Speaker 1: Next on the Drive, Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your
Speaker 1: NBA daily assists.
Speaker 2: Van McMahon. Van McMahan added dud in all the land
Speaker 2: Texas flood As tickets Mud, He's man, Van McMahon, Ban
Speaker 2: mcman the man Man.
Speaker 3: Day two NBA Free Agency.
Speaker 4: Nothing today regarding the Utah Jazz, at least officially, but
Speaker 4: my goodness, a lot of movement, a lot of movement.
Speaker 4: Our next guest joins us on a weekly basis Who
Speaker 4: Collective ESPN Our Guide Tim McMahon, Tim, Happy Tuesday, man.
Speaker 3: How are we doing.
Speaker 1: All right? How about you?
Speaker 4: We're good, We're good. I guess we found out where
Speaker 4: the market is for Colin Sexton is yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That I would say was a rather underwhelming trade
Speaker 1: for the Jazz, having to give up the second round
Speaker 1: pick along with Colin Seconton to get a big man
Speaker 1: who's bounced around to leave less than ideal. But I
Speaker 1: do think that it accomplishes a couple of goals for
Speaker 1: the Jazz, and that would be one to open up
Speaker 1: minutes for their young guards and two to put a
Speaker 1: products on the floor next year that's going to protect
Speaker 1: their top eight protected pick.
Speaker 4: And in addition they essentially waved Jordan Clarkson. It was
Speaker 4: technically a buyout, and the buyout saved the Jazz a
Speaker 4: little bit of cash. And then Jordan, according to you
Speaker 4: guys over at ESPN, plans to sign with the Knicks
Speaker 4: when he clears waivers. And for the past couple of years,
Speaker 4: everybody around here loves him, as you know, but he's
Speaker 4: just not the player that he was when he won
Speaker 4: six Man of the Year under Quinn because where none
Speaker 4: of us are as young as we used to be.
Speaker 4: So your thoughts on the decision to move on from
Speaker 4: Jordan Clarkson, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And look, man, you know Clarkson had to basically sit
Speaker 1: out last season. Yeah, I think that it was the
Speaker 1: right thing to do to let him get to a
Speaker 1: competitive situation. Clearly, if there was a robust trademarkt for him,
Speaker 1: he would have been gone already. So instead of letting
Speaker 1: that drag out, they let him go before free agencing
Speaker 1: got started, and he found a home in New York.
Speaker 1: And it's the first clutch client to go to the
Speaker 1: Knicks in quite some time. Honestly, if there's a surprise involved,
Speaker 1: it's if the Knicks took on a clutch client. But
Speaker 1: hopefully Clarkson can go there, and obviously I'll have a
Speaker 1: limited role off the bench, butit hopefully can give him
Speaker 1: a little jolt of some offense off the bench. And
Speaker 1: it's a good situation for all involved. But him sticking
Speaker 1: around in Utah for another years didn't make sense for anybody.
Speaker 3: You have an accurate frame of reference.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: It's interesting because Jordan is the longest tenured jazz man
Speaker 4: and the only holdover from the Dennis Lindsay when Snyder group,
Speaker 4: and it seems like throughout this four year pivot rebuild,
Speaker 4: you know, wins and losses, it's the worst that it's
Speaker 4: ever been around here. He's kind of been the locker
Speaker 4: room vibe guy. It feels like a lot of people
Speaker 4: are actually pretty sad to see him go. Do you
Speaker 4: have any context or frame of reference for what he's
Speaker 4: meant to that organization?
Speaker 1: I mean, finally, somebody who's interacted with Jordan Clarkson who
Speaker 1: doesn't like the guy, Sure, yeah, you know, like I mean,
Speaker 1: he's just he vibes is the right word. And he's
Speaker 1: also part of the one of the funnier Will Hardy
Speaker 1: stories that I can recall, and that's you know, Will
Speaker 1: Hardy comes in. Obviously it's his first head coaching job,
Speaker 1: and he's got some base schools that he wants to instill,
Speaker 1: and one of those rules is no jewelry a practice.
Speaker 1: And then Jordan Clarkson shows up and he's got diamonds
Speaker 1: embedded in his teeth, and you know, Will had to
Speaker 1: kind of think about that and it's like, is that jewelry?
Speaker 1: Is that a violation of the rule, And then he
Speaker 1: just decided not to enforce no jewelry practice real quite
Speaker 1: as hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's it's just been interesting to see, you know,
Speaker 4: the social reaction and talk to a lot of people
Speaker 4: that kind of felt like this was the end of
Speaker 4: an era because he was the only holdover. But it's
Speaker 4: been a minute since we've had you on, so we
Speaker 4: get to talk to you about a couple of different
Speaker 4: jazz topics that have already gone down, and that is, namely,
Speaker 4: Ace Bailey was the selection at five and you know
Speaker 4: a lot of reporting and I certainly can't coroborate any
Speaker 4: of it that maybe Ace's camp did not prefer. Utah,
Speaker 4: there was a and we had your buddy Tim Bontemps
Speaker 4: on yesterday, so we unpacked this stuff. There was a
Speaker 4: report from Tim and others at ESPN that his camp
Speaker 4: had told somebody in the top five not to draft him.
Speaker 4: Clearly it wasn't the Jazz. I thought, Brad, actually, we'll
Speaker 4: get to wal Clayton Junior in a minute. But Austin ainge,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, I kind of like, I don't
Speaker 4: know if this is the dynamic, but whether or not
Speaker 4: East wanted to be here, Austin just said, well, we
Speaker 4: think you're the best player, so we're taking you. He
Speaker 4: reported on time, he could not have been better for
Speaker 4: the pressure, and he is ready to go. So your
Speaker 4: thoughts on the Jazz taking at five, I mean.
Speaker 1: Listen, the indications certainly were that he would prefer to
Speaker 1: go to Washington. He he did not send out the
Speaker 1: message that he was he was good, was going to Utah.
Speaker 1: I think the communication after the pick was very spotty,
Speaker 1: to put it politely, for a little bit there. But
Speaker 1: to your point, he showed up, he showed up ready
Speaker 1: to work, and it seems to me that he's gotten
Speaker 1: over wanting to kind of choose his destination in the draft,
Speaker 1: which is just not the way the draft works. He's
Speaker 1: going to get plenty like listen. If he wants to
Speaker 1: be a star, he's going to have that opportunity in Utah.
Speaker 1: There's going to be plenty of opportunity for him, you know,
Speaker 1: to get shots, to have the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: you know, to be developed, and so you know, life
Speaker 1: could be a lot worse. I think this is actually
Speaker 1: a really good situation for him, and you know he's not.
Speaker 1: He didn't show up pouting. He didn't show up whining
Speaker 1: and crying or anything of that. Like I said, seems
Speaker 1: like whatever disappointment there might have been on his end,
Speaker 1: he got over it. And he showed up ready to
Speaker 1: go to work and ready to be a pro. And
Speaker 1: that's all he can ask. You know. I think at
Speaker 1: some point he's going to have to really consider who
Speaker 1: he's listening to for advice and what their credentials are.
Speaker 1: It's it's very easy to be a teenage kid and
Speaker 1: had the wrong people in your ear and get steered
Speaker 1: down the wrong path. So hopefully he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to evaluate that and make some clear headed decisions
Speaker 1: about what voices he's valuing that are in his ear
Speaker 1: and move forward. But hey, showed up ready to go
Speaker 1: to work and looking forward to seeing him and sat
Speaker 1: Lake City somebody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good point about the reps.
Speaker 4: And I've been very adamant to remind the listeners that
Speaker 4: this is an eighteen year old young man who is
Speaker 4: surrounded by people who appear to have never done this
Speaker 4: job before, so they're also learning on the fly. One
Speaker 4: follow up, have you been able to kind of learn
Speaker 4: the reasoning that he canceled all of his workouts? I mean,
Speaker 4: typically your antenna goes up and you think, Okay, he's
Speaker 4: been promised, and then he cancels Philly and you're like, wait,
Speaker 4: he hasn't been promised at one or two. So maybe
Speaker 4: Washington did have their eyes on him, and maybe they
Speaker 4: take him at six if the Jazz don't take him
Speaker 4: at five. But have you been able to learn why
Speaker 4: he's canceled all of his workouts?
Speaker 1: I don't have direct information that I can tell you.
Speaker 1: The belief throughout the league is that he wanted to
Speaker 1: go to Washington, and Washington wanted him to go there, gotcha,
Speaker 1: So you know, take that for what it's worth. Like
Speaker 1: I said, I can't sit here and tell you absolutely
Speaker 1: positively that's one hundred percent true. I can just tell
Speaker 1: you that's what people around the league believe to be true.
Speaker 4: So I'm a little conflicted here because if walk and
Speaker 4: by the way, it's Walt, he told us as an
Speaker 4: introductory press conference, it's not Walter.
Speaker 3: He wants us to call him Walt, So I'll call
Speaker 3: him what he wants us to call him.
Speaker 4: Like if Austin Ainge and the Jazz staff identified him
Speaker 4: as their guy, go get him.
Speaker 3: I have no issue with it.
Speaker 4: Then you think, okay, you traded twenty one and three
Speaker 4: second rounders to only move up three spots, which is
Speaker 4: not nothing. But again, if he's the guy, go get him, right,
Speaker 4: So your thoughts on the trade they executed to go
Speaker 4: draft Wall Clayton Junior.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if they're right, you're not gonna worry
Speaker 1: about the second round picks down the road. And they
Speaker 1: really like this guy, and you know, I mean it's
Speaker 1: funny because in a lot of ways, he's the polar
Speaker 1: opposite of Ace Bailey in terms of a prospect. You know,
Speaker 1: Ace Bailey is all about roth talent and potential, and
Speaker 1: he was this, you know, like five star recruit coming out,
Speaker 1: was pegged as a top lottery pick. You know, when
Speaker 1: he's sixteen years old and all those kinds of things
Speaker 1: where old Walt, you know, he's a guy who he
Speaker 1: went to Sienna and he got screamed at by a
Speaker 1: Patino for a couple of years. Came off the benches
Speaker 1: freshman year. You know, I had to earn a starting
Speaker 1: spot there. Patino leaves, transfers to Florida. You know, four
Speaker 1: year guy, a total winner in college where obviously you know,
Speaker 1: Rutgers with with Bailey and Harper didn't win last year,
Speaker 1: won a championship at Florida, you know, comes comes to
Speaker 1: Utah obviously much more mature, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: just older, more mature, more experience, an adult, a proven
Speaker 1: winner who doesn't necessarily have that jump off the page,
Speaker 1: you know, the measurables, the athleticism, all that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But there's there are you know, I've seen him compared
Speaker 1: to Brunson. Not not identical as players, certainly, but in
Speaker 1: terms of some of the background stuff, very similar.
Speaker 4: All right, I'm not going to ask you about spehe
Speaker 4: Makay Luke's contract being picked up, So let's move over
Speaker 4: to what could be next for the Jazz And the
Speaker 4: one name that I think everybody's honed in on now
Speaker 4: is John Collins with a twenty six point five million
Speaker 4: dollar expiring deal. It was not expiring last year, it
Speaker 4: is now. And you know, there's an argument to be
Speaker 4: made that the season he had last year may have
Speaker 4: been his best as a pro, or maybe second to
Speaker 4: the season he had before he's got his big contract.
Speaker 3: And I don't know, Tim.
Speaker 4: I feel like every time I pull up some sort
Speaker 4: of rumor site or see a tweet regarding the Jazz
Speaker 4: potential next move, it lands on John any inside on
Speaker 4: what could be next there.
Speaker 1: Well, he is certainly available in the trade market, but
Speaker 1: so was Collin Sexton. Obviously Clarkson was for a while.
Speaker 1: I don't know that he would be a buyout candidate,
Speaker 1: but you know, it would make sense if there's nothing
Speaker 1: that is appealing in the trade market. I did, and
Speaker 1: you know, look could be traded. I don't think you're
Speaker 1: going to get a significant hole in return. If that
Speaker 1: was okay, she probably would have already had happened, or
Speaker 1: it would have happened midway through last season. But you know, certainly,
Speaker 1: I think we all understand that where the Jazz are
Speaker 1: and they're rebuild, where Collins is in his career, that
Speaker 1: Collins being in Utah this year probably isn't in anybody's
Speaker 1: best interest.
Speaker 4: Well said, all right, we can move off the jazz.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about some Western Conference teams that have really,
Speaker 4: in my estimation, done an excellent job of I don't know,
Speaker 4: closing the gap between themselves and Okay, so you're just
Speaker 4: taking a step forward. So I'm just going to ask
Speaker 4: you about a team and I just want your thoughts.
Speaker 4: Let's start with the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously starting with a KD trade that that was
Speaker 1: a big swing, a win now move that that's a
Speaker 1: move you make that said, hey, we're serious about contending
Speaker 1: right now. They were able to do it without really
Speaker 1: shortening their runaway all you know, Jamn Green got moved
Speaker 1: in the trade, but he's probably fourth, fifth, sixth in
Speaker 1: terms of the young guys that were most important the
Speaker 1: future of the franchise. And then I'll be honest with that,
Speaker 1: the Capella thing kind of caught me off guard. They
Speaker 1: want to be able to have two bigs available at
Speaker 1: all times, and obviously Steven Madison to miss some time.
Speaker 1: Finney Smith. Though, here's the thing. The Rockets both went
Speaker 1: out and drastically upgraded the go to guy they got
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame go to guy, and they also
Speaker 1: leaned into the style of play that they want that big,
Speaker 1: just nasty, rough, physical defense, rebound and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, bringing in Phinney Smith, bringing in Capella. So
Speaker 1: I think they're the second best team in the Western Conference.
Speaker 4: That's actually where I was gonna ask you, because Vegas
Speaker 4: has them as two now.
Speaker 3: But you answered it.
Speaker 4: So let's move on and let me let me ask
Speaker 4: you about what the Nuggets are doing and just coming
Speaker 4: across the wires. They've added another rotational piece. And I
Speaker 4: don't know that I'm a huge Tim Hardaway junior guy,
Speaker 4: but you could do worse for like your ninth or
Speaker 4: tenth man. But what do you make of the way
Speaker 4: they've gone about their off season so far?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I really liked what they did in terms of
Speaker 1: like the short term with Michael Porter junior, trading him
Speaker 1: for Cam Johnson. Now, but twenty thirty two pick could
Speaker 1: end up being a steep price. That's a steep price
Speaker 1: after Jokers prime. To me, you got a comfortable player,
Speaker 1: it's not an upgrade, probably a more versatile, well rounded player,
Speaker 1: and you saved a ton of money, which created flexibility
Speaker 1: and then you know, I thought they might just try
Speaker 1: to dust the tax, but they brought him. You know
Speaker 1: Valu Tunas today. You know Hardley's a minimum guy, but
Speaker 1: you know Bruce Brown coming back to the minimum. I
Speaker 1: mean those are between Valentunas, Bruce Brown and Hardaway. Those
Speaker 1: are three proven bets for the bench. And if you know,
Speaker 1: if one of the young guys like plays Hardway have
Speaker 1: a spot in rotation, great, but if not, you know,
Speaker 1: the volume movement shooters around jokers not a bad thing
Speaker 1: to have, all right.
Speaker 4: Not a jazz story, but a local story is Dame
Speaker 4: Lillard players played his college ball up north of Weaver State,
Speaker 4: and you know, when you see the news, the optics
Speaker 4: are like, wait, how do you cut Dame Lillard?
Speaker 3: How do you cut Damian Lillard?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 4: And then optically, that's not a great look for who
Speaker 4: Dame is historically is a Hall of Fame player. But
Speaker 4: he will get his money and he will decide where
Speaker 4: the either the final or the next stands of his
Speaker 4: NBA career will take place. As a result of the
Speaker 4: deal that Milwaukee made to stretch him, they bring in
Speaker 4: Miles Turner, which is an interesting dynamic because, as you know,
Speaker 4: the Bucks and the Pacers aren't necessarily the best of friends.
Speaker 4: So what do you make of how Milwaukee went about this.
Speaker 1: Massive blow to the Indiana Pacers. Obviously, I get the
Speaker 1: fit of Turner with the honest Turner, basically a younger
Speaker 1: Springer version of Brook Lopez. I understand like the logic
Speaker 1: behind the wave and stretch with Dame. He's going to
Speaker 1: miss all next season. You don't know what he's going
Speaker 1: to be when he comes back. Tell like, who that
Speaker 1: man paying a guy one hundred and thirteen million dollars
Speaker 1: to go away? That's who. That's tough. And basically the
Speaker 1: Dame trade ended up being a disaster for Milwaukee. You know,
Speaker 1: they're still out draft capital in the future. It didn't
Speaker 1: produce a single Playoff series victory, and now he's on
Speaker 1: their books for the next five years at twenty two
Speaker 1: and a half million per I get it. I don't
Speaker 1: think that bringing them Miles Turner just vaults the Bucks
Speaker 1: in the contender status and he, like is Kevin Porter
Speaker 1: junior starting point guard? They still got something to figure
Speaker 1: out there. I'm not sure what that answer is going
Speaker 1: to be, but they're going to need a better answer
Speaker 1: than that, And as far as Dan goes like, it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's a little smudge on his resume, but
Speaker 1: if he never scores another point, he's a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: and for him, he gets his money. And it's not
Speaker 1: like he wanted to be in Milwaukee. He'd made the
Speaker 1: best of a situation he did not want to be in.
Speaker 1: So now he gets to choose his next spot, and
Speaker 1: he gets to choose, you know, probably does he want
Speaker 1: to sign with somebody this year in a two year
Speaker 1: deal and rehab under their watch, or does he want
Speaker 1: to kind of play it out, rehab on his own
Speaker 1: and be able to evaluate the situation. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: he's in late this season or next summer. So my
Speaker 1: understanding is Dame is not heartbroken about this development.
Speaker 4: Only because I've been asked ten times today and I
Speaker 4: believe the answer is emphatically no, because I don't think
Speaker 4: it makes sense for either side. But every time anybody
Speaker 4: with a local tie who is good becomes available, a
Speaker 4: lot of people out here says, Okay, the jaz should
Speaker 4: go get him. There's not anything that makes sense about
Speaker 4: Dame Lillard to the Jazz, right.
Speaker 1: The Jazz just bought out Jordan Clarks and then traded
Speaker 1: Colin Section for I'm not very good player to open
Speaker 1: up minutes for these young guards that they've drafted. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that really doesn't First of all, forget about
Speaker 1: it making sense for the Jazz. How does that make
Speaker 1: sense for Damian Lillard. It doesn't like there's one thing
Speaker 1: he really wants to do that's won a championship at
Speaker 1: this point in his career. And I don't think coming
Speaker 1: to Utah as they're in a rebuild would be a
Speaker 1: very good route to that.
Speaker 4: I just needed the Tim mcman approval for my opinion,
Speaker 4: so I appreciate that. You know, a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 4: maybe a month ago, we were discussing just the potential
Speaker 4: of Collin Sexton to Dallas because they needed a guard
Speaker 4: while Kyrie got healthy. Well, they went a different direction.
Speaker 4: The Angelo Russell was the decision. And it's not a
Speaker 4: bad value play, you know, because he's not going to
Speaker 4: be a long term answer. But I'm going to find
Speaker 4: this team really interesting this year. So I will ask
Speaker 4: you about what this transaction says to you and what
Speaker 4: you're expecting from the MAVs this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think with Sexton is look, the Hornets
Speaker 1: had a salary of that size. They did not mind
Speaker 1: at all parting with the Maddens. Wanted to keep all
Speaker 1: the guys who were at that sort of a number.
Speaker 1: So that's where that got u. You a wonky and
Speaker 1: Dan Tel Russell. Look, Dangel on a MAX that he's
Speaker 1: been on is a disaster. I mean, it's a terrible
Speaker 1: value tax payer mid level. Okay, you know he's a
Speaker 1: flawed player. He's not really a point guard. He's more
Speaker 1: of a league guard. They're going to give Cooper Flag
Speaker 1: every opportunity to prove that he can handle a lot
Speaker 1: of the point duties as a rookie. And you know, basically,
Speaker 1: Daniel Russell his jobs to come in to get buckets
Speaker 1: in the starting lineups the first half the season and
Speaker 1: then hopefully transition to a six man role when Kyrie
Speaker 1: comes back. You know, it's it is a little tough
Speaker 1: to make the Mantra Defense Wings championships kind of your
Speaker 1: repeat line as a general manager. And then your most
Speaker 1: significant move of the off season, aside from drafting he
Speaker 1: a defending number one overall, is signing D'Angel Russell. But again,
Speaker 1: this is a team that they needed shooting, They needed playmaking.
Speaker 1: You know, they need a guy who can create his
Speaker 1: own shot, and Deangel Russell can do all those things
Speaker 1: that they at a price point where you're not going
Speaker 1: to get at all. You know, if he was a
Speaker 1: really good defender, he wouldn't be available at that price point.
Speaker 4: I'm going to ask you about Lebron because I feel obligated,
Speaker 4: But it's just kind of a weird story to understand
Speaker 4: as far as how this thing is playing out. He
Speaker 4: picked up his option fifty two point six, but he's
Speaker 4: also monitoring what the Lakers do, contemplating his future. According
Speaker 4: to several reports, I just feel like Lebron will be
Speaker 4: playing for the Lakers next year next to Luka Doncic,
Speaker 4: but they've got work to do via free agency that
Speaker 4: they have not come close to being able to execute.
Speaker 4: I don't know how much of this is new ownership,
Speaker 4: but what's the what's the take on the Lebron Lakers stuff?
Speaker 1: Well, and Rich Paul went on the record with a
Speaker 1: bear like subject to interpretation type of statement, but you know,
Speaker 1: essentially indicating them, Hey, Lebron's opting in for the money
Speaker 1: and we'll figure out if he really wants to be there.
Speaker 1: But they understand, crazing the guy making fifty two point
Speaker 1: six million dollars to his preferred destination is not easy,
Speaker 1: or in a lot of situations is not even really possible,
Speaker 1: but in part because if you're going to trade a
Speaker 1: guy at that salary, a lot of guys gonna have
Speaker 1: to come back, and then it might not be a
Speaker 1: situation you want to be a part of anymore. There
Speaker 1: are people around the league who are like, is Lebron
Speaker 1: trying to bully his way to a buyout from the Lakers,
Speaker 1: And if you're sitting in rob to Lincoln jingie Bus's chair,
Speaker 1: the answer to that is just sorry, No, we're paying
Speaker 1: the fifty two point six million dollars. You'll be playing
Speaker 1: basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers this year, really looking
Speaker 1: forward to it, and that we're doing our best upgrade
Speaker 1: the Ross. Sure, i'll see you when training camp starts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's kind of how I read it as well.
Speaker 4: All right, before I say you lose, you know, it
Speaker 4: was interesting because Quinn had Nikill Alexander Walker here and
Speaker 4: didn't play him, and it felt like when he had opportunities,
Speaker 4: like Quinn just preferred Royce and I wasn't you know,
Speaker 4: I wasn't entirely on board with it, but Quinn's the
Speaker 4: coach and he knows more than I do. Well, he'll
Speaker 4: have another opportunity to get to know him a little
Speaker 4: bit and maybe it'll work out differently because he had
Speaker 4: a great stretch in Minnesota. Luke Canard, in addition to
Speaker 4: Kristaps porzingis the East is wide open and the Atlanta
Speaker 4: Hawks might have something to say about it.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, I had completely forgotten that
Speaker 1: Quinn very briefly had Nikhil Alexander Walker in Utah. That
Speaker 1: is interesting. I'm totally forgot about that. Obviously, Royce O'Neill
Speaker 1: was a proven commodity with somebody who'd earned Quinn's trust,
Speaker 1: and the circumstances are much different because Alexander Walker has
Speaker 1: proved himself as a high level role player, not just
Speaker 1: a three and D guy, but a guy who can
Speaker 1: you know, make some plays off the dribble, you know, initiate,
Speaker 1: facilitate some and clearly was quite valued by the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he's coming in six two million
Speaker 1: over four years, and I agree with you. I think
Speaker 1: the Hawks have had a heck of a summer in
Speaker 1: a wide open Eastern Conference. I think they are the
Speaker 1: most improved team. I think they've positioned themselves to, you know,
Speaker 1: potentially have home court advantage in the first round. And
Speaker 1: you know, you know, we can talk about the Knicks
Speaker 1: and the and the Calves. Is the favorites in the
Speaker 1: East going in the next year, but it's wide open
Speaker 1: and the Hawks are one of the teams. I think
Speaker 1: it positioned themselves to be in the mix.
Speaker 4: Damn, you're the man. Keep up the great work. It's
Speaker 4: been a fun couple of days. Have a good week
Speaker 4: and on chat soon appreciate you. Brother McMahon covers the
Speaker 4: NBA for ESPN and he is their jazz guy. When
Speaker 4: the Jazz are in a different spot than they are
Speaker 4: right now, how we just how about we just say
Speaker 4: it like that.