says, no, we'll reroute them on our own,
I suppose, But you're not taking Eric Gordon and then either Marcus Morris or
Covington. I don't think it would be too because he's important and there needs
to be another team that jumps on that. If the Tomb is moving out,
you're definitely not getting Terrence Man as part of that deal. Would they
throw in Bones Highland just as sort of an aunt? Like to try that?
Okay? But like I that package is going to be. That package
is going to be fascinating to look at if he ends up with the Clippers.
I'm curious as to whether they don't think that he'll get bought out and
then waved or excuse me, that he won't bought out and then waved.
Wow, are they not confident that there would be a buyout or he would
be waved and that he just wouldn't then sign with them. I guess he
would want more. They can only offer the minimum, and he would want
more than the minimum. So that would be the thinking here up because in
theory they could just do that if they had the minima lead offer, maybe
that would be a more palatable route, whereas Chris Paul gets waved and they
give him the minima lead to to come to them. So yeah, I
guess that's the traits Eric Gordon plus. One of those deals is there are
another team. If anyone's in the chat and wants to say there are another
team that, like Chris Paul makes sense on I mean Boston functionally. I
just you're not gonna cobble together the money necessary to trade for him. Would
Brooklyn take a stab? Is it like Joe Harris and money, Like you're
not gonna give Like you could build something like would you give them a first
round pick to take on Ben Simmons to get back Chris Paul. That would
be something. I guess you could go that route. I just I don't
think they would. Charlotte, no Chicago, no Cleveland, no Dallas.
If Kyrie Irving leaves, sure, but they need to make like yeah,
no Denver, no, Detroit, No, Golden State, no, Houston,
no Indie No. The Lakers, yeah, they would want Chris Paul.
Are they gonna trade for him? It would be it would have to
be a Damigel Russell sign and trade basically because you can get to if you
guarantee Malik Beasley and Mobamba. You're at twenty six eight, which is not
enough to take back Paul's salary. I don't think let's see six eight.
I don't know you could get Paul for that. So, like, I
guess that could be the deal. Like, I don't know what the Wizards
want Malie Beasley either, so but I guess if the Laker, But why
would they nuke their depth, especially when are you just gonna let the Anel
Russell walk in that situation? That seems like a wasted asset. Memphis,
No, Miami just they're not trading for that contract. And I'm like,
where are you gonna the upgrades? Not from from him to from Kyle Lowry
to Chris Paul. No, Milwaukee, yes, but only if he became
a free agent. Was willing to signed for the Minnesota No, they have
calmly now New Orleans, not as a trade candidate. The Knicks. No,
okay, see no Orlando, no Philly, no Portland's, no Sacramento
Spurs, Raptors. Yeah, there's I think would very much be the Clippers,
and you can probably talk to yourself into the Lakers, although I would
not Ryan Gaws as the Wizard's most frequent trading partner, the Lakers need to
try something here. I guess I just Mobama and Malik Beasley for Chris Paul.
It makes sense in a vacuum. But are you gonna can you signed
and trade Deanzel Russell for something then? Because I don't know that you want
both of those players on your roster, and then now you're gonna have big
money he committed to Chris Paul, DeAngelo Russell and Anthony Davis and Lebron and
you're gonna be kind of struggling for depth. And I think they would definitely
want to let free agency play out and see, okay, did we stumble
into a Kyrie Irving scenario or something. I still think that they're gonna favor
depth over consolidation. But the Clippers and the Lakers might be the only teams
that they could really talk themselves into. So fascinating trade here I believe that
we've covered all of it from basically every angle, but DeAndre at and I
being like we can circle back to destinations for him, we did, like
we went through the whole league before. That's going to be the challenge now
is what is DeAndre at his trade value? Will I be recording in our
Emergency DeAndre Ayton podcast? And The Athletic also reports that bald chose the Sun's
over others. Choosing them over the heat was certainly a choice. I also
like Milwaukee would have been fun. I just don't know if it would have
been enough of an upgrade. And I think he probably would have wanted them
to use Middleton that's the ballast, rather than Juliday. The Kings would have
been fun as hell. I just I'd prefer to see them throw assets in
for a wing. Yeah, I don't the eight and stuff is going to
be fascinating. I don't view him at three years and just over one hundred
million dollars. I think he's in net negative contract right now. And we
have a comment from Zigi. If you're the Bulls, how much of a
turn would you expect for zach Lavine? Do you think there's a realistic chance
they make significant moves, how would you fix them? Stressed out bulls fan
totally unrelated to this discussion, but let's answer it anyway. They're get they're
getting more than this for Lavine. I know that people don't like his contract,
but I almost feel like zach Lavine is skewed underrated now. There's concerns
about his defense, and I think his passing is very much secondary. I
don't think he regressed this year compared to last year, but it felt like
he peaked last year, like not two twenty two, twenty three, but
two twenty one, two twenty two. So having him for four for four
years, and what is his number? Four years? One hundred and seventy
eight point one million, he's he's he's a little bit younger than bealb.
What is he twenty eight maybe going on twenty nine. Zach Lavine is twenty
eight years old, he's got turned twenty eight. Yeah, you get more
for him. I think. I don't know if this because of the new
CBA, like the punitive nature of the new CBA. I don't know if
that drives down his value at all. Maybe his injury history as well.
If I had just set the overrunder. I'm gonna do it again. Maybe
I'll be wrong. I'm gonna say the equivalent of two picks or prospects.
I'm gonna hit the over on that. I just I feel like, if
you have the assets I would if I was Miami, I'd rather trade for
Zach Lavine over Bradley Beal quite frankly. So I'll set the overruner that.
If I'm the bulls ze I tear it down. And it's not a matter
of how do you fix them, it's can you get just prospects and draft
equity and actually slog through more of a conventional rebuild. You've already wasted some
time because both Kobe White and Patrick Williams need new deals. I don't think
either one of them needs to be a part of your bigger picture. I
would I would pay Patrick Williams's next contracts. He's the extensionals. Well,
now you can let Kobe White walk this year, you trade de Rosen,
let Bouge walk for nothing. I think De Rosen would still have some value.
Maybe you get a first round pick or at least you know a prospect
along those lines. That's the path for them, and you know you've already
You've conveyed your your worst obligation to Orlando already, so that's done. You
do have that pick owed to San Antonio. But the way it's protected,
you could very much control that. It's time to start from scratch. It'd
be different if Lonzo Ball was playing. But I think you get at least
a first round pick for Cruso or the equivalent if it's But I think you
probably get more than a first round pick, like a first round pick and
like a nice young player or semi nice young player or something, or at
least a really nice young player. So I think you get at least a
pick or young player for Caruso, a picker young player for de Rosen,
and then two plus picks slash young players for Levigne. You probably clean up
your books a little bit. You can let the Lonzo Ball situation ride out.
At that point, Booge can just walk in free agency. If you
want to facilitate a sign and trade, there's a team that really wants them
and they'll give you some seconds or you create a huge trade exception. Sure,
that's what I would do. Ifire with the Bulls Ziggy, will they
do that? We have to see, but they're in the bird rights trap
with Vooch if they actually want to win now, I still feel like there's
part of me that feels like this will be the summer that they're gonna do
something significant. I just don't trust that it's going to be like doubling down
on this core and just like trying to you know, we're gonna trade for
Miles Turner and let Luche walk or do a double sign and trade and give
up actual assets for Miles Turner, who's a great fit. Doesn't elevate you
to contention. That's how I would fix the bulls, though, I think
when to end it here, I went almost an hour. Hopefully you enjoyed
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