What is krak Lac and bel thermonuclear A efforts. I am at Dana Valley
coming at you with my certified fantabulous thermo nuclear AF co host, mister Grant
Hughes. Don't worry. We have our full on mega episodes where we go
through the over unders, biggest overachievers, underachievers, and how poorly Grant and
I fared in that department, how the how our audience discord members fared as
well. We also have to wrap up with the all league teams, all
NBA, all rookie, all the events. But first, it's been a
while since we talked about some news and current events topics. We've just talked
a lot of big picture, every team stuff. So Grant and I figured
that we would bounce around and talk about some of the bigger items that have
caught our attention over the last week or so. But first, Grant,
how are you doing? I'm doing well. I'm glad that we are going
to hit some current events because sometimes it feels like we're ignoring, like the
actual things that are happening day to day. So this will be good to
get. It's so big part of our day to day. But because you
and I just get together and record once twice a week if we're lucky.
It's just like, you know, I'd rather cover the big picture stuff with
you. Sure, yeah, no, this will be good, So let's
let's get into it. You want so the first I think kind of surprising
story because it's it doesn't feel like it's'tis not the season for extensions typically
as we're getting close to the playoffs. Youre drew Holiday four years with Boston
for one hundred and thirty four million dollars. One of the things this accomplishes,
by the way, is you're knocking what like five million bucks off his
salary next year in this renegotiating extent, and that's going to save Boston,
who will be a second Apron team like sevenfold. It's so little savings there,
even though that's a big deal for Holiday, don't you think? Yeah,
when you're looking at his age and it's funny that this is the third
like nine figure contract that he signed, I think, what would report it?
And that's the first time it's ever happened. Was it was one of
those things where I guess we kind of never talked about a number. I'm
actually I'm not surprised at the number, but I guess I am surprised in
the sense that I thought if he was going to sign one, that it
would just save the Celtics a little bit more on an average annual basis.
So maybe I am shocked at that final number, but I will say he's
he's been worth it, Like just looking at what he does defensively still but
even offensively, they've streamlined his role. Adam Taylor of Celtics Block I believe
he had a great thread where he's talking about we all know what Drew Holliday's
been able to do as kind of getting to the corners, but just looking
at the stuff he's been able to do as a screener, even some of
the stuff he's been able to do as a short role, it kind of
it feels like this is the most playoff proof that he's ever been because we
know that his jumper has kind of fallen off during the postseason, specifically in
his years with Milwaukee. The large part of that was, Okay, well,
he needs to like self create a lot, and now he's not gonna
have to do that as much, or if he does, there's just going
to be more space with him like to work off. So you know,
maybe does the back end of this deal he has that player option in twenty
seven twenty eight for you know, thirty seven point four million dollars, Does
that come back to bite you? You're all in on now? And I
think what this does because so what was his player option? It was about
forty million, right, I think, so, yeah, you're there.
Now he's down to thirty million, and that's for next year is projected at
thirty point one million. I think what that does is and I really think
it only becomes pertinent if they flame out in the playoffs, which I wouldn't
expect him to. Is just you're you're going to be a second Apron team.
But now it's just you have that ten million extra dollars or he does
it make you more willing to stomach doing that? Doesn't make you more willing
to extend Derek White now? And then, like obviously, if his salary's
not going to come up immediately, you always could have done that. But
you can kind of look at it and say, okay, but we have
to worry about Jason Tatum's next deal, and we have Jalen Brown's kicking in.
Do we necessarily want to extend him even if he's willing to sign one.
So I think even if the Celtics slaim out in the playoffs, this
makes it way more likely, feasible, manageable from the billionaire owners perspective,
that or ownership's perspective that you can still float the crux of this core,
which I think is just look, I don't think fans should necessarily have to
care about finances or root for teams to cut payroll. It is a reality
of the situation, though, and this is going to make it, I
would say, more tenable through at least next season. Now, when you're
coming out of that and you know Jason Tatum he's gonna be on a new
deal after next year, then we're gonna have to have a larger discussion.
But this feels like it kind of solidifies what the Celtics have through at least
next season. And yes it does. It does lock you into the second
apron, which is gonna limit you in free agency or not gonna have any
exceptions to use. It's gonna limit what you can do in t aids.
It would have been more of a disaster or just lose Drew Holiday and free
agency to say, hey, look we have the mini mid level exception to
use. That doesn't yeah right. I think the only thing I bump bump
on a little bit is, yes, the CAP's going up, and yes,
you know, thirty a year is not going to mean quite what it
seems like it means now. Is like the theory is this is his optimal
role because we're asking him to do less, except now we're also paying him
like someone that you would typically demand more of. Like that's a little like
incongruous to me, but at the same time, like I think it's just
like you said, this is a win now team and now you have Drew
Holiday for you know, the next two years. He should be worth that
money, and then some like if you win a championship, he's worth whatever.
Yeah, so yeah, I think that's that's just the thinking is like
really, like how hard is it going to be to move Drew Holiday,
you know, if you really needed to down the line, Like I don't
think I don't. I think he's even as he because this is this will
pay him for his age thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, thirty
seven seasons. I think he's gonna be like a positive value guy. It's
the first two seasons of this deal will absolutely be fine, and then numbers
not really that scary, but I mean, like even it's so his final
year is thirty seven point four. Do you know what the salary cap is
projected to be at that point? I surely don't. That's it's a one
hundred and I'll round up an eighty eight million, So you're gonna say,
thirty seven point four against one hundred and eighty eight. It's like less than
twenty percent of the salary cap. That's fine. I mean for thirty seven
year old uh drade, that's not nothing. But it's fine to have that
on the back end because of the value that you're locking in for these first
I think it's a win for him to get a player option. Oh my
god. Yeah, you're in your mid thirties and you're getting nine figures.
That's a win no matter what. But yeah, like that's just yeah,
player option notwithstanding, that's that's a great deal for him. Good for him,
man, like that. A guy that's just like beloved by everyone in
the league and everyone that actually plays thinks this guy's phenomenal is getting paid again
and again and again. So I think it's a great thing, and they
now have when you kind of look at the deals they have just very quickly.
So yes, Jalen Brown's very expensive, Jason Taine was probably below market
for now, but we know that's about to change. Like to get Chris
Stops at a lower number last summer, Derek White's another year cost controlled,
Al Horford's another year very cost controlled, and to get a Drew holiday extension
that again for at least the first half of it is just like, yeah,
you do this, and to lower the number off of the what he
was supposed to what he could have gotten in that player option. This feels
like a win win for both sides. I will say the total value,
and now that I'm kind of thinking about it, I'm not shocked at how
much money they're saving. I didn't necessarily expect them to save more next year,
but even I might have predicted that the average annual value was like thirty
million, not thirty plus million. Yeah. Yeah, I think you know,
you might. You might say, Dan, it's a little bit of
a gamble. Speaking of which, Adam Silver had some comments on about one
John say porter uh, and they were pointed. I would say, what
did he what did he say? What were what are the buzzwords that have
come out of Adam Silver talking about current don't know is he a current raptor
so the gai the gist of it was Adam Silver made a point to say
that he has incredible leeway or power when it comes to handing out punishments,
which is like, I'll get to it in a second. Then he also
kind of said that anything's on the table where this could lead to what he's
accused of as a cardinal sin. This could lead to banishment was a word
that was used. I have so many thoughts here and in Dovetails with the
Jontay Porter stuff. I don't know if we talked about this in the podcast.
Remember when Jamie Bickerstaff came out and said that him and his family are
being threatened by because a bet didn't pan out or something. Yeah, I
just let me, let me multilayer this and you could tackle it as you
may. Where was this definitive energy from Adam Silver when Miles Bridges type stuff
was going on and I don't want to compare it's you know, it's not
fair to compare these things. But the answer is that this impacts the NBA's
bottom line, so to speak, if people think that the players are gambling
or will impact the outcomes of the games. The other thing is, there's
I have three other things, and two of them are very quick. So
let me start with the two quick things. For him to kind of say
I have immense power, but not I'm paraphrasing, but for him to acknowledge
that we should be holding him accountable more than ever when the punishment doesn't seem
like it fits what actually happens, then because you're gonna say that you have
this capability and then you're still gonna not step in in certain instance or speak
in as strong terms as you would now. So there's that. The other
thing is this could also be so he's speaking in such definitive terms, but
we don't have the results of this investigation yet. The two things that I
would wonder there are does he know more like is the evidence just so against
like is it just so undeniable against John Tay Porter? Or is he just
trying to send a message that to the rest of the players that if you
did something like this, whether or not Johntay Porter did, it's we're gonna
it's like you're gonna be punished, like to the fullest extent possible, like
you might to use the word banishment. So that stuck out to me where
it's, okay, well, this is either there's more evidence or then like
we know, like the evidence just must be so dire against him, or
he's trying to send another message. My final thing, and this is the
bigger issue, is I find it incredibly there's a level of hypocrisy here.
But there's this going on. There's the JB. Bicker Staff type things where
we know players are being harassed because they're already harassed, but now they're harassed
about people's parlays not hitting. We have the NBA basically admitting or the NBA
saying that they're not gonna admit to this, but they'll basically admit to it,
that the game is being called differently than it was at the beginning of
the season, post All Star break that impacts betting outcomes, and if you
had I think it was Joe Mizzoula recently even said that he doesn't read too
much into it or it wasn't made too much of a big deal behind the
scenes. So we're sitting here, we're gonna get mad that Jhontay Porter might
have checked himself out of games or missed games to like skew the props in
his favor. But the league impacted every single game that's being played without an
official announcement to say, so that at minimum affects over unders, but also
definitely affects player props. I think you could just affect entire outcomes if you're
talking about stars who if the crux of their style, let's say, is
getting to the foul line or doing this on offense, and to do that
with out officially announcing it to where it shifts betting markets and the way that
people might bet. And I don't have anything against people. I don't bet
on sports. This podcast has made money off of people who bet on sports
and sports betting ads. I've provided consulting services to websites that produce sports betting
content. So there's a level of hypocrisy coming from me. But the league
is just entering very uncomfortable waters. And I'm just like this whole Johntay Porter
press conference, was it brought to you by DraftKings and FanDuel? Like?
Who is the league sponsored by that regard? I just I don't know how
to feel like this. The feelings are very complex. I will just say
that there needs to be like the need for transparency and is even greater than
it's ever been. And I'm uncomfortable with the way the rules shifted in the
game without there being any official announcement, because you know, do your sportsbook
partners understand that this is happening when everyone else doesn't? Do they not understand?
And my guess is no, they probably do understand. Do certain sports
books have a leg up on others because they don't have the direct partnerships with
the league? And then the ones who are getting screwed at the end of
the day of this would be the consumers of the people betting on sports because
they're not pretty to this change right away that's been happening. And yes,
now we all are, but you have the NBA sitting there and I'm basically
you know. This is the podcast Zachlo did with I think it was Joe
Dumarsenmani McCutchen was on it, where the gist of it basically was, well,
we didn't make a mandate to do this, but we also kind of
did. It's just like what I took away from it. Yeah, I
think I think you disagree with me. I'm ready for it. No,
no, no, I think what i'd say. What I would add is
that if you're looking for through lines to not necessarily certainly not eliminate some of
the hypocritical things you've pointed out, but to sort of like make some of
it make sense, I think you would say that Silver and the League are
at least very much focused on the competitive integrity of the game, which you
could apply to obviously, like this is why gambling, whether you think he's
grandstanding or not, or whether you think this is a message that he's sending
or not, Like gambling is a very specific kind not gambling itself, but
like players potentially you know, affecting the competitive integrity of the game to profit
from gambling. That's a really specific threat. And it's why the league has
been so sensitive about all that stuff, like really forever, going back to
like some of the officiating stuff in the early two thousands and the black mark
that that left and like so that so with that idea, the idea that
the changing of the rules, you know, and it was kind of handled
messily. I think I totally agree with that like just say what you're doing.
Scorings out of control, offensive players are making non basketball moves to draw
fouls, Like it's turning the sport into something kind of different. That's kind
of a competitive integrity thing too, Like we want the game to be played
a certain way, with like a certain level of like like honesty. I
guess like because the offensive player is sort of doing a dishonest thing to exploit
the rules. When the defensive players out of position, I'm throwing myself into
him. Nobody likes the look of that. It compromises some of the like
again, like the integrity of the game. So I think like that doesn't
all of that happening at the same time does not seem particularly hypocritical because I
think Silver correctly is super concerned with like, Okay, we want fans to
belitte to have faith in the game being played like the right way and like
on the up and up, and like anything that cuts against that is a
problem. So I think that that sort of connects the two things. But
yeah, I can't disagree with like the idea that you know they didn't the
league has not handled I don't think to me what and to everybody I think
what was like a pretty obvious change in how the game was played, and
that absolutely affected like you know, like you said, the gambling markets and
stuff. I don't have a lot. I think maybe you could even extend
that same line of thinking to like how the how like the uglier domestic violence
and like all this other shitty stuff that players do. It's like, that's
bad, we don't want that. It's not making fans. It's making fans
like not like that player maybe or not like the team that employs that player.
But it's not the same type of threat to like the like competitive like
I can't think of a better term, the competitive integrity of the sport.
Like a shitty player, a shitty person that does bad things like can still
like play the game on the up and up and like that I think is
what maybe they care about more. That ignores like all the like you want
this type of person representing your league, Like that's a separate issue maybe,
but you know what I mean, Like there is a little bit of a
of a through line you can trace, and I guess there's a difference in
due process where it's when you're dealing with the domestic violence stuff or whether it's
rape alligation or something that investigations, there's an there's an arm, a more
prominent arm that's taking place outside of the league. So and because there's a
in theory, a more sensitive issue on a human level, way more sensitive.
Want to make that clear. They have gambling that you're read, you're
hesitant to comment on it, and now this is fully in the league's control.
But to come out there is a level of hypocrisy in the sense that
to come out this strongly and say that stuff when you don't say that stuff
in general terms when it is domestic violence happening, you're very careful to tiptoe
around it, or we're we're carrying out the course our investigation. He was
just so the quotes that were coming out, it was just so definitive,
whether he was trying to send a message or commenting on the degree of evidence
that they actually have, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Relative to
that in addition to everything else with the gambling. But you do make the
gambling specifically, not comparing it to the mestic violence or anything else. The
integrity of the game stuff you want fans to believe that. The hypocrisy to
me just comes in, Well, then why wasn't it communicated from the jump
what you were getting ratiating? Yeah, you'd think because because what is such
a high priority for the league and for Adam Silver is like we need to
preserve the notion among fans that like these games are being played legitimately and like
this is true. That is what the value of like sports is, like
true competition that's not tainted by like anything else, you know, whether it's
rule manipulation or like something is wor as bad as like this game is fixed
or you know, things like that. Like nothing makes the money go away
and the interests go away faster than the supposition that like this is it's rigged
somehow. Like that's like that's death to the money making you know, apparatus
that is the NBA, whereas like some of that other stuff just isn't And
that's like a shit cold way to talk about it. But like that's to
me, that's the difference. I think it's a business, and like the
biggest threats to the business is fans deciding like, oh, this isn't like
real, this isn't what I thought it was. You know, let's let's
I don't know what's a transition from there. But let's some more injury news.
Unfortunately, the next thing we're gonna hit here, uh, Jannis Akumbo
against Boston pulled up non contact injury. Everybody freaked out and thought achilles.
I know I did, at least initially looks like a calf injury. Not
as severe, but still not not optimal here for the Bucks and for your
honest no, I mean they he has been their best defender this year,
and which is not I mean, you can say on any given yol though
brook Lopez was the runner up last season. The I think I saw was
that Jeff Stotts had said it or someone else that noted that it only thinks
one to two weeks to recover if it is in fact just the calf strains.
So that's fine on part. They're not gonna be in the plane,
so they have the time to shut it down. This could impact their seating,
but they're just if he's not one hundred percent or any as close too
hundred percent as you coul possibly be as late in the season, they're absolutely
fucked. I mean they're I mean, you could point to some of the
games where Dame has looked a little bit more normal without Giannis. It's you're
not doing anything in the Eastern Conference playoffs without Yannis. And this just kind
of underscores the fact that there's a level of anything can happen to the Eastern
Conference playoff bracket. I know Boston is Boston is Boston, but even their
crunch time offense has gotten boggy. And we we've just seen it in all
these other years where it's, oh, they fall behind three to zero,
but then they come back to force a game seven, or it looks like
they're on the brink against the Sixers last year and oh no, they they're
going to win that anyway. The Eastern Conference is just a free for all
with all these injuries, feel like they're gonna play a huge factor as to
what does Joel bed but like in the playoffs, and even danfy Meltain with
him, now it's Yannis from Milwaukee. We know the Knicks are without Randall,
what does og look like for them? Cleveland with Mitchell fresh off his
PRP injection, the nasal fracture, how does that play out? And aside
from injuries, just the East feels like one big ass wild card. I
mean, Boston is the certainty, and I would say that given the Yannis
injury, and I know Joe all Embid has looked fine since he's come back,
but it just feels like it's all set up to would you be shocked
if it's, Oh, Boston went twelve and one to come out of the
Eastern Conference. I was just gonna say. The main takeaway here is like
the rich get richer a little bit in terms like Boston's gonna finish. There
are are thirteen games on Milwaukee right now for between the first and second seed,
like that numbers probably getting well, that number may stay there. That's
a massive number, and now you're you're removing, you know, or at
least diminishing the best player on that second seed. The other thing that's interesting
right now, if the playoffs started and we assume Philly wins the seven eight
matchup, it's Philly Milwaukee and like a second straight Milwaukee first round elimination is
on the table. If Jannis is not himself, an embiid is like closer
to himself, Like we we fire in Doc Rivers now, like we're gonna
bring Bodenholzer back, Like that's just well, at that point you have to
trade Dame for Capra Leaf to afford to pay eight coaches. How does that
work? Well, you fire all the equipment managers who are apparently very unprofessional,
I guess according to doctor Patrick Beverly started the other night. So I
think the Bucks are saved. Yeah, no, no, it's I mean,
it's just the Celtics. I think we're gonna steamroll anyway. And now
it's just like show up and it's I would say, it's objectively a bummer
because even if you're a fan of a certain team, you want to just
I would think anyway that you would want to see the best players during the
most important time of the year. And so look, look it sounds like
it's not as serious as it looked. Uh, but this is just like
I mean, and it's a lower body injury to one of the most anomalous
physical specimens we've ever seen, and that just makes me uneasy. And like
it's I mean, Jannis, you know, it gets glossed over now,
but like people were saying Giannis was hurt last year and that's part of the
reason that the Bucks lost back. I mean, yeah, the back issue
like Miami, right, So yeah, it's it's it's really I mean,
we haven't really talked about this, but it's kind of concerning for you.
He had a great statistical season, but like these things are piling up,
like it seems like every time we get to this point of the year,
because he had that horrific, like theoretically looked or looked like career ending knee
injury. Was it two postseasons ago when he got coming down off a dunk.
It's just like, you can't have too many more of these. Let's
get to a couple of extensions non Drew Holiday edition. We have a head
coach Jason Kidd and a top executive Raphael Stone, a couple of Texas teams,
the MAVs and Rockets, respectively. Uh, looking to possibly extend a
couple guys that have had a lot to do. I guess certainly Stone did.
Kid. The jury's out for me still on the success of both of
these teams. Yeah, I think Stone probably deserves an extension. I don't
like, you don't need to make them one of the you know, get
the Tim ho Connolly special for a minute. Who by the way, Tim
Connley could opt out of his contract. Yeah, well, get to them.
But yeah, I think he deserves an extension just because you know this
overseeing the Steven Silas stuff was weird, but like what you did this body
of work in the offseason. I guess the one blotch would be given how
aggressively you chased brook Lopez. I guess you still devalued Alprin Shangoun. But
just like and I guess some of the stuff was non decisions, like Jabari
Smith Junior fell to you, and look how good he's panned out. Some
people might say, would you have taken Jalen Green all over again? I
just Brooks Frevan Fleet getting Emayo Doka from a basketball perspective and in culture that's
been able to be overseen. There the defense of just like how good it
was this year and what's the alternative at this point where it's like, no,
you don't need to make him one of the highest paid execs. But
I think he's absolutely earned the right to see this through for a few more
years at a at a better rate than he's receiving now, because would assume
he's one of the lower paid executives in the league. Just kind of understanding
the dynamics with Tom and Fertita, so I'd be for an extension with him.
Do you have anything to add on that from before you No, I
was just gonna say, I think we both had him top three in our
executive the year right, like might have been second, I can't remember,
but like the Audoka hiring like clearly changed the team. The draft, well,
they've developed, well, they've signed well, Like, there's not a
lot else you can do as an executive, right, the Brook Lopez Shangun
thing is weird, but like they weren't moving Shangun at that time if they
had him, and is their chance if if your two centers, if you're
three bigs were Brook Lopez, Jabaris Smith Junior and al Prince Shanggun, or
you're really like in that bad of a situation, it would have it would
have repressed Shangoon's breakout. But like, there are probably bigger mistakes you could
have made. The Jason Kidd stuff is more complicated to me because I think
it's the consensus is that he's not a good or great coach. Definitely not
a great coach, not a good coach, but there's clearly he has a
it seems like a great relationship with Luca and Kyrie irving where your two most
important players who now play well not just in general, but off each other.
And Luca's even played faster this year. And then Kid has, to
his credit like made lineup decisions post trade deadline. Now where these were these
Nico Harrison's decisions where it's no start Daniel Gafford, start Derek Jones. I
don't. I don't know, but like he's pulled some of the right levers,
and we've seen him explore a little bit with the different types of lineups
they're gonna use in the most important moments. I think you're not. I
want to make clear where I would extend Rafael Stone right now. I'm waiting
to see what happens to the playoffs with Jason didd Yeah, I think that's
right. I mean, like I saw the stat and I was like,
holy shit, He's won fifty plus games two out of the three years he's
been there. They were a conference finalists two years ago, largely on a
defense that he got a lot of credit for being the architect though it's you
know, the success rate is what it is, Like they have won a
lot of games. Now, you know, I don't know if you if
you have Luka Doncic. I think the bar is always just like stupid high
because because he's that good. But I think maybe you could stop the I
would prevace what I'm about to say by leading with I also think Jason Kidd
probably is not a good coach and definitely isn't a great one like or at
least hasn't been. Guys can get better just like players do. But you
could probably stop at he got Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic to like not just
get along but kind of thrive to get other and like those guys cannot be
easy to deal with like individually, let alone like combined. So managing those
two personalities and like that Star Wattage might just be like, yeah, he's
the guy, because I don't know what other coach you're getting in there that's
gonna have success doing that. And I will say I think sometimes we underestimate
because of how focused we are on the results that are happening on the court
and stuff that's tangible and able to be measured. There's something to having not
just good, but incredible relationships with your best players, right, And I
would point to the biggest one that stands out to me is just Michael Malone
and Nikola Jokic in Denver, just knowing Michael Malone having traveled the Serbia basically
every off season with Nicole Jokich, And it's do you get afforded the patients
as an organization or I mean as Michael Malone or even as an organization,
do you have that same patience If there's not that connectivity between Jokich and Michael
Malone, The answer is just no. It seems like a good relationships with
most of his players. Him and Michael Porter Junior have always semed a little.
If they're fine, they seem like they're fine out. But so I
just if you have anything resembling that dynamic between Luca and Kyrie and Jason Kidd,
like that matters, is my point. I'm not saying extend him,
but I'm saying it does matter. It's getting along with the star of Luka
Doncic's like caliber is a threshold issue for a coach, Like it doesn't matter
how good you are tactically or with rotations or motivation if like, if you
don't have that, And we know that's true because I think if you pulled
one hundred people in the NBA and said who's a better NBA coach, Rick
Carlisle or Jason Kidd. They'd all say Rick Carlisle, or like a ridiculous
majority would say Rick Carlisle. And Rick Carlisle is gone because it didn't seem
like his relationship with Luca was very good. So like Jason Kidd has that
and so therefore like he has met the threshold issue to coach this team for
as long as Luca wants him to have that job. It seems like that's
probably the best way to frame it. He thanks last here or a couple
of well like a two for Minnesota Timberwolves edition. Karl Anthony Town's coming back
as soon as I guess if you're listening to this today, if this comes
out on Friday from that knee injury, be fascinating to see how he looks,
what that integration process looks like, because nas Reed has been mostly very
good in his stead, and how are the Wolves going to rejigger that rotation?
The offense still sucks, so Cat's gonna help. But yeah, you
should be back, like any any additional thoughts there, and if not,
we can get to the juicier stuff with the ownership controversy. Well, it's
there's been this not rush, but there are some people who've mentioned that,
well, do they need Karl Anthony downs because of how well nas Reed has
played, And I just feel like that's not even a question. The answer
is just yes, because karlthak Towns is still the more dynamic offensive player.
Defenses are still going to guard him differently than they do nas Read, especially
when you're looking at from beyond the arc. Nas Reed is an upgrade defensively,
especially on the perimeter. But it's like, you don't need defensive upgrades
on this ross, you need the offensive upgrades. And so I've always viewed
it as if they're going to, yeah, if you want to get by
in the regular season. I'm not saying nas Reid is better, you know,
I love he was my six Man of the Year pick, but like
you can live without Karl Anthony Towns. If you're gonna win the playoffs,
you can't do it without Karl Anthony Towns. And what I also want to
make clear is that if you end up, and this kind of might dovetail
into what we're going to speak about next, if they do move Karl Anthony
Towns, in the offseason, regardless of what happens in the playoffs. It's
not because they think they're better or just as good with nos Reed instead of
Carlie Towns. It's because they've decided they don't want to pay karl Anthony Towns
and they think they can approximate enough of what he does on offense through nas
Reed or these more affordable contracts. And that's a different that's a different thing.
It's not, oh, they just don't think they need them. No,
it's they think they can approximate enough of him on a cheaper rate.
It's not I would go even farther. I think it's like if they trade
it certainly won't because they think they can approximate. It's they if they trade
him, it will be with the knowledge that, like, we're gonna miss
him, but financially, we just can't do this, so we have to
make this like calculated decision, you know what. More immediately, it's it's
good that he's getting to you right some game, assuming he's actually ready,
which I assume he would be. That this isn't just yeah, there's urgency,
but you're not just gonna rush back when you're not ready. The fact
he'll get some run under him before they get into the playoffs is probably a
good thing, right, Oh for sure, And like there aren't a lot
of I mean, he's got a lot of questions to answer playoff performance wise,
right, like because he's had some real duds and like playing games and
just high stakes moments like so any ramp up is gonna be helpful both for
him and for the Wolves to sort of like I don't know, it's just
they just their offense have I don't know if their offense is good enough with
him. I know it's not good enough without him. Like, so they've
just he's got to be He's got to be close to full speed for them
to have any chance to like really make a run here. Lastly, though,
we've got the Timberwolves ownership controversially Alex Rodriguez and Mark Glori versus Glenn Taylor.
It's getting contentious some some pretty like pointed leaks. It seems like coming
from Glenn Taylor about a Rod and Laurie's intentions to lower payroll. It's like
kind of touching on the cat stuff. But it's just a lot going on
back and forth. What do you want to hit on with this story.
There are no protagonists in this situation, is my point. Because the fact
that Laurie and Rodriguez came out and were saying stuff right away, and they
did that Dane Moore podcast the day More NBA show that they did was it
was an excellent interview by Dane Moore and Kyle Tige. But like so them
being so outright and throwing Glenn Taylor on the bus saying they didn't miss any
deadlines, saying that they're responsible for all these good things that are happening.
And then you have Glenn Taylor at first saying it's they missed these deadlines,
but now it's because they had projections of spending next year and that it was
one million dollars beneath the luxury tax. There are so many things here.
One like, whenever these news is coming out, we have to figure out,
Okay, well, who is this benefiting? And in Glenn Taylor specifically,
you're gonna tell me that the franchise increasing in value since you sold it
by a not insignificant amount, isn't a primary motivating factor here? And two,
I'll believe he's prepared to float this roster's payroll for longer than these other
two when I see it, I'm not saying they would be. And my
other question here would also be, well, how do these projections work?
Is they they submitted and I want to know why they did this? One
projection? Is that this is what we're doing? Or did they have a
variety of projections that said, well, if we kept our payroll in in
the second apron or past two hundred million, or if we went even lower
than this, was this just one projection they're harping on, and I don't
know who I'm conditioned to believe or root for. I will say, though,
if they didn't actually miss any deadlines and they still wanted to cut the
payroll, that would just be their prerogative. I wouldn't agree with it.
But that's their prerogative, and you don't get the high behind I'm doing this
for the fan base because we don't want to like, no, shut the
fuck up, Glen Tale, like you're doing this for you if this is
why you're doing it. I'm not saying Mark Ware and Alex Rodriguez are the
protagonists here. It's just there's this is being pulled in so many different directions.
I am skeptical because we're already seeing like people the parties in this situation
sabotage or like invalidate what they've already said because it was oh Glen Taylor as
an example, the reasoning was, well, they missed these deadlines, but
now it's actually, oh no, they wanted to be too cheap with the
way the team was handled. So it's just there's so many inconsistencies here already,
and the fact that you had Mark Moore. I don't know if you
heard any of the interview, but he's like really talking about it. I've
never had more money or cash in the bank. It's like, bro,
what are we doing here? And so I'm skeptical of everyone involved. I
am curious who is going to have the legal standing yea if it had nothing
to do with mispayments or deadlines or equity, like a lack of equity.
I don't know what leging Glenn Taylor has to stand on right now would be
my initial thought. But it sucks. My final thing, I'm sorry before
I throw it to you, it sucks that all this stuff the time when
it's coming out, these are all like they're making themselves the plot when it's
Karl Anthony Towns is coming back, or this comes out right before that Nuggets
Timberwolves game that could have technically decided who is the number one seed in the
Western Conference, and all this is happening after one of the best seasons in
franchise history, with the best shot that had it making playoff noise since Kevin
Garnett was in a Minnesota jersey. And so it takes away from the fact
and it really sucks because you were there was already this sense, whether it
was because the national media or just the reality of the situation that this team
was kind of operating under a finite window or borrowed time. You and I
have talked at length about how that was always kind of hyperbolized because it's if
they're cutting costs before next year's trade deadline at the earliest, then they're just
cheaping out. This team is good enough to at least see it through to
then, if not the end of next season, stomach it for a year,
but you already have that stuff in the backdrop, like, oh,
this could be your best, last only chance at winning a title with this
corps. And now whether that's true or not, like now we're throwing all
this into the equation, and it's at the four of everything that's happening,
And you wonder how it's the players are going to get paid anyway. But
if you're and they have more information than we do, I'm sure. But
if you're a Karl Anthony Towns as an example, Yeah, and we're seeing
this story about the luxury retax projections specifically, well, well, who the
fuck was going to be moved under the look the second ape the wasn't even
the second apron, it was the luxury tax itself. Like, how does
that make you feel? Yeah? I think like my initial reaction when I
saw, well, first of all, haven't we seen reports that that Lauri
and Rodriguez have taken some measure of credit for like making the Tim Connolly higher
happen, or like going you know, they didn't take some measure they took
and the go bear trade and all this other stuff. Right, So then
it's like it doesn't seem like the actions of ownership that would be like,
oh, we got to get back under the tax. Like there, you
know, the go Beart trade. They they like engineered all this, all
of this, it seems like they if it is true, they put the
Timberwolves in a position where some owner might be like, we got to get
back under the tax. This isn't gonna cost too much. But like that
doesn't square to me because like so the same guy that like said let's spend
spend, spend to make this team a winner, which it hasn't been,
and now we're gonna like pull it back. I don't I don't know whether
that's true or not. Kinder different one second, go ahead, where were
they saying all this last year? Sure they're responsible for it because the reactions
might have been a lot and speaking out of total self interest. So you
like can't trust anybody in any of this. Your original point of like there's
no winner, there's no like good guy is very true. Like so I
was annoyed, I guess, or like, oh, when I saw the
report of like oh, they're gonna they intend to cut down, you know
they're gonna blow the team up, exaggerating but like they're gonna take a step
back to save money, it's like, ah, damn it, Like these
new it's hard to root for a rod in any circumstance. And so then
it's also like these these new guys are just gonna come in and they're just
gonna try to turn a profit and sell this team in five years or whatever.
I can't root for this. But then it's like, so I'm in
Glinn Taylor's corner, who's presided over like the least successful run of any NBA
franchise over the since it's like like a dozen like failed sale attempts or like
gotcha sale whatever. I can't. Don't make me choose who to side with
here. I don't. I want to abstain, Like I don't want to
side with anyone here. But ultimately, yeah, like I think if you're
a Timberwolves fan, you'll just take anybody but Glenn Taylor at this point,
like if you had the choice, because you know what you get with him.
You've seen it for twenty five, for thirty years. Whatever it is.
Uh so, yeah, it's a mess, Like I just it's and
it really last thing. It sucks, like you said that, it's happening
now. It's like, can't we just have nice things? Can't we enjoy
the Timberwolves like winning fifty whatever games and going into the playoffs with a high
seed and like maybe a shot to make a conference finals or whatever, Nope,
we got this. This is this is we're timberwolfing right now. I
just want to talk about how nas Reed slides his feet on the perimeter on
defense, and here we are talking about Glenn Taylor, Mark Lord, a
Rod. It's I will say, after all of this, though, A
Rod and Mark lare saying we're responsible for paying Connolly, which, by the
way, show about that for a second. If I'm him, I'm absolutely
opting out and leveraging the threat of like Detroit might fire Troy Weaver. Uh,
I guess you have to look at what other teams are gonna want elit
executive. It's I'm opting out just with all the turmoil, it's getting more
out of this. Oh yeah, for sure. But so you have a
Rod and marklo are saying, well, we were the ones that paid Connolly
and spearhead of the Gobert trade, and now you have Glenn Taylor saying that
he's trying to protect a fan base from an ownership group that's going to cheap
out if either one of these two. Now there are no outs you you
don't get to make any cost cutting moves this summer on the trade that line,
because you're like you're fucking I mean, they might not care because they're
still gonna be cashing checks and like they have the equity in the franchise that
they really care about hug perception. But you're gonna look like mega shittheads now
if either either one of you, now whoever keeps the franchise goes through.
So this is all most that might be the bright side Timberallel chance is that
this cornell has to stay together through at least I would say next season.
Otherwise all of these guys look like assholes, right, Yeah, they and
maybe inadvertently given Timberwolves fans a gift because they won't like you know, self
cat off to get under the tax because they can't now because well who knows
what they can and can't do. But like it'll be a real bad look
for either whoever owns the team. It'll be a bad look if they do
that. Do you want to think us out here? This is good to
kid? That was like, I'm glad that was cathartic to talk with you
about, but it kind of sucks that that was something we talked about.
If that yeah, yeah, well look you know owner NBA owners are you
can't maybe we should do a which owners should you root for? Power rankings?
Are there any I don't know? The answer to that is is no,
even though some of them might not might seem funny obamba and toilets.
Although see oh yeah, I'm for Steve Bomber. That guy's passionate. I
want that kind of passion in my team. The I'm just surprised that you
didn't knock Shay Gilgers Alexander out of your all MBA consideration for driving an Elon
Musk cyber truck or whatever they're called. I've seen a cyber truck in the
wild. It's very strange. There's one around my neighborhood. Bok's now.
I've seen it multiple times, and it's it's a little jarring. Yeah it
is. I'm out of it and threaten me. It's like robocops gonna hop
out. My kids refer to it as the car from the future. Whenever
they see it driving around. It's like, that's right, that looks like
what that is. We'll see if it We'll see if it catches on,
but I don't think so. Uh, We'll see everybody. Thanks for listening,
Thanks for catching up on the news. Here with us If you would
like to, uh, please do us a favor, rate review, subscribe,
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and thanks again. Outs out to Frank Milikena apologies, Jared Allen h