What is up, fellow Thermo nuclear a efforts. I am Damn Valley coming
at you with a totally unplanned podcast to cover McHale Bridges being traded to the
New York Knicks or should we call them the New York Wildcats or the Villanova
Knicks, whatever we want to call them. That reunion is happening. They
got a haul. Let's just get into it. Please very quickly, remember
to hit that subscribe button on YouTube wherever you get your podcast, Apple,
Spotify, the whole nine. I got my puppy with me tonight to I'm
on puppy duty late at night, so he is up. He is being
a little bit of a menace. So I apologize in advance if that interrupts
podcasts at all. But let's get into the hall. We have some rockets
and nets talk clearly to get into here. But the Knicks are sending to
Brooklyn for McHale Bridges, boy Bydanovich. The Knicks is twenty twenty five unprotected
first round pick. Milwaukee's twenty twenty five first round pick, which will convey
if it's between selections five through thirty, so it will probably convey. The
Knicks is twenty twenty seven unprotected first round pick, the right to swap with
the Knicks in twenty twenty eight that is also unprotected. The Knicks is unprotected
twenty twenty nine first round pick, and New York's twenty thirty one unprotected first
round pick. The Knicks, as far as I know, we're the first
team to trade a two thousand and thirty one first round pick. This is
a lot. They're getting McKale bridges back in return. We'll get into the
other Nets transactions. What's this means for them? They also traded with Houston.
They basically sent Phoenix's twenty twenty seven first to Houston in exchange for Brooklyn's
own twenty twenty six first round pick back and then the right to veto the
not the right to veto the swap. But that twenty twenty five swap that
Brooklyn knows to Houston is now gone, so they regained control of their next
two first round picks base from that trade. But this Knicks Hall right now,
it amounts to just a boltload. We're talking four unprotected first round picks
plus Milwaukee's pick plus that swap, so five first round picks, a swap
and voted by Danovich. That's in material. This is why they acquired him
to get McHale Bridges. Mckal bridges is fit here is in. I mean,
we need to get to the implications of this, but the fit of
McHale Bridges initially, there's so much that tie together. It will work.
You're now making him. Julius Randall's still here your third offensive option. Probably
sometimes you're fourth, depending on how you feel about Josh Hart or maybe Dante
DiVincenzo. But what is up, fellow thermonuclear a effors. I am dan
for Valley, coming at you with an emergency podcast. Michael Bridges is a
member of the New York Knicks. We did not display talking about this right
now, very quickly, since we're throwing out so much content right now.
Just remember subscribe if you're new on you Tube, Apple, Spotify, or
ever you get your podcasts. If you're if you're already a member of the
Proud Sicico family, steal people's phones and just subscribe them on YouTube and across
all podcast platforms. Very much appreciate all the continued support. Let's get into
Michel Bridge to the Knicks. Then we'll talk about the nets. There's a
Rockets element to this too, but let's get into the details of mckal bridges
going to the New York Knicks. First. This is a Brooklyn is getting
a haul, so the Knicks are sending Brooklyn in addition to boy On Bydonovich's
salary, the Knicks's unprotected picks in twenty twenty five, twenty twenty seven,
twenty twenty nine, and two thousand and thirty one. The Nets are also
getting Milwaukee's twenty twenty five first round pick that will convey if it's in between
selections number five through thirty, so will most likely convey if it doesn't,
something's gone wrong in Milwaukee. And the Knicks also sent their twenty twenty eight
first round swap that is unprotected, and then per WOJA twenty twenty six second
rounder, they already have that outgoing. It's like a weird swap situation.
So this amounts to four unprotected first round picks, five first round picks in
total, plus a swap, and then a second rounder and then, of
course, however you feel about putting Mardonovich going out, we can now call
them the New York Wildcats, the Villanova Nicks, whatever you want to go
there just reunite Jalen Brunston, Dante DiVincenzo, Josh Hart with Kel Bridges.
There's gonna be some pretty awesome podcasts happening, imagine. I think they're already
facetiming. So there's an incredibly interesting deal and it telegraphs a bunch of things,
and I think, look very quickly. When MIKEL Bridges is fit,
he fits everywhere, So we don't need to get into whether this will work
with him. You come in and he's now your third option behind Jalen Brunson
and Randall who's staying as part of this deal, unless there are other steps
to take. We will get into that in a second. That's probably his
perfect role. I still think he could definitely be a number two. But
the way he works off the ball, and we're also doing less on the
ball offensively, will allow him to probably ratchet up his defense, which has
slipped a tad since he's been traded to Brooklyn. That's gonna be a big
time for the Knicks, especially if they're able to keep O Gananobi, which
will as they are committed to keeping Annobe. It's just the thing with Ananobe
now, and this is the implications that you almost want to get into.
First, is the Knicks like they made the move and decided that this is
the move, that mchal Bridges is the guy that they're not going to wait
on another guy, a better player to become available. Mckail bridges is something
like probably what the in any given season, and this might be the high
end, the twenty fifth to the fortieth best player in the NBA we would
have to go through. There's a lot to give up for someone though,
who is not in any given season probably going to contend for an All Star
team. Now, his salary definitely had something to do with it. He
will be he can sign an extension right now. He won't, but he
can get to a point where he's signing a three year extension in six months
for one hundred and thirteen million dollars. If he signs this, that looks
a lot better. What I will also say is, now, does this
make it more likely that Jalen Brunton extends at his four year, one P
fifty six point five number rather than wait to get the free agency next year
when if you got the max, we're talking five years to seventy or whatever.
So there, if that element is part of it that may have factored
into Nix's cost. Kind of similar to this is different, but if jale
Brunson said, I will sign this below market extension if you go out and
get McHale Bridges, it's kind of similar to Kawhi time. The Clippers will
sign with them if they go out and trade for Paul George. It's different,
but like it could be that could be part of this thinking from New
York is that, Okay, we have mckail bridges on below market deal.
Jalen Brunton is going to stay on a below market deal. We're fine with
Dante de Vincenzo looks like a steal. We have Mitchell Robinson on a great
contract. We don't have any bad deals, and we were going to continue
to have no bad deals in the book. So you're at least flexible in
terms of your actual players. But now you've exhausted your pick stores. You
still have the Detroit and Washington picks, which are protected until Kingdom come.
Who knows if they will ever convey. Detroit's kind of like hitting reset again,
and Washington's already in the infancy infancy of its rebuild from last year.
But in theory, you have those two picks to dangle, in addition to
players who have value. But what this does is it puts the Knicks in
a situation where they're probably going to lose at least one of og Annobey or
Isaiah Hartenstein, because the Knicks not just aggregated salaries but also took back more
money than they sent out, which I think was an interesting choice. They
could have structured this deal to where they were shaving money off of it so
that they weren't hard capped beneath the first apron, but now they are.
They are hard capped beneath the first apron, and so that is going to
be the number what they're working with. And so let's get into their actual
books, because I do think the one of the biggest implications here is,
Okay, well what does this mean for og What does this mean for Isaiah
Hartenstein. This is just a quick cheat sheet I threw together. This is
I'm currently I don't know when this will get up, but I'm currently this
is inside an hour after the trades, so I figured I just put this
for illustrative purposes if you're watching on YouTube. And so the first apron is
set at about one hundred and seventy eight point seven million. It's slightly under
that if you look at what the Knicks have right now, and I've only
included there could be a minimum roster charge here, but I'm including the max
for Ognnobi and Isaiah Hartenstein on their books, so they're guaranteed money that you
just know is going to be on their books as of now. Julius Randall,
Brunson, Bridges, Hart Robinson, Dante DiVincenzo, Deuce McBride, and
then the holds for pick number twenty four, number twenty five. I would
also pencil Jericho Simms in there, so he has a team option, but
for two point one million dollars you're just not going to get better value out
of even if he's considered your third center at that point, so you have
him on the books. Now, to those ten players, the Knicks have
one hundred and thirty three point five million dollars committed. The salary cap is
at one forty one. Like I said, so if you renounced o Jannanoby
and Isaiah Hartenstein like you could in theory, here have a little bit of
like just a little bit of money, but you're not going to do that.
And so if you look at what the maxes are going to command for
Isaiah Hartenstein, oh Giannoby, now all of a sudden, this is not
what they would actually be spending because again it's illegal. Oh Jannoby can get
forty two point three million, and Isaiah Hartenstein from the Knicks can get about
sixteen point two million if you pen them in for their max salaries again just
as placeholders to work with, you would be thirteen point three million dollars above
the first apron. And so if you want to get to a point where
you are retaining both og and Isaiah Hartnstein and they are both commanding the max
that you could give them, you effectively have to shave like more than so
you're gonna replace these with minimum roster charges, and you're still gonna leave yourself
barely any flexibility beneath the first apron. Like you're probably looking at, it's
not just a matter of Okay, we need to shave fourteen million dollars.
You probably need to take off more of that number. And so from where
I'm coming from is that this could be a situation where you need to dump
Mitchell Robinson plus one of those first and then that in theory would give you
the ability to max out. But unless I'm missing something again, I did
put this together and incredibly quickly. I don't think it was super slap dash,
but brow my notes and what we did on their off season, this
seems about right. Like you could do that. I mean, and maybe
you get first round picks back for that, and that reset some your cash
stores and you decide, Okay, Jericho Simms is ready for more minutes,
or we'll take another cheaper backup big off the market. But as of right
now, I mean, if you were even trying to finagle it like you
could. I know some fans have hoped that Ogn and Obi would take below
market value. Let's throw Ogn and ob in there for thirty five million,
which is just the absolute bare minimum I could imagine him getting. You are
still at that point, you would project to me six million dollars, but
the excuse me ahead of the first apron, so that's a lot of money
that's easier to shed. It could be a matter of all, right,
Deuce McBride, in one of the first round picks, you're shedding, and
but then okay, now we need to fill up so kind of need to
back up point guard here, which you might argue that they need anyway,
even with the addition of bridges. I think they just have enough secondary playmaking.
It's fine. So and you could say, well, what if Isaiah
Hartenstein takes less. I mean, he's not going to take six million less.
We're not going to get og at thirty million and Isaiah hart and Stein
at like twelve or whatever it is, and that's how you get there,
or so this effectively means and I look, my prediction would be that ogn
it'll we probably get at least forty million to start. It wouldn't shock me
if he gets a max and I would put thirty five million, I'd be
absolutely flabbergasted if he ends up making less than that or that like that is
the I wouldn't even say that as the over under because I'm pretty confident and
I would think that you're definitely gonna go over. And so you made this
trade effectively knowing that you're either gonna lose at least one of Ogiananobi or as
a Hertenstein, or that you're gonna go into this and say, unless are
you gonna look to break up Julius Randall into smaller contracts. I don't.
I don't know what Julius Randall's standalone value would be around the league as basically
an expiring contracts. Since he is a player option, you could attack picks
to him. I get it, you could do something there. But now
that you're if you want to attach the Washington or Detroit picks, I don't
know who the best player you're bringing in that's also gonna help you. By
the way, like now, shave money like you're just you could take,
you could take, but you still need to stay beneath the first apron.
You could technically take back more money since you're hardcap to that, and you
do maintain your ability to aggregate here, which is good. But this was
a decision. It's it's not just you know, it's not just about adding
mckel bridges into the program. It's about getting to a point where you've now
locked yourself into a roster that will probably be down at least one more significant
player, whether that's again Mitchell Robinson. I don't. I really can't picture
them like Dante DiVincenzo, I would assume is imagine breaking up like trading a
Villanova wild cat after just acquiring mckeal bridges. So like the best absolute pathway
to do it would be you probably hope that Og takes a little less like
than his max. Like let's put him in for thirty seven million, and
then we're gonna not three point seven million. That would be a steal for
the next and then we have to keep eye Isaiah Hornstein is his max.
So you looking at sixteen point two for him, thirty seven for Og.
At that point, that's basically a total of a little over fifty million dollars
for the two of the fifty three million dollars for the two of them.
You're at that point you need to cut like ten million because we need to
factor in roster charges here. That's that's still it's Robinson, Like that would
be the name, Like you're not gonna step ladder your way with Deuce McBride,
pick number twenty four, pick number twenty five. It's like that would
be the name that I would keep an eye on if you think the Knicks
are gonna try and keep Og and Isaiah Harder signed, because they absolutely could
trade Mitchell Robinson just into someone's cap space or the trade exception if it's out
there. You might even get a first round pick back for it, Like
would honestly, would if okay, see I know that they want to play
five out, would they just throw you a whatever first round pick for Mitchell
Robinson and then they it's you know, they're still gonna play five out,
but sometimes they'll play next to Chet or maybe it's the backup big. You
just get him there. You really hit the offensive glass and he's playing twenty
twenty five minutes a night for you, I mean, his price point,
Why wouldn't you do it? So you could do that if you view Isaiah
Hartner sign as just a lot more valuable. But yeah, those are the
Knicks's finances, so they're like that. That is just the reality that they
are not going to keep someone's taking a massive pay cut if it's happen.
Honestly, they're not gonna keep Isaiah Harner sign and og Ananobi without further collateral
damage. And I think if you're looking at it in terms of importance,
you would be way more flexible if it's hard and sign instead of og But
after giving up quickly in Barratt and then the course, the what became the
was the number thirty one pick in this year's draft, like you, you
can't just let Og walk. Now, what's an interesting negotiation element here is
does Og want this bigger role on offense? Which is something we heard about
him in Toronto, and from what I understand, like that stuff was valid,
it wasn't valid. I don't think to the point that he was like
a malcontent and demanding a trade like how everyone kind of framed it a lot
of time in the reporting. But we know he wants sort of this bigger
offensive role and we never we saw some of it when he was healthy with
New York, which wasn't for long in both the regular season and postseason.
But this adds you're really adding two wrinkles into the equation here because he didn't
spend a ton of like you had the Julius Randall injury, and so the
pecking order was all kind of fucked up. You just had Jalen Brunson was
basically the only established pecking order guy. Now you're bringing it. Now,
you're getting back to guys. Julius Rand's gonna be healthy. And then you
have Mchal Bridges now coming in, who should in theory be ahead of you
in the offensive pecking order. Now McHale Bridges is so good off the ball,
and that the Knicks just have It's like all this secondary these ball movers,
whether they're on the ball off the ball, like the offense shouldn't necessarily
stick or the ball shouldn't necessarily stick. There might not be a ton of
body motion at points at times in the Knicks offense. So you could sell
o janeon obia, like there really is kind of no third option here,
and you'll be in lineups where it's just you and Michal Bridges or maybe just
you and Julius and so you're gonna be the day facto number two in those
spots anyway. Or you could just straight out max amount and say, hey,
here's your five year max and that's how we're gonna get you to stays.
We're just we're just gonna overload you with money. Again, if it's
sort of turned into like if it's sort of turned into an issue with negotiats,
and we don't know that it did. There was reports that he was
unhappy with his first offer from the Knicks. Maybe they tried to low ball
him, which just seems I'm curious with the low ball honestly what the low
ball actually looks like for him. But a four year MAX from the Knicks
is running one eighty nine point five. We've we've talked about that. And
then if he's getting the two year up to two year, well the five
year max you're looking at two forty five point three for that, which is
a you know, it's a lot of money for Ognanobi. Maybe this lands
where he gets a fifty year without a max. I will say before getting
into some of the larger implications here, I don't think you make this move
without knowing that you have the inside track on keeping o g Annoby, because
you're not any closer than you in my opinion, you might be maybe like
a little closer, but Ojannanobe is when he's healthy, one of the like
ten best defenders in the game, and that's probably even expanding the field too
much there. You can't really say the same about Michael Bridges. I think
I did have him. He was like pretty high on my defensive Player of
the Year ballot one season, but like what, he will make up things
for you on offense. But I don't think that you make this move if
you believe you're losing og Ananoby because your championship equity. Okay, maybe you're
a little bit closer to competing with the Celtics or just winning a title than
you were if you had O instead of Bridges, but like it's not a
meaningful enough difference to say we're gonna make this move anyway, Like if you
if you actually thought OG was leaving, you don't make this trade in my
mind because with OG, now you're trying to replicate a bunch of different stuff.
You're not like super wing heavy, but just between the positional malleability of
a Josh hart even of a Dante DiVincenzo a little bit, and now you
have OG, now you have McHale Bridges, you can really throw some wrinkles
into the way that you're defending. You can be versatile that way, even
with Deuce McBride in just certain those lineups. So if you do, I
mean Mitchell Robinson of course on the back line. This does bring questions though,
of losing Isaiah Hartenstein as Jericho Sims ready for a bigger role. Do
you look at because you have OG, like maybe we really see more Julius
Randall at the five. Do you just go out and get another type of
big I don't think the Knicks are done, this is to say, and
it wouldn't shock me because there were reports by the way that the Knicks were
shopping Mitchell Robinson here that their ultimate plan is to try and figure out how
to keep Hartenstein and og Anobi after the trade. It just my guess would
be that he would be the collateral damage going out. And if you wanted
to get into whether you think it should be him or Julius Randall, everyone
who listens to this podcast knows how I feel about Julius Randall. The fact
of the matter is, if you are all of a sudden sloting mckill bridges
up to your number two, I don't know how good I feel about that
relative to the rest of this roster. I I would entertain it, but
I now ultimately think that Julius Randall in some way has become more important.
That's like, that's a weird thing to say, if it's because if you
were acquiring a different type of star, I would say that. If it
was Paul George, for instance, I know he's older, but if it
was Paul George, I'm more comfortable with him as your number two over the
course of an entire season, including the playoffs. You can make the jokes
about what he's just just did this postseason if you want to. But if
it was a Devin Booker, if it was even it was Don fin Mitchell,
who I didn't think was a fan. I'm not saying those are players
the Knicks would have been better off with. I'm saying it makes you can
you can argue to me, or I can make the argument that Julius Randall's
less valuable to you if you're getting one of those players as supposed to get
Chal Bridges. Okay, he's kind of fine as a number two, but
like Julius Randall, there's just like a force to him, more layers to
the way that he is going to handle the ball and attack defenses. Mcal
Bridge is by far the better fit off the ball. He's more versatile overall,
especially when you're factoring in the defense. But I do think that keeping
Randall now, unless you're gonna get some type of another I don't know,
B level shot like someone who's on the level of Mchal Bridges in terms of
shot creation, not overall as a player. I don't think you're getting that
for Julius Randall. So it because I'm mentioning the Julius Randle stuff, because
he makes so much money that you would just have more options at your disposal
where it's, well, we don't have to just dump him. Can we
get back a player who's making you half his salary? But I don't know
what Cap Space team is actually wanting to do that. You may have to
rope in third and fourth teams to get it done. I think that when
you look at the roster, though it's Mitchell Robinson is just the guy.
You look at the price point that's there, how easy it would be to
move him. Maybe you're even getting a first round pick back for his services.
So I think that, I mean, you could probably make the case
that just because he's an expiring cut, would okay? Would he work in
OKAC like everyone wants them to go after a John Collins type flyers? The
Nicks aren't asking for a bunch for Julius Randall. Would you give up like
a whatever for that? I don't. I probably wouldn't if I'm the thunder
just to I don't want to necessarily mess with because Randall, he's gotten better
I think over the past year and a half when he's healthy, a kind
of working in like the co Spotlight where he doesn't necessarily need the ball as
much and looking five out in Okay, see, he'd actually be great,
Like imagine him driving in okac. My point though, is even in that
trade Okay, you could clear up a bunch of money. Maybe you get
back a player. I don't know who that player is. You're certainly not
going to get Casey and Wallace for him from them. You're more probably getting
picks and then the extra leaf that it would take to allow you to keep
ogn Andobi and Isaiah Harnsch on the top of their price points. But I
think you now need his shock creation, his ability to break down defenses,
more than you would have had you acquire a different type of star, which
is in the same mccal bridges was the wrong acquisition. It's just that he's
not going to be on the same levels a lot of the other names they
were. I think you look, you can't make the case that he's just
not on the same level of karl Anthy Towns. It's just someone who could
get downhill and have some counters with the ball. Colney town just makes more
bone headed passes, it feels like. But I'm just saying that it's more
of a discussion now. And look, this is to say, like the
players that we're talking about, Paul George, I got into this on the
podcast just because of the limitations it would have required. But the Knicks made
the same limitations here. It's just easier because mchael Bridges is so cheap.
But like to have locked yourself into beneath the first apron when Paul George is
making forty eight plus million next year, already opted into his contract so McKale
Bridges could be the right player. Was the cost the right price to pay?
No, this isn't overpay for mchaeal Bridges. Shout out to everyone who
came. I proposed many mchal Bridges trades. They said I was batshit crazy
for suggesting three first round picks and swaps. And I always just had an
inkling that if you're gonna get mchael Bridges from the Nets, you're gonna overpay
for him. That's what the Knicks did. You make that move. One
again, if you know that OG is coming back, I'm gonna stand by
that. But two, and I'm moditoring my phone here is I have my
puppy by the way, for anyone who cares, and he's currently licking my
leg. So that's also why I'm a little bit distracted. I'm just making
sure that there's no other details that are popping up right now. So you're
making this move because you believe like this is the missing piece, like we
are now the biggest threat to winning the title. Not named Boston next year,
maybe not named Denver, not name Minnesota like we. You make this
if you believe that you were one of the top five most likely teams to
win a title after the fact of the trade, after the finished product,
going through it, off rip, I still kind of like the Nuggets a
little bit better. I definitely you have to like Boston. If anyone's saying
that they're just better than Boston, off rip from here, please, I'm
not even gonna listen to you. They just won the title. They had
the best one of the four best combined point differentials per one hundred persessions through
a regular season. In playoffs, I will entertain that the Knicks of the
second best team in the Eastern Conference. I think full strength right now,
that's probably where I land. You could see, let's see what Philly does
with their offseason. Cleveland could if everything comes together under Kenny Atkinson, give
them a run for their money. But I think it's the Knicks, like
I do think that they are. They've kind of you know, it could
be the Bucks, like there's a lot of could be, but the Knicks
as they are right now. If they bring back Og and lose Hertenstein,
it does feel like they are more complete in a way, with fewer question
marks than those other teams don't have. They're still health issues with Og.
That also helps with the you know mckel bridges, iron Man, McHale bridges
kind of it inoculates you a little bit against another Julius Randall or ognnob injury.
So that's that's huge for you as well. The fit is fantastic.
The price was just an overpay. You're okay with it if it really gives
you. If they make it to the conference finals, if they make the
NBA finals, we can't measure everything in championship or bust. Then it's okay
and they're gonna figure out how to stand beneath the first apron. And I
think what's also an interesting element of this trade is just one of the long
term salary implications here because Michel Bridges is relatively cheap for the next two years,
and now you have Jalen Brunston and Julius Randall. They have player options
for twenty five to twenty six. If you're gonna get Jalen Brunston again on
that extension, it kind of sets an example for Okay, what was mchal
just gonna maybe take a lot? Like is he just gonna take that three
year, one hundred and thirteen million dollar extension in six months? That would
be that would be huge for the Knicks. What is it? What does
it mean for Julius Randa? What is his value? So if you're just
dealing with a bunch of guys who no one's on a true max but yet
you have someone who just finished fifth in MVP voting in Jalen Brunson, and
you have two other arguably all star level player Julius Randld's made two All NBA
teams. So you have but let's just say two all star level players around
Jolen Brunson plus a good amount of depth and versatility. Again, things are
gonna be shaky up front in the center position, depending on what happens with
Hartenstein. Even if you trade Mitchell Robinson and Keith Hartenstein, things will get
a little weird. You're in a good spot, but you've now you've made
your last best move. This is what we wanted the Knicks to do.
We wondered if they were going to do we called for them to do.
You make this move, though, when it's not especially when it's not a
top ten to fifteen even twenty guy, because mcal Bridges maybe in any given
season, but like that's not what he was this past year. I thought
it was better than people gave him credit for. He's like a fringe All
Star. So to give up this price for a fringe All Star, I
think it telegraphs that the Knicks believe that they're now finished product. I think
it telegress at oh Jannonobi will be back. I also think it just telegrass
that we're gonna have reverse sticker shock for what some of these guys end up
getting paid long term, because you want to make this tenable, like the
Knicks might be want to pay. They're not going to be a tax team
this year, so you're looking at maybe a spot where really it'll become a
big issue in two years if everyone's trying to get like paid paid, but
it just kind of hints to me like, because you paid this price for
a player of mckl bridges caliber, either your internal view is again it'd be
higher. I'm pretty high on the Knicks, but their internal view if this
is just flat out we don't care what he cost a keeper. I don't
care what chan Bruns it cost to keep. We don't care what Randall costs
to keep. Their internal view then is a lot higher of themselves than I
have of them right now. I'm open to this not being a bad trade,
and I like teams being aggressive. I don't And again I don't think
it was a bad trade. But I think we can say two things here,
and to wrap up on the Knicks, that they overpaid for mcal bridges
and there's a chance that that's just okay relative to how good that they already
were. So I'm very interesting what this looks like on the court. But
I will say I don't think. I don't think that they're done. It
just really wouldn't like does if o Gianobe leaves this is that is gonna be
an emotional podcast for me. You're not gonna lie but I don't. This
was a lot to pay. It's a lot of picks I don't like to
price and ultimately cost. That's what it costs to get the Nets to although
you would think with it might have been a little bit less because the Nets
had, like, independent of this deal, they could have gotten some of
their own picks back. So like, had you known about that, which
I'm sure there were rumblings that the Knicks knew about, you could have like
kept the swap or some five first round picks and a swap plus a second
in boyand by Danovic. And you didn't even say, like you couldn't even
bring yourself to save money that just so that you kept yourself in a position
to wear all right, it might have been a little bit easier to rework
around this, I don't, But then you know you're giving up players who
matter. There's not just someone you look at and guarantee telling the Nicks ross
like you don't just throw induce McBride to save money. Although I'm talking out
in the context of do you include Mitchell Robinson to keep Hartenstein and a separate
deal. That's a conversation to have, and I think it's one that the
Knicks are gonna have, but they're gonna be interesting for the rest of the
off season, just from the perspective of, all, right, do they
try and what are they gonna do with these first round picks? I propose
something that, do you try and turn those first round picks into a twenty
twenty five first round pick or more distant first round pick just to have that
additional trade asset cachet, Or is it more important now that you hit on
those picks, or consolidate them into a maybe a slightly higher end first round
pick this year just to have a potential cost control contributor long term. You
can make both cases, but they're not done in the sense of I'll say
it this way, Ojananobi, at least one of o Jannobi, Isaiah Hartenstein,
or Mitchell Robinson is gonna be gone, and I don't know which one's
gonna be. I would bet that Ojannobe's the least likely, just because I
think that would be a terrible look to have not just lost him after making
that trade, but to them given up this must for someone who doesn't make
you nearly as viable of a contender as if you already had Ojannenoby. Before
we kind of talk about, I'll the nets factor in with the mchel bridges
return, let's also talk about how like we'll sandwich it together with what they're
doing with Houston, and so wo was reported it. I mean, like
the details on it were like super confusing, and I'll probably misspeak about it
as we get into it, but that's fine. Brooklyn has a deal with
Houston to return the nets Is twenty twenty six first round pick for a Phoenix
twenty twenty seven first round pick. The Rockets also acquire twenty twenty five right
to swap Houston Houston or Okacs first for the suns Is twenty twenty five first
round pick. WOJ followed that up with more. In the deal, Houston
acquires a twenty twenty nine more favorable of Dallas or Phoenix first round pick,
and acquires the right to swap Houston's first round pick for less favorable of Dallas
first and Phoenix first. Per sources. That's confusing as hell, but so
this is what you you kind of look at it this way. I mean,
that's more for the Rockets, so we'll save it there. So let's
let's get into all of this in macro what it sort of means for the
Nets. Good piece of business from them, great piece of business, and
so they maintained all on they wouldn't move bridges. That of course drove up
the cost for him. I think it really helps that there was a market
like the like of a team like the Knicks that had a lot of his
friends on the roster that was like close but not close enough to where they
could just envision internal development or just another year of letting things marinate really getting
them over the hump. That's a perfect storm of circumstances for the Nets,
like there is Yeah, I could another team have beat this offer if Utah
wanted, if ok See wanted, maybe New Orleans, but like they have
enough kind of wings there. Yeah sure, but like you were probably able
to just play the Knicks up against the fact of this is the only like
you want to make this move now, and you know that your roster loves
him already, and there's just what else is out there, Like a lot
of the players we anticipate becoming available, like a Donovan Mitchell, who I
don't think it's gonna become available. Maybe a Darius Garland, like those guys
don't fit. Trey Young not a fit. De Chonta Murray not really a
fit, even though he's bigger than those dudes. LaMelo Ball might have been
a fit, but we don't know that he's available. So there wasn't another
wing that was just gonna come on the mar market aside from Paul George.
And to get him, not only would you've been paying him into his mid
to late thirties, but you would have locked yourself into the same beneath the
first Apron thing, had you, unless you would saved money as part of
that deal, which, by the way, you can't because the Clippers are
second Apron team if they're taking back a ton of money for Paul George and
keeping James Harden, So you would have locked yourself into a more financially stringent
situation where there would have had a bit of boltload, more of collateral damage,
or you could have just outright lost. You know, how do you
keep both og and a Hartenstein under that scenario with Paul George? So the
market really worked in the nets his favor. That and not that these dudes
are always available. But even if you thought lowry marketing was available, that's
not really what the Knicks needed. I think I trust mckill Bridges to generate
his own looks. I trust thaty market as a play finisher more just because
there's that multi level from it, Whereas I would trust him more is maybe
a catch and shoot guy than I do Bridges, where they're both like they're
going to move well off the ball and he can get to the basket away
from the ball in maybe like one or two more ways I would argue than
Bridges. So but Bridges is the better fit for New York because of what
he can do on the ball. And that's just that's just a fact at
this point. So the next like, I really do think that that helped
them a ton in this situation. You get those five first round picks,
you get another swap, and then you turn around and you trade. You
trade Phoenix Is twenty twenty seven first to Houston to get back control of your
next two draft picks, which allows you to rebuild. You don't have to.
You know, you lost a number three pick this year that sucks,
and so like, and you lost mcal Bridges, But like, you go
back and look at the call that they got for Kevin Durant in terms of
picks. It's absolutely massive, and now you can rebuild. This is they're
unencumbered in a way they weren't during Sean Marx's first rebuild, where they just
didn't they weren't ever going to get controlled of any of their draft backs.
They were taking Tischols on flyers. You now have a two year window to
where you can tank your heart out, get two top draft picks, and
hopefully you're then at a point where when your final obligation to excuse me,
Houston is going to convey, which is I think twenty twenty seven will as
a swap that okay, Like maybe you're still sending a like a late lottery
pick. That's a lot different than sending what could have been a higher end
lottery pick. So I'm very intering to see what they do with Cam Johnson.
Now, what does this mean for Nicholas Claxton's free agency. You still
don't want to see him leave for nothing if you're Brooklyn, like, that's
just that's not the best you know, management of assets either. But they
made the most of an awkward situation, I would say, just because of
like the fall from the James Harden trade. But you were like in one
felt swoop. You got a lot of people would wonder yo, like in
Houston probably might have preferred we'll get into them in a second. Maybe you
could have gotten back the number three pick this exact package and then sim mckelbridge,
just to Houston. You not just have more bites at the draft apple
here like you got five. You got you got control of five, just
flat out additional firsts from the Knicks plus that swap. But that's it's control
of it. But you would still have to send something out in that and
then you finish like technically with Houston positive one because like you now have control
of your own draft pick two of them when like you didn't have those before.
So you're getting two controls of your own pick for the cost of one
pick. I'm gonna frame this as, even though it's not to a t,
your net like your net six first round picks here, like that's that's
what your net is by just trading mcal Bridges and Phoenix is twenty twenty seven
first. That's fucking crazy. That is a capslock hall. Now they'll be
able to go through a rebuild knowing that they have their pick. So I'm
fascinated to see what they end up doing this season. They might be it
might be a tough watch, but they have more avenues available to them now,
keeping mckel bridges or like and the same team running it back that was
locking you into sub mediocrity. Now you get to a point where you can
envision down the line. No not right away, but down the line you
were gonna have a chance at something to aspire to something more. And you've
also now removed this possibility from the clip, which was, well, do
they just kind of go on in and try and get a Garland or a
Mitchell or a Trey Young and then they're still Okay, they're better, but
can you guarantee there more than the fifth or sixth best team in the East.
No, So you've prevented yourself from going into that scenario. And it
does seem like Team governor Joe Sigh when he had mentioned that he wanted to
follow a more gradual path, maybe that was a like a failure at a
level of posturing that Sean Marsh did not sound like someone who wanted to go
through a rebuild. This was there's nothing to dislike about this from Brooklyn.
You could you know, you could go back to the whole turning control of
the orgination of those superstars. They got a haul for Kevin Durant when they
were just negotiating with one team, there was a more of clearly, more
of a market, more opportunities to move mckel Bridges. But you turned what
is I don't even know when mckel bridges ranks among NBA players, but I
don't He definitely wasn't in the top twenty five this year. So you got
five first round picks, plus a swap unprotected swap, and a second something
about that, and then Boyon's expiring contract if you're you know, if you're
into that sort of thing, but like you got that for someone who's not
a top twenty five player. That's a great piece of business from the And
so I don't really know what else they were say is that the nets is
that the telegraphs that they're gonna go into a rebuild, which was the right
move, And everyone was just saying, get your own picks back and stomach
it. And they did the best of both. Again, you gave up
number three, that pick was already gone. People don't really love this draft.
And if you know, if people are talking about thinking Donovan clinging it
three. I read Shepherd might be five. I love read Shepherd, but
he might be fun. I'm just if this is the draft that you're not
married to, then you're kind of not that you're okay giving up the number
three pick, but it's like all right, like cool, And look,
they probably could have gotten number twenty four to twenty five for the Knicks as
part of this deal. So that's just going to make you think that,
depending on how they instructured it, of course, that they weren't really in
love with the draft, but man, it's were scouting it anyway because they
do. They weren't gonna fucking have a first round pick. So I can't
like this is you have to like it more. We do romanticize teardowns more.
And I just said I don't dislike it for the Nicks what it does
for their product. I really disliked the cost that they ended up paying,
especially when you know that part of that cost could be getting rid of one
of Mitch hart Stein or og. But for the Nets, there's there's literally
nothing to dislike here. You can't criticize this. You don't get this value
for non stars. That just doesn't happen the Knicks. They honestly treated him
like mchal Bridges is generational in some regard, like what Minnesota did with Rudy
Gobert, how Cleveland treated Donovan Mitchell like this is similar. I mean the
way Larry Market didn't panned out in has penned out in Utah. This is
different than Knicks weren't sending out that type of player. And that's also by
the way, which I didn't mention that's going to always increase how many picks
you need to give up, is that teams, for the most part will
prioritize players. We saw that a little bit with the Toronto deal. We
saw it from Chicago where the Knicks they try to get Caruso. There's reporting
came out though that they had the better offer, but they opted Forget me.
Sometimes teams are just going to prioritize players. The fact that you didn't
send an immediate first out in this and then you're not giving them any player
that's going to be part of their their longer haul that is going to increase
the amount that you have to pay in picks. Most of the time.
The Caruso framing there does make this interesting from the next perspective of I don't
that's not a reaction. I guess maybe you were still hoping. Did you
think that your two first round picks this year were sort of then you would
have gotten into weirdness, you would have been able to trade that twenty twenty
five. Just now, I'm curious as to what that offer was. Was
this like you can have multiple irons in the fire, but if you thought
you might have gotten Caruso, was this like a response, do okay,
Like we're just gonna go over the top for Mchael Bridges and you lost out
on him, so you're gonna I don't know. I still think there's a
lot more to come from them this offseason. Hey, the Rockets end of
this, so they now essentially have per woj a pick swop with the Suns
in twenty twenty five, the Sons is pick in twenty twenty seven, and
could end up with the Sons his pick in twenty twenty nine based on constitingencies.
Woes reported that they want to trade for Kevin Durant. He also reported
that they're in prime position to go after Devin Booker if the Suns make him
available. He also reported that they're also prepared to use these picks to make
I mean upgrades. Now that wouldn't include the two of them. That is,
Wojes doesn't s I mean, he was all over the spectrum here,
and they just like, man, we gotta do a bit better job of
like communicating the details. I know you're trying to be first that you could
get reposts on Twitter. I don't really know what that does for your traffic,
but let's be better about communicating like the actual picks here. They basically
now have the picks to make Phoenix holes should they decide to tear it down.
There are a few things to take away from this. I'm fine with
what the Rockets did here. You could argue, though, like giving up
what could be like the rights to like the next two basically next picks after
this year. You already got a number three pick out of it. So
are they you know, do the nets wind up having did they get Cooper
flag next year? You could have had that. I mean maybe, but
you're at a point where you are trying to get better immediately now. I
think the bigger thing here is I don't think you make this move and just
based off what's reporting something's going on in Phoenix. I don't know if it's
Kevin Rant. We know maybe he wants to play for remey Udoka. That's
something that's been floating around a bunch of times before. Maybe they think that
Devin Booker's gonna gonna become available. I actually think that he's a much better
fit for the roster, their timeline and also for what they need. Something
is going down. I don't know if it's gonna be this offseason, but
you don't make this move. I mean, they have the flexibility to kind
of sit and lay in wait, especially because they have a bunch of cap
space in twenty twenty five. But if nothing gets done, I think like
you're are you sitting on extensions for Alpern Shane, Like, if we see
those dudes not get extensions, you're gonna like even one of them, something's
gonna be like a little fishy there. So this is a I don't know
if you would call it like a stroke of genius by Phoenix. I would
go as far as to say though that it is. It's a bold play
and there is I guess some risk involved. Again, what are those specifically?
What are those these next two years? Of nets picks turn into But
I think overall I like it because you don't make this move without the intel
that you're gonna need these picks to make them whole again. And so maybe
matt Ishbia and Phoenix is brash enough to kind of deny reality. I don't
know what's gonna happen the rest of this offseasons. This is something that they
revisit at the trade deadline. Houston would have way more flexibility next year to
do stuff. I mean, the Phoenix is gonna want play if they're moving
Kevin rand or Devin Booker, that's without question. But they're gonna have boatloads
of cap space next summer. That's that's what they project at right now.
So like they could help out Phoenix in in a ton of ways where it's
all just picks and maybe like a cheaper player or two. And so they're
helping them get out of salary, cap jail, hell, purgatory or whatever
you want to want to call it. So they've got look, they've got
like three sons picks loaded up at this point. And if your Phoenix and
one of these two players asked for out, I mean, Bradley Beals,
whatever, he's got the no trade clause. Houston is gonna be a natural
trade partner just because they have your picks. But they have they said they
could still trade you. They have have some they have some Excuse me,
they have their own picks that they're gonna be able to give out moving forward.
They have just a lot of interesting young players in Alprin, Shangun In,
Jahn Green In Tari Easan, in Aman Thompson, in Jabari Smith Junior,
like the list kind of Cam Whitmore was gonna leave someone off right away,
and you also have the ability of if you're moving in his actual salary,
like none of the deals on their books are bad, like Fred Vanfleietz
technically an expiring contract right now, or he could be this massive expiring contract
next year if he's picked up with a team option, So it wouldn't be
like therein I don't it's tough to say, like I really like this for
Houston without knowing what the next move is. But I look at this move
and I'm just looking at the way Wold reported it. Right now, this
is this is what happens with real time analysis. Ah man, Like I'm
gonna be I'm gonna put it this way. Let's set the over under.
Let me know in the comments. If you're listening to this, go to
YouTube, let me know in the comments, or let us know in our
discord link. That's the podcast you description. I'm going to say that by
the by the start of twenty five twenty six, that the percentage of chance
that Kevin Durant or Devin Bookers in Houston. I'm gonna put it at fifty
one. That's what this deal telegraphs me. It's like I'm going it's like
only the slightest bit more confident than a coin toss. But I just don't
I don't know how else to read it. If you've all read it differently
from me, please let me know. And so I'm just gonna end up.
I think I can't say I like that for Houston, because what else
are you giving to get Kevin Durants going into his age thirty six season.
If it's Devin Booker, you probably can't tell me a deal that I'm gonna
hate there. So yeah, I would probably dream it that way. If
the Kevin Durant price point drops low enough just because of his age and like
he's coming around like his contract doesn't have a ton of time left on it,
then I could see a scenario where I'm okay with them making the deal,
But if they're training for Devin book right now and people to fucking fall
in love with that deal. Five alarm fire in Phoenix is also how I
read this, Like those are It's interesting that, I mean, this has
to be the one that's the quickest analysis, but those are just like that's
the thought to have here is that you don't have to predict like I did,
that Booker or Durant will be in Houston and put fifty one percent shot
on that. I'm gonna be curious there's actual betting odds for their next teams
what Houston's laying right now. But like, that's how the Rockets are reading
this to me, because who is the other player that you think, why
did you need the Suns picks to do this that you couldn't do this with
your own pick and asset situation like this was specifically about Phoenix's players. So
interesting piece of business from the Rockets, and we'll see if we end up
liking it. It just depends on which of the Sun's players they're acquiring and
for how much, And it's down to you know it's too it's gonna be
Devin Booker, Kevin Rant. I'm just saying it here. And if you're
in Phoenix, my guess would be that it's Kevin Durant, just because he's
the one that changes his mind every five seconds. I don't I really don't
know what he's looking for there. I hope he finds happiness at one point,
because two titles didn't seem to do it for him. Brooklyn didn't seem
to do it for him, Phoenix doesn't seem to be doing it for him
in the vibes or just awful wherever he goes. So if you had to
make me pick one, it just seems why would you trade Devin Booker.
You could reorient, recalibrate, rebuild around him still if your Phoenix would want
to. But yeah, so Kevin Rant to Houston, And when does it
happen? Like that would be the tougher read. Is it gonna happen this
offseason, before the trade deadline or just before next season? That's why I'm
setting by the twenty started the twenty five to twenty six season. I think
there's a fifty one percent chance. Kevin Rant or Devin Booker is in a
Houston Rockets uniform grant and I will probably have more on this trade. We're
planning on going live after the NBA Draft on Wednesday nights. We'll come check
us out there. I haven't scheduled the live stream yet. I'll probably do
that at some point Wednesday. Thank you all for yours always. I hope
you're okay with the Solo podcast and we just kind of, you know,
late night, super tired, under caffeinated relative to home usually caffeinated. Just
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one we only the indelible, the legendary, Frank, you know, a
bacle point of the bay still swelling, Uncle,