What is Krakolakian fellow Thermo nuclear a effort. I am a dam to Valley
coming at you with a solo podcast, the first solo podcast in quite sometime.
Lots to talk about, and we obviously have to start with the trade
between the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City thunder Woes was the first to report
it. It's just a straight up swap. The Thunder sending Josh Giddy to
Chicago and the Bulls are sending Alex Caruso to the Thunder. We'll try and
break this down by team. I will start with let's go with the Bulls
here. This is disastrous for them. And I wrote a piece immediately after
it's up, a Bleach report. You go check it out. I'll play
step in the toes of some here of much of what I said there.
I we don't necessarily take out the stick of dynamite too often, Like I
try to approach things from a level headed perspective. I eviscerated them because this
is just a catastrophic example of asset mismanagement. When you look at a team
that we know reportedly had offers of multiple first round picks for multiple suitors at
the trade deadline, and there was even this is per Will Gottlieb of Chicago
Sports, I believe recently reported that they could have had a top ten pick
in this year's draft. Now, you could break this down as do you
want a top ten picker Josh Gidty in like Josh Getty or top ten picky
in this draft when not a lot of people are high on this draft class.
That's something to get into. But I think there's sort of three layers
to this. Now, the idea of the Bulls trading Alex Caruso's that's actually
good. It implies some semblance of foresight. Maybe they checked in and saw
he wasn't going to sign a four year extension, which it's estimated we figure
out what the league's average salary ends up being, but that could have been
around four seventy eight. Four eighty was the number that I saw Woj throw
out there. So, assuming he talks to Bobby Marks, are they knew
he wouldn't sign at that number, or that if he is willing to sign
at that number, he didn't want it to be in Chicago, and so
moving that player who we all knew was not part of their long term program.
If the Bulls were ever going to be great again, even though he
is an all world defender himself. Moving that player is perfectly fine. I
would argue that it's the right move, and it sort of hints at a
level of foresight of self awareness that the Bulls have not typically shown. So
I have no issue with moving Alice Caruso, nor with what it implies that
the Bulls might be doing. But we will get to that. The actual
return here, you have to look at it. Josh Giddy, he doesn't
turn twenty two until just before the start. Might think it's August. He'll
be twenty two next season. Tips off, you're getting younger here. And
the Bulls said that they were looking to replace Lonzo Ball as part of this.
I find that hysterical because Lonzo BA hasn't played more than two years,
and so now you're looking to replace him in what efforts did you actually put
into looking to replace him over the course of those two years, And between
Lonzo shooting, defense and playmaking, Josh Gitty is going to place exactly one
of those things in the playmaking. I'm open to the idea though, that
Giddy can be much better than what we've seen in Okac and he's had moments.
This isn't to paint the picture of Josh Gidty sucks as a basketball player.
You can get into you have to have your own questions about the stuff
that's going that went on off the court. The issue here is you are
acquiring someone who's about to be paid again and well probably because of his agenc
paid more than Alex Caruso. Now if you think that Josh Giddy really has
more to offer, because we saw that Jalen Williams, we saw that Shay
Giliges Alexander, you served him in kind of the feature the ball handler pecking
order. There's been talk that the thunder one expand ch at Holmgrids on ball
roll next year. You do have Cason Wallace, so you probably want to
develop a little bit more on ball because he can be a little he could
be too hesitant. He's just much better than Josh Giddy ever was on defense
so far. So yes, he's slid down the pecking order. You now
go to a team that I guess is going to feature you prominently prominently,
but it becomes a mega issue in the sense that you again look at what
you could have had. So two first round picks at least or a top
ten pick that would have been under cost control. You're now getting this player
as you have to decide whether he's worth paying, and you might have to
make that call before he's ever on the court. He's rookie extension eligible.
You don't need to know his max salary. He's not getting it. I
would imagine they make this wait until restricted free agency, so you kind of
have a year to let this play out. But there are a number of
things that could happen here. Either Josh Giddy underperforms and it doesn't cost a
shit ton to keep him, in which case the trade's going to look like
a dud, or he overperforms and you have to pay him a boltload of
money at a time when you're still not good enough to justify just shelling out
these massive deals. And I think the bigger issue for me here than the
fact that they prioritized well. And also if you want to be in a
situation where you're prioritizing, forget about it being Josh Giddy, it could be
another player, and most of the players that unless you had the opportunity to
get a caps locked cornerstone, or if you like to prioritize players over picks
in this situation is bizarre to me. And so you look at if this
was their version of the Raptors trade. Is the example I brought up in
my piece for Bleacher Report, the Ojannobi trade, where they prioritize the manual
quickly they got a second round pick and Rjie Barrett, but they clearly prioritize
the players over draft picks. There had more of a couple of things going
for them. Is one that O Jannobe was good enough, Like, if
Alex Caruzzo hits the open market, yeah, he'll have offers. He's not
gonna have a max offer this summer. O Jannobe can probably get the max
if he wants to. So if he had leverage to want to go to
New York, where had they've gotten multiple picks from the Kings, Let's say
maybe he was able to shut it down or teams weren't going to give that
much if they couldn't guarantee he'd resign. There's still level of risk there.
With Alex Caruso, it's just at a different scale because I love Alex Caruso,
but he's Alex Caruso, where it's you have to ask the question,
Yeah, he might be one of the five best just overall defenders, most
valuable defenders in the game, which you could also make the case fro Jianenobi
can he play as many minutes he and again you could get into oh Jane,
he's not the perfect analog because he has a ton of injury issues,
but with his size, like he can defend all five positions versus Alex Caruso
is like a three point seventy five defender. There are gonna be some force
he can't hold up agains where there're gonna be some force that he I mean,
we saw him defend. He's defended Lebron James, he defended Palo Banko,
the whole nine. So my point being though, is that when you
were trading old Gianoby for players, you were getting more of a certified asset
in a manual quickly who will cost a ton of money. Certain, he's
he's entering your stricts to free agency himself, but you already knew what he
was and you look at him and said, well, imagine what that guy
could do in a more expansive role, or look at how his skill set
can scale to all these different versions of a team. Josh Giddy doesn't do
that because of the shooting liability. He shot thirty four point seven percent on
catching shoot threes during the regular season. That's just not good enough. And
he's gone through stretches where he can leverage his floater and where the threes are
going in, they invariably kind of pull back. And that was in mind.
You a system that was almost exclusively four or five out, depending on
I mean, if Josh Getty's on the floor, you're playing five out.
But how much of a threat is he? We saw how defenses ended up
treating him in the playoffs. The Maverick series specifically was not a good look
on him, and we even saw before that. This is long before the
playoffs. If you go, if you didn't watch a ton of Thunder basketball,
that's fine. But like mar Head coach Mark Dagnol, like he was,
Josh Getty spot in their most important lineups has not been guaranteed for quite
some time, basically all of last season at the absolute minimum. Basically,
so you're getting this massive maybe and you're bringing him into a situation where,
yes, it'll look different, but as of now, you're not opening up
the floor for him anymore. The Bulls were twenty sixth in three point attempt
rate the share of their shots coming from beyond the arc, and they were
twenty ninth in three point percent. So your bottom five in three point accuracy
and volume, that's not gonna open up the floor a ton for him.
You have the personnel to maybe get out to utilize Josh Giddy in transition,
but what is that gonna look like when you're talking about the guys that are
running out and how our defense is going to guard them. He's just not
gonna have the same level of operating room or even the same level proven shot
making around him. Again to Josh Gritty's wow, to Josh Gitty's to Josh
Giddy's credit on the basket before. He has made adjustments and adaptations specifically over
the past two seasons, but it was never enough to make you think that
this is someone who is plug and play or someone who is more scalable.
And so if you want to optimize him while also insulating him against his weaknesses,
but optimizing his strengths insulating his weaknesses, this roster almost demands a ton
of turnover here, and so that gets it, but I'm not finished with
My example is if you're going to prioritize players in this trade specifically, and
let's say that player was Josh Giddy. Okay, I don't know which team
could say that about one of their top You know, if the Wizards prioritized
Josh Giddy and Denny Abdia trade, I kill them too. They weren't getting
first round picks, but you needed to have. But let's say you wanted
to, you need to have somebody else because as part of this rebuild that
they this might signal, which is technically a good thing. He'd have somebody
else that is gonna then help you get a first round bounty. The Bulls
do not have that, assuming that they're not gonna trade Kobe White, which
to acquire Josh Giddy and then trade Kobe Wright would be fucking stupid. And
I'm not saying they would do it. I mean it's the bull so I'm
not saying they wouldn't do it either. But so you don't have Demart Rosie
could just leave in free agency, or you sign and trade him for less
than you will would have probably gotten for him, and you trade him with
time left on his contract not even less. It's necessarily it last year's deadline,
but last offseason or the twenty twenty three trade deadline. So and zach
Lavine, his value is cretered. And if you want to look at well,
them trying to recoo assets elsewhere they were trading Alex Caruso at or near
the peak of his value, they will be trading zach Lavine. And if
they want to look to move Lonzo balls expiring, those will represent the nader
of their values. Just Lonzo hasn't played in more than two years. He's
in expiring contracts, and maybe that's value. Ditto for Vouch. If you're
trying to recoup stuff there there are teams that could be interested in theory,
but you also just like, well, you know, we don't really have
a big man namorybe we get one in the draft, we trade for another
one where we bring back Drummond. Vouch is slightly critical in theory to making
Josh Getty work, just because there could be a pick and pop, a
perimeter two man game between the two and they're just I mean, Vouch's like
can be. He's a pretty good floor navigator too, So having that kind
of a smart big man where it's not just relying on a spacing but all
also as like que that might be important to streamlining Josh Gitty. You don't
have, though, the other player to go out and get enough assets to
say, well, like this is where I launching pet is from the rebuild.
I mean even bigger issue is are we sure that's what this signals?
Because teams that are going to rebuild, And by the way, if you
wanted to go with the Josh Getty er to you also the Raptors what they
also had was a number one type cornerstone in place, which, as I'm
saying this, and I don't know that I realized this while I was writing
it. When we did our Central excuse me, our Atlantic Division. Look,
hey, go check it out. We didn't go into this Scotty Warren's
extension eligibility. I don't think for the Raptors, we have them Grant and
I boll Havm just penciled in for a five year max. I think the
only thing to quibble over be does he get a player option does he not?
So there's a Raptors analysis from this podcast because we missed it in their
off season. Lookhead again, go check those out fifteen of thirty are done.
We'd already recorded the Bulls in the Hunter, of course, so this
is an amending that. So you don't you weren't in a situation where this
is the package you get to prioritize then sell it as a rebuild. So
the fact that the Bulls now might turn around and rebuild, which I've seen
fans point out and entertain, Okay, that's great. This is still asset
mismanagement of the highest level, and it's it's gross. It's grotesque that this
organization keeps doing this. And also, are we sure that that's what they're
doing? Are we just? They have Andre Drummond to Mart Rosen our free
agent, So if Patrick Williams as a restricted free agent, are they just
are they out on those guys? And if they're not, so, now
you're in a situation where you're about to pay tomorrow. Drummond will get a
raise. They've early bird rise and probably shouldn't be anything backbreaking. How much
does Patrick Williams cost the Bulls. They only took on about a million and
a half, but we'll say sub two million dollars is part of this deal.
They're now about forty million dollars away from the tax. That's before paying
Damar, before paying Patrick Williams, and before paying Andre Drummond. I'm not
gonna count. I'd like, I don't care about the money that the a
tax payment could cost ownership, Like, we know that this team is not
good enough. If you're gonna go into the tax, the team should be
better than what it's gonna be on paper. And you could say, all
right, they're gonna save money as part of a zach Lavine trade. Sure,
but are you just at that point are you strictly dumping him for cap
relief. That would come back to the point of if you're not even gonna
get first round equity for zach Lavine, Like, how are you recouping some
of this equity? It's okay if the plan is to try and keep their
pick top ten protected. It's oh to San Antonio next year and that they're
gonna tank and they're rebuilding. Put yourself in a better starting point, especially
when you're trading their most valuable trade asset aside from Kobe White. I would
argue, I don't think, I mean, maybe I don't assume he gets
more at this point relative to what the Bulls just accepted for him. But
you're taking a distressed asset for someone who, yes, is basically a decade
older, but is at the peak of his value and does more desirable things
as guarding one through four and entering the first team all defense discussion every year.
Are you concerned about how much he can play per game? Oh?
Sure? You concerned about his offensive volume? Sure he did to shoot over
forty percent from three on career high volume. There can be some playmaking,
especially in actual space. That's all tough to talk about with the thunder,
so I don't want to spoil that too much. But you had the opportunity
to put yourself in a better launching point for this rebuild, and the fact
that you want with someone who's about to get paid, I question whether you're
fully committed to entering said rebuild. And so the fact if they're actually going
to quote unquote start over, that doesn't excuse what they did not only here,
but turned down in run leading up to that. And it's even worse.
Look, you could say, if this was the best offer now,
okay, fine, and they had to take it, that just proves that
they should have moved. Aux Crusoe already if there were I don't want to
say better offers and the but if you deemed this a better offer then other
packages that were on the table where you could have gotten multiple first round picks,
that's even worse of a look because now you've actively chosen this path of
bottom of the middle. That's just what perpetually the Bulls seem to be addicted
to, and this, to me is an advancement of that. The line
of thought behind it. I don't see a scenario where, even if Josh
Getty plays well that I look back on this. I mean that it ends
up being the right he would have to turn into sort of a guiding force
for your entire rebuild, which I just don't see happening. And then what
does this do, by the way, you know, when you're talking about
the fit of the players that we know his fit is horrendous. With the
Marty Rosen that is just a plus like awful, like a negative awful.
It's so if those two on the court, you really can't play them together
and you're not gonna have the requisite shooters around them. I guess if Lonzo
plays and Kobe White's playing, that's helpful. That was a lineup of Kobe
White, Lonzo Ball, Demart Rosen, and Josh Giddy doing defensively. At
that point, I mean, insert whoever you want as kind of your fifth.
So they're if you're bringing back certain players, this roster doesn't and you're
not moving others you're it's Giddy's even more horrendous fit. Now if you're moving
some things around to Mar's not back, that'll be asset mismanagement if you uves
or nothing. By the way, okay, that kind of thins out the
pecking order a little bit. But part of what would appeal to this trade
is, oh, like Kobe White can play off the ball. That's that's
fine, Like this will work out. So your most promising player. This
is how we're gonna justify the trade for the balls that their most promising player
will now spend less time on the ball and part of what made him special
last year. Yeah, there was progress as a passer, but there's real
progress as an off the dribble shooter. You're gonna dilute that element of his
game. I just don't get it. And now you've traded for someone who
will probably not be better or more valuable than him. Anyway. But I
bet you he ends up commanding more in his next deal. If he doesn't
and the contract's not damaging, I guess that changes the context of this trade
a little bit, so we should wait and see. But if he's getting
three years and thirty six million dollars, that doesn't say enough good things about
his outlook for you to feel good. So the deal isn't backbreaking, but
it's because Josh Giddy still is kind of not a valuable best super valuable basketball
player, or is only super useful in certain situations. That's a disastrous outcome
here as well. So I don't know necessarily what this is a precursor to,
but it's nothing inspiring. And while that's par for the course, this
is like unspectacular even by their maddeningly historically unremarkable standards. Is where this comes
in at. And you cannot frame this in a way that is gonna make
me like the trade or see the logic behind it. I even so some
people complain like, well, now you can't use Alex Crusa to help grease
the wheels of a Zack Lavine trade. That's the one thing I'll say is
I don't really think that matters. I mean, one, if you have
to grease the wheels of Zack Lavine trade and you're not playing on being good
anyway, I know you're trying to save money, but I'm just eating that.
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give a team a first round pick to
take on Zach. I'm just not gonna do it because that implies what do
you need that flexibility for. Are you that cheap or are you looking to
do something else that's mine meltingly dumb? Uh? And then also, just
Zacklvine's making forty three plus million, you had Caruso is basically ten million dollar
salary to that, moving fifty plus million dollars in salaries a lot in a
deal, and so I don't know that they would come out of that looking
rosy. So that might be the one thing I'll say is, oh,
this team like they didn't. I don't think they worsened their chances of completing
a Zach Lavine trader. Again, I just wouldn't grease the wheels of a
Zack Lavine trade. If you're not gonna even just take him and send back
expiring contracts at minimum, then they should just eat the Zachlovine cost here,
but now you're for the time being, we do have to this plays out.
You have Zach Lavine, you have Lonzo Ball, you have Io Desumu,
you have Kobe White, you have Josh Giddy. You could have Demarto
Rosenbach, who's not a guard anymore, but he's just their best player and
primary playmaker who's best off on the ball, which is just like Giddy,
who Yeah, he can shoot it better than Lamar's sort of this standstill shooter
and look even up his volume in the playoffs. But someone shooting thirty five
percent during the regular season on spot up threes on fewer than three attempts per
game, that's not going to move me to say that he is scalable through
this situation. This is an absolutely horrendous trade for the Chicago Bulls, and
it shows that they have learned absolutely nothing. They have not evolved as an
organization. And I think the silver lining is this could signal that they're about
to rebuild. Why the actual fuck would you trust this organization to rebuild properly?
This again, is less about Josh Giddy the player and more about the
logic that went into not just this deal but the point that led up to
it and what we now have to watch, wait and look for in Chicago,
and it's just they're good for throwing curveballs. Even by their standards,
per I thought they couldn't do anything that would absolutely shock me. But hearing
I thought it wasn't worse that they were. You're telling teams that you want
this godfather off of Ralex Cruso, and then you settle for someone who's trade
value relative to where he was drafted, relative to being on a rookie scale,
relative to the theory of him is just at its absolute rock bottom.
And that is so mind numbingly uninspiring that I feel bad for Bulls fans.
They deserve better, They've been waiting for better. They're willing to go through
these competitive I mean they're going through competitive stops right now, but they are.
This is the same thing with the Knicks way back when, where they
thought that their fans wouldn't sit through a rebuild. If you can sell a
direction, a coherent, distinct fully formed direction scaling forward, your fans will
accept it. I promise you. The Bulls are more formless than before when
you're just looking at throughout like you just couldn't this all you say, we
say that, does this signal that they're most like, isn't there a scenario
where they don't that the Martin Rosen's back, that Andre Drummond is back,
that Patrick Williams is back, and they're just they're trying to do what at
that point, race to the to the nine seed to the eight seed.
I just it's it's a terrible trade for the Bulls. I gave them a
D minus, and only because I still think Josh Giddy can have value.
I just don't, especially as they're currently constructed. I don't see how the
Bulls are gonna bring it out in him. They would not be the team
that I would have thought could help reboot, rehab his his on court utility.
And I will be prepared to eat crow if I am wrong. But
even if I'm wrong about Josh Giddy, I still don't think the peak of
his powers is enough to shift the Chicago Bulls's entire direction. And that's what
they remain at this point, is they are directionless. They do not if
they have a vision, Someone explain it to me, because they could have
fooled me. This looks like visionless it's just look, it's drek. It's
complete and utter bullshit that they've been peddling for so long. I wrote it
shoveling down the throats to their fan base that just they deserve better and you
should be frustrated as a Bulls fan. It seems like the Bulls fans of
my mentions, a lot of them are are frustrated too. Hopefully they hit
on some of these other moves here, but they have not earned the benefit
of the doubt. They're not going to get it from me, and they
certainly should not get it from you. The other side of this trade is
equally fascinating, but for many different reasons. I saw people ask whether Oklahoma
City needs to be the title favorite after this move. I'm not putting them
ahead of the Boston Celtics, but the fact that getting a thirty year old
Alex Caruso puts them in that conversation. I mean, they are just coming
off finishing with the best regular season record in the seed in the Western Conference,
so it's not a huge leap, like that's the level they were at.
And this is encouraging for a few reasons. One because of what I
think it hints forget about Crucio's fit for a minute. What it just sort
of suggests about what the Thunder are prepared to do this offseason. We saw
them get a little bit more aggress by their fairly conservative standards. I would
say when they acquired Gordon Hayward. It just didn't pan out, But that
was just that was an opportunistic move that was virtually no risk for them,
but didn't cost them a ton of anything. They sent out guys that weren't
part of their long term program, even their immediate program. Quite frankly,
that hurts me to say, knowing who went out in that deal, you
would shout out Poku. But the fact that they make this move and yes,
they end up be give a dread. This is a kind of move
where even you weren't being aggressive. It's yeah, okay, like we did
use the top seven pick on this guy in twents than twenty one. But
Alice Crusoe is maybe one of the five best defenders in the game, five
to ten best defenders in the game. Every morning for even he's one of
the fifteen best defenders in the game. You can't pass this up. But
it shows that they're willing to one make moves and take some risk. Now,
this isn't an organization that would acquire Cruso without any intel on his salary
demands or whether he'd be interested in signing that extension I mentioned earlier. I'll
have to wait six months to do it to stay in Oklahoma City long term.
But even if they were going into this blind, Oklahoma City was giving
up no picks, and they have the depth, the talent, the flexibility
to just kind of roll with it, and they're good enough to justify,
well, look what this guy does for our defense and a little bit of
our offense. But this suggests that they're going to continue to be even more
aggressive this summer. In addressing this, By the way, this is not
address I would argue any of their biggest needs, but I still love it,
is my point, And so let's before we get into kind of the
fallout, where do the thunder go from here? The fit of Alex Caruso
is largely fantastic. Like I had already mentioned, he is not high volume
on offense, and it's to the point where it can frustrate the hell out
of you. But he did just shoot over forty percent from three on a
career high I think was five point nine attempts per thirty six minutes. That
volume or per minute, right, that could come up in Oklahoma City with
the types of looks that he'll probably be be getting. Also, I think
that you can coax more volume out of his driving game. He's pretty good
when he gets inside the arc. He'll he'll pick up his dribble before he
gets inside the arc and he'll dump it off. You can throw a nice
pass from the stands stuble when he gets moving, he will kind of maintain
his dribble. Now, all of a sudden, you're gonna have more unobstructed
paths to the basket just by virtue of the level of shooting and spacing with
which the thunder play. That's massive for his offensive value. And even if
it's he's the same exact player, uh, he's someone right now who's gonna
generate more defensive attention without the ball than a Josh Giddy. That's just a
fact. And so that is a win for your offense. Even if he
wanted a more dynamic, uh, an offensive player who can maybe put defenses
in rotation from that dead stop. That's not something he's necessarily gonna do.
But now you're getting someone who just fits on. He's an easier fit on
offense than Josh Gitty, even if you don't want him to run units on
his own. The fact that now though Cason Wallace is kind of like his
understudy, that should scare the shit out of twenty nine other teams. Uh,
Cason Wallace is already a really good defender, had him first team All
Rookie. No regrets for me there the offense, he's like he's Caruso esquing
the same that he's so hesitant, but you'd kind of trust him to take
the right shots where he's either gonna you know, pass like pass dribble,
make a quick decision. Your quibble would be could he be more aggressive and
looking for his own shoppy on the ark or firing up those threes. CRUs
was not going to teach him that, but just being the understudy to Caruso
on defense, And now what you've done defensively. This is a team that
was already I think they were third in points allowed per possession last year.
You have Chet Holmgren, you have Jay Dubb, Shay Gilgess, Alexander and
of course Lou dort All well above average defenders. Especially last year, Shay
was kind of a question markleting in the last season, maybe net neutral on
some nights, a liability on others. It felt like there are some people
that made an all defense case for him last year. I did not.
But the fact that you could sit there and make one and I would listen
to it, that's huge. And so you have those four high caliber defenders.
No, wait, Cason Wallace is still there, and you have the
switch ability of Candrick Williams if they kind of if he kind of has a
renaissance next season. But so you have those five I would argue, again
based off last season specific we're talking about well above average defenders, and you
have I would say three before Alex Cruzo comes in, three all defense caliber
defenders. Now you're ready Alex Caruso w into the fold. Who might be
the best defender of them all? I think chet hoolmgro will have a case
just because of what we know about rim production. But also Ludor of course
has a case, but aw of a sudden, it's just debatable, but
he's gonna come in. He makes everyone's job so much easier. Chet Holmgren
can take more risks on the back line or floating around the perimeter. Lou
Dort maybe just doesn't have to spend as much time on the absolute tough as
covers, or if he still does. Now if him and Alex Caruso are
playing together, or even if they're not, when you're gonna stagger their minutes,
Now, Alex Caruso takes the best guy, and that makes Jay Dubb's
job a lot easier, makes Shay Gillis Alexander's job a lot easier, makes
Casey Wallace's job a lot easier here, And so what you've essentially done is
you've increased the ceiling of your defense by diminishing the importance basically of any singular
player on your roster in the best possible way to where like there just might
be nice if you're gonna play Cruise on Dort together, like Doort's job could
get easier. He might be the only one that could be spared most of
the benefits because I think that they'll look to stagger his minutes in part because
it freeze Caruso. Just there's so few guys in the league that, if
they're healthy, you could say one through four best player doesn't matter what they're
what they're doing and just go get I mean like, yeah, you don't
want Cruise necessarily, he's not true holiday when you're gonna put him in the
post. But if you're talking about somebod who attacked from the outside end,
there's just he's suffocating basically all of those spots. And to get him now
for the cost that they did for what it was a distressed asset in Josh
Getty, someone who's coming off the bench, not playing in crunch time by
the end of the nothing just again on and off all season, just not
a crunch time staple. And I think what you could say is, Okay,
well the thunder still have needs here, so let's let's just get into
that. Well, if they're gonna keep Cruise on long term. By the
way, this is also someone you acquire where if he signs that extension.
Again we're all working with estimates. Let's say he ends up with four years
seventy eight, four years eighty. That's a contract that's going to age even
as he gets into his you know, early to goes through his early thirties
into his mid thirties. His next deal, I think he'll take him to
his age thirty one, thirty two, thirty three, thirty four seasons.
If it's a four year contract, Buck, Yeah, that's fine. His
game should age fairly well. It's not like his shoulders a heavy lift on
offense, especially for this team. But you're getting someone like that to where
there's a just because of what Getey can do as a passer and his youth.
So you're still beending on the upside. I will be shocked if he
ends up again. If he gets less than twenty million a year in his
extension one, I think something has gone terrible or his restart to free agency
contract, I would say something is gone terribly wrong for him in Chicago.
So you get someone who's cheaper and an easier fit at a time whin Okay,
we have to start planning around the rookie scale maxes for j Dubb and
Chet Holmgren, and then you also you're gonna have SHAKEE. Gillis Alexander on
his Supermax soon. So like that's a good piece of business where it's okay,
everyone wanted them to acquire an expensive player and they still can. I'm
about to get it to that, I promise. But this is someone who
fits more snugly into your long term salary structure, and now he opens up
more possibilities for you. Let's get into Let's get into that is Oklahoma City
takes on less than two million dollars in this trade. Excuse me, the
Bulls had shed money. I said that they took on money. I apologize
for that. But Oklahoma City takes on less than two million dollars in this
trade. They still have more that could have. They could have less depending
on what they want to do. But they're projected to have more than thirty
million dollars in cap space. Still, it's actually over thirty three million.
I think the two players that could redefine that is the team options on Aaron
Wiggins and Isaiah Joe is to do the thunder. Want to give those guys
an immediate bump. They could renegotiate and extend. They could decline conteen options
and resign them. I would consider that with Isaiah Joe based off your uses
for other cap space, but just cost you no first round picks. So
your best offers of just cap relief and picks, and you do have some
tangible players if team want. If teams are interested in Aaron Wiggins when you
have case and Mollison, Nows, Crusso and Shay Gills Alexander. Yeah,
that's a when you could send out as a sweetener that's not making So they
have the balance of they can offer cap relief, they can offer actual players.
Ushman Jang is still my guy, can believe in him. There will
be teams that have a lot of interest in Kenrick Williams or even Big Jawill.
That's like they still have those non core prospects that know they can't anchor
trades on their own. Maybe Cason Wallace could, but I don't know why
you want to move him or be won to move him and depend on the
return obviously, but they have those players. They have all these picks,
and they still have all this cap space. Maybe they use it in free
agency, but maybe they look to address stuff on a trade. And what
Cruso specifically does, and I've seen some people banding this about already is well,
couldn't he and theory make lou Dort expendable to where if you wanted to
include lou Dort in a trade for a higher end player, you have Alex
Crusso soak up those minutes. Maybe he ends up making about the same as
lou Dort moving forward, who continues to be on just one of the better
contracts in the NBA. He's still under team control through one is his contract
in so next year's at sixteen and a half million, and then he another
two guarantee years after that, so through six twenty seven, and we're talking
about someone who will never make eighteen million dollars a year over that time.
That's a really good deal. I wouldn't actively look to move off him.
I don't you know, he's younger. I think we also it feels like
lou Dort has been around for eighty years for some reason. Then you look
at it's, okay, well this barely he just turned twenty five. Basically,
I mean, wow, so to have him on that contract. But
if it's for the right player, if you're saying giving up lou Dort gets
you McHale Bridges, if it got you lowry market, and should the Jazz
be want to move him up, yeah yeah, now you it's more it's
easier to now say, well, yeah, we'd be willing to include loud
Dort. I don't think that's just the main point of this trade. I
honestly think it wouldn't shock me if this isn't the meat and potatoes of their
off season, if this was just a way for them to reorient the roster
because of a guy who they had draft equally invested in with sort of just
higher profile because of his draft stock. So they're recalibrating, But it was
also just a matter of pure opportunism where you just look at the level of
player that Josh Giddy is, how he fits with this roster and where the
thunder at their competitive window versus what Alex Caruso is, how he fits into
both their roster and their competitive window, and it becomes a no brainer.
I don't know if this is you don't go out there, and maybe again,
if they have plans to move lou Dort, this becomes a priority.
But I can't imagine based off what we want to see from them, that
more dynamic player who could put defenses in rotation on the ball. Maybe well
not maybe they could use some more just I guess, girth up front,
but you don't want to do it to the point where Chad Holmgren is playing
so many minutes as the second big so like that would have those were the
top two needs for them, and you could also look at, well,
do you want like a different type of a shooter where Okay, Isaiah Joe
is great and he works his ass off defensively, but could we maybe get
somebody who's who's going to be better, stronger defensively. Now that player is
just those are hard to find. Every team wants them, and the Thunder
already have a couple of them. To be honest with you, well,
they have JDub who can operate on ball and he's not like this super off
ball, highvlume three point shooter. But you get my point. The the
players who don't compromise your spacing or your three point volume or your defense,
those types, this just seems like a matter of just pure golden opportunity for
them, which is perfectly fine. But now you're scaling ahead of the rest
of their their off season, and the same doors that were open before they're
all still open now. And yeah, except for the fact that you're probably
less likely to you know, one of the names that I've seen kind of
manny about was to go after a Collin Sexton from Utah. I would have
been fine fit before, but I just higher volume offensively, but now with
Cason Wallace, Shay J. Dub and Alex Caruso, it just doesn't make
sense even that trade. If you would have kept it giddy, I wouldn't
have been a fan of it. There do you look at someone who gives
you maybe a little bit more ball handling or strength or rebounding than Alex Caruso
would, but still a perimeter player any obvious the name I've mentioned for to
be fair, pretty much every team there will be people that still like John
Collins here I or love John Collins here. I think I could see it,
and that'd be another well we didn't What did you give up to get
that? I'd like, if you're giving up a first round pick for John
Collins, I'd be absolute shocked. So you could address it that way and
view it as more of a stop gap. After next season he'll be expiring.
It's another trade anchor they could they could roll over. But again,
just the fact that this is Alex Caruso and how good he is, it
does make me think a little bit like, are they going to aim bigger?
Will they try to coax teams into trading players who aren't necessarily available,
and that matters more than even identifying these certain name, should they be a
Nick Claxon or does this make it more or less likely they go after Isaiah
Hartenstein? Honestly, I don't know. It doesn't have to impact any of
those pursuits because they still have all their cap space. I will still quibble
over how aggressive and how they should be in chasing another big, and how
much equity they should be prepared to give up to get one, whether we're
talking about draft picks and players or just actual cap space. I think I'd
ultimately be fine with Isaiah Hartenstein because his best role might be playing fewer minutes
than he did at points for the next last year. I don't know how
you necessarily sell him keep your role a little bit more finite, just because
you don't want to see like Chet as the primary big just works and it's
so intriguing that you don't want to even like, how much do you want
to really diminish those minutes by? If you you know it's fifteen minutes a
game, you want to just slice that and say, okay, the rest
of Chets, you know, ten to twenty minutes a get well, not
ten, but like twenty minutes a game fifteen to twenty minutes a game he'll
play with another big and then the other fifteen to twenty he won't. It's
probably like fine for assuming he plays let's say like thirty to thirty five minutes,
to split that in half or skew a little bit more towards the five
out okay, And I mean Isaiah Hertenstein is failing young. I don't hate
Nick Claxton here either, just because you know he's always going to have four
shooters around him at any given point. But they can do anything now.
And I think what this does more than not more than anything, but what
this really does is it kind of proves that Okac is acting like the contender
that it actually is. Like there's I think part of that might be the
framing level. Is this a little bit risky because of what's going on with
Cruso. He's not restricted free agent like Josh Giddy would have been. Again
I mentioned I don't think the thunder are going in blind, but they're good
enough to withstand the risk and the fact that that's technically on the table that
doesn'tmply they're going to act like a contender is as well, And I would
argue, I mean, I wouldn't know. This is just a fact.
Approaching the offseason in that way is earned. I would argue that it's probably
overdue, even when you're looking back to what they did at the deadline,
and it's kind of a departure from their usual mode of operation and that should
utterly terrify the rest of the time. It's a scary living hell out of
them because they're not I know, people like to mention the bigger name is
lotry Market and mckel bridges with them. Should they try to open up more
cap space and go after Ogiana and Obe if he's really unhappy with the Knicks's
offer. They don't need that level of player to win the championship next year.
There is a chance, I don't know that I would predict it when
I want to let the rest of the off season play out. There's a
chance that the thunder do nothing else other than use the number twelve pick and
they could win the title next year. That might have been possible even with
Josh Gitty, it is now more likely without Josh Gitty and the fact that
you're bringing Caruso in and so if you want to go check out more targets.
We went into a bunch I believe for the Thunder when we did their
look ahead. A lot of the stuff we said is is already Germane.
But this is a hell of a trade by the Thunder, and it was
a matter of a great opportunity. But I think what it proves about what
they're willing to do at this point, it just reinforces that they understand.
You know that Sam Presty's not going to be talking about they had borrow wins
from their future anymore. I understand that we all think they had reached that
point, there was still a question of how aggressive they were going to be.
This makes me more excited and intrigued for their offseason and their future,
quite frankly, than I was before, which was pretty fucking hard to do
because if you go back, I'm not right about a lot of things.
But like I've been pretty in on the Thunder before they were even this version
of the Thunder, and I even I defended what they did at the trade
deadline, like you have to show me the opportunity they passed on for me
to just be mad that, you know, people coming out that Maveriserre's talking
abot they really Daniel Gafford would have been the difference, Like, I yeah,
it might have made the MAVs better in that series, because that was
not the series for him. So if you're passing on that, it's different.
They were setting themselves up for higher end opportunities like this, and they're
never even when you think they might be biding their time a little bit too
long, Josh Getty being a perfect example. Clearly they're not. Whether it's
they played this perfectly or they're just taking advantage of a shit show of an
organization in Chicago. It works out for them. It's not my accident that
this happens so many times, So they are, they're not. Maybe they're
not the team to watch just because there's whatever the fuck is going on in
Philly and there are teams that could get more chaotic. There's just so much
different avenues for them to explore, and I think so much I doubt about
their cap space, maybe going after a guy like John Collins and capitalizing that
route where you're not giving up a ton of assets, and again, I
know they can give up a ton of assets here. I think maybe more
than anything, this is a harbinger of what they're willing to do on the
trademarket, like, because when it's cap space, even if it's a thunder,
you kind of understand, right, it's just cap space. We could
move off at like eight create more later. We're getting these players for nothing,
like in most cases, they're not going to be a sign in trade.
But now the fact that they made a move of this caliber, where
you again, it probably took some a little bit of an iron stomach to
get off Giddy. This team, it's set up really well. And the
fact that I'm saying this and they didn't even address what I would view is
one of their two biggest needs with this trade. I guess if you considered
one of their biggest needs, which I would agree with getting rid of Josh
Giddy for someone who's just a better fit. So you checked one of your
top three needs. But I would argue too that we're a little bit more
pressing, at least in my view. And yet I'm still sitting here and
all I can do is sing their praises. A couple of news items to
catch up on three, So we'll start with, let's go to the league
monk who is agreeing to re sign on that four year, seventy eight million
dollar early bird rights deal with the Kings can't become official to the July six
when the moratorium is lifted. But he's going back to Sacramento, that is,
I don't know. We didn't record the King's outlook yet. Actually,
so my point was going to be when we were talking about Malik Monk,
I didn't see the team. I know that he in theory, maybe could
have worked in Detroit, could have been planned d efg whatever for Philly.
Orlando was a team that was mentioned a ton. I still didn't really see
that team that was going to go out and give him twenty million dollars a
year over a four year span. It's like, that's what the Kings basically
comes out to. So close to that on the average, I would have
predicted he went back to the Kings. And also what this does for you
as a Kings fan, by the way, what it gets you back a
player who was incredibly valuable and having that injury. I think it was a
knee injury to end the season that really hurt their chances of getting into the
playoffs, but just their Kevin Hurder rezealing with stuff as well. But this
is just he his playmaking. There's a lot of stuff he does, but
his playmaking going downhill might still be one of the more understated gems in the
league. He finished I think he was eighteenth in total drives this year,
but second in assists on drives, behind only Shay Gilgess Alexander. So he's
someone who can also play off the balls and get a compromise or spacing.
He can run your point, you can run your offense, just not to
the degree again that if I were I know Philly didn't need this, but
not to the degree that Orlando. Let's say, if you're looking for a
league guard, I don't view him as that. He's a starring caliber guard
and he can definitely do a lot of work on the ball. If you're
looking for him to run your offense and you know, second unit situations,
I still think you kind of he needs more of a buffer, whether it's
having that big who might be running handoff stuffs or can facilitate from the post,
or if he's gonna play alongside just another lead playmaker. I think this
is a great deal for the Kings. The other thing it does for them
too, and the pathway to getting him was always a little bit fraud.
They were suddenly mentioned in the zach Lavine trade sweepstakes again. And while I
get, especially if you're losing a League Monk, the idea of wanting another
dynamic creator and a more dynamic shooter than Malik Monk is just the money to
get there, just to match his salary. So it's you know, okay,
you're not gonna have to give up assets, So I guess from just
a pure talent play, I get it. But just immediately it's Harrison Barnes
gone, Kevin Herder gone, Like that's just how you're getting to like to
the start of zach Lvine's number, By the way, that would have been
thirty four million dollars. He's on a forty three million dollar salary, So
would you've what else, like Trey Lyles's money is sitting there if you wanted
to go almost dollar for dollar, you know such of a zankof is not
happy there, so that could have been money they threw in. But so
you have been rolling that into Levine and then creating you know, you're losing.
Barnes is not the initial Barnes who came to the Kings, but like
he's logging minutes at forward spots. Kevin Herder is someone that you can play
and has played up to the three, and hopefully he's shooting more rebound following
the shoulder injury. U you got to me, You just get like you
still consolidated and veered way too much towards the guard spots. And now I
would assume, maybe I'm wrong that they will not be mentioned in the Zach
Levie's We've six anymore, so you can focus on going after Maybe it's a
different front line partner for for domas a bonus or just continuing to target.
I would just call them two way wings, and you have you have two
of them in Keigan Murray. That's absolutely what he is now. I just
the strides. He may forget about what he did on the strides he made
defensively, just not something I ever would have I'm not even talking that I
was looking at him coming out of the draft. It's like, even after
watching him as a rookie and having those moments, I wouldn't have projected him
to be able to handle the level of assignments that he did. It was
out of necessity, I think more than maybe the Kings believed in him,
but I do think it was kind of more born from necessity that they were
trying him out in those situations. It worked out, and so to have
him to also have the emergence of Keon Ellis, that's a really good starting
point and they would have been a fun Alis Cruise home team. Even with
Elik Monk coming back. They can now shift their focus though to filling those
spots, and you know, you get to a point where we're you know,
you're putting a leak Monk for he's at seventeen point four million this coming
season. What that does. They're basically over the cap with that money when
you're entering the excuse me, they're basically over the tax line. If you're
penciling Malik Monkin. There's things they could do to duck it a little bit,
but like you need to fill out your roster, you would have to
dump I guess if you wanted to dump for Zenkov, or if you want
to dump Chris Duarte, if you want to dump Davion Mitchell, So you
could dump these sort of they're not middle tier. They're like not bottom of
the barrel, but they're in between. They're not minimums, but they're worth
a little bit more. She could give yourself wiggle room under the tax I'm
sure there are teams. I mean, I don't know, honestly, I
don't know about Christwarte. Would someone just take him into cap space? I
guess you're including seconds there. I think a team would definitely take a shot
on Davion Mitchell's defense. The Kings might not want to punt on that just
yet either. And then I don't know about Pazenkov. That might be something
just because teams haven't seen enough of him. You could also go the nuclear
out. Well, could we trade Kevin Herder for an even cheaper player there?
And news open I'm saying if they want to duck the tax, I
think this team can envision itself being good enough to where they continue to be
aggressive, But as of right now, like that would impact. They don't
have enough wiggle room beneath the first aprons. Let's even forget about the tax.
If you want to use the full mid level option twelve point nine million,
you're gonna have to jett us in some salaries. If you're okay with
the mini mid level, which is worth a little over five million. I
don't know what type of a difference maker you're gonna get. This is all
to say any move they make is kind of gonna be that. I think
meaningful move from here on is kind of going to be happening via trade.
And I don't know if they have the acid firepower to get in on the
theoretical mckail bridges sweepstakes as far as those exist. Could they get in on
We don't know if any obvio is available, but is that someone else that
they could go after? This is something I think on my outline, I
should brought it up to where we're going to do the King's offseason. Lookheads,
there'll be more targets in that when we get to it. But to
open more doors, if you on free agency, you would have to dump
more salarly. But I think right now this was probably the singular most important
part of their off season because you have a higher ceiling even in a tougher
Western conference next year, just by making no changes and ensuring that Malif Monk
is there and he's healthy and so to keep him on the early bird rights
deal again, I don't know who else would have actively matched this deal.
I don't personally for the Kings I'm an advocate of it because of who they
already have in place. For a team like Orlando, if it was four
and seventy eight, I would like it less for them, but I wouldn't
hate it. I wouldn't love it for Philly quite frankly, with Tyres,
Max and Joel and Beid there, but I wouldn't hate it either. This
is the type of deal that, no matter what team gave it, you
wouldn't hate. But I like it more for the Kings because of I guess
that entrenched importance to what they're doing, and so I'm fascinated by their offseason
as well to see how aggressive they will be on the trade market. They
do have this year's first round pick, which I don't know if that helps
or complicate their offerings, because do you prefer getting number three as just a
team in a vacuum? Do you want number thirteen in this draft? Or
would you have preferred being able to get a twenty twenty five first which is
technically headed to Atlanta with top twelve protection I believe, and then it shifts
to the top ten. So I probably would prefer to have opened up that
pick from Sacramento. But you still can trade multiple first swaps, you have
the salary matching to go out and do some pretty spicy things if they emerge.
I don't know. Again, I can't I don't know who that I
mean. I can cite players that I would love to have on this team.
Denni Abi would be absolutely fantastic for the Kings. He's fantastic for a
lot of teams. But even just like adding a contracting obligated mens, like
adding a Naji Marshall, if you're able to open up a non tax payermid
level and give him that money, that's an addition that goes a long way
for this team. I really think, you know, I understood one.
Progress isn't linear, so we shouldn't look at the way last season ended as
sort of this massive red flag. But the emergence is defensively specifically of Kig
and Murray and Keyon allis. They really just opened up a bunch of different
doors for this team too. I guess where if you wanted to kind of
replace the Herder Barnes minutes with not Zach Lavine, but someone who's going to
break down, who can shoot, and maybe he's more willing to try stuff
off the ball, but can shoot and then dribble like breakdown defenses off the
dribble. Who's just bigger than Malik Monk if you wanted to go that route,
I like I maybe Ellis and k Murray have opened up the doors.
Ideally, you'd still want to bring in another top line defender for me,
but you have to the market's going to dictate who's actively available to you there.
So I really think that is kind of something that's been underplayed. It's
like we all want the Kings to be aggressive just because they're they're good,
and the way last season ended, it does leave this weird taste in your
mouth. But I do think that they have more pathways to getting substantially better
without going a nuclear route because of two things. Now you have them leave
Mounk back, so you just know that's happening, and again the defensive emergens
of Keon Allison Keegan Murray specifically for them. There have two other news notes
to get to. The Lakers have hired JJ Reddick. I don't really know
what to add to the discussion at this point that we haven't already said.
It's a very interesting move, a four year deal. I have not seen
any reporting on what the actual numbers are. They went up to six years
and was it seventy million for Dan Hurley? I would imagine he's not getting
the same average annual rate. You could say that this shout out to Anthony
Irwin, who's been on top of this all along, even when people were
trolling him because of what happened with Dan Hurley. And I look, I'm
gonna be honest, I don you even fully understand what happened with Dan Hurley
to offer that. First of all, I'm not saying you should have given
him more. Someone doesn't proved himself in the NBA. But if you're in
a target at college coach like that, be Dan well sure that this like
this, it's like someone proposing marriage and not being sure whether the answer is
yes. Like you don't do what the Lakers did without knowing what the answer
is going to be, especially letting him unfold that publicly, and even if
it was Dan Hurley kind of driving the exposure there for leverage with Yukon or
just his future. The Lakers' front office has been in the business, especially
Rob Blaker is a former agent long enough to know that that's how this works.
That was a megamss on their part. I'm fascinated to see what JJ
Reddick does. And look, it comes down to the jokes too. Just
he hosted a podcast with Lebron James and now he's Lebron James's head coach.
They've just hired another head coach who doesn't have previous NBA head coaching experience.
JJ Reddick, sure he's worked with players, does not have any coaching experience
at the at the NBA level, But based off what he has said on
his podcast, what we've heard him on broadcast, I'm intrigued to see what
his basketball philosophy is. I find myself more like there's we just have to
wait and see. I don't want anyone to tell me why this is going
to be a good move. You need to show me the track record of
JJ Reddick coaching and tell me why it's going to be a good move to
guarantee it could be a great move, could be a terrible move. All
more fascinated. But just like the spin on this, they're the degree to
which Max Christie was mentioned when the Lakers were looking for a new head coach
is just so ridiculously uncomfortable, to the point where I'm not sure what they
were trying to accomplish, because yeah, he's twenty one and they're probably going
to resign him. He's a free agent. But like you're the reporting that
kept coming in Woja's pieces was they wanted a coach not only that could work
with him the names of Lebron, but they needed to prioritize the development of
twenty six year old Austin Reeves, twenty six year old ruy Hachimra and fucking
mat Max Christie. That's just like one of the most egregious spins, especially
on a recurring basis in NBA history, that it's just funny. We're like
Austin, they're not necessarily done getting better, but like they're twenty six,
they're on their second deals already, Like these are got they're veterans. Like
if you want, if you want to factor them into why you want a
certain coach, But are you looking at ruy Ha Chi Moore or Austin Rings
or mac Chris Max Christie and saying like yeah, like that that's our version
of like this this person's gonna come out of nowhere and maybe almost make an
All Star, Like you're not looking at those and thinking they're even I don't
even want to say, like, let's look at Larry market and do you
look at these guys and say they have that type of like Ruy Hachimore has
the Larry marketing leap in it where he's gonna go from solid rotation player who's
you know, kind of Wax and Waynes depending on the season and the matchup.
And now he's just in the All NBA conversation. I guess Tredi Reddick
comes in and does that. I hope we've wins coach the year. I
found that spin fascinating. I found Clutch Sports Group, specifically Rich Paul trying
to put distance between Lebron and the decision fucking hysterical. And what was the
quote he had said where it was basically like, if we were trying to
exert leverage over the Lakers, we would tell them to draft Bronni James at
seventeen. And my first thought was, just like the fact that that's even
on your mind. You can't tell me that you have not tried to like
leverage the Lakers into doing something specific. I'm not saying Lebron drove this decision.
And do you know what I don't care if he did. He's Lebron
James. Like That's what makes also the spin super hysterical is that you have
Lebron James going to his age forty season and we're harping on the fact that,
like man, Max Christy, you really figure out this, dude,
is we need someone who can get in here just you have aged forty Lebron
James. I'm not saying that the future shouldn't be part of the equation,
that Anthony David shouldn't have a say, you don't need to frame it.
Lebron is to me, he's the best greatest player in NBA history. He
was no worse than the second greatest player in NBA history still playing, mind
you, at an all NBA level. It's okay to say, like Lebron
helped with this decision. I know the optics are pretty poor because people went
Afterrom Lebron for the Westbrook trade, as they should have, but that's still
in the front office to make the call. Like it ultimately should just come
down to, like Lebron supported it, maybe he even advocated for it,
but this was ultimately the Lakers decision because of X they have Anthony Davis.
They have Max Christi their franchise cornerstone in the post Lebron era, apparently to
say that they were trying to think long term because Lebron is technically a free
agent. He's also had during his age four, Like, this doesn't have
to be that hard and I don't care who, Like the water is being
carried on behalf? Is it clutch? I know, wos repair the relationship
with them? Just trying to reinforce put distance between Lebron and the decision?
Is it not vu decision from twenty eleven, folks, the decision from twenty
ten, whatever it was, the decision of the head coaching hire. Like,
if it's the organization trying to do that on his behalf, that's like,
it's just funny that framing to me. But the rich Paul saying that
if we really wanted to like exert a leverage, it wouldn't be trying to
get Bronni James at in the fifties, the beginning of at number seventeen.
Fact that you saw about that, the fact that you thought about that,
I'll say it again, the fact that you thought about that makes like you're
kind of proving everyone's point for them. So I'm not saying that you think
they've issued the Lakers or that there was a mandate for them to hire JJ
Reddick. But man, you talk about doing the opposite of what you set
out to do in that situation. I think the ridiculousness whoever is trying to
do it this way of Ruy, Roger Moore, and Max Christie, I
just it's not Again, if anything gets them as players, I'm super intrigued
if Max Christy could get rotation minutes with someone in Redtick who I can assume.
But again, I'm not going to him say I don't know what his
coaching philosophy is gonna translate to on the court. I do envision the Lakers
just having more offensive creativity and movement away from the ball. Max Christy intrigues
me there. He's not the reason that I'm hiring any head coach, and
that's you're not shock or surprise anybody. So this will be in treating.
See how it plays out. They now have a coach, then go about
the rest of their offseason. The next biggest thing to tackle is, you
know, before you get into are they going to trade for Trey Young,
it's what's Lebron doing so he's opting out and getting a deal that has no
trade clause. He's just opting in. But could he actually leave. I
think he'll just be back. That's not really It's more fascinating than me to
see what D'Angelo Russell does with his player option. I expect him to op
out, that's been the reporting, and then he'll look for either a bigger
number or maybe a deal that could be slightly less maybe at the clients,
but it's going out over more years and guarante him more money. That impacts
what they could do via trades though, because then you're not moving him in
the salary filler in a big trade would become one of them would be ruehatch
More or Austin Reeves, two players who really dictated how the Lakers went about
their head coaching search apparently. So I'm I'm more open to this idea than
I think some people because I've kind of come around the skipping the line stuff.
To me is it's a tough conversation to have, and I'll absolutely listen
to it. But I am a big advocate of and I know this is
different. I'm just a big advocate of we tell people there's no set path
to getting somewhere, so I don't necessarily need to believe that these head coaches
need to follow aways that path to get there. Now, did JJ Reddick's
status or relationship with Lebron James bring him to a front of a line that
should have included others, maybe a more expansive search, and there are still
worthy people looking for their first opportunity, and parind of the Lakers will want
to give a first opportunity because two of the three head coaches that they predominantly
targeted in Dan Hurley and JJ Redick, you have not pun NBA coaches before.
Again, it's a discussion, and I think they're probably just it comes
down to there are only thirty jobs in this league, and I think that
there are probably more than thirty deserving head coaches out there. People have paid
their dues for X amount of time. We definitely need to see a female
head coach at a certain point, and I think we will, But it's
just it should get to you know, it'll happen. And I like they
didn't interview as far as I know, Like we didn't see the usual kind
of names and suspects linked to that, and it is a nuanced discussion.
I won't say that I'm the perfect person to have it, especially fucking alone
right here. If there's no one who could push back against me, I'm
willing to have it. I didn't view this as just some sort of I
didn't view it as a moral in any way I should say, And that's
I'm open minded to how he will fare as a head coach, and I
would have given the same benefit of the doubt to any first time head coach,
at least from my perspective. There's other people who won't. Again,
that's definitely further discussion we have to have. The other piece of news here
would be that the Detroit Pistons. Have we mentioned that they've dismissed Manti Williams
all jokes by the way, with the Manti Williams title, I actually I
didn't realize his second wife had cancer. Now he's had a tough go of
it off the court. I hope everything's well with his family. Doesn't seem
like his heart was in it at the beginning. I actually kind of think
at this point they kind of should have just let him coach out next season.
There's value in saying if this isn't the head coach that Trajan Langdon wants
like he was already there. But what like you're like, now you're shoehorning.
I don't think the next coach will a problem, but you're shoeharning preed
Vincent onto their staff. I can't I can't imagine that's an issue, but
I could see it both ways. I probably just kept him to see and
then you can make that like you're not squat what are you doing? Year?
Whose development? Did he ruin? You give Killian Hayes a chance?
Do you think that Jade and Ivy broke under him and you're so invested in
him? Okay, it's I don't think it was the wrong decision. I'm
framing his ownership's decision. It's it's you could be skeptical because if Tom Gors
drove that bus the first time and it didn't pan out and he's driving it
again. But the head coaching, the timing of it was just terrible.
You had candidates coming off the board and now they are linked to that's the
news. They'll be interviewing Dallas assistant Sewan Sweeney. If he doesn't get the
If he doesn't get the gig. I'm assuming it'll come with a nice little
race because he's very close with Lugan and just loves him, and that are
we gaming. This is Detroit thinking eight steps ahead around Lugians next contract,
We're gonna hire Sean Sweeney. I'll absolutely have that take if they end up
settling on him. I believe they also were going to interview Jamie Bickerstaff and
they receive permission to get Mike and Nory from Minnesota. Who I think is
he might have always been. He's known like he's a sicko throughout basketball circles,
but I think that the job he did in Chris Finch's stead and just
him elevating, like becoming more front facing during that time, it probably helped
him in these sorts of discussions. I think we'll see more names. This
is a situation where you look at the point they're at in their competitive window
and development they're rebuild that we'll see a bunch of more names linked to them.
I don't know if they've been linked to James Barrego. I guess I
haven't been monitoring that closely, but he's been most closely tied to the to
the Cleveland Cavaliers, So that is something to monitor. That'd be an interesting
question as to which job you would prefer, because there might be a level
of job security in Detroit that you don't have in Cleveland because of the expectations
and the looming threat of well donin Mitchell signed the extension, and even if
he does, is this just sort of what if we fail next year?
And if he signs the extension, is Darius Garland going to request down And
at what point do we have to look at moving Jared Allen once we're paying
everyone le max money. In Detroit, Clevelan's roster is better. It's gonna
be way better next season. But like in Detroit, you have some jobs
through It's like, all right, this thing is three to five years from
turning around. If you take the Detroit job, my guess would be that
you have at least three years of job security. You cannot say you're certain.
I cannot say that about taking the Lakers gig as Jiji Redick, and
you cannot say that with the Cleveland gig. So I'll be fascinating to see
who. I'm fascinated by everything, but I want to see who Detroit ends
up choosing. This is the silly season. There might be more solo podcast
because I don't want to waste, especially when I'm not gonna waste. I
thought about bringing on a guest, which is why this isn't releasing earlier,
but then it was just kind of like, I don't want to waste emergency
pods that aren't even good. They're not going to age that well because other
shit's gonna happen that you guys care about. I don't want to waste guest
appearances on something that's I view. I sometimes forget that I'm in this silo
and join our discord. You could be in that silo too, of basketball
sichoism, because it's my full time job, but also because of being exposed
to our discord members, all the fantastic people that listen to this podcast and
comment on YouTube that like like Alex Caruso want it fucked up my night because
like I'm working on something else, I have to pivot to this and you
have to do all this other stuff that's being an adult. Apparently, as
I cover a game about guys making millions of dollars to put a ball through
a tiny hoop, and I love it can be stressful points. But this
is like the trade where it's for the people who really follow this content,
they're gonna love it. But there are probably people they're just like, oh,
like that, like bald dude in his thirties who is like kind of
not really a pointquarre. He got traded to Oklahoma City for someone who wasn't
really playing for them when it when it mattered most, So you're looking at
that. I looked at that level of trade and it was just like,
where is this fall If you're rating them on just the it doesn't warrant an
emergency podcast. If you don't cover the team, you cover the entire NBA.
And look, it was big enough to fuck up my evening. But
I also it's funny to think about it in terms of there are probably people
who just don't view it in the like avid basketball fans who were kind of
just like, all right, like let's move on, what's happening with Trey
Young and what's happening with Donovan Mitchell. But that'll do. It went suck
to almost under an hour, So this is a short podcast. I guess
I should apologize since we normally go for at least eighty minutes but please remember,
if you've made it this far, you've not a ray subscribed to us.
I know this is the time of year where we get more of audience
because people do tend to appreciate the stuff that we do around these transactions and
when content's probably sparse, but because we do such a great job covering the
entire league, consider sticking around or recommending us to your friends, sharing the
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of mouth recommendations are huge at this point, though, as our go to
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doing like a crowd poll to the beginning of every episode so that you could
respond to it and discord the link to that to the podcast and YouTube description.
But also on YouTube, flood the comments of our shorts too, which
are just like only negative comments. I mean, I see rome in there
has always thrown out some fun ones and positive ones every once in a while,
but go flutter our comments with positivity. Doesn't have to be about us.
Tell us about a win that you had in life. Help the algorithm
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but I'm running low on them. I'll send you. I just want to
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Thanks for all the support. As always, shout out to the One,
the Only, the King, the person whose Instagram hype videos you can
believe even in an emptkid unlike Ben Simmons, the one. It don't frank you