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What's up, y'all is Drewski and
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of your favorite balls and celebrities like
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favorite team? Wasn't the Raptors at
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Raptors even started around the top?
Come on, bro, I had that

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Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you
listen to podcasts. In two thousand

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and three, Nike signed thirteen year
old Freddy Adoo to a seven figure contract,

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but Freddy didn't live up to the
height. He has turned down every

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single documentary project looking closely at the
details of his career until now. People

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are gonna look at everything you did
because of the hype surrounding your arrival and

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what they think you can be.
I'm Grant Wall and this is American prodigy

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freddie Ado from Blue Wire Podcasts.
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode

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of Hardwood Knocks. This is Adam
Frommell here with my co host Dan Favali.

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We have made it through the first
wave of a wild free agency period.

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It feels like if we were put
on a Who He Played For episode

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right now that like everyone would fail
because there's been so much player movement that

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it's impossible to keep track of everyone
who's in a certain location. As we're

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we're recording this, you know,
we're still waiting to see whether Gordon Hayward,

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who signed a four year, one
hundred twenty million dollar contract with the

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Charlotte Hornets, is going to be
going there after they wave in stretch Nicholas

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Batum, or if there might be
like a retroactive sign and trade happening,

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so players are flying all over the
place. Transaction details are wild. We're

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trying to figure it out as we
go, but that is not going to

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stop us from doing some winners and
losers of the early slash main part of

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free agency. Before we get into
that, a shout out to our sponsors

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Indeed and bet Online dot AG.
You'll be hearing from both of them shortly.

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And then Dan, how's it going. It's going pretty well over here,

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and to your point, about not
well, first, how are you

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doing. I'm doing good, Like
I said, I'm just like scrambling to

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figure out who plays for whom at
this point. And that's so I was

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actually going to comment on that is
to your point, and you know this,

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and I can apologize to our listeners. We had draft reaction. We

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had a draft reaction pod lined up
with the guests and everything. I got

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incredibly sick, to the point where
my wife insisted I go get tested for

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COVID because I couldn't stand and I'd
never have body aches like that came back

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negative. Luckily, I might have
just gotten hit by a truck with the

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flu or whatever. It was.
Still getting over it. But it was

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NBA Draft night. And this isn't
a too my own horn, but you

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know me, like it's going to
take something like catastrophic to rip me away

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from that. I missed the first
part of the NBA Draft. I had

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a call out of sick from Bleacher
Report, like I just couldn't function,

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and they were more than happy to
let me. So I appreciate that again

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because that's one of the busiest nights
of the year, and in this case,

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it was forty eight hours before the
start of free agency. So having

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missed like the beginning of the draft
because I was passed out and then even

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just not even really like paying attention
to it. I was following it along

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on Twitter, but I was in
just such a bad state the next day,

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So Thursday, when I didn't really
feel better but I had more energy

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after sleeping, I totally missed like
some of the moves, Like I forgot

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that Patrick Williams went number four.
I was trying to figure out what happened

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with some of the trades. We
joke about trying to figure this stuff out,

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but like I was actually completely in
the dark about things were happening.

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And I was also really sick or
indisposed at the time of when the Warriors

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acquired Kelly Ubre. I think I
think that was the move, or there

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might have been another move where I
just didn't even know that it happened.

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It might not have been that one, because I think it was on draft

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night or really close to it.
So that was like my experience. We're

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always fumbling in real time to do
this, but when you just punt on

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it and not pay attention to it, and then like you come back to

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it and have to try and figure
it out. It's such a mess.

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Well two points. One just to
underscore like how hard it is to drag

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Dan away from this stuff. You
would not believe how many times I and

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friend of the pod Jacob Born,
have texted Dan just being like, go

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to sleep, just like stop trying
to pull your third all nighter of the

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week, Like you need to sleep. So that's one thing, So like

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the fact that he actually did have
to step away proves that he really did

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get hit by a bus. And
the second thing is I think sometimes when

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you're more entrenched in National league coverage
that it's harder to wrap your head around

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some of these changes, just because
we spend so much time talking about these

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players and thinking about these players that
their locations are so ingrained, and it's

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hard to remind yourself that, hey, player X no longer plays for team,

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why he's wearing a new jersey.
We have to like completely wrap our

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heads around those changes. And I
think it's a lot harder when you've spent

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so much time like explicitly covering these
players. Then you know, if you're

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a fan and watching the games and
you're thinking about them during the games,

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but not necessarily between them, which
you know, no, no knocks on

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that kind of fandom, but I
think it makes it a little bit easier

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to process the transaction heavy periods of
the NBA calendar. Yeah, I mean,

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without question, just being able to
zero in and that doesn't make you

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know, covering a single team is
harder in the sense that you have to

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continue to come up with content and
coverage for that team. So like the

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busy periods might be great, but
like you go through the doldrums, you're

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not talking about all twenty night others. So there's there's trade offs each way.

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But I do love this time of
year. And the funny thing is

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we get in this is a perfect
time to do the winners and losers is

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maybe our impressions of this will change
over the course because one of the games

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have yet to be played. But
there have even been moves that I've kind

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of wavered on since they happen.
Like you provide this instant analysis or you

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you have your own reflective reaction.
Then you think about it and you're like,

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oh, is that actually so good? Was it so bad? Like

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you know, I wouldn't call them
necessarily, this isn't the move that would

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make them a loser, but the
Celtics using their entirement level on Tristan Thompson.

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I gave that a B. I
think in real time I was doing

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live grades for it, and like, after just thinking on it more,

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I'm kind of like, you know, good for Tristan Thomson forgetting his money.

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That's the other thing I'll say on
all this is I want every single

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player. I'll say most players.
I don't really necessarily like every single player

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as a person. I want players
to get paid. They deserve to get

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the money. The criticisms are more
about the team's giving out bad contracts.

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But with Boston it's like, you
know, you have Daniel Tis there,

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you have Robert Williams the third what
happened that the Miles Turner talks for the

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Gordon Hayward sign and trade fell apart. I can't gray the Thompson signingstily based

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off that, But you just used
your best spending tool on another big So

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like that's just a move. I
don't know if that happens to you where

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you're like, have one reaction,
but then you almost completely tilt the other

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direction after some more critical thought.
Absolutely, yeah, I think Boston is

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an interesting place to start, just
because I've seen them labeled as losers in

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quite a few places, mostly because
of the Gordon Hayward situation, where this

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is the latest big name free agent
who they've lost in unrestricted fashion unless there

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is this retroactive sign and trade,
which seems like it is still a possibility.

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But after Kyrie Irving left and Al
Horford left, and now Hayward left

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without bringing anything back in return for
Boston, it's kind of it's kind of

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being viewed as a knock against the
front office. But at the same time,

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like, you know, even if
you don't love the Tristan Thompson move,

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like he and Jeff Teague, who
are the big quote unquote editions for

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them this offseason, Like that is
still quality depth on a team that already

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has that front end talent. The
thing that I think is being overblown is

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so like the Kyrie Irving departure,
like you can hold that against him.

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We don't necessarily know what happened in
that locker room, but him leaving I

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think actually ended up helping the team
because they replace him with Kemba Walker,

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a comparably good player who's a better
fit for what was happening around them,

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and then with Horford and Hayward specifically, they would have been criticized for probably

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giving out those contracts. So like
the Horford deal is not aged well,

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would expects the Hayward deal to age
well. The Hornets looked like losers in

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all this for sure, Gordon Hayward
is a monster winner. If you want

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to knock Boston for anything, I
think the two things you can focus on

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are maybe even three. Look,
there's the Tristan Thompson signing, but at

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that point in free agency, I
don't know that they could have funneled that

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toward a wing like they had already
let someone like in Alec Burke's pass was

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already with the Knicks on one year, six million dollars. You know.

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I look at things like why did
they let brad Wanamaker go? Didn't even

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give him a qualifying offer. I
think he would have been a better fit

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than Jeff Te Not as good of
a playmaker, but a better defender.

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And the other thing that you can
knock them for is that Gordon Hayward trade

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talks with Indiana, because it seemed
like Hayward really wanted to go there.

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If they were really asking for Turner
and then either Oladipo or TJ. Warred

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if that was their asking price,
like they realistic, I would have taken,

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though I think that the other that
was reported big Dermott and Turner for

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Gordon Hayward, I absolutely positively would
have done. And I think he could

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put up a perfect fit with that
lineup right. Totally agree. You could

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point to like turn or not necessarily
having the girth to stand up to a

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Joel and Bead, but like you
know, Tristan Tomson's not really going to

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do that for you either, and
who like, first of all, there

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aren't many Joel and Beads, which
is like kind of the point, like

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you're not going to get unless it's
marcusol comes out of hibernation like between four

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to ten nights a year, depending
on which conference he's into, you'll go

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up against Joel Bead and within the
battle. There are just so few bigs

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that are going to do that.
I don't look at Tristan Toobson as the

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guy that's going to fix that.
The other thing he does is he's always

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this might change, but he's always
been a better offensive rebounder, and they

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need help on the defensive glass.
I think they were actually like top ten

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or top five and offensive rebounding rate
last year, so I understand calling them

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losers, but like the not matching
the Hayward deal specifically, to me,

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is not what makes them a loser. Agreed wholeheartedly, I don't think they

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come anywhere close to the biggest loser
competition for me, that would just unquestionably

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be the Detroit Pistons, who have
apparently gone from the add Boys era in

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the nineteen eighties to the big boys
era of the twenty twenties. Their off

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season got off to like a decently
promising start with their three first round draft

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picks, Killian Hayes, Sadique Bay
and Isaiah Stewart, and then they just

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decided that, you know, in
an era in which the NBA is fully

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trending towards versatile bigs and small ball, that they were going to sign all

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of the center. So Mason Plumley
comes aboard, and Jalil Okaffer comes aboard,

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and Dwayne Dedman comes aboard briefly,
and then they still go out and

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sign Jeremy Grant and make a flyer
on Josh Jackson, which is like their

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one redeeming move, I think,
And when Josh Jackson is your redeeming move

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of free agency, then then yeah, you've solidified yourself in the biggest loser

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category. I didn't understand what they
were doing. It makes no sense,

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Like I've just I've still flabbergasted when
you look at it, and look,

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they might need another big because they
traded away Tony Bradley, so they should

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probably hurry up and sign another one. I'm still trying to figure out unless

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I've missed another detail of that Zaire
Smith, why Bradley trade and then the

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Pistons are gonna wave and stretch Zayre
Smith. I don't understand that for like

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either team at all. So I'm
still trying to wrap my head around the

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Pistons offseason. But yeah, look
the I think so you could justify it

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like jolil okafor won't cost much,
so that's fine. But like the Mason

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Plumbley contract was genuinely curious, and
you know, he came a very very

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generous way of putting it. Look, it was bad because like it's well,

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I wanted like three years, like
I don't. My other thing too,

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is like, yes, Christian would
cost more, but like you,

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I feel like it would have been
better, Like you could leave julil okafor

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don't take Mason Plumbley, and then
you know, just try inside Grant and

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Christian Wood would have been the way
to go. Like that, those two

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can still play together. And the
other thing that I find, I don't

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know if it's as damaging, but
like they weren't the team that could give

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Jeremy Grant twenty million dollars a year. It's as a player in theory for

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them, He's tantalizing, shot thirty
nine plus percent from three of the past

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two seasons. He can guard almost
every position. I'd say he has like

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four position rage. At the same
time, now you're putting him in a

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situation where I don't know if his
offense is as valuable. He wants a

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bigger role, Like he didn't show
a ton of ability to work. He

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00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,840
didn't have that flexibility in Oklahoma City, and he didn't really show enough of

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it endeavor, Like there were times
where he was attacking the basket or dribling

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00:12:20,639 --> 00:12:24,799
in transition, and I don't like
remember any of them as positively memorable.

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It's like this could end up.
It seems like he wanted this situation,

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which good on him for wanting to
test himself and plumb the depth of his

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offense. But like, I don't
know that they have the talent necessary to

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00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:39,120
maximize Jeremy Grant on offense. And
yeah, whatever he does for them on

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defense is great, but like if
he if he doesn't live up to stuff

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on offense, if he's not at
least a well above average, high volume

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three point shooter for them, like
that contract is still good at tilt in

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a poor direction. And you did
all this without having settled the matter of

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like what are we doing with Blake
Griffin and Derrick Rose And I don't know,

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I guess looking at the moves in
this free age and seem like we

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should assume they have the lot right
too, which I guess, Like that's

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a solid flyer tape, but I
guess they're trying to compete in the East

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next season, Like I don't look
at this as a playoff roster right now,

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but definitely not. He's just getting
better too, that's the other thing,

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right, So, like, if
you you have to look at who

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do you expect to fall out of
the Eastern Conference playoff contention? And I'm

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going through, but you have Atlanta
right there had a better off season,

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right, so like you're gonna get
into a fight. We can move on

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to Atlanta shortly, but yeah,
right, so you're gonna have like,

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let's say there's this three way rock
fight for the eight Sea between Charlotte and

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Orlando and Detroit, Like that's maybe
and it like yeah, and throw Atlanta

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if I had mentioned there were two, Like that's like what you spent all

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this money for. And it's not
even for guys that I think you look

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at and say they're great fits for
the roster. Where As we get into

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the Hawks now, I think they'll
probably be there'll be some split and maybe

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a lot of it depends on the
bow Down Bogdanovich outcome. But maybe some

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people think they shouldn't have spent their
money and like they're bringing in you know,

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I think booked out of at just
twenty eight and Gallant Arris thirty two

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and Roddo is Roddo at the same
time, like at least those guys make

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sense for the roster. And I
don't know that any of these moves for

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Detroit, like I don't look at
them and think like, oh, that's

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like they made it like that that
was good by them, But you know,

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I think they got I guess they
got good value for Luke Kennard in

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that trade, but they gave up
four seconds in that deal, if I'm

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00:14:22,639 --> 00:14:26,799
not mistaken. So they've had a
a kind way to put it. Would

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00:14:26,799 --> 00:14:28,600
be a curious offseason. But Detroit
is certainly a loser for me too,

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a very kind way to put it. I think the one saving grace here

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is that I think the Detroit is
going to be very near the top of

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the lottery odds coming out of this
upcoming season, and the twenty twenty one

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NBA draft is extremely guard and wing
heavy at the top. If you look

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through any of the early mock drafts
at this point, the only like pseudo

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00:14:48,879 --> 00:14:52,799
big man who is projected to go
in the lottery is Evan Mobley, who's

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going to be a freshman at USC
so naturally that's probably who they'll end up

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taking. Yeah, it was just
to clare for myself. I knew it

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was four second round picks. I
want to to make sure they are all

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coming from Detroit. They are,
and then three of them are actually Detroit's

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own second round picks, which is
a pretty big Gamble twenty twenty four,

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twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six
look second round picks or second round picks

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at the same time, like those
could end up being in the loads of

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bid thirties. So I'd like Sadiq
Bay though, like I think that was

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mostly a good value play. But
why did it require so many second round

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picks? I have no answers.
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Go right now to indeed dot com. Slash blue wire. Offers valid through

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December thirty. First terms and conditions
apply. I wanted to talk about Atlanta.

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Are they a wit? Are a
loser for you? I think they're

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I think they have to be one
of the bigger winners of this offseason.

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You know you can. You can
knock the ages of those big editions because

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they don't necessarily fit the timeline.
But as we've seen with so many young

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stars like you have to win before
their extension eligible so that you don't run

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the risk of them wanting to leave. So Trey Young has made it clear

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to the Hawks that he wants to
win now. The Hawks have made it

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00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,720
clear that they want to win now, and they have a roster now that

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that can very much do so,
regardless of whether the Kings match that Bogdon

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Bogdanovich offer sheet that he signed with
the Land So if he is there,

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they're looking at a starting lineup now. If Trey Young, Bogdanovitch, Danilo

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Gallinari, John Collins, and Clint
Capella. And you know, you can

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00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,759
switch some of these pieces around,
and that still leaves Chris Dunn, Rajon

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00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,559
Rondo, Camraddish, Kevin Hurder,
DeAndre Hunter, Solomon Hill, maybe on

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00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,599
Yuka Kongwu on the bench. You
know that this is a deep team where

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the biggest problem is going to be
finding a way to get everyone who wants

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00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,559
and deserves minutes into the rotation.
And that is a great problem to have

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00:17:29,039 --> 00:17:33,000
for a franchise that did not have
that high end veteran talent that it could

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00:17:33,039 --> 00:17:37,160
rely upon and had no options behind
Trey Young. So all of a sudden,

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00:17:37,279 --> 00:17:41,279
you're looking at multiple guys who can
create for themselves on offense, and

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00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,400
in Chris Dunn and Rajon Rondo,
two really good passers who can keep things

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00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,839
moving even when Young isn't on the
floor. I mean, you mentioned that

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00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,319
Atlanta might be in that rock fight
for the eight C. I feel like

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00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:56,319
they're a playoff walk in the Eastern
Conference with this roster. So the East

286
00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,400
is so tough because I don't I
don't want to spoil taste. Their teams

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00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,559
were like I don't know like how
good Miami is gonna be, Like their

288
00:18:03,559 --> 00:18:10,240
off season has been fine, Boston
loses Hayward, Toronto lost a Bacca and

289
00:18:10,279 --> 00:18:12,119
Gassol, but they have bans and
I like, you know, I'm gonna

290
00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:17,440
like the Chris Bouchet signing. So
in terms of playoff locks, though,

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00:18:17,559 --> 00:18:19,960
I feel like there's is there even
a clear number one team in the East

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00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:23,480
right now, and so maybe that
favors in Atlanta, but it could also

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00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:26,319
hurt them because if I had to
pick locks, I'll say right now,

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00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:32,920
Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston, Indiana. I'll still throw in there in Miami

295
00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:37,000
the Sixers and the Nets. So
that's seven. So if you're calling the

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00:18:37,039 --> 00:18:41,119
Hawks a lock, that's it,
which is fine, but like you're not

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00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,119
leaving any wiggle room for and I
don't know what necess like you need to,

298
00:18:44,319 --> 00:18:49,720
but yeah, who I mean,
the middle of ball is not ready

299
00:18:49,759 --> 00:18:55,119
to lead a playoff charge. Gordon
Hayward is good, but can we rely

300
00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:59,279
on him? So I think beyond
that, like who's there, DeVante Graham

301
00:18:59,279 --> 00:19:02,440
and Terry Rose. You're aren't leading
playoff charges? Right, And I think

302
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,279
what you're saying, which isn't unfair, but is a little bit of risk

303
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,119
is that the Hawks will be decidedly
better than both the Wizards and the Orlando

304
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:14,480
Magic. And I'm pretty comfortable saying
that. It doesn't make me uncomfortable to

305
00:19:14,519 --> 00:19:15,920
hear you say that, Like,
I don't know. I don't know that

306
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:22,920
I'm comfortable putting like the Pacers ahead
of them. I am. It's it's

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00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,319
upsetting the established hierarchy that we've seen
in previous seasons. But now looking at

308
00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:32,079
the rosters and again this assumes that
the pieces fit together and everything. But

309
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:36,400
like this Atlanta team is really talented. Now, maybe I'm putting on too

310
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:37,960
much of a Homer hat here.
Well, I think I think Young is

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00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:45,279
a legit star and there is so
much versatile talent around him now, so

312
00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:47,319
I'm good. So the few things
act in Sermo is when we have to

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00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,920
wait and see what happens with the
Bogdanovich signing like that that will definitely matter.

314
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,039
Two is I need to see who
their defense is going to look like,

315
00:19:53,079 --> 00:19:57,880
are you gonna have you know,
Bogey and Gallo and Trey Young on

316
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,640
the court at the same time?
For points, Bogie at least, you

317
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,400
know, like gallowhe has good size
and he's better defensively than Gallows, but

318
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,200
like that's gonna be three. I
would say negative defenders on the floor,

319
00:20:08,559 --> 00:20:11,640
and that's not We haven't said anything
about John Collins, who seems like he

320
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,920
got better, like looking at if
you want a traditional big defense, but

321
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,880
I don't know looking at someone who
might have to play more power forward,

322
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,559
like how he'll end up being.
I think the fit with Capella will be

323
00:20:21,559 --> 00:20:23,519
fine offensively. There are a lot
of question marks for me. It wouldn't

324
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:26,480
surprise me if they were one year
away if you told me they were definitely

325
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,960
getting bogey. I think I might
default to putting them in my eight.

326
00:20:30,039 --> 00:20:33,119
I don't know if I would call
them locks. I'd be far more inclined

327
00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:37,000
to call Indiana locks than Atlanta,
just because of what Indiana did last year

328
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:41,519
basically without Oladipo being healthy. So
it doesn't necessarily matter to me if they

329
00:20:41,559 --> 00:20:45,240
trade him or not, and they're
just running it back. See. I

330
00:20:45,319 --> 00:20:48,279
kind of wonder about the Oladipo fit
in general, like if he is still

331
00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:52,000
there, are there chemistry concerns off
the court? Are their chemistry concerns on

332
00:20:52,039 --> 00:20:56,519
the court as he's trying to re
establish himself as a star ahead of his

333
00:20:56,599 --> 00:21:00,400
free agency, which isn't necessarily in
the best interest of the team. Can

334
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:06,039
I do one of my winners now? Absolutely, I'm going to pick the

335
00:21:06,079 --> 00:21:10,720
Oklahoma City Thunder. And this isn't
me trying to romanticize future draft picks,

336
00:21:10,759 --> 00:21:15,839
but one, you know, legitimately
holy crap. Two, Like kudos for

337
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:18,880
them to like really leaning into the
rebuild, which is not necessarily easy to

338
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,720
do in the market that they're in. We've seen a lot of other small

339
00:21:22,759 --> 00:21:26,119
markets strive to avoid this. They've
just burned the entire thing from last season

340
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,000
down. They let Gallo walk.
Maybe you know, you can look at

341
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,119
his regret that they didn't work out
a sign and trade or they didn't move

342
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,200
them at the deadline, but they
were really good last year, so I

343
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,359
don't Also don't think it necessarily matters
if they didn't get an asset for him

344
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:45,359
when they got so many assets elsewhere
just moving Chris Paul even get they got

345
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,400
a first round pick in the Steven
Adams trade, Like that's was borderline inexplicable

346
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,759
from New Orleans on my part,
knowing that it kind of took them out

347
00:21:52,759 --> 00:21:56,559
of using the entire mL and Adams
is coming off the books after next year,

348
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,119
and he's not really a great fit
with sign and Williamson. Like that

349
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,759
didn't feel like the move to give
up the I think it's a Denver twenty

350
00:22:03,799 --> 00:22:07,759
twenty three lottery protected pick, and
yes, Denver should be really good,

351
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:11,359
but like you're not right now,
so keep the first round picks. I

352
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:17,119
digress though, But it was moves
just like that, even the Danish Shrewder

353
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,559
deal, like it was you got
Danny greenback an extra first round pick,

354
00:22:19,799 --> 00:22:23,359
and then you're able to move Danny
Green to Philly for yeah, we'll take

355
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,920
on Al Horford's money, but you
got two first round picks out of that

356
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,720
deal. Like these were good value
plays and we don't know what those draft

357
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,240
picks are going to become. But
that's why Sam Presty has no fewer than

358
00:22:34,279 --> 00:22:40,160
one billion. He's giving Oklahoma City
all these bites at the apples or because

359
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,599
these future picks are romanticized. If
they get to a point in a year

360
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:47,799
or two where shake gilg just Alexander's
been extended and he is already all star

361
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:52,759
material and they have one or two
high draft picks, they can go out

362
00:22:52,839 --> 00:22:56,079
and make that trade for the next
discrumbled star if they want to. I

363
00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:57,519
don't know if that's what they're looking
to do. They might just want to

364
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:02,279
draft and develop within whatever. That's
fine. They have all these options now,

365
00:23:02,319 --> 00:23:06,079
and I really commend them for not
trying to tow both lines, because

366
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:07,839
I do think that's tempting at points
where they could have just been, like,

367
00:23:08,039 --> 00:23:11,119
you know, Schroeder and Adams are
coming off the books. Anyway,

368
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:12,559
we'll just trade c P three and
like, let's just be done with it,

369
00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:17,720
And like they still have moves that
they could make to get more assets,

370
00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:21,400
because this is gonna be one of
those moments where it's like to see

371
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,720
on their team. But George Hill
is in Oklahoma City now to the best

372
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,640
of our knowledge, right and it
feels like FATA company that he'll eventually be

373
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,400
traded to the Clippers of the Celtics
by the end of the season for something.

374
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,559
I don't know what it'll be.
So like they still have things that

375
00:23:34,559 --> 00:23:37,759
that they could do. And Dido
for Trevor Ariza, who is now on

376
00:23:37,799 --> 00:23:42,240
his four hundredth Team of the Week
and could very well be moved on once

377
00:23:42,279 --> 00:23:45,680
more. Al Horford could still get
something for them, you know, if

378
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:51,079
he plays to reboots his value this
season. Someone will talk to himselves well

379
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:53,720
into al Horford as a net positive
asset after this year if he plays really

380
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,680
well, and because Presty is going
to work more wizardry. But yeah,

381
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:03,079
I would be if they didn't make
some sort of move for the next disgruntled

382
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,160
star, just because there are too
many first round picks to use them all.

383
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:12,799
There are only so many roster spaces
available right on for any one NBA

384
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:18,319
franchise, and you just you cannot
bring in that many rookies. Year after

385
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,000
years, They've done it. They've
been going to happen at some point.

386
00:24:21,039 --> 00:24:23,240
They've done a good job spreading them
out though where it's like you don't look

387
00:24:23,279 --> 00:24:26,160
at any one draft and it's like, well they're forty. It's like where

388
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,559
they're not going to have seven picks
in the twenty twenty two NBA draft,

389
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,519
so it's like they at least have
that balance. But I'm with you,

390
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,519
and the one thing that I hope
that happens as a result of all this

391
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,640
is I want to see Daris Basley
gone wild, and I hope that they're

392
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,440
open to playing him at the five, the three, the four. I

393
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,240
just want to see a lot of
Darius Basley next season, obviously, in

394
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,279
addition to Shake gil Just Alexander,
and I think the last thing I'll say

395
00:24:48,279 --> 00:24:52,200
on them, the Horford contract isn't
great, but I think they were well

396
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,640
compensated for it. But two the
veterans you have right now, but let's

397
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,359
just assume they don't trade them.
George Hell and Horford are like, they're

398
00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:02,000
mostly plug in play. They're not
going to disrupt anything that's happening. Whether

399
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,519
they're happy is a different story.
Like these are guys who are not going

400
00:25:04,599 --> 00:25:10,480
to infringe upon the development of the
youngsters. And I'm specifically talking about Jake

401
00:25:10,519 --> 00:25:14,160
gil Just Alexander h say lu Dort
if you want to, and then Darius

402
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,920
Baisley as well obviously, So they're
they're fascinating moving forward. I think they

403
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,200
did a great job of you know, the thing that I didn't mention is

404
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,240
there are fourteen teams now in the
West that are going to fancy themselves playoff

405
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:26,960
hopefuls, and they were fifteen until
the thunder tore it down. For them

406
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,519
to sort of recognize like what was
going on in the West too, you

407
00:25:30,559 --> 00:25:37,960
have to commend them for that.
I'll move on to another kind of non

408
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,599
traditional winner, and that's the New
York Knicks. I don't think that we've

409
00:25:41,599 --> 00:25:47,759
said that in a long time,
and the reason is just that they accepted

410
00:25:47,799 --> 00:25:52,200
their situation. Now, we've seen
so many times in the last decade plus

411
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,440
that the Knicks have tried to,
you know, take shortcuts and expedite the

412
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:02,519
rebuilding process, and it backfires invitably
because they're the Knicks. But this time

413
00:26:02,559 --> 00:26:07,680
they accepted that they were the Knicks
and actually did the right thing, which

414
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:12,799
is make these minor on the fringe
moves and exhibits some sort of patients,

415
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,720
you know, waiting for the right
opportunity, waiting to see which of their

416
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:21,559
young guys is going to develop without
overloading the roster with more veterans. I

417
00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:25,519
love the Obe Top and Mitchell Robinson
fit in the front court, as I've

418
00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:30,279
told you. On the side,
bringing in Austin Rivers is an interesting move,

419
00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:33,119
not because he and Jeremy lenn are
probably the two best point guards that

420
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,839
New York has had in decades,
but just because he's a legitimate option who

421
00:26:37,839 --> 00:26:41,960
can help contribute to the development of
guys like RJ. Barrett, like Kevin

422
00:26:42,039 --> 00:26:45,480
Knox who are going to be featured
options. Alec Burkes adds some level of

423
00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:51,920
veteran legitimacy to the roster. There
was nothing glamorous about this off season,

424
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,400
which is the point, and that's
good for the Knicks in this current situation.

425
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,880
I would agree with you. It's
funny that that's like the bar is.

426
00:27:00,039 --> 00:27:06,119
They didn't do anything dumb, so
let's call them winners. This is

427
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,079
I agree with everything you said.
I think the two most important editions they

428
00:27:10,079 --> 00:27:12,079
made were Burkes and Rivers, just
because they didn't have anyone who could really

429
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:17,799
effectively create off the dribble after the
Marcus Morris trade and the fact that Marcus

430
00:27:17,799 --> 00:27:22,480
Morris was being used in that vein
so heavily was probably untenable anyway, So

431
00:27:22,519 --> 00:27:26,039
to get guys in Alec Burks and
Austin Rivers, both of whom shot pretty

432
00:27:26,079 --> 00:27:30,759
well off of off the dribble threes
last year. Austin Rivers at thirty five

433
00:27:30,799 --> 00:27:33,519
point nine percent. I think Alec
Burks might have been closer to forty percent.

434
00:27:33,559 --> 00:27:34,880
I didn't have his number in front
of me for some reason. I

435
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,920
think those moves were good. Neurland's
Noel the fit is questionable, but they

436
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,759
got good value on the deal.
I just question whether they have enough shooting

437
00:27:41,759 --> 00:27:45,799
around him to work on offense and
the movie that i'd like to see them

438
00:27:45,839 --> 00:27:49,559
make, obviously you don't want to
give up compensation for this is you have

439
00:27:49,599 --> 00:27:52,880
to get Julius Randall out of there, because he probably needs to be played

440
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,240
at the five this point, but
he can't defend there. He can't defend

441
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,759
at the four anyway. If you
have him on the floor though that's one

442
00:28:00,039 --> 00:28:03,920
on shooter at the spot directly next
to the five where you have Mitchell Robinson

443
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,839
or Noel right now, and then
having those two I'd rather see them get

444
00:28:06,839 --> 00:28:10,240
center minutes than Julius Randall at this
point too. That seems to be the

445
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,960
move. And then an unlocks topping, just giving him more minutes, and

446
00:28:14,519 --> 00:28:15,359
I would have liked to have seen
them. And I don't know if it

447
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,640
would have been realistic, because it's
fine that they didn't pay Fred van Fleet

448
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,759
and maybe they try too, who
knows. It doesn't seem like they did.

449
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,599
But once you got past van Fleet
and Dragic, like the point Guard,

450
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,279
market was not great. I would
have liked to have seen any sort

451
00:28:27,319 --> 00:28:30,599
of alternative to Alfred Payton, though
he was fine last year, one year,

452
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,480
five million. It's effectively six million
because they paid him one million to

453
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,400
waive his other deal whatever. Like
the deal is fine, but they need

454
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,640
guys to get Mitchell Robinson and topping
the ball, like to set them up

455
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,240
for shots, and like they just
don't have that right now. Barrett isn't

456
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,279
that player yet he could be,
And I think having a player who's kind

457
00:28:48,279 --> 00:28:52,000
of better at it, at least
someone who can shoot and create rather and

458
00:28:52,359 --> 00:28:55,039
is a threat to score in general, where Alfred Payton is more so just

459
00:28:55,559 --> 00:28:59,119
a fairly good passer, that would
help Barrett too, just to alleviate the

460
00:28:59,119 --> 00:29:02,799
defensive attention that he's going to see
when he's on the ball. But I

461
00:29:02,839 --> 00:29:07,039
don't know. I'm saying this knowing
that I also don't know what the bigger

462
00:29:07,079 --> 00:29:11,200
swing could have been, just because
the point you can you could be more

463
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,279
transparent here. We all know that
the real desire is the unending, ceaseless

464
00:29:15,599 --> 00:29:18,799
want for frank na Tilakina to get
more minutes. Like that's why you're hating

465
00:29:18,799 --> 00:29:22,640
on the Alford Peyton. Well,
look, I'm already scheduling tweets for why

466
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,839
frank Nilikina is not getting minutes over
Dennis Smith Jr. Or Frank Nilikina is

467
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,480
not getting minutes over. I won't
say RJ. Barrett, that's actually mean

468
00:29:32,519 --> 00:29:34,640
Frank Laikina like is not getting minutes
over Jacob Evans or something at this point

469
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,880
because the Nicks have him. I
also thought, by the way, I

470
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,440
thought the Amari Spellman pick up was
just kind of interesting. I know you

471
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,599
said that he was one of the
what did you say to me he was?

472
00:29:44,799 --> 00:29:48,039
He played like one of the dumbest
players I've ever watched when he was

473
00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:51,440
with the Atlanta Hawks, and the
rumor was that he just they ended up

474
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:56,160
moving him because he wasn't picking up
the offense whatsoever and just like didn't get

475
00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,680
the play calling and didn't know where
he was supposed to be. He just

476
00:30:00,839 --> 00:30:03,640
intrigued me as someone who is moving
well in Golden State and then shot like

477
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,319
on Stan still jumpers a fairly high
clip, and then we just never really

478
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640
heard from him again in Minnesota's like, I just thought, like, these

479
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,519
were all just interesting moves. They
they're winners. I totally agree. I

480
00:30:15,559 --> 00:30:18,799
don't think that people should read into
them conserving cap space as oh, they're

481
00:30:18,799 --> 00:30:22,039
gonna be one of the favorites to
get a Janis or a Kauai or a

482
00:30:22,039 --> 00:30:26,519
Paul George or a Lebron in twenty
twenty one free agency. I think what

483
00:30:26,559 --> 00:30:30,200
they did here was smart. They
didn't sign anybody. You'll forget about the

484
00:30:30,279 --> 00:30:33,599
length of the deals. We know
Rivers has the non guaranteed on the final

485
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,759
two years. They just didn't sign
anyone who disrupts their timeline in any way

486
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,240
or who should take away from the
development of their youth. The weight is

487
00:30:41,319 --> 00:30:47,400
finally over. Football is back.
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488
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497
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Ultimately, this offseason, I found
that it's kind of hard to find many

498
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,759
losers, right, but I have. Maybe it's just because we've lowered the

499
00:31:32,759 --> 00:31:36,200
bar so much, but I do
have one, all right, unless you

500
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,160
want to go next? Is it
the ship? It is my turn?

501
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,559
But is it going to be a
shared loser anyway? Like we already kind

502
00:31:40,559 --> 00:31:42,960
of have like the met for Boston, Like did we call them a loser?

503
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,759
I think I'd probably classfy them as
a loser. I think it was

504
00:31:45,759 --> 00:31:48,799
gonna be Charlotte. I mean,
I think they're a loser. That's on

505
00:31:48,839 --> 00:31:51,839
who I was going to focus on. All right, So let's talk about

506
00:31:52,079 --> 00:31:55,319
touched on them before, but we
didn't really get into it. I understand

507
00:31:55,359 --> 00:31:59,200
that Gordon Hayward also isn't someone who
necessarily disrupts what LaMelo Ball is going to

508
00:31:59,279 --> 00:32:02,240
do. He should still plenty of
opportunity, But like you just didn't pay

509
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:07,519
Kemba Walker and then you decided to
pay Gordon Hayward, it just doesn't make

510
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:14,519
any sense to me and Kemba Walker
insofar as there's going to be fans allowed

511
00:32:14,519 --> 00:32:17,000
back in Arenas. Ever, he
puts more butts in the seats than Gordon

512
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,880
Hayward does. And just looking at
Gordon Hayward's injury history right now, four

513
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:23,640
years in one hundred twenty million minus
zero cents, you might have been able

514
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,960
to spend like three years, ninety
three years, even a hundred just to

515
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,720
get that length off of there.
And here's the problem. If it stays

516
00:32:31,759 --> 00:32:36,240
this way and this doesn't isn't gonna
help the optics much. If you have

517
00:32:36,359 --> 00:32:42,359
to wave and stretch what became one
of the worst contracts in the NBA to

518
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,920
make room for what people are already
deeming one of the worst contracts new worst

519
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,519
contracts in the NBA, that's a
real problem. And look, I don't

520
00:32:50,519 --> 00:32:52,720
necessarily care how you want to look
at it, Like but Tune being on

521
00:32:52,759 --> 00:32:54,519
the books effectively for nine million dollars
over the next three years. If it

522
00:32:54,559 --> 00:32:59,799
happens, you can look at that
like as paying Gordon Hayward thirty nine million

523
00:32:59,799 --> 00:33:02,720
dollars for the first three years of
his deal. There are also other ways

524
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,480
to spend. It was like,
if they had but to him, they

525
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,759
were still going to have to pay
him this year, so this season really

526
00:33:07,799 --> 00:33:09,359
count And it's like, well,
yeah, because if you're going to wave

527
00:33:09,359 --> 00:33:13,200
and stretch him anyway, like you
could have spent that money on smarter players

528
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,920
or doing different trades. And also
if you were going to wave and stretch

529
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,920
him, you might have had more
tap space to play with in general,

530
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,559
an addition to signing Gordon Hayward,
like you could have structured your off season

531
00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:24,759
differently. There. This is not
an original joke, but I laughed when

532
00:33:24,799 --> 00:33:29,799
I heard it. I was listening
to the dump Don pod and they said

533
00:33:29,839 --> 00:33:32,359
that the Hornets just seem like their
next move is going to be has to

534
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,759
sign Hassan Whiteside, like that seems
like it would be the perfect cap to

535
00:33:36,799 --> 00:33:38,359
their off season. And I don't
understand what they're doing. I know that,

536
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,880
as I say we've romanticized draft picks, we can romanticize the idea of

537
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,400
tanking. They weren't necessarily tanking by
being left alone, like you just drafted

538
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:51,359
LaMelo Ball And had you been able
to get Hayward and maybe at a reasonable

539
00:33:51,359 --> 00:33:54,160
price like you want or shorter contract, like if this was this never would

540
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,559
have been Denil Gallanari money. But
if it was Daniel Gallinari, like if

541
00:33:58,559 --> 00:34:00,240
you put him on this team,
him at that contract, I don't hate

542
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,640
it as much, and so I
think I get the sentiment of what they're

543
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,079
trying to do, unless that they're
actually think that they're trying to win next

544
00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:10,800
season, in which case that's just
absolutely absurd. But this was just not

545
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:15,440
the time to do it. You
needed to give yourself at least another year,

546
00:34:15,559 --> 00:34:17,800
let the Battoon contract come off the
books organically, and now you're just

547
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:22,639
saddled again, assuming it goes down
this way with this hit, I don't

548
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:27,519
understand the justification from there and at
all. And it's even if you like

549
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,519
the idea of Gordon Hayward paying one
hundred and twenty million dollars for someone who

550
00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:35,280
had as healthiest year last season but
was still dealing with health problems and just

551
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,519
when ever since he's come back from
that legg leg injury, and yes,

552
00:34:38,519 --> 00:34:42,960
it was devastating, like just hasn't
really been the same player when you're attacking

553
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,400
in space, Like, yes,
he can do more with higher usage,

554
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:46,320
I have no doubt about that.
Like you give him a bigger role,

555
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:50,320
he might do more. I don't
expect him to even come close to making

556
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,920
any sort of All Star team in
the East. On the Hornets, if

557
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,400
he's going to be their number one
or number two options. So I don't

558
00:34:55,519 --> 00:34:59,519
understand the logic here at all.
And I'm also wondering if because you have

559
00:34:59,599 --> 00:35:02,000
him, because you have Rosier and
now you have Lamello, if we're going

560
00:35:02,079 --> 00:35:07,159
to start hearing talk about, uh, DeVante Graham trades just because he's going

561
00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:09,840
to be a free agent next summer
and you've already paid Gordon Hayward, you

562
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:14,880
have LaMelo Ball. His cap isn't
it isn't exactly small. No, you

563
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,679
don't get rid of DeVante Graham because
you have Terry Rosier. But he's on

564
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:21,159
the books for you know, another
two years at basically eighteen and nineteen million

565
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,920
pop. So I'd keep an eye
on DeVante Graham's future in Charlotte, which

566
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:28,679
I would hazard is not going to
last very long. Agreed, Yeah,

567
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:34,559
I got the Charlotte off season got
off to a great start in my opinion.

568
00:35:34,559 --> 00:35:38,400
They drafted the two best guards from
the twenty twenty NBA draft and LaMelo

569
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,320
Ball a Grand Riller. You know, I had to get that in there.

570
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,639
I totally it's it's I forgive me
for not even mentioning Grand Riller.

571
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,800
That is my fault. I apologize, I was I was waiting because that

572
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,039
was such a marquee off season edition
that we should be really excited about and

573
00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:58,519
then just let it slip right by, so I had to. But yeah,

574
00:35:58,559 --> 00:36:01,679
I mean, it seemed like they
to have a good draft with LaMelo

575
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:06,119
Ball, with getting Grant Thriller that
late. Nick Richards is a guy who

576
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,679
a lot of a lot of analysts
who are who are more focused on the

577
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:13,360
numbers, really like Vernon Carey Jr. Might kind of be a dinosaur in

578
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,320
today's NBA, but he also does
have a tremendous amount of skill down low.

579
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:21,239
And they had so much cap space, and then the Hayward move,

580
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,079
it just that was it was just
so baffling, like the fact that Bismack

581
00:36:25,159 --> 00:36:30,679
Biombo was their biggest front court acquisition, given all of the cap space and

582
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:36,199
the glaring need that they had at
the five, especially with all of the

583
00:36:36,199 --> 00:36:38,960
guards that they've added, and just
this overloaded backcourt that, as you said,

584
00:36:39,079 --> 00:36:45,440
might require some sort of trade to
to unclear the long the log jam,

585
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:49,960
Like just why why was Gordon Hayward
the big play here? He doesn't

586
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,119
even fit the timeline of this roster, Like even if even if he works

587
00:36:53,159 --> 00:36:58,679
out and justifies that thirty million dollars
per year and does make an All Star

588
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,800
team or two. Okay, so
what like he's not elevating your ceiling high

589
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:06,760
enough to be anything more than like
maybe a second round playoff team in the

590
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,920
Eastern Conference. I would say he's
going to age out right. I would

591
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:15,239
say this season, like their ceiling
is one of the play in spots nine

592
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:16,920
or ten, Like I would be
shocked if they finished top eight in the

593
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:22,599
East. And remember they were pleasantly
surprising last year, but they outperformed,

594
00:37:22,679 --> 00:37:25,519
like like their win loss record outperformed
all of what the metrics said. They

595
00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:29,559
were bottom three in that rating.
I believe, like you know, LaMelo

596
00:37:29,639 --> 00:37:32,840
Ball is a project. He's not
a guy who's immediately going to come in

597
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,239
and light the league on fire.
His jumper needs significant work, he has

598
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:42,440
no idea what he's doing on defense. His passing vision is phenomenal, he

599
00:37:42,519 --> 00:37:47,079
still makes far too many mistakes when
he's controlling possessions like this is supposed to

600
00:37:47,119 --> 00:37:52,960
be a long term play. When
you acquire him and you're now just heaping

601
00:37:53,039 --> 00:37:58,039
pressure onto his shoulders because he's going
to be the face of the franchise.

602
00:37:58,119 --> 00:38:01,760
Even with Gordon Hayward there, but
hayward acquisition ensures that there are at least

603
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:06,960
some expectations to compete right away.
Just none of this made sense. Yeah,

604
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,320
and it's if you want shooting around
LaMelo Ball one, like I think

605
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,679
they had it like they had outlets, because DeVante Graham can shoot. Terry

606
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,239
Rozier is a phenomenal off ball shooter
pot well, and you could have signed

607
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:22,199
cheaper shooting. And it's not like
they know they don't have the most talented

608
00:38:22,199 --> 00:38:24,880
shot creators, but like so much
of their offense was okay last year at

609
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:30,400
points because DeVante Graham can create shots
and put pressure on defenses. And so

610
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,760
if you needed that second guy beside
LaMelo Ball, you had DeVante Graham.

611
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:37,000
I understand Gordon Hayward is better than
both of them, but at the money

612
00:38:37,079 --> 00:38:40,159
he's coming in at, it just
still doesn't doesn't make sense. And so

613
00:38:40,199 --> 00:38:45,440
I don't even think this is being
like oversimplified either, where sometimes maybe when

614
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,920
we cover the league nationally, we
get caught up in oh, he doesn't

615
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,119
fit the timeline, YadA, YadA, YadA. This was just like a

616
00:38:51,159 --> 00:38:58,320
bold, bare faced terrible move.
Yeah, So another another loser I want

617
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:02,519
to single out the Houston Rockets here
for a few reasons. One, most

618
00:39:02,639 --> 00:39:06,760
notably, you know, I'm looking
at a depth chart right now, and

619
00:39:07,079 --> 00:39:09,480
the starting point guard is still Russell
Westbrook and the starting shooting guard is still

620
00:39:09,519 --> 00:39:14,760
James Harton. You know, the
Rockets can say all they want about how

621
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:19,199
they are okay with it being uncomfortable, and they're still gonna run it back

622
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,679
with those guys. But like you've
already moved, Trevor Ris, a PJ.

623
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:27,239
Tucker trade is surely going to come
at some point. You're making it

624
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,239
very clear that you're ready for the
next era of Houston Rockets basketball. And

625
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:35,480
the fact that trades haven't been found
yet might mean the asking prices are a

626
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,159
little bit too high. That's a
problem in and of itself. Number two,

627
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:44,320
Christian Wood, who was phenomenal at
the end of the twenty nineteen twenty

628
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,800
season. And I am a believer
in Christian Wood's talent, but you still

629
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:53,239
go out and pay him a pretty
exorbitant contract that most notably the Pistons seemed

630
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:58,159
to have no interest in. Because
the Pistons have more insight into Christian Wood

631
00:39:58,199 --> 00:40:00,480
than any of us do. Because
not only did they see what he did

632
00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:05,079
when he was elevating his game,
but they saw everything leading up to it.

633
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:07,480
And if they weren't buying into that
to the extent that they signed all

634
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:12,400
these other big men and gave Jeremy
Grant so much money, then that might

635
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,559
be a risk that Houston shouldn't really
be taking, especially if it's still committed

636
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:20,760
to moving Harden and Westbrook one or
both, which it should be. Third,

637
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,039
you look at the other things that
they've lost. Darryl Morny, who

638
00:40:24,159 --> 00:40:30,119
has had a phenomenal early offseason with
the Philadelphia seventy six ers, just wheeling

639
00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:35,440
and dealing and bringing in a bunch
of shooting and putting a competent, coherent

640
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:39,360
roster around the Ben Simmons Joelmbad combination. That doesn't make you look any better

641
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:43,960
for failing to retain him. And
we also see Mike D'Antoni go latch on

642
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,960
with the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant
to Steve Nash, and that might not

643
00:40:47,039 --> 00:40:51,920
look good either. So just the
optics, the roster, the direction,

644
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,440
none of it has been good in
Houston. Yeah, I don't have a

645
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:59,679
problem with the Christian Wood contract.
Actually, I think Detroit should have paid

646
00:40:59,679 --> 00:41:01,639
that money to keep him. It
was fair value money under fifty million dollars

647
00:41:01,679 --> 00:41:05,960
a year annually for him seems like
that. And he's also he's twenty five,

648
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,119
so like, I don't think he
needs you need to get caught too,

649
00:41:07,119 --> 00:41:10,360
caught up in timeline with him.
And then he also liked the way

650
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:15,599
he plays. If the Rockets do
keep James Harden and still gravitate towards wanting

651
00:41:15,599 --> 00:41:19,400
to be like, you know,
super dynamic on offense, and I say

652
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,280
dynamic, let's say downsize, like
he's someone else. He could put the

653
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:23,920
ball on the floor, as my
point, like he's not just someone who

654
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:27,880
can shoot and space the floor and
make sure that they're five out or at

655
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,239
least four out at all times.
Like he can put the ball on the

656
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:32,280
floor and really do some stuff with
it, and he's comfortable getting through traffic.

657
00:41:32,559 --> 00:41:36,039
So I'm actually okay with that contract. And I thought it was a

658
00:41:36,039 --> 00:41:40,760
fairly smart move by them, which
might say something good about the future of

659
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:44,960
their front office under Raphael Stone.
But as long as Toby Friteetha is there,

660
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:49,519
like they're absolutely screwed. And the
Robert Comington, Trevor Ariza stuff,

661
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:53,320
like I get like the machinations of
like how that was used to, you

662
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:57,840
know, then help get Christian Wood. That's the stuff that makes me an

663
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,159
easy. And of course there's the
hardened thing like not really being able to

664
00:42:00,159 --> 00:42:04,519
figure that out and letting it get
to a point where he went from you

665
00:42:04,559 --> 00:42:08,880
know, plausibly eventually possibly whatever was
phrased as being unhappy to just flat out

666
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:14,039
unhappy. They're they're clearly losers because
of that, and I think, look,

667
00:42:14,079 --> 00:42:15,960
they're finding out their losers all over
againting that Westbrook deal just based on

668
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,880
the market. It's funny like amid
all this, like all the free agency

669
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:25,000
rooms are flying, then there's that
talk of Westbrook for Wall being started,

670
00:42:25,039 --> 00:42:28,920
and then Wall just like requests a
trade at the height of free agency,

671
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:31,159
and it felt like no one really
talked about it, like that's where we're

672
00:42:31,159 --> 00:42:34,639
really at. I actually do think
Wall, if he was healthy's a better

673
00:42:34,639 --> 00:42:38,480
fit for Houston's beside hard and anyway
that Russell Westbrook is one he lives to

674
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:42,119
pass. So if you're gonna move
Harden off the ball at all, why

675
00:42:42,159 --> 00:42:44,639
not have someone who lives to pass
do that? And then Wall has been

676
00:42:44,679 --> 00:42:47,920
shooting like thirty seven, thirty eight
percent on tench and shoot threes Over's past

677
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:52,800
three healthy seasons and Westbrooks has not. I'll just I'll put it that way,

678
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,119
but that was just like sort of
a fun aside. I'm with you

679
00:42:54,159 --> 00:42:57,840
though. Houston's a loser in the
macro, but they actually kind of have

680
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,559
like one nice deal as part of
all and I believe they're a plus one

681
00:43:01,679 --> 00:43:06,480
in first round picks this offseason,
which is big for them. I do.

682
00:43:06,639 --> 00:43:07,960
I do just want to be clear
that I'm not hating on the Christian

683
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:13,599
Wood contract. I do like it. I just I worry about the fact

684
00:43:13,599 --> 00:43:16,320
that Detroit made it painfully clear that
it was moving in a different direction.

685
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:21,599
And maybe that's just because the Pistons
don't know what they're doing, but like

686
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:27,400
they do have more information about him, and when we're dealing with a fifteen

687
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,519
game sample of star level play,
like I think that should matter. Just

688
00:43:30,599 --> 00:43:35,920
the fact that they weren't willing to
buy into the legitimacy of it, which

689
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:39,400
they clearly weren't because they could have
matched that contract. Yeah, No,

690
00:43:39,559 --> 00:43:44,079
I totally get that. I have
two I'm going to loop them together because

691
00:43:44,079 --> 00:43:46,679
I feel like there and there's also
an obvious loser that we haven't quite mentioned

692
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,519
yet, and I'm sure we'll get
to. But because they're like I don't

693
00:43:50,519 --> 00:43:52,920
want to say they're baby winners,
but they didn't like necessarily hit home runs.

694
00:43:53,679 --> 00:43:58,000
One I'm going to throw out there
is the Utah Jazz. I think

695
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:00,559
we're smaller time winners. People are
going to kill the Jordan Clarkson contract.

696
00:44:00,639 --> 00:44:06,800
He was just so unbelievably important to
their bench last season, really valuable to

697
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:08,239
what they do right, And then
I think this was just a case of

698
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:12,599
you know, we saw it with
even Marcus Morris with the Clippers, like

699
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,280
you're worried about these guys leaving and
if they're able to leverage like the Hawks

700
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,199
or the Knicks, like into conversations
at all or Detroit at one point,

701
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:22,519
like you don't want them to leave. And I actually think showing a willingness

702
00:44:22,559 --> 00:44:25,800
to spend on Jordan Clarkson bodes well
for the future of the franchise and how

703
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:30,599
they're going to work with the you
know, the ownership change. But I

704
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,599
like to bringing back Derek Favors as
well, because now you've just decided,

705
00:44:34,639 --> 00:44:37,239
like you know what, we're not
going to have any net negative center minutes

706
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:40,840
anymore. And that's that's fantastic because
their defense absolutely cratered last season with Rudy

707
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,400
Gobert off the floor. I believe
team shot a preposterously high sixty seven point

708
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:50,719
five percent at the rim when Gobert
was at the floor. I think it's

709
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:54,440
also important to mention Udoka as a
bookie here because even as a second round

710
00:44:54,440 --> 00:45:00,800
pick, he is a really good, game changing caliber defender who does a

711
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,079
lot of the same things that Rudy
Gobert does. Just if he is going

712
00:45:04,119 --> 00:45:07,239
to be able to even play eight
to ten minutes per game and provide that

713
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:12,199
same suffocating around the rim defense,
maybe without as much switchability as you'd get

714
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:15,000
from Derek Favors or Rudy Gobert.
That plays into the same notion that the

715
00:45:15,079 --> 00:45:19,039
Jazz just are not willing to have
a defensive drop off at any point in

716
00:45:19,079 --> 00:45:21,760
the game. And yeah, so
I liked that they did that there he

717
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:23,000
was and Derrick Favors when he was
healthy last year, Like we kind of

718
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,719
saw peter out towards the end of
the season, and that's the risk you

719
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:30,440
take there, but I like it. Even look, you have Donovan Mitchell

720
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:34,679
locked up. I believe he did
get his player option on the fifth year,

721
00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:37,880
which is normally that's a concession players
tend to give up. But I

722
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,320
guess they have more levers than ever. But look, you have him locked

723
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:44,880
down. I think that's the important
He's more important in their future than Rudy

724
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:45,920
Gobert. And I'm not trying to
pit them against one another right now,

725
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,960
that's just a fact. And the
other team that I thought did well was

726
00:45:50,079 --> 00:45:53,039
Dallas the I really like the Josh
Richardson trade, and I love Seth Curry,

727
00:45:53,079 --> 00:45:58,199
who might be one of the more
underrated defenders in the league. Not

728
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,360
even just his effort leftl like he
can put full pressure on the ball even

729
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:04,719
if he is a bit undersize and
matchups. But Josh Richardson can defend one

730
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:07,760
through four. And he is so
much better on offense than he showed last

731
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,360
season before he left Miami, Like
he kind of showed that he could,

732
00:46:10,519 --> 00:46:13,760
you know, put the ball on
the floor and hit some off the dribble

733
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,079
jumpers, so that that's something He's
not going to be that second playmaking outlet

734
00:46:17,119 --> 00:46:22,880
for Don Chich necessarily shot created whatever
you want to call it, but he

735
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:25,440
can help there. And you got
Trey Burke at a reasonable number. It

736
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:29,719
does because they had the third year
and they couldn't do the bi annual exception

737
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:31,199
with him. Like that kind of
blue if you want to get into the

738
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:37,039
catmanusha of that. But I still
kind of like that he had an absurdly

739
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:40,239
scorching hot eight game stint with them. I think he played with eight games

740
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,679
in the bubble for them, if
I'm not mistaken. And then he went

741
00:46:43,679 --> 00:46:47,320
off in the playoffs as well,
So I think that signing was justifiable,

742
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:51,199
and then bringing Willie Calli's time back. I was happy they didn't go and

743
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,719
spend their entire mid level on a
big People kept saying like, we'll go

744
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:57,159
after this, and like, oh, Thomson got the mid level, why

745
00:46:57,159 --> 00:47:00,000
woul't you go to Dallas? Like, look, maybe you think Christops just

746
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,000
won't be healthy to start the year. Maybe I think he comes back in

747
00:47:01,039 --> 00:47:06,360
January. He sucks. You paid
Kristaps Porzingis and you also have while he

748
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:10,239
probably won't play next season, Dwight
Powell on the books for not insignificant money.

749
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:14,199
And so if you already have let's
say around forty million dollars committed to

750
00:47:14,199 --> 00:47:16,280
those two, I don't want to
see you spending any major money on a

751
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:20,719
big and then I think they kind
of like the James Johnson getting him,

752
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:23,119
like now, that gives you this
bigger contract too. You got off the

753
00:47:23,119 --> 00:47:25,760
final year of Dellen rights deal,
which is big if you want to chase

754
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:29,760
twenty twenty one free agents. They
also did that, by the way,

755
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,239
with the Steth Curry trade, because
Richardson as a player option, no one

756
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:36,880
expects him to pick up. But
James Johnson now is a bigger contract that

757
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,559
they can use to flip in a
trade this season and take back more money

758
00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:42,960
if the right players out there,
and they can do the mix of assets.

759
00:47:43,159 --> 00:47:45,360
But let me take you to my
favorite move that they made this offseason.

760
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:50,719
I am a Wesson one dude guy. I'm actually surprised that the Magic

761
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:53,079
they even look at bringing him back
on a qualifying offer. They signed Dwayne

762
00:47:53,079 --> 00:47:57,679
Bacon instead, which is I think
that's a like fine, but like,

763
00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:01,559
why did you have Dwayne Bacon instead
of West of one due? And Bacon

764
00:48:01,679 --> 00:48:05,480
lack some of the sizzle of a
one dude You could say, nice,

765
00:48:06,159 --> 00:48:08,920
nice, nicely done, but like
a one due is he's at least can

766
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:13,000
hold up positionally on defense, and
I think people are being a little too

767
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,039
critical of his jump shot and what
he can do on offense. He's pretty

768
00:48:15,119 --> 00:48:17,639
quick when he's turning our corner.
Yes, I was watching West and One

769
00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:22,960
Dude tape at some point during this
offseason. He's pretty comfortable shooting off the

770
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:23,960
dribble, though he's not going to
be the quickest while he's doing it.

771
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:30,039
And he shot forty two plus percent
from three from January first onward last season,

772
00:48:30,079 --> 00:48:32,320
I believe, And so there's something
there, and for the Mavericks to

773
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:37,239
take a flyer on it on for
their part a cheap cost, I think

774
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:38,440
that ends up being a really good
move for them, And so I think

775
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:45,280
their offseason was something that's been like
understatedly good. Would I would agree.

776
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,679
They have a ton of depth across
the board, and you know, as

777
00:48:47,679 --> 00:48:52,599
you kind of alluded to, all
of these moves do nothing to impede twenty

778
00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:54,920
twenty one free agency pursuits. They
have a lot of movable deals, They

779
00:48:54,920 --> 00:49:00,079
have a lot of new contracts that
are either expiring or have player options as

780
00:49:00,079 --> 00:49:02,360
you said, that are expected to
be declined. And they still have Luca

781
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:07,920
don Chit and Christops Porzingis. So
if this team asserts itself as a premier

782
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:12,599
squad in the Western Conference, which
it is fully capable of doing. As

783
00:49:12,599 --> 00:49:15,960
we saw when everyone was healthy last
year. This is already a team that

784
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:21,920
can compete for homeboart advantage in the
opening round in the remarkably deep Western Conference.

785
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,400
They're going to be really appealing in
free agency next year when everyone is

786
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:30,400
hitting the market. And that's the
biggest thing is you know that they are

787
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:37,440
successfully straddling the two timelines with these
moves there. They're furthering their their competition

788
00:49:37,519 --> 00:49:42,199
level for this coming season and they
are doing nothing to hinder their future pursuits.

789
00:49:43,119 --> 00:49:45,679
Yeah, that hit on all fronts
and I didn't even speak to that.

790
00:49:45,679 --> 00:49:47,199
They're appeal and free agency I would
assume was going to be real.

791
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:52,199
Just looking at what Luca Luca is
like, you would think it was already

792
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:54,400
growing after this, coming after this
past season, just because of what Luca

793
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:58,360
was able to do as a sophomore. I mean, the youngest player ever

794
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:00,360
to finish was at top three in
the VP voting or top five, I

795
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:04,199
can't remember. There's too much key
track of right now, it's hard to

796
00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:07,840
remember. But the youngest player ever
to finish in the top five of MVP

797
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:09,559
voting yeah, there you go.
But now it's going to be validated this

798
00:50:09,639 --> 00:50:14,400
year, and I think that only
that only leads to even more appeal.

799
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:17,960
And the imagine if Christopsporzincis is actually
good for them like that goes. I

800
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:21,679
don't know that players necessarily think in
these terms, but if they look at

801
00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:25,320
him and don't see this net negative
asset over the next three years looking ahead

802
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:30,599
to next summer, that's actually super
huge for Dallas. I am trying to

803
00:50:30,639 --> 00:50:34,519
wrap my head around who you think
is the obvious loser that we haven't mentioned

804
00:50:34,599 --> 00:50:37,400
yet, And the two that are
coming to mind are either the Denver Nuggets

805
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:44,679
just because they lost Jeremy Grant,
they did bring back Paul Millsap and Jamichael

806
00:50:44,719 --> 00:50:50,719
Green in his place. They added
Fecunda Compozzo's another terrific European passer, but

807
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,760
they don't seem like they seem more
like their treading water or maybe taking a

808
00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:59,039
slight step backwards than big obvious losers. Or maybe the Milwaukee Bucks just because

809
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:05,760
of how the pursuit of Bogdon Bogdanovitch
was just absolutely butchered, leading to tampering

810
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:09,039
investigations and all of a sudden flipping
what seemed like a move that was sure

811
00:51:09,079 --> 00:51:14,119
to bring Jannison a Dakompo back into
like, Oh no, what's actually happening

812
00:51:14,119 --> 00:51:17,599
here? These were Those were not
my teams, but those were teams I

813
00:51:17,639 --> 00:51:21,599
wanted to ask you about. What
would you classify them as. Let's start

814
00:51:21,639 --> 00:51:23,679
with Denver. I think you said
they tread water. My guests would be

815
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:28,679
a slight step back book here.
It's more acceptable when you have Michael Porter

816
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:34,000
Junior and bull Ball on your roster
because you have so much internal development potential

817
00:51:34,039 --> 00:51:37,119
that you could afford to take like
slight steps back in the name department.

818
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,159
I would agree, yes, And
I actually like the RJ. Hampton pick

819
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:45,000
up for them, just knowing that
they're investing in their immediate player development even

820
00:51:45,039 --> 00:51:47,519
though they're really good now, Like, that's actually really cool to see.

821
00:51:47,559 --> 00:51:51,480
And I'm a I'm a pretty I
wouldn't say pretty big, but I think

822
00:51:51,559 --> 00:51:54,280
RJ. Hampton has a chance to
be good, right, especially on a

823
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:59,039
really good developmental team like the Nuggets. And they were prepared to pay Jeremy

824
00:51:59,039 --> 00:52:00,480
Grant. They offered him the same
contract he left on his own accord.

825
00:52:00,599 --> 00:52:05,199
That matters in the context, But
I and the Jamichael Green hiding by the

826
00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:07,880
way was fantastic. Like that was
you know, people were saying they need

827
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:12,079
to sign another big. I would
have said that no matter what he got

828
00:52:12,119 --> 00:52:15,960
or where he went, though that
is trip yes, to be transparent,

829
00:52:15,079 --> 00:52:20,440
But like between millsap Yo Kitchen and
Jamichael Green and Michael Porter Junior, your

830
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:22,079
four or five rotation and bull ball, let your four or five rotation be

831
00:52:22,119 --> 00:52:25,480
that. Maybe I understand want to
get like a cheap other veteran big in

832
00:52:25,519 --> 00:52:29,440
there, but like Ja, Michael
Green and Paul millsapp can get you by

833
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:31,840
for backup five minutes. I think
what I'm concerned about and why you can

834
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:36,280
argue they lost, is that the
road to the finals for them is going

835
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:39,519
to lead through some combination of Luka, Don Chich, Lebron, James Kawhi,

836
00:52:39,679 --> 00:52:43,679
Leonard, Paul George. They don't
have James Harden if he's still in

837
00:52:43,719 --> 00:52:46,960
Houston. They don't have anyone to
defend most of those guys anymore. You

838
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:51,679
want to throw Gary Harris on James
Harden, fine, you want to throw

839
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:54,079
Paul Millsapp on maybe he get by
with him and Lebron James, but you're

840
00:52:54,119 --> 00:53:00,280
looking at a Kawhi Leonard or Paul
George, like, you lost your two

841
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:02,920
best shots at that in Tory Craig
and Jeremy Grant. I think that's why

842
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:07,719
you can argue their their losers.
And I'm kind of disappointed that they signed

843
00:53:07,840 --> 00:53:10,400
like camp Poso one. It's a
patently unfair that he's that he and Yokis

844
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:14,559
are on the same team. But
I really like Monte Morris, and I

845
00:53:14,599 --> 00:53:16,480
don't know what this says about his
future in Denver, And I would question,

846
00:53:16,519 --> 00:53:20,000
like, can we see like what
camp Pozo actually does. His passing

847
00:53:20,039 --> 00:53:22,800
will be fine in the NBA,
but like his when you go look at

848
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,840
his three point splits overseas like he's
never been the most efficient shooter or even

849
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:30,199
inside the like a finisher, So
how does that translate? I think it

850
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:34,599
was an okay gamble, but and
they probably they made that deal I think

851
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:37,360
way before they knew what was going
on with Jeremy Grant, or at least

852
00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:40,079
semi before it, So I totally
understand that. But I like Monte Morris

853
00:53:40,119 --> 00:53:44,000
better than Kamposo at this point,
so we'll have to see how that works

854
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:45,800
out. I think you can.
I think they took a step back,

855
00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:47,480
though, I really do. I
think they might actually be a better regular

856
00:53:47,519 --> 00:53:52,199
season team just because Jabal Murray might
be so much better that they can go

857
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:55,599
nuclear during the regular season, and
they're just they're not suited for playoff success.

858
00:53:55,639 --> 00:53:58,559
I guess it is the best way
for me to flame it compared to

859
00:53:58,599 --> 00:54:00,800
how they were last year when they
had bull, when they had Grant specifically,

860
00:54:00,840 --> 00:54:04,800
but even Tory Craig, Where do
you land on Milwaukee unless you had

861
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:07,559
a rebuttal on Denver? Sorry,
no, I think that's all fair.

862
00:54:07,599 --> 00:54:09,280
I mean, you know, I'm
a huge Monte Morris fan. I wish

863
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:14,320
that he would get more minutes and
more opportunities in Denver. We have found

864
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,880
our Monte Morris common grounds. We're
here. I'm glad that we got there.

865
00:54:19,039 --> 00:54:21,159
It took a while for you to
accept that he's an all star talent,

866
00:54:21,159 --> 00:54:23,039
but I'm glad that we got there. With Milwaukee, you know,

867
00:54:23,079 --> 00:54:30,599
I'm I really like their offseason,
and I would like it more had they

868
00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:37,079
not butchered the Bogdanovitch stuff. If
you if you take if you take that

869
00:54:37,119 --> 00:54:40,079
out of the equation, if that
never happens, then we're talking about them

870
00:54:40,079 --> 00:54:45,119
as winners, you know, like
the Pat Connaughton deal. Is not a

871
00:54:45,159 --> 00:54:47,320
good one. He was definitely a
negative while they were on the court.

872
00:54:47,519 --> 00:54:52,239
But like the depth that they added
with Bobby Portius, with Bryn Forbes,

873
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:57,800
with DJ Augustine, with Tory Craig, like those are all useful pieces.

874
00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:02,760
They give Mike Budenholtzer even more of
free rein to not have to play Jannis

875
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:07,480
for more than twenty two minutes per
game, which you know is undoubtedly a

876
00:55:07,559 --> 00:55:15,880
positive. So it's it's weird just
because the Bogdanovitch optics messed with everything,

877
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:20,239
but had that not happened, and
the big coup of the off season,

878
00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:23,960
of course, was was getting Drew
Holiday, who is an absolutely ideal fit

879
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:29,440
next to Jannis, next to Chris
Middleton, next to Dante DiVincenzo, who

880
00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:32,039
they've now retained. You know,
where he's going to be at mentally is

881
00:55:32,039 --> 00:55:37,239
going to be interesting. After almost
included in the Bogdanovitch. There's no way,

882
00:55:37,519 --> 00:55:39,400
sorry, there's no way he finishes
the season on this roster. It

883
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:43,960
feels like Dante DiVincenzo and a salary
filler is going to be used to get

884
00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:45,559
them something at mid season. But
yeah, there's that's like, that's a

885
00:55:45,599 --> 00:55:50,719
little awkward. Most likely. But
yeah, like I think if you just

886
00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:54,280
look at the roster now compared to
what it was going into the off season,

887
00:55:55,039 --> 00:55:59,199
the Bucks's upgrading. They got better. They are more of a legitimate

888
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:05,519
threat to not just be a regular
season juggernaut, but a legitimate postseason contender

889
00:56:05,599 --> 00:56:08,000
that could very well win a championship
this year. I know we said that

890
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:12,639
each of the last two years,
but it feels truer than ever at this

891
00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:16,920
juncture. But the Bogdanovich optics messed
with everything. So the way I look

892
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:20,280
at it is, had the butt
down of a trade gone through, they

893
00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:22,239
would have had a roster or at
least outlook where it seems like they would

894
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:27,599
have conceded regular season wins in the
name of just being better students to navigate

895
00:56:27,639 --> 00:56:30,480
the playoffs. I don't think that
they're much better students to navigate the playoffs,

896
00:56:30,519 --> 00:56:32,719
and they were last season, which
is why I think you could argue

897
00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:37,480
they're a TVD because if this,
if what they did gets you honest to

898
00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:42,000
sign the Supermax, then they're winners. There's clear cut winners. But what's

899
00:56:42,039 --> 00:56:45,559
TBD about them is one they made
this investment in Drew Holiday, is he

900
00:56:45,599 --> 00:56:47,800
going to stick around beyond next season. He has that player officer for twenty

901
00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:51,480
twenty one. You assume that they're
prepared to pay them otherwise, why trade

902
00:56:51,519 --> 00:56:54,360
for him? Will he stick around? There's the Yannest Supermax that decisions a

903
00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:57,320
huge part of it as well.
But like I just look at some of

904
00:56:57,320 --> 00:57:01,440
these moves and DJ august like,
I guess he's an upgrade for you or

905
00:57:01,679 --> 00:57:05,079
helps you. First of all,
he's not an upgrade over George Hill,

906
00:57:05,119 --> 00:57:08,000
so like I actually no, but
his shooting kind of fell off last season.

907
00:57:08,039 --> 00:57:10,920
He'll have more space in Milwaukee.
I don't necessarily think he helps you

908
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:14,679
in the postseason, though George Hill
would help you more there. Obviously,

909
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:16,639
you give up George Hill in a
trade for Drew Holiday, That's not what

910
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:20,559
I'm marguming against. Actually, like
Brent Forbes better for them than I do

911
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:24,000
DJ Augustine, And so to give
DJ Augustine that three year deal that was

912
00:57:24,119 --> 00:57:28,719
a little bit questionable to me.
I will say Pat Connaughton is alarmingly important

913
00:57:28,719 --> 00:57:31,239
to this roster, which is definitely
a problem because they don't have like the

914
00:57:31,239 --> 00:57:35,920
wing depth on defense beyond their starting
lineup still, and that was the issue

915
00:57:36,039 --> 00:57:39,920
kind of last season. To lose
Wesley Matthews now is big. Tory Craig

916
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:44,000
is a nice pickup, but he
can be a shooting liability on the floor

917
00:57:44,039 --> 00:57:45,400
unless he's going to shoot, you
know, thirty three percent from three.

918
00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:49,719
How long can you actually play him. I don't know if they're any worse.

919
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:53,000
They're in't like that Nugget situation to
me, where I don't think actually

920
00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:57,599
where they're TBD. I would argue
it's tough to say they took a step

921
00:57:57,599 --> 00:58:00,800
back just because Drew Holiday is so
much better than and Eric Blaze, and

922
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:02,840
I think that's an important thing here, But it's not clear cut in the

923
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:08,559
sense that they were winners this offseason
that still want the Janna Supermax. That

924
00:58:08,599 --> 00:58:12,440
has a lot to do with it, but that Magdanovitch deal. Had that

925
00:58:12,519 --> 00:58:15,199
gone through, it would have been
more easier to like them. I do

926
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:17,039
think that they rebounded in a good
way though, Like as you said,

927
00:58:17,039 --> 00:58:22,280
like Bobby portis train wreck on defense. If he's gonna put the ball on

928
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:23,880
the floor, he's not going to
pass it ever, but he can at

929
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:27,559
least hit threes if he's going to
be open. And so now you preserve

930
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:30,559
that's basing and again you've mentioned all
the other ones, so they're in the

931
00:58:30,559 --> 00:58:36,800
TBD territory for me, which kind
of sucks. I would say, after

932
00:58:36,840 --> 00:58:40,800
a Drew Holidays, right right,
right, not ideal. There were three

933
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:45,440
other minor winners that I wanted to
just run through quickly before we do your

934
00:58:45,480 --> 00:58:47,800
big loser, that's all right,
and just and just see where you landed

935
00:58:47,840 --> 00:58:52,199
on them. Yeah, hit me
with him. The Lakers. You know,

936
00:58:52,199 --> 00:58:55,000
I don't think that I was gonna
say that season as good as the

937
00:58:55,119 --> 00:59:01,480
names would indicate Montrez Harrold, Dennis
Shrewd, Wesley Matthews, as as the

938
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:09,559
big additions, they're probably better regular
season players than playoff options for this team,

939
00:59:09,559 --> 00:59:14,639
which isn't great when it's a championship
contender, but just the added depth

940
00:59:14,719 --> 00:59:17,559
is important for a team that wants
to keep Anthony Davis and Lebron James healthy.

941
00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:22,199
So I don't think they're as big
winners as the names would indicate and

942
00:59:22,239 --> 00:59:24,840
as their fans want to believe,
but I do think they still qualify as

943
00:59:24,840 --> 00:59:29,880
winners. See, I was gonna
say the winner is the Lakers Clippers rivalry,

944
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:32,880
because this is absolutely hysterical. The
Clippers starting center is currently Zubats,

945
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:37,880
who they took from the Lakers for
nothing, and then now the Lakers have

946
00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:39,679
Harold, who it seems like the
clippersn't necessarily want, but it's just hysterical

947
00:59:39,719 --> 00:59:45,000
that he wins six Men of the
Year and they ostensibly let him walk across

948
00:59:45,039 --> 00:59:49,000
the hall, so to speak.
So I'm with you the talent, the

949
00:59:49,079 --> 00:59:52,000
value that they got in everyone they
signed. Looking at the Wesley Matthews deal

950
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:57,440
the Harold deal, of course you
make like that basically it's two years at

951
00:59:57,440 --> 01:00:00,000
most at the mid level, Like
that's a good value for what Harold brings

952
01:00:00,039 --> 01:00:06,119
you. Even Marc Gasol obviously getting
him for essentially the minimum, like that's

953
01:00:06,119 --> 01:00:07,760
a huge deal as well. I
just don't know if they're the best fits

954
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:09,679
for this roster, and I would
have liked to have seen them, you

955
01:00:09,719 --> 01:00:13,199
know, Mark Keith Morris coming back
is big for them, but they got

956
01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:17,199
to a situation where they couldn't afford
to even think about losing KCP after trading

957
01:00:17,199 --> 01:00:21,400
away Danny Green, so it feels
like they need like another three and D

958
01:00:21,519 --> 01:00:23,039
wing type. But I'm with you
that you could look at the value they

959
01:00:23,039 --> 01:00:27,039
gotten all these deals. If you
tell me, Dennis Shrewder is seventy five

960
01:00:27,079 --> 01:00:29,719
percent of the player he was last
season. They end up having a mega,

961
01:00:29,800 --> 01:00:34,239
huge off season. Agreed number two. I think they're more of real

962
01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:37,039
winners than minor winners, and that's
the Portland Trail Blazers. The biggest move

963
01:00:37,159 --> 01:00:42,519
was making the deal for Robert Covington
with the Houston Rockets, but they also

964
01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:46,400
made an intriguing upside flyer with Harry
Giles. The third Ennis Canter played really

965
01:00:46,400 --> 01:00:50,480
well for them in the playoffs when
he was there in twenty eighteen nineteen.

966
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:53,559
Carmelo Anthony was a good fit both
on and off the court, so him

967
01:00:53,559 --> 01:00:58,320
coming back on a minimum contract is
a good thing. You're retaining Gary Trent

968
01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:01,440
j You're adding Derek Jones, and
you still have Rodney Hood Like these are

969
01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:07,000
all These are all good moves that
I think kind of validate Portland's belief that

970
01:01:07,039 --> 01:01:09,960
it can be more than just this
middling team. I agree with everything you

971
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:14,239
say on the Blazers. I really
like the Covington trade, the Hood contract.

972
01:01:15,079 --> 01:01:17,039
I think that's a nice return play
for them. He was shooting fifty

973
01:01:17,079 --> 01:01:21,440
plus percent on catching shoot threes when
he got injured last year. Worse comes

974
01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:23,639
to worse. I do believe he
has an implicit no trade since they resigned

975
01:01:23,679 --> 01:01:28,400
him using bird rights on a one
year deal with an option that is a

976
01:01:28,440 --> 01:01:30,960
salary. You can move though in
a trade if you need to match salary

977
01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:32,960
should he agree to it. And
then I really like the Harry Gisle signing.

978
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:36,599
As you already mentioned, you even
have more. I won't say I

979
01:01:36,639 --> 01:01:39,480
don't want to crap all over a
sun Whiteside, but like you have better

980
01:01:39,519 --> 01:01:43,840
fitting backup, big play and as
Canner. Now, if you know Narkitch

981
01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:45,760
needs to be off the floor,
you don't want to put Collins at the

982
01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:47,800
five revenues Giles. So I really
like what Portland did too, even bringing

983
01:01:47,800 --> 01:01:51,039
Mellow back, I'm okay with I
know people were kind of bent out of

984
01:01:51,039 --> 01:01:53,599
shape. Yeah, if you're gonna
tell me that he's playing over Gary Trent

985
01:01:53,679 --> 01:01:58,519
Junior or you know, Robert Covington
and closing time, I get it.

986
01:01:58,559 --> 01:02:01,840
But I'm not going to be bent
out of shape less like depending on I

987
01:02:01,840 --> 01:02:04,920
think you're built to play matchups now, is what I'm saying. If you're

988
01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:07,079
gonna close with Derrik Jones Junior,
sometimes that's fine. If you're gonna close

989
01:02:07,119 --> 01:02:10,000
with Mellow sometimes I think that's fine
too, you don't want to be one

990
01:02:10,039 --> 01:02:13,960
size fits all, and I think
the Blazers have kind of built out their

991
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:15,760
wing rotation to a point where they
just have a ton of options. Yep.

992
01:02:16,559 --> 01:02:21,639
My third minor winner is the Toronto
Raptors, which might seem like a

993
01:02:21,679 --> 01:02:24,800
weird thing to say about a team
that lost Sergebaca and Mark Gasol to free

994
01:02:24,840 --> 01:02:29,639
agency, but the Fred Van Vleet
contract is a great one. I loved

995
01:02:29,719 --> 01:02:32,760
the draft pick of Malachi Flynn,
and then they made a number of good

996
01:02:32,920 --> 01:02:37,639
under the radar additions. Chris Bouche, who I know you love, Aaron

997
01:02:37,679 --> 01:02:42,039
Baynes, who is a solid veteran
big man who's never going to demand too

998
01:02:42,039 --> 01:02:46,440
many touches, who's gonna set tough
screens for everybody. But I don't know

999
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:50,360
whether he or Kyle Lowry is going
to set tougher screens this coming season.

1000
01:02:50,639 --> 01:02:54,639
Alex lenn is a good depth big
DeAndre Bembery feels like a really good Raptors

1001
01:02:54,679 --> 01:02:59,480
style player where he's not going to
do anything glamorous, but you know that

1002
01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:00,960
he's going to work hard on both
ends. He's going to use his speed

1003
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:05,039
to his advantage. He can turn
the corner. He just feels like someone

1004
01:03:05,119 --> 01:03:08,199
that that Nick Nurse is going to
get something out of This team continues to

1005
01:03:08,199 --> 01:03:15,079
be really deep and still have top
level talents. I'm that's pretty bold to

1006
01:03:15,079 --> 01:03:20,159
call them a winner. It feels
like a bummer that four of their players

1007
01:03:20,239 --> 01:03:22,559
over the past two years, Daddy
Green, gasaal Obaka, and Kwai Leonard

1008
01:03:22,639 --> 01:03:27,880
left Toronto for the Los Angeles teams. But they weren't definitive losers, I

1009
01:03:27,920 --> 01:03:30,760
would say in an off season where
they lost Gassoul and Abaka, neither of

1010
01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:35,079
whom was particularly important to the big
picture. But I am interested that you

1011
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:38,599
call them winners. That's definitely an
intriguing slant to take. We missed on

1012
01:03:39,000 --> 01:03:42,880
We've covered them in depth, so
I'll mention them and we can move on.

1013
01:03:42,920 --> 01:03:45,320
Phoenix was a big winner this offseason. I wasn't I view that more

1014
01:03:45,320 --> 01:03:49,800
as trades than than oh. I
was gonna say, getting Jay Crowder was

1015
01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:52,360
big, Resigning Dario Saris, like
this roster's built, getting Javon carter Back,

1016
01:03:52,519 --> 01:03:57,039
keeping Cameron Payne. All those moves
matter to me. Even Eaton Moore,

1017
01:03:57,039 --> 01:04:00,199
I view is a nice ddition.
The move that I was actually like

1018
01:04:00,719 --> 01:04:04,880
that my least favorite move of their
of theirs was draft and Joe and Smith.

1019
01:04:04,880 --> 01:04:08,079
I thought there was different directions that
they should have gone in that spot.

1020
01:04:08,400 --> 01:04:11,599
Still, they're kind of clear winners
the loot. I wanted to ask

1021
01:04:11,599 --> 01:04:14,039
you about two teams. One is
my clear loser I'll get to and then

1022
01:04:14,119 --> 01:04:17,760
where do you land on Philly This
offseason, I think they won their their

1023
01:04:17,800 --> 01:04:24,079
winners for sure. They moved the
Al Horford contract. They added so much

1024
01:04:24,119 --> 01:04:29,280
more shooting around the Simmons and b
duo in Seth Curry, in Isaiah Joe

1025
01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:34,679
and Danny Green. Bringing back Mike
Scott, Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley are

1026
01:04:34,719 --> 01:04:39,800
interesting depth pieces at center. Like
this is this is a really good roster.

1027
01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:45,840
Now we're even on Minnesota. I
was not a fan of their off

1028
01:04:45,840 --> 01:04:49,320
season in general, mostly because they
invested the number one pick and Anthony Edwards,

1029
01:04:49,320 --> 01:04:53,719
who, as we have firmly established, I don't think is going to

1030
01:04:53,719 --> 01:04:59,639
be a particularly great NBA player.
That the investments in in Juan Hernan Gomez

1031
01:04:59,719 --> 01:05:04,920
and Malik Beasley are are interesting given
how much wing presence they already have.

1032
01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:11,280
Moving to acquire Ricky Rubio might make
things easier for others, but it's also

1033
01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:14,320
going to take the ball out of
the hands of De'angelo Russell, which is

1034
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:16,400
where he's best. It's going to
take the ball away from Karl Anthony Towns,

1035
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:19,320
It's going to take the ball away
from Anthony Edwards. I feel like

1036
01:05:19,360 --> 01:05:26,000
Minnesota is pursuing names at the expense
of cohesion right now. Yeah, they're

1037
01:05:26,079 --> 01:05:29,199
losers to me because sixty million dollars
from Malik Beasley feels like a whole lot

1038
01:05:29,199 --> 01:05:31,719
of money. And I liked the
Ricky Rubio pickup. I think that actually

1039
01:05:31,880 --> 01:05:35,079
gives you someone who could defend in
the backcourt. You can get De'angelo Russell

1040
01:05:35,519 --> 01:05:40,199
running off the ball a little bit
more, obviously having two years left,

1041
01:05:40,199 --> 01:05:42,840
and you're worry about how he fits
with Jared colvern at the Edwards being there.

1042
01:05:42,840 --> 01:05:45,559
But I actually didn't mind that play
by then, and I don't really

1043
01:05:45,960 --> 01:05:47,159
I don't really mind the one.
Hernan Gomez guy, like, I don't

1044
01:05:47,159 --> 01:05:49,719
think he's necessarily going to turn into
anything. But at three years and I

1045
01:05:49,719 --> 01:05:54,000
think it was twenty one million dollars, that's not too big of a deal.

1046
01:05:54,039 --> 01:05:58,159
It's the Malik Beasley one is the
more unsettling move for me. My

1047
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:00,760
Actually, I'll go ahead. I
was gonna say about Ribio. I co

1048
01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:05,639
own a team in a multi sport
fantasy league where we have the four major

1049
01:06:05,679 --> 01:06:11,440
men's leagues in US sports, and
we're trying to decide if Ricky Rubio is

1050
01:06:11,480 --> 01:06:15,079
a keeper at four dollars, and
it was difficult enough when he was still

1051
01:06:15,079 --> 01:06:15,760
in Phoenix, and then he went
to the Thunder and it was like,

1052
01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:19,119
Okay, he's gonna get opportunities.
And now he's in Minnesota with an unclear

1053
01:06:19,239 --> 01:06:26,440
role. So that's I'm I'm upset
about where he's gone for that reason too.

1054
01:06:27,599 --> 01:06:31,000
That's a good all right, fair
enough my obvious Oh last last team,

1055
01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:33,800
I'm actually gonna ask you, war
what did you think of Miami's offseason

1056
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:40,960
so far? Goran Dragic was a
great retention for them, you know,

1057
01:06:41,039 --> 01:06:45,480
Jimmy Butler made it especially clear how
much he wanted drag back, and he

1058
01:06:45,559 --> 01:06:48,400
got him. But it kind of
feels like they've they've just flown under the

1059
01:06:48,480 --> 01:06:54,679
radar while maybe over prioritizing their cap
space for next season, Like I don't

1060
01:06:54,719 --> 01:06:58,559
think that Avery Bradley is a game
changing acquisition, and you're putting an awful

1061
01:06:58,599 --> 01:07:04,119
lot of faith in continued growth from
BAM Adebayo and from Tyler Hero if if

1062
01:07:04,159 --> 01:07:06,760
you want to continue being a title
contender. I don't know that they did

1063
01:07:06,840 --> 01:07:12,679
anything to bolster their position or even
maintain it. Yeah, the thing for

1064
01:07:12,760 --> 01:07:15,920
me letting Jay Crowder go like it
feels like maybe he just wanted the you

1065
01:07:15,960 --> 01:07:19,039
know, the three years, but
they could have basically given him like a

1066
01:07:19,159 --> 01:07:24,559
one year, eighteen or twenty million
dollar deal. He feels like a big

1067
01:07:24,639 --> 01:07:29,039
loss to me, And particularly when
you're not adding someone who gives you as

1068
01:07:29,159 --> 01:07:31,159
much. Here's the word, you
love optionality on offense, like Mo Harkless

1069
01:07:31,239 --> 01:07:33,280
is solid, but he can't put
the ball on the floor and you you

1070
01:07:33,360 --> 01:07:36,320
know, maybe he'll hit his three
is. I know Crowder's topsy turvy,

1071
01:07:36,360 --> 01:07:40,880
but he's at least someone who's a
little bit more reliable and definitely higher volume

1072
01:07:41,239 --> 01:07:44,679
than a heartless and you know,
drags back that was a great move.

1073
01:07:44,840 --> 01:07:48,239
And I'm just wondering, is Tyler
it still feels like they need another like

1074
01:07:48,400 --> 01:07:51,119
ball handler shock creator and it's not
gonna be able to Bradley, which means

1075
01:07:51,119 --> 01:07:56,039
that you meet, you believe it's
gonna be Tyler Hero almost immediately my one

1076
01:07:56,199 --> 01:07:58,880
loser that we didn't really talk about
the moves that they made were fine,

1077
01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:01,840
but the Warriors are huge losers.
The Clay Thompson injury, we have not

1078
01:08:01,960 --> 01:08:08,280
podcasted since it happens like that is
just absolutely monstrous. I'm not among the

1079
01:08:08,360 --> 01:08:13,239
people that think that they should blow
it up, but this has huge implications

1080
01:08:13,519 --> 01:08:15,159
on their future, and so I'm
curious. One I think you're with me.

1081
01:08:16,439 --> 01:08:21,279
The Ubre acquisition, signing campaigns more. The brad Wanamaker one I actually

1082
01:08:21,319 --> 01:08:25,520
really love is probably my favorite move
that they've made the draft, and James

1083
01:08:25,600 --> 01:08:29,560
Wiseman that that was fine too.
I just feel uneasy. I would still

1084
01:08:29,560 --> 01:08:32,159
pick them to make the playoffs if
everyone remains healthy, but like this might

1085
01:08:32,239 --> 01:08:36,680
be the last we've seen of the
title contending Warriors as we were expected to

1086
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:41,520
know them, and that's a huge
loss to me. Here's my thing is

1087
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:45,920
that I don't want to call them
losers because injuries are ultimately beyond their control.

1088
01:08:46,439 --> 01:08:50,079
Like I just I don't feel comfortable
labeling them as a loser because one

1089
01:08:50,079 --> 01:08:54,520
of their star players got hurt.
I think that, if anything, I

1090
01:08:54,560 --> 01:08:57,760
would say that they're a winner because
they navigated that well. You know,

1091
01:08:57,920 --> 01:09:01,720
the Ubre trade was a net positive
for them. I really liked the fact

1092
01:09:01,760 --> 01:09:05,279
that they did end up drafting James
Wiseman, who I think is a really

1093
01:09:05,359 --> 01:09:11,399
good fit there instead of moving that
pick for a veteran or instead of going

1094
01:09:11,439 --> 01:09:15,479
a different direction with like LaMelo Ball
and the signings that you mentioned Brad Wanamaker

1095
01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:18,760
in particular, Like, I do
think that that just adds more depth to

1096
01:09:18,840 --> 01:09:24,159
this roster, which should have a
healthy Steph Curry. They're probably going to

1097
01:09:24,239 --> 01:09:29,239
continue trying to make a move based
around Andrew Wiggins's massive contract. Whether that's

1098
01:09:29,279 --> 01:09:32,520
going to come to fruition is to
be determined. But I think if the

1099
01:09:32,600 --> 01:09:36,920
only reason we're calling them a loser
is because Clay Thompson unfortunately has an achilles

1100
01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:42,079
injury one year after the ACL tear, that the rest of their off season,

1101
01:09:42,199 --> 01:09:45,239
they did the best that they could
with it, fair enough, Would

1102
01:09:45,319 --> 01:09:48,359
you if you're them, as the
final question, would you trade for James

1103
01:09:48,439 --> 01:09:51,119
Harden if that deal? If the
deal is available to you, would you

1104
01:09:51,199 --> 01:09:56,159
trade for James Harden? I would? I wouldn't think that. Have we

1105
01:09:56,239 --> 01:09:58,680
talked about it in an episode before? Was it just on the side I

1106
01:09:58,720 --> 01:10:01,920
can't remember now because I wrote about
it, so I can't remember the exact

1107
01:10:02,039 --> 01:10:03,920
deal that I came up with.
I'll bring it now as we're talking,

1108
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:08,960
but we were talking about whether it
would make any sense, and I think

1109
01:10:09,039 --> 01:10:10,920
it. I think it kind of
does. The deal would have to look

1110
01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:15,279
something like Kavon Looney, Eric Pascal, Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman, Minnesota's

1111
01:10:15,279 --> 01:10:18,520
twenty twenty one first round pick,
a twenty twenty two first round swap,

1112
01:10:18,640 --> 01:10:23,159
a twenty twenty four first round pick, a twenty twenty five first round swap,

1113
01:10:23,560 --> 01:10:26,279
and a twenty twenty six first round
pick, and I have him getting

1114
01:10:26,319 --> 01:10:29,439
both Harden and Tucker. If Houston
won't give you Tucker in that deal,

1115
01:10:29,439 --> 01:10:32,359
I think you haggle over whether you
can take Pascal out of that deal,

1116
01:10:32,560 --> 01:10:35,359
but those were the terms. If
I were the Warriors, I would do

1117
01:10:35,479 --> 01:10:38,439
it. That's an awful lot to
give up. But like I think so

1118
01:10:38,640 --> 01:10:44,399
too, Like Steph has shown with
the Kevin Durant era in Golden State that

1119
01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:46,640
he is willing to alter his playing
style to best fit those who are around

1120
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:50,199
him. He's an elite off ball
weapon. You know, taking the ball

1121
01:10:50,239 --> 01:10:55,279
out of his hands isn't necessarily ideal, but he can do that. And

1122
01:10:55,640 --> 01:10:58,800
ultimately, like if you're a golden
State. You have to view what the

1123
01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:04,119
title window is and act accordingly.
And this isn't a roster that is set

1124
01:11:04,199 --> 01:11:10,760
up to kind of straddle contention now
and future growth, especially knowing that Thompson

1125
01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:14,720
probably isn't going to be his old
self when he comes back from these injuries.

1126
01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:17,479
You know, he relied so much
on those quick lateral movements and moving

1127
01:11:17,520 --> 01:11:21,359
off the ball and staying in front
of guys on defense. Like that's that's

1128
01:11:21,720 --> 01:11:27,720
unlikely to be retained in full coming
off both an acl injury and an Achilles

1129
01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:31,000
injury on opposite legs. So like, if you if you have an the

1130
01:11:31,119 --> 01:11:36,119
opportunity to add another top five player, you do it, especially knowing that

1131
01:11:36,199 --> 01:11:40,399
he could be a good fit.
I have zero to add there. This

1132
01:11:40,640 --> 01:11:44,199
was fun. Did we miss anything? Leave a team off where we just

1133
01:11:44,319 --> 01:11:46,640
completely flat out wrong and you disagree
with us, feel free to hit us

1134
01:11:46,680 --> 01:11:50,439
on Twitter at Framo zero nine is
Adam, I'm at Dan Valley fa v

1135
01:11:50,640 --> 01:11:57,159
Ali Please please pretty please but sugar
on top. Remember to subscribe and download

1136
01:11:57,199 --> 01:12:00,199
to this podcast wherever you're consuming your
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1137
01:12:00,239 --> 01:12:03,319
head over iTunes search hardware knocks,
throw us a five star rating and

1138
01:12:03,439 --> 01:12:08,319
write a review. Those help us
out Aton and we really appreciate them.

1139
01:12:08,680 --> 01:12:11,600
Until next time, We'll leave you
with the shout out too, the future

1140
01:12:12,239 --> 01:12:21,720
NBA's best starting back court of Grant
Riller and LaMelo Ball. Nobody builds five

1141
01:12:21,800 --> 01:12:27,199
G like Verizon builds five G because
we're the engineers who built the most reliable

1142
01:12:27,239 --> 01:12:30,359
network in America. And the more
you do with five G, the more

1143
01:12:30,439 --> 01:12:33,840
building it right matters, the more
your network matters, The more Verizon engineers

1144
01:12:33,880 --> 01:12:40,399
going the extra mile matters. It's
us pushing us. It's Verizon versus Verizon

1145
01:12:40,920 --> 01:12:45,520
five G built right from America's most
reliable network, most reliable based on rankings

1146
01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:48,079
from Metrics second half twenty twenty US
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1147
01:12:48,159 --> 01:12:49,520
vary. Award is on an endorsement