What is track lacking? Fellow thermodup, We're a effort. I am Dan
Balic, com at you with my certified fantabulous co host, mister Grant Hughes.
We're in part four of six of our twenty twenty three NBA offseason grades,
going to hit the Northwest Division today. Before we get started, the
usual reminders. Subscribe if you haven't already. If you're new here, hit
sub on Twitter, like comment, help the algorithm love us back on every
single video. You can share our videos to our shorts, our tiktoks,
which would be hey, follow us on the socials at Hardwood Knox on Twitter
and TikTok at Hardwood Underscore Knox on Instagram. Also subscribe to us on Apple
and Spotify. Please continue to rate and review. There's ratings on Spotify whether
you use it or not. Go hit those five stars. Go to Apple,
give us five stars and write a review. The written reviews along with
five stars do help us climb up the charts a little bit. If you've
done all of those things, word of mouth recommendations. Like I said,
share our videos, our podcast, link someone to them, Retweet our promos
on Twitter. Since we refuse to pay for it. Out of principle,
no one sees our tweets anymore, so helped duose that algorithm in so far
as you even can. I think that's Oh, Join our discord someone we
had a guest on. I won't spoil it because that podcast is going up.
Thank me for the discord because they said they found it a refreshing sort
of break from Twitter that they're not on as much anymore. So shout out
to them if they were just blown smoke up my ass. Shout out to
them anyway. Join the discord. The links in the podcast and YouTube description,
and if you want to support the show, buy our merch the link
to our tea public stores and the podcast and YouTube description. I promise at
some point I'll actually promote it like I've never tweeted out Grant, like the
link or anything. I don't know why. I like seeing the screenshots off
you guys getting the merch. That's great, and that's it. So we
get to the question everyone actually he wants to know the answer to Grant,
how the heck are you doing? It's a real mixed bag for me.
School started, so the kids are back in school as of we're recording this
Thursday as of Wednesday, So that's nice. We're back on a schedule around
here. I value I value schedules. I like, I like regimented days
helps me stay sane, so that's good. Also, it's very hot where
I live, so that's the that's the most way you said went away.
Yesterday's supposed to be somewhere around that today, So we're we're all suffering.
Feel bad for me, I guess is the takeaway? That's too hot.
It's too hot. It's too hot, we agree, but no. The
thing is though that I had snow a little bit this winter, So at
least we know that global warming is not an actual thing, right because it
can still be cold. Therefore, what's this warming stuff? Speaking of global
warming, let's talk about the North Division. The NBA held on why why
is it? Why are we speaking in? Because in the North segue in
the history of Hardwood knocks, and I thought that would be the speaking on
conspiracy theories. Let's talk about the Denver nuggets and resignacted. Sure, so
do you want to take us through? We begin with Denver. We're gonna
try and do the alphabet again, I assume. Yeah, we'll do our
best I will start with Denver, So I hate that we have to start
with this one because it's got this very complicated. Maybe you can simplify it
for me after I like plow through it. So essentially one of the big
moves in a summer that they did not really make any big ones, so
we're talking relatively. Denver traded it's twenty twenty nine first with a top five
protection to the thunder for the worst, twenty twenty four first from Houston with
top five protection, Utah with top ten. Okay, see the twenty twenty
four first is just straight up from OKAC. The twenty twenty four first to
be the Clippers, the worst of that essentially number thirty seven and twenty twenty
three and a twenty twenty four second. Then they flipped, so you're already
gonna have to help me the worst of the those picks to the Pacers,
I think. I think the best way to simplify is they ended up trading
their twenty twenty nine first, which is top five protected for two years,
and they already have an obligation okay, in twenty twenty seven, but they
traded that first number forty and they ended up with Julian Strather at number twenty
nine, jail and Pickett at number thirty two, number thirty seven, Hunter
Tyson, and I think they got a twenty twenty four second. Yes,
they get that twenty four second from the least favorable of Charlotte and Minnesota.
Yeah, even the god damn even the second has to be least favorable.
I hate these trades just we were too complicated anyway, So they end up
with basically basically straw Their Pickett and hunter Tyson. Well but as Tyson even
part of Yeah, they got the thirty seventh pick, right, Okay,
anyway, they did all that shit. So now they have rookies on the
roster, Julian Strawther, Jalen Picket, Hunter Tyson. Let's get to the
real meat of this. They signed Reggie Jackson for two years and ten two
five million with a player option. Thank you for including We have to talk
about that. I kind of want to just see the floor to you.
But we'll get through a couple more things. Uh. DeAndre Jordan's back,
Justin Holiday also back, also on board for the minimum. Bruce Brown Jr.
Is gone to Indie, Jeff Green also gone. Thomas Bryant is gone,
is Schmith is unsigned. I don't know that he has signed any place
yet, but I would love for him to sign with a different team so
he can continue to extend his streak of most teams played for in NBA history.
Uh, that's pretty much it. Do you want to Well, first
of all, we didn't really lead with this, but if you've listened to
the three Eastern Conference divisions, we did understand that a C is like fine,
it's passing no no, I mean that matters for this too. And
we're also trying to factor in like what options were available, what were the
opportunities not pursued that We're realistic, so every team is a little bit different,
right, It's kind of like it's not a firm grading scale. We're
trying to be fair to each team and their individual circumstances. So the Nuggets
didn't have a lot of options essentially, right, So we have to think
about that. But also Reggie Jackson, Dan please go so and what did
not factor? They could not pay Bruce Brown? What it was just it
wasn't they chose tax savings over they couldn't keep Bruce Brown. They could have
kept Jeff Green, but that's just like he got a deal where it was
okay, it's only the one year guarantee, but that was a salary that
was just not commensurate with the value he was going to play. The other
thing to note too is Vaco chan Chard tour an acl. That's like something
that doesn't impact their grade, but it's something to keep in mind here.
And I don't know how you feel about So they did sign all the players
we were listing when you're looking at pick it in Tyson specifically, they did
give them four year deals with three fully guaranteed years on them, which I
think is always interesting when there's second round picks involved there their resources available.
It was just not I'm probably gonna pick this team to win the title in
This was just a really bad offseason, and I think what they did when
you're looking at the trading the twenty twenty nine first is ultimately fine if you're
really liking the players that you got back. You know, maybe I know
Denver fans and myself, I'm high on Peyton Watson's supply, which doesn't factor
in this off season. A lot of them really like Hunter Tyson. I've
seen a lot of them really like Jail and Pickett, and then there's already
Oka Julian Strother play sort of a role. We don't know enough about those
guys, so I don't want to take it too hard, but I'm just
sort of like, this team isn't built to need a bigger move, but
you've now just removed any possibility of that happening from the equation because you've traded
these first that are so far out you kind of need to let them build
back up. And then if you're gonna run into second Apron concerns, you
might even not have the most distant ones available to you moving forward. I
don't again hate that part of their off season. I'm not gonna get over
the Reggie Jackson two guaranteed years, like giving him the player option, and
maybe it was a wink wink agreement when he came over in the buyout market,
and you sort of look at it and say, well, look at
what's happening with James Harden. When you break wink wink agreements in Philly.
It's Reggie Jackson. He wasn't part of your playoff rotation. I don't know
what he has left. Maybe he shocks us and provides like a lot of
good backup point guard minutes for them next season, and I don't know who
else they could have gotten with their mini mL E, but that was your
best spending tool, which was already hamstrung because of the new CBA, Like
it's just not worth as much in commensurate with how the cap is rising in
like the actual other exceptions, but you just there would have been better options
at the especially because teams just weren't really using their exceptions, like it was
a lot of them lost them like the more expensive teams. Teams were reticent
to spend their entire full mL I do think what helps them, I guess
is all right, well, who were they supposed to turn around and sign,
I mean even and he's not a backup point guard if you want an
actual ball handling Javon Carter got more than Reggie Jackson, And so it's just
like you would have to, did you Derek Rose on this team I actually
signed for cheaper? Probably not? And so that really warps my perception of
this offseason because I'm not sure necessarily what else they were supposed to do,
but kind of burning this best tool on Reggie Jackson is kind of like,
well, what I've preferred from a basketball perspective to have thrown like like rolled
the dice on literally anyone, or would I'd rather have seen them use the
trade exception that they think it was the money Morris trade exception that expired,
Like could they have been more aggressive and trying to do something like that?
And I ended up with a D plus for them because I dam intrigued by
jail and Pickett specifically and Julian Strouther and I think that this team is they're
still really good and I don't know what else they were supposed to do.
But when you take your best bending tool and you turn it into Reggie Jackson,
well giving him a player option by the way, it's just that that
doesn't seem like, yes, we want to give this team the benefit of
the doubt, but that's not like the smartest use of Like I would have
preferred them to have brought back Jeff Green, that I would have what they
did with Reggie Jackson. And the other thing here too is just like you're
kind of maybe you disproves that they're finally going to be married to the Zeke
Nagy experience next year, let's see, but like you kind of punted on
backup center minutes again too by bringing like the DeAndre contract whatever, and you
have Yokich, like there's still this like ten to twelve minutes a game that
you could stand to upgrade. They didn't even look at doing that. Yeah,
I think the Jackson thing, it's a C minus for me. So
we're really kind of right in the same neighborhood. I think, Well,
let me ask you, what do you think about the It seems like broadly
Denver is saying we got four expensive guys and one extremely expensive guy in Yokich,
and we ought to find a way to get some cost control going.
And so if that means we trade a distant first to get three guys that
we're gonna sign in these rookies two longer deals than these guys would normally get,
and just try to like lock in some lowish numbers on guys we hope
in a year or two can be like at least end of rotation, like
guys that actually play because they're just sort of hamstrung financially with their four big
contracts. Talking about MPJ and Murray and Gordon in addition to Yokich, and
if you're contending for a title like now that twenty nine first like really doesn't
matter. So I kind of like some of the thinking that went into that
complicated trade that I could not get through, And so just that on its
own is yeah, okay, that that makes that makes some sense to me.
You're trying to find ways to avoid just rocketing into like ultra tax you
know eventually that all whether that works out or not depends almost entirely on just
like are these guys any good? Like well one of them pop or you
know, maybe two of them project as guys that you can actually count on
in twenty twenty five or something like that. The Jackson thing is what just
knocks it down below average to me, just because like how the player Okay,
maybe I'll be more specific, just the player option. What are we
doing? Why why does Reggie Jackson get a player option? Like who who
was offering you know, two years at ten two five straight? Like nobody,
there's just nobody. So that whenever that's the case, I think you
said it, it's kind of feels a little wink winkie. And speaking of
I don't I don't really ding them at all for losing Bruce Brown, because
what could they have paid him. This has early birds, so it's like
seven a year, and then you're gonna have to hope that you do the
Nick Patom thing where yeah, come back for one opt out and then we
can really pay you. And they couldn't even have paid him with early bird
rights what he got an Indie for the one year No, not even close.
So like it never again. I think I said this when it happened.
Never listened to players and coaches at the post championship parade when everybody's like,
Bruce is coming back. No he's not. He was never coming.
Insane decision for him to come back. I mean, just the money he's
getting from India is like, how if you're Bruce Brown, you're not turning
that contract down for anything in Indy. Come back to Denver in a couple
of years if you want to. So it's just I can't. I can't
fault them for losing him. That was just that was not part of my
grade at all. But it sort of comes down to when you mentioned Reggie
Jackson, just like just to access for some people like well, you just
said you don't know what they were supposed to do, So would you have
rather Frank niel kena here obviously, but I think we know the answer that.
But look like Dennis Smith Junior got the minimum, Yeah, Ry Joseph
got the minimum. Would you have preferred those guys? And like they didn't
even wait. Reggie Jackson was just signed, like almost right away. Would
you have preferred rather than have him on the two ways? Like, hey,
let's see what Colin Gillespie can give us to what this Reggie? And
yeah, So like that's what I'm saying, and that's why it was the
Reggie Jackson name that did it. And I just don't you're I think you
are looking at it from a more reasonable perspective on the trade front, where
I'm just like, Okay, this team, I guess, really doesn't need
to make a bigger swing. But now they've just removed that option from the
table, where they've decided that not like even a mid end swing, like
any any trade they make is going to be so marginal, or any someone
cracking the rotation who makes a meaningful contribution is going to be developed in house.
And I'm just uncomfortable. You've done it a couple of times. It
has worked out, but it's just it makes me uncomfortable, and so again
it's really the Reggie Jackson stuff for me, because I think you could have
went on them even just like he's not a point guard Eric Gordon at the
minimum, I would have given him this money. It's in hell. Yeah,
yeah, for sure. That's where I land with Denver, our next
team, unless you have anything else on the Nuggets. Nope. The Minnesota
Timberwolves did a bunch of stuff relatives and not really having a lot of stuff
to do. They signed Anthony Edwards to five year, two hundred and five
million dollars max contract with no player options. It can go to the thirty
percent of the max. It includes a fifteen percent trade kicker. They extended
nas Read on a three year, forty two million dollars deal that includes a
player option on the final season. They traded Utah's twenty twenty six second and
their own two twenty eight second for number thirty three Leonard Miller. Because they
don't have enough bigs, they signed Nikil Alexander Walker to a two year,
nine million dollar contract. They signed Shake Milton to a two year ten million
dollar contract with a non guarantee on year two. They signed Troy Brown junior
to a two year, eight million dollars contract that is non guaranteed in year
two. And they also, if you care about this, signed Luca Garza
and number fifty seven Jail and Clark to two way deals some just other notable
stuff. Jail and Nowell still remains unsigned. They did wave Torrion Prince now
on the Lakers, and we have not heard anything on a you know,
you can't factor this into their grade at all. No, Jaden McDaniel's extension
talk just now, which leads me to believe that Jay McDaniels is gonna get
capslock put aid as he should. What did you think about? What stands
out to you? Is this this offseason for Minnesota? I liked it a
lot. I'll just I gave I gave him a B plus for this.
I if I have like for first of all the good like I think I've
several times I said, I think Nikiel Alexander Walker, it's still like not
too late for him to be something. It's two keina a little bit,
he kind of might be, He kind of might be and shake Milton two
years ten million with a non guarantee. I'm really surprised. That's all it
took for him, Troy I know you like Troy Brown Junior. I think
again, these these mid tier these aren't even mid tier deals anymore. And
the modern like you know, pay scale of the NBA. So getting those
three guys on board with you know, significant flexibility in the out year,
that's that's great. I think let's talk about naz Reid because obviously Anthony Edward
just deserved to get max no question player option to win unless I have that
again. But no player option on that isn't like, yeah, that's the
big time, Like Anthony Edwards is so good. Yeah, no, I
mean, I'm I'm really surprised he didn't get a player option because you would
think if anybody's signing a rookie scale deal had the cloud to get one,
it would it would be him. Like if had he come back and said
I need it, I don't know how you say you can't. It's like
say no, so good, good on them. The Nazri deal three years,
forty two million with the player option in the third. Obviously, the
positional glut makes this kind of I don't know, it's not it doesn't quite
rise to the level of like head scratching. But the way I would defend
it is to say it's just asset preservation. I think he's he's properly paid
at that number, and you can envision a team if this is how it
goes, eventually surrendering value to get him on that contract. I think that's
totally fine. It just doesn't make sense to me, you know, from
what's the team on the floor going to look like unless this car And I
don't think this is the case. But one way you could explain is well,
if and when the Karl Anthony Town's trade happens, now you've got you
know, he's not your third center, he's your backup center. I don't
always love him with Nazrid, with Gobert or with Towns, and the numbers
are not good. I like him more as a five, which is just
generally the case with a guy that is center sized. It's just you don't
play those guys at the four anymore. Really, so that one, I
don't know that I could have gotten to an A minus necessarily. And again
I don't hate the deal, just years and dollars, but that one felt
weird to me. Do you have any like I think you liked the naz
Red deal? More than I did if I recall. But what's what if
anything about that? What are your thoughts on that one? I love it.
I'd like to get him at basically mid level money. And like there's
he does so much on offense that I think people don't realize It's he was
viewed mostly as a floor spacer, and his shooting I think did get better
as the season went on. There's like a real floor game and craft to
like putting the ball in his hands. That's huge, Just like because when
you're kind of looking at this team, I think they did. They have
Kyle Anderson, they have Anthony Edwards, they have Karl Anthony Towns even and
like you pick up Shake Milton, but there's like someone who might like he
might be in every level score and who are the every level scores on this
team? Anthony Edwards? And I guess you've considered Towns in every level score?
So I have another one of those guys. And I think we have
not seen enough data on the NAS Read plus another big lineups to say by
far and away that they can't work. And I would actually be more hopeful,
I think for Towns Read than maybe Read Gobert. Oh yeah, so
the money is just and I'll look at it this way too, is now
he becomes like a better if you decide to move on from him. He
has more value on this contract than he did before. And so I didn't
I wouldn't even have second guessed this at like I just I think it was
a and maybe he was more about it after his injury that ended the season,
because I was actually shocked at the number I thought a team wanted,
Like, you know, if he had hit the open market, like the
Rockets or maybe even the Pistons might have come in and with like a really
good offer. And so I think to get him for this money even if
again, if you don't like the glut, but do you let someone that
value, like what was the alternative? Let him walk? Right? Money?
Right now? That that I think that's right. Let me ask you
this before we get off the Wolves. Here, is there a number that
Jaden McDaniels could sign for that would significantly swing your grade up or down?
Like, because I think one hundred million dollars, you know, four for
one hundred is definitely kind of like the thing I've been anchored to. If
you got to be the number that would dragged the grade down. I think
that's really the question. If he gets it will be an A. If
he sighs for like twenty million or less, they just get an A plus
plus plus plus, because that is absurd. I would I just I was
just I don't have an answer. I was just curious, like as a
thought exercise, like how do you pay overpay Jake McDaniels. Is it thirty
year? And that's another player doesn't have like the every levelness to his game.
But that's another player who I don't know if he'll ever see it on
this team, can do stuff with the ball in his hands. Now,
it's very much projection based for him. I think, like you, the
defense, I think is that we don't have any more questions about the defense.
And if he's gonna make threes at all, I think suddenly you're just
well, now this is a this is your thing. Volume picked up this
year and if the percentage is held, So if it was four for one
twenty, I think okay with that, I would be too. Yeah,
And so I just think I don't I feel like his extension if he signs
won will end up not impact if they max him, if they just decide,
like I'm trying, I do think of the number where it's just like
and I just don't know what even if they went four for one forty,
would that would you be like, oh, like whatever, like that's fine.
I might have some reservations about that one. But yeah, no,
I guess that's the point here is that I think, now if they don't
get something done at all, maybe that's that's a problem. I mean,
they don't have to, because they could do it next summer. But but
I think four year max, by the way I think as of now would
be like four years one fifty two something. I don't think he gets it.
I don't think so either, although the fact that it's taking this long,
although like I've guessed, I just although although myself, I just pivoted
to really hard. The Wolves do have like a significant number of really big
contracts on the book, so I can understand some hesitation or trying to like
squeeze a few pennies out if we're going to do another one. So Jaden
McDaniels and Anti Edwards' new deals will kick in next year. So let me
give you Migrated with Him worls, which I gave an a minus the only
thing I didn't like. And I've just I've seen and heard some people think
that Troy Brown Junior is gonna be an upgrade over Torrian Prince. I just
don't. I don't see it. I think Torrian Prince could have been really
important for the way this team is built right now. And I understand the
finances of it all, like what you ended up getting Nikiel Alexander Walker and
Shake Milton for anyway, and even what you gave Troy Brown Junior above the
minimum, there were like other steps that you could have taken. I would
have wanted to have kept him if I were then. So that's really the
only thing I dinged them before. I think there, and the Leonard Miller
acquisitions is a little bit curious. But I also respect, like, hey,
we identified we didn't have a pick someone we liked. We're just gonna
go get him, Like we didn't have a pick in the top in the
top thirty three, so we're gonna go get him. So I do respect
that. But yeah, I think the question I was gonna throw to you.
Jade McDaniels Andy Edwards are on their new deals next year. Carnty Towns
and Rudy Gobert are there? What are the chances I'm gonna set the over
under at point five? One of those four players is there? Is it?
Could you? Are you born implied to go with the under because it's
like, oh well, Mike Conley comes off the books until like it really
isn't there's like the ready made replacement. Oh man, that's tough. So
really it's really it's is Gobert or Town's gone? Is the question? Right?
Like? That's that's what we're getting to. I wish you could.
I wish I could answer this in like January as opposed to right now,
because I think this very much. The Wolves played twenty five games, and
there are trade rumors, and I'd like, I'd like to see this team
for a little while. Frankly, uh, I would say they'll both be
there. But I do think that Gobert is getting closer to not being such
an albatross as as the years come off. I could Although Towns is in
the trade rumors all the time, I guess I guess if the over under
his point five so is somebody gone? I would take the over. Someone
will be gone and it'll be one of the two bigs. But I actually
I am having a harder time deciding which of the two it'll be. I'm
gonna go under because I just think they're gonna be a lot better this year.
But this think you're gonna be really good too. I mean, we
remember when we do the regrades when I get back from traveling. That's I
think we both might have given. I don't remember. We might have given
them like a pluses across the board or something. Why. I'm sure I
have thought that the Gobert trade was like I, I defended it. I'm
sure I defended it. I can't remember. I would love to hear all
my logic on that again. But would you, well, would you?
Although I would not, Let's do the thunder. You're ready to move on?
Yeah, okay, uh, let's see. I've been practicing this one,
and it's the first bullet point on my summary. They signed Vassilier meetsitch,
and that is the correct pronunciation, because I youtubed it and I listened
to the person correctly pronounced it several times for three years. So it's a
mess. It's it's like mitt sich is the way it was phonetically pronounced.
But I'm not I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say Mitchage like, uh,
migge, yeah, mis missage team option and on that three year deal for
twenty three point six million. Again, you have this cleaner. This is
this their side of the Denver trade, getting the twenty twenty nine first for
the least favorable of like seventy million, picks number thirty seven, and a
twenty four second. The trade that's easier to understand is they took on Davis
Berton's money from Dallas and the number ten pick to take case in Wallace and
sent the number twelve back to the MAVs. Then we also have some Patty
Mills Shenanigans that he gets routed there for like five seconds, and a multi
team trade that also involves the Rockets and the Grizzlies. Patty Mills is not
on the Thunder blank He's on the Hawks now, and Rudy Gay has been
waved. There's a future second that ended up with the Thunder and ty T
Watt tell me if this is wrong. Ty Ti Washington and Usman Grubar are
still technically on the Thunder's roster, but they're like players nineteen and twenty on
their current roster right now. Basically it might be yeah, because that you
said they weighed Rudy Gay. That trade was they basically traded cash for Uzman,
Ruba, Tai Tai, Washington, Rudy Gay, and I think they
got a second round or Memphis second round. But they did all that to
just add to a roster like they're gonna just have to cut loose several guys
right like that. You can't. You can't have twenty guys. It's not
allowed. Another speaking of Victor Oladipo for two seconds and two seconds for cash.
They also signed Jack White, they lost Dario Sarich, and they drafted
another Keyante Johnson at number fifty. So its or other pick. A lot
of like convoluted stuff, a lot of taking on money, a lot of
moving picks around. I did not like this offseason for the Thunder, and
that's the first time I've said that about them in a really long time.
I am open to the counter argument of what would you have preferred they do
because they just already have a million young players and unless you're going time for
consolidation trade, I don't know what to do. So it's a D plus
for me and I'll throw it to you with with that hanging in the air.
They this is what's tough because we get into the criteria of what would
we have done and then grading it knowing the constraints that they've decided to work
within, and so I would have been more aggressive with my cap space.
Now I also read like PJ Washington still floating around out there. That was
a name I had proposed for them missing out on PJ Washington doesn't is not
my grade that I will reveal shortly, is not necessarially necessarily criticizing them for
the players they didn't go after, just because I would have I had I
didn't even have higher hopes. I just would have went more aggressively because and
this is a compliment, we're gonna get killed. I won't cut this up.
I'm done. I like won't post anything when we do the I used
to post it for every team, but like we have negative stuff to say,
it's just not worth my listen to the whole podcast, Like it's not
worth my mental psyche of these YouTube comments coming up with people getting mad?
Can I cut in before you say a negative thing? And I just gave
a D plus. I fucking love the Thunder. Like I think this team
is great. I love the players. Is better than prime Michael Jordan,
so of course, I mean that's from us. That's where we're starting at.
I have like three or four guys that are better than prime Michael Jordan.
And this is just the off season. Like if when we get into
over unders, like we're gonna be so hot and when when when we hope
maybe we'll do it together the look ahead, we're gonna love the Thunder.
I still love the Thunder. So let's just throw away the side they were
never gonna go after someone in free agency. I still think teams should do
that more like you fucking make the Lakers pay more for Austin Reeves. This
isn't Thunder specific again, does not factor into their grade. I it like,
I need to know how they feel about Kays and Wallace in a guard
rotation that includes Sga. Now Visilier, is he even gonna play Josh Giddy
lou Dort is there? Yes, you can move some of these guys positionally,
and I think we're gonna see there's gonna be collateral damage here where it's
better not be Isaiah Joe, like he should factor in the guard rotation isn't
gonna be ty Ty Washington. You know, Trey Mann feels like someone who
could get bounced here, so he's still on the roster, right They didn't
bounce on Yeah, so that's like, that's how crowded their roster is right
now. But I was like, this is a trade man still on this
team to take on twenty two and a half million dollars guaranteed of Burton's to
move up two spots. That's not good asset management, especially when you saw
what like less cap space could get, Like they got two pretty good seconds
just to take on the expiring deal Victory Oladippo. I would have preferred you
could say this, but like, well, they already have too many players.
The Spurs got like something to take on Reggie Bullock. That's someone who
could have helped them or even if he was breaking case of emergency. And
I know thunder fans' response has been and I think even someone I can't remember
who covers them for the athletic one on the low posts and said, well,
now they have like a human trade exception in Davis Burton's and like,
I get it, but that runs counter to if you're not gonna let me
criticize the Thunder for not being aggressive enough on the free agent market. I'm
supposed to believe that, oh, this is the year they're gonna be aggressive
and consolidate on the trade market. So that was just I don't understand it.
I like Cason Wallace as a prospect. I don't see his future on
this team outside of being like the fourth guard, or maybe it's the third
guard because you consider Shay or Giddy or lu dort owing just because they play
so much together. Okay, fine, I did not love that. I
think the trade with Denver was a home run because now you control their first
basically from twenty twenty nine through two thirty and the fact that you can't we're
talking about their roster crunch to kind of move some of these pick commitments back
since they traded. It was like a least favorable twenty twenty four first.
That's good business by them. I don't have a problem with the Victor Oladipo
deal from a pure value perspective. I still like Usman Garuba, but it's
he's probably just gonna get cut, right, So what were they doing there?
I went with like, I just went with a flat C minus for
them because I think it was below average. I just I don't. It's
not even I don't understand it. They added to some gluts and I don't.
I think the biggest thing is they did not get good value for their
cap space this summer regard. Are this of what you expected them to do?
All right? I've as you've been talking, I've been thinking about a
couple of things. I think I'm gonna move up from a D plus.
I'm gonna join you in the C minus territory. And it's gonna be based
on a totally speculative belief that maybe Case and Wallace like is a guy like
and that's that's the reason they did this. More, you know, the
Breton's dead money or I don't know how dead that money is, by the
way, Like, maybe this is a team that does need shooting, and
maybe they can rehab his value and trade him for more than they or than
they got. Wallace was like a top five player in his class, and
he would not be the first Kentucky guard to just get out of Kentucky and
arrive in the league and suddenly like, oh shit, this guy should have
been a top You know whatever, pick I might be mistaken too. I
don't remember the last Kentucky guard wherever they came out, and they would just
build as like a three D prospect too, No I So I think and
I try to stay away from this, like you know, full stop with
rookies, because we just we don't know. I don't care what you did
in college unless you're Tim Duncan or or whatever, and we just have this
ridiculous track record to judge you on. He might. I think there's there
may be a case to be made that he could be the kind of guy
that justifies this even with the positional glutt and he just becomes a massive asset
for this team that like maybe Giddy isn't someone they you know, he tops
out or he just doesn't fit or you know, you want you think you
can play Jayen Williams at the three or the four all the time and you
can just fit Wallace in there. I could. I could see that being
worth it. And so you know, that's not the boldest play, But
maybe this is just the guy that they knew they had to get and they
did it. So I'm gonna go SE minus because D plus feels a little
low, so I'll join you there too. I've etched it in Stone.
I'm sorry you're sticking with You're sticking with the D plus and it's just i
think, even evaluated within how they were going to operate, just a little
bit disappointed. Like C minus is still it's not a failing grade. So
do we want to go to the next team, which is the Portland Trailblazers,
who have I think the most potential to date everything that we're about to
say on this podcast, right, Like, that's the team that could blow
everything up here. They drafted Scoot Henderson at number three. That gets into
an interesting discussion where, well, we'll get to it. Drafted Chris Murray
at number twenty three, drafted and I'm just listening to this because I really
like him Ryan Rupert at number forty three and fought him to a three year,
five point three million dollar deal with a team option on the final season.
They signed Jeremy Grant to a five year, one hundred and sixty million
dollars deal that includes a player option on the final year, which will be
his age thirty four season. They matched to three year, thirty three point
one million dollar offer on Matisse Thyball. That deal. It includes a fifteen
percent trade kicker. He gets to veto any trade for a year and fifty
percent of his annual salary must be paid by October first. And they signed
John Butler and Ibdubaji to two way contracts and then they wave trend in Watford.
Is the only other notable thing that I forgot right? Nothing else?
Oh, yes, I don't think anything else has happened in Portland. Yeah,
the use of Nurki's trade him. No, the Damian Lillard trade rumors
certainly factor into this. I don't know. This is more of a conversation
for I guess the Spurs. But I think what's interesting here is how do
you evaluate their decision to take Scoot Henderson when he's such the obvious pick at
number three. You can't credit them too much when it's Victor Weman Yamala,
Like the Spurs, you tank that shouldn't be part of your grade. In
Portland's case, the obvious player. But also given the fact that they had
Damian Lillard on the roster, there is some like chutzpah here where it's oh,
you had the gall to take Scoot Henderson, and so I did.
Factor that into my grade. I did too, and this is a bee
slashing complete for me, because the dame stuff just looms and you know,
depending on what they get for him, could move the grade one way or
the other. So I don't think you credit them necessarily with oh, this
in their infinite wisdom, they plucked Scoot Henderson out of a draft class where
nobody believed he would go. This was the pick, right, Obviously you
take Scoot there. I think like zooming out. The fact that they took
him is part of a broader plan that I think is the right plan just
to move on from Damian Lillard, right, I think I think it's very
much the case that had they picked someplace else where, Scoot was not the
guy that they were able to get. I'm not sure what this team looks
like or what direction they're going, and it does seem to me like they
weren't expecting to be able to get Henderson. They got him, and that
really changed the dynamic between them and Lillard and their willingness to you know,
not tank hard, but you know, essentially start the rebuild because now we've
got our point guard for the next ten or twelve years and we can move
on from the one that we had for the past decade. So that's a
hard move to make. I think they deserve a little bit of credit for
making the tough decision to say we're basically pivoting now. The problem with that,
and the reason this great isn't higher is I hate the Jeremy Grant deal.
I just don't understand how he was able to get Like, where was
the bigger offer coming from. I'm going to say that a lot with deals
like this, he doesn't. I don't know that he's a positive value asset
at that number. I don't know that he is someone that like necessarily like
if you're bringing on Jeremy Grant, Jeremy Grant's a good player. I think
the best version of Jeremy Grant is like a fourth or fifth option that's mostly
there to defend and he can create shots if you need him to. He's
not the Pistons Grant or even last year's Portland Grant, where he's got a
pretty significant offensive responsibility. Just that that is not my favorite version of him,
and he's now being paid like that's the floor version. Like this guy
is your first or second option, essentially, if you're acquiring him as another
team. So I don't like that that knocks the great down. But big
picture, just like the the overall idea of we're ready to pivot, we're
kind of ending the Dame era, we're starting the Scoot era, and it's
messy and we don't know what they're going to get. But I just like
the idea of embracing like that it's time. So that's where I end up
with the B. I think, honestly, this might be one of our
biggest divergence is I go with a C minus here because they deserve Yes,
they made the Scoot pick knowing Damian Lwards on the roster, but to not
have a better hold on this situation and allow your vision to be so shaped
by where you're landing in the lottery order. When you already had Shandon Sharp,
you were going through Jeremy Grant's contract year, even just the Matisse Thybal
contract, it's like you now have yourself. I don't the upfront payment,
maybe they don't care about, but like, you couldn't have negotiated something that
would have avoided this trade kicker or put you in a situation where now you
give him veto power for one year that well, they're just matching that offer
sheet. Those are all Dallas's terms on Tyble's offers. But that's my point.
It's like, why couldn't the numbers not big enough for me to say,
well, why weren't you negotiating more aggressively yourselves with these tible first?
That feels like a mini fail there, And so I do give him credit
for taking Scoot Henderson, and it's an incomplete as well, just we don't
know until the Dame trade could totally flip this on its head, Like you
need to have a better hold on the Damian Lillard situation because now he's requested
or demanded a trade to this one team, which is held up your entire
operation. Because he's only he won't hurt the development of your player. He's
not going to be a malcontent that goes to China and talks to kids about
how much the front office is a lying sack a liar. Right, So
at least I don't think imagine if that's like that, he's like looking at
hard and yeah, this is what I want to be. So but you
needed to have a better grasp of this situation, and we all saw this
coming from a mile away. People have been too thirsty for a Dame trade
for too long. You needed to have a better hold on your vision.
There's a point where it's flexibility and there's a point where it's just utter ambiguity,
if not incompetence. I think this was more ambiguity. I don't think
the Blazers are incompetent. The fact that they didn't want to make the decision
themselves. It feels like it's just I have to dig them for that.
I could even probably be talked into a d to be honest, I think
they can move to Jeremy Grant deal. But you know what, like you
put yourself in a position where you didn't really have a choice other than to
give him this contract because you didn't have a good hold on your vision because
you tied it. And that's assuming you did. You tied it to well,
let's see where we land in the draft, and then we have to
wait and see what the Charlotte hornets. No, Like, you need to
have like a more firmer vision in place, and there was clearly a larger
like disconnect between them and Dame based off even if that was their plan to
just wait and see what happens with the draft. He didn't think that was
their plan, yeah, or he may have known that was the plan and
was not on board, like which which you can definitely defend them. Yeah.
And so I think we'll see what the package ends up being from Miami
or if another team gets involved, and that could certainly sway their grade.
This is not a failing grade, but they needed to have a better hold
of not just the Dame situation and their vision and this offseason, despite again
making the scoop pick, took some level of courage because I think Amen Thompson
or Sara Thompson reasonably could have gone number three. I don't like, in
my head, Scoot Henderson's gonna be way better than those guys. I want
to make that clear. But you're a team that's actually married to the now.
You don't see a trade on the table that you want. Could they
have just moved down and said, hey, we'll go down to five and
take a Sara Thompson or move down to four for Amen, because the Rockets
I think would have wanted school or done a trade with the Pelicans, like
and could we have gotten Zion? We've gotten Ingram who knows? So I
give them a lot of credit for that, but it just never should have
been so tied to well, let's see, like what kind of happens where
we land? And Yeah, I think I think that's all fair. I
think I'm probably giving them too much credit for just kind of they're on the
track that I like now, even though it's sort of it's not quite by
accident, but they kind of just ended up in this position without enough foresight.
And I'm also probably I'm definitely dinging them harder because I don't think you
didn't just like for the matisse tyble stuff where it's that's a you match that
deal. I want to make that clear. But this is also a deal
that you could have negotiated with more favorable terms, I fully believe before he
went out and got an offer that now limited you. Yeah, right right
now, they're I mean interesting team and ultimately incomplete because the biggest move is
undone. So we should hit the Jazz next, right, we should?
All right, I know you want to skipped them. I don't think anyone
that will just will conclude. I don't think the jazz fans would want us
to skip him, because I m you're gonna have good things to say about
them, Like I will start with the draft Taylor Hendricks at nine, no
opinion there, Keyante George is sixteen, who also was really good price ends
about twenty eight. Yeah, got John Collins for Rudy Gay and at twenty
twenty six second via the Grizzlies renegotiated and extended Jordan Clarkson's deal. So now
is essentially three years around fifty one point nine million. I think it can
go up a little bit. I don't know if you have that or not
signed omer you're at seven for two years, about five and a half million,
with a partial guarantee on the second I didn't really amount to anything,
but I do want to credit them for a sneaky Paul Reid offer sheet that
had all these contingencies in it that were clearly designed to make him less palatable
if he stayed with the Sixers, and the Sixers then did match it three
years like social media to run rampant with like just the jokes we saw about
Joel j Yeah, that was so great. I just you know, it's
kind of a dick move, honestly, because now I think like some of
these offer sheets are going to start getting even more calculated funitive for the retaining
team. But it was I enjoyed it. I respect it. It was
fun. So that's I mean, I think that's pretty much it for the
Jazz. I didn't you've got it here? Uh signed Joey Hazer and Johnny
Jusang to two way contracts a way vernon carry. So I failed the Jazz
on this bread was great offseason, right, Like I almost have no notes.
I was gonna ask you, what is there anything that you didn't like
about their off season? I think the only thing that you can say is
they took on a lot of John Collins and could that cap space if could
they have been more aggressive with that because we're gonna compliment them for the Paul
Reid contract, but like they could have done some fun stuff with bigger name
free agents then like they would have been an interesting Austin Reeves team. I
just can't. I still believe in John Collins, So I'm just all bored,
Like that's the value for John Collins. There is sort of like a
weird vision for this team now in the front court where we know Larry Marketing
can play three, but you have Taylor Hendrix and Walker Kessler and now John
Collins into that fold. So you do have these four like not big,
but you have these three forwards, three guys who should all be playing a
lot at power forwards to like Lowry Market and is still going to be the
biggest of mismatches when he gets to play the four offensively anyway, So throwing
that into the folds a little bit weird, and I will say, uh,
did you have it? You didn't have any issue. I could see
some people like already not liking the Jordan Clarkson renegotiation. Next time, I
thought that was smart. I think it was. I bumped on it initially
just because, like, I think Clarkson's fairly overrated, but he kind of
mat he matters to this team, and it's not like they add, you
know, added some ridiculous number to it, like and really it's structured in
a weird way, right, so where he gets basically, you know,
twenty three and a half million next year, but then it drops to like
fourteen in the in the out years, right, So it's like it's whether
you like, whether you love Jordan Clarkson or you think he's a little overrated
like I do. That's that's just like good business because because he's at fourteen
million bucks a year, you know next, not this season, but next
and the one after, Like that's totally fine. That's that's that's below starter
level money by a significant amount, and he's at the very least like can
start for you and it will score points, like right, That's that's the
Jordan Clarkson experience. And he improved slightly as a passer last year too,
So to do that kind of like as late. A lot of that I
think was just the spacing and also kind of the lack of other options.
But if you look so like the projections of what he's gonna be worth in
the salary cap in the final two years are nine point nine percent at nine
point one percent, Yeah, it's no right, And look, maybe it
makes him like, yeah, I think that that was just a home run.
I think you look at this roster and say, there's still kind of
light on cap slock wings, and I really like Kyanta George, who I
knew very little about if like before they got him, and maybe he kind
of turns into your primary playmaker. But you don't have that right now either,
And so now you've brought in some other kind of just like, oh,
I'm like John cons a below average passer for his position, and like,
well, Walker Kessler, Larry Market and make improvements there. What it
was, Taylor Hendrix looks like, you know, he's not I didn't really
love Jars Walker, but he's the better passer than Taylor Hendrix. But I
love Taylor Hendrix. I think this was probably not the perfect offseason, and
so why I just give them a flat a because there's a I think a
lot of not a lot of, but there are just some like functional voids
that could they have looked at addressing a little bit more cleanly. You're in
the infancy of a rebuild, and I think the fact that they didn't kind
of try to accelerate the process or enter this offseason thinking about need specifically,
like, yeah, some of these players they need, like John Collins is
a pure value play. That's not a need when you look at when you
look at the roster. And so I give them a lot of credit for
what they did, and just really quickly on the Paul Reid contract. I
want to see players have so little like agency and restricted free agency, the
fact that these deals might be available to them, and I I liked the
idea of these gamesmanship. I would just say I would have loved you have
seen Utah been a little bit more aggressive with like the John Collins trade feels
like it might have been available later on as well too. It's like,
could you have just tried and waited out your cap space a bit? Again?
I can't dig them like for anything here they get an A. Yeah.
I think it's an A minus for me. And you mentioned, you
know, Collins is a deal. You know, you got a couple more
years on that, and it's a number that's not great if he's gonna be
Atlanta John Collins from last year. But I think it's possible and maybe even
likely that the Jazz kind of look around and it's like, what's the last
free agent we really signed? What does this cap space even mean? Let's
fill it with John Collins. We've got all these first if so, now
we've got like a twenty five twenty six million dollars salary that we can throw
in there with first and if we want to trade for somebody like, that's
that's an option now, you know. I think that's the most favorable way
to frame the Collins acquisition Alongside the fact that it's just like they gave up
nothing to get to get him. So yeah, it's an a minus.
We didn't even talk about Hendrick, so I know you love I like him
a lot, just like I cannot wait to see him in Kessler and Market
and play it again. Like I think that's the front cord. And I
think also the Hendricks Collins marketing combination is interesting because I think it gives you
a way to navigate the defensive minutes while also being extremely versatile on offense,
like that you could play five out with those three. And also you made
a good point about Collins, there's more risk. This is not what Detroit
did. Where a spoiler alert last Jackson, we did the Detroit Pistons look
Ahead, which will go live I think next week. Sometime. Was shocked
at how much we love the Pistons offseason. We've had some YouTube commenters that
were shocked as well. I was like, apparently we said some bad things
about them last year, but they did sign Marvin Bagley for three guaranteed years,
so they deserved it. I could say some bad things about that right
now, I'd love to, but like it didn't roll over their flexibility per
se because John Collins, like that deal goes out for three more years,
and like that's the risk. And if you don't love it, especially when
you have Hendrix and Kesler marketing, I get it. But just from a
pure value play of what John Collins was two years ago, and we've just
when's the last time we saw someone who's good, even if he didn't think
he was a fringe All star where his team watched him be good in a
certain amount of way and then just kept saying like, no, we're going
to continue to take away from him, make his life harder, like repeatably,
Yeah, no, that just tanked his value. And now that you
get get him for Rudy Gay in a future second. So congratulations, Jazz.
That's gonna do it for this division, right, unless we forgot a
team. We got the alphabet, right, but do we get all the
teams? Yeah, we got all five. Please take a job by us.
I'll take us out if you're ready to call it on this one.
As Dan said at the top, and you should probably just rewind and listen
to it because he's much more smoother at it, much more smoother Jesus Christ.
Although also, although I can't speak anyway, Thank you for listening,
Thank you for watching. If you watch, remember to rate, review,
subscribe, Tell your friends and enemies. Check out our merch The link to
with a te Public store is in the YouTube and podcast description. Whether you
listen to us on Spotify, Apple, what you name it, write reviews
there, give us five stars, just you know, say good things about
us. It makes us feel good personally, and you know, it feels
more successful, and we will do this more and do it better, you
know, because we're motivated by your approval. This is I think that's pretty
cool. Uh And and as always, we close with a shout out to
the one and only Frank Keena and an apology to Jared