Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Hardwood Notas. This is
Adam from We'll here with my fantastic co host Dan Favalley. We've already covered
the Western Conference when we looked at the top projected target both in free agency
and on the trade market for each team. Now we're moving to the Eastern
Conference, so we'll be running through all fifteen teams alphabetically, beginning with the
Atlanta Hawks and moving to the Washington Wizards, and again just trying to identify
what we expect them to pursue during the upcoming off season. But as always,
before we move into that, I have to ask you, Dan,
how's it going today. I am exhausted, as you know, but I
have no complaints overall based off what I do for a living. I cover
a fucking game. So this is a fun time of year. And I
know it's not your favorite time of year when we're talking about hypotheticals, but
I love free agency, I love trade rumors, and the draft is fun.
I preface everything I say about the draft, and I go on radio
shows on podcasts now though by like I am not a draft expert, and
they'll proceed to ask me these like super nuanced questions about the draft anyway.
So, but it's an exciting time of year. And how about yourself.
You still sound a little sick, But I hope, I hope that you're
overall feel better. I'm just I'm still a little congested here. You can
hear the nasallyiness. Is that a word? It's going to be a word
now. It's a word now. But I am gonna rebut your point about
this not being one of my favorite times of year. I actually do enjoy
this part where we're like central in the draft discussion, which I do very
much enjoy, and like actually looking at free agency because I think it moves
away from too many unrealistic hypotheticals and focuses on more realistic hypotheticals, which is
exactly what we're trying to do here. Rather than crafting like the fake trades
that really aren't going to happen. Shout out to our episode on fake trades.
This is more like we're airing on the side of realism here and trying
to focus on things that legitimately could happen. Yeah, that's really true.
It's easier to talk about or more fun to talk about in my eyes,
even though I'll come up with hypothetical trades or free agency scenarios all day,
when there are like tangible reports, even if you don't believe them, sort
of trying to debunk them work your way back from there. That makes it
exciting as well. But I'm ready to do this Eastern Conference thing. There
are a lot of teams that are I think harder in the West. There
in the East, there's more of that true middle class I guess where their
direction is harder to discern. I found that it was harder to get specific
with some of these Eastern Conference teams as I was prepping for this one,
where it felt like with the West, I have no idea why this was
the case, but it felt easier to pinpoint specific players, and in the
East I found myself leaning more towards generalities and just player archetypes or positions that
needed to be filled. Perhaps it's because a lot of the Eastern Conference teams
have more obvious glaring holes. Yeah, I mean, even the team we're
starting with first is like they just the Hawks just made the Eastern Conference finals,
and I think they're so good. They have so many good players,
but it's like, what there's still feel one ridiculously good player short of being
at anything like to get back to that level in the East next ener.
We've seen the rumors that like they might be interested in moving back the timeline
a little bit with some of the younger pieces and dealing in Cam Reddish or
DeAndre Hunter for another premier pick in this upcoming draft or something along those lines.
And then there's the big looming John Collins question, is he gonna get
paid? Is he gonna end up signing elsewhere? If he does sign elsewhere,
is it an offer sheet that Atlanta is going to match. So there
are still a lot of moving pieces with this Hawks team, even though it
does feel like the core is at least somewhat solidified. So my pick for
them was really just like any three and D wing, Like, if you
name a three and D wing, that's the kind of player Atlanta should be
pursuing. And because it made the Eastern Conference Finals this past season, I
think it opens the door to pursue more of a veteran three and D guy
than someone with upside, because you do have upside scattered throughout the roster.
So the name that kept coming to mind for me was Danny Green. Now
he is not the same that he wasn't his prime, But I do think
it's eminently realistic that he could sign a veteran minimum contract or you know,
something a little bit more than that, and join a team like the Hawks
that could be one perfect fitting role player away from emerging from that Eastern Conference
Finals contention into like true NBA finals contention. Yeah, and it's you know,
they're still like sort of flexible this offseason, even with factoring in that
they're going to have to pay John Collins, so they could you know,
even just having by virtue of the full mid level exception, the bigger mid
level exception, it does put you in a position to sign someone like that.
I also thought, do they need to focus more on trades just because
their rosters in like this consolidation mode. But I also one of the things
that I think they could do is, I know you said they suggested I'm
moving their timeline back. Does that included maybe of I don't want to say,
perpetuating the status quo, But like a move I came up with for
them that I actually really like is get Avery Bradley and Daniel House from the
Houston Rockets for Chris Dunn and that okay, twenty twenty two first rounder,
which is Latto protected and turns into two seconds if it doesn't convey. That's
a move that I think makes them deeper, more serviceable, maybe not noticeably
better, and then still sort of allows them to plumb. I know there's
been rumors they might want to trade Cam Reddish, but still seeing what they
have in their wing rotation with Kevin Hurder, with DeAndre Hunter who's been injured,
with Cam Reddish who's been injured himself, but also just flash that upside
towards the end of their series with the Milwaukee Bucks. So I'm curious if
they would go that route. I don't know that there's they could make a
nuclear trade. But even when you look at the best players out there on
the trade market, you don't see Beal, Lavigne, Siakam. They all
like the Hawks might have the assets to get them. I don't. I
just don't think that they're necessarily what the Hawks would need. The name that's
being the name that's out there that I think might make sense for them if
he's actually available, which would argue he's not shay Gil just Alexander even though
he is extensionable. I say he really is willing to trade him. I
love the fit next to Trey Young. There, Yeah, that would be
great. I just I can't see, okay, see actually pulling the trigger
on that kind of trade. I think for me, the Hawks eyed deal
offseason looks like moving Chris Dunn and Danilo Gallinari for more help on the wings
and a consolidation kind of trade, and probably trying to resign John Collins,
even if it means that you're moving pretty far into the tax. But ultimately
this is one of those rosters where it proved how competitive it was with Trey
Young at the helm, and there's still so much internal room for growth because
there are just a bajillion young players. I mean, Anyuko Kongu is set
back because he had shoulder surgery. I believe that he just underwent that hurts
a little bit, but even still like he'll be back by the time the
stretch run is happening. There are enough pieces, and we saw him flash
his potential during the playoffs. There is a lot of incumbent talent that has
yet to be plumbed on this roster. If you had to lastly you wrap
up on them. Would you lean. Everyone wants the three and D wing,
but they're so hard to find, especially in this market, and especially
when you're working with the same spending tool is probably a majority of the rest
of the league. Do you lean more defense or more offense for them on
the wings right now? Definitely definitely more defense, especially if John Collins is
back where I think that the Trey Young alone guarantees you a high floor offense
and you just have to be able to lessen his defensive responsibilities to ensure that
he can shoulder that burden for the entirety of the season and postseason. Yeah,
and I think the flyer one and this leans more defense, I think,
given how he's played. But Josh Richardson might be another name if he
declines his player option or if Dallas is looking to trade him like that would
be interesting. And I know the last one I'll mention is people have mentioned
Spencer Dimwitty. I don't hate his fitnext to Trey, but I agree with
you that I think you need to lean more defense and did what he doesn't?
You know, he's kind of crimpster spacing and he's fine on defense,
but it's not you know, the minutes with him and Trader be fine.
So I'm an agreement with your assessment there. I believe we're onto the Boston
Celtics. They're weird because they made the cost cutting move with the Kema Walker
trade to give them some wiggle room under like the tax, but not enough
to where they would stay out of it. As of right now, just
based off the salary sheets that I'm using, if they resign Evan Fournier,
they're probably going into the tax. As of now, they have barely over
ten million dollars in tax re Mentoring the offseason, I think you need Evan
Fournier back because you've now traded one of your shock creators even though he was
injured for another big and Horford and Jalen Brown is recovering from his injury.
Maybe he's ready to start the season, maybe he's not. Just because of
that quick turnaround, you need the secondary shock creation more than ever. That's
also what you kind of need to suss out though on the market, and
you don't. I don't know. It's so hard to project them, is
what I'm getting at. Because will they Yes, they have the ability to
work with the non tax players mid level of exception if they're actually willing to
pay the tax and stay below the apron. I don't know if they're willing
to do that. Their trade tards could be, can you dump Tristan Thompson
into cap space and then give yourself flexibility to go on the mid level market
that way? Are you going to use your minimid level? Are even willing
to use them an mid level? You're trying to duct the tax all together.
They're in such a bizarre spot. I would argue that they just need
if they can get there, They're not going to be in like the Conley
Lowry, Lonzo Ball, even Dinwoody tier. If you can get like a
see what happens with another like kind of attacking guard, what happens with Green,
Draguchi's team option in Miami. Maybe even Cameron Payne as an affordable option.
Him coming out of Phoenix. Reggie Jackson would be interesting. I just
really don't think he leaves the Clippers. That's really my focus to them.
They could use secondary wings. So if you know you can get a Bullock,
if you can get a Danny Green would be nice there. If you
can get a Josh Richardson, those names are going to continue to come up
and up, But you have Tatum and Brown already, and if you're gonna
resign Fournier and you have just so many bigs, I think you need to
focus on solidifying sort of your backup playmaking role or just getting someone else in
that regard. And I don't even know, like do they even have the
asset juice to trade for someone of that caliber. I would argue, no,
we've pitched the Marcus Smart deal, divesting him into like a pick Monte
Morris and PJ. Doger. I don't know that they'll go that route because
Marcus Smart is such a cultural touchstone for them, and beyond that, like
the secondary playmaker trade market, it's just it's so undefined right now when you're
going through it. I don't know what would be realistic for them, in
large part because are they willing to take on money. Eric Gordon would make
a lot of sense in Boston. My guests would be that they just don't
want to foot the bill for him, and you run out of salary filler
really quickly after Tristan Thompson. So confusing, But I think I'd like to
see them add just to their secondary ring rotation, but more so than anything.
They need to focus on getting to be another creator in there. It's
like you were just trying to perfectly segue into what I had tied up for
the Boston Celtics, because I'm kind of operating under the assumption that they're going
to bring fourtyer back and any other tangible upgrades are going to happen through trades
around the fringes. I would love to see them focus on bringing in a
capable, bigger ball handler. So I'm gonna throw two names at you that
I came up with as like lower level trade targets that I think make a
lot of sense for this team. Haven't put together exact trade packages here since
so much as in flux, especially with the draft so close to actually happening.
But the first is Delaan Wright, who I think would just be an
absolutely ideal fit here. I like that and it sort of works with I
don't know if Sacramento would do this after they kind of just acquired Delaan right
at the deadline. Are leading up to the deadline lat year anyway, But
if they lose Rashaun Holmes in free agency, just having Tristan Thompson is a
stop get stop get big, those salaries align almost perfectly. That was my
thought exactly. And then my second name is Thomas Satoranski. Yeah, I
would wonder if and yeah, I think, look, if you're going to
use him as like a your third point guard behind Smart and let's say Tatum,
if we're going to assume that he carry's offense, that's you know,
kind of had just a nondescript season in Chicago. But I wouldn't hate that
one either. I'd be curious to see what is the money you're giving up
there. That's what makes Boston tough is you're using Christan Thompson basically in Chicago
definitely doesn't have a use for for Thompson unless they're not going to resign Daniel
Tis, who the Celtics traded away for nothing to Let's not talk about that
though, that the Celtics just a lot of moving pieces. But I think
with both of those guys, you get that secondary or tertiary ball handling ability.
They can run bench lineups, and they're big enough to be switchable on
wing defense and kind of alleviate some of the pressure that Brown and Tatum have
on them because those guys have to do so much for this Boston team the
way that it's currently constructed. Can I throw a trade target at you for
them? I'm curious to see what your reaction is. Let's do it.
Con Sexton. That's such a tier up, I mean, yeah, like
an ideal fit. He would really elevate this team with a pure attacking guard
mentality. But you're now giving up a lot to get him. I imagine
that Smart has to be involved in that trade. I was probably more so
thinking that you're looking at one or two of the young players, like if
they wanted Langford and Nie Smith take them, but then you're probably giving up
like two first round picks down the line type deal where if it if it's
two first and Langford or Nie Smith, I'm just curious to know. Is
that not enough to get Sexton when he has to be paid? And I
think that's what drags down his value. Where we just talked about Shay Gil
just Alexander briefly, who would by the way, it be amazing on Boston
and twenty eight other teams in the NBA outside of Oklahoma City, but they
definitely don't have the juice to get him because he is the guy that you
max out and you just do it without thinking. Sexton, I think he's
really good, He's not that from scratch shock Creed or even if he gets
going downhill. Sure, but his pull up jumper has never been too efficient.
The fact that he can score so well as a spot up shooter or
dribbling into like those slow set threes, that's great, but it just lacks
that star quality. And so I do think that his and I hate looking
at players in these terms. We on this podcast want every player to get
paid, and we both think context and is hasn't proved a great deal.
I would just be wondering if you gave them two first, that you could
protect them two first and one of the you know, like Langford Dud does
Cleveland think about it? Maybe they don't, And that's if I'm that far
off. You can feel free to yell at me, but that would be
I'm just curious to see what if Sexton gets moved, what he'd end up
going for. I think I just questioned it more from Boston's side, we
don't yet have a feel for how Brad Stevens is going to run the front
office there, but it does feel like an awful lot to part with for
a guy where you're not sure that he's going to fit and elevate this core
high enough to be a true title contender, and then you're gonna have to
pay him. And with the extensions that Tatum and Brown have already signed,
that's a lot of money to commit to a core that you're not sure about
as your first move as a general manager. That's a good point. And
if we're talking about Boston being cost conscious, you know, and it works
within this season because Sexton is so cheap, but having Smart and Sexton and
their free agencies at the same time when you maxed out or Mere maxed out
Jalen Brown and the maxed out Jason Tatum and have another year Val Horford where
it's hey, we'll pay you, you know, basically half year salary to
go away, fourteen more five million to go away, or we're going to
give you all twenty six point five million dollars on it. That would be
a very expensive season for them. Hey, Hardwin Knox listeners, it's Dan
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Join. Speaking of expensive seasons, though Frooklyn nets. I mean, this
one feels easy because ultimately this roster is so ridiculously expensive already that you're just
looking for veterans. We're going to sign cheap and fill in the cracks.
And all I want out of this NBA offseason now that we've on through this
exercise, is to watch Nicholas Claxton and Nerland's Noel share the floor. That's
all I want. Wait, what run that by me one more time?
Run it back? Please? I just I want to see Nicholas Claxton and
Nerland's Noel on the floor at the same time reeking defensive havoc while Kevin Durant,
James Harden, and Kyrie Irving do all of the scoring, the switchability,
the impact on passing lanes, the rim protection. That would be so
fun. I don't know whether to be disgusted or tantalized because it's so off
the wall to do that. You're welcome. I think they could. My
guests would be they're in this position where they haven't not the mini mid level.
Does that get you both, Blake Griffin and Jeff Greenback, do you
think or would you guess that one of them is gone. I think Jeff
Green's gone. I think he's played well enough that I think someone's going to
throw him more money. He was a legitimately impact player both with the Big
three available, however short that duration was, and in some of their stead
Yeah, they do have Bruce Brown that they they'll have the ability to resign.
I think one of Green or Griffin will be back. I actually thought
it was more likely to be Green, to be honest with you, but
he might be in hire demand than Griffin at this point. Who knows.
And both of those guys, Brown and Green were just so in smart,
so smart and important to the way that they were just running their center rotation.
I'm wondering if they can get someone else then if you're gonna if you
think you're gonna lose Jeff Green and or Bruce Brown, is there like a
cheap He's not a big but a bigger wing who will give you some super
small minutes at the five and immediately I'm drawn to if Otto Porter needs to
be needs to rebuilt, rehabilitate his value, I apologize, I can't speak
tonight or Nicholas Batum, and I don't know why necessarily he'd want to leave
the Clippers after the season he had, But I do think the Nets can
promise him like a semi prominent role I'm compared to the Clippers, not a
more prominent one. But like if Nicholas between went to Utah, like a
lot of people including us, talked about, he's not guaranteed any sort of
minutes there. There's a reality or a world in which he could be a
part of Brooklyn's closing lineup. The two things that I'm wondering about this team.
They're more interesting from a trade perspective for me because they have DeAndre Jordan,
who's apparently available. I guess Kadi and Kyrie getting him that four year
mid level deal was enough. They can trade him now. He apparently is
available, so I don't think he's an asset to anyone, but his salary
at ten million a year about that helps move some that can help acquire back
some money. And then also I think Spencer did what he ends up getting
signed and traded was one of my predictions for the offseason. I don't know
where you land on that, but those are mechanisms they could use to get
back a player that a team is expensive. Really Otherwise wouldn't have access to.
I agree with you. I would be shocked if Dinwoody is back,
just because as talented as he is, they don't have as much use for
him as another team is going to. I have no idea what they'll be
able to turn him into. And I think that's kind of the theme of
this whole Brooklyn off season, which is, we have limited resources. We
have three superstars who are all capable of carrying an offense. Let's get the
best player we can, like just adopt the true best player available. Mentality,
you don't really need to fill a certain archetype because you have Kevin Durant,
Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. Yeah, that's like, that's really
why I initially went to Nerland's Noel because ultimately, like you do need more
defense. I think that has been demonstrated pretty convincingly, and he's probably the
most impactful, low money potential defensive acquisition on the market. And I do
think that he works with Claxton. I do think he works as the lone
big with some of these smaller lineups. He's not going to play a lot
of minutes, which is probably beneficial because you do want to be running a
lot of smaller lineups out with this roster construction, he makes sense on basically
every level for me, even if it is a little bit off the wall.
The two sign and trade ideas I had for din Witty, I think
this one's pretty standard. Is if you sent him to la for the Lakers
for number twenty two and Kuzma. I think, you know, the Nets
don't need first round picks, but then all of a sudden, you have
two first round prospects. We'll ken you turn those into And I think kuzmuch
he's turned into a than an offensive player. That's what I was gonna say,
more valuable defensive than an offensive player. And there's a chance there's a
chance that with the space that all of Brooklyn shot creators could generate, that
we see his catch and shoot threes go through the roof and that it's okay.
I actually think one of the complaints from the Lakers under the spectrum is
that he has never been that secondary creator that he was is a rookie,
where his he was like one of the top five most efficient isolation players in
the league that year in Brooklyn. You almost want that, and so that
would be a good fit the other one is a little bit more off the
walls. But let's say Dallas wants to have their cake and eat it too.
They want to keep Tim Hardaway junior, but still make a significant free
agency acquisition. They don't get Conley, they don't get Lowry. A sign
and trade of Dinwitty to Dallas, or if Josh Richardson, Opson and MAXI
Kleiba was something that I thought about, we might be a fun fit there,
for sure. I like what I but I like Kleiba and Josh Richardson.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, I wonder if Dallas would be like no way
on Kleiba, because that's how important he's become to the way that they play.
That also would not surprise me. I think Cuban in particular really seems
to like him. I feel like that's our que to move on to Charlotte
at that point that actually there was actually no subtext intended there, Okay,
but I promise, like legitimately, and I know this from a few years
back, because Cuban did actually retweet a few NBA math things that were highlighting
how good Kleiba was in a small role as a rookie. Let's move on
to Charlotte anyway, though, they could be working with a ton of cap
space this summer if they want. They have a fairly easy access to more
than twenty million dollars in room if they're willing to renounce Molik Monk pretty much
all their own free agents, sept for DeVante Graham because his cap hold is
so small, and that's also with them guaranteeing contracts for Cody and Caleb Martin,
and then of course John McDaniels, who remains intriguing. I think everyone
expects them to spend on a big I know people have mentioned Jared Allen.
I don't think he's leaving Cleveland. Maybe if the Cavs draft Evan Nobily that
changes. I love Rashaun Holmes in Charlotte too. I think that's sort of
stealing the names I have written down. Well, I think that's sort of
the long hanging fruit. So I won't spend a ton of time on that,
but I thought one what I thought about, I don't know why he
would go there unless they're gonna overpay him, and just looking at their ages,
a PJ. Tucker or Paul millsapp would be good to spend some five
minutes with the way that Charlotte played Jamichael Green, I would like there too.
I think you could maybe also go the route of if you're looking for
like really high energy and you're still playing up the youthful upside and you don't
want to spend the time, maybe you've also drafted a big Jared Vanderbilt in
Charlotte would be incredibly fun. And I think I don't want to say people
are misidentifying Charlotte's need. They definitely do need a big, but they also
need wings, like these two way wings. They have Gordon Hayward, but
that's really it. Miles Bridges. Yeah, he's really malleable, portable on
defense, but he's not a wing. You have Gordon Hayward. And now
what's that they have Lee Angelo Ball. Now that's right, I retract everything
I just said. So I'm just curious to see, like, do they
spend maybe a little bit less on a big like enter the Daniel Kismold,
or maybe they look at Norland's Nowell who can still run the floor fairly well,
or like I mentioned, one of the veteran names, who might they're
like smaller, more contemporary fives. If you want to call them that,
and then could they be a team that like try to sneaks into the Josh
Hart discussion or just something along those lines. I wouldn't mind if they went
that route. I just questioned whether, And I'll throw it to you there
on that one. If you're Charlotte, are you looking to spend a bulk
of your let's say a lion share of your cap space on deepening or let's
say diversifying the wing rotation or are you really zeroing in on that big.
I'm still zeroing in on the big. I think Heart does make a lot
of sense. I can see them moving LaMelo Ball to let Grant Riller run
the show like. That's definitely on the table, But ultimately the focus does
have to be on the bigs. You're gonna make Lamello's life a lot easier
by having someone who can do more than the incumbent centers on the roster.
You need someone who can set screens and actually finish plays or create a little
bit of offense for himself and protect the rim a little bit more efficiently so
that Ball can not have to worry as much about allowing penetration. It is
low hanging fruit, but I want to see them throw all of the money
that they can at Jared Allen. The fit there just makes way too much
sense, just that uber athletic, uber energetic, defense focused roleman. It
feels like he is a very ideal running mate for LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges
in particular. Beyond that, I would love to see them lean more into
that youthful rebuilding mentality and make a play from Marvin Bagley now that he's available
from the Sacramento King, because that feels like a really good buy low opportunity
where if you can get him to stay healthy on a team that does have
a lot of pieces around him who are growing in conjunction with him, that
could that could be a move that pays off really nicely. Do you I
guess I agree? But you like Alan here better than Holmes, I'm assuming
probably because of the defense I do. Yeah, I think I think that
has to be the focus because you have the shot creation from so many other
sources. I mean, you know that the Bridges is going to score in
transition and as a cutter in the half court. You know that Hayward can
create from scratch. Rosier and Ball are both attackers. You don't really.
I think holmes Is still set, still works, but it isn't as complementary
as Jared Allen's here, I think there's I think that's a reasonable case.
I would probably still prefer Holmes if they're going to spend the big money,
but Alan is younger, way, he's better defensively around the room. He's
probably a little bit more switchable there as well. Even though I think Holmes
is not necessarily underrated defensively but can do more than people credit him. I
still think i'd probably look at the wings first before the big because I'm always
of the mind that you can approximate seventy percent of what most of the best
bigs available can do on a cheaper budget. My one question on them about
sort of looking at their incumbents for agents, who do you think is more
likely to be back, DeVante Graham or Relique Monk. I already mentioned that
they have to renounce Monk to maximize their cat space. They also could just
resign him, lower his cap hold or whatever. And he was the one
that had the better offensive season this year. Yeah, I think Monk is
more likely to come back early to come back, yeah, just because he
is going to score more efficiently than DeVante Graham. Where Graham does a lot
of good things. He can make deep threes, he can set up his
teammates, but he's not a reliable shooter, and Monks seems like a more
likely candidate to lead a more efficient second unit. And I say that despite
loving Graham's game, I guess I just so expect them to want and to
actually use their cap space. I think they wind up keeping Graham and then
they also need just looking at having Terry Rozier and LaMelo Ball, I think
they prefer someone who was a better chance at being the third guard who can
lead units without both are only one of them. Rosie on the court,
I still think after the season he had, I still think that's DeVante Graham.
That's the arguments either way, I'm so curious see what they do.
By the way, as a final thought, like they do they is there
a chance that they don't spend big on anyone? Yes, I think that
there absolutely is. This team could go in a bajillion different directions and it's
fun. Regardless, I would still to the Hornets for escaping that mid level,
low level mediocrity that they've been entrenched in. For so long. I
will say, though the Michael Jordan governed team with cap space is still among
the most terrifying things for me to think, what if they bring back Kwame
Brown? All right? I feel like now it's time to move on to
Chicago. Chicago is another funky one because I think I often forget that this
team kind of moved into we want to be competitive right now mode with the
Nicola, with the Nicola Vukovic trade like they have him and Zach Lavine,
with Patrick Williams ready to explode, They've got to figure out what to do
with Daniel Tyson, Laurie Marken in. But there's already like a decent amount
of incumbent talent here, and I think that this is a sneaky landing spot
for Kyle Lowry. Holy shit, please, it's bound well, it's I
don't think they've been discussed whatsoever as a landing spot, but there's a compelling
if that's any consolation. Matt Moore of Action Network reported that they would be
in the mix even better. But it is a remarkably compelling landing spot because
if you assume that Williams, who was one of the youngest players in the
NBA this past season makes a substantial leap forward. You have a scoring type
threat in zach Lavine. You have a big who can create his own offense
at the drop of the hat. In Vuchevich. You have a defensive oriented
Kawhi Leonard approximation poor Man's Kawhi Leonard approximation in Williams. You have depth in
a lot of different positions. And then you add Lowry into the mix,
and that could be a piece that immediately elevates Chicago into the mix. He
makes a ton of sense with zach Lavine, a guy who can shoulder more
of the defensive responsibilities against the opponent's best backcourt member, who's willing to defer
offensive touches as we've seen with him playing next to Kawhi Leonard, with him
playing next to an emerging Fred Van Vleet, I love that fit in the
backcourt, and given Chicago's penchant for making these all in moves as we saw
with Vukovich, they could be a serious contender to make that kind of splashy
addition, I don't know what their pathway is to getting Lowry though, so
the two things I'll mentioned there they can get to if they renounce everyone,
they'll have about twelve point four million in cap space, but that's with keeping
Daddy is Young and Thomas Saturanski. Those guys have eleven million dollars and combined
guaranteed salary, so you could technically wave them stretch that, and then I
guess you would have close to enough room, if not enough for room to
get move Saturanski into someone else's cap space because he's a very realistic rotation member.
That's I would say you could do the same with Daddy as Young too,
because I was gonna ask you, it feels like the most realistic bet
would be to get Kyle Lowry by sign and trade at that point, just
given their limitations, and I just I don't know what they give up because
they traded this year's first round pick, and they traded twenty twenty three's first
round pick. So I like, I like the idea of Lowry Chicago.
You that case you made I really had Lowry and Levine just makes too much
sense almost it would. It would be great, but yeah, the pathway
is tricky. The the other thing with them, which was tough figuring out
targets. I don't know what they do with zach Lavine, So he is
not going to sign an outright extension with Chicago. One hundred and twenty percent
raise off of his current number for the following year twenty twenty three still brings
him like eleven million or whatever short of his projective max. What they can
do is renegotiate and extend him, which for our listeners who don't know that,
what that effectively boils down to is they give him an immediate raise up
to his current max salary, which I think would land at like thirty three
point seven, thirty three point eight, whatever it is you have to use,
and then you can extend him off that number, but you have to
use cap space to do it. They don't even have enough cap space without
waving or finding takers for Saturanski and Daddy is young to bring him up to
that max number. Now, he could be willing to take a little bit
less because once he gets a raise, he'll be at the max next year.
And if he wasn't going to make the max this upcoming season anyway,
yeah, he might be open to that. But then you spent your resources
on retaining talent who wasn't even technically leaving because he's on the books for a
year, and you've sort of hindered your exceptions too, because now of a
sudden you're working with the room exception, which is like half of the non
taxpayers with level exception. My question to you, before I do have a
couple of targets for them, is if you're the bulls, are you renegotiating
renegotiating an extending exact lavine or are you letting this ride out until free agency
and banking on the fact more so, we'll try and make moves this summer,
show them we're ready to win and he'll want to stay. You also
risk losing him for nothing in that scenario. I'm letting it ride right now,
you know, for all the limitations that you mentioned, and I don't
know what the pathway to improvement is without the wind now moves first, because
ultimately, if you look up and down this roster, who besides Patrick Williams
is going to become a star? Yeah, you would have to like Kobe
White, and sure like you could convince me of that. You could convince
me that they could resign marking in and turn him into a star. But
these are less likely scenarios. So I think that the best play is to
convince him by winning. Now, I'm like with you, but the idea
of letting him reach free agency unless he's told you he's coming back no matter
what, would be terrifying. I do agree with you that it seems like
there and look, if they don't make any additions like that would clue me
into like zach Lavine didn't know, didn't commit to anything, and so we're
gonna hear zach Lavine trade rumors. But aside from Lowry, I do I
know people like Lonzo ball here. His fits fine. I would prefer Spencer
Dinwoody here just as another creator if you could get him. I also think
that they need to focus on the wing rotation. They only need complimentary wings
at this point because you do have zach Lavine to create. Yeah, you'd
prefer a playmaking one, but you have voods you can run the offense through,
so maybe you can kind of zero in on. I don't want to
recycle the same names here over and over again. But like a Josh Richardson
Reggie Bullock, if you can get him, you know they could. I
don't. I don't know that they'll be in like the running for the super
veterans. I was I was curious see how you would feel about this one.
If they decide to work with cap space. Let's say they just create
more. Do you like the idea of like a Duncan Robinson in Chicago or
is that lean too far into just offense? I think it leans too far
into the offensive specialties. You already have two guys who can score twenty five
points at night. Yeah, I thought about I found about Gary Trent Junior
momentarily, but I think they probably want someone a little bit bigger. I
just don't view Danny Green as super realistic for them. They would be an
interesting Josh Hart teen again, if they had cap space, they were really
tough for me, and I might you know, I think they probably my
guests would be. If they have their druthers, they'll funnel most of their
money towards the point guard situation, in which case I would almost expect them
to wind up with one of Lonzo, Baldin, Witty or Shrewder. I
don't know if all of those guys amount to the right move, but that
would almost be my expectation. And then maybe they're looking to fill out the
wings on a budget ish type thing. It's Oh, you know, Terence
Davis is a restricted free agent? What could he do for us? We've
talked about Garrison Matthew's value on this podcast. Would they give Sterling Brown some
some rotation minutes here? Alec Burk's not really a wing but someone I guess
that they could look at, so a Tory Craig. I'm wondering. I
feel like that's the route. This could also be just based off their defensive
needs on the wings, and I know they have Patrick Williams. This might
become should they as expected to clients, team option like the Justice Winslow experiment,
team like that might be the interesting totally see that, And I think
the Tory Craig route is probably the most realistic of all these scenarios, where
they're going to make a move for that defense first wing and try to prioritize
resigning some of their pieces like Tyser marken in. But still, I'm sure
that you like me now, just can't get that lowry idea out of your
head. No, I can't. I wasn't asked what do you think about
t J McConnell for this team? It would also be a fun one.
Yeah, I think anything that's going to help that wing defense. They were
the toughest ones to like pinpoint specific players for for some reason. I think
because there's so much variant in their outcomes, and they could theoretically I don't
have a name here, but just based off the fact that you do have
Patrick Williams, you do have Kobe White, you do still have salary filler.
If they want to try and make like a big, like really double
triple down on this roster, I guess they could go that round. I'm
too much. I'm a fan of Patrick Williams just by far and away seemed
like a much better defender than most rookies, but had more positional rains than
I ever would have expected him to. So I wouldn't do that. But
anything's on the table after that Roots trade. To me, that was somebody
shocked if Patrick Williams has moved. I don't think they should, but I'm
saying, if they're really that committed to Lavigne as the Roots trade sort of
intimated, nothing would surprise me at this point. Yeah, I can see
that. But let's move on to the Cavaliers here, which feels like another
one of those many Eastern Conference teams were like, who the hell knows,
because apparently Colin Sexon is available, and if he's gone, what does this
team have. Jared Allen is a restricted free agent. Darius Garland showed a
lot of improvement this past season, but what is he going to be?
Like? We still don't really know, and he's going to be eligible for
a raise before too long. Kevin Love is still on the roster, Isaac
Acorro remains disappointing, Jetty Osman remains disappointing, so it's hard to like really
figure it out. I kind of leaned into the idea of finding as much
relatively cheap upside as possible, so I kept landing on Josh Hart, both
because he feels like a good fit for the roster and because it is well
established that he's very good friends with Larry Dance Jr. So maybe they'll want
to play together. And that's about as much reasoning as I have here.
I'd be curious see what the sign and trade would look like for that,
just because they're not going to have a cap space to go after him unless
they renounced Jared Allen, which even if they's possible, I get if they
draft Evan Mobley, d I don't it would be to me, it would
I guess. I won't say a disaster, but it would be less than
ideal if they let Jared Allen walk for nothing. So my guests would be
if you draft Evan Mobile, you're fine having both, which I'm actually okay
with because as the Calves right now, they have a lot of players that
intrigue me, but none of them are your ten pole star. You can't
say that about Sexton. There's I think, just looking at what Garland does
as a playmaker and then even as a pull up shooter, he might be
your better bet to do that, but he's not guaranteed to be that.
Just how is the talent and figure it out later. And if you need
to move Mobile, you're Allen down the line you can. But I guess
if you draft Evan Moble in Fury, that would open up Jared Allen signed
and trade scenarios or it doesn't help you with Josh Hart. But that's just
something to think about. I expect Jared Allen to be back, unless I
don't know the team that's going to come in and just offer Jared Allen so
much money that the Calves are like buy Charlotte should, but if they come
into like eighteen million a year, I don't know that that's enough to get
Cleveland to flinch if I would come if I'm Charlotte, Wow they So.
I have them projected right now as a non tax player's mid level team,
and they're interesting because I think that you probably just need to still play the
youth card here. I don't know. There are a lot of wins that
could fit, and that seems like what they need. But can you just
sort of rehabilitate some values, some get some like second draft type guys like
this could be a good Frankie Lakina destination. I know people who listen to
the podcasts are gonna trow me no. I think that's legitimate, though,
because that is the kind of player that Cleveland should be looking at right now.
You want to find those relatively young guys where you can either rehabilitate their
value to the point that you get something back for them in a trade,
or they're a legitimate rotation member when you're ready to compete. I think that's
exactly the kind of player they should target. I don't know if the mid
level exception is really enough to get them involved with this type of player,
but talent. Horton Tucker, the youngest free agent of the bunch, is
someone that they could really look at. I would actually love Gary Trent Junior
for this team. They just don't have the money, but like those types
of go after just the younger guys here and they, I mean they're like,
aren't a ton of like super intriguing ones, especially when you're looking at
with the Cavaliers have to spend Terrence Davis very questionable human being And that's probably
putting it kindly, but that's someone that they could really look at and I
think would help their team. We've mentioned Garrison Matthews. Alright, Justice Winslow,
this might be a good Justice Winslow destination too. He's still I forget
that Winslow's only twenty five. I feel like he's eighty for some reason.
That's still that's the route I'm looking at. If I'm this team, I
could also just see them like, yeah, I guess maybe I won't say
that, but if they want to kind of keep themselves more flexible, do
they not do they not make any do they sort of sit free agency out
aside from resigning Jared Allen is my point. It be another good spot for
Marvin Bagley if they want to get in on whatever sweepstakes exist for Jared Culver.
Again, like we're kind of focusing on any of those younger guys who
have established potential it has not been realized here. That is interesting. Would
you do if you're the Calves? What would you need in addition to Jared
Culver to give the Timberwolves Larry Nance Jr. M Like does Josh Akogie and
Jared Colver do it? I think so, just because of the time,
just for the timeline alone. Yeah, I might argue probably not just because
of Kobe's entering the last year of his deal. He's just such an offensive
minus. But like nas Read, I don't they don't. I don't know
that they need another big on this team, even though Nat Larry Edge Junior
will be sent down. But if you draft Mobile, you definitely don't need
a nas Read. Maybe is it a protected first that like is lottery protected
for two seasons before turning into two seconds or something like? Because if you're
a Minnesota I don't know that you could justify trading a flat out first.
But let's say let's say it deals a lottery protected first and oh my god,
what was the Jared Colver And maybe you don't even need that, You're
right, Jared Colver, Like if the high upside swing still there two years
left on his rookie scale deal, like maybe that maybe that does it.
So Jared, I could see Minnesota giving up more just because Nance is such
an ideal fit for that roster too. So like, would you very you
could be onto something with like that twenty protected that's going to turn into two
firsts? Would you do Jaden McDaniels and Jared Kolver for Larry Dance. I
would try to part with a Kobie first. I don't know that McDaniels might.
I might be too high on McDaniels. I think it's what I'm finding
through this podcast fair enough. Anything else on Cleveland is there? You know
there's I think Larry As Junior can help a lot of good teams. I
think he is probably I know people are gonna say Kevin Love, but I
think Larry Nas Junior is the player on this team that's most likely be traded
unless it's Colin Sexton. But you so rarely see these dudes on rookie scale
deals get dealt because he's making six point three million next year. You can't
net back a ton. Yeah, you can use as a means to grease
off, like to grease the wheels of Kevin Love dump, but you don't
want to use Colin Sexton to do that. And so I still don't even
know why they're even thinking about trading him. I guess because they don't know
if they want to pay him between twenty and twenty five million dollars a year.
But to me, that's like, figure, don't you can trade him
so easily at the deadline? Not go and see what you have first?
Yeah, don't extend him then and then trade him with the deadline if you
want to. So I'm not using him to degrees the wheels with Kevin Love
salary dump. I'm definitely not. Definitely would you agree that Nance is the
player most likely to be traded. I would. I don't think Love has
any value left, so they're probably not going to want to give give up
assets to move him, which is probably necessary. That brings us to I'm
not really interested in what they're going to do in free agency, to be
honest. You put the pistons they have, let's speed through this one because
I literally wrote down literally anyone. I mean, if you look at the
roster, like you have Killian Hayes, who was disappointing for you know,
justifiable reasons because he dealt with injuries so soon into a very raw rookie season.
You have Saddiq Bay, who is as plug and play as it's going
to get for a rising sophomore. You have Jeremy Grant who's already twenty seven
and might not fit the timeline. Say, Ko Dumboya, you still don't
know what you have Isaiah Stewart, like is he ever going to be a
thirty minute per game player? And then Kad kind of cam inevitably with the
number one pick in the draft, you can justify signing anyone. Yeah,
and there's just not they could have cap space if they want to not.
I mean, they could obviously create more, but I have them at like
over eleven million, which is so close to the non text players been level
you sort of wonder like, do they just you know, operate as an
over the cap team and maybe carry Dennis Smith Junior's cap hold. I wouldn't
rule out bringing him back, by the way, just sort of to take
another stab at that they could use more. Every team could use more of
this. But I think you have Sadek Bay that's like your two way wing,
so you could you, oh and Jeremy Grant, but like you could
use sort of another one, or maybe you just focus on rehabilitating these.
I'm more interested in them on the trade market, is what I'm getting at.
I think Mason Plumby gets moved because this team is like not bad enough,
and we saw that this season. They were in a lot of close
games before shutting down Jeremy Grant or Jeremy Grant's injury, or you want to
frame that you have Isaiah Stewart, trading Mason plumb unlocks him. I think
you get a first round pick for Mason plumbly, like if the Sun's number
twenty nine. No, I'm skeptical of that. I'm all at this point
of his career. I don't know. He was so good offensively for them
last year career. What's that triple double machine Mason Flumley. But he did
shoot a career high at the rim and was fantastic passing for them, So
I think they probably move him. But like, can you look at these
just like I don't want distressed assets like younger guys who maybe don't have a
ton of value that teams are willing to move. Could Aaron Holliday be interesting
for them depending on the esking price for the Pacers? What if the Knicks
are just looking to get rid of Kevin Knox, what is the what is
the opportunity cost there? Dante di Vincenzo would be interesting. I think the
Bucks are probably looking for like actual value from him. So that's like the
along the lines of really what I'm thinking for for that team? Like could
they pillage just like one of Orlando's many youngster question marks? Like would Detroit
be you know, well, they already have Isaiah Stewart, But if you're
moving Mason Plumley and like Orlando wants to move on from mo Bamba, likes
a mo Bamba and interesting fire for them? I probably, I guess I'd
argue probably not. But like what if what if Phoenix Is want to give
you Jalen Smith for Mason Plumley just the number ten pick in last year's draft?
Could you be the team that says, hey, we're gonna sign Zach
Collins. We don't anticipate him playing next year. But a floor spacing big
who was shown that he could switch on defense, and it's very much theoretical
that he's floorspacing. I know that. I feel like those are the types
of moves we can't expect them to make, and maybe, like you know,
do they look at uh. I don't even think they're gonna look at
a town Horton Tucker just because they might be set where he plays and they
still need shooting on this team. Bringing someone back like a Wayne Ellington feels
like it could be fairly important for them. You know what's fun is that
I basically mentioned all these guys already because I said, literally anyone, I'm
sorry for stepping on the toes of of everything you just said. For Detroit,
if they wanted to create cap space, they could. I just don't
see the young enough three free agents that's worth throwing money at, sort of
like the Jeremy Grant experiment this year. I think the closest you get is
probably Gary Trent Jr. If you wanted to do that, and I wouldn't.
I just don't think. I think they're too good as is right now,
and I think they need another year of being bad Let's move on to
the Pacers though, just because I think a lot of the talk about Detroit
is gonna focus on cunning him for a while anyway. Yeah, And with
the Pacers, my guess is that the biggest move they make is trying to
figure out how to keep McConnell and McDermott while dunking while ducking the tax,
which is virtually impossible at the moment. My guests best guests would be,
can you trade Jeremy Lamb into someone's cap space? And there are just any
team with cap space could essentially use Jeremy Lamb. The Nicks could definitely use
a Jeremy Lamb, and then that should allow you to keep McDermott and McConnell
while staying under the tax or do you sort of pick and choose between the
two. I'd probably argue I don't know who's I think McConnell's probably more important
to them based off the lack of development from Aaron Holiday, and I think
a lot of people have them pegged as a kisspert team in the draft.
So can you get the second coming of Doug McDermott to replace Doug McDermot.
Perhaps I feel like their moves are going to be very much about maintaining the
state of this roster. See what it looks like in full strength on the
flip side, though I did see on the low post it was mentioned that
there's just been stuff in the ether about Lonzo Ball for Malcolm Brogden. I
can't see that act. I don't unders Brogden makes too much sense for this
roster. I think the only way we're seeing substantial changes is if they finally
pull the trigger on a Miles Turner deal and just decide that we're done with
that Demontos Sabonis Miles Turner experiment. But even that feels unlikely. I think
that we're largely looking, as you said, at keeping this roster together as
best as possible, hoping for more health because this was essentially a lost season
with t J. Warren and with Turner for large portions of it. They
didn't have a LeVert for most of the year. You do have him now,
so put all the pieces together, and I think that you're only looking
at moves around the periphery. Ideally, they're bringing back McConnell and Doug McDermott,
and then as you said, shipping Jeremy lamb into cap space and trying
to make some sort of veteran cheap as possible. Addition, someone like Patty
Mills could make a ton of sense here as a flamethrower off the bench if
he's willing to sign a discounted contract to play on an Eastern Conference contender.
But I don't think you're looking at it. Let's slow the role on Eastern
Conference contender there, buddy. Well, I'm not saying they're going to be.
I'm saying if Mills is convinced they're going to be, that I could
see him wanting to sign a discount of deal here because it makes a lot
of sense where he's going to come in and be the unquestioned leader of the
second unit. Yeah. I don't think this is an Eastern Conference contender yet,
but the pieces are in place to the point that it could be.
Yeah. I think maybe what you could see them doing is and you kind
of already mentioned I don't know that Patty Mills are actually cheaper than him,
but if you have to get rid of McConnell and or mcd like, what
are the cheaper alternatives out there? I probably thought a step lower, where
if George Hill gets waves his non guaranteed deal. Like however that works out,
whether Philly trades him or doesn't guarantee his contract, but he'd be willing
to go back to Indie. You know, do they give a shot to
someone like a in Alec Burke's there when you're looking at like the cheaper Wings.
That's where it would get really tough for them, just because we know
that Indiana isn't this dream destination. Do they take a look at are they
in the Tory Craig or the James Ennis realm abdel Nator even just if you're
not paying Doug McDermott and he's going elsewhere, maybe even Otto Porter, who
I think they've been linked to in the past, and he kind of needs
to find a spot where he knows he could rehabilitate his value. The Turner
trade is interesting. I do think he's probably still the most likely player to
be traded. I think that took a hit though, with the Pelicans getting
you on his valancootis unless they plan to reroute him too. I just when
you think, yeah, I could think of plenty of destinations for Miles Turner,
but I'm like down to Charlotte and Sacramento as the ones that say Charlotte
is the one that's really fun to me, the well, the one that
I thought was fun is like sort of a framework of And there are two
I think you could go either way with this is flipping Miles Turner for either
Buddy Healed or Harrison Barnes from Sacramento, both of whom I think would be
fantastic fits. I think I'd prefer Barnes. He's the better player, even
though Healed, like he gives you more of that just you know, diverse
shooting. I just i'd probably want if I'm giving up Myles Turner in there,
I'd want a little something more from Sacramento. And I don't know if
you know, if you could get number nine and Buddy Healed for Miles Turner,
I don't know if that's in overpay, and I don't know if it's
a wash too. You know, this is like a it feels like I
don't know if it's a lateral trade, but like number thirteen and Miles Turner
for number nine and Buddy Healed, like that feels weird, or number nine
and Harrison Barnes, because there's some type of that genre of framework there.
I'm more intrigued by by Sacramento though, even though Charlotte I just want to
stay in place. Oh do you to like him here? I do?
Yeah, yeah, I want him out. I think he could be maximized
somewhere else. And we've seen maybe we haven't seen enough of them at full
strength, but the offensive stealing on a Turner, Pacers, a Turner Sabonus
front court, to me, it's just not you know, Caitlyn Cooper is
probably cringing if she if she hears this, or maybe her ears are probably
burning because she hates talking about like and this dynamic has been just discussed at
nauseum too much. At this point, I'm sort of just over it.
I'm out of the like shake it up at this point. And Sabonus is
too important to your offensive flow structure to at least we're beyond like debating which
one of them they should keep. The discourse has moved past that. I
think I haven't fully moved past that. I get for the Pacers, while
you wouldn't move to Bonus. I think it's this weird thing where I'd be
curious to see how much SA Bonus is the better player. I just need
like the taboo buzzer sound right now, just like, no, we're not
doing this. Here's where I'm coming from, is that Sabonus needs We're gonna
end up with like a four hour podcast. Now. No, here's the
I just so Bonus needs ball in his hands to be most impactful, and
Turner does not. The fact that he's more scalable gives you more defensive juice.
I think makes him more widely intriguing for teams on the trade market than
Sabonus, even though Sabonus is the better player. And maybe that is counterintuitive,
but that's just how I feel. That's too much nuance. After the
Indiana Pacers, though, we move on to the Miami Heat. You are
nailing the alphabet on this podcast. I just want to put that out there.
I'm impressed. So my first I think the first thing we have attacked
with the Miami Heat. Do you think that they are going to operate with
cap space? I do so. I think they need to. They're gonna
decline the team options on Iggy Lauren, renounce Victor Oladipo, They'll keep Robinson
and none. Ye who are they signing then? Because you have to sign
somebody. If you're doing, they've gotta go after Kyle Lowry because ultimately this
team's biggest shortcoming, and we could see it coming from a million miles away,
was the lack of reliable point guard play. You know, Kendrick Nunn
is not that guy. Drajic very clearly was on the decline. We saw
it with the injuries even during that NBA Finals run, where he wasn't as
effective towards the end of the postseason and just was not able to regain that
level of play, especially with how much responsibility was going to be heaped upon
him if he was truly healthy. Beyond that, like Tyler Hero was partially
a bubble product. At least, you're not going to turn him into a
true star. And even if you do, he's not going to be a
facilitating point guard. You have to make a play for Lowry. If it
doesn't work, I think you're looking at going after Lonzo Ball or something,
because that's the hole on this roster. It's the very obvious hole. I
was trying to think of some way, like could they split the difference,
But I just don't know who is Like when you're looking at some of the
like get two mid tier players or yeah, okay, decline, drag a
team open, but bring him back at a more reasonable team number and then
sure if you want to just doom yourself to like a second round exit.
No, but I was saying, so you bring back draw and then you
go after like someone in the middle, like a like a din Witty or
something. Yeah, I don't know, and so like a didn Winnie in
a drugage, Like what does that? Totally sounds like a pat Riley move
right, Like when is he ever wanted to go after stars? I just
don't know a side like it's Kyle Lowry. It's Kyle Lowry or Bust,
right, yeah, maybe Mike Conley, but it's like christ him away from
Utah. What's that good luck prying Conley away from Utah away from Phoenix.
I can't envision Utah paying a fifty million dollars tax bill, so I'm assuming
they'll dump salary. Yeah, I think Conley and Paul are going back to
their respective teams. So I put you in to Lowry or bust situation.
But what if you can't get Lowry? Is my point? Then is it
better? Would you rather see them? Be? Like? All right,
you know what, let's just pick up these team options on draw and age.
They'd be good trade chips as the year goes on. That's the bust
scenario. I'm just curious to see if maybe they'll try to split the difference.
I just think it's harder because I think bringing back drags makes sense.
But what is splitting the difference? Like? Who is the who's that second
you know householders name cre agent that you're bringing in? Does does Josh Hart
and Groan Dragic? Like does that move the needle or help you at all?
Probably not? Part doesn't give you a ton of shot creation, even
though he'll probably help your your defense. So they're in, They're just in
a bizarre spot. If they get Kyle out. Miami is a fascinating team
to follow this offseason with a remarkably simple game plan that makes sense. I
guess you know what's splitting the difference? Could look like drag and can you
get Norman Powell? That might be what's putting on. That could be a
fun one, yeah, I mean, because then you get the off the
ball juice, the creation out of the pick and roll that we've seen Powell
exhibit in smaller doses. How many times have we said, Juice on this
podcast, not enough. Let's move on to and Miami's like you said,
interesting, They're just aren't a lot of scenarios. Let's just move on already.
The Milwaukee Bucks, now in this alphabet, that is your team to
start with what they're I'll set the table for you with this because I think
they're an easy team to talk about. Their bargain bin hunting. And you
have to wonder if PJ. Tucker and or Bobby Porters are coming back.
They are basically as it stands without factoring in contracts four PJ. Tucker for
Bobby Portis, they are just in the tax next season, They're just they're
in the tax. They're like, you know, four almost five million in
the tax. They did pay the tax this year because of Drew Holiday's bonus.
It was only like a million, but you still started the repeat o'clock
on those free agents. They can pay PJA. Tucker whatever up to his
max, which he's obviously not going to get because they have his bird rights.
Bobby Portis is a non bird free agent, so they're gonna need the
MINIMID level to sign him, which is about five point seven million, dollars.
There are people that think he's going to get more than that. What
is going to go on with the Bucks this summer? Of the two that
I just named, do you expect both to be back? One to be
back, none of them to be back? And what do I expect Porters
to be back? Because of how much the city of milwa he absolutely fell
in love with him, and how important he was during the postseason run.
I expect Tucker to be back because of the bond that he created so quickly
with Jannis and it worked like that's the big thing here. And there's even
room for growth here because Dante di Vincenzo wasn't healthy for the primary portion of
the playoff run and Jordan Warra all of a sudden is thriving for Nigeria and
the Olympics. What if he offers woodenholz are school of wings. What if
he offers you some scoring juice? I think that this Milwaukee team is looking
to run it back as much as possible and then make one or two cheap
veterans signings with whoever wants to come play for a team that we can be
one hundred percent assured of title contention again. Is it Alec Burke's, is
it Patty Mills? Regardless, I think that they want that person to be
a scorer that they can use off the bench, because if there was a
shortcoming for this team, it was inconsistent scoring with the second unit. Bryn
Forbes is a fun little flash in the pan that wasn't sustainable. They need
someone who they can count on to get points when Jannis isn't playing, because
that allows him to play fewer minutes during the regular season and during the less
important playoff series. Yeah, my guests would be maybe Burkes won't be too
expensive, but my guests, I think Portus leaves and Tucker stays because I
feel like with Janno is more likely to be cheaper, He's more like going
to be cheaper. But also, just when you're looking at the Bucks,
the Jannis is the lone big minutes or primary big minutes have become so important.
I know that, like PJ, Tucker is arguably a little bit more
integral. If you're gonna keep brook Lopez, the other thing that you could
look at is if you wanted to make a bigger trade is pairing brook Lopez
with Donte Devincenzo and I pitched this once. Do you do Brook Lopez and
Dante Devincenzo for Harrison Barnes, You get more expected, don't I just I
still want Devincenzo there. He makes too much sense when he's at full strength.
But I otherwise think that you're gonna be then trying to just plumb the
bargain bin if you use your taxpayers mid level on someone who's not Bobby Portis.
I don't know. This is the name I was hero, and I
don't know if it's going to be enough. Cameron Payne would be nice here,
depending on how Phoenix wants to bring him back or not, or if
Rockets becomes a free agent, is he willing to take a discount to play
with a contender? Otherwise I think you're looking at do you maybe are you
okay bringing West Matthews back on another cheap deal if he's willing to return,
even though he's with the Lakers this year. James Ennis, they probably never
should have gotten rid of Tory Craig in the first place. Those still prefer
to focus more on scoring, even if those guys make sense, so I
would I would still lean towards the offense. First guys here. No,
I'm beyond the tax payersmid level is my point. You're like, once you
use that on whatever, You're like, you know, Lou Williams in Milwaukee
might be fun by the ways he want to sign there for that, he
seems to like it's Atlanta or retirement for Atlanta, LA or retirement maybe Langston
Galloway. I'm just that might fulfill your scoring need and he can certainly sling
it. So Austin Rivers might be one that's someone, but there's like,
you know, Brent Forbes didn't even mention, do you think he's gonna be
back My guests don't know. I don't think so. They just they have
I think at least one of Portus or Tucker is going to leave, though,
and that's going to put them. I'm just they're gonna be shallow again.
And like you said, if Noir is just gonna give you minutes next
year and everything works out, they're going to be a fascinating team to watch,
because unless they really hit home runs with their mid level, up their
mid levels, their their minimums, and just their their bargain bin deals,
they just might run into some fatigue issues or finite rotation issues. Yeah,
agreed. That brings us to the New York Knicks. Insert point guard here.
Let's just move on. Look, the point guard should be Kyle Lowry
is my dream acquisition for them, and then mostly run it back they keep.
Reggie Block is someone I think that's super important to them. Newlands now
well, even the backup big Alec Burks there gave them a huge fourth quarter
minutes If you're not my prediction for them, and so I think, first
of all, I think you should be in on all the point guards,
the actual point guards, Mike Conley, Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, and
if it's going draggage on a one year deal whatever. And then when you
can't sign any of them, you're bringing back Derek Rose and you're looking at
Spencer Dinwinnie, Spencer Didnwiy. I wouldn't mind there either, even with the
shooting concerns. That would be a fun I think he's a fun fit for
this team because you want someone who's going to attack first and foremost. Where
do you land on the Lonzo ball discussion here? Though I love the fit,
I think it makes a lot of sense, especially with guys like RJ
Barrett who are becoming more capable corner three point shooters. You have Julius Randall
as a bailout option and another primary initiator, so you don't necessarily need your
point guard to be that number one option. I just don't think he's going
to leave New Orleans, especially after the Valentine is Adam Strade. I don't
like Lonzo Ball in New York. I'm not gonna lie. I think he
forces you to get out and transition more, which they definitely needed. He
spaces the floor, which is great. I think you also need to be
signing something like if you were getting Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball, which might
be the dream scenario for New Orleans. Actually, it makes so much more
sense without that guy who can give you offense from the point of attack.
I don't like Lonzo Ball in New York, and that's an awful lot to
commit to a guy who can't give you that offense at the point of attack.
Just someone who doesn't really shoot get to the rim, or shoot at
the rim, doesn't hit off the dribble jumpers at a fishing clip. Isn't
you're going to run your half court offense? I would like to see them
ideally for them. They're spending big money for two years, those windfalls on
those bigger name point cards outbidding everyone I know. I think there are rumors
that they plan to basically outbid multi year offers for Kyle Lowry in one season.
That's kind of tough because they can max him out and that he's probably
gonna get more than that over two years. But Kyle Lowry is my ideal
get for them. If they can't get him or one of the other bigger
point cards, I'd like to see the mostly run it back or focus again
on preserving their powder. Maybe you take some guys into cap space, like
if maybe I don't know why you helped Dallas, but actually like Josh Richardson
in New York, I would be more inclined if I'm the mix, if
you want to spend on a restricted free agent, should you miss on the
Lowry, the Conley Chris Paul. I really do like Gary Trent Junior there
more than I like Lonzo Ball. I might even like I like, but
I'm saying relative to lons of Ball in New York, and the Knicks obviously
have all this cap space right trade target trade targets for them. They're clearly
in the market for a star. I would be reticent about what you're giving
up because I don't think you have the initial cornerstone in place. So if
you're trading for Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal or even Zach Lavine, they're still
very much on their own because this is it's sort of a proven season for
Randall. Even the team at large, I don't they're justified if they want
to make that move, but you probably need to do it in tandem with
knowing someone else is coming in twenty twenty two, or you could land someone
else Otherwise, I'm using the cap space to suss out trades, or maybe
teams still want to get rid of contracts and they're giving you more assets.
I'm more fascinated to see what they do with number nineteen, twenty one and
thirty two, really than I am with what they might do on the trade
market. I think they'll be in don't get me wrong. If there are
stars available, the one that I might be okay with, and I'm not
sure if I talk to you about this. If the Raptors go into rebuild
mode, there's obviously Fred van Fleet, but I don't know if they move
him. I don' want to hate Pascal Siakam in New York. It's a
questionable fit alongside Randall, though, if only because they like to operate in
the same space. Well, Randall's like taking off through double threes now,
so it's a little bit different, and they both still like to operate from
the same spots of the court though these aren't really like post up guys though.
They want to operate more so from the point of attack, which to
me is fine. With the way that Randall shot threes, maybe it's easier
to play off Siakam. I wouldn't be. I wouldn't be if that's the
I'm gonna be honest. I don't like that fit. I like it.
I don't like it. I like it. I would test it out,
That's all I'm saying. Well, you're the Knicks fan here, so I'll
defer to you on this one. Who is the last question, then,
the single most important free agent of their own that you want to see them
bring back. I think Rose makes a ton of sense to bring back.
He was so good in the second half of the season. Again, like
we elevated him near the top of our six Minute of the Year conversation just
based on what he was able to do during the second half of the season.
He was a smarter player, he was a more controlled player, and
he really gave that offense a lot of juice. I'll use the word again
that it didn't have without him. He did give them a lot of jet
fuel. I'm gonna try and change it up with some synonyms there. I
think it's still Reggie Bullock, just looking at the defensive workload he shouldered and
his three point volume was really important. And I also think that you can
go out and give even if you wanted to be a one year overpay or
one plus one to someone like Cameron Payne. If you whif on everybody,
he's replaceable. But again, like he brought that oomph, that pizzazz,
Like you know, there you go, now we're talking. You just wanted
to throw into synonyms there. I like it. Let's move on to the
magic. We're thoroughly on. Interesting as it pertains the free agency, they
won't have cap space. They have the non tax payers mid level exception.
If you want to roll the dice on sort, Garrison Matthews would be perfect
there. Don't get me wrong. If you want to roll the dice on
a youngster and you could get him fine, but you're not like, yeah,
maybe an Estock Bond. They like guys who can't shoot. We can
defend town Horton Tucker because they like guys who are shaky shooters and can't defend.
I'm or interested in them on the trade market and only as yeah,
they should be in the second draft conversations for the it does Josh Jackson become
available in Detroit or Kevin Knox in New York is the perfect Orlando player because
he's another big and they can recreate the log jam or stuff like that.
I think though, I'm interested in them as sellers and I think this is
more of a mid season thing to tackle. But will they move Terrence Ross?
Will they think? While we were recording, we had a notification come
through about that. Did we I didn't even see, but I forget what
it was. I didn't even see that. I like, very briefly saw
something about Terrence Ross and then we just kept talking fun stuff. I didn't
see anything about Terrence Ross. So if that's outdated, I think that someone
you look at moving more mid season or they're going to be players or teams
We're like, oh, we missed on Tim Hardaway Junior, Let's trade for
Terrence Ross. The bigger question is bomba Window, Carter Junior, both Dench
knowledgeable. I don't expect either of them to get it. Do you consider
moving one of them? I am of the mind that they're both coming back
from tour acls, So this is why I think would be more of a
trade deadline thing. I would definitely look at moving both Jonathan Isaac and Mark
el Folds kerr Ian Begley. Several teams have been in touch with the Orlando
Magic on trades involving Terrence Ross. SNY has learned the Memphis one of them.
Yeah, most likely the Knicks are apparently another one. They need you,
I mean they need just my look, and that's fine to bring this
bet. Maybe we'll look the Knicks and the Magic together on this, or
we might publish it is one big pot on YouTube. But that's what the
Knicks should do, is like just get the guys on, Like Terrence Ross
is two years left, if it's a Josh Richardson entering the final year,
should optimist player of contract or if the guys with two years left to bring
you Ques look, if the Jazz want to get bowing on Bogdanovitch out of
Utah just to clear their tax bill, Nick should be all over that,
agree. But the Magic, I think it's they're just more interesting as sellers.
I can't even come up with like trade act with they have needs,
like who are you like just get picks at this point exactly. I think
that's the biggest thing they're going to acquire as draft picks. So I would
look at I think the spicies take I have on them is but it's not.
I don't think it's an off season thing. Is. I would look
at moving Markel Folts and Jonathan Isaac. I don't have a problem with their
deals. I'm more okay with Isaac's than Faults. But you they're good.
They risk sort of tethering you to that sub middle of the East, and
I just don't think you need that right now. The spiciest Orlando Magic take
I have is, let's move on to the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Well,
how about R. J. Hampton's going to be really good? Maybe
that's not spicy, though I don't think that's spicy. Would you trade for
Gary Harris if you're a team. Does he have any value left? No,
it's twenty twenty five million. Let's move on to the Philadelphia seventy six
ers. The answer here is the best player they can get for Ben Simmons.
Ultimately, it feels like they are feeling pressure to move him more immediately
than they should. That's just kind of the feel that I get for reading
the messaging that's put out by Adrian which Marowski and all the other primary news
breakers in the NBA world. Should they move him now? Probably not,
because you can rehabilitate his value. Because he's a phenomenal regular season player.
You're likely going to get more for him at the trade deadline than now.
But it does seem like they're feeling a lot of pressure. Maybe it's from
Simmons's camp, Maybe it's just because they're tired of it just to ship him
off. So I think that ultimately Philly's off season is entirely dependent on what
they're going to get back from them. Maybe it's Pascal Siaka, maybe it's
you know, insert player here, but they're going to move it. The
two. A few things on the beds Immage trains I do have. I
sent them to you in the chats, you can actually process them in real
time. You're not. I don't think the SEJ mccllum deal happens if you
told me, are they going to trade them for CJ. McCollum or is
he still on the team at the start of the season. I'm choosing the
ladder because at this point I don't know that you want to do anything to
help the Blazers keep Dame. At the same time, if you're going to
trade Simmons anyway, maybe you don't care. This is a fun trade and
I endorse it. Just FYI, so where I land on Simmons. This
is the deal I came up with the listeners. The Sixers get Desmond Baine,
Kyle Lowry and assign and trade the Anthony Melton number ten and Toronto's twenty
twenty five first. Now, the reason you get that is because they gave
away their own twenty twenty five first. You're getting a distant first from Toronto,
and you're now unlocking the ability to trade basically a pick in any year.
The Raptors receive Ben Simmons and the Grizzlies get number four via Toronto.
I think that's fair. If anything, Philly might be getting the shorter end
of the stick here, but Simmons's value is at such a low and maybe
you would just prefer Kyle Lowry and number four. I just like, what
are Jail and Suggs or Evan Mobile gonna do for you? It's just it's
not And I think getting ten Melton, who can defend the point of attack
and just shot over forty percent from three, that's a deal I considered.
I think they're gonna have to get creative with Ben Simmons trades is my point.
And I'll let you munch on the final one I have. Like that's
offbeat because we know all the other ones as I'm rambling here, but like,
I just don't the D'Angel Russell, will League Beasley one from Minnesota,
Like that's kind of boring. The Knicks don't have enough wind now pieces to
give you there. Sacramento has been linked, but they're not gonna give you
Tyrese Haliburton and just something built around Buddy Heel or Harrison Barnes is thoroughly uninspiring.
I think what they're gonna have to do with the Simmons trade is they
might have to warm up to the idea of we're probably taking some picks back
and maybe we could trade those later for someone else, because I don't think
they're getting the Lowry structure is interesting because you're getting an all star who might
leave anyway, so Toronto can justify being Hey, Lowry and number four for
Simmons is not really that much of an opportunity cost for them. If they
like Simmons and they think Lowry's leaving anyway, I think that's totally fair.
I'm on board with all that, but I'm also just like kind of tired
of the Simmons discussion already. The last trade I have from them to wrap
it up is it's still Kyle Lowry, Devin Vassell, Derek White and number
twelve and Toronto's twenty twenty five pick too Philly. Toronto gets Ben Simmons and
san Antonio gets or Hill number four and forty six. San Antonio doesn't do
trades, but I absolutely I love this trade for them, and I love
the idea of White, Lowry Seth Curry kind of in the parade. It's
a fun one to demonstrate like where the value is gonna lie, because I
do think it's fair for all three sides. But it's probably not going to
happen because, as you mentioned, san Antonio doesn't do big trades. I'll
rattle off some free agents that I think Philly can target just because I think
there is a chance that they don't trade Simmons. Do you agree or do
you expect him? I totally disagree. Just based on the tenor of the
reports that are coming out. It just doesn't feel like that's gonna happen.
Well, then that's where it gets difficult, because they're gonna have the mini
Emily and I would say, like you need to do what you can to
be like, hey, can we bring Williams back or can we bring back
Alec Burks because those are players who help you. But can we entice Cameron
payin at all or a Dragach to come at a discount? But you might
not need them depending on what you get back at a Simmons trade, which
is why it's so difficult. But as of right now, I think even
if you trade Simmons, you probably still need another type of playmaker, regardless
of as you're getting back a Kyle type, and then just guys who are
going to open up the floor for you, like just these cheap they're gonna
be They're gonna have to be cheap wings. But it's just like an auto
porter or Theresa. I think they needed to bring back Danny Green, by
the way, we didn't. We didn't mention him, and they do need
to diversify or just give themselves more versatility. Let's say in the backup big
rotation behind the beat. I don't think Dwight Howard is the way to go
there. It'd be Daniel Tye would be great. He probably wants to play
more minutes, even if he's willing to sign for that. So can you
maybe look at a I don't even know here, like just Harry Giles to
get fun, even though he did like probably doesn't project is the best fit.
So but if you only need it for you know, ten minutes a
game or whatever, if you try and go like, yeah, I would
love to see Paul millsap chase a ring in Philly though. That would be
interesting to me. That would be really fun. That would be really fun.
We are up to Toronto, the Toronto Raptors. They're so they're tough.
Let's I'll get this out of the way, because are they gonna have
cap space? Is Kyle Lowry coming back. What I would like to see
them do is keep Kyle Lowry and just run it back or see them just
doesn't feel like that's going to happen though it doesn't. But I'm not ruling
it out just because I want it to happen. But it doesn't feel like
it's going to happen. And if you don't have Lalry, you're operating with
cap space. But if you're if you don't have Lowry, are you going
to consider rebuilding because you have them? I kind of think you're gonna blow
it up. I have listed as my ideal realistic target for this team James
Weisman because I think that Lowry is gone, which means that you're blowing it
up. And I love the Pascal Siakam to Golden State framework. I came
up. Yeah, I don't love it. I'm not gonna lie. I
don't like to Sakham Draymond fit on offense, you don't like Randall seam on
offense. But you're all about Draymond and Siakam explain because Draymond doesn't need to
play offense for that team. Okay, Randall does need to play offense for
that new York team. That's that's the difference in a nutshell. All right,
Well, I still I can't believe you hat one fit versus the other.
That's all I'm saying, Like there should be a middle ground here on
the Randall Siaka, There's no such thing as the middle ground. I've never
sat on the fence in my life. I just anyone who has listened to
this pod knows that I'm terrible at sitting on the fence. Right, So
you think that the Raptors are more likely to blow it up then I do.
Which would entail? Does that entail trading Van Fleet or just Siakam?
I think just Siakam? Why I think you can because I think that the
return is greater for Siakam, given the versatility that he's displayed, and there's
a general sense that there's more that you can get out of him than Fleet.
While he's so good, it feels like he's just an easier building block
for Toronto to keep because you're probably not getting as much back in return.
I honestly don't know what to extract them. I do think they could blow
it up. I wouldn't be surprised if they traded both Fan Fleet and Siakam
at this point, it wouldn't It wouldn't shock me. I wouldn't expect this,
but it wouldn't shock me if they traded number four and a win now
play. We just mentioned the Simmons stuff. They've been linked to Simmons,
and that'd probably be a three years ago. Any direction, yeah, literally,
any direction. I will say, if you want to do the in
between direction Lowry leaves, maybe you decide to work with cap Space. I
definitely think you need to look at like a Spencer Didnwoody there to help you,
just because you're gonna need another guy who could initiate from the point of
attack. And that's like sort of the name I've circled. I know some
people have mentioned Lonzo Ball. I guess that makes sense with Brent van Fleet
and Pascal Siakam there, I like Spencer Didwoody, even though he's not a
great shooter in Toronto a little bit more. But that's like the again.
I just I can't even begin to think about free agents because I think it's
so I guess we could both agree that whatever they do is one way or
another mord to Kyle Lowry's future, because if he doesn't come back. That's
the impetus for a rebuild or using cap space. If he does return,
Are you keeping the number four pick? You're looking to make a win now
trade. I'm looking to make a win now trade for sure. I could
see. Couldn't you see a Jalen Suggs coming in there and helping them right
away then? Or No? Not with low I don't think so. I
don't think it's so difficult for any guard to make an immediate impact, much
less when you're playing behind those two moral of the story resign, Garry Trend
you years Rano, There you go. Washington though, another one where it's
just baffling because we don't know what's going to happen with Bradley Beal. No,
he has not requested a trade, but it feels like he could at
any point if he doesn't. I think that you're looking at when now moves
because this roster is sneaky good. Westbrook reinvigorated the organization during the second half
of this past season. He looked like a decent fit alongside bal You can
expect to get more from Denny Avia. You can expect to get more from
Ruey Hatchimura, Daniel Gafford was a revelation. Alex lenn played, well,
you're getting Thomas Bryant back from the torn acl Davis Burton's is still there,
Garrison Matthews is still there. There's a lot of talent here. So it
feels like you're just looking at veterans shockingly, because this is a drastic turnaround
where this organization was this time last year. And I think you're looking at
wings specifically Will Barton. I have Danny Green, Will and Will Barton written
down Will Barton, Danny Green, Reggie Bullock of course, just to like
that three and D type. Josh there, you know the same names we've
been mentioning. Yeah, and so you have to be playing for them.
I will say you are obligating to look at window moves if Bradleyal doesn't request
the trade though, because and they look they can do some interesting stuff between
this year's lottery pick. I don't know why I'm blanking where they are right
now or they're not lottery they're number fifteen, excuse me. So it's like
a fringe lottery pick number fifteen, Ruey Hotchimura, Danny Avia and then future
picks because their future is so uncertain. Here's what I thought about, because
I think you have enough offense in Bradley on Russell Westbrook. They might be
a team that could get in on the Pascal Siakam sweepstakes because you have Daniel
Gafford, Avdia Hachimura and picks. Does that get you someone? You have
Davis Burton's matching salary, Although Burton's around the Siakham Westbrook pairing that might be
super critical. Are you going to pay all four of those guys? I
don't know, but there are workable There actually probably aren't workable ways to get
Siakam without giving up Preton, so never mind, but you haven't ready made
sy salary matching tool in there. I also thought about Miles Turner. Unless
you don't think he's enough of an upgrade over Gafford, I would argue he
is. Defensively, I am going to take the opposite stance. I think
that Gafford showed enough in the brief run last year. I don't want to
move him. He was an energetic two way force for this team, and
he only turns twenty three in October. I wouldn't say he's untouchable because if
you're getting a star or a Siakam level player. You're probably going to be
willing to move him, but I would be really hesitant to give him up.
Yeah, there the other name I thought about. I disagree with you
firmly there, but I wouldn't give up a ton of value for him.
But it's also they're going to run to this issue with Siakam or Turner.
I thought about Harrison Barnes too, but they just don't have the you're not
training bol or Westbrook in that scenario. And then Davis Berton's makes sixteen million,
It's like, that's not that's I guess that's middle rung salary. But
if Sacramento wants to rebuild, why do they want Davis Burton's. Maybe Indy
would want Davis Burton's, but why not just pay Doug McDermott. At that
point, you can, you can step ladder it. It's gonna take Thomas
Bryant Chandler Hutchinson, and then it's gonna take a Denny or a Ruey.
But like you can get there to Harrison Barnes without giving up a Davis Burton's.
Maybe you don't want to do that though. That's where they're going to
run into some issues, but they are I think they're sneakily built to pull
if they're willing to give up Deavis Burton's dangle their youngsters in future picks,
I think they are sneaky candidates to pull off a blockbuster type trade. So
here's my hot take on Daniel Gafford. And I'm looking at the Crystal Basketball
rankings from NBA Math and this will be a light spoiler in case anybody is
following those so closely that they don't want that. But going into the twenty
twenty one season, he had a two point nine three grade from our panel,
which tied him with Rodney McGruder for three hundred and fifteenth in the league.
This season, are coming out of the season, he has elevated to
a four point three one, which puts him in one hundred and eighty fourth
overall. I bet he's in the top hundred at the end of this coming
season. Here's my thing. You're just saying that you'd rather have him over
Miles Turner. I would rather No. I don't think if it was a
one for one swap, sure, but you're going to be giving up other
pieces to get Turner as well. Like if if Indiana calls and was like,
hey, we love Gafford, We'll give you Myles Turner from then Hell,
yeah, you're doing that. That's not what's gonna happen here. Washington
doesn't have the flexibility to do that. Yeah, that's why they run into
the issue of it almost has to be a really big deal. Yeah,
or it can't do you think, And this is where we should wrap this
up. Is Bradley beyond the Wizards to start the season? Yep, I'm
gonna say no. I like how much we're disagreeing in this episode. It's
good. I just feel like the reporting of him all of a sudden weighing
his future. And the telltale one for me is the Russell Westbrooks stuff.
You're not unless Bradley Beale said, yeah, I'll the rebuild with you.
Russell Westbrook's name is not getting out there unless that you think Bradley Beale is
not going to be there, because then that's when Russell Westbrook comes eminently available.
Otherwise you need him to optimize this window with Bradley Beale. I'm still
gonna say no, I just I is Bradley Beale on the Wizards at the
end of next season. No, so this is but if you're gonna move
them at the deadline, why wait then, Like, because because you've consistently
made the all in moves and you need to see how it's going to play
out from the start of the season. First. There's still enough young talent
on this roster that Washington can very easily convince itself to see what it has.
If it gets off to a hot start, it becomes a buyer at
the deadline. If it doesn't work out, if you're only a mid level
playoff team in the Eastern Conference, then you're moving in. So who is
the most likely start to get traded in your book then this summer. I
mean, I think Simmons is gone just based on how I'm reading the reporting
around that situation. So I think that's my answer. Other than that,
like, I don't think Flowery's back, so it's probably Siakam is my number
two. Well, yeah, I don't know if Flowers is gonna get traded
just because he's a free agent. But yeah, it'd be funny if Simmons
and Bill were traded for each other. It would be This was great.
I hope everyone enjoyed it. We enjoyed it. As well. Hopefully it's
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out to the one the only future Chicago Bulls Savior, apparently Frankie o'keina